Leviticus 14:1-57, Mark 6:30-56, Psalms 40:1-10, Proverbs 10:11-12
Today is the 23rd day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you for the first time able to broadcast from the from the Sea of Galilee and that’s something I always love saying. From the Sea of Galilee, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. So, we had a big day yesterday, a very full day and got in, we’re tired and just try to grab our rest and wake up and sort of see the fact that we are no longer in the wilderness, things have changed dramatically almost as if we’ve moved to a different part of the world and that’s how diverse the land of Israel is. So, we will be just capping out a bit and basing ourselves here for the next few days as we experience the northern regions, but we will talk about all of that in a little while. Let’s get to what we’ve come here to do and take the next step forward. So, we’re at the end of a week. We’ve been reading from the Christian standard Bible all this week, which is what we’ll do today and we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday, Leviticus chapter 14.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for the way that it washes into our lives, the way that it gently touches and soothes and heals, and the way that it gently pries up and confronts. We thank You for Your word because it speaks truth into our lives. And Father, even as we are here in the land of the Bible we ask that You bring these places and the events that happened in these places alive to us in new ways so that they continue to penetrate deeper and deeper into our hearts more thoroughly changing us and sanctifying us. We thank You for bringing us to this place here to the Galilee. We have wandered in the wilderness and it has a new meaning to us now, a profoundly new meaning to us. And now we have come to the place where You chose to do Your ministry. Out of all the places in the earth, this is where You chose. And, so, may we drink it in Father, as we visit the land the Galilee whether here in person or virtually. And we pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
So, we spent our day yesterday, actually, just coming out of the wilderness and making a few stops along the way. Our first stop was at the oasis of En Gedi where a bunch of things happen in Scripture but one in particular was from the book of second Chronicles, which we haven’t gotten to yet in the Scriptures, but a horde of three different nations, armies, crossed the Dead Sea and stage themselves at the oasis of En Gedi so they had fresh water and were preparing to attack Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, like there was no hope. And we read the outcome of that story and applied it to our lives before continuing a bit more North to Qumran, which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. And, I mean, the Dead Sea Scrolls, at least among biblical scholars, like, and pretty much archaeologists as well, this is like one of if not the greatest discovery in our era. So, we spent some time and began understand the context for how the Dead Sea Scrolls came to be hidden in these caves and how they came to sit for, you know, nearly 2 millennia before being discovered and then looked at some of the caves, one in particular, where the Isaiah scroll was found. This is the famous one. Like, if you Google Qumran, this is usually what you see. And, so, just overlooking that, taking some pictures, understanding how God protected His word in this way before moving to baptism and how we went out to the Jordan River and we got in and we left behind all that we were without Christ and we came out of the waters new. And that is always…I was gonna say…is always a special time but that’s an understatement…it’s a solemn thing. I mean it’s one of the most privileged things that I do is a minister…it's…there’s not the right words, especially to be able to be there to witness, you know, people going into the Jordan River and the impact that that reality has…it’s just…yeah…especially is right, but is maybe only 20% of right. It’s way more than that it's…it’s a holy moment. So, yeah, we were able to rejoice together in the Jordan River very near where Jesus would have been baptized, very near where the children of Israel would’ve crossed into this promised land and headed toward Jericho and it was beautiful. And then we actually did go into Jericho for lunch and a little bit of shopping and an opportunity to mingle with and observe and just be in the Palestinian culture. And that’s always fun. That’s just interesting and enjoyable and fun. And then then we went over to the ruins of Jericho and saw a few things before heading out. And, of course, this is also…Jesus obviously was baptized in the Jordan River and then according the Scriptures he went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days. So, you know, we’re in the Judean wilderness and there are things to commemorate that, but the entire area is the area. So, just kind of understanding that’s what’s also going on. There’s just a lot of themes flowing through Jericho that’s special. And another special thing was that, this is where the Kedron Valley ends, comes down from Jerusalem and ends up at Jericho and this was the pathway that was used to get between Jericho and Jerusalem. And, so, we were able to see opening of the Kedron Valley and look upon it because it inspired Psalm 23, the valley of the shadow of death, it inspired Jesus story about the good Samaritan and it was most certainly the pathway that Jesus walked from Jericho to Jerusalem on his way to the cross. So, profound indeed. And then we settled in and drove north through the Jordan Valley. We watched the desert slowly begin to show signs of life and we watched the greenery increase, increase until all the sudden we are in a fertile oasis. Ahhh…and what a transition. You can just feel it in your heart, you can feel it in your Spirit. We’re leaving the wilderness, life is returning. And we ended up on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, which is where we’ll be kind of camping out here for the next few days.
