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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 Sabbath, November twenty five, 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

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

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My mission, and our caption for
today is Mission to the Powerful,

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Mission to the Powerful. We'll get
into that in just a moment, but

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first I'd like to say welcome to
you and ask you to go over to

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your Daily Portion dot com. This
is where you can join our online community.

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You can also let me know where
you are in the world. I

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won't lie, I really do find
encouragement seeing when you are putting in that

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box where you are in the world. Some of you are in Cambodia,

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in Sri Lanka, in Liberia,
right in other places on all continents of

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the world. I haven't seen from
certain places as yet, but for some

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reason, I really just love to
see from what vantage point you are spreading

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the gospel. You're brightening the corner
where you are, and again we can

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continue to build faith and fellowship at
your daily portion dot Com. Let's go

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ahead and pray and then we will
get underway. Father, thank you for

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this new day, the Sabbath,
that you have entrusted to us so we

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can become more like you. We
can be connected to you in a special

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way. Father, Please give us
understanding and wisdom while we are going through

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this time of our lives. Teach
us. If it is for us to

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reach to the Powerful, help us
to do it in the power the Holy

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Spirit. In Jesus's name, I
pray Amen and damen again. Of course,

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this mission to the Powerful is for
the entire body of believers, but

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not necessarily for every individual in the
household of faith. Okay, So I'm

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not letting anybody off the hook.
What I'm saying is, don't feel pressure

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if that is not your particular calling. All of us have specific gifts and

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calling to do whatever God says to
do in a given time. That does

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not mean that we cannot reach the
powerful if it's not quote our gift.

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But there are some people who are
just even more gifted and called for that

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particular ministry. I think of one
man here in Jamaica from Andrew's memorial named

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Elder Noel Jump. I'm talking about
the dad I've seen where he has done

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ministry up in Red Hills here in
Jamaica and other places where he has been

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reaching the soul called powerful for many
years. Okay, And so what I'm

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going to do now is read from
the Book of Matthew Matthew, Chapter sixteen,

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beginning at well, I'll just read
verse twenty six to get us started,

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and then I'll read from the Lesson
study, and it reads, for

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what profit is it to a man
if he gains the whole world and loses

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his own soul? So I want
you to see the contrast here. Do

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not read into this something that it
is not saying. Okay, I'll come

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back to that, or what will
a man give in exchange for his soul.

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So God is saying, we must, we can, we will,

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We must prioritize eternity with God,
prioritize a right relationship with God and holiness,

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prioritize spirituality over material gain and wealth. Okay, so we're looking at

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the priority. What does it profit
us to gain everything, riches, wealth,

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fame, notoriety, whatever it is
that people are getting in terms of

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power, yes, political position,
whatever it is. What profit is it

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to have all of that? If
that says if we are not connected to

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God and submitted to his will.
So that is the contrast. Now,

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this does not mean that individuals who
have means, wealth and everything else I

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just described. It doesn't mean that
those individuals are lost. Like what.

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There are so many believers around the
world who are of means, who do

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have wealth. Joseph of Arimathea back
in Jesus's day was a good example.

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Right, we could go down through
the list. Job, we could go

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down through the list. Abraham ah
Lydia, the woman who broke open that

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jar of spikenard and gave herself to
Jesus in that moment. Yes, and

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so what God is saying that we
can yield our will to Him no matter

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what our socio economic status is,
but we must never ever prioritize our wealth

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or anything else for that matter,
above Him. Okay. Through written,

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though written many years ago, the
Bible, the Word of God is the

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revelation of God's truth for our world. I'm reading from the Lesson, and

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among the many truths it reveals is
that of human nature, and that whether

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in seventh century Judea or twenty first
century Brasil, people are basically the same

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sinners in need of grace. Okay, good, so far, so good.

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This includes the rich and the powerful. The rich and the powerful of

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the Bible times were no different from
the rich and the powerful of modern times,

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especially in their pursuit of wealth and
fame and power, often but not

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always, at the expense of the
vulnerable. Did you get that? Often

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but not always? Okay? Yet, God is as concerned about the salvation

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of the rich and of the powerful
as he is for that of the weak

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and of the needy. Scripture provides
some gripping examples of Bible characters who were

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powerful or rich or both, or
how God used them to be a blessing

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to nations and I gave you some
examples before, and we're going to explore

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that in the coming days. Okay, So that is the baseline of our

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discussion. Really, the question is
what would you exchange for a connection with

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God? Hopefully your answer immediately is
nothing, like nothing would give you enough

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drive, enough determination, like enough
joy or happiness to say, Okay,

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I don't need God, you see. So what God is saying is if

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you no, Let's use Solomon as
an example. Let's use Solomon as an

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example. As God was preparing Solomon
to lead his people and to become a

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lighthouse to the world. He actd
Solomon what he wanted, and Solomon said,

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but I'm like a child, God, like, how in the world

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can I lead this your great people? Please give me wisdom? And with

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the wisdom God granted him wealth.
Now what Solomon did with it in all

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details, that's a different discussion.
But it shows that God is willing to

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give directly and intentionally that which would
glorify him if we yield our will to

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him. In the case of Solomon, in the cases of all these other

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people that I cited a little bit
earlier, he saw fit to bless them

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with means can you imagine there are
people who don't love God who are philanthropic.

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There are people who don't love God
who are giving to the poor,

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making sure that those who don't have
parents, those who have lost their spouses,

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people who don't have places to live, people who are in dire need

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of education, of nutrition, and
other basic necessities of life. Wells being

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drilled in different parts of the world
where water is scarce. You see,

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if people who don't love God have
that capacity, can you imagine what God

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would do with the means and wealth
of people who aren't fully dedicated to God.

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And so God gives us the privilege
though, to see and to meet

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those individuals who have not yet made
a decision to follow God and say this

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is the way. Walky in it
right. There are habits, there are

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mindsets, There are challenges in their
minds that they had not yielded to God.

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And it is our privilege to reach
them for the kingdom. And then

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those who are reached for the kingdom
will, like everybody else, yield all

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of who we are, all of
what we have, for the work of

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God. And so again God wants
us to prioritize relationship with Him over any

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earthly gain. So what we want
to do this as we go into the

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week is ponder the memory text,
reflect on the true value of spiritual wealth

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versus worldly wealth. Discuss with friends
or family. But the text means today

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in its context, well, come
back to it tomorrow, have a wonderful

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day. Peace. Thanks for joining
us listening. Friends. Always remember we

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cannot live by bread alone, but
by every word that comes from the mouth

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of God. This has been your
daily portion with El David Harris. Make

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it a great day. Yeah,