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Day 326, or November the 22nd. Christ is risen!

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Hallelujah! Our thoughts today are from 1 Corinthians

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chapter 15, verse 14. If Christ has not been

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raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your

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faith. And now the big picture surrounding this

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verse. After some sound advice for his fellow

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believers that is still relevant today, Paul

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finishes his letter by stressing the historical

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fact of Christ's resurrection. He emphasizes

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that some of the eyewitnesses are still alive

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at the time of him writing. He goes on to say

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that if Christ is not raised, we have nothing

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worth passing on, and we are quite pathetic.

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Then, very practically, Paul gives some basic

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advice about, of all things, money. He advises

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believers to put money aside on the first day

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of each week, according to their ability, so

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that there is no need for collections when he

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visits. I often wonder what Paul would have said

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about our fundraising efforts, but that's a completely

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different story. And now, our action step for

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today. All the leaders of the world's major religions

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are dead. Christianity is unique in this respect,

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as our founder is still alive and reigning and

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influencing our world today. It's one thing to

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consider different philosophies and beliefs,

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and quite another to be confronted by the concept

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of a man who was born 2,000 years ago and is

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still alive. When Paul writes to the church in

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Corinth, he goes to some length to labour this

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point. The resurrection is the hinge -pin of

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our belief, and the truth of it is underlined

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by the fact that all the early believers were

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willing to die for it. If there had been a conspiracy

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and bodies snatched from the tomb, I find it

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unbelievable that at least one follower wouldn't

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have confessed rather than die for a lie. Today,

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some simply look at the church or individual

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believers and see less than perfection, and conclude

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the whole thing is untrue. It's up to you and

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me to live our lives in such a way that we are

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living proof that some of Jesus' followers are

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genuine, even if slightly flawed at times.