Hosea 4:1-5:15, 2 John 1:1-13, Psalms 125:1-5, Proverbs 29:9-11
Today is the 6th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here with you as we do what we do every beginning of every week. We just kind of envision a threshold and we envision ourselves opening the gates and walking through the threshold into a brand-new week and remind ourselves that nothing good or bad has happened yet out in that week, that’s our future and the steps that we take will tell the story of the week and things get busier and busier and busier. Today’s the second Sunday in the season of Advent. And, of course, Advent is…is church tradition, it’s part of our church history. Advents not a season that’s in the Bible but it is a meaningful season as we take 40 days to put ourselves in the position of those in ancient times when Jesus…when the star was shining over Bethlehem and people were following that star. We put ourselves back in that time. We understand that people were marginalized, suppressed, looking for a Redeemer, crying out to God for a Savior, crying out for redemption. And, so, we put ourselves in that same position as we move into the holidays, move toward Christmas and acknowledge and celebrate the arrival of the Savior. That’s what Advent means, arrival. And, so, as we move through this season, we just simply keep our hearts in that place longing for the arrival. Because even as we put ourselves in a position of those before Jesus came, we also understand that we are waiting for the second Advent, arrival. We are in the same position, waiting longing, asking God to return to come make things right to set things as they should be. Of course, this season leads us to Christmas and Christmas leads us to New Year’s. And, so, not too many more of these shiny sparkly new thresholds before we will be swinging wide the windows and gates on a brand-new year. But we’re here now and we’re gonna continue to make progress all the way until we collectively read the last word of the Bible together. So, we’ve got a brand-new week. Will read from the English Standard Version this week. We will pick up where we left off yesterday in the book of Hosea in the Old Testament, and then we get to the New Testament, we have another letter and we will read the letter, known as second John in its entirety. But first Hosea, chapters 4 and 5.
Introduction to second John:
Okay. So, as I mentioned at the beginning, once we get to the New Testament, we’re gonna read a letter in its entirety known as second John. And, so, that’s where we are. And, you know, we just read first John so now we’re in second John. After this we’ll be third John, these personal letters of John the evangelist, the disciple of Jesus. And this letter has a lot of similarities. Second, John has a lot of similarities to first John and so it’s probably a letter was written fairly recent or fairly shortly after the first one, and probably went to the same people because…because they’re similar. And it’s the similarities of the letters that…that convince scholars that these letters are written by the same person and that person being John. And since the tradition in the church is that John spent his latter years in Ephesus, if the tradition is…is true then and it’s likely that this is where the letter was penned. And you remember when we were reading the letters of Paul, we came to a short letter, personal letter named Philemon. It was…it was a quick read. That’s kind of where we are here in second John. It’s a…it’s a quick read. There’s 13 versus in the entire letter. Basically, the first three verses are greetings and then there’s another three verses that remind us of the importance of love. And if you remember the letter we just read, first John, loving one another as a foundational paramount irreplaceable portion of our…of our spiritual journey was front and center in first John. And, so, it’s revisited here in second John. And then we have few verses against false teaching. And then a couple of verses that aren’t repeating what’s in first John. And these verses talk about like false teachers coming and…and how behave basically. It's…it…it’s a message to not be encouraging or not be hospitable. And then we have a conclusion. So, I’ve like spent more time talking about it then it will take to read it. And it would be easy to blur them together. Like these are just…these short letters from John the evangelist and we just move through them quick because they’re very quick. And since we read them very quick and back to back, we don’t necessarily have the understanding that there was some time that passed. So, if we imagine that we received first John and we read first John and then months go by and then a shorter note arrives just reinforcing and reminding us of what had been previously said then we’re probably in the right…in the right frame of mind. And, so, let’s read this letter together, second John.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. Father, we love You and we are grateful. We are certainly grateful for the scriptures. We are certainly grateful for each other in community. We are thankful for the rhythm that You have given us and allowed us to take steps day by day step-by-step forward. All of these days. And here we find ourselves at day 341 in the year. And, so, we just take this opportunity at the threshold of a brand-new week that we are walking into to voice, to give voice to our gratitude. We are grateful. We are grateful for the…for the oxygen that we are breathing that is sustaining life. We are thankful for the breath, the inspiration and expiration every time we breathe. We thank You for those that we love who are walking through life with us. We thank You for this time that we are able to live in where something like what we’re doing here in community going through the Scriptures is even a possibility. We just take this time to thank You. This is how we want to start our brand-new shiny sparkly week, in the Scriptures with a heart of gratitude. So, come Holy Spirit and lead us deeper into this. May this be the normal. May this be what this week looks like, that we are grateful and that we are reoriented to You each day by the power of the Scriptures in our lives. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base and, you know, www.dailyaudiobible.com, that’s a website. And, so, if anybody was confused. Its home base for the virtual community that we share as we take the journey through the Bible in a year. And our journey, yeah, I mean we…we are most of the way through our journey this year. And, so, we are celebrating, we’re beginning to celebrate the festive…festivities of Christmas and then pressing on toward the new year.
