Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 12 26 2025 A Stone of Witness

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12 26 2025 A Stone of Witness · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
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  Speaker 1: much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
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  Speaker 1: for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
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  Speaker 1: yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
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  Speaker 1: keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
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  Speaker 1: going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
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  Speaker 1: today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
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  Speaker 1: vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
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  Speaker 1: author speaker, Elle David Harris.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Friday, December
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  Speaker 2: twenty six, twenty twenty five. Hello, my name is Elle
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  Speaker 2: David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
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  Speaker 2: Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single
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  Speaker 2: day and today is no exception. We are in our
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  Speaker 2: final day in our Lessons study series, Lessons of Faith
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  Speaker 2: through Joshua or from Joshua of Joshua. Yes, and our
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  Speaker 2: caption for today is a Stone of Witness. Before we
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  Speaker 2: jump into that, I just want to say, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the Church has done an exceptional job with these last
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  Speaker 2: two quarters, the way that they put together these lessons studies.
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  Speaker 2: So we can continue along the pathway going all the
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  Speaker 2: way from Moses and the first generation of people freed
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  Speaker 2: from Egyptian captivity, all the way through Joshua and Caleb's
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  Speaker 2: time into the Promised Land. And I am so grateful.
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  Speaker 2: So if you're grateful, go ahead and type of one
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  Speaker 2: in the chat that the people of God had the
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  Speaker 2: foresight in this case and insight of God to give
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  Speaker 2: us these lessons back to back. Also, I'm looking forward
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  Speaker 2: to tomorrow. Of course, I've already begun studying for the
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  Speaker 2: benefit of the people of God, right and we're going
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  Speaker 2: to jump right in to a study through Philippians and Colossians,
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  Speaker 2: which is exciting, Okay, And so let's go ahead and pray.
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  Speaker 2: And oh first, first, first, pardon me, go ahead to
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  Speaker 2: your Daily Portion dot com and pick up the Life
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  Speaker 2: Application guide for our next quarter. Do that before the
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  Speaker 2: sun sets, please, and thanks, and we can go ahead
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  Speaker 2: and pray and get underway. Father, We thank you for
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  Speaker 2: this day of preparation. Thank you for these lessons that
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  Speaker 2: your people put together fastidiously and in a way that
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  Speaker 2: makes sense for us in these days. I pray that
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  Speaker 2: we'll be faithful to you and yes, enjoy the time
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  Speaker 2: we have together today. In Jesus' name, Amen. And Amen
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  Speaker 2: again the stone of witness as per usual. As per usual,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to an old article, I should say, a
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  Speaker 2: legacy article from the Review in Herald eighteen seventy six.
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  Speaker 2: I don't have the date the day of this one,
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  Speaker 2: but it's from Jan Laufenburg, Loughborough and it reads Covenant
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  Speaker 2: vows mean nothing unless they are lived. They mean nothing
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  Speaker 2: unless they are lived. Every promise to God is a
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  Speaker 2: stone laid in the path of obedience. Did you get that?
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  Speaker 2: Covenant vows mean nothing unless they are lived. Every promise
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  Speaker 2: to God is a stone in the path of obedience.
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  Speaker 2: Now let's get an even newer article and newer article
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  Speaker 2: in the periodical Signs of the Times, May nineteenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 2: eighty one. Unless the people took a decided stand, decided stand.
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  Speaker 2: You see, we're making solid decisions. We're not leaving anything
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  Speaker 2: to chance where our relationship with God is concerned. Unless
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  Speaker 2: the people of God took a decided stand to serve
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  Speaker 2: the Lord with all their hearts, they would continue to
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  Speaker 2: separate themselves farther and farther from him. So we're not
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  Speaker 2: only looking backwards. We're not only looking backwards. Our goal
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  Speaker 2: is to consistently see what God wants for us in
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  Speaker 2: our day. We're learning from the people of the past
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  Speaker 2: what we must do, we can, will and must do
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  Speaker 2: for ourselves today. Okay, And so our lesson number one
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  Speaker 2: under the Stone of Witness is God calls us to decisive,
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  Speaker 2: a decisive break from hidden idols. Let me read what
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  Speaker 2: I've read to you already Joshua chapter twenty four and
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  Speaker 2: verse fourteen. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him
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  Speaker 2: in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods
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  Speaker 2: which our fathers served. That's in Joshua chapter twenty four
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  Speaker 2: and verse fourteen. So God's people carried idols from Egypt
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  Speaker 2: to Canaan. Can you imagine time did not remove them? Now?
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  Speaker 2: I hear people say, oh, we're older now, we're more
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  Speaker 2: mature now, so we fill in the blank, stop doing
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  Speaker 2: whatever this thing is that displeases God. And I'm like,
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  Speaker 2: you think time fixes that. You think your age and
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  Speaker 2: your chronological quote maturity is the antidote for this? Absolutely not,
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  Speaker 2: absolutely not. So time didn't remove them, habit kept them alive.
