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Daily Transcripts
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10/22/2015
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Jeremiah 39:1-41:18 ~ 2 Timothy 1:1-18 ~ Psalm 90:1-91:16 ~ Proverbs 26:1-2
Today is October 22nd. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It's great to be here with you today as it is every day. I'm glad that we can spend some of our time together and, as we spend a little bit of time together every day, well, first of all, it adds up to a lot of time that we have gotten to spend together, but it also adds up to the fact that we journey through the entire Bible together in a year. I love it. I imagine that you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t feel the same. It's great to be with you. We’re reading from the Modern English Version this week and moving our way through Jeremiah and then when we get to the New Testament, we will begin another of Paul's letters – 2 Timothy, but first Jeremiah.
Introduction of a New Book
2 Timothy is where we have landed on our journey through the New Testament. Obviously, 2 Timothy is Paul's second letter to Timothy, only it happens in a very short period of time. This is the apostle Paul's final writing of his life. Paul is back in prison, in chains, in a dungeon in Rome and winter is coming on. The year is AD 67. It has become absolutely against the Roman law to be a Christian. Just about everyone has deserted Paul. The only one who remains with him in Rome is Luke, the physician who authored the book of Acts as well as the gospel of Luke. Paul knows it is just a matter of time and he will be executed and he deeply wants to see his son in the faith, Timothy, face to face one last time. The way the narrative of 2 Timothy is written, he is trying to tell Timothy some of the things he wants to tell him in person, just in case it is too late.
It is in this letter that he says, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.” But before he says all that, he is giving his son in the faith, he is giving Timothy his final exhortation, his final words. This is a man who has given his life to the cause of Christ and suffered much and knows he is about to be executed. His death is imminent and he tells his son in the faith, Timothy, “Keep your head. Be vigilant about your faith no matter what happens. No matter what, Timothy, stay true.”
2 Timothy is a passionate plea for the faith and when we understand that this is being written from a condemned man, one of the greatest heroes of the faith, the impact on each of us should be the same as it was when it was originally read. So we begin 2 Timothy 1.
Commentary
If you’ve journeyed this far through the scriptures this year, then it is impossible not to notice all of the shades of humanity found in the scripture, all of the nuances, all the conniving, all of the different posturing, all of the righteousness and goodness, all of the melancholy. All of the things that we experience emotionally in life we see that our forbearers also experienced. The pursuits of their heart are identical to our own. We live in a different culture and it looks a little different, but fundamentally it is shaped the same.
So we find in the scripture that it does take the shape of life and life's experiences, human experiences and it doesn’t mince anything. It doesn’t gloss it over. It is all there. Perhaps one of the most poignant places that we experience this is in 2 Timothy, one of the most bittersweet, melancholy books in the scriptures, as short as it is, at least to me, because to know that Paul became imprisoned because he was led to become imprisoned – he was out there doing these missionary journeys and planting these churches and then he goes back to Jerusalem and everybody begs him not to go, and he is certainly arrested and then kept in prison in Caesarea Philippi until he appeals to the Emperor as a Roman citizen and then he is sent off to Rome where he has plenty of freedom, but he is never free again and now, after all of these letters and trying to care for the churches and trying to battle what it looks like -- I mean, he is the leader of all of these churches. He is the apostle to them. He has planted them and he sits in prison. That doesn’t look good. That is a constant battle. These churches who have their leaders have to go, “Yeah, this church was planted by the apostle Paul” and anyone considering conversion or entrance into the church, they would be able to go, “So isn’t he in jail?” “Hasn’t he done something wrong?”
So there is this constant thing where you see Paul saying, “Don’t be ashamed of me.” “I'm here because of the true faith.” “I'm here because I'm honored to suffer with Jesus and stay true to the faith.” But in 2 Timothy, it is over except for the moment of death. Paul is, short of something miraculous, which Paul has faith could happen, he is just waiting for the clanging of chains and the opening of barred gates that will lead him into the final room where he will not leave alive, not leave with his head attached to his body. So just sitting and waiting for somebody to come and cut your head off, I mean, we’ve seen some of this show up even in the news. You can imagine what this is like. To feel the bitter dank cold of winter coming on in a dungeon and just be waiting for the end, really longing to see the people that you love, knowing that almost all of them have deserted you. It so mimics Jesus’ final days, and this is what we enter into when we read this letter to the son in the faith, Timothy.
It is important as we reach this point and as we go through this letter, which is not long, that maybe we pay attention to what is at stake here and what this is costing, what this faith that we can easily take for granted cost to bring to us. Since the Holy Spirit found it necessary that it be in the scriptures, then obviously it is something that we should pay incredible attention to. Understanding the back story should give it something even deeper, something that should cause our attention to really focus in. This is it. Even though we have more letters from Paul that we have to read as we journey through the New Testament, this was the final. These are the final words that Paul is choosing to say. So as we spend our time in 2 Timothy, may we give it the honor that it is due and pay close attention to it.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for your Word and another day in your Word. Like we were just saying, it is so easy for us to just take it for granted and yet certainly Paul couldn’t take it for granted and certainly Timothy would not have read it and then tossed it into the fire as if it were something to easily forget five minutes later. That is our struggle. It is easy for us to immerse ourselves in your Word and then blow the whole day, forgetting any of it. We’ll never attune our ears and hearts to it without the power of your Holy Spirit, so we invite again. Holy Spirit, come. Plant these words deep in our lives, shifting our identity, taking us a step forward in the process of sanctification, being set apart as holy and acceptable to you. May we live this day worthy, worthy of the relationship that you died that we might enter into. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Announcements
www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base. It certainly is the website where you find out what’s going on around here. It is community central for Daily Audio Bible and all things Daily Audio Bible.
Tonight is our third Periscope as we move our way as a big small group through Reframe and so we’ll look forward to that – 7:30 p.m. Central Standard Time. If you don’t have the Periscope app, it is easy enough to get. Just search for it in whatever your device's store is, you app store. Periscope is free, so just download it and once you get it installed, look for Daily Audio Bible and follow Daily Audio Bible and you’ll be alerted when we go live at 7:30. Looking forward to that. Looking forward to not being jostled around on a bus as I'm traveling – that is how it was last week. It was fun, interesting, not preferred. So looking forward to just kind of being in one stationary place tonight as we dive into chapters 4 and 5 of Reframe.
This coming weekend, just a few days from now, I will be on the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest of the United States in Washington State at Columbia Community Church in Richland, WA. Looking forward to that. Their website is www.FamilyFaith.com where you can get their different service times and address, directions, etc. Looking forward to seeing you out west. Had a great…well, I mean, that will be week 3, but we have six weeks in a row here in 2015 to begin to speak the Reframe message. This will be the halfway point. Looking forward to it.
The following three weekends I’ll be in different cities: November 1st, Louisville, KY, and we will be at New Song Christian Fellowship in Louisville. Their website is www.NewSongLouisville.org. The 8th of November, Chattanooga, TN at Mission Chattanooga and their website is www.MissionChattanooga.org. Then rounding it out, November 15th in the San Diego area at La Jolla Christian Fellowship. Their website is www.LaJollaCF.org. You can get their address and service times. Looking forward to seeing you out on the road in the coming weeks.
All of this month, the month of October, we have been doing everything we can to encourage you to take the Reframe message and form a community around it – get together with friends and go through it. We certainly have the Reframe book, but we’ve also created five films – the Reframe Films that are absolutely wonderful conversation starters. We will give those to you if you are willing to go to one of the participating retailers that are at www.ReframeBook.com, get yourself seven copies of Reframe and we’ll send you this DVD free and give you instant download access to the films. So that is like not postage or anything. If you buy seven Reframe and email the receipt to Reframe@DailyAudioBible.com, we’ll send you the DVD, pick up the postage, everything. We’ll totally send it to you. If you get 10 or more copies, we’ll send you the DVD, give you the downloads, but also throw in an additional Reframe and this is a signed first edition of the book. So that is going on until the end of this month. Certainly check it out at www.ReframeBook.com.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. There’s a link in the upper right-hand corner of the home page. If you prefer, the mailing address, it’s P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.
And 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 everybody. This is Jeff from Virginia. I'm calling today to let everyone know that I'm praying for you. I have some prayer requests for me as well. I would like for you guys to pray for my roommate, Wes. He is a believer, but his faith is not very strong. It is a struggle with him, living with him, and I pray for him, but I can’t do it alone, I think. I just pray and give it to you guys. Thank you, Brian and Jill. I'm currently reading Reframe right now, Brian, and it is fantastic. I’ve started a Bible study, actually. I'm co-leading and my goal is to get Reframe out to my fellow readers. Anyway, this is Jeff from Virginia, just calling to say thanks and pray for me. Bye.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible folks. This is Daniel calling from Singapore. We have a friend named VJ who is currently staying in Aurora, IL, right next to Chicago. He is currently having terminal stage IV cancer. I would like to seek your prayer for healing and at the same time to let me know if someone lives around Aurora area, Illinois, who can reach out to him. Thank you so much. My contact is DanielNgwh@gmail.com. Thank you.
Hi, this is Thankful in Washington and I just was touched by Michael from Manchester, NH. You called in about your alcoholic spouse. I so understand that as my husband is divorcing me and we’re separated because of alcoholism, so I will continue to lift up you and your wife as you said she's a great mom. I get it because my husband is a great dad. So you're in my prayers. Candace in Oregon, thank you for praying for those of us who don’t always remember to call in. Sometimes it is just hard because there is nothing new or good to say, so you just don’t want to call in. I just want to say I'm so thankful for having the job that I can support my girls on my own now and that I have friends and family that are supporting me as I work and travel for work. As a single mom it is different now and I just am so thankful for the love and support of those around me. My husband is suffering from severe alcoholism and depression and he needs Jesus. I just pray for him and I pray for our girls to find their comfort in Jesus as they go through this. And pray for our home to sell because every time any one of us is in it, it is just pain. My husband lives in it. I know that the girls don’t want to see him there. It is just so hard to be there. So I just pray blessings over a family that will get to make memories and share their love for one another in that home. Lord, I just lift up the DAB family and I'm so grateful for it and I just pray blessings over those people out there that are listening and those that don’t even get to listen today. I just am so grateful for your Word being shared in this forum. Amen.
Hello everyone. Good morning. This is Jay calling from New Jersey. Sorry I haven’t called in a while. This morning I heard Candace from Oregon say, “Jay from New Jersey, I miss you.” Boy, that really made me emotional. I began to cry. I couldn’t contain the amount of tears that were coming out of my eyes. We say that this is a family and sometimes that is really, really hard to feel because we’re so far apart from each other, but today I felt that. I felt that genuine love of Christ from another human being from Oregon. I live in New Jersey which is on the other side of the country and I felt love. I felt cared about. I felt wanted. That is just unbelievable. That is a gift from Almighty God. Candace, thank you so much. My wife listens every day and she asked me the other day, “Honey, why haven’t you called the Daily Audio Bible?” I couldn’t answer her. And to hear Candace this morning say that brought me to tears. It sincerely made my heart move. I couldn’t believe it. Thank you, Candace. Thank you, Biola from Maryland. Thank you, everybody else who mentioned me and has been beckoning me to call in. I just haven’t. I don’t know why. So thank you all. Thank you all for your prayers. I ask that you will continue to pray for me in my search for a new career that is closer to home so that I may begin my family. You know, I don’t have a mother and father, but with all of you out there, I feel like my family is complete. So thank you and God bless you and may God bless the Daily Audio Bible.
Hello family. This is Candace from Oregon. November 1st is going to be the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, so in preparation for that, please pray with me now. Lord, thank you for precious Christian people who remind me of Stephen in the New Testament who are willing to stand quietly but clearly as witnesses for you, Lord, and don’t deny you. Even in situations where it is being demanded that they deny you, they’re not in so many cases. I pray, Lord, that you will pour out your Spirit. Fill these people with love, these people who are your sons and daughters. May many, many, many people come to know you through them. Thank you that where this kind of pressure is on, people are coming to you, Lord. They are seeing the truth and we pray in particular for those who are in Iraq and Syria right now, who are staying there even though they are Christians and are being marked as people who won't be allowed to live. Protect them, Lord. Protect their hearts. Give them peace that passes all understanding. May the power of your message of love and grace go out. In Jesus’ name we pray, and for his sake. We thank you, Lord, for all that you are doing.
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Tamarie 10/22/2015 14:17 |
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