Amos 1:1-3:15 ~ Revelation 2:1-17 ~ Psalm 129:1-8 ~ Proverbs 29:19-20
Today is December 10th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here with you as we move into the end of another week. Yeah, here in the month of December, as our lives kind of speed up into the holidays and preparations of the beginning of a new year, it’s like the Bible also pulls us into this faster trot. We move through a lot of books in the month of December and today is no different. We read the book of Jude in its entirety yesterday which brings us to the prophetic words of Amos written down in the book called by his name.
Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)
These words come from the lips of a very ordinary person. He is not a man of status. Amos isn’t famous in any way and he doesn’t really have status or stature to bring him before anyone important. He’s not a trained person in the priesthood. He’s just an ordinary man living a pretty ordinary life. He lived in the Judean city of Tekoa while Jeroboam II reigned over Israel, the northern kingdom, and Uzziah reigned over Judah, the southern kingdom. So the northern and the southern kingdoms are experiencing tremendous prosperity and peace and they have not seen this kind of prosperity really since the days of Solomon, so it would seem odd by our standards that God would take a very ordinary countryman, a peasant, to deliver a very harsh message of impending judgment on Israel and the surrounding countryside, but that is exactly what he did.
Everything looked prosperous and well, but corruption had found its way to the core of the people and they had abandoned God and they were consumed with their idol and pagan worship, the poor being misused and oppressed, which is something Amos could see intimately and closely, greed ruling the hearts of the nation’s leaders and, true to form, God sends a messenger, like he always has, letting everyone know that judgment is upon them. But also true to God’s character, he always leaves a way out and he foretells of the remnant that will experience revival and restoration of the land.
You would think after these many thousands of years that we would know the drill, and yet it seems that we’re still grappling with and trying to grasp the very simple concept that God is sovereign and we are not as powerful as we think. One way or the other, the hard way of judgment or the easy way of repentance, every knee will bow to his authority.
So we begin, reading from The Message today, Amos chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 15.
Prayer
Father, as we read through the prophetic words that foretell an outcome that the people, your people would not have wanted, may we heed the words and look for these things in our own lives. As we move through what the Spirit said to the churches in the book of Revelation, may we hear and know what you’re saying to us. Your word is good. It is light. It illuminates where we are going and this is what we need and such a gift. So come Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth as you promised. We invite you and open ourselves to you completely. Come, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home. It’s home base. It is where you find out what is going on around here and we have really three things going on right now of note that need to be mentioned.
1. It is time to call in your holiday greetings. A few more days and we will be beginning to put this all together. So you just use the prayer line: (877) 942-4253 to call in your holiday wishes to the Daily Audio Bible community here and we put this together in our annual Christmas Party. It’s a virtual Christmas party that we call the Daily Audio Bible Family Christmas, but it is beautiful. Really, really beautiful. We enter in this story of the nativity and intersperse our calls and Jill and I get on the mic for a while and have a chit-chat about the year. It’s really, really fun to do and always moving for me as we approach the end of the year. So make sure to get your call in while you can.
2. The second thing is the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box. This is something we do annually as well. We pack a beautiful box full of the resources that have been created for this community. This is a great box. It has the Promised Land films in it. It’s got Bible Stories about Jesus in it. It’s got the Family Christmas CD in it. Jill’s new album is in there. My latest book Reframe, From the God We’ve Made to God With Us is in there as well as the corresponding films/DVD that goes with the book and, of course, I’ve been mentioning this is the last time those will be available like this so get it while you can. Your choice of our Windfarm coffee or our English Breakfast Tea, depending on what you like to drink in the morning or afternoon or evening, your choice, it’s in there. Let’s see, what else? Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards are in there and the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Bulb for the year 2016 is there as well. So yeah, there will be things in there you’ll want to keep and things in there you may want to give away, but grab them while you can at the Daily Audio Bible Shop at www.DailyAudioBible.com.
3. Then the third thing we’ve been mentioning is the More Gathering for Women that will occur this coming April. We have advance registration pricing through the holiday season because it makes for a one-of-a-kind, very unique, really special gift for the woman or women in your lives. So check that out as well. You can find out all about the information you would want to know about the More Gathering at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Initiatives section. You won’t miss it. It is easy to find. But all of the details you would be interested in knowing about, you can find them there.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here as we approach the end of the year, then a heartfelt humble gratitude are mine to you. Thank you for your partnership. The Daily Audio Bible doesn’t and can’t exist if we don’t do this together. These 16 servers just don’t spin on their own and all the associated things that it takes each and every day. So thank you for your partnership in allowing the Daily Audio Bible to be here for you and to continue to build the community we are. There is a link. It is on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com. You can find it in the app if you push the More button which is in the lower right-hand corner. Or the mailing address, if you prefer, is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, or right now, a holiday greeting, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call if you’re in the Americas. If you’re in UK or Europe, you can call 44, 20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or the lands down under, 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 Requests and Praise Reports
Hey DAB family. This is Byron out in Florida. Just checking in. God is good and so am I. Victorious Soldier, thank you so much for your prayers for me. I’m always encouraged by hearing you pray. It reminds me of when my mother prayed, so thank you so much for that. Cherry C., Cherry Pie, sorry to hear about your struggling in these different ways. I am praying for you. I too have been in a situation with the church where I wasn’t sure what I needed to do and at some point I got wisdom on it, but it was the opposite of what I wanted in my bones to do. But I stuck it out and it made all the difference, all the difference, all the difference. So I’m praying for you, that God gives you wisdom about where you need to be as far as worshipping with family and that he will help you with all your other struggles as well. I just thank God that we have this community here and that all of our struggles, this is one place that can be relied on in our usual way. I love that we show up for one another. It has really helped me throughout the years. I know it has helped countless others. I love you guys. Talk to you later. God bless you Brian and Jill. See you.
Father God, we just praise you this morning, Lord, for you are holy and there is none like you, Lord. Lord, we lift up our brother, Mark, from the Four Corners area, Lord. Lord, we pray, O God, that you hear his cry. We pray, O Lord, that you relieve him and his family of spirits of addiction in the name of Jesus. Father God, we ask, O God, that you fill him with your Holy Spirit and remind him who he is in you. Lord, I pray that your love and your peace would just flow through him right now, even as he hears this prayer, Lord. And that it will flow through him to his daughter and his son, Father. God, I praise you, Lord, because you came to set the captives free and those whom you set free are free indeed. So Father God, we speak freedom over Mark and his family in the name of Jesus. God, we praise you, Lord, that there is no addiction that is stronger than you, O Lord. There is nothing, Father, because you move mountains, Lord. We ask that this mountain of addiction be raised up and cast into the sea, in the name of Jesus. And we claim victory over him and his family, in Jesus’ name. God, we love you and we thank you. In Jesus’ name. Mark, I heard your prayer request today and I just want you to know that you are not alone and whenever you feel that withdrawal or feeling of negativity, just speak it out loud and say that you are not alone, that God is with you, and that in the name of Jesus that mountain be cast into the sea. We love you, love you, love you.
Morning, fellow Dabbers. It’s Joe, the Protector from Georgia, December 6th about 8 a.m. Just finished listening to the December 6th podcast and man, what a great lesson, some good call ins, specifically I’m calling about two of those. The first one is Mike in Four Corners. Hey brother, I hear your plea there for yourself and your family. First of all, you are a child of God, so don’t ever doubt yourself on that and don’t ever put yourself down for that. Brother, we’ve been given access to the keys of the kingdom of God and those keys are to bind what is found in heaven such as sin, depression, sickness, anger, addictions, whatever it might be, and to loose on earth what is in heaven. Those are prosperity, goodness, righteousness, just healthy relationships, health and physicality, and things of that nature. Just joy, gladness, everything like that, brother. So just pray the kingdom to come down here on earth and to loose what is in heaven which is goodness and to bind the things on earth that are in heaven like sin. Just start practicing those key principles. The other one is Carol that called in that was supposed to be on the Israel trip and wasn’t able to make it due to the car accident…
Hi, this is Kim from Kentucky and it’s Tuesday, December 6th, 8:30 in the morning. I’m on my way to work and I just finished listening to the prayer line. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the sister who at the end she spoke the words of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman. I never had heard that song all the way through. I really listened to the words and it is a great song. Thank you so much for sharing that. It made me think of the gentleman who called in earlier that was reportedly a father and he was asking for prayer because of his addictions to alcohol and pornography and his son had an eating disorder and his daughter has started pornography and in that song it says we can rest, let nothing dismay us, let nothing shake us because our Savior was born and we can overcome sinful nature in spite of us because of that. So for that father and that family, I’m just praying for you all. The power is in you, brother, to resist every temptation that the enemy throws at you. Even the Bible says no temptation has taken us, that such is common and God gives us a way out. And know that the Spirit inside of you is your way out, to just say no and it is there for you and others. Just know your prayers have been heard and you’re being prayed for and we love you. I just thank you so much. I’m so happy everyone got back home safe from Israel. I pray one day I will get to be on that trip with you, Brien. Blessings in Jesus’ name. Bye.
Good morning my Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lisa from Nevada. There are two Lisa’s from Nevada. I’m the one that doesn’t have the courage to get up at the farewell dinner the night of saying goodbye to everyone in Israel. I so wish I can speak in front of people. But I’m calling today to thank you, Brian and Jill and the whole Daily Audio Bible family. Morningstar, __________, the tour guides, Olga and Ellie for what an amazing experience. 2016 has been the most unbelievably blessed year for me and my family, overcoming obstacles with birth certificates, with passports in order to get my husband, __________, to get to go with me to Israel. Last minute, finally getting the passport. Arriving there, renewing our vows, getting baptized in the River Jordan. Against all odds. The pastor here in my little town said that wasn’t biblical, that I didn’t need to be baptized in the Jordan River. I got baptized in the Jordan River and I thank the Daily Audio Bible and Morningstar and Olga and Ellie and everybody that had anything to do with…Tatiana, the rooms, the food, everything was above and beyond. And if you could save to get to go to Israel with the Daily Audio Bible, I strongly encourage that. It will not leave you the same.
Hello, this is Miguel from California. I’m calling with a message for Naomi. I forget where you said you were from, but you were a first-time caller who shared with everybody a story of being rescued from a lifestyle of sin and finding relationship with Jesus. So encouraged by that and your story going on to ask for prayer for your former husband who has also now fallen into a lifestyle of sin. So the Lord has put it on my heart to call in with a word for you. First off, a word for protection for you and this newfound relationship with Jesus. This is the most precious thing you have. May you be protected in that and be commissioned to share this gospel with your former husband in power, in Jesus’ name. So receive the word from the Lord. Stand firm then, Naomi, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of Pete. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Naomi, may you be commissioned in the name of the Lord. May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Amen.