December 2016 – Page 2 – A Walk Through The Word

December 27, 2016

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday December 27, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 10-11

10 Pray to the Eternal, asking for rain in the spring;
He is the One bringing the storm clouds.
He fills them with heavy rain,
showers of rain for the plants of the field for everyone.
²For household gods^[a] speak nothing but tricks,
diviners see deceptions, dreamers tell lies,
And all offer useless comfort.
And so, the people wander without purpose,
Suffering like sheep because they have no shepherd.

³Eternal One: My anger burns against these imitation shepherds,
and I will bring punishment to those goats.

The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
brings caring to His flock, the people of Judah,
And will make them like His brave royal steed, arrayed for battle.
⁴The people of Judah will supply the leadership:
the stable cornerstone, the secure tent peg, the powerful battle bow.
Every commander will come from there.
⁵Together they will be like a formidable force of champions in battle,
trampling the enemy in the muck and mire of the roads.
They will fight on because the Eternal fights with them;
they will bring shame and defeat to riders on horseback.

⁶Eternal One: I will give strength to the people of Judah
and liberate the northern descendants of Joseph.
I will restore their standing because I care for them,
and they will live as if I never sent them away,
For I am the Eternal their God, and I will answer their call.

⁷The Ephraimites, too, will grow strong like warriors
and feel deep joy as if they were warmed by wine.
Their children will see all this and be happy;
their hearts will celebrate what the Eternal has done.

⁸Eternal One: I will whistle for My people and gather them in,
for I will redeem them, rescue them, ransom them,
And restore their numbers to what they were before I turned My back on them.
⁹Even though I will scatter them among the nations,
they will remember Me in faraway lands.
They will make sure their children will survive to return one day.
¹⁰From the lands of Egypt and Assyria I will restore them.
I will gather them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon
Until no room remains in this good land for them.
¹¹An ocean of trouble will meet Him, but He will pass safely through;
sea waves will be quieted, and the Nile will dry up.
Assyria’s prideful domination will be reduced to nothing,
and Egypt’s rule of other nations will end.
¹²I will give strength to My people,
and in My name will they live.

So says the Eternal One.

11 Eternal One: Open your gates, O Lebanon;
let the fire in to destroy your cedars!
²Wail, O cypress, for the cedars have fallen
and their glory lies smoldering in the dust.
Wail, stately oaks of Bashan,
for your thick forest lies on the ground!
³Listen to the shepherds in the land,
wailing for their power and splendor that lies smoldering in the dust!
Listen to the roar of the lions,
the pride of the Jordan that lies smoldering in the dust!

One of the most beautiful and pervasive images in prophetic poetry and praise psalms is that of the good shepherd. It’s an appropriate and recognizable image for such a pastoral people. The Eternal One, the psalm says, is the Shepherd (Psalm 23). The Anointed King also comes to shepherd His people. But there are wicked shepherds, too; self-appointed and self-interested, they use and abuse the people.

⁴The Eternal my God has this to say:

Eternal One: Take care of the flock headed for slaughter. ⁵The people who buy My sheep kill them without repercussion. Their sellers mockingly say, “I’m rich. Praise the Eternal One!” Even their own shepherds have no mercy on them. ⁶Because of this I promise that I, the Eternal One, will no longer show pity to the citizens of this land. Instead, I will hand each one over to his neighbor, each one over to his king. Those power mongers will oppress them and abuse the land, and I will do nothing to free the sheep.

⁷And so I became the shepherd of the sheep headed for slaughter because of the poorest sheep. I took two staffs in my hand—one I named Favor of God and the other I named Unity of the People. With those I took care of the sheep. ⁸In the span of one month, I expelled three shepherds who cared nothing for the sheep. I had become tired of the way they have cared for my flock, and they have cared nothing for me.

Zechariah (to the sheep): ⁹I will watch over you no longer. Those who are meant to die will die. Those who are meant to perish will perish. Whoever is left behind will devour his neighbor!

¹⁰Then I took my staff named Favor of God, and I snapped it in half, dissolving the covenant I had made with all the people. ¹¹On that very day when the covenant was broken, the sheep traders^[b] watching me knew it was the word of the Eternal One.

Zechariah (to the sheep traders): ¹²If you think it is right, give me what I have earned. If you don’t, then keep it for yourselves.

They took 30 pieces of silver, the price set as my wages, the price of a slave.

Eternal One (to Zechariah): ¹³Give My deserved portion of your fee to the potter.

And I did as He told me. I took the 30 shekels of silver—the noble price of my valuable service—and gave them to the potter in the Eternal’s temple.^[c] ¹⁴Afterward I broke my other staff, Unity of the People, which severed the bond between the people of Judah and Israel.

Eternal One (to Zechariah): ¹⁵Take up once again the tools of a shepherd, this time a foolish shepherd, ¹⁶because I am going to raise up in this land a new breed of shepherd: one who does not care for the perishing, search for the young, heal the injured, or feed the hungry. This new shepherd will feast on the fat from his own flock, tearing their hoofs from their flesh.

¹⁷Watch out, worthless shepherd who abandons the flock!
You will be made defenseless.
May the sword strike his right arm
and pierce his right eye!
May his arm hang limp at his side so he has no strength,
and may his right eye be forever blinded so he can’t shoot an arrow!

Footnotes:

10:2 Hebrew, teraphim
11:11 Hebrew manuscripts read, “poorest sheep.”
11:13 Matthew 27:9–10

The Voice (VOICE)

Revelation 18

Because Babylon is the city responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem’s first temple in 586 b.c., John uses this ominous symbol to describe the Babylon of his day—Rome, the city on seven hills. In a.d. 70, the Roman armies march against Jerusalem, destroy the second temple, and scatter the Jewish people.

The whore, who is identified as Babylon, is a symbol to readers in John’s day of Rome and its allure. Its beauty and power are legendary, but beneath the surface lies the truth of its nature. People who ally themselves with Rome and all that it represents are partners with ruin. In the years since John’s Revelation was first written, the whore has been seen as many different world forces. What Rome represents in John’s day has been replicated by many different world powers and their material attractions.

18 Next I saw another messenger descending from heaven. I knew he possessed great authority because his glory illuminated the earth.

²Heavenly Messenger (with a powerful voice): Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great city!
It has become a habitat for demons,
A haunt for every kind of foul spirit,
a prison for every sort of unclean and hateful bird.
³For all the nations have drunk deeply
from the wine of the wrath of her immorality,
And the kings of the earth have disgraced themselves by engaging in gross sexual acts with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown fat and rich, profiting off the power purchased with her luxury.

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven urge,

A Voice: My people, get away from her—fast.
Make sure you do not get caught up in her sins.
Put some distance between you so that you do not share in her plagues,
⁵For her sins are higher than the highest mountain. They reach far into the heavens,
and God has not forgotten even one of her missteps.
⁶Deal out to her what she has dealt out to others,
and repay her double according to her deeds.
In the cup where she mixed her drink, mix her a double.
⁷Whatever glory she demanded and whatever luxury she lived,
give back to her the same measure in torment and sorrow.
Secretly she says in her heart:
“I rule as queen;
I am not like a widow;
I will never experience grief.”
⁸Because of this arrogance, in a single day, plagues will overwhelm her.
Her portion will be death and sorrow and famine,
And she will be incinerated with fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who exacts judgment on her.

⁹And the kings of the earth, who committed lewd, sexual acts and lived lavishly off of her, will weep and wail over their loss when they see the smoke from her burning body rise into the sky. ¹⁰They will stand at a distance, fearing they, too, might fall victim to her torment. They will moan,

Woe to you, our great city!
Babylon, the most powerful city in the world.
In a single hour, your day of judgment has come.

Since greed and seeking unjust gain are two of Babylon’s greatest sins, economic collapse becomes the basis of God’s judgment.

¹¹And the merchants and the magnates of the earth weep and mourn over her demise because no one is buying their goods any longer: ¹²warehouses remain full of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine fabrics, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; fragrant woods, items made of ivory, and items finely crafted out of expensive wood; bronze, iron, and marble; ¹³cinnamon, spices, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, rich flour, and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and human cargo (the trafficked souls of humanity).

¹⁴Everything your heart desired
has gone away;
All the glitz and glitter
are lost to you forever;
you’ll never have them again!

¹⁵The sellers of these goods, who made a fine profit from her, will stand at a distance. Like the kings, they will fear her punishment might fall on them too. They will weep and mourn their loss.

¹⁶Woe to you, our great city,
dressed in finest linens, in purple and scarlet fabrics,
dazzling in gold and jewels and pearls.
¹⁷In a single hour, all this wealth is gone.

And all the sea captains, all those who sail the seas, sailors, and those who make a living by the sea, stood at a distance. ¹⁸Strong men were reduced to tears as they gazed on the smoke that rose from her ruins. “Was there ever any city like her?” they asked. ¹⁹They threw dust in the air covering their heads. They wept bitterly and mourned their loss.

Woe to you, our great city;
all who had ships at sea
became rich off your wealth!
In a single hour, you have been utterly ruined.

²⁰Rejoice over her torment, O heaven. Join in the celebration, you saints, emissaries,^[a] and prophets because God has judged in your favor and against her.

²¹Then a mighty messenger picked up a huge stone—it looked like a great millstone—and he cast it into the sea.

