Flipped Devotional
review weekly readings from Flipped Devotional the Book with the author and her husband
Flipped Devotional
August 25 - 31
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Here are the scriptures for this week:
August 25 - Luke 7: 1 - 10
August 26 - Matthew 7: 24 -27
August 27 - Psalm 138: 1 - 8
August 28 - Numbers 9: 15 - 23
August 29 - Joshua 24: 14 - 18
August 30 - Joshua 21: 45
August 31 - Deuteronomy 10: 12 - 22
Welcome to Flip Devotional the Podcast, where each week Martha Shannon, the author of Flip Devotional the Book, and Steve Shannon discuss the readings from the week. If you haven't gotten Flip Devotional the Book, it's available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, available at Barnes and Noble as an ebook. All right. Welcome to this week's podcast. Um, we are kind of excited because we got fan mail. Yay! And so I had to go back and listen to the the um episode that came out this week. Um, because I was like, oh, we're getting fan mail all of a sudden. So we apparently really pushed it uh on that podcast recording. So yeah, you probably know, but we record these ahead of time.
SPEAKER_02Correct.
SPEAKER_00Um, partially, well, really primarily, because um we use a podcast room at our public library, which is such a blessing. Um, it's free.
SPEAKER_01And it's great service, support, tech, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00They they at the beginning had no idea how to do this, and they totally set us up. Um now we're pretty independent about it. We can come in and set up and do it. And uh if we run into something, we just holler at the guy um outside the door and he helps us and they're they're wonderful. Um, so kudos to public libraries. Um but other people have gotten the urge to do podcasts. So we used to be able to record every week. Um, no problem getting the room. And uh today for us is August 1st. Correct. In real life, it's August 1st, but we are recording August 25th that week, right. Podcast. So I say all that because I feel bad that people send us fan mail and they aren't gonna hear thank yous on the podcast for oh what a month almost.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um now you respond to them directly.
SPEAKER_00I did. I did still not the same. They know we got it, but um, but thank you, thank you to um the people who sent fan mail. It was so sweet, and um everyone was so encouraging. Um really appreciated that. Uh at first we just had one and they said it was for Steve. So it was like, okay, Steve won Martha Zero. And then we got like four or five more fan mails that did not say whether they're for Steve or Martha.
SPEAKER_01They're probably for Steve.
SPEAKER_00So um the the first one we got though said that uh they would love to hear more stories um about like just us, um, kind of where we came from and and how that has led to different things. And so um this week's uh passages actually kind of lend themselves to that. So we're gonna tell a few stories this week um that will maybe be just a little different than a normal podcast. But anyway, um thank you again for sending fan mail. Um feel free to send us more. Uh we are trying to think about what to do after um we finish the flip devotional, which will be, you know, at the end of this calendar year, and whether to keep podcasting or not. And it kind of sounds like people would like us to.
SPEAKER_01Um and if so, maybe some suggestions.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So we've had a couple of suggestions. Uh, we've had a couple of thoughts. Um, so feel free to to share what you think. Um I think that's it.
SPEAKER_01That's it. Let's get started.
SPEAKER_00So August 25th to August 31st are the readings that we are discussing today. Uh August 25th starts with Luke chapter 7, verses 1 through 10. Um and remember, uh, oh no, this is August. Never mind, never mind. I'm thinking ahead. Forget that thought. All right, Luke 7, 1 through 10. So this is the story about the um centurion who sent his servant to ask Jesus to heal his serv his. Sorry. Okay, a centurion's servant was sick. Was sick.
SPEAKER_01And he asked some of the elders to go to Jesus. To go to Jesus. So right off the bat, we have and a centurion was a Roman.
SPEAKER_00Yes, a Roman soldier, a Gentile.
SPEAKER_01Correct, who supported the local synagogue, and he asked the Jews to go to Jesus to heal the servant that he really cared about, right? And he was a centurion, and and and I think it's important. It's like century. So it's a hundred.
SPEAKER_00So he was over a hundred men.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Soldiers. So so he was not, I mean, he he had been in the army, been a soldier, got promoted, all that stuff. So he he's a leader, but he had, and he had never met Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. I would think not.
SPEAKER_01Yes, there's no indication that he had, but he had heard, right? So part of for me, it's the value of telling your story. Absolutely. Because someone had told the story about Jesus and got to the centurion, who then went to the leaders, and you know, we know at the end the religious leaders were unhappy with Jesus and throughout much of his life, right? His teaching is three years. But here's a situation where the elders went to him on behalf of a Roman, which wasn't very common. So it speaks to what the elders, the Jewish elders, appreciated what this Roman centurion had done and was willing to act on his behalf to go to someone who they didn't quite figure out yet, didn't know what was going on. So you have really the main characters are really at different places, you know, in terms of their community and their, you know, from sociology perspective, you know, Roman centurion, who they were the invading force running the country, right? Jewish elders, who ultimately many elders were opposed to Jesus, and you have Jesus, right? And the servant, and what do we know about the servant?
SPEAKER_00Um that he did whatever the centurion told him to do.
SPEAKER_01And he was a faithful servant, but we don't know if he was Jewish or not Jewish, right? It's just so again, it kind of speaks for me the first indication that Jesus wasn't sent for a specific group. He came for everybody.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And this is an example of that, I think.
SPEAKER_00I wondered, um, well, I assumed really that the centurion was maybe wasn't a b a real believer, wasn't a follower. Because this is Luke 7.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's early, exactly.
SPEAKER_00The the Gentiles didn't really start following until Acts, yeah, after Jesus been crucified and everything. So I I assume kind of like you said, that he had heard that there was this guy, Jesus, and he would heal people, and that this was kind of the last resort.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's like I I don't know. My my servant is dying, and I know nothing else to do but to ask.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00See if this this guy, Jesus, could do something. And you know, so so he sends for him, and the elders speak very highly of him, and they say, This man deserves to have you do this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it says, so Jesus went with them. And then it says he was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him, Don't trouble yourself, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
SPEAKER_01So somehow he had heard something, right?
SPEAKER_00And and then I, you know, I don't know what led him to think I I don't know. It just sounds like he has a real respect for Jesus. Well, in other gospels, I don't deserve for you to come.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00I'm not worthy, but I know if you just say the word, like you don't even have to be here in person. I know that you can just say the word and he'll be healed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And earlier, and this is just Luke 5, so it's not a lot earlier. Jesus heals a man's leprosy, he forgives and heals a man who was paralyzed, right? So maybe the crowd had been talking about those things. But again, it's almost like the centurion, this is my last chance. This is, you know, and his faith that Jesus can do this without ever talking to Jesus, right? And Jesus didn't say, well, you know, he's he is a centurion, you know. Well, why would he want to help a centurion, right? Uh you know, and he's the servant of a centurion. Who is he? Right? It didn't matter to Jesus, right? You know, and it really is the centurion's faith healed a servant.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's how, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, not directly, but maybe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know. So it's a neat little story, right?
SPEAKER_00It it is. It is.
SPEAKER_01And other gospels have a similar story. And there the centurion says, I understand orders, tell this man to stop, stop, tell this man to go, he goes. If you say this to happen, it will happen. It's just his his faith in Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Again, he he thought very highly of him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And it goes back to, so what does this teach us? Right? You know, that your faith needs to be really, really high in Jesus, right? It's not like, well, some of these stories are true, I guess, I don't know. But this is, you know, apparently, you know, if 100% true. So it sets a standard, right?
SPEAKER_00I think it also um is we need to, like you said at the beginning, tell uh what Jesus is doing, what God is doing in our lives. We need to to speak that because I mean he supported the synagogue. So I feel like everything he had heard about Jesus must have come from the people in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So he must have heard them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because he loves our nation, right? So he loves the Israel, the Israelites, that's talking the leaders thinking about the centurion, and has built our synagogue. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So he obviously has conversations with them, and they have talked to him about Jesus. Or they've talked and he's heard them talking.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or someone, someone, you know, and and he used them as an intermediary and right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. All right. Good story.
SPEAKER_01It is a good story.
SPEAKER_00I I think a story that if you didn't stop and dwell on it, you would just read through it and go, yeah, okay, that's cool. Yahee La of Faith. All right, next. And in you just wouldn't pull how really remarkable it is. So sometimes it's good to just sit with a story for a little bit and not feel like, oh, well, I need to get another chapter read. Nah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And stop at the story, and like any good, you know, we go back to high school English, who are the characters, right? In the story, and here it's the centurion, it's obviously Jesus. It's the elders, and I guess the servant, but you don't know much about the servant, right? Right. But how do those interact?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And what's the message, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right. August 26th. Um, this is actually a pretty simple little passage. Um building a house, are you wise or foolish? Do you build it on rocks or you build it on sand? Um, the the thing that kind of stands out to me is you you have this wise man who built his house on rock, you have a foolish man who built his house on sand. Both of them says the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house. Both of them have that happen. But one of the houses stood and the other one fell. That's the only difference. Yeah, difference is what they were built on.
SPEAKER_01Their foundation.
SPEAKER_00The same things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01So it doesn't matter, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not, oh, you build your house on a rock and it's not gonna flood, it's not gonna have anything bad happen to it. Right. Like, no, it is right the same exact things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um it's a good message.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it just it and and and it's to what is what is your foundation, right? Yeah, and it says Jesus, right, you know, is the rock, right? So that's the foundation.
SPEAKER_00So you don't follow God thinking that you're not gonna have any trouble. Because it never, ever, ever says that. However, um, just uh a me story, uh I was raised thinking that that if you were a good Christian, if you were doing things right, then bad things wouldn't happen. And I don't know if it was specifically said that way, but that is what I believed. So whenever things didn't go well, I always thought, okay, well, it's because I didn't read my Bible today, or I didn't pray enough, or I, you know, did something or I wasn't a centurion.
SPEAKER_01My faith wasn't high enough.
SPEAKER_00Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, so I always assumed it was my fault for not measuring up, and and part of that just came from how I was raised at home, that things were my fault if anything went wrong and just didn't quite, you know, m measure up. So uh yeah. So I appreciate seeing this and going, okay, it's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00The rains are gonna come down, the streams are gonna rise, the winds gonna blow and beat against the house. End of story.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm thinking about it. Yeah, yeah. And what is your right? What's your again, your foundation, but what what are you relying upon? And obviously the messagiers rely on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01But again, it it's not a pass. You don't have faith in Jesus, and in exchange, bad things don't happen to you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. All right, August 27th.
SPEAKER_01We're moving.
SPEAKER_00Gosh, I didn't even give the reference of August 26th, but that was Matthew 7, 24 through 27. Thank you. August 27th.
SPEAKER_01I write them down.
SPEAKER_00Well, I have them right here in the book. Psalm 138, verses 1 through 8.
SPEAKER_01Got a lot of psalms.
SPEAKER_00Well, there are a lot of psalms.
unknownThere are.
SPEAKER_00There's a ton of them. Um this one. Uh I underlined one sentence in particular that says, When I called, you answered me. You greatly emboldened me.
SPEAKER_01I got that. Um I also like though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly. The lofty, he sees them from afar. Right. And I have to remind myself here and again that from God's perspective, we're all very, very similar. It doesn't really matter. And from our perspective, we may very well be different for a variety of reasons. You know, someone drives a much nicer car and or something else, a bigger house. But from God's perspective, I think we're all more similar than we are dissimilar. And we need to encourage ourselves to see people though lofty. He looks kindly on the lowly. Pay attention to everybody.
unknownYou know.
SPEAKER_01But praise him, right? Sing his praises. Bow down towards the holy temple. You know, it's part of it is you worship him, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. The emboldened part uh reminded me another me story. Um we'll see if Steve tells any stories someday. Um I have no stories. Of when I um I I went to Asbury College. It's now university, but it was college back then. Um and Asbury is a Christian college. And um so for four years, I was going to um chapel three days a week. Um we prayed at during every at the beginning of every class. Um you were very much in a bubble of just being around Christians all the time. And it your language was um familiar to everyone. So, you know, you could say, I'm I'm gonna go pray, I I need to go read my Bible, I, you know, whatever. And that was just, oh yeah, you know, it just familiar for everyone. It was kind of a a no big deal. Um we you you could almost get out of having class um if you had someone that would pray at the beginning of class longer than someone else. And I remember my Western civilization class, which I well, never mind, I'm not gonna go into that. It was tough. Um, where there was this one um girl, freshman, who would be asked to pray regularly. And she did long prayers. And so if it was ever like, we don't really want to have class today, it was like, you pray, you pray. And she would pray. And it would be a long prayer. It's like, yes. Like, now we don't have to hear the lecture as much. Um, that you get by with at Christian college.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Where I went to college, we had a chapel. And I think during exam, some people prayed. That was the extent.
SPEAKER_00So when from Asbury, I went to Nashville, Tennessee to go to Peabody at Vanderbilt to get my masters. And I was all of a sudden around no one that I knew. Um, I was not around all these Christians. In fact, I wasn't sure anyone I met was a Christian. Um, but I told God, when I go, I'm gonna be bold for you. It's like, I'm not gonna hide my Bible. I'm gonna have it, you know, by my bed. And, you know, if someone comes in or something, I'm not gonna hide it. I'm not gonna hide the fact that I'm a Christian. So I went very bold and um a little scared. And day one, pull up into my Mercury Bobcat full of boxes, having to move into the tenth floor. And the very first person I meet was Steve.
SPEAKER_01Correct.
SPEAKER_00And he saw a bumper sticker on my card that said, Have you hugged a special kid today?
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And so we are both going into special education. Um, and he saw that. So he assumed I was in the same program he was in, which was correct. Um, and he had already moved in and guess was just bored. And he saw me, he was like, Do you want help? You know, moving in. And I looked at him and I was like, hmm, you're the person that my mom warned me about. But I am on the 10th floor, and I do have a ton of boxes. So, okay, I will allow you to help me move in. But then that's that's where it ends. We're done. And here we are. Gosh, that was how many years ago?
SPEAKER_01Uh it was 83. Yeah. So it was 43 years ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Soon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because we went down in August. So um, yeah, here we are. For no reason. 43 years later, married 31.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00Um, so yeah. Yeah. So uh promise, be bold for God, and and look what he did. I met Steve, and life is good. Life is good. Life is very good. All right. August 28th. Numbers back in the Old Testament. Numbers 9, 15 through 23. Love this story. Um, and the little ditty up at the top says, Sometimes I wish God's leading was this evident to me.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I kind of feel jealous of the Israelites. It was so obvious. You knew exactly what he wanted you to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So the story is um they they were traveling from place to place.
SPEAKER_01They've left Egypt.
SPEAKER_00And they have not made it to the Holy Land.
SPEAKER_01So it's in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00And they travel for a bit and they'll stop, then they travel, and and the way they knew when to go and when to stay was there was a cloud um over them during the day.
SPEAKER_01And um over the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Which they carried with them. Um, and fire by night, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think it's interesting as fire by night. I mean, it's it's but you couldn't see a cloud. Right. And you know, this is the wilderness. There is no rules or laws or you know, state troopers. So I think part of the fire by night would uh give you some sense of security.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Yeah. So um when it moved, they were like, okay, it's time to move. When it stayed, they just stayed. It says sometimes it would be two days, sometimes a month, sometimes a year. I mean, there's like no rhyme or reason about it, but they just followed that and followed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Just followed God. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. But they had a very concrete signal. Yes. Yes. Which we want to follow God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but we are constantly like taking a step and going kind of like, I don't know, stepping in onto a surface that you're not really sure if this is a secure surface to step on or not. It's like, mm, how about this? Okay, well, all right, we'll keep moving. I mean, you just don't know sometimes. And sometimes you go, you know what, we're just gonna go for it.
SPEAKER_01And it's quite on faith.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So another story.
SPEAKER_01How many stories do you have?
SPEAKER_00This is my last one.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, was when we bought our house.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00So we got married in '95.
SPEAKER_01Correct.
SPEAKER_00And uh I was there. We um we were renting a duplex at the time. And we we thought we would wait a couple of years before we bought a house, save up money for a down payment, all that good stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um we were way ahead of schedule.
SPEAKER_00But this is when you still got newspapers. And um, we would get the Sunday newspaper every Sunday, and I'd sit down and I would read the important parts, the comics.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00And I would go through the uh classified. Thank you. Couldn't think what they were called. Steve would read all the rest of the paper, um, especially the sports section with all the box scores. Yes. So um one Sunday I was looking through and I was just looking through houses for sale, just kind of for the heck of it. And there were two houses that sounded so very similar and the exact same price.
SPEAKER_01And the exact same ad. I mean, it was four-bedroom, two-story, this price.
SPEAKER_00So um I called about one of them and got the address, and I was kind of like, well, you know, we'll think about it. So we drove down to see where it was. Um, just kind of drive by it. It's like, mm, it's kind of a nice house. Um I was like, but you know, look where it's at. And Steve, being the dark, kind, sensitive person he is, said, Oh, so you want to to help people like this that live around this area, but you don't want to live near them. Whoa, that was kind of biting. I was like, well, I don't know. And so we we kept pursuing it. My brother was a sergeant with the police, and so I told him, I said, we're kind of looking at this house, and he was like, uh, no. And he brought me a computer printout of all the emergency calls.
SPEAKER_01This was the old computer paper that was landscape legal size, green line, you know, green line, white line, green line, with the holes on the side. And literally, it was two or three inches thick, the stack. I mean, it was huge. And I faceted to tell people these are all the calls at our address, sidewalk in front of our house, and on our street. That was not really what they're, but they were like within a block, three blocks and five blocks of our house.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So um, he was like, no, look at this. The you cannot live there. And it's like, oh. So I mean, we we kept praying about it. We kept talking with the the owners, um, because obviously that's who was selling it. Um and who is also an Asbury grad. Yes. Um, and we kept going, you know, we don't have the down payment yet, we were gonna wait another year. He said, Don't worry about it. And we were like, well, we it's like everything that we threw. As a reason not to do it, the owner came back and said, Don't worry, I got that. Don't worry, we we can do this, da-da-da-da-da. To where it was like, I we have no excuse.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And and even he said, Well, I have a tenant that won't be out until May. And this was like January, February. So you got some time. So Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, so we we bought it. We bought this two-story brick house on a street in downtown Lexington that um is kind of considered an island because it's it's a fabulous street. Um, but back then, if you went very far in any direction, um it was a little rough. It has changed so much over the years. Yeah. We are still in that house. Um really love the house. It's been it's been a great place.
SPEAKER_01And the blessing we got from that, I think, is one, you know, two ads, never even went to the other one.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01I mean, we never called, never know. And and and we just we really looking back, we followed, you know, almost the next reading, you know, me and my house, right? We followed what God wanted us to do. That we, you know, that's what we believe he wanted us to do. And our pastor at the time had built his own house. I don't know, okay. A friend of ours who was in seminary who had worked on his own house. Uh no one, very few, were encouraging us to move down there, right?
SPEAKER_00Everybody said, well, I don't know, it has great potential, which we interpreted as if you want to do the work, yeah, good for you. I wouldn't want to do it. But we um we we were young, we had no skills, and we uh it it was a very it was ready to move into. It wasn't like it was falling apart or anything.
SPEAKER_01No, no, the guy who had it could do some to do some work.
SPEAKER_00But through the years, we um learned to do drywall. We put drywall up, we mudded, we obviously painted, we put floors down. We got so many skills.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00From and from that house.
