Verse 1- “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Verses 7-8 – “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8. And Stephen, full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people.” After the ascension of Jesus, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, great things were happening among the Christians in Jerusalem. In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, three-thousand people were added to the church. This made a total of 3,120 Christians. People continued to be added to the church, in spite of the fact that Jewish authorities tried to put a stop to it. What the devil could not do through persecution, he tried to do through internal church problems. (See, church problems did not start with us. lol) The verses between Acts 6:1 and 7-8 tell of a problem that arose between the Greek widows and the Jewish widows. The Greek widows in the church accused the apostles of neglecting them in the daily administration of the food, and that they favored the Jewish widows. This caused a great stir and was leading to a rift in the church. As a result seven godly men were chosen to oversee the distribution. What happened after this trouble is interesting, and we can learn from it. They dealt with the situation in a mature manner and solved the problem. With the problem solved revival broke out. What happened after the trouble? “The word of God increased.” This meant that the devil’s attempt to stifle God’s word did not work and the church got back to the word of God and began to take it more seriously. It means that Christians talked about the word of God wherever they were – at home, at work, in the streets and in worship services. This is how the word of God spreads. When we are not waylaid by a silly problem, we can get the word of God to people. The word of God is not just a “church thing.” We do not just deal with the word in church programs like Sunday School and worship services. We need to live it and talk it each day. If the word of God had been just a “church thing," to these early Christians the word of God would not have increased. This is not to denigrate what we do in church, rather it is to see that we should spread what we do in church to the community at large. That’s what happened in Jerusalem after the trouble. These believers demonstrated Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick (alive) and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword." “The Number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem.” Today we would say that they evangelized Jerusalem. This evangelistic effort brought great dividends to the Jerusalem church, for “the number of disciples multiplied greatly.” When the church thwarted Satan’s efforts of division, caught on fire and began to take the word of God seriously and to share it with unbelievers, people began to take the church seriously. Doesn’t this tell us something? The work was so complete that even “a great company of priests were obedient to the faith." This would have been a difficult group to reach with the gospel, for they would have to give up their livelihood, and their standing in the community to become Christians. We think that there are people in our community who cannot be reached, but if we eschew the devil and get serious about our faith, nothing is impossible. The “Greek widow” problem could have been a devastating blow to the Jerusalem church. It was not devastating, because they dealt seriously with the problem, solved it and got on about the real business of the church. Do you get it? Bro. Joe
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“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
I think that this verse is etched on my memory banks and on my heart. I do not know how many times a day I quote it, because it is a great encouragement to me. I know that as I live my life and face all of the things that I have to face, that God is in all of the details of my life. I know it because this verse promises me that it is true. Two words that encourage me in this verse are “we know.” We can know that God is involved in all of the details of our lives. He is involved in our family’s lives. He is involved in the places where we work, shop, play, etc. He is involved in all of the relationships that we have in every aspect of our lives. I want this verse to encourage you as It is important to point out that “all things work together...” This means that God takes everything that occurs in our lives, both good and bad, and works them together. When we have to go through the various ailments that we have to endure in this life, we are not to blame God for the ailments, but we are to praise Him for being with us while we are going through them. This is what I mean by God’s working everything “together.” God gets blamed for a lot of our problems, when He did not cause them, but He did work in the situation to enable us to bear them. I am not one of those Christians who says that if we believe in Jesus we will never have to face difficult times. This word “together” means that even in difficult times God is with us. He is in the details. That brings us to the words “for good.” This means that as God works through the details of our lives, and as He observes all of the things that we do, in His grace and mercy He is bringing all of those things together for our good. I can truthfully say that this is true in my life, and I think that you can say the same thing if you are a believer in Jesus. Thist doesn’t mean that all of the details are good, but it does mean that somehow God will work it to our good. We do ourselves a terrible injustice when we underestimate the love that God has for us. God is working things “together for good” because He wants the best for us. We who are parents know the truth of this, because we feel the same way about our children and grandchildren. Who is it that God “works all things together for good” for? He works in all of the details of the lives of those who “love Him, and are called according to His purpose.” This does not mean that only preachers have this promise. All believers are “called according to His purpose.” We receive Christ as our Savior, in the first place, because we love Him, but also because we answered His call on our lives and His purpose became our purpose. What we need to do is to claim this promise and give God something to work with for good in the details of our lives. Grasp this truth and claim it for your life. Bro. Joe “And (Abraham) believed in the Lord, and it was granted unto him as righteousness.”
Genesis 15:6 is famously referred to in Galatians 3:6. Abraham is a central Bible character, because he became the father of the Jews. In fact, the whole Old Testament after Genesis 12 is a history of the descendants of Abraham. In fact Jews, Christians and Muslim claim Abraham as their ancestral father. We can learn a lot from this man of God. What I love about the Bible is that when it shows us the “heroes of the faith” it shows warts and all. When we read the account of Abraham we discover that when he obeyed God and went into Canaan, when a famine came he went to Egypt out of the will of God. While there he lied and called Sarai his wife his sister. He was half right because she was his half sister. Another example is his relationship with his wife’s handmaiden, Hagar. He was given permission by Sarai, but he didn’t have to do it. All of this, and other things, point out that the father of our faith was a human being like we are. But even considering all of that, the Bible shows us that he was a great man of God. Despite our humanness, we can be servants of God. To be sure, Abraham was forgiven for his sins, as we can. Genesis 15:6 and Galatians 3:6 tell us that Abraham was a man of faith. In Genesis 12:1ff, Abraham was called by God to leave his home in Ur and go to Canaan, which he eventually did after his father’s death in Haran. It took faith for Abraham to leave everything that he knew in his homeland to take a trip to a country that he had never seen, and would never claim as his own country. In Hebrews 11:8-10, we read this about Abraham: “By faith Abraham, when he was called go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and went out, not knowing where he went. 9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country; dwelling in tabernacles (tents) with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. 10. For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” This is the same Abraham that I wrote about in the first paragraph. I did not do that to put Abraham down; rather, I did it is to encourage you to see that no matter what you have done in the past, if you will turn to God and seek His forgiveness, He can use you. The only perfect person that ever lived on this earth was Jesus Christ – period. In Isaiah 41:8, Abraham was given a great compliment: “But you Israel, are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend.” If you go by that verse too quickly you will miss the compliment. God told His prophet, Isaiah, that Abraham was His friend. To be called anybody’s friend is a compliment, but when God calls you His friend that is more than a compliment, it is a cause for rejoicing. What made Abraham a friend of God? Among other things, when God called him to go to Canaan, He went. We call this obedience. It is important that we obey God in our lives. We need to obey Him in our daily lives in all of the little things that we do in life. We need to obey Him when He calls us to special service as He did Abraham. What if God called you to be a missionary in some foreign country? You might say, “Who me?” You are as qualified as Abraham was if God has called you to this special service. I hope you get my point here. God calls people to do what He knows they can do, and He qualifies them to do whatever it is that He has called them to do. The point is that even if Abraham had not been qualified to do as God told him to do, God would have qualified him to do it. Whatever service God calls us to, from the most menial service in the eyes of the world, to the most important, God qualifies us to do it and it is important because it is of God. Bro. Joe “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me bless His holy name. 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, forget not all His benefits: 3. Who forgives all our iniquities; who heals all of our diseases. 4. Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies. 5. Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.”
David began this psalm with praise for the Lord. He praised God with all of His heart – “all that is within me.” He praised God in gratitude for His holiness – “bless His holy name.” He praised the Lord in the light of all of the benefits of God. There are too many people in the world who think that becoming a Christian would take something out of their lives. They need to know that to the contrary, there will be multiple benefits from Him. With these benefits in mind, David warns us not to forget those benefits. If we aren’t careful we can get so tied up in the world that we do not think that we need His benefits. Nothing could be further from the truth. God’s benefits do not primarily satisfy physical needs but spiritual ones. What are these benefits? He forgives our sins. Specifically, David wrote that He “forgives all your iniquities.” Sin is our primary problem; therefore God’s forgiveness is our ultimate solution. Notice that God “forgives all of (our) iniquities.” His forgiveness leaves nothing out. People might think that they have been so sinful that they cannot be forgiven. This is not what this verse tells us, and it is what we read about in the entire Bible. Our God is a forgiving God. If you have asked for God’s forgiveness in faith, He has forgiven you; therefore, you do not need to feel guilty about it anymore. He heals our diseases. Again, we are told that he “heals all of (our) diseases.” You might be thinking that you had a disease, or an illness, of some kind and God did not heal it. You got well didn’t you, or are you still sick? God heals people directly in answer to their prayers, but He also heals us through medicine. I like to think that when I am healed it was the result of both. But if a doctor was involved in the healing, would we be wrong to give the Lord ultimate credit? But sometimes people die. For the believer, which is who this passage is about, his or her ultimate healing is to into eternity to place prepared by Jesus. Part of this The greatest benefit of God’s healing is spiritual. He “satisfies our desires with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle.” NIV This presupposes that our desires are in line with who He is and what He does in our lives. He brings good things into our lives and reinvigorates us with energy and joy. In Isaiah 40:33 we are given a similar promise: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and faint.” God loving kindness and tender mercies renews us body and soul. It is my prayer that you are enjoying the benefits of the Lord. If not, you can by putting your faith and trust in Him. Bro. Joe (The Couch Potato will be on Christmas vacation until Tuesday, December 26. Have a merry Christmas.)
“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son and thou shall call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” This is the angel’s announcement about the birth of Jesus. When the time was right Jesus can into a world that had great needs. The world is still in need, but Jesus will come into people’s lives and meet their needs. The first need that Jesus met then, and meets now, is the need for salvation. Since “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” all stand in need of the salvation that only Jesus can offer. The angel announced to Joseph “thou shall call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” The name “Jesus” itself means “one who saves” When people realize that their main problem is sin, they can confess to Jesus and He will forgive and save them. Lest we forget, this is the main message of Christmas.) The second need that Jesus came to meet is personal peace. People who lived in Jesus' day were living in a troubled world, controlled by the Roman Empire, and they did not have personal peace. The fact is that people are still troubled today and still need the peace that only Jesus can give. Jesus promised to give people His peace in John 16:33b: “I have said these things, you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, take heart; I have overcome the world.” This is really the truth and Jesus wants to give you peace in your life. What better time to get the peace that you need from Jesus, “the Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6) at the time of the celebration of His birth that we call “Christmas.” Claim His peace and have a merry Christmas. The third need that Jesus came to meet is the need of personal joy. Jesus promised to give us joy in John 15:11: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” He did not say that we would always be happy, but happiness is fleeting and the joy of Jesus is eternal. In fact the joy that I have in Jesus has rescued me in a lot of unhappy situations. This joy can be yours too. Reach out to Jesus and claim His joy and have a Merry Christmas. I will conclude with what you might have thought I would have begun with: Jesus came to fulfill the world's need for God’s love, grace and mercy. These are at the foundation of all that Jesus brings into our lives. Without God’s love, grace and mercy, we would be eternally without hope. The foundational Christmas passage in the New Testament is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in should not perish but have everlasting life. “Jesus loves (you) this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Bro. Joe “And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”
People celebrate Christmas in many different ways. It is viewed by many as a time for family and friends to get together. It is celebrated by the giving and receiving of gifts. It is celebrated, if that is the right word, by joining the crowds at the shopping malls across the country. I am not being critical here, because I enjoy some of these secular activities surrounding Christmas. But the coming of Christ into the world is not a secular event that is to be celebrated during one season of the year. If you know Christ as your Savior, it is a daily celebration of what He has done for you. I don’t mean to imply that I am the only “expert” on knowing how to really celebrate the Christ event, but I hope that you will find my thoughts enlightening, and that they will enable you have a merrier Christmas. We should celebrate Christmas in a spirit of thanksgiving for what God has done for us in Jesus. The angel announced to Joseph concerning the birth of Jesus: “And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Saving us from sin is the stated purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world. Jesus did many mighty works that inform us about His deity, but these mighty works were not the main purpose of His coming. He came to “save His people from their sins.” Jesus’ saving us from our sins has to do, not just for this life, but for all eternity. Since the Garden of Eden, sin has been what has been wrong with the world, and the Bible plainly tells us the story of the devastation of sin. Jesus is the answer to that devastation. We should celebrate Christmas in a true spirit of giving. Christmas is all about giving. John 3:16 tells us that, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” When the Magi visited the family of Jesus, we are told: “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” My guess is that this is where the idea of exchanging gifts at Christmas came from. What is a true spirit of giving? It is not a spirit of “getting.” It is the spirit of Jesus who said “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) We should celebrate Christmas in a genuine spirit of worship, adoration and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ for what His coming has meant to the world, and what His coming has meant to us. Again, we should emulate the Magi, who when they went into the house and saw the child Jesus with His mother Mary, “they fell down and worshipped Him.” All they knew about Jesus was what they had read. We know much more about Jesus, which is why we should certainly follow the Magi’s example and worship Him. Hopefully, you know what it means to know Jesus as your Savior. Hopefully, you know what it means to have a hope in this life that transcends anything that the world can give. Hopefully, you know what it means to experience His love on a daily basis. There are countless reasons to worship Him. As you celebrate Christmas this year, thank Jesus for His coming to save us from sin, give in the true spirit of giving that it is “more blessed to give than to receive," and worship Him for who and what He is in your life. Bro. Joe “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
