Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 102 NIRV, Ch. 103-104 CEV

Executive Producer

Brother Phil Colbourn

Podcast Introduction

oday is Psalms Wednesday. We’ll read chapters 102-104. Plus, we’ll continue our Essentials series, and we’ll have a time of Praise reports and Prayer Requests. I’m calling this episode “Compelled to Praise.”

Comments on Psalm 104

When I was a young man, I did quite a lot of hiking and backpacking and rock climbing. One of the greatest trips I took was in the High Sierra. Some friends of mine and I hiked from the area around Mammoth Mountain, where a couple of years later I became a professional ski patrolman, to Yosemite Valley, truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth. As the crow flies, the distance is about 35 miles. Our hike was about 70 miles. We took 10 days to make the trip, because we took some days exploring the area around our camps and fishing.

Why am I telling you this? Because I really love seeing God’s creation, and I get how some people can look at it and worship the creation instead of the creator. I get it, but I feel sorry for people who do that. To see the beauty of a sunrise over a mountain meadow, or hear the trickling of a stream teeming with brook trout, or to gaze upon majestic mountain peaks, or hear the thundering of crashing waves on the shore, and fail to acknowledge the awesome Creator of these wonders and all there is, is tragic in my eyes.

I have often wondered how people fail to realize that all of these things come from God, but then I remember that it is Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. And Jesus said that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them to Him. So beloved, people can’t know that the beauty we see was created by God unless He reveals Himself to them. 

Knowing this compels me to do at least two things. Number one: I must praise God for calling me to Himself. It is not because I’m so smart that I love Him, it is because He revealed Himself to me, and He gave me the faith to believe. And number two, I have tell others about Him. Because Romans 10:17 tells us that Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It is our job to plant the seeds of faith by telling others the Good News, and it is God who takes it from there. 

God gave us a beautiful world to live in that illustrates His creative and mighty and orderly nature. Praise HIM, the Creator, for that, not the creation.

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The Team

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Transcript

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Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00
I’ve often wondered how people fail to realize that all of these things come from God.

Steve Webb 0:12
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring! One Year Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. Today’s Psalms Wednesday, and we’ll read chapters 102 through 104. Plus, we’ll continue our Essentials series, and we’ll have a time of praise reports and prayer requests. It’s a busy day today. So let’s get started. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and I’ll have contact information at the end of today’s show. Before we get started, let’s stop for a word of prayer. Our gracious heavenly Father, we love you so much, and we thank you for our time together. We thank you for your Word. And we thank you for inviting us into your presence with our prayers and our thanksgiving. We thank you, Lord, for teaching us through your Word and for this time in the Essential series as well. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Okay, let’s get started.

Steve Webb 1:08
The title of Psalm 102 is “A prayer of an afflicted person who is weak and pours out his lament before the Lord.” We don’t know who the afflicted person is, or when this Psalm was written. In this Psalm Jerusalem, or Zion, as it’s called in the text is described as being in a state of ruin. It’s possible that it was written by someone there who was mourning for their personal loss and that of Zion. If so, commentator Adam Clarke thought the author could be Nehemiah, Daniel, or Jeremiah. This is one of the seven penitential Psalms, the others being Psalms 6, 32, 51, 130, and 143.

Steve Webb 1:52
Psalms, chapter 102. Lord, hear my prayer. Listen to my cry for help. Don’t turn your face away from me when I’m in trouble. Pay attention to me. When I call out for help, answer me quickly. My days are disappearing like smoke. My body burns like glowing coals. My strength has dried up like grass. I even forget to eat my food. I groan out loud because of my suffering. I’m nothing but skin and bones. I’m like a desert owl. I’m like an owl among destroyed buildings. I can’t sleep. I’ve become like a bird alone on a roof. All day long my enemies laugh at me. Those who make fun of me use my name as a curse. I eat ashes as my food. My tears fall into what I’m drinking. You were very angry with me. So you picked me up and threw me away. The days of my life are like an evening shadow. I dry up like grass. But Lord, you are seated on your throne forever. Your fame will continue for all time to come. You will rise up and show deep concern for Zion. The time has come for you to show favor to it Zion. The stones of your destroyed city are priceless to us. Even its dust brings deep concern to us. The nations will worship the Lord. All of the kings on earth will respect his glorious power. The Lord will build Zion again. He will appear in his glory. He will answer the prayer of those who don’t have anything. He won’t say no to their cry for help. Let this be written down for those born after us. Then people who are not yet born can praise the Lord. Here is what should be written. “The Lord looked down from his temple in heaven. From heaven he viewed the earth. He heard the groans of the prisoners. He set free those who were sentenced to death.” So people will talk about him in Zion. They will praise him in Jerusalem. Nations and king will gather there to worship the Lord. When I was still young, he took away my strength. He wasn’t going to let me live much longer. So I said, “My God, don’t let me die in the middle of my life. You will live for all time to come. In the beginning you made the earth secure. You placed it on its foundations. Your hands created the heavens. They will pass away. But you will remain. They will all wear out like a piece of clothing. You will make them like clothes that are taken off and thrown away. But you remain the same. Your years will never end. Our children will live with you. Their sons and daughters will be safe in your care.”

