Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 10 31 2023 Our Excuses- Inconvenience

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10 31 2023 Our Excuses- Inconvenience · 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
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  morning. It is Tuesday, October thirty one, twenty twenty three. Hello,
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  my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this
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  is your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and
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  today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series. God's
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  mission, my mission, and our caption for today is our Excuses. Here
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  we go again. This time it's about inconvenience. That's an excuse some Pece
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  people we'll use for not doing what God says in terms of mission inconvenience.
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  We'll get into that in just a moment, but first I'd like to say
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  welcome to you and ask you to go over to your Daily Portion dot com.
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  Join our online community. Click Also on if you're watching YouTube, click
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  that notification bell and subscribe button, and on the other platforms whatever makes sense
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  so you can get the alerts. Also in your Daily Portion dot com share
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  where you are in the world. We are still looking at where people are,
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  knowing that God is spreading his word into all the world for a witness
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  so that Jesus Christ can come, and come very soon your Daily portion dot
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  com. Let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway.
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  Father and Heaven, thank you for today. Please teach us not to use
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  excuses, especially not that your work is inconvenient. In Jesus' name, I
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  pray a man and a man again. Let's clear up something just very quickly
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  here. God does love us, and he does care how we feel and
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  what we think about, but not to the degree that it will overrule His
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  will in our lives. You hear what I'm saying. He does care,
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  He is concerned. He knows that we have certain weaknesses and challenges. He
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  knows that we have our everyday lives with which to contend. All of that
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  is true. But when He gives guidance and he gives a command to go
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  He therefore into all nations, and then he gives the rest of the command.
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  He's not saying, do it if it's convenient. He's not saying do
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  it if it feels good. He's not saying, do it if you have
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  any time left after you've done everything that satisfies you. When God gives us
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  a bidding, he also provides the empowerment to do. God's biddings are enabling.
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  God's biddings are enablings, and so of course Jonah Jonah did not really
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  too much find what God had to say to be very convenient for him.
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  He had a perspective about how his ministry should run. And when God said
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  go left, he went far to the right. God said go up.
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  He went way down. But of course, because God does not easily take
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  no for an answer with someone that is he's working with, he goes in.
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  If you want to say, search of Jonah. Of course he didn't
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  have to search for him. God always knows where we are at all times.
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  But God went after Jonah and let him know that his calling on his
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  life was absolute. Now Jonah could choose to reject God fully, he didn't,
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  but he could have, and that would have been a different discussion.
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  But in these moments of disobedience, God goes to Jonah and shows him who
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  God is versus who humanity is, whose command matters versus who is there to
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  receive the command? And inconvenience about Jonah's reputation, inconvenience about whatever Jonah had
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  planned to do for the next hover long were irrelevant in this case. And
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  so we want to look at the power of an obedient witness. Now from
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  the Book of Jonah, chapter three and verse five we read, and the
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  people of Ninevah believed God. This is finally after Uah, Jonah's specially prepared
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  sea creature spits him up on the on the on the land, and then
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  Jonah goes and does Finally, after a bunch of belly aching in contention,
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  he goes and does what he is supposed to do. The Bible says,
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  and the people of Ninevah believed God. They called for a fast and put
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  on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them, and
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  for those who know the Bible, some of you, because you have a
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  critical nature of s and Yeah, but they ultimately unrepented about their repentance.
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  I know that sounded confusing. Some of them turned back from their repentance,
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  and then God ultimately did destroy nine of it. But the Bible shows us
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  here that there were people who repented and that was the goal. That was
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  the goal. So despite Jonah's reluctance, his obedience in delivering God's message resulted
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  in an entire city. Can you imagine put in your city in the chat?
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  Like what if your city is New York. What if your city is
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  San Francisco. What if your city is Toronto. What if your city is
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  London, your city is Mbasa? Like what if your city is Accra.
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  There are cities around the world that need the word of God. And God
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  is saying that if he calls God his people to these places to speak a
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  message of hope, to speak a message of correction, that he will empower.
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  He will empower those whom He's called to do exactly what he says.
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  And the outcome is up to the people. Will they choose yes, will
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  they choose no? But God will provide the power that they can choose yes.
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  Right, And so the whole city of Nineveh turned to God in repentance.
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  Here is an action step for me. Here is an action step for
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  you. Embrace the significance of obediently proclaiming God's message. It is critical mission,
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  critical right obedience of doing what God says, and recognize that despite our
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  inadequacies. You may feel like you can't speak, you can't share, you
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  can't give your testimony, you can't sing, you can't play, you can't
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  share food. Whatever it is that God is calling you to do doesn't matter,
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  because God's word will not return void if we do what he says.
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  Here's another one witnessing transcending personal prejudices. Okay, we're going to verses one
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  and two from Jonah chapter three, and the Bible reads, then the word
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  of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go
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  to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. The message
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  that I tell you here is the action step. Here is the action step
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  I want you to commit to letting God's love and mission supersede your personal biases
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  and prejudices. God, They're not going to listen to me God. They
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  come from a certain type of people that whatever with my type of people.
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  UH, ensure that your hearts, Ensure that your hearts and minds are aligning
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  with the heart of God for all people. Did he not say in Isaiah
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  chapter fifty six, verses one through seven, ultimately that his house, God's
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  house is a house of prayer for all people. And so, no matter
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  what your prejudices and bias, biases have been, because of your socialization,
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  because of your spiritual whatever, God is saying, go and do what I
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  have called you to do at the time that I have called you to do
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  so and to the people that I have called you two Okay. Also,
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  we're reading from Jonah chapter three and verse five again, but we're going to
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  cut it in half this time. And the people of Nineveh believed God.
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  We're embracing sacrifice in mission. Right. Our action step is to be prepared
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  to embrace the inconveniences. God is not going to pull up a clock and
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  say, well, based on your time zone, then this is the convenient
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  way for you to do what I've comemand you to do. Right, So
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  the challenges and inconveniences in God's mission, understanding that our sacrifices can pave the
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  way for divine interventions. Everything that we do requires a sacrifice. And when
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  we do what God says yielding our will completely to him. We are just
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  simply modeling the behavior of Jesus when he was in the garden of Gethsemane,
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  saying, if there is another way, God, let this cut pass from
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  me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And
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  guess what that sacrifice meant, that you and I, brothers and sisters could
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  be saved. You think it was convenient for Jesus to go on the cross.
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  I think not. Every wonderful day, Peace, Thanks for joining us
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  listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by
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  every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
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  portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day, Yeah,