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 Sabbath, November nine,
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 Lesson number seven themes in the Gospel of John.
Our caption for today is Blessed are those who believe?
Bless yis it are those? Or blessed are those who believe.
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. Also let us know where
you are in the world at your Daily Portion dot com. Now,
let me just say one of the reasons why we
continue to talk about letting us know where you are
in the world is because the sign that people missed,
like the sign of the end that people miss is
that this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached into
all the world for a witness, and then and only
then shall the end come. So we want to see
how far and why the gospel, at least through this
program is being spread, so that we can be hopeful
and grateful. So go ahead and let us know where
you are. This is one of the ways that we
continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray,
and then we will get underway. Bather in Heaven, thank
you for giving us this new day and for this
Sabbath opportunity to experience you on a new level. Teach
us to trust you in all things. In Jesus' name,
I pray a man and a man again. Blessed are
those who believe. Bless blessed. This means to be highly favored.
You're highly favored if you believe. Now the big question,
the overarching question, is believe in what believe in whom
you see? And so the question is it really just
that we need to identify in air quotes Christ as
who he is? Is it really just that we need
to be able to identify Christ as who he said
he is? You know, the Bible says that the devils
believe and tremble, So sometimes people rest on our laurels.
We accept the status quo, We stop growing because we say, well,
we believe like we have an assent to truth. We
believe that Jesus is who he said he is. We
believe that we can be forgiven. We believe that Jesus
is coming back one day, coming back very soon. We
believe that he's holy. But some of our belief systems
do not lead us to holy action. I want to
sit down right here before we jump into the lesson.
Our belief needs to be needs to transcend just being
in our brains and get into our activity. How do
I treat people when people are disrespectful and or mean
to me? Am I kind hearted? How do I treat God?
You see? So my belief cannot just be intellectual. My
belief can be just emotional. When when you hear things
like this, watch this watch this when you hear things
like this, right, my belief has to transcend the excitement
of a praise break like hear what I'm saying to you.
My belief must not be just intellectual. My belief must
not just be emotional. My belief must be transformational where
God actually lives in my life. And then the way
that Jesus lived on planet Earth. We will see that
manifest in our actions. Okay, So what is the difference
between merely knowing about Jesus and actually believing in him?
And of course our discussion comes from John chapter twenty
beginning and verse twenty nine not beginning. We're going to
just sit there at verse twenty nine, and the Bible
reads Jesus said, unto him Thomas, because you have seen me,
you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have still believed. Okay, and so we're going
to answer the question through the rest of our discussion today.
What is the difference between merely knowing about Jesus, merely
getting excited about Jesus, and actually believing in Jesus. Okay,
So we begin now in Second Corinthians chapter five. I
hope you are taking notes or you're prepared to rewind
and come back again. In Second Corinthians, chapter five and
verse seventeen, we see the transformation of our lives, and
the Bible reads, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, right
you say you believe. Dave, you say you believe. Filling
the blank here with your name, you say you believe. Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creature.
All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
So your patience is increased now because you are a
new creature. Ah, you don't gossip anymore. You choose to
believe the best about people. And if they show you
based on their fruit. The Bible says, by their fruit,
ye shall know them. You commit them. You commend them
into the hands of God. You don't act as their
judge and jury. You follow me. So new creatures actually
know how to love God. New creatures surrender to God.
Even in the cases where we find ourselves wanting to
do something opposite of what God has said in that moment.
It is a manifestation of a transformed life. If we
say just like Jesus did and live it. Nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt even in the
most difficult trials. Okay. So transformed life. True belief in
Christ leads to transformation where old sinful behaviors are replaced
overwhelmed by ah, moved over to godly ones. Okay. And
so now we move to the Bible Book of Galatians
Galatians chapter five. Beginning at verse twenty two. Galatians Chapter five,
the Bible reads, but the fruit of the spirit is Joe,
is love, joy, peace, patience. Uh oh, kindness, Oh wait
a minute now, goodness, Wait a minute, faithfulness, gentleness? Are
you gentle, brothers and sisters? Are you gentle when people
are being rough toward you, when they're saying all manner
of evil things against you falsely for Christ's sake? Ah says,
It says gentleness and self control. When your emotions seem
to be getting the better of you, do you go
to the refrigd raider? Do you go into your vehicle
and hit the drive through drive through one of those
fast food restaurants with fat and blood and sugar and
all kinds of excessive salt and chemicals to make yourself
feel better? Oh? Wait a minute. Now says that the
fruit of the spirit is love. Do you love God
more than anything? Joy? Do you have joy and peace
when the trials come? Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self control? Against such there is no law. Do I
believe God? Now, let's see. And of course number three
obedience to God's commands. The Bible says very clearly Jesus
speaking in John chapter fourteen and verse fifteen, if you
love me, you will obey my commandments. This is a
manifestation of this, and it's not what I think people
are thinking when we hear this, that we prove to
God that we love him by keeping his commandments. It
is not that we are trying to prove to people
that we love God by quote keeping his commandments. No,
Jesus is saying. The way that people will know that
you are my disciples is if when you love me,
based on my love for you, now you're able to
do my will. You see, ungodly people who don't love
God can't do God's will full stop. That's the end
of the discussion. So a manifestation of our love for
God is that when we love him, he empowers us
to actually do his will. I love it. The ten
Commandments long so yeah. Blessed are those who believe.
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,