Numbers 33:40-35:34, Luke 5:12-28, Psalms 65:1-13, Proverbs 11:23
Today is the 22nd day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you. We’ve journeyed through the center of the week and now we’re on the back half step-by-step, day by day, forward through the Scriptures. So, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’re about to finish the book of Numbers. We’ll read from Numbers today and then we will be concluding the book of numbers tomorrow, but for today, Numbers 33 verse 40 through 35 verse 34.
Commentary:
Okay. So, there’s a couple of things we can notice in the gospel of Luke in our reading today. The first is certainly that Jesus has the power to heal and set captives free, but He’s not using that as His calling card, right? That’s not what He’s doing. He’s not trying to draw people for the magic show at all. Like, He’s not trying to be the roving circus. He’s trying to call people back to God. And so often, and as we saw in today’s reading, when someone gets healed He tells them to keep it on the down low. He asks them not to tell anybody. But, of course, they don’t do that so the crowds increase and increase and increase, but they’re not specifically the crowds Jesus is looking for. He’s looking for people with years to hear and eyes to see. And every time people spread all of this miracle magic worker stuff around the countryside it draws a crowd of curiosity, but not a crowd of those with eyes to see and ears to hear. And, so, we see clearly that Jesus isn’t manipulative in any way. He’s not trying to build the reputation that is surrounding Him. He’s trying to declare the good favor of the Lord, to heal the brokenhearted, and set the captives free, but we see just how infectious the power of God is, it draws the crowd of curiosity, which makes Jesus saying, ‘wide is the gate, broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it’ make a lot more sense. The other thing that we can notice in today’s reading is that the Pharisees and scribes, and teachers of the law, they’re around Jesus, they’re listening and they’re actually traveling to hear Jesus. So, His reputation is definitely spreading all the way to Jerusalem. People are coming all the way from Jerusalem to the Galilee. That’s a pretty good hike, 90 miles, to see what’s going on. So, they’re trying to check out what is happening, but anytime Jesus encroaches upon ritual and tradition, they’re put off by it. And this eventually is what gets Jesus into trouble and what eventually gets people plotting to assassinate Jesus. And we see that in today’s reading when this crippled person is carried to Jesus by His friends, and they can’t get to Jesus. And, so, they tear a hole in the roof and lower Him down. Jesus sees their faith and He tells the young man, your sins are forgiven, which immediately perks up the ears of the religious leaders, right? Because this is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins they’re saying to themselves. So, the clear power of God is within Jesus and yet He’s bucking the system, leaving these people confused. And, so, you know, they resort to things like, well, yes, He’s got power, but the power that He has is from the devil, which of course leads Jesus to say, like, how can that even be? What you’re saying, how can that even be? But we can note as we’re moving to Luke. This is how it’s going to go. They’re going to keep watching Jesus. At first they’re amazed at His way of expanding and expounding upon the Scriptures and the obvious anointing that is upon Him, but He’s willing to fly in the face of their tradition and they’re not willing to go on that journey, which obviously, as we know, will lead us to Jerusalem, and a crucifixion. The people of God, conspiring against God to destroy God, which is a pretty stark and harsh reality, but it invites us to consider the ways that we hold onto our own rituals and traditions and try to block out anyone who might obviously have the anointing of God in some sort of way and be bringing light and life and good news but just in a way that’s uncomfortable to us. In some way we make the same kinds of judgments.
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into those things. These kinds of themes, they continue to come up in the Scriptures, and they come up often enough that they can’t really leave our minds. We have to continually examine ourselves, which is the beauty of Your word. It continues to press in upon us. It won’t let us become complacent. It’s constantly challenging us and inviting us forward. And, so, we thank You for that. As uncomfortable as it can be at times, we thank You for that because all You are trying to do is heal our broken hearts and set us free. And, so, we embrace that Lord. We open ourselves to that and invite Your Holy Spirit to plant Your word in our lives today. And we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
Announcements:
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This Sunday ,couple days from now, is the next thing on the calendar. I’ll be speaking in Louisville, Kentucky New Song Christian fellowship. So, if you’re in the area come out and say hello. I’ve also mentioned the 8th of April, which is two weeks from Sunday. I’ll be in Washington state at Columbia Community Church in the Tri-Cities area.
And then the 12th of April is when the More Gathering for women begins. And we’re assembling an army of prayer over and around everything about the More Gathering. And, so, inviting you, the entire community to begin to pray over all of the women who will be making the journey to the mountains of Georgia and just covering everything – travel, health, technology, all of it. Thank you for your prayers in advance and all the way through the event. And, of course, if that’s something you want to come to you can check it out it moregathering.com.
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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:
Hi. This is Stephanie the Lord’s Chic from Oklahoma. This is the first time that I’ve called. I’ve been listening since, oh, I think October of last year and this is the biggest blessing I could have ever come across. I am headed to Texas for a family reunion with estranged children. I have five children. The oldest, we don’t know where he is exactly. The next two, I’ve basically been estranged from for six years. And the youngest two are my brother and sister in Christ and my breath. So, the three of us are traveling from Oklahoma to Texas to celebrate one of the older children’s, my granddaughter has finished her chemotherapy, and we’re celebrating her life together. This can potentially be a powder keg or it can potentially be a thing of great blessing. So, I would ask for prayer for the Jesus mobile as we travel down to Texas for protection mentally, physically, and spiritually for us as there are varied and sundry spiritual aspects going to be there, anything from Buddhism to New Age to witchcraft. So, I covet your prayers and I’m so glad that there are many, many brothers and sisters to help us. I will update on our return. We leave Friday the 23rd and should return Monday the 26th. So, God bless you all. Love you all. Bye-bye.
Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It is Dr. John from Jordan New York. Jeff from Syracuse, you’re breaking my heart. I can totally relate with you in the process of losing your wife of 29 years. My wife and I will celebrate 29 years this coming June and I just can’t imagine going through that. So, my prayers are with you for peace and for comfort for you and for your wife Martha, I think her name is Martha. Anyway, just know that you’re being prayed for. Thank you, all your prayer warriors out there that pray for the unspoken prayers. I just want to let you know about one such answered unspoken prayer. My mom was considering going to new hospice because she was not getting better after a fall. And she was really short of breath and she required oxygen. And…I kept saying I need to call, I need to call and I didn’t. And I just went down to visit her and she is doing so much better. She’s like, yeah, I guess I’m not gonna die yet. So, it’s an answer to prayer and for those of you who pray for the unspoken prayers thank you. This one’s for you. Please keep up the good work. I love you guys. Make it a great day. Cheers.
Hi family this is His Little Sharee in Canada and I wanted to thank Victoria S. for praying for me. I also wanted to thank everybody who’s been praying for me. My sleep has improved greatly praise the Lord. I’m so grateful because the last several days I’ve slept so much better. My restless legs have really been so much better and I’m so grateful. And I’m also calling to pray for Mel from Florida who called to say that she’s been having trouble with insomnia the past couple of months. Mel I’ve just decided to adopt you in prayer and I’m going to break praying for you because obviously my heart goes out to you and to everyone who suffers with sleeping problems whether it’s from an underlying health condition or whether it’s from pain, whether it’s nightmares, shiftwork, anything that causes a disruption for sleep. I want to pray for everyone but specifically for Mel. And Mel, I also want to let you know that when the enemy comes against you the Lord stands guard over you as your shepherd to keep the wolves of fear away. And I’m going to be praying that in the night your shepherd will stand guard over you and you will be blanketed by peace and fear were not be able to touch you. In fact, that place of fear will become a place of intimacy as it says in Psalms 23 - In the presence of my enemies the Lord prepares a table for me. So, I’m praying that He would turn fear into intimacy and you would dine with the Lord and commune with him in the night and all the plans and purposes of the evil one will be foiled. Thank you, family. Bye for now.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Tony from Germany and I have a really neat story to tell. Well, some of you already know it. When the Daily Audio Bible group was in Israel, those who were traveling there with Brian, I happen to be there to work. And I had wanted to connect with the group but I was working long, long hours and six days a week and so forth. The one day I had off, I planned to take a coworker into Jerusalem. And in that morning when I was listening to the Daily Audio Bible podcast, I heard the group was going to be in Jerusalem and it was their last date. So, I went into Jerusalem and I was arriving I prayed out loud, Lord Jesus said if you say to this mountain be lifted up and thrown into the sea even that will happen. You will receive all you pray for provided you have faith. And I said, Lord please bring me together with the DAB travelers to include Brian. One hour later I saw them and they were all standing in line waiting to go into the Holy Sepulchre church. I had my Sneezing Jesus book with me so I could be easily identified and I started waving it in the air and suddenly there was an uproar of the crowd. Everyone recognized the book. Some had seen a post of mine on DAB friends. And lo and behold, I was connected to the group. So, I wanted to share that. And it was an honor. I wasn’t expecting this, but Brian signed my Sneezing Jesus book. So, now I can’t give that one away. So, I just wanted to share. It was lovely meeting the travelers and Brian. God bless everyone. Bye.
Alleluia Jesus. This is Matthew __ from Fair Oaks Alabama calling in to let you all know the truth. Jesus is Lord and depression is a liar. In the name of Jesus, I rebuke depression off of the lives, all the lies to be removed from the body of Christ in Jesus’ mighty name. Depression you have to go. You have no place in his body. Lord, bring the times of refreshing. Bring the fresh washing of the word, the renewing of the mind into the hearts and minds of the body of Christ. We have the mind of Christ and we are strong in the power is might. Depression, you’re a liar you have to go. In Jesus’ name. I love you family. God is so good. I dealt with depression before I was saved. I was set free and then, years later, his hands came back but they’re liars because the times of refreshing are so sweet. God is so kind and so generous. I love you. God bless you. Depression is a liar.