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Daily Transcripts
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10/29/2015
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Lamentations 1:1-2:22 ~ Philemon 1:1-25 ~ Psalm 101:1-8 ~ Proverbs 26:20
Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Today is October 29th. I'm Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we turn a corner on another week and prepare ourselves to close down another month. Can you believe it? It is definitely going by pretty fast. Today is an interesting day in that we will begin two different books, one in the Old Testament and one in the New. So we begin Lamentations in the Old Testament and the letter to Philemon in the New.
Introduction of a New Book
Old Testament:
Lamentations is a book containing five poems of lament over the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. We’ve been leading up to all of that through books of prophesy and history, the stuff that we’ve gone through previously. In Hebrew this book is called Ekah which means how could this happen? Of course, we know how it could happen. Jeremiah the prophet, the book that we just read warned over and over and over and over, over the course of decades, of impending doom if the children of Israel didn’t turn from the course that they had chosen, one that was wicked, one that had abandoned their God. Now the prophesy comes true.
Although the book doesn’t claim an author and there is no definite proof, church tradition has given authorship to the prophet Jeremiah. Lamentations was probably written somewhere in the early 587 BC area as the Babylonians conquered and utterly destroyed Jerusalem in 586. So whether Jeremiah wrote this or not, someone who was an eyewitness probably did.
Today in Jewish culture, on the 9th day of Av, which is July 16th on the Western calendar, Lamentations is read on a day of fasting to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem. As each poem is read, it provides backdrop for personal reflection.
None of us likes to lament. Lament is never a good time. It is not an easy thing. Grief is hard, but it also has this interesting way of washing us clean because it strips us away until all that is left is that is the bedrock of our life. It is intensely painful but it also has a freeing effect. When we have fallen to the depths and there are simply no more depths to fall to, then there is a surprising sense of hope for the future and we can find this in the book of Lamentations just like we can find this in our own lives. So we begin with Lamentations 1:1-2:22 today, reading from the Names of God Bible this week.
New Testament
We’ve come to the letter of Philemon which is this very small, little personal letter from the apostle Paul that we’ll read in one sitting, just today, written to a church leader in the Colossian church named Philemon. Philemon was one of the more wealthy influential church men and in a strange twist of divine providence he had a servant names Onesimus who ran away, probably stealing from his master in the process. So Onesimus ends up in Rome where Paul is under house arrest and somehow comes under the teaching of Paul and becomes a follower of Christ and begins to serve Paul.
Paul has written the letter to the Colossians in the church at Colossi and is preparing to send it back with another servant named Tychicus, but he pens this personal letter to Philemon and sends Onesimus, the runaway servant, with Tychicus back to Colossi.
The letter packs a punch. It shows us the importance of forgiveness and shows us that no matter what our level of authority is over another person, if they are a believer, we are to treat them as brothers and sisters and family in Christ. It also shows us a perfect example of how God does in fact work all things together for the good of those who love him. So we read the letter to Philemon.
Commentary
We can certainly talk about Lamentations and we did and it is sad and it is a lament. That is what it is. Understanding the depth of despair and hopelessness found in that book is its point.
We can talk about Philemon which we did is this juxtaposition of social justice and culture and the norm and all of it being set on its side and reframed by Paul. When this runaway slave who has probably stolen from his master and is now a brother in Christ, you have to rewire and reframe the whole relationship.
But there are days that we come to these one-line things in proverbs that just say so much. Gossip - man, gossip, it is such a tricky business, those little tasty morsels that we carry around to each other and pass around in secret like some delicacy, like we’re on the inside track and we know things that nobody else knows. We just want to pass them around about other people. It gives us this strange sort of identity. When we pass the poison and somebody eats it and passes the poison it is like all this terrible stuff can happen from it. I actually think that maybe gossip is one of the worst possible things that can happen inside of a community because it breeds horrible assumptions, false realities, all kinds of divisiveness. There is just no good that can come from it.
Proverbs says: Without wood a fire goes out. We know that. You take the wood away from a fire and the fire dies. It has no fuel to continue to burn. It certainly can’t grow. It can only die which is what happens when you remove gossip from a quarrel.
So it is kind of like enough said. We don’t have to dive deeper into that. We’ve all experienced this and probably in some way or another have been perpetrators of it. We know it doesn’t do any good, but it is such a tempting delicacy to pass this stuff around.
