Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 07 21 2026 Protecting the Church’s Identity

Transcript

07 21 2026 Protecting the Church’s Identity · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: yesterday's portion of heavenly manna the word of God to
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: author speaker Elle David Harris.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Tuesday, July
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: twenty one, twenty twenty six. Hello, my name is El
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: day and today is no exception. We are continuing in
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: our Lesson study series through the books of First and
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Second Corinthians, and our caption for today is protecting the
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Church's identity, protecting the churches identity. Before we get into that,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I'm asking you to go over to your Daily Portion
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: dot com and I want you you see behind me
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: right now, I want you to click that big button.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Stop guessing what to do with your life. Over the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: last couple of years. I have been developing an assessment.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: It's better than just a normal spiritual gifts assessment. I know,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: of course I would say that, but you'll find out.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And if you click that button stop guessing what to
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: do with your life. I'll get an email immediately and
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: we will know together. Why has God put you on
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: planet Earth? Like, what is it that God is calling
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: you to do? So please go to your Daily Portion
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: dot com click that link and go ahead and type
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: in the comments section if you're watching on YouTube or wherever,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: and say, like what your experience with that has been.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Just invest a few minutes of your time today at
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: your Daily Portion dot com. This is one of the
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: go ahead and pray and then get under way. Father,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: we thank you for this Tuesday morning. Please fill us
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: with your holy spirit and teach us how to love you.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: That's what we want to do, and protect your honor
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: where we are concerned. In Jesus' name, I pray amn
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: and a man again, really and truly. Sometimes people get confused.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I used to be a communication director in a two
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: hundred and four two hundred and twenty church conference, and
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: sometimes when we talk about church's identity and brand identity,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: we're talking about something very important, but it's a technical
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: thing of how we use the logo, etc. And it's necessary,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: but that is not what we're talking about today. We're
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: talking about becoming the greatest representation of the character of God.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: When people see, what are they going to think about God?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: And it's in that vein that I share with you
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: what I considered for this morning to be the most
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: important thing. The Church of Jesus Christ carries his name
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: before a watching world. People are waiting for you to
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: either demonstrate the character of God or mess up like
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: they want you to slip up so they can say,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: wait a minute, I thought you said you were a believer.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I thought you said you were a Christian. Where a
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Christian live like that? And everybody wants to be somebody
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: else's conscience. But every decision that God's people make in
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: public is a witness either for him or against him.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: So we have to decide, we have to decide where
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: we stand in this reality. So our first lesson is
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: coming in from First Corinthians, chapter six and verse one.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: The Bible says, when any of you has a legal
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: dispute with another, Does he dare to go to court
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: before the unrighteous rather than before the saints? And so
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: God is speaking to his people like he's being serious.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: He's saying, hold on now, if you are going to
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: judge angels meaning fallen angels at the end of all things,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: if you are going to judge angels, why can't you
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: figure out your disputes among yourselves within the faith fellowship?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Like why would you go to court to deal with
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: your brother, to deal with your sister when something did
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: not go right? When you are going to ultimately, that is,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: if you're one of God's children, that is, if you
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: ultimately choose to serve God. Uh, you're gonna judge evil angels.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So figure it out, like, do not do that. It
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: is disrespectful to God. It is disrespectful to God. And
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: so Paul's concern was not about a legal strategy. Let
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: me just be very clear. He wasn't saying, don't get
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: that lawyer, but do get this lawyer. It is the
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: witness of the people of God, the church taking a
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: brother or sister to a civil court announces to the world,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: are you ready for this? That the people of God
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: can't govern ourselves by the wisdom of God. Is that
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: what you want to say to the people because somebody
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: broke your lawnmower and you can't figure out how to
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: get that sorted out? A Is that what you really
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: want to do because somebody squatted in your airbnb? If
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: you happen to be a host for one of those
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: and didn't come out and they were one of God's
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: children whilst they said they were, they were part of
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: the faith fellowship and they wouldn't come out, You're going
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: to do it that way? You see what I'm saying, Like,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: this is real life implications. And when people discover that
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: you are church brothers and church sisters and you can't
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: resolve your disputes within the faith fellowship, they're like, ah,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: yeah that Yeah, those Christians ain't no better than us,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: you feel me. So let's not even go right there.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And so the action is before escalating any cont today,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: ask God whether there is a way to resolve it
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: within the faith community and in the spirit of Christ.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah, Let's go to lesson number two. There's
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: so much I wanted to say, but I will refrain
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: from speaking right now. First Corinthians chapter six and verse seven.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: The Bible says, the fact that you have any lawsuits
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: among yourselves demonstrates that you have already been defeated. Again,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: we're not talking about you had a car accident, and
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: then you know the insurance companies are battling for who
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: has the responsibility. Who's going to fix this car, fix
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: this truck, this bus, this bicycle, whatever it is. We're
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: not talking about that. The fact that I am in
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: the court God forbid with a brother or sister in
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the way that I just described as saying we're defeated.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: God is powerless. That's what the Bible writer just said.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: That's what it said. Why not rather be wronged? Why
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: not rather be cheated? This is what the Bible says.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: And you're like, oh, but I'm not passive. Why should
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I just let people get away with these things? I
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: need to do something about it. Yeah, you can do something.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: We're talking about people in the faith fellowship. And if
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Matthew eighteen does not help, because the people are just
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: belligering against it, then we leave them in the hands
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: of God and talk to God directly and say, God,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: look at what is going on here? Will you get glory? Here?
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Will you be honored here and deal with this dispute
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: between us. A defeat. This, the kind of defeat that
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: he's talking about is a loss, a falling short. Paul
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: says that the mere existence of lawsuits between believers is
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: itself a spiritual defeat. The loss happened before the case
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: even reached the courtroom mm hm. And so the willingness
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: to absorb personal loss, this is that turn the other
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: cheek concept. And we're not talking about somebody literally hitting
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: you in the face here, but this is what we're
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: talking about. To absorb that personal loss for the sake
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: of the body of Christ is a mark of christ likeness.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: And I know it's like, oh, but you're looking like
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: you're enabling. That's what's wrong with the people of God.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: And that's what And then you start making up scenarios
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: based on something that went wrong at your child's school,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: somebody you know was violent towards your child. And now
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: you're saying, oh, we're supposed to sweep it under the
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: rug based on what LD just said. Nope, I'm not
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: talking about that. I am not talking about that. I'm
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: saying that something went wrong, and you're talking about suing
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: somebody for for damages. We're not talking about police and
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: all that kind of thing. That's a different discussion I
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: wish I had the time to deal with. But what
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: God is saying here through Brother Paul, is that Jesus
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: absorbed the ultimate loss so that we could be restored.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Identify one situation where you are holding tightly
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: to being right. You are right, maybe you really literally
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: objectively you are right. But ask God rather whether he
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: is calling you to release it for the sake of
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: peace and for His glory. I know, I know this
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: is revolutionary. For some people, it's not, but for some
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: people it is, and so I don't want to take
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: that lightly. Pray about it, Brothers and sisters. From the
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: book Acts of the Apostles, page nine, we read the
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Church is God's appointed agency for the salvation of people.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: It was organized for service, and its mission is to
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: carry the Gospel into the world. Peace.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends, Always remember we cannot
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: portion with l David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,