09/08/2019 DAB Transcript

Isaiah 1:1-2:22, 2 Corinthians 10:1-18, Psalms 52:1-9, Proverbs 22:26-27

Today is the 8th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we twist the knob and swing open the door on a fresh, shiny, sparkly, new week. Today is the 251st day of the year and we’re moving into some new territory. So, for a long time once we got to like first Samuel all the way through the books of Kings and Chronicles, we were following the story of King David, of King Saul, of all the different kings that lead Israel along the way up until their exile. And more recently, we switched gears and moved our way through some wisdom literature. So, the book of Job and the book of Ecclesiastes, the book of Song of Solomon, which Jill and I read over the last couple of days and that’s always fun. So, here add this shiny, sparkly, threshold of a new week we are moving into some new territory and beginning to hear some prophetic voices. We will begin with the book of Isaiah and will be…you know…Isaiah’s a longer book. So, we’ll be camping out in here for a little while. So, let’s kind of fly over its.

Introduction to the book of Isaiah:

Isaiah, like I just said, he was a prophet, so this is a prophetic book. It’s part of the Old Testament major prophets and the major prophets also would include Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Daniel, and Ezekiel. And the fact that this is classified as one of the major prophets doesn’t mean that it’s like more important, like the major prophets are more important. There classified as major works because of the amount of material that are contained in the document. And, so, Isaiah contains 66 chapters, which makes it one of the longer books of the Bible. So, Isaiah, his name means “the Lord saves”. And as we’ll see from his writings, he’s a very passionate Old Testament prophet and this is interesting, Isaiah is referred to and quoted often throughout the New Testament, even Jesus quoted from Isaiah eight times in the gospel narratives. Isaiah was such an important text that He recited from the book of Isaiah, the 61st chapter at the launch of His ministry, right, when He said, “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Jesus was quoting Isaiah when He announced His own ministry. So, Isaiah obviously lived way before Jesus. He lived in that the second half of the eighth century BC, and it seems that he was at least a part of the upper-class, maybe the aristocracy because he had access to royalty and commoners didn’t just have free access, but it appears that Isaiah did. And even though he lived in a time that was full of upheaval he was still able to deliver messages directly to kings over a long period of time. So, he wasn’t just like some crazy peasant that was coming in from the countryside and demanding to see the king. It seems that he had access and he had access to five different kings. He prophesied during five different reigns- Isaiah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh. And then according to Jewish and for that matter Christian tradition Isaiah was martyred by being sawn in half at the order of King Manasseh. So, that’s a tradition. It’s not explicitly referenced in the Bible. In the book of Hebrews saints are being described, the saints of old, and the book of Hebrews said some died by stoning and some were sawn in half and others were killed with the sword. So, maybe there’s a slight reference. Anyway, it’s one of the longer books in the Bible, as we already mentioned and it’s kind of divided in half. So, like the first 39 chapters, which is the territory that we’re immediately gonna be heading into discuss God’s judgment. So, it’s a very sobering thing to read through. And then we get onto chapter 40, all the way through chapter 66, then the discussion changes to God’s comfort and his restoration, which is very hopeful. And since we’re moving into the some of the prophetic voices, it’s important understand that prophetic literature is full of metaphor and symbolism as well as allegory. And Isaiah is no different. So, just like we talked about when we started the Song of Solomon, there are some lenses that we can use to look through at these prophetic writings. And, so let’s invite the Holy Spirit to lead us toward what we need to see as we begin the book of Isaiah. And we’ll read from the English Standard Version this week. Isaiah chapter 1 and 2.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us safely here to the threshold of this shiny new week that we’re living into. And as we step into this new week we invite Your Holy Spirit to be in our thoughts, words and deeds, everything about us, all of our interactions, all of our postures of heart, all of the conflicts that are in our lives that need to be sorted out, all of the things that are going on, we invite You. This week is stretching out before us and it’s all fresh and waiting for us to live into. May we be telling Your story this week and not our own. Come, Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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Hey, something’s going on around here, sort of. It’s my son Max’s birthday today. So, happy birthday, Max.

