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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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Speaker 2: Vibrant lives.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host, author speaker,

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Elle David Harris.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning.

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Speaker 3: It is Thursday, December twenty five, twenty twenty five. Hello,

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my name is El David Harris. I am your host,

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and this is your Daily Portion where we give you

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God's word every single day, and today is no exception.

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We are continuing our lesson study series Faith for or

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Lessons of Faith from Joshua. Really we only have one

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more day after this, but our caption for today, let's

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focus on today, is finishing well. How apropos. It's apropos

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that we should really press until we finish finishing well.

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We'll get into that in just a moment, but first

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I'd like to say welcome to everyone joining us, especially

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those joining us for the very first time. I'm asking

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you to go over to your Daily Portion dot com.

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Please join our online community. Pick up the Your Daily

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Portion Life Application Guide. You may not have done it

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for this quarter. It's not too late. It still exists.

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You may need to refer to it. Refer to it,

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but you can also pick up the one for next quarter.

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Pick it up now because we begin in a couple

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of days here, so get both of those at your

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Daily Portion dot com. This is one of the ways

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that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's pray, Father,

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thank you, thank you for this day. Thank you for

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giving us your son Jesus Christ, to save us, to

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save us from our sins and ourselves. Please help us

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to live for you today. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen,

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and a man again finishing well, finishing well. Let me

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read from the review in Herald eighteen seventy four. It

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is not how we begin the Christian life that determines

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our crown, but how we continue by the grace of God.

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Speaker 2: That's an article by Uriah Smith.

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Speaker 3: It is not how we begin the Christian life that

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determines our crown, but how we continue in the grace

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of God. You know that actually echoes the thought that

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God gave the prophet Ezekiel Ezekiel as well. So I'm

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thankful that God's people agree with what God has given

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us in the prophecies. Also from the Booksteps to Christ,

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page forty four, it is not the fear of punishment

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or hope of everlasting life or reward, excuse me, that

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leads the disciples of Christ to follow him. They behold

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the Savior's matchless love. This site attracts, it softens and

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subdues the soul. What is it that attracts? What is

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it that softens the soul? The Savior's love? Beholding? What

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manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that

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we should be called the children of God? I think

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John said that in First John, chapter three, chapter three.

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I want you to fact check me on that one.

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And so the Bible is teaching us and these writers

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are agreeing that God has no interest in us being

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fearful of him or afraid of him and trying to

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do his will. Yielding to God and appreciating the work

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of Jesus Christ, which is really the manifestation of God's love,

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is the starting point. And actually the continual impetus for

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our love. And so in the context of finishing well,

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our lesson number one today is finishing well begins with

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faithfulness in the present right now Joshua. Chapter twenty four

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and verse thirty one, the Bible reads, and God's people

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served the Lord all the days of Joshua. Isn't that

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a great testimony? God's people serve the Lord all the

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days of Joshua, because quite frankly, the generation before them,

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with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, did the exact opposite.

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Speaker 2: They did the exact opposite.

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Speaker 3: I'm not saying there were no faithful people at all,

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but they all died in the wilderness because of a

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lack of faith, including Moses, including Aaron. And I may

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be overstating it for some, but the fact is all

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of them died in the wilderness. And Paul said it

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had to do with unbelief. And so for this generation,

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thank God to serve the Lord all the days of Joshua.

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Let me continue, and all the days of the elders

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that outlived overlived. Excuse me, Joshua. Let me read it

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from the New English translation. God's people worship the Lord

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through Joshua's lifetime, and as long as the elderly men

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lived who outlived Joshua.

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Speaker 2: Isn't this wonderful?

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Speaker 3: This is my desire that I will serve the Lord

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until Jesus comes. And so the book of Joshua closes

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with three burials, how many three burials Joshua Eliezer, and

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then of course Joseph's bones, because Joseph made the people

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of God make a promise to not leave his bones

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in Egypt. Right, so these burials mark the end of

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wandering and the beginning of rooted life in the Promised Land.

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They're no longer wandering, they're no longer suffering through what

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they created. And God could have taken them into the

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Promise probably if they went. If they went one I

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think Kadesh, the route through Kadesh, if I'm right, eleven

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days it could have taken them. Eleven days. I know

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we talk about forty days, but eleven days it could

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have taken them. But you know, whatever I digress, I digress.

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So the word the Hebrew word for serve avad avad

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means to work, worship or to devote oneself. So this

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is what the people of God did while they were

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being led by Joseph. So Joseph not only finished well,

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but he cultivated a generation that served well. He cultivated

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a generation that served well. True finishing begins with consistent

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faithfulness in ordinary days, every day when you're making decisions

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to do God's will or something else, and not at

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the end like our final moments. We don't wait until

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the big one or at the end of our days

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and then try to do it right so we can

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get it over the finish line. So the action step

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in that regard is ask God to help you be

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faithful with the responsibilities that you have in front of

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you today. This is what I'm teaching Josiah, Like it's

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painstaking sometimes when he sometimes and we're not talking about

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really crazy things like little little things that children do

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that determine really the trajectory of their own lives. And

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I'm like, ah, you don't understand where this leads, but

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I do. And so that's why I'm here to help.

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Finishing well grows from daily devotion. Our lesson number two

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is God's faithfulness anchors every generation. In verse forty five

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of Joshua, Chapter twenty one, there Faileth not aught any

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good thing which the Lord had spoken at all came

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to pass. Let me read it again in another translation.

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Not one of the good promises that the Lord made failed.

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Each was realized, thank God. So the closing paragraph ties

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God's people's past, present, and future together. God kept every

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promise in Joshua's day, and that faithfulness is the anchor

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for the new generation. What God promised the patriarch centuries

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earlier came to fulfillment under Joshua. The Hebrew word for

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promise dabar, also means word or matter. God's promises are

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not abstract hopes. So when God makes a promise, he's

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not like I'm gonna do I'm going to do what

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I can can for you. Well, I don't know what

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that means. I'm gonna do what I can. I don't

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know what that means. It's not abstract. They are solid

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words backed by his character. So the action is to

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write down one promise. I ha asked you to do

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this several times throughout this quarter of God. You are

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standing on and speak it aloud and prayer today our

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final lesson for today. Finishing well requires intentional choices. We

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need to be intentional, and intentionality means that we put

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one spiritual foot before the other until we attain the promise.

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Make it a great day, peace.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening.

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Speaker 2: Friends.

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Speaker 1: Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by

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every word that comes from the mouth of God. This

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has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make

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it a great day. Yeah,