Steve Webb 4:33
The title of Psalm 103 is “A Psalm of David.” Nothing in the text suggests a specific time or place of its writing but its subject is God’s grace and deliverance. David experienced both many times in his life, so this Psalm could have been written in any one of those times. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “We should attribute it to his later years when he had a higher sense of the preciousness of pardon, because of a keener sense of sin than in his younger days. His clear sense of the frailty of life indicates his weaker years, as also does the very fulness of his praiseful gratitude.” Praiseful. I like that word. Commentator G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “It is perhaps the most perfect song of pure praise to be found in the Bible…. Through centuries it has been sung by glad hearts, and today is as fresh and full of beauty as ever.”

Steve Webb 5:30
Psalms, chapter 103. With all my heart I praise the Lord, and with all that I am I praise his holy name! With all my heart I praise the Lord! I will never forget how kind he has been. The Lord forgives our sins, heals us when we are sick, and protects us from death. His kindness and love are a crown on our heads. Each day that we live, he provides for our needs and gives us the strength of a young eagle. For all who are mistreated, the Lord brings justice. He taught his Law to Moses and showed all Israel what he could do. The Lord is merciful! He is kind and patient, and his love never fails. The Lord won’t always be angry and point out our sins; he doesn’t punish us as our sins deserve. How great is God’s love for all who worship him? Greater than the distance between heaven and earth! How far has the Lord taken our sins from us? Farther than the distance from east to west! Just as parents are kind to their children, the Lord is kind to all who worship him, because he knows we are made out of dust. We humans are like grass or wild flowers that quickly bloom. But a scorching wind blows, and they quickly wither to be forever forgotten. The Lord is always kind to those who worship him, and he keeps his promises to their descendants who faithfully obey him. God has set up his kingdom in heaven, and he rules the whole creation. All of you mighty angels, who obey God’s commands, come and praise your Lord! All of you thousands who serve and obey God, come and praise your Lord! All of God’s creation and all that he rules, come and praise your Lord! With all my heart I praise the Lord!

Steve Webb 7:18
Psalm 104 has no title in the original Hebrew nor is an author attributed. Of this song, Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The Psalm gives an interpretation to the many voices of nature, and sings sweetly both of creation and providence. The poem contains a complete cosmos: sea and land, cloud and sunlight, plant and animal, light and darkness, life and death, all are proved to be expressive of the presence of the Lord.”

Steve Webb 7:50
Psalms, chapter 104. I praise you, Lord God, with all my heart. You are glorious and majestic, dressed in royal robes and surrounded by light. You spread out the sky like a tent, and you built your home over the mighty ocean. The clouds are your chariot with the wind as its wings. The winds are your messengers, and flames of fire are your servants. You built foundations for the earth, and it will never be shaken. You covered the earth with the ocean that rose above the mountains. Then your voice thundered! And the water flowed down the mountains and through the valleys to the place you prepared. Now you have set boundaries, so that the water will never flood the earth again. You provide streams of water in the hills and valleys, so that the donkeys and other wild animals can satisfy their thirst. Birds build their nests nearby and sing in the trees. From your home above you send rain on the hills and water on the earth. You let the earth produce grass for cattle, plants for our food, wine to cheer us up, olive oil for our skin, and grain for our health. Our Lord, your trees always have water, and so do the cedars you planted in Lebanon. Birds nest in those trees, and storks make their home in the fir trees. Wild goats find a home in the tall mountains, and small animals can hide between the rocks. You created the moon to tell us the seasons. The sun knows when to set, and you made the darkness, so the animals in the forest could come out at night. Lions roar as they hunt for the food you provide. But when morning comes, they return to their dens, then we go out to work until the end of day. Our Lord, by your wisdom you made so many things; the whole earth is covered with your living creatures. But what about the ocean so big and wide? It is alive with creatures, large and small. And there are the ships, as well as Leviathan, the monster you created to splash in the sea. All of these depend on you to provide them with food, and you feed each one with your own hand, until they are full. But when you turn away, they are terrified; when you end their life, they die and rot. You created all of them by your Spirit, and you give new life to the earth. Our Lord, we pray that your glory will last forever and that you will be pleased with what you have done. You look at the earth, and it trembles. You touch the mountains, and smoke goes up. As long as I live, I will sing and praise you, the Lord God. I hope my thoughts will please you, because you are the one who makes me glad. Destroy all wicked sinners from the earth once and for all. With all my heart I praise you, Lord! I praise you!

Steve Webb 10:39
Beloved, Psalm 102 reminded me of a song by the great Andre Crouch it’s called “Through It All.” I’ll have a video of the song on the show notes page if you’d like to hear it, but I want to share verse three with you right now.

Music 10:55
So I thank God for the mountains, And I thank Him for the valleys, And I thank Him for the storms He’s brought me through. Oh, if I’d never had a problem, I’d never know that God could solve them. I’d never know what faith in His word could do. That’s the reason I say that, Through it all, Through it all, Oh, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus. I’ve learned to trust in God. Oh let me tell you, Through it all…

Steve Webb 11:31
I tell you, I can’t listen to this song without just joining Andre and praising the Lord. It is so good. If you want to have a great time of praise, go listen on the show notes page at lifespringmedia.com/s12e238. And a comment on Psalm 104. Let me tell you that when I was a young man, I did a lot of hiking and backpacking, and rock climbing. One of the greatest trips I took was in the High Sierra. Some friends of mine and I hiked from the area around Mammoth Mountain where a couple of years later I was a professional ski patrolman. We went from there to Yosemite Valley, truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. As the crow flies, the distance is about 35 miles. Our hike was about 70 miles. And we took 10 days to make the trip because we took some days exploring the area around our camps, and we did some fishing. So why am I telling you this? Because I really love seeing God’s creation which was talked about in Psalm 104. And I get how some people can look at God’s creation and worship the creation instead of the Creator. I get it. But I feel sorry for people who do that. To see the beauty of a sunrise over a mountain meadow, or hear the trickling of a stream teeming with brook trout, or to gaze upon majestic mountain peaks, or hear the thundering of crashing waves on the shore and fail to acknowledge the awesome creator of these wonders, well, that’s just tragic in my eyes. I’ve often wondered how people fail to realize that all of these things come from God. But then I remember that it’s Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. And Jesus said that no one can come to him unless the Father draws them to him. So, Beloved, people can’t know that the beauty we see was created by God unless he reveals himself to them. Knowing this compels me to do at least two things. Number one, I must praise God for calling me to himself. It’s not because I’m so smart that I love him. It’s because he revealed himself to me and he gave me the faith to believe. And then number two, I have to tell others about him because Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It’s our job to plant the seeds of faith by telling others the good news, and then it’s God who takes it from there. God gave us a beautiful world to live in that illustrates his creative and mighty and orderly nature. Praise him the creator for that, not the creation. What are your thoughts? Let me know. Contact information is at the end of today’s show. Tomorrow will be Poetry Thursday and our reading will be Proverbs 20 and 21.

Steve Webb 14:36
Today’s Executive Producer is Lifespring Family Berean Brother Phil Colbourn, who came in with a donation of $333.33 with this note, “Perhaps Kathi could ask about using vitamin K2 and D3 and calcium to strengthen her bones.” Thank you so much, Brother Phil. God bless you. I’ll pass your suggestion along and I’ve got no idea what the doctor is planning for her bone health going forward, but I’m pretty sure there is a plan. But I know that if I were a patient, nutrition would be at the top of my list. Thanks again, Phil. By the way, how are things going in Australia, Brother? Great to hear from you, God bless you. Lifespringmedia.com/support.

Steve Webb 15:26
This is number 13 in our series on the Essentials of the Faith, and today we’re going to talk about the fact that “Man’s nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Well, last week, at the end of the Essentials segment, I mentioned that I have a close friend who believes that man is basically good which is of course diametrically opposed to the man’s-nature-is-corrupted premise. So let’s see what Scripture has to say. The Apostle wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament. So it seems like a man who God chose to write so much of the Bible must have certainly been a holy and virtuous man, right? Well, listen to what Paul wrote about himself in Romans chapter 7. He said, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Wow. So even Paul struggled with sin. Well, how could that be? Well, maybe he’s just an outlier. Or maybe not. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Indeed, who? And then in Galatians 5, Paul says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” My goodness. Beloved, these and many other scriptures make it clear that we are born with no ability to live a sinless life. It’s part of who we are. It’s called a sin-nature. Don’t believe me? Well, how about this? Does a child have to be taught to misbehave? Does a child have to be taught to lie? “Johnny,” says the parent, “I told you not to eat that cookie, but now it’s gone. Did you eat it?” “No,” says Johnny even as he wipes the crumbs from his mouth. We all know instinctively that virtuous behavior has to be taught, not bad behavior. Beloved, even our best efforts fall short of God’s standard. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Even our best behavior, Beloved is like filthy rags. In Matthew 7, Jesus said, “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.” So in other words, since we have a sin-nature, it’s impossible for us to live sinless lives. So what are we to do? Is there no hope for us? Are we lost? Well, in Matthew 19:25 and 26, we read this. “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” Let’s look again at today’s statement. “Man’s nature is corrupted and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Well, regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. What’s that all about? Well, first we have to face the fact that we’re sinners. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” And then verse 10, follows with, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So, Beloved, we must be honest with ourselves and with God. Psalm 130:3 says, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” Indeed, the Lord does note iniquity, and we cannot stand on our own. We have to face the fact that we’re sinners. Next, we must humbly ask the Lord for forgiveness. When we do that with a believing heart, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, giving us the power to resist our sin-nature. Galatians 2:20 tells us, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” And then Romans 6:11 says, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” And in Galatians 5:16 we read, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” I could go on and on. But there’s a third step. Paul tells us in Romans that before we accepted Jesus, we were slaves to sin. What’s a slave? A slave is a person who has no choice. He or she must do whatever his or her master tells them to do. Before we accepted Jesus, we were slaves to sin. But after we place our faith in Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin. What that means is that when we face temptation, we have a choice. We can choose not to give in and we can choose to succumb to the temptation. Of course, the second response is not what pleases the Lord. So how do we make the right choice? Well, 1 Timothy 6:11 has some of the best advice ever written. Here it is, “But flee from sinful actions, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.” Beloved, don’t try to be a hero. Don’t stand nose to nose with temptation. Paul says, Flee. That’s right. Get out of there. Put distance between sin and yourself, and then pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. In other words, instead of giving in to temptation, get busy doing what is right. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul says, “But I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” Listen, discipline is hard. It takes effort. Few people like discipline. We don’t just automatically shed our sin-nature, the moment we become believers. We have to make conscious decisions every day to do the right thing. It takes a shift in our thinking. Colossians 3:5 says, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and greed which amounts to idolatry.” Did you catch that word? It said, “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality,” et cetera. You have to think of sin as something you won’t even consider doing. Now, listen, I mentioned here on the show that since my heart procedure, I’ve changed my way of eating. I’ve lost about 30 pounds. I no longer have to take my blood pressure medicine. I look better. I feel better. The process has been mostly easy because I changed the way I look at food. I changed my thinking about, food about what I would eat. I realized that my eating habits were killing me. I decided that I would no longer eat processed foods. I would no longer eat manmade cooking oils like canola, sunflower, or other so-called vegetable oils. No more processed sugars. They’re harmful, and I no longer want them in my body. Well, that’s how we have to look at sin. In every case, sin is harmful to us. Have I been perfect in keeping my food ideals intact? No. Once in a while, I do slip up. I make the decision to go against my better judgment and invariably my body lets me know about it, either in the number I see on the scale the next time I step on it or in digestive problems or headaches or sore joints. But once I get back to discipline, I’m rewarded with a rapid reduction of those symptoms and a feeling of victory. Well, the same is true when we compromise with sin. If we have truly given our hearts to the Lord, we feel remorse when we sin. We feel guilt. We have grieved the Holy Spirit who is living in us and when we sin, it’s good to have those bad feelings. Those feelings of guilt and remorse mean that the Holy Spirit is working in us, moving us to repent and ask for forgiveness. And when we do that, he puts us back on our feet to move forward once again. We have a wonderful promise from God in Philippians 1:6. It says, “For I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Oh, Beloved, hold on to that promise. He who began a good work in you will perfect it. There’s an old saying, you might have heard it before. “Be patient. God isn’t finished with me yet.” I’ll be 69 years old soon. I’ve been a Christian since I was 16 years old. In those years, I’ve had times of close fellowship with God, sweet, sweet times. And I’ve had times where I felt miles away from him. Times when I thought he would never use me again because of my sin. But, oh, Beloved, he is faithful, even when we are not. God let me go off the track and he let me feel the consequences. And those were dark times, I would never want to repeat them again. They brought pain to me and to the people around me. But God didn’t turn his back on me. Even though it felt like I was miles away from him. As soon as I like the prodigal son asked for his forgiveness, God was right there to embrace me in his loving arms and forgive me. Now, I don’t want to tell you this to say go ahead and sin. God will forgive you. That’s not at all my intention. I mentioned this for those of you who might be dealing with sin in your life right now. The enemy of our soul wants you to feel defeated like you’ve sinned too much to go to God for forgiveness, like you’re just too weak to fight the sin. Our enemy wants us to feel like there is no hope. But listen closely. It is in our weakness that God can show his power. Jesus said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient, for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Listen, when we feel weak, when we feel hopeless, we see how desperately we need God. As gotquestions.org put it, “The more aware we are of our weakness, the more God can reveal His power through us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We now have this light shining in our hearts. But we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” Yes, Beloved, man’s nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. And, Beloved, thanks be to God, we have these words from Jesus. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. But in order that the world might be saved through him.” Can I get a hallelujah? Amen and Amen. Next Wednesday in our series on the Essentials of the Faith, Lord willing, we’ll begin looking at the fact that the salvation of man is wholly – as in the “whole enchilada” – is wholly a work of God’s free grace, and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes his righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation and therefore justifies them in his sight. Wow, there’s a lot of rich meaning there. So this one might take more than one visit. We’ll see. Be sure you’re here next Wednesday. I do welcome your comments and your questions. Don’t forget. Contact information is at the end of the show.

Steve Webb 29:44
Praises and prayer requests. James in Norway sent an update on his dad who had the cardiac ablation procedure for a-fib or atrial fibrillation just a couple of weeks ago. James says, “News from Dad is that he is still having a-fib events, but they’re at least shorter than before. That’s not perfect, but some good news. He’s now wearing a heart monitor for two days. And on June 13, he’ll go in to the cardiologist where they will look at the logs and consider a second round. Also good news, I think. Hooray for Jesus, indeed!” James says. Yes, James, that is good news. And now that you mentioned that about two or three weeks after my procedure, I was given a heart monitor, too. I was supposed to wear it for a full week. But the adhesive that stuck the device to my skin caused blisters after a couple of days, so I had to take it off. In my case, it didn’t detect any a-fib. And I’m sorry to hear your dad is still having some. One thing I learned is that it seems to be as much of an art as it is a science when they go in there to zap the parts of the heart that caused the a-fib. They do their best to pinpoint the areas but obviously, it isn’t always easy to get to them all. If they do take another run at it with your dad, we’ll pray that they get them all. And then LeeAnn’s niece, Kimberly, who’s about 45 years old, was riding one of those electric bicycles this past Sunday near her home in Idaho with her son Jack, who is in his early 20s. It was on a dark road and they had their lights on but her light failed, and she went into a culvert smashing her face when she landed. She had to get a lot of stitches, and from the picture… and my guess is that it took 30 to 40 stitches to stitch up her face. And her doctor said that she’s lucky not to have been paralyzed or killed from the fall. Well, we praise the Lord that her son Jack was there and handled the situation well. We need to pray for continued healing and wisdom from the doctors. And as a good side of this, Kimberly said that she really hasn’t been very close to the Lord in recent times. And this has really caused her to seek the Lord again. And he’s responding. I don’t want to say too much. I haven’t been given permission to say a lot. But God is really touching Kimberly’s heart. And so that’s certainly praise. And then we talked last time about my former pastor Mel Bennett. He’s been sent home from the hospital for hospice care. Among other things, he has Parkinson’s disease and congestive heart failure. And they don’t expect him to live more than about six months, so we need to pray for him and his family. And as I said, they are a close family. But I have to say that I’m sure that Mel is more than ready to go. As you might expect, being a pastor, he’s a people person. And his two closest friends from the church he pastored were my father-in-law Rip Collins, who went to be with the Lord ten years ago this month. And another great guy by the name of Louis Dupree, who passed away about two years before that. The three of them met every morning for coffee and doughnuts for years and years and years. And as far as I know, Mel has never had friends like that, again. I’m quite sure he’s ready to go. His failing health over the last few years have been difficult for him and his family. And I know these next few months will be hard for his wife and the rest of the family. So let’s pray for them. In addition to his wife, Joanne, he has three daughters and three sons-in-law, and seven grandchildren. And I asked Del how Kathy was doing and he said, “We are both still in shock from the news because we have had so much bad news month after month.” I can understand that, can’t you? So let’s pray for them as well. Our heavenly Father, we are so very grateful for how you love us. We have so much to be thankful for, and I’m sure each of us would come up with a long list. Many of the things on our lists would be similar. Some things would be unique to each one, but we would all have at the top of the list, number one, would be some variation of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Thank you, God for that most precious gift. Lord, we pray now for James’s dad. If it’s your will we pray that the a-fib would just flat stop. You can do that with just a word. But Lord, if not that, we pray that the doctors would be able to pinpoint the places in his heart that are causing the a-fib so that it’ll stop. Lord, touch his heart, we pray in Jesus’ name. And we thank you, Lord, for keeping Kimberly from serious injury in her fall. We thank you that you’ve used this to reawaken her desire to walk closer with you, Lord, and may she remember this experience for the rest of her life. And we ask you to use this and other family members as well, Lord. We pray for Mel and the rest of the Bennett family. We pray, Lord, that you would bless him. He served you for so many years and I thank you for what he’s meant in the lives of so many people as he preached your Word. I thank you Lord for what he’s meant in my life and in the life of LeeAnn. He was her pastor even from her childhood. So thank you, Lord, for putting Mel into our lives. I pray that he and all the Bennetts would feel your close presence in these coming months, and once again, we thank you for the healing that is happening right now in Kathi’s body. Thank you, Lord, for hearing the prayers of so many people. We do give you the glory, Father. And as Kathi and Del move forward with a seemingly new future, I pray that you would bring a new sense of hope and delight in you, a new and abiding joy. As she continues her treatments, Lord, I pray that you would strengthen her bones and strengthen her muscles. We pray that you would heal her MS, Father, in the process. What a bonus that would be, Lord. Father, we humbly ask you for that in Jesus’ name, with the absolute assurance that it is within your power if it’s your will. I thank you, Lord, for the Lifespring family. Bless each one. Give each of us a thirst to know you better as we seek your face. And may you give us the discipline we need to flee from sin with the power of the Holy Spirit. You are our salvation and without you, we can do nothing. Father, we thank you for your faithfulness and the promise you gave us that what you have begun in us you will complete. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, Father, amen. Well, Beloved, our next time of prayer here on the show will be Sunday. So if there’s a praise we should know about or if there’s something you’d like us to pray with you about contact information is coming up in just a moment.

Steve Webb 36:32
Today’s show art is by Scott Snider. Thank you, Scott. God bless you. And thanks to Sister Denise who does the transcripts, Michael Haner, who does the chapters, Jason Paschall, our other artist and Sister Brittaney, the head of the newsletter. Thank you, team. God bless you. Thanks also to today’s Executive Producer, Brother Phil Colbourn. If you have a comment, a question, a prayer request, or a praise report, call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 and leave a message for me. If you’d like to remain anonymous, just let me know. Or if you prefer to go to your keyboard, you can do that. For prayer requests and praise reports go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com, or for comments and questions go to comment.lifespringmedia.com, and don’t forget the good old boostagram. You can even email me at st***@*************ia.com. Beloved, thank you so much for inviting me to be with you today. I’m here because you are. It would not be the same without you. And now, until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

James Cooper 37:40
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai