Hosea 10:1-14:9, Jude 1:1-25, Psalms 127:1-5, Proverbs 29:15-17
Today is the 8th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we continue forward on our journey through the Scriptures this year. We are in the portion of the year where things get more busy in our lives, right? We’re in the holiday season, moving toward Christmas, but we’re also in a portion of the Scriptures where we’re moving through territory very rapidly. Most every day between now and the end of the year we’ll have a brand-new book to jump into and we’ll talk about all of them as we move through. And speaking of moving through, we’ve been moving through the book of Hosea. We will conclude the book of Hosea today in the Old Testament, and then when we get to the New Testament we have brand-new territory. We concluded third John yesterday. We will read in its entirety the book of Jude today. And, so, we’ll talk about that when we arrived there, but first let’s move toward the end of the book of Hosea. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Hosea chapters 10 through 14 today.
Introduction to the book of Jude:
Okay. So, that brings us that brought us to the conclusion of the book of Hosea, which now leads us to the opening, and we’ll read in its entirety the epistle or letter of Jude. And as we read Jude it's…it’s possible that it’ll sound familiar. There are many, many, many biblical scholars that accept the concept that second Peter and Jude are related to each other, maybe more particularly, it’s thought that second Peter imitates Jude’s letter. And if that’s true well then Jude predates second Peter if second Peter imitates Jude. And that would put Jude somewhere, probably in the mid-60s A.D. If that’s not the case and they’re not related, then Jude could be all the way to the end of Jude’s life. Maybe somewhere like 80 A.D. But who is Jude? And that has been like many things a debated thing. The traditional consensus among scholars is that Jude, at least the Jew who wrote this letter was the brother of James and Jesus. And even though he was a brother of Jesus, Jude wasn’t an apostle, and he didn’t believe in Jesus during Jesus ministry. Looking for other clues, it’s like, not clear who this letter was to. Jude says he’s writing to “all who have been called by God the Father who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ”, which could mean anybody who believes at any time. So, we can certainly say like, we fall into that category so we can certainly apply the letter of Jude to our own lives. But if there are similarities between second Peter and Jude then Jude was likely writing to the same people Peter was writing to. That would’ve been displaced believers who were fleeing persecution or had been sent away in the diaspora or had been exiled and taken away to foreign lands in generations past. The main exiles being the northern kingdom being exiled to the kingdom Assyria and the southern kingdom being exiled in Babylon. Something really interesting about this letter from Jude is that he was…he was planning on writing a letter. He was just planning on it being a completely different letter than the one he wrote, which certainly makes us wonder, like what was the letter he was going to write. But he had to write a different letter than he was planning to, and we’ll see that in the letter itself because he needed to deal with a false teaching that was widespread among the churches. It’s not the first time that we’ve come across this issue. And, so, since we have seen this issue from several authors and in letters to several different places, we can see that this was kind of a widespread assumption and a bit of an early church problem. And that was basically how mercy and grace works. The teaching of grace, God’s grace for us, the unmerited favor that is given to us by God as a free gift, not as something that we can earn is like a foundational understanding in Christianity. God’s grace is a gift. Some early believers began to think that’s pretty awesome because now sin has no claim to me, and it can’t get any claim to me. And, so, because of God’s grace, because there’s nothing I can do to earn it, I shouldn’t even try. So, this must mean that I can do whatever I want whenever I want with whoever I want. God’s grace covers all things. There really is no sin to worry about anymore. And Jude opposes that thought, as did everyone else who is dealing with the issue. And then finally, Jude closes his letter reminding believers that false teachings, like, this isn’t a new concept. This is predicted. This has always been going on and that believers in Jesus need to build each other up and strengthen each other by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when dealing with brothers and sisters who, it seems, have been deceived then that was to be met with caution but also mercy. We’re gonna read the entire letter of Jude right now. And Jude is the second to the last book in the New Testament, which means that tomorrow we will begin the last book of the Bible. We have plenty to go in the Old Testament. We have plenty to go in the New Testament. But we will be reaching our final book, the book of Revelation tomorrow. So, there’s really only one other book in the New Testament that we’ll need to talk about and we will do that tomorrow. But for now, the letter of Jude.
Prayer:
Father once again, we thank You for Your word. It’s something that we feel grateful for every single day. And we thank You for it most every single day because we’re grateful. Such a gift, such a tangible thing in our lives that can speak into the very recesses of our souls. We are deeply grateful and we thank You for all of the complexions in new territory that we are experiencing day by day by day, and we ask Holy Spirit that You lead and direct us, that we would be able to encounter what it is that You have for us and that it would stick with us even as we move through a rapid portion of the year. We love You. We adore You. We worship You. We lay our hearts before You. We humble ourselves before You. You alone are God. You are the only hope. And we ask because You’ve promised that Your Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth as we continue this journey through the Scriptures. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com, that is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here unless you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app and that puts it in the palm of your hand.
And it’s Christmas and it’s hard to miss. It’s Christmas time. The seasons, they come and it’s crazy how busy and fast it all goes and then it’s over, but we’re in the thick of it now. And, so, there are a number of Christmas things going on in the community here. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box for 2022 is packed full of goodies for you to keep in for you to give away and you can find that in the Daily Audio Bible Shop either at dailyaudiobible.com or using the app by pushing the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and then clicking Shop. And in the Shop, you’ll find a Christmas category and that is where the family Christmas Box for 2022 lives right now. And, so, check that out. Secondly, our annual Christmas party is coming up and we’re looking forward to that and putting that all together. And, so, this is kind of getting down to last call. If you want to call in your holiday greetings to the community that you’ve been journeying with through the Bible this year you can do that by pressing the Hotline button in the app or by dialing 877-942-4253. And both of those methods should sound familiar. We talk about them every day. That is the prayer and encouragement line. It just doubles for about a week a year as the…as the holiday greeting line as well. And, so, that’s what’s happening right now. Call in your holiday greetings if you want to participate and be included in the annual holiday party that we have in the Daily Audio Bible community here around the Global Campfire. And then lastly, holiday music for you to stream. You can stream Jill’s, O holy night single. She sings beautifully. Just look up Jill Parr and O, holy night, wherever it is you stream music. And then there are a couple of albums. Family Christmas, which you can find by looking for my name or Christmas time which you can find by looking for Maxwell Hardin’s name. Three soundtracks to incorporate into the soundtrack of your season and include the Daily Audio Bible and the community in that. So, check those out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you humbly. Thank you as we approach the end of the year for your partnership. We would not be here if we were not a community around the Global Campfire. And that’s just the facts. That’s just true. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, thank you humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are 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 or holiday greeting right now you can hit the hotline button in the app or 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:
This is this is Sustained by His Grace Alone. I originally wrote this for my 94-year-old father but adapted it to address those in our DAB family who also have the experience of years. We have Piano Man, Victoria Soldier, God’s Smile and Peter, Blind Tony, Diane Olive Braun, many others, too many to mention but please keep calling in. We do miss your familiar voices. What does getting older mean to you? The years have flown by now what do you do? Experience of years is so needed now so share your wisdom with others. But how? Shine the light of the gospel while you still have your breath before eyes or the lost close permanently in death. We all are sinners, but the difference is whether we’re his with a lowercase H or whether we’re his with a capital H. People need to know the truth not just in old age but in youth. You’ve shared the gospel through the years. Only God knows who had receptive ears. But one day you’ll come to know that too, future results of what you continue to do. The Holy Spirit unites us no matter what. We hold tight to Him whatever our rut. Stay faithful and joyful. So far so good. You’re an example for others who also should. Perfect, oh no. But that’s OK. I thank God for those who have helped shown away.
Shalom Daily Audio Bible was Dwayne from Wisconsin all praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and savior Jesus Christ. I want to thank all of you…all of you that have prayed for my children. I received a phone call yesterday, it was December 25th so it’s on the 4th and I was so concerned and nervous that my son wasn’t doing well that I didn’t even answer the call because last time which was, you know, over a year ago he was somebody where I couldn’t help him much. Well, I got up in the morning and there was a message and he said dad I’m doing OK, but I got some news for you. So, I just got off the phone with him and he’s doing fine. He has a place to stay. He has food. And I’m so proud of him because he’s helping other people out that need help. He’s helping out people that are misfortunate but need somebody there to help them care for them. So, he’s doing odd jobs, running errands for them, helping them out. But more importantly, the last time my wife and I saw him there was this young lady who said yes he could spend a couple of nights with him…her…excuse me. And she’s someone who has been taking people in on occasion. Well apparently, she liked Nathan so much that she actually proposed to him, which makes me feel really happy because she seems like someone he needs in his life with a good head on her shoulders. So again, thank you all. God bless.
