Deuteronomy 4:1-49, Luke 6:39-7:10, Psalms 68:1-18, Proverbs 11:28
Today is the 25th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today on hump day as we move through the center of the week. And I can’t think of a better place to be than around the Global Campfire letting God’s word speak into our day in the remaining days of this week. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’ve begun our final book of the Pentateuch, the book of Deuteronomy which is the final discourses of Moses before he…he turns the reins over to the next generation and he receives and becomes a part of history. So, today Deuteronomy chapter 4.
Commentary:
Okay. Couple things to point out today. One from the book…well…a couple things from the book of Deuteronomy. First, we concluded today the first discourse of Moses and then we began his second discourse, and there are three of them in this book. So, this first discourse that we’ve been on the last couple of days is Moses retelling the story of who the…who the Hebrew people are, who they are and where they came from and where they’ve been. So, he’s recounting the story of the last generation. Now we’re kind of turning the corner and he’s reminding them of the laws, and we’ll get into that as the days come ahead. But one thing Moses says as he’s concluding this today is, “the Lord your God is a devouring fire. He is a jealous God.” And this is one of first places we see this stated so explicitly. So, what does that mean, “he is jealous God?” What is it in your life that would make you jealous? The typical scenario for jealousy in the human experience, although it can come in a number…a number of ways, the typical way is that we are in a committed relationship with somebody and we’re moving along in the confidence of that relationship only to kinda get this nagging sense that all is not…is not well, that maybe they’ve got something going on on the side in some sort of way so there’s this nagging feeling that as time goes by it blossoms and blooms into this tree that overshadows everything. And, so, from that a lot of different emotions can materialize like anger and rage or insecurity or hopelessness or whatever. It flows out of that sense that the one we were committed to, the one we were perhaps even in covenant with is flirting around the edges of another lover. That’s what Moses is talking about when he’s talking about God. He’s telling the people, “when you get to where you’re going, you’re going to be tempted in all kinds of ways to turn to false gods and worship them. Don’t forget what that will do to the Lord your God, the most-high God. There is no other.” So, often we interpret God’s jealousy a like He’s vengeful, that He’s just erratic and vengeful. He’s jealous for you when you flirt around the edges of another lover that would take you from His heart. I actually find a lot of comfort in that. I used to think of God as just jealous and angry and vengeful, but I find a lot of comfort that He would be jealous for me. And, so, what is the response then? What? How do we respond? We…we stay faithful. That’s what you do in a covenantal relationship. And, so, let’s think on that today. Where are we turning for life that isn’t God, and are we giving our hearts in worship to that person or thing?
We flip over into the gospel of Luke and Jesus is continuing to work through this Sermon on the Mount and He says some pretty explicit things today about what it looks like to follow the path that He is…that He is laying out for humanity. We were talking a little bit about forgiveness yesterday and Jesus is kind of like moving into judgment and the way that we judge one another. And, so, that’s when He’s like, “why are you so worried about that little speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log of your own eye? That you seem to…you’re so blind you don’t even know you’ve got a log in your eye. So, how can you possibly think about getting the speck out of your brother’s eye, your friend’s eye until you get the log out of your own? You’re just being a hypocrite.” This is when we nitpick at everybody else and we don’t pay attention to the huge issues that we have. And to just simplify it down to the essential core here, Jesus is saying, “that won’t work”. That like…and we should know that. We should know that. We…we’ve tried…like it doesn’t work. And Jesus is just saying, “it never will. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit. A bad tree can’t produce good fruit. Figs don’t come from thorn bushes grapes don’t come from bramble bushes. If you want to be a fruitful person, if you want good fruit in your life, not only for yourself but for a harvest for those all around you, a good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart. And the opposite is true. An evil person produces evil from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” So, Jesus is like, “it is what it is. It’s not what you pretend it to be. Curate all you want. You’re whitewashing a tomb if that’s what you’re doing. Good produces good out of the treasury of good.” And He gives it a barometer because He’s like, “what you say is what’s coming up out of your heart.” So, let’s listen to what we say today because Jesus is basically said, “if you’ll like listen to what you’re saying you’ll know where your heart is.” So, we don’t really have an excuse to like…I don’t know how good or bad, I don’t know where I am on the continuum. All we gotta do is listen to ourselves to figure out where things are. But as Jesus points out we’re too busy listening to everybody else. We’re too busy being judge-y against everybody else and ignoring the issues in our own lives. But there is a treasury within our heart, and we can fill that treasury with whatever we treasure, but if we want to produce good things then we have to fill our hearts with good. And then He takes it further. “Like all of this that we’re talking about, the good, the fruitfulness, this comes because of a good solid foundation.” So, Jesus is like, “let me show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching and then follows it”, right? So, somebody who gets it, who has eyes to see. Not somebody who just heard the words but somebody who understood the words and it quickened their heart and they began to walk this way, to obey the way of Jesus. Jesus says, “that person is like a person who digs deep foundation and lays it on the solid rock” so that when the stuff of life comes and it will, “when the floodwaters rise and break against that house”, and we all experience that in our lives, “that house stands firm because it was well built. So, we can consider that God is jealous for us, that He loves deeply and it’s heartbreaking that we chase after other lovers. That is foolishness. But we can take the way of Jesus and understand this is foundational. And maybe I’ve got a lot of walls up and my foundation is built on sand and I need to go back now and I need to lay a solid foundation over time building this faith into something that cannot be shaken instead of continually judging everybody around me for what they’re doing wrong while ignoring all of my own issues and being so mad at God every time the floodwaters come and wash away my life. Maybe it’s not God’s. Maybe we built on sand. And this is exactly what happens over and over and over when we keep doing that. Maybe it’s time for a new foundation.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit we invite You into that, all of the things that we have been exploring in the Scriptures today. There’s a number of things for us to think about, Your jealous love for us and that we can break Your heart as the Scriptures will completely show us as we continue the journey, that You love us enough to be vulnerable in the relationship that when we cheat, as it were, when we chase false promises for life and give our hearts in worship to it, that is heartbreaking, makes You jealous and that makes us understand a lot. Forgive us as we contemplate this today. But also, we need to contemplate our foundations because if our faith is not built on the solid rock, like if we’re just built on sand, no wonder things keep bowling us over, no wonder we keep getting washed away. And we have to apologize again and repent for blaming You for this. It’s time to methodically, slowly, with love and care and the leading of Your Holy Spirit build a solid foundation. Come Holy Spirit and show us where to start. And we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, and its home base, and its where you find out what’s going on around here.
Special announcement today because somethings going on around here, because something’s going on all over the world. And I thinks it’s safe to say we’ve kinda reached this point where we’re like, “okay how long is this going to be going on all over the world? like what are the implications here?” And ever since…ever since I noticed, kind of this was actually a thing, this is actually picking up steam and this is a thing and…and that what we’ve watched over last couple weeks it kinda become a thing that’s really, really changed a lot of the ways that we think and move about and how do we navigate all this. And I’ve just thought a lot about the book Sneezing Jesus, a book that I wrote a few years ago because…because the premise is that the kingdom of God began and spread like a virus, person-to-person to person-to-person to person to families, to communities, and it continues until this day to work that way. And, so earlier this week I contacted my book publisher and just asked, “listen is there any way that we could give this away like for a little while, like while all this is going on and while we’re refilling our time with all kinds of activities but things are different right now? Is there a way that we could use this to be kind of an ongoing gift of encouragement as we move through the next little bit?” And they agreed with that because we need all the encouragement we can get right now. So, what we’re gonna do here for the next about week and half, I think…have to add them…but I think there’s 10 chapters in Sneezing Jesus. We’re gonna release one chapter per day and it’s just gonna show up in the Daily Audio Bible as an additional program. So, the Daily Audio Bible’s never…I mean…the Daily Audio Bible is the Daily Audio Bible and as long as there is breath the word will be spoken, but in an attempt to serve this community and in an attempt to very specifically offer words of encouragement that are actionable, like they can actually be used. Sneezing Jesus is…I wrote that book to be a portrait of Jesus, like the Jesus that I have fallen in love, to use the Gospels and go into those stories and explore the fact Jesus was one of us, was a human being because we focus on the divinity of Jesus, which we should almost exclusively, but a lot of the times we ignore the fact that He was a human being walking around and His humanity was not purposeless. His humanity shows us how we’re supposed to live and be in this world. So, it’s a beautiful portrait of Jesus, but it’s a beautiful explanation of why the gospel is good news, concluding with the fact that it spread like a virus all over the world and we are all sneezing something. And what if we were Sneezing Jesus? What if that was the contagion that was going around and infecting everyone? So, the first installment, we’re gonna kind of release this as a serial, a chapter a day for the next week and a half, just something more, something else for us to immerse ourselves in that is good news. In fact, it’s the good news. So, you’ll see like the first installment showing up today and the next installment will show up tomorrow. This is a gift, a gift of hope, a gift that can be given, a gift that can be received, a gift that is free and I won’t be able to keep this on the feed indefinitely forever and ever and ever. Amen. But for now, this is the gift of the good news and the first installment is available now. And my prayer is that it will meet you where you are and compel you forward. So, of course. Check that out and may it bring you faith, hope and love.