SPEAKER_01And because of we bought this house, you know, and again, we didn't we, you know, we had just been married a year, so we, you know, what's the kids' plan? But it was more than enough space for us. We felt confident in that. Um, and it was very affordable. And again, because of our our our faith and and our, I believe, listening to God's plan for us, we were able to take advantage of all those things, you know. And I say today, our two daughters graduated college with no student loan debt, because we bought that house. We'd have to buy another house, right? And it just that God provided for us, and we were willing to listen, right? Against everyone else's message was eh, are you sure you want to be there? Right? You know, and again and again and again, you know, we had talked about getting a dog. We want to get a dog. I suggested a Great Dane. Never seen one? Right? You had never seen one. Yeah. Saw one life. Yeah, I yeah, we had one. Never, right? Go on. We see in the newspaper, Great Dane puppy. And this Great Dane puppy was a block north of where we lived, right? So it's like downtown was for us, and it worked really well, and it still works really well. Very, very nice, right?
SPEAKER_00Yep, yeah, yeah. So as you said, it it kind of leads into August 29th, which is a very famous verse. You can go in many people's homes and they will have this verse written.
SPEAKER_01Um where do we have it?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01Bove a front door?
SPEAKER_00Nope.
SPEAKER_01Is that not this verse? Uh-uh. Okay, I thought it was.
SPEAKER_00Um, no, it says those who enter, uh enter in peace. Um, but this verse from Joshua 24.
SPEAKER_01And Joshua was Moses' assistant or some no relationship.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01But he was the number, you know, he was Moses' guy, became the Jew, and was the leader of the Israelites, because Moses didn't get to go to the promised land.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Right. So Joshua was the leader, and obviously there were some questions about what was happening, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And so the verse is, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. And like I said, lots of people have that in their homes, um, which is fabulous.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, and everyone else said, we will serve the Lord as well, right? But you know, Joshua as the leader set the standard, right? And he gave people the choice, right? You don't have to do this, but we are going to serve the Lord. So the message is serve the Lord. And all of us, that's probably a different way to serve the Lord. Right? Looks different, feels different, right? Called to do different things.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah. Um, the very first line says, now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. And and we've said this before, but just as a reminder, that fear is not be afraid of God.
SPEAKER_01Correct.
SPEAKER_00It's be in in awe of him, be respectful of him, be, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's it's be like the centurion was to Jesus. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's it's and some people have said this about you know, this fear is if you do something wrong, you may fear your father, right? Or the consequence of the action. But you respect the rest of the time, right? So it's it's it's a level of the relationship you have, and you have to have that relationship, right? And I think respect is better than fear.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Because, you know, God's not scary. Right. He is powerful, right? He is worthy, you know. Earlier it was bow down to him, right? You know, all those things. Um, so it's it's, you know, and even psalm was love endures forever, he will not abandon. So, yeah. And I don't know if some translations have respect.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Then the kind of the second paragraph of this passage, after says, Bez, for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. The the people answer that they will serve him, and they recount all the things that God did. And that's something that we should probably do regularly, is to go back. I mean, kind of some of the stories like we're telling today about our lives, remembering what God has done.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, used to be count your blessings.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01You know, the challenge I always have, or A, is because there's known and unknown blessings. But still, it really is for me to appreciate what God has done for you. Right.
SPEAKER_00And if you um if we look back at the centurion story, again, I think he knew about Jesus because he heard um the Jews talking about him and what he had done and what um what kind of what he's capable of. But um I think it's important that whether you know, by yourself, um it's kind of like the gratitude journal type thing. That's yeah, that's kind of the same type of thing, but it's remembering, it's remembering for yourself what God has done. It's also remembering and telling others so I can say, oh, God did that for you, so God can do that for me.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Again, same the centurion story is just like I didn't realize how key it was to this week's um uh stories. Yeah. But it's uh it's it's witnessing, it's giving your testimony, it's um yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well stopping and appreciating. Yes, it's stopping and you know, um and everybody wants to take responsibility for their successes, right? But maybe the message is you know, serve the Lord, don't worry about your successes, right? Know when good things happen to you, it is could very well be God blessing you, right? It is God blessing you. It's not necessarily because you were exceptional, right? You may have been exceptional, but it's God's action through you. I think that's part of the message. When you serve the Lord, those things, right? That's part of serving the Lord. So he's a good Lord.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes. All right, August 30th. One little verse. Yeah, how did this get in? Joshua 2145. Not one of all the Lord's good promises to Israel failed. Everyone was fulfilled. It's one little verse because you don't want to lose that message. Yeah, because you're reading all this other stuff. Not one of all the Lord's good promises to Israel failed. The companion verse, I want to read it today, um, is Romans 4, 20, and 21. So we go from Joshua, Old Testament, old, old testament, to Romans, New New Testament. You know, this is Paul's writing after Jesus and everything. Says, yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. That goes back to having that faith that the centurion had. Yes. Um what God promises, he has the power to do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00You don't have to doubt that for a second. Right.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And if he promises to do it, take it off your list. He will do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Period.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00No ifs, ands, or buts.
SPEAKER_01I think it's great that it's Lord's goods promises. You know. I read that again in preparation. You know, I read it previously to look at it again. Um for me, part of it is a reminder that his promises are good promises. Right. Does he have bad promises?
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know. He does promise to punish those who So is that a bad promise?
SPEAKER_01It's an unfortunate situation. But again, it's, you know, he he he's not punishing for no apparent reason. I think that's part of the message as well, right? When that happens, it's you know, but I just think it's it's when I read it, I took it as the promises are good promises. The Lord's promises, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's interesting. I have a Bible that has notes on it, you know, all sorts of stuff. Too many pages, too many pages.
SPEAKER_00It's very heavy.
SPEAKER_01It is. This verse doesn't get a footnote.
SPEAKER_002145?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Huh. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01Turn the page. No, it does not. Nope. 2143, but not 45.
SPEAKER_00Oh well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but I still think it's it's good to include. Just as a reminder again, right?
SPEAKER_00All right. August 31st. I have to admit, I was pretty excited that this week's podcast had ended with the end of the month.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00It's the last day, you know, didn't have any of that break or yeah. You know, next podcast we'll do one day of August and then start September. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's one of the Lord's good promises. We've got one to end on the month.
SPEAKER_00It's probably the only time it's gonna happen. Um, but well, we'll take it. August 31st, Deuteronomy, chapter 10, 12 through 22. Some of this is familiar to us.
SPEAKER_01Um Deuteronomy is the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00Very old.
SPEAKER_01Very old. Book four, maybe?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah. Um those of you who couldn't see, I was reciting and counting on my fingers, yes.
SPEAKER_01Um but it's not in the one with the popcorn.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, no. That's New Testament. Go eat popcorn. Um I didn't even underline this first sentence, but just a few seconds ago when I was looking over it, it's like, oh my gosh. This is, I don't know, this is it. It says, and now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Okay, so first of all, so many people are always like, well, you know, I don't know, what does God want? What should I do? Here, here is your answer. What does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I'm giving you today for your own good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not for him, right? Right. You know, I mean, and I've said this, you know, God doesn't need me. There's nothing about God's plan that hangs in the balance with Steve. He wants me. He desperately wants me to be involved with him. It's not a need. There's nothing that, you know, Jesus is a God, you know, where is he? You know, he's got to step up his game, you know. No, it's it's he wants us. And this is what he wants us to do, right? And again, fear comes up again, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. But that's that same I think it's the same, same word.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And it's walk in obedience, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And when you walk with someone, you're with them, you're side by side, you're you're right.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01You know, so it's not, but that's it. So and it's when you walk with someone, it's the whole walk, typically, right? Whatever the walk can't. But it's it's you're staying with the person and you're side by side.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01To love and to serve them.
SPEAKER_00Then the next paragraph.
SPEAKER_01But even observe his commands with all your heart and all your soul. Jesus said that, right? Well, he was referencing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Referencing Deuteronomy. Yes, yeah. Um says, To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. So it's like, okay, God has everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Everything. Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants. That's us.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00We're the descendants. He chose us, he set his affection on us. On us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And this was to the Israelites, but because of Jesus, we're now part of the, right?
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, we're we're in the group, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, like Steve said, he doesn't need us, but gosh, he wants us so much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And he wants good things for us, right? You know, and back on, right? He wants us to follow, to serve him, to love him, right? Fear, walk in obedience. I mean, it's just. And he didn't say you want these things at Sunday morning at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock, right? Or Wednesday night if you go to or or you know, your small Bible study. That's not what it says. You know, it's it's all the time.
SPEAKER_00And then it says, do not be stiff-necked any longer. That's that's pretty harsh words for the Bible.
SPEAKER_01Stiff-necked.
SPEAKER_00It's like, you know, the there's a reference to being whitewashed somewhere. I think, yeah. And then the stiff-necked. It's like, mmm, that's ooh. That's that's tough. And it says, um, again, for the the Lord is God of gods, Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty, awesome. I mean, you just like there is no one higher than him. And he defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing, and you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves are foreigners.
SPEAKER_01Right. And the fatherless and widows, I always hear that when this was done, those were the marginalized people. Right? Right. That, and it says, right, defend the causes of the fireless, right? Love foreigners, right? So there may not be Israelites, but they're gonna be with you, right? So God is not differentiating here, right? He's telling them, right? And the fatherless, obviously, back in Deuteronomy, you know, whatever that was, being an orphan was a problem. Being a widow was a problem. The bot the Bible has many stories about widows. So I looked up stiff necked.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01First, it shows up in Exodus twice, Deuteronomy, Acts, Proverbs. One explanation of the phrase, it describes an ox or a work animal that refuses to bow its neck to the yoke and turn its head when the farmer gives it a command. You know, and if you're working with an ox, if they don't follow your command, I mean it's a they're big and strong, you know. So I don't know if that's really the only reference, but it kind of makes sense.
SPEAKER_00All right. Good week of scriptures.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Good stuff.
SPEAKER_01Send your comments.
SPEAKER_00Um, so we'll start September and August. I struggled with was there a theme or not? September, the theme is uh um parables and miracles, healings. It's kind of all those stories.
SPEAKER_01What's a parable?
SPEAKER_00It's a story that's didn't really happen, but that gives a message.
SPEAKER_01Correct. Yeah. It's a teaching point.
SPEAKER_00We'll probably cover that in one of the readings, but now Steve spoiled it.
SPEAKER_01I have ruined it for people.
SPEAKER_00Runed it, I tell you.
SPEAKER_01It's not two bulls on a yoke. Parables.
SPEAKER_00Oh god. Did anybody get that? Oh man. All right. Um, I think that's it for this week. Um, I mean, the fan mail is is fun. Um I even more than that, I would love for you all to uh pass this podcast on to other people. Um the I'll be honest, the flip devotional book is probably not gonna be in print next year. Um I don't know. Um right now I'm thinking not. Just, you know, I'm just saying, whatever. Um, but the the podcast, if you know people who listen to podcasts, tell them, say, hey, give this one a listen. Um if they have no idea how that, and I've run into some people who are like, yeah, never listen to a podcast. I'm Steve has never listened to a podcast.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, I have not.
SPEAKER_00He has no earthly idea how to pull it up and listen to it to tell you all the truth. Um, so there and he's I mean he's fairly intelligent, really. So there's people, there's people out there who do not know how to do this, if they're our age and and up. Um so share it with other people. Say, hey, give it a listen. Uh the only way we know more people are listening is if they download it. And I have no idea if people download it every time they listen to it, or if they ever download it. Um every once in a while a a new place will pop up um that downloaded it, and that's that's kind of pr exciting, tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_01We haven't gotten to Australia yet.
SPEAKER_00No, we don't, yeah. Australia, New Zealand, we don't have, but we have all the other continents. Well, not Antarctica. Yeah, I'm not counting Antarctica.
SPEAKER_01It's a continent.
SPEAKER_00Whatever. Um, yeah, there's no one there to listen.
SPEAKER_01Penguins.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. All right. Thank you for listening to this week's Flip Devotional, the podcast. Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe, share, encourage others to listen. And we will talk at you next week. Bye-bye.
