Posted by: pastorapbell | March 24, 2010

Words to live by for Wednesday 24th March 2010 as we look beyond the cross from another angle

It was almost time for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover Feast. The leading priests and teachers of the law were trying to find a way to kill Jesus, because they were afraid of the people. Satan entered Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. Judas went to the leading priests and some of the soldiers who guarded the Temple and talked to them about a way to hand Jesus over to them. They were pleased and agreed to give Judas money. He agreed and watched for the best time to hand Jesus over to them when he was away from the crowd (Luke 22:1-6).

From Luke’s perspective, Jesus’ journey towards the cross is definitely a conspiracy between the Jews (Pharisees, Sadducees and Zealots) and others to kill him. He is the servant king who was foretold by the prophet Isaiah in his writing about 800 years before his birth. Isaiah 53:3 tells us that he would be ‘despised and rejected by others, a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces, he was despised and we held him of no account’ (NRSV).

So for Luke, Jesus’ journey towards the cross is punctuated with him demonstrating his authority, power and humility and preparing his followers for his impending departure. We are told in 22:3 that Satan entered into Judas who betrayed him. We are not told the reason for Judas’ betrayal, all we are told that he was part of the conspiracy.

 Jesus is presented not as someone who is aloof and going about his business as usual, but as someone with a limited amount of time to make the final preparations before the fulfilment of his destiny. Luke records Jesus as saying ‘I have eagerly desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer’ v.15. and so in the final days of his life, he instituted what we call the Lord’s supper or the Eucharist, gave Peter a reality check (31-34), pointed his followers back to the prophecy of Isaiah (v.37) and demonstrated to them the power and necessity of prayer (v.39-46).

The hope we have in Jesus is presented fully in Luke’s second book, the Acts of the Apostles. Here he uses the foundation of the completed work of the cross described in his gospel to propel us as believers beyond the cross to the power that is in the name and the blood of Jesus.

Today, remember that whether the death of Jesus was as a result of a conspiracy or not, the fact is he died to conquer death so that all of us who accept him as our saviour and Lord can live.

If you have not met this Jesus of the cross, pray this simple prayer: Dear Jesus I believe that you died on the cross for my wrong doing, I also believe that you rose from the grave and that you are coming again someday. I commit my life to you from today, in your name Lord, amen.

Read Luke 22

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 23, 2010

Words to live by for Tuesday 23rd March 2010 as we see beyond the cross and look to Jesus

 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
   “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
   “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
   “Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:6-9 NIV)

As we look towards the cross and the brutality that it represents, we thank God that we can now look beyond it because of what Jesus did. The New Testament writers give slightly differing views of how this happened.  For Matthew, who we are told was writing for a predominantly Jewish audience, Jesus is presented as a driven purposeful man on a mission. Most Jewish people believe they are special and they have a highly developed sense of what it is to be human. Although Jesus was a Jewish man, his task was to enable the whole of humanity to understand what to be fully human is. So rather than focus on his Jewishness, his focus was on the cross and on the rest of humanity, including you and me.

This mission would be perfected at the cross where the great transaction would be accomplished. Matthew’s perspective is wonderfully refreshing, consider the following; while Jesus is on his way to the cross Matthew records him still performing miracles, 20:29-34; still telling parables 21:38-46 and still confronting the hypocrisies of the Scribes and Pharisees, 21:15-22 & 23:1-36. At no time is he presented as someone who was unaware of his impending fate. Nor does he shrink away from the responsibility.  He knew he had the sin of the whole world on his shoulders and fulfilled his task. This was to bring the glory of God back to humanity so that the father’s will be done on Earth as it was done in heaven.

As we reflect on the hope that the cross brings lets us reflect on a the chorus from the song, crucified by Lenny LeBlanc: Crucified Laid behind a stone, You lived to die, Rejected and alone, Like a rose Trampled on the ground You took the fall And thought of me Above all.

He took the fall and thought of me above all so that today once I put my hope in Jesus, I too can live a purposeful and driven life. What sort of things or people do you put your hope in?

Pray with me, ‘dear Jesus thank you for dying in my place so that I can live, in your name, amen’.

Read the scriptures cited; Matthew 20:29-34; 21:15-22; 38-46; & 23:1-36.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 22, 2010

Words to live by for Monday 22nd March 2010 as we look towards the cross and focus on hope

Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:17-19).

