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 Marning, Good morning. It is Sabbath. It's
March seven, 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. We're jumping in at Lesson number eleven
of thirteen under the caption living with Christ, Living with Christ.
Before we get into that, I'd like to say welcome
to you and ask you to go over to your
Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community. Please
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by all means, share, share, share, keep sharing, keep sharing
the program with as many people as possible. Because we
are looking to change the world. The Gospel of the
Kingdom must be preached into all the world for a witness,
and then and only then shall the income. Just a
quick question, were you on with me last night during
our musical Bible class. If you're on the radio, a podcast,
or on Facebook, you're like, what the what? Yes, we
have that only on the YouTube channel for your daily
portion every single Friday evening at seven pm Jamaica time.
So please, if you were there, go ahead and type
in the chat I was there and what did God
do for you? Share a little bit about what God
did for you through experience as we studied the lesson
using music as are means. Just go ahead and type,
But let me pray first and we'll get underway. Father,
We thank you for this Sabbath, teach us to live
with Christ in our hearts. In Jesus's name, I pray,
Amen and Amen again. So for those of you who
can do two things at once, go for it. Go
ahead and type the blessing that you experienced last evening
while we jump in with two feet to our lesson study. Okay,
and so the lesson writer gave us as a memory
text Colossians chapter three and verse fourteen. Colossians chapter three
and verse fourteen, where the Bible reads, but above all
these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
Put on love. Are you wearing love? Are you wearing
love as you're covering Jesus? You know the Bible actually
says John speaking that God is love. Yes, those who
have not got the okay, you know what. The text says.
God is love. So have love on, have Christ on
as you are covering, and you cannot lose. No, let
me just go ahead and begin. Let me go ahead
and begin with verse fourteen. Actually, yeah, that's it. That's it.
Verse fourteen. Put on love. My notes went funny. Love
is the evidence of Christ living within. Love is the
evidence of Christ living within. Remember Jesus said, how will
they know? Like people know that you are my disciples?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: I know? If you have love one toward another. And
so Paul presents love as the final evidence of resurrection life.
M h, that's the evidence. Love is not optional. Like
some people are just too angry and annoying at all times,
Like some people are miserable, and it's like, well, how
can a person who was complaining, always annoyed, miserable and
just ah hard to be around. How can that person
be called a child of the king. How can that
person say they're representing Christ? God forbid, It's one of us.
And so love is not optional. It is the binding
force that holds Christian character together. Heavenly minded people love
differently because Christ is living within us. This love enables
obedience that human strength cannot sustain. Listen, when you read
the book The Great Controversy right through to the end,
we see that ultimately, after we've read all of the
things that went on way back in the past, all
of the persecution that happened, what happened in heaven where
the Great Controversy began, and all of these other things
in the last days that are going to be very difficult,
I must add, But we see that the culmination of
what God is doing as he is leading as people
through those different times and experiences throughout history, is that
one pulse of love will be going right through the universe.
Because God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not
perish but have everlasting life. So God's love in the
person and work of Jesus Christ in the Plan of Salvation,
should so impress and transform our lives that we love
in the way that Jesus loved. Yep, we love despite
what people do, because now we have the mindset of Christ.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus. Okay, and so the action step in this
case is to practice intentional christ Like love towards someone
difficult today. Some of you are on your way to church,
You're going to encounter You're going to encounter some difficult people,
some people that are so in your mind annawing. But really,
that's not the stance we're taking anymore. We're saying, God,
this is a child of yours. They are not my children,
they are not my servants. Teach me to love like
you love. So practice intentional christ Like love toward someone
difficult today without expecting anything in return. What that's right,
that's right, that's right. Let me read J. H. Wagner.
True Christianity begins when self ends and Christ reigns within. Ah.
This is so good, this is so good. Let me
continue because I'm feeling it just like you are. In
Romans chapter six and verse six, we read, knowing this
that our old man, or the way that we are
without Christ, that person before we got sick, right, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed. That henceforth we should
not serve sin. Remember sin is the transgression of the law.
Remember the Ten Commandments law are summed up in two principles,
love for God and love for humanity. And so Paul
makes clear that living with Christ requires dying before living,
dying to self. The Christian life is not behavior modification.
Let me say that's hard for me. Not in the
realist sense. I mean philosophically, because behavior modification is my
training and what my practice used to be behavior modification
and management. So I know how to modify behavior. And
it's like, oh wait a minute. So when I don't
say a bad word to somebody who is exhibiting road rage,
when I don't become violent toward them, that's only part
of the story. You mean, I don't get brownie points
for not knocking somebody out that I felt angry toward. No, Well,
that's not transformational. That's just a behavioral reality. Maybe you
were protecting your maybe you were protecting your reputation, or
maybe you were thinking, oh, I don't want Josiah to
be without a daddy, because if I do that in
the wrong setting, then I might die or get locked up.
Maybe you're doing it as a legalist and not because
you are in love with God. And maybe it's not
because you don't want to misrepresent him to the people
who may be watching. Maybe it's not for the right reasons.
Maybe you're just doing it because you've learned how to
modify your behavior. You're not saying bad words, but you're
thinking them. You're not what is it in Matthew five?
You're not touching that person that you're not supposed to touch,
but in your mind you're lusting after them. Right, you
see what I'm saying. So God is giving us. God
is giving us not a behavioral change or shift, its
participation in Christ's death and resurrection. We literally die to
sin and we're raised into a victorious lifestyle. Self rule
must end before Christ's rule can begin. I have to
stop trying to run things myself, stop trying to drive
my spiritual vehicle, and yield the steering wheel to God.
Without this death, heavenly minded living remains just theoretical. My God,
would you please help us to identify a habit or
mindset where we're still dominating the conversation with ourselves. Help
us to submit 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,