02/23/2017 DAB Transcript

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

Today is February 23rd.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian and I am ready to go.  It’s great to be here with you today for the next step forward in the adventure that we’re on that takes us through the Bible and all of its twists and turns and drama and intrigue and opening of our souls that happens because of it.  So we’re back out to the desert.  The law is being given, how this new culture that is being created out of the dust of the wilderness will actually look and behave.   Leviticus chapter 13, verses 1-57 today, and we’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week.

Commentary

So we talked about mold and skin rashes and all of that kind of stuff yesterday. In the book of Leviticus today, we’re kind of seeing here’s what you do.  This is the law, so let’s take that in context because it is very easy to get lost in the tedium of the law.  That wouldn’t be any different today.  I mean, google a law book or find a law book and start reading and if you’re not a lawyer and enmeshed in all that, well, it’s not exactly page turner stuff.  So we are reading the law being given in the Old Testament and we can think the same thing, it’s not page turner stuff, but when we understand the greater context, that out of the dust of the wilderness, truly, a people are being formed, a culture, a nation, a holy, set apart people of the God of all things.  He is giving out these customs, rituals, traditions, behaviors.  This is how the culture is supposed to be shaped. We live in cultures and we know the laws that are going to get us in trouble and then we have some social understandings of how we’re supposed to conduct ourselves toward each other to live in unity and harmony.  We have these understandings.  That is what we are watching in the Old Testament.  So maybe not riveting page turning stuff, but important foundational things, just as the foundational, fundamental, deep laws of the nations that we live in form the culture that we live in.  The irony is, in so many places these understandings, these rules and rituals that we just kind of take for granted, that have just always been there, they come from here in the book of Leviticus.  So it is fascinating stuff.  

Let’s talk about Jesus for a second.  So in the book of Mark you watch Jesus now becoming a bit of a public figure, a bit of a celebrity.  He can’t really go anywhere inconspicuously and he can’t really get away inconspicuously either.  I mean, there is no black SUV waiting out back for Jesus to jump into so he can be whisked out of town to somewhere that no one knows.  There is no ‘Elvis has left the building.’  They follow Jesus everywhere and sometimes he even gets into boats to get away for a second, even if it is just out on the water for a second. He is trying to go somewhere where he can invest specific time into his disciples, have some specific time between him and the Father and they are everywhere.  So we see a group of 5000 people that have followed him and he feeds them.  Before all of that happened, all he was trying to do was get away for a second with the disciples who had just returned from mission of their own that he had commissioned them to do.  So he wants to just like debrief them and have just some time to talk and spend some time together.  He’s trying to get that, but he can’t get that.  People are chasing him.  That is how he feeds the 5000 people.  

After that is all over, he sends the disciples back across the lake and he is just going to chill.  And he does. And he’s in a place where he can see the boat on the water and that the wind is against the disciples and he’s just going to go ahead and beat them.  Right?  So he starts walking on the water and he walks past them and he’s just going to keep on going, but they see him and freak.  

I’m kind of in that camp.  I think that is what I would do in the same situation.  If I am out in a boat in the dark, trying to get across the lake without a motor or anything like that, we’re just rowing, and the wind is blowing and then all of a sudden there is a dark shadow on the water shaped like a person walking, I think I would, I don’t know, probably wet my pants a little bit. And the disciples are doing similarly. Their response when Jesus speaks is fascinating.  “Calm down. It’s me.  Don’t be afraid.”  That right there says a lot to us.  Maybe we’re not out in the dark on a lake trying to cross the sea when a shadowy figure comes, but we have these kinds of situations in our lives all the time where it is dark, where it is as if we are out in the open water and we’re praying, ‘Lord, help rescue me.  Save me.’ And then he comes and we freak out. We’re either afraid or afraid to lose control, afraid to trust, afraid to believe.  And Jesus comes and says, “Calm down, it’s me.  Don’t be afraid.”

This was a disrupting thing for the disciples out on the lake that night. It was a disruptive rescue which is so often the way God works in our lives.  He comes crashing in, disrupting what our status quo is because it is not going to get us anywhere, and he comes for us and then we freak out.  And he just says, “Chill out, calm down, settle down. It’s me.  There is nothing to be afraid of here.  I’ve got you.  I have got you.”  And then we choose.  We choose to believe that or we keep on rowing against the wind.  

