Genesis 1:1-2:25, Matthew 1:1-2:12, Psalms 1:1-6, Proverbs 1:1-6
Today is the 1st day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is a pleasure and an honor and a joy to be here with you today as you’ll hear me often say, because it’s the truth every day, but of course this is especially true today. It’s a brand-new, year happy new year. This is the first day of 2019. We got ourselves a brand-new shiny, sparkly new year to live into and it’s all out in front of us. And the reality is the decisions that we start making today will add up to what this year is going to look like and one of the best decisions we could make is to center ourselves around the rhythm of the Bible in our lives every single day this year, allowing it to speak into us and to guide our steps as we move into the year. So, welcome aboard. If this is your first day with Daily Audio Bible, welcome to the family and that’s what you’ll find is going on around here, a community wrapped all over the globe and it doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is, you’ll never be listening to the Daily Audio Bible alone. Someone somewhere will also be with you listening. And if you were here yesterday, you closed 2018 down and your back for 2019, welcome back, this is the beginning of our 14th year broadcasting the Bible seven days a week. I haven’t missed a day in 13 full years and now today begins our 14th year of the Daily Audio Bible. And if this is day one for you, then just kind of hang around for week and you’ll kind of have the rhythm of everything, we’ll just explain how it all works, how we do what we do, and what to expect, and how to interact, and just how to navigate. And pretty much how you navigate is that you get up every day and push play at some point and we’ll get to all of that over the course of the next week, but what we’ve come here to do today and what we will come here to do every day is to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures. And, so, let’s dive in for the first time in our new year. And, so, today being the first day of the year, we’re starting the Bible. And, so, the way that we’ll go through the Bible this year is a portion from the Old Testament, a portion from the New Testament, a portion from Psalms, and a portion from Proverbs every day as we move our way through the Bible. So, that being said, we’re starting for sections from the Bible, Old, New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs. So, rather than spending a bunch more time talking about all of the books that we’re beginning, we’ll spend a couple of days just moving into the new year. Every time we encounter a new book we usually talk about it. Context is an important aspect of biblical study. And, so, kind of understanding the lay of the land as we walk into the land is helpful in us unpacking with the Bible is telling us. So, we’ll do like a flyover of Genesis and Matthew and Psalms and Proverbs, we’ll take one per day for the next few days and just move into our new year. So, we’re going to begin with the book of Genesis.
Introduction to the book of Genesis:
Not only is Genesis the first book in the Bible it’s also the first book in a series of books that are known as the Pentateuch or the Torah which is comprised of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So, that kind of lays out our first portion of the year, that’s the territory we’ll be heading into. And although Genesis doesn’t specifically reveal the author’s name, traditionally these are the books of Moses. And, you know, most biblical scholars will would have some divergent opinions on exactly who wrote the Torah, especially like the book of Genesis, because we’re covering the story of creation and Moses certainly couldn’t have been an eyewitness to the creation story. So, if Moses is the author of this book then this is a collection of the oral traditions that were happening long before the children of Israel, who we’ll meet soon enough, began to become a people, a people who would be later known as Jewish people or Hebrews. And, so, that’s how we call the Scriptures that we’re about to read the Hebrew Scriptures. And since we’re starting with Genesis and, you know, Genesis reputation is that it’s the origin story or the creation story, we can often lose the fact that the book of Genesis actually covers more territory or more historical time then then any of the other books in the Bible. In fact, it covers more time than the rest of the Old Testament put together. So, we’ll start at the creation in the beginning, of course, and then we’ll go all the way until we have met the children of Israel, and they arrive in in the land of Egypt and grow into mass of people that will become a nation. So, inside the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis we’re gonna cover a couple of thousand years and a couple of thousand miles and then we’ll slow down and find our pace and our rhythm and cover a couple hundred years to the end of the book. And, so, are you ready? Off we go into our brand-new year. We’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible for the rest of this week. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 25.
Commentary:
Okay, so we just finished our first reading for the year and boom, the Bible starts speaking right out of the gate. So, in the book of Genesis we find out our origin story, we find out how it is we got here and what things looked like before they got to the way that they. And, I mean, the Bible doesn’t mess around with kind of getting us into the story. We’ll find out how things got the way that they are in tomorrow’s reading.
Then in the book of Matthew, off we go, we have the origin story of the birth of Jesus and the genealogy and we read a bunch of names and, you know, a lot of times you read these genealogies in the Bible and that’s where people’s eyes glaze over, “like, what are all these names and what does this all matter” and we’ll get to that soon enough, but the story or the genealogies that we read today, these are names that may seem obscure to you at this point but we’re gonna meet a lot of those people in the stories that we will encounter as we move through the Bible this year and we need to remember that every single one of those names represents a life that was lived, and a generation that walked the earth leading from one generation to the next to the next of the next all the way until the birth of Jesus. And, of course, we’re in the Gospels now and we’ll be spending some time, the first half of this year getting to know Jesus very well.
Then the book of Psalms starts and gives us two paths and what we’re gonna find out is that the Bible does this repeatedly, like constantly gives us a picture of two paths and two outcomes and then like a perfect gentleman allows us to choose the path that we’re gonna to take. And then as we immerse ourselves in a relationship with the Bible, we’ve gotta start scratching our head about why it is that we blame God for the paths that we choose when we knew where the path was going to lead. So, Psalm tells us, “how happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers. Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction and he meditates on it day and night. He’s like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” So, right out of the gate, there it is, the path before us. The path that we are on right now is the one that we delight in the Lord’s instruction and meditate on it day and night. If we will stay on that path we are not gonna be the same people 365 days from now. Life is not going to be as confusing as it might be right now. Context and purpose and the filling in of the blanks begins to happen right now and it doesn’t stop. And we’re taking the first of 365 steps, so, 364 more steps and we’ll be at the end of the year and it’s gonna be different in profound, yet hard to describe ways.
Then we launched into the book of Proverbs today, which is essentially giving us the context for why it exists. It is the ancient wisdom of all time that has stood the test of time that has plopped itself into our laps as a friend saying, I can tell you how to demystify your life. I can tell you how to live this thing right. And we will find that on a continual basis the Proverbs, and we don’t read a lot of Proverbs in any given day, but they are so succinct and so powerful that in one sentence it can just expose all of the falseness within us and force us to, again, consider what path it is that we’re walking and where it is that we’re hoping to end up.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for this brand-new year. Here we are, we walked through the threshold, everything is shiny, everything is sparkly, we haven’t a messed up anything yet. It’s all out here in front of us and You have greeted us at the doorway of this new year, arms outstretched, inviting us to walk with You not only into this year but through this year, and that we might do this in community and have the counsel of the Scriptures every day. What did we wait so long for? We are so excited Father to what You will do, and what You will speak to us in this year. And, so, we invite You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
Okay. So that is our first days reading. We are off and underway and like I said, we’ll move into this year. It doesn’t all have to happen at the same time. We’ll move into this year, we’re creating a rhythm, a rhythm of coming together in community. We liken it to a global campfire. I couldn’t tell you where that came from, it just popped into my head one day…I just…it was just like we’re all around this…the light of the word of God, we come in out of the cold, we set aside a little bit of time each day and come into a quiet place in community where we can allow God’s word to speak and we’re in this together. And, so, as as dark as the night be and as cold as it might get, you’re not alone, and this fire is always burning, the word of God is always being sent out into the world and we’re always here for each other as we’ll soon find out. So, like I said at the beginning, if this is like…if you were here yesterday…and maybe you’ve been here for 10 years…maybe you’ve been here all…since day one…or maybe last year was your first year…welcome back. This is…what you’ll find is that the journey this year will not be the same as the journey last year. None of the journeys are the same because we are always in constant change in our lives and yet the Bible speaks to us where it is that we are and gives us a hand of friendship to lead us forward to where we’re going. So, welcome back friends because it is a joy to have another year together in community. If this is day one for you, or maybe, you know, you listened to a couple of days ending the year and you’re gonna stick with this, I could not be more happy and the smile on my face is because we have been on a collision course with the Scriptures for a long time. Whatever has been going on in your life, all of the millions of decisions that were made, not only to bring you to planet Earth by your ancestors but all of the decisions that you’ve made throughout your life have brought you to today, and somehow we ended up here, right now and it is not purposeless, what happens from here dictates the rest of our lives and placing the Scriptures in our lives is the safest, best thing we could possibly do. So, I normally say something like this on January 1st. It does not matter how you got here. It does not matter the peaks and valleys. It doesn’t matter the choices that you made, even the horrible choices that you might’ve made, even though horrible choices that you might’ve made as recently as last night. This is a new year, and this is a new day, and this is a new beginning, and what comes next starts now. So welcome on board, I am so excited that we’ve set sail together and I look forward to each and every day that we will spend together as we take these steps that will lead us through the year and through the Bible and you’ll see what I’m saying. Look in the mirror at some point today, look really, really close, spend a few moments, maybe even take a selfie, look into your eyes, you see that fatigue, you see that worry, see those lines, you see that insecurity, you see that comparison, you see all of the things that have brought you here, remember your face, this is where you area and this is where you are right now. 364 days from the right now will be New Year’s Eve, the last day of this year, what, that day is going to look like is completely predicated on the decisions that we make from this day forward each and every day. And as the rhythm of the Bible becomes a part of our lives it’s gonna start changing things. We will look in the mirror this time next year, one year from today and be looking into the eyes of a person who has been irreversibly transformed in profound ways. So, I am so excited for all of us, myself included, because, well, this is year 14 and I look in the mirror and don’t see the same person any year. Things shift in profound and unspeakable but deep and irreversible ways. So, it doesn’t matter what’s come before this moment it matters what comes after this moment and yeah, it’s a jungle out there but we don’t have to go through it alone and we certainly don’t have to go through it confused. And no, the Bible isn’t gonna give us magic spells and incantations that are going to keep all the, you know, all the problems of life from facing us and trying to take us out but the Bible will certainly tell us how to navigate and the Bible will certainly give us context for what is going on. And, so, we are in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing and if we will keep doing this in a straight line, remarkable things happen. So, welcome aboard. Happy new year.
Song:
Stuck in an ocean, staying in motion are we too comfortable
Have we settled short? Has the city made us fragile?
Cage for safety, glass and concrete protect us from all fear
I know there’s shelter here, but I’m running to the frontier
And in this moment, it’s all clear
I don’t have to go, but I can’t stay here
Now that I see it, see it
Guess I’ll be leaving, leaving
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
We don’t care about the lions
When we march towards the giants
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
So we dance and be courageous
Even though these wilds are dangerous
Though we’ve never been there before
This adventure is an open door
Tell me, whatcha been waiting for?
Why don’t we go, why don’t we go
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
We don’t care about the lions
When we march towards the giants
Twists and turns, still lessons learned when we find out where to go
So we take these winding roads into the great unknown
It won’t be easy, there’s hills and valleys, cliffs and waterfalls
But they look so beautiful, so we keep on moving forward
And in this moment, it’s all clear
I don’t have to go, but I can’t stay here
Now that I see it, see it
Guess I’ll be leaving, leaving
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
We don’t care about the lions
When we march towards the giants
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
So we dance and be courageous
Even though these wilds are dangerous
Though we’ve never been there before
This adventure is an open door
Tell me, whatcha been waiting for?
Why don’t we go, why don’t we go
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
We don’t care about the lions
When we march towards the giants
Father, just tell me where to go
Take the lead, and I will follow
Even when I leave my comfort zone
Even if I’m far from, even if I’m far from home
Where my heart is
But my heard is battling my conscience
And I have convictions to be honest
Even if believers don’t believe it
Some will call me sinner, some will call me saint
They can call me whatever, I ain’t doing this for them
So I’m taking my music and I’m taking Your Name
And I’m reaching the lost in this wilderness
Though we’ve never been here before
This adventure is an open door
Tell me whatcha been waiting for?
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
We don’t care about the lions
When we march towards the giants
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
So we dance and be courageous
Even though these wilds are dangerous
Though we’ve never been there before
This adventure is an open door
Tell me, whatcha been waiting for?
Why don’t we go, why don’t we go
Into the wild
It’s a jungle out there, jungle out there
But, we don’t care