Malachi 3:1-4:6, Revelation 22:1-21, Psalms 150:1-6, Proverbs 31:25-31
Today is the 31st day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you today on this last day of the year, New Year’s Eve. Tomorrow we will be stepping into a new decade. So, we are enjoying the final hours of a decade and it’s just…ahh…these…these last days of the year they get me, they just bring me into this melancholy place where it’s like, wow! I know tomorrow is like…you know…like tomorrow we’ll begin the journey again, but we’re…we’re at the end of the journey and I just think back over just this year alone, over all that we have been through together and all that we’ve been through individually and God’s faithfulness in it all and I think, wow, this is the last day of the decade, and every single day of that decade we were here reading the Bible. We didn’t miss a day, and yeah, that just…I hadn’t thought of it until today. And it’s just, wow, this is where we are, the last day of this journey. And we can talk some more about that in a little bit, but it is our custom, it is the tradition, it is what we do is to get into God’s word and that is the reason for all of what we do as a community. And, so, let’s join hearts and let’s conclude the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, we will read Malachi chapters 3 and 4 today and we’ll conclude by reading from the Christian Standard Bible.
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for bringing us to this place. It was one year ago that we began another journey to sail the high seas of the Scriptures and allow them to guide our paths each and every day. It’s in some ways hard to believe that the year has passed, but that’s how it is. And father, I just have this…this overwhelming sense of humility that today concludes 14 years every single day offering…offering this the Scriptures spoken, read fresh, and thank you. Thank you for all that you have done through that effort and it’s changed…changed…changed me completely. And I am grateful. And I am thankful for my brothers and sisters all over the world who have shared this journey that we walk through and in and with each other every single day. And, so, we come to conclusions like this and it gives us a moment to just pause and reflect on the meaningfulness of it all and all you’ve done as we look back at this year, all that you have done. Some of it’s just been wonderful and some of it’s been really, really hard, and some of it’s been really, really deep and it’s really, really easy to get distracted in the difficult times, but when we have the presence of perspective, when we get down the road and we look back, we realize that these challenges that we face, they teach us to endure and they teach us to be strong. And, so, yeah, there’s been some hard patches for sure but we are stronger for it and we know, we know that you will continue to lead us forward. And, so, come Holy Spirit we pray. Seal this reading of your word this year in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
Well…well…that’s it. 14 times I’ve come to the end of the year and thought, “what do you say? What do you say at the end of the year? What do you say to sum up the adventure of a lifetime, going through the Bible in community among friends all over the world? How do wrap up all the stories that we’ve followed in each other’s lives? How do you wrap up all the tears that we’ve shed for one another? How do we wrap up all of the moments that we laughed out loud and rejoiced? How many times has God’s word been there right when we needed it most, telling us just what we needed to hear? How many days has God’s word spoken deep truths into our lives that have been accumulating, right? They’ve been accumulating over this year and so now we have new spiritual muscles that we never even knew about. Now, we actually can do what I said we should do at the end of this year on this day. Look in the mirror. We looked in the mirror at the beginning of the year and we should be able to look in the mirror now and yeah, see a person who’s a year older, but also see a person who’s a year wiser, but also see a person who is being renovated utterly from within by the most-high God. So, yeah, I…there’s just no way…I just sent a bunch of words and that’s just scratching the surface of all that could be said. But we have reached the end of another year and…and this is the conclusion of the 14th year. So, tomorrow as we enter a new year and a new decade, we’ll also be entering year number 15 and that…that is something that I can’t even…like it just doesn’t seem that long ago. It’s such a strange thing, you know, I can’t believe…I can’t believe that I stuck to this much less that anyone else stuck to it with me. I can’t believe that we get to do what we’re doing in bringing God’s word to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and build a rhythm of community around it so that we’re not alone on the journey and that makes all the difference in the world. So, I think I’m just kinda…I think I’m just talking because I don’t want to say goodbye. I hate having to do that. And I mean I know that tomorrow’s another day, even though we’re stepping into a new year and a new decade, it’s just another day and we begin the journey again, but this journey, this one is coming to a close. And I know that many, many, many, many of you will be boarding for the voyage of the new year tomorrow and we will set sail and we will be setting sail with thousands of new brothers and sisters whose stories and lives we don’t know yet but we will and they will know us and we will become one community and we will become the community that…that sales the high seas of the Bible next year, but I know…I know that I’m saying goodbye to some of you and you will move on into other things and I pray, I pray, I pray with all earnestness that that the Bible will remain a part of the rhythm of your life in some fashion. And, so, I know I’m saying goodbye but I’ve said goodbye to lots people and in lots of cities and lots of towns and lots of countries and I’ve stopped saying goodbye to the Daily Audio Bible community. I hate it. And, so, I just say what I believe is true - until we meet again. So, for those of you who are moving forward into and two new chapters of your life, until we meet again. It will be my goal is as long, as long as there is breath in me to be here waiting for you tomorrow. And for…for all of us who will disembark this year and re-embark on the voyage of the new year together tomorrow then I will be waiting for you here tomorrow and I guess that just leaves me with…with a prayer of benediction over this entire community.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he lift his countenance upon you and give you peace. May the strength of God to go with you. May the wisdom of God instruct you. May the hand of God protect you. May the word of God direct you. May you be sealed in Christ this day and forevermore. Amen.
Song:
Hold Your Head Up High – Darlingside
How it
rambles ‘round the moon
A let-go-of balloon
Nothing is forever, everything is soon
And my
father as he stands
A perfect cartoon man
Heavy-sighed and open-eyed, I heard him speak
Hold your
head up high
Hold your head up high
Rise it up,
it’s fine terrain
The time will come again
And misery’s no rest for weary gentlemen
See that
humankind is you
Like all the rest, down to
The scratches on the album that you’re singing to
Hold your
head up high
Hold your head up high
Through the
light and through the shadow
I won’t wait it out, wait it out
Hold your
head up high
Hold your head up high
Hold your head up high
Biting
clovers in the lawn
A solitary fawn
Underground, the new life thunders up and on