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 Wednesday, December
thirty one, 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
new Lesson study series uniting Heaven and Earth, christ in
Philippians and Colossians, and our caption for today is Paul
and Colossie. Very interesting, Very interesting. We're gonna have a
fun fact in just a moment, but before we do,
I'd like to say welcome to 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.
Pick up the Your Daily Portion Life Application Guide for
those of you who have picked it up this quarter,
you'll notice that even though we keep the same structure,
my tone is more pastoral in nature, and the part
where we are are really focusing on like how to
apply before we get to the next best move that
insight part like you'll notice that it's a little longer,
but it's because I want you to give more keen
thought to it. So please please pick up your Daily
Portion Life Application Guide and also 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 pray, Father, thank you for
this day, for giving us the privilege of spreading the
Gospel in whatever way you've called us to, if it's
at the gym, You've shown us how to be kind
to people or helpful in some way. Father, there are
just so many ways that you have manifest your power
in our lives so that we can we can be
the word of God to the people or representation, if
that's better way of saying it. God in Jesus' name,
I pray Amen Amen again. Okay, So fun fact, right,
out of the lesson. The beginning of the lesson, we
have no record of Paul ever visiting Colossie. Now this
tells us something about the effectiveness of his evangelistic strategy.
I don't know if he called it an evangelistic strategy,
or if he called it a strategy at all, or
whether he was simply listening to what God would say.
Go here, do this, brother, Paul, do this. First, it
was Epaphras, a resident of Colossie, who brought the gospel
to that city. But now, how was he converted? Most
likely it was in the mid fifties when Paul, or
let's just see how most likely it was in the
mid fifties when Paul was in nearby Ephesus, and all
they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the
Lord Jesus. And I could go on. I don't want
it to become too academic. I just need you to
focus on the fact that God has a way of
impacting places, impacting societies and communities people around the world
because of your faithfulness, the faithfulness that He has placed
in your life, and you going out and doing what
God has called you to do has now impacted places
all around the world, people you may never meet. Your
daily portion is an example. I may never meet. No,
I'm never going to meet most of you. Really, I
mean it's hundreds of thousands of you watching every day.
I hope to meet many of you, and I have
met some of you. But the Word of God goes
forward from this vantage point and from your vantage point
where you are sharing the Word, you are sharing this program,
you are sharing other things that you enjoy from the
Word of God with people, and they are being transformed.
And so this is the case with brother Paul. I'm
going in for a quote now, a quote now from
the book The Acts of the Apostles, page sixty nine.
When the laws of men conflict with the Word and
law of God, we are not to oh, we are
to obey God, whatever the consequences. Paul was told many
times stop the preaching, stop preaching in that name, and
the Bible teaches us that rather than to listen to
that and to separate himself from God, he did exactly
what God said instead. And so Lesson Number one is
that the Gospel spreads most effectively when converted believers are
those are people who are really transformed by God, not
just talking about it, Uh take it home. We take
it home. And I already mentioned something about epaphras, but
let's read it from Collassians, chapter one and verse seven.
As ye also learned of Epaphras, our fellow servant, who
is for you a faithful minister of Christ. He was
a servant. He was a minister for Christ based on
what he was learning from the mission of Brother Paul.
Share one truth. That's the action for you right now,
for me to share one truth from scripture today with
someone in your natural circle. And why do I say
natural circle? See, Jesus said that when he was here
he was going to go back to Heaven, and he
was telling the people how to be a witness. He said,
you're going to be witnesses in Jerusalem, then in all Judea.
And then you see what I mean like if you
look at the progression of what Jesus was teaching them,
it was going out from the nearest part where we
had the they had the most influence in concentric circles,
ever widening out into where he finally says, into the
utterermost parts of the world. So we start right here
and then move out from right here? Is it in
your home? Is it at the gym where you are
now exercising. Is it in the taxi that you take
often and you experience that same driver often. Is it
on the bus where you travel, or train or tram
or some other mode of transportation. Some of you live
in Asia where you may be taking different modes of transportation,
And so God wants you to share the truth, whatever
that means in your experience in your natural circle. Starting
with the nearest point. Our second lesson is that the
Gospel transforms relationships and elevates believers to a shared spiritual family.
So we find fellowship with one another. I am a
part of a community that doctor Eric Thomas is the
leader of. Yes, I'm a coach. Yes, I'm a a
a consultant of sorts and some other things. And we're
a part of a squad or a pack of individuals
who are living in covenant relationship. And that is the
kind of thing like once our relationships are elevated under God,
then our effectiveness is elevated under God. What we could
do as one loan individual is maximized by a thousandfold,
by a millionfold when we have the kind of unity
that is necessary to go forward in the Gospel. We
see that in the first century church, Jesus told them
to tarry in place and then wait for the fullness
of the Holy Ghost so they could go out and
do what God said on a new level. And so
the Gospel transforms relationships and elevates believers to a shared
spiritual family. In the book Philemann, verses fifteen and sixteen,
we read, for perhaps he therefore departed former season, that
thou shouldest received him forever, not now as a servant,
but above as a servant, a brother and beloved. So
this is showing us that kind of covenant family, that
kind of relationship transition that goes much farther and beyond
the simplistic of Okay, I know you, I'm an associate
of yours and that's it. And so what I want
you to do is to treat one person today with
the dignity you would give a spiritual sibling in Christ. See,
we're trying to elevate people in the way that we
relate to them that hopefully they will see the blessing
and then become actual spiritual siblings. I was in the
store the other day buying whatever. After I went to
the gym and the security officer, a woman. She said, hello,
church brother, you see what I'm saying because we are
indeed and in fact brothers and sisters in Christ. And
our final lesson for this morning is Paul appealed to
conscience when he was witnessing. He wasn't trying to force
anybody into anything. He was showing the true that true
Christian change grows from the heart, from the heart, not compulsion.
Make it a great day, well, heyse for joining us listening.
Speaker 1: 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,