2 Chronicles 11:1-13:22 ~ Romans 8:22-39~ Psalm 18:37-50 ~ Proverbs 19:27-29
Today is the 24th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we dive head first into the week and into God’s word. And we’re actually reading from the Gods Word translation this week. Today, second Chronicles chapter 11 verse 1 through 13 verse 22.
Commentary:
OK. So, for days we’ve been traveling with Paul through the book of Romans as he’s laying out his case. He started with Abraham and moved forward. So, we went through Abraham’s faith and how he was made righteous through that faith, through his believing, as opposed to some ritual or custom the hadn’t even been invented yet. And we moved into the law, the mosaic law and its effect, its way of actually revealing sin because there was no other way to expose it, the inability to live up to it. And then he connects Jesus and how he fulfilled the law and how now, through Him, we are under a different law, one of grace because we cannot earn our way, we cannot achieve perfection in the law, even if we could completely keep it, which no one was able to do. Which brings us to this pinnacle, this mountaintop vista that we get today. All of that. We are kind of climbing up the mountain and now we get a view. Union with God, children of God through Jesus with a Holy Spirit that can live and pray with and through us and search our hearts and intercede for God’s people. And then we take the step and look around us and see the world as it really is. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God. This is true because He already knew His people and He already appointed them to have the same form as the image of is Son. We’re talking about Christ-like here. His son is the firstborn among many children. You are one of those children. You were just named in the bible. I am one of those children. He approved of those whom He had called and He gave glory to those whom He had approved of. That’s us guys. That’s us. What Paul is effectively saying is, Jesus begins a new kind of race, a new kind of people, people that hadn’t been seen on this planet since Eden. Jesus is the firstborn among this new thing, with a God and humanity intertwined, occupying the same space at the same time. Which is one of the central things in Sneezing Jesus, which brings up the question, so, are we are we talking about gods then? Are we gods then? No. But we are God-like. We are made in His image and He is within us. We have been reborn into this new thing and we can choose it at will. So, it begs the question, why do we live so much less than what is available? And the thing is, as hard as this might be to get our minds around, I just read it out of the bible. But the thing is, these are the foundational truths of our faith. We have always been saying this. It has just gotten diminished to the point of metaphor, allegory, and self-help. I guess, to that I would say, do you want to help yourself? Then be Christ-like. And, so, Paul sums this up. What can we possibly say about all this? His answer, his conclusion, like, as he’s looking at everything that he’s written here, all that he is outlined, all that he has come to. What can we say about it all? If God is for us, who can be against us? God didn’t spare His own son but handed Him over to death for all of us. So, You will also give us everything along with Him? Who will accuse those whom God has chosen? God has approved of them. Who will condemn them? Christ has died and more importantly He was brought back-to life. Christ is in the honored position, the one next to God, the Father, on the heavenly throne. Christ also intercedes for us. So, you see, it is impossible for us to be alone. It is impossible for us to be abandoned. We’ve reached this point in the book of Romans and it’s like, you almost have to sit down. You almost have to look at the way that you’ve been living and realize, what am I doing? How is it that I have gotten so entangled? How is it that I am so over extended? How is it that I am so over obligated? Why is my life so small? Why does fear swirl around me? Why does it underpin everything about me? Why am I operating out of anxiety so much of the time? Why do I fear what is coming? Why am I stuck in what has already been? Because that’s obviously what comes up. And that’s obviously what was coming up from Paul because he goes immediately on to say, and we need to hear this, all of us need to hear this. What will separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or violent death separate us from His love? The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. Right? So, it’s back to that question. Why am I doing this when so much more is available? Paul reaches his conclusion, which must become our own conclusion. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love, which Christ, Jesus our Lord shows us. And He did. He showed us with His very life what this looks like. We can’t be separated by death or life, Paul says. We can’t be separated by angels or rulers. We can’t be separated by anything in the present or anything in the future. We can’t be separated by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below. We can’t be separated by anything in creation.
I don’t even know what to say. What else is there to say? I hope that this is sinking in. It’s sure sinking in for me. So, you know that feeling that is not in your head, that is in your gut, that is in your heart, that is down there right now that is welling up inside of you? This flutter. That’s called hope. Recognize that feeling because that is your faith rising up. That is what happens when the good news becomes your good news. This is the good news of the gospel and it brings light and life. Can’t you feel it? That essence is what we’re to be sneezing into the world. That is the good news. And, so, you realize, it is devoid of ritual and custom and stereotype. It is not about religion. It is not about behavior modification. It is about transformation - being made something else, something integrated, and in union with God. And it is always present. Nothing can take it away from you. You can just choose to ignore it and live devolved and small. But why would we do that for another minute? Why would we ever do that when this is what is being offered? It’s like somebody bringing a semi-truck full of cash, one billion dollars, and somebody opening up a suitcase with a $1 bill in it and us choosing the suitcase with the $1 bill instead. I’m just thinking, well, I can carry the suitcase and I understand the $1 bill. I’m gonna stick with what I think that I know. What we find in the book of Romans today is one of the most beautiful depictions of what it looks like to walk with God - what is actually available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Like something that we are inside, that is beyond time, that will always be, that will go on forever, that will go on beyond any way we have a way to comprehend. It is around us and within us and lasts forever. This is very, very good news. This is very, very, very good news for the human race. This is what restoration looks like. Why not embrace it with all of our heart, mind and will? Why not fall face first into it? Like, how much more do we need to go through life to finally realize, this is not working? This isn’t working without God. This isn’t working by me trying to compartmentalize Him and make all of my ruling decisions within my own knowledge. Why don’t we embrace our faith fully, all in - all in heart, mind, body, will, strength, love, relationships, all of it.
Prayer:
So, Jesus. It seems like we do this and then we regress into old, tired, worn paths. And then we see it again and then we do it and we enter into that rest. But the distractions always come to seduce us back, to pull us back. And so, right now, we break ties with everything that would pull us back, the things that would cause us to regress. We break those vows that we’ve made with all of that stuff, the things that just keep pulling us back. We break from that. We are new creations. Those things do not have a hold over us unless we allow it. And we don’t. So, come Holy Spirit because we’re walking forward and we are at a fast clip right now. We’ve missed out on things with You, memories that could have been made with You that we omitted, that we ignored, times that we could have spent together, good news and light that we were completely oblivious of sharing. We are walking a new path, one of collaboration, a narrow path, one that leads to life. Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us forward. We ask in the name of Jesus. And we invite You, Holy Spirit, to help us never forget this moment. This moment matters. Right now matters. May it affect the rest of our days. May we never forget. When we feel the pull to go back into old patterns and paths, remind us, Holy Spirit, that we have a choice in that, we don’t have to do that, we don’t have to go there. Help us. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
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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:
Hello my Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jay from New Jersey. I’m calling to pray for Naydeen from Michigan. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Naydeen. I see that you have been bit by the Daily Audio Bible bug. It is very infectious, I just want to let you know. So, let’s pray for Naydeen and her husband, children, jobs, and schooling. Heavenly Father, in the precious and mighty name of Jesus Christ, Father, we thank You for Naydeen’s father mentioning the Daily Audio Bible to her and how she has become a part of this wonderful family. Father, we recognize her children’s names and we pray for them in their health and safety. We recognize that Naydeen and her husband are both going to college. And, Father, You know the stresses that are involved in obtaining higher education. So, Father, we pray that You will give them the knowledge, the wisdom, and the ability to manage time like nothing they’ve seen before, so they can obtain the goals that You’ve placed in their lives. Father, we pray for the salvation of her husband. God, many of us have been in situations and are currently in situations where our spouse, our child, our mother, our brother, our cousin, our distant family members just don’t see You, they don’t know You, they don’t have a relationship with You. So, Father, just as Naydeen’s father planted that seed of the Daily Audio Bible, Father, we pray that there will be an opportunity for her husband to overhear the DAB, to see the DAB in Naydeen’s life, to witness the DAB in her actions. And Father, may that witness lead them to You, Jesus. In the mighty name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Please God help me…
Hi, this is Mimi in Atlanta. I’m just calling in for prayer. My father-in-law from ___ his marriage just passed away with a heart attack at 86, but sure wasn’t expecting it. Just got a new car, got things traded in, still teaching Sunday school, just doing amazing things for the Lord. Sharing the gospel at every restaurant, the waiter or waitress always got to hear about Jesus and was left a little book of hope, a little track. So, it just hit us very, very hard. Rick, his sister Christy, and her husband are having to go through mounds of things that are not organized and important papers their trying to find. And, I know within the sound of my voice, other people have gone through this exact same thing. I’m a stylist, so, I have to be at the salon. So, I’m just reaching out to my family for you all to please lift up Rick, Christy, and Tim and also Joshua N., to reconcile with Rick. I’m praying, also, that through everything, God is going to heal and restore for His glory and for His story, so that we can all be on the same _____, heading in the same _____, serving the same Lord, being able to fellowship with each-other. And I wanted to say that, now, when people sneeze, I don’t say God bless you. I say Jesus bless you. That’s been kind of fun. People are kind of caught off guard and then they kind of smile. So, I’m just thrilled. I gave my first book, I didn’t order ten, but I’m going to. I’ve ordered one and I gave it away to a waiter who’s nine months sober and clean and I’m just finishing an amazing book, Would You Like…
Hi my name is Katie and I just want to thank you so much for your Daily Audio Bible. I ask that you guys please pray for the Holy Spirit to just grow inside of me. I just pray for strength from the Lord to deny my flesh every single day and to feed my Spirit every single day because I just want to live for Him and worship His name in spirit and in truth and ____. And I just ask for you to pray for that for me. I don’t know when you guys will receive this but I know that God is a very intentional God and I believe that you’ll receive it at the time that it’s intended. Just thank you so much. And I just want grow closer to Him and I want my Spirit to be strong and I don’t want to sin any more. I know I’m not perfect, so, I will stumble sometimes. But I don’t want to intentionally sin any more. Thank you guys for everything. Hallelujah. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hello my DAB family. It’s Max S. from Sydney Australia. It’s twenty second July. I’m just calling to check in again and tell everybody how much I love this community. I love all of you here. And, also, just a couple of thank you’s. Thank you Drew from the bay area for praying for Australia. I’ll be praying for America too, that the sneeze around the world will happen. Victoria S., you have such a loving voice. I feel so loved when you are praying. I pray that your sister has come to Christ and I’m hoping that she will always be with Christ as well. Pastor Gene, always thinking of you. There’s so many people. Blind Tony, I also have been listening to your journey with your healing of your eyes and have been praying for you too. I just wanted to let everybody know that I am thinking of you and praying that the revival of the ____ and the world will happen with everybody, all the countries. And may we all be part of this great movement back to Christ again. Love you all. Bye.