Judges 15:1-16:31, John 2:1-25, Psalms 103:1-22, Proverbs
14:17-19
Today is the 2nd day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bile I am Brian it is great to be here with you around the Global Campfire today together to take the next step forward as we get ourselves moved into this brand-new month in front of us. And that next step forward leads us back into the book of Judges, where we are meeting the judges of Israel, but in particular we’re getting to know about the judge named Samson. We’re reading from the Modern English Version this week. Judges, chapters 15 and 16 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we have moved through the story of the judge Samson now which is a pretty famous Sunday school story as well. And one of the things that we should be getting loud and clear as we move through the book of Judges, especially, is that all of these people that rose up to lead Israel into freedom were very very flawed people. I think in this day and age we would look at any of them pretty much and say they aren’t fit for ministry or leadership. And yet they were. And yet they were empowered. And yet they did what God called them to do and lead His people back into freedom so that they could immediately turn around and go in the other direction back into bondage. And, so, we could say that’s one of the views that we get here, is that everybody is doing what is right in their own eyes. And what is right in their own eyes a lot of the time is not right in God’s eyes and is leading them into destruction. The other thing is just to see the humanity of these people. But in the case of Samson there was an announcement that he was going to be born, and that he would be a Nazarite and that he would free his people and that he should never drink alcoholic beverages and that he should never cut his hair. And, so, he was raised that way, raised to know these things, raised to know the power of his strength and where his strength had come from and what the purpose of his strength was. And instead, we see him giving away the secret of his strength to a prostitute who had been hired to betray him. Notice the humanness, the humanity here. The Bible doesn’t shy away from these things. We’ve had plenty of stories. And some of them are stories we’re like, man I which that wasn’t in here because it disrupts me, makes me think in ways that I don’t want to think. That’s how it’s supposed to be. The Bible leaves the flaws in because we are all experienced being flawed. Despite that God continues to work through people to get his purposes done. So, on the one hand, we should be extraordinarily grateful because that includes us. We’re broken and flawed. We don’t deserve to be doing anything in the name of God. Outside of Jesus we are nothing, but God still wants to use us and still loves us. And our brokenness can certainly break other people and cause brokenness around us, but our brokenness isn’t our place of residence. We are moving through this place, day by day step-by-step in a process called sanctification. We are moving away from that into fullness into wholeness. But as we see through the judges and for that matter through the entire Bible, God will work with a willing heart. And He came to make right the things that are broken .
Prayer:
Jesus, we thank You because we can look in judgment at the judges. We can look in judgment at our next-door neighbor. We can look at judgment at the person in the grocery store with us. We are all broken but we certainly like to point out each other’s brokenness and disassociate from our own. And yet You make beautiful things out of things that are broken, and You are making something beautiful out of us and there is hope for us as we surrender to You. And, so, we do. We surrender to You and Your service and ask that You might use us in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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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:
Good morning this is Keith from Canada, and I was listening today 28th of April and I heard the prayer request from Owen and my heart is just moved for you. Owen, I want to bless you into this next stage of your life. It’s so important in our lives to just know who we are and who we are in God and I am praying that for you today. 18 is just a number Owen. It’s not that a switch is flipped and you’re suddenly supposed to have everything figured out and be just confident in everything but I bless you two journey and to learn and to grow and to grow in the Lord, to know that He is with you and that He will take care of you. So, Owen, I bless you in Jesus’ name to become the man of God that He intends you to be one day at a time one step at a time. And I pray that he would raise up men and women around you that would give you godly council direction and support and that you would just be surrounded by good friends that could encourage you and help you to grow in the Lord.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible it’s Dr. Kanaya calling from London and I wanted to call to pray for the young man who just turned 18, happy birthday, and is worried about now becoming an adult. And I want to encourage you that even though we’ve entered this, you know, status of being an adult at 18 our Lord God still sees us as His children no matter what age we are and we can rest in Him and we can run to Him for comfort as we would our earthly fathers we can do the same with our heavenly Father. As you enter this new phase of your life, I pray that the Lord will equip you with wisdom and as you are heeding to His word, listening to His word every day you will find that this new season of adulthood will be a breeze for you. I really pray that He will order your steps and give you His peace in Jesus’ name. And honestly adulting isn’t that bad.
Good morning, dear DABbers this is Christopher AKA I’ll go buy Daredevil from Indy Indianapolis IN and I want to first of all just give a really sincere vote of thank you and confidence in our brother pastor Brian. What an amazing…an amazing incredible community the Lord has built here in the midst of all the chaos in this world. I praise you Lord God for this family the Hardin family and their faithfulness. I pray that you would reward them richly now and in heaven Lord. I also want to quickly share that I am praising God for the ways that my travel situations have worked out recently. Not long ago I posted on the app about…on the Prayer Wall about my need for travel mercies as a blind man living in a new area with more limited bus access and I just want to give praise for that, that I have been blessed. And lastly, I just want to pray for Liz from Louisiana. I am out of time on this message but know that you are being covered in prayer by me and many others for your upcoming board exam. The Lord will provide, and you will receive His favor.
Hey Daily Audio Bible this is New Eyes in Tennessee and I’m calling in for a young man who called in today. It’s April 27th I believe…no it’s the 28th and his name was Owen and he had just turned 18. And Owen I just want to say hi. I am a mom of a 19-year-old a 17-year-old or soon to be 17-year-old and a 13-year-old and I just want to let you know Owen that there is a huge community of people just like me who are praying for your generation, and we care about you guys so much. We care about your future we care about your destiny we care about your talents we care about how you’re going to get to where you need to be, all the things that you lay awake at night wondering about and all the dreams that you may have we are also praying for that. So, first of all I just want to pray against any fear that the enemy is sneaking into your brain about being an adult. I’m 45 years old. I still don’t know how the adult some days. I still wake up feeling like I’m 14. And, so, Owen first of all first of all I just want you to cast all your cares on Jesus for He cares for you and that you have a long life to live in Jesus and that He will take you on many adventures. My 19-year-old has already been to Hawaii, Uganda, and Mexico in six months, and he just had a blast and now he’s navigating how to have his first girlfriend. So, Owen I just know that you are gonna figure things out, that God is on your side and there’s so many of us praying for your generation. Be blessed Owen. You’re awesome. Child of God.
I just heard a prayer request from a young man named Owen. Owen, you said that you just turned 18 years old and you’re not so sure that you’re ready for adulthood. Well let me tell you I’m almost 60 and I don’t know that I’m ready for adulthood either. But you are one step ahead of the game young man. Most men your age wouldn’t even think to reach out for prayer. And there’s a verse in the Bible, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight. Let me tell you, you are way ahead of the game, and I am so proud of you for having the courage to call and ask for prayer. And you will be successful. I will be praying for you every day as I know all the other members of this community will be praying for you as well. You take care and give us an update OK. Bye-bye.