Nehemiah 11:1-12:26 , 1 Corinthians 10:14-11:2 , Psalms 34:11-22 , Proverbs 21:14-16
Today is the 16th day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s a pleasure and an honor as it is every day to be in your presence to reach out through all of these miles of wires and land in your earbuds or however, in whatever speaker you’re using. It’s great to be here with you today, wherever you might be. It’s lovely here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. We’re in the steamy thick of the summer time but it’s, hot as it might be, very beautiful, lovely, fertile time here in the rolling hills. And I hope it’s lovely wherever you might be. So, we’re reading from the Good News Translation this week and we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday in the book of Nehemiah, chapter 11 verse 1 through 12 verse 26 today.
Commentary:
Okay. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians [blablablablablabla]. In First Corinthians today, Paul answered a question about passively participating in what would otherwise be sinful activity. And the specific issue was whether a person could eat meat sacrificed to a false idol. So, in Corinth Greek and Roman gods were worshiped and the meat from those sacrifices found their way into the meat market, making it virtually impossible for a believer to know whether they were eating sacrificed meat and thereby passively participating in idolatry. Paul was making it clear today that the meat wasn’t the issue and they could eat in good conscience, but actively attempting to put one foot in the body of Christ and another in idol worship was something that was not gonna to work. In other words, the meat wasn’t the issue, the posture of heart was the issue. But this raised other questions, what if a friend or associate who worshiped another God invited a believer to share a meal, that meal could have been sacrificed to an idol and the household to be eating it in the idols honor. Wouldn’t that be participating in idolatry? And Paul said, someone who isn’t a believer asks you home for dinner, than accept the invitation if you want to and eat whatever’s offered to you without raising questions, right? But if someone tells you this meat was offered to an idol, well, then don’t eat it because someone told you that. Like, if your host said, oh, hey I know you worship Jesus, but this particular hamburger was sacrificed to Molech. If someone’s telling you that, whether your host or another guest, they’re telling you that for reason because they know what you believe. So, if it’s brought up then, of course, abstain. So, I mean, today we rarely, if ever, consider whether our food supply been part of a cultic ritual, but the underlying principle applies in all kinds of ways. We must be vigilantly aware of the effect of our lives on others and treat them with respect and honor, especially if they are giving respect and honor to our convictions. So, Paul summarized it and, I mean, and the way that he summarized this, it touches everything. So here’s how Paul said to handle these kinds of situations. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God, which leaves us one simple question that can always be asked before every decision we make. Can I do this for the glory of God? If the answer is no, then don’t do it. If the answer is yes, then you’re free to do it. I mean, if we would just keep that one thing before us. Can I do this for the glory of God? If we would keep that before us in all of our dealings imagine the clarity we would have in our lives for navigating this world.
Prayer:
Father, every day we invite you into what we’ve read. We ask you to apply it to our lives and plant it deep within our hearts and we’re asking that again, that we might remember that as we’re navigating through this day, as were interacting with people and making choices and decisions, that we will simply consider, take the moment to consult you. Can I do this to honor God? We pray for direction and clarity all of the time about our next steps when you’ve given us the tools to discern these things. And we were given such counsel today. Can I do this for the glory of God. Come Holy Spirit into that question today. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.
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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 Prayer and Praise:
Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s Monica in Kentucky and I just wanted to share with you some gratitude. I am just really grateful to the people who call in in the good times and in the bad times who want to call in and give encouragement but also to call in and just plead for help. And just a few that come to mind, Pastor Gene, we’re are all praying for you for job interviews then you call in and you encourage everybody and you just give us a good word about the Lord. And Miguel in Santa Rosa, and Lee, and Mark Street, and so many others that just call in when they’re hurting and struggling but also give a good word of encouragement and just praise and glorification of our Lord and Father. So, just keep it up people. Blind Tony, you’re another one. You cut to the quick but then you also just talk about how good and great everything is and how good and great our God is through your poetry. And I’m just so moved so often. Terry the Trucker, you’re another one. You confess your sin, you tell us how you’re struggling, but then you call in and tell us how good God is and how encouraged you are when people shout you out and tell you that there praying for you. There’s so many others on the line and I just want to thank everybody who just keep it real. Jay from Tennessee. You’re another one. I could go on and on and I just want to thank everybody because day and and day out it’s nothing but good encouragement and truth that shows up here through the family. So, he blessed and have a great week. Bye.
It’s August the 12th, 2018. It’s about 7:19 PM here in California. Greetings from California by beloved friends of God. This is Angel and I am giving my Father praise and thanks for allowing me to report to you that my brain surgery was a success. It confounded all the doctors and they said the surgery went amazingly well. I had two aneurysms embedded in my brain and they were quite large in size. And one of them was about to burst. Friday, August the 10th, 2018 I was scheduled for surgery and they went inside and found a __ aneurysm. So they placed __ . The surgery was to take six hours and I was out of the hospital the following day. Unbelievable! This was Saturday, August 11th, 2018. Laurie from North Carolina, Becky from Tampa, and all the other friends, thank you for your compassion. Thank you Brian and Jill for making this podcast available and blessing me. I am praying for all requests coming in. __ . God is still on the throne. And prayer changes __ . Angel from California.
Hi. My name’s Adam. This is my first time calling although I’ve been listening for a few years now. I’m calling today, it’s 530 in the morning on August 13th and we are about to head to the hospital for my second daughter to be born. I’m just calling today to ask for prayer for health for both her and my wife but also for prayer for my daughter’s well-being in growing up in the church and in Christ and for my wife and I to be good role models of that. So, thank you for hearing me and thank you for being such a great community and family. Bye.
Hey DAB family it’s Nobody Gets Left Behind in Colorado. I just want to say hi to everybody and just let you all know that today is my husband and my 13th anniversary. Today, on this day 13 years ago, on the 13th we got married and I’m just so grateful to God for everything he’s done with our marriage. And we’ve come a long way only by the grace of God and give God all the glory and honor for our marriage. It’s funny because I woke up this morning, I get up at 5 o’clock to make his lunch. And I got up this morning and I noticed as he stuck all of the pizza boxes and stuff in the trash and it filled up the trashcan. And my mind automatically started to complain and wonder why he did that. And I felt immediately God stop that and I heard His voice and I just heard Him say, why don’t you just wake up and be grateful every day for everything. Just wake up with that in your mind instead of complaining. Funny thing is is that our proverb today was about the nagging wife. So, I thought that was pretty interesting but I am just so grateful to God for stopping me in that moment and, you know, and at the same time He reminded me it was our anniversary and had I continued to think like that way…I would’ve…my husband would’ve got out of bed and our anniversary would’ve been blown from, you know, bad thoughts. I just wanted to encourage everybody. I love you all. I’m praying for you Ashton family, everybody. I love you guys. Have a good week.