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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 Prayer and Praise:

Hi, this message is for Jasmine in New York, I believe, the intern who did not match into a categorical or I’m sorry into an advanced year. I am currently a third-year resident out in California. I know the struggle, I know what you’re going through. I just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you and praying for you as you ramp up for this next application cycle. You are a strong woman. I commend you for everything you’ve gone through with the previous match and now everything you’re about to endure with this upcoming match. I also wanted to say that I really appreciated the prayer you left on the line for the patients that you take care of. Your words were beautiful, and I’ve now adopted that prayer into my own practice. So, no matter how tough it gets, no matter how many interviews you do or don’t get, I just want to remind you to keep up the fight because…

Hi, it’s Nicola and I’m calling with a praise report and also a call for action. I’m calling from Scotland. I called a month ago, basically saying that I had to face my ex-employer who was emotionally and financially abusive and it was a situation where I felt like David facing Goliath and I called for strength and because I knew that God wanted me to go through this even though it was very frightening and scary. Anyways, I went through with it and it ended up having the best possible outcome. My employer kind of folded and agreed to give the full amount of money that she owed me for stealing and also paying all the fines. I did not expect…it was a lot more money than I expected and it’s a huge blessing considering I’m moving internationally and starting graduate school and I was floored, and I know that was because of you guys. So, the second part is, I want to ask, I think we need to all be donating more on a monthly basis to Daily Audio Bible. Think about what this community has done for you. And as we know, we cannot live on food alone. And think about how much money you spend on food every month and how much you spend on Daily Audio Bible every month. If we put our money where our mouth is then we should be spending more on Daily Audio Bible a month then we should be spending on our food and I say that as a graduate student. And, so, once I’m all settled I’m gonna start paying regularly every month again because this is very…there is very few places like this and if we don’t financially support it and take care of that then it won’t last forever…

Hello, you all this is Andrea the Strong and Brave Prayer Warrior, but this time asking for prayer for myself. We were on the way home and someone that was probably drunk almost hit us like five or six times within the course of about five minutes. It was pretty scary. Hopefully the guy driving me tried to call the police or something. Luckily, I’m fine, I’m safe and everything, but you guys, I thought I had mastered my mouth. I guess I need to be in the word more because let’s just say I said some things that weren’t very becoming. So, anyway you guys just pray for me. I thought that this…I pretty much had this anxiety thing under control and I probably do it’s just…it happened just today. So, anyway, all right, God bless you everybody. Brian and Jill thank you so much. God bless. Bye.

Hi DABbers, this is Lisa calling from East Tennessee and I have not called in in a very long time, but I have listened and do listen regularly for the last five years. I missed being at the reunion this year. My family and I did attend last year it was so wonderful and I’m certain it was wonderful again this year as well. Hope everyone had a blessed time. I just wanted to call with a brief prayer request for myself. I’m sitting in a parking garage outside of my work on my way home for the day and I just really need prayer and wisdom regarding work. I’ve worked in healthcare for 25 years just about and if you know anything about healthcare it’s really changed, and it’s just gotten to a point where it’s very difficult for me to wake up every day and still love my job. I love my patients, I love what I do, I worked hard for a degree as a therapist and have only ever wanted to do that but it’s come to a point in my life where I just, I don’t know where to go and where to turn and I just need some wisdom and really some prayer that the Lord will present me with some kind of an opportunity. Whether or not it’s healthcare, it really…at this point I’m open to anything. I work in a very difficult hospital environment with very, very sick patients and staff that’s burnt out and constant changes with management and other things. And I just really would like to be lifted up for that. I know so many of us are praying about work and jobs and the things that we need. So, I will keep all of you in my prayers for those same things for everyone….

[singing] In the eye of the storm you remain in control and in the in the middle of the war you guard my soul. You alone are the anchor when my sails are torn. Your love surrounds me in the eye of the storm. [singing stops]. That song was written by Brian Fowler and Ryan Stevenson. This is Candace from Oregon. I want to tell you the lyrics at the end of this song. “The Lord is my shepherd”, this is…they are quoting Psalm 23. “I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid for you are close beside me.” This is, in particular, for I think it’s…is it Sue from Colorado. You called September 3rd and called before. You’ve ministered faithfully in Haiti and I would like everyone to join with me in prayer right now for Sue from Colorado. Lord, thank You for this dear servant. Thank You that all the lies of the enemy are really quite pitiful because You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And You surround this dear woman, this servant, You surround her in Your love. You have redeemed her. You came to earth and we claim all that You did on her behalf for her healing and just…