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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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of 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, Elle David Harris.
Good morning, Good morning, Good morning.

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It is Thursday, November twenty three, twenty twenty three. Hello,

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my name is El 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 is

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no exception. We are continuing in
our Lesson study series. God's Mission,

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My mission. Our caption for today
is Greater Love, Greater Love. We'll

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get into that in just a moment
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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join our online community, and definitely
let us know where you are in

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the world. We continue to build, build faith and fellowship, getting a

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little tongue tied there and yes,
so please go over again to your daily

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portion dot com. Let's go ahead
and pray, and then we will get

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

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for the privilege we have to open
your word again. Please teach us the

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kind of love that transforms our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray,

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Amen and Amen again, greater Love. We're going to begin our discussion today

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by reading from the Book of John. Let's go to the Book of John

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chapter fifteen, and I'll read beginning
at verse seven. John chapter fifteen,

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beginning at verse seven, and we're
talking about the love of God toward us.

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Okay, and the Bible reads,
if ye abide in Me and my

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words abide in you, ye shall
ask what ye will, and it shall

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be done to you. So God
is showing us that he is not only

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interested, but he is motivated to
answer our prayers because of Jesus Christ right

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his love for us. God gave
us his only begotten son. We're going

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to actually talk about that later on
in the week that he gave or is

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it next week? I forgot,
but anyway, yeah, I digress.

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He is saying that I love you
so much that I gave you all of

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heaven in one gift. And as
a result of my gift of love to

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you, that is Jesus Christ.
Now I am quick to answer your prayers.

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And when I say he is quick
to answer our prayers, I'm saying

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that God's intent always is to glorify
himself and to give us the benefit of

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connection with him. And watch this
verse eight. Here in is my Father

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glorified, right, Jesus speaking that
ye bear much fruit. The discussion prior

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to these verses is about fruitfulness in
God and being connected to Christ. Okay,

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And as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you,

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continue ye in my love. Now
we know the level of love that God

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has toward us. If you want
to know the level, look at how

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much the Father loves the son.
Huh. Look at what the sacrifice of

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the Son has done for us.
Here we go verse eight. Again,

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herein is my Father glorified, that
ye bear much fruit? So shall ye

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be my disciples. Verse nine,
As the Father hath loved me, so

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have I loved you, continue in
my love. If ye keep my commandments,

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ye shall abide in my love,
even as I have kept my father's

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come amendments and abide in his love. So we know that the measure of

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love is how Jesus kept the commandments. The measure of love is how we

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allow Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to keep the commandments through us.

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Well, what are the commandments about? Remember from Matthew chapter twenty two,

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we see that love for God with
all of our hearts and everything else,

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that we are yes and love our
neighbors as ourselves. On these two principles

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of love hang all the law and
the prophets. Okay, so we got

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that very clear. Well, what
else does this look like? What else

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does this look like? Let's keep
reading verse eleven. These things have I

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spoken unto you that my joy might
remain in you. God wants us to

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be joyful brothers and sisters, and
that your joy might be full. This

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is my commandment that ye love one
another as I have loved you. So

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Jesus's love is in sh structional.
Jesus's love is transformational. If we want

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to know what God is like,
if we want to have the kind of

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love that can transform us from unholy
sinners into holy saints, we need look

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no further than Jesus, and to
submit to him. Let's keep going.

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Well, we need a little bit
more understanding God. Well, here it

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goes verse thirteen. Greater love hath
no man than this. Then a man

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laid down his life for his friends
verse fourteen and final, Ye are my

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friends, if ye do what I
command you. And so God demonstrated his

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love toward us in that while we
were yet sinners. Christ died for the

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ungodly. Christ died for us,
not after we performed, well, not

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after we said, God, look
at what I have done. Now you

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own me know, at our worst
point in life, the worst that a

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human can do was motivation, motivation
for God to save us through Jesus Christ.

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You see, that's the whole point
of salvation. We cannot help ourselves.

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His mercy is unmerited, his favor
is unmerited. We cannot go to

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God and ask him for a paycheck
because of a job well done. No,

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So, at the worst, and
when we needed him most, when

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we had no strength, Christ died
for us. Now what does that mean?

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Well, let me read you a
quick story from the Lesson. One

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missionary family served six years in Trinidad
and Tobago. The first three years they

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lived in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim
community. Many Hindus explained that Christians refuse

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their invitation to the annual Thanksgiving service. One day, these Christians attended a

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Thanksgiving service of a new Hindu friend. They did this following Jesus' exam people,

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he visited his friends when they invited
him to special celebrations. Did you

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get that he visited with his friends
when they invited him? Keep going?

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In fact, Hinduism teaches that visitors
or friends bring blessings to the home of

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the host. Now let me just
say here, as a lesson writer says,

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let's make an attempt to bring us
to begin making a friend this week

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by being a blessing, by being
a blessing to someone else. Now,

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let's do some have some action items
again. Let's read again verse thirteen.

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Greater love hath no man than this
than to lay down one's life for his

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friends. God wants us to live
sacrificially. He wants us to practice self

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less love. Reflect on areas in
your life where you can embody this sacrificial

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love, whether through time, resources, acts of service, just showing your

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friends that you care. So many
ways that you can do that. I

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can do that. Also, here's
another one, the missionary family. As

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from this study, the missionary family
attended a Thanksgiving service. Sometimes we need

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to engage cross cultural celebrations. And
I know that you're going to read a

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lot into it. Some people are
going to read a lot into it.

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Notice what I am not saying.
I am not saying that we turn our

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backs on God. Like, this
is not what this study is about.

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We're talking about showing simple acts of
love and kindness, building community relationships,

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seeking guidance from God. About building
friendships. We need to pray together and

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ask God for his help. He
knows that everyone in our minds aren't people

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that we know deeply, like we
don't even know our own mindset, But

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he knows them. He knows our
friendship core like he knows strangers. He

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knows the people that can be friends, He become our friends. He knows

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what they need, He knows what
we have to offer. He knows what

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we need. And so whereas we
don't know our own minds right, our

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own minds are desperately wicked, who
can know it? That's what the prophet

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asked God. But he knows all
of our minds, and he knows what

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it takes to connect us. Commit
to daily prayers, asking for guidance and

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fostering genuine relationships. That's what Jesus
did. He built genuine relationships in order

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to lead people to Heaven. Have
a wonderful day, Peace. Thanks for

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joining us listening. 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 El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,