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 Thursday, March twenty one, 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 series through the Book of Psalms,
and our caption for today is when God does not delight in sacrifices, when
God does not deal light in sacrifices. Before we get into that, I'd
just like to welcome you to the Your Daily Portion dot com site where you
can click join and get into our online community. That is where we can
continue to ask questions or give our comments concerning these lesson studies. If you
don't say anything in the community, then I won't say anything in the community
much because I'm speaking to you now. You're on radio, television, on
the internet, podcasts, and all kinds of other platforms, even those even
those digital devices that you can call out the name in the air. I
won't do it now because I might activate yours and we are there. So
now it's your turn to speak back at the your Daily Portion dot com community
online community, and we can have our discussions there. Let's go ahead and
pray, and then we will get underway. Father and Heaven, thank you
for giving us this day and for the opportunity that you have in trut did
to us to open up your word and to live according to those principles.
Please help us to live principled lives, to be of service to others,
and to glorify You and all that we say, do and think in Jesus
name, I pray, Amen and a man again. Okay, when does
God not delight in sacrifices? That's a question. Now, when is it
that God does not delight in sacrifices? Now you might be saying, but
Dave, it's twenty twenty four. So this is a moot point, like
it's irrelevant. Okay, let's make an application. First, Let's look at
what the sacrifices were that he was referencing. God was referencing. So,
of course, before Jesus came miraculously through Mary, by the Holy Spirit,
before then, and then by the before he gave his life. He gave
his life as the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world. Yes, before that, we had to give sacrifices. Before Jesus
gave his life, we had to give sacrifices. This is a part of
the plan of salvation, if you will, where God through this sacrificial system,
or some would call it sacradotal system. Through this system we see that
an innocent victim would be in the place of the sinner. We can go
to Leviticus chapters one through seven and see the details of the sacrifices, but
we won't. But the bottom line is, because all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, God gave us a kindergarten view, if
you will, He gave us a way through this system of sacrifices and the
priesthood and the high priestly ministry to see like what is the the what is
the cycle of sin? Like how do we become forgiven? Like what does
it take to become unified again with God once we have sinned? That is
the long story short but anyway, God prescribed how this system of sacrifices should
be done and what it would take in order to symbolically be in a position
where we are forgiven of our sins and then cleansed from all unrighteousness. Again
Leviticus chapters one through seven give those details. And if you want another view,
it's from the book of Hebrews. So good, Okay. So the
people knew that they were in air quotes doing what God would say for the
particular sacrifices. They gave what the prescribed sacrifices were, and God was like,
yeah, I don't need those now. It wasn't a wholesale discussion.
He was saying, if we are not actually committed to God, keep your
sacrifices. God does not light in all of the blood that comes from these
sacrifices. Like, God is not like, go kill some more animals to
appease me, not bring more blood to appease me. No, this is
not what God was after. He was not after what some of the proud
people who felt like if they gave these sacrifices in air quotes, if they
did that, then God owed them something. They were like Cain, who
said, you know, I gave you this and you didn't accept it.
What's the problem God? No, God was like, hold on, hold
on, hold on, hold on, your brother Abel. He gave the
sacrifice that I desire. Not only did he give the correct one, but
he gave his heart. His heart was in it, like he yielded himself.
But Cain did not. He was proud. Not only was he proud,
but he also didn't give what God asked for. And so the question
for me in twenty twenty four understanding that we are no longer doing sacrifices because
again Jesus Christ is the lamb of God that was sacrificed for us, like
he is the one who taketh away the sins of the world. So that
is over and done with, and now he stands at as the great high
priest right, who is acquainted with the feelings of our infirmities, who is
able to succor or to provide what we need and help us in the time
of need because he lived in human form, Like he knows what it's like
to be human and to struggle through the human predicament of having to eat and
to sleep, and to surrender our will to God and to be tempted by
the devil. You understand. And so now that we have this, what
is the reference point for us? Like, how do we apply it to
us? You know, some people fast. My wife just came off a
fast last month. Yep. I fasted many times, one time twenty three
days. Should I pat myself on the back and say, Lord, look
at what I've done? Now you owe me something. There are people who
give alms. They give money to the poor and other things. And sometimes
we get cameras out and take take pictures like our own private paparazzi like,
and we take pictures of all the things and write stories about the things,
and then want everybody to congratulate us. And please do not misunderstand what I'm
saying here. What I am saying this is not what pleases God. What
pleases God is a heart that is yielded to him. And if from a
heart that is yielded to him, then we give to the poor that is
acceptable. Huh. If through a heart that is yielded to him we do
fast, that is accepted to him, acceptable to him. If through a
heart that is yielded to him, then we earn our income and share with
as many people as possible. This is acceptable to God. But if we
are doing it for show, or for a payment from God, or somehow
that we might feel like that, we will have merit with God as a
result, or favor with people as a result. God is saying, keep
that. You can keep that, And so let me read from the Book
of Psalms. I think we have made that point sufficiently for this moment.
Psalms the Book of Psalms, chapter forty, beginning at verse six, and
the Bible reads sacrifice and offering. Thou didst not desires mine ears hast thou
opened burnt offering and sin offering Thou hast not required. Then I said that
lo I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me.
I delight to do Thy will. That's what God is after in our
inward parts, brothers and sisters, to where we delight ourselves in the Lord,
and then we will have the desires of heart. I delight to do
thy will. Oh my God, yay, Thy law is within my heart.
That's what God is after. Like He wants our lives, he wants
our thoughts, he wants our affections. He wants the energy that comes from
our exercising and our energy that comes from a relationship with him. Just talk,
not just show. Not flowers for my spouse, my wife after I've
abused her, just to make her feel like we're together. God is saying,
no, give me your heart. And when you give me your heart,
then all that comes as a fruit of that that is acceptable to me.
For 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,