Hosea 6:1-9:17, 3 John 1:1-15, Psalms 126:1-6, Proverbs 29:12-14
Today is the 7th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today as we continue our journey, which is what we do every day, continue our journey through the Scriptures. And each and every day greets us with something new to think about, something to carry forward, something that develops us and continues our growth in the Lord. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Hosea chapters 6, seven, eight and nine today.
Introduction to third John:
Okay. So, yesterday we read an entire letter in the New Testament that was called second John and we talked about it. And we started and finished it. So, that brings us to the threshold of another letter. This one is the final of…of John’s letters. It’s known as third John and probably like the other two they were written from Ephesus probably later in John’s life. But third John’s just a little different than first and second John because…well…I mean, remember when we were reading Paul’s letters and we came to a short letter, known as Philemon? So, Philemon’s the one with the runaway slave Onesimus and you remember all that. But the…the distinction about that particular letter is that it wasn’t a letter written to a church or a group of people. It was a personal letter written to a person. So, third John is like that. Third John is a personal letter written to a man named Gaius. And Gaius it appears from the letter is an upstanding believer in the…in the…in the church world or the network of churches that John was leading. And John writes this letter to Gaius to give him…well…a couple of things; personal encouragement, because he’s passionate about the gospel and he’s willing to serve and supports the traveling teachers that are sent throughout the churches that John has sent throughout the churches and the custom of welcoming these ministers who come, like itinerant ministers who move around the churches to encourage the churches and teach them. The care of their needs was a common thing and Gaius participated in this. But it’s not just to pat him on the back. John felt like this letter was necessary because it was a church leader named Diotrephes and this leader had risen up in authority but had in the process distanced himself from John. And, so, he refused to offer hospitality to these traveling ministers. And causing even more divisiveness, Diotrephes was kicking people out of the church who disagreed with him and assisted these itinerant missionaries. Now here’s the irony. In second John, John basically says, “this is how you should…I mean you shouldn’t really show hospitality or give words of encouragement to itinerant ministers who are coming in and bringing a false teaching.” So, Diotrephes is doing that, but apparently has decided that the people John is sending through are bringing false teachings and he’s ascribed to something different. We don’t really know the full context here. Nevertheless, John wrote this personal letter to Gaius to commend him because he was caring and showing hospitality to those who were traveling to bring the gospel. And, so, this letter then would serve as a written notice, like it would affirm in writing that Gaius was doing the right thing. And you can imagine that if you get a personal letter from one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, then that’s probably pretty valuable. And it has certainly been preserved and it’s in our New Testament now, but you can imagine at the time that this would have…this would’ve carried weight with it. And, so, again, as with many of the letters, and much of the New Testament we get a glimpse back at the early formative time in the faith, and some of the controversies and some of the problems that they had to face to move things forward. And, so, we’ll read together in its entirety now. Third John.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and thank You for what it does to us, that it goes inside of us and moves around within rearranging things, transforming things, moving things out that don’t belong, moving things in that do into our lives so that all things work together for the good of those who love You. And we love You and we are grateful. And we thank You even as we move into a more speedy time of the year, this month of December. And even as things begin to move more quickly in the Scriptures because we’re moving through so much territory, thank You for what we get to learn, that even though we might read a whole letter or a whole book in a day that we get to kind of fly over it and understand where it sits in the grand scheme of canon of Scripture. And, so, Father as we continue this rhythm and as it does speed up and as we do continue to move through more and more territory we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead us to what it is that we need to hear and what we need to observe and what we need to meditate upon what we need to plant in the soil of our lives. In fact, we open our lives to You and submit You fully and invite You to plant in our lives the fruit of the spirit, the fruit of Your spirit. And may this come from the transformational power of the Scriptures in our lives each and every day. Come Holy Spirit we pray into all this, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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Right now, it’s Christmas time. So, we’ve been talking about the Christmas box that we don’t have this year. We normally do and we pack it full of all kinds of goodies and select them perfectly and it’s just great, but with all of the uncertainties that this year has brought we have elected to just say, “here’s the shop, we’ve discounted everything that we possibly can. Make your own Christmas box.” If you spend $40 or more in the Shop, we will send you the Daily Audio Bible Christmas ornament for 2020. That’s an exclusive for the Christmas box each year, but we’ll send it to you this year. And, so, Yeah, I was talking about that yesterday, how I have them hung on my tree and how they…they represent a year of my life in the Bible, but they represent a year of my life in community with you as well. And, so, I love that. So, we’ll send it to you if you spend $40 more in the Shop. There’s all kinds of resources that are in the Shop. The Daily Audio Bible Global Campfire Klean Kanteen that we only had one time this year. We have them rarely. We get them sometimes a couple times a year. This time one time this year. And this is the only time this year and it’s the Global Campfire edition. It’s awesome. I mean, I have one too. I use it every single day. Those will not last. We’ve had them for I think a week. They are almost gone. They might be gone by the end of the day, but they will not last this week. S, yeah, check those out. They’re in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. And there are all kinds of other…other ideas there as well. So, check it out.
