Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 11 25 2023 Mission to the Powerful

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11 25 2023 Mission to the Powerful · 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 Sabbath, November twenty five, twenty twenty three. Hello,
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  my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is
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  your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and today
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  is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series. God's Mission,
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  My mission, and our caption for today is Mission to the Powerful,
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  Mission to the Powerful. We'll get into that in just a moment, but
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  first I'd like to say welcome to you and ask you to go over to
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  your Daily Portion dot com. This is where you can join our online community.
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  You can also let me know where you are in the world. I
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  won't lie, I really do find encouragement seeing when you are putting in that
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  box where you are in the world. Some of you are in Cambodia,
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  in Sri Lanka, in Liberia, right in other places on all continents of
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  the world. I haven't seen from certain places as yet, but for some
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  reason, I really just love to see from what vantage point you are spreading
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  the gospel. You're brightening the corner where you are, and again we can
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  continue to build faith and fellowship at your daily portion dot Com. Let's go
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  ahead and pray and then we will get underway. Father, thank you for
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  this new day, the Sabbath, that you have entrusted to us so we
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  can become more like you. We can be connected to you in a special
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  way. Father, Please give us understanding and wisdom while we are going through
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  this time of our lives. Teach us. If it is for us to
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  reach to the Powerful, help us to do it in the power the Holy
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  Spirit. In Jesus's name, I pray Amen and damen again. Of course,
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  this mission to the Powerful is for the entire body of believers, but
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  not necessarily for every individual in the household of faith. Okay, So I'm
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  not letting anybody off the hook. What I'm saying is, don't feel pressure
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  if that is not your particular calling. All of us have specific gifts and
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  calling to do whatever God says to do in a given time. That does
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  not mean that we cannot reach the powerful if it's not quote our gift.
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  But there are some people who are just even more gifted and called for that
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  particular ministry. I think of one man here in Jamaica from Andrew's memorial named
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  Elder Noel Jump. I'm talking about the dad I've seen where he has done
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  ministry up in Red Hills here in Jamaica and other places where he has been
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  reaching the soul called powerful for many years. Okay, And so what I'm
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  going to do now is read from the Book of Matthew Matthew, Chapter sixteen,
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  beginning at well, I'll just read verse twenty six to get us started,
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  and then I'll read from the Lesson study, and it reads, for
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  what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses
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  his own soul? So I want you to see the contrast here. Do
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  not read into this something that it is not saying. Okay, I'll come
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  back to that, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul.
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  So God is saying, we must, we can, we will,
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  We must prioritize eternity with God, prioritize a right relationship with God and holiness,
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  prioritize spirituality over material gain and wealth. Okay, so we're looking at
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  the priority. What does it profit us to gain everything, riches, wealth,
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  fame, notoriety, whatever it is that people are getting in terms of
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  power, yes, political position, whatever it is. What profit is it
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  to have all of that? If that says if we are not connected to
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  God and submitted to his will. So that is the contrast. Now,
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  this does not mean that individuals who have means, wealth and everything else I
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  just described. It doesn't mean that those individuals are lost. Like what.
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  There are so many believers around the world who are of means, who do
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  have wealth. Joseph of Arimathea back in Jesus's day was a good example.
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  Right, we could go down through the list. Job, we could go
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  down through the list. Abraham ah Lydia, the woman who broke open that
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  jar of spikenard and gave herself to Jesus in that moment. Yes, and
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  so what God is saying that we can yield our will to Him no matter
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  what our socio economic status is, but we must never ever prioritize our wealth
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  or anything else for that matter, above Him. Okay. Through written,
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  though written many years ago, the Bible, the Word of God is the
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  revelation of God's truth for our world. I'm reading from the Lesson, and
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  among the many truths it reveals is that of human nature, and that whether
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  in seventh century Judea or twenty first century Brasil, people are basically the same
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  sinners in need of grace. Okay, good, so far, so good.
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  This includes the rich and the powerful. The rich and the powerful of
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  the Bible times were no different from the rich and the powerful of modern times,
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  especially in their pursuit of wealth and fame and power, often but not
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  always, at the expense of the vulnerable. Did you get that? Often
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  but not always? Okay? Yet, God is as concerned about the salvation
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  of the rich and of the powerful as he is for that of the weak
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  and of the needy. Scripture provides some gripping examples of Bible characters who were
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  powerful or rich or both, or how God used them to be a blessing
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  to nations and I gave you some examples before, and we're going to explore
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  that in the coming days. Okay, So that is the baseline of our
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  discussion. Really, the question is what would you exchange for a connection with
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  God? Hopefully your answer immediately is nothing, like nothing would give you enough
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  drive, enough determination, like enough joy or happiness to say, Okay,
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  I don't need God, you see. So what God is saying is if
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  you no, Let's use Solomon as an example. Let's use Solomon as an
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  example. As God was preparing Solomon to lead his people and to become a
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  lighthouse to the world. He actd Solomon what he wanted, and Solomon said,
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  but I'm like a child, God, like, how in the world
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  can I lead this your great people? Please give me wisdom? And with
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  the wisdom God granted him wealth. Now what Solomon did with it in all
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  details, that's a different discussion. But it shows that God is willing to
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  give directly and intentionally that which would glorify him if we yield our will to
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  him. In the case of Solomon, in the cases of all these other
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  people that I cited a little bit earlier, he saw fit to bless them
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  with means can you imagine there are people who don't love God who are philanthropic.
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  There are people who don't love God who are giving to the poor,
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  making sure that those who don't have parents, those who have lost their spouses,
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  people who don't have places to live, people who are in dire need
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  of education, of nutrition, and other basic necessities of life. Wells being
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  drilled in different parts of the world where water is scarce. You see,
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  if people who don't love God have that capacity, can you imagine what God
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  would do with the means and wealth of people who aren't fully dedicated to God.
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  And so God gives us the privilege though, to see and to meet
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  those individuals who have not yet made a decision to follow God and say this
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  is the way. Walky in it right. There are habits, there are
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  mindsets, There are challenges in their minds that they had not yielded to God.
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  And it is our privilege to reach them for the kingdom. And then
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  those who are reached for the kingdom will, like everybody else, yield all
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  of who we are, all of what we have, for the work of
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  God. And so again God wants us to prioritize relationship with Him over any
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  earthly gain. So what we want to do this as we go into the
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  week is ponder the memory text, reflect on the true value of spiritual wealth
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  versus worldly wealth. Discuss with friends or family. But the text means today
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  in its context, well, come back to it tomorrow, have a wonderful
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  day. Peace. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we
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  cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth
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  of God. This has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make
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  it a great day. Yeah,