Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 03 09 2024 Longing for God in Zion

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03 09 2024 Longing for God in Zion · 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 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 Sabbath, March nine, twenty twenty four. 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 through the Book of
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  Psalms, and our caption for today is longing for God in Zion, Longing
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  for God in Zion. We'll get into that in just a moment, but
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  first I'd like to say welcome to you in a happy Sabbath wherever you happen
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  to be in the world. I know that some of you have gotten a
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  head start on me. It's only five o'clock where I am in the morning,
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  but some of you have gone deep into your sabbath because of where you
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  live, and so thank you. Thank you for hanging out with us while
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  we are getting into the throes of the morning light. Today, I'd like
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  to just say welcome to everyone joining us, especially those joining us for the
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  very first time. Please go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please
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  click the button under the join. It's a big header that says join.
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  Click that button and then sign up for our online community. It is a
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  way that we continue to build faith and fellowship at your Daily Portion dot com.
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  Let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway. Father
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  and Heaven, thank you for this day and for the privilege we have to
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  study and to open up your word. Please, Father, give us your
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  will. Please give us a longing in our heart to serve you, a
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  longing in our heart to be with you forever, and then let it change
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  our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and amen again,
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  longing for God in Zion. Now this brings, of course to my mind,
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  because you know, if you've been on the program for any period of
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  time, you know that I think in songs. I think in songs,
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  and so this brings to my mind. The Lord in Zion reigneth. Number
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  seven in our hymno, the Lord and Zion reigneth. Let the world,
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  all the world, rejoice and come before his throne of grace with tuneful heart
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  and voice. The Lord in Zion reigneth, and there his praise shall ring
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  to him, Shall princes bend the knee, and kings their glory bring so
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  much else I could say about that hymn, but you understand, we're just
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  getting into the mind frame of our subject for today. Let's go ahead and
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  begin by reading verse two of Psalm the Psalms chapter eighty four, and the
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  Bible reads. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of
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  the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God.
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  There are times when we feel like we're exiled from home. Yes, during
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  the pandemic, God's people suffered in many parts of the world, probably all
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  parts of the world, where we could not congregate and have and have corporate
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  worship because the pandemic was spreading a certain at a certain pace that the civil
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  authorities said, you will not congregate. And so we can identify in some
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  ways with the Psalmist, where where if he was not able to go into
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  the courts of God because he was on the run, or whatever else was
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  happening in his life, and he remembered, as we see in Psalm chapter
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  forty two, he remembered what it was like to come into the presence of
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  God among his people on Holy Day, as he said the Sabbath, and
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  so here his heart and soul and life longs for the courts of the Lord.
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  My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God. Have you
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  ever felt separated from God? It felt like He wasn't hearing you. It
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  ever felt like you prayed and prayed and prayed some more and could not detect
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  that God was listening and answering, listen to you and answering your prayers,
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  and you long for that moment where you can sense and experience the connection with
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  God. Well, this is obviously among the things that are happening with the
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  Psalmist here, and so we can identify that. Now the songs, according
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  to the lesson Writer of Zion, our joyous hymns that magnify the beauty of
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  Zion and the sovereignty of the Lord who reigns from his holy mountain. These
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  psalms often praise the merits of God's House and express a love for the sanctuary
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  that can be found in other psalms as well. Many of these psalms were
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  composed by the sons of Kora, who had first hand experience of the blessedness
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  of the Lord's House as the temple musicians and keepers of the gates. Now,
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  what makes Zion the source of hope and joy? Zion represented God's living
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  presence among God's people. So let me just ask you what would cause us
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  to not sense the living presence of God among us? I've given a few
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  examples. How about like when we are not repentant. When we're not repentant,
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  there was a time in case David's life when, as you know,
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  for a year it was like it was like his bones were being eaten up
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  because he would not confess and agree with God what he had done in the
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  situation with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. And he did not agree with God.
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  He did not come to God and come clean and say, yes,
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  God, you're right about the situation. I should not have had a sexual
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  experience with her because she was not my wife. I should not have coveted
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  her. I should not have taken her from your yah. I should not
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  have killed and had others to conspire without to kill him, and I did.
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  He did not come into God's presence and say, but God, you
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  have given me so much right, You've given me so much authority and responsibility.
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  The anointing that you placed on my life part of me, and then
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  I squandered it, and then I misrepresented you. And to whom much is
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  given, much is to be required, you see. And so until then,
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  until then, it was like a He was like a fugitive from his
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  own mind. In his own mind. The Bible teaches us that finally,
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  as in recorded in Psalm chapter fifty one, that finally the Holy Spirit got
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  through to him through Nathan the prophet, and the story is clear that he
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  wanted to have his life restored and the Holy Spirit not to be removed from
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  him, and then he promised to teach transgressors his way, God's way.
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  And so that is another time that we feel separated from the presence of God,
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  as in Isaiah chapter fifty nine, Verses one and two, and so
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  confessing to God agreeing with him positions us to be in an experience of worship
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  with God in a right relationship. And so there's so many more things we
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  can learn. Let me just draw from a few passages, as we have
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  only a few minutes left. Verse two of Psalm chapter eighty four, the
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  Bible reads, I desperately want to be in the courts again. I'm reading
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  of the Lord's temple. My heart and my entire being shout for the joy
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  of the Living God. Deepen your desire for God's presence. Yes, God
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  wants us to have a deeper desire for his presence. And then in verse
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  one and verse one, in verse one, how lovely is the place where
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  you live, O, Lord who rules overall, Cherish the congregation of God's
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  people as spiritual zion. When God's people are aligned with him. See that
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  as spiritual zion, your local church as a representation of God's presence and a
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  source of spiritual nourishment. And then let's see if we can get a couple
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  more, a couple more here. In verse one of Psalm chapter forty six,
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  the Bible reads, God is our refuge and our strength, a very
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  present help in trouble. Seek refuge in God. Seek refuge in God during
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  our troubles. And then, of course we want to engage in the Gospel
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  mission where Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
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  them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy
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  Spirit. We want to bring people globally into this fellowship, into this mountain
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  called Zion, this experience of God's presence, so that we together we long
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  for God in Zion. But we are satisfied because the Lord in Zion he
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  reigns. Does he reign in your heart? Thanks for joining us listening.
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  Friends, Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word
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  that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with
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  el David Harris, make it a great day. Yeah,