Numbers 19:1-20:29, Luke 1:1-25, Psalm 56:1-13, Proverbs 11:8
Today is the 13th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it’s wonderful, wonderful to be here with you today. Wonderful to be around the Global Campfire today together, as we continue to move in and through this brand-new week. As we continue to move in and through all the territory that is in the Scriptures. When we reach the New Testament today, we will begin the Gospel of Luke and I we’ll talk about that when we get there. We are still working our way through the Book of Numbers, in the Old Testament, and so, we return to the children of Israel in the wilderness. They had been on the threshold of moving into the Promised Land, but as we know, that didn’t work out, and so, they are in the wilderness. And we have been hearing different statutes and laws reaffirmed and being given. There is a new generation arising in ancient Israel in the wilderness. So, let’s pick up the story, Numbers chapters 19 and 20, today.
Introduction to the Book of Luke:
Okay so, this brings us to a new threshold, we are opening the door and walking into the Gospel of Luke, the third of the Gospels. A very well written Gospel and an intriguing story. Luke is part of what we know as the synoptic Gospels. And we talked about this before because we read Matthew and Mark, and so, Luke is, well those are the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. And they’re called that because they’re very similar in their composition. They’re very similar in the way that they’re laid out and the stories that they tell about Jesus, so familiar that most scholars believe that the one gospel couldn’t really exist without the other. They were written at different times, to different people, for different purposes. But they provided source material for each other. Most scholars believing that the Gospel of Mark, the one that we just finished yesterday, is the earliest Gospel narrative of the life and ministry of Jesus. Not that everybody agrees on that. But not everybody agrees on anything. So, regarding Luke, the scholarly opinion is that Luke didn’t write only the gospel of Luke. Luke is the first of two a two-volume set. The volume two, is the book of Acts. So, if you’re listening to scholars, you often hear them referred to as Luke/Acts. And it’s thought that Luke borrows, just as Matthew does, from the Gospel of Mark. We find a lot of the same stories. And there is vigorous discussion among scholars that maybe there was a document even before any of the synoptic Gospels, that all of them are borrowing from. That’s just speculation though, like there isn’t such a document that has ever been discovered. Which certainly doesn’t mean it didn’t exist, we just don’t have it. And so, scholars call this this supposed document Q, and believe that it did exist and that it wasn’t in narrative form. It wasn’t like a Gospel; it wasn’t like a story that we read. It was a chronicling of all of the sayings of Jesus that anyone could ever remember. Like, again, we don’t have such a document, it’s just scholars looking at the similarities and going, how did this, how, what was, what was the backdrop for all of this coming to be written down? A document that’s extra biblical, so it’s not in the Canon of Scripture. We’re not going to be reading it this year. It’s not part of the…the Bible as we know it. Does have some similarities to this idea…idea of Q and that would be a document called the Gospel of Thomas, which does have a lot of sayings or purported sayings of Jesus in them. Some of the sayings very much identical and very similar to things we find in the Gospels. Other things, not really compatible with what we’re reading in the Gospels. And those sayings probably come more from a Gnostic perspective and origin. And so, this isn’t this lost Q document, this supposedly lost Q document. But all of this, all of the speculation, all of this research and study and digging and unearthing, is part of the process for trying to date when a text was written. Where, perhaps, the text was written. Why a text was written. To whom a text was written. And so, all of the stuff that I’m saying about the Gospel of Thomas or Q or whatever, this is just part of scholarship because if we know when a text was written, then we have at least a glimpse of the history, like what was going on in the world at the time. If we know to whom a text was written, then we can be more specific about what was going on with those people. If we understand some of these things, then we know how to approach a text to interpret correctly what God is saying through His word. What we can say is that Luke is written to a Gentile audience, whereas the first Gospel that we read, like the Gospel of Matthew is very clearly written to a Jewish audience. So, whereas Matthew reveals to Hebrew people that Jesus is for, is the foretold Messiah, the foretold anointed one. A Gentile doesn’t necessarily care about that in the first century. Luke reveals the Gospel of Jesus is inclusive, is open to everyone in the world, is not only a Hebrew centric religion, but the entire world is also welcomed into the family of God. And so, we begin with the beautiful Gospel of Luke chapter 1 verses 1 through 25 today.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for another day, another step forward. We thank You for bringing us to be able to step into the Gospel of Luke and start over again and walk alongside You Jesus, as You ministered and modeled what humanity can and is supposed to look like. So, we are grateful for the journey ahead and we are grateful for the journey that has brought us to this point. And we ask, as we so often do, that You would continue to lead us into all truth. We have come here to seek the counsel of the Scriptures in our lives, so that we might be transformed, so that we might live our lives as they were intended, so that we would grow in our knowledge and intimacy with You. And we can’t do that, if we’re not walking on the narrow path that leads to life and walking in the truth. And You have promised in the Scriptures, to lead us into the truth and so lead us. We pray, as we move onward, in the journey forward, we pray this in Jesus name. 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:
Hello, beautiful Daily Audio Bible Family, this is Asia from the City of Angels. And I have to send a prayer up, right now, to our Father in heaven who hears all of our prayers. For Winnie, who called in on the 8th, today of March. And just again giving an update regarding what’s going on with her family. Her, I believe it’s her nephew’s wife passed. And now the family is left with three children, one baby and two girls. And this nephew has just pretty much abandoned his family. Whether he’s bereaved, whatever he’s going through, he is not present in their lives and this duty of raising these children and taking care of is falling on the elderly family members, including her mother and father in their 80s. And herself as well, she works full time. So, we just pray, Father God, that You open the eyes and the ears and the heart of this young man during a time as this, such a suffering time as this, that he may truly step into his role as a father and raise his kids biblically to know the Lord, as it says in Your word, Father. And we pray, Father God, that You gird him up with the full armor of God and that in this time, You bless him, you bless his children with stability, with love, with healing. And that they can see their fathers change as a true testament of the faith, that will become part of their testimony one day. And that, You, together, heal this family. And we say all of this in the name of our glorious Healer, our mighty Counselor, our good Shephard, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ name. Amen.
