Joshua 5:1-7:15, Luke 15:1-32, Psalms 81:1-16, Proverbs 13:1
Today is the 12th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we move into this week and get settled and get to work. We’re also getting settled and taking the next step forward in the Scriptures in this adventure that we are on together for a year all the way through the Bible all the way through a year all the way through life together. So, we…we’re getting ourselves moved into the book of Joshua. A couple days ago we began the book of Joshua, which was definitely and is definitely a transition. We crossed the Jordan River in our reading yesterday and it…in our reading anyway, it was the first time we’ve been there in 400 years, more than 400 years, but this time we’ve crossed the Jordan River with the children of Israel with the intention of settling the land, the promised land. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Joshua chapter 5 verse 1 through 7 verse 15.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we have a very, very famous passage, a famous story or a parable told by Jesus about the lost son who returned. And we know the story, we just read the story, so I don’t have to re-tell the story. And there are so many ways of looking at this story. It’s a beautiful story that has been examined from a bunch of angles. I just want to kind of zoom in to the last part of the story because it seems as if one of the main points of the story is that…is that it’s all already yours. That is essentially what gets said to the older son who is a little confused and a little ticked off that his…his brother comes home and all the sudden there’s this grand celebration, when this brother, all he did was take half of the assets and go squander them and wild living. And then he comes home, and he has the audacity to come home. And then dad is so excited that he’s killing the fattened…like they’re throwing a huge party. So, he’s a little bit exasperated and there’s this confrontation with the father where he’s like, “look I’ve served…I’ve served you…I’ve served you faithfully. I’ve done what you told me to do. I’ve obeyed your commands and you never did anything like this for me.” And the father’s response, I mean quoting Jesus, the father says to the disgruntled son, “son, you are always with me and everything that belongs to me is yours. It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad for your brother. He was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.” In other words, the father is saying, “son, it’s all already yours.” And in the case of the story the son that had gone off and wild…and lived wild and squandered his resources, he’s back alive but he already spent his resources. He’s back with his father but everything in the estate belongs to his father and will be passed to the first son because the second son already took his reward and squandered it. So, the father’s like, “I’m just glad to have my son back. Everything else is already yours.” The way that this becomes a mirror for us in our own lives is when we put ourselves in that same position. “I’ve been serving you faithfully. I have obeyed your commands. I have been faithful and loyal to you. And yet I look around and see blessing descending on people who don’t deserve it. And you never did anything like that for me.” And you see how we can get into that posture very easily. I bet that even as I’m describing this, we can think of situations that are currently in our lives or have been in our lives we’re we’ve felt that way. And, so, it might help us when we find ourselves in this kind of tired out weary worn-out situations where you feel like, “I'm…I’m trying to be faithful, and I just don’t see any breakthrough. I don’t see any forward progress.” It would help us to remember what the father in the story says. “You are with me all the time and everything that belongs to me is yours. It’s all already yours. Let’s celebrate that one who was dead to us is the live.
Prayer:
Father, this definitely touches us in all kinds of places, places where we’re selfish and self-absorbed, places where we want to put ourselves in the in the seat of the judge where we can make the kinds of judgments that are only Yours to make. All kinds of things come from these kinds of postures. And yet if we would realize there’s really nothing to get, it’s all already hours that we’re not really trying to compete with each other to get more of You, that all of You has been poured out to all of us and You love us all, then we can enter into the rejoicing as well when one who is dead has been restored to us alive and when we remember that we are inheriting a kingdom. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today except to remind you of what is true every day, I love you, I’m grateful for you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
This message is to Carlos. We hear your prayer, we hear your needs, and we’re all praying for you Sir. We’re praying for your family, for your wife, your children, your grandchildren, and you as well. Just know that you’re not alone during this time. This is Steve from Albertville AL and I just wanted to have maybe a word of encouragement that through prayer you can get through this situation. God bless you. I pray for you my friend in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Good morning DAB family it’s the 8th of April I’m calling in today, this is Laura from Heather Hill Florida. I’m praying for Carlos who called in today. He’s been listening to the DAB for 10 years. Carlos I’m praying for you and your family, all of you that have covid. I just know it’s been a few days now since you called in and you’re into this a few days and I just pray heavenly father that You would completely heal Carlos, his wife, his daughter, his grandsons. I pray You heal this family completely of this covid. I pray Father that they would recover quickly and that Father that they would not spread it to anyone else in their…in their vicinity. Lord I pray for complete healing, that they would not have any serious issues, that it would pass quickly and Lord that this virus would be eradicated soon in our world. Father, please bless this family. Protect them. Protect them from harm in Jesus’ name.
Keota from New Zealand DAB family this is my first time calling in. My name is Kate. I wanted to express my gratitude for all that I’ve learned and all that I’ve absorbed since the 1st of January this year when I started listening. It’s really affected me deeply, the whole context of the word and understanding it. I feel like I’ve really encouraged and grown in my faith, my understanding and my relationship with God, my relationship with others. I’m seeing things in a whole new light. I was surprised by given a short notice of eviction from my rental. I live in an area where there's…it’s a holiday area so there’s not many rentals and everything and real estate is in high demand. So, the opportunity of getting a new place to live is very low if non-existent. Impossible would be more accurate. I decided when I got that notice I was completely relaxed and almost bemused about, “OK God. Where are we going with this? Where are you going to lead me?” The old me would have been panicking. After listening to Brian today 7th of April talking about “seek first the Kingdom” I realized that I have not been worrying, I’ve been relaxing and letting Him do it. And He’s done it. He’s provided the impossible, not only a rental but cheaper than the one I was in before and I am…had so many people just come and help. I am amazed. I am very grateful. I’m astounded. I’m humbled. So, thank you for all your input. I hope this encourages someone, that our God is a provider. God, He loves us so much. He’s in every detail. Thank you.
My family is feeling a little bad because my uncle just passed away. Please Mr. Brian pray for…
Hello Daily Audio Bible family I’m reaching out. I need prayer from my beloved daughter. Her husband has been battling depression and…and mental illness of some sort and she tried fervently to get him help to get him committed and get him…and he was always able to say the right answers to not be able to be admitted to the metal place. And finally, he took things in his own hand and committed suicide on March 26th. And, so, now there’s no chance of reconciliation at all, obviously, in this world. And my daughter she now wants to join him. And I thought that she meant like where he did the deed. No, she literally wants to end her life now too. They’ve been together 14 years. Anyway, I just appreciate if you could just uplift my daughter Robin, please. And she does know the Lord, but she is in such pain and suffering right now. I want everyone to know who even thinks of committing a suicide, do not. Do not. The pain and the horrific wave that results from it is just…if you only know how unbearable it is. Hopefully anybody who is tempted will not do it because it’s just the horrific counter of the aftermath of suicide is so painful. I mean I…I grieve for people who die of natural causes or, you know, accidents or…or worse but when someone…