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 Wednesday, July twenty four, 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 Mark
and our caption for today is lamp and measuring basket. And you're like,
what is that about. We'll get into that in just a moment, but
before we do, I'd like to say welcome to you and ask you to
please go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community,
pick up the Your Daily Portion book and let us know where you are
in the world at your Daily Portion dot com. This is one of the
ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray,
and then we will get underway. Bather and Heaven, thank you for
giving us this new day and for the privilege we have to be a light
in this wicked and perverse generation to be able to reflect You into this world.
Please, Lord, teach us how to surrender our will so we can
be the best representatives of You as we can. In Jesus name, I
pray, Amen and a men again. Lamp and measuring basket. Okay,
so I'm going to just jump right into the passage from the Bible Book of
Mark chapter four, and I will read beginning at verse twenty three, and
this will give us the baseline for our discussion today. Okay, so the
focus here is beginning at verse twenty one. He also said to them,
a lamp is not brought to be put under a basket or under a bed,
is it? Did you get that? That was simple, wasn't it?
A lamp was not brought to put under a basket or under a bed.
So what is the primary purpose of a lamp? Y'all? Just really
quickly. What is the primary purpose of a lamp or a light? Okay,
to give light to those who are in the house, the room,
wherever you happen to be. Okay, isn't it to be placed on a
lamp stand? For nothing is hidden except it to be revealed, and nothing
concealed except to be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear,
let him here. So what we're going to do is share a few takeaways
that will help us understand. First of all, the visibility of the gospel.
See, God has not intended for us to receive from him and then
hold it and keep it to ourselves. He said, freely, ye have
received, freely give. And so when God opens your eyes, when God
gives you the light of the truth concerning Christ, when God shows you the
way to righteousness, he wants it to be like a lamp. He wants
people to see. Wait a minute, it's dark all around me, but
there is a light over there. Jesus said it this way. He said,
let your light so shine before people, before men, that when they
see your good works, they will glorify your Father, which is in heaven.
So the visibility of the gospel is that we are not concealing our faith.
We're not concealing our connection with God. Because there are people who are
bound to certain habits. They don't know how to be free from different habits
related to sexual sin. Right, you have a habit of having too many
women. You may have a habit of having too many men. You may
have a habit of taking illicit drugs, and you're bound to that habit.
You may have a habit to drink from the rum bottle and you get drunk
on a regular basis, and it's like, God, how do I get
out of this situation? You have a habit God forbid of gossiping, of
lying, a habit of turning your mind away from God when you're going through
challenges and turn your mind towards something that is sinful because it makes you feel
better. You see. And so God is saying, everybody who has learned
to surrender your will to Me have now become ambassadors with bright lights, who
are bright lights shining in the dark place. So people can say, oh,
wait a minute, that brother, that sister has learned to connect with
God and to be delivered from these things, and that must mean that I
can be two okay, And so we go to verse twenty two again.
Let's read it again. For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested.
Neither is anything kept secret that it should not, that it should come
abroad. Let me read it in another version. For nothing is hidden except
to be revealed, and nothing concealed except to be brought to light. So
there is a revelation of truth, revelation of truth, just like we see
in the Book of Revelation and Daniel. The Bible says, seal up the
vision until the end, or until the appropriate time. And the Revelation says,
now that we are to speak the vision, preach the vis teach the
vision, open it up before the people, because the time is at hand.
The time for what the time for the revelation of truth. So the
messages is that nothing hidden will remain, so that all will be disclosed.
Reflects the ultimate revelation of truth, encouraging transparency. Did you get that word?
Transparency in our actions and honesty in our dealings. Another lesson responsibility of
reception. So when God opens up the truth to us, than we are
to what receive it. I don't mean see it, I don't mean identify
that it is. It is in existence. I'm saying that when God brings
the light of truth to us, we get to open up our arms and
begin to enfold within us and embrace, embrace the truth or the life that
God has given to us. The way we measure or give in our interactions,
whether it is kindness, judgment, or forgiveness, will determine will determine
what we receive in return. And so if you're kind to others, then
God will return kindness to you. If you're forgiving toward others, especially those
that you find it difficult to forgive, God is going to give you forgiveness.
And so when God gives us things, this principle teaches us the importance
of generosity in sharing with others and grace ah the willingness for us to allow
people to grow, the ability for us to see when somebody is not quite
there in terms of how they relate to us. But say, you know
what, God is going to work with them, and I'm going to work
with them as well. And then we go with generosity again from verse twenty
five. For he that hath now, let me read it this way.
For whosoever has will be given more. But whoever does not have, even
that he has will be taken from him. And so when God gives us
a gift, it's one gift, it's ten gifts, it's one hundred gifts.
If we use them according to what God would want us to do,
then he'll multiply those things. If you're kind, he'll multiply your kindness.
If you're able to sing for His glory and you do, then he'll multiply
your reach. He'll multiply the favor that you find when you're singing. He'll
multiply your skill and ability. Yes, but what if we withhold forgiveness,
then the little forgiveness that we had I just said little, I shouldn't have.
Forgiveness that we had will be taken from us. Huh. If he's
entrusted financial gain to us, it doesn't matter what the mount is and we
don't use it wisely, he'll take away that financial gain and we'll be stuck
with status quo. And so what God is saying is that when we receive
it and we're generous with it, it will multiply. He will multiply it.
And of course God is giving us a warning beginning at verses twenty four
and twenty five to say that there is a spiritual risk to ourselves if we
receive or see and experience God's word and don't share it abroad. God has
given us the ability to become as lights in this wicked and perverse generation.
Now what are we going to do with it? And we're going to maximize
it or reject it. You'll be the judgment. 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,