Mighty Messenger: Watch and see. This is how Babylon, the great city,
will be thrown down; violently will she go down,
and they will search for her in vain.
²²Never again will the sound of music grace your streets.
The melodies and harmonies of the harpists and musicians and flutists and trumpeters
will never be heard again.
And never again will an artisan of any craft
be found in your markets,
And never again will the grinding of the millstone
provide rhythm to your city,
²³And never again will the light of a lamp
bring warm light to your houses,
And never again will the voices of the bridegroom and bride
bring joy to your festivities.
For the merchants were the magnates of the earth,
and all the nations fell prey to your sorceries.
²⁴And in her streets the blood of the prophets, saints,
and all who have been slaughtered upon the earth, ran freely.

Footnotes:

18:20 Literally, apostles

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 146

¹Praise the Eternal!
Praise the Eternal, O my soul;
²I will praise the Eternal for as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God as long as breath fills my lungs and blood flows through my veins.

³Do not put your trust in the rulers of this world—kings and princes.
Do not expect any rescue from mortal men.
⁴As soon as their breath leaves them, they return to the earth;
on that day, all of them perish—their dreams, their plans, and their memories.

⁵Blessed are those whose help comes from the God of Jacob,
whose hope is centered in the Eternal their God—
⁶Who created the heavens, the earth,
the seas, and all that lives within them;
Who stays true and remains faithful forever;
⁷Who works justice for those who are pressed down by the world,
providing food for those who are hungry.

The Eternal frees those who are imprisoned;
⁸He makes the blind see.
He lifts up those whose backs are bent in labor;
He cherishes those who do what is right.
⁹The Eternal looks after those who journey in a land not their own;
He takes care of the orphan and the widow,
but He frustrates the wicked along their way.

¹⁰The Eternal will reign today, tomorrow, and forever.
People of Zion, your God will rule forever over all generations.
Praise the Eternal!

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 30:33

³³For pressing down milk makes butter,
pressing your nose makes it bleed,
and pressing anger makes trouble.

The Voice (VOICE)

December 27, 2016

12/26/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 9:1-17 ~ Revelation 17:1-18 ~ Psalm 145:1-21 ~ Proverbs 30:32

Today is the 26^th of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. Great to be here with you. Merry Christmas again. I pray that your time yesterday was rich and full of joy. This particular day, the day after Christmas is…I don’t know about all the customs around the world, but it’s bit of a shopping day, kind of like Black Friday. Everybody is exchanging things and all the big sales. So I may be talking to you in your ear buds as you walk through malls and stuff. But no matter, maybe you’re just sitting down to a nice cup of coffee or laying your head down to rest. No matter, here we are. We’ve made it through the Christmas season just about and we’ve got this space, this little gap here between now and the end of the year to really press into finishing well and finishing strong. And that is exactly what we’ll do.

So we are in the book of Zechariah and we’ll read chapter 9 verses 1 through 17 today. We’re reading from The Voice translation this week.

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word. And Jesus, we thank you for your arrival, for your coming. And as we all over the world rejoiced in that fact, whether we were paying attention to it or not or whether we even knew it or not, all over the world, the world was rejoicing in your arrival. So now that we’ve passed this day that commemorates your arrival, help us, Jesus, to live into the fact that you are here and we know from the gospels the story of your life and the story of our redemption and this changes everything. You are within us. Our lives are wrapped up in yours. So as we continue to contemplate what has happened and what has changed in the world and what has rejuvenated and restored our spirits, as we move through these last days of the year, may we remain in this contemplation and what this means. And as we move into the New Year, may we move in strong with your authority, your wisdom and of course what we always need, your mercy and grace in our lives as we navigate into a new season. Come Holy Spirit, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what is going on around here What’s going on around here is a little bit of a breath, grabbing a little bit of a breath. It’s been a busy, busy season around here. But the one thing I will mention is the More Gathering for Women that is coming up in April. We have the advanced pricing available through the end of the year, so all the way through this next week. So if that is something that is kind of on your list or something you’re like ‘yeah, I need to check that out,’ then by all means, check it out while you can, at least with the advanced pricing at www.DailyAudioBible.com. You won’t miss it. If you’re at www.DailyAudioBible.com, you’ll find it pretty easily, so check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the remaining days of the year 2016, then we humbly, profoundly thank you for your help in moving forward. There is link on the home page. It can be found in the app if you push the More button. If you prefer the mail, 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 dial.

That is it for today. I’m Brian and I love you. And I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hey DAB family, this is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA for our nightly prayer. Our prayer tonight is we ask for protection from our Lord and Savior just as he did for Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, so let’s pray. Dear God, our Father, our Precious Savior, Jesus Christ, we come to you right now as Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. We are standing in the fiery furnace of our lives at this time. We are surrounded by hatefulness, lies, depression, broken marriages, broken families, broken friendships, abandonment, addiction, emotional and financial problems. Our Father, we fall prostrate before you. We ask that you heal and protect our lives as you did for those three young men in the midst of their fire. Please hold us up and stand by us so that no weapon formed against us will prosper. You are our protector, our healer, our Savior, our all in all. You are the one we turn to. You are the one we need. You are the one that we must seek and we come to right now asking for your marvelous and blessed protection. And we pray this in the name of Jesus, amen. Family, I thank you for praying for me. Even though I may not hear my name, I know the prayer warriors are out there praying. Let’s continue to pray for each other and lift each other up and show the world that the DAB community knows how to get things done, knows how to bring things before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, so that he will hear the prayers and answer them. I look forward to listening to lots of praise reports in the next few weeks and all through 2017. I love you, family. Take care. Bless you. Have a great Christmas. Good night.

Holy God, we lift up the people of Berlin to you and just pray that you would be in that situation. We pray especially for the friends and family of those who lost their lives and we pray, Lord, that you would be giving comfort to them during this horrific time. Lord God, we also lift up those many who were injured and those who were there, Lord, just those who are reeling from their __________. I just pray, Lord, for their swift recovery in that, that you would be at work there as well, Lord. Thank you so much for all of those emergency services and for those people who help out in these situations. Thank you so much for the skills they have and that that’s how they choose to help people, Lord. Lord, in the aftermath of this, Lord, I pray for the officials and the __________. Please give them wisdom to know how best to act. Please help them to uncover the truth, Lord. I pray, Lord, that this won’t distract from Christmas, Lord, the fact that your Son came down and was born into this world to give this great message of peace and love and hope. O God, I pray that we’ll remind each other that that’s what Christmas is about, even though it gets lost in all the commercialism and it can get lost in all the violence as well, especially with what happened in Berlin. I pray, Lord, that your truth and love will just shine through the actions of others __________ Christmas. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Hi DAB family. This is James in Atlanta. I’ve been listening now for about 10 years. And this is the first time I’ve called in. Yeah, this is the first time I’ve ever asked for a prayer request. I would greatly appreciate if you would pray that I would be reconciled with my ex-wife. It would be a miracle if it happened. There is no doubt that if it happens I will give all the glory to God.

Hello brothers and sisters from the Daily Audio Bible family. This is Sam, aka Washed in the Blood of the Lamb from Perth, Western Australia. I also wanted to start a prayer challenge because I’ve been hearing people on a 30-day prayer challenge, so I wanted to get onboard with this and today’s day is Tuesday, the 20^th of December, 2016. Basically, today’s prayer, I want a prayer for humanitarian aid to get through to the children in Aleppo, to those who are in Mosul, Nineveh, you know, Iraq. So Holy Father, God Lord Jesus, through your Holy Spirit, I’m coming to you right now into your Holy of Holies, to your throne room of grace, Lord. God, I’m asking that you would allow it to be your will, my Lord God, that humanitarian aid, my Lord God, that medicine, food, water, my Lord God, blankets, things that these young people, these children need, my Lord God, that would be received, my Lord God, by the powers that be to get them through, my Lord God, to get to these children, my Lord God, to allow all this humanitarian aid, my Lord God, to be gotten through to these places, in the name of Jesus. I pray that you would hear our petitions, my Lord God. Where two or three are gathered in your name, my Lord God, you are there amongst us, my Lord God. You said that if any of us should agree on a matter, my Lord God, that it would be done, my Lord God. So I’m asking my brothers and sisters to stand in agreement because we’re all crying, we’re all moaning in the spirit, my Lord God, for these young children, my Lord God, in Aleppo, in Mosul, in Nineveh, my Lord God. All this that is happening in the Middle East, my Lord God. I’m praying for souls to be delivered, my Lord God, that through all this that they will have dreams and visions, my Lord God, because you said in the end days that you would pour out your spirit upon all flesh, Lord Jesus, that their sons and daughters would dream dreams, that young people would see visions and have dreams and that they would prophesy, my Lord God. So I’m praying for souls to be saved.

Hi DAB family. This is Will from beautiful Bozeman, MT. I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’m thankful for this ministry and thankful for Brian and Jill and their obedience to the Lord. It’s December 20^th and I listened to the Virtual Christmas Party and Brian, you are right on for your word for next year, margin. It spoke so powerfully to me because my wife and my daughter, in two separate conversations, made a comment that I don’t know how to say no when someone asks me to do something. I just kind of shut them up, but I just thought okay, they seem to be related. Cluttering of my time, so many other things that come into play when it comes to serving the Lord and being available to him and really leaving margin for not only my time with him, but ministry opportunities that would take place if my schedule wasn’t so cluttered and then at the same time working a second job and trusting the Lord in the process. So thank you so much for this ministry and what you’re doing. There is so much more to go with that. But anyway, God bless you, DAB family. I love you. Happy New Year.

Hello from beautiful Cincinnati, OH. This is Daniel Johnson Jr. and I want to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as we are wrapping up this revolution around the sun. A couple things I want to pray that really resonated with me. Psalm 130. From the depths of disaster, I appeal to you, O Eternal One. Lord, hear my cry. Attune your ears to my humble prayer. If you, Eternal One, recorded each offense, Lord, who on earth could stand innocent? But with you forgiveness exists. That is why true respect of you might flow. So I wait for the Eternal. My soul awaits rescue. I put my hope in his transforming word. My soul waits for the Lord to break into the world more than night watchmen expect the break of day, even more than night watchmen expect the break of day. O Israel, ground your hope in the Eternal for in the Eternal lives the most loyal love and with him comes the most abundant redemption. He will ransom Israel from all the sinful acts that stole you away. And then as we reflect on the end of this year into next year, Habakkuk 3:17 and following, even if the fig tree does not blossom and there are no grapes on the vines, if the olive trees fail to give fruit and the fields produce no food, if the flocks die far from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, then I will still rejoice in the Eternal. I will rejoice in the God who saves me. The Eternal Lord is my strength. He has made my feet like the feet of a deer. He allows me to walk in high places. Wherever you are, God bless you, from beautiful Cincinnati, OH. Daniel Johnson, Jr. Make it a great day.

December 27, 2016

12/25/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 8:1-23 ~ Revelation 16:1-21 ~ Psalm 144:1-15 ~ Proverbs 30:29-318

Today is December 25^th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Today is Christmas Day. May we rejoice in the arrival of the Savior of the world.

1st SONG played on today’s DAB “Joy To The World” Francesca Battistelli http://apple.co/2hKhKh9

Merry Christmas, everyone. And on this Christmas morning or afternoon or evening or wherever you are in the world, Christmas blessings to you. Here we are at the beginning of a new week and it is because of Christmas Day that we continue in this rhythm that we have with one another of daily inviting God to speak through his word. So we will continue with that rhythm. It’s a new week and we’ll read from The Voice. And today, from the book of Zechariah, we’ll read chapter 8 verses 1 through 23.

Commentary

And, yes, that proverb is true: As the king goes out with his army. So here on Christmas Day we celebrate the arrival of the infant baby Jesus, but as we are reading through the book of Revelation, we are reading about the second advent, the second coming, arrival of the Savior that we wait for. And, yes, as we read through the book of Revelation, its symbolism can be confusing or even terrifying, but what we’re reading about is the disruption of all things that have set themselves against God. This is what it looks like for the mission that began in Bethlehem to reach its conclusion.

So Jesus came and lived a life that showed us what humanity was supposed to look like and then he gave his life to make it possible and he has left us to do the work of reclaiming the hearts of mankind and then he will come again. The disruption that happened spiritually in the world at his first arrival will be disrupted utterly in his second so that there can be a new heaven and a new earth. If we’re going to have the Christmas Story we have to have the whole story.

Prayer

Father, here we are in between these two advents, these two arrivals. Here we are today in the warmth of our homes around our families or wherever we are or whatever we’re doing celebrating that you would come for us. And the story is deeply heartwarming. All over the world, whether people know it or not, people who have completely rejected you outright are giving gifts in your name today. The world is rejoicing that you came for us. And we are also longing for all things to be made new, for all to be well and right and whole in this world. So Father, as we’re moving toward that, we should, as your children, be moving our own hearts, our own lives, and all of those within our sphere of influence toward this, toward wholeness, because your death, resurrection and ascension, your work in this world has changed humanity utterly. We are reunited with you, so Father, as we move through this day celebrating, contemplating, holding onto the fact that you would come for us, may we also take to heart that this has to mean something, that we are changed, that we are different than we were. And may we live into that. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Merry Christmas, everybody. May this day be filled with absolute peace no matter what it is you’re going through in your life and no matter the circumstances, may wholeness flood your soul and the Spirit of the Risen Christ well up within you and may you marvel that your God would not leave you stranded in the darkness. He came for you. And he came for me. And may we give our lives back as an act of worship to him. Merry Christmas.

2nd SONG played on today’s DAB “The Promise” Michael W. Smith http://apple.co/1XVZpup

December 26, 2016

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday December 26, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 9

9 This is the message with which the Eternal burdened His prophet.

He has set His message against the land of Hadrach,
and the city of Damascus is its resting place.
For the eyes of all humanity—especially His people from the tribes of Israel—
are fixed on the Eternal.
²His message is also against Hamath, on the northern border of Syria,
and Tyre and Sidon, coastal cities filled with self-proclaimed wise citizens.
³Tyre, that prosperous city, has strong defenses
including an earthen rampart around her thick walls;
She mounds up silver like dust,
and gold is as common as dirt in the street.
⁴But the Lord will steal her treasures
and sink the ships of her livelihood in the depths of the sea.
Tyre, that watery city, will be consumed by unquenchable fire.
⁵Ashkelon will witness the fall of Tyre from her own coast and quake with fear;
Gaza, not far to her south, will writhe in great agony;
Ekron will, too, because all hope will be lost.
Gaza’s monarchy will end when her king dies,
and Ashkelon’s streets will be left empty.
⁶Children of unholy unions will live in Ashdod’s houses,
the pride of the Philistines turned over to mongrels.

Eternal One: I will make this happen.
⁷I will cleanse those children from pagan practices
such as drinking blood and chewing on forbidden meats.

Those people will then belong to our God, a remnant for the Lord.
They will become like a clan^[a] in Judah,
And those in Ekron will be like the surviving Jebusites
who became God’s people when David conquered Jerusalem.

⁸Eternal One: When that day comes, I will set up an army camp before My house
to guard My lands against those who’d march against My people.
Never again will they bow to an oppressor,
for I am watching over them Myself.

⁹Cry out with joy, O daughter of Zion!
Shout jubilantly, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Look—your King is coming;
He is righteous and able to save.
He comes seated humbly on a donkey,
on a colt, a foal of a donkey.^[b]
¹⁰I will dismantle Ephraim’s chariots,
retire the warhorses from Jerusalem,
send home the archers to their families in peace.
He will make peace with the nations;
His sovereignty will extend from coast to coast,
from the Euphrates River to the limits of the earth.

Like many earlier prophets, Zechariah tells of a day when an ideal King will enter Jerusalem to the uproarious shouts and jubilant celebration of the people. Unlike other kings, this King enters humbly riding on a donkey, a beast of burden, not on a warhorse. He comes to establish real justice. God has given Him the victory, and now He shares that victory with the people. In that day, as His reign reaches the ends of the earth, war and the instruments of war are laid aside in the greater interests of an abiding, universal peace.

¹¹Eternal One: As for you, because of the covenant promise I made with you through your ancestor David,
a covenant sealed in blood,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pits of death.
¹²Return to your walled cities, safe and secure,
O hostages of hope.
I announce today that I will restore to you twice as much as what was taken.
¹³For My people will be My weapons:
Judah, My drawn bow, loaded with Ephraim, My arrow.
I will stir your sons, Zion, making them My attacking hordes against the sons of Greece,
and I will brandish you like a warrior’s sword.

¹⁴Then the Eternal will appear over them,
and His arrow will move like lightning;
The Eternal Lord will sound the battle trumpet
and cloak His marching forces in an approaching storm from the south.
¹⁵The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will shield His people,
and they will feast and trample the sling stones hurled uselessly by their enemies.
They will drink in and roar at the battle like men filled with wine;
they will be full like a bowl collecting the blood of a sacrifice,
drenched like the corners of the altar during a festival offering.
¹⁶On that glorious day, the Eternal their God will save His people, for they are His flock;
they will sparkle over His lands like jewels in a crown,
¹⁷For goodness and beauty will abound!
Grain will grow and nourish the young men;
Wine will flow and flourish the young women.

Footnotes:

9:7 Hebrew manuscripts read, “clan leader.”
9:9 Matthew 21:5; John 12:15

The Voice (VOICE)

Revelation 17

17 And then one of the seven messengers entrusted with the seven bowls came over to me.

Guide: Come, and I will show you the true nature and God’s judgment of the great whore who is sitting on the many waters. ²She has seduced all the kings of the earth into committing lewd, sexual acts; and most earth dwellers have become intoxicated with the wine of her harlotry.

³Immediately I was in the Spirit, and the guide picked me up and carried me off. In the middle of a vast desert, I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast covered with blasphemous names. The beast had seven heads and ten horns like the beast I had seen earlier rising out of the sea. ⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet fabrics; she shimmered with gold and jewels and pearls. I looked closer and saw that her hand held a golden cup brimming with abominations, bubbling over with the impurities of her sexual exploits. ⁵On her forehead was inscribed a name, a mystery: “Babylon the great, the mother of whores and the abominations that defile the earth.” ⁶I looked and saw that the woman was drunk because she had gorged herself on the blood of the saints and the blood of those people who refused to deny Jesus even to save their own lives. When I saw her, I was filled with wonder.

Guide: ⁷Why are you so amazed? I will reveal to you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. ⁸The beast you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go away into eternal destruction. And the earth dwellers, whose names have not been inscribed in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be astonished when they see the beast because it was and is not and is to come.

⁹Here is the mind possessing wisdom: The seven heads signify the seven mountains where the woman is seated. They also stand for seven kings. ¹⁰Five have fallen, one is alive, and the last has not yet come to reign. But when he does come, he will be allowed to reign only a short time. ¹¹Regarding the beast that was and is not, it is actually an eighth ruler that springs from the seven and goes away into eternal destruction. ¹²The ten horns you saw stand for ten kings who have not yet ascended to power, but they will be invested with royal authority for a single hour and will reign together with the beast. ¹³These come together for one purpose and one purpose alone: to yield their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴Together they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will be victorious over them because He is the Lord over all lords and the King over all kings; and those who stand with Him are called, elect, and faithful.

