Isaiah 12:1-14:32, 2 Corinthians 13:1-14, Psalm 57:1-11, Proverbs 23:9-11
Today is the 13th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be together, gathered here around the Global Campfire for another, another step forward on our journey. And our journey has led us well, it’s led us from Genesis, all the way into the book of Isaiah, here in the Old Testament, and we’re, we’re well into it. It’s a big book. So, we got a ways to go but today we will read chapters 12, 13, and 14.
Commentary:
Okay, so, in today’s reading, we concluded the letter to the Corinthians, known as Second Corinthians. And I mean, it’s not that long of a letter. So, we’ve moved through it and it would be hard not to notice that Paul spends a bunch of time in this letter defending himself. He, he, he’d been dealing with a bunch of different power grabs and mixed messaging in the church from outsiders, and all kinds of people questioning whether or not he had authority. And according to Paul’s way of thinking they were essentially questioning him while inflating or boasting about themselves, bolstering their…their own pedigree. Which then puts Paul in this weird situation where it’s like part of the human condition, where it’s like okay, do we have to play this game? Is this really a game of comparison. Is this the only way you’ll understand this? And so, then Paul has to kind of reluctantly boast about…about his own trials in ministry. And he does that, he does not at length but then he comes to this conclusion, that if there really were something that anybody could boast in, especially Paul, it would be his own weaknesses and the strength of Christ that is within. I suppose it’s not a stretch at all for us to understand that our Lord Jesus faced the same kind of scenarios, dealt with the same kinds of things. He was accused of being like an agent of the devil. He was often asked to prove that he had authority by performing a sign or a wonder. He was often questioned about who gave Him the right. Like, by whose authority are you doing these things, by whose authority are you saying these things. It’s the same kind of stuff Paul was dealing with. And that gives us a chance to kind of, kind of think about our own lives. How would we respond if we were asked about who gave us the authority to say the things that we are saying, and do the things that we are doing? Or if our, if our commitment to the Savior were to be questioned. Or would anybody even notice, or would anybody even care? I mean, our lives being transformed in visible ways that we can see, and we are in this process of ever-growing and being sanctified. Or are we standing back and looking for the proof, the pedigree? Paul brings his letter to the Corinthians in for a landing and closes it by inviting the people, his readers, to reflect upon their own lives. And I quote from Paul, “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test.” Paul is inviting us to test whether Jesus is within us in a way that our existence has been changed. We have been fundamentally altered; we are going in a completely different direction. For Paul, this is necessary because we have been made new, who we were was crucified with Christ and we live in Christ, and that reality should be reflected in an ever-increasing way in our lives. Lot’s of people have lots of different persuasions and views of Paul but, to this very day, Paul was recognized as living what he believed. And his…his devotion to Jesus and his commitment to the gospel, I mean, that’s memorialized in the New Testament. A great portion of the New Testament is written by this guy. He believed what he taught. He was loyal to what he believed all the way unto his execution. What Paul tells us throughout his writings is that he has found that he must trust entirely in God for his physical needs and for his spiritual needs. And when he invites his readers to examine themselves, this is what we’re talking about. Where does our hope lie? Are we being transformed by ever-increasing faith and trust and reliance, and loyalty to Jesus? Let’s give it some thought today.
Prayer:
And Jesus, we invite You into that. There is no question about Your loyalty to us, that’s the thing. Like, You loved us onto death and You love us into life and You will love us forever. It’s not You, it’s us and we are invited to examine ourselves today. And so, come, Holy Spirit and…and bring the light of truth into the dark recesses of our hearts. We open ourselves to You. This is a time where the basement is open, the attic is open. The closets are open. Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us into all truth, and lead us into Jesus more deeply, we ask in His name. Amen.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good morning, DAB. This is House of Joy Café from Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. How often I want to call and I’m just not able to record without losing it. So, I wrote it down. I’m able to bring this request to you now. On Tuesday, Auguste 29th our brother, sister-in-law, and disabled kids came to take us on a boat ride. On the way home, both kids went to sleep on the boat. Their daughter woke up bringing ringing her bell purse, we were almost home. And their son woke up at our dock in the arms of Jesus Christ. Please pray for our family, specifically dad, Craig is his name, mom Mary, and sister Megan. Thank you and God bless you.
Hi, Daily Audio Bible family. This is Chelsea from Oregon. I had called in a couple weeks ago asking for prayers of strength in regards to having my son. I had previously had miscarriages in the past and getting down to the wire of delivering, my baby was starting to get me nervous. So, I had called in and asking for prayers of strength and peace. And I just wanted to let you know that on September 1st, my son, Parker James Davis was born into the world, rapidly and intensely. But he’s here and he’s so amazing. And I feel so blessed and I feel so humbly grateful for everyone that said a prayer in regards to my needs and my family. As the time went waiting for this little guy to be born, it was such a special treat to listen to the, the Daily Audio Bible episodes and listen to the prayers of others. And while I was praying for other people that needed help, listening in to somebody that took the time to pray for me, it literally helped me just push through on until God decided it was time for him to make his entrance. And man, it really helped. And I just wanna say thank you so much because it means a lot to have somebody care that you don’t even know. So, I just wanted to say thank you and I’m so grateful as I’m recording this. I’m holding my little baby and it’s so amazing. So, thank you so much. And my heart will be going out to anyone else in prayer. Cause it helped me so much. So, thank you again. Bye.
Hello DAB community, it’s Morning Lift. Reaching out to say thank you all for your prayers. I really appreciate your continued prayers for me and my wife and my kids. And the reconciliation of our marriage. You all know that I went to court last month on the 29th of August and had a good legal result. But I fear the relational damage that’s been done by this court hearing is just significant. My attorney told me that during that day, that she had no concern for my reconciliation. That her only concern was the legal matters. And then she proceeded to cross examine my wife in a way that just destroyed her on the stand and made her cry and it was the hardest thing for me to watch. I don’t ever want to see that again. I don’t ever want to walk through that again. As a result, I’ve decided to retain new legal counsel and my new attorney’s recommendation is to send a letter to my wife. And my wife’s attorney’s asking for a cease fire. Asking to take some time and go to marriage counseling. And I’m praying, Lord, that my wife’s heart would be softened and that she would be agreeable to this idea. And I ask family that you would join me in prayer for my wife. That she would agree to this pause on the legal pursuit and a return to counseling to see if we can process through our conflict issues. There’s just been so much conflict and strife. And it’s just so hard. And I ask that you would bless us, God, that You would re-unify us, that You would at least help us to be more agreeable and work together as co-parents. I lift this up in the name of Jesus Christ and I pray that Your will would be done, God, in my life and my family and my marriage. In Jesus name.
Hey family, it’s Searching for Beauty. It’s, I actually don’t know the date, September 10th today. I just wanted to give you a bit of an update. I had round 4 of my targeted treatment for stage 4 cancer. And the blood work they did the day before, so it’s showing the results of three rounds of treatment. Now as my bone and liver metastases marker, blood marker at high normal regions. So, I don’t know exactly what that means but I know it’s good. I think it means that the cancer isn’t actively spreading, and these treatments are working. I have a CT scan for tomorrow which is the 11th. And I guess we’ll know more after that. I’m feeling pretty good. It’s been a bit of a wild ride the last couple of weeks. My older daughter got herself involved in a very dangerous lifestyle and I had to find her another place to live while having my younger one stay somewhere else until we can do that. A lot of moving parts in that. Yeah, finding a place. She needs to still find work, where she’s living now. And I’m hoping to stay in touch with her frequently. If you could please just keep her in your prayers. And my younger one at home here, we’re still probably in an element of danger but we know that God is protecting us. I thank you so much for all of your prayers. I do pray for all of you. Especially right now Liza, Philippians 4 and Danny from Oregon. God bless ya’ll. Bye Bye.