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 Sabbath, August seventeen,
twenty twenty four. 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 with Lesson number eight through the Book of Mark
under the caption Teaching Disciples Part two. Teaching Disciples Part two.
Get into that in just a moment, But first I'd
like to say welcome to you and ask you to
please go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please
join our online community and let us know where you
are in the world. Again at your Daily Portion dot Com.
This is a way that we continue to build faith
and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray and then we
will get underway. Father in heaven, thank you for this
new day and for the privilege that we have to
open up your word, and for this Sabbath time that
is sacred. Thank you for making us holy. Please help
us to cooperate with you and become your disciples. In
Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. Okay, Jesus
was focused. May I just start right there, like, we
don't need to get you know, tap tiptoe around them.
The issue. Jesus was focused, hyper focused on one thing.
Bible says that he came to he seeks to save
that which was lost. That was his mission as he
came to planet Earth. Bible says that God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life.
God did not send his son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might
be saved, might be saved. Okay, and so in this
plan of salvation, Jesus's focus was highlighted here in the
Book of Mark, chapter ten and verse forty five. Mark
chapter ten and verse forty five, and the Bible reads,
for even the son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give his life
a ransom for many you've heard that song. Jesus paid
it all all to him. I owe sin has left
a crimson stain. He washed it why to snow? And
so when Jesus came to serve, he was serving in
order to save us. He's serving in order to save us,
save us from what, save us from the condemnation that
comes from us sinning? Well, what does that mean? He
came to give us eternal life. He never created us
to be separated from our loved ones. You can identify
many people in your family and your friendship core who
have passed away over your lifetime, and you maybe cried
or you were sad or even angry, as the case
may be, and you want to know, like, why is
there so much death? Why is there so much pain
and suffering? Jesus came to resolve all of that. Jesus,
even as he lived on planet Earth, his friends came
to him from Bethany, or they sent word to him
to say, your friend, your friend, the one whom you
love is very sick, like he's about to die, Jesus.
And of course that friend was Lazarus. And we know
the story. Jesus. He went into where Lazarus was after
three days had passed. Now on the fourth day, huh,
when everything seemed to be hopeless, the body of Lazarus
was decomposing. Jesus, the one who is the resurrection and
the Life, went and delivered a message of hope to
the people who were there, a message of peace to
those who were there who would receive it. And he
also woke Lazarus up. He woke Lazarus up, showing that
if this Lazarus was dead and decomposing and he, Jesus,
could raise him from the dead, he could also raise
spiritually dead people from the dead. Yes, he could provide
the kind of power that is necessary for us to repent.
He can give us the gift of repentance. He can
put it in our minds by transfer forming our hearts
from a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
He could write his laws on our hearts and in
our minds, so that we can know that he's the
one who sanctifies us. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful that
he never lost his focus. Now, what can I learn
or what should I do in light of this? What
should you do? In light of Jesus's focus seeking to
save that which was lost, coming to serve and not
be served? Well? The first thing is to prioritize service
over status. May I say that just one more time?
Prioritize service over status or people who are seeking status.
The Bible says here in Matthew, chapter twenty and verse
twenty seven, whosoever will be chief among you, let him
be your servant. You didn't say let him be the
one that flesh is the most money in social media
in images. It's not the one who is able to
show a big mansion of a home on social media
so people will follow you. I'm not saying there's anything
wrong with being wealthy. I'm not saying there's anything wrong
with having a large home. But what I am saying
is that in this generation, it seems that the ones
who who are looking for the most followers are often
the ones who are flashing the most. You see, But
Jesus said, whoever will be the chief among you, let
him be your servant. How about we have a servant competition,
like who can be the most humble, who can serve
people more than other people? And of course I'm saying
that tongue in cheek because that's not a principle from scripture.
But you get where I'm going with this. We need
to have like a generosity war. How about that? How
about that number to embody humility in leadership. Now, everybody
is not called to be a leader. But for those
of you who are leaders, God wants you to be
the humblest. In fact, in Matthew chapter twenty three and
verse eleven, the Bible reads, but he that is the
greatest among you will be your servant. Oh, I think
there's an echo in here. Jesus has this repetitive theme
as he continues to teach people how to be like God.
So he says, serve and then you'll be the greatest.
Also in Mark chapter ten and verse forty four, the
Bible says, whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall
be the servant of all. Again. Yep, again that is
repeated sacrifice for the greater good. Be the best servant
that you can be under God, and you will be
great in the kingdom. Now this is a big one.
This is a big one, and I had a challenge
with this when I became a Christian in nineteen ninety six.
And it comes from Matthew, chapter eighteen and verse twenty one.
It says, then Peter came to him and said, Lord,
how oft shall my brother sin against me? And I
forgive him till seven times? Of course, Jesus's response was
an exaggeration to make the point. He said, no until
seventy times seven. Yeah, we're supposed to continually forgive people. Why,
because God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. And I
remember when I first got baptized, I was looking at
what people call the Lord's prayer, and he said, forgive
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. I knew
what that meant, and I was like, oh God, I
don't want that, because I'm not willing to forgive this
certain person this certain way. So please don't forgive me
according to the way that I forgive that person, because
I know I I'm up short. Well now, I know
that we don't get to negotiate ourselves through that. He said,
in the way that you forgive, that is how you
will be forgiven of course, now I understand and I
embrace this truth. But then as a new believer, I
could not I couldn't process it. But Jesus, as he
is making his disciples, as he is teaching all of us,
he is saying, do exactly what I did. Under the
power of the Holy Ghost. Jesus is saying we can
do what he did. Stay focused, come to serve, not
to be served, and follow Jesus's example. Make it a
great Sabbath. Peace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening.
Speaker 2: Friends.
Speaker 1: 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,