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 Sabbath, August four,
two thousand, not August October four, 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 Lessons of
Faith from Joshua, and our caption for today is prized
by grace, Surprised by Grace. We'll get into that in
just a moment, but first I'd like to say welcome
to you and ask you to go over to your
Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community. Please
please 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 then we will get underway. Father,
we thank you for this day and for giving us
the opportunity to experience your grace, your power to do
your will. Please help us to be amazed by You,
but not surprised. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and
Amen again. I just have to tell you the truth.
I don't believe in surprises. And when I say that,
I'm saying when it comes to God's people, we must
get to a point where we are so oh accustomed.
I don't mean where we rest on our laurels, but
we become so accustomed to God being great that we're
not like, oh, my goodness, he's great again. Now we
should be amazed by God. We should be blown away
because we have not even begun to get to the
depths of His riches and his grace. But we shouldn't
be surprised when God is good. Okay, I know what
the caption is for today, but I just needed to
say that. And so from the Book of Hebrews Hebrews,
Chapter eleven and verse thirty one reads by faith, the
harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe.
So can we just start right here, like, one of
the lessons that we must learn is that the power
to live eternally is faith, or maybe I should say
it this way. In order for us to receive the power,
we need to live with God eternally. We need faith,
faith from God. Jesus is the author and finisher of
our faith. And so this woman that the Bible describes
by what she had done until she received faith from
God or the faith of God, harlot Rahab. Now she's
transformed by faith and she lays hold upon the power
of God and she's saved. So it says by faith,
the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did
not believe when she had received the spies with peace.
We're going to drill that some more in the coming days,
if the Lord spears life. But let me just begin here.
God's people stood again at the border of Canaan the
first time at Kadesh Barnia. Fear and rebellion closed the
door to the Promised Land. And we can read that
story in Numbers chapter fourteen. May I just say very
quickly this is in a sense. But yeah, the people
of God wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and
the entire first generation of freed slaves, with the exception
of Joshua and Caleb, were destroyed. They died in the
wilderness because of their lack of faith, full stop. Everybody
from age twenty and above plus Joshua and Caleb eventually
goes into the promised land. That God, that God, you know,
he forecasted, he promised to Abraham, and then of course
Isaac and Jacob. Okay, but that should have taken eleven days.
So the distance going I forgot the direction, but from
Horeb or Sinai all the way to Kadash Barnea, that's
eleven days journey. If they had gone a certain route.
I need to go back and remember what the root is.
And I think in Deuteronomy chapter one, verse two, you
see that in real words. And so now they are
forty years later at Kadash Barnia. How in the world
did it take so long? I'm still blown away by this,
But anyway, they're there under Joshua's leadership. They had another chance.
Aren't you glad that God gives not just second chances,
but he gives chances. We don't take his grace for granted,
we don't take it lightly and continue to jump into
sin because he gives all of these chances. But they
have another chance. And Joshua sent out two spies, not
because God's promise was uncertain. That first one didn't go right.
They saw giants and they had the wrong perspective of
themselves and all not not that style again, but because
faith never cancels responsibility. We have to be responsible. God
would give the land, but as people would still need
to move forward in obedience. There is so much more
I could say, but let me just say very quickly
lesson number one. That first one was a bonus. The
real lesson number one is grace reaches the unlikely. The
Bible reads in Joshua chapter two and verse nine, I
know that the Lord hath given you the land. I
know that the Lord hath given you the land. Yes
it's forty years later. Yes there are only two that
are alive from that first generation. Yes, the people had
been stiff necked and hard hearted, and so many things
that we could say about them. And it's true. And
God does not take that lightly, which is why he
judged the people. He doesn't take it lightly. But he
had a promise to keep. Man, just say that again,
like he had a promise to keep. He told Abraham
that this is what would happen with God's people. And
so the action step in this reality about God's grace
reaching the unlikely, just like rayhab just like you like
fill in the name here, my name, ld like that
is the reality. So stop disqualifying yourselves or others. Stop
disqualifying yourselves or others. God's grace is not hindered or
shackled somehow, fettered, ti strapped, zip tied, handcuffed behind his
back somehow because of your past. It is magnified. Because
of your past, the grace of God is magnified. Listen,
if we had not made all of those blunders and errors, mistakes,
unforced errors, if we had not done all of those things,
then there would be no need for grace. You see,
grace's unmerited favor. That is the mercy of God. And
there's nothing we can do to earn the mercy of God.
But then grace also is the power of God to
do his will. Stop disqualifying yourselves and others. Number two
comes in from Exodus chapter twelve and verse thirteen. The
Bible says, when I see the blood, of course, this
takes us way back many years before I will pass
over you. I think Rayhab had the same experience. She
had a tie of red ribbon. That would also cause
God's people to say, you know what, there's faith in
that place, and so we are not going to destroy it.
There is faith in that place, so we're not going
to destroy it. So when God sees your home, is
there faith in that place? When God sees your cell
phone history when you are calling, texting, dming using certain apps,
the history within those certain apps, When God sees that,
is he seeing your faith? Like is he seeing connection
with him so that he passes over? Yeah. And this
action step like Rayhab tying the scarlet cord put your
faith into visible action today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You
don't have to go back to those things that you
did in the past that were blunders where your spirituality
is concerned. And number three in final comes in from
Namiya chapter nine and verse thirty one. Nevertheless, for thy
great mercies sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor
forsake them. The action today with this one is to
thank God for another chance. Thank God for another chance.
Live as though you have been rescued. Because you have.
I want you to be amazed by God and his grace,
but come on, not surprised. Make it a great Sabbath 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,