Vacation

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will be on vacation from December 1-December 6, so I will not be posting during that time. Postings will resume on Sunday, December 7, 2008. I hope and pray you will all have a good week. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 9: 13-34; The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see." Anytime Jesus heals someone it also serves as a metaphor for spiritual sight. We see Jesus as Christ and Lord because he has opened our eyes. The man who Jesus healed was blind from birth, but Jesus gave him the sight he needed to have a good life. Jesus gives us the sight we need for our journey of faith. In Jesus we see all we need to see. Christ has opened our eyes, and he has given us something to see. Keep your eyes open; continue to look at Jesus for guidance and direction. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 9: 1-12; Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

God does not punish with physical pain. That is to say, in the words of Jesus, pain and hardship is not some form of divine punishment from God. We may not be able to answer perfectly the problem of evil, why bad things happen. But we have the comfort of knowing God does not punish us with pain and suffering. Jesus gives us that comfort, as he gave that comfort to the blind man. No one sinned to cause his blindness. In the same way, we are not punished by God for what we have done. Instead, we have been forgiven for what we have done. Instead of punishing us God has forgiven us for the sins we have committed. Repent and believe the good news. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 8: 48-59; The Claims of Jesus About Himself

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'I Am,' Jesus says. This is what God calls himself in the Old Testament. When Moses is sent to the Israelites in Egypt Moses asks God what name to give the Israelites. God responds by saying, 'Tell them I Am has sent you.' That was good news for Israel, that the great I Am sent Moses to save them. But it gets better in the New Testament because the great I Am comes himself. God does not send someone else to save the world this time, he comes himself as the man Jesus. That should give us reason to rejoice. We rejoice because God has come down and walked beside us. We rejoice because the great I Am has come into the world to save us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 8: 42-47; The Children of the Devil

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Listening is sometimes one of the hardest things. Sometimes God says thing to us that we do not like to hear or that do not make any sense. But when that happens we need to make sure we listen to what God says to us. There are those, like the evil one, who want to lie to us to keep us off course, to make us turn away from God. Do not listen to that voice. Listen to God always, and do what he tells you. He is the father of love, not lies. He will not lead you astray. Trust God and listen to his voice. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Hanging of the Greens

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we will have our Hanging of the Greens service. This will take place during the worship service, and the congregation will be invited to participate in the service. Please join us for this special celebration, as we begin the season of Advent in our church.

The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is Isaiah 64: 1-9, in which Isaiah tells of the coming of the Messiah. The New Testament lesson is from Mark 13: 24-37, in which Jesus tells of his second coming. The Sermon is titled "He is Coming,' and will focus on the coming of Jesus and the joy that comes with that blessed event.

I hope to see you Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 8: 31-41; The Children of Abraham

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Take nothing for granted. The Israelites were of the mindset that since they were the children of Abraham they did not have to do anything else. They assumed they were free from the Law and everything else God commanded them to do. Jesus tells them that that is not the case. The same is true for us. Yes, we are free from sin. Yes, we are given eternal life through Jesus. But there is still a call to holiness. We are still responsible for living the life God would have us live. If we are going to call ourselves the children of God we better be living the kind of life God, or father, wants us to be living. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 8: 12-30; The Validity of Jesus' Testimony

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the images of God from the Old Testament is a glowing fire. Israel was guided by this glowing fire so that even when the world was dark they would still have the light of God shinging around them. Jesus says here, 'I am the light of the world.' Jesus shines in the darkness, giving us light so that we will not walk in darkness. Though the world around us may darken, we have Jesus in our lives. Though the world may live in darkness we have the light of the world shining in our hearts. We are guided by this light; we are protected by this light; we are truly blessed to have the light of the world in our lives. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 7: 53-8: 11; The Woman Caught in Adultery

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is one of the best stories in the entire Bible because we learn so much from it. On the one hand we are reminded here to not judge one another. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. One of the most important details in this passage is the fact that all of the woman's accusers drop their stones. It is not our business to judge and throw stones. That is the Lord's work. But there is also the lesson that we are saved. In point of fact this woman was caught in adultery. Jesus does not say to those around him that they are lying. This woman has sinned. But Jesus says to her, 'I do not judge you either, go and sin no more.' We are saved from sin. We are all the woman caught in adultery, and we have all been saved from judgment by our Lord Jesus. God alone is able to judge, and the judgment God has placed on us is salvation. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 7: 45-52; Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"But this mob that knows nothing of the law." The Pharisees did not know the intent of the law. The intent of the law was to help the people live their lives to glorify God. But by the time of Jesus the Law had become a weapon used by the Pharisees to inflict penalities on the people. The Law was meant for worship, but it had become something oppressive. The powers-that-be were not doing what God wanted them to do. We need to show love to those around us, not oppression, not animosity. God wants us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We need to not be like the Pharisees who were not showing love. We need to show love to all those around us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 7: 25-44; Is Jesus the Christ

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Too much knowledge and not enough faith is the problem that the people around Jesus had. Sometimes knowledge is a good thing, but not when it gets in the way of believing in Jesus. When we ask questions, or when we want to know something our end position should be to simply accept Jesus, his words, his lordship, etc. The Pharisees and the other powers that be were having a problem believeing in Jesus because they had too much knowledge. Ask questoins; learn things about Jesus; but do not let any of those things get in the way of your faith in Jesus. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 7: 25-44; Is Jesus the Christ.

Sunday Scripture and Sermon for November 23, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture for this Sunday comes from Malachi 1: 1-5, in which the love of God for Israel is described. The sermon is titled 'Love,' and will focus on God's love for us and how we need to be showing our love for God. I hope to see you Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 7: 14-24; Jesus Teaches at the Feast

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath?" We should not be taking a break from doing good. I think that is what Jesus is trying to say here. Yes, it was illegal for him to heal someone on the Sabbath, since healing was considered to be work. However, the point is that we are supposed to help whenever there is a need, not just when it is a good time for us. If there is anything Jesus teaches us it is that we should be doing good all the time; we should be helping all the time; we should be doing the work of Christ all the time. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 7: 1-13; Jesus Goes to the Feast of Tabernacles

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

God's time is not our time. We sometimes want things right away, but we have to wait for God to act. This is an act of faith. We need to trust, first of all, that God is going to do for us what we need. But we also need to trust that God is going to work in our lives at the time we need it the most. The disciples, and others around Jesus, wanted him to show off. They wanted Jesus to reveal who he was and what he came here to do. And they wanted Jesus to do that right away. But Jesus knew that God would direct him down that path at the right time. Jesus knew that God had a plan, that God was in control of the situation. We need to have the same faith, to trust that God is going to give us what we need, do for us what we need, etc., but we also need to trust that God will do all of that at the time that is best for us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 6: 60-71; Many Disciples Desert Jesus

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a cost to discipleship. In Matthew's gospel Jesus says to the young man who wants to bury his father, 'Let the dead bury the dead.' To the first of the disciples Jesus says, 'Drop your nets [in other words, your entire way of life] and follow me.' When we decide to follow Jesus we are to leave everything behind and follow him. All of our earthly ties, all of our dreams and desires. We should let nothing get in the way of our following Jesus. Some of Jesus' disciples, when they heard this, left Jesus. They did not want to make any kind of sacrifice. There is a sacrifice when it comes to following Jesus. We are supposed to give up everything to follow him. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 6: 25-59; Jesus the Bread of Life

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We will never be hungry again. When we partake of the bread of life, the body of Jesus, we are eternally strengthened for our journey of faith. We not only receive eternal life from the body of Christ, we also receive the much needed nourishment for our faith. The Israelites were hungry as they wandered around in the desert for forty years, so God gave them manna to give them the strength to make it to the Promised Land. We, too, have been given manna by our Lord to make it to our Promised Land. We have been given the body of Christ which, among other things, has given is the strength and nourishment we need. But the best part is that it lasts forever. We will never be hungry again because we have been filled by the body of Jesus. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 6: 16-24; Jesus Walks on Water

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need not fear anything, for Jesus is with us. The discples are out in the middle of the sea and they see someone, who maybe they mistake for a ghost, approach. Immediately their fear kicks in, but Jesus assures them and tells them to have no fear. We face things in this life that sometimes fill us with fear. We do not need to fear those things, because we have Jesus in our lives. We have the presence of the Son of God in our lives, so we do no need to be afraid. As Jesus tells his disciples, 'It is I; do not be afraid.' God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Growing in Ministry Workshop

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do not forget about tomorrow's Growing in Ministry Worskshop. This workshop will focus on the church's missional strategy, as we try to discern specifically the things God is calling us as a church to do. Everyone who signed up, please remember to come and participate in this very important workshop. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 6: 1-15; Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives us our daily bread. Those five thousand men were hungry; they had been with Jesus for a while, listening to his preaching and watching his miracles. They needed some food to give them strength. We all need strength for our journey of faith. We need our daily bread, and Jesus gives it to us. We are given our daily bread through the act of communion. When we partake of communion we are given the bread, the body of Christ, we need to sustain us for our journey of faith. 'Give us this day our daily bread.' Through Jesus that prayer has been answered. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 5: 31-47; Testimonies About Jesus

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.


