This Week in Deeper: Recent Episodes
Holden Lane
Deeper Student Ministries is a student ministry based in Athens, Tennessee. Our goal is to see students build an ongoing and life-long relationship with Jesus Christ! Our student ministry is build on 4 pillars. Every Student, Build Strong Families, Teamwork makes the Dream Work, and the Bible is our Source! This podcast is a way to connect to our ministry and we hope that it is beneficial to you!
Take a look at Numbers 21:4-9, That's what Jesus told Nicodemus to do when he considered who Jesus actually was. Nicodemus thought that Jesus had the makings of a prodigy teacher, which is why he probably went to see him under the security of the night, but Nicodemus left that conversation with more questions than answers. I imagine he left the meeting with Jesus thinking, "That didn't go how I thought it was going to go..." Nicodemus likely thought that in this meeting he would flex his intellect and press Jesus into submission, but it went exactly the other way. Jesus gave Nicodemus the gospel and clearly explained who He was and why He was here, yet Nicodemus still missed it. Nicodemus was the "Teacher of Israel" and yet he failed to understand that Jesus was salvation for the people.
Last week we opened a brand new series taking a closer look at one of Jesus’ most well known teachings, often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. In this series we are taking a closer look at some of the topics that Jesus taught about that day on the mountain in northern Israel. Let’s remember that the sermon occurred up on the mountain, and in Jesus’ time they didn’t have cars or trucks, his followers were on foot. Climbing that mountain was likely no easy task but the reward for reaching the summit was an intimate experience with the Son of God. Jesus taught love, grace and hope in the midst of condemnation and judgement. Jesus was consistent with His mission, “… He was sent into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
Tonight we're opening up a brand new series called "On The Mountain" that is going to examine the sermon on the mount. But first we need to understand that we've got to climb the mountain to hear from Jesus.
In this podcast we wrap up our series "The Playlist" with a man who has some serious family history with God.
Psalm 23:4 says, "Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid because You are close beside me. Your rod and you staff protect and comfort me.
King Saul looked at David, the young shepherd boy and told him "Don't be Ridiculous" when David offered to take on the mighty Goliath. What Saul failed to understand is that David was empowered by the Holy Spirit to take on the evil giant. Everything about Goliath represented sin and the evil that is in this world, and everything about David represented Jesus, our shepherd who was sent to save what was once lost.
Starting this week we are going to take a new approach to our media. Figuring out the best way to reach our community is our goal as a youth ministry and we've found that podcasting is a great way to do this. The cool thing is that I personally love to produce the podcast. At the first of the year we started a project that took us through the first 5 books of the Bible over podcast. We produced a podcast every single day, but as we've opened back up from the pandemic, the pace became too much and our goal is to produce quality. So starting with this podcast we are going to produce a weekly episode that is concurrent with what we cover in Deeper. To be clear, this podcast is not a recording of that weeks message. While the same material is covered, the podcast is a more intimate discussion or conversation. I really do hope you enjoy this podcast!
For the Israelites to break a covenant, even one that was made under the pretense of a lie, would’ve been disobedient and would incur God’s anger.
The text specifically notes here that the Israelites had failed to consult God in this matter. There were several red flags in play here that the Israelites should’ve picked up on. For one, why would people from a distant land try to make a peace treaty with a nation not technically in charge of really anything yet. At this point they had only won a handful of battles and not necessarily at the point of making international treaties just yet.
What truly motivated the Gibeonites was survival and fear of the Lord, God of Israel. Which becomes apparent in verse 9-11 which says,
They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt,
1and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.” ’
Because the name of the Lord your God. Just as the Fear of God drove Rahab, it had driven the Gibeonites.
An interesting parallel here is that the Gibeonites came to Joshua seeking a treaty because of the NAME of the Lord, your God. They feared the God of the Israelites and therefore called on His name.
The prophet Joel wrote “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Joel 2:32
Therefore Joshua and the leaders, without consulting God, made a covenant with people who lived in the land of Canaan. While they did call on the name of the Lord, The Gibeonites brought ungodly influence into the community of Israel. This covenant also made it Israels responsibility to defend the Gibeonites in battle which raised their level of responsibility in the land.
This should serve as a reminder to us today that we should never do anything in life without first making it a matter of prayer.
Jericho was a relatively small city by comparison to what we might think of as a city today, a lap around the city was a whopping 1.24 miles. But the walls were at least 12 feet tall and at some points up to 30 feet tall and around 20 feet thick. The city was fortified and served as a shelter for not just the residents of Jericho, but for the surrounding countrysides as well.
The city of Jericho was considered invincible, and was though to be protected by Canaanite gods.
Jericho had a reputation for being the strongest city in the region, which is why it was a key starting point for Joshua and the Israelites. It would be a statement win for God to topple the mighty Jericho.
We understand from the passage that the people of Israel essentially watched as the Lord destroyed the city walls. Only Rahab the prostitute and all of her household was spared in the destruction of the city as the Israelites destroyed the city by fire.
All that they kept went into the Lords treasury
After the stunning upset victory at Jericho, Israel then took aim at their next battle, which was the small town of Ai. The only problem is that, the Lord is angry with the people because Achan had stolen some of what was supposed to be devoted to God.
God was not with the Israelite warriors when they went to battle the small town of Ai. It was so small in fact that Joshua’s intelligence advised that he only send a couple thousand men. Joshua decided to add to that number and sent 3,000 men. They were routed by the men of Ai and about 36 Israelite mighty men were killed in the battle.
The people of Israel were devastated, and terrified.
Not only had they lost the battle, but they lost after Joshua added to the number of warriors…
Joshua was also devastated. He thought that this battle signified the end of his leadership. In his mind the people had lost all momentum from their big defeat of Jericho. After all if the Israelites couldn’t defeat the small town of Ai, then they were no match for stronger Canaanite cities, and those people would be encouraged to fight against the Israelites.
So Joshua turned to God.
Whenever there is a new United States President there is always a news story on what the new presidents first day in office looks like, what will be the first accomplishment that the new administration tackles in the first moments.
Joshua’s first task as leader of the nation of Israel is to reaffirm that the entire nation is still united in their goal of following the Lord into the whole promised land.
This is a big moment for Israel and for Joshua. Moses, the leader that the Reubenites and the Gadites negotiated the terms of their deal with was dead. And theoretically it would’ve been easy (not honorable) for them to skip out on fighting for a land that they themselves wouldn’t directly possess.
Their response here would have a bigger impact on the moral of the people, if the tribes or Reuben and Gad back out, well that’s two less tribes of soldiers that would be fighting along side of them.
However we see in verse 16,
16 They answered Joshua, “We will do whatever you command us, and we will go wherever you send us. 17 We will obey you just as we obeyed Moses. And may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Anyone who rebels against your orders and does not obey your words and everything you command will be put to death. So be strong and courageous!”
And just like that, its wheels up. Next stop Canaan.
Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land, from Gilead as far as Dan; 2 all the land of Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; all the land of Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea; 3 the Negev; the Jordan Valley with Jericho—the city of palms—as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.”
5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Lord had said. 6 The Lord buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but to this day no one knows the exact place. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever. 8 The people of Israel mourned for Moses on the plains of Moab for thirty days, until the customary period of mourning was over.
Much of todays reading includes promises and a consequences. Promises for good and prosperity if the people obeyed God and did according to His will and purposes, curses if the disobeyed, worshiped other gods, or otherwise broke the law of Moses.
“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, 23 the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
And you can’t help but read this and think of Jesus’ execution on the cross. In fact Paul references this verse in his letter to the Galatians in chapter 3:13
13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
The person having been executed is under God’s curse and more exposure to this scene would desecrate the land, not necessarily because of the dead body, but because of the reminder of the sin that was committed and the punishment
Chapter 16 starts with Moses reminding the Israelites of the Holy days and celebrations. These days are important for the people to remember because they mark off significant days in their history, and they would also mark important days in the future.
The first and most obvious day for the Israelites to remember is Passover. This is the time that God brought His people out of Egypt and out of slavery
Verse 9 shows us The Festival of Harvest. Verse 14 says that this will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters.
The cool thing about these festivals and significant days is how they have evolved over time and in line with Gods plan.
It was the first pass over that God brought the people out of Egypt and it was also Passover that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, the veil in the tabernacle was torn and our relationship with God was restored.
We now celebrate this day as Easter.
Then we get to the festival of Harvest, which is 50 days or seven weeks after Passover. This day was a happy day, and one much like Thanksgiving. People would give gifts to God in proportion to the blessings they had received from Him.
This is also known as Pentecost.
Maybe you see where I’m going here.
Acts 2 records what happened during the first Pentecost after Jesus was crucified.
Isn’t it so awesome that on a day of gift giving and celebration, God would give us the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The end of chapter 12 gives us a sobering reference. It says,
“When the Lord your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and live in their land, 30 do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’ 31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.
32 “So be careful to obey all the commands I give you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them.
It’s really hard to know what to say about vs31. They would burn their sons and daughters.
God is a God of love, a God who values human life and won’t stand for that life to be murdered. Murder is a high crime in the sight of God. It’s easy to look at the Old Testament and get fixated on all of the death and loss of life, through animal sacrifice, and city raids and military offensives. But here we get a glimpse of what is really taking place in the land of Canaan. These are Godless people who have given themselves over to not just their gods, but to evil. It is evil to sacrifice humans, and especially children. There is no other word for it, it is evil.
Their customs, practices, and every false and evil god they stand for MUST be wiped from the earth.
I want to talk about something that caught my eye, 7:7 says, “The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!”
I think it would be easy, but incorrect to assume that the nation of Israel was the odds on favorite to win any of these future battles they would be facing. The fact is they weren’t. They were smaller in number, but they were still Gods.
God is the God of the underdog. He is glorified, He is capable when we are not. He is the X factor.
Look down at 7:17-18, 17 Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’ 18 But don’t be afraid of them! Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt.
God is the muscle behind everything.
Moses goes onto say, “No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. 22 The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. 23 But the Lord your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will be able to stand against you, and you will destroy them all.
In the 1st chapter we see Moses talk to the people about the prior generations failure to be obedient to the leading of God and not entering into the promised land. At this point the Israelites should’ve been in the promised land but because of their disobedience, their entrance was delayed.
This should be a reminder to all of us that disobedience to God’s will can result in delayed or even a total loss of God’s plan for our lives. Of course we know that God can redeem our circumstances, but a full life lived in obedience to God shouldn’t always be carried out in this manner. We should be obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit at all times!
This first chapter is full of hard truths that we don’t really like to talk about. We like to talk about God’s grace and how God can take our messed up life and use it for His glory, and that is very true, but I’ve never heard a redemption story from a person who didn’t first turn from their previous lifestyle and dedicate themselves to following God.
Human nature tells us to follow our own plans then ask God to bless them, when in reality we should be obediently following the leading of the Holy Spirit at all times.
In this instance, not following God costs the Exodus generation their promised land. Their disobedience was tragic and was an irreversible loss. These people would die in the wilderness.
Now all that being said, take a look at 2:7, which says, “ For the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”
Even in the Israelites disobedience, God never left them alone.
Even in your disobedience, God has never left you alone. And He never will. Always pray and ask God for forgiveness, never forget that you can always return to the Father, because He has never left your side
The tribe of Levi had a different role to play. In today's podcast we take a closer look at what that role was and how they fit into the plan for God's people!
Its really hard to imagine all of this taking place in today’s world. But this is the world that these Israelites lived in. They were on the offensive in war and they were taking what God had already divinely given to them.
Yesterday we got to the first successful military conflict that the Israelites completed and today we already have two tribes looking to possess that piece of land. Specifically the tribes of Reuben and Gad. They wanted this specific land because they had a greater amount of livestock, and this land was perfect for their flocks.
We see that they brought this to Moses’ attention, but Moses smelled a rat. He thought they were trying to get out of going into the land of Canaan with the other tribes, and just simply settling in the most convenient place, which was right where they were.
They then convinced Moses that this wasn’t the case at all, it was just the perfect place for them to settle and that they still intended to send everyone who was eligible for war with the rest of the nation of Israel.
After hearing this Moses then allowed them to stay but reminded them that if they failed to come through on their promise, then they would be guilty of sinning against God and their sin would catch up to them.
Something significant happens at the beginning of chapter 27. By Hebrew law, if a father died with no sons there would be no way for a daughter to inherit their fathers land. God then established a law that daughters could inherit the families share of the land.
This law shows that God intended dignity and honor for women, not oppression.
Right after this law from God, we see an incredibly significant moment. God brought Moses up to see the promised land, at this point Moses knew that he would not be the man to lead the Israelites into battle to take the land. God allowed him to see the land, then to appoint the next leader of the nation of Israel.
We see that God communicated with Balaam, and honestly, I don’t get it. I don’t understand how a man can be so dumb that he can have the kind of communication and interaction with God that Balaam had, the guts to stand up to Balak the way that he does, because he does obviously understand the power that God possess, or maybe not. Perhaps Balaam thought that God was just one of many powerful gods. Either way his misunderstanding of God would ultimately be the end of him.
As we jump into today’s reading in Numbers 15-21, there is a ton of material to cover. Don’t forget that this is all happening while the nation of Israel is in the wilderness of Sinai, waiting to go into the promised land
Some very significant things happen as it pertains to the peoples entrance into the promised land, including the update that Moses, the Israelites spiritual leader and biblical hall of famer, wouldn’t be permitted to lead the people into the land.
It's crazy that the children of Israel would find themselves in this position, just over a year removed from the greatest event in their life-time, the first passover. God has done so much for these people and yet they still have no faith that their God can overcome enemy armies, fortified cities and the dreaded descendants of Anak.
It sounds so silly, but we still do the same thing today. God is mighty, God is strong, and God is able. If we'll just follow His voice through the unknown. God will provide.
'May the Lord bless you
and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor
and give you his peace.’
The book of Numbers is known in the Hebrew Old Testament as “Bedmidbar” which means “in the desert”. We get the name “Numbers” because of the the two censuses that are recorded in the book. Most of the book however describes Israels experience in the desert.
Basically this book is a sequel to the book of Exodus, and at this point the people have spent about a year camped at Mount Sinai, it was during this year that God establishes His covenant which we studied last week in depth in the book of Leviticus.
Todays reading is God preparing the generation which is called the Exodus generation because this was the generation that came out of Egypt, to go and take the promised land. The census was to document all the Israelite men who were eligible to go to war.
Todays reading starts out with a promise from God, that if Israel would follow Gods plans then they as a people would remain under God’s blessing. God would protect the Israelites from wild animals and foreign armies. He would make sure that the Israelites could count on a rain season. Which let me tell you, if you are a farmer or you live off of the land, as the Israelites did, this is a major blessing. I can’t tell you how many times I prayed with farmers in central Arkansas for rain!
Lastly and most importantly, God said in 26:11-12 “I will live among you, and I will not despise you. 12 I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.”
How great is it to live in the blessings and company of God.
But if the Israelites were to deviate from God’s plans then they would walk away from His blessing, and God would curse them.
There would be illness, famine and defeat, droughts and bad harvests.
Wild animals will be a nuisance,
Foreign armies would invade and have success and ultimately, God would remove them from the land.
God desired total commitment to Him and to avoid idols of all kinds.
Israelites had what was called the year of Jubilee every 49 years. During this year people would return to their ancestors home land and would grow no crops. God would provide enough yield for the upcoming year of Jubilee.
- All slaves would be freed
- Property that was sold would be returned to the family that originally owned it
- And there would be no agriculture
The purpose of this year was to make sure that people relied on God instead of gaining great power from earthly possessions. It also made sure that those who had been successful didn’t build large amounts of wealth at the expense of the less fortunate.
Today's reading might cross over into PG-13 area, but you’ll find out that the Bible is much more like an action movie than the cartoon felt board characters that have made up much of our Christian education over the years.
There’s a lot of things that we as Christians can take away from todays reading. It’s still important for us today to be set apart. Like we talked about in greater detail yesterday, the sacrifice for sin wasn’t just the price of your lifestyle, it was only accepted by God, if the sacrifice was given in genuine remorse.
The same applies to the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.
On a personal note, I spent a lot of my time as a youth living in fear that I wasn’t saved because I was worried that I didn’t have enough remorse for the sin in my life, I didn’t have the understanding of God that I do today (and that’s always growing)
The problem that we face is that in parts of the US and around the world, its culturally unacceptable not to be a “Christian” yet culturally unacceptable to actually walk out your faith in a way that is pleasing to God, we see this play out on almost every country station on the FM band.
God’s people should be set apart, and I’m not saying that you need to be some kind of weirdo,
Christians should be people who takes God’s principles seriously. They should be people who seek to follow all the commandments of God, They should always consider the teachings of Christ
This podcast exists because there is a major problem of biblical illiteracy in the church today. Too many people are cultural Christians, and not enough people are versed in their word. This has to change if the church is ever going to be effective going forward.
It’s hard for Christians today to truly understand the life of an Old Testament believer. The things that we are reading here are just so foreign.
You could almost equate it to a very affluent person not understanding the life of a peasant. Jesus Christ has just simply made our lives so much easier.
In yesterdays podcast we talked about how Jesus took the place of the sacrificial lamb, therefore instead of shedding the blood of animals, we can claim the sacrifice of Jesus’ body on the cross as our sacrifice for sin.
Jesus became the blood sacrifice, so that we could be made right in the sight of God.
But as we read this passage today, we see that not only did the Old Testament believer need a sin offering to approach God, they also needed the service of the priest. This priest would act as the mediator between that individual and God. These priest were ministry leaders who came from the tribe of Levi
The priest would be appointed to lead worship rituals and help men and women approach God, so that they could worship Him and receive forgiveness from God.
The priest would bring people near to God and would offer sacrifices to God.
Today, you and I live under the new covenant. In this covenant, Jesus has replaced the high priest,
Jesus is the mediator between us and God. In doing this, Jesus has given us permanent access to the Father.
I know that when we read this today in our culture, it can seem cruel, it can seem like God doesn’t care about the sanctity of the life that He created and placed in these animals. I love animals, and I don’t want to see an animal needlessly killed, much less be in any amount of pain.
I have a dog named holly and as far as I’m concerned she’s part of our family.
So I get the unfortunate reality that we must face a lot of death and bloodshed because of animal sacrifice.
But when we look at what is happening in perspective, what the blood sacrifice was and what it was in place of. This isn’t a happy ceremony, this is a very deep and emotional event that should enact a change in the hearts of the Israelites.
In Deeper, one of our core-values is “team-work makes the dream work” this is evident here, it took a team effort, a team that had many different skills and talents, coming together to accomplish a greater purpose.
We as a culture need to look at this example and realize that there are all sorts of different roles within the body of christ. There are things that I'll never be able to do, but there are things that I can do, that not everybody else can. We are all beautifully, wonderfully and fearfully made by God.
One of my favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein, which says “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
There is a place for you in the body of Christ! If you’re not sure where that place is, pray and ask God to reveal it to you!
They had a front seat to some of the Bible's most incredible miracles, and yet at the first opportunity the Israelites failed in one of the worst ways imaginable. They broke God's commandments and turned their back on the one who brought them out of slavery. As easy as it is for us to question the Israelites, we often times act in a similar way. Maybe you haven't built a golden calf, but how many times have we neglected our time with God, in order to please ourselves. Let's make it a priority to focus on God and wait on His timing!
As we read about all these specifications throughout these 6 chapters I want us to look at the veil, because later on in the Bible this will play a great significance. The veil separated the Holy Place where the priests prayed and gave thanks on behalf of the people, from the most holy place.
This served as a reminder of the separation of a holy God and a sinful people. People were not able to freely approach God. In fact only once a year was the high priest permitted to enter the most holy place and that was under certain conditions to atone for the sins of the people.
You might’ve heard the phrase “The veil has been torn” as it relates to the old covenant vs the new covenant. This is in reference to Jesus Christ fulfilling the law and becoming the blood sacrifice that would bridge the gap between God and human.
When you accept Jesus you have full access to God and your sins are atoned for by the blood of Jesus.
In fact if you look at Matthew 27:51, the moment Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple ripped from top to bottom.
Jesus became the ultimate high priest, became the blood sacrifice, and if we give our lives to Him we have permanent access to God the Father.
Exodus 21:1-11 presents to us a cultural crisis of sorts, the big question we walk away with in this passage is, does God actually condone slavery. My answer to this question in short is absolutely not, specifically in the terms of how we as a culture define the word slavery.
The misinterpretation of this text is has caused an incredible amount of pain, this is why it is vital that we as Christians dedicate ourselves to understanding the Bible, not just reading it and interpreting it on our own.
First let’s address the question, “does Israelite slavery compare to the evil institution of slavery that we understand today?”
Understand that being a Hebrew slave was voluntary, and had more to do with paying off debts. Being a Hebrew slave or servant was more like getting a job and working for someone that you submitted to, as opposed to being taken against your will. In fact, Exodus 21:16 explicitly and clearly condemns this practice “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”
This shows us that God, in no way promotes, and in fact condemns any type of slave trading. Therefore anytime in the Bible you read a passage where a master buys a slave, we know that according to God’s law, that slave was sold to their master on their own, and not by any 3rd party.
There was no, “I wonder how the Lord is going to provide this time” or “God didn’t bring us this far to let us die” they went straight to complaining about their circumstances. They did this several times, and from our perspective this is just straight up annoying. In 16:3 they say, ““If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” just before God provided quail and manna
But frankly we don’t have much to stand on here. It’s easy to distance ourselves from the situation that these people find themselves in, for them it was very real, or at least that is what they might tell us if they were telling the story. But what about when it’s our own experience. What about the times we’re waiting on God to move in a situation. Do we have complete faith and trust in God, or do we resort to getting angry at God for not moving and reacting the way we think He should.
These plagues weren’t just random events, they were targeted at Egyptian gods in order to make a mockery of their perceived power and to show that God was more powerful than all of their gods.
When Moses went back to the leaders of Israel, they refused to listen to him, because after they listened to him the first time, their lives got much more difficult. This is precisely what Pharaoh wanted to happen. Yet God, in His grace saved the people anyway.
The end of Genesis is a wonderful moment in history as this family of about 70 people are welcomed into Egypt because of the great things that God accomplished through Joseph. This whole generation of Israelites would live in peace in Egypt until their deaths, but their descendants would continue to grow into a mighty nation. And 1:6 says they became extremely powerful and filled the land. This new Pharaoh was different than the one who ruled during Joseph’s time. It’s obvious that the population was changing in Egypt, just with the rise of the Israelites, but there was certainly other tensions that come with the growth and progress of a nation. Either way this Pharaoh perceived the Israelites as a threat to Egypt’s national security so he took action which initiated the beginning of The Exodus!
I doubt that Joseph's brothers woke up that day and thought, "Today we are going to kill Joseph" and yet that's exactly what they set out to do, until they spotted those Ishmaelite traders passing through. They probably thought they would never see of hear from Joseph ever again. But God had much bigger plans. God used this terrible situation to bring about the very situation that this small nation needed to grow into a strong people.
Twenty-Two years has gone by and we can see that a lot has changed. Obviously for Joseph. He was successful in Potiphar's house until he was falsely accused and thrown into prison, only to have God take him from prison and elevate him to the second highest office in the land. Joseph's brothers on the other hand had spent the last twenty-two years living in the grief of their actions. They had broken the heart of their father and now unbeknownst the them have the opportunity to rectify their actions.
The Bible isn’t necessarily a hall of fame of people who were the best. Many people made horrible decision that caused great harm, and really aren’t people who should be praised or looked up to. There are things that are culturally acceptable then, that would be horrifying by today’s standards, and that is not a bad thing. We as a people should always be moving forward in pursuit of the type of culture that is God honoring. Things like polygamy, prostitution, lies and deceit are not good things. the Bible is great because it tells it like it is. Humans have a way of screwing things up, and as we’ve seen God has a way of turning them around to accomplish His plan. My encouragement to you is to be part of His plan, not a hinderance to it.
This is one of those podcasts where we may have bitten off more than we can chew as it pertains to the content. In other words, there is a lot to talk about. First, this is the end of Jacobs relationship with Laban, Jacob makes plans to leave Laban's household and return to his birth land, the land of his fathers. Laban isn't happy when he finds out but is warned in a dream by God not harm Jacob. We look at Jacob's reunion with Esau, and also the terrible account of rape involving a Canaanite man and Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah. Oh yeah and somewhere in there Jacob fights with an angel!
Today's episode we look back at the genealogical lines that come from Noah and how they relate to where we are in today's text. Jacob's place in history is significant and we find out today that the family drama only gets more intense. I hope you enjoy today's episode!
It must have been good, because it was good enough for Esau to trade his birthright for. This passage is full of head-scratchers but it leaves us with a bit of history going forward. Jacob and Esau may have been twins but they were struggling from the beginning. Each brother represents people and nations and future conflict. Let's continue the journey!
Today we look at two examples God's provision. Neither of these examples are easy to stomach. First we see how God took care of Hagar and Ishmael when they are banished from Abraham's house to the wilderness. Then we see where God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the altar before providing a ram caught in the thicket.
Wow, it's hard to imagine that this stuff is actually in the Bible but, it is. We can learn a lot from this giant moral mess but the big takeaway here is that God doesn't need us to figure out a way to make His plan work. We need to be obedient and trust rather than play God and try to figure it all out. It's not always the easiest thing but when we play God we end up looking really bad.
Today's podcast has admittedly been one that has been difficult to produce. There is so much that goes on between chapter 15 & 17. We see God reaffirm a promise that he's given to Abram and we see how that promise develops over time and eventually comes to pass at the end of Genesis 17. Reading this portion of scripture leaves us with many questions. Did Abram sin when he had Ishmael with Hagar? Should he have waited on God, or was Abram only doing what he thought God wanted him to do? Some of these questions we don't have solid answers for but we do see the faithfulness of God in relation to Hagar, to Abraham, and to Sarah that he would fulfill all of His promises!
Today we've got Alex Ceja on the podcast once again, and he's going to tell us about Abrams time in Egypt and how its marked by a giant lie that got him and his family thrown out by Pharaoh himself!
Today in episode 4 we're talking about Genesis 9-11 and how we're continuing the Genesis narrative that God knows what is best for His creation. Even though we see things and think that they are good, God knows what truly is good for us.
Today we're in Genesis 6-8 and Lauren is talking with us about Noah and the Flood! This is such an incredible story of the faith that it took Noah to trust and obey God in the face of relentless evil.
Today's discussion focuses on Cain and Abel. We see that God accepts Abel's offering, but reject Cain's. After that Cain makes the horrific decision to murder his brother. Let's talk about it!
Hey Deeper Family! Take a few minutes and read the first 3 chapters of the book of Genesis, then lets unpack a few parts of this text! As always we're are so glad that you're connecting with us as we go through the Bible in a year, together!
Thanks for checking out the Deeper Podcast. I'm doing this podcast for a couple different reasons. #1 My main goal in this life is to teach people the Bible and lead others to stronger relationship with Jesus Christ. #2 We all have different gifts and talents and God has designed us all differently, the cool thing about this is that for every individual person, there are unique ways to worship God. One of my ways to worship, honor and serve God is through technology. Be it live-streaming our Sunday Morning services at church or updating this podcast, I love to give God everything I have.
So there it is, I hope this podcast is a blessing to you!