Hosea 6:1-9:17, 3 John 1:1-15, Psalm 126:1-6, Proverbs 29:12-14
Today is the seventh day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is a joy and a privilege and an honor to be here with you today as we take another step forward and continue this journey. We will continue our journey through Hosea in the Old Testament today. Then we get to the New Testament, we have another letter, we read second John in its entirety yesterday. We will read third John in its entirety today. And we’ll talk about third John when we get to it, but let’s dive into Hosea 1st. Today, Hosea chapters 6 through 9 and we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week.
Introduction to the Book of III John:
Alright so, this brings us in the New Testament to third John and let’s talk about that, we will read the entire letter of third John today. Third John was probably written from the same place first and second John were written and that is likely Ephesus, but this third letter is different than the first two, it’s a personal letter. So, if we remember in Paul’s letters, there were some personal letters to Titus and Timothy, to pastors. But then there was the letter to Philemon which is just a personal note and third John is a personal letter to a person and that person was named Gaius an upstanding believer in the churches that that John oversaw. And if we remember in second John yesterday, John was talking about Docetism but he was also, itinerant preachers, people coming in with false gospels, coming and being welcomed into the church and he was saying stop doing that and they did. And there seems to be like some further issues here that that sort of become visible as we read third John because Gaius, this good upstanding churchman was passionate about the gospel and he supported traveling teachers that had been sent throughout the different churches specially sent by John or approved by John as it were. The custom of welcoming people into the congregation to bring good news, that is part of the DNA of the early church. That’s what Paul did. That’s what all of these apostles did, they traveled around a lot. Some of them stayed in one place for a long time as…as pastors of churches, but they did their share of traveling. So, John writes this letter to Gaius to encourage him because there’s another church leader named Diotrephes, who’s kind of taken a few steps back from John, distancing himself from John and then refusing to offer hospitality to any traveling missionaries. So, as he’s closing the doors, he’s also throwing people out of the church who assisted anybody who helped traveling itinerant missionaries. So, John writes this personal letter which would carry significant weight to have a copy of this letter, right. If…if you’re being thrown out of a church or whatever and you say well I, the apostle John, who walked with Jesus had sent me this letter told me, well telling me I’m doing the right thing, that would carry some…some good weight. So, John writes Gaius and commends him for being hospitable and caring for God’s people. And so, this letter, third John gives us a glimpse into some of those tensions that were going on in the early church. So, let’s dive in and read in its entirety third, John.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You, we thank You for another day, another day of life, another day to come around the Global Campfire together. Another step forward into the Scriptures and through the Scriptures as we continue our journey toward the end of the year. We are profoundly grateful. And once again as we, as we were asking yesterday, we ask again today, as we move rapidly through some of the shorter compositions that are in the Bible, we invite Your Holy Spirit to help us pay attention, help us to glean what it is You are trying to speak to us, give us an understanding mind, give us the mind of Christ and give us an open heart to receive we pray. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s where you find out what’s happening and it’s Christmas time all around here and so all of the Christmas resources that we’ve been talking about are available. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas box for 2021 is available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible is also available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. And then all of the different Christmas music that we have had is available online wherever you get your music, whatever store that you use to get your music. So, there is our brand-new Christmas album, Christmas Time and that can be found by look for Christmas Time or searching Maxwell Hardin. We also have Family Christmas a fully orchestrated Christmas album for family Christmas and you can find that by looking for Family Christmas or my name Brian Hardin. And then there is the single that we released last year, O Holy Night and you can find that by looking for Jill’s name Jill Parr. So, all of our music for the holiday season is available as well. So, check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, as we approach the ending of the year, thank you, humbly, deeply, profoundly, honestly, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, there is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement or right now for the next couple of days anyway, if you have a holiday greeting that you want to call into the community, you can do that. You can do that using the prayer line, only rule about that is don’t call in a holiday greeting and a prayer request in the same call. This is the rare time where you can hang up a call back in if you have a prayer request so you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s little red button up at the top in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hey DAB fam, this is Mike in New York. So, I’m gonna ask your prayer for a guy I just had a big conversation with, his name is Warren and he’s a Jew. We had a party tonight for my girlfriend’s birthday and super fun. Bunch of people came and a bunch of them got drunk. And he is quite the jabber, he’s a lawyer, so he jab, jab, jab, jab. Goes on and on, lot of interruptions. Not entirely listening to what you’re saying but here I sit in a debate. And we were debating about God, about Jesus. And yeah, some of his points were valid most just gibberish, but it’s like 3 in the morning now. He stayed late and we were chatting away and he wanted to know my opinion, you know sharing. And then I just kept on pushing it back to let’s read the word. He’s never read the word, never read the Bible, disputes it, fights it, condemns it, doesn’t know it at all. So, I read the Sermon on the Mount to him and then John chapter 3 and he doesn’t believe. He rejects Jesus, he rejects the idea of God and you know just wants an argument but as we were arguing in our conversation, I said in Jesus’ name, shut up and listen. And read the word. And he said, you know what, I don’t believe what you say but you read it with conviction. And it’s not about what I say, it’s not about how I read it, it’s about Christ working in him. He is probably stumbling home drunk right now. I pray, when you hear this, pray for Orin. Orin the Jew lawyer in New York. He’s an awesome guy. He is a friend, super funny. That wasn’t a dig on Jews it was just joking around. So, I pray for him and I ask you guys to pray for Orin. That Jesus works in his heart. Thank you.
Hey DAB, this is Beloved in Texas and I just wanted to share something with you guys. Especially those of you who have prodigal children. This morning I was woken up super early in the morning, couldn’t go back to sleep. I went and crawled in my 14-year-old daughters’ bed with her and just snuggled up next to her and I was praying over her and I felt the Lord tell me not to discount the faith of her youth. The Bible tell us to have faith like a child and we don’t need to discount the faith that these, even grown, children had when they were young. The Holy Spirit still dwells inside of them. And so, I was praying over her that even if she won’t allow the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit in her life that He will be her, for lack of a better analogy, her Jiminy Cricket. That still small voice in her head saying nope, that’s a bad idea, nope that’s a bad idea. That would bring that feeling of conviction because the Holy, just because they were small, just because they were children, doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit has left them. So, I am calling the Holy Spirit to rise up in our prodigal children and speak to their hearts. In Jesus name. Amen.
Good morning and Happy Advent everybody. It’s December 4th and this is Lawrence in California. I listened this morning to the message from Susan, God’s Little Flower in Canada. Susan, I wanted to thank you so much for telling us your experience about what you called paralysis. And here’s the reason, you said you listened to DAB right through the ending music and the silence and you feel you’re in God’s presence then and are connected with all the people who call with prayer requests or praise reports. On the other hand, sometimes I skip that part of the broadcast because, you know, there’s things to do and I have the urge to motor on. And I was thinking it’s not paralysis or maybe the word is not paralysis it maybe more like contemplation that is, just sitting with our Lord and feeling the connection of love that runs between us all, the Lord included. And Susan, you taught me to keep listening to the DAB broadcast right through the ending music and the silence part and not to rush off and motor on. And I tried that this morning and it was beautiful. Thank you, thank you.
Hi everyone, my names Angie. And I’m calling from North Devern in the UK. I just wanted to ask you guys if you could pray, we just need as much prayer as possible. And I know you guys are great at praying. So, I wanted to ask if you could pray for myself and my husband Garis, we’re currently going through the process of adoption. We’ve been pursuing a little seven-year-old girl for a while now. And we’ve been short-listed to two families and they want to come and see us on Tuesday for a house meeting. And I just wondered if guys could pray the meeting goes well and that we’re not nervous, that we say all the things that we need to say and do all the things that we need to do. But also, not to pray that she will be ours but that God’s will will be done. Because it could be that she won’t be ours and if not, we will both be pretty devastated so prayers for that as well. That would be great. Thanks everyone, God Bless. Bye Bye.
The man was quite tipsy as he walked down the street very erratic like he had two left feet. He whistles a tune; he stumbles and falls. He tries to get up but he can’t, so he crawls. To a lamppost where he pulls himself up but then he takes out a bottle and turns it straight up. He talks and he gestures to an invisible friend. He takes a few more steps and then he falls once again. Is this a comedy or a tragedy? You be the judge. Cause stereotype images run deep and they don’t budge. That man would be a comedy, unless he were your son. And, in that case, it would be a tragedy and to him you would run. And what about that girl that everybody hosts to death today sells their body for drugs, up on the sofa, down on her knees ready, willing and able to please. She belongs on the trash pile with the scum of the world but what if you were the parent to that little girl. We all our God’s children and he loves us all much, especially those who are rebellious and rough. Cause some haven’t fallen, they run and then leap, straight in the sin where they wallow real deep. But Christ doesn’t condemn you, He’ll heal and restore your sins are forgiven, go sin no more. Bring out a robe or a ring, kill the calf, my child has returned, let’s party and laugh. Not like most of us who would say let’s watch, wait and see if he comes to his senses and lives right just like me. He’s gonna need some rehabilitation, some probation too. Cause he can’t expect complete restoration after all he put me through. Stranded and bleeding, alone on the ledge, surrounded by serpents, Christ was my hedge. He is the good Shephard who left all those good sheep to rescue this one bad one. His love is that deep. BlindTony1016@gmail.com