12/06/2016 DAB Transcript

Hosea 4:1-5:15 ~ 2 John 1:1-13 ~ Psalm 125:1-5 ~ Proverbs 29:9-11

Today is the 6th day of December and like day 2 of jet lag recovery from Israel.  It’s like I got home and the seasons have changed.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, at least the southern style which is fairly gray and brown and the leaves have fallen.  We’re doing everything we can to sort of sleep when we must and reintegrate.  One of the beautiful ways that happens is continuing with the rhythm that we’ve established for our lives every day to enrich ourselves through God’s word and listen to him speak.  So let’s jump into that now.  

We’re reading from The Message this week and we just really got going in the book of Hosea, so we’ll continue forward in that and then when we get to New Testament, we’ve got a new letter because we’re kind of moving through some of these shorter letters and it will bring us to 2 John.  But first, Hosea chapter 4 verse 1 through 5 verse 15 today.

Introduction of a New Book (New Testament)

Coming quickly on the heels of John’s first letter is 2 John, the second epistle of John written shortly after he wrote his first letter and probably to the same people he wrote the first letter to.  This letter was probably written from the city of Ephesus where John spent the latter years of his life and he wrote it to encourage and strengthen the church against the false doctrine that was so pervasive around them and to remind them that they needed to guard themselves against these false doctrines and live in truth and love in contrast to these false teachings.  

This is all true today.  There are plenty of false doctrines around us, plenty of things to be seduced by and it’s very important that we walk in truth and love, guarding ourselves as we carry forward the gospel, the banner, as ambassadors of the gospel on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So we begin 2 John chapter 1.  

Commentary

John reiterates what is throughout the entire Bible and throughout the entire faith culture that we live in to the point of cliché.  That we should love one another is sort of foundational and irreplaceable and we all know it.  But the question that remains is are we living it?  To know about something and to live something, those are two different things.  Just like to know about God is not the same as being in a relationship with God so we can know that we’re supposed to love one another and not and then what is the good of knowing about it?  

Here’s the thing.  Loving one another as Jesus loved us, that is the centerpiece of this faith.  If we aren’t doing that, well then a couple of things.  One, it’s not going to work.  The faith journey is not going to work.  Loving one another is the centerpiece.  But it is not just this commandment.  It is not just this cage.  It is this invitation.  To love one another is to live Christ-like.  To love one another is to live healthy as we were made to be.  

So may we take some moments throughout this day and kind of consider that, consider the ways in which we are loving well and consider the ways in which we are not because it is not like an on or off thing.  It is like we sort of do this.  What if we went all in and actually did set aside preference in every other thing and just lived in love for God’s people including the ones in our homes and love the world as Christ did?  Then we would be living well.  We would be living healthy.  So let’s invite the Holy Spirit into what that would look like if we were fully engaged.

Prayer

We do invite you, Holy Spirit, and we invite your life and your love to be a part of our lives, to spill out of the overflow of our lives into everyone that we interact with in any way.  May we love as you love because this is healthy and this is right and this is how we are made.  Anything less is living contrary to our design and so it makes a lot of sense that so many things won’t work.  We’re living contrary.  So help us, Holy Spirit.  Set us right. Give us the eyes and ears of the kingdom.  Give us your heart for those that you love and may we love them as you do.  We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s, of course, where you find out what is going on around here.  It’s Christmastime around here, so a couple things.  Today we’re going to start what we do annually in creating our Annual Virtual Christmas Party.  So if you’ve been around the Daily Audio Bible for more than year, then you kind of know the drill here.  If this is your first year, what we do is we call in Christmas holiday wishes for each other and then we create this little Christmas party that we can all listen to and a retelling of the Christmas story is involved and just our calls and it’s a really, really beautiful time.  

So in order to create that, here’s what you do.  You call the prayer line, (877) 942-4253, and leave your holiday wishes.  However, there is one trick, one request.  Since it is the prayer line, if you have a prayer request or anything like that, don’t mix it together with your holiday greeting or neither one of them…I mean, there is just no way to do that.  So if you have a prayer request, call it in, of course.  And then if you have a holiday wish, call it in separately, differently and then we will compile all of that together and have our annual Daily Audio Bible Christmas Party with each other.  It’s a lot of fun.  So we’re starting to do that now.  We’ll do it for about a week so get your calls in for that.  

Then also the Christmas Box is something we’ve been talking about.  I love it when we do this every year because we pack this box full of resources, things that are like, yeah, I’ve been wanting that.  Things that you’ll want to keep.  Things that you’ll want to give away.  This Christmas Box is full of stuff.  

The Promised Land DVD series, the two DVD set with four hours of content from the land we just got back…  I still haven’t done all my laundry.  It is still in my clothes, the dust of that land is on my shoes and feels like it’s still on my skin.  So yeah, the land of the Bible, the places that we were just at and so much more is included in Promised Land and that is in the Christmas Box.  

And then Bible Stories About Jesus, the two CD set, the reading of the gospel of Mark in its entirety using age-appropriate translations for children.  It’s great for the car.  It’s great for bedtime.  It’s great to introduce those children in your lives to the stories about Jesus and how it is that he came for us and what his coming means to us. So that is Bible Stories about Jesus.

The Family Christmas album is included.  Jill’s latest album that we released this year is included.  

My latest book Reframe, From the God We’ve Made to God With Us is in there as well as the films that go along with the book in DVD form and this will be the last time those are available so they are in the box this year.  

Then your choice of our Windfarm house blend coffee or our English Breakfast tea, whichever you prefer.  

What else?  The Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards, so there is like a pack of 20 of them with their envelopes.  They are in there.  

And the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Bulb for 2016 is in there. That is the only place you can get it, is in the Christmas Box.  

So check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

Then the other thing we’ve been mentioning is the advance registration for the More Gathering coming up this April and it’s amazing and it makes for quite the unique, one-of-a-kind Christmas gift for the women in your lives. So check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  You’ll find it in the Initiatives or in the Events section.  You’ll find it.  All the information, all of the stuff that you would want to know, that’s all there and advance registration will go to the end of the year.  So check that out as well.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It is on the home page.  Thank you so very much for letting the Daily Audio Bible continue to exist and move forward into the next year.  Thank you humbly.  That we get to do this is amazing.  That this community exists and is a beautiful, beautiful representation of the body of Christ in this world, it’s amazing.  So thank you for your partnership.  There is a link on the home page.  If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, push the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment or right now a holiday greeting, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.

And that’s 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

Hello.  My name is Jennifer and I’m from Las Vegas.  I’ve been listening daily since January 1st of this year and I’m able to tell who each person is by the voice before each person’s introduction and for that I’m thankful for the dedication of the Hardin family.  I’m calling today for Gloria who called in about a month ago and had lost her cat.  My heart broke when I heard the call and I still think on that call with sadness today.  I know there are some crazy and horrible things that go on in the world that many may think are more deserving of my concern, but there is something so sweet in the trust of a pet.  I don’t know what message there is in the loss of your cat, Gloria, but I wanted to let you know that I’ve been thinking about you and I hope that you found some comfort while searching the Lord for answers.  May God bless all of you.  Thank you.

Hi, this is Mark from the Four Corners Area.  This is my second time to call.  I’ve been listening for about six months now and it is a true blessing.  I am so blessed to have this community.  I want to put in some prayer requests.  The first prayer request I have is that there is some sort of resolution as far as my own family and my church family.  We kind of fell away from the church family the last year and I just pray that there is some sort of resolution there because I need God so badly.  Also I pray that God shows me who to give to.  If it doesn’t happen to be this church family, who do I give to?  Also want to pray about my addictions.  I have an addiction to pornography and alcohol and this leaves me so down, especially this winter, and I just hurt so badly sometimes and I’m so hard on myself.  And also want to pray for my son who has an eating addiction.  His name is Nathan and please pray that he can change his ways. I’ve been working so hard with him so he can change his eating habits and it just doesn’t seem to be making headway, so I want to pray for him.  And I also have doubts with myself about whether I’m a true son of God because of my lack of self-control recently.  And I have a daughter who has a porn addiction as well and she is a very young age and it surprised our family, kind of shocked us, so if you could just be praying for my family, that would be wonderful.  I love you guys.  I am so fortunate to have you guys to…

Good evening DAB.  This is Sherry calling from British Columbia, Canada on Friday, December 2nd. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.  I don’t have time to sing it, so I’m going to say the words.  God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day.  To save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray,  O tidings of comfort and joy.  From God our Heavenly Father, a blessed angel came and onto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same, how that in Bethlehem was born the son of God by name.  O tidings of comfort and joy.  Fear not then, said the angel.  Let nothing you affright.  This day is born a Savior of virtue, power and might.  So frequently to vanquish all.  The friends of Satan quite.  O tidings of comfort and joy.  The shepherd at those tidings rejoiced much in mind and left their flocks a-feeding in tempest, storm and wind.  And went to Bethlehem straightway this blessed day to find O tidings of comfort and joy. But when to Bethlehem they came wherein the infant lay, they found him in a manger where oxen feed on hay.  His mother Mary kneeling onto the Lord did pray, O tidings of comfort and joy.  Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place and with true love and brotherhood each other now embrace.  This holy tide of Christmas all others doth deface, [singing] O tidings of comfort of joy, comfort and joy.  O tidings of comfort and joy. God rest ye merry gentlemen. [end singing]

Hi, this is Victorious Soldier.  Just calling tonight.  I wanted to say hi to Chante and let her know I’m praying for her.  And good to hear Not Shaken.  I definitely got you in my prayer, my sister. Chante from Detroit, my prayers are with you, Chante.  Praying everything is working out well over there in Detroit.  Pastor Gene, wanted to say hi to you and still praying with you, praying for God’s miracles to be done.  I wanted to pray for Pam.  She was talking about Teri who has stage IV cancer.  I wanted to pray for the healing in her body.  Gracious Father, we come before your throne of grace once again. Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, we just thank you tonight.  We just thank you for your people, Lord.  We just thank you for the answers to their prayer.  You have your time of judgement, Lord.  You have your time  of deliverance, Lord.  In the name of Jesus, we just ask you to deliver, Lord.  We just ask you to open up doors, Lord.  We just ask you to show up and show out and be the God that you are.  We know that you are able.  We know that you’re mighty.  We know that you’re awesome.  We just need you right now to let the world know that you are who you say you are.  Lord, we just ask you to touch Teri and dealing with stage IV cancer.  We just ask you to bless her, Lord, and heal her, Lord.  In the mighty name of Jesus, we thank you for healing her with your miraculous healing power.  And Lord, let her know that you love her.  We just thank you, Lord, for bringing Brian and Jill home tomorrow.  We just ask you to have your way, Father.  We ask you to continue to bless Blind Tony and all the Dabbers in all the challenges and all…

Hello beloved brothers and sisters.  This is your sister, Candace, from Oregon.  Let’s pray together.  Dear Lord Jesus, we bring before you our sister, Pastor Gene from Bradenton, FL. We thank you that as you call her back into the fire on December 5th, that she obediently goes there, that she knows as the day approaches and as the day happens that she is enveloped in our prayers and that you are her strength and her song.  Lord, thank you.  Thank you that you never leave us for one second.  Thank you for what happened to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they were in the fire.  O Lord, you are a great God and we praise your name.  Thank you for my seven piano students who will be giving a recital tonight at my church and for some of them who don’t have the benefit of your church but will be surrounded by your people tonight, bless each one of them.  And I pray that as they do this courageous thing of playing very difficult music in front of all of us, that you bless them.  And Lord, as I’m training and developing young musicians, I remember in all of our churches throughout Advent and the Christmas season, please come, please bring just glory to your own name, Lord, that we all may become much closer to you.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  

Hello family.  This is Carol from Minnesota.  It’s been quite a while since I called.  Last time I called I was asking for prayer for my friends Dan and Annie, both of whom were battling cancer.  I’m happy to tell you that they both have conquered their battles and are doing very well.  Thank you all so much for your prayers.  I’m calling today for myself.  I was supposed to be on the Daily Audio Bible Israel trip right now, but I was in a serious car accident in September and I’m unable to travel because of my injury.  I was in the hospital for four days and in rehab for six weeks.  I’ve been home now for about three weeks.  It’s been a difficult time financially as I have been unable to work and without a paycheck since September.  I’m thankful to say that I have a wonderful circle of friends and family that have surrounded me with their care, concern, prayers and help.  The Lord has been with me through it all for which I am very grateful. The problem since the accident is that I’m having a hard time sleeping and sleeping is what I need to heal, so I’m asking my DAB family to lift me up in prayer to our Father for good sleep and complete healing.  I would be so grateful to all of you for doing that for me.  

12/05/2016 DAB Transcript

Hosea 1:1-3:5 ~ 1 John 5:1-21 ~ Psalm 124:1-8 ~ Proverbs 29:5-8

Today is the 5th day of December.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian.  It is great to be here with you.  Greetings to everyone who is just arriving back in your homes, wherever you come from, landing in the United States today from the amazing, amazing tour that we had in the land of the Bible.  It’s great to be here with you diving into this week, and as we move ourselves fully into this week, we move into a brand new book and start speeding up here at the end of the year.  It gets really fast at the very end.  As we move through the books of the minor prophets we move quickly and as we move through the smaller letters in the New Testament we move quickly.

Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)

We’re at the book of Hosea.  Now, the theme of marriage is used often in the Bible to represent God’s love for his people and what that is like to be in a relationship with God, especially in the Old Testament between God and those he was in covenant with, the children of Israel.  It is a fitting metaphor because we often find God’s people off with other lovers. We’ve been through this all year. They’ve been committing adultery, as it were.  

So God’s reaction to this in that light is very understandable, as a scorned lover who deeply loves and cares for his love lost.  Nowhere in all the Bible is this more clearly presented than in the book of Hosea, a book of prophesy, because God asks Hosea to use his very life as living prophesy.  He instructs him to marry a prostitute named Gomer and this represents the idolatry, adultery, and harlotry of Israel.  The couple have children and each child is given a prophetic name that speaks directly to Israel.  And then Gomer, Hosea’s former prostitute wife, she is unfaithful.  So Hosea divorces her as God thrusts away Israel and then in an about face, Hosea goes in pursuit of Gomer once again.  And this woman, who has been unfaithful, who has played the harlot, actually has to be purchased back, which Hosea does, representing God’s passion for his people, even to the point of rescuing and buying back that which he loves.  It’s a beautiful picture of God’s love for us.  

We also get a good picture of our betrayal and what that looks like when we chase after other loves.  Most of us have experienced a broken heart or had a sense of betrayal in our lives and the book of Hosea gives us a good picture of what that looks like from God’s eyes.

So we begin, reading from The Message this week, Hosea chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 5.  

Commentary

This passage in Hosea is one of the most bittersweet, beautiful passages in all of the Bible to me.  There is another passage like this in the book of Ezekiel and we talked about that when we were there, but the description here is so personal and so understandable. Whether we have been through the betrayal of adultery, and I know a lot of us have, but whether we’ve been through that or not, we know what it is like to feel betrayal.  If we were to consider it, we could understand the ravaging, tormented heart and emotions of finding out that somebody we love with all our heart and gave ourselves to wasn’t nearly as all-in as we were and we find out that the reality that we had hoped in is not real at all and everything is upside down.  Those of you have gone through this, you know what I’m talking about, and those of you who haven’t, you can imagine just the rollercoaster of emotions, the instability of finding this kind of information out, the way that it reframes life as you knew it.  Everything is upside down and then it goes right side up.  It’s like being in a washing machine.  

God is describing this kind of emotion.  We see the back and forth.  We see the shock and then we see the anger and then we see the love that still remains and then we see the anger.  Then we see the disbelief and then we see the hope of rescue and then we see the resolve and determination to find a way.  It is like God is saying you have cheated on me.  I have been faithful to you.  You have cheated on me.  You have betrayed our covenant, our trust.  You have gone off and not just fallen in love with somebody else, but have been all over the place.  There is this song by the band U2 and the lyrics are you’ve been all over and it’s been all over you.  That is what we’re talking about here.  God looking at his people and saying you’ve been all over and it’s been all over you. He is heartbroken.  He’s not just raging.  He’s heartbroken.  

This particular passage, along with the one in Ezekiel, actually completely changed my understanding of this concept of a vengeful, raging God in the Old Testament.  As I grew up, I never really liked the Old Testament.  It was just this angry God.  Now I realize as I have grown to know God and know the scriptures that is not fair.  A person who has found out that the one they loved enough to die for has been cheating on them, yeah, they go through a range of emotions.  So God is being very open and he is articulating emotions that we can wrap our head around and understand to say this is how I’m feeling. And it for me brought the Father so close.  Like, oh my! I see now and I see how I’ve contributed and I don’t ever want to feel that way again.  I am not going to be unfaithful.  

So may we understand that God is not aloof, distant, some kind of gray cloud hanging out in the corner of our lives that we can invoke and try to use as some sort of magic.  We’re invited into the relationship that we were made to have with God.  May we understand that our choices matter.  They matter to the heart of God who loves us beyond words.  

Prayer

Father, we invite you into that by first saying we are so guilty.  We have certainly been guilty and so all we can do is come back humbly and fall before you in shame, knowing that you will wipe that shame away.  But we can own the fact that we have played this role.  We have done these things and we can feel the weight of it on your heart while asking you to forgive us and take us back.  And you do.  You do. Your love is beyond words.  It is beyond description.  It is beyond vocabulary in any language.  And so we thank you.  And we return once again inviting your life and your love into us, the Spirit of Christ spoken of in 1 John inside of us, transforming us.  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.  It’s the Christmas Box.  It’s Christmastime.  

I’m delirious.  I’m faking it. I’m tired as can possibly be from the journey and that will go on for a few days.  It’s just weird.  You get back from something like that and you have to find the rhythm of your life again because it has been disrupted in all kinds of good ways but all kinds of challenging ways too, like jet lag, just having your days and nights backwards, trying to find the rhythm again because you’re changed and you have to find the new normal.  So there is this kind of in between period where you’re like I don’t  know where I belong.  And it takes some time.  So on the one hand to kind of be in the land of the Bible during the beginning of the holiday season, even to go to the Church of the Nativity that is the flashpoint for Christmas, is so different than coming back into the Western culture and all of the feelings that Christmas evokes.  I’m trying to give myself a little bit of space to kind of move into that.

The Christmas Box is something that we bring out at Christmastime because it is full of things that are resources that are helpful, things that are meant to be given away and things that are meant to be kept.  So that is available.  

The Promised Land double DVD is in the Christmas Box this year, so all of the places that we just were are contained there as well as many, many others. It’s four hours of content, just immersing one’s self in the land of the Bible and in the places where the stories in the Bible happened.  So that is in there.  

And then Bible Stories About Jesus, the double CD project that we did this year, the entire reading of the book of Mark using age-appropriate translations for children is there.  I’ve got a little baby.   Well, he’s not a baby.  He’s 4, but he’s my baby, Ezekiel.  I just remember trying to read the book of Mark like I was reading it as a bedtime story and he helped me a little bit and my wife, my daughter helped me a little bit to create that project.  So that is included.  

Then the Family Christmas project which I listened to as I went to sleep nearly every night while over in Israel because it is contemplative, it’s soft, and it’s easy to just sit back and take in, I put that on at night to help me go to sleep because every day was like sensory overload where your mind wants to race, but your body is desperate for rest and it was helpful.  That is included.  

My wife Jill’s project that we released this year is included.  

My latest book Reframe, From the God We’ve Made to God With Us is also included as well as the corresponding films that we created for small group study and just personal enrichment.  That DVD is included.  This is the last time that will be available so that is in the Christmas Box this year and that is the last time that will be available.  

Then your choice of Windfarm coffee or our Windfarm tea, either our Windfarm house blend that we’ve created or the English Breakfast tea which we find to be very satisfying, that is included. Your choice.  

A pack of 20 of the 2016 Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards with the corresponding envelopes and everything, that is included.  

