Daniel 1:1-2:23, 1 Peter 3:8-4:6, Psalms 119:65-80, Proverbs 28:14
Today is the 25th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we close the books on another week. And one month from today is Christmas day. So, we’re kind of in the thick of it. Things are speeding up and we’ll be covering a lot of territory in the Scriptures over the next month. And the new territory we’ll wander into today is in the form of a new book. We finished the book of Ezekiel yesterday, which brings us to the book of Daniel. And Daniel is a prized book in the Old Testament for its narrative style and the history that it covers and because it’s been mined for millennia in the search for the end times, eschatological studies, because of Daniel’s visions. And Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel. So, he was carried away into exile when Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 597 B.C. He was obviously favored by God and was a gifted young man as he became an advisor and an authority in the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar and then beyond him. So, Daniel was respected and gifted. And the first half of the book is a narrative about Daniel’s life and some of the richest stories in the Bible are in these first six chapters. They demonstrate faith in God, God showing up, even in exile. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace, the story of Daniel in the lion’s den are contained in the first part of the book of Daniel. And then, the second part of the book shifts to visions that Daniel had - prophetic visions of four great world empires. And Daniel was not a prophet, like, that was sent to Israel, like, for or against Israel. The visions that he had, although they’re in the context of Israel, weren’t Jewish, particularly. And if eschatology, the study of the end, is something that you’re interested in or something that you’re a student of, then the book of Daniel is one of the centerpieces of your study. And whether the end times is your passion or not, the book of Daniel is rich in the heritage of God’s faithfulness and is beautiful in the way that its narrative is constructed. And, so, we begin. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, which is today. Daniel chapter 1 verse 1 through 2:23
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and for the rhythm that it is in our lives. We thank You for this week, that we’ve expressed gratitude and thanksgiving and considered all that we have to be thankful for, which is substantial to say the least. And we thank You for the season that we’re moving into of contemplating the mystery of your arrival. So, we find ourselves entering into a busy season, full of all kinds of activity, and all kinds of emotion. And we just acknowledge, this is where we are, and we also acknowledge the peace and wholeness of Your Holy Spirit in this busy and fragmented season. So, we invite You, Holy Spirit into all of it, asking You to illuminate the path forward for us in all that we do think and say. May we represent You well and Your kingdom in this world, in this season. We ask 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.
And what’s going on here, right now, is the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box and its availability. We do one of these every year and pack them full of resources that you can kind of open up and pick and choose what you want to keep for yourself, what will help you in your life, and what you want to give away as gifts. And we’ve talked about that a couple of times. What’s in the Box this year? So, there’s some music for the season. First up, music for the season of Advent, the month before Christmas, just that is intended to put us in the place of longing, to put us in the place of longing like the Jewish people were longing for a Savior to come at the time that Jesus came, but to also put ourselves and acknowledge the season of longing that we’re in for Christ’s return, His second advent, His second arrival or coming, which is what Advent means. So, there’s music for the season, just contemplative music to keep your spirit and your mind focused on what’s going on. Then there’s the family Christmas CD, which is full of Christmas carols, beautifully and lushly orchestrated. I love it. And it’s a great contemplative record for the season as well. There’s a couple of copies of Sneezing Jesus in the Box as well as a book called The Road Back to You, written by my friend, Ian Cron. And I talked about that little yesterday. It’s been one the most influential books for me this year. And so influential and helpful that I wanted to bring it to this community. So, that’s in the Box. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb for 2017 is in the Box. And that’s the only place to get the Christmas bulb. We do them every year for the Christmas Box. And, so, the one for 2017 is in there. A Black Wing pencil is in there. Those are paired with our writing journals and all of that. And, so, we thought we’d give everyone their own Black Wing pencil. You will have a choice of our Wind Farm coffee or tea. So, our tea selection for this year is honey bush and rooibos and our coffee is the Daily Audio Bible blend that’s roasted exclusively for us. And a pack of 20 of the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards along with the envelopes that go with them. Those are all in the Box. It’s a great Box this year.
And speaking of Daily Bible Christmas cards, those are available individually in the Daily Audio Bible shop as well. They come in packs of 20. We make them new and exclusive every year. And there just a great way to invite those that you love that are in your sphere to take the journey with you, although you don’t have to do that. I mean there Christmas cards. The only thing is a Daily Audio Bible about them is just on the back where you’d find Hallmark. But there not like a blinking neon commercial for Daily Audio Bible at all. But they’re a great opportunity for an invitation into the Bible next year with your friends and family. So, those are available and you can’t get them…I mean…they’re $5, $5 for 20 cards…so…you know…you can’t get them cheaper than that. And we do them every year for just what I said, they’re a great opportunity for a personal invitation to experience the Bible together in community, like we’ve been doing all year. So, they’re in the Christmas Box, 20 of them, but you can get as many as you want in the Daily Audio Bible shop, individually as well.
