03/24/2018 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29, Luke 6:12-38, Psalms 67:1-7, Proverbs 11:27

Today is the 24th day of March.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you and here we are.  We have made our journey through another week and we’re about to close it down. And what a great week it has been. We’ve moved ourselves into the book of Deuteronomy. We’re just getting going on that, Moses’ final thoughts, review, commissioning. And when we finish the book of Deuteronomy, we’ll be moving into an entirely new era in the old testament. But not to get ahead of ourselves. Deuteronomy chapter 2 and 3 today. And we’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay, so in the gospel of Luke we have reached a point where Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount. And we read that when we read through the book of Matthew. Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount is a little bit abbreviated, while Matthew’s retelling is a little more expanded. But it’s important to understand what Jesus is doing here. So, like, God blesses you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. You can read that and go, really? Like how does that work? God blesses you who are hungry now for you will be satisfied? God blesses you who weep now for in due time you will have…how does that work? Should I try to be poor? Should I try to be hungry?  Should I try to be crying a lot? What we have to understand is who Jesus is talking to. He’s talking to people in the Galilee region, which was very, very much on the radar of the Roman empire because a lot of zealotry and what Rome would have considered terrorism had come from the region historically. And some of that was whipped up because of religious fervor for a restoration of the land. But some of it was whipped up simply because of the situation the people had to live in. They felt like they were completely over taxed, and they were. They felt like their occupiers had their foot on their necks and were holding them down and there was really no hope for anything better. So, they were poor and they were hungry and they were weeping. And what Jesus was doing was announcing a shift that things were going to flip around because he speaks to the opposite side of that coin. What sorrow awaits you who are rich. You have all the happiness you’re ever gonna get. What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now. Hunger is on its way. What sorrow awaits you who laugh now. Your laughing will turn to mourning, right? So, the people who are on top are going to switch places with the people that are on the bottom, which isn’t necessarily a new thought. This has been going on all along, right? The wheel spins on and what’s on top gets on the bottom and then what’s on the bottom gets on the top. And it goes and goes and goes. But it is possible for it not to be that way. That’s the question really happening here. Is it possible that somebody doesn’t have to be on the bottom so that someone can be on the top? And do those who are on the top have to fall to the bottom so that those who are on the bottom can spin around to be on top? Is life always going to be a rise and a fall and a rise and a fall? Because it gets complicated. If you’re the one on the top, you don’t wanna go to the bottom so that the bottom people can go on top. You fight really, really hard to stay where you are. And if you are on the bottom and it’s a hopeless situation, then you are going to fight as hard as you possibly can and resist as hard as you can to get somewhere other than the bottom. And we see this kind of stuff playing out in the world, even now. It’s always been playing out. But it shows up hotly in politics in discussions about equality. And this isn’t a new thing. Like, the people of the world have been tinkering with this, with their governmental systems, the whole society together for a long time. So, this was a part of the discussion in Jesus time. This isn’t something new. What is new, what was so radical, what is so radical, is how Jesus told us to deal with it. And we can legislate everything that we wanna legislate, but no matter how we tinker with it, somebody wins and somebody loses. We’re not gonna figure this out on our own ever. It has never been figured out until Jesus radical words. How do we live and deal with this kind of situation? Jesus says, if you’re willing to listen, and he says that kind of stuff a lot. I’m telling you the truth. For those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. So, he says, if you’re willing to listen, then here’s your solution. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks. When things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others what you would like them to do to you. We have made these really, really, pretty words, something to aspire toward, but miss the radical nature of what is being said. The wheel doesn’t stop spinning where someone’s on top and someone’s on the bottom and then it flips until we all obey Jesus words. And Jesus is God. So, this is God’s advice for this issue. It’s really tough, though. It’s okay to live like this if everybody’s on the same page, right?  It’s hard to live like this when you are living like this but no one else around you is. You just feel like you’re getting trampled constantly.

Okay, so Jesus is talking to the downtrodden people, so he’s talking to the people who were on the bottom of this equation. And he’s telling them, it’s not always going to be like this. Eventually it will flip over. However, it will flip over again. You’ll be back on the bottom at some point unless you listen. If you’re willing to listen, this will eventually flip itself over. But then you’ll just become exactly what you hate right now. You’ll be that guy unless you listen. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. And if we just made this pretty words than we’re missing the point and we’re missing the plot. And if we think, well, those sayings have been around a long time and everybody tries a little bit to live into them, but I don’t see how they’re so radical. Stop for a second and imagine a world like this. If everyone loves their enemies, enemies go away, right? If everyone does good to those who hate you, well then those who hate you disappear. If everyone blesses those who curse you, well then those who curse you disappear because everyone is being loved and good is being done to everyone and no one is cursing anyone. Everyone is doing to each other what they would like done to themselves. It’s pretty radical. That would be a radical, radical shift in this world. And it’s what God’s kingdom looks like. So, we of all people, we who follow Christ, we who are a part of this new family of God upon this earth through Christ, if we’re not living into this and we’re not bringing God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Pretty radical indeed. So, may we do what Jesus said. May we become willing to listen to him and begin to live into this. Otherwise the wheel just keeps spinning. And we probably all drive cars and probably a good portion of us have been stuck before, right? And when wheels spin and you’re going nowhere, you’re digging a rut. You’re stuck. And Jesus has thrown the wench that will pull us out. Do we want to be stuck or do we want to be free?

