Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 04 13 2024 Light Shines in the Darkness

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04 13 2024 Light Shines in the Darkness · 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
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  food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
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  some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
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  keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
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  all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
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  to 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, April thirteen, twenty twenty four. Hello, my
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  name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
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  Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today is
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  no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series the Great Controversy,
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  and we are going through the caption light Shines in the Darkness. Light Shines
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  in the darkness. We'll get into that in just a moment, but before
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  we do, I'd like to say again Happy Sabbath to everyone joining us,
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  especially those joining us for the very first time. I'm asking you to please
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  go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community,
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  and let's pick up your Daily Portion book at the appropriate time and also let
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  us know where you are in the world at your Daily Portion dot com.
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  This is a way that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go
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  ahead and pray and then we will get underway. Father and Heaven, thank
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  you for this day and for the blessing of the Sabbath hours that you've entrusted
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  to us to connect with you in a special way, and beyond that,
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  Lord, to be able to go from your presence and be of service to
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  other people. Please, Father, fill us with your Holy spirit. In
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  Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. Okay, so we're
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  looking at the light that shines, that shines in the darkness. Yes,
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  okay, did you notice I added the word the it's a definite article.
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  Well, why does that matter. We're not just talking about any light.
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  We're not talking about the sunlight. We're not talking about me switching on my
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  lights in the studio so that you can see me. Well, when we
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  are having this engagement, we're talking about the Jesus Christ, the light that
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  shines in the darkness. Well, the darkness of where right does Jesus the
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  light shine in the darkness of my life, my heart. See, when
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  we were born, we were born in sin and shape and in iniquity.
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  The question is, do we believe that Jesus Christ shines in our hearts?
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  And if we do believe and have allowed Him into our lives right our minds,
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  then that means our lives will become light to others, because Jesus said
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  that we should let our light so shine before people, that when they see
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  our good works, they will glorify our Father, which is in heaven.
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  And so if people are being transformed, people are being guided toward God in
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  a right relationship with Him through our lives, then that means that the light
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  of Christ is in fact and indeed shining in the darkness of our former lives.
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  How about in this world the herald angels sing Jesus the Light of the
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  world. Well, we know that he is lighting the world right because every
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  human being who is born has a measure of faith just enough to reach out
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  to God in the moments that we finally realize, not remember, but finally
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  realize through the power of the Holy Spirit, that we cannot continue along life's
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  pathway the way that it is we need something different than the way that we
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  are, and we're like, well, what is that? We're in the
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  darkness like, we're groping around trying to figure it out, and then the
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  light comes on. We hear the invitation from the Holy Spirit, whether it
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  be through an individual who says something directly to us, someone's kind gestures.
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  Right, something happens and we open up the Bible or some inspired writings and
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  we see, wait a minute, this is the way, and we hear
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  from God this is the way. Walking in it, or we happen to
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  go to church or some other Christian fellowship in God opens up our minds and
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  in that moment we become transformed. In that moment, we decide that we're
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  going to serve Him, no matter what happens, We're going to serve him.
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  Jesus the Light of the world. And so when Jesus shines in me,
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  how will I live? That's the question that I have to think about
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  today. When Jesus shines in me, how will I live? I have
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  a decision to make all day every day. Is this action? Is this
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  in action? Is it reflective of the light that Jesus is? And what
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  impact will it have on those around me, okay, and so we have
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  laying the foundation. Now we're going to go into the Book of Exodus,
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  chapter thirty four. It's a place that some of you may have anticipated.
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  But let me just share a little bit here, beginning at verse twenty nine.
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  Now, when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai with the two tables
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  of the Testimony, that is, the ten Commandment stones, the Sapphires Tables
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  of Stone in his hand. When he came down from the mountain, Moses
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  did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
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  And when Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his
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  face shone, and they were afraid to approach him. It was as if
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  it was as if the light of God rubbed off on him, and they
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  were like, whoa, that is too bright verse thirty one. But Moses
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  called to them, So Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back
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  to him, and Moses spoke to them verse thirty two. After this,
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  all the Israelites approached, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken
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  to him at Sinai. And when Moses finished speaking with them, he would
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  put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord
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  to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out.
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  Then he would come out and tell the Israelites what had been communed, or
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  communicated what he had been commanded Verse thirty five. When the Israelites would see
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  the face of Moses and the skin of Moses's face shone, Moses would put
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  on the veil on his face again until he went in to speak unto the
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  Lord. Now, Paul said he needed to do that because the people did
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  not they it was because of unbelief. It was because the people themselves were
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  not being impacted fully by the light and power of God, and they wanted
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  to hide from the presence rather than to race the presence like Moses had been
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  doing. And so we see a real life example, living color example of
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  what happens when an individual or a community of believers come into the presence of
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  God with our hearts fully fully yielded to him, with the desire and commitment
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  to communicate his word and his will his love to other people. This is
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  the way that we will appear. Now, I know this was literal in
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  this case. Sometimes it's spiritual. For us. Sometimes it may be literal
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  for all I know. But when we come out of the presence of God
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  and reach out into the world in our communities, at our workplaces, yes,
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  at the places where we exercise, even in the fellowship among believers,
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  somebody will notice and say, but listen, he or she have obviously been
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  in the presence of God. And I am attracted to this if they are
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  willing to yield their will to God. Lesson. Writer used the Book of
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  John, chapter twelve and verse thirty five as a focal point, and the
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  Bible reads, then Jesus said to them a little while longer, the light
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  is with you. So of course Jesus is the light. Yes, walk
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  while you have the light. So God has promised us that he will be
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  a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And you would
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  say, but Dave, the text said that thy word is a lamp unto
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  thy feet and the light unto thy path. Well, I think the Bible
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  says in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,
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  and the word was God, meaning Jesus. So Jesus is the light.
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  Jesus is the word that lights our path. So walk while you have the
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  light less, darkness overtake you. You see, He's giving us all the
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  opportunity to receive the light thankfully, yes, with gratefulness, yes, willingly,
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  while he's lighting our path. If we will walk along the journey,
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  we will find our way with the power of the Holy Spirit, into righteousness,
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  into right relationship with God, and into eternity with God. But if
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  we choose to close our eyes and play peekaboo with God, we choose to
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  push away the light and shut it off and find a way to get away
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  from the light, and the darkness will overtake us. He who walks in
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  darkness does not know where he is going. And so we see in the
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  Bible's Last book, Revelation, the devil is pictured as a dragon, a
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  serpent who wants to deceive and cause people to go away from the light.
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  God is saying, walk in the light while it is still shining. Of
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  a wonderful day. 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,