Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 01 01 2026 The Churches of Philippi and Colossae

Transcript

01 01 2026 The Churches of Philippi and Colossae · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
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  Speaker 1: much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
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  Speaker 1: for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
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  Speaker 1: yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
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  Speaker 1: keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
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  Speaker 1: going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
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  Speaker 1: today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
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  Speaker 1: vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
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  Speaker 1: author speaker, Elle David Harris.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Thursday, January one,
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  Speaker 2: twoenty twenty six. Hello, my name is El David Harris.
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  Speaker 2: I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion
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  Speaker 2: where we give you God's word every single day and
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  Speaker 2: today is no exception. We are continuing in our new
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  Speaker 2: lesson study series uniting Heaven and Earth, Christ in Philippians
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  Speaker 2: and Colossians. Wow, that's a lot, but we will continue
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  Speaker 2: to go through these lessons and get closer to Christ
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  Speaker 2: because again he is the focal point. Before we get
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  Speaker 2: into that, I'd like to just say welcome to everyone
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  Speaker 2: joining us, especially those joining us for the very first time.
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  Speaker 2: Please go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please
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  Speaker 2: join our online community. Pick up the Your Daily Portion
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  Speaker 2: life application guide, and also please let us know where
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  Speaker 2: you are in the world at your Daily Portion dot com.
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  Speaker 2: This is one of the ways that we continue to
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  Speaker 2: build faith and fellowship. Let's pray. Father, we thank you
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  Speaker 2: for this day and for the blessing you have been
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  Speaker 2: through the week so far. Father, Please help us to
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  Speaker 2: trust you and to put our minds in the position
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  Speaker 2: of surrender today. Please in Jesus name I pray, Amen
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  Speaker 2: and Amen again. Our caption for today is the churches
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  Speaker 2: of Philippi and coloss Okay. And so I did say
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  Speaker 2: to you yesterday. I think it was yesterday that Paul
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  Speaker 2: didn't necessarily visit, or at least there's no record of
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  Speaker 2: him physically visiting Colossie. Now that's very interesting. That's very interesting.
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  Speaker 2: Even in this ministry that I do, I've been doing
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  Speaker 2: it way before. There was a Your Daily Portion back
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  Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen. Way before then. Before then, I remember
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  Speaker 2: a woman I can't say her name here, but in
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  Speaker 2: Hokkaido in Supporto in Japan, who used to say that
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  Speaker 2: I was her pastor. I have never been to Japan.
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  Speaker 2: I've definitely not been to where she was in Japan.
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  Speaker 2: But because of the way media went way back in
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  Speaker 2: the early two thousands and a program Wonderful Words of Life,
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  Speaker 2: I had an hour every single time we came together
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  Speaker 2: once per week that spread into all the world. And
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  Speaker 2: my sister, who is also a translator now for a
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  Speaker 2: Christian organization worldwide, said that I was her pastor, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, Well, if we can do that in
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  Speaker 2: our day, then under the Holy ghost, of course, the
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  Speaker 2: people of God could have done it back then. And
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  Speaker 2: so the impact reverberates throughout the world still of the
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  Speaker 2: Word of God, no matter where we are in the world.
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  Speaker 1: And so.
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  Speaker 2: The lesson writer wanted us to consider Philippians chapter one
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  Speaker 2: and Colossians chapter one to talk about how Philippi, the
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  Speaker 2: churches at Philippi and Colossie were described. And listen, Paul
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  Speaker 2: has a habit, had a habit. His typical greeting in
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  Speaker 2: his letters calls Christians in those places saints. One of
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  Speaker 2: Simone's uncles would say, fellow saints, I love it. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: that is through baptism, they have been set aside or
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  Speaker 2: set apart, as God's holy people. I'll just leave right
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  Speaker 2: there and we'll jump in with our first lesson. Lesson
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  Speaker 2: number one. Believers in both places were described as saints,
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  Speaker 2: as God's people. Let's just read one verse Philippians, chapter
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  Speaker 2: one and verse one, where the Bible reads Paul and
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  Speaker 2: Timothy Timothy the servants of Christ. So he's identifying the
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  Speaker 2: two of them as servants of Christ to all the
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  Speaker 2: saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. And that
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  Speaker 2: word actually means holy and set apart. Literally, the term
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  Speaker 2: that he used means holy and set apart. It does
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  Speaker 2: not mean that somehow the people, through some kind of
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  Speaker 2: mechanism after a person has passed away, have elevated them
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  Speaker 2: to what is called sainthood. No, it does not mean
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  Speaker 2: that somehow people were spying on them and looking through
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  Speaker 2: all of their records and everything that they said and did,
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  Speaker 2: and said, well, these people are elevated above the kind
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  Speaker 2: of people that just normally come in to the faith fellowship. No,
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  Speaker 2: the saints are those who are set apart holy because
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  Speaker 2: God said so. They surrender their will to God under
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  Speaker 2: the holy ghost. And because of that now they are
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  Speaker 2: called or should I say we are called, we are
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  Speaker 2: called saints. If Paul were living today, he would call
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  Speaker 2: us the same thing because we have the power of
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  Speaker 2: God in our lives and the covering of Jesus Christ. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: And so the action step is to remember your identity.
