Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Tuesday, September eleven,
twenty twenty five. 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 Exodus, and our caption
for today is Intercession. Intercession. Yesterday we scratched the surface
of the cop but we're going to talk about it
in a little bit more detail in just the moment here.
But before we do, 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 Life application guide, 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 get underway. Father, thank you
for giving us Jesus to intercede for us and make
us holy. Teach us how to intercede for others so
you can make them holy. In Jesus' name, I pray,
Amen and Amen again. Intersession intercession, Well, let's go with
a quick dictionary definition. We're not even going to go
into the theological definition, but just a dictionary definition right
here on my iPad. It says it's a noun for intercession.
It's a noun the action of intervening on behalf of
another the action of saying a prayer on behalf of
another person. Okay, so we know that Moses stepped in
and he was intervening on behalf of God's people, whom
he already knew, God loved, and he's like God, Now
let's talk about this like you just said that you're
gonna block them out and make a new nation from
from my seed. But God, let please, can let's talk
about this. Please, he's interceeding. Now, let me just read
from Exodus, chapter thirty two, verses thirty through thirty two.
Now it came to pass on the next day that
Moses said to the people, you have committed a great sin.
So now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps
I can make atonement for you. Because Moses knew that
this this behavior could not go unrewarded. There has to
be an equal and opposite reaction, even in holiness. Right,
they say, they taught us that in science class, for
every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction.
God said it that it should be eye for an eye,
and so what these people had done required a commensurate response,
except if God shows mercy. And now it says, you've
committed this, and I'm going to go up and see
if I can atone for your sin. Then Moses returned
to the people and said, oh, these people, to the
Lord excuse me, and said, oh, these people have committed
a great sin and have made for themselves a god
of gold. Yet, now if you will forgive their sin,
But if not, I pray, Oh my, it's even hard
to say this blot me out of your book which
you have written. Moses is putting it all under line.
Now we know that he's passionate. Right now, we know
that this is a spiritually emotion based response because he
must know that it's impossible for his little life to
be enough to atone for anybody's sin. But he's grasping
at straws here, and he's like, God, I hear what
you're saying. I know that you're right and just and holy,
But if there's another way, God, could you please save
my son from wrath, save my daughter from wrath. I
know they're guilty, God, I know that you have trained
them through us and through the Church that they should
live a certain way. I know that you have sent
friends and other people along the way to show them
the right path, and they have gone the wrong way.
But would you please just spare them, Spare my husband,
spare my wife, God from the wrath that they deserve. See,
Moses isn't trying to make an excuse for them. He's
not saying that they don't deserve the wrath that God
is intending in this moment, or communicating I should say
in this moment. But he's just like God, if there's
any other way, can you just let it happen that
if my life is worth enough in this case, like
if you could save these millions of people, instead of
making a great nation of me and my descendants, would
you just destroy me, Like get me out of here,
so that the people that you have brought out of
the land of Egypt in the house of bondage, and
so that the people that saw you take them out
won't think that you're an impotent God. For your name's sake,
so people will know that you are able in fact
and indeed to keep your people holy, keep your people safe.
Just destroy me, God, do you understand the conversation now?
And so true intercession is willing to stand in the
place of the guilty. Moses was so committed to God's people,
even though they were murmurers, even though they complained all
the time, even though those people sometimes seemed like they
couldn't have cared less about Moses, even his own brother.
Look at what his brother was doing at the base
of the mountain. These men went to war, going into
the presence of Pharaoh, who could have destroyed them at
least from a human perspective, And this goofy dude does
all of that wickedness at the base of the mountain
and then wants Moses and God to believe that something
mystical and magical happened. He threw this stuff in. First
of all, you threw it in, dummy, pardoned me, and
then it magically becomes a golden calf. Come on, brother,
what are we really talking about here? And yet Moses
was still committed to the people, and he was willing
to bear ultimate loss for the sake of people who
were guilty. And so the action stepped for us is
to pray for us with the same selfless spirit we're
looking for the Holy Ghost here, the same kind of
spirit asking God to place their needs above our own needs,
our own comfort, our own recognition. The next lesson comes
in from the Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty three and
verse four, where it reads surely He, meaning Christ, hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. So the word,
the Hebrew term for forgive in this case is the
same as bear, forgive and bear, revealing that forgiveness is
possible only because God through Christ bears or carries our guilt.
I read that Jesus Christ took our sins to the cross,
and in his humanity, he died with the weight of
our guilt all on his shoulders. And he did not
even open his mouth. He didn't say, I'm not the
one that's guilty. I'm not the one that deserves this.
I punch out. I'm tapping out. I changed my mind.
He did not come down off the cross as the
men said. The wicked men said, come down now, off
the cross, and then we will worship you. He said, no,
I will not accept worship. I will not destroy these people.
I will bear their sins all the way to death,
even the death of the cross. And I'm like, okay, God,
So when confessing sin, acknowledge that the cost of forgiveness
was born by Christ alone, not by any personal merit.
I understand, Moses, I get it. But really, only Jesus
could do that which you were asking for. Only Jesus
could do that. Finally, in John chapter fifteen and verse thirteen,
the Bible reads, Greater love hath no man than this,
Then a man laid down his life for his friends.
Moses's prayer mirrors Christ's own sacrifice for humanity, showing that
godly leadership is inseparable from sacrificial love. Make the time,
that's what we need to do today. Make the time
to pray, specifically for those who are far from God,
modeling Christ's patience and mercy in your prayers. So much
going on here, but I'm glad that we have seen
how a human could model the behavior and heart of
God interceding for the guilty. Peace.
Speaker 1: 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,