02/26/2019 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 19:1-20:21, Mark 8:11-38, Psalms 42:1-11, Proverbs 10:17

Today is the 6th day of…26th day of February…a little tired here and for the last time on this particular pilgrimage coming to you from the shores of the Sea of Galilee. We’ll be leaving the Galilee region today and by the time this day is over much…many hours from now we’ll be in Jerusalem, but there’s much to experience between here and there today and much to talk about from yesterday, which we’ll do in a little bit, but first let’s do what we’ve come to do and take the next step forward as we continue our adventure through the Scriptures this year. We’re reading from the New International Version this week and picking up where we left off yesterday, Leviticus chapter 19 verse 1 through 20 verse 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Mark today, we encounter this journey that Jesus went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi and we were in Caesarea Philippi just a couple of days ago thinking about this and we talked about this. And, so, it’s odd that it’s just like right here in front of us, this question that Jesus asks. “Who do you say that I am”? And that’s an obvious, poignant question for anybody, anytime, anywhere but it’s is particularly poignant for those of us who are here on this pilgrimage moving around the land of the Bible because we’ve been walking in these footsteps and it just…it becomes apparent that there really isn’t a more important question to answer in the life of a human being and that that answer can’t be given with only words. Like, anybody can say anything. How we live our lives is how that question is answered. “Who do you say that I am?”

Prayer:

And, so, Jesus along with the apostle Peter, we can claim that You are the son of God, that You are the Messiah, we can claim whatever we want to claim. We can say You are our friend, You are our best friend, You are the one who knows everything, You are God incarnate. We can say what we want to say but how we live is the true answer to the question. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, so that the path that we are walking is the narrow path that leads to life, so that our lives are in every way every day claiming who we believe that You are. And part of understanding that is paying attention because we have many ruts and side trails in our lives that have led us through wounded places. And, so, we live reactionary a lot of times. Certain circumstances present themselves and we react a certain way without even thinking, “is the way that I’m reacting, is how I’m behaving saying to the world who I believe Jesus is?” And in just observing that we realize the work of sanctification is ongoing within us and we haven’t reached this place of perfection, but we love You Jesus and we believe You are the son of God and we believe You are the Savior of the world. Holy Spirit help our lives and our actions, and our words and our thoughts align themselves with this truth. Come Jesus we pray in Your mighty name. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, yesterday was our last full day in and around the Sea of Galilee and we spent the day around the Sea of Galilee visiting a number of the more poignant places of Jesus ministry beginning our day at the Mount of Beatitudes, which is the traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount and it’s been our custom for many years now to just let the Bible speak for itself, let the Sermon on the Mount be what it is. And, so, we just become first century Hebrew people along the Sea of Galilee going to here this man that’s got a buzz going in the region and allow the words to wash over us a fresh because it is the foundational teaching of the way that Jesus was offering and revealing to the word. And it’s a beautiful place and a beautiful day, a lovely morning. And, so, yeah, we drank it in. One more big drink of many big drinks, big gulps that we have taken along the way. And we got some pictures and just enjoyed the serenity of the morning before moving down to the sea of Galilee itself, right down to the shores to a place called Peter’s primacy, which represents the place that Jesus cooked breakfast for his friends here in Galilee before His ascension and where He asked Peter, “do you love me” those three times and then asked him to feed his sheep. And that story concludes the Gospels. It’s how the book of John ends and obviously we haven’t gotten to the book of John yet in our journey through the Scriptures this year, but we certainly will. But we pressed in to Jesus final words, “you follow me”. And we’ve been talking about that during our time here based in the Galilee, about owning our own relationship with God and being an active participant and collaborator in that relationship just like we have to do to maintain any other relationship in our lives. So, a poignant moment to consider that and then down to the to the shore. And this is a time when we can actually touch the Sea of Galilee and be right there, walk into it with our feet if we want to, just sit there and enjoy the morning and then then we moved to Capernaum, which was the adult hometown of Jesus and his ministry base. And ironically, we had the place…not to ourselves…I’ve never seen that. We usually…its just…very congested and it wasn’t as congested as in years gone by. And, so, that was nice, being able to maneuver around and just appreciate the fact that our Savior, He spent the nights here, He laughed here, He ate meals here, He had friends here, He walked the streets here, He preached in the synagogue here. There’s nothing quite like that to be honest and it clicks into place different for everybody and it strikes me different every time that I visit just like Ground Zero. I mean, you’re standing in a place that has affected the world, a place that has revolutionized worldviews for thousands of years. It’s fairly profound. And then we were able to have some lunch, a little bit of shopping before we leave Galilee. And then we drove all the way around the lake, which is something that we don’t get to do but there was a wind advisory. We were scheduled to get on a ship, a boat, at Capernaum and then kind of sail across the lake for bunch but there were wind advisories on the lake. And, so, they had diverted the boats. And, so, we had to go all the way around the Lake and then get on the boat. It was a beautiful day. Like, the wind is picking up, but it wasn’t that bad. And, so, we went out on the lake and just worshiped and spent a few minutes in silence, really the only silence other than sleeping there’s been on this trip. And that just allows us to drink in what is happening now because it’s a struggle the whole time because there’s a lot of information and just a lot going on in mind and heart. So, to have these moments, these breathers, these opportunities to just rejuvenate and just hear the Sea of Galilee lapping up against the boat, to just feel the wind and allow ourselves to decompress and rest and be silent before God is important. And, so, we spent about 10 minutes doing that, just resting before the Lord and then we kind of worshiped our way back to shore and that is the memory, that is how we ended our time in the Galilee. And we’re heading out today and we’ll go over to the coast and then make our way up to Jerusalem tonight. That’s always a little bit melancholy. I never don’t experience this departing Galilee where the serenity of the countryside is breathtaking and moving forward, and certainly to the holy city of Jerusalem, I mean, what’s not to like about that and what’s not to drink in and understand the profundity of it, but it’s a totally different kind of experience. It’s much more congested and just a lot more logistics. And, so, yeah, we’re heading into that part of this journey, but fond memories will remain as we leave the Galilee. So, thank you for your continued prayers. We’re having a big travel day today and all of us had to load up all of our stuff and move and that’s kinda how it goes and we’ll be basing out of Jerusalem for the for the rest of our time. We appreciate your prayers and no doubt about it, we feel them.

If you’ve been listening to all of this and maybe your following along on social media, the pictures and all this that we’re posting as we go and you feel like this something you want to experience then registration for our 2020 pilgrimage, a year from now, is now open and you can get the details dailyaudiobible.com. Just go to the Initiatives section and you’ll see Israel 2020. If you’re using the app you can just push the little drawer button in the upper left-hand corner and push the Initiatives button and you’ll see Israel 2020 and you can get the details there.

If you want to partner with the daily audio Bible, if what we’re doing as a community to bring God’s word spoken fresh read fresh every day and the rhythm that’s established in the community to go through the Scriptures together and understand that we are in this together and we are never alone, if that brings life and light and good news to you, then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. Thank you for those who have pressed that link. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today and that’s it from the Sea of Galilee. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.