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Daily Transcripts
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09/15/2015
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Isaiah 19:1-21:17 ~ Galatians 2:1-16 ~ Psalm 59:1-17 ~ Proverbs 23:13-14
Today is September the 15th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you today. Some days, you know, it's like the oasis in all of it. When things are really busy or really challenging or whatever, some days it is just (even for me) the oasis. It's being together and kind of creating this space between our ear buds or in our cars or laying down in our beds or getting ready for the day or however it is that we all come together, we all do, we all come together around our global campfire and spend this time together, orienting ourselves to God through his Word. So we started the book of Galatians yesterday. We’ll continue that in a minute, but first, from the English Standard Version, Isaiah.
Commentary
As we read through Paul's letters, we can obviously see where our Christian theology and doctrine come from. We can see even as we read through the book of Galatians, the letter to the Galatians, even today as Paul is recounting what happened, how it is we’ve arrived where we’ve arrived. But if we read underneath that, we can see pretty clearly that this was a bit of a struggle. There was wrestling going on. There were differences of opinion and understanding going on that was being worked out. So in today's reading even, we have the Apostle Paul confronting the Apostle Peter, this same Peter that we walked all through the gospels with who walked with Jesus. We see Paul confronting him because he thought he was being hypocritical. Whether he was or not we don’t know. Paul in his letter obviously thought he was. The point here is that they were struggling to understand, to invite the Holy Spirit, to be led by the Holy Spirit. They were trying to build the construct, the rules of how this was supposed to work or to at least arrive at some common definitions of what this is supposed to look like. This is still true today. As Paul himself would eventually say, “I see through a glass darkly. Eventually it will all be revealed. I will see face to face.” Or, as Paul will say later when we get to the book of Philippians, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
A lot of times what we’ll do is look to our leaders and feel like it is all established, everything is in place – just give me the prescription, just give me the rules, just show me the box that I am supposed to live in. For a long time that is what I was looking for – somebody to just tell me the truth, tell it to me in a way that made sense, give me the parameters, give me the rules, give me the recipe and I’ll do my very best. That is what the people who were living under the Mosaic Law were experiencing. They had the rules. They had the box. They had the parameters. They had their traditions and they lived within them for a long, long, long time only to realize nobody could do this, not like this, which is why Paul, in his letters to the Corinthians that we just read, is saying the law does expose sin. It shows us our shortcomings. It leads us to the understanding that everything ends in death. Christ and his gospel lead to life and resurrection.
And yet even in our own Christian times, what we’re looking for is the law, just the Christian one, not the Mosaic one. Just give us the Christian law and we’ll find out that if we’re approaching it that way, we can’t do any better. I mean, why are we doing this every day? Are we in the scriptures every day to find the rules and regulations and find the ways we’re failing? Or are we pressing through this to find the God of the scriptures? Are we going back through the stories of the people and finding our own lives in their stories in order to use them as the examples and not the exceptions of humanity of us and God with us? In other words, do we want a lot of facts and rules about God or do we want God? Do we want to know a lot about God or do we want to be in a relationship with God? Because they are not the same thing. To be in a relationship with somebody (and if you're married, you know this) you have to fight for that relationship. You have to wrestle and contend for it. You’ve got to commit to it. And to survive, there can be no Plan B.
What the early church was wrestling with and through and for we also wrestle with and through and for. We have to understand that is part of the process. That is not wrong. If God loves us the way we know he does, and that is beyond definition, like there isn’t a theological statement that we can make that will adequately describe the love that God has for us. We’ll try to get complicated with things, but sometimes it is the most simple of statements that makes the best definitions. For example, as God is trying to describe to Moses who he is in a way that is adequate to human understanding, it boils down to something very simple. “I am who I am.” Or if we move into the New Testament it becomes very simple when we’re trying explain something very complex. God is love and if God embodies love. If he loves us that hopelessly, that fiercely, that fully, then he wants to be with us desperately enough to die for it to happen. He is certainly with us in all of our wrestling, in all of our fear and trembling and all of our “through a glass darkly” because this is how we grow. This is how we learn.
