Ezra 5:1-6:22 , 1 Corinthians 3:5-23 , Psalms 29:1-11 , Proverbs 20:26-27
Today is the 7th day of…August. (Brian laughs.) I had like a brain meltdown. Like, where am I? What am I doing here? I shouldn’t be turning the mic on without a sip of coffee. So I’m gonna do that real quick. Okay. August 7th is the day and this is the Daily Audio Bible and I am Brian and it’s wonderful to be here with you as we take the next step forward through the adventure of the Bible this year. And this week we’re reading from the English Standard Version. And today we’ll pick up where we left off. Ezra 4:24-6:22.
Commentary:
Okay. So in our reading from Ezra today, we watched the enemies of Israel disrupting and sabotaging the Israelites work to rebuild God’s temple in Jerusalem. And despite the intimidation, the people continued to build. They knew that they were obeying God. And there are times that we will certainly experience similar kinds of voices, right, that cause some disruption or intimidation while we’re trying to do what God’s instructed us to do. And other people may try to delay or interfere with those efforts. It may not be an easy process, but as we’re watching play out in Ezra and as we’ll continue to watch play out in this story as we go into Nehemiah, well we’re going to have to be steadfast, absolutely steadfast, when we know that we are obeying God.
And then when we get to 1 Corinthians, Paul is talking about an issue that’s still with us. People were segregating themselves into different camps, basically based on whose teaching they were following. So for Paul, it’s like their getting their identity, their spiritual identity, based on whose team they’re on. Who brought the gospel or who they like their preaching the best or whatever rather than growing in intimacy with Jesus himself. So Paul’s like, you say I’m a follower of Paul and then another says, I follow Apollos and aren’t you (acting like) people of the world? Who’s Paul? Who’s Apollos? We’re just God’s servants through whom you believe the good news. Each of us did the work God gave us. So Paul’s saying, if you’re gonna follow us than you’ve kind of missed the point. We brought this message to you so that you could enter into a personal relationship with God. And we’re all in this together. And no one’s more important. Or as Paul said, don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God? And that the Spirit of God lives in you? So you don’t need to boast about following a specific leader. Everything belongs to you, whether it’s Paul, whether it’s Apollos, whether it’s Cephas or the world, life and death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you. You belong to Christ. Christ belongs to God. If we could keep that little hierarchy clear in our minds. Christ belongs to God. I belong to Christ. Everything belongs to me because of that. We would keep ourselves much more oriented than we usually do. Paul is just showing us where our actual true identity comes from. And his conclusion is, because of this, because Christ belongs to God and you belong to Christ and everything belongs to you, than what kind of identity are you trying to craft for yourself when it’s all already yours? In terms of a spiritual identity, that is a pretty big deal. And it’s something that we should be considering and meditating on today.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we come into Your presence, inviting You into that. Holy Spirit, show us the places that we’re looking for an identity that can’t be given or bestowed in any other way. And that has already been bestowed upon us. And we’re just looking elsewhere for some other kind of identity. Show us the places that we’re seeking identity outside of You because this will only lead us on a path that we don’t want to go down. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, check in.
Pray for your brothers and sisters at the prayer wall. Check out the resources that are available in the shop.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. It’s on the homepage. Thank you profoundly for your partnership as we’re moving through the summertime. 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 you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello my DAB family this is Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Today is Sunday the 5th of July I just been through listening to yesterday, the 4th podcast and I heard a first-time collar, Asia, I think from Chicago. Asia, look, I’m going to pray for you because, Asia, I understand what’s happening with your dad. He’s a good man, I’m sure, but unfortunately his eyes are closed to the, you know, the verbal abuse and that touches my heart. And God put it on my heart to call you because I was in that situation. I would lose my temper and be abusive but I never saw it as a problem at the time. Asia, so, I’m sure your dad is in probably the same situation. He’s a good man but just does not __ what the anger and verbal abuse, how it affects people. And I’m going to pray that God opens his eyes as he opened my eyes too even if it’s only once or twice a year. I know that all of you are on eggshells wondering if he’s going to be at that point where he’s gonna explode again. And God did miraculous things. He put me with a boss who did the same thing to me. And then he opened my eyes. That’s my behavior to my family. I’ll pray Asia. I certainly understand where you’re coming from. Heavenly Father, we come to You and Asia comes to You. What a powerful community, lifting up Asia’s dad so that you will open his eyes because He’s a good man. You made him Lord and You love him as well. Open his eyes to his __ Lord. Open his eyes because the words coming from his mouth can do so much damage even though he does not see it yet Lord. Lord, I ask you to bless Asia and all her family as well that you give them your…
Hi everyone, this is Mel, MEL, from Central Florida. And I just wanted to call in to let you all know that I am here praying for you. I pray along with you every day and I continue to pray into the evening, at night before bed, when I wake up, and even just something, maybe, I feel called to pray in the middle of the day when, you know, I think of one of you. So, I wanted to let you all know I’m praying for you. I’m praying for all those who maybe are too nervous to call in. I’m praying for all those who maybe are just to, you know, have a private prayer or a personal thing that they are not ready to share. I’m praying for all of you. And I’m praying for all of you who call in and maybe don’t hear your name specifically mentioned in prayer. Because there are many of us that we are praying. And, so, I just kind of wanted to call in and let you know that you are being paid for. So, yeah, I went to church today and, hours ago, I just have this one song stuck in my head. So, I felt like I wanted to share it with you guys today. It’s Canticle of the Son and here it goes. [singing] The heavens are telling the glory of God and all creation is shouting for joy. Come dance in the forest come play in the fields and sing, sing to the glory of the Lord [singing ends]. So yeah, Hope you all have a blessed day. And, I love you and I’ll try to call back sooner this time. Okay. Bye.
Not Shaken in America. Thank you for calling in. I just wanted to really encourage you. God’s looking out for you and I pray that your name…I know that your name is there for a reason and that God’s given you a testimony about not being shaken before. And, so, He will do it again for you. And…I just pray that you’ll hold on and have faith in who Jesus is and what God’s done for you in the past. And I pray that God’s love touches Brian, for, not only his faith, not for just for your faith, and for the daughters as well. I pray that your family becomes closer together and you feel the freedom that there is knowing who Jesus is and the peace that comes along with that as well. And you just continue doing what you’re doing and holding on. Keep believing that there is a time when this all will come to an end. In Jesus’ name. We thank you guys. Have an amazing day. Bye.
Hi everyone. It’s Margo from Australia again. I’m just coming back because I felt like I hung up on my last fall and all I did was kind of give advice to Sally about __ depression and whatnot and talk about how counseling is great. But __ is that I just wanted to say, really more importantly is being close to Jesus. And I speak from experience. The thing that has helped me most with suffering with depression is being close my beautiful Jesus. And the more I love him the more joy I feel in my life, the more release I feel from this horrible illness. And, Sally, I would just love to pray for you. Lord God, I come to You today and I ask that You would set Sally free from this horrible disease. Father, there are so many suffering and so many feeling just sad and not even knowing why and going to doctors and counseling and trying to find answers. Lord God, I just ask for Your freedom. Would You let her out of this prison Lord God? Would You come and heal her supernaturally Father? Would You infuse her with Your joy Lord Jesus so that she would have a smile on her face so she wouldn’t feel like she has to go to bed early just to end her day? Lord God, let her wake of each morning and know that she walks through the day with her Savior and her Savior loves her and her Savior is giving her joy. I pray that if anyone else is also suffering from depression and anxiety, Lord God, I ask that You would set people free. When people need is Your freedom. Lord, show people what they can do to help themselves Lord God and how to have healthy habits. But also to rely fully on You. And I ask that You would work mightily in people’s lives and bring them close to You. In Jesus name. Amen.