7/23/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19 ~ Romans 8:9-25~ Psalm 18:16-36 ~ Proverbs 19:26

Today is the 23rd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today at the cusp, the threshold, of a shiny, sparkly, new week and it’s all out there in front of us.  We haven’t made any mistakes yet. It’s all new territory and we get to choose to walk with God into it and just see what an empowered week it can be. So, we’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week and pick up right where we left off yesterday, of course. Second Chronicles chapter 8 verse 11 through 10 verse 19 today.

Commentary:

Ok, so, we’ve been following Paul through the book of Romans as he is reframing his tradition and his faith, showing how Jesus merges, intersects, and turns things in a new direction. And he begins with Abraham, moves through the mosaic law, and then yesterday he gets more personal -  the struggle within. Right, so, like, in my mind, I’m compliant with God’s will. That’s my desire. In my body there are other motivators, there are other things pulling me in other directions and I’m kind of a twisted mess because I’m in conflict with myself. The things that I want to do in my mind are not the things that I do in my body and, so, it’s wretched, but thank God. And we sort of end there with yesterday’s reading because it’s all broken apart. So, it sort of ends at this little lull, this little low, this, sort of, impasse. But we’re continuing the letter forward into today, where he begins to move toward Spirit. And this is some profound stuff. So, like, every verse can be chewed on for a while. Sometimes I come in contact with these brilliant theologians or philosophers and hear a talk or something and it’s like, slow down dude, you are blowing my mind. But I need you to slow down. One sentence, then a thirty second pause would be great. It may take an hour to get through a paragraph but then I’ll understand. You’re blowing my mind. That’s kind of like what is happening here in Romans. So, I encourage you to go back and chew on it.

But just to kind of tease out some of the highlights here, we have to consider, if Christ lives in you, which is so much of what I was wrestling through in the writing of Sneezing Jesus - in you. If He’s in you, if we don’t actualize Him outside of us, He is with-in us, then our spirits are regenerated, eternal, new every day, alive because we have the approval of God. So, Paul asks a question, does the Spirit of the one who brought Jesus back to life live in you? I mean, we could just pause with that for a little while. Consider the implications of that for little while. But he says, then the one who brought Christ back to life will also bring you back to life because it’s the same Spirit that brought Jesus back-to life that lives in you. I’m pausing for effect. The implications of that are pretty far reaching. I mean, what isn’t touched by that? And, so, Paul’s conclusion is: Listen, yes, without Spirit then we’re living in our minds and were living in our bodies and they can often be in conflict with each-other. Our minds can hate our bodies because our bodies are taking us in directions that we don’t want to go. Like, we are just twisted. But because this same Spirit that has brought Christ back to life from the dead is in us then we are not obligated to live either one of those stories. If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us then we are joined heirs, children, adopted into the family of God. But not red headed stepchildren, actually intimate, that we can call him Father. Abba is just the it’s just Aramaic for father. But the implication here is intimacy, not estrangement, intimacy. So, the problem with the best English word to show father and intimacy would be something like, daddy or papa, which can feel too familiar. It can feel irreverent because we’re talking about the Almighty. And so, for a long time I kind of struggled with that, that intimacy, not that I didn’t feel it but just to name it because I wanted that that Almighty reverence. But then I look at my son Ezekiel who is just four years-old and, you know, will bound down the stairs at any point with something new to show me and call me daddy and ask me to listen to him and climb up on my lap and show me whatever it is he wants to talk about. And that intimacy, his awareness that he can-do that, and I’m not going to be mad at him, even if he’s interrupting, which he does all the time. I might tell him, listen, show me this and then I need you to give me a few minutes to get a few things done. But it has nothing to do with anger or reverence. I don’t need him to come-down, stand silently at the edge of my desk until I can grace him with acknowledgement, and then, with a sigh of exasperation, I turn my eyes upon him and so he realizes he has my attention and then he can say: O father may I show you something? It’s not like that between us. He’s my son. He can disrupt whatever he wants. He has total access to me. I love it when he’s on my lap. I love listening to the things that he’s coming up with. My mind, because I’m quite a bit older than him, has a lot more experience. But I revel in the way that he processes things through the heart and mind of a child. That’s what we are talking about here. That’s the Spirit within, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead - within. That’s what that means to our relationship with God. And Paul says that it’s even bigger than just relationship. We’re also heirs. We are heirs with Jesus in the Kingdom, which is a huge thought in and of itself. How do you even get your mind around what we’re talking about here? We are heirs to all of creation, both known and unknown. We are children of the most high God. The Spirit, the animating life force of the God that raised Jesus from the dead is within us, intertwined, and a part of who we are. I mean, how does your mind not explode? We  just need to chew on this. And, so, Paul is saying, this changes the perspective of everything. This makes the small things that were going through, the hardships, the struggles, the trying to figure out how to make ends meet, the relational discontinuity that’s happening in our lives at this moment, all these kind of things, all the sudden they begin to be put into their proper place. They’re far less significant than we think they are. So, the way Paul says it is: I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. The whole world, all of creation is groaning for this and we feel it too because that Spirit within us feels it too - the longing for all things to be made new. But it’s not purposeless. What we’re going through right now allows us to persevere. And that cultivates hope. And it is hope in these things that allows us not only to move forward but to have faith in what we cannot yet see but what we know is there.

And, so it’s boom! Mic drop. There’s a bunch of stuff to think about there because the implications touch everything. And we are in a far better place than we think we are. So, our body and our mind, we will be in conflict with ourselves until we realize the Spirit within, which is the story of humanity. Right? We know the garden of Eden story. We know mankind fell, was separated from God. So, rather than having this animating Spirit in and among us, we were separated from this, left in our mind and our body, in conflict without the Spirit of God. Well, Paul’s saying that isn’t the story anymore. Jesus reunites us into who we’re made to be, humanity as it is intended to be. So, there’s plenty to chew on there. And a lot of times, the way I personally absorb these things, I start asking what-if questions. What-if that were true? And then just let my mind and heart open and wonder what would change within me if embraced that fully.

So, I encourage you to do that today, because you will be dreaming about your true self. And once you can dream it, you can name it, and once you can name it, you can become it. This is how we wake up, which is something that we’ve been talking about for the last month. This is how you wake up. And once you have awakened to this, you can’t see the world-the same anymore. And then you realize the chasm between what we’re talking about here and how the world lives and you see the world needs to wake up and that we get to be a part of that story. So, dream a little today. Dream about who you really are.

Prayer:

And Holy Spirit, we invite You into those thoughts. We invite You into that dreaming. We invite the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, that dwells within us, to rise up within us and take its rightful leadership place. Beyond our mind, beyond our body, that are in conflict with each other often, we invite Your Spirit to rule and reign. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check that out.

The Sneezing Jesus discussion group is still going on and still going strong. And if you haven’t been over there yet, come dive in, introduce yourself. It’s lively and wonderful. That can be found at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible - if the community that we are is light and life to you - then thank you for helping it to continue, especially here in the summer. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, 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’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning DAB family. This is Paula calling from Albuquerque. I’m just going to pray. Father God, thank You so much for every blessing that You give us through this ministry. For laying it on Brian and Jill’s heart to be obedient to Your calling. For all those that are involved that are involved in the background, that we never hear their names or see their faces. For SarahJane, for everything she does. Lord, I want to lift up today, the new marriages. I ask that You bless them, Lord, and that You open their eyes, Father God, to all that you have for them, reminding them every day that You are the foundation, that You are the glue in that relationship. For those of us that desire a relationship with You. Lord, I ask that You be enough for us during the time of transition, during that season of our life. Lord, I lift up our children and grandchildren, that were raised in the faith but have chosen to go their own way. Father, I ask that you bring them back. Do whatever it takes, Lord, to remove the scales from their eyes, that they might see You and see You alone. Thank You for what’s going on in Romans Father. And I know that there are probably unbelievers listening to the podcast. And I pray, Lord, that their eyes are open to what Paul says, as given to him by the Holy Spirit - that we are saved by grace. There’s nothing that we can do by ourselves Father. And I pray that You give them that revelation, that You give them the eyes to see and the ears to hear and the quietness to hear Your voice. Thank You, Father, for all that You do and all that You are. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello DABbers, brothers and sisters. This Marco from California. This is my second time calling. The first time I called, I was near my breaking point. I’ve been asking to pray for me, to pray for financial stability.  Last time I called, I stated how I’d lost my job and had been looking for work and praying every day. And sure enough, I’m on my way to interview right now. I’m not saying it’s guaranteed to be mine but I know that these are blessings that God’s putting in my life. I’m truly grateful. I just want to have another prayer request for my little nephew, Mason. He just started middle school. He was really nervous today. He reminds me a lot of myself. He’s a very sensitive kid in the manner that he feels things much more than normal. So, I’d just like for everyone to pray for him to make new friends, for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for him to have courage and strength and to feel comfortable in his own skin at this new school.  And to all the new listeners, Brian, you are amazing. Thank you for having this resource. I can’t tell you what it’s meant to my life and the involvement and the beauty it’s brought. Thank you. I love you guys. Bye.

Hey guys. Hey. This is Annette A. from Oklahoma City. Wow, it feels like it’s been forever since I talked to you, my family. I love you guys. Hey. Oh man. I really want to give a praise report. Thank You. Glory to God for getting ____ and I through this trip down the Florida, hauling a car, putting dogs at the vets to be watched while we were gone and feeling horrible about that the whole time, going down there, getting totally sick from all the heat, thanks to limes disease, thank you so very much for that, and then having to leave early because I just I just couldn’t take the heat, and then leaving my dad, hoping he wouldn’t be too sad because I cut the trip short. It really worked out the way it should and I’m thanking God for giving us grace and for the husband and I not even being at each-other’s throats and having a great time. Being two days on the road, it was insane. The Lord says that He will send a Comforter. The Lord sent me the Comforter and I tell you, I thank Him so much, not only for getting us through all that, but I lost a very good friend of mine at work. That was very unexpectedly expected. She had stage four breast-cancer and had been fighting that for some time. And I thank God, I thank Him so much, for giving me an extra year with my friend. That was not supposed to happen but the Lord knows. And amongst all the things that have been happening at work-and at home, I didn’t even have time to grieve for my friend and it was terrible. But  the Lord sent me the Comforter in my dream, where we talked about it and I got to be in the Comforters arms and cry…

Hey. How’s everybody doing on this evening? My name is Rene from the Chicago area. I just wanted to pass on because I called couple of months ago about my friend Polly, who had pancreatic cancer. Well, the Lord so fir to call her home. She’s passed and I just want to thank everybody for the prayers, particularly, Miss Jan. Jan, I want to thank you so much for the prayers and everybody else. Prayer means so much to me in my life and I just thank you for the prayers and thank you for praying for me also, that the Lord will provide strength and to give me strength I carry on in the name of Jesus, without wavering, without giving up and giving in. Just pray for me. In the name of Jesus. Amen. I thank you. Bye-bye.