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

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

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author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Good morning, Good morning, Good

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morning. It is Wednesday, May
one, twenty twenty four. Hello,

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my name is Elle 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, the Great

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Controversy. Our caption for today is
christ Alone, Grace Alone, christ Alone,

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Grace Alone. We'll get into that
in just a moment, but first

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I'd like to say welcome to everyone
joining us, especially those joining for the

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very first time. I'm asking you
to please go over to your Daily Portion

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dot com. Please join our online
community. Pick up the Your Daily Portion

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book at your Daily Portion dot Com. This is a way that we continue

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to build faith and fellowship. Welcome. Let me just say welcome one more

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time, and thank you for everybody
who continues to support this ministry with your

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sharing of this link or whatever it
is, how you actually reach out to

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people, letting them know that we
are here. Let's go ahead and pray

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and then we will get underwig Father
in Heaven. Thank you for giving us

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this new morning, for the opportunity
that you have entrusted to us to open

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your word again, and not just
open it, but live by the truths

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that are found in your word.
Please fill us with your Holy Spirit in

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Jesus name, I pray, Amen
and Amen again, Christ alone, Grace

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alone. Now we have used the
terminology reformation reformation multiple times in the last

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about week and a half. This
is obviously I should say, this is

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I should not say obviously because some
may not be familiar. But we're talking

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about the Protestant Reformation that was over
five hundred years ago, Martin Luther being

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one of the Reformers, and how
the people of God decided that they would

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not allow any community, they would
not allow the predominant culture of the church

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that they were attached to to determine
how they would live if it did not

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align with the scriptures, if it
did not align with the scriptures. And

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one of the things that they struggled
over was whether Jesus Christ was enough.

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Huh, whether Jesus Christ was enough? Like? Is he the only mediator

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between God and humanity? Is he
the one who gives salvation? Or is

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it that somehow the Church is doling
out salvation somehow? And then by grace

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alone means that there is power.
There is power that comes from God that

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says, even though you're not worthy, even though you are deserving of death,

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I AM going to give you the
strength to overcome your sins and then

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make you holy, not because of
something that you can do, not of

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works, but based on God's power
in our lives. Right. So,

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without going too far into that,
I would like to read from the Lesson

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study and then go into the Bible. The lesson writer said Martin Luther,

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and the Protestant Reformers discovered Christ and
Christ alone as their source of salvation.

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It was then that Luther began to
preach the mesas of Christ's saving grace.

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Crowds flocked to hear his heart felt, life changing messages. Let me pause

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right here, No pilgrimages, right, nobody beating themselves or flagellating. Look

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up that, look that up.
There is nothing that we can do to

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save ourselves. We cooperate with God, we yield our will to God,

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but there's no action in terms of
our own works that somehow gives us merit.

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Where God now owes us salvation?
Okay, and let me continue,

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Let me continue. The people were
shackled by the traditions of the medieval Church

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and kept in bondage with centuries old
rituals that provided no spiritual life. Let

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that settle in. And so this
is what Martin Luther taught. And let's

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go into the scriptures first and see
if we have time for another quote now

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the Bible in the Book of the
Ephesians, chapter two, verses eight through

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ten. For by grace are ye
saved through faith, and that not of

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yourselves. It is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone

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should boast. You. See,
when I go to work, if I

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have a job, if I go
to work and then I complete my tasks

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according to my contract or whatever's in
the employee handbook, then according to the

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prescription there then I am to get
paid. So that means that my employer

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owes me whatever the agreed upon amount
is, because I have done my work.

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Well, this is not how salvation
works. You see, humans are

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broken, we're sinful, we have
need of salvation, and so even when

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we do good things, we fall
woefully short. And so what does God

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do? He gives us the gift
of salvation, the power to do God's

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will. And then he says,
I am going to require this at your

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hand. I'm going to write my
lungs in your heart and on your mind,

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so that now when I come to
you and I say, this is

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the requirement, this is how you
should live. Now I can come to

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you God speaking and expect that you
will do it. Why because I've already

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empowered you. I've already given you
the faith that is necessary. I've given

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you the ability to do my will. And now it is reasonable, more

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than reasonable for me to expect that
you are doing what I have called you

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to do. Verse ten. For
we are His creative work, having been

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created in Christ Jesus for good works. See, God created us to live

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godly. He created us to do
good works right that God prepared beforehand.

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So we can do them. This
is the blessing. God does the work

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first and then we cooperate. Man
say that again, God does the work

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first and then we cooperate. But
what does that look like. Well,

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there is a requirement that we should
love God like if you love me,

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keep my commandments. Right. Well, let's start with the love part.

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The reason we can love is because
of God, it says. The Bible

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says that we love him be cause
He first loved us. Our ability to

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love God is caused by God.
He puts love in us through Christ,

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so we can love him. And
then he said, keep my commandments.

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You know that's required, right,
That's not something we can just gloss over.

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And if we want to, we
do it. If we don't,

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then it doesn't matter. Wait a
minute, no, we do. We

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do keep his commandments right if we
love him. But here is the promise.

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If God's love is resident in our
lives, then he promised that he

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will do in us the will and
to do of his good pleasure. So

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how does that look with the commandments? The Bible says in Romans chapter eight,

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in the way that the law was
weak in the flesh, then he

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by sending Christ in this flesh,
he fulfilled the requirements of the law in

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us, who walk not according to
the flesh, but according to the spirit.

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So Jesus's success in keeping all of
the ten Commandments law is how he

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is able to embed in our hearts
spiritually the ability to also keep his law.

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So he gives us the ability to
keep his law by faith. Oh,

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faith is required? Okay, well
how do we get faith? God

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is the author. Jesus is the
author and finisher of our faith, so

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love we can love him because he
first loved us faith. He is the

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author and finisher of our faith right
good works. Then he was successful in

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the flesh, so that we can
do his law. You see. And

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I could go on and on through
the list of things that are required by

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God that he first gives us.
So it is by grace that we are

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saved through faith. One more passes
before we go Romans chapter six and verse

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twenty three. For the wages of
sin or the payoff of sin is death,

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but the gift of God is eternal
life through Christ Jesus. Can you

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imagine when those individuals were hearing for
the first time that there was nothing they

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could do, nothing they could do, but everything that God did so that

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we could be saved. It's power
of God unto salvation. To everyone who

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believes, including you, have a
wonderful day peace. Thanks for joining us

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listening. Friends. Always remember we
cannot live by bread alone, but by

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

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portion with El David Harris. Make
it a great day. Yeah,