My favorite Christmas narrative is the one found in Luke 2, where angels appear to shepherds and announce the birth of the Savior. You probably know the story as well as I. What I want to concentrate on in this post is the message that the angel gave to the shepherds. It is rich in meaning and was probably a great comfort to the shepherds, and should be for us as well. What was his message? It was a message about fear. I know that the angel was telling the shepherds not to be afraid of him, because he was bringing them good news. But the message “fear not” has a wider meaning for us as well. All of us have to deal with fear of some sort at some time or other. For example, I fear for the future for the sake of my children and grandchildren. I’m sure that my parents and grandparents experienced the same thing as I was growing up. But when I read “fear not” it says to me that I do not have to fear the future, because the God, who is at work now in Christ, will be at work in the future. It was a message about good news. Specifically, the angel said: “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings…” A more modern translation that is: “I bring you good news.” In other words, the angel was announcing the gospel to the shepherds, for the word “gospel” means “good news.” A lot of the news that we hear today is bad news. As Jesus predicted, there are “wars and rumors of wars” all over the world. What was the good news that the angel had for the shepherds, and us? Here it is: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Can you imagine what it meant for these Jewish shepherds to hear this message? For centuries, prophets had predicted that God would send a Messiah to deliver His people, and these simple shepherds were hearing about it before anyone else. The message of the angel is still good news today, because “Christ the Lord” is still alive and still saves those who come to Him by faith. It was a message about joy and hope: “Fear not, for behold, I brings you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.” It was an announcement about eternal joy coming into the world. I return again and again to John 15:11 for my own comfort and in talking and writing to others. In this verse Jesus said: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” I The “good tidings of great joy” were for “all people.” The message of the angel made it clear to these Jewish shepherds that the good news was not just for them but for all people. This is a message that still resonates around the world. I know that it seems like the world is ignoring that message today, but that doesn’t make it any less true! The joy of the gospel does not depend on opinion polls. If it did Jesus’ disciples would have never gotten the good news out of Jerusalem. It is a message of joy and hope for you as well. There is the message of the angel. I hope and pray that you will read it and believe it. Bro. Joe “For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. 17. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”
I know that this is a popular saying at Christmas that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” When I thought of that, it came to me that Jesus is not just the “reason for the season,” but that “He is the reason – period.” Jesus is the reason for what? There is really no limit to what Jesus is the reason for, but I think we can come up with a couple of things that will enlighten as to the importance of Jesus in the total scheme of things. Jesus is the reason that there is a world in which we can live. Notice: “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible…” We understand that when the world was created it was created by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Which is to say that we can’t relegate Jesus to an inferior position in creation. Jesus was there creating along with the Father and the Spirit. When we look into the “heavens,” or as we would say, the universe, we see the handiwork of Jesus. Because of modern science, we have some idea of the full extent of the creation of the “heaven,” or “the heavens.” When we see the beauty of the earth, we can see the handiwork of Jesus. What an eternal imagination Jesus had as He created the beautiful things that we enjoy on this earth. He also created the “invisible.” The atom is the building block of matter, and Jesus created that too. Years before microscopes, and other instruments that help us see the “invisible,” Paul wrote about those things. He could only have known that by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the reason that there is order in the world. Notice that He created “thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers.” We didn’t create the way the world would be ordered, but Jesus did it at the beginning. It is for certain that we have tried to mess it up through the centuries, what with the Caesars, Attilas, Hitlers, Stalins, and a various assortment of characters through the centuries, but the world has trudged on in spite of all of the evil that has been perpetrated on it, and is still perpetrated on it. Jesus made it all perfect, we are the ones who took it out of kilter, but in the end Jesus will rescue it and straighten it all out. This is part of what the New Heaven and New Earth are all about. As believers in Jesus we can look forward to a perfect day, when “thrones, dominions, principalities and powers will be perfect. It’s all spelled out in the Bible. Jesus is the only reason that we have a promise of a better day in the future. This is something that believers can look forward to with certainty. I could go on with this but you probably get the point by now. Jesus is not just “the reason for the season.” We can say that “He is the reason – period. Bro. Joe “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray
… I once read this quotation a church bulletin board: “When life knocks you to your knees, stay there and pray.” That is not an exact quote but it is very close. I love the message because it is so true. People have a tendency to give up and throw in the towel when life puts them in hard places. This is as true of people in churches as it is of people who do not attend church. We Christians should realize that we have a profound resource to help us through the down times of life. We somehow have gotten the idea that life should always be to our pleasing, but that is not the way the world works. A man, who had everything that his world offered, named Solomon, looked at life and declared, “Vanity, vanity all is vanity.” What he meant was that life is empty when God is left out of the loop. Why would we not pray when life knocks us to our knees? I think that too many people, even Christians, want to be considered self-sufficient. Having faith in God, and depending on Him, is considered to be weakness instead of strength. We have a high view of human strength, and I am amazed at times at the strength of character and perseverance that we humans can have. It is good to be a person who does not fold when life caves in. The problem that I have is when we think that we have to face life without God’s help if we are to be considered strong. I think that it is God’s strength that makes all of the difference when we get knocked to our knees. I know that I do not want to face life’s hardships without knowing that God is with me and giving me His strength. There are people who do not feel that they are good enough for God to help them, and that God does not care about their lives. Understand that everything that God does for us is based on His love and grace and not on merit. Jesus revealed this when He went into the city of Jericho and encountered one of the most hated citizens of that town, whose name was Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was hated because he was a chief tax collector who made his riches on the backs of the people of Jericho by collecting the hated Roman tax. Zacchaeus was short of stature and had to climb into a sycamore tree to see Jesus. Jesus saw Zacchaeus, called him from the tree, went home with him and in the process saved him. Zacchaeus proved his conversion by restoring much of his wealth to the citizens of Jericho from whom he had collected taxes. Zacchaeus was certainly not “good enough” for Jesus to accompany him to his home and do a work of grace in his life, but that is what happened. No one reading this is as unworthy of God’s blessings as Zacchaeus. Throw yourself on the love and mercy of God and see what He will do in your life. Remember: “When life knocks you to your knees, stay there and pray.” That is not just good advice, it is necessary advice. Heed it! Bro. Joe (From the archives- 2014)
.“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my own ways before Him.” I do not want to leave the impression that Job went through all that Satan put him through with no complaining at all. He was a good man, but, like all men, he was not perfect. But one thing is clear in the Book of Job, and that is that Job did not deny God, nor did He waver in his faith. If we put ourselves in Job’s place, we can’t even imagine how we would react. Of course, Job was not happy during his trial. He did not face it always smiling, always positive, but he did face his trial in faith and trust in God. He teaches us to trust. What do I mean? Job trusted God in spite of personal loss. Think of all Job lost. He lost possessions. He lost all of his children. He had been proud of his children and was concerned that they live the right kind of life. Now they are all dead. He lost the respect of his wife who told him to “curse God and die.” That was hardly a statement that showed that she supported Job in his predicament. What would be worse than losing the respect of the person with whom you had ten children and a seemingly happy home – until tragedy struck. Job lost the respect of his community. He had been a leader among the people, and the people had great respect for him and hung on his words. Now even the youth were making fun of him. Worst of all, Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, lost respect for him because they thought that he had committed some great sin and was being punished by God. They were never told that Satan was doing all of the nasty work. But through it all, Job held on to his trust in God. Job 23:10 is a good example: “But (God) knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job trusted God in spite of personal afflictions. In the final analysis, Job’s body was covered with sores. Evidently, he was in pain, and on top of that the sores were itching. Today we would say that Job had lost his health. I guess one of the most painful things that can happen to us to lose our health. When we are afflicted we will react either positively or negatively. An old cliché reminds us that when we lose our health “we will become bitter or we will become better.” In the final analysis, Job became better. If we will put ourselves in Job’s place, thinking of all that he lost and of the pain and misery that he went through, we will say that we do not know exactly how we would react. Either one of the things that happened to Job would be traumatic, and that’s putting it mildly. We can’t put ourselves in Job’s place, but we can stay close to the Lord, pray and read His word, etc. in order to prepare ourselves to face the contingencies of life. Job trusted God in spite of the fact that God was silent. Throughout most of the book of Job, God did not intervene in Job’s difficulties. In fact, God never explained to Job what had occurred between He and Satan. Through it all, Job had to hear the false accusations of his great sins. God did not come to Job’s defense. He did in the end, and his friends had to pay for their cynical advice, but not until Job had come through the worst and had “come forth as pure gold.” We need to learn from Job that though God is silent, He is not absent. He has promised to with through all of the things that we go through in life. He will not shout, but He will be present and He will be doing what we need for Him to do. Rejoice! Bro. Joe |
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