02/22/2020 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 13:1-59, Mark 6:1-29, Psalms 39:1-13, Proverbs 10:10

Today is the 22nd day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today. And I love this day, it comes once a year for me and I get to say from the Sea of Galilee, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. We get to spend several days here but this is like the first day. And, so, this is like the first morning that we get to wake up and see it and just marvel that we’re here. And it’s so different from the wilderness that it seems as if we might have traveled to a completely different part of the world. And in truth, I think we’re just 2 or 300 miles away from the furthest Southpoint in Israel. This land is incredibly diverse and incredibly enchanting. It's…and now that we’re here in the Galilee, it’s just…I love this. So, welcome from the Sea of Galilee. And I’m excited to tell you about the adventures that we had yesterday. And we’re like super excited about what we’re gonna experience today. But the thing that we need to experience, the thing that we’ve come for, the thing that we need is to open our hearts and allow God’s word to speak. So, we’ve been reading from the New International Version this week. Today Leviticus chapter 13.

Commentary:

Okay. So, how about that riveting reading in the book of Leviticus today where we discussed skin diseases and mold? Man…that was so rich I almost want to read it again. How about we just read it again right now? You’re probably like, “No! No! Why?!? We’re already read it. Let’s not do that again.” And we can go okay, “what's…what’s mold got to do with anything? What’s skin disease…like…what’s happening here?” And a number of things are happening here. One of them is incredibly practical. You got a million people out in the wilderness and a plague of skin disease starts to spread you got a problem. If you got mold spreading throughout the community, you got a problem. So, the letter of the law makes perfect sense. This…this God is giving these rules about skin and about mold to protect the people on their journey. But what’s underneath all of this? I mean, our physical bodies, we’re aware of our physicality. We understand we have a physical body but we also understand that we have a spirit or  like a spiritual body and we become more and more aware of that as we become more and more aware of our interior lives, which is what the Bible is pointed at. So, let’s just suppose something is really bugging you. There’s just this one thing, this one little area in your life that’s really, really bothering, it feels almost like our ash inside. That one area, this situation, this relationship, this set of circumstances, it’s just…it’s bothering you. So, the first thing to do then is to think about how deep this goes. Is this on the surface? Is this something that’s passing? This is just a temporary kind of thing that’s kind of bugging you right now but it…it…it doesn’t go deeper or is it more than skin deep? Is it defiling you? Is it getting roots and going to spread and go deeper and sink deeper into you? Then that’s a problem. If you’ve got mold growing in your house and it…and it doesn’t matter if its thousands of years ago in the wilderness or if it’s today in whatever city you live in. If you’ve got mold in your house that’s a problem. And once you discover it you need to do everything possible to get rid of it. And sometimes that can be really, really tricky, but it’s a health hazard. And it will only get worse. And at some point, if it’s left to run rampant it will condemn the structure. We know that. What if there’s some mold growing on the wall of your heart? What if you’re aware of it but you leave it alone, you don’t take it to your great high priest to have it examined? You keep it in the dark and you let it grow in the dark until it spiders its way up to your ceiling, then you got a problem. So, let's…let’s use that today as a launching pad for what we meditate, just allowing that to sink in, to think about what’s chafing us. Is it skin deep or is it below the surface? Is it on my walls and I’m keeping it hidden and it’s only going to get worse or do I need to get rid of it by taking it to my high priest and having it examined? There’s probably something in there for every single one of us today straight out of the book of Leviticus

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for that. We welcome You into that. We invite Your Holy Spirit into that. We open our hearts to You. We need You to examine our interior lives. We’re coming to You. Are these things skin deep? Are they on the surface? Have they grown? Do they need to be cut out? What about this mold? Is it deep into the walls? Is it growing? Will it spread? These things, we’re kind of aware but we’re not intentional and we’re being intentional now. Show us the places within us that need attention and we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, as I mentioned at the beginning, we’re in…we’re in…we’re in the Galilee. We’re right along the Sea of Galilee and it’s so good to be…so good to be back here and pick up the story of Jesus here and start walking in His footsteps around this area. And, so, we’re excited to see the places that we visited in the Bible like within just the last couple of days we’ll be able to see the day. So, looking forward to that.

Yesterday, so we like finished our…our wilderness portion of this pilgrimage. We moved out of the wilderness. Like we began at the lowest point on earth, that’s the Dead Sea and moved our way to the Galilee. That…it was a busy day. So, we went to the oasis Engedi and Engedi, this is a place spoken of in the Psalms, in the song of Solomon. A great staging for a battle was…was at Engedi. It’s an oasis so it’s in the middle of the wilderness, but it’s freshwater in the wilderness. And there…it’s dotted with caves all around this entire area. So, early desert fathers and monks would live lives in these caves. And also , David hid in these caves. That’s spoken about in the Scriptures. In…in one of these caves…there’s no way to know, but in  one of these caves Saul, king Saul who we haven’t met yet in the Scriptures, is pursuing David and he goes into one of these caves to use the bathroom and David’s hiding in there and cuts off some of his robe. So, like it’s very rooted in the Scriptures. So, we spent some time there and China shared with us there. She…she had us close our eyes and hear the waterfall and fresh water in the desert and shared with us about promise and is a beautiful moment, just absolutely beautiful moment before continuing moving a little north to another site called Qumran. And it’s in the same general area. Lots of caves. Lots of barren wilderness. But Qumran is…is…is the site of probably the greatest biblical archaeological find ever and that would be the Dead Sea Scroll. Some of the manuscripts found in the Dead Sea Scrolls are the earliest documents in the Bible. So, like the Bibles been passed down for all of these centuries but we don’t have any original, like any of the original manuscripts, like when it was very first written down. But some of the earliest, like the oldest biblical texts that…that exist, that have ever been found were found in Qumran. So, we visited there and there’s one cave in particular, it’s got a great overlook but it’s, you know, it’s the one see…if you hear about Qumran this is the picture that you see. And, so, we got to see that and take some pictures and just appreciate what we’re looking at. So, then we went into Jericho for lunch and a little shopping and to see some of the ruins of most ancient Jericho. And, I mean, there's…there’s a lot of archaeology that’s been done there, and some really, really interesting things that have been done there. But you think of Jericho and you think of fallen down walls and you want all that kind of thing and it…it’s just a little different than that but very very very…it’s like one of the most ancient cities in the entire world. And that also gave us the chance to kind of move more into it like the Arab culture. Jericho is an Arab city and so we were able to experience that. And also, to just consider this the story…well there’s just a number of biblical stories that kind of converge. Jesus temptation in the wilderness after his baptism would’ve been in the wilderness nearby, right there. And the Kedron Valley, which is famous because it’s in Jerusalem, that Valley actually winds its way all the way down to Jericho. So, like 20 miles and it’s been a notoriously dangerous road to go on. So, the story that the Jesus told about the good Samaritan, the backdrop for that story would’ve been this valley down to Jericho. And even David’s writing, “Yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” This is what he’s referring to. So…so, once we…we finished up it was time to get moving north. Several…well a couple hours heading north to get up into the Galilee area and get checked in and get situated and we’ll be camping out here. Like now our wilderness wanderings have come to a close. And, yeah, we…we’ve had like…we’ve had to pack up and leave and move to another place and then pack up and leave move to another place every day and it’s been super easy for us, even though it’s easy for us to complain, it's…it’s been easy. We’ve been driven to where we need to go, we’ve had porters to take our luggage to our rooms and we’ve you know…but it’s just been the jostling around. But it helps to understand what that would’ve been like if we had walk, if we had to pack up our tent, if we had to get all our stuff together, pack it up and start walking to keep moving to be nomads. And, so, that experience, we’ve had it and it’s over and we’re gonna camp out here in the Galilee and just immerse ourselves in the stories that happened here in the North, especially surrounding Jesus life but not exclusively surrounding Jesus life. And, so, that’s what we’ll be doing these next few days.

So, again, thank you for your continued prayers. We’re posting pictures and videos and stuff all along the way on our social media channels at Instagram and on Facebook. So, if you haven’t tuned in you can go back and kind of look at the different things that we’re seeing and doing and just be…just be a part of what’s going on even virtually because we’re a community and we’re moving through the Scriptures every day here. Like this never stops. And, so, we’re in community. We just…some of us happen to be here on a pilgrimage in the land of the Bible, but because we do this and post all this and talk about it just brings the biblical lands closer as we read through the Scriptures. So, make sure to watch that or check…check those channels out and see what we’re posting.

Today is the Sabbath. So, Shabbat Shalom, happy Sabbath to you. And, so, we’ll be traveling around today. But tonight, this evening we will be broadcasting live from here at the Sea of Galilee. And, so, you can kinda tune in and see everybody and hear from…like you’ve been hearing me describe everything but you kinda hear it from other people and have the opportunity to send in questions. And, so, we’ll spend about an hour doing that and it will be at 7:30 PM local, that’s Israel time. So, that is 12:30 PM in Nashville, like just after lunch and it’s 5:30 PM in London. All you have to do is Google where you are and the time difference between Tel Aviv and you can kinda sort that out. And, so we’ll be going live tonight. Looking forward to that very much. It’s always a blast. So, hope you can…hope you can tune in. That’ll be a Facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. And we’ll see you there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. I thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the 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 or just hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top and you can share from there.

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 Daily Audio Bible family this is Preston from Sunnyvale California today is February 19th time is 11:21 AM. I have two prayer requests. I want to lift up, first of all, as a call out to all Californians. If you’ve noticed, we haven’t had much rain this year and I just would like to lift up the state of California for that we have some rain for the…the rest of this winter that we have. They from the West Coast, we all know how much the winter rains are…impact the rest of the year. And, so, I just lift up the state of California that we get the rain that we need to prevent the drought this summer. My second prayer request is that…is for work. I’m in the process of finding a new job after getting fired from my sales job and I just ask that…ask for God’s blessings on that, that I find a job that leads me to be able to support my wife and support us so that we can…we can start a family. I was fired for doing the right thing, for refusing to lie to a customer about parts orders and it’s a long story. But thank you for your prayers. I love you guys. Just…Brian just thank you so much for this wonderful podcast. And, yeah, have a great day. Okay. Bye.

Hello beloved child of God I feel your pain, your brokenness, your sadness. I sit with you in Shiva. I sit just to be with you with a desire to help lift the pain you are feeling. I know you feel as though there’s new hope. I know you feel alone and you feel as though God is not working in your life but I am here as your sister, your godly sister and as I sit with you the rest of our family, our godly family comes and joins me in this moment to be with you and we bring the love of Christ to surround you with that. But there’s more, there is hope and the fact is the Lord is within you. We are only a representation of the love we have felt from him, that we have known of Him and we are here…sorry…to give you hope to be with you. If your faith is not strong right now, lean on ours. The Lord will rescue. The Lord will help. And, so, I put my arms around you as do my brothers and sisters here as does the Lord.

Hi DAB family it’s Carla Jean from Las Vegas I’m calling today to tell you that I still don’t have a job, still don’t have a home, but I’m trusting 100% that God’s got a plan in all of this and I started to see a little bit of that this week. I have had to move in with my ex-husband and our 14-year-old son because I had nowhere else to live. And we were married for 25 years and divorced in January 2019. The last five years our marriage was non-existent marriage basically. And there’s a lot of hurt and anger and fear. He’s been sick for most of our marriage and it was consuming me to try to keep him alive and try to get him to be motivated to stay alive. Anyway, long story short, this past weekend we went out on a date together and our hearts are opening to one another again. So, those of you that are struggling in marriages, my marriage was dead DEAD dead but God. And now I expect that I’m gonna get a job very soon because I truly feel that this was God’s plan all along. How about if I have you guys live together because you have nowhere else to live and then you’ll see each other again and fall in love again and then you can get a job? So, my dear friends and family I love you. Thank you for your continued prayers. I still need a job, but I’m seen God working. I’m praying for all of our pilgrims and know that I travel with you and the prayers of all of our family travel with you. Love you guys. Have a great day. Bye.

