Deuteronomy 32:28-52, Luke 12:35-59, Psalms 78:56-64, Proverbs 12:24
Today is the 8th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian I am thrilled to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. And that next step forward together has been back into the book of Deuteronomy for a while now, and that’s where we’re going today, back into the book of Deuteronomy. We have a couple of days left. And then when we begin a new week we will also be transitioning into some new territory in the Old Testament. But for now, we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 28 through 52. And just by way of reminder from yesterday, a song was given to Moses to teach the people because God was warning and also foretelling that when things got easy for them, and they were in the promised land they would begin to slide away. And, so, God gave Moses the song that he taught the people and we’re reading the words to that song, and we began that yesterday. We will conclude today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in our reading from the Gospel of Luke today Jesus is basically illustrating through parable what vigilance and awareness looks like and requiring this, vigilance and awareness, that we are alert and situationally aware of what is going on around us, and that doesn’t just mean the circumstances that we can proceed with our five physical senses. That means what’s going on in our hearts. Because the vigilance and the awareness is supposed to be about what God is doing within us and within others and then collectively through the hearts of mankind in the world. And, so, this posture of being alert, of being aware of being ready, of having things prepared. We see this throughout…well…we’ll see this throughout the rest of the New Testament. And there’s context for that. They needed to be aware. Like, there were a lot of things coming against them. But it’s not like there’s not a lot coming against us. We need to be alert and aware of what’s going on, which requires us to take at least one step back from being full-bore full-blown going hard charging ahead. Like if we’re dialed up to 11, we need to turn down to 9 and take a step back because we don’t have any margin. If we are racing at 11 in every area of our lives all of the time, then all we can ever do is react when something happens that was not expected. But if we take a couple steps back and dial it down a little bit then we have a bit of margin. And then when the unexpected happens we have margin to deal with it and we’re not just reacting because it’s those three actions when we live reactionary to everything that is happening around us, we can get ourselves in trouble so quickly. But if we are vigilant and aware and see and see what’s happening in our hearts and have the margin before we just spout off a bunch of paragraphs that we should never say to anybody, then we can allow the Holy Spirit into that margin to lead us into all truth. And, so, Jesus is talking about vigilance but then He comes to something that is famous but is like, “how does this work?” And, so, I’m quoting Jesus here. “I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze, but I have a baptism to undergo and how it consumes me until it is finished. Do you think I came here to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” And then He goes on to talk about how different family members will be against other family members. And it’s like, how does that work because this is the prince of peace, right? Peace on earth, goodwill toward men? And, so, we can read into this that Jesus has another side to Him, right? Or, yes, He’s a peace maker, yes He’s a miracle worker, yes, He’s a wisdom teacher, yes He’s the son of the most high God, and yes He speaks a message that brings shalom. So, why is He saying He didn’t come to do that, but rather bring division? So, Jesus certainly was bringing the message of the kingdom of heaven and was announcing it everywhere that He went, and He was bringing that kingdom, right? Through to the miraculous healings that occurred, this is just the kingdom coming and restoring things to how they are supposed to be, the way that He captured the heart of the people and ignited them and gave them an opportunity to sort of see that there’s another way to be a human being, there’s other ways of looking at things. Jesus certainly did that and the accounts that we have of that in the Gospels endure. Like, we’re reading them or being formed by them, we’re being shaped by them. So, He was certainly showing us the path to inner peace, which cultivates and creates peace everywhere that we are. So, it’s not Jesus with a dark side who also wants to cause division even while He is announcing peace. It’s not Jesus. It’s the message that there is a better way to be here. There is a better way to be among each other. There is a better way to live, one that allows the circumstances that surround us, even if there dire to exist while retaining a connection to God from within that knows that no matter what happens to us, we are safe. God is with us. For this to happen and we…we’re 2000 years into moving in these directions, for this to happen requires under surrender to God. And, so, when human beings are told that the pathway to peace, the pathway to strength is through surrender it becomes like dissonance in our minds because we have been told that dominance is power, and people don’t usually give up power. The more power that they have, the more they are less likely to give it up in favor of a better way. And, so, even though there is a better way it still causes division because not everybody is on board with giving up control. What Jesus was describing is just as much with us today. If we look back over the history of the gospel since the life and ministry of Jesus, we see the church doing amazing things in the world and also some pretty horrible stuff. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the message that He brought to us confronts our hearts. It brings the truth to our hearts, and we can’t hide from the lies that we told ourselves and everyone else. It causes a divide. Not for the sake of long term ongoing division and upheaval, but to bring the truth and confront the lies. And, so, we can begin to understand what Jesus is saying. He’s bringing the truth, confronting the false and the false is plotting to destroy Him. And even as we continue on this march forward, revealing the kingdom, being the hands and feet of Jesus in this world we’re told to expect no different. And, so, what we’re supposed to do is be awake and alert and aware of what is happening so that when truth confronts us and causes dissonance or division inside of us that we know what the path is, surrender. Surrender is the path to freedom, surrendering and acknowledging our utter dependence upon God.
