Leviticus 1:1-3:17, Mark 1:29-2:12, Psalms 35:17-28, Proverbs 9:13-18
Today is the 16th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today around the Global Campfire as we gather each day taking the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we concluded the book of Exodus yesterday and began the book of Mark yesterday, which brings us to the opening of another book. So, we’re moving right along. This is the third book in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures. It is the third book in the grouping of five books known as the Pentateuch or the Torah. And we are following the story of the children of Israel and we’ve…we’ve looked at who they are and so we probably have that down by now. And we’ve spent a lot of time around Mount Sinai, the mountain of God where God has been speaking to Moses establishing the terms and the rituals and holidays and obligations that will form a culture, transforming these former slaves into God’s chosen people. And one of the things about these people is that they are to be a holy people. So, it’s been about a year since they’ve left Egypt. The law has been being given and we’ll start to see this theme of holiness emerging in all of the ways that God is aiming the hearts of His people because all of these laws and regulations and statutes, they’re aimed at shaping and governing this people. And they need this. They don’t know how to be anything but slaves. And, so, this is forming and establishing them and giving them an understanding of what it means to be in covenant with God. It’s like God saying, “I want to be known. I want to be known by you. I want to know you. If we’re gonna be in communion together, if we’re gonna fellowship with one another it will be through holiness.” And God even says, “I am holy therefore, you will be holy.”
Introduction to the book of Leviticus:
So, one of the things that we’ll notice as we get to Leviticus…and Leviticus…right…like I haven’t met too many people that say “that’s my favorite book of the Bible.” In fact, here we are now at this…this point where those of us who continue forward into this new month are very likely to take this journey. But this journey for people who are attempting to read the Bible through sometimes ends at Leviticus because it starts…it starts to get…well…it starts to get bloody. There’s a lot of sacrifice in this book. And we have to remember what we’re reading is thousands of years, millennia ago, in a truly different kind of world. The way that people understand their status in the world was very, very different from the one that we now live in. So, if we’re kinda back reading our culture into the Bible that came before right now then…then it’s gonna be irrelevant to us. If we put ourselves in the camp with the children of Israel understanding that we just came out of slavery and we don’t know anything else and begin to read what God is establishing, a covenant of holiness, an offer of intimacy through holiness then we begin to understand that God is showing the children of Israel that their sin costs something valuable, dear, important. And to cover their sin comes at great cost. And ultimately that great cost to something that we…we just finished reading about as we closed the Matthew with the sacrifice of Jesus. And, So, let’s remember that we’re turning the page, but we’re basically where we left off. The children of Israel. That’s the story that’s being told here, the story of the children of Israel. And so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Leviticus chapters 1 through 3.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this new territory that we have come into Your word in the book of Leviticus as we’ve just begun today and the gospel of Mark which we began yesterday. And Father as we go through this portion of the Old Testament may we realize that holy is something we are to be. Because You are holy, we are to be holy. As we see the children of Israel being pointed in this direction with everything they do, including sacrifices, things that were costly to show that sin is costly and leads to death. These themes are themes that we are familiar with, but they are also throughout the entire Bible. And, so, may we immerse ourselves more deeply in what that looks like for each one of us. You are setting us apart and making us holy. This is known as sanctification. May we participate. May we collaborate by surrendering our hearts fully to You and trusting You and You alone. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we’re doing here showing up every day around the Global Campfire and allowing the Scriptures to wash into our lives, changing us, re-orienting us to God and informing what our day could look like and changing, perhaps some of the reactions that we would have, if that is meaningful to you thank you for your partnership we could not do this if we did not do this together. Thank you profoundly for your partnership. So, there is a link in dailyaudiobible.com 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.
