Month: August 2017

2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21 ~ Romans 15:1-22 ~ Psalm 25:1-15 ~ Proverbs 20:13-15

Today is the first day of the month of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here. Great to greet you within this brand-new month that we get to share together. And we kind of need to buckle up. We are going to be spending some time in 10 different books of the bible during this month. So, we’ve got some ground to cover and it’s going to be magnificent. And that will unfold as we move forward. But the next step forward takes us further into the book of Second Chronicles and further in the book of Romans, when we get to the New Testament. So, from the Names of God bible, which is what we’re reading this week, Second Chronicles chapter 30 verse 1 through 31 verse 21.

Commentary:

OK. In the letter to the Romans, Paul continues to talk about unity and that’s not an uncommon topic even today. In fact, it’s kind of a topic of discussion constantly. And, so, what Paul is saying is applicable but there are some distinctions that are different. What Paul is talking about in the church of Jesus is unity between Jewish Hebrew believers and Gentiles, that we would all become one. When we are talking about church unity today we are largely talking about, like, denominational unity or theological unity. And those things are definitely up for discussion. That’s the wrestling that we’ve been doing since…well…since the early church. But for Paul, there weren’t a bunch of stripes and flavors of the faith. You know. There weren’t a bunch of denominations with theological nuances. There was this one main issue that crops up all the time - whether a person needs to be converted to Judaism before they can become a follower of Jesus or whether this is open to all, to gentiles as they are. And, so, this is what Paul is trying to draw people together into understanding and we see some of how he’s arriving there - how it is that Paul, a Pharisee, could see the teachings of Jesus and then see how they connect with his faith and his story, moving it dramatically forward, blowing the doors off the exclusivity of the worship of Yahweh and expanding it into the whole world so that everyone is welcome through Jesus. And, so, Paul references the scriptures in order to show how it is that he came to understand this. So, Paul says, everything written long ago was written to teach us so that we would have confidence through the endurance and encouragement which the scriptures give us. So, he’s saying, I’m not denying the scriptures at all. They’re the basis for everything that I’m saying. And, so, may God, who gives you this endurance and encouragement, allow you to be in harmony with each other by simply following the example of Jesus. And then we will all have the same goal, we’re all following Jesus, and will praise God for it. So, accept each other the same way that Christ excepted you. Now, we could stop there, before we get to these scriptures that Paul is referencing and just say that is a bit of a golden rule. Like, maybe it’s not THE golden rule, like the do unto others rule, but that’s pretty much a golden rule of the Christian faith. If we would accept each other the same way that we have been accepted by Jesus, if we will simply be Christ-like in this and accept one another and accept that we are all on a journey toward the same thing in Christ, we would be cultivating a unity by default. We would remember that this isn’t about us converting somebody to our persuasion. This isn’t about making someone in our own image. This is about humbly following Jesus, understanding what he pulled us out of, and looking around and seeing that everyone else is being pulled out of something to and it’s a process. Now, if you have achieved perfect union with Christ and have risen above it all, completely, well then, this may not apply to you; however, I’m pretty sure it does because I’m pretty sure we are all in process. But anyway, to what Paul is saying, as he references the scriptures to reveal to the Jews and the Gentiles alike, that from the beginning the whole world was going to be redeemed through Jesus. Paul says - here’s one scripture - that is why I give thanks to You among the nations (which is plural) and I will sing praises to Your name. So, not just Israel but the nation’s, which would mean non-Jewish people, gentiles. And then Paul says, and the scripture says again, you nations (plural again), be happy together with His people. And then Paul says again, praise the Lord all you nations, praise Him, all you people of the world, which would, by default, include Gentiles. And then Paul quotes Isaiah, there will be a route from Jesse, He will rise to rule the nations, (plural) and He will give the nation’s hope. So, instead of nations, for our time, we could insert denominations and arrive in a similar place. We are all invited to this party. We are all invited into this kingdom. None of us has a corner on it. No one can box it up and sell it. This is the Kingdom that is in and among us and is advancing whether we participate or not. But we’re fully invited to engage with all of our heart, mind, and will. We’re fully invited to engage in becoming Christ-like and when we remember that that is the goal and not domination by theology over somebody else. It’s simply losing all of that. To become Christ-like is the goal. Then we can hear the benediction that Paul pronounces as he ends this section of the letter - may God, the source of hope fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him, then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer:

So, Father, we invite You into these places that we segregate ourselves from each other, even from our brothers and sisters, because they think different, because they are different. For whatever reason, big or small, we continue to find our identity by creating groups of likeminded people. And that’s OK. But then we get ingrown in that group and think we are the right ones. And we have this subtle arrogance about everything that we do. Forgive us of this. We are reminded today that we must accept each other the same way that You accepted us. May we look at the world, everyone, through those eyes. Come, Holy Spirit, because You have come for us all. Come, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

And that is a good way to begin the month of August friends. That is a good way to begin a month. It’s going to be amazing.

Ok. dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, check it out.

