Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 11 10 2023 Christ-Centered Living

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11 10 2023 Christ-Centered Living · 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 Friday, November eleven. No, it isn't ten, twenty
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  twenty three. Hello. My name is El David Harris. I am your
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  host, and this is your Daily Portion where we give you God's word every
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  single day, and today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson
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  study series through God's mission. My mission, and our caption for today is
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  Christ centered living. Christ centered living. We'll get into that in just a
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  moment, but first I'd like to say welcome, Welcome, Welcome to all
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  everyone joining us, especially those joining us for the very first time. I'm
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  asking you to go over to your Daily Portion dot com join our online community.
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  Also pick up the Your Daily Portion book and let us know where you
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  are in the world at your Daily Portion dot com. This is where we
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  build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray and then we will get
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  underway. Father and Heaven, Thank you for this day. Please teach us
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  to live like Jesus lived. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and
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  Amen again. All right, So we're talking about Christ centered living, and
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  I want to begin from the book Christ's object Lessons, page one hundred and
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  twenty nine, and it reads, our life is to be bound up with
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  the life of Christ. We are to draw constantly from him. We are
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  to draw constantly from Him, partaking of him the living bread that came down
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  from Heaven, drawing from a fresh fountain, ever fresh, ever giving forth
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  its abundant treasure. So our expectation is that God will continue to bring showers
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  of blessing right the everlasting fountain, which is Jesus Christ. We will receive
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  if our lives, in our own minds are bound up in Christ. Yes,
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  he is our life, but some of us don't necessarily accept him in
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  that way. But let me keep going. If we keep the Lord ever
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  before us, allowing our hearts to go out in thanksgiving and praise to him,
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  we shall have a continual freshness in our religious life. Is your life
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  stale, brothers and sisters, Is your experience in the faith stale? Just
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  be honest. I'm not asking you to type it in the chatter or anything.
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  Don't confess it necessarily. But if it is, if it is,
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  is stale. What we are saying today is that if we continue to drink
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  from God, if we're if we're continually in his presence, if we are
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  continually seeking a way to live according to His principles and share with others,
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  it will be fresh. It says, there will be a freshness in our
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  religious lives. Let me keep going. Our prayers will take the form of
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  a conversation, okay, Our prayers will take the form of a conversation with
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  God as we would talk to a friend. He will speak his mysteries to
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  us personally. Ooh, and you want to know, but but but Dave,
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  Like, how do I know it's God when we hear the voice?
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  Well, it has to measure up to the word of God at all times.
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  But the but but but inspiration is telling us that we can expect that
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  he will his mysteries to us personally. Isn't that wonderful? Often we will
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  come to Often there will come to us a sweet, joyful sense of the
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  presence of Jesus. Often that's what it says. Often there will come to
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  us a sweet, joyful sense of his presence. Often our hearts will burn
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  within us as he draws nigh to commune with us, as he did with
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  Enoch. When this is in truth the experience of the Christian. There is
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  seen in his life a simplicity, Lord, help us to be simple,
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  Ah, a humility, Lord, teach us humility. M There will be
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  a meekness that's power under control brothers and sisters, and a lowliness of heart
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  that show to all with whom he associates that he has been with Jesus and
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  learned of him. Can we just pause right here and say Amen and give
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  God thanks for his love to be able to position us in this way God
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  is saying. God is saying that this is what he wants to do in
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  and through us. It's a blessing. We do not need to fret,
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  We do not need to worry. It is our privilege to have deeper and
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  deeper drafts. As we would use in some of the older language deeper drinks
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  of God, so that we can be closer to Him. Let me read
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  from pages sixty seven and sixty eight of the same book, Christ's object Lessons.
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  There can be no growth or fruitfulness in the life that is centered in
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  self. If you have accepted Christ as a personal savior, you are to
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  forget yourself and try to help others. Talk of the love of Christ,
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  tell others of his self sacrificing death on their behalf. As you receive the
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  spirit of Christ, the spirit of unselfish love and labor for others, you
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  will grow and bring forth fruit. Your faith will increase, your convictions,
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  deepen your love, be made perfect. Aren't you glad that God has not
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  left us alone? By the way, that's the end of the quote,
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  and this is the blessing of Christ centered living. Now, let me just
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  give four action steps before we go, before we go that will lead us
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  in the right direction. The first one comes from the Book of Psalms,
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  the Book of Psalms, chapter one hundred and thirty six and verse one,
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  and the Bible reads, Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is
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  good for his mercy endureth forever. So we want to immerse ourselves in His
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  word, in the presence of God, and give him thanks. We want
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  to an engender like we want to have all the time a heart of gratitude.
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  A heart of gratitude. Number two comes from the Book of James,
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  chapter four and verse eight. Very simple. Draw nigh to God. So
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  don't go away from God, like don't run away from God. Don't separate
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  yourselves from God. Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto
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  you. And the text talks about repentance and so forth. But the Bible
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  is teaching us that we should be cultivating a personal relationship with God. Draw
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  nigh to him. We can't be distant from him. We can't be afar
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  off from Him and still have a right relationship with him. God is giving
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  us the privilege to be near to Him, and he has promised that he
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  will come near to us. And the Book of Philippians, chapter two and
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  verse three says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in
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  lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. And so our
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  focus should be others focused. We should put others first. You know.
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  The Bible teaches us in Matthew chapter twenty two that the first and great commandment
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  is to love our God with everything that we have and everything that we are
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  h and then it says to love our neighbors as ourselves. So we put
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  others first, and then finally finally from the book of First Thessalonians, chapter
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  two and verse four. But as we were allowed of God to be put
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  in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men,
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  but God which trieth our hearts. We need to be honest, evaluate our
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  motives, evaluate our motives at all times. We need to know that when
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  we are in ministry, we should assess the reasons behind our evangelism and outreach.
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  Is it to build a following? Is it to build a legacy?
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  Is it in order for us to be if we are in a church structure
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  where voting takes place and elections take place. Is it so that we can
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  have a thrust right before it's time for that so people can think whatever positive
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  thing about us. Ensure that your actions are driven by genuine love and desire
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  to spread God's word rather than personal gain or ambition. We want to give
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  God thanks for the privilege for Christ centered living. Let's have a wonderful day.
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  Peace. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends, Always remember we cannot
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  live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of
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  God. This has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it
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  a great day. Yeah,