2 Samuel; 20:14-21:22, Acts 1:1-26, Psalms 121:1-8, Proverbs 16:18
Today is the 3rd day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we gather and find a place here around the Global Campfire, let the cares of this life kind of ease into the background. We are in a little bit of an oasis that we create for ourselves each day, a place where we give ourselves permission to let everything else go so that we can open our hearts and allow the Scriptures to speak into them. And so often we can leave this campfire and go back into our day with fresh perspective. And, so, here we are around the Global Campfire for the next step forward and that next step forward leads us back into the book of second Samuel and the life of King David in the Old Testament. And then in the New Testament we’re moving into brand-new territory with the book of Acts and we’ll talk about that when we get there, but first we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Second Samuel chapter 20 verse 14 through 21 verse 22.
Introduction to the book of Acts:
Okay. So, as we are all aware on this journey, we concluded the book of John yesterday which concluded the Gospels, the four Gospels - Matthew Mark Luke and John, and the narrative stories of Jesus life and His ministry and of course His arrest and death and resurrection and ascension. Now we are moving into the book of Acts, the acts of the apostles, so what happened after that, what happened next. And this leads us into a new era in the New Testament, known as the church era which happens to be the times that we are in. As we read the book of Acts we’re reading of the beginning of that time. Interesting thing about Acts is that it could be also named like second Luke because the author of Luke and the author of Acts are the same author, and these were written as two consecutive volumes. And, so, the book of Acts picks up right where the gospel of Luke leaves off. And there are two main characters that we get to know. One of them we already know one of them we will meet. The first person that we will hear about is somebody that we already know, the apostle Peter. It was Peter that we were just talking about yesterday as we finished the gospel of John when he says to Jesus, “what about him Lord?” And Jesus says, “what is that to you? You follow me. This was said to Peter. The first part of the book of Acts we’ll be spending alongside of Peter and so I guess in a way we’ll get to see “what is that to you” and what Peter did with that’s encouragement and instruction from Jesus. And then we will meet a Pharisee, a very very trained Pharisee, a person extraordinarily devout and devoted to the Mosaic law and to God through the Mosaic law. His name is Saul just like the first king of Israel that we’ve spent so much time with. Saul is absolutely completely against the gospel of Jesus. For Saul, it is absolute and complete heresy. And, so, he wants to wipe the name of Jesus from the lips of the Hebrew people. Like this is somebody that has been killed, he is dead, he is gone and we need to expedite forgetting all about Him ever being here. He was a heretic. He was a blasphemer. He deserved to die. And, so, Saul is doing everything in his power to…to do just that, stamp out the name of Jesus from among the Hebrew people. And then he meets Jesus, the resurrected Christ. And when Saul meets someone who has been raised by God from the dead it rewires everything that he thought that he knew and he has to go away and spend some time hearing from Jesus, but he comes back, and this is the person that we know of as the apostle Paul. And we will have plenty to discuss about the apostle Paul because once we conclude the book of Acts we will move into the letters of Paul, the earliest Christian writings that we have preserved. And the letters of Paul are probably two thirds of the New Testament. So, we’ll be spending quite a bit of time alongside Paul and understanding kinda where he was coming from and his background and what he was after, and what the message that he was speaking actually was and what the implications are. We won’t do that right now. We’re just gonna get to meet him in the book of Acts. And one other thing that we are going to notice forefront and center and that will carry us through the rest of the New Testament is something that happens in the book of Acts, the promised Holy Spirit. The spirit of truth that Jesus promised to send after his departure falls upon the people and activates the people and really becomes in a metaphorical way that the fuel that ignites the church and the spreading of the story and the gospel of Jesus throughout the Roman Empire. And as we read these stories we need to remember it is the same spirit that empowers us to do the same thing, reveal the kingdom and share the good news. And, so, with that we begin the book of Acts. Acts chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You that we have reached this point where we turn the page and are moving into new territory in the New Testament, territory we haven’t experienced before. And, so, as we move into the book of Acts and we begin to witness the work of the Holy Spirit through the apostles way we see what they’re doing as examples. May we become aware that it is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us. It’s Your Spirit. It’s the Spirit of truth, the same Spirit that is guiding us as was guiding them with the same wisdom the same counsel, correction, and direction. And, so, may we look at what we read and be encouraged by it and learn much from it but also apply it to our lives because it’s for us too. Come Holy Spirit into all of this we pray in Jesus name. 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.