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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

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keep us through today's challenges. On
this program, we are going to change

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all of that. Let's experience God's
words today and receive the power we need

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to 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

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morning. It is Tuesday, April
nine, twenty twenty four. Hello,

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my name is El David Harris.
I am your host, and this is

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your Daily Portion where we give you
God's word every single day, and today

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is no exception. We are continuing
in our Lesson study series through the Great

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Controversy. Yes, our caption for
today is Faithful a mid Persecution, Faithful

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amid Persecution. We will get into
that in just a moment, but for

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inst I like to say welcome to
you and ask you to please go over

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to your Daily Portion dot com.
Please please go ahead and join our online

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community, 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 a way

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that we continue to build faith and
fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray,

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and then we will get underway.
Father and Heaven. Thank you for this

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Tuesday morning, for the privilege you
have given us to enter into another worship

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experience. Father, Please give us
understanding and not just understanding. Help us

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to trust you with everything that we
have, everything that we are, and

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then help others to do the same
until Jesus comes in Jesus nay I pray

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Amen and a men again. Faithful
amid persecution. Now, of course I

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wrote in my notes that we should
be faithful, and we have the privilege

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of being faithful no matter or what
happens or does not happen. May I

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say that just one more time.
We have the privilege of being faithful,

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no matter what does happen or what
does not happen, Faithful amid persecutions.

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From the Lesson writer. Throughout the
early centuries of Christianity, the church grew

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rapidly despite here comes one imprisonment.
People were imprisoned for their faith. By

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the way, despite torture and persecution. You remember I said that we're talking

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about being being faithful no matter what
happens or doesn't happen, no matter if

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I'm being persecuted or imprisoned or tortured
for my faith, or whether or not

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God delivers me from that earthly trial. Hmm. This is something serious,

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y'all. Listen. God is able
to make us holy and to make us

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faithful no matter what happens or does
not happen. But the question is are

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we willing, ready and available for
God to do that kind of work in

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our lives? That's the question.
Let me continue from the lesson. Faithful

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believers totally committed to Christ, filled
with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed His word

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with power. Lives were changed,
and tens of thousands were converted. And

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let me just say, the faith, the people of God, the community

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of Believers, grew rapidly. The
lesson writer says despite imprisonment, torture,

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and persecution. And I agree.
But I want to just add a little

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bonus layer to this. I would
say that the people of God, like

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the community of faith, grew because
of these challenges. May I say it

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just one more time? The fellowship
of Believers grew because of the challenges.

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You have people at work right now, people in your home community, where

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you live. There are people even
in your family or in your social media

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contacts list, who are watching you
go through certain challenges in life and seeing

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that you have chosen to remain faithful
to God, and because of God's faithfulness

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in your life, people are saying, you know, I want to be

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like this person, right, I
want to be like fill in your name

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here, not because you're the one, but because when you are connected to

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God and He is able to make
you like this a shining light in this

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wicked and perverse generation. When people
see that God is able to keep you

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through all of this, they can't
help. But to be meant, some

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people cannot help to be drawn to
the same God who was doing that for

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you, because, after all,
if he can do it for you,

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then he can do it for me. You see where we're going with this.

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And so the question really is will
I choose? Will you choose to

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keep underscore underscore underscore, keep the
faith? You choose to keep the faith

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or will you throw it away?
That's the question. Will you choose to

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keep the faith? Now, let
me tell you from the Bible some of

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the things that happened when people kept
the faith. The Bible reads in Acts

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chapter two and verse forty one.
So those who accepted God's message were baptized.

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And that day, just on one
particular day, the day of Pentecost,

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that infamous day of Pentecost, right
after Jesus went back to heaven following

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his resurrection. That day of Pentecost, about three thousand people were added to

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the people of God. Did you
hear that there were three thousand people added

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to the Fellowship of faith in one
day? Here was another one in Acts

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chapter four, verses four and thirty
one, and the Bible reads, But

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many of those who had listened to
the message believed, And the number of

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men, it just says men.
You're not talking about women included. Thus

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men, just the males came out
about five thousand, verse thirty one.

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When they had prayed, the place
where they assembled together was shaken, and

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they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost and began to speak the word of

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God courageously. You see, this
is what happens when people are choosing to

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be unified under the power of the
Holy Ghost and to keep the faith that

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God puts in our bosoms, no
matter what does or does not happen in

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our lives, whether the month is
longer than the money, or the money

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is longer than the month. Huh. Whether I am feeling well or I

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am sick or feeling near unto death. Yes, whatever is happening or not

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happening in my life. If I
keep the faith, there are other people

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who will be encouraged to keep the
faith too. There will be people who

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will be welcomed into the fellowship of
believers because they see what God is doing

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in our lives. Now. Verse
thirty two of Acts chapter four reads,

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the group of those who believed were
in one heart and one mind. No

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one said that any of his possessions
was his own. Oh wait a minute,

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now, the people of God,
under the power of the Holy Spirit

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did not use mine or mine in
a sentence. I need that to settle

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in. If you're listening on the
radio, the broadcast was not cut.

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I am just pausing deliberately. Selah
like God gave them such a power that

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all of their possessions were in common. But the Bible says everything was held

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in common. In verse forty two
of Acts chapter five, the Bible reads,

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and every day, both in the
temple courts and from house to house,

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they did not stop teaching and proclaiming
the good news that Jesus was the

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Christ. You see, this is
what happens when we have the kind of

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faith that pleases God, like we
have the kind of faith that Jesus is

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the author and finisher of It transforms
God, excuse me, transforms us.

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Our faith doesn't transform us a the
power of God transforms us. Faith is

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how we lay hold of the power
of God, and so God transforms us

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to the degree that so many people
from around the world, people may be

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even listening on this broadcast or watching
on the television, or listening on watching

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on social media or YouTube stink,
are starting to think, Wait a minute,

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are you saying that this could be
me? Yes? Are you saying

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that this can be my life?
Or I can be faithful no matter what

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trial I'm going through, whether I
triumph or am going through tribulations, I

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can be faithful. Absolutely. And
then I said again, just to reiterate

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the point that persecution at that time
time the Early Church, the time of

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the Early Church, persecution was the
seed of spiritual growth. And so spiritual

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persecution can act as seed and spiritual
growth because it deepens our faith, it

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refines our character. Huh encourages reliance
on God. It strengthens community bonds.

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It promotes witness and testimony. It
fosters spiritual discipline. It clarifies our priorities.

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And this is how the people of
God were able to continue no matter

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what did or did not happen in
their lives. God is faithful amid persecution.

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Have a wonderful day, peace.
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.