2 Chronicles 17:1-18:34, Romans 9:25-10:13, Psalm 20:1-9, Proverbs 20:2-3
Today is the 26th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it’s great to be here with you today. Today and every day as we gather around the Global Campfire. Ah, I love this place around the Global Campfire. I love this time that we get to spend, letting everything else go. It's…it’s not going anywhere. Maybe it is, but if it’s a care or concern or an anxiety, we can go find it, right, or it’s going to come try to find us. But this little place, it’s really just set aside for a few minutes as we seek God and dive into the Scriptures. And, kind of come out the other side maybe re-oriented to things. And so, I love it that we can be together, today and take the next step forward. And we have been working through a couple of main books, the book of second Chronicles in the Old Testament and the letter to the Romans in the new and we’ll, well we will continue the journey until we complete them and we will complete them by taking steps forward every day, day-by-day and so let’s take the next step forward and the next step forward in second Chronicles will be chapters 17 and 18 today.
Commentary:
Okay, let’s catch ourselves up with what the apostle Paul is writing in the letter to the Romans. It’s easy to understand Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles because that’s where he spent so much of his time but if we remember his missionary journeys. He’s going to the Jewish people his own people first; he’s going into the synagogues first. It’s just that what he is saying, in terms of the inclusiveness that Gentiles can also be welcomed into the family of God, is a difficult thing for them to understand, a difficult bridge for them to cross. So, Paul gets into a lot of hot water, a lot of the time. But if we look more closely, we see Paul is coming from a Hebrew context. He is not trying to introduce or create a brand-new religion and he’s not making up heretical stuff, even though he’s been branded as a heretic. Essentially what he’s trying to show through the Hebrew lens, through the Hebrew story, is that Jesus was an expected part of this story and basically, over time they had got what was given to them by God. They had turned it sideways and it wasn’t working anymore, which is a hard thing for a person, that’s a hard thing for a person to navigate, a person of faith. So, the tension around Paul is understandable. It was a similar tension around Jesus. It was also a similar tension around John the Baptist. Paul is an educated, trained Pharisee, this is his worldview. This is what he knows, this is the lens that he’s looking through and he is explaining to fellow Hebrews how Jesus connects to the story as the Messiah, like how this is a continuation of the same story. And what Paul is unpacking is that it’s the law that is gotten sideways because the plot of the story has been lost. When the law was given, and we read all of this already, when the law was given, it wasn’t a set of ethics and behaviors that everybody needed to follow, in order that there could be a hierarchy of control so that the people could be controlled and kept moving in the same direction. It was that, everything that they had to do in their lives had an underpinning, a spiritual underpinning, as they celebrated, as they observed ritual, as they sacrificed, as they lived through their lives, as they got to the beginning of a new week and celebrated and observed Sabbath. As like, a male entered into covenant with circumcision and so therefore, was marked intimately, always, forever, to be reminded they are in covenant with God. All of these things had a spiritual underpinning so that, the way that they lived was connected to God, not just a set of rules to be obeyed so that they could be controlled and everybody could be kept sane. Everything was to remind them of their true reality as chosen people because they had a job to do, to reveal to the nations the goodness of God, by being a people set apart to God so, that everything the they did connected them to God, so that this was observable from the outside that, these people are very different than the other tribes all around us. These people are different. But by the time we get into the first century in the time of Paul, the law, you obey the law to be made right with God and the law is a set of behaviors and ethics and rules that you have to obey perfectly, to be restored and made right, righteous before God. And nobody could do it. But they didn’t need this law to hold their culture together because now they weren’t like a sovereign under themselves. They were in a land that was part of the Roman Empire. So, under Roman rule and governance. The Hebrew people were allowed to worship God and they were allowed to observe the Mosaic law. They were just, they needed to keep it together, because they were notoriously marginalized, and they were notorious for being zealots. So, Paul is essentially arguing that they’ve lost the plot. And so, to put this in Paul’s own words and it just quote from Romans, “what is all this mean, it means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that He would accept them if they had faith. It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the law, instead of by having faith in God.” So, Paul is arguing that the law can’t redeem but there is a Redeemer and the law has a purpose and it’s to intimately connect people to God in everything that they do, as opposed to the rules that, you want to find the outer margins and find out what you can get away with or as a means to control people. But what Paul was running up against was the same thing that Jesus was running up against, the law had become something different. It was certainly the rules, the underpinning to pull the culture together, but it was also a source of power, that could control people, they were to put their heart, their heart and soul into obeying the law, instead of putting their heart and soul into trusting God, knowing that God’s law in every way set them apart. And Paul explains it like this and I quote, “I know they love God. But they don’t understand what makes people acceptable to Him. So, they refuse to trust God and they try to be acceptable by obeying the law, but Christ makes the law no longer necessary for those who become acceptable to God by faith.” So, kind of the bottom line here if we’re looking at this to apply to our lives, it’s to consider how we feel about God. Like, do we live our lives thinking that at any moment He could crush us like, because we would deserve it, because we’re trying to be good Christians, we’re trying so hard to adhere to what we think we’re supposed to be doing and you know, it reveals how inadequate we are in maintaining that and how imperfect we actually are. We know that there is grace and mercy. But so often we still think there is kind of like God up in heaven, angry, upset, perturbed, kind of disgusted, sort of just tolerating us because…because we…we just keep messing up. That is not a dissimilar feeling to what Jewish people under the law we’re feeling. What Paul’s trying to say is, that’s not really what’s going on. That’s not what’s going on here. When we put our faith in Jesus, we move from death to life, we die and become a new creation. It’s faith that’s the bridge that we cross and once we have crossed it, in our hearts, we have been made perfect before God, through Jesus. So, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Jew or a Gentile. It doesn’t matter what nation you come from, anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Or putting the words back in Paul’s mouth and reading from the letter to the Romans, Paul explains it like this, “so you will be saved if you honestly say Jesus is Lord. And if you believe with all your heart that God raised Him from death, God will accept you and save you if you truly believe this and tell it to others. The Scriptures say no one who has faith will be disappointed, no matter if that person is a Jew or a Gentile. There is only one Lord, and He is generous to everyone who asks for His help. All who call out to the Lord will be saved.” And it’s really interesting, if you honestly say Jesus is Lord, there is actually quite a bit in that statement because as a Hebrew person, as a Pharisee, Paul knows all too well that you can’t say the name of God, so they would use descriptive words. Words like Adonai, which means Lord, which means ruler or master somebody with authority and power. So, to say Jesus is Lord is a declaration Jesus is God, one with the Father, as He said. That’s where you put your faith, that’s what you believe. And you believe that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved. There are an awful lot of us, on a lot of different journeys and we wind our way to the Global Campfire through all kinds of stories. We all got here somehow and some of us are here checking it all out, just wanting to know what the Bible says to make a kind of determination about whether it has any value or not. Maybe we’ve gone through the Gospels and we’ve gotten to know this Jesus now, it’s hard to unknow that and maybe this is that moment, like maybe this is the moment where faith arises and you’re able to say no, Jesus is Lord, He is Lord, I believe this. If that’s you, welcome to the family, this changes everything. You are right where you belong.
