Help My Unbelief

Welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here.

And we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced there's no one so good.

They don't need God's grace.

And no one so bad that they can't have it,

which is why we turn back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

We're continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark.

You'll remember that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and his life and his death and his resurrection.

And when we were in the first half of the Gospel, chapters 1 through 8,

I would tell you over and over that we had two questions.

Who is Jesus and how do we respond to him?

And those questions are still relevant, but as we make our way into the second half of Mark,

the question really is, what does it actually look like to follow Jesus?

We saw before in chapter 8 that Peter had one idea of what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ,

and reality was actually quite different.

We're continuing that theme this morning as we're in Mark 9,

looking at verses 14 through 29,

as we are continuing to ask this question of what does it look like to have faith?

What does it look like day to day as we follow after Jesus?

In this passage, we're going to see two different pictures of unbelief.

So two negative examples that are going to help us understand positive application

for what it means to walk after Jesus in this world.

And I'll tell you at the beginning what those are.

So there's two types of unbelief.

First of all, the disciples have too much faith in themselves.

The disciples have way too much faith in themselves.

The second type of unbelief we see in the father of this boy,

which is too little faith in God.

Too much faith in ourselves, too little faith in God.

It's with that that I'm going to invite you to turn with me to Mark 9,

starting at verse 14.

You can turn on your phone.

You can turn in your Bible.

You can turn in your worship guide.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's Word.

And God tells us that his Word is more precious than gold,

even the finest gold, and that it's sweeter than honey,

even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb,

which is why we read now starting at verse 14.

And when they came to the disciples,

they saw a great crowd around them,

and scribes arguing with them.

And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him,

were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.

And he asked them,

What are you arguing about with them?

And someone from the crowd answered him,

Teacher, I brought my son to you,

for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down,

and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.

So I asked your disciples to cast it out,

and they were not able.

Verse 19.

And he answered them,

O faithless generation,

how long am I to be with you?

How long am I to bear with you?

Bring him to me.

And they brought the boy to him,

and when the spirit saw him,

immediately it convulsed the boy,

and he fell on the ground and rolled about,

foaming at the mouth.

And Jesus asked his father,

How long has this been happening to him?

And he said,

From childhood.

And it has often cast him into fire and into water

to destroy him.

But if you can do anything,

have compassion on us and help us.

And Jesus said to him,

If you can,

all things are possible for one who believes.

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said,

I believe.

Help my unbelief.

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together,

he rebuked the unclean spirit,

saying to it,

You mute and deaf spirit,

I command you,

come out of him and never enter him again.

And after crying out and convulsing him terribly,

it came out,

and the boy was like a corpse,

so that most of them said,

He is dead.

But Jesus took him by the hand

and lifted him up,

and he arose.

And when he had entered the house,

his disciples asked him privately,

Why could we not cast it out?

And he said to them,

This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.

I invite you to pray with me

as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven,

we thank you again that you speak to us.

We ask that you would do that this morning by your word,

that you would show us our need for your grace.

You'd show us how you meet and supply that need.

And most of all,

that you would show us Jesus Christ

with more beauty and clarity

than we've seen before.

That you would grow our love

and our affection for him

and our reverence

and our awe for him.

And we ask these things

in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

If you remember last week

from the beginning of chapter 9,

we had the transfiguration

where Peter and James and John

had this vision of what Jesus truly was

in all his divine glory.

He had this light that was shining from inside of him

that glowed all the way through his clothes.

And so after they'd heard Jesus telling them

about the suffering of the Christian life,

they also were able to see how great and glorious

it would be as well.

That it would not just be following Jesus in suffering,

but also following him in victory.

It's after that story that we enter into this one,

verse 14,

and when they came to the disciples.

In other words,

they have come down from this glorious vision of Jesus,

understanding who he is in all of his splendor.

And immediately they experience this whiplash.

Because on the one hand,

they have seen Jesus alone on the top of the mountain.

On the other hand,

they walk right back into a problematic situation.

They saw a great crowd around them

and the scribes arguing with them.

And so they go from this glorious vision

into a headache-inducing situation.

Peter, James, and John are probably wondering

where their Tylenol is as they come off the mountain.

Okay.

Jesus has come, though, in the midst of this argument,

and there appears to be a new distraction.

Verse 15,

all the crowd, when they see Jesus,

they pull away from whatever this great argument was,

and they're amazed just that Jesus is there with them.

Of course, Jesus, as always, is a question asker.

Verse 16,

and he wants to know,

what is this that all of them have been quarreling about

while he has been up on the mountain?

They don't get a direct answer,

but we find out in verse 17,

it must have something to do

with the fact that the disciples

have been trying to heal this boy,

this son,

and they've not been able to.

And it's the father,

unsurprisingly, that speaks up.

Teacher, I brought my son to you,

for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

Verse 18,

so I asked your disciples to cast it out,

and they were not able.

Now, if you're familiar with the gospel of Mark,

if you've been with us,

this should be very surprising.

We should be confused as we hear

that the disciples are unable to perform this healing,

because we saw Mark chapter three.

Jesus chose them for two reasons,

that they would preach,

and they would heal and cast out demons.

This is what they've been called to do.

Not only that,

Mark chapter three proceeds into Mark chapter six,

where Jesus sends them out two by two

to do that very thing,

to preach and to heal.

And remember,

they come back so excited

to tell Jesus the stories

of what happened while they were out.

So the obvious question for us

is what has happened?

Why is it that the disciples

who are trying to fulfill the mission

that Jesus gave them,

who have been able to succeed

so well in the past,

fail at this point?

Thankfully, Jesus doesn't leave us to wonder.

He gives us our first answer in verse 19.

And he answered them,

Oh, faithless generation,

how long am I to be with you?

Now, Jesus uses the word generation here,

which means that he's most likely speaking

of more than just the disciples,

but certainly not less than them,

because it's their unbelief,

their faithlessness,

which has led to this situation

where they're trying to heal,

and they find themselves completely incompetent.

Of course, that would make us to ask,

well, what is it that the disciples

are doing differently this time?

Why is it that they were able to have faith

last time, but not this time?

Jesus gives us the final answer in verse 29,

when the disciples want to know,

why could we not cast it out?

And he said to them,

this kind cannot be driven out

by anything but prayer.

Why is it that the disciples were unable to heal

in this situation?

The answer is very simple.

They forgot to pray.

In other words,

the disciples thought that they were really hot stuff.

And they had decided that they were great enough

and powerful enough

that they would be able to do this on their own.

They had forgotten that Jesus

was the source of their power.

They had forgotten how dependent

they actually were on him.

They forgot that they needed God's help.

The point, brothers and sisters, is this.

There are blessings and power from God

that we do not have

because we have not prayed.

There are blessings and power from God

that we do not have

because we have not prayed.

You could put it in the opposite.

There are blessings and power from God

we will not have

until or when we pray for them.

James chapter four says the same thing.

You do not have

because you do not ask.

Now this raises a question,

which is why has God set up the world

so that it works in this way?

Why wouldn't he just set it up

so that we would know

that we belong to him

and we could go out at that point

and have all the power

and the blessings that we would need

without having to return back

over and over again

to answer him in prayer?

Well, the answer part is

that not that God is punishing us,

but that he is protecting us.

It is not that God is punishing us.

It's not that he's angry and upset

that people won't pray

or he's trying to be withholding

until people come and beg him

like some vindictive God.

No, he wants to protect his people

from what is most dangerous to them.

And what is it that is most dangerous?

It's the idea that we don't need God.

Look with me on verse seven

of your worship guide.

Tim Keller spells this out for us

in his book on prayer

when he tells us,

God often waits to give a blessing

until you have prayed for it.

Why?

Good things that we do not ask for

will usually be interpreted

by our hearts

as the fruit of our own wisdom

and diligence.

God wants to rescue us

from the self-sufficiency

that leads to overconfidence

and sets us up for failure.

In other words,

we are in deep trouble

if we believe that our gifts

and abilities operate

without God's help.

In another place in that book,

Keller says that it's prayer

that actually makes God's blessings

and his power safe for us.

They no longer present a danger.

