Numbers 32:1-33:39, Luke 4:L31-5:11, Psalms 64:1-10, Proverbs 11:22
Today is the 21st day of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you. Next step forward is right in front of us, like we’ve lifted up our foot and we’re reaching forward to plant it down as we move forward through the Scriptures. And we do that by picking up where we left off yesterday and moving forward. So, today from the New Living Translation, Numbers chapter 32 verse 1 through 33 verse 39.
Commentary:
Alright. So, as we’re moving through the gospel of Luke today, some interesting questions begin to percolate. And then when we turn them toward ourselves, they kind of amount to this: why do you follow Jesus? It’s actually a more penetrating question than it might seem. If you sit with that for a minute, like, if you were to push pause and try to answer that question why do I follow Jesus, all kinds of answers can come to the surface and when we read into the gospel of Luke why people are following Jesus around, it kind of boils down to that He is a miracle worker who speaks with authority. And, so, people are coming from all around the countryside to hear Jesus and maybe hopefully get something from Jesus. Get some sort of touch of healing or deliverance from Jesus. And, of course, there’s nothing wrong with this, but it just exposes the motivation. Like, why am I getting up off of my sleeping mat, leaving my home walking for miles to find this Jesus, to listen to this Jesus? But for many of these people, it was because they needed something, whether it was words of hope and authority or whether it was a healing touch in some sort of way. So, as we continue to read forward and as the story progresses, Jesus has a crowd around Him and He’s kind of pressed up against the shores of the Sea of Galilee. And there’s a couple of boats. And, so, He just hops into one of the boats, which is an interesting thing to do, especially if it’s not your boat, but it was Simon’s boat and Jesus had been to Simon’s house so that all makes sense. Jesus goes out into the water where He can sit down and not be pressed into the water and He teaches the crowds. When He’s done, He asked His experienced friends who were fishermen, who actually knew the Sea of Galilee and made their living on the Sea of Galilee, to row out into deeper water and cast their nets down. And it’s Simon Peter and he says, Well, if this is what you want us to do, rabbi, then we’ll do this. But just so you know, we were fishing all night. When you showed up, we were cleaning off our nets so we can get some rest. Like, we kind of know what we’re doing. We fished all night and we didn’t catch anything. But if this is what you want, then we’ll do it. And, so, they go out into the deep, cast their nets down into the water, right? And then this huge horde of fish is so large that it’s tearing their nets. The other boat has to come out and help. And by the time it’s done, both of these fishing boats are so full of fish that the boats are in danger of capsizing. So, Simon Peter, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, they have just got the catch of a lifetime. Like, their boats are so full of fish right now that maybe they’re going to get ahead on their payments. Maybe they have boat payments, maybe they have bills to pay. Maybe they are finally going to get ahead. God has truly blessed them. So that’s a reason to follow Jesus. And, after all, they do become His disciples. So, that’s a reason to follow Jesus. But we see that their heart’s posture is so awestruck that it becomes something far more than what they can get from Jesus. Simon Peter falls to his knees and he’s like, Lord, leave. Leave me. I don’t deserve to be in your presence. I’m such a sinful man. So, we’re seeing Peter’s heart in this. And Jesus tells Him, don’t be afraid. From now on, you’ll be fishing for people. And then here’s the kicker. As they are getting the catch of a lifetime, the opportunity to get ahead in life, maybe financially, maybe add a boat to the fleet, who knows? As they get to the shore, and I’m quoting the Scripture here, and as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. So, obviously in this moment it went beyond what they could get from Jesus. They left it all and followed Him, knowing that what they had just experienced and what they had been seeing was clearly from God. And they were so convinced that they left everything. They left this great opportunity to follow Jesus. So, the question comes up: why am I following Jesus? Is it because of what He can do for me? Is it because of what His words bring up and do inside me? Is it because I think my life could be better with Him in it? Or does being in His presence make the world diminish and fade away and I see the presence of God before me. And my circumstances, whether challenging or whether bountiful, have so much less significance that I’ll follow Him anywhere because I cannot stand to be out of His presence. This is God. I want to be in His presence and whatever He goes, I’m going. That’s the posture of heart that we see in these disciples today as they begin to follow the path of Jesus and His ministry. And the posture of heart that we need to cultivate and adopt in our own lives.
Prayer:
And, so, Jesus we invite You into that question. Why are we walking with You? Why are we following You? And we invite Your Holy Spirit to bring up all of those things. None of them are wrong. We’re following You for lots of reasons, but we’re asking You to get to the bedrock of this. Is it because being in Your presence is the only place in this world that makes any sense and that nothing else is more important? This is the longing of our heart. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what is going on around here.
And a couple things real quick calendar related.
This Sunday, this coming Sunday, which is the 25th, I’ll be in Louisville Kentucky speaking at New Song Christian Fellowship. And then two weeks from this Sunday, I’ll be in Washington state in the Tri Cities at Columbia Community Church. So, if you are in either of those areas, you can get the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the events section.
And then on the 12th of April, the More Gathering for Women begins. So, if you’re still wanting to check that out, moregathering.com is the place. But this is the time where we invite the entire community. Begin praying, praying over this. The team has been interceding for months prior, our intercessors have been interceding for months. But now it’s time to call in the army and raise a canopy of prayer over the events at the More Gathering. And, so, just as you prayed for us as we were travelling around the land of the Bible and we felt that, we ask for your prayer covering over the More Gathering for Women coming up on the 12th. We wouldn’t dare go into something like this without the prayers of God’s people and the prayers in this community. We wouldn’t dare. So, we’re calling in the troops and asking for your prayers as we prepare for April.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. And humble gratitude is sent back toward you from all of our hearts. We are in this together. If we don’t do this together, then this can’t be done. And yet here we are. And God has sustained us because we’ve done this together. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at 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 P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 37174.
And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. If you’re in the Americas, 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you’re in the UK or Europe, 44-20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world, 61-3-8820-5459 is the number that you can call.
And that’s it for today. I am Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. Let’s pray. Father, we come together as a family to pray for sister Mel of Florida whose suffering from insomnia Lord. But she did exactly what she supposed to do Lord. She’s in the midst of her battle, she’s deep in the pit like David and reached out to You Father. And we just ask Lord that You would just come to her Lord, anoint here with peace, anoint her with sleep Father. For the glory of Your kingdom, let her know Lord what it is to rest fully Lord that she can have the rest needed to go on and be Your kingdom. And Lord we love You, we honor You, we pray this in Jesus’ name. I also want to pray for the men of the United States of America. I just ask that we come together Lord and lift up Lord men, honorable men of character Lord, that they would see their call, their noble call to lift up others, young men Father. That’s what we’re missing in this country so much is that men aren’t getting up to fight the good fight Lord and other men aren’t teaching those ways and I just ask Lord that every good honorable and man of character listening here today would find somebody to begin to pour that understanding and that goodness into Father, just so we can turn the tide of our families of the Youth of this country Father God. That’s what we need to Lord, is Your representation in the men of this country Lord to be honorable and of high character Lord, to be vulnerable with each other enough to admit their faults and to move forward. Thank You for praying with me family. This is Delta Alpha Foxtrot calling from the southern Texas front.
Hey family it’s Jordan from Michigan. I need prayer more than ever right now. So, two weeks ago I got engaged to a lovely woman, but five days ago she said that I need to talk to you in five days about something and we can talk until then. And, so, I’ve been in agony and anxiety for five days waiting and I found out that she’s breaking off our engagement. She gave me the ring back and it was because the distance was too much and because I had committed some sins that she had a hard time forgetting about. And she also said that I was relying too much on her for peace and comfort and not enough on God. And I’m just so broken right now. I’m just beside myself with grief. It’s been the worst five days of my life. And I just need God right now. So please, please pray for me. Thank you.
[Singing] Jesus I love you because you first loved me. Oh Lord Your blessings are so long for me. And how you keep me going dear Lord day by day. Jesus, I love you in every way. [Singing ends]
Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to God. Today is 8:27. I’m praying for our children, March 18. Dear Lord, today I want to lift up all of our children out there, those that are struggling with depression, physical needs, mental needs, financial needs Lord. We ask that You allow Your grace to enter them, to protect them, to heal them, to draw them closer to You. We ask You also to be over those who are orphans who don’t have parents. We ask that You allow people out there who are able to to support them to come into their lives and if possible adopt them and if they go to adopt that the road will be smooth and that You will help overcome any hurdles that may come in the way. And we ask that You be with those who are being used in the sex trafficking Lord. We ask that You give them comfort, peace, and remove that evil for their life. Block those people that are doing that __. We ask that You turn their cold hearts from what that they’re doing, to soften their hearts and turn to your Lord for forgiveness and to stop that evil trade. We ask that those out there who are hungry Lord that You allow them to have food and give them nourishment that they need and more importantly Your spiritual nourishment. We lift this all up to You Lord Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen. And God bless.
Hi this is Joanne from New Jersey. A shout out to DAB Israel 2018. Hi everybody. First of all, I want to say just thank you again to Brian and his family for doing this and all of the people who are in the background. It’s been a blessing to me. Second of all, I would like to just encourage John from Florida who called in on Saturday the 17th. Your call really touched my heart. I will definitely be in prayer, you know, with the lawsuit that you’re dealing with. And one thing that I do want to submit to you and your family is just continue doing what you’re doing, crying out to the Lord. And forgive, forgiveness. And ask the Lord about forgiveness and what it will do to release the spirit in the situation, open your eyes and set you free, and also set your adversary free. So, please just go before the Lord and this is coming from someone who has seen the ravages of unforgiveness, bitterness, you know, completely destroying people’s lives and also in the midst of it for self, in learning about forgiveness for self. So, I hope you can hear this and know that I am praying and I’m standing and fighting from the same place. So, all right. Bless you. Bye-bye.