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 Sunday, December ten, twenty twenty three. 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 series. God's Mission,
My mission, and our caption for today is Mission to Regions Beyond,
Mission to Regions Beyond. 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. Please click that join button, pick up
your Daily Portion book, and also let us know where you are in the
world at your Daily Portion dot com. Let's go ahead and grow in faith
and fellowship. In the meantime, let's pray and get underway. Father in
Heaven, thank you for giving us this new work week, and I pray
that you will give us understanding, teach us to go out into the entire
world, Lord, wherever we happen to be, and to just tell people
what great things you have done for us, and of course point them into
the way of salvation. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen, and
a man again. In the Lesson Study, it begins this way. We
read that Jesus took his disciples from Ginesah and departed to the region of Tire
and side, why did he take them from Galilee to these pagan places?
And you're thinking, come on, Dave, that's not even a good question,
really, is it. You know, sometimes religious people and notice I
said religious people. I didn't say people who are fully connected to God.
I did not say people who fully are engaged with and love God. Sometimes
religious people make it seem as if to become peculiar means to be strange,
to be annoying, to be argumentative. Huh. Sometimes religious people take the
peculiarity thing just a wee bit too far. And so it becomes a very
good question, because, yeah, do we have a real message to share?
What is the difference between being a very religious, fastidious person and someone
who is is like Jesus. See, Jesus would have done, had done
that, would have done. He did all that was necessary to lead people
into a right relationship with God. He didn't say, oh, well,
this place is too far. He didn't say these people are off limits.
No, he didn't say that we are separated from these people, so we
can only deal with these and not those. He did not discriminate, And
so it is a good question why did he take them from Galilee to these
quote pagan places? He leads his disciples on this field trip into the borders
of these foreign regions so that they could learn on location what they could not
learn so easily in Galilee. You know, there were times that the Church
of God, later on, later on from the time that we're reading about
that the Church of God was scattered around the world through persecution. And part
of the reason, apart from the fact that the devil hated them, hates
us and was causing havoc. Apart from that, it was because we become
too comfortable at times. Can I say that again? We become too comfortable
at times, and therefore God has to spread us out so we can learn
on location what it is not easy to learn when we are at home base
in our cushy benches. Yeah, and some of you live in countries where
you have beautiful carpet on the floor. And if you don't, you do
have a body of believers who are all speaking the same language, you see.
And so God wants this gospel to go into all the world. He
wanted to teach his disciples lessons that would help prepare them for their calling to
reach all people groups, including people in cities. And now you're wondering,
Dave, are you saying that we should be dwelling in cities. That's a
different discussion. We're talking about the people we should be reaching. Okay,
so let's go to the Book of Judges, the Book of Judges, chapter
three, and I will read beginning at verse one, the Book of Judges,
chapter three, and I will read beginning at verse one, and the
Bible reads, now, these are the nations which the Lord left to prove
Israel by them, even as many of Israel had not known all the wars
of Canaan, only that the generations of the children of Israel might know to
teach them war at the least such as before knew nothing thereof, namely five
lords of the Philistines and the Canaanites, and the Cydonites and the Hivites that
dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Mount bail Hermann unto the entering of Haymouth. And
so the lesson writer says, points out very aptly we see in this passage
that these ancient peoples were to be used by God to test Israel's faith.
Hmmm, have you gone into the work setting and your faith been tested?
Have you been on travels for missionary trips or even for your own leisure,
and then realize that there are things about connecting with God and people that you
did not understand before. Yeah, this is an interesting thing. Unfortunately,
God's people failed at the test too, at least in this instance in verse
six, again, they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave
their daughters unto their sons, and they served their gods. Thus, right
from the start, these people were a stumbling block to Israel. See I
stopped at verse three. Let's keep going verse four. And they were to
prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of
the Lord. Okay, so God sent them out. But did they hearken
unto the voice and the commandments of God which he commanded their fathers by the
hand of Moses. And the children of Israel dwelt among all of theseites,
right Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Parazites, Hipbites, and Jebusites. And
then comes back again this verse six. And they took their daughters to be
their wives, and gave their daughters to be excuse me, to their sons,
and served their gods. And the children of Israel did evil in the
sight of the Lord and forget their God, and served Balem and their groves.
So God gave the people of God the privilege of being spread out.
He gave the people of God the privilege that when they needed to be chided
and tested and proven in foreign lands, he provided the facility. And He
also provided the strength, the intelligence, right, the ability to surrender their
will to God. And yet they chose instead to assimilate. So the lesson
number one for today is when God sends us into the world, He's not
sending us into the world to assimilate the world. You see, when Jesus
prayed the prayer we call the mediatorial prayer in John chapter seventeen, he said,
I pray not that you would take them out of the world, but
that while they are in the world, really that you will keep them,
That you will make them one with us like I am one with you.
That you would keep them safe, you would keep them holy, that you
would you would guide them. That bottom line of what Jesus was saying.
And so when God sent you into your workplace, when God sends you into
those taxis, when God sends you to those exercise facilities and people are dressed
a certain way, and they're playing their music a certain way hah, and
you are experiencing some unfortunate conversation all around you. God did not send us
into those places to become like those who are there. We are there to
change the atmosphere. We are there to be like Jesus. And when we're
like Jesus, we brighten the corner where we are. So God has given
us the privilege to go to missions around the world, but to change the
people not to be changed by Thanks for joining us, listening to 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,