02/12/2019 DAB Transcript

Exodus 34:1-35:9, Matthew 27:15-31, Psalms 33:12-22, Proverbs 9:1-6

Today is the 12th day of…February…I had a brain freeze…February, that’s where we are and we’re just about to the middle of the month in a couple of days when we experience Valentine’s Day. And it’s great to be here with you for the next step forward in our adventure through the Scriptures this year. And this week we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version and in the Old Testament we’re reading through the book of Exodus, which we will conclude before this week is out. But today, Exodus chapter 34 verse 1 through 35 verse 9.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’ve been watching some erratic movement back and forth in the children of Israel’s existence in the book of Exodus, so erratic that they’re bowing in worship to a golden calf and then we have the conspiracy to kill Jesus in the book of Matthew. And, so, kind of some dark territory that we’re moving through but we have to consider ourselves in these stories. Like, where are our hearts in these stories? Who would we be if we were living in those stories, right? Would we be bowing to a golden calf wondering what happened to the man of God who disappeared on the mountain? Would we be yelling nail Him to a cross in the throng of people who had been whipped into a frenzy by the trusted religious leaders? We’ll read these stories and consider ourselves maybe above the disciples, “no we wouldn't…we wouldn’t run away, no we wouldn’t deny.” Or we might read the Old Testament story and think of ourselves more along with the priests and with Moses not…we would be the people going, “what are we supposed to do now? Give us a God so that we can be led forward in our lives.” And, so, trying to put ourselves in the story, this can be disruptive, but it exposes us, it invites us forward because we have to consider how patient God is with humanity, how patient God is with us, how intentional He is, how long-suffering He is. We do not deserve it. And that’s the thing because we began to think that we do. We don’t deserve God’s compassion and grace. Why does He love us at all?

In our reading from Psalms today we got some clues. We read, “the Lord looks at the world from His throne in heaven and He watches us all. The Lord gave us each a mind, and nothing we do can be hidden from Him.” In other words, God sees and He understands and it’s a pretty radical thing to know that we’re are understood when we’re so often screaming just the opposite into the face of the Lord, but He his understand, right? Every atom, every molecule, everything that makes us who we are, every good conviction and emotion that fills our hearts finds its essence in God because we were created in His image after His likeness. Of course He understands, He’s our Father. And, so, as we continue forward and we see God giving the law we have to understand that He’s not vengefully, angrily laying down the law. Instead, He’s weaving into the fabric of this new culture the story of who He is and what it means to be set apart by Him.

And as we watch Jesus, as we watch for the first time, Jesus go to the cross in the book of Matthew, we have to acknowledge just how committed God is to setting us apart.

The Psalm goes on to say, “the Lord watches over all who honor Him and trust His kindness.” In other words, we are being fathered by God under His watchful eye. He understands us, and He was willing to come and give His life so that we could know Him intimately, so that we could come close.

The proverb told us to leave our simple ways behind and begin to live. Maybe it’s time to do that. Maybe it’s time to own our part of the relationship as we’ve talked about already this year. God has done His part. Maybe it’s time that we grow up and do our part. God does understand us, and we are loved more than we can comprehend. Maybe we should give everything we’ve got and love Him with all of our heart and our mind and our strength in return.

Prayer:

Father, we begin by humbly acknowledging Your patience, Your long-suffering, Your kindness, Your goodness to us. We acknowledge that You are our Father, and that You love us. And then next we humbly repent for the ways in which we haven’t lived as if that were true, for the ways that we’ve lived as if that were not true and have thrashed about screaming and yelling about the circumstances that we’ve navigated ourselves into. Forgive us God. You are present. We acknowledge that You wouldn’t leave us. You died for us. You wouldn’t abandon us. You are with us every moment, every breath, and You love us, and You have bestowed upon us Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth. We acknowledge that we’re just not always paying attention. In fact, maybe we’re paying attention far less than we think. So, come Holy Spirit. Once again, we open ourselves to You and Your power of sanctification and transformation within us. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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The Daily Audio Bible Shop is also available dailyaudiobible.com and there are resources for this journey as we continue to step our way through the year. So, check that out.

And then continue, of course, to pray for the upcoming adventure that we’re about to go on as we visit the land of the Bible and visit so many of the places that we’ve already visited so far this year. We’ll bring them to life. A bunch of us will be there in person but it’s a virtual trip that we go on together. So, make sure your bags packed and don’t back to heavy, I’ve got to fit all of you in my suitcase, so, as light is you can and off we’ll go to the land of the Bible. And thank you for your prayers over that are coming up next week.