Now you might be wondering

why and how could blessings from God

present a danger to us?

Well, I want you to think about it this way.

Let's say we had an amazing revival

here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church

and within a certain matter of weeks,

our attendance doubled

and we were having two or three baptisms

a Sunday of soldiers from Court Carson

and people from our community

who were coming to know Jesus Christ

and we had never prayed to God for revival.

What would be the danger?

We'd be tempted to go around

telling other churches

about how we had figured out the secret

and if they could just copy us

in the way that our building looked

and the way that we ran marketing

and the times that our Google reviews were great,

then they too could be like

Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church.

In other words,

we would praise ourselves rather than God

and that would be a great danger to us.

Imagine how dangerous it would be

if you saw all of your dreams come true

for your children and they experienced

no obstacles in this life

but instead went from strength to strength

and received blessing after blessing

and you had never prayed.

What would the danger be?

That you would congratulate yourself

on how smart and wise and gifted you are as a parent

and if other parents could just be as great

and wonderful as you,

then they also could have success.

It would praise yourself rather than God.

Imagine how dangerous it would be

if you had victory over sin and temptation

and suddenly your life was free

of so many of the things that tied you down

and you had never prayed.

What would the danger be

if only other people could be as great as me?

God loves you too much

to allow you to live a life filled with smug success

disconnected from him.

God loves you too much

to allow you to live a smug life of success

disconnected from him.

What could be worse

than to be incredibly successful and powerful

and far away from God?

God loves you too much.

God loves you too much.

God loves you too much.

God loves you too much.

God loves you too much.

God loves you too much.

God loves you too much.

What does it gain a man

to have the whole world

and forfeit his soul?

And so what do we do

as Christians in 2022

at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church?

The disciples set a negative example

for us to flip it to the positive.

We cry out to God in prayer

knowing that he has set up the world

in such a way

that that is how we access

his blessings and his power.

And when we see him answer,

those blessings do not lead to pride.

They lead to praise.

When God answers,

his blessings for us

lead to praise, not to pride.

Because when we prayed,

we made it safe.

We said, look,

we know that if and when this happens,

it is not because we are great

and glorious and powerful,

but because God is.

That is why God has set up the world

that his blessings come through our prayers.

Success without prayer leads to pride.

Success with prayer leads to praise.

God wants us to trust him

and praise him more than anything else.

That is why the disciples were unable to heal.

What do you need done

that you thought you could do on your own?

What blessings and power from God

did you think you can generate by yourself,

but instead you need to pray about?

God invites his people to come to him

and bring their requests.

And he delights to pour out his blessings.

We're going back to the 101 of the Gospel of Mark.

Remember I told you so many times,

neediness is the price of admission.

And the way God's people show their need

is by coming to him in prayer.

We've seen the disciples here,

they trust too much in themselves.

But our main character in this passage

is actually this father of this son,

this boy who has too little trust in Jesus.

If you look with me at verse 22,

you notice he is low on confidence.

We've heard about how traumatic it is

for this child and the things that he's experienced.

And this father says to Jesus,

but if you can do anything,

have compassion on us and help us.

Now the word, problematic word for him there is if.

He stands in contrast to the Syrophoenician woman

we saw in Mark chapter six.

Remember, Jesus tells people

that she is a woman of great faith.

Why was her faith so great?

Because she believed that Jesus could.

That's why she said,

even the dogs get to eat the crumbs

from under the table, right?

She keeps pushing because she knows

the character of Jesus' power.

One aspect of faith

is our level of confidence in God's power.

One aspect of faith

is whether we really truly believe

that God can do what he says he can do.

This man fails to meet that mark.

He says, if.

If you can do this,

maybe have some compassion on us.

And so perhaps he believes more

in Jesus' compassion than his power.

That helps us understand

Jesus' statement here in verse 23.

Jesus is understandably upset.

He repeats these words,

if you can,

all things are possible

for one who believes.

In other words,

what's standing between you

and this healing

has nothing to do

with the limits of my power

because they have none.

What is standing between you

and this healing

is whether you believe

that I am the king of the world

because everything is possible

for one who believes.

Now we have to talk for a minute

about this promise.

We could potentially put this

under the category

of hard sayings of Jesus

and it could be easily used

or abused, I should say,

to shame people.

We might say,

well, Jesus makes this promise

that if you have enough faith,

anything's possible.

So clearly,

X has not happened in your life

and so your faith is failing.

Problem is,

that actually changes some words

in this verse.

Verse 23

doesn't say God will do everything.

He says that he can.

Okay?

All things are possible.

The point is not

that your wildest dreams

will come true

if you believe hard enough.

The point is that

nothing is too great for God.

The point is not

that your wildest dreams

will come true

if your faith is great enough.

The point is that

nothing is too great for God.

There is a difference

between a can't and a won't.

Jesus is telling this man,

if your son is not healed,

it's not because I can't.

Don't use that word if.

It would only be because I won't.

There is nothing too great

for my power.

It does say

all things are possible.

It does not say

all things will happen.

walk away from this verse

knowing that God

is powerful enough,

not that your faith

controls the universe.

Be comforted by the fact

that if God says no

to your request,

it's because he's decided

it's not best,

not because he's not powerful enough.

all things

are possible

for the one who believes.

In fact,

James chapter 4

James 4 · chapter mention

also talks about this.

I quoted it earlier.

He says,

you do not have

because you do not ask.

And then he goes on to say,

you ask and do not receive

because you ask wrongly

to spend it on your passions.

God doesn't answer

every prayer

just because you have

enough faith.

faith and faith

through prayer

is the way

we access

God's blessings

and his power.

So this passage

raises a question for us.

What if we are like

this father?

What if we're like

the disciples?

And maybe we have

too much confidence

in ourselves

or not enough

in God.

What do we do

with our prayerlessness?

How do we walk away

from our lack of faith?

Well, thankfully,

this father,

as much as he's

a negative model,

is also a positive one.

When he understands

what Jesus is saying,

that his doubt

is getting in the way,

he immediately repents.

Verse 24,

immediately the father

of the child

cried out and said,

I believe,

help my unbelief.

Which is a way of saying,

I want to want it.

I want to believe this.

And I know

I can't change myself.

Remember,

I've told you before

that one way

to summarize the gospel

is this.

I know that I need

to change

on the one hand.

And I also know

on the other hand

that I am incapable,

I am powerless

of changing myself.

And so what is the answer

in the midst of that?

It's the one

that this man gives

that resolves

that tension.

I need God

to come

with his supernatural work

to soften

and change my heart.

I cannot stir up

enough faith

in my own life.

I cannot melt

my own heart

and make it change

from a heart of stone

to a heart of flesh.

No, the only hope

for me

is that a power

from the outside

would come and help.

And so the point

is this,

faith is a supernatural

gift and work.

Faith is something

that God must work

within us.

And so the solution

fits the problem.

We become dependent

on God

by becoming

dependent on God.

We become dependent

on God

by saying

how helpless

we are.

We do not become

dependent on God

by becoming

more disciplined

and self-controlled.

We do not

become dependent

on God

by becoming

more rigorous

in the way

that we live

our lives.

No, what this passage

is telling us

is that we will

never have enough

power to do that.

We become dependent

by admitting

that we need God

to make us

dependent.

We receive help

by asking

for help.

And so this man

for us

reveals one of the

greatest spiritual

secrets

of the Christian

life.

do you find

yourself

prayerless

with no desire

to talk to God?

Pray

that you would

want to pray.

Pray to God

that you would

want to pray.

That's not to say

that all sorts

of other methods

or journals

or systems

are unhelpful.

that's to say

that they are

a handmaiden

to the main

thing that must

happen which is

that God is at work

changing your heart

and your life.

Do you find

yourself not

wanting to obey?

Pray that you

would want to obey.

Recognize you have

no hope

outside of God

and his work.

do you find

yourself struggling

with Christianity

as you think

about it

if you're

completely honest

you have

doubts

and questions

and objections.

Pray

that God

would lead you

to the answers

you need.

Pray that God

would help you

in the midst

of your doubt.

There's a

fundamental

recognition

that we cannot

change our

own hearts

and God

can.