This is __ in Ohio calling for the guy who was the last caller that was aired on December the 3rd who’s going through a lot and just feels so lost, angry, and alone and just is praying a lot and doesn’t know, you know, kinda what to do and has stuff out of his control. I just wanted to make you aware that it feels like when I was listening to you talk imagine what it’d be like, you know when like you’re on an airplane and you’re below the cloud cover and everything is dark and gray, you know the sun is up there but you have to break through that cloud cover for light to come out. And I think that cloud cover is just the enemy kind of nitpicking at you and…and making everything seem Gray and cold and dreary and making you feel alone like that. Obviously, I don’t know all of your circumstances so there is a chance that you, I don’t know, there may be something in the natural world happening there, but it feels to me like this is absolutely spiritual warfare. And, so, in the name of Jesus I rebuke the enemy that’s operating in this man’s life. I command the forces of the enemy to go now in the name of Jesus and leave him alone. I speak a declaration of life, beauty, peace, community over of this man’s life. God I pray that You will allow him to see the light that will shine through that cloud cover. Help him to keep directing his prayers to You. Show him signs that You’re there. And in Jesus’ name I just bless you sir with all the goodness that Jesus has for you. I really think this is spiritual warfare. So, don’t let yourself be troubled by your circumstances. Just remember that you’re fighting a spiritual battle.
Good morning DAB this is June calling from Maryland. I’m just calling in response to two prayer requests that came in or one prayer request and one comment. First of all, the dad of People on the Waters, thank you so much for calling in to pray over your son. Just even to think about that. And we do lift him up before God. Let him have all the blessings, protection, courage to do what God has put him to do, wisdom, discernment as he goes forth in his step of life. It is a step of life and it’s a blessing to be able to be on it. It may be a little scary but…but we thank God that he’s able to take the step and that he will protect him and guide him in this step. But thank you dad for calling in and being that awesome dad. Thank all the dads, all the men who stand up and call in for prayer requests and to pray over them…themselves and their families, their spouses, and their children, and everyone in their community. It’s just a blessing to me to even hear it. I didn’t grow up with a dad and I didn’t grow up with male figures, positive role model models around me like that. And, so, it always warms my heart when I hear a man call in to pray for someone in his life. And secondly…second of all someone else called in about…he didn’t say…leave his name but he was stating as he goes through the Bible, he hears different characters speaking to him, Jesus and then John. And he was saying it was kind of weird. And I don’t think it’s weird at all. I think it’s showing your measure of growth and discernment. So, that’s what we’re here for, to grow and grow close with God. And you’re not gonna see it all in one day. But every year we’re gonna listen, we’re gonna hear, we’re gonna grow. So, let’s just count all joy and count it as a step in growth.
Hi, this is Kelly from California. Sorry but I’ve been…I’ve been crying. I just…I feel so abandoned and alone like a lost __. I'm…I need prayers and I have a live in aid that’ll come and stay with me that way my rent will go down and it won’t go back up. And I also called my housing, if they can give me an extension. I need to…I just feel like I’m in a bad __. And I just need prayer for strength and endurance. I was even trying to listen to the Daily Audio Bible this morning and I just was trying to focus and I couldn’t. So, please. I live in Long Beach CA. So, if anybody is in Long Beach CA that listens, please, you can contact me at sparkle.k2009@gmail.com because I do need some more brothers and sisters in Christ close by. Thank you. God bless.
Hello family this is Cohen for Christ calling from British Columbia. This is my first-time calling in. Thank you Brian, for this beautiful ministry. I’m just gonna read a poem and ask for you guys to pray for my brother’s mother-in-law who’s in coma right now searching for Jesus. This is called Psalm of life. There’s a tree growing on the banks of my holy river for the healing of my children, the balm of eternal life, a gift of its leaves. And I treasure you more than the life of my first born my living water flowing forth to nurture every need. Come unto me all you who are weary. Come and find rest in the shade of this tree. I am reaching out, my hands extend and asking would you join me. Take of my life child that you may live. There’s no way of knowing if you cannot first trust. My love as a must to put to death all fear. Come unto me all you who are weary. Come and find rest in the shade of this tree. Now as we walk this riverbank hand in hand together for all time a garden grows surrounding us with every good thing a heart could want. These trees that we see are growing through surrender. Let creation and creator be united for all of eternity. Come unto me all you who are weary. Come and find rest in the shade of this tree.