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One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark...
One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you.
TODAY'S EPISODE:
Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible podcast, hosted by your brother and Bible reading coach, Hunter, who joins us every day to explore the pages of the Bible. In today's episode, dated February 8th, 2025, we delve into our journey through the books of Leviticus and Acts, marking the 39th day of our scriptural exploration. We'll witness the intricate details of the Levitical laws and the significant decision in Acts 15, where the early church grapples with the inclusion of Gentiles and the relevance of Mosaic Law. Hunter sheds light on how Jesus fulfills these laws and lifts the heavy burdens we place on ourselves. Today, join us in a time of reading, prayer, and reflection, understanding that we are freed from any yoke and united by God's grace. Plus, a heartwarming message from listener Michelle from Butler, Pennsylvania, underscores the impact of this journey into deepening our faith. Stay tuned as Hunter shares his prayers and thoughts, reminding you that we are all loved and called to live in God's joy.
TODAY'S DEVOTION:
Do you feel the weight of it? The heavy yoke of Leviticus? The requirements of the law were elaborate and complex. The details are exacting right down to putting blood on the right ear, thumb, right big toe of the priest. It was a heavy yoke with staggering specificity. They put themselves in peril if they got it wrong.
Yet in Acts today, Paul and Barnabas are preaching a different message altogether, a gospel that's really good, not a heavy yoke. All the demands of the law of Moses are fulfilled in Jesus. He is the sacrificial lamb. He is the high priest. He is our advocate and our temple. The entire word of God is summed up in him. Jesus is the reality behind all the shadow play of the law of Moses.
The pressures of the law are lethal if they're misunderstood or misapplied. Trusting in Jesus is what makes us right with God, not the heavy yoke of the book of Leviticus, and not all our attempts at fulfilling the law's demands. This heavy yoke was more than anyone could carry then or now.
Essentially, Peter says in Acts, let's not put the book of Leviticus on the backs of these gentile converts and tell them to fulfill it when neither we nor our ancestors could do it. We know that the only one who has ever been able to bear the weight of it is Jesus himself. Jesus alone carried the heavy yoke. He meets us at our darkest and at our worst, and there he picks us up and carries us.
God has bestowed the easy yoke upon you and upon the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike. It's not Jesus plus circumcision, Jesus plus the Levitical laws, or Jesus plus Moses. It's just Jesus. His undeserved grace is it. That's how we are made right with God. By walking in his spirit, we participate in that goodness as we live our life in him.
You and I may not have the Levitical laws around our neck, but we do create our own equivalent barriers, and these too make it impossible for us to live and experience God's grace. We come up with all kinds of things. If I were just a better mom, if I just made more money, if I got my temper under control, if I read my Bible more, if I went to church more, if I gave more, then I'm sure God would love me more. I'd be made right with him.
It's not the book of Leviticus you're trying to carry. It's it's a book and a barrier of your own making. When the church of Antioch got the letter delivered by Barnabas and Silas, it brought the believers great joy as they read it. It basically said, take off your yoke. That's why they were joyous. They were freed from the burden that they could not carry. You don't have to shoulder the book of Leviticus, and you can rejoice because Christ Jesus has a very simple message for you today. Take off your yoke.
You are right with God. There is nothing you can do that will change God's opinion of you. Jesus has forged a new reality for you on the cross, and the news is good for all humanity. You can begin to live in the freedom of it. You can begin to live in the joy of it. So Jesus says, come, all of you who are weary and heavy burdened, and he will give you rest.
Take his yoke upon you and learn from him, for he is gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Listen to this. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's right. May God help us today to trust the light burden, to walk in the light of the gospel, to reject all else.
That's the prayer that I have for my own soul today. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, and my daughters, and my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so.
TODAY'S PRAYERS:
Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.
Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
And now Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, Joy. Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen
And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray...
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen.
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