Malachi 3:1-4:6, Revelation 22:1-21, Psalms 150:1-6, Proverbs 31:25-31
Today is December 31st. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is such a deep honor to come to this threshold with you as we’re completing our complete revolution through the Bible this year. So, this is step 365 and this is the 365th day of the year and every day this year we showed up together to take the next step forward and it has led us to this point, the precipice, the conclusion of our complete reading for the Bible this year. So, let’s take that step. Let’s get to it. We will conclude the book of Malachi today. We’re reading from the contemporary English version today. Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 verse 6.
Prayer:
Father for the last time for this year and we will never be returning back this way again, we will not be returning to this year, so for the final time, we thank you for your word and we thank you for all that it represents in our lives, we thank you for the twists and turns and highs and lows, the peaks and valleys the mountaintop experiences and the depths of suffering all found in the Scriptures and all found at one point or another in our own human experience. We thank you for the way that the Scriptures speak into our lives where we are right when we need it. We thank you for how dynamic it is so that no matter how many times we take the journey it’s a different journey and you are speaking to us right where we are as we move forward and take steps forward through our lives. So once again, Holy Spirit, come, plant the words not only spoken today but all that has been…all that has been talked about this year. And we’ve spent a lot of time together this year talking about a lot of things. You have truly touched every part of our lives at one point or another during this year. All of the tender places inside of us that need healing, all of the places of pride that need to be crushed to powder, all of the places that pull us away from you, and all the things that draw us to you, you’ve touched them all. Your word has spoken into our lives and we are grateful, and it is true. We look back now at the beginning of our journey and we look in the mirror and the face staring back, the eyes looking into our own, something’s different, something has changed. And we could say, well, it’s just…it’s just what a year does to you, you’re a year-older, but it’s actually not that we’re worse off and have more lines on our face, it’s that wisdom is setting in, its that your Spirit has guided us into all truth and although we haven’t perfectly walked that path, we have walked it and we are better for it and we are being sanctified and transformed and we’re seeing that. We are being remade into your image. And, so, we thank you for what your word does in that process, and we’re grateful. So, father, we release this year. It is becoming a part of our history. It is certainly a part of who we are but it is becoming a part of the past and we look forward to all that you will do in our lives in the coming year and we stand here in your presence in the present with grateful hearts. Thank you father for your word and thank you for the gift of community. Thank you for letting us live at this time in human history where we can be a community no matter where we are on this planet, no matter what time of day or night, no matter what is going on in our lives. We are in this together and we thank you for each other and I thank you for what we have represented in each other’s lives this year as we have followed your Holy Spirit. And, so, once again we pray. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
And that’s it. Friends…it just always hits me…December 31st…here we are. We read those last words and it's…I mean…for me…it's…you know…on one on one hand it’s just another day because we don’t stop, this rhythm doesn’t stop. And, so, the rhythm will continue tomorrow and we’ll turn back to page 1 of the Bible and start over but it just never…it just takes my breath when we get to the final words of the Bible and the Old Testament closes and the New Testament and the Psalms and the Proverbs and that’s it. And then all of everything that has come this year, like all that has been faced, victories and defeats right, like this…the whole of life. I don't…somehow it just kind of gets encapsulated and floods into my heart at this moment where we conclude the Bible. And, so, it has been quite a year this year of hope. And yeah, I didn’t have that word, “hope”, to remind me…there were some hopeless days. I’m sure that’s true for you too and yet there were some days that were full of hope as well, as is the case in life. But hope, knowing that hope is the road, that faith drives on has reminded me so often when I’m feeling hopeless that, okay, there’s nowhere to go from here. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. And, so, have to get out of the chaos and find hope. And what I have found was it’s always there. It’s available, it’s not absent, it doesn’t go anywhere, we just stop paying attention to it. And, so, it’s been a good year and I’m looking forward to this new word, “maintain”, in the coming year and I’m sure we will have plenty…plenty to talk about as we as we dive into it in the new year, but we’re not there yet, that’s still out in front of us and here we are at this moment where we’ve come to the conclusion of our journey and I always realize that…I mean I think part of the melancholy of this day for me is that, even though tomorrow is a new day and a new year and we just keep continuing marching forward, it’ll be new. I realize that some of you have taken this journey and you’re feeling like, “there, I did it, I read the Bible and I’m going to do this and I’m gonna do that or I’m gonna do the other. And, so you’ll be…you’ll be off on your way. And, so, it’s been an honor, a joy, a privilege to be in community with you this year. And if that’s what you’re doing…if you’re moving into some other things now, God is leading you in other directions, then I bless you for sure and I just want you to remember, as long as God will allow us to be here, we’ll be here waiting, we’ll still be here, don’t be a stranger. And I realize for a lot of us, we’ll be taking…stepping through the next threshold together and we will be marching into the new year and off we will go for another revolution around the sun and a every word of the Bible will be read during that time and we’ll find ourselves here, one year from now having concluded the Bible again. And I realize that there are thousands of you listening right now that are still trying, like you’ve been kind of checking things out the last week, you just found out about this and you’re trying to find the rhythm and we greet you and believe me, you won’t be a stranger for long. There aren’t really strangers in the Daily Audio Bible. We have a…we have a very special thing…a beautiful thing where we are all over the world and in all kinds of stripes and flavors and denominations, but we’re centered around one thing and that one thing is that each and every day we will allow the Bible to speak for itself and we will do this in community because life is very difficult to navigate on your own. And to know that no matter what is going on you aren’t alone, that we are the body of Christ, and we are in this together makes all the difference in the world to a journey through a year of life. And, so, here we are, we’re at the end and we’re about to make a new beginning and a new community will form around the rhythm as we go into the new year, but for now, whether you’re taking the journey again or whether you’re hopping off the train or whether you’re try to figure out what’s going on, may the Lord bless you and keep you, may he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, may he lift his countenance upon you and give you peace, may the strength of God to go with you, may the wisdom of God instruct you, may the hand of God protect you, may the word of God direct you, may you be sealed in Christ this day and forever more. Amen.
I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here next year.
Song:
When you roam
You’re traveling alone
Tryin’ to catch each grain of sand
Slipping through your hands
And the wind
Is weathering your skin
And all that’s on the outside
Is breaking you in
Let me be
The oil upon a glove
Moving in the creases
Soften what’s [dark?]
(Glory) In the blink of an eye
(Glory) In a moment of weakness
(Glory) I will be your armor
(Glory) I will be your witness
(Glory) You can’t lose me, no
(Glory) No, you can’t lose me
And when the weight
Is layered in rounds
Like [?] clouds
You can’t find your way out
Let me be (Let me be)
Your glory in the sky (Your glory in the sky)
Circling your shadow
Cradling the light
(Glory) In the blink of an eye
(Glory) In a moment of weakness
(Glory) I will be your armor
(Glory) I will be your witness
(Glory) You can’t lose me
(Glory) You can’t lose me
Sleepless night, wake again
The strength of the heart isn’t continuing
Let me take no your [?] hands
If love could lift us then I would carry them
And your shield
Of skin and bones
Stumbles in the sand
To carry you home
Let me be a torch
To bear the light
To stock the cellar
For the long night
Glory, Glory
Glory, Glory
Glory, Glory
Glory, Glory
Shining glory
Glory, Glory
Glory, Glory
You are a shining glory
Glory, Glory