12/30/2016 DAB Transcript

Malachi 1:1-2:17 ~ Revelation 21:1-27 ~ Psalm 149:1-9 ~ Proverbs 31:10-24

Today is the 30th day of December.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian.  It is awesome to be here with you on the eve of New Year’s Eve.  We have today and we have tomorrow and we will have completed another revolution through the entire Bible, which is, of course, super exciting. Another thing that is exciting is that today we begin the final book of the Bible and that, of course, is the book of Malachi.  

Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)

Malachi is the final of the 12 minor prophets, these books in the Old Testament that we’ve been moving quickly through, and it is the last book of the Old Testament.  It will be 400 years before God sends another prophet named John the Baptist.

As with all the other prophets, God’s central message is clear:  Come back to me.  Return to me, coupled with an amazing promise of restoration.  In Malachi’s case, he’s also speaking to the priests who have simply begun to not take the law seriously.  For example, the Mosaic Law required sacrifices that were pure and spotless.  The priests in Malachi’s time have begun using blemished and blind animals, but there is more to it.  Throughout the culture, men had begun treating the wives of their youth disrespectfully and still expected God to accept their sacrifices.  And on it goes.  Same story, different writer, different book.  Of course, the parallels are striking and it doesn’t take a degree in theology to apply the circumstances to the culture today.  God isn’t pleased when we rebel or disobey him because we are choosing anything but life when we do that.  So it is not that God is just a self-absorbed tyrant.  It is because he knows what is best, the path that leads to life, and he is best for us in all circumstances.

So we conclude the Old Testament with an oracle of the Lord spoken through his servant Malachi:  Turn back to God.  So we begin the book of Malachi, reading from The Voice translation, chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 17.  

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word.  Lord, here we are.  We have one more day in this year and you have been faithful.  Your faithful love endures forever.  While we have one more day, that means we are still in this year and so we stay present to you in this, this journey of a lifetime through the word of God in a year among friends.  We thank you that you have given us the technology and the ability to do this.  We rejoice in what you said in your word today, that all things are being made new. And this gives us something to look out in front of us toward with great hope, but it also gives us something to look inward at with great hope, that this renewal, this all things being made new isn’t something that is just in the future.  It is something that is happening now and you are making us new. You are renewing us each and every day. So we embrace this with the greatest of hope because no matter where we’ve been this year, last year or the last decade, all things are being made new again.  So come Holy Spirit.  We welcome you.  We open ourselves fully to you, to your newness, to your re-creation, your renewal of our spirits day by day, making us more and more like you.  Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here and I guess the last thing that I should mention here in this year is the More Gathering for Women is coming up this April.  We have the advanced pricing going through tomorrow, so through the end of the year. If it has been on your list of things to check out or if you’ve been meaning to register and just haven’t gotten to it, if you want to take advantage of this, make sure you do it by tomorrow at midnight.  You can get all the information at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here as the year is still 2016, and if you want that for 2016, obviously it has to be 2016, which is today and tomorrow, of course.  Thank you for your partnership in allowing the Daily Audio Bible to exist at all. As I’ve said so many times throughout the year, we are a community.  We are a family and everything that we’ve ever done, we’ve done together for all of these years.  So thank you for your continued partnership in allowing everything to continue into the new year and for another year.  There is a link on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Or if you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, of course, as always, we’re a community.  If you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

And that’s it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.  

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hey everybody.  This is Ron down in Southern California.  I haven’t called in a couple of years.  I have a very dear friend who has a heart infection.  He is on life support and not expected to make it.  There are people all over the world praying for him already, but I can’t think of a better group to ask to pray for my friend, Steve, than the Daily Audio Bible community.  I would just ask that you reach out healing hands over this great man of God.  I would appreciate it.  Thank you.  

Hello.  This is Diane from Indiana and this message is for anybody out there who is lonely and depressed or mad or angry or sad or angry at others, angry at God.  I just want you to know that just hang in there. Don’t give up.  Fifteen years ago my 2-year-old son passed away and then 14 years ago my dad passed away and then four years ago my husband passed away, and so, especially during Christmas, it is hard.  It is hard and I’ve felt all those emotions.  I’ve come a long way and I’m so thankful to have found the Daily Audio Bible family, but I remember Brian talking earlier this year (I apologize, I don’t remember the scripture and exactly what you said).  He had been talking about his mom and he just let us all know about his mom and kind of the struggle he was going through.  He was telling all of us about something to the words of ‘when you think you just can’t do it anymore, yes you can.’  I just want to let everybody know out there yes, you can.  I’m standing here today and it’s a step-by-step process, but don’t give up. Reach out to people.  Reach out to somebody.  Join a support group.  Do something to help you get through.  I just want to say I love everyone and that’s all.  

Hi, this is Victorious Soldier, just calling tonight to pray for some of the Dabbers.  Just wanted to say that this is a wonderful time of the year and we have to remember the reason for the season, that God has great and wonderful things for us. Those that are alone, that God doesn’t want you to feel like you’re alone and doesn’t want you to be alone, so I pray that we connect with some people and come together and enjoy the Lord with them, even if we just write each other, even if we just call and talk to each other.  I’m going to just pray for the people right now.  Gracious Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, you know that at this time of the year.  O Lord, I’ve been through it many times myself and you have brought me through it when I realized that you are able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think.  Lord, you are marvelous and a wonderful and an awesome God.  Lord, you touch them, Lord, and let them know that you are with them. You show yourself so mighty to them that they will have no doubts in their heart that they are not only your child, but that you love them with an everlasting love and that is one of the reasons that you came, that you came that we might have life.  You came while we were yet sinners.  Lord, help them to hold on, that while we were yet sinners, you died for us, Lord.  You died and gave us a right to the tree of life and you weren’t like the world.  You weren’t a bully, but you were a loving God and you left it open so that we can have a right to the tree of life, so that we can have joy, so that we can have peace, so that we can have the victory in Christ Jesus.  Lord, I just thank you and I praise you and I give you the glory.  O Lord, I give you the glory for the wonderful day that you have in store for those…

Hi family.  It’s Jordan from Michigan.  To be honest with you right now, I just woke up and I wanted to start the day off right, so day 19 of my 30-day challenge also happens around Christmas Eve, so today the positive thing in my life that I would like to acknowledge is a very simple truth, that the one who created me, who created you, who created the whole cosmos, loves me and loves you.  That is the greatest truth of all.  As we celebrate the birth of Christ, I pray that we meditate on that truth today and let it wash over us and give us new life.  Byron from Florida, I just want to thank you again for helping me realize that truth.  Have a blessed day everybody.

Hey DAB.  This is Curtis from Cali.  Just wanted to call in a request for my son.  His name is Kingston Parker and we took him to UCLA like four days ago and they had to run a biopsy on his thyroid.  They found some nodules growing on it.  Yeah, so we’re just kind of in this waiting period of seeing what that is and what is going on with him.  He’s been kind of sick.  He has hypothyroidism, that is what they’re calling it, Hashimoto’s I guess, so we’re really nervous, really scared.  So if you guys can please lift up Kingston, my 7-year-old boy.  You know, it’s my life right there and I just pray that nothing too crazy is going on and that all these things will be healed.  So thank you, DAB.  I love you guys.  I’ll talk to you later.