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Daily Transcripts
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11/20/2015
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Ezekiel 40:28-41:26 ~ James 4:1-17 ~ Psalm 118:19-29 ~ Proverbs 28:3-5
Today is the 20th of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian and what a pleasure again to be with you for another step forward in the scriptures this week and we’re kind of rounding the corner on this week in which we’ve been reading from the New International Version, which is what we’ll do today.
Commentary
Alright, is James like smacking you upside the head like it smacks me upside the head? I mean, does it not kind of shake you, like in a good way? You're like kind of going along but then James comes along and really, really makes you look at things on a deeper level, really examine why you're doing the things that you're doing. This is like every day in the book of James. This is how this book is. It's not long but it packs a punch. It's fascinating because it is working in, it's working its way in toward the heart, toward the motivations of the heart, and so it can be these thousands of years old and we realize, man, the heart of the matter of our humanity isn’t any different. The things that motivate us aren’t any different. We’re just wearing different clothes. We just have different technology, but essentially we are struggling with the same things they were and their predecessors before them. The heart of man hasn’t changed all that much.
So we dive into James and he is just like, okay, let’s unpack a couple of things. What is it that keeps the strife in your marriage or among you, in your workplace, in your church? What is up with the fights and the quarrels? Don’t they come because you have an unfulfilled desire for control over things, to be your own lord even if that means that you have to battle against your brothers and sisters? In other words, isn’t this coming from inside you rather than all of the places that you’re putting blame? Isn’t it really originating inside you that is causing you to either perpetrate or involve yourselves in these quarrels and fights? Shouldn’t we just call it what it is instead of all of the smoke that we blow out of our mouths to confuse the issue and confuse everybody else with all of our rationale and then deceive ourselves? Isn’t this originating inside? You desire but you don’t have, so you're willing even to kill. You covet but you can’t get, so you’ll dive into all this quarreling and fighting. You don’t have because you don’t ask God; but then when you do, you don’t receive what you’re asking for because it’s totally, totally mis-motivated. You want it for your own pleasure. So it can even turn to accusation against God. This like adultery, James says. You can’t mix like that. You can’t be intimate with the world and with God at the same time.
And this is some of the stuff we were learning in the book of Ezekiel when God is unpacking his heart and how things make him feel. James refers back. This is why the scriptures say that God jealously longs for the spirit he has placed in you. He wants you intimately and a faithful relationship. He doesn’t particularly want to share you with any other lover that catches your fancy because that feels like adultery to him. It’s a jealous thing because he has invested his heart so completely in you.
Right there, we could just stop right there. That’s worth thinking about all day. God loves us so desperately that he’s jealous for us when we give ourselves away to other lovers. And there is nothing that he would withhold from us; and yet, he doesn’t appreciate being used in the relationship. He’s not the cosmic “sugar daddy” like we treat him as so often. And so it’s not going to work. It’s not going to work that way. He’s not willing to operate that way. Who is?
But James just doesn’t leave it hanging there. It’s not like: Okay so think about this. It’s like okay, so what do we do then? Submit yourself to God. Be faithful to God. Resist the devil. He will most certainly flee from you. Come near to God. Offer him your presence and he will come near to you and offer his. Wash your hands. Purify your hearts. Don’t be double-minded. Grieve, if that what it takes. Mourn. See the situation that you’ve gotten yourself into. Change your laughter into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord. He’ll lift you back up. And then look at what you’ve been doing. You’ve got to stop slandering each other. You’ve got to stop speaking against brothers and sisters. Specifically, anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. And when you judge the law, you’re not keeping it, you’re sitting in judgment on it. There’s only one Lawgiver and Judge. The one who’s able to save and destroy and that isn’t you, or as James says, “But you, who are you to judge your neighbor? “
And to sum it up, James says you got to get your orientation right here. You keep making all these plans, diving into all these arguments and saying all these things and like doing all this navigation and then invoking God and it’s not working and it’s just a mess. You can’t make all these plans without God. You don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring. What is your life? You’re mist. It appears for a little bit and then it’s gone. You need to invoke the will of the Lord, walk with God and do what you know is right and don’t do what you know is wrong.
Isn’t it fascinating how relevant that is, how every word of this can speak directly to situations in our own lives, even though this letter was penned a couple thousand years ago? It shows us that the struggle is common to our humanity. And also shows us the fact the Word of God is an alive, living, breathing thing that speaks to our lives. And so may we consider the cold water that comes into our face to wake us up from the book of James because we certainly do need it.
Prayer
Father, we certainly do. We certainly do because left to our own devices we will create a rationale for just about anything and then have the willingness and the audacity to blame you for just about anything when you have never not been here, jealous for us, fully invested in us, longing to be with us, longing to be included in our lives. And we’ve so deeply compartmentalized you. So, we invite you, as we do most days, because we need to consciously do this. We invite your Holy Spirit into everything about ourselves today – everything that we will encounter, every choice we will make and conversation that we will have, every posture of heart, everything that we’re holding onto, everything that we’re letting go of – we give you access. We grant you unimpeded access to our hearts and identities, into our mind and will, into our body. Nothing is off limits to you. Come Holy Spirit and continue the transformation that you have begun in us so that we will be continually made perfect in your sight. And then allow us to walk this out to be your hands and feet in this world, to live this, not on our own and in our own strength – that is absolute guaranteed failure – but submitted to you, humbled before you, walking with you, following you. Come Holy Spirit we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
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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
Help me not waver. Help me not doubt. Strengthen me, Father, both inside and out. Soften my heart. Cover my brain. Help me not meditate on things that are vain. Safeguard my thoughts, the things that I touch, the places I go, my associations and such. You’re my strength in the present. You’ve been my help in the past. You’re my only hope for the future for this world surely can’t last. And as it fades away along with its desire, purify me anew, Father, with your all-consuming fire. Eliminate all those things that aren’t necessary and reveal them for what they truly are – wood, straw, and stubble – yet when viewed from afar, they appear to be gold and a source of much gain. But it seems as if some lessons can only be learned through the experience of adversity and pain. Strengthen me Father, help my unbelief. Help me overcome that dirty lying thief. Help me not waver. Help me not doubt. Strengthen me Father, both inside and out. BlindTony1016@gmail.com. I’d like to give a shout out to Joyce D. and her mother Janice. I will try to honor your request and I’d also like to say, Happy Birthday to Pamela P.’s mother. And I’d also like to give a shout out to Rumbii. Rumbii, how did your doctor’s appointment go? Anyway, it’s time for you to check in. Thank you Brian and Jill for this wonderful forum for God’s Holy Spirit to flow and it definitely does flow. Keep the faith you all, bye-bye.
Hello Daily Audio Bible, this is Nathan, “Gift from God” from Bloomington, IL. I’m standing in front of one of my windows looking into my backyard and all the leaves are gone from both of my trees, in the front yard all of the leaves are gone. There’s a few leaves down on the ground. I'm thinking you know this is that time of year where the seasons change and change comes sometimes in harsh quantities and all at once. Like there’s leaves and then all of a sudden they’re gone. Shannon from Texas, this is what’s happening. This is the season of change and although it was really hard, I’m sure, to have to send your son to the police station, it’s probably something that was necessary despite other people, including your mom, other people may not understand that. One, you do have to protect yourself. You have to keep yourself healthy. I spoke about this, I think, the last time I called in, about setting healthy boundaries and it’s not easy, especially when it comes to family members and you being in the world of domestic violence advocacy and casework, you do understand this. But it doesn’t make it any easier when we’re the ones who are in that situation. And I just ask you to pray for wisdom and discernment and I ask that God grant that to you, that you can see clearly through this. And then deal with this in the way that God would want you to deal with it, that you are a witness to others and how you handle this on a personal level and a private level. You know, it’s just got to be tough. I’ve never been in that situation of having to call the police on a family member but it cannot be easy. I just pray for you that you’ll see clearly through that situation. Everyone have a great day. Make it a great day.
Hi Daily Audio Bible. Oh, I love you guys. This is one of the most encouraging things I have ever experienced in my life. My name is Ericka. I’m from New Hampshire. And today I seek your prayers. I got married last year. I married a man who knows God but has been hurt, not by God necessarily, but by Christians and wandered away and is now finding his way back. It is an answered prayer. Sometimes it is not necessarily good things that bring us back, but it is tears, it is trials in our lives that make us __________ the Father. And this is what my husband and I are going through right now. He lost his job last week and it has had a profound effect upon my husband who I love with my whole heart. And praise God, he said the most heartfelt prayer I have ever heard him say last week. He feels broken and he said to me, “How do I pray when I’ve been away for so long? What do I say? How do I pray?” And I said to him, “You just pray. You just talk to God. You say whatever you need to say.” So, I’m going to pray for him right now. Dear Father, I pray for my husband. My husband, Eric, that I love with my whole heart, Father. He is finding his way back to you and I just continue to pray that he will seek you and that through these trials, through these tears, through these trials that we’re going through right now, Father, that you would reach back to the him, that he will again know your love and your mercy.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family, this is Mike from Santa Clarita. I’d like to lead us in a group prayer today for everyone that calls into the Daily Audio Bible with prayer requests and for everyone that listens but does not call in. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. Lord, especially keep in your heart Megan from the Bay Area. She’s feeling guilty about asking for prayers, has student loans and no job leads currently. And I would just say Megan, listen to God. He’s speaking with you, that you should never feel guilty about asking for prayers. Just trust in God’s wisdom, he’s with you. Lord, especially keep in your heart Elaine as well from California. Her mom passed away and she needs comfort during these difficult times. Elaine, thank you for calling and reaching out for prayers. God is with you during these difficult times. Lord, we ask these things in your name. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, amen.
Hi DAB family, its Amber calling from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It’s been a really long time since I called last. I don’t even remember. It has been a couple of years. But I’m hoping that you can pray with me. Thank you so much for praying for with me for my boyfriend, Tyler. He got some bad news this past week and he’s not coping very well. And he’s working on coping better than he has been, but he’s still not coping very well. He’s a brand new Christian and we’d really appreciate your prayers for him, that he continues to cope well and that the Holy Spirit will fill him with His presence and he will grow stronger and more Christ-like in the next few weeks and for the rest of his life. Thank you so much for praying family. I love you. Bye-bye.
Hello family, this is Biola from Maryland. I hope you all are doing well. Brian and Jill, God bless you. God bless the ministry of Reframe. I pray that God will use it mightily in the life of others, in Jesus’ name. Corey from West Virginia, I’m praying for your marriage. I’m praying that as God ministers to your heart to reconcile. I pray that will work in the name of Jesus. I pray that both of you will be tenderhearted towards one another. You will be quick to forgive each other and you will reconcile in the name of Jesus. Sister who called in about the P. family (I think you said). Father Lord, I pray deliverance, O God, Lord, even for this man that used to be a man of God. Lord, I thank you for your Word in Isaiah 49, that the captives of the mighty will be taken away and the prey of the terrible will be delivered. O dear God, I pray that you will open this man’s eyes, every scale, O God, Lord, that is covering his eyes I command to fall in the name of Jesus. Lord, I pray that you will draw him back to you completely, O God; that he will be delivered, O God, from the clutches of the devil from this Wiccan group that he’s in, in the name of Jesus. And I pray for reconciliation between him and his wife. Oh God Lord, I want to thank you even for doing that and so much more concerning the P. family, in the name of Jesus. China from Texas, I’m agreeing with you in prayer for that mother that her son’s sentence will be reduced and he will be released earlier in the name of Jesus. I’m praying that God will touch Dre in jail and encourage and strengthen him in Jesus’ name. I want to give some shout outs before my time runs out. Pastor Gene from Florida, God bless you. Praying for success and victory for Astrid Victoria through her competition. Ken H., Healed Ken, the Lord has not forgotten you. He leaves you on my heart constantly and I pray for you, brother. God bless you. Nancy from Seattle, God Bless you as well. Annette, my sister, God bless you, shout out to you. Ian from England, it’s been a while. God bless you.
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Tamarie 11/21/2015 00:06 |
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