Genesis 41:17-42:17, Matthew 13:24-46, Psalm 18:1-15, Proverbs 4:1-6
Today is the 20th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today, as we gather around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. And we are fully immersed in the story of Joseph, at this point. And so, that’s where we’re picking up the story. Joseph has been in the dungeon for a while, he’s interpreted some dreams, the news of this interpretation has reached Pharaoh, who has had some troubling dreams. Joseph has been summoned from the dungeon and is now in front of Pharaoh, Pharaoh wants Joseph to take a stab at it. Whether or not Joseph could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. So, let’s pick up the story, Genesis chapter 41 verses 17 through 42 today.
Commentary:
Okay so, as we continue our journey through the book of Genesis, and now continue our journey through Joseph’s story. We’ve seen a remarkable twist of fate, a remarkable change of fortunes. Joseph who really had the latter part of his childhood in his early adulthood essentially stolen from him, by being trafficked into slavery by his own brothers, by his own family, sold into slavery. And having to go through all of the injustice that he went through while retaining character and integrity, it has actually worked out. Even though Joseph had to go through an awful lot of things that would be incredibly traumatic to go through, everywhere he went he tried to thrive where he was. So, even while he’s in prison, he thrives there and is in charge of everything there. And it gives us this picture of the fact that difficult things really, even injust, unjust things happen, and that can become the story, that can become the identity, that can become who we are, what’s happened to us can become who we are. But in the story of Joseph, we watch a person taking the long view and believing that the story isn’t over, there’s other chapters. And in the case of Joseph, he’s brought before Pharaoh, he interprets Pharaoh’s dreams, gives Pharaoh some administrative advice. Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge, and he is second in command of all of Egypt. Like from the dungeon, to second in command of the nation. And as it turns out there are seven years of prosperity and Joseph has been able to begin to accumulate resources that can be used during this, the…the season of famine that is coming. So, Joseph is a very powerful person in Egypt, and he will actually redeem, he will, he will save Egypt during the famine, as well as all the surrounding countries, which is how Joseph’s brothers end up before him. The famine is in Canaan, there isn’t any food. The rumor is there’s food in Egypt, why is there food in Egypt, because somebody foresaw what was happening. That was Joseph and he was able to prepare Egypt for the oncoming famine. Israel and his children back in the land of Canaan, they’re not prepared and so they have to come to Egypt for food, and that’s when the brothers come before Joseph. And they bowed before Joseph and Joseph’s dream came true, and he is aware of who they are, and they are not aware of who he is. And we will watch, as this story continues forward, the way that Joseph is seeking to find out more about his family, but also, more about the hearts of his brothers. And we will continue this story in the days ahead as it reaches a very, very dramatic conclusion.
Then we turn into the book of Matthew today and we encounter Jesus teaching in parables and he gives three parables today, that are all about the same thing. And if we look at them and not just kind of read them and go like there’s another Jesus parable, I’ve heard this a thousand times in Sunday school like, yeah, yeah, I know all the stories of Jesus. If we actually just look at what He’s teaching us. He’s teaching us a lot because the three stories that He talks about today are telling us what God’s kingdom is like and if it’s God’s kingdom then it is administrated by God. It is God’s kingdom. And so, it represents God. So, God’s kingdom is also what God is like. So, in these three parables, Jesus specifically says this is what the kingdom is like. So, for example, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in the field, or the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, or the kingdom of heaven is like leaven. So, let’s look at what God’s kingdom is like and see how that knowledge applies to our lives, because we all consider ourselves part of the kingdom, right. But if we’re claiming to be part of the kingdom, but we are nothing like the kingdom, well then that’s a problem, we’re claiming something that isn’t true. So, what is God’s kingdom like? Jesus says the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed sees among the wheat and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The landowner’s servants came to him and said master didn’t you sow good seed in your field. And where did the weeds come from? An enemy did this, he told them. So, do you want us to go and pull them up, the servants asked him. No, he said, when you pull up the weeds you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, at harvest time I’ll tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them. But collect the wheat in my barn. So, that’s the parable. And with a parable like this, we look at the characters in the story and go, who is who here? Because if we know who’s who, then we have context for what is being said. Thankfully, in the case of the parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus gives us an explanation. The one who sows the good seed is the son of man. So, this is Jesus. The field is the world. The good seed, these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one. The harvest is the end of the age. The harvesters are angels. This is how Jesus explains this parable. So, if that’s what we’re looking at, then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. Jesus the son of man, who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. The enemy then, according to Jesus, is the evil one. When the plants sprouted and produced grain then there were weeds and wheat growing together, and the servants came and said didn’t you sow good seed? And remember, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, and the weeds are what was sown in among the field of good seed. I guess we could say that like the children of darkness. The children following after the evil one. So, let’s pause here for a second. We look at a scenario like this, a good field that could yield a harvest full of weeds and if we take the metaphor and go this is, this is God’s kingdom. Then we often find ourselves in the position of the servants. Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds? Like we are the defenders of God, and we are going to uproot everything that isn’t part of God’s kingdom, no matter who we have to take out to do that, no matter who has to get hurt, no matter who has to get marginalized, no matter who has to become estranged from God because of a misrepresentation of who God is. We often jump to that place where we are like, we are the weeders of God’s field. The irony is that the message of this parable is quite different, the servants notice that wheat and weeds are growing up together in the same field and this field is God’s kingdom and the servants come and say do you want us to go pull out the weeds. The master says no, when you pull up the weeds you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, at harvest time I’ll tell the reapers, gather the weeds first time in bundles to burn them. But collect the wheat in my barn. And so, often we also can think I’m not only the weeding and the gardener, but I am also a part of the reaping. So, maybe I can’t pull out the weeds now, but one day I’m gonna get sent in and I’m gonna gather the harvest for God. Ironically, we don’t have anything to do with that, at least according to Jesus, the reapers are angels. So, who are we in this story then, are we the children of the kingdom? If we’re the children of the kingdom, then we are, like we have a job and it’s not the jobs that we try to take on ourselves. Our job is to grow, is to grow where we are among the weeds. God is allowing the weeds to grow up among the wheat. We aren’t to do the weeding and we aren’t doing the harvesting either. We have no business calling somebody wheat or weeds, we’re not doing the separating. So, when we look at this parable just under the surface a little deeper, think it through a little bit, we begin to realize I am jumping into, we jump into all kinds of things that we have no business in. It’s not our job, it’s not our role, it’s not our assignment. And we need to start thinking about how we are acting toward the weeds, are we trying to pull them up? Because we can destroy good at the same time, exactly like the master said in this parable. We can cause destruction, while we try to do jobs that were not assigned to us. There is a lot to think about in there but that wasn’t the only parable that Jesus used to describe what the kingdom of heaven is like. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took. So, a man was used in the previous parable. So, a man, we’re talking about the Son of Man here, Jesus. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. The smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. So, what can we say here. This is just a couple of sentences and a little story but what’s lurking here? What are we learning? First of all, it’s Son of Man that sowed the seed. So, we didn’t sow the seed, we’re not, we’re not the sower. God is the sower here and he plants a mustard seed and ironically mustard seed is…is more of a weed for the hearers here. It’s the kind of plant that if it takes root, you can’t get rid of it. Jill and I had a yucca plant at our last house, and I loved it. We had a couple of them. They were there when we got there and I love them, but they grew, and she got sick of them and decided to cut one of them down and she cut it down and it came right back. We found out no, you’re gonna have to find the root. Like you have to get uproot this. I mean, this thing got dug up, got changed to a pickup truck and still couldn’t be pulled out of the ground. It, once it took root, like it’s near impossible to get rid of. And mustard seed is like that. So, it’s not particularly