Job 20:1-22:30, 2 Corinthians 1:1-11, Psalms 40:11-17, Proverbs 22:2-4
Today is the 26th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today. It’s always great to be around the Global Campfire together. And here we are at the conclusion of another week. So, we get a shiny sparkly new start tomorrow. But his is the time to look back. How did we do? How did we live into this week knowing that there is the grace that we start over again? But that’s tomorrow. Here we are. Let’s bring our week in for a landing together as we take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we have clearly been working through the book of Job, which is what we will continue to do. Job and his friends are continuing to argue at this point. Job is in distress that maybe none of us can really even understand. We can understand suffering, but this is a level that’s pretty severe. And, so, he’s speaking out of his heart from this very, very broken, very broken place but he will not sin against God. And his friends are trying to convince him that he already has. And that’s the problem. So, let’s continue the journey. Job chapters 20, 21, and 22 today.
Introduction to second Corinthians:
Okay. So, yesterday we completed first Corinthians, a letter of Paul to the church in Corinth. So, that means we have some new territory to enter into as we end our week. This is another letter from the apostle Paul sent to the very same people that we just read about. This letter is known as second Corinthians. It’s likely this is Paul’s at least third letter to the Corinthian church because while we were reading through first Corinthians he references an earlier letter. But if there was an earlier letter or…or that if that’s correct we don’t have it. It just hasn’t been preserved or discovered yet. There is pretty much no division among biblical scholars about the authenticity of this letter. There are some scholarly debates about whether it’s a complete letter or if it’s maybe the combination of two different letters because the front half in the back half have different tones. And, so, people who do work with…with texts have observed this and wondered if maybe it’s two letters stitched but we don’t that either. This letter was probably written on the third missionary journey of Paul and Titus who Paul writes a letter to. And we’ll read that a little bit later on our journey. But Titus who is a son in the faith to Paul, had visited the Corinthian church and then he later met up with Paul during Paul’s travels. And, so, Paul got to hear this direct feedback from the church in Corinth of the impact of the letter that he had just written, the one that we just read and that prompted Paul to write the letter that we will begin in a few minutes. So, let’s just remember, Corinth was a large city, a cosmopolitan city, a city of trade, a large establishment in the Roman Empire. It was definitely a melting pot like a big city would be. So, lots of ideas and persuasions and faiths like a…like a secular city would be. And, so, this was…this was in the church culture as well and there was a lot of division. And a small group of members were playing early church politics to get power. So, Paul’s authority over the church was being questioned. The things that he was putting in place to govern the church were being questioned. His apostleship was being questioned. Even the gospel that he preached was being questioned. And, so, that’s the context for the letter of second Corinthians. And the things that Paul’s dealing within this letter, they’re still around. That was a couple thousand years ago. So, it might look a little bit different, but the but the issues that Paul is bringing up remain with us until today. And, so, let’s invite the Holy Spirit into what we’re about to read and to allow the Holy Spirit to shine the light of truth into our hearts. And, so, with that, second Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 through 11.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We love You Lord. We thank You for bringing us into this new territory of second Corinthians, even as we continue our journey through Job. Come Holy Spirit. Continue to lead and direct us on the paths that we should walk on the narrow path that leads to life as we end this week and prepare to step into a new one. We pray this in the name of Jesus. 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.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Coming soon…