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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

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

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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 Sunday, August twenty two, 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 in
our lessons study series through the Book of

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Ephesians, and our caption for today
is instead, let there be Thanksgiving.

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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 to you and ask you to
go over to your Daily Portion dot com.

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That's your Daily Portion dot com.
Click the join button for our online

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community where we build faith and fellowship, and also pick up the Your Daily

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Portion book as an opportunity to grow
and your understanding of God and some things

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that will help you on a day
to day basis. Just to continue to

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connect with Him. Okay, your
Daily Portion dot com. And also share

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where you are listening from or viewing
anywhere in the world at that same web

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or whatever it is on radio,
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radio stations around the world, and
the Life Talk Network again at your Daily

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Portion dot com. Let's go ahead
and pray and then we will get underway.

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Father in Heaven, thank you for
giving us this new day and for

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the privilege we have to open your
word again. Please make us thankful and

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grateful in this name. I pray, Amen and Amen again. Instead,

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let there be thanksgiving. I want
to read one of my favorite passages where

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this is concerned. And yeah,
some people may not really too much resonate

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with this, but I'm hoping that
we will all grow into that space,

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Okay, And it reads in First
Thessalonians, chapter five, verse eighteen.

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In everything, what does it say
in everything? Give thanks? What did

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it say in everything? Some things? No? Everything give thanks? For

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this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Now, some

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of you would have read something into
the text that is not There did not

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say for all things. So it
doesn't say if you total your vehicle and

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break your foot in the process,
that you should say thank you Lord for

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a broken foot. It does not
say that if you lose a loved one.

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By the way, God never intended
us to be separated by loss or

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death or any other thing that we're
supposed to say thank you for you know,

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so and so whom I love passing
away. That is not what the

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text says. It doesn't say for
everything. It says in everything. So

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in whatever situation we find ourselves,
whether it is a triggering, more difficult

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situation or something that's just annawing,
like bees buzzing around us, or our

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net all in our face trying to
go up our noses, like that's annawing.

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But whatever the case, God is
saying, give thanks, like in

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everything, give thanks. Why because
it's God's will in Christ concerning you,

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Yeah, quench not the spirit,
the Bible says in the following verse.

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And then of course it says,
prove all things, hold fast to that

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which is good, abstain from all
appearance of evil, and of course is

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the promise and the encouragement that God, the God of Peace, will sanctify

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you, will make you holy in
every single way. That is, of

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course, if you will trust him. Okay, So we're going back to

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the Book of Ephesians, chapter five
this time, and we will read verses

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one and two, and it reads, be Ye, therefore, followers of

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God, can I just pause right
here for a moment and ask you a

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question, like, what does that
look like? In practical terms? How

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do followers of God live and move
and breathe like? How do they treat

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people? How do followers of God
live? Think about it? Be Ye,

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therefore, followers of God, as
dear children, and verse two walk

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in love as Christ also loved us, and hath given himself for us as

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an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet smelling savor. So Jesus,

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Jesus gave us the example. He
gave us the example of living according

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to the will of God. He
followed as he lived on planet Earth for

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three and one thirty three and one
half years. The Bible says that he

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actually lived according to the principles of
God's Father. He followed God, and

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now he has marked out a path
for us to do the same. But

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again it says that he gave himself
for us as an offering and a sacrifice

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to God for a sweet smelling savor. Can I just say that sin stinks.

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It has a stench that elevates,
It wafts all the way up to

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heaven. And of course, in
the Old Testament system of sacrifices, we

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will see we would have seen that
there was an altar of burnt sacrifice,

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right, an altar of burnt sacrifice
as you entered into the outer court,

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right, and so at that altar, then animals were actually sacrificed. Can

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you imagine the stench of burning flesh? Can you imagine how that would be?

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And then you go through, you
go through the outer court, keep

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going, keep going, And then
traveling west, you open and go into

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the veil into the Holy Place.
And inside of the Holy Place, keep

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going, keep going. You get
to another veil. But before you get

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to that veil, there was another
altar and altar of burnt incense or of

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incense, and in that there was
a certain aroma. Can you imagine now

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that this aroma that represents the prayers
of the saints, this aroma that Jesus,

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being our advocate, can represent our
case perfectly, so we can be

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saved. This a roma, which
is that we don't know what we ought

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to pray for as we ought,
but the Holy Spirit moans and in growns

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that cannot be uttered. And so
that is now ascending into that place,

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the holiest of all, where the
presence, the full the presence that God

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had revealed to the people was that
light unapproachable. So the stench of sin

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was covered covered by the aroma,
the sweet smelling savor of Jesus's sacrifice and

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also his representation to us as we
are praying. And so since that is

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the case, we need to be
imitators of God. Yes, we need

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to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who lived a life of gratitude and

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thanksgiving and power. Yes, so
instead, no matter what we're going through

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we need to go through, we
need to model the behavior of thanksgiving.

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Now, the Bible teaches us in
the same chapter Ephesians chapter five, that

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we are to walk in love.
This is to be modeled after Christ's own

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love for us, expressed in the
way that I just described. And more

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so four things about that sacrifice,
that sweet smelling savor that Jesus is right.

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Number one, it is motivated by
love for God the Father and of

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Christ himself. H Number two,
it is substitutionary with Christ dying in our

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place. Christ is no passive victim, but gave himself up for us.

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The reason Jesus gave his life was
so that we could live forever. The

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reason Jesus gave his life was because
God loves us so much that he could

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not watch us just die and kill
ourselves because of our sin patterns. God

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is saying he wants to transform our
lives. He has put everything in place,

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yes, so that we can be
saved. And for that we give

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God thanks. Number three of the
imagery of the Old Testament sanctuary service,

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Christ's death is also a sacrifice which
is made to God. And number four

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and final, the sacrifice is accepted
by God. Since it is a fragrant

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offering. I think we covered that
at least a little bit a moment ago.

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So let me give you a couple
of tips before we go to flee

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from sexual impurity and all of the
other impurity that is cited here in the

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Book of Ephesians. Guards your mind, cultivate self control, seek God's guidance,

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and treat others with purity of a
wonderful day piece. Thanks for joining

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us listening to friends. Always remember
we cannot live by bread alone, but

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by every word that comes from the
mouth of God. This has been your

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daily portion with L. David Harris. Make it a great day.