¹⁵(continuing to speak to me) The waters you saw, where the whore is seated, represent the peoples and multitudes, ethnicities and languages. ¹⁶The beast and the ten horns you saw will despise the whore; they will make her a wasteland and strip her naked. They will gorge themselves on her flesh and incinerate her with fire. ¹⁷For God has placed in their hearts to do what He has purposed, that is, to become one in mind and to surrender their kingdoms over to the beast until the words of God accomplish their end. ¹⁸And the woman you saw—she is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 145

Psalm 145^[a]

A song of praise by David.

¹I will lift my praise above everything to You, my God and King!
I will continually bless Your name forever and always.
²My praise will never cease—
I will praise You every day;
I will lift up Your name forever.
³The Eternal is great and deserves endless praise;
His greatness knows no limit, recognizes no boundary.
No one can measure or comprehend His magnificence.

⁴One generation after another will celebrate Your great works;
they will pass on the story of Your powerful acts to their children.
⁵Your majesty and glorious splendor have captivated me;
I will meditate on Your wonders, sing songs of Your worth.
⁶We confess—there is nothing greater than You, God, nothing mightier than Your awesome works.
I will tell of Your greatness as long as I have breath.
⁷The news of Your rich goodness is no secret—
Your people love to recall it
and sing songs of joy to celebrate Your righteousness.

⁸The Eternal is gracious.
He shows mercy to His people.
For Him anger does not come easily, but faithful love does—and it is rich and abundant.
⁹But the Eternal’s goodness is not exclusive—it is offered freely to all.
His mercy extends to all His creation.

¹⁰All creation will stand in awe of You, O Eternal One.
Thanks will pour from the mouths of every one of Your creatures;
Your holy people will bless You.
¹¹They will not be silent; they will talk of the grandeur of Your kingdom
and celebrate the wonder of Your power
¹²Until everyone on earth who has ears to hear knows Your valiant acts
and the splendor of Your kingdom.
¹³Your kingdom will never end;
Your rule will endure forever.

[You are faithful to Your promise,
and Your acts are marked with grace.]^[b]
¹⁴The Eternal sustains all who stumble on their way.
For those who are broken down, God is near. He raises them up in hope.
¹⁵All eyes have turned toward You, waiting in expectation;
when they are hungry, You feed them right on time.
¹⁶The desires of every living thing
are met by Your open hand.
¹⁷The Eternal is right in all His ways,
and He is kind in all His acts.
¹⁸The Eternal stays close to those who call on Him,
those who pray sincerely.
¹⁹All of you who revere Him—
God will satisfy your desires.
He hears the cries for help, and He brings salvation.
²⁰All of you who love God—
He will watch out for you,
but total destruction is around the corner for all the wicked.

²¹My lips will sing the praise of the Eternal.
Let every creature join me and praise the holy name of God—forever and always!

Footnotes:

Psalm 145 A Hebrew acrostic poem
145:13 Most Hebrew manuscripts omit this portion.

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 30:32

³²If you have been foolish enough to insinuate yourself in some high position
or if you have concocted some sort of evil plan,
clamp your hand tightly over your mouth;

The Voice (VOICE)

December 25, 2016

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday December 25, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 8

8 ^1-2The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, came, this time bringing a series of five short messages about hope.

Eternal One: First, I have a jealous desire to be among My people in Zion. I want it more than anything. I am burning with angry jealousy for her and her welfare.

³Second, I will return to Zion and live in the heart of Jerusalem. So it will then be known far and wide as the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will be called Holy Mountain.

⁴Third, elderly men and women will sit in Jerusalem’s streets with staffs in hand because of their old age. ⁵The city streets will bustle with boys and girls playing outside on the roads and in the squares.

Ultimately, God’s purpose is redeeming His fallen creation. He initiated His plan of redemption by calling and equipping the children of Abraham to be a light to the nations. Zechariah foresees a day when Jerusalem is the center of the world; when people of every race, creed, and color journey to it; and when the Jews show the rest of the world the way to the one True God.

After chapter 8, the Book of Zechariah changes—its tone, its character, its focus. Chapters 1–8 have been about the people and times immediately after the exile ended, a period when Persia ruled the world. Chapters 9–14 seem removed from that world, its people, and its interests—but just how far removed is uncertain. It is possible that these last chapters were not written by Zechariah, and the debate about who wrote them and when they were written has raged since Jesus died. In 27:9-10 of his Gospel, Matthew identifies the author as Jeremiah, a forerunner of Zechariah. More recent scholarship has further confused the matter because the setting in chapter 9 could describe any time in Jerusalem between Hezekiah’s rule before the exile and the Maccabean revolts 400 years later. This inability to positively identify the author and the audience, along with the lack of historical, contextual markers in the text itself, make these words universally applicable. They may even describe the end time when God judges the nations.

⁶Fourth, this may come as a surprise to the remnant of these people, eking out an existence during these harsh days, but what is surprising to you is not for Me.

⁷Fifth, I will rescue My people from far and wide, from east to west across the land, ⁸and I will bring them home to live in peace in Jerusalem where they will be My people once more. I will be truthful and just to them as their God.

⁹Here is an encouragement from the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

Eternal One: To those of you who have been listening recently to My words through the prophets, who were working for Me when the foundation of the house of the Eternal One was being laid just decades ago, keep yourselves strong so that the temple walls may now be built. ¹⁰Before then no one could earn a living in Jerusalem or in exile. Neither men nor their animals could find work. No one could move about safely for fear of his enemies because I had turned every man against each other. ¹¹However, that was the past. I, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, promise I will not treat the remnant of My people as I once did. ¹²What you witness now will be very different—a new day when seeds of peace will be sown in fertile soil. The seeds will grow into sheaves of wheat, and the vines will produce luscious grapes. The ground will yield its crops, and pleasant dew will again fall from the heavens. And I will give these things to My remnant as their inheritance. ¹³Because you, people of Judah and Israel, were once the objects of scorn among the nations, I will rescue you and you will become a blessing. Don’t be afraid, and keep yourselves strong.

¹⁴When your ancestors angered Me, I was determined to bring disaster to your generation as well as theirs, and I refused to change My plan. ¹⁵All the same, I have now determined to do good for Jerusalem and the people of Judah. Don’t be afraid. ¹⁶Here are the things you must do: Speak truth to each other. Pursue justice in your courts. Render decisions that reflect truth and bring peace to the community. ¹⁷Do not conspire to bring harm against one another. Do not make promises you don’t intend to keep. I hate all these things.

So said the Eternal.

¹⁸The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, came to me with three brief messages about a happy future for His people and the entire world.

Eternal One: ¹⁹From now on, the fasting times of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be happy occasions and times of celebration for the people of Judah. So you should love truth and pursue peace.

²⁰Many people from many cities will come streaming to My holy city. ²¹The citizens from one of these cities will approach the citizens of another and say, “You must come with me. Let’s journey to Jerusalem to seek the blessings of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and ask for His favor directly. I am certainly going.”

²²That is why many people and powerful nations will come together as one to Jerusalem to seek the blessings of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and ask for His favor directly.

Eternal One: ²³A day is coming when 10 men, people from every nation speaking every language will grab the cloak of a Jew and beg him, “Let us come with you because we have heard the True God is among you and we want Him to save us, too.”

The Voice (VOICE)

Revelation 16

Just as God used the plagues to judge the Egyptians and deliver His people from bondage (Exodus 7–12), these plagues will help rescue God’s faithful servants.

16 Then I heard a great voice coming from the temple ordering the seven heavenly messengers.

A Voice: Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth.

²So the first messenger poured out his bowl onto the earth. When he did, a foul-smelling, painful sore broke out on each person who bore the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.

³The second messenger poured out his bowl into the sea. When he did, the waters became like the blood that spills from a dead body, and every living creature in the sea died.

⁴The third messenger poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of fresh water. When he did, they, too, became blood. ⁵And I heard the messenger over the waters speak.

Messenger over the Waters: You are just, O holy One who is and who was,
for You have judged these things rightly.
⁶Because people shed the blood of the saints and prophets,
You have given them blood to quench their thirst.
They are deserving of these punishments.

God’s judgment is true and just. Violent people are thirsty for blood, so God gives it to them. Sometimes judgment means receiving what you desire.

⁷And I heard a voice from the altar agree.

A Voice: Yes, Lord God, the All Powerful,
true and right are Your judgments!

⁸The fourth messenger poured out his bowl on the sun. When he did, the sun was permitted to blister people with its fire. ⁹The incredible heat of the sun burned their skin; but instead of rethinking their actions^[a] and glorifying God, they cursed God’s name because He had the power to carry out these plagues.

¹⁰The fifth messenger poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. When he did, its kingdom was blanketed in darkness. People chewed on their tongues out of the depth of their agony. ¹¹Still they refused to change their wicked ways,^[b] so they cursed the God of heaven because of their painful afflictions and ulcerous sores.

¹²The sixth messenger poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. When he did, the river dried up and became a road so that the kings from the east and their armies could make their way. ¹³What I saw next troubled me deeply: three foul spirits like frogs appeared, belched from the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the earth-beast. ¹⁴These frogs are demonic spirits. As they go into the world, they perform miracles persuading the kings of the world to gather for the last battle on the great day of God, the All Powerful.

The dragon, beast, and earth-beast are an unholy trinity who send out demonic spirits. These spirits resemble frogs and remind the reader of the plague of frogs that invaded Egypt before the exodus. These foul spirits roam the world, persuading the kings of the earth to assemble together to do battle against God and His chosen.

A Voice: ¹⁵See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the person who watches and waits, dressed and ready to go, so as not to wander about naked, exposed to disgrace.

¹⁶And the kings gathered at the place called Har-Magedon in Hebrew.

Har-Magedon means Mount Megiddo and is sometimes transliterated “Armageddon.” This refers to the battleground where the armies of the earth, led by the forces of evil, will assemble to mount their final attack against God. This place is often associated with the plain of Megiddo in northern Israel because the fertile land there has often been turned into fields of blood during gruesome battles. In a place like this, for one last time, evil will raise its ugly head against good.

¹⁷Finally, the seventh messenger poured out his bowl into the air. When he did, a great voice came out of the temple, from the throne.

A Voice: It is accomplished!

¹⁸At the sound of the voice, there were flashes of lightning, sounds of voices, rumblings of thunder, and tremors of an earthquake. In all of human history, there had never been an earthquake of this magnitude. ¹⁹The great city was torn into three parts, and the cities of all the nations fell. God remembered the great city, Babylon, and made her drink the cup of His fury and wrath. ²⁰Every island sank into the ocean, and no mountains were left to be discovered. ²¹And great hailstones, each weighing nearly 100 pounds, fell from the sky onto the people until they cursed God because the plague of hail was so severe.

Footnotes:

16:9 Literally, repenting
16:11 Literally, repent

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 144

A song of David.

¹Blessed be the Eternal, my rock.
He trains my hands for war, gives me the skills I need for battle.
²He is my unfailing love and my citadel.
He is my tower of strength and my deliverer.
He is my shield of protection and my shelter;
He holds my people in check under me.

³O Eternal One, what is man, that You even care to know him?
or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?
⁴Humans are like a passing breath;
their time on earth is like a shadow that passes over us during the day and soon is gone.

⁵Eternal One, stretch out an opening in the heavens, and descend.
Touch the mountains, and make them smoke.
⁶Send forth bolts of lightning, and scatter my enemies.
Shoot Your fiery arrows, and rout the enemy.
⁷Reach down from Your high place;
save me out of the great waters;
rescue me from the grasp of these foreigners
⁸Who speak only lies
and don’t have truth in their deeds.

⁹To You, my God, I will sing a new song;
I will sing Your sweet praises to the sound of a ten-stringed harp,
¹⁰For You deliver kings from their enemies
and You rescue Your servant, David, from the sword of evil.
¹¹Rescue me,
and save me from the grasp of these foreigners
Who speak only lies
and don’t have truth in their deeds.

¹²May our sons be like healthy plants
as they grow and mature,
And may our daughters be like the corner pillars
that decorate a palace.
¹³May our storehouses be full
with abundant supplies of every crop,
And may the flocks of our fields
multiply into thousands and tens of thousands!
¹⁴May our cattle be strong and productive,
without miscarriage, without loss,
and may there be no riots or protests in our streets!

¹⁵Happy are the people for whom all this is true;
happy are the people whose God is the Eternal!

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 30:29-31

²⁹There are three creatures with majesty in their stride,
no, make it four that move with grace:
³⁰The lion, which is the strongest of the animals,
does not back down from any other creature;
³¹The strutting rooster, the male goat,
and a king as he goes out with his army.^[a]

Footnotes:

30:31 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

The Voice (VOICE)

December 24, 2016

12/24/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 6:1-7:14 ~ Revelation 15:1-8 ~ Psalm 143:1-12 ~ Proverbs 30:24-28

Today is the 24^th day of December, which makes it Christmas Eve. What a holy day that it is as we kind of move toward the worldwide celebration of the arrival of the Savior. This is huge. So there will be many candlelight services tonight all over the world, many midnight vigils ringing in the new day, the day of the Savior’s arrival that we celebrate throughout the earth. So Happy Christmas Eve to you. It’s beautiful that we can come around our global campfire, warm ourselves, orient ourselves to God on this very, very special day and take the next step forward in, like I said yesterday, our ever-diminishing steps left in this year.

Even though it’s Christmas Eve and all of those festivities that go with it, this is the last day of a week and we’ve been reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, which is what we’ll do today, and move to something new on Christmas Day, but for today, Zechariah chapter 6 verse 1 through 7 verse 14.

Prayer

Lord, on this day our affections are set on you, on this eve of the moment that we celebrate or commemorate your arrival. And so once again, as we so often do, we thank you for your word because your word reveals the great story of how you would not surrender us, we who are created in your image, to the darkness, to our own reality that we had created without you. You would not leave us abandoned. You came. You came so counterintuitively that, well, most didn’t even know what was happening until the victory was won. But then you handed this victory into our hands and so we rejoice, and on this day, this sort of final day that we wait, that we keep vigil, that we look and long for the arrival of the Savior, we are also longing for your return. So we love you. We love you, Jesus, and we thank you. Come Holy Spirit into all of our hearts, all of our lives and everything about us because this is what the arrival, this is what the Advent of the Savior is all about – that we are no longer separated from you but are intertwined with you. So come, fill our hearts as our hearts break forth in rejoicing. We pray this in the mighty name of the Savior who came for us, the name of Jesus, amen.

SONG played on today’s Christmas Eve DAB “O Holy Night” Lauren Daigle http://apple.co/2hsByaW

December 24, 2016

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday December 24, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 6-7

When Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem in 586 b.c., he carries her chief citizens off into exile in Babylon. Thousands don’t survive the brutal journey. Those who do must start their lives over in a hostile land where they are subjects of violence, slavery, and every manner of wickedness. That’s why Babylon becomes synonymous with evil. In this vision, the wickedness of Judah is contained and sent far away to Babylon, where it is not only tolerated but is worshiped. Civilization reaches its nadir when wickedness is worshiped.

6 That night I had an eighth vision. I looked up and saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains made of bronze. ²The first chariot was pulled by red horses; the second was pulled by black horses. ³The third was hitched to white horses and the fourth to spotted, strong horses.

A final vision echoes the first vision as four great spirits of heaven unleash judgment upon the whole earth.

Zechariah (to the heavenly messenger): ⁴What are these, sir?

Heavenly Messenger: ⁵These are the four winds of heaven that disperse His power and enact His will. They have been standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole earth awaiting His command. Now the Lord has dispatched them to patrol the earth. ⁶The chariot pulled by black horses will travel to the north land, followed by the white horses and then the spotted horses, which travel to the south land.

⁷The strong horses and their chariots went on their patrols of the earth with great speed and excitement at God’s command: “Go now. Patrol the entire surface of the earth.” They did as they were told.

Eternal One: ⁸Watch, Zechariah. The horses going to the north land have appeased My restless, vengeful Spirit.

⁹The word of the Eternal came to me describing how He would fulfill His promise of restoring Jerusalem and His temple.

Message: ^10-11Find three men who have returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. Their names are Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah. Then collect money, silver and gold, from the Babylonians for rebuilding Jerusalem, and travel to the house of Josiah (Zephaniah’s son) who has also returned from Babylon. You will find Joshua (Jehozadak’s son) there. With the money you took from the Babylonians, fashion a crown for Joshua, the high priest, and place it on his head.

¹²Once Joshua accepts the crown, tell him these words from the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies: “Pay attention to a man who is named ‘Branch.’ He will branch out from where He is and will build the Eternal’s temple. ¹³Yes, He is the temple builder of the Eternal One and will carry honor. He will sit on the throne of His kingdom to rule, and He will sit on a throne as a priest. Between those two there will be a peace agreement.”

¹⁴The crown will then be taken from Joshua’s head and placed in the temple of the Eternal One as a reminder to Heldai,^[a] Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah^[b] (Zephaniah’s son). ¹⁵People will come from great distances to assist with the building of the Eternal One’s temple. Tell the men, “If you do exactly what the Eternal, your True God, says, this will happen as you have seen and heard it. Then you will know for certain the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, sent me to you.”

“Branch” is a prophetic title for the Anointed One, that royal descendant of David whom God will send to usher in a new age of justice, peace, and joy. In Zechariah’s day, the people wonder if Zerubbabel is that king. Ac cording to the prophet, God has designs on him as the one to rebuild the temple and occupy the throne, but he is not destined to reign alone as the Anointed One will. Zerubbabel reigns with Joshua, the high priest. Together they are anointed, acclaimed, and crowned leaders to watch over God’s people.

7 Two years after I saw the eight visions, on the fourth day of the ninth month (called Chislev) of the fourth year of the reign of Persian King Darius, the word of the Eternal came to me, Zechariah. ²The situation was this: the citizens of Bethel had sent a delegation, including Sharezer and Regemmelech and his men, to seek the favor of the Eternal One ³by questioning the priests working in the temple of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and by questioning the prophets.

Delegation: During the fifth month of every year, I fast and mourn. Should I continue separating myself from the impure world on these occasions as I have for so many years?

⁴The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies came to me and told me how to address their question.

Message: ⁵Ask the citizens of the land and the priests, “When you fasted and mourned during the fifth and seventh months for the last seventy years, were you really fasting for My benefit or just for yourselves? ⁶When you were feasting on holy days, weren’t you just eating and drinking for yourselves instead of honoring Me? ⁷Aren’t these the same directives the Eternal One gave you through the work of earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was bustling with people and prosperous, when the villages around Jerusalem throughout the south^[c] and the western valleys were settled?”

⁸The word of the Eternal came to me, Zechariah, again.

Message: ⁹Here is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has to say: “Dispense true justice, have mercy on others, and show all people compassion. ¹⁰Do not take advantage of those who have lost a spouse or a parent, or those who are outsiders or poor. Don’t purpose to do evil toward your fellow Israelites.”

