Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 07 27 2026 Selfless Love

Transcript

07 27 2026 Selfless Love · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too much,
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  Speaker 1: because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy for
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  Speaker 1: today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect yesterday's
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  Speaker 1: portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
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  Speaker 1: us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to change all of that. Let's experience God's words today
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  Speaker 1: and receive the power we need to live healthy, vibrant lives.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host, author speaker,
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  Speaker 1: Elle David Harris.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Monday, the
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  Speaker 2: twenty seventh day of July and twenty twenty six. Hello,
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  Speaker 2: my name is El David Harris. I am your host,
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  Speaker 2: and this is your Daily Portion where we give you
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  Speaker 2: God's word every single day, and today is no exception.
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  Speaker 2: We are continuing in our Lesson study series through the
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  Speaker 2: books of First and Second Corinthians, and our caption for
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  Speaker 2: today is selfless love. Selfless love, and I'm ashamed that
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  Speaker 2: we even need to say selfless love. But I'll get
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  Speaker 2: into that in just a moment. But before we do,
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  Speaker 2: I'd like to welcome you to your Daily Portion dot com.
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  Speaker 2: Please go over to that website. It is not YouTube
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  Speaker 2: It is not Facebook or some social media platform. It
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  Speaker 2: is a web address. And when you get there, I
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  Speaker 2: want you to click that button. It talks about God's
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  Speaker 2: design for your life. And if you are still wondering,
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  Speaker 2: like what has God called me to do? How do
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  Speaker 2: I know how I'm to serve in the community of
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  Speaker 2: faith and to the world, then go ahead over there
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  Speaker 2: and click that one. It's the big one. It's a
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  Speaker 2: big one at the top that talks about God's design
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  Speaker 2: for your life. And also, please well you let us
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  Speaker 2: know where you are in the world. And also click
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  Speaker 2: that contribute button because your daily portion ministries is a
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  Speaker 2: listener and viewer supported ministry. Let's go ahead and pray
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  Speaker 2: and get underway. Father, we thank you for giving us
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  Speaker 2: this new Sabbath morning and the privilege that you have
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  Speaker 2: entrusted us to open up your word and not just
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  Speaker 2: open it up, but live what we see in principle there.
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  Speaker 2: Please help us to do just that, live what we
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  Speaker 2: see in principle there in Jesus name, I pray, Amen
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  Speaker 2: and a man again. Selfless love. I don't know why
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  Speaker 2: we have to say that these qualifiers are the death
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  Speaker 2: of us. Love is selfless, Otherwise it's not love. If
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  Speaker 2: it's selfish, it is not love. That's a newsflash to
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  Speaker 2: somebody right now about We're only three minutes into this program.
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  Speaker 2: It's a newsflash. If it's selfish, then it's not love,
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  Speaker 2: not in the truest sense, not in the God sense.
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  Speaker 2: So the most important thing though, for me in this
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  Speaker 2: lesson today is that Paul had the rights and laid
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  Speaker 2: them down freely. There are some rights that you have
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  Speaker 2: that sometimes you may choose to lay down freely, okay,
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  Speaker 2: And that's not a weakness. It is the love of
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  Speaker 2: Christ working in human life. All right, Let's get into
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  Speaker 2: our first, our first lesson for today from First Corinthians,
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  Speaker 2: chapter nine, Versus four and five. First Corinthians, Chapter nine,
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  Speaker 2: Versus four and five, and the Bible reads, do we
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  Speaker 2: not have the right to eat and to drink? Don't
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  Speaker 2: we have the right? Do we not have the right
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  Speaker 2: to take long a believing wife? Or as do the
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  Speaker 2: other apostles and the Lord's brothers and cephists. It's like,
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  Speaker 2: what what are you talking about, Paul, Paul? What you
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  Speaker 2: talking about? Well, the authority, the power. Paul uses the
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  Speaker 2: word exusia, this power, this authority repeatedly in First Corinthians
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  Speaker 2: chapter nine. He does it repeatedly, and he's establishing that
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  Speaker 2: he had legitimate rights and then to show that love
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  Speaker 2: gave him the freedom to set those rights aside. Okay, okay,
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  Speaker 2: what are we going to learn from this for ourselves? Okay,
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  Speaker 2: So Paul in his self denial, it wasn't the result
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  Speaker 2: of having nothing to give up. There are times that
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  Speaker 2: people say that they're sacrificing for Christ, sacrificing for Christ,
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  Speaker 2: and you're like, what are you sacrificing. I'm sacrificing smoking wheed.
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  Speaker 2: That's not a sacrifice. Brother, that's sister, that's not a sacrifice.
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  Speaker 2: That's gonna kill you anyway. I'm gonna sacrifice carousing. Well,
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  Speaker 2: that's that's not a sacrifice. It may feel like a sacrifice,
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  Speaker 2: but the carousing is gonna destroy your life. So that's
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  Speaker 2: not a sacrifice. What we're talking about is stuff that
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  Speaker 2: we have the right to and that will, you know,
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  Speaker 2: may even add value to us. He gave that up,
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  Speaker 2: He gave up real income, he gave up real privileges.
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  Speaker 2: He did it freely for the sake of the Gospel
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  Speaker 2: and the people that he served. And so when we
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  Speaker 2: look at that principle. We don't have to get into
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  Speaker 2: the theology of what he was actually talking about there,
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  Speaker 2: but let's look at the spiritual principle. Identify one right
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  Speaker 2: or privilege, one right or privilege today that love may
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  Speaker 2: be asking you to lay down for the benefit of
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  Speaker 2: someone else, and ask God for the grace to release
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  Speaker 2: it willingly. There are times that you can be more
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  Speaker 2: comfortable if you will do X, but your spouse needs
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  Speaker 2: you to do why. Oh, I think we're getting somewhere here.
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  Speaker 2: There are times that it would be more convenient for
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  Speaker 2: you to do X, but you're having three children requires
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  Speaker 2: you to do why, and you choose why. Because of love,
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  Speaker 2: You've given up your rights. You've given up your right
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  Speaker 2: to sleep at night, beginning at nine pm because your
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  Speaker 2: baby needs to be fed at eleven I'm talking about
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  Speaker 2: a bottle fed or breastfed baby. At eleven PM, you
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  Speaker 2: have to wake him or her up, give them that
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  Speaker 2: one last feeding. You fed that baby at seven. Now
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  Speaker 2: it's time to feed again, and you give up your
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  Speaker 2: right to rest. Do you see where we're going here?
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  Speaker 2: And so I want you to identify one of those
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  Speaker 2: things and ask God for the grace for you to
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  Speaker 2: release it willingly. Our second lesson comes in from verse
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  Speaker 2: twelve of First Corinthians, chapter nine, where the Bible reads, nevertheless,
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  Speaker 2: we have not used this power or this right. Instead,
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  Speaker 2: we endure everything so that we may not be an
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  Speaker 2: obstacle to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is saying
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  Speaker 2: that I don't want to be a hindrance, a cutting
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  Speaker 2: into an obstacle. That's what the Greek term in this text,
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  Speaker 2: and copay it means an obstacle. It means cutting into
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  Speaker 2: a hindrance. Paul's primary concern was not to have his
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  Speaker 2: own comfort or his own rights. It was to unobstructed
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  Speaker 2: advance of the gospel. If his comfort was in the
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  Speaker 2: way of the gospel, he said, I will choose discomfort.
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  Speaker 2: If his rights are in the way of the gospel,
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  Speaker 2: then he's choosing to relinquish his rights. He refused to
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  Speaker 2: allow anything that he deserved to become a barrier to
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  Speaker 2: what Christ was doing. Somebody wronged you, and they legitimately
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  Speaker 2: did wrong you. They stole from you, and they lied
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  Speaker 2: about it, and you did miss a payment on your
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  Speaker 2: mortgage because of what they stole from you. They did
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  Speaker 2: to physically harm you, and you have the right to
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  Speaker 2: fill in the blank. I'm not getting into that detail
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  Speaker 2: because you'll get distracted by whatever I say next. But
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  Speaker 2: you are relinquishing your right in the moment in order
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  Speaker 2: for the Gospel to go forward, whatever that means. And
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  Speaker 2: so God is saying that we can come to him.
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  Speaker 2: So ask him today whether anything you are holding on to.
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  Speaker 2: We're not talking about bad things now again, we're not
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  Speaker 2: talking about smoking. We not holding onto that. We're not
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  Speaker 2: talking about drinking rum holding onto that, carousing and partying,
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  Speaker 2: We're not talking about that. We're talking about the stuff
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  Speaker 2: that is is likely very good for you. Likely it
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  Speaker 2: is your right to be able to experience. If there
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  Speaker 2: is anything a right, or a preference, or a habit,
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  Speaker 2: if it is becoming a hindrance to the Gospel or
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  Speaker 2: someone else's life, ask God if that's the case. And
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  Speaker 2: if it is, then ask him to help you to
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  Speaker 2: just relinquish the right, brother than sisters, to relinquish the
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  Speaker 2: rights in that case. Let me read a quote to
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  Speaker 2: you this morning from the book Testimonies for the Church,
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  Speaker 2: Volume four, Volume four, page three hundred seventy four, where
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  Speaker 2: it reads self denial and self sacrifice characterized the life
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  Speaker 2: of our Lord, those who are doing the work of
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  Speaker 2: Christ will follow his example. They will go forth to
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  Speaker 2: seek and to save the lost, making any sacrifice if
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  Speaker 2: only they can win the soul to Christ. Y'all, make
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  Speaker 2: it a great day, selfless love y'all, 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.