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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:
Hello Daily Audio Bible community this is Abba’s Joy and I just want to call in with a special prayer request. Of course, I’d like to say thank you to this community and to Brian Hardin and the Hardin family for this wonderful ministry that has blessed me tremendously throughout this year. I would like to ask for prayers for my son. He is 14 years old and he deals with anxiety, self-confidence issues. He blames God for certain things when they don’t go his way and he has developed a resistance to listening to the word of God. There’s just a lot of confusion right now and I know the enemy has been trying to get through to him. But deep down I know that he has love for Jesus Christ. And I just would like you guys to lift him up so that he just knows the power of Jesus Christ and that he can overcome anything. I thank you so much and I love you all. Have a blessed day or night wherever you may be. Thank you.
Okay I’m gonna try this again. I’m in my car and I’m on my way to work and I don’t have the phone in my hand so I’m hoping this is recording and you can hear me. This is Kathleen Mount Zion Illinois. I just wanted to thank Gigi for calling in with a prayer or not even a prayer just a story of thanks, a story of thankfulness to God for what He has done in her life. And Gigi I just…really, I just…you have such a kind spirit. You seem to just have this amazingly kind spirit in you and that just resonated with me and how thankful you were to God for bringing you Seth. And it sounds like God brought him write to you and it changes your life. That…that hit me because I too had thought I would be a missionary someday and instead I…I married and had children and now I have grandchildren and am very thankful for all of that and I just, you know, you just, you just want everybody to feel what you feel, right? That’s what I would like. I just I thank God and I think it all comes from thanking God, from being thankful. And that’s what I pray, for the Daily Audio Bible listeners, that we could thank God for anything, anything that is good and positive and wonderful in our lives. Thank you.
Hi, I’m Halo and my mom was the one who inspired me to this program, and I love it. And also, I kind of need help with my hatred. There’s a kid in my class that is really mean. And I tried to remember that you have to forgive your neighbors and I just need a little help with that. Thank you DAB family. Also thank you Brian to help my mom through the good and bad times. Bye and have a great day.
Father God tonight we lift up those who are searching for meaning whether they are Christians Muslim Seeks Buddhists another region or no religion at all or just don’t know. Father God we are searching for meaning, we’re looking for…we’re looking for something and we know Lord that…that You are the only one that gives meaning, that gives us that fulfillment that we’re actually looking for. Father God during this Advent and Christmas time I pray that You’d be…that Your truth would be a shining light, that those people who are searching could find You. We pray for our churches and our communities, for our brothers and sisters, and pray that they would be and that we would be shining light so that we would be able to guide people to You so people will find what they’re looking for even those that don’t know that what they’re looking for, that they would find it in You. May they join us in saying praise the Lord. We will give thanks to the Lord with our whole hearts. Great are the works of the Lord studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is His work and Your righteousness endures forever. You provide food for those who fear You. You remember Your promises forever. May we see You be glorified Lord and may lives be saved in Jesus name…
This is Candace from Oregon with a praise report. My son Micah was in a really awful situation and he actually had some good things happening at the same time, one of which was the first time in his whole life where he had paid vacation for a week. But then that last day when it was time to go back to this really difficult situation at his work he was just overcome with hopelessness and despair and depression and anxiety. So, I did warfare against the…the spirits, those spirits, those evil spirits and any back up plan the enemy had. And our Lord who is so kind and so merciful. Our Lord who is faithful and true and always loading us with undeserved favor was right there. And Micah, he…he almost didn’t go into work because of just this huge dilemma he was up against. But he managed to go anyway and when I picked him up 12 hours later after a 12 hour shift the…this oppression had completely lifted. Lord, thank You so much and please help Micah to know that it’s You and to receive You Lord wholeheartedly and to confess You before men. Thank You, Jesus. Thanks for Your love and tender care. To…to You be all the honor and all the glory for all the things You’re doing in all of our difficulties Lord.