Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church sermon podcast.
We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you,
builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God.
Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible
and learn how you can apply it straight to your life.
So welcome and enjoy the message.
If you have your Bible, please open it with me to the 11th chapter of Ecclesiastes
in a message I'm calling Living Life Backwards.
Okay.
We finished the book of Ecclesiastes today,
and I'm excited to announce that Lord willing,
next Sunday, we'll begin a brand new series
going through the Gospel of Mark together,
studying the life of Jesus.
Now, before we jump into Ecclesiastes today,
I wanna thank you for your prayers.
I wasn't able to preach last Sunday
because while on vacation,
I took my boys out fishing in the ocean.
And
Long story short, a fillet knife fell off the center console of the boat and stabbed me in the foot.
I had flip-flops on, and so that didn't feel very good, it turns out.
The most challenging part has been just some nerve damage and some radiating pain in the foot and the ankle, but...
Thankfully, I didn't sever any tendons,
and I'm getting better every single day.
And so, yes, I am thankful to be preaching,
back preaching today, because it truly is the joy of my life.
We'll see how long I can stand this morning.
I may use this stool surely by the 11 o'clock, I imagine.
So in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon has taken us on a journey
to find purpose and meaning in life, to find significance.
And today we come to the end of his book, which is his conclusion.
Over and over again, Solomon has said that life under the sun without God is vanity.
that it's empty and it has no purpose, and he's right.
If there is no God, if there is no afterlife,
then there's no hope, there's no meaning.
Life's simply been a cruel joke,
but Solomon concludes that while life is meaningless
without God, with God, it's meaningful.
And so this morning, I want to encourage you
That your life does not have to be vain.
It doesn't have to lack purpose.
It doesn't have to feel empty because through Jesus, God actually offers us a little heaven on earth.
Now, here's how you can experience that.
You need to learn how to live life backwards.
Now, what I mean by that is that you need to look what's in store for you at the very end of your life.
And that's death, right?
Then judgment, then eternity.
Look to the end of life and then live with your whole life with that in mind, right?
Now, if we will all learn how to do that, our lives will be filled with joy.
Amen.
in meaning. We begin towards the end of chapter 11, verse number 9. He says,
"'Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.
Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these God
will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from
your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.'"
As Solomon comes to the end of the book, he tells us,
be sure to live life to the fullest God's way.
He says, young people, have a good time while you're young
and pursue the passions of your heart,
but know that God is going to judge you for everything you do.
Now, he's saying live life to the fullest God's way.
Have you ever noticed that some Christians, they're always somber and serious.
They have a hard time smiling and laughing.
If I'm not careful, I've been accused of being that person.
But I know that's not God's desire for my life.
Yes, we should certainly recognize the gravity of what God has called us to.
That's a serious work.
But sometimes we need to lighten up, don't we?
Need to let our hair down and have a good time.
My wife is really good at this.
Yes, you've given an amen.
Amen.
For Kelsey, life's a party, right?
So each summer when the kids are out of school,
she's focused on making all of these fun memories with the kids.
And I'm constantly saying the kids need to be working more, right?
Now, yeah, you got another amen.
That's good.
Now, even though she's told me many times,
it actually wasn't until my dad died
that I emotionally understood what motivates Kelsey
to have all that fun with the kids.
You see, when Kelsey was only 12 years old,
her mom died of breast cancer.
And so long before I did, Kelsey emotionally understood
the brevity of life.
She knew a long time ago that life is short,
so have some fun, right?
Now I'm trying to embrace that more and more in my life.
In fact, the book of Ecclesiastes about enjoying life
has really helped me in that.
After the accident with my foot,
Kelsey joked with me in the hospital room, she said,
what's a Spradlin family vacation
without a trip to the hospital, right?
And she's actually right.
In fact, when Kelsey walks into the cast room at SCOE,
everyone knows her by name.
It kind of turns into a party.
They're old friends catching up
because our kids have broken so many bones.
Now, maybe that should tell the Spradlin family
to be a little more cautious and careful.
Perhaps that's true.
But the way that I see it,
is we're enjoying life to the fullest.
You see, if I hadn't taken my boys out fishing,
yeah, certainly I wouldn't be limping today
when I got a knife into my foot,
but we also wouldn't have had the thrill
of enjoying the ocean together,
just me and my boys and the memory
that will last a lifetime.
Knowing what I know now,
I would do the trip all over again every single time.
Why?
Because it's important to live life to the fullest.
We only get one life on earth.
And it's very short. Now, some people, when they think about living life to the fullest,
they they think that means living a sin filled, wild life like the prodigal son.
You know, while I'm young, I can party my life away and then later I can come back to God.
After all, that's what the prodigal son did. And God forgave him.
That's certainly true, but I'm sure there was more to the story of the prodigal son than what we know about in the Gospel of Luke.
Yes, certainly he was forgiven, he was restored, but what about the scars that his sin left behind?
Maybe he contracted a disease while in the far country that stayed with him for a lifetime.
Maybe while he was gone, his mom died and he wasn't there to say goodbye.
Maybe the relationship that was severed with his brother never was restored again.
You see, when you're in the far country of life, living a wild, sin-filled life as a
scars, sinful scars that will last sometimes a lifetime.
As a kid, I remember seeing a man who had lived a very, very rough life get right with God.
The man had 666 tattooed across his forehead, and God forgave him.
And I remember seeing him get baptized right over in a multipurpose room when we were worshiping in that building in L.A.
I remember the baptism.
It was a very significant moment in my life.
But did you know that when he came up out of those waters, he still had that tattoo?
And I'm sure that that tattoo affected him nearly every day of his life.
You see, past mistakes in life, even when forgiven, can limit future opportunities.
Solomon's saying, be loyal to God when you're young.
Avoid lifelong scars and live life to the fullest every day.
Now, at the end of this chapter, what does Solomon mean when he says, for the days of youth are vanity?
He's saying, you're not going to be young forever.
Stop focusing on being young forever.
Our generation is so focused with youth.
But if you get focused on that, you're going to be sadly disappointed.
Dad used to say, Mother Nature and Father Time is going to mess you up.
And he was right.
Trying to stay young, it's like grasping, chasing the wind.
It's an exercise in futility.
We're all gonna grow old.
So we better learn to focus on something
a whole lot better than being young.
Otherwise, we're going to spend
our latter years in depression.
Verse number one of chapter 12, he says,
"'Remember now, acknowledge now your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the difficult days come.'"
That's aging.
"'And the years draw near when you say,
"'I have no pleasure in them.
"'While the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are not darkened,
"'and the clouds do not return after the rain.'"
We see here that growing old is a part of life.
We need to just accept it, right?
Solomon says, enjoy life to the fullest and remember,
acknowledge your creator while you still can,
because you're going to get old and life's going to get harder.
So many young people sort of wish their life away,
looking for the next stage of life.
I mean, you just ask a kindergartner, how old are you?
Five and a half, right?
Why the half?
Well, because he can't wait to turn six.
He's counting down the days to turn six.
Old people, we don't do that, right?
I don't say, hey, I'm 42 and a half.
No, I'd rather not count that half.
Young people are...
are often so focused on tomorrow that they miss out on today.
Don't do that.
Solomon is saying, do not waste any days of your life that God has given you.
Live life to the fullest and acknowledge God all throughout your days.
Some people are waiting to enjoy life until all the stars align just right.
Things are just perfect.
If you're waiting to enjoy life till everything's just right, you're going to be waiting a long time, I can tell you.
Because eventually you're going to get old and enjoying life is going to become more difficult with some of the physical pain and elements that you face.
Your body's going to start falling apart.
My papa used to say, getting old is not for wimps.
We find that out poetically in verse number three.
Solomon says, in the days when the keepers of the house tremble.
I think this is probably referring to the keepers of the house,
that which provides and protects the hands that begin to tremble in old age.
And the strong men bow down.
This is probably the shoulders, a symbol of strength for a young man.
They begin to hunch over.
When the grinders cease, because there are few, I think that one is easy.
That's our teeth, right?
Thank the Lord for good dental care that we have today.
