Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 09 01 2026 Christ-focused Ministry of Reconciliation

Transcript

09 01 2026 Christ-focused Ministry of Reconciliation · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too much,
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  Speaker 1: because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy for
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  Speaker 1: today's needs. Why then do some of us expect yesterday's
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  Speaker 1: portion of heavenly manna, the word of God, to keep
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  Speaker 1: us through today's challenges? On this program, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to change all of that. Let's experience God's words today
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  Speaker 1: and receive the power we need to live healthy, vibrant lives.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Your Daily Portion. with your host, author, speaker, L.
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  Speaker 1: David Harris.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Tuesday, September 1.
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  Speaker 1: What?
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  Speaker 2: Yep, 2026. Hello, my name is L. David Harris. I
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  Speaker 2: am your host, and this is your Daily Portion, where
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  Speaker 2: we give you God's Word every single day, and today
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  Speaker 2: is no exception. We are continuing in our lesson study
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  Speaker 2: series through the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians, and
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  Speaker 2: our caption for today is Christ-Focused Ministry. of reconciliation. That's good.
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  Speaker 2: That's good. Before we get into that, I'd like to
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  Speaker 2: say welcome to you and ask you to please go
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  Speaker 2: over to www.yourdailyportion.com and click right here on the screen.
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  Speaker 2: You see Stop Guessing What to Do With Your Life,
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  Speaker 2: Discover God's Design for Your Life. You can scroll down,
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  Speaker 2: scroll down, and click on that begin the assessment button.
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  Speaker 2: I've highlighted it here with the yellow arrow. You will
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  Speaker 2: come away with a personal blueprint, a clear picture of
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  Speaker 2: how you are gifted, the word behind each gift, and
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  Speaker 2: a first step toward using it. Okay, so please, please
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  Speaker 2: go ahead and do that, and it'll be of benefit
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  Speaker 2: to you and the body of Christ, and of course,
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  Speaker 2: people who need to get closer to Christ. Also, will
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  Speaker 2: you please click the contribute button because your Daily Portion
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  Speaker 2: Ministries is listener and viewer supported. Let's go ahead and pray,
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  Speaker 2: and then we will get underway. God, thank you. Thank
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  Speaker 2: you for this new day and for giving us the
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  Speaker 2: ministry of reconciliation. You have drawn us to yourself, and
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  Speaker 2: now we have the privilege of drawing other people to you. Father,
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  Speaker 2: will you help us to do that, God? Will you
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  Speaker 2: help us to do it faithfully? Thank you. In Jesus'
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  Speaker 2: name I pray.
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  Speaker 1: Amen.
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  Speaker 2: And amen again. I can think of the passage that says,
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  Speaker 2: freely ye have received, freely give. So whatever God has
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  Speaker 2: given to you, freely give that to others, right? He
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  Speaker 2: also talks about how we who are transformed by God
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  Speaker 2: and or are being transformed by God and are helping
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  Speaker 2: to reconcile people into relationship with God, he has given
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  Speaker 2: us that same ministry. Did you know that? Like, we
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  Speaker 2: have the same ministry that Jesus has to bring people
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  Speaker 2: closer to God. It's our privilege. to have the ministry
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  Speaker 2: of reconciliation. And so for me, the most important thing
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  Speaker 2: today in this lesson is that God reconciled the world
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  Speaker 2: to himself through Christ and has given you, brothers and sisters,
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  Speaker 2: the ministry of carrying that message to everyone around you.
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  Speaker 2: There are times that people will carry words all kinds
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  Speaker 2: of messages that sound good, and maybe they are in
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  Speaker 2: fact good. But are they messages that lead people to
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  Speaker 2: a right relationship with God or just a more intellectual
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  Speaker 2: capability to say things that are in the Bible? Do
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  Speaker 2: you hear how technical I am at this moment? So
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  Speaker 2: we want to be drawn closer to the Lord. And you,
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  Speaker 2: brothers and sisters, and so am I, are an ambassador
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  Speaker 2: for of the cross, really an ambassador of Christ. You're
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  Speaker 2: an ambassador. God, that means God, the one who is
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  Speaker 2: the king, the sovereign king of the universe, blessed be
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  Speaker 2: his name, has called you to be the one that
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  Speaker 2: represents him to the nations. You have priority boarding when
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  Speaker 2: you go on that spiritual aircraft. Do you understand? Nobody
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  Speaker 2: can search your bags because you have diplomatic immunity. You
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  Speaker 2: are a diplomat for God. You are an ambassador for God.
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  Speaker 2: You move in and they roll out the red carpet.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't feel like that all the time, but they
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  Speaker 2: roll out the red carpet because you are bringing the
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  Speaker 2: words of life. An encouragement to weary souls and comfort
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  Speaker 2: to the comfortless. You are providing the felt needs of
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  Speaker 2: human beings who are suffering from want and need. You
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  Speaker 2: are his ambassador because he did this for you. And
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  Speaker 2: so in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we read, We find
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  Speaker 2: our first lesson for today, beginning at verse 14. The
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  Speaker 2: Bible reads, for the love of Christ constraineth us, because
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  Speaker 2: we thus judge that if one died for all, that's Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: then we are all dead, and that he died for all,
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  Speaker 2: that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
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  Speaker 2: So Jesus gave his life. the most precious gift that
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  Speaker 2: we can't even really fathom, but he's given himself in
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  Speaker 2: this way. So why shall we not also freely give
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  Speaker 2: him whatever he desires from us? Do you see what's
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  Speaker 2: going on here? That they which live should not henceforth
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  Speaker 2: live unto themselves. We cannot be selfish. We must not
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  Speaker 2: be selfish because Jesus gave everything. The Father in one gift,
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  Speaker 2: he gave Jesus Christ, all of heaven in one gift.
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  Speaker 2: but unto him. This is the way we should live.
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  Speaker 2: It's our privilege to live, but to live unto him
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  Speaker 2: which died for us, and he didn't stay dead. He
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  Speaker 2: rose again. And so, what God wants us to do
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  Speaker 2: in this concept is think about what Paul is saying.
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  Speaker 2: He said, the Greek word is sunico, and it means
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  Speaker 2: to hold together, to press from every side, to compel
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  Speaker 2: with force that cannot be resisted. The love of Christ
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  Speaker 2: is not a gentle nudge, brothers and sisters, looking at
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  Speaker 2: the word that Paul used. It's not a gentle nudge
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  Speaker 2: toward ministry. It is an irresistible pressure that leaves the
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  Speaker 2: servant no room to to live for his or herself.
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  Speaker 2: Think about what Jeremiah said when he was like, you
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  Speaker 2: know what, this suffering is getting on my nerves. He
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  Speaker 2: maybe didn't say it in those words, but he was like,
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  Speaker 2: this is a lot. This really is a lot. So
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  Speaker 2: I'm just not about to talk about God anymore, because
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  Speaker 2: every time I do, it just makes my life very difficult.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, well, let me know how that works, Jeremiah,
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  Speaker 2: because as he tried that, the Bible says he, speaking...
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  Speaker 2: It was like fire shut up in his bones. He
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  Speaker 2: was like, I cannot do this. I cannot resist. I
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  Speaker 2: cannot hold back. I cannot resist this anymore. I have
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  Speaker 2: to tell of the great things that God has put
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  Speaker 2: in my mouth to tell to the nations. And so
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  Speaker 2: it was an irresistible pressure, just like Paul is saying here,
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  Speaker 2: that leaves the servant no room for his or herself.
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  Speaker 2: So the lesson really is that Paul's ministry was Christ-centered
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  Speaker 2: because of the love of Christ. And it had pressed
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  Speaker 2: every self-centered motive out of the way. And the cross
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  Speaker 2: becomes real to you. Living for yourself becomes impossible. When
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  Speaker 2: I say impossible, I don't mean that you can't drift.
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  Speaker 2: You shouldn't, but you can. I'm not saying it's not
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  Speaker 2: possible in a literal sense, but if you are remaining
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  Speaker 2: connected to God and not looking to the left, neither
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  Speaker 2: to the right, then in those moments, it is in
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  Speaker 2: fact impossible. Not because we've become some new kind of
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  Speaker 2: immortal creature stuck saved yet. No, we're not talking about that.
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  Speaker 2: But when we are submitted to Christ, there is only
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  Speaker 2: one way that we live. Full stop. Okay? The one
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  Speaker 2: who died for all becomes the only worthy object of
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  Speaker 2: an entire life. So what do we do with this?
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  Speaker 2: Invest time at the cross today. You understand where we're
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  Speaker 2: going with this? Meditate on what Christ absorbed for you,
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  Speaker 2: what he went through, the trials and tribulations that Jesus
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  Speaker 2: suffered for you, and let that reality press out. I'm
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  Speaker 2: talking about like a wine press, like press that out.
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  Speaker 2: Whatever that self-serving motivation has been directing your service. I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to read a quote to you from the book,
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  Speaker 2: Testimonies for the Church, Volume 6, this time page 55.
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  Speaker 2: The very essence of the gospel is restoration. And Christ
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  Speaker 2: would have his workers, that's you, brothers and sisters, that's me,
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  Speaker 2: present to the people its saving, healing, uplifting power. When
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  Speaker 2: you're sharing the gospel, is that what you're sharing? The saving, healing,
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  Speaker 2: uplifting power? Or just new words that maybe they hadn't considered? Okay,
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  Speaker 2: present the facts of redemption. Show that it is the
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  Speaker 2: privilege of every soul to be free from the bondage
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  Speaker 2: of sin. Can you imagine those who thought that they
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  Speaker 2: could never be free from those addictions, that you will
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  Speaker 2: give them the message today? that says, in Christ you
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  Speaker 2: can be free. Make it a great day.
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  Speaker 1: Peace. Thanks for joining us, listening friends. Always remember, we
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  Speaker 1: cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that
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  Speaker 1: comes from the mouth of God. This has been your
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  Speaker 1: daily portion with L. David Harris. Make it a great day.