Hi DAB family, this is Annie who called a couple months ago in regard of my brother Wo Wo. And I promised I would call back to say what God has done for me and for the family. And Wo Wo of course. And I’m very thankful for all of you who prayed for my brother and everyone who thought, brought the time to go pray for him. And he is doing much better as now, it’s exactly a month when he came back. And I just thank you, everyone, so much who pray for him. And I hope that the Lord, will bless you in return.
Hey DAB, good morning. It’s Val. Sorry, it’s super early everyone. My voice is a little crazy but hey I gotta call this one in. This one is for my little brother, my half-brother, he’s in Washington. And he’s in prison. And I don’t think he’ll mind me sharing that. I’m gonna call him One Blessed Man. Lord God Jesus, thank You for my reconnection with my brother, Lord. I’m so grateful, Lord. God Lord Jesus, God and protect him, Father. Lord, I wanna say thank You for how You’re repairing this relationship, Lord. It feels like a Esau and Jacob moment, God. Lord, thank You, thank You, Father, for where he’s at spiritually, Lord. He might not be where I want him to be physically, Lord, but we know that God, all things are possible with You, Lord. And Heavenly Father, I’m putting a blessing on his life right now, Lord. I decree and declare that once he’s released, he shall never see the inside of a prison again, Lord. Lord, I decree and declare, every promise that Your word has for my brother, One Blessed Man. God Lord Jesus, this is Your son Father, and You love him God. And You have a purpose and a calling on his life. And Lord, I’m putting it into the atmosphere, and I need all the saints to lift him up, please, for me. One Blessed Man in Washington. I love you brother, I love you. He’s listening to the DAB family.
Hey, this is Mindy, I’m calling from Ohio, and I was calling to encourage Sheila that had called on March 7th and to encourage her cousin too, that had just recently witnessed to their family, their Hindu family, to a big group of them, 15 of them. And just praying alongside you for God to water the seeds that you have planted. And I just wanted to encourage you because last year, my son was in third grade, and we were studying seeds. And I was just so amazed at God’s design of seeds. And all seeds have these parts, all seeds have a seed coat, the seed coat protects the seed until it’s ready to grow. All seeds have stored food, the stored food helps the baby plant to grow and the food builds, the food is built into the seed, and it can use it when it’s underground before it breaks through the surface of the soil. And then, all seeds have a baby plant built into that little seed. And it has a root, which will grow down and leaves that will grow up and those are the first leaves that the plant will use when it breaks through the soil to bring in energy from the sun, to make food for itself. And so, I’ve just been so encouraged, knowing that when we plant seeds, that God has already designed that seed to have so much in it to provide for that seed to grow. So, be encouraged by that. We’ll be praying alongside you for your family to, like you said, to humble themselves and come to the Lord. So, have a great day. Bye.
Hey beautiful DAB family, this is your sister Prisoner of Hope. I am lifting up Not Shaken. Your daughter made an announcement like your prayers are not being answered. She’s fighting for custody and is having a lot of anxiousness and you just sound absolutely desperate. And I just wanna remind you that sometimes it’s seems like our prayers go unanswered and that the Lord is just drawing out of our faith a deeper reliance and trust in Him. And that should bring out a deeper sense of gratitude and love and humility. I hope that is what it’s doing for you. You said that you just need God’s power. And I just want to assure you, you already have God’s power. He may be doing something different that you don’t agree with or, just trust Him. I am just begging you to trust Him in all this. And Lord, I pray that You would give them that, give them a sense of knowing that You are moving. That Your power is involved here. That You are fighting for these children and that You are fighting for Minnie Mouse and You want peace and goodness and blessings over their life. I am liftin up Tyler from Kentucky. You said you were in jail for the last 17 months falsely, but you also had a chance to listen to DAB and you’ve moved closer to God. So, I thank You, Lord, for that. He also wants his marriage to be restored, Lord. He’s been separated for four years and she’s seeing someone else. But we want You to save this marriage, please. Please bring restoration and may this all be to Your glory. I’m praying for Sheila. You’re looking for a job. Lord, I pray that You would provide that for her. She wants to bless others. Her and her cousin had an opportunity to witness to about 15 family members from the Hindu faith. Lord, they brought about persecution from that. So, I would pray that You would move them, soften their harden hearts and draw them to Jesus. And then, David from Kansas, I’m just praying for your fearful, frequent panic attacks. And the brain injury that’s left you anxious and weak. Lord, please bring healing to him. Please continue to encourage him with Your word and Your love and Your goodness. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.