Leviticus 24:1-25:46, Mark 10:13-31, Psalms 44:9-26, Proverbs 10:20-21
Today is the 1st day of the month of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and as we cross into this new month we are still here on a pilgrimage through the land of the Bible. So, coming to you again today from the holy city of Jerusalem. And we’ve been basing ourselves from here and exploring. We explored a bit of the central territory in the north yesterday. And today we’ll be going kind of down into the low lands but we will talk about all of that in a little while after we’ve done what we’ve come to do and take the next step forward in the Scriptures together this year. We’re reading from the New International Version this week and we’re winding our way to the end of the week. Today, Leviticus chapter 24 verse 1 through 25 verse 46.
Commentary:
Alright. So, in the gospel of Mark, people had begun to bring their kids to Jesus so He could put His hand on them and bless them and it’s a beautiful because where else, I mean, isn’t that what we’re trying to do. What parent doesn’t want to bring their children to Jesus. Where else would we want to teach them to turn? But as beautiful as it is, it was completely lost on the disciples, right? They’re scolding the parents and shooing them away, “don’t bother Jesus”, which is so ironic, right? But as with all of the Bible once you to turn the light away from what you’re learning and back onto your own life so that it can be reflected off how you are living then it becomes truly revealing because too often we’re excluding our kids from our faith journey, right, just reasoning that they’re too young to understand it or we’re misguiding them with our words when they don’t coincide with our actions. But maybe God in the person of Jesus knows something that we’re not always paying attention to. Maybe our kids intuitively know far more than we think and maybe their innocence has much to teach us. At least that’s how Jesus saw it. Let the children come to me He said, don’t stop them. The kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these kids, these children. So, God’s kingdom values the faith of a child and there’s a reason for this. A child believes anything can happen and we spend a lot of our parenting time trying to get our kids into the quote unquote real world, right, so that they’re prepared for the real world when maybe they have a few things to teach us about the real world. When we’re parenting our kids, we are probably doing what is our greatest charge and responsibility for the kingdom of God. If the kingdom belongs to those who are like little children, not only should we engage our children in our faith journey so that we can raise them up in the way that we should go, but also because we need them to remind us of where we are going. It was Jesus that said, “I’m telling you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child is not going to enter it.” Okay? Okay? That that should be sobering, but it’s an invaluable invitation. All of our attempts to figure out what God is and isn’t doing and to keep all the plates spinning in our lives, that may not be going anywhere, it may not be getting us anywhere. And our kids, our little children, they don’t ponder whether we care for them, right? They know it. They don’t wonder how they’re gonna manage being a toddler. They just know that everything’s going to be okay, every days an adventure. The kingdom belongs to those with the faith of a child and we’re invited to live that way. So, the next time that were overwhelmed, the next and we feel insecure or abandoned or isolated or anxious or discouraged, maybe we just need to look to our children, maybe they can teach us how things really are in the real world. Maybe they’ll remind us that we are children of God.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for the gift of our children. We confess that a lot of the time our parenting is about managing their behavior, trying to get all of our lives moving smoothly without a lot of interruption and we’re not engaging, we’re not watching for what it is that they are learning intuitively from us and from who we say You are. And, so, Holy Spirit come, show us what it looks like to have the faith of a child again. Remind us what it would feel like to not have to worry that things are going to be okay because they are because our Father is the God of the universe. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
So, yesterday on our pilgrimage journey here in the land of the Bible…and we are down to our last couple of days together on this journey whether virtually or actually here in the land. Yesterday was a day spent in the central area of the region. And let’s just all say rain together because that was largely the experience yesterday. We began our journey in the morning, obviously, and began to drive northward out of Jerusalem all the way to Mount Geer Azeem which is just above biblical Shechem, which is a Palestinian city known as Nablus now and at Mount Geer Azeem is the mount of blessing. And we haven’t quite gotten to this story yet when the children of Israel do come into the Promise Land. They will go to this place Mount Geer Azeem and Mount Ebal and half the tribes go on Mount Geer Azeem and the other half will go on Mount Ebal and they will recite the blessings and then the curses, so, the blessings of a covenantal relationship with God and also what happens if you break the covenant. And in terms of rain, I’m kind of two for four at this point. I’ve been up there four times. One time to scout it out and film. It was a pretty day. And then the next her we took a group up there and it was raining sideways and then the next year it was beautiful and perfect and then yesterday it was raining sideways. And, so, we get on the top of the Mount of Blessing and rain is plentiful right now. Israel’s having the wettest February in the last several decades and the rain is perceived as a blessing from God as it is. They need the rain. So, you know, it’s raining sideways on Mount Geer Azeem and we’re in the clouds as it were, so we can’t see anything, but the thing is, and this has happened before, the thing is we’re standing on the Mount of Blessing while we’re parked in buses on the mount of blessing and it’s raining and this is perceived as a blessing. And, so, both times I’ve just invited whoever…you know…if this is a season of transition or you just want to be out there in it and pray and invite God’s blessing and receive His blessing on the Mount of blessing while the rain is coming down, then join me. And, so, we got out there in a crowd and just let it happen and just enjoyed a moment together inviting God’s blessing in our lives. And it is a riveting reminder that God’s blessing may be a disruptive thing. We pray for blessing and blessing a blessing and usually it’s attached to a set of expectations or outcomes. And, so, if we get what we want then we feel blessed, but we don’t really trust God to decide what is best for us and how to bless us as a Father. And sometimes that can be disruptive, it can be like sideways rain sometimes and we don’t see it until later that His hand was in all of its and we were being blessed even though we were being blown and pelted as we move along. And, so, we just kind of acknowledged that and invited God and His blessing in our lives in any way that He would choose to guide and lead and bless us. And that took a few minutes and that’s all it took to get a good shower. And, so, we climbed on the buses wet and began down the mountain to move to Shiloh. And Shiloh is an archaeological site that is where the children of Israel, where the tabernacle stood and was the capital, the center of ancient Israel’s culture for almost 4 centuries. So, a very, very long time before the time of the monarchy. Again, these are things that we will get to as we continue to read in the Scriptures. But this is where we were. And, yeah, we were being blessed with the rain again. So, just a little shorter time of touring these places where as when it's…you know…if the sun is shining then whatever…there’s plenty to observe and to contemplate and drink in and to photograph and just to, I mean, immerse in the culture of how it was then. When it’s raining it’s a little different, so, there's…you just don’t spend as much time out there. You’re getting soaked and it’s cold. So, we visited Shiloh and then began moving southward back toward Jerusalem and having lunch at a winery that we normally stop at and have lunch. It’s a beautiful lunch and it’s warm and cozy and I was gona say it’s probably…but it is the best lunch that we have on the tour. It’s always…it always comes at the right time. And it came at the right time again this time. So, we enjoyed that, fellowshipping with each other, just warming up, drying off before making our way back to Jerusalem. And we were able to get here a little bit early and have some free hours to rest or to play or to maybe go into the old city and shop even though it was kind of intermittent rain. And this is a rare. The pilgrimages that we go on are very, very literally going north, south, east, west and everything in between to immerse ourselves fully not only in the geography but in the biblical locations. And, so, we’re doing all that but just had a shortened day. And, so, that was nice to just kind of get back and get some rest. Oddly enough it was sleeting by the time I ultimately got back to the hotel. So, that was kind of fun. I’ve seen snow one time in Israel in all my journeys here up in the North country in the Golan Heights near Mount Herman. So, never really seen…and it wasn’t snow…it was definitely sleeting and we were definitely experiencing high winds but today we’re going into the low lands in today and today is supposed to be spectacular in terms of whether. So, that will be a nice change. A couple of days it’s been now that we’ve battled into the rain, but as a metaphor for life, which is what we’re using this pilgrimage as, those days come, those seasons come, those times come. So, what you do that? How do you handle that? How do you respond to that? And, so, yeah, we’re just kind of living into it and looking forward to a great day today. So, thank you for your continued prayers as we experience the final region of this land that we’ll be visiting today and then tomorrow we will wrap up in and around Jerusalem.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner 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. I am Brian I love you it’s exciting to be in this new month together and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi, I’m calling for the very first time for a prayer request. And I’ve listened to the Daily Audio Bible for years. Today was the story about the man whose son was possessed by an evil spirit and no one could draw it out. And I think that I need to give my daughter in the same way. She’s 26. Last night I took her again to a mental health hospital for her third admission for depression and anxiety. She was abused by her father unbeknown to me. He was a pastor. And as a result she can’t trust any man or God and she’s really in desperate…in desperate need of your prayers and so is everyone who loves her because it breaks all of our hearts. Thank you.
Good morning friends, my name is Vivian and I live in the front range of Northern Colorado. I’m calling today to ask for prayer for our pastors, little boy named Noah who is dealing with seizures. And this is not something that just happens a couple times a day but a couple times every hour. These seizures started about two years ago with meds they were able to control them for about a year and now the seizures are back with a vengeance and meds just aren’t doing the job anymore. He is now looking at possible surgery. His parents are exhausted and frightened yet looking to God for help. Noah loves Jesus and knows Jesus can heal him. Today as we read Mark 9, the healing of the little boy from an evil spirit when Jesus told the disciples this kind of spirit and only come out by prayer. So, this has moved me to call and ask our prayer warriors to please pray for little Noah and the removal of this evils spirit of seizures. Please pray that no matter how these seizures are removed for him that he is healed so he can enjoy being just a little boy again and so that his parents will have comfort and rest and peace. Love you guys. God, bless.
Hi, my name is Tracy I’m calling from Vancouver Washington. This morning I was touched by Tim from Tampa. The last thing you said was I need to get my stuff together and I thought to myself, oh, that was me for years and years/ But Tim, what you need to know is none of us have our stuff together and Jesus loves us no matter what. So, my prayer for you is that you will rest in who you are in Christ, that you will rest in who Christ says you are. It’s not about what we do, it’s not about waiting to go to Jesus until we get our stuff together. Just go to Him, just rest in Him, spend time with Him, spend time studying who He is and the getting your stuff together will come naturally because He will change your heart. So, Father, I just pray for Tim today. I just pray that You would show him in an abundant way today that he is loved by You whether he has his stuff together or not and Father that You would just changes his heart so that he naturally would come to You and You could get his stuff together for him. Have a great day.
Morning family, this is Pete from Salt Lake City again, I just wanted to really quick thank everybody who prayed for me regarding my distance from the Lord when I was just feeling that absence. I am getting back on the path somewhat, you know, and I just want to thank everybody for that. Really quick, I just heard Tim from Tampa’s prayer today. __ probably felt a lot like I felt and have felt quite a few times. But Tim I just want you to know that I’m praying for you here brother. I just pray that God will reach out to you in a way that makes sense, that you will know that it’s Him and that you’ll know that He’s there, because He is there. So, I just had to remind myself over and over, but I am praying for you Tim. And I do want to reach out real quick with an additional prayer request for my son Isaac. He is 13 years old and he recently confided in his mother and I that he’s been hearing voices. He’s named this voice and it’s been telling him to __. It has hurt him in the past apparently. I’m just…at a loss. I know this is obviously the enemy…just an evil spirit. I know…I think back to the verse about, you know, our battles are not flesh and blood, you know, they’re spiritual battles, there dark forces. And I know that’s what this is. And, so, I would just ask the community to cover my son Isaac in prayer that he would be protected and that we could drive this demon out of him, that he would return to being a happy normal kid. Thank you so much everybody. I love you all. Safe travels Brian and everybody in Jerusalem. __ I know you well. Thanks again for the app. I love you guys. Bye.