Month: February 2023

Leviticus 14:1-57, Mark 6:30-56, Psalm 40:1-10, Proverbs 10:11-12

Today is the 23rd day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is fantastic to be here with you today, as we gather around the Global Campfire and there’s room for everybody, and we find a place and move forward together. We have been navigating through the book of Leviticus, which is where our journey has led us thus far, and so, we will continue that journey by picking up where we left off yesterday. Today, Leviticus chapter 14.

Commentary:

Okay, in the book of Leviticus, we spent the last couple of days with mold and mildew and skin rashes and diseases and…and mold inside of walls today. And we are…we are understanding the concept of clean and unclean, that is being embedded into the, into the culture here. It’s not a concept that we don’t understand now, we know that there is clean and unclean, and we may not be using those terms and like ritual purification ways, but we know that there’s clean and unclean, it’s just that often we forget that this is also a spiritual reality. We know it, but we don’t look at it in the same kind of way. Leviticus is inviting us to look at it. So, like for example, today, what if you find mold on your walls, well that happens still today, you can find that you have mold or mildew in your house and you do have to determine like, this is just something on the paint here like I just like this off or is this going into the plaster, does this is go into the walls, like what, how deep does this go. How far has this spread? And you, maybe if you have a basement and you go down there, and you don’t go down there that often and you find that this black mold growing up the wall in the corner because it has some sort of source of life feeding it. And it’s down there in the dark, it’s hidden, it’s growing silently, slowly. If you discover that you’ve got to do something about it right. I mean, it can make your whole family sick and depending on how far the problem has gone bricks may have to come out like, walls may have to come down, there may be a whole thing massive process of trying to get rid of the mold in your house. We all can understand this conceptually, even though our reading Leviticus and even though it’s from the wilderness thousands of years ago, this is still a reality that we can understand. And so, when we flip this spiritually into our lives and think about the basements of our hearts, think about places where things that we don’t want to think about are stored, the things that we haven’t been able to deal with but haven’t been able to release and so, they’re just kind of in boxes down there, just easier to forget, easier to pretend that they don’t exist. But what if we went down there and we found mold was growing everywhere, unrestrained, like this unforgiveness, or this bitterness, or this envy, or this jealousy, or this idea of vengeance that we’re harboring. That these things, there down there in the basement and they’ve been allowed to become infested and infected. Well then, we have to understand that the same kind of process, the same kind of vigilance that we would take to preserve the structure of our house, is the same kind of thing that we need to have vigilance about to protect our hearts, which may be a process, which may require removing some stones and replacing them, may require a bit of reconstruction, may require any number of things in us, but being aware that our spirituality and the world that we sense with our five physical senses are not like divided from each other. Everything that we do in our lives has a spiritual component and a spiritual reality to it. And that’s one of the things we learned in this wilderness journey with the children of Israel as we move through territory like the book of Leviticus. So, we’ve dealt with skin rash, surface, surface things. Or is it more than skin deep. We’ve dealt with mildew, is it just gonna be wiped away or is it infecting the cloth of the fabric. We’ve dealt with mildew and mold, is it beneath the surface of the walls. All concepts we can understand. Let’s invite God’s Holy Spirit to walk with us, as we apply these things to our lives and examine ourselves spiritually, while inviting the great high priest, who is our, like by going to our priest, as the book of Leviticus tells, that we go to Jesus, our great high priest and open our hearts fully to His thorough examination. Not so that He can come and point out everything that’s wrong, so that He can come and cleanse us and heal us.

Prayer:

And so, Father, that is our prayer, we open ourselves to You. Nothing is off limits to You. There’s nothing You don’t know about, there’s nothing that we can keep hidden from You. And so, we don’t even try, we’re trying to keep things hidden, we’re even trying to hide them from ourselves, but we’re not doing that now, we are fully open to You, trusting You completely. You are good. It is our restoration, that You see. And so, we open ourselves fully to You and ask You to help us. Show us where things are growing that don’t belong, show us where things are growing that if we allow them to continue are going to be problems for us that are going to be much more severe than they are now. Set us right, cleanse us, make us clean. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website and where you can find out what’s going on around here. We want to remind everybody the new Daily Audio Bible caps and beanies that we had just before we went to Israel, are back in stock. I mentioned that once from Israel, but it was, Israel is so all-consuming. So, I’m getting back into the saddle, reminding you that we replenished those while we were gone, they are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. You can find them in the lifestyle section, so check that out while supplies last.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we share around the Global Campfire to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen, anywhere, anytime, and to build community around that rhythm of showing up every day for each other around the Global Campfire. If that is life-giving to you then thank you, humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or there are a number of numbers you can dial: in the Americas 877-942-4253 is number to call, in the UK or Europe 44 2036 088078 is the number to dial, and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61 3 8820 5459 is the number to call.

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 DABers, it’s so grateful to be able to ask for prayers. Just ask for you all to pray for me and my family. We’ve spent the last 15 years in a cult where Jesus sacrifice was not enough for the redemption of our souls. We were directed to pray to _ and saints to lead us to Jesus and to God. Instead of being able to experience Him directly. As a result, I think we had forgotten that God loves us and that He wants the best for us. And that He has a plan for us. Instead, we were shaped by perfectionism and as a result, we’ve experienced depression and anxiety. We had to lose ourselves in video games and television and thankfully we’ve been brought back to the truth. And just pray that we get connected to a Bible believing community and surrounded by people who can help us support us. It’s very scary. But know that this is the way we should be walking in. Thank you again for your prayers.

Good evening my Daily Audio Bible family. This is David Browning from Savannah, Georgia. And I’m calling in after hearing the February the 14th reading. And I am, I am just so perplexed that after hearing all the people that called in and prayed, those who prayed for Webster and. And Webster, you have faith. Oh my God, your faith, praying for 13 years for the same thing. Doing all your doing, that’s faith. You are walking the walk brother. And then, in the middle of that there was a call in from someone, I can’t remember her name but she’s about the same age group as I am, I’m 62. I’ve been, I’ve been widowed and divorced, and she’s been married before and talking about the singles and the church concentrated on marriage and the families. Oh, I can relate to that. You know, and, and then in ended up with the woman, the last one that called in for Webster, all I can say is preach on sister. Man, you got the tears rolling in my eyes so much, I had to switch from Kleenex to paper towels. I just, I love this family. I love these people and, and I need to call in more and share more. And I apologize and I ask your forgiveness, but I don’t. I love you all and I look forward to seeing ya’ll sometime, whether it’s here on this earth or in the Kingdom with our Lord. Love you, bye.

