Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 03 16 2025 The Two Greatest Commandments

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03 16 2025 The Two Greatest Commandments · 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 Sunday. It's
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  Speaker 2: March sixteen, twenty twenty five. Hello, my name is El
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  Speaker 2: David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
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  Speaker 2: Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day,
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  Speaker 2: and today is no exception. We are continuing in our
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  Speaker 2: Lesson study series, God's Love and Justice, and our caption
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  Speaker 2: for today is the two Greatest Commandments. I've been waiting
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  Speaker 2: to get to that Two Greatest Commandments. We'll get into
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  Speaker 2: that in just a moment, but first I'd like to
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  Speaker 2: say welcome to you and ask you to go over
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  Speaker 2: to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community.
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  Speaker 2: Please please pick up the Your Daily Portion companion guide.
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  Speaker 2: This will determine whether we continue into the next quarter
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  Speaker 2: with it. Okay, 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 go ahead and pray, and
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  Speaker 2: then we will get underway. Father, we do thank you
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  Speaker 2: this day for giving us your holy spirit. Thank you
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  Speaker 2: for giving us the opportunity to hear from you. How
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  Speaker 2: you see the commandments that you have given to us.
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  Speaker 2: Please help us to live those principles in Jesus name.
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  Speaker 2: I pray Amen and Amen again, the two greatest commandments. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: And so I'm going to read just a paragraph from
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  Speaker 2: the lesson writer and then go right into the scriptures
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  Speaker 2: to reflect on what we might do individually and corporately
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  Speaker 2: to advance God's love and justice in our world. It
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  Speaker 2: is appropriate to begin by focusing on what God has
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  Speaker 2: commanded us. And this is apropos. This is appropriate because
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  Speaker 2: I did say to you that judgment and justice in
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  Speaker 2: the scriptures almost all of the time, not one hundred
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  Speaker 2: percent of the time, actually means righteousness. So where you
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  Speaker 2: see judgment or justice is righteousness. Of course, we could
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  Speaker 2: get technical about it, and I understand why you would
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  Speaker 2: want to do that if you understand these texts. However,
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  Speaker 2: if that's the case, and God's justice is in question,
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  Speaker 2: then the righteousness is measured by what standard? How do
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  Speaker 2: we know what is just or righteous? Of course we
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  Speaker 2: need the commandments for this. The Commandments, the ten Commandments
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  Speaker 2: are a transcript of God's character, okay, if we were
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  Speaker 2: to make it simple, a transcript of God's character. And
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  Speaker 2: they are understood in two very clear principles. And now
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  Speaker 2: we go to the Bible Book of Matthew, chapter twenty two,
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  Speaker 2: and I will read beginning at verse thirty four Matthew
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  Speaker 2: chapter twenty two, and I'll read beginning at verse thirty four,
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  Speaker 2: and the Bible reads, But when the Pharisees had heard
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  Speaker 2: that he had put the Sadducees to silence. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: there's this argument about whether there is or is not
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  Speaker 2: a resurrection right, and so they're arguing about that. They
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  Speaker 2: are gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer,
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  Speaker 2: asked him a question, tempting him, saying, Master, which is
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  Speaker 2: the great commandment in the law. And Jesus said, unto him,
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  Speaker 2: thou shalt love thy God, with all thy heart, and
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  Speaker 2: with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This
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  Speaker 2: is the first and great commandment, and the second is
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  Speaker 2: like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
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  Speaker 2: On these two hang all the law and the prophets.
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  Speaker 2: And so the first four commandments have to do with
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  Speaker 2: loving God with everything we have and everything that we are.
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  Speaker 2: The final six commandments have to do with loving God
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  Speaker 2: and humanity. I know sometimes people make it seem as
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  Speaker 2: if the final six only have to do with loving humans.
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  Speaker 2: But we cannot love God without loving humans for real,
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  Speaker 2: for real, we can't actually love humans without loving without
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  Speaker 2: loving God. Okay, and so, but you can see the
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  Speaker 2: relational element where humans are concerned in the final six.
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  Speaker 2: Love for God, love for other human beings. This is
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  Speaker 2: how it's broken down. But I do like the transition
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  Speaker 2: here after Jesus talks to them about or really teaches
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  Speaker 2: them about the commandment, that is to love God with everything.
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  Speaker 2: Let me ask you a question. Is it a miracle
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  Speaker 2: or is it easy? Is it something that just happens
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  Speaker 2: because we make a decision to love God. I'm saying,
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  Speaker 2: of course it's a miracle, because we were born hostile
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  Speaker 2: toward God, born in sin, shapen in iniquity. Okay, So
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  Speaker 2: I want you to keep that in mind. As he
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  Speaker 2: makes the transition, he says, the second is like unto it.
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  Speaker 2: And then of course he says what we said already.
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  Speaker 2: So in the same way that it is miraculous that
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  Speaker 2: we need power outside of ourselves to love God, we
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  Speaker 2: need that same power. It is miraculous to love ourselves.
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  Speaker 2: And you're like, Dave, you just made a mistake. Did
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  Speaker 2: you hear what you just said? I heard what I
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  Speaker 2: just said? Because the Bible says that we are to
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  Speaker 2: love our neighbors as ourselves. Well, the problem is that
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  Speaker 2: too few people love God enough to value ourselves according
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  Speaker 2: to his principles. This is why we sometimes say bad words.
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  Speaker 2: This is why we entertain ourselves with things that actually
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  Speaker 2: rip down our characters, which were to be patterned after
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  Speaker 2: the character of God. This is why there's so much
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  Speaker 2: in the news about all kinds of creepy, crazy, nasty
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  Speaker 2: things that people in the entertainment and political scenes are
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  Speaker 2: doing to people and have cameras running, and all kinds
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  Speaker 2: of drugs and alcohol moving in people's lives. Because human
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  Speaker 2: beings naturally disrespect God and disrespect ourselves. But if we
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  Speaker 2: experience the miracle of grace. Somebody put grace in the chat.
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  Speaker 2: If we experience the miracle of grace, then we begin
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  Speaker 2: to love God miraculously, and by extension, we are able
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  Speaker 2: to love ourselves. This means now we can love our
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  Speaker 2: neighbor in the way that fulfills that second and great commandment.
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  Speaker 2: That is like unto the first. I hope that made sense.
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  Speaker 2: I hope it made sense. And so really, Jesus revealed
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  Speaker 2: the vertical relationship the love of God as primary, also
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  Speaker 2: the horizontal relationship among people, and it's equally essential. All
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  Speaker 2: other commandments flow from these two commandments. Love is the
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  Speaker 2: foundation of all true obedience. I said true obedience. Some
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  Speaker 2: people say that you can keep the law all you want,
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  Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean that you whatever are going to
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  Speaker 2: be saved. And it's just like pause. That means that
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  Speaker 2: you don't understand the law. You can attempt to do
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  Speaker 2: it and outwardly maybe perform some things that seem like
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  Speaker 2: it's law keeping, but in reality, if a person is
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  Speaker 2: actually keeping the law of God, it is only because
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  Speaker 2: the law of the New Covenant is in our lives.
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  Speaker 2: I will write my laws in your hearts and on
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  Speaker 2: your minds, so that you can actually do the commandments.
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  Speaker 2: If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And
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  Speaker 2: so there is no true commandment keeper that does not
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  Speaker 2: love God. There is no true quote me. There is
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  Speaker 2: no true commandment keeper that does not love God. Everybody
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  Speaker 2: else is a fraud. Everybody else is attempting to keep
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  Speaker 2: the law. But true law keepers are those who love God.
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  Speaker 2: I wish I had the time to really get into
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  Speaker 2: the final chapter Matthew Chapter nineteen, verses sixteen through twenty three,
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  Speaker 2: But of course we want to see the intersection of
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  Speaker 2: that principle in those passages from the lesson we see
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  Speaker 2: from the book Desire of Ages, page five hundred and twenty.
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  Speaker 2: Christ made the only terms which could place ruler where
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  Speaker 2: he would perfect a Christian character. His words were words
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  Speaker 2: of wisdom, though they appeared severe and exacting, and accepting
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  Speaker 2: and obeying them was the ruler's only hope of salvation
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  Speaker 2: and the same as the reality for us. Make it
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  Speaker 2: a great day, peace. Thanks for joining us listening.
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  Speaker 1: Friends, Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but
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  Speaker 1: by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
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  Speaker 1: This has been your daily portion with El David Harris.
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  Speaker 1: Make it a great day. Yeah,