Immediately, kind of, on the radar. The biggest blip on the radar is two days from now, August 3^rd. We’ll be doing another Facebook Live in the Sneezing Jesus group. And like I’ve been saying…man…there’s been some fantastic stories there that have really inspired me and inspired each other. It’s a great conversation around Sneezing Jesus. But, we’ll be doing another Facebook Live, 7:00 p.m., Thursday night, August 3^rd. And you need to be in the group to be able to see that. But it’s easy. Just go to facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus and you’ll be in. So, we’ll talk a little bit about the book but we’ll also talk about small groups and ways to bring this message into a small group setting. So, look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we share as a community, which is to bring God’s spoken word to whoever will listen to it, wherever they are, whatever time it is, and to keep building community around that rhythm of daily interaction with the scriptures so that no one has to go through anything alone, so that we know we’re not alone. If that has resonated and been life and light to you, then thank you for your help in keeping the global campfire burning each day. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If your using the app you can press the More button in the lower right hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO 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’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi family. This is Viola from Maryland. Brian, I got the 12 books, Sneezing Jesus and in the middle of studying and doing my assignments doing my master’s program, I finished reading that book, Sneezing Jesus. What a compelling book. I’ve already downloaded the audio book from iTunes for $4.95. And I’m going to be listening to that as well. Family, I want to encourage you to go and get more of those books. We want to keep Sneezing Jesus on the top charts, so that people will wonder why it’s there and they will get it themselves and read it. God, bless you, Asia, my sister from Munich and everyone on this Podcast who is trusting in Jesus for one thing or the other. I want to say to you, He’s a miracle worker. He’s a miracle worker and He will do a miracle, a miracle today. He will do a miracle, a miracle today. Powerful healer, is our Sneezing Jesus. He will do a miracle, a miracle today. He will do a miracle, a miracle today. Asia, don’t let the devil harass you. You know the Lord says that who ___ he sets free indeed. And there is therefore no condemnation to do so in Christ. Don’t let the devil tell you otherwise sister. The Lord is not punishing you and not punishing you because of anything you’ve done in the past. Look, my prayer is that God will give you a second miracle baby but even if He doesn’t it doesn’t mean He’s punishing you. Sister, I pray in the name of Jesus that the Lord will touch your body, the Lord will heal you, inside and out, in the name of Jesus, and He will give you…if that is what He wishes…He will give you that second miracle baby very soon, in the name of Jesus. And I want to thank everyone that transcribes this Daily Audio Bible, your work has not gone unnoticed. God, bless you.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. It’s ___ in Houston. I’m calling because tonight I’m just having a breakdown. It seems like marriages and family just escape me. It’s all I’ve ever wanted since I was a little girl - to be like my mom. And now I’m in my thirties and it seems like relationship after relationship has just not led anywhere and I know I’m supposed to surrender it to God, and surrender my dreams, but the dreams won’t die. And I want to be completely open to God taking that opportunity for me. You know, I really really do because I really do love Jesus. And I want to be with somebody who loves Him too and I don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t, I really don’t. But it seems…I don’t know…they just…I don’t know…I’m just feeling unlovable. But I know God loves me. And I need people to pray for me. I really feel alone right now and I thought of you all. And I hear you all call in and pray for one another so much and pray for me before. And I thought you are a safe place to go and ask for prayer. Thank you for praying. I’m sorry to me such a mess. But I found it better than sitting here feeling alone, reaching out to the body of Christ. Alright. Love you guys. Bye.

This is Aimee from Arkansas. Brian, I just want thank you, so much, for that great book. Oh my goodness, it’s awesome. And after reading Romans 12 today, we just have to go out there and we have to be light in the darkness. We’ve got to surrender ourselves totally to His will. Someone told me that they pray for people at restaurants and so I started doing that. I would ask the waiter or waitress if they needed prayer because we are going to pray for the food and…just that little thing…you would be amazed at what people say. Some of them start crying and saying, yes. And one girl, who I would never have thought that she would even receive it, she came back and she said, I told my friend, and would you pray for her too. So, even things like that…just…we’ve got to be the light to the world - on the phone, when we’re out in public, just sneeze it forward. We’ve got to show the world what they’re missing. They’re searching for something. They just don’t know what. But it’s Jesus. We’ve got to bring that to them and just be the light. Have a great day. Bye.

Hello. My name is Amalee and I’m calling from central Florida. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about 3 years and I’m calling about a call I heard on the 30^th…today is the 30^th…from Sharon of California. Sharon, your description of yourself and your problem, it’s like you’re describing me. I also suffer from depression. But since I’ve been listening to Brian and reading the bible and placing more trust in Jesus, I am defeating that. Please, you need to trust Jesus. Trust Him. Have faith and trust Him. He doesn’t have to reveal his plan for you. He is helping you. You just don’t realize it. The little things…you just don’t realize it…that’s Jesus helping you. By the way, I have multiple myeloma, which is the cancer of the bone marrow. And if I break a bone it won’t heal. And that would give me septicemia. And I will die. So, please pray for me also, not just Sharon, which I’m praying for and will continue to pray for her. But pray for me, Amalee. Thank you all. God, bless you all, especially Brian and Jill. Good night.

2 Chronicles 29:1-36 ~ Romans 14:1-23 ~ Psalm 24:1-10 ~ Proverbs 20:12

Today is the 31st day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a good to be with you today at the end of month number 7. Today is the 212^th day of the year, which means that here in the rolling hills of Tennessee things are hot and sticky and humid and fertile and green and beautiful and hot but it’s all good. It’s nice and cool here in the studio. Nice cup of coffee to my left readied and this month well. Reading from the names of God Bible this week. Second Chronicles chapter 29 verses 1 through 36 today.

Commentary:

OK. The apostle Paul is leading us into some interesting territory in the book of Romans. Interesting, because in this kind of stuff is still going on. And interesting that it was already beginning to form in the minds of the early believers then. And that is this idea that we can arrive at unity through complete uniformity. So, that if all moving in the same direction, believing exactly the same thing, like, cookie stamping out our faith, and our faith journeys, then we’ll all be going in the same direction. So, Paul says a lot of things and uses a few examples to illustrate the things that he’s saying. He says, welcome people who are weaker in faith. But that’s not an invitation to argue with them over your differences of opinion, your theological differences, or even your behavioral differences. And then he uses the example of food, which must have been an issue at that point in time when he’s writing this. Right? So, some people are eating anything. Some people are eating only vegetables. And depending on which side of the equation you’re on you sort of argue over whether you can do this. So, a person puts a big bite of steak in this mouth and says I’m a carnivore and I’m going to eat this. Or as a vegetarian, it might be a more healthy thing to do - treat the body as a temple, would be this. So, Paul is saying, look…and this is really a brilliant and wise way to look at issues like this…Paul’s saying, look, God has excepted all of these people as his servants. So, who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? What gives you the right to criticize someone else’s servant because they’re not doing what you do or what your convictions are or how you would like to order the world? What gives you the right to do that? The Lord will determine whether his servant has been successful, Paul says. And then he talks about holy days with the same thing in mind. Some people observe certain specific holy days for certain specific reasons on their faith journey. Other people think every day is a holy day. So, Paul’s given a couple of examples but we can see all kinds of examples in the world today, all kinds of battles being waged over theological formulas and behavioral differences and all kinds of stuff. So, Paul’s conclusion, why do you criticize or despise other Christians? Everyone will stand in front of God to be judged. All of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God. So, let’s stop criticizing each other. Instead, we should decide never to do anything that would make other Christians have doubts or lose their faith. So, one, when stop passing judgment on each other for our differences. Stop trying to make other believers in our image rather than in Gods image or in our understanding or persuasion rather than understanding we will all stand before God and it will all burn away and we will all find out we had things wrong and that He still loved us and collaborated with us and died for us and was with us and was within us, all along. And two, we’re not going to get an identity by running around condemning people. Like, just watching how people do things different than the way that we believe and, so, then we get an identity by saying I’m not. It’s like trying to find an identity by saying this is what I am not. As opposed to having an identity that is, this is who I am. So, Paul is saying, look, we have to be sensitive to each other in our differences because some of us can move into certain territory that other people couldn’t because the Holy Spirit hasn’t allowed them too. And conversely, they may be able to move in areas that we’re not allowed because the Holy Spirit won’t allow us in those areas. Simply because we all have a story and paths will need us somewhere. And, so, we can’t just flaunt this. We can’t make someone else fall or stumble because of the flaunting of our own freedoms. We have to be aware. Or as Paul says, let’s pursue those things which bring peace and which are good for each other. So, going back to his example of food, he says, don’t ruin God’s work because of what you eat. All food is acceptable but it’s wrong for a person to eat something if it causes someone else to have doubts. Alright, so you’ve got to be aware of your actions and what you’re doing. And Paul concludes, so, whatever you believe about these things keep it between yourself and God. The person who does what he knows is right shouldn’t feel guilty. He’s blessed. But if a person has doubts, then he’s condemned because he didn’t act in faith and anything and that’s not done in faith is sinful.

It’s interesting that so much of our faith journey is about modifying our behavior and it’s so interesting that this was going on all the way back to the beginning of the church. Like, we just want to conform ourselves to a certain set of standards that we believe are the image of Christ. And, so, if we can just get our behavior in line with certain convictions and then everyone could get on the same page, then we be moving in the right direction, which is sort of beside the point because these things only happen from within us. These changes that, actually, stick, that are actually transformational, that make us different then we were, they happen within us. So, does this mean that we can just do whatever we want then, as long as we keep it a secret and it’s just between us and God? No. There are plenty of things that human beings should avoid in general and we find those things outlined in the scriptures and even in the writings of Paul and even in the book of Romans. So, as humans, there are things that are never going to be good and we should avoid those things - period. What Paul’s talking about is a layer up. The kind of ways that we try to get identities from each other by what we do and don’t do. They segregate us. And then we try to make that the issue - the way that we can overlay our convictions and instill them in someone else so that they will be made in our image. That is counterproductive and we don’t offer each other the grace of the journey, the fact that the transformation is happening inside of us and it takes time - walking with God. It takes time for things to form and settle and become solid. We have to have grace for each other in this journey because, the truth is, for all of our dogma, underneath all that, is a flailing, frail person. Behind our personality is a real being reaching for God. And, so, when we throw our dogmas around in a way we are just revealing our own unrest inside. And our Father, he’s not ruffled. He’s not taken aback. He’s right here, fathering us, if we’ll let Him and stop trying to parent everyone else around us. Just allow ourselves to be fathered by our Creator, Father. Then He will lead us into what is healthy and good and nourishing and right for us. And do we not think that He, by the power of His Holy Spirit, can do that for everyone else? Does He need us to be the perfectionist of the family, always pointing out everything everyone else is doing wrong? I think I can handle it. He sustains the world and offers your next breath as a gift. I think He can handle it. Let’s have some compassion for each other, for ourselves in his journey, as we open ourselves fully to God and allow Him to lead our life where it is going.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You and into that. Because it’s kind of loaded. Because we have certain convictions and we can see somebody moving in a direction that seems as if it’s going to be harmful. And, so, as brothers and sisters we step into those breaches, and You lead us into those things. It’s just when things begin to twist, when things begin to shift and it’s really more about our convictions and super imposing those on everyone else that all of the sudden we become dogmatic and in a cage. We’ve become boxed in and it’s getting smaller and smaller and more constricted. And, so, we release that. We release ourselves. We release everyone else. And invite Your Holy Spirit, in freedom and in truth, to lead and guide us on the narrow path that leads to life. And it is a narrow path and few find it. But we want to be the ones that find it. And we want to stay on that path, walking with You and being transformed by You in a very personal and individual way. And, so, we don’t become unaware of everything that’s going on around us. But we become hyper aware of what You are doing inside of us so that it’s no longer we who are looking at the world and judging it. We are looking at it through Your eyes. Eyes of what could be instead of what is. Eyes of achieving the impossible instead of suffering the limitations. We ask You to help us look at ourselves this way and everyone else as we continue the work of spreading the light and good news of continuing to sneeze this into the world, drawing all people to You. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check it out.

This is the last day of July and we are going to be moving into August tomorrow. July, of course, was the month that we finally gave birth to Sneezing Jesus. And we’ll be doing another Sneezing Jesus Facebook Live at the discussion group for Sneezing Jesus, which is facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus.  We’ll do that on August 3^rd, which is coming up here in a few days. It will be at 7:00 p.m. So, make plans for that.

The other thing about Sneezing Jesus is, if you have that book, and you wouldn’t mind taking a couple minutes to plant seeds - I mean, the whole thing is about planting seeds - but if you’d go back to like Amazon or Barnes noble or wherever you got it and leave a review for it, that is legitimately planning a seed. That legitimately makes a difference for those who will come into contact with it in all kinds of different ways, whether that be through word-of-mouth, or interviews, or media, or whatever…the things that happen…those little seeds planted there of your story, that matters. So, if you feel you can take the time to do that. That would be awesome.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the thick months of the summer time. Thank you for your partnership. There is a link at dailyaudiobible.com right on the homepage.  If you are using 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 PO 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’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

This is Candace from Oregon calling with words of encouragement, especially for those who might be in really difficult times of struggle. I want you to really keep in mind…this is for me too…that our Lord, Jesus, He knows all about what we’re going through, down to the most excruciating details of it and He will not abandon and us and He will see us through. A friend, dear friend, Gary B. has made it clear to me that we’re not on a cruise ship, we’re on a battleship in life and the scripture really bears that out. It says in first Thessalonians 5 verse 8, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. We have that. We have this hope and it is sure, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Even though we mess up every day. That is not too big an obstacle for Him. That’s why He came. And He died to pay for all of that and deliver us from it. And you can’t earn His salvation. He has got your back. And He’s going to see it through by His great grace and mercy and love. So, look to Him…

Hi my name is Dee and this is, actually, my first time, I guess, calling in here. I’ve been a listener since the beginning of the year and my prayer request, it’s really urgent to me. I’ve had chemical depression for 28 years and for the last 2 years I’ve been unstable with my meds. I don’t know why. Possibly going through menopause also. So, my meds have been ineffective for very long. And I’m just really, really in bad spot and I’ve been really suffering so last 2 years on and off with this - pretty much on all the time. I’ve been on multiple medications that the doctors of tried unsuccessfully. I’m on my fourth one now within two months. Anyway, the anxiety is extremely high all the time. It’s coming to a point where it’s really hard for me to work and I support myself, I’m not married. So, I need income. I just don’t know where else to go, what else to do. And I love the Daily Audio Bible. It gets me through each morning I listen to it. I just wanted to call this in and ask for prayer, please. Thank you all and God bless you.

Hi everyone this is Karen in St. Louis and I’m having to re-record this because I was just so broken up you couldn’t really understand me. I’m asking for prayer for heart encouragement, deep hear encouragement from the Lord. And I’m praying for a mate. I’ve been single all of my life. When I became a Christian at 29, I dove right in and just really wanted to get to know this God that saved me. And I love Him with all my heart. And here I am 30 years later, still with this unmet desire that nags at my heart, real heavy and hard sometimes. I know part of that is because I don’t have that family connection, that bond. My parents are gone. I have family members on Facebook that literally block me because, I guess, I post Christian stuff and they don’t want to see it. And I love them. I try to love them as best as I can to reach out but it’s like there are walls up and I know there’s a ton of walls up around everybody in my family. We had a very, very dysfunctional family growing up. So, anyway, God has put some wonderful women in my life and the church that has helped to encourage me and that I’m able to encourage. But I do minister people and I pour out and I pour out and I’m just longing for someone, just to be able to give me a hug or just to have my hand. But it’s going to be OK. And, so, anyway, I just covet your prayers. Thank you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Stan the Perseverer from Maryland. I am calling because I just finished reading or listening to the Podcast for the 26th of July. And as I watched the sun go down and I listened to the word and heard the prayers and confessions that you all made, I just felt so connected to you all and I’m thankful for that. This morning I was really wrestling with a pounding headache and felt so alone. And tonight, as I listened to the Podcast, I realized that with you all out there, I’ll never be alone. It’s been a hard couple years for me and this morning I was thinking and wondering, God, what do You have for me? I’m 62 years old and I want to walk in faith and do something great. Although, I even know that that’s not in my hands for the rest of the season in my life. So, I just wanted to give you a shout out and say thanks for be who you are and covet your prayers for insight, God’s insight, into what He has for me in this next season of life, after divorce. I love all of you. God bless you. Bye-bye.

2 Chronicles 26:1-28:27 ~ Romans 13:1-14 ~ Psalm 23:1-6 ~ Proverbs 20:11

Today is the 30th of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you at the threshold of a shiny, sparkly new week that we are going to a walk into together. And this week or going to read from the Names of God Bible, which I enjoy because it’s all English. But when we come to a name of God then it then it’s the Hebrew name, the original name, in the original language. And we will be making a lot of transition this week. We will transition out of the month of July and into the month of August. We will transition out of the books of Chronicles and we will also complete and transition out of the letter to the Romans. So, a lot in front of us this week. So, let’s dive in. Second Chronicles chapter 26 verse 1 through 28 verse 27 today.

Commentary:

OK. So Paul is continuing to, sort of, lay out this…I wouldn’t call it a grid…but sort of an overview of what life can look like, should look like, in this faith. And we went over some of that yesterday and he continues today. By coming to the same conclusion that Jesus came to and that has been in the world forever. It all comes down to love - loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Because if you can do that then you are obeying God. For example - and he uses the 10 commandments - never commit adultery. Well, if you love your neighbor as you love yourself, you’ll be fulfilling that. You won’t commit adultery. Never murder. If you love your neighbor as you love yourself, you’re not going to murder. Never steal. If you love your neighbor as you love yourself, you’ll never steal. So, on and on it goes. And comes down to love. We are all in this together. We are all part of a body. We each have a unique position in this. We need to be in that to its fullest…fullest…and not be looking around at what other parts of the body are doing, so that we can try to not be who we are, so that we can try to be but somebody else is. We are all in this together and we must love one another. The thing is, if we would do that…seriously…if we would do that, things will change all around us. If everyone would do that in the world, the world would change overnight – dramatically, radically, overwhelmingly. But if we would just do this, then our world would change dramatically. The temperature in our homes would be different. The posture of heart that we have toward each other would be different. It’s pretty simple and pretty difficult to live into. And impossible to live into without union with God, without walking with God, without relationship with God, without God being intertwined in that story. It’s not possible. But Paul breaks it down in today’s reading by basically summarizing everything that we’ve been talking about when we went through the book of Acts and everything that we’ve been talking about as we’ve gone through the book of Romans. What does a person who is Christ-like do? What does that person look like? What does this really mean? Paul says, look, you know the times that we’re living in and it is time for you to wake up. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first started this. The night is almost over and the day is near. So, we should get rid of the things that belong to the dark and take up the weapons that belong to the light because that’s what we’re bringing into this world friend - light and good news. That’s what this is about. So, Paul says we should live decently, as people who live in the light of day. This other crazy stuff - the drunkenness, the wild parties, the sexual immorality, the promiscuity -  we know all of those things. Right? Those are all on the A list. But also on Paul’s A list is rivalry and jealousy. Those are all included in some of the other stuff that has traditionally been so bad. Rivalry and jealousy are just as bad as wild parties and immorality. So, think about that for a minute. Those things belong to the dark. They need to be gone. We live in the light of the day. Paul says, instead of those things, live like Jesus. Or in other words, be Christ-like and forget about satisfying the desires of your corrupt nature. That was then. This is now. You are not that person anymore. That person died and you have been raised up anew, a new creation in Christ, Jesus. Wow! It’s so clear. And we all get a taste of it. It wells up inside of us and we can see it. But then we just assume that we don’t have to cultivate this lifestyle. So, we will rush off into this overjoyed that we have finally seen it only to find out the second it gets opposed we’re just going to slide backward. What Paul is doing is giving us a description of where we should be heading. And we should never stop heading in that direction. We have to be vigilant every single day. We have to move in this direction in a straight line for a long time in order to succeed, which ultimately brings us face-to-face with whether or not we really want this, whether or not we really want this life. Because it really is a different kind of life. It really is an invitation to be in the world in a different way - to be in it but not of it.

Prayer:

Father, we want to be in the world but not of it. We want to be here because you made us human beings to be here. But the constructs that we’ve made all over the world, that we would know as culture, it’s been a mixture for a long time and you’ve invited us to live higher, to live truer. That the culture is based on so many…thousands and thousands of little lies…that we tell all of the time, trying to craft ourselves in our own image, in our own perfect image, and then try to display that into the world, when you’ve invited us to wipe that clean and reflect your glory, to be fully present here, to be in this world, but to be reflecting heaven into it. On earth as it is in heaven. And that’s really what we do want. We can surrender ourselves but it really does come down to: how much do we really want this? Because we try to blend, we try to mix that all in all of the time. We want to find our identity in something other than You. And this is constant. And, so, right now, we surrender that identity and invite your Holy Spirit to live through us in this world, which isn’t to say that we’re passengers along for the ride. This is an invitation to a collaboration in this world - a deep intertwining with you - an awareness that it’s not possible for us to be alone in this world no matter what we’re going through. Most of the things that were going through we got ourselves into. What would it look like just followed you? Oh, the joys of thoughts like that. And they’re all available and it’s all possible because nothing is impossible with You. So, come, Holy Spirit, we pray.  We surrender our will and our ways and our identity and our agenda to You. Come, Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check that out.

The next Sneezing Jesus Facebook Live that we’re going to do is in a few days, August 3^rd, which is Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. So, you can Google the difference between where you are and Central Standard Time and then you’ll know when it is for you. But we’re going to talk some more at the Facebook discussion group for Sneezing Jesus, which has been amazing, really amazing. If you’re not in it, come check it out. It’s at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. And, so, we’ll look forward to seeing you live on Thursday night.

If you want a partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that had dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If using 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 PO 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’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi. I’m Sharron from California. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for five years. I’m a first-time caller. I’ve suffered from major depression most of my life. I’m an older woman and I’m giving up because I don’t see no light at the end of the tunnel. I feel miserable every day and my family doesn’t understand. I’ve turned to God…but God…I don’t know what his plan is for me. I just can’t live in this misery anymore and I don’t know who to turn to besides God. But I feel He doesn’t want to help me. Please pray for me because I don’t know how much more I can take. What…sad…empty…lonely feeling of… Thank you and God bless you all.

Hi DABbers this is His little Sheree from Canada. A few days ago, I called to make a public declaration of love confessing that I’ve officially given my heart to this beautiful community. And since then, the Lord is like, so, you love the DAB Sheree? Yup? Going to put a ring on it? And, of course I knew exactly what He meant. So, I’ve signed up to make a monthly donation to the Daily Audio Bible and it just feels right. I have been listening to this Podcast since the beginning of the year and I’m glad that it’s free to anyone willing to listen. That’s the way it should be, I think. But I’m just not content anymore to date this ministry - you know, hold hands and snuggle up to the campfire and then kiss goodnight and go home…no big deal. There’s a time to commit. You know? There’s a time to put a ring on it. And I think that’s for someone out there listening today. So, that’s it for now. Love you DABbers. This is His little Sheree from Canada. God bless you today.

Hi everybody. This is Lisa the Encourager. Hope you guys are having and will have the most encouraging day today. I’m calling tonight because I heard you -  I heard you David from Kansas - on July 24th calling out to God: “God please help me”. And I heard you. So, I have just a few verses for you David and then I’m going to pray for you. So, the first one I have is Psalm 9:17 - May the favor of the Lord our God rest on you David, establish the work of our hands for us, yes, establish the work of our hands. Philippians 4:13 - David you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. Colossians 3:24 – David, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward, it is the Lord, Christ, you are serving. Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, David, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you David and not to harm you David, plans to give you hope and a future David. Proverbs 16:3 – Commit to the Lord whatever you do David and He will establish your plans. Dear Lord, I pray tonight for David from Kansas, God, as he is struggling and he needs You. He’s calling out to God and I know You hear him. And we all hear you David. All of your Daily Audio Bible friends hear you and we love you and we are thinking about you and we are praying for you and we want you to be able to be successful and to be happy again and we want you to know you’re loved. Dear Lord, please…please…

Hi family. Drew from the bay area. Listen, I was calling in, mainly to…actually to…to prayer / fast for Edgar…especially if you could skip a meal. Praise report is he had at least four good days after I called in about him and he’s been having the police come. He’s been very upset. This is the young man I was telling you about that is in a wheelchair and is causing major disturbances for his family and his neighbors. So, if you would pray for him, especially on the 28^th, just maybe fast, skip a meal. That would be great. Also, I want to give a shout out to Salvation is Mine from San Leandro but you know I’m praying for you. Mark S. from down under, praying for you in Australia. Praying for revival here in the United States. Want you also to pray for a Muslim family I gave Sneezing Jesus to. I think millions of Muslims come to faith once they feel the presence of Jesus. And pray for a new roommate for me. I’ve got to find a roommate that’s going to be a great fit. I’m moving into a new place and I would appreciate your prayers. I love you guys. Bye.

Hello DAB family. This is Joyful Noise from Southern California. I have a praise report - a couple of them actually - and I also want to lift up Kayla in prayer again. And I think it’s Kayla, although it might be Caleb? It’s girl’s voice. So, I’m just going to say Kayla from Kansas - I think it was – who struggles with depression. I prayed for her earlier this week but I just felt compelled to call back in and let you know, Kayla, if you are listening to this that we don’t stop praying if you don’t hear from us. And I just want to encourage you, and I don’t know why God compelled me to do this, but I just want to encourage you that prayer doesn’t stop after you hear our voices. That we continue to pray. And I know that there are many that are continuing to pray for my son on the call. And I called in…oh…it must have been…gosh…several weeks ago now…almost a month ago. I just know that people continue to pray for him. So, please know we don’t stop praying for you. And that we’re to go to God, as the widow to the wicked judge. Right? Over and over and over again. And how much of a great Father He is and what a great wise and righteous judge He is. But still He wants us, really, to go to Him over and over again, bringing everything to Him through prayer and supplication – make it be known to the Lord. And I promise you that I’m going to continue to do that Kayla. Also, I have a praise report. I shared with a friend that’s struggling a little bit with some relational stuff and her family. I shared the Daily Audio Bible and she started listening and loves it. So, yay. Thank you, Lord. And thank you Brian and Jill for all that you do. Also, another praise report. I was reading into the Sneezing Jesus book and my son, who some of you have been praying for, and he does love the Lord and he is just such a light in a dark world when he’s not all caught up in the stress of never sleeping. Gosh. You know, the enemies been at him for over a decade but it’s slowly going…you know…getting better and…

2 Chronicles 24:1-25:28 ~ Romans 12:1-21 ~ Psalm 22:19-31 ~ Proverbs 20:8-10

Today is the 29^th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we close down another week. And what a week it’s been in the scriptures. The Lord has spoken some amazing things to us through His word. And, so, we’ll dive in and take the next step. We are reading from the Gods Word translation this week, which is today.  Second Chronicles chapter 24 verse 1 through 25 verse 28 today.

Commentary:

Ok. What does a dedicated life, a life given over to relationship with God, what does that look like? What are it’s attributes? What are its characteristics? Like, how could we hold that up and overlay our own lives and just, sort of, see where we have areas of growth and where we’re actually in alignment? I mean, that’s one of the reasons that we come to the scriptures. Right? It’s one of the reasons we go through the stories and look into people’s lives and look at their choices and decisions and see where those pathways lead. But we come to one of the most concise and thorough descriptions of this in the book of Romans today.

So, from the beginning of the book of Romans, we’ve watched Paul, kind of, lay things out systematically. And the breathtaking implications of the gospel are overwhelming, if we sit down-and think about it. And we’ve spent some time doing that. But he, kind of, reaches this place today where he’s saying, ok, so, let’s begin to pull this together. This is what this should look like. Or in Paul’s words, brothers and sisters, in view of all that we have just shared about God’s compassion, I encourage you. And the first encouragement is to look at ourselves, to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. So, no longer do we have to lead a sheep or a goat or a bull and sacrifice its life and spill its blood for some sort of atonement before God. Now it’s bigger than that. Now it’s that we lay our lives down, alive before God. We don’t give God death. We give him our lives and live as a sacrifice before God. That posture alone, just kind of contemplating what that means, it reorients our priorities. It exposes, immediately, our self-absorption. Right. And our pursuits. And it puts something else above all of those things. It puts our relationship and intimacy and intertwining and union with God above all other pursuits or possessions. And Paul says, this is an appropriate way to live and this is worship when you do. Don’t become like the people of this world, Paul says. Instead, change the way you think. Because what Paul’s talking about specifically here is repentance. Because repentance means to change the way you think. It means to change your mind, to shift from the inside, to change inside. Paul says, this is the overlay. This is the path that will allow you to always be able to determine what God really wants. Like it’s right there in black-and-white, what we are looking for. What does God really want? What is good, pleasing, and perfect to God? Paul says, you live your life offering yourself as a living sacrifice. Its worship. It’s appropriate. And when you find yourself being pulled back to the darkness of the world, change the way you think. Then you’ll always know what God really wants - what is good, pleasing, and perfect. And then he continues. Don’t think of yourself more highly that you should, which is not just exalting yourself. Right? Just haughtiness. It’s also, don’t think about yourself more than you think about anything else. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should. Your thoughts should be leading you to use good judgment because this isn’t about getting a leg up over anyone else. This isn’t about being above anyone else. This isn’t about anything like that because we’re all in this together. And Paul goes on to explain how a body has many parts and that’s what we’re a part of. And, so, whatever it is that your part is, whatever your part is, do your part. Be that and stop trying to be some other part. Be exactly what you are as a living sacrifice to God. It is worship. It is appropriate. We are all in this together. If we will all do our part we will be acting like the body. Or, to use the words of Paul, love sincerely. Hate evil. Hold onto what is good. Be devoted to each other like a loving family. Excel in showing respect for each other. Don’t be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord. Be happy in your confidence. Be patient in troubles and pray continually. Share what you have with God’s people who are in need. Be hospitable, which isn’t just about providing a meal or providing shelter. Share what you have inside as well. Bless those who persecute you. Bless them and don’t curse them. We can stop right there for a minute and linger. Be happy with those who are happy. Be sad with those who are sad. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be arrogant but be friendly to humble people. Don’t think you’re smarter than you really are. Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil that they did to you. Focus your thoughts on the things that are considered noble. And as much as it is possible, live in peace with everyone. Don’t take revenge, dear friends. Instead, let God’s anger take care of it. After all, He has the final say. Don’t let evil conquer you. Instead, you conquer evil with good.

And there you go. Want to know where to aim your life? Want to be heading in the right direction and know that you’re moving in the right direction? Well, go back to Romans 12 and read it over and over and over and over, underlining and highlighting and writing it down until it sinks in. This is the trajectory. What you have been given here is a roadmap to get to where you want to go. And like any other road map, you get on the road and then decide to take a detour? You’re going to be heading in a different direction. You’re not going to be headed where you want to go. And all of these detours that wind and wind and wind that we blame God for – like, why am I way over here? It’s like, you had the map dude. You had the map. And here is the map. And Romans 12 shows us that at it first begins with our intertwining with God, our union with God. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices, completely dedicated to Him. This is an act of worship that is worship with our lives, not just something we do for half an hour on Sunday morning. It’s something that is always happening. The communion and union is always happening. Everything is an act of worship. Our very lives are in act of worship. And this is appropriate. It begins there. And then we have to be willing to change the way we think at any given moment. We have to be able to repent at any given moment. Because that is what will allow us to know what God really wants. We will be able to determine what is good and pleasing and perfect. And then we begin to know that we are in this together. We are part of a whole. We are an individual, unique, irreplaceable part of a whole. And if we could accept that we have an irreversible role to play, then we could settle in and be comfortable as ourselves - who we are. And we should do that, be that, with all the glory of the Lord being reflected off of our lives. Do that thing and stop looking around at what someone else is doing. This is not a competition. This is not about us dominating anyone else for any reason. It’s about us being able to love one another and love God purely, from a centered place, from a place that is uniquely us, from a place that is intertwined in union with God. Anything can happen from that place because Jesus lived from that place. And Jesus lived a life that was fully human.

Prayer:

Father, we invite this. And, yes, we will spend some more time contemplating this, what is laid out here in the twelfth chapter of the Letter to the Romans. But even as we see these things and even as hope rises in our heart, because we have some concrete statements that show us where the head, we also can see that this cannot be achieved in our own strength. It’s pretty clear. We can memorize this whole chapter. We can know everything about its trajectory and try to live into the and find that we will fail. Because we will always fail without union with you. And, so, come Holy Spirit, well up within us. We are in union with You. We just so often ignore that fact. You are within. We are to gather. We are inseparable. Nothing can separate us. Help us to live the way we were created to live. We surrender to You. Come Jesus, we pray, in Your mighty name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

