February 2017 – Page 4 – A Walk Through The Word

February 11, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday February 11, 2017 (NIV)

Exodus 32-33

32 When the people realized Moses was taking a long time to return from his trek up the mountain, they got together and approached Aaron.

People: We have no idea what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt.^[a] He left you in charge, so get up and make us gods who will lead us from here.

Aaron: ²I want you to bring me the gold earrings your wives, sons, and daughters are wearing.

³So everyone took out their gold earrings and handed them over to Aaron. ⁴He collected the gold they brought and used a tool to fashion an idol in the shape of a calf. When the people saw the calf Aaron made, they were elated.

People (seeing the calf): Israel, these are your gods—the ones who led you out of the land of Egypt.

⁵When Aaron saw how the people responded, he built an altar in front of the golden calf.

Aaron: We are going to have a feast to the Eternal tomorrow.

⁶Everyone woke up before dawn the next day and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar. When the food was ready, they sat down to eat and drink and then rose up to dance and play.^[b]

⁷Meanwhile, on the mountain, the Eternal One spoke to Moses.

This is truly a dark moment for Israel. Moses left Aaron and Hur in charge 40 days ago, and both men are beginning to feel the strain. The people are stuck in the desert, and they are growing increasingly impatient without Moses and direction from God. So the people begin to question, and eventually they demand a physical representation of God like the ones their neighbors have. Aaron complies. With Moses and God occupied, the people begin breaking the Ten Directives, one after another: worshiping other gods, making idols, invoking God’s name for their own selfish purposes, and committing other indecent acts. The people of God fall quickly, and they fall hard. For a brief period, their very survival is in doubt.

Eternal One: Go back down the mountain immediately, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. ⁸They have quickly abandoned the way of life I require of them. They have fashioned a calf out of gold, bowed down to it, and offered it sacrifices. They are even crediting My work to that detestable idol, saying, “Israel, these are your gods—the ones who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

⁹I know these people, and they are unbelievably stubborn. ¹⁰Leave Me alone so that My anger can flare up and destroy them. Then I will start over and continue My plans without them and make a great nation out of you.

Moses (begging): ¹¹Eternal One, why are You so angry? Why does Your anger flare up against the people You led out of Egypt with so much power and a strong hand? ¹²Do You really want the Egyptians to say: “You deceived them and led them into the mountains in order to kill them and to wipe their memory from the earth”? I beg you to curb Your anger, and change your mind. Don’t harm Your people. ¹³Remember the sacred promise You made to Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You swore, “I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all of this land as I promised. It will be their everlasting inheritance.”

¹⁴So the Eternal relented and decided not to destroy the people as He had threatened to do.

¹⁵Moses left God’s presence and went back down the mountain. In his hands, he carried the two stone tablets of witness, inscribed on both sides, front and back. ¹⁶The tablets were God’s handiwork, and the writing on the tablets was written by God Himself.

¹⁷As they neared the camp, Joshua heard all the commotion and the people shouting.

Joshua (to Moses): It sounds like a battle going on down at the camp.

Moses: ¹⁸It is not the sound of victory, and it’s not the sound of defeat, but I do hear singing and celebration.

¹⁹As soon as Moses arrived at the camp, he saw the calf and the revelry around it. His anger flared, and he hurled down the stone tablets and they shattered at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰He took down the calf they had made and burned it. He ground it down to a powder, scattered it over the water, and then he forced the Israelites to drink it.

Moses (to Aaron): ²¹How could you lead these people into such a heinous sin? What did they do to you?

Aaron: ²²Control your anger, my master. You know these people. You know how evil they can be. ²³They told me, “We have no idea what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt. He left you in charge, so get up and make us some gods to lead us from here.” ²⁴So I told them, “If you are wearing any gold, take it off.” So they gave me all their gold and I just tossed it into the fire, and out came this calf!

²⁵When Moses saw that the people had lost all control because Aaron had let them get that way, and he realized their wild behavior had become a mockery in the sight of their enemies, ²⁶he stood at the camp’s entrance and shouted to them.

Moses: If you are on the side of the Eternal One, stand over here with me!

All of the Levites gathered around him.

Moses (to the Levites): ²⁷This is the message of the Eternal One, Israel’s True God: “Every one of you strap on your sword and move throughout the entire camp. Kill your brother, friend, and neighbor.”

²⁸The Levites did exactly as Moses told them to do, and about 3,000 men were killed that day.

Moses (to the Levites): ²⁹Dedicate your lives to the Eternal today—for every one of you has moved against sons and brothers. Because of your devotion to God, you have earned His blessing today.

³⁰On the very next day, Moses addressed the people.

Moses: You are guilty of a great sin. Now I am going back to the Eternal One, and I hope to make atonement for your wickedness.

³¹Moses then went back up the mountain to the Eternal.

Moses: These people are guilty of a great sin against You. They fashioned gods out of gold for themselves. ³²If You will only forgive their sin, but if You do not, then erase me from the book You have written.

Eternal One: ³³I will erase from My book the name of everyone who has sinned against Me. ³⁴It’s time to go and leave this mountain. Lead the people to the place I told you. Look, My messenger will guide you there. When the time comes, I will punish them for what they have done.

³⁵Then the Eternal One sent a plague on all the people because they had bowed down and sacrificed to the calf Aaron had made.

33 Eternal One (instructing Moses): The time has now arrived. Leave, and take all the people you have led out of Egypt with you. Go to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom I said, “I will give this land to your future generations.” ²I will send a messenger to guide you, and I will force out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. ³Travel to the land that flows with milk and honey, the land of your inheritance. However, because you are such an incredibly stubborn people, I will not be going with you. Otherwise, I would completely destroy you during the journey.

⁴When everyone heard the dreadful news, they began to grieve and stopped wearing their jewelry to remind them of the calf made from their gold earrings. ⁵You see the Eternal One had instructed Moses, “Give the Israelites this message: ‘You are such an incredibly stubborn people, therefore I am not going to travel with you. If I allowed Myself to travel with you for only a moment, I would completely destroy you. Stop wearing your jewelry so I can figure out what to do with you.’” ⁶So the Israelites took off all of their jewelry from the time they left Mount Horeb.

⁷Moses used to take a tent^[c] and put it up far away from the camp. He referred to it as the meeting tent. Everyone who sought the Eternal One would go out to the meeting tent, which was located well outside the camp. ⁸When the people heard that Moses was going out to the tent, they would get up and stand at the entrance of their own tents and watch him until he had gone inside. ⁹When Moses entered the tent, the cloud pillar descended to the tent’s entrance, and the Eternal would talk with Moses. ¹⁰When people witnessed the cloud pillar standing at the meeting tent’s entrance, they would stand and bow in worship at the entrance of their own tents. ¹¹The Eternal spoke with Moses face-to-face, just as a friend speaks to another friend. After they were done, Moses would come back to camp but his young assistant Joshua (Nun’s son) would remain behind.

The golden-calf incident creates a deep rift between God and His people. For their safety, God refuses to travel with them to the land of promise; instead, He sends His messenger to guide them. The people’s response to God’s threatened absence is to mourn and refuse to wear their jewelry and fine clothes. The meeting tent and the congregation tent reflect this rift too. The congregation tent is to be God’s unique dwelling with His people, so it is located right in the middle of the camp. But now there is another tent, the meeting tent set up a long way from camp, far from the contagion of evil spreading there. From time to time, God and Moses meet there to talk; and Joshua stands watch over this intimate encounter, for only Joshua and Moses are not imperiled when the rest of Israel violates God’s directive and worships the golden calf. Moses speaks with God and does his best to get God back on good terms with His covenant people.

Moses (to the Lord): ¹²Look, You tell me, “Lead these people!” but You haven’t yet told me whom You will send to accompany me. Yet You tell me, “I know you by name, and you have gained My trust and blessing.” ¹³If I have gained Your trust and blessing, reveal Your way to me so that I can truly know You, and so that I may gain Your favor. Remember that this nation is Your covenant people.