So what is that thing that is your dark lake?  Where are you rowing against the wind?  What if Jesus is coming and you’re just spiraling, just thrashing?  He’s right there and you’re praying for his presence, but you have a preconceived notion of what that has to look like.  And yet he comes – “Calm down, it’s me.  Don’t be afraid.”  

Prayer

Jesus, here we are.  Each of us has this story.  Each of us do, and many of us are out on a dark lake, rowing against the wind now in some sort of way in our lives and so we invite you into that, Jesus.  All this thrashing about it not getting us closer to shore.  All this expended effort is not getting us there.  And here you come.  So we will obey you.  We will calm down.  We will not be afraid.  We are with you.  So come, Holy Spirit.  Come into all of the issues in our lives that are dark and against the wind because we need you in them.  We have an idea of how we would like you to calm the wind and get us to shore, but this doesn’t matter anymore.  We’re letting go of that.  We won’t thrash in that.  If we never get to the shore but we are with you, who cares?  This is all we need, you, your presence in everything that we do and say and think.  So come Holy Spirit, you are so welcome and invited here.  We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.  

Announcements

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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

May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May the Lord make his face to shine upon you.  I pray he gives you peace and that all that you have will increase and that your blessings will never ever cease and your light be one big gigantic peace. But the truth of the matter is that the road is long and rough.  The battles are hard and tough.  That your best is never good enough and Satan will always call your bluff.  But I know that you can make it.  I know that you can stand.  The Lord will not forsake you and there is not much he’ll demand.  Keep your eyes upon his promises.  Let your vows be firm and true.  Let your friends be in his service.  Let his spirit yours renew.  Don’t be afraid to call his name when problems are too tough.  You might have to do some fasting too when prayer just isn’t enough.  But whatever problems come your way, whatever storms may rise, if you just stay faithful to the Lord, in time you’ll gain the prize.  Honesty and integrity are things you must possess.  If humbly you just ask for strength, he’ll give you all the rest. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you.  I pray that he gives you peace and that all that you have will increase.  May your blessings never ever cease and your light be one big gigantic peace.  Best wishes always, BlindTony1016@gmail.com.  Delta Alpha Foxtrot, David F., where are you, brother?  You still there?  Also Roger G., are you still there too?  Time to check in, y’all.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible.  This is Michael calling from snowy, or not anymore snowy New Hampshire. It is Sunday morning and I am just calling for prayer for my wife who, due to alcoholism, I’ve had to move on from her and get her her own place and could not live with her anymore.  I ask that you pray she is healed by the Lord’s touch.  And just as importantly is my son or our son who has been I guess you would say kind of torn apart by all of this and he’s been through lots and lots of trials and tribulations, all because of her drinking.  It has been a really, really long road, a long battle these last few years. He spent his first night at her new place last night.  She has been there for about three weeks.  I had a hard time with it and I just pray that he is okay and she takes care of him and doesn’t do any crazy stuff.  It’s very scary right now.  Again, I appreciate all your prayers on this.  My son is a faithful prayer warrior himself.  He’s only 8.  He’s a true believer and is always asking me questions.  It’s a great thing, but my wife has totally fallen out of her beliefs within the last year or so and she has had three major deaths in her family and lots of struggles for her.  No excuse. I pray that the Lord releases Satan’s grip on her and I just want to say thank you again, Brian, for this life-changing Daily Audio Bible. And thank you everybody.

This is Cynthia in Virginia.  I’m a new listener and have gotten quite a bit out of being part of this community. I’m journaling my Bible as I listen to the lessons each day and it has been quite meaningful.  I want to ask for prayers for my son.  My son has been diagnosed with failure to thrive and has been in the hospital three times in the last six months and if you could pray for him as he journeys on.  He is only 2, but we want him to get better and we look forward to growing and nurturing him as he gets better.  Please pray for him.  Thank you.

Hi family.  This is Biola from Maryland.  I hope you’re all doing well.  Brian and Jill, God bless you.  Jill, you know I’m praying for the More Conference.  Sister, I’m praying for the group as well.  Ladies, if you haven’t registered, I’m still encouraging you.  Register.  Father, I pray that you will put funds in people’s hands, in the name of Jesus.  Those who desire to go and do not have the money, Lord, surprise them miraculously, in the name of Jesus.  While I’m on the issue of funds, people, I want to encourage you to also give to this ministry, Daily Audio Bible, because this is a ministry that feeds most of us spiritually in addition to our local churches.  So give, give, give and God will bless you as you do so. God bless you.  Bill B., immediately I heard your prayer request, both of them, as a matter of fact, I prayed for you, man of God.  And I pray that Lord, Jehovah Rapha himself will continue to arise over you with healing in his wings, in the name of Jesus.  That everything that is still left in your body needs to align with the word of God.  I command it to begin to do so, in the name of Jesus, because by the stripes of Jesus Christ, brother, you have been healed.  You know that.  I know that. God bless you.  Victorious Soldier, just as I was thinking about you, on one of the podcasts you came on.  Sister, I want to pray that God would encourage you, God would continue to strengthen you, God would continue to make his face shine upon you, God would give you favor and blessings that you do not know about, in the name of Jesus. Reggie, my brother, my brother in Nairobi, my heart broke when I heard your prayer request and I did pray for you, but I wanted to call in and acknowledge that I prayed for you and I’m praying, brother, that the Lord of heaven, Jehovah Jireh, El Shaddai God, the many breasted one, the one who is more than enough will arise in the name of Jesus and will listen to you and will begin to orchestrate events in Nairobi, Kenya so that people will look at you and go, “We want that man in our company.”  So it shall be.  I begin to decree jobs unto you.  Jobs, open doors, in the name of Jesus.  

Good morning guys.  This is Jen in SoCal, aka Prayer Warrior Princess.  I was listening to the community prayers for this weekend.  Today is the 19th and I stopped after I heard Chante call and share something and I wanted to give you a shout-out, sister.  I go through the same thing almost after every single time I call.  The spiritual battle mentally is merciless.  Sometimes I actually have lost sleep over it, thinking ‘oh, I shouldn’t have called.  I shouldn’t have said that.”  Or “I think I said that wrong” or whatever.  First it leads me to pray against that because I know now.  I’m 50.  I’ve been with the Lord 23 years and I know that is not me.  That is not the Lord.  He is not shame based.  He is not ugly to us like that.  He never talks to us like that.  So I know that is the enemy and his fiery darts.  So I pray through the armor of God for myself and then it always leads me to pray for Brian and his family, because I can’t even imagine.  I hear pastors often talk about the Monday syndrome where they want to die because they are under such spiritual attack after they’ve been preaching over the weekend.  And so I can’t imagine the warfare that Brian and his family go through with him giving us the word and preaching to us every single day.  So anyways, it always leads me to pray for Brian and his family after I have those experiences.  Just know, Chante, you’re not alone.  I believe we’re all getting attacked in that way.  That is a very, very, sadly, common way the enemy tries to get to us and pick us off and alienate us from one another.  So I love you and I’m with you, sister.  Bye.  

Hello Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Jay from New Jersey calling to pray for Alicia from Kansas.  Heavenly Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, God, we thank you now for this miracle that you have provided through sparing Alicia’s life.  Father, we thank you for speaking to her through the Holy Spirit in a way that she could hear you to get out of the car so that she would not be struck again by another driver.  Father, we thank you for there only being minimal injuries.  Father, we thank you now for there only being her glasses being lost.  Father, you are an amazing God.  You are great.  You are mighty.  You are powerful.  Father, we thank you.  We thank you. We thank you.  We thank you.  God, now we pray and we know that you will heal Alicia.  We know it, God.  We know it. You saved her life, so we know you will heal her. So Father, we pray that you will just do it in a way that only you know how.  God, we thank you for sparing her life. We thank you for sparing her terrible, terrible injuries.  Father, we ask that you will provide her with a pair of glasses that will be such a miracle that it can only be described as coming from you.  Father, we edify you now.  We praise you now.  We glorify you now, Father, through this thing which we know you have done.  Father, we ask that this will be a testimony to others who are unbelievers so that they can see, so that they can be awestruck and wonder how it is that Alicia survived this accident, so that she may let them know that it was only by the glorious grace of our God.  We thank you now.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.  Love you, Alicia.  I’m so happy and so grateful and so blessed that God has spared you in this accident and I’m still praying for you.  God bless.