1
00:00:01,199 --> 00:00:04,160
Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too much,

2
00:00:04,599 --> 00:00:07,879
because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy for

3
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,240
today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect yesterday's

4
00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,400
portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep

5
00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,199
us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going

6
00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:23,280
to change all of that. Let's experience God's words today

7
00:00:23,559 --> 00:00:27,399
and receive the power we need to live healthy, vibrant lives.

8
00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,879
Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host, author speaker,

9
00:00:32,039 --> 00:00:33,079
Elle David Harris.

10
00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:36,359
Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Sabbath, January four,

11
00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,320
twenty twenty five. Hello, my name is Elle David Harris.

12
00:00:40,359 --> 00:00:42,799
I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion

13
00:00:43,119 --> 00:00:45,880
where we give you God's word every single day, and

14
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,640
today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson

15
00:00:49,719 --> 00:00:54,000
study series. This is Lesson number two under the theme

16
00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,000
God's Love and Justice, and our caption for today is

17
00:00:58,119 --> 00:01:03,880
covenantal Love. Covenantal Love. What does that mean to you?

18
00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,159
We'll get into that in just a moment, But first

19
00:01:06,159 --> 00:01:09,400
I like to make you aware of your Daily Portion

20
00:01:09,519 --> 00:01:11,480
dot com. I want you to go over there and

21
00:01:12,439 --> 00:01:16,439
sign up in our community. Make sure you have the

22
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,560
Companion Guide. The Companion Guide. You'll see it there big

23
00:01:20,599 --> 00:01:23,719
red link. And also let us know where you are

24
00:01:23,879 --> 00:01:27,400
in the world at your Daily Portion dot com. This

25
00:01:27,519 --> 00:01:30,280
is one of the ways that we continue to build

26
00:01:30,439 --> 00:01:34,000
faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray and then

27
00:01:34,159 --> 00:01:37,799
get underway. Bather, We thank you for this Sabbath morning

28
00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:40,719
and for the privilege that we have to open up

29
00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,840
your word and to consider the covenant of love that

30
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,640
you have given to us. I pray now that we

31
00:01:46,719 --> 00:01:49,719
will live in covenant with you, that we will keep

32
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:52,519
our end of the bargain, that we will yield our

33
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:57,159
will to you in Jesus' name, I pray, Amen, and

34
00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:02,879
a man again, Well, what does covenant to love look like? Well,

35
00:02:02,959 --> 00:02:07,400
immediately we go to the lesson writer's focus here in

36
00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:12,680
John chapter fourteen and verse twenty three, what does covenantal

37
00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,159
love look like? And Jesus answered and said, unto him,

38
00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,159
if anyone loves me, so we already have this conditional.

39
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,280
Jesus is showing us the details, like what is on

40
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:31,199
his mind where covenantal love is concerned. Okay, Jesus answered

41
00:02:31,199 --> 00:02:35,680
and said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.

42
00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,199
This is what covenantal love looks like keeping God's word

43
00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:44,360
because when we love him, when we surrender our will

44
00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,960
to God, we love him with his cause, him being

45
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,560
the cause of our ability to love him in return.

46
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,719
We love him because he first loved us. When we

47
00:02:55,319 --> 00:02:59,360
love him in return, then we have the capability and

48
00:02:59,439 --> 00:03:04,080
the ability to love God back. You see, the only

49
00:03:04,159 --> 00:03:09,159
way that we can keep his word is if we

50
00:03:09,439 --> 00:03:13,240
love God, and God gives us the ability to love

51
00:03:13,319 --> 00:03:16,120
him and to keep his word. Yes, I said it

52
00:03:16,159 --> 00:03:20,120
a few times, a couple of ways, because it bears repeating,

53
00:03:20,199 --> 00:03:23,719
what else, what else? And my father will love him?

54
00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,479
And so we see this circle of love. God loves us.

55
00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,240
We have now the ability to love him in return.

56
00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:35,439
The manifestation manifestation of that love. Now we can see

57
00:03:35,879 --> 00:03:39,680
in how we keep his word. Okay, and God will

58
00:03:39,719 --> 00:03:42,400
love him. God, our father will love him and will

59
00:03:42,439 --> 00:03:46,120
come to him and make our home. Wait a minute,

60
00:03:46,199 --> 00:03:49,879
and we will come to him or her and make

61
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:56,560
our home with him. So God is making a promise

62
00:03:57,199 --> 00:04:01,560
that if you yield your will to me, you can

63
00:04:01,879 --> 00:04:06,199
love me. You will learn to love me because my

64
00:04:06,439 --> 00:04:09,280
love will empower you to love You love him back,

65
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,840
and then you will have the ability to keep God's word,

66
00:04:13,199 --> 00:04:15,960
and then we will see the love of God our

67
00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,680
Father in this way where Jesus Christ and God our

68
00:04:20,759 --> 00:04:25,680
Father will tabernacle with us. The Bible says in the

69
00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,759
Old Testament, and God was speaking to Moses, he said,

70
00:04:29,079 --> 00:04:32,839
have them build me a sanctuary that I may dwell

71
00:04:32,879 --> 00:04:36,240
among them. He wants to abide with us. He wants

72
00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,160
us to abide with him. In fact, in the next

73
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,600
chapter of John, Jesus said, abide with me, abide in

74
00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:48,160
me and I in you. And if that person asks anything,

75
00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,399
he will then then we will have it. So God

