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.
Speaker 3: It is Friday, March twenty twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: Hello, my name is El David Harris.
Speaker 3: 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 living with each other,
Living with each other. Before we get into that, I
would like to say welcome to everyone joining us, especially
those joining us for the very first time. I'm asking
you to go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please,
will you pick up the Your Daily Portion Life application Guide.
Join our online community, and please also click the contribute
button because we are listener and viewer supported. There is
so much that we do and need to do that
with your help we can do without as much of
a challenge. Thank you for your support for those who
have already begun supporting. Also for those who are on
the radio and on podcasts and on Facebook. You may
not know that on Friday evenings at seven pm, we
have a musical Bible class going through the lesson using
eight songs that I produce specifically for that time that
help to solidify what we have been learning. So please
come through tonight on the YouTube channel exclusively at your
Daily Portion site. Okay, let's go ahead and pray. Father,
we thank you for this day of preparation and for
the privilege of being able to live together throughout eternity.
Help us to get a good head start. Now in
Jesus' name, I pray Amen and a men again. So
we're going to just go ahead and jump in with
two feet. I know that there are people who are
among my faith community who will be in church services
tomorrow and going through the lesson, who often just skip
over Fridays like we need to revive the Fridays. This
is not just bonus stuff. And maybe the church could
do better by giving a title. I don't know what
would cause people to actually use what we get on Fridays,
but here we're gonna go ahead and use it, okay.
And so the first thing we're gonna do is read
from Read from the book The Adventist Home, pages one
seventy nine and one one seventy nine and one at
from Adventist Home, and it reads every member of the
family should realize that a responsibility rests upon them individually.
All should unitedly engage in the good work of encouraging
one another. One of the things that I pray about
and say thank God to about every day when Josiah,
Simona and I pray together, is that we have a
built in We have a built in community, like we
have a built in support group. We don't have to
worry about what's going on out in the world. We
don't have to worry about if there is anything going
on in the extended family. We can be safe in
our tight knit group. And every other positive experience is
a bonus, okay. So I want you to protect whatever
you have at home. If you do have a family
at home. And then if that's not the case, then
the next plausible family would be your friendship core if
you have fellowship with them, and then the next group
would be likely the faith community that you are attached to.
You don't need thousands of people or hundreds of people,
just a few very good friends and companions who also
love God and love to you. Okay, So let's go
ahead and begin with Colossians, chapter three and verse seventeen
with our lesson number one. Christian faith is lived first
at home. Christian faith is first lived at home, and
the Bible reads and whatsoever ye do in word, or indeed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
giving thanks to God and the Father by him. And
so Paul's instruction to live in Christ applies most immediately
in the home circle. Faith that cannot be practiced in
close relationships is not mature. The family becomes the proving
ground of patience, humility, and service. And I used to
say to my wife alone when we first got married,
and I would, you know, ascend a pulpit or some platform,
and then somebody would say something positive during the introduction,
you know, twenty some years ago, like you know, and
and it's almost like ladies and gentlemen, whoever it is,
El David Harris. And then people would either applaud or
say amen, or you could see that there was some
welcome coming and now it's my time to ascend the pulpit, podium, whatever.
And after a while, I started to hear in my
mind the times that it happened with my dad, and
I was like, oh, wait a minute, so this sounds
just like it was when I was young. And I
also remember that our relationship wasn't so great. And I'm
not just bringing up negative stuff. It's what it is. Like,
that's just the way it is. That's a part of
my history. So leave that right there. And so I
asked my simone, when when they make the announcement of
this wonderful dude that's supposed to go up there and
talk to them or whatever I was supposed to do,
does that guy live in your house? That's the question?
Does that brother live in your house? Because I'm thinking,
like when I was young, I'm like, man, I wish
the dude that they announced.
Speaker 2: That's about to go up Pastor L. F. Harris.
Speaker 3: I wish that that dude the way they described him
lived in my house on a daily basis. And listen,
no shade, I'm just telling you as a young child
what I wished. And now that we have Josiah, same question, like,
is that dude the same guy that lives in your house?
Of course, thank God. I shouldn't say, of course, but
I will say, thank God. Yes, the two people are
the same. And I'm grateful because and it's the same
with Josiah saying with Simone, they are the ones people
think outside, they're the ones that live with me because
happy the home where God is there. We really believe that.
In fact, I use that song as sort of a
ballad at Simone in my wedding as we were about
to get married. Okay, and so and so the family
becomes the proving ground of patience, humility and service. That
means now we can go out into the world and
be a witness to people because we are in our
home what God would have us to be. Okay, and
so I want you to identify one responsibility at home
that you can carry more faithfully in the coming week
without being asked. And yes, I know I'm speaking to
grown folks. I know that the majority of you are
above us certain age. I'll just keep it like that.
Seventy four percent of you are above a certain age,
and you have had your children, your grandchildren, and some
of you even your great grandchildren. But wherever you happen
to be at home, if there is anybody there with you,
then what is it that you can be helpful with?
And I'm saying it not in a way where you
become overbearing or you are trying to invent things to
be helpful, because a lot of times when people are
inventing things to be helpful, it's just to sort of
fill in a gap in your own emotion so you
can feel like you're wanted. And that's not the same
as actually helping. So help in the ways that are helpful.
And don't force yourself upon people, because that's another discussion,
like am I forcing myself upon people? If I am,
then that's not a healthy relationship, okay. And so unity,
our second lesson requires shared responsibility. Here's a passage an Ecclesiastes,
chapter four and verse nine. Two are better than one
because they have a good reward for their labor. Let
me read it in another version. Two people are better
than one because they can reap more benefit from their labor.
Are you a part of a community outside of your home?
I did give you a few examples where you can
pull together, just like ET always talks about the African
wild dogs and shout to TJ as well. And if
we are pulling together, and that means we eat together,
we thrive together. Everybody wins together. Make it a great day, peace.
Thanks for joining us listening. 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 L. David Harris. Make
it a great day. Yeah,