Nehemiah 8:1-9:21, 1 Corinthians 9:1-18, Psalms 33:12-22, Proverbs 21:11-12
Today is the 14th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today as we approach the landing on another week and…and move forward…move forward into the weekend and will start another spark…sparkly shiny new week and we’ll just keep going with this rhythm day after day, step-by-step around the Global Campfire. And, so, the next step leads us back into this book that we have been reading all week, Nehemiah. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and we’ll read Nehemiah 8 verse 1 through 9 verse 21 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in our reading in first Corinthians today we can see that Paul is being questioned about money basically. We can deduce this because of his response. He’s responding to some things that have been said to him, and he’s exasperated by like saying, “why…why…why shouldn’t I earn my living from the gospel? This is my job. Like this is what I do. This is with the other apostles do. This is what is even provided for in the Mosaic law. Like, I’m…as basically I’m a member of the clergy. This is like a full-time gig. I’m traveling all over the place. I’m running for my life half the time. I should at least maybe be able to eat food”, right? Like, so he’s kind of coming back at what they’re saying and there’s probably an undercurrent here because in a number of Paul’s letters we will see him talk about a collection, a collection for the poor Jerusalem church. And in some cases, he’ll even be like, “when I get there make sure you have the money ready.” So, there’s probably an undercurrent going on that connects itself to the Jerusalem Council itself. And we read about the Jerusalem Council in the book of Acts. And at that counsel that’s where a very, very pivotal decision was to be made and the essential question at that counsel was “who gets to be in? Who gets to be in the church? Who gets to be a believer in Jesus?” Because as we’ve already talked about a number of times and we will talk more as…as we continue our journey through the Bible, the Hebrew believers felt that Jesus was a Hebrew rabbi and that His message was a Hebrew message in a Hebrew context and so if you wanted to follow Him you needed to essentially become Hebrew, convert to Judaism and then follow Jesus. But the Gentiles, on the other hand, were still receiving the Holy Spirit. And, so, it was as if God has made this decision, which is what they looked at and what they understood and what they decided – “God is the one giving out his Holy Spirit and we can’t argue with what God is doing. And, so, we have to…even though it bends our minds…we’re gonna have to get on board with what God is doing.” But not everybody could do that. And it seems that the Bible goes to great lengths to tell us that the mother church, the Jerusalem church was a poor church of poor people. And, so, it seems maybe that because Paul didn’t frequent Jerusalem that often, because there wasn’t kind of constant dialogue going on, that Paul had at least alluded to the fact that as he continued to share the gospel among the Gentiles and plant the churches among the Gentiles, that he would not forget the Jerusalem church, that he would not forget that this is kind of the “where it started”, and that these people needed help to be strong. He explicitly says this in some of his letters. So, we can get into conjecture here and go like, “okay. The church at Corinth, maybe there on board with this collection, but also like paying Paul and there’s all this money being asked for and this is a new church and these are…this is a cosmopolitan urban area with educated people and who are gonna ask questions.” And, so, we see some of the different entanglements, like just some of the stuff going on in the early church. And it’s so fascinating. It’s so fascinating because, I kinda grew up thinking that everything was…Jesus ascended back to the Father and those early days of the church, they were just magnificent. And yes, they were magnificent but they are full of the same kinds of struggles that we can continue to struggle with today, in one form or another and that's…in one way that’s encouraging. In another way it’s like, shouldn’t we be doing better? Like, shouldn’t we…we’ve had 2000 years of practice, why do we keep following the same circle? Like, why do we keep doing the same things over and over? They keep yielding the same results. Why don’t we fully live into what is described in the New Testament as our identity as children of the most-high God? And it shows us that, yeah, they had work to do then and we have work to do now. But we’re not alone. This has been an ongoing struggle.
Prayer:
Father we invite You to that. The thing is, what we’re asking for is that we could overcome some of these things, that they wouldn’t only ever be struggles, that we would actually overcome some of these things in our lives as we become completely and fully aware of who we are in You. We know who we are without You and we are a colossal mess. We can fool ourselves into the thinking we’re the greatest thing that that was ever born. But the truth is when we have to look in the mirror for real and examine our lives, we are a colossal mess. The only thing that ties it together is You because we were created this way. We will only ever be a mess when we try to navigate anything without You, and we’re ashamed to confess that we try to navigate a lot of things without You. And it’s helpful to know like we’re not the only ones, that this has been going on a long time, but we would like to step forward. And…and it seems as if You would like that too, very, very much. That You have been so patient, that You have been so kind, that You have been so loving, that You have Fathered us. But maybe it’s now time to grow up a little. And, so, come Holy Spirit into these long struggles of our lives and show us how to live into a new way, a way that puts some of this stuff behind us. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus our Lord. 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:
Well hello DABbers I was just listening to the prayer requests today and I heard from Louise from the states and she was asking for prayer for her son Peter who she said his birthday was August 10th and he’s 24 and he’s away from the Lord. I could hear the pain in your voice Louise. It’s a special day for me because it’s my birthday, August 10th is my birthday and definitely not 24 but I just wanted to say a quick prayer for Peter. Father, I just pray right now wherever Peter is in this world that You would send Your Spirit Father in a unique way through Your body Father, someone that he knows, someone that he doesn’t know Lord just I pray that You would get a hold of this Young man and that You would change his heart, draw him to You. And I just pray for protection on him Father that You would speak life to him. I pray against any death, any demonic forces, any drugs, anything like that Father. I just pray that he would…that it would just fall to the wayside and that Your Spirit would be very clear and that You would draw him back to You and to his family and that it would be a redemptive story in Jesus’ name. Amen. Today my theme is these are a few of my favorite things and I am thankful for the daily by the on my 55th birthday. Thank You Lord for life. Thank You for Your word thank You for Your joy and thank You for this family.
Greetings everyone this is Olivia Zara from London England today is the 10th of August. This is not my first time calling in, but I would definitely say that I’m quite new when it comes to the Daily Audio Bible app. I just joined this year but enjoying participating and sending in prayers when can. What rang new to me today I would say is listening to Ms. Louise from the states concerning her son Peter who is turning 24. Happy birthday Peter! Never know, you can be listening to the Daily Audio Bible app as well, but I was tremendously moved, I don’t know why, I’m not a mother myself yet but I guess because me, I’m 26 and I know what it’s like to witness running away from the Lord as well as myself at times running away from the purpose that God has given my life. And please join me in prayer. So, Lord I place Your beloved son Peter into Your precious and merciful loving hands. Lord You know him by name and by nature of whatever reason he’s running away from Your glorious Spirit I ask in Jesus’ name that he takes heart to find rest and lay down his burden on to You completely. Lord I thank You for his loving mother. Reward her trust in You and guide her son into Your eternal kingdom. May Your supernatural power bring a new testimony into her life over Your faithfulness in Jesus’ name. Amen. God bless you everyone. By.
Hey family it’s Jesse from Washington I need some prayers for one of my employees. Last night…I mean…today when she came in and she looked pretty upset and I didn’t want to ask her in front of everybody but when we were alone she told me that right outside her kids window last night her three-year-old’s window there was a young African American…African American kid was stabbed to death like literally like 10 feet outside their window and he and his wife have four kids. And, so, just prayer for my employee, his name is Yami and it’s her and her husband and her three-year-old and they couldn’t sleep at all last night. I…I can’t believe she even came in to work. She’s just been such a blessing to our family and to our business. But just prayers that Yami and her family can get some sleep, prayers…I don’t know how your mind would be set at ease after something like that but just prayers that they don’t stress out too much or worry too much about the situation. Only God can do that, obviously. And then prayers for that young family, for those kids, and for the mother, all their family. I can’t even imagine what they’re going through. So, just cover them with your prayer’s family. And, yeah, thanks family. Bye.
Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Dan in Arizona. I have not called in for some time now. I just wanted to pray for our world and just the many things that are going on, the many things at play in the world. And we know that these things are supposed to happen. We know that the enemy is at work behind the scenes here, but He that is in us is greater than He that is in the world. And I am so thankful and grateful to have Jesus in my heart and know that Jesus is in control no matter what is going on in this world. And I’m praying for peace for myself. I’ve had some battles with anxiety lately and I’m just starting to really come out of it and realizing that it’s because I’ve been trying to hold onto those things and do everything on my own and world put the…literally put the world’s problems on my shoulders. And I’m praying for those of you who share that battle of just putting your world or bills and payments and…and other responsibilities plus the news that is going on constantly 24/7. And, you know what? Jesus says hey take my burden it’s light. And I’m praying for you out there specifically who are going through this battle, I’m praying that you would take on the burden of Jesus because it is light, and His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I love you all family. Be blessed.
Good morning DABbers this is Running Desperately to Jesus. I come to you all with a heavy heart. I’m still struggling with my fornication, I would just be transparent, fornication. I don’t know why that is. This is so hard for me. God has given me many ways out and yet I seem to still keep going back. I don’t know what’s going on with that. It’s…it’s…it’s a battle, I feel it’s a battle within me, my spirit and my flesh are warring so hard. The other thing is is I just want to let everyone know that prayed me during the time I had my grandson, I’m gonna take full responsibility and am sure that I sabotaged this through my stress, through my desire to be in the home by myself, my desire to not have to go through parenting again. Some things were done by another relative where he has been not returned and I feel relief in a sense. I’m not stressed about it but I feel I am at odds with two things that have had such a major impact on my life and that was my grandson coming to live with me, that relationship God knows my desire to have a relationship with him, but in the capacity of grandmother and then this man that I have been physically with and having a hard time with me just walking away. Those are two things that seem to have just turned my world upside down since this COVID thing has caused me to be at home just go to work and come home and nothing in between. So, I’m asking for prayer again. This is Running Desperately to Jesus.
Dear Esther from Flushing Queens now in Orlando Florida I just…I heard you say that you don’t think you have a deep faith and yet you said that you have faith but you just don’t want to be shaken to the core. And sister, I don’t know but I think that faith that knows all the facts, that looks at the reality, that feels all the feelings and yet says, “Lord let it be done unto me, yet though he slay me I will trust in Him”, that’s faith. Faith, I don’t believe is ever going to be a situation where everything’s going great. In fact, that’s when faith seems to wander off, is when everything’s going great. So, it sounds to me like you’re rockin’ it in the faith. And I love your prayers. I want you I I’m gonna pray for you. Father God I thank you for my sister Esther. I think you father God for the beautiful name that you gave her. She’s one of my favorite characters in the Bible in fact she’s a queen. And I thank you Lord that you are fulfilling your purpose for her in her life right now and you’re bringing her through the valley and your setting tables before her in the presence of our enemies. And father God you are going to look for comp overflow and goodness and mercy follow her wherever she goes because she has a heart that trusts in you and follows up to you. Bless her Lord God. Let’s perceive the truth about herself as you see her Lord. She is your treasured possession and I thank you father God for all the blessings of all my dear sisters and brothers in Christ on the DAB. In Jesus name. Treasured possession.