Exodus 26:1-27:21 ~ Matthew 25:1-30 ~ Psalm 31:1-8 ~ Proverbs 8:1-11
Today is February 7th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is great to be here with you today to take the next step forward in the scriptures as we move our way through the books of the Bible and the months of the year, tying it all together to take the journey through the entire Bible in a year. So one step at a time and we’re here for the next step. And we’re reading from The Voice Translation this week, so that is what we’ll do today, back out into the desert around the mountain of God, learning of the formation of this new people. Exodus chapter 26, verse 1 through 27, verse 21 today.
Commentary
For the last few days in the New Testament in the book of Matthew Jesus has been talking about the end. This whole thing got started with the prediction that he made that the Temple would be thrown down and his disciples came to him and wanted to know when and how they would know that the end was coming. So Jesus has been talking about that and ends up saying the end is kind of more the beginning. The thing that you are thinking of as the end is more the beginning of the end. It is the birth pains. It is the overthrow of darkness and the installation of a new kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. For all of the predictions that have gone into predicting the end over millennia, Jesus ends up saying nobody knows. No one in heaven. Not even the Son. Only the Father knows. So you should live like it is today. You should live like it is now. You should be vigilant like it is going to happen this afternoon.
Then he gives a couple of parables, a couple of stories to illustrate this as he concludes this discussion in today’s reading: The kingdom of heaven is this way. Picture it like this, Jesus says. And then he talks about the 10 bridesmaids who are waiting for a wedding and they’re waiting and they’re waiting and they’re waiting for the groom and their lanterns are going to go out and then half of them are prepared and half of them are unprepared. And when the groom shows up, those who are prepared get to go to the wedding feast and those who were not prepared and had to go look for oil, they finally make their way to the location of the wedding feast, but they’re not allowed in. The groom says I don’t know you.
And then he uses another story about a master who entrusts a certain amount of his resources to three different people in three different denominations. So one guy, he gets five talents and he goes and turns it into 10. And one guy is given two talents to steward and he turns it into four. And the other man is given one talent and he buries it in the ground. So when the master comes back to check up on things, two of the servants have doubled what they were entrusted with and have stewarded it well and one digs up what he had buried and gives it back to the master, which does not work out so well for that guy.
All of these stories are illustrating what the kingdom is like and they come at the end of what Jesus is talking about in describing the end of things and the beginning of the new. So this gives us a good moment of pause because what Jesus is saying is you’ve got to be ready all the time. If a person knew that their house was going to be broken into tonight, they would be ready for that. If they knew, they would vigilant. So Jesus is using these illustrations and essentially saying now you know, be vigilant.
So where do we fall in these stories? Prepared or unprepared? Vigilant or lethargic? Stewarding the talent we have been entrusted with in all ways or burying it in the ground out of fear? When Jesus talks about the advancement of the kingdom, he tells us that we shouldn’t freak out about it. We shouldn’t panic over it. We should be ready. So are we? Is there margin in our lives enough to be vigilant and ready at all times as if we are really participating in bringing a kingdom to be?
Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its counsel and instruction and the way it clarifies our lives every day. And every day we complete another step forward, moving our way through your word and when we do, we are always greeted with new choices, choices that lead us on the narrow path that leads to life or choices that don’t. So come, Holy Spirit, because vigilance is required in this life in all sorts of ways. Things are always falling out of alignment so we need you and we need to be vigilant so that it is small adjustments rather than major overhauls because we’ve train wrecked somewhere far off the path that leads to life. Come Holy Spirit, in the mighty name of Jesus we ask, because without you we are nothing and we have no way of getting there. Help us to be vigilant, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base. It’s the website. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. I’ve been mentioning for a couple of days and I’m about to stop mentioning because it is about to be gone, the Daily Audio Bible Klean Kanteens that we get a couple of times a year. They are here and they are amazing. We got these new café lids for them. Finally, if it is closed, you can knock it over and it won’t spill and I like that. It keeps my coffee nice and hot. So check that out while they’re there at the Daily Audio Bible Shop.
I’ve also been mentioning and this will stop tomorrow, the publisher of my latest book – Reframe, From the God We’ve Made to God With Us, has put the e-book version of Reframe on sale for $2.99 so that is obviously a bargain, and if you haven’t had a chance to check Reframe out, please, please, please do. I think it will be helpful. It is a deep exploration about what we mean when we say we are in a relationship with God. That might be something that we say all the time, but we are assuming a lot when we say it. That is not a small thing to be saying – that you are in a relationship with God. What does that mean? I reached a point in my life where I felt like I actually needed to know what I mean when I say that. What does that really look like? How is that shaped? How does it work? So check it out. You can get Reframe in any format. You can hold the book in your hand or have the CD audio or the downloadable audiobook, but the e-book version is available for $2.99. You can get it at Amazon for your Kindle or iTunes for your iBooks for your Apple tablet or phone or whatever, or wherever and however it is that you would get an e-book, you can get Reframe for $2.99 today and tomorrow only.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that www.DailyAudioBible.com as well. There is a link on the home page and I thank you for your partnership humbly and with amazing amounts of gratitude. We wouldn’t be here, none of us would be here if we didn’t do this together. So thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the app, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner of the main screen or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
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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 Requests and Praise Reports
Hi everyone. This is Amy from Alberta calling. I just wanted to share some thoughts about the Exodus 12 passage about Passover. I heard somebody teach about this years ago and they said Passover, it’s not a celebration of the spirit of death passing over. It is about allowing God to pass over the threshold into your place in your home, your heart and that very presence of God being with you so that the spirit of death or the destroyer can’t come into your place. I needed to hear that. It was paradigm shifting because before then it had always been about ‘whew, death escaped me. I did what God said and that has just allowed me to escape the bad things.’ That teaching reminded me it is the presence of God that we celebrate and the welcoming him over the threshold into our lives. So I enjoyed that reminder as we read that the other day together. I’m enjoying 2017 being kind of reunited with the DAB family. Brian, thank you for sharing what has been going on in your life. Your honesty is really encouraging and inspirational. I gotta say you’re a lot like your mom. You’re the glue that holds this family together and I thank you. I thank you for your ministry to us. Take care, you all, and make sure you’re inviting the Lord over the threshold into your heart today. Bye.
Hey, my name is Brian. I’m from Spencer, MA. I heard Bernie a couple days ago and I feel for you, man. I’m 27 years old and I have my parents and I’ve seen them struggle through their marriage. They’ve been together for about 28 years now and with everything on them, they’ve had two divorces __________ last 18 years and God has lifted us up and never let us go and they are strong. They are pastors of a church, eight years in the ministry, and me and my brothers were all worship leaders or pastors of ministries and God has really stuck with us no matter what circumstances have happened. So be strong. Pray. And we will continue to be with you in prayer. Bernie from Tennessee, I love you, man. And I love the DAB family. Thank you. This is my first time calling. Alright, bye.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Michelle and I’m asking for you all to pray for my daughter. She is a teenager. We adopted her from a foreign country when she was 2 and she has spina bifida and is a teenager now in renal failure. Her dad and I divorced several years ago, but she has a lot of wounds and I am just asking you to pray for her heart, that she presses into God right now as we’re starting the transplant process and waiting for her to get worse and feeling worse every day before she is a candidate for us to go in for a transplant surgery. So please just pray that she does not get so defeated with feeling badly every single day that she doesn’t reach out to the Lord anymore and praying that she presses into his comfort and begging him to show up for her like he has since she was a little baby found on hospital steps. Please pray for her. Please pray that she runs toward the Lord through this and that he is glorified in this process, even when to a young girl it doesn’t look like it makes sense. Thank you family.
Good morning family. This is Biola from Maryland. I hope you’re all doing well. Brian and Jill, God bless you. Brian, God continue to comfort you and your family during this time. Izzy and Niki, God bless you for your kind offers to Dorcas. Izzy, I’m praying for wisdom for you concerning this music opportunity. I’m praying that your life will continue to be for signs and wonders, in the name of Jesus. Carol from OKC, I’m praying that God would continue to comfort you and use you mightily for his glory. Lanae, I hope your foot surgery went well. I’m praying for complete and speedy healing for you, in Jesus’ name. Marianne from California, I’m praying that God would heal your marriage and touch your husband, that he would make your husband tenderhearted towards you and he will draw close to God. Sister, pray and keep trusting God about this. I know that he has got you in his hands no matter what. Jordan from Michigan, this is way past due, but I’m thanking God on your behalf for a successful surgery for your dad. I pray for a speedy recovery and healing for him. I really enjoyed the poem you wrote on Bond to Teach. I enjoyed the cadence, the rhymes, the truths contained in it. I am praying that God would cause big joy to well up within you, brother, and deliver you completely from that depression, in the name of Jesus. I want to give a shout-out to the poets amongst us, you, Jordan, Blind Tony, the sister who wrote a beautiful poem, sorry, I’m drawing a blank on your name, and all our closet poets. Call in and bless us with your talent. God bless you. Steve from New Hampshire, I am praying for breakthroughs for you regarding your business and finances. The word of God says we should ask for wisdom whenever we need it, so I’m praying that as you’re asking, God will give you and your wife much wisdom to manage your finances well, in the name of Jesus. Yvonne from California, I heard your prayer request and your cry for help. I pray that God would take away your longing and desire for alcohol and it will become distasteful to you. I break the power of addiction over your life and I pray that God would deliver you and replace that longing with a hunger and thirst for him, in the name of Jesus. Sister, I want to encourage you to go and register for the More Conference. Come and get more. Come and learn.
Hello, I’m calling from Ohio. First-time caller. I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible for three years. I want to thank you for this forum. I’m calling today on behalf of my nephew who is fighting a 10-year addiction. If the Lord doesn’t intervene, we fear that things could get worse for the family and it is already very dire. Please, his name is Andrew. I would appreciate your prayers. I’m getting to know this community better and I have grown to love and respect each one that calls in and says a prayer. Thank you so much. God bless.
Hi everybody. This is Lisa the Encourager and I’m calling tonight because I was all caught up on all my Daily Audio Bible reading and I decided to download the Reframe book. I haven’t had a chance to read it so I just figured I would just buy the audio which is only $5.95 guys, by the way. Anyways, I am in my house and doing some painting and stuff and I’m listening to it and as I’m listening to it, I hear the most profound thing. I’ve been a Christian a greater portion of my life than I haven’t been and I heard something in that that I never ever thought about and I know I’m never going to articulate it as good as Brian does, but basically this is it. God created us because he loved us, right? But not only did he create us because he loves us, but he loves to be loved. God wants to be loved by us. I was just blown away. I have never thought about that. I’ve never thought about that. Just think about God by himself and he created us because he wanted us to love him. And I just started bawling. I was like oh, my gosh! I can’t believe I never thought about that. So I went outside in the backyard, sat down in the middle of the grass and I just looked up. And I was like, “God, I’m so sorry.” I’m like, “I love you so much. I thank you so much.” It was so amazing that I never thought about that before. So I’m really enjoying the book. It was amazing just to have that thought. I just wanted to share it with you guys. Hopefully you will be impacted as much as I was.