Daniel; 7:1-28, 1 John 1:1-10, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 28:23-24
Today is the 30th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Ahh…30th day of November, that’s the last day of the 11th month of the year friends. So, with today we are 11/12 through our journey together and it is great to be with you here today to celebrate that as we gather around the Global Campfire and move forward day by day, step by step. So, our next step forward as we conclude this month leads us back to where we left off, obviously. That happens to be in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. And then we get to the New Testament we have some new territory to move into. We concluded second Peter yesterday with some convicting things to think about. And that leads us then to move today into the first of three consecutive letters from John. And today’s letter that we’ll move into is called first John. So, that sort of lets us know what the other two are probably called. But we’ll get to them soon enough. Let’s dive into the book of Daniel. Today we’ll read Daniel chapter 7.
Introduction to first John:
Okay. So, this brings us to first John and a bit of a reunion with someone that we’ve gotten to know. We had the same experience when we went through first and second Peter, although we had never really…I mean…we had heard of Peter, and we walked alongside Peter in the Gospels. He was one of the disciples of Jesus. But it was the first time we could hear him in writing, as it were. We’re being reunited now with another disciple of Jesus, John. And we have heard John’s voice in writing before. We read the Gospel of John. And, so, it’s like this reunion as we get to the end of the year. We get to circle back around and hear from these guys again after the letters of Paul. And it’s a lot of fun. And it’s really interesting to watch their growth over the years as the church took shape. So, we’re about to begin three consecutive letters from John, first John second John and third John. But as we begin first John, today we might…we might notice that this letter doesn’t tell us who it’s from and it doesn’t tell us who it’s to. We could, like some other letters in the New Testament like the book of Hebrews, say this is anonymous because we don’t know. But what we do know is that the church fathers, probably within like 50 years of this letter being written, attributed the letter to John. And several centuries later, as the New Testament is being ratified John wasn’t disputed as the author of this letter and this letter wasn’t disputed as authentic. More recent scholarship and textual criticism have noticed like the writing style is different between the gospel of John and these letters and there are some differences even between these letters and that is the stuff of scholarly speculation and it’s always been going on and always will be going on I suppose. Part of the reason that this letter isn’t addressed to a specific group of people or a specific church in a specific region may have been because the letter was supposed to be circulated among all of the churches, as many as possible. John is known to be the pastor to Asia. Like his home base ended up being in Ephesus and it’s also possible that he wrote letters to people that he had spiritual authority over and that he was a pastor too. And, so, he didn’t need to say, hey this is John writing you a letter. Like they knew when they got it who it was from. It’s also possible that it wasn’t addressed to anyone in particular to protect everyone in particular, since persecution and marginalization were part of the story at this time. First John was probably written in Ephesus where John spent the latter part of his life. It was probably written in the latter part of John’s life. And this letter was written for some correction, to speak to some early teachings about Jesus. Some of the early forms of Gnosticism had made their way into the church conversation. A couple of specific views that John addresses the first being the…the docetic view. And that was that Jesus, He wasn’t really a human being. He was God. Like there’s no problem there. But He wasn’t really a human being. He appeared to be a human being but wasn’t actual flesh and blood. And another view of Cerinthus, he taught that Jesus was a human being. He actually was just an ordinary human being and that when He went to the Jordan River and was baptized by John the divine Christ descended upon Jesus there at his baptism and became one with Him. He became united body and Spirit with divinity and then He did His ministry this way and then, obviously we know how the story goes, He’s arrested and convicted and then crucified and then He dies. And at his crucifixion when He says it’s finished and He dies, while then all that’s left is a human corpse. The…the God part of Him departs. John, in first John is saying, yeah, that’s not how it went, basically. Like those are not correct ways of viewing who Jesus is. And John writing this would have a bit of authority since he was there and was a part of the ministry of Jesus and was a part of the inner circle with Jesus. And, so, as an eyewitness, he could say, yeah that’s not…that’s not what was going on. And by the time the letter ends we’ll also get like postures of heart. We saw this a lot and Paul’s writing too, like how we should be aimed, what characteristics should accompany us as we move forward on our faith journey. And, so, let’s dive in. First John chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for these 11 months that You have brought us through and all that You have spoken into our lives at just the right time. Thank You for such a kindness, to give us the Scriptures and to give us Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Thank You for Your care and Your fathering of us. And as we move forward into the final month of the year, we ask that You lead us safely and with great strength all the way through this journey and continue to speak to us what we have yet to learn and need to understand before this year ends so that we begin strong and with purpose. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is where you find out what’s going on around here. And it’s Christmas time around here like it is everywhere in the world pretty much. And, so, that’s what’s going on around here a couple of things yet.
A couple of things. Yeah, a couple of things. So, first of all, it is time now to prepare for our annual Daily Audio Bible family Christmas party. And, so, for the next week you can call in your holiday greetings to the community. We have a phone number for that. We have an app for that. It’s the same procedure you would use to call in a prayer request or an encouragement. So, that little Hotline button in the app or 877-942-4253 is the number to call. And you can call in your holiday greetings right now. Couple of rules. First, don’t call in a holiday greeting combined with a prayer request. If you have a prayer request or encouragement call that in separate. This is one of the rare times that you can do that. Call in your holiday greeting. Call in your prayer request or encouragement separate. And then rule number two about the holiday greetings, one per person. Like don’t call in 5 or 10 or 20 calls. One per person. It…it’s all of our voices together and it becomes a long program that is just I…it’s one of my favorite things about the Daily Audio Bible and one of my favorite things about the holiday season is…is listening through. But just call in once.
And then also what’s going on around here is the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2022. And that is available now in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, you get to the shop from the website or from the app. And you will notice in the Shop there’s a Christmas category. That’s where you’ll find the Christmas Box. And we have packed the Christmas Box full of goodies. Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible, the coffee table edition is in the box. The God of Your Story as well as Reframed and Sneezing Jesus are included in the Box. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas ornament for 2022, an exclusive to the Christmas Box each year is in the box. Your choice of windfarm DAB blend coffee or Rooibos and Honey Bush tea. The Global Campfire candle, that smells like the Global Campfire. Let’s see, a pop socket, a Global Campfire pop socket and a couple of Global Campfire stickers are included as well. You can see all this in the Shop in the Christmas section. And, so, check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we approach the end of the year, thank you humbly. If the mission we share to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm, the Global Campfire so that we have a place to gather and move forward in community knowing that we’re not alone on this journey. If that is a life-giving thing to you then thank you 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 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. Like I said, that’s the same number and same button that you can use for the holiday greetings at this point in time for about the next week. We will gather those.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here…well tomorrow will be next month. So, I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow on the first day of the 12th month of the year. We’ll see you then.
Community Prayer and Praise:
This is Candice from Oregon. Prisoner of hope when I heard your story about AJ and you are in the midst of it as you told it to us, I saw that the courage that God wants us to have is given to us by the Holy Spirit. And I…I just need you all to know that those of you, so many who’ve prayed these powerful prayers for my son Micah, wow, the answer was so beautiful as he did find his way over here for Thanksgiving. And all of us had such a sweet time together. And I just can’t thank you enough for your prayers and your continued prayers for him. And as a return from my love for all of you I want to give you the blessing that Paul gave to the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter three starting at verse 16. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you be rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lords holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. To Him who is able to do immeasurably of all we ask or think…
Hey family, it’s Valiant Val. It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I hope you all didn’t spend too much money now. And if you are spending money, make sure it’s on what, the dailyaudiobible.com. Stop playing. Hey, I know I’m late to the party but I done got the sleep app and I can I tell you, praise God. Brian, I just have to say thank you for your obedience. Man, I am taking a lesson from you sir. Just do what God tells you to do expeedingly, quick, fast and in a hurry like your Mama with a belt. Get after it. Oh, I love you so much, man. You know y'all since I’ve been having this rotator cuff issues and I mean this pain is so great it’ll wake you up out your sleep. And, so, for the first time in my life I’m having problems staying asleep, getting to sleep, and enjoying sleep. But thank you for your sleep album Brian. If you haven’t gotten it yet family. Please go get it. And then I got another ask. Please this is a Christmas gift that you guys can really bless me with. Can you please go to whatever site you get it from whether it’s the Google Play store or apple store or wherever you get your music from whatever your jam is and do me a favor, go to the Daily Audio Bible app and let’s just give it five stars. Let’s tell the world how amazing and great this app is, what it’s done for us. We cannot hide it we got to divide it y'all. You know the best give you’ve ever given someone is when you’ve told them about the DAB. Oh, this is a family that prays together so we know we gotta stay together. Here’s to 2023 y’all. I love you; I love you, I love you. I can’t even tell you guys how much. I mean truly you guys are like closer to me than my naturally born family man. Oh, I love you guys. Alright let’s all get good sleep. Prophetic dreams family. In Jesus’ name.
Father I lift my hands to thee there’s no other place that I
know
and if you were to remove your love from me I don’t have any other place to go
I have my eyes on the prize
but I kept getting distracted by all Satan’s lies
I was clearly headed for the promised land until I ended up at rock bottom
and I still thought I was ahead of the game till I heard Satan say that I got
him
and I knew in my spirit he wasn’t lying
what he was saying was true
everything I tried would fall through
and even though God had given me chances chance after chance
I kept tripping over my own two feet as I tried to negotiate life’s delicate
dance
that’s why I need you to guide me father every step of the way
because I know there’s no win in doing things by own way
thank you father for being so merciful, gracious, and kind
and for helping me clearly see the frivolity in all of this stuff I clearly
left behind
and also for helping me clearly see the many riches still ahead
once I fully accept and recognize that this world and its desires are just as
good as dead
new life’s in you faithful and true and there isn’t really much that you ask us
to do
have faith in the process trust in your plan
and believe that you do have the whole world in your hand
let go don’t be afraid regardless of what your eyes see
and remember your life is less than and nanosecond of all eternity
God’s got this and it’s all good
even when things don’t turn out the way you think they should
so when you get upset and anger within you roars
remember that the kingdom of God with all its riches will soon one day be all
yours
Hi family, this is Carol calling from Nebraska again. Usually, I call about my granddaughters or maybe something that I’ve heard on…on the programs. But I have to say this this prayer request is from me. I said parts of this before but my granddaughters, as I was, were abused psychologically, sexually, most of their lives going on for 10 - 15 years before it was revealed that my son was the perpetrator. And he is now in prison. But he’s still there dad and they still love him and they’re having a very difficult time, you know, missing their daddy as they go into, you know, junior high school and high school years and college years and this dad they were supposed to have is this person that hurt them so badly. So they’re struggling with that. And as we’re coming into the holidays it’s just very difficult because he’s not part of the celebrations and he’s in…he’s in prison and he’s going to be where he belongs. But they’re struggling with this dichotomy of feelings about him and so am I. It’s very difficult for all of us to not judge him. We know that God will judge him but what he’s taken from our family is…is so much. I have PTSD and…and I am bipolar, and I have my own, you know, childhood drama. And now I’m watching my grandchildren go through the same thing and theirs…they're…they're…they’re getting better, they’re healing, the Lord is helping them but we all really need your prayers during these holidays because it’s all just coming to a head and…and we’re all very angry. So, thank you.
Laura Lee this is Joyfully Joe, and I am so with you sister on this subject. It’s so hard to want to be perfect and to say and do the wrong things to be unloving and unkind when you really started out trying to be perfect. And you’re so right. We’re not perfect. I also struggle with being kind to my mom in her dementia and before that. I have to take into account the way that she was brought up and the things in her past and sometimes I forget. Sometimes I just want a loving momma, but we don’t have that. So, I’m going to pray for you right now. As I pray for you, I’m praying for me too. Father God we are complete in You Lord God. Our perfection and our identity as Laura Lee said, is in You holy God. You are the beautiful one. Your majesty is great. We thank You. We do praise You for Your word Lord God that convicts and heals and shows us the path of righteousness Lord God. And we thank You Lord God that You have left it to us so that we would have comfort Lord God. We thank You for the comfort of the holy scriptures and I lift up my sister and I pray that You would comfort her with all the comfort that’s in You God and that You would wash over these mistakes and bless her Lord in Jesus’ name.