2 Kings 22:3-23:30, Acts 21:37-22:16, Psalms 1:1-6, Proverbs 18:11-12
Today is the 3rd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am, of course, Brian like every day. It’s great to be here with you, yeah, fully getting ourselves immersed into this seventh month of the year. Tomorrow’s a big holiday, the 4th of July, at least for those of us who live in the United States. It’s Independence Day for us. It’s Jill’s birthday as well. So, we’re looking forward to that, but let’s not get out of ourselves. That’s tomorrow and today is happening right now. And, so, we’ll take the next step forward in our journey through the book of second Kings. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Second Kings chapter 22 verse 3 through 23 verse 30.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we’ve been through some pretty evil kings in the book of second Kings in succession. Some even were sacrificing their children, like human sacrifice in Hinnom Valley which is which is in Jerusalem, but that we encountered the reformer, a king like no other named Josiah in second Kings today. So, he was repairing the temple when they found, the priest Hilkiah found an ancient scroll, which was the covenant between God and Israel. And, so, this was read to the king and once the king heard these words, he understood that they had strayed far from God then he was relentless in his pursuit of cleansing, like, restoring the land. So, he doesn’t take up a lot of space in the Scriptures, but the Scriptures do indicate that there was no king like him.
So, then in the in the book of Acts we’re in the same city, we’re in Jerusalem, we’re just there centuries later and we are seeing come to fruition all that Paul’s friends had been telling him all along his journey back to Jerusalem. He’s caused a riot, people are trying to kill him, Roman soldiers have swept in and rescued him from death, and he wants to talk to them. And, so, we began that today.
And we also started…started our second trip to the Psalms this year, which we do every year. It’s interesting how we get to this point in the year and as we hear the words of the Psalms, they have different…like…we’re used to their cadence and rhythm and what they’re telling us. So, as we go through the second time, so rich, so meaningful, and we’re reminded that if we will actually take the time to meditate on God’s word and His ways in our lives we’ll be like trees planted next to a river bank, we won’t wither, we’ll be fruitful and prosperous and strong, which is what we want. So, the instruction there is to meditate upon God’s word, allowing it to instruct our ways.
And then from Proverbs we got some practical wisdom that we have to hold onto, “pride goes before destruction, humility precedes honor”. So, what we’re basically talking about here is arrogance, right? Arrogance that lifts us above, elevates us above another person. Haughtiness can be seen in the way that we demand somebody’s esteem by dominating them. So, like we’ve said so many times, if we could begin to observe, if we could watch, if we could catch ourselves doing these things we’ll see all kinds of weeds that are growing in our lives, but there supposed to be identified, like they’re not supposed to be ignored. They’re supposed to be seen and identified and pulled because they’re leading us on a path that results in destruction. On the other hand, the proverb tells us that being humble before our brothers and sisters, right, the opposite of the arrogance and contempt and haughtiness. It’s our humility that actually elevates us to the place of respect and honor that we keep demanding. So, in other words, if you want to be respected and be respectable and respect-full. So, demanding respect is only gonna make enemies and is only gonna destroy us in the end.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for the many things that You have shared with us through Your word today as we continue to move in and through the second half of the year. Show us how to be humble. Show us how to stop dominating people. Show us how to be comfortable in who You’ve created us to be. I pray this in the name of Jesus our savior. Amen.
Announcements:
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Coming up pretty immediately on the calendar is the seventh day of July, just a few days from now on Sunday, this is the Daily Audio Bible long walk, a day that it is our own internal, our own community holiday and a beautiful one it is because it’s a day that we set aside to go for a long walk with God, to actually have a day where all of the obligations and responsibilities, all of the chaos, all of the anxiety, all of the things that bring on the depression, like all of this stuff that plagues us, we just make a decision and say, I’m taking a day off from that and I am running to my Father because none of that is gonna make any sense any other way and I’m not living the second half of the year like that. So, we go for a long walk with the one who loves us more than anyone ever will, with the one who laid his life down on our behalf. Yeah. We go somewhere beautiful, somewhere beautiful in nature, the creation of our God and we be still and know that He is God and we be still and listen for the still small voice and we go for a long walk and we share everything that’s in our hearts. Like, we just never have the time and we never will if we don’t make the time, which is the point of the Daily Audio Bible long walk. We’re just making the time to go pour our hearts out and to listen as God speaks His heart to us about what the second half of the year is supposed to look like. So, make plans for that. That’s on Sunday. You may be like, “well…make plans…like how do…like how do you do it?” Basically, you walk out your front door and you either get in your car or you walk from there to somewhere beautiful, whether that’s a park…I mean it doesn’t matter whether you’re five minutes away from where you want to be, or whether you’re five hours away from where you want to be, just go somewhere that compels you, somewhere that’s beautiful and go for a long walk. So, that’s very individual, but it’s communal when you know that all over the world your brothers and sisters are doing this. And then we just ask, hey wherever it is that you are, you’re probably gonna have your phone, so take a picture. Like, you probably have your phone and you probably should but you probably should stay off of it, right? You can go to a park somewhere in nature and blow the entire day on social media…like say nothing to God and that’s probably not gonna be as beneficial though. But anyway wherever you go, take a picture or shoot a little video. Post it back to the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page, facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. And we’ll get those and we’ll post them up and we’ll have a little mosaic. All kinds of windows begin to open up into each other’s lives, and we just get to see the beauty of the world in one day. So, it's…it’s amazing, I’m looking forward to it, I need it very badly. Actually I’m very much looking forward to it. So, make plans for that this Sunday.
