1 Kings 18:1-46, Acts 11:1-30, Psalms 135:1-21, Proverbs 17:12-13
Today is the 17th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy and an honor and privilege to be here with you today. So excited., so excited that we get to be here around the Global Campfire, that there’s little safe place in the world that we can go to in our hearts and in our minds and release everything else that’s going on and just to have this one place that we can look forward to every day where we don’t have to answer all those texts and we don’t have to keep checking social and we don’t have to keep respond…like just a for a few minutes we can exhale, let God’s word to speak into our lives, informing us and leading us. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. In the Old Testament we are working through the book of first Kings and we’ve we move through several of the different kings, kings of Israel which are the 10 tribes in the north, kings of Judah which are the tribes, the two tribes in the South, including Jerusalem. And we met a prophet. His name is Elijah, and he has forecast that God is upset, and the rains will not come. And, so, famine is upon the land. And we’ll pick up that story. First Kings chapter 18.
Commentary:
Okay. So, just to keep us connected to and centered in the stories that we are in in the old and new Testaments let’s…let’s kinda talk about them for second. In the Old Testament we met the prophet, Elijah. He seems to be quite powerful character. God is definitely speaking through him. He has stopped the rain and they searched everywhere and couldn’t find them. And, so there was a massive, massive showdown today on top of Mount Carmel. And to this very day there’s a monastery on the top of Mount Carmel that protects, preserves the traditional site of this kind of showdown between the prophets of Baal and Asherah and the prophets…of the prophet of God, the one, Elijah. What we learned from today’s reading is the wife of Ahab who is the king, his wife’s name is Jezebel and she’s a princess from another country and she’s been working pretty systematically to purge Israel of prophets of the true God, replacing them with her own prophets. And that’s been a very tedious thing. Now, after this showdown her prophets are gone and the people, their hearts have been reawakened to their covenantal relationship with God. They are turning back toward God. And this is happening in the north where the people have been led into idolatry since the breaking up of the kingdom. And, so, Elijah has quite a level of influence. And we’ll see about that. We’ll see about that influence going forward into tomorrow.
In the book of Acts we’re worst kind of still moving through this story where Peter gets some very confusing information…a confusing vision about clean and unclean and that…that that is beginning to shift, from a heavenly perspective that is beginning to shift. And then after he has that vision he goes into Cornelius’s house, which is a Roman soldier, a Gentile and the Holy Spirit falls upon them. They’re not even supposed to be communicating with each other. Like, the Jews and the Gentiles, they don’t mix. And, so, when the Holy Spirit falls upon these Gentiles after Peter’s vision, he’s able to take a step back and realize God is doing something new. We thought, like we had…like we thought we understood how this is supposed to go and what we’re supposed to major on what we’re supposed a minor on and how this all lines up theologically, but God has made a decision here and it flies in the face of what we thought we knew. But God has made a decision here. What are we supposed to do but step back and acknowledge that…that even though this flies in the face of what we thought we knew God is making this choice? And, so, he goes back to Jerusalem, and he is confronted about it and he tells a story and everybody realizes what he’s saying, like that this is a pivotal moment, that God is inviting the whole world into this kingdom as they believe in the Savior Jesus. And then we kinda complete that story and not really turn the page, but just kinda move forward and understand that the book of Acts tells us that the people who had fled after Steven’s persecution, they were…they fled all over. There…there was a dispersion of people all over the place and some of them went into Gentile territories, Gentile cities and began to…to speak about Jesus. And they mostly looked for the Jews, but not everybody did. And when people spoke to Gentiles the same Holy Spirit, the same thing that was happening among the Jews was happening among the Gentiles. And, so, this began to spread. And the last thing we knew Barnabas, he leaves from Jerusalem, and he verifies what Peter said and then he goes to Tarsus to find Saul and then they go back to Antioch, and this is a very, very Gentile city and…and they spent a whole year there developing the church in Antioch. This is the place where the…the term Christian began. And, so, that gives us some of the lay of…lay of the land of the early church as we’re moving through this history, but it…it also shows us, sort of this point, this point at which God made it clear that His intention was to restore all of humanity, that had always been His intention even way, way, way, way, way back with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all of the events in Egypt, Moses, Joshua. God was setting a people unto Himself holy so that they could be a nation of priests to the world to tell the whole world the story and that became a very separatist thing. It got convoluted enough and isolated enough that when God came in the person of Jesus He wasn’t recognized. And, so, now God is moving through the power of his Holy Spirit and falling upon all who believe Jew or Gentile. Like He’s accomplishing what He set out to do in the first place, despite the obstacles that humans put in the way. And this story continues forward and we’re a part of that story. And what a joy to be here seeing how the story continues to develop and evolve in our own lifetimes.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for letting us be a part of Your story at all. That we exist at all is such a gift, and that we can bear witness to what You are doing in this world is such a gift. And we spend so much of our time obsessing about anything but what You’re doing, but we’re here to bear witness. Our lives are changed because You have drawn us to Yourself and have invited us to participate in sharing the good news and inviting everyone into this story. And, so, as we continue to find our place in the story we ask that You continue to lead and guide us and how we invite others. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you can find out what’s going on around here. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can find these things as well. There’s a Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app that opens up Drawer. So, you can find things on the web or in the app like the Community section. And that is where the Prayer Wall lives. And it’s good to know that because it’s always there and always available, always there for us to go to and pray for people, always there for us to ask for prayer. And, so, be familiar with that as well as the different links to social media channels that we participate in so you can get connected there. Yeah, being connected as we take this journey, knowing that this isn’t a solitary endeavor, this is one of the things that keeps us going day by day step-by-step as we move through a year of life together. So, check out the community section and stay connected.
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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:
This message is for Sunshine from Queens. I just heard your message, and I heard the weariness in your voice when you were talking about being ostracized by your family and being by yourself. And I was like listening to my inner thoughts, but I want you to remember Jesus is a friend to the friendless, a father to the fatherless, a husband to the husbandless. You’ve got to hold on and you’ve got to believe that in your heart and in your mind. And I know it’s difficult when you’re out there walking that tightrope every day because it’s very exhausting to participate in…in the world, in your job, all of that when you’re walking that tightrope. It makes it very exhausting when you don’t have a net. However, you can come out like the Flying Wallenda’s who could walk a tightrope and it wouldn’t shake. They could balance. If you continue listening to the Daily Audio Bible, reading it, believing it, and listening to the Holy Spirit. Let…spend some time alone, which you do I know, but try to contact with the Holy Spirit because if you look back in your life, I’m sure you can…if you…if you really think about a see times where the comforter has comforted you or saved you in an instance and you maybe didn’t know what it was at the time. So, hold on…
Good morning DAB community this is Tierra from Texas. I first and foremost want to say thank you God for this day, that you’ve allowed us to be here and listen on this message and to hear the voices of our brothers and sisters on this day and to hear their prayers and their worries and concerns. I first want to again say thank you for this community for praying for me in my weariness. __ and it’s not perfect always but…but as of right now I’m, you know, I’m getting closer to God, and I’m being pulled back. So…and that, you know, a deep-down low mood I’m coming back up slowly. I was listening to today’s message on June 14th and Sunshine from Queens came on the call and immediately her voice really shined a light on some of the things that I’ve been trying hard to articulate. I just want to pray for her to have someone that she can truly trust, someone…God please send her someone that, you know, she can be vulnerable with, that she can be open with, that you can just protect her in her time of need and protect her from the enemy in her vulnerable state, in a state that many people can take advantage of. I just pray for guidance and love and peace in this moment and that from Texas all the way to Queens I just…I just send my love and my care and my support and my empathy to you because I felt you through this call. I’m running out of time but please know I’ll be praying with you immensely. God loves you, the body of Christ, Jesus loves you always, and you will shine light just like…just as bright as Jesus and He will help you shine. Thank you. Bye.
Hey Daily Audio Bible this is Morrison from California. It’s June 14th and I just heard the prayer request from the mom in Oklahoma with three kids who’s working from home. I was so moved by your prayer request. I really was moved by your humility and honesty in confessing that you are not able to be the mom that you want to be. And I just wanted to pray for you. So, Father I just wanna ask for Your comfort and Your grace to just wash over this woman as she comes two for community honestly. I pray that You would just give her such a reassurance that You are in charge of sanctifying her to become the woman and the mom and the daughter that You want her to be. I just pray for mercy and for grace and for peace. And I just pray that this time, though it seems difficult, would bring about such a deep intimacy between this woman and You, that she would lean on You for comfort and for strength and that You would just do a work in her family. God bless you. I am praying for you. You will be in my thoughts today. And I love you and the Lord sees you. And He is proud of how you’re trying and what you’re doing even now.
Hi DAB family my name is Dawn and I started listening back in January and this has just been amazing. And thank you Brian and thank you to all of you. I’m asking for prayer for my husband Mark. He…Father’s Day is coming this Sunday and our son committed suicide last August. He was 20 years old, no history of depression. We…we never saw this coming. It just really shook us up and we’re just still trying to cope and trying to understand exactly what happened. And he…he really did affect a lot of people. He had a lot of friends. And anyway, if you can just pray for my husband and especially just for Father’s Day being the first Father’s Day since he died. Please send some prayers for his brother too and just lift us up all with such a hard year. My husband’s a police officer and I’m a nurse and his brother Spencer is also a police officer. So, it’s just been a really trying year. So, thank you so much and God bless you all. And just thank you for all being a part of this.
Hi this is Bonnie from Richmond VA today is June 12th and I was listening to the prayer request from Shannon I think as she said she’s from South Africa. And it seems like there is misunderstanding going on between her and the family and she has…they have moved to the new place and she’s struggling there. I wanted to encourage you, Shannon. Seems like you are like my daughter. My daughter and I used to have so many conflicts and fights. She was trying to do some of the things that she liked, and I had some expectations. This is how it happens in the family. Parents have different expectations toward their children, and we sometimes forget that they are __ and they also have their own plans and interests or desires or goals. So, I would encourage you to continuously pray for your family so that God could help them to understand you, what you want to do as long as it is God’s…I mean inside of God, everything what you are doing is good. And if you could continuously pray for your family that they will be able to understand you. Just be strong. I’ll be praying for you. My daughter and I have a very good relation now. So, I hope you and your family will also be able to understand each other and we’ll have a good…