2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21, Romans 15:1-22, Psalm 25:1-15, Proverbs 20:13-15
Today, is the first day of the month of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. Brand new, shiny, sparkly month here for us. And we’re really just getting moved into this brand-new week that we’ve begun. Today, is the 213th day of the year, which means it’s our 213th step together as we move through the year and through the Bible. So, it is great to be here with you today, like it is every day. In fact, thank you. Thank you for being together with me today, thank you for letting me be together with you today, as we immerse ourselves in the Scriptures and allow them to speak into this day and into our lives. And our next step will lead us to the point of the previous step. And that leads us back into the book of 2nd Chronicles. I mentioned yesterday, before this week is out we will have concluded 2nd Chronicles and the letter to the Romans and so, before this week is out we’ll be in new territory all together. So, we’re really moving into a brand-new month and kind of resetting a lot of things during this week. But our next step still leads us forward in the book of 2nd Chronicles and today we will read chapters 30 and 31.
Commentary:
Okay, in Paul’s letter to the Romans we’re kind of picking up something or a theme that has already been going on in the book but was begun to be unpacked in yesterday’s reading. And that is, what are the postures like, how do we posture ourselves toward one-another, in such a way that it promotes unity? Like, how do we live with so many people, with so many stories, so many convictions. What are the postures that we can hold onto that if we live in these postures will promote unity among us? And it’s not so hard for us to look out over Christendom and realize there are plenty of people who feel a lot of different ways and have a lot of different convictions that oppose one another and there are conflicts. But there were conflicts at the time of Paul as well and much of that boiled down to the Jews and the Gentiles who had not been in fellowship or communion with one another and didn’t even fraternize with one another. So, the Hebrew people, and we’ve talked about this before, the Hebrew people, Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah and when He came into this story, He came into this story as a Hebrew person and He grew up as a Hebrew and He talked from the Hebrew scriptures. And He was thought to be a Hebrew prophet. And, not all, but so much of His ministry was centered among the Jewish people. And so, the people who had become to believe in Jesus, who were Jewish, they had a claim to Jesus, basically. Saying look, all of the things are in a Hebrew context. Jesus is the Hebrew Messiah. Jesus observed the law and was aware of it. In fact, we believe he fulfilled the law even though He got in trouble over the law’s interpretation, at times. So, for the Jewish people, they’re like, this is the next step in the Jewish story. For this to include Gentiles and for them to be given like a different set of rules, invariably created some conflict. Because the thought was, certainly a Gentile can be included in the story but they need to convert to Judaism and follow God’s law and incorporate themselves into the culture and then follow Jesus. And they weren’t really in position where they could just decide we don’t like them anymore, let’s just make a new denomination. And we’ll make our charter this way and this theology and this way we are guarding the truth. And then when people don’t agree with that anymore they go form their own little clan, make a new denomination so that there are thousands and thousands and thousands of them in the world. They didn’t have this kind of freedom or luxury. And Paul, he was a trained Pharisee. So, he knew this argument and he knew this tension very well and he has simply like, if we’re really boiling it down, Paul is trying to say to the Jews, Jesus isn’t just the Savior of the Jews. He is that but that’s not all He is. He is the Savior of the world. Or to just quote from Paul and put it back into his own words, “I tell you that Christ has become the servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth so that the promises made to the Patriarchs might be confirmed and moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.” And then Paul quotes from the Hebrew scriptures, from 2nd Samuel, from the Psalms, from the book of Deuteronomy text from the Hebrew scriptures that bare this out, “Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles, I will sing the praises of your name,” or “Rejoice you Gentiles with His people,” or “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, let all the peoples extoll him.” Or from the book of Isaiah, “The root of Jesse will spring up one that will rise to rule over the nations. In Him, the Gentiles will hope.” So basically, there is a pretty generous, maybe over-the-top amount of conflict going on. And when I say maybe over-the-top a little bit cause these kinds of conflicts had made people make pacts to assassinate people like Paul. So, that’s like high level confrontation if you’re going to hide, ambush and kill somebody over what they believe. Paul’s trying to say basically, calm down this was foretold. It’s just that people didn’t calm down. The idea of an inclusive kingdom like, that everyone could become a part of the story when the Jewish people had been told they were set apart and Holy. They could not get their minds around this inclusiveness, that everyone who comes to Jesus in a leap of faith, reaching out in faith, that person isn’t a Jew or a Greek or male or a female or a slave or a free-person, that person is a new creation, a child of God. And so, there were disagreements and conflicts. And this conflict may have been over Jews and Gentiles and 2000 years later, we may look out across the globe and say the Gentiles won the day because the church is largely made up of a majority of Gentiles. But I don’t know if you’ve notices, Gentiles aren’t all on the same page either. And so, so much of what we’re talking about boils down to a fight about who gets to be included. Who gets to be in. And many people in this day and age have many varying opinions about that. And so, we just have to take a step back and ask ourselves like, can somebody who doesn’t believe the same way that I do about certain aspects of the faith but they do believe in Jesus like I do. Like, are they, are they in? Or a person who does some things or lives a certain way or has certain practices that we weren’t raised to do. We were told those things are wrong and so, we have these convictions from our own story that we apply to them and we think that they’re sinning. But they truly believe that Jesus is Savior and has died to take away their sins and they have reached out in