Hello DAB family this is Samantha from Tennessee. I wanted to call and pray for Tracy. Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, I pray that You would take the scales off of Tracy’s husband’s eyes. Jesus whatever lie and agreement he has made that his road ends with her at 31 years Jesus. That is not the vow that he made at their wedding. God, I pray against evil. I pray that there would be redemption, that whatever lie that has been implanted in his heart and has taken root Lord, I pray You uproot it, in the name of Jesus. Encourage Tracy, Jesus, show her that You’re companionship and comfort her, wrap Your loving arms around her. But also, we pray and battle for the heart of her husband and for her heart, to not accept that this is her new life. That this is a deeply wrong move and that the enemy is at work and that the enemy would lose, in the name of Jesus. Like how a prayer warrior always likes to say that I, that sticks with me is may you have your way Jesus, Lord, have your way in this, that You would win at the end of the day, Father. Hang in there Tracy, God’s fighting for you. Lord, actually says in Exodus, I will fight for you, you only need to be still. Amen.

Hello DAB family, this is Mavis calling in from Grenada. I’m calling to pray for that gentleman who is undergoing financial challenges, that gentleman out of Virginia. And his wife is going in, in six weeks for her third spinal surgery. Brother, there is nothing too hard for the Lord. So, I want to encourage you today. Keep the faith, keep strong. You said you have recently started going back to church and that’s excellent. Lord, we just lift our brother before You today, in the name of Jesus. Lord, we hear his heart, we hear his cry, we hear his sorrow and his pain. Oh Lord, we thank You God, because You hear, and You answer prayer. We ask You today, that You will come down and touch him now from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. You will give him a miracle. Oh Lord, the whole world belongs to you. The cattle on a thousand hills belong to You. Touch him right now and make those financial challenges, in the name of Jesus, touch his wife. Give her a miracle, let healing flow through her body, from the crown of her head to the sole of her feet. We thank You now for touching her and for encouraging him in his spirit. Take care brother, be strong. Hold on, God is on your side. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. Have a blessed day.

Good morning DAB community. It’s morning lift calling to thank you all for your continued prayers and support. I really appreciate all that has been prayed over me. And I know that God is doing an amazing work in my marriage and the marriages of those in and around this community. And I just want to lift up Kingdom Seeker Daniel and all of you, who have called into pray for our marriages. My wife told me the other day that, while she did go and seek legal counsel about getting a divorce. She ended that meeting by telling the attorney that she hopes she never she’s her again. And that’s great. I hope I don’t ever give her a reason to go see her again. But I just pray that God would continue to work in her heart and continue to work in our marriage. There’s still a lot of healing that needs to take place. And it’s a challenge sometimes, day-to-day. We have three kids and it’s not easy you know. My oldest is a teenager and he has some really difficult ways of looking at things sometimes. Doesn’t want to accept responsibility and it’s, it’s a real difficulty to not argue in our house. And I just need prayer that that would resolve and that my son’s attitude and outlook on life would change and be more positive. I just want to pray for all the dads out there, that are struggling with similar kinds of things. Just ask that Jesus would heal out hearts and heal our homes and help us to be better fathers. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Leviticus 13:1-59, Mark 6:1-29, Psalms 39:1-13, Proverbs 10:10

Today is the 22^nd day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you in the rolling hills of Tennessee with plenty of jetlag to abound as we kinda reemerge and reenter into normal life after having spent the last couple of weeks in the land of the Bible. It is wonderful to be back in Tennessee and it is wonderful to be around the Global Campfire today as we gather. Out of all of the different things that are going on, the little choices that we have to make, the things we have to do, the obligations we have, the responsibilities, we just come in here and allow the Scriptures to inform all of that and speak peace into our souls. And, so, let’s dive in. We are moving back into the book of Leviticus. We’re reading from the New Living translation this weekend. We will pick up where we left off yesterday, which brings us to Leviticus chapter 13 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, the passage that we read in the book of Leviticus today, the 13^th chapter is actually one of my more favorite passages in the Bible, partly because for so many years reading through it, it’s like what in world? What…what is this doing in the Bible, rashes, skin rashes, mold, mildew on leather? Like, what is going on here? And why is this important? And then we read through it and it’s slightly an uncomfortable read because we’re talking about scabs and rashes and open sores and did the hair turn white in the rash and all this stuff. So, it’s like a little bit uncomfortable. Let’s remember statutes, the laws, the customs, the rituals, the way that the people will organize themselves and be a cohesive people is being established, and that in this establishment is the awareness of who God is and who their identity, who they are as God’s people, and where they’re going together. And, so, all of the things that they do have a spiritual component. It’s not like this completely separated existence between their spirituality and their everyday lives. They are woven together. And, so, on a practical level, if we’re talking about upwards of a million people, like a moving large city wandering through a vast open desert, if we have the understanding that there aren’t antibiotics, there isn’t a pharmacy where somebody can go get something to take care of that issue then we realize on a very very practical level, that an infectious skin disease could and would spread and could become deadly to the camp to the people itself. So, like paying attention is important. And bringing it to the priest to know that you’re not endangering everyone around you is important. Or in the case of mold…and we’ll have some more mold in front of us because we’ll see about mold that gets into the walls. So, there’s like really practical reasons to not allow these things to grow and fester, right? So, not allow a skin disease to become deeply embedded into your body without knowing what’s going on or what the risk is to everyone around you, or to just allow mildew to grow and just take its course. It will spread. And, so, we can understand why a roving group of people this large would need to pay attention to such things. But when we look at the spiritual components then, we also understand that these things apply, and the Bible is teaching us right now that there is clean and there is unclean. So, like if you get a skin rash that starts to spread, you’re probably gonna go see a doctor now, probably not a priest. And the doctor will look at that and determine how deep it goes. Is it on the surface or is it more than skin deep. And from a spiritual perspective we can get these rashes as well. Is this thing skin deep on the surface or does it go below the surface? And if we allow it to continue to grow will it continue to get more and more embedded below the surface? And we have our pastors and our priests and our counselors and those that we trust in our lives to help us see what we can’t see or to help us interpret what we don’t fully understand. The ancient Israelites were being taught how to care for one another, how to take care of each other, how to observe what’s going on, how to be a part of the restoration. We’re still learning the same job. We’re part of an ongoing story where we have been invited to be God’s people that we might reveal God to the world - who He is, what He is like, what He does when he is united with humanity. And we are supposed to be the examples of what that looks like. And, so, allowing things to go more than skin deep, allowing them to spread and fester is something that we want to avoid just as much as the children of Israel in ancient times are being instructed.

