1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17, Acts 23:11-35, Psalms 3:1-8, Proverbs 18:14-15
Today is the 5th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we kind of sail into…well…toward the weekend. Kinda weird because some of…some of you…are like extended…extended little vacation time, especially I guess…only if you live here in the United States because of the national holiday and all. Nevertheless, no matter what’s going on in your schedule, we have a constant, we have a rhythm, we come together around the global camp fire every day and we allow God’s word to speak and inform us and guide us and direct our steps. So, that’s what we’re here to do and that’s what we will do. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week and yesterday we concluded the book of second Kings. So, first and second Kings, the books of the Kings, which brings us to the books of Chronicles. So, let’s just get ourselves situated here because we’ll be camping out for a little while as we move through that territory.
Introduction to the book of Chronicles:
We’re not actually sure who the author or authors of the Chronicles or who collected them, who they are but there is a Jewish tradition that suggests the priest Ezra was involved and even though there isn’t consensus among scholars, the books were penned about four and a half centuries before the common era, which would make them contemporary with Ezra. So, as we start Chronicles you may be thinking, “wait a second, I’ve heard this story, like didn’t we just hear this story recently?” That’s because first and second Chronicles are going to cover a lot of the same territory that we covered in the books of Samuel and then in the books of Kings. It’s just coming from a different perspective. Chronicles looks at the same stories, the same history, only through the eyes of the priests whereas we’ve been kind of traveling along with the view from the Royals, about the Kings, through the Kings and now we’ll see this thing territory through the eyes of the priests. So, we ended the books of Kings yesterday with the conquest of Judah and subsequent exile to Babylon, which, as we said yesterday basically ended the ancient ear of the promised land. Everyone was displaced and taken in exile. So, the books first and second Chronicles that we’re about to read were written from this exile. So, as we’ve discussed, the northern kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians. Exile was their way of the building their Empire. They were forcing people to assimilate by mixing people groups together so that…so that their individual histories would be forgotten over time and they didn’t really have groups of people that they could just segregate…they had to find new ways of getting along with new people. The books of Chronicles were, at least in part, written to kind of stave that off, to remind the children of Israel who they were and where they came from and who God is. So, the first nine chapters will be covering a bunch of genealogy. And this is kind of one of the parts of the Bible where there’s a bunch of hard to pronounce names and you know your eyes can just glaze over when you’re reading through this and you wonder like, “what’s the purpose? What’s the reason for all of these names in the Bible over and over? But when we understand why the names are there then they tell a very moving story. Put yourself in the position of exile. Your city has been conquered, that would even hard to comprehend your city has been conquered and occupied, families have been indiscriminately split apart, you don’t know where your kids are, you don’t know where your spouse is, you don’t know your parents…like…community groups…you don’t know where your friends are, there displaced and you didn’t realize that that moment where you were separated, that was the last time you were ever going to see them again because it happened so fast. And, so, you spend all of the time that you’re being drug away from your home and drug into a foreign land…like asking questions…anyone who might have any information and maybe you get a scrap of information, “yeah, I think I saw somebody who looked kinda like that. They’re in this other city,” which might be days away. And you don’t even know where any of the cities are because you are in a foreign hand. Like imagine what we’re talking about here. These names that we’re going to read as we move through the first part of first Chronicles, these genealogies, they were knit together so that people can remember where they came from and who they were. So, each name that we’re going to read, behind that name is a person who lived a life who smiled, who laughed, who cried, who ate, who died. And, of course, the genealogies in first Chronicles, this won’t be the last time that the Hebrew people face displacement and hardship. So, we even know of the hardships of World War II on the Hebrew people. So, like you go to any Holocaust Museum and if you…if you walk…if you walk in…there will be likely be a room somewhere with the genealogies, with the name’s. And in some of these museums it’ll be a contemplative, quiet, somber place where a recording simply just recites the names over and over and over without end. They keep being said over and over, even though they’re lost so that we won’t forget what happened and who was lost. This kind of the Bible’s way of doing that. So, let’s not just blow through it. And then the books of Chronicles will show us God’s long-suffering, His kindness towards those who love Him and serve Him and walk with Him, but it’ll show us how things fall apart when we walk away. So, whether that was a story from a thousand years ago, or whether that was something happened last night, our choices are writing the story of our lives and our choices matter as we will see. So, we begin. First Chronicles chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 17.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for another day to allow it to wash into our lives and wash our minds and hearts clean and give us orientation and direction. And as we move into this new territory, the books of Chronicles, as we read the genealogies we invite Your Holy Spirit. And as we continue this journey, this harrowing journey of the apostle Paul who has been spirited away from Jerusalem and now finds himself on the Mediterranean coast of Caesarea, we notice Your hand in it all and we will continue to notice that as…as You protect Paul’s life from those who would so easily have taken it. Come Holy Spirit into what we have read today and what we have contemplated today, continue to lead us on the narrow path that leads to life, continue to guide our steps into all truth we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what is going on around here. So, of course stay tuned and stay connected.
