2 Samuel 20:14-21:22, Acts 1:1-26, Psalms 121:1-8, Proverbs 16:18
Today is the 3rd day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian…I’m just thinking to myself…have been still saying May like for these last couple of days. I just had this…this brain melt…like, “have I been saying June?” It’s June and it’s a bit of a big day for us because we’re gonna begin to move into some new territory when we get to our New Testament reading. We concluded the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John yesterday, which will bring us to the book of Acts when we get to the New Testament, but before that we are continuing our journey through the book of second Samuel and the reign of King David. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week, second Samuel chapter 20 verse 14 through 21 verse 22.
Introduction to the book of Acts:
Okay. Like we mentioned yesterday, and as we mentioned today, we’re moving into some new territory in the New Testament. We’re about to begin the book of Acts, which unveils what happened after Jesus ascended to the Father. And practically speaking, we can call what we’re about to read “second Luke” because Luke and Acts share the same author and Acts picks up where the gospel of Luke left off. So, the first portion of Acts, the part that we’re about to dive into will focus on the ministry of Peter and then will meet this zealous Pharisee named Saul. And Saul was doing everything he could to wipe the name of Jesus from the lips of anyone who dared to speak it, but in the midst of that quest he met Jesus in a life-changing way on the road to Damascus. And, so, this man, Saul, would eventually become the apostle Paul and we’ll spend the latter part of the book of Acts getting to know him. And we’ll get to know Paul as good as we’ll know anyone else in the Bible. He will influence most of the rest of our time together because his letters make up the bulk of the remainder of the New Testament. But as we enter into this new territory in the Bible we need to recognize that the fuel that energizes the stories that we’re about to read in the book of Acts comes from a promise, a promise that the Holy Spirit would come. Nothing of the early church would’ve been possible without the Spirit of truth. And we would do well to remember this because it’s the same Spirit that empowers us to bring light and good news into the world today. So, we have closed the books on the Gospels, the stories of Jesus life and ministry, and now may we drink deeply from the book of Acts because we’re considering our spiritual heritage, but more than that, we’re looking at what the power of the Holy Spirit did and continues to do in and among us. And, so we begin. Acts, chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You once again for bringing us into this new month, into this new week, into this new book, into this new territory on our journey through the Scriptures. And as we move our way through the sixth month of the year and we are so grateful for the promises that You poured out to us in the Psalms today. Our help comes from You. You made heaven and Earth. There is no one else to help us but You won’t let us stumble. You will watch over us day and night. You will stand beside us and protect us. The sun won’t harm us by day, nor the moon by night. You’ll keep us from harming watch over our lives now and forever. We take that heart, Lord. We commit Psalm 121 to memory and plant it deep in our hearts is a constant word of encouragement and reminder that we are never separated from You. Come Holy Spirit we pray into this day. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. And today’s the big…or…a big announcement. One year ago we decided to do something that we had never done before and it was based on something that we had done a lot of times. So, back in like 2011, 2012 we literally went all over the world on this thing called the Family Gathering tour. And we really just gathered as a community in so many cities and in so many places and it was a beautiful thing to watch the community come together. And that lasted for about 18 months and then so last year we decided to not do a Family Gathering in the bunch of different towns but to do a Family Reunion here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. And I thought, “well…yeah…I imagine a few people would like to come to that, that would be…that would be fun to just kinda come together over Labor Day weekend and have, you know, a cookout and just be together, like a family reunion.” And Jill and Mike, they were more convinced that lots of people would want come but I’m kind of pragmatic and I’m like, “I think some people would want to come.” Well, as it turns out, lots of people wanted to come. And, so, we had our first ever family reunion last September…last…late August, September, Labor Day weekend. And we found this place in the rolling of the Tennessee and we had a blast, a blast together, but the only the only downside was it was sold out. Like, literally, a lot more people wanted to come then were able to come. So, this year we’re praying into, “do we do the family reunion again? Do we do this again? We need to find a better place to do this to accommodate more people” because the idea is to come to a place, right, and just kind of camp out together, be together as a family, just, we have this common language. We’re going through the Bible together. And, so, I’ve witnessed infinite amount of times…well infant is kind of a big word…many many many many many many countless times everywhere we go that the Daily Audio Bible community comes together it’s instant, like immediately we’re on the same page because we’re doing this every day together. And, so, it’s a beautiful thing and that happened at the Family Reunion. So, anyway, to make this long story a little shorter we’re gonna do the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion 2019 over Labor Day weekend, which is August 31st through September 2nd, 2019 here in the rolling hills of Tennessee in Nashville and this time we found a larger place up on the lake. And it’s beautiful, private beach, canoeing, waterslides, wall climbing, all kinds of sports, beautiful grounds, wonderful place to have a family reunion…camp Whichiwakun. It’s a large YMCA camp up on the lake just minutes from the airport from Nashville. It’s gonna be awesome. So, it’s where the global campfire comes together, and we had so much fun last year that we’re gonna do it again this year. Registration is now open. The cost is $55 per person. This includes two dinners, the use of the beautiful grounds to play and enjoy as well as just being together, two evenings together, where we’ll share together and be together and be the global campfire together. So, that’s the cost if you’re just kinda like be staying somewhere else, but we wanna recommend, come, hang out, stay, be family together, let’s have a family reunion. And, so, there are a number of different options, whether you wanna tent camp, whether you want to bring an RV, whether you to stay hospital style, like in men’s dorms and women’s dorms or you wanna bring your family, there’s a yurt village there. There are bunk houses. So, you can see all of this at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for family reunion 2019. And registration is open. Last time we did this the event sold out it in a week and I was shocked. So, I wouldn’t wait…I wouldn’t wait around. We are so looking forward to this. It is gonna be a blast. Family Reunion ‘19 where the global campfire comes together here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. And you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link, it lives on the homepage. Thank you for clicking that link. Thank you for your partnership. We would not be here if we were not here together. So, thank you as we move through the summer for your partnership. So, link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996, Springhill Tennessee 37174.
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And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.