76
00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:57,199
wants to live in our lives. And I will say

77
00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,879
that the best sermon that I have ever heard on

78
00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:05,319
the subject of love was from doctor Martin Luther King Junior,

79
00:05:05,639 --> 00:05:09,120
titled Loving Your Enemies. Look that sermon up, Look that

80
00:05:09,199 --> 00:05:12,160
sermon up on the internet. There is audio that we

81
00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,600
can still listen to today. Well, even though he's resting,

82
00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:20,120
has been resting a whole long time. Loving Your Enemies

83
00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:24,279
by Martin Luther King Junior. And so the lesson writer

84
00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,079
points out something very very interesting. He points out the

85
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,759
fact that that, well, let me read it. Many have

86
00:05:31,079 --> 00:05:35,160
been taught that the Greek word a goape refers to

87
00:05:35,199 --> 00:05:38,959
a love that is unique to God, while other terms

88
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:46,279
for love, such as phileo phileo right like philadelphia phileo,

89
00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:51,399
refer to different kinds of love a more deficient than

90
00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:56,279
a gope. Some claim too, that a goape refers to

91
00:05:56,639 --> 00:05:59,560
unilateral love, that is, love that only comes one way,

92
00:05:59,639 --> 00:06:01,879
like I love you in spite of what you do,

93
00:06:02,199 --> 00:06:04,040
and God is the one that does that. A love

94
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:09,319
that only gives but never receives, a love entirely dependent,

95
00:06:09,439 --> 00:06:14,920
independent of human response. The lesson writer says here, however,

96
00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:21,560
careful study of the divine love throughout scriptures shows that

97
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:25,600
these ideas, though common, are mistaken. And then it goes

98
00:06:25,639 --> 00:06:29,160
into some details. And so we can see in the

99
00:06:29,199 --> 00:06:33,600
Book of two Timothy, chapter four and verse ten, for

100
00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:39,160
Demas had forsaken me, having loved that term as agape.

101
00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,040
Wait a minute, what yeah mm hm, For Demus has

102
00:06:43,079 --> 00:06:49,480
forsaken me, having loved this present world and departed unto thessalonaika,

103
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,160
and so forth, wait a minute. And then in the

104
00:06:54,199 --> 00:06:57,120
New English translation it says it this way, for Demus

105
00:06:57,199 --> 00:07:02,120
deserted me, since he agape he loved the present age.

106
00:07:02,519 --> 00:07:05,480
And then the Bible continues with where he went et ce.

107
00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,560
So we can see that that love was misguided, even

108
00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,959
though we see in the Greek term gape a love

109
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:18,560
that people have mistaken. Now Fileo interestingly is used in

110
00:07:18,639 --> 00:07:23,120
John chapter sixteen, beginning at verse twenty two. And ye

111
00:07:23,439 --> 00:07:27,560
now therefore have sorrow. But I will see you again,

112
00:07:28,079 --> 00:07:31,360
and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man

113
00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,040
taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask

114
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,360
me nothing. Verily I say unto you. Whatsoever ye shall

115
00:07:39,519 --> 00:07:42,839
ask the Father in my name, he will give it

116
00:07:42,879 --> 00:07:46,000
to you. Hitherto we have asked nothing in my name.

117
00:07:46,199 --> 00:07:50,199
Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

118
00:07:50,319 --> 00:07:53,240
These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs. But

119
00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,040
the time cometh when no one, when I shall no

120
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,399
more speak unto you in proverbs. But I shall show

121
00:07:59,439 --> 00:08:03,319
you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall

122
00:08:03,439 --> 00:08:07,920
ask in my name. And I say not unto you,

123
00:08:08,079 --> 00:08:11,519
that I will pray unto the Father. For the Father

124
00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:18,639
himself phileo mm hmm. For the Father himself loveth you,

125
00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,480
because he hath loved me, and he hath believed that

126
00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:29,279
I am come out of Him or from God. So

127
00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:31,360
what I need you to do? Really and truly. We've

128
00:08:31,399 --> 00:08:34,440
said a lot is to be careful with word studies

129
00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:39,759
in ancient languages. There's some people who because you were

130
00:08:39,879 --> 00:08:43,559
told somehow that if you know the very details of

131
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:47,120
the ancient language, then somehow you will be able to

132
00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,799
build more of a foundation. Well, I don't know that

133
00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:54,000
God would would lock or change the truth into a

134
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,240
language that the people don't speak, right, So don't build

135
00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:03,600
an entire case around them. Read in your language, right,

136
00:09:03,759 --> 00:09:08,759
pray and then look at the context for true understanding.

137
00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,480
God would not lock the truth up in a language

138
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,679
that you are not able to read. It's fine, you

139
00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,840
have a concordance, you have a dictionary, use it, but

140
00:09:20,919 --> 00:09:25,919
do not build doctrine on what you learn in terms

141
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,360
of word studies. Covenantal love is this. God loves us

142
00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:33,080
so much that he gave us all of heaven in

143
00:09:33,159 --> 00:09:37,879
one gift. And whether it's fileo or agape, whichever love

144
00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,320
God is showing to us, it empowers us to love

145
00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,039
Him in return and to have a covenant with him.

146
00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,519
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends, Always remember we cannot

147
00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,600
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes

148
00:09:51,639 --> 00:09:54,720
from the mouth of God. This has been your daily

149
00:09:54,759 --> 00:10:00,279
portion with el David Harris, make it a great day. Yeah,