'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' There isn't anything more we need to know. There are some who want more answers than that, but the only thing we need to remember about Jesus is that he is the Christ who came here to give us life. The testimonies about Jesus have been made, all we need to do is believe. No matter where you are or what you are doing always remember who Jesus is and what he came here to do. God bless you.


Pastor Josh
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Evening Worship Service for November 16, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We will be having our Evening Worship Service this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. We will be spending our time worshiping our God through music, which will be led by John McCarty and Dan Lutes. During the service we will also be celebrating Holy Communion. I hope you are able to make it. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for November 16, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture for this Sunday is from Zechariah 9: 9-17, in which we are told that the King of Zion will come. The sermon is titled 'He's Coming Back' and will focus on the second coming of Christ. I hope to see you Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 5: 16-30; Life Through the Son

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is giving us a lesson here in being reliant on God. Jesus wants us to know that we cannot do anything without God, but with God all things are possible. Too many times we think we can do it ourselves, that we don't need any help from God or from anyone else around us. That is simply not true. We need God's help as we go through our journey of faith; we need the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ as we encounter obstacles as we go through life. We are not alone, and we are not meant to be alone. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 5: 1-15; The Healing at the Pool

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus fixes what is broken. Thirty-eight years is a long time to be paralyzed. This man not only had to suffer the physical pain and suffering, he also had some emotional pain. For one thing, he had no one to take care of him. But for another, he was looked at in a very poor light by those around him. The invalid's fellow Jews kept him away from the Temple, the market, etc. He was not allowed to do anything or go anywhere because of his illness. But Jesus fixes that. He not only gives the man the power to be able to walk again, he restores him to the community. Jesus makes it possible for this man to have a life again. This man's body is not the only thing that was broken, his life was as well, and Jesus fixed that. And he does the same for us. Jesus does for us what he did for this invalid: he fixes all things that are broken. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 4: 43-54; Jesus Heals the Official's Son

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to submit to Jesus. This royal official is someone who would normally not associate with someone like Jesus. This man is royal, Jesus is not; this man has money and power, Jesus does not; this man, on paper, is better than Jesus. But he recognizes that Jesus has the power and the heart to heal his son, so he comes to Jesus to ask for help. Sometimes we think we can handle our own problems, or that one of our wonderful inventions can take care of what is bothering us. Only Jesus can help us with what we truly need. Only Jesus has all the answers that we need. We need to be like the royal offical and submit to Jesus, admit he is greater than we are, admit that we need his help. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 4: 39-42; Many Samaritans Believe

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." We have all had an experience with Jesus. That is why we believe. We do not believe in Jesus because we read abouthim in a book, or because we have been blindly followin other people. We believe in Jesus because he has touched our hearts himself. We have all heard Jesus' voice, we have all felt him touch our life. But it does not end there. Jesus still touches our hearts, he still speaks to us. Keep your eyes, ears, and heart open to Jesus that he may continue to touch your life. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 4: 27-38; The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Though he does not say it directly here, I am reminded of Jesus' saying, 'I am the bread of life.' Jesus gives us all the bread we need to continue on our journey of faith. We ask, in the Lord's prayer, for God to give us our daily bread, our daily food to give us strength for our journey of faith. One of the things that happens in communion, when we partake of the bread of life, we are strengthened for our journey of faith. The bread Jesus offers is the bread of life, the bread that fills us with all we need for our journey of faith. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 4: 1-26; Jesus Speaks With a Samaritan Woman

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus knows us inside and out. For some, who want to keep their lives private, this is not really good news. But for those of us who are looking for a personal relationship with Christ this is the best news we could here. Jesus loves us enough to get to know us; to know everything about us. Jesus knows our burdens, our fears, our joys, our history, and our future. And in that knowledge Jesus is able to help us get through our journey of faith. Because Jesus knows us inside and out he is able to guide us and direct us as we go through life. I think this is reason for us to rejoice. We have a savior who knows us completely! God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 3: 22-36; John the Baptist's Testimony About Jesus

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

John is the unsung hero of the New Testament. He did his job, and he did it very well. John was called to prepare the way of the Lord, and he did that. But that is not the end. We are the new John; we are supposed to be preparing the way of the Lord. Jesus is going to come back someday and we need to get everything ready for him when he gets here. We need to not only be ready ourselves, we need to help get the rest of the world ready. John was called to prepare the way of the Lord, and that is what we are called to do as well. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for November 9, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture for this Sunday is from Haggai 1: 1-11, in which Israel is commanded to rebuild the Temple, that it may be a testimony to the world that God reigns. The sermon is titled 'God is in Control' and will focus on how God does indeed reign in this world. I hope to see you Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 3: 1-21; Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." Paul tells us in II Corinthians that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, the old passes away and the new has come. We are made new in Jesus, we are all born again. The term 'born again' has lost some popularity in recent years, but it is one that needs to be brought back because it is what Jesus wants of us. Jesus wants us to be born again, he wants us to begin a brand new life with him, one that has nothing to do with our old life. We are a new creation in Christ; we are born again in Jesus. Take this day and, if you have not done so already, allow youself to be born again, to begin a brand new life in Jesus. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Recycling Bin

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We now have a recycling bin in the parking lot of the church. This is a great way to raise money for the church, and to help the environment. Please bring all of your recyclable paper products to the church, and tell everybody else you know to do the same thing. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 2: 12-25; Jesus Clears Out the Temple

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the other gospels Jesus uses the phrase 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' when he clears out the Temple. I think this is just as important for us to remember now as it was for the people Jesus drove out of the Temple 2,000 years ago. God's house is supposed to be a house of worship. When we gather here we are supposed to leave everything from the outside world in the outside world. All of our cares, fears, anger, sadness, etc. should be left at the door, for it is those things that distract us from true worship of God. And it is those things that drove the people in Jesus' time to make the Temple a market and slaughterhouse. When we gather for worship we should gather for worship only, nothing else. When we come into God's house the only thing that should be on our mind is God and God alone. God's house is to be a house of prayer and worship. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 2: 1-11; Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the cup of salvation. The wedding guests, and hosts, needed some wine so that everyone would be happy. Jesus knew that the cup he offered would fulfill all the needs of all people. Jesus says here that it is not yet his time, but we can also look at this and see that some of Jesus' frustration comes out in the fact that he knows the cup he offeres will never need to be refilled, and it will never need to be suplemented. The cup that Jesus offers is the cup of salvation, and we will need nothing more than that. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 1: 43-51; Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Nathanael hears the good news that he will be rewarded for following Jesus. Because he has chosen to follow Jesus he Nathanael is going to be rewarded. The same is true for us. We have chosen to follow Jesus and we have been rewarded. We are rewarded with salvation and eternal life. We may not get gold or other riches, but we will receive blessings beyond count. To be sure, there is a cost to following Jesus. There are things we need to sacrifice, but we also need to spend time talking about the rewards we receive from God. Because of the work of Jesus Christ our Lord we have been rewarded with all we will ever need. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 1: 35-42; Jesus' First Disciples

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is just something about Jesus. The disciples saw it immediately. When they encountered Jesus they knew from the beginning that Jesus was sent by God to do great things. And, of course, they were right. Jesus was sent here by God to do amazing things. The most amazing thing he did was restore us to right relationship with God. Jesus had an immediate impact on the disciples. And he has had an immediate impact on us as well. From the moment we met Jesus we knew there was something special about him. Jesus has done for us what he did for the disciples; he restored us to right relationship with God. The disciples recognized what Jesus was going to do and they followed him. We recognized the same thing. Follow Jesus, for he is the one who has brought us back into right relationship with God. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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John 1: 29-34; Jesus the Lamb of God

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world. One thing I would like to highlight here is that John the Baptist does not mention the cross here. He says that Jesus is the Lam of God who will take away the sins of the world, but he does not mention specifically Jesus on the cross. It is the entire life and ministry of Jesus that gives us our salvation. In the Apostle's Creed Jesus' life is not mentioned. The Creed goes from the birth to the suffering of Jesus under Pontius Pilate. There is nothing there about the life of Christ. We need to remember not only the death of Jesus on the cross, but his life and ministry in Israel. Jesus is the Lamb of God, not just on the cross, but in his entire life. Jesus is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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