Isaiah 3:1-5:30, 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Psalms 53:1-6, Proverbs 22:28-29
Today is the 9th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is always a joy to be here with you, always incredible to just imagine that we’re coming in out of all the busyness, all the stuff that’s going on, and just kinda come in around the Global Campfire and let it all go, find a place and let God’s word speak to us. It is a joy to…to be a part of that each and every day. And, so, today is no different. It’s great to be here with you. We began the book of Isaiah yesterday. So, that kinda turned the page into some new territory in the Bible. And this section of the Bible we’re in is now the prophetic books and specifically the major prophets which, like I was saying yesterday, doesn’t mean they’re more important it’s just that their larger in volume. And, so, we’re working through Isaiah and we’ll be camping out in Isaiah for a while. It’s one of the longer books in the Bible. But we got going yesterday and we will continue the journey into Isaiah today. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Isaiah chapters 3, 4, and 5 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we’re moving into the books of prophecy. And, so, we’ve kinda been talking about that. Like, yesterday we were talking about Isaiah. But while we read from second Corinthians yesterday and today and…and…and into tomorrow we have this kinda weird thing going on where Paul is criticizing people for validating themselves, like, you know, like coming into town and showing their pedigree and blah blah blah blah. He criticizes them for doing that, and then turns around and does it himself. And, so we can see that there is a struggle, right, some kind of struggle in the Corinthian community but also some kind of internal struggle with Paul and it starts to make sense today what’s going on because he references super-apostles. And the irony is like, Jesus never appointed any super apostles, like, “oh, I’m super-Jesus and now you are a super-apostle and here’s your costume to wear underneath your tunic.” So, we’re getting some clues into the early church about the fact that they compared their teachers and…and this even kind of wandered into the culture to some degree. We’ve seen this before, right, when Paul’s writing back to the Corinthians because they’re like, “I’m of Peter, I’m of Paul, I’m of Apollos, I’m of Christ.” This is still the argument. This is still part of the early narrative of the early church. And, so, who are the super-apostles? That’s been debated among biblical scholars. Probably…probably, to get that kind of the title, would be one of the people who were Jesus disciples, who actually walked with Jesus, who followed along with His ministry, were a part of what He was doing on the earth. So, Paul who had never met Jesus in the flesh, never saw Him face-to-face in person in His human form, the Jesus that Paul knew was this resurrected Christ who had come to him and revealed Himself to him and this is…this is what Paul is proclaiming. But you can kind of understand that if you got a person like Peter or you’ve got one of the other apostles or somebody who actually followed along with Jesus earthly ministry, who heard Him in person, who watched Him in person and they are disciples and so they’re traveling around telling their stories, you can see why that would appear to be more valid. They saw Him. Like, they knew Him personally in the flesh. And the reality is that these super-apostles or, they were for sure, people, whether they were called super apostles or not, there were people that were traveling around among the Christian churches, among the early believers sharing what they knew, sharing their understanding of the gospel. And we know in the earliest church there was disagreement about who…who actually is a true follower, who is a disciple of Jesus. That is borne out in book of Acts between the Jew and Gentile controversy. But before the New Testament was formed there were all kinds of variants of faith in Jesus with the fundamental thing just being Jesus, but people believed in all kinds of directions. There was no New Testament. Like what we’re reading as the New Testament right now, like these were letters. So, Paul sent this letter and over time this letter became important and was passed around and was used. And, so, these things began to coalesce together. But early on, the time that this letter is written, when the people received this letter, it wasn’t like second Corinthians, a part of the New Testament in the Bible. It was a letter. There was no New Testament. Nobody could refer to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, any of the letters of Paul. None of this had become authoritative scripture at this point. So, people believed in Jesus, but they understood what they believed in Jesus in very diverse, in some…in some ways very conflicted ways. And, so, what we’ll see, what we’re starting to see in second Corinthians but we’ll see this in other of Paul’s letters, like he is defending what he believes to be the absolute way, the truth, the revelation of the risen Christ to the apostle Paul. But there are the people who are conflicted in that because they’re like, “we saw Jesus, we walked with Jesus, like we heard Him, we actually heard Him minister and these are the things we heard Him saying, this is what we understood that to mean.” So, you can see an obvious conflict. But when these people who…who vary in some way from what Paul is teaching begin to become itinerant and travel around and…and start to fellowship and minister in churches that Paul has established through his own blood sweat and tears and they are expounding on things that are contrary to what Paul understands them to be, well then you can see the conflict and can see what’s brewing here. Paul makes it appear like he did…like he would rather not try to talk about his pedigree, he would not try to talk about his accolades, he would not try to validate himself or prove himself. In fact, he’s found that all his education and all of the righteousness he was trying to live into on his own was nothing more than filthy rags as he puts it. So, for Paul he’s trying to maintain a posture where if he’s gonna boast he’s gonna boast in Christ alone and the message of the gospel as he understands it, even though he knows it, sounds like nonsense to Greeks and heresy to his fellow Jews, this is what he’s going to preach. But everybody else seems to be walking around with letters of commendation for each other and accolades and like you’re proving yourself, like you’re…you’re a bigger, better, super-apostle. And, so, now he’s in a position where…where he has to defend himself because people are like, “but they’re the super-apostles” and now he's…it’s not like he’s gotta fight back but…but he’s gotta play a game now that he doesn’t want to play, the game of comparison, which is not helpful but he’s being forced into it. And, so, now he has to find a way to validate himself because that’s essentially what they’re pressing him to do. And he is very concerned about the variants, the…the differences, the divergences that are being taught. And, so, he’s trying to protect what he’s been teaching but even beyond that, as he says, “I promised…like I promised you to one husband. I promised you a pure bride to Christ. Like you are my life’s work. Like, the accolades mean nothing. You, your life, your heart, your spirit, your renewal in this life, this is what I want to speak for me. I don’t want to have to tell how I might measure up to the super-apostles but your kind of forcing me into it.” And, so, we’ll continue with how Paul squirms through that in our reading tomorrow but helps us to kinda consider how we validate people, how we validate ourselves, like how…how something becomes legitimate. And usually there’s some’s sort of accolades. We’ve…we follow the prizes we follow the flashing lights and just consider and contrast that we what Paul’s doing thing and say, “yeah, the people that I reach, the hearts that I reach, if…if there are prizes, if there are accolades it's…it’s people’s heart and not some kind of award.” And, so, let’s think about that today as we…as we prepare to move forward tomorrow.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit we invite You into that. We are a people who try to achieve some sort of identity by comparison nearly every day usually hundreds of times a day. We’re always trying to measure ourselves up as compared to somebody else. How are we doing compared to that person? And if that person has more or as more accolades or more money or more, whatever, then, than they’re doing better and if somebody has less than us then we’re doing better. And that isn’t actually a real identity, it’s just a moving target that can actually never be settled. Our identity is that we are Your children and that You are transforming us, and our hearts belong to You. That is the highest achievement a person can achieve. And You have come and rescued us and given us this achievement as a gift. There’s nothing else to do. Like that is the best news, the best thing that can happen and You’ve allowed that to happen in our lives. And, so, help us to settle into that and remember that as we find ourselves in the comparison game. We invite Your Holy Spirit to show us, help us catch ourselves when we’re moving in that direction this very day. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that’s the website, it’s where you find out…that’s where you find out what’s going on around here, that’s how you keep informed on what’s going on around here. So, check it out. It’s pretty simple to navigate. There’s just a few sections to know about. The Community sections where you go. That’s where the Prayer Wall is. That’s where different links to different connection points on social media, etc. are. The Shop is where resources for the journey that we are taking together lives, that’s where you can find those resources. The Initiatives section shows different things that we’ve got going on or highlighting right now. So, check that out. Stay connected in any way that you can and in any way that you want to.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, let me say what I say everyday humbly, profoundly, thank you. We would not be having the voyage that we are having, we not be on the journey we are on if we were not on this journey together. And, so, if this journey matters, if it’s a meaningful thing to your life then thank you for your partnership. There is 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 the mailing address, if that is what you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button at the top or there are phone numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world, In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. 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:
Good evening DAB family God bless you all. Abigail from Oregon you lost your 15-week-old baby. I am so sorry for your loss and I am so sorry that you’re struggling with this and with your friends being pregnant and having a friend who had once avoided a baby while you’re struggling to have one. I’m praying in the name of Jesus that God gives you the peace that surpasses all understanding. I’m praying in the name of Jesus that He blesses your womb with a child just like he did to Hannah and Sarah in the name of Jesus. And I’m praying in the name of Jesus that your friend Heather that although she doesn’t really know the Lord, she’s getting closer and closer in the name of Jesus. Tossed and Turning from Illinois your three sons your youngest is diabetic your middle is in and out with his girlfriend and your oldest is wheelchair-bound and your husband with heart problems I am praying for you in the name of Jesus for the Lord to do what he can do in these four men in your life in the name of Jesus and to help you through this process. June from Maryland I am so thankful that you are healing, and I am praying for your coworker who’s currently on a ventilator. A woman who’s a teacher having to do a mandatory reporting you were just really really taken by the book of Esther and how it was on point for you. I am so grateful to the Lord how the word just touches you in the name of Jesus just when it needs to be given to you. Hopeful you know you’re with your unbelieving husband I am praying in the name of Jesus that that meditation retreat that he may have attended did not draw him further away from the Lord in the name of Jesus. God bless you all. Esther from Orlando Florida.
Hello DAB family this is Dan, Daniel in the Lion’s Den from northern Orlando September 4th and this morning Brian I heard you talking about suffering leading to joy through repentance and there’s another kind of joy that I’ve experienced in suffering. As we suffer, we are driven to Jesus. And my wife has an illness, Lyme disease and for other __ infections and she’s just suffered for the past five years. And I started listening to the DAB about five years ago. And as we have been just clinging to Jesus in her suffering, we have been brought closer to Him and when we’re with Him our suffering turns to joy because being with Him is the most joyful thing we can experience. And Jesus Himself was made perfect in suffering. It says that in Hebrews 5:9 and I’m sure, Brian, you’ll talk about that when get to Hebrews. But today Sunny called from Florida and said his wife has cancer. They’re in their first year of marriage and they’re really struggling and I just want to lift you up Sunny and remind you that my wife who’s been sick for five years, we’ve been married for 32 years and these last five years have been the closest we’ve ever been. And family my sister is in ICU right now with Covid-19. We pray Lord that you would heal her and bring her out. Satan has picked the wrong family to attack this time. My niece said that yesterday and DAB family we will stick together all of us praying for each other too. God bless you all.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family it’s Jimmy from West Coast I called before about my situation and being without a job and a house and a child and applying to vigorously a job for a whole year and it’s just not happening despite of my qualifications and how my work was. It’s…the situation is still the same, getting no’s everywhere and people just disappearing even if there is a yes. But it…I’m calling for something else as well. During this time my niece is troubled. And she’s been living with me for two years and I try to help her and wanted to talk to her for…about a situation and she escalated and went crazy. Unfortunately my daughter was here and the police got involved and I didn’t want that to happen and she has got to go to court and I feel terrible and I feel horrible inside and I want what’s best for her and I want…I didn’t want the situation to be like that. And I know my family’s gonna look at me in a really long way, but she does need help and…and I’m a little concerned about being a Christian and that happening. I don’t…I feel a lot of guilt and a lot of…like I can’t do anything right. And I just…just pray for me and pray for the situation and my niece. Thank you, guys.
Hi guys, family this is Christina from Massachusetts. Listen, I’m a first-time caller and I found this…found the Daily Audio Bible earlier this year kind of as a joke. My friend was just like, “O” cause I was looking for a podcast she was just like, “O, why don’t you listen to the Bible” in joking way. And was like “O” and I took her seriously and I found this family. Like, listen I’m just so thankful. And Lady of Liberty I really want to thank you and your husband for all the things you shared. It really touched my heart when you were talking about is it okay if we don’t receive everything we pray about. And that really reminds me so much about last year around this time I was really watching a really hard journey and that’s something God was really teaching me and I’m just thankful just for that reminder again. I also want to ask something. So, I’m actually getting married this October to a wonderful man and I just want to ask guys if you can just bless us and that you guys can keep us in your prayers that our marriage may be blessed and that it will be good and that there wouldn’t be a lot of fear and nervousness in the marriage in the wedding because sometimes we get really scared and nervous. Yeah, and I just want to pray guys because my fiancé has been having a really hard time at night for some reason he’s being really attacked. He would just fear and we’ve just been praying about it over the phone last night and he’s just been going through that again after he felt better and then I came back and I just want you guys to support us in that and I want to pray because his friend is coming he’s withdrawing and he just wants some help he wants, Audrey to help him and support him and help him back on his feet spiritually. I just want to pray guys together so that he would…
Thank you, Brian for having Daily Audio Bible. My wife and I were married 13 years ago. Three years ago, she told me that she no longer believes. Three months ago, my daughter wrote me a letter telling me that she is pansexual…well…that’s…so I’m the only one that goes to church now out of my household. I need your prayers so that I can weather this storm. I don’t know what to do. My daughter and my wife, my daughter’s 12, have both screamed at me in the house telling me to stop saying anything about God or Jesus. They are not responsive to any of it and I am not pounding it in their heads, just make simple references to the Lord Jesus and they tell me to just quit and stop please. I know what this is, and you know if this is. I need prayer warriors to come against the enemy and take his hands off of my house, my…my household. I need the doubts to be taken away from my mind, that the Lord is using this to test me or something. But thank you very much. I appreciate it. My name is Joe and I’m praying for most of you. I’m a new listener. Thank you.
Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Alyssa from Maryland and I’ve been listening since 2014. Recently I’ve heard a lot of people, not here of course, but around say, “O, the Bible. It’ just a bunch of stories. It’s just literature. And its literature that people tell you to…to control your mind. Those stories aren’t real. The Bible’s not real.” Well, as someone who works in the library I don’t know of any book in that library that you can read every day for a year and still come back years after that and get something from it. And at some point, words will jump off of that page or you’ll hear Brian read them and they will go directly to a problem in your life or a time in your life and help you. So, to those people who say, “oh it’s just stories”, I don’t think so. It works if you work it and if you listen to it. And speaking of listening, this is a great app for free. And that little red button right next to it is a word that says “Give”. I know people are going through a horrible time right now financially but if you can, please hit that Give button as well because those servers need to turn every day. Thank you.
Hi this is Lenny Hearn from Franklin Tennessee today is September the 5th and I’m asking for prayer for my son Joel and his children Alex, 13 and, Lily 6. Their mother Brandy died yesterday from complications from Covid and Joel now faces the daunting task is a single father raising these kids. Please pray wisdom for all of us as we navigate this crisis. Thank you.
Hi, it’s Sherry from Kansas and this is an “I love you” call. There are a couple things in our life that will never change amidst all the things that are changing around us and that is one, that God is always going to be who he is. There is no shadow of turning in him. He does not change. He is the same yesterday today and forever. And the other thing is, our love for each other as the body of Christ, that will never change. So, thank you, thank you thank you for loving Jesus and thank you for loving each other. I love you. God bless you. Bye.