Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 11 19 2023 The Faith of Friends

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11 19 2023 The Faith of Friends · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
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  food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
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  some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
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  keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
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  all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
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  to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
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  author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
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  morning. It is Sunday, November nineteen, twenty twenty three. Hello,
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  my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is
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  your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and today
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  is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series. God's Mission,
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  My mission. Our caption for today is the faith of friends. The
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  faith of friends. We'll get into that in just a moment, but first
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  I'd like to say welcome to you and ask you to go over to your
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  Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community and pick up the Your
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  Daily Portion book. This is a way that we continue to grow and build
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  faith and fellowship again at your Daily portion dot com. Let's go ahead and
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  pray and then get underway. Father in heaven, thank you for this new
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  day and for this new week. Please give us your holy spirit. Please
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  teach us to be faithful to you, and then we can be faithful as
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  friends. In Jesus's name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. Are
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  you a faithful friend? And if your answer is yes, what is your
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  measure? Like? What is the standard that you're to which you're holding yourself?
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  Is it that you check in regularly with your friends? Is it that
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  you are making searchain that if they need anything, you are there to help,
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  or even if God forbid they should need to be corrected spiritually, are
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  you ready willing and available to lead them to God's word where it is sharper
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  than any two edged sword? Like? What is your measure for being a
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  good friend? And I'm sure that a lot of these and more will resonate
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  with you. Well, what I want to do is go into a story
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  in a moment, but first read from the book Testimonies for the Church,
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  Volume two, page twenty nine, and it reads, do not wait to
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  be told your duty. Open your eyes and see who are around you.
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  Make yourselves acquainted with the helpless, afflicted, and needy, hide not yourselves
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  from them, and seek not to shut out their needs. Who gives the
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  proofs mentioned in James of possessing pure religion, untainted with selfishness or corruption,
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  who are anxious to do all in their power to aid in the great plan
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  of salvation. Yeah, so God has given us a standard, a measure
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  just for living the kind of religion that registers in heaven, the pure religion
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  and undefiled is helping those who are in need. The fatherless are mentioned in
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  particular, those who are widows have lost their spouses, yes, husbands,
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  yes. And so what God wants us to do is in all things seek
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  His will, and especially to move forward and help those in need. We
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  have drilled that one over and over again. But I'd like to read now
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  from the Book of Luke, chapter five. Luke chapter five, verses seventeen
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  through twenty six, and it reads, and it came to pass on a
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  certain day, and he as he was teaching, meaning Jesus, that there
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  were parracies and doctors of the law sitting by which were come out of every
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  town of Galilee. Why were they doing that? And Judea and Jerusalem,
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  and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. So they were
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  being led by God to Jesus Ah, the Son of God, and God
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  the Son, so that the power of God's presence could heal them. God
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  could heal them. The Bible continues verse eighteen. And behold, men brought
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  in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, so he was
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  paralyzed. And they sought means to bring him in and lay him before him,
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  meaning Jesus. So that man needed to be in Jesus's presence, and
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  these four men, who were full of faith, were looking for a way
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  to do it verse nineteen. And when they could not find by what way
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  they might bring him in because of the mo ultitude, I think it's Mark
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  chapter two says for the press, they went upon the housetop, let him
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  down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. So they
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  broke up the roof according to the tiling of the roof, according to Mark
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  chapter two, verse twenty. And then when he saw their faith, can
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  I just emphasize right there he saw their faith, He said, unto him,
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  man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and Pharisees began
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  to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive
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  sins? But God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering
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  said, unto them, what reason ye in your hearts? Whether is it
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  easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say, rise up and
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  walk? But that ye may know, that ye may know that the son
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  of Man hath power upon the earth to forgive sins. He said, to
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  the sick of the palsy, I say, unto thee, arise and take
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  up your couch, and go into thine house. And immediately I want somebody
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  to type in the chat the term Immediately he rose up before them and took
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  up that, whereupon he lay and departed to his own house, doing what
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  glorifying God. And they were all amazed. I love this part. And
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  they glorified God and were filled with fear, that is respects saying, we
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  have seen strange things today. Now it's very interesting that this man who was
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  paralyzed had four great friends. Let me ask you again, what is your
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  standard of friendship? See this man who could not move himself, who was
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  dejected and likely felt rejected in Sir and circumstances, needed to get into contact
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  with Jesus. You see, good friendship in our faith and fellowship communities are
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  predicated upon our faithfulness to God Ah. Love God with everything we are and
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  have yes, and love our neighbor as ourselves. And so this is the
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  principle upon which the law and the prophets hang, these two principles of love.
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  And so when this man needed help, his faithful friends gave him what
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  he needed. It wasn't just money, not just send your cash app.
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  It wasn't just that they he needed a phone call right, He didn't need
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  to FaceTime them like he needed someone to physically get themselves tired and exhausted for
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  his benefit. He needed to get into the presence of Jesus, but he
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  had no way to do so, And so they carried him physically. They
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  carried him. His four friends carried him. Have you ever been carried by
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  friends into the chamber of prayer when you could not pray for yourself? A
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  Have you ever been in a situation where you just couldn't see your way through
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  and you said, God, I need some help and then one or two
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  or three or four friends ah came together to speak to you, to encourage
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  you, to pray for you, to clean, for you to do things
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  around your house that you can't do because you are suffering a loss and you
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  are not able to overcome. Right now, these four friends took him to
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  Jesus. But they were faithful also to God. How do I know?
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  Because when they could not get into the house because there were so many people
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  who needed Jesus's attention, and then they ascended the roof let the man down
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  right in front of Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus, when he saw
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  their faith, did you get that? When he saw their faith, he
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  said to the sick of the palsy son, thy sins be forgiven thee The
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  ultimate need that he had was forgiveness. Inspiration says in the book Desire of
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  Ages that this man was paralyzed because of his own sinful activities. There were
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  things that he had done in his life that caused his health condition, and
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  all he wanted to do was be sure that God would accept him. And
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  so those four friends got him into Jesus's presence, and he, in his
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  mind could have lived or died once Jesus forgave him, but Jesus gave him
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  a bonus round. Jesus said, now take up your bed and walk.
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  These four faithful friends facilitated Jesus healing the man. Are you a good faithful
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  friend. Have a wonderful day. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends,
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  Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
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  from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with El David
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  Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah.