Jeremiah 42:1-44:23; 2 Timothy 2:1-26; Psalms 92:1-93:5; Proverbs 26:3-5
Today is the 23rd day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you. Back in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Little tired from travel, but we had a great time in Utah yesterday, a great time in Sandy with our new friends at the Fellowship church. So, thanks for having us out and thanks for all of you came in. And was good to be with you. And it’s good to be with you all today as we take the next step forward through the adventure that were on together, through the Bible. So, we’re reading from the names of God Bible this week and by the time we reach the end of this week we will have completed the book of Jeremiah and moved forward and we will also have completed the letter, Paul’s second letter to Timothy, that were reading and moved forward into the letter to Titus. So, that’s kind of the lay of the land for the week. But let’s dive in. Jeremiah chapter 42 verse 1 through 44 verse 23 today.
Commentary:
Okay, so let’s look at some context today, mostly in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. But a brief little bit in Jeremiah. And what I’m going to say about Jeremiah has less to do with context and more to do with words. So, we’re reading from the Names of God Bible this week, which retains the original language reference when God is spoken of. So, a number of times today we read Yahweh, Tsebaoth, Elohim of Israel and we kind of piece it together enough to follow along with the story. But what are these words? So, Yahweh is a name of God. Like, if I were to say, I am Brian, well, we read in the Bible, I am Yahweh. So, in other words, God is referring to himself as God but Yahweh is the name being used, as in like a personal name. Tsebaoth is a word that refers to, like, a military commander. And Elohim, that refers to the Divine, that refers to God as the All-Powerful, as we would understand God to be. So, Yahweh, Tsebaoth, Elohim of Israel is usually translated something like, the Lord of Heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, or when the personal reference, Yahweh, is preserved, I am Yahweh, the Commander of Heavenly Forces, your God, the God of Israel. And, of course, in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as Yeshua, which is how his name would’ve been pronounced by his mother and his family and everyone who knew him when he was walking upon the earth.
And, so, now that were in the New Testament let’s talk about second Timothy for second because we see something really fascinating in today’s reading that’s kind of mind blowing because we never think about it. So, this New Testament, that begins with the gospel of Matthew and ends with the book of Revelation, these writings weren’t just dropped out of the sky in a bound, gilded book that said New Testament on the front of it. And, you know, the apostles didn’t just find this left in the upper room in a corner somewhere and realize…oh…well…here’s what we need to believe and here’s what we need to do. Right? So, Timothy, for example, he couldn’t have gotten the first letter that Paul sent him, known as first Timothy, and read and thought, you know I need to cross reference that with second Timothy to see if it corresponds because he hadn’t gotten the second letter from Paul yet, the one that were reading now. So, he didn’t have it to base any doctrine or have any encouragement or any reminders of things that he needed to pay attention. Right? Paul didn’t sit down and write all of his letters, all at one time, all from one place and then distribute them around so that they all landed at the same time. And even if he had done that, you know, like, if he wrote a letter at the same time to the Galatians as he did to the Ephesians and he sent them out, well the church at Galatia doesn’t know what the letter to the Ephesians says, and vice a versa. So, it’s not all part of the New Testament at this point. In the 27 books of the New Testament that we have, as the New Testament, although that had kind of been settled and these were the books that had been used, this wasn’t, like, affirmed by the church at large until like the late fourth century. And there were other things being written and other things being said along the way. And, you know, that’s where this term Gnosticism comes in but not everything was Gnostic. Some things were just newer. Some things just had in incongruences. And that most scholars would agree. In, like, the books and letters that we have in the New Testament these are the oldest writings. So, there’s this period that is centuries. So, like, if Jesus died in the 30s - and I don’t mean like the 1830s or 1730s, I mean, like the 0030…like the 30s - then there is this period of development where God begins to reveal the New Testament through his people. And like in the case of Paul’s letters they are written one at a time to different people in different places for different reasons but even Paul suggests, you know, to share these things, pass them around. And, so, that’s what began to happen, the letters began to be copied and passed around. So, if you are in Ephesus and you have letters from Paul that were written to the Ephesians to the church at Ephesus, well, then you may eventually get a copy of letters written to the Galatians and you may share copies. And then copies of letters from Philippi come in. And these letters begin to be shared around and they begin to be read in the churches and be used for instruction and doctrine in the churches and they become very, very valuable, irreplaceable, to the common life of faith that these churches share. But there was a point in this story were nothing was written yet. So, if we were to consider the book of Acts, which was penned by Luke, by the author of the Gospel of Luke. So, Luke and Acts are this two-volume set. And Acts begins to show us all of the things that happened in the development of the church. And these things all had to happen before they could be written down, before an accounting of those happenings could be written down. So, there is a period where a lot of stuff is going on and theology and understanding and doctrine is being formed and then becoming commonly understood and accepted before it can ever be written down. So, we see that through the power of the Holy Spirit, first, the message, the good news, the gospel of Jesus, was spoken aloud and over time doctrinal statements or creeds were formed - things that people would recite and memorize and say together as a statement of faith as an agreed-upon thing, like, this is what we believe. And sometimes these things would be sung with a melody, sung together. Kind of like how we have songs that we sing in church and we sing them but they are making statements about what we believe, even as we give our hearts in worship. They are also making statements about what we believe to be true or they could just be statements that were spoken, recited together, like ancient liturgy. And, so, people would say certain confessions of faith and declarations before they were baptized, knowing that their declaration, along with their immersion in water, could be a death sentence for them. And, so, these statements were important and weighty and valued. And they weren’t just for baptism, they were for common life. They were statements that held people together in common that they would memorize and recite and understand and ponder the mystery. And we encounter these at different points in the New Testament. And their older than the letter or whatever is being written. The statements embedded or the creeds that are preserved, they are older than the writing. So, they give us a glimpse back into that formation period.
Okay, are you with me? Because it can be tedious. So, the apostle Paul doesn’t have the writings of the apostle Paul as he’s planting these churches. He writes the letters later to the churches to remind them of the statements, right, the creeds and stuff that he has taught them that the things that they can have tangible and hold in common and recite together when they come together for worship, so that they can retell the story of what they believe. And these are earlier things than these letters. So, why am I telling you all this? Because we encounter such statements in Paul’s letter to Timothy, to second Timothy that were going through today. And we remember that this is a personal letter, a personal letter from Paul to Timothy, who is a son in the faith and is also the pastor at Ephesus. And, essentially, Paul is encouraging Timothy to be strong, be true, be faithful, be loyal, and to not get distracted by you every nuanced argument out there. So, he’s referring to the fact that people are saying different things, maybe even writing down different things, and that it’s not a good use of his time to try to argue out every new thought. And in addressing that, he’s like, this is a statement that can be trusted. Right? So, this this is one of these early statements that people have the memorizing and reciting - if we have died with Him we will live with Him, if we endure we will rule with Him, if we disown Him He will disown us, if we are unfaithful He remains faithful because he cannot be untrue to Himself. Right? So, Paul is reminding Timothy of this declaration. And he’s also reminding Timothy to remind others to continue to teach this forward. And, so, Paul is saying, remember these things that you were taught. Remember these things that you have memorized. Don’t let anyone else in the church forget these are the core essentials, these declarations, this is essential. And he’s saying and reminding Timothy to do that because of all this other thought swirling around. Because Paul’s discussion here with Timothy is to not get distracted in every kind of argument that can be thought up. I mean, Paul even names, Hymenaeus and Philetus, like people who are doing this. So, like people who are in and around the church who are, you know, having these esoteric conversations because they heard somebody who heard somebody say something who heard somebody say something. And it’s a distraction, Paul’s saying. And he’s going back and saying, you have these core statements, right, because Timothy couldn’t get up and say, let’s turn to the book of first Timothy. He could certainly say, I got a letter from our father in the faith, Paul who’s in prison and this is what he has to say, this is kind what he told me. But the framework of the way that we interact with the New Testament, they didn’t have that framework. So, these statements we find in Paul’s letters or letters from other apostles or from gospel writers, things that kind of look like poems in the middle of a story, which is kind of how the statement that were talking about today is second Timothy looks, this is where we get clues to what was going on in the formation of the church before there was a New Testament that sought to solidify the theological understanding of the good news. These statements are some of the earliest statements, earliest understandings of what God was doing in the world that we have. And we should recognize and treasure them because they are probably some of the oldest statements of faith in Jesus that we have. And, so there’s a couple more statements like this in today’s reading that we have. So, Paul names Hymenaeus and Philetus as people that are kind of stirring up all this weird stuff, these useless arguments and misleading debates. And, so, he calls them out and he says they’ve abandoned the truth and then he explains what they’re doing - their destroying the faith of others by saying that people who have died have already come back to life. So, they either reason this out themselves or they heard this somewhere and Paul’s saying that’s the kind of stuff were avoiding. So, Paul says, like, in spite of what they’re doing, in spite of all that, God’s people have a solid foundation. These words are engraved on it. And then we have a couple of these statements - the Lord knows those who belong to him, and, whoever worships the Lord must give up doing wrong. So, although we can find these themes in lots of places in the Scriptures, we get a little glimpse at how these things came to be. And when we begin, over time, to understand the context of things the Bible really, really opens up to us.
Prayer:
Father, once again, we thank You for Your word and the treasure that it is and our ability to dive deep and swim and drink deeply and understand what a treasure hunt this is, to engage with Your word, and invite Your Holy Spirit to speak through it. What a guide it is. What an adventure it is. And we thank You for that. And, so, with Saints of old, we say what has been said for so long - if we have died with You we will live with You, if we endure we will rule with You, if we disown You if we walk away You let us You will disown us, if we are unfaithful You are faithful because You can’t be unfaithful to yourself. And we invite Your Holy Spirit to plant this ancient declaration deep in our hearts. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Community Prayers and Praise Reports:
God bless you Daily Audio Bible. Hey this is Scott calling from Houston and I wanted to call in and offer some encouragement to Darrell from___. Darrell, I heard your call about the prayer for your business so that you can pay your employees. I want you to know that I’ve heard you many times Darrell and I’ve appreciated your encouragement. So, Lord, I pray for Darrel right now, that You will help things to come together for him. Please break down strongholds that would prevent him from being able to move forward for his business. I pray for you Darrell and I’ll keep praying for you. And Jay from New Jersey, I wanted to call and tell you that I’ve really appreciated your calls over the years and don’t let the enemy accuse you of being false because we all feel that time to time. And the best thing you can do is to offer your sincerity back to the Lord Jesus that He will…He will defend your heart for you. And also I wanted to remind you that sometimes when we fall and we give in to temptations and addictions. We have to realize that the enemy is not just trying to annoy us and make our life difficult and a struggle, although he wants to do that. He wants to ultimately just take our faith and completely destroy it. So, he doesn’t care what he has to do. If he can get us to doubt our connection to the Holy Spirit he’ll will do whatever he’s got to do. He’s just using us. But God’s grace will never fail you. He is always there. Within our own doubt He is stronger than the evil one, who is just trying to destroy us and he’s getting…he’s trying to get us to destroy ourselves. So, God bless you my friend. I will keep praying for you. Love you all. Bye now.
Hey guys. This is Sharron calling. I’ve called in a couple of times before and I just wanted to reach out to everyone who’s kind of having a lot of trouble with depression and mood and anxiety and such. Mostly, specifically to Sharron in California. I just want to say that I know exactly what is going on. I was there just only a few months ago and the only two words that ever came were I can’t. I just felt heavy. I felt alone. I was constantly crying out, why God, why? But then I got a verse. And I don’t know if this will help you. It really helped me. It’s Song of Solomon, Chapter 2 verse 6. And it simply states that, His left hand cradles my head and His right arm encircles my waste. And I know that we all feel very alone at times but also know that He is right there. He is holding us. And it took me so long to get help. And I just hope that you can take a step out and ask for that helper. Find someone that can help you get that help, whether it be a doctor or a counselor or what have you. But please, reach out just a little bit further than asking for prayer because it just might be that God’s answering your prayer by putting someone in front of you. So, I just hope that that will help. And I would…
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Ron from upstate New York. I’m calling with a prayer request for my granddaughter Shay. She’s going through some depression and anxieties and stuff like that. And she’s also searching for God. And if you would pray for her to find God, I believe once she does that much of her anxieties will subside. Love you family. Amen.
Wow. What a DAB day. It’s Thursday, October 19th and this is Blessed Beyond Measure from New Jersey. Now. Could all of these spirit led moments be captured in a single podcast? Well, the answer is yes when we will let God be in control. Today’s highlight started with our reading of Jeremiah 33 and then Brian’s reiteration of the Lord’s redemption plan, then and today. Next, Blind Tony, one of everyone’s favorite DAB family members, speaks words of truth that makes you want to will love the Lord more and more. Then we move to precious Gigi, who reminds us how we are going to be endure our days on earth as believers in Christ as we are waiting to enter God’s perfect place for us. She, in my opinion, is living Luke 18:17 – I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it. In conclusion, Asia from Munich rings it on home by thanking others in our family for their courage to publicly confess their sins and being open to receive love and prayers that will follow. Also, we spoke about those who have lost all hope and are met by those who are prayer warriors, picking up the burden and calling on our heavenly Father to fill those calls with a hope only He can give. Brian and DAB staff, you’ve totally yielded to the Holy Spirit, to weave to today’s readings and calls into a single message for our Lord and Savior. I’m Blessed Beyond Measure from New Jersey.