faith and have accepted this gift. We spend a tremendous amount of energy on things like this. And if we like, we’ve just took a step back let’s take another step back and realize, we can fight it out however we want to fight it out. We don’t have a say. We are talking about the position of God. God is the judge. God will say what’s going to happen. And God can look at a person in a way that a human being can’t. God looks upon the truth of their heart. I’ve been a human being like, as long as I can remember, literally. And I know that human beings can be dishonest and deceptive and deceitful. I know that human beings can pretend to be something that they’re not. And I know that human beings can fool other human beings even over a very long stretch of time. I also believe that God isn’t fooled by any of it. God see’s the truth of the matter. God has all the power. God has all the authority. God is the judge. And so, we spend a lot of time really trying to defend the theological framework or walls that we build around ourselves so that we can lob shots at somebody who doesn’t see things that way. Even to the point of feeling like they can’t possibly be anything but deceived and it’s very, very sad that they’re probably not going to make it. It’s just that us feeling that way, doesn’t have anything to do with anything. God will look upon the heart. God will make the judgement. And in so many ways, this is where Paul lands this. And I quote from the letter to the Romans, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement, give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and with one voice you may glorify the God of our Father, Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another than just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God.” And so, again, just going back to maybe 14, 13, 14, 15th chapter of Romans. Just kind of listening to what Paul is laying out, seeing that there are postures that promote unity and postures that don’t. Understanding that we already know that to be true. We’ve been humans and we’ve been in human conflict in some sort of way, even from childhood. So, we understand that there are certain ways that we behave that cause conflict and certain ways that promote unity. And often we’re willing to, we’re willing to engage in conflict in order to be right or to defend our rights. But that is very, that is very self-focused, it is about us. When the posture of heart that we are to have is one that exemplifies, reveals, worships, illuminates Jesus the Savior of the world. And so, it’s actually worth some time, even if it’s just 5 minutes of silence, just a few minutes to think about how much conflict we get ourselves into or how much conflict we get drawn into and how much energy that takes and how much of it is unnecessary expenditure of energy that could be applied to something good. Which isn’t to say that all conflict is bad like, conflict is how we grow. Especially if conflict is properly and respectfully done where it’s a sharing of a disagreement and the ideas that are behind that agreement with the hope of actually learning. And we find in those kinds of conflicts nobody’s completely right and nobody’s completely wrong. And we find meat in the middle and learn some things that we didn’t know before. But if the whole thing is about us being right then we go to war. And we do everything that we can to like, just destroy the argument of the other person. And so, we have to wonder like, is all that energy, if we win those battles have, did we keep God on the throne? Did we successfully defend God so that He didn’t fall out of heaven? Nothing that we have to say and nothing that we think can stop the power of God. And so, so often we think we’re defending God. We’re actually trying to defend our own insecurities. Some of these things are a waste of energy. And if we just imagine what we may be able to do with that energy and time if we were able to harvest it and recover it back into our lives and not waste it on fruitless conflict, especially among the brothers and sisters in the Lord? Ah, we could put a dent in some things. And so, let’s give that some thought today.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, we invite you into that, we are all guilty. Everybody knows what’s being talked about here, everybody knows what interpersonal conflict is like. Everybody knows the battle to be right. Everybody knows that those battles usually end up in a draw and nobody’s happy with it. What if we just changed our whole perspective and understood that our postures in the way that we interact with each other are representing You, they’re not about us. There about revealing who you are to the world and what a dramatic shift has happened in our lives because You loved us, even when we were in conflict with You. Come, Holy Spirit, into this, help us to get a vision for how much energy and time we could recover, if we didn’t waste it on fruitless conflict. We ask Holy Spirit, that You would lead us into all truth, in this and every matter. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus our Savior. 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:
Hello DAB, this is God’s Tree for I have many branches but I’m rooted in every word of God. I want to give a praise report to those who are suffering with depression and thoughts of suicide. Listen to this praise report. I’ve been with DAB since about 2007 and I had a best friend who was suffering. He had lost everything, his wife left him, he lost his job, he lost everything and he was on the edge of suicide. And I ministered to him and I prayer for him and I tried to lift him up and then I had to let go and let God. And then I had called in about three years ago when my brother tried to commit suicide. We were able to intervene and we were able to get him the help that he needs. And I praise God, years kept passed, it’s been three years, my brothers is doing good, he is preaching God’s word. He has a beautiful home and a family and a business and he is flourishing. And my best friend he has his own company now, he has people working for him, he has a home and he has travelled all over the world. And he praises God every step of the way. Know that it is not at the end of your rope, it’s just that you got to tie a knot and hold on and let God carry you the rest of the way. So, don’t give up, trust God. He’s gonna show you some absolutely beautiful things. You’re going through for a reason because your blessings are just around the corner. And I give God honor, praise and glory for His blessings and being faithful to us. God loves us unconditionally so, hold onto that. He loves you no matter how lonely you feel. He’s right there with you. Ya’ll continue to pray for me and my family as I pray for you. Bless you Brian and the whole Hardin family and DAB as a whole. This is God’s Tree. I love you.
Good afternoon, DAB family, God Bless you all. Travis from Canada, you called in saying that last summer you pastored a church for your internship in Nordic, Canada. And these people are now being evacuated due to forest fires and a lot of uncertainties of not knowing whether or not they can return to their homes. Father God, like Elijah, Father God, we declare the rains, we declare the rains to come down, Father God, saturating every part of that fire, Father God. In the name above all names, Father God. That every part of that fire, Father God, from the East to the West, to the North, to the South, Father God, is gonna be saturated with the rains of heavens, Father God. Glorifying You Jesus, Father God, in the name of Jesus. And that these families will return to their homes, Father God, in the name of Jesus. And find all things intact, that there will be no loses, Father God. In the name above all names, Father God. Hopeful from Ohio, I am so happy to hear, Father God, that you Hopeful have been, you know, encouraged by the DAB that was shared to you by your co-worker, in the name of Jesus. Know that I am praying for you and that I am believing that you are going to take the steps of bravery, even though you feel you haven’t done so. But just calling in is a sign of bravery, in the name of Jesus. I’m also believing that this spirit of pornography that has attacked your husband, your marriage, your home is gone in the name of Jesus. I declare that to be canceled and eradicated from your home, your life, your husband, in the name above all names, Jesus. That spirit of pornography can no longer have your husband. We command it to leave right now, in the name of Jesus. Betty, from Hamburg, New York. Thank you for that praise report that your son has awakened from this catatonic spirit. We are believing for more awakenings in him, in the name of Jesus. Esther from Haines City.
Hey everybody, it’s Annette Allison from Oklahoma City. Long time, no hear. Hey, one of my aunts and uncles had come over to my house and they were visiting from out of town. And those of you who have been praying for my brother, he’s doing so well. Biola, I know he’s been on your prayer list forever and I thank you for that. Lots and lots of people have been praying for my brother Charlie. He’s in a halfway house now out of federal prison, okay. And he’s doing exceptionally well. Well, everything was so positive and my aunt grabbed the phone and we were messaging, facetime thing. And said, Charlie, Charlie, you know boy, you need to get God in your life and this conversation was going on back and forth, you know, and he’s like oh yeah, things are going great. He says, you know, about three years ago, something happened to me and it really made me go down on my knees and learn how to accept Christ back into my life and I just want to you guys, I want to love this story cause I want to say, it’s probably right about the time that everybody started praying for him. So, I just want ya’ll to know that on a good thanksgiving thing here, praise report, that my brother has given his heart over to the Lord and is swallowing books about God and Jesus like all over the place. And I just, I cannot tell you, thank you, thank you, for your support enough. And everything else is going great as well. I love you all and have a wonderful, wonderful day. Bye Bye.
Hello, my DAB family, this is Cameel from Charlotte, calling. And I wanted to let our brother Skip Morgan know that I am praying for you. Praying in reference to your gastric illness. Praying for healing, comfort and peace. Praying that the healing hands of our Lord Jesus, who is the great Physician. I’m praying that He touch you and rid you of your pain and discomfort. Skip, I am constantly keeping you in prayer. Also, Cyncal from Nester called and in reference to your son’s home invasion, Lord have some mercy, have mercy. I pray that things are getting better. I pray that the Lord would continue to bless them, cover them, keep them. And also, for Scott from Minneapolis, your son Tyler was injured by a stray bullet. I’m praying for, he and for your family. Also, Janet in the UK, you lost your mother but you know that she is with our Lord and Savior. I’m praying for you all. I’m praying for the gentleman that are incarcerated. Bruce and we also want you to know that we’re praying for you and your family. Thank you for your letters from Clarence, Bruce and also our brother Ellis. Thank you and God Bless you all and have a great day.
Hey DB, hey DAB family, this is my first time calling, as you can tell. My, the nerves are there. This is my first time calling. I’ve been listening to everyone calling for their prayers. First and foremost, I want to thank Brian and his family for this. Guys, I do need your help. I would like to pray for my sister. Literally, the most talented chef that I’ve ever met. Probably in the world but I’m a little biased. She feels the world is against her and I know that that’s not her, I know that’s the devil. I try to move closer to God and I try to bring her with me. And I realize this isn’t something I can do alone so, I’m asking for your help. It gets tough but you know, that’s why we turn to God. Just appreciate this platform to call in and ask for your help. Thank you.