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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. You're listening

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Speaker 1: to Daily Devotions with Pastor John. I'm John Stonge, and

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Speaker 1: today's devotion is inspired by 1 Peter 3, verse 8,

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Speaker 1: which says, Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy,

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Speaker 1: brotherly love, a tender heart, It is far easier to

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Speaker 1: be concerned about yourself and your own well-doing than it

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Speaker 1: is to show genuine concern for someone else. It's easier

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Speaker 1: to prioritize your opinion, your comfort, and your preferences than

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Speaker 1: it is to prioritize those of others. Yet, in Christ,

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Speaker 1: we've been united into one body. We have one Savior,

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Speaker 1: one faith, and a common future. With that in mind,

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Speaker 1: we're encouraged to foster unity within the church, even though

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Speaker 1: it can often be rather difficult to do so. If

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Speaker 1: it was easy for us to be united, the Lord

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Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have bothered to tell us to work toward it.

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Speaker 1: If it was easy for us to be sympathetic toward

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Speaker 1: each other, He probably wouldn't have encouraged us, as often

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Speaker 1: as He has, to adopt that mindset. Pride comes more

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Speaker 1: naturally to us than humility. But in Christ, we've been

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Speaker 1: equipped and empowered to live in humility toward each other.

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Speaker 1: We're invited to adopt the mindset of a servant as

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Speaker 1: we interact with our Christian family, recognizing that the Lord

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Speaker 1: is only asking us to practice something that He graciously

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Speaker 1: demonstrated toward us first. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You

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Speaker 1: for Your Word. And we thank you for the privilege

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Speaker 1: that it is to be able to look at this

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Speaker 1: portion of Scripture today from the book of 1 Peter.

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Speaker 1: And Lord, as we look at this passage, we see

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Speaker 1: that you encourage us as brothers and sisters in Christ

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Speaker 1: to be united. You want us to live in unity.

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Speaker 1: You want us to honor each other's preferences above our own.

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Speaker 1: But in this world, we know that that's challenging. It's

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Speaker 1: challenging because at our core, we struggle with selfishness. It's

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Speaker 1: also challenging because Many of the influences in our lives

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Speaker 1: are encouraging us to look after ourselves before we look

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Speaker 1: after the needs of others. But Lord, we're grateful for

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Speaker 1: the teaching you give to us in this passage as

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Speaker 1: you encourage us to be united with one another and

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Speaker 1: to show sympathy and brotherly love and to offer a

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Speaker 1: tender heart toward one another with a humble mind. Naturally speaking,

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Speaker 1: that's not the way we tend to operate, but through

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Speaker 1: your Son, Jesus Christ, that's exactly what you empower us

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Speaker 1: to do. As your Spirit works within us, we're empowered

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Speaker 1: to model the example your Son has given us and

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Speaker 1: to bless one another in the process. So, Father, we're

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Speaker 1: grateful that you've enabled us to do this, and we're

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Speaker 1: grateful for this challenge that you've given to us through

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Speaker 1: this portion of your Word. By your grace, we pray

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Speaker 1: that we would live it out faithfully today. Thank you, Lord,

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Speaker 1: for all of these things, and we pray this all

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Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen.