Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 84-86 GNT

Executive Producer

Anonymous

Podcast Introduction

Today is Psalms Wednesday. We’ll read chapters 84-86. I’m calling this episode “Do It Anyway.” We’ll also have a time for praises and prayer requests

Comments on Psalms 84, 85, 86

Have you ever gone to church when you didn’t feel like going? I have. There are a lot of reasons that we might not want to go. Sometimes it’s because we don’t feel well, physically. Sometimes we might be mad at somebody there. Come on. Let’s get real. Am I right? Maybe we’re even mad at the pastor. Or maybe we’re feeling a distance from God. Maybe we don’t feel like worshiping Him. Maybe we’ve fallen into some sort of sin, and we feel like the last place we have the right to be is in church. Maybe we don’t think the church is “meeting our needs”, whatever that means. 

Whatever the reason, today’s Psalms are great for reminding us that praising God is really a good thing to do. You know, when I don’t feel like going to church, and go anyway, and then allow myself to engage in worship…really lift up my heart and my voice to God in worship…my emotions and my spirit, and even my body (when I’m feeling under the weather) begin to feel better. We are primarily spiritual beings, made in the image of God, and when we worship Him in spirit and in truth we are rewarded with spiritual blessings. We are drawn closer to our Creator, and He responds to us by ministering to us in whatever manner we need at that time. 

When we obediently bring our sacrifices of praise to God, not because we want something from Him, but because He deserves them, it is a way of reaching out to Him in a way that brings refreshment to our soul. 

These Psalms are so very encouraging to read. They remind us of how great and deserving of our devotion and worship our God is. They are a good place to go when we’re down. When we get our eyes off of us and on Him, when we go to Him for comfort, or just to hang out, He is delighted and He blesses us.

How about spending some time today praising God?

Support

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

Transcript

Download .txt file.

Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Steve Webb 0:00 and
Hey, it happens!

Steve Webb 0:09
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring! One Year Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the 200th episode of the 13th season, a bit of a waypoint wouldn’t you say? There are 164 episodes left to the season. My goodness, time flies, doesn’t it? Have you been here from the beginning? Pat yourself on the back. Did you start sometime later? Congratulations to you, too. Wherever you start it’s good to get into a lifestyle of daily Bible reading. So it’s always a good time to start. Today is also Psalms Wednesday. We’ll read chapters 84 through 86, and I’m calling this episode, “Do It Anyway.” We have an Essentials segment and we’ll also have a time for praises and prayer requests. But before we get started, let’s have a word of prayer. Our loving heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this time together. We pray, Lord, that you would bless us and bless this time as we read. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. Okay, let’s get going.

Steve Webb 1:11
The title of Psalm 84 is “To the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath or a gittim. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.” Now the sons of Korah were Levites from the family of Kohath, who seemed to have been singers in the temple, worshiping God. And during the 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt, Korah led a revolt against Moses. 250 community leaders joined Korah in this rebellion, and God was greatly displeased. He killed Korah and those who followed him, but he did spare the sons of Korah. And some commentators think that because of God’s mercy, they devoted themselves to praising God. Of the 84th Psalm Charles Spurgeon wrote, it deserves “to be called The Pearl of Psalms. If the twenty-third be the most popular, the one-hundred-and-third the most joyful, the one-hundred-and-nineteenth the most deeply experiential, the fifty-first the most plaintive, this is one of the most sweet of the Psalms of Peace.”

Steve Webb 2:16
Psalms, chapter 84. How I love your Temple, Lord Almighty! How I want to be there! I long to be in the Lord’s Temple. With my whole being I sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrows have built a nest, and the swallows have their own home; they keep their young near your altars, Lord Almighty, my king and my God. How happy are those who live in your Temple, always singing praises to you. How happy are those whose strength comes from you, who are eager to make the pilgrimage to Mount Zion. As they pass through the dry valley of Baca, it becomes a place of springs; the autumn rain fills it with pools. They grow stronger as they go; they will see the God of gods on Zion. Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty. Listen, O God of Jacob! Bless our king, O God, the king you have chosen. One day spent in your Temple is better than a thousand anywhere else; I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God than live in the homes of the wicked. The Lord is our protector and glorious king, blessing us with kindness and honor. He does not refuse any good thing to those who do what is right. Lord Almighty, how happy are those who trust in you!

Steve Webb 3:34
The title of Psalm 85 is “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of the Sons of Korah.” We don’t know when this Psalm was written. It sounds as if it might be during the time that Israel returned from the exile but then again, not exactly. Perhaps it’s from an earlier time, maybe the end of King Saul’s reign.

Steve Webb 3:55
Psalms 85. Lord, you have been merciful to your land; you have made Israel prosperous again. You have forgiven your people’s sins and pardoned all their wrongs. You stopped being angry with them and held back your furious rage. Bring us back, O God our savior, and stop being displeased with us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will your anger never cease? Make us strong again, and we, your people, will praise you. Show us your constant love, O Lord, and give us your saving help. I am listening to what the Lord God is saying; he promises peace to us, his own people, if we do not go back to our foolish ways. Surely he is ready to save those who honor him, and his saving presence will remain in our land. Love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will embrace. Human loyalty will reach up from the earth, and God’s righteousness will look down from heaven. The Lord will make us prosperous, and our land will produce rich harvests. Righteousness will go before the Lord and prepare the path for him.

Steve Webb 5:01
Psalm 86 is entitled simply “A prayer of David.” And there’s nothing in the Psalm that points to one specific time in David’s life. In this Psalm, David uses the Hebrew word “Adonai” seven times in referring to God. Adonai means “Master.” And this is what Charles Spurgeon wrote about Psalm 86. “There are four other psalms each called by the name Tephillah, or ‘prayer,’ but this deserves to be distinguished from the rest and known as ‘the prayer of David,’ even as the ninetieth Psalm is known as ‘the prayer of Moses.’ It savours of David. The man of sincerity, of ardor, of trials, of faults, and of great heart, pleads, sobs, and trusts through all the verses of this psalm.”

Steve Webb 5:50
Psalms, chapter 86. Listen to me, Lord, and answer me, for I am helpless and weak. Save me from death, because I am loyal to you; save me, for I am your servant and I trust in you. You are my God, so be merciful to me; I pray to you all day long. Make your servant glad, O Lord, because my prayers go up to you. You are good to us and forgiving, full of constant love for all who pray to you. Listen, Lord, to my prayer; hear my cries for help. I call to you in times of trouble, because you answer my prayers. There is no god like you, O Lord, not one has done what you have done. All the nations that you have created will come and bow down to you; they will praise your greatness. You are mighty and do wonderful things; you alone are God. Teach me, Lord, what you want me to do, and I will obey you faithfully; teach me to serve you with complete devotion. I will praise you with all my heart, O Lord my God; I will proclaim your greatness forever. How great is your constant love for me! You have saved me from the grave itself. Proud people are coming against me, O God; a cruel gang is trying to kill me— people who pay no attention to you. But you, O Lord, are a merciful and loving God, always patient, always kind and faithful. Turn to me and have mercy on me; strengthen me and save me, because I serve you just as my mother did. Show me proof of your goodness, Lord; those who hate me will be ashamed when they see that you have given me comfort and help.

Steve Webb 7:35
well, my comments today, Beloved, really apply to all three of the Psalms we read today 84, 85, and 86. Have you ever gone to church when you didn’t feel like going? I know I have. And there’s a lot of reasons why we might not want to go from time to time. Sometimes it’s because we don’t feel well physically. Sometimes we might be mad at somebody there at church. Come on, let’s get real. Am I right? Maybe we’re even mad at the pastor. Hey, it happens. Or maybe we’re feeling a distance from God. Maybe we don’t feel like worshiping him. Maybe we’ve fallen into some sort of a sin, and we feel like the last place we have the right to be is in church. Maybe we don’t think the church is meeting our needs, whatever that means. Well, whatever the reason, today’s psalms are great for reminding us that praising God is really a good thing to do, a great thing even. You know, when I don’t feel like going to church and I end up going anyway, and then if I allow myself to engage in worship, to really lift up my heart and my voice to God and worship my emotions, and my spirit, and even my body, (when I’m feeling under the weather) begin to feel better. We are primarily spiritual beings made in the image of God. And when we worship him in spirit and in truth, we are rewarded with spiritual blessings, we’re drawn closer to our Creator. And he responds to us by ministering to us in whatever manner we need at that time. When we obediently bring our sacrifices of praise to God, not because we want something from him, but because he deserves them. It’s a way of reaching out to him in a way that brings refreshment to our soul. These psalms are so very encouraging to read. They remind us of how great and deserving of our devotion and worship our God is. They’re a good place to go when we’re down. When we get our eyes off us and on him. When we go to him for comfort or just to hang out, he is delighted and he blesses us. So here’s an idea. How about spending some time today praising God? We’ll have a time in just a few minutes for praising God. How often do you take time to praise God in your daily life? I know we get busy sometimes, but golly, it is so refreshing to take time each day. I’d like to hear your comments or your questions, call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511, or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com or send me a boostagram. I do read every comment and I just might play your audio comment or read your comment on the show. Tomorrow will be Poetry Thursday, and we’ll read Proverbs 11 and 12.

Steve Webb 10:31
We have one Episode 200 Executive Producer today and it is Anonymous. This person sent in $200.13 and said, “Happy 200 and season 13!” So thank you for that Anonymous. God bless you. I appreciate that. And Fountain user with the username ending in 2558 sent in a boostagram and just said “Thank you!” Well, you’re welcome. Thank you for that. God bless you. If you’d like to help the Lifespring! One Year Bible continue to come out on a daily basis. Here’s where you go:

Jingle 11:11
Lifespringmedia.com/support

Jingle 11:11
I’ll thank you, and I believe God will bless you.

Steve Webb 11:23
This is number seven in our series on the Essentials of the Faith. Today we’re going to continue talking about what we believe about Jesus. We began last week by talking about the divinity of Christ. But before I get into it, I want to say that it’s really fun to see the Holy Spirit at work. We’ll talk more about him later in our Essentials series. But I wanted to ask you if you’ve noticed that other ministries are also doing more teaching on the Essentials. I’m beginning to see it all over the place. Harvest Ministries here in Riverside just started a series last week. That’s Greg Laurie’s church. And my Son’s Church in Orlando, Florida is in an Essential series. And Crossexamined.org’s Frank Turek, is also doing an online Essentials course. And I’ve seen a couple of other places that I can’t remember right now who are also teaching the Essentials. So the Holy Spirit is truly moving, Beloved. And that’s not a coincidence. I’ve seen this happen before. There were many times when the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I were still at Lifespring! church where I began the Lifespring! podcast when the church was still called Calvary Temple, that the Holy Spirit would lead me to speak about something on my show. And then on Sunday morning, the pastor would have a very similar message with the same scriptures. And the pastor and I never compared notes about what we were talking about. So anyway, I just wondered if you’ve seen the Essentials being discussed in other places. If you have, let me know at st***@*************ia.com. I’d like to start documenting this. I really believe the Holy Spirit is doing a great move around the world. So give me some information, if you’ve got it. So today we’re going to pick up where we left off in our discussion about Jesus. And to review this is the statement we’re looking at. “We believe that Jesus Christ is God, the Living Word who became flesh through his miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and his virgin birth. Hence, he is perfect deity and true humanity united in one person forever.” And I’m breaking this statement down into four points, which I won’t go through all four points now. But last week we did the first point, “We believe that Jesus Christ is God.” This week, we’re doing “We believe that Jesus Christ is the Living Word.” Six words with such deep meaning. “Jesus Christ is the Living Word.” So what does that mean, “the Living Word?” Well, the Gospel of John was originally written in Greek and the Greek word “logos” is translated into the English as “word.” “Logos” (or “logos”) can be also translated as “speech” or, “thought,” or “principle.” And in Greek philosophy “logos” also refers to “divine reason” or “the mind of God.” John’s Gospel begins with these words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” And then we drop down to verse 14, and it says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” So John is obviously talking about Jesus when he talks about the Word, the Logos. And also, did you notice a similarity between this and Genesis 1:1 that says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth?” So when it says “God created the heavens and the earth” it was talking about God the Son because it said there in John, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Hmm. Did you ever see that before? Pretty cool, huh? So here in John, Jesus is presented as the Logos, who was that God who became flesh became a man but was at the same time God. “Logos” can be thought of as the message from God to mankind. Acts 11:1 says, “Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Asia heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God” or “logos.” In 1 Thessalonians 2:13 says, “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” So in each case, the “logos” there is the message from God. And Jesus is the embodiment of God’s message or Logos. Colossians 1:19 says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…” And Colossians 2:9 says, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” So Jesus is the embodiment of God’s message. Now to avoid confusion, hopefully, we refer to the Bible as the Word of God as well. Jesus is the Word made flesh, but we refer to the Bibles that we hold in our hands as the Word of God, too. Well, obviously, the Bible is not Jesus and Jesus is not the Bible. You see, over the years, God has spoken to mankind in many ways. Psalm 19:1 says that he speaks through his creation. It says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” So God speaks through his creation. Then he also spoke through the prophets, Hosea 12:1 says (God speaking here), “I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables.” And Hebrews 1:1 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets…” Also, God speaks through the Holy Spirit. In John 16:13, Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” The Holy Spirit speaks about Jesus from the Father. And then God speaks through Scripture. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” And God, obviously, God speaks through his Son. In John 14, verses 9 and 10, “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” So we take all these things in mind when we say these six words, “Jesus Christ is the Living Word.” Next week, we’ll talk about the third part of the statement about Jesus. The third part says, “…who became flesh through his miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and his virgin birth.” We’ll talk about that next week.

Steve Webb 18:49
Praises and prayer requests. Well, Bryan Duncan’s wife, Cassie was supposed to have had an appointment with a doctor at USC Medical Center for her nerve problem in the side of the face. This was supposed to have been Monday. Well, Brian and Cassie got a call postponing the appointment until May 4 which was a disappointment to say the least. So we’ll pray that the delay will go quickly for her. And Kathi’s home now, back up the hill. Del was a bit concerned for her but he says that she’s doing okay. On the first day, it took her several stops to make it all the way upstairs to her chair. But by the second morning, she only stopped once and her pain control is also getting much better. So that’s a praise. So are you ready? Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to praise you. You are more than worthy, Lord. Your name is above all names. There is none like you. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. You are holy and righteous, you’re merciful and gracious and you are our Creator and our Father. You are our Savior and our King and we praise you and give you all honor Lord. Father, you’ve told us that we should bring our requests to you. And so we bring Cassie to you now. She’s in such pain and has been for years. So we ask you to make these next few weeks go by quickly for her, while she waits to see the doctor. Father, I pray that you would give her relief while she waits. And when she finally is able to see the doctor, I pray that you would give him the answers so that he’ll be able to help her. We know, Lord, that you can heal her immediately and miraculously. We ask you to do that now. We ask you to spare her the surgery. But above all, we ask that your will would be done. You know what’s best, and we do trust you. Sometimes you do heal miraculously. And sometimes you heal through doctors. We trust Cassie into your hands. Father. You love her. She’s your daughter. And she loves you. And we thank you for bringing Kathi home, Lord. Once again, we thank you for protecting her and Del in the fall. It could have been disastrous, Lord, but you were there. And we praise you for that. And now as she and Del get back into their usual routines, I pray again that you would bring healing from the MS and the cancer. But as we did for Cassie, we confirm that we trust Kathi’s care to you. There is no better place to be but in your hands, Lord, and we know that. I thank you, Lord, for your goodness and your love. And I thank you for the Lifespring family. I thank you for each one. You know them by name, and you know their victories and their heartbreaks. I pray for each one Lord, whatever their situation is. I pray that You would bless them. Lord, we want more of you. Draw us closer to you. Let us hear the Holy Spirit as he guides us and teaches us. I pray for family members who don’t know you, Lord, or who have wandered away. Bring them to yourself, Father, bring people into their lives who will help them to find you. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Well, Beloved, our next time of prayer together will be Sunday. So if God is doing something exciting in your life, if he’s answered your prayers, let us know about it. Or if there’s something you’d like us to pray with you about, let me know about that as well. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511, or go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

Steve Webb 22:34
Thanks to Jason Paschall who did today’s show art and thanks to Sister Denise who does the transcripts, Michael Haner who does the chapters, Scott Snider who also does show art and Sister Brittaney who publishes the newsletter. These are the Lifespring family team. I’m so blessed to have ’em around. And also thanks to Episode 200’s Executive Producer, Anonymous. Thank you so much, Anonymous, for helping to support the show. God bless you. And Beloved, thank you for being there today. You are the reason the show comes out each and every day. Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. See you tomorrow. Bye.

Boost!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai