Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25, Luke 7:11-35, Psalms 68:19-35, Proverbs 11:29-31
Today is the 26th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today moving our way forward, moving our way toward the weekend. We’re coming around the Global Campfire together be together to spend time together to allow the Scriptures to speak into our lives and our motivations and our situations and it’s great to be here. It’s great to be here every day. And, so, let’s take that next step forward. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. In the Old Testament we are reading from the book of Deuteronomy the Last things that Moses has to say. As we will recall, three different discourses in the book of Deuteronomy and we’ve moved our way through the first one and we are now, like we just kinda got the prologue yesterday but we’re now in the second of the three discourses. Deuteronomy chapters 5 and 6.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the book of Deuteronomy, we’re in this second discourse where Moses is saying to the people everything that he needs to say, everything that God has told him to say. These are the last things that he’s going to say. He’s gonna be absent from their presence because he’s going to…well…he will disappear into history. He is going to die. And, so, these are the final things that he needs to say. So, some of this is review. Like for example, today he reviewed what we…what we would call the 10 Commandments, these main commandments that are guiding, that are like centerpieces of the culture that is being formally and he reviews this and he reviews the fact that God had come down upon the mountain to speak directly to the people but the people were afraid and in awe of God and so they asked essentially asked Moses to be the spokesperson for God which is in effect asking Moses to be the prophet. And then we come to a central foundational like declaration, what is a prayer until this very day, “hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” A profound declaration that there is but one God and only one God. And in introducing that Moses is laying out a posture that the people are to espouse, a posture of heart that is supposed to be the normal, the default way of living and being. Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes and you shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.” In other words, you must not forget any of this. This must become a part of the fabric of your life, the default, the normal. This is the posture of this new culture. This is the posture of this new people that is being raised up. And he puts that out there and we need to take it on board and live into it completely ourselves, but he puts that out there and then he begins to give a warning about what it’s gonna be like when they get over the Jordan. Like when they get cross the Jordan and they succeed at conquering the people’s and dispossessing the land and taking the land and forming the land and then dividing the land up into the different tribal lands and they become one people in this land and they have inherited all kinds of cities that they didn’t build and crops that they didn’t plan and things are going well. And that's…that’s the essence of this. When you get through the wilderness and you get to the Jordan River and it’s time to crossover and you’re thinking about that you…that you’re realizing that you are at the beginning of the end of your wilderness experience and you are about to enter the land of promise and your dreaming about what that’s gonna be like, that’s essentially what Moses is saying here. And boy does that apply to our lives. And Moses counsel is when you get through the trial, when you get through the battle, when you get to the other side and you’re in the promised land and things start to get easy for you don’t forget this posture because if you forget this posture, then you’re gonna fall away, you’re gonna forget that God brought you out of slavery, you’re gonna forget that He brought you through the wilderness and shifted your identity and gave you an identity that wasn’t slavery. If you forget than you’re gonna get arrogant. You’re gonna oppress people, you’re gonna fall away from God, you’re going to chase other gods you’re going to transgress the covenant and destroy yourself. Don’t forget what God has done to bring you this far. That’s what Moses is telling the children of Israel, but does it not feel so immediate to us? Is this not good counsel for us as we continue to navigate forward?
Now as we turn the page and go into the book of Luke, we have Jesus doing his ministry healing people, revealing the kingdom of God, teaching the people, comforting the people and pretty interesting juxtaposition today because Jesus raises someone from the dead as they were being carried out of the city to be buried and the next thing you know the disciples of John coming up to Jesus and asking Him if He’s the one. And this lets us understand the expectations of the time surrounding the Messiah. So, if Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One, then He is someone that was expected because of prophetic utterances that it comes centuries before. So, it wasn’t like they weren’t looking for a messianic figure, but they were reading into the culture of the time what the Messiah would do, and they felt like they really didn’t need a Messiah to come because they were a people that were occupied, they were people landlocked by the Roman Empire. They were a people inside the Empire. So, even though they were in their ancestral homeland it had not been under their rule and governance other than for short rebellious…rebellions it hadn’t been in their possession for over a millennia. But they were there in their ancestral homeland. This promised land that we’re talking about in the in the book of Deuteronomy, they were there in that land, but it was now a part of the Roman empire. They wanted a Messiah who would come and sort of defeat this global superpower of Rome, throw them out of the land so that the land could be under Hebrew rule again and restored back to God. And the Messiah, the Anointed One would be able to bring everything together, all of the components together that would…that would enact that. So, even though John the Baptist knew he was preparing the way of the Lord and was calling the people back to God as a prophet, and even though Jesus submitted to baptism and John baptized Him in the Jordan River, even though all of this has happened John is now arrested and he’s sending these messages…these messengers to Jesus, to say, “are You the real One? Are You the One we were looking for or should we be looking for somebody else?” It’s a fascinating question that allows us to understand what the expectations were. People were looking at what Jesus was doing, thinking He might be the Anointed One. And then all of the expectations of the anointed one are read into and put upon Jesus. Is he going to be able to get a militia together? Like, is He gonna be able to get people who are willing to die, who are going to go fight the Romans, who are going to go try to take over Jerusalem, to try to take over the capital? Is this what’s gonna happen? And Jesus response is very very important. They expected Jesus to certainly be godly and anointed and that He would lead the people back to God, but He would lead the people back to God first by war, by takeover. Jesus response to that and specifically to John’s disciples so they can go tell John is, “go tell John what you’re seeing. Go tell John what you’re hearing. The blind are receiving their site. The lame walking, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news preached to them and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.” What Jesus is saying is, “I am the one. And I am doing exactly what I came to do. I am restoring the people. I am revealing the kingdom. I am showing you that there is another way to be and it’s a good way to be, because it’s the normal. It’s what you were designed to be. You’re supposed to be in this world doing what I’m doing. I am revealing the kingdom.” So, in other words, the kingdom Jesus is revealing is different than the kingdom they are expecting. The kingdom they are expecting is one that will be established by the ultimate takeover and removal of the…of the governing power. The kingdom Jesus is operating in is one that is after the hearts of mankind, because if you capture the hearts of mankind anything and everything can change but if you just go take over a building or you just go take over a nation…well…then there’s only gonna be retaliation. Like it’s only going to cause problems that are ongoing and there are ongoing problems in the world today that go back thousands of years because of rifts and injustices between peoples and we find this in the Bible. This isn’t the way forward, that you just finally defeat everybody. The way that you defeat everybody, at least in God’s kingdom, at least according to Jesus is through love. You capture and turn the heart through love. The kingdom is revealed and comes crashing in and then once that happens inside of a person they become transformed, they can’t see things the same way anymore, things of shifted. We who follow Jesus, we should know this, this should’ve actually been our experience. But now we look through the eyes and the understanding of our faith and we look at things differently. The trouble is that all too often we don’t. All too often we’re just pulled back into the culture and we’re worshiping at that altar instead of raising up our eyes and seeing that when the good news when the kingdom comes breaking in it brings restoration and life like a river cutting a channel through the desert. So, it begs the question what we are expecting of Jesus. I mean, are we in the same boat? We just…we need him to beat up the bad guys? We need Him to kinda move the obstacles out of our way, the things that we can’t overcome our own, the things that we just wish were different? We just need him to beat up the bad guys? Or are we understanding that we’re a part of that story and there’s a whole different way of looking at things. And we can have eyes to see and we can see that the kingdom coming isn’t out of armed rebellion or some kind of military overthrow, the kingdom comes when we see the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers cleansed, deaf hear, dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by that because that is the way of Christ
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into this. There’s a lot here, a lot to consider in today’s reading. That happens so often where we can move back into the day and just get distracted and in an hour we will forget all of it or we can meditate upon it, we can allow…allow it to sit there and just keeps speaking to our hearts and minds, that there’s a posture, that there’s a way, that there’s a way to see, that there…there’s a way to hear, there’s a posture of heart that is in alignment with how we were created to be and when we are acting how we were created to be we are in alignment with You. Come Holy Spirit, plant this in our hearts and lives we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that’s where you find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app is equally as effective at helping find what’s going on around here. So, if you’re using that just press the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner.
Check out the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall is.
Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. That’s where a number of different categories of resources are available for the journey that we are on together. So, check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. And thank you. Thank you so…so humbly and so meaningfully from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little Hotline button looking red button up at the top in the…in the app or there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 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:
Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABBers. And before I begin to pray I just want to pray a prayer request for my nephew and my sister in law in Germany. She was found sick and my…my nephew, he was in jail and I just need some prayer that he’s having some challenges and just want some things to pray and I also want to pray for piano man and just build his precious wife. I wanted to pray for the…the lady who just lost her husband a few days ago, Lori. I want to pray for Dusty Rose and the challenges her husband is going through. And it went on for the DABbers who are going through depression. There’s something there going through depression and they feel like giving up, but I just want to let them know to hold on because…because your…your…your…your…your answers are only only a…only a…only a whisper away. Gracious father, I praise you and a magnify you. I thank you for the DABbers. I thank you for all of your lovely people. I thank you for our prayer…for our prayer line. I just ask You to name my call Lord. Those who are going through there with the family, those who have lost family during this covid, those who have lost precious ones Lord and they’re having challenges and they’re dealing with it. And You touch that family Lord. You work a miracle. Those that have a need Lord, those Young women that are __ and they need…they need direction. O Lord bless those even with those that are looking for spouses. Bless them with a spouse that is fine for them. You have Your way in the name of Jesus. Lord You continue to bless Dusty Rose’ husband. You give him a champion job, one that he knows no one did it but God. Lord You have Your way in the name of Jesus that…that husband that is…that is…that is…doesn’t know which way…
Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible family this is my first-time calling in. I’ve been listening for…this is my third year and I felt led to call but to call in after participating in the prayer wall online last weekend. It was so amazing to be a part of it even just for that short time. It was just so wonderful to play for others. I went there to ask for prayer, but I got even more out of writing prayers for others and it made me think about when other people have called in and they’ve thanked people for calling in asking for prayer. I never quite understood that fully but after going to the prayer wall and writing out prayer for other people I realized that it really is a blessing to get…it’s a privilege to get to pray for others because I…I got to talk to God while I was praying for others and it was just really wonderful. So, thank you so much everyone. Thank you so much Brian for this podcast it has really blessed my life and I’m so happy to be a part of it and getting even more involved. I would like to pray for myself this Thursday. Today is Sunday March 21st and this Thursday I have a __ surgery coming up. So, I would just ask for your prayers that all goes well, and I look forward to hearing all your continued prayers and to keep praising you all. So, God bless have a great day. Bye.
Good morning Brian thank you. Thank you DAB family. My name is Allison and…well…I just want to say that I am just thankful for Daily Audio Bible. I am new to Daily Audio Bible. I started January 1st and I just want to give God the praise and I just ask for prayer. I have an exam coming up to become a substance abuse counselor. Keep me in prayer that I am not nervous and safe travels. Have to travel over an hour to get to the exam. But also, I just want to pray for everyone that listens to Daily Audio Bible and Brian. And I wanted to say Father in the name of Jesus thank You for this prayer group, thank You for Daily Audio Bible. We desire that our prayers avail much. We are individuals who are mutually dependent on one another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, we who with unveiled faces all reflect Your glory are being transformed into Your likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from You who are the Spirit. Father, we realize that You know what we have need of before we ask and that we are not all growing in the same manner or on the same time schedule, but we are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. So, have a blessed day Daily Audio Bible family in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen and Amen. Thank you. And thank you Brian and your family and just be blessed. Have a blessed rest of the day and year.
A couple days ago I heard this from someone, that many millions __ yesterday and possibly tomorrow but only one today. So, where do we want to be? For sure in the present with the presence of our Savior. He’s aware of all of our mistakes and He has forgiven us, so we don’t have to live there anymore. He knows our joys and our sorrows, and He hears our cries. He answers before we call, and He hears us as we speak. In this present moment Lord, I…please hear the prayer of my heart as I call on you on behalf of Steve from Maryland who lost his wife five years ago leaving him with five kids. His 14-year-old son has been struggling through covid with his schooling and all the other issues of maternal loss and so on. And Steve has had to be a single dad with these kids helping to organize their life. Now his son is also losing his sister to a jail term and his one daughter is having a baby next month. So, these are tremendous amount of stuff being poured on him. And, so, I’m asking You the God of our very present please reach out to him, touch his life, enable him to manage and be with the children, be with his daughter as she goes to jail. May she receive a word from Christ while she’s there and turn her life around. Hear his prayers…
They come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the voice, I hear falling on my ear the son of God discloses. And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known. He speaks and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush the singing and the melody that He gave to me within my heart is ringing. I’d stay in the garden with Him though the night around me be falling, but he bids me go through the voice of woe his voice to me is calling. This is God’s Smile here and aren’t those words just lovely? That old hymn. And that’s it…that’s it from me. I just wanted to read that hymn out and send my love. Kiss kiss everybody.