Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 01 29 2024 At Death’s Door

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01 29 2024 At Death’s Door · 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 us
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  through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all of
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  that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to live
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  healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host, author
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  speaker Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It
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  is Monday, January twenty nine, twenty twenty four. Hello, my name
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  is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your Daily
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  Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today is no
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  exception. We are continuing in our lesson study series through the Book of Psalms,
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  and our caption for today is not something that maybe you're welcoming, but
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  it is at Death's door. At Death's Door, we'll get into that in
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  just a moment, but before we do, I'd like to ask you to
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  please go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community,
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  pick up the Your Daily Portion book, and let us know where you
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  are in the world at the bottom of the page or really at the top
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  of your daily portion dot com. It is a way that we can continue
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  to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray, and then we
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  will get underway. Father and Heaven, thank you for giving us the privilege
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  of being called by your name. And I'm asking you to please teach us
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  to serve you, teach us to love you. Father, please teach us
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  to do your will in all situations. In Jesus' name, I pray,
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  Amen and Amen again. Well, there is a situation that most people on
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  planet Earth face, invariably, including God's people. I need you to get
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  this while I'm saying it. Okay, including God's people, we are not
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  if we live on planet Earth immune to death. We're not immune to death.
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  Now, I understand death is a sleep. It is a temporary sleep
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  for those who are God's people. Like when Jesus returns, He's going to
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  resurrect his people and then take us to heaven for a thousand years. Understood.
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  But in the meantime, unfortunately, as we would have seen during the
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  pandemic, some of God's people will go to sleep because of COVID or complications
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  from COVID. Yes, Unfortunately, some of God's people will go to sleep
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  because of car accidents, like my mother. She went to sleep in twenty
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  twenty because a tractor trailer ran through her vehicle and she did not survive.
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  There are some of God's people who will suffer because of leukemia and some other
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  disease that maybe we've not heard of before. Maybe it will be for them
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  to have a rare situation. You're like, Dave, this sounds so morbid,
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  Like why are you making this sound so morbid? Well, really and
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  truly are. Our lives are in God's hands, and the best decision that
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  we can make at this moment, like four minutes into our discussion this morning,
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  is to choose to serve God. Choose to serve God, not just
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  to escape death, but because we only have moments. We don't know how
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  long will last. Today, like I may not get through this broadcast.
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  And you're like, Dave, there you go, sounding morbid and pessimistic again.
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  No, that's not what I'm trying to teach. What I'm saying is
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  we can maximize and capitalize on and amplify the moment in which we live in
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  order to make an impact on the world, to make an impact on people
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  that we see as we go to the gym, as we enjoy ourselves recreational
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  activities in the worship setting at work. Huh, when we're going out to
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  eat, we encounter people on the road in a public transportation, encounter people
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  all day, every day. And God is saying that, whereas we are
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  humans and no moment is guaranteed to us, that we should maximize each moment
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  and be of service as much as it is possible. Because the times are
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  short. We're at death's door almost at all times. Okay, let me
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  not sit there too much longer. The bottom of the lesson has an interesting
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  thought. Think about Jesus on the cross and what he suffered because of sin,
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  and I might add because of our sins. How should that reality that
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  God in Christ suffered even worse than any of us help us keep faith even
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  amid times of suffering and trial? Did you get that? So Jesus suffered
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  on the cross, He suffered because of our sins, an excruciating experience,
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  and then he died. He suffered saying my God, my God, why
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  have you forsaken me? Like he felt forsaken by his father, and he
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  did it for us. He suffered the ripping out of his beard. He
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  suffered having a crown of thorns on his head and then they beat it onto
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  his head. He suffered somebody stabbing him in the side and people slapping him.
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  You understand. He suffered being hung on the cross by his hands or
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  wrists or whatever is historically accurate, with a nail driven through it and a
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  nail driven through his feet. And he did it in order to save you
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  and to save me. And so whatever trial we go through will not measure
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  the trial that it was for Jesus toime to suffer under the burden of sin,
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  even though he had never sinned, for him to take on that burden
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  in order for us to be saved. Oh my, So, how can
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  we complain when we're going through trials and tribulations? How can we complain when
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  people say bad things about us? Like? How can we complain when things
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  seem to be overwhelming and maybe they are right? Rather than to go to
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  God and say, God, we have seen you do some special things in
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  the lives of your people in the past. We have seen you do special
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  things in the life of Jesus Christ as he was living on planet Earth as
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  a human being, in order to save me, would you please, for
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  your name's sake, and for the honor of your name and the honor of
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  Jesus's name. Huh, will you please come through for me? You see,
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  so now the perspective is different. So let's read now from the Book
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  of Psalms. I think I've said enough the Book of Psalms, chapter forty
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  one, and I will read. Beginning at verse one, Bible reads here,
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  blessed is he that consider it the poor. The Lord will deliver him
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  out of his trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive.
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  He shall be blessed upon the earth. And thou wilt not deliver him unto
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  the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of
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  languishing. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. And I said,
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  Lord, be merciful unto me. Heal my soul, for I have
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  sinned against thee. And then the Bible continues, and some morbid thoughts from
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  the enemies of God. But God is attentive to the prayers of his people.
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  He's attentive to the contrite heart of people who were once walking away from
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  Him and living evil lifestyles and did dishonor to God's name, and who turned
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  the shoulder, who turned their backs to sin in their faces to God.
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  God is a tent unto their prayers. And He can transform you, brothers
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  and sisters. He can transform me in a moment, in an instant of
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  time, as long as we simply make a decision to serve him. So
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  he is not turning his back on the poor, He is not turning his
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  back on the suffering. He is not turning his back on any people group
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  on planet Earth who has suffered privation and death at the hands of other people.
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  He is always watching. He does not slumber, He does not sleep.
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  These prayers of salvation from illness and death demonstrate that God's children are not
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  exempt from these kinds of trials. Right The Psalms reveal the Psalmist's terrible afflictions.
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  He was without strength, He was withering like grass, unable to eat,
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  set apart with the dead, lying like slain in the grave, repulsed
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  by his friends or being repulsive to his friends, suffering and in despair,
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  his bones did cling to his skin, and God permitted the trouble. But
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  guess what, trouble will not last always, no matter what we go through
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  on planet Earth, if we will surrender our will to God and not turn
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  back. At the end of all things, sometimes we get relief from certain
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  suffering on planet Earth. But regardless of that, as the children, those
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  young men who were thrown into the fiery furnace, they said, if God
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  does not deliver us, we still won't bow, because ultimately, one day,
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  when Jesus does return, he will give us the reward for which Jesus
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  is worthy. So yeah, death is at our door, but life eternal
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  is greater. If a wonderful day. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends,
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  Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that
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  comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with el
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  David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,