Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29, Luke 6:12-38, Psalms 67:1-7, Proverbs 11:27
Today is the 24th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian I am glad to be here with you today. I’m always glad. This is one of the great oasis’s in my life and I hope it’s the same for you. I love that we can come around the Scriptures and allow them to speak into our lives across generations, across millennia, and speak truth into our hearts. So, we’re reading from the English Version…the English Standard Version this week. We have just begun the book of Deuteronomy. And just by way of reminder, these are the last three speeches or discourses or discussions or talks of Moses life, the last things that he has to say to the people that he has been leading for so long. And knowing that should give it gravity and should…should inquire of us that we might pay close attention just as the people would’ve been paying close attention. And, so, let’s dive in. Deuteronomy chapters 2 and 3 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we have encountered some territory that…that might seem familiar. We saw it more extensively in the book of Matthew and this is known as the sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, which is known to be His central teaching, like a the core of the message that He is delivering. And actually, maybe even equally is important, the message that He’s modeling, the message that He’s living…like the sermon on the Mount certainly gives us the core doctrine of what Jesus is teaching to people but it’s also what He’s living. There’s not like some guru come down off the mountain with a new way of doing things and He’s just telling it to the people. He’s going about the countryside living this way and…and people are intrigued and are watching Him. And this set of teachings that Jesus traveled around and spoke of inviting people to open their eyes and see a kingdom that is being revealed and how it works, this wasn't…like Jesus didn’t go around the countryside and people then began to call His teachings and the way that He was leading and speaking, they didn’t call it Christianity, that term is a Gentile term that came much later. Early on this was called “the way”. The Way - because Jesus was showing a different way of looking at the same picture, a different way of being in the same circumstances. In other words, nothing has to change around you for you to experience the way. It’s what changes within you. And once you see it and begin walking the way it changes the way you look at everything else and then you realize there are other ways of seeing and other ways of being and some of this is a choice. Some of the chaos, some of the drama, it comes upon everybody, but some of that we just…we just go to like a moth to the flame and we just keep getting taken out and wondering why it’s not working when Jesus is saying there is a totally different way of being, a totally different way of living, a totally different way of seeing and that way was and is disruptive and even difficult, might even call it a narrow path. Imagine that, when your…I don’t know…when you’re in a grocery store and you got your…you ran in for a few things, you got your few things, they’re bagged up, you’re walking your cart out and there’s somebody standing outside the grocery store just on the way little bit kinda like, you know, Salvation Army does a Christmas when they ring the bell and stuff. There’s just somebody down a few steps and there’s maybe 10 people around them or 20 people around them and they’re talking and your intrigued, “what’s going on here?” And, so, you walk over and then you overhear this person saying, “listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks and when things are taken away from you don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” If…like…you would probably recognize these words but if you had never really heard these words before and they were coming to you in a context of just your busy life then you’d see just how disruptive this is. This isn’t the way of our culture. The way of our culture isn’t love your enemies, it’s destroy them. It’s not to do good to those who hate you, it’s to hate back and build up walls of protection between us so that we can’t be hurt. There’s so rarely turning the other cheek in the world system that we live. And, so, we could see that even now where the words of Jesus, were they spoken out in the same kind of context that they were spoken in originally, they would be disruptive, they would be calling out a different way of looking at things. We might even listen to the words and think to ourselves, “that sounds so nice. Like the world would change if everybody did. Like this is a way that if people lived this way, the world would be a remarkably different place but nobody’s gonna do that. Or even if we decided I’m going to do that. I’m gonna live like this I’m gonna follow this person. They seem to…they seem to know something. I’m gonna follow this person. It’s crazy if we’ll observe ourselves the things that come pouring out of our mouths before we can stop them that are completely contrary to the way of Jesus. So, if you wonder about the narrow path that leads to life, if you wonder about what it practically looks like to be a disciple of Christ then love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks. When things are taken away from you don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you or maybe we could say that another way. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is a way. Jesus said there is a way that leads to life. He just said few ever find it. This is the way friends. And I look at that way and I have known this, and I have known this way most of my life. But I have known what I’m saying to you for a long time, and I look at those words and it makes me want to weep at my failures. And I realize I have no capacity. I mean I can…I can do this for couple hours, right? We can do this for a day. Like, we can…we can sort like white knuckle it and hold on tight and just make ourselves. Maybe that’s the first step though. Maybe that’s the first step to discipline, first step to opening our eyes to see, first step to say I’m not…I’m not…I’m not leaving any other way but the way of Jesus anymore. Nothing else works. This way that Jesus is describing is the ultimate of letting go, the ultimate of saying I am utterly and hopelessly dependent upon God and His mercy, and nothing else I try to arrange or build or make to ensure myself safety, that’s just a joke. The only true way, and honestly it’s such a cliché, such a cliché I’m about to say but the only way is to let go and let God, to lay ourselves down because isn’t this what Jesus is talking about? I mean to love your enemies is to lay yourself down, right? To do good to those who hate you, that’s like…that’s to lay your rights down. Like that’s to say, “I am not my own and I am not the judge and I am not retaliating I am letting go. I am hopelessly and utterly dependent upon God. God is the judge. I…I don’t even have to carry…this isn’t even a chain around my neck anymore. I am letting go. So, letting go of my offenses and letting go of the things that I need retribution for also means I’m letting go of the chains that are around my wrists attaching me that situation and that person. I’m letting go. And what happens happens. I am at the mercy of God. I would rather be safely there and at anyone else’s mercy.” So, let’s give that some thought today. This will be the last time that we…we reach the sermon on the mount in an encapsulated way like this this year. And yet this is so foundational. This is so important to what it means to follow Jesus that we just cannot blow by it. And if we want to go deeper than read it again or go back to Matthew 5 and read the whole thing again.
Prayer:
Jesus, we invite You into this contemplation, into this consideration. None…none of us are living up, none of us are measuring up and it’s frustrating but none of us are ever going to be able to without Your compassion and Your kindness…kindness and the leading of Your Holy Spirit and that You are faithful and just to forgive us our shortcomings in our failures. At the same time as much as we may fail as we walk this path You have given us the path. This is the way to go. This is the way to be, and so help us as we take steps forward because each step forward is a step forward in sanctification is a step forward in us being made holy and set apart, is a step forward in our transformation as we become like You. And we become like You by following the way and following the way requires that we lose ourselves in You, that we become a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to You. Come Holy Spirit into this we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian and I love you very much and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi this is Nikki Calhoon from Detroit. I’m just calling in just saying praise the Lord because He is so awesome and so good and I’m just now getting wind of this app and it was a blessing to me today. But I wanted to speak to Lori Music who was just on here that made a comment praising the Lord and was talking about the passing of her husband. I just want to say that I’m praying for you and your three beautiful daughters. I’m so glad that you are encouraged, and I just pray for strength for you guys through this journey. I pray that God will open up more blessing, more understanding, more wisdom, more insight is who He is and that He will pour out unto you everything that He has for you, that you will walk right into what He has for you. And, so, I just wanted to tell you that someone is listening, that you are loved you are being prayed for and that your strength and…and…and your testimony they just touch me. So, just keep fighting, keep walking sister. Keep going through what you need to go through as a soldier in the army of the Lord and you will see your husband again on the other side. God bless you. Love you.
Good morning DAB community this is Ming from London. Just want to lift up in prayer to the Lord everyone, all…all the brothers and sisters in the Asian communities following the recent spread of attacks in the US. I just lift them up to you Lord. I pray that you just be with my brothers and sisters, Your assaulted, Your racially abused. And following the recent shooting and…and attacks Lord I just pray that You be with them. I pray for leadership, justice, wisdom to come from You. I just…I just pray Lord that…that You…You help them to…to protect my Asian brothers and sisters. I just…just pray for love and understanding Lord. Yeah, yeah. I just pray this all in Your name. Amen.
Grace and peace Daily Audio Bible family this is RJ representing Jesus from Connecticut. I just felt led to call in and just give a word of encouragement two brothers and sisters out there. I just wanted to say that I myself has been one who have been just at a point in my life totally rock bottom. I mean, I’ve seen incarceration, I’ve seen drugs, I’ve seen fornication, I’ve seen a life of partying and just doing all sorts of things that were so unruly and ungodly, but the Lord has allowed me to see that He loves me more than that and He has reconciled me back to Himself and right now I feel so blessed. You know, it’s been maybe 2 maybe 3 years that the Lord has brought my children back into my life. He has allowed me to be married to a beautiful, wonderful woman of God and, you know, secure in home. And I just want to encourage someone else and let you guys know that the Lord can turn your life around. The Lord can bring you back to a place where you rightfully belong, which is with Him. Be encouraged family. Don’t give up. The Lord is with you. He promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Just keep looking to Him and He will do what He say he will do. Grace and peace family. God loves you.
Hey DAB family it’s Danny from Southern Oregon. Hey, the other day Brian you were talking about how when we spend time with God why is it that we do all the talking? And boy that really hit me and it took me back to about a year ago when I used to dedicate time every single morning to sit with God and be still, to listen to the DAB, to Journal, to specifically write down the people and praying for and to write down my own prayers to God and…and just be quiet and listen to what God had to say. And at that time I don’t think I’d ever been closer to God in my entire Christian walk. And, so, I know…I know that’s super important. And for some reason busyness of life and everything has just kept me from dedicating that time in the morning. I still…I still listen, I pray for people but it’s on the go and I’m squeezing it in. And I..I know it’s not the same. And, so, anyway I wanted to thank you for reminding me how important that is. And also, I just wanted you all to pray with me. O heavenly Father, we just come to You and we ask You Lord to remind us that Your arms are always open for us, that we can crawl into Your lap we can snuggle in close and You can wrap arounds around us and You can keep us safe from everything that’s out in the world whether we’re tired or we’re afraid or sick, anything Lord. Your arms…or Your healing arms You can just help us to feel so good. And, so, remind us that Lord that we…that You are our refuge always in Jesus’ name.
Hello DAB family this is Angel from California and I wanted to reply to Nathan. Nathan you had a stroke and I heard you on March the 22nd podcast and you said that you’d been posting. And actually, that’s where my ministry is, in the Prayer Wall. I pray for a lot of people and I remember you. I remember you posted, and you got feedback from us. So, I listen to the Daily Audio Bible every single blessed day and I…when you, when people need prayer what I do is I…I post it in the Prayer Wall and I want you all to know that I am listening. And…and check us out in the Prayer Wall and post any…any need that you might have and may God bless you. And I am really, really happy that Daily Audio Bible is blessing so many people. And thank you so much and God bless you. This is Angel from California.