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 Monday, February two,
twenty 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 Lesson
study series uniting Heaven and Earth, christ in Philippians and Colossians,
and our caption for today is Paul's Past Life, Paul's
Past Life. Before we get into that, I'd like to
just say welcome to everyone joining us as usual, especially
those joining us for the very first time. I'm asking
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Let's pray, Father, thank you for this day. Thank you
for loving us the way you do. Please help us
to not live in our past lives, but live in
the present with You in Jesus name, I pray Amen
and Amen again. Okay, So the lesson writer says it
is a common experience for Christian converts to think of
their lives in terms of before they accepted Christ and after,
just as Paul does in Philippians chapter three. Nevertheless, rightly
or wrongly, I want you to get that point. We
sometimes speak of those who are not Christians as being
quote good people, at least according to the world standards.
Many indeed are in contrast compared to God's standard. No
one is oh oh wait, a minute plot twist, and
that means including us. I'm talking about believers, including us.
And so yesterday I meandered into part of what we
would teach today in Philippians chapter three. Now we're going
to jump in with two feet unapologetically. Philippians chapter three,
beginning at verse four. Philippians chapter three, beginning at verse four,
where the Bible reads. So we already have the backdrop
from yesterday where Paul is saying, you know what, my
confidence is not in God, I mean a part of me,
not in my self. I'm yielding myself to the degree
that I am dying to self, dying to sin, so
that God can work through me and raise me up
to be victorious. And now he's going to give his resume,
and why he thinks this way? Now? Right, though I
might have confidence in the flesh. In fact, let me
go to the new English translation, though mine too are significant,
I would have confidence in the flesh. Okay, credentials. Maybe
I should go back to verse three, the last part,
don't rely on your human credentials, though mine too are significant.
If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence
in human credentials, I'm more I was circumcised on the
eighth day from the people of Israel and the tribe
of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to
the law as a pharisee. Can you imagine, like he
was top top shelf. Like he's a top shelf guy
right in my zeal for God, I persecuted the church.
Wait a minute, what, Yeah, I guess that was on
his resume before he got converted. H according to righteousness,
according to the righteousness stipulated by the law, I was blameless.
Oh so he has this resume, but now we are
seeing that he's like, I don't want no part of that.
No more. I'm not going to tick all the boxes anymore.
I'm not going to say that I am plant based
as a way of righteousness. I'm plant based. I'm a
plant based person. So don't text me or email me. Listen,
I'm a plant based person. If it doesn't grow from
the ground, I'm not messing with it. Okay, So fine,
Because you know that the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord your God, and in it you should
do no work. Yes, you know it's a sign between
Christ and between Christ and us that he's the one
that sanctifies us. You're intellectually right, you're astute, Okay, fine, right, fine,
because you know the great commission that we're to teach, preach, baptize,
and bring people into the faith of Christ. You know
that intellectually. You know what the eighteen forty four means.
You know what the twenty three hundred days prophecy means.
You've understood the seventy weeks prophecy to extreme detail. You
know what that. You know the thirteen thirty five. Oh
wait a minute, that's a whole different prophecy. You know
how to argue the point about the one hundred and
forty four thousand congratulations. You are a sinner and that's it,
just like me, saved by grace. I'm just saying. And
there's so many other things that we stack on to
our spiritual resumes, and Paul is teaching us that we
should surrender all our will to God and forget about
all that stuff. Forget about it. And for those who
are on the radio, you're not able to visually see
my passion. The program is not suspended. Nothing happened to
the signal. I just need this to settle in. I
need to slow down the pace here. Think of all
that you have. All of your righteousness says, oh, yes,
we are going back to the book of Isaiah. All
of your righteousness, says, All of my righteousness says, are
as what filthy rags menstrual cloths. That's what That's what
the text actually meant when Isaiah said it, all of
my righteousness is are as clean as menstrual cloths. I
think we can continue now, are we clear here? And
so our lesson number one regarding all of the good
stuff that we can say about ourselves is human credentials
cannot make us righteous, even when they appear impressive by
religious or quote moral standards or moral standards. Okay. And
so when he talks about the flesh in this text
in Philippians chapter three, verses four through six, it means
human effort or status or merit as a basis for righteousness.
So if we think that because we've done X and
it's a spiritual thing, or we've done why because it's
a spiritual thing, and that God owes us something as
a result, that we will be more holy in the
sight of God because we're or obedient, that's not true.
Not only is it true, it's flesh. It's it's unholy.
That concept is unholy and it works against us. And
so the action step here is to name one flesh
based credential you've trusted in. I'm talking about the good
stuff you've trusted in, religious or moral, or cultural, it
could even be professional right and surrender it in prayer,
acknowledging Christ as your only righteousness. Lesson number two, The
Law reveals sin, talking about the Ten Commandments law in
particular at the heart level, exposing our need for Christ's
righteousness rather than our own performance.
Speaker 1: Ooh.
Speaker 2: In Romans chapter seven, Paul speaking, I had not known sin,
but by the law thou shalt not covet right then
and then, of course, the spirituality of the law is
revealed in Matthew chapter five, verses twenty seven and twenty eight.
And so the heart it means the inner person where
the motives, desires, and thoughts reside. The action step is
that we invite the holy ghosts to expose the hidden
heart level sin and ask for cleansing. There are ways
that we behave. If I say the name of Jesus,
blessed be his name, over and over again, don't be
convinced that I'm a follower. Don't be convinced by that.
Know based on the fruit of righteousness from every person,
but ask God to expose every heart level sin and
ask for cleansing, not behavior modification. 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,