Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 02 16 2024 Mercy!

Transcript

02 16 2024 Mercy! · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

• 0:01
  Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
• 0:05
  food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
• 0:10
  some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
• 0:15
  keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
• 0:19
  all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
• 0:25
  to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
• 0:31
  author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
• 0:34
  morning. It is Friday, February sixteen, twenty twenty four. Hello,
• 0:38
  my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is
• 0:41
  your Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today
• 0:46
  is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series this preparation day
• 0:51
  through the Book of Psalms, and our caption for today is mercy. And
• 0:56
  I put an exclamation point here, Mercy. We'll get into that in jail
• 1:00
  a moment, but first I'd like to say welcome to you and just give
• 1:03
  thanks that you are here. You're watching on television, you're listening on the
• 1:07
  radio. Hundreds of radio stations around the world and devices that you call out
• 1:14
  to and say play your daily portion and it happens, Oh my goodness.
• 1:17
  And then there are some apps that you all have that are coming in from
• 1:21
  various faith communities. I am so thankful that you are here on social media
• 1:26
  and on YouTube. This means that the gospel of the Kingdom is being preached
• 1:30
  into all the world for a witness. And you know what the promise of
• 1:34
  God is As a result of this, the end will come. We're not
• 1:38
  looking for some cataclysm to take the world out of here. No, we're
• 1:42
  looking forward to the day that Jesus Christ comes with clouds, and we understand
• 1:48
  that every eye shall see him and we're looking forward to that day. Let's
• 1:52
  go ahead and pray and then get underway. Father in Heaven, thank you
• 1:56
  for the privilege you've given us to make it thus far into the week,
• 1:59
  and for us to be able to prepare our minds and hearts and lives for
• 2:02
  the Sabbath that is upon us. I pray God that you will give us
• 2:07
  understanding, teach us how to love and to serve You. Please help us
• 2:12
  to be holy. We need to be holy, and then to appreciate your
• 2:15
  mercy and then we can be merciful to others. In Jesus' name, I
• 2:20
  pray Amen and a men again. Have you ever needed the mercy of God?
• 2:28
  Yeah? I should probably not have asked that question because it's obvious,
• 2:31
  Like the answer is obvious. Sometimes questions are just too obvious. Why are
• 2:36
  you wasting our time? Dave? Well? The fact is that sometimes we
• 2:39
  forget how merciful God has been. See yesterday I barely scratched the surface under
• 2:46
  the caption. Forget not all his benefits, right, don't forget his benefits.
• 2:50
  One of the benefits of God is his mercy that is enduring. And
• 2:54
  there are times that people offend us. Have you ever been offended by anyone?
• 3:00
  There are times that people abuse us. I wish I had the time.
• 3:02
  Have you ever been abused? I have in many ways as I was
• 3:07
  a young guy growing up. Yes, this world is not our home as
• 3:12
  it is today. It is not where we will reside throughout eternity, not
• 3:16
  as it is today. We look forward to a new Heaven and a new
• 3:21
  Earth. Right, and once we do inherit this earth, it will be
• 3:24
  the earth made new. But until then we will encounter bumps and bruises.
• 3:30
  We will encounter all kinds of unmentionable things, and God has been merciful toward
• 3:36
  us throughout all of those things. And there are times that we will have
• 3:38
  to be merciful to others. Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for
• 3:44
  they shall obtain mercy. You see, this is a reciprocal thing. We
• 3:47
  are merciful by God's grace, and we will receive mercy from God. And
• 3:53
  so this is a principle like his. It's a principal element if you want
• 3:59
  to say of God's character his mercy. He does not give us what we
• 4:03
  deserve. There are people who feel like we deserve all kinds of positive things,
• 4:08
  and God is saying that I am giving you unmerited favor. Now let
• 4:13
  me jump in here to this book. I've never read before, but it
• 4:16
  seems interesting. Page one hundred and seventy eight of Deliverance in Psalms, and
• 4:23
  it reads, not to praise God would mean to forget all of his benefits.
• 4:29
  We talk about one of them this morning, mercy. Not to appreciate
• 4:32
  God's gifts. Only those who praise do not forget. Thinking and speaking about
• 4:41
  God is not yet praising him. So it's not enough to just sit and
• 4:46
  meditate and say, God, he's there. He created the sun and the
• 4:49
  moon and the stars. He created the fish of the sea and all the
