Deuteronomy 4:1-49, Luke 6:39-7:10, Psalms 68:1-18, Proverbs 11:28
Today is the 25th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian is great to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together in the Scriptures. We’re getting ourselves adjusted to this new book that we are in, the book of Deuteronomy which are the discourses of Moses before he retreats or recedes into history, and Joshua leads the people forward. So, we will obviously pick up the journey where we left off yesterday, which leads us to Deuteronomy chapter 4 today.
Commentary:
Alright. So, in the gospel of Luke, in today’s reading we kind of finish the thought that Jesus had been talking about yesterday. And we talked about it yesterday because Jesus is talking about judgment, our behavior and our judgments against and toward one another. And what we talked about yesterday is what Jesus said, the standard that we use to judge others is the standard that will be used to judge us, which can be a sobering thought as it should be. And this idea of having an opinion and a judgment toward everyone everywhere, yeah, this is somewhat a product of the cultures that we live in and the technologies that we use so that we can express our opinion about everything all of the time. But the ability to do that doesn’t condone it or make it right. I mean, the idea in the Bible of sowing and reaping, in other words, what you plant is what’s gonna come up, you’re gonna harvest what you planted, I mean, that’s not just a spiritual principle. That’s a principle of life on earth itself. If we plant roses then roses come up, not corn. And, so, if we’re planning judgment everywhere about everything toward everybody…well…that’s what we’re planting and that’s what’s going to come up. There are so many important things in the Scriptures that aim us in the direction of actual life as it was intended to be. But this one right here, this ones gotta be up there on the list in the world that we live in today because we are judgmental people. And really some of the most judgmental people are believers toward one another when we get into these little skirmishes about what we believe and what we don’t believe. And, so, we cast these judgments to the point that we’ll say to another believer, you’ll burn in the pits of hell for this when we don’t have a say in any of that and the Savior Jesus Christ our Lord told us not to do that. And, so, the conversation continues into today’s reading, and I quote Jesus. “Why you see the piece of sawdust in another believers’ eye and not notice the wooden beam in your own eye. How can you say to another believer, friend, let me take the pieces sawdust out of your eye when you don’t see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own high then you will see clearly to remove the piece of sawdust from another believers’ eye. A good tree doesn’t produce rotten fruit and a rotten tree doesn’t produce good fruit. Each tree is known by its fruit. You don’t pick figs from thorny plants or grapes from a thorn bush. Good people do the good that is in them, but evil people do the evil that is in them. The things people say come from inside them.” I’m not exactly sure what I could say that makes that any more clear than what Jesus said, other than to say it becomes much easier to stop judging others when we become fully acquainted and aware with how much we disserve God’s judgment and that He is withholding in mercy toward us. When we get a glimpse of that, when we get a glimpse of what we actually disserve then we begin to realize we have no business heaping judgment on anybody. We don’t deserve another breath. It’s a gift. And if we receive this next breath as a gift should we exhale in the judgment toward our fellow brothers and sisters all around us, or should we exhale gratitude and worship because we don’t deserve anything? I’m tempted to say like, if there’s anything we get out of the Bible, if we can get this one thing it would change our lives, but there’s so much richness for us about how to aim our hearts and our posture, our lives and how to live those lives. But I will say that this is an essential piece, becoming fully aware of what we deserve and what we disserve is absolute complete separation from God, forever. In His mercy He has come for us. In His mercy He has gathered us. How can we do anything different than mimic the Lord or to quote Jesus from our reading today, “a student is no better than His teacher, but everyone who is well trained will be like His teacher.” In this regard, we have the example of our teacher and the instruction of our teacher on how this is supposed to look in our lives.
Prayer:
Teacher, Jesus, Holy Spirit come. This is different for each one of us. All of us have different kinds of stories. All of us are carrying around scars from deep wounds that have happened to us. Some things were unjust and some things we deserve, but they are our story. And, so, how to live into this, how to let go and not judge everything around us, but to simply with grace and kindness and mercy understand that we are so very fortunate to even be here. This is a process. Come Holy Spirit and lead us in that process because this is truly a process that leads us into enormous amounts of freedom, because our judgmentalism is very much attached to the way that we release and forgive. And these are essential pieces of this faith journey. There is no escaping it. And, so, we embrace it and ask Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. In this we expect. In this we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi, I’m calling to say thank you to Soaring on Eagles Wings from Canada. You called and prayed for me. I was driving from Oregon to California and called into about my mom Kathy. That was on February 27th and my call aired on the 3rd and your prayer aired on the 9th. And I am so thankful and pleased to report that by the time I reached my destination my mom was healed. Thank you for praying. Those of you that prayed quietly and those that called in, He was working that out before my call even aired. And how powerful and beautiful is the reminder that help is on the way before we ever pray. He’s so good and my mom’s doing really beautifully. She has no brain damage. She is almost completely back to normal and it’s a miracle. He did a miracle and He continues to do one as He continues to heal her and bless us with her presence every day. We didn’t know if she was going to make it and I had the most incredible beautiful drive with the Lord literally sitting in the passenger seat. I felt His presence the entire drive and it was so meaningful to me knowing that you all were praying even though you didn’t know I had sent it a prayer yet. This community’s really special to me and I just wanted to let you all know that and that I’m praying for you as well. The most amazing thing happened too when we changed the calendar from February to March. I put a name on every month not knowing last year when I was doing it and it was the Lord heels. How beautiful. Bye.
Daily Audio Bible this is Rebecca from Michigan it’s the 19th and I wanted to stop by and pray for all the single people because I heard a single person on here over 60 who feels alone. So, I am 56 and I am single. Sometimes I feel alone. Father God, I pray for all the single people whether they’re widows, widowers, divorced, or never been married or unwed mothers and our people with children that are single. I pray for a community for them. I know some of the churches think they’re trying to do a meat market, but I pray that they won’t think that way, but more a ministry and a community to connect to each other and get to know each other. I know one church they had a line dancing for single people. I pray that they would find a way to reach out to the single people and make them feel like they’re a part of the church and community and even if it’s just the Bible study or something that we could do together or go walking together or go bike riding together, do something special together so we can feel a part of a community. And if we have children that our children can be…play together. I pray for every single person right now and whether your married sometimes you feel alone too. So, I pray for those married people who feel alone because I’ve heard that happens. So, if you’re a married person and you feel alone sometimes, I pray that You feel like you’re in a community and can reach out. And I pray for God to make you not feel alone but feel…
Hey this is Candace from Oregon just checking in. March 11 was five years since my husband passed on to be with Jesus and it was exceedingly difficult. It just…you just wouldn’t believe the struggle. But of course, I had been married to him for 41 years. So, it’s just really been hard to lose him and yet the memories are so so good and so many. It was more than difficult for our son Micah who’s an alcoholic and nearly lost his life over it. He’s been struggling ever since a couple days before Christmas with really dangerous use of alcohol, but the reason is because he’s trying to stop. So, he had two weeks of not drinking at all and that’s when it becomes really dangerous if you go back in and drink at the same level. And this happens to many many many alcoholics who try to stop. So, thank you Lord that Micha wants to stop doing this entirely. Help him to understand that he needs You and that he can’t do this on his own and to get the help that he needs in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Good morning this is Sally Amazed by Grace in Massachusetts, from Massachusetts. I’m calling to pray for Elisha who called in to pray for another sister who’s having anxiety. Alicia is pregnant 32 weeks and has already a child three and twins. Alicia when I was pregnant with my fourth child, I also had forebodings about the fact that I was going to die when this child was born. I don’t know where that came from, but I want you to know that child is 42 and I’m in my 70s and God did give me the grace to get over that fear. Bless you and guide you and give you grace as you trust in Him.
Hello DAB family this is Vonni in Northern California. I just heard Michael call in asking for prayer for his brother. Michael, I remember praying along with the community for your sweet mom. I just want you to know she’d be so proud of you right now. Your faith is strong, and you know that prayer makes a difference especially when we band together lifting one another up. I’m praying for you and your brother, and I’ll be praying for your cousin who’s overwhelmed with responsibilities right now. May the Lord give added support to all of you, and I pray you’ll see a change in your brother’s behavior. Secondly, I wanted to reach out to Grace who called in about the bullies. I’m so glad to hear others lifting you up Grace. When I first heard your cry for prayer my heart broke for you. Years ago, I had a bully at work and my dear wise mother told me to begin praying for this bully and she and I committed together to pray that God would work in her heart and God answered. We’re all praying for you grace, that God will comfort and strengthen you and that she will see some amazing changes as you pray for these people too. Lord bless you.