Month: October 2019

Jeremiah 49:23-50:46, Titus 1:1-16, Psalms 97:1-98:9, Proverbs 26:13-16

Today is the 26^th day of this month of October that we are in. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today as we prepare our hearts and minds to take the next step forward as we’re moving through the Scriptures, step-by-step, day by day. And that will lead us into the book of Jeremiah as we continue to round the corner and head for home on that book and then we get to the New Testament we will be beginning another of Paul’s personal letters or pastoral letters. There are three of them and we just completed two of them, first and second Timothy, and there’s one more, named Titus and we’ll begin that today. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week, which is today. Jeremiah chapter 49 verse 23 through 50 verse 46.

Introduction to the letter to Titus:

Alright. So as…as indicated at the beginning of the of our time together today we’re at the New Testament and yesterday we concluded second Timothy, which is thought to be the final writings of the apostle Paul’s life. So…so it’s a little strange because we reached the end of Paul’s life but now are back with Paul again in another personal letter, the third of what is known as the pastoral letters. And this is a personal letter…letter written to a son in the faith, named Titus. And Titus, he…he was one of the early converts in the apostle Paul’s ministry and…and then he remained a part of Paul’s ministry from then on. He was trusted enough to go with Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to attend the Jerusalem Council, which we read about in the book of Acts. And this is the Council where the church leaders were making a foundational and a very pivotal decision about whether conversion to Judaism, including circumcision was going to be required for Gentiles to be accepted into the community of faith following Jesus. So, Titus was a Gentile at this Jewish Council and his presence at the Council was instrumental in the outcome. The irony is that Titus isn’t mentioned in that story in the book of Acts. Like, we only know him through Paul’s letters, but this is what Paul tells us in his letters. So, the most likely scenario for this personal letter to Titus is that Paul was released from his first imprisonment in Rome and Titus accompanied Paul to the island of Crete after that in order to share the good news. And it seems as if the cretins, the people from Crete, had never…had the message of Jesus had never reached them and that they were notoriously carnal. So, when Paul preached new faith sprang up and a church community began to form. But Paul just couldn’t stay there. Like, he left Titus to form leadership among the churches that were forming and to navigate the culture and the crush of it that was already happening among the believers. And Titus was good for this job. Paul had sent him as an ambassador carrying all…all sorts of letters into fairly complicated situations. And, so, Paul sent this letter to Titus on the island of Crete, probably after he departed about the same time that he wrote the first pastoral letter to Timothy so as if he’s writing to them both on the same voyage or shortly thereafter. And the letter was certainly supposed to encourage Titus, but it was more than just a word of encouragement. It was to give him apostolic authority. Like, he was putting in writing authority given to Titus to do the work that was being assigned him. So, Titus was authorized to act in Paul’s name in doing the work of organizing the newly forming communities on Crete. And in doing this Titus is going to need to appoint pastors and he’s gonna need ordain deacons. And, so, like in first Timothy, Paul gave these criteria for those who would seek ordained ministry. And it’s, you know, probably Titus and Timothy both knew…like knew these criteria, they had both ministered with Paul, but writing it down and sending it in a letter put it in writing from the apostle Paul. And, so, they had some authority, the authority of the apostle Paul, as these things are being formed. So, Titus gives us an intimate look at the instructions given from the apostle Paul, a spiritual father to his spiritual son who he had asked to do a pretty big job in a pretty short amount of time. But Titus had been faithful and successful in all that Paul ever asked him to do. So, Paul wanted Titus to be empowered, confident to complete the task. And as we mentioned in first Timothy, today most denominations throughout the world, they consult these letters and use the instructions as part of their ordination processes. And, so, we’ll get to review that. This is a treasured letter for…for those who are in pastoral leadership but also gives us insight into the formation of the early church and the way that our faith advanced forward all the way till today. And, so, we begin, Titus chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us through another week in Your word. This is the final full week of this month. And, so, we thank You for bringing us through the final full week of this month and we turn our hearts and minds towards the future and look forward to the changing of the months in the next week and we thank You for Your faithfulness in our lives. Come Holy Spirit and lead us forward into all truth we pray. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

Stay connected at the Prayer Wall, where people are praying and asking for prayer continually.

