2 Kings 1:1-2:25, Acts 13:42-14:7, Ps 139:1-24, Pr 17:19-21
Today is the 21st day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we reach the exact three-week mark of this month, it’s the 21st. So, we’re crossing over the three-week mark of the sixth month of the year and that lands us at the threshold of the book of second Kings, which we’ll begin today. So, we concluded the book of first Kings yesterday, which brings us to the threshold of the book of second Kings, but we’ll just be picking up where we left off.
Introduction to the book of second Kings:
First and second Kings were one continuous document. Actually, first and second Samuel and first and second Kings were all one document at one point. These have been broken up over time and different eras for ease of use and ease of finding things. So, there’s nothing specifically that we need to go over as we move into second Kings as far as the territory. We’re simply picking up where we left off and moving forward. That’s always a good thing. It’s always a good thing to reach these little lines of demarcation, these little accomplishments. So, we’ve accomplished first Kings and here we go. We’ll launch into second Kings. We’ll be reading the first two chapters and we’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week.
Commentary:
Okay. So, as we began the book of second Kings, Elijah the prophet was taken into heaven by a whirlwind. And, so, most of our interaction with Elijah happened in first Kings, and now his successor Elisha is becoming the prominent prophetic voice throughout the land and we’ll follow that in the coming days.
Then in the book of Acts we are on a journey with the apostle Paul. So, the first part of the book of Acts really allowed us to get into the story of the apostle Peter and then we experienced Saul’s conversion and how he became the apostle Paul and know we’re accompanying him on his first missionary journey. And we’ll notice this, not only through the book of Acts, but also through the writings of the apostle Paul, that the gospel was a lightning rod and a lot of the animosity was focused upon Paul because he’s bringing the message, but it’s kind of like what we were talking about yesterday with the prophet Micaiah and Ahab and Jehoshaphat and how Micaiah came and delivered the truth, the King, Ahab, didn’t listen to it and he lost his life but he was warned. The truth causes a reaction, right? It can be rejected, or it can be accepted, but it causes a reaction and we’re seeing this lightning rod that the gospel has become and Paul continually facing angry mobs for one reason or another, but behind all of that, all of the animosity, all the jealousy, all the inciting, people against them, many hearts were being awakened. And those awakened hearts, they awakened other hearts and there were more and more followers of Jesus everywhere that Paul went and we’ll continue to see that.
And then in Psalms today…in Psalms today…one of my favorite passages of Scripture in the entire world. We’re basically asked to consider where is God not. So, to the Psalm says, “if I go up to heaven, you are there. If I go down to the grave you’re there. If I ride on the wings of the morning, if I’m on the other side of the ocean, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. And we could go on rereading that Psalm. Memorizing that Psalm is so orienting. Like, when you feel lost in the dark, nothing’s making sense, everything’s been tipped upside down, just reading this Psalm is reorienting. There is nowhere you can go to escape God’s presence. So, no matter what’s going on as we move through this week, remember, God will be present in every thought and conversation and action that you take no matter where you are, no matter what’s going on. We just must become aware of His presence. He’s not distant, He’s near. And absolutely, we should be comforted by that, but we should also be sobered by it because it invites the question, “if there is nowhere that I can flee from God’s presence what would I rather not God hear me say or see me do?” And that can be quite a check and that can stop us and we can thank God for that, because anything that we would rather God not witness, those are the things that are seducing us away from God, and those are the things that are clouding us from being aware of His presence in our lives.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. We invite You to begin to reveal these things. As we go through this day, help us to observe ourselves, help us to be aware, there is nowhere that we can flee from Your presence, and may we find comfort in that, but may it also be a catalyst to help us observe ourselves and the things that we would try to hide from You. Those are the things that are pulling us away from You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
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And we have been sharing the good news of the global camp fire Family Reunion that’s coming up here in a couple months, August 31st through September 2nd. That’s Labor Day weekend here in the United States, which makes a long weekend and a great time to come to the rolling hills of Tennessee and come together and get to know each other by more than voice. We’ve been taking this journey together for so long now, all of these days that we’ve made it this far into the year and we have some territory to go before the Family Reunion, so it’ll be nice to just, you know, go somewhere where everything is held in common, like we’re all on the same page and we’re all moving in the same direction, and we know each other by heart. So, if that appeals to you, and I hope it does, come on out here to Nashville by the lake and we will have a splendid time together. There’s plenty to do, plenty to do for you and your family. So, you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Look for Family Reunion 2019 and we will look forward to seeing you here in 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, this is Natalie from Alabama. I’ve never called before but I enjoy listening to the Daily Audio Bible. I was actually thinking about calling in today because I have anxiety and depression and my anxiety is making me pretty much incapable of doing a lot of things. I can’t even serve at church because I couldn’t stop crying. But then I heard the prayer request line today, Doug called in and he had the exact same problem and he’s in Alabama and I was just so encouraged to know that I wasn’t alone in feeling this crazy. And I really hope that Doug gets the help he needs and that I get the help I need. And if you all could just pray for both of us because it’s…it’s a debilitating thing sometimes and I…I feel like I’m pushing away people that care for me and I need them, but I keep pushing them away. So, that’s not good. Satan’s trying to isolate me, and it sounds like he’s trying to isolate Doug too. So, thank you very much family for praying for us and I’ll pray for Doug and all of you and I hope God gives y’all a great week and thank you very much. I love you. Bye.
Hi this is Jane Ruth in Nebraska and I just wanted to say how totally grateful I am to the Daily Audio Bible and to the changes that are already happening in my life just because I’m being more consistent. First of all, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much to everyone that calls in, to everyone that prays, to everyone that answers a prayer, and everyone that answers a praise. I wanted to say something about addiction but a solution that I have found in my years of recovery is the five D’s. And this is something that I’ve learned. I have five fingers, praise God, and I use the is in every urge that I try to deal with. Distract, Delay, Discuss, Deep breathe, and Drink water. Distract, Delay, Discuss, Deep breathe, and Drink water. Whenever I have an urge, one of those things or more will help. I’ve been praying for every one of the requests that I hear and crocheting. And I’ve been crocheting shawls even though I have a tremor and I’ve been on disability for a long time. And praise God, I just keep making shawls and it’s just been an incredible gift. I can be reached at Jane Ruth…no…I can be reached at 4L247365@gmail.com.
Hey DAB brothers and sisters I just wanted you all to pray with me today for my pastor. He’s going through some stuff right now. He was planning a trip to go see his sick mom in Israel and he found out that his I was having some problems. So, he went to get it checked out. Turns out he’s got a detached retina which they won’t let him fly with. So, he’s getting surgery for that today and then overnight last night he found out that his mother actually passed away. So, just heavy for him right now. Yeah. Just pray for his healing physically. He is still planning to go. So, in addition to just, you know, him and his family as they’re trying to deal with the loss of his mother, I also want to pray for an opportunity for him to talk with his father about all of this. He’s got a bit of a tough relationship with him. And, so, I just pray for an opportunity there and for God to be in the situation for all of them. So, pray with me about him. We love him, he’s a great friend, he’s a great pastor, and a great man of God. So, thank you all for that. Appreciate it.
Hello, this is Zach calling in from North Carolina. I called for my wife Kelly and I to be able to have a child a few months ago. We’re doing the IVF for a few years. Our child was born on June 10th and his name is Orson Scott and he was born with multiple heart defects and is currently on a heart and lung machine at Duke Hospital in North Carolina. He was born at UNC Hospital and airlifted within 15 hours of birth to Duke. I’m asking for prayers for my son Orson, that he’s able to come off the heart and lung machine and then be able to come home and that the doctors and surgeons are able to repair everything. And also, pray for my wife Kelly and our two other children as they go through this and this stressful time with my son in the hospital, my baby boy Orson, just keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you so much. Amen.