11/22/2020 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 44:1-45:12, 1 Peter 1:1-12, Psalms 119:17-32, Proverbs 28:8-10

Today is the 22nd day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today at the threshold of a brand-new shiny sparkly week that we get to live into. And, so as we do every week, we turn that knob together and throw open the door and walk into it. And there it is, all fresh, shiny and sparkly. And we’re gonna make tracks on this week. We’re gonna leave footprints. There’s nothing we can do about that. We’re gonna leave our footprints. Where’s that road gonna go though? What path are we gonna walk? That’s what we get to choose and let’s must choose wise. We don’t have a lot of weeks left in this year. It’s important that we make wise decisions about how to finish strong and how to begin a new year well. And, so, I know that I’m a little bit in front of it, but trust me, I’ve done this for a lot of years and you have lived through a lot of holiday seasons and you know that shortly, very shortly, in a matter of day it’s going to be an onslaught. The whole world is gonna have stuff for us to buy and they’re gonna need for us to buy it. And all of the festivities that are joyful and wonderful, but they do disrupt the rhythm. And this is a rhythm that we’ve been all year as we allow God’s word to wash into and over us each and every day. So, we got this brand-new week and we’re gonna make tracks. Let’s walk the narrow path together. Let’s make tracks on that path. This week we’re going to read from the New International Version and continuing our journey through the book of Ezekiel, which we will finish up this week. And today, brand-new week, brand-new territory in the New Testament. We’re going to reunite ourselves with somebody that we’ve heard from before, somebody that we know, somebody that we got to know in the Gospels, but in particular in the book of Acts, a disciple known as Peter and the letter known as first Peter. But we’ll talk about all that when we get there. First, Ezekiel chapter 44 verse 1 through 45 verse 12.

Introduction to First Peter:

Okay. So, as we were talking about at the beginning of our time together we’re moving into some new territory and reacquainting ourselves with an old friend in the New Testament today as we move into the letters of Peter. And we we’ve gotten to know Peter like I said in the beginning from the book of Acts, especially, but also from the Gospels. And even just coming down through church history Peter’s passion and his tendency may be to speak before he takes a beat to think about what he might say. Some of those things, kind of ring through and some of the stories that we’ve enjoyed getting to know Peter in. And, so, we’ve seen that but now we’re gonna sort of hear his passion in written form. So, Peter, his name, like his…his given name was Simon or…or Simeon, but by the time there was sort of an inner circle of…of…of Jesus disciples Jesus had given Simon the name Cephas, which in Aramaic means “rock”. So, you might think, “well…Simeon or Simon or Rock or Cephas…like how do we get to Peter?” It’s when you…it’s when Aramaic is translated into Greek, then this name or this word, Cephas is pronounced Petros, which means rock in Greek. But Petros and Peter, like you see how we get to the name Peter. And you can remember when were reading through the Gospels and then the book of Acts that the transformation that happened in Peter’s life, especially after the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is irreversible and very dramatic. We remember the…like the lowest moment of Peter’s life occurs outside of the high priest’s quarters, Caiaphas, after Jesus has been arrested. And Peter denies Jesus, denies that he knows Him, swears that he doesn’t know Him and then once he realizes what he’s done he’s just undone, so deeply ashamed of what he has done in denying the savior. So, that’s quite a difference from Pentecost when the Holy Spirit falls and then Peter preaches his really…a message that is basically is sort of the first mass explanation of the good news that we find in the Scriptures. Of course, this letter’s coming after, much much later. And Peter writes that he’s writing from Babylon. So, here again this is where you get into scholar…scholarly conjecture, where did he actually travel vast distances away from his homeland to pen this letter or…or was he referring to something different? Maybe like a slang term, maybe some kind of term used for the city. And, so, Rome is where a general consensus lies, that this letter was probably written from Rome. Of course, if you want to do the scholarship you can find out that he wrote it from lots of places. Nobody alive today was an eyewitness to this. And, so, this is…we dive in and we try to find a context for what it is we’re reading. Peter says that the letter is to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. And these were five provinces of the Roman Empire and they all find themselves situated in modern-day Turkey today. And Peter’s saying that the letter’s written to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners. That would have been something that the Hebrew believers who received this letter would’ve understood, those living in the Diaspora, those who had been scattered all over the world in different exiles, in particular, the Assyrian exile in the Babylonian exile, but more contemporary with Peter would’ve been those who fled persecution because of their faith. And we’re gonna find when we…as we read this letter is that Peter hasn’t really lost his passion. If James is a butt kicker than Peter is kind of a butt kicker too, we’re just kind of in that section now where the letters that we’re reading through in the in the New Testament are very forthright and very direct. So, Peter’s wanting to be forthright and direct but it’s not for condemnation purposes or anything like that. It’s to lift up, it’s to encourage and bolster people who are suffering hardship because of their faith and to give them a reminder of what’s to come if they will endure. And you remember, it’s been months now I’ve been saying, “you watch, endurance is going to become quite a theme, quite a major theme as we move toward the conclusion of the New Testament.” And we will find that quite evident in this letter, first Peter that we’re about to read. So, let’s buckle in and sit down and prepare for some straight talk from the apostle Peter. First Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 12.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into a new week, a week that we get to tell the story of our relationship to the world. And we’ll use words to do that, but we’ll use our lives to do that. And may we glorify You in everything that we do and think and say. This is our desire. We confess our failure, but it is our desire to open ourselves and to humble ourselves and to surrender ourselves even more this week than last, to continue to lose ourselves in this relationship. We yield ourselves to You and Your will and Your ways in our lives. Come Holy Spirit in this final full week of this 11th month of this unforgettable year. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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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:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Asherah, sheer joy, you know, full of joy. My joy will not be taken away from me. Right now, I am not full of joy. I’m not full of anything. I just…I haven’t left my house in three weeks. I’ve been locking myself away. I haven’t gone to school I haven’t talked to anyone. I have just been cycling down in this…in this pool of fear and just unable to move, unable to get myself to do anything. I’ve been scared to listen to my Daily Audio Bible podcast. I’ve been scared to pray because I know what I’m doing is not right, but I can’t get myself to move. I need prayer. I need help. Please. My…I’m completely alone right now. I’ m in…I’m in Alabama for school and I have no family here. And my friends that I had made during my first year of school moved away the second year and I haven’t been able to make any new ones. Nobody is able to…to even call me out when I’m not available or not…or not at school and it’s…I just need prayer family. I need help. I’m going out right now to seek help. I’m finally stepping out. I listened to the November 10th podcast because I’ve been behind and I just noticed that I’m so scared to go to God for help even though He’s the one who I should be the least scared of to go to help. And despite the disruption going on around me that I need to just rest in Him and He will take care of it all. So, family please just pray for me and just keep me in your prayers. This is Asherah, Sheer joy. Just keep me in your prayers. Bye.

Dear Bible family its Faithful Hope in the UK and it’s a pleasure to be a part of this community, a privilege and may the Lord bless you for your support and encouragement to one another. This morning I would like to pray for people who are in abusive relationships. Some of us may have escaped others may still be stuck in situations. But I’d like to pray for those brothers and sisters amongst us. So, let’s pray. Father God, You are the Father of the Fatherless. Lord, I would lift before You this morning our brothers and sisters in Christ who are dealing __ the consequences of being in an abusive relationship or still stuck there. Lord, I pray that You would bring Your love, peace, and compassion to each one, that You would strengthen each one, that You provide wisdom to know the right action to take whether that be to leave or in some cases it may be to stay. Everybody is different and everybody knows their own situation. But Lord I do pray for those who are struggling with this and pray that Your hand of protection will be upon them, that Your spirit of encouragement will be with them and that You will lead them in the right actions to take. And I believe someone here this morning needs to know that. So, Lord I commit them into Your hands and play Your blessing on each one in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello, my wonderful DAB family today is Thursday, November 19th and this is Rosie and it’s great to be free in Jesus. I’m calling in to let everyone know how much I appreciate the DAB. At this time last year I was really going through a tough time because it was when my son quit having anything to do with me. And I was really hurt. I was so hurt that I cried all day long and I cried myself to sleep every night. Crying out to God because I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t talk to me. I couldn’t understand what I had done. And I got to the point where I thought about ending in all. But the last time I thought about ending it all was when my husband died but I couldn’t end it then because of my children. The Lord would always bring them to my mind when I would think of a way to do it. And, so, I couldn’t do it. And you guys really help me through this time of not being able to talk to my son, not knowing when I was going to see him or if I would ever see him again. And I was just totally devastated but you guys help me get through it even though you didn’t really know a whole lot about it. You helped me get through it and I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the DAB and how you helped me to keep my focus on God. Anyway, I just want to tell you that. I love you. God bless you.

Hello DAB Emily this is Paula the child advocate from the LA area calling in. I was so moved to hear that special ed teacher call in sharing that she had compassion fatigue. As a former teacher and administrator, I know the fatigue that comes with teaching any type of student. And then to get the call from the young man who was a former special ed student, oh my gosh it almost made me cry. That was so touching, and it made me feel like everything that we do as teachers is worthwhile. So, my prayers go out to all teachers and all students also. And I wanted to say today, excuse me, is the birthday, the 21st birthday of one of the first children that I ever was an advocate for. I’m in a call her Mel. Mel was seven when I first got on her case and as I said today, she turned 21. She had a baby when she was 16 and I was really concerned because she wanted to keep that baby and he is now five years old almost and he is adorable and she’s the best mother ever. But I have some concerns and I’d like you to pray for Mel. On Facebook she seems to always be posting very provocative photos of herself and I just think, “what is she doing trying to like, push your body out there, she looking for a man? And what kind of man is going to be attracted to that?” So, if you could please pray for Malcolm that she can be respectful of her body and know what qualities she should be looking for in a true mate. I thank you for that family. I listen every day and you’re all in my prayers. God bless you. Bye for now. Paula from LA.