Judges 9:22-10:18, Luke 24:13-53, Psalms 100:1-5, Proverbs 14:11-12
Today is the 29th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor, a true privilege to be here with you today around the Global Campfire, where we are still gushing about the arrival of our new little baby in our family. Reagan, China, and Ben are doing great and I’m trying to think how many days canI get away with talking about her in a row, but everything is adjusting well as it should, and we are excited. So, let's…let’s…let’s move to what we’ve come here, what we’ve come here every day to do. Let’s move toward the Scriptures. So, we just to center ourselves. Lot’s is going on. There’s plenty of stuff we can find to be anxious about or fear or doubt or worry about. There’s plenty of things in the world that if we need to seek out these emotions, we can find things to be stressed out about. And we can still do that when were done here if that’s what we want but let’s set it all aside and just come into this oasis around this Global Campfire together and take the next step forward because so…so often the next step forward is the next step we need to take and it’s taking that step in the right direction that matters. And, so, let's…let’s invite the Scriptures into our day and into our lives. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. We’re working our way through the book of Judges. Today chapter 9 verse 22 through 10 verse 18. And we are beginning to transition out of the Gideon story by hearing a little bit about his son Abimelech who killed all of his brothers to become the ruler. So, we’ll…we’ll pick up from there. Judges chapter 9 verse 22 through 10 verse 18.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we finished the gospel of Luke today by reading the final chapter. And, so, that concludes the gospel of Luke. Tomorrow we will begin to…to move into the last, the final of the four Gospels, the gospel of John and we’ll talk about that. It’s very different than these first three Gospels that we’ve read – Matthew, Mark, and Luke - which are the synoptic Gospels. They share a lot of the same material and the same stories although told a little bit differently in each of the Gospels. But today we have this…this story of Cleopas and they’re walking out of the city of Jerusalem, 7 miles to another village called Emmaus, when Jesus comes up alongside of them. And it’s such a fascinating story. It’s such a fascinating story, the way Jesus reveals Himself to his friends. It's…it’s like He’s there and they don’t recognize Him or He’s there and they recognize Him, and He disappears. It’s kinda confusing on one level. Like, why wouldn’t He just reveal Himself as He looked? And why is it that they…that He looked different? Like, how is it that they didn’t recognize Him after spending so much time with Him? But it was like, once their eyes were opened then they could see, which had sort of been the…one of the fundamental things Jesus had been saying all along throughout His entire ministry. For me personally as I’ve looked at that, like how did they not recognize Him, just begun to realize that they did need their eyes opened because they were going to need to see Him differently. He was returning to the Father. It was His Spirit that would remain with them. They were going to need to see through the eyes of the Spirit. They were going to need to begin to be able to see Him in each other because they were to become a body, the body of Christ. They were beginning to understand that they were a part of Christ. And we need the same thing. We are a part of that same body. And we look at the story like the road to Emmaus. I love that story. I think I love that story. Well Emmaus…Emmaus is a place, although to be honest there are several candidates, I think two or three candidates for where that place might actually be, but we visit one of those places every time we go to Israel. It’s called Emmaus Acropolis. And, so, there’s a Byzantine monastery, an ancient Byzantine monastery there. And I love to stop there because there’s a little…small little loop trail and you can just walk…it’s like a 15-minute walk if you’re going slow. Just really contemplative, where you just kind of walk and you put yourself in that position of walking down the road and then…then Jesus just kinda comes up alongside of you and begins to open your eyes. And I love when they speak about this. They say, “weren’t our hearts burning inside of us when He was opening up the Scriptures.” It’s like their eyes…the eyes of their hearts were being awakened. They were waking up to a new reality that everything had changed even though everything looked pretty much the same. Things had shifted and that shift changed the world. Like we were talking about yesterday, that…that shift brought us to this moment, but how often have we been walking along the road to life and Jesus comes up alongside of us, maybe not in bodily form, but the spirit leads, and we are unaware of it. We don’t recognize. We’ve gone back to sleep. Our eyes are closed, when we have been awakened into a new reality. And certainly, when get into the writings of Paul we’ll be talking plenty about that new reality that we are to live into, that is to change the world, that is to reveal God’s kingdom, that is to shift everything toward its intended order. But here as we stand in the in between, between the third and fourth of the Gospels that we will read and encounter it’s important for us to stick with what the final story that we got the gospel of Luke looked like and just examine our own hearts for the ways in which we just don’t recognize what God’s doing. It just doesn’t look the same. And yet if we would open our eyes, the eyes of our hearts we would see so clearly.
Prayer:
Jesus, we invite You into that, but we first thank You. We first thank You for the example of Your life that shows us what it looks like to be human, what it’s supposed to be like, how it can be for us because of You, how we have permission to be true even in a culture that is so false, even in a world that is so false and so full of darkness. It is still also full of light and we are part of that light. We just…we just don’t always have eyes to see, we just don’t always recognize it. And, so, Holy Spirit come. Open the eyes of our hearts that we might see You and that we might see what You are at work in and that we might see what we are invited to collaborate with You in on this earth we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Renzo in Florida and I just really just wanted to give a little message. You know, sometimes it’s very, very hard to come to the presence of the Lord. One, because we want automatic answers and two, usually we just do all the talking. But I just want to say sometimes just let God speak and just sit in His presence. It can be hard but just sit in His presence and just sit and let Him speak to you. Sometimes in the conversation we do a lot of one way talking but sometimes we just need to quiet down and listen. And it’s so hard but it’s true. And just sit in God’s presence and listened to Him. I’m just praying for you guys and I just want to pray for this lady that said she’s about to lose her right eye and I just really want to pray to God heals her. Father God I just please pray for this lady whose name I can’t remember God, but you know her name Lord. Just please just help her right eye to become completely healed. Please, the tumors be gone, and the blood be gone in the name of Jesus, who will be restored God. I believe in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth it will be healed Lord and we just thank you God. Thank you, God. Just please, just heal her in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. I love you guys. I’m praying for you. Jesus loves you.
