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October 21 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
2 Plays3 minutes ago
If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
Today's we will be reading the Book of Acts Chapters 15 and Galatians Chapter 1.
Today we will read about some Jewish believers arriving in Antioch from Jerusalem to tell the Gentile believers that they needed to become circumcised in order to be saved from their sins. In response, Paul and Barnabas travelled to Jerusalem and had a meeting with Peter and the other leaders, where they came to the understanding that God does not require circumcision or the following of all the Torah laws in order to save us from our sins. Peter explained today that NO ONE was able to follow all of the laws and the Law did not save anyone from their sins, but Jesus' atonement for our sins DOES, and so our FAITH in Jesus in what saves us, not the obedience (or lack thereof).
In our discussion for daily application we will talk about JLesus summing up the Law for us: Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all of our mind, all of our strength, and all of our soul, and love others as we love ourselves. THESE commands sum up the Law of the Torah that we are to obey. If we are doing anything that does is not loving, then we are disobeying God's rule for us. Period. When asked by one of the Jewish leaders, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered him by telling the story of the Good Samaritan and then returned the question to the leader: "Who was the man's neighbor?" The leader replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus replied, "Go and do likewise." God has told us that He desires mercy, not sacrifice. We, too, are to be loving and merciful to others the way that Jesus and God are to us.
If you enjoyed today's reading and feel like God has lit YOUR light please click the LIGHT button (it looks like a thumbs up or a heart) and consider subscribing to or following my channel, if you have not done so already.
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome back everybody. Today is October 21st. My name is Robin. I'm with In The Family Way Coaching and it it is my pleasure to bring you today's daily reading out of the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley.
00:00:17
Speaker
I'm so glad that you are joining me today whether you are following along on your podcast or whether you are watching the video somewhere. Thank you for sharing the word with me and for helping us to spread the word about reading God's word.
00:00:31
Speaker
If you are using your daily commitment calendar, go ahead and take that out and get your sticker ready. There you go, Diamond. There you go, Forest and Pearl and Jedi. You got those stickers ready now.
00:00:42
Speaker
Get those stickers out and let's put them on or whatever you're using to mark off your days because we're about to hear the Bible today.
Gentiles and Jewish Law: The Circumcision Debate
00:00:52
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Today we are going to be looking at the newer believers who are Gentiles having difficulty with the Jewish people who are believers.
00:01:03
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And they are going to be talking about that they think the the Jewish people who have beloved that now belong in that now believe in Jesus are going to be telling the Gentile believers that it's not enough that Jesus's grace saved them from their sins.
00:01:21
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They are going to start telling them that they need to become circumcised. And then there were other followers in Galatia whose ah Jewish believers were now telling them that they needed to also follow the Torah, the law.
00:01:35
Speaker
Now we know that the Torah wasn't just about the Torah. There were also the rabbinical laws. There were many rules that Jesus said that the teachers of the law, it was like they had taken a key away from the people.
00:01:49
Speaker
They had put so many burdens upon the people. And so Jesus came to free us from all of these many burdens. And so this is the beginning of the passage argument that the new believers had in whether the Gentile believers and even whether Jewish believers still needed to keep on following God's law.
Faith vs. Jewish Law: Path to Salvation
00:02:13
Speaker
And God's law is not a bad thing. It's just that we don't get saved by following God's law. And so the difference is, is that there is a difference between following rules and thinking that the following of those rules is what is going to earn you your salvation.
00:02:32
Speaker
And so that is what we are talking about today. We are not talking about simply that we don't have to follow any of God's rules. We are talking about the fact that people were trying to be saved.
00:02:43
Speaker
through following the rules and they did not believe that just Jesus's forgiveness of sins was sufficient. And here we are going to be seeing that Jesus's grace is sufficient for our sins, that he died as our atonement because nobody could follow the law.
00:03:03
Speaker
We all sinned. We all fall short of the glory of God. And the law it was simply a way to cleanse the people so that they would be made clean and be able to be around in God's presence.
Acts 15 and Galatians: Law and Grace
00:03:18
Speaker
So we're going to be looking today at Acts chapter 15, as well as the first chapter in the letter of Paul to the Galatians.
00:03:31
Speaker
Now some men came to Antioch from Judea and they said that people had to become circumcised like Jews. They said that if they didn't, then they could not be saved from their sins.
00:03:46
Speaker
Now Paul and Barnabas did not agree and they said so. So Jesus' followers in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem in Judea and some other followers went with them.
00:04:00
Speaker
They went to see what the apostles and other leaders thought about this. Now Jesus' followers in Jerusalem welcomed the followers from from Antioch.
00:04:12
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And Paul and Barnabas told them about everything God had done. They said that many people who were not Jews believed in Jesus. And some of Jesus' followers in Jerusalem stood up.
00:04:26
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They said, people who are not Jewish still must obey. They must obey the laws God gave to Moses. They must look and act like Jews to be circumcised.
00:04:41
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So the apostles and the other leaders got together and they talked about it. God wants people who are not Jewish to hear the good his good news about Jesus. And I taught some of them.
00:04:53
Speaker
They believed, said Peter. God knows what's in each person's heart, Peter went on. He showed us that he welcomes people who are not Jewish.
00:05:05
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And he gave the Holy Spirit to them like he did to us. He did not treat them in a different way. He made their hearts sinless by their faith.
00:05:19
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We Jews cannot follow the law, said Peter, and Jews who lived before us could not follow the law. But here you are trying to make these people follow the law. The law cannot save us.
00:05:31
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We believe that Jesus' is kind love saves Jews from their sins. And that's the way the people who are not Jewish are saved too. Everybody got quiet to listen to Paul and Barnabas.
00:05:45
Speaker
The two men told about wonders that God had done. They said he had done wonders for people who were not Jewish. Then James spoke up. James was the brother of Jesus.
00:05:59
Speaker
Listen, he said, Peter just showed us how God welcomes people who are not Jewish. And the prophet's words agree with this. And James told about God's message to the prophet Amos.
00:06:14
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God said that he would come back. Then God said that people who are not Jewish can look for him. So here is what I think, said James.
00:06:25
Speaker
We should not make it hard for people who are not Jewish. They are coming to God, so we should tell them just a few things. They should not eat food given to idols, said James.
00:06:39
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They should not sin with sex, he said. They should not eat meat from animals that were choked to death, and they should not eat blood. God's laws have been taught for a long time everywhere.
00:06:55
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People read his laws in the town's worship houses every worship day. So the group in Jerusalem chose two men to go back to Antioch, and their names were Judas and Silas.
00:07:09
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They went back with Paul and Barnabas, and they took this letter with them.
Apostolic Letter: Instructions to Gentile Believers
00:07:14
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to the believers who are not Jewish. Hello! We heard that people came from Judea and upset you.
00:07:23
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So now we send Judas and Silas with Barnabas and Paul. We only ask you to do a few things. Do not eat food given to idols.
00:07:35
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Don't eat blood. Don't eat meat from animals that were choked to death. Don't sin with sex. And it is good for you to stay away from these things.
00:07:46
Speaker
Goodbye. Shalom. From the apostles and other leaders, part of God's family.
00:07:55
Speaker
Now Judas and Silas went with Barnabas and Paul back to Antioch. And they called Jesus' followers together and gave them their letter. The people read it and it made them feel better.
00:08:10
Speaker
Now Judas and Silas stayed there for a while, and then they went back to Jerusalem. But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, and they taught God's word, and many others did too.
00:08:25
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Now, while he was in Antioch, Paul wrote
Paul’s Revelation: The True Gospel
00:08:27
Speaker
a letter. It was to some of Jesus' followers in Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium. And these cities were located in a land called Galatia.
00:08:37
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So his letter was to the Galatians. And that's what this letter is called. To Jesus' followers in Galatia, I pray for God's kind love and peace to be with you.
00:08:51
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Jesus died for our sins. He did it because our Father in Heaven wanted to save us. He wanted to save us from all that is bad.
00:09:03
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I'm surprised at you. You are leaving the one who chose you, and you are turning to a different kind of good news. And it's not really good news at all.
00:09:16
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Some people are saying things that mix you up. Don't let anybody change the good news about Jesus. Not us, not an angel, not anybody.
00:09:28
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People who try to change it will be in trouble with God. And they will be in trouble now and always. wait The good news taught is not something people made up.
00:09:40
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Nobody taught it to me. Instead, Jesus showed it to me. You heard about how I used to live. As a Jew, I believed the way Jews did.
00:09:53
Speaker
i tried to get rid of people who followed Jesus. I worked hard teaching about Jewish beliefs. But God chose me from the day I was born.
00:10:04
Speaker
He was kind and loving to me. And he showed me his son, Jesus. And that was so I could teach people about Jesus. I could teach people who were not Jewish.
00:10:19
Speaker
Three years went by and I wanted to get to know Peter. So I went to Jerusalem and I stayed with Peter for 15 days. Then I traveled and I met maynit many of Jesus' followers.
00:10:34
Speaker
People said, that's the man who hurt us. He is teaching about Jesus now. And they thanked God because of me.
00:10:45
Speaker
And that is the end of today's reading.
00:10:51
Speaker
So although the first chapter of Galatians has not specifically said what this other quote good news was, it is of the same thing about what we read in chapter 15 of Acts, that the people are teaching who are Jewish, that the people who are not Jewish, the Gentile believers, need to become Jewish and simply be Jewish converts.
00:11:16
Speaker
Now, what's interesting is that we've now done the exact same thing and claimed that people who are Jewish need to be become Christian converts. So it started out with one way and now has gone to the other way.
00:11:28
Speaker
And really, there are Jewish believers and there are Gentile believers in the Messiah. And God is okay with that.
00:11:37
Speaker
What God is telling us here is that Jesus died for our sins. And that is what saves us. It is not the following of the law.
00:11:49
Speaker
And that is what Peter was explaining to us today. that there's nothing wrong with the law that Moses gave us. But the thing is, is that we are not saved by following the law.
00:12:01
Speaker
Are they good ways to live? Absolutely. like But following those rules is not what makes us sin free. What makes us sin free is our belief, our faith in Jesus, because he paid for our sins.
Love as the Fulfillment of the Law: Jesus' Commandment
00:12:17
Speaker
The book of Leviticus is full of the rules for what priests needed to do for people in order to make sin offering for us, as well as ah the fellowship offerings and things of that nature.
00:12:35
Speaker
there were There were the guilt offerings and the sin offerings. So even just ah having a child would cause a woman to be unclean and she would need it to she would need to offer sin offering at the after the appropriate time, whether she had a male child or a female child.
00:12:55
Speaker
And so these were all things that were meant to sanctify the people, to make them holy, to make them separate from the rest of the world. but These were people that were God's chosen people.
00:13:09
Speaker
And God dwelt among these people. And so these were things that kept the people in God's presence holy. And they would ah cause forgiveness with the for ah with the the with the atonements.
00:13:24
Speaker
God would forgive the sins. And so there were many rules as to the different things that when people found out about their sins, and even if they didn't know about certain things, that once they found out about that they had done something, that they would be considered guilty and that they needed to pay the price for that.
00:13:43
Speaker
But now we have Jesus. And he told us in the books of both of Matthew and Mark and Luke, when he was asked by the Torah leaders, what is the greatest of all of God's commandments?
00:13:55
Speaker
And Jesus replied to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your understanding. all of your soul and to love one another as we love ourselves.
00:14:08
Speaker
And then Jesus gave us what he called a new commandment to love one another. So that is the commandments that we are supposed to obey. we are to love.
00:14:19
Speaker
And so Jesus said that these, this, these acts of love, those are what summed up the law. That is what we need to be following.
00:14:31
Speaker
Jesus said that he would bring us rest from all of the many um expectancies that we had. He said that the Torah leaders had put like a lock and had locked God's truth away from the people by putting so many burdens upon them.
00:14:52
Speaker
It is these things that we are referring to as well. And as well, the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham was who God made his first covenant with. And this covenant was done in blood and it was done with circumcision.
00:15:07
Speaker
And so now all of the Jewish people were expected to be circumcised in order to be part of the old covenant. But Jesus said, I make a new covenant for you. And it is done with my blood.
00:15:19
Speaker
So now like the whole of the Torah can be summed up in the following of the of the rules to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, with all of your might, and to love one another as we love ourselves.
00:15:36
Speaker
And Jesus askeds was asked by somebody, ah well, who is my neighbor? And Jesus told us the story of the Good Samaritan. And he turned that question around and said, who was the neighbor?
00:15:50
Speaker
And the leader said, the one who showed mercy. And Jesus said, go and do likewise. We are to show mercy. God told us that he desires mercy, not sacrifice.
00:16:04
Speaker
And so Jesus gave us the ultimate sacrifice when he paid for our sins. And so that is what we are learning about in the in the new church with the new struggles that they are coming up against.
00:16:18
Speaker
And I'm glad that they had those discussions.
Grace Over Rules: Paul’s Teaching
00:16:20
Speaker
So there's nothing inherently wrong with God's law and following the rules that God gave us for how to live well. But we're talking about ah like the like the sacrificing rules and like that and of course we do still obey the ten commandments because those are when we break those ten commandments then we are not loving one another or loving god so they are pretty much summed up in that they are summed up in that uh the love god and love one another but jesus said he did not come to abolish the law he came to fulfill it
00:16:56
Speaker
He said not one stroke of the or one letter would go away from the law, but he came to fulfill it. Jesus fulfilled the atonement laws for us. And that is good news.
00:17:10
Speaker
And we want to make sure that we don't change that good news. Because Paul tells us here that if we change that good news, we are going to be in trouble with God now and forever.
00:17:21
Speaker
So we want to be sure that we are not teaching anything other than the forgiveness of sins through Jesus's saving grace. It is not by following the rules. That is not what makes us sinless.
00:17:35
Speaker
So I hope that you are encouraged by today's reading and that you are but feeling like God has lit your light today.
Spreading the Core Message: Love and Faith
00:17:43
Speaker
There is not a ton of rules for us to abide by.
00:17:47
Speaker
There is just the basic tenet of love God and love one another. that's what we are expected to do. That is so encouraging, don't you think? I know that I feel like God has lit my light today because I love knowing that Jesus died for our sins and that he did give us the same Holy Spirit that he gave to the Jewish believers.
00:18:07
Speaker
He did not show partiality, as Peter said. So thank you for joining me for today's daily reading through our day by day kids Bible. If you would be so kind, please click your light button at the end of the time that you watch or listen to this event.
00:18:23
Speaker
And what that does is that helps us spread the word about reading God's word. I love spreading the word about reading God's word. And I'm so glad that you guys are here because I know at least some of you are here because of those clicks of the light button.
00:18:37
Speaker
So let's encourage others to join us and to learn about God's word. So by clicking that light button, it looks like a thumbs up. It looks like a heart. It might look like a share.
00:18:48
Speaker
It might look like a follow or a subscribe button, but it's definitely our light button. So have a fantastic rest of your day, whatever day you get around to watching or listening today's daily reading and on October 21st from the Day by Day Kids Bible, written by Karen Henley.
00:19:04
Speaker
And when you are ready for tomorrow's daily reading, I'll be here for you for that too. And until then, have a great day.