Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 09 10 2026 Unity

Transcript

09 10 2026 Unity · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too much,
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  Speaker 1: because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy for
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  Speaker 1: today's needs. Why then do some of us expect yesterday's
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  Speaker 1: portion of heavenly manna, the word of God, to keep
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  Speaker 1: us through today's challenges? On this program, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to change all of that. Let's experience God's words today
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  Speaker 1: and receive the power we need to live healthy, vibrant lives.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Your Daily Portion. with your host, author, speaker, L.
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  Speaker 1: David Harris.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Thursday, September 10, 2026. Hello,
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  Speaker 2: my name is L. David Harris. I am your host,
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  Speaker 2: and this is your Daily Portion, where we give you
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  Speaker 2: God's Word every single day, and today is no exception.
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  Speaker 2: We are continuing in our lesson study series through the
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  Speaker 2: books of 1 and 2 Corinthians, and our caption for
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  Speaker 2: today is, Unity, Unity, Unity. Before we get into that,
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  Speaker 2: I'd like to say welcome to you and ask you
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  Speaker 2: to go over to yourdailyportion.com. Will you please, please join
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  Speaker 2: our online community? You can hit that stop, the button
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  Speaker 2: that says stop guessing what the Lord has done, like
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  Speaker 2: to lead you into your calling. You can click that.
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  Speaker 2: You don't have to guess. Begin the assessment. And also,
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  Speaker 2: if God lays it on your heart, click the contribute
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  Speaker 2: button because Your Daily Portion Ministries is a listener and
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  Speaker 2: viewer supported ministry. And I just wanted to also share
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  Speaker 2: a website. The protest is not over since we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about unity. This is another approach. The protest is not over.
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  Speaker 2: There are times that the people of God in our
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  Speaker 2: faith fellowships want to unify. But God has given us
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  Speaker 2: a blueprint even for that kind of unity in the
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  Speaker 2: faith as we learn more from his word. So the
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  Speaker 2: protest is not over dot com. A great resource been
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  Speaker 2: developing since 2014. Can you imagine? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So
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  Speaker 2: let's go ahead and pray and then we will get underway. Father,
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  Speaker 2: I thank you for giving us the privilege of coming
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  Speaker 2: so close to the coming of the Lord and so
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  Speaker 2: close to the Sabbath that is on the horizon over
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  Speaker 2: the next couple of days. Father, please, will you unify us?
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  Speaker 2: Jesus said it. If we're to be known as your disciples,
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  Speaker 2: then we have to have love one for another, like
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  Speaker 2: you give us the ability, God. So please help us
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  Speaker 2: to live that out. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen
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  Speaker 2: and amen again.
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  Speaker 1: Unity.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, this one is difficult. Like, coming up with what
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  Speaker 2: I consider to be the most important thing on this
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  Speaker 2: lesson is not as easy, but let me take a
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  Speaker 2: try at it. When the church gives together— I know what
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  Speaker 2: I just said. I didn't say lives together. When the
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  Speaker 2: church gives together, the people of God is declaring together
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  Speaker 2: That it belongs to one father. We belong to one father.
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  Speaker 2: When the church gives together, the same church is declaring
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  Speaker 2: together that we belong to the same father. Right? We
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  Speaker 2: give thee but thine own. You remember that song? Whatever
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  Speaker 2: it may be, all that we have is thine alone,
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  Speaker 2: a Lord, a trust from thee. So stewardship is a
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  Speaker 2: testimony of the unity of of the body of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: Let's see that illustrated now. Romans chapter 15, and I'll
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  Speaker 2: read beginning at verse 26. And the Bible reads, for
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  Speaker 2: Macedonia and Achaia are pleased. to make a contribution for
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  Speaker 2: the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. So, these people
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  Speaker 2: are sending, they've made a collection, they've put it together,
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  Speaker 2: and by whatever means they did in those ancient times,
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  Speaker 2: they sent it on to Jerusalem. They were pleased to
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  Speaker 2: do this, the Bible says, and indeed, they are indebted
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  Speaker 2: to the Jerusalem saints. So, it's a generosity war, brothers
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  Speaker 2: and sisters. I don't know if you're familiar with that term,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm saying It's a generosity war. For if the
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  Speaker 2: Gentiles have shared in their spiritual gifts, they are obligated
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  Speaker 2: also to minister to them in material things. So they're
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  Speaker 2: taking up a real collection of the things that people
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  Speaker 2: need when they are felt needs. Is it food, clothing,
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  Speaker 2: things regarding how to contribute to shelter? Is it financial support?
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  Speaker 2: Whatever it is, they collected it and sent it. It
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  Speaker 2: was likely financial, but that's not it. That's not it.
