Ezekiel 29:1-30:26, Hebrews 11:32-12:13, Psalms 112:1-10, Proverbs 27:17
Today is the 14th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and what a pleasure it is to be here with you today as we move our way through the center of the week. And this week we’ve been reading from the Voice Translation, which is what we we’ll continue to do as we take this, our next step forward through the Scriptures. And that will lead us back into the book of Ezekiel. Today we’ll read chapter 29 verse 1 through 30 verse 26.
Commentary:
Okay. Okay. So, do you need to lose a little weight? Alright. A disruptive enough question. It’s nobody’s business what you do or do not need to lose, right, probably? And seems like an odd question coming out of our time in the Scriptures. But do you? Do you need to lose a little weight? I mean carrying around extra weight as we know stresses…stresses our physical systems that are ultimately gonna lead to problems if we just leave them unchecked. We all know this but have you ever considered this from a spiritual perspective? Are we growing a bit flabby and lethargic within, like from inside of ourselves. Today in the book of Hebrews we’re told how to lose the weight. But before that we continued to finish walking down the hall of faith that we’ve been walking down for the last couple of days. And as we could see, drawing to the conclusion of that little exercise of kind of walking through the Old Testament and seeing that faith has always been the main point of the whole story. As we drew the end we could see that does not…I mean we can immediately switch over and go, so, if I have the right amount of faith I can get just about anything that I want. And as we can see, that wasn’t how it works. Everything didn’t tie off in a nice bow for all of these people. The long list of these examples wasn’t trying to communicate this assurance that we’d have no struggles in life or our victories would be off effortless for the person who has the right amount of faith. It’s Actually completely quite the contrary. The people that we read about, they faced all kinds of opposition. And if we just remember their stories, we walked through a lot of that with them as we read it in the Bible and they suffered a lot along the way, but it was their faith that propelled them forward even if it meant that they were going to arrive at the end of their physical life. Through faith they had seen the promise of God out in front of them, they could see it and they would not and could not be moved and no matter what suffering it may have brought them. So, it was, in summing all of that up, that the writer of Hebrews instructed us in a very famous passage on exactly how it is we can lose the weight. And I’m quoting from Hebrews 12. “So, since we stand surrounded by all those who have gone before, an enormous cloud of witnesses, let us drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to us and slackens our pace and let us run with endurance the long race set before us.” So when our faith gets out of shape, starts getting to be flabby, we have a spiritual issue, we have a problem that needs to be dealt with because if we don’t we’re going to get spiritually sick in the same way that our bodies are going to break down and deteriorate if we don’t care for them. And, I mean, that’s just inevitable. That’s how it works. And as we’ve seen this abundantly in Hebrews, a strong faith can endure anything and can accomplish the impossible. So, without that in mind, we’re to drop every weight that slows us down. In other words, anything that interferes with our faith is excess baggage, it’s the extra pounds. And sin is the junk food we keep feeding ourselves and we have to lose the weight. So, rather than living in some kind of morbid, unhealthy, spiritual situation, we’re going to have to get off our butt, we’re gonna have to get off the couch and train our faith by running with endurance the race that God has set before us. And according to the writer of Hebrews, the way that we do this is to keep our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. So, if we’re gonna try to live in a more healthy story, whether that’s a physical story or a spiritual one or both, we gonna need a component spoken of in Hebrews. But it’s one that we’ve mentioned and that will continue to show up everywhere as we move through the rest of the year. We keep mentioning it because it keeps showing up - endurance. So, like, to lose the extra weight physically we’re gonna have to endure, right, a lot of things. We’ll have to endure the changing of habits, bad habits. We’ll have to endure our cravings until our pallet is kind of resetting itself. And we’ll have to discipline ourselves, which is gonna require endurance. We’ll have to use resistance to build endurance, right? That’s exactly what happens when you go to the gym. Whether you’re on the treadmill or whether you’re using the weights, it is the resistance that is building your strength because you are enduring so that your body can gain strength and build muscle that ultimately will consume the flabbiness that you are carrying around. That’s, I don’t think I’m saying anything that everybody doesn’t already know. To lose the weight spiritually, we’re gonna have to build up spiritual endurance so that we can run the race that’s set before us. And we’ll actually have to consider the things that are slowing us down. Those very well may be the things that have to change for you to get healthy. Otherwise, if we stay lethargic within ourselves or in our bodies, whatever’s going on is only going to get worse. It’s only going to be more problematic as we go forward. So, we have to endure the changes that are necessary so that our faith is strengthened. And in our bodies, it’s fat that gets consumed, right, as we endure and build up muscle. In our Spirit, it’s sin that gets consumed and overwhelmed and eaten up and gone because of our spiritual endurance and strength. Our weakness is turned to strength through faith. So, all of a sudden maybe the book of Hebrews should start to be revealing itself. Like, ahhh, there’s a big picture here. What a picture this is. And one of things that we’re learning is, we will not get anywhere without faith and we will not get anywhere without endurance. And, so, this is this is why Hebrews took us down this hall of faith. And let’s give it some thought. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to guide today, the next decisions about today. I mean, becoming healthy starts right now, it starts today, it starts with the next right decision that you make. And, so, while we’re at it, as we’re inviting the Holy Spirit, let’s remember what we read in the book of Hebrews today as a means of encouragement, “lift up your hands that are dangling. Embrace your weakened knees. Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame in you won’t be put out of joint but will heal.”
Prayer:
Father, thank You for Your word. Thank You for the way that Your word sneaks up on us, grabs us by the heart, shakes us awake, and all of a sudden, we’re seeing things differently. And we can see what needs to happen here on a lot of levels. And, so, we’re inviting You into that because, frankly, for each of us it’s a different story and we need You in that story. What is it Jesus that is slowing us down? What is it Jesus that is convincing us to stay week? What is it Father that we’ve allowed to continue in our lives that’s making us sick, that’s making us flabby. What is the weight that we need to lose? Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
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When you’re running the race and it’s a long race and there’s much endurance and there’s seasons that are very, very long, it’s helpful to know that someone’s running alongside of you, right? It’s so much easier when you can see someone else and they’re fighting the fight and you’re fighting the fight and you’re gonna get to the top of the hill because they’re gonna get to the top of the hill and you’re gonna inspire each other. This is why being in community as we go through the Scriptures, as we spend a year together of life why this is a so meaningful, which is why I remind us every day, dailyaudiobible.com is home base. This is where you find all the ways to stay connected. And, so, do. Stay connected.
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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:
Good morning daily audio Bible family, this is Erin in Michigan. I hope you’re all well. I have two things. First thing is in urgent prayer request. My friend Michael has cellulitis on his leg and it is not getting any better because he’s not getting off of it. He has to work and just all that stuff. So, please lift up Michael in Michigan and just pray for, not only his leg, his cellulitis, the deep infection to go away, but also for his salvation and a relationship with God. The main reason I’m calling today is I just wanted to praise the Lord for the Daily Audio Bible and how it’s changed my life. And I could go on and on about how it’s changed but I chose this morning one thing because it’s very poignant for today, which is Monday, November 12th. So, Monday for my whole life has been the first of the week. And, so, then, you know there’s, the all the stereotypes about how terrible Monday is, and how we hate Monday. And I’m a very positive person, so generally Mondays don’t bother me, but when they do, I’m like, oh here’s how my weeks starts and blah blah blah. Well, Brian, you and the Daily Audio Bible have just changed my life, you’ve just revolutionized it because you’ve made Sunday my first day of the week. And, so, the world doesn’t get to choose how my week starts, God does. God gets to choose because I am at church on Sunday worshiping Him among family and friends and I just am able to start my week fresh and in a beautiful place and a happy place as I call it. So, I just thank you Brian. I thank you for helping me through that. The week starts on Sunday. And I know that may seem like a silly thing or a little thing but to me it’s been revolutionary. So, thank you. And just going into my week, this Monday the second day of my week is going to be a great week because it started with God and it started in church. All right, hope you have a wonderful week. See you my friends and I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, this is Pamela calling, the pastor’s wife from Huntington New York. I hope all is well with everyone. I’ve not called in in a while, however I’m still listening, still taking in the word of God, building up my spiritual man, still praying for all of those who call in daily with your requests. For those who pray can expect a miracle. According to Matthew 7:7, ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and the doors shall be opened unto you for every man that askith receivith, and to him that seekith findith, and to him who knocks the door shall be made open. I’m calling right now for a special prayer request. My heart burns right now. I shouldn’t use that word, but my heart is just turned towards California with the raging fires. Today I woke up to the news, and today is the 12th, it’s Monday morning, 31 dead, 228 missing, and 7000 structures burned in California as the blaze grows. Please, let’s pray for rain, a torrential downpour in California. __ can stop the rain. Everyone please let’s pray for our brothers and sisters in California and let’s not judge them cause no state can judge any state. All of sin comes short of God’s glory. I thank you for that. Love you all. Blessings to you. Bye.
Hi Daily Audio Bible. This is Pamela from Northern California. When I woke up on Thursday morning the sky looked so strange and I thought that was just a storm coming. It was kind of dark and purpley. And yes, a storm was coming but the fire storm, they’re calling it the campfire. In just a few days 190,000 acres have been burned, 6700 businesses and homes, mostly homes, 29 lives have been lost and it’s like an avalanche of grief descending upon this area. I facilitate the grief, share recovery, of course with my local church here and I’m just praying that the Lord will give me creativity and strength to help all of the broken hearts and the Lord himself is near to the brokenhearted and I pray that our community will be restored. I attended a little church in Chico yesterday, the whole church was wiped out, but they met to worship here. And I was so encouraged by worshiping in the midst of grief. And, so, when grief happens we all want to run from it but running from grief is never a good idea. And, so, I pray that we will all take the accurate __ steps that lead in the direction of grief recovery. The apostle Paul said…
Hi DABbers, this is Doddy from Indonesia. Today is 12th November, 2018 and this is my second time calling. My first call was a few months back asking for a prayer regarding my father’s brain tumor. So fast forward to today and my father’s condition is not looking so good. And because of this I sometimes struggle with my faith. And it just so happened that on today’s DAB reading there is a part regarding faith. It made me realize that faith is not about us, that it is about God. And it is so much more than having our prayer to be answered or fulfilled. But it is about to truly believe that God is God and that God truly loves us. And I know that in life this is not easy and sometimes we can be very disappointed on why God is not answering us. But by truly having faith in God we can have relief. So, I pray that you all DABbers to just hang in there as I am too. And I hope that May God guide us in our struggle. Amen.