04/12/2020 DAB Transcript

Joshua 5:1-7:15, Luke 15:1-32, Psalms 81:1-16, Proverbs 13:1

Today is the 12th day of April, welcome to the daily Bible today is Easter Sunday and the world over our hearts turn and we gather to rejoice in the awareness that there is no separation from God. Christ is risen…

Song:

The Victor – Keith Green

Swallowed into earth’s dark womb
And death has triumphed
That’s what they say
But tried to hold Him in the tomb
The Son of Life
Rose on the third day
Just look
The gates of hell
They’re falling
Crumbling from the inside out
He’s bursting through
The walls with laughter (Hah!)
Listen to the Angels shout

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

His plan of battle
You know it
He fooled them all
They led Him off to prison to die
But as He entered Hades Hall
He broke those hellish chains with a cry
Just listen to those demons screaming
See Him bruise the serpent’s head
The prisoners of Hell
He’s redeeming (Oh!)
All the power of death is dead

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

Just look
The gates of hell they’re falling
Crumbling from the inside out
He’s bursting through the walls with laughter (Hah!)
Listen to the Angels shout
(Listen, oh, listen)

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it

Commentary:

So yeah, this is one of the greatest days of rejoicing that we have as we commemorate the resurrection and bask in all of the implications. And even as we do that, as we do that throughout this entire day we’re here for a reason. We’re here to take the next step forward as we move into this shiny sparkly new week and what a…what a better way to start a new week than to start it on Easter Sunday. So, with this new week brings another translation. We’ll read from the English Standard Version this week and we’ll pick up where we left off, which is what we do every day. But we are in the Promised Land now in the Old Testament. As we’ve moved into the book of Joshua, we have been able to cross the Jordan River. And, so as we’re traveling along in the Scriptures it’s like we’re finally getting a glimpse, we’re finally on the other side of the river, we’re finally looking around at the Promised Land. And, so, we pick up that story. Joshua chapter 5 verse 1 through 7:15 today.

Prayer:

Father on this holiest of holy days for us as we commemorate Your resurrection, we…we…we thank You, of course. We worship You, of course. Our gratitude pours from us, of course, and yet we acknowledge that this is another of those times that what we’re trying to articulate is something that is beyond vocabulary. It’s beyond the words, no matter how eloquent and beautiful they could be. What You have done in completely rescuing us and setting aside sin as a category in our lives, reuniting us with Yourself so that we now can live as was intended from the beginning, without this separation. How do we describe that with words? I just tried, but how do we articulate the enormous shift that this is and what an enormous shift in the world it has brought over the millennia. Our souls cry out in worship beyond words. We are so eternally grateful for the rescue, that You would come and give us an example of what life can and should, and even must look like. And then You made it possible, You modeled for us who we are and then You made it possible for us to live this way. And, so, our lives, our hearts, our minds, our bodies are focused upon You, that we might become like You, that we might become Christ like, that we might be the body of Christ in this world, shining the light in the darkness, that we might participate in Your ongoing work in this world. Thank You, thank You Jesus. We take these moments to just still ourselves. There’s plenty of festivity that we participate in today, plenty of rejoicing and happiness, plenty of feasting and dressing up in our best all to commemorate, all too collectively celebrate and join with billions of our brothers and sisters around the world who are also rejoicing. Even though we’re rejoicing in a very different way then…then perhaps we have ever attempted in our lives. We’re still here rejoicing. And, so we acknowledge, we don’t have the words, we don’t have the motions, we don’t have the rituals, we don’t have anything that could possibly explain what a massive monumental colossal shift the resurrection brings and the hope…the hope that accompanies it. And, so, we…we still ourselves. We come to just some moments of quiet contemplation of stillness before You, acknowledging that we have said the words, we have raised our hands in worship, we have sung the songs, we are feasting, we are rejoicing. This is a beautiful and wonderful day, but we take this moment to acknowledge that what happened and what continues to happen is beyond us, is beyond words. It is a gift that we could never earn. And, so we take these next moments to simply reflect back over the last few days and what they have represented - Your betrayal, Your last supper, Your washing the feet of Your disciples, Your words and new commandment, “I give You that You would love each other as I have loved You,” Your breaking of the bread and passing the cup and giving us this constant reminder that we participate in knowing that it was Your body and Your blood given for us, that has rescued us. We remember You in the garden, we remember Your pleas to Your Father for another way. We see all of Your friends abandoning You. We remember Your trial. We remember the hammer on the nails that were driven through Your flesh. We remember Your words, “it is finished.” We remember that You died and were laid in a tomb and laid in that tomb and Your body grew cold. And we also remember that somehow You opened Your eyes and Your heartbeat, and You sat up and exited that tomb victorious holding the keys of death and the grave and offering the gift of eternal life. Thank You, thank You, thank You Jesus.

Song:

Were You There?

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?

Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Were you there when he rose up from the dead?
Were you there when he rose up from the dead?

Sometimes I feel like shouting ‘Glory, glory, glory!’
Were you there when he rose up from the dead?