Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna the word of God to keep us
through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all of
that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to live
healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host, author
speaker Elle David Harris. Good morning, good morning, Good morning. It
is Sabbath, April twenty, twenty twenty four. Hello, my name is
El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion
where we give you God's word every single day, and today is no exception.
We are continuing in our lesson study with lesson number four on Great Controversy
under the caption standing for the Truth, Standing for the True. We'll get
into that in just a moment, but first I'd like to say welcome to
you and ask you to please go over to your Daily Portion dot com.
You can join our online community there and also please let us know where you
are in the world at your Daily Portion dot Com. This is a way
that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray,
and then we will get underway. Father and Heaven, thank you for giving
us this new day and for giving us the privilege to stand stand for your
truth. Please help us to actually do so. In Jesus' name, I
pray, Amen and Amen again. So the truth is, and I know
I'm probably going to say the term truth multiple times today, but the truth
is that we need God. And the blessing is that He knows it,
and he is what he is making provisions so that we can always have him
in our lives. And I say that again, we need God, and
he is so kind to give himself to us. In fact, in fact,
the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in him, who should not perish
but have everlasting life. God didn't send his son into the world to condemn
the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And so
right before that passage of scripture though, is verses fourteen and fifteen of the
Book of John chapter three, and it reads as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness. I want somebody to go ahead and type in the chat
antidote antidote, and I know it's like, well, how do you spell
that antidote? Okay, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life. Jesus minimally is the antidote,
and you're like, the antidote for what, the antidote for eternal death,
the antidote for the consequences of sin ah, the antidote for eternal separation from
God. Jesus is the antidote from the deadly, deadly disease of fear and
condemnation. You see, the Bible says in first John chapter four that there
is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear
hath torment. Those who are perfected in love are bold. We stand bold
in the time of judgment. Why because we are transformed by His love.
The same one who is love. God is Love, is the same one
who is the Way, the truth, and the life. And so when
we have God in our lives, through Christ in particular, we are able
to stand for truth. We're able to stand for truth. Now, the
lesson writer used this passage in John chapter three. It's very interesting, I
said, Jesus is the antidote. You see, the people of God had
been disobedient by show of hands, who has been disobedient here? Anybody listening
on the radio, podcast, on the internet, on television, have you
ever been disobedient? And then the people of God in the particular case here
we're bitten by serpents, and they were dying and dying and dying and dying.
It was terrible. It was a fearful time in the history and lives
of the people of God. And so what God said is, what I
need you to do is to put a brazen serpent on a pole, and
I need you to give clear instruction that if you have been bitten, you're
about to die. If you have been bitten, lift up your eyes,
look at the serpent by faith and live. And you're like, but hold
on, why what God use the same us a symbol of the same thing
that was killing them in order to save them. Well, that's a very
good question. I wish I had the time. But the antidote all often
has it has a little bit a touch of what has been working against us.
It is used in a way that works for us. So the serpent
biting the people, they're fearful, and God is taking the bite out of
the serpent. Even in twenty twenty four, he's taking the venom out of
the serpent. He is causing people to say, Okay, if I look
to God in faith, then I will be saved. What does that even
mean? Yes, when I embrace the blessing that God is, I'm no
longer fearful of the things that used to hurt me. I'm no longer fearful
of the lies that the devil has told me. I'm no longer fearful of
those things that used to separate me from God, my Father. Now I
am looking to God to live. And when I'm looking to God to live,
that means my relationship with God is a life giving relationship. And so
Jesus wasn't on a pole, he wasn't in the form of a serpent,
but he took the curse of the Roman cross and turned it into the antidote.
Because Jesus now at the time, was raised up and he gave his
life on the cross. So that you can live eternally. Brothers and sisters,
all of those mistakes and those deliberate things that you have done to separate
yourself from God, because now by faith you can turn away from those things,
because you can now confess your sins and be holy, and that means
agreement with God. So you can look to Jesus and live. You can
look death in its eyes and say, but Jesus has the keys of hell,
death and the grave, and he has victory all in his hands,
and he's giving that victory to me. When the devil says you have sinned,
you can say, yes, I have sinned, but Jesus came to
save sinner. Stand for the truth, even when the devil tries to throw
in your face the times that you fell or a lie. And so what
we want to do, what we want to do is believe God. Believe
God for eternal life, because he said whoever believes in Him will not perish,
but have eternal life. So that is our step number one today.
Believe God for his word. Also, there is a message of salvation that
we want to share. He wants us to share. As we receive the
truth, we need to stand for it and share it. In Romans chapter
ten and verse nine, the Bible reads that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth that Jesus Christ his Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God
has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. So commit to
sharing the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ with as many people as possible.
Now, truth is that there are some people who have lost their lives for
the sake of truth, that who have to wait until the coming of Jesus
Christ to receive the reward that he has promised, because now they're resting in
their graves. They lost their lives at the hands of cruel people who did
not love God. And what God teaches us is that there are historic examples
in the Bible, biblical figures of people who did just that, they gave
their lives for the cause of Christ, and God is going to give them
their reward. God is going to give them reward. And in the Book
of Revelation chapter two and verse ten, the Bible says, fear none of
those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of
you in prison, that you may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation
for ten days. Of course there is a specific context. Yes, but
be thou faithful to death, and I will give you a crown of life.
So whether we live or die, we need to know, whatever trials
we go through, whatever tribulations we go through, if we will stand for
truth and we will continue to surrender our will for God to God, then
we will have a crown of life. There is so much more, but
we need to be courageous in our faith and choose today. And as for
me and my house, as for you and your house, we're gonna serve
the Lord. A wonderful day. Peace. Thanks for joining us listening.
Friends, Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with
El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,