Jeremiah 48:1-49:22, 2 Timothy 4:1-22, Psalm 95:1-96:13, Proverbs 26:9-12
Today is the 25th day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today, for the next step forward in the Scriptures this year. And it’s a special day because we will conclude Paul’s second letter to Timothy in today’s reading. And as we mentioned when we began this letter, this is the final writings of the apostle Paul’s life. So, we will come to the final word written by the apostle Paul in today’s reading, but first Jeremiah chapter 48 verse 1 through 49 verse 22.
Commentary:
Okay, so, we concluded Paul’s second letter to Timothy, which is also the final writings of the apostle Paul’s life. And you know, these are the final things that he has to say to Timothy. Obviously, it’s full of melancholy because Paul knows he’s going to die and he’s hoping to see Timothy again. Paul is sending Tychicus to represent…to represent him at the church in Ephesus to give Timothy the opportunity to come, if possible. And he’s even asking Timothy to bring him, bring the warm coat that he left with Carpus in the city of Troas, right, so winter’s coming and he’s in a dungeon and his execution is eminent. And yeah, so there’s just a lot of melancholy in all that. And it’s within that that we have the famous quotation “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race.” So, Paul’s kind of final instructions to Timothy, are listen, things aren’t always going to be good, people will abandon you, people are going to say all kinds of things and teach all kinds of things, and you need to be patient and just continue to teach the truth, even when people you know, even when people shop around looking for, for someone to tell them what they want to hear. You need to just patiently continue to teach the truth, and you’re gonna have to endure some suffering. It may get rocky out here. Just consider yourself a missionary and devote yourself to this work and keep your head clear. And then Paul says, my life is coming to an end and it’s now time for me to be poured out as a sacrifice to God. I have fought the good fight, I have completed the race, I have kept the faith. That verse has always flattened me ever since I really began to understand the context of this letter. When I began to understand that…that it had come down to abandonment, that this great apostle Paul who we revere and who is responsible for so much of the New Testament that we read, that it all came down to a dungeon with winter coming on and pretty much everyone gone. And Paul warns Timothy, and he talks about these kinds of things in his other letters, that this is not an unopposed life. That even though the good news of the Gospel is the hope of the human species and…and the integration of God, and people can once again happen, and this world could begin to flourish. Most people are going to ignore this, and some are going to be hostile. And Jesus warned the same thing. So, Paul’s words are humbling and give us a lot to contemplate. Cause this is a guy that is going to be executed, who’s able to say I did what I came to do. I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race. And the way that I did that wasn’t through grand spectacles, it was that I kept the faith until the very end. I want that to be true of my life. Don’t you? Like, at the essence, at the core, no matter what happens, I want that to be true. And it’s pretty clear that Paul wanted that to be true in his life and he wanted to transfer that conviction to Timothy so that it might be true of him and that as this letter spread around, that it might be true of all. And so, here are the final words of the apostle Paul. And may they be spoken over us each. The Lord be with you. His goodwill be with all of you.
Prayer:
And so, Father, we come into that. It is a baseline heart cry that we can fight the good fight, that we can finish the race, that we can keep the faith. And we have to also acknowledge that so many times we’ve measured that by how we, how much we feel you are blessing us and that has become our measure, when we see that that isn’t the measure at all. When we look at the apostle Paul and when we look at Your life, Jesus, that isn’t the measure at all. This isn’t a fight for how much exterior blessing we can have, it is a fight for our heart and soul. And so, as battered as we might be with the circumstances that swirl around us, we regroup and center ourselves in You once again. We stand up once again and start fighting the good fight, and we will finish this race, and we will keep this faith by the power of your Holy Spirit, and by no other power is it possible. So, come Holy Spirit and help us to move forward as we honor those who have gone before us and finished the race. Those who have finished the race by giving their lives so that we might have this treasure. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Alright, I’m gonna steal one from my buddy KSD. Hey, my amazing DAB family. It’s not KSD, it’s Spark. And I wanted to call for Steph from Kentucky. Sister, you’re telling me how you’re, you’re having difficulties with your mom. I’m just gonna be real quick, I got a minute and 30 seconds and I can talk to a fence post. So, I didn’t get along with my parents until I was like 30 years old. Never, never got along. We fought every step of the way. I have my kids; I met my wife later. But I just fought it and I fought it and I fought it. And there’s things about your parents that you’ll never figure out. You’ll never be able to decipher but what I can tell you is, when you surrender and you go, this is not so much about me. They’re gonna dig you, they’re gonna be hard on you, what they expect of you. And when you go, this is not so much about me and you’ve actually had an opportunity to sit down with them and speak with them and they realize that you’ve found God, something changes. And I want you to know that. Keep your faith in God. Something changes. And we can’t point fingers, but we can look at ourselves. That’s all Jesus told us to do. I love you sister. I hope everything goes well.
Hey guys, it’s Eyes of a Dove. I just got off work and met my husband to go minister to my dad, Jerry. He’s in a Christian home. He’s the only client for elderly care and he suffers with Alzheimer’s. And his hair had gotten very, very long. I used to cut my boys’ hair when they were young because we couldn’t afford to take them to a barber shop. And I got fairly good at it. And my husband’s mom, when she went through breast cancer, I moved in with her for a few months. I had the honor of cutting her hair before it fell out, for her too. And my mom was a hairdresser growing up and so, I think I just might have a little bit of her talent somewhere in my fingertips. And somehow, I was able to cut my dad’s hair for the first time in my life. And it was so hard for him, the clippers and the, he was flailing around and yelling about the Army and thinking about his leg. He had actually been in a motorcycle wreck in 1994, unrelated to military. But he associates it in his head. He was yelling about cutting and he didn’t know it was me. And it was just hard. It was hard. I cut his hair lovingly, as quickly as I could. And he does look so much better. But yeah, he swinged a couple times and almost got me. I’m just driving home missing my dad. Wishing I could hear him say I love you sweety. I miss my dad, you guys. Even though he’s alive, he’s not really there right now. Just kind of upset. I love you guys. Bye.
Hello, this is Rob from Oklahoma. I felt the need to call in for a lady, I believe her name was Marsha from Nebraska. She was scared and she was going to have surgery, I believe at the end of September. And they were going to, she had cancer, and they were going to have to remove from her spleen and her stomach and her intestines, I believe, and one other place. But I just want her to know that we are praying for her and to encourage her and to strengthen her. I understand how she might have the fear and just to overcome it in Christ name.
Hello DAB family, this is Bob from Phoenix, calling again. I’m a loyal listener, everyday I listen to Brian’s readings as well as everybody’s prayers. And I pray along with you all. I think we really are indeed a worldwide family. I’ve called in several times over the last week about my difficulties I’ve gotten myself into. Asking for prayer and I think really, we don’t really surrender ourselves until we’ve been brought to our knees. And I think I’ve been brought to my knees. You know, pride comes before destruction. And I really think that I’m a seeker. I haven’t given my life over to Christ yet. I haven’t surrendered and I’m really asking for prayer so that I can fully surrender my life over to Jesus. Fully have the Holy Spirit indwell within me. Everyday I ask Jesus to teach me how to pray and to teach me how to love him. To teach me to surrender. And so, I’m asking worldwide DAB community to please pray for me. Pray for me that I’ll have a breakthrough, that I can hear Jesus, I can hear the Holy Spirit talking to me. And then I can fully surrender my life over to him because I think that’s the only way I’m ever gonna have peace. The peace that transcends all understanding. And so, as I pray for you all, I hope you’ll pray for me. Again, this DAB family means so much to me. It’s really become part or my life. So, I want to bless you all. I pray with you and I appreciate your prayers. Thank you. Bye.