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 Sunday, December
twenty one, twenty twenty five. Hello, my name is El
David Harris. I am your host den 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
final week in our lesson study series, Lessons of Faith
from Joshua, and our caption for today is you were There,
You were There. We'll get into that in just a moment,
but first I'd like to say welcome to everyone joining us,
especially those joining us for the very first time. I'm
asking you to please go over to your Daily Portion
dot com. Please join our online community and also pick
up your Daily Portion Life Application Guide. Have you picked
it up? For the coming quarter, We're going to talk
about things from Paul's letters to the Philippians and Colossians.
Have you picked up I'm talking about the Companion Guide,
the Life Application Guide. Have you done that. I know
you have your adult study guides, but what about the
Companion Guide. Go ahead and type a one in the
chat if you have it already. Otherwise, please please go
to your Daily Portion dot com and download it or
get it in hard copy. This is one of the
ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's pray. Father,
We thank you for this day, for this beginning of
the work week, and I'm asking you to please open
up our understanding, help us to take response ability for
our actions and to be responsible enough to yield our
will to you because you're so good to us. In
Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and amen again you were there.
All right, all right, So let's go ahead and begin
with a quote. Here. I'm going to begin with a
quote from the review in Harold March one h eighteen sixty.
You can see that I'm going back into the archives
of the Pioneers. This is from John Nevin's Andrews. The
church is a living body. No member stands alone. The
strength or weakness of one affects the whole. Therefore, our
duty to God includes duty to one another.
Speaker 1: You see.
Speaker 2: And so if I am unfaithful, then God forbid. Then
I know that it's going to have an impact on you.
Can I just say that you have seen ministers fall
from what they say, fall from grace, even Moses, even Abraham,
you know what I mean, Like Moses struck the rock
the second time. Well, that was a fall from grace
that was disappointing from God's people, God's to God's people
who were to be led by Moses ultimately into the promise.
But Moses had to die, like he had to be
cut off, no matter what grace God led him to
and how he recovered. In that moment, the people were affected.
Aaron fell from grace. He did that stupid plan part
of me, like the stupid plan of taking all of
the stuff, the bouty that they got from Egypt and
then threw it in the fire. And he said, and
out pops out this idol. And it's like, what you know,
it didn't just pop out, brother, like you led the
people into idolatry. When they said whatever they said, you
should have led them and said no, like Joshua and
Caleb would have done, and say no, y'all, be quiet,
we are going to serve God. And who doesn't want
to serve God, go ahead and vacate like you make
your decision now. But we're not about to do this
idolatry thing, not as a whole corporate body. That's not
about to happen. And so God forbid. You see, when
people who are among God's people do things that are
uncharacteristic of the will of God, then it has an
impact and all of the rest of us. From the
book Testimonies for Church of the Church, Volume four, page
six hundred and nineteen. In the work of God, every
individual has a part to act, and the failure of
one affects the faithfulness of all. We are one body
in Christ, and each must stand true in his or
her place. That's the end of the quote. Let me
say it like this, and the same way. Conversely, when
God through Christ said to the people, I want you
to go in the first century church, I want you
to go into this upper room. I want you to
go into this place, and I want you to tarry
there until the Holy Ghost comes upon you. You need to
be unified, and watch what I do in the world
because you're unified under the banner of the Holy Ghost.
And so we see the positive end as well. I'm
still benefiting. You are still benefiting from the unity of
the believers in the first century Church, all those thousands
of years ago, and so Lesson Number one is salvation.
History is personal. God includes every generation. Now. The Bible
reads here in Deuteronomy, chapter five and verse six, I
am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out
of the land of Egypt. The word for brought out
in this case, I want to say some stuff that's
not in this text, but since it's not there, won't.
But it's yatsa. Yatsa it means to cause, to depart,
to bring forth, to deliver. So God delivered his people,
and Joshua reminded God's people that even though they had
not personally crossed the Red Sea all of that time ago,
because now we're talking to the second well, forget it.
Let you understand God's saving acts applied to them as
if they had in covenant. Thinking, God's past actions become
the present identity of his people. Every generation must claim
the history of redemption as what personal. So don't get
to detach myself from the people of God back in
ancient history. I don't get to detach myself from the
people of God in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve.
I don't get to detach myself from the people of
God in the first century Church, in the Advent or
pre advent Church, we don't get to separate ourselves from
the people of God. In the era of Laodicea, we
are one body and all of the blessings and everything
else come as a package. I wish I had the
time to drill what I just said, but let's continue
the action. The action is to reflect on one biblical
salvation story. Is it the crossing of the Red Sea?
Is it the exodus from Egypt? Is it the Resurrection?
And then pray, Lord, make this my story too. Obviously,
now we're on the positive end of things. Make this
my story too. God, help me to cross over the Jordan,
help me to march around the city. That is in
the way that you are saying that when I stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord, that I
will come through victoriously, without war, without the fight. Let
that be my story too. Lesson number two alone is
the author of our history and our identity. In the
Book of Deuteronomy, chapter two and verse seven, the Bible reads,
for the Lord, thy God hath blessed thee in all
the works of thy hand. And that word, that word
for blessed. You may have heard it in a gospel song,
Barak barak. It means to enrich. God enriched the people.
He empowered the people to endow with favor. He endowed
his people with favor. And so Joshua, wanting to remind
the people of God, enriched God's people's journey with repeated
I took, I gave, I sent I delivered, I took,
I gave, I sent I delivered. This is what God
has done for his people. And so God was the subject.
God's people were the object. Their identity. Somebody just got
an English lesson English lesson. Yes, their identity, survival, their victories,
and inheritance came solely from his grace. Why because God
is the one that took his people. God is the
one that gave his people. God is the one that
sent his people. God is the one who has delivered
his people. So let me just say it like this.
God is the one who's taking you through your Red
Sea experience right now. He is the one who is
giving you the grace that you need to make it
through these last days. He's the one who has sent
you to the people around the world to lead them
to a relationship with Him, and he is still delivering
you from sin. So your action step is to thank
God for three blessings that the people of God enjoy
today and come from His grace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening with 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,