Podcast Introduction
Our reading today is Exodus 33-36. I’m calling today’s episode “Alone.”
Comments on Exodus 33
Chapter 33 begins where chapter 32 left off, immediately after the people made the golden calf. The Lord is angry, and tells Moses to quickly leave this place. And he tells Moses that He will not go with them, but will send an angel to go with them instead, because, “you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”
There are two things I would like to talk about in this short scene.
1) Do you think God really was considering whether or not to destroy them when He said, “…I might destroy you on the way.”? Did He really need to remove Himself from their presence so He wouldn’t destroy them in a fit of anger? Would He have wiped them out because they built a golden calf and worshipped it?
I remember when my sons were just young boys. There were times when I would catch one or more of them doing something they knew they shouldn’t do. Sometimes I would discipline them on the spot. But other times, I would send them to their room. And with a stern look and firm tone, I would say, “I’ll be in to deal with you later.” And then when they were very young, they’d trudge off to their room, crying all the way. The waiting for the other shoe to drop was sometimes worse than whatever punishment might come.
Beloved, God was not surprised when the people built that golden calf. When we sin, it doesn’t shock God. But He does want us to learn to obey His Word. So I believe that He said He “might destroy them on the way” so that they would think about what they had done, and know that God does not take their sin lightly.
2) God did not remove His presence from them to restrain Himself. He had no intention of wiping them out. Their sin was not going to change God’s plan for the redemption of mankind! No, in removing His presence from them, He was testing them. Up to this point, God had been with them in a very close way. He was in the midst of them, rescuing them from Pharaoh and beginning their journey to the Promised Land. And He promised to protect them along the way and bring them victories as the took the land. God was with them visibly with the pillar of cloud in the daytime and the fire at night. Now He said, “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey.”
What if their response to this new arrangement was, “OK. Cool. We can live with that.”? What would that say about them? It would say that as long as they got the goodies, they didn’t care about God!
But to their credit, they mourned when they heard God was withdrawing from them. Commentator Martin Lloyd-Jones put it this way: “To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realization of the presence of God, having this fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else.”
Beloved, every believer, every Christian has an even greater presence of God than a pillar of cloud or fire. We have the Holy Spirit living in us! God is with us in a very real way! Can you imagine if He was to withdraw from your life? Think of it. Imagine how bleak life would be. Imagine the loneliness. The hopelessness. It’s a terrifying thought.
And this, dear one, is why we must share the Good News. Non believers, though they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them, do benefit from living in a world where God’s influence is all around. They may not acknowledge Him. They may not be aware of Him. But God is here, and He truly does restrain a great deal of evil. And the entire world benefits from God’s presence.
But when a non believer dies, they are forever removed from any presence of God. There truly is no hope of redemption.
As I said on yesterday’s show, we have a responsibility to tell people of God’s saving grace. They need to know that Jesus came to save them from that terrible, eternal fate. “16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18
How will they know unless we tell them?
Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Verne Ho on Unsplash
Today’s Bible Translation
Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 33 NET; Ch. 34 NIRV; Ch. 35-36 ERV
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Transcript
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Steve Webb 0:00
Okay, cool. We can live with that
Steve Webb 0:09
This is the Lifespring family Audio Bible and I’m coming to you from Riverside, California, podcasting since 2004. I’m your OG Godcaster Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we are reading through the entire Bible in a year. I’m happy to see you today. How are you? Welcome. Our reading today is Exodus 33 through 36. I’m calling the episode “Alone.” The show notes page for today’s episode is that lifespringmedia.com/s12e152.
Steve Webb 0:39
And I want to mention that beginning with the special edition “Where Has Steve Been?” episode, complete transcripts are now available for every episode. There’s a link to the episode transcript near the top of every show notes page going forward. Now listen, I use an online service to create the transcripts. And they’re not perfect, but they’re about 95% right. Now, if you would like to contribute some time, as in time, talent or treasure, the value for value concept…if you’d like to contribute some time and help me out by correcting the transcripts, I would be so thankful. All you would need to do is go to the show notes page, download the transcript, make the corrections and then email the corrected transcript to me, I would then put the corrected transcript on the page. And I’ll credit you there on the page. And I’ll mention your contribution on the next episode. How’s that sound? Cool, I’d appreciate it. Alright, let’s get started.