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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 Jesse from Washington. I called in a couple a years ago and a bunch of people prayed for me. I was going through…I hadn’t even gone through a divorce with my wife. Lisa the Encourager prayed for me, a few other people. There was a bunch of stuff going on with my employees, my workplace, my family. My wife and I ended up getting a divorce, but I just wanted to call in. I’m like two months behind and I heard people keep talking about the Daily Prayer and how important it is. And I just want this to be a testimony, my testimony. It changed my life. Every day putting on the armor changed my life. Like, you have to do it or at least try it and then see what happens when you don’t put on your armor every day. It’s just…it’s a life-changing thing. It’s restored my marriage, it’s restored my family, it’s restored my business. Like, my wife and I work together in our own business that we built from nothing with no experience. And part of that stress caused us to get divorced and the Daily Audio Bible brought us back together, like finding a church home, daily prayer, Brian. Like all of this stuff, it’s taken a couple of years, but now we have another baby and another baby on the way. It’s…the best thing you could possibly do besides listening to this is to put on your armor every day. And the restoration…I don’t know what else to say other than thank you all. As pastor Genne would say, “my beautiful family.” Thank you all. I love you all. It changed my life, it’s changed the people around me’s life and we’re…my wife and I are going to be better people for our kids because of this. So, I should have written something down but I think that was the gist of it. Love you all. Thank you all. Pray for you all.
Hi DAB family, this is Scott from Tennessee. I have been putting off calling for a while, but I need prayer. There are a couple things I wanted to ask for. More immediate and pressing, I wanted to ask for prayer for my mental and physical health. I have been experiencing really intense depression and anxiety recently as well as confusion and difficulty focusing. I don’t fully understand what it’s from but I’m trying to stay grounded and I’m looking for help. And then, I’ve had food related issues that I’ve been struggling with for a while, which I think may tie in somehow to the mental stuff. And then I’ve also been struggling financially, working but having difficulty making ends meet. Seems like there’s been things just kind of cropping up all over the place that have made it difficult. Anyways, thank you all for your prayers and I enjoy listening every day. Take care. Bye.
Hey this is Jerry calling from Duluth Minnesota. And now this is the Jesus carrier from my familiar bus stop that I carried newspapers for many years listening to the DAB. Calling about three different things here. Don’t know if I’ll get all of the time in __. First of all, God has really impressed upon me how important it is to support that which is feeding me, that which is life to me and that’s the DAB family. You all have been such an incredible blessing and Brian, your faithfulness day by day step-by-step. And, so, God has impressed me to give on a monthly basis and it’s so easy to do. Set it up one time and it’s done. And I pray God would…how much do you want to give? What do you want me to give? And to be honest with you, I have nothing to give right now. My revenue is down $3000 a month from what it was a year and a half ago and it’s as a self-employed social media marketer. But God impressed me that He wanted me to $73 a month, seven is the number of perfection, seven is the years that He sustained me through my self-employment, that journey, and three for the number of the Trinity - the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit __ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three people, the three leaders of Israel in David’s kingdom there. So, $73. Don’t have it but I’m gonna trust God for it. I’m not giving to get. I’m giving because that’s what God wants me to do. So, please, pray that what does God want you to do to support this spiritual nurturing. God has been so good to us…
Good morning Daily Audio Bible, Loralee in Boynton. Let’s pray. Giver of all, another day has started, and we take our place beneath our great Redeemer’s cross. Lord, healing streams continually flow where balm is poured into every wound, where we’re washed in the all cleansing blood confident that You see us in Christ. Help us to pick up the loins of our minds, to quicken our steps, to speed as if each moment where our last, that our life be joy, our death glory. We thank You for the temporary blessings of this world - the fresh air, the sunlight, the food that renews our strength, the garments that clothe us, the sleep that gives rest, the canopy of the stars at night, the summer breeze, the flowing streams, the relationships of family and friends. Our cup runs over. Help us appreciate these daily mercies. Your hand gives blessings, Your power turns away evil. We bring our tribute of thanks for Your graces, the full warmth of faith, the presence of Your spirit, the strength of Your restraining will. Blessed be our Father and Lord. Thank you for Daily Audio Bible family, Lord. Brian, Jill God bless you. God bless everyone. I love you. Have a great day.