Some of us have, but our teeth start falling out when we get old.
And those that look through the windows grow dim.
That's our eyesight starts to fade.
I've been experiencing that for a few years now.
When the doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low, our hearing starts to fade, right?
Papa used to say, or Mamie used to say of Papa that he didn't have hard of hearing, he had selective hearing.
So maybe, I don't know which is which for you, but our hearing becomes difficult.
When one rises at the sound of a bird.
Now, have you ever noticed that teenagers have this wonderful gift of sleeping in, sleeping through just about anything?
I've got four teenagers, and they all have the gift of sleeping.
It's amazing.
Old people don't do that, right?
They get up with the birds.
And it's amazing how old people, they can't hear a word you say, but the slightest noise wakes them up.
I don't know how that works.
He says,
and terrors in the way.
People, as they age, often get more nervous in life about danger, right?
They're nervous to climb the ladder, afraid of heights.
They've experienced more accidents and they become fearful.
He says, when the almond tree blossoms.
Now, we got a lot of almond trees around Bakersfield.
What color are they when they blossom?
They're white, aren't they?
The hair turns white.
The hair turns gray.
I've got some of that happening now.
I call it wisdom streaks, right?
Streaks of highlighted wisdom, right?
The grasshopper is a burden and desire fails.
Now, desire fails, it's literally the caperberry, caperberry fails,
which I don't want to linger here too long, but in ancient times,
the caperberry was a symbol.
It was kind of an aphrodisiac.
And so this is talking about sexual desire fails.
The grasshopper is a burden.
This is talking about impotence probably.
Solomon's not afraid to touch on some touchy subjects here.
Years ago, there was a life group curriculum
that our church was going through, had a lesson on sex,
and one of the oldest senior adult life group teachers
that we had told my dad and Pastor Phil,
maybe you guys need to find some more age-appropriate
material for our group.
My lesson only lasted about five minutes.
Dad said, well, what did you do the rest of the class?
And he said, we just sang the old hymn together,
Precious Memories.
That's as much as I'm going to say about that.
Solomon's description here of old age, it's a little bit heavy,
and it would be depressing if it weren't mixed with some humor.
I think Solomon is being humorous on purpose.
He's saying getting old is inevitable, but don't let it rob your joy.
That's to be expected.
Just accept it's part of life.
Wisdom in the Bible is the ability to live life with the end in mind, to live life backwards,
to look at the very end and then reverse engineer our life.
Young people, what's the end of your young years?
It's old age.
What's the end of old age?
Well...
It's death.
That's what Solomon says in verse number 5.
He says, for man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets.
So you're going to die someday.
People are going to go to your funeral.
They're going to mourn you.
They're going to get back in their car.
They're going to hit the streets.
They're going to go to work.
They're going to go home.
He says, remember your creator before the silver cord is loosed,
or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
or the wheel broken at the well.
All of those are instruments of drawing water, right?
Water is necessary for life.
It's a poetic way of saying...
When you have no more water, when you die,
then the dust will return to the earth.
You're gonna be buried as it was,
and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity.
We're reminded here that death is certain,
so we better be ready.
Jesus said, what good is it if a man gains the entire world,
and yet he loses his soul?
The stats are alarming concerning death.
It's one out of one.
Every single one of us, we're going to die someday
and then our body is gonna be buried,
it's gonna be cremated, it's going to turn to dust
or it's going to turn to ash.
I've got a very good friend from Tennessee,
someone who's been a mentor to me, a godly man
who we actually had out a few number of years back
for a servant summit.
Alan Taylor is his name.
And a week and a half ago, Alan died suddenly of a stroke.
He was a picture of hell, 71 years old, and suddenly, in a moment's time, he's dead.
The Bible says that our days are all numbered by the Lord.
The problem is we don't know that number.
We don't know how big that number is.
So we better live every day as if it's our last and be ready to meet our Lord when he calls us home.
Now, in verse number 9, we come to Solomon's conclusion.
He says, and moreover, because the preacher, that's what Solomon keeps referring to himself as, the preacher.
