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, August
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 in our
Lesson study series through the Book of Exodus, and our
caption for today is more Laws, More Laws. Before we
get into that, I would 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 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 go ahead and pray,
and then we will get underway. Father, We thank you
for giving us this new morning and for the privilege
we have to see through your lenses and to see
all that you needed to go through in order to
structure and organize your people and to give us law
and order and justice. Please help us to respect you
in Jesus name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. More laws, Yeah,
more laws. There are so many details that God has
given us about how to live in society, to live
healthy in terms of relationships, in law, order, justice, judgments,
et cetera. And it's only when people follow the blueprint
that God has given that we can thrive in the
way that He intended. And so more laws, yes, more laws,
since God is giving them than we are not tired
at all. Okay, And so from the Bible Book of Exodus,
chapter twenty two, verse sixteen, straight through to the next chapter,
verse nineteen, we see so many things going on. Number one.
Number one, the rulings that God had given were practical
applications of God's character. Because there's so much we're not
going to go through all of it, but we will
touch a few of them. Number two, God was not
only concerned with right worship, but with right living, just living.
You see, there are times that humans are so heavenly
minded that we are no earthly good. That was not
the way God organized his people. And then these laws
restrained evil, protected the vulnerable. And you'll see that that
keeps coming up, the vulnerable. How do we deal with
the vulnerable, the lame, the main, the blind, the halt,
those individuals that are fatherless, the widows, etc. Protect the
vulnerable and shape a just society that reflects the holiness
of God. There are times that people try to organize
just societies and they try to turn them in twenty
twenty five into sort of a theocratic rule. But then
you see characteristics that are nothing like God. That's not
what we're talking about. We're talking about the laws as
God had already given them. Okay, so let's go with
just a few of them. Now we're going to go
with social justice and compassion. I won't go through all
of the passage passages because it's literally just too many.
I want you to get a feel of this how
detailed God is. Okay, sexual responsibility. A man seducing a
virgin must marry her or pay the price that you
would pay when you're marrying a bride. Capital crimes, sorcery, bestiality,
idolatry are condemned and linked to moral and spiritual corruption. Yeah,
think about where you live in the world right now.
How is your country or your domicile faring now. Compassion
for the vulnerable, don't mistreat strangers. That's in the Bible
in verse twenty one of Exodus, chapter twenty two. Protect
the widows and orphans verse twenty two. God hears their
cries and will act in judgment in the event that
they are God forbid harmed. How about fair lending in
verse twenty five, no interest to be charged on the poor.
Even borrowed garments must be returned by the night time.
Then comes respect for God and leaders. Blasphemy and disrespect
of authority forbidden. That's chapter that's verse twenty eight, and
then comes legal integrity and mercy. Don't pervert justice. Truth
must be maintained. The poor are not to be favored
or oppressed, So impartial rule and then aid even our
enemies help, even if a person is your enemy. Radical
ethical compassion is what we're talking about. Then comes fair trial, protectives, protectives, protection,
avoid bribes. How is your country faring right now? Don't
oppress foreigners again, you know, the heart of a stranger,
because God's people were strangers at some point. And then
comes the Sabbath and the land there was a sabbatical year,
a sabbath year every seventh year. The land rests, the
poor and the animals benefit. This is a social justice sabbath.
And then comes, of course, the weekly Sabbath of the
Holy ten Commandments, which we've already covered. And then there
are festivals and worship, and I think I'll just go
past those. I'll pass those because we can learn from them,
but not very relevant today except in principle. And so
from a theological perspective, God's laws reflect his holiness, his
justice and compassion. So for people who are averse to laws,
who are reverse to rule and structure, then that means
they're reverse God forbid to God because he's very, very structured.
He governs every single sphere. That means literally everything in
our lives, moral, legal, economic, agricultural, I said agricultural, can
you imagine? And spiritual?
Speaker 1: Was? It?
Speaker 2: Definitely had nothing to do with legalism but covenental transformation.
Then in our everyday application, as we slow down just
a little bit, here injustice begins when we forget our
shared suffering and God's mercy. See, a lot of times
people behave in the way that we do. Laws are
not adjudicated appropriately because the humans that are attached to
all of this forget what we've been through. We forget
when we have had need. We forget when people who
are close to us went through trials and tribulations and
did not get the mercy or the appropriate justice that
they deserved. And so forgetting our own humanity puts us
in a position to be unmerciful, to be unjust, to
be disrespectful, you see. And so God's people today must
still protect the vulnerable. Look around in your own communities.
Are there people in your own household, people in your
church or religious communities that are vulnerable that cannot do
for themselves? I said, cannot not won't that cannot do
for themselves? Practice honest dealings and structure worship around remembering
God's grace, how good God has been to us, And
then having received that by faith, we are driven to
go out into the world and be that way toward
other people. And then of course Sabbath, rest, etc. Should
lead us back to God, worship, generosity and equity. How
is it in your society now, in the country you live,
wherever you're domiciled. How we doing? If we were to
create a quiz or a checklist to say how well
am I doing? Where I am? Well, let me just
say this. Some people say they're not into religion, but
the Bible does say in James chapter one and verse
twenty seven, that there is a pure religion that is undefiled,
that is to visit the fatherless and the widows in
their trouble, and to keep ourselves unspotted from worldly evil practices.
More laws, yes, more laws, but they are good lands
for joining people listening.
Speaker 1: 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,