1 00:00:02,670 --> 00:00:14,380 Speaker 1: Life Audio Hello, and thank you for listening to your 2 00:00:14,420 --> 00:00:18,020 Speaker 1: daily Bible verse, the podcast that examines the Bible each 3 00:00:18,100 --> 00:00:20,570 Speaker 1: day to help us learn more about God and His 4 00:00:20,610 --> 00:00:24,029 Speaker 1: will for us. I'm your host, Shaka Hines, and after 5 00:00:24,050 --> 00:00:27,510 Speaker 1: this short word from our sponsor, we'll dive into today's 6 00:00:27,590 --> 00:00:44,339 Speaker 1: Bible verses in Psalm 78, verses 7 through 8. Today's 7 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:49,479 Speaker 1: Bible verses are Psalm 78, verses 7 and 8. Then 8 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: they would put their trust in God and would not 9 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: forget his deeds, but would keep his commands. They would 10 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:00,020 Speaker 1: not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, 11 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,810 Speaker 1: but would whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose 12 00:01:02,890 --> 00:01:08,110 Speaker 1: spirits were not faithful to Him. You know, our personal, professional, 13 00:01:08,150 --> 00:01:12,730 Speaker 1: and spiritual lives are full of devices to direct our 14 00:01:12,790 --> 00:01:17,310 Speaker 1: conduct toward a certain goal. Applied personally, they're called mottos 15 00:01:17,410 --> 00:01:21,860 Speaker 1: or mantras. Professionally and spiritually, we refer to them as 16 00:01:22,060 --> 00:01:28,550 Speaker 1: mission statements, roadmaps, blueprints, creeds, tenets, codes of conduct, etc., 17 00:01:29,390 --> 00:01:32,369 Speaker 1: My favorite way to refer to these types of defining 18 00:01:32,450 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: statements are to call them DNA statements. Like DNA, these 19 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: are declarations intrinsically bound up in the formation of an entity. 20 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:47,130 Speaker 1: They're identity statements meant to ground us in our core values. 21 00:01:47,750 --> 00:01:51,830 Speaker 1: Parents might even regularly share DNA statements with their children. 22 00:01:52,510 --> 00:01:55,630 Speaker 1: Like today, when I dropped off my youngest son at 23 00:01:56,090 --> 00:02:00,970 Speaker 1: first grade, I began, remember, and he said, I know 24 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: I'm a child of the living God. You know, I 25 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: give him this reminder to set the course for how 26 00:02:07,780 --> 00:02:11,700 Speaker 1: he interacts with others and how he thinks about himself. 27 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 1: God knows we often forget who we are, whose we are. 28 00:02:17,310 --> 00:02:19,889 Speaker 1: And telling his story and what he has done is 29 00:02:19,950 --> 00:02:25,090 Speaker 1: a God-gifted way to remember him. Psalm 78 is attributed 30 00:02:25,150 --> 00:02:29,790 Speaker 1: to Asaph. Asaph's resume is pretty impressive. He's a Levite, 31 00:02:30,389 --> 00:02:35,310 Speaker 1: a seer, prophetic worship minister. Actually, he's the chief of 32 00:02:35,370 --> 00:02:39,670 Speaker 1: David's worship ministers. And in Deuteronomy 6, God called the 33 00:02:39,730 --> 00:02:42,770 Speaker 1: people of Israel to teach his commands to their children 34 00:02:43,150 --> 00:02:45,690 Speaker 1: so they would not forget all that he said and 35 00:02:45,790 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: stray from him. Asaph had the critical job of invoking, thanking, 36 00:02:51,419 --> 00:02:54,690 Speaker 1: and praising the Lord. His songs would help remind his 37 00:02:54,750 --> 00:02:58,270 Speaker 1: generation and train up the generations to come in the 38 00:02:58,330 --> 00:03:02,030 Speaker 1: ways of God. Now, in verses 1 through 4, Asaph, 39 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,700 Speaker 1: he calls the people to listen as he recounts the 40 00:03:05,780 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 1: praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and His wonders forever. 41 00:03:10,660 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: which he goes on to do in verses 9 through 72, 42 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: where he compares how good God is and how much 43 00:03:19,500 --> 00:03:24,049 Speaker 1: Israel has failed to listen to him. With the then statement, 44 00:03:24,150 --> 00:03:29,250 Speaker 1: beginning verse 7, Asaph connects the subsequent generations of children 45 00:03:29,669 --> 00:03:34,290 Speaker 1: putting their trust in God to the forefathers faithfully teaching 46 00:03:34,330 --> 00:03:37,869 Speaker 1: the law of God. He says, Then they would put 47 00:03:37,910 --> 00:03:41,110 Speaker 1: their trust in God and would not forget his deeds, 48 00:03:41,210 --> 00:03:45,790 Speaker 1: but would keep his commands. If the older generation does 49 00:03:45,870 --> 00:03:48,850 Speaker 1: its job of obeying the Lord, their children will put 50 00:03:48,890 --> 00:03:52,750 Speaker 1: their trust in, meaning to have confidence in the promises 51 00:03:52,980 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: of and follow all the Lord teaches. He says they 52 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious 53 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,930 Speaker 1: generation who whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose 54 00:04:05,010 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: spirits were not faithful to him. Asaph says, given the 55 00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:12,860 Speaker 1: opportunity to hear and know the law, the subsequent generations 56 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: would not end up like their disobedient ancestors. Now, if 57 00:04:17,779 --> 00:04:22,510 Speaker 1: it were true that perfect teaching always led to perfect followers, 58 00:04:22,930 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: then surely Jesus would have had 12 faithful disciples. But 59 00:04:27,070 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: we know that even having a perfect teacher did not 60 00:04:30,220 --> 00:04:35,620 Speaker 1: keep Judas from betraying Jesus. Even if the whole company 61 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: memorizes the mission statement, the business may still fail. If 62 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: the church regularly recites its biblical tenets at the beginning 63 00:04:44,380 --> 00:04:48,020 Speaker 1: of service, some members may still walk away from the faith. 64 00:04:48,740 --> 00:04:52,380 Speaker 1: If we raise children to know Jesus, they may still 65 00:04:52,490 --> 00:04:55,770 Speaker 1: choose not to have a relationship with them. So in 66 00:04:55,810 --> 00:05:00,260 Speaker 1: the end, The children, the children Asaph is speaking of, 67 00:05:00,339 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: this next generation, they have the choice to disobey. But 68 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:09,099 Speaker 1: there is a trustworthy principle Asaph teaches that without God's 69 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,659 Speaker 1: law regularly being woven into the DNA of his people 70 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: by faithful teachers, generations may drift away from God and 71 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,089 Speaker 1: refuse to put their trust in him. In the Old 72 00:05:22,170 --> 00:05:25,940 Speaker 1: Testament book, it was Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 and 7, 73 00:05:25,940 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: when God said, These commandments that I give you today 74 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,980 Speaker 1: are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. 75 00:05:34,460 --> 00:05:37,580 Speaker 1: Talk about them when you sit at home and when 76 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: you walk along the road, when you lie down and 77 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: when you get up. Asaph, he obeys God and he 78 00:05:43,660 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: reminds the Israelites who God is, what he has done, 79 00:05:47,260 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: and what he has commanded. He reminds the present generation 80 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: of the importance of teaching the laws of God to 81 00:05:54,690 --> 00:05:58,250 Speaker 1: the coming generations so that they might put their trust 82 00:05:58,410 --> 00:06:02,970 Speaker 1: in God. In the New Testament, Jesus commands his disciples 83 00:06:03,070 --> 00:06:06,810 Speaker 1: in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, to go and 84 00:06:06,830 --> 00:06:10,390 Speaker 1: make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name 85 00:06:10,430 --> 00:06:12,810 Speaker 1: of the Father and of the Son and of the 86 00:06:12,870 --> 00:06:17,890 Speaker 1: Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey God. everything I 87 00:06:17,930 --> 00:06:23,210 Speaker 1: have commanded you. Paul states in Romans 10, 14, how 88 00:06:23,310 --> 00:06:25,890 Speaker 1: then can they call on the one they have not 89 00:06:25,950 --> 00:06:29,219 Speaker 1: believed in? And how can they believe in the one 90 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 1: of whom they have not heard? And how can they 91 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: hear without someone preaching to them? Like Asaph, Paul emphasizes 92 00:06:36,900 --> 00:06:42,210 Speaker 1: the importance of preaching about Jesus so people might hear, believe, 93 00:06:42,529 --> 00:06:45,540 Speaker 1: and put their trust in God. And whether people say 94 00:06:45,620 --> 00:06:49,060 Speaker 1: yes or no to Jesus, let it not be said 95 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: that because of our silence, they did not have the 96 00:06:52,380 --> 00:06:57,740 Speaker 1: opportunity to hear. The truth of God perfectly manifested in 97 00:06:57,779 --> 00:07:02,210 Speaker 1: the life and teachings of Jesus must be spoken by 98 00:07:02,270 --> 00:07:06,890 Speaker 1: his disciples again and again in the church, in the home, 99 00:07:07,210 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: in everyday speech and situations on in family car rides, 100 00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: and on and on until it becomes the foundational DNA 101 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,260 Speaker 1: on which we stand and from which we put our 102 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,820 Speaker 1: trust in Jesus. You know, ask yourself, what scripture might 103 00:07:24,860 --> 00:07:30,500 Speaker 1: you memorize to remind yourself who Jesus is? What personal 104 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: or family mantra might you weave with biblical truth and 105 00:07:35,220 --> 00:07:39,490 Speaker 1: begin to speak often over and with your family? Or 106 00:07:39,530 --> 00:07:43,730 Speaker 1: what person comes to mind who needs to either hear 107 00:07:43,910 --> 00:07:47,250 Speaker 1: or be reminded of the truth of who they are 108 00:07:47,950 --> 00:07:53,700 Speaker 1: to God? Let us be like Asaph and not fail 109 00:07:54,120 --> 00:08:00,040 Speaker 1: to speak because others need to hear the word of God. 110 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father, thank you so much that you give 111 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,670 Speaker 1: us truth. Your reality is the ultimate reality. And the 112 00:08:11,730 --> 00:08:16,550 Speaker 1: more we speak, the more we teach your word, the 113 00:08:16,610 --> 00:08:21,330 Speaker 1: more we know it. And just even by heart, God, 114 00:08:21,380 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: the more it becomes a part of us and where 115 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: we live from. The more we get to walk with 116 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: and be like Jesus and carry out his mission. The 117 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: more we have the shalom, the wholeness, the fullness of 118 00:08:35,940 --> 00:08:41,860 Speaker 1: all that you want for us. Abba, please bring to 119 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,380 Speaker 1: mind even now for those who might be listening someone 120 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:50,350 Speaker 1: that you want them to share the truth with. God, 121 00:08:50,380 --> 00:08:55,010 Speaker 1: would you give wisdom to parents who want to begin 122 00:08:55,070 --> 00:08:59,510 Speaker 1: to speak over their children the love of God, the 123 00:08:59,590 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: ways of Jesus. Father, would you help us to be 124 00:09:03,740 --> 00:09:08,660 Speaker 1: a people that are so vocal about the truth, vocal 125 00:09:08,780 --> 00:09:12,270 Speaker 1: about what you've done and what you desire to do 126 00:09:12,470 --> 00:09:16,130 Speaker 1: in our lives. We love you, God. Thank you for 127 00:09:16,170 --> 00:09:20,250 Speaker 1: your words of life. In Jesus's name, amen.