It is like Paul has been saying about these quibbling theological arguments, nothing good comes from this. Why we continue it is really interesting. Why we feel the need to spread things whether partial or fully true or completely untrue, to spread these things without the person that we’re spreading them about having the benefit of saying here is actually how that really happened. Here's the whole story. Here's the context.
When have you ever seen that work out good? Think about it for a second. When have you ever participated in gossip and it was like a really positive, healthy experience where you were like wow, I'm so glad that I got that tasty morsel of gossip and then kept it all a secret? Like, that was awesome. I need more of those kinds of experiences.
When were you ever gossiped about where you were like man, I'm so glad they did that? That was so helpful to me. It really, really built me up in my faith. Why are we continuing to do this?
The irony is this is a proverb. This is thousands of years ago, THOUSANDS of years ago. You would think that by now we would get this kind of figured out but we haven’t. We continue to deal in things that are very, very destructive to our communities. I don’t know what great thing I can say other than what I think the Bible is saying. Knock it off. It is not going to do anything good. It is only going to do something bad. Stop it. And then it will go away just like if you take wood away from a fire. It will be done. It won't be a part of your life anymore.
Prayer
Father, we come into your presence with a lot going on here in the scriptures today. Really, really dark moments -- Israel is your holy city and it falls and it is just what that felt like. This is what we get in the book of Lamentations. What that felt like. We’re not really just getting a historical recording of some of the atrocities. We’re getting to enter into what that felt like and it doesn’t feel good, so by entering into it we can see that we can cause these kinds of destructions on ourselves. And then Philemon, which is such an encouraging thing, but such a thing that would have caused Philemon to have to rethink what he thought about the order of his stature in his community, in his faith community, in the world. You are continually disrupting us in these ways. You certainly are disruptive with these proverbs because we’re all guilty. We’ve all done it. We’re sorry. We want to heed what you're saying. We want to take the wood away from the fire. Help us, Jesus, because none of this can be done on our own. We just don’t have the strength. We just don’t have the wisdom, the cunning. We’re just not able, but by the power of your Holy Spirit, the power of your resurrection, the gift of relationship and salvation and eternal life, we do have what it takes. So help us. Help us, Father, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Announcements
www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base, it is the website. It is where you find out what’s going on around here and, well, tonight will be our final Periscope about Reframe, the fourth one, and we’ll dive into the last part of the book, talk about it for a while and then jump into the Facebook Group and continue the discussion. This has been a great time and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. Looking forward to tonight, 7:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Periscope. If you don’t know what Periscope is, it's an app. Just go to your Android store or your Apple app store and download Periscope. It's free. Just follow Daily Audio Bible and you will be alerted. We’ll look forward to seeing you tonight. The Facebook Group is www.Facebook.com/Groups/ReframeBook and so looking forward to tonight.
This Sunday we will be in Louisville, KY, up the road from here several hours, and looking forward to being at New Song Christian Fellowship in Louisville. Their website is www.NewSongLouisville.org and you can get directions and service times there. Looking forward to seeing you.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. There is a link on the website, upper right-hand corner. If you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And just for the next couple of days, we have this offer. If you get seven copies of Reframe from one of the retailers at www.ReframeBook.com, and email the receipt to Reframe@DailyAudioBible.com, we will send to your door, postage paid and all, the Reframe Films DVD and also give you a voucher so you can download the films. If you end up getting 10 or more to form a group or to give to those that you love, we’ll certainly send you the DVD, but we’ll also throw in an additional Reframe book, a signed first edition copy, so take advantage of that until the end of the month, three days from now if you're counting today.
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
Good morning family. This is Cherry C., Cherry Pie. I hope everybody is doing well. I am calling for prayer for my step-daughter which is Malcolm's daughter. Unexpectedly, she lost her mother on Wednesday, so I'm just asking the family to cover her in prayer and her aunts and cousins. Asking for prayer for the family for peace to be with them. The funeral is going to be this Friday, the 30th of October, so I ask you for prayer for her. Also, I'm praying for (I can’t remember your name) the guy who called in about his license. I'm praying that you get your license. Not only am I praying that you get your license, I'm praying for a financial blessing for you. I don’t know why but it is in my spirit to pray for you for a financial blessing as well. Also, Asia from Munich, where are you? Ms. Hambrick, Natasha, y’all call in. We miss you guys so much. Asia, I know getting married and going through the whole married thing and the kids is all new and trying to figure the new norm. It gets better, Baby. It just gets better. The only thing I can tell you is just stay focused on God. We miss you guys. Please call in and may the peace of God be with each and every one of you guys. I love you guys. You have a wonderful day. Brian, I am definitely enjoying the book Reframe. Thank you guys so much. You all have a great day.
