2 Samuel 19:11-20:13, John 21:1-25, Psalms 120:1-7, Proverbs 16:16-17
Today is the 2nd day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today like it always is. It is always a good time to be around the Global Campfire together, always a good time to take the next step forward together. And, so, let’s do that. Today’s a big step because it’s the last step in the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and today we will complete the gospel of John, which means that tomorrow we will move into brand-new territory in the book of Acts. So, congratulations on that. When we finish today’s reading and mark it off in in the Daily Audio Bible app, we’ll get our Gospels badge and will continue making progress as we complete all the different regions of the Bible, all the different sections. But before we can conclude the book of John, we need to take the next step forward in second Samuel. It’s been a pretty tricky time for King David as we know now. So…so, Absalom took over the kingdom there for a second and was king. He died in battle and now…so you would think…well…this will bring David back but that’s not how it works. Like these are tribes. They have leadership they talk it over. And, so, that’s what’s going on. Second Samuel chapter 19 verse 11 through 20 verse 13.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we concluded the gospel of John today and John ends really beautifully, back in the Galilee where we spend so much time…where we’ve spent so much time in the Gospels, basically since the beginning of the year. And, so, familiar territory for us. And it’s like a number of the disciples have gone back to the Galilee and have resumed, at least in part, their trade of fishing because they’ve been fishing when Jesus encounters them and cooks them breakfast. And it’s just…there’s a place by the Sea of Galilee that commemorates this. It’s a little kind of chapel built on a rock where this traditionally happened. It’s called Peter’s primacy. But I think of this place because it’s one of the places where you can get right down to the water and…and sort of see a charcoal fire…a little charcoal fire on the shore and Jesus cooking breakfast for His friends. And there’s a like a repeat of one of the miracles, right? When Jesus first called some of these disciples it was in this way, like “cast your nets on the other side.” And if we remember, Peter was involved in that. And when they got the big hall of fish, we find Peter down on his knees saying, “depart for me. I’m a sinner. Like I can’t be in your presence. You’re”…I mean that’s when Jesus calls him to be a disciple. And those that were involved in that, they just left the fish there, like this big bounty that was going to set them up for some kind of financial gain, or maybe finally to get out of debt or whatever. They just left it and followed Jesus. And, so, it’s really beautiful here at the end of the story, that Jesus gives them all those fish again and cooks them breakfast. And then there is the scene where Jesus asked Peter three different times about his love. And by the third time Peter’s feeling sad about it. Like, “why do you have to keep asking me? You know I love you.” And there are some scholars and theologians that imagine here that Jesus is intentionally restoring Peter. Like, intentionally. It’s a three-time thing. Like Peter denied Him three times. And, so, Jesus is going back into each one of those times and saying, “do you love me? Feed my sheep.” But as we wind down and get to these final sentences, Jesus says something incredibly poignant, very very poignant in the context of the situation, but also profoundly important and poignant in our own lives. Jesus explains to Peter that there will be time in his life where he’ll be led to where he doesn’t want to go. And the gospel of John explains to us that this is…this is Jesus way of telling Peter how he…what kind of death he will die. And, so, Peter taking in that news does such an interesting thing, something that we all do very often, so very often. Peter looks around and he looks at John and he says to Jesus, “what about him Lord? What about him. Like, if this is gonna happen to me. What about him?” And Jesus answer is the poignant thing. “If I want him to remain until I come what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” And it’s interesting and important for us to realize that those are the last words recorded in the Gospels from Jesus lips. “What is that to you?” If we could ask ourselves that question every time we’re sucked into comparison or every time we feel like we’ve got harder…got it harder than somebody else, or that our path is more difficult or challenging than somebody else, every time we get pulled into trying to get an identity out of each other as compared to each other. If we could just remember the last words of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. “What is the hat to you?” The answer to that question is an important one. “What is that to you? As for you, follow me.” And that encapsulates so much of what we need to know. Our job isn’t to worry about what everybody else is doing and what might happen everybody else. Our job is to follow Jesus. Truly, I don’t know a more fitting way to and our time in the Gospels than that I…it’s so poignant and something that we can carry along with us because it didn’t just happen randomly. These are the last things Jesus says in the Gospels. And, so, we can remember this. “What is that to you?” Man…if we go…if somebody steals our parking place today when we’re trying to get groceries, what is that to you? If you walk through the front door and somebody says something that you don’t like and it could cause an argument, what is that to you? You follow me. Maybe somebody does something that seems like…like it’s political at work, like they’re trying to get something or diminish us in some way or take something, take some territory or project or whatever. What is that to you? You follow me. You see how this works. There is no telling the amount of conflict we can simply sidestep because it’s nothing to us. It doesn’t change anything. It has no power at all other than we want to pick up an offense and go into battle in some sort of way. But really what is that to you? You follow me. And, so, let’s carry that around…maybe for the rest of our lives. Maybe we put this into practice, and this is what we do. This is the question that we immediately ask ourselves as soon as that anger or whatever emotion arises within us. What is that to you?
Prayer:
Jesus, first off…first off, we thank You for the example of Your life in the Gospels that has given us a clear view of what we’re supposed to look like and for that matter what humanity is supposed to look like. We thank You for that. It is irreplaceable. We thank You for telling us the truth and leading us into the truth. We thank You for Your patience and kindness with us, beyond…vastly beyond what we deserve. And we thank You for this counsel, as we end the Gospels – “You follow me. You follow me.” This…this is what we’re supposed to be doing. What is that to You?” So often it just helps us realize the distractions that we just keep getting ourselves into and we are supposed to keep our eyes on You and follow no matter what. And, so, forgive us for the times that we’ve been distracted, which is most of the time. But we’re learning, we’re growing, we’re being transformed. You are changing us. These things are changing. We are being renewed. We are being made to new again. And, so, come Holy Spirit and continue this work as we continue our journey through the Bible 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:
Hey DABbers, it’s Kera from Denver. Today is my daughter’s 13th birthday. At the beginning of my pregnancy my boyfriend and I separated. In distress I started seeing a psychiatrist. I admitted honestly that I had used meth once at the beginning of pregnancy. They reported me. I was honest with the child authorities then my boyfriend and I reunited. I was clean the rest of my pregnancy, did all prenatal visits. We joyfully anticipated and prepared for our baby’s arrival. In the hospital the day she was born everything was perfect. Seeing her father hold our baby, I had never before experienced the inexplicable contentment joy and togetherness as I did in that moment nor quite since. Then a CPS team came into the room and insisted I could not leave the hospital with my baby. Complete love was replaced with complete devastation, unfathomable destruction of my heart and spirit. My tears flowed like dark waterfalls. We went home without our baby. I didn’t realize there was supposed to be follow up with CPS during the pregnancy. I had not heard from anyone. Right away a family took the baby from the hospital and ended up adopting her. I have had no contact with my daughter or her family. Being saved by Jesus nearly four years ago, I now know my true identity as God’s child. I know God has always been with me even through extreme heartbreak. I know God is with my daughter too. I hope to meet her someday. But for now, I have peace knowing that God does love me and that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Amen.
Hey good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Blessings Flow in Pennsylvania and this morning it’s Memorial Day weekend. I just wanted…in the US…I just wanted to say that I appreciate you all, I appreciate this community, I appreciate this ministry. I’m just grateful this morning. And I wanted to thank all of you who prayed for me. My prayer was request was played at the beginning of February for a friend of ours Rosa who lost both of her parents a week apart, you know, a week after they had come here to visit from Mexico. And it was very devastating for the family. And I just want to thank everyone for praying. The funeral was actually toward the end of April. So, it took a little bit of time but they’re doing better. And I just hadn’t called myself personally. After that happened with Rosa and going about my life I actually lost about four or five family members and friends unexpectedly this spring. So, I’ve just been going through some grief and processing, but the whole time I have stayed listening to the DAB and the DABC and it’s really been a blessing just to hear the prayers and praises and to hear the word. So, I just wanted to check in and just say how much I love you, I love this community and the Lord is faithful. So, blessings to all. Blessings Flow in Pennsylvania.
Yes, this is Whitney I’ve just started listening to Brian and Daily Audio Bible this year. I’ve found it really helpful because I have really hard times letting what I read sink in. So, it helps me to have it read to me. So, I’m very thankful for that. I am asking for prayer for panic attacks, anxiety, depression. I’ve dealt with this a lot in my life. I lost my mom in 2015. My dad is currently in Hospice care for dementia, and we do…don’t know how much longer we have left with him. And I’m a single mom of three. And their dad just is not in their lives the way he should be. So, if you can please just cover me and my family in your prayers. And I know that God will work it all out and I know that everything works for His good and His glory. And I just pray that you give me strength to hold on through this storm, the storm that has been continuously brewing it seems like since I was 15 and I’m now 39. Just please lift us up. Thank you. And I thank you Brian for this opportunity for this podcast. Thank you.
Hi everyone, this is Victory in Christ calling from Corvallis OR. This is my first year with the DAB and my first-time calling in. And I just…this community has been such a blessing in my life. And one of the things that I really just felt compelled to share is just how incredibly faithful just I’ve seen you guys be just in your prayers just in all of this…the incredible trials and storms that people are walking through, just the horrible situations or whatever it is, just how faithful all of you guys have been just remaining in the word each and every day and just staying in prayer and staying connected with this community. And it’s just really been so incredible just to see that faithfulness and just that continuing to just rely on God through it all. And I just wanted to say to all of you that the Lord hears your prayers. He hears it and He is working everything for…for your good and for His glory. And I’m just so grateful for all of you. I also have a prayer request. I have a friend, my best friend actually, and she’s not a Christian. And we’ve been friends for years and I’ve tried to, you know, to share Christ with her several times but every time I do I just feel this wall just kind of go up. And I haven’t been able to see her much this year just with COVID and just school and everything going on and there’s not much of a chance for us to hang out or see each other for a while. So, I just pray that God just moves and that He can just show her who He is. So, thank you guys. Have a great day.
Good morning DABbers. This is Running Desperately to Jesus also Staying Connected to Jesus. I will try and get through this. I just ask that my sisters and brothers in Christ lift me up. June is a very difficult time for me. My mother died on June 3rd. She and my brother had the same birthday. His name was Taylor. He committed suicide. My father’s birthday is June 18th. He died six months before my mother died. Then I have an aunt that died in June. So, June is a really difficult time for me. I become snappy. I cry all the time. I have little patience. But I’m reaching out to you because I know prayers will bring me through. I know that God will sustain me, but right now it’s just like I want to shut down. I ask God continuously why He took my mother. But I do know the reason. She had pancreatic cancer and it’s selfish of me to have wanted her to stay. She was a strong woman in Christ. She was prepared for her…her transition. I was there with her through her whole walk of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. So, I’m just asking that my brothers and sisters lift me up. Running Desperately to Jesus also Staying Desperately Desperately connected to Jesus.