Steve Webb 1:41
Exodus chapter 33. The Lord said to Moses, go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob saying, I will give it to your descendants. I will send an Angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite the Amorite, the Hittite, the parasite, the high vite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff neck people and I might destroy you on the way. When the people heard this troubling word they mourned. No one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, tell the Israelites you are a stiff neck people. If I went up among you for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments that I may know what I should do to you. So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb. Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp at a good distance from the camp. And he called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone seeking the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp. And when Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the entrance to their tents and watch Moses until he entered the tent. And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend in stand at the entrance of the tent. And the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent would rise in worship. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face the way a person speaks to a friend, then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua, son of Nun, a young man did not leave the tent. Moses said to the Lord, see, you have been saying to me bring this people up. But you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, I know you by name. And also you have found favor in my site. Now if I have found favor in your site, show me your way that I may know you that I may continue to find favor in your site, and see that this nation is your people. And the Lord said, My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. And Moses said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here. For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight I and your people? Is it not by you’re going with us so that we will be distinguished I and your people from all the people who are on the face of the earth. The Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have requested, For you have found favor in my site, and I know you by name. And Moses said, Show me your glory. And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before your face. And I will proclaim the Lord by name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. But he added you cannot see my face for no one can see me and live. The Lord said here is a place by me. You will station yourself on a rock when my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft and the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by. Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen.
Steve Webb 5:12
Exodus chapter 34. The Lord said to Moses, cut out two stone tablets that are just like the first ones. I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets would you broke, be ready in the morning, then come up on Mount Sinai, meet with me, they’re on top of the mountain. No one must come with you. No one must be seen anywhere on the mountain. Not even the flocks and herds must be allowed to eat grass in front of the mountain. So Moses carved out two stone tablets that were just like the first ones. Early in the morning, he went up Mount Sinai, he carried the two tablets in his hands. He did as the Lord had commanded him to do. Then the LORD came down in the cloud. He stood there with Moses and announced his name the Lord, as the past in front of Moses, he called out he said, I am the Lord the Lord. I am a God who was tender and kind, I am gracious. I am slow to get angry. I am faithful and full of love. I continue to show my love to 1000s of people. I forgive those who do evil. I forgive those who refuse to obey. And I forgive those who sin. But I do not let guilty people go without punishing them. I punish the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren for the sin of their parents. Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshipped. Lord, He said, If you are pleased with me, then go with us. Even though these people are stubborn, forgive the evil things we have done, forgive our sin, and accept us as Your people. Then the Lord said, I am making a covenant with you. I will do wonderful things in front of all your people. I will do miracles that have never been done before in any nation in the whole world. The people you live among will see the things that I the Lord will do for you. And they will see how wonderful those things really are. Obey what I command you today, I will drive out the Amorites Canaanites, Hittites, parasites Hivites in Jebusites, to make room for you. Be careful. Do not make a peace treaty with those who live in the land where you are going. They will be a trap to you. Tear down their altars smash their sacred stones, cut down the poles they used to worship the Goddess Ashura. Do not worship any other god, I am a jealous God. In fact, my name is jealous. Be careful not to make a peace treaty with those who live in the land. They commit sin by offering sacrifices to their gods. They will invite you to eat their sacrifices. You will choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons. And those daughters will commit sin by worshipping their gods, then they will lead your sons to do the same thing. Do not make statues of gods celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread that is made without yeast just as I commanded you. Do it at the appointed time in the month of a bib. You came out of Egypt in that month. Every male animal that is born first to its mother belongs to me, that includes your livestock. It includes herds and flocks alike. Sacrifice a lamb to buy back every male donkey that is born first to its mother. But if you do not buy the donkey back, break its neck by back every oldest son, you must not come to worship Me with your hands empty. Do your work in six days, but you must rest on the seventh day. Even when you’re plowing your land or gathering your crops, you must rest on the seventh day. celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Bring the first share of your wheat crop. celebrate the Feast of Booths, hold it in the fall. Three times a year all of your men must come to worship me. I am your Lord and King, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations ahead of you. I will increase your territory. Go up three times a year to worship me. While you were doing that. I will keep others from wanting to take any of your land for themselves. I am the Lord your God.
Steve Webb 9:29
Do not include anything that is made with yeast when you offer me the blood of a sacrifice. You must not keep any of the meat from the sacrifice of the Passover Feast until morning. Bring the best of the first share of your crops to my house. I am the Lord your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. Then the Lord said to Moses, write down the words I have spoken. I have made a covenant with you and with Israel in keeping with those words
Steve Webb 10:00
Moses was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 Nights. He didn’t eat any food or drink any water. The Lord wrote on the tablets, the words of the covenant. Those words are the 10 commandments. Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he had the two tablets of the Covenant in His hands. His face was shining, because he had spoken with the Lord, but he didn’t realize it. Aaron and all of the people of Israel saw Moses, his face was shining, so they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called out to them. So Aaron, and all of the leaders of the community came to him, and Moses spoke to them. After that all of the people came near him, and he gave them all of the commandments the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. Moses finished speaking to them, then he put a veil over his face. But when he would go to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil. He would keep it off until he came out. Then he would tell the people what the Lord had commanded, they would see that his face was shining. So Moses would put the veil back over his face, he would keep it on until he went in again to speak with the Lord.
Steve Webb 11:10
Exodus chapter 35. Moses gathered all the Israelites together and said to them, I will tell you what the Lord has commanded you to do. There are six days for working, but the seventh day will be a very special day of rest for you. You will honor the Lord by resting on that special day. Anyone who works on the seventh day must be killed. On the Sabbath, you should not even light a fire in any of the places where you live. Moses said to all the Israelites, this is what the Lord commanded, gathers special gifts for the Lord. Each of you should decide in your heart what you will give, and then you should bring that gift to the Lord. Bring gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and red yarn and fine linen, goat hair, Ram skins, dyed red and fine leather, acacia wood, oil for all the lamps, spices for the anointing oil, and spices for the sweet smelling incense. Also bring onyx stones and other jewels to be put on the ephod and the judgment pouch. All of you who are skilled workers should make all the things the Lord commanded the holy tent, its outer tent, and it’s covering the hooks boards, braces, posts and bases, the holy box, its poles, the Mercy cover and the curtain that covers the area where the box stays the table and its poles, all the things on the table and the special bread on the table. The Lampstand that is used for light in the things used with the lampstand the lamps in the oil for the light, the altar for burning incense and its poles, the anointing oil and the sweet smelling incense. The curtain that covers the door at the entrance to the holy tent, the altar for burning offerings and its bronze grading, the poles and all the things used at the altar, the bronze bowl and its base, the curtains around the yard, their posts and bases and the curtain that covers the entrance to the yard. The pegs used to support the tent and the wall of curtains around the courtyard, and the ropes that tie to the pegs and the special woven clothes for the priests to wear in the holy place. These are the special clothes for Aaron the priest and his sons to wear when they serve as priests. Then all the Israelites went away from Moses, all the people who wanted to give came and brought a gift to the Lord. These gifts were used for making the meeting tent, everything in the tent and the special clothes. All the men and women who wanted to give brought jewelry of all kinds. They brought pins, earrings, rings and other jewelry. They gave all their jewelry is a special offering to the Lord. Everyone who had find linen and blue, purple and red yarn brought it to the Lord. Anyone who had goat hair or RAM skins dyed red or fine leather brought it to the Lord. Everyone who wanted to give silver or bronze brought that as a gift to the Lord. Everyone who had acacia wood came and gave it to the Lord. Every skilled woman made fine linen and blue, purple and red yarn. And all the women who were skilled and wanted to help made cloth from goat here, the leaders brought onyx stones and other jewels. These stones and jewels were put on the facade and judgment palette to the priest. The people also brought spices and olive oil. These things were used for the sweet smelling incense, the anointing oil in the oil for the lamps. All the Israelites who wanted to help brought gifts to the Lord. They gave these gifts freely because they wanted to. These gifts were used to make everything the Lord had commanded Moses and the people to make. Then Moses said to the Israelites, look, the Lord has chosen bezel l son of your eye from the tribe of Judah. Your eye was the center of her and he has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God He gave Bezaleel special skill and knowledge to do all kinds of things. He can design and make things with gold, silver and bronze. He can cut and set stones and jewels. He can work with wood and make all kinds of things. The Lord has given bezel L and a holy AB special skills to teach other people.
Steve Webb 15:20
Ohhoiab was the son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan.
Steve Webb 15:24
He has given both of these men special skills to do all kinds of work. They’re able to do the work of carpenters and metal workers. They can weave cloth with designs in it from blue, purple and red yarn and fine linen. And they’re able to weave things with wool.
Steve Webb 15:39
Exodus chapter 36. So Bezalel, Ohhoiab and all the other skilled men must do the work the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given these men the wisdom and understanding to do all the skilled work needed to build this holy place. Then Moses called Bezalel, Ohhoiab and all the other skilled men who the Lord had given special skills to and they came because they wanted to help with the work. Moses gave them everything the Israelites had brought his gifts, and they use these things to build the holy place. The people continued to bring gifts each morning. Finally, all the skilled workers left the work they were doing on the holy place, and they went to speak to Moses, they said, the people have brought too much we have more than we need to finish the work the Lord told us to do. Then Moses sent this message throughout the camp. No man or woman should make anything else as a gift for the holy place. So that people were forced to stop giving more that people had brought more than enough things to finish the work of building God’s holy place. Then the skilled workers began making the holy tent. They made the 10 curtains from fine linen and blue, purple and red yarn. And they sewed pictures of cherub angels with wings into the curtains. Each curtain was the same size 28 cubits long and four cubits wide. The workers joined the curtains together into two groups of curtains. They joined five curtains together to make one group and five curtains together to make the other group. Then they used blue cloth to make loops along the edge of the end curtain of one group. And they did the same on the end curtain in the other group. There were 50 loops on the end curtain in one group, and 50 loops on the end curtain in the other group. The loops were opposite each other. Then they made 50 gold rings to join the two curtains together. So the Holy tent was joined together into one piece. Then the workers made another tent to cover the holy tent. They used goat here to make 11 curtains. All the curtains were the same size 30 cubits long in four cubits wide. The worker has joined five curtains together into one group, and six curtains together into another group. They put 50 loops along the edge of the ant curtain of one group, and they did the same on the end curtain of the other group. The workers made 50 bronze rings to join the two groups of curtains together to form one tent. Then they made two more coverings for the Holy tent. One covering was made from RAM skins dyed red, the other covering was made from fine leather. Then the workers made frames from acacia wood to support the holy tent. Each frame was 10 cubits long in one and a half cubits wide. There were two side poles joined together with cross pieces to make each frame. Every frame for the Holy tent was made the same. They made 20 frames for the south end of the holy tent. Then they made 40 Silver bases for the frames. There were two bases for each frame, one base for each side pole. They also made 20 frames for the other side, the north side of the holy tent, they made 40 Silver bases for the frames, two bases for each frame. They made six more frames for the back the west side of the holy tent. They also made two frames for the corners at the back of the holy tent. These frames were joined together at the bottom and at the top, a ring held the corner frames together. They did the same for both corners. There were eight frames for the west side of the holy tent, and there were 16 Silver basis two bases for each frame. Then the workers used acacia wood to make the braces for the frames. Five braces for the first side of the holy tent, five braces for the other side and five braces for the back of the holy tent that is the west side. They made the middle brace so that it passed through the frames from one end to the other. They covered these frames with gold. Then they used gold to make the rings to hold the braces and they covered the braces with gold. They used fine linen and blue purple and red yarn to make this special curtain for the entrance to the most holy place. And they sewed pictures of cherub angels into the curtain. They made four posts using acacia wood and they covered the posts with gold. Then they made gold hooks for the posts in for silver bases for the posts, then they made the curtain to cover the entrance to the tent. They used blue, purple and red yarn in fine linen to make this curtain and they wove pictures into it. Then they made five posts in the hooks for this curtain over the entrance. They covered the tops of the posts and the curtain rods with gold. And they made the five bronze basis for the posts.
Steve Webb 20:25
Chapter 33 began where chapter 32 left off immediately after the people made the golden calf, the Lord is angry, and he tells Moses to quickly leave that place. And he tells Moses that he will not go with them. But he will send an Angel to go with them instead because, quote, you are a stiff neck people and I might destroy you on the way unquote. Well, there’s two things I’d like to talk about in this short scene. Number one, do you think God really was considering whether or not to destroy them when he said, I might destroy you on the way? Did he really need to remove himself from their presence, so he wouldn’t destroy them in a fit of anger? Would he have wiped them out because they built a golden calf and worshipped it? Well, I remember when my sons were just young boys. And they were times when I would catch one or more of them doing something that they knew they shouldn’t do. Now, sometimes I would discipline them right there on the spot. But other times I’d send them to their room. And with a stern look and firm tone, I would say I’ll begin to deal with you later. And then when they were very young, they trudge off to their room and they’d be crying all the way. The waiting for the other shoe to drop was sometimes worse than whatever punishment might come along. Beloved, God was not surprised when the people built that golden calf. Listen, when we sin, it doesn’t shock God. But He does want us to learn to obey His Word. So I believe that when he said that he might destroy them on the way. I think he did it so that they would think about what they had done, and know that God does not take their sin lightly. Number two, God did not remove his presence for them to restrain himself, he had no intention of wiping them out. Their sin was not going to change God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. No, in removing his presence from them, he was testing them. Up to this point, God had been with him in a very close way. He was in the midst of them, rescuing them from Pharaoh and beginning their journey to the promised land. And he promised to protect them along the way and bring them victories as he took the land. God was with them visibly with a pillar of cloud in the daytime in the fire at night. And now he said, I will send an Angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite the Amorite, the Hittite, the parasite, the high vite and the Jebusite go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. So he was still giving them the land. So what was the test? Well, what if their response to this new arrangement was okay, cool. We can live with that. What would that say about them? It would say that as long as they got the goodies, they didn’t care about God. But to their credit, they mourned when they heard that God was withdrawing from them. Commentator, Martyn Lloyd Jones put it this way, quote, to be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you, what is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions if God was not with them, they saw that the realization of the presence of God, having his fellowship and company was infinitely more important than everything else. Unquote. Beloved, every believer, every Christian has an even greater presence of God than a pillar of cloud or fire. We have the Holy Spirit living in us. God is with us in a very, very real way. Can you imagine if he was to withdraw from your life? Think of it. Imagine how bleak life would be without God right there with you. Imagine the loneliness, the hopelessness. It’s a terrifying thought in my mind. And this dear one, is why we have to share the good news. non believers, though they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them do benefit from living in a world where God’s influence is all around. They may not acknowledge him. They may not be aware of him, but God is here. And he truly does restrain a great deal of evil in the entire world benefits from God’s presence. But when a non believer dies, they aren’t forever removed from any presence of God, there truly is no hope of redemption. As I said, on yesterday’s show, we have a responsibility to tell people of God’s saving grace. They need to know that Jesus came to save them from that terrible, eternal fate. John 316 through 18 says, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only son. Beloved, how will they know unless we tell them? Let me know your thoughts. Go to the show notes page at Lifespring media.com/s 12 V. 152. And let me know our reading tomorrow was first Kings one through four boost.
Steve Webb 26:12
Alright, let me give you an update on the Raspberry Pi project. On Saturday, Ron ploof, host of the griddle cakes radio podcast, go over there and listen, you’ll love it, I promise you look it up griddle cakes radio. Anyway, Ron and I spent three and a half hours on a video call on Saturday, as I said, we both learned a lot about how to do the Bitcoin lightning thing. But there is so much more to learn. So much of it just doesn’t make logical sense until you get your head around it. And neither neither Ron nor I have our heads all the way around it yet. We’ve made progress, but it’s not there. And I have not yet gotten my raspy pie set up to notify when booster grams come in. So what I’m going to be doing is asking Dave Jones, who is working with Adam curry on the whole podcasting 2.0 project. And Dave is doing a lot of the heavy lifting with writing software and stuff like that. So Dave is a good guy, I know he’ll help me out. And hopefully in the next few days or so, I’ll have the the so the part of the configuration of the Raspberry Pi is to get a little piece of software called heli pad that Dave wrote, installed and working. So for some reason, Hello, Pat is just sitting there saying I don’t see nothing yet. I know it’s me and not not Hello pad. So Dave will help me out.
Steve Webb 27:39
Alright, enough of that. Now, I need to give some credit here on the special edition show that I did after my little forest break from doing this show when I had my heart inconvenience. on that show, I mentioned a little bit of my family’s history with coronary disease. And on that episode, I told you that my biological father died of a heart attack at 65. And one of his brothers died at 48. So the credit I have to give is how did I know that stuff? All right, to give proper credit. Here we go. I’ve got to give you some background. I want to give credit to the person who told me about the family history because I didn’t know about my father, his brother having a heart attack at 48. And I didn’t remember my father’s age when he died. Why did I not know that information? And who told it to me? Here we go. I referred to him as my biological father because I didn’t know him. He and my mom divorced when I was three. And the agreement was that he would not have to pay alimony or child support if he just got completely out of our lives. So I had no contact with him or anyone else on that side of the family until I was 40 years old. When I mentioned to the lovely lady Leanne that I would be interested in meeting him, but I didn’t know where he was, and I had no way to find him. Remember, this was back in about 1994. We didn’t have the internet search tools that we have today. So Leanne, who is a very resourceful person started searching forum. Unbeknownst to me. In her searching, she ended up contacting the Salvation Army to ask them to help find him. Yeah, who knew that the Salvation Army did that kind of thing. Now listen to this. When my parents were married in up until I was three years old, we lived in the city of Southgate, California suburb of Los Angeles. Now I’ve lived in Riverside for about 40 years now. Riverside is about 50 miles due west of Southgate. The Salvation Army found that my biological father lived in Hemet, California, which is only about 30 miles southeast of where I lived at that time in Riverside. 37 years of separation yet only 30 miles apart. Crazy, especially here In Southern California, people move around all the time. Well, Leanne revealed to me that she had found my biological father and asked if I truly wanted to meet him, I told her I did. So she arranged the meeting at his house, and we saw each other two or three times. And then he died. Now backing up just a little bit, after he and my mom divorced when I was three, they both remarried. And both had children with their new spouses. And my bio father had a daughter and a son. I had a half brother and a half sister, whom I had never met. Now, I didn’t know that they existed, because my grandmother showed me a picture of them when I was, I don’t know, maybe 10, somewhere between 10 and 15 years old, I don’t remember exactly. So I had a little black and white picture of both of them. All right. After my bio father died, my half brother, whose name is Greg came to California from his home in Kingman, Arizona, to attend the funeral. So it was because of our father’s death that we met. And it is to Greg, that I give the credit for telling me about my bio father’s age when he died. And by the way, my bio father’s name was Richard, but everybody called him dick. And our uncle Lloyd’s death at 48. It was Greg that told me this just a couple of days ago, I remember when Dick died. But since I didn’t really know him, I don’t I didn’t remember his age when he died. So Greg, new Dick, and he knows the website of the family far more than me. And I’m glad Greg and I met despite the circumstances of our meeting, he’s my little brother, and I love him. And by the way, my half sisters name is Cheryl Lavonne. And we call her lovey in the family. And I’ll mention lovey later in the prayers in praises part of the show. And now since I am talking about family history, and my bio father, I feel compelled to mention the man that I called dad. I’ve mentioned him a few times over the 17 plus years that I’ve been podcasting. And though he was far from perfect, I loved him. And I’m glad that he was the father figure in my life. He didn’t accept the Lord until very shortly before he died at the age of 82. But nonetheless, God used kin to make me the man that I am today. And I’m very, very thankful for him. So there’s a little bit about Steve’s family history.
