Ezekiel 21:1-22:31; Hebrews 10:1-17; Psalms 108:1-13;
Proverbs 27:12
Today is the 10th day of
November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here
with you today. And both of those things are totally true. I am Brian and it is
great to be here with you today as we take the next step forward in the
adventure that we’re on through the Bible this year. And our journey leads us
back into the book of Ezekiel and back into the book of Hebrews when we get to
the New Testament. So, first, Ezekiel chapter 21 verse 1 through 22 verse 31. We’re
reading from the New
Living translation this week.
Commentary:
Okay. In the book of Hebrews today, things
continue to unfold and blossom like a flower before us as the greater context
materializes, the greater story emerges. It’s been emerging all along, but it’s
like we’re at this vista now. And it’s disruptive because it’s a true paradigm
shift and we’ve been talking about it all along, but it’s explicit. The old
system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good
things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that
system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able
to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. On the other hand,
Jesus came and His one sacrifice is for all time and sacrificial offerings are
no longer required. We kind of talked about how this is like a paradigm shift.
So, kind of, controversial and troubling on the one hand, but if it were true,
what an utter relief it would be. And we talked about this yesterday. And today
we see this is explicitly what’s being said. So, you have to imagine how Hebrew
people, who had the Mosaic law baked into their culture, who were trying to
live right in devout, would have difficulty embracing this because their whole lives
have been taught a different way. And now they kind of to open up their eyes
and wake up to something new that God is doing in the world and realize that
their the first ones in. So, it’s not like this group mentality, where
something is, over time, been brought into culture like we experience now in
our faith. They’re, like, the first ones. So, this is a big step of faith
forward. So, like, if someone came along and started saying, okay, all of you
Gentile believers, you now need to practice animal sacrifice. God is doing a
new thing and we’re going back to the old way. But it’s a new thing and you
need to offer these sacrifices. Right? It would be hard for us to get our minds
around in the same way that would be difficult for them to make that step
forward, even though, even though this was supposed to happen, even though
there was precedent for this new thing to come. All kinds of new things are
coming down the pipe, just like they are now. And, so, we can see the tension
in this that we don’t normally see without context because this is just a
doctrinal statement about our faith. Like, we understand these things, that like,
that Jesus was the sacrifice once and for all. His blood covers all sins for
all time. We no longer need to sacrifice. Like, that’s the normal way of
thinking. But if it weren’t. Right? We’d have to take some time to be able to
move in that direction prayerfully. And yet, the writer of Hebrews is skilled
enough to continually look back into the sacred Hebrew Scriptures. So, when we were
talking about Melchizedek, we were talking about Psalm 110, but all throughout
there’s these references back to prophetic utterances that are revealing that
this is what’s happening and it’s happening right now. So, Psalm 40 is quoted
today as a prophetic utterance supporting what they’re saying. Jeremiah chapter
31 is quoted today as a prophetic utterance to show - this is what’s happening.
And for we, who are so far removed from this time, like, we can get the book of
Romans and we get the book of Hebrews together and read them and go like, there,
there’s the complete doctrine of the Christian faith. But what’s really going
on historically is that Paul is out moving among the Gentiles, the gospel is
spreading like wildfire among the Gentiles, the Jewish people, Hebrew people,
are having a much more difficult time embracing this, and for the most part
they’re not embracing this, but this letter to the Hebrews is intended to be
circulated, and wrestled with, and talked about among those people. This is the
document to those people to explain all of this in a very Hebrew centric
context. So, it’s not just a book of theological understandings and doctrines.
It’s a very missional letter, offering language to explain the good news to a
people who had rejected Jesus at face value, but because of all that came
afterward were considering. So, we have the book of Hebrews as the basis for so
much Christian doctrine, but the story that kind of lingers here, behind the
story, is the tension that arises when God begins to do a new thing. So, if we
go back to the time when the book of Hebrews was written, God is doing a new
thing and the writer of Hebrews is using the Scriptures to show how that works.
And in the process, it’s setting aside old things. In this case, the whole
sacrificial system. But God does new things when He chooses to do new things.
And we see the ways in which we struggle to move forward as God does new things
inside of us or around us or among us. And we’ll start telling each other our
doctrine stories to explain away what God might be doing when it starts to mess
with a little tidy box of theology. And all the sudden we become just like the
Hebrew people that this was written to. And, so there’s attention in a
disruption exposed there behind the story. So, ultimately, we have to learn to
hold onto our theology and doctrine loosely and hold onto the Father and the
guidance of his Holy Spirit tightly when believe God is beginning to do a new
thing. And that is our prayer.
Prayer:
Father, like our brothers and sisters of old, we
struggle. We try to put You in a box. We try to explain You in every way that
we can. We try to make doctrine around it and these are our best efforts from
finite minds and hearts to explain the infinite and Almighty. And yet, it is
this infinite and Almighty Spirit that is within us, the same Spirit that
raised Christ from the dead. And, so, we live within that tension and that
mystery. And often we’ll hang on to what we think that we know more tightly
than we’ll hold onto You and we’ll trust what we think we know more than will
trust You. And the same invitation given to the Hebrew people in the book of
Hebrews at that time is still given to us - the opportunity to be in a
personal, first-hand, first person relationship with You. And, so, what can we
do but what we do most every day? Invite You. Come Holy Spirit. Well up within
us. Spill out from us. Illuminate our path. Lead us into all truth. It is not
information about You that we seek. It is to You, Your heart, Your essence, that
we seek. And You have sought out the same thing in us from the moment of our
birth – union, collaboration, relationship. So, come Holy Spirit. We pray in
Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com
is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around
here. And there has been
a lot going on around here lately.
So, let’s talk about an update, a date, and a new
resource announcement.
First, the update on the Global Campfire Initiative.
So, almost a week ago now, we deployed the first beta version of the new app to
500 people that were part of the Global Campfire Initiative. And that feedback
has been invaluable. Throwing this out into the wild, even a limited wild, out
into the world of multiple phones and platforms has been really helpful. So,
those of you who are participating have helped us identify a couple of really
key things and those are being worked on as we speak. And we’ll be pushing out
an update, but you’ll be getting an email, but we’ll be pushing out an update
as soon as we can, fairly shortly. And our goal is to kind of get this into the
wide open world so everybody, anybody, can listen by mid-December. So, thank
you, everyone, everyone. Thank you for your prayers as we keep taking steps
forward and moving toward this.
And then the date, the date is November 19th.
And it will be the last travel date for us for the year as we move around the
country and speak the Sneezing Jesus message. We’ll be in Louisiana, in the
Shreveport area, Bossier City, at River Valley church and that will be Sunday
the 19th of November. So, you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com. And if you’re in
the area, love nothing more than to see your face and hug your neck. And, so,
come, say hello.
And then the resource announcement [clapping and
rubbing hands], that’s me clapping my hands and rubbing them together because I’m excited
about this. So, several years ago, I mean we’ve been doing coffee, our own Windfarm
coffee, for many, many years. And several years ago, I was on a quest to find
the best possible thing I could find to drink my coffee out of and I ended up
finding it in Oregon at a local coffee roaster. And, so, I bought this tumbler,
kind of mug thermosee thing. Abd I wasn’t sure, it was kind of expensive, I
wasn’t sure, but I bought it and then it became a favorite thing because it
would keep my coffee, like I could pour a cup coffee early in the morning and
still have hot coffee at lunchtime. And so, I looked at the brand. The brand
was Clean Canteen. And I was like, oh, I know this brand, like, I see this brand
around. And just started wondering, can we do this? And, so, a couple years ago,
called Clean Canteen and yup, we could do this, and we made our first batch of
Clean Canteen’s and offered them and they were gone in like two days. But
because they’re kind of expensive to get and we don’t hold onto inventory like
that, we didn’t have them again for a while. And then we got them again later
in the year and then they were gone in two days. So, we get them a couple of
times a year. And that’s the point. And, so, we got them earlier this year and
they were gone, like usual. And now we’re getting to the end of the year and we
have them back, but, but these are a little different. We’ve created a special
edition. So, in the past, we’ve used the silver, the food grade stainless steel
that these are made out of, they are double-walled and insulated. So, we’ve
always kept that stainless look with the Daily Audio Bible logo imprinted on the
side. This special edition Clean Canteen is a beautiful deep red color. Roasted
pepper is the name of the color, which is one of the primary colors that we use
a Daily Audio Bible. So, it’s this roasted pepper color with the Daily Audio
Bible logo in white. And it’s a gorgeous. I’m literally looking at it right now.
Like, I always have my coffee to my left every time I’m doing the Daily Audio
Bible and I’ve been drinking out of this new one and I love it. It’s got their 2.0
version of their café lid so that it’s much more spill proof than in the past and
it just works. It is the it’s best thing I found to drink out of. It will keep
your coffee hot for like six hours. It’ll keep your, like, your iced tea cold
for like 24 hours. I’ve actually tested that. I put ice water in mine before
and come back a day later, 24 hours later and there was still ice in it. So,
anyway, we have these. They are in stock on the Daily Audio Bible shop. This is
a special edition and when they’re gone they’re gone. And we won’t be getting
anymore Clean Canteens until next year. So, those of you who been writing in
and saying when are you going to have them, I want to get some for gifts for
Christmas, this your chance. And those of you who have just been waiting for
them to be back in stock for yourself, they are in stock right now but they
won’t last but a couple of days. So, you can check them out and see what they
look like at dailyaudiobible.com in the shop.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio
Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link, it’s
on the homepage. If you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill,
TN 37174.
And
as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number
to dial.
And
that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here
tomorrow.
Community Prayers and
Praise Reports
Hi this is Elaine from Victoria. I love you so much Daily Audio Bible.
And God is so faithful. First of all, I want to thank God for all my Christian brothers
and sisters that are with the Daily Audio Bible. And this is what really caught
me at church yesterday. In my distress, I called to the Lord and he answered
me. This is from Jonah 2:2. And he did answer. He gave me Ephesians 6, putting
on the full armor of God. He stands when the enemy attacks. And Ephesians 6:10,
be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power put on the full armor of God so that
you can take a stand against the devil’s schemes. So, Daily Audio Bible Family,
we are covered. We are covered by the
blood of the Lamb. God bless you, all of you. I love you. I thank you for your
prayers. Thank you, Brian for your love of family, God’s family. And Praise You
Jesus for this. In Jesus precious and Holy name, cover all my Daily Audio Bible
family. Amen.
Hi this is Tony and I am calling because today is my one year anniversary
and I didn’t know exactly when it was until I heard the reading today, November
6th. Basically, Ezekiel 16. And it resonates with me so much. And
that is because I feel that I am attacked a lot. And those of you who are
walking closely with the Lord know. And when we are walking with Him and trying
to, you know, be that light, we are going to encounter a counter force, a
negative counterforce. So…that’s…I know what this is about. And, so, I know also
too, when we do it well then we will also find joy amidst the suffering. So, I
just say that just to encourage people on. I just wanted to call…today is my
anniversary. The other thing is, I think I have a name, and it’s Facilitator. I
think I’m a facilitator for the Lord for health, primarily in mind, body, and
soul. The other thing is, I’m praying for people, but I wanted to call out
Rayna in California with fibromyalgia. There is hope. And I’m going to tell
you’ve got health. You may email me if you wish at toni.m.08@gmail.com…and I can give you…but there is hope. I know people whose pain
has gone away. So, God bless everyone. And Brian, we will be supporting you
with…growing that 2% number…and supporting the enterprise…the global
enterprise. Bye-bye.
When the Jews went into exile someone left the tended lamb
They mingled with the Canaanites and that went against God’s plan
The other Jews looked down on them and despised them very much
They even called them filthy dogs who were unworthy of Your touch
These people were called Samaritans, they were ostracized and kept away
In much the way the Ku Klux Klan treats all nonwhites today
Can you imagine telling the grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan the parable
about the good black man
things would quickly deteriorate, you’d have a situation out of hand
But Jesus is the master and when He tells it, it gets told
Even in the things you don’t want to hear would be worth their weight in
gold
There’s the legal and the illegal
There’s honor and there are thieves
Some are Godly and are moral but a true minister believes what’s thine is
mine and what’s mine is thine
In Jesus’ parable both are clearly there
But people in His ministry should always make time to care
Robbers by the wayside
Robbers in the church
Begging in the name of God
Like vultures on a perch
Caveat emptor
let the buyer be ware
The IRS and con men too
Thieves are everywhere
Fleeced like sheep and tossed about, Gods people need to know
That the ones you think who will help you most are the first to tell you
no
Pious and self-righteous, too good to soil their hands
But once they’ve seen light from the ditch they’ll clearly see God’s plans
We need to be good neighbors and help those who are in need
Freely giving of ourselves, true ministers in deed
And not be so caught up in our own rituals that our lives contain no
power
To bind the wounds of those in need which should be our finest hour
Jesus loves all the same
He plainly made that true
His life He gave as a sacrifice
A pattern for me and you
Hello my DAB family this is Mark S. from Sydney Australia. Today’s Tuesday
the 7th of November and I’m calling in for a praise report and
prayer request. The praise report is that this family is so wonderful. There’s
quite a few members in Sydney…if there’s more members in Sydney…and Chris in
the background had organized myself and Ruby get together, which we got
together a few weeks ago and we were able to talk about the DAB and talk about
the Christian life. And the other prayer request I was going to put in was, Ruby’s
been sick. She’s been in the hospital. And she’s come out. She’s still in pain.
So, family if you could kindly pray for her that she fully recovers. And she
did give me permission to talk to other DAB people about it. And can you also
pray, she’s a wonderful Christian lady, and pray that she can find a lovely
Christian man for herself. She’s a young, lovely, Christian lady and she’s trying
to find the right Christian man. So, let’s keep praying for her for recovery
and for her to find a love partner with God. Alright. Thank you. Bye-bye. Love
Mark S. from Sydney Australia. Bye.