Prayer:

And, so, Jesus, we hear You and now we see just how radical this is and we see how important it is that we listen to You that we might get unstuck. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what is going on around here.

Tomorrow, I’ll be in Louisville Kentucky speaking at New Song Christian Fellowship Louisville and looking forward to that. That was something that was rescheduled. We were supposed to do this is January but we had an ice storm come through. So we should be good for tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing those of you who are in the area. Come say hello.

The 8th of April I’ll be in Washington state at Columbia Community Church in the Tri cities area. So looking forward to that.

And the 12th of April is when we begin the More Gathering for Women. And this is the time where as a community we come together and intercede over that. Everything about it needs to be covered in prayer. And it has been being prayed for for months and months. But now as a community we come together over all of that. So, thank you for your prayers for the More Gathering coming up in a few weeks.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link.  It’s on the homepage. Thank you profoundly for your partnership. 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 877 942 4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I am Brian I love you. May we love one another. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello everybody. Hey this is Annette calling from Oklahoma City. Hello. Thank you for the shout out my sister XYZ. Hey, I know where you’re coming from. I was there. Let me tell you, I was married to a…I’ll just call him a gentleman for nine years. And he was very cruel, ruthless, self-centered. You name it. His favorite thing to do was to shove me into walls and things like that because it didn’t leave marks on my face. So, yeah, I get it, I get it. And eventually got out with the help of some friends. He got me at every turn let me tell you. Broke into my house. Stole things for me. Wrecked things. You name it. You know, followed me. I had to take legal action against him. So, you know when they come over to your house to know to try to kill you, you know, you hold that the piece of paper, right? And that should save your life? So, that doesn’t work. So, the only thing I can tell you is that eventually they get tired of it and then they just move on. And I really pray that for you. And I know that I empathize and sympathize with you greatly because I know how it feels to be there and I know that there’s a lot of women who do. And men too. I’m not just saying…it’s not just women. There’s men too who understand. And we’re praying for you. And I’m telling you, if you can get to that More Conference for women, sister, it would be the best thing that ever happened to you in your whole entire life. And you are not alone. We are here with you. Okay. I’m on Facebook. Okay? Annette A. And I’m on DAB friends. So, if you want someone to talk to just reach out, okay. And I know it’s tough. And, so we’re here, we’re here…

Hi family this is Julie from Ohio. I called a few times but it’s been a while. I wanted to ask for prayers for my husband who is suffering from extremely __ and depression as well. It’s primarily depression that he needs prayer for. And I’ve been fasting for him because he hasn’t been going to church in a while. And there are few women in our church who’s husband’s also have not been coming to church in forever which is __. So, we’ve been fasting together and usually on Tuesdays. And I just wanted to suggest that anyone with a spouse who is going through a hard time with depression or just is not close to God, maybe we can all fast together every Tuesday. I realize that if I don’t fast for my husband I definitely feel the negative effects of it. I definitely feel Satan has a grip on my husband’s mind and on his heart. So, please pray for him. And whoever wants to join us in fasting, you are more than welcome to every Tuesday. Thank you, Brian and Jill. Thank you. Thank you to the community for all of the prayers. Love you. Bye.

Hi this is Deborah from Michigan. A month ago I was in a very serious auto accident. I was in ICU for a week and am still recovering and it left me with many broken bones and a brain injury. But what I wanted to call for is I wanted to let Brian and Jill know how very blest you’ve made me and how grateful I am for the two of you. Brian, when I get frustrated and sometimes I can’t find my words or I forget something, I listen to the Daily Audio Bible and it calms me down. And even at night sometimes when I am getting insomnia, I, again, turn on the TV daily audio Bible and sometimes even your words just put me to sleep. And they really help me a lot. And Jill I am so inspired by your Daily Audio Bible for women that you put on Facebook for women every day. You two are a true blessing to me and as I go through my recovery I’m so grateful for you two and I just wanted you to know that. Thank you.

Hey Daily Audio Bible. This is Paul from Houston and it’s the 20th of March and I’m just asking for prayer for my marriage. I was listening to __  song __ the room and I just had a….was writing up some things for that for my marriage of 20 years and just asking for prayer. Amen. __ of mercy I never meant for it to end this way, to let 20 years of marriage go down the drain. I was too proud to see the light __ caught my eyes. I couldn’t see the trash heaped up in my home. Blinded, I would let it get so bad. Life could not __ I could express my love only to hit the barriers between us both. It does seem like a war zone. Closed, __ in the bunker well we traded words like __. God when did our mouths turn on each other? How did it get this way? When did we lose each other. God, I wish You were here in the middle of all this. I feel that Your far away. Can You remove the blinders from each other’s eyes? Can You help us be our love and love each other like Christ? Help me to love her like You love us. Help me to see the hurt from all my lust. Oh, please heal my betrayal. I’m worse than Jesus to my lady. I want to be restored but I have to give it to you. Please take our broken marriage and help us each off us to mend. Thank you, God for your grace which doesn’t and. Amen. Anyways, I just thank you guys for your prayers. It’s Paul from Houston. And I…just…I’m writing this down and appreciate…