Daniel 4:1-37, 2 Peter 1:1-21, Psalm 119:97-112, Proverbs 28:17-18
Today is the 27th day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, welcome to a brand-new, shiny, sparkly week.
And today, today’s a special day as we begin this new week. Today is the first day, the first Sunday in the season of Advent. Advent begins today. That means we’re about 40 days out from Christmas Day. There’s four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Those are the Sundays of Advent, that’s the season of Advent. And you may have…you may have observed Advent your entire life, you kind of just grew up with Advent calendars and just everything that goes around that, you also may be somebody that has heard the name Advent before, but don’t really, have never observed it, it’s not part of your tradition in the church that you belong to. That’s fine, it’s all fine. Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means arrival and is simply a season designated on the Christian calendar, to allow our hearts to begin to prepare for the arrival of the Savior into the world. And obviously, that’s happened a while back, but we commemorate that as we celebrate Christmas each year. And so, to have a season of Advent, very similar to the fact that we have the season of Lent, leading up to Easter, really is simply a time to immerse ourselves, to give special focus to what is going on and that is preparing our hearts to celebrate the arrival of…of Jesus, which is a very different story than the arrival of say Santa Claus. And Advent, Advent is meant to put our hearts in part in the place that the people were in, as they longed for change, longed for a Savior. They were waiting, expecting, hoping that some things would change and that God would restore them and then He came. So, we…we put ourselves, as Christian people, in the same position, we…we think about that, that there was a time where this story hadn’t been told yet. People were longing for restoration and hope, the people were longing for a Savior, a Redeemer, a Restorer and we focus on that and even embrace that longing, as we consider it. Because we’re still longing, Jesus came and then promised to come again. So, we kind of in between the two arrivals, the two Advents if you will, find ourselves longing for that, for the arrival of the Savior, for full hope to be restored, for every need to bow and every tongue to confess. And so, we too have our own longing. And as we move toward the season and Christmas day, we embrace that, knowing that He came for us, knowing that He will come again, knowing that we are in between those two things and knowing that we are longing for the day of His arrival. So, if that sounds meaningful than there are all kinds of ways to embrace Advent but it really is just a season of preparation in our hearts, to prepare us for Christmas. I never grew up this way, like that’s not part of my story. I knew about it. I had heard of it, for some reason I thought it was suspicious. I don’t know, like something that people do, but we don’t do. And so, there must be something weird about it, but as I became a grown man, understood what was going on, especially understanding the sort of formation of the church and how some of the traditions have developed over the years, it’s become very meaningful to me, become very meaningful to Jill and I and our family. We have an Advent wreath and each Sunday we light the candle and we don’t keep it burning like constantly, but we at least do it. So that like, there are Advent calendars, there are Advent wreaths that have candles in them. You may be going to church today and there will be an Advent candle and it will be lit, the first of the four candles will be lit. Today’s candle is the hope candle and it allows us to have a whole week, as we are preparing for the arrival of Christmas and the celebration of Jesus arrival, to focus on our hope. What is our hope in? Where does our hope lie? Where has our hope failed us? Where are we lacking in hope? And putting our hope utterly and completely in God. So, there you go, there’s a little bit of where we are, it’s like, what a whirlwind. We went through last week, Thanksgiving Day in the United States and then Black Friday and all the shopping, and the festivities and then China’s birthday yesterday, and now here we are, beginning the season of Advent. So, a lot is going on and that is how this part of the year typically works for each one of us.
Nevertheless, no matter what is going on, we gather around the Global Campfire for many reasons but one primary reason and that is to take the next step forward together, as we continue our journey through the Scriptures this year. And so, we have begun the book of Daniel, which we will continue to work our way through. We finished first Peter yesterday, which brings us to second Peter, when we get to the New Testament, and we’ll talk about that then. But this week we’ll read from The Voice Translation, Daniel chapter 4.
Introduction to the Book of 2 Peter:
Okay so, this brings us to the opening lines of another letter, this one called second Peter and we just finished first Peter. Second Peter is thought to be the last of the writings of the old St. Peter. Although it’s important to at least acknowledge and point out that has been disputed and not within the last decade with modern scholarship, but for centuries, that has been a question, all the way back into antiquity. The acceptance of Peter being the author of this letter is something that developed over time and by the fourth century it was fully considered Scripture. But scholars are still debating over these things, not whether or not it should be in the Bible, not whether or not it’s inspired, not whether or not it’s Scripture, but whether or not this is a letter from Peter. So, a lot of people consider second Peter very similarly to the book of Hebrews, like the author is not fully known. That doesn’t change the contents or the value of what’s being said, just not certain. A lot of this, well, a lot of any kind of biblical scholarship that causes debate, causes vigorous debate. That’s sort of the point is to vigorously debate and wrestle with and arrive at some convictions. And so, there many scholars would say like the writing between these two letters is a very, very different, like, very hard to believe that the same author wrote both of the letters. Then those who are like, no Peter did write both of these letters, would say Peter was doing what was customary and normal at this time, he was dictating a letter and a secretary an amanuensis, as it’s called, was taking the notes or taking the dictation and writing the letter down. And I guess there’s valid reasons, since the debate continues, to wrestle with it because there are compelling arguments, that are scholarly arguments, but there are very compelling reasons to consider that Peter did write this letter and so that’s how we’re going to approach this, as if Peter wrote second Peter and that this is the last thing preserved. He was martyred shortly after this. And we have church tradition, a long-running church tradition, that the peer was crucified, that’s how he died and that he…he requested that he not be crucified, like the Lord. And so, he was crucified upside down. There’s nothing about Peter’s death or his execution or any of his trial or anything like that, that’s found in the New Testament. So, that is just a long-running church tradition, which does not mean its only tradition, it just means it’s not in the Bible. The letter doesn’t explicitly say who it is to, he says that he’s writing to you who share the same precious faith that we have. So, I guess it’s safe to assume that this is another letter, probably written to the same people that he had written his first letter to, because he refers to the first letter in the second letter. And where first Peter’s mission was to bolster and lift up and kind of put some wind beneath the wings and instruct the believers how to endure, because they were getting crushing pressure and it was only amping up. Second Peter warns about false teachings and evil behavior, not from without, like not persecution coming from without but evil behavior coming from within the church. And it’s a short letter, we won’t take a lot a long time with it, but as we’re moving through, rather than just like going okay, he’s teaching against false doctrine and teaching us how to live better lives, which would be fine, we just need to kind of consider, in the same way that we considered second Timothy, as Paul’s farewell that he knows that he’s going to die, we can look at second Peter, kind of from the same perspective that Peter knows he’s going to die. And we’ve been journeying with Peter for the whole year. Like, we met him in the Gospels in January. This is, this is a disciple that was a fisherman that Jesus called on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Peter became a disciple of the Rabbi, of his Rabbi Jesus, and came to believe that Jesus was Lord, the son of the living God. And he had walked around following Jesus and seeing His ministry and seeing the miracles that He performed and just all of the private moments. I so long to know about just Jesus private time with His disciples, I wish that were all written down somewhere. I would love that. What were the things that they sat around the fire and laughed about cause Peter would’ve been there. What are the things that would have upset them and brought them to tears. Peter would’ve seen that. Peter would’ve lived alongside of Jesus. And we know that Peter ate his Last Supper with Jesus. And we know that Peter denied he even knew Jesus and then watched him die. But we also saw this remarkable transformation in Peter as Jesus restores him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, at the end of the book of John, the gospel of John. And we saw in the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit coming to the upper room and it’s Peter who preaches this first sermon after that, on Pentecost and 3000 people chose to follow Jesus then and there. And so, a massive transformation. This will be the last time we’ll hear the words of Peter this year, as we continue our journey forward. And so, let’s give it gravity, let’s give it the honor that it’s due and let’s begin second Peter chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for a brand-new shiny, sparkly, week that we get to enjoy it and then thank You for this week, Lord, for another transition week. By the time this week is through, we will be in the 12th month of the year. Thank You for bringing us here. Thank You for bringing us this far. And thank You for seeing us through all the way, every day of this year, that we might delight in You and continue our journey together, through the Scriptures. We look forward with longing to all that You have yet to speak into our lives this year. And we ask, Holy Spirit, what we’ve been asking for weeks now, that we would lock in, we would not become distracted, that we would not get disrupted, that we would finish strong, we would finish well, so that we can begin strong and begin well. And we know that we can say all we want about finishing strong and well, but without You, we can’t do anything. And so, come, Holy Spirit, lead and guide us in the way that we should go in the paths of righteousness, on the narrow path that leads to life. We pray this in the mighty and victorious name of Jesus. Amen.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Morning everybody, this is God’s Smile, here, with Peter. Blind Tony, when you spoke about being with the Consultant and He’s heard, where be alright, we keep ahead of this. I couldn’t help but smile, thinking of Jesus, our Alpha and Omega, the One that goes ahead of us. Tony, the One that goes before you. The One that prepares the way for you, in this time of your life. We thank God, that everything you need, all your supplies, are within Christ Jesus. And it causes me to sing unto the Lord. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditate shall of Him, shall be sweet. I will be glad; I will be glad in the Lord. Blessed thou the Lord, oh, my soul. Praise ye the Lord. Bless thou the Lord, oh, my soul. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed thou the Lord, oh, my soul. Praise ye the Lord. Bless thou the Lord, oh, my soul. Praise ye the Lord. Father, we bless You and we praise You. We thank You that Your will be done, in Blind Tony’s life. Thank You for Your love and Your care and Your provision. We love you Blind Tony, you’ve got many more poems to share. Kiss kiss, bye for now.
Hello DABers, this is Z1. I want to thank God for my family and for all the prayers you’ve done for my grandma, God’s Chosen One. And I also want to, and I also want to use this time to tell everyone to have a happy Thanksgiving and if you’ve already decorated for this upcoming season, a Merry Christmas to come. I pray this all in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Bye.
Hey, my delightful DAB fam. This is Kingdom Seeker Daniel. Family, it’s day 285, I’m praying for our marriages and today, I want to pray for Sunshine. Oh, my dear sister Sunshine, I heard your heart. And I want you to know, God is with you. And He knows, He sees, and He cares. And I want to believe that God’s will is being performed, even in what seems to be impossible. So, Father, I come on behalf of Your daughter, Sunshine, whose husband left 5 years ago, for someone else. And is living in a wilderness kind of, lifestyle. The adult children are hurting, and they can’t make sense of it and are pretty hurt and devastated. Father, we ask that You would show up in this marriage, Lord, we know You hate divorce and it’s not Your will that man and woman should end up in divorce. However, because of the hardness of our hearts, You often allow it to be. But God if, if it’s possible, would you let this cup of divorce pass from Sunshine and her husband. And bring this man to his right mind, to return to You and then to his wife and family. We know You can and we’re asking that You would bring healing to this entire family, to Your glory. In Jesus name. Amen.
Wow, Daily Audio Bible, it’s Thanksgiving. I’m so thankful for you. But even more, I pour through the word of God, who convicts, who heals, covers my sins in His blood. All the readings from today, stabbed my heart, because they are true in my heart, but they don’t, they’re not put into practice. I guess I want it to be perfect but it’s never gonna be perfect, until I see the perfect one, until we see the perfect one. This is Laura Lee, Bouton Beach. I just was loving on my mom once again. Having my identity in her rejection and her abandonment and her not enjoying the children. It’s been passed on and I don’t wanna regret the authority and the gift of being a child of my mom’s. So, I just pray that God bless my mom, bless our time together. Don’t let me leave again in anger and disappointment, finding my identity in her. Anything because right now, in her dementia she really doesn’t know what’s she’s doing. And before, she didn’t either. So, please forgive her, I do as well. And give me strength to be present. It’s tough.