The next to Sneezing Jesus Facebook Live that we’ll be doing is coming up this Thursday, August 3^rd, 7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. We had a great time with the first one that we did. I have no doubt we’ll have a great time with the second one that we’re going to do. And, so, hope to see you there. You need to be in the Sneezing Jesus discussion group in order to see that. And it’s a piece of cake. Just go to  facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus and you’ll be in within minutes. And, so, we’ll see you there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, in keeping this global campfire that we share burning. Thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using 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 PO 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’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Morning DAB. This is Charlotte from England. Just want to give a quick testimony about something going on in my life over this past month or so. So, I’ve been struggling with doubts about my salvation. And I didn’t know this at the time but it manifested itself in trying to go over and above in God and trying to please Him by doing acts and different works and things like that. And I prayed about it and just gave it completely to God. I just gave up completely. And in that, the very next day, praying today, God has just given me a word. So, through Romans 9:32 10-12 - what Brian read today. So, I got this from him. It’s the faith in God that gains God’s approval. Believe in God and you’ll have eternal life. Faith in God means hold onto what scriptures say about Him both in good times and the bad. And that reminded me of the scripture. It says the test of faith produces endurance and that He knows what He’s doing and has the power to do everything good, in His control. And has the power to do everything more than my power. And then, that God is pleased with me in what I do for Him and He wants best for me in harm not good.  Putting myself in dangerous situations just to please Him. So, just to give the encouragement to anyone out there who is doubting their own salvation, that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. And it’s the faith that we should hold onto not the religious works or laws. Thanks guys. See you later.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Dave from NJ. This is my first time calling in. I’ve been listening for a couple of months but I already feel so connected with this community.  And I’m asking this morning that you would pray for a little two-year-old girl, Elianna, who, three days ago, started to have seizures and has been asleep since then. And the doctors don’t know what is causing it or how to wake her up. And, so, I’m asking that you would pray that Jesus would just raise her up to wholeness and I’m asking that you would pray for her parents, that Jesus would carry the suffering and the fear that they feel as they wait for Him to move. I’m just asking that Jesus would use her little life as an example of how He can turn sorrow into joy. She’s two years old but she already knows who Jesus is and she trusts Him with her little two-year-old heart. Thank you for praying.      

Asia, Asia, my darling sister in Christ. You moved me to tears when I heard your prayer request. The fact that the Lord is by your side is forefront in your mind though because you picked up the phone and called into your DAB family. Please know that you will be in my prayers my sister. I love you. I continue on to pray for Blind Tony, Salvation is Mine and all the DABbers who call in and are going through a difficult time. There’s also a brother who was introduced to the DAB by his uncle and is on home assignment from the mission field. I am praying that your financial support will raise above the 70% mark and that you will have a blessed time visiting with colleagues and potential supporters until you go back to the field. DAB family, I may not call in often. My last was December 6, 2016. But I listen every single day and pray with and alongside all those who call in. I just got back from two weeks’ vacation and haven’t had a chance to check into the Sneezing Jesus group yet but I’m looking forward to the second Facebook Live broadcast and will call back about my planned study group. Pastor Gene, I wanted to surprise you and call you while I was visiting Florida but I just didn’t get around to it. Maybe next time. Ok? Blind Tony, I appreciate your shout out to me. You are such a prolific writer. I thank God for your gift and that you continue to share it here with us. And, Brian and Jill, I thank you guys so much for this medium. It has made a difference to my life and I’m sure to many other people. So, hang in there guys and continue to do what you’re doing and I’ll continue to pray for you. Thanks for listening to me. And this is Sue from Canada. Hang onto your smiles guys.

Hello family. This is Leonora calling from the Florida panhandle area. I do not call very often but in listening to today’s podcast -  It’s Wednesday, July 26^th, my husband’s birthday - I heard Asia speak - Asia from Munich. Asia, dear, dear Asia.  We love you so much. And I want you to know that our community, the body of Christ, Jesus, is wrapping our arms around you. We are surrounding you with love, with prayer, with hopefulness, and faithfulness in our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is with you. And in everything that occurs, Jesus loving you as we all love you. And whatever the outcome is, the Lord knows what is to be in this story. And please, please smile. I know it’s hard too now. But smile in your heart because of the love that you have from everyone and most importantly from our God. And He turns all things into good. So, I wanted to encourage you Asia. I wanted to encourage you and let you know how much you are loved. And we are here to support you, always. Thank you. You’ve always been such an inspiration to me since I started listening a few years back. I love you and I love you family. Let’s lift Asia up. God bless you all. Thank you family. Bye-bye.

Good morning DAB family. It is July 25^th. I just got through listening to the DAB. Thank you, Brian and Jill, for this ministry that we can come together and hear and read the word of God. I felt called to reply to Asia in Munich about what she’s going through about wanting to have another baby. I don’t know why God has me calling because I’ve never had the privilege of having children but I just felt like He wanted me to tell you that now that you’ve given it fully over to Him, He’ll take care of everything Asia. And I just felt like God wanted me to let you know that. Now, I don’t know what God is going to do but I just felt like he wanted me to call and let you know that He’s got your back. He’s going to take care of everything. So, God bless you, God be with you, and love on that little baby boy you have, Aiden. God bless. Bye.

2 Chronicles 21:1-23:21 ~ Romans 11:13-36 ~ Psalm 22:1-18 ~ Proverbs 20:7

Today is the 28th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you today as we end the work week and prepare to move into the weekend and the end of this week. We’ve been reading from the Gods Word translation this week. Today, second Chronicles chapter 21 verse 1 to 23 verse 21.

Prayer:

Father, we take this moment to thank You for grafting us into the tree, for nourishing us and connecting us. We so often take this for granted because it’s always been this way. And yet today we’re taking the time to thank You for looking at us with mercy and kindness and love. We are fortunate to be included in Your kingdom. We are fortunate to be adopted into Your family, that we might be children of God. We are fortunate that we can call You Father and we realize that so much of our dialog toward You is full of question an accusation, as if you owe us something, when we are fortunate just to be here. And, so, Holy Spirit, come as we sit with this today. How fortunate we are. Let us raise our eyes and look around us and see how fortunate we are to be grafted into this tree and nourished and included. And as we begin to see the full weightiness of this fact, we are grateful. Our hearts are open. You’ve invited us to be a part of Your work in this world and a part of Your family forever. We are very fortunate. We are very grateful. And we turn our lives outward, toward the world, and invite You to live through us, to love through us, to touch through us, to heal through us, to minister through us, to bring good news through us, to bring light into this world through us, to do the work that You began, to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free through us. We don’t deserve to be here. It’s not a default. You have invited us and loved us and grafted us into your family and we have gratitude beyond words. And may the efforts and actions and thoughts and words of our lives show this. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. A few things are going on around here.

In a little less than a week, next Thursday, so, a week from yesterday, we’ll do the next Facebook Live in the Sneezing Jesus discussion group and we’ll have some discussion about small groups and some other things, take some questions. We had a good time the first time we did it and we will do it again. So, that’s  coming up, August 3^rd,  7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. So, you can, kind of, sort that out depending on where you are in the world. In the United States, that would be 8:00 p.m. on the east-coast and 5:00 p.m. on the west-coast and 6:00 p.m. if you are in the mountain time zone. And that will be different all over the world. But you can Google it. It’s easy enough. We’ll see you there. You’ll have to be in the Sneezing Jesus group. So, be sure to go over to facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. And you’ll love that group anyway. It’s just so, man, so many great stories. And it’s been a really, really wonderful thing. So, looking forward to seeing you over there.

I mentioned yesterday, if you have Sneezing Jesus and you’re, kind of, working your away through it, if you wouldn’t mind taking a couple of minutes to go back to wherever you got it and leave a review. That’s actually really, really helpful for those coming before. It’s like planting a seed for someone that’s going to encounter this later. As we keep doing what we’re doing, as we keep facing outward, we keep using this as a resource to open the door to conversations into people’s lives, then it just starts to echo. And, so, people find out about it four or five times removed and then go looking for this strange book title and then they the seeds you planted in reviews. That’s just, kind of, how this works. And, so, if you wouldn’t mind and can take the time. That’s planting seeds.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If you want to plant seeds that way, then thank you for your partnership – profoundly, humbly, honestly -  especially here in the summertime. Thank you for your partnership. There is a link. It’s on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using 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 PO 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’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi. This is Christine from San Diego and I just wanted to reach out to my dear sister in Christ, Naydeen of Michigan, the factory worker whose father suggested you listen to Daily Audio Bible. God bless your daddy. You said you had become addicted to listening to DAB on your breaks at work. What an awesome thing to become addicted to - God’s word. I just wanted to encourage you sister and let you know I’m praying for you. I have lived with anxiety and panic attacks as well. I just started listening to the DAB three months ago, especially at night to help me sleep. And I have now weened myself off of my anxiety medication that I was addicted to for over twenty years. Praise God. I was also married to a non-believer, like yourself, and God used me as a vessel to be an example to my husband. I am not perfect in any way shape or form, extremely flawed. But my husband is now a believer. Praise the Lord. You have a lot on your plate sister, with kids, and college, and jobs. But I’m here to tell you that you can do it with Gods help. Let me pray for you. Dear God and Father, I praise You and glorify You and Thank You for how You are working in Naydeen’s life. Lord, thank You for Your unfailing love and Your faithfulness in bringing Your word to Naydeen through the Daily Audio Bible. Lord, God, bless Naydeen and her husband and their children. Let Your word wash over Naydeen and give her Your peace, which surpasses all understanding. Calm her anxieties and help her to be still and know that you are God. Lord, help Naydeen to not get tired of doing what is good. Because in Your timing, Lord, she will reap a harvest of blessing if she does not give up. And I pray Your blessings upon her Lord, God, and upon all those listening to Your word. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Hello. This is Kurt. I’m calling from Massachusetts. I’ve been a longtime listener and probably called in about a year ago at a time when my marriage was failing and I left my wife. I have been living independently for fifteen months and been listening to the Daily Audio Bible. I saw Brian when he came to Massachusetts for the Reframe tour. And Reframe, actually, was something that helped me really think about my life and my relationship. I knew that I had to make a change to my situation which, for anyone who deals with depression or has a spouse with depression can understand. I reached a point where I could no longer handle the situation. Something had to change. Well, by making a change and reframing our situation, my wife, actually, pursued treatments for her depression, including ECT, which you’ll see, if you look it up, that it’s a pretty dramatic method of treatment but it’s actually very effective and miraculous and, as a result, she has made changes, I have made changes and I’m now in the process of getting counseling and I’m planning to move back home on September 1^st. So, this can only be done with Jesus’ help and the Holy Spirit driving marriages back together. Praise God for all of the blessings that I have received and my wife has received. Thank you to all of those who are praying for us and for my son, Jeff, from ___ He is ___ as well. Have a great day everybody.

Hey everyone. This is Abby D. from a Minneapolis, Minnesota and I’m just calling to ask for prayer for freedom - that I’d be able to live in freedom, that the people around me would be able to live in freedom. So, yeah, that would be really nice if you guys could just shoot up a prayer to the Lord. I love you guys. Your prayer requests and praying for other people, moves me in a very deep place. It’s cool to see the church be so honest and genuine and not putting on faces or pretending to be this or pretending to be that, but honest people searching for the Lord and caring for each other. So, yeah, thanks for this community. Love you guys. Bye

Hello my Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lisa from eastern Nevada. There’s another Lisa in Western Nevada. So, I don’t want to get confused. Anyway, I just wanted to plug for China and the Daily Audio Bible that she’s reading chronologically. She does such a great job. It’s so amazing that this amazing young woman is so knowledgeable about the Lord already. I just am amazed. I listen to her.  There was a time a while ago where she and Brian both read the same reading on the same day and that was just amazing to me – just wonderfully blessed. I just wanted to say, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to China, it would be a gift to yourself for you to listen to her and her amazing voice. Sometimes she’s scratchy. I love her pronunciations of the names. It makes you wake up and say, who’s she talking about? Because it’s a little different then Brian’s pronunciations. So, if you listen - I just wanted to give that little plug for China because she has become an amazing young woman and Brian and Jill should be so proud of their young woman daughter as they are with their whole family, I’m sure, as we all are with our family no matter what walk of life they are taking. Anyway, just wanted to say that about China today. We love you and talk to you soon again. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hi DABbers, this is Marco from California. It is July 25^th. I am just calling to give thanks. Today was my first day on my new job. I originally called in two weeks ago for financial stability because I lost my job and the good Lord has given me a blessing with a new job. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about three weeks and I’m starting from the beginning. I’m on January 14^th 2017 and I just wanted to say, Brian, you definitely know what day that is. I’ve never felt strength like that before and it was truly inspiring. I just want you to know that even though it’s long gone from that time, I said a prayer for your mom. And you truly inspire me to be a real man of God with Jesus’ strength because you were able to conduct this ministry after shortly knowing that your mother passed away. And to me that is the bravest thing I’ve ever heard. So, I just wanted to call in and say, Brian, thank you for everything you’ve done. This ministry, this podcast has definitely changed my life for the better and I just want to say thank you. And for anyone that listened to my prayer request and prayed in my name I just want to say thank you as well.