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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:

Hi, I’m calling in today because I have been feeling that I’ve been needing to make this call for several weeks, but I was out of the country for part of that time so now I’m finally doing it. But I’ve been feeling that…I’ve been feeling the urge to ask everyone to think about how much does Daily Audio Bible mean to you? I know for me it’s meant so much. I’ve been listening to it for about a year now and it’s been incredible, the change that is made in my life. Finally, I understand the word of God and I can talk about it and I can understand things and it’s given me a power and a knowledge that is incredible. And, so, I started donating once a month. I set up a payment where it sends payment once a month and I think that it’s something important that we should all do if it’s valuable to you. It must cost a lot of money and time and effort to make this all happen and it’s wonderful that is free and accessible to all of us but if we want this to continue I think you need to make sure that we, that we, you know, support this financially as well…as well as, you know, all the other ways that we support it by being a community and by gathering together and supporting each other. So, I’m just asking if even if you don’t have a lot of money, I don’t, but even if you can donate $15 a month or if it’s $50 or $100 or whatever it is but just do something that’s every month because this community doesn’t just survive off of words it also requires financial backing. So, I’m just, you know, wanting to encourage you all to, if you haven’t already to go onto Daily Audio Bible __, you can set up a monthly donation so that you can…so that this can continue and more people in the future…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. I’ve called in before and left a name but I’m not leaving my name because of a vicious family member. I just call myself in pain right now. I need you all to pray for me and my family. We’re going through a difficult time. My brother just called me, and we can’t find him. He tried to tell me that he wants to commit suicide and I don’t believe it’s gonna happen because I know God loves me and He loves him. And God’s gonna keep him because I lift him up and prayers. And I just need some more prayer to strengthen me as I go through this, not knowing where my brother is and all the things that he’s going through. He’s going through some really, really, really bad things right now. These things that he can even forgive himself for, but he knows God and he loves God. Please pray that God will reveal Himself to him right at this moment. I know this recording won’t be heard right now but I know God knows the schedule of time and I know your prayers, when they go up they don’t reach back in the past, they change everything. So, I’m asking that you pray for me, that I can be strong, for my brother. And I pray that you would have God keep my brother, keep him alive, and let him understand that this is not the end of the world, that things will get better so that he can forgive himself and that he can love himself like God loves him. Pray for his family, his wife and his children and that he would __ protect him. So, please pray my strength so I can be strong to him because I know God loves us unconditionally and He’s gonna take care of all of us unimaginably and I’m just waiting for that miracle. Let God get the glory…

Hello family, my name is Jill and I’m from the state of Washington. I am married to a wonderful man whose sexaholic. This has been a really difficult last two year transition for me as I discovered it. I was lied to and was more lied to and more lied to and now I feel like I am probably being told the truth. He is involved with multiple groups that are helping sexaholics and most importantly he’s reached out to God. That is something I shut down for quite a while because it was very difficult for me. I shut down my Lord, my Savior but I’m now reaching out to Him again and I would ask that you would pray for us, that God would just capture the heart of our home. We have all adult children, four adult children, and it’s been very trying as some of the blame has come back on me. That’s just been painful. But please family, pray for us that God would just capture our hearts, know how to respond and also that we would reach out for Him to heal us because I have been destroyed as a woman, as a partner, as an identity as a female. Thank you. I appreciate your prayers.

Hi, yeah, this is Joey from Missouri again. Sorry__ is February 8th, 2019 and it is a Friday afternoon. I just wanted to congratulate Beth from Canada on her on her legal permanent residence. Wow, congratulations, that is just wonderful. I just heard your phone call from the February 7th podcast and I just want to say that is just great. You know, sometimes…I think I mentioned I was in the final work…I’m in immigration…and it will take a while sometimes for…for applications to get approved. And sometimes we get that and it’s very easy to lose hope about that and I just want to say congratulations to Beth. And thank you to all of our __ others…so many of them. Duane from Wisconsin, Aright Holy Spirit let’s roll, Jay from New Jersey who is now from Nashville. Thank you for your encouragement. You’re a very special person and I just want to say thank you. And everybody calls, know who you are. Thank you and have a blessed day. I pray for of you. Love you.

Hi, this is Pam from Wisconsin today is February 8th. My husband was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and we’re just feeling the overwhelming chaos regarding all the decisions that need to be made very rapidly. I do need to get the bills together today, something I’ve been avoiding because I don’t know how they’re going to get to get paid. I ask Jesus to calm my heart and keep my head clear. I had today’s Daily Audio Bible on in the background. Bob from Michigan called with a message for Tyler and gave him 2 Corinthians 1:9-10. That message dear Bob was also a message for us from the Holy Spirit and I thank you. I’ve supported Daily Audio Bible monthly as part of my missions giving for some time. Please believe me when I say your blessings for this community will far outweigh what you give. Please bring us to the Father in prayer as we walk down this road together with Him. Thank you.