05/08/2018 DAB Transcript

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22, John 5:24-47, Psalms 106:1-12, Proverbs 14:30-31

Today is the 8th of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today and gather around the global campfire and prepare to take the next step forward on our journey, which will lead us cover to cover through the Bible. And we’re well on our way in this journey. We began a new era in the scriptures as we began the book of 1 Samuel yesterday and we talked about Samuel. And we’re getting to know him in the scriptures. And so we’ll dive back in and pick up where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 22 through the end of chapter 4 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, quite a bit of drama happening in 1 Samuel. The Ark of the Covenant is lost in battle, the high priest Eli dies as well as his sons. Let’s remember we’re still in the time of the judges, so a lot of anarchy. Samuel is growing up to be the last judge and he will definitely shift the culture through his leadership and through his life. I mean, culture doesn’t charge overnight. Like, for example, in our lifetimes, culture has shifted many times because culture is constantly shifting. But this doesn’t happen overnight, right? You have some who are wanting to move progressively into a brave new world and you have others who are wanting to move back to a place of safety that is known. And so, you know, you have people moving in opposite directions and then you have those who are kind of just exploiting the fears in all of it. And culture just moves and shifts like a wave on the sea. And so we’ve been seeing some of those downturns as we’ve moved through the book of Judges over those generations and we’re still in that time. So, we have the high priest Eli and we’ve got his sons who are exploiting the people in a lot of different ways and have no reverence for the fact that they stand in the Lord’s presence representing God to God’s people. But that has not worked out so well for them and now Samuel will rise to prominence as a leader.

When we get to the book of Proverbs today we are left with some things to think about. A heart at peace gives life to the body. So, let’s try to understand what we’re talking about here. What is a heart at peace? This is a heart that is free from disturbance. What we would these days call drama. It’s a heart that has found a place of tranquility. In fact, some translations use that word. A tranquil heart. A heart that is at ease, that is calmed, that is quieted. This, according to the Proverbs, gives life to the body. So, we can stop there. We’re only halfway through this verse but we can stop there and we can ask those questions. Is that true of me? Is my heart at peace? Or am I riddled with anxiety and being pulled in every sort of direction and find myself in drama no matter where I step? Well then that’s not a heart at peace. Which would explain maybe why we’re not…we don’t have a body at peace either. A heart at peace gives life to the body. And then the Proverb goes on because it’s a complete sentence. We’ve only read half the sentence. So, it completes itself, giving us some clues at what disrupts a heart at peace. Envy rots the bones. Now envy is a pretty big and ancient word, being a deadly sin and all, but it’s not a word that we use commonly now. So, exactly what is it that rots our bones? Envy is a feeling of being discontented inside that comes from a longing for something that’s missing that you think or see that someone else has. And so that longing turns into resentment because they have something that you long for and you’re discontented about it. And so it arouses this unease that spawns jealousy and coveting. Which boils down to one way that we as people try to achieve an identity that will never ever work. Comparison. And those of you ladies that were at the More Gathering this year, you know that Jill and the team spoke extensively about this exact thing, comparison. Obviously, I’m not a lady. But as it turns out, this is something very, very common among women. Comparing yourself to other women constantly, wherever you go. Like walking into a room and being able to spot the most beautiful put-together woman and disliking her outright, right off the bat. I mean, it’s not a woman…it’s not a gender thing. I mean, this is throughout humanity. Comparing ourselves to one another. Looking at how much better we’re doing than someone else or how someone is doing so much better than we are and longing for that is envy. It’s a way of trying to achieve an identity that is false from the get go. Your life is not her life. His life is not your life. What they have achieved is not your story, right? So, you can get on social media or whatever and start flipping through the pages and find yourself deep in envy. Because all of those people you used to know twenty years ago or whatever seem to be doing better than you are. But what we’re looking at is the curated life that’s the best version of that person’s life and then we’re envying it. And it’s them on their best day and it’s not even real. And we just see how quickly we can slip into envy. And if we’ll observe ourselves, literally if we’ll step away and try to catch ourselves every time that we move toward envy, we’ll see that we’re doing it more than we think. The problem is, envy leads us into disturbance inside of ourselves, right? It destroys the tranquility and quiet and peace of our own story. So, it doesn’t give life to the body. It actually works against it. It rots the bones. So, if jealousy and comparison are a constant companion in your life, then this is working against you. If those are issues, well then there’s envy and it is rotting you. And this boils down to the fact that you are trying to bolster or get, achieve an identity that is someone else’s. So, you’re saying, my life, this gift, these breaths, this awareness, this consciousness, this me that I’ve been given as a gift from God is not what I want. It’s not enough. I want someone else’s life. And so rather than changing our own lives to aim in a direction that feels more true to who we are, we just sit and take pot shots at people who we think have what we want. There is no life in that. It’s a complete non-starter. It rots the bones. And, so, let’s try to step outside of ourselves and watch ourselves when we move toward envy. Find those places, those triggers that are constantly pulling us into comparison and consider that that is rotting our bones. And may we remember we’re here as a gift for a reason. We have our own story to tell. No one else can tell it. And we’re telling it everyday through our choices, our motives, our heart. And if our heart is full of envy, than we’re not telling the story we wanna be telling. We’re just rotting our bones. But a heart at peace, one that is tranquil, gives life to the body.

Prayer:

So, Holy Spirit, we invite into that. We invite You into things everyday because Your Word brings up things we need to think about and gives us clarity. And there’s significant clarity in this one sentence. A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. And so we ask, Holy Spirit, that You would show us the places that we are rotting away in envy and we reject that. We reject it in the name of Jesus. The only way we will ever have an identity is that it be bestowed upon us by You. And the fact that we are here is proof that You have given us an identity. And so we seek our identity in You and You alone and ask Your Holy Spirit to give us a heart at peace and life to our bodies. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It is certainly where you find out what’s going on in the community, so be sure to check it out.

Pray for people at the prayer wall. Check out the resources that are available.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, that can be done at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership. This is how we continue day by day as a community, so thank you. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. 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. Let’s think about our identity. Let’s think about envy and the rot that it is. And allow the Holy Spirit to move us in a direction that will lead to life. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

This message is for Terry the truck driver. Terry, this is Bob from Michigan and I just want you to know that you don’t have to worry about the assurance of your salvation because if you have given your life to Christ He hasn’t forgotten. You’re in. Terry, you are not a truck driver. You are not an addict. You are a child of God. He loves you. You are made in His image and likeness and He loves you to pieces. We have all fallen short Terry. We’re all, once we’re saved, on that road to sanctification, where we’re desperately trying to be more Christlike every day but we slip, we fall, we fall back. I’m reminded of second Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9. It says, indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. So, Terry, the only way out of this pit is with God’s power. You need to start every day with what I call ‘kill and fill’. Dear God, kill the sinful desires of my flesh and fill me with Your Holy Spirit, with Your healing Holy Spirit. Terry you’ve been trying for 30 years to stop these habits on your own and it hasn’t worked has it? God is the only one that can pull you out of the pit that you’re in and put your feet on a rock. Just read Psalm 40. Put your trust in Him and He will pull you through. You are not riding as a Lone Ranger out there. There are many of us who sin and have fallen back.

My name is Jeanette. I’m from Tulsa Oklahoma and back in March, Deborah in Michigan called in requesting…actually she didn’t request prayer…she wanted to call in and just tell Brian and Jill how grateful she was. And I just wanted to echo that. When I first started listening to the Daily Audio Bible the first year, the end of that first year, it was like somebody stood up on the inside of me. And that second year when I listened, it was like there were bones that now had muscle on them. And there was a year or two ago when Brian, you were going to, you wanted to change the end greeting, what is it, the salutation. And I think everybody called in and said, ‘don’t change it…when you’re saying at the end that you love us and that you’ll be waiting for us here tomorrow’, just, when you hear that, I can’t even explain what that does to someone who is dry and wary. So, I just wanted to thank you Brian and Jill. We just want to speak blessings over your family, peace and prosperity. We just want to honor you for what you’re doing. Honor and glory and power to the one who has brought you to this place, to provide this podcast. Thank you. Thank you so much. God bless you. Bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. I’ve been a listener for about two years now. You can call me Hopeful. And I’m calling because, it’s hard for me to call. I always pray with everyone who calls in. And thank you so much for what you do Brian and all the regulars. It just, it feels like a family. It’s such an amazing experience. I never feel like I should call in because, I know that I’m praying with everyone, I don’t feel like I need to say it, but I’m calling for, I don’t know of his selfish, but it’s for myself and my family, my husband. We just haven’t been able to have children. It’s been a really long hard struggle. I had one miscarriage…and…just…we both want children so bad. And I’ll be 40 this year. So, I still pray and ask the Lord that He would bless us, but I’m just kind of losing hope now. The doctors pretty much have told me it’s almost impossible. So…I just…but I know nothing can stop the will of Christ. And, so, I would love your prayers and just to stay hopeful and I’m not giving up and I know a lot of people have kind of nicely tried to let me know that it’s probably too late but I’m not giving up. And I’m praying for all of you and with you and I just thank you so much for your encouragement, your encouraging words and prayers. Please keep me in your prayers as well. Thank you.

Hi family. My name is Diana. Call me Fearless in Love. Today is May 5th and we heard the story of Ruth and Naomi begin today. I named my daughter Naomi and it means sweet. She is so sweet and kind. And I would like you to pray for her. She’s 4 years old and I want her to grow in love. And that was my mantra. There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out all fear. I had a lot of fear but God helped me get rid of it and make it into love because He is love and I want that for her and all the children. Let’s pray. Dear God, thank You for Your perfect love. Thank You for this story of two women, a mother and a daughter who loved each other even though they weren’t blood. Help us to love like that every day. Amen. Family thank you for all your prayers for me even though I haven’t called before and know that I pray for all of you. I want to pray for Diana D. who I heard previously. Sister, you are in my prayers and I love you. In Jesus name. Amen.