Isaiah 57:15-59:21, Philippians 1:1-26, Psalms 71:1-24, Proverbs 24:9-10
Today is the 29th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we continue the journey, the voyage that we embarked on so many days ago, 200…I don’t know…270 something days ago we started our journey and here we are moving forward through one of the strangest years we’ve ever experienced in the rhythm of the Scriptures and our lives. It’s been such a gift to have in our lives. It’s been such a gift to have each other to take this journey with. So, we’re reading from the Lexham English Bible this week and we’ll pick up where we left off in Isaiah. And then when we get to the New Testament, we’ve got a new letter from the apostle Paul. It’s known as Philippians and we’ll talk about that when we get there. But first Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 through 59 verse 21.
Introduction to the book of Philippians:
Okay. This leads us to the letter to the Philippians, although of note…and I don’t usually like talk right here in the middle but the we see yesterday we…we read as we were closing, Ephesians about putting on the whole armor of God and we see the inspiration for this in Isaiah today. But anyway, let’s move forward. Philippians. So, there’s…there’s very little debate among biblical scholars about whether Paul wrote Philippians, and there’s really not a lot of debate about sort of the circumstances behind Philippians, what ill Paul’s circumstances where. He was incarcerated. He was in Rome. He had appealed to the Emperor and he was awaiting trial. So, as Paul writes this, he is imprisoned. And the letters that he writes from…from…from incarceration are known as his prison letters, right, his prison epistles. We should also note that Philippians, as well as all of Paul’s letters, that these are some of the earliest, and in some cases, the earliest Christian writings, documents, that still exist. So, this letter that we’re going to read, even though we’re well into our year, this letter is earlier than the New Testament for sure. It became part of the New Testament. But there was no New Testament for this letter to be added to. This is a letter that predates the Gospels, predates the book of Acts. All of that stuff came a little later. And, so, this letter is roughly, couple, three decades after the life of Jesus, His earthly life and ministry. And Philippi itself, this is a Roman colony in the region of Macedonia, which is northern Greece today. And it was a prosperous city but the church that was founded there, they weren’t particularly powerful or wealthy or influential. What we’ll find is that they are rich in love and their rich in their concern about Paul who had come to them and brought the Good News. And, so, part of Paul writing this letter is just to encourage them and thank them because they’ve encouraged him. So, basically when the church in Philippi found out that Paul was in prison they sent a man named Epaphroditus, who was part of their congregation, to Rome to bring…to bring a gift, but also to bring the gift of love, like to lift his spirits and to find out how he’s doing and to bring word back. And of course, Paul being imprisoned in Rome, receiving a visitor, like a friendly face, you can only imagine the joy and the comfort and peace that that would bring. And, so, Epaphroditus stays with Paul while he’s in prison kind of trying to help care for his needs and just…just be there for him. But while he was in Rome with Paul, he became deathly ill and in fact, we’ll find out in the letter, like nearly died. And, so, when he recovered and was restored to health Paul was…was determined to send back Philippi and he carried this letter back to Philippi with him. And it shares of the circumstances and it’s meant to be…it’s meant to be encouraging. It…it’s meant to lift up those that read it. And as we’ve mentioned before, these letters, these letters…like we’re actually reading these letters as they were originally read. They weren’t silently read. Like you didn’t go to church, and you know to congregation one day and there are Xerox copies of a letter that had just come in and everybody gets a copy and then they just sit there and silently read. That’s not how letters worked. So, the letter would’ve been recited. It would have been read aloud before the congregation as if the reader were Paul. And in some of Paul’s letters, we even hear him saying, “although I’m not with you present…like I’m not physically with you, I’m with you in Spirit.” Those are in the letters, and those are supposed to be read aloud, like “I’m with you in spirit” that people took that to heart. Not literally like there’s some kind of a metaphysical thing going on here. More like the spirit of Paul, like what Paul is trying to convey, somebody else’s voice is being used but these are the words that are actually being said. The spirit of what’s being said is from the spirit of Paul. And what we see that he’s trying to convey, like what his spirit is trying to say to them is encouraging, is to lift them. Even though he’s in chains, even though persecution and marginalization is beginning to occur he wants to talk about the joy of salvation. And we’ll see that he wants to talk about perseverance, which we won’t be able to escape as we move forward. The idea of endurance as a necessary component of the Christian life is impossible to avoid as we move forward into the New Testament. So, like it's…it’s been crazy out there. Like I know you guys have noticed. It’s been a crazy year. It’s been crazy. And it’s still kind of crazy…like it’s still crazy if we’re just being honest. This has been a very disruptive year. Just a lot of uncertainty and a lot of divisiveness. And that’s only gonna amp up here, especially in the United States since we have an election year. So, it is kind of a crazy year with a lot of disruption. And, so, Philippians kind of comes in right now when we need it most, with joy and encouragement, I mean, with lots of things, but fundamentally, with words of encouragement and perseverance. And, so, we begin. Philippians, chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father we thank You for Your word. We love You Lord. We just…we’re continually thanking You for the gift of each other and the gift of Your word and we are grateful every day, but we worship You. We just take a moment to worship You. And it’s because of who You are, but the benefits that are bestowed upon us that we cannot get any other way that are just gifted to us when we reach out to You in faith, is unspeakable. It’s good news. And, so, we are grateful. We love You and we thank You. And as we move through Philippians, we invite Your Holy Spirit to bring words of encouragement into a very discouraging time. Come Holy Spirit and lead and guide us. May we put on the full armor on a daily basis knowing that we are equipped, that nothing can get to us, nothing can get to our spirits to destroy the union that we have with You, nothing can access that spot, that place unless we allow it. And we don’t. We declare it. Nothing is getting between You and us. You have never left. You have always, always been there for us. We confess we have come and gone more times than we could possibly count. But there’s nothing getting between us now. We need You now more than ever and we thank You for the opportunity for…for the odd circumstances that surround us to make us aware of our utter dependence upon You. And, so, we rest in that. We get to depend on You. We are fortunate. We have a rock and a redeemer. And, so, we rest in You. Lead us forward we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s where the Global Campfire is, it's…it’s where we gather, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, its where we get connected. So, let’s do just that and stay connected on our journey as we continue forward.
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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:
Good morning DABbers today is Friday, September 25th this is Lelah from Virginia. I’m a 9 or 10 year listener but first-time caller. I don’t often listen to the prayer requests but this morning I did, and I know God kept me on the program to hear the heart of Denise from North Carolina. Denise I too am in a 3- year marriage with no intimacy. I suffer greatly as you are suffering now, longing for connection to the one I love. Being lonely in a house full of people is so a very hard to endure. I am praying for you sister. Praying that your heart would be totally enveloped with the love of God for you, praying that you would not be jealous of your friends who have these seemingly perfect soulmates as spouses. My ability to endure and have peace about the situation came when I recognized that my desire for my marriage to be more had become an idol to me. I desired that more than I want to God. I was able to let it go and became satisfied with the companionship. It’s still not easy but it’s so much less painful. I’m praying for peace for you. The situation may never change but God will never change, and He loves you. Sink into His love dear sister. Cry in His arms. He is there for you. You are not alone. You have never been alone. I love you. I love all of you DABbers. Thank you for being such an important part of my life. Thank you, Jill, Brian, China and the rest of your family. May God bless you all richly. Thank you.