Prayer:

Father, we open ourselves up to this today as we think about it. And as we think about our anxieties and our angst, as we think about the different things in our lives like bitterness and unforgiveness, the things that have the potential of getting more than surface deep, the things that have the potential if we allow them that they will grow and fester and get more and more entrenched. Holy Spirit, help us to see these things and help us to open ourselves, open those places to You in Your healing. Our great High Priest, we come before You and ask that You would show us what is more than skin deep. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay, one more thing going on around here today. Today is a special day throughout the world of Christendom. Today is Ash Wednesday. And, so, today begins the season of Lent as we move toward Easter. And some of you are like, yeah, I know. We heard…we heard this at church. Like this was announced. We knew this was coming. Some of your like, what? Lent? Ash Wednesday? Not really sure…heard of these…heard of these things before but not really sure. There are seasons in the Christian calendar that many observe and have observed for centuries and centuries and centuries and Lent is one of those seasons, leading us…leading us to Easter. And Lent has always been at least in my growing up years something I knew about but never observed, never really knew how, never knew anything really about it other than the people gave up candy bars. And that was always weird. Like I’m giving up chocolate for Lent. And as a kid I was like, why would you do a thing like that. Or other people are like I’m giving up television or entertainment or whatever. And as a kid you like why would you do a thing like that? But giving up things, although that’s part of Lent isn’t really the point. Lent is a season of repentance, a season to intentionally go into leading up to Easter, leading up to Resurrection Sunday, leading up to this grand celebration where we truly the world over celebrate all things being made new because of the resurrection of Jesus. And, so, as we move toward that over the next few weeks it’s a season of repentance. It’s a season to really enter into the fact that sin leads nowhere but destruction and death and to look at how sin has had an effect on our lives and to repent. And yes, maybe that repentance requires getting away from some of those things, like letting go, or fasting for season those things that continually trip us up. And, so, if that’s candy bars then maybe candy bars are the right thing to kinda of fast from during the season. But really, it’s a season of open handedness and open…open heartedness toward God. It’s to unloose the fists that we have that we’re clinging to our lives and the things in our lives and the chaos that comes from it, we’re holding on so tightly. This is a season of prying our fingers open and having open hands and open hearts, it’s a season of repentance that says Lord rearrange me, rearrange me as I move through this season and celebrate the resurrection and the new life that You’ve given me. And, so, whatever is in my hand, whatever is in my heart. Nothing is off limits to you. Some of the things that are within me are good things, and they belong, but maybe they’re in the wrong place. Maybe they’ve become almost an idol to me and I’m almost worshiping and hoping in those things it. Even though there good things that you’ve given me and tasked me to do, I’ve allowed them to take priority over you and our relationship and your instructions and your guidance in my life. I need that to be put in its proper place. While there are other things that don’t belong at all. And I open my hands and I open my heart. Remove from me what does not belong. Re-order my life as I move toward Easter so that I celebrate and am oriented and am aligned with your will for my life. That is really more the heart of Lent. And, so, Ash Wednesday starts that season, and there are Ash Wednesday services all over the world today. You may walk around today and see people with ashes smudged on their foreheads in the shape of a cross or maybe on their palms or wrists. You may walk around the grocery store and see that and think, that’s weird what’s going on? But what you know is that this person has simply gone to some service somewhere and has ashes put on that…that…they are literally a sign of beginning this season, repenting in sackcloth and ashes, basically, just the ashes. And, so, if Lent has meaning for you, then this is the beginning of that season leading us to Easter. If it has no meaning to you because you didn’t know anything about it, then there you go. It’s a season of repentance, to offer ourselves freely to God, to repent, to walk away and go in a different direction and allow our lives to come into alignment with God’s word and His wishes. And if you here all that and you’re like, that’s not for me, no problem. It’s not a command in the Bible, it’s just a season that has been observed over millennia leading us in preparing our hearts for Easter. But today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. And, so, may we embrace and appreciate all that it represents.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you humbly. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are 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.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

Hey, my name is Timothy Stoneberger I’m new to the Daily Audio Bible app. I’ve been listening on a podcast app for maybe a couple months now. First off, I just want to say man I…I love the Daily Audio Bible family. I mean I just…sometimes I listen to the…I listene to the daily devotional and then I listen to the prayers, and I’ll just feel so much closer to all you guys because you know what, we’re just brothers and sisters trying to walk this walk of faith and we struggle at times. We have a great God. My main…my main two things is, first off, there is a lady, she said she was married for about 31 years or 32 years and her husband just walked out on her. I’m a newlywed. I’ve been married, this is about…this is about a year and a couple of months and my heart just breaks for you. My heart just breathes for you. You are, you know, you guys have been together for 31 years and…and, you know, your husband walks out. I can’t imagine how that would affect you but I…I…I assume it affects you in so many different levels and so many different ways. And I just pray that God’s will is done whatever that is. But I agree with you, I…I couldn’t see how God would be OK with a 31 year marriage just ending like that. So, God’s will be done. And second thing guys just…just pray for me. I haven’t been serving. I used to be a youth pastor. I’m not a youth pastor anymore and I’m struggling with sexual sin and kind of intoxicated my entire life. So, please pray for me for that.

Hi DAB family it’s Sean from the UK here. This is from my sister Tracy. Tracy I heard your prayer about your husband leaving you of 31 years. I’m very sorry to hear that. And you find it very difficult at the moment. Nobody knows why things happen, why people die, why people break up but we know that the Lord does give us strength and he doesn’t leave us to deal with things on our own. And I do pray that you can reconcile your differences with your husband and that if it’s God will then it will come to pass but if it doesn’t come to pass I’d just like to give a bit of scripture from Deuteronomy 31:8. It says, the Lord Himself will lead me and be with me. He will not fail me or abandon me. So, I will not lose courage or be afraid. So, whatever happens, whatever God’s plan is for you, you do have the strength. He will not leave you. He will always be with you. He will not fail you and He will not abandon you. So, do not lose courage and do not be afraid. God bless you Tracy. And I wish you all you the best. Sean from the UK. Bye-bye.