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  Speaker 2: The Hebrew word for to put away, to put away, sore.
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  Speaker 2: It means to remove, to turn aside, to depart completely.
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  Speaker 2: Not to put it up under your bed, haha, not
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  Speaker 2: to put it somewhere out of sight, you know what
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  Speaker 2: I mean, Like those things that sometimes we have done
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  Speaker 2: to ourselves. Sometimes we hide a little bit, a little
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  Speaker 2: bit up under the bed, a little bit in the
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  Speaker 2: trunk of the car, in the glove compartment, or box,
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  Speaker 2: the glove box, just in case we have a hankering
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  Speaker 2: for that sin again. Ah, keeping a picture of that
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  Speaker 2: person that we know we should never have been with
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  Speaker 2: in case, you know, I don't know, I'm lonely, he's lonely.
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  Speaker 2: I'm lonely. She's lonely, and maybe we can rekindle something.
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  Speaker 2: And it's just like no, no, no, no, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: m it means to depart completely. Joshua knew that hidden
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  Speaker 2: idols wrought spiritual life from the inside out. God's people
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  Speaker 2: could not move forward while clinging to what God had
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  Speaker 2: condemned a decisive break. And I know there are some
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  Speaker 2: of you who have difficulty making decisions. You overthink and meander.
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  Speaker 2: You're hovering your finger over the proverbial button on your mouse,
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  Speaker 2: trying to decide what to do next, when you've already
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  Speaker 2: seen a clear path to whatever should and must be next.
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  Speaker 2: But God is saying that we need to be decisive.
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  Speaker 2: A decisive break was needed. We're not talking about gradual negotiating.
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  Speaker 2: We're not talking about ah man. Should I even say this, Yes,
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  Speaker 2: I should say this smoking one less cigarette out of
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  Speaker 2: the pack today when we are talking about a spiritual
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  Speaker 2: connection from God. Well, I normally smoke fifteen cigarettes in
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  Speaker 2: the day, so I'm going to only smoke fourteen and
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  Speaker 2: then thirteen. Listen, if you're on a cessation program and
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  Speaker 2: you're checked into that, I'm not speaking on that at all.
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  Speaker 2: But some people think that we can have some kind
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  Speaker 2: of cessation program with sin. I will lie one less
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  Speaker 2: time today, I will I will watch one less evil
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  Speaker 2: movie today. I will have or entertain one less conversation
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  Speaker 2: of gossip today. That is not how it works. We
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  Speaker 2: surrender all in the moment, and we allow God through
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  Speaker 2: the Holy Ghost to do what is necessary to draw
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  Speaker 2: our hearts to him, not in some kind of gradual
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  Speaker 2: negotiation or graduated guidance plan. To where we trail off
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  Speaker 2: our are the things that God has already shown us
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  Speaker 2: that we need to get rid of, Okay, and so
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  Speaker 2: our action step today is to ask God to reveal
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  Speaker 2: any idol that we've carried from Exodus or from Egypt,
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  Speaker 2: from the time we were fully bound to now. Oh, wait,
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  Speaker 2: and that's the same thing. If we're carrying idols, then
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  Speaker 2: we're still bound. Wait a minute, So reveal any of
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  Speaker 2: those idols in our lives, habits, loyalties, or desires that
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  Speaker 2: continue as baggage traveling with you a and surrender it
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  Speaker 2: in prayer right now. Lesson number two. God holds us
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  Speaker 2: accountable to the commitments we make. The Bible reads here
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  Speaker 2: in Joshua chapter twenty four and verse twenty seven, the
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  Speaker 2: stone shall be a witness unto us. For it hath
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  Speaker 2: heard all the words. Yes, I know what I just said.
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  Speaker 2: It hath heard all the words of the Lord which
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  Speaker 2: he spake unto us. Joshua set up a stone to
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  Speaker 2: remind the future generations, to remind them of the covenant
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  Speaker 2: that they made. The Hebrew word for witness ed ed oh.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know how to pronounce it, but if you
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  Speaker 2: were to transliterate it as like ayd, I don't know
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  Speaker 2: how to pronounce that. I apologize, meaning testimony or evidence
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  Speaker 2: or legal witness. God's people needed a physical reminder that
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  Speaker 2: their promises were spoken before God. Our spiritual commitments are
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  Speaker 2: not private declarations. They are covenantal words spoken in the
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  Speaker 2: presence of God, who hears and remembers. Make it a
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  Speaker 2: great day. We'll see you tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Days listening friends, always remember we cannot live by bread alone,
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  Speaker 1: but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
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  Speaker 1: This has been your daily portion with L. David Harris.
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  Speaker 1: Make it a great day. Yeah,