Deuteronomy 11:1-12:32, Luke 8:22-39, Psalms 70:1-5, Proverbs 12:4
Today is the 29th day of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure and a joy to be here with you as we end another work week together or end another school week together and this week we’ve been spending our time, at least in the Old Testament, reading the book of Deuteronomy and we’ll continuing to move our way through Deuteronomy, Moses’s last words to the children of Israel before they moved forward toward the Jordan River. So, we’ll pick up with that story where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Deuteronomy chapter 11 and 12.
Commentary:
Okay. So, this story in the gospel of Luke, it’s a famous story, certainly in the New Testament. Those of us who were in Israel last month, you know, stories like this, they echo back through our memory because we can see the sea of Galilee freshly in our memories. And this particular story from the Gospels, especially this account in the gospel of Luke, has always been intriguing to me. I’ve thought long and hard about this particular story over the years, even writing about this particular story in Sneezing Jesus because there’s a couple of things about the story that are just so fascinating to me. One is the Jesus went to the other side of the lake through an incredible storm after being exhausted through ministry on the other side of the lake for this one guy because, as the story goes, this one man was the only one who was set free on this journey. I’ve sat at that place. There’s a place that marks the spot. It’s called Gerasene. There’s an ancient monastery there, one of the oldest monasteries in Israel and you can walk up the side, kind of the cliff face, and there’s like former shrines up there to the event and I have sat there. I have sat there in the fall, when all of the grass is dead and brown and I have sat there in the spring when the wildflowers are just dancing in the fields and thought about Jesus coming for this one person because man…I mean…I…at least I think we all…but I have played the role of the of the man running down the shore screaming at God. And in some translations what the man screams is, “why are you interfering with me?” I thought about the times in my life when I’ve felt that way only to feel Jesus saying, “because you asked me to. Like, do you want to be free or do you prefer bondage.” I’ve also been riveted by the events, right? I mean, Jesus casting a legion of demons into a herd of swine and the swine running down into the sea of Galilee and drowning and just bobbing there along the shore is a pretty dramatic scene. So, the shepherds when they go to the villages and the people come down off the mountain to see what’s going on. You can just feel the tension and the drama in that story and in that moment. And their response to this man getting his freedom and his life and his sanity back was to ask Jesus to leave. And I find myself in that story too. If God decides to move in some sort of way that does not find itself into our theological formulas or bends our minds around because how could God work through a sinner like that? That can’t be God. And, so, it must be the devil. And, so we freak out and just say go somewhere else. And those are the saddest moments in the Bible to me. They echo Moses – “Lord send anybody else but me.” So, this story that happens kind of on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee echoes across time through the Internet and lands itself in our laps no matter where we are sitting on this planet and invites us to consider the ways that we’re thrashing around and asking God why He’s interfering with us and what He’s doing when all He’s doing is trying to set us free or the ways that we get freaked out at the move of God that we’re seeing in our lives or in other’s lives and ask Him to leave. We might not out and out say a prayer, “dear Jesus, holy son of the living God I need you to leave” but we do this with our thoughts, words and deeds every day.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. What are our lives asking of You? Are our lives asking why You are interfering with us or are our lives asking You to leave or are we running to You with abandon, naked, and desperate for freedom? Holy Spirit we ask You to lead us down the pathways of our lives today so that that question can be rightfully answered. And when it is rightfully answered, we invite You into that answer. We don’t want to be pushing You away or asking You to leave. We want to be running to You and staying by Your side in lockstep movement so that wherever You are that’s where we are because wherever that is it will be the right place even if we don’t understand it. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name’ we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
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And the next thing on the calendar is the More Gathering for women. And we have been talking about this for a while but registrations about the close. So, today’s the 29th and registration closes for the More Gathering on the 31st. So, when this weekend is done so is registration. So, I encourage you, this is going to be an epic adventure. We are tremendously excited and can feel the energy as we get closer. We’ve been praying over this for months. Jill and her team have been meeting for months praying into this event. So, if it’s time, right? If you know there has to got to be more to this faith journey than this, then perhaps More is for you. If you’re looking for changing of the season’s, new perspective, then More may be for you. So, you can get all the details at moregathering.com or go to dailyaudiobible.com and click the Initiatives section and you’ll see the More Gathering there and that will take you to all the information that you would want to know and we certainly are praying for all of you who will be in attendance and can’t wait to see you and I hope to see everyone there.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi friends, this is Vivian from the front range in Northern Colorado. I thought I would just call in and give you an update on my pastor’s son, Noah whose been having seizures. He is scheduled for surgery this Friday the 29th and I’m just calling back to once again ask for your prayers for this little boy. He loves Jesus. He’s a sweet little thing and I know his family is anxious about this. I would be too if it were my little boy. I’m just asking for your prayers for support for the family, for provision, protection, and healing for this little guy. I love you all and I appreciate all the prayers that I’ve heard on his behalf already. Just keep them coming. We appreciate it. Thank you. Love you guys. Bye.
This is a praise call and this call goes out to all of the ladies that listen to the Daily Audio Bible. This is Cindy the Sinner from Seattle. You’ll never forget my name now because I’m a sinner and that is part of my name, but I wanted to tell you all the reasons you should go to the More conference. I think there’s still time for you to sign up and the biggest things that I got out of the conference last year are number one, forgiveness. It is so hard sometimes to forgive and I know it’s 7×70 but if you really want to make some progress on forgiving some people or things that you need to in your life, More will help you create the scaffolding to help forgive other people. Not only that but you will gather some tools at More that will help you address your giants. So, Brian has talked about facing our giants this lent and again, More will prepare you and give you some tools to face your giant. Addressing sensitive thoughts and wounds, I know we all carry around these wounds and things that make us really sensitive throughout our lives and More can help soften and heal those spots. And lastly, I have 14 More sisters. There’s probably more than that, there’s probably 15 or 16 or 17 but we have been in communication all year and let me tell you ladies, I’ve got some issues that I need prayer for on a daily basis and these more sisters are praying for me and man there is no other support system like a good Christian sister and More sister. And, so I’d love to see you there and hope I do. Bye.
Hi, this is Michelle in Indiana and I’m calling for my mother in Kentucky, her name is Sally and I am calling for prayers. She lost feeling in her legs on Sunday and I’ve been praying, and we don’t know what the outcome is. The hospitals still running tests. We don’t know if it was a stroke or what it is but I just…I’m asking for prayers for her. I just need the Daily Audio Bible family to pray for her, come together, heal her, help her heal, let her walk again, let her know that Jesus is with her and Jesus can heal her. This is the first time I ever called. So, I really appreciate any prayers that can send your way. Appreciate it very much. Thank you. God bless you all.
Hello DAB community family this is Catherine calling from Maryland. I was just listening to the March 25th podcast and once again amazed at the confluence of messaging between the readings and the prayers. So, I just wanted to call and celebrate with you Bridget and to say __ I was so very moved by your prayer. I will be praying for Michael and __ because our God is mighty to save. And as Moses said in the reading this morning, “when does this ever happen, when else in the history has this happened?” But we can forgive and have compassion for someone who hurt us so badly, you know, in killing your son-in-law. But God is so powerful. He is mighty to save, and He upholds you with His righteous right hand. And if God can save in this situation, and He will. He will do a mighty work in Michael and __. Like, Moses was a killer, that killers can’t be redeemed. And I think you’ve obeyed…you’re obeying God, you’re forgiving, you are…only in God’s power could you ever do that. And in so doing you unleash all of the power of God and the Holy Spirit to work in this world. And as you do that it goes well for you, that’s what the word of God says. So, Bridget I salute you and you’re an inspiration to the rest of us. And, so, for those who are calling and who are anxious or worried or filled with feelings of worthlessness, you think about this, think about how wonderful and amazing God is and how He can redeem anyone from anything and that’s just the truth. So, may all of those who suffer from feelings of worthlessness from anxiety…
Hi, I’m a listener…I’ve been and around for I don’t know…about four or five years. I’ve been to the More gathering twice. I’ve never called. I’m calling today for my daughter Amanda. She’s 33. She knows who Jesus is. She knows…she grew up that way in church, but she doesn’t…she doesn’t want to talk about it. She doesn’t want anything to do with Jesus anymore. She’s hurting, she’s been hurt very badly recently. She has two beautiful children but she’s going off the deep end [crying] I can’t reach her. Please pray somebody will come into her life and reach her and show her the love of the Lord. Thank you. Thank you.