He says, because he was wise, he still taught the people knowledge.
Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs.
The preacher sought to find acceptable words or delightful words.
And what was written was upright words of truth.
The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of the scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd.
And further, my son, be admonished by these.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
Solomon calls himself the preacher and he lets us know what his goal was in writing the book of Ecclesiastes.
And really, his goal should be the goal of every preacher who writes a sermon.
Every Bible study teacher, every life group teacher in our church, this is our goal.
We ponder and seek out the best way to arrange the message for the people to hear it.
We become words craftsmen at times.
We try to find delightful, acceptable ways to say things
that people, it's gonna resonate with people,
words that are true.
So these are wise words for the Bible teacher.
But I think there's a broader application for all of us beyond just Bible teachers.
Think about what Solomon's saying here at the conclusion of his book.
He says that he carefully crafted what to say.
But then in verse number 11, he says,
These words that I've given are actually given by one shepherd.
Well, that's God, isn't it?
More specifically, it's Jesus, the Son of God, the great shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd.
He's describing for us the way the Word of God is given.
It is certainly, yes, written by man, but every word of it is inspired by God.
Ecclesiastes that we've been studying, it was written by King Solomon,
but it was also, and more importantly, written by God.
Solomon says, I wrote beautiful, acceptable, delightful words of truth.
You see, God's word is beautiful and true.
We better receive it.
Solomon says there's no end to the number of the books out there, but there's only one Bible.
Now, I'm all for knowledge and education.
I've dedicated a lot of my life to knowledge and education.
But education, all the education in the world cannot save your soul, I can tell you.
Personally, I don't read a lot of secular books.
I read some, but every time I do, I have the thought, well, I could be spending my time not in a book, but the book, hearing from God.
You see, every book out there is going to give you some information, but there's only one book that will give you transformation.
And I've learned that if you want to experience heaven on the earth, you've got to hear from heaven.
You see, God, Almighty God, who created all of us in all of the world,
He has revealed Himself in the pages of this book.
Now, this book does not just contain God's Word, it is God's Word.
So it's not just about reading through the Bible.
It's about receiving the Bible.
It's about eating it spiritually, digesting it, meditating, soaking it into your soul.
See, it's not just about how many times you've been through the Bible.
It's about how many times the Bible has been through you.
God's word is to be received by us.
Now, I think every one of us in our world is desperate for truth.
Here it is.
You want to know what's true?
It's right here.
So read it, believe it, and live it.
Solomon says God's word is like a goad, and it's a well-driven nail.
A goad is basically a cattle prod.
It's a long stick that you poke and you prod cattle with to get them to go where they need to go.
God's word is that for us.
Now, sometimes it's a little uncomfortable and painful when we're prodded with God's word,
but God uses it to sanctify us and mold us into the image of his son.
Now, as a well-driven nail, we can hang our lives upon it, can't we?
We can anchor our lives to it.
I heard about a pastor who was going through the security checkpoint at the airport.
I have no reason why, but I always seem to be stopped and frisked, but that's a whole other point.
But this pastor, he was going through, and he was asked, what's in your briefcase?
He said, well, I've got a plumb line in there.
I have a measuring rod, a hammer, a sword.
I've got some bread, water, crystal ball, a compass, a mirror, and my birth certificate.
And the security guy said, there's no way you have all that in that little briefcase.
Open it up.
So the pastor opened his briefcase, and there inside was the pastor's Bible.
See, the Bible is all of those things and more.
The Bible is sufficient for life.
Everything we need for life and sustenance spiritually is found in the word of God.
It's our most valued treasure in all of the world.
Verse number 13.
He says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep his commandments.
For this is man's all.
This is what life is all about, he says.
For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Here's our last principle, Solomon's conclusion.
We're all going to be judged someday, so trust and obey the living God.
Solomon comes to the very end of his book and he says,
life is not all vanity.
Yes, we're all gonna get old.
Yes, we're all gonna die.
But when we do, our spirit is gonna return to the Lord
in everything that we've ever done, whether good or bad,
done in private or done in public,
it all is going to be judged.
So Solomon says, here's the conclusion of the whole matter.
This is what life is all about.
Fear God and keep his commandments.
It's like the old hymn that says, trust and obey.
For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
You see, the chief end of man is to know God, to love God, and to glorify God.
You see, we were all designed for a relationship with the one who designed us.
We were made by God and for God.
And it's only through a relationship with God that we can understand the true meaning of life.
You see, through Jesus, life is not meaningless.
It's meaningful.
Jesus said, "'On the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.'"
You see, you cannot enjoy the universe until you know the God who made the universe.
You cannot enjoy life until you know the God who made life.
Jesus said, "'I came to seek and to save the lost.'"
He also said, "'I came to give life.'" Right?
Right?
and life more abundantly.
You see, Jesus offers us,
yes, certainly offers us eternal life in heaven,
but he also offers us abundant life now,
abundant spiritual life right here on earth,
a little heaven on earth.
Namely, he offers us himself.
Now in chapter three,
Solomon said that God placed eternity upon our hearts.
You see, each and every one of us, we're eternal beings.
And intuitively, we all know it.
We don't want life to just end and everything to be over.
Intuitively, we have this longing for life to continue.
The message of Ecclesiastes is live with that in mind.
Live with the end in mind.
But what's at the end?
Judgment's at the end.
And then eternity.
You see, without Jesus, life is a hopeless end.
But with Jesus, life is an endless hope.
As a young person, live life to the fullest.
And don't you waste any days that God has given you because it goes by so fast.
Older person, live life to the fullest.
Don't waste any days and finish strong.
Sometimes the elderly will just kind of sit around
waiting to die.
They say, well, I'm in God's waiting room.
Listen, when God wants to take you home, he will.
Until then, there's much work to be done
for the kingdom of God.
Abraham was 100 years old.
when he had his son Isaac.
Moses was 80 years old when God called him to lead the Israelites.
Caleb was 85 years old when he charged the mountain with the Israelite army
to victory.
Anna was 84 years old when she held the baby Jesus in her arms in the temple.
Yes, your body might be fading, but your greatest accomplishment in life
might still be ahead of you.
Think of my dad.
It would have been very easy
for him to just throw in the towel
when he was dying of cancer,
think, well, I've done all that I can for the Lord,
it doesn't really matter what I do now,
but no, no, no, he finished strong.
And I actually believe that his greatest accomplishment
in life may not have been all of his accomplishments
as a pastor and as a preacher as great as those were.
His greatest accomplishment may have been
that he showed us how to live by faith
and how to die by faith.
Maybe you also have a terminal illness.
Maybe the doctor has shared some news with you
that has grieved your soul.
I want you to be encouraged today.
Your greatest accomplishment might still be in front of you.
Maybe it's a conversation with a child or with a grandchild or with a nurse or a doctor.
You have no idea how the last chapter of your life may echo in eternity.
God has numbered all of our days, but if you're still here, he has purpose for you.
So don't waste it.
I think Solomon is making the point to us that as vain as sometimes people think life is,
it's only vain if you don't trust and obey the Lord who made you.
Remember your creator, he says here at the end.
Acknowledge him.
That's where purpose is found.
You see, we all need the right perspective in life.
Life only feels vain if in our mind death is the end.
That's the only time it feels vain.
Sometimes you'll ask an older person, how are you doing?
And they'll say, well, I've got some aches and pains, but it sure beats the alternative, right?
That's a little bit funny, but it's wrong.
You see, for the Christian, aches and pains do not beat the alternative.
The Apostle Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
You see.
We are not in the land of the living, headed towards the land of the dying.
We are in the land of the dying, headed towards the land of the living.
So let's finish life strong.
And let's be prepared, Solomon says, to meet our maker.
A few months ago, I dreamed I was at church.
I told Kelsey about this.
But I was at church on a Sunday morning and the service started and the worship center was packed with people.
In fact, many couldn't find a seat.
They were just standing, which is every preacher's dream, right?
The only problem was I had forgotten to prepare a sermon that week.
Jake and the worship team, they finished sooner than they were supposed to.
I was frantically, what am I going to preach?
So I was up.
So I walked up here on the stage,
hoping God was going to give me something brilliant to say,
but he didn't.
And so I stood out here.
I was staring, panicked at all of you.
You were all staring back at me.
Nothing would come out of my mouth.
And then one by one, you got up and you laughed.
If you were wondering, that's what a pastor's nightmare looks like.
I actually think it's a common nightmare to be unprepared for a very important moment in life.
Well, the most important moment of our lives is when we all will stand someday before God
and we will give an account for everything in our life.
What we thought
What we did, what we didn't do.
Let me ask you, if that were to happen right now, would you be prepared?
Because Solomon tells us it's coming.
Life is short.
We're going to get old.
We're going to die.
And while you think all of this life, it's just meaningless.
It's just empty.
It's just vanity.
It's not because there is a God.
And we will be accountable to everything in our lives.
We'll be accountable to him.
Someday, you're going to stand before him.
Let me ask you, when you stand before him and you stand before that sea of humanity that
and all the works of your life are revealed for all the world to see,
are you going to be embarrassed at that moment?
Are you going to be prepared?
More importantly, are you going to be condemned in that moment?
Or are you going to be pardoned?
Let's bow together in attitude of prayer.
Both campuses.
The only way that you will stand before God someday
And be prepared as if you receive God's pardon, His forgiveness.
You see, we're all guilty, every one of us.
The Bible says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
We're accountable to God, and we're guilty, and that's bad news.
But here's the good news of the Bible.
That God loved us so very much that he wanted to provide a way and he chose to provide a way.
His name is Jesus.
He's the life.
He's the truth.
He's the way to God.
And the only way to God is through Jesus.
You see, Jesus paid for all of our sins upon the cross.
And then he rose in victory from death on the third day.
And all who come to him in faith, all who call upon his name in faith,
Confessing their sins and believing upon Christ shall be saved.
Will be pardoned.
Will be forgiven.
What is life all about?
It's all about living out the purpose God gave us.
And there's a lot that that includes.
But let me tell you what I know it includes.
Fearing God.
And that's another way of saying acknowledging God and who he is and trusting him, believing upon him, and then obey what he says.
Now, do we get to God and experience eternal life in heaven because we've kept all of God's commandments?
No, no, no, no.
We've all disobeyed God's commandments.
We've all blown it, haven't we?
That's why God provided a way to be forgiven.
It's called grace in the Bible.
It means it's not earned.
It's the favor of God, and it's simply received.
I want to invite you today to receive God's favor, His forgiveness, His love.
In just a moment, we're going to have pastors and leaders at the front of both of our campuses,
and we're going to stand to our feet.
We're going to sing a song together,
and we're going to ask you simply to step out and come and give your life to Jesus.
You can come down one of these stairs.
You can come down one of these aisles.
Take one of these leaders by the hand and say,
I want to trust Jesus as my Savior.
We saw a handful of people baptized earlier in our service.
Maybe you need to follow suit and trust Jesus as your Savior.
And then maybe you've already done that, but you've never been baptized.
And you say, I want to go public with my faith.
Or maybe you just want to join our church family.
However God leads, in just a moment, this is our time to respond.
But I especially today.
I want to speak to those of you who don't have a personal relationship with God.
It's available to you right now.
It doesn't matter all that you've done.
I know you've done a lot.
God knows you've done a lot.
But he still loves you.
He still wants a relationship with you.
You still have purpose through his redemption.
I want to invite you, as soon as we stand and pray, don't wait.
You come and give your life to Christ.
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father, thank you so much, Lord.
for your love and your goodness and your grace.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your salvation.
I pray, Lord, that that gift would be given to some people today that have not received it.
And, Lord, that they would receive it by faith.
Lord, would you change their life?
Would you remove the vanity and replace it with purpose?
Would you remove the emptiness and replace it with fullness?
Give them love, peace, and joy that only comes from you.
We love you.
We need you.
We want you.
We pray, Lord, that you would move in our midst.
We pray in the powerful name of Jesus.
Amen.
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No matter where you are in your journey,
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We're praying for you
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