Steve Webb  0:00  
There will be justice. Coming to you from Riverside, California. This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible and podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. It's Prophecy Friday, and we'll read the entire book of Obadiah. Yeah, the whole thing. The website is lifespringmedia.com. And I'll have contact information at the end of the show. Before we read, let's pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we love you and we thank you for our time together. I pray, Lord, that you would teach us today. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, are you ready? Let's begin. 

Steve Webb  0:38  
Obadiah, chapter 1. The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom— We have heard a report from the Lord, And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, “Arise and let us go against her for battle”— “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You are greatly despised. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’ Though you build high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord. “If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— O how you will be ruined!— Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some gleanings? O how Esau will be ransacked, And his hidden treasures searched out! All the men allied with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.) Will I not on that day,” declares the Lord, “Destroy wise men from Edom And understanding from the mountain of Esau? Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, So that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem— You too were as one of them. Do not gloat over your brother’s day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast In the day of their distress. Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity In the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth In the day of their disaster. Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down their fugitives; And do not imprison their survivors In the day of their distress. “For the day of the Lord draws near on all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head. Because just as you drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow And become as if they had never existed. But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions. Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau,” For the Lord has spoken. Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, And those of the Shephelah the Philistine plain; Also, possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, And Benjamin will possess Gilead. And the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel, Who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad Will possess the cities of the Negev. The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

Steve Webb  4:00  
Well, this probably won't be surprising to you, but Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. But that doesn't take away from its value. It is, after all, the Word of God. The name Obadiah means "worshipper of Yahweh," or "servant of Yahweh." And we don't really know who this Obadiah fellow was. There are thirteen Obadiahs in the Old Testament, and some think that he is the Obadiah who was the servant in Ahab's household as in 1 Kings 18:3. If this is the same guy then he was the man who hid and fed the prophets spoken about in that chapter. Others think that this Obadiah was a man who lived sometime later at around the same time as Hosea, Joel, and Amos. And still, others believe that he lived around the time that the Edomites destroyed Jerusalem. Now, all the other Old Testament prophets delivered messages either to Israel or Judah. Obadiah was sent only to Edom. So who were the Edomites? Well, they were descended from Esau. You might remember that Esau was the brother of Jacob. And both of them were the sons of Isaac and Rebecca. Esau was sometimes called Edom, which means "red." So Esau may have been a ginger. He may have had red hair. So what else makes the Edomites notable? Well in Numbers 20, when Israel was still wandering in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, Moses asked for permission to pass through the Edomites' land, and they were denied. Instead, Edom threatened to attack Israel if they even tried to go through. And there were many times in the Old Testament when Edom came against either Israel or Judah. You'll remember that Israel and Judah were the divided nations of what was at one time the single nation of Israel. Sometimes the Edomites were defeated, and other times they were the victors. But they did fight alongside the Jews against Rome in 66 to 70 AD. And in this war, Edom was completely annihilated, fulfilling verses 10 and 18 of the book of Obadiah. Edom was completely eliminated. So why was God so against Edom? Well, probably their intense pride was part of it, and verse 10, of Obadiah makes it very clear. It says, "Because of violence to your brother, Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever." So they were a very prideful people, and they came against Israel. The book concludes with the words "And the kingdom will be the Lord's." These were encouraging words to God's people that even when they may suffer at the hands of evil people, he will judge the evil for their misdeeds. There will be justice. What are your thoughts? Do you have comments or questions? Contact information will be just a couple of minutes away at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Gospel Saturday, and our reading will be Acts 1 and 2. 

Steve Webb  7:04  
On yesterday's show, I told you about an idea that the Lovely Lady LeeAnn had. This past Tuesday, we read 2 Chronicles 6 through 10. And in chapter 7, verse 14 of 2 Chronicles, the Lord says, "If my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land." Well, I think that's a great idea, given the condition of the world we live in right now. So what is the 7:14 Club? Well, it's easy. All you have to do is set an alarm on your device for 7:14 am or pm or both. And when the alarm goes off, take some time to do what 2 Chronicles 7:14 says. Let's humble ourselves and seek his face. Let's ask him to reveal to us the things in our lives that he wants us to forsake, to turn from, to repent of. And pray for your nation, wherever you are. I believe that God will honor that, Beloved. At a minimum, I believe God will begin to bring changes into your life as you faithfully make time to meet with him in this kind of prayer. So will you do that? Join LeeAnn and I and I'd love it if you would let me know that you're on board with us. Email me at steve@lifespringmedia.com or send a boostagram. I'll read your name on the show. And I'll create a 7:14 page on the website. Actually, it's already there: lifespringmedia.com/714. If you want to remain anonymous, let me know. I'd love to see many of you in the Lifespring family who are willing to do this. Join the 7:14 Club today. And of course, obviously, there's no cost to join and there are no dues or club meetings. It's just an intention to take time out of your day at 7:14 to pray. So far there are three folks in the 7:14 Club. There's LeeAnn and I, and Michael Haner sent an email with a screenshot of his cell phone's alarm app with an alarm set for 7:14 pm every day. So thanks for that, Michael. Thanks for being the first to join us. Who else is with us?

Steve Webb  9:05  
I would love to hear from you. If you have a comment, a question, a prayer request, or a praise here's how to reach me. To leave a voice message call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. Or if you'd prefer to type your message for prayer requests and praise reports go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. If you have a comment or question, go to comment.lifespringmedia.com and of course, boostagrams are always welcome. Also, you can email me at steve@lifespringmedia.com. I mean, how much easier could it be? I've given you, what? - 1-2-3-4 different ways, so don't be shy. Send me a message. Thanks to Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, Jason Paschall, and Sister Brittaney for their donations of time and talent. God bless you guys. And today's show art was from Jason Paschall. Thank you, Jason. It was great being with you today. Join the 7:14 Club. Come on, join us. I'll see you tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Announcer  10:21  
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai