Leviticus 27:14- Numbers 1:54, Mark 11:1-26, Psalms 46:1-11, Proverbs 10:23
Today is the 3rd day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we continue the journey and gather around the Global Campfire and find our place and exhale and relax and allow the Scriptures to speak to us. It’s a little bit of a special day today. We’re going to finish a book. We’re going to finish the book of Leviticus and the giving of the law and one of the books that lots of people think lasts forever and ever. But we have navigated, and we will be coming to the conclusion of the book of Leviticus today and then entering the book of Numbers. And then when we get there to the book of Numbers, we’ll talk a little bit about what we’re going to read as we navigate Numbers. And, so, let’s dive in. We’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. Leviticus chapter 27 verse 14 through the end of the book and then we’ll begin Numbers and read chapter 1 verses 1 through 54 today.
Introduction to the book of Numbers:
Okay, so that’s the conclusion to the book of Leviticus which brings us to the opening of the book of Numbers. And as we enter into Numbers, we’re gonna…it’s gonna feel a little a little like déjà vu, like haven’t we covered some of this before? And the truth is, yes, some of this we have covered before, but we are in a transition now. We’re beginning…like the second generation is beginning to grow up and it is now time to go to the promised land. And, so, there is some review about the expectations because now the law isn’t being given. Now they have this. Now it’s not a concept or a book. It’s something that they have to live. And they need to begin to live it now as they head toward the promised land so that they can enter into the promised land and establish all of this in the land of promise. And God continues to remind them as He does through the entire Torah that He is holy, and He expects His people to be holy. And, so, as we enter into this, like the first nine chapters are going to be some review and some structure being put into place. Like I said, it’s time to move into the promised land. So, we’ll see censuses being taken, laws being given, review of laws, we’ll…we’ll see the purification celebrations happening. And then it’s time and we’ll see some spies sent into the promised land, this mythic land that we’ve been moving toward for centuries. So, we got to go into the promised land with Abraham. We saw the land get promised. We were in that land with Isaac and Jacob. But we ended up in Egypt for four centuries. And since the children of Israel have been delivered from slavery in Egypt they’ve been in the wilderness. So, we haven’t been back into that land since Jacob. And, so, spies are sent into the land to scope it out, find out what’s going on. What’s there? What does it look like? Who’s there? Do they have walls in their cities? What are the people like? The things…reconnaissance, basically. What’s going on here? And what are we moving into? And, so, they await the spies return so that they can prepare and the spies come back with messages and some very crucial critical decisions have to be made and they carry great weight in the story. But we’ll get there soon enough. And, so, let’s begin. Numbers chapter 1.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we’ve already talked about the book of Numbers and moved into that new territory. Just one thing to point out from the Gospel of Mark today because we passed our relatively famous passage of Scripture, right? “Whoever says to this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you everything that you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” And that is typically where the quotation and the point ends except for in the Bible. The Bible actually goes on to finish the paragraph and it’s really really important to entering into what Jesus is saying. And, so, I want to…even though I just read it really fast…I want us to absorb the full passage what Jesus actually said. And I quote, “have faith in God. Amen I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you everything that you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins. But if you do not forgive your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.” We have encountered these kinds of statements before. There’s a reason we encounter these concepts many times. It’s because they’re very very important to how this faith journey works, life with God works. And, so, we have talked about forgiveness before. Where we found it in the Gospel of Matthew was the very next thing Jesus said after the Lord’s prayer. Here we find it in the Gospel of Mark. Forgiveness is not optional. It may take time. It may be a process but it’s not optional in God’s kingdom because when we harbor unforgiveness then we do have something between us and someone else. Freedom is that we don’t have that. We don’t have anything between us anyone else. If we can even imagine what that would be like, but it would be freedom. That begins in us not in the one that we think has offended us. It begins in us with an act of forgiveness. And we’ve already talked about this before. That doesn’t mean we deny or suppress what we think happened or what did happen or that we ignore it or that we just say it didn’t matter it did. Forgiveness isn’t about that. It’s about our freedom. It’s about us unchaining ourselves from that offense and releasing it to God. God will judge this. God will take care of this. We untangle ourselves so we don’t have anything between us and that person anymore, which doesn’t mean that we have dinner every night or that we meet once a month and try to talk through things. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. What it means is there’s nothing chaining us to that person anymore. We have released it to God, and we have hidden ourselves in Christ releasing these things and allowing the Holy Spirit to mend and comfort and heal us. That activates things like Jesus is talking about, that whatever we ask, believing that we have received it, it will be ours. Maybe the first place to start believing that we have received it and it will be ours would be forgiveness, believing that we can do this, believing that we can release this incident, this event, this person to God, just believing that it’s possible is the first step toward achieving the impossible. And, so, let’s give that some thought today.
Prayer:
Jesus, we love You. We thank You for this. This is one of the hardest things for us. We have memories. We can look back into the past and we can hold onto things that have happened back there and carry them forward into the present and into the future. And it’s hard for us not to do that. But You are inviting us to be free from all of the energy that that takes to maintain. And, so, the first step is to believe that it’s possible. And we believe that it’s possible. And, so, come Holy Spirit into these broken places in us that are attached to events or people and lovingly and carefully as we trust in You like a little child would, untether us from these things so we open ourselves to release them to You, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Greetings Daily Audio Bible family I’m calling as Patrick from Malta. I’m here with Maria my wife and we’re praying today for the tragic events in Ukraine. It’s the 27th of February and I don’t know what it would have progressed you by now, but it seems like it could escalate very badly. I know Jesus said they'll…they’ll be wars and rumors of wars and these things must happen but don’t let your heart be troubled. But just seeing the suffering and it just seems so unnecessary. And to see this man just lead so many people into suffering and bring like a dark cloud upon the nations and possibly the world upon Europe. And I’m just praying Lord that You would be set upon this, that You would be in control, and that You would have Your way, that Your will be done. We…we don’t want to see any suffering. I experienced a revolution 36 years ago in the Philippines where it was a peaceful resolution revolution. There was no bloodshed and the military actually turned around and joined the people. And that’s my prayer, that the military, that their conscience would be…would be pricked, that the soldiers themselves the generals, the army. I’m sure there are so many people in Russia that do not want this war and yet maybe are pressured by fear. We just pray that there would be a turnaround in their hearts, and we pray for peace and Jesus’ name. Amen.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Egbert from California by the way of Belize, city of Belize. I haven’t called in for quite a while. Just enjoying a mountain top experience with the Lord working in and through my life. And at this point I’ve held onto the name Giant Slayer for a while just thinking about David and his experience with Goliath. And right now, I need the prayers of the Saints to pray for me to strengthen me to continue this pilgrim journey that we’re all on. And I covet your prayers. I pray for you every day and I’m just thankful that we have this community. A shout out to the Hardin family, Biola, Blind Tony, Delta Alpha Foxtrot and all the other members from earlier on. I covet the prayers of everyone. I thank God for the new members as the community continues to expand globally as we are continually preparing ourselves daily for the return of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ that made the ultimate sacrifice for us. So, please pray for me that God would strengthen me. We all fall but we get up. And as we continue this journey and this battle, we know that we have the victory in Jesus Christ. Whatever the enemy comes to us with we know that God will make a way where there seems to be no way. God bless and make it a great day. Love you all. Amen.
This is from treasure to treasure, and I ask my DAB community to please go to the Lord and plead my case before Him and ask the heavenly Father to come with vengeance against the enemy for all that he has stolen from me and asked the Lord to allow me to have a blessing in place of my sorrow and anguish. Thank you for lifting me to the throne of Christ.
Hi DAB family this is Tom from Australia, and my call is for Jackie from Canada who doubts that her calls or even being heard. She has a struggling business and has been trying unsuccessfully to have children. Jackie, I want to say that I hear you. I’m a traveler on that same road. I started a business back in 2014 and it has struggled. A few years ago, I went back to 9 to 5 job to make ends meet while trying to continue with the business after work hours and…and on weekends. My wife has…has been helping as well doing the same thing. We’ve basically been burning the candle at both ends with very little to show in the business for our efforts. So, I’ve made the decision that, not to…we’re going to mothball the business and just focus on our health and our day jobs. But now we’re facing an uncertain future with our…with our day jobs as well, both my wife and I. We’ve been married for coming on 16 years and we haven’t been able to have children in that time. So, we’ve been through that valley of heartache and disappointment, and we’ve come to the point of surrendering the outcome to the Lord and not just for having children but with our day jobs and with the business as well. We feel like we’re in the wilderness, but we also feel His presence at the same time. Jackie, just know that I’m praying for you from the depths of my heart as someone that can identify with your journey. Heavenly Father I ask You to fill Jackie with Your peace and surround her with Your love. Give her a tangible sense of Your presence and comfort and also Your guidance. And Father I ask You to bless her business and if it be Your will to bless Jackie with children. I ask all this in a loving name of Jesus our Lord and savior.
Hey everybody I’ve called a handful of times over the years to pray for people and that’s what I love about this family is now I am in need of prayer. I just jumped in the car and I’m going from Oregon down to Southern California because my mom has maybe had a stroke and we don’t know what’s going on and the doctors don’t know what’s going on. So, I’m on my way down. I will be listening to DAB probably for the next 12 hours even though I’m caught up, but will you join me in prayer for her? Her name is Kathy and I’m praying for healing in the name of Jesus asking for a touch on her body for wisdom for the doctors to figure out what’s going on right now, that she would have restored vision and restored words and that she would be able to tell what’s going on and that her body would miraculously be healed in the name of Jesus right now as I’m driving. Father keep me safe on this trip down. Speak to her heart God. Keep her from fear. Let her know that You’re with her, that You are speaking on her behalf and that You’re fighting for her. Father, thank You for my mom. Thank You for the beautiful woman that she is. Be with Kathy right now. Fill her with Your Spirit. I place her in Your hands Father, in Your very capable and good hands. Amen.