Good morning fellow DABbers Joe the protector from Georgia it’s Friday, Friday, September 25th 7:54 in the morning. Just got finished listening to the DAB and I heard Pelham from Alabama call in and state how he wanted to start a new…a new part of his life by calling in for others and encouraging them. And, I don’t that is much as I need to or should. But Terry the trucker did call in the other day. Terry you’ve been a part of this community for a while and we should all be encouraging you. But I can remember just a couple years ago you called in when you had your accident. And brother, you know, I know you’re away from your family do to the COVID but you’ve been through worse, you know. If I remember correctly, you told us that…that you almost or could have died from that accident and you went down an embankment if I recall correctly. So, you know, you’ve been through a lot and the Lord’s still with you. He hasn’t a left you. And just consult Him as we all know we should at all times. Alright fellow DABbers you all have a blessed and wonderful day. See y’all.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Preston from Sunnyvale California today is September 25th. I want to lift up today the people of Dubai or at least the people working there. Seems like we’ve been getting a few prayer requests from different people whose job situations seem to be in somewhat a challenging situation. So, I’d like to pray for them. Dear Father, we thank You for those of us who are called to work in foreign countries. We thank You for those of us who make the choice to live and work in places that are not their home. Father we love You and we thank You for calling us to…to…to be in those places Father. We ask that for those individuals who have called in, that You would make their work situations viable, that You would make those work situations…just smooth out those paths where they are crooked and make it so that they can continue to live and work and prosper in where they are. Father we love You and we thank You for sending Your son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. We thank You that You sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper in these difficult times and we just ask that Your Holy Spirit make…make Dubai a hospitable place for these individuals who have called in. In Your precious name Jesus.
Hello, I just want to ask everybody to pray with me for Denise who called in from the Carolinas seeking intimacy with her husband. And Father we lift up Denise to You and her husband and we ask Lord that You would bless them with a battery relationship Lord God. We ask Lord God that by Your Holy Spirit You would move in each one of their lives and bring them together, knit their hearts together, knit their love life together Lord and bless them and their marriage Father in the name of Jesus. Denise is a believer looking to You and crying out to You and we thank You Father for moving in that situation in Jesus’ name. And if it would be good for them to go to counseling Lord God we ask that You would put that desire in their heart and lead them and guide them and direct them to a good godly counselor and we thank You for doing that Father. Thank You for Denise. Thank You Lord that everything is important to You, every need we have is important to You and that is an important thing that she is believing for You to work in. And we thank You for doing that work, for Your glory in the name of Jesus.
Well hello again fellow DABbers this is James the Mighty Warrior. I called in a couple of days ago. I really just was more or less edifying, exhorting the DABbers and expressing my regards for this….for this…for this family but I do have something to pray about this time and I’d like for you guys to pray with me. Actually, my wife and I, we’ve been separated for about two years and I hadn’t heard or seen her but maybe once or twice since then and it was very, very brief. But I called a friend of mine today and he told me that she had called his wife and explained to her that she had met some guy from O wherever and she’s going to be get married and she’s going to be filing for a divorce and all of that kind of stuff. But it’s so…it’s like a coincidence because over the last three weeks I’ve been dreaming about her, seeing her in visions and things like that. And, so, the Lord laid on my heart to fast and pray for her today and I did and I got on messenger and I hadn’t heard from my friend in a long time but anyway he told me that, you know, what had transpired. She had talked to his wife and she told em that we’re getting divorced and all this. So, guys, I just ask you all the pray for me, with me, that we could get the mind of God on this thing. I really don’t want a divorce even though we haven’t been around each other in about two years because I just don’t want another divorce, you know, for whatever reason. And I believe God is into reconciliation…
Hello this is the first time I’ve ever called. I’m Melissa from Louisiana. I was calling…I wanted to pray…I have a prayer request of my own. I’ve had multiple eye diseases for the last 20 years. About 18, 19 surgeries in both eyes. Last month I had a macular hole repair in the left eye but the doctor says that the right eye his family, my pressures a 4. It’s because the capillaries keep bleeding into the eye and it’s…it’s been inflamed for 10 years. I’ve been using steroids and it is not responding to the steroids. So, the inflammations causing everything from the macular…the eye is failing. So, I just…I believe in the Lord and I need everybody’s faith to help carry me to a miracle. I am believing for an absolute miracle, that the Lord will heal my eyes so I can see out of this eye, so it doesn’t hurt when I blink or move from left to right. So, there’s just a lot of pain and issues in this right eye and I just pray for a miracle in Jesus’ name. Thank you, DABbers.