• 4:53
  other creatures in the sea, and the landing in the air. No,
• 4:57
  that is not enough. Praise begins, and one acknowledges God's majesty and works
• 5:03
  and responds with adoration of his goodness. I have often said, brothers and
• 5:09
  sisters, that we should be amazed by God, but not surprised. So
• 5:14
  when we praise God, we see praise him for his mighty acts, praise
• 5:17
  him according to his excellent greatness, and we begin to appreciate the beauty of
• 5:21
  the love that is a part of his character. Yes, and we are
• 5:28
  not surprised because God promised that he would be good to us. We're not
• 5:31
  wondering, well, why is it that God is good to us. We're
• 5:33
  not surprised because we just take Him at his word. It's not because we're
• 5:36
  more beautiful than anyone else. It is not because we are more in number
• 5:41
  as people of God. If you're one of God's people than anyone else,
• 5:45
  it is not if you are not one of God's people. Today and I'm
• 5:49
  asking you, please just to say yes to God so you can become one
• 5:53
  of his children and experience all of the benefits of his beauty and his love.
• 6:00
  Yes. But if you are not one of his children, and you
• 6:01
  are on the fence trying to decide if you can turn away from those things
• 6:06
  that you think that you love today that are really destroying your life, we
• 6:12
  have to remember, like you can adore God. You can say like,
• 6:15
  wait a minute, why has he allowed me to come thus far in my
• 6:19
  life and I've not yet yielded my will to him? Why is he so
• 6:23
  good to me? And then when you say yes to him, you will
• 6:27
  continue to be amazed. But don't be surprised. Because he promised. He
• 6:31
  promised that he would never leave his people nor forsake us. He promised that
• 6:35
  he would he would make it like flourishing water streams in the wilderness, that
• 6:44
  he would lead us day and night until Jesus comes. He will have us
• 6:48
  to lay down beside the still waters. So when he does this, when
• 6:54
  he sets a table for us in the presence of our enemies, yes,
• 6:58
  don't be surprised, but be amazed and adore him and say, what a
• 7:01
  good God and then share your adoration with others. Let me read that sentence
• 7:08
  without interrupting it. This time, praise begins when one acknowledges God's majesty and
• 7:15
  works and responds with adoration of His goodness, mercy, and wisdom. I
• 7:21
  need to ask you an honest question. I'm not asking you to respond in
• 7:25
  the chat unless you just choose to. It's up to you. It's up
• 7:28
  to you. Are you a complainer? Do you complain every ache and pain?
• 7:32
  Do you complain about it every time something does not go right in your
• 7:38
  life? Do you complain about it you lament and say how tired you are
• 7:43
  of every detail of these things that are not going your way? Are you
• 7:46
  a complainer? Why is it that we are so driven to hear our voices
• 7:54
  complaining, to type into social media how horrible things are? Seeing the clouds
• 8:00
  as really instruments of the wrath of earth and of the heavens. Why do
• 8:07
  we see things as cloudy most of Some people see things as cloudy most of
• 8:13
  the time. And again, I'm not asking you to be an optimist.
• 8:16
  I'm not asking you to stop being a pessimist. What I'm asking you to
• 8:20
  do is to put your faith and trust and focus on God. And then
• 8:24
  that discussion becomes irrelevant because you know that you're a child of the King and
• 8:28
  that whatever goes on in your life, he has measured it and He will
• 8:33
  get you through it. There are times of trial, yes, but there
• 8:37
  are also times of triumph. Like there are times of difficulty, yes,
• 8:41
  but there are times that we can just say, thank God, look at
• 8:43
  what you have done. The sun is shining again today. The sun is
• 8:48
  shining. We have water today, yes, And when those difficulties come,
• 8:52
  we just continue to yield ourselves to God and He will take care of us.
• 8:56
  Does life manufacture reasons for you to complain? Brothers and sisters? Ah,
• 9:03
  When you see a rose, do you see the thorns rather than seeing
• 9:07
  those beautiful, blessed pedals that give and waft the aroma of beauty into the
• 9:13
  air and into your nostrils? What do you see? Do you see thorns
• 9:18
  and thistles? Or do you see the petals of that great and beautiful flower?
• 9:22
  And so there is so much I could say, but not enough time.
• 9:26
  I think we can just say here that we should foster hope and assurance,
• 9:31
  cultivate repentance, and then share share testimonies of God's mercy every opportunity that
• 9:37
  we have. Have a wonderful rest of your day, peace. Thanks for
• 9:45
  joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone,
• 9:50
  but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been
• 9:54
  your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,