09/14/2019 DAB Transcript

Isaiah 15:1-18:7, Galatians 1:1-24, Psalms 58:1-11, Proverbs 23:12

Today is the 14th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we close another week together. And even as we close this week, we will be opening a new letter in the New Testament when we get there, the book of Galatians or the letter to the church at Galatia and we’ll talk about that when we get there. But before we get there we need to read from the Old Testament and working our way into and through the book of Isaiah. Today, Isaiah chapters 15 through 18. And we have been reading from the English Standard Version this week.

Introduction to the book of Galatians:

Okay. So, as we talked about a few minutes ago, we’re about to begin another of the apostle Paul’s letters. This letter is to the church at Galatia. It is known as Galatians. And, so, in Paul’s time, Galatia was a province of the Roman Empire, just like Syria was. So, Syria included all of the territories that encompassed the ancient promised land including Jerusalem. Galatia was also a province of the Roman Empire and the area is now in modern-day Turkey. So, we know from the New Testament of five different churches in the province of Galatia that were established during the first missionary journey that Paul took. And these were Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. And since the letter is to the churches in Galatia then we can pretty safely assume that’s who Paul was writing to, these faith communities in these five different cities. As we get going we’ll see pretty quick why Galatians is such an important document in New Testament theology, but we’ll also notice that some of the same things that Paul was dealing with in second Corinthians, The letter, the letter that we just finished, these things were also going on in Galatia. People were visiting the churches behind Paul. They were teaching what Paul considered to be something nuanced or another gospel. In this case the Galatians were being told that they basically needed to convert to Judaism, they needed to do obey Jewish customs and practices in order to follow Jesus, which included male circumcision and the obedience and adherence to the Mosaic law, which is something that Paul stood pretty aggressively against because in his view, Jesus had fulfilled the law and a new covenant had been initiated. And obviously what we’re talking about here are issues that were stirring about as the church was being formed. This particular issue about whether a person needed to become Jewish before they could become a follower of Jesus or whether a Gentile could become a follower of Jesus and be accepted into the family of faith without having to convert to Judaism first, these were the issues and these issues were discussed, debated, and decided on at the Jerusalem Council that we read about in the in the book of Acts. So, we’re not clear whether Paul wrote Galatians before that counsel, the Jerusalem Council happened, or after it happened. Some think that Paul wrote the letter before the Council. And if that’s the case then visitors to the Galatian churches were undermining Paul’s message in attempt to align the teachings of Paul with those of the Jerusalem church, which is how they felt before they had wrestled with the issue. And then Paul wasn’t happy about it, which is why he wrote about it, which would make Galatians one of the very earliest Christian writings that have been preserved and maybe even Paul’s first letter to any church. Of course, when you go into that territory it’s conjecture. Like, there’s just no way to know all of this stuff for sure but these are likely scenarios as far as that the background. If Paul wrote Galatians after that counsel had happened, then Paul was using the letter to absolutely forcefully reiterate what the counselor decided because not everybody was on board with that. But the Jerusalem Council decided that non-Jewish believers or Gentiles didn’t need to convert to Judaism in order to be saved. So, logically it would seem that Paul would use the document issued from Jerusalem and then preserved later in the book of Acts to support his argument if this were the case. But like I just said, this is something…these kinds of things have been debated for centuries. What Paul’s trying to do with this letter to the Galatians and these underlying issues that prompted him writing this letter were pretty big deals at the time for lots of reasons. On the one hand Judaism, it was an exclusive religion for Hebrew people. So, allowing faith in a Jewish rabbi named Jesus…we all think differently of Jesus…but at the time this is kind of the thought. Allowing this to happen without the cover of the Jewish religion, Judaism, this basically meant that everybody could come to God, the Hebrew God, through Jesus but not through Judaism and everybody in the whole world could come to Jesus. We don’t even think about that stuff now. This is…it’s just taken for granted…like we’re not even on that page. But this was a very big page, a very important page in the formation of the church and you kinda see the rub, right? You can kinda see why there was…why there were tension…why there was tension. Once the decision had been made, once the Council had been decided, once it had been observed that God was in fact reaching to Gentile people without them converting to Judaism…like…without the religious baggage, that people were coming to God, then this made a very big distinction because it clearly separated what we now know as Christianity from Judaism, which at least for the early church, especially the Hebrew believers, brought persecution from the Jews and the Romans. But it’s not just this issue that we’ll find in the book of Galatians. The gospel of freedom, the story of grace, the unpacking of justification through faith, there all in this little letter. And, so, off we go. Galatians chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another week in Your word. We thank You for all that it does inside of us, the way that it shapes us, the way that it challenges us, the way that it encourages us, the way that a comforts us. We are grateful. And, so, as we seal another week and it becomes a part of our history, a part of our past, we thank You for what we’ve experienced in Your word and we look forward to all that You have left for us as we continue the journey through this year. Come Holy Spirit would pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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And right now we’re in the process of just revealing and offering the new Global Campfire resources, a number of different products that are lifestyle, that are things that we would use in our lives but are being purposed into helping us remember that…that we’re not alone on this journey, not only in the journey through life but on the journey through the Bible. We’re in this together. And so, as I mentioned a couple days ago, we worked and created a logo for the Global Campfire that represents the community aspects of what we do here. And we created a number of things that we talked about - the Global Campfire candle that I love because it smells like a campfire, like it’s so evocative of a Campfire. And we worked on getting that scent just right with a perfumer. And, yeah, really really happy. It’s very, very unique and I love that. And then the Cowboy Cup, the sort of tin, the old-fashioned sort of tin cup style. We have…it’s beautiful…I love it. It’s just so retro, I love it. And the pop sockets, the Global Campfire pop sockets, Global Campfire stickers. Yeah, just check it out at the Daily Audio Bible Shop. And there’s a whole Global Campfire section in the Daily Audio Shop. So, you can check that out at dailyaudiobible.com or you can check it out in the app if you press the little Drawer icon that lives…that lives kind of in the upper left-hand corner. That’ll get you there as well. So, check these things. We worked really, really hard at trying to create an identity for, yeah, for the community, for what it is that we are in each other’s lives, as virtual as it might be, what we are. And, so, those resources are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage. I can’t thank you enough. I can’t thank you enough for your partnership. Thank you. 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 you can press the Hotline button in the app and just start talking or there are a number of numbers that you can dial using your phone, depending on where you are in the world. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is a number to call. If you’re in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB listeners. I’m a recent listener and I just wanted to pray for the marriages that are on the Prayer Wall. I just pray God that You may help these husbands and these wives to come before You and to recognize Lord that first and foremost they are loved by You. I just pray Lord that that love from You may strengthen them in their marriages. May You Lord be in the work of their lives and may You work redemption and reconciliation in their lives. Father God You’ve offered us forgiveness so that we may forgive others. Father God You’ve offered us love so that we may love others. Father God You have offered us grace and mercy that is abundant and new every morning so that we may offer that to our loved ones, to our husbands, and to our wives and to our children. I just pray for all the brokenness in the relationships in this world and I pray Lord that You may guide and heal, that You may guide and redeem and that You may guide and mend and that You may guide Lord all of the thoughts and the feelings of our hearts and minds so that these relationships may be mended. Lord God I pray for whole families. I pray for redeemed families. I pray for families on the track of being redeemed and being reconciled with each other. God, I know that You are able to do this because You have done it in my own family. I pray these things in Your Son’s holy name. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community my name is Lillian I’m calling from Jerusalem, Tanzania in east Africa. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for seven years and this is my second time calling. Family, I’m calling because I need prayers. I’m praying for each and every one of you each and every day when you’re calling and this time, I feel like…I am being a bit I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and I need prayers for my family, myself, my finances. I think I am kind of…not really losing hope but desperate. And please remember me in your prayers. Pray for financial breakthrough and also for wisdom to tackle all the different problems that I’m facing in my life at the moment. Brian and Jill, thank you so much for this wonderful podcast. Love you guys and God bless each and every one of you. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible I’m calling in to pray for the gentleman who called about his brother being released from prison. Heavenly Father make this man’s brother one of our own brothers. Lord, please protect him as he comes out of a life filled with much violence but much redemption. There are many people who meet You while they are incarcerated, and their lives are turned for Your kingdom purposes and You…when the right time comes will call Your own to Yourself. So, Lord I pray that this man is Yours, that You have Your sights on him, that You will protect him and call him by name, that we agree with his brother that he turned from his sin and repent and turn to You. He’s already paid time by the law but we know You’ve forgiven law that we could ever break for all time. And Lord I’m praying for Eric Lucas and I want to ask that the Daily Audio Bible pray for Eric Lucas. He sent in his appeal and he is also spent the largest chunk of his life in prison. He’s now 36. I think he’s been in there for 15 years. So, Lord he has sent an appeal in. We pray that You open the eyes of the right person to read this appeal to have mercy for Eric has a wife waiting and a stepdaughter to care for and to lead and he’s been doing that already from prison. Lord, grant him free access to this world and let him glorify You with his life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What’s up Daily Audio Bible this is Asia from Chicago. I just finished listening to Olea who called in. She’s the one who’s a recovering meth addict and I just want to say, “girl, get it.” That is so awesome that you are 17 days sober. That’s huge, you’re encroaching on three weeks. So, probably by the time you hear this it’ll be three weeks which is so cool because then you’ll almost be a month sober which is crazy. So, I hope you’re going to NA meetings or whatever resource that helps you with just community, but I love you so much and I’m praying for you and you’re so inspiring and you’re so strong and yeah, thank you for calling in and giving us your name and just giving us an update. I actually want to ask for prayer as well. So, a couple weeks ago I was sexually assaulted and I was almost raped and it was super traumatic for me, it was from a guy that I was really good friends with and trusted and I just couldn’t believe that like…it’s just…it’s just been hard because like of course I’ve been…I’ve like lost something from my body and my heart but also I’ve lost a friend and it’s just been very confusing. I’m going to counseling and it’s helping a lot but I have been struggling with just deep feelings of emptiness and depression and I have really good friends so it’s been manageable but yeah, if you could just lift me up in prayer, I’d really appreciate it. This is Asia from Chicago. Love you guys.

I’m calling today to request prayers for homeless people across the USA. For one homeless man in particular Leroy near a gas station in Kentucky. I recently drove over 3000 miles across eight states, and I was just reminded how bad this problem is in the US. __ in my mind more than the others. First in a beautiful big city of Texas. The main street with filled with a combination of successful professionals walking the sidewalks and homeless people who lived on the sidewalks. One seeing this forced me to stop and stare for just a second with a young homeless woman with no shoes and dirty feet sweeping out a sidewalk as the professionals walked past her. There was so many people in the sidewalks I felt hopeless. But this city is not unique. I know this. A more positive encountered occurred a few days later just north of Elizabethtown Kentucky. On my way into a gas station I drove past a homeless man with a sign that said, “homeless 70 years old need help.” I’m embarrassed to admit that I first considered doing nothing as it’s illegal in some places to “so call” encourage them. But I did decide to buy him a sandwich and a bottle of water. So, on my way out I stopped, and I gave him the sandwich and the water and said, “I’ll pray for you.” He was really excited to hear this and he said, “thank you. my name is Leroy. Please use my name when you pray for me.” And, so, I told him that I will. So, first let me ask all of you to pray for Leroy and I want to thank Leroy for educating me. Next let me ask you all to pray for all the other homeless in our country because in my mind __ be represented __. And also, please consider what you might do to give to each one of them. Brian, thank you so much for this venue thank you Daily Audio Bible family for all that you do for me __. God bless

Hi, it’s Sherry from Kansas. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that came to the family reunion and I enjoyed meeting so many of you. I had the privilege of spending time with Terry the Trucker and his wife Jackie and then spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon sitting with several ladies and just talking about things. And it was great it was awesome, but I want to say thank you to Helen and Mike for their prayers and their words and say thank you to Cherry and Greg for giving me the opportunity to be able to go and to be there. And so glad I got too, and I’ve got lots of wonderful pictures to look at whenever I want to remember the good things that happened. So, anyway thanks to Brian and for everyone. I believe it was Michael, the gentleman that arranged everything. It was awesome and I’m glad to be home, but I wouldn’t have missed the trip for the world. Thanks so much. God bless you all. Bye-bye.