So when we pretend that we know things that we don’t know and when we posture, when we pose an exterior life that is not true of us on the inside, when we try to corral each other into a box, a fence, we’re missing the point. The point is Immanuel, God with us, with us in all of it, with us right now, with you right now as you put your makeup on for work. With you right now as you lay preparing to go to sleep for the night. With you right now while you're driving your car. With you while you're sitting on that train. With you while you take the next bite of that sandwich. God with you in all of it and we’re both contending for this relationship as we step forward in this life, doing our very best to bring the good news to everyone in this world. So yes, as we look at the theological statements and doctrines that developed in the early church, we adhere to those, but as we look underneath that into the humanity of what is going on, we see what we’ve always seen on every page of the Bible – us, God, and God with us in all of it.
So may we invite God. May we just give ourselves permission to be human beings. It is a beautiful gift that we have for such a short period of time. I mean, let's say we live 100 years. What is 100 years compared to a billion? A billion billion? A trillion trillion? What is a hundred years compared to eternity? This is a gift that we have. May we enjoy this beautiful gift with the lover of our souls who knows us well and loves us desperately. May we walk with him today.
Prayer
Father, that’s what we want. Come Holy Spirit, invade every space of our lives, every issue of our lives, everything that we’re wrestling with in our lives, everything that we’re wrestling with even with you. Come into all of that. We need you so much. We need you so much more than we even know, but we know that we need you and we know that we want you. So come, everything is open to you. May we continue this process and open ourselves to your transforming power, that you may renew us, make us new again, that you may sanctify us, that we may be made and remade into your likeness, into your image. This is what we were created for. This is what we want so that we come to this place where it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives within us. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Announcements
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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
Hi, this is Anna from Maryland. I'm so glad to be able to hear your voice and to call in. I thank you all that we don’t have to do this alone. There is so much power in togetherness. There is so much power in coming together in the Word of God. I'm just calling to pray. First I want to pray for Elijah. I want to pray for Elijah to walk. I think of the man at the gate called Beautiful and how his legs weren’t working, but the power of God through Paul stood and through Peter stood, who said silver and gold have I none, but such that I have I give unto thee because our God is the same God yesterday, today and tomorrow. I want to pray for Belinda with the coma. I want to pray and just continue to believe God because just as he raised Lazarus for the dead, he can do it for her. I think about if Jesus hadn’t mentioned Lazarus’ name, then everyone would have come out of their graves because God's power is that mighty and we want to think of his mighty power when we do the things we do. I just want to also let you know of a prayer for my family. I believe the enemy is attacking my marriage, my family, my home, but God is more powerful and he will show you that he is already there at the moment that we pray. I'm just praying for all of the people that are going through that need to remember that God is Jehovah Jireh. He is our provider. He says what he is going to do and he does it. He is one that we can depend on. All other gods have failed, but our…
Hi, this is Julia from Jacksonville, FL. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about 3 years and I never called in. I have been hearing ‘call-call-call.’ I don’t have the most elaborate prayers in the world, but I do know God hears every prayer, so I just finished listening to Saturday, September 12th and these are my prayers. For the woman who is homesick, I know how it feels to be homesick. I moved to North Carolina for a year and it was the longest year of my life. It was __________ to visit. There truly is no place like home. So as your contract comes to an end, may God allow everything to fall into place seamlessly for you, such as new work and living arrangements. For Vince with cancer, God, you know I lost a loved one due to pancreatic cancer and my heart goes out to all the cancer patients but we know the doctors give us a diagnosis, but God is the doctor of all doctors and we pray for healing. For David who was in a car accident, God again is the doctor of all doctors. We ask for healing, to guide the doctors in surgeries and their diagnoses and we ask for complete healing and recovery. For the guy that was married for 3 weeks, marriage is such a beautiful thing. We thank you for putting those two together. God, continue to be present in their lives even after marriage as you were before. Please make time for them to be with you daily. For the situation of working 3 years and only getting 1 payout, God, if this were me, I would be highly upset over this matter, but you are the judge and you said that vengeance is yours, so Lord, please, on their behalf, see to it that they get paid for all 3 years. For the daughter that committed suicide in front of the father and for the woman in Texas who lost her dad, God, please comfort them in their time of loss. I’ve never dealt with a loss, Father God, so only you could comfort them in this matter. I love praying and there is a book called The Book of Prayers. You could visit it: Www.mobileprayers.org or the website, www.ChristianWord.org. Thank you Daily Audio Bible. Have a good day. Bye-bye.
Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Scott in Alaska calling in on another gray, rainy day. You know, this gray day I bet might be just like gray days at your house. There is an awful lot of color and beauty when you get to really looking at it. It's incredibly beautiful despite the gray. So some calls that have come in that I’ve been thinking about and praying for that I’ve got a little time to talk about. Joseph was a first-time caller. Joseph is struggling with anxiety and the sin of lust, praying for peace and purity. Joseph, I’ve been praying for you daily for peace and purity and I am a first-hand acquaintance with anxiety and the sin of lust. They go hand in hand. I understand that, Brother. I want you to know I'm praying for you always. Kimberly in northeastern Nevada, your husband Wayne having a difficult time transitioning from military to civilian who is an aircraft mechanic. I'm an aircraft mechanic. I had a hard time transitioning from military to civilian also. I really understand a lot of the ups and downs and all arounds. I'm praying for Wayne and for peace in your family and that things go a little better at the job there. Morgan I believe your name was in Washington, going through a divorce, your kids don’t like it. Of course, they don’t like it. Nobody likes divorce. Even attorneys I don’t think like a divorce. Morgan, I'm praying for peace for you and your spouse or your kids and that they are kept safe. The husband of Mary Esther who is still doing drugs, I'm praying that the Lord touch him and heal him, turn him into the man that he can be. And Mary, I just got an idea that you should remember the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings 17:8-16. Praying for provision for you and your children in these times, too. Well, Daily Audio Bible, that is about all we have time for. This is Scott in Alaska and I really enjoy hearing all of your prayers and praying for you constantly. And go ahead and have a good day unless you have something else planned. Thank you. Bye.
Hi guys. This is Susanna from Texas. I was calling because I have a little heaviness on my heart just about my brother. My mom and dad received a message from him. He is in __________ in a different country and he has a history of drug addiction and he has been kind of on and off drugs. He's been off for a while and has a little girl and a family down there, but I don’t really know. His head knows everything about the Lord, but I don’t know where his heart is and he's back into I guess going off and doing drugs from what we’ve heard and so he's had years and years of chances. The Lord has just blessed him and given him chance after chance to get away from this. I'm just asking for you guys to come in prayer over him. His name is John. To melt his heart, for the Lord to reach him, to realize that this is not the way you do it. This is not the way you deal with stuff, that you can’t keep doing this, that the Lord can change him and that he just yearns for the Lord and that he can get away from the drugs and be a dad to his daughter, stop worrying his family overseas, that we can’t do anything. We can’t reach him because he's so far away. I thank you so much, you guys, for your prayers and for my mom, too, because she's having a really hard time dealing with the constant bad news. I thank you guys and I love you. And God bless you all. Bye.
Kisses from God, so tender and sweet, expressions of love that have made me complete. They removed all resentment and replaced it with pride, a love so abundant that it can’t be denied. Our love makes us different. It always should show. Our love for each other lets the world know that our God is living. He was in the grave, but he rose once again with all power to save and the love that he gives us we give back to others. We are all of God's children, which should make us all brothers. Your encouragement are God's kisses, expressions of love, tender and sweet from the Father above. BlindTony1016@gmail.com. When we call in, DAB family, and express love for each other, those are kisses from God so enjoy them. BlindTony1016@gmail.com. Thank you. Love you. And thank you, Brian, for this wonderful forum. Keep the faith.
Good morning, Dabbers. This message is for one of us sisters. Caroline in Colorado, you're heavily on my heart and I just said a prayer for you and yours. Know that God loves your husband and your son more than you ever could and he is working to woo them to himself. Let's trust him. I hope that although you were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, that you are pain free. Please call in and let us hear that beautiful voice of yours. This is Laverne in Cali. Take care and God bless.
Hello everyone. I sure love you all and it's been a wonderful 7-1/2 years with you all. Brian's movies and the books when he reads them are just so excellent. I'm Brother Clark, your brother in Christ, calling to ask for healing for my sister. They think she might have pancreatic cancer. She's been having some stomach problems pretty bad for the last few months and I ask that God supernaturally takes that away from her and bring all the glory to him. All your prayers have always helped and it always worked immediately and I use it sparingly, but fervently. We’re just such a wonderful family. I want you to know I'm calling from San Antonio. On the 28th of this month, in September, a full eclipse of the moon is going to be. It is actually going to start here at 9:11 p.m. and I just wish we all pray that his kingdom come and we can all help it and watch that change inside of us all. Love you all. I'm very grateful to you all. I love you all very much. Thank you all for being there and we’ll see you downstream. Peace and love, joy also be with you all. See you later.
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Tamarie 09/15/2015 08:36 |
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