Ezekiel 33:1-34:31, Hebrews 13:1-25, Psalm 115:1-18, Proverbs 27:21-22
Today is the 16th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is great to be here with you. And here we are, pretty much smack in the middle of the 11th month, which only leaves us a month and half left in the year 2017, if you can believe it. And we’re going to cover a lot of ground in that six weeks. When we get to the New Testament reading today we will conclude the book of Hebrews. But first, Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 1 through 34 verse 31. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week.
Commentary:
Alight. So, we concluded the book of Hebrews today. And it’s conclusion, we had begun yesterday, with kind of postures up for our lives that continued today like: keep loving each other like family, don’t neglect to open your homes to guests, you don’t know who is coming in, you might even be entertaining an angel, remember those who have been imprisoned, remember them like you were in prison with them, and look at those who are being mistreated as if you were in their place, honor your marriage, adultery is going to take you nowhere, and you should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. And then Hebrews tells us what we have, the promise - I will never leave you or abandon you, which is far more valuable than currency. And then we’re told to remember though those who brought the good news to us in the first place and imitate their faith. And all of these things still apply to us today. And then finally we’re told not to be misled by the many strange teachings out there. And this is interesting because if we just look at our lives in the world today, we can say, yea, there’s all sorts of people saying all kinds of things out there. But where the writer of Hebrews goes is completely Hebrew. The writer of Hebrews is saying, don’t be misled by many strange teachings out there and then moves back toward the Jewish traditions, essentially saying that Jesus is the next step in the same story. And they do this by talking about an altar, and how, when a sacrifice is given, the high priest will take the blood in as an atonement for sin but the body of the animal be taken outside the camp and burned. And then showing how Jesus was taken outside the city walls and crucified. And then tells us, so, let’s go to him, outside the camp, bearing his shame. And we should remember this because all of the noise of all of our religious practices and rituals aren’t actually the things that get us anywhere. And sometimes we remember, we have to go outside the camp, bearing his shame in getting back to the core essentials of our relationship with Christ. And the writer of Hebrews counsel in this is, that we go outside the camp and continue to bear His shame and continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through Him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess His name. And may we remember this as we conclude our reading from the book of Hebrews this year. God has done a new thing through Jesus. A new covenant has been instituted, one that allows us to personally go into the holy of holies, to personally collaborate and have a relationship with God in our lives, a relationship that is built upon faith and hope in what we can’t see what we know is there. And may we hold on to the final words in the book of Hebrews, ‘may Grace be with all of you’. And may we not only read it as the conclusion of a letter but may we understand what’s being said, ‘may grace be with all of you’.
Prayer:
Father, we confess that without Your mercy and grace in our lives there is literally no telling where we would be. Were it not for Your kindness and Your sacrifice and a new covenant, we could never come into Your presence righteous and holy. And now there is no where we can flee from Your presence, nor would we want to. Come Holy Spirit, indwell us, fill us, guide us, lead us into all truth, rebuke, and correct us, and lead us on the narrow path that leads to life. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Looking at the calendar, I’ve been saying this for a few days, a couple days from now, on the 19th, this Sunday we will be out on the road sharing the Sneezing Jesus message one final time this year and that will be in the Shreveport Louisiana area, Bossier City at River Valley church. So, if you are in the deep South, we would love to see you. Come say hello. You can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the events section. And we’ll look forward to that.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayers and Praise Reports
Hi guys. It’s June at Perseverance in Indonesia. I wanted to first say thank you to Shannon and Mellissa, I think, that I just heard on the November 11th call. Thank you for praying for teachers as well as be a reminder to go into the workplace ready for spiritual warfare and ready to conquer. So, that’s what I am going to pray for today. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for the opportunity to work and to go out on the mission field to glorify You, not in our own strength but by being the witnesses who can say, that’s a amazing and that’s because of God or this is a miracle and it’s only through God that it happened. Please help us to keep our eyes on that and to take them off of ourselves and the pain or the challenge that comes with being in spiritual warfare and help us to see it, to recognize it for what it is, and to turn to You and say, this is Yours, be glorified through it, and I know you will deliver me in it. In the name of Jesus, I pray for continued strength from You as each teacher who is a believer in You goes into the classroom. I ask that you will fully equip us, that we will fully surrender to You so that You can grow Your fruit of the Spirit in us and we can be empowered in those places that are broken and that are at a loss and all of the toxic and negative aspects of these…
Hi. This is Mermaid Girl South Carolina. I’m a long time listener but first time caller. Lately I have, for many and various reasons, kind of lost my joy. I’ve been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, which has caused me to gain weight and be depressed. I really am coveting your prayers that I will back the Lord, find His joy, find His and happiness, and handle all of my illnesses. I listen to you all pray for you all and I thank you very much. Love you. Bye-bye.
Hi. This is Lisa from Southern California. I’m new to the Daily Audio Bible but I want to say hello to all of the Daily Audio Bible family. I just want to say that you guys have encouraged me. I’ve been listening ever since the end of August and I’ve been encouraged by the Bible reading and the commentary, the prayers, and I want to thank the lady who called on November the 12th and was talking about our jobs and how we’re on assignment on our jobs. And it’s been pretty rough for me at my job and I was, you know, just really seeking the Lord on what I should do. It was a very hostile environment, but I began, one of the Daily Audio Bible programs told me to pray for my management and pray for my supervisor. And I began to do that and I’m seeing right now, the hand of God move at my job. So, I just want to say thank you all. I will continue to pray for all of you. I listen to you in the morning before I go to work and even when I’m on my off days. You guys are so much of an encouragement to me. Again, this is Lisa from Southern California. God bless you all. God bless you Brian. Have a wonderful day.
Hi beautiful family. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. I would like us to lift in prayer, Pastor P., his wife, and that family. This is the pastoral family that suffered the attacks a few weeks ago, or maybe a couple of weeks ago, or last week, I don’t know where my mind is, the church in Texas, this happened while he was preaching. And, so, let’s just pray. Father, we just thank You for we are members of the same body and when one member is hurting all of us hurt. And Father I just want to lift up Pastor Paul P., his wife, his family. They lost, not only members of the congregation, but they lost their own 14-year-old daughter to that madman and I pray Father that Your comfort, Your peace, Your strength, Your courage will be with him and will be with every member of that congregation and every person that lost someone in that congregation. Like to quiet the voice of the enemy that is telling them that it is not worth it to follow God, that it’s not worth it to remain faithful because of what happened. I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. I thank You for the strength that You are giving Pastor P. to give glory to God, to point people God in the midst of this tragedy. And I pray that You will continue to use him and other voices that will come out of that tragedy and would testify of Your goodness and Your kindness. In the midst of the unthinkable tragedy, may what has happened, somehow, turn around and bring glory to Your name as You have promised and work for the good of those who love You as You have promised, Lord. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. I love you family. Pastor gene from Bradenton Florida. Bye.