Hey this is PG from NC I want to say first off hello to the entire DAB family but specifically today I want to say to hello to Lazarus formerly prodigal. Brother I’ve been listening for years and I’ve never heard you sound this clear - clear minded, clear hearted. Clearly there’s joy, clearly there’s a sense of promise and purpose and I am so excited for you. In fact, I want to pray for you. Lord, I thank you today for Lazarus. I thank you for the work you’ve done in his life over the weekend. And God I just pray that You would continue to do that work. Lord first off, I…I pray that not only would he be empowered but Lord I pray that his life would be a testament to the resurrection power that’s available to us, to live life this way - clear, certain, purposeful, powerful, empowered by Your Spirit. Lord I think You that other people will see it and then just as in the book of John, Lord that because of his life other people will see and believe in You. Lord I also pray that just like the arisen Lazarus, God now that he’s stepped up out of the grave Lord, I pray that You would restore his family. God, I pray that You would put the pieces back together and Lord, I thank You that, God, that You’re not just…You’ve not just done a work but You’re continuing to do a work in him. Lord would You do a work in us in the same way. Lord, I pray blessings over him today. Lord, everything he lays his hands to, God I pray that You would be in. And Lord I pray for the rest of our DAB family. God, would You make us like that - empowered, clear, certain. Amen.
Those of us who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation
yet there are still those who choose to walk away from the path of Salvation
choosing darkness over the light
preferring to do wickedness instead of that which is right
and even though God desires that everyone be saved
our Salvation depends on how we’ve actually behaved
Jesus said that to the extent that you’ve done this to the least of these my
brothers you’ve done it also unto me
our faith should produce fruits that benefit those around us for all the world
to see
and if our motives are pure and our hearts are filled with love
then we’ll be storing up much treasure in the heavens above
because when we say I want Jesus to walk with me we need to realize
the scripture actually says two cannot walk together unless they agree
so we need to do a brutally honest self-evaluation
and if we find that we’re still in the faith after such close soul searching
examination
we need to go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help us with those areas we
found to be lacking
knowing that we have his word and the holy spirit’s backing
and knowing also that he’s the rewarder of all those earnestly seeking
and that he will give our faith as well as our hearts a much needed tweaking
providing our hearts with a humble posture of continually seeking his face
knowing that he will pour out upon us an abundance of mercy and grace
oh Ye of little faith rest assured today that God will fully equip us to
overcome any obstacle placed in our way
blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Annette Allison and also to Sally Young. Know that you are both in my daily prayers and very much loved. And once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowing y'all.
Oh, praise God from whom all blessings flow. I just heard Lazarus who has risen from the dead. Oh, my goodness what a wonderful story. We’re so rejoicing with you Lazarus. What a mighty God we serve. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hi this is Stew from Irvine CA I wanted to deliver a prayer for Alavia from New Mexico who called in in regard to her challenged relationship that she has right now. She feels herself to be unequally yoked and she’s reconnected with Jesus. And this is a relationship of three years. She’s finding this to be a struggle and her…her relationship partner has recently proposed. And, so, she’s struggling and asking for prayer. So, I first wanted to speak just briefly about the concept of being unequally yoked. That’s from second Corinthians 6:14 and it’s making reference to the physical yoke that used to be put on oxen. There was a small oxen. It was considered the weaker oxen. A larger oxen. And you put this yoke on them they would actually go around in circles and they wouldn’t be able to actually complete anything successfully. So, when we’re unequally yoked we cannot perform a task set before us and certainly a task of God’s plans for us. So, I…my prayer is that heavenly father you would give insight and discernment to Alavia and that she would be in a position to understand that this is very special time, that by reconnecting with you God she has now been given discernment and understands that this is going to be problem for her and that she’d make the right choice in relationship to drawing close to you and in how she attends this relationship. I ask for all this in the name of your son Jesus. Amen.
Hello this is Running Bear and that’s my trail name. So, I’m just asking prayer for my kiddos. My wife passed away four years ago and they, of course, have gone through that strategy of watching mom but the other big tragedy in our life is just how people avoid us. And we’ve learned through many different avenues that this is commonplace within our American culture, that we avoid suffering at all cost. And our family’s presence in other families makes them have to reflect and evaluate and recognize that suffering’s coming no matter what to all of us. And, so, while we can recognize that people are avoiding us because there’s stuff in their own life that they don’t want to deal with, it’s still…there’s so much that I feel like my kids could avoid if the Christian community around us, which is a dynamic group of people, could really love them and follow through with their promises, which for the most part over the past four years has just been abandonment. And, so, just really be praying for my kids as they’re teenagers now and they’re really reflecting upon that and taking measure of all of that. And…and there’s a bunch of stuff for them that…that they really are hurting and wanting God to be the answer but struggling to see that.