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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:
Hi this is Dawn Rising in Michigan, and this call is for Joanne and your campus ministry family. I pray that the Lord sends His armies to release any bind that the devil has over your group of coworkers and you and your husband. May he bless each one of you with children so they can follow in your footsteps. And of course, Satan would want to stop that. So, I just pray and the name of the Lord Jesus that He would help the situation. I’m also praying for Steve the man who only has three months to live who’s a radical atheist. I just pray that in these last few months that he will take this time to know the Lord and to fall in love with Him. That’s my prayer for him. So, I hope someone can be there to help guide him to the Bible, hopefully to the Daily Audio Bible and so that he can spend this time falling in love with our Lord Jesus and be welcomed home. So, that’s my prayer for this family. I love all of you and have a good day. Bye.
Hello DAB family today is February 13th and I just got through listening to the February 12th podcast about Moses’s continued faithfulness and interceding for God’s people, about Jesus’ passion having died for all of us. And Karen from Saint Louis came on asking for prayer for her friend Steve the atheist who’s in his final few months of life. Karen, I just lift up your friend Steve. I just pray that he is overwhelmed by a supernatural understanding of who our God is, how faithful He is. Not that He needs us as many atheists would think that He does, but that He wants us and longs for us and loves us. So, I pray that Steve would come to the end of himself even in this time and see that. And Karen your story touches me so deeply because of my own brother Danny who is such a hardhearted hardheaded atheist. I’m here in Ontario for having buried our father and still my brother refuses to believe that there is an afterlife. So, family I just pray for all the atheists in our lives, that they would know us by our love, that they would know Jesus by His unimaginable love for us.
Hi Tim, it is Bart from Kentucky. I want you to know that I heard your prayer, and I am praying for you. I can identify with much of __ you’ve gone through. I’ve never been bankrupt but have been close, but I can certainly identify with you. Brother you’re in the right spot. You’re praying to the Lord, you’re putting your best foot forward each day. The repercussions and consequences of our past never go away and the feelings, the anxiety and the angst and the depression that arise from those ebbs and flows, doesn’t it? But you know you’re in the right spot. You’re asking for help from your brothers and sisters, you’re praying to the Lord and you’re putting your best foot forward each day. So, to keep on doing that and know that thousands of us out here are praying for you. I pray a healing over you. I pray a restoration. I pray peace and joy as well as courage for you brother. It is in Jesus’ name that I pray these things. Amen. And this is Bart from Kentucky and I’m walking in the light. Keep the faith brother.
Shannon from Texas this is Shannon from Salem OR I just heard your recording, your testimony, your praise. God has delivered Jadrien and his life is totally transformed. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. We pray that you would continue to watch over Jadrien and bless his family, bless his child or children and future generations and we just praise you that what the enemy meant for evil you have turned around for good. And we are praying and faith for the saving of many lives, not only Jadrien’s. But we just pray that his life will become such a powerful testimony in Your hands and that You will give him the boldness and the opportunity to share that testimony with many people around him. And I pray that You would use him in lives like his own and that that many people would become redeemed and saved through the power of Your Holy Spirit working in him and through him to share that hope with others. And we thank You for the faithfulness of his mother and many others and…and those in the DAB family who have prayed for him over the years. We thank You. We bless You. You are mighty to save, and we give You all the glory and we continue to pray that You will redeem the lives of our family and friends who haven’t yet come to know You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Hi family, this is Dan calling from Adelaide South Australia. First time caller but longtime listener. Yeah, just wanted to call to ask for us to pray for my friend Zach who is a…a youth worker. We both are from the same community that works for an organization who does outreach…outreach for youth. And Zach was in an accident about three weeks ago while he was rock climbing, and he is in a really bad way. And, so, I would just ask that everyone could pray for him. He’s in a coma. He’s got a lot of broken bones and is not able to breathe by himself at the moment. And, so, we are all praying as a community that he would be able to start breathing by himself again and begin to regain consciousness. His…his bones are healing but, yeah, he really needs to begin to breathe on his own. So, I really appreciate it if you would all join with me and pray for Zach. Thanks everyone.