3/30/2022 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 13:1-15:23, Luke 8:40-9:6, Psalm 71:1-24, Proverbs 12:5-7

Today is the 30th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it’s great to be here with you as we well, this is the eve of the end of the third month of the year. So, it’s great to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward, which leads us back into the book of Deuteronomy. As we continue to listen, to and glean from the final discourses of Moses or, well before a new leader takes over. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, Deuteronomy chapters 13, 14 and 15 today.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the book of Deuteronomy, we once again, address idolatry. And we’ve talked about idolatry before and idolatry, that’s a word that’s like, it’s like an old-fashioned word or something. Nobody thinks of worshiping idols. I shouldn’t say nobody because idol worship certainly does exist in the world today, but generally speaking, people don’t have idols in their yards that they actually sacrifice animals to and believe in. And so, the concept can seem foreign to our life experience. Let’s go back into the book of Deuteronomy though where it’s not a foreign concept because what’s happening here, among the children of Israel is the rise of what we now know of as monotheism: that there is one God, the most high. In the cultures surrounding the children of Israel, in the known world, polytheism was the norm: the belief that there are many gods, doing many things, good gods, mischievous gods, gods the need to be appeased, gods of fertility, gods of agriculture, gods of war but there were also the local tribal gods, the gods of the nations surrounding the children of Israel and it was believe that these gods need to be appeased. And so, that could happen through sacrifice or any number of things as we have learned in the book of Deuteronomy and some cases children were sacrificed to these false idols. So, for a brand-new emerging culture in the world, worshiping one God, the most high God, the only God, the one God, right here oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This is very different kind of thinking and God, the most high God, has revealed to this people that He has chosen and set apart as holy, He has revealed to them that through them, He is going to reveal Himself to all the nations. So, if the children of Israel go into a new land and are seduced away into idolatry and idol worship and begin sacrificing to false gods, then that’s not going to happen. And so, when we come into the 13th chapter of Deuteronomy today and we read if a prophet or one who foretells my dreams appears among you, and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of, takes place, I mean, we could just stop right there because even in our modern world, if that happens we are probably paying attention, we are looking at the gift or the sign as the sign that the most high God is present in the thing. However, we have ancient wisdom being passed to us from Deuteronomy that says if that profit, even the one who foretold the future and it came true or a wonder happened and you saw the sign, if that profit says let us follow other gods and let us worship them, well then people are not listen to the words of that Prophet or dreamer. So, let’s just take a step back and kind of dissect this a little bit in a way that we could kind of lay on the table and understand it in our context. We certainly would pay attention to a sign and a wonder but if at that point we realize that we are being led away from God and not deeper into our relationship with God and it shouldn’t be a super ambiguous thing for us. We know God, right. We walk with God, right. God indwells us, right. Like, we’re in a relationship right, and when we know somebody and somebody tells us something that’s incorrect about that person, we can say I know that person, I know that’s not true. I know that’s not true. And so, we have it within us to discern but the magic can certainly be a distraction. And so, if it’s smoke and lights and rock ‘n’ roll and signs and wonders that is ultimately pulling us away from God, it’s pulling us into idolatry, it is pulling us into giving our heart to something else, hoping that that’s something else will rescue us or make us prosperous or deliver what it is we’re looking for. The ancients would’ve been looking for fertility or rain for the crops or a bountiful harvest or the things that would make them survive and thrive and be strong. We look for similar things, we just look for them in promotions and raises and anything that would make us more comfortable. If those things, whether through signs or wonders are not, are leading us away from God, they are leading us into idolatry. And in this culture, this emerging culture, the children of Israel, idolatry is a capital offense. We could roll our eyes and go like that is barbaric but when we understand that the most high God set aside a people to reveal himself to the nations through and to establish a culture that rose above all of the other ones and pulled all of humanity forward. Then we begin to understand if the people are going to be seduced away into idolatry by whatever means, the whole thing will begin to crumble, which we will get to see very clearly, which allows us to think, how do I want to end up here? Crumbled or thriving, which brings us back to the lesson of the wilderness, we are utterly dependent upon the most high God and we live because He breathed life into us. He may not act like He’s our servant every time we ask Him to do something, probably because He’s not our servant, we’re His servant. But there is nothing, no thing, no company, no business, no person, no set of assets that can ultimately save us. In the end, no matter how we play it, we are utterly dependent upon God. And that becomes a mindset and like a heart posture and when we are living in that space from that place, we feel safe and free because what can anybody do to us. I mean, even if they take our lives from us, that’s not the end of anything. But nothing else, no other idle, no other thing that we give our heart to, can deliver on that. It will all fail eventually. And so once again we are challenged by the concept of idolatry in our lives and if we invite the Holy Spirit, we can see the ways that we turned other things, hoping for security. And turning to things and trying to build up things for security etc. etc. like that’s not necessarily a bad thing, other than when it’s between us and God. When we are dependent upon this other thing over God and that’s a recipe for disaster. And so, let’s give that some thought today because that is what is coming up in the Scriptures today. This is very, very, very important thing for Moses to say to the people because he’s not going to be there to say it anymore. And so, he is saying it now so that it didn’t go unsaid. Let’s not let it blow by us, let’s give it gravity.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the counsel that we are receiving from the Scriptures today, that when we give our hearts in expectation for some sort of return and that dependence is greater than our utter dependence upon You and we have an idol and we may not sacrifice animals to it and it may not even be a tangible thing, but it is something between us and we don’t want that. So, Holy Spirit, come lead us into all truth, even the truth about ways that we offer our hearts and ourselves, the things that are false. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website and its where we can find out what’s happening around here. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can do the same thing from within the app by pushing the drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. So, check out the different sections, like the Community Section, where there are different links to get connected on social media but also where the where the Prayer Wall lives, always available, any time of day or night. We can always reach out for prayer, we can always go there and pray for one another, reach back through prayer toward one another, so check that out. Whether on the web or in the app, it’s always available to us. Thank God for that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. If coming around the Global Campfire together, every day is life-giving to you, than thank you, thank you, deeply and humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And of course, as always, we are a community who prays for one another. If you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello, DAB family, my name is Talifa from London. I’m a single mother of a 10-year-old boy. He currently acts and he just landed an amazing role with Disney and he wants to tour. Now, the reason why I want prayers is cause I’ve heard some crazy stuff that happens on tour. He’s only 10-years-old and I really want prayers for my magnificent son Josiah because it’s just been me, him and Jesus. And I am just trying to let go and let God because this is an amazing opportunity. So family, please, like the bible says, when two or three are gathered and they agree, I want us to pray that he’s gonna be fine. I want the Lord to continuously be on my son and just thank you Brian for bringing me closer to Christ. Because at the beginning of the year I feel like I want to read the bible in this platform and it’s absolutely amazing. God Bless you DAB family and please pray for my magnificent son, Josiah. And for all the single mums out there, I see you, God see’s you and I always reference the scripture of Haggai when she was in the wilderness. Look up, look up, cause there is a fountain of water in Christ. Thank you family. Love you, Talifa. Bye.

Hey DAB fam, this is Dustin in the Bay Area. Today, is March 26th I want to lift up Michael and his brother Elijah, your cousin and your niece, you’re all living together. And it sounds like there’s some stresses that you’re all feeling in different way. I just want to lift you guys up. Dear Father, we lift up Michael, his brother Elijah, their cousin and their niece as they live together. Father, we lift up Elijah, we just ask Your Holy Spirit would reveal You to him and just bring him peace so that he would stop acting out in class, and other settings, Father. We lift up their cousin to You, the one who is working hard to provide, to provide a roof over their head. Father, we just ask that Your Holy Spirit would just please bless him. Give him relief, Father. We ask for spiritual, emotional, mental, physical and financial relief for this family that’s living together Father. We just ask that Your Holy Spirit would just provide a break where they need it and that Your Holy Spirit would just continue to bless them even when times are difficult, Father. We love You Jesus and we worship you, in Your precious name, in Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.  

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, this is Free and Forgiven in Florida. I just want to thank Rebecca. Rebecca, dear sister, thank you for calling on March 19 with your prayer for the single people, that broke me. I sat here and sobbed. I am also single and it just felt amazing to hear your prayer and of course I know I’m not the only one but it just validated so much of what I deal with. Just knowing that you had the love and sympathy to call and it was in response to another prayer request for a single person and I remember that call and that also brought me because I can so relate. So, it is something I struggle with also and I try to understand and not listen to the voice that says what’s wrong with me, why am I still single. But I’m learning that it’s become somewhat, it has become an idle for me and I’m working on laying that down and just spending my time and my thoughts and my energy in the Lord and honestly in this community. Thank you for praying I love you.

Good afternoon DAB community. This is His Wondering Child calling from Canada. Today’s date is Saturday, March 26th. And I’m calling just to say thank you, thank you to Brian and to China and Jill and Ezekiel, thank you so much for answering the call that God has placed on your life. This is an awesome ministry and it’s blessing so many around this world and you can hear it through the prayers that people call in for one another and you can see the hand of God in all of this. And I truly believe that if we were all together and we were seeing one another that the only thing that we would do is look at each other through the eyes of love, through the eyes of Jesus. No condemnation. And I believe that with all of my heart because I believe that the Lord has brought me to this family so that I could be healed. All of those deep wounds that have been there since childhood I see them unfolding through prayers or testimonies that people are saying in this community. So, I thank each and every one of you for calling in and for being such a blessing. And may God continue to bless you and use you.

Father God in the name of Jesus. Thank God for this ministry. I have never heard teaching so bright, raw, wide-open, pure and true and full of life and just so filled with Your Spirit, Father. I ask that you bless Brian and Jill and China and their family, Ezekiel and all the ones behind the scenes. I’ve been a Christian for quite a long time, been lots of teachings, Bible studies, faithful many, many, many years in a church and I’ve never heard this type of teaching and ministry. So, I pray that you sew into this ministry, pray about what you can give into it, pray about what you can do for it, pray about how you can bless others, help others by calling in. I just pray that this ministry would be on the top of your list every day. The word of God would just bless you, encourage you and as you abide in him that He would just open the doors life. This changed my life completely and continuously, it’s nonstop. Jesus has something for you every day, every moment and I thank God for this Brian and Jill. I ask Jesus bless you and everything you do and put your hand to, bless your voices and your eyes and ears. In Jesus name I pray.