Deuteronomy 21:1-22:30, Luke 9:51-10:12, Psalms 74:1-23, Proverbs 12:11
Today is the 2nd day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you, to be back here with you. It was a fun to go over and spend some time in Daily Audio Bible Chronological and have China kinda come over here and spend some time in Daily Audio Bible yesterday as we mark th April 1st…we just do these…all kinds of little jokes for April Fools’ Day, but kinda just was switched over, switched it up. It’s nice to have time to visit. And, so, it’s good to be back with you today, back into the rhythm that we have here at Daily Audio Bible. It’s fun to be over there in the book of Judges as they’re moving through chronologically. Here we are moving through the book of Deuteronomy, the last things this Moses has to say. And we’re trying to give it the gravity, even though we’re kind of reviewing some of the laws and some of the different statutes and some of the history, some of the things that we traveled through. Deuteronomy is giving us the opportunity to review that, which is actually really helpful because it’s really important. All the culture and how it formed is the backdrop for Jesus understanding when He comes into the world and the things He’s talking about. So, us understanding this back story is irreplaceable. So, today we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Today, Deuteronomy chapters 21 and 22.
Commentary:
Okay. On a number of occasions, throughout this entire year so far we’ve been noticing Jesus talk about eyes to see and ears to hear and trying to press into that, especially in this year of vision and vision to see the kingdom at work because that’s what Jesus was describing in His ministry, a kingdom that was at work in and among us now sown in as a crop among weeds like all growing up together, here and now. So, when He says, for I…for those who have eyes to see, He’s saying, “if you would wake up and see this.” If you have ears to hear this, “then essentially you would realize that the way this world was designed wasn’t supposed to be dog eat dog. It wasn’t supposed to be this…where everything you accumulate isn’t something you have to protect, where you’re further pulled into isolation away, where you live in a world of “I” and “me” and “mine.” Jesus was saying, “like there’s a completely different way of being in this world, a way that you were created to be in this world, one where you are in union with God, and you realize what else do you need, what else do you lack after that.” And, so, we can all get on board with that say, “yes, yes and amen. Like, that’s what I want to be a part of. That’s what I am a part of.” But normally how we translate that is that we will be children of the light and…and we will do good in this world and everything will go well. And Jesus continually, including in our reading today, said that’s not exactly how it’s gonna work. You’re bringing light into the darkness and the darkness doesn’t comprehend it and the darkness doesn’t want light because that light will expose what is hidden in the darkness. And when happens, when this exposure happens, well then that which is hidden, that wants to remain hidden is going to fight against the light which is gonna bring marginalization and even persecution. And Jesus is clear in instructing us on this. And, so it…like we should get our minds around it. He’s saying, “I’m sending you like lambs among wolves.” And He’s also saying like, “anybody who starts this journey and then finds out it’s gonna be hard and turns back isn’t worthy of the kingdom.” It’s a much more sobering reality than we often pay attention to but all we have to do is watch Jesus in the Gospels to see it playing out vividly, wight? So, Jesus is revealing the kingdom to a human family that was so disoriented from its created place, how it was made to be, that it's…it doesn’t even recognize itself. And, I mean like the most poignant way to see this is the cross. God’s creation, not realizing that God was among them, and doing everything possible to do away with God, that’s how backwards things had gotten, that’s how backward things are. The harvest is still ripe. The laborers are still few. And, as we will learn as we continue our journey through the Scriptures, this bringing light into the darkness boils down to one word, “endure, endurance”. When we keep the light burning from within and we endure the onslaughts of the darkness to…to stifle it, to put it out, when we remain, then we are a witness of God’s kingdom in this world not only in what we say but in who we are. We are bearing witness to the fact that God is at work in this world through His people. That’s us. So, we’re going to face opposition on this path. But so often when we face ridicule or some type of something that feels like persecution, we might respond by putting out our own light and perpetuating the darkness by striking back with the same dark tactics that are being used against us. And all you’ve gotta do is just troll around the Internet a little bit to find that in action continually. Jesus instructions to these 72 people that he sent out today was, “be the light, endure, announce the kingdom. If it’s not received than simply say the kingdom was here, it was here for you and then shake the dust and move on.” And this sounds remarkably like the voice of wisdom that we’re getting to know as we move through the Proverbs this year. At every crossroads, there is the right choice. At every turning point there is wisdom for the next step if we have eyes to see, if we are awake, if we are paying attention.
Prayer:
Father, we invite you into that because it really does touch some deep things. Like, if we will sit and think about how our responses, like how we respond to people in any given situation throughout this day, if we would just observe ourselves, we would catch ourselves, we would see the things that pull us into perpetuating the darkness and we invite your Holy Spirit into those triggers, into those things. Help us to remain true and bring the light into dark situations. Help us to be a witness for your kingdom in this world today. And we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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So, over the last week I guess it’s been now, we’ve been releasing each day like soul care around the Global Campfire for the times that we’re in. And, so, we’ve been releasing a chapter a day of the book Sneezing Jesus, the…the audio edition of Sneezing Jesus. And yesterday…so China and I were like switching spots, but we still released a chapter yesterday. It was called “Open It Up” and it…this explored the resurrection of Lazarus and applied it into our own lives and our own hearts. And now we…we just have today and two more days before we will conclude Sneezing Jesus. And now we’re kind of turning our attention into Jesus last days. And today’s chapter is centered around the fact that Jesus…Jesus at His Last Supper…like one of the last acts of freedom before He was arrested was to get down on His knees and wash the feet of His disciples and to give them a vivid image of what life is supposed to look like the posture that we’re supposed to have toward one another. And, wow, I am finding such poignant, in my own words, like I’m speaking back to my own self as I kind of go back through this book again. And I am just finding like these things to be considered and to be put into practice no matter what time it is. But in times like these wow it…it is so poignant for us to not lose sight of what the gospel means and how it is supposed to transform our hearts and our worldview and our actions toward one another. And, so, that today’s chapter is called Rinse. So, be sure to check that out.
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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.