Ezekiel 31:1-32:32, Hebrews 12:14-29, Psalm 113:1-114:8, Proverbs 27:18-20
Today is the 15th day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. I guess, hear we are in the middle, the middle point of the 11th month of the year, crossing through the center and continuing our journey forward. We are continuing our journey through the book of Ezekiel, so let's…let’s do what we do, let’s take the next step forward together. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week, Ezekiel chapters 31 and 32.
Commentary:
Okay, have you ever looked at us set of circumstances that you are navigated and, navigating and felt like I’m kind of on thin ice here or I’m kind of on shaky ground here. We say those euphemisms because we don’t feel stable in the situation that we’re in. Not everything is lining up, not everything feels secure. There seems to be some missing pieces. Things feel like they’re shaking. The writer of Hebrews talks about this today and he’s talking to people, Hebrew people, Jewish people who have, who have believed in Jesus and are following Jesus, but instead of things getting smoother and more glorious, things have started to shake up around them. They feel like they’re on thin ice. They don’t feel like they’re in a secure position. So, what’s happening is that many people are trying to kind of fade, fade into the woodwork of the culture. Just kind of fade back into Judaism and believe in Jesus but kind of keep that quiet or others are just rejecting, going back into more Orthodox Judaism. The writer of Hebrews is…is trying to warn these believers. These early believers that are really, that really are in a shaky situation, that are starting to…to be oppressed on all sides. They’re being warned not to fade. In fact, as with the rest of the letter of Hebrews where Jesus is brought in as a context of something to be expected that they had been expecting a Savior, the writer of Hebrews is also trying to say you should’ve also been expecting that things would get shaky. And so, I’m quoting from Hebrews here, “See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks” in this case this would be God, “for if they did not escape” and in this case they’re talking about their…their spiritual ancestors, “if they did not escape when they rejected Him who warned them on earth even less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven”. So, the writer of Hebrews here is encouraging steadfastness, endurance, sticking to what you started, holding fast and firm to your faith. And I continue to quote “His voice shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised yet once more, will I shake, not only the earth but also the heavens. This expression yet once more indicates the removal of what can be shaken, that is, created things. So, that what is not shaken, might remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.” Okay, we don’t like things shaking, we don’t want to be on thin ice. We don’t want to be on shaky ground. And yet, the writer of Hebrews is telling the people reading this letter then and us today that things are going to be shaky. So, is the point that we are constantly disrupted and never feel like we’re on firm ground? That is not the intention here, and what we’re being told is essentially this, everything that can shake is going to be shaken so that in the end, all that’s left is what cannot be shaken. So, if you’re in a situation in your life where you’re on thin ice or shaky ground and you don’t like it one single bit, you don’t like this shaking and you want it to stop. Fair enough. Who doesn’t want that. Even the Lord wants that, but He is willing to disrupt us and we may find ourselves in a time of shaking because there are things that need to be shaken loose and shaken off so that what remains is unshakable. So, that might be helpful to just kind of keep with us when we’re feeling like we’re in these seasons where things are very shaky. It’s in those times that we should maybe look at what is being shaken and is it unshakable or is it time that it be shaken loose and shaken free and shaken off. We may have a desire and even a prayer that this shaking stops when maybe if we look closer at what’s being shaken we can participate and realize I don’t need this. This thing that’s making me disrupted and uncomfortable, I don’t, this can be shaken off and I can take the next step forward toward unshakeability.
Prayer:
And so Father, we invite Your Holy Spirit into that because very often we find ourselves misinterpreting things we see as we see in how we see is through a glass darkly and we don’t have the full view and we don’t have a complete understanding of anything but You do and You are our Father and You love us as Your children. And so, if things are shaking, sometimes it can be just the disruption of life but sometimes You may be shaking us awake and shaking us free and all we’re asking is that You make us comfortable again when what we need is to be unshakable. And so, help us to discern, help us to become aware of Your activity in our lives. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com that’s home base. That’s where you find out what’s going on around here and something big is going on around here right now. We have a brand-new resource, a brand-new book. Although this is a little different than sort of the standard written page. This is a book of photography, a beautiful coffee table piece called Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible. And I was talking about it some last week. It was a long time in the making, nine years in the making, several years in the just curating and pulling out all the thousands of photographs that have been taken in Israel over all the years that I’ve been traveling there. And this kind of combing through thousands of pictures, regionalizing them, kind of figuring out the lay of the land and how this is gonna work and it is finally here and it is, it is really satisfying when a long project comes to light. So, you can check that out. See pictures of it in the Daily Audio Bible Shop which can be found at dailyaudiobible.com or if you’re using the app press that little drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and that pops open window and you’ll find the Shop in there. You’ll find Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible in the lifestyle section or in the books and audiobooks section, so check it out. I’m excited, I’m excited for it to start landing in homes and being enjoyed and prayerfully it will do what its mission is, to beautifully portray the land of the Bible and give us a context for where these stories actually happened.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we share together to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given freely to whoever will listen, if that has made a difference in your life then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com or if you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hi, it’s Mya here, I called once before in March I think about asking for prayers for my mum for, cause she needed to have a knee replaced, like knee replacement surgery and she was really scared and she didn’t want it but I know it was gonna happen but we didn’t’ know the date. And then it took a while and she had her surgery recently. And everything went fine, everything went well and kind of a funny thing that the doctor after the surgery, doctor came in to talk to her and he said like are you lucky cause a week after her surgery they’re going in some sort of a lock down cause in my country there kind of in lock down now. So, it’s, so doctor said you got lucky cause so many surgeries got canceled after that. And then I thought after my mum said that I said, I thought, she didn’t get lucky it was, that was God’s plan and God, God, I believe that our prayers got answered and my mum got the surgery. She wasn’t scared. Everything went fine and yeah, there is no such thing as luck. I believe that and yeah, the only thing now, what’s left now is to pray for my mum so her knee heals all good and she can walk finally and not, she’s not in pain anymore. And thank you for everyone, for prayers and I’m praying for everyone, I’m kind of one of the background, background prayers, praying people, who don’t really call in. This is my second time and thank you very much. Bye.
Hello, this is Stan calling from Maryland. I just finished listening to Tammy from the OutterRondacks and her crying for emotional healing for just overall relief from the pressure for caring for her husband and the physical recovery that she had to have a hysterectomy to address her own cancer issue. So, Father, I lift Tammy before You and her husband. I pray most of all that she would, that You would lavish Your presence, Your peace, Your patience, Your kindness, Your gentleness, Your self-control, over her. Father, I know what it’s like to be caught up in depression. To see that that tunnel is dark and there is no light down it. The end. So, I pray Father, that You would illuminate the light, that You would illuminate the way out for Tammy. That You would hear Father, the cry of her heart to be healed and You would be gracious with You hand and heal her. I pray these things in the name of Jesus for His glory. Amen.
Hello my Daily Audio Bible family, this is His Beloved calling in. I am just wanting to piggyback on something I just heard from James, not from California anymore, the Teacher. I feel the exact same and it just, I just wanted to call in and say I love you all so much. And like James, I have moved more times than I want to think about in the last several years since I joined the Daily Audio Bible in 2000 I don’t know, I think it was 13. And changed churches, been divorced and married. But the one consistent family I have is you guys. And I start my day everyday, I pray for everyone every day. Brian, Jill, your beautiful family thank you so much for creating this platform for all of us to come together. And all the prayer warriors out there and all the members of our family. We are so strong together as a family praying for one another. And I haven’t called in, in a while but I’m here praying on the sidelines, standing in the gap for all of you. And I love you muah. And I will speak to you soon. God Bless. Bye.
Good afternoon DAB family. Today is Friday, November 12th and yesterday I went for my sixth month follow-up because last year after my stay in the hospital I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. But the cancer was induline or I should say is induline or slow acting. And initially they had me on every three months and then in May of this year my hematologist moved me to six months. And I wasn’t really sure what to expect, I was hoping for you know, that it was still induline. And they did lab work yesterday and I got a phone call from the lab saying that everything looked normal, that my labs looked good and blood work looked good and they will see me in six months and I just broke. My sister called me and I just broke. And I also told her, I said it’s like holding your breath and you didn’t realize you were and I’m just so thankful to God. I’m so thankful Lord. And I was just, I just hope and pray that it continues to be induline for a very long time. And I just had to share this with my DAB family. And I forgot to say that this is Avery from Washington State, I’m just so happy I forgot about that. So, thank you family. Love you all. I pray everything goes well with you and that you stay faithful to the Lord. And I’m still working on it myself.
Hello my DAB family. This is Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Today is Friday the 12th. I’ve just been listening to the podcast and I heard James the Teacher from LA. James, I wish there was more time but I just wanna support you, send a tide, I know you were giving praise that you’re still on your path James. But, I want to, I just want to give you some support my brother. I’ve been through the same path as you. I’m ten years down the track, 11 years down the track actually now and I was very blind to a lot of the same. I’m a sinful man and it was sifting through the Daily Audio Bible 11 years that God has been doing wonderful, wonderful, wonderful things for me. He’s opened my eyes to everything to my sins and I’ve been slowly, He’s been slowly bringing back things for me. Giving me back things. It’s not an easy journey as Brian said, we’ve gotta have, we’ve gotta have some endurance, we’ve gotta learn endurance. Endurance is not easy as you know. But, I’m behind you brother. Believe me, keep the faither and keep coming and praying and God will restore everything to you. I promise you. Love Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Bye.