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, February eighteen,
twenty twenty six. 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 uniting Heaven and Earth, Christ in Philippians and Colossians,
and our caption for today is the Beginning and Initiator,
The Beginning and Initiator. We'll get into that in just
a moment, but first I'd like to say welcome to
you and ask you to go over to your Daily
Portion dot com. Please join our online community. Pick up
the Your Daily Portion Life application guide. Please please click
the contribute button because your Daily Portion Ministries Incorporated is
a listener and viewword supported ministry and 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,
thank you for this day. Thank you for not leaving
us after you created us. In Jesus' name, I pray
Amen and Amen again. You know, boy, I don't want
to be controversial. However, the reality is there are times
that parents will start something and not finish. Let me
just say it could be almost like our son Josiah.
Let's just say that Simona and I got together. I'm
making this up right because this is not my reality.
But Simona and I got together, and then we have
a liaison, and then Josiah is the fruit of that,
he's born to us. And then I leave Simone and Josiah. Okay,
I'm done thinking about that because that's crazy, Like I
couldn't even imagine doing something like that. But this is
what happens in real life, and it happens in reverse. Two.
Sometimes mommies, for whatever reasons, abandon their children. This is
not what God did. This is not what God did.
God didn't start the process and then abandon us. He is. Okay,
so back in the day, and I think it was
in the eighteen hundreds, I know that the people were
struggling over pantheism and deism, etc. Creeping into the church mindset.
But deism basically means and part of me I'll oversimplify that. Basically,
God started us. He started, he created, He created all things,
and then he was just like, all right, so y'all,
y'all work it out from here. You got it from here,
I'm gonna go do something else, right, wind up and
go all right, so you know, and then have no
personal influence, have no personal interaction over his creation. And
then then some other people got extremely creative and said,
you know what, that Big Bang theory doesn't work for me,
Like the traditional sort of evolutionary thought doesn't work for me.
So what we're gonna do is say, maybe this is
not how they devised this. But what we're gonna do
is say that God is the God is the initiator
of the bang. This is what they would say, Like, God,
what did the Big Bang? It wasn't that, It just happened.
But God is the one who initiated, like he's the
big bang initiator. That's called theistic evolution. Of course I'm
oversimplifying again. That ain't true. Now let's talk about what
is true. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
Let me start right there. But even before faith needed
to exist, we can understand that Christ is the source
and origin of all true life. Coming in from the Bible,
Book of Colossians, chapter one and verse eighteen. This is
where I get excited. I love learning about Jesus being
the preeminent one, the author of our lives, the one
who is still keeping us and the Bible reads. And
he is the head of the body, the Church, who
is the beginning, the first born from the dead man.
Just say this real quick, that no one has ever
come back from or ever can or will come back
from the second death. Accept Jesus. May I just say
that if God forbid. Like my mother who passed in
twenty twenty, she passed away because at tractor trailer won
in the fight between her and attractor trailer, She in
her vehicle unfortunately and tragically lost that battle. That is
not what we're talking about. We're not talking about the
first death, because she will be resurrected when Jesus comes.
This is what our hope is. You understand what I'm saying.
But Jesus Christ, when he died, he died the second death.
He died what we consider as eternal separation from God.
He died the punishment for sin. The punishment for sin
is not a car accident. The punishment for sin is
not the untimely demise at the hands of a gunman
like that is not the punishment for sin. The punishment
for sin is eternal death, eternal separation from God, and
that is executed after one thousand years following the coming
of Jesus Christ, you understand. And that is when hell
fire will rain down from heaven and destroy all sin
and unrepented sinners. Of course, the devil is the chief
one who's gonna be destroyed. So Jesus died that death,
the second death. And guess what, He's the only one
who came back from that. He's the only one who
can or ever will come back from that.
Speaker 1: Ah.
Speaker 2: So this is amazing to see that Jesus Christ is
the first born from the dead, that in all things
he might have pre eminence. Let me read it in
another version. He is the head of the body of
the church as well as the beginning, the first born
from among the dead, so that he himself may become
a first in all things. He's first and being able
to deliver you from your addictions to drugs or alcohol abuse.
He's first and being able to deliver you and break
the back of pride if you have spiritual pride. He
is first in the ability, first and only and pre
eminent and as the only one that can deliver you
from every single besetting sin, whether it is an inherited
tendency toward evil or it is a cultivated tendency toward evil.
Jesus Christ is the only one whoever lives and makes
intercession for you, who was acquainted with all of your infirmities,
because he was tempted like as you are, and yet
without sin. So Jesus being the pre eminent one that
is critical in the place of salvation. So yes, he's
the beginning. Yes he's the origin. Yes he's the source.
Yes he is the initiating cause. Paul teaches that that
word that I just described a moment ago beginning, origin, source,
initiating cause, is to describe Jesus as the originating source,
not merely the first in sequence. Christ does not begin
things and then step aside. He remains the sustaining origin
of creation, redemption and the church. So the ability to
breathe here, how many times I have to inhale in
order to get all these words out? Yep, He's the
one that is responsible for that. For you to be
able to listen and then go apply and share the
gospel with people. You were leading people to Christ. Why
because he is the preeminent one with all of the power,
who is sustaining you and redeeming you so you can
help someone else get saved. Do you understand every spiritual
beginning flows from him? So here is the action step.
Examine where you seek momentum. Recommit to letting Christ be
the starting point of decisions, plans, and authorities, and not
only that, not only that, to continue His good work
in you. Second lesson, Christ initiates the new creation through resurrection.
I said that already in another way. And then finally,
Christ's pre eminence is earned through victory and not positioned alone.
He was victorious over the grave and he can be
victorious in your life. 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,