As we have been concentrating on gifts and seeds let us take a look at life from the perspective of those who are secure in the hope that they possess. From our passage we recognise that Jesus knew what his purpose was and he knew he had to fulfil it. However, it must have been a daunting task, knowing that within a week or so the very people who were hailing you as their king would be baying for your blood and shouting obscenities at you. Jesus knew and understood the fickleness of the human spirit. One minute they are with you and the next they are against you. As we read further in the passage we see that even in the midst of such a daunting situation of facing the gruesome death by asphyxiation, many people were still only thinking about themselves. So we read in v.20 that the mother of James and John came to Jesus to ask if her sons could get a prime place in the hereafter! I don’t know about you but have you ever been in a situation when you are alerting someone about some important facts and all they do is keep focusing on their own personal agenda.

Well I once went on a Job with trainee engineer trying to teach him how to upgrade a server for a hotel group our company were working with. We had to be as efficient as possible to minimise their down time. Whilst going through the upgrade procedure and expecting the trainee to be taking notes and avidly watching what I was doing, I heard to my disbelief him exclaiming about the beauty of the birds he was watching through the windows. He had totally missed the point. Needless to say that he seldom came with me again. Like the mother of James and John, they had the hope that Jesus would rise again from death, but were oblivious about the trauma he was facing. Without hope it is impossible to continue with life. Jesus had the hope and the faith that he would be raised from the dead, therefore the cross was not his final epitaph. We must also develop the sort of hope that does not result in us being selfish in the way we operate.

Today when you have the tendency to be down, start to sing or recite out loud a Psalm, this has the impact of lifting your spirit and giving you the hope to know that your future will be greater than your past. Jesus looked to the cross knowing that the God who brought him to the cross with see him through it. Similarly we must believe that the same God who is taking you to your trial will see you through it.

Read Matthew 21:1-11; Matthew 26:47-56.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 21, 2010

Words to live by for Sunday 21st March 2010 as we prepare the ground of our harvest

And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest (Luke 10:2 NAS).

For us to produce a harvest of good fruit, the soil that the seed is sown into must be able to provide the relevant nutrients, heat, light and so on to enable the dead seed to burst forth and reproduce. These parables that Jesus taught us are intended for us to get ourselves right so that can demonstrate His power among those who we come into contact with.

We are told elsewhere is scripture that as long as the earth remains there will be seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter and day and night (Gen 8:22). We are therefore reminded that there will always be sowing and reaping.  These allegories are intended to get us to live lives that are commensurate with the kingdom values that Jesus taught us.  The problem we have today is this: many people still do not understand the parables and take them literally and miss the point.  The point is this; our bodies are the ground into which the first seed must be sown. This is the seed from the fruit of the Spirit. This seed is called love.

We will never produce a harvest if the following conditions are not in operation:

  1. We are planted in the right soil. We all need to be in a place where we are receiving the right nourishment. We must be a Psalm 1 individual and be planted somewhere.
  2. We are under authority. Everyone must be accountable to someone! There must be people who can tell us we are wrong or that we are going down the wrong road.
  3. We are teachable; if we are not teachable and we know it all, we will never develop our minds to receive what God intended for us in the first place.
  4. We enlist in the army of Jesus.  We are called to fight the good fight of faith.  That is, we make decisions that are guided by the word. Therefore we need to know and understand the word of God so that we can dissect it and apply it to our lives.

Let me assess what this mean to me and my family in the busyness of life.

I need to reassess my life pattern and ask myself, why do I do what I do? And also why do I believe what I believe?

Jesus told us that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few (Luke 10:2). Before we can go are reap the harvest out there let us get the right seed in our own soil. Ask the lord of the harvest to show you where weeds are growing so that you can uproot them. Weeds will inevitably be there but once they are recognised get rid of them. Get the soil right and the harvest will be great.

This year 2010 is the season for producing good fruit. Get out your pruning knife and all the other implements that can cut back the weeds of deceit, lies and complacency and get ready for your harvest.

Read and meditate on 1Samuel 3:11 and wait to welcome your harvest by the end of the year!

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 20, 2010

Words to live by for Saturday 20th March 2010 as we consider how the perfect fruit of the Spirit can live and operate in an imperfect body!

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing (1Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV).

All the gifts that we possess and all the talent we demonstrate are made redundant and futile if we do not have, use and develop the fruit of the spirit, love! This fruit does not belong to us. It is loaned to us so that we can develop into fully fledged human beings who reflect the Imago Deo (Image of God). The fruit is the fruit of the Spirit and the Spirit is God. He is not an active force, but is the Spirit of God who moved over the empty void at the dawn of creation (Genesis 1:1). So what does the Holy Spirit do and how does he do it?

 The early translators of the original biblical text used the term Holy Ghost to describe him.  This gave people the notion that he was like a ghoul who could be conjured up by those who had been initiated. Some even went as far as to say that he was a force that could be controlled and turned on and off at will. Other totally ignored him and either concentrated on the Father (Theology, which is the study of the word of God, which predominantly is about the father) or the son (Christology, where the focus is on Jesus). The Spirit was largely rejected until after the reformation, towards the end of the middle ages.  At this time people began to want to know more about this shy rather silent member of the Godhead. People like John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, Charles Parnham who is accredited as one of the pioneer in the holiness movement of the late 1800,  And the William J Seymour who led the Azusa Street revival in 1906 which spread Pentecostalism around the world.

 They believed that the Spirit still had power to reveal truths about Jesus; perform supernatural events and bring glory to the Father. He is the essence of love and since He raised Jesus from the dead then he must be treated with respect.

 Our quoted text highlights why we need a balanced view about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  We can concentrate on one to the detriment of the other. So let us be like the angelic beings of Isaiah 6 and always cry Holy, Holy, Holy. To the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!

 Today ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to love like Jesus so that He can work through you to bring Healing, Deliverance and Restoration to your communities.

 Read 1Corinthians 13 and express true love!

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 19, 2010

Words to live by for Friday 19th March 2010 as we zoom in on the perfect fruit!

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:16-17, 22-23 ESV).

If we take seriously the fact that the fruit we bear is determined by the seed we sow, then the onus is on us to ensure that what we actually sow and therefore produce, is of the Spirit of God. In our passage today, the apostle Paul was addressing the problem of the Christians from Galatia going back to legalism and insisting that those who profess Christ must be circumcised before they can become Christians or followers of Jesus. So to head them off, as it were, he wrote this letter to clarify a few things. The first is this: if we are to be true followers of Christ, we must of necessity be people of the Spirit, since it is the Spirit who brings conviction to us in the first place and it is He who reveals the truth about who Jesus is to us. The second is that we ought to bear fruit that is consistent with the Spirit. If we fail to do either of these then we are reverting back to our carnal or fleshly way of life.

The second part of the text makes a very important point that many people fail to understand. That is the fruit of the Spirit. We can be very cleaver now any suggest that there are nine (9) fruit(s) of the Spirit. However, the Greek word for fruit is karpos which is singular and as translated correctly states the “fruit” of the Spirit! So when you hear people talking about the nine fruits of the Spirit they are quoting the scripture wrongly and reading the text incorrectly. So what does the writer mean and what is the fruit of the Spirit?

To answer this question we must allow scripture to be the final arbiter and provide the evidence we need to acquit the apostle Paul. Firstly scripture states the God is love (1 John 4:8) and that God lives in us (St John 14:23). So if God is love and he lives in us, then it is he who is helping us to bear fruit from the love that is deposited in our spirit. Secondly scripture states that God proved his love for us because ‘while we were still sinners Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8) and gave up his only son for us so that we might have eternal life ( St John 3:16). This fruit of the spirit then is LOVE [Life Of Victory Enshrined] in Jesus Christ. This fruit of the Spirit is placed in us as LOVE to help us develop: – joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are internal attributes that only you individually can allow to grow. No one can force you to be joyful or to be a peacemaker or to be kind and so on. It is up to you, also there are no legal restrictions to you possessing these attributes.

So today, let everything you do be predicated by love and everything you say be seasoned with love and allow it to flow out of you in abundance.

Read 1 John 3

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 18, 2010

Words to live by for Thursday 18th March 2010 as we reproduce good fruit from the seed we were given

 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions (Matthew 7:15-20 NLT).

We recognise that a received seed must be planted in good soil to produce its fruit. However, the fruit produced will be dependent on several things, namely; what sorts of nutrients are latent in or added to the soil? What is the level of irrigation, how much water does it receive? And how often is the ground worked?

