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Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too

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much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy

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for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect

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yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to

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keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are

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going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words

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today and receive the power we need to live healthy,

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vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,

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author speaker, Elle David Harris.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Thursday, January

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twenty nine, twenty twenty six. Hello, my name is Elle

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David Harris. I am your host, and this is your

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Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day,

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and today is no exception. We are continuing in our

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Lesson study series uniting Heaven and Earth, Christ in Philippians

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and Colossians, and our caption for today is hold such

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men in esteem, Hold such men in esteem. Before we

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get into that, I'd like to say welcome to everyone

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joining us, especially those joining us for the very first time.

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If you are a newcomer, you've not been here before,

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go ahead and type of one in the chat. Let's

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see who you are, or you can say I'm new

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this is my first time, first time type of one

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in the chat, or you can type something in the

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chat that lets us know newcomer, something like that. And again,

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very very special welcome. As you will see people who

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are here with us on a regular basis are quick

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to welcome you, and so I'm very grateful that you

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are here. I'm asking everybody to go over to your

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Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community, pick

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up your Daily Portion Life application guide, and also please

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please click the contribute button. It's a donate button, and

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let us also know where you are in the world

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at your Daily Portion dot com. This is one of

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the ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship.

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Let's pray, Father, thank you for giving us your holy spirit.

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Please help us to live according to your principles and

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keep you in high regard and your people in Jesus name,

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I pray, Amen and Amen again hold such men in esteem.

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I don't know if I if I don't recall if

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I announced our caption. And so we're going into the

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Bible Book of Philippians Philippians Chapter two, and we will

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read Versus twenty five to thirty Philippians, chapter two, and

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we will read beginning at verse chapter verse twenty five,

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and the Bible reads Yet I suppose let me read

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it from another another translation, new English translation. But for

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now I have considered it necessary to send a pa

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Pphforditis to you, for he is my brother, co worker

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and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to me

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in my need. So he's already elevating. When I say elevating,

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I'm talking about in terms of service. He's elevating Epaphroditis

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in the sight of the people to say, if you

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need a servant who will stick by you, look no

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further than Epaphroditis, like he becomes now the gold standard

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of a fellowship, companionship, etc. Indeed, verse twenty six, he

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greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you

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heard that he had been ill. So we see now,

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of course he was ill. But besides that, you can

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see that Paul is saying, not only do I care

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for you, not only do I have your best interest

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at heart, but so does Epaphroditis, even to the degree

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that when he is not well, he's still thinking of you.

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Do you have anybody like that with you, that when

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you're ministering, they think as you do in terms of

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the well being of the people to whom you minister

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verse twenty seven. In fact, he became so ill that

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he nearly died, but God showed mercy to him, and

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not to him only, but also to me. Now we

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see the care and love and compassion of Paul saying

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that not only was our brother spared, but I was

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spared too, in a sense, because what would I do

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without him? What would I do without him? And not

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to him only, but also to me, so that I

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would not have grief on top of grief verse twenty eight. Therefore,

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I am all the more eager to send him so

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that when you see him again, you can rejoice and

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I can be free from anxiety. So welcome him in

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the Lord with great joy and honor people like him,

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since it was because of the work of Christ that

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he almost died. Now we see that he didn't get

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hit by a stage coach. I know they didn't exist

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back then, but he didn't get run over by a camel.

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You feel me like he didn't drop out of a

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tree while he was picking something to eat for the day.

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It was because of the work of Christ that he

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almost died. He risked his life so that he could

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make up for your inability, oh to serve me. Did

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you get that last part? He risked his life so

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that he could make up for your inability to serve me. WHOA,

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Now that is interesting. Let's go ahead and get to

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some of our lessons for today. Lesson number one. Christian

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character is seen in sacrificial service Epaphroditis's services. His service

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was clearly seen, So it's not in our status or position,

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but it was what because of his service? I'll read

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it in the King James verse twenty nine again, receive

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him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold

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in such reputation. And that word actually means high honor,

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high value, esteem due to proven worth. What was the

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standard for the worth his service? His service to God

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and service to people. I think that's what the great

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commandments are. Love the Lord your God with everything you

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have and everything you are, and love your neighbor as yourself.

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And of course he took the great commission very seriously.

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So what I want you to do is to identify

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one selfless person. I don't know if it's somebody who

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comes with you to your daily portion in the mornings

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or in the evenings. I don't know if it's that

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person or someone else in your church community, and express

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intentional gratitude. I see most of the time it's people

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on Facebook, on Facebook, on the various platform on Facebook

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that really greet one another every morning. And I see

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the list of people whose names you are identifying, So

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I don't know is it one of those people, but

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express gratitude intentionally to affirm their ministry Lesson number two,

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faithfulness is proven through reliability under pressure, even at personal cost.

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Do we really need to highlight the fact that this

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brother almost died and he was sick and almost died,

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and that whatever it was was related to his service

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to God? Yeah? Yeah, yeah yeah. So he put himself

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to risk, to hazard and exposed himself to danger for

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another person's sake. That's with the word I can't pronounce

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it has too many syllables one, two, three, four, five, six,

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seven syllables in Greek. That identifies the kind of service

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that this brother had. And so the action step, the

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action step is to choose one area of ministry where

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you can step forward with deeper commitment nobody's asking you

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to try to climb up on a cross, because Jesus

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already did that to save us from our sins. Jesus

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already did that. We're not looking for a way to

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punish ourselves to prove that somehow we are filling the

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blank positive, that's not it. But I still want you

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to choose one area of ministry where you can step

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forward with deeper commitment, because remember, he was there because

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the people somehow were not able to serve Paul even

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when it demands sacrifice less A number three. In Final

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God calls the people of God to esteem those whose

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lives reflect the humility of Christ and of course, of

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course talking about the kind of humility that Jesus showed.

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And so the action step for this is to pray

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specifically for fellow soldiers ah in your spiritual circle and

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ask God to help you honor them through encouragement and unity.

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And we thank God. Let me see if I can

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get a quote in very quickly from James White in

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eighteen sixty A mena of sacrificing self, sacrificing devotion are needed.

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People who will hazard ease and life itself for the

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cause of truth. Such servants heaven will honor. Yeah. Make

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it a great day. We'll see you in the morning

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of the Lord Spear's life. Peace.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot

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live by bread alone, but by every word that comes

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from the mouth of God. This has been your daily

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portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,