Hosea 6:1-9:17, 3 John 1-14, Psalms 126:1-6, Proverbs 29:12-14
Today is the 7th day of December. I was trying to figure out what month we were in. That was a complete brain freeze. But yes, the month of December, the last month of the year, and we’re seven days into it. So, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible for the 7th of December. I’m Brian and it is great to be here with you around this global campfire that we share every day. And today is going to take us further into the book of Hosea. We’ll finish Hosea up tomorrow. And then, when we get to the New Testament today, we will read, in its entirety, Third John. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Hosea 6:1 through 9:17.
Third John:
Okay. So yesterday we read Second John and in its entirety, which brings us to the third letter of John or Third John, which we will also read in its entirety today. And this was probably written right along with the second letter, shortly thereafter. And it’s a little different than John’s first and second letters, in that, this one is a personal letter and it’s sent to a man named Gaius. So first and second John dealt largely with people who had abandoned their faith and then become enemies of Christ, like completely rejected Jesus, and then tried to remain in fellowship with other people and seduce them away or give them a false teaching to believe in and lead them astray. And John said, basically, he said look, you have to go back to what you were told in the first place. That was the truth and everything has to be surrounded in love. We have to live in love for this to work. In fact, it is our love for one another that makes God’s love manifest or apparent, visible in the world. So, that gave us a glimpse into some of the controversies that were happening around this time. Third John does the same thing. It’s a bit different issue, but it also gives us a glimpse into the conflicts that were happening early on in the faith. So, this letter is written to a man named Gaius. And if John was an Ephesus, which many scholars believe, that this is probably written from there, where John spent the latter years of his life traditionally. And Gaius was a good person an upstanding believer who was a member of one of the nearby churches. And he was passionate about helping those who had been called as missionaries, those who go out and plant churches and share and spread the gospel. He was passionate about helping them in this region and thereby furthering the gospel of Jesus. So, in a fascinating picture of church politics, a man named Diotrephes inserts himself into the equation because he doesn’t like the way Gaius is doing his missionary assistance. And John writes this letter to Gaius to affirm him and what he’s doing and to let him know that he will deal with the issue. Right? So, he’ll deal with Diotrephes. This letter helps us see lines of spiritual authority, also helps us see that some of the issues that we see around us today have been struggles for the church all along. And so, we begin. Third John.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and all of the places that it takes us, all of the things that it churns up inside of us, all of the things that it plants inside of us, all of the harvest and change and goodness that comes from it. And we’re grateful for this Psalm, Psalm 126, and we pray into the that today. When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion we were like those who dream. When You rescued us we were stunned. There was a beat where we thought; did that just happen? And we’ve experienced this in our lives as You’ve rescued us so many times. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy. The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us. We are glad. Restore our fortunes oh Lord, like streams in the desert. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy bringing his harvest with him. This is what You do Father. You restore, You rescue, You write a new ending to our story. And we are stunned by Your goodness and we laugh. We shout with joy and we worship You for Your goodness. And may we reflect that goodness. May we be agents of that goodness in the world. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so, there are several things going on.
The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box is going on. Those are available and full of goodie - some stuff you’ll want to keep for yourself, some stuff that you will want to give away. And you can check all that out it dailyaudiobible.com in the shop, in the Christmas section. And they’re going fast, as they always do. So, check it out while we still have them.
The Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards are also available. I mean, there are Christmas cards in the Christmas Box, but you get the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards individually as well. They come in packs of 20 with the associated envelopes. We make them new every year. And they’re just Christmas cards. So, they’re not like Daily Audio Bible commercials or anything like that. The only thing that says Daily Audio Bible on it is on the back, like where you would find the brand, like Hallmark or whatever. So, you get a beautiful passage from the Gospel of Luke about the coming of Jesus and the rest is blank for you to write to whoever you are writing too. We think this is a great opportunity to invite those that you are closest to, those that you love, to take the journey through the Scriptures in community with you next year. So, we’ve got these. They’re $4.99. So, $5 for 20 cards. You probably can’t beat that. And they’re beautiful. And you can see them in the Daily Audio Bible shop, in the Christmas section as well.
Then, I’ve mentioned, we’re taking the holiday greeting calls now for the annual Daily Audio Bible family charisma’s party. And there’s not a lot of rules about this. You call in your holiday greeting. You just use the prayer line, any of the prayer lines from around the world. The only rule about it is, don’t combine your holiday greeting with a prayer request. Make that separate. So, you can call them and now and we’ll do that for several more days and then we’ll start putting this all together.
The other thing is the More Gathering for women. Early registration has opened for that. It will last until the end of the year. And gives us the chance to out make the conferences economical as possible. And it also happens to make for a very unique gift for your wife, for your sister, for your daughter, for the one that’s in your life that happens to be a woman, because the More Gathering is our annual women’s conference. So, check that out as well. You can find that at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. And all of the details that you would need to know or even want to know are there. And it has never been anything short of a wonderful experience. So, we’re looking forward to that this spring.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link, it’s on the homepage. And I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership here as we approach the end of the year. If you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s 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 everybody. Happy weekend DAB. Brian, I am so blessed by the reading you just did on December 1st. It was so timely with all the things I’ve been praying about and, honestly, it’s been a season of lamentation, but God has just been so present and comforting and He’s blessed me so much about what I’ve been learning about myself, about our place in this world, and just about the tension in waiting for the King to come and knowing that we are part of the Kingdom already. It’s so amazing. But that word that you said afterward about that fear of disappearing has been something that I have been struggling through, processing lately, as a black woman in so many white spaces. Even out here in the mission field, being in the Jordy White ministry, it’s been a really important thing to struggle through as I’m learning about my identity and being pushed more and more to find my identity in Christ and not let all the craziness in the world drive me away from God and all the craziness in the church, honestly, with silence and so many arguments and misunderstandings. It’s really a great battleground for the enemy to try to pull people of God away from the Lord through the difficulty and the challenge of…
Good morning DAB. Happy 2nd day of Advent today. The patient Lord is coming, save us all. And I just thought to call in about an article I looked up in the week. I was writing CVs and I just go the sense I needed to recoup, readjust my perspective, on who God called me to be and who God says I am, rather than what I’m writing in CVs or cover letters to jobs and writing applications for work. I just thought I’d share some with you, those of you who have been discouraged on who they are in Jesus. So, the first one is, I’m a child of God. Second, I’m a branch of the true vine and a conduit of Christ’s life. I’m a friend of Jesus. I’ve been justified and redeemed. My old self was crucified with Christ and I am no longer a slave to sin. I will not be condemned by God. I accept being set free from the law and in death. As a child of God, I’m a fellow heir with Christ. I have been accepted by Christ. I’ve been called to be a saint. In Christ Jesus, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in me. I am joined to the Lord and I am one Spirit with Him. God leads me in triumph, knowledge of Christ. The hardening of my heart has been removed in Christ. I am a new creature in Christ. I have become the righteousness of God in Christ. I have been made one with all who are in Christ Jesus. I am no longer a slave but a child and an heir. I’ve been set free in Christ. I’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place. I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God. I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ. I’ve been preserved…
Good morning DABbers. I’m a burning bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and King. Family, thank you all for your prayers. My mother was in the hospital for two weeks and she couldn’t move her body. She has a lot going on. She’s battling cancer. They thought she had fluid on her brain and she had not moved herself out of her bed for…I’d say…approximately…two to three months. And praise God for answered prayers the week before thanksgiving…I think it was a Thursday night…or Wednesday…Thursday night. She just sat up in the bed, praise God, she sat up in the bed. I went and held her hand and she said, your hands are cold. And She wasn’t speaking prior to that so, praise God for healing. Thank you all for praying for her. Right now she’s in a rehabilitation center. She’s been in there for about a week and she’s getting better each day and I just praise God for a miraculous healing of my 83-year-old mother. There’s nothing impossible for God. He can do all things. He can do it beyond our expectations. I just wanted to give that praise report. I love you guys. Bye.
Hey. Good morning DAB family. To Be a Blessing in Northern California calling. Just wanted to ask for your prayers for a friend of mine. She was coming from a family party on Saturday, December 2nd, with her mother, her elderly mother. And her mother had some ___. She was experiencing some dementia. Typically, they hold hands when they are walking together outside and somehow, my friend got distracted, she wasn’t holding her mother’s hand, and someone came speeding along, hit her, and killed her. So, please keep my friend in prayer. Her name is Alley. It was a hit and run. So, we need to find this person who did this horrific crime. So, please pray for justice as well. I know that God draws near to the broken hearted. His promises are sure. But the pain that I am feeling for her is just so deep. And I know that the pain that she is experiencing has no name. Thank you for your prayerful support. God bless you today. Bye-bye.