Seize the Moment – Day 1044
Live Fully within God’s Boundaries!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 25.
There are times when it feels like people are spending more of their time trying to preserve their lives than live their lives. What if I could guarantee you a way to live your life more fully and abundantly?
Job is lamenting his life and crying out to God as he suffers from his agonizing disease. In Job 14:5, Job reflects on the truth of God’s sovereignty over the lives of every person, “Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; and his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.”
This is an amazing truth and can be interpreted in two ways. First, no person will exceed the human life span that has been established for all of us as a divine boundary, as taught in Genesis 6:3b, “nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” Second, the length of days of each person’s life has already been determined, as taught by Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”
Boundaries are the gift of limits, designed by a benevolent God who loves you and has promised you the abundant life in Jesus Christ (John 10:10). You see, God knows that life is short and filled with grief. But God! God is not indifferent to your tribulations (John 16:33); in fact, He entered our suffering, as taught in 1 Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” He has overcome and has called us overcomers (Romans 8:37-39)!
Seize the moment and live fully within God’s boundaries! Trust Jesus for your healing and get busy living the abundant life within the gift of limits He has invited you to thrive!
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1043
Nothing to Lose!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 24.
Have you ever felt like you had nothing to lose? When you get to this point in life, you are willing to take risks that you normally wouldn’t take – it can either be a point of desperation or a time of great hope! Either way it can look like a Hail Mary pass in the final seconds of the big game – it may feel desperate, but as long as the pig skin is spiraling through the air, there is still hope!
Job makes a powerful statement of faith in Job 13:15a, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” This is one of the great faith statements of Job because it demonstrates how he is more concerned with proving God’s justice than with the preservation of his own life. In preparing for his own acquittal, he predetermined that whatever God decided to do was right. He had nothing to lose by waiting upon God. He was not throwing his life away with a Hail Mary pass, He was entrusting it into God’s hands!
Daniel 3:16-18 is another powerful example of trusting God’s justice. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego told the king of Babylon that they trusted God in life and death when he confronted them with being thrown in the fiery furnace for not bowing to his idol:
O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
Seize the moment and trust your life into God’s hands – you have nothing to lose and everything to gain! Touch down!
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1042
The Hand of Yahweh!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 23.
During Job’s lament, there is a reminder of his unrelenting faith in Job 12:9-10, “Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?” Throughout the long dialogue between Job and his friends, this is the only usage of the sacred name of God – Yahweh.
Job’s usage of Yahweh is intended to grab your attention; it points us back to Job’s declaration of faith in Job 1:21, when he used the sacred name three times, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” A commentator highlights the importance of this connection:
Job sees only the hand of God in these events. It never occurs to him to curse the desert brigands, to curse the frontier guards, to curse his own stupid servants, now lying dead for their watch-lessness. All secondary causes vanish. It was the Lord who gave; it was the Lord who removed; and in the Lord alone must the explanation of these strange happenings be sought.[1] [emphasis added]
Job entrusts Himself and His suffering into the hand of Yahweh alone as the only explanation of cause and effect! As Job emphasizes in verse 13, “With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.” Job’s friends were quick to blame Job’s sin for his own suffering, looking for a logical explanation that helped the world make sense to them, but Job returned to the only explanation that is always true – “the hand of the LORD has done this.”
Seize the moment and place yourself securely into God’s hand – Jesus’ promises, “no one is able to snatch [you] out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29b).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Francis I. Andersen, Job: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 14, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976), 93.
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Train to Live on Mission – Week 40
Battle Drill #40:
Trust your Training!
Proverbs 30:5-6 (NAS95)
Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn Battle Drill #40 – “Trust your Training!” You are going to find that this battle drill serves as an effective bookend with Battle Drill #3 – “Trust the Commander!” from Proverbs 3:5-6. These two are intimately yoked as we learn to trust God and the Bible from which He calls us to train ourselves in godliness. This is a critical reality for the church, just as it was for me as a soldier in the military to learn to trust my training.
For example, the United States Army’s Airborne School is unnecessarily long – it is three weeks long but could be consolidated to one week! Honestly, all you must do to earn your wings is successfully complete five jumps, including one night jump. Of course, it is highly encouraged that you can walk off the jump zone each time and stand at graduation. The first week is called ground week and you spend most of the day, every day, learning how to do a parachute landing fall (PLF) in sawdust pits. It is mind-numbing training and besides getting sawdust in every possible place in your body, you are constantly being evaluated for mental and physical toughness before you are allowed to move to the second week, which is called tower week. Tower week is doing countless simulated jumps from a ten-meter tower simulating the procedures you must follow upon leaving the airplane, preparing to hit the ground, and executing a proper PLF at the approximate force of an actual jump. The intensity of training increases in every way for one reason – to prepare you for jump week when you must trust your training because nothing can quite prepare you to jump out of a perfectly good airplane! The third week is jump week and you quickly learn that nothing can quite prepare you to step out of that airplane at 1,250 feet, flying at 130 mph when you step out of it, but by this point you have done more PLFs, simulated leaving an aircraft more times, and followed all airborne procedures so many times that you reflexively, instinctively, and habitually do what you are trained to do when it matters – as you plumet to earth at 13 mph, hitting at the equivalent force of jumping off a nine-to-twelve foot wall. The first two weeks of Airborne school are to ensure the person is mentally, emotionally, and physically capable of trusting their training when it matters.
This is what this battle drill sermons series is all about. We must learn to trust our training so that we execute the Field Manual according to the Commander’s intent when it matters the most. Regardless of how much you know about God or say you love Him, if you don’t learn to trust your training, you will not live on mission. You will be hijacked by your circumstances, driven by your feelings, or engulfed by your nervous system.
To illustrate the importance of learning and applying today’s battle drill in real life, Katie Kinnaird is going to share with us a recent testimony.
Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.
Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.
Just as an army must trust its field manuals so that every soldier is being trained according to the same doctrine and strategies, the church must be unified in the Bible as infallible in its authority and inerrant in its source. We must trust God’s authority and that He gave us a trustworthy Bible, our Field Manual. As our battle drill states in Proverbs 30:5, “Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 18:30 complements, “As for God, His way is blameless; the word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.” When we trust God, we will walk in His ways, according to the Scriptures.
Paul taught his protégé in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” The Word of God is sufficient to the task for which we were called, so trust it and don’t adlib, as the second half of our battle drill emphasizes in Proverb 30:6, “Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” Don’t hijack the process by trying to fix it yourself. You will only make it worse!
The Commander has given you His battle drills to protect you and provide for you all that you need to fulfill His mission. From Joshua 1:8, the Commander said to one of His first generals, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” Do you believe this?
In the same way that we learn to trust that God has enlisted us to successfully fulfill His mission according to the Scriptures, we must learn to trust that we aren’t alone in the mission. As fellow members of His body, we need one another. This is God’s will for our lives as Paul emphasized through the body imagery of the church in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
We need one another, more than we know, just as we learned from our previous Battle Drill, “Train with a Battle Buddy!” We need to walk in the way of Jesus Christ with one another and carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:1-2). A significant component of the training regimen is training as a fellow member of the body of Christ, and not alone, because if we are to do what Jesus, the head of the church, commands us, and please Him, then we must do it in concert with His will for our lives, collectively as the individual members of the one body of Christ. As Paul said in Ephesians 1:22-23, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ultimately, God is glorified through our unity as Jesus prayed in John 17:22-23:
The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
This is how we are to train together! Now, let’s turn to the third action item.
Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
This teaching applies to every area of our lives because this battle drill gives you the tools to defeat your self-will (the flesh); it is winning the battle for your loyalty so that you can CM on God’s rescue mission! You will trust in God or in yourself, but don’t be deceived – there can be only one in whom you ultimately trust and that is revealed in the moments where the stakes are the highest. Don’t make assumptions – train this trust into your bones! Now is not a time to swim in da Nile (denial)!
Do you remember the second half of our battle drill that I touched upon earlier? Proverbs 30:6 warns us, “Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” In other words, don’t adlib or else! When you add to or modify His words, you demonstrate your lack of faith in God as infallible and your inherent mistrust in His Word as inerrant. Remember, the higher the stakes, the more we must trust our training; that God is our shield and refuge!
Allow me an anecdotal story from my days as a paratrooper. There is a major mistake paratroopers make when they are about to hit the ground – they reach for the ground with their feet. This is so natural to do that you must train yourself to not do it! Otherwise, you end up with a major injury like a twisted knee, broken leg, smashed ankles, or worse. You must absorb the ground upon impact by keeping your knees and ankles flexed, but it takes an incredible amount of discipline to trust your training, especially in night jumps when you can’t see the quickly approaching ground. It’s this same survival instinct that causes so many broken wrists when people fall. It is natural to reach out to stop yourself from falling, but those who have been trained how to fall know not to – often what you feel is the right thing to do is not!
Allow me to give you a word of grace: If anyone tells you that at any point in your Christian life you won’t struggle with your humanity and the effects of living in this tent (2 Corinthians 5:1-9), then they are placing a burden on you that Christ has not. Holiness is Christ in you, not your ability to perfectly master the flesh. The righteousness you have is imputed upon you through Christ’s victory, not one earned by a life of perfect thought life, perfect emotional stability, and perfect mastery of your body. Training this battle drill is about trusting the Holy Spirit to do in and through you what God promises! The life we live is a life submitted to Jesus Christ, just as Paul commented about himself in Galatians 2:19-21:
For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.
This is our victory – our faith (1 John 5:4)! That leads us into our final action step.
Action Step #4) Live on mission.
On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1040
Today’s worship song focus will be
How Great is Our God
Psalm 104:1 (NASB95)
“Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty”
While living in Austin, Texas in 2004, Chris Tomlin was reflecting on Psalm 104 as it declared the greatness, splendor and majesty of God. His desire was to create a song that was more than a three month hit, but rather a lasting song of praise to the most high God. He began singing parts of the scriptures, creating the basis of the song “How Great is Our God”. He shared the song with his friends Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash, who helped him to add the bridge and fine tune the song.
How great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God
And all will see how great, how great is our God.
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
How Great is Our God
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Seize the Moment – Day 1039
Speak, for your Servant is Listening!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, January 20.
Have you ever wished for a word from God to help you understand your life and circumstances better? If only God would speak to me about this, then I would know what I was supposed to do about it. The third friend of Job, Zophar the Naamathite, answered Job’s lament with a scathing rebuke, which also contained a request of God, stating in Job 11:5-9:
But would that God might speak, and open His lips against you, and show you the secrets of wisdom! … Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.
It was impossible for Job to know the breadth and length and height and depth of the secrets of God’s wisdom. These “secrets” would require a special revelation from God. Little did Zophar know that he was foreshadowing the dramatic climax of the book of Job, when God communicated directly to Job in chapters 38-41.
More importantly, all such requests have been fulfilled in God sending His Son Jesus Christ – “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Colossians 1:18). Knowing Jesus “[results] in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2b-3). God has revealed to us “the breadth and length and height and depth” of His love for us through His Son Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:18b-19). God wants to speak to you today through the special revelation of His Son, and He’s calling you by name to hear what He has to say to you.
Seize the moment and pray these words, “Speak, for Your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). Are you paying attention?
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1038
The Hope of Eternal Light!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, January 19.
Our ability to persevere through difficult situations is often dictated by one primary factor – hope! When you take away someone’s hope, despair quickly takes root. Job was consumed with the futility of his suffering and all he could see in his future was the darkness of eternal separation from God. He expressed his vision of death in Job 10:21-22, “the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of utter gloom as darkness itself, of deep shadow without order, and which shines as the darkness.” To Job, death was eternal darkness.