¹¹Some refused to listen. They turned their backs on this message and plugged their ears. ¹²They made their hearts as hard as flint, refusing to listen to the law or the messages the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, sent by His Spirit and enacted through earlier prophets. That’s why His great wrath and calamity fell upon His people.

Eternal One: ¹³When I called out, they chose not to hear Me, so when they called out, I returned the favor and decided not to hear them. ¹⁴Like a sweeping tornado, I blew them throughout the nations, scattering them in distant lands where they were aliens, all alone. That’s how the land and its cities were emptied out and left so barren that no one even traveled through it. This is how your pleasant hills and valleys turned into empty lands.

Footnotes:

6:14 Hebrew manuscripts read, “Helem.”
6:14 Hebrew manuscripts read, “Hen.”
7:7 Hebrew, Negev

The Voice (VOICE)

Revelation 15

The New Testament God is not a God of fluffy love as some suppose. His judgment, while difficult to comprehend, is real; and fear of it should motivate repentance now.

15 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing: seven messengers with seven plagues—plagues that marked the end. With these the wrath of God reached its end.

²And then I saw something like a sea made of glass mixed with fire flashing through it. Those who had been victorious over the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing on the sea of glass, holding the harps of God in their hands. ³As they stand and play their harps, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

Victors: Great and amazing are Your works,
Lord God, the All Powerful.
Right and true are Your ways,
King of all nations.
⁴Who will not fear You, Lord?
Who will not glorify Your name?
Because You alone are holy,
all the nations will come
and worship before You,
For Your righteous judgments have been revealed.

⁵After I had taken all this in, I looked again; and the inner part of the tabernacle of witness opened in heaven. ⁶Out of the temple came seven messengers, clothed in pure linen, bright and shining, their chests clad in a golden sash, carrying seven plagues. ⁷Then one of the four living creatures stepped over to give to the seven messengers seven golden bowls brimming with the wrath of God who lives throughout the ages. ⁸The temple was full of the smoke billowing from the magnificent glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven messengers accomplished their God-ordained end.

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 143

A song of David.

¹Eternal One, I come to You in prayer.
Hear me out; I plead with You.
Lend an ear to my requests.
In Your faithfulness and justice, respond to my pleas.
²Be kind and slow to judge Your faithful servant,
for compared to You, no one is truly just.

³My adversary has pressed in, drawn closer, threatened my life;
he’s crushed me, driven me underground.
He’s forced me to live in the dark;
it’s as if I joined those who died a long time ago.
⁴That’s why my spirit is growing faint inside me; I have nothing left;
my heart is completely empty and desolate.

⁵And yet I can’t forget the days of old, the days I’ve heard so much about;
I fix my mind on all You have done;
I ponder the work of Your hands;
⁶I reach out my hands to You.
All that I am aches and yearns for You, like a dry land thirsting for rain.

[pause]^[a]

⁷Hurry and answer me, O Eternal One,
for my spirit is weak, my courage is gone.
Do not turn away; let me see Your face;
otherwise, I’ll die and be like all those who have gone to the grave.
⁸Make me hear of Your faithful love in the morning,
for I trust in You.
Teach me how I should walk,
for I offer my soul up to You.

⁹Rescue me from my enemies, Eternal One,
for You are my shelter from them.
¹⁰Teach me how to do Your will,
for You are my God.
Allow Your good Spirit to guide me
on level ground, to guide me along Your path.

¹¹For the sake of Your name and the good of Your reputation,
preserve me, O Eternal One.
In Your righteousness, save my life from burden and misery.
¹²In Your loyal love, silence my enemies for good;
destroy all those who take pleasure in my suffering,
for I am Your faithful servant!

Footnotes:

143:6 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 30:24-28

²⁴There are four creatures on earth that are small,
but they are very wise and we can learn from them:
²⁵While ants are hardly a strong species,
they work constantly to store up food during the summer;
²⁶While badgers are animals without many defenses,
they are wise enough to make their homes in the rocky cliffs;
²⁷While locusts live without a ruler,
they all know how to move in formation;
²⁸While a lizard is easy enough to catch in your hand,
it is shrewd enough to enter the palaces of kings.

The Voice (VOICE)

December 24, 2016

12/23/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 4:1-5:11 ~ Revelation 14:1-20 ~ Psalm 142:1-7 ~ Proverbs 30:21-23

Today is the 23^rd day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here, of course, with you today on this 23^rd day…wow! That means tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We are here, the waiting is over almost as we finish up this Advent season and consider the arrival of the Savior into the world and into our lives, which makes this season, as the old song goes, the most wonderful time of the year. There is nothing more wonderful than being in this season and being in the rhythm of the scriptures, so we will continue forward with the next step as we take the steps that remain in this year.

We’re reading from the Holmen Christian Standard Bible this week and we have kind of slowed things down now. We were racing through all of these smaller books and letters and now we’re in the book of Zechariah and Revelation and kind of moving through. So today Zechariah chapter 4 verse 1 through 5:11.

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word and the companion that it has been every single day of this year and the rhythm that it has kept our lives in, always orienting us back day by day toward your heart and your heart for us and we love you, Lord. We thank you and as we’re still in this season, this longing for the arrival, we long for more of you. We long for all of you. We long for your return when all things will be made right. So our prayer is come, we are waiting. We are longing and even as we wait and even as we long, we reach toward you. We walk with you. We walk toward wholeness that you have offered us through your sacrifice so that we’re not waiting for something to happen, but we are participating in it happening as the book of Revelation that we’re reading right now shows us. So come, Holy Spirit, we pray. In the blessed and mighty name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website and it’s where you find out what is going on around here so check it out. We’ve been talking about the More Gathering for the last couple of weeks. That is coming up in April and yeah, this is the 23^rd, so there is still time for that to be on the Christmas list. So if it has been something you have been kind of having in the back of your mind, thinking yeah, maybe I need to check that out, then check it out. Www.DailyAudioBible.com. You’ll find it and all of the details that you would want to know are there so look into it.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in this season and this kind of final stretch toward the end of the year, then I thank you humbly and truly for your partnership. There is a link. It is on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com. If you use the app, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner of the app. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, of course, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 that is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I love you. I’m Brian and I’ll be waiting for you on Christmas Eve, which is of course tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hello brothers and sisters. This is Justin S. from Sacramento, CA, giving my first call to the Daily Audio Bible. I’ve noticed a lot of calls about loneliness. While we are a digital community, we are also people in real life and we should be connecting with each other. You can connect with people on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page. I would recommend starting local groups so that we could get together on a regular basis, maybe a couple times a week meet somewhere and listen to the Daily Audio Bible at like a coffee shop or something like that. It would be great for everybody to be able to meet each other. So anyway, I just wanted to say I love you all. This has been a godsend to me and thank you, Brian and Jill and all the people working in the background. We’ve got all of our prayer warriors who are just awesome. You are blessed and bless each other. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Bye.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. Today is Monday, December 19^th and today I am calling to pray for Bonnie and Vivek. Father God, I just pray over the judge, that he may grant mercy to Vivek. Father God, you said who is a god like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? Father God, I pray that Vivek is your inheritance and Bonnie is your inheritance, Father God, for you, you are the God of all grace. You called into eternal glory Christ after you have suffered a little while, that you will yourself restore him and make him strong, firm and steadfast, Father. In 1 Peter you said that for the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people and it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. And I pray for Vivek’s heart, Father God, that he lives in self-control, upright, and godly in this present age and that he forgets the friendships of his youth that led him astray, Father God. And in Matthew 6:14, Father God, you said for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, Father God. So I pray for the judge, that he grant mercy to Vivek, Father God, and you have also said, Father God, that remember, Lord, your great mercy and love for they are from old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways, Father God. According to you, to your love, remember me for you, Lord, are good. Father God, I just lift up Vivek and Bonnie and the judge, Father God, that he has the grace, that he feels the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that be with God’s people and that he may be one of them that grants mercy to Vivek. In Jesus’ mighty, mighty, and precious name I pray, amen.

Good morning, Daily Audio Bible. This is John C. from Guntersville, AL. I’m calling because I heard Joyce’s request yesterday. What courage that girl has. What a witness. Joyce, go find a quiet place and wait for Jesus’ arms. Thank you.

Hello everybody, this is Miguel from California. I’ve been thinking and praying a lot for those that have called in that have been struggling with depression and especially loneliness. I’ve been thinking and praying for you guys a lot and I’ve been waiting on a word from the Lord to give to you and I believe I have it. Two minutes isn’t enough for me to read this entire scripture, but I want to call your attention to 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 about the body of Christ. I encourage you to open that and see what the Lord says about being part of the body which is this. All people who are in Christ, you are part of the body. You are never alone. We are calling out the lie that the enemy has given you that you are alone. You are never alone. Even in hard times, in verse 26 of that passage says if one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. But know that when you’re going through hard times, the body of Christ is mourning with you and walking with you through that and when you’re having good times, we’re right with you there as well. Secondly, you can read Psalm 23, that even in verse 4 it says even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil. Why? For you are with me. Jesus is with you. We are with you. And in verse 6, surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. None of you are ever alone. The body of Christ is with you. Jesus is with you. May this empower you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi DAB family. This message is for all of the people who did not hear their names mentioned in 2016. I’m going to reference this to you. You are being prayed over. You are being thanked over. Anything that you have asked God to bring and do in your life, he is going to do it if he hasn’t already done it. I want to tell you how much I love you, how much this community loves you. I want to tell you that no matter what you’re going through, God is working behind the scenes. It may seem impossible. It may seem that it is just not going to happen, but God is working behind the scenes for you, for that husband that you’re praying God will bring you, for that wife you’re praying that God will give you, for those children you want to bear that God will do for you, for your financial, your mental, your physical, for healing of relationships, for restoring of relationships, for bringing that husband or that wife who left you back into your life. God will do it if you believe and you claim it every day, no matter what your circumstances are. Get up and thank God for all those things that he is doing in your life. I thanked him for years to bring me a godly husband. I thanked him for years to bring me a child and it didn’t happen when I did it, but it happened eventually. So you have to claim your victory. Help somebody else. If you are down and out, just go out and even if it is just saying hello to somebody, how’s your day? Step out of your own problems. I encourage you to do this for 2017. Brian and Jill Hardin, thank you. Thank you, all the people behind the scenes at DAB who make this family happen. I love you. I pray that you have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2017 is your year. It is for you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Cheers! Asia from Munich.

