Leviticus 27:14- Numbers 1:54, Mark 11:1-26, Psalms 46:1-11, Proverbs 10:23
Today is the 3rd day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we continue the journey that we began what feels like a long time ago but was…wasn’t although we are a couple of months into the journey. So, we are indeed well on our way. So, let’s dive in today’s reading today. And today is a bit of a special day. We are going to conclude the book of Leviticus and move forward into the next book, which was…which is called numbers and we will talk about that when we get there. But first, the last words of Leviticus, which is chapter 27 verse 14 through verse 34.
Introduction to the book of Numbers:
Okay. So, that concludes the book of Leviticus which brings us to be shiny brand-new first page and first chapter of a brand-new book called Numbers. And as we get into numbers it’s going to sound like similar territory, maybe even territory that we’ve already covered, like this is redundant in some ways, but it’s important to understand what’s happened because we’re turning the page here. We just finished Leviticus but we’re zooming forward in time a bit. And now we are at a time when the first generation is passing to the second generation of people who have left Egypt. So, this happened under Moses leadership. They've…they’ve seen God show up and miraculously provide for them, they’ve seen His mighty power and they’ve…they’ve received the law, but now that they’ve received it they have to actually live it, because God is giving the order to move out. It’s actually time. The time has come. They’ve been around Mount Sinai. They have the law and now it’s time for them to go into the Promised Land. And we’ll see that spies get sent into the land to scope it out and we’ll see what their report is and it’s an unfortunate situation because it disqualifies an entire generation and keeps them in the desert when it was time. Like we are literally opening the book of Numbers and it’s time to go into the promised land. We’re just not gonna make it there. Not yet. So, the first nine chapters of numbers are going to provide review and structure because God is…is preparing the people to move out and move into the promised land and then we’ll see censuses being taken, additional laws being given, review of all the laws, we’ll see things like purification’s and celebrations and then we’ll move into the story of the spies going across the Jordan into the promised land to spy it out. And we’ll take it from there until the end, as the first generation of slaves out of Egypt that were being formed in the deserts die off. And, so, let’s begin, numbers chapter 1.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we have transitioned into the book of Numbers and we’re just getting going there and we kind of flew over that to understand some context, just some of the lay of the land that’s out in front of us and what we’ll be covering. And, so, we did. We counted…we counted all of the people today, all of the people, all of the men prepared for battle that could go to war. It’s over 600,000 of them. This is all in preparation to move out and toward the promised land. Like that’s the plan. We need to remember that. That’s the plan. What’s supposed to happen now that they have received the law is that they’re supposed to get information and march into the promised land and establish this culture while learning to live into the law. There are some unfortunate turns of events that prevent that happening straightaway. And as we watch what happens here, we need to be looking at our own lives as well because everybody has the wilderness, everybody has the wilderness in their lives. But maybe we spend a lot more time in the wilderness then we ever needed too.
And then in the gospel of Mark we are entering Jerusalem again. And, so, we’re very near to experiencing Jesus arrest and His Last Supper and His trial and execution again. And we are in a season now where we really are focusing on this, this season of Lent and we talked about that a couple of weeks ago when Lent began. And…and actually it’s a month from today that Lent ends because a month from tomorrow will be Easter Sunday. So, we’re in the thick of it and this is that season when we really, really try to take to heart what’s going on in the Scriptures. It…it can’t just be that Sunday school story, the Jesus died on the cross and then He rose then practically the next day. Like we need to embrace the story, the larger story, that separation between man and God is being eliminated, that restoration is becoming possible, that the final sacrifice is being given once and for all according to the Scriptures. We also need to deeply lament and contemplate that sin leads to destruction. And all we need to do is look at our lives, like a look at the story that our lives have been telling and we can see those times where we’ve gone off the rails and it has led to very destructive things and it always will. We sit with that. We open our hands and hearts and invite God to move things around, move things out, take people out move things in, bring in people, and rearrange the furniture. Whatever it needs, whatever our lives need, however they need to be rearranged so that as we approach Easter Sunday we really approach it with fantastic rejoicing that all things have been made new, that we didn’t just kind of move through it really quick and dress up pretty on Sunday and just hunt for Easter eggs and then move through, that we actually took the time in the season before Easter to lament and hold in our hands and hearts the weight and cost of sin, so that when we…when we celebrate the resurrection we celebrate it with this brand-new awareness that we are free from the curse of sin and death unless we willingly participate.
Prayer:
Jesus as we move into this territory in the gospel of Mark and as we continue to move through this season where we’re really contemplating this, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit and show us the areas that still need work, things that need to be rearranged, things that need to be let go of. We can’t do this without You. We can do this with You, and You are not withholding Yourself. We are just not paying attention but we’re paying attention now. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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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:
Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Stephanie in Bangalore and I am calling partly because Daniel Johnson Junior you nailed some of exactly how I’m feeling about asking for help. And it’s not anything that I can ask for help…physical help with, but family I do need your prayers. Those who have been listening since last year may remember that my husband and I are both a little older and we did…we were pregnant at this point last year and we last the baby on March 9th. We’re actually going to have a little prayer memorial service with our families that day this year Lord willing, but the grief is still there, and I know many of you understand that grief. And the grief that God has not yet chosen to give us a child…another child is there as well. So, please just pray for us as we, you know, seek to do a God wants us to do and also walk through this time of grief and uncertainty and…and everything. It also would be really great if I could go see my family this year. I haven’t seen them in over a year and I’m very close with them. And yeah. Anyway, thanks for being there. Hopefully I’ll call back soon with some encouragement for others. Bye.
Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible family this is Adrian from Washington DC. Today is February 27th and I have been meaning to call in for a while, but I’ve been putting it off. You know, I…I just wanted to openly the thank God for what happened last year, not necessarily the pandemic. But the shortened version was in July of last year I got sick and I wasn’t feeling well and the last thing I remember was climbing into my sister’s bed and turning on the air conditioner because I was hot. And the next thing I know when I wake up and I’m in a hospital and I have been in a hospital from July 19th until…well the 23rd, that’s when I woke up. And even after all that I still had a lot…a long way to go. I was transferred to multiple hospitals and dealing with multiple issues but I finally came home September 1st and March 1st will be six months since I’ve been home and I’ve made amazing progress to…progress because of a lot of amazing people and I thank them for that but I really just need to thank God because He had His hand on me the entire time, He had His hand on my family the entire time until I came home and I could not have possibly have made it without Him. So, I, like I said, I’m finally…I’m saying it out loud, saying it to my other family , thank You Lord for everything that You have done for me, everything that You have done to get me to this point where I can now walk a mile and I’m back…I’ve been…I’ve been back at work since last September, but I’m doing some of the things that I did before I got sick. Thank you, family. I love you.
Good morning my name is Vicki from Southern Oregon. And, you know, I think I came up with the name too, it’s Soul Shine, not because it does but because that is what I’m hoping God is doing for me. I called in a few months ago and I’m calling for a praise report. I want to thank you, everybody that prayed for me and my son. My son has been taken to the state hospital. He’s severely mentally ill, schizophrenic and also has an addiction problem. And, you know, there’s a window of opportunity for him to get help which is, you know, I know it’s funny to call it a praise report when your son is in the state mental hospital but help…help is hard to find and hard fought. So, thank you for everyone that prayed for him and I pray that God will continue to work in his life and give him the freedom from his addiction and from his mental illness and that he will understand that the medications are helping him not harming him. Again, I thank everybody that prayed. Thank you, Brian for be here…being here.
Hello DAB family this is Rob still Worship Dude in Nashville. It’s been a while since I’ve called in. I don’t really have anything dramatic that I’m asking for. I just wanted to touch base. I’ve been listening to…for this…for gosh over 10 years. And I just want to say thank God, thank you for the DAB. Thank you for the community, thank you for the people who call in to pray, for those who engage with the prayers, for those who intercede for the prayer requests that have come in. We thank you Lord that you are omniscient, you are omnipotent, you are an omnipresent God, you are all knowing, you are all powerful, you are everywhere God. There is nothing that is too hard for you. And Lord as this great cacophony of prayers of intercession Lord arises around the world Lord, I thank you for this tool, this resource of the DAB Lord to just join the body of Christ together Lord. Would you release…would you release the spirit of unity amongst us as we bear one another’s burdens Lord. We just recognize that you are doing a new thing. You are always doing a new thing Lord and Lord we stand together, and we ask that your Kingdom would come, your will would be done, that you would fill the earth with the glory of your presence. Father I thank you so much for the DAB, for Brian Hardin, for the amazing insightful and inspiring commentaries that you continue to share with us through him. Bless his team, bless all who support the DAB. Father I thank you that you are working on our behalf. We trust you. We love you and we bless you in Jesus’ name. God bless you guys.
Hello from beautiful Cincinnati OH this is Daniel Johnson Junior. One second while I throw another log on the Global Campfire here. So, it is the evening of February 28th 2021…2021. It’s really been amazing because I’ve been journaling since the end of April, you know, journaling consistently and I was thinking back to like…like I like…for the shortest month of the entire year, February seems like it’s the longest. And I think that it’s probably because we’re far enough removed from the holiday season and the beginning of the year but not yet, you know, ready for the next season change that we really look forward to. And it just has been kind of wearisome, you know, to be present in this…in this month and kind of also just wondering if I had actually gotten anything done. Well, because of my journaling and I…one of my process that I have set up here is a monthly review. And, so, I went back and I looked through and I was just thinking, I just…you know what, I didn’t get some of the goals that I wanted to, like, you know, getting a job. I’m still unemployed. So, I didn’t get a job but I was looking at all the other stuff that I did, all of the habits that I’ve been tracking and all of the progress that I had made and it was also actually very inspiring. So, I just wanted to encourage you guys, you know, as you’ve been thinking about journaling, to do that journaling because you’re going to be able to see how much different you are many months down the road, many weeks down the road. And that’s all that I have for you right now. God bless you all from beautiful Cincinnati OH Daniel Johnson Junior saying make it a great day.
[singing starts] you do not lie you do not fail what is hard for you to do it doesn’t exist. It can never ever never exist. My Jesus you do not lie you do not fail what is hard for you to do doesn’t exist. It can never ever exist though. I call into your knowledge and your will from me what you say you will do. I just need to align with because you are not a man that changes his mind. Those that know you will trust in you not in horses and chariot body and soul flesh no man can prevail no man no man no man. My confidence is you what is hard, what is hard for you it can never exist [singing stops]. My name is Helen I’m calling from Nigeria. I just want to use this song to encourage somebody out there that what God cannot do does not exist. It can never exist. So, whatever you’re passing through today just have it in mind that you have a God that can do the impossible, that can do everything and what He cannot do it does not exist. I want to thank everyone here. I know I just joined the…the Daily Audio not quite long, recently. I’ve been listening to everyone. I want to say God bless you all. God bless you. Bless you all.