Eternal One: ¹⁴My presence will travel with you, and I will give you rest.

Moses: ¹⁵If Your presence doesn’t travel with me, then don’t lead us away from here. ¹⁶How will the people know that I have gained Your trust and blessing if You do not travel with us? Isn’t it the very fact that Your presence travels with us that distinguishes us from every other people on earth?

Eternal One: ¹⁷I will do what you have said because you have gained My trust and blessing, and I know you by name.

Moses: ¹⁸If Your presence will go with us, then let me see Your glory!

Eternal One: ¹⁹I will cause all My goodness to pass before you, and I will declare My name, the Eternal One, before you. I will show mercy to whomever I choose to show mercy, and I will demonstrate compassion on whomever I choose to have compassion.^[d] ²⁰You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live. ²¹Look, there is a place next to Me on the rock where you may stand. ²²While My glory is passing by you, I will place you in a large crevice of the rock and hide you beneath My hand until I have completely passed by. ²³Then I will remove My hand, and you will see only My back. But you won’t be able to see My face.

Footnotes:

32:1 Acts 7:40
32:6 1 Corinthians 10:7
33:7 Greek manuscripts read “his tent.”
33:19 Romans 9:15

The Voice (VOICE)

Matthew 26:69-27:14

⁶⁹As all this was going on in Caiaphas’s chamber, Peter was sitting in the courtyard with some servants. One of the servant girls came up to him.

Servant Girl: You were with Jesus the Galilean, weren’t you?

⁷⁰And just as Jesus had predicted, Peter denied it before everyone.

Peter: Not me! I don’t know what you’re talking about.

⁷¹He went out to stand by the gate. And as he walked past, another servant girl recognized him.

Another Servant Girl (speaking to those standing around): That man over there—he was here with Jesus the Nazarene!

⁷²Again, just as Jesus had predicted, Peter denied it, swearing an oath.

Peter: I don’t know Him!

⁷³Peter then went to chat with a few of the servants. A little while later, some other servants approached him:

Other Servants: Look, we know that you must be one of Jesus’ followers. You speak like you are from the same area as His followers. You’ve got that tell-tale Galilean accent.

⁷⁴Cursing and swearing, Peter denied Him again.

Peter: I do not know Him!

As the exclamation left his mouth, a cock crowed. ⁷⁵And Peter remembered. He remembered that Jesus had looked at him with something like pity and said, “This very night, before the cock crows in the morning, you will deny Me three times.” And Peter went outside, sat down on the ground, and wept.

27 Eventually the chief priests and the elders looked around and saw that it was morning. They convened a council meeting whose sole purpose was to hand down Jesus’ death sentence. ²They tied Jesus up, took Him away, and handed Him over to the governor of Judea, a man called Pilate.

³Judas—the one who had betrayed Him with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver—saw that Jesus had been condemned, and suddenly Judas regretted what he had done. He took the silver back to the chief priests and elders and tried to return it to them.

Judas Iscariot: ⁴I can’t keep this money! I’ve sinned! I’ve betrayed an innocent man! His blood will be on my hands.

The priests and elders want nothing to do with Judas, and they refuse to take his money.

Chief Priests and Elders: We’re through with you, friend. The state of your soul is really none of our affair.

⁵Judas threw down the money in the temple, went off, and hanged himself.

⁶The chief priests looked at the silver coins and picked them up.

Chief Priests and Elders: You know, according to the law, we can’t put blood money in the temple treasury.

⁷After some deliberation, they took the money and bought a plot of land called Potter’s Field; they would use it to bury foreigners, suicides, and others who were unfit for a full Jewish burial. ⁸(To this day, the field is called Blood Field, because it was bought with blood money.) ⁹And when the priests bought Potter’s Field, they unwittingly fulfilled a prophecy made long ago by the prophet Jeremiah: “They took 30 pieces of silver, the price set on the head of the man by the children of Israel, ¹⁰and they gave them for the Potter’s Field as the Eternal One instructed.”^[a]

¹¹Jesus was standing before the governor, Pilate.

Pilate: Are You the King of the Jews?

Jesus: So you say.

¹²The chief priests and the elders stood and poured out their accusations: that Jesus was a traitor, a seditious rebel, a crazy, a would-be Savior, and a would-be king. Jesus stood in the stream of accusations, but He did not respond.

Pilate: ¹³Do You hear these accusations they are making against You?

¹⁴Still Jesus said nothing, which Pilate found rather astounding—no protests, no defense, nothing.

Footnotes:

27:10 Zechariah 11:12–13; Jeremiah 32:6–9

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 33:1-11

Psalm 33

¹Release your heart’s joy in sweet music to the Eternal.
When the upright passionately sing glory-filled songs to Him, everything is in its right place.
²Worship the Eternal with your instruments, strings offering their praise;
write awe-filled songs to Him on the 10-stringed harp.
³Sing to Him a new song;
play each the best way you can,
and don’t be afraid to be bold with your joyful feelings.

⁴For the word of the Eternal is perfect and true;
His actions are always faithful and right.
⁵He loves virtue and equity;
the Eternal’s love fills the whole earth.

⁶The unfathomable cosmos came into being at the word of the Eternal’s imagination, a solitary voice in endless darkness.
The breath of His mouth whispered the sea of stars into existence.
⁷He gathers every drop of every ocean as in a jar,
securing the ocean depths as His watery treasure.

⁸Let all people stand in awe of the Eternal;
let every man, woman, and child live in wonder of Him.
⁹For He spoke, and all things came into being.
A single command from His lips, and all creation obeyed and stood its ground.

¹⁰The Eternal cripples the schemes of the other nations;
He impedes the plans of rival peoples.
¹¹The Eternal’s purposes will last to the end of time;
the thoughts of His heart will awaken and stir all generations.

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 8:33-36

³³Pay attention to my guidance, dare to be wise,
and don’t disregard my teachings.
³⁴The one who listens to me,
who carefully seeks me in everyday things
and delays action until my way is apparent, that one will find true happiness.
³⁵For when he recognizes and follows me, he finds a peaceful and satisfying life
and receives favor from the Eternal.
³⁶But heed my warning: the one who goes against me will only hurt himself,
for all who despise me are playing with fire and courting death.

The Voice (VOICE)

February 10, 2017

02/10/2017 DAB Transcript

Exodus 30:11-31:18 ~ Matthew 26:47-68 ~ Psalm 32:1-11 ~ Proverbs 8:27-32

Today is the 10^th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and I am thrilled that we can come together here at the end of a week. This is not exactly the end of the week. That is tomorrow but it’s the end of the work week and I’m glad that we can get together for the rhythm that we’ve established in our lives to take a step forward each day and feast on the word of God. So we’ll go back out with Moses and the people of Israel as God continues to give instructions for what this new people is supposed to look and act like. We’re reading from The Voice Translation this week. Exodus chapter 30, verse 11 through 31, verse 18.

Commentary

It’s only been a couple of months since I was last in the land of the Bible and walking the path that we’re reading of today with Jesus. And these places still exist—the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus cried out to the Father in anguish and the place where he was arrested in our reading today. There is a valley between the Garden of Gethsemane and where the high priest’s quarters would have been because Gethsemane is on the Mount of Olives. The Kidron Valley runs between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount and that entire area of the City of David. So Jesus would have been bound and walked the path back across the Kidron Valley into Caiaphas’ quarters where all this is going down. You can imagine the disciples all running off into the trees, all hiding, all staying on the periphery. They’re not exactly sure what is happening. Jesus has told them what is going to happen, but they have this worldview that Jesus is the Messiah and somehow the way that this ends is that he takes over. So they are on the periphery of all this. Peter is in the courtyard outside as this trial of sorts is taking place.

If you don’t just read the story and say yeah, I’ve heard this a thousand times, if you put yourself in the story, become one of the disciples, put yourself in these places, not only can you enter into the story, but you find yourself in the story. Where would you be? Because we read these stories and we can think easily ‘I would have come in with a sword and shield and rescued Jesus and died if I must,’ but they all said that. They all said that and they had been walking with Jesus all the years of his ministry.