And some cutoff dates. One is important. It is 29th of November and, I mean, today is the 25th, so just a few days from now. That is the international shipping cutoff date for the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Boxes. That is the date that we feel like that’s the last time that we can be confident that things will arrive for Christmas to you internationally. You can certainly order after that, but we’re just giving you a heads up. So, just keep that in mind if you live outside of the United States.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then what new way can I come up with to say how grateful and humbled we are that we get to be here doing this together as a community, bringing God’s spoken word to whoever will listen to it, wherever they might be on this planet, whatever time it might be of day or night, and to continue to foster community around that rhythm. If that is life-giving to you, thank you for being life-giving to what we’re trying to do here every day. And thank you profoundly. There is a link. It’s on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 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 and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayers and Praise Reports
Good morning DAB family. This is Joyful Noise from southern California. I am calling you with what I consider a huge prayer request and can’t even believe I am asking this of you. So, our daughter turned 21 yesterday, and out of all of our kids I would say that I really question her salvation. She is a darling spirit. I love her, of course, we all love our children, but there has definitely been a separation from her family to her…and she finds ways to separate, like not coming home during the holidays, not spending time with us, finding ways to take on jobs or extra classes even during the summer and even during the holidays. She just doesn’t want to be around us anymore and, although, she is a super achiever and she works very hard in her college, I would say based on worldly values, she is doing just fine, but I really have to question her salvation. And as I was out in nature yesterday, waking up very early the morning of her 21st birthday, and heading out into God’s creation celebrating, and really crying out to Him for her as I have been for months, God made clear to me that I was to pray fervently for her every day of her 21st year. And I know we all pray for our kids, but this was like a command for her soul. And I’m so scared I’m going to drop the ball. It feels like so much pressure and I’m just asking for my prayer warriors to partner with me in this. I know it’s so much to ask and you all have your own things but if you could she’ll get a second day. Between today and November 19th, 2018, pray for her. Her name is Zoey, which means eternal life. And I really have to believe that.
This is Patrick from Georgia. I wrote this down because I knew that I wouldn’t remember everything that In needed to say. I’m calling in today because God wanted me and confess my sins against this community. For years after I started listening to the DAB, I wouldn’t really listen to the prayer request part at the end of each podcast because my heart was so hard. Then God worked on me to the point that I was willing to listen to the prayer requests and even sometimes pray for them. At this point my hard heart struggled with and made fun of those warrior’s prayers that I considered to be too stereotypical and too religious. Also, in my heart, I made fun of people who sang on the calls. It took me a long time before I was able to start stopping myself when I would begin to start having such evil thoughts against those who called. But I still have them and I have been convicted of them significantly over the past few months. God has been dealing with me to call in over the past three of four weeks to confess my sin and ask for forgiveness. My heart is definitely not where I want it to be but I need to apologize to you all because I have been choosing to perceive the love that you give one another in such wrong ways. I’ve benefited from this community and the prayers of this community for so long now, I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you. But it ___ me to stop harming you with my own messed up heart and mind. So, for all of you prayer warriors and all of you angels who lift up your voice in song to the lord, please, please continue to do so. And to everyone in this community, please forgive me, for my hardness of heart and my judgmental spirit. Thank you.
Father God, we lift up the country of Zimbabwe to You. We pray Lord, for Your blessing on that country. May that country flourish. Father God, we lift up the leaders of that country and we just pray for wisdom Lord and we pray for peace Lord in this time of absurdity and transition. Father God, please be at work there. Please be at work in the hearts and minds of all of those involved and the hearts and minds of the people, that there would be peace, and that any change that comes about be done in a calm peaceful manner that serves the people of Zimbabwe. Father God, thank You so much for Your people thus. I pray Lord that You would be blessing them and helping them be a shining beacon of hope in that country. Father God, thank You for the countries around Zimbabwe as well. And I just pray for wisdom for those leaders and leaders around the world as we watch the situation develop. Please be at work Lord. Father God, we lift up to You, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip and thank you for their 70 years of marriage. Father God, thank You so much for marriage and for those people you’ve given is to care for. Please be blessing our marriages Lord and filling our hearts with love for our spouse. Father God, help us to be more like you. Give us a love for those around us. Help us to love You with our heart, mind, soul, and strength, help us to love others and let Your love shine for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen. This is Beloved by Him in Gloucester, UK. Hope you have a blessed day wherever you are.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Kep from the UK. I’m calling with a prayer request for two people recently diagnosed with brain tumors. If you would please pray, that would be amazing. The first one is for one year old Lily who has a brain tumor that is affecting the part of her brain responsible for hunger. So, she is not gaining weight as well as from having ___. She is very poorly ___. Please pray for her and her wonderful family who are part of our church. The second prayer is a colleague of mine named Heather who has been diagnosed with a brain cancer affecting the front of her brain and particularly keeping her inpatient. This is a fast-growing cancer and we are all very worried for her. Please prayer for her temple healing. Thank you. Good bye.
Hi. My name is Gail. I love in Clayton, North Carolina and I just wanted to give some words to encouragement. Recently, I’ve been in prayer about how I can become close to the Lord and I have a very long commute in the morning. And yesterday at church it became clear to me that I should be using that time for my commute to be listening to the word. And this morning I woke up early and downloaded the podcast and listened to the podcast for today. And while I was listening to the podcast one of the verses, the scriptures that came through was, Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever - Psalm 136:1. And that is actually the memory verse that my family is currently using the November month for the Thanksgiving holiday. And it was just a wonderful reminder that when we seek the Lord He will follow through. And it was amazing to me, out of all the verses in the Bible, that that one today was the one that was spoken for the daily podcast. So, I would like to just give everybody encouragement to continue to seek the Lord and be in prayer. And I’m extremely thankful that I was able to reach out and listen to the podcast today and I look forward to continuing to listen to it in the future. Thanks so much for this wonderful blessing.
Hey. This is Bobbly from Louisiana and I’m with my son Lesly. I just wanted to say, it was so great getting to hear Brian speak about Sneezing Jesus in person. Annette, it was so good seeing you again and it was great to meet Tracey B. and Julie and her husband and Ron and his wife from River Valley church. We thought you all had a great church and we’ll be visiting again soon. We really love the DAB and we listen every day. We know all of your voices and we’re looking forward to getting together with the More Gathering. We’re praying for all of you and we stand in agreement for each of you as you call in. You all be blessed. Bye-bye.