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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 that.

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Let's experience God's words today and receive
the power we need to live healthy,

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vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily
Portion with your host, author speaker

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L. David Harris. Good morning, good morning, Good morning. It

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is Friday, September twenty two,
twenty twenty three. Hello, my name

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is L. 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 through
our lesson study series in the Book of

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Ephesians with our caption for today,
which is what the power of Unity.

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We'll get into that in just a
moment, but first I'd like to say

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welcome, Welcome, Welcome to everyone
joining us, especially those joining us for

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the very first time. I would
like for you to go over to your

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Daily Portion dot com, join our
online community, and also pick up your

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Daily Portion book at your Daily Portion
dot com. This is a way that

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we can build faith and fellowship.
Welcome to preparation day. Let's go ahead

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and pray and then we will get
underway. Father in Heaven, thank you

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for giving us this privilege to connect
with you today and for the fact that

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you have entrusted so much in us. To us, Father, please teach

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us unity in the faith in Jesus, they might pray, Amen and amen

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again the power of unity. Now
we have discussed this many times before during

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this series through the Book of Ephesians, but today we're going to just take

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a different perspective. Okay, We're
going to begin with the quote from the

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book Ellen White, Spalding and Megan
Collection, page one hundred twenty one,

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and it reads, an army in
battle would become confused and weakened unless all

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worked in concert. I hope you're
getting the imagery here. If the soldiers

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should act out their own impulsive ideas
without reference to each other's positions and work,

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they would be a collection of independent
atoms. Think about war and how

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it is done, and of course
we're talking about the kinds that are necessary,

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they would they could not do the
work of an organized body. Can

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I just pause here for a moment. I think they say, united,

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we stand. Can you fill in
the blank right there? United we stand

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and divided we fall? Okay,
let me come back to it. Here's

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the quote. So the soldiers of
Christ must act in harmony. They alone

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must not be cherished. If they
do this, the Lord's people, in

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the place of being in perfect harmony
of one mind, one purpose, and

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consecrated to one grand object, will
find efforts fruitless, their time and capabilities

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wasted. And now here comes the
catchphrase. Union is strength. This is

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why we chose for our caption today, the power of unity. Union is

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strength. A few converted souls acting
in harmony, acting for one grand purpose

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under one head. Who is the
one head? Everybody? Huh? We

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are the body of Christ. So
the head is yes, Christ himself.

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So acting for one grand purpose under
one head will achieve victories at every encounter.

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That is the end of the quote. And so what we are after

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is the kind of unity that God
the Father, God the Son, and

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God the Holy Spirit have along with
their retinue of angels. We are looking

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for the kind of unity. When
Jesus was praying the what is called high

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priestly or mediatorial prayer. We see
in John chapter seventeen he said that we

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that I could make them one,
that they could become one, even as

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I and you Father are one.
So God, in his divine providence,

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would have us to be unified,
that is one in purpose. As we

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are living here on planet Earth waiting
for the second coming of Christ. And

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so we don't sit on our hands
and just wait. We are in a

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battle like this is a warfare.
This is what we call the great controversy

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between God and the Devil, between
good and evil, and the battlefield is

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in our minds. So God is
giving us the privilege to seek His face

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on a daily basis. Are you
seeking God's face on a daily basis?

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Are you saying, Lord, what
would you have me to do? And

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then see that He is marking out
your path before you. Yes, when

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there are difficulties and challenges, confusion
and trials hard to bear, God is

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saying that I am the one who
is leading you. I am the one

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that has given you the entire armor, so that when the devil starts to

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fire his ordinance against you, like
the fiery darts of the wicked one come

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your way. Then I have my
plan, so you will come out victorious.

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And guess what. This plan is
not a selfish plan. It is

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not simply or merely just for you. It is for your family. It

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is for those in your community.
It is those for those at your workplace

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and where you exercise, right where
you shop, the transport that you choose

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by taking a taxi or some other
mode of transportation. When people encounter you,

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they are supposed to be encountering the
captain of the heavenly hosts, Jesus

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Christ himself. They are supposed to
be energized knowing that God, if he

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is able to keep you from falling, fill in your name right here,

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like if God is able to keep
you from falling, then he is able

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to keep someone else from falling.
You see where this is going. And

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so there is a discussion question here. In the lesson discussion question number four,

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it reads, how should we treat
those who are wounded on the battle

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field of the Great Controversy? How
should we treat those who are wounded on

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the battle field of the Great Controversy? So we need to follow Jesus's example

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treat them with compassion and love.
And so in the Galatians chapter six,

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in verse one, the Bible reads, Brethren, if any one of you,

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if any man be taken in a
fault, ye, which are spiritual,

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restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thyself, lest

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thou also be tempted. Yeah,
we will see people who fall. We

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see people quote fall from grace all
the time. And what the Bible is

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teaching us here is that we are
to have and really it's our privilege to

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have compassion and to show love to
those individuals. And by the way,

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if you are a sinner just like
me, saved by grace, just like

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me, then that means if you
see an individual taken in a fault,

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who has fallen from quote grace,
then you say, wait a minute,

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that could be me, at any
time of the day, on any day

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of the year. Yes, that
could be me. How would I want

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to be treated? What would be
of most benefit to me? What would

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glorify God the most? And so
we treat them with compassion and love.

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Here is another one. We avoid
condemnation and judgment. Remember there was a

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woman caught in the very act of
adultery and Jesus instead of instead of joining

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ranks with those individuals who brought her
there to Jesus's feet to indict her and

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for her to be condemned and destroyed. He really forgave her, He really

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cleansed her from all in righteousness.
He really empowered her to do what he

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would have her to do. But
in the meantime, he even though it

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would have been his right to condemn
her, he even avoided condemnation and judgment.

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And he said to the woman,
as those men had to scamper away.

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Long story short, he said,
woman, where are those thine accusers?

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Doth no man accuse thee? And
she said, no man, Lord,

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And he said, neither do I
condemn thee? Sin go and sin

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no more. And of course we
want to encourage everyone, everyone taken an

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a fault, to repent and then
do our part to restore them into power

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under the banner of Jesus Christ.
I hope we have a wonderful day peace.

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Thanks for joining us listening to friends. Always remember we cannot live by

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bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God.

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This has been your daily portion with
l David Harris. Make it a great day.