Stay connected on social media. All those links are at the website as well.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources including our brand-new Global Campfire line of items for this journey in the shop as well as the God of Your Story, this brand-new, daily, 365-day devotional that just kind of follows the journey after the fashion of the Daily Audio Bible. So, it’s of us and for us, and to encourage us as we continue this journey. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership. 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, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

Dear Lord Jesus maker of heaven and earth, dear Lord I pray for the leaders in this world. I pray for the leaders of Turkey and Syria and Russia. I pray for the leaders of China and Hong Kong and Japan, Korea, North and South. Lord we’re it not for your staying hand we would be destroying ourselves. Most of all, together we pray Lord for the leaders of the United States of America and all the leaders in the Western Hemisphere. Oh Lord, please come. Please come and give these leaders unexpected compassion. Reach their hearts Lord. Like Elijah __ given this fervor to do what’s right, to send the fatherless and the week. We pray these things in Jesus name Lord. We pray for all the leaders of the European countries and Africa and India. Come Holy Spirit with unexpected compassion and __ of people in power. Reach them in Jesus name we pray. Candace from Oregon.

Hello this is Christy in Korea I called back in June to give a praise report about my little baby who’s now 27 weeks old. You can probably hear him making noises. I am still behind, like three months, and it is currently pregnancy loss and infant…pregnancy and infant loss awareness week and this week I’m in July and I heard the father of the baby Orson Scott who lived less than a month and…a few days ago…and I just keep thinking about it and I wanted to tell him that months have passed and he’s not forgotten and this little one you here is one I had after a loss and I was thinking of Job that I want you to remember that Job lost everything even all his children and God restored them and I wanted you to know that I’m praying for you and God will restore you. It might not be another child and it might be. And it might be in ways you never expect and when you never expect. And I just wanted you to know that you are not forgotten, and your child is not forgotten. And I always just wanted to thank Brian for reading the Bible. And I have always thought I’ve known the story and I realized recently I never knew about Paul traveling around Asia or around Rome and all that and I really enjoyed reading that. So, I wanted to thank you for that as well. And this little guy is very happy and I listen…I’ve listened to him through my pregnancy…I’ve listened to you during my pregnancy with this guy. Anyway, thank you for everything and I try to pray and good night because it’s night here.

Hello from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio this is Daniel Johnson Junior. Shout out to all my fellow Cincinnatians that are listening to the Daily Audio Bible and those from…in Kentucky and around the world too. God is so good. I just wanted to praise Him for a few things. One of them is just right now, my mother-in-law, she’s 83 years old, recently diagnosed with cancer in her bone marrow…in the plasma cells in her bone marrow. It’s a rare form of cancer. She’s been in the hospital ICU most of this past week. It’s Saturday, October the 19^th as I’m calling, and she was discharged from the ICU into a regular hospital room. She is on dialysis and will need to get some chemotherapy, but she wants to live. Even at her age she wants to live. And she’s praising God. It’s like…because…she’s been out of most of this week and just last night when I went to visit it’s like she was just making up for lost time talking and praising God. So cool. God it’s just been…she’s so neat. Continue to pray for her. Her name is Carrie. And then also just today’s Sweetish day I got to thinking, “man, roses…roses as a guy just don’t really last that long but the way that it affects my wife and others that when I give them it’s just…it’s worth it”. And I got to thinking, God made male and female and it’s like, God you’re like too…you’re like the priest and all I need to do is just look at the leaves changing. I need to look at the sunrise and just see, yes, God is really into making beautiful things. And you know what? We are beautiful things being made by God too. So, just wanted to share that with you all. God bless you from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio. Make it a great day.

Hi DABbers, this is Keira from Denver and I’m just calling for prayer for my boyfriend and I and our relationship. Every time we talk about religion or God or Jesus, going to church, we get into a fight and I mean he’s a believer and he’s been that way for a long time but he hasn’t gone to church and we did lots of lots of drugs together in the first four years we were together but we’ve been off of that for the past two and the past two that’s I just met…met Jesus right at the time that we quit and it was through his mom and I just haven’t…I’ve…I…I’ve been enthusiastic about it but personally on my own but I haven’t you know I…I’ve been going to church regularly and I don’t know it’s…it’s just…I don’t know…I…it’s just… it’s just… __ hard our relationship. And, yeah, if I could just get prayer for that. Also, __ just __  my son too. I still want prayer for my son Nish __ Albuquerque. Thank you guys. I love you so much.

