Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for downloading our podcast. We enjoy spending this time with you. I hope you'll leave inspired.

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Thank you.

Well, God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes. If you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services.

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I like to start with something funny. I heard about these two ladies that died and went to heaven. Peter met them at the gate and said,

you'll be happy here if you follow one main rule. Don't step on a duck. If you step on a duck, they make a terrible racket.

A week later, one of the ladies accidentally stepped on a duck. Peter came up to her with this extremely unattractive man.

Nothing appealing about him whatsoever said, as your punishment, you're going to be chained to this man.

Seeing this, the other lady was very careful. A month later, Peter came up to her with this incredibly handsome man.

Amazing physique. Look like a movie star. Chained them together. The lady was thrilled. She said to him, you can't believe.

I don't know what I did to deserve getting chained to you. He said, I don't know what you did, ma'am, but I stepped on a duck.

Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus' name.

I want to talk to you today about keeping strife out of your life. One of the biggest challenges we all face is getting along with people.

Because everyone is different. We have different personalities, different temperaments. We come from different backgrounds.

When somebody doesn't agree with us or they do something we don't like, it's easy to get in conflict with them.

We argue and try to straighten them out, prove our point. Before long we're at odds, mad at each other, living offended, their stress, tension in the home.

What's happened? We've allowed strife in. Strife is a spirit just like peace is a spirit. You've walked into a place before. You don't know anybody. You've never been there.

You can feel the tension in the room. In the atmosphere, their stress, discord, nobody said anything, but you know something is not right.

That's the spirit of strife. If we would see it as the destructive force that it is, we would be more careful about allowing it in our lives.

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