Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 11 23 2023 Greater Love

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11 23 2023 Greater Love · 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 Thursday, November twenty three, 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 is
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  no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series. God's Mission,
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  My mission. Our caption for today is Greater Love, Greater Love. We'll
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  get into that in just a moment 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, and definitely let us know where you are in
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  the world. We continue to build, build faith and fellowship, getting a
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  little tongue tied there and yes, so please go over again to your daily
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  portion dot com. Let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get
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  underway. Father and Heaven, thank you for giving us this new day and
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  for the privilege we have to open your word again. Please teach us the
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  kind of love that transforms our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray,
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  Amen and Amen again, greater Love. We're going to begin our discussion today
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  by reading from the Book of John. Let's go to the Book of John
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  chapter fifteen, and I'll read beginning at verse seven. John chapter fifteen,
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  beginning at verse seven, and we're talking about the love of God toward us.
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  Okay, and the Bible reads, if ye abide in Me and my
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  words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall
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  be done to you. So God is showing us that he is not only
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  interested, but he is motivated to answer our prayers because of Jesus Christ right
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  his love for us. God gave us his only begotten son. We're going
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  to actually talk about that later on in the week that he gave or is
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  it next week? I forgot, but anyway, yeah, I digress.
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  He is saying that I love you so much that I gave you all of
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  heaven in one gift. And as a result of my gift of love to
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  you, that is Jesus Christ. Now I am quick to answer your prayers.
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  And when I say he is quick to answer our prayers, I'm saying
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  that God's intent always is to glorify himself and to give us the benefit of
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  connection with him. And watch this verse eight. Here in is my Father
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  glorified, right, Jesus speaking that ye bear much fruit. The discussion prior
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  to these verses is about fruitfulness in God and being connected to Christ. Okay,
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  And as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you,
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  continue ye in my love. Now we know the level of love that God
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  has toward us. If you want to know the level, look at how
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  much the Father loves the son. Huh. Look at what the sacrifice of
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  the Son has done for us. Here we go verse eight. Again,
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  herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit? So shall ye
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  be my disciples. Verse nine, As the Father hath loved me, so
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  have I loved you, continue in my love. If ye keep my commandments,
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  ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's
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  come amendments and abide in his love. So we know that the measure of
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  love is how Jesus kept the commandments. The measure of love is how we
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  allow Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to keep the commandments through us.
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  Well, what are the commandments about? Remember from Matthew chapter twenty two,
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  we see that love for God with all of our hearts and everything else,
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  that we are yes and love our neighbors as ourselves. On these two principles
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  of love hang all the law and the prophets. Okay, so we got
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  that very clear. Well, what else does this look like? What else
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  does this look like? Let's keep reading verse eleven. These things have I
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  spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you. God wants us to
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  be joyful brothers and sisters, and that your joy might be full. This
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  is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you. So
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  Jesus's love is in sh structional. Jesus's love is transformational. If we want
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  to know what God is like, if we want to have the kind of
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  love that can transform us from unholy sinners into holy saints, we need look
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  no further than Jesus, and to submit to him. Let's keep going.
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  Well, we need a little bit more understanding God. Well, here it
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  goes verse thirteen. Greater love hath no man than this. Then a man
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  laid down his life for his friends verse fourteen and final, Ye are my
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  friends, if ye do what I command you. And so God demonstrated his
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  love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. Christ died for the
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  ungodly. Christ died for us, not after we performed, well, not
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  after we said, God, look at what I have done. Now you
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  own me know, at our worst point in life, the worst that a
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  human can do was motivation, motivation for God to save us through Jesus Christ.
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  You see, that's the whole point of salvation. We cannot help ourselves.
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  His mercy is unmerited, his favor is unmerited. We cannot go to
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  God and ask him for a paycheck because of a job well done. No,
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  So, at the worst, and when we needed him most, when
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  we had no strength, Christ died for us. Now what does that mean?
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  Well, let me read you a quick story from the Lesson. One
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  missionary family served six years in Trinidad and Tobago. The first three years they
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  lived in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim community. Many Hindus explained that Christians refuse
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  their invitation to the annual Thanksgiving service. One day, these Christians attended a
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  Thanksgiving service of a new Hindu friend. They did this following Jesus' exam people,
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  he visited his friends when they invited him to special celebrations. Did you
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  get that he visited with his friends when they invited him? Keep going?
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  In fact, Hinduism teaches that visitors or friends bring blessings to the home of
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  the host. Now let me just say here, as a lesson writer says,
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  let's make an attempt to bring us to begin making a friend this week
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  by being a blessing, by being a blessing to someone else. Now,
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  let's do some have some action items again. Let's read again verse thirteen.
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  Greater love hath no man than this than to lay down one's life for his
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  friends. God wants us to live sacrificially. He wants us to practice self
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  less love. Reflect on areas in your life where you can embody this sacrificial
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  love, whether through time, resources, acts of service, just showing your
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  friends that you care. So many ways that you can do that. I
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  can do that. Also, here's another one, the missionary family. As
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  from this study, the missionary family attended a Thanksgiving service. Sometimes we need
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  to engage cross cultural celebrations. And I know that you're going to read a
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  lot into it. Some people are going to read a lot into it.
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  Notice what I am not saying. I am not saying that we turn our
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  backs on God. Like, this is not what this study is about.
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  We're talking about showing simple acts of love and kindness, building community relationships,
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  seeking guidance from God. About building friendships. We need to pray together and
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  ask God for his help. He knows that everyone in our minds aren't people
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  that we know deeply, like we don't even know our own mindset, But
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  he knows them. He knows our friendship core like he knows strangers. He
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  knows the people that can be friends, He become our friends. He knows
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  what they need, He knows what we have to offer. He knows what
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  we need. And so whereas we don't know our own minds right, our
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  own minds are desperately wicked, who can know it? That's what the prophet
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  asked God. But he knows all of our minds, and he knows what
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  it takes to connect us. Commit to daily prayers, asking for guidance and
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  fostering genuine relationships. That's what Jesus did. He built genuine relationships in order
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  to lead people to Heaven. Have a wonderful day, Peace. Thanks for
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  joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone,
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  but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been
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  your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,