Exodus 39:1-40:38, Mark 1:1-28, Psalms 35:1-16, Proverbs 9:11-12
Today is the 15th day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy and privilege to be here with you today as we put…put our foot out and take the next step forward into the week, into the month, into the year, and into the Bible. So, we will be concluding the book of Exodus today so this will be our final reading in the book of Exodus for this year. We concluded the first of the Gospels, which was the gospel of Matthew yesterday. So, when we get to the New Testament today, we will be encountering our…well…our first change of pace in the New Testament, but we are still in the section of the New Testament known as the Gospels. And we will be beginning the gospel of Mark in a little bit. But we’ll talk about that when we get there. First, Exodus chapters 39 and 40 and we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week.
Introduction to the gospel of Mark:
Okay. This brings us to the second gospel in the Bible, although it is probably the first gospel written in time. This is the gospel of Mark. And the Mark that we believe wrote the gospel of Mark was not a disciple of Jesus. He wasn’t one of the 12. He wasn’t an apostle, like the apostle Paul either. Really, he would been more a disciple of the apostle Peter. So, we seem to see Mark show up in the book of Acts which obviously we haven’t gotten to yet. But there he’s known as John Mark. And he lived in Jerusalem. He came from a seemingly wealthy family. They owned a home in Jerusalem. His mom’s name was Mary, and…and she had a servant named Rhoda. Mary was one of the early believers and she opened her home to other early believers. And some of our church traditions…there are…there’s thinking that her home may have been the place that contained the upper room. Like, she had an upstairs to her home where there wasn’t upper room where the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early believers after the ascension of Jesus, but also where Jesus had his last supper. So, Mark was around all this pretty much his whole life, even as a boy. So, as the story goes, Peter was captured by Herod and we’ll resist the story when we get a little bit deeper into the New Testament. And Herod planned to execute Peter because he had put other Christians to death and had seemed to please the people. And, so, he was, you know Peter was a ringleader. And, so, he’s planning to put Peter to death. So, he’s in prison. But an angel comes and frees Peter from jail and it’s to John Mark’s house, right, to Mary’s large home that Peter first came. And all the believers were there at that house praying for Peter’s freedom for his life, pleading to God for his life. And that prayer was answered. And, so, Peter’s sprung from jail and he comes to the house, he knocks on the door, the servant girl Rhoda comes to the door and she sees him and it’s like she can’t believe it’s him. So, she slams the door in his face, and then she goes in and let’s all the other believers know, “like, apparently Peter’s outside.” And we’ll get to that story, we’ll like…we’ll give it its due when we actually come to it, but this gives us a little bit of a background just a little essence of who Mark is. And, so, Mark’s been around the gospel of Jesus Christ his whole life. His cousins name is Barnabas, who is a dear friend of the apostle Paul. It’s Mark the goes with Barnabas and Paul on Paul’s first missionary journey. So, this isn’t like somebody who doesn’t know what’s going on. This is somebody with a bit of a pedigree, and it’s believed through the traditions of the church that…that…that John Mark became a disciple of the apostle Peter, travelled all over with him, and even serves as an interpreter for him in Italy, especially in Rome. And everywhere that Peter goes, and we’ll see this after the Holy Spirit’s coming, this transforms Peter so radically that he becomes a very powerful teacher of the gospel and he teaches the gospel of Jesus everywhere he goes. And, so, John Mark’s heard Peter’s testimony over and over everywhere they go. And, so, it’s basically thought that what Mark writes down in the gospel of Mark is largely the testimony of the apostle Peter, the things that the apostle Peter was teaching about Jesus while he traveled around. It’s also believed and there’s a like pretty strong consensus that…that Mark is indeed the first of the Gospels written that we have in the New Testament and that Mark and Matthew, the gospel that we just read, and then Luke, the one that we will read next after Mark, like that’s not confusing enough, that these three really share a lot of commonality. In fact, they’re known as the synoptic Gospels because they share so much of the same material. And it’s believed that Mark is the original, the very first written testimony of the life of Jesus Christ. And, you know, language scholars will look at the Greek in the book of Mark and, you know, consider it pretty primitive, not…it’s not particularly grammatically correct it…it…it…seems as if maybe more written by like somebody whose mother tongue isn’t Greek or that it is poorly educated, can barely write. It’s more like, you know, like a school kid’s grammar. But there’s a charm in the simplicity. And, so, let’s dive in to the second of the four Gospels that we will encounter in the New Testament, the gospel of Mark chapter 1 verse 1 through verse 28.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for these days that we’re in right now, that we’re transitioning into new territory in both Old and new Testaments. We began the gospel of Mark today and Holy Spirit come. We feel like we’ve heard these stories maybe our whole lives. Let us hear them as if we’ve never heard them before, let us hear them fresh, let us understand like we’re gonna move through the four Gospels and this is our time to walk alongside Jesus to learn. And, so, Holy Spirit, quicken us. Make us awake and aware of what You are leading us to understand as we continue forward in the gospel of Mark. And we concluded the…the book of Exodus today, a very dramatic story of the end of slavery and the story beginning in the wilderness where identities are being shifted and complete new culture is being created there in the wilderness. And, so, as we prepare to move forward into the book of Leviticus tomorrow, we invite Your Holy Spirit. Again, draw us to what we need to know. Draw us to what we need to see and understand. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear, that we…that we may become fully awake and fully aware in this year of going through the Bible, so that we end this year and can never look at anything the same again because we’ve been transformed. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com his home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here like I say every day. I must have said this 5000 times now, but welcome to everybody who’s never heard me say that before because every day…every day we get to say hi to somebody that’s never been here. And, so, this is where we get to go deeper.
