Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 6 NLT, Ch. 7-8 WEB, Ch. 9-10 CEV NCV

It’s the History Tuesday, and we’ll read Ezra 6-10. I’m calling this episode “Spiritual Integrity.“

In chapter 10, Ezra prayed and confessed the sins of Israel before God. Many people joined him in weeping bitterly. Why? The men had married pagan foreign women, disobeying God. 

Shechaniah said they should divorce these wives and send them away, along with the children. This seemed very harsh. 

But divorce was allowed in Israel. God hates divorce, yet permitted it due to hard hearts. Some marriages were prohibited, like those to pagans. So dissolving these forbidden marriages was necessary.  

The children stayed with their mothers. Husbands likely provided support. It took weeks to examine each case. Many wives chose to follow Israel’s God and remained. Only a small percentage of men divorced.

The key issue was the wives’ pagan beliefs, not their race. God had forbidden intermarriage because He knew it would lead Israel into false worship. 

If Israel had obeyed God’s laws from the start, much heartache would have been avoided. God’s rules aim to protect us.

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Steve Webb 0:00
How could that be the right thing to do?

Steve Webb 0:03
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from a drying out Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. My name is Steve Webb and I’m your OG Godcaster. It’s history Tuesday, and we’ll read Ezra six through 10. The website is Lifespringmedia.com. and contact information will be at the end of today’s show. Before we read, let’s pray. Our Heavenly Father, we are again grateful for this time together and we ask you to bless us as we read. Teach us today, Lord, in Jesus name, Amen. All right, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:39
Ezra chapter six. So King Darius issued orders that a search be made in the Babylonian archives, which were stored in the treasury, but it was at the fortress of a BATNA in the province of media that a scroll was found. This is what it said, memorandum. In the first year of King Cyrus’s reign, a decree was set out concerning the temple of God at Jerusalem. Let the temple be rebuilt on the site where Jews used to offer their sacrifices using the original foundations, its height will be 90 feet and its width will be 90 feet. Every three layers of specially prepared stones will be topped by a layer of timber, all expenses will be paid by the royal treasury. Furthermore, the gold and silver cups which were taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar from the temple of God in Jerusalem, must be returned to Jerusalem and put back where they belong. Let them be taken back to the temple of God. So King Darius sent this message. Now therefore tachiai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and she thought her boss and I and your colleagues and other officials west of the Euphrates River, stay away from there, do not disturb the construction of the temple of God, let it be rebuilt on its original site, and do not hinder the governor of Judah and the elders of the Jews in their work. Moreover, I hereby decree that you are to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild this temple of God, you must pay the full construction costs without delay from my taxes collected in the provinces west of the Euphrates River so that the work will not be interrupted, give the priests in Jerusalem whatever is needed in the way of young bulls, rams and mail lamps for the burnt offerings presented to the God of heaven. and without fail, provide them with as much wheat salt, wine and olive oil as they need each day, then they will be able to offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven, and pray for the welfare of the king and his sons. Those who violate this decree in any way will have a beam pulled from their house, then they will be lifted up and impaled on it and their house will be reduced to a pile of rubble. May the God who has chosen the city of Jerusalem as the place to honor his name, destroy any king or nation that violates this command and destroys this temple. I Darius have issued this decree let it be obeyed with all diligence tachiai governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and she thought our boss and I and our colleagues complied at once with the command of King Darius. So the Jewish elders continued their work, and they were greatly encouraged by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Edo, the temple was finally finished as had been commanded by the God of Israel and decreed by Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia. The temple was completed on March 12, during the sixth year of King Darius his reign. The temple of God was then dedicated with great joy by the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the people who had returned from exile. During the dedication ceremony for the temple of God. 100 young bulls, 200 grams, and 400 Male lambs were sacrificed, and 12 male goats were presented as a sin offering for the 12 tribes of Israel. Then the priests and Levites were divided into their various divisions to serve at the temple of God in Jerusalem, as prescribed in the book of Moses. On April 21, the returned exiles celebrated Passover, the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests in for themselves. The Passover meal was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile and by the others in the land who had turned from their corrupt practices to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. Then they celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There was great joy throughout the land because the Lord had caused the king of Assyria to be favorable to them so that he helped them to rebuild the temple of God, the God of Israel.

Steve Webb 4:59
Ezra chapter Seven. Now after these things in the rain of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Surya, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of ze doc, the son of a high tub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Moray off the son of Jeremiah, the son of azurae, the son of Buckeye, the son of a bishop, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the chief priest, this Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which Yahweh the God of Israel had given, and the king granted him all his request, according to Yahweh, his God’s hand on him, some of the children of Israel, including some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the porters, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the king, he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylon. and on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his god on him, for Ezra had set his heart to seek ye always law and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. Now, this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra, the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of Yahweh, His commandments, and of His statutes to Israel, or to Xerxes, King of Kings, to Ezra, the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. Now I make a decree that all those of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my realm, who intend have their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you, because you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand, and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that you will find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests offering willingly for the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem. Therefore you shall, with all diligence, buy with this money, bulls, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and Their drink offerings, and shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem, whatever seems good to you and to your brothers, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold. Do that according to the will of your God, the vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem, whatever more will be needed for the house of your God which you may have occasion to give. Give it out of the king’s treasure house, I even I are desert, seize the king, make a decree to all the treasures who are beyond the river, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, it shall be done with all diligence, up to 100 talents of silver, and to 100 cores of wheat, and to 100 baths of wine, and to 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven. For Why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons. Also, we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute custom or toll on any of the priests Levites singers, porters, Temple servants or laborers of this house of God. You Ezra according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand. Appoint magistrates, and judges who may judge all the people who are beyond the river, who all know the laws, have your God and teach him who doesn’t know them. Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it is to death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment. blessing me Yahweh, the God of our fathers who is put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh his house, which is in Jerusalem, and has extended loving kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the kings mighty princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh, my God’s hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me,

Steve Webb 9:35
Ezra chapter eight. Now, these are the heads of their fathers households, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of our desert sees the king of the sons of Finney hos Gershom of the sons of Ithamar. Daniel, of the sons of David Hadash, of the sons of Shekinah of the sons of Pei rush Zechariah and we with him were listed by genealogy of the males 150 of the sense of pay half Moab Elia hoe Eni, the son of Zehra Hyah, and with him 200 males of the sons of Shekinah, the son of J Zo, and with him 300 males of the sense of Aiden, a bed, the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males of the sons of Elam just Shaya, the son of AF Elia and with him 70 males, of the sons of Chef Anya Zabba Daya, the son of Michael, and with him 80 males, of the sons of Joab Obadiah the son of Joe Heil, and with him 218 males, of the sons of shalom with the son of Joseph FAIA, and with him 160 males of the sons of Beibei, Zechariah, the son of eBuy, and with him 28 males of the sons of as gad Joe Hanan the son of Pakistan, in with him 110 males of the sons of that Anika who were the last and these are their names Alyssa let ju L and Shemaiah in with them 60 males of the sons of big vi youth die ins David and with them 70 males. I gathered them together to the river that runs to a haga and there we encamped three days and I looked around at the people the priests and found they were none of the sons of Levi. Then I sent for Eliezer for Ariel for Shania or L Nathan for Jared for L Nathan for Nathan for Zechariah and from a Shulam chief men also for joy rib and for L Nathan, who were teachers I sent them out to Iddo the chief at the place cuz Sofia and I told them what they should tell it oh and his brothers the temple servants at the place cuz Sofia that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God. According to the good hand of our God on us. They brought us a man of discretion of the sons of Mali, the son of Levi the son of Israel and share a baya with his sons and his brothers 18 and hasher baya and with him just shape of the sons of Moray, his brothers and their sons 20. and of the temple servants whom David in the princess had given for the service of the Levites 220 Temple servants, all of them were mentioned by name. Then I proclaimed to fast there at the river, a Hiva that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him as straightway for us and for our little ones, and for all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask of the king, a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king saying, the hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath as against all those who forsake Him. So we fasted and begged our God for this and he granted our request. Then I set apart 12 of the chiefs of the priests, even Shara baya, Asha baya, and 10 of their brothers with them, and weighed to them the silver, the gold and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, his counselors, his princes, and all Israel their present had offered, I weighed into their hand 650 talents of silver 100 talents of silver vessels 100 talents of gold 20 bowls of gold weighing 1000 Derrick’s and two vessels of fine bright brass precious as gold. I said to them, You are holy to your way, and the vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh the God of your father’s watch and keep them until you weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites. and the princes of their father’s households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the rooms of Yahweh as house. So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold in the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God. Then we departed from the river ahava on the 12th day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the Bandit by the way, we came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. On the fourth day the silver in the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hands of Mara moth, the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eliezer the son of Finney Haas and with them was jhaza ban the son of Jeshua and Noah Daya, the son of BUI, the Levite. Everything by number and by weight, and all the weight was written at that time. The children of the captivity who had come out of exile offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel. 12 bulls for all Israel 96 rams, 77 lambs and 12 male goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to Yawei they delivered the Kings Commission’s to the kings satraps and to the governor’s beyond the river. So they supported the people and God’s house.

Steve Webb 15:00
Ezra chapter nine. Later, the Jewish leaders came to me and said, many Israelites, including priests and Levites, are living just like the people around them. They are even guilty of some of the horrible Sins of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the parasites, the Jebusites. the Ammonites, the mole bites the Egyptians, and the Amorites. Some Israelite men have married foreign women and have let their sons do the same thing. Our own officials and leaders were the first to commit this disgusting sin. and now God’s holy people are mixed with foreigners. This news made me so angry that I ripped my clothes and tore hair from my head and beard. Then I just sat in shock until the time for the evening sacrifice. Many of our people were greatly concerned and gathered around me, because the God of Israel had warned us to stay away from foreigners. At the time of the evening sacrifice, I was still sitting there in sorrow with my clothes all torn. So I got down on my knees, then lifted my arms and prayed, I am much too ashamed to face you, Lord God, our sins and our guilt have swept over us like a flood that reaches up to the heavens. Since the time of our ancestors, all of us have sinned. That’s why we are kings and our priests have often been defeated by other kings. They have killed some of us and made slaves of others. They have taken our possessions and made us ashamed, just as we are today. But for now, Lord God, you have shown great kindness to us. You made us truly happy by letting some of us settle in this sacred place. and by helping us in our time of slavery. We are slaves, but you have never turned your back on us. You love us. and because of you, the kings of Persia have helped us. It’s as though you have given us new life. You let us rebuild your temple and live safely in Judah and Jerusalem. Our God? What can we say now, even after all this, we have disobeyed the commands that were given to us by your servants the prophets. They said the land you are giving us is full of sinful and wicked people who never stopped doing disgusting things. and we were warned not to let our daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters. Your profits also told us never to help those foreigners, or even let them live in peace. You wanted us to become strong and to enjoy the good things in the land, then someday to leave it to our children forever. You punished us because of our terrible sins, but you did not punish us nearly as much as we deserve. and you have brought some of us back home. Why should we disobey your commands again by letting our sons and daughters marry these foreigners who do such disgusting things that would make you angry enough to destroy us all? Lord God of Israel, you’ve been more than fair by letting a few of us survive. But once again, our sins have made us ashamed to face you.

Steve Webb 17:58
Ezra chapter 10 While Ezra was down on his knees in front of God’s temple, praying with tears in his eyes and confessing the sins of the people of Israel, a large number of men, women and children gathered around him and cried bitterly. Shekinah, son of Jihyo from the family of Elam, said, Ezra, we have disobeyed God by marrying these foreign women. But there is still hope for the people of Israel. If we follow your advice and the advice of others who truly respect the laws of God. We must promise God that we will divorce our foreign wives and send them away together with their children. Ezra, it’s up to you to do something. We will support whatever you do so be brave. Ezra stood up and made the chief priests the Levites and everyone else in Israel swear that they would follow the advice of Shekinah then Ezra left God’s temple and went to spend the night in the living quarters of Ji Ho Hainan son of ally ship. He felt sorry because of what the people had done, and he did not eat or drink a thing. The officials and leaders sent a message to all who had returned from Babylonia and we’re now living in Jerusalem and Judah. This message told them to meet in Jerusalem within three days, or else they would lose everything they owned, and would no longer be considered part of the people that had returned from Babylonia. Three days later, on the 12th day of the ninth month, everyone from Judah and Benjamin came to Jerusalem and sat in the temple courtyard. It was a serious meeting and they sat there trembling in the rain. Ezra, the priest stood up and said, You have broken God’s law by marrying foreign women and you have made the whole nation guilty. Now you must confess your sins to the Lord God of your ancestors and obey Him to divorce your foreign wives and don’t have anything to do with the rest of the foreigners who live around here. Everyone in the crowd shouted. You’re right. We will do what you say. But there are so many of us and we can’t just stay out here. In this downpour, a lot of us have sinned by marrying foreign women, and the matter can’t be settled in only a day or two. Why can’t our official stay on in Jerusalem and take care of this forest. Let everyone who has sinned in this way meet here at a certain time with leaders and judges from their own towns. If we can take care of this problem, God will surely stop being so terribly angry with us. Jonathan son of Assa Hill and Jizya son of Tikvah were the only ones who objected except for the two Levites Miss Shulam and Shaba thigh. Everyone else who returned from exile agreed with the plan. So Ezra the priest chose men who are heads of the families and he listed their names. They started looking into the matter on the first day of the 10th month, and they did not finish until the first day of the first month of the next year. Here is the list of the priests who would agree to divorce their foreign wives into sacrifice a ram is a sin offering me a sia Eliezer Jared and get Elia from the family of Joshua, son of jhaza, dac and his brother’s an AVI and Zebedee Jaya from the family of imer. May Asiya, Elijah Chinmaya, Jihyo and Uzziah from the family of harem Elio Kenai may Asiya, Ishmael Nathanael jhaza bed and Elesa from the family of passur. Those Levites who had foreign wives were jhaza Bad shimmy. I Kalia, also known as Kalita, pitha, hyah, Judah and Eliezer. The lash of the musician had a foreign wife. These temple guards have foreign wives Shalem, tealium, and Uri. Here’s a list of the others from Israel who had foreign wives Ramaiah is Isaiah Malka, menjamin Eliezer Pasha baya and Binya from the family of Pei rush, Mata nya Zechariah Jihyo, AB di, Jeremiah and Elijah from the family of Elam, Elio ENI Eliashib Matt Denia Jeremiah with Ze bed and his isaa from the family of Zattoo. Ji Ho Hainan, Hanna nya zapped by an athlete from the family of Beibei. Miss Shulam may look a Daya J shibe. She’ll and Jeremiah from the family of BNI adna ki Lau Binya May a sia Mata nya bezel L. Bui. and Manasa from the family of pay half Moab Eliezer, a Shai Jaya, bow Kaija Jamia shimmy Ian Benjamin Malik, and share Mariah from the family of harem Manta and I Mata ze bad Elissa let Jeremiah Manasa in shimmy i from the family of Heysham me a DI Amram you will Binya Medea Kela Hi. Vinaya Mara moth Eliashib Mata Anya, Matt and I and J A Su from the family have been I shimmy I shall Amaya Nathan, a Daya Magneto by Jay Shai share I as a rail shell Amaya Shem. Mariah Shalem Emma Raya and Joseph from the family of Binu. I GIA aisle, Mata Theia ze bad is a Binah Jedi, Joel and Binya from the family of Niebo. These men divorced their foreign wives then sent them and their children away.

Steve Webb 23:36
In chapter 10, today we find Ezra kneeling in front of the temple, tearfully confessing the sins of the people of Israel, and he’s joined by a large crowd of men, women and children who also begin weeping bitterly. and of course, if you’re listening, you know that they were crying because they’ve disobeyed God by marrying foreign or is some translations say, pagan women from the local area. and I’m sure you remember that God told them not to do this when they came into the promised land. Now they’re truly remorseful for their sin. So when they’re doing this, what happens? Does Ezra suggest what they should do? No, one of the people check Anya steps up and says, Ezra, we have disobeyed God by marrying these foreign women. But there is still hope for the people of Israel. If we follow your advice and the advice of others who truly respect the laws of God, we must promise God that we will divorce our foreign wives and send them away together with their children. Oh, my goodness, what do you think about that? Divorce their pagan wives and send them away in the children? How could that be the right thing to do? Well, let’s explore this together. Number one, divorce was permitted in Israel according to Deuteronomy 24 One and Malikai 210 through 16 tells us that there were many who divorced their Jewish wives for pagan women. Number two, you God does hate divorce according to Malikai to 16, but it was allowed because of the hardness of people’s hearts according to Jesus, in Mark 10, five. Number three, some marriages were not allowed. marriages between relatives were not permitted. For example, any marriage of this type could be canceled. So while marriage to a pagan woman, which was expressly forbidden by God could also be dissolved. Number four, the children were always allowed to stay with their mothers in this culture, so sending them away with their mothers was the right thing to do. Which leads us to number five, the husband almost certainly would be responsible for giving the woman and child adequate resources for their support. Number six, it took many weeks for the process of talking to the affected families in this situation. Why? Well, there were so many men who had married pagan wives, and they questioned them to see which wives had honestly and genuinely become believers in the God of Israel, and who were willing to denounce their native beliefs. If the wife refused to accept the true God, they could not remain and they must be divorced. Number seven, many of the women did accept the God of Israel because only about 114 of the men had to divorce their pagan wives. The men who divorced are listed from verses 18 through 44. and one commentator calculated that only about one half of 1% had to divorce. and lastly, number eight, it’s important to note that the divorces were based on the beliefs of the foreign wives that was not based on their race. These divorces happened because these women would not forsake their native religions. God forbade the marriages in the beginning, not because of race, but because he knew that the children of Israel would be influenced to worship false gods. and we know that happened. So as always, if the people had just listened to God in the first place, when he told him not to marry these people, all of this heartbreak would have been avoided. Beloved, He always has our best in mind with his laws. Yes, he always has our best in mind. You have thoughts or questions, let me hear from you send a Boostagram or call the Lifespring family hotline or go to the comments page. I’ll let you know how to do that at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Psalms Wednesday, and we’ll read chapters 134 through 136. and we’ll also have a time of prayer requests and praises be sure to send yours in right away.

Announcer 27:35
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Steve Webb 27:36
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Steve Webb 28:12
I thought I’d give you a little report on my trip to pick up Bryan Duncan at the Palm Springs Airport last night. As I told you yesterday, Hurricane Hillary was downgraded to tropical storm Hillary by the time it made it into California. and I also told you that as of the time I recorded yesterday show that we did get some light rain, but nothing especially heavy at my house. and overall, that’s how it went in my house. But I will say that my swimming pool has now completely full the water level is all the way up to the deck. But I also told you that Palm Springs was expected to get a lot more rain. Well, as it turned out. That happened. Brian’s flight was originally expected to come in at about 5:30pm. and then it got pushed back to about 830. I think I might have told that to you yesterday. But then the weather caused them to close the airport. But when I headed out to drive there, which should have been about an hour’s drive that had not yet happened, so I didn’t know the airport was going to be closed. Well, there are basically two routes I could have taken to the airport. and one of those routes involve taking the I 10 freeway to highway 111, which goes right through Palm Springs. Once you get off a 10 there you’re basically on surface streets and Brian and I figured that if there were any flash floods 111 would probably be pretty vulnerable and there would be probably at least one closure, which would keep me from getting to the airport. So I stayed on 110 for about another 15 or so miles, where I would get off at Gene Autry trail. Well guess what? When I got there, Gene Autry was closed. So I got back on the freeway and went down to date palm Avenue the next exit, except about eight tenths of a mile before the exit traffic came to a complete standstill. All four lanes were stopped This is the I 10 major highway. Well, the lanes weren’t completely stopped, but it took almost an hour to go the last eight tenths of a mile to get off the freeway. Man, that was just lovely. Once I got off the freeway, I came across some close streets, but I did finally get to the airport, where the whole place was dark. The airport was closed. So I found a place to park where upon I went to the American airlines website to find that the flight was now scheduled for a 1027 landing. His plane had stopped in Dallas where they waited for the weather in Palm Springs to clear enough to fly in. So I waited for about an hour in the dark in the rain. and just as I dozed off to sleep, I was awoken by the sound of a plane landing. and about two minutes later Brian texted me to say that he had just landed. So his plane was the first one to reopen the airport. Well, once I picked him up about 15 minutes later, we headed home. We thought we’d maybe try the 111 but after about two miles, we found that yes, it was closed. So we turned around to go back to de Pomme. But the first route we took we ran into a roadblock where a Palm Springs police cruiser was sitting there with its red lights flashing. We drove up to it and asked the officer how we could get to date palm and he asked me if we were headed east or west west we said he said that’s good because eastbound is closed. So we followed his directions and finally got onto the I 10 headed home. Everything seemed fine. It was still raining but not too bad. and we were humming right along but then about 15 miles later up ahead, we saw nothing but red brake lights. Of course, we had no clue as to why but after crawling along for about an hour having moved maybe a mile we found out a flash flood had gone over the freeway leaving mud and debris in the form of rocks and broken branches and even tree trucks on the roadway. Again, this is the i 10. While we drove through some of this stuff, just as we were about to get out of the mess, I took some video footage and it’s on the website at Lifespringmedia.com slash s 13 e 325 If you’d like to see it. So anyway, once we got past that it was relatively smooth sailing in the rain the rest of the way home and I walked in my front door sometime between 130 and two o’clock in the morning. Talk about a long, miserable night.

Steve Webb 32:24
I do love to get your comments, call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1951732 at 511 or for praise reports or prayer requests please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com Remember tomorrow is another prayer day here on the show. If you have a comment or a question for me, go to comment.lifespringmedia.com or send an email to me at st***@*************ia.com. and don’t forget those boostagrams.

Steve Webb 32:59
Thank you Jason Paschall for today’s show arch and also thanks to Sister Denise Michael Haner Scott Snider, and sister Brittany, thank you, beloved, for inviting me to be a part of your day, Lord willing I’ll be back with another episode tomorrow and until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Announcer 33:20
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 16 NIRV, Ch. 17 HCSB, Ch. 18 NASB, Ch. 19 ERV

Timothy LaFontaine

It’s the Law Monday, and we’ll read Deuteronomy 16-19. I’m calling this episode “Dark Influences.“

One thing that comes through very clearly in Deuteronomy chapter eighteen is that dabbling in the occult is something that God will hates. That means playing with horoscopes, Tarot cards, numerology, Ouiji boards, or trying to contact the dead through seances or anything else. Some people consider this type of thing “just having fun”. But when you read this chapter of Deuteronomy, you see that God does not see it that way. 

There is a world that we do not see. The apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 that “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Beloved, the enemy of our souls and his demons really are out to destroy us. There is a spiritual battle, and the occult is one method they use to gain footholds in people’s lives. So the further you can stay away from these things, the better.

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Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
Michael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 Chapters
Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider: Show Art
Jason Paschall: Show Art
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

Download .txt file.

Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00
Just having fun.

Steve Webb 0:03
From rainy Southern California, this is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside. Podcasting since 2004, my name is Steve Webb and I’m your OG Godcaster. It’s The Law Monday and our reading today is Deuteronomy 16 through 19. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and contact information will be at the end of the show. Before we read, let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we love you and we thank you again for our time together. We pray again that you would teach us, that you would touch our hearts, and that you would give us something that we can use today. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. Okay, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:44
Deuteronomy, chapter 16. Celebrate the Passover Feast of the Lord your God in the month of Aviv. In that month he brought you out of Egypt at night. Sacrifice an animal from your flock or herd. It is the Passover sacrifice in honor of the Lord your God. Sacrifice it at the special place the Lord will choose. He will put his Name there. Don’t eat the animal along with bread that is made with yeast. Instead, for seven days eat bread that is made without yeast. It’s the bread that reminds you of how much you suffered. Remember that you left Egypt in a hurry. Remember it all the days of your life. Don’t forget the day you left Egypt. Don’t keep any yeast anywhere in your land for seven days. Don’t let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day be left over until the next morning. You must not sacrifice the Passover animal in any town the Lord your God is giving you. Sacrifice it only in the special place he will choose for his Name. Sacrifice it there in the evening when the sun goes down. Do it on the same day every year. Be sure it’s the day you left Egypt. Cook it and eat it. Do it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. For six days eat bread that is made without yeast. On the seventh day come together for a service in honor of the Lord your God. Don’t do any work. Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to cut your grain in the field. Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks in honor of the Lord your God. Give anything you choose to give as an offering. Do it in keeping with the blessings the Lord has given you. Be filled with joy in the sight of the Lord your God. Be joyful at the special place he will choose for his Name. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites who are living in your towns. So should the outsiders and widows who are living among you. And so should the children whose fathers have died. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Be careful to obey the rules I’m giving you. Gather the grain from your threshing floors. Take the fresh wine from your winepresses. Then celebrate the Feast of Booths for seven days. Be filled with joy at your feast. You, your children, and your male and female servants should be joyful. So should the Levites, the outsiders, and the widows who are living in your towns. And so should the children whose fathers have died. For seven days celebrate the feast in honor of the Lord your God. Do it at the place he will choose. The Lord will bless you when you gather all of your crops. He will bless you in everything you do. And you will be full of joy. All of your men must appear in front of the Lord your God at the holy tent. They must go to the place he will choose. They must do it three times a year. They must go there to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths. No man should appear in front of the Lord without bringing something with him. Each of you must bring a gift. Do it in keeping with the way the Lord your God has blessed you. Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes. Do it in every town the Lord your God is giving you. They must judge the people fairly. Do what is right. Treat everyone the same. Don’t take money from people who want special favors. It makes those who are wise close their eyes to the truth. It twists the words of those who do what is right. Follow only what is right. If you do, you will live. You will take over the land the Lord your God is giving you. Don’t set up a wooden pole that is used to worship the goddess Asherah. Don’t set it up beside the altar you build to worship the Lord your God. Don’t set up a sacred stone to honor another god. The Lord your God hates Asherah poles and sacred stones.

Steve Webb 4:36
Deuteronomy, chapter 17. “You must not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or sheep with a defect or any serious flaw, for that is detestable to the Lord your God. “If a man or woman among you in one of your towns that the Lord your God will give you is discovered doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God and violating His covenant and has gone to worship other gods by bowing down to the sun, moon, or all the stars in the sky — which I have forbidden — and if you are told or hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened in Israel, you must bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing and stone them to death. The one condemned to die is to be executed on the testimony of two or three witnesses. No one is to be executed on the testimony of a single witness. The witnesses’ hands are to be the first in putting them to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from you. “If a case is too difficult for you — concerning bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults — cases disputed at your gates, you must go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Ask, and they will give you a verdict in the case. You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do exactly as they instruct you. You must abide by the instruction they give you and the verdict they announce to you. Do not turn to the right or the left from the decision they declare to you. The person who acts arrogantly, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there serving the Lord your God or to the judge, must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. Then all the people will hear about it, be afraid, and no longer behave arrogantly. “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’ you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people. However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself. When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of his instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue ruling many years over Israel.

Steve Webb 7:38
Deuteronomy, chapter 18. “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His portion. They shall have no inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them. “Now this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand and serve in the name of the Lord forever. “Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. They shall eat equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates. “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls upon the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Steve Webb 10:31
Deuteronomy, chapter 19. “The Lord your God is giving you land that belongs to other nations. The Lord your God will destroy those nations. You will live where these people lived. You will take their cities and their houses. When that happens, you must divide the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Divide it into three parts and choose a city in the middle of each part that can be a place of safety. You must also build good roads to these cities. Then whoever kills another person may run to the closest city of safety. “This is the rule for someone who kills another person and runs to one of these three cities for safety: It must be someone who killed another person accidentally, not out of hatred. Here is an example: A man goes into the forest with another person to cut wood. The man swings his ax to cut down a tree, but the head of the ax separates from the handle. The ax head hits the other person and kills him. The man who swung the ax may then run to one of these three cities and be safe. But if the city is too far away, he might not be able to run there fast enough. A close relative of the person he killed might run after him and catch him before he reaches the city. The relative might kill the man in anger, even though he did not deserve to die because he did not mean to harm anyone. That is why I commanded you to choose three special cities. “The Lord your God promised your fathers that he would make your land larger. He will give you all the land that he promised to give to your ancestors. He will do this if you completely obey his commands that I give you today—if you love the Lord your God and always live the way he wants. Then, when he gives you more land, you should choose three more cities for safety. They should be added to the first three cities. Then innocent people will not be killed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And you will not be guilty for any such deaths. “But suppose there is a man who hates his neighbor. That man might hide and wait to kill the person he hates. If he kills that person and runs to one of these cities of safety, the elders in his hometown must send someone to get him and take him away from the city of safety. These leaders must hand him over to the close relative. He is a murderer and he must die. Don’t feel sorry for him. He is guilty of killing an innocent person, and you must remove that guilt from Israel. Then everything will go well with you. “You must not move the stones that mark your neighbor’s property. People put them there in the past to mark each person’s property. These stones mark the land that the Lord your God gave you. “If someone is accused of doing something against the law, one witness is not enough to prove that the person is guilty. There must be two or three witnesses to prove that the person really did wrong. “A witness might try to hurt another person by lying and saying that this person did wrong. If that happens, both of them must go to the Lord’s special house and be judged by the priests and judges who are on duty at that time. When the judges carefully ask their questions, they might find that the witness lied against the other person. If the witnesses tell lies, you must punish them with the same punishment the other person would have received. In this way you will remove this evil from your group. Other people will hear about this and be afraid, and people will not do evil things like that again. “Don’t feel sorry about punishing someone who does wrong. If a life is taken, a life must be paid for it. The rule is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot—the punishment must equal the crime.

Steve Webb 14:14
Well, one thing that’s very clear in chapter 18 of Deuteronomy is that messing around with the occult is something that God hates. That means consulting horoscopes, tarot cards, numerology, Ouija boards, or trying to contact the dead through seances or anything else. Some people consider this as just harmless diversion, just having fun. But when you read this chapter of Deuteronomy, you see that God doesn’t see it that way at all. You see, Beloved, there is a world that we don’t see. The apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 that quote, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places,” unquote. Beloved, the enemy of our souls, and his demons really are out to destroy us. There is a spiritual battle and the occult is one method they use to gain footholds in people’s lives. So the further you stay away from these things, the better. Okay, so no more checkin’ your horoscope. You have any thoughts or questions? Let me know. Send a Boostagram or call the Lifespring Family Hotline or go to the comments page or write an email. All that information is at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be History Tuesday, and our reading will be Ezra 6 through 10.

Steve Webb 15:44
Today’s Associate Producer is Timothy LaFontaine who came in with his monthly $20 donation. Thank you so much, Timothy. God bless you.

Steve Webb 15:53
lifespringmedia.com/support

Steve Webb 16:00
So on yesterday’s show, I said that Hurricane Hilary was on the way. Well, it’s now been downgraded to a tropical storm, Tropical Storm Hilary. The rain began falling sometime at my house here in Riverside in the early morning hours. But it was far from torrential, just more like a steady light rain. It stopped raining mid-morning. But as I’m recording this at about two o’clock in the afternoon, it’s raining again. But again, just a light rain. It’s more than a drizzle but not… not heavy by any stretch of the imagination. And according to the weather app on my phone, it’s supposed to rain all day long. Now, Bryan Duncan sent a text this morning. I told you yesterday I was supposed to pick him up at Palm Springs airport. And he said that his flight into the airport is expected to land at about 8:30 tonight which is about three hours later than was scheduled originally. Of course, 8:30 is several hours away, so it could still change. Palm Springs is expected to receive more rain than here in Riverside. So we’ll see there. I think they’re supposed to get up to five inches of rain. One last thing, if you heard yesterday’s show and listened all the way to the end, you heard this.

Steve Webb 17:10
And thank you, Beloved, for inviting me to be a part of your day. Lord willing, if Hurricane Hilary doesn’t…

Steve Webb 17:25
So actually, that was initially an accidental mistake on my part. I uploaded the show at about 9:55 p.m. And as I was listening back to my copy the show published as scheduled at 10 o’clock. And then I heard the error at about 10:05 as I was listening and finishing up show notes and stuff. And when I heard the mistake, I thought about re-uploading a corrected version, then I just sort of chuckled and I thought, Well, the timing of that dropout is funny, so I’ll leave it. So it was just sort of a serendipitous joke. I wish it was planned, but I’m not that funny. Anyway, I just ran with it once it happened.

Steve Webb 18:09
So here’s how to reach me. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. If you’ve got a prayer request or a praise report, go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. There’s an easy-to-fill-out form there. And as I’ve said many times, if you want to remain anonymous, there is a place you can tell me that on that form. If you’ve got a comment or if you’ve got a question, you can go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Or you can send an email to me at st***@*************ia.com. And of course, I love to get those boostagrams.

Steve Webb 18:48
Thanks to Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, today’s show artist Jason Paschall and Sister Brittaney. And Sister Brittaney just sent out a newsletter. Did you get it? If not, go to news.lifespringmedia.com and sign up. Thanks to John Train for helping to make this episode possible today. And thank you, Beloved, for inviting me to join you today. I’ll see you tomorrow and until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Announcer 19:17
The Lifespring! One Year Bible is solely supported by your value-for-value donations of time, talent, or treasure.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1-3 NCV

John Train

It’s Epistles Sunday, and we’ll read the book of 2 Peter. And being Sunday, we will also have a time of prayer. I’m calling this episode “Living Godly Lives.“

Peter tells followers of Jesus to grow in faith and character. This helps them reflect Jesus to others. But false teachers who follow selfish desires will arise.

We must be on guard against wicked errors. Instead, grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus. Develop strong character so you won’t stumble.

Mockers say Jesus isn’t returning. But God created and flooded the world with His word. He will also judge and destroy it by fire when Jesus comes back.

So we should live holy lives, looking forward to Jesus’ return. Keep growing in grace and knowledge of Him.

Listen to the episode for more!

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
Michael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 Chapters
Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider: Show Art
Jason Paschall: Show Art
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

Download .txt file.

Transcript not yet corrected.

Steve Webb 0:00
Nothing is more important than you actually getting to know the Word of God intimately yourself.

Steve Webb 0:06
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. My name is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster. It’s epistle Sunday, and we’ll read the book of Second Peter. and being Sunday, we’ll also have a time of prayer. The website is Lifespringmedia.com. and I’ll have contact information at the end of the show before we read. Let’s pray. Our Heavenly Father, we love you so much, Lord, and we thank you for our time together around your work. I pray, Lord, that as we read today, you would teach us touch our hearts, Lord, give us something, Lord that we can use in our lives today. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. All right, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:50
Second Peter, chapter one, from Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to you who have received a faith as valuable as ours, because our God and Savior Jesus Christ does what is right. Grace and peace be given to you more and more, because you truly know God and Jesus, our Lord. Jesus has the power of God by which he has given us everything we need to live and to serve God. We have these things because we know Him. Jesus called us by His glory and goodness. Through these he gave us the very great and precious promises. With these gifts you can share in God’s nature, and the world will not ruin you with its evil desires. Because you have these blessings, do your best to add these things to your lives, to your faith, add goodness, and to your goodness, add knowledge and to your knowledge, add self control, and to your self control, add patience, and to your patients. Add service for God into your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ. and to this kindness, add love. If all these things are in you, and you’re growing, they will help you to be useful and productive and your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But anyone who does not have these things cannot see clearly. He is blind and has forgotten that he was made clean from these past sins. My brothers and sisters, try hard to be certain that you really are called and chosen by God. If you do all these things, you will never fall and you will be given a very great welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You know these things and you’re very strong in the truth, but I will always help you remember them. I think it is right for me to help you remember, as long as I am in this body, I know I must soon leave this body as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me I will try my best so that you may be able to remember these things even after I’m gone. When we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling just clever stories that someone invented. But we saw the greatness of Jesus with our own eyes. Jesus heard the voice of God, the greatest glory when he received honor and glory from God the Father, the voice said, This is my Son, whom I love, and I’m very pleased with him. We heard that voice from heaven while we were with Jesus on the holy mountain. This makes us more sure about the message the prophets gave, it is good for you to follow closely what they said as you would follow a light shining in a dark place until the day begins, and the morning star rises in your hearts. Most of all, you must understand this. No prophecy in the Scriptures ever comes from the Prophets own interpretation. No prophecy ever came from what a person wanted to say. But people led by the Holy Spirit spoke words from God.

Steve Webb 3:44
Second Peter chapter two. There used to be false prophets among God’s people, just as you will have some false teachers in your group, they will secretly teach things that are wrong teachings that will cause people to be lost. They will even refuse to accept the Master Jesus who bought their freedom. So they will bring quick ruin on themselves. Many will follow their evil ways and say evil things about the way of truth. Those false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you lies. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is still coming. and their ruin is certain. When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell and put them in Caves of Darkness where they are being held for judgment. and God punished the world long ago when he brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against him. But God saved Noah who preached about being right with God and seven other people with Him. and God also destroyed the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them until they were ashes. He made those cities an example of what will happen to those who were against God. But he saved lot from those cities a lot. A good man was troubled because of the filthy lives of evil people. Light was a good man but because He lived with evil people every day. His good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw in hurt. So the Lord knows how to save those who serve Him when troubles come, he will hold evil people and punish them while waiting for the Judgment Day. That punishment is especially for those who live by doing the evil things that are sinful lives want and who hate authority. These false teachers are bold and do anything they want. They are not afraid to speak against the angels. But even the angels who are much stronger and more powerful than false teachers, do not accuse them with insults before the Lord. But these people speak against things they do not understand. They are like animals that act without thinking. animals born to be caught and killed. and like animals, these false teachers will be destroyed. They have caused many people to suffer. So they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done. They take pleasure in openly doing evil, so they are like dirty spots and stains among you. They delight in deceiving you while eating meals with you. Every time they look at a woman they want her and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into the trap of sin. and they have taught their hearts to be greedy, God will punish them. These false teachers left the right road and lost their way following the way Baylin went balem was the son of br who loved being paid for doing wrong. But a donkey which cannot talk told balem he was sinning. It spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophets crazy thinking. Those false teachers are like springs without water and clouds blown by a storm. A place in the blackest darkness has been kept for them. They brag with words that mean nothing. By their evil desires. They lead people into the trap of sin, people who are just beginning to escape from others who live in error. They promised them freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves of things that will be destroyed. For people are slaves of anything that controls them. They were made free from the evil in the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they return to evil things and those things control them, then it is worse for them than it was before. Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way than to know it and turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. What they did is like this true saying a dog goes back to what it is thrown up. and after a pig is washed, it goes back in rules in the mud.

Steve Webb 7:31
Second Peter chapter three. My friends this is the second letter I’ve written you to help your honest minds remember, I want you to think about the words the holy prophets spoke in the past, every member that command our Lord and Savior gave us through your apostles. It is most important for you to understand what will happen in the last days, people will laugh at you. They will live doing the evil things they want to do. They will say Jesus promised to come again where is he are father’s have died. But the world continues the way it has been since it was made. But they do not want to remember what happened long ago, by the Word of God heaven was made and the earth was made from water and with water, then the world was flooded and destroyed with water. and that same word of God is keeping Heaven and Earth that we now have in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the Judgment Day and the destruction of all who are against God. But do not forget this one thing dear friends, to the Lord one day is as 1000 years and 1000 years is as one day. The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised the way some people understand slowness, but God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The skies will disappear with a loud noise. Everything in them will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it will be exposed. In that way everything will be destroyed. So what kind of people should you be? You should live holy lives and serve God as you wait for and look forward to the coming of the day of God. When that day comes, the skies will be destroyed with fire and everything in them will melt with heat. But God made a promise to us and we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth where goodness lives. Dear friends, since you are waiting for this to happen, do your best to be without sin and without fault. Try to be at peace with God. Remember that we’re saved because our Lord is patient. Our dear brother Paul told you the same thing when he wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes about this in all his letters. Some things in Paul’s letters are hard to understand. and people who are ignorant and weaken the faith explain these things falsely. They also falsely explained the other scriptures but they are destroying themselves by doing this. Dear friends since you all already know about this, be careful. Do not let those evil people lead you away by the wrong they do. Be careful so you will not fall from your strong faith, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to Him now and forever, amen.

Steve Webb 10:20
Today I’d like to just briefly touch on a couple of points made by Peter, first the topic of false teachers. They were a problem in the Old Testament times, they were a problem in the early church, and they’re a problem today. False teachers are usually students of the human mind and human weaknesses, and they know what people like to hear. Their motivation is often for money, sometimes for power, and never for the benefit of the listener. Some false teachers have small followings. Some have millions. So how do you know if someone is a false teacher? A counterfeit? Well, thankfully, it’s not really all that hard. You need to know what Scripture says, When you know the real thing. Well, counterfeits are easy to detect. You don’t really need to study what the false teachers teach. All you need to study is the real, you study the Word of God. This podcast is a good start in knowing the Bible, but it’s no substitute for you’re actually applying yourself to deep discipline study on your own. Having a Bible teaching pastor is important. Being part of a good Bible study group is important. Having trusted and godly friends is important. But nothing is more important than you actually getting to know the Word of God intimately yourself. As you study, I suggest you pray and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and wisdom. That is a prayer that is always answered. and the more you study, the more you’ll begin to understand. and the easier it will be to identify false teachers. and then the next point I’d like to discuss is the second coming of Jesus. One thing you’ll often hear when having discussions with people about the Second Coming is somebody will say, yeah, right. Christians have been saying Jesus was coming back since the church began, they say look at the signs, but nothing is really any different today than it was then they’ll say, well, doesn’t that just sound like chapter three? Verse four from our reading today? Here it is, again, they will say Jesus promised to come again. Where is he? Our fathers have died. But the world continues the way it has been since it was made. So remember, Peter was talking about what it would be like in the last days, he said they’d laugh at you, and then they would make that statement. But Peter reminds us that the world is different. It hasn’t always been the way it is. Now, he says, but they do not want to remember what happened long ago, by the Word of God heaven was made, and the earth was made from water and with water, then the world was flooded and destroyed with water. and that same word of God is keeping heaven on earth that we now have in order to be destroyed by fire. They’re being kept for the Judgment Day and the destruction of all who are against God. Beloved, Jesus is coming. Now, I don’t know when but I personally think it will be very, very soon. Well, no man knows the time or the hour, but it sure does seem like it’ll be soon. What do you think? Let me know. Tomorrow will be the law Monday. and we’ll read Deuteronomy 16 through 19.

Steve Webb 13:23
John train came in today with his monthly $50 donation, making him Our executive producer. Thank you, John, God bless you. You know, beloved, that when you donate to the show, you are actively participating with me and bringing the Word of God to the world. You’re not behind the microphone, but you are a vital part of this ministry. I literally could not do this without the help of the Lifespring family. and if you’ve not yet donated, I’m inviting you now to join with me and the other Lifespring family members in the work. What value has the Lifespring! One Year Bible brought to your life? Is it just another podcast and you’re listening rotation? Or does it mean something more? This season will soon come to a close? There’s just a little more than a month left? helped me to bring it home, won’t you be part of the work? If the show is brought value to you returned some of that value at Lifespringmedia.com sash supports. I’ll thank you and I believe that God will bless you.

Steve Webb 14:24
Praises and pray requests. Well guess what? Both Kathi and Del have COVID. Del came down with it first, his symptoms were very flu like including vomiting and diarrhea. After two days of it, his daughter took him to the VA hospital where they ran tests and determined that Yep, it’s COVID. So they kept him there for about two days and then sent him home. Now Kathi, who as you know is being treated for cancer came down with the same symptoms the day after Del was hospitalized. The daughter took her to Loma Linda University Medical Center where she who tested positive for COVID. and they kept Kathi overnight, but they didn’t give her any meds because of the cancer meds she’s taking, they didn’t know what interactions the COVID meds might have with a cancer meds. So they sent her home to write it out. and that’s where she is now. So let’s pray that both Kathi and Del recover quickly showing. and remember, Del’s heart has only about 20% function, so this is tough for him as well. and as I record this on Saturday night, Hurricane Hillary, Hillary is making his way up the coast of Baja California bearing down on Southern California. Now last time I checked, it was a category two storm but by the time it gets here, it’s expected to have weakened to tropical storm status. But flooding is expected across the area. Even death valley is expected received between two and three inches of rain, which is more than two typical years worth I think it’s more like five or six years. Some areas of the desert just east of me are expecting to get up to 10 inches. Yeah, the desert 10 inches. Flooding is not likely where I am since I’m on high ground, but winds might cause some damage to trees in some structures. and that’s across southern California. Power outages are expected as well as internet, so I might not be able to produce Monday show for you. The weather service is saying that this could be the worst storm to hit Southern California since 1938. So let’s pray that they’re wrong. Most of the time, strong storm predictions here in Southern California ended up not being true. So let’s pray that Hillary ends up weakening to a few scattered showers. and speaking of the hurricane, my friend Bryan Duncan is scheduled to fly in from a gig in Europe on Sunday, which is when the hurricane is supposed to be passing through. and I’m supposed to pick him up at Palm Springs airport. Well, that area is supposed to get a ton of rain. So my guess is that the flight will not be coming in on time. and it’ll be interesting to see how that changes. Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for teaching us from Your Word what is true. As we read and as we study, we pray that you would embed your truth into our hearts and our minds. keep us from being deceived, Lord and help us to help others who have been led astray. We pray now for Del and Kathi, Lord, we pray that you would strengthen them, help them to recover quickly from this virus. and we thank you for their daughters who take such good care of them. Bless them and their families. As the storm moves across Baja and California, I pray that the damage it brings will be light or even non existent Lord, I pray that you would protect the vulnerable. I pray for Bryan’s flight Lord and others that are scheduled. Keep them safe father with a minimum of disruption especially for families that are traveling. and now Lord, I thank you for the Lifespring family and I pray that were there our needs, you will meet them in your perfect and loving way. Walk with us, Lord, as we seek to know you better each day. We pray these things in Jesus name, amen. Our next time to pray together will be this coming Wednesday. Let me know how we can pray with you.

Steve Webb 18:22
Here’s how you can reach me call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1-951-732-8511 Or for prayer requests and praise reports go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com and if you have a comment or a question for me go to comment.lifespringmedia.com My email address is st***@*************ia.com. and of course you can always send the Boostagram I love to get those things. All you need is a modern podcast app that you can get at podcast apps.com.

Steve Webb 18:59
Thanks to Sister Denise Michael Haner Scott Snider Jason Paschall who did today show our Thank you Jason and sister Brittaney for their generous donations of time and talent. Thanks to John train for helping to make this episode possible. and thank you, beloved, for inviting me to be a part of your day, Lord willing if hurricane Hillary doesn’t.

James Cooper 19:29
All the programs in the Lifespringmedia.com family are made possible by the generous gifts of people like you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 15 CEV, Ch. 16 ERV

Lifespring! Family Berean Phil Colbourn, Anonymous

Michael Haner

It’s Gospels Saturday, and we’ll read Acts 15-16. I’m calling this episode “A Parting of the Ways.“

In Acts 15 and 16 we read of an intense argument between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark. Paul suggested checking on their followers, but Barnabas wanted Mark along, despite his past failure. Their clash escalated to a heated argument. They split, Barnabas mentoring Mark and Paul moving on with Silas. This shows the importance of love among believers. Eventually, Paul and Mark reconciled, and Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark. The argument shows God’s grace can turn conflicts into opportunities for His glory.

Listen to the episode for more!

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
Michael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 Chapters
Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider: Show Art
Jason Paschall: Show Art
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

Download .txt file.

Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00
Red-faced, voice raised, hands on hips.

Steve Webb 0:04
It’s the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, my name is Steve Webb. I’m your OG Godcaster. It’s Gospel Saturday, and we’ll read Acts 15 and 16. The website is lifespringmedia.com. and I’ll have contact information, when? At the end of the show. Before we read, let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we love you and we thank you for our time together to read your Word. Thank you, Lord, for giving it to us. Touch our hearts, Lord. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. All right, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:41
Acts, chapter 15. Some people came from Judea and started teaching the Lord’s followers that they could not be saved, unless they were circumcised as Moses had taught. This caused trouble, and Paul and Barnabas argued with them about this teaching. So it was decided to send Paul and Barnabas and a few others to Jerusalem to discuss this problem with the apostles and the church leaders. The men who were sent by the church went through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling how the Gentiles had turned to God. This news made the Lord’s followers very happy. When the men arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, including the apostles and the leaders. They told them everything God had helped them do. But some Pharisees had become followers of the Lord. They stood up and said, “Gentiles who have faith in the Lord must be circumcised and told to obey the Law of Moses.” The apostles and church leaders met to discuss this problem about Gentiles. They had talked it over for a long time, when Peter got up and said: My friends, you know that God decided long ago to let me be the one from your group to preach the good news to the Gentiles. God did this so they would hear and obey him. He knows what is in everyone’s heart. And he showed he had chosen the Gentiles, when he gave them the Holy Spirit, just as he had given his Spirit to us. God treated them in the same way that he treated us. They put their faith in him, and he made their hearts pure. Now why are you trying to make God angry by placing a heavy burden on these followers? This burden was too heavy for us or our ancestors. But we believe that we will be saved by the gift of undeserved grace from our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Gentiles are. Everyone kept quiet and listened as Barnabas and Paul told how God had given them the power to work a lot of miracles and wonders for the Gentiles. After they had finished speaking, James said: My friends, listen to me! Simon Peter has told how God first came to the Gentiles and made some of them his own people. This agrees with what the prophets wrote, “I, the Lord, will return and rebuild David’s fallen house. I will build it from its ruins and set it up again. Then other nations will turn to me and be my chosen ones. I, the Lord, say this. I promised it long ago.” And so, my friends, I don’t think we should place burdens on the Gentiles who are turning to God. We should simply write and tell them not to eat anything that has been offered to idols. They should be told not to eat the meat of any animal that has been strangled or that still has blood in it. They must also not commit any terrible sexual sins. We must remember that the Law of Moses has been preached in city after city for many years, and every Sabbath it is read in our synagogues. The apostles, the leaders, and all the church members decided to send some men to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Silas and Judas Barsabbas, who were two leaders of the Lord’s followers. They wrote a letter that said: We apostles and leaders send friendly greetings to all of you Gentiles who are followers of the Lord in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. We have heard that some people from here have terribly upset you by what they said. But we did not send them! So we met together and decided to choose some men and to send them to you along with our good friends Barnabas and Saul. These men have risked their lives for our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also sending Judas and Silas, who will tell you in person the same things that we are writing. The Holy Spirit has shown us that we should not place any extra burden on you. But you should not eat anything offered to idols. You should not eat any meat that still has the blood in it or any meat of any animal that has been strangled. You must also not commit any terrible sexual sins. If you follow these instructions, you will do well. We send our best wishes. The four men left Jerusalem and went to Antioch. Then they called the church members together and gave them the letter. When the letter was read, everyone was pleased and greatly encouraged. Judas and Silas were prophets, and they spoke a long time, encouraging and helping the Lord’s followers. The men from Jerusalem stayed on in Antioch for a while. And when they left to return to the ones who had sent them, the followers wished them well. But Paul and Barnabas stayed on in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached about the Lord. Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the Lord’s followers in the cities where we preached his message. Then we will know how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take along John, whose other name was Mark. But Paul did not want to, because Mark had left them in Pamphylia and had stopped working with them. Paul and Barnabas argued, then each of them went his own way. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, but Paul took Silas and left after the followers had placed them in God’s care. They traveled through Syria and Cilicia, encouraging the churches.

Steve Webb 5:41
Acts, chapter 16. Paul went to the city of Derbe and then to Lystra, where a follower of Jesus named Timothy lived. Timothy’s mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. The believers in the cities of Lystra and Iconium had only good things to say about him. Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him, but all the Jews living in that area knew that his father was a Greek. So Paul circumcised Timothy to please the Jews. Then Paul and those with him traveled through other cities. They gave the believers the rules and decisions from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. They told them to obey these rules. So the churches were becoming stronger in their faith, and the number of believers was growing every day. Paul and those with him went through the areas of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit did not allow them to tell the Good News in the province of Asia. When they reached the border of Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them go there. So they passed by Mysia and went to the city of Troas. That night Paul saw a vision. In it, a man from Macedonia came to Paul. The man stood there and begged, “Come across to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we immediately prepared to leave for Macedonia. We understood that God had called us to tell the Good News to those people. We left Troas in a ship and sailed to the island of Samothrace. The next day we sailed to the city of Neapolis. Then we went to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city in that part of Macedonia. We stayed there for a few days. On the Sabbath day we went out the city gate to the river. There we thought we might find a special place for prayer. Some women had gathered there, so we sat down and talked with them. There was a woman there named Lydia from the city of Thyatira. Her job was selling purple cloth. She was a worshiper of the true God. Lydia was listening to Paul, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. She and all the people living in her house were baptized. Then she invited us into her home. She said, “If you think I am a true believer in the Lord Jesus, come stay in my house.” She persuaded us to stay with her. One day we were going to the place for prayer, and a servant girl met us. She had a spirit in her that gave her the power to tell what would happen in the future. By doing this she earned a lot of money for the men who owned her. She started following Paul and the rest of us around. She kept shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God! They are telling you how you can be saved!” She continued doing this for many days. This bothered Paul, so he turned and said to the spirit, “By the power of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her!” Immediately, the spirit came out. When the men who owned the servant girl saw this, they realized that they could no longer use her to make money. So they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them to the public square to meet with the authorities. They brought Paul and Silas before the Roman officials and said, “These men are Jews, and they are making trouble in our city. They are telling people to do things that are not right for us Romans to do.” The whole crowd turned against Paul and Silas. The officials tore the clothes off both men and ordered that they be beaten with rods. They were severely beaten and thrown into jail. The officials told the jailer, “Guard them very carefully!” When the jailer heard this special order, he put Paul and Silas far inside the jail and bound their feet between large blocks of wood. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God. The other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so strong that it shook the foundation of the jail. All the doors of the jail opened, and the chains on all the prisoners fell off. The jailer woke up and saw that the jail doors were open. He thought that the prisoners had already escaped, so he got his sword and was ready to kill himself. But Paul shouted, “Don’t hurt yourself! We are all here!” The jailer told someone to bring a light. Then he ran inside and, shaking with fear, fell down in front of Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?” They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all who live in your house.” So Paul and Silas told the message of the Lord to the jailer and all the people who lived in his house. It was late at night, but the jailer took Paul and Silas and washed their wounds. Then the jailer and all his people were baptized. After this the jailer took Paul and Silas home and gave them some food. All the people were very happy because they now believed in God. The next morning the Roman officials sent some soldiers to tell the jailer, “Let these men go free.” The jailer said to Paul, “The officials have sent these soldiers to let you go free. You can leave now. Go in peace.” But Paul said to the soldiers, “Those officials did not prove that we did anything wrong, but they beat us in public and put us in jail. And we are Roman citizens. Now they want us to go away quietly. No, they must come here themselves and lead us out!” The soldiers told the officials what Paul said. When they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid. So they came and told them that they were sorry. They led them out of the jail and asked them to leave the city. But when Paul and Silas came out of the jail, they went to Lydia’s house. They saw some of the believers there and encouraged them. Then they left.

Steve Webb 11:17
You know, I’m always struck by the last scene in chapter 15. It’s in verses 36 through 41. Paul suggested to Barnabas that they go and see how well the followers were doing in the cities that they’d visited and preached in and Barnabas said, “Hey, let’s take my cousin John Mark along with us.” And Paul said, “Yeah, no. I don’t think so. When things got tough in Pamphylia, he wimped out on us and took off. I don’t trust him.” Well, this caused an argument between Barnabas and Saul. And according to the original Greek, this was not just a calm disagreement. Have you ever seen a baseball team manager arguing nose-to-nose with an umpire, red-faced, voice raised, hands on hips? Maybe you’ve even seen the manager kick dirt on the ump? Well, that seems to be the kind of argument Barnabas and Paul had. The Greek used for argument in our text today can be literally translated as “paroxysm”. And well, I had to look that one up the first time I read it, and it means a sudden attack or a violent expression of a particular emotion or activity. Some synonyms are spasm, attack, fit, burst, outburst, eruption, explosion. I mean, these guys really got into it! It’s funny. We don’t really think of our Bible heroes having these kinds of paroxysms, do we? But anyway, what happened was they split up. Barnabas took Mark and went to Cyprus and Paul and Silas went to Syria and Cilicia. So what do we learn from this? Is it a good thing to have knockdown, drag-out fights with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Well, not generally speaking, no, it’s not. Jesus said, “The world will know your mind by the love you have for one another.” Well, in this instance, Paul and Barnabas struck out, if we want to continue the baseball parallel. They blew it. And I think that later on, they both regretted it. And there is some evidence that I’m right on this because we read in Colossians that Paul referred to Mark as “my fellow worker”, and he vouched for him in the Colossian church. And then near the end of his life, he asked Timothy to bring Mark with him. We do know that Barnabas, whose name means “Son of Encouragement”, and who is referred to as a good man full of the Holy Spirit in faith, spent time with Mark discipling him and it sounds to me like Barnabas’ time with Mark was effective. Why do I say that? Well, how about the fact that Mark wrote the “Gospel According to Mark”? The Bible doesn’t sugarcoat the humanity of the men and women we find in its pages. We’ve seen that as we read through the Bible this year, right? We see how God powerfully uses these people despite their failings. What do we learn from the violent argument between Barnabas and Paul? That God’s grace is sufficient. If our heart is right, if we truly desire to follow God, when our flesh gets in the way, God will take a disaster and turn it around for his glory. Now, that doesn’t mean that the next time you have a disagreement with a brother or sister you have license to punch ’em in the nose, though, so don’t do that. Tell me your thoughts. Let me hear from you. Send a boostagram or call the Lifespring Family Hotline or go to the comments page or write an email. I’ll tell you how to do that just a little bit later. Tomorrow will be Epistles Sunday and we’ll read the book of 2 Peter.

Steve Webb 14:41
I’ve got some people to thank today. Executive Producers. First, Lifespring Berean Brother Phil Colbourn came in with a $333.33 donation today. Thank you very much, Brother Phil. God bless you. Brother Phil also sent a prayer request which I’ll share during tomorrow’s prayer time. And in the meantime, Brother Phil, please know that I’ve already put your request on my personal prayer list. And Anonymous came in with their weekly $33.33 donation. Thank you, Anonymous. God bless you. Also an Executive Producer. And Michael Haner is today’s Associate Producer with his weekly $7.77 Stryper donation. Thank you, Michael. Michael does the chapters for every single episode of the Lifespring! One Year Bible. Time, talent, and treasure. God bless you, Mr. Haner and Lifespring Berean Brother Paul of Seattle sent a birthday gift of $69.33 for my 69th birthday today. Thank you, Brother Paul. That’s very kind of you. God bless you. Thank you. I guess the Lovely Lady LeeAnn, and my middle son, Steven, and his wife have plans to take me to dinner on Tuesday which is the first day both LeeAnn and Steven have available. I’m looking forward to that.

Jingle 15:57
Lifespringmedia.com/support

Steve Webb 15:57
I mentioned tomorrow’s prayer time. This is the time, Beloved, when we come together to share praises when you tell us about what God is doing in your life. And when we lift up prayer requests for each other. If there’s something that you’d like to share with the Lifespring family do let me know. Here’s how. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. Or go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. There’s a form there that you can fill out, and if you want to remain anonymous all you got to do is let me know. If you have a comment or a question for me go to comment.lifespringmedia.com and my email address is st***@*************ia.com. Or you can always send a boostagram whenever you feel like it using a modern podcast app from podcastapps.com.

Steve Webb 16:49
Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, Jason Paschall, and Sister Brittaney, thank you for everything you do for me. Jason Paschall did today’s show art. And thanks to Brother Phil Colbourn, Anonymous, Michael Haner, and Brother Paul of Seattle for their very kind support today. And thank you, Beloved, for inviting me to join you today. May God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Announcer 17:18
The Lifespring! Media family of programs are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1-5 NKJV; Ch. 6-7 NIV

It’s Prophecy Friday, and we’ll read Zechariah 1-7. I’m calling this episode “Prophecies of the Messiah.“

Zechariah prophesied after the Jewish exile alongside Haggai. His visions focused more on the people than rebuilding the temple. God’s message was to return to Him so He would return to them. Zechariah used apocalyptic symbolism and imagery, referencing Jesus as the Branch and the one ignored by his people. He envisioned a glorious, expanded Jerusalem if the people repented. Overall, Zechariah called for spiritual renewal through returning to God.

Listen to the episode for more!

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
Michael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 Chapters
Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider: Show Art
Jason Paschall: Show Art
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

Download .txt file.

Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00
Return to me and I will return to you.

Steve Webb 0:04
It’s time for another episode of the Lifespring! One Year Bible. I’m glad you’re here. Podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. It’s Prophecy Friday and our reading today is Zechariah 1 through 7. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and I’ll have contact information at the end of the show. Before we read, let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for our time together, and we thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for revealing to us who you are. I pray, God, that as we read you would draw us closer to yourself. Bless us as we read today, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. All right, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:46
Zechariah, chapter 1. In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, “The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.”’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the Lord. “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? “So they returned and said: ‘Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.’”’” On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet: I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white. Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” So the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.” And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.” So they answered the Angel of the Lord, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly.” Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?” And the Lord answered the angel who talked to me, with good and comforting words. So the angel who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I am zealous for Jerusalem And for Zion with great zeal. I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, And they helped—but with evil intent.” ‘Therefore thus says the Lord: “I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it,” says the Lord of hosts, “And a surveyor’s line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’ “Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; The Lord will again comfort Zion, And will again choose Jerusalem.”’” Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns. And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” So he answered me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. And I said, “What are these coming to do?” So he said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Steve Webb 3:58
Zechariah, chapter 2. Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” And there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel was coming out to meet him, who said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying: ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,’ says the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’” “Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,” says the Lord; “for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven,” says the Lord. “Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.” For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me. “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the Lord. “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. And the Lord will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!”

Steve Webb 5:37
Zechariah, chapter 3. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by. Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, And if you will keep My command, Then you also shall judge My house, And likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk Among these who stand here. ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH. For behold, the stone That I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘Everyone will invite his neighbor Under his vine and under his fig tree.’”

Steve Webb 7:18
Zechariah, chapter 4. Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “The hands of Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.” Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”

Steve Webb 9:08
Zechariah, chapter 5. Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: ‘Every thief shall be expelled,’ according to this side of the scroll; and, ‘Every perjurer shall be expelled,’ according to that side of it.” “I will send out the curse,” says the Lord of hosts; “It shall enter the house of the thief And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house And consume it, with its timber and stones.” Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.” So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth: Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”; then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead over its mouth. Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?” And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”

Steve Webb 10:41
Zechariah, chapter 6. I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?” The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.” When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth. Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.” The word of the Lord came to me: “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak. Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Steve Webb 12:36
Zechariah, chapter 7. In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’” And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry. “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”

Steve Webb 14:22
Did you know that Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries? Well, they were. Both were called by God after the Seventy Year Exile. Zechariah’s prophecy came two months after Haggai’s first prophecy. And where the prophecies of Haggai were primarily to do with the temple, Zechariah’s were about the people. And the language of Zechariah’s messages were very similar to that of the book of Revelation with symbolism, types, and visions. Now, Zechariah, which means “the Lord remembers”, is a common name in the Old Testament. And we don’t know much about the author of this prophetic book. We do know from the book of Ezra that he was the son of Iddo. Now in chapter 1, God’s message to the people is: “Return to me, and I will return to you.” Did you happen to see Zechariah’s references to Jesus in these chapters? In chapter 1, verse 11, he’s the man who stood among the myrtle trees. In chapter 2, he’s the man with a measuring line in his hand. Here, Jesus is going to measure the physical size of Jerusalem, because many are going to be added to the city because those who have been spread abroad like the four winds of heaven are being called back. So Jerusalem will increase. Then a second angel comes to Jesus and tells him to tell Zechariah, that Jerusalem will be like a city without walls because of the multitude of the population of people and livestock. But the people should not be afraid of having no walls, because God will be their protector, like a wall of fire around them, and his glory will be in their midst. Beloved, this is a vision of what is to be. God is not just calling the Jews but anyone who will put their trust in his Son Jesus. In verse 11 of chapter 2, the Lord says, “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become my people, and I will dwell in your midst, then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.” This chapter is a call to all of us to rejoice in God’s plan and his promises. And then in chapter 3, Jesus is referred to as the Branch. And then we read again of the Branch in chapter 6. There he’s referred to as the Branch who will build the temple of the Lord. Let me ask you, what temple did Jesus build? He built the church. How’s that? Well, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:19. And then in chapter 7, the Lord through Zechariah said that his people ignored him, so he ignored them and scattered them among the nations. There are several times in these chapters that we read references to the Messiah. Remember, Jesus as the second person of the Trinity is the I AM. He has always been and he will always be. He was at the creation, and he has always been active in the affairs of man. For Zechariah, or actually any of the prophets, to have seen Jesus in visions is really not surprising when you look at it like that, right? Now, I myself am looking forward to the day when I’ll see him face to face. How about you? Are you looking forward to that day? You have thoughts or questions? Let me hear from you. Send a boostagram or call the Lifespring Family Hotline or go to the comments page, or write an email. I’ll tell you how to do all that stuff at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Gospel Saturday and we’ll read Acts 15 and 16.

Adam Curry 17:58
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Steve Webb 18:00
Lifespring family Berean Brother Sean formerly of San Pedro, sent in 13,319 sats, 13319 sats, on the Psalms 131 through 133 From Pride to Peace episode which was episode number s13e319, 13319. Brother Sean said, “Show number boost. Great idea. I’m getting better about carving out a daily listening time and it feels good.” Well, thank you, Sean. And thanks to Jamie the Trucker for coming up with the idea of a show number boost. I’m liking this. And Brother Sean, I’m glad you’ve apparently gotten somewhat settled in there in Phoenix so that you can get back to listening to the show on a daily basis. I missed you, Brother. God bless you and your family. And if you’re a No Agenda listener and have listened to the latest episode, you may have heard the Associate Producer donation from the Lovely Lady LeeAnn in their first donation segment. You know, I very rarely mentioned the date of my birthday online anywhere including this show. But LeeAnn with her donation there in which she wished me a happy birthday? Well, with the size of their audience, I think it’s safe to say that she let the cat out of the bag. So yes, it’s true. Tomorrow is my 69th birthday. Yikes! Hard to believe I’ll soon be a septuagenarian, yeah. So anyway, if you would like to help me celebrate my 69th birthday, $69 Happy Birthday donations would be greatly accepted and acknowledged here on the show. And here’s where you can do that.

Steve Webb 19:29
Lifespringmedia.com/support

Steve Webb 19:30
At the beginning of the show, I told you I’d let you know at the end of the show how to reach me. The best way is with a boostagram using a modern podcast app. Another way is to call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. And for prayer requests and praise reports, you can also go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. If you’ve got a comment or question, you can go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Or you can even send an email to me at st***@*************ia.com.

Steve Webb 20:16
Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, Jason Paschall, and Sister Brittaney are the team and I thank them so much for what they do. Jason Paschall did today’s show art, And thank you, Beloved, for making me a part of your day. Lord willing, I’ll be back with another episode tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Steve Webb 20:41
Lifespring! Media, bringing the message of hope, love, and good news since 2004.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 7-8 CEV

It’s Poetry Thursday, and we’ll read Ecclesiastes 7-8. I’m calling this episode “Let Go and Trust God.“

Ecclesiastes 7-8 teaches that human pursuits like wisdom, wealth, and power don’t bring lasting happiness. Solomon’s realization, despite his own riches, is that God’s ways are beyond our understanding. He doesn’t blame God for life’s unfairness but acknowledges it’s part of reality. He suggests we must leave certain things to God to maintain our sanity. Trusting in God’s love, holiness, and justice is key, believing He’ll ultimately make things right.

Listen to the episode for more!

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
Michael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 Chapters
Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider: Show Art
Jason Paschall: Show Art
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

Download .txt file.

Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00
You really do have to just come to grips with that reality.

Steve Webb 0:05
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California. And podcasting since 2004, I’m Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster. It’s Poetry Thursday and our reading today is Ecclesiastes 7 and 8. The website is lifespringmedia.com and contact information will be at the end of the show. Before we read, let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you again for our time together today and we pray that you would bless us as we read. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen. All right, Beloved, are you ready to begin? Let’s go.

Steve Webb 0:41
Ecclesiastes, chapter 7. A good reputation at the time of death is better than loving care at the time of birth. It’s better to go to a funeral than to attend a feast; funerals remind us that we all must die. Choose sorrow over laughter because a sad face may hide a happy heart. A sensible person mourns, but fools always laugh. Correction from someone wise is better by far than praise from fools. Foolish laughter is stupid. It sounds like thorns crackling in a fire. Corruption makes fools of sensible people, and bribes can ruin you. Something completed is better than something just begun; patience is better than too much pride. Only fools get angry quickly and hold a grudge. It isn’t wise to ask, “Why is everything worse than it used to be?” Having wisdom is better than an inheritance. Wisdom will protect you just like money; knowledge with good sense will lead you to life. Think of what God has done! If God makes something crooked, can you make it straight? When times are good, you should be cheerful; when times are bad, think about what it means. God makes them both to keep us from knowing what will happen next. I have seen everything during this senseless life of mine. I have seen good citizens die for doing the right thing, while criminals live and prosper. So don’t destroy yourself by being too good or acting too smart! Don’t die before your time by being too evil or acting like a fool. Keep to the middle of the road. You can do this if you truly respect God. Wisdom will make you stronger than the ten most powerful leaders in your city. No one in this world always does right. Don’t listen to everything that everyone says, or you might hear your servant cursing you. Haven’t you cursed many others? I told myself that I would be smart and try to understand all this, but it was too much for me. The truth is beyond us. It’s far too deep. So I decided to learn everything I could and become wise enough to discover what life is all about. At the same time, I wanted to understand why it’s stupid and senseless to be an evil fool. Here is what I discovered: A bad woman is worse than death. She is a trap, reaching out with body and soul to catch you. But if you obey God, you can escape. If you don’t obey, you are done for. With all my wisdom I have tried to find out how everything fits together, but so far I have not been able to. I do know there is one good man in a thousand, but never have I found a good woman. I did learn one thing: We were completely honest when God created us, but now we have twisted minds.

Steve Webb 3:36
Ecclesiastes, chapter 8. Who is smart enough to explain everything? Wisdom makes you cheerful and gives you a smile. If you promised God that you would be loyal to the king, I advise you to keep that promise. Don’t quickly oppose the king or argue when he has already made up his mind. The king’s word is law. No one can ask him, “Why are you doing this?” If you obey the king, you will stay out of trouble. So be wise and learn what to do and when to do it. Life is hard, but there is a time and a place for everything, though no one can tell the future. We cannot control the wind or determine the day of our death. There is no escape in time of war, and no one can hide behind evil. I noticed all this and thought seriously about what goes on in the world. Why does one person have the power to hurt another? I saw the wicked buried with honor, but God’s people had to leave the holy city and were forgotten. None of this makes sense. When we see criminals commit crime after crime without being punished, it makes us want to start a life of crime. They commit hundreds of crimes and live a long time, in spite of the saying: Everyone who lives right and respects God will prosper, but no one who sins and rejects God will prosper or live very long. There is something else that doesn’t make sense to me. Good citizens are treated as criminals, while criminals are honored as though they were good citizens. So I think we should get as much out of life as we possibly can. There is nothing better than to enjoy our food and drink and have a good time. Then we can make it through this troublesome life that God has given us here on earth. Day and night I went without sleep, trying to understand what goes on in this world. I saw everything God does, and I realized no one can really understand what happens. We may be very wise, but no matter how much we try or how much we claim to know, we cannot understand it all.

Steve Webb 5:40
Well, Beloved, I think that what we can take from Solomon’s teaching here in Ecclesiastes is that wisdom, money, power, and everything else that man strives for does not bring happiness or understanding or peace. Solomon had it all. But at the end of his life, he realized that what God does is far beyond man’s understanding. Notice that not once has he accused God of being unjust or unfair. He has said that some of the things he has seen are unfair, but he chalks that up to just what happens in this life. And he admits in the last two verses of today’s reading, that we just cannot understand it. Some things we just need to leave in the hands of God. Now, our human heart doesn’t easily find that conclusion to be very satisfying. But if you don’t want to drive yourself crazy, trying to figure out what is impossible for our puny finite minds to grasp, then you really do have to just come to grips with that reality. We can’t understand the things that God does. We need to trust that God truly does love us, and he does. We need to trust that God truly is holy, and he is. We need to trust that God is just, and he is. We need to trust that on the last day, God will set everything right, and he will. Well, what are your thoughts? I’d love to hear. Do you have a question? Let me know. Let me hear from you. Send a boostagram, or call the Lifespring Family Hotline, or go to the comments page, or write an email. All the details on how to do that are at the end of the show in just a few moments. Tomorrow will be Prophecy Friday, and we’ll read the first half of the book of Zechariah. We’ll read chapters 1 through 7.

Announcer 7:26
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Steve Webb 7:27
A 500 sat boost came in from Fountain user number 8328 on yesterday’s episode. No message just the boost. Thanks, 8328. God bless you.

Jingle 7:38
Lifespringmedia.com/support

Steve Webb 7:44
Our next time to pray together here on the show as a family will be this coming Sunday. So if you have a praise or a prayer request, do let me know. I’ll tell you how to do that in just a moment.

Steve Webb 8:03
This is where I tell you how to reach me. The best way is with a boostagram using a modern podcast app from podcastapps.com. The next best way is to call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. You can also do this: for prayer requests and praise reports go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. You’ll find a form there, easy and quick to fill out. And if you would like to remain anonymous, you can let me know on that form. For comments or questions go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. And if you’d like to send an email to me, you can do that at st***@*************ia.com. Any of those methods will work. Just pick one and talk to me.

Steve Webb 8:51
This is where I thank Sister Denise and Michael Haner, Scott Snider, and Jason Paschall (Jason did today’s show art. Thank you, Jason) and Sister Brittaney for their generous donations of both time and talent. Thank you to the sat streamers and boosters I appreciate you so very much. And thank you, Beloved, for inviting me to join you today. Lord willing, I’ll be back with another episode tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Announcer 9:20
The Lifespring! Media family of programs are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 131-133 ESV

Jason Paschall

It’s Psalms Wednesday, and we’ll read chapters 131-133. We’ll also have our last Essentials segment and a time of prayer. I’m calling this episode “From Pride to Peace.“

Psalm 131, attributed to David, reflects his realization that pride should have no place in his heart despite his accomplishments. Despite his own successes, David understood the destructive nature of pride, exemplified by his own downfall in the Bathsheba incident driven by arrogance. He acknowledges that contentment with God’s blessings and a contrite heart are far superior to the pursuit of worldly glory. The psalm implores readers to learn this lesson early, seeking a deep relationship with God for a fulfilling life and lasting legacy. Even if learned later, the psalm suggests that finding peace with God and admitting the need for forgiveness is the first step toward overcoming pride and becoming the person one was meant to be through Christ’s transformative work.

Listen to the episode for more!

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
Michael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 Chapters
Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider: Show Art
Jason Paschall: Show Art
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

Download .txt file.

Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00
David learned the hard way that pride will inevitably wreak havoc on one’s life.

Steve Webb 0:04
It’s the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004. My name is Steve Webb. I’m your OG Godcaster. It’s Psalms Wednesday, and we’ll read chapters 131 through 133. We’ll also have our last Essentials segment, and we’ll have a time of prayer. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and I’ll have contact information at the end of the show. Before we read, let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for our time together. And we thank you for the Psalms, which we’re going to be reading today. I pray God that you would teach us as we read. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. All right, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:47
Psalm 131 is also one of the Songs of Ascent and this is one of David’s. Commentators think it may have been written when David was being hunted by King Saul or after David’s wife, Michal, accused him of vulgar, undignified behavior when he danced in celebration when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem. In this Psalm, David denies any pride or ambition. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “It is one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn. It speaks of a young child but it contains the experience of a man in Christ.”

Steve Webb 1:22
Psalms, chapter 131. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

Steve Webb 1:51
Psalm 132 was also a Song of Ascent, and even though no author is attributed in the title, a case for Solomon as the author can be made. James Montgomery Boice wrote, “Since Psalm 132, verses 8 through 10 are quoted in 2 Chronicles 6:41 and 42 as part of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple. This psalm probably dates from Solomon’s reign, even though the title does not identify it as Solomon’s Psalm.”

Steve Webb 2:19
Psalms, chapter 132. Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor, all the hardships he endured, how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, “I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. “Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!” Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.” For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy. There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Steve Webb 3:56
The title of Psalm 133 is A Song of Ascents of David, and this is the last of the series of fifteen to be written by him. We don’t know the time or event of the writing, but perhaps it was when all of the tribes were once again reunited under David’s rule. Boice wrote, “It could date from the crowning of David at Hebron when the leaders of the nation were, for a time at least, of one heart in mind. See 2 Samuel 5:1 and 1 Chronicles 12:38 through 40.”

Steve Webb 4:27
Psalms, chapter 133. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

Steve Webb 4:53
Psalm 131 is David’s psalm in which he declares that pride has no place in his heart. For someone with as many accomplishments as David had, it can be very difficult not to harbor pride or arrogance. And we know from Scripture that David had at least one bout with pride when he got into trouble with Bathsheba. To be sure lust was a big part of his sin, but pride was at the root of his fall. He thought that he could get away with his sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent sin of the murder of her husband. But the cascading consequences of the first sin reverberated for many, many years. David learned the hard way that pride will inevitably wreak havoc on one’s life. And in this psalm, he says that he has learned that it is much better to be content with God and the blessings he brings to a contrite heart. Oh, Beloved, would that we would learn this lesson early in life instead of spending wasted years in pursuit of glory, riches and power. A heart in pursuit of a vital dynamic, deep relationship with God will always result in a life infinitely more fulfilled. It will be a life that leaves an eternal legacy. But even if we learned the lesson later in life as David did, we know from this psalm that our heart can find peace with God despite earlier failures. Coming to Christ, admitting that we need the forgiveness that only he can bring is but the first step in laying down our pride. And from that point on, he begins the work of making us a new person, the person he created us to be. What are your thoughts? Do you have any questions? Let me hear from ya. Send a boostagram, or call the Lifespring Family Hotline, or go to the comments page, or write an email. I’ll tell you how to do that at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Poetry Thursday, and our reading will be Ecclesiastes 7 and 8.

Steve Webb 6:46
Jason Paschall came in with $50 via Zelle and since I see that he too has been donating at this level for many months. He too is now an Executive Producer. Man, thank you, Jason. Not only has Jason consistently been supporting the show with treasure, but he’s been donating time and talent by creating some beautiful show art. God bless you, Jason. Thank you so much. And Lester Graber came in with $20 as well. Thank you so much, Lester. Lester has been a Lifespring family member for quite some time now. And like me, he’s a grandpa with several more grandkids than me. So he’s a busy guy. I appreciate you, Lester. God bless you. Thank you.

Announcer 7:22
Boostagram.

Steve Webb 7:23
Fountain user @smarroquin3 sent in a 1000 sat boostagram. He said, “God bless.” Well, God bless you, too. Thank you @smarroquin3. @smarroquin3 and I are now following each other on Instagram, and you can follow me too if you’d like. I’m OG underscore Godcaster at Instagram, and I’ll follow you back, especially if you message me to let me know you’re a Lifespring family member. I don’t post a lot over there. But when I do post, I try to make it interesting, and I’d love to see what you’re doing. Beloved, as you know, the Lifespring! Family Audio Bible is here for you every day of the week to help keep you on track to read through the entire Bible in a year. We’re almost there. There are no advertisers. But expenses do need to be paid, and that’s where you come in. If you value the show, because it is helping you stay in the Word every day or because of the comments I bring to you on every show and the fact that I don’t compromise God’s word, then please support the show. Donate what you feel is equal to the value you receive from the show. Pray about it, would you? And then go here and do what the Lord is leading you to do:

Jingle 8:22
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Steve Webb 8:26
I’ll thank you and I believe that God’ll bless you. Lifespringmedia.com/support.

Steve Webb 8:39
This is the 20th and final installment in our series on the Essentials of the Faith. In our last Essentials segment, we talked about the Second Coming of Jesus to the Earth. This week, we’ll complete our Essentials series with this: “The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation.” Did you ever wonder why you’re here? What is the reason for your existence? Why were you born? Those are pretty big questions, aren’t they? For the atheist, the non-believer, I think probably the answer would probably be, well, there is no ultimate reason. It was just a chance meeting of sperm and egg. I happen to be the result. I’m just along for the ride, and when I die, I die. Well, for the believer, we at least know that we were created in the image of God, right? That’s a great start. But is there more? Why are we here? Is there something more? If there’s not then why not just immediately go into the presence of God when we accept Jesus as our Savior? Why go through the trials of life if there’s no purpose beyond our salvation? Well, if you’ve been with me this season, you know that we are currently reading through the book of Ecclesiastes on our Poetry Thursdays. And this is the question that Solomon is wrestling with, isn’t it? Well, since we’re on the subject, I’ll give you a spoiler. Solomon’s conclusion is this: “Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man, for God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Fear God and keep his commandments. Please remember that the word “fear” there does not mean to be afraid of, or terrified as if God were some sort of monster or wild thing that might kill you at any moment for no reason. “Fear” here means to have an awe and respect for God. Also, remember the time in which Solomon lived. He lived before Jesus came and revealed God’s plan of redemption. In Jesus, we see a God who loves us so much that he’s willing to do everything necessary to reconcile sinful undeserving man to himself who is a perfect and holy God. So maybe there’s more to life than just fearing God and keeping his commandments. In Psalm 73:25 and 26, Asaph wrote, “Whom have I in heaven, but you, and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.” Oh, my goodness, Beloved, did you hear that, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Wow, and to have this kind of relationship with a loving God takes it so much further than just fearing and obeying him, doesn’t it? But Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” When we love someone, we naturally want to do things for them, don’t we? We want to please them. We want to bring them joy. And just before Jesus left the disciples and ascended into heaven, he left them with a commandment and a promise. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Jesus did not mean this message only for those eleven disciples standing there. How could they have gone to all the nations? No, Beloved, this message is for all of us. This message is for the church, as a whole, and as individuals. Each of us wherever we are, has a call to take the message of the gospel to those around us. When he said, “Go, therefore,” he didn’t mean, you know, get on a plane and, you know, go to the deepest, darkest reaches of the world. He was saying, Go, as you live your life and do this, tell them about me so that they will also come to know me. Teach them about what I’ve said. And, Beloved, of course, his promise should give us strength and hope. He said, “And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.” Beloved, we are not in this alone. He is with us. He is closer than a brother. He is our God. He is our Savior. He’s our friend. As we obey him, as we live in fellowship with him, we fulfill the ultimate purpose for the believer, we bring glory to God. We point people to him. Our purpose in life is not to say, Look at me, aren’t I great? Our life should say, Look at God, isn’t he great? Each of us can do that wherever we are. You don’t need a pulpit. You don’t need thousands of social media followers. And you don’t need this microphone in front of your face. You can do it at work. You can do it at school. You can do it in your home. You can do it at the grocery store. You can do it wherever you are. Bring glory to God. Share his goodness. Share his message of hope, love, and good news. Amen?

Steve Webb 14:00
Praises and prayer requests. On last Sunday’s prayer time, Lifespring family Berean Brother Paul of Seattle had a praise that his cousin’s wife had given birth to their first child, but he didn’t tell us whether it was a boy or a girl. I asked for details. So Brother Paul sent this note he said, “Oh yeah, his name is Titus.” Titus, what a great name. Give them our best Brother Paul. Thanks for the update. And Brother Paul sent this praise report in, too. He said, “Hi Steve. First off, I like the new samba-mamba-rumba music. It reminds me of Mario Kart. A while back I sent in a prayer request about a house, asking for God to open or close the door to the place. Well, unless something crazy happens now. We’ll be closing on the place at the end of August.” Hey, praise the Lord for that. Great. He said, “This place must have been from God because of three things. First, it’s been sitting empty for two years and really they should have put it on the market two years ago because they probably would have got, get this, about 33% more or so out of it. 33’s the magic number, right? And then that brings us to item two, the price. What we’re paying for it seems like a deal. Everyone says so. We believe the sellers are happy with the price as well. So everyone is good all around. But it still feels like it could have gone for more. And lastly, number three, when they put it on the market recently, it was sitting on the market for much longer than it should have been. And nobody made an offer until we did. It really seems like this is the place God has for us, which also brings up two more prayers.” Well, first, let me stop there. Yes, it does exactly seem like the place God wants for you. He knew it was there. He knew you were going to be in this place right now. And so, boom, he saved it for you and presented it right at your feet. Praise God. Okay, two more prayers. Paul says, “We’re continuing to ask God to show us what he wants us to do for him and number two, giving God the praise for the house when talking to others, specifically, not just Christian others, but anyone who says, Wow, that’s crazy you got this house.” Paul says, “It’s happened some already. And I want it to be a natural expression in conversation, not a forced ‘God did it’ in an awkward conversational sort of way. You know, when someone forces something out of the blue, and that kind of kills the conversation?” Paul says, “That was long-winded, sorry, but wanted to show how we think God set this place up for us. And I won’t go into how we got our first place, which looking back must have been by God’s hand, and which is also making it possible to get our new place.” Well, Paul, those are good things to ask for. And we will certainly pray with you about that. And then Lifespring family Berean Phil Colbourn sent in this prayer request. Here it is. He said, “Hi, Steve, I went to donate and the credit card option is no longer visible to my eyes. I’ll try again soon.” Okay, let me stop there. Brother Phil, I don’t know what might be going on. When you go to the donation page, if you go down to the first giving option, you’ll see a box there with different options for giving different amounts. And then at the bottom, there is a place for – what is it? – fill in your own amount. I forgot what it’s called there. But if you… if you step through that process, it’ll step you through to the place where you put in your credit card information. I’m pretty sure that’s… that’s probably what you’re missing. And then if not that, then you can scroll a little bit further down and… and find the PayPal option and perhaps use that. PayPal does let you use a credit card if you want. And so now let’s continue to Brother Phil’s prayer request. “At church, we have a singer named Dallas. He’s suffering from aphasia.” Okay, I had to stop and see what aphasia is. I thought I knew but I wasn’t sure. So, according to I think this was WebMD it says this, “Aphasia is a communication disorder that makes it hard to use words. It can affect your speech, writing, and ability to understand language. Aphasia results from damage or injury to language parts of the brain. It’s more common in older adults, particularly those who have had a stroke. Aphasia gets in the way of a person’s ability to communicate, but it doesn’t impair intelligence.” How frustrating would that be, right? Continuing it says, “People who have aphasia may have a hard time speaking and finding the right words to complete their thoughts.” Maybe I have aphasia because that happens to me often. I’ll be… I’ll be in a conversation with somebody and I want to say a word and it just won’t come out and it’s so frustrating. Continuing, “They may also have problems understanding conversation, reading and comprehending written words, writing words, and using numbers. People with aphasia may also repeat words or phrases.” Brother Phil says, “Dallas is a fantastic singer with a powerful voice. He has a crafty technique to include others in expressing their opinion. This brings people out of their shell. And although he is clearly our best male singer, in my view, he is also very humble and supportive of others. Please pray for Dallas’s recovery.” Well, we’ll certainly do that. And my goodness, that must be very, very difficult for a singer. You don’t say, Phil, if this affects his singing. I know as stutterers, people who stutter really badly, when you start them singing a song, they can sing the song perfectly without stuttering. So I’m wondering if Dallas can still sing even with aphasia? That would be interesting. Let us know about that, Phil. And then a couple of days ago, Kevin Dills sent in a donation and he included this at the end of his note. He said, “Since tomorrow is Sunday, I should probably give you a prayer request as well. I’d like to ask the Lifespring family to pray for me that I can break my addictions. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail.” That isn’t necessary, Kevin, you don’t need to, but the Lord knows what they are. He said, “I know that they’re a part of what is separating me from him and I definitely know that they’re keeping me from living the kind of life that I want to live.” Well, Kevin, Brother, you are not alone. Even the apostle Paul struggled with overcoming sin. And James, the half-brother of Jesus said, “We all sin in many ways.” But, Kevin, as you know, the fact that all of us sin should not give us license to sin. There’s a really good article on overcoming habitual sin over at gotquestions.org. And if you go to lifespringmedia.com/habit, it will take you to that article. And my youngest son Tim told me yesterday that he’s beginning to take classes on learning to write code, and he asked for prayer. So far, he is enjoying it, but he’s really just beginning. Now, Tim has taught himself how to play guitar really quite well. And it’s been said that music and coding have a lot in common. So Tim is asking for prayer that the Lord will direct him as he explores this new endeavor. And then this came in from the Lovely Lady LeeAnn. You know her right? Yeah, she’s the one I’m married to? She and I went to Alaska just recently? Yeah, that one. She said, “Hi, Sweetie. I have a few people wrapped into this request, again. Sorry,” she said. “I’m sure the Lifespring family remembers you mentioning Pastor Bennett.” Of course. Pastor Bennett did a podcast here called In the Word with Mel Bennett.” But he got too sick to continue that. LeeAnn says, “Well, I’m asking them to pray for him and his lovely, caring, sweet wife, Joanne. Pastor’s health, as we have discussed before, is very bad. And he’s now wheelchair-bound and blind.” I didn’t know, by the way, that Pastor Bennett had gone blind. He’s been blind in one of his eyes since he was a child, an injury happened. But I didn’t know that he had lost the sight in his other eye as well. So that’s sad. And LeeAnn continues, “But Sister Bennett is…” And that’s what we call his wife, Sister Bennett. At our church, everybody was Brother so-and-so and Sister so-and-so. So both LeeAnn and I feel uncomfortable calling her Joanne. She’s kind of the matriarch of the… of the church. Anyway, “Sister Bennett is such a loving and dutiful wife, a true Proverbs 31 woman and a great godly example for LeeAnn growing up. And she feels that she should be the one who takes care of him. But she won’t allow the kids to bring someone in to help out and it’s destroying her health. Her daughters, Heidi and Candy, and their husbands do try to come by often and help out but they can’t be there as much, obviously. Please pray for God’s will, and that she will feel the release from God to ask for help. Yeah, they have three grown daughters who are all married. They all have kids. And obviously, they have busy lives. They all used to live here in California. But a few years ago, they moved out to Virginia. So the whole family is back there. And then LeeAnn says, “Now for Gladys.” And Gladys used to be the church secretary. She worked for Brother Bennett as the church secretary for… I think she was actually there longer as the church secretary than he was there as pastor, and he was there for about 30 years. So her health is also failing. She’s in a skilled nursing facility but is failing and she relies heavily on Heidi which is one of Pastor Bennett’s daughters. And that leads us to praying for all the Bennet daughters and husbands for strength and guidance through all of this. So the oldest daughter is Candy, and then there is Heidi and their youngest daughter is Heather. And each of them are married to, let me see if I can get them in order here, Mike, and Barry, and Dan. So we need to pray for all six of them. So let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, like David, we ask you to give us a deep and lasting desire to be close to you, to follow you, to desire a true relationship with you. Father, show us how to prioritize time with you and make it our most important time of the day. And Father, now we pray for Brother Paul of Seattle. We thank you, Lord, that you sent him to this house and that you held this house on the market for him all this time, and that you got him such a great deal. And we thank you, Lord, for Titus. Now that we know his name, I pray God that as he grows, that he would become a man of God, that he would seek after you, that he would love you, and that he would serve you. Give wisdom and direction to his parents and to the extended family as they raise him in the nurture and admonition of your Word. Also, we pray that you would give Paul and his wife the words to say about how you provided this house to people in conversation. Help it, Lord, to be just something that’s natural, and that people can see that you were actually there, that you actually did it. And that it’s not a weird kind of a thing that “Oh, by the way, God did this for us.” Father, make it something that just flows from their lips. And for Brother Phil’s prayer request, we pray for Dallas, this aphasia. I pray, Lord, that you would heal him of this. Whatever damage may have happened in his brain I pray, God, that you would touch that and that you would give him the ability, Lord, to communicate fluently for you. We pray, Lord, for Kevin and the habitual sin that he struggles with. Father, you have given us the ability to have a triumph over sin. We know, Lord, that we are no longer slaves to sin. But it’s so hard sometimes to say no to the body and to do the thing that is right. And Father, I pray that you would help him and anyone else, Lord, who’s listening right now that is struggling with some sort of a habitual sin, whether it be a chemical addiction or anything else. Father, I pray God in Jesus’ name that you would heal all of us, Lord, from any addictions that we have. And now, Lord, I pray for Brother Bennett and for Sister Bennett. I pray, Father, that you would make this an easy… as easy a time as can be. Lord, it’s not easy getting old. And it’s not easy to go through the… the frailties that we get. And I pray, Lord, for Sister Bennett is she has to sort of let go of some of the caregiving. She’s old too, and her… her health is failing. And I pray, Lord, that you would make it easier for her to accept help from outside people. I pray, God, that you would send just the right person or persons into their family that can help with Brother Bennett and Sister Bennett as well. It’s such a hard thing to let go. And I pray, God, that you would just help them to loosen their grip a little bit. And we pray for Heidi and Barry and Candy and Mike and Heather and Dan, and that they would be able to help as much as possible and help to ease the transition of moving the care away from Sister Bennett exclusively. And just in this transition in their lives, Father, I pray that you would be there, that you would bring just a peace of mind and a peace of heart and bring comfort to everybody concerned. This is so hard. I’ve been through it myself. And I pray, God, that you would help. And we pray for Gladys, Lord. Be with her. Help her Lord to understand that Heidi can’t be there all the time. And I know that Gladys is beginning to lose some of her thinking facilities. And I pray, Lord, that you would just be with her. Help her, Father, to remember you and to rest in you and to… to just enjoy the fellowship that she can have with the Holy Spirit and just ease her through this time as well. I pray for LeeAnn’s work. She didn’t mention it again, but it’s on my mind that, you know, she’s really struggling. Car sales have gotten really difficult what with the economy. And I pray, Lord, that you would bring people to her that are able and willing, who truly need a new car, whether it be a new or used, that truly need a new car for them. And that you would bring the deals to her that the store needs that she needs and that our family needs. And now Lord, I pray for Maui, and Lahaina specifically, and the people, Lord, that lost so much. I pray, God, that you would be with them. I pray, pray that you would bring comfort. I pray, Lord, that you would bring help. I thank you, Lord, for the people that are rushing to the area, either physically or just sending donations to help rebuild. So many people have lost loved ones and I pray God that you would comfort their hearts. I pray, Lord, that they would turn to you that they would find you maybe for the very first time, and know that you are the God who heals, the God who provides. I pray, God, that you would bless the Lifespring family today. For those that are hurting, I pray that you would be their healer. I pray, Lord, that you will be their provider. I pray, Lord, that you would walk close to each one of us. Show us your love, Lord, and help us, Lord, to lean on you and receive comfort. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Sunday will be our next time of prayer. Let me know how the Lifespring family can pray for you. Details are coming right up.

Announcer 28:41
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Steve Webb 28:45
Let me hear from you. The best way is with a boostagram using a modern podcast app from podcastapps.com. The next best way is to call the Lifespring Family Hotline at what? Yeah, +1-951-732-8511. If you’d rather use your keyboard for prayer requests and praise reports, go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. If you want to leave a comment, go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. And last my email address is st***@*************ia.com.

Steve Webb 29:22
Thanks to Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, Jason Paschall, and Sister Brittaney for their generous donations of time and talent. And again, Jason did today’s show art as well as being today’s Executive Producer. Thank you, Jason. And also thanks to Lester Graber. Thanks to both of those guys for helping to make this episode possible. And last, but clearly not least, thank you, Beloved, for making the Lifespring! One Year Bible part of your day. Lord willing, I’ll be back with another episode tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Announcer 30:00
The Lifespring! One Year Bible is solely supported by your value-for-value donations of time talent or treasure.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1-2 HCSB, Ch. 3-4 NASB, Ch. 5 NLT

It’s History Tuesday, and we’ll read Ezra 1-5. I’m calling this episode “Rebuilding the Temple.“

In Ezra 1-5, Jerusalem’s fallen temple is rebuilt after 70 years. King Cyrus allows exiles to return and restore it. Challenges arise from insincere helpers and bureaucracy. It’s a story of rebuilding against odds, showing God’s plan triumphs.

Listen to the episode for more!

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

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Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

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Steve Webb 0:00
The Ark of the Covenant.

Steve Webb 0:02
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California. How you doing today, podcasting since 2004. My name is Steve Webb. I’m your OG Godcaster. It’s history Tuesday. and our reading today is Ezra one through five. The website is in Lifespringmedia.com. and I’ll have contact information at the end of the show. Before we read, let’s pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word, and for our time together here. I pray God that you would bless our time and that you would teach us pray this in Jesus name. Amen. All right, are you ready? Let’s get started.

Steve Webb 0:40
Introduction to Ezra, the previous book, which we completed last week, Second Chronicles ended with a fall of Jerusalem. All the articles from the temple were removed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and the temple itself was set ablaze. The walls of the city were torn down, and the people were taken into what would be a 70 year captivity as was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah.

Steve Webb 1:05
Ezra chapter one. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The Lord put it into the mind of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom. and to put it in writing. This is what King Cyrus of Persia says, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has appointed me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah, whoever is among his people, may his God be with him. and may He go to Jerusalem and Judah, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. Let every survivor wherever he lives be assisted by the men of that region, with silver, gold, goods and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem. So the family leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites, everyone God had motivated, prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. All their neighbors supported them with silver articles, gold goods, livestock and valuables in addition to all that was given as a free will offering. King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the house of his gods. King Cyrus of Persia had them brought out under the supervision of Mithra DAF the treasurer, who counted them out to sheshe basil, the prince of Judah, this was the inventory 30 Gold basins 1000 Silver basins 29 Silver knives 30 Gold bowls 410 Various silver bowls in 1000 other articles, the gold and silver articles totaled 5400 Sheshe Basser brought all of them when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem,

Steve Webb 2:59
Ezra chapter two. These now are the people of the province who came from those captive exiles, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported to Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah each to his own town. They came with Zerubbabel Jeshua Nehemiah Surya raelia Mordecai, Bill Shan, Ms. Parr, big vi Reham and bayyinah the number of the Israelite men included pay rushes descendants 2172 shefa tyas descendants 372 a ruse descendants 775 Pay hath Moabs descendants Joshua’s in Job’s descendants 2812 Elans descendants 1254 Zattoo whose descendants 945 Zack eyes descendants 760 bein eyes descendants 642 b by his descendants 623 as GADS descendants 1222 at an item’s descendants 666 Big vise descendants 2056 Aiden’s descendants 454 adders, descendants of Hezekiah 98 Besides descendants 323 Joris descendants 112 Haitians descendants 223 gibberish descendants 95 Bethlehem people 123 netofa is men 56 and a thoughts men 128 Asthma vets people 40 To carry out the RMS Coronavirus and be Roth’s people 743 Ramos’ and Gibbes people 621 MC muscles men 100 22 Bethells and AIS Min 223 nibbles people 52 mag vicious people 156 The other Elans people 1254 harems people 320 Lord’s Hades and Onos people 725 Jericho is people 345 Sanae is people 3630 The priests included today as descendants of the house of Joshua 973 immerse descendants 1052 pastures descendants 1247 and harems descendants 1017. The Levites included Joshua’s in CAD meals descendants from Hoda via his descendants 74. The singers included asef descendants 128 the gatekeepers descendants included Shalem descendants, aiders descendants, Tillman’s descendants, Arabs, descendants, and Titus descendants show by his descendants in all 139. The temple servants included Zai has descendants as soon as descendants tab the author’s descendants key Ross’s descendants, saya has descendants Payton’s descendants libidinous descendants Agabus descendants, Arabs descendants, a Gabs descendants shall mais descendants, Canaan’s descendants, giggles descendants, gay horrors descendants, RE is descendants reasons descendants Nakota is descendants gasm is descendants as his descendants, Percy is descendants besides descendants, as an as descendants, Museum’s descendants, nephew Sims descendants backbox descendants of PUFAs descendants are hers descendants Batlas descendants, Mohandas descendants, harshest descendants BArkas descendants, Cicero’s descendants deemas descendants, desires descendants and typhus descendants. The descendants of Solomon’s servants included so ties descendants, a sofa rats descendants, for rudas descendants, J Ellis descendants, dark ons descendants. giggles descendants shefa Tyus descendants Patels descendants Papworth has a BAMs descendants, and a mais descendants, all the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon servants 392. The following are those who came from Tamila tell Harsha carob Aiden and Emer but were unable to prove that their families and ancestors were Israelite delay his descendants to by his descendants Nikolas descendants 652 and from the descendants of the priests, the descendants of obeya. The descendants of Hakka was the descendants of Barzillai, who had taken away from the daughters of Barzilay, the gilliat Eight and was called by their name. These searched for their entries in the genealogical records, but they could not be found, so they were disqualified from the priesthood. The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim. The whole combined assembly numbered 42,360, not including their 7337 male and female slaves, and their 200 male and female singers. They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6720 donkeys. After they arrived at the Lord’s house in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders gave freewill offerings for the house of God in order to have it rebuilt on its original site. Based on what they could give, they gave 61,000 gold coins, 6250 Pounds of silver, and 100 priestly garments to the Treasury for the project. The priests Levites singers, gatekeepers temple servants, and some of the people settled in their towns, and the rest of Israel settled in their towns.

Steve Webb 9:24
Ezra chapter three. Now, when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities that people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem, then Joshua, the son of Joseph Adak, and his brothers, the priests and Zerubbabel, the son of Shri AlTi, all and his brothers arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. So they set up the altar on its foundation for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord burnt offerings morning and evening. They celebrated the Feast of Booths as it is written and offered the fixed number of burnt offerings daily according to the ordinance as each day required. and afterward there was a continual burnt offering also for the new moons and for all the fixed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated and from every one who offered a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. Then they gave money to the Masons and carpenters, and food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians to bring Cedarwood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission they had from Cyrus king of Persia. Now in the second year of they’re coming to the house of God of Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Joseph Adak, and the rest of their brothers, the priests and the Levites. and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem began the work and appointed the Levites from 20 years and older to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. Then Joshua with his sons and brothers stood united with cadmium in his sons, the sons of Judah, and the sons of henna dad with their sons and brothers, the Levites to oversee the workmen in the temple of God. Now, when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals to praise the Lord according to the directions of King David of Israel. They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord saying, For He is good for his loving kindness is upon Israel forever. All the people shouted with a great shout when they praise the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy, from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Steve Webb 12:11
Ezra chapter four. Now, when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel in the heads of father’s households and said to them, let us build with you for we like you seek your God. and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of his our hadn’t king of Assyria who brought us up here, but Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of father’s households of Israel said to them, you have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God, but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel is King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us. Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from the building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. Now in the reign of a has us in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, and in the days of Artaxerxes, Bish Lam, Mithra adath. Tabby L and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia, and the text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic Reham, the commander in Shem Shai, the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows Reem, the commander in chief Shai, the scribe and the rest of their colleagues, the judges and the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Iraq, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is the Elamites and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable Osnap are deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the Euphrates River. Now, this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him to King Artaxerxes Your servants the men in the region beyond the Euphrates River. and now let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem, they are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city and are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. Now, let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt, and the walls are finished, they will not pay tribute custom or tall, and it will damage the revenue of the kings. Now, because we are in the service of the palace, it it is not fitting for us to see the Kings dishonor. Therefore, we have sent and informed the king so that a search may be made in the record books of your father’s and you will discover in the record books and learn that the city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces and that they have incited revolt within it in past days. Therefore that city was laid waste. We inform the king that if this It is rebuilt in the walls finished as a result, you will have no possession in the province beyond the river. Then the king said an answer to rehome the commander to shim Shai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the river. Peace. and now the document which you sent to us has been translated in read before me. A decree has been issued by me and a search has been made. and it has been discovered that the city has risen up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, that mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem governing all the provinces beyond the river, and that tribute, custom and toll were paid to them. So, now issue a decree to make these men stop work that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. Beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter, why should damage increase to the detriment of the kings. Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes document was read before Reham and Shem Shai, the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and stop them by force of arms. Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Steve Webb 16:23
Ezra chapter five. At that time, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them Zerubbabel, son of Shri LTL and Jeshua, son of Jehovah DAC responded by starting again to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them and help them but tachiai governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and she thought her boss and I and their colleagues soon arrived in Jerusalem and asked, Who gave you permission to rebuild this temple and restore this structure. They also asked for the names of all the men working on the temple, but because their God was watching over them, the leaders of the Jews were not prevented from building until a report was sent to Darius and he returned his decision. This is a copy of the letter that tat and I the governor sheath our boss and I and the other officials of the province west of the Euphrates River sent to Darius to King Darius greetings, the king should know that we went to the construction side of the temple of the great God and the province of Judah. It is being rebuilt with specially prepared stones and timbers being laid in its walls. The work is going forward with great energy and success. We ask the leaders who gave you permission to rebuild this temple and restore this structure. and we demanded their names so that we could tell you who the leaders were, this was their answer. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built here many years ago by a great king of Israel. But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, He abandoned them to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylonia. However, King Cyrus of Babylon during the first year of his reign, issued a decree that the temple of God should be rebuilt. King Cyrus returned the gold and silver cups that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and had placed in the temple of Babylon. These cups were taken from that temple and presented to a man named Shesh Bazar, whom King Cyrus appointed as governor of Judah, the king instructed him to return the cubs to their place in Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple of God. They’re on its original site. So this sheshe bazaar came and laid the foundations of the temple of God in Jerusalem. The people have been working on it ever since, though it is not yet completed. Therefore, if it pleases the king, we request that a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to discover whether King Cyrus ever issued a decree to Rebuild God’s temple in Jerusalem, and then let the King send us his decision in this matter.

Steve Webb 19:13
I’ve got comments on Ezra 1,3, 4 and five today. As the book opens, the 70 years have come and gone and God has judged Babylon as Jeremiah also prophesied, it’s been wiped out. and God moves on the heart of King Cyrus of Persia, who is ruler of the land that once belonged to Nebuchadnezzar. and Cyrus decreed that the Jewish exiles may have returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. and notice that this happens in Cyrus’s first year is king. God’s judgment of his people with 70 years of exile is over. and he sees to it that they’re set free. Now having been in bondage all this time that people are poor, so Cyrus volunteers to pay for the rebuilding of the temple out of his own resource. This, and he returns all of the temple articles to them. But in the list that we read in chapter two of the items that were returned, did you notice some missing things? How about the altar of incense? The table of showbread, the bronze altar, the Golden Lampstand and the Ark of the Covenant. Where’d they go? Well, we don’t know for sure, but they were probably lost, destroyed or stolen when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians 70 years earlier. Now, in chapter three, once the people got to Jerusalem and settled into their towns, the first thing they did was what? They built an altar on the exact same spot that the original altar had been. Even before beginning construction on the temple, they built the altar. Why didn’t they start with building the temple? Well, I believe they did this because of their desire to be obedient to the Lord. They wanted to resume the bird offerings for the atonement of sin in the morning in the evening burnt offerings that were required, according to the law. They wanted God’s blessing on the entire project and to neglect this would not be a good beginning. Commentator Alexander McClaren said, there cannot be a temple without an altar. But there may be an altar without a temple. God meets men at the place of sacrifice, even though there’ll be no house for his name. and then later in the chapter, when the construction begins, the old men who had seen the previous temple before it was destroyed, wept when the foundation was laid. Why did they weep? Well listen to what Adam Clarke said. They saw that the Glory had departed from Israel. In their circumstances, it was impossible to build such a house as the First Temple was. and Had this been even possible. Still, it would have been greatly inferior because it wanted the Ark of the Covenant, the heavenly fire, the mercy seat, the heavenly manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the divine Shekinah, the Spirit of Prophecy, and most probably the Areum and the Thurman. Well, while the old man cried, the ones that were younger and had never seen the first temple rejoiced, because this was an important accomplishment in the restoration of the temple, and the worship that would happen there. In chapter four, the enemies of Judah and Benjamin requested to join in the building of the temple saying, Let us build with you for we like you seek your God. Well, the fact is, no, they didn’t seek the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They also worshipped other gods, so that precluded them from truly seeking the true God. God forbids the worship of other gods doesn’t mean you can’t worship Him and false gods. Now wisely Zerubbabel in the heads of father’s, households turned them down flat, which is what we should do. Beloved, when we’re called to do a work for the Lord and a non believer wants to join in. It would be like going on a missionary trip and inviting a Buddhist or a Muslim or a Scientologist to join in the work, or in choosing a marriage partner, a believer shouldn’t date, let alone marry an unbeliever. It’s called being unequally yoked. Well, after the enemies of Judah and Benjamin were rejected, they decided that if they couldn’t sabotage the work from within, they would attack it from without, so they went to King Ahaz you Eros and made accusations against the people of Judah trying to get a has us to stop the work. and later they went to art a Xerxes with similar charges, and he stopped the project in its tracks. For 15 years, no work was done. and then in chapter five, you’ll probably remember that we read the book of Haggai, a couple of weeks ago, and just last Friday, we read the first seven chapters of Zechariah. Both of these prophets spoke to the people about resuming the work on the temple, and the people did. But then the governor of the region and some of his men asked him under what authority they were working on the project and as a bureaucrat, I think he was probably just making sure that building permits were pulled and so forth, because he allowed them to continue until he could confirm that it was okay. Beloved, I believe this was the hand of God. He very easily could have put a stop to the construction, but he didn’t. He wrote a letter to Darius the king giving an unbiased report on what was going on. and he suggested to Darius that he checked to see if King Cyrus of Babylon had truly given a decree that his work could be done as the people had told him, and he wanted to know if Darius would allow it to be completed. But as I said he allowed the work to continue. Next week, we’ll find out what King Darius decided. What do you think he’s gonna say? Beloved, sometimes God moves on the most unlikely people in accomplishing His Will does any one thing you cannot do is put God in the box and I’m so thankful for that. You have thoughts or questions? Let me hear from you. Send to Boostagram or call the Lifespring family hotline or go To the comments page or write an email. I’ll tell you how to do that at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Psalms Wednesday and we’ll read chapters 131 through 133. We’ll also have our last essential segment and a time of prayer

Jingle 25:13
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Steve Webb 25:16
A 13,306 sat boost came in from Jamie the trucker. Okay, note that number 13306. In his Boostagram, he said, Jamie, the trucker with a show number Boostagram for S 13 e 306. Those of us old enough to remember the song turned turned turned by the birds know that the majority of the lyrics of that song are from Ecclesiastes three, one through eight. Yes, I do know that. Though somewhat out of order. He said that song has been stuck in my head for well over a week now. and hopefully this donation will bring me some relief. This may be God’s way of telling me to give back some value could be Thank you, Steve, for all that you do so that we can keep doing what we do. Well, thank you, Jamie, the trucker. I think this is the first show number Boostagram that we’ve got. So that’s cool. Thank you very much. and 10,000 sets came in from Shawn of well, not any longer San Pedro. No message just the 10,000 SATs. Thank you, Shawn. and a row of ducks. 2222 SATs came in from fountain user oh gee podcast listener 2004. Oh, gee podcast listener 2004. Okay. Well, I am very curious as to what your real identity is. Who are you? I probably no, you don’t I? They just said thank you. Well, you’re welcome. and thank you very much. God bless each of you

Jingle 26:42
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Steve Webb 26:50
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Steve Webb 27:28
Thanks to Sister Denise Michael Haner Scott Snider today’s show art artists Jason Paschall and sister Brittaney for their generous donations of time and talent. and thanks to the Boostagram, senders and sat streamers. Love you guys. God bless you. and I want to thank you for inviting me to be with you today. Beloved, I can’t wait for tomorrow. Until then May God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. By

Steve Webb 27:55
Lifespring media bringing the message of hope, love and good news since 2004

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Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 13 CEB, Ch. 14 CEV, Ch. 15 GNT

It’s the Law Monday, and we’ll read Deuteronomy 13-15. I’m calling this episode “Giving With No Expectations.“

One of the things we find in Deuteronomy 15 is the idea of giving without expecting returns. When we do this, it prevents disappointment and helps those truly in need. The passage suggests that God rewards generosity, as seen in Luke 6:38. While we can expect blessings, we can’t manipulate God. Genuine, cheerful giving leads to meaningful blessings.

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This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

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Steve Webb 0:00
We can’t manipulate God.

Steve Webb 0:03
It’s the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. I am your OG Godcaster, the guy that still has a cold Steve Webb, it’s the law Monday and we’ll read Deuteronomy 13 through 15. The website is Lifespringmedia.com. and contact information will be as always at the end of today’s show. Hey, the promise pictures and videos of our Alaska trip are now up on the show notes page A Lifespringmedia.com slash s 13 e 315. Check them out. Before we read, let’s pray. Our Heavenly Father, thank You for Your word. Thank you for revealing yourself through it so that we can know you. Bless this time teach us in touch our hearts Lord, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 0:53
Deuteronomy chapter 13. Now if a prophet or a dream interpreter appears among you, and performs a sign or wonder for you, and the sign or wonder that was spoken actually occurs, if he says, Come on, we should follow other gods. Once you have an experienced, and we should worship them. You must not listen to that prophets or dream interpreters words, because the Lord your God is testing you to see if you love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your being. You must follow the Lord your God alone, revere Him, follow His commandments, obey his voice, worship Him, cling to him, no other. That prophet or dream interpreter must be executed, because he encouraged you to turn away from the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, who redeemed you from the house of slavery, they tried to lead you away from the path the Lord your God commanded you to take, remove such evil from your community. Similarly, if one of your relatives, even one of your own siblings, or your own son, or daughter, or your dear spouse, or best friend entices you secretly, if someone like that says, Come on, we should follow and worship other gods ones that neither you nor your ancestors have experienced gods from all the neighboring peoples, whether nearby or far away from one end of the earth to the other, don’t give into them, don’t obey them, don’t have any mercy on them, don’t have compassion on them, and don’t protect them. Instead, you must execute them, your own hand must be against them from the beginning of the execution, the hand of all the people will be involved at the end, stone them until they are dead, because they desire to lead you away from the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, all Israel will hear about this and be afraid, they won’t do that sort of evil thing among you again. Or if you hear about one of your towns, the Lord your God has given you to inhabit that certain wicked people have gone out from your community. and they’ve led the citizens of their town astray by saying, Come on, we should follow and worship other gods ones you haven’t experienced before. At that point, you must look into this situation very carefully to see if it’s true. and if it’s definitely true that this detestable thing was done in your community, you must completely strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword, place it and all that is in it under the ban, put its animals to the sword, gather all the plunder into the middle of the town square, then burn the city and all of its plunder as an entirely burned offering to the Lord your God. It must remain a heap of rubble forever. It must not be rebuilt. Don’t hold on to any of the banned items. This will ensure that the Lord turns from his great anger and is compassionate to you, showing you mercy and multiplying you just like he swore to your ancestors. You must definitely obey the Lord, you’re God’s voice, keeping all His commandments that I’m giving you right now, by doing what is right in the Lord your God’s eyes.

Steve Webb 3:58
Deuteronomy chapter 14. People of Israel you are the Lord’s children. So when you mourn for the dead, you must not cut yourselves or shave your forehead. Out of all the nations on this earth, the Lord your God chose you to be His own. You belong to the Lord, so don’t behave like those who worship other gods. Don’t eat any disgusting animals. You may eat the meat of cattle, sheep and goats, wild sheep and goats and gazelles, antelopes, and all kinds of deer. It is alright to eat meat from any animals that have divided hooves and also to the cod. But don’t eat camels, rabbits and rock Badgers, these animals to the cod, but do not have divided whose you must treat them as unclean and don’t eat pork since pigs have divided hooves but they do not chew their cod. Don’t even touch a dead pig. You can eat any fish that has fins and scales, but there are other creatures that live in the water and if they do not have fins and scales, you must not eat them, treat them as unclean. You can eat any clean bird, but don’t eat the meat of any of the following birds, eagles, vultures, falcons, kites, ravens, ostriches, owls, seagulls, hawks, pelicans, Ospreys, cormorants, storks, herons and hippos. You must not eat bats. swarming insects are unclean, so don’t eat them. However, you are allowed to eat certain kinds of winged insects. You belong to the Lord your God. So if you happen to find a dead animal, don’t eat its meat, you may give it to foreigners who live in your town or sell it to foreigners who are visiting your town. Don’t boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. People of Israel every year you must set aside 10% of your grain harvest. Also set aside 10% of your wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of every cow, sheep and goat. Take these to the place where the Lord chooses to be worshipped and eat them there. This will teach you to always respect the Lord your God. But suppose you can’t carry that 10% of your harvest to the place where the Lord chooses to be worshipped. If you live too far away, or if the Lord gives you a big harvest, then sell this part in take the money there instead, when you and your family arrive, spend the money on food for a big celebration. Buy cattle, sheep, goats, wine, beer, and if there are any other kinds of foods that you want, buy those two. and since people have the Levi tribe don’t own any land for growing crops, remember to ask the Levites to celebrate with you. Every third year instead of using the 10% of your harvest for a big celebration, bring it into town and put it in a community storehouse. The Levites have no land of their own, so you must give them food from the storehouse. You must also give food to the poor who live in your town including orphans, widows and foreigners. If they have enough to eat, then the Lord your God will be pleased and make you successful in everything you do.

Steve Webb 7:02
Deuteronomy chapter 15. At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money. This is how it has to be done. Each of you who has lent money to any Israelite is to cancel the debt. You must not try to collect the money. The Lord Himself has declared the debt canceled. You may collect what a foreigner owes you but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor if you obey Him and carefully observe everything that I command you today. The Lord will bless you as he is promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any. You will have control over many nations but no nation will have control over you. If they in any of the towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you there are Israelites in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help them. Instead, be generous and lend them as much as they need. Do not refuse to lend them something just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be held guilty. Give to them freely and unselfishly and the Lord will bless you in everything you do. There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need. and so I commend you to be generous to them. If any Israelites male or female sell themselves to you as slaves, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes you must let them go free. When you set them free. Do not send them away empty handed. Give to them generously from what the Lord has blessed you with sheep grain and wine. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God set you free. That is why I am now giving you this command. But your slave may not want to leave. He may love you and your family and be content to stay. Then take him to the door of your house and they’re pierced his ear. He will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way. Do not be resentful when you set slaves free. After all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants. Do this in the Lord your God will bless you and all that you do. Set aside for the Lord your God all the firstborn males of your cattle and sheep. Don’t use any of these cattle for work and don’t share any of the sheep. Each year you and your family are to eat them in the Lord’s presence at the one place of worship. If there is anything wrong with the animals if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the Lord your God. You made such animals at home. All of you whether ritually clean or unclean may eat them just as you eat deer or antelope but do not use their blood for food. Instead, you must pour it on the ground like water.

Steve Webb 9:58
Have you ever heard someone make a statement like you should give without any expectation of receiving anything in return. I’m sure you probably have. and in general, I agree with that statement as it relates to our attitude toward people. We shouldn’t give with the expectation of receiving something back from them. If we do get something back, great, but we don’t give with the motivation of getting something back. Do you agree with that? It seems like a good way to avoid being disappointed if they don’t reciprocate, doesn’t it? and if we only give to those who have the ability to give something back to us, we probably won’t be giving to people who really need the help. So there’s that. But in Deuteronomy 15, today, the people were told to be generous to those in need, because God would bless them for it. So doesn’t it seem to you it does to me anyway, that it’s okay for us to be generous with the expectation that there will be a blessing for us from God. and of course, this is not the only place that this principle is spoken of in the Bible. In Luke 638, for example, Jesus says, Give in it will be given to you a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with a measure you use, it will be measured to you. Well, to tell you the truth, I would much rather receive a blessing from God than from man, how about you, then here’s something else, because God has made it clear that he will bless us when we give. I don’t think it’s bad that we expect a blessing from him. But we need to remember that we can’t manipulate God, he will never be beholden to us. We can’t obligate him, this promise of His that we’ve been talking about does not give us license to say, Okay, God, I gave $1,000 to such and such. So you have to give $1,000 back to me. Well, it doesn’t work that way. In my opinion. God blesses us in ways that we might not see until we see Him in heaven. Sure, sometimes he does bless us materially, but not always. He might bless us with good health or the friendship of someone or keeping something we own from breaking. The possibilities are endless. and sometimes it might just be the satisfaction of knowing that we did something good for somebody. The point I’m trying to make here is this. Don’t be mercenary and you’re giving give cheerfully and generously out of the goodness of your heart. and as a plus, I believe that’s when God is most generous in returning a blessing. Now, one more thing, in Deuteronomy 15. Here, God spoke about slaves. Well, these days, the subject of slavery is triggering for some people. and I’ve spoken about it a few times here on the show, so I won’t address it today. But I will have a link to one of the shows I did on the show notes page.. If you haven’t heard what I have to say about slavery, if you think that God condones slavery, or if you’re just curious to see what I had to say, go to the show notes page, find that link, and listen to that show. Tell me what you think. Send a Boostagram or call the Lifespring family hotline or go to the comments page or write an email. I’ll tell you how, at the end of today’s show, tomorrow will be history Tuesday, and we’ll read Ezra one through five.

Jingle 13:16
What do you think? What do you think? Tell Steve.

Steve Webb 13:19
Well, on yesterday’s show, Kevin deals was an executive producer for the first time. and it wasn’t until after I published the show that I saw that Kevin had sent a separate email. Well, here’s what he said. Dear Steve, I’m so glad that you and Leanne had such a great time on your cruise in Alaska. I was lucky enough to take an Alaskan cruise. Also with Princess with my family when I was a teenager. That was my third cruise. and since then, I’ve been on 12 more. Oh, come on, Kevin, you’re gonna be one of those braggers too. That’s fantastic. He says, all but one of those were pre COVID. and I was really put off by the restrictions that the cruise lines put on passengers during the lock downs, but they seem to have returned to normal for now. Yeah, that’s kind of the key, isn’t it for now, for anyone who’s looking to go on vacation. I highly recommend the cruise but I’m a bit biased. Yeah, I wouldn’t say the same thing. Kevin. We had a lot of fun. and I actually did look very closely at if they still had any of those COVID restrictions before we booked that cruise about, oh gosh, eight or nine months ago, when we found out that they had no COVID restrictions. I thought okay, we can do this. So anyway, Kevin continues. The reason I’m sending this note is because I just set up a monthly donation. For a long time I was streaming SATs while I listened to the podcast, but earlier this year, the app I was using for my lightning wallet made some changes. and now I can’t access any of those funds. Oh my goodness, that’s terrible. I hope you didn’t have a lot in there. Kevin says long story but this podcasting 2.0 stuff seems still to be in beta. So I decided a good old recurring PayPal donation would be the simplest way to continue sending value back to you. I hope that’s okay. Well, of course, that’s okay. I appreciate any donation coming in any way possible. and I’m really sorry about what happened to you with the app. Yeah, a lot of this stuff is still in beta, they do still have growing pains. and they, I think most of them still tell you that, before you put anything in your lightning wallet, you could lose all this. So I know you didn’t go in with your eyes closed. So anyway, Kevin says thanks to you and the Lifespring family for all that you do. I have come a long way in my faith, and I have a long way to go. So does everybody Kevin, he continues, but you all continue to inspire me to move my life in the right direction towards God. I’d especially like to thank Brittaney for the thought she puts into the newsletter. So often, there’s an insight in there that gives me a boost that I can take with me through the week. I agree with you, boy, Brittany does such a great job on that newsletter, doesn’t she? She’s just great. I really am so thankful for her. and then Kevin shares a prayer request that we will be covering on Wednesday show, Kevin says Sorry for the long note. God bless you and the Lifespring family. Well, thank you, Kevin, and God bless you. I appreciate your note, and I’m sorry, I didn’t see it until after the show was published yesterday. and then Lifespring family Berean brother Paul of Seattle sent this note and he said, Hi, Steve, at church today The sermon was on First Kings 19 where Elijah flees from Jezebel because Jezebel vows to kill him after the Mount Carmel situation. You guys probably remember that. That’s where a Elijah and the prophets of bale kind of had a shoot off. He he let them go first. and he said, you have your gods burn up this offering. and you know, they waited and waited and nothing ever happened. and the prophets wailed, and they cried, and they prayed and you know, Bale God whenever they called him. Here’s your offering. and of course, nothing happened. and then Elijah came in there, and he put his offering on the altar. and he proceeded to douse it with water, he made sure that it was completely wet. After he did that, of course, God consumed it with fire, and it proved that God is God in the gods of Baylor and not, Paul says, one of the takeaways was that even great people of faith can go into a time of doubt, or disorientation or discouragement. Yeah, after God showed himself in this miraculous way, Elijah did go into a time of depression when Jezebel vowed to kill him, he ran and you remember that anyway. Paul says the Elijah in that moment asked God to kill him because he had determined he is no better than his ancestors. and he says, The guest preacher said that the statement no better than his ancestors has been debated over the centuries. But he thinks it means essentially, I Elijah came to the people. I was a prophet for God, the people partially repented. But ultimately, the people were going to continue doing what they’re doing, and I’m going to be killed. So what is the point to continue living? Paul says, this seems like a reasonable extrapolation of that sentence. and it got me to thinking about Ecclesiastes, and how you, Steve, remind us all at the beginning of the Ecclesiastes episodes to just hang on, the end does get better sidenote, and you made this point in the commentary for last week’s Ecclesiastes reading that life is kind of pointless unless you’re working for God’s purpose. Now, there’s more of that thought he says, but I’ll leave it there. At the end of first Kings 19. Paul says God tells Elijah that he has saved 7000 people to carry on God’s plan, and put Elijah on a path to go night and new king and do some stuff to continue God’s plan. The guest preacher made the point that even though we may not see any progress and or the world just continues to repeat or get worse, God is using those who go along with his plan to set the seeds and the stage for the next generation. It’s not pointless. It’s basically the ultimate reason for living. This I think ties nicely into Ecclesiastes with the same thought, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Sure. But if you’re in God’s plan, it’s all for a purpose. and remembering this when things get discouraging or when we need to stand for God is something we need to ask God to write on our heart. Anyway, back to yard work on this Sunday afternoon. Well, thank you for sharing that, Paul. Good stuff. I hope you got two yard work done. For me yard work is a kind of a love hate thing. Leanne does all the gardening type stuff. I just don’t get a kick out of planting and taking care of flowers and things like that. But Leanne loves it. So that’s kind of what she does. My job is taking care of the lawns. I can’t say I enjoy mowing the lawn but it’s sort of therapeutic for me. It kind of gets my mind off everything else. It’s physical. I get a workout and it’s good to look at it when it’s finished. It gives me a nice sense of accomplishment.

Steve Webb 20:02
A 500 sat Boostagram came in from user 2558 with the message. Thank you. Well, 2558 You’re welcome. and thank you. God bless you

Steve Webb 20:21
Our next time a prayer will be Wednesday. Do let me know how we can pray for you. Okay, details are right here. Let me hear from you. The best way is with a Boostagram using a modern podcast app from podcastapps.com. The next best way is to call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1-951-732-8511. If you’d like to go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com and put your prayer request or praise report in there, that’s awesome. Or if you’ve got a comment or a question, you can go to comment.lifespringmedia.com or my email address is st***@*************ia.com. Thanks to Sister Denise Michael Haner Scott Snider, Jason Paschall who did today show our Thank you Jason, and Sister Brittaney, who just sent out a newsletter. Be sure you get it. If you’re not signed up, go to news dot Lifespringmedia.com and you can start getting all this good stuff from SR Brittaney as well. I’m so glad we can be together again today. I can’t wait for tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye

Announcer 21:21
the Lifespring media family of programs are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 4-5 NCV

Roderick, Kevin Dills

It’s Epistles Sunday, and we’ll complete the book of 1 Peter with the reading of chapters 4 and 5. I’m calling this episode “Youth, Age and Humility.“

1 Peter 5:1-6 emphasizes important aspects of leadership and humility within a community. Peter instructs older members to guide and care for God’s flock sincerely, not for personal gain, by setting a positive example rather than exerting dominance. Younger individuals are encouraged to show respect and submission to their elders. Both elders and young people should embrace humility and learn from each other.

Listen to the episode for more!

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising equals censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and donate here: SUPPORT.

Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript Correction
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Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher

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Transcript not yet corrected.

Steve Webb 0:00
They don’t know that there’s so much more to see because they’ve never seen it.

Steve Webb 0:05
It’s the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. My name is Steve Webb. I’m your OG Godcaster. It’s epistle Sunday and we’ll complete the book of First Peter with the reading of chapters four and five. The website is Lifespringmedia.com. and I’ll tell you how to get in contact with me at the end of today’s show. Now I have not forgotten to put the pictures of our Alaska trip on the show notes page for yesterday’s show. Lifespringmedia.com slash s 13 e 315. I’m still playing catch up with all the chores here in Lifespring central like mowing the lawns that had totally overgrown while we were gone. When I got home in the collect, there was a forest in my front yard. I like to be a good neighbor and keep the place looking nice. So that had to be done before anything else and I’ll get the picks up. Probably tomorrow. Before we read. Let’s pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the time you’ve given us to read and study your word and I pray that You would bless this time teach us Lord in touch our hearts. We pray this in Jesus name, amen. Okay, are you ready? Let’s begin.

Steve Webb 1:12
First Peter chapter four, since Christ suffered while he was in his body, Strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking Christ had. The person who has suffered in the body is finished with sin. strengthen yourself so that you will live here on earth doing what God wants, not the evil things people want. In the past, you wasted too much time doing what non believers enjoy. You are guilty of sexual sins, evil desires, drunkenness, wild and drunken parties, and hateful idol worship. nonbelievers think it is strange that you do not do the many wild and wasteful things they do so they insult you. But they will have to explain this to God who was ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the good news was preached to those who are now dead. Even though they were judged. Like all people, the good news was preached to them so that they could live in the spirit as God lives. The time is near when all things will end. So think clearly and control yourselves so you will be ready to pray. Most importantly, love each other deeply. Because love will cause people to forgive each other for many sins. Open your homes to each other without complaining. Each of you has received a gift to us to serve others be good servants of God’s various gifts of grace. Anyone who speaks should speak words from God. Anyone who serves should serve with the strength God gives so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ, power and glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen. My friends, do not be surprised at the terrible trouble which now comes to test you. Do not think that something strange is happening to you. But be happy that you are sharing in Christ’s sufferings so that you will be happy and full of joy when Christ comes again in glory. When people insult you, because you follow Christ, you are blessed. Because the glorious spirit the spirit of God is with you. Do not suffer for murder, theft or any other crime nor because you trouble other people. But if you suffer because you’re a Christian, do not be ashamed. Praise God, because you were that name. It is time for judgment to begin with God’s family. and if that judging begins with us what will happen to those people who do not obey the good news of God, if it is very hard for a good person to be saved, the wicked person in the center will surely be lost. So those who suffer as God wants should trust their souls to the faithful Creator, as they continue to do what is right.

Steve Webb 3:43
First Peter, chapter five. Now I have something to say to the elders in your group. I also am an elder. I have seen Christ’s sufferings that I will share in the glory that will be shown to us. I beg you to shepherd GOD’s flock for whom you are responsible. Watch over them because you want to not because you’re forced. This is how God wants it. Do it because you’re happy to serve. Not because you want money. Do not be like a ruler over people you’re responsible for, but be good examples to them. Then when Christ the chief Shepherd comes, you will get a glorious crown that will never lose its beauty. In the same way, younger people should be willing to be under older people. and all of you should be very humble with each other. God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Be humble under God’s powerful hand, so he will lift you up when the right time comes. Give all your worries to him because he cares about you. Control yourselves and be careful. The devil your enemy goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to eat. refuse to give in to him by standing strong and your faith. You know that your Christian family all over the world is having the same kinds of suffering. and after you suffer for a short A time God who gives all grace will make everything right. He will make you strong and support you and keep you from falling. He called you to share in His glory in Christ, a glory that will continue forever. All power is his forever and ever. Amen. I wrote this short letter with the help of Silas, who I know is a faithful brother in Christ, I wrote to encourage you and to tell you that this is the true grace of God, stand strong in that grace. The church in Babylon who was chosen like you, sends you greetings, Mark, my son in Christ also greets you give each other a kiss of Christian love when you meet peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Steve Webb 5:45
In today’s comments, I’d like to address chapter five verses one through six, Peter tells the older members to be shepherds to GOD’s flock from a sincere desire and not for money, and to do so by providing a good example. Not by lording it over them. and then he tells the younger folks that they should be willing to submit to the older people. and he wraps up this section by saying that they should all be very humble with each other. These verses grabbed my attention, because I’ve been involved in the church since I was in my teens. So I’ve been a member of the younger crowd. and now I’m definitely one of the older crowd. I’ve been on both sides. You know, it’s funny how we move through life. We’re taking a side trip here, by the way, I’ll get back to First Peter in a moment. Right now my newest granddaughter, Penny, have I told you about her? Well, anyway, right now, pretty much any room she’s in, in any crowd she’s in. She’s the youngest person in the room. Of course, she doesn’t know that. But she is. So as we move through life, we go from being the youngest person in the room to being the average age of the population. and in most rooms, you’re in many of the people are generally your age. and then we move to being an older person like I am, and in many cases, more so every year, I’m the oldest person in the room, I have to say it’s kind of a funny feeling. and to go from being the youngest person in your family, which I used to be, of course, including extended family to being the oldest as I am for the wed branch of the family. It’s kind of a humbling thing. Back to First Peter, when I was young, there was no doubt that the elders were in charge, church was pretty much entrenched in the way things were done. But I gave my heart to the Lord right around the time that the Jesus freak movement was born in the late 60s, early 70s. and a lot of changes began to happen. and by the way, I guess in some parts of the world like Australia, Jesus freak is a derogatory term. Here, it’s not generally meant that way. So don’t take offense at that, here in the US to be a Jesus for He just meant that you were somebody who was a bit of a hippie and love Jesus, and that was me. But now today, somehow, we’ve come to a point in today’s culture where the older people in many churches no longer have a voice, they’re not in charge. If you’re older than 35, or 40, you just might as well find a seat. It’s the younger people that have kind of taken control. Well, having been a young person right there when things began to change. and now being one of the elders in terms of age, I have the benefit of perspective that the younger folks just don’t have, it’s impossible for them to have, they can’t have the kind of perspective that an older person has. Now several years ago, I attempted to hike to the top of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States. I didn’t make it all the way. But that’s another story. But what I want to talk about now is that the view from the trailhead, the beginning of the trail that led to the top, well, that view was extremely limited, because being in the forest, the trees limited the view, you couldn’t see very far at all. But once he got on the trail, and you were hiking for a couple of hours or so you gained some altitude. and there were places where you could look out over the beautiful Owens Valley between the trees, you began to gain some perspective, and you could see for miles. and then after having been on the trail for several hours, you were above tree line, there was nothing to block your view. and you could see even further because you were so much higher. Well, that’s how it is with elders versus youngsters. The young people think that they know it all, but they’re really just starting out on the trail. They don’t know that there’s so much more to see because they’ve never seen it. There’s a reason that the Holy Spirit through Peter calls the elders to shepherd the flock, they’re further along in higher on the trail. He doesn’t call them because they’re better but because they’ve got the benefit of perspective. and the younger folks should humbly accept that with age comes perspective, and hopefully, not guaranteed, but hopefully wisdom. and then of course, the elders should humbly teach and lead To the unbelievers. I’d like to know what you think. Send a Boostagram or call the Lifespring family hotline or go to the comments page or write an email. I’ll tell you how to do that at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be the law Monday and we’ll read Deuteronomy 13 through 15. Deuteronomy is a long book. We’ll be there every Monday right up to the last week of the season, which will be the last week of September. and come to think of it the same is true for the book of Acts.

Steve Webb 10:29
is that a Samba Mamba rumba. I don’t know what it is got a fun. Roderick came in today with a $50 donation via Zell. and as I look back at his donations, I noticed that he’s been consistently sending this amount in on a monthly basis. So that makes him an executive producer. and I’m sorry, I didn’t notice it right away. Because Zell doesn’t have a monthly subscription mechanism. You have to remember to manually make the donation every month unlike other payment processors, and since there is no monthly donation mechanism, I don’t get notified from Zell when somebody is you know, consistently doing it. I just kind of have to notice. So anyway, Roderick, thank you so much. God bless you, brother. and speaking of notifications, I was notified today that Kevin dills is signed up for a monthly $50 donation. Well, thank you, Kevin. God bless you. and so Kevin is also an executive producer today. How cool is that? Thanks, guys. Boostagram Boostagram came in from fountain user bereanbitcoin are on the 13th and 14th shake off rejection episode and they just sent a little heart emojis Oh, thank you for the Boostagram bereanbitcoin or what a great handle Berean Bitcoin or I love it. God bless you

Steve Webb 11:48
Lifespringmedia.com/suppport

Steve Webb 11:55
praises and prayer requests. Let’s start with this praise that came in on August 4, while Leanne and I were on vacation is from Lifespring family Berean brother Paul of Seattle, he wrote, Hi, Steve got a praise report. My cousin’s wife just had their first kid today. Mom and baby are doing well. Yeah, says Paul. Well, that is a praise brother Paul. Very cool. Boy, girl name. We want details. Thanks for sharing brother Paul. and there’s this note from the lovely lady Leanne. She said pray for this anonymous couple that we both know, pray for their finances in marriage in Yes, we’ll do that. and she said also pray for my brother, Randy’s son in law, Philip Bauer, who posted on Facebook, asking for prayers for healing for his family. Well, that’s all I know about it. So obviously, God knows everything about it. So we’ll just lift that family up in prayer. and then Leanne said her cousin candy is still on oxygen. They have to monitor her oxygen level, she is home, but she’s still having to do that. But she is doing better. and her husband Jim has rheumatoid arthritis. and he recently was in the hospital for a procedure. and they did a chest X ray and saw a spot on his lung. and the doctors thought that this was just another manifestation of he has rheumatoid arthritis. But after a PET scan a couple of weeks ago, they saw that the spot had gotten bigger. Well, they did a biopsy and it says that, well, he’s got lung cancer. We haven’t heard his stage or a treatment plan yet, but they’re going to do some more testing to find out if it has spread or not. and by the way, Jim is also on oxygen. So Jim needs our prayers. Also. Leanne says maybe you could squeak a prayer out for our healing, meaning hers in mind with what with this cold we’re both still dealing with and for her work. She’s having some challenges at work. She said thanks, love, tell the family. I’m grateful for their love and prayers. and I will do that. and you’ve heard it. Leanne is grateful to the Lifespring family for your love and prayers. and then one more. I have a half brother named Greg that I’ve mentioned once or twice on the show before. We aren’t close. and as a matter of fact, we never met until I was about 40 years old. He’s two years younger than I am almost exactly I think his birthday is two days before my birthday. Anyway, we do share the same father and I won’t get into details. But while I was on vacation, I got a text from Greg telling me that he had just had surgery not long ago. He had throat cancer and now he has what is called a stoma which is a hole in the neck that you breathe through Greg’s larynx or voice box was removed. So he has to learn how to speak through this whole this stoma. and there are a few different ways that this is done and I’m not sure which one Greg is going to be learning to you but it is going to be difficult. Whatever method it is. It does look like they got all the cancer. But of course, Greg has this challenge ahead of him. I told him that we would be praying for him. and I tell you, I’m really not sure about his relationship with the Lord. The first time we met, he was a prison inmate. and it was a local facility. So I visited him every couple of weeks for a year or so until they released him. and he had told me that he had accepted the Lord while He was in the joint as they say, I guess. But when Greg was released, he moved several states away. So I really can’t know for certain where his heart is. So let’s pray for healing and for strength, but also that he would truly seek to know Jesus. Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we lift up your name, and we worship you because of who you are. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, you are the creator of all that is, and you have given us life. You hold everything in your hand, Lord, and you are the Sovereign Lord. Thank you for loving us and for inviting us to know you. Thank you, for your son and the salvation we have through his shed blood. and we thank You, Father, for the Holy Spirit, who is our comforter, who gives us the ability to follow you, and is the seal of our salvation. We thank you for this new life in Paul’s family, we pray that You would give these new parents and the extended family wisdom and guidance as the child grows, may this new little person grow to be a man or a woman of God, who loves you, and who you can use for your glory. and now, Lord, for this anonymous couple that Leanne wrote about, I know that they love you, and I pray that you would be with him during this very difficult time. You know, all the details, and I pray that you will walk with them through this time, and that they will be stronger on the other side of what’s currently going on in their lives. and for LeeAnn’s, brother, Randy’s son in law, we pray that whatever healing is needed in his family, that you would bring the healing be magnified in their lives, Lord, we thank you that LeeAnn’s cousin candy is home and that she’s doing better and we pray that she will soon be able to breathe without having to rely on an oxygen tank. and we pray for Candy’s husband, Jim, in the cancer diagnosis that he’s just gotten. We pray that as they wait for testing, that you would comfort their hearts and make your presence known Lord, they love you and I pray that they would be able to lean on you for reassurance and comfort. We pray that the lung cancer will be treatable and that you’ll bring Jim through this frightening, frightening time. We pray for my brother Greg. Now, Lord, He’s not had an easy life, sometimes from his own decisions. and now he’s in probably the biggest battle of his life. We pray that you would use this time to bring him to the point that he surrenders completely to you. Help him to put away his own pride and really acknowledge you as the Lord of his life. As he recovers from this surgery, I pray that you’ll strengthen and comfort him as he learns how to live with this new physical reality. and we pray for LeeAnn’s work situation, Lord, help her in her job in each area that has become difficult. You know what they are, and it’s nothing that you can’t fix, be with her at work and help her to continue to be salt and light in her workplace. and Father, Lord, this coal that we have is sort of hanging on touch us, Lord, we pray and restore our strength. I thank you for the Lifespring family, Lord and I ask you to bless each and every one. You know every heart you know every detail every situation where there are needs. I pray that you would meet them according to your faithful loving will. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, beloved, our next time of prayer will be this coming Wednesday. So let me know how we can pray for you. Details on how to do that is coming right up

Steve Webb 19:04
let me hear from you. The best way is with a Boostagram using a modern podcast app from podcastapps.com. The next best way is to call the Lifespring family hotline and plus 1-951-732-8511 and if you just want to reach out and type something that’s okay too. For prayer requests and praise reports, go to prayer dot Lifespringmedia.com. and for comments or questions just go to comment.lifespringmedia.com and last my email address is st***@*************ia.com. Pick one of those methods and talk to me

Steve Webb 19:45
thanks to Sister Denise and Michael Haner and Scott Snider and Jason Paschall who did today’s show aren’t ancestor Brittaney for their generous donations of time and talents. Thanks to Roderick and Kevin Mills for helping to make this episode possible with their donation. And I’m so glad we had time together today. Beloved, I can’t wait for tomorrow. Until then May God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb, by

James Cooper 20:15
all the programs in the Lifespringmedia.com family are made possible by the generous gifts of people like you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai