Joshua 3:1-4:24, Luke 14:7-35, Psalms 80:1-19, Proverbs 12:27-28
Today is the 11th day April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. And it is great to be here with you today as we take the next step forward, which is what we do every single day. Every single day. A step forward through the Scriptures. And we stepped into the book of Joshua yesterday and we’re just getting going there so we’ll pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Joshua chapter 3 and chapter 4 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So as promised, we’ve moved into the book of Joshua and the book of Joshua is moving us into the promised land. And so today we have the retelling of crossing the Jordan River on dry ground and into the promised land. So for us as readers, as we’ve moved our way through this story all the way from the book of Genesis, until now short of just observing what the very few spies in two different generations observed, we haven’t been in the promised land. Now we’ve crossed over the Jordan River with the children of Israel and for the first time are in the promised land. So it’s actually a pretty big day for us in the Scriptures. We’ve been moving toward this moment for a very long time. Since the beginning of the year. And let’s notice what happens because it will happen again and again and again. We’ll notice it if we’re looking for it. Stones were taken out of the bottom of the Jordan River, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Stones were put back in the Jordan River. And these stones were piled up, not as a place of worship to bow down to, build a false idol or anything like that. Stones were piled up and left as a memorial. A memorial for the people who had been there and seen the event themselves, a memorial for future generations so that when children pass by that way with their parents and said what do all these rocks mean, they can be told this is where we crossed the Jordan River, this is where we came into the promised land. So that no one will ever forget what happened there. This is a custom that still exists all around the world today, right? So if you go to, I don’t know, a park or a city square, you may see a monument of some sort. It may be a statue of a person. It may be just some sort of a memorial for those who were lost in battles that died from that area. It may mark something specific that happened in that area. We do this for the same reason. These things get erected so that when people come there they can see them and ask what happened here? And then find out what happened here and remember. So as we encounter this happening in the Scriptures today, it’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this and it won’t be the last time. Because remembering is part of our human experience. In fact, it’s one of the primary things that makes us human beings. Our ability to remember and retell the story, right? We re-member the story. We bring it back to life in the retelling. So we’ll see this over and over in the Scriptures all the way down to Jesus sitting at his last meal saying do this in remembrance of me. Remembering and retelling is a major part of our human journey. I didn’t realize that until a few times through the Bible when I kept seeing this theme emerge, realizing that the tradition is something that we have continued and do continue as people until today. And in the Scriptures I found it wasn’t just erecting monuments of some sort. It was also to write things down so that they won’t be forgotten. For example, Moses, before he died, which is just recent for us in the Scriptures, he announced about future kings that they should write in the presence of the Levites the entire law in his own hand so he would have his own copy in his own hand that would not be forgotten. And it was there that I began to connect the dots to some of the practices of my own life with the journaling and realizing when you write down these things, not necessarily events of the day, oh I ate fast food and I shouldn’t have eaten fast food today, that kind of stuff, but truly the path of things that you were feeling, the people you encountered, the stuff that happened that is the essence of your life. When you habitually write that down, you are writing it down for future generations and you are writing it down so that you do not forget what happened. And as that adds up over the years, you have a memorial of God’s faithfulness in your life. And don’t we need that when we have forgotten the plot of the story. And the times that we’re thrashing around wondering what in the heck is going on. And we’re not able to take the long view, we’re just thrashing about. And we can’t seem to hear the voice of the Lord and we’re lost in it all and it’s just coming down upon us. So many things that are written about in the Psalms capture those sentiments and remind us that God is faithful. If David hadn’t written those things down we wouldn’t have them. If you don’t write things down then they won’t exist. They won’t exist for future generations, they won’t exist for you to remember. So we have a reminder here in the story that happened as the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River. They set up stones. One for each tribe of Israel. So that they would not forget where and what happened there. And we can do the same with our lives by simply getting a pad of paper that we keep and a pen or something to write with that we keep and just simply writing out our thoughts. And we can think of journaling as this sort of really involved process and it can be or it can be simply writing down the best moment of your day everyday. Or the most important thing that you learned today. It can be as involved as you want it to be or as simple as you want it to be because there are no rules about it other than this is something that helps you remember. And as you look back over time, you see the thread of redemption and God’s faithfulness in your life even in the challenging times, which buoys out faith in the days and decisions that are ahead of us. So we have the rhythm of the Scripture in our lives everyday. Here is an opportunity for another rhythm to incorporate into the rhythm of the Scriptures. Because these rhythms, they keep us tethered to our lives and they help give