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  Speaker 2: But that word koinonia, it actually means fellowship participation. That
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  Speaker 2: is from the text. Sharing in common. Paul uses this
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  Speaker 2: word for financial contribution, not like where they just swipe
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  Speaker 2: a card and it's transactional. Really, it is an act
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  Speaker 2: of fellowship. You know what I mean? Like there's sometimes
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  Speaker 2: that people just give money to get so they don't
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  Speaker 2: feel the pressure anymore of the connection. It's just like, ah,
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  Speaker 2: just write them a check and get them out of
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  Speaker 2: my face. That's not what was happening. Koinonia, some of
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  Speaker 2: your churches or your local ministries have that as a ministry, koinonia.
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  Speaker 2: But it's fellowship. Giving to the needs of other members
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  Speaker 2: of the body is the physical expression of the spiritual
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  Speaker 2: unity they already share in Christ. So let's talk about
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  Speaker 2: the Gentile part, right? So the Gentile churches owed a
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  Speaker 2: debt of gratitude to the people of God who carried
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  Speaker 2: the gospel to them first.
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  Speaker 1: Think about it.
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  Speaker 2: Their financial gift was a tangible acknowledgement of that spiritual inheritance.
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  Speaker 2: So they were not putting the people of God in
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  Speaker 2: a position where it was like the people like you
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  Speaker 2: owe us something. That's not it. But there was sort
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  Speaker 2: of a reciprocal gratitude so that let's continue this ministry,
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  Speaker 2: like they say, pay it forward. You've received freely, so
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  Speaker 2: you're paying it forward. Somebody gives you a dollar and
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  Speaker 2: you give away two. Somebody gives you two dollars, you
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  Speaker 2: give away one. Whatever it is, as it comes into
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  Speaker 2: you from that overflow, then it goes back out. And
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  Speaker 2: sometimes in gratitude to God or even the people that
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  Speaker 2: are feeding you. Yes, that's why some ministries get contributions.
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  Speaker 2: The church gives across cultural and ethnic lines. So there
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  Speaker 2: are no distinctions. There's nothing different. That should be holding
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  Speaker 2: us back. Of course, back then, the people of God
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  Speaker 2: and the Gentiles, that was like an interesting friction point
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  Speaker 2: until people started to see, like the Bible writer would say,
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  Speaker 2: that God has pulled down that middle wall of partiality.
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  Speaker 2: of partition between the people and between the people and God.
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  Speaker 2: And so all of us now unified means that it
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  Speaker 2: proclaims that the gospel has dissolved every dividing wall. So
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  Speaker 2: what does that look like if I'm going to make
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  Speaker 2: that an action step? Give a ministry. Give it to
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  Speaker 2: a ministry or a mission. Give that effort today that
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  Speaker 2: serves people outside of your own community or even your
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  Speaker 2: own culture. let that gift be a declaration that the
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  Speaker 2: family of God has no borders. I'm going to read
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  Speaker 2: now from Philippians chapter 4 and verse 17. This may
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  Speaker 2: be familiar to you. I am not seeking the gift itself,
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  Speaker 2: but I am seeking the profit that accumulates to your account.
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  Speaker 2: What does that mean? It's a It's to produce that fruit,
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  Speaker 2: that profit that accumulates or abounds to your account is
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  Speaker 2: to produce the produce of a living thing. Paul shifts
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  Speaker 2: the focus of giving from what that recipient receives to
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  Speaker 2: what the giver gains. Let me say that again. He
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  Speaker 2: shifts the focus of giving from what the recipient receives
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  Speaker 2: to what the giver gains. Remember, we say it is
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  Speaker 2: more blessed to what? Give than to receive. Giving produces
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  Speaker 2: fruit that accumulates to the spiritual account of the one
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  Speaker 2: who gives. Generosity is never a loss for the one
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  Speaker 2: who practices it. And so God wants us to give
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  Speaker 2: to our local churches, give to ministries that are ministering
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  Speaker 2: around the world. There are human beings that are clearly
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  Speaker 2: doing ministry and being of service to others. You may
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  Speaker 2: want to see how God wants you to support those ministers.
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  Speaker 2: You understand? And that will be an investment, not as
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  Speaker 2: a donor. We're not just talking about donations. We're talking
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  Speaker 2: about investments of our lives in this. Let me read
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  Speaker 2: a quote. Testimonies for the Church, Volume 3, page 413,
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  Speaker 2: as we come to a swift close. The donations of
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  Speaker 2: the individual church members combined with the offerings of the
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  Speaker 2: churches will make a fund from which the minister can
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  Speaker 2: draw what is needed to carry forward the work. This
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  Speaker 2: is God's plan for supporting His work. Aren't you glad
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  Speaker 2: that God gave us a blueprint and under God and unified,
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  Speaker 2: we can follow that blueprint to His glory. Make it
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  Speaker 2: a great day.
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  Speaker 1: Peace. Thanks for joining us, listening friends. Always remember, we
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  Speaker 1: cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that
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  Speaker 1: comes from the mouth of God. This has been your
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  Speaker 1: daily portion with L. David Harris. Make it a great day.