Peter is in the courtyard of Caiaphas’ quarters. Not a big place. I mean, you can imagine these things in your mind and picture this courtyard at a distance, but it’s not. They are close. Peter was not too far away from Jesus, maybe within ear shot because Jesus ended up in storage rooms and cisterns that were pits for holding the supplies and storing the people that they needed to bring in for questioning and such. They are not far away from each other, but they are very far away from each other. Jesus is now a captive. His freedom has been taken. There is not really any going back from here. So you can only imagine the things that were going through his mind after being accused of blasphemy, sentenced to death under Mosaic Law, thrown into a pit to be stored until the proper arrangements could be made, because the Jewish people couldn’t just go stone Jesus or kill him some other way. I mean, they could by riot, but that would bring more trouble upon them. The Romans would be brutal in stamping it down. So they had to get the Romans to cooperate if it was going to be a public, humiliating execution, one that would send a signal to anyone else thinking of believing in this man, Jesus, or having plans of their own similar. Galileans were known to be insurrectionists.

Then there is Jesus just down in a pit, thinking about what is coming. Sometimes when we think about Jesus’ suffering, we think about the crucifixion, that he had to endure that, and it is grisly and really impossible to imagine, but he endured a lot more than that. He is already suffering, carrying the weight of all of the lies and misrepresentations and mischaracterizations, all of the upheaval of the world around him, one that he came to rescue, one that was rejecting him outright. Can you imagine? Can you imagine that the creation that he had set in motion he was about to submit himself to and allow this creation to kill him dead by torture?

This is what sacrificial, unconditional love looks like and we can just go through our days just oblivious to it. We’ve never not known it. It is done, it’s ours, so we can treat it with less gravity than it deserves, but we gather here today because of the moments that we’re reading about in the scriptures now. This is how we got here and it is costly and compelling, especially if you love Jesus. If you’ve given your heart, if you’ve fallen in love with the Savior, then you can’t read back into the story with indifference. You have to go there and understand that he loved you first. He died for you in advance. Our denials and betrayals, things we see playing out in the disciples’ lives, they play out in our own lives and you have to wonder, is it worth it? Really? What are we running from? What are we hiding from? What more do we want than the true love of the Savior? What is more valuable than that? We can say nothing. Of course, absolutely nothing, but the Bible being the mirror that it is, forces us to look at that question. What are the distracting things in my life that make me just forget this even happened and take it for granted? We can start digging up idols in our lives pretty quick that way, so may we invite the Holy Spirit into this moment, the first time we come across the passion narrative, the last moments of Jesus’ life, and give it the gravity and the weight that it deserves. This is how you have attained eternal life. It is certainly worth paying attention to. But what is stealing that eternal life and that intimate relationship with the Savior? Those things become the idols of our lives that we give our hearts in worship to.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, we come into your presence inviting you into that. As we move through this story, Jesus, we are unspeakably grateful because it has been brought to mind, but we just live with this freedom that you have given us. We’ve never not known it. All of our lives, from the day that we were born it was in the world. It was available. So yes, we know the alternative. We’ve run our own race. We’ve crashed our own car. We’ve destroyed our own lives in different ways. We walk with the limp and the bruises and the scars of the choices that we’ve made, but we still very easily make them. We still go after whatever promise is the fastest path to whatever pleasure it is we’re looking for without paying attention to the fact that this cost something. You came and, in advance of our even being here, loved us and died for us. So we invite you, Holy Spirit, to begin to reveal in our hearts and actions and thoughts and motives and our will the things that we have prioritized in front of this sobering reality that our salvation came at a cost and our mission in this world is to bring your kingdom and to restore things to how they were supposed to be for us. Help us, God, because it is everywhere. Our cultures are built upon these distractions where products become pleasure and pleasure becomes purchasable life and it is all an illusion. Help us, Lord, because we run from void to void trying to fill it and there is only one way and it is intimacy with you. So Jesus, we love you. Your sacrifice, although we know the details, is really beyond what we can comprehend, but we can be grateful because the difference that you have made is irreversible in this world and in our lives unless we consciously choose to betray and turn our backs on you, to be another Judas. That is not who we want to be. So come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here so check it out. Resources, events, the More Gathering for Women is coming up. It’s almost Valentine’s Day. I can’t believe that, but it is almost Valentine’s Day. Guys, this would be the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift for your spouse or the one that you love. Send her away for a couple of days in a couple of months and give her space to just be with this Jesus that we’re talking about, this one who loved us before we were ever here and loved us enough to die. We never get the space. We never make the space to just be in that story and be in that kind of intimate love. We never get the time to say the things that need to be said. We never take the time to hear the things that need to be heard. But the More Gathering is like that. It is a beautiful time to unplug and be with God and it’s remarkable, the things that Jesus says to each individual woman in her own story, in her own station in life. It’s not that God is not willing to speak. It is that we’re not willing to slow down and listen and this is just a prepared time to slow down and listen and orient life correctly and move properly in a good healthy direction. So, yeah, it’s a great Valentine’s Day gift and if you don’t have anybody to give it to you, give it to yourself. Jesus can give it to you. So you can check it out. All the details, all of the particulars, all of the questions that you might have like how do I get there, how does it work, all of that stuff is at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Just look for the More Gathering. You’ll find it and you’ll find also everything you want to know. So check that out.

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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi Daily Audio Bible community. This is Janice from the UK, in midland. I’ve rung before. I’ve been listening for a couple years. This is my second full year now and I’m loving it. It blesses me. As I was listening to the prayer requests the other night and praying along with each one of those, it struck me that this Prayer Wall is like a Mexican wave going around the world. When you think about it, there are people all across the world listening to the Daily Audio Bible whatever time of day it might be for them. They are all praying at this time. It’s like this huge wave that goes around the earth and as Brian records the next day, that one comes __________ over and there is a next wave coming across. That really blessed me and I hope that really blesses the people who are ringing with actual prayer requests as well. Keep going people. We do pray for you, even if you don’t hear from us. We’re praying for you. Thank you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is your brother Regid, formally calling from Iraq, now in Nairobi, Kenya. I really need your prayers. First, for Brian, so sorry for the loss of your mom. I’m happy that I heard what you said how it went through a process. It is really helpful. But I need your prayers. I’ve been jobless now for 10 months and it is getting very difficult, unbearable with the family and I pray that you guys would join with me and pray that God would open a door for me to get __________ or a job for me to provide for my family. Thank you so much for your support. I pray with you always. I listen. I cry with you. And please join me. Let’s ask God to open a door because it has taken too long and it is quite difficult. Life is getting harder. I can’t pay the school fees for the children. I can’t provide. It’s hard. May God bless you. I love you. Bye-bye. God bless.

Hi, my name is Kristin and I’m calling for Amanda who has been separated from her husband for seven months. I encourage you to read Isaiah 40:20-31. I have that on my computer at work and I read that every day multiple times. My husband and I were separated for 14 months. I don’t know your situation, but it was a very unhealthy relationship for me. He was very verbally abusive to me. But anyway, I wanted to go ahead and give you encouragement to continue to pray even if you don’t see anything. God is always working. It took 14 months for me and my husband to get back together and it has been amazing. He has been so much more open to everything. He went to church with me. He has prayed with me. Just keep praying and pressing into God and seeing what God wants you to do, even if you don’t want to, even if you have a lot of resentment towards him. It doesn’t matter. Pray for him because even though we don’t see it, God is always working. I would also encourage you to write down everything that he said to you, any emotion or resentment that you have against him. Write it all down and pray over it every day. It works. I don’t have any resentment towards my husband anymore and I had a lot. I filled up a front and back page and probably could have filled up another couple pages with stuff, but God has helped me and he will help you and he will help your situation.

Hello and good afternoon Daily Audio Bible family. It’s a two for one Jay from New Jersey special. Okay, so I’m reaching out to my Daily Audio Bible family to get you guys to pray for my family members. I have a lot of brothers and sisters and some of them are believers. Some of them are not believers, but the long story short of it is many of them are carnal Christians, meaning they believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior but they are living in unconfessed, unrepentant sin. As a result, they are living in situations that are just deplorable. My one brother is being exploited by his biological mother. We were all adopted together, and she is exploiting him for all of his money. He has a learning disability so he can be easily exploited. But long story short, he was going to kill himself today if it were not for him posting that on Facebook and another member calling me to contact him, so let’s pray for him and the rest of my family. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we lift up my brothers and sisters and the brothers and sisters of all the Daily Audio Bible family members. Father, we ask that you will manifest yourself to them in a way that only you know how. Father, give them the opportunity that you gave us to see the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Father, we ask that any situation that they are in it will be an opportunity for you to be glorified. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. Thanks Daily Audio Bible family. I love you. Have a great evening.

Good night, Daily Audio Bible listeners. This is Katie. I’m calling from Minnesota and it is February 7^th. Well, it would seem that I can’t get, I believe his name Kevin who was recently diagnosed with bipolar and starting life all over, off my mind. I just want you to know, Kevin, that I have been praying for you nonstop, constantly and first I want to say it is so good that you have been diagnosed so that you are able to get treatment. And I want to say to you also that I know starting over is difficult. I’ve done that twice in my life in two different countries and I’ve never liked either of them, but what I’ve learned in it all is that if God has brought you to it, he will bring you through it, and so I want you to just trust and believe that. God has it all laid out for you. You just need to step out in faith. Trust and believe that he has you covered because he does. He will not leave you anywhere that he will not take you through and I am absolutely certain about that. Also to the young lady, I think I’ve heard you call a second time. You’re from somewhere in Michigan and you are driving a bus, a school bus, and you’re not certain about where your life is taking you and are seeking direction because you are not happy with your job at the moment. You are seeking a job that has a better salary, something to that effect. And I just wanted to say to you remember to pray for yourself as well. Continue to pray to God. He will provide you with directives. I’ve been at that place in my life before and trust me when I tell you that God turned up and he directed me and showed me where I need to go and I know for a fact that he will show you where you need to go. I have been praying for you since the first time you called the program to ask for prayers and I continue to pray for you. I just want to say guys, just remember to pray for me on February 16 as I take my board exam and just thanks to everyone and know that I pray constantly for every single person that calls in because I do this every day.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Loralee in Boynton Beach. After much wrestling with the Lord and trying to leave a place of employment that the Lord clearly said ‘this is where I want you, submit to me, I will take care of your needs,’ I have repented and I work for an Orthodox Jewish assisted living community and I have some Jewish widows in their 90s that are coming to me and want to reason in the temple about Jesus and the Old Testament and I have to say what an honor it is and I need these names lifted up as a start: Rosalie, Elaine, Naomi and Janet. Please, Lord, I pray that you would open their eyes. Have the Holy Spirit move as we open your word. Your word has the power because it is Jesus from beginning to end. You see the end from the beginning, Genesis to Revelation. Help me. Like Paul and Moses, I feel the burden of closed eyes, but only you can open the eyes of the blind, Lord, so this is the scripture. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I may win more of them. To the Jews, I became a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as under the law though not being myself under the law that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I…

February 10, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday February 10, 2017 (NIV)

Exodus 30:11-31:18

¹¹The Eternal One continued giving instructions to Moses.

Eternal One (to Moses): ¹²When you take a census of the population of Israel, each person should pay a ransom to Me so that no disease will spread among them when you count them. ¹³Everyone who is counted must bring ⅕ ounce of silver—a weight based on the sanctuary’s measure, where ⅖ ounce equals 20 gerahs^[a]—and it is to be given to Me as an offering. ¹⁴Everyone who is 20 years old and older will be counted and must give this offering to Me. ¹⁵The rich will not pay more, and the poor will not pay less than ⅕ of an ounce. This money will go to Me in order to ransom your lives. ¹⁶Take all the money collected from the people of Israel and use it to provide for the service of the congregation tent. This will serve as a constant reminder of My covenant with Israel and provide a way to atone for your lives.

¹⁷The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the basin for ceremonial washing.

Eternal One: ¹⁸Make a bronze basin for ceremonial washing and set it on a bronze stand. Place it between the congregation tent and the altar. Keep water in it at all times. ^19-20When Aaron and his sons enter the congregation tent, or when they approach the altar to minister before Me by offering a sacrifice by fire, they must wash their feet and hands so that they will not die. ²¹It is important that they are to wash their hands and feet, so that they will not die. This directive stands forever for Aaron and his descendants, and they must observe it throughout all generations.

²²The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the anointing oil.

Eternal One: ²³Collect the best spices: twelve and a half pounds of liquid myrrh, six pounds of fragrant cinnamon, six pounds of fragrant cane, ²⁴and twelve and a half pounds of cassia—in accordance with the sanctuary weights—and one gallon of olive oil. ²⁵Blend all these spices together like a skillful perfumer to make a holy anointing oil; this fragrant mixture will be used as a holy anointing oil. ²⁶Use it to anoint the congregation tent and the covenant chest, ²⁷the table and all its accessories, the lampstand and its tools, the altar of incense, ²⁸the altar for the burnt offering and all its tools, and the basin and its stand. ²⁹Consecrate all these furnishings and their utensils so that they are most holy. Anything that touches them will become holy.

³⁰Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, so that they are able to serve as My priests. ³¹Address the Israelites and say, “This is My sacred anointing oil that you will use for all generations. ³²It must not be poured on anyone else. Do not attempt to make an anointing oil for your own purposes with the same ingredients in the same proportions. It is sacred, and it is to be sacred to you. ³³Whoever makes a similar blend or anoints anyone who is not ordained as a priest will be cut off from the community.”

³⁴The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the fragrant incense.

Eternal One: Gather three aromatic spices—stacte, onycha, galbanum—and mix them with pure frankincense in equal measure. ³⁵Have a perfumer take this mixture and blend it carefully with salt in order to create a pure and sacred incense. ³⁶Grind it into a fine powder, and place some of it in front of the covenant chest in the congregation tent where I will meet with you. It will be most holy to you. ³⁷Do not attempt to make incense for yourselves with the same ingredients in the same proportion. You must regard this as perfectly sacred to Me. ³⁸Whoever makes an incense like it and uses it for themselves will be cut off from the community.

31 The Eternal One instructed Moses.

Eternal One: ²Look, I have a special calling upon one of the sons of Judah. His name is Bezalel (the son of Uri, son of Hur). ³I have filled him with God’s Spirit, gifted him with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skills with a variety of crafts. ⁴He is an expert designer and works well with gold, silver, and bronze. ⁵He is able to cut and set gems, work with wood, and skillfully perform any craft needed to help construct the congregation tent and its furnishings. ⁶I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan to assist Bezalel. I have gifted all of Israel’s artisans with the skills needed to build everything I have instructed you: ⁷the congregation tent, the covenant chest, the seat of mercy that covers it, all the furnishings for the tent, ⁸the table and its accessories, the pure gold lampstand with all its tools, the altar of incense, ⁹the altar for burnt offering with all its utensils, the washing basin and its stand, ¹⁰the woven garments, Aaron’s sacred priestly garments, the clothes worn by Aaron’s sons when they serve as My priests, ¹¹the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense to be used in the holy place. The craftsmen are to design and build all of these exactly as I have instructed you.

¹²The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the Sabbath.

Eternal One: ¹³Speak to the Israelites and tell them, “You must be careful to observe My Sabbaths. For the Sabbath Day serves as a sign between Me and you for all generations, so that you will know I am the Eternal One who has set you apart from all the other nations. ¹⁴Keep the Sabbath because it is a sacred day for you, different from all other days. Anyone who violates the Sabbath or defiles it must be executed; anyone who works on the Sabbath will be cut off from the community. ¹⁵You have six days out of every week to do whatever work is needed, but the seventh day is the Sabbath, a day set aside for rest and only rest. It is sacred to Me. Anyone who works on the Sabbath must be executed. ¹⁶Therefore, the Israelites are to keep the Sabbath and celebrate it throughout all their generations as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁷The Sabbath exists as a sign forever of the covenant between Me and the people of Israel for I made heaven and earth in six days, but then on the seventh day I stopped My work and was refreshed.”

¹⁸When God had finished giving these instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two stone tablets as a witness to their agreement inscribed by the very finger of God.

Footnotes:

30:13 A gerah is about ¹⁄₅₀ of an ounce or 0.6 grams.

The Voice (VOICE)

Matthew 26:47-68

⁴⁷There he was, Judas, one of the twelve leading a crowd of people from the chief priests and elders with swords and clubs; the chief priests and the elders were right there, ready to arrest Jesus. ⁴⁸And Judas, the one who intended to betray Him, had said to the elders and the chief priests that he would give them a sign.

Judas Iscariot: I’ll greet Him with a kiss. And you will know that the one I kiss is the one you should arrest.

⁴⁹So at once, he went up to Jesus.

Judas Iscariot: Greetings, Teacher (he kisses Him).

Jesus: ⁵⁰My friend, do what you have come to do.

And at that, the company came and seized Him. ⁵¹One of the men with Jesus grabbed his sword and swung toward the high priest’s slave, slicing off his ear.

Jesus: ⁵²Put your sword back. People who live by the sword die by the sword. ⁵³Surely you realize that if I called on My Father, He would send 12 legions of messengers to rescue Me. ⁵⁴But if I were to do that, I would be thwarting the scriptural story, wouldn’t I? And we must allow the story of God’s kingdom to unfold. ⁵⁵(to the crowds) Why did you bring these weapons, these clubs and bats? Did you think I would fight you? That I would try to dodge and escape like a common criminal? You could have arrested Me any day when I was teaching in the temple, but you didn’t.

⁵⁶This scene has come together just so, so that the prophecies in the sacred Scripture could be fulfilled.

And at that, all the disciples ran away and abandoned Him. ⁵⁷The crowd that had arrested Jesus took Him to Caiaphas, the high priest. The scribes and elders had gathered at Caiaphas’s house and were waiting for Jesus to be delivered. ⁵⁸Peter followed Jesus (though at some distance so as not to be seen). He slipped into Caiaphas’s house and attached himself to a group of servants. And he sat watching, waiting to see how things would unfold.

⁵⁹The high priest and his council of advisors first produced false evidence against Jesus—false evidence meant to justify some charge and Jesus’ execution. ⁶⁰But even though many men were willing to lie, the council couldn’t come up with the evidence it wanted. Finally, two men stood up.

Two Men: ⁶¹Look, He said, “I can destroy God’s temple and rebuild it in three days.” What more evidence do you need?

⁶²Then Caiaphas the high priest stood up and addressed Jesus.

Caiaphas: Aren’t You going to respond to these charges? What exactly are these two men accusing You of?

⁶³Jesus remained silent.

Caiaphas (to Jesus): Under a sacred oath before the living God, tell us plainly: are You the Anointed One, the Son of God?

Jesus: ⁶⁴So you seem to be saying. I will say this: beginning now, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God’s power and glory and coming on heavenly clouds.

⁶⁵The high priest tore his robes and screeched.

Caiaphas: Blasphemy! We don’t need any more witnesses—we’ve all just witnessed this most grievous blasphemy, right here and now. ⁶⁶So, gentlemen, what’s your verdict?

Gentlemen: He deserves to die.

⁶⁷Then they spat in His face and hit Him. Some of them smacked Him, slapped Him across the cheeks, ⁶⁸and jeered.

Some of the Men: Well, Anointed One, prophesy for us, if You can—who hit You? And who is about to hit You next?

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 32

A contemplative song^[a] of David.

The psalms celebrate God’s forgiveness that comes through confession and repentance. Some interpreters link this psalm to David’s sin with Bathsheba after Nathan had exposed his transgression, but the king certainly had other failings. Even if we do not associate this psalm with any personal transgression by David, it serves well as a model confession for those who are painfully aware of their sin.

¹How happy is the one whose wrongs are forgiven,
whose sin is hidden from sight.
²How happy is the person whose sin the Eternal will not take into account.^[b]
How happy are those who no longer lie, to themselves or others.

³When I refused to admit my wrongs, I was miserable,
moaning and complaining all day long
so that even my bones felt brittle.
⁴Day and night, Your hand kept pressing on me.
My strength dried up like water in the summer heat;
You wore me down.

[pause]^[c]

⁵When I finally saw my own lies,
I owned up to my sins before You,
and I did not try to hide my evil deeds from You.
I said to myself, “I’ll admit all my sins to the Eternal,”
and You lifted and carried away the guilt of my sin.

[pause]

⁶So let all who are devoted to You
speak honestly to You now, while You are still listening.
For then when the floods come, surely the rushing water
will not even reach them.
⁷You are my hiding place.
You will keep me out of trouble
and envelop me with songs that remind me I am free.

[pause]

⁸I will teach you and tell you the way to go and how to get there;
I will give you good counsel, and I will watch over you.
⁹But don’t be stubborn and stupid like horses and mules
who, if not reined by leather and metal,
will run wild, ignoring their masters.

¹⁰Tormented and empty are wicked and destructive people,
but the one who trusts in the Eternal is wrapped tightly in His gracious love.
¹¹Express your joy; be happy in Him, you who are good and true.
Go ahead, shout and rejoice aloud, you whose hearts are honest and straightforward.

Footnotes:

32:title Hebrew, maskil
32:1–2 Romans 4:7–8
32:4 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 8:27-32

²⁷When He created the heavens, I was there.
When He drew a circle in the deep, dividing the oceans and the sky, I was there.
²⁸I was there when He established the sky.
I was there when the springs in the deep were fortified;
²⁹I witnessed Him lay down the shore as a boundary
and put limits on the water
And determine the foundations of the earth.
³⁰All this time I was close beside Him, a master craftsman.
Every day I was His delightful companion,
celebrating every minute in His presence,
³¹Elated by the world He was making and all its fine creatures;
I was especially pleased with humanity.

³²So now listen to me, my children:
those who live by my ways will find true happiness.

The Voice (VOICE)

February 10, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday February 10, 2017 (NIV)

Exodus 30:11-31:18

¹¹The Eternal One continued giving instructions to Moses.

¹⁷The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the basin for ceremonial washing.

²²The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the anointing oil.

³⁴The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the fragrant incense.

31 The Eternal One instructed Moses.

¹²The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the Sabbath.

¹⁸When God had finished giving these instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two stone tablets as a witness to their agreement inscribed by the very finger of God.

Footnotes:

30:13 A gerah is about ¹⁄₅₀ of an ounce or 0.6 grams.

The Voice (VOICE)

Matthew 26:47-68

Judas Iscariot: I’ll greet Him with a kiss. And you will know that the one I kiss is the one you should arrest.

⁴⁹So at once, he went up to Jesus.

Judas Iscariot: Greetings, Teacher (he kisses Him).

Jesus: ⁵⁰My friend, do what you have come to do.

And at that, the company came and seized Him. ⁵¹One of the men with Jesus grabbed his sword and swung toward the high priest’s slave, slicing off his ear.

⁵⁶This scene has come together just so, so that the prophecies in the sacred Scripture could be fulfilled.

Two Men: ⁶¹Look, He said, “I can destroy God’s temple and rebuild it in three days.” What more evidence do you need?

⁶²Then Caiaphas the high priest stood up and addressed Jesus.

Caiaphas: Aren’t You going to respond to these charges? What exactly are these two men accusing You of?

⁶³Jesus remained silent.

Caiaphas (to Jesus): Under a sacred oath before the living God, tell us plainly: are You the Anointed One, the Son of God?

Jesus: ⁶⁴So you seem to be saying. I will say this: beginning now, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God’s power and glory and coming on heavenly clouds.

⁶⁵The high priest tore his robes and screeched.

Caiaphas: Blasphemy! We don’t need any more witnesses—we’ve all just witnessed this most grievous blasphemy, right here and now. ⁶⁶So, gentlemen, what’s your verdict?

Gentlemen: He deserves to die.

⁶⁷Then they spat in His face and hit Him. Some of them smacked Him, slapped Him across the cheeks, ⁶⁸and jeered.

Some of the Men: Well, Anointed One, prophesy for us, if You can—who hit You? And who is about to hit You next?

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 32

A contemplative song^[a] of David.

[pause]^[c]

[pause]

Footnotes:

32:title Hebrew, maskil
32:1–2 Romans 4:7–8
32:4 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 8:27-32

³²So now listen to me, my children:
those who live by my ways will find true happiness.

The Voice (VOICE)

February 10, 2017

02/09/2017 DAB Transcript

Exodus 29:1-30:10 ~ Matthew 26:14-46 ~ Psalm 31:19-24 ~ Proverbs 8:14-26

Today is the 9^th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. How are you doing? It’s good to be here with you today. I am glad that we have come together for these few moments that are sort of carved out of the day to give to God and to just sit away from all of the other things that are going on and just relax, allow him to wash over us through his word. So we’ll head back out to the mountain of God in the desert where God has given instructions for what a future tabernacle will look like, sort of the center of their culture and now he is talking about the priestly ministry and how they should look and what their role is in constantly reminding the people of where they have come from, who God is, and where they are going if they will obey him. Exodus chapter 29, verse 1 through 20, verse 10 and we’re reading from The Voice Translation this week.

Commentary

For the first time this year, first time in the gospel of Matthew, we’re moving into the territory of the last days of Jesus. I imagine that pretty much everybody who is listening right now kind of knows that territory, knows that story, but if you take the time to sit with the story, you see just how rich the tapestry is, all of the nuances and tensions, the betrayal of Judas, the forethought that went into it, the fact that it is not just a betrayal of Jesus, but it is a betrayal of all of them and all that they have been through together. He has turned his back utterly. The cries of Jesus to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, looking for any alternative way because what is before him is humanly unspeakable in its magnitude. The way that the disciples just didn’t fully understand everything that was happening so they are turning to Jesus and they are like saying they’ll stand with him right until death, but they won’t. And Jesus knows that. It’s like we have this moment with the Last Supper and it is the last time that anything they ever knew, like their whole awareness of their life and the world around them has come to this point and it ends at this Last Supper. Nothing is ever going to be the same again ever, ever. And that is how it should be when we encounter this story—that nothing is ever going to be the same again, ever, because it can’t be the same again. We’ve been irreversibly invited forward.

So as we go through this for the first time this year, may we give it the weightiness that it deserves and may we contemplate what we’ve read today, the tapestry, the textures, looking for ourselves in these stories. I often look for myself in the story. Where am I sitting at this table? I’ve betrayed Jesus and it hasn’t cost 30 pieces of silver to do it. I’ve said I would stand by him until my last breath and then walked away without another thought. And yet every time I can locate myself in that story, I just hear Jesus. “Drink this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for the forgiveness of sins.” So we may have been across this territory and this story 1000 times, but it is a story that should stop us in our tracks. Our souls, our eternity cost something precious, so it is important that we don’t treat it as something worthless.

Prayer

Jesus, what do we say? The proper response would be to fall to our knees and put our heads on the ground and stay in silence, because what is there to say? What we’re witnessing you do in the gospel of Matthew is something no one else could do and the only hope of our salvation. So as we enter into this story, we enter into it soberly, inviting your Holy Spirit to reawaken in us what this cost, what this means. Give us the larger story because we are constantly, constantly being pulled backward into something very small where we fight with each other and are always unsettled and never satisfied. Yet this one story changed everything in the whole world, so we give this the honor that it is due. Thank you. Thank you. But that is so lame. The thank you should be born out in our thoughts, words and deeds, by the choices that we make. And you so lovingly give us your word every day, bringing us to crossroads every day, facing choices every day where we can make the right choice. Even though we often choose our own way, we can make the right choice. So as we walk with you today, not as a concept, but as a reality, may the choices, the motives, the postures of heart, our will, our bodies, may everything that we do today be an act of gratitude and thanks for what you were willing to do before we were ever here. We thank you, Jesus, with our lives. And we pray these things in your name. Amen.

Announcements

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And, as always, we’re a community of people who love each other. If you’re carrying burdens that you shouldn’t carry alone, lots of people pray around here. (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.

And that’s it for today other than to just encourage some sober contemplation today about the thoughts, words and deeds, about everything that is what we’re going to be involved with today. Is it an act of gratitude or not? I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hey Dabbers, this is Becky in Philadelphia and I love you guys so much. I just got home from a weekend, a leader and committee weekend for the Liberty Region of Young Life. We were up at Lake Champion in New York and it was just really a great time of renewal and to see the vision and the love that all of these mostly college-age students and committee people, the love that they have for the Lord and the outpouring of that into teenagers and middle-schoolers and college students. It was just really, really encouraging. And with that, I was reminded of my ginormo list of people that I hear calling in on the Daily Audio Bible that I keep note of and that I pray over and pray for and just have not called in for. So that being said, I’m just going to list off some of the names that I have in here and some of them are from a really long time ago, but I want you to know I’m praying for you. March of last year, J.C. M., you called in, Pastor Gene’s son. Would love to hear from you again. November of last year, maybe even the year before, I don’t remember, Lisa in Macon, GA, you called about your foster parenting and I just want you to know that I love you. March 19^th of last year, Kathleen from Minnesota, you called in with that amazing song. I still think about that. You are incredibly talented. Thank you for that. Must check my timer. Oops! I’m about out of time. I love you guys. You’re so great. Have a good day.

Hello Dabbers, this is Forgiven from Michigan. It’s been a long time since I’ve called, but, as everybody says, I listen always and I do pray. I travel for my job, 34 states, and I just heard Amanda and Drew on the prayer line. Wanted to reach out to both of you and say that Amanda, we go through times. Satan is just pounding on your door right now because he knows the situation you’re in and I’m praying that the Lord will hold you strong. Stay in the word. Stay in Proverbs. They will teach you things and God will become clear. I thank you, Lord, for Drew in the Bay Area and I pray, Lord, that as he is in the smoke right now and he doesn’t know what is coming at him next, I pray, Lord, that you’ll give him clarity and help him, Lord, to stand firm on your word and pray continuously. I just pray for both of these. Lord, thank you so much for who you are and what you do. I thank you that you’re a big God. I thank you that you love us with an everlasting love. Please be with Amanda and help her to stay strong, Lord, in you, being a new Christian. Help her, Lord. Be with Drew in the Bay Area. And I pray, Lord, that you will clear up his smoke and give him clarity and I just pray, Lord, that you’ll just love on them both. Thank you, Lord, for this line, for this opportunity, and for your love everlasting. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Hi family. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton, FL. I love you, Lord, with all of my heart. My brothers and sisters are here listening to this podcast because they love you and they desire to pursue you. Father, we pursue you on behalf of Jessica and her husband who have been very hurt by church leadership. Father, please mend their hearts. Please help them to fix their eyes on you, to seek reconciliation as much as it depends on them and then just put it on your shoulders. O God, it’s not easy, but I pray, Father, that there will be reconciliation and that you will give them peace. Father, I pray for my brother Mark S.’s son. His heart is full with hatred. He needs healing. Father, draw him to you and help to find peace and joy in you. Father, my sister Salvation is Mine has been diagnosed with cancer, but you are with her and you can deliver her and I believe it and I agree with my brothers and sisters for her full healing, in Jesus’ mighty name. Father, I rejoice with my sister Laura who has full custody of her kids. I am praying, Father, that you will continue helping her and that the contact with her ex that hangs up on the 5-year-old will change, O God. Touch that man’s heart. Touch that man’s heart, Father. I pray in her mom’s case that her mom’s will will prevail and that no one will get away with doing something inappropriate with this inheritance. Father, I mourned with my sister Angie on the passing of her sister-in-law Brittany and I pray for her, her husband, and the rest of the family, asking for your divine healing over their lives. And I bless all my brothers and sisters in Jesus’ mighty name. I love you, Father. Amen.

Hi, this is Rae from New Jersey. I just heard the prayer from Lana in Canada whose mother passed away four months ago and she is going through emotional pain that is getting worse and she said that the loneliness is unbearable and she is having panic attacks, anxiety, disturbed sleep. I just wanted to tell Lana that I just thought of the poem about the footprints in the sand here. There were two footprints where God was walking alongside of the person and then there are some points where there is only one footprint and basically to make a long story short, it’s where God carries that person through the most difficult times in their life. I encourage you, Lana, too, because of the panic attacks and anxiety and disturbed sleep, it is perfectly okay to get mental help, services of a mental health professional. I’ve been there. I’ve been where the loneliness is unbearable and God does not seem to be enough. I pray that God will give you the grace to get you through the really bad time in your life and that eventually in time that you can go and pick a place to carve out a new life for yourself by going out socially and…

Hi, this is Joyful in Tennessee. I was calling for Amanda who I just heard your voice message and I think you’re separated for about seven months and you’re just in a little bit of a dark season. I just wanted to encourage you. And when I heard your message, I started to pray for you, Amanda, and I just felt these two words. I felt “rise up.” Rise up, sister. You are beautiful. You have a purpose. And you are created for so much more, so just walk. Walk in the Lord. He is with you and he will not leave you. And I don’t know what you’re going through and I know __________ the pain and the loneliness that you feel right now and I just want you to know I am going to walk and pray with you through this. So just hang in there and rise up. How beautiful is that? Lord Jesus, I just pray for Amanda, that you would comfort her heart right now, Lord. That you would rise up. That you would bring her out of the ashes and turn her into something that is beautiful and that has strength and courage in you, Lord. I just pray that you would bring people around her, Lord, to encourage her and let her know how worthy she is. Thank you for her. Amen.

Hi, this is Melody from Canada. I was really touched by reading Psalm 30 today and the prayer. I’m sitting in a beautiful prayer room in the house my husband gave me. And three years ago I was living with my parents. I had lost my job. I had lost my house. I had severe depression and self-harm. I had lost my dignity. I was like a little child again and God has restored. He has lifted me out of the pit and restored me to so much. I’m teaching some ESL children and married and my family restored. When I was really struggling, my friend prayed a prayer that Corrie ten Boom had said and said there is no pit that is so deep that God cannot bring you out of. And that is very true for me. So Father, thank you for lifting me out of the pit and thank you for lifting everyone out of the pit who cries to you. And I pray for everyone today who is crying to you for help. In Jesus’ name, amen.

February 9, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday February 9, 2017 (NIV)

Exodus 29:1-30:10

29 Eternal One: Here is how to conduct the ceremony that consecrates Aaron and his sons as priests: select one flawless young bull and two flawless rams. ²Using a good quality wheat flour, make bread without yeast, cakes without yeast with oil, and wafers without yeast spread with oil. ³Place all these baked goods in a basket, and offer them to God along with the young bull and two rams.

⁴Then escort Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the congregation tent, and wash them carefully with water. ⁵Take all the ceremonial garments and put them on Aaron: the tunic, the robe worn under the vest, the vest, and the breast piece. Fasten the vest’s waistband around him as well. ⁶Place the turban on his head and attach the sacred medallion to the front of it. ⁷When he is completely dressed, pour the anointing oil over his head.

⁸Then escort Aaron’s sons to the congregation tent, and dress them in tunics as well. ⁹Fasten sashes around the waists of Aaron and his sons and put special caps on their heads. This is how you are to ordain^[a] them.

¹⁰Then bring the young bull to the entrance of the congregation tent, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on its head. ¹¹Slaughter the bull in My presence at the entrance of the congregation tent. ¹²Take some of the bull’s blood and smear it on the horns of the altar with your finger. Pour out any remaining blood at the foot of the altar. ¹³Remove all the fat from around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat surrounding them and burn them on the altar. ¹⁴All the remaining parts of the bull—its hide, meat, and refuse—are to be burned as a sin offering away from the camp.

¹⁵Select one of the rams and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head. ¹⁶Slaughter the ram and splatter its blood on all sides of the altar. ¹⁷Then cut the ram up into pieces. Clean out the intestines and wash off the legs so nothing unclean is mixed with the sacrifice. Then place them alongside the other pieces, including the head, ¹⁸and burn the entire animal as a burnt offering to Me. This offering by fire presented to Me will give off a pleasing aroma.

¹⁹Then bring the other ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head. ²⁰Slaughter the ram, and smear some of its blood on the right earlobe of Aaron and his sons. Then smear it on the thumbs of their right hands and the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the remaining blood on all sides of the altar. ²¹Collect some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. This is how you are to consecrate Aaron, his sons, and their garments. ²²Next remove the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat from around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat surrounding them, and the right thigh (because this is an offering for ordination). ²³Take one loaf of bread, one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer from the basket of yeastless bread that was placed before Me. ²⁴Place all of these in the hands of Aaron and his sons to lift up as a wave offering to Me. ²⁵Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering. This offering by fire presented to Me will give off a pleasing aroma.

²⁶Then take the breast from Aaron’s ordination ram, and lift it up before Me as a wave offering. This will be your portion of the sacrifice. ²⁷Consecrate the breast and the thigh which were lifted up before Me as a wave offering from the ordination ram. They belong to Aaron and his sons. ²⁸From now on when the people of Israel offer a peace offering, Aaron and his descendants must receive a share of what the people offer Me in that sacrifice. It is their due for their priestly service.

This ceremony becomes the ritual by which generations of priests and high priests are consecrated for their sacred duties.

²⁹When Aaron dies, his sacred garments must be passed down to his descendants. They will wear them when they are anointed and ordained. ³⁰Aaron’s son who succeeds him as high priest to minister in the congregation tent and holy place will wear these clothes for seven days.

One difficult aspect of Old Testament life to appreciate (at least in the Western world) is the use of animal sacrifices. The Israelites are first a nomadic people; later when they are settled, they become a shepherding people. For them to offer their best and dearest to God means most naturally an animal, one without blemish and young. These animals are the basis of their economy and provide them with food, clothing, shelter, and security. To offer God an animal sacrifice is to offer a piece of their lives. So offerings are very personal and differ based on what families can afford. In some cases, the sacrifices are completely consumed, but in others the priests and the people take some of the meat home to their own tables. This way the whole community shares in the bounty of the sacrifice.

Eternal One: ³¹Take the meat of the ordination ram and boil it in a sacred place. ³²Aaron and his sons are to eat it and the bread from the basket at the entrance to the congregation tent. ³³Only they are allowed to eat the bread and meat which was part of their purification rite in the ordination ceremony. An outsider may not eat them because they are holy. ³⁴If any meat or bread is left over from the ordination ceremony the next morning, burn it completely. No one is allowed to eat it, for it is holy.

³⁵The ordination period is to last for seven days. Here is what you must do to ordain Aaron and his sons to My priestly service. ³⁶Offer a bull as an offering every day for seven days to purify them from sin. Cleanse the altar and consecrate it by anointing it with oil. ³⁷For seven days you must purify the altar and consecrate it. As a result of these rituals it will be most holy and anything that touches the altar will become holy.

³⁸Here are the sacrifices you are to offer on the altar: every day offer two one-year-old lambs. ³⁹Offer one lamb in the morning, and the other at twilight. ⁴⁰With the lamb offered in the morning bring two quarts of fine flour mixed together with one quart of beaten olive oil, and one quart of wine for the drink offering. ⁴¹With the second lamb offered at twilight, bring the same gifts of grain and drink that you offered with the morning lamb. These offerings by fire presented to Me will give off a pleasing aroma. ⁴²From generation to generation, the ritual of the burnt offering is to begin daily at the entrance of the congregation tent in My presence. I will meet with you and talk with you there. ⁴³I will meet with My people Israel there, for My glory will make that place sacred. ⁴⁴I will sanctify the congregation tent and the altar. I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve as My priests. ⁴⁵I will live among the Israelites and be their God. ⁴⁶And they will know that I am the Eternal their God, who led them out of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the Eternal One their God.

30 Eternal One: Make an altar out of acacia wood for burning incense ²in the shape of a square—18 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 36 inches high. Carve the horns and the top of the altar out of one piece of wood. ³Overlay the top, sides, and horns with pure gold, and attach gold trim around its edges. ⁴Fashion two gold rings, and attach them beneath the trim on the two opposite sides; the rings are to hold the poles so that the altar can be carried. ⁵Make the poles out of acacia wood as well and overlay them with gold. ⁶Place this altar just outside of the veil that conceals the covenant chest and the seat of mercy that sits on top of the covenant chest. I will meet with you there.

⁷Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he trims the lamps’ wicks ⁸and every evening when he lights the lamps. Incense must be burned in My presence throughout all your generations. ⁹Do not burn any strange incense, burnt offerings, or grain offerings at this altar. Also, do not pour out any drink offerings on it. ¹⁰Since this altar is sacred to Me, Aaron is to cleanse it once each year by smearing blood from the sin offering on its horns. Throughout all your generations, the high priests are to perform this ritual.

Footnotes:

29:9 Hebrew idiom is to “fill the hands.”

The Voice (VOICE)

Matthew 26:14-46

¹⁴At that, one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests.

Judas Iscariot: ¹⁵What will you give me to turn Him over to you?

They offered him 30 pieces of silver. ¹⁶And from that moment, he began to watch for a chance to betray Jesus.

Here begins the account of Jesus’ last night before His trial and crucifixion.

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples said to Jesus,

Disciples: Where would You like us to prepare the Passover meal for You?

Jesus: ¹⁸Go into the city, find a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, ‘My time is near, and I am going to celebrate Passover at your house with My disciples.’”

They find the man’s house and secure the owner’s permission, and there they will praise God for redeeming His people from bondage in Egypt.

¹⁹So the disciples went off, followed Jesus’ instructions, and got the Passover meal ready. ²⁰When evening came, Jesus sat down with the twelve. ²¹And they ate their dinner.

Jesus: I tell you this: one of you here will betray Me.

²²The disciples, of course, were horrified.

A Disciple: Not me!

Another Disciple: It’s not me, Master, is it?

Jesus: ²³It’s the one who shared this dish of food with Me. That is the one who will betray Me. ²⁴Just as our sacred Scripture has taught, the Son of Man is on His way. But there will be nothing but misery for he who hands Him over. That man will wish he had never been born.

²⁵At that, Judas, who was indeed planning to betray Him, said,

Judas Iscariot: It’s not me, Master, is it?

Jesus: I believe you’ve just answered your own question.

²⁶As they were eating, Jesus took some bread. He offered a blessing over the bread, and then He broke it and gave it to His disciples.

Jesus: Take this and eat; it is My body.

²⁷And then He took the cup of wine, He made a blessing over it, and He passed it around the table.

Jesus: Take this and drink, all of you: ²⁸this is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹But I tell you: I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until I am with you once more, drinking in the kingdom of My Father.

³⁰The meal concluded. Together, all the men sang a hymn of praise and thanksgiving, and then they took a late evening walk to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus: ³¹Scripture says,

I shall strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will scatter.^[a]

Just so, each of you will stumble tonight, stumble and fall, on account of Me.

³²Afterward I will be raised up. And I will go before you to Galilee.

Peter: ³³Lord, maybe everyone else will trip and fall tonight, but I will not. I’ll be beside You. I won’t falter.

Jesus: ³⁴If only that were true. In fact, this very night, before the cock crows in the morning, you will deny Me three times.

Peter: ³⁵No! I won’t deny You. Even if that means I have to die with You!

And each of the disciples echoed Peter.

It is indeed a dark, bitter night. The disciples are sad and confused, and maybe a little bit prideful. Peter can not believe that he could ever betray his Lord.

³⁶At that, Jesus led His disciples to the place called Gethsemane.

Jesus: I am going over there to pray. You sit here while I’m at prayer.

³⁷Then He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and He grew sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Jesus: ³⁸My soul is overwhelmed with grief, to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.

³⁹He walked a little farther and finally fell prostrate and prayed.

Jesus: Father, this is the last thing I want. If there is any way, please take this bitter cup from Me. Not My will, but Yours be done.

⁴⁰When He came back to the disciples, He saw that they were asleep. Peter awoke a little less confident and slightly chagrined.

Jesus (to Peter): So you couldn’t keep watch with Me for just one short hour? ⁴¹Now maybe you’re learning: the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Watch and pray and take care that you are not pulled down during a time of testing.

⁴²With that, Jesus returned to His secluded spot to pray again.

Jesus: Father, if there is no other way for this cup to pass without My drinking it—then not My will, but Yours be done.

⁴³Again Jesus returned to His disciples and found them asleep. Their eyes were heavy-lidded. ⁴⁴So Jesus left them again and returned to prayer, praying the same sentiments with the same words. ⁴⁵Again He returned to His disciples.

Jesus: Well, you are still sleeping; are you getting a good long rest? Now the time has come; the Son of Man is just about to be given over to the betrayers and the sinners. ⁴⁶Get up; we have to be going. Look, here comes the one who’s going to betray Me.

Footnotes:

26:31 Zechariah 13:7

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 31:19-24

¹⁹Your overflowing goodness
You have kept for those who live in awe of You,
And You share Your goodness with those who make You their sanctuary.
²⁰You hide them, You shelter them in Your presence,
safe from the conspiracies of sinful men.
You keep them in Your tent,
safe from the slander of accusing tongues.

²¹Bless the Eternal!
For He has revealed His gracious love to me
when I was trapped like a city under siege.
²²I began to panic so I yelled out,
“I’m cut off. You no longer see me!”
But You heard my cry for help that day
when I called out to You.

²³Love the Eternal, all of you, His faithful people!
He protects those who are true to Him,
but He pays back the proud in kind.
²⁴Be strong, and live courageously,
all of you who set your hope in the Eternal!

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 8:14-26

¹⁴Good counsel is mine, and also true wisdom.
I am understanding, and strength belongs to me.
¹⁵It’s because of me that kings wield power
and authorities decree what is right.
¹⁶It’s because of me that leaders and their agents govern
and all judge according to what is right.
¹⁷I love those who love me;
those who search hard for me will find me.
¹⁸Riches and honor are the benefit of following me;
so are lasting wealth and justice.
¹⁹My reward is better than gold, even the purest gold;
and my profit is greater than the highest quality silver.
²⁰I follow the way of right living.
Follow me along the path to find justice;
²¹I’m ready to meet those who love me, bestow true riches upon them,
and fill up their lives until their treasuries overflow.
²²The Eternal created me; it happened when His work was beginning,
one of His first acts long ago.
²³Before time He established me,
before the earth saw its first sunrise.
²⁴I was born before the deep existed,
before any springs poured out their water,
²⁵Before the mountains were placed on their foundations,
before the hills rolled across the land—
yes, before all this, I was brought forth.
²⁶When the earth was yet unformed and the fields were not yet nestled beneath the wind—
even before the first dust of the earth—

The Voice (VOICE)

February 9, 2017

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday February 9, 2017 (NIV)

Exodus 29:1-30:10

This ceremony becomes the ritual by which generations of priests and high priests are consecrated for their sacred duties.

Footnotes:

29:9 Hebrew idiom is to “fill the hands.”