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Most of us eat every day,
some of us too much, because yesterday's

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food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do

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some of us expect yesterday's portion of
heavenly manna, the word of God to

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

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all that. Let's experience God's words
today and receive the power we need to

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live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome
to Your Daily Portion with your host,

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author speaker L. David Harris.
Good morning, good morning, Good morning.

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It is Sunday, September three,
twenty 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, and our caption for
today is Advice two Children, Advice to

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Children. We'll get into that in
just a moment, but first i'd like

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to say welcome to you and ask
you to please go over to your Daily

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Portion dot com, join our online
community, and of course click that button

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to pick up the Your Daily Portion
book. And as I always say,

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that is a way for us to
build faith and fellowship at your daily portion

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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 the privilege to call you Father.

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I pray God that you will give
us the kind of wisdom that we

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need to be good children in Jesus
name, I pray Amen and Amen again.

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Let me just say that this concept
of advice to children may seem a

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little bit weird considering this is an
quote adult lesson, and yes, there

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may be some youth who listen to
me or read the lessons study, but

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quite frankly, the children who listen
probably are of the age of majority.

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Right, you're already in a position
where you're not having to quote obey in

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the Bible sense your parents, because
you would have already been in a you

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know, in that's phase for eighteen
years and now you're out on your own

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at least where decision making is concerned. So parents, let me just start

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there. Honor your parents. But
in terms of obeying, then let me

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say to the parents that this is
something that we train our children to do.

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So if it feels weird, like
wait a minute, but the children

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aren't listening. That's right. So
let this be guidance for us, those

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of us who are adults, those
of us who are training children, right,

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raising children. This is guidance for
us to pass along to our children.

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Okay, I just wanted to say
that. Maybe I'm a little bit

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too literal to you know whatever,
but I just needed to say that.

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So what we're gonna do now is
open up, open up the Bible.

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Here in Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians
chapter six, beginning at verse one,

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and this guidance in the scriptures is
for children. Right, all right,

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children, obey your parents in the
Lord, for this is right. Honor

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your father and mother, which is
the first commandment, with promise that it

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may be well with thee and thou
mayest live long on the earth. And

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right here in the book Adventist Home, something very important is written on page

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two hundred and ninety three, and
it reads, when commands of parents contradict

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the requirements of Christ, then painful
though it may be, they children must

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obey God and trust the consequences with
him. You know, when I was

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a child, When I was a
child, I lived in a pastor's household,

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and in those days you know,
we had the little phone that you

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would dial right dial the number.
But anyway, I digress, and you

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know, many calls would come in, many calls would come in. And

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I'm not saying this happened in my
house, but in houses like mine.

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Yeah, when the calls would come
in and they were just too many,

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then the person the parent would would
sometimes say tell them I'm not here,

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like, well, if you're here
telling me that you're not here, then

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that's a lie, right, And
it's funny or as tongue in cheek as

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it seems that I'm communicating this.
The fact is that God would not be

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pleased if the child actually obeyed that, because it's not true. So maybe

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the child could say, my parent
is not taking calls at this time,

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my parent is not taking calls at
this time. But to say that my

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father my mother is not here would
be a lie and that is not what

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God is saying to do. Okay. And also it says here in Matthew

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chapter eighteen, verses one through five
at the same oh wait, did I

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even finish what I was saying?
Yes, Matthew chapter eighteen, verses one

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through five. It sometimes it's like
this, brothers and sisters. Right at

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the same time came the disciples unto
Jesus, saying who is the greatest in

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the Kingdom of Heaven. And Jesus
called a little child to him and set

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that child in the midst of them
and said, verily, I say unto

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you, except you become converted.
And I want you to hear that part.

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Right. So Jesus is not asking
people or commanding people to become child

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like or child ish, maybe that's
the right word. He's not asking you

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to become immature, like to regress, like to go back to when you

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were six and you are already sixty. No, he is saying, listen

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to his words. Jesus called the
child satom in the midst and said,

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except ye be converted. So that
is the first guidance, to be converted,

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to surrender your will to God and
become as little children. So being

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as little children is not the focus
point. It is that he is teaching

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something very important, and he's going
to use children as a way to teach

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it. First, be converted and
become as little children, and then ye

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shall and if you don't, if
you don't, ye shall not enter into

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the Kingdom of heaven. Wherefore whosoever
therefore shall humble himself. So you hear

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the other principle number one, be
converted, that is, to surrender your

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will to God. Yes, and
allow His Holy Spirit to live in your

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life. Yes. And now humble
yourself as a little child. So the

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ideal character trait that Jesus is focusing
in on with these children in air quotes

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is conversion humility. Okay, as
a little child. As a little child,

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ye shall not enter into the Kingdom
of heaven. Who shall therefore humble

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himself as this little child the same
as the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

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And who shall receive one such child
in My name? Receiveth me take

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heed that she despised, not one
of these little ones. For I say

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unto you that in heaven their angels
do always behold the face of My Father,

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which is in heaven. These angels
do what they are in the presence

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of God the Father. They are
having meetings with God the Father. They

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are reporting what happens on planet Earth. And so God forbid if you are

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abusing your child or someone else's children, or whatever, if you are doing

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anything that is not right, if
you are barring or banning children from connecting

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with God. God is saying that
there are Jules who excel in strength,

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who see and experience all of that
and then take that reality back to God

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the Father. Not that God doesn't
know, but that's how they do it,

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right, and they are in His
presence, And yeah, well you're

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gonna have to answer for that.
The Bible continues in Mark chapter ten in

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the same vein basically to allow and
to actually encourage and us your children into

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the presence of God. Let them
go into God's presence so that they can

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be saved, and so advice to
children. Advice to children could be seeing

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this way, obey your parents in
line with Godly teachings, for this is

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right and it comes with blessings.
Here are some other guidance points from what

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we read right Strive to stay or
remain humble, bull and remain pure sincere

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in heart like quote the ideal Child
yep. Number three. Remember that you

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are valued and loved by God and
that you have a special place in the

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Kingdom of Heaven. God is wanting
children everywhere. All of us have been

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children at some point, so don't
feel left out like God wants us to

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know from a very early age that
you are valued, loved by God,

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and that you have a special place
in the heart of God and of course

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in the kingdom of heaven. Don't
make this guidance all heavy. God is

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saying he loves children and he wants
us to live like they. Thanks for

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

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

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your daily portion with l David Harris. Make it a great day.