Hi DAB family it’s Jennifer from Ohio and this is my second time calling now. I haven’t called since back in December when I asked you guys to pray for my mom who was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiform back in late October early November. She is doing well. So, thank you for your prayers but please continue to keep her lifted. However, that’s not the reason for my call today. The reason for my call today is because today I believe it’s the February the 19th, I heard Harold call in and say that he prayed the prayer of salvation. And Harold let me just tell you, you sent me into a worship and praise frenzy. That just made my heart rejoice. I have been praying for you and along with the other DABbers for you to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and when I heard your call today it just lifted my spirit so high and I’m still on a high and that was probably about four or five hours ago when I listened to it. So, I just wanted to tell you thank you so much for joining our family. Thank you so much for calling in to let us know where you are. We are still here pushing you and we are here to encourage you and support you in both your attorneys, your journey here now as a member of the family and then also your journey to run your marathon. So, thank you so much for sharing that with us and we are still praying for you and I’m just…I’m just so happy, I’m so grateful. And it reminded me, your call today reminded me of Jesus when he talked about going after the one. I feel like he came for you and I’m so glad you’re here. Okay. Love you family. Bye-bye.

Hi, DABbers this is Dolly from Michigan and this prayer is for Arielle. Arielle I just want to let you know that your name means lion of God Arielle and I want to pray this prayer from Ephesians 3:16 over you and…and it’s the passion translation. And I pray that he would unveil within you Arielle the unlimited riches of His glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive. Then by constantly using your faith the life of Christ will be released deep inside you and the resting place of His love will become the very source of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences, the great magnitude of the astonished love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love. How enduring and inclusive it is, endless love beyond measurement that transcends all our understanding. This extravagant love pours into you and you Arielle until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God. I just send blessing over you Arielle. And it’s not by…its by our faith that brings us to God, it’s not our works. Jesus completed those works for us on the cross and that’s how much God loves us. For God so loved the world that He sent His son Jesus to die for us for our sins. So, Sister Arielle…

Hi this is Cherry from Oklahoma and this call is for Arielle who called in on February the 18th. And Arielle you mentioned you’re new Christian and you just want to be loved and approved of and for God to like and be proud of you. And you weren’t really sure, you know, what to expect. And I just want to tell you, He says love God and obey His commandments and seek Him with your whole heart. And that’s what you’re doing. I mean, look at you. You’re going to Bible studies, you’re…you’re reading His word, you’re calling into the DAB. So, hey, you’re…you’re doing great. I know your thrilling God ecstatically. You’re just thrilling His heart. So, these feelings are part of the journey. I mean we all struggle with them to one degree or another. So, just, welcome aboard. And we love you and we are so excited to pull another person aboard this journey ship here in the word of God. And you just keep calling in. And also regarding you’re not feeling welcomed in that Bible study. I would just like to share with you, it may be the…the maturity level that group is in Christ…is that they are all new in this journey, in this walk and their failing insecurities and uncertainties about the other people in the group and just how they fit in. So, don’t let Satan lie to you and try to get you not to go and steal something that you need to be there for because you’re not really understanding and able to see the whole, you know, picture. And also, I will pray though that if this isn’t the right group that God will bring you to the right place. But until then, I think it’s more that you need to be there, and Satan just knows how much your thrilling God and he doesn’t like him to be happy. So, you…you keep going girl until something…

Hi this is in response to Arielle’s prayer who was recently…she said she was recently saved and she doesn’t know what to do and my advice to her is please give going to those Bible studies, keep going to church and listen to God’s word and rest in Him. And at the Bible studies and church, that’s where you need to fellowship, and you can…where others can encourage you and you can encourage others. And I’ll continue to pray for you. And, you know, that you are good enough and, you know, it’s not about, you know, doing, you know, being good enough for God, it’s He’ll meet you where you’re at. And there’s only one of you and He has a special plan for your life. And…and just be obedient and read His word and let it wash over you and let it transform your mind. I will continue to pray for you as every…lots of other people will do. And I hope to hear back from you with a good report. Thanks. Bye.