Jeremiah 48:1-49:22, 2 Timothy 4:1-22, Psalms 95:1-96:13, Proverbs 26:9-12
Today is the 25th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you to take the next step forward in the journey that we embarked on 298 days ago. So, we are well on our way, obviously, in this journey, but we have not completed this journey and there is much for us today and every day that stretches out in front of us. So, we’ll go back into the New Testament into the book of Jeremiah, which we have spent considerable time working our way through and we’re…well…we’re on the home stretch of Jeremiah and we get to the New Testament we will conclude Paul’s second letter, personal letter, pastoral letter to Timothy. But first, Jeremiah chapter 48 verse 1 through 49 verse 22. And we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week.
Commentary:
Okay. These words, “May the Lord be with your spirit and may his grace be with all of you.” Those are the final written words of the apostle Paul to Timothy, or for that matter to anybody that we know of. And according to tradition, Paul was executed shortly after…after writing this. So, in the…I mean we should just like take a moment right there, just to honor the fact that Paul who was responsible for…for two thirds of the New Testament, he gave his life for what he believed in. And in the final paragraphs of this final letter, Paul told Timothy to keep his mind clear and to be ready to share the good news of the gospel regardless of the opposition that might come. And if suffering and persecution did come, Timothy was to face it without fear, to be unafraid. And if people abandoned him in search of whatever they wanted to hear, Timothy was to just keep going, right, just keep…keep telling the truth and caring for those that God entrusted him to as a pastor. And after he gave that counsel and instruction he told Timothy that his life was already being poured out as a drink offering or as an offering to God, the time for him to die was…was near and that he had fought the good fight and that he had finished the race, and that he had remained faithful in all of it. In other words, he had endured until the end. And this, “I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I’ve remained faithful or I’ve kept the faith”, that’s famous, like super famous. But when we understand like this is kind of a melancholy moment….like when we usually quote that verse, “I fought the good fight, I finished…”…like…it’s like something to encourage us to rally us to press on but there’s melancholy in this because Paul has actually finished the race and is…waiting…is waiting to be killed. And, so, the impact of those words…they should actually slow us down, not just breeze by this famous passage. Much respect should be given. Should reset our expectations as followers of Christ because it’s awesome to surround ourselves with words of, you know, encouragement and overcoming and victory. And that’s fine and that’s great but we usually don’t consider the fact that actually to be victorious is to lose. Actually, to win is to surrender. Actually, to truly live is to die to ourselves. This is what Paul called the foolishness of the gospel. So, just like Jesus, Paul…Paul came to the end of his life facing the abandonment of those were close to him and complete and total injustice. And that’s a pretty stark reality and it’s an important one because, right, we’re gauging our well-being with God on how blessed we feel. But…but the reality of New Testament teaches us over and over and over…like we can’t escape it…that we must learn to endure whatever’s gonna come and not everything that comes is gonna be enjoyable. So, we’re…we are certainly blessed beyond…really…beyond what we even understand at all because we’ve been given the gift of eternal life. But blessing isn’t the only reason we exist. Like, we’re here to know and be known by God and we’re here to participate in the rescue of humanity as the hands and feet of Jesus, as the ongoing work of Christ in this world. And this…this was Paul’s message…this was Paul’s mission. His life revealed just how opposed that mission was and…and what it looks like to endure and hold on to hope until the end even when you’re being poured out as an offering, which is actually quite vivid imagery for Paul. And we’re not done with Paul. Like, we’ll continue to read letters but we’re just at this final one. And we just need to remember, Paul, this guy we’ve been traveling with since we met him as Saul the Pharisee in the book of Acts, he spent his last days in a frigid dungeon and winters coming on and it’s dank and damp and he’s sickly and everyone’s abandoned him, and he’s begging Timothy to come as soon as he could and bring him his coat, right? So, it's…it's…I don’t know…it’s just one of the saddest little pieces of Scripture. Melancholy is probably more the better word as we just pass it each year as he’s just wanting his coat and his books and the papers that he had and it’s just kind of heartbreaking. And…and then one day, soldiers came and…and that was it. Paul died for his faith in Jesus. And, I mean, how do we look at that as a victory? Like we’ve been traveling around with Paul and it all comes down to this, he’s going to be in the dank dungeon waiting for someone to show up to cut off his head? Like, how is that a victory. Is it…is it because Paul would later become a saint and be recognized as a saint in the church or is it a victory because the stuff he wrote down ended up in the Bible? Those are great accolades but as we…as we noticed so far through Paul’s writings, accolades weren’t his ambition, that’s not what he was after. In fact, when he had to stand up for himself and quote unquote brag as we remember in other letters, he didn’t like any of that. It had been an honor to serve Jesus. He had fought the good fight. He had done his best. Nothing was held back. He had finished the race. He had accomplished what he had been allowed to do in the service of God and he…he kept his faith and he remained true until the end. And Paul was convinced, which should…which should certainly nurture and increase our hope and our faith, he was utterly convinced that him dying physically wasn’t the end of anything and that he would leave the dungeon and be eternally victorious. And that’s a…I mean that posture from somebody who’s condemned to die, that should shape us, that should stop us. That should halt us and we should live our lives accordingly as we move forward. To fight the good fight is gonna take endurance, right? Even if you’re…even if you’re a prize fighter, which is a metaphor that Paul uses, even if you are a prize fighter, a prize fighter still takes punches even if they win, right? They still get beaten even if they win. And to finish the race is gonna require endurance on our part. And, so, we need to not be deceived. Keep…keeping the faith is gonna require our endurance. Paul endured until the end. And, so, if we got nothing else from Paul than that, we have to acknowledge that he believed what he taught enough to die, like to die for it. He followed the example of Jesus and endured until the end. And as..as we’ve already begun to mention this theme is gonna continue in the New Testament. And, so, let’s use this moment where we have this kind of melancholy ending to Paul’s life and this kinda bittersweet last letter. Let’s consider the way Paul was enduring but let’s also consider the ways that we are enduring and…and the ways that we’re not because our convictions are gonna be challenged in this area as we as we continue our journey through the Bible.
Prayer:
Come Holy Spirit into that. We invite You into that. How are we enduring and how are we not enduring? How are we finishing the race and keeping the faith and how are we not? Because in the life of our Savior and in the life of so many of the apostles, including the apostle Paul, we see that what endurance meant was that they stayed true until their final breath and their final breath was taken from them forcibly. And, so, we honor that, and we take it as an example of the path that we are walking. And, so, Holy Spirit we ask that You would continue to lead us into all truth and continue to lead us on the narrow path that leads to life and continue teaching us what endurance looks like. We pray this 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:
Hi this is Chandra from Maryland, today is October 16th, 2019. I was calling because I really want to pray for our children. I want to pray for our children because a lot of people are concerned about the amount of suicide and bullying, and things of that nature and I just wanted to leave this prayer. Father God in your name Lord Jesus Lord God we thank you that you are our shield our comfort our protector Lord God. Lord we thank you for placing your hands over all the children even from the newborns to the young adults Lord God. We thank you for covering them, keeping them, and protect them Lord. We thank you that we count it that it’s all done Lord God. We thank you that you have already gone before us Lord God. We thank you that we will continue to give you the praise, the glory, and the honor, and we thank you that it is so. It’s in Jesus’ name. And wanted to and always thank Brian and Jill as well as everyone who’s working in the background to make sure that Daily Audio Bible is smooth running, and everybody will be able to have a chance to meditate and hear everything that’s going on. Love you guys. Take care. Bye.
Thank you for your precious word that I hear every day from Dubai. My name is Mona. I’m calling on behalf of my daughter Maia who lives in Manchester and I’m calling to ask for your prayers for Maia. She is struggling in her faith. She’s struggling in life. She’s 29 years old and has had a few broken relationships. She’s a believer and is struggling in her faith because of things like her relationship breaking down. She had an abortion as well. And, so, she’s also feeling shame, guilt, and condemnation as a believer. So, I ask you please, please, please, please, please pray for her to be fully restored, for her to know the true forgiveness of the real God, our Jesus Christ and that God would encounter her powerfully and He would show her that He loves her and forgives her, He restores her and that He will bring the right man so that she’s not alone and lonely and that she will have the husband and family she so desires. Thank you so much for joining me as a mother. I plea for your prayer request is a mother for my daughter Maia. Thank you. God bless you. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.
Please pray for our son Kevin who has bipolar. He is in critical condition in a psychotic state. He brutally stabbed himself over 50 times barely missing his heart and his carotid artery. He aspirated after surgery and remains critical on a ventilator. Pray he doesn’t get pneumonia, can cough up the fluid and breathe without the ventilator. Kevin is a Christian, a longtime listener to the DAB as am I. He shares his faith boldly and prays for everyone. He’s devoted to God’s word despite his life-long battle with mental illness. We’ve just learned that he told a relative the night before that he wanted to be with Jesus. Pray too that God would show us when to travel from South Carolina to Michigan and provide us lodging and resources to be with him if he survives. We’re in shock and anguish over our loving tenderhearted son. We pray his life is spared. This is pastor Nick and his wife Christine. We are in anguish and I am reading this from the Prayer Wall because emotions are just too raw for us right now. We love you all and we pray for you always. Lord bless you. Thank you.
No one understands like Jesus. He’s a friend beyond compare. Meet him at the throne of mercy. He is waiting for you there. No one understands like Jesus when the days are dark and grim. No one is so near so dear as Jesus cast your every care on him. No one understands like Jesus. Every wall he sees and feels. Tenderly he whispers comfort and the broken heart is healed. No one understands like Jesus when the thorns of life are stale. We should never be discouraged. Jesus cares and will not fail.
Hi everyone, it’s Christy from Kentucky. Oh, I haven’t called in so long and I’m so sorry, but I love you guys and I’ve been praying for you and I just wanted to say to Wade, the veteran from Japan, just so happy that you found a job and I’m praying for your son who has Tourette’s. Also, Dave in North Carolina, we are praying that the Lord will find Jeffrey Stewart safe. Songbird 047, thank you so much for your beautiful song. Last Sunday in church they sang the song. I hadn’t heard it for a long time and it really touched my heart. I wished that I had sang that to my parents as they were entering into the kingdom of heaven. And Brian mentioned it and then you sang it. And, so it’s touching my heart. So, I’m gonna tell my husband if I get home before he does, I want him to sing that song to me. Also, I wanted the unknown caller who thanked Sinner Redeemed. You had…that was such a beautiful testimony. It just goes to show how much we mean to one another and Sinner Redeemed it was so good to hear your voice. And if you would, please pray for Ricky. My cousin is having issues with his heart and for my husband’s great-nephew Justin who’s also having problems with his heart. He’s very young. So…and my friend Laura is gonna be having surgery soon. I don’t think I called in to let everybody know, but my biopsy came back perfect. Praise God! I’m so happy and grateful to our Lord Jesus and I pray that I can serve Him every day of my life with excitement and to encourage others. All right everyone. I love you. I pray each of you are having a blessed and lovely day.
Good morning DABbers this is Walta the Burning Bush that will be not Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. So, for…actually I just…I have to share this. French is my second language. And I had an opportunity that required a bilingual speaker. And, so I started trying to refresh my French because I hadn’t spoke French in a while as far as at a professional level and haven’t been reading or listening to French. So, I started looking for French audio. Long story short, this morning I am sitting in my car thinking, “I don’t want to listen to the news or, you know, just the talk shows and stuff because it…it…it…I’m feeding my soul at the same time. And __ , “just look at the Daily Audio Bible, there might be a French.” And I know this thing has been around for a while, but I find Daily Audio Bible in François. And now I get to listen to DAB in French as much as I want. And I’m thinking to myself, “wow, this is amazing. I mean, like, I know this is not serious but even if you want to learn Spanish, like the best way to learn a language is to listen to it all the time. And, so, you can also listen to, you know, DAB in all these different languages and you’re feeding your spirit and you’re still feeding your mind. Okay guys. I am so stoked and excited about this __ sorry. But I love you guys. I haven’t been calling in as much. I did pray. There was a brother who called, and his wife had committed adultery. And I am praying for you my brother. God reveals to heal. I know that. God reveals to heal. I don’t know what the end of the story is going to be for you, but I know that if you allow God, he is going to heal your heart. God reveals to heal. That just came to me. I love you guys…