Daniel 7:1-28 ~ 1 John 1:1-10 ~ Psalm 119:153-176 ~ Proverbs 28:23-24
Today is the 30th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and greetings from the holy city of Jerusalem. We haven’t gotten to really explore anything yet. We got in after dark after a nice long day that had some traveling miles involved to get us here, which we’ll talk about in a little bit. We have arrived in Jerusalem and we’ll be exploring the center part of this land for the remainder of the time that we are here in the land of the Bible. Like I said, we’ll talk about that in a little bit. Let us do what we’ve come to do and center ourselves in God’s word and orient ourselves to him and allow him to speak to us through his word.
On this last day of the month of November, gasp! Can you believe that? We are continuing our journey through the scriptures and we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. We will continue forward with our journey through the book of Daniel and then when we get to the New Testament we’ll begin a new letter. We’ll talk about that when we get there. Daniel chapter 7 verses 1-28.
Introduction of a New Book (New Testament)
We have arrived at the first letter of John the Evangelist, the Beloved Disciple. As church tradition holds, he is the author of this letter. Although John does not specifically claim authorship, copies of this letter were all over the early church and it was quoted and referred to in the early church writings. When the canon of the New Testament was being ratified, 1 John had no problem being authenticated as a true writing of John and true scripture.
John is writing this letter probably as a rotating or circular letter, giving us clues to how the New Testament church worked early on. It is probably written to the same people that Peter wrote his two letters to later in his life and that Paul wrote letters to. These letters were meant to be circulated throughout the churches so that they had many apostolic voices pouring the truth of the gospel into the church.
John probably was writing this letter from Ephesus very late in his life, somewhere around AD 92 to AD 100, maybe as late as 110. He is writing specifically to combat false teachings and heresies that have sprouted up in the early church. These are the earliest forms of Gnosticism and John has a unique perspective because he was actually there. When an early gnostic teacher like Cerinthus began teaching that the Spirit of Christ came into Jesus’ body at baptism but before that he was just a normal man and then the Spirit departed from him just prior to crucifixion, John as an authority can refute it. This is very helpful for us today because there has been plenty of false teaching over the last couple of thousand years and there is no shortage of it now and we are very fortunate to have an eyewitness disciple who walked with Jesus to speak clearly of how things were and how things are.
So we begin 1 John chapter 1.
Prayer
Father, once again we thank you for your word and as we continue to make the journey through your word, well, the end is within sight as we begin to prepare our hearts tomorrow to turn the corner into the last month. So we have had enough time to easily look back and see the difference the rhythm of life centered around your word makes and we thank you. But we also look forward with great anticipation to what comes next and so we center ourselves where we are right now and ask you to plant this into our hearts, into our lives, and may it yield a bountiful, abundant crop of the fruit of the Spirit within us that we might actually be your hands and feet in this world, very aware and focused by your leading. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements
Okay, so yesterday we left Galilee which feels like several days ago, but we left the Sea of Galilee behind us which is always…I mean, it’s exciting to move forward in the pilgrimage knowing that there is much left to see and do and contemplate and till into the soil of our lives or sow into the fabric of our hearts or whatever other metaphors we might use, but it is always a little bit of a, you know, goodbye to an old friend, the Sea of Galilee, and just knowing that we’re not leaving Jesus’ story, but we’re definitely leaving behind the place he spent most of his time in ministry.
So, yeah, we did that and made our way over to Acre which is right on the coast near the city of Haifa. It is an old crusader…well, the ruins there are probably the best preserved of the crusader era here. We didn’t really go there to do a bunch of biblical things. It is just as we’re passing on our way we stopped in to see some of that and spent just a little time in the markets and enjoyed that part of the country before moving up Mount Carmel.
Mount Carmel is where, of course, a great showdown between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal took place. God demonstrated his power by raining down fire on the sacrifice which in the end didn’t turn out so well for the prophets of Baal and they met their end fairly swiftly after that. So we opened the scriptures, moved into that story, considered the implications in our own lives. From Mount Carmel we could look down into the Valley of Megiddo also known as the Valley of Armageddon which definitely leaves some things to contemplate as well. So we spent some time there and then moved back to the coast, moving our way southward to Caesarea Maritima.
Caesarea Maritima is epic in terms of its preservation of the Roman Era, the Herodian Roman Era. The city was built to be a jewel, a port city second to none, one that would put the Roman province of Syria on the map as a destination place. It did do that. But there is definitely biblical history there. This is where the apostle Paul was taken after having been arrested in Jerusalem and he spent a couple of years imprisoned in Caesarea Maritima and he was able to share the gospel with dignitaries, kings, governors, people he would have never gotten an audience with any other way. He was able to share the gospel, but it was from here that he appealed to Caesar his case and it was from Caesarea Maritima that he sailed for Rome where he would eventually lose his life as a martyr. So we certainly, of course, moved into that story before departing for the journey up to Jerusalem.
Caesarea Maritima is right on the coast, the Mediterranean Coast so it is at sea level. From any point in Israel you can only go up to Jerusalem, so that is what we did. We climbed up to Jerusalem where we landed for the night and just kind of unpacked. Now our hearts are ready. Even though our bodies may be a bit fatigued, our hearts are ready to enter into this part of the journey, this part of the story and we covet your prayers. We do. We covet your prayers because our prayers are that we till all of this into the soil of our lives and take it back because it has changed us so profoundly, that it is more than just the story of that one time that we went to Israel and saw all those things but that it impacted us in a way that right now we can’t articulate. There is just too much, but we can feel things have shifted and continue to shift. We want that to stick so that it influences our spheres of influence in profound and unexpected and delightful ways as we are changed by it. So we certainly thank you for your prayers over travel, over stamina, over health, over technology, over all of it and we feel your prayers. Thank you profoundly for that.
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. That is home base. It is where you find out what is going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box is high on the list right now. We’ve packed it full of resources that have been created for our community here and there is stuff in there you’re going to probably want to give away for Christmas and there is stuff in there you’re going to want to keep.
The Promised Land Films, the double DVD set containing four hours of content, including every place that we’re talking about here on the Daily Audio Bible, every place that we’re visiting now has been filmed meticulously and unpacked scripturally so that you can kind of see it, it is in there.
Let’s see, Bible Stories About Jesus is in there, the double CD project that we made for children using age-appropriate translations. That is in there.
The Family Christmas Album is in there. Jill’s album that was released a little earlier in the year is in there and that is fantastic. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s fantastic.
My latest book Reframe is in there and the films that go along with the book, Reframe – From the God We’ve Made to God With Us – they are in there in DVD form. This is the last time those will be available so if you haven’t had a chance to see those yet, they’re impactful and they’re challenging and they’re helpful. So that is in there.
Your choice of either the Windfarm house blend of coffee or our Windfarm English Breakfast Tea, one of those, your choice is included as well as a pack of 20 of our 2016 Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards and the annual Daily Audio Bible Christmas Bulb that we’ve done for several years now. I’ve got one for each year that we’ve done this on my tree at home. I love that because not only does it remind me of the many different revolutions through the scriptures that we’ve taken together, but it reminds me of you and I love having that on my Christmas tree. All of the years of God’s faithfulness and all of the scripture, all of the journeys we’ve taken through the scripture together. So the annual Christmas Bulb is in there and it has our word for the year – healthy – imprinted on it as well. So that is in the Christmas Box.
Some things that you’ll want to keep, some things that you may want to give away. Check it out at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Shop. We always sell out of them, so grab it sooner than later so that it gets to you on time. Those of you who are international and want the Christmas Box in time for Christmas definitely need to jump onboard there. To get it to you we need to allot ourselves three weeks from an international perspective because of some arrangements we have for shipping. We can ship at a very economical rate, but it just takes longer. So definitely, if you’re international, but, like I said, we sell out of them, so no matter where you are, jump onboard. Check it out at www.DailyAudioBible.com.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. There is a link. It is on the home page and it lives there. Thank you for everyone who has clicked that link, especially here at the end of the year. Your partnership is what is making it possible for the Daily Audio Bible to show up every day. So thank you for your partnership. If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner and, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And, of course, we are a community and a part of being a community is that we shoulder burdens together. We pray for each other and we’ve done that well. We do that well. If you’re carrying a burden, especially moving into the holiday season, a burden of the blues or depression or loss or any other kind of challenge, we pray for each other. We love each other. It is one of the ways we realize we’re not alone. So if have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that is it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Quinette from Southern California. I’ve been listening for four years. This is my first time calling in. I love Daily Audio Bible and I am encouraged by the prayers and testimonies of people who call in. I’m asking for prayer support as God is transforming my character and giving me a desire to do and stay in his will and also pray and love the people he has put into my life. I’m a radiation therapist and I live and work in Temecula, CA. Please pray for the doctors and staff as we work together as a team to help people with cancer. Many here do not know the Lord. There have been struggles here and I have been tempted to give up, but I feel that the Lord is telling me to stay and pray, to slow down, to be quiet and listen, and that hope is a choice. Please support me in prayer as God works this place into my heart, that I will not shrink back from the battle. I’m trusting and hopeful that God is doing a good work here. Please pray also for my husband and son, that God will provide work close to home. I would like to leave you with two quotes from a popular Bible teacher that have helped me. When you’re tempted to give up, your breakthrough is probably just around the corner and courage is fear that has said its prayers and decided to go forward. Thank you Daily Audio Bible. I love you and I look forward to calling in again with praise reports. Thank you and have a blessed holiday season.
Hello family. This is Candace from Oregon. Let’s pray. Lord, we lift before you Krista from Saskatchewan and thank you that she has reached out to all of us who lift her in prayer as she is in a terrible struggle with depression. Lord, tell her the secrets and her doctor, but tell her the secrets of how to dig out from this, how to come to full health. And we just rebuke, we rebuke any and all thoughts that come against the love of Jesus Christ and the grace that belongs to Krista. And we claim this full healing in Jesus for her. Lord, we pray for our sister, the burning bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and King. Thank you for the testimony of her brother, his healing from I think it was bone cancer, a miraculous healing, Lord, and this is so glorious and beautiful and true to who you are. You can do anything and we claim that same healing power over her mother who has been diagnosed with colon cancer. O Lord, come now. Come now by your Spirit, touch her mother and bring her back to full health and healing, in Jesus’ name. Lord, thank you for Blind Tony and his testimony to all of us, that even if you slay me, yet will I believe, yet will I trust in you, Lord. Thank you for that testimony. Please bless Tony today, in Jesus’ name.
Hi, it’s Candy from Northern California. Haven’t called in a while but I want to just reach out to a few people. Tony, Blind Tony, we’re praying for your physical problems and so uplifted by your testimony that though he will slay me, yet he is my God. Yes, as we say yes and pray for your healing. Carol from the UK with kids and grandkids who have drifted away from the faith, welcome to the clan of those of us who are lifting up our children and grandchildren. We’ll put you on the list and pray for yours too. Marian in Illinois, your dad has a feeding tube. As a health professional for many, many years, I can ask you at the age of 85 is this really something he wants to continue or do you? These are really important questions. You need to have that conversation with him. And Krista from Saskatchewan, depressed. You know, the best weapon we have when we are depressed or anytime that we feel we’re attacked by Satan is to praise God. That is what the psalmist called the sacrifice of praise. You don’t have to do it alone. Put on the praise music and start singing with it and you just battle the depression with the promises of God. Praise him, praise him, praise him and Satan will flee. He can’t stand it. And thank you, Brian, for your updates on the trip. We wish you travel mercies and God’s speed, bring you home safe. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Hi, my name is Lynn and I desperately need prayer. I lost my mother about eight weeks ago and I’m so sad and I’m just so very, very broken. I lived with her for 17 years and I miss her so much and it’s just so very, very lonely for me now when I come home without her being there. I would ask you to pray for peace and for comfort. Even though I do have Christian friends, they are all married and they are all into their own thing which is certainly understandable. I pray that a friend, a good Christian friend would come into my life, someone to share with. Thank you all so much. Love your podcast. Bye.
Let’s pray family against addiction. Father, we come to you, Lord. We submit ourselves fully to you. We ask, Father, that, Lord, as a family, Lord, that this prayer would honor you, Father. I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would invade our space right now, our mind, our body, our soul, our spirit, Father God. That we will pray in spirit and in truth, Father God. I ask, Lord, that you would just unleash love, Father, and by love alone, Lord, shall we break addiction, Lord. It is that love that will unleash its power against selfishness and against the ills, Lord, that are at the heart of addiction, Father God. Come Lord Jesus. Bring the healing, Lord. Bring the healing in your name, Jesus, we ask, Father. I pray forgiveness in all areas, that nothing would hinder your work, Father, and I place your whole armor upon this family, Lord, as we pray in the Spirit, Father, against the spiritual principalities, Lord, that are at play here, Father. We ask, Lord, be our Savior, Father. We love you, Father. We honor you. In Jesus’ name. Thank you everyone. This is Delta Alpha Foxtrot calling from the Southern Texas Front.
Hi, this is Victorious Soldier. Just calling tonight for prayer. I want to pray for Arjen. I want to pray for Jordan from Michigan. I want to pray for Blind Tony. I definitely want to pray for you, Blind Tony. I pray on that back surgery, what would God have you to do. Whether God wants to heal you or whether he wants you to have the surgery, we’re going to believe God for healing. Thank you to the Burning Bush. I’m thankful to hear from you Burning Bush and definitely praying with you. Sorry to hear about the colon cancer with your mom and everything you’re going through. Definitely praying with you and I’ll continue to pray with you, my sister. Carol from the UK, I want to pray for you, you and your family. We definitely want to believe him for the victory in Jesus Christ. I’m praying for Marian from Illinois and I’m going to pray for Krista, my sister who is going through depression and anxiety. O God, in the name of Jesus, I just ask you to touch Krista today, Lord. O Lord, you touch Krista, Lord, and let her know that you are with her, Lord. Touch her. Let her see you and know of your presence, Lord. O Lord, encourage her heart, Lord, and let her know to hold on, that victory is near. My sister, hold on. O Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, you touch Blind Tony and you touch his back, Lord. You touch the challenges he’s going through, Lord. Let him know that the Lord is with him, that God has something great for him. O Lord, you touch our other sisters and brothers, the ones with cancer and the one with colon cancer, Lord. We know that you are a doctor that never lost a case, Lord. We just ask you to stretch out your hands and touch their bodies and heal them, Lord. In the name of Jesus, encourage them, Lord. Encourage them on every hand and let them know that you love them and that you’re with them.