Hello DAB family this is Victoria __ from Maryland and sometime during the year…during the week I heard Sinner Redeemed call in. Brother, just wanted to let you know that I’ve been praying for you and asking God to, you know, that everything is well with you. I remember the day that you changed your name from Sinner to Sinner Redeemed. I’ve also been praying for other listeners over the years that we haven’t heard from - Jamaal from Baltimore, Natasha from New York, and Ru from Florida. Along with those names I’ve just called I pray for everyone daily. And just remember that God supplies everything that we need according to __. So, it’s not our job, it’s not our bank account, and it’s not our bounty. Who is your Lord? Is it God? Thank you, Brian and Jill for this podcast. And remember family, we always win. This is Victoria __ from Maryland

hi this is Pamela from Christchurch. I’m so desperate for prayer for my brothers. I have three brothers. They all have their own issues. I ask for forgiveness in their relationships with each other. But my oldest brother, he can’t see his kids because of lies and making the wrong choice of a woman. He loves his kids, but he can’t see them. Because of lies they don’t want to see him, and he is broken. He was telling me that he was out riding on his motorbike and he felt helpless. He…he doesn’t have a purpose because the kids were his purpose. He really needs a breakthrough. He is one of the nicest guys you could possibly meet. Gosh. He really needs God, but he really needs a breakthrough. He really needs…he really needs a breakthrough. Thanks.

Jeremiah 48:1-49:22, 2 Timothy 4:1-22, Psalms 95:1-96:13, Proverbs 26:9-12

Today is the 25^th 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.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and that makes it home base for us. That’s for us. So, that’s where you find out what’s happening around here, we’re all the different ways to reach out and get connected are.

So, look in the community section. You’ll find all the different places, all the different…the social media channels that we are participating. It’s a good place to stay connected.

You’ll also find the Prayer Wall, which is a fantastic way to stay connected because we have…we’ve done a really good job at reaching out and loving one another through prayer around here. So, it’s part of the distinctives of who we are. So, the Prayer Wall is certainly a place to go for and to offer prayer. So, stay connected there.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources in there for your journey through the Bible in a year and…and through life for that matter. So, check that out, including the God of Your Story, which is this brand-new resource, brand-new book, beautiful, beautiful, hardbound, keepsake like…I mean the intention was it would be keepable, like a book that would stand the test of time, that would be classic, that would…that would hold up to underlining and just repetitive use and passing down to future generations. So, this first edition of the God of your story is that and it is something that has come from the daily rhythm that we have experienced here at the Daily Audio Bible for nearly 14 years every single day. And, so, the God of Your Story is available now and it’s in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. 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 mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, you can now press the Hotline button in the Daily Audio Bible app, the little red button at the top and…and start sharing or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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 16^th, 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…

Jerimiah 44:24-47:7, 2 Timothy 2:22-3:17, Psalms 94:1-23, Proverbs 26:6-8

Today is the 24^th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today continuing our journey forward as we all come in around the global campfire and out of whatever was going on and just let it go. Let it go. It’s it…it’s gonna be waiting. It just might look different after we spend a little time letting God’s word speak to us and kinda carving out a little place in our day that we say, “nothing’s getting in here. This is a specific time. It’s a part of the rhythm of my life and I’m setting it aside for life to be poured in from God’s word.” And, so, let’s take that next step. We’re reading from the English Standard version this week. Jeremiah chapter 44 verse 24 through 47 verse 7.

Commentary:

Okay. In second Timothy today we came to one of the verses that…that directly explains why we’re here today around the global campfire doing what we’re doing. And, so, we’ll talk about that in a second because it’s the last verse that we read today. But before that, Paul's…Paul’s doing what he does. Like, he contrasts lists often or characteristics often and he’s doing that today to show Timothy not only what he should aim for but what he should also avoid, the kinds of things that are soul killing but also community, like a community of faith killers. So, one path that is false and destructive, and one path that is true and enduring. And again, the Bible gives us the opportunity to examine ourselves. It brings us to this crossroad where we…we can listen to these lists and go, “okay. Who am I?” So, Paul writes to Timothy that in the last days and in the last times and, of course, he’s speaking of his own time, he tells Timothy, “people are going to be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, and proud and arrogant and abusive, and they’ll be disobedient to their parents and ungrateful and unholy and heartless and unappeasable and slanderous and will have no self-control. They’ll be brutal. They won’t love good. They’ll be treacherous, reckless, swollen up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. They’ll appear godly but will be denying God’s power as they’re doing it. Avoid such people.” Paul tells Timothy. And he tells him that for his own sake but also, he tells him that as a means of protecting the community from…well…from things that will be nothing but destructive, right? We read the list and none of the things that we read of are healthy and all of them are destructive. I mean, especially in a community. And even though this letter was written a couple thousand years ago, like those characteristics, they’re heart issues. And, so, they’re still with us today in living color. But in contrast to that Timothy had seen Paul. Like he was a protégé. He had traveled all over the world with Paul, had seen the way that Paul did ministry and Paul’s posture of heart. And, so, Paul gave him a different list, a different path than the first path, a path that had been modeled for Timothy. So, Paul tells him, “as for you, continue in what you’ve learned and have firmly believed, knowing where you learned it, and how from childhood you’ve been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through Christ Jesus.” Okay. So, it’s like the divergence between the first set of characteristics or that type of person and the second is…is drastic. So, if we’re following the first path and we’re walking in that way, then we aren’t in a healthy place at all. And if those behaviors are bred into a community then they will become a black hole that will suck the life out of everything. On the other hand, the second path is solid, is life-giving, is enduring in all places and at all time even in trying times even in times when we have to endure.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into what the apostle Paul was writing to Timothy and we’re grateful that we have the benefit of a personal letter that we can just take like this and read and understand advice that was being given from a spiritual Father to a spiritual son who was a pastor in spiritual leadership and understanding how vigilant of a task it is to consider the paths that we’re walking. And we confess that we usually kind of go through our day and it’s our day whether we planned it or whether a lot of things came up that we didn’t expect, we go through our day and we’re not necessarily in the moment thinking about the paths that we’re choosing that are leading us through the day and…and the reactionary way we often live so that we’re reacting in a negative way and maybe even exhibiting some of the characteristics that we’re to avoid. This often happens because things are just flying at us and we forget to take a deep breath and reconsider what path we’re going to walk. And, so, Holy Spirit You’ve promised You would lead us into all truth, and we believe that fully. It’s just a matter of whether or not we’re gonna pay attention to where You’re leading or what it is that You’re instructing us to do. We pray for the eyes and ears of the kingdom today, that we might hear You clearly in all of the choices we have to make. Come Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name we ask. 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.

Jeremiah 42:1-44:23, 2 Timothy 2:1-21, Psalms 92:1-93:5, Proverbs 26:3-5

Today is the 23^rd day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you today as we continue our journey through the Scriptures and our journey into this, the fourth quarter of the year, the final stretch. It doesn’t seem like it now, but we’ve all been through this before we know how the end of the year speeds up. And, so, yeah, we’re in the final quarter of the year and nearing the end of the 10^th month of the year. And as busy as life might get in this final stretch there…the Bible gets busy in this final stretch too. There’s a lot for us. And, so, let’s get to it. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Jeremiah chapter 42 verse 1 through 44. Verse 23.

Commentary:

Okay. So, when we talked about second Timothy we talked about how that we believe this is the last writing of the apostle Paul’s life and because it’s a personal letter, one of the pastoral letters, so written not to a church, but to a person it has many personal thoughts in it, but it’s also instructing Timothy as a pastor, as a spiritual leader, and knowing that this…this is the last thing that Paul’s gonna write down, knowing that this letter was written right around the time of his death, his martyrdom, then we know that what he put in this letter meant something. Like, this mattered to Paul because he was hoping to see Timothy, he was hoping to say all these things, but this letter’s written in case he doesn’t, and he didn’t. So, these instructions matter to Paul and understanding that gives us a sense of the urgency, that Paul is saying something that needs to be paid attention too. So, in our reading today Paul is encouraging Timothy to endure, which means that you’re actively participating in endurance. So, Timothy had proven trustworthy. Like, he was loyal, Paul trusted him, trusted him as he was loyal to Paul but also trusted him that he was loyal to Jesus. And Paul had passed the faith on to Timothy and on to many people. And this passing on of the faith was gonna cost Paul his life. So yes, this needed to matter, Timothy was gonna have to endure because now there’s an Emperor in Rome who hates the Christians. And, so, persecution is breaking out everywhere. So, Timothy was going to need to endure whatever was coming, but he was also going to need to pass on the faith to people who were trustworthy and loyal as he had been, people who could carry it forward because, although the ultimate future was absolute, the interim, right, the in between, what was gonna happen next was unknown. So, like Paul’s in prison. He had taken the gospel all over the known world. So, enduring was pretty much all…all there was left for Paul to do so. So, the Empire was beginning to systematically persecute and root out Christians and Paul was a ringleader of the sect. So, he’s pretty much assured that he’s not gonna make it out alive. Outside of a miracle he’s likely gonna die. And, so, with his own mortality, like constantly on his mind, Paul could see what was coming and what the church at large might be facing. And he knew how difficult that was gonna and he knew that endurance was gonna be something that became essential if the faith were to survive. So, here’s something really interesting from…from what we read today. As he’s talking to Timothy about enduring and being true, Paul quoted an ancient declaration. It might've…might’ve been like put to music, it might be one of the earliest like sets of lyrics that we have from an early worship song that was sung in the early church before the Gospels were written, but maybe it wasn’t a worship song. Like we don’t know, we don’t have the sheet music. It could have been simply like a creed, a declaration. It’s still important though, So, like when Paul wrote this letter, it’s near the end of his life. But we have to understand that when this letter was written there wasn’t anything known as the New Testament. So, as a pastor receiving the letter from Paul, all Timothy could have referred to in church would been the Torah, right, the Hebrew Scriptures, Paul’s other letters that he had sent to Ephesus where Timothy was, maybe copies of other letters that had been sent to other churches and were passed around, and his personal letters. And it it’s a fact, most biblical scholars agree that the gospel of Mark, the first gospel written, was written like right around the time of Paul’s death, which is right around the time of this letter. And the idea of a New Testament that is authoritative scripture, that had not…that…that was in formation that was not a thing yet. So, when Paul quotes this little creed or this…these lyrics to this song of worship, he was giving us a glimpse into what…what the brothers and sisters were declaring before any of the books of the New Testament had been collected together at all. So, it gives us this really brief but potent glimpse at what…what Christians…what people following the way of Jesus in a church that had been established by the apostle Paul, what they felt was important to declare to one another before there was a New Testament for them to refer to. So, this is found in second Timothy 2:11-13. “If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful.” So, it’s fascinating that the earliest believers, like the believers in Jesus who believed in Christ before there was the New Testament, like this is mind-boggling to even think of that and how one would navigate that because we have become so accustomed to turning there first, but just like Paul talked about Abraham preceding the Mosaic law, we have to understand that there were things going on before there was a New Testament and they were Christian things, they were Holy Spirit involved things in the world. So, it’s interesting that as we get this little snippet from Paul, seeing what our brothers and sisters were declaring to one another, endurance is like at the base level, earliest part of the Christian faith. And this is as a good time to point out as any because we’re gonna be talking about it a lot, endurance. The fact that we must endure and remain true, as we will see as we continue the journey through the New Testament is utterly irreplaceable and absolutely essential in this faith walk that we are on. We’ll find that it serves a purpose and we’re supposed to cultivate it and we’re supposed to understand that enduring and staying true to Jesus no matter what…what happens at all, no matter what happens is essential to our faith.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. And it’s been mentioned before, but we understand that this theme of endurance is definitely something that is gonna keep cropping up and popping up and confronting us continually. And we confess and when we think about that word it’s like not something that we sign up for and it’s something that we try to avoid if we possibly can. And yet we’re finding out in the story of the early church that there was no avoiding endurance. It was actually “the” thing that was knitting everything together and that we are commanded to endure. And, so, help us Holy Spirit because we want to avoid that when we actually need to kinda get familiar with the concept. So, we invite Your Holy Spirit into that as we continue our journey forward and we pray that You would help us stay true and endure today. We pray this in the mighty 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.