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Daily Transcripts
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06/28/2015
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2 Kings 13:1-14:29 ~ Acts 18:23-19:12 ~ Psalm 146:1-10 ~ Proverbs 18:2-3
Today is the 28th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It is great to be here with you as we launch ourselves full force into a brand new week. Good times on the road this weekend. Long but good out at the Creation Festival but glad to be back in the saddle for a few days, back in the rolling hills of Tennessee. We will read from the Common English Bible this week and we are working our way through the books of Kings.
Commentary:
So we’re in the thick of it here in 2 Kings. I realize it can get tedious because not only are we keeping track of the divided kingdom, so there is a northern kingdom of Israel and a southern kingdom of Judah, and we’re kind of bopping through all of their kings, their conflicts with each other, their conflicts with other kings and with some kings, especially where there was a prophetic voice involved, we have a number of stories, a larger, wider arc of narrative, and in others we have just a sampling, a little tiny survey, the fact that they were a king and maybe they fought some battles and some things happened. It can get like you're trying to follow a timeline, a linear timeline and it can get confusing. But something that we certainly can dive into is the fact that we are watching the disassembly of everything that has been created. We are literally watching the erosion happen.
So we followed this journey, this path with these people before they were ever even thought of, when there was only Abraham and there was only a promise. We followed them all the way into Egypt. We followed them through the desert. We followed them into the Promised Land. We saw them have judges. We saw them have the first king and then we saw them reach their apex, their pinnacle under Solomon, but as soon as that happened, as soon as Solomon died, this divided kingdom happened. It was a literal divided kingdom, but also a metaphor because there was division among them all. It had begun to erode everything.
So in the northern kingdom, the larger kingdom known as Israel, where the capital city is now Samaria, we keep seeing the kings show up on the scene and they follow after the way of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. We keep hearing that name because he was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. So when the scriptures say that the next king succeeding followed in the ways of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, what we’re referring to here is this blended mixture of the worship of God blended with idolatry. Jeroboam, son of Nebat, set up the temples in Dan, in Bethel with the golden calf in them so people wouldn’t go to Jerusalem to worship. This had been a long-running thing in the northern kingdom of Israel.
Down in Jerusalem, things aren’t much better. The temple is there. The history is there. The connection to King David is there, but King Solomon had set up idolatry all over the place, shrines, high places for his wives to use as worship, which is what pulled him away from God before he died. So the same thing is going on down in Jerusalem although the people in Jerusalem and in Judah, since they have the temple, they think that they have more of a closer connection, but as we watch king after king after king, we see some reformer kings who come and save the day, save a generation, but we’re watching a decline. Spoiler alert is that there will come a time where there is no Israel and there is no Judah. It will all be gone. But we haven’t gotten there.
So as tedious as maybe trying to keep up with names of kings can be, may we press into what is going on in the erosion of the cultures around them as they grow and adapt and intermingle and become something else. It is not so much the cultural change that is the problem. It is not change that is the issue. Change is a constant. We’re constantly changing. It is the attempt to continue to either co-opt God into their plans, like we co-opt God into our life plan, or set aside God in an attempt to be our own lord. We’re just simply not made for that to work. It just won't work. People are made for God. We’re made in his image. We’re made to walk with him. This fast-paced move through the kings allows us to see what it looks like as we attempt as people to sidestep, to ignore, to not walk in connection, in collaboration, in relationship with God.
Prayer:
Father, we have history and we have the stories of our own lives that prove this to be true. We cannot navigate without you. We just can’t and so we ask your forgiveness once again for our attempts. We come before you acknowledging your sovereignty, acknowledging our heart's desire to be intimately connected with you. You are our very source of life. Forgive us for all of our false attempts to arrange for life without you involved. Forgive us for blaming you for the repercussions of those choices. We come before you and invite your Holy Spirit fully to be an active participant in our lives. This is our desire. This is your desire. So come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website, home base. It is where you find out what is going on around here. We’re on the summer festival tour right now. We’ve got one down and four festivals to go and that has been fun. It is a bit of travel, a lot of work, but a lot of fun too.
The other thing is July 7th is the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk 2015, a day that we set at least in part aside to go somewhere beautiful near or far away from wherever it is we are in the world and walk with God. I mean, to take the spiritual metaphor of walking through life with God into actual action and going for a walk with God, whether that be just on your lunch break or whether you can actually set aside the day and consecrate the whole day to that and go somewhere beautiful and hike or just walk along a lake, spend all the time that it takes to pour out all of your heart to the one who loves you desperately, the one who would die to have the chance to take a long walk with you.
When you think about it, when was the last time you had the chance to set aside that kind of time? That you could just devote, waste with someone who loves you so desperately? To just be with him, putting into action what our lives are supposed to look like? Just go spend the time somewhere beautiful, somewhere that reminds you of the beauty of his creation and the lavishness that he has bestowed on us in giving us this lovely planet to live on. That is the idea. Just go for a walk and walk with God.
What makes this a community thing is that we’re doing it individually, but we’re doing it together all over the world. So we just say, look, snap a picture somewhere, wherever it is that you go whether that is just on a little trail by your house or whether you’ve gone somewhere that you find very beautiful and special. Snap a picture, take a short video or whatever. Post it up to the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page which is www.Facebook.com/DailyAudioBible and all of a sudden we have these little windows into each other's lives. That is fantastically fun. I mean, I love watching them come in. All of the years that we’ve been doing this, I love watching them come in. They make me smile. So plan for that July 7th, Daily Audio Bible Long Walk 2015.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at the website, www.DailyAudioBible.com. There is a button at the top right-hand corner of the home page. Thank you for your partnership. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
If you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.
That’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hey, this is Molly in Atlanta. I just heard Amy, now from East Tennessee rather than Columbus, GA call in and Amy, I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be praying for you. I'm glad you're still part of the DAB Community. Glad to hear your voice again and very happy to hear that there is a new man in your life and that your son has had a turnaround since your husband died a year ago. Just excited to see what happens in your life and proud of you for being so courageous in the face of these struggles and some of the naysayers that you mentioned who maybe aren’t ready to see you be in a relationship yet. But I'm really happy for you and we’ll just be praying that God will guide you through these rough times and into this next season of your life. I also wanted to mention for those of you…I’ve heard a few people call in lately and mention that they didn’t hear their prayer request played. I just wanted to make sure everybody is aware of the community prayer podcast that is pretty much all prayer that happens every weekend. I know that sometimes we forget about that one, so if you're not listening to that, maybe it got played on there. Alright, I'm praying for everybody as you call in and listening to all of you and just hope that everybody calls in with praise reports. Love you all. Bye.
Hey everybody. This is Pelham in Cullman calling to get prayer for a couple of different things. The church that I'm involved with, Grace Chapel here in Cullman that is 2 months old, maybe a little more than 2 months old now is on choir tour and they are traveling all over the country. They are going north from here. We’re in Alabama and they are going up to St. Louis, up in that area, Chicago, I believe. There are a couple of other cities and I'm not really sure where, but they are traveling. Stephen Skinner, who is a regular listener, has taken Daily Audio Bible cards with him to hand out to people who need the Lord. He is praying that the Lord puts people in need in his path. So I want to pray for him and all the kids that are with him for safety, protection, and to reach those who need the Lord. Molly is leaving the Foundry today. She has been there 5 months now. I’ve been waiting for her and she is getting out. She will be coming home on July 6th. She is doing stuff with the wedding until then. She is down in Birmingham with her mother, so please everyone pray for Molly for strength because I know the enemy is going to come at her. Molly is fully trained and fully aware because I have battled this enemy in the same way. I’ve been through the Foundry multiple times. I spent about 4 years of my life in recovery off drugs and addiction and, of course, my wife is going to have to battle the same thing because we’ve chosen for something greater. So she is leaving the program today. She has been there 5 months. We’re getting married August 15th and the Holy Spirit has put it on me to be pure until then. That's 54 more days from today. Y’all pray for me. Thank you so much. Goodbye.
Hi guys. How you doing? It's John. Just wanted to call in and really confess I have been needing to call, just haven’t called. Trying to fight it on my own and just failing miserably. I really just need your prayers. I’ve been calling for a while about a failing business, failing marriage, failing across the board actually and it has come down to the point where now we are on the brink of losing everything. I’ve got no more options. I can’t do it by myself. I just haven’t…I don’t know, so many people who have such bigger problems, but I really need your help and get down on my knees and begging God and begging you, if you could just say a little prayer for me to help us get through this hard time because we’re losing our house, business and the whole 9 yards. Starting over at 62 isn’t exactly what I was thinking about, but anyway, really do appreciate your help and apologize for my call. That's it. I want to express my prayers for Jill and her Bell's palsy. I had that. I posted on your Facebook page. I got neurocranial rhinoplasty, balloons they shoot up your nose and rearrange your skull structure. That cured me of Bell's palsy. Really, like almost instantly and it took care of Dana's dad as well. I’ll say prayers as well as check that out. In addition, I just want to let everybody know that I'm praying for you every day even though you haven’t heard from me in a long time. It's been a lot of pain, guys. A lot of pain, a lot of __________, a lot of running, a lot of hiding, and the road has just run into a place that is just terribly small, it feels like, __________. But anyway, I want to thank the prayer warriors for all they do for everybody who calls in and it’s so great that we can open up and ask each other for prayer and know that it is going straight to the ears of God. Anyway, God bless you all. Take care. Have a blessed day. Bye.
Hi, good morning family. It's Drew from the Bay Area. I love you, my brothers and sisters. I want to say a special thanks for Shannon from Washington. I'm praying for you and that God would allow you to keep your home, whatever his will is. Praying for you. Thank you for your prayers for me. I'm calling in today because I had a mishap. I had an accident yesterday with driving with Uber. I pulled up next to a bike lane and cracked my door open and a segueway, an elderly gentleman on a 2-wheeled standing platform, he hit the corner of my door and went flying into the street. So if you could pray for that man. I can’t read his name off the driver's license picture that I took, but God knows who he is. He was screaming profanities and he calmed down and he didn’t seem to be hurt, but if you could pray for that man, that things would go well. And pray for me and the possible different line of work. Driving around in San Francisco is a very dangerous, risky way to make a living. So anyway, thank you family. I love you. God bless you. Oh, and Brian, praying for you out on your festival tour. So glad to hear what you're doing and Walta from Liberia, so great to hear your son. I'm glad David is there with you. Just so happy for you.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Tina from Knoxville. I just want to say, Jason, I believe your name was Jason from Los Angeles, you have really been on my mind, your heartfelt prayer request. I just want to let you know that I am praying for you. I am praying for you. You just sounded so desperate. Please, please, Jason, whatever you do, don’t give up hope. Don’t give up hope. Just reach out. Reach out to whoever you can and there is always hope in the Lord, always hope in the Lord, Jason. Just know that people are praying for you out there, praying out there for you to fix your family and to heal you and your family and that is what God wants for you. I know he wants all good things for you, Jason. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who has promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23. Almighty God, I know you're supremely faithful. Today I ask you to restore hope to the hopeless. Plant seeds of hope in hearts that have lain empty for so long. Send down showers of hope on those struggling with illness, persecution or difficult relationships, hope that comes from you. It is hope with the power to sustain us when nothing around us seems the least bit hopeful. Knowing the source of all hope, may we never be found hopeless. I hope you know none of you out there are hopeless. All you have to do is turn to God. And I just want to thank Brian and Jill for this wonderful, wonderful forum and Brian, I just wanted to wish you also safe travels on all your journeys that you have coming up here, for all the fun times that you are going to be out on the road. May God keep you and keep you safe. We will talk to you all later. Thank you and God bless all of you. Bye-bye.
This is Claire from Anderson Island, WA. Good morning my Dabbers. I wrote a prayer for us today to pray to the Lord. I'm going to read it, but first I'm reading from Isaiah 26:3-4. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Let's pray together. O dear Lord, you are everything I need today. You supply all that is good and necessary for life. Draw my heart closer to you in this season, Lord. You are the God of great expectations. In you I live and move and have my being. I look forward with great anticipation and expectation to greater truth, greater revelation, relationship, direction, peace, productivity, and life from you. Use me, Lord. I want to be used for you, by you. Without you and apart from you I can do nothing. I exist by you and for you. You fill me and fulfill me completely and fully. Help me to be wholly yours in every way. Set me apart for your pleasure and good purposes. This world is hurting for you, Lord. Dear Lord, as I review some of your myriad of attributes, I see how short I fall in my character. I am begat of you. I should resemble you more. Point out to me which facets of your personality I need to adopt today, Lord. Help my focus, Lord, to be sharply on you and your Word. Help me to devote myself to the study of you, your character, attributes and your Word. Help me to reflect your image to those you have placed before me. Help me to be slow to speak, slow to anger and quick to listen. Help me to remember how you were smitten and cursed and bore indignities with grace and not a word of accusation. Help me to live fully in your presence, Lord.
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Tamarie 06/28/2015 16:33 |
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