Prayer:
So, Father, we love You. Jesus, we love You. You are Lord and we are thankful for these understandings. We can make ourselves crazy trying to clean up so that you might even…even possibly tolerate us or we can realize there’s nothing we can do to make You tolerate us, in our own power and strength, we couldn’t never, ever, no matter what rule or law, or ethic or behavior we’re trying to modify or obey. We couldn’t never ever achieve righteousness before You and so You made us righteous. You did what we could not do and that wells up in our hearts so that we say Jesus, You are Lord. And that is our hearts cry and our point of meditation today. You are Lord. There is no other. Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us into all truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. 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.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good evening, dear, Daily Audio Bible family. I am calling tonight to ask for prayers for a dear friend and for her husband. My friend, I’ve had since we were 14, and she became ill after her second COVID vaccine and began getting weaker and weaker. And has become so weak she cannot walk. She became bed ridden. A doctor tried to help her with a surgery. It ended up paralyzing her vocal cords. She can’t talk know. She’s also developed Alzheimer’s and only weighs 95lbs and she’s very near the end. And now her husband who may…may have thyroid cancer and Shelly and Jean. Please, please pray for them Lord. God please help them. Please family, help me pray for them. And lift them up to God, comfort, love peace, healing. Thank you, thank you for this platform and thank you family for praying with me. Thank you in Jesus precious name. This is Vicky from the Dessert.
Greetings DAB warriors. I can use your prayers as I am going to a friend’s memorial today who lost the battle with alcohol addiction in this world. And we’ll see a great many of his and my friends who could use a word of truth in their lives. I need a covering of spiritual as well as physical shielding as right now the COVID numbers are not kind in our area for any kind of gathering, alone with which I will want to embrace everyone there. So, much appreciate this resource and could use that. This is the day of but I also know that our God is a God of space and time and He hears the prayers of the righteous. Thank you again.
Hello DAB and DABC, this is mama on her knees in Colorado. My husband and I have listened to your podcast for the last 5 years. We start our day with our cup of coffee and listen to Brian. I have also listened to Jill and China and I’ve enjoyed you all as well. At the, at the end of the podcast with the community calling in, that’s where we hold you all up in prayer and love all the things that you have taught me in my spiritual journey. So many rich things in that. We have also held you up in prayer for your joys and your sorrows. I come to you know with a heavy heart. My husband and I have been married for almost 40 years and raised two beautiful children. But we kept everybody in church activities and just were very involved in bringing them up in a Christ centered home. I feel like we’ve given them that foundation but as adults we all have to find our own journey, our own faith path. And I’m just asking for prayer for our son. He is struggling. Satan has a hold on him and his life is just falling apart. We as parents need wisdom on what to say or do. All’s I feel like we can do is pray. So, I’m just asking for you all just to remember him and his family. There’s three children and they’re all precious. I know God loves him more than we do. So, thank you family. I love you all.
Hi, this is Nate from Michigan. This is my first-time calling in. Just started listening a few months ago and have been blessed and so, thank you, to Brian for being diligent about scripture reading and the word of God. And then thank you for all those who’ve called in and just been able to listen and find how much that helps soften my heart. Today, I’m calling to just ask for prayer. My old boss and friend is a roofer, as I am still. And he took a fall on a roof, last week. And is in critical condition in the hospital. He is cognizant and has had a couple surgeries. Things are looking positive but spinal cord injuries, pelvic injuries, some ribs broken. So, he has a family, he has a wife and four kids. And just overall a heavy thing to happen. And then, just to think about what happens next with work and financials and the list of jobs that he already had. So, just overall just asking for covering and prayer for Brian, is his name and his family. Thank you all.
Hi, this is Ridlyn from Alberta. I was just listening to the podcast from the 23rd and heard Jonathan from Denver and just wanted to encourage you. You’re not alone. Many times, I’ve done the same thing where I was, should have been doing something way more productive and I just wasn’t and wasted part of a day or a whole day. And felt really crappy afterwards but you can’t get the day back but you can repent and ask Jesus to take you forward in the way that He would have you to and you can move forward and He can still use you and bless your life as you seek to follow Him. So, I just want to encourage you in doing that and to keep on searching His face.