1 Kings 22:1-53, Acts 13:16-41, Psalms 138:1-8, Proverbs 17:17-18
Today is the 20th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. How is your summer going or how is your winter going if you are in the southern hemisphere. Here in the South in the rolling hills of Tennessee we’re moving into the steamy hot, humid, but very fertile and green part of the year. Not sure we’re actually moving into it, we’ve kind of been in it for a while but I think I’m just starting to notice it’s getting pretty hot. And speaking of get pretty hot, our journey through the book of Acts is definitely taking us now into the life of the apostle Paul and his movements. And, yeah, we’ll see some of the heat that gets turned up on the early church as the gospel goes forth and as we continue through the book of Acts. But before we get to the book of Acts we need to go back into the book of first Kings which we’re working our way through. We’re reading the Amplified Bible this week. First Kings chapter 22.
Commentary:
Alright. So, in the book of first Kings we have a meeting or a summit or a get together between two Kings, the King of Israel, his name was Ahab, his capital city was in Samaria, this was the northern kingdom whereas Jehoshaphat the king of Judah was visiting and there was this conversation about how they should go to battle together and take back this city that had been conquered. So, Jehoshaphat is following in the ways of the Lord an he’s like, “are there prophets of God around here?” So, the prophets come and they’re like…all like, “you got this. God’s gonna demolish the enemy. Go and be victorious. It’s gonna be awesome.” But Jehoshaphat’s like, “is there anybody else? Is there any other prophet around here?” And, so, we come into contact very briefly with a relatively obscure prophet named Micaiah. And, so, Micaiah is sent for and when the envoys who are going to collect him, find him they’re like, “look, all the prophets are unanimous about this. It’s good news for the king. He should go into battle. Make sure your words are the same.” And Micaiah’s kinda like, “I mean…I’m only gonna say what I hear from God. So, I’m not sure what to tell you.” So, Micaiah goes before the Kings, the two Kings, and he’s, you know, “go into battle. It’s gonna be awesome. You’re gonna be amazing. You’re the greatest. Go destroy your enemies”, in sarcasm. But they both know it’s in sarcasm and then Micaiah gives the truth, essentially saying, “Ahab, you’re the king of Israel and if you go into this battle Israel will be a people without a shepherd. In other words, you’re gonna be killed.” Despite this, Ahab and Jehoshaphat went into battle and Ahab was killed. So, Micaiah had to stand before the two different Kings and their entourages and his fellow prophets and refute what they were saying with sobering news, but Micaiah wasn’t sent to appease those around him, which is what he was instructed to do. He was called for to tell the truth and to speak as the mouthpiece of God. And after he spoke it…well…then the ball was in the court of the hearers, right? After he spoke the truth then it was up to Ahab and Jehoshaphat to decide what to do. So, God through Micaiah gave King Ahab advance words from the Lord that would have saved his life if he would have listened. And sometimes we find ourselves maybe wearing the same shoes as Micaiah. It’s difficult to be the only one standing against the crowd and if we find ourselves in that position then we usually feel the pull, right, the seduction to appease, to go with the flow, or if we actually stand and try to speak the truth in love, then we may feel the mockery of people who disagree, dissenters or even the anger of authority. These are things that Micaiah would have been facing. But speaking the truth humbly is always going to be the best choice because we are invited to live true and the truth is we may be the only warning a person gets. And whether we’re listened to or not isn’t going to be the point, right? That would be bringing our own baggage into the whole mix, as if because of us we’re doing something great. The point isn’t that we are affirmed, the point is that we deliver the truth. So, may we consider that as we move through this day and heed this example and speak the truth in love, as we’re instructed in the book of Ephesians, which we will get to in due course.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this story. It could’ve been a completely different story. A prophet was sent for, and You gave Your word and it was disobeyed and lives were lost. Holy Spirit allow us to know that wherever we go the kingdom is going with us and whatever we speak should be words of truth and we don’t always know who we’re speaking to or why. We just may be having a random conversation with somebody, but we need to be speaking the truth as opposed to trying to make ourselves look like we’re a big shot or something to get affirmation. Help us to be humble, help us to be honest, help us to speak the truth in love we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
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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:
Hello DAB family, just calling to remind everybody that for ministry this is the lean time of the year, these are the summer months where donations go down. And, so, I want to challenge everybody. If you haven’t given yet to the Daily Audio Bible, this is a great time of the year to start. You know, maybe about five years ago, six years ago the Lord prompted me to call in and ask 3000 people to give you $10 a month and that would…we would combine and join forces and provide $30,000 of resources to the Daily Audio Bible so that they can continue the mission of spreading the word of God to anyone who wants to listen anywhere in the world any time of day. And, so, I’m asking you to partner, to continue to sew into this ministry, that God would continue to share the goodness of the word of God throughout the earth. So, if you’ve been having that heart…that tug on your heart, do it right now, get online right now, go through the app, whatever you need to do and just set up a monthly withdrawal from your credit card or from your bank account for $10 a month and we’ll do it together. I want to give a shout out to Blind Tony, Annette Allison, Viola in Maryland, Pastor Gene, Slave of Jesus, Jerry who was once a letter carrier, he called in earlier this year, Tony the truck driver and hey Alia from Waxahachie are you still listening? Call in, give us an update. Anyway, so good to call in and just encourage everybody to be a part of this ministry and to partner with the Brian and the Hardin family and providing this great mission that God has. Thank you all for listening this is Delta Alpha Foxtrot calling from the southern Texas front.
Sins from the present tempting the
mind’s eye
sins from the past reluctant to die
calling so softly don’t leave me my love
come back once again be a hand for my glove
I’ll cling to you tightly I’ll shield you from pain
I’ll fill you with gladness as they flow through your veins
but I remember lots wife you called to her too
she listened intently looked back and was through
my past is not your present and we will not renew
because stuck looking stupid is all you can do
I guess you could say I’m the one that got away
thank you dear Lord I most fervently pray
hold to my hand as you lead me away
hold my heart humble make me stronger every day
because I remember lots wife and the words that you said
never look back keep your eyes straight ahead
blindtony1016@gmail.com. Drew from the bay area, haven’t heard from you in a while brother and I miss the sound of your voice. And also, Lee from New Jersey, I’ve been missing your voice to. And I’d like to give a shout out to my brother down under, Mark Reif, hang in there. Know your all my prayer list every day. And once again Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow, keep it flowin’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.
Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Stella from France. I praise the Lord and I think Brian and family for giving us this opportunity to sum to share prayers and praises to our Lord. I pray for all nursing students in Texas, all students undergoing GCSE’s in Europe and the UK, all those who are going to the ___ in France and my son as well. These are tough times but as some __ mother did Lord, I bring these students to You and I pray for wisdom, strength, understanding during lessons and Your guidance to apply all of these efficiently in their exams. I also pray Lord for all our DAB family and for Your guidance and protection in each person, Your blessings on China and her husband, and may God bless You Brian. Amen.
Hello, I don’t want to leave my name, I’d like to keep this anonymous. In January I’ll be married 27 years to a nonbeliever and the closer I feel like I’m getting to God through the Daily Audio Bible I feel like my husband’s slipping farther away. Seems like he’s getting angrier and angrier, not because of this but it just seems like there’s evil within him when I talk to him. I find myself, when I’m in the car with him or sitting across the table for him that I’m asking the Holy Spirit to protect me from whatever’s coming out of his mouth, as if I’m dealing with something other than him. And I have no children and I don’t have any family around. So, I’ve been praying for years that he would be saved. I have some Christian friends also praying that he would be saved. The other day I was trying to tell him about some things that Brian read, and I thought he was listening to me and understanding the stories. And he said, “no, I’m ridiculing you.” And that really hurt. So, I guess what I’m asking for is that, instead of just my friends and I praying that not only will I be protected from whatever is coming out of his mouth and that he would become a Christian eventually, but I would have the support of everybody there at the DAB to help me. The more that pray the more protection I could have. So, thank you.