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.
Speaker 2: Vibrant lives.
Speaker 1: Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host, author speaker,
Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 3: It is Thursday, December twenty five, 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 our lesson study series Faith for or
Lessons of Faith from Joshua. Really we only have one
more day after this, but our caption for today, let's
focus on today, is finishing well. How apropos. It's apropos
that we should really press until we finish finishing well.
We'll get into that in just a moment, but first
I'd like to say welcome to everyone joining us, especially
those joining us for the very first time. I'm asking
you to go over to your Daily Portion dot com.
Please join our online community. Pick up the Your Daily
Portion Life Application Guide. You may not have done it
for this quarter. It's not too late. It still exists.
You may need to refer to it. Refer to it,
but you can also pick up the one for next quarter.
Pick it up now because we begin in a couple
of days here, so get both of those 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, thank you for this day. Thank you for
giving us your son Jesus Christ, to save us, to
save us from our sins and ourselves. Please help us
to live for you today. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen,
and a man again finishing well, finishing well. Let me
read from the review in Herald eighteen seventy four. It
is not how we begin the Christian life that determines
our crown, but how we continue by the grace of God.
Speaker 2: That's an article by Uriah Smith.
Speaker 3: It is not how we begin the Christian life that
determines our crown, but how we continue in the grace
of God. You know that actually echoes the thought that
God gave the prophet Ezekiel Ezekiel as well. So I'm
thankful that God's people agree with what God has given
us in the prophecies. Also from the Booksteps to Christ,
page forty four, it is not the fear of punishment
or hope of everlasting life or reward, excuse me, that
leads the disciples of Christ to follow him. They behold
the Savior's matchless love. This site attracts, it softens and
subdues the soul. What is it that attracts? What is
it that softens the soul? The Savior's love? Beholding? What
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that
we should be called the children of God? I think
John said that in First John, chapter three, chapter three.
I want you to fact check me on that one.
And so the Bible is teaching us and these writers
are agreeing that God has no interest in us being
fearful of him or afraid of him and trying to
do his will. Yielding to God and appreciating the work
of Jesus Christ, which is really the manifestation of God's love,
is the starting point. And actually the continual impetus for
our love. And so in the context of finishing well,
our lesson number one today is finishing well begins with
faithfulness in the present right now Joshua. Chapter twenty four
and verse thirty one, the Bible reads, and God's people
served the Lord all the days of Joshua. Isn't that
a great testimony? God's people serve the Lord all the
days of Joshua, because quite frankly, the generation before them,
with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, did the exact opposite.
Speaker 2: They did the exact opposite.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying there were no faithful people at all,
but they all died in the wilderness because of a
lack of faith, including Moses, including Aaron. And I may
be overstating it for some, but the fact is all
of them died in the wilderness. And Paul said it
had to do with unbelief. And so for this generation,
thank God to serve the Lord all the days of Joshua.
Let me continue, and all the days of the elders
that outlived overlived. Excuse me, Joshua. Let me read it
from the New English translation. God's people worship the Lord
through Joshua's lifetime, and as long as the elderly men
lived who outlived Joshua.
Speaker 2: Isn't this wonderful?
Speaker 3: This is my desire that I will serve the Lord
until Jesus comes. And so the book of Joshua closes
with three burials, how many three burials Joshua Eliezer, and
then of course Joseph's bones, because Joseph made the people
of God make a promise to not leave his bones
in Egypt. Right, so these burials mark the end of
wandering and the beginning of rooted life in the Promised Land.
They're no longer wandering, they're no longer suffering through what
they created. And God could have taken them into the
Promise probably if they went. If they went one I
think Kadesh, the route through Kadesh, if I'm right, eleven
days it could have taken them. Eleven days. I know
we talk about forty days, but eleven days it could
have taken them. But you know, whatever I digress, I digress.
So the word the Hebrew word for serve avad avad
means to work, worship or to devote oneself. So this
is what the people of God did while they were
being led by Joseph. So Joseph not only finished well,
but he cultivated a generation that served well. He cultivated
a generation that served well. True finishing begins with consistent
faithfulness in ordinary days, every day when you're making decisions
to do God's will or something else, and not at
the end like our final moments. We don't wait until
the big one or at the end of our days
and then try to do it right so we can
get it over the finish line. So the action step
in that regard is ask God to help you be
faithful with the responsibilities that you have in front of
you today. This is what I'm teaching Josiah, Like it's
painstaking sometimes when he sometimes and we're not talking about
really crazy things like little little things that children do
that determine really the trajectory of their own lives. And
I'm like, ah, you don't understand where this leads, but
I do. And so that's why I'm here to help.
Finishing well grows from daily devotion. Our lesson number two
is God's faithfulness anchors every generation. In verse forty five
of Joshua, Chapter twenty one, there Faileth not aught any
good thing which the Lord had spoken at all came
to pass. Let me read it again in another translation.
Not one of the good promises that the Lord made failed.
Each was realized, thank God. So the closing paragraph ties
God's people's past, present, and future together. God kept every
promise in Joshua's day, and that faithfulness is the anchor
for the new generation. What God promised the patriarch centuries
earlier came to fulfillment under Joshua. The Hebrew word for
promise dabar, also means word or matter. God's promises are
not abstract hopes. So when God makes a promise, he's
not like I'm gonna do I'm going to do what
I can can for you. Well, I don't know what
that means. I'm gonna do what I can. I don't
know what that means. It's not abstract. They are solid
words backed by his character. So the action is to
write down one promise. I ha asked you to do
this several times throughout this quarter of God. You are
standing on and speak it aloud and prayer today our
final lesson for today. Finishing well requires intentional choices. We
need to be intentional, and intentionality means that we put
one spiritual foot before the other until we attain the promise.
Make it a great day, 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,