Job 8:1-11:20, 1 Corinthians 15:1-28, Psalm 38:1-22, Proverbs 21:28-29
Today is the 23rd day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today. A joy, that we can come together like this around the Global Campfire. Find a place, exhale, let it go and just be here as we allow God’s word to speak and wash into our lives and wash our hearts and minds and carry us forward. So, let’s set dive in, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. We are a couple of days into the book of Job. We have found out what happened to Job. He lost everything systematically one thing after another, after another, after another in one day, until it was all gone and we can probably all say that we’ve felt like one thing after another, after another has happened in our own lives, but he lost his family, his fortune, his staff, his livestock, everything. One thing right after the other in the same day and we watched him, you just can’t even imagine the shock of something like that, anyone one thing that happened to Job on the day would’ve sent any of us into the depths and he had all these things happened and you just can’t imagine the just the shock of it, but he tore his robes and he threw ashes on his head and all of this, but he fell to his knees and worshiped God and took a posture that everything he had was from God and if God took away then blessed be the name of the Lord, but Job is really confused. He doesn’t know what he did wrong. He believes that God is judging him. He believes that what is happening to him is at the hand of the Lord. His friends have come to comfort him. They have started giving him advice and encouragement. Basically, like a something’s gotta be, there’s got to be more to the story, God…God is righteous. He’s not, you know, if he doesn’t punish people for no reason and then Job is just crying out. First of all, in anguish and very understandable ways. He’s saying things like I don’t want to live anymore like I can’t take this. I can endure it. I wish God would just come take me, things we’ve all heard other people say. Maybe we’ve even felt those things in the past but his main thing is that he doesn’t understand, he doesn’t know what he did wrong and he wants an audience with God. And that’s where we pick up and today we’ll read chapters 8 through 11.
Commentary:
Okay, so in our reading from 1 Corinthians today we’re watching Paul’s training kick in, let’s remember this is the apostle Paul and he is famous for being the apostle Paul, but he was Saul the Pharisee before he was the apostle Paul, so he had been trained and he was very zealous in his trait, like he was literally being devout and devoted to God through Judaism as a Pharisee, so when people came along and started saying Jesus is Lord, Jesus is equal to God, that’s blasphemy he was raging about this until he met the resurrected Christ and that is the centerpiece of what Paul is talking about today. But, it’s also the centerpiece of the apostles Paul of the apostle Paul’s understanding and teachings. So basically, at the time of Paul, you had what was called the Sanhedrin, the high counsel, made up of scholars and people who determined what the law was, how to contextualize it in the changing world, and how to govern and teach the people and the Sanhedrin was made up of two different schools. The Sadducees and the Pharisees; the Sadducees, this is like old-school, like these are the people that are claiming they have been descended from the original priests and Levites, very, very traditional, very Orthodox, very conservative, very powerful mostly situated in the holy city of Jerusalem. Whereas the Pharisees were generally out and among the people. So, a lot closer to the ground, a lot closer to where people actually lived. They were in it with the people and these two groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees had different views on specific theological understandings and one of them that is key. Very key to what we’re talking about right now was the hope of the resurrection from the dead. So, the Sadducees believed that when a person dies they return to God, their spirit returns to God and then their body is eventually no more, and there will be no resurrection from the dead, people will not rise up from the grave. The Pharisees, on the other hand, had the hope that there would be bodily resurrection from the dead, that they rested when they died, rested, in hope of resurrection that would certainly come one day. And we watched Paul, when he was arrested in Jerusalem back in the book of acts, actually go before the Sanhedrin and say I’m on trial because I have a hope in the resurrection from the dead, which divided the Council and had the Pharisees kind of on Paul’s team. Paul hoped in resurrection, he could not get on board with these people who were following Jesus because they were saying Jesus is God. He's…that’s blasphemy for him but then he had the experience where he encountered Jesus and Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus. That right there was a profound game changer in Paul’s life and we could say yeah of course a blinding light from the heavens, in a voice and you fall down and you can’t see in this voice tells you it’s Jesus than you believe, but it’s more than that because Jesus was dead, that’s the thing Paul thought, He had been executed, He was dead and so these people that were following his teachings and believing in them, they needed to be wiped out so that you just disappear this…this heresy, would just disappear. But when he met Jesus, he met somebody who had risen from the dead, who had experienced resurrection. So, for him this made everything that he had hoped in true, he had seen it with his own eyes and it changed the whole game. Which is why in today’s reading he’s essentially saying if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then known of this is true and everything that you believe when you believed in Jesus is false and there is no hope of the resurrection and we’re all wasting our times and it’s hopeless. But then Paul says but he did, he did rise from the dead, and that has started something new which is directly at the heart of the gospel. At the heart of what is the good news that there is hope and it is eternal, that Christ’s resurrection indicates that we who believe in Him will also experience resurrection, a resurrection or a rebirth into something completely new that God is doing upon the earth, essentially a new version of humanity, of which Jesus is the firstborn. So, Paul says it like this, and I’m quoting from our reading today “just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead is begun through another man, just as everyone dies, because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life, but there is an order to this resurrection, Christ was raised as the first of the harvest, then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.” What’s interesting, I mean we that's…that’s fundamental Christianity, to believe these things, but if you have to step back and go, if I were in the Sanhedrin would I be a Sadducees or would I be a Pharisee because the hope of our faith is that we, those who have fallen asleep, those who have died physically will one day wake up and live again. And when we believe this is exactly what happens, spiritually, we die to who we were and are reborn, born again, resurrected into new life spiritually, where the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead indwells us, lives in us, it’s no longer. We who live, but Christ who lives within us. So, let’s, I mean this is a kind of a theological thing that Paul is talking about when he’s talking about resurrection today but let’s dwell upon it. Let’s meditate upon it. It is the fundamental thing in our faith that truly at a baseline, let’s just experience that everything is going to be okay, no matter what. We are in the hands of Christ Jesus and everything is going to be okay. No matter what. Forever. And so, let’s consider some of these bedrock things in our faith today.
Prayer:
And Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. We invite You to plant the words that we’ve read from Job and from 1 Corinthians, and from Psalms and from Proverbs today. Plant these things in our lives and our hearts and our minds that we may consider them, that they may transform us, that they may help us to see a reality that is very different than the world, a reality of how things are supposed to be and an invitation to be a part of that story come Holy Spirit we pray. And all this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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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.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hello DAB family this is Clyde from Michigan. Calling in to really, I guess it’s more to speak directly to Lazarus, brother I know where you’re at. I’ve been there at least twice in my life. Being a contractor and losing a business and going through a divorce and all the ugliness. All I can tell you is to keep, keep keeping on. Your message really rattled me, I think you can tell. I know where your heart is right now. I know how broken you are. And I can just say that Jesus will pull you through, he always does. It may not be on the level or in the timeframe that we want but know that you’re not alone. There are countless people right where you’re at, we will come through it, as you will. And I know that it’s hollow words sometimes to hear it from other people but know that you’re in our prayers and that we will never ever fall away. We’re all here to listen to you. So, please Lord Jesus look out for our brother Lazarus. Fill him with the hope that he is so desperately seeking. And bless him in Your name. Thank you Lord, Amen.
This is God’s Life Speaker. Lazarus, I hear you on the 18th of August and I will stand as the DAB family will stand in the gap. We will speak to those things that bind you and we pray in the name of Jesus that they are bound and cast and we will ask the Lord Jesus in only the way that he can to miraculously stand, provide and send you comfort. Is there a place we can reach out to you other than just speaking into this microphone? Please let us know. Thank you for your reliance on Jesus. Which in these kind of times doesn’t seem like it’s enough. But when you get to a place where you can look back it is just so amazing to see everywhere that His hand has been. Lord Jesus, we thank You for Lazarus, we thank You for his life because his story is a testimony. His life is a witness, I mean he lives it out, I mean he speaks it out. May You rush into this and may he feel You, may he be centered on You. May You surround him with many Christians, maybe even DABers he doesn’t even know it yet because we don’t know where he is. But Lord, You do. We trust You, we trust You Lord. And I pray that he’s obedient and trusting you and walking this out. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family, hi, my name’s Crystal. I just want to start off by saying thank you to everyone. Thank you to you all. Thank you to this community. Thank you, Brian and Jill, for your commitment and dedication to this…this wonderful platform and community that’s been created and feeding us in such a powerful way every single day. I’m so eternally grateful honestly and my children listen to it as well so, I just love it and I am so appreciative for it and I thank you as well community. You know how everyone prays for one another and shares and tells testimonies, this is a wonderful family to be apart of so thank you to you all. I’m recording this today and wanting to ask for prayer. Family, I’ve been struggling for the past 4-5 years with misusing alcohol and I’ve had some really really bad times with it. Some really, really dark times. I am, really desperate for change. I’m in fear of my health, my body physically scared that I’m really damaging myself. I’m a homeschooling mom. And so, I’m educating my children I have to children and I’m scared of what they’re seeing me do. I do do my best to hide it but I’m scared of what they’re seeing. I’m also, I’ve tried, I feel like I’ve tried everything. I may not have but I’m just asking guys if you could pray with me. Pray with me to stand strong. I’m gonna start seeing a counselor from next week. Please pray with me to be honest and open. Guys, I’m so desperate for courage and strength. Please pray for me. Thank you all, I’m praying with you too. Love you, bye.
