1 Kings 5:1-6:38, Acts 7:1-29, Psalms 127:1-5, Proverbs 16:28-30
Today is the 9th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire together find a place and relax and let the Scriptures come washing over us as we take the next step forward together. That next step of course, is the one that comes right after the one we just took yesterday. So, the next step forward leads is back in the book of first Kings where we are learning of King Solomon’s reign, and we are witnessing kind of the glory days. This uphill climb that we’ve been on since we’ve met Abraham is kinda fulfilled in Solomon’s reign, where he brings the children of Israel in their own land to their finest hour. And, so, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. First Kings chapters 5 and 6 today.
Commentary:
Okay, a couple of things for us to pay attention to today in what we read today. In the book of first Kings what we watched was a temple being erected to the God of Israel, the most-high God. This is the first time this has happened. We do remember when we were in that second Samuel that’s something that David wanted to do, but he wasn’t permitted, and Solomon was. And, so, he has erected the temple of God. This is a pretty big game changer. Now God is firmly placed among His people in the capital city of Jerusalem. This makes it the holy city of Jerusalem where God dwells and this temple is known as the first Temple. And the period of time that we’re in, this is the first Temple period. The temple that Solomon has built that we saw today eventually…and we will get to it soon enough…eventually is destroyed and then later there is a second Temple period. That’s the period that Jesus came and did His ministry at. But for now, as we were mentioning yesterday Solomon is bringing the people to the mountaintop experience, the apex of their civilization, the apex of ancient Israel. And, so, now there is a temple in Jerusalem, for the most-high God giving the people a national icon and identity. And the temple becomes more and more of an important thing, right? We will remember in Jesus’ lifetime that one of the accusations against Jesus was that He spoke against the temple, which is a major offense. But for now, there is a temple in Jerusalem, the Solomonic or the temple of Solomon, the temple that Solomon built the most-high God in Jerusalem. And, of course, day by day step-by-step we will continue with the story.
In the book of Acts one person did most of the talking and the narrative that we read today. His name was Stephen. We met him yesterday. One of the early…one of the first deacons, one of the first helpers to serve God’s people, while the apostles devoted themselves to sharing the gospel of Jesus. He was arrested. He has been brought to trial before the Jewish Council. He was accused of speaking against the Hebrew people, but he was also accused of being a follower of Jesus, who said he would destroy the temple and raise it back up. So, the temple figures pretty big now that it exists. So, we’ve seen it begin to exist in first Kings. In the book of Acts, we’re talking about the second Temple, but its prominence and its importance is evident. Ironically, from this point where we’re reading in the book of Acts that temple only has maybe three decades left to exist before it actually will be destroyed by the Roman Empire, but for now it’s clearly a big deal. So, Stephen is questioned, and he begins to give his testimony. And it’s not just like a defensive testimony. He’s telling the story and what we are listening to right now might very much seem like an encapsulated review of what we’ve read in the Bible since we met Abraham back in January because that’s exactly what we’re doing. And, so, the book of Acts gives us the chance through Steven’s testimony to kind of review some of the major mileposts that we visited along the way to get here so far. For Stephen this is His testimony. He is standing before the Hebrew religious counsel. And, so, what he is doing is beginning to recite the story of the Hebrew people so that the Jewish Council will understand that Stephen isn’t an outsider. He’s…He’s a Hebrew. He knows the story. He lives within that context. And we aren’t done with Steven’s testimony. We will continue it tomorrow but it…as I said, gives us a chance to just kinda have a little bit of a review of some of the major things that we have read and discussed along the way thus far. And we’ll see where Steven’s testimony leads us as we continue forward tomorrow.
Prayer:
Father, we love You. We thank You for Your word. We thank You for it’s impact on our lives. We thank You that it’s just a remarkable thing that allows us to look into ancient stories, but also shapes the way we view our lives today and how we live our lives today. And, so, Holy Spirit come into all that we have read. Plant it into the soil of our hearts and continue to lead and guide us on the narrow path that leads to life. We pray this expectantly in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian and I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Father God praying right now for Cindy in California. I ask all of you DABbers to pray with me. Fathert God, Cindy in California has pain that is driving her to despair, and we thank You that by Your stripes we are healed and that there’s nothing that You can’t do. And we long to give You the glory for her Healing. So, I ask in Jesus’ name by the blood of Jesus that You would heal Cindy in California from this condition that is causing her such pain in her body that it’s like her body is on fire. I ask for healing in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hi DAB family I’m gonna go buy Shadow of His Wings unless that’s already been used. You can just let me know. But I had called previously and or anonymous about my marriage and just struggles that me and my wife are going through. She is no longer living with me. She hasn’t been for a few months. She doesn’t want to be a Christian anymore. And I just wanted you guys to join me in prayer. She’s going on a trip by herself to do some hiking and just time alone and I just want to take time to pray for her that while she’s out in the wilderness hiking and everything that God’s glory can be shown to her and that her relationship with God can be rekindled, that she can find all that she needs in Him. I just wanted you guys to be praying as well. I know that this prayer line is so powerful and that you guys honestly do care. I appreciate DAB and everything that the whole family has to offer and I’m just so grateful for this. I am. Thank you guys.
Hi DAB family this is Vicki from Texas and I’m calling to ask you to please cover me in prayer and send me as much love as you can because this is one of the hardest times of my entire life right now. I have so many people counting on me. I feel like a woman standing on the edge of a cliff holding several rope bridges while the people I love try to walk crossover this big ravine. I am the primary caretaker for my mom who has Alzheimer’s. She’s still independent enough to live on her own but it’s my job to manage all her finances, her legal affairs, her medical care, driving her anywhere she needs to go that’s beyond 15 miles of her house and protecting her from people who had taken advantage of her. And right now I suspect there’s a person who lives near here who is taking advantage of her mental condition. On top of that we got word yesterday that my father-in-law who is suffering from stage four cancer is going into Hospice or they’re bringing it to his house and the doctors have given him less than a month to live and I’ve been his daughter-in-law for 27 years and on top of that he entered our family three years ago…three years ago…when I was three years old. And, so, I’ve known him my entire life. So, I’m trying to be there for my husband and all my in-laws and help them with this. And on top of that I run a company that does clinical research internationally and there are people all over the world counting on me to hold this business together and I am just not able to think straight for the last couple of weeks and I feel like I’m about to let everybody down. And on top of that my son is getting ready to go to college and my younger son is struggling with that. So, I’m trying to be there with both of them, keep all of that running smoothly. I’m just tired. I appreciate your prayers and your love. Just…I just need help.
Hi DAB family this is God’s Tree for I have many branches, but I’m rooted in the word of God. You know, this walk you want to be here for people, and you want to pray, and you want to support and lift others up, but you go through some spaces in your life where he’s struggling yourself and today’s a real cloudy dark dark dark dark day for me today and I know the Lord is with me but sometimes you just feel like you’re by yourself. So, I ask and pray that you would pray for those who struggle with depression, for all of us that feel lonely sometimes in the world and those who try to lean and trust in God, but we still have a hard time. You know God is real. God is awesome. We gotta keep encouraging ourselves. But the enemy wants to drape us with those dark clouds sometimes. So, I ask that you pray my strength and pray strength for all of those who suffer from depression, heartache, and loneliness for God still gets the glory no matter what. He’s gonna get the glory out of this day too. Thank you. God bless.
Hi Daily Audio Bible this is New Eyes from Tennessee and I’m calling in just to agree with a fellow DABber who called in who want to bless and build up the next generation. I also agree that they have a destiny on them, and they have a calling. And so, I just want to stand and agree to all these young people who their parents or family have called in about either their health problems, problems at school, problems with anger, just whatever young people are struggling with right now in our DAB community I just wanna stand and agree with my brother in Christ that they have a destiny on them and I just break any power of the enemy has over their circumstances in the name of Jesus and that instead you would replace Lord God those doubts and fears and struggles and pain with blessing and smooth pathways and mentors and teachers and opportunities for this generation Lord. I just want to stand and say that. I also want to give a word for anyone else who made me this. I know that I consistently pray to God to be the Lord of my imagination and to take every thought captive so that any of you who struggle with fear, struggle with doubt, struggle with…just a mind that won’t rest, I just want to come in agreement that the Lord is the Lord of our imagination and He is…He is against all fear and all doubt and they do not own us and that our imagination is something that God has given us and it is blessed. So go in peace.