Leviticus 27:14- Numbers 1:54, Mark 11:1-26, Psalms 46:1-11, Proverbs 10:23
Today is the 3rd of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today for the next step forward in our epic adventure that is the Bible. And we’ve also been experiencing either in person or virtually the epic adventure through the land of the Bible and today will be our final day together. We had a great day yesterday and we’ll talk about that shortly. But first let’s dive into today’s reading. We’ve been reading from the Modern English Version this entire week. And, of course, this is the end of the week so that’s what we’ll read from today and begin with something new tomorrow. Of course, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. And, so, that’s going to lead us to the end of the book of Leviticus and then lead us into the book of Numbers. So, we’ll read Leviticus 27:14 to the end of the book and then we’ll begin the book of Numbers and we’ll read chapter 1 verses 1 through 54. And we’ll talk about Numbers when we get there, but first, concluding the book of Leviticus.
Numbers:
Okay. So, that concludes the book of Leviticus, which leads us forward into the book of Numbers. And one of the things that we may notice right away as we enter the book of Numbers is what seems like repetition, like a redundant review. And this can seem tedious, but it’s not. It’s very important because we are switching now. As we change books we’re switching from the first generation of people who were freed from Egypt into the second generation. And what much has happened under Moses’ leadership. We’ve seen God show up miraculously in their midst and his mighty power and they’ve received the law. But now that they’ve received it, they have to actually live it because God is giving the order to move out. It’s time for them to move into the Promise Land. And we’ll see spies sent into the land, we’ll see an entire generation disqualify themselves from the promise. And we’ll also find many parallels in this story that relate a little too closely to home even in our culture today. The theme of God’s holiness that we are seeing throughout the law and the fact that He requires His people to be holy threads it’s way throughout Numbers as it does throughout the entire Pentateuch or Torah. And we’ll see the harsh but true reality that rebellion has consequences. You’re planting something when you’re planting rebellion and what you’re going to reap is judgement. So, as we begin Numbers, the first nine chapters provide review and structure because God is preparing His people to move into the Promised Land. We’ll see censuses being taken, laws being given, and review of the laws. We’ll see purification and celebrations happening. And then we’ll move into the narrative where the spies are sent across the Jordan into the Promise Land where they can spy it out. And then, of course, we’ll experience the outcome of that mission. And we’ll see the old generation is gone - the first generation. We’ll see a new one with new leaders rising, warfare beginning, new laws being established, and a foreshadowing of what the culture is going to look like when they actually take the Promised Land. And, of course, with all these censuses, we’ll see a lot of counting. And hence, the book of Numbers. And, so, we begin with chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and the deep, deep encouragement that we find in the Psalm today. You are our refuge and strength. We forget that so often. You are our refuge, our shelter, our strength, a well-proven help in trouble. And You have proven this over and over and over. We’re still here. We’re still breathing. You have brought us through so much. And, so, we’re grateful and we’re sorry that we keep forgetting that the stresses and cares of life are but distractions. You are our refuge and strength and therefore we do not fear, though the earth be removed. Right? So, the ground that falls away beneath us, even if that happens, You are still our refuge and strength. Even if the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea, still You are our refuge and strength. Even though the oceans roar and foam, still You are our refuge and strength. And, so, we align ourselves with this fact. You are our refuge and strength, well-proven to help us in times of trouble. And we hear Your response to that from the book of Psalms. Be still and know that I am God. And we confess that in times of shaking and trouble where it feels like the earth is shifting beneath our feet and everything is upside down, that’s really the last thing that we do. We’re thrashing, we’re running, we’re clawing, we’re scratching, we’re doing anything but being still and knowing that You are God, that You are our refuge and strength. So, Father, we invite Your Holy Spirit to calm us down that we might know through the stillness that You are God and that all our running in circles and all of our desperation really isn’t getting us anywhere. But You have invited us to be still and know. Help us to know this, Holy Spirit. There is no hope but You. And You are our refuge and strength. Flood us with this awareness, we ask. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
Okay. So today, as I was mentioning, is our final day together. And we’ll be moving through the Jerusalem area, following in the footsteps of the last days of Jesus. But yesterday we got on the buses and went a bit north and kind of finalized all of the regions of this land. We have literally travelled as far north as you can go, as far south as you can go, as far east as you can go and as far west as you can go. We’ve travelled down into the lowlands and we’ve travelled into the central section. We’ve been around the Galilee. We’ve pretty much covered every geographical location. And, so, now as we read these stories we know what these places look like. And, so, we went first north to the top of Mount Gerizim, which is the mount of blessing. We’ll encounter that story, of course, the mount of blessing and the mount of cursing as we move into Joshua’s story, as we move out of the times with Moses but we’re not quite there yet so we won’t get ahead of ourselves. But we went to the top of the mount of blessing, looked down over biblical Shechem and just realized how profoundly this little area, this little town area and these mountains have had an impact on the Bible. So many things happen in Shechem and around these mountains. And, so, on the top of Mount Gerizim is one of the only remaining Samaritan villages. And the Samaritan people, of course, in the Shechem area, Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman who talked about how they had always been taught they were supposed to pray on the mount of blessing and there’s a temple that they’re supposed to pray to and yet everyone else is saying they should go to Jerusalem. And Jesus talks about the fact that it’s spirit and truth. Well the ruins of the Samaritan temple still exist on top of Mount Gerizim. So, we were able to go up there and look down upon Shechem, locate ourselves biblically, and visit the ruins that are atop that mountain before winding our way back down to Shiloh. And Shiloh also has significance because, again, we haven’t gotten to this story yet, but when the children of Israel come into the land and they bring the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, and establish it permanently at Shiloh. And it remains sort of the heart, the capital, the heart, the spiritual heart of the ancient Israelites as they move into the Promise Land for nearly 400 years. And sometimes that’s just lost on everyone because we focus on Jerusalem and the first temple that Solomon built and associate everything with Jerusalem. But before there was a Jerusalem, before David’s time, and the city of David, and that conquering, there was Shiloh. And, so, we visited ancient Shiloh. And that just began to understand the importance of that area and how it was the central heartbeat of all things early in the story of Israel in the Promise Land. And then we continued our journey back toward Jerusalem, having lunch at a nice winery, a nice lunch was served to us. We’ve been kind of running around eating a lot of falafel and shawarma and schnitzel. And, so, to have a nice lunch cooked for us and served was a really, really nice treat, nice time to be together as a community and kind of our final opportunity for that type of a lunch. Today we’ll have to grab it and go cause it’s a full, full day. And, so, after lunch we went to Nebi Samuel, which is the traditional burial site of the prophet Samuel, so we sort of connected the dots there. We had just been in Shiloh, where Samuel’s story begins and then coming to his burial place where it ends also gives an opportunity to look down upon biblical Gibeah where King Saul came from. And just discuss some of the things that happened around Gibeah because there’s some stories that are pretty sad. The tribe of Benjamin almost getting annihilated because of the things that happened in Gibeah. And, so, that’s as close as we can really safely go to that area, so we could look down upon it, take some pictures, just consider where we were in biblical history there. And then finally moving back into Jerusalem in the old city and being able to visit and pray at the Western Wall as the sun was going down. And while we were there and the sun did reach sunset, which would be the indicator of the beginning of Shabbat of the sabbath day. And, so, the religious Jewish people begin to flood into the area and pray at the wall and just rejoice and celebrate. And, so, we got to be part of just a little bit of that as they were coming in and then we headed back. Some headed into the old city to do a little bit more shopping. Some headed back to the hotel to grab dinner, get some rest, cause it’s a big day today and many will be leaving today and some tomorrow. So, it was a great, great, day and we thank you so much for your prayers over this journey and we got one more day and then a lot of people travelling to all corners of the world. I mean, we have lots of people here from the United States, but we have the UK represented, we have Australia represented, I believe we have Norway represented. So, we’re kind of from all over the place, heading back all over the place. But that’s the beauty of this community. It doesn’t matter where we are, we’re all on this journey together. So, thank you for your continued prayers as we make our journeys homeward and as we move through today. We cannot tell you how much we have felt your prayers. I mean, we have felt a canopy of prayer over us the entire journey. And it’s been quite a journey. It’s been a beautiful thing to experience so much of this land. And, so, we thank you for your prayers and your continued prayers as we make our way home.