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into that. When we think about it like that we can see, yeah, when we’re confronted with the truth that does cause us to have to recalibrate. And a lot of times if it…if it means that we’re going to give up control we fight, And, so, as we look at our processes and the ways that we react to things we can clearly see where our hearts posture is and we invite Your Holy Spirit into that, that we might understand that the first move in a divisive situation is to surrender to You and allow You to work through us, that it really is about Your kingdom and Your work in this world and not about our dominance. Come, Holy Spirit into this we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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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:
Good morning DABbers as I am now at a new DABber and I’m so blessed by this ministry. I have recently become a double DABber. And, so, OK first time calling. This is Peggy in Chicago. And first again thank you so much as I’m continually being blessed by all the praise requests and the families reading. And I am praying along with each one of you, which is in turn blessing to me. So, yes, I’m praying along with each one of you as I get to know my family my new DAB family. And also with that since I’m being so blessed I’m also encouraged that I may also may not want to call in for prayer on my first time. And praying for healing, keeping this short. So, God knows that I have and injury that has a nerve damaged. So, I’m praying that I don’t have permanent damage. And recently I have an issue going on that’s personal and I am believing in God because God’s Jehovah Raffa our healer. He is faithful, He is good. And, so, I thank you Father right now for what I believe you to do. And lift up to my new DAB family and I hope to be calling in again soon. So, signing off. This is Chicago peg.
Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Gin in Min calling on Tuesday the 5th of April? Oh my gosh. The 5th of April. And I’m calling because on Sunday I heard this gal sing, and it was such a Billie Holiday vibe. It was so powerful for me to hear. And my husband David has been in the hospital since November from a stroke. And on Sunday I went in, and I said hey, do you want to listen to…I got something to listen to. And I played that song from that gal that sang it that had that Billie Holiday vibe. And after that I played some of Brian’s…we started reading…listening to the Daily Audio Bible and I paused it and I said, David do you know who this is and he said…and he nodded yes. And I said, who is it. And he whispered, Brian. And it was so…so excited because having the stroke and what you can recognize and what you can’t. And we’ve been listening to…for the last year two years and he knew Brian’s voice and it was just great. And I asked him what he thought about the song and he’s like powerful. And, so, it just ministered to me in the morning and then I was able to share it with David. And, so, just excited about the that that was great to hear. Anyway, just thought I’d say that. Thank you for singing It’s a Blessing and I love sharing things with my husband as he’s in the hospital. Thanks. Bye.
Hello, my name is Aaron and I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia on Christmas Eve of last year. And, so, I began my treatment on January 15th knowing that God had a plan for whatever was gonna happen. And on March…sometime in March they found a very very rare form of fungal lesions on my brain that were eating my brain and they…and they had to stop my chemotherapy because as they lowered my immune system the…the fungal lesions were ramping up and eating my brain more and more. So, I’m stuck in kind of an odd position because I can’t have the fungal lesions, but I also need my chemo. And if it’s God will that I pass this is really my prayer. God’s gonna heal me if He’s gonna heal me. And I don’t necessarily need prayer for that. I do need prayer for that. Please, please, please pray for that because I don’t want to die, and I don’t know how they’re gonna pull this off. But really if I do…if I…if I have to pass I’m asking for prayer that I pass with grace and mercy and love and __ end in God’s image. Thanks DAB.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Richard from Montreal the taxi driver. Yes, I’m calling in because I want to join my voice to the one with Brian when you’re calling on a Daily Audio Bible that’s saying, well done! I want to say to all of you guys, well done for encouraging our brother who’s calling himself a misfit because me too. I was a misfit. We were all misfits but now we are perfected in God’s Kingdom. And we’re sharpening each other, we’re building each other encouraging each. I know I must be sounding it a little bit annoying with all my joyful and, you know, because when you stop to think about it, you know, there’s a lot of people that are living a lot of stuff. They’re like wares and sickness and death and, you know, all…and how can you be happy? Well, it’s the joy of the Lord. It comes in. And I pray…this is my prayer, that even in trials and in sorrow may yourself be just for a moment, may that last, that you’d be filled with God’s joy and God’s encouragement. And well done to everybody that is encouraging brothers and sisters and building each other up. I’m happy to be part of this beautiful community and I’m saying like Brian, I love you and I’ll see you maybe tomorrow. God bless. Shalom.
Hi everyone, this is Liz from Louisiana. I was just wondering if you can pray for my…my med school board exam scheduled on April 30th. I’ve been studying for these exams since February, but I really have not been improving and I…I just can’t seem to pass this exam. And I’ve been feeling very discouraged. And I just feel very depressed, and I don’t know what to do. I really don’t want to push it later because we start rotation in the hospital in May. And I also feel like right now I’m just so tired of studying and I have no strength and I really feel like my brain is failing me. I think maybe I take…I need to take a year off but that also doesn’t seem like a good option. I truly would love to be able to take it on April 30th and pass it but I feel like I really would really need a miracle. I would really need a miracle from God to help me. So, if you guys can pray for me for my board exam on April 30th just for…for…just if you could just pray for God’s wisdom for me and a miracle from God that would be really appreciated. Thank you.