And then the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Bulb that is only ever available in the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box and this year it has the word for the year – healthy – on it.  Like I’ve been saying, every year we’ve done this, I’ve gotten one for each year on my tree and it reminds me of each journey through the scriptures.  So it reminds me of that but it also reminds me of you, of this community.  That is on my Christmas tree and it makes me think of what God has done among us and how his faithfulness has been so true all of these years, so that is in the Christmas Box as well.  So check it out at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Shop.  

We always end up selling out of these, so I’m just encouraging you that if you are like, yep, I’m going to give that away.  Or yep, there is some stuff in there I want and there is some stuff I’m going to give away, get it while you can at www.DailyAudioBible.com.

And then I mentioned, was it yesterday or was it 10 days ago?  I don’t know.  Everything is backwards right now.  The More Gathering is coming up this April.  (It’s so weird.  I’m telling you.  I can’t even imagine.  I’m so turned around with jet lag, but all these things are coming.)  We do this every year, a women’s conference.  It’s called the More Gathering for Women. It’s epic.  It’s an unbelievable experience.  If you’ve known someone who has gone, they can tell you about it.  If you haven’t, come.  I mean, even if you’re going to come alone.  The Daily Audio Bible is this interesting thing.  Even when you think you’ve come alone, you are immediately not alone.  It makes for a great gift.  It makes for a great gift for the woman in your life or the sister or the best friend or whatever.  It is just amazing.  So we have advance pricing for the holidays at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  You can find the More Gathering in the Events section or in the Initiatives section. You’ll find it if you’re looking for it. It’s pretty easy.  All of the details, everything that you would want to know about it, that is at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  So check that out here for the holiday season as well.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we move ourselves toward the end of the year, I run out of ways to say thank you and I run out of ways to say I’m humbled, because I think those are the words.  Those are the words.  The Daily Audio Bible rose up out of the dust of the Internet and became a community and it has only ever been this family affair that we’ve done together and we’ve only ever been able to do it because we’ve done it together, so thank you for your partnership in helping Daily Audio Bible exist at all and continue into the new year that is right out in front of us.  Thank you humbly and profoundly.  There is a link.  It’s on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

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

And that’s it for today.  Thank you for your prayers over everyone who took the journey to Israel because I’m sure I’m not alone, I’m sure everyone is kind of in the same boat to some degree. I mean, those who maybe came from the UK, they just had a couple hours of difference so not so much.  But for those who traveled from the United States or South America or New Zealand or Australia, yeah, I’m sure there is some of what I’m going through going on.  The melancholy of it all, the bittersweetness of it all, the fatigue of it all, the heart that is so full it is bursting and now can kind of begin to seep out and be involved in the changes in our lives, all of that.  We thank you for your prayers.  

And that is it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you.  I’ll be waiting for you here, maybe jet-lagged, but I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.  

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi family.  This is He Sings Over Me in South Carolina.  You know, he sings over you, too.  Anyway, just a thought there to revel in, I guess, that he is singing over you. But my call is to encourage the city of Pittsburgh.  So if you are listening and you are in the city of Pittsburgh, I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for a revival in your city.  I grew up in Southern California and I’m here in the south as an adult raising all my children here, but Pittsburgh, you have my heart.  I don’t know why, I believe it’s the Lord’s heart.  But that’s all.  I just want to encourage you.  Father God, I pray right now for a revival in Pittsburgh.  I thank you, Jesus, that I don’t have to physically be there to pray that and I stand in the gap for those who might be feeling discouraged, might be having a dark day today.  The Christians that know you, Lord, I just pray that you to light a fire under them that burns much brighter than the fires that we are dealing with here on the mountain, that it would be a spiritual fire, Jesus.  So I pray this and I lift this up to you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.  

Hello, may name is Margaret.  I have a prayer request.  I moved from Utah to here in Arizona and I was planning on taking care of my parents, but things are not going the way I wanted and financially I am starting to hurt and it is getting scary.  So I got me a grocery store place that I started working, but I’m 60 years old and I got this job where I don’t think I can handle it.  It’s a lot of lifting.  Things are like 50 pounds and I can’t pick them up and I’m not computer savvy, so finding a job is really hard.  It’s on a reservation, Indian reservation, so I don’t have very much to go by.  I really do need prayer.  I wish that I could stay home and take care of my parents, but financially I cannot. So I really do need prayer.  I try to have the faith but sometimes I go down and I get scared.  I know that fear is not from the Lord, but it’s hard to hang in there.  But I wanted to try to live here for a year.  I don’t want to give up.  So please pray for me that I’ll get a better job for myself.  Thank you very much.  Bye-bye.  

Hi family.  This is Salvation is Mine.  I am calling because I’m on the DAB website and looking at a message from Paul F. from Barcelona, Spain who says he is leaving the group because he has felt that no one has been moved to pray with him for the poor children being butchered in Aleppo in regard to the racism and everything else that is going on there. Paul, I just want you to know that even though you may have not heard your prayer come through or heard someone specifically call out your name and for what you’re praying for, please know we are praying for all oppressed, all the people being butchered because of their race and being condemned with hatred all over this world.  That includes the children of Aleppo.  We have not forgotten them.  Please know that our Lord Jesus Christ hears our cry just as God heard the cry of the Hebrew children in Israel when they were enslaved by Pharaoh.  Please know that prayers are being sent up for all, for the Muslims, for the single mothers, for the gays and lesbians, for the Christian democrats, for, even though you said grim, the democrats, the immigrants, the complicated people, the autistic, the transgender people, the druggies, the adulterers.  Lord Jesus, we just come before you.  We lift all of these things that Paul has placed here on the DAB website up to you and we ask you to bless Paul in a mighty way with his continued fight for the children of Aleppo.  We ask, Lord Jesus, that you just grant him peace and mercy in his heart, that he knows that there are people out here praying for them and praying with him. In Jesus’ name, I say thank you and amen.  Paul, please don’t leave the group.  Please post more on the DAB web page and I guarantee you, I will talk to you.

Good morning, guys.  This is Jen in SoCal, aka Prayer Warrior Princess.  Father, we are putting the beloved friends who are on the Israel trip at the foot of your throne.  They are about to return home and we know that the enemy’s plans are to steal, kill and destroy, to assault their senses and their spirit as soon as they even start thinking it is time to go home let alone get on the planes and arrive back to their real lives and the things that are awaiting them.  We know the enemy wants to bombard their thinking, to make them physically sick, to break up their finances and their relationships and to mar the experiences that they have had with you, to make them doubt what has happened and to forget it.  Lord, so many other things.  I don’t even want to mention them either, so disgusting.  The enemy is so disgusting.  You are so perfect and so wonderful.  The things that you’ve done for these beloved people on this trip are so fantastic and full of splendor.  We ask you to be with them, to help them persevere, to steadily plod through whatever you allow as they return home, Father.  Strengthen them to face these things.  And whatever you’ve given to them on this trip, make it the thing that helps them get through the tests and trials that happen as they return home. Bond them to you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.  

Hi family.  It’s Lauren in Houston.  I’m calling in to encourage those who are depressed right now.  I’m someone who has struggled with depression historically most of my life and in the past two years the Lord has shown me some things that have really helped, especially about bringing all my thoughts to him.  But here’s a prayer that I hope will encourage you that I wrote about one of those times.  I’m at the cold floor of a deep well.  Looking up, the water is so gray-blue, clean and clear.  I can see your face above me and the sunrays rippling in the dear sky.  I know you’re pulling me up with immovable arms, but I can’t help thinking through tears of joy and despair, will I make it?  Panic is an option, but I know I don’t need to.  I’m rising, rising through the weight of deep water.  I’m going to make it.  You told me that, didn’t you?  In the name of Jesus, amen.  Hope this encourages you and the Lord is with you all.  Much love in Christ.  

Hello family Dabbers.  I’m Timothy P. from Edinburgh in Scotland.  A long time listener but rarely a caller.  I was struck today, the 2nd of December, by Tim from Tampa. Tim, you are at a crossroads with your business.   Check. You’re seeking wisdom and favor. Check.  You’re giving thanks for your wife and your marriage.  Check.  My wife and I run Love After Marriage workshops and have a passion for supporting Christians in their marriages so I pray for healing and comfort for all those in need. I pray for a renewed vigor for Brian and Jill and all the DAB, especially SarahJane and her packing team with the Christmas Boxes and I pray for my praying partner, Adam, for his elephant prayer list.  Jesus, you have won the victory, the healing and the peace of mind and the mercy.  Holy Spirit, you are the gift that lifts us and encourages us.  I ask you to anoint us all.  Father God, you are the King, the Creator.  You are the reason that we exist.  We praise and worship you.  So this is Tim from Edinburgh praying for wisdom and favor on Tim from Tampa. Thanks.  

12/04/2016 DAB Transcript

Daniel 11:36-12:13 ~ 1 John 4:1-21 ~ Psalm 123:1-4 ~ Proverbs 29:2-4

Today is the 4th day of December.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian.  It is great to be here with you on this, the second Sunday in the season of Advent. Of course, Advent is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, a time to just really immerse ourselves in the mystery that God came for us and to put ourselves in a place of longing for his arrival which is represented by Christmas, but also our longing for his return, his second arrival.  We know that day will come, that the King is coming.  

SONG played on today’s DAB “The King Is Coming” MissionSong http://apple.co/2gQfYej

So as we greet this new week, we will read from The Message and pick up right where we left off yesterday, Daniel chapter 11 verse 36 through 12 verse 13.

Prayer

Jesus, as we’re here in this season of Advent, certainly a season that is commemorated and venerated by man as a tradition of the church, it has no less impact or meaning on us as we put ourselves in the position of contemplating that perfect love has come into the world and this love within us now compels us to love one another and to love outward into the world bringing, light and life as your body in this world and recognizing that without love, according to the book of 1 John, well, if we’re not willing to love, then we’re not as close to you as we might think.  So we invite your Holy Spirit into that.  Show us the places that we have blocked love in our lives and, like an artery, closed off our heart.  That is what is happening when we’re not allowing your love to flow through us. So come, Holy Spirit, into this time of contemplation, into this time here in Jerusalem for our final day and for all the travel that will be taking place tonight and tomorrow.  Come Holy Spirit, we pray.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  

Announcements

Today is a travel day, flying back in time as it were.  So all day today we’ll be in transit over the ocean and connecting through, making our way back to the rolling hills of Tennessee. That is always a delirious day. Everything is off.  So we thank you for your prayers.  Many are just arriving home, many will be arriving home today, like us, some time tonight and so, yeah, it’s been an absolutely overwhelming experience.  And it always is.  It is just every day is like multiple days.  It is like we’ve been here for months and our hearts are full and now we can get back home and into the rhythm of life a little bit and into familiar surroundings and all of what is in our hearts can begin to seep into what our lives are and we’ll see the changes because we’ve walked the land and the Bible is alive and awake and quickened in our lives.  So thank you for your prayers over all of the travel today.  

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is, of course, the website and it is where you find out what is going on around here.  It’s the Christmas Box right now.  The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box is available.  It is chockful of the resources that we’ve created for this community.  

The Promised Land Films are in the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box this year. It is a double DVD package with over four hours of content.  All of the places we visited on this excursion, this pilgrimage are included as well as so many others that we either couldn’t go to, there is just no way to take a group there, or that we didn’t go to this time.  You can make the Bible come alive to you in the same way by seeing where these things happened in the Promised Land Films.  So they are in the Christmas Box.  

Bible Stories About Jesus, which is a double CD reading of the book of Mark using age-appropriate translations for children is included.  

The Family Christmas Album is included.  Jill’s new album is included.  

My latest book Reframe, From God We’ve Made to God With Us is included as well as the corresponding films that go with it on DVD.  And this is the last time those will be available so get them while you can.  

Let’s see, what else?  Your choice of Windfarm coffee or our Windfarm English Breakfast tea, your choice, will be included.

A pack of Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards, 20 Christmas cards with the corresponding envelopes for 2016, that is included.  

And the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Bulb for 2016.  It has our word for the year – healthy – on it.  We’ve been doing this for a number of years now and so I have a number of these on my tree and I know a number of you do too. Every time I look at them I remember all of the journeys we’ve taken through the Bible together.  It’s a wonderful tradition.  For me, it brings you into Christmas for us in the Hardin household.  That is included.  The only place to get that is the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box, so check it out.  

We are selling out of them, so get yours while you can.  There will be things in there that that you’ll want to keep and things that you’ll want to give away for Christmas and you can pick and choose how you wish, but you can get that at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here at the end of the year, if this has been a life-giving experience for you inside this community that we are, thank you for helping it to continue forward into the new year. Thank you humbly and gratefully with a true, full and gracious heart.  You can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link on the home page or if you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 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

Hi, this is Tricia in Henderson, NV, God’s Princess.  I’m calling.  First off, thank you for all you who prayed for my daughter Amanda and my boys. We’re all talking and getting along much better.  My marriage of seven years is suffering really bad.  My husband is very jealous of my children and I brought to the doctor’s attention that he has anger issues and he has outbursts all the time and takes it out on my verbally and I just pray that our marriage can be helped.  I want it to work so bad.  It’s been struggling for a long time.  A few months after we got married I was in a major accident and since then our marriage has suffered.  I also want to pray for our pastor, Pastor Leonard, who has Parkinson’s.  I pray for his healing.  Thank you everybody.  I love you. Bye.  

Hello family.  This is Drew from the Bay Area.  The reason for my call today is I’m calling because I’m in a bind and my first thought, I said I’ve got to call my family, the Daily Audio Bible.  But I just laid my head down after hearing a song to go to Jesus first and that is what I did.  I pray that God would draw me closer to him and I thanked him for how close we are now because of Jesus and what he has done to restore our relationship with God.  I asked him to take away the fear that I have.  Family, I’ve been praying for all of you.  I’m not the only one that is going through this.  I’ve been attacked.  Many of you know my story.  I’ve lost family.  I’ve lost my daughter.  My son is living with me now.  We’ve been restoring our relationship.  Things are much better.  But now the job that I love and the people that I love at the job seems to be going from summer to winter, if you know what I mean.  Pastor Gene, I feel your pain, but I’m not saying what you’re doing is wrong in any way.  Each of us have our own battles to fight.  But I’m going to stay close to God and depend on him and wish you would pray for me and pray for those I work with because I pray that evil will be exposed and I think that is what is happening.  I’m not sure.  But I ask you to pray for me.  I prayed for something silly about the ice because all the people were upset about ice and God came through on that.  I’m sure he can come through on this.  Love all of you and I’m praying for you that are in Israel, those of you that aren’t, those of you that call and those of you who don’t.  I love you so much.  Bye.  

Hi family.  This is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA calling in with a nightly prayer.  This prayer is for those who have lost loved ones around the holiday season, so family, let’s pray.  Dear Precious Savior, our Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Healer, we come before you with broken hearts this holiday season, for those who have lost loved ones around this season who find it painful to find joy and cheer this time of year.  We ask you to come into their hearts and give them comfort and peace.  We ask that their memories at this time of year be those of joy and remembrance of good times and not the passing.  We ask you to bless their remaining family members or friends and keep them in your care as well.  We know that it is hard to heal a broken heart because we are human and we miss people and we want them here and not gone but Father, you have a plan that we don’t know about and we know that we will see them again someday seated at your table and we will be united as one again.  So Lord God, please just give us the memories that are joy and peace and love and take away our heartache and pain of those we have lost.  Let us continue to pray for each other and lift each other up in prayer and hold out a hand for those who are in need of comfort. In the blessed name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit I pray.  Amen.  Thank you family.  Have a good night.  Bye-bye.

Hello from God’s Outpost here in beautiful Cincinnati, OH.  This is Daniel Johnson Jr. and just wanted to call and say thank you, Brian and Jill and all of your family.  We want to wish you the very best this holiday season.  God bless you on your travel back from the land of the Bible.  Biola, haven’t heard from you in a little while and I’ve been thinking about you, sister. Rumbii, you know what?  It’s been a really long time since I’ve heard you call in.  SarahJane who works behind the scenes, I haven’t heard from you in a while.  Carol from New Mexico, you were the one that pointed me to the Daily Audio Bible back in 2009.  I haven’t heard from you in a while.  And also I want to give a shout-out to Rob from Indiana that I met back in 2011 I think it was.  Anyhow, guys, let’s pray.  Father in Heaven, Jesus, I come to you now for all of us that are dealing with seasonal depression or just sadness that is going on because of this time of year.  I know that the holidays are not as merry for some of us.  Please comfort us.  Many times I know it is because of expectations that we have for ourselves or for one another and there is shame that is involved in that.  God, I also just want to pray about these areas that we’ve gone after.  We’ve gone after sin over and over again.  Even as sheep that have been given lush pastures and refreshing waters, we’ve gone outside the pen back into well-worn areas which not only cannot sustain us but also harm us.  Thank you for coming into us and never giving up on us.  Come into these hidden, dark areas of our hearts and spirits, in these places that we’ve been trying to protect for so long, knowing that it is killing us to do so.  Come into our fears.  Come into these places and heal the brokenness in us, these very places so that we can let you love us here.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen. God bless from beautiful Cincinnati, OH. Daniel Johnson Jr.

Hello brothers and sisters.  Are you dealing with something that you’ve done that is so convicting that the enemy has come in and capitalized on that because you know it is wrong?  The people around you that know about it know that it is wrong. The person or persons that you have done it with know that it is wrong and you’re a believer so the enemy is coming in and he is telling you that it cannot be forgiven.  He is trying to tell you the God will not forgive this.  Well, brother, sister, fellow Christian, that is a lie from the very father of lies.  Know this now in the name of Jesus Christ, that 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.  So if there is something that you’re struggling with, a sin that you’ve committed, a wrong that you have done, confess of it.  Confess of it to your Lord and Savior because he will forgive you.  Do not allow the enemy to use this to keep you down, to keep you stressed out and depressed and sad and anxious and overwhelmed with guilt because you have been washed in the blood and it has been nailed to the cross.  Take that. Use it.  Live in it and make today a day of confession.  God bless you.  I love you. Have a wonderful day.  

Hi.  This is Katie from Annapolis.  I’ve called a few times before over the years, mostly asking for prayer for my marriage and I’m continuing to do that.  My husband and I have had several situations where I felt unsafe and I’m just asking for prayer and for guidance from God, knowing what to do.  My husband’s rage and anger is affecting everybody in the family and he is very resistant to confronting this problem.  I don’t want to break up my family.  I have two boys.  One is 1 and one is 4; however, my little boy who is 4, when he is angry he lashes out and tells people he is going to shoot their heads off and things like that.  I’m concerned for him.  I’m concerned for my husband and I’m concerned for all of us.  I need guidance from the Lord.  I need peace. It’s hard to be submissive to a husband who is like this and I need to know what to do and if it is God’s will for me to divorce him, then I need to be able to have the strength to be able to do that.  Thank you. I love the Daily Audio Bible.  I love all of you and thank you for your prayers. Bye.  

12/03/2016 DAB Transcript

Daniel 11:2-35 ~ 1 John 3:7-24 ~ Psalm 122:1-9 ~ Proverbs 29:1

Today is the 3rd day of December.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian.  It’s great to be here with you for the last day in Jerusalem and for the last day on this particular pilgrimage to the land of the Bible.  It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here with you and it is quite a day today.  And it was quite a day yesterday.  I’ll tell you about that in a little bit, but let’s center ourselves now and take that deep breath and exhale and step away from the cares of life and the hustle and bustle that is beginning to surround us for the holidays and orient ourselves to God through his word.  

So as we end another week, we will be reading from the New Living Translation which is what we’ve read from this entire week.  Diving back into the book of Daniel, today chapter 11 verses 2 through 35.  

Prayer

Father, as we prepare to end our time here in the land of the Bible, the scriptures are as poignant as ever.  So as we are here in the city of Jerusalem, we mimic the scriptures together.  We pray for peace in Jerusalem.  May all who love this city prosper.  O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces.  For the sake of my family and friends, I will say may you have peace.  For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.  May it be so.  In the victorious name of the Risen Christ we ask, amen.  

Announcements

So yesterday, yesterday was a fight for everything that we got.  We had been kind of skirting rain that was coming in and had been able to, for some reason, be in the right place at the right time until yesterday.  Yesterday there was nowhere we could go.  It rained and then it rained some more and then it rained some more.  

So yesterday we boarded security buses to go to some of the places that we were going to go and the first stop out of Jerusalem was to head northward all the way to the top of Mount Gerizim.  Mount Gerizim, of course, scripturally is the Mount of Blessing.  If you remember when Joshua led the children of Israel across the Jordan River and into this land, they made their way to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, the Mount of Blessing, the Mount of Cursing, and they recited the blessings of the covenant and the curses of breaking the covenant.  This is where Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  

So we got to the top of Mount Gerizim in the pouring rain and it being on the top of a mountain, it is completely exposed, so the pouring rain blowing sideways with the wind  in the clouds so that everything, everything was obscured.  The view from Mount Gerizim is actually spectacular and the biblical history, the crossroads of what happens right there on the mountain and right beneath it, because just at the base of the mountain is ancient Shechem, so much history in that place that can be seen from this one location.  So we made the effort, a long bus ride to get there, only to be in the clouds and in the sideways blowing wind and rain.  

It was an interesting thing because maybe one of the more profound moments for me personally on this journey happened in that.  As we’re moving on our way, I’m like, “Lord, clear the sky.  We need to see this, Lord.  Lord, just give us a few minutes.”  And we got to the top of the mountain and it was absolutely just socked in.  We’re praying for this to clear and I just felt like the Lord was saying, “I’m in this.  I’m in this.”  I just had to kind of reset my expectations, which is what we continually have to do in our lives.  And I felt like okay, okay, whoever wants to go and get out in this, we’re going.

About half of us, I guess, got off that bus and got out into that and just kind of stepped to the side where we could see just a little bit and stood there and worshipped God and just considered the fact that he led them with a fire by night and a cloud by day and here we were, standing at the top of the Mount of Blessing.  Rain in this land is a sign of blessing and we just said, “Here we are, God.  Whatever it is, here we are.  We are socked in in our lives lots of times where we do not know where to go because we cannot see in front of us.  We do not know.  But we’re going to remember we stood here and we surrendered ourselves to you on this Mount of Blessing.  We stood here.  Here we are before you and we will follow you and this wind may blow and this rain may chill us to the bone, but we will not be shaken.  You are good.  You are God and we love you and we will serve you.”  

We just spent some time right there letting it all blow, letting it all swirl, just being present to it all.  It was good.  It’s been a tough year for lots of people.  So to just stand there in the thick of it, in the thick of the storm, knowing our feet were planted at the top of the Mount of Blessing was really rich, really different than what was planned, but really truly memorable.  I will never forget that moment and I’m grateful for it.  

So we made our way back to the buses, cold, wet, but full inside and just kind of shared the things that happened there.  Shechem is just a crossroads.  So many biblical things happened there.  It is such an important place, so we just reviewed some of that before making our way down from the mountain and back southward toward Jerusalem with a stop at the ancient city of Shiloh.  

Shiloh, of course, is the place where the Tabernacle was set up in a semi-permanent way as the children of Israel were conquering and settling the promised land.  This was the heart of worship.  It was there as the center for almost four centuries.  

And the rain came and they rain went and the rain came and the rain went. So a little reprieve and we got soaked again, but we fought for it and we got what we got.  We got to be in that location and understand it and understand what happened there and why and how and just see the extent of the ruins dating all the way back to the Judge and Prophet Samuel’s time.  

We climbed back on the bus wet, chilled to the bone, but having accomplished what we came to do.  Then we made our way to lunch and a beautiful lunch it was.  There is a lovey winery in the area that we have visited in the past. They just set a table before us and it was warm and it was dry.  It was delicious.  It was rich as a community to share in this meal.  Yeah, beautiful, beautiful indeed.  So a wonderful stepping out of all the cold and rain and lunchtime.

Then we got back on the buses and went to Nebi Samwil.  This is the gravesite, the tomb of the Prophet Samuel. So having just been in Shiloh where Samuel was brought by his mother Hannah because she had promised the Lord that if she were to have a son, she would give him back to God, and she did. So we ended up where he is buried. This is also the place that we can go that overlooks ancient Gibeah, Gibeah of Saul.  We reviewed the story of the Tribe of Benjamin and its near demise. I mean, there was an incident that happened that caused 11 tribes to move against the one tribe of Benjamin and nearly annihilated them completely.  But it is also a story of redemption because it was from the Tribe of Benjamin that the first king of Israel, Saul, came from.  So we just kind of reviewed all of that even though it was raining, even though it was cold, even though we were out there in the thick of it exposed.  We were able to fight for what we got.  That is what it was, just kind of fighting, contending for it.  Easily the preference on a pilgrimage like this and in life is for every day to be sunny and good, but there are days that you have to stand firm and weather it, and that is exactly what we did.  We weathered it.  

And then we moved our way into Jerusalem for the final stop of the day which was at the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, for a time of prayer.  Most people, having weathered what we weathered, wanted to pray.  It was wet and they were rained upon and they were blown upon and they stood firm.  

So that is how that day went.  I can remember one other time being in Israel getting kind of soaked. It happened at Caesarea Maritima, on the ocean.  Just absolutely drenched.  But yesterday was a day like no other, a day I won’t forget.  A hard day.  A good day. A rich day.  A day that mimics life at times with the constant rain.  It only briefly let up here and there and watered the ground and blessed the people and we were out in the middle of it.

So today is our final day.  Many, many of those who have journeyed all the way here will be leaving late tonight for late night flights back to all points around the world.  

We will be retracing the final days of Jesus today.  So we continue to thank you for your prayers, stamina, health, weather, flights, technology, all of it.  Continue to cover us as we all begin to make our way back to where we’ve got to go.  Me, myself personally, we have an early morning flight tomorrow to make our way back to the rolling hills of Tennessee.  So we thank you  and covet your prayers.  

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here and it is the Christmas Box that is going on around here.  It is chockful of resources that we’ve arranged and packed it full for you, stuff in there that you’ll want to keep, stuff in there that you’ll want to give away and you can see it all at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Shop.  You are encouraged, if it is something that you’re interested in, to go ahead and grab it.  We sell out of them every year, so go ahead and grab them while we have them.  

I would also like to announce the women’s conference that we will be having – The More Gathering for Women – this coming April, so April 2017.  We announce it at this time because it is just a fantastic gift idea.  If you’re looking for a way to bring life to the woman in your life, then consider this, the More Gathering.  Right now until the end of the year, we have advance pricing that goes away at the end of the year for those of you who are wanting to kind of take advantage of it as a gift.  We try to do everything we can to make it as accessible as possible.  You can check the entire thing out, all the details about it that you would want to know at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Initiatives section.  You’ll find The More Gathering there, or even in the Events section.  If you’re looking around you won’t miss it.  You can read all about it.  That is available.  

Man, we meet so many women who are like, “I didn’t know.  My husband got this for me for Christmas.  I didn’t know how Jesus was going to come for me.  I didn’t know that this was going to be more than a trip and it has been so rich.”  So More Gathering 2017 is now available for registration at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It is sitting right on the home page where it lives and I thank you humbly, profoundly, deeply for your partnership here at the end of the year.  If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Eyes wide with wonder, the world is big and small.  A picture of perfection scarred, askew since Adam’s fall. Ears open to the gospel, the words come right from him.  If only we would hear them, our lights would never dim.  Hearts of humble servants, our neighbor waiting to hear the hopeful song we carry that takes away our fear.  Arms waiting for the helpless, the ones who need a hand, the people who we were ourselves, are saved just as he planned.  A life that speaks His story, lived out from day to day, we’re waiting on his mercy, He shows it when we pray.  A love that is only holy, a God who knows our frame.  A grace that is unfurled for a sinner Jesus saves.  

Hi DAB family.  This is Christy, English missionary to the Philippines.  I haven’t called in more than a year I think it is, but I have been listening with you all every day.  Last year I called in for prayer for Jerry.  Jerry is a Christian inmate in one of the jails we visit weekly here in the Philippines.  He’s been in jail now for more than 20 years just waiting for his trial to come to an end. Last year when I called in he was seriously ill and gone blind with TB so that was an additional problem to having this terrible situation.  So praise God for answered prayer.  Jerry has been healed of his TB so we praise God for that and praise God too that his long wait is coming to an end.  His case, he’s been accused of finding jobs for people abroad illegally but at last, on December 7th the judge will pronounce her verdict, __________ on December 7th, so we’re praying for God to pour out his mercy and grace and set Jerry free in time for Christmas.  So we would be really grateful if all our DAB family would join us to pray for this.  I told Jerry that you will all be praying all over the world just to let him know he’s not alone in this.  So again just thank you all for just being there, having an ear to hear and being willing to offer up a prayer for others in need.  So thanks again DAB family.  Love you all.  God bless. Bye.  

Hi.  This is Not Shaken.  I called a while back about my son Brian.  And I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all the prayers.  They were wonderful and I do see, even if I do sound bad, I do see some movement forward that God is working in his life. We tried to have him over for Thanksgiving and he became verbally abusive to the point with his language sounding like the devil was talking to me himself.  He became so violent in his words and slammed a piece of furniture down that we actually had to call 911 to come and make him leave.  He has just become extremely self-centered and paranoid and to people that he loves he just treats disgracefully.  It’s frightening.  I wanted to say that even though that sounds terrible, I feel like God is really working on this and I’m so thankful to those of you who prayed.  Victorious Soldier, thank you.  You prayed twice.  And Arjen prayed and I know many others pray along with me so I’m not alone. Well, I have my family.  We are not alone.  I also wanted to pray for a sister’s son Vincent who became abusive with his mother and is now living with his drug-abusing father.  I also wanted to pray for my sister’s son Chris who is also addicted. I’m just praying a curse on the very thought of drugs and alcohol, that it will make them so sick to even think about it that they won’t ever touch it again.  

Hello DAB family.  This is Chante calling from Detroit and I am calling in because I need everyone’s prayers like never before.  Basically I am being pressed on every side right now, from home to work to cub scouts.  There is so much coming at me that it is allowing me to just really press into God and I was just reading in Psalm 78:34 and it says whenever God slew them, they would seek him.  And it has taken me to this place of seeking God like never before which I’m thankful for, but I really wish I could get to the point where I would seek him like never before in those seasons where there aren’t any trials or it’s not as hard.  I need your prayers with cub scouts.  We have a meeting this week.  We don’t have an activity and we need help with that.  I am now transitioning to the __________ department and there is a lot of hostility in my company in general and there is a lot of slander that is going on.  I am sort of concerned that I’ll be taking on the brunt of the slander myself, that my name will be slandered if I don’t perform the way that they want me to perform.  And also we need repairs to our furnace.  We’re praising God that we’ve had such mild weather that we’ve been able to really not need it that much, so I’m thankful for that, but we still just…

Hi family, this is Pastor Gene from Bradenton, FL.  I love you guys.  Working my way up.  Have a big backload but working on it and praying with all of you guys.  Just a shout-out to specific people.  Jean, I’m praying for your daughter and her addiction.  Jen the Warrior Princess, I have been praying for Abbie and for a special touch of God over her life.  Cherry C., I love you.  Chante, thank you for your joyful spirit every time you call.  __________, you are in college and are asking for opportunity to serve and just turned 21 years old.  Congratulations!  I’m so glad that you are walking with Christ and that you are trying to serve.  That is a prayer the Lord will answer.  And I just love you guys.  I’m praying with each one of your prayer requests even if I’m not calling although I am going to start calling probably more often.  I am starting to go back to work, back into the fire as the Lord asked me on December 5th, so I cherish your prayers for strength and full health.  I take a step of faith and go back to this place because I need to work and I need the income and I’m the sole breadwinner in my house.  Thank you for praying for the work of the __________ which continues to advance the kingdom.  I love you guys.  Brian, thank you.  Thank you that this __________ that even when we are in exile, as Jeremiah 29:11 says, we can still trust our God, that the plans he has for us are to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future.  That is God’s plan for all of us.  Love you guys.  Pastor Gene from Bradenton, FL.  Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible.  This is Pam from Oklahoma.  I’m a first year listener and a first time caller.  When I heard Teri from Missouri call in about her baby sister who was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer I knew I had to call.  I should have called sooner and I apologize for that, Teri.  A little over six years ago I lost my sister when she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and I was the baby sister in this case. She was my best friend and I could hear that same pain of possibly losing a best friend in your voice, but I want you to be encouraged.  There are so many advancements that have been made in lung cancer now that stage IV is no longer a death sentence and I know that with prayer and faith your sister can beat this.  Keep up your faith and your prayers and trust that God will always deliver.  Please know that I will be praying for you daily and I’m sure all of your Daily Audio Bible family will be and we’ll be lifting you and Baby Sister up in prayer.  Thank you.

12/02/2016 DAB Transcript

Daniel 9:1-11:1 ~ 1 John 2:18-3:6 ~ Psalm 121:1-8 ~ Proverbs 28:27-28

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  Today is December 2nd.  Greetings from Jerusalem, in the land of the Bible.  Today would have been my father’s birthday.  Let’s see, how old would he have been?  This would have been his 74th birthday, so that always comes to mind. Of course, I miss him very, very much. But I’m very excited to be here with you today from the holy city of Jerusalem.  We’re working our way through the book of Daniel.  So we’ll dive into that.  From the New Living Translation, Daniel chapter 9 verse 1 through 11 verse 1 today.  

Prayer

Thank you, Father, for another day in your word.  Your word is good.  Your word is true and it instructs us in every level of our lives:  Spirit, soul, body, mind, heart, will.  You speak to us.  So we ask that the words that have been spoken today are words that edify and nourish our souls and draw us closer in our intimacy with you as we walk this path through this life of faith and as we continue to reach for you and know that you are reaching back and we can cry ‘Father, Abba’ and know that you are there and that you love us and that you love us in ways that we cannot even comprehend.  You are good and you are God and we love you.  We pray these things in your name.  Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Announcements

Alright, so yesterday, long, full day, which is completely par for the course here as we travel around.  Every day has its own personality and yesterday was that.  We’ve been navigating our way around a little bit of rain and we’ve done a pretty good job.  Got hit a little bit with it at the end of the day, but we began our day with a brilliant blue sky and we went to a place that is called the Jerusalem Archeological Park.  

The Jerusalem Archeological Park is all of the ruins of the ancient area right next to the Temple Mount.  So we explored that but in particular we went to what is known as the Southern Steps, the steps that at one time led into the Temple.  Some of the ancient steps remain.  It is a beautiful place to go.  It is a very moving place to go.  It is an important place to go because these were the steps that led into the Temple so this is where rabbis would have taught and a certain place where Jesus would have walked and taught.  This is how you got into the Temple.  So to be able to sit on those steps, stand on those steps, touch those steps with our hands and some people laid down on those steps, kneeled on those steps, prayed on those steps, it is a moment of pilgrimage because you are for sure standing where Jesus stood.  It is hard to describe because it is different for everybody.  For me, I like to touch them.  I like to touch them with my hands and just have that tactile touchpoint cross the ages to the time that Jesus walked here and lived a human life among us and all that represented.  

We opened the scriptures and read from the book of Acts the sermon that the apostle Peter spoke after the coming of the Holy Spirit.  A beautiful, beautiful time and it was a beautiful setting because the weather was perfect.  We had the place largely to ourselves that time of the morning so it was great.  We began our day on a great note before we got back on the buses and moved our way to the Shephelah, the lowlands of Judah to the southwest of Jerusalem.

Our first stop, a brief one, Beit Shemesh.  We didn’t spend a ton of time there but it was important to stop there as a touchpoint with the scriptures.  This is the place where after the Philistines had taken the Ark of the Covenant in battle and had moved it around among their city states and kind of dedicated it to their gods, plague just kept breaking out on these people until they felt they had to return the Ark and they did that by attaching some cows to a new ox cart and putting the Ark of the Covenant as well as some gifts of gold on the Ark to send it back to their god and felt like if the cows knew where to go, then that was what was supposed to happen.  Of course, according to the scriptures, the cows did know which way to go and they immediately headed back toward the land of Israel and Beit Shemesh is where they ended up.  Those cows and that ox cart became an alter and a sacrifice and the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Israel.  So an important story, important portion of scripture that touches that particular land. So we were able to see it briefly.

We then moved our way down to having some lunch and then to the ancient city of Maresha which is certainly in the Bible.  In the land of Judah, it was one of the conquests during Joshua’s leadership, but it also has significant historical value between the Old and the New Testaments in the time of the Maccabees.  It is an active archeological dig and so we were all able to participate for a brief time as it were in the caves there at Maresha digging and just immersing ourselves in what it takes to bring these ruins to life, how they come out of the ground and what the process is, which is very detailed and very scientific to allow things to be identified and place them in their time period.  A lot of these places are not just one time period.  They may be many, many different time periods that any given ruin or tell, hill, settlement was occupied.  So it is a very painstaking process because if you’re going to go down to the base level of the first time that area was settled you have to destroy everything above it, so that is a painstaking thing.  A lot of times places will be cut into sections.  It is a destructive process so everything has to be documented. So learning how that all worked and even being able to participate even briefly in the history of the place is important. Also just a nice change of pace.  So that is what happened and a good time was had by all.  

From there, that is when the clouds were threatening and it was kind of all coming in.  We made a quick stop at Lachish which was perhaps the second most important city in Judah, second only to Jerusalem.  This is the place where King Sennacherib destroyed all of the strongholds.  He had camped out there and sent his rabshakeh, his representative, to the walls of Jerusalem to intimidate and taunt them as well as inviting them to completely surrender so there wouldn’t be any loss of life.  They were going to be resettled, but they could do it nice and clean if they would just give up, which they did not.  King Nebuchadnezzar had to go home.  He was having some problems at home and was not able to take Jerusalem at all.  The threats did not hold.  So it was just a brief time there, but another place that touches the scriptures, so we did that.  

Then the rains came.  So we had to drive by the Elah Valley, the ancient borderlands between Philistia and Judah in Israel.  Of course, this is the place where David fought the giant Goliath and defeated him. It is a very powerful story, a very famous story in the Bible.  We weren’t able to spend a lot of time there.  It was pouring and so it became dangerous to go down in there and we weren’t able to do it, but we were at least able to see it and understand what is going on there.  

From there, on to Emmaus and rain was certainly threatening but it held off enough for us to get off the bus and see this ancient site that connects us to the resurrection of Jesus.  Of course, Jesus is walking along with the downcast disciples and he is just asking them, “why so sad?” and they’re saying, “where have you been?  Haven’t you heard what happened in Jerusalem, about Jesus?”  And he’s like, “no, what happened?”  It is just playful and interesting.  Jesus comes and sits down at the table and breaks the bread and disappears and this is where the disciples say “weren’t our hearts burning inside of us when he opened the scriptures?”  It helps us to look at the times the presence of Christ is there and we’re not even really aware but somehow deep inside we are.  Just a great place to meditate, a great place to walk.  The rains held off enough for us to do that before making our way back toward Jerusalem.

Then last night it was just a lovely, lovely experience to have some of our brothers and sisters that are in the Daily Audio Bible community come and join us for dinner, those who live here.  Being able to meet each other for the first time and finding out they knew each other in some cases and just to understand the connection, so just spending time.  Very, very heartwarming and fills me with joy every time.  So that made a fitting end to a really wonderful, wonderful experience of a day and we have another different complexion, different personality of a day in front of us today as we don’t head south into the lowlands, we head more north into some of the ancient times.  We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers.  We’ll never not need them when we’re here.  It means a great deal to us.  These days are very tiring.  They are very long, but they are very full and they leave our bodies and minds tired but our spirits are just kind of like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, burning inside of us.  There is just so much, so much and we’re trying to not miss any of it.  So your prayers and your covering and your intercession help with that and we appreciate it more than we can say.  

So we’re off into another day.  Today and then tomorrow ends our time this time in Israel.  I think for the most part we’re ready to be back in our homeland, in our homes, but that is always bittersweet and melancholy.  We will certainly be leaving changed and with full hearts, but that is not now.  We still have some ground to cover and we thank you for your prayers.  

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It is home base.  It is where you find out what is going on around here and it is the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box that is on the horizon right now.  For those of you who are ordering internationally, if you are outside the United States, today really is sort of the day that we’ve put on the calendar to say hey, after this, for the most part we think everything might work out just fine for the holidays, but this is the last day we feel really comfortable saying yeah, we really think everything will arrive for Christmas.  So especially if you are international, you may want to check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Shop.  It is full.  The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box is full of the resources of the Daily Audio Bible. Like I’ve been saying, we sell out of this so no matter where you are, if it is something that you’re like, yeah, there are some things I want to give away in there, there are some things I want to keep for myself like the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Bulb that is only available in the Christmas Box, then check it out, www.dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here as we approach the end of the year, then I thank you from the depths of my heart, with a true, true humble, grateful posture.  We can’t do this if we don’t do this together, so thank you for your partnership. There is a link.  It is on the home page at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner 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 is the number to dial.  

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

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi DAB family.  This is Tim in Tampa.  I just need to… I think I just need you to lift me up in prayer today.  I’m at a crossroads in my business.  I hear all the prayer requests that are brought forward every day, every single day and I pray with you as well.  It is just humbling to have to come to you and have you pray for me.  I’m just at a crossroads in my business.  A lot of changes just real fast and I really just need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit loud because I’m a little bit of a knucklehead and I get tied up in everything that is going on every day and get stupid busy.  I just need to hear the voice of the Lord.  I need wisdom.  Need some favor.  I won’t bore you with the details of what I do, but it is just a fast-moving industry that seems to be changing an awful lot right now and I need to provide for my family and it is just a tough time.  So just lift me up.  Pray for wisdom and favor and I just thank you for that.  On a little bit of an update note, I just want to thank the Lord today for everything that he has done in my marriage and in the life of my wife. The Holy Spirit has touched her in a profound and dramatic way.  As a result, he has really opened up new things in me as well.  I cannot thank him enough.  Lord, I just want lift up everybody that is listening right now that is going through struggles in their marriage. And Lord, I just stand in faith for every single one of them, Lord.  I know that the devil wants to destroy every one of these relationships. And Lord, I know you want to heal them and you want us to have great relationships with our spouses and Lord, I just thank you for what you’ve done and I thank you for what you’re doing in every one of these people’s lives that are going through these awful struggles. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible team.  My name is Sarah and I’m a first-time caller.  I’ve been listening for a while with my dad.  He is one of Brian’s biggest fans and absolutely loves the Daily Audio Bible.  My father recently passed away and I am calling in a request for comfort, for prayers of comfort.  I am 33 and I miss my dad terribly.  I know my mom is also really suffering.  They were best friends and would have been married 38 years the day after Thanksgiving. The holidays are coming up and I’m not prepared.  I just want to be able to talk to him, to hear from him.  I know he’s in heaven right now and he’s happier.  I feel like there is so much that I missed out on and that he was taken from us too soon.  So prayers of comfort, prayers of peace for myself, my mom and my two siblings and that we can make it through these holidays and that we can also grow closer together and that I just don’t feel so alone.  I’m the only child not married.  I live alone.  I don’t have any prospects right now so I really miss my dad.  I spent a lot of time with him.  So your prayers are so appreciated.  Thank you.  

Hi, my name is Ruthie and I’m calling and asking for prayer for my daughter, Cassia.  She is living in a very abusive situation with an abusive boyfriend and then another person in an RV.  She needs protection, deliverance, and freedom.  She needs to know Jesus’ strength and power to deliver.  She is living in California and I’m living in Colorado.  I pray that God would give her wisdom and guidance and me wisdom and guidance about trusting him, that he is our defender.  So thank you everybody for your prayers for my daughter Cassia.  God bless you.  Bye-bye.

Father, in the name of Jesus, maker and creator of all things, before I ask you for anything, I want to thank you for everything.  Thank you for life, health and strength.  Thank you for the blood that you shed for us, Lord.  Lord, I’m asking if you will to come alongside Alleah of Waxahachie.  Her family is being ripped apart, Lord.  I don’t know the situation, but you know.  Lord, she is feeling it is her fault in some way.  Lord, just let her know it is not her fault.  Let her know that you will never leave her or forsake her, Lord.  Let her know that she can cast all her cares on you because you care for her.  Let her know that we love her and we’re praying for her, Lord.  I thank you for all that you’ve done.  I thank you for this family.  I thank you for Brian and Jill.  I thank you for everything.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  

How do I ride if I don’t have the fare?  How I do eat when the cupboard is bare?  How do I hold on if my faith just aint there?  Some people say it is the power of prayer.  Take you burdens to the Lord and leave them there.  I mean, he really does care, your burdens will share. But aint Satan the ruler of the power of the air?  He has the whole world in his hands.  He got the whole world in his hands.  He got the whole world hands, but he gives us the power to make our own plans and therein the crux of the whole matter stands.  Because the choices we make and the chances we take and the laws that we break are for our own selfish sake.  It’s hard to admit that you made a mistake.  Then you ask yourself over and over again ‘don’t I know that if the Lord was truly my friend, that his kindness, his grace, and his mercy don’t end? That all of my battles even I would win?’  Now here I am with this big stupid grin, on the floor on my knees in a jam once again knowing my actions were nothing but sin.  And Satan still tells me ‘you’re going to win.’  He never stops trying and lying, amen?  But what if I had stayed?  What if I had prayed?  What if I had just trusted and obeyed?  What if’s are fruitless because I can’t change the past, but one thing in prayer, God, I humbly ask.  Help me a better person be, a better son, a better father, a better servant for thee, because one thing even in my blindness I see and that is nothing will ever change until I change me.  BlindTony1016@gmail.com.  I would like to give a shout-out to Lisa K. and __________.  I haven’t heard from either one of you lately.  Hope you all are still hanging in there.  And Pamela P. and __________, hope things are good up there in Canada.  Anyway, once again, my prayers are with those on the Israel trip.

Hello Dabbers.  This is Stacy from Oregon.  This is my second year listening and my second call into the hotline.  I need your prayers.  Today’s message was about Daniel in the lion’s den and Brian asked several questions about if we were in the lion’s den, and I am, and if I caused why I was in there and I did.  Unfortunately it is playing on my marriage and we are the point that I don’t know that my husband wants to continue.  He is a believer.  We’re both believers.  We both believe that God put us in this marriage but he has doubts and he is wanting to walk away.  Dabbers, I do ask that you would pray for my marriage, that God would intercede and that love will prevail.  Thank you in advance for all your prayers.  I love you guys and I pray for you daily.  

12/01/2016 DAB Transcript

Daniel 8:1-27 ~ 1 John 2:1-17 ~ Psalm 120:1-7 ~ Proverbs 28:25-26

Today is December 1st.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  Wow! This is the beginning of the last month of the year.  We have journeyed 11 full months together in this year.  Wow!  It is great to greet you from the land of the Bible where we are kind of moving toward the last phase of our journey for this year into the scriptures and the land in which the scripture happened, but wow, welcome to December!  In just a couple of weeks it is going to be Christmas.  What in the world?  The year did go by fast, I have to tell you, but it is exciting to be here with you today.  So we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’ve been moving our way through the book of Daniel, which is what we’ll do today, Daniel chapter 8 verses 1-27.  

Commentary

There are some days in the scriptures where things are so clear, direct, understandable that you can’t ignore them and you need to spend time with them.  The Proverbs are often like this, but here are plenty of places in the scripture that are like this and what we read today in 1 John chapter 2 is like this.  It is really a clear explanation of the reality that we live in.  Rather than me saying some words or reading it over again, I challenge you to go to your Bible and spend some time with it with this question.  Is this how I live?  Is this what my life looks like?  It explains so much if we’ll be honest with ourselves about the posture of our heart toward God and toward one another and the beautiful grace of Jesus and knowing that we’re all in different places and different seasons and at different stages of our lives.  

Prayer

Father, we invite your Holy Spirit into this as we do most every single day.  Without you planting this in our lives and our openness to it to change the way we look at things, then we’re just trying to control this relationship and not surrendering at all.  We are just trying to manage.  So we come and surrender to you your will, your ways.  May they become ours as your Spirit rises within us to spill out from us into this world.  Come Jesus, we pray in your name.  Amen.  

Announcements

Okay, so yesterday was a full day in the Jerusalem area and a lot of jostling around as it is in Jerusalem and moving through some checkpoints and all of that.  

We started our day early and it really was early because the day that moves us toward Jerusalem is a long one and so we were I think delirious.  I was really tired getting here.  Some sleep, but a really early morning because we began the day ascending up on the Temple Mount, and you have to get there early or it can be complicated.  

So we went up on the Temple Mount.  It is spectacular.  Even though there is no Temple on the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock is there.  It is a Muslim controlled area.  We went up and the views from there are really wonderful. It was a blue sky even though rain had been forecast as is the case today.  We spent some time up there.  We looked around, did the whole of the Temple Mount and then made our way down to the Pools of Bethesda.  We reconsidered Jesus there with the man who had been waiting to get into the water for 38 years and for the collaboration that Jesus invited this man into and the waiting and the longing and the wholeness and everything that has been coming up in our hearts.  So a little bit of time there.  

Right next to the Pools of Bethesda is a church called St. Anne’s. In all the hustle and bustle, every single day of this journey is a journey unto itself and each day has its own personality and there are little oasis that come up throughout the day where there are these moments.  This particular church that is there at the spot is from the Crusader Era, but it has acoustics that are rare, that are really reverberant in a very pleasing way. With the size of the group that we have this time, we were able to basically take all the seats.  So the priest, he came and gave us a little bit of an encouragement.  The church is known for its grandparents, for prayers for grandparents.  So that is nice.  It was nice of him to share and encourage us.  And it was very encouraging.  And then Jill, my wife, she came up to the front and pretty much threw down and all of a sudden we were all singing together.  The reverberation is angelic and it is just this moment of serene worship.  It was just a surreal and beautiful experience.  It really was lovely.  If there weren’t other people trying to get in there, I think we could have stayed in there a long, long, long time. But it was a beautiful, beautiful moment.

Then when we departed there, down through the Lion’s Gate, got on the bus and began to make our way toward Bethany where the Tomb of Lazarus is.  So we considered some of the stories that happened in Bethany once we got up there, of course the calling forth of Lazarus from the grave as well as the story where a woman comes and kisses Jesus’ feet and weeps over them and brings an alabaster jar of ointment.  We considered the stories of Jesus there in Bethany and then moved on our way toward Bethlehem.  

With a little lunch in our bellies, we went into the Shepherd’s Fields which are obviously a famous reference point in the Christmas story and being the Christmas season that is special.  It also is very intertwined with the story of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz, so we spent a little time there.  

A little shopping in Bethlehem and made our way to the Church of the Nativity, which has been under renovation for several years now, I think about a year and it will be complete.  I’ve been there before the renovation started so before the scaffolding was up and all of the pillars are wrapped and all the restoration there is takes to care for a building that is so old and has been through so much.  It requires the cooperation of so many different Christian traditions.  We were able to go in and go down into the grotto and see the spot where Jesus was born. That is always special.  

For me, there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of chaos and a lot of tradition layered upon tradition layered upon tradition, but every time I start walking down those steps it just hits me, the significance of the arrival of Jesus, especially in this season of Advent.  That he would come for us at all.  I mean, we had it all.  We had perfection and we managed to really mess perfection up, this perfect intertwining of relationship with God.  We managed to mess it up significantly, and that he would come, that he wouldn’t give up, that he would love us, to not let go, to not turn his back, to not just go ‘well, you’re on your own now.  I don’t love you anymore because you haven’t loved me.’  He loved us first and he loves us always.  So just to be there in spite of all of the layers of tradition, just to understand that he came, he came for us, he would not let us go brings so much hope because he has never stopped coming for and he will never stop coming for us.  That is the hope of our salvation and the ground upon which everything that we believe in exists and stands upon.  And so to be in that spot, as brief as it is, is a powerful moment.  

So we were able to have that moment before moving our way back through the hustle and bustle of Bethlehem, which is a Palestinian controlled city and so a different culture.  Very nice people.  Everyone was very kind to us and always is but very, very different than what we’re used to.  The irony is that it is not so different from what Jesus knew and understood.  So we moved our way and got back on the bus and back through the hustle and bustle and back through the checkpoints and all of that and made our way back to end our day.  

A number of the group went into the Jerusalem markets.  If you’ve ever been there, that is a story of its own. It’s chaos and color and smells and more chaos and more beautiful humanity.  So that is an experience of its own.  Others of us needed to check in with things back across the ocean and get some rest and some other things done, so we ended our day and are ready for a new day with a new personality and a new complexion.  

We thank you for your continued prayers over us.  Stamina is definitely something to pray for.  Rest, good quality, deep restorative rest.  We’ve been at this and it feels like we’ve been at this for a long, long time, so rest is important at this point so we thank you for that.  Of course, always safety, technology, travel, all of that.  We thank you for your prayers.  We’ll talk about what we’re doing today after we do it.  

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It is where you find out how things are and what is going on around here.  You can follow along with this trip.  We’re posting videos and even broadcasting live as often as we can get stable enough connection to do it at the Daily Audio Bible Feedback page which is www.Facebook.com/DailyAudioBible.  So there are definitely little moments from each day there and you can go back and watch through everything we’ve been talking about.  So that is there.  

The Christmas Box is well underway and you can get yours at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Shop.  It is chockful of resources that have been created for our community and its enrichment.  It is full. It is a full box.  So you can see everything that is there at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Shop.  Check it out.  We’re always selling out of them before the season is over.  

If you are wanting the Christmas Box for Christmas and you are ordering internationally, outside of the United States, you need to do that today or tomorrow at the latest.  I mean, you can do it at any time, but tomorrow is sort of the time period where we feel like this is the last day that you can safely expect it to get there for Christmas.  We do our best but just a heads up on that if you are international and want the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box.  If you are in the United States, there is still some time on that, but we always do sell out of them.  So check out the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It is on the home page.  Thank you here in the last month of the year, the homestretch of the year, for your partnership, allowing the Daily Audio Bible to exist and continue and be here every day faithfully and consistently.  Thank you for your partnership.  If it has been a life-giving thing to you this year, then thank you for partnership and being life-giving back.  

As a community, we are really good at praying for each other.  So if you have a prayer request or comment (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

And that is it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you all the way from Jerusalem and back and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.  

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hey fellow Dabbers.  This is Joe the Protector from Georgia here.  It’s November 28th at about 7:40 in the morning.  I just finished listening to the 28th podcast and just wanted to call in.  God has been putting on me that I’ve heard a lot of desperation in some of the calls coming in lately as in from Alleah from Waxahachie and others.  And Alleah, we have you.  God has you.  The body of Christ has you lifted up, girl, so don’t despair.  As children of God we’re not to be discouraged.  I know it happens in our flesh, but we’re supposed to lay our flesh down and become like Christ more and more every day.  So I want to read this passage that I just got finished reading a moment ago and made me call in.  Philippians 3:12, starting in 12:  Not that I’ve already attained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, which is the kingdom of God.  I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think this way and anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.  I know we’re all at different maturity levels in our walk with Christ, but….

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  It’s James, the teacher in LA and I just listened to the November 27th podcast.  I heard Krista from I don’t know if she said Saskatchewan or Alberta, I’m sorry, but you said that you were just going through a lot of anxiety, nausea, and that you felt like you were in the valley of the shadow of death.  I don’t know if you’ve read through this recently, but I just felt I need to read this to you and anyone else who feels like they are going through a valley.  Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.  He leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul.  He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.  Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies and anointest my head with oil and my cup brimmeth over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Krista and everyone else out there who feel that they are being done in by the enemy and in darkness, the Lord is with you.  I need to remember that too.  God bless you family.  I love you guys.  

Hi, this is Irma from Missouri.  I have been thinking about calling for so long.  I’ve been in DAB for quite a while and actually just caught up. I’ve been behind about five or six days, but I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers for each of us, even those that you don’t know.  I pray for you all as I hear your prayer requests and I just am so, so honored to be a part of this special thing that we have going on here.  Brian and your family, thank you so much for your ministry. So many people that I’ve gotten to know over the years that I’ve been listening, just listening silently but still praying.  Blind Tony, I love the faith that you have.  You have pulled me through so many things.  So many other people too I can’t name as well.  I just wanted to ask for prayer for my family.  I’ve been feeling a tug on my heart to call in and ask for prayer.  I feel like I walk alone with the Lord here most of the time.  Just pray for my family.  We’re having so many struggles going on with grandkids and spouses, marriages, all kinds of things.  The Lord knows.  God knows. I know that you know.  Just please, please pray for our family.  And I wish you all the best of the special holidays and God’s hand in your lives.  I love you all.  Thank you.

Hello.  It’s Bries calling from the Northwest Territories, Canada.  I’ve been listening for about four years and I really enjoy the fellowship and I really appreciate Brian reading and the commentaries that you give every day.  It’s great to be part of community and to feel so enriched by the word of God and then the commentaries and the prayers.  I am calling in to…  First of all, I heard today someone from Saskatchewan, Canada calling in for prayer who was having a lot of depression and physical problems and her doctor changing medication.  I just want you to know that I’m praying for you.  With all of us praying together, you will be healed, in Jesus’ name.  And I wanted to share some praise reports.  I myself was healed after a surgery, that I wasn’t expected to be healed of all the __________ I had.  However, I seemed to have been and I just praise God for that. A lot of people were praying for me. And another one is that I know a friend of mine has been healed from breast cancer completely.  No symptoms.  Without surgery and without any treatment.  So praise God for that.  Just to encourage that God indeed does answer prayers and does heal today.  God bless you.  Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible.  This is Nathan, Gift of God from Illinois.  I know I haven’t called for like forever I think, but I wanted to call today because a good friend of mine told me a story, something that happened to him and I’m hoping it’s an encouragement.  I’ve known this guy for like 40 years.  We’ve been best friends.  Sometimes he can start a sentence and I’ll finish it for him.  He was telling me unbeknownst to me he and his wife had like $2 in their checking account.  That was all the money they had.  Running low on food.  Now he runs the books because it causes a lot of anxiety for his wife to be involved at that level in the family budget.  So he decided to share with his wife that that was all they had and so they decided to pray. He prayed “God, just need food. Plain and simple, we need food.” And he is a believer, been a believer most of his life and very faithful.  So just within like a half hour or so, a short amount of time, there is a knock on the door. The son answers it and said “hey, mom! It’s our next door neighbor.”  And so his wife went to the door and she said, “Todd, get down here now!”  And the next door neighbor had a box of food for them.  Apparently her dad was giving food boxes away and couldn’t find __________, gave it to her, and she had no idea of the circumstance and gave it to him.  Previous to this she had made a list of food items that they needed and this is the miracle.  Other than just the food arriving, every single thing on that list was exactly what she wrote down except for two items.  It was even like she wrote down green beans and it was green beans in the box. This is God.  This is the God that we…

Hey family, it’s Scott from Carolina.  I wanted to check in after the holiday on Monday and just give you a few updates. I asked you to pray for my son Josh. He is improving and I just want to ask you to continue to pray.  It is a long road for him and everything that he does is a challenge with anxiety and distraction, so just keep him in your prayers, that he would be able to focus and concentrate. He’s planning to start back in school in January.  We praise God for that.  I also wanted to reach out to Olympia.  Indonesia, wow!  Awesome. I remember you talking, I think, Olympia, earlier about going there and so I think that was you anyway.  We want to lift you up in that new culture and environment.  And also Alleah from Waxahachie.  You know Alleah, you were one of the first voices I heard when I started listening to Daily Audio Bible and I just don’t know how to say it, but I just want to say I love you and I want to pray for you now.  Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for Alleah and we thank you for her love for you. Father, we just pray that you would surround her with the prayers of thousands, Lord, and give her the comfort that only you can give.  Father, we pray for this family, Lord, and the struggles that are going there.  We just love you and praise you.  In Jesus’ name.  Have a great day family.