Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 12 17 2023 Captive in a Foreign Culture

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12 17 2023 Captive in a Foreign Culture · 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 Sunday, December seventeen, twenty twenty three. 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. God's Mission,
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  My mission. Our caption for today is captive in a foreign culture. Captive
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  in a foreign culture. I've lived in different cultures, but I've never been
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  captive in those cultures. I was there by choice. Interesting concept We'll get
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  into in just a moment, But first I'd like to say happy, Happy,
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  Welcome to the first day of the week. And yeah, God is
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  being very kind to us to get us into a good launch into the work
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  week. And by God's grace, we will continue to build in our connection
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  with Him and do our work well and whatever else that we do God entrusts
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  to us. And in the meantime, in the meantime, we want to
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  just open up God's word and see what He has to say to us so
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  we can have an impact on the cultures that we are now living. Let's
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  go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway. Bother and Heaven,
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  thank you for the privilege you have given us to open up this work
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  week with you. Please give us your holy spirit and wisdom. Teach us
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  how to love you, teach us how to serve you, no matter what
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  the environment is. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen and Amen again.
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  Now there are many of you, because I know that this is a
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  worldwide ministry, there are many of you who live in cultures very similar to
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  the ones that we discuss currently now, like in the East and in ancient
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  Babylon. The cultures have been very similar for you. But I've never lived
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  anywhere like that where the customs are the same. And then of course the
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  Persian culture will talk about just well, we won't talk about the culture,
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  but we'll talk about God's people in Persia or under the Medo Persian regime,
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  just for just a moment today as well. So I've never lived anywhere like
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  that, where and where God's people were also like before they were in captivity,
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  where the religion of the land and the politics of the land were one
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  and the same. The lifestyle, politics, and religion they were all the
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  same. Like, I've never lived anywhere like that. I know that in
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  America they say that it's the same, but it's absolutely not. That's a
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  different discussion. So it's very interesting to look at things from the perspective of
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  people who live in a country whose God and religion and culture, how they
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  eat right, their politics, everything is the same. Very interesting. And
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  then you live somewhere with all of that, and then you go somewhere where
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  the culture is counter to that, where their religion they're multiple gods. Their
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  food, their customs, their moras they're different. And so now there is
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  a clash, There is a real live clash that it's very difficult to navigate.
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  And so when you read now from the Book of Daniel, chapters one,
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  three, and six, you see a major, major, major class.
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  So let me just read a few verses from chapter one, beginning at
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  verse one. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, King of
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  Judah. So these are God's people, came Nebucad Nezar, king of Babylon,
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  absolutely not God's people, unto Jerusalem, God's place and besieged it.
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  So Nebeka Nezar is given the green light to go in and besiege the city
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  of Peace, God's city, and take his people captive. Verse two,
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  and the Lord gave Jehoiakim, King of Judah, into his hand with part
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  of the vessels of the House of God. Wait a minute, which carried
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  into He carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his God.
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  You see now there is this cultural shift where God's people are now captive.
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  They are taking implements of worship from God's people and now dedicating them to
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  the false gods in Shina. Wait a minute, And he brought the vessels
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  into the treasure house of his God. Lowercase g. And the king spake
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  to Ashpinaz, the king of the Eunuchs, and that he should bring certain
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  of the children of God, the people of God God the king's seat,
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  and of the king's seed, and of the prince's children, in whom there
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  is no blemish, well favored and skilled in all wisdom and cunning, and
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  knowledge and understanding and science, which and such as had the ability in them
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  to stand in the King's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and
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  the tongue of the childeans. And it goes on. The king gives him
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  a portion of the king's meat, like they're supposed to receive from the king's
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  table, the kind of food and drink that the king would prescribe. Why,
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  because he's trying to make this elite class from those he's conquered, even
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  the people of God. Well, there's a clash, a spiritual and cultural
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  clash here, because the people of God are like, what bade a minute
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  pause. The people who are well favored that are now among the pickings from
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  the king are saying, but hold on, we don't eat that way,
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  we don't drink that way. But the king is making an elite set of
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  people who can advise him. What do you do when the king of that
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  place, who's also considered a lower case, g like well, not to
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  the people they believed him to be superior. But the one who was considered
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  to be god like is saying like, this is how you will eat,
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  this is how you will drink, this is what it will take for you
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  to be established into this privileged class. And God's people are like, nah,
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  I'm not doing that. We can't do that. The three Hebrew young
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  men, right Micheel hananayah as Aiah. Of course Danielle, they were like,
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  no, we're not going to We don't have any intention of defiling ourselves.
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  And the Bible does teach in verse eight. But Danielle proposed it purposed
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  in his heart that he would not devile himself with the portion of the king's
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  meat, nor with the wine that he drank. Therefore he requested a prince
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  of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought daniel
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  into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs, and then,
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  of course Lord bless him. He was able to broker a deal where they
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  would eat and drink the way God would have them to do. And they
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  proved wiser, they proved stronger, They proved, as they said in air
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  quotes Fatter that meant healthier than the men who ate from the king's table.
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  And to make a long story short, while they are bound in Babylon,
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  the king is having visions from God or dreams from God and doesn't understand what
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  they are, and he uses all of his influence and says to the people
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  under his domain like I need you to tell me my dream. And also
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  the interpretation. They couldn't do it, but God's people did because God showed
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  favor on them. And to make a long story short, God gave Nebuchadnezzar
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  understanding of history, long history, and he showed even the fall of Babylon,
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  even though at the time he was at the top of the world.
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  Anibeka Neezar, being the unholy person that he was, was saying, wait
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  a minute, I will never fall. So I am going to now fast
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  forward a couple of chapters in the book of Daniel. I'm going to erect
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  an idol that says that I'm going to be here forever, and everybody must
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  worship well. The people of God who were now advisors to the king are
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  shown as Ariah, Michel, Hanna, Andaiah shown as not being willing to
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  worship the king only willing to worship God, they would not bow. And
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  at the threat to the pain of death, they would not bow. And
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  in that place where they were threatened with bodily harm and death, and their
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  families threatened with bodily harm and death, those men stood firm. They stood
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  firm with their connection with God, their dedication to God. And no matter
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  what king, those young men stood for holiness. And then you fast forward
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  into chapter six where now Daniel, who's been through multiple empires, now is
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  serving the king. And the people were jealous of him and envious of him,
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  and they made up something so that Daniel would be in a similar pickle.
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  And to make a long story, Shart, the man of God continued
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  to worship God even though they were trying. They threw him into a den
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  of lions. God protected his people through the fiery furnace, through the den
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  of lions, through the cultural strangeness and differences, because why they were dedicated
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  to serving God even though they were captive in a foreign culture. Are you
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  willing to serve God? Come what may, no matter where you are.
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  Peace. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends, Always remember we cannot live
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  by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
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  This has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a
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  great day. Yeah,