Steve Webb 32:45
Donations, Kevin Schneider sent in a $50 donation. Thank you, Kevin. Definitely did help with the hosting fee. And I appreciate your brother. God bless you. Thank you. And Sean of San Pedro sent a boostagram this morning. He said Let it shine, very challenging point about evangelizing to those and other religions. And he sent 500 SATs using the fountain app. And yes, I know it is challenging, isn’t it? I have to agree with the article that I mentioned that we all agree that we need to share the gospel, we need to share the good news. But it’s very uncomfortable sharing, especially to someone in another religion, with the intent of converting them. In today’s day and age, it’s really become a negative thing to think about changing someone from one religion to another, especially from any religion, to Christianity. But you know what, that is a tool of the enemy, Satan, the father of lies, he wants to take as many souls with him to hell as possible. And he wants to make us Christians afraid of sharing the gospel. He doesn’t want us to grab people out of his grasp. So we need to tell Satan to get lost. And we need to as a as an invading army, we need to get into his territory and share the gospel with people that are surely not going to heaven if they continue to believe their false religion. And every religion that is not Christianity. This is going to sound like hate speech, but it is what it is. Every religion, that is not Christianity is directly from the pit of hell. It’s an operation it’s a psyop of the enemy. That is what it is. So anyway, yes, it’s a very challenging point about evangelizing to those and other religions. I’m with you on that, Shawn, that we got to do it. That’s what our call is. Listen, if you’d like to help support the show, if you agree with me that the word of God has to get out to people and if you find value in this show, value for value is what it’s all about. However much value you think the show is, please convert some have that to a number and then send that to me at Lifespring media.com/support. Or a fun way to do this whole thing is to stream SATs on a podcasting 2.0 enabled podcast app, one of those new shiny things that all the cool kids are using. Now if you want to find one of those, go to new podcast apps.com and download one or two of them and play with them. They are getting easier to use all the time. If you need help getting going with that. Let me know I can help you out.
Steve Webb 35:40
On this date in church history, January 31 1949, you’ll remember we’ve talked about the American missionary Jim Elliot, he’s the one that was killed by the Alka Indians. We’ve talked about him a couple of times in the on this date in church history segment. On January 31 1949, Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, one does not surrender a life in an instant, that which is lifelong, can only be surrendered in the lifetime good words.
Steve Webb 36:20
Prayer requests. When I was talking to Ron ploof, yesterday, he mentioned that one of his neighbors is across the street neighbor, a man named Pat recently died in a terrible car accident. He left a wife named Aurora and a teenage son named Nick, we need to pray for them. And I’ve got two things to mention about my sister, lovey. The first is a prayer request. She’s only a few years younger than me. And I’ve already told you I’m an old guy. But she’s raising three of her daughters, young children. So she’s raising three grandkids. I cannot imagine raising little ones at my age. So let’s pray that the Lord will give lovey the strength to be the mom that she needs to be for her grandkids. The second thing is a praise. Love. He was diagnosed with cancer a few years back, but the cancer is now in remission. It’s not active. So I guess actually, this is both a praise and a prayer request. It’s a praise that the cancer is in remission, but we also need to pray that it stays in remission or that it completely vanishes, which of course, would be the better thing. So let’s pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for who you are, and for loving us as you do. Thank you, Lord, for continuing to work in our lives to make us the people you want us to be. As you are the potter we ask that you make us pliable, like clay in your hands. And we pray now for Aurora in for Nick, help them through this time of heartbreak and loss Lord, I don’t know if they know you, Lord. So if they don’t I pray that Ron and his wife Tara will be able to minister to them and show them your love. May Aurora and Nick feel your presence in strength as they pass through their grief? And May they reach out to you? And we pray now for lovey? I first thank you for making her cancer go into remission. And I asked that it remained like that or better yet that you would just heal her completely. And Lord, I ask that you bless her for raising those three grandkids. And I pray that You would give her energy to be the mom they need. And I thank You, Lord for the Lifespring family. Bless each one Lord, you know the needs and I pray, Lord, that You would work in each area of need in the life of every Lifespring family member. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. said in your prayer requests that prayer dot Lifespring media.com share them on the show and I’ll pray for them in my own private prayer time.
Steve Webb 39:00
Comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com/s12e152. Were starting a couple of episodes ago you will find complete transcripts of the show. You can email me at Steve at Lifespring media.com. And again, please support the show at Lifespring media.com/support. Until tomorrow may God bless you richly thank you for being here. I love you. And my name is Steve wept. Bye
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