Do you

not have

enough faith?

All you have

to do is

ask God

to give you

more faith.

Are you

too independent

like the

disciples?

All you have

to do is

ask God

to make you

more dependent.

Do you

lack faith

like this

father?

All you have

to do is

ask God

to give you

new faith.

The good

news of the

gospel is

this,

that great

faith does

not come

from more

self-discipline.

Faith comes

to those

who ask God

for help.

People of

great faith

are needy

people.

People of

great faith

are people

who like

this man

who say,

I can't

change

and I need

God to

change

me.

No matter

what you

face in

this life,

you are

in desperate

need of

God's

help.

And he's

waiting for

you to

ask.

He's waiting

for you to

ask for

his power.

Finally,

this passage

tells us the

exact type

of power

that we're

believing in.

In verses 26

and 27,

Jesus honors

this man's

small,

mustard seed

size faith

and heals

his son.

And we're

told,

verse 26,

the boy was

like a corpse

so that most

of them said,

he is dead.

Verse 27,

Jesus took

him by the

hand,

lifted him

up,

and he arose.

There's a

picture here,

a foreshadowing

of resurrection

power.

The kind

of power

that we're

hoping in

and looking

towards and

praying for

is a

raise the

dead kind

of power.

It is

Ephesians 1

kind of power

which tells us

that the

very same

power that

raised Jesus

Christ from

the dead

is the

power that

is work

in us.

That is

what gives

us hope

and confidence

as we ask

God for

his help.

Now there's

another discussion

in the Gospel

of Mark

about prayers

and what

is possible

for God.

This one

shows up

in Mark

Mark 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14

as Jesus

is facing

his death

and he

decides that

he is going

to pray

to God.

This is

verse 35,

and going a

little farther

he fell on

the ground

and prayed

that if it

were possible

the hour

might pass

from him.

and he

said,

Abba

Father,

all things

are possible

for you.

Remove

this cup

from me,

yet not

what I

will,

but what

you will.

Jesus,

like a great

teacher,

remembers the

things that

he has

taught.

He knows

all things

are possible.

And yet,

how does he

end it?

Not your

will,

not my

will,

but your

will be done.

That word

possible,

by the way,

is the

exact same

Greek word

that is here

in chapter

nine.

Jesus does

not forget

this exchange,

but instead

he draws

back on it

as he

faces the

cross and

is reminded

that ultimately

it is God

and his

will that

prevails in

the midst

of his

power.

And so

we can

cry out

to God

in prayer

with confidence

and hope

because

God

says yes

to our

prayers

because he

said no

to Jesus'

prayer.

God

can say yes

to our

prayers

because he

said no

to Jesus'

prayer.

Jesus

trusted the

will of

the Father

and went

to death.

We

cry out

to God

knowing

that we

will live.

in his

book

Just Mercy

the

lawyer

Brian

Stevenson

tells

the story

of a

man named

Walter

McMillan

who

in

1988

was

wrongly

convicted

of a

murder

in

Alabama

from

1986.

It was

a

murder

of a

college

student

named

Rhonda

Morrison

and it

happened

in

Monroeville

Alabama

and what

had

happened

is that

the

police

had

brought

forth

false

testimony

to frame

Walter

and so

he was

eventually

convicted

of

capital

murder

but what

Brian

was able

to do

was uncover

new evidence

that revealed

that the

witnesses

in this

situation

had outright

lied

especially

the key

witness

who he

convinced

to appear

in court

and confessed

that his

testimony

the first

time around

was incorrect.

Now much

of this

was because

racism

was alive

and well

in the

1980s

in Birmingham

Alabama

and so

as the

second

hearing

came around

the place

where they

were going

to present

new evidence

there were

members of

the African

American

community

who wanted

to come

and support

Walter

to show

that they

stood with

him as

they tried

to overturn

this conviction.

Now the

second day

of the

hearing

something

mysterious

happened

the black

supporters

were not

able to

get seated

until many

of the white

supporters had

already sat

down and so

there were not

many seats

left for them

and so they

had to start

picking who

among us

is going

to be

chosen

to go

sit in

this

balcony

and support

Walter.

One woman

who was picked

was Mrs.

Williams

and she

was an

old revered

member of

the community

and so she

began to

enter the

courtroom

except one

thing had

changed between

day one

and day two.

Day one

of the court

hearing it was

just a normal

courtroom

nothing to

notice.

Day two

they'd installed

this metal

detector and

they'd brought

in a German

shepherd to

sniff everyone

as they

entered the

room.

Well as she

looked at this

German shepherd

Mrs. Williams

was reminded

of her time

in 1965

when she

walked in

Selma for

voting rights

and it

brought back

her memories

of dogs

being set

on them

German

shepherds

specifically

and so she

froze in that

moment was not

able to make

her way into

the courtroom

and so she

went back

she was filled

with shame

and disappointment

in herself

and her family

tells the story

of that night

she went

back to

her house

and she

stayed up

all night

praying.

The next

morning she

returned with

her family in

the car and on

the whole drive

back she just

kept repeating

this prayer

Lord I can't

be afraid of

no dog.

Lord I can't

be afraid of

no dog.

That was her

prayer over and

over during the

night and in

the morning and

so then that

next day she

walks into the

courtroom and she

just says over

and over to

herself I

can't be afraid

of no dog.

I can't be

afraid of no

dog.

And so she

walks past this

German shepherd to

sit in this area

so that she can

support Walter as

they try to

overturn this

unjust sentence.

And then when

she makes it out

she yells so

that everyone can

hear I am

here.

She models for

us the life of

faith because she

is shaking with

fear on the one

hand and she's

filled with faith

on the other.

And how does she

close that gap?

She closes it by

crying out for

God's help and

his mercy.

She knows that by

herself she has

no hope of

entering that

courtroom.

She has no hope

of standing for

justice and yet she

knows that God

will meet her in

that moment.

Here's what I

know to be true

and yet I'm

tripped up by my

human weakness

and frailty.

I am afraid.

Help my fear.

And it's with that

that she's able to

walk in and

declare to everyone

that she is

present.

Brothers and

sisters the same

is true for us.

We rely on God's

power in prayer

not our own.

Lord I believe.

Help my

unbelief.

Let's pray.

Our Father in

heaven we thank

you that you

don't ask us to

jump through

higher hoops

to make better

test scores on

our faith but

you tell us the

truth that we're

helpless and

needy and you

delight to answer

our request for

that help.

We ask this

morning that you

would give us

both humility and

confidence.

We'd be humble in

knowing that we are

helpless without you

and we'd be

confident in

knowing that you

hear and answer

our prayers.

We ask these

things in the

mighty name of

Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I invite you to

stand for our

closing hymn.

my health has found

a resting place

not in device

or greed

I trust the

ever living

one

his wounds

for me

shall breathe

I need no

other argument

I need no

other plea

it is enough

that Jesus

died

and that he

died for

me

I need

enough

that Jesus

saved

this is my

fears and

doubt

a sinful

soul

I come

to him

he'll never

cast me

out

I need

no other

arguments

I need

no other

plea

it is

enough

that Jesus

died

and that

he died

for me

heart

heart is

leaning

on the word

the written

word

of God

salvation

by my

savior's name

salvation

through

his blood

I need

no other

argument

I need

no other

plea

it is

enough

that

Jesus

died

and that

he died

for

me

my

great

physician

heals

the sick

the lost

he came

to save

for me

his precious

blood

he shed

for me

his life

he gave

I need

no other

argument

I need

no other

plea

it is

enough

that

Jesus

died

and that

he died

for me

we end

our time

together with

a benediction

and a benediction

is simply a good

word from God

it is a word

that is true

in a world

filled with words

that are not true

and so hear now

God's good word

over you

from Numbers

Numbers 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

the Lord

bless you

and keep you

the Lord

make his face

to shine upon you

and be gracious

to you

the Lord

lift up his

countenance upon you

and give you peace

now and forever

so go now

in the grace and peace

of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ

amen

forども

up to the langdon

live

fall

to whom

to you

and vive

to have

们

vind

of

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and

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with

the

number

and

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at

Seite

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Christ

hu

Thank you.