Esther 8:1-10:3 , 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13 , Psalms 37:1-11 , Proverbs 21:23-24
Today is the 20th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today and even a joy as we come around the global campfire and lock arms and hearts in the spirit and take the next step forward together. And that’s the important thing, that we’re taking the next step forward together. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the contemporary English version this week. And we’ve been working our way through the book of Esther, which we will conclude today. Esther chapter 8, verse 1 through 10 verse 3.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we concluded the book of Esther and Mordecai became the most influential voice in the king’s life and rescued the Jewish people from annihilation with the help of the Queen, of course. And rather than being destroyed the Hebrew people were allowed to destroy their enemies, a radically different outcome than Haman had intended. Something interesting about Esther… So, when the Hebrew text was originally translated over into Greek, so we’re talking about third century BC, so, a couple centuries before Jesus came. In the Septuagint, there are like six more chapters to Esther. So, this was observed by St. Jerome, who translated the Bible using the Septuagint. So, he translated the Bible from Greek into Latin, called the Vulgate. So, at that point that material was put toward the end. And then later, just consider part of the apocryphal writings and called the additions to Esther. And a lot of what’s included in those chapters are the prayers. So, for example, when Mordecai tells Esther she needs to go before the king because she may have been born for such a time as this, her request is that Mordecai go get all the Jewish people and fast and pray and that she is going to do the same thing. And that’s what they do. The additions to Esther include a lot of that prayer, those prayers and intercession over Esther going before the king. So, I’ve read a number of the apocryphal books and recorded them and their available in the Daily Audio Bible shop including the additions to Esther for your listening pleasure and for further research, especially if you love this story as I do. So, you can check that out in the Daily Audio Bible shop. But that’s not all we did today. We didn’t just finish the book of Esther.
In first Corinthians we reached the most well-known portions of Scripture in all of the Bible, the love chapter, right? Most of us can quote portions of 1 Corinthians 13, if we want, but we don’t always know context. And as we make our journey through the Bible we try to…we try to illuminate the context as often as we can because it illuminates the meaning of what it is that we’re reading. So, yesterday, Paul began talking about spiritual gifts and he shared how each person is uniquely gifted and together, these gifts serve a whole. And then he described the way in which the human body has a lot of parts, right? Some seen, some unseen. And the different parts of the body are all needed to make up the whole body. So, Paul tells us that’s how it is with the body of Christ. We’re each uniquely gifted and placed and have full permission to be exactly who we were created to be. In fact, we must become exactly who we were created to be for the body to thrive. And today Paul discussed the different kinds of posts that might be filled out from these giftings, right? Apostles and prophets, teachers, people who can work miracles, those with the gift of healing, helpers, those with leadership and administrative gifts, and those who can speak in unknown languages. And Paul essentially asked, can all of us be all of these things? And, of course, the answer is no. But there is one animating force that empowers each of these posts, gifts, and parts of the body and that animating force is love, which is how we got the love chapter, right? And Paul says, let me show you a way of life that’s best of all. And then we move into the description of love, right? So, no matter the gift, no matter the post, no matter the talents, none of it would amount to anything no matter how it’s celebrated without love. Love is what enables our gifts to be used properly. It’s what empowers us to assume roles of service and it’s what holds the body of Christ together. So, we’re told, three things will remain - faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love. But there the three things that will remain. And we’ve been looking at Hope this year. Hope has been the word for this year and we find that hope is one of the three things that remain, right? So, there’s three things, it’s a trifecta of necessary things that are the things that left standing in the end, faith, hope and love. And, so, when we feel our lives. going sideways, like we’re about to go out of control or like we’re spinning around the drain about to go down, one or more of those essential things is being challenged, right? Faith, hope or love. Our lives will always veer off the narrow path that leads to life and veer into some sort of ravine where were going to crash unless these things are present.
Prayer:
And, so, Father, you are love. And, so, we realize we can’t love without you. And, so, we invite your Holy Spirit’s to show us the places inside of us that are simply lacking love that are devoid of love that are a barren wilderness inside of us. We need your love to come flourishing, flooding into these places. And we realize without faith and hope we can’t even see your love, we can’t recognize it for what it is, which is why so many are wandering around in the darkness and why you have put us here to be a light in the darkness by revealing your love for this world. We can’t do any of this without you. Why would we want to? And, so, come Holy Spirit and fill us anew with faith, hope and love. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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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:
Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Today is day 61 praying for children. It is August 16th. Just a prayer request on my part, if you would continue to pray for my son Nicholas who is in jail. He’s going to be there for a couple more years. If you would please pray for him, that he will come to know the Lord better and get an opportunity to hear God’s word. Also, pray for my son Nathan and that he finds direction in his life. He is working but just that he’ll hopefully find a direction in his life and come to know the Lord as well. Today I’d like to lift up all of us with children out there. Lord, I want to give praise to all those children out there Lord who are following Your ways, leading a godly life. Lord, we thank you for the great, wonderful grace that is. Lord, we also want to, Lord, lift up those children out there who are hurting who feel alone, who feel lost Lord, that You would bring them back to You. Those who have medical conditions, Lord, health issues, we ask that You give them Your healing and, Your peace, comfort. Let them know that we, the Daily Audio Bible are with them, that their parents are there, family and friends, that we are there to support them and lift them up. And we ask that you would give them gracious blessings Lord and to heal them Lord if that is your will. We left this all up in Jesus’ name. Amen. And Brian and Jill thank you for this wonderful podcast.
[singing] Hallelujah, you are not alone [singing stops]. I have come to encourage you. [singing] He’s your comfort always holds you close [singing stops]. You are not alone my sisters. You are not alone my brothers, that God has promised that He would never leave you or forsake you. You are not alone because though you may be walking through a valley of a shadow of death, His rod and his staff is there to comfort you. You are not alone because God who is near to the broken hearted. You are not alone because though you may pass through many waters God will be with you. You are not alone because He has given His angels charge over you to keep you and all of your ways. You are not alone because you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. You are not alone. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy. God is with you, God is in you, God is for you and He is fighting for you. So, I stand in agreement with you and I speak victory over your life, victory over your heart, victory over your family, over your present and your future. And remember [singing] His spirit lives within you so you will walk in His piece. His spirit lives within you, your victory, your victory [singing stops]. I love you family. This is Prophetic Intercessor from North Carolina calling to remind someone that you are not alone. Love you. Be blessed.
Hi there. My name is Bremmel calling from London in the UK calling for a lady who called in on the 17th of August, 2018. And you called in for your broken family and you explained how your daughter committed suicide three years ago and what’s happened to her children and how you feel partly to blame because of what is happening. And I know you didn’t leave your name. I’m going to be praying for you and I’ve started praying for you. Any praise reports, please let us know. Any updates even if it’s not a praise report, please keep us posted. We’ll be praying for you and we’re thinking about you and the entire family. Our God heals. I’m praying for the peace that you asked for and I’ll also be praying for spiritual and emotional healing for your family because I believe you need that. May the Lord be with you and watch over you. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Good morning daily Bible. This is Terry the Trucker. I’m calling in today from a hospital bed. Wednesday at noon in Jackson, Mississippi I had a __ tire blowout and I hit the guardrail, then hit the end of the bridge dead on, flippin off of the bridge onto the embankment. It was a __ blessing the way I hit because I didn’t fall into the traffic below and hurt somebody else. I was on the phone with my wife when it happened. I dislocated my shoulder. Severe bruising and internal bleeding from on left shoulder from my seatbelt. Other than that, just banged up from head to toe. My dog, Snuffy, didn’t make it. They got him to the clinic. He died once, they revived him. Got him back. He died again. They couldn’t get them back. Guys, I just ask for your prayers for healing. It’s gonna take time but I’ve got a feeling __ we’re going to have to step away from it. I’d pray but I think it might have been God’s way of saying don’t do it. But anyway, I want you to I’m still praying for everyone that calls in and I appreciate all y’all’s prayers. You all have a super blessed day. Thank you.