So, the Daily Audio Bible Shop is open. It’s always open, but it’s open right now for Christmas time. And we normally have a Christmas box but with COVID and all of this…this…just the erratic-ness of it all, we’re just putting everything on sale and just saying, “hey, make your own Christmas box.” There are things that you’ll want for yourself to remind you of the journey that you took in 2020, an unforgettable year. And there are things there that you may want to give away just to the right person who needs it at just the right time. So, there are written resources, things to read, things to write with, things to write in, things to listen to, music to enjoy, an entire Global Campfire line, our Daily Audio Bible journals. Just browse the store and if you spend $40 or more in the Shop, we will send you the Daily Audio Bible Christmas ornament for 2020. We have them every year. We have, I guess, this is the seventh one, the seventh year that we’ve had them. And, so, I’ve got em’ for every year hanging on my tree. It’s, for me, and I know I’m not alone because I’ve heard over the years that others tell me similar stories, for me that one bulb, since I can’t have all of you, you wouldn’t fit in my living room anyway, we’d need like, I don’t know, a couple of stadiums to have a Christmas party. But it’s my way anyway, for me, it’s like this physical ornament that I hang on my tree and its…it just reminds me of you. It's…it’s you being in my living room. It’s us being together for Christmas. And, so, I mean because it’s the best that we have right now. And, so, I love having those on my tree. I love remembering the journeys of those years. Those ornaments represent a whole year together in community in the Bible. So, I, you know, I’m a fan obviously or I wouldn’t still be talking about it, but that’s why it’s…it’s just a personal thing. It just…it’s my way of looking at that and going, “that represents that year.” So, anyway if you spend $40 more in the in the Shop, we’ll send you the Christmas ornament along with your order. So, check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link that lives on the homepage. If you are using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement 877-942-4253 is a number to dial or just hit the Hotline button in the app. If you’re using the app, just little red button up at the top. It’s a Hotline no matter where you are in the world. And if you’re not using the Daily Audio Bible app, check it out. It’s free. Go to your Google play store or your iOS, your Apple App Store and search for Daily Audio Bible and get the app and get connected.
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 morning DAB family this is Cheryl the Warrior Princess in southeastern Washington it is December 2nd, 2020. Just got through listening to the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, Brian and Jill and China and all of the Hardin family for this ministry. Just want to make a comment. Heard that today that China is going to be stepping back to concentrate on bringing new life and new baby girl next spring. And we are all happy for you. Your voice will be missed but, you know, we will be hearing from you and hearing your baby sounds. So, China thank you. God bless you for devoting your life to reading the Bible seven days a week. And, you know, God has amazing things planned for you and Ben and baby and we just look forward and hear forward to what’s going to be happening and looking forward to hearing Jill on a daily basis also. God bless you all. Love you all. Everybody have a good rest of the week. This is Wednesday. And just remember God is always, always in control. He is our commander and chief and He will always be with us. God bless you all. Bye.
Hello China, this is Randolph from Toronto Canada I want to say I joined with your dad Brian and as you pray for God’s guidance and direction as you go into this new phase of your life as a mother, as a wife, I pray that He would continue to be with you and I hear…I understand that you are following God’s guidance. I just praise you and praise you and praise God for you for what you…for what He has done in you and the way you were able to serve these many years and just continue to be the sweet and the committed person that you have been as have you’ve demonstrated. God bless you in this new phase and just continue to be with Him, continue to lean on Him. And I pray great blessings on your life. In Jesus name. Amen.
Hi this is Melin from East Texas. I don’t usually call in, but I was listening to the November 29th message and the podcast prayers, Lisa the Encourager shared a song about fear. I know that wasn’t meant just for me, but I needed that. Thank you. I was going to call anyway just to thank all the people who call and share, especially when God has answered their prayers. It builds up my faith, it helps me. I’m not always able to pray for everyone as long as I’d like but I do join in and am thankful for this group of people who love God and want to seek Him and support each other. Thank you for being another family for me even though my family’s great and they’re here. But it always helps to have support from others, and I appreciate it.
Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I was listening that caller Jean from Nevada and what her husband is going through with the diabetes and the COVID and I’m just wanted to tell use my sister to be encouraged that God is ready to goo impossible things. You’re first in line for a miracle. Don’t blame Yourself. Continue to be encouraged. Lord in the name of Jesus You touch Carla Jean and her family. Oh Lord You’re God that can do anything. You’re a God in any…in condition You…there’s nothing impossible for You. O Lord the heart renders what it takes for them to know that You’re a God that can do anything. Lord and we thank You for You healing the husband of the COVID. We thank You for healing of the deal diabetes. Lord You can do anything but fail. Oh Lord You have Your way. You have Your way, Lord. And Joe the Protectors family Lord. You have Your way in that Young man whose, his wife is about the loose and touch her mind and their will Lord and bring them together as one. Oh Lord we touch __ Jane. You give her joy Lord. You have Your way. You let her know that You’re Lord, that You’re with her, that You never leave her nor forsake her. Lord You let her know that You’re a God of love and that You won’t hold no good thing from them that love You. Oh Lord endure. Oh Lord the one that wants to have a baby Lord, that she’s been…her and her husband is trying to have a baby. Oh Lord that You will have a special child for them. Lord You have a child for them that You need to move mountains in this nation. Lord You bless them with that child. You let them keep their trust in You and keep looking to You in the name of Jesus. Oh Lord there’s somebody today that needs a home, they need a place, they…they…they…they’re having problems in their home because of COVID. Lord Your God that provides. Lord You have Your way in their life in the name of Jesus. Lord I thank You Lord for touching Your…
Hi
DAB family this is Diane calling from Iowa today is December 2nd and
I just finished listening to both the DAB and DABC podcast and heard the news
that Jill will be doing the DABC next year in 2021. And my heart is filled with
so much Thanksgiving for both of these podcasts and for the communities in both.
And I just wanted to thank God first for Brian’s dad who Brian mentioned that
he was standing on the shoulders of his dad. And, so, I thank God for Brian’s
dad and for the example that he set for Brian and I would like to thank God for
Brian’s obedience and his perseverance for all of these years and for his
dedication. And I’d like to thank sweet China for just listening to the call of
God so many years ago as a young child and for just her words of wisdom that
she speaks every day on the DABC podcast. And I’d like to thank the Holy Spirit
for leading me to the podcast back in 2008. And I would like to thank God for
this wonderful community who just love and lift each other up each and every
day. So, thank you all. Thank you, God. I love you family.