Exodus 10:1-12:13, Matthew 20:1-28, Psalm 25:1-15, Proverbs 6:6-11
Today is the 30th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to gather together around the Global Campfire and just enter this place of peace and serenity and allow the Scriptures to wash over us and into us. I am so grateful for this community and this place that we create each and every day. So, let’s do what we do every day, which is to take the next step forward together. We are pretty well enmeshed in the book of Exodus at this point, a showdown is happening. God is desiring to set His people free, people that began with Abraham, Isaac then Jacob, who was Israel and then Israel had children, the children of Israel. Joseph was one of those children who is taken into slavery in Egypt but as things turned around, Joseph became second in command of all of Egypt, which brought the household to Egypt 70 people, but now 400 years have passed and those 70 people have turned into a multitude, a great and mighty people that have made the Egyptians nervous, so they have enslaved the Israelites. And then we met Moses and God calls Moses to go back to the land that he came from, the land of Egypt, and set his people free. And there’s lots of twists and turns along the way. We’ve gone through them all. That’s where we are. Now, Moses and Aaron are confronting Pharaoh regularly and plagues are descending upon the land and things have gotten beyond what the magicians of Egypt can replicate. And so, now, people are taking notice, like this is the finger of the Almighty God. This isn’t a trick. But Pharaoh’s not convinced and that’s where we pick up the story, Exodus 10 verse 1 through 12 verse 13 today.
Commentary:
Okay so, we have navigated our way in the book of Exodus, all the way to the precipice of a freedom for this enslaved Israelite population. Egypt has been destroyed by plague after plague after plague, each increasing in intensity, each very, very clearly showing the hand of God and the distinction that He is making between the Israelite’s, His people and the people of Egypt, not because he hates the people of Egypt but because their faith is in what is false and you can bet they are crying out to their gods to take these plagues away and it’s not happening and people are respecting Moses, but their respecting God. God’s name is being elevated among the Egyptian population. The fear of the Lord is descending over the population. But Pharaoh, believing that he has supernatural powers and is descended from deity himself, cannot submit himself to a God that’s invading his land. And so, we hear that God is hardening Pharaoh’s heart. And we read that like Pharaoh doesn’t have a choice in the matter; this is his destiny. But when we think of hardening hearts, we need to think about how our hearts get hardened and if somebody just shows up and starts telling us what to do and how we should do everything and how we must submit and how we must obey, we will probably resist against that, and we may even dig in our heels and say I will not do that. And our heart has become hardened to the situation. We will not move in that direction. At any point, this whole thing could have been called off. In fact, it didn’t have to happen. The people could’ve just been set free to begin with. But that would radically have changed Egypt and its economy and there are all kinds of implications to letting a whole slave population go free. And the increasing intensity of the plagues have made it clear that, there isn’t a choice in the matter, one way or the other God is leading His people out of slavery in Egypt. And so, we see the institution of well, the instructions for Passover, to gather together and have this meal and so, they are painting the blood of the animals over the door posts of their homes, marking themselves as God’s people, under a covenant, protected by God for God’s purposes, which are to reveal God to all the nations of the world. Protected by God and prepared to walk into their freedom. Ironically, it’s Passover, when we come into the Jesus story and we’re not that far actually from experiencing this for the first time in the gospel of Matthew. And it’s Passover time. And through the death of Jesus, all are led into freedom.
And then we turn over into the book of Matthew and it was a couple of days ago where a question was posed to Jesus about who is the greatest in the kingdom. The GOAT; who’s the GOAT in the kingdom of God. And then, Jesus uses a series of teachings and examples that lead us all the way today, to where He explicitly answers the question, but He uses children as the example, the innocence, the humility, the wonder of a child. And He warns very gravely against anyone who would steal that innocence away, not only from a child, we would all agree that stealing the innocence from a child is a horrible thing, a horribly abusive thing to do. But what, by way of expanding that Jesus expands it to those who believe in Him. Anyone who steals the innocence and wonder and awe away from a believer, woe to that person. But in today’s reading the issue kinda comes up again, like who is aware in the hierarchy of authority and closeness to God. Jesus takes His disciples societies on his way to Jerusalem. And He lets them know what can be expected to happen in Jerusalem and what can ultimately be expected is that Jesus will be killed, but He is promising to rise again. So, that is a weighty conversation to have, whether your Jesus and you have to go through death by being brutally executed or whether you’re one of the disciples who has left everything to follow Jesus. That’s a weighty conversation for your rabbi to say we’re…we’re on our way to Jerusalem, and when we get there, I will be taken from you and killed. It seems like that would be a somber kind of thing that would leave everybody sort of walk…at some point walking in silence, really, contemplating what’s gonna happen. But as the story reads, Jesus gets done saying this is gonna happen and then the mother of the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down and asked Jesus to make her two sons in the hierarchy of things to be seated one on his left and one on his right when he enters this kingdom. And the funny thing is, He’s been teaching about the kingdom, He’s been telling parables about the kingdom, He’s been describing the kingdom and they’re still expecting a different kind of kingdom. They have this inherent understanding of what the Messiah is gonna look like and Jesus looks like that person, except for, except for the uprising part. Like, go get your knives and daggers and hatchets and plows and let’s go to war part. Jesus is describing a kingdom that doesn’t do that. But they still expect the Messiah to rise up and defeat their enemies, which in this case is the Roman empire. So, if Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem for a showdown, then this is about happen and everybody better jockey for position because once He gets going, it’s not going to stop. So, when the other disciples come to the understanding about what’s happened with the sons of Zebedee and their mom, they get angry about it. And then Jesus simply lays out who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven, as He responds to this tiff that’s going on, this jockeying for position and the anger among the disciples. And Jesus says and so, certainly we need to take it to heart because Jesus is saying it, but Jesus is saying it to explain the hierarchy of God’s kingdom and we…we don’t live into this. Like, for some reason we still think the opposite is true. But let’s look at what Jesus says, I quote, “you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. It must not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you, must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you, must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Our cultures do not operate this way. Most of us live in cultures were trying to make distinctions about how we are superior, in some sort of way, a master at something in some sort of way. In order to climb up ladders and gain notoriety and increase wealth and increase influence, are like Paramount, like this is even dominant in church culture. Like the goal is to be a celebrity pastor or the goal is to attend the biggest church in town. And I’m not saying you’re in any of that is wrong. I’m saying that’s not the characteristics for greatness in God’s kingdom, according to the King of the kingdom. The criteria for greatness in God’s kingdom is available to anyone. It doesn’t require a person with money or a person with power, or a person with influence or connections or whatever. It requires understanding that how we take care of each other is what matters in God’s kingdom. Anybody can participate in that. When we’re flipped over and trying to climb ladders for us to win, somebody has to lose. We may have to step on some heads as rungs to the latter that were climbing up to get there. But when we get there, we’ll sure do an awful lot of good. That’s not how God’s kingdom works, according to the King of God’s kingdom. How we take care of each other is how it works in God’s kingdom. I quote again, “it must not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Let’s give it some thought today, as we observe ourselves and not just our actions, not just after we’ve done something and go, why did I do that. But the motives of the heart. Are we here to serve one another, are we, or are we here trying to get ourselves in a position that we can be served. Things to think about.
Prayer:
And Jesus, we invite You into those things because they are paramount things. You came to earth and began to reveal that life is from within and this exterior life can’t work without the interior one and putting them back together so that a person can live true from within and without and be true, that this is possible. This is what You’ve come to do that. This is what You are offering to us. And when we participate in such a way that we have to arrange for everything and we have to climb ladders and we have to have certain levels of visibility, these things are fine, they can be achievements, they can be goals, but if we’ve lost the plot of the story that this is all boiling down to how we take care of each other in Your kingdom, then we’re missing the point. Help us retrieve the point and move in the direction that is what Your kingdom is like, and Your kingdom is like You. May we be more like You today, than we were yesterday. In the name of Jesus, we ask. 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.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good morning family. This is Bridgette from New York City. Today is January 26th. I’m just excited to share just what I am just sensing the Lord say to my spirit after Brian read Exodus. I love the Old Testament. It just shows you the heart of man and a lot of the heart of God. And I’m just blown away that when Moses approached the bush, right, God didn’t say to him you know, hey, I saw you and what you did to that guy in Egypt. You know, I…I…I saw what happened. He didn’t bring up anything from the past. He just brought up that He is aware of you know, his people and the cry of his people. And how oppressed they are and wow. I’m just blessed this morning because while we sometimes sit just focused on you know, the past of ourselves or the past of other people. God does not even look at that, He just looks at the cry, the oppression, the cry of His people. So, I just wanna encourage you guys that God hears our cry. He hears us even when we don’t know what to say, even when we don’t know Him, when we don’t follow Him the right way, when we don’t seek Him. It’s not gonna be perfect but He knows. He’s called us and He knows His people’s cry. Hallelujah! I pray that blesses this morning. Love you guys. Bye.
Good morning DABers, King Richard aka Strong In His Grace. I was just gonna reach out. I heard on, I was listening to some music on January 21st, wanted to reach out. There was a man, I didn’t catch his name, but he was separated, going through a divorce and wasn’t able to see his kids. I just wanted to reach out to him. And reach out to all men that are going through separations right now. All men that are going through divorces and are not able to see their kids. Father God, I just ask You to touch them in Your mercy Father God. Father God, all those whom all the sores, those hurts, You would heal them. If you mend them, Father God, with Your grace and Your mercy. And that that Your Holy Spirit would take control and give us, those men hope, through this prayer. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. God bless you DABers, have a great day.
Good morning DABers, this is Duncan Holmes, The Piano Man, on the road in Glovingsdale, New York, where we’re getting a lot of snow. I’m on the road to play an engagement soon but I’m finishing up on Saturday and this is the 27th, 26th. Pray for us. It’s been a great tour but we’re heading home, Saturday. And just pray that I can safely get home without any weather hazards or anything. I’ve done some nursing homes and I’ve done other; I’ve done some, played two churches and a couple other places that I’ve played. I’m a pianist and it’s mostly. My prayers go out for all of those broken-hearted people who have been cheated on. I’m especially praying for, my heart goes out to the lady who’s wrestling with God and dealing with a lot of issues right now. And my heart’s with you. I’ve been involved there, been there, did that, whether we want to admit it or not. Lord Jesus, this is very gentle. Take care, heal these broken hearts. Move them Father, towards forgiveness. It’s gonna take time and a lifetime maybe. We, Lord Jesus, be very, very present with them. Lord, those who have all these illnesses they’re battling with. I don’t mean to be so general, but we have very little time. You know my heart, Lord. My heart, Your heart goes out much even more. Thank You Jesus. In your blessed sweet name, we pray. God bless you. I’ll talk to you again when I get home.
Hey, this is KV from Miami. I’m calling to ask for prayer cause I need it right now, more than ever. The last week I’ve moved out of my family home cause they’ve been stealing from me for some time now. I found out and nobody wants to take responsibility. And honestly, they were stealing from me before I gave them and then it happened again. Even worse this time around. Even after they knew I had nothing, and I don’t have a job. But I luckily, thanks to the Lord, got a little part-time three-day thing that, it’s gonna be able to get me to eat and find some places to stay for, for some time. But I’m still need God’s guidance, your guy’s prayers to help me through this, part of my life. I’m not gonna blame anybody for where I am because I did, have my own living arrangements but I did. I’m on my own power to lose from enemy. Making me do things that are not me. They’re not Godly, they’re not something that God would want me to do. So, because of those things, I lost. But I pray for guidance to, to just make the smart decisions. And not to be proud. Cause I found myself with lots of money that I could have been a good steward of, and I wasted it on things that weren’t important. And now I find myself in a situation. I’m blaming myself. So, I just ask you guys to pray for me and give me some extra prayers. Thank you DAB.
Good morning DAB family. I love you guys so much. I appreciate hearing God’s word read fresh every day; I appreciate listening to your voices at the end of each podcast. You guys are my family. I love you. I just want to put a word out there for anyone feeling discouragement due to self-condemnation and addiction, mental illness. You know, perhaps you’ve heard my story, but I’ve listened to Daily Audio Bible, I’m on year 17 now. And my life has been a rollercoaster. I struggled with addiction and compulsive disorders before Daily Audio Bible and searched for healing. Begged, bargained, pleaded for healing and deliverance. I went to churches, seminars, people who I thought maybe would say the magic prayer. I just want you to know that I don’t know how because it’s a miracle. But listening to God’s word everyday transformed me, healed me, delivered me. I can’t explain it. I listened to God’s word in terrible states of mind, but I knew it was alive. I knew to keep listening. And all of the struggles and trying to find a key to my prison door, to find deliverance, all of that work just, it just went away. The struggle went away and pouring God’s word into my life every day, totally healed me. You guys, stay in God’s word. I can’t explain it and you can’t explain it but it is God’s word, and it is alive. So, hang in ..
Hey family, this is Eyes of a Dove. So, I’m having a hard time. I’ve lost about 25lbs or so, just to get down to a healthy weight. Anyways, it’s caused a hard time with coffee. Coffee is making me more anxious and stressful, and the Lord’s been talking to me about maybe switching off of coffee to green tea. It’s hard, I’m really addicted to coffee. But it makes me stressful. On top of that, I don’t know if you guys know but my mom has, was diagnosed with bipolar/schizophrenia, when I was very young. There was an incident involving me when I was little, and her, where she attempted to take my life and hers. I love my mom, she’s been medicated all these years, but in the last couple months, she all of a sudden had a revelation that God healed her from the medication and she’s seeing her doctor said she could get off it. Which none of us really believe. And she’s starting to get very manic and went to church with me and it was just very triggering. And I had a really hard time with it because I love my mom but it’s hard to be around her without triggering. And then this morning, she sent me a six page message on revelation about dragons and how my daughter wears dragons on her shirt and mini me. And that mini me will go to hell if she continues to wear these dragons on her shirt. Cause it’s my only daughter it reminds me of me being that little girl. And then my mom brought up revelation and tried to take my life. So, this morning, I’m just really spinning. My brothers are stressed, cause their helping to care for my dad who’s got late-term Alzheimer’s. And my mom and my dad live together with a walk-in nurse. And then this will all be worked out in the Lord’s hands. I just need peace in my heart to get through my workday. So, I’m starting off my work feeling emotional, and I need Shalom. I need Shalom.