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, July eleven, 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 can you Keep a Secret? Can you
keep a Secret? We'll get an to that in just a moment, but
first I'd like to say welcome to everyone joining us, especially those joining us
for the very first time. I'm asking you to please go over to your
Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community, pick up the Your
Daily Portion book and also let us know where you are in the world at
your daily portion dot com. This is a way that we continue to build
faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray and then we will get underway.
Father in heaven, thank you for giving us the opportunity to open up
your word, and I'm asking you to please fill us with your holy spirit.
Teach us how not to keep a good secret when it has to do
with your goodness. Father, Please teach us to serve you with all of
our heart. In Jesus name, I pray Amen and a men Again.
I'm going to share a secret with you. I'm very, very good at
keeping secrets. I don't even talk in my sleep. That's what I say,
tongue in cheek, Like I don't even talk in my sleep. So
if you tell me something and I'm not supposed to tell anyone, like I
won't tell anyone, not even my wife, who is the closest person in
the world to me, Like I'm not telling It's just not my style.
Like I like to keep secrets, I don't necessarily like to know your secrets.
If I can avoid it, I won't know your secrets. But if
for some reason, providence leads you to share something that's just something you need
to work through, and it's a secret, then I'll keep it. Yeah.
Well this is interesting because in regards to what we'll read about today,
Yeah, it's a different kind of secret. And you have to decide like,
are you going to keep the secret or not? Are you going to
follow the command of God and keep the secret or not? Okay, And
so just before we begin there, I'd like to read from the lesson directly
and give you my thought ahead of the time. Jesus become one with us.
When I say us, i'm talking about human beings in order to cleanse
human beings. He becomes one with human beings in order to cleanse human beings.
He became one of us and did not seem or he did not see
himself as being defiled by being a human being. And this is why his
ministry was so effective, apart from what we talked about yesterday, him being
one with us and not running away from us as if we are unclean unclean,
and we are, but he did not allow himself to sense defilement or
be defiled as an impediment between him and us, as an impediment to us
being cleansed. Okay, that sounded real intellectual. What does that mean?
Well, the lesson writer says, the leoper places faith in Jesus that he
can cleanse him, and according to Leviticus chapter thirteener was ritually unclean and had
to avoid contact with others. Jesus, however, was moved with compassion.
Now what word did I just use? Compassion? Jesus was moved with compassion.
He stretched out his hand and he touched him. Remember, this is
a highly contagious disease in real life, and besides this, besides this,
it would have made him ritually unclean technically, according to the way that the
customs were. So, the Bible says that he was moved with compassion,
stretched out his hand and touched him and said, I am willing. When
the man said, if you're willing, you can make me clean, he
said, I will be thou clean. He could have just waved his hand.
He could have from a long, far distance, like he did in
healing someone's child, like he could have stayed far and just said, yeah,
you're you're, you're healed. But no, Jesus physically touched the broken,
very contagious ill man and healed him, and then the Bible I mean.
And then the lesson writer continues, this action should have defiled Jesus until
the evening, when he would be required to bathe become ritually pure again.
But Mark is clear that Jesus, that Jesus his action of touching the sick
man cleansed him from leprosy. Thus, Jesus was not defiled by touching the
man. Jesus was not defiled by touching the man. Are you hearing this?
Let me read the text now from Mark chapter one, beginning at verse
forty. And there came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down
to him, and saying to him, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, he
touched him, and seth unto him, I will be thou clean. And
as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and
he the leper, was cleansed. And he straightly charged him forthwith and sent
him away, and seth unto him. See thou say nothing to any man
now, Jesus said, keep a secret. There was a reason. See
that you say nothing to anyone. Now, go and show yourself to the
priest and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto
them. But this dude did not listen. He did not keep a secret
verse forty five. But he went out and began to publish it much and
to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that now we know why Jesus said keep
it a secret. Not because he didn't want people to know what great things
God had done for him, not because he wanted him to keep a testimony
and sit on it and keep himself away from people, but because in this
case, it says insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city,
but was without in desert places, and they came to him from every
quarter. And so Jesus knew that, in the context of the work that
he was doing early in his ministry, this was early in his ministry,
that a testimony of that sort would have interrupted the ministry at some point.
Obviously the man would shout from the mountaintops from the rafters and say, look
at what God has done for me. But in this moment of time,
Jesus asked him not or commanded him not to tell. In fact, in
fact, if the priests had heard that Jesus had done it too early and
before he was pronounced clean, then that would have been an impediment even to
the pronouncement of this man being clean, because the priests were not really with
Jesus like. They didn't like him, they didn't like them, They were
discriminatory toward Christ. They did not approve of Jesus's ministry. And so if
you appear and say, Jesus healed me, now see if it's true,
am I healed? Then now you have a problem, right, And so
Jesus was telling him in that moment to please just keep it, keep it
quiet for now, for now. But the man, of course could not
keep a secret. Now you see where we're going today. And so in
the Book of Isaiah, chapter one, we see a symbol in a language,
symbol that shows that something like leprosy is like equated to sin, like
sin and leprosy, So leprosy, the real life disease, can be seen
in symbol as sin. It's contagious, it's deadly. Anybody who comes into
contact with you, if they are susceptible, will also be sinful in the
way that you influenced them, unless, of course, they decide to be
insulated by the power of God. You see, and so the Bible teaches
us that Jesus, even though he came into human flesh, was not defiled
by human flesh. Jesus came near to us while we were contagious, while
we were breaking down spiritually, more and more and more and more, and
he healed us. Not worrying about the fact that he was connected as God
and human, he decided to heal us. Well, can you keep a
secret? When God does great things for you? Can you keep it a
secret? Very interesting lesson for today. Make it a great day, peace.
Thanks for joining us listening to 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,