Good morning DAB family. This is Richard from Mississippi. It's been a while since I’ve listened to the podcast or listened to the prayer line. I ask you to pray for me for that, pray that I will find that daily time where I can read the Word and pray for others. I also have another prayer request. I want you to pray for my church situation. The week before last my preacher walked out of the pulpit and quit the church that I was attending. I just ask you that during this time of transition, that words would come forth and that God will be glorified and that we’ll find that godly man, that godly preacher that God has called to be with that church during this time. I covet your prayers, saints, brothers and sisters. Thank you.
Hello DAB. This is Sudie from the valley. This is my third time calling in. I am just so blessed by all the prayers and messages that I get every day from the callers and from Brian and from the rest of the people at DAB, so thank you so much for always lifting us in prayer. I want all of you to know that I pray along with each of you as you call in and I pray for those who are listening who don’t call in as well. I’m moved today to call because I heard Michael from Orlando calling in and I’ve also recently heard Becky from Orlando calling in a lot too. I want to thank both of you for your calls. So I know there are other people in Orlando, so I specifically want this message to go out to everyone in Orlando. You have concerns, both of you, about things going on in your lives. Becky, I know that you need prayers for your husband and you have often called in prayers for your sales, so I lift those in Christ's holy name that everything will be worked out in his will and that you will have the peace that comes from knowing that others are praying for you. Mike from Orlando, I also lift you because you are a new Christian and have been under the attack of Satan and his evil __________ recently coming to Christ in the past year. First of all, stand firm. You are chosen. God has chosen you to know him. Thank God that he chose you. He will give you the strength to be able to withstand everything that Satan puts out there. Satan knows that God has great things planned for you and that is why you are…
Hi, good morning family. First I want to give you an update. I never heard my prayer request, but I had called for my fiancé. He had been in an auto accident. His car was completely totaled. It landed on its side and he had some tests and the tests all came out negative. Praise God. But the doctor, the neurologist does say that he thinks he blacked out and so there does still have to be some more tests that are done and he can’t drive right now. He is an oncologist. His main focus right now is to take care of his patients. He always puts his patients first. So I pray that you will help him to be able to get back and forth to work, get a ride or something. I'm a flight attendant so I'm out of town all the time and I can’t drive him back and forth to work. Unfortunately, he's ready to risk his life to help his patients. Please pray for him. I just want to thank you for all those that are praying for him. I'm praying for Greg in Fallbrook, the pilot. I don’t know what can be done since the attorney didn’t file your appeal in time, but I am praying for God's will to be done and you be able to work and support your family. I'm also praying for Lisa in Dana Point, that your husband will come back and your marriage will be restored. And Alleah, I'm praying for you as well. I'm praying for all of you. These are just people that stood out in my mind and I just want to thank you all for your prayers. Thank you, Brian and Jill. Thank you so much for this forum. Thank each and every one of you. I love you all. This is Kim from California. God bless you all and thank you for your prayers.
Hey guys. It's Brad from Livingston and I was calling just to give you guys an update. For those of you who have been praying for me and my family, I just want to thank you all again. I just felt like it was time to give you an update. So as of now we are still separated, my wife has a rental house in our same town and we’re getting along okay, but my stepson, he's still having a lot of problems. Now with me out of the picture, he's really kind of accelerating his movement down the wrong path, unfortunately. I also kind of believe that the Lord has it this way because he is going to bring him to the end of himself and with me actually in the picture really keeping an eye on him and everything I was actually kind of hindering him learning from his mistakes and making these bad choices and suffering the consequences of them. So I just believe that the Lord had it this way for his purpose in Zach's life. But today he is actually on his way to Shodair Children's Hospital in Helena, MT. He has been talking about suicide. So we all know that comes from the enemy. I am just asking you all to lift Zach up. This is a huge spiritual battle. Again, Zach has a huge music talent that God wants to use for his kingdom and the enemy wants to use it for his and right now Zach is leaning toward that other side because it looks so fun, but we all know it isn’t. So anyway, that's my update. I love you guys. We’ll talk to you again soon. Thanks. Bye-bye.
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Tamarie 10/29/2015 19:17 |
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