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if all that we are as a community brings life to you, then thank you for your partnership. There is a link that’s on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Yes hello. Today is February 26th and I was listening to the February 24th prayer, community prayer line, and I had just hard a heart-to-heart with God saying how I was frustrated that sometimes He seemed so far away. And then John, John who called himself prodigal came on and began to tell his story and how he feels so far away from God right now. And I felt compelled to reread the story of the prodigal son. So, I’m just going to read you a few things John. Starting at verse 11. And then he said a certain man had two sons. The younger of them inappropriately said to her father, father give the share of the property that falls to me. So, he divided the estate between them. A few days later the younger son gathered together everything that he had to traveled to a distant country and there he wasted his fortune on reckless and the immoral living. Now when he had spent everything a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to do without and be in need. And then verse 17 says, but when he finally came to his senses he said, how many of my father’s hired band have more food than I while I’m dying of hunger. I will get up and go to my father. I will say to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Just treat me like one of your hired men. So, he got up and came to his father. But when he was still a long way off his father saw him and was moved with compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And John, the thing that came to me when I was rereading that passage was that although God’s love is very conditional or very unconditional rather…regardless…there is…His grace…I mean…He’s full of grace…but He does require that we get up, that we go to Him, that we come before Him and say I’ve sinned. You know, so it’s, it’s just, you have to get up John…
Hello Daily Audio Bible. I’m a Christian and married to a Christian. We have two kids. One is over 25 years old and the other one is 16. And my wife is a pastor’s daughter, but we are, we’re in a very shaky relationship marriage. And my wife does not want to go seek counseling or learn about marriage or further improving our relationship and marriage. Not interested in any resources or any prayers or counseling. So, we are just living as roommates and for convenience. And I think I want to have a connection, but, yeah, we’re living in the same household but we’re living as roommates. So, if you could pray for me. And that…help…pray for her…myself that we can reconcile and improve our marriage. I appreciate it. Thank you. This is Bill from California. Thank you.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. James the teacher on LA. I’m actually calling for Pelham. Pelham, brother, today’s 26th of February. I’m just catching on the podcast the 25th. I heard you. And I heard your voice and I was so excited to hear you. I thought oh man, there’s good news, there is movement, the Lord’s coming through and I heard you talking about that job prospect and then I heard you talking about what’s going on at home with your wife. And brother, I got to tell you, I’ve been there. Oh, my goodness I’ve been there. First year of my marriage my wife wasn’t working. She was going to school. I was broke. We were broke, broke. Like, credit cards maxed. No money in the bank. Asking my mom for food money. Not even worrying about the rent. Don’t know if I can pay for gas to get my car to work. And it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever been through. And our marriage, brand-new, we said some things to each other. And almost 8 years in, our marriage is still not perfect, but that’s eight years. And I only…if anything I can do besides pray and say is always as forgiveness and give it even when it’s not always asked for. There is no magic recipe and it hurts. It hurts but Jesus took all our suffering and we owe it to Him. If we owe anything, it’s our loyalty. I love you brother. Hang in.
Hi this is Valerie __ and I don’t have a prayer request. I’m actually just calling for Robert from Indian. Robert I’m originally from Indiana and you are about the same age as my nephews. And I have felt compelled to pray for young men in America. And one of my nephews is doing great and the other one was failing college and became suicidal and cut off all contact with the family and disappeared for a few days. And he’s back home now, but I just really have a burden to pray for young men your age. So, my dear boy, I am praying for you and I’m so proud of you for calling and reaching out to the DAB family. And I have index cards that I write down names and prayer requests of people. And, so, I’ve added you to my index cards. And I just want you to know that I’ll be praying for you. So, take care and hello to everybody else out there.
Hi Daily Audio Bible community my name is Kim. I am from Whitehorse Yukon in Canada. I’m calling for prayer request for my husband Devan. He is a good strong man. He is kind to me and my kids, but he does not believe in God. I have faith that he will come to know the Lord but people, I cannot do it alone. Please, brothers and sisters pray with me, that Devin will come to know the Lord. And I love this podcast. I listen to it every morning as I head to work. Thank you all for being such a blessing to me.
Hello, my name is Greg Smith and I’ve been a Daily Audio family member for many years, somewhat intermittent over the years, but I called in 2014 after my heart attack. And this community had supported me with prayer. I’m in another crisis right now. And, you know, life just brings us back to family sometimes. And I just wanted to request that the community would lift me up. There’s a lot of things going on and I really don’t know…I don’t know how to describe all the details…because it’s part of a storm…just crisis can come in a lot of different ways. Right? So, anyway, I just when ask for prayer from my family for my…I deal with depression and anxiety. And yet, I’m sort of the primary provider for my family. So, I can’t really be nonfunctional. Anyway, my email is craig.n.smith@me.com. If someone would like to reach out to me, that’s the way to get a hold of me. But I just want to continue to be part of this community. I was laid off last Tuesday, a week ago, it’s February 27th now and I’m trying to sort of redound from that impact on my family. Lots of details there I don’t need…God knows what’s going on…