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, eight
August eighteen, 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 series through the Book of Mark. Our caption
for today is God's Plan for Marriage. God's Plan for Marriage.
It says God's Plan for Marriage. We'll 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,
pick up the Your Daily Portion book and let us
know where you are in the world 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 and Heaven, thank
you for giving us this new day and for the
work week that you have set out before us. Bother,
for those who are looking for work, I pray that
you will give them what they need. Bother, I just
pray that you will teach us faith and patience, that
you will give us growth in our relationships with our spouses.
And for those who are looking at marriage and wondering
if they should get married, please give them your principles
and then put them together with someone who is like minded,
who loves you as well. In Jesus name, I pray
Amen and day men again God's plan for marriage. Now,
there are a lot of plans out there for marriage,
and I know that there is a discussion that you're
expecting me to have, but that is not the one
I'm going to have right now. God had a plan
from before there was a beginning, and when he created
male and female, he wanted us to understand the relationship
between Jesus and his people. That's what the Book of
Ephesians says. When Paul is teaching, he says, I want
you to understand the relationship between Christ and his church.
We see what Jesus's perspective was yesterday. He was very focused.
He said he came to serve, not to be served.
He came to serve, not to be served. Brothers, when
you are marrying women whom you love, you are marrying
women you love so you can serve them. There are
too many of us out here who say, because we're
the head of the household in quotes, that we are
supposed to be the boss. I remember there was a
guy I won't call his name, but years ago I
used to when I was into arguing. Like, I used
to argue with this dude regularly because he said he's
the boss of his wife. And I said, the boss,
there's something very very wrong with this, and well, unfortunately
he's no longer married. Can I can I just say
that like, he didn't have a servant's heart, he did
not have a servant's mindset. He thought he was the
boss of his wife, and he lost his wife. I
wish I had the time. Okay, let me jump in
and get right into the scriptures. Here from the Book
of Mark, chapter ten, and I will read beginning at
verse one, and the Bible reads, and he arose from
thence and cometh into the coast of Judea, by the
farther side of Jordan. And the people resorted unto him,
And as he was wont he taught them, saying, he
taught them again. And the Pharisees came to him and
asked him, isaful, is it lawful for a man to
put away his wife tempting him? And he answered and said,
unto them, what did Moses command you? And they said,
Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement and to
put her away. Jesus answered and said, unto them, for
the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this concept
or precept. And so the whole idea of divorce came
as a result of the hardness of our hearts, not
because God had. He didn't have an escape hatch, he
didn't have a trap door, he didn't have a way
that did well. If this doesn't work out, we just
kind of bail out of this thing, he said, very clearly.
Jesus answered unto him and said, for the hardness of
your heart, he wrote you this precept. I would call
this a plan B. Brothers and sisters. But from the
beginning verse six, the creation of God made them male
and female. For this cause, shall a man leave his
father and mother and cleave to his wife. Verse seven
is teaching us that when we men leave home, leave
our mothers, our fathers, We leave to be on our
own with these women that we have chosen, hopefully under
the power of God, under the inspiration of God. Once
we do that, we're not supposed to go back home.
Home is not with our parents anymore. When I say
with our parents, I'm saying no, backing out and saying, well,
this marriage didn't work, so I'm done. That is not
what God intended from the beginning. Now we know that
there is a plan B, but I'm not talking about
Plan B today, okay. And the twain verse eight, shall
be one flesh, and then they are no more two
or twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath put together,
Let no man, and I will add no woman put
us under Okay. And so in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four,
the Bible teaches us something that the Hebrew people would
call shamah. Right here o Israel, the Lord, our God
is one Lord, and we worship him with everything we
are in everything that we have. That one, that one ness,
the Lord our God is one is echoed. That's a
Hebrew terminology that has to do with unity, unity of purpose,
unity of everything that matters. I'm oversimplifying, I know, for
the scholars, just give me a second here, right, But
that's what Jesus was saying when he said that we
are to become one flesh in the same way that God,
the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit are one,
unified in all things that matter. We our husbands and
wives are to be no longer two but one, no
longer two but one. And I'm thankful that God gave
us that baseline, that is the beginning point. Unity of
everything that matters is the baseline of us when we're married.
Verse nine. What therefore again, God hath joined together, let
not man put as under. And in the house's disciples
asked him of the same matter, And he said, unto them,
whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth
adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away
her husband and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Let me ask you a question. Does God love divorce?
The answer is no, Did he make provision for a divorce? Yes?
Why because some of us are hard hearted, Some of
us will step out in our marriages and look for
other kinds of relationships with other people. We step out
from our wives. Ladies, some of you, God forbid, would
have stepped out on your husband and then had sexual
intercourse and relations adulterous relationships with others. And God said
that it's permitted. It is permitted for an unrepentant. When
people are unrepentant and keep bringing like other people into
your relationships, then God has made provision for that. Now,
as far as I am concerned, there's nothing that Simone
can do that would cause me to divorce her. We've
been married twenty three years. I will not divorce Simone.
That's a choice that I'm making because I believe that
God can work out anything that goes God forbid wrong
in our marital relationship. That is a decision that I'm making.
God caused us to become one flesh, and I have
no intention on breaking that up. That's just me speaking
from my perspective. Okay, And so what we want to
do is value commitment. We want to prioritize unity. We
want to handle conflicts biblically. We want to protect vulnerable partners.
There are times that our spouses are vulnerable. At all costs.
We must protect them, protect their honor, and make sure
that we are still in God's plan. Make it a
great day, 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.