Ezra 3:1-4:23, 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4, Psalms 28:1-9, Proverbs 20:24-25
Today is the 6th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here with you today as we all find our places around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. And that next step leads us…well…we’re kind of in some new territory in both old and new Testaments. We’re moving into Ezra and we’re moving into first Corinthians. So, that’s where we’ll be today. First, Ezra chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 verse 23.
Commentary:
Okay. So, as we began the book of Ezra we talked about, you know, what its contents are and the fact that it sort of picks up where second Chronicles, the book we previously read left off. And, so, exiles are returning back to Jerusalem with the blessing of the king to rebuild the temple and worship God there. And, so, they have. They have come back and begun to rebuild, but the people around them are being critical and some are coming and asking if they can help rebuild, the people that have been relocated into Samaria by the Assyrian Empire, the people that will come to be known as Samaritans, who worship God differently. And, so, there’s sort of a…a rift there with the returning Hebrew people, the naturally born Hebrew people wanting to rebuild the temple of God, as commanded by the king, they didn’t want any mixture, they didn’t want any help. And, so, that causes a rift, and before long the politics start, and letters are being written to the king. And by the time we finish our reading today everything is stopped. Like, their dream and their mission has come to a halt. And this book Ezra and the one that will follow it Nehemiah…I mean…we’re definitely reading of the restoration of parts of Jerusalem that had been destroyed by the Babylonians. And, so, we have a bit of a historical account here, but when we look deeper into the challenges that are faced we really do see some things for our own lives. And, so, what we’re going to begin to see here is endurance, perseverance, staying true to a specific goal that that that needs to be achieved, even if things grind to a halt, even if it’s just a millimeter forward per day until things break loose. Keep moving forward even if it’s just a little bit every day toward what we’re heading into and enduring what we must to achieve those things, these are valuable lessons for our…for our lives, because intimidation and discouragement and politics and the stuff we’re seeing begin to shape up here in Ezra are things that we face at one point or another in one circumstance or another. And, so, there’s so much here for us to watch. But what we watched today is the joy of rebuilding. And, of course, as sacrifices are starting to be offered they’re on the site of the Temple. Some people are very, very joyful. Like this is the restoration that we were praying for. And other people who had seen God’s temple before it was restored are weeping because of what was lost. And they continue forward until their halted by…by the king. And we’ll pick up with that story tomorrow.
In the letter to the Corinthians, first Corinthians that we’re in, Paul had been talking about the nonsense of the gospel in our reading yesterday and how it’s offensive to Hebrew people and Judaism because it does not line up with accepted tradition, and it doesn’t make any sense to a Gentile who’s never been involved in Judaism. It sounds like nonsense. And that kind of conversation continues today. And…and so, we…we can see this. Let me quote Paul. Now, just put on a rational mind here. Like, just listen to these words rationally and not spiritually. “We speak about the mystery of God’s wisdom. It is a wisdom that has been hidden which God had planned for our glory before the world began.” Okay that’s a statement. It’s a statement of faith. It’s a statement that you would have to believe, but if you look at that statement rationally it’s like what hidden wisdom? What glory was planned before the world began? Who knows this? How do you know this? And you can start picking it apart and go, well…well just that one verse there, that doesn’t even make sense, much less the rest of what Paul’s saying. What Paul was saying that we…we gleaned from our reading yesterday is that it’s all backwards. The world’s wisdom, the way that things are constructed is what we have done over time to try to be our own sovereign and have control over this place and control over everyone else in whatever way we can. And it’s upside down. Jesus said the same kinds of things, especially like in the Beatitudes. It’s upside down. It’s backward. And, so, Paul says that’s intentional. That’s his argument. That’s intentional. This nonsense that you…that you can’t wrap your mind around, that’s intentional. You won’t be able to hold God in your mind or control him that way by human understanding. Even if you’ve devoted your life to a theological understanding, you’re scratching the surface of the most-high God. And, so, according to Paul, God has chosen the foolishness of the world to reveal his wisdom. And to believe these things might make us look foolish to anyone out there but once we’ve tasted and seen, like once we’ve had eyes to see, even for a moment, things flipped upside down where we have eyes to see this kingdom at work in and among us and that we’re a part of this, that changes everything. We can’t unsee what we’ve seen. I quote Paul. “God has revealed those things to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God. After all, who knows everything about a person, except that person’s Spirit. in the same way no one has known everything about God except God’s own Spirit. And we didn’t receive the Spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we can know the things which God has freely given us. We don’t speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirits teachings. We explain spiritual things through those who have the Spirit.” So, we can look at this and go, well we are rational beings who try to create order out of the story that we’re living to try to give some linearity to it so that it makes sense as we live. And we look at things to try to understand how they work. So how then, if God is so far beyond us and we’re only can have spiritual teachings, then how will this settle in? What makes it work? Which is what brings us to a very famous saying in the book of first Corinthians. So, Paul says, “a person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. They can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them. Spiritual people evaluate everything but are subject to no one’s evaluation. Who has known the mind of the Lord so that he can teach Him? However, we have the mind of Christ.” So, according to Paul that’s what we see through. That is the lens that we see through. It’s not our own intellectual understanding, it’s the mind of Christ opening with in us. And indeed, to those who have not accepted or believed in faith in that direction than its nonsense. For those who have opened their hearts and minds to the mind of Christ and the Spirit of the risen Christ within and the guidance of the Holy Spirit than we can’t see differently. Things have changed.
Prayer:
Father, we open ourselves to You. Even now, even as we’re here in this moment now we slow things down and open our hearts and minds to You understanding that we can’t hold onto You, that we can’t figure You out, we can’t rationalize all of this. It’s not something that we can sort out. It’s something that we have to simply be and know. So, we open ourselves. Come Holy Spirit, may the mind of Christ open within us. May our hearts open to Your Spirits guidance and direction. May we pay attention we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s how to find out what’s going on around here and how to get connected around here. So, check it out. If you’re using the…the Daily Audio Bible app, you can access all these things as well. And if you haven’t used the app, go ahead and download the app. It’s free and it’s a great way to stay connected and keep track of your progress through the Scriptures. So, check that out.
Also check out the Community section. This is so where to get connected. This is where the Prayer Wall lives.
Check out the Daily Audio Bible shop. This is where a number of resources for the journey that we are on lives and where you can access those. So, check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to just keep showing up every day around this Global Campfire and taking the next step forward together, if that means something encouraging and life-giving in your life than…than thank you for being life-giving. 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 is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can it outline button in the app, or you can dial 877-942-4253.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Good morning DABber family this is the burning Bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and our king. I’m calling with a praise report guys. Two years ago, this time of year I was calling in with a prayer request for my nephew who was diagnosed with a brain tumor, was undergoing several tests. The doctors had gotten to a point where they thought that this was going to be fatal and his at the time girlfriend had gone to stay in the hospital with him. They got married in the hospital and, you know, my family was praying, you guys were praying with us, and I just want to announce today that he is awaiting the…the birth of his first child. Now rewind two years ago they thought that he was not going to make it past three months and today he is alive and well. God has healed his body. His family is growing, and I just want to share this with those who are struggling with something similar. Somebody in your family has a brain tumor. Someone in your family’s struggling with cancer. Know that it’s not a death sentence, that there is nothing that God can’t do. The power of prayer still exists today. That’s it. I want to pray for God’s Smile and her husband. Father God, I praise You for the beautiful couple. I praise You for health in their family Lord. I pray that You will sustain them and keep them and help them to consistently walk in Your grace. I pray for divine health over that family right now in the name of Jesus. I also pray for all our DABbber family members who are going through sickness and fighting, battling illnesses this this year. I pray for healing God, that Your healing hands. I pray that You will put the blood of the lamb over the door of each of our members and the name of Jesus that they will not fall to any illness in the name of Jesus I pray. I love You all. Amen, Amen, Amen. Have a blessed…
Lee from New Jersey my brother from another mother this is doctor, John from Jordan New York. We missed our birthdays July 24th. I don’t know what number it is for you but for me it’ll be my 14th Daily Audio Bible birthday. And, yeah, I’d love to hear from you and see how you’re doing. I also have another request DAB family. I have a glaucoma procedure tomorrow and I’m in surgery on August the 3rd. Today is August 2nd. So, if you could pray for positive outcome, pray for the surgeon’s hands, for my vision to stabilize. For the first time ever, I have lost vision. My dad was blind at 65 and I’ve got normal pressure glaucoma which means that his vision under normal pressure. So, I’ve got to try to get my pressures lower. And, so, I’m kind of getting a taste of what my dad experienced, and I’d rather not lose anymore vision. So, if you could pray for me, I would appreciate it. Love you family. Lee, give me a call give me a shout out. Love you brother. Bye bye.
Hello DAB family this is Dasia from North Carolina. I am calling in response to prayer Mama calling about your situation with your daughter Lauren. I know the spirit of suicide firsthand. I tried several times in my life not understanding that the gifting of the burdens of my life was for the ministry of my life. So it is my prayer that God touches her mind, touches her heart to realize that everything she’s going through even though it’s painful to her has nothing to do with her. It’s all about what God has to reveal through her. So, I pray with you Mama that everything is gonna be OK. I would not recommend that you let her know you read her diary because that’s just another avenue for the enemy to play on her mind. So, just stay in prayer, fast before the Lord, keep her lifted as we will keep her lifted. And in the name of Jesus Lauren, we call against…we pray against the spirit of suicide. I bind it in the mighty name of Jesus. Hallelujah God, I thank you so much lower for the life of Lauren Lord. I thank you for the ministry of Lauren Lord. Lord, I thank you because I know that you are going to touch, I know that you’re going to reveal yourself unto this family and I bless your name in the mighty name of Jesus I pray. Hallelujah, thank you Jesus. Keep your head up Mama. Everything is gonna be alright. The sun will shine again in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Good morning DABbers I’m responding to the prayer request from the mother who read her daughter’s journal. Daughter is __ suicidal. Father we lift up this daughter before You this morning. I pray Your peace and __. We ask Lord God almighty that You’ll visit her in a divine way, that You’ll take away all the suicidal thoughts away from her. We also pray for the couple that are taking in their niece. Their niece is leaving behind a lot of baggage. Father for the good heart that this couple have to be able to take this niece in, Lord I pray that You protect them, their little daughter and their son. We pray Lord God almighty for wisdom for discernment and we ask Lord that You will send help from Your sanctuary to Your children because they’re doing this good deed just like the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us to do. Lord I pray that in the name of Jesus they will find favor, they will find direction, and they’ll find purpose for the life of their nice. Heavenly Father Lord we lift up this mother that is also smiling again. She wants to help Christine but then though Christine has so many mental issues. Lord, You place it on our hearts to reach out to all DABbers to pray for this woman. As she continues to cut herself Lord we pray that You take away this evil spirit from her and grant her Your peace, give her Your comfort, and let help reach out to her in the name of Jesus. Father we thank You for so many needs that Your children bring to You. Thank You, Lord for Brian and Jill who have put this podcast together that we can all come together and lift each other up in prayer. In Jesus’ name Amen.
Hey DABbers Bubba D with you. Prayer goes out to Tammy from Adirondacks. Father God, restore her. And we ask God for her friend who’s a cutter, asking God that You would reveal Yourself to her, that You would speak to this friend who’s been harming herself and has been hurt by it. Reveal Yourself God in a way that would affect her, revive her, bring her back to life, bring her to understanding that You love her so much Father. Would You reveal Yourself to her in her thoughts and her feelings and everything she goes through every day, that she would see You in everything and be able to experience You in a deep way. And wherever this hurt is coming from Lord, minister to that Father. Holy Spirit You are the great comforter You are the great counselor. We ask for Your blessing for Tammy’s friend in Jesus’ name Lord God. May Your peace wash over her, may Your love wash over her, Your goodness Your grace would be made known to her in new and amazing ways Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen.