July 15, 2026 - Deuteronomy 15 & Psalm 136

We read Deuteronomy 15 and Psalm 136, then connect God’s pattern of release, forgiveness, and generosity to the freedom Christ gives. From student ministry camp at Ignite 2026, we talk about the Holy Spirit’s role in salvation and pray for students to repent, trust Jesus, and keep walking in Spirit-empowered obedience. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Reading Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Wednesday, July 15th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written

Deuteronomy 15 Debt Release Laws

SPEAKER_00 0:27

word. Deuteronomy 15. At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release. Every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess. If only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandment that I command you today. For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall not rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. If among you one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land, the Lord your God has given you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart, and you say, The seventh year, the year of release, is near, and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cried to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land. If your brother, a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press, as the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this today. But if he says to you, I will not go out from you, because he loves you in your household, since he is well off with you, then you shall take an awl and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do. All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do not no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God, year by year, at the place that the Lord will choose. But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind, or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Psalm 136 Read Aloud Refrain

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Psalm 136. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of Lords, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who by understanding made the heavens for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who made the great lights for his steadfast love endures forever. The sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever. The moon and stars to rule over the night for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his steadfast love endures forever, and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea into, for his steadfast love endures forever, and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever, but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever, and killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever. Sion, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever. And Og, King of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever, and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever. A heritage to Israel, his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever. It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever, and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever. He who gives food to all flesh for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven for his steadfast love endures forever.

Ignite Camp Theme Empowered By Spirit

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Well, at the time of recording this, it is Tuesday evening, and we are at Ignite 2026, our South Valley Student Ministry Summer Camp. We just wrapped up session one. Now the theme for this year is Empowered, and we are talking all about the person of the Holy Spirit. Now, Silar, I think this is a very important theme because in the circles that we run in, theologically speaking, it can at times feel uncomfortable, or perhaps we we just don't exactly know who the Holy Spirit is, what his role is in our life. And sometimes we can associate the Holy Spirit with uh some of the charismatic movement and some of the things that we would say are a violation of what scripture teaches concerning rightly ordered worship. So I think it's an important topic for our middle school students and high school students to think critically about the person of the spirit. After all, we worship a triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who have eternally existed, one divine being who eternally exist as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And so this week we are focusing on the Spirit. And session one was all about the spirit's role in our salvation. Now, Tyler, just talk about maybe some highlights for you, some encouragements from Pastor Ben's first message here at Ignite, and maybe even something that you're hoping to see in the student ministry of South Valleys as the one who oversees that. What are you hoping for? What are you praying for this weekend? What were you encouraged by tonight? Yeah, thanks for asking, PJ.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

I was super encouraged by uh the the call from Pastor Ben through the scriptures to respond to the Spirit's prompting to confess, to turn and repent from sins and trust Jesus Christ, the one and only hope for salvation, the only one who can pardon and forgive sins. That was a great encouragement. And he gave a two-part encouragement for those who are already redeemed, who already have Christ, who have the Spirit dwelling within them. The charge was to keep going, keep keep living in the power of the Spirit, keep uh obeying and submitting to the Spirit, and let the Spirit lead you according to the Scriptures to work out your salvation with fear and trembling and to follow after the God who saved you and to please him because of the cost that was paid, Christ's own body on the cross sacrificed for uh his people. It is that cost that was paid, and uh, as a response, as we see the the living and risen Christ, we have uh the spirit, he said, uh, you will do far greater things. I will send my helper in all the the magnification of the gospel being uh sent out. Uh the the word uh of God and the work of the spirit is is being conducted globally, worldwide. The spirit is at work in every Christian, and the gospel is continually being proclaimed. And that's my desire to continually proclaim the gospel faithfully and for students at Compass Bible Church, South Valley to respond in faith, to turn from their sin and put their hope and trust in the only God that can save them. It's Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Amen. So please be praying for that throughout the week. Those of you who listen faithfully, uh kind of with us on schedule, please be praying for the Lord to open blind eyes, pray for just a great, fruitful week.

Sabbath Release Fulfilled In Christ

SPEAKER_00 9:34

And even as we transition now to Deuteronomy 15, there's some great connections here because Deuteronomy 15 talks about the sabbatical year, the seven years, or even the year of Jubilee. Uh so in this sort of sabbatical year, there was this rhythm and this pattern of debts being forgiven, of those who are servants being released, and all of these things serve as a forward-pointing pattern that find their fulfillment in Christ. In Christ, of course, our debt is forgiven. We are set free. We have uh we were enslaved to sins to sin, and whom the Son sets free, he is free indeed. So all of these things that God commands and instructs and um gives this yearly uh uh you know sort of rhythm, or in this case, every seven years, every every 50th year, uh this rhythm points forward and finds its substance and its fulfillment in Christ. And we've talked about that a lot, specifically connected to the Sabbath. Of course, we were just in Hebrews 4 as a church, and so the Sabbath uh is something that does, in fact, find its fulfillment in Christ. This is what Paul talks about in Colossians 2. Uh, don't let anyone look down on you for Sabbaths, those are shadows of things. The substance belongs to Christ, and that's exactly what we see here in Deuteronomy 15. So, like just what you were saying, Tyler, is that we hope uh that these students find the kind of being set free from cap captivity, being set free from sin. Uh that's even prefigured here in a text like Deuteronomy 15, uh, where debts are forgiven, uh, where things are not held against a brother, where um there's this sense of uh being released and being freed. And of course, that ultimately finds its fulfillment in and through the gospel and in and through Jesus Christ. So that's our hope, uh, that's our prayer, and we see that here in Deuteronomy

Psalm 136 Covenant Love Hesed

SPEAKER_00 11:29

15.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Awesome. And to continue that theme of uh of a release, of of being set free, you notice uh after every verse begins in Psalm 136, we see the steadfast love of God and it's enduring, it's endurance that lasts forever. And we see the imagery of Israel's release, uh, their freedom that God provided to them as he led them out of uh captivity, out of slavery in Egypt, and onward to the promised land of Caden. And we see the great works as you look through the first half of this song, uh, of the psalm, you see uh the kings that were uh struck down, we see the seas aparte, we see uh God's faithfulness and his his love poured out to his people, and we just see the different moments uh across history that that God has been consistently, faithfully, uh lovingly providing for his people. He never fails to provide for them, uh, delivering them from kings, delivering them from powers, uh, delivering them through nature. He has uh ultimate control over all creation, he has complete dominion, he's able to part the sea, he is able to swallow up uh Pharaoh, Pharaoh, and his hosts in the Red Sea. We see that in verse 15 and uh a heritage that is given this this land, this this uh faith that is given to Israel uh is another example of God's steadfast love and is um and it endures forever. So uh we we look and we reflect on the slavery that we had uh as we were entrapped in our sin, and uh God in our in our state of of slavery and bondage had compassion and remembered his people who would one day be his and he has set them free. Why? It's because his steadfast love endures forever.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Yeah, and certainly that's the repeated refrain, the obvious repeated refrain throughout this whole psalm. The through line is his steadfast love endures forever. Now, the Hebrew word for steadfast love is really one word, it's Hesed, and that word represents God's covenant loyal love. He made a covenant to a people, and he reiterates time and time again that he will never break that covenant. And so this steadfast love connects exactly to that reality. He his covenant love, his loyalty to his promises is something that can be taken to the bank. His steadfast love endures forever. And this psalm, really, psalm 136, is showcasing it's kind of a a tour of the past of how God has demonstrated his loyal covenant faithfulness to his people throughout the ages. And so just great encouragement here from Psalm 136. And we want the students here at Ignite, the South Valley Student Ministry, to be able to say along with us in faith that God's steadfast love endures forever. And we want them to receive the love of God in Christ. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. That's our hope and that's

Prayer Requests And Closing Links

SPEAKER_00 14:47

our prayer. And we hope that you'll pray along with us. And you'll notice, even in this podcast and in the days to come, that this perhaps is gonna be a little bit noisier. Uh so hopefully that doesn't bother you too much with just more background noise. It's a little bit more quiet now. Uh, but there were students in here earlier. Uh, we're we're here, we're in the middle of camp, and uh, so there's gonna be some extra noise, but please uh bear with us and pray with us and uh just ask and plead for the Lord to open blind eyes and to set captives free. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible s v.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.