desirable. Like, it’s not something that people want to go and plant. It’s something that people, want to keep rid of. And yet, yet God is planting in his field things that people want to get rid of. And isn’t that story of the gospel, that while we were his enemies, He still came for us, that He would plant us even when we were the undesirable, even when we were in the margin. Like, isn’t this who Jesus is going to. And He’s saying, this is what I’m planting in my field, it’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree. So, that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. So, God’s kingdom is like this small thing that when it takes root is impossible to get rid of. And the very thing that people wanted to get rid of actually grows enough to bring life and shelter. Powerful teachings here. And then, the last parable that we came to today, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until all of it was leavened. So, leaven is yeast and I’m not a baker, my wife is like a magical cook. I’m not a baker or a cook of any of any sort really. I can follow a recipe, but I know what yeast does. I’ve actually made bread before, and I’ve made unleavened bread before and the two are very different loaves. So, yeast makes…makes the dough rise, gives fluffiness and makes a more palatable loaf of bread. But if you took that loaf of bread and decided you wanted to take the yeast out of it, that I don’t know how, I don’t think that’s possible. Right, so once the yeast is mixed in, you can’t take it back out. But because it was there, the whole loaf was a different loaf. It changed the constitution, it changed everything. So, how do we look at this in terms of God’s kingdom. It’s mixed in just like wheat and weeds, it’s mixed in and once it’s mixed in, you can’t get it out and it changes everything. This is what God’s kingdom is like, we have to stop saying it’s different, this is what it’s like. I mean, unless the gospel of Matthew is just a joke and shouldn’t be in the, all of the Gospels for that matter because they all have parables in them. So, if…if the New Testament is a joke, okay then we don’t need to pay attention to any of this, but these are the words of the one that we believe to be God incarnate, the one who came to rescue us, like our Savior. Our hopes are placed in Him. He’s teaching this. He’s teaching about what His kingdom is like and it’s not like this bombastic massive enterprise that is world dominant. Actually, God’s kingdom is like God. God’s kingdom is like what Jesus looks like and what Jesus did and how He operated in this world. God’s kingdom is this small, imperceptible thing that changes everything. God’s kingdom is this small thing that once it takes root, it cannot be taken away, it cannot be removed. God’s kingdom is growing, God’s kingdom is happening now, we are to grow where we are among everything else. It’s not our role to do the weeding, it’s our role to do the growing. Let’s give some thought today to what the master is teaching us about His kingdom and what that might mean to the way we operate in it, live in it, be in it, and conduct ourselves in it.
Prayer:
So, Jesus, we love You and we thank You for another opportunity to gather together and take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we thank You for all that we can learn and glean and apply to our lives in the story of Joseph and all that we can learn and glean in our lives from, You are teaching in the Gospels. Holy Spirit, come, help us to consider, help us to change, forgive us Lord, for the ways that we have misrepresented so many things and taken on roles that were never assigned to us, help us to be children of the kingdom. We pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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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.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hi, this is Bob the Bean. I’m asking for my brothers and sisters to lift my marriage up. Been 40 years, I married my high school sweetheart. Our marriage just crumbling to the ground, right now. I don’t know how to stop it. I don’t know what life could be without it. I’m trying to do this alone and I know that’s not right. So, I wanna reach out to my brothers and sisters. Pray for my wife please. Really struggling now with a lot of anger and help me to not to react to things that are done that are trying to provoke me to react. We haven’t been going to church and I know that’s not right. I’m going to church this morning. Trying to get the train back on the wheels, on the track. Thank you, brothers and sisters.
Hello, this is my first on here. My name is Austin. I’m from Pemberton. And my dad Leo is having health problems, he’s 85 years old. We lost my mother last Christmas, so Christmas of 2021. And so, once the, once this holiday season came his health started to deteriorate as well. Some of the doctors are optimistic but some of them are quite negative and quite grim. I’m worried about him because I love him so much. I loved both of them so much. They are all I have; they’ve always been great parents. So, please pray for them. Pray for him, pray for me please. Thank you.
Good morning DAB family, this is Bridgett from Leo City and I just wanna pray for a few of the DABers. First, I wanna pray for Incognito. Lord, I just ask for Your, Your Spirit of comfort to come upon this family to, to come upon this tragic situation. And God, that, Lord, You would let Your Spirit rest on this ten-year-old who found her father, my God. Just ask You sweet Jesus, to come and to turn this around, this situation Lord God, in only the way that You can, my God. I ask You Father God, to just let Your Spirit come and comfort each and every person, my God. I pray also Father, for Renzo, Lord God. For his eyes and ears, Lord, I pray that Lord, that You would help him to meditate on You, Lord God. Philippians 4:8, Renzo, focus on such things in Philippians 4:8 and be mindful and watchful yourself. And that is what you’re doing. So, continue to do that. Don’t let the enemy lie and steal the truth that you are already doing that. In the name of Jesus. And I want to pray for this wife, Anonymous. Lord, I just ask You for this marriage, my God, Jesus. Lord, I pray, Father God, Lord, that You would come Holy Spirit, and uproot and expose everything that is in the dark, Lord God. That Your Holy Spirit would speak to this man of God. That Your Holy Spirit would comfort this woman of God. That Your Holy Spirit, my God, would take what the enemy intends for evil and turn it around for good, Lord God. Show up my God, in this situation.
Hello DAB friends, this Anna in the Trenches. I wanna thank you all so much for praying for me. We have been losing people due to accidental overdoses. We have a lot of friends that struggle with addiction. And so, on Wednesday we had a funeral for a girl who came to our church from the prison, got out of prison and then started using again. Often, people disappear once they get out of prison, they stop coming to church then you know, you can only do so much. And anyway, it wasn’t an intentional overdose. But if you could just pray for her sister and her friend. Her name was Jessica. Anyway, and last night we found out that Melissa, another girl that got out of prison not that long ago, and just got off parole, was with Jessica when Jessica died. And we’re really worried about Melissa. And about her sobriety and her walk with the Lord. So, if you could just pray for Melissa right now that she would stay sober and process her trauma and just reach out to anyone and walk with the Lord during this time.
Hello my Daily Audio Bible Family. This is Aussie James and yeah, I no longer live in Japan, I’ve been back in Australia since 2019. But I haven’t called in for ages. I think last time I called in was 2018. But I’ve been listening along most of the time though sometimes I haven’t, but I have been listening pretty much consistently in the last little while. So, yeah, I just heard about Pelham’s passing and I’m really to bad to hear about that. When I first joined the Daily Audio Bible, he had just joined it as well and we were praying for each other, on the prayer line. Yeah, just pray for me, I’m, I’ve got, you know, just finding it hard with my work and I’m doing a bit of seminary study as well. Just thinking direction of when we go back to Japan to live or even just for a visit, cause we haven’t been back because of the you know, the situation in the world with all the lock downs and everything, we haven’t been back yet. But things are starting to open up. But we’re just planning when that will be the right time to make a visit. And yeah, there’s opportunity for maybe move back there for longer term. But I just wanna get my seminary studies completed before I do that. And a shout out to my friend Slave of Jesus, glad to hear you’re still around mate. And also, James the Teacher we’re praying for you and all the situations in your life at the moment. Thank you, my wonderful Daily Audio Bible. Love you all, bye.
Hi guys, it’s Emily in Seattle. It’s Saturday January 14 and I have a prayer request. My husband is a delivery driver for a small courier company. And his dispatcher, dispatches two companies. And the one that my husband doesn’t work for is in a serious situation right now. A driver is missing and he had some samples of blood with him that were from a clinic going to hospital, I think. And we can’t find the guy or the samples or his car or anything. And because this is blood, that he was supposed to deliver, there could be lawsuits involved because patients’ lives are at stake. So, if you could pray for Jack, that’s the dispatcher and the owner of the company, named Kevin. That God would protect it and then they wouldn’t go under because of this situation. Even if they were taken to court. Just pray that God would that everything would work out for the best. Thank guys.