3/17/2023 DAB Transcript

Numbers 26:1-51, Luke 2:36-52, Psalm 60:1-12, Proverbs 11:15

Today is the 17th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today, as we continue our journey. We’re taking the next step forward in the Scriptures, picking up right where we left off, gathering around the Global Campfire to be together, as we take this next step…next step forward. And our next step leads us back into the Book of Numbers. Today we will read Numbers chapter 26 versus 1 through 51.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the Gospel of Luke today, and we’re just in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, so we’re just kinda getting moved in and we’re moving through the birth narratives. And so, we went to the…the birth narrative of John the Baptist and then we’ve been going through the birth narrative of Jesus, the Lord. And we get this rare and small glimpse into Jesus childhood in the Gospel of Luke today. And this precious little in the Scriptures that depict or give us clues into Jesus childhood. But we did get glimpses yesterday and today. So, Jesus, just an infant yesterday, but He is taken into the temple where circumcision would take place and the offering would be given, and there are a couple of encounters that take place. One with a man named Simeon, a righteous and devout person, who’s looking for what God was going to do next with this people. And according to the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that He wouldn’t die before he saw the Lord’s Messiah. So, he’s in the temple when Jesus comes into the temple. And he is able to hold the baby. He is able to bless the baby. And then we also have this scene today in the temple of a prophetess named Anna, who lives in the temple and was married for seven years. She’s in her 80s now. The rest of the time she’s been serving the Lord and so, she also comes to Mary and Joseph and their infant baby Jesus, and she begins to praise God and to speak over the child. This is happening in the temple. So, if we just pause right here for just a second. Just think back to Zechariah the priest and his wife Elizabeth. And how Zechariah was in the temple worshiping before the Lord, burning incense before the Lord when he is the angelic visitation, and there’s this foretelling of John’s coming and all of the miraculous things that happen around that, not the least of which Zechariah is struck mute and he can’t speak until the baby is born. So, when we were talking about John, we were just saying, he didn’t just appear out of the wilderness in a vacuum. There was something going on with him from the very beginning and this had been something that people talked about. Now, we’re with Jesus in the temple complex and seeing that there are words of praise, prophetic utterances, and rejoicing over the coming of this child. This is happening in the temple. This is something that people would talk about. And then now, we have to skip forward a long way until Jesus is 12 years old and we were told in our reading today that every year, it was their custom to go to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. So, when Jesus is 12 years old, they’re making this journey. This would’ve been a journey that would’ve been done kind of in caravans, in families. Nazareth to Jerusalem is over 100 miles walking and it’s mostly uphill. They could have gone down into the Jordan Valley and taken kind of the…the flatter route until…until Jericho and then up to Jerusalem. But this would’ve been something that they traveled kind of in families. And so, when Mary and Joseph leave, after the festival is over, they’re assuming that Jesus is with the cousins, with whoever. Like is with the friends, is all in the group and they get all whole day’s journey and realize Jesus is nowhere to be found. Any parent, like any parent thinking of this story, like that would be a terrifying thing to discover. I mean Jerusalem is a big city, that’s like lost in New York City, lost in Mexico City, like lost in any big city. And they gotta go back, and it’s gonna take a whole, like a whole day’s journey just to get back, just to start searching. So, what if He’s been kidnapped, what if, what if he’s not even Jerusalem, what if He’s been taken away into slavery somewhere, what if He’s been trafficked. And they get back to Jerusalem, and for 3 days, 3 days they’re looking for their son. I think about that as a parent, and as a father and it’s like I don’t even know like, how many days before you start losing hope and, and as you’re losing hope of finding your son, the terror of what’s happening. I just, it’s hard to wrap my mind around but Mary and Joseph are dealing with this as they search through Jerusalem for a missing Jesus, who they end up finding in the temple. And I quote now from the Gospel of Luke, “After three days they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.” So, even though we have precious little details in the Gospels about Jesus childhood, we can see here from the Gospel of Luke that Jesus didn’t happen in a vacuum either. In this scene alone, we see Jesus in the temple, in Jerusalem, with the best of the best. The best scholars, the ones in Jerusalem, among the teachers, being taught, asking questions. And everybody is amazed at His understanding and His answers. And this is Jesus at 12. So, when Jesus shows up later and begins to, to do his ministry, some of the people who knew about Jesus as a child, would remember that is the kid, remember the kid. His parents came back to Jerusalem, looking all over for him. This is that kid. Which is why, when we read the Gospels, we see why there is so much musing and wondering about Him. And so, the Gospel of Luke has given us insight both into John and Jesus arrival, not only by angelic visitation, but all that surrounded their birth and early life, and how that that would’ve invoked a lot of discussion about what will become of these kids, by those who saw them, and were able to witness the circumstances around them. Which adds to the tapestry of the story and our understanding of the circumstances, and the culture, and the time in which Jesus did His ministry upon earth.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for that. We thank You for all that we can glean and learn from Your word. Whether it’s being applied directly to circumstances in our lives or confronting postures of our hearts or simply giving us insight into the kinds of things that You saw, and the kinds of things that You dealt with as You navigated earth, giving us insight into how to live. We are grateful for Your word, we are thankful for the presence of Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us each and every day. And so, we say again, lead us into all truth, Holy Spirit, as we surrender and humble ourselves before You. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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And that’s it for today. Happy St. Patrick’s Day by the way, I am Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning, DAB family. It’s Alexis, the Psalmist on the Prayer Wall. Fast forward, I just want to say thank you for all the prayers for my sister, who was having issues along the way in her pregnancy. To the glory of God I can testify that she has continued to carry well, and I believe that she’ll carry this pregnancy to full term. So, thank you for your prayers. Today, I wanted to ask a prayer request for myself. Which I’m not sure if I’ve done before. But yeah, so, we’re coming up to the one-year anniversary since my cousin was killed by a truck driver. And the two-year anniversary since my uncle suddenly passed away due to a liver disease that we didn’t know about. And the maybe 7-year anniversary since my cousin was a killed by ___ and my colleague, two of my colleagues passed away last week. So, this season carries a lot of grief processing. And I just want to ask for your prayers as I go through that. As I process, I want to stay in God. My prayer life has been attacked in this season. So, I’m just asking guys for you to just lift me up, Alexis the Psalmist, and I can be like David and continue to rejoice in no matter what the season. Thanks.

Hello, my name is Jason. I’m a first-time caller. It’s Monday, March 13th. I’m just calling to request prayer in my marriage. My wife has left and is over a false church that she’s in and the pastor has stopped going too. And she has made her decision not to stop going and to leave me. So, I pray that God removes the vail from her eyes and that He restores our marriage. Thank you.

This is Jill from Arkansas. Join me in prayer for our sister Sinai from PA from March 9th and her request. She will be discharged from the hospital soon and sit up and walk on her own, to be restored to her family. Lord Jesus, we lift up our sister to You. And we come to You Lord, and we believe, as if it has already happened, that You will restore her to full health. Lord, that You would teach her how to care for herself moving forward. And how to make that a priority, Lord, so that she can serve You and she can serve others and take care of her family, Lord. Stress has a powerful effect on our bodies. It can incapacitate use to where we can’t even take care of ourselves in daily living, Lord. I have seen that in my own body, and I’ve seen it reversed in my own body, Lord. But it came with believing that I don’t have to live that way. I don’t have to accept the diagnosis that was given to me, Lord. And neither does our friend Sinai, our sister, our dear beloved. I can hear it in her voice how exhausted she is. Lord, we lift up her arms, we hold her up to You. The strength of her spirit and the strength of her body, to fully recover, Lord. Give her hope and expectation Lord, that You are gonna do mighty, mighty things. Help her to see this progress daily. Help her to know what it is that she can do. Lord, and the people caring for her in the rehab facility, Lord. We just wait to hear …

Hey DAB, it’s Valiant Val here in Vegas. I just wanted to say, good morning and send in a praise report. Jesus is on the throne. He woke me up this morning in my right mind, with all my faculties, in a place to live with air conditioning and heat, with food and water, with smile and grace and a good attitude. Oh, family, if you have that, you have most, you have more than most of the world. Oh, our God is on the throne. He is victory, He is abundance, and He is love. That’s Val. He is all of that, a bag of chips, honey bun and a fruit salad for ya girl. Oh, thank You, Father, that love is the greatest of these. Oh, God, I’m sending a praise report of good things to come. You know the plans for my life, Father. Plans to prosper me and not to harm me. Oh, Lord, I’m ringing in victory, in the mighty and majestic name of Jesus. I’m thinking about our girl Lee Lee that called and said right now, in this moment, just chose to live in victory. Chose to live happy. Make a choice to understand that our God can do everything but fail. In the mighty name of Jesus. I’m ringing in love and victory, right now. Oh, go Heavenly Father. Put it on them, Father. Sprinkle a little joy and peace on that unspeakable joy and peace. In the name of Jesus. Muah.

He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees me when I’ve fallen and hears me when I call. He knows my name is the name of a caller who, as soon as I heard your name, I smiled. I smiled so big. Because that one, in itself just personalizes our relationship with God. And then your call, your prayer request really hit me. You called because you’re angry. You’re angry at your husband, you’re angry at your ex and I just want to encourage you that your walking through the first step of your healing. That God said, let not the sun go down on your anger, however, there is no condemnation to them who are in within Christ. He, He sees you. He knows your name. And so, He alone calls on you right now and speaks to that anger like a storm and He says peace be still. In the name of Jesus. Father God, I take your daughter, I walk with her before your throne of grace. You said we should come boldly before your throne of grace. God, we lay down that anger and we replace it, oh, Father God, with a joy so deep, so unspeakable, so unexplainable. Father, I thank you, Lord. For You are Holy and Righteous. Peace be still. In the name of Jesus. Thank you.