Isaiah 39:1-41:16, Ephesians 1:1-23, Psalms 66:1-20, Proverbs 23:25-28
Today is the 22nd day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we greet the new week, right by…metaphorically anyway…reaching out and twisting the knob and opening the door and walking in. And we’re just inside this new week and it’s all waiting to be revealed. Nothing has happened yet. So, we get this reset at the beginning of every week to think into and pray into the week before…before we go off in our own strength and find ourselves in a ditch by this Saturday. So, welcome to a new week. We’re doing the right thing by inviting God to speak through His word into this week and into this day. And this week we’ll read from the Voice Translation and we’re continuing our journey in Isaiah but when we get to the New Testament we will be beginning Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, known as Ephesians and we’ll talk about that when we get there, but first Isaiah chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 16 today.
Introduction to the book of Ephesians:
Okay. So, yesterday as we concluded the week, we also concluded Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which means that we’re moving forward, which brings us to Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus or the Ephesians. And this letter is a lot different from many of the other letters of the apostle Paul, including Galatians, which we just concluded, which leads a number of biblical scholars to propose that this letter may not have been written by the apostle Paul, but had been written in the apostle Paul’s name. But then there’s other scholars who would argue that it’s the circumstances surrounding Ephesians and the way that these letters had been passed around from church to church to church and, you know, were copied and then passed down to other churches, it would have more to do with the nuances, the language nuances in Ephesians than the writer. So, the apostle Paul spent about three years in Ephesus among the community he’d established as a church and at that time Ephesus was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. So, it’s a port city. It’s a cosmopolitan city. It’s thriving, right? It’s importing all kinds of ideas and culture. And even though Paul wrote in letters specific instructions about specific things, he didn’t write this letter to combat false teaching, He didn’t write it to correct misbehavior in the church. These were people that he knew. He had spent a lot of time among them, which makes this letter even more compelling because what we get an Ephesians, unlike really any other place in the Bible, is the sense of the big big big big picture. These huge vistas of our faith lead us to consider the massive implications of what God has been and continues to do among His people, among us. But what makes this picture so captivating is where Paul wrote from because as we learned in the book of Acts, Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem, right? We remember this whole story. And then he was in Caesarea Marritima and he appealed to Caesar and then he was sent to Rome and it’s from Rome that Paul likely wrote Ephesians, probably somewhere in the vicinity of 60 A.D. So, knowing that Paul is in captivity, he is in prison when he writes this letter, it just makes what we’re reading all the more poignant, right? So, Paul is imprisoned and he’s writing a letter to boast, right, which we’ve seen in other places, or to defend himself against people who have come into the church and are teaching a nuanced gospel. You know, like if he’s speaking with all of this authority saying, “you do this and I will be with you in spirit” and all…like that’s kind of…that’s kind of tough when you are in prison and the entire world that you know is discrediting this teaching altogether, right? So, it’s very easy to go, “well, I’m not sure we need to obey this apostle who is going to be tried by the Emperor. And, so, Paul’s imprisonment probably cast doubt on the validity of his message and would have made it really difficult for many people to consider a life of faith in Jesus, right, because they didn’t want to end up like Paul imprisoned in Rome. But this didn’t discourage Paul from writing beyond circumstance and detailing a spiritual awareness that can’t be touched by prison bars, that can’t be touched by any trial of life at all. And, so, what we’re seeing in Ephesians is Paul pouring out his heart and his hope. There are passages in this letter that could be, maybe even should be pondered for days. I mean, I read the letter to the Ephesians and it’s just mind boggling. Like, if what he’s saying is true, the implications are mind boggling to our lives and it’s tremendously encouraging as it would’ve been intended. And, so, with that we begin. Ephesians chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us into this new week and into this new letter, the letter to the Ephesians. So, as we continue step-by-step, day by day, come Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, allow us to rightfully divide the word of truth as the Scripture says. And we acknowledge, we can’t do that without You. This is Your word and we’re reading it but You will need to quicken our spirits and make us awake and aware to what You are speaking to us. Come, Holy Spirit we pray in this coming week. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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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:
[Native flute playing] Hello…hello DABber’s my name is Cindy I’ve listened a long time. I’m a Native American and that was a native flute and I just wanted to speak peace over my family, peace over our bodies and peace over our minds. And you are a God that gives us a peace that passes all understanding because all around there’s war that’s raging but we trust in your word, we live in your word, we become your word. Help us to become your word Jesus. Holy Spirit, enable us, enable us to walk like you walk, walk with that piece. Would you fill us with your love today, that we would…that people would see that that’s the difference, that that peace and love radiates, that anyone that even that we pass could feel that that would be drawn to you? So, I just thank you for this family, I thank you for your word. You are the word Jesus. Please enlarge my daughter’s heart. Please reconcile us. I trust in you. Amen.
Hi, this is Abby from London it’s my first time calling in. First, I’ve got to say thank you to everybody who makes Daily Audio Bible happen, it’s been a huge encouragement to me in my life. But I really want to reach out to the community for prayer. And I’ve made a big mistake at work, a mistake that could have a 500,000 pounds impact and the worst of it is that it…the buck lies with my boss who’s also a Christian and I’m worried about the trouble that she may get in. I’m really praying for a breakthrough just for God to come in and intervene in this situation and to make that, you know, mistake go away and for us to find something different. I really appreciate the prayer of the community. Thank you.
Hello this is to Taria from Colorado. I just wanted to call and speak to the woman who was getting sober from meth. Good job. You’re doing a good job. I just want to tell you I also had an addiction to meth and I lost almost everything. My kids were taken away from me and I basically had to start from ground zero because I was selling and using for so long. And when I got sober I prayed and held onto the Lord and one day I asked Him to help me to forget all of the hurt and all of the pain I had caused other people and He told me that if he helped me to forget how it I remember what he saved me from. And I just want to give you hope. Since then I’ve been sober for about seven years now and He has restored everything to me. He’s restored my family. I have my kids back. He’s…I’ve got a good job I’ve got a home. And, so, I just want to let you know that there is hope and that if we hold onto Jesus He will restore your life and He will use all of the things that you’ve gone through for His good and for His glory and He will help others. So, just keep leaning on Jesus, keep asking for prayer because that is honestly the only way that I was able to get through it. Also, for the woman who just got released from the hospital after trying to commit suicide. I have been praying for you. I stopped everything and prayed for you and I know that God is going to be your strength during this time. Okay? Thank you. Bye.
Good morning family this is Bridget from New York City. Today is September 18th and I just…no…sorry…September 19th and I just listened to September 18th and wow Brian! Your commentary is just spot on and the conviction is amazing. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for your boldness. Thank you that you question it and you challenge it and I appreciate that. I am very similar to you in always trying to dig deeper and seek more answers. And I think that, you know, yes, just seeking the God that wrote the book, that sent the book, that created us, that loves us, that just wants to have a relationship with us is just…it’s so hard to really grasp and it’s so profound. It doesn’t fit in my brain honestly but I’m thankful, I’m thankful. I’m just thankful for your commentary, I’m thankful for the word, I’m thankful for being sent to…to just to share this truth about this God loves us so much. Guys, if there’s anything you got from this today besides what Brian shared, which was amazing, know that God loves us so much. And I just get this image of Him dancing with us from birth until we leave. You know, I pray this blesses you all. May you all have a great day. God bless you. I love you family. I’m praying for you behind the scenes. Bye.
Good morning everyone, just want to call today and give a big shout out to all the truckers out there. Just want to tell you men that I’m praying for each and every one of you and that the Lord keeps us safe as we travel these highways. You know, it’s not always our driving we’re worried about, it’s the other people that we pass, each and every vehicle. You never know when something can happen. So, I just pray that the Lord keeps us all safe. I just want you all to know that as I drive down these roads myself I pray for y’all daily. So, we all have a blessed day men, and keep that rubber side down. You all in my prayers and I love you guys. Terry the trucker. Talk to you later.