Praise God for the hope of eternal light given to us through our salvation in Jesus Christ – “this hope we have as an anchor to my soul” (Hebrews 6:19). Jesus came to defeat the darkness of death and despair and give us life and hope through His eternal light – “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5; cf. 3:19-20). This same vision of eternal light is given to us for Heaven, as described in Revelation 21:23, “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
People cannot survive long apart from hope and that is why God has given us such a clear view of the hope we have in Jesus Christ. Hope keeps us going during the painful times of our lives; it pierces the darkness of living in a fallen world. Apart from Christ, we have no hope (Ephesians 2:12), but in Christ we have the living hope of the resurrection (1 Peter 1:3).
Seize the moment and put your faith in Jesus, who promised in John 8:12 “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1037
Remain Calm in your Storm!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 18.
Have you ever found yourself crying out to God, “Why is this happening?” Whether it was something happening to you or a loved one, it is not uncommon for people to struggle with God when a storm hits close to home.
Job wanted his day in court with God, but recognized the futility of his request, as testified by his words in Job 9:2, “In truth I know that this is so; but how can a man be in the right before God?” He knows in his mind that Bildad was correct about God – unlike people, God is right and just in all that He does! Knowing this truth didn’t stop Job from wanting an opportunity to talk with God and find out why he was suffering so much. There was a storm brewing and it raged between Job’s mind and his heart, as heard in Job 9:17-20:
For He bruises me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to get my breath, but saturates me with bitterness. If it is a matter of power, behold, He is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him? Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty.
In our suffering and pain, there is often a deep chasm that separates our heads (what we know is true) from our hearts (what we are feeling is true). How does your belief in Jesus help you in times such as this? There was a time when the disciples were fearful and thought they were going to be drowned, literally, by their storm. They cried out to Jesus, and He responded, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” (Matthew 8:23-27).
Seize the moment and remain calm. Trust Jesus to quiet your storm and give you His peace (Philippians 4:6-7).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1036
Observe Creation to Learn about the Creator!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, January 17.
God has revealed Himself to us in nature, as Paul teaches in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” When we observe creation, we learn about the Creator.
Bildad the Shuhite, the second of Job’s three friends, responded to Job’s lament in Job 8. To do so, he called upon their ancestral teachings about God (8-10), which provided three examples from creation to describe the fate of the ungodly:
- The papyrus of Job 8:11-13, “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water? While it is still green and not cut down, yet it withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless will perish.”
- The spider web of Job 8:14-15, “Whose confidence is fragile, and whose trust a spider’s web. He trusts in his house, but it does not stand; he holds fast to it, but it does not endure.”
- The vine of Job 8:16-19, “He thrives before the sun, and his shoots spread out over his garden. His roots wrap around a rock pile, he grasps a house of stones. If he is removed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring.”
Jesus made a similar point to his disciples in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” God has made Himself known to us because He wants us to know Him and to enjoy Him forever.
Seize the moment and learn from God’s creation about the One who designed you for abundant life (John 10:10b)! As King David proclaimed in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1035
Finding Hope in your Hopelessness!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, January 16.
Have you ever been racked with pain? The Rack was an ancient torture device in which a person was attached to a frame then slowly stretched. This idiom means that you are being stretched or burdened beyond your capacity to bear the pain, often leading to feelings of hopelessness.
Have you ever come to the end of your hope?
The end of his life dominated Job’s mind, as it does most people when they are racked with pain. In this moment, Job directed his attention to God, as we hear in Job 7:17-18, “What is man that You magnify him, and that You are concerned about him, that You examine him every morning and try him every moment?” In his hopelessness, Job looked to God.
Seize the moment and find hope in your hopelessness – look to God in your suffering (Psalm 34:18; 147:3).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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