So tonight, and that’s tonight for us, but that’s probably somewhere around the time you might be hearing this. So, for example, in the United States at 11 AM Central Standard Time, so, you can kind of do the math from there, which is going to be 7 PM here at the Sea of Galilee, we’re gonna get together here as a group try to debrief little bit, spend some time together hearing from each other, but we’re gonna turn the cameras on at 7 and just kind of share our journey with our brothers and sisters who are coming along virtually, which is you. So, if you can, be sure to tune in, you can ask questions and chat with each other from all over the world and throw some questions into the group and have them answered and we’ll do that for about an hour. It’s not like we’re gonna do this, you know, for days, but we’ll do it for about an hour and it’s always fun, always ties the community together. It’s a beautiful thing. So, plan for that. Its 7 PM tonight in Israel and like I said that’s 11 AM in Nashville. So, that will be 12 PM noon in New York and 9 AM in Los Angeles and I guess you could just Google, you know, the difference between Tel Aviv and wherever you are and that’s when we’ll be going live. So, hope to see you there.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link and it’s on the homepage and I thank you humbly, profoundly for clicking that link, throwing another log on the global campfire as we continue our journey together through the Scriptures this year. 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 PO 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’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hey Daily Audio Bible family, this is To Be a Blessing in California. It’s a beautiful day as a drive to work. I am praising God that He reminded me that the journey that I’m on and we are all on is the Christian walk and that it’s not a Christian Sprint. Sometimes it feels like a Christian crawl but that’s all a process of learning how to walk. And with each situation that comes up we might know how to walk in a particular way that God has been involved in our lives in growing up and then we have a new experience where God wants to apply those principles and that victory in another aspect. And, so, life’s a walk, a crawl. Micah 6:8 tells us that He’s shown us what good to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God and I read that verse in another version which was so sweet to me - to promote justice, to love kindness and to walk without pride before our God. That’s my prayer today as well as Joshua 1:9, have not I told you to be strong enough with courage for your Lord your God is with you wherever you go. I need that as I go into the workplace. I still have work issues, but God is worthy of praise because He is working it out. Thank you for your prayerful support. Praying for you all as well. God bless you today. Bye-bye.
Hi all, this is the Misfit Man from Cincinnati. And I was calling as I was listening to the community prayer line for the gentleman, and I apologize, I don’t remember the name, who called in who had had a stroke and just past December and had found the Daily Audio Bible through his friend Sophia and just so excited to be reunited with their two-year-old kid and I just can’t imagine what you’re going through, but just stay strong, keep trusting in the Lord and praying and I just wanted to say a prayer for you. Dear heavenly Father, we lift him up right now, that You can help restore his relationship with his child that he will be able to get back to him quickly and to have that joy again being a parent and getting to spend time with the child and just bless him as he’s recovering from his stroke and I pray Father you and bring the full restoration to anything that is lacking right now, through Your spirit Father you put Your healing hand on him right now, bless him in his journey and his walk with You and just keep him going strong. In your name I pray. Amen. All be blessed y’all. Bye.
Hey Pelham, this is Bridget from New York City. I’m just calling in, I heard your prayer request about you missing your wife and it broke my heart. I’ve been with my husband, we’re gonna celebrate 23 years next month. It has not been an easy road, but it’s been worth it and I’m just gonna lift you up in prayer along with your wife because the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy and marriage is the main, the main living picture of Christ in the church. And I’m just gonna pray for you. God, heavenly Father, Lord, I just lift up Pelham and his wife and his family Father God. Lord, I lift up Father, first and foremost that heart of desperation in Pelham’s voice Father God. Lord, You hear his heart, You hear his heart cry, You hear the area where he’s broken Father God. He misses his wife Lord. Father God I just ask You Lord to comfort his heart sweet Jesus, comfort his heart, bring him peace in the midst of this storm Father God. You said that weapons would form against us but You did not say…I mean…You said that we will…weapons will form against us but not that they won’t form that they will not prosper against us. So, I just pray that in the midst of the storm, in the midst of this formation of these weapons that are being formed against his family, Lord that Pelham would be still and know that You are with him, Pelham would know that in the end You have a greater plan and that…
Hi Daily Audio Bible family it’s Mary Lynne from New Brunswick again and today I’m calling in just with a word of encouragement for Janet who called in for her son Jared. Sister, I’ve been there. So, I’m gonna tell you briefly…as soon as I get myself together…it’s called love for a reason…it’s not easy, but my son is now 30 and when he was between the ages of 14 and 19 we had to have him forcibly removed from our home three times. Hardest thing we’ve ever done but I’m telling you it was the best thing we’ve ever done. He was old enough to make his own bad choices and he found a place to live and he got a job and right now I know there’s a long story because we are constrained to two long minutes but my son today is 30 years old, he is married to the most amazing woman I’ve ever met and he is the most responsible most respectable and loving man I’ve ever seen. His heart…I’m not telling you not to go get him but I’m telling you that you need to find some women that are flesh and bone body near you that will hold you up in prayer because without my fur other mothers for my son we would not have made it. When I couldn’t pray for him __ they did and their love for him never wavered. So, I pray for you Janet. I am praying for Jared. Hang tough girl, God’s got this.