Month: September 2022

Isaiah 19:1-21:17, Galatians 2:1-16, Psalms 59:1-17, Proverbs 23:13-14

Today is the 15^th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather yet again, each and every day for the next step forward. And our next step forward leads us in the Old Testament back into the book of Isaiah. Today, chapters 19 through 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians in our reading today we got a lot of personal information that we hadn’t had before and we got a pretty clear picture of what was going on that prompted Paul to write this letter, things that we’ve talked about before. So, some of the personal information that…well…we didn’t have before was that Paul is claiming that he has been living in his faith in Jesus for over 17 years at this point. And Paul claims that the gospel that he preaches is not something that he received from any person. It wasn’t transferred from a person with their convictions to him and he believed in those convictions and then proceeded. Paul claims that he only had met Peter one time and that was 14 years ago and the only other person he had met was Jesus’ brother James, who was known to be the leader of the Jerusalem church. So, in Paul’s view the gospel that he preached wasn’t given to him by any person. It was given to him by direct revelation from Jesus himself. It’s just that what Paul was revealing was a little bit different in its context than what the original believers in Jesus came to understand. And the issue or the flashpoint of the controversy was between Jews and Gentiles, something we have talked about before. But Paul actually gives us a bit of context, a bit of a description of what was going. And, so, I quote from Galatians. “This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” So, Paul’s drawing a line in the sand and saying this is where I stand. It’s just important to understand that that’s not where everybody stood at that time. And there’s a tension in this. And we probably can’t go through this enough because it is such a central bit of context of the early church itself. If you are Jewish and you had been involved or seen Jesus’ ministry, you would have believed that Jesus was a Hebrew rabbi, maybe an apocalyptic prophet, definitely a miracle worker, maybe the Messiah, maybe the son of God, but it’s all happening within the Jewish framework. And for Jews to be told that the law has been fulfilled and there is nothing to live up to anymore would’ve felt radical, a radical shift. But it’s not just a radical shift in understanding of your faith journey. Like, there were actually practical human problems here because the Jews, they had separated themselves. They had been given certain religious freedoms, but they kept to themselves, not only because of their religious convictions, but also because the culture was marginalizing them because they were separating themselves. Jews and Gentiles did not hang out together. Jews didn’t hang out with Gentiles because they were separate to God, but also because Gentiles marginalized them and segregated them. So, if you’re on the receiving end of that you find hard to trust your oppressor, or at least the person is pushing you to the margins. If we look at racial tensions that exist in the world today and that have existed all the way back to when Paul wrote this letter, we would see these kinds of issues are still with us. You don’t normally trust a group of people that you believe are marginalizing you and who through culture are taught to look down upon you. So, the gospel of Jesus was that we we’re all in this together, we all call upon the name of the Lord and are saved. And, so, this wasn’t just reframing religion. This is like reframing existence. And we understand this not only from first century history but also from Paul himself in his letter. Paul talks about having to confront the apostle Peter, like the apostle Peter, the one who walked with Jesus, the one who stepped out on the water. And he didn’t confront him over religion or theology. He confronted him out of his hypocrisy. If we remember back when we read the book of Acts, the first half of the book of Acts is really walking alongside the apostle Peter. And if we remember, Peter had a vision where a bunch of unclean animals came down on a sheet and he was told to kill and eat them. And that was the reframing of his understanding. But then he was summoned to the home of Cornelius who was a Roman centurion. His household was Gentile, and he shared the gospel with the Gentiles and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. And, so, Peter had witnessed firsthand the fact that God was sending His Holy Spirit upon Gentiles. Well, later on now here’s Peter acting one way among the Gentiles and a different way among the Jews. When he is around the Jews, he…he…he’s standoffish toward the Gentile brothers and sisters that he had previously been in fellowship with. And, so, again I quote Paul from the letter to the Galatians. “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles but when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.” So, we can see that this Jew, Gentile thing that is going on goes deep and it is a giant thing to get over and a giant to move forward. But for the apostle Paul it was obviously worth drawing a line in the sand over. All of the things they were talking about today come from the letter to the Galatians. He wrote this all down, which allows us to look into what was going on. And Paul felt it necessary to stand up and draw this line in the sand as it were, not because of major disputes over minor doctrinal issues, over freedom itself. If Jesus fulfilled the law, if Jesus was the son of God, if Jesus came and made it possible for mankind to have a direct relationship with God then anything that would impede that was a problem for Paul because for Paul we’re not justified through our actions, although very clearly in the Scriptures what we do definitely has impact and definitely matters, but for Paul, we are justified through faith. We believe, and when we believe with all of our hearts we are made right, righteous before God. For Paul, having this awareness of what God was doing in the world among the Jews and the Gentiles alike made it unnecessary to jump through any hoops other than taking a leap of faith into the arms of Jesus. And Paul will continue to unpack this theologically as we continue to move through the Scriptures. But this kind of gives us a really good picture of the backdrop that’s going on here. And if we see the backdrop that was going on then, we can see that…you know…we’re 2000 years in the future but so many of the things that were going on then in the early church are still going on now 2000 years later, and it gives us the chance to consider our own convictions and the ways that we draw lines in the sand and are we putting up impediments to faith in Jesus by offering a bunch of hoops to jump through, or are we clearly changed in our lives, understanding fully that it was our faith in Jesus and our surrender to His will in our lives that has changed everything and that anybody is invited to that. All they have to do is believe. And, so, let’s give that some thought today as we prepare to move forward in the letter to the Galatians tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for being able to look back and get a glimpse of understanding of what was going on when You were at work in the first century. And that gives us insight into what You are doing in the 21^st century where we are now. And we are grateful to be a part of the same story and that we have a role to play in this ongoing story of You making all things new again, of putting it all back together the way it was intended. May we recognize Your work in this world whether we understand it or not. May we trust You and follow where You are leading we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so, certainly check it out and find out what’s going on around here. If…if you don’t have the Daily Audio Bible app you can download that from the app store that is connected to your device, and you can find out what’s going on around here from within the app. And that is a fantastic way to take the journey. So, check that out.

Check out the different sections, the Initiatives section, the Community section, the Daily Audio Bible Shop where there are resources available for the journey that we are on through the Bible in a year. So, check it out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage or if you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And thank you, humbly, deeply, personally for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. And, so, thank you profoundly.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. No matter where you are in the world you can hit the Hotline button in the app but if you want to pick up the phone and dial old school there are a number of numbers that you can use. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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:

Yeah, this is Clint from Albertville I was calling in for the lady who called in with the husband with alcohol problems. I guess probably 15, 20 years ago I was drinking 18 beers a night and a pint of vodka every night. And I started drinking every morning. I’d drink a case of beer and I don’t know, a pint, pint and a half of vodka. It was pretty bad. My kids were, I guess probably around 10, 12 years old somewhere in there. And my wife had enough of it and through me out for three weeks. I didn’t know how long it was going to be when she kicked me out. But surely the night she kicked me out I quit drinking and turned myself over to God that night. And I haven’t went astray since. I get my strength from God. But m y alcohol…I don’t drink anymore at all. I don’t even have any desire. I don’t know if that may give you a little encouragement that people like that can turn around. My daddy was an alcoholic, my granddaddy was an alcoholic and it just went on and on but just called in to give you a little encouragement maybe that people can change, and he can change. Just keep praying for him and I’ll pray for him and everybody on here will pray for him. Thank you.

