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NL-Day304 Ezekiel 34-35; Isaiah 13; Hebrews 9

Release Date: 10/31/2024

325: Buckling the Belt Lesson 6: Know who you are.

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

Lesson 6 THEME: Buckle up the belt of truth by believing you are ACCEPTED, SECURE, AND SIGNIFICANT. According to Dr. Neil T. Anderson, nearly all Christians struggle to overcome Satan’s lies in at least one of these three areas: 1) I’m not accepted. No one wants me. God certainly couldn’t want someone like me. Even though I confess sins, I never feel that I am fully forgiven. 2) I’m not secure. I am weak. The evil one is stronger than I am. I'm gonna fall into the trap of sin and never get out. 3) I’m not significant. I never live up to anyone’s expectations, even my own. I am...

NL-Day325 Nehemiah 1-2; Isaiah 34; Philippians 2

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NEHEMIAH 1:Yesterday we heard how the returned exiles responded to Ezra’s shock and demonstration of his sorrow, and his prayer of repentance. The book ended with the names of those who were found guilty of forbidden marriages. Note that these are not just names of the guilty, but names of those who repented and sacrificed to God. They are the names of the forgiven. In some ways— and not all, this shows the kind of seriousness with which church discipline spoken of in the New Testament should be conducted. (Matthew 18, 1 & 2 Corinthians) As I said just a few days ago, the book of...

NL-Day324 Ezra 9-10; Isaiah 33; Philippians 1

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 9-10: Yesterday we heard how Ezra introduced himself. Note that he spoke of himself in the 3rd person, but finally resorted to ‘I’. King Artaxerxes was certainly impressed by Ezra! Ezra was given everything he could have wanted, guaranteeing full government support of the temple worship in every way. Note how methodical Ezra was, making sure that he took Levites and temple servants along. His total party must have been at least 1,000 men. So with women and children, it would have been quite a group. And evidently others were coming back separately as well. ISAIAH 33: Having eyes...

NL-Day323 Ezra 7-8; Isaiah 32; 2 Corinthians 12:19-13:14

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 7-8: Yesterday we read of how King Darius completely sided with the Israelites seeking to reestablish the temple worship. Note that the letter to Darius from the government officials was rather complementary and not threatening loss to the king’s interests as the letter from the earlier officials. Remember also that this King Darius is the one who was duped into putting Daniel into the lions’ den, and who then issued a decree that everyone must respect Daniel’s God. ISAIAH 32: Isaiah’s prophecy in yesterday’s reading certainly came true! Is. 31:8 NLT “The Assyrians will be...

NL-Day322 Ezra 5-6; Isaiah 31; 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:21

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 5-6:When the Israelites returned from exile, they were determined to get worship started again, and they made great progress, not waiting for the temple to be repaired in order to start sacrifices on an altar built upon the old location. They made a fast start to building too. But then opposition developed, and several Persian kings later the progress was halted. ISAIAH 31: One of the great verses from yesterday’s reading was this: Is. 30:15 NLT This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and...

NL-Day321 Ezra 3-4; Isaiah 30; 2 Corinthians 11

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 3-4:Ezra, a scribe and priest, doesn’t start speaking about himself until chapter 7. Ancient copies of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were written on the same scroll, and Jewish tradition holds that Ezra wrote both of them. The dates of writing are somewhere between 458 and 420 BC. I kind of doubt that Ezra was the author for both books, because the writer of Nehemiah starts out right away using the first person pronoun ‘I’. The two books deal with two periods of time: Ezra deals with the rebuilding of the temple, and Nehemiah deals with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem....

NL-Day320 Ezra 1-2; Isaiah 29; 2 Corinthians 10

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

EZRA 1:Before going to Ezra, I want to say that one can do a whole lot of digging deeper in the last two chapters of Daniel. History tells about those kings, and we know from what Jesus said and what is written in Revelation, that God plans for history to repeat itself. The main ‘take-away’ points are clear, just as they are in Revelation: Blessed are those who endure and live wise and holy lives. It is a great time now to return to those three small remaining books of history remaining for us to read this year: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These books allow us to see the fulfilment of...

NL-Day319 Daniel 10:20-12:13; Isaiah 28; 2 Corinthians 9

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DANIEL 10:20—12:In yesterday’s reading, we heard Daniel’s sincere prayer. Note that he had been seeking the Lord with limited fasting for 3 weeks. Then the angel Gabriel is again sent with a message for Daniel. Note that the phrase ‘anoint the Most Holy Place’ is probably referring to what we read about in Hebrews recently— that which our High Priest Jesus did in heaven. Gabriel’s message about seventy sets of seven, or seventy weeks and 62 weeks, are both a difficult translational problem and a prophetic mystery. If we could solve the prophetic mystery, then we would know how to...

NL-Day318 Daniel 9-10; Isaiah 26:20-27:13; 2 Corinthians 8

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DANIEL 9-10:Yesterday in Daniel, we heard of the vision of four beasts representing four kingdoms. After the fourth would be the start of the rule of One whose kingdom would last forever. This vision was explained, then Daniel had a second and more detailed vision. It is a major amazing sign of God’s sovereignty over human governments that Alexander the Great is so clearly portrayed, and after that the iron kingdom of Rome. Just as certain as these things happened, our Savior’s reign will one day come to earth. I have been referring to Daniel 7 all year, to the section where he saw...

NL-Day317 Daniel 7-8; Isaiah 26; 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:16

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DANIEL 7-8:In Daniel yesterday, we heard the famous ‘writing on the wall’ chapter. That is where that idiom in English comes from! While that was happening with King Belshazzar, the Medes and Persians were outside the wall and the prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah all happened. Daniel was to be proclaimed the third ruler because Belshazzar was in fact the second ruler under his absentee father, Nabonidus. Then under King Darius, Daniel was thrown to the lions. I am estimating that Daniel would have been around 70 years old at that time. ISAIAH 26:Yesterday’s reading in Isaiah...

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EZEKIEL 34-35:
In Ezekiel yesterday, we heard of how Pharaoh was to be mocked in the world of the dead. Then we heard of God’s justice, which he showed by the illustration of Ezekiel as a watchman for a city.

ISAIAH 13:
Yesterday’s reading in Isaiah was a psalm of praise including these poetic lines:

Is. 12:2b-4b NLT The LORD GOD is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
3 With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation!
…
4b Tell the nations what he has done.
Let them know how mighty he is!

HEBREWS 9:
Important conclusions from yesterday’s reading include:

Heb. 8:6 NLT But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.
13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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