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  Speaker 2: I remember years ago we used to say, remember who
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  Speaker 2: you are and whose you are as one set apart
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  Speaker 2: for God and live one action today that reflects it?
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  Speaker 2: Is it how you pray this morning before you do
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  Speaker 2: anything in the morning, you say, God, now you have
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  Speaker 2: set me aside. You have set me apart for a
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  Speaker 2: holy youth. Can you teach me to live this way?
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  Speaker 2: You called me holy, You called me saying, now, please
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  Speaker 2: help me to live in that way? And it not
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  Speaker 2: just be words that I inside this faith fellowship, except
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  Speaker 2: let's move forward. Lessen Number two, Paul addressed both the
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  Speaker 2: members and the recognized leaders, showing early church organization. I
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  Speaker 2: know I had to slow myself down because sometimes people
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  Speaker 2: they start to itch. You get a little bit, you
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  Speaker 2: know what I mean, Like people start to get an
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  Speaker 2: allergic reaction because some people don't like organization. Just because
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  Speaker 2: some humans do organization poorly, that does not mean that
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  Speaker 2: it is a poor perspective. Like God gave his people
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  Speaker 2: organization before we were even called the church, before we
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  Speaker 2: were called Christians. Before there was a New Testament, God
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  Speaker 2: organized his people. I wish I had the time, but
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  Speaker 2: we just went through two solid quarters from Egypt all
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  Speaker 2: the way through to the Promised Land, and we see
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  Speaker 2: the organizational structure that God's set there, and no different
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  Speaker 2: in the New Testament era. And so in Colossians chapter
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  Speaker 2: one and verse two, the Bible reads to the saints
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  Speaker 2: and the faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossie.
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  Speaker 2: I'll say it in the New English translation, to the Saints,
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  Speaker 2: the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossie. And
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  Speaker 2: so this means this faithfulness means trustworthy and loyal, trustworthy
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  Speaker 2: and loyal. Are the people that are set as our
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  Speaker 2: leadership servant leaders, servant leaders. That's a different kind of leadership.
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  Speaker 2: It is not a hierarchical leadership. It is not a
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  Speaker 2: top down, authoritated, authoritarian leadership. It's a it's a servitude
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  Speaker 2: that Jesus demonstrated, and of course the apostles did too.
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  Speaker 2: But are those individuals faithful, trustworthy, loyal, faithful, trustworthy and loyal.
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  Speaker 2: That's what the word pistos pissed toss means. Faithful, faithful
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  Speaker 2: brothers and sisters faithful, trustworthy, loyal. What I want you
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  Speaker 2: to do, rather than to criticize, is to identify just
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  Speaker 2: one church leader, someone who has been set to guide
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  Speaker 2: the people of God and to assist the people of
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  Speaker 2: God in these last days. Pray for just one today,
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  Speaker 2: and then send them one word of encouragement. I do
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  Speaker 2: not mean send them a whole Bible text or Bible study.
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  Speaker 2: I don't mean to send them an Auntie Ellen quote,
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  Speaker 2: which fine, go for it, but I'm talking about the
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  Speaker 2: kind that really speaks to the person. I picked up
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  Speaker 2: the phone and called one leader, one pastor, and I
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  Speaker 2: just checked on him after Melissa the hurricane Melissa. I
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  Speaker 2: called him and said, how are you doing? Because I
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  Speaker 2: know his church district has a whole lot of people
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  Speaker 2: in it, and he as the shepherd of that flock,
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  Speaker 2: or under shepherd, as the case may be. He has
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  Speaker 2: to carry a heavy load, and he's a family man,
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  Speaker 2: and he is a filling the blank, filling the blank,
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  Speaker 2: filling the blank. I wanted to know how he was
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  Speaker 2: doing as a human. Our leaders are humans too. I've
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  Speaker 2: been a leader for many, many years, and I know
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  Speaker 2: what it's like not to be treated as a human.
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  Speaker 2: Let me just continue before I go too far Afield.
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  Speaker 2: The early church grew because trained co workers and organized
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  Speaker 2: leadership supported evangelism. They reached out from their collective and said,
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  Speaker 2: there are people out here that need to be saved
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  Speaker 2: by Jesus, and we're going to do our part to assist.
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  Speaker 2: Make it a great day. Peace.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot
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  Speaker 1: live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
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  Speaker 1: from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
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  Speaker 1: portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,