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Daily Transcripts
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12/08/2015
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Hosea 10:1-14:9 ~ Jude 1:1-25 ~ Psalm 127:1-5 ~ Proverbs 29:15-17
Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Today is December 8th. Greetings from Colorado Springs and a little taste of winter that I can see. Good to be here with you today. Some meetings here today and then back tonight and then back for the rest of the year, so kind of looking forward to settling in, but good to be out here for the day and even better to be here, with you around our little global campfire where we come in and kind of get warm and go to this other space where we can focus on the scripture and allow God to speak to us through his Word.
So this week we’re reading from the God’s Word translation and we’re in the book of Hosea, so we’ll read that and then when we get to the New Testament we’ll read through the book of Jude. First, Hosea.
Introduction of a New Book
Okay, the epistle or letter of Jude is just 25 verses long and yet it packs a very direct and succinct punch. We don’t know a whole lot about Jude's background and his life. We do know that he was the half brother of Jesus and the brother of James, neither of whom believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God during his earthly ministry, but his resurrection from the dead seems to have changed their viewpoints, as you can imagine.
We don’t really know exactly who Jude wrote this letter to other than we know he wrote it to believers. He wrote to vigorously combat a false doctrine that was going through the church that basically said that the grace of God through Jesus gives us license to do whatever we want to do. Some people were misbehaving in all sorts of inappropriate ways and Jude hits this head on and directly as false doctrine and challenges believers to contend for their faith.
These are very good words as we turn the corner and head into the final chapter of the Bible, for the life of faith is something that we have to contend for, we have to fight for the relationship just like we have to fight for any relationship that is going to last for a lifetime. So we begin the book of Jude.
Commentary
So there is this beautiful prayer or call to repentance and prayer of repentance in the book of Hosea that begins chapter 14. It's a beautiful prayer of repentance because it is responded directly to by God and one that we should remember.
Return to the Lord and say these things to him, Hosea says, forgive all our sins. Kindly receive us. We’ll praise you with our lips. No one else can save us. We won't try to save ourselves. We won't ever again say that the things that we do in our own strength and the things that we make of our own hands are our gods. You love the orphans.
And then God responds. Okay, I will cure you of your unfaithfulness. I love you freely. I’ll no longer be angry. I'll be like the dew to you. You’ll blossom like flowers. You’ll be firmly rooted like cedars from Lebanon. You’ll be like growing branches, like beautiful olive trees. You’ll be fragrant like cedars from Lebanon. You’ll live again in my shadow. You’ll grow like grain. You’ll blossom like grapevines. You’ll be famous as the wines from Lebanon.
In other words, if you repent, if you come back, if you return to me, you will flourish. This is how you're made. This is good for us to remember because we constantly are in need of this. This is us responding to God and him acting in mercy and extending grace and bestowing upon us blessing and flourishing that we don’t deserve, we didn’t earn.
So at some point in all of our thrashing in life, we have to wonder what are we trying to build out for ourselves? What are we trying to carve out for ourselves? You hear these euphemisms in cultures: “I'm trying to carve out a little piece of heaven.” “I'm just trying to carve out a little bit of time for myself.” “I'm trying to carve out some space in my life so I can achieve that ambition or that goal.” We have to wonder are we really just carving an idol that we can worship? Are we trying to carve out some space so that we can build or achieve something that we think is going to make us fulfilled in some way in and of our own strength? We should know that really never works. It never looks like the ideal.
The thing that we’re looking for, the space that we’re looking for, the fulfillment that we’re looking for, the flourishing that we’re looking for is probably better called shalom and this is something that God offers. He just offers. It just comes with the relationship. It's life-giving and all we have to ever do is return. All we have to ever do is come back. All we have to do is move back into how we were created, to live under his shadow in relationship, walking with him.
Good for us to remember in a season where there is lots of thrashing around, lots of contemplation, lots of anxiety and strife, lots of joy and peace and beauty too all kind of mixed together like life is. It is good for us to remember that all we have to do is return. When we find ourselves getting angst-y, when we find ourselves going a little nuts, then all we have to remember is we just need to return to our Father. That's where the grace is for all of this. That is where the strength is for all of this. That is where the flourishing in our lives comes from. All we need to do is return nearer to that source instead of trying to carve out something with our own hands that we’re then going to give our heart to worship in that is going to let us down.
Prayer
Father, it's our prayer today directly from the scripture. Cure us of our unfaithfulness. We return to you again and we return to you every day. Every time that we take a step in a direction that is away from you, we ask your Holy Spirit to remind us, to counsel us, to correct us that we might turn back before we take another step in the wrong direction, before we begin to carve an idol in our lives. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in the mighty, beautiful name of Jesus, amen.
Announcements
Www.dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It's where you find out what’s going on around here. Like I’ve been saying and I guess I’ll probably say for a little bit longer, it's Christmastime. That's what is going on around here. Several things are involved in that. Our women's conference, which may not seem like it's a connection to Christmas, but hang on a second, the women's conference, the More Gathering is coming up this April 7-10. We always try to have an early registration around this time because it makes such a memorable and unique gift. We wrap up things and we give gifts and they are helpful and they bring happiness and they are wonderful to give to each other, but a gift that is kind of connected to a promise like, hey, in a couple months there are these days that you get to go away and you don’t have to worry about anything and you don’t have to think about anything other than locating your heart again and finding the heart of God and connecting those things together and getting some advance words and just clarity on what the rest of the year is going to look like, that's a unique gift. That is a unique opportunity that has long-lasting benefits and that is the More Gathering. So it's, for the woman in your life or the woman in your life. It’s a fantastic thing to consider. You can find out more about it at www.MoreGathering.com. I hope you will.
The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box that we do every year is also available and selling out fast. Be sure to check that out at the Daily Audio Bible Shop. It is absolutely chockfull. These resources are more than 50% discounted. We’ve packaged them together. It is the best of what we have. I love this box. I always feel like we have unique offerings in that box, but this is a killer one. This is really, really, really good stuff. So check it out.
The Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards are available as well at the Daily Audio Bible Shop. You get 25 cards for $5. We just sell them for what they cost us. They are of this community, so they are beautiful and unique and you can only get them here. They are a wonderful way to invite those that you love to take the journey, the adventure through the Bible with you next year. Imagine the ones that you love the most going through the Bible with you, on the same page, moving in the same direction and you have this context of what is going on in the scriptures to talk to each other about. That takes things exponentially to the next level. We see here every day the power of going through the Bible in community. That is a great invitation to your community to take the journey.
Then the other thing is the Daily Audio Bible Family Christmas, this thing that we do every year that is coming up. So you can call in now your Christmas greetings. Just use the prayer line: (877) 942-4253 and call in your holiday wishes to the community that you have walked all of these miles through every day of this year together with and it becomes this beautiful mosaic of who we are, just a beautiful time to celebrate the season, the coming of the Christ child, and also the beautiful community that we’ve been to each other this year. The only rule is just don’t call in a prayer request and a holiday greeting in the same call. If you have a prayer request and a holiday greeting, just make them two calls. So once again the number is (877) 942-4253.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible , then thank you profoundly and deeply in this season of giving. The Daily Audio Bible exists as a community. It has only ever existed as a community. What we’ve done and managed to do over these years has been something we’ve done together. Thank you for your partnership in allowing the Daily Audio Bible to move on and move through the Bible another year. There is a link on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com. It is in the 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 or holiday greeting, (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
Hello Daily Audio Bible brothers and sisters. I'm calling for my 13-year-old daughter who was admitted two days before Thanksgiving into a behavioral facility because of suicidal thoughts and also she had expressed that she had a plan on how to carry it out. Today is December 2nd. She was released yesterday home. I'm calling to get prayer for her, for God to work on her mind so she can realize that suicide is not part of his plan and also on her self-hatred and lack of self-worth as she has expressed. I thank you all so much. I listen to everybody every day and I have learned so much through this journey so far. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Suzie from Iowa. This is the first time I’ve called in, but have been listening for a couple years now. I just wanted to have you guys pray for my husband. His job is pretty stressful and it is quite frankly making him miserable. I don’t quite know what to do about it. I encourage him and try and build him up, but it seems like every time he has an interaction with his boss it just makes him more and more miserable and more and more grumpy. I don’t know what to do about it and I'm feeling kind of like it is my fault because I want him to stay there because of the money, but I really… I guess we just don’t know what to do. He has been looking for other things, but it's just very stressful. I thank you for your prayers. Love you all. Thank you. Bye.
Hello Daily Audio Bible listeners. My name is Robin and I live in Victor, NY. I'm so blessed by all of you. I listen to you every single day. I would like you to join me in a fervent prayer that I have for my grandson who is growing inside of my daughter-in-law's womb at this time. He is only five months so far and his name is Jude. He's an active little guy, but he doesn’t have a skull. His spinal cord didn’t close when he was forming in the beginning. So God knows why he's created Jude and for the purpose, because we all are called according to God's purpose and what he is going to do in our lives day by day and touch others. I ask for you to join my family, my son Jacob and my daughter-in-law Kate as we cry out to God for his will to be done in this child's life no matter what it is. God's will is sovereign. We would like it to be a miracle, but God's will is what we ask for. Please be with Jacob and Katie, Father God. Touch their lives in a way that draws them closer to you daily. We thank you, Lord, that you are sovereign.
This is a call for Carol. I heard your prayer regarding doing stupid things. Carol, you are not condemned. I finally heard it the other day and I had to hear it. God forgives us of our past. We are not our past. We are not our actions. You are forgiven. God doesn’t hold those stupid things against you. You are forgiven. Every day is a new day for you. He gives us grace. Carol, God loves you. I understand holding everything in. Believe me, I understand. You're not alone. But thank you, Jesus, that we are not condemned. Just because we think something stupid, ugly, fat, we are not those things. We are beautiful. God is the artist and we are his masterpiece. No masterpiece is dumb, ugly, stupid. And when we do those actions, we can take charge of those actions and those thoughts. When I listen to the negative thoughts saying that was dumb, you know what? Take captive. I’ve had to learn to take captive my thoughts. As soon as I hear something negative talking to me, I have to turn and say “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” Jesus loves you. You are not alone, Carol. This is Trisha from Henderson. Thank you, Brian.
Hello, this is J.D. from northern California. Hello DAB family. Today is the 4th of December and I heard Pamela of Huntington call regarding her brother-in-law. Just wanted to let you know that he is in my prayer, that he’ll wake up soon. I pray for that along with the DAB family. I also wanted to let Billy know that I'm also praying for your sister, Tammy, and your niece Makayla. And also for Worship Dude, I heard your prayer. I pray that those bones will merge and heal properly. And for everyone else, please know that I am praying for everyone as I hear your prayer. I love you all. Talk to you soon. Thank you. Bye.
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Tamarie 12/08/2015 07:55 |
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