Hey faith fam it’s Holly Heart calling in with more prayers. I’m gonna start with the most recent one because I feel it’s timely. Lazarus, dear Lord, please bless and keep Lazarus as he is in a season of loss. He’s feeling hopeless but he still sings Your praises Lord. Please lift up our brother and do not let him harm himself. Stuff is just that, stuff. So please help him put it into perspective. I know these times are hard for Christians and especially for Christian men Lord, please just sustain Lazarus and bring him back up out of his darkness. Little Lee, dear Lord, our sister is facing a giant obstacle in her marriage. Everything in our culture screams dump the cheater, you Lord, however, are in the business of forgiveness. Marriage is hard, divorce is hard. There’s no easy route for her, please make a path for her Lord. Let it lead to Your will. Rose, dear Lord, please help Rosie’s son Charles, forgive his past offenders so that he can be a beacon of Your love again, please show him eternal love and peace so he can reflect that. Quiet Confidence, dear Lord, please meet our sister where she is, she need Your strength and love. She’s a prisoner to her own mind. Please Lord, deliver her from her bondage. LJ Lavender Dream, dear Lord, please help my sister and her chronic illness. You know what ails her Lord, please reach in her and fix her health. Also Lord, please watch over her son who is suicidal and speak to him and deliver him from these thoughts. Father, also encompass her extended family and bring healing and forgiveness, Amen.
Hey family, this is Maleesa from Albertville, Alabama. Brian and Jill, I love ya’ll so much and Ezekiel. Thank you Father for all you do for the body of Christ. I have a praise report, my daughter was married on July 16th. My oldest daughter, married in Paris France. We weren’t able to attend because of COVID restrictions and passport stuff, but praise God she’s married. Dr. John, you’ve been praying for us for year. I want you to know I’m praying for you. God is able to heal your eye. I am lifting you up brother. And there was a sister who called and I didn’t catch your name I was at work but you said, at the end of your call you were singing It’s Me Oh Lord, standing in the, I’m sorry I’m tongue tied, I just want you to know I have been lifting you up sister, I’m so sorry you’re in so much pain. I love you. And GG hang in there. And the 16-year-old who called tell GG she could do it, she can do all things, she…you encouraged me. I just loved it all the young people, Renzo, everybody that calls in. Lady of Victory, I’m still praying for you, I love you sister. And the sister who lost her daughter, she was waiting ona liver, I didn’t catch your name but know that you’ve been prayed for. I don’t call in much but I’m praying much. I love this community. Ya’ll keep praying for each other. Look up, the King is coming. Ya’ll have a great day.
I have been struggling with a lot lately and I know that God is here for me and I know that I’m not alone. I just ask for everybody to pray for me and pray for my family. And for us to get through whatever we’re going through. I’m going through depression, heartbreak and family issues. And I’m trying so hard to stay strong. I know that me and my family are in God’s hand. And I know that He’s here for me and that He will help me. I just need to keep looking up to Him and keep having faith and I will. Tomorrow supposed to be my birthday. And I don’t really feel excited for it. But 18 years ago, I started fighting for my life. And I’m still fighting today. I just ask everybody that is listening to continue to pray for one another, to help one another and to be there for one another. And to keep your head up, to keep going no matter how hard things may get, God will always be the first one to listen to you. He will always be there when you need Him. Just keep praying, keep your head up and keep going. Love and God Bless you guys.