We’re moving into the weekend and the weekend this weekend is the Daily Audio Bible long walk. So, that’s this Sunday, the 7th of July. I’ve been talking about it for a couple of weeks, so you probably know the lay of the land, but once again, the Daily Audio Bible long walk, the 7th of July is our own holiday and it’s a day that we have found over the years and this will be, I think, the 11th one, makes for a fantastic reset of the year. It’s a day on the calendar that we set aside and say, “look…this one day I am not allowing the chaos to rule. Like, there are plenty of distractions and disruptions that fly at me faster than I can possibly deal with. I constantly have anxiety in my belly because I feel like I’m missing something, I’m forgetting something, something important is falling behind, but I don’t know what it is. I’m shutting that off, I’m giving myself permission for one day to go be alone with God. I’m going somewhere beautiful. I’m gonna allow nature to speak. Like, I’m gonna drink in the life that is happening all around me that I am ignoring and that I am missing because I am chasing…what I don’t know.” So, that’s the reason for the long walk. What you do on the long walk is either walk out your front door and go somewhere beautiful or get in your car and drive somewhere beautiful. Doesn’t matter whether you’re driving like for 90 seconds or whether you’re driving for like four hours. It doesn't…wherever your feeling led to…wherever is pulling you…somewhere beautiful, somewhere where nature is left alone and its beautiful, whether that be a nearby park, a national Park, it doesn’t matter. Go somewhere beautiful and spend the day. Get on a trail and walk and when you come to a bench, if you’re tired, sit. And then, walk some more and talk and say what’s in your heart. And you might be like, “I mean…when I pray, you know, 10 minutes…10 minutes and like I don’t have 5 minutes and I’m out of words and then I’m just making up words for another 5 minutes and I don’t want to say.” You’d be surprised at what you have to say when you’re not in a rush. You’d be surprised at what comes up inside of you, the thoughts and the memories and the things that you need to deal with, that you need to invite the Holy Spirit into when you have time. So, go for a long walk and say what you need to say and give space and let God, let the Holy Spirit lead you and say what needs to be said. This is an individual thing, obviously. Like, I do it by myself every year, but what we do ask is, because we’re doing this at the same time on the same day together, even though we’re doing it alone, we’re still doing it together. So, take a picture or shoot a little video of what…wherever it is that you end up, wherever you go, maybe whatever you’re hearing…it doesn't…just share…share your experience, post your pictures to the Facebook page at Daily Audio Bible which is facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. And then we post them up and we have all these windows into all of these lives and all of these places and we get to see the beauty of the earth together and know that we’re in this together and it’s remarkable the things that God speaks about what the next half of the year 2019 should look like if you’re listening. So, make plans for that. Circle it on your calendar, block it off, don’t let anything interfere, give yourself permission for this one day and I we’ll enjoy that together on Sunday.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. I cannot thank you enough. I cannot say the words that would make them big enough to say we wouldn’t do this, we couldn’t do this if we didn’t do this together. Thank you for your partnership as we navigate the summertime. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253, is the number to dial.
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 my beautiful family, I just wanted to let each and every one of you know that you are so sweet and you’re so loved by me and I just thank you so much for calling and leaving your prayer requests, which I listen every single day without fail and I pray and I lift up each and every one of you. Be encouraged, we are serving a great God and he loves each and every one of us and He listens to what’s going on in our life and He answers. I just wanted to say that, Suzanne from Albuquerque, she’s experiencing fear and I want to say to you Suzanne that the Lord spoke 365 times about fear. And, so, don’t fear because fear is not from Him and I’m going to be praying for you. Bob from Arizona, thank you so much for calling and I do pray for you as well and for your daughter. And Julie from Southern California, praying for you my sister. And Kristi, her two dogs, she’s had to put them down and that broke my heart Kristi and I’m lifting you up and hugging you in the Spirit. And I just pray that the Lord will just touch your heart. You’re a sweet woman of God. Vera from Los Angeles, I’m lifting you up my sister. And…
Hello, my DAB family, my name is Mike, I am from Pennsylvania, I’ve never called in before, but I just wanted to ask for prayer for my wife. She’s been dealing with anxiety for some time now and she’s currently, you know, not doing very well. Her doctors are unable to figure out what medication she should be on and just things seem to be getting worse. So, as you can imagine, it’s also, you know, been tough for me as well because I don’t know how to help her. But if you could just pray for her. Her name is Heather and again my name is Mike. I’d appreciate your prayers. Thanks.
Hi everyone, this is Liz, the soccer from Toronto. This message is for Kristi in Georgia/Ohio. We heard your cry for help in the night. You sounded terrified and full of fear. So, the Lord immediately brought to mind to me Psalm 91, which I’ve been praying over you since that call. Verse two calls on you Kristi to say, “He is your refuge and fortress, your God in who you trust.” And if you do that then in verse five it says, “you will not fear the terror of the night” and in verse six “nor the pestilence that stocks in the darkness.” And then immediately after your call Kristi we heard the words “hold on” and that was our brother Blind Tony who was reciting the words to a song he’d been writing, and it was just as if it was just for you. Hold on Kristi. Later in the calls we also heard from Slave of Jesus and I think this is really cool, he’s had some great advice about memorizing verses to bring to mind quickly when you need them. And again, I thought of you. So, use a word as an offensive weapon. It is living and active and when you speak it out it can’t come back void. So, “the Lord is my refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” Say it and He’ll protect you Kristi. We love you, God bless you. Everyone, just quickly before I sign off, I would love it if you could pray for my boy Nathaniel who leaves for university on July 4th. He’s heading down to the University of Alabama Birmingham. So, please pray for a smooth transition for him and a deeply rooted faith and trust in the Lord. And yeah, thanks everyone. Thanks DAB family. And Kristi, hold on. Okay? Bye, for now.
Hi, this is Faye from New Jersey. I’m calling in response to the woman that didn’t leave her name but she said that she’s full of joy, hence the smile, and she says, you know, she should be broken but for God’s love and mercy and grace He’s take care of __ and she was explaining how, you know, her life wasn’t perfect, that she hasn’t spoken to her son in four years or there was no communication with her son for four years and that she hasn’t seen some of her grandchildren and she said that even though, you know, the world would say because her life was broken we should, you know, we should feel sad or that’s my interpretation. But, you know, through the Holy Spirit and through God’s mercy she’s sustained. And I’d like to pray for a reconciliation with her son and so that she’ll be able to…and also that she’ll be able to meet her grandchildren. Again, she didn’t leave a name, but I was just so blessed, and it was just great wisdom for me to hear because I’m going through something and it just kind of encouraged me. Okay. Take care. Bye.