2 Samuel 23:24-24:25, Acts 3:1-26, Psalms 123:1-4, Proverbs 16:21-23
Today is the 5th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we cross through the middle of our week and set our gaze on the back half of the week and moving toward the weekend. It’s great to be here with you as we’re moving into this new month and as we’re moving into the book of Acts in our New Testament reading. We’ll also be coming to a conclusion today, we’ve been working our way through the books of Samuel, right? So, first Samuel led us through kingship and the appointments or the coronation of King Saul and we watched his life and then we saw the intertwining of David’s life with Saul’s life and then we spent our time in second Samuel reading of David’s reign. Today we will be concluding the book of second Samuel, which will lead us into the books of Kings beginning tomorrow. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Second Samuel chapter 23 verse 24 through 24 verse 25.
Commentary:
Alright. So, as we moved through the Gospels, right, since the beginning of the year we’ve been spending our time in the Gospels and we gave our attention to the stories of Jesus ministry. It was easy to become accustomed to Jesus doing something miraculous or His words being penetrating and His ways being different, but as we read through the book of Acts today, we witnessed something pretty astounding. So, Peter and John visited the temple for worship and they encountered a lame man begging for donations by the beautiful gate. And this is not an unusual thing. It’s not even an unusual thing in this day and age, but what happened next was unusual. Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gols…like…I don’t have any money to give you, but I will give you what I have. In the name of Jesus get up and walk.” And they help the guy get up and he walked. This happened in the temple complex, right? So, it definitely drew a crowd. But this is the first instance in the Scriptures in the New Testament of a miraculous incurrence happening after Jesus ascension. And, so, what makes his profound is that Jesus was physically absent, but the Holy Spirit was completely present. So, the work of Christ, the ministry that Jesus had been doing was continuing just like He promised it would. Obviously, this is a man who was healed was overjoyed and obviously people who’d been passing by the beautiful gate knew who this guy was. And, so, they’re watching him walk around and a crowd assembles, and Peter speaks. He shares the Good News again and he says he says something unbelievable. At least, the implications are unbelievable to me. Peter said to the people who were marveling at a man who would been lame walking. He said, “what is so surprising about this?” That’s a pretty fair question for all of us in our faith. Peter and John didn’t have anything that we have not been given including the power of the Holy Spirit. Things were happening just like Jesus said they would. The apostles were just simply being Christlike in this situation right, the same kind of thing Jesus would have done. They were just doing what Jesus told them and us to do before He left. And, so, Peter used the opportunity of this miraculous event to share the Good News. It just makes us wonder, right? So, we’ve turned the page and now we’re in the book of Acts. So, now we’re in the church era. And even though were reading about the beginning of the church era we’re still in it. Like, this is our story. And, so, what would it look like if we actually embraced as a reality the power of Jesus within us. What if we stopped reading the book of Acts, or any of these stories as metaphors, or as guidance for how to manage our sin better. What if we understood that this is just what happened that these are examples of what’s supposed to be normal. Maybe there’s a whole lot more wholeness available to us. Maybe there’s a lot more wholeness available to the world and we’re just diminishing it like it’s some sort of life lesson as opposed to life reality. So, as we continue this journey through the book of Acts let’s kind of put that in the front of our min. As we’re reading the stories of how everything formed let’s continue to ask ourselves what’s so surprising about this. And maybe we can begin to dream of what life could look like if we became Christlike in this world.
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into that. We’re reading some pretty dramatic stories of what happened immediately after You departed as people began to coalesce around the message and began to devote themselves to community, to one another, and to what You taught, and we see that Your ministry continued forward, even though You were physically absent. Nothing slowed down. Actually, it seems like things accelerated and began to spread all over the world. So, it forces us to ask ourselves, “why are we settling for anything less? Why are we staying week when You’ve made us strong? So, as we continue through the book of Acts we will continue to think, “what is so surprising about this?” And Father, we ask that we can begin to see that in our own lives, we can begin to see Your work in everything big and small things and may we take that attitude, “what is so surprising?” Of course this would happen. This is what happens when the presence of God is here. This is what happens when the Holy Spirit moves. What is so surprising about this? Help us Father see a new normal, the normal of the kingdom that we are here to reveal. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, where you find out what’s going on around here. And the big news that’s going on around here right now is that registration is open for the global campfire Family Reunion happening Labor Day weekend August 31st through September 2nd this year. We did a Family Reunion last year. It was a really spectacular time together. We realized that even though that we were just starting this that there was a lot of people that wanted to come that didn’t get to come because we didn’t have space. We found some more room, even better place than last year and we’re excited to just kinda bring everybody together here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Those of you who want to come kinda step out of the Internet and just be together for a few days. It's…if you’ve never been to a Daily Audio Bible event, it’s hard to describe…just the warmth…like everybody’s on the same page so nobody’s really a stranger. And we never…even when we’re traveling, we never really say goodbye to anybody. We just say, “until we meet again.” Like, it’s a beautiful thing. So, I hope you can come at the end of the summer and stay on site. We got his great place, great! It’s right on the lake. There’s all kinds of stuff to do. A great place to just kinda come and camp out, hang out together for a couple of days. You can check out all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for family reunion 2019 and that will answer all of your questions. And, so, hope to see. Definitetly space is beginning to fill in. So, we are super super, super excited to see you over Labor Day weekend here in the rolling hills of Tennessee.
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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.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi family, this is Viola from Maryland, I hope you’re all doing well. Brian and Jill, God bless you. I pray that God will continue to provide for your ministry in the name of Jesus. I want to pray for Emmanuelle, yeah, I think it’s a manual. Emmanuelle, I’m praying for your marriage. I pray…you had called talking about how your wife has left you and that she once had faith. Lord, I’m praying that you will step into that situation in the name Jesus. I pray that You will touch hearts of God, that you will heal the marriage and the marriages of those of the DAB family that are going through that similar thing right now. Father, I pray that you will address oh God Lord even the walk of Satan in those marriages in the name of Jesus. Oh God I pray that there will be reconciliation Lord that there’ll be removed hardness of hearts oh God in Jesus name. Oh, Desperate my sister, I heard your prayer request and I’m praying for you and your son. And my sister, nothing, nothing is a mistake with God. Definitely you bringing just your son into the world is not a mistake and don’t feel guilty. God will provide. He is the one that promised to provide. You are not his provider. And, so, Lord I’m praying that you will touch oh God this situation, that you will provide for Desperate’s son in the name of Jesus, that you will give him oh God a job that would __ that would just blow his mind in the name of Jesus. Give him Oh Lord God wisdom to know how to __ in Jesus name. And I pray that you would calm Desparate’s heat and just let her know that you are there for her in Jesus name. Jane, I’m praying for your son Joshua from New York. I pray Lord that you will arrest this young man’s heart in the name of Jesus, that he will hunger and thirst after you…
Hi, I’m a new Daily Audio Bible listener my name is Shelly and I live in Cheyenne Wyoming. And first of all I wanted to say thank you to John from Bethlehem Pennsylvania, the one who transcribes the prayer requests because I probably wouldn’t have called in except when he said that people get prayed for every day. And I thought, “well how are gonna know if I don’t call?” So, I decided I would take the courage to call. I’m calling for my friend Victoria who is a single mom of a precious little four-month old baby boy. His name is Kayden and he has to have surgery on Friday, June 7th. He was born with some abnormalities and he has to have a procedure that’s called an aortaplasty. They have to like readjust things and stitch things and basically what happens is his lungs tend to collapse when his breathing and he has some other problems but he’s going down to Denver Children’s Hospital for the surgery on Friday and the head of the cardiothoracic department is going to be doing the surgery. It’s the intricate and she’s been through so much. She’s a single mom and this is her only little guy and he’s precious. And if you all could please pray for complete and total healing, that the doctors would have wisdom and skill and that there would be no issues. I would really appreciate it. And thank you all so much for your continued prayer and all that you do Brian on a daily basis. I love Daily Audio Bible and tell everyone about it when I see them. So, God bless you all and thank you.
Much Afraid, this is Mrs. Valiant, it was so great to hear your voice today. I love this story. This prayer is for us and anyone else who heeds His Word. Heavenly Father You know my great unfitness for service, my present deadness, my inability to do anything for Your glory, my distressing coldness of heart. Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart. My best services are filthy rags. Not a day of my life has passed that has not proved me guilty in Your site. Blessed Jesus though my sins rise to heaven Your goodness soars above them. Let me find cover in Your healing wounds. My unrighteousness weighs me down to hell, but Your righteousness lifts me to Your throne. I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable. I’m at a loss to know what You would have me do. We turn again with showers of converting grace to a poor gospel abusing sinner. Help my soul to breathe after holiness, after a constant hunger and thirst for Jesus, after growth and grace more abundantly today. Oh Lord I’m ready to sink because I fall short of my desire. Help me hold out a little longer for I cannot lift my soul to You with Your goodness not bringing me nearer. Help me be watchful and tender so not to offend my blessed friend in thought and behavior. Holy Spirit, I confide in You and I lean on You at all times. Assist and lead me. Let all my distress and apprehension prove to be Christ’s school. Make a fit for greater service by teaching me the great lesson of humility in the name of Jesus. God bless you Much Afraid. I’m praying for you.
Hi, my name is Eugene. I just want to thank this group of Saints. I’ve been a backslider for so long and God finally delivered me completely. I’ve __ a church, sinned, and now that He’s delivered me it’s hard to find people that truly has forgiven me for some of the lifestyle I had. I had a terrible drug addiction. I went through divorce and just one day out of the sky blue, God let me find this group of saints, the Audio Bible and I really needed this and I just want to thank God for you. I want to thank God for people sharing like they do, just to know that God is truly love and He never gives up on you in He always has somebody there for you. So, thank you for this group so much and I’ll continue to pray for others as I ask you to pray for me. Thank you. God bless you.