Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 12 14 2023 Faith on Earth?

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12 14 2023 Faith on Earth? · 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 food
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  is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
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  of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
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  us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
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  of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
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  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 morning.
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  It is Thursday, December eighth, fourteen, twenty twenty three. Hello,
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  my name is Elle David Harris. I am your host, and this
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  is your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and
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  today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series. God's
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  mission, my mission, and our caption for today is faith on the Earth.
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  I'm here reading that I'm about to read from Luke eighteen, and my
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  brain said it it's December eighteen, But yeah, it's not. It's the
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  four. You know what I'm saying, right, That's one of those things.
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  I am so happy to be with you this morning, and I'm asking
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  you to please go over to your Daily Portion dot com join our online community.
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  Please please also let us know where you are in the world. There's
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  a box there with a little form that says where are you in the world.
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  And also pick up the your Daily Portion book at your Daily Portion dot
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  com. This is a way we build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead
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  and pray, and then we will get underway. Father and Heaven, thank
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  you for giving us this new day and for the privilege that we have to
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  open your word. And I'm asking you to please fill us with your holy
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  spirit. Give us the opportunity, Lord to help somebody today and help us
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  to capitalize on it. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen, and
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  a man again faith on earth. Now I am a firm believer in God
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  ordering our footsteps. Right, put it one in the chat if you believe
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  that God orders our footsteps, even the minor details. And so you know
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  initially, as you can see in the lesson study, you're supposed to read
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  from Luke chapter eighteen and verse eight But I inadvertently, if you want to
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  say in air quotes, I looked at verse eighteen, and then two very
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  important questions arose. Okay, looking at what I was supposed to read versus
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  what God had shown me right here as I was making a mistake. Right,
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  So, so here are the questions. I'm going to read verse eighteen,
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  which was not what we were supposed to read for today. And it
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  reads and a certain ruler asked him, saying, good Master, what shall
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  I do to inherit eternal life? Right? So we've read about this before.
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  Now here is the passage that we were supposed to read, verse eight
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  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son
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  of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Now, what
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  am I gonna do? I'm gonna put it in a bowl, mix it
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  up, and give it right back to you. Right, So there are
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  two there are two different perspectives that are happening right here, right now.
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  Right. Should not the man who said, good Master, what shall I
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  do to inherit eternal life? Like? Should not that question have been more
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  like what Jesus said? Jesus said, will I find faith on the earth?
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  Could it be that the man should have asked Jesus, Lord, what
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  will it take? What will it take to have faith? What will it
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  take to have the kind of faith that lays hold on you, on your
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  power? What kind of faith does it take to connect with you? How
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  can I increase my faith? You see? You see, sometimes humans are
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  into a paycheck. And I don't mean like a paycheck at work, because
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  really and truly we do need to get a paycheck, like if you work,
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  you should get paid, got it? But then sometimes we superimpose that
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  on our spiritual lives, like what can I do in order to earn a
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  paycheck? Very interesting discussion, and I'm wondering about that question for myself.
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  Am I asking God what do I do to inherit eternal life? And I
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  know, technically, of course I'm not, But in my actions like am
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  I looking for brownie points? Am I looking for a way to connect in
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  order to be rewarded? Or am I really just wanting to be in God's
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  presence? Like am I satisfied with the presence of God to the point that
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  as I grow in that experience with Him than anything else that happens is a
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  bonus. You see what's happening here. So I'm thankful that God allowed me
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  to read the passage wrong if you want to say in air quotes and then
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  come back around, and now I have these two questions with which I will
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  contend every day of my life. What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
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  Or what kind of faith? What kind of faith? God? Are
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  you? Are you planting in my bosom so I can lay hold upon your
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  power? And then, of course, now Jesus is saying, well,
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  will I find faith in the earth? And that's for us to answer.
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  Will he find faith in me? Will he find faith in you? There
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  are multiple stories here, from Matthew chapter eight, Matthew chapter nine, Chapter
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  twenty, Mark chapter two, Mark chapter ten, Luke chapter eighteen. Of
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  course, we cannot read through all of those passages, but there are some
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  lessons that we need to be gleaning from them. Let's begin with the one
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  from Matthew chapter eight, verses ten and thirteen, and they reads when Jesus
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  heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, Verily, I
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  say, unto you, I have not found so great faith, No,
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  not in Israel, meaning among God's people. And Jesus said, unto the
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  centurion, go thy way as it as thou hast believed, so be it
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  done unto thee. This shows us that there are people who have genuine faith,
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  and these people can be found in unexpected places like these people can be
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  unexpected people. Sometimes among the people of God, we don't have enough faith.
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  And I just say that sometimes the people of God don't have enough faith.
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  And then people that come from outside, if you want to call it
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  in air quotes, outside of the family of God, they demonstrate, they
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  demonstrate the kind of faith that Jesus admires and he sees coming and he rewards
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  and he says, Wow, I've never seen anything like this, because the
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  man was in the supposed to be that kind of faithful. But I think
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  again, in Isaiah chapter fifty six, we see verses one through seven that
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  anybody who who keeps covenant with God, right, it doesn't matter from what
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  kindred nation, tongue, tribe, or people a person comes. If you
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  have faith in God and you are a person who will keep covenant with Him
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  by faith, then he says, don't call yourself a eunuch. That was
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  a person who ceremonially would have been considered torn and not acceptable. It's a
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  long story. It's more than that, but that's what it would mean.
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  H don't say you're a dry tree. Don't say you're a gentile, don't
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  say you come from outside Ah. But if you will keep my holy seventh
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  day Sabbath, if you will keep covenant with me, I will give you
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  a name that is greater, that is better than of sons and of daughters.
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  It is a name that will remain forever. Can you imagine God is
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  writing his new name in the foreheads of people who are least kindly, the
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  likely candidates for spiritual success. Yeah, Samaritans, right, people who come
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  from among people who are not necessarily worships of worshippers of God. And so
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  I'm thankful that God has shown us in this man's story who just really wanted
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  to have healing for his servant. And Jesus is saying, because you have
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  given me this kind of faith, I'm going to give you the power through
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  that vehicle, and I'm going to answer your prayer in the affirmative. And
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  so faith transcends cultural and religious boundaries. I said all of that to just
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  say that now, faith also in Christ opens doors of grace. In Mark
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  chapter ten and verse fifty two, Jesus in answer to the kind of faith
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  that lays hold upon God's power, he said, go thy way thy faith
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  hath made the whole meaning. Bartimaeus, he was blind, he could not
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  see. And then he gave Jesus the little faith that he had, and
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  Jesus turned that faith into into into healing. And so faith opens the doors
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  to power. I said, grace. That's what power. That's what grace
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  is. Grace is is is unmerited favor. Yes, and it's also power,
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  power from God to do his will, power to be transformed by God.
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  And then let me just give you one more, one more. Faith
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  is recognized and honored by Jesus Christ. Faith is recognized and honored by Jesus
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  Christ. He is pleased to say yes to people who have faith in him.
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  Have a wonderful day. Thanks for joining us listening to friends. Always
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  remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from
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  the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with el David Harris.
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  Make it a great day. Yeah,