From our previous conversations we know that gifts are given so that we can grow and the purpose for our growth is to produce a harvest of good fruit. When we are given a gift, we have a choice as to how we use it. Jesus tells us that the ‘sower’ sows and the extent to which the seed grows is dependent on the soil on or into which it lands. If we are sensible and serious about growing and producing good fruit, we will seek advice about how to get the best return from our seed.

From our text Jesus tells us that the fruit is indicative of the seed that was sown. Let us look at an example to highlight this fact. Say you were given the gift of knowledge. This means that you have the ability to gather and retain information. Your seed then is the knowledge you are given or the information you take in. If however, your mindset has not been transformed (Romans 12:2) and you are full of the spirit of pride and envy, then you may use the information gained to operate in an underhanded way. And cause more confusion than good. The gift that you have been given is still with you but the use to which you put it is personal rather than corporate. That is, you are out for personal gain rather than the furtherance of the kingdom. Similarly, if the gift given was prophecy, and you have the ability to reveal secrets about an individual and you lack wisdom, again you could be acting for selfish reasons rather then in a way that will build and advance the kingdom of God, see Acts 19:11-16. So although the seed was good, because of the lack of nutrient in the soil, a lack of water and the fact that the soil is left dormant, the tree becomes bad. And the fruit produced is bad.

For this reason we are told that we should not believe every spirit, but rather we should try the spirit (1john 4:1), because many false prophets and teachers are about. And you will only know them by their fruit. Sometimes it is only after we have eaten the fruit or have been duped that we recognise that the fruit was bad.

So today let me encourage you, don’t get information only but get understanding and wisdom. Many people will tell you to do this and do that but before you do this or that have a look at their track record and notice what they have done. Would you listen to an investor who is often bankrupt, or take advice about sustaining your marriage from a divorcee? Identify the tree and act accordingly! Read 1John 4 & St John 15

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 17, 2010

Words to live by for Wednesday 17th March 2010 as we categorise our gifts

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve the same Lord, and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do (1Corinthians 12:4-6 CEV).

The gifts listed in this passage roughly falls into three categories. There are the cerebral gifts which are predicated on knowledge and wisdom. They are ‘words of wisdom’ which are supernaturally revealed to an individual from God which may or may not be revealed. As the definition of wisdom is the sensible use of knowledge then an individual given a word of wisdom must determine when to release it.  Knowledge is facts that are revealed to an individual and again may or may not be shared. And finally in this category we have discernment of spirits. This is a supernatural ability to know what is of God and what is from the devil.  These supernatural cerebral gifts of knowledge are given to an individual to build up and edify those who put their trust in Jesus.

The next category is the gifts of utterances or the intuitive gifts. These are spoken at a particular time. The speaker may not remember them but the recipient will mark this moment as a turning point in their lives. They include prophecy, which is the ability to receive messages from God to edify, comfort and direct the body of Christ. And speaking in other tongues, which is a sign that you have been baptised by Jesus with or in the Holy Spirit. The technical term for this is Glossolalia. And finally there is the interpreting of tongues which is the supernatural ability to interpret a tongue and edify the body of Christ about what God is saying through the utterances.

The final category is the power or demonstrable gifts which include:- Healing, which is the ability to bring supernatural release of pain and suffering to an individual. This can be the physical healing of the body or the metaphysical healing of the soul [mind, will and emotion] of the individual.  The second is the working of miracles, these are supernatural acts performed by the Holy Spirit of God; such as the raising of the dead, opening of blinded eyes and so on. And finally there is the gift of faith; this is the belief in God for the impossible, irrespective of the prevailing conditions.

The gifts from God are not restricted to these nine listed here. Others listed in Romans 12 include acts of Mercy, Giving, Teaching and so on.

So today understand that all of us have gifts which can be placed in a particular category, but even if you don’t understand the gifting inside you yet, ask Jesus to reveal it to you.

Read 1Corinthians 12

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 16, 2010

Word to live by for Tuesday 16th March 2010 as we allow our gift to grow!

“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Matthew 18:15-17 NIV).

One of the surest ways to stunt your growth and become a stumbling block in the church of God is to be envious of others and their gifting rather than developing yours. As we saw yesterday a building can never stand the test of time if its foundations are not properly laid.  A classic example of this is the recent earthquake in Haiti.  Our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters in Haiti; however the devastation that we saw was created many years before.  Haiti was the first Caribbean country to obtain autonomy when they defeated France in 1791. Because of this humiliating defeat, France along with the USA, who won their independence 50 years earlier, and who are now in Haiti ‘fronting the rescue mission’ decided not to trade with the Haitians. This decision hurt this fledging nation who had just shaken of the shackles of slavery after 10 years of battle with France for independence.  To become part of the international League of Nations they had to appeal to France to recognise them as a nation state, but France refused this request.  On Haiti’s 21st birthday as an independent state they were recognised by France with the support of the USA. They were a bankrupt state, surviving for 21 years in poverty. To join the world economy France insisted that they pay compensation for the money lost due to their independence for the 21 years. They were on their knees, so they agreed.  They were told to pay 150 million gold francs, which they paid from 1825 and finished paying in 1922. This amounted to 70% of their national income.

Haiti was destroyed by the two most powerful nations in the world. The effect of this is that the buildings whose foundations were not properly laid crumbled when the earthquake came in January 2010, this year. 

Envy caused the Haitians to be crippled at birth. They were the jewel in the Caribbean in the 18th century now they are one of the poorest nations on the planet in the 21st century. Contrary to what Pat Robertson says about them making a pact with the devil, they were destined to fail when economic stumbling blocks were placed before them by USA and France.

Today as we reflect on how we allow the fruit of the Spirit to grow in us and also what it is to be human, let us pray for and remind France and America that none of us can take the moral high ground.  We have all sinned and come short of God’s grace, therefore let us remove all stumbling blocks from our neighbours so that their gifts may develop. Pray for Haiti and all their people who are struggling to come to terms with the calamity that they face. Let us call for USA and France to rebuild their country in light of the wealth that they plundered from them in the past.

Let us pray that people like Pat Robertson who are TV presenters and influential right wing politicians get their facts right and stop making gross assumptions.

 As we develop our gifts please ensure that they are predicated by love, and let humility be the cornerstone of our character.

 Read Matthew 18:6-20.

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Posted by: pastorapbell | March 15, 2010

Words to live by for Monday 15th March 2010 as we learn to use our gifts properly!

1Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 2For anyone who speaks in a tongue[a] does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.[b] 3But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. (1Corinthians 14:1-3; 33 NIV).

The spiritual gifts we are given are meant to edify us for us to build up each other. However, as we glean from our passage, lack of understanding may cause them to be used for the wrong purposes which will lead to confusion. Look at it this way.  When a house is being built, all the building material needs to be procured before the project begins. Having all the material though does not necessitate that the building will be built and that it will withstand the elements.  There are crucial steps that need to be in place before the walls, ceilings and roof can be put in place. For a house, the most important part of the building is the foundation.  Although this is the most important part of the building, it is invisible to those who will come and admire the beauty of the building once complete. Different buildings require different foundations. So for example; for a two storey house, you may have to dig a foundation of 2 metres whereas for a sky scraper you may required to dig down a full 10 or more metres. If the foundation is not right then at the first hint of bad weather, the building will be in danger.

 When we compare the physical with the spiritual, we see that there are similarities. For us to grow into a spiritual building we need to have the following:

a. A good foundation that is not visibly but has deep roots and these roots must be in the word. Psalm 1 reminds us that we need to be planted where the streams are flowing. Notice that a flowing streams sustain life, whereas in a stagnant stream all sort of deadly insects such as mosquito’s breed.

b. Every part of the building must be held together. This is done with cement or mortar.  In the spiritual house it is done with love.  If our walk towards and with God is not predicated by love then we may do the right things for the wrong reasons.

c. Order, every new building must be build according to the same specification. Each building is different but they are build using the same principles, materials and in the same order. For our spiritual house, each individual must have Jesus as their foundation stone, and then we must desire spiritual gifts, and particularly prophecy.  Why prophecy? I believe that since prophecy is revelation from God to us, we need to know what God is saying to us now!

 If our spiritual house is not built properly, we will have confusion and our text clearly tells us that God is not the author of confusion.  So today if the foundation was not laid properly in the first place, knock down the house and dig again [this is done through repentance and confession]. Remember LOVE is the all important ingredient.

 Read 1Corinthians 14:26-40 13:1-13.

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