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 Thursday, August fifteen,
twenty twenty four. Hello, my name is Elle 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 Mark, and our caption
for today is the Healthy Man in Hell, The Healthy
Man in Hell. Before we get in to that, I
would like to welcome everyone joining us, especially those joining
us for the very first time. Please go over to
your Daily Portion dot com, join our online community and
pick up the Your Daily Portion book at your Daily
Portion dot com. This is a way that we continue
to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray,
and then we will get underway. Father and Heaven, thank
you for giving us this new day and for the
privilege that we have to see your word and understand you.
Please transform our lives today in Jesus name, I pray,
Amen and Amen again the healthy man in hell. Well,
let's see what God has to say here. That's an
interesting caption. Beginning at verse forty two of the Bible
Book of Mark, chapter nine, we read, and whosoever shall
offend one of these little ones that believe in me,
it is better for him to have a millstone hanged
about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
So we're continuing the discussion from yesterday about receiving children
as if we are receiving Jesus, as if we are
receiving God, our Father. And he's telling us, now, well,
what if we cause somebody one of these little ones,
the dejected, they often overlooked, the unheard individuals of this world.
What if we cause them to walk away from God?
What if what we do causes hurt in them and
they see it as if God is hurting them. What
is it like if we cause somebody to lose faith
in God by the way that we behave. The Bible
says that it is better that you have a millstone
hanged about your neck and be thrown in the sea.
And if any hand offend thee cut it off. It
is better for thee to enter into life maimed than
having two hands to go into hell into the fire
that never shall be quenched, where the worm dieth not
and the fire is not quenched. If thy foot offend
THEE cut it off, it is better for thee to
enter into life halt than having two feet to be
cast into hell the fire that never shall be quenched,
where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
And then he goes on in this exaggerated speech. He
goes on to make this point. And if thine eye
offend thee pluck it out. It is better for thee
to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye
than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire
where worm dieth not and fire is not quenched. For
everyone that shall be salted with fire, every sacrifice shall
be salted with salt. Salt is good, But if the
salt hath lost its saltiness, wherewith shall ye season it?
Speaker 1: He?
Speaker 2: Have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another.
So much to say, so little time. Remember our caption
healthy man in Hell. Of course, this is symbolic, hyperbolic language,
exaggerated language to make the point. There are people who
are okay with offending God. There are people who are
quite fine with turning against God and ignoring his will.
So let's just say we use our right hand to
ignore God's will. We do things with our hands that
are sacrificing our relationship with God. God is saying that
it is better to stop doing any of those things.
It is better that we humble ourselves like we were
talking about yes yesterday. Then to go in and not
even think about that, not think about God, not even
be concerned about what He thinks about a thing, and
hold on to things as we see them as normal,
and go to hell. It is better that we would
yield our will. And even if it is painful to
us to humble ourselves, if it is painful for us
to get rid of that relationship we shouldn't be in,
if it's painful for us to come off of social media,
if it is painful for us to come off of
that job that we are so proud that we have it.
It is let me bring it closer to the church.
It is better for us to walk away from church
position if we are puffed up in our minds, then
to happily keep these positions and lose our focus on
God and lose eternal life. Is that starting to make
sense to you. We don't want to continue to hold
on to those things that are dear to us, those
things that are easily besetting us, those thoughts that we
have about ourselves, and go to hell. It is not
good for us to hold on to these things that
cannot get us any closer to God. God is saying,
humble yourself. It is better to lose something and gain
the kingdom and eternity with God than to hold on
to the things that make us feel proud and bolsing
big up our chests and cause people to look at
us and to esteem us. And as we sit in
high places, people will say great things about us, so
the crowds will say ooh and ah. God is saying,
it is better for us to get away from all
of those things and gain our soul than to hold
on to those things that are dear and lose our soul.
I think that is as clear as crystal. So what
we're going to do is learn some lessons as usual.
Learn some lessons as usual. The first one is that
there is something very serious about leading others astray. Jesus
is serious about us not leading others astray. He's very
clear that anybody who is willing to lead a child
astray or anyone else, it's better if you be dead.
Speaker 1: What.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's what it means. To offend. To offend means
for us to walk away from God. So if we
cause others to walk away from God, it is better
that we are drowned in the sea. I'll just let
that be where. That is Number two, Radical repentance. Radical repentance.
As I said before, this was exaggerated or hyperbolic language
that Jesus was teaching us from, and the Bible teaches
us that it takes radical moves. Sometimes, it takes extreme moves,
sometimes the unexpected moves, sometimes in order for us to
connect with God. There are things that we hold dear
that God is saying it's better that we throw those
away immediately than to lose our soul. And of course
there are eternal consequences. In verse forty seven we see
this over and over again. But in verse forty seven
we'll read it again. And if thine I offend thee,
pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter
into the Kingdom of God with one eye than having
two eyes and cast into hell fire. See, going to
hell is an eternal consequence. We will never be with God.
We will be burned up. God forbid. People who separate
themselves from God will be burned up. And that is
not to live in holiness with God. The consequence of
walking away from God is eternal condemnation. Where where the where?
The Bible says that those individuals will be burned up,
root and branch and will never live again. Yeah, purity
of life our fourth lesson purity of life. The Bible
says here in verse fifty salt is good. But if
the salt have lost its saltiness, wherewith will we ye
season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace with
one another. God is teaching us that we are the
salt of the earth. We are here spread out throughout
all the earth in order to help to preserve people's
lives through eternity. But If we choose to go another
route and we lose our ability to help to preserve
people by Jesus' grace, then what good are we? What
good are we? Bible teaches us to be holy because
Jesus is holy. Peace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening.
Speaker 2: Friends.
Speaker 1: 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,