Hey guys, this prayer… Well, it is not really a prayer, but this call is for Brother Santiago from Maryland, called in just talking about that sister who called in about going blind from malnutrition and all that. Both of them calling. I really appreciate you guys calling in. Those are powerful. Really, really thankful. It upped my gratitude. It’s really easy to just take it for granted and I definitely don’t want to do that, so I appreciate your calls. And then also that other sister who called in earlier that same day. Well, I’ll leave it for another day. I appreciate you guys all calling in. I appreciate it very much. I’m praying with you guys. I love you guys. You’re not alone. We’re in this together. Thanks Brian, Jill, and family for this app. God bless you guys. Love you all. Talk to you later.

December 23, 2016

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday December 23, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 4-5

Fifth Vision: Gold Lampstand

4 The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep. ²He asked me, “What do you see?”

I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand there with a bowl on its top. It has seven lamps on it and seven channels for each of^[a] the lamps on its top. ³There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵“Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me.

I said, “No, my lord.”

⁶So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,’^(A) says the Lord of Hosts. ⁷‘What are you, great mountain?^(B) Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain.^(C) And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!’”

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me:^(D) ⁹“Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house,^(E) and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. ¹⁰For who scorns the day of small things?^(F) These seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line^[b] in Zerubbabel’s hand.”^(G)

¹¹I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?” ¹²And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold conduits, from which golden oil pours out?”

¹³Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

¹⁴“These are the two anointed ones,”^[c]^(H) he said, “who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”^(I)

Sixth Vision: Flying Scroll

5 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.^(J) ²“What do you see?” he asked me.

“I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “30 feet^[d] long and 15 feet^[e] wide.”^(K)

³Then he said to me, “This is the curse^(L) that is going out over the whole land, for every thief will be removed according to what is written on one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be removed according to what is written on the other side. ⁴I will send it out,”^(M)—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It will stay inside his house and destroy it along with its timbers and stones.”^(N)

Seventh Vision: Woman in the Basket

⁵Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Look up and see what this is that is approaching.”

⁶So I asked, “What is it?”

He responded, “It’s a measuring basket^[f] that is approaching.” And he continued, “This is their iniquity^[g] in all the land.” ⁷Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman^(O) sitting inside the basket.^(P) ⁸“This is Wickedness,” he said. He shoved her down into the basket and pushed the lead weight over its opening. ⁹Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork,^(Q) and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

¹⁰So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

¹¹“To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,”^(R) he told me. “When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal.”

Footnotes:

Zechariah 4:2 Or seven lips to
Zechariah 4:10 Lit the tin stone
Zechariah 4:14 = Joshua and Zerubbabel
Zechariah 5:2 Lit 20 cubits
Zechariah 5:2 Lit 10 cubits
Zechariah 5:6 Lit It’s an ephah
Zechariah 5:6 One Hb ms, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read eye

Cross references:

4:6 : Hs 1:7; Hg 2:4-5
4:7 : Mt 17:20; 21:21; 1Co 13:2
4:7 : Is 40:4
4:8 : Zch 6:9
4:9 : Ezr 3:8-11; 5:16
4:10 : Hg 2:3-4
4:10 : 2Ch 16:9; Ps 34:15; Pr 15:3; Am 9:8; 1Pt 3:12
4:14 : Jr 33:17-22
4:14 : Rv 11:3-4
5:1 : Ezk 2:9-10; Rv 5:1; 10:2
5:2 : Ex 26:15-25; 1Kg 6:3; 1Pt 4:17
5:3 : Dt 11:26-28; 28:15-68
5:4 : Ps 147:15; Is 55:11
5:4 : Ezr 6:11; Dn 2:5; 3:29
5:7 : Hs 9:15; Rv 17:1
5:7 : Lv 19:36; Dt 25:14; Pr 20:10; Ezk 45:10; Am 8:5
5:9 : Jr 8:7
5:11 : Gn 11:9

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Revelation 14

The Lamb and the 144,000

14 Then I looked, and there on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him were 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.^(A) ²I heard a sound^[a] from heaven like the sound of cascading waters^(B) and like the rumbling of loud thunder. The sound I heard was also like harpists playing on their harps.^(C) ³They sang^[b] a new song^(D) before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders,^(E) but no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed^[c] from the earth. ⁴These are the ones not defiled with women, for they have kept their virginity.^(F) These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were redeemed^[d]^[e] from the human race as the firstfruits^(G) for God and the Lamb. ⁵No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.^(H)

The Proclamation of Three Angels

⁶Then I saw another angel flying high overhead,^(I) having the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.^(J) ⁷He spoke with a loud voice: “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

⁸A second angel^[f] followed, saying: “It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen,^[g] who made all nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality,^[h] which brings wrath.”^(K)

⁹And a third angel^[i] followed them and spoke with a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger.^(L) He will be tormented with fire and sulfur^(M) in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb, ¹¹and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever.^(N) There is no rest^[j] day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or anyone who receives the mark of his name. ¹²This demands the perseverance^[k] of the saints,^(O) who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus.”^[l]

¹³Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed.”^(P)

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!”

Reaping the Earth’s Harvest

¹⁴Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man^[m]^(Q) was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. ¹⁵Another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying out in a loud voice to the One who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.”^(R) ¹⁶So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

¹⁷Then another angel who also had a sharp sickle came out of the sanctuary in heaven. ¹⁸Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from earth’s vineyard, because its grapes have ripened.” ¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle toward earth and gathered the grapes from earth’s vineyard, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.^(S) ²⁰Then the press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press up to the horses’ bridles for about 180 miles.^[n]^(T)

Footnotes:

Revelation 14:2 Or voice
Revelation 14:3 Other mss add as it were
Revelation 14:3 Or purchased
Revelation 14:4 Other mss add by Jesus
Revelation 14:4 Or purchased
Revelation 14:8 Lit Another angel, a second
Revelation 14:8 Other mss omit the second has fallen
Revelation 14:8 Or wine of her passionate immorality
Revelation 14:9 Lit Another angel, a third
Revelation 14:11 Lit They have no rest
Revelation 14:12 Lit Here is the perseverance
Revelation 14:12 Or and faith in Jesus, or and faithfulness to Jesus
Revelation 14:14 Or like a son of man
Revelation 14:20 Lit 1,600 stadia

Cross references:

14:1 : Rv 3:12; 7:3; 13:16
14:2 : Ezk 1:24; 43:2; Rv 1:15; 19:6
14:2 : Rv 5:8
14:3 : Rv 5:9
14:3 : Rv 4:4, 6
14:4 : 1Sm 21:4-5
14:4 : Ex 23:19
14:5 : Zph 3:13
14:6 : Rv 8:13
14:6 : Rv 5:9; 7:9; 11:9; 13:7
14:8 : Is 21:9; Jr 51:7-8, 49; Rv 18:2
14:10 : Ps 75:8; Is 51:17; Jr 25:15-17
14:10 : Lk 17:29; Rv 20:10; 21:8
14:11 : Is 1:31; 34:10; 66:24; Rv 19:3
14:12 : Rv 13:10
14:13 : Rv 1:3; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14
14:14 : Dn 7:13; Lk 21:27; Rv 1:13
14:15 : Jl 3:13
14:19 : Rv 16:19; 19:15
14:20 : Is 63:1-6

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Psalm 142

A Cry of Distress

A Davidic Maskil. When he was in the cave.^(A) A prayer.

¹I cry aloud to the Lord;^(B)
I plead aloud to the Lord for mercy.^(C)
²I pour out my complaint before Him;
I reveal my trouble to Him.^(D)
³Although my spirit is weak within me,
You know my way.^(E)

Along this path I travel
they have hidden a trap for me.^(F)
⁴Look to the right and see:^[a]
no one stands up for me;
there is no refuge for me;
no one cares about me.^(G)

⁵I cry to You, Lord;
I say, “You are my shelter,
my portion in the land of the living.”^(H)
⁶Listen to my cry,
for I am very weak.^(I)
Rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.^(J)
⁷Free me from prison
so that I can praise Your name.
The righteous will gather around me
because You deal generously with me.^(K)

Footnotes:

Psalm 142:4 DSS, LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg read I look to the right and I see

Cross references:

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Proverbs 30:21-23

²¹The earth trembles under three things;
it cannot bear up under four:
²²a servant when he becomes king,^(A)
a fool when he is stuffed with food,
²³an unloved woman when she marries,^(B)
and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

Cross references:

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

December 22, 2016

12/22/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 2:1-3:10 ~ Revelation 13:2-18 ~ Psalm 141:1-10 ~ Proverbs 30:18-20

Today is the 22^nd day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Oh my goodness, we are in the final countdown toward Christmas Day now. I’m excited for the festivities of it and the joy that is contained in it, the wonder and the mystery that God came to be with us. We can get overwhelmed in the festivities when the simple truth can be seen by those who actually maybe even dread the holidays because it doesn’t look like everyone else, or that is the perception, when the reality of the holiday is that God is with us. Like the psalmist was saying in our reading previous to this – where can I go from your Spirit? This idea of being alone on the holiday, yeah, that is not real. That is not a reality. We are not alone because God has come to be with us. The whole point of the word Emmanuel, the whole point of this holiday, may we hold onto that even as we move into the scriptures for today.

We’re reading from the book of Zechariah that we began yesterday and we’ll be kind of camping out in here for a little bit. We’ll continue forward, reading from the Holman Christian Bible this week, Zechariah chapter 2 verse 1 through 3 verse 10.

Commentary

Okay, so there is some incredible advice contained in the prayer in the book of Psalms today that really lands this time of year. We’re a couple days out from Christmas, which means you may be about to travel or you may be about to host family that is traveling in. There may be any number of things going on now and you get together with everybody you grew up with but who are now adults and have families of their own or have moved to other parts of the country and are living different lives and somehow everything gets all jumbled together. It’s like a time warp and you go back all those years to when you were kids and any number of things can start, all the little idiosyncrasies of different generations and all this kind of stuff, and before you know it, volatile things are being said, things that are pregnant and waiting to birth a bad day. The psalmist gives us words for that and a prayer for that and a choice to be made now ahead of time before it ever gets started in the first place.

Lord, set up a guard for my mouth. Keep watch at the door of my lips. Do not let my heart turn to any evil thing or perform wicked acts with men who commit sin. Do not let me feast on their delicacies. Let the righteous one strike me. That is an act of faithful love. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head. Let me not refuse it.

Prayer

Father, we give authority over our mouths, our tongues, the words that form down deep in the soul of ourselves and then are formed up through our mouth and spit out into the world and can’t be unsaid. We give that to you now. We even give our inner monologue, the things that we’re not saying out loud, that we’re governing but are there in our hearts, we give that to you.

This is a season that reveals your unwillingness to remain separated from us, that you want to be with us and we want to be with you in all things. May we represent you well in this season in all of the gatherings that will be taking place, millions of them, millions and millions of them around the world. May we be a light. May we shine the kingdom’s brightness through our homes and every step we take. Wherever we are may it be holy ground because you are there within us and you have not been inhibited in any way by our own foolish choices or foolish choices of words. Come Jesus. We need you in this. Come, we pray in your holy name. Amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base. It’s the website. It’s where you find out what is going on around here. All the connections that can be made you can find them at www.DailyAudioBible.com if you just look around. So check that out. Be sure to stay tapped in. Check out the prayer wall. People are always praying for each other there. There are just lots of ways to make a connection, so be sure to check that out.

The More Gathering is another thing we’ve been mentioning. There is certainly still time for that last minute Christmas idea and it is bigger than an idea. It can be life-changing. That is not just talk. I’ve seen it with my own eyes which is why we continue to do it. It’s an incredible amount of effort and requires a great team to do it and it is just a lot of work on behalf of the hearts of the women who come, but I’ve seen with my own eyes that it is worth it. So check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com. You’ll find it very easily, everything you would want to know. So we have the advance registration pricing and that will end at the end of the year. Be sure to give it a look over and some prayerful consideration. So that can be found at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com where everything else can be found. Thank you humbly, deeply, really from my heart. Thank you that we can be this community for each other. So the link is on the home page. You can find it in the app by pushing the More button in the lower right-hand corner or 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 that is the number to dial.

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

Good morning everybody. This is Alicia from Kansas. Today I believe is December 18^th and I just wanted to call and give a praise report. I thank you all for praying for my daughter Keegan. I had out of a mother’s anger and a mother’s heart divulged something to her father wanting to blame him and we are not married, but I broke her trust. I called in and asked for prayer for this and I just wanted to tell you all that Keegan and I have been talking. She has walked away from our Lord but that doesn’t matter. The fact that I can still be a light in her life and that I’m able to… There was a time in my life when I was a cruel, self-centered, self-seeking, self-pleasing alcoholic and today I can humble myself and admit that I did wrong and it was uncomfortable but praise God. Thank you all for your prayers. I’m listening to the prayer line right now and halfway through and realized listening to all the prayers and all that moms that are hurting for their wayward children that I needed to call in with my praise report. The Lord is faithful even though we are not faithful. We don’t always get the answer that we want, but I know that my identity does not lie in my children. It lies in who I am in Christ Jesus. For you moms out there that are hurting, lean into him. Grow into him. He is our Abba Daddy, our Father, and he is our Bridegroom. He is the best husband of all. So just wanted to call and say that. I hope everybody has a blessed week and look forward to listening to Brian tomorrow. Alright, be blessed. Bye-bye.

Hi DAB family. My name is Beloved by the Beach. This is my second call. I’ve been a listener since the beginning of this year and honestly wept the first time I heard the prayer line. The love that people have for each other that they’ve never meet and may never meet, it is truly overwhelming and such a lovely, wonderful example of the kingdom of God. I’m calling today to encourage people who haven’t called who want to call to call. One woman mentioned she was hesitant to call because she is a crybaby. Evidently I’m a crybaby too. There are lots of us. Nobody is going to be able to pray for you if they don’t hear what you need. As somebody who struggles like they are constantly on the outside, I found a family here. I pray along with you all. I especially pray for the names that I haven’t heard frequently because when I first started listening the devil was whispering in my ear that it was all the same people being mentioned and prayed for which simply isn’t true. So I would like to encourage everybody out there who is hurting or lonely or just has a simple need, a physical need, an emotional need, to call in today and let us pray for you and know that people are praying for you across time lines, across the world. In Jesus’ name, let all our prayers be heard. God bless you all. Amen.

Help me, Lord, upon this day to be more Christ-like in every way. Help me choose the right words to say while at work and while at play. Help me pray and talk to you. Help me choose the right things to do. Help my whole life become brand new. Draw me always, Lord, closer to you. Renew my strength when I feel weak. Cleanse my heart and guide my feet. Purify the things I seek. Keep me humble. Keep me meek. Guard my hands from things they touch. I seek your Spirit very much. Forgive me, Lord, when I don’t do right. Help me fight the good Christian fight in the day as well as night. Help me always to seek thy light. Help me never to be too proud to say I’m trying to live in a Christ-like way. And if I fail and start to sin, take me back Lord. Please take me back. BlindTony1016@gmail.com. I would like to give a shout-out to Rumbii. Hope all is going well with you and your family. And Mark B. and Troy N., my friends down under. Yeah, and my other Mark too. I forgot about my other Mark too, Mark P. Yeah. Happy holidays to all of you. Once again, my thanks to the Hardin family. Love to the entire DAB community. Happy holidays. Alright. Bye-bye. Keep it flowing, y’all.

Hey family. This is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA, calling in with another prayer that I hope uplifts someone today. The title of this prayer is You Came as a Babe. Let’s pray, family. Dear Jesus, Blessed Savior, we thank you so much that you came to this world in human form. You didn’t come dome from the heavens as a Spirit for us to see falling from the sky. You came from the most precious place that a human being can come from. You came from the womb of a woman. You came being formed as a human being. You came as a babe to come and save us. You grew up as a child with the wonders of the world in your hand, knowing that someday you would be on the cross, knowing that someday you would die for all of our sins, knowing that someday you would be at the feet of your own Father, just asking him to forgive us. Lord, we thank you so very much that you came to us this way. You came to us as a man who can feel. You came to us as a man who could bleed. You came to us as a man who could love. You came to us as a man who would correct us and guide us and lead us in the way we’re supposed to go. Thank you Heavenly Father. Thank you Lord go for sending your son to us in this form that we could know the passion that was in his heart for his people. We thank you so much for blessing us with this gift that we can’t even imagine that someone would give us. We thank you so much, dear God. We thank you so much dear God. We praise and bless your holy name, dear Father. In the blessed name of your son Jesus Christ I pray, amen. Family, have a great holiday and please say Merry Christmas. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hi, this is Bill Behrman. Been a long time since I’ve called. Many things have happened. But first of all, I want to thank all of you that have prayed so faithfully for me. I went back to Uganda. I got a septic infection. Died twice and ended up here in the States again after being medevaced at a rehab center. Now I’m pretty well okay, still having some trouble with eating with my arms, but other than that, everything seems to be okay. But thank you so much for praying for me. I pray, Lord, you bless everyone that is praying and thank you so much. Lord bless.

Zechariah 10-11

Footnotes:

Revelation 18

Footnotes:

Psalm 146

Psalm 146

Proverbs 30:33

Zechariah 9

Footnotes:

Revelation 17

Psalm 145

Psalm 145[a]

A song of praise by David.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 30:32

Zechariah 8

Revelation 16

Footnotes:

Psalm 144

Psalm 144

A song of David.

Proverbs 30:29-31

Footnotes:

Zechariah 6-7

Footnotes:

Revelation 15

Psalm 143

Psalm 143

A song of David.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 30:24-28

Zechariah 4-5

Fifth Vision: Gold Lampstand

Sixth Vision: Flying Scroll

Seventh Vision: Woman in the Basket

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Revelation 14

The Lamb and the 144,000

The Proclamation of Three Angels

Reaping the Earth’s Harvest

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 142

Psalm 142

A Cry of Distress

A Davidic Maskil. When he was in the cave.(A) A prayer.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 30:21-23

Cross references:

Psalm 145^[a]

A Davidic Maskil. When he was in the cave.^(A) A prayer.