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Daily Transcripts
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11/17/2015
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Ezekiel 35:1-36:38 ~ James 1:1-18 ~ Psalm 116:1-19 ~ Proverbs 27:23-27
Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Today is November 17th. I’m Brian. It's great to be here with you, coming to you from Southern California, San Diego, but we’ll be flying back home, back to the rolling hills of Tennessee and Nashville shortly. So looking forward to getting home and hopefully you had fun traveling in the suitcase out here to California. We’ll all be sleeping in our own beds tonight.
So we’re reading from the New International Version this week. We concluded in the New Testament the book of Hebrews yesterday, so we’ll dive into the book of James when we get there, but first Ezekiel 35:1-36:38.
Introduction of a New Book
As I was saying a few minutes ago, we finished up Hebrews yesterday, so this brings us to the book of James or the epistle, the letter of James and there are plenty of things that are very interesting about this letter because throughout church history it has been questioned in a number of ways. It's hard to place exactly when this book was written because it is not exactly known which James authored the book. There are several candidates; however, the one that seems to bubble up to the top of the debate is James, the half brother of Jesus who interestingly did not believe that Jesus was the son of God during his earthly ministry, but he changed his opinion when he saw Jesus raised from the dead. This James was a pillar, a leader of the early church in Jerusalem and would put this book being written in the 40s AD, possibly even making it the earliest New Testament writing.
Other interesting facts about the book are that the reformer Martin Luther considered this epistle to not be a true book of scripture. His Doctrine of Sola Fide or By Faith Alone seems to be called into question in the book of James where he says that faith without works is dead and seems to support the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic view that grace and faith are what lead to salvation.
I believe either way it is in Christ alone that we are saved and perhaps the work issue is a moot point. When Jesus comes into our lives, a fundamental shift is supposed to take place. When we enter into a relationship with God, we are reframing everything. That affects everything about us, including our behavior.
One thing is for certain. The book of James is a very direct, very old book. It is a butt-kicking book, to be honest, written to instruct and correct and even rebuke those who are falling away from their faith or who had allowed questions to cloud their minds under the threat of persecution. And if it had to all be summed up (which isn’t the easiest thing to do) it would be live your life by faith and live your faith through what you do. It is such a poignant message for today that in so many ways the book or letter could have been written last week.
So may we embrace the challenge that the book of James brings to our lives. It is not enough to know what the Word of God says. We have to live what the Word of God says. We cannot live what the Word of God says unless we are actually walking with God. In living it, well, then we must answer the call to action. And so we begin with James.
Commentary
James is worth paying attention to, not that any part of the Bible is not worth paying attention to. I'm just saying we can get lost in the rhythm of it. James is worth really paying attention to because it flies in the face of a lot of assumptions that have found their way into our culture and were in the culture in which it was written. Just like Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount flew in the face of culture, it flew in the face of so many of the assumptions, James does this too.
Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds.
Pure joy is the last thing we usually experience when we’re facing trials of many kinds, right? I mean, what we’re doing is doubling down and trying to figure out how to eradicate the trial, whatever it is that has come against us. James is like no, you certainly do navigate it, but you don’t thrash around pitching a fit like you are a little toddler.
I have one of those – I have this little 3-year-old named Ezekiel which is one of the reasons I love reading the book of Ezekiel or one of the reasons Ezekiel has his name is because I love that book, and he has gotten into this phase of his life where he has found it acceptable to throw himself down and scream and kick and overflow with emotion about not a whole lot of anything. So I can scoop him up in my arms and go, ‘listen here, buddy, consider this pure joy,’ or I can pop him on the butt and say, ‘hey, let's not do this. It's not acceptable.’
Sometimes we have to do that to ourselves – we have to recognize ‘I'm throwing a fit here.’ ‘I'm thrashing around.’ ‘I'm spiraling.’ ‘This is not good, this is taking me places and I'm saying things I shouldn’t be saying, I'm thinking things I shouldn’t be thinking, I'm all over the place and I'm thrashing out at people. This isn’t good.’ So if we stop we find where this whole thing originates from and what the trial is and what we’re going through and then remember the book of James: This is not purposeless. This is not devoid of value in my life. This is actually teaching perseverance. So I don’t like it and I want to get out of it, but I want to get out of it with something profitable. James is like: Consider it pure joy (I haven’t mastered that, pure joy in trial) because learning perseverance makes me mature and complete and not lacking anything.
We could just stop there. That's the first paragraph. That's half of the first paragraph of James. You see that it is worth diving into and really considering because it can reframe some things. Do you lack wisdom (which is the next verse)? Do you lack wisdom? Oh, well, you should ask God. He generously gives to all. He doesn’t find fault. And it will be given to you. But when you ask, you have to believe it. You have to believe you're asking God. You have to believe that he can do it and not doubt. If you're going to doubt it, then it won't work. You'll be like a wave. You'll be blown by the wind and that won't work because it is reflecting the fact that you are double-minded - you kind of believe and you kind of don’t, which makes you unstable.
I love this book. I mean, it does kick my butt every year, but I love this book. That is the first paragraph we just went through. Are you lacking in wisdom? Oh, well, there is a remedy for that. Ask God and believe him. I love that directness, that clarity. So may we drink of the richness in the book of James and take a deep dive because it really can reorder, reframe, reorient so many of our assumptions about God, about our lives, and it can sincerely help us in our lives.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for your Word. Every day we thank you for your Word. You are kind. You are good. Your mercy endures forever. You have loved us so well and we thank you that we can come to your Word and be reoriented to you. It is like we forget who we are almost every day and you remind us as a father would. So come Holy Spirit into what we've read today and we pray from the book of Ezekiel today that you cleanse us from all our impurities and from all our idols anda give us a new heart and put a new spirit in us. Remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh and put your spirit in us so that we would be moved to follow in your footsteps. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements
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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.
That is it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hey, good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Debbie in Des Moines. I lift and encourage Shannon from Texas needing prayer because she had sent her son to jail. Shannon, you did not send your son to jail. You did not do that. I have had to call authorities on my children. I have a daughter suffering from mental illness who if she came back to Iowa would go to prison. I have had children in rehab, drug addicted, some really heavy drugs. I've slept with my dresser in front of my bedroom door when they were teenagers because I feared for my safety. I've had to call authorities on my children. You did not send them to jail. You did not send your son to jail. Your son chose to take that action. You have to be safe, right? And sometimes there are issues that are so beyond you, so beyond you that they need to go somewhere where they can get the help and assistance they need and sometimes that help and assistance has to be forced on them, right? Because they are not taking it upon themselves. My heart just breaks for you. I understand what that is like. That is the toughest thing in the world to do but you do it because you love them. You love your son just I love my kids. I'm praying for you. Love you. Bye.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:3. Lord, I thank you, Father God, that your Word is unchanging. It is unending, Father God. Your promises are true. Father God, we lift up these prayer requests today and ask you, Father God, to answer them according to your riches in glory, according to your will, Father God. Let them be known, Father God, and let there be victory in healing, Father God. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
Hi DAB family. This is Kat from Denver, KatDenver@outlook.com. I'm calling to share with you, my family. It has been a rough week. I know I’ve mentioned my sons in previous calls and the son that I'm calling Joseph who has mental and legal troubles and our youngest son Dillon with schizophrenia. I know there are family members suffering more than me, but I'm just letting myself feel sad for a moment. Joseph has always been an intelligent individual. He has devoured encyclopedias since he was able to read. His plan was to be a pilot. He was the youngest to take lessons at our local airport and that dream is no more. Today was another in what has been an endless series of hearings for Joseph's cases. Everything was agreed to and signed prior to the hearing; however, his probation officer dug in her heels for additional punishment. This complicated our paperwork and process and we were unable to resolve all of it. Joseph's next hearing is in January when he will be sentenced. It is so difficult to hear the names you gave your son the day he was born being read in the courtroom. Dillon is our most beautiful child. He came out perfect. Calm, loving, funny, a joy to be around, Dillon has been psychotic for some time and continued to worsen to the point where he attacked my husband unprovoked just a couple weeks ago. He is currently in the hospital awaiting transfer to a longer term facility for the critically mentally ill and from that facility we’re hoping to find him a group home where he can live with some sort of independence. My husband and I have done our best to care for him, but he needs more than we can give. It's so painful.
Lord, hallelujah. Praise God. Thank you very much for people praying for me there. It's Richard from Montreal, Canada. Thank you to Mark, the teacher. Yes, it is the best thing yet. Thank you to Brian for your teaching there on November 14 for telling us and encouraging me. Not doing it alone, we don’t have to be alone and sometimes I feel alone. I was finishing my work Thursday and I heard someone praying for me and then I heard myself praying and I started to cry. I said this is real! This community is real. It's not make believe. It's not make believe. This belief that you're walking with God, there is something. I believe it's real. So hold on. Hold onto the faith. I want to praise God for all the beautiful people that I hear like Tony the blind man, your beautiful poems that touch my heart, lift my spirit. I want to pray for Linda who is fasting. Lord, help her. I want to pray for Stephanie and her heart that is on Mongolia there. My God, bless her and respond to her prayer. I want to pray also for Sarah Kat there. Hallelujah. Lord, help her. And for Karen in South Florida, with what she is __________ as she seeks your __________. Please heal her and restore the family situation because her husband has a problem with the police there. Lord, you can put your hand in there. You're in control, God. Hallelujah! You are real. Thank you, Lord, for listening to our prayers and thank you. Bless Brian. Protect him on the road, Lord, and I just want to praise you, God. Hallelujah. __________ your faithfulness, Lord. Hallelujah. Thank you very much everybody and keep on praying and I keep on listening and it’s been very good. Bye.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Becky in Orlando. Hey guys, I heard that there was a nasty attack on France last night and the first thing that popped into my mind is our Daily Audio Bible community in Paris, so let's pray for Martin and his team. Dear Lord, I pray for the whole of France, for everybody in France, the Christians that are in France and also the unsaved people in France even more so. So I'm praying for the safety and just for all those families that have lost people and for all those that have been injured. I'm also praying today for Scott in Alaska because we haven’t heard from him for a really long time. So I'm praying that he's doing well. I'm praying that he has found somebody that is a good Christian woman and that is the reason why he hasn’t called in. So I'm praying still for him. And I'm praying for James in L.A., our teacher. Maybe he's so busy right now with his baby that he hasn’t had time to call in, but it is time for him to check in. And also Kellie in Pennsylvania, I'm praying for your mom with cancer. Also Stephanie from Mongolia, it was great to hear from you. There are so many people that I need to pray for, but our time is so short, so I'm praying for all of you guys. Linda the teacher, oh my goodness, your story touched my heart so much just because you are such a caring teacher and I'm praying for that boy's family. I'm so glad that he is a Christian because as Jesus said to the criminal, today you will be with me in heaven. So I'm rejoicing that he is in a better place now and he's sitting with Jesus. So that is awesome. But I'm praying for the family that he left behind and also for the students and for the teachers in that small community. So my heart goes out to all of you. I love you all very much. Alright, bye-bye guys.
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Tamarie 11/19/2015 00:33 |
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