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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:
Good morning Daily Audio Bible this is Sharon in Southern California I just heard the prayer request from I think she said her name was Latasha, she’s a young mom with children and she’s having housing issues. I just wanted to say Psalms 27:14 says wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait I say on the Lord. The Lord is with you always and He will grant you the answer to your prayers. Stay steadfast and wait for him to answer. I know I’ve been through the same situation, not knowing which way to turn. Don’t let anyone force you or manipulate you into a decision you don’t want to make. I know it’s not easy and it's…it’s difficult to wait because you see pressure on every side, but I promise you the Lord will answer, and He will guide you. I’m praying for you in your situation and I’m sure a lot of us here on the DAB are also praying for you knowing that the Lord will answer your prayer. Lord, in the name of Jesus I pray that her situation is fixed and done just as You want it to be and let Your will be done in her life and in her situation. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Hello family this is your brother Chad from Jomo and I was calling today February 11th is the Bible reading and brother Brian was just…said something pretty profound and yet oddly so simple. That’s his normal way. I love it. But he was saying we can take what we’re reading today, let it go in one ear out the other and then go back into the chaos of the day or and / or…or we can take what we read today and…and let it bring us peace, let it bring…bring us answers, let it bring us another way to deal with this crazy life that’s going on around us right now. Just…just it’s all about growing. I’ll take the “or” Brian. I’m so sick and tired of taking the “and” man. I’m doing __ . I'm…I'm…not one that lets the word go in one ear out the other, but I do have a tendency of letting the world wash over me and silence the wonderful word I’ve taken in for the day. It’s like by the end of the day it’s like I forgot what I’ve learned at the beginning of the day in God’s word. And I find that to be a great shame, that there’s just so much going on that…that’s taking our attention away, that’s sidetracking us. or just beating us down. And we need to stay focused on the Lord family. He is our guide. He can handle it man. He’s got the broad shoulders man. We, I need to learn to stop trying to take it on myself. I…I never mean too. I always mean to leave it in God’s hands and yet I found myself carrying this stuff around that I don’t need to be carrying this extra luggage. So, family give it to the Lord today. He can do all things in Jesus’ name. I love you family. My time is up. Have a blessed week. Brother Chad from Jomo.
Hi guys it’s Luke from Australia, first-time caller. I’ve only been listening to DAB four since the beginning of the year listening to the daily devotional and I can say I am loving it, OK. It is awesome to just be able to listen to the Bible and…and how Brian reads it, explains it, prays. It’s just awesome and I’m sure we all notice that. I just felt honored to touched to call in and let you guys know that it is an honor to be part of a family such as DAB family, the community and…and the love and support that is on here is just awesome. My mom introduced me to DAB beginning of this year, end of last year. And I can’t get enough of it. So, thank you mum. And yeah, keeping all of you in my prayers. And let’s have a good year this year. Alright. Love you all. Bye.
Hey family, Darrell calling from Atlanta and I do not use word family lightly at all. I absolutely celebrate the fact that we’re all brothers and sisters, we’re God’s family. and I know that sometimes that can be cliché-ish if that’s a word, but it’s not. It’s the truth. We read God’s word, Brian reads it to us every day, which Brian I love you man. I’m going on my third year and I can’t possibly thank you enough, this is a phenomenal thing you’re doing here. But God’s word tells us all over the place that we’re family, we’re His kids and you are my brothers and you’re my sisters and I greatly appreciate you coming on here every day. And I I’ve called in I think one time before for prayer. I’ve called in several times just to encourage but today I’m absolutely asking for prayer. There is a cousin’s fiancé who very recently was battling what they thought was Covid. He is a young healthy man of 25. Again, he’s a cousin’s…cousin of mine, his…her fiancé. His name is Davy. I am asking you today is a critical day. This is a critical time for him. Please pray. They’ve ruled out Covid. They’ve tested him three times and yet his lungs are filling up with fluid. He has double pneumonia in they don’t know what’s going on. Critical prayers today. It’s getting very serious. Again 25 years old, healthy otherwise Davvy. Please pray that God would remove the fluid in his lungs, replace it with the air, and restore him to the way God created his body to be and to function and that God would direct the doctors and open their eyes. Thank you so much, guys.
Hi, I’m just…my name is Rebecca from Canada I’m just sending in a prayer for Latasha from California. I just felt like the Lord wanted me to…to pray for community over you. So, yeah Lord we just thank you so much that that she called in and gave her situation about the housing and the frustration that that’s been. So, Lord we just pray for wisdom Lord, that You would just direct her in the right path, that she would know what she needs to do and yeah Lord that You would have favor with the management, that there would just be breakthrough in this area. And Lord we also just pray that You would just surround her with good community so that she would know that she’s not alone, Father that she would have just new friends, Father that would just come around her and encourage her and support her and her family. And we thank You Lord that You see herm and You see what’s going on and Lord that You’re a God of provision. So, we just ask for provision in this area Lord, that she would know that her and her family are taking care of and cared for by You Lord and that she knows she’s not alone and that we care for her here at the Daily Audio Bible and all across the world we’re praying for her. Thanks.
Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible this is Tracy Baker calling auto Fort Worth TX calling to applaud Janelle in China. I heard your…your call in this morning and it really touched me because we take for granted when we don’t have and aren’t truly thankful for what we do have. Me for one, my job is very stressful. I’m expected to do a whole lot that is not actually in my field and its stuff that I really don’t care to do and with no formal training as well. So, I’m muddling through it as best as I can, but it is so so stressful to be doing something that I’m not really wanting to do though and paid very well for it. But, you know, money isn’t everything. So, again you know, and like Janelle says I’m very thankful that I do have a job as…as…as it were. So, thank you very much Janelle for giving me that reminder to be thankful for what we do have. Have a great day.