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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 Rachel from Pennsylvania. Hi this is Ben from Pennsylvania too. And we wanted to pray and thank God for everything. Dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you for the whole world, the whole world and the sunshine and the rain and what else Ben? The animals, trees, the tress, breath…and the trees. Thank you for the trampoline to jump on and the tickles (laughing) and the giggles (laughing) and our whole family and all of our friends. And we pray that God will put a hedge of protection over all of our friends and family and our DAB community. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Amen.
Hey, my beautiful DAB family this is Kingdom Seeker Daniel from Chicago. To my dear precious sister Val from Vegas. Oh my dear, I am so sorry that you are in this very difficult place. My heart breaks for you and I…I couldn’t help but think about a portion of Psalm 23 where David said, “he maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” And suddenly I know it doesn’t probably look like or feel like you’re in a green pasture right now, but you know Val, sometimes God has to make us lie down in places that only He knows where He’ll be able to reach us and get our attention to say what He’s trying to say. And one of the things I do believe, I was just kind of sensing that listening to you the Lord is trying to say to you Val, He is trying to tell you how madly, passionately, and completely He is in love with you. He loves you with an everlasting love. His love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out and He’ll never stop loving you. Don’t you dare think for one second that God is angry with you. He is not angry at you. That’s a lie from the pit of hell. And, so, I pray that you would rest in the Father’s love, lean back in Him and let Him love you from a place of wholeness. I’m praying for your healing.
[singing starts] Oh the day the Lord you have given me alight with your Majesty and grace. Oh, this day I wait to hear your voice to calm all the noise in me. Joy of my heart my Prince of peace you build my confidence, courage and strength. I hide beneath your wings our secret place where I feel safe and my soul rests. Oh, this day Lord please light up my heart with the flame of your word to warm the world so cold and dark. Emotions like stormy waves Jesus my Savior makes us settle like sheep. Wherever He guides I’ll follow His voice burning bright with the confidence of His love and tell the story of His grace in my life bringing others to sit beside the Global Campfire [singing stops]. Gracious heavenly Father Lord Jesus I just praise and thank You for the opportunity to hear Your word every day to stand beside each…each of the beautiful people Father God You’ve called and chosen to listen to Your words and…and to be encouraged and feel the love. And I just praise You and thank You God for that. Bless the DAB Father God and bless the Hardin family in Jesus’ name. Treasured Possession.
Father I thank you for all that you’ve done
for your sweet Holy Spirit and the gift of your son
who gave up his life and died on a tree
so that those who were estranged could come back to thee
and know that you hear them each time that they pray
and know you’re attentive to all that they say
I was one of those people and I feel so ashamed
that for me your son was erroneously blamed
and though I do love you Jesus you first loved me
you’re the Holy Spirit and the father all three
surrounding me, anointing me and lifting me up
cleansing my insides while filling my cup
I just want to thank you for all that you’ve done
your sweet Holy Spirit and the gift of your son
blindtony1016@gmail.com. I’d like to give a shout out to His Little Cherry and also like to give a shout out to Slave of Jesus and Mark Crede. Know you all are daily on my prayer list and I pray God’s blessings continuously fall upon you. And once again Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit flow. Keep it flowing y’all. All right. Bye-bye.
Alright, hey guys my name is Nick. If you could pray for me and my family and a bunch of people, I’m around that would be great. I’m a city bus driver so I’m right in the thick of it. I’m having a really hard time keeping my cool. I get mad at people and frustrated at people like gettion’ all close and coughing all over without covering her mouth and I’m struggling…I’m having a real hard time not loving them as I should. So, if you guys could pray for me and those around me that would be great. I love you guys. I’m praying for you all and talk to you later.
Hello,
my name is Jane I’m ringing from the UK and about three or four weeks ago I
asked…requested prayer for my son who I haven’t heard from for over two years.
And today it’s Sunday the 22nd of March which in England is Mothering
Sunday or Mother’s Day. I can’t believe it, that he has just phoned to wish me
a happy Mother’s Day as if nothing was wrong at all. Just want to praise God
and thank You Lord for this connection again with my son Tom. I love him dearly
and I’ve prayed constantly, and I thank You that You are a God who answers
prayers. I thank You for everything that You do for us and I pray Lord that in
this time of great need You will provide comfort and peace for all those who
worried about the virus going about. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise
the Lord with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind. And God bless you
all.