Yes, this is Brian from Huber Heights OH praying for…asking prayer for my son Mitchel Emerick. He is mentally ill. He is a drug addict. He is homeless. He is very much hopeless right now. He needs Jesus so badly. He claims salvation but he…that needs to be the number one thing I pray for him for. But he’s in jail right now and I’ve been…we’re trying to work with the court and his lawyer which he’s not going to be there on his court date tomorrow which alarms me. But his mother wrote a letter giving his history and I’m just praying that that gets to his new council and to the judges, judge Henderson and I pray that he would finally get that forced help he…he needs with rehab, with forced psych meds, or possibly to be incarcerated or…or…or institutionalized for short period of time where he could be off drugs where he can be put on meds and recover. I love him dearly. I pray for him all day long. Please pray that he gets the help that he needs in his court tomorrow. It’s…his name is Mitchell, and he is…he is in the Dayton Montgomery County jail awaiting a court for tomorrow. Pray that he would get the forced help that he needs, that God would lead his mother or night to get him the help that we can without enabling him. Thank you and God bless. Please God be with my son Mitchell. I thank You and praise You for the blessings You will give him in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hey DAB family it’s Rob Still, worship dude from Nashville and I would like to ask for your prayers and the prayers of the Saints for myself actually. It’s September 11^th I think as I call in. I am on a mission’s trip till the middle of September with a team from the US to Peru and the Lord has really giving us an important assignment I think here and just asking for your prayers to cover us and cover myself especially in the area of health. You know, the whole COVID thing going on is still kind of prevalent actually in parts of the world. And anyway, would really appreciate your prayers for that and just for the effectiveness of the gospel ministry. I want to thank you, all of you guys who listen and pray and especially for those of you who maybe feel like you can’t…you’re at a stage of life where you can’t really do a lot physically, but your prayers are important, and we need your prayers. And, so, I just want to say thank you so much for all of you who stand in the gap and our intercessors. May the Lord richly bless you. __.

Hi DAB family this is Laura in Colorado and I’m just calling because I would like to ask for prayer. I feel like…I feel like I just need an army of prayer warriors and I know I can find that here and I’m so grateful for it. I’ve called in the past about this, but I’m a NICU nurse and in February I had took in an abandoned baby and she’s amazing and beautiful and our family loves her so much and I know God just has an amazing plan for her life. Her life has already been just like one miracle after another, and we’ve been so amazed. And our…our hearts desire is…my five biological kids are in love with her and our desire is to adopt her and that looked like that was gonna be a really good possibility but recently there’s been a request to move her out of state to another foster parent. There’s no biological family involved at all right now. So, we’re heartbroken and we don’t feel like this is in her best interest. And, of course, there’s a lot of other factors involved but if you would just please please pray. It felt this was a spiritual battle over this baby from the beginning and I just ask that you would pray that whatever forces of darkness are out for this little baby’s life that they would come just to a screeching halt and that only plans for her good would go forward and that we would have favor with the judge…

Hi good morning, DABbers my name is Crown of Beauty from Kansas City. I am just calling for prayer for myself. I’ve been struggling a little bit. I lost my mum about a month ago and, you know, dealing with grief and everything like that. And also I am in the process of building my own business. I’m a hair stylist here in Kansas City and I’ve been a commissioned stylist for a while now probably five years or so and I’m being led to step out of my comfort zone and be a booth renter. And I’m a bit nervous about that and I am leaving my current salon in the next couple of weeks, and I’ve been doing things in the background while I’m preparing for this like my business cards and everything like that. And I already found my location and everything like that. I’ve already paid my rent for a few months but I’m just very very nervous about this new transition and change. I’ve talked to most of my clients and some of them are gonna follow and some of them are going to stay at my current location which for them it’s easier for them to stay here at my salon that I work for. So, I’m just praying that God would give me peace about this. And He has given me peace but just I’m so nervous for this change and I’m scared. But I just need prayers from you all and I would really appreciate that. Thank you everyone. This community is such a blessing to me. God bless everyone.

Isaiah 19:1-21:17, Galatians 2:1-16, Psalms 59:1-17, Proverbs 23:13-14

Today is the 15^th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather yet again, each and every day for the next step forward. And our next step forward leads us in the Old Testament back into the book of Isaiah. Today, chapters 19 through 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians in our reading today we got a lot of personal information that we hadn’t had before and we got a pretty clear picture of what was going on that prompted Paul to write this letter, things that we’ve talked about before. So, some of the personal information that…well…we didn’t have before was that Paul is claiming that he has been living in his faith in Jesus for over 17 years at this point. And Paul claims that the gospel that he preaches is not something that he received from any person. It wasn’t transferred from a person with their convictions to him and he believed in those convictions and then proceeded. Paul claims that he only had met Peter one time and that was 14 years ago and the only other person he had met was Jesus’ brother James, who was known to be the leader of the Jerusalem church. So, in Paul’s view the gospel that he preached wasn’t given to him by any person. It was given to him by direct revelation from Jesus himself. It’s just that what Paul was revealing was a little bit different in its context than what the original believers in Jesus came to understand. And the issue or the flashpoint of the controversy was between Jews and Gentiles, something we have talked about before. But Paul actually gives us a bit of context, a bit of a description of what was going. And, so, I quote from Galatians. “This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” So, Paul’s drawing a line in the sand and saying this is where I stand. It’s just important to understand that that’s not where everybody stood at that time. And there’s a tension in this. And we probably can’t go through this enough because it is such a central bit of context of the early church itself. If you are Jewish and you had been involved or seen Jesus’ ministry, you would have believed that Jesus was a Hebrew rabbi, maybe an apocalyptic prophet, definitely a miracle worker, maybe the Messiah, maybe the son of God, but it’s all happening within the Jewish framework. And for Jews to be told that the law has been fulfilled and there is nothing to live up to anymore would’ve felt radical, a radical shift. But it’s not just a radical shift in understanding of your faith journey. Like, there were actually practical human problems here because the Jews, they had separated themselves. They had been given certain religious freedoms, but they kept to themselves, not only because of their religious convictions, but also because the culture was marginalizing them because they were separating themselves. Jews and Gentiles did not hang out together. Jews didn’t hang out with Gentiles because they were separate to God, but also because Gentiles marginalized them and segregated them. So, if you’re on the receiving end of that you find hard to trust your oppressor, or at least the person is pushing you to the margins. If we look at racial tensions that exist in the world today and that have existed all the way back to when Paul wrote this letter, we would see these kinds of issues are still with us. You don’t normally trust a group of people that you believe are marginalizing you and who through culture are taught to look down upon you. So, the gospel of Jesus was that we we’re all in this together, we all call upon the name of the Lord and are saved. And, so, this wasn’t just reframing religion. This is like reframing existence. And we understand this not only from first century history but also from Paul himself in his letter. Paul talks about having to confront the apostle Peter, like the apostle Peter, the one who walked with Jesus, the one who stepped out on the water. And he didn’t confront him over religion or theology. He confronted him out of his hypocrisy. If we remember back when we read the book of Acts, the first half of the book of Acts is really walking alongside the apostle Peter. And if we remember, Peter had a vision where a bunch of unclean animals came down on a sheet and he was told to kill and eat them. And that was the reframing of his understanding. But then he was summoned to the home of Cornelius who was a Roman centurion. His household was Gentile, and he shared the gospel with the Gentiles and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. And, so, Peter had witnessed firsthand the fact that God was sending His Holy Spirit upon Gentiles. Well, later on now here’s Peter acting one way among the Gentiles and a different way among the Jews. When he is around the Jews, he…he…he’s standoffish toward the Gentile brothers and sisters that he had previously been in fellowship with. And, so, again I quote Paul from the letter to the Galatians. “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles but when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.” So, we can see that this Jew, Gentile thing that is going on goes deep and it is a giant thing to get over and a giant to move forward. But for the apostle Paul it was obviously worth drawing a line in the sand over. All of the things they were talking about today come from the letter to the Galatians. He wrote this all down, which allows us to look into what was going on. And Paul felt it necessary to stand up and draw this line in the sand as it were, not because of major disputes over minor doctrinal issues, over freedom itself. If Jesus fulfilled the law, if Jesus was the son of God, if Jesus came and made it possible for mankind to have a direct relationship with God then anything that would impede that was a problem for Paul because for Paul we’re not justified through our actions, although very clearly in the Scriptures what we do definitely has impact and definitely matters, but for Paul, we are justified through faith. We believe, and when we believe with all of our hearts we are made right, righteous before God. For Paul, having this awareness of what God was doing in the world among the Jews and the Gentiles alike made it unnecessary to jump through any hoops other than taking a leap of faith into the arms of Jesus. And Paul will continue to unpack this theologically as we continue to move through the Scriptures. But this kind of gives us a really good picture of the backdrop that’s going on here. And if we see the backdrop that was going on then, we can see that…you know…we’re 2000 years in the future but so many of the things that were going on then in the early church are still going on now 2000 years later, and it gives us the chance to consider our own convictions and the ways that we draw lines in the sand and are we putting up impediments to faith in Jesus by offering a bunch of hoops to jump through, or are we clearly changed in our lives, understanding fully that it was our faith in Jesus and our surrender to His will in our lives that has changed everything and that anybody is invited to that. All they have to do is believe. And, so, let’s give that some thought today as we prepare to move forward in the letter to the Galatians tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for being able to look back and get a glimpse of understanding of what was going on when You were at work in the first century. And that gives us insight into what You are doing in the 21^st century where we are now. And we are grateful to be a part of the same story and that we have a role to play in this ongoing story of You making all things new again, of putting it all back together the way it was intended. May we recognize Your work in this world whether we understand it or not. May we trust You and follow where You are leading we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so, certainly check it out and find out what’s going on around here. If…if you don’t have the Daily Audio Bible app you can download that from the app store that is connected to your device, and you can find out what’s going on around here from within the app. And that is a fantastic way to take the journey. So, check that out.

Check out the different sections, the Initiatives section, the Community section, the Daily Audio Bible Shop where there are resources available for the journey that we are on through the Bible in a year. So, check it out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage or if you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And thank you, humbly, deeply, personally for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. And, so, thank you profoundly.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. No matter where you are in the world you can hit the Hotline button in the app but if you want to pick up the phone and dial old school there are a number of numbers that you can use. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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:

Yeah, this is Clint from Albertville I was calling in for the lady who called in with the husband with alcohol problems. I guess probably 15, 20 years ago I was drinking 18 beers a night and a pint of vodka every night. And I started drinking every morning. I’d drink a case of beer and I don’t know, a pint, pint and a half of vodka. It was pretty bad. My kids were, I guess probably around 10, 12 years old somewhere in there. And my wife had enough of it and through me out for three weeks. I didn’t know how long it was going to be when she kicked me out. But surely the night she kicked me out I quit drinking and turned myself over to God that night. And I haven’t went astray since. I get my strength from God. But m y alcohol…I don’t drink anymore at all. I don’t even have any desire. I don’t know if that may give you a little encouragement that people like that can turn around. My daddy was an alcoholic, my granddaddy was an alcoholic and it just went on and on but just called in to give you a little encouragement maybe that people can change, and he can change. Just keep praying for him and I’ll pray for him and everybody on here will pray for him. Thank you.

Yes, this is Brian from Huber Heights OH praying for…asking prayer for my son Mitchel Emerick. He is mentally ill. He is a drug addict. He is homeless. He is very much hopeless right now. He needs Jesus so badly. He claims salvation but he…that needs to be the number one thing I pray for him for. But he’s in jail right now and I’ve been…we’re trying to work with the court and his lawyer which he’s not going to be there on his court date tomorrow which alarms me. But his mother wrote a letter giving his history and I’m just praying that that gets to his new council and to the judges, judge Henderson and I pray that he would finally get that forced help he…he needs with rehab, with forced psych meds, or possibly to be incarcerated or…or…or institutionalized for short period of time where he could be off drugs where he can be put on meds and recover. I love him dearly. I pray for him all day long. Please pray that he gets the help that he needs in his court tomorrow. It’s…his name is Mitchell, and he is…he is in the Dayton Montgomery County jail awaiting a court for tomorrow. Pray that he would get the forced help that he needs, that God would lead his mother or night to get him the help that we can without enabling him. Thank you and God bless. Please God be with my son Mitchell. I thank You and praise You for the blessings You will give him in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hey DAB family it’s Rob Still, worship dude from Nashville and I would like to ask for your prayers and the prayers of the Saints for myself actually. It’s September 11^th I think as I call in. I am on a mission’s trip till the middle of September with a team from the US to Peru and the Lord has really giving us an important assignment I think here and just asking for your prayers to cover us and cover myself especially in the area of health. You know, the whole COVID thing going on is still kind of prevalent actually in parts of the world. And anyway, would really appreciate your prayers for that and just for the effectiveness of the gospel ministry. I want to thank you, all of you guys who listen and pray and especially for those of you who maybe feel like you can’t…you’re at a stage of life where you can’t really do a lot physically, but your prayers are important, and we need your prayers. And, so, I just want to say thank you so much for all of you who stand in the gap and our intercessors. May the Lord richly bless you. __.

Hi DAB family this is Laura in Colorado and I’m just calling because I would like to ask for prayer. I feel like…I feel like I just need an army of prayer warriors and I know I can find that here and I’m so grateful for it. I’ve called in the past about this, but I’m a NICU nurse and in February I had took in an abandoned baby and she’s amazing and beautiful and our family loves her so much and I know God just has an amazing plan for her life. Her life has already been just like one miracle after another, and we’ve been so amazed. And our…our hearts desire is…my five biological kids are in love with her and our desire is to adopt her and that looked like that was gonna be a really good possibility but recently there’s been a request to move her out of state to another foster parent. There’s no biological family involved at all right now. So, we’re heartbroken and we don’t feel like this is in her best interest. And, of course, there’s a lot of other factors involved but if you would just please please pray. It felt this was a spiritual battle over this baby from the beginning and I just ask that you would pray that whatever forces of darkness are out for this little baby’s life that they would come just to a screeching halt and that only plans for her good would go forward and that we would have favor with the judge…

Hi good morning, DABbers my name is Crown of Beauty from Kansas City. I am just calling for prayer for myself. I’ve been struggling a little bit. I lost my mum about a month ago and, you know, dealing with grief and everything like that. And also I am in the process of building my own business. I’m a hair stylist here in Kansas City and I’ve been a commissioned stylist for a while now probably five years or so and I’m being led to step out of my comfort zone and be a booth renter. And I’m a bit nervous about that and I am leaving my current salon in the next couple of weeks, and I’ve been doing things in the background while I’m preparing for this like my business cards and everything like that. And I already found my location and everything like that. I’ve already paid my rent for a few months but I’m just very very nervous about this new transition and change. I’ve talked to most of my clients and some of them are gonna follow and some of them are going to stay at my current location which for them it’s easier for them to stay here at my salon that I work for. So, I’m just praying that God would give me peace about this. And He has given me peace but just I’m so nervous for this change and I’m scared. But I just need prayers from you all and I would really appreciate that. Thank you everyone. This community is such a blessing to me. God bless everyone.

Isaiah 15:1-18:7, Galatians 1:1-24, Psalm 58:1-11, Proverbs 23:12

Today is the 14th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today around the Global Campfire, as we gather and take the next step forward together. And every next step forward together, picks up right where the previous step left off. And so, that leads us back into the book of Isaiah. We are reading from the New International Version this week and today, Isaiah chapters 15 through 18.

Introduction to the Book of Galatians:

Okay, so, yesterday in the New Testament, we concluded the book of second Corinthians, or Paul’s letter known as second Corinthians, which now leads us to new territory, although not all that new, another letter from the apostle Paul. This letter is known as Galatians. And Galatians is very respected, in terms of theology, because it lays out so much of our understanding of the Gospel and we’ll see why in a minute. But Galatia, this is a little different because when Paul’s writing to the Corinthians, he’s writing to the believers in the church in Corinth, the city. Well, Galatia isn’t a city or wasn’t a city, it was a province of the Roman Empire and that territory now is part of modern day Turkey. But in previous historical eras, the Galatians were known as Gauls or Kelts. So, Paul’s writing to the churches in Galatia, this region, and from the letter we know there are churches in Pocitia, Antioch, Aconium, Lystra and Derby. There may have been other ones, but these are named and so we can assume that Paul wrote to these these communities in these cities, in the province of Galatia. And one of the things that we might notice, might sound familiar, because some of the things that Paul’s dealing with in this letter to the Galatians, are the same kinds of things that he was dealing with in second Corinthians. People had come to these churches after Paul, and then taught what Paul thought was another gospel and more specifically, people were coming to the Galatian churches and telling them that they essentially needed to convert to Judaism and then follow Jesus from that worldview and that perspective. They needed to obey the holidays, the customs, the practices, including things like circumcision and obeying the Mosaic law. These are things that Paul stood against, so there’s a contrast here that is creating a conflict. For Paul, Jesus fulfilled the law, a new covenant had been begun between God’s people and God, and no one needed to convert to Judaism to get there, just go to God, because of the work of Christ in this world. This was a very difficult thing for a Hebrew person who had grown up in Judaism to get their mind around. It was a lot easier to believe in Jesus from a Hebrew perspective, but to think that a Gentile, a non-Jewish person, could just call upon the name of the Lord and be saved, without actually converting and living within the framework of the Hebrew context, God’s people, that was very, very revolutionary thought. Because the Hebrew people were a set apart people, a consecrated people and they kept to themselves and didn’t intermingle at all. And now, here’s somebody saying God has flipped this, He’s come in person and He’s made a bunch of things right again. We can go, anyone can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. They don’t have to convert and be initiated and accepted into a group, a people group. It’s one of the very, very earliest controversies in the Christian faith and it’s documented in the book of Acts, when we see the first Council, the Jerusalem Council, where this issue is actually up for debate. And even though a decision was made, and even though the Council made this decision based upon what they were observing God doing, because the Holy Spirit was falling upon Gentile people. So they felt like, how can we make this decision, God is making this decision, even though that’s the conclusion that they reached, that’s not the conclusion that everybody had and not everybody was on board. And so, there were people out and about, visiting different Christian churches or churches that were disciples of Jesus, telling them that they needed to convert to Judaism and then follow Jesus from that perspective. Which makes one naturally wonder okay, did this letter to the Galatians then happen before or after the Jerusalem Council, that’s a matter of debate. If Paul wrote this letter before the Jerusalem Council then people from the Jerusalem church were visiting churches that Paul had planted and were simply attempting to get those churches to align with the teachings of the Jerusalem church, before they had wrestled with the issue and actually needed to make a decision. Which would’ve made Paul irritable, to say the least. If Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians after the Jerusalem Council, then he’s reiterating, with as much force as he can put his pen to paper on, that the Jewish believers did not need to convert to Judaism in order to be saved. Basically it’s…it’s like one more step. So, to get to God you go through Jesus, but to get to Jesus you convert to Judaism. Or to get to God you go through Jesus, you call upon the name of the Lord and you are saved, you don’t have to convert to anything. This is a big deal to Paul because Judaism is an exclusive religion for Jews, believing in Jesus is for everyone in the world. And these decisions that were made were monumental decisions and choices, and we’ve talked about this some when we were going through the book of Acts. At one point, those who believed in Jesus, who were also Jews which is all of the early believers, they had the cover of Judaism, which had an exclusion in the Roman Empire so that they could have sort of freedom of worship. Once this Jerusalem Council happens, a distinction is made and those following Jesus no longer had the cover of Judaism and so, they were hated by the Jews and marginalized and persecuted by the Romans. So, the choice was a weighty choice because it had an enormous amount of impact on people’s lives who believed in Jesus. And that is what Paul is addressing so much, in the letter to the Galatians. And so, with that, we begin, Galatians chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, and we thank You for the Proverbs, we thank You for what we just read because that is exactly what we are attempting to do here every day to apply our heart to instruction and our ears to words of knowledge and we can’t achieve that without You, without the leadership of Your Holy Spirit in our lives. And so, Holy Spirit, show us how to apply our hearts to instruction, how to open our ears to words of knowledge. And even as we move into new territory in the New Testament, into the letter to the Galatians, Holy Spirit, lead us as we move through this letter into deeper understanding of the ways of our faith and intimacy with You. We pray this in the name of our Savior Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you can find out what is going on around here. You also have access to the Daily Audio Bible app, just search for Daily Audio Bible in the App Store that works with your device and you should be able to find it, download it from there and have the experience of the Daily Audio Bible app in the palm of your hand, so certainly check that out. Check of the different sections like the Community Section, like the Daily Audio Bible Shop section and just enjoy exploring.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we do by showing up every day together and getting cozy around the Global Campfire and taking the next step forward together, if that is life-giving to you and thank you, humbly and profoundly for your partnership. 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, you can hit the Hotline button 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 will be posted later.

Isaiah 15:1-18:7, Galatians 1:1-24, Psalm 58:1-11, Proverbs 23:12

Today is the 14th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today around the Global Campfire, as we gather and take the next step forward together. And every next step forward together, picks up right where the previous step left off. And so, that leads us back into the book of Isaiah. We are reading from the New International Version this week and today, Isaiah chapters 15 through 18.

Introduction to the Book of Galatians:

Okay, so, yesterday in the New Testament, we concluded the book of second Corinthians, or Paul’s letter known as second Corinthians, which now leads us to new territory, although not all that new, another letter from the apostle Paul. This letter is known as Galatians. And Galatians is very respected, in terms of theology, because it lays out so much of our understanding of the Gospel and we’ll see why in a minute. But Galatia, this is a little different because when Paul’s writing to the Corinthians, he’s writing to the believers in the church in Corinth, the city. Well, Galatia isn’t a city or wasn’t a city, it was a province of the Roman Empire and that territory now is part of modern day Turkey. But in previous historical eras, the Galatians were known as Gauls or Kelts. So, Paul’s writing to the churches in Galatia, this region, and from the letter we know there are churches in Pocitia, Antioch, Aconium, Lystra and Derby. There may have been other ones, but these are named and so we can assume that Paul wrote to these these communities in these cities, in the province of Galatia. And one of the things that we might notice, might sound familiar, because some of the things that Paul’s dealing with in this letter to the Galatians, are the same kinds of things that he was dealing with in second Corinthians. People had come to these churches after Paul, and then taught what Paul thought was another gospel and more specifically, people were coming to the Galatian churches and telling them that they essentially needed to convert to Judaism and then follow Jesus from that worldview and that perspective. They needed to obey the holidays, the customs, the practices, including things like circumcision and obeying the Mosaic law. These are things that Paul stood against, so there’s a contrast here that is creating a conflict. For Paul, Jesus fulfilled the law, a new covenant had been begun between God’s people and God, and no one needed to convert to Judaism to get there, just go to God, because of the work of Christ in this world. This was a very difficult thing for a Hebrew person who had grown up in Judaism to get their mind around. It was a lot easier to believe in Jesus from a Hebrew perspective, but to think that a Gentile, a non-Jewish person, could just call upon the name of the Lord and be saved, without actually converting and living within the framework of the Hebrew context, God’s people, that was very, very revolutionary thought. Because the Hebrew people were a set apart people, a consecrated people and they kept to themselves and didn’t intermingle at all. And now, here’s somebody saying God has flipped this, He’s come in person and He’s made a bunch of things right again. We can go, anyone can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. They don’t have to convert and be initiated and accepted into a group, a people group. It’s one of the very, very earliest controversies in the Christian faith and it’s documented in the book of Acts, when we see the first Council, the Jerusalem Council, where this issue is actually up for debate. And even though a decision was made, and even though the Council made this decision based upon what they were observing God doing, because the Holy Spirit was falling upon Gentile people. So they felt like, how can we make this decision, God is making this decision, even though that’s the conclusion that they reached, that’s not the conclusion that everybody had and not everybody was on board. And so, there were people out and about, visiting different Christian churches or churches that were disciples of Jesus, telling them that they needed to convert to Judaism and then follow Jesus from that perspective. Which makes one naturally wonder okay, did this letter to the Galatians then happen before or after the Jerusalem Council, that’s a matter of debate. If Paul wrote this letter before the Jerusalem Council then people from the Jerusalem church were visiting churches that Paul had planted and were simply attempting to get those churches to align with the teachings of the Jerusalem church, before they had wrestled with the issue and actually needed to make a decision. Which would’ve made Paul irritable, to say the least. If Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians after the Jerusalem Council, then he’s reiterating, with as much force as he can put his pen to paper on, that the Jewish believers did not need to convert to Judaism in order to be saved. Basically it’s…it’s like one more step. So, to get to God you go through Jesus, but to get to Jesus you convert to Judaism. Or to get to God you go through Jesus, you call upon the name of the Lord and you are saved, you don’t have to convert to anything. This is a big deal to Paul because Judaism is an exclusive religion for Jews, believing in Jesus is for everyone in the world. And these decisions that were made were monumental decisions and choices, and we’ve talked about this some when we were going through the book of Acts. At one point, those who believed in Jesus, who were also Jews which is all of the early believers, they had the cover of Judaism, which had an exclusion in the Roman Empire so that they could have sort of freedom of worship. Once this Jerusalem Council happens, a distinction is made and those following Jesus no longer had the cover of Judaism and so, they were hated by the Jews and marginalized and persecuted by the Romans. So, the choice was a weighty choice because it had an enormous amount of impact on people’s lives who believed in Jesus. And that is what Paul is addressing so much, in the letter to the Galatians. And so, with that, we begin, Galatians chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, and we thank You for the Proverbs, we thank You for what we just read because that is exactly what we are attempting to do here every day to apply our heart to instruction and our ears to words of knowledge and we can’t achieve that without You, without the leadership of Your Holy Spirit in our lives. And so, Holy Spirit, show us how to apply our hearts to instruction, how to open our ears to words of knowledge. And even as we move into new territory in the New Testament, into the letter to the Galatians, Holy Spirit, lead us as we move through this letter into deeper understanding of the ways of our faith and intimacy with You. We pray this in the name of our Savior Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you can find out what is going on around here. You also have access to the Daily Audio Bible app, just search for Daily Audio Bible in the App Store that works with your device and you should be able to find it, download it from there and have the experience of the Daily Audio Bible app in the palm of your hand, so certainly check that out. Check of the different sections like the Community Section, like the Daily Audio Bible Shop section and just enjoy exploring.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we do by showing up every day together and getting cozy around the Global Campfire and taking the next step forward together, if that is life-giving to you and thank you, humbly and profoundly for your partnership. 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, you can hit the Hotline button 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 will be posted later.

Isaiah 12:1-14:32, 2 Corinthians 13:1-14, Psalms 57:1-11, Proverbs 23:9-11

Today is the 13^th day of the month of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be around the Global Campfire with you today as we gather each and every day and take the next step forward through the Scriptures and through life together. It’s wonderful to have this little oasis in life together as we move forward. And, so, let’s dive in. We are working our way in the Old Testament through the book of the prophet Isaiah. And I guess we are in Isaiah enough to kinda understand that we’re not reading a narrative story per se, like we’re not reading a sequential order of things. Isaiah is a book of prophecy, and these are the prophecies and when one gets done we go to another one. But it’s not like there’s a bridge there so that we have a clear understanding of then this happened, then this happened. Then this happened. Many biblical scholars believe Isaiah was…is a collection that spans centuries. Others don’t. Some biblical scholars see more than one voice in the book of Isaiah. Others don’t. So, it’s easy enough for us to get really confused about what we’re even…like what he’s aiming at, what he’s talking about. However, we have already read first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles and that is our backdrop because the prophets that we will read were either prophesying to the northern kingdom of Israel before Assyria took them into It captivity or prophesying to the southern kingdom of Judah before the Babylonian Empire took them into captivity. And, so, whereas with the books of Kings we get this sort of linear look, sometimes we get a long glimpse at a king, sometimes we just get a paragraph but we get this linear look at the kings of Israel and Judah and all of their great victories and the things that they accomplished and all of the things that they accomplished on behalf and in service of the Lord, or all of their sin. Like it’s all there. The prophets are prophesying during this time. And when God speaks through prophet then we get a birds eye view of what’s going on in the culture and how things have eroded from the way that they were meant to be. And Isaiah is no different. In fact, as we began the book of Isaiah we were told that Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah and these are kings of Judah. And, so, we can go back to Kings and Chronicles and read of the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. That would be the backdrop. Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God during those times, and speaking to what was going on. And, so, with that we take the next step forward and dive back into the book of Isaiah. Today, chapters 12, 13, and 14.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in today’s reading we concluded the letter known as second Corinthians, and one of the things that we talked about along the way because it’s nearly impossible to miss is that Paul spent a lot of his time in this letter defending himself. The church in Corinth was getting visitors, visitors who were sharing in the gospel of Jesus but differently with different customs and rules than Paul had laid down and people were being swayed back and forth and back and forth when Paul wanted to be very very clear that all the churches that he planted operate a certain specific way, which made people who were rebelling against that idea question Paul, whether or not he was really even able to speak for Jesus and did he really get this stuff from Jesus and does he really have any authority, and what about the apostles that were actually with Jesus, people that get called super-apostles in this letter. And, so, Paul gets put in a very uncomfortable position where he has to defend himself and he does this through quote unquote boasting. And we heard quite a bit of boasting in Paul’s own defense, which is usually not a good thing. Like, it’s typically not an accepted thing where we’re sitting watching somebody puff themselves up. It has a tinge of arrogance to it and it sort of leads us to dismiss the person. But Paul is in a position where he doesn’t feel like he has a choice because his passion isn’t to preserve his own reputation. His passion is…are those people that he feels are falling into deception. So, he’s gotta boast make a fool out of himself to get them to take a good hard look at what they’re doing then he’s willing to do that. And, so, we saw plenty of that boasting in this letter. Like, are they Hebrews? I’m a Hebrew. Have they been persecuted? I’ve been persecuted more. Do they work hard? I work harder than all of them. But Paul whose been put in this position to defend himself, to defend his pedigree ends up determining that he can boast. He can say these things to give himself credibility in the people’s eyes. He can play the game that’s being played in other words. But if he’s going to be really really honest, the only thing that he can boast about would be his own weakness and the strength of Jesus inside of him. And that is…that is compelling to consider. Jesus dealt with these same things. He’s continually in the Gospels being asked, who gave you the authority to do this, etc. etc. And, so, as we leave second Corinthians behind and move forward tomorrow let’s just think about the scenario. Like what if we were put in a position where our faith was in question, and we had to quote unquote boast or play the game to stand up, to say the things that we believe in an honest and compelling way. Because the people of Paul’s dealing with here, they’re religious people who believe in Jesus. They just want a sign. They want proof. And Jesus Himself faced the same thing. And, so, taking an opportunity to examine ourselves, yet again, is always a good thing. In fact, I’m not just suggesting that we should examine ourselves. Paul does in this letter. And I quote, “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you, unless of course you fail the test.” If we are forced into a position where we have to stand up and boast, do we realize as Paul did, that this is a game, that if the truth were to be told we are nothing, the only thing that gives us strength and standing is Jesus? And if we actually feel that way in our hearts is that evident in our speech? Is that evident in our lives? Has Jesus so radically changed the way that we live that it can be observed? What would change in our own hearts posture and what would change in the environment around us if we took the humble posture, if we boasted in our weakness? In other words, that any strength that is in us would bring glory to God because everything that we have and all that we can achieve is a gift from God, who gives us our strength. These kinds of postures, we can feel as if we’ve heard this kind of stuff…be humble…all this kind of stuff so often that we know it. But this posture that’s being discussed here is a life changing one  because we realize that whatever we’re trying to conjure up to make ourselves bigger is false anyway and any glory that we try to attract to ourselves does not compare to the glory of the Lord spilling out of us. Yeah, these kind of postures if they can get in our heart and become our lifestyle will change the way we live our lives. And if all of us could get on board with the same thing the world would change, which is the idea, which is what we are collaborating with God in, making all things new again, putting it all back together again. Let’s give it some thought today.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into this. We are in a culture that certainly invites us to try everything we possibly can to stand out on our own and bring glory to ourselves based upon our gifting’s or talents or money or achievements. We place value on one another. We label one another. We do all kinds of things to categorize ourselves when we are nothing without You and You bring actual meaning and validity to our lives. And if there is anything we can boast in, that is it. Everything else is fleeting. May we realize this posture being spoken of and modeled here and may we change, may we repent from the way we’ve been in the past and embrace the fact that we are nothing without You. Come Holy Spirit into this. Lead us on the paths…pathways that we need to go as we think about this. Lead us to observe ourselves and the way that we react to things and the way that we puff ourselves up. Help us to begin to observe these things and to recognize that they’re not leading us anywhere good and lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, is home base, and that is where you can find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app lets you find out what’s going on around here as well and you can download that from whatever app store works with your phone or tablet. So, check that out.

And while you’re checking out check out the different sections like the Community section. That’s where to get connected. That’s where the Prayer Wall is.

The Daily Audio Bible Shop is full of resources that are…are developed over the years for the journey that we’re on through the Bible in a year together in community. And, so, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given freely to whoever will listen and to build community around showing up around this Global Campfire every day, if…if that’s life-giving to you then thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. 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 PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That’s the little red button up at the top 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey guys this is Isaac from Saskatchewan Canada. I need prayer guys. I need prayer for guidance and wisdom, you know, just to be able to hear God’s voice and just know it’s Him, just to be still and listen. And, so, I also am dealing with a lot of burn out lately, you know, just with things going on, just everything, you know. I can’t even complete daily tasks without…even the simplest of them without feeling burnt out and just tired and just overwhelmed. I just ask for prayer to that, you know, I would just…I don’t know. you know. You know what, let me ask this. Whatever you feel that God is calling you to pray for over me, if you feel God saying that, let it be done. Because you know what, I can ask for what I want but not my will be done but His alone. I’ll put it that way. Yeah, so also just my walk with God, you know. I’ll be honest, for the first time in a while I opened my Bible last week and things went good, you know, it went good, I was happy and then I started last night thinking, you know, this is good I got this but I don’t God’s got this. So, I just ask that whatever He’s calling you to pray for over me let it be done because once again not my will be done but His alone. So, thank you guys. Have a great day. This is Isaac from Saskatchewan Canada. Have a great night.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. Calling in to pray today for Bob. He is the 93-year-old father of one of our listeners. And I don’t remember his name because I was focused on Bob and he was I believe a pastor for 51 years and married to the same woman for 65 years, something like that but it was tremendous numbers there. But now, you know, he’s outlived all of his friends and family and he’s very…very much alone on this earth except the fact is he knows it that he’s not alone, that the Lord said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. So, Father I just pray today for Bob, and I pray that he would just have a reviving in his soul of Your presence Lord, that he would just sense Your presence on a level that he’s never experienced before. You know, I went through this over the last several years with my mother. She passed away last year at the age of, she was almost 96 and she was truly the matriarch of our family probably the most godly woman that I’ve ever known and I miss her so much. But you know what she wouldn’t come back here to see her baby boy for nothing in the world because she’s in the presence of Jesus. God bless everyone out there in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning, Patrick from Alberta Canada this is Adrian his Mighty Tortoise in Maryland. I hear you about your dad. I remember my husband, my late husband’s parents when they got to be at that point, at that age and they had no one left, everyone else had moved on from this life. And, so, it is…it’s a very lonely time. Dearest Papa please take care of Bob, pastor Bob. Please heal his heart. He’s mourning his wife’s death and please give him…give him some friends some new friends. They might be younger and that’s OK or they might be his own age that’s OK too. Please help him be OK Lord and give him purpose. Some somebody special, some special friends in his life to help keep him going. We appreciate it so much Lord, in Jesus’ name. And thank you for your outrageous faithfulness, Lord. You’re good. You’re gonna take care of this man God. Thank you so much. Again, Patrick this is your friend Adrian from Maryland.

Hello DAB good morning. I’d like to pray for Bob who’s the dad of Patrick from Alberta Canada. I sympathize with your story. My dad who passed away at 93, I had him come live with me when he was 90 because…almost by force…because he wanted to stay in his own house, and we could not relocate to the state where he was in. Nevertheless, I know as people get older into their 90s many times everyone they know have passed away and it’s very hard and I…I saw it at my dad too that mother, father, brother sister, cousins, friends, everyone was gone and he himself wanted to be gone too. But your dad who is a pastor, I particularly have a heart for him, and I just pray now Father that You will touch Bob Lord Father that Lord as a pastor of all those years I thank him for his faithfulness to You God and I pray that he would have a visitation for You Lord. I also pray oh God that people around him will circle him Lord and…and visit him and if possible, maybe he can live with his son, or his son can live with him. Father, I pray oh God that he would find peace and rest in You Lord Father, that the Holy Spirit will be his comforter. That’s what You called him Lord. And I just pray oh God for the spirit of heaviness and loneliness to be lifted in the name of Jesus, supernatural deliverance today oh God, that he will find peace in You and a joy. You said the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, I pray that for him today in Jesus’ name. I thank You for what You’re doing Lord and we look forward to a testimony in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello DAB community this is Paul. This message is for all of you suffering from debilitating anxiety or panic disorders. For a couple of months, I had a return of symptoms along with heart dysrhythmias. I had been under a lot of stress with little sleep. The panic returned after decades and I was afraid of losing my job as a firefighter and a paramedic in a big department, big city. Every hour is a battle is a testing of your faith and the enemy has laid his snares. I tell you do not give up. As soon as you wake praise on the Lord Jesus Christ your Redeemer, your salvation the one who took your place. Stay in the psalms, stay in scripture, and pray. Read Psalm 91 is an anchor point. If you don’t feel Him near, if you don’t feel Him at all still pray. Lay it out for Him. He will never leave or forsake you. In Him you will have peace. He will fight the battle for you but give it to Him. When your faith is weak give Him the battle. Do not…He did not die to ignore you. I faced my symptoms and am back at work with constant prayer dialogue with Him and thanksgiving. I will pray for all of you. With faith peace will come. Christ will show you the way. Thank you.

Daily Audio Bible family today I’m just asking for prayers for my two children and myself. My children are dealing with stuff with their dad, my ex-husband. He messed up pretty bad and now they can’t see them…or see him for the time being and I don’t know when they’re going to get to see him and I’m just trying to do right by them, I’m trying to be strong for them, I’m trying to lift them up. And in the meantime, I got offered a better job where I can make more money to help, you know, care for them but that would mean I would have to switch their school. And I’m already going through so much with them, and I don’t want to uproot everything that they know and I’m just scared and I’m just trying…I’m trying to find the right thing to do for them. I want to give them a better life. If you could just, please pray for us at this time. Thank you.

Isaiah 12:1-14:32, 2 Corinthians 13:1-14, Psalms 57:1-11, Proverbs 23:9-11

Today is the 13^th day of the month of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be around the Global Campfire with you today as we gather each and every day and take the next step forward through the Scriptures and through life together. It’s wonderful to have this little oasis in life together as we move forward. And, so, let’s dive in. We are working our way in the Old Testament through the book of the prophet Isaiah. And I guess we are in Isaiah enough to kinda understand that we’re not reading a narrative story per se, like we’re not reading a sequential order of things. Isaiah is a book of prophecy, and these are the prophecies and when one gets done we go to another one. But it’s not like there’s a bridge there so that we have a clear understanding of then this happened, then this happened. Then this happened. Many biblical scholars believe Isaiah was…is a collection that spans centuries. Others don’t. Some biblical scholars see more than one voice in the book of Isaiah. Others don’t. So, it’s easy enough for us to get really confused about what we’re even…like what he’s aiming at, what he’s talking about. However, we have already read first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles and that is our backdrop because the prophets that we will read were either prophesying to the northern kingdom of Israel before Assyria took them into It captivity or prophesying to the southern kingdom of Judah before the Babylonian Empire took them into captivity. And, so, whereas with the books of Kings we get this sort of linear look, sometimes we get a long glimpse at a king, sometimes we just get a paragraph but we get this linear look at the kings of Israel and Judah and all of their great victories and the things that they accomplished and all of the things that they accomplished on behalf and in service of the Lord, or all of their sin. Like it’s all there. The prophets are prophesying during this time. And when God speaks through prophet then we get a birds eye view of what’s going on in the culture and how things have eroded from the way that they were meant to be. And Isaiah is no different. In fact, as we began the book of Isaiah we were told that Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah and these are kings of Judah. And, so, we can go back to Kings and Chronicles and read of the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. That would be the backdrop. Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God during those times, and speaking to what was going on. And, so, with that we take the next step forward and dive back into the book of Isaiah. Today, chapters 12, 13, and 14.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in today’s reading we concluded the letter known as second Corinthians, and one of the things that we talked about along the way because it’s nearly impossible to miss is that Paul spent a lot of his time in this letter defending himself. The church in Corinth was getting visitors, visitors who were sharing in the gospel of Jesus but differently with different customs and rules than Paul had laid down and people were being swayed back and forth and back and forth when Paul wanted to be very very clear that all the churches that he planted operate a certain specific way, which made people who were rebelling against that idea question Paul, whether or not he was really even able to speak for Jesus and did he really get this stuff from Jesus and does he really have any authority, and what about the apostles that were actually with Jesus, people that get called super-apostles in this letter. And, so, Paul gets put in a very uncomfortable position where he has to defend himself and he does this through quote unquote boasting. And we heard quite a bit of boasting in Paul’s own defense, which is usually not a good thing. Like, it’s typically not an accepted thing where we’re sitting watching somebody puff themselves up. It has a tinge of arrogance to it and it sort of leads us to dismiss the person. But Paul is in a position where he doesn’t feel like he has a choice because his passion isn’t to preserve his own reputation. His passion is…are those people that he feels are falling into deception. So, he’s gotta boast make a fool out of himself to get them to take a good hard look at what they’re doing then he’s willing to do that. And, so, we saw plenty of that boasting in this letter. Like, are they Hebrews? I’m a Hebrew. Have they been persecuted? I’ve been persecuted more. Do they work hard? I work harder than all of them. But Paul whose been put in this position to defend himself, to defend his pedigree ends up determining that he can boast. He can say these things to give himself credibility in the people’s eyes. He can play the game that’s being played in other words. But if he’s going to be really really honest, the only thing that he can boast about would be his own weakness and the strength of Jesus inside of him. And that is…that is compelling to consider. Jesus dealt with these same things. He’s continually in the Gospels being asked, who gave you the authority to do this, etc. etc. And, so, as we leave second Corinthians behind and move forward tomorrow let’s just think about the scenario. Like what if we were put in a position where our faith was in question, and we had to quote unquote boast or play the game to stand up, to say the things that we believe in an honest and compelling way. Because the people of Paul’s dealing with here, they’re religious people who believe in Jesus. They just want a sign. They want proof. And Jesus Himself faced the same thing. And, so, taking an opportunity to examine ourselves, yet again, is always a good thing. In fact, I’m not just suggesting that we should examine ourselves. Paul does in this letter. And I quote, “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you, unless of course you fail the test.” If we are forced into a position where we have to stand up and boast, do we realize as Paul did, that this is a game, that if the truth were to be told we are nothing, the only thing that gives us strength and standing is Jesus? And if we actually feel that way in our hearts is that evident in our speech? Is that evident in our lives? Has Jesus so radically changed the way that we live that it can be observed? What would change in our own hearts posture and what would change in the environment around us if we took the humble posture, if we boasted in our weakness? In other words, that any strength that is in us would bring glory to God because everything that we have and all that we can achieve is a gift from God, who gives us our strength. These kinds of postures, we can feel as if we’ve heard this kind of stuff…be humble…all this kind of stuff so often that we know it. But this posture that’s being discussed here is a life changing one  because we realize that whatever we’re trying to conjure up to make ourselves bigger is false anyway and any glory that we try to attract to ourselves does not compare to the glory of the Lord spilling out of us. Yeah, these kind of postures if they can get in our heart and become our lifestyle will change the way we live our lives. And if all of us could get on board with the same thing the world would change, which is the idea, which is what we are collaborating with God in, making all things new again, putting it all back together again. Let’s give it some thought today.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into this. We are in a culture that certainly invites us to try everything we possibly can to stand out on our own and bring glory to ourselves based upon our gifting’s or talents or money or achievements. We place value on one another. We label one another. We do all kinds of things to categorize ourselves when we are nothing without You and You bring actual meaning and validity to our lives. And if there is anything we can boast in, that is it. Everything else is fleeting. May we realize this posture being spoken of and modeled here and may we change, may we repent from the way we’ve been in the past and embrace the fact that we are nothing without You. Come Holy Spirit into this. Lead us on the paths…pathways that we need to go as we think about this. Lead us to observe ourselves and the way that we react to things and the way that we puff ourselves up. Help us to begin to observe these things and to recognize that they’re not leading us anywhere good and lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, is home base, and that is where you can find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app lets you find out what’s going on around here as well and you can download that from whatever app store works with your phone or tablet. So, check that out.

And while you’re checking out check out the different sections like the Community section. That’s where to get connected. That’s where the Prayer Wall is.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given freely to whoever will listen and to build community around showing up around this Global Campfire every day, if…if that’s life-giving to you then thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. 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 PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That’s the little red button up at the top 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey guys this is Isaac from Saskatchewan Canada. I need prayer guys. I need prayer for guidance and wisdom, you know, just to be able to hear God’s voice and just know it’s Him, just to be still and listen. And, so, I also am dealing with a lot of burn out lately, you know, just with things going on, just everything, you know. I can’t even complete daily tasks without…even the simplest of them without feeling burnt out and just tired and just overwhelmed. I just ask for prayer to that, you know, I would just…I don’t know. you know. You know what, let me ask this. Whatever you feel that God is calling you to pray for over me, if you feel God saying that, let it be done. Because you know what, I can ask for what I want but not my will be done but His alone. I’ll put it that way. Yeah, so also just my walk with God, you know. I’ll be honest, for the first time in a while I opened my Bible last week and things went good, you know, it went good, I was happy and then I started last night thinking, you know, this is good I got this but I don’t God’s got this. So, I just ask that whatever He’s calling you to pray for over me let it be done because once again not my will be done but His alone. So, thank you guys. Have a great day. This is Isaac from Saskatchewan Canada. Have a great night.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. Calling in to pray today for Bob. He is the 93-year-old father of one of our listeners. And I don’t remember his name because I was focused on Bob and he was I believe a pastor for 51 years and married to the same woman for 65 years, something like that but it was tremendous numbers there. But now, you know, he’s outlived all of his friends and family and he’s very…very much alone on this earth except the fact is he knows it that he’s not alone, that the Lord said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. So, Father I just pray today for Bob, and I pray that he would just have a reviving in his soul of Your presence Lord, that he would just sense Your presence on a level that he’s never experienced before. You know, I went through this over the last several years with my mother. She passed away last year at the age of, she was almost 96 and she was truly the matriarch of our family probably the most godly woman that I’ve ever known and I miss her so much. But you know what she wouldn’t come back here to see her baby boy for nothing in the world because she’s in the presence of Jesus. God bless everyone out there in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning, Patrick from Alberta Canada this is Adrian his Mighty Tortoise in Maryland. I hear you about your dad. I remember my husband, my late husband’s parents when they got to be at that point, at that age and they had no one left, everyone else had moved on from this life. And, so, it is…it’s a very lonely time. Dearest Papa please take care of Bob, pastor Bob. Please heal his heart. He’s mourning his wife’s death and please give him…give him some friends some new friends. They might be younger and that’s OK or they might be his own age that’s OK too. Please help him be OK Lord and give him purpose. Some somebody special, some special friends in his life to help keep him going. We appreciate it so much Lord, in Jesus’ name. And thank you for your outrageous faithfulness, Lord. You’re good. You’re gonna take care of this man God. Thank you so much. Again, Patrick this is your friend Adrian from Maryland.

Hello DAB good morning. I’d like to pray for Bob who’s the dad of Patrick from Alberta Canada. I sympathize with your story. My dad who passed away at 93, I had him come live with me when he was 90 because…almost by force…because he wanted to stay in his own house, and we could not relocate to the state where he was in. Nevertheless, I know as people get older into their 90s many times everyone they know have passed away and it’s very hard and I…I saw it at my dad too that mother, father, brother sister, cousins, friends, everyone was gone and he himself wanted to be gone too. But your dad who is a pastor, I particularly have a heart for him, and I just pray now Father that You will touch Bob Lord Father that Lord as a pastor of all those years I thank him for his faithfulness to You God and I pray that he would have a visitation for You Lord. I also pray oh God that people around him will circle him Lord and…and visit him and if possible, maybe he can live with his son, or his son can live with him. Father, I pray oh God that he would find peace and rest in You Lord Father, that the Holy Spirit will be his comforter. That’s what You called him Lord. And I just pray oh God for the spirit of heaviness and loneliness to be lifted in the name of Jesus, supernatural deliverance today oh God, that he will find peace in You and a joy. You said the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, I pray that for him today in Jesus’ name. I thank You for what You’re doing Lord and we look forward to a testimony in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello DAB community this is Paul. This message is for all of you suffering from debilitating anxiety or panic disorders. For a couple of months, I had a return of symptoms along with heart dysrhythmias. I had been under a lot of stress with little sleep. The panic returned after decades and I was afraid of losing my job as a firefighter and a paramedic in a big department, big city. Every hour is a battle is a testing of your faith and the enemy has laid his snares. I tell you do not give up. As soon as you wake praise on the Lord Jesus Christ your Redeemer, your salvation the one who took your place. Stay in the psalms, stay in scripture, and pray. Read Psalm 91 is an anchor point. If you don’t feel Him near, if you don’t feel Him at all still pray. Lay it out for Him. He will never leave or forsake you. In Him you will have peace. He will fight the battle for you but give it to Him. When your faith is weak give Him the battle. Do not…He did not die to ignore you. I faced my symptoms and am back at work with constant prayer dialogue with Him and thanksgiving. I will pray for all of you. With faith peace will come. Christ will show you the way. Thank you.

Daily Audio Bible family today I’m just asking for prayers for my two children and myself. My children are dealing with stuff with their dad, my ex-husband. He messed up pretty bad and now they can’t see them…or see him for the time being and I don’t know when they’re going to get to see him and I’m just trying to do right by them, I’m trying to be strong for them, I’m trying to lift them up. And in the meantime, I got offered a better job where I can make more money to help, you know, care for them but that would mean I would have to switch their school. And I’m already going through so much with them, and I don’t want to uproot everything that they know and I’m just scared and I’m just trying…I’m trying to find the right thing to do for them. I want to give them a better life. If you could just, please pray for us at this time. Thank you.

Isaiah 10:1-11:16, 2 Corinthians 12:11-21, Psalm 56:1-13, Proverbs 23:6-8

Today is the 12th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is fantastic to be here with you today, as we gather around the Global Campfire. Come in, out of whatever is going on, whatever is swirling around us, lay it all down, exhale, relax, we’re in this together and we’re here to let the Scriptures wash into our hearts and minds, and to shape our hearts and minds, in the way that we should go. And so, it’s obviously such a unique place that we create each day, it’s wonderful every day to be in this place together, moving forward together. And so, let’s dive into the Scriptures. We are working our way through the book of Isaiah and this week we are reading from the New International Version. Today, Isaiah chapters 10 and 11.

Commentary:

Okay so, when we began the book of Isaiah, we were just kinda talking about what’s in the book and doing a little bit of a fly over. I mentioned that this book of Isaiah is one of the most quoted Old Testament books, inside the New Testament. And this is because Isaiah gives clear promises that a deliver a…a Messiah, which means a promised deliverer, would come. The writers of the New Testament reveal this Messiah, this promised deliverer, to be Jesus and this is done, impart, certainly with the narratives of Jesus life, but it’s done by revealing the ways in which Jesus fulfills prophecies that were expected to be…to be fulfilled. The people were waiting to be fulfilled. If we just read Isaiah though, and we look at the New Testament texts that are meant to make a connection to Jesus, we can’t find that explicit connection. Like there’s no name of Jesus in the book of Isaiah and the context of promise deliverers, etc. etc. are in a different time period, in a different context. And so, how did the connections then get made? How did Jesus come into the mix and then fulfill these ancient prophecies? We get a little bit of a glimpse of that today. So, take, let’s take a look. I am reading from the 10th chapter of Isaiah, “woe, to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue opressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.” So, a condition or a posture of the people is being called out and named: unjust laws, oppressive decrees, depriving the poor of their rights, withholding justice from the oppressed, making widows prey, not like got get down on their knees and pray, but become the prey of the oppressor and robbing the fatherless. This pattern of injustice was going on before Jesus, before Isaiah and is still going on today. And the prophet will have no problem condemning that those postures and laying out a clear picture of where that road is going to go. But the prophetic hope is that it will always be that way, that God is making all things new, or putting all things back together again and this would include a coming Redeemer who would set things right. Because this is ultimately the trajectory of the Scriptures. That God will not give up on something that is broken, He will make it new again. And so, then next Isaiah foretells the invasion of the Assyrian Empire and we know, because we’ve already read this in the Scriptures, that the Assyrian Empire invaded the northern kingdom of Israel and took them over and deported them into exile; 10 out of the 12 tribes were sent into exile. And then Assyria went on to threaten Jerusalem. Since we’ve already read this, we know that Assyria doesn’t conquer Jerusalem, but later on the Babylonian Empire does conquer the southern kingdom of Judah, including Jerusalem. Isaiah speaks to that and I quote, “a remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the mighty God though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel only a remnant will return.” So, what we have are prophecies about exile and the hope that one day there would be a return from exile. When we get to the first century, the time of Jesus, the people who are in the land are the descendants of that remnant of people who got to return and so that prophecy had been fulfilled. They were able to return but they had not been, in any way, restored to their former glory. They were able to return to their ancestral homeland but it was not their ancestral homeland anymore. It had been centuries. And at the time of the first century, this land was controlled by the Roman Empire and this wasn’t the ancient land of Israel anymore. This was the province of Syria. And the very kind of oppression that they had been committing, that they had been warned about, that they did not heed and that ultimately led them into exile, was being visited upon them. In other words, there was a time where they were the perpetrator, but now they are the victim; they have reaped what they sowed. And so, in first century Hebrew culture this is a very oppressed people, very marginalized, very separatist. We’ve talked about all of this kind of stuff before, but they were hoping for a deliverer to come, to fully restore the land to God, to fully give back Israel its former glory. They were in the land, but it was not there land and they wanted it to be there land under God once again. And so, knowing the prophecies of their own corruption, knowing that those stories prophetically were fulfilled in and that they were conquered and taken into exile, knowing that the hopeful promise that a remnant would return was fulfilled, knowing that those people were the descendants of those who were able to return who lived in the first century. And if you’re reading Isaiah and you read things like and I quote “a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse,” so, this is obviously very, very embedded into Hebrew culture because this is referring King David, “from his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him. The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with his eyes or decide by what He hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, with the breath of His lips, He will slay the wicked, righteousness will be his belt and His faithfulness, the sash around his waist.” This is what they had been looking for, this is like a prophetic description of what they’re waiting for and Jesus looks like this. And the more Jesus moves around saying what He’s saying and doing, what He’s doing, the more there is talk that He looks like this, which creates great discussions among the people, great debates among the people. Could He be the one? Could He be the anointed one? And some believed that He was, while others denied, all the way until it became sort of an issue of the people themselves because the Jewish High Council got involved in doing away with Jesus, determining that He couldn’t be the one. So, there was considerable debate around Jesus as it relates to the criteria in Isaiah that they were looking for, that it looked like Jesus fulfilled or looked like. And as we see from our New Testament writers, Old Testament prophets are quoted extensively to make the connection that the Redeemer did come and nobody was paying attention, that the work of God to restore all things or to put things back together or to make all things new, was fully at work in the world and fully at work through Jesus, the promised Deliverer.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for an opportunity to see how connections are made and the difficulties that people would’ve had to embrace, to…to observe and discern what was going on while You were here. We are grateful for the advantage of hindsight, thousands of years to look back and pour over these things. We thank You that You came, that is really the important thing, we can get lost in the weeds of trying to dissect things until they are unrecognizable. Or we can understand that promise to put things back together, to restore, to redeem, to make all things new again is an ongoing promise that has been ongoing for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. This is the work that we are invited to participate in with You. This is the work that we can look out in the world and look for You doing, this is what You are doing, putting things back together. And we confess we can destroy things about as fast as they could be put back together. We are like sheep that have gone astray, but ultimately You are making all things new and You have invited us to be a part of that story and we are deeply grateful and we humble ourselves before You, making ourselves available to Your service. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base, it is the website, it is where you find out what’s going on around here, so certainly check it out. We can check it out by using the Daily Audio Bible app as well. That’ll get you to all the different sections, you just push the little drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the…of the app screen, that opens up a drawer and you can navigate to different places, like the Community Section. And the Community Section has links to get connected on the different social media channels that we’re participating in, but it is also the home of the Prayer Wall, the Prayer Wall lives there. That is a resource, whether using the app or the web, that is always available. We can always pray for each other, there are always people to pray for, there are always people to pray, and we can always ask of our brothers and sisters to come alongside of us in prayer, that we’re carrying or dragging burdens that are making it impossible to move and what is moving an inch at a time would freedom file go to feel like that brothers and sisters come alongside and encourage us for the next stretch of road and help us make that next mile. That’s the Prayer Wall, it’s there for all of us, whenever we need. And so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. If the mission, to bring the spoken word of God, read fresh everyday, and offered freely to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night, and to build community around the Global Campfire so that we’re in this together or…or moving through this together. Not only a year of our lives together, with the entirety of the Scriptures together, if that is life-giving to you, then thank you for being life-giving. 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, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button up at the top 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 will be posted later.