Hey DAB family this is God’s tree for I have many branches, but I’m rooted in the word of God. Please excuse the background noise my grandchildren are playing. I’m calling on behalf of Tracy. She is suffering a breakup of a 31- year marriage. And Tracy, I want you to know that you’re not in this alone. I’m getting ready to celebrate my 30th anniversary and my marriage is going through difficulty and we are going on vacation next month and we both are trying to decide if we can make it through this vacation and if we can get on the other side. It’s a struggle when you’ve been with someone so long and it’s also a struggle when you’ve been with someone so long that sometimes you grow into separate…two separate people. But I truly believe that a long marriage like that, that God’s hands in it and you’re both Christians just as we are and we both know who God is in our lives, that God will work it out for our good. We just have to keep trusting him. Yes, I understand you have a broken heart because I have a broken heart too, but we have to keep walking through and praising God through our situation. God put us all together. He’s gonna make sure it works out for our good. Just keep trusting and believing Him because that’s what I’m doing. And I’m praying for you sister and I’m standing in the gap for you. And as I stand in the gap for myself we’re going to get through this and God’s gonna bless both of our men to be able to see the blessing that He has in us being together as a family. God bless you DAB family. Continue to pray for our marriages that are struggling and all broken hearts in Jesus’ name. God bless.

Hello, DAB family this is__ calling from the UK. Family I’m calling today to request for prayer for my country, my home country Nigeria. Nigeria will be going to the polls on the 25^th of February in exactly 10 days from now. Today’s the 15^th to elect the president. Family I ask that you all join me in prayer. According to Psalm 78:72 where it says, with upright hearts, he, David shepherded the Israelites and guided them with his careful hands. Join me in prayer to ask the good Lord to please come and elect, select, pick out that person He wants. You know, let it be His choice. Yes, the masses will go out and cast their votes but at the end of the day let the person that will manifest as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria be a man that the Lord has chosen and that will need, that will shepherd the country with upright heart and skillful hands. To the glory of God’s name Nigeria has gone through a lot. People are suffering. They are suffering so much. Thinking about it…it breaks my heart daily. And all I can do is pray that God will show us his mercy and hearken to our cries in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Thank you, family.

Hey DAB family I’m calling for prayers. I’m pregnant and just in the last few weeks of my pregnancies and I’ve had gestational diabetes which luckily hasn’t been too bad. I just have to keep an eye on my blood sugar. But as we’re getting closer to the end my blood pressure has been raising and because of that my doctor wants me to think about induction. And I was really hoping not to have to do that. Where…especially since she wants the baby coming sooner rather than later and there’s still so much to get ready for this baby. And I don’t know why I’m crying. There’s been so much going on and it’s been so hard to make preparations and I could just use prayers. Thank you.

Leviticus 11:1-12:8, Mark 5:21-43, Psalm 38:1-22, Proverb 10:8-9

Today is the 21st day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is truly wonderful to be here with you today and it is wonderful to be back in the rolling hills of Tennessee, from our journey across the world, to the land of the Bible and our pilgrimage in the land has concluded for 2023. It is fantastic to be home. We don’t feel like this is…this is the thing about a journey like that. When you arrive home, your heart is full, but it, things look different. Part of its jet lag, it’s just exhaustion from the time change and days and nights being mixed up, part of it is the whirlwind that we’ve been on together and this is the kind of close-knit community. We, it’s not like we were together for a couple weeks, it’s like we were together for six months. And so, there’s that, missing everybody, missing the rhythm of the…the journey that we are on. And then we been on this journey and other people that are around us wanna hear all about it, but it’s hard to put into words, so many of the things, like you can talk about places and but it’s hard to put into words certain experiences. And so, that just feels a little isolating and it takes like, it takes me anyway, the best part of a week to kind of feel like I’ve got my feet firmly under me. Nevertheless, it is fantastic to be here now with you around the Global Campfire and it is fantastic to be home in the rolling hills of Tennessee. As we get back into the rhythm of things and the rhythm of the Scriptures, every day around the Global Campfire helps with that is our daily bread. This is our daily rhythm and so, we’ve come to dive in for the next step and that next step leads us back into the book of Leviticus. Today, we will read chapters 11 and 12.

Commentary:

Okay, in the Gospel of Mark today, we encounter some just beautiful stories about Jesus today. Yesterday Jesus had gone to the other side of the lake we talk about the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee and the man was demon possessed and the herd of pigs and all this, we talked about that and so then as we began today, Jesus got back into the boat went back to the other side of the lake. There were people waiting for him and Jairus, a local synagogue leader came to Jesus, not with you know, questions about what…what, who gives Him the authority to do the things that He’s doing. He comes because he’s in desperate life or death need and he’s falling before Jesus my daughter, my daughter if you touch her, she could live. Come heal her and so, Jesus is going with him. And like that’s what Jesus mission is, is to go to Jairus house but the whole mission kinda gets hijacked because there’s a woman in the crowd. So, there’s this little daughter who’s dying and then there’s this woman who’s been suffering for 12 years. It’s so beautiful to watch Jesus just navigate all this. She decides that Jesus is a healer, at minimum, a healer, like a prophet, maybe the son of the most high God. Like He’s somebody that may be able to set her free and she thinks that, if I could just get close enough, just to reach out and touch the hem, the hem. Like, not to grab him around the waist or anything like that, just to reach out and touch the hem of His garment. And that, she would be healed. And she does get close enough and she does reach out in faith, and she does touch His robe and she is healed. And Jesus knows it and He’s looking around for who may have touched him. And of course, the disciples are like everybody’s touching You, what are You talking about. How can You possibly know like what individual. All kinds of people are touching You and jostling around. There’s the crowd here. But Jesus knows like somebody specifically reached out in faith and He felt the connection and He’s looking for that person. And the woman knows it’s her and it’s a dangerous moment actually for her. This is a moment that could get her in really big trouble. Think about it for second, let’s go back to Leviticus. We were reading today in Leviticus about bleeding and uncleanness and times of purification for when cleanliness or cleanness returns. This woman has lived unclean for 12 straight years, by the law that governs the people, the Hebrew people, she has been ritually impure this whole time. Anybody that she touches becomes unclean. You don’t just go make a rabbi unclean they had all, they know the Pharisees, like they know the position, they know the rules, you don’t just go make a rabbi unclean on purpose. Like that can be, can be, that can be trouble, big trouble. It could be big trouble but she’s determining in herself, if I reach out and touch him, I will be made, I will be made whole. It’s a big risk. It’s a big step of faith and she reaches out and she is made whole. And Jesus wants to know who did it. And that’s this moment where she’s starting to freak out because it’s been discovered what she did and the outcome could be bad, she could be, she, she could be humiliated at the minimum. So, she’s very afraid. The Gospel of Mark says the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of Him and told Him what she had done. So, she’s there on her knees before Him, telling Him, it was me, it was me expecting maybe a rebuke. Like how dare you, kind of thing. And that’s just not Jesus, that’s just not the kind of person He is. He looked for her so He could tell her something. Like He’d stopped the whole ordeal of going to Jairus’s house while the daughter is dying. He looks for this woman to tell her something and its beautiful. Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace, your suffering is over. It’s beautiful, but it has delayed Jesus on his way to Jairus’s house and in the interim word does come to Jairus that his little girl died and there’s no need to bother Jesus anymore. Like this gives us an opportunity to kind of put ourselves in different positions because we can understand the bleeding woman, we can understand her leap of faith, we can understand that it was a risk, but if I’m Jairus and I saw this happening, I would be like okay, this is great, but my daughters dying. But then to get word that your daughter died while Jesus was healing somebody else. Like I would probably be like why today of all days did you have to decide you’re gonna step into this thing and touch the hem of His garment. Like my daughter died while you were being healed. It’s just that Jesus could see all this going on and He’s like, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid Jairus, have faith. And so, they continue on to Jairus’s house where mourners are mourning, the village has come around. People are wailing and screaming. This is a sign of grief in the area to let everybody know the tragedy has fallen, that loss is upon them. So, there’s wailing and singing and lamenting and crying and all this stuff is going on and Jesus steps into that and all of that and says she’s not dead, she’s asleep and they laugh at him. But the joke is on the mourners because she was raised back to health and given back. Jesus heals a little girl and woman today and the way that he behaves toward both it’s just beautiful, little girl get up, Talitha koum. Get up and she does. The way that he behaves today is beautiful to me. Let’s carry these stories around with us today. They are beautiful depictions of what Jesus was like, which means they are beautiful depictions of what God is like toward us, what a relief.

Prayer:

And Jesus, You are beautiful and in your life, You modeled a human way of being in this world and all of us are supposed to be, this is what humanity is supposed to look like and You have given us a clear picture of that, a model for it, and we realize that we cannot attain it without the transformation of our hearts from within and we can’t do that. You can, so we open ourselves to Your beauty today, we open ourselves to Your compassion, to Your kindness. We open ourselves to certainly receive these things from You. We’re never gonna turn away Your kindness and compassion, but we are praying that You give us Your kindness and patience and compassion, that it might spill out of us from You into the world, into the lives of those that we love, into the lives of those that we know, into the lives of those we don’t know, into the world. May we show the world what You are like through our very lives. The witness of our lives, not just our lip service, not just what we say, by the witness of our lives may we be like You revealing what You are like. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is where you can find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does that as well and puts it right in the palm of your hands. So, just search for Daily Audio Bible at the App Store that works for your device and you should find it. Download the app, it’s free and it is the best experience of keeping track of things and being able to take notes and moving through the Scriptures together, day-by-day and step-by-step. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If this mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given freely to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night and to build community around that rhythm. What we lovingly call the Global Campfire, if that is life-giving to you then thank you, humbly and deeply for your partnership. We wouldn’t be able to be here if we couldn’t be here together. It would be no point, but we are here together and so thank you, humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, jetlagged as I might be, waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements.  

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. My name is Baya from Washington State. This is Tuesday, February 14th. I’m a first-time caller. Just wanted to let you all know that I’ve joined DAB this year, thanks to my wonderful friend, Christine, that shared the app with me. I am so grateful she did. It’s been a big help. I’m playing catch up since I barely got it a couple of weeks ago. But I’m calling to request prayer for my momma, her name is Maria. She’s 80 and she’s complaining of a lot of left leg pain, from her hip down to her feet, to her left foot. So, please pray for my mama, I don’t like to see her in so much pain. She’s a very active person. And I just pray that God heals her totally and completely. Thank you for your prayers in advance. They’re much appreciated. Love you all and thank you Brian for the wonderful work that you’re doing. May God continue to give you wisdom. Amen.

This is from Junk to Treasure. And I have a prayer request for myself. I feel like I have been placed into like a big Roman coliseum. And I look around for an escape and there’s no doors, to where you could escape. They’ve been cemented over. And all of the villains from all of the movies that you see are all placed in this coliseum with me. And lions and the devil with a pitchfork dipped in poison. And relentlessly being attacked by them over and over. In my finances, in the problems with my home, with health issues that I’m dealing with, and I cannot get one problem solved before there’s 12 more. And just when I think that there just can’t be anything else right now go wrong while I’m struck, still trying to deal with the 4 million of them from years upon years of going through the same struggle, is just overwhelming to me. And the more I pray the more the problems come and then I’ve got my two oldest grandsons that are making some idiotic choices and some crazy things happening with them. My daughter is going through. Our horrendous time right now with things that her husband is doing that has just ridiculous in many different ways. So, I need, I need prayers. Thank you, family.

Well, February 14. And it’s Tuesday. Brian, while you were sharing about the Holy Land, it just made me fall in love with Jesus over and over and over again. And just imagining my walk down the roads to die on the cross for me. Probably in a place where He was selected. The way you shared things just made me feel the presence of God here in my home. You know, just thinking about you guys in the same place where Jesus walked, where He laughed, where He cried, where He made so many miracles. That is just amazing. Thank you for sharing. I feel like I was there. My tears would come out because I can imagine you guys being that same place where Jesus is, or where Jesus walked. That’s amazing. And the simons on the bowl of the Sea of Galilee. When you were worshipping and singing. I felt like if I was there with you guys in spirit. Wow! It was just beautiful. Thank you for sharing everything you share. Take care and we’ll continue to pray for you guys. As you prepare to come back home. God bless you and DABers I have you in my mind, I have you in my prayers. Every time someone calls in to rejoice or ask for prayer. I’m here praying for you guys. I love you guys. I love you so much. You guys are special. Mini from ___ God Bless.

Good morning DABers, it’s February 15th. This is Donna from Pennsylvania with a new name for 2023. The Lord is my Strength and my Song. And I am just rejoicing in the Lord today. I’m praising God for the healing He’s been working in my body, little-by-little, day-by-day. I am thanking God for Brian and his wonderful commentary on the Holy Land. Because the odds are that I will never get there, so, it is fantastic to hear his words. Thank you to the DABers who prayed, who called in to pray with encouragement. And lifting me up. I am praying for those in need of encouragement. For Webster, who is just praying and praying and just doesn’t feel it and doesn’t know whether he believes. For the gentlemen whose wife is undergoing spine surgery and he just doesn’t know how he’s gonna get through that. For the woman whose husband walked out after the 31 years and for the woman who called, I think yesterday, who is single, who’s calling, praying for the single people in the church. I’ve been married, it’ll be almost 30 years in May, but I was single a long time before that. So, I know what that is. And Lord, so Lord, I ask that You would lift up the hearts of those who call upon You. You promised to wipe away every tear in Your time, but I would also pray that in the meantime, You would make your presence known. And lift the hearts of those who are downcast, and I just give thanks to You, I ask for your prayers, I love all the DABers and Brian and Jill and everyone. In Jesus Holy name, praise God, Amen.

Good morning, this is Mandy, calling from Ireland. Today, is Wednesday, February 15th and it’s 730 in the morning. This is a message for Tracy. I have just heard your prayer request today, after the readings. And you asked for prayer for your husband who has left you after 31 years. Tracy, I pray that the Lord will comfort you and support you and I pray that the Lord would fill you with his peace and joy. And that you’ll be able to work this out together. Amen.

Leviticus 7:28-9:6, Mark 3:31-4:25, Psalm 37:12-29, Proverbs 10:5

Today is the 19th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today, gathered around the Global Campfire, wherever we may be. I am coming to you once again from the city of Jerusalem. We will be departing for Tel Aviv and boarding a giant airplane and flying across oceans, back to our home in the United States. Today, we concluded our tour of the land of the Bible for 2023 last evening, beautiful, beautiful time that was, a beautiful day. What a hard day. But what a beautiful day, we’ll talk about that in a bit. But we are here to take the next step forward in the Scriptures and the next step forward will lead us back into the book of Leviticus, got a brand-new week, so we will read from the New Living Translation this week and today, Leviticus chapter 7 verse 28 through 9 verse 6.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, and we thank You for bringing us into another shiny, sparkly, new week. A week of transition back for us who are here in Israel, transitioning back into different time zones, in different parts of the earth, different cities, and different homes, and different contexts. And we thank You for everything, Father, we thank You for everything. All that we’ve been able to see and experience here and all that we get to see and experience every day in Your word. So, we just pray over all of the travel, all of the flights, all of the different journeys that go all of the different places back. We also pray over the entire community because we are all on a journey together, the journey through this year, the journey through the Bible and so, wherever we are on our journey, thank You for leading us and directing us and guiding us and being patient with us, and loving us. We love You, we worship You and we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay so, our final day on our journey here in the land of the Bible, was centered in Jerusalem and was really centered around the final days of Jesus in Jerusalem. And of course, we know what those final days looked like. And so, we were visiting the different places that represent those final days, immersing ourselves in the story of our salvation and allowing it to become real to us in the places that it happened. So, we were able to visit the upper room, a place that has been commemorated and…and visited for well for millennia, nearly millennia, for about 1750 years. And the room that…that’s there now definitely from like crusader era, it has crusader architecture, but they have like at the bedrock of this building may have found Christian graffiti, so it goes way, way back. So, we visited the upper room certainly a place where it is believed Jesus and his disciples probably had their last supper together. Also, the place where they were gathering and waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. So, pretty remarkable place to visit in and of itself. It’s always kind of busy, but visiting that, seeing that, appreciating what that represents very, very important. We also went into the quarters of the high priest that have been discovered here in Jerusalem and there’s, a lot of these places are…are guarded by different churches and have been for a, well, for millennia, they have been for a very, very long time. And so, there is a church there. Because of course, if the high priest represents in the story of Jesus last days, Jesus losing his freedom, being bound in in the garden of Gethsemane and carried back across the well, walking back across the Kedron Valley and then up into the quarters the high priest where he was questioned and ridiculed and mocked and spit upon and abused. And the dungeons below, cause there’s many layers, archaeology is always layers. So, if you start at the top where you are now and some of these places you go down into the different layers of the different existences of whatever the building was, and so, the storage areas and cisterns and stuff are still…are still viewable, even, you can go down into them and that is, that’s tough. That’s a tough place for me. Like on paper, it doesn’t then there’s other places that could be more challenging or whatever, but that place is hard for me personally because I just. Jesus, the man who had been abandoned by everybody, being tied up downstairs, while all of the planning and stuff with the Romans, like how they’re gonna pull this off and get rid of Jesus. And just thinking of him sitting there silently, waiting praying waiting, knowing what’s coming. That’s as difficult, and then being able to go out and the ancient steps kind of leading up into that complex, they’re still there and they’re from the time of Jesus. And Jesus would have come up the Kedron Valley tied up and had to walk up those stairs into these, well into the complex with a high priest. That’s, that’s remarkable, remarkable to think Jesus walked here but He didn’t just walk here, like He walked here on His way to the cross. That’s, that’s powerful. We also moved to the walls of Jerusalem. There are a number of places that scholars over, over time have been kind of trying to re-piece back together ancient Jerusalem in the time Jesus. That’s a job because it’s been built up since then. And so, to get back to that era things have to be destroyed and it’s a big, bustling, crowded, congested, tense city, but lots of things have been discovered and reconstructed and so, we were able to go outside the walls and just view the…the steps that are likely the ones that…that Jesus not only went up but came back down, having been sentenced to die, having been beaten, having been sentenced to crucifixion and He would’ve picked up his cross and carried it. So, being in a place where this is happening and understanding that He carried his cross from here on His way to Golgotha. Yeah, it’s hard. I’m struggling even now to describe it. Part of that is, just the fatigue of the trip, but part of it is, how do you put that into words. It’s some of the things, you can describe them, but they are beyond words as they settle in…into…into our hearts. This is a place like that for me. We had lunch in the markets, but we also visited the church of the holy sepulcher and so, the likely tomb of Jesus. A lot is contained within that church, and it is a bit overwhelming and there are pilgrims there from all over the world. Also reaching for the experience of the moment because it’s a tomb that’s empty, it’s a tomb that…that the person that was laid in that tomb didn’t stay dead. So, we’re talking about the most important event in human history and how to represent that and how to display it and how to approach it and just seeing all the artwork and all the ornate, like so many things don’t feel like a personal thing but they, it’s the artwork of the ages, trying to explain like to trying to reach and touch this moment. This moment of resurrection that represents the salvation of everyone, it’s powerful, powerful stuff if you approach it that way. And it’s also off-putting and disruptive in another way because it’s just such a mixture of people and their experiences from so many cultures over such a long period of time. But…but great, just fantastic to be back and able to witness it again and tell the story once again. We also went up on top of the Mount of Olives and made our way down. We got a picture up there. It’s the quintessential view of Jerusalem and so important, such an important biblical landmark, such an important location that we know Jesus was. So, we walked down the Mount of Olives. We went to Dominus Flevit, this is a place really that well, Jesus stopped on the Mount of Olives and He looked down on the city and the temple was there and it was beautiful, and He wept over Jerusalem that…that they of all people should have known the way to peace but that they were not willing. And how He longed to gather them like a hen gathers her chicks, but they were willing and it’s just a heartbreaking moment where it just wasn’t how it was supposed to be and Jesus wept over…over the situation and then did something about it, by stepping through and drinking the cup and dying for us. So, we looked at that and spent a few minutes there, moved down to the garden of Gethsemane, where we had an opportunity to have a…have a moment, have some quiet moments in the middle of a really, really bustling, busy area, that all kinds of people are trying to. Just have a few minutes to consider these olive trees and consider our Lord coming into the garden and praying and centering himself, and such humanity, asking God, like is…is there another way, asking His friends to stay awake and terry with Him. And then just imagining the mob, some kind of torches and rattling and chains and talking and looking for Jesus. And then Jesus betrayed with a kiss and His freedom was taken from Him there and never to be given back. He would, He would walk all the way through until the cross and that is…that is special as well. All of these places, my words are failing me, special is an understatement, by far. We also went to end our journey to another more…more picturesque place called Gordon’s Calvary, the garden tomb. It’s a view that we see mostly on postcards and stuff like that and that is also a beautiful place to go because it really does give us the feeling that…that we’re looking for, the a sense of awe and the magnitude. There’s also some space there for us just to be, just discuss our final stop and discuss what we’ve been through together and to participate in communion together and end, end our journey together. So, moving, it’s so bittersweet. We’ve been through so much together and it’s hard to end, even though it’s time. It’s hard and then from there to our farewell dinner, where we were able to have it, a meal together of really beautiful, lovely setting, beautiful meal together and just to hear from one another and to relive some of the experiences through each other’s eyes and just hear each other’s hearts as we prepared to end. And from there, a number of…of us were straight to the airport, while others of us are…are moving in that direction, now and today. So, we’re all kind of in between and will be for the next several days. But thank you for your prayers over the immediate travels, so many people going so many places on so many flights to get back to all of our cities and arrive back at all of our homes. Thank you for your prayers as we travel home. We love you; we appreciate that, we appreciate covering this in prayer and we thank you for just coming along with virtually being here with us. I wish that were possible that we could all be here and just wish it could, but we can do it the way that we can do it. And so, thank you for being along on this journey. I’ve got you safe in my suitcase and we’ll all get home safely, if we pray and let’s, let’s do that. A lot of things to say, north, south, east, west and right down the middle, we toured the land and saw it again and it’s a beautiful land. It’s a land where God revealed himself and the Scriptures happened. It’s been really, really beautiful to be here and the next step forward is to come home and come home full and live what we had have learned. And so that is, that is it for today. I am Brian, I love you and I will be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello this is Rob from British Columbia. I’m just us thinking and praying for Webster in Tennessee who shared on February 8th that he would consider himself to be a logical person but looked around and seemed to be surrounded by people with faith and that he had prayed for several years to have a deeper faith and a relationship was God. I myself wished for that more would move from my head to my heart. And so, Webster I want to thank you for that.

Hello, my name is Steve, I’m from Northern California and I just heard a prayer request from a woman who I don’t believe she left her name but said she was in southern Florida. I just wanted to reach out to you because you talked about your daughter Sarah who’s 34 years old, single, living alone and struggling. Your prayer request really hit me because I also have a daughter. My wife and I work with her off and on and she now lives with us. She is married and has some kids, and overall is doing very well, but she’s had several breakdowns over the years and symptoms which you described are very similar. I just want to let you know you’re not alone, that we can relate to what you’re going through and that we will be praying for you, and we pray for Sarah and the best thing I can think of is get her into therapy. That’s what we’re doing with our daughter. And I think that could help tremendously to get to the bottom of what’s going on, so please know again, that you’re not alone and that we will be praying for you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. I just want to say to thank you everybody for everything, for the prayers that you prayed for other people and even the prayers for me, I appreciate it. I think his name is Daniel in South Carolina. I really appreciate him, thank you for your prayers for me. And I just thank you for what you wrote too. That was amazing, praise God. But yeah, I hope you guys are having a blessed day and just remember, I’m always praying for you guys. God bless you, love you.

Hi everybody, this is His Sojourner here. Just first I was happy to hear but alas it’s 38 and I hope you guys are doing so well. Quick update. So, I’m back in with my mom, following her kind of health scare in Autumn. She’s doing much better. And I’m so grateful to be able to support her. And more specifically, I’m really calling today to ask you to pray for my ex-house mate. He grew up as a Christian but then kind of lost his way in his teens, early twenties. And from conversations with him, his viewpoint is that Jesus was a real person but was killed rather than sacrificed choosing the evil nature of mankind. Really just praying that his heart will be softened that his, the scales would be removed from his eyes and that he would have a personal encounter with God that cannot be denied. Really hoping that he would have an experience even as Paul did, and his life would change. And even, my house mate who’s in his early thirties, I really want to extend this prayer point to just young people, you know, young adults who have gone, even gone astray from God, from childhood, or didn’t know God in the first place. I pray, really praying that these individuals across the world will find themselves in the country they’re in, that they will have a personal encounter with God. That they would be able to see the beauty of God, even as the Book of Romans talks about that, you know, relations speak of God, that young adults around the world would be able to see God and surrender to Him. And let them ask for Him, even as we know, it’s not just about this life, but also eternity. So, thank you guys so much, God Bless, and see you soon. Bye for now.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible, this is Loral-Lee in Boynton Beach. Many of you have heard me call in about a woman named Katherine. She came to stay with me last May. God led me to her in the woods, an extreme alcoholic, extreme. She’s drinking hand sanitizer now in copious amounts. She left and is hospitalized regularly. I brought her home with me in December, she yearned and was thirsty for God. I believed she was saved in May. I could be wrong but Lord, I just pray she’s out there somewhere again and hospitalized within a week of being out of anywhere. Lord, I don’t know what your plans are, but I know they’re good. She cried out to you in May, I believe you made her Your child. Only You know the future. Her body is in great bondage Lord, but You have freed her, and, in Your mercy, I do not know what You’re up to, but I know it’s good. So, Lord, I just pray for her family. They live in New Zealand. If you have any New Zealander’s listening, please pray for Katherine Brown. Mary and John Kubit and Sarah Wright. Those are her family who are so far away and so used to this but I haven’t given up hope. In Jesus name. Amen.

