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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
manner 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 L. David Harris. Good
morning, Good morning, Good morning.

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It is Friday, July twenty eight, two twenty three. Hello, my

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name is L. 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 Book

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of Ephesians. Our caption for today
is It's all about relationship. It's all

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about relationship ship. We'll get into
that in just a moment, but first

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let me say happy preparation day and
thank you for the time that you are

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investing this morning with us. And
I'm asking you to please go over to

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your Daily Portion dot com join our
online community. There we are able to

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build faith and fellowship, ask questions
concerning the lesson study, give our comments

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and concerns, also to share our
testimonies at times, and people also ask

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for frare requests. And it's cool
to see how the community rallies together and

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then commits and says, yes,
I will pray for you in this particular

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situation. So go to your Daily
Portion to also pick up the your Daily

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Portion book that can also help to
build your connection with God. Let's go

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ahead and pray, and then we
will get underway. Father in heaven,

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thank you for giving us this new
morning and for the privilege we have to

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be connected to you in right relationship, also connected to other people. I

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pray now that you will give us
your holy spirit and that we will become,

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indeed what we talked about yesterday,
a holy temple, an organism that

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is living and breathing, that is
holy unto you in Jesus name, I

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pray, Amen and Amen again.
It's all about relationship. It's all about

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relationship. Well, I thank God
that he has not left us here alone

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on planet Earth to just fend for
ourselves and hope for the best. Inasmuch

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as I am an actual textbook introvert. That does not mean that I can

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thrive even as an introvert, as
by myself. Like, we were not

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created to be by ourselves. We
were created to have relationships with God and

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with people. In fact, Jesus
answering the question, except it wasn't an

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honest question, but he answered it
nonetheless, what is the greatest commandment?

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And he said, the first and
great commandment is to love the Lord your

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God with everything you have and everything
you are. And the second is like

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unto it, that we love our
neighbor as ourself. And the Bible says

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that on these two hang all the
law and the prophets. It's all about

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relationship, relationship with God and relationship
with people. Now I'm going to circle

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back to a few passages. Well, I won't read all of them,

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but I will read. I will
read one or two passages here from yesterday's

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lesson because it makes perfect sense.
Here. In Second Corinthians chapter six,

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beginning at verse fourteen, the Bible
says, be ye not unequally yoked together

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with unbelievers for what fellowship? I
want you to keep that term in your

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mind. Fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness. Remember we were talking about being brought

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together both Jews and gentiles. Once
we have godly faith, that we become

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holy the holy Temple, the organism
that God loves and treasures the apple of

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his eye, so that we are
now fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God.

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Well, this is saying here that
if you are yoking yourself with unbelievers,

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then you are out of place.
Like it says that we can't have

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fellowship as people with holiness versus a
as people who are holy and with those

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who are unholy. And what communion
hath light and darkness? Light and darkness

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cannot coexist in the same space.
And what concord hath Christ with belial?

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Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath

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the temple of God? Here here
is that term again with idols. For

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ye are the temple of the Living
God. I said we are the temple

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of the Living God. Yesterday I
said it over and over again that we

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are living, breathing organism, So
that temple is lively. Now we can

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see why, because we are the
temple of the Living God. We can't

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be dead if we're the Temple of
the Living God. As God hath said,

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I will dwell in them and walk
in them, and I will be

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their God, and thee they shall
be my people. Wherefore, come out

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from among them, and be ye
separate. Set the Lord, and touch

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not the unclean thing. And I
will receive you, and I will be

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a father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters. Set

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the Lord almighty. And so we
can see very clearly that God's intent has

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always been for us to be living
and breathing, that we would always represent

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him, we would always be his
holy temple. I wish I had the

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time to really delve into what he
said during the Old Testament time before even

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he gave the blueprint to the sanctuary, he said, I want you.

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He went to his people, I
want you. I have made you a

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kingdom of priests. This is not
only what God said through Brother Peter in

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the New Testament era, even before
there was ever an ironic priesthood. God

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said, I want this entire nation
to be holy. I want this entire

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nation to be a holy priesthood.
But the people people were not ready,

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and they rejected, and they had
to be taught, and they had to

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be corrected and only to be brought
back to God, saying the same thing.

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You are a holy nation, a
royal priesthood, called out of darkness

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into this marvelous light. You are
no longer to be bound to those sinful

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habits that you have enabled in your
life. I'm going to give you holiness.

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But it's all about relationship, okay. And so the lesson writer asks

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the question, what is the specific
context in which Paul writes if Hesians Chapter

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two, verses eleven through twenty two. As he describes the sweeping effects of

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the Cross on human relationships, He
is addressing the relationships between the then known

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Jewish and Gentile believers, who together
are members of the church. He expresses

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that obvious concern that they understand and
live their shared reconciled status as fellow members

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of God's household. See. God
has gone into the minds and hearts of

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all people and welcomed us, whether
in that language Jews and Gentiles. Of

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course it's more complex today, but
you understand that is that was the context

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in those moments, right, whether
Jews or Gentiles, right, no matter

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from what culture, no matter from
what tribe, kindred tongue, or people.

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Wherever you come from, God is
saying I want you to become a

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part of family, come out of
unholiness and come into the family of God.

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And so it says here. However, in the context of the letter

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as a whole, Paul demonstrates a
broad, as I've already kind of preempted,

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far reaching purpose. His theme is
God's grand ultimate plan to unite all

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things in Christ every family. Now
get this from Ephesians chapter three and verse

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fifteen, every family in heaven and
on earth. So not only Jews and

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Gentiles, not only every nation,
kindred, tribe, tongue, and people,

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but also uniting with the family of
Heaven, the family of God.

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More importantly, the unity of members
within the Church, The specific topic he

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addresses in Ephesians, if itself,
has a wider purpose that Paul closes in

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chapter three in verse ten, as
it reads so that through the Church,

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the manifold wisdom of God in creating
the Church out of both Jews and Gentiles

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might now be known unto the rulers
and authorities in heavenly places. Isn't that

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wonderful? Through actualizing the unity of
Christ one on the cross, believers are

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a signal that God his ultimate plan
to unite all things in Christ is underway.

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Jesus said, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven,

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and we can see that it's all
about relationship. Have a wonderful day,

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peace. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot

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

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God. This has been your daily
portion with l David Harris. Make it

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a great day.