Isaiah 41:17-43:13, Ephesians 2:1-22, Psalms 67:1-7, Proverbs 23:29-35
Today is the 23rd day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy like it is every day to be here with you around the Global Campfire as we dive in and take the next step forward. That next step will lead us back into the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament and into the letter to the Ephesians in the New Testament which we began yesterday. So, let’s dive in. Isaiah chapter 41 verse 17 through 43 verse 13 today.
Commentary:
Okay. We began the book of…or the letter to the Ephesians yesterday and as we were talking about it I was mentioning it’s kinda like this winding path where there are all these views, these vistas, kinda like if you’ve ever been on a mountain road, not like a highway but like a mountain road, a two lane mountain road and you’re driving through the mountains and you’re climbing up and you’re climbing up and there can be these turnouts where you can turn off the road and see this vista and just drink it in. And then you get back in your car and you keep going and you keep climbing you keep climbing and you find another vista and you keep finding these vistas and we’re gonna kind of move through Ephesians like that. There are all of these things to look at and the view is so good. There have been times that I’ve read Ephesians, thinking it’s too good to be true. Not that I was doubting that it is true. It’s just like such undeserved goodness has been bestowed upon God’s people. And we are so often paying attention to anything else. But as we move through Ephesians, we have the opportunity to pull off the road and get out of the car and look at the implications. So, we’ll try to do that as we move through Ephesians. For example, let’s pull off the road right now and get out of the car and look at the vista that we read today. And I quote from Ephesians. “You are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is God’s gift. Not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” I realize we could listen to that and say, yeah. I’ve heard that before. That’s kind of fundamental right? Like is that really a Vista? It is a Vista. If what Paul is saying is the truth and we believe it to be the truth than our salvation isn’t something that has anything to do with our behavior. Our salvation isn’t something that we can earn. It is a gift, we receive the gift through faith, which basically means we receive the gift by believing we have received the gift. The gift we’re talking about here, though, is the salvation of our souls forever. There is no other gift like that gift at all. Nothing even comes close. We all have the story of the moment when we believed, when God drew near, and we recognized it. And in that moment, it made sense, it was true, and we believed and then this gift was bestowed upon us. We can certainly walk away from the gift. We can hand it back and say, we don’t want salvation. We can do anything that we want to do but this gift can’t be stolen. We can discard it, disregard it, hand it back, but it can’t be taken from us. And since we didn’t do anything to earn it, we can’t lay claim to it as if this belongs to me rightfully. It was a gift. Nobody has anything to brag about. And what we’re fundamentally being told here is that it’s we got something we didn’t earn. We got something we didn’t deserve. I don’t believe in a cosmic lottery, but if there were one, we won. God knows who we are and intentionally came to rescue us. God the most-high God, the Creator of everything we see and all that we don’t, we are this God’s workmanship. We are being made into His masterpiece. I mean it’s at this point that somebody needs to go get the cooler out of the car. We need to sit here a while, have a cold ice water, look at this vista. We are being made into God’s masterpiece. He knows who we are. But it’s more than just an awareness that we exist. He loves us and planned good for us long ago, and bestowed salvation on us as a gift that we didn’t earn or deserve. This was given to us as a gift. God didn’t give us a gift and then snatch it back and say I was just kidding. Here are the parameters that you can…you can follow to earn this gift. Our efforts, our works, if you want to call them that aren’t earning our salvation or being in good graces with God. Our works are the overflow and outflow of this vista actually sinking in. Just as this gift cannot be stolen from us neither can God’s love. We have been given power over plenty of things in our lives, but we have no control over God’s love. There’s nothing that we can do to stop it. If these things from this one vista point in this letter in the New Testament can sink beyond the surface of our lives down into the depths of our identity, this changes everything. And, so, maybe just having a picnic here at this vista, just kind of staying here for a while and just watching out over the beauty that’s being presented to us maybe it would sink in. Maybe if we could realize God loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it. Ahhh…let’s lay back and rest in that today.
Prayer:
Father, we love You and we confess, and You know full well our capacity to even understand what we’re talking about is tremendously limited. We’re contrasted with who You are. You are limitless. We are not. But we love You. And yes, we confess we have no way to love You the way that You love us, but we can love You the way that we love You and we love You with all our hearts. May we rest in the fact that You love us with all Your heart and that seems almost too good to be true. It is mind blowing and we are humbled, and we are grateful and we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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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:
Good morning DAB fam this is a Girl After God’s Heart checking in asking for prayer. As many of you know last year a little bit before now at this time both of my parents passed from COVID two weeks apart. So, that anniversary has been difficult and a couple days after my dad’s anniversary my best friend’s son who I love and adore and is like my own decided to take his own life. And, so, I have struggled this last week. He took his own life last Monday night. So, it’s been a week. Today’s the 19th but I have just been overcome with grief and sorrow and depression and just praying my way out of it and leaning on the Lord and I’m leaning on you guys and asking for prayer for my bestie to be able to get through this and rely on God. And just praying that somehow, I could be there for her and sit with her in this time and be a blessing to her on this journey of grief without her son. I pray that you guys will pray for her especially and tag me on to that if you can. And just pray for our family. It seems like everything is happening at once. It is…I don’t know that this has ever happened to me in my life. Lots of dramatic circumstances and relationship stuff that I usually don’t struggle with, just dramas. But I know that God is…
Good morning my name is Sandy from Lancaster CA and I listened to the prayer from September the 19th and I want to pray for the young lady that came on. She didn’t give her name or anything, but she says she was being abused from her husband and that he cheated on her. I want you to know sister that you are worth so much more then what you are being dealt with. It’s a spiritual warfare that we’re up against and God can fight that spiritual warfare for you. You just have to have faith in your heart and your mind and in your spirit to know that God is in control of all things and that when you give it to Him, He’ll move the way you need to be moved. Just trust in Him. Call on the name of Jesus. And when you call on that name of Jesus it’ll take your mind away from the things that you think that you deserve. No one deserves to be treated without love and respect and you deserve that more than anything my sister. I also want to pray for Zach. Zach Jesus loves you and He’s there for you and your family. Just take hold of Him. Through Christ all things are possible, and He loves you and your family and your mom so much. So, believe and trust and let God set your goals.
Hi DAB family this is Testimony in Progress calling from Northern Kings in the UK. I called in for my son and I just wanted to call in and say a massive thank you for everyone who called in and prayed for me and I just felt very supercharged and…and just…I just…I love this community and…and I know just these prayers work. And I just wanted to quickly share as well that after I called in I was just feeling so low but I kept listening to my podcasts because I drive a lot and on the next podcast after my call I heard this scripture like came…stood out and it was Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that’s why I wrote it down and I stuck it in front of me so wherever I drive I read it every time I feel discouraged and like all these bad thoughts come to me and I just…I just read this and try to just get it inside like so it just gets into me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And I just wanted to share with everyone and every mom who’s struggling with their kids every parent in general who is struggling with their kids like we can do it, we can do it. And I’m very grateful for this community and yeah, I really didn’t call in because talking is not my gift. My gift is listening and I just feel very nervous when I have like I need like to call in but I love you all and thank you very much. Bye.
Hi this is Neat as May calling, first-time caller. I’ve been listening to the DAB for a little over two years and recently heard two messages on two different occasions about people asking if the women behind prison wall listen to the DAB. We do. We’re strong believers and we’re listening. We’re standing in the word of God. We just want to ask to continue to uplift us. We’re listening. We’re here and we’re fighting to change the ways within us. Help us be slow to anger and bridle our tongues, change out thoughts. Help us to be…discover the blessings of prayer through this ministry to transform many of us women here in prison and being able to participate in His word by the fruit of the Spirit is changing us day by day and transforming us. Help us to avoid sinful habits. And we just want you to know that we’re listening here in Arizona State prison in Perryville, and we continue to listen and thank you for everything that you do. And we also have a few prayers requests. I’d like to pray for my friend Carmen and her family and ask the Lord to continue to put a shield of protection around each and every one of them. And Lord I’d like to pray for my mother Valentina. She has kidney failure, that someday soon she finds a kidney. And for my son, he has so much anger built up and we could find ways to…to love him from here. But we are listening, family and, you know, we love you Brian and Jill and we thank you for this ministry and we’re so happy and grateful to be part of it. So, with that being said you guys have a great night.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family it’s Don of a New Day. I so enjoy being in this family and I often, since 2007, try to call in and help new family members know what will make your journey with us the DABber family so strong. Number one, when you fall behind in you’re listening to your daily readings don’t try to catch up on everything. Take the word and bite size chunks. It will enrich you, encourage you, train you. Imagine that you went out of town, and you left a bunch of food in the refrigerator, and you come home and try to eat everything. No. It’ll take you three meals a day. And with that take it one day at a time it’ll change you. Number two. Make sure you support the DAB family. We want this ministry to stay here and stay strong and keep changing lives training up disciples around the world. Number three. Make sure you call in one time and let the family hear your voice, know your heart, fall in love with you, support you, and pray for you and with you. And number four. Finish the year strong. I have an Alexa that I listen to the Daily Audio Bible on and if you get one, any kind of one, you can get a $40 one, and tell it to play the one-year Daily Audio Bible and it’ll play the latest recording every day. It’s a way to wake up, roll over and hear it or go to bed and lay down in peace with it. I love you DABbers. Finish this year strong. Love you Brian, love you Jill, love you family. God bless you.