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, March
twenty three, 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 Church Connective.
We just have a few more days left in this series,
Brothers and Sisters, Church Connectivity. Before we get into that,
I'd like to just say welcome to you and ask
you to please go over to your Daily Portion dot com.
Please join our online community, pick up our new Life
Application Guide for Quarter two twenty twenty six. And also,
please please let us know where you are in the
world and click that contribute button because we are listener
and viewer supported at your Daily Portion dot com. This
is one of the ways we continue to build faith
in fellowship. Let's pray, Father, thank you for this day
and the privilege we have to come together. Please teach
us to come together in the beauty of holiness and
the fullness of our experience, to be able to fellowship
with our brothers and sisters around the world and to
worship you. Please help us to remain connected with you
and with each other until Jesus comes in Jesus name,
I pray, Amen and Amen again. Church connectivity and of course,
as you would probably have anticipated, the lesson writer says,
in a world connected by the Internet, we connect so
many ways, brothers and sisters, social media, and countless devices.
It is difficult to imagine the challenge that Paul faced
in helping God's people feel that they were part of
something bigger than their local congregations. But let me just
say that even with all of our quote connectivity, with
all of what the lesson writer made allusion to, or
direct account to We can become disconnected. We can make
it seem as if we are on our own because
the devil has backed some humans into a corner, and
in that mindset of depression, spiritually speaking, or elitism, like
I'm the only one that is holding or holding the
line like you feel me, like Elijah said when he
was running from Jezebel, And God said, no, I have
seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to bail.
You are not the only one, because you're not the
only one with the Holy Ghost. And once the Holy
Ghost has come upon us, we shall be God's witnesses
wherever we are around the world. And when Jesus returns,
he's coming for a people full of the Holy Ghost,
covered in the righteousness of Christ, who are without spot
and without wrinkle or any such thing. And so we
are asking God for holy connection now, okay, And so
I read now from J. N. Andrews. The Church of
Christ is strong guest when it's members labor together. Okay.
So we don't need to just be talking about God
together only, or sharing about God in our words or
speech only, but labor. We need to work together to
be of service to other people. Together in harmony. How
do we receive harmony through the Holy Spirit, just like
the first century believers did after that the Holy ghost
had come upon them, then they could labor for the
people around them. Okay. And so when it's members labor
together in harmony, each esteeming the other better than himself,
that's how you know if we're in harmony, if we
esteem the others as better or put others in priority
above ourselves. Okay. And so also also we're going to
begin with our lesson number one coming in from Colossians,
chapter four and verse ten. So this can all make sense, okay. Aristarchus,
my fellow prisoner, saluteth you and Marcus, marcus sister's son
to Barnabas, touching whom ye received commandments. If he come
upon you or come to you, receive him. I'll read
it in another translation. Aristarkus, my fellow prisoner, greets you,
and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom
you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him.
And we can see the growth in brother Paul's life,
because listen, this dude was not his Paul was not
his biggest fan. Marcus's biggest fan he saw. He thought
that Marcus was soft, like when the trouble came, that
Marcus would run away. And so now we are seeing
that he's saying because he is all together fruitful, his
ministry is all together fruitful. We are seeing Paul say,
even now, okay, when he comes to you, I want
you to welcome him, and I want you to welcome
him in the way that you would welcome me. Okay.
And so of course he's also given greetings from Aristarchus.
And so the lesson is that the church is strengthened
through visible partnership. The best thing you can do in
your church or a fellowship and community is show that
you have deference toward one another, that you have love
for one another. When someone else who is also responsible
and powerful shows up on the scene, you need to
show that you're not intimidated by the gift that God
had given him or her. You are not in competition
with the gifts that God had given to him or her.
You support, and they also support. And so Paul intentionally
names coworkers to reinforce the truth that the Gospel advances
through shared labor and not isolated effort. And so here
is a key word from what we are talking about here.
Fellow captive, he said, fellow laborer, fellow prisoner. That's one
sharing the same struggle with Whom are you sharing the
same struggle, brothers and sisters? Is it one of your
church brothers and church sisters or a bunch of you
in the same community hm hm. Unity deepens when believers
share hardship for the same reason, So Paul highlights the
shared sacrifice. Connectivity grows when believers know that they are
not suffering or serving alone. Think of your church. Now,
many churches have that one person who's serving. Is it
a deacon, a deaconess. Is it another person in usher?
Is it an elder? Is it a one of the
people on the pastoral staff who are saying, you know,
and moaning and lamenting and saying everything is falling upon me,
all of the burden is on me. So what we
are looking at is that that's not really true. There
may be some adjustments that need to be made, but
connectivity grows when believers show they are not suffering or
serving alone. So identify one person in your church fellowship
who is carrying a heavy load in ministry. Encourage that person.
This week through prayer or in a direct message. Lesson
number two, The Bible or the Gospel reconciles broken relationships,
and the Bible reads in verse eleven Colossians four, and Jesus,
which is called Justice. That's not the one who gave
his life for us who are of the circumcision. These
only are my fellow workers unto the Kingdom of God,
which have been comfort unto me. Okay, and so Paul's
mention of Mark signals restoration after pre failure, showing that
reconciliation is essential to church unity. There are times that
things don't go as planned. There are times that we
make God forbid mistakes, not because we have to, but
it happens. And when it happens, God has given us
the pathway of relationship success in Matthew chapter eighteen, how
to reconcile situations between brothers and sisters of Christ. And
so we receive comfort and relief and consolation. Restored relationships
become sources of strength. People can see, Oh, this can
be done. And so church connectivity is really submitting our
will to God through the Holy Ghost until Jesus comes,
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,