us context for what is going on. So I encourage you. Go through that junk drawer and find a pad of paper and start writing things down. Or go to your favorite store and find some nice paper and a nice writing utensil and write things down. If you can’t figure that out, then go to dailaudiobible.com in the shop. We have journals there. They’re our favorites. They’re the ones we created and that I use. And as of the beginning of 2017, I’ve been journaling with pencil. And so we have Blackwing pencils. The best pencils you can get on the planet in the Daily Audio Bible shop because serendipity lead me to them. My mom was dying literally. December of 2016 was such a difficult difficult season for me. I just got back from Israel. We went in November of that year. I was jet lagged. My mom…. she was losing it in her mind. And it was just really really erratic. She was just failing so fast and fighting so hard and Jill and I we took a couple hours one day just to go for a drive and ended up at this little gallery out in the country and I encountered these Blackwing pencils and became fascinated with them and bought a box of them and started writing with them and then became enamoured with it and realized after I got over the weirdness of being enamoured with a box of pencils that I was being rescued. God had brought something into my life that I could use. This little stick of cedar wood with graphite in the middle was a utensil that in my hand became a way for me to express my heart. And it became a rescue. And so we started building the best journal. The kind of journal we would want to use. Something that can be carried around. And so we have those. We made them. So if you don’t have one of your own or you can’t find something of your own you can go to Daily Audio Bible shop. We got the Blackwing pencils and all the stuff that goes with it. And the Daily Audio Bible journals. Those resources are available for this rhythm. Of course, you ( don’t have) to get the Daily Audio Bible journals or the Blackwing pencils. You can grab whatever you want. Whatever works for you. We just have these resources available because they are part of the rhythm of the Scripture. Part of the rhythm of life. Obviously anything will work. Whatever works for you. Just consider what memorial stones, what remembrances are you bringing into your life and documenting in some way so that you won’t forget and that will be available for future generations? What might you leave for your great great great grandchildren? What would you like them to know about now and what God is doing in your life now? And what you were struggling through right now. Because you have the opportunity to say these things and you will be here to say them with your own mouth. And when you consider it, a very very generous portion of the Bible is exactly that. And look how it speaks. Look how it challenges and gives us a clear path. So memorials, remembrances. We see these things all throughout the Bible. Very inconspicuous. When you watch, if you’re looking, you’ll see this theme emerge over and over as we move through the Scriptures and it’s an invitation for you to write your own story.
Prayer:
So, Father we thank You for Your word because it tells us the story of our spiritual ancestors and Your faithfulness in it all. And we realize as we read these pages from the Scriptures that this is our story as well. The issues of heart mind and will, our thoughts, our words, our deeds. They haven’t changed that much over time and we find ourselves reaching and longing and wondering about the same things. And so we thank You for Your word and what it represents in our lives. And we thank You for… Just the reminder that we can write our story, our journey with You, down. We can put pen to paper or in whatever way we want. We can tell the story for ourselves, for our own hearts and for future generations. We thank You for this reminder that this story that we’re reading in the Scripture is an ongoing story that we are a part of. And You are a part of. And when we collaborate together in the stories, something beautiful always happens. Something redemptive always happens. So when You speak, Lord, we want to take notes. And we thank You for this reminder. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.
Announcements:
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Tomorrow. Tomorrow is when the More Gathering for Women begins. So today is a day of travel and work and set up and preparation and prayer and technology and all kinds of stuff. So thank you for your prayers over that. Tomorrow the women will begin to arrive at camp and off we will go. So we’ve been talking about this for a long time and we’ve called the prayer warriors in for a long time. And so the canopy is raised over the camp and we just ask for continued intercession over everything. Everything that happens. Because we can set all this stuff up but if the presence of the Holy Spirit isn’t involved, what’s the point? I mean, what’s the point of all the work? What’s the point. So we pray and intercede that God has his perfect way in all of it as we move into the conference. And thank you for your prayers.
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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:
Hi. This is Candy in Tulsa. I think I’m, what, an 11 year listener. I call and every once in a while but usually my calls are for, anonymously, for those who are like me that pray or our in prayer and ask for prayer silently with everyone that are like myself. But today I am in prayer and call out to other prayer warriors for the families, for the mothers and fathers, that it’s the mothers heart that carry the grief because mothers hearts are the strong. Fathers carry the home but mothers heart’s the strongest for their children who are prodigal and we’ve had several of those calls. We must remember mothers that we only have them for short while and that we do our best and our best is never perfect. So, there’s only one perfect parent but that we loft our prayers and our concerns to the Lord. And recast our cares to him and that we do our best with our children and then it is up to them to do their best but that we could do nothing but love them through all of their pain and concern. I’m praying for you all.
Hi it’s His Beloved from Nashville. I am sending out an SOS, pretty much for my family again. It’s a precarious situation. We deal with a lot of afflictions, everybody does, a lot of people do. But I pray for sleep myself. I pray that we may overcome, we as a family may overcome the negativity, that just the bitterness, the absolute bitterness towards life, honestly. I pray that Jesus has the victory in it all. Yeah, again, I need sleep. I’m just not making sense I’m sure, I don’t know. I want to pray for my sisters, they’re both sick with a…we’re all sick really…we’ve all got an illness. But they…they are really sick. They’ve really been hit with it. Please feel my pain. Please, anybody, somebody, anybody. Thank you. Thank you.
Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s Laura in Houston. I hope you are all well. So, I just wanted to call and share some of my…I don’t know…just greetings. Blind Tony some of your poems lately, especially the one about parents, that reached my heart, praise the Lord, praise the Holy Spirit. And I wanted to reach out to I think it’s Eileen in Canada. I haven’t heard you in a while and I’ve been thinking of you. And Sophie in Oregon. I’m not sure, but are you the same person I met at the More Conference. If so, God still sees you and I remember you. I missed the More Conference this morning. I felt like I missed it like a missed a friend, probably because I made so many friends, sisters in Christ. Yeah, I will be praying, I am praying that the Holy Spirit will really speak to people, that God will heal hearts, start that healing process or continue it. He is good. And lastly, I want to let you know family that I’m getting married next month. The man, Toby, that I’ve been in relationship with on and off over a successful 3 to 4 years, we’ve had a lot of things happen, especially after the hurricane. And I would appreciate your prayers. We’d both appreciate your prayers as we go into this very serious covenant. And I feel the need to let you know and ask for your prayers. Thank you so much. I love you. I love listening to you. I pray with you. Bye.
Hi fellow DABers. This is Seeking in Dallas. I am a first-time caller and I’m calling about an ache in my heart that just won’t seem to go away. I’ve been seeking to know the Lord for over 20 years now, since when I moved from Atlanta in 1996 I guess. And I’m in Dallas now and I know a lot about Jesus, I read the word, I listen to the podcast. I do a lot with my church, but I just don’t feel like I know Jesus. I’ve never known God’s love and it’s affecting my relationships. I’m single, never been married, no children, and I’m almost 50 years old. I have such a sinking loneliness in my heart and I manage to destroy every relationship I’m because I never believed that I’m loved. I just don’t want to go on like this. I don’t know what to do. I just listened to the April 2nd podcast where says to love your neighbor as yourself and I left the room and walked back in and Brian was saying love yourself so you can you love other people. And I just don’t know how. Anyway, they also mentioned the More Gathering on the 12th and probably if this airs I’ll already have decided but I just quit my corporate job with nothing, no future job, not a lot of savings, just a little 401(k), and maybe I’ll just go to the More Gathering. Anyway, please just pray for me. I pray for you all every day. I love you all. And thank you Brian and family for this wonderful podcast. It’s life-changing. I’ve shared it with many people. Anyway, everyone, have a wonderful weekend and a…
Hi everyone. It’s Sharon from St. Louis. It’s been quite a while since I’ve called in but I have been praying. And I’ve been praying like a lot of others for Lisa, Sharon, Sophie, and Micah and all the other DABbers that are just going through a lot of struggle, depression, despair. But as it says in the Bible, God uses all of this to make us more like him. I just think about James and the first part of James, James 1 in 2-4 and what it tells us in that, consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters when we face trials of any kind because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance, that perseverance finishes work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. And then also, Romans 5, 3 through 5 also goes through the same kind of thing. God uses these things. And as hard as they are, He is using them to make us more like Him. And, so, I just want you to know, yes, please get with other brothers and sisters, reach out to those that are in Christ who can love on you, that get into the truth of the word. We’re going through Bible Study Fellowship. We’re going through Romans. And I just love what my teacher had to say about Romans 8:28 and 29. A lot of people like to throw 28 out there, whenever bad things are going on with people, but we ask these “why” questions in our heart. It’s only human. And, so, that “why” question is answered in Romans 8:29, because He is conforming us to be like Jesus. So, I don’t know about you, but I love how the __ has __ in them. And you know, when we go through these things it helps our roots grow deeper and deeper. And, so, I’m just praying for you brothers and sisters out there that struggle, that we can shine on like crazy diamonds because you are loved.