Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 78 CEB, Ch. 79-80 GWT

Associate Producer

Chase Jacobsen

Podcast Introduction

It’s Psalms Wednesday, and our reading will be chapters 78-80. This is also our day for praises and prayer requests. It’s the fourth day of Holy Week, and we’ll find out what Spy Wednesday is all about. Someone wrote in with some comments on the Jesus Revolution film, and they had some questions for me. I’ll be sharing the note and my answers. And being Wednesday, we will have an Essentials segment. I’ll talk about One God in three persons. It’s a busy day!

 I’m calling this episode “Confession.”

Comments on Psalms 79 and 80

Psalms 79 and 80 are good examples of a repentant Israel crying out to God after He has disciplined them for deserting Him. The writer recounts how their enemies have wreaked havoc on the land and the people, and he asks God to turn His anger away from His people and toward those who do not acknowledge Him. He confesses that Israel is helpless without Him. And he promises that when God delivers them, they will praise Him.

This is an excellent model for repentance and confession for us today. It’s good to acknowledge our pain before God, and to tell Him the circumstances of our situation. If we are going through His discipline, we should acknowledge that we are aware of it, and then ask forgiveness. It’s healthy to confess that we truly are helpless without Him. Of course we should always praise Him, but especially when we sense His presence and intervention in our lives. 

Yes, God knows all of this before we speak it. He is, after all, God. But speaking the words is a way of showing Him that our heart is truly seeking Him, and broken. It shows that we have a contrite heart, and God loves a heart that is contrite. 

When God sees that our heart is right, He will always respond with love. He yearns for the opportunity to bless His people.

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Transcript

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Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00
We should always praise him, right?

Steve Webb 0:09
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible, coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I am your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year and it’s Psalms Wednesday. Our reading will be chapters 78 through 80. And it’s also our day for praises and prayer requests. It’s the fourth day of Holy Week, and we’ll find out what Spy Wednesday is all about. And someone wrote in with some comments on the “Jesus Revolution” film and they had some questions for me. I’ll be sharing the note and my answers today. And being Wednesday, we’ll have an Essentials segment. I’ll talk about one God in three Persons. It’s a busy day. I’m calling this episode “Confession.” Let’s get started with a word of prayer. Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your Word. We thank you for our time together and I pray, God, that you would bless our time as we read and that you would use me to clearly talk about the topics today. Bless us, I pray in Jesus’ name, amen. Okay, like I said, it’s a busy day. So let’s get going.

Steve Webb 1:18
The title of Psalm 78 is “A contemplation of Asaph.” Asaph served as the Temple worship leader during King David and King Solomon’s times. He was a singer, a musician, a poet, and a composer. Plus, he was a prophet. Psalm 78 is the longest of the historical Psalms. The message according to commentator James Montgomery Boice (and I agree with this) “is that history must not repeat itself. The people must never again be unbelieving.”

Steve Webb 1:48
Psalms, chapter 78. Listen, my people, to my teaching; tilt your ears toward the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a proverb. I’ll declare riddles from days long gone— ones that we’ve heard and learned about, ones that our ancestors told us. We won’t hide them from their descendants; we’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the LORD and his strength— the wondrous works God has done. He established a law for Jacob and set up Instruction for Israel, ordering our ancestors to teach them to their children. This is so that the next generation and children not yet born will know these things, and so they can rise up and tell their children to put their hope in God— never forgetting God’s deeds, but keeping God’s commandments— and so that they won’t become like their ancestors: a rebellious, stubborn generation, a generation whose heart wasn’t set firm and whose spirit wasn’t faithful to God. The children of Ephraim, armed with bows, retreated on the day of battle. They didn’t keep God’s covenant; they refused to walk in his Instruction. They forgot God’s deeds as well as the wondrous works he showed them. But God performed wonders in their ancestors’ presence— in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. God split the sea and led them through, making the waters stand up like a wall. God led them with the cloud by day; by the lightning all through the night. God split rocks open in the wilderness, gave them plenty to drink— as if from the deep itself! God made streams flow from the rock, made water run like rivers. But they continued to sin against God, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their hearts, demanded food for their stomachs. They spoke against God! “Can God set a dinner table in the wilderness?” they asked. “True, God struck the rock and water gushed and streams flowed, but can he give bread too? Can he provide meat for his people?” When the LORD heard this, he became furious. A fire was ignited against Jacob; wrath also burned against Israel because they had no faith in God, because they didn’t trust his saving power. God gave orders to the skies above, opened heaven’s doors, and rained manna on them so they could eat. He gave them the very grain of heaven! Each person ate the bread of the powerful ones; God sent provisions to satisfy them. God set the east wind moving against the skies and drove the south wind by his strength. He rained meat on them as if it were dust in the air; he rained as many birds as the sand on the seashore! God brought the birds down in the center of their camp, all around their dwellings. So they ate and were completely satisfied; God gave them exactly what they had craved. But they didn’t stop craving— even with the food still in their mouths! So God’s anger came up against them: he killed the most hearty of them; he cut down Israel’s youth in their prime. But in spite of all that, they kept sinning and had no faith in God’s wondrous works. So God brought their days to an end, like a puff of air, and their years in total ruin. But whenever God killed them, they went after him! They would turn and earnestly search for God. They would remember that God was their rock, that the Most High was their redeemer. But they were just flattering him with lip service. They were lying to him with their tongues. Their hearts weren’t firmly set on him; they weren’t faithful to his covenant. But God, being compassionate, kept forgiving their sins, kept avoiding destruction; he took back his anger so many times, wouldn’t stir up all his wrath! God kept remembering that they were just flesh, just breath that passes and doesn’t come back. How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness and distressed him in the desert! Time and time again they tested God, provoking the holy one of Israel. They didn’t remember God’s power— the day when he saved them from the enemy; how God performed his signs in Egypt, his marvelous works in the field of Zoan. God turned their rivers into blood; they couldn’t drink from their own streams. God sent swarms against them to eat them up, frogs to destroy them. God handed over their crops to caterpillars, their land’s produce to locusts. God killed their vines with hail, their sycamore trees with frost. God delivered their cattle over to disease, their herds to plagues. God unleashed his burning anger against them— fury, indignation, distress, a troop of evil messengers. God blazed a path for his wrath. He didn’t save them from death, but delivered their lives over to disease. God struck down all of Egypt’s oldest males; in Ham’s tents, he struck their pride and joy. God led his own people out like sheep, guiding them like a flock in the wilderness. God led them in safety—they were not afraid! But the sea engulfed their enemies! God brought them to his holy territory, to the mountain that his own strong hand had acquired. God drove out the nations before them and apportioned property for them; he settled Israel’s tribes in their tents. But they tested and defied the Most High God; they didn’t pay attention to his warnings. They turned away, became faithless just like their ancestors; they twisted away like a defective bow. They angered God with their many shrines; they angered him with their idols. God heard and became enraged; he rejected Israel utterly. God abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh, the tent where he had lived with humans. God let his power be held captive, let his glory go to the enemy’s hand. God delivered his people up to the sword; he was enraged at his own possession. Fire devoured his young men, and his young women had no wedding songs. God’s priests were killed by the sword, and his widows couldn’t even cry. But then my Lord woke up— as if he’d been sleeping! Like a warrior shaking off wine, God beat back his foes; he made them an everlasting disgrace. God rejected the tent of Joseph and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim. Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loves. God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven and like the earth, which he established forever. And God chose David, his servant, taking him from the sheepfolds. God brought him from shepherding nursing ewes to shepherd his people Jacob, to shepherd his inheritance, Israel. David shepherded them with a heart of integrity; he led them with the skill of his hands.

Steve Webb 8:57
The title of Psalm 79 is “A Psalm of Asaph.” Now as we read this Psalm, it appears that it was written after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in about 587 BC. Well, King Solomon died in 931 BC, 340 years before. So the Asaph of David and Solomon’s time could not be the Asaph mentioned in the title of this song. James Montgomery Boice had this to say about a later Asaph. He said, “Either this is a later Asaph, which is not unlikely since the name might have been perpetuated among the temple musicians, or, more likely, the name was affixed to many psalms produced by this body of musicians. We know that the ‘descendants of Asaph’” (also called the ‘sons of Asaph’) “were functioning as late as the reign of Josiah.” We read about that in 2 Chronicles 35:15.

Steve Webb 9:54
Psalms 79. O God, the nations have invaded the land that belongs to you. They have dishonored your holy temple. They have left Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the dead bodies of your servants to the birds for food. They have given the flesh of your godly ones to the animals. They have shed the blood of your people around Jerusalem as though it were water. There is no one to bury your people. We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, an object of ridicule and contempt to those around us. How long, O Lord? Will you remain angry forever? Will your fury continue to burn like fire? Pour your fury on the nations that do not know you, on the kingdoms that have not called you. They have devoured Jacob. They have destroyed his home. Do not hold the crimes of our ancestors against us. Reach out to us soon with your compassion, because we are helpless. Help us, O God, our savior, for the glory of your name. Rescue us, and forgive our sins for the honor of your name. Why should the nations be allowed to say, “Where is their God?” Let us watch as the nations learn that there is punishment for shedding the blood of your servants. Let the groans of prisoners come into your presence. With your powerful arm rescue those who are condemned to death. Pay each one of our neighbors back with seven times the number of insults they used to insult you, O Lord. Then we, your people, the flock in your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. We will praise you throughout every generation.

Steve Webb 11:32
The title of Psalm 80 is “To the Chief Musician, set to ‘The Lilies,’ a testimony of Asaph, a psalm.” Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said about this one, he said, “A later Asaph we should suppose, who had the unhappiness to live, like the ‘last minstrel,’ in evil times. If by the Asaph of David’s day, this Psalm was written in the spirit of prophecy, for it sings of times unknown to David.”

Steve Webb 12:02
Psalms, chapter 80. Open your ears, O Shepherd of Israel, the one who leads the descendants of Joseph like sheep, the one who is enthroned over the angels. Appear in front of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Wake up your power, and come to save us. O God, restore us and smile on us so that we may be saved. O Lord God, commander of armies, how long will you smolder in anger against the prayer of your people? You made them eat tears as food. You often made them drink their own tears. You made us a source of conflict to our neighbors, and our enemies made fun of us. O God, commander of armies, restore us and smile on us so that we may be saved. You brought a vine from Egypt. You forced out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it so that it took root and filled the land. Its shade covered the mountains. Its branches covered the mighty cedars. It reached out with its branches to the Mediterranean Sea. Its shoots reached the Euphrates River. Why did you break down the stone fences around this vine? All who pass by are picking its fruit. Wild boars from the forest graze on it. Wild animals devour it. O God, commander of armies, come back! Look from heaven and see! Come to help this vine. Take care of what your right hand planted, the son you strengthened for yourself. The vine has been cut down and burned. Let them be destroyed by the threatening look on your face. Let your power rest on the man you have chosen, the son of man you strengthened for yourself. Then he will never turn away from you. Give us life again, and we will call on you. O Lord God, commander of armies, restore us, and smile on us so that we may be saved.

Steve Webb 13:55
Let’s talk for a moment about Psalms 79 and 80. These are good examples of a repentant Israel crying out to God after he’s disciplined them for deserting him. The writer recounts how their enemies have wreaked havoc on the land and the people. And he asks God to turn his anger away from his people and toward those who don’t acknowledge him. He confesses that Israel is helpless without him. And he promises that when God delivers them, they will praise him. And, Beloved, this is an excellent model for repentance and confession for us today. It’s good to acknowledge our pain before God and to tell him the circumstances of our situation. If we’re going through his discipline, we should acknowledge that we’re aware of that and then ask forgiveness. It’s healthy to confess that we truly are helpless without him. Of course, we should always praise him, right? But especially when we sense his presence and intervention in our lives. Yes, God knows all of this before we speak it because he is after all God. But speaking the words is a way of showing him that our heart is truly seeking him and broken. It shows that we have a contrite heart, and God loves a heart that is contrite. When God sees that our heart is right, he will always respond with love. He yearns for the opportunity to bless his people. I’m so glad we serve a loving God, aren’t you? Do you have any comments or questions? Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 or send a boostagram with your comment, or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Tomorrow will be Poetry Thursday and we’ll read Proverbs 8 and 9.

Steve Webb 15:47
Today’s Associate Producer is Chase Jacobson who came in with his monthly $20 donation. Thank you, Chase. God bless you. Boostagram. And Lifespring Family Berean Brother Sean of San Pedro sent in a 5000 sat Loaves and Fishes boostagram. He was commenting on our “2 Kings 1-5: Healing a Man With No Faith” episode. And he said, “This is one of my favorite collections of chapters.” Thanks for sending in that boostagram, Brother Sean. That’s good to know. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anybody say that anything in 2 Kings was among their favorites. Most people talk about one of the Psalms or they talk about something in the New Testament. So that’s cool. God bless you.

Jingle 16:31
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Announcer 16:37
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Steve Webb 16:39
I got this note in a couple of days ago from Clayton Jones. He was one of the winners of the drawing we had in February for two tickets to see the “Jesus Revolution” film, which has now been seen, by the way, by over 5 million people so far. And it’ll be opening up very soon in even more countries, including Australia. So you Lifespring members in Australia, get ready to see the movie. And beginning on April 11, it’ll be available on some of the streaming platforms, so be looking for that too. I tell you, I have heard so many stories of people asking how they can be saved, sometimes right there in the theater, or right after walking out when the film was over. God is truly using this movie. So praise the Lord for that. Well, here’s Clay’s note. He said “I meant to drop you a line a while ago. My apology for the delay.” No worries, Clay. Life can get busy. Clay continues. He says, “My wife and I went to see “Jesus Revolution” in mid-March. I enjoyed it immensely. And my how times have changed.” Yes, they have. For me, it was like going back to my teen years. I’m just a little more than a year younger than Greg Laurie, one of the main characters in the movie. So yeah, it was like going back in time for me. The note continues. He says, “My wife is not a Christian. But I think the film may have planted a little seed as we had a few conversations about Christianity because of the movie. At least it’s a start. Please pray for her and please pray for us.” Well, Clay, praise the Lord. We will definitely pray for both of you. But there’s more to his note. He said, “Regarding the movie itself. There were two things that bothered me. The first was how Lonnie seemed to be changed by the attention.” Lonnie, by the way, is one of the characters in the movie, Lonnie Frisbee. Clay says, “That was obviously part of the conflict of the movie and would be interesting to explore.” Yes, Clay. The Lord did use Lonnie in a very powerful way. But like all of us, Lonnie was a flawed human being. Obviously, the movie only focused on a small window of time and primarily just on what was happening here in Southern California, so Lonnie’s future life wasn’t covered in the movie. Greg Laurie has talked about it publicly and other sources have reported on it. Lonnie fell away from the Lord for a time, and he got involved with the homosexual lifestyle, and he contracted AIDS and he passed away in 1993. But before he died, he repented and he returned to the Lord. And he and Chuck Smith reconciled. And Chuck even spoke at Lonnie’s funeral. We have to remember that in his mercy and grace, God uses sinful people. Jesus was the only perfect one. That’s why we have to keep our eyes on Jesus and not people. And then Clay’s note continues. “However, the second item is what I want to focus on. It was more subtle, and I’m interested in your opinion. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it. At least a couple of points in the movie, they talked about the number of people who are attending the church. The way it’s phrased, to me, is all about the numbers, about popularity and self-importance. I can’t remember the exact language,” Clay says, “but it struck me that there was no sense of why those numbers were important, that souls were being saved and people were being brought to relationships with Jesus. It came off as being focused on the material success of going from a small church to a large church. I didn’t feel it presented it as a spiritual success, which is far more important – strike that – the only important point. What are your thoughts?” Well, Clay, I tell you what, it’s interesting that you came away with that impression. I didn’t get any of that at all. And most of my life, I’ve been involved with small churches like one to 200 people. It’s only been the past few years that the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I have attended large churches and that’s only because her job requires her to work on Sundays. Small churches just don’t offer multiple worship services on a Sunday, so their schedules just don’t work for us. Anyway, I don’t recall the specific lines they used in the movie in relation to numbers. My impression is that they were talking about the growth as an indication of how God was reaching that younger hippie generation, young people were being saved at a rate that hadn’t been seen before, at least in recent memory. I know from listening to Chuck, that he was amazed and humbled at what God did. I don’t ever recall hearing him take an ounce of credit for the growth of Calvary Chapel. But again, like every man, Chuck was flawed, but I think he was a humble man. Now LeeAnn and I worship at Greg Laurie’s church these days, which is kind of funny when I think about it, because for a long time, I was not a Greg Laurie fan, to say the least. Greg had a lot of success very early on. And it seemed to me anyway, and to LeeAnn, that it went to his head. That’s the impression I had. I didn’t know him personally, and I don’t know him personally, now. It’s a big church. The closest I’ve ever gotten to Greg was in 2005 when I interviewed him in his office. He hired Craig Patchett, the guy who founded the Godcast Network back in the beginning days of podcasting, and myself to cover that year’s Harvest Crusade, which by the way, was Harvest’s first venture into podcasting. But that’s another story. Now, I believe that something happened in Greg’s life that changed him. His oldest son, 33-year-old Christopher, was killed in an automobile accident in 2008. I did the podcast for the Harvest Crusades in 2005. And in 2008, Christopher was killed in an accident. Since then, I’ve noticed a note of humility that I did not see before in Greg. LeeAnn and I started attending his church, Harvest Ministries when California forced the churches to close because of COVID. Harvest was streaming what they called Harvest at Home worship services. And we liked what we saw. And we’ve stayed. Now back to the numbers question. Harvest and Greg do talk about the numbers of people who have come to the Lord at their services and crusades. They talk about the number of Bibles that they’ve sent out and et cetera. But the numbers are not the goal. Listen to this. I got an email from the church just this past Friday, and it’s titled “Impact Report.” This is part of what Greg wrote in that report. He said, “As our mission statement reads, we seek to know God and make him known. And thanks to the Lord’s grace and provision, we’ve witnessed remarkable stories of life change, as that mission has advanced this year. Story after story speaks to God’s work in our midst. I’m in awe of how Jesus continues to transform the hearts of his people. Included in this Impact Report are statistics and testimonies from different parts of our ministry that you have helped make possible. As you read about the impact your compassionate generosity has made, I encourage you to remember that each number represents a name. Each name represents a person and a testimony of God’s grace.” So Clay, I truly do believe that when they talked about the church growing in the movie, it was about how God was reaching so many young people that most of society had written off. I’ll tell you what, Clay, when “Jesus Revolution” comes to the streaming services, I’ll watch it for a third time to see if I might have missed something. And thank you so much, Clay, for writing. I appreciate it. And I’m glad you liked the movie despite this point here. God bless you.

Steve Webb 24:28
Today is Spy Wednesday or Holy Wednesday. And of course, each day from now to Resurrection Sunday, I’ll talk about the events of each day of the final week of Jesus’ life prior to and including his crucifixion and resurrection. And remember that the events recorded in the Gospels were not necessarily recorded in chronological order. Also, the way days were counted differed. Roman and Jewish days started at different times of the day, and some denominations and church traditions have assigned the events of Jesus’ last week that we read about in the Gospels to certain days. So what is Spy Wednesday about? Let’s read from Matthew’s account, chapter 26, verses 6 through 16. It says, “Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. The disciples were indignant when they saw this. ‘What a waste!’ they said. ‘It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.’ But Jesus, aware of this, replied, ‘Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.’” And here we are today discussing it. The passage continues. “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, ‘How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?’ And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.” And according to John’s Gospel, chapter 12, the woman who anointed Jesus was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who Jesus resurrected from the dead. And John specifically named Judas as the one who objected. John quotes Judas as saying “That perfume was worth a day’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” And John followed that quote with this, “Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.” And in Luke 22, we’re told, “Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot.” And then, of course, he went on to make the deal to betray Jesus. And after that, “he began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus into the hands of the chief priests.” So he agreed to spy on Jesus. So there you have it, Spy Wednesday, a dark day, indeed. Part of God’s plan, but dark nonetheless. Tomorrow we’ll talk about Maundy Thursday. Maundy? What is that? Well, be here tomorrow to find out.

Steve Webb 27:39
This is number five in our Essentials series, though certainly not the fifth in importance. Each point in the Essentials of the Faith is by definition, equally important, in my opinion, but the topic today is the foundation, the beginning. We’re going to talk about the very nature of God. We believe that there is one true God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of deity and the characteristics of personality, one God in three persons. This is a concept that is really difficult for human beings to grasp because we have nothing in the natural world to compare it to. Over the centuries, people have tried to give illustrations to help explain it, but each one falls short. One illustration is the egg. An egg has a shell, a yolk, and a white, three parts one egg. Or an apple. It has a skin, the flesh, and the seeds. Now, these illustrations fall short because when you separate the parts – for example when you break an egg and you separate the shell from the white from the yolk, the shell is not an egg. A yolk is not an egg, and the white is not an egg. They’re just parts of the egg, but they don’t make up an egg by themselves. God can’t be separated into parts. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one in essence and each is God. Another illustration involves water. Water can exist as a solid (ice), as a liquid, or gas (water vapor). In each of these states, it remains water, H2O. However, this illustration breaks down because when water freezes, it changes from liquid to solid. The same water changes to another form. But God the Father does not change to God the Son or God the Holy Spirit. Each person in the Godhead is distinct and never changes. To believe otherwise is a very serious mistake. So God is God with three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is fully God, but the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. They’re all God, not 1/3 God, but fully God. It’s a difficult thing for us to completely understand. But we’re finite, whereas God is infinite. And it’s impossible for a finite being to fully understand the Infinite. It’s a little bit like this: I once heard an old preacher say, You can train your dog to carry the newspaper in when the paperboy delivers it. But there is no way that Fido can understand what is written in the paper. And God is much more above us than we are above a dog. So we cannot – it is completely impossible for us to fully understand the nature of God. So how do we know about the triune nature of God? How do we know that the one God is three persons? Well, let me first say that you won’t find the word “Trinity” in the Bible. But the nature of God is described in many places in the Bible, and I’m gonna give you just a few today. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the Lord is one.” So we learn there that God is one. But Genesis 1:1, from the very beginning, says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Well, the word for God in the original language, Hebrew, is “Elohim” which is plural. There is a word for a singular God, but here – “God created the heavens and the earth – it’s talking about God in the plural form. Now, we read of the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3, and in verse 16, and 17, we read this: “After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.’” So here, Beloved, we see the Son, we see the Holy Spirit, and we hear the Father. There are many, many scriptures that talk about each person in the Trinity and about their roles, and I could easily spend hours talking about them. But I hope that this has given you enough to hang on to. And if you have any questions, let me know. Write to me at st***@*************ia.com. Next week, we’ll talk about another one of the Essentials of the Faith.

Steve Webb 32:37
Praises and prayer requests. Here’s an update on the Lovely Lady LeeAnn’s recovery from surgery. She saw the doctor a few days ago, and he was happy with the progress of her healing. We have an appointment with him this Friday to have the stitches removed and LeeAnn went back to work this past Sunday with no problems. So all in all, we’re praising the Lord for how well this whole thing has gone. Praise the Lord. And then, as we heard in his note a few minutes ago, Clay asked for prayer for his wife, who is not yet a believer, and for them as a couple. So we’ll do that. And this morning, I got an anonymous prayer request from someone who’s having problems with their car, and the cost of the repairs are just draining the finances. And it sounds like it’s their main source of transportation. And it was hard to make it out, but it’s even sounds like they’re living in their car. So this person really seems to be in a really tough spot. Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, we worship you now. You are our all in all and we lift up your name, the name above all names. You are our God and our King. And we thank you for your mercy and grace. I thank you for giving LeeAnn an uneventful time with this surgery and for healing her so quickly. I thank you for leading us to this doctor and his team and I pray that you would bless them. And we pray now for Clay’s wife. Thank you for the fact that she wants to know more about Jesus and I pray that you would give Clay the words to say as they have their discussions about the movie and who Jesus is. We pray that you would give her the faith to believe, Lord, and we pray for them as a couple. Bless them, lead them, guide them, and direct them. Strengthen their bond and help them to make you the center of their family. And we pray now for Anonymous. Father, you own the cattle on a thousand hills, and I pray that you would supply their need from your abundance. Jesus told us that you already know all of our needs and that if we would seek your kingdom and live for you, you would supply all of our needs. So we ask now that you would do that for Anonymous. May they seek you with all of their heart with the assurance that you would meet their needs. Father, give this person the peace that passes all understanding. And now Lord, I pray that you would bless the Lifespring family. I thank you for bringing us all together around your Word and I pray that where there are needs you would meet them. We pray that your Will will be done and each of our lives, Lord. Give us a deep desire to know you more each day and to walk closer with you. Guide us, Lord, by your Holy Spirit. I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Beloved, our next time of prayer together here on the show will be Wednesday. If there’s a praise we should know about or if there’s something you’d like us to pray with you about, tell me about it on the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 or at prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

Steve Webb 35:44
Thanks to today’s Associate Producer, Chase Jacobson, for helping to make this episode possible. And thanks to Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, today’s artist Jason Paschall and Sister Brittaney: the team. And thank you, Beloved, for inviting me to be a part of your day. Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye. Lifespring! Media bringing the message of hope, love, and good news since 2004. Boost!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai