Tag: But First Bible

Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.

Our readings today are from Leviticus 14 and Matthew 26:55-75.

I shared a couple of weeks ago two of my favourite books, the New Bible Commentary and the New Bible Dictionary. Both excellent tools to help you dig a little deeper into God’s word. Go check out the Feb 5 podcast for more details.

I wanted to briefly share another resource today. Over at esv.org you can now access the Global Study Bible for free. It’s a really simple guide that will give you insights into the text, characters, and other related cross-references in the Bible. Go check it out and let me know how you find it.

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Today, we will continue our study of Matthew 26 as we see Jesus get even closer to his death on the cross. I want to focus on two of Jesus’ disciples and their role in these events.

Judas and Peter.

First, Judas. Earlier in Matthew 26, Judas agrees to hand over Jesus to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver. And by this part of our reading, it has now happened.

Continue reading “Feb 12 – Leviticus 14; Matthew 26:55-75 – JUDAS & PETER, YOU & ME”

Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.

Our Old Testament reading is from Leviticus 13 and our New Testament reading is from Matthew 26:20-54.

We haven’t reflected on our Matthew reading for over a week, so it’s worth doing so today. I hope you’ve been enjoying the opportunity to slow down and read a few paragraphs per day as Jesus gets closer to his death and resurrection.

Before we reflect on our Matthew reading, it’s worth doing a quick recap of one of the major events in Exodus. If you’ve been following along with this podcast for a while, hopefully the events of the Exodus are still fresh from our readings.

The book of Exodus began with God’s people – the Hebrews – being numerous in population, but also oppressed and enslaved under the harsh regime of Pharaoh in Egypt. Remember – the LORD heard their groaning and said that he would rescue them. The LORD raised up Moses and Aaron to lead the people and they had the task of approaching Pharaoh to ask him to let God’s people go. He refused, and upon each refusal, the LORD sent a series of plagues in judgement upon the Egyptians.

The tenth plague – the death of the firstborn – was the most devastating of all. On that night all the firstborns were struck down. But the LORD passed over the homes of the Israelites who had painted the blood of a lamb on their doorposts.

After they were spared from death, God’s people came out of Egypt having been saved by the LORD. Immediately after their rescue, Moses said to the people, “remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place.” (Exodus 13:3). And the Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread was instituted.

Every year – God’s people were to celebrate the Passover – remembering God’s mighty act of redemption.

Continue reading “Feb 11 – Leviticus 13; Matthew 26:20-54 – THE LORD’S SUPPER”

Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.

Our bible readings for today are Leviticus 10-12 and Matthew 26:1-19.

It is Sunday – a day when followers of Jesus gather together all across the globe to hear God speak, sing, pray, confess their sin, be reminded of the gospel of Jesus’ death & resurrection, and encourage one another to keep trusting Jesus.

Here’s a verse to encourage you to get along to church today…

Hebrews 10:24–25

[24] And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, [25] not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV)

Continue reading “Feb 10 – Leviticus 10-12; Matthew 26:1-19 – WEEKEND EDITION”

Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.

Our passages for today are Leviticus 7-9 and Matthew 25:31-46.

Now yesterday I shared about an elderly man who listens to this podcast while running and made a joke about how it was amazing that he’s still running at his age. Just to let you know, that wasn’t a joke about a random listener, it was actually about… my brother!

Three quick things about my brother. First, while he is 7 years older than me, he’s hardly elderly! Second, he’s actually a much better runner than me. Third, he was disappointed I didn’t share the obscure connection between Leviticus and the New York Times food review. What was it? In his translation of the Bible in Leviticus 1:8 and a few other places, it uses the word “suet” instead of fat. And apparently, the NYTimes food review used “suet” to describe fat at some pretentious restaurants. So there you go.

I also thought I’d share part of an encouraging message my brother sent me this week. Here it is,

“And what I found really helpful was your tip in your Eternity article about “don’t try to catch up”. That was so helpful because that’s where I always fall down – I fall behind a plan so get discouraged and overwhelmed and then just give up. It’s so liberating to think I don’t have to catch up – better to pick it up again somewhere random and midstream than not at all. Otherwise, you spend your life reading genesis/exodus/Matthew etc over and over again and nothing else!” (My Brother)

Thanks brother for the encouragement! It’s now mid-Feb, and I really want to keep encouraging people to press on with their Bible reading, even if it means not catching up on what they’ve missed. So maybe this weekend or in church as you speak to your friends, you can encourage them to keep going with whatever reading plan they’re doing – even if it means skipping the parts they’ve fallen behind on.

Continue reading “Feb 9 – Leviticus 7-9; Matthew 25:31-46 – WEEKEND EDITION”

Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.

Our Old Testament reading is from Leviticus 4-6 and our New Testament reading is from Matthew 25:1-30.

Thank you to those that have sent messages and shared some of the things they’ve been learning. I appreciate the encouragement. I’ve just received a message from an elderly man I know who listens to the podcast while running (it is amazing he’s still running!) and he made some observations between the descriptions of the offerings in Leviticus yesterday and a food review he’d just read in the New Yorks Times! So there you go…

We are going to focus on Leviticus again today. So perhaps if you haven’t read the passage yet pause this podcast so you can hear God speak first.

Okay, welcome back.

ATONEMENT is our word for the day.

Atonement is the act by which God and humans are brought together in a right relationship. It’s literally to be “made at one”. A helpful way to remember what the word means is to break it down into three: at-one-ment. Atonement is to be at one with God.

Now built into the concept of atonement, by implication, is that humans are out of relationship with God and need to be brought back into relationship with God.

That’s consistent with the storyline of the Bible we have been following this year. In Genesis 1-2 we see humans are in relationship with God but by chapter 3 of Genesis they are out of relationship with God because of sin. In many ways, the storyline of the bible is then all about what God will do to bring humans back into relationship with himself.

In the midst of the blood and death of innocent animals in Leviticus, we have a kindness from God. This is because it is through the blood and death of these animals and the institution of the whole sacrificial system that the LORD has provided a way that atonement can be made. That’s good news.

Continue reading “Feb 8 – Leviticus 4-6; Matthew 25:1-30 – ATONEMENT & FORGIVENESS”

Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.

Our readings today are from Leviticus 1-3 and Matthew 24:23-51.

Leviticus continues on from the end of Exodus. By the end of Exodus we saw that the tabernacle and the things around it and the things inside it had all being build according to the plans that the LORD gave to Moses. Now that we are in Leviticus we will see that the tabernacle is now in use.

Let me read the opening two verses of Leviticus.

Leviticus 1:1–2

[1] The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, [2] “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. (ESV)

The LORD says “when” not if you bring an offering, that is, there is a need for people to bring an offering. Leviticus will outline the whole sacrificial system and why sacrifices are needed and what they achieve. It’s also worth noting where people were to get their offering from. They weren’t to find a random wild animal, but one of their own – one that comes at a cost to themselves.

Continue reading “Feb 7 – Leviticus 1-3; Matthew 24:23-51 – A PLEASING AROMA TO THE LORD”