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, January one,
twoenty twenty six. 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. Wow, that's a lot, but we will continue
to go through these lessons and get closer to Christ
because again he is the focal point. Before we get
into that, I'd like to just say welcome to everyone
joining us, especially those joining us for the very first time.
Please go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please
join our online community. Pick up the Your Daily Portion
life application guide, and also 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 pray. Father, we thank you
for this day and for the blessing you have been
through the week so far. Father, Please help us to
trust you and to put our minds in the position
of surrender today. Please in Jesus name I pray, Amen
and Amen again. Our caption for today is the churches
of Philippi and coloss Okay. And so I did say
to you yesterday. I think it was yesterday that Paul
didn't necessarily visit, or at least there's no record of
him physically visiting Colossie. Now that's very interesting. That's very interesting.
Even in this ministry that I do, I've been doing
it way before. There was a Your Daily Portion back
in twenty fourteen. Way before then. Before then, I remember
a woman I can't say her name here, but in
Hokkaido in Supporto in Japan, who used to say that
I was her pastor. I have never been to Japan.
I've definitely not been to where she was in Japan.
But because of the way media went way back in
the early two thousands and a program Wonderful Words of Life,
I had an hour every single time we came together
once per week that spread into all the world. And
my sister, who is also a translator now for a
Christian organization worldwide, said that I was her pastor, and
I'm like, okay, Well, if we can do that in
our day, then under the Holy ghost, of course, the
people of God could have done it back then. And
so the impact reverberates throughout the world still of the
Word of God, no matter where we are in the world.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 2: The lesson writer wanted us to consider Philippians chapter one
and Colossians chapter one to talk about how Philippi, the
churches at Philippi and Colossie were described. And listen, Paul
has a habit, had a habit. His typical greeting in
his letters calls Christians in those places saints. One of
Simone's uncles would say, fellow saints, I love it. Yes,
that is through baptism, they have been set aside or
set apart, as God's holy people. I'll just leave right
there and we'll jump in with our first lesson. Lesson
number one. Believers in both places were described as saints,
as God's people. Let's just read one verse Philippians, chapter
one and verse one, where the Bible reads Paul and
Timothy Timothy the servants of Christ. So he's identifying the
two of them as servants of Christ to all the
saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. And that
word actually means holy and set apart. Literally, the term
that he used means holy and set apart. It does
not mean that somehow the people, through some kind of
mechanism after a person has passed away, have elevated them
to what is called sainthood. No, it does not mean
that somehow people were spying on them and looking through
all of their records and everything that they said and did,
and said, well, these people are elevated above the kind
of people that just normally come in to the faith fellowship. No,
the saints are those who are set apart holy because
God said so. They surrender their will to God under
the holy ghost. And because of that now they are
called or should I say we are called, we are
called saints. If Paul were living today, he would call
us the same thing because we have the power of
God in our lives and the covering of Jesus Christ. Okay,
And so the action step is to remember your identity.
I remember years ago we used to say, remember who
you are and whose you are as one set apart
for God and live one action today that reflects it?
Is it how you pray this morning before you do
anything in the morning, you say, God, now you have
set me aside. You have set me apart for a
holy youth. Can you teach me to live this way?
You called me holy, You called me saying, now, please
help me to live in that way? And it not
just be words that I inside this faith fellowship, except
let's move forward. Lessen Number two, Paul addressed both the
members and the recognized leaders, showing early church organization. I
know I had to slow myself down because sometimes people
they start to itch. You get a little bit, you
know what I mean, Like people start to get an
allergic reaction because some people don't like organization. Just because
some humans do organization poorly, that does not mean that
it is a poor perspective. Like God gave his people
organization before we were even called the church, before we
were called Christians. Before there was a New Testament, God
organized his people. I wish I had the time, but
we just went through two solid quarters from Egypt all
the way through to the Promised Land, and we see
the organizational structure that God's set there, and no different
in the New Testament era. And so in Colossians chapter
one and verse two, the Bible reads to the saints
and the faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossie.
I'll say it in the New English translation, to the Saints,
the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossie. And
so this means this faithfulness means trustworthy and loyal, trustworthy
and loyal. Are the people that are set as our
leadership servant leaders, servant leaders. That's a different kind of leadership.
It is not a hierarchical leadership. It is not a
top down, authoritated, authoritarian leadership. It's a it's a servitude
that Jesus demonstrated, and of course the apostles did too.
But are those individuals faithful, trustworthy, loyal, faithful, trustworthy and loyal.
That's what the word pistos pissed toss means. Faithful, faithful
brothers and sisters faithful, trustworthy, loyal. What I want you
to do, rather than to criticize, is to identify just
one church leader, someone who has been set to guide
the people of God and to assist the people of
God in these last days. Pray for just one today,
and then send them one word of encouragement. I do
not mean send them a whole Bible text or Bible study.
I don't mean to send them an Auntie Ellen quote,
which fine, go for it, but I'm talking about the
kind that really speaks to the person. I picked up
the phone and called one leader, one pastor, and I
just checked on him after Melissa the hurricane Melissa. I
called him and said, how are you doing? Because I
know his church district has a whole lot of people
in it, and he as the shepherd of that flock,
or under shepherd, as the case may be. He has
to carry a heavy load, and he's a family man,
and he is a filling the blank, filling the blank,
filling the blank. I wanted to know how he was
doing as a human. Our leaders are humans too. I've
been a leader for many, many years, and I know
what it's like not to be treated as a human.
Let me just continue before I go too far Afield.
The early church grew because trained co workers and organized
leadership supported evangelism. They reached out from their collective and said,
there are people out here that need to be saved
by Jesus, and we're going to do our part to assist.
Make it a great day. 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,