Leviticus 9:7-10:20, Mark 4:26-5:20, Psalms 37:30-40, Proverbs 10:6-7

Today is the 20^th day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today. I am probably physically back in the rolling hills of Tennessee, probably quite worn out but coming to you from Jerusalem now to avoid the international travel and make 100% sure that I’m here around the global campfire today. What a pilgrimage we had in the land of the Bible. It will always…it always has…it will always stick with me for weeks and weeks and weeks and it has always been enriching in my life and I trust that has been the case with everybody including everyone who got to travel along day by day step-by-step virtually through the different places that we were able to visit. So, it’s been fantastic and it’s time to be home and I’m ready for that as well. But what I am most ready for right now is to take the next step forward and dive into the Scriptures. Today we are working our way in and through the book of Leviticus. Today chapter 9 verse 7 through 10 verse 20.

Commentary:

Okay. So, there is a story in the Gospel of Mark that we read today that is really poignant and it’s really poignant right now because we were…we were just there. Like just days ago, we here in the land were at this spot talking about this very story. And this story…similar stories show up in other Gospels, but this is a story where Jesus goes to the other side of the lake. So, He was going into the land of the Gerasenes. He’s going into a part of the territory that is…that is Gentile. So, that’s why there would be pigs present. And there’s a Decapolis city there named Hippos Sussita, one of the great cities of the time. One of the 10 great cities that were mentioned in today’s reading. It’s all on that side of the lake. It’s the eastern side. This is taking place on the northeastern side of the lake. And this story always arrests my attention every time we read this story. I’ve always stopped just because of how the dialogue goes. I think of Jesus kind of coming through a storm and finally docking on the shore of the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And He climbs out of a boat and according to the gospel of Mark, “a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet Him. This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained with the chain whenever he was put into chains and shackles as he often was, he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him day and night he wandered among the burial caves in the hills howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.” Like, let’s just think about this for a second. Can you imagine climbing out of a boat, not a cruise ship or anything like that, just a boat, climbing out, getting on the shore, looking maybe to your left and this guy is a running at you? I mean it’s a pretty riveting scene. Imagine how you react to that if you see this guy running at you? You might get back into the boat. You might run in the other direction. But that’s not Jesus…that’s not what He did. And when the man gets to Jesus he throws himself down on the ground and starts shrieking. And it's…it’s his shriek that actually convicts me because he’s bowed down before Jesus and he screams according to the gospel of Mark. “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, son of the most-high God?” That catches me because I felt like that before…not like this demon possessed man who’s running and cutting himself and all…and howling and all this. But like so often we think that the faith journey is really there for our personal desires and comforts when actually a lot of the times those desires and comforts, although they may make our life more easy or whatever our traps for us. And, so, we kind of associate God’s blessing with good things happening to us that are pleasurable, and that God as our Father would press in and dismantle things that will become a trap for us and that will put us in bondage. And, so, when that disruption comes, we can find ourselves in the same position. Why are you interfering with me? In the case of this man certainly the evil spirits didn’t want to be interfered with but Jesus was there to set this person free and so He was going to interfere. He will interfere to set His people free. As we know that the story goes, the demons are cast into a herd of pigs who rush into the water and drown and the man returns to his right mind in the presence of Jesus. And it’s, you know, something like this happening would have spread pretty quickly, especially with the pigs. Like they probably had herders and they saw this all happen and they ran to tell the nearby villagers and then word would have spread to Hippos, people would’ve come down off the mountain to come see what is happening. And that is what happens. Actually, I read from the gospel of Mark. “People rushed out to see what had happened and a crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who’d been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there, fully clothed and perfectly sane and they were all afraid.” And because of that, even though they have seen with their own eyes this person that they could not…they could not contain, this person who is clearly in trouble is actually being made whole before their eyes. He’s having like a rational conversation. He’s got his clothes back on. And they fear. And then they plead with Jesus to go away and leave them alone. That part of the story is convicting to me too. I have done these things in my life. And although I have never prayed a prayer Jesus, would you just go away for me and leave me alone. It’s by our actions. It’s by our motivations. It’s by our interior life. When we find that we are in a season where we have to endure we feel like maybe the Lord is pressing in and into some things with in us, and it’s painful and uncomfortable. Even if we know rationally that this is about our freedom it’s too long of a journey and it’s too painful and we don’t like it and we don’t want it, and it’s too disruptive and it’s making us feel anxious and it’s making us feel any number of ways that are not comfortable. We can very easily dismiss it, dismiss it. Go away from me. Why are you interfering with me? Or it can lead us into a place of fear which…which really is a choice. If the Lord is leading us He is inviting us to take steps of faith and we can step forward afraid and mistrusting that He has good in mind for us, that freedom is really what He wants. We can become afraid of what we see God doing around us or in us and just cave. And in the same way, maybe not with words but with deeds, plead Jesus did leave us alone without even realizing what we’re doing. This place is called Cursey. And…I mean…we’ve talked about this in the last few days, just kind of talking about the different places that we’ve been. But being there and spending a few minutes just kind of immersing in the place and just imagining the story play out and considering the places in our lives where we may find ourselves in the same kind of position. It’s really enlightening and eye-opening when we think back over our lives. And, so, let’s give that some thought today.

Prayer:

Jesus we love You and we trust You and the truth is, no matter what we put our trust in, no matter how much power we think we have, no matter what we do we are still utterly dependent upon You. Ultimately, You are our source of life. We are completely dependent upon You. And so often when You are leading and directing, and we pray that You would lead us into all truth and we pray that You would comfort and revive us, that he would give us eyes to see and ears to hear, but when You do, and it doesn’t look like what we were expecting we find ourselves in these weird positions where it’s almost as if we’re asking You to go away. Why are You interfering with us. So, we ask Holy Spirit that You would show us what that looks like in our lives, that we might go to the next level of trust with You, that we might put our trust for our very lives in You and walk with You and obey You because You are leading us into the truth, You are leading us on the narrow path that leads to life. Help us to recognize the ways that we resist this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what is going on around here.

I guess we basically do know what’s going on around here - traveling back to the rolling hills of Tennessee for me, traveling back for lots of people. Lots of people have probably arrived back. What I can guarantee is jet lag abounds. And, so, that’s what we’ll be moving through for these next few days just trying to reassemble ourselves all in one place. And indeed, thank you as a community for your prayers over all of that re-immersion into regular ordinary life, that the journey that we have been on will change what ordinary life looks like, even as we just get rested and adjusted. Thank you for your prayers profoundly.

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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:

Coming soon…