GN-Day344 Obadiah 1; Isaiah 49:12-26; Revelation 2:12-29
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
Release Date: 12/10/2022
325: Buckling the Belt Lesson 6: Know who you are.
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
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...
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000: 2024 DDeeper Trailer and How-to's
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
Hi there! I’m so glad you have clicked to listen to this trailer to the Digging Deeper Daily Bible reading plan for 2024. If you want to read the Bible in a great reading plan that will hold your attention and enable you to stay with the program, you are in the right place. My name is Phil Fields. I’m almost 74 years old and happily married to Gale. We have three children, and five grandkids. In 1983, when our kids were still small, our family went as Bible translators to Papua, Indonesia. We finished a New Testament translation for the Orya people in 2005. Since that time I have been...
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GN-Day365 Malachi 4; Isaiah 66; Revelation 22
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
As I finish this podcast series, I am really thankful for this year-long experience. If you are one of the faithful ones who have listened through a year’s worth of daily podcasts— and no matter whether this has taken longer than a year, I say Way to go! I sincerely hope these podcasts have been a blessing for you— as they have been for me. I hope that nothing that I have said has caused you to stumble or decreased your desire to study God’s Word. I started this project in the hope that my four grandchildren would— in some future year, listen to this series of recordings. Now we have...
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GN-Day364 Malachi 3; Isaiah 66; Revelation 21
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
MALACHI 3:In chapters 1-2 yesterday, we heard how skeptical and sassy the Israelites had become. This came out in the way Malachi has the people of Israel talk back to God. The first is like this: Mal. 1:2 NLT “I have always loved you,” says the LORD.But you retort, “Really? How have you loved us?” Topics for such exchanges included offering sacrifices that don’t show appropriate honor to God, breaking covenants of marriage through divorce, and not honoring God as the God of justice. Two more sassy exchanges happen in today’s reading. ISAIAH 66:I highlight verse 17 from chapter 65,...
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GN-Day363 Malachi 1-2; Isaiah 65; Revelation 20
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
MALACHI 1-2:We heard a very difficult conclusion to Zechariah yesterday. Chapter 14 started out with horrendous news for Jerusalem. But the Lord himself steps in: Zec. 14:3 NLT Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart … We will see the following from Zech 14 very soon in Revelation: Zec. 14:5c NLT “Then the LORD my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.6 On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, 7 yet...
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GN-Day362 Zechariah 14; Isaiah 65; Revelation 19
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
ZECHARIAH 14:Unfortunately, we have not yet seen the fulfillment of this prophecy from the end of Zechariah 12: Zec. 12:10 NLT “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. (The podcast notes for the previous episode contain a translation note on this verse.) However, this part has been fulfilled from the beginning of chapter 13: Zec. 13:1 “On that day a fountain will be opened...
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GN-Day361 Zechariah 12-13; Isaiah 64; Revelation 18
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
ZECHARIAH 12-13:Several times I have noted Zechariah and other prophets who use the figure of shepherding a flock— picturing God’s people. In chapter 11, there were puzzling verses where Zechariah evidently performed an outward demonstration involving two staffs. Other prophets did such demonstrations. In this one, evidently Zechariah stood in for the Messiah. The two staffs were named Favor and Union. Our Messiah, Jesus, came to restore us to God’s favor and give us unity as God’s people— no matter from what race. The 30 pieces of silver is spoken of with irony: “this magnificent...
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GN-Day360 Zechariah 10-11; Isaiah 63; Revelation 17
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
ZECHARIAH 10-11:As we have seen before, the Lord loves names and delights to give new names. In Zec. 8 He said, Zec. 8:3 NLT Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain. In Zec. 9 we read the verse Matthew quotes in chapter 21 about Jesus coming riding on the foal of a donkey. The verse is also alluded to in John 12:15. And we heard this verse about the New Jerusalem: Zec. 9:16 NLT On that day the LORD their God will rescue his people,just as a shepherd rescues his sheep.They will sparkle in his landlike jewels...
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GN-Day359 Zechariah 8-9; Isaiah 62; Revelation 16
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
ZECHARIAH 8-9:I hope that you have noticed [Joshua//Jeshua] the high priest. He was the one that Satan was not allowed to accuse. He was given clean clothes. He is a priest and was given a clean priestly turban. And the gem with seven facets (literally, seven eyes) was set before him. He is a picture of the Messiah, who is called the Lord’s righteous Branch. Then in chapter 6 we read that he was given a crown, and told: Zec. 6:13 NLT Yes, he will build the Temple of the LORD. Then he will receive royal honor and will rule as king from his throne. He will also serve as priest from his throne,...
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GN-Day358 Zechariah 6-7; Isaiah 61; Revelation 15
Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast
ZECHARIAH 6-7:There were so many correspondences to Revelation in the three chapters we read yesterday in Zechariah that I cannot even take time to list them. I single out this one from chapter 3 as especially interesting: Zec. 3:8 NLT “Listen to me, O [Joshua//Jeshua] the high priest, and all you other priests. You are symbols of things to come. Soon I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 Now look at the jewel I have set before Jeshua, a single stone with seven facets. I will engrave an inscription on it, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, and I will remove the sins of this land in...
info_outlineOBADIAH:
At the end of Amos, the clouds of judgment broke and there were wonderful promises about the restoration of Israel. God would shake the nations like a sieve and not a single kernel (child of Israel) would drop through the cracks and be lost. And Israel’s crops would be so rich and fruitful. Then, did you notice?— Isaiah said the same thing in chapter 49.
Obadiah’s name means “servant of Yahweh” or “worshipper of Yahweh.” There are 13 men who have this name in the Old Testament, and it is very possible that the writer of this book is not one of those mentioned. Only two Old Testament prophetic books lack any information about the author: Obadiah and Malachi.
Obadiah refers to a time when the Edomites had gloated over a successful invasion of Jerusalem (vv. 10-14, 16), but this does not help much in dating the book, since invasions of the city happened at least seven times in Old Testament history. The Edomites lived in the inaccessible rock fortress of Petra— which is famously seen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. From our vantage point, we may see the Edomites as being symbolic of all the proud enemies of God’s people.
ISAIAH 49b:
In our first reading in Isaiah 49, I hope you noticed many poetic prophecies that remind us of Jesus. It is fascinating that most of these can be understood to refer to Cyrus as well! After all, Cyrus did release the captives of Israel to return again to their land. Alternatively, some of the prophecies may refer to the nation of Israel or even Isaiah, as the Lord’s servant.
REVELATION 2b:
Yesterday we heard the letter to the church at Ephesus— the church that lost their ‘love’ (in a literal translation). So the question is, they lost their love of who? The GNT specifies the implicit object ‘Me’ (meaning Jesus). NLT chooses another good option: It makes good sense to say that the love was for Jesus and for one another, since the two go hand in hand!
Secondly we heard about the poor and persecuted church in Smyrna. Their church is exceptional because there was no word of rebuke for them. Jesus just urged them to keep on being faithful.
Jesus ends each letter just like he ended his parables— which I paraphrase: “Ya’ got ears, don’t ya?! Well then pay attention …”
Remember what Isaiah said about people who have grown deaf!