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Daily Transcripts
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11/30/2015
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Daniel 7:1-28 ~ 1 John 1:1-10 ~ Psalm 119:153-176 ~ Proverbs 28:23-24
Today is November 30th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It's great to be here with you today. And here we are, closing out the 11th month of the year and moving into our final month of the scriptures for the year 2015. Hard to believe, but we’re not done. I mean, it's easy to just kind of check out, but we’re not done. We have so much left before us and we’ll be kind of sprinting through a number of shorter books in the Old and New Testaments this month as we walk forward toward the end of the year. We’ll begin one of those books today when we get to the New Testament reading. But before that, we’re reading from the New American Bible, Revised Edition this week.
Introduction of a New Book
We’ve arrived at the first letter of John the Evangelist. The beloved disciple as church tradition holds is the author of this letter although John does not specifically claim authorship. Copies of this letter were all over the early church and were quoted and referred to in the early church writings. When the canon of the New Testament scripture was being ratified, 1 John had no problem being authenticated as a true writing of John and true scripture.
John is writing this letter probably as a circular letter, giving us clues as to how the New Testament church worked early on. It's probably written to the same people that Peter wrote his two letters to later in his life and that Paul wrote letters to. These letters were meant to be circulated throughout the churches so that they had many apostolic voices pouring the truth of the gospel into the church.
John is probably writing this from Ephesus very late in his life, AD 92 to maybe AD 100, maybe as late as 110. He's writing specifically to combat false teachings and heresies that have sprouted up in the early church. These are the earliest forms of Gnosticism and John has a unique perspective because he was actually there. So when any early Gnostic teacher like Cerinthus begins teaching that the spirit of Christ came into Jesus’ body at baptism but before that he was just a normal man and departed from him just prior to crucifixion, John, as an authority who was there, can refute it. This is very helpful for us today because there has been plenty of false teaching over the last couple of millennia and there is no shortage of it now. We’re very fortunate to have an eyewitness disciple who walked with Jesus to speak clearly of how things were and how things are. So we read from 1 John chapter 1.
Commentary
The theological center of our faith is encapsulated in what John says today in very plain understandable language. God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, if we say we’re in a relationship with him while we continue to walk in darkness, then we’re lying and we’re not telling the truth. If we walk in the light as he is in the light then we do have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
That's great – it’s a great encapsulation, but then we get to this kind of dichotomy where it is like okay, I want to be in the light as he is in the light. I want that, but even like the apostle Paul saying the things that I should do I don’t and the things that I shouldn’t be doing I do, I'm the chief of sinners. What is revealed here is that it cannot be achieved in our own strength. You can’t just decide okay, God is in the light so therefore I'm going to be in the light like God and exclude God from the equation. It's not possible. So John moves into that.
If we say we’re without sin then we’re simply deceiving ourselves and the truth isn’t in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say we haven’t sinned, we’re just making him a liar and his Word is not in us.
God is light. There is no darkness in him. If we want to be in fellowship and relationship with him, then we must walk in the light and not in the darkness. However, that cannot be achieved in and of our own strength. We cannot get there by brute force. We get there by brute grace. We acknowledge that we cannot do it on our own. We acknowledge our sin. We don’t deceive ourselves. He is faithful and just and cleanses us and forgives us from every wrongdoing.
This is the beautiful heart of the gospel. We are broken and we are hopeless to repair ourselves but he is whole and capable of making us whole again. May we rejoice, my brothers and sisters, that this is so because even now in this very moment, no matter what is going on, if we acknowledge what has been going on, he is faithful and just to wipe it away.
Prayer
Father, we come before you acknowledging this, completely acknowledging this, declaring it, confessing out of our mouths we are broken. We are not without sin. We’re not deceiving ourselves on that score. We’re confessing to you and believing this truth – that you love us enough to make us whole again, that you are faithful and just and you will forgive us and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. So we confess this now and ask for your mercy and your grace in our lives, believing that right now we are in the light. You have cleansed us. We are in the light because of your grand mercy and grace and we want to walk in the light today and every day. We want to be in fellowship with you, in relationship with you. So come, Jesus. We invite you into every dark place. Bring the light. We need you. We know that you are present to us. We pray these things in your precious name, amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base. It is the website. It is where you find out what is going on around here and, of course, what is going on, as I’ve been saying for a couple days is obviously the Christmas season – we rejoice in the mystery of the arrival of God in human form come to rescue us, come to be among us, come to reveal the true nature and heart of God toward us and it is a beautiful season. We can get bowled over in all the anxiety and shopping of it or we can give gifts that are an act of this great gift that was given to us – eternal life, our salvation. So as it is Christmas season there are all the things that go on around Christmas season and we have a few things going on.
The Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards are available at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the shop, so you can get 25 cards with the envelopes and everything that we made special. We make them special every year for $5. It is just what it costs. The point with the Christmas card isn’t so the Daily Audio Bible can generate some resources. That is a great opportunity to invite the ones that you care most deeply about to join you for the adventure of a lifetime through the Bible in a year. So those are available at the Daily Audio Bible Shop.
Also at the Daily Audio Bible Shop for Christmas is our annual Christmas Box that is chockfull of goodies, some things you’ll want to keep for yourself, some things you’ll want to give away. We love that. This one is amazing. It is packed full, literally packed full. So let's see, the Promised Land Essential Pilgrim's Edition is in there, a 2 DVD set, 4 hours of content just dropping you into all of these actual places that we’ve been spending time in the scriptures in, all these locations that we’ve visited as we’ve read the scriptures. They exist and so Essential Pilgrim's Edition is fantastic for reference and for just getting to know the land of the Bible. So that's in there.
Some of our Windfarm coffee or, if you prefer, tea is in there.
The annual Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb for 2015 is in there. That is the only place you can get the Christmas bulb and I love that. We’ve got 3 of those since we started doing them 3 years ago. They are on my tree right now. While supplies last we have a few of the ones from last year, so we’re going to pop those in until we run out of them, so the earlier that you order the better chances you have of getting that, but the 2015 one will be in there no matter what.
Then there is Reframe and we’ve been talking about Reframe all year and right up until we released the Reframe book a month ago. So Reframe, a signed first-edition copy will be in the Christmas Box or, if you prefer, you can select the CD audio edition.
The Reframe Films DVD, so 5 beautiful films that take a deeper dive into the theme of Reframe that we’ve spent so much time in, a great group resource but great just for personal reflection, that is in there.
The Christmas cards, a pack of 25 Christmas cards, like we were just talking about, that is in there.
And then, while supplies last, we have some blu-rays left from the first edition of Promised Land that we released last year so we will include until we run out of them also a blu-ray of Promised Land. So like I said, some stuff you're going to be like “this is mine, I'm keeping this,” and then some great stuff to give away as well. So check that all out at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.
Also the More Women's Conference, the More Gathering for Women is now open for early registration. We do this at this time of year because it really is an absolutely fantastic Christmas gift to offer to your wife, your loved one, your sister, your mom. Just the space that is created at these conferences is amazing. The gathering will take place in April, April 7 – 10, so here in the south as everything is turning to springtime, as new life is springing forth. So to offer that like, hey, in a couple months, you're going to have this space where you can go away. No obligation. No responsibility. You don’t have to think about anything. You can completely detach and just really find your heart again and really give yourself space for God, fellowship, relationship, all of the things provided in what we were talking about in 1 John. It is all there waiting. So you can check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well or just visit www.MoreGathering.com and you can register now. Early registration will run until the end of the year.
It is time to call in your holiday greetings, so we have this thing that we do every year – the Daily Audio Bible Family Christmas and it includes my family but it includes all of us, those of you who call in. All you gotta do is call in a holiday wish, a Christmas greeting to each other, to the community here using the prayer line, (877) 942-4253. The only catch or the only rule about that is don’t combine like a Christmas greeting and a prayer request all at the same time. Call in your Christmas greeting and then if you have a prayer request, call it in separately so we can keep things straight around here. Then as we get a little further down the path toward Christmas, we will have our annual Christmas party known as the Daily Audio Bible Family Christmas.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if Daily Audio Bible is a life-giving source for you, then thank you for being a life-giving source to it so that we can exist as a community at all. There is a link on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com, upper right-hand corner. If you prefer, the mailing address is 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.
That's it for today. I'm Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you next month which just also happens to be tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hello family. This is Candace from Oregon. Thanks Brian. Thanks for reading the Word of God to us day in and day out. It is just so powerful. Some of the commentaries you’ve had lately have been really a huge help to point me in the right direction as well. I just wanted to say to Nathan from Illinois I really benefited from this call when you talked about asking, seeking, knocking, taking the initiative while relying on the wisdom that comes from God, wisdom and discernment from God. I want to add to what you said. James 1:5: Let him who lacks wisdom ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given. So the person who asks, Lord, give us, please give us wisdom and discernment. Chante from Detroit, thank you. It was such an affirmation to me what you said. Oh sweet Jesus, tell us what to do. Holy Spirit, tune our hearts to you. Heavenly Father, faithful and true, be very near that we may walk with you. Be very near that we may walk with you.
Hi, it's Wednesday November 25th. My name is Colleen from Concord, NC. I’ve been listening for the last 3 years. This is my first time calling in. I'm asking you all to please pray for my friend and a fellow listener, Marcia in Illinois. She is in ICU with a brain bleed. Please pray for healing for her and strength and comfort for her family who also listen to the Daily Audio Bible. They are the ones that got me started. Her husband's name is Doug and the children Andy and Autumn, so please pray for Marcia and for healing from the brain bleed. You all have a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Thank you.
Hello DAB family. This is Carla from North Carolina. This is a real __________ for me today and it encourages me to be connected to this community. I wanted to say to Slave of Jesus, I just love to hear you when you first start off and you say “C’mon Holy Spirit, let's roll!” That is a testament to your faith and your relationship with God and that is the kind of relationship that I want to have. I ask the Daily Audio Bible family to pray for me to deliver me from myself. I struggle a lot with a lot of internal hurts and pain, struggles in my marriage and in my life, and because I have so much struggle and rejection, I'm bitter and I just __________ everybody else that I hate to say it, but I get bitter with God sometimes because I get frustrated because I don’t know what he's doing. Because of that, it makes me do stupid things because I want to be happy and I want things to __________. I'm doing everything stupid to numb the pain. I'm asking and I just want you all to pray that God would give me clear vision in what it is he's doing for me or what I have to do. And that he would grant me his grace for the stupid things that I’ve done just because I was hurting and I was confused. I want his covering and I want to be in close relationship with him. But the flesh has me killed every day and it is difficult when you're dealing with daily struggles in your family, your marriage.
Hello Daily Audio Bible. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Rick from Massachusetts. Thank you Brian and all the DAB team. Brian, your scripture reading is awesome and your commentary gets better and better. In this Thanksgiving season, I just want to encourage everyone to continually develop an attitude of gratitude. Here are a few verses that might help focus on that. John 3:16-17: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Paul says: Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. All through the Psalms it says to thank him. Psalm 100 in The Message says: Enter with the password ‘thank you.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:18: We are to thank God in circumstances, not for circumstances. If we thank him in the difficult circumstances and trust him in those difficulties, he is faithful and will bring us through. God is good and he is good all the time. Most difficulties come because we live in a fallen world and not from God. Remember to trust him, thank him, bless him. Reach down and find the things that you can be thankful that you have, not what you don’t have. What Jesus freely gave outweighs all difficulties. Focus on that. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Hallelujah!
Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the holy one. Give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ, his son. And now let the weak say ‘I am strong.’ Let the poor say “I am rich’ because of what the Lord has done for us. Give thanks. Hi family, this is Pastor Gene and her husband, Jack, her daughter, Astrid Victoria, her son, David. Hi family, this is my family calling to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving and let's remember that we have the greatest reason of all to give thanks. We have Jesus Christ, the son of God who is our Savior and Lord. We have our amazing Father, Yahweh. We have his powerful Holy Spirit living inside of us and the precious gift of his Word. So let's give thanks today. We love you guys. We bless you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and thank you especially to Brian, Jill and their family for their faithfulness to this calling. Love you guys. Always praying with you. Pastor Gene, from Bradenton, FL. Bye-bye. Everybody say bye! Bye!!!
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Tamarie 11/30/2015 09:59 |
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