2 Samuel 22:21-23:23, Acts 2:1-47, Psalms 122:1-9, Proverbs 16:19-20
Today is the 4th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you from the rolling hills of Tennessee. And I’m excited to take this journey through this week and this portion of the Scriptures with you. We began the book of Acts yesterday so we’re just getting going there. But before we even get to that, we need to dive back into David’s story in 2 Samuel. We’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week end. Not weekend. Week. And. First, we’ll read from 2 Samuel 22:21-23:23.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the book of Acts, we read the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the descending of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost. And if there is a flashpoint, if there is an identifiable moment that we can say that the church began, this would be it. And we see several things. We see Peter truly step into a new era in his own life. We see change in him as we witness the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. We also read that those in the upper room who were speaking in these languages, in these tongues, they were speaking foreign languages from all the people who had pilgrimaged to Jerusalem. A clear call from the spirit of God summoning every tribe and tongue and nation into this new thing that God was doing in the world. And it’s a beautiful moment to witness this. The church, later, and we’ll get to all this in the writings of Paul, especially in the book of Romans and forward, that the church had to figure out what this was gonna practically mean because Jews and Gentiles, they didn’t mix. So, this beautiful thing that we’re witnessing at Pentecost is gonna become an issue that has to be grappled with. But on that day, that flashpoint day, Pentecost, three thousand people began to follow Jesus and were baptized. And that baptism part, that’s also an issue of speculation because, you know, three thousand people. That’s a lot of people to baptize. And so where could they do something like this? And so, there’s been plenty of ideas put forward. And one of those ideas that actually could have handled that capacity would have been the ritual baths at the temple, which is where they were meeting and fellowshipping with each other, which is where Jesus had taught. So, when we go to Israel we usually visit over there and take a look at that because the early church was for sure meeting in that area first. So, this is sort of like the birthplace of the church. So we’re coming out of the gospels. We’re coming out of walking side by side with Jesus and being in his presence in the narratives in the gospels and moving into what comes next. But we see that what comes next is full of the power of the risen Christ and we’ll watch how that begins to materialize and spread because what we’re telling now is the origin story of how it is that we came to faith. How it is that we got here in the first place. Had what we’re reading about now not happened, our story would be different.
Prayer:
So, Father, we rejoice. We rejoice in this day and in today’s reading, going back over the territory that began all of this and has impacted the world until this very day and has impacted our lives until this very day. And we are grateful. And we thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit, the comforter, the advocate, the one who can lead us into all truth, the one who will guide us on the narrow path that leads to life. And, so, we love You Holy Spirit. We thank You for all of the work that You have done in the world and we witness this in the book of Acts today and we witness this in our lives today. Come Holy Spirit we pray. And Father, we also pray along with King David, with the psalmist. I pray for the peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. For the sake of our families and friends, we say, may you have peace. And Father, we pray particularly for our brothers and sisters who are all part of this community who live in this city and the surrounding areas. You are not forgotten. We remember you in our prayers. We may be oceans apart, but we are praying for you. And we pray for you in the name of Jesus Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.
I made a big announcement on Friday and if you haven’t had a chance to listen to that story, go back to Friday and listen at the end. I announced the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion, where the global campfire comes together. And I just told the story of how things came to be back in 2012 and the next eighteen months, how we went around the world on the Family Gathering Tour. Some of you were at some of those events. And we went all over the world just bringing people together in the community that they live in. And that was a lot of work, a lot of miles, but it was just an amazing time in my family’s life. The kids were a a lot younger then. And, so we just traveled around all over the world together, bringing community together, and, you know, all things come to an end so they came to an end and we’ve been moving forward since then. But this is kind of circling back. It is the brainchild of my wife and Mike, one of our guys here that we love very much. They kind of dreamed this up. That was such a wonderful, wonderful moment in the Daily Audio Bible community and its life. Why don’t we circle it back? Why don’t we invite everyone to come to the rolling hills of Tennessee for a family reunion? And so it’s taken a lot of preparation and a lot of thinking through, but we’re gonna do it. It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, but it’s gonna be great. We’ve got a great place to do it, some great ideas, wonderful opportunities to truly come to the rolling hills and visit one of the hottest cities in the United States, which is the Nashville area and allow you to find hidden treasures. We’ve got adventures that you can pick and choose and go on, depending on what it is that you’re interested in. You may be like Get me to Nash-Vegas, get me some cowboy boots get me where the tourists go. We’ll show you. Or you may be like I’m a die-hard country music fan and if I’m going to Nashville, I’m going to country music. We’ll show you where that’s all at. Or maybe you’re like, what you just said is the one thing I try to avoid. We’ll show you peaceful serene places to be all out in them, the rolling hills of Tennessee. Little hills and hollers, little nooks and valleys, places that we go, we’re gonna show those to you so that you can go on an adventure and then we’ll come together at night. Two different nights, September 1 and September 2 as a community, just sharing time together. And we’ll have a campfire burning afterward so that that can continue into the night. There’s just all kinds of stuff to do. The place that we’re doing this is called Deer Run. And there’s all kinds of stuff to do out there, all kinds of things to play, all kinds of things that you can get together and play together. There’s just plenty, plenty, plenty to do over Labor Day weekend. And I hope you can come. It will be so much fun. You can get all the details for the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiates section. So, there’s a little navigation bar at the top of the website. One of those buttons is Initiatives. You’ll find it there or if you just scroll down the homepage, you’ll find it there as well. So, hope you can come. I hope you can come to the south. Hope you can drink in the inspiration of the rolling hills. I hope you can drink in incredible encouragement from your family at the Daily Audio Bible and I hope you leave with phone numbers and email addresses of brothers and sisters who will become lifelong companions in your relationship with the Scriptures. So, dailyaudiobible.com is where you find out about the family reunion and I’ll look forward to seeing you there.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership in allowing the global campfire to continue to burn each and every day and then we can all come in community and allow God’s Word to wash over us. 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. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for next month, which is tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello DAB. I need you. I’m asking you to help me. Will you help me respond to my wife with love? And how do I not bond with the putdowns and the hurt and her anger and her, just, attack over and over. Will you help me love myself? We help you love her? God, will You help me save us as a couple? Will You help her own, will You help her see what comes out of her mouth? Have mercy on me not to respond in anger. Please God, I’m asking You. Help me. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Heather, Joyful Spirit in Georgia. This is my first time calling and this is my first year in the Daily Audio Bible readings. So, I just wanted to say hi. And I just…as I wanted to recognize everyone’s voices, I wanted to let you know how beautiful those voices are to me. Get joy, even on the first word of hearing a familiar voice as you start to present your request or your encouragement. And that just means so much to me. I think our voices are something special to the Father as He spoke the world into existence and power comes from His voice and we are created in His image. That means that each of our voices must be very special to Him. And Sean, I think her name was, in San Jose California called during the community prayer last week and she said that she didn’t like to hear the sound of her voice. And I just wanted to say that your voice is beautiful. It’s your fingerprint almost. Like, we recognize who you are by your voice in this format. And, so, thank you. Thank you for calling Sean and each of you for sharing your voice. It just means so much. God bless you all. Bye-bye.
Hello. My name is Frank. This is my first call. I’m kind of nervous about this. Anyways, I’ve been married for 25 years and our marriage is kind of in a rocky patch at this time. I’d like to ask for your prayer for that. My wife has fallen away in her faith. If you can pray for her and also please pray for my adult son who is about to make some very difficult decisions and I am hoping that he will make the right decision. So, if you could please pray for me I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Bye.
Hello DAB family. This is Trusting in Him in Colorado Springs. __ I will be back in my hometown of Fort Wayne Indiana. I am a first-time caller but I have been listening faithfully every day since the end of August and I had the great blessing of meeting Brian briefly at a gathering for his Sneezing Jesus book. It was really fun to put a face with the voice who shares God with us each day. I’m actually calling to give a brief testimony of how this podcast has deeply impacted my life. I had a very rough year, filled with many kinds of grief, including the death of a man whom I thought the Lord had given me for marriage. But through all the ups and the downs, God has been so faithful and has used this daily podcast to speak tenderly to me as the Scriptures say in Hosea 2:14. Specifically, I was seeking direction for the next chapter of my life when God used the Scripture readings and three of the prayer requests from the March 3rd podcast to confirm His leading back to my hometown. I so wished I had more time to tell you the entire back story because it truly is divine, but perhaps we can share a cup of coffee in heaven someday or even the DAB family reunion in September. So, on June 5th I will be driving 1200 miles with my mom to start a new adventure. I would really love your prayers DAB family for the move as well as what the Lord has for me in this next season of life as there are many unknowns. But what I do know is that God is indeed faithful and I can trust Him, we can trust Him. What a sweet privilege to be on the journey with each one of you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Blessings to you this day.