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, October eight,
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 in our Lesson
study series through the Book of Joshua. It's Lessons of
Faith from Joshua, and our caption for today is Conflicting Values.
Conflicting Values. 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 your Daily Portion Life application guide for Joshua.
It's a big old picture right there. Just click on
the picture or the link below it or button below it,
and then you can apply apply what we are studying
in the lesson to four key areas of your life.
This is one of the ways that we continue to
build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray and
then get underway. Father, Thank you, Thank you for giving
us the privilege of being called by your name. Please
help us to never have conflicting values with you. Help
us to follow you with everything we have and everything
we are in Jesus name. I pray, Amen and Amen again.
So this is very interesting. We are going to make
a comparison between the way rayhab the Bible says she
suffered from harlowtry like she was a harlot at a
certain point in her life, and the gibbea knights and
how that whole relationship and covenantal situation happened. And the
lesson writer has us reading Joshua chapter nine, verses one
through twenty, Hopefully you will have already done that. You're
not coming here completely fresh. You will have already studied
your lesson and read this passage. And the question is
what are the similarities and differences between the story of
Rahab and of the Gibea knights. Why are they so meaningful? Okay?
And so the lesson already gave us a perspective, but
I'm going to share some more perspective. And so the
similarity that I'm seeing here from Joshua chapter to and
verse eleven. For the Lord your God, he is the
God in heaven above and in the earth beneath is
Both sought mercy because they quote recognize the power of God.
Blessed be his name. Can I say it again? Both
of them sought mercy because they quote recognized God's power.
But the step for me, though, the step for me
is when I recognize, and I'm saying this to you,
it's a challenge for you. When you recognize God at work,
respond in faith and humility rather than rebellion or resistance.
Of course, the Gibeon Night's story is complicated because they
did some stuff by deception, but we'll get to that
at the appropriate time. But whenever you see God at work,
even if you have gone the wrong way, even if
you find yourself having to repent, it doesn't matter. Come
to the point now where you humble yourself before God.
I have to tell that to myself. There are times
that I made mistakes and some things that I jumped
into sin that fell. I jumped into sin. I knew
exactly what I was doing, and now I have to
go to God and say, God, now I knew exactly
what I was doing. I knew what your guidance was,
what your directions were, I knew what your will was,
but I went down the wrong pathway. Can you please
forgive me and show me how to live righteously? Give
me a new mind, a clean heart, and a right spirit, Father,
so that I can, through the power of your holy gooes,
do exactly what you say. Don't rebel because God checks you.
Don't resist because God sends someone to you with his word.
The word of the Lord came unto to David through
the prophet Nathan, and David had a choice to make.
Am I going to do what God says? Or am
I going to be upset because God checked me? Okay,
let's go to similarity number two from Hebrews, chapter eleven
and verse thirty one. You probably weren't expecting that by
faith the harlot rahab the harlot Rahab perished not with
them that believed not see both of them, Rahab and
the Gibbean Nights both were outsiders. They didn't come from
among the people of God. They were outsiders, and they
were spared by the grace of God. And so if
I need to make that an action step for me,
I need to remember that God's mercy can reach anyone,
even me. I remember a preacher saying, I have seen
God do so much with so little. I now believe
and I want you to type in the chat if
you know who I'm talking about, I'll tell you in
a second. I now believe that he can do anything
with nothing, meaning me. I have seen God do so
much with so little. I now believe he can do
anything with nothing meaning me. That was the late Ee Cleveland,
pastor Ee Cleveland. So remember that God's mercy can reach anyone,
including me. Hmmm, I want you to say that to yourself,
including me. God's grace can reach anyone at any point
in our experience as long as we're willing to surrender
to God, even those with flawed methods or imperfect motives.
You've made mistakes based on broken mindset, based on things
that you saw your parents do, or you did an
experience in terms of growth from your family line, or
you just for whatever reason, had chosen the wrong pathway.
God can deal with those flawed methods and imperfect motives.
That's why it's called grace like That's why the songwriter
was right when they penned amazing grace. How swiet the
sound to save a wretch like me. It didn't say
save a saint like me, didn't say save somebody with
promise like me. It said, saved a wretch like me.
I once was laws, but now I'm found. And of
course the Bible teaches us that God has a way
of perfecting us. And of course there are differences. There
are differences in the Book of Joshua, chapter two and
verse nine. I know that the Lord hath given you
the land. So the difference here is Rahab confessed the truth.
She confessed the truth. I know the Lord has done this.
But the Gibbea Knights relied on deception. They chose a
little crafty way to get into the good graces of
God through his people. At least that's what they were
attempting to do. So God honors truth spoken in faith
more than these clever little schemes. We make up ways
of getting what we desire. Right, they seek His will
before making binding decisions, and so in Patriarchs and Prophets,
page five hundred and six, it reads the Gibbea knights
had resorted to deception. Can I just pause right here
and say, don't do that? How can you resort to
deception when you are coming into the presence of God
in this case through his people, they resorted to deception.
They resorted to deception. But but wait a minute. They
had renounced their idolatry. Okay, we're going we're trending in
the right direction, and they accepted the worship of Jehovah,
Blessed be his name, and God in his infinite mercy.
I need you to say, mercy found me. Type it
in the chat Mercy found me. That's called unmerited favor.
God is not going to give people the punishment and
condemnation we deserve once we are surrendering our will to God.
And so it says here God in his infinite mercy
spared them, thus showing that He desired all who would
forsake the service of Satan to enter into his service.
Aren't you glad that even though Rahab so called, was
a harlot, even and she had a direct faith in
God and learned the lesson that way. And aren't you
glad that the Gibbeonites who did resort to deception but
found their way to God. That God is willing to
accept you in the beloved once you surrender your will
to God. So really, just like, surrender your will to
God and he'll accept you.
Speaker 1: Peace. 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,