Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 07 12 2026 The Problem of Cliques in the Church

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07 12 2026 The Problem of Cliques in the Church · 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, July twelve,
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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 Lesson
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  Speaker 2: study series through the books of First and Second Corinthians,
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  Speaker 2: and our caption for today is the problem of clicks
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  Speaker 2: in the church, cliques in the church. Before we get
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  Speaker 2: into that, I would like to welcome everyone joining us,
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  Speaker 2: especially those joining us for the very first time. Ah this,
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  Speaker 2: I'd like for you to go over to your Daily
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  Speaker 2: Portion dot com. Please join our online community and let
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  Speaker 2: us know where you are in the world. One more thing,
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  Speaker 2: Please click the contribute button because your daily portion ministries
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  Speaker 2: is a listener and viewer supported ministry. Let's go ahead
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  Speaker 2: and pray and then we will get underweg Father, we
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  Speaker 2: thank you this Sunday morning for the privilege of prayer
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  Speaker 2: and the opportunity to come into your presence. Father. Now
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  Speaker 2: please give us understanding and help us not to divide ourselves,
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  Speaker 2: but to unify under the mission that you have given
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  Speaker 2: to us. Please and thanks. In Jesus' name, I pray,
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  Speaker 2: Amen and Amen again. God did not create cliques. Some
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  Speaker 2: people say that's why I said that, but it's really
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  Speaker 2: click huh. It's a click when you look it up
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  Speaker 2: click cliques click. It actually means a group of people
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  Speaker 2: that you have gathered together that you're not reading readily
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  Speaker 2: available to allow other people into. It's like when you
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  Speaker 2: were in grade school and as a child, there were
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  Speaker 2: people who just hung out. Some of the athletes from
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  Speaker 2: certain teams would have hung out together and did not
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  Speaker 2: allow other people into their little group. Ah. That is
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  Speaker 2: similar to like in university, some of the universities you
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  Speaker 2: went to had other little groups, some of which were
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  Speaker 2: with Greek letters. I'm not saying anything except what I
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  Speaker 2: just said. Hah, And nobody else is allowed unless they
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  Speaker 2: fill in the blank whatever that's outside of the family
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  Speaker 2: of God. What we're saying is inside the family of God.
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  Speaker 2: We have coin. That is the kind of family, That
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  Speaker 2: is the kind of a fellowship that comes simply because
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  Speaker 2: we are God's children. We are all welcomed. I'm so
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  Speaker 2: glad I'm a part of the family of God. Do
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  Speaker 2: you hear where I'm going with this? And so Paul's
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  Speaker 2: appeal that there be no divisions among you, but that
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  Speaker 2: you be united in the same mind and the same
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  Speaker 2: judgment dominates the first four chapters of First Corinthians. That's
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  Speaker 2: what the lesson writer said. In fact, most scholars agree
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  Speaker 2: that the unity is the all encompassing theme that binds
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  Speaker 2: all of the parts of this letter or epistle First
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  Speaker 2: Corinthians together. So unity under Christ is the focal point.
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  Speaker 2: And for me, the most important thing from today's lesson
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  Speaker 2: is that Jesus was crucified to save sinners, not to
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  Speaker 2: build party among human leaders. When Jesus is truly at
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  Speaker 2: the center, pride must fail and his people can be
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  Speaker 2: made one. Even as Jesus and his father are one
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  Speaker 2: do you hear where we're going with this? So our
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  Speaker 2: first lesson comes in from First Corinthians, chapter one, Verses
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  Speaker 2: twelve and thirteen. The Bible reads in First Corinthians, chapter one,
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  Speaker 2: Versus twelve and thirteen. Now this I say that every
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  Speaker 2: one of you, Saith, I am of Paul, I am
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  Speaker 2: of Apollos, and I am of Seaphis, and I am
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  Speaker 2: of Christ. Is Christ divided? You can see where Paul
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  Speaker 2: is showing his frustration. How in the world are you
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  Speaker 2: picking your favorite leader as a way to divide us?
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  Speaker 2: H Was Paul crucified for you? This is Paul speaking.
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  Speaker 2: Was Paul crucified for you? And you could go down
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  Speaker 2: the list, pick your favorite pastor here, pick your favorite leader,
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  Speaker 2: your favorite president, your favorite secretary, your favorite treasurer, pick
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  Speaker 2: your favorite director at the conference or union or division level.
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  Speaker 2: Are you saying that these human beings gave their lives
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  Speaker 2: for you? Or were you baptized into the name of
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  Speaker 2: Paul or any of those leaders for that matter. And
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  Speaker 2: so we go away again, like I said yesterday, from
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  Speaker 2: the tears, the splits, the divisions, and the separation, Paul
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  Speaker 2: exposes how foolish church clicks really are. No leader died
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  Speaker 2: for us, and by the way, no leader could have
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  Speaker 2: for those who are adjoining themselves to different dissident groups
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  Speaker 2: and cults, where human beings may even say that they're
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  Speaker 2: going to die for other human beings and maybe they
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  Speaker 2: in fact die and they're saying that that death was
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  Speaker 2: for other human beings. We see this in the news
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  Speaker 2: all the time. Unfortunately some of you have seen that
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  Speaker 2: among your people. But what the Bible is saying is
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  Speaker 2: that there is no human being whose life is worth
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  Speaker 2: what it takes to save us from our sins. HM.
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  Speaker 2: The one who dies has to be equal to or
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  Speaker 2: greater than the law that was offended. And so Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: taking on human form miraculously and then allowing that humanity
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  Speaker 2: to die under the weight and punishment of our sins
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  Speaker 2: is the only pathway to salvation. So only Jesus was
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  Speaker 2: crucified for us. So only Jesus must hold first place
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  Speaker 2: among God's people. And so we need to refuse to
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  Speaker 2: build our identity around human leaders today and center your
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  Speaker 2: heart fully on Jesus Christ. And I know people are like,
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  Speaker 2: come on, bro, nobody does that. Yeah, yeah, when that
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  Speaker 2: series pops up on your laptop or your cell phone
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  Speaker 2: and you're sharing it, or you're sharing your daily portion
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  Speaker 2: like praise God, Like we're grateful that the gospel of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is being preached into all the world for
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  Speaker 2: a witness and shared by God's people. But sometimes people
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  Speaker 2: take it too far. People take it too far, and
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  Speaker 2: their focus is have you heard fill in the blank
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  Speaker 2: leader's name? Have you heard of fill in the blank
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  Speaker 2: leader's name? And it's like, well, that's beside the point
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  Speaker 2: that just happens to be the mouthpiece of the for
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  Speaker 2: the word of God that is coming forward. The person
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  Speaker 2: is irrelevant. We're irrelevant. The human being that happens to
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  Speaker 2: be the mouthpiece is irrelevant. You think I'm playing. When
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  Speaker 2: Moses struck that rock the second time at Marrabah, God
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  Speaker 2: moved him right out of the way and he put
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  Speaker 2: Joshua in place. Before you blink, God replaced Moses to
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  Speaker 2: take his people into the Land of Promise because Moses
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  Speaker 2: and Aaron just lost focus in one or two places.
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  Speaker 2: So God is saying like, I don't need any particular
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  Speaker 2: human being. I need those who are willing, those who
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  Speaker 2: remain surrendered to God. And thank God, Moses repented, but
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  Speaker 2: he still needed to be moved out of the way. Nonetheless,
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  Speaker 2: those of you who are among my faith fellowship, there
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  Speaker 2: was a brother way back in the day who said,
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  Speaker 2: because of his skin tone, that he should not be
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  Speaker 2: called to be a messenger of the Lord. So what
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  Speaker 2: did God do in his resistance? Moved him right out
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  Speaker 2: of the way, and he used a woman who only
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  Speaker 2: had a third grade education and replaced him as the
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  Speaker 2: messenger for the people of God of that time. Do
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  Speaker 2: you understand where we're going with this? So the humans
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  Speaker 2: are irrelevant. It's the submission to God's will that is
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  Speaker 2: our focus, and to teach what God has given us
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  Speaker 2: to teach. Let me close here because I did get
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  Speaker 2: on my soapbox. From the book The Adventist Home page
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and seventy nine. The cause of division and
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  Speaker 2: discord in families and in the church is separation from Christ.
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  Speaker 2: The unifying factor, brothers and sisters is Jesus Christ. And
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  Speaker 2: if we are unified with Christ and have fellowship with Christ,
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  Speaker 2: we'll be unified with one another and fellowship with one another. 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,