Month: July 2018

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07/26/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 17:1-18:34, Romans 9:25-10:12 , Psalms 20:1-9, Proverbs 20:2-3

Today is the 26th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you for another day as we take another step forward through the Scriptures on our journey this year. So, as is customary every day, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday and that will take us back into the book of 2 Chronicles. Today we’ll read chapter 17 verse 1 through 18 verse 34. And we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we’ve been following the path that Paul has been leading us on as we move through the letter to the Romans, we can see that Paul wasn’t attempting to throw the religion he was raised in, which was Judaism, out the window in favor of some kind of new belief system that he was inventing that would one day be called Christianity. That’s not what he was going for it all. He was attempting to reveal that Jesus was the continuation of a story that came through Abraham’s children so that the people of the whole world might find their way to God. Right? Because Paul had been a deeply devoted Pharisee. So, he had done everything humanly possible in his own strength to obey the law. And he had that attempted to find his way to God that way only to discover that it’s impossible, like, there was no way to become perfect in his own strength. So, Paul began to realize the essence of Jesus teachings, that God’s people had lost the plot of the story and they were trying to obey a set of rules that were no longer connected to the spiritual realities underpinning it all. And, so, for Paul, realizing this, had to realize that the law had become a shell of what it was supposed to be. In his own words he said, the people of Israel tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in Him. So, for Paul, as it had been for Jesus, this is this is where the train came off the tracks. The law was to be a continual reminder of what God had brought them out of and to lead them into complete dependence on and true intimacy with God. Instead, the law had become a source of power and control that lead people to believe they could achieve righteousness before God on their own if they just obey it perfect, which no one could. And, so, again Paul said, I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal, for they don’t understand God’s way of making people write with Himself. Refusing to accept God’s way they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. Paul was trying to reveal that Jesus was somebody that needed to be a paid attention to because He was the first person actually fulfill the law, the first portrait of a person who was perfect. And it didn’t happen through strict adherence to ritual. It happened through utter dependence on God and intimacy with God. And that can only happen as Paul continues to point out, through faith.

Prayer:

Father, we come into Your presence by faith. And all of the good news of the gospel, we receive it by faith. But because of their faith it becomes a reality. Our eyes open. We wake up to what is really going on around us, and it’s better than we had ever hoped for. You have drawn near, and You have invited us into Your family that we might draw near as Your sons and daughters. And we receive this by faith. So, come Holy Spirit, strengthen and engage our faith in this reality today as we navigate the issues of life. We ask for Your counsel and direction in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

So, as I say most every day, be sure to check it out.

Stop by the prayer wall and pray for your brothers and sisters. Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop for this journey through the Scriptures in a year. Check out the Community section and see all the different links to where you can connect on social media, and generally, just stay up with what’s going on in the community.

If you are a partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link right on the homepage. And I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership while we move through the summer time. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, 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 here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi brothers and sisters with the Daily Audio Bible, this is Rich from Arkansas. Many of you may have recalled my calling in for prayer requests in a state of bondage to alcohol. I just…I felt…you know…the need to share with you guys and I’ve been sober eight months. I ended up checking into a facility that was Christian-based, involved members of the military that were dealing with PTSD and things like that. And I have a whole lot of root issues. The Lord I felt like guided me down there and, you know, maybe, Blind Tony and some of you guys I’ve been in touch with. And Brian, it happened around the time your mother passed. But praise God, I have a whole new direction. My voice is different, obviously. But the Lord…I mean the Lord Jesus has been my guide and my friend through this whole process. And job opportunities are opening up for me again. You know…it’s just…I can imagine or begin to explain how my life has changed. And it’s all, you know, I feel like this is a done deal with me. It’s hard to even imagine ever being in that state. But, you know, He can use me now and I have every one of you to thank as far as your fervent prayer. And I covet that still because it is a daily battle. But praise God. We have a reason to rejoice. If any of you out there have family relatives with addictions, I can give what I’ve taken and I’ll be online on Facebook and, of course, listening in. God bless you guys. I love you. Thanks.

Good morning DAB family. This is Walking by Faith from New York City. Asia from Munich, I heard you today. I’m a little behind, today’s the 22nd…nope the 23rd…and I think you called last week but you’ve been on my mind and I’ve missed you and I so understand what you talking about. It’s like…we’re all walking by faith. And I just wanted you to know you’re in my thoughts and prayers and I will continue to pray for you and your family. And it is what the Lord has told us about in the Scriptures, things will only get better and he’s coming soon. And Cherry Chase Cherry pie, I needed to hear that, that you loved me and I love you back. We don’t say it enough and not enough people say it. You know, I guess I’m so grateful that you put that out there and I needed to hear it today. I love you. God bless you family and we’ll talk to you soon but my prayers are for all of you. And again, Asia, I love you. God bless you. Bye from New York City. Walking by Faith.

Good morning this is Stephen from Alabama. This is July 23rd. I’m on my morning walk. I called a couple of weeks ago encouraging all of us to keep doing this…this walk. And I just want you to declare this with me. I kind of personalized Romans…couple of verses…Romans 8:11 and 8:14-16 today. The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in me and just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead He will give life to my mortal body by the same Spirit living within me. I am a lead by the Spirit of God and I am a child of God. I’ve not received a Spirit that makes me fearful slave. Instead, I received God’s spirit when He adopted me as His own child. Now I call him Abba Father for His Spirit joins with my Spirit to affirm that I am a child of God. Lord, I thank You so much for Brian and this ministry. The words that he said today, the encouragement, so many days, I’m so thankful for that. Always live by this decree more and more every day in Jesus’ name. Amen. Mark this day down. Save it on the app. You’ve got a star there. Save it for those days when you doubt or you fear. Love you. God bless.

Dear Lord, we pray for our brother who called, I believe his name is I Choose Jesus who is going to have an exam on August 4, which is an act of Your sovereign grace to change that date for him. Lord, thank You that You’ve revealed for him by Your Holy Spirit who You are. And, so, he chooses You. We thank You that, even more amazing, You have chosen us who are completely undeserving of it. And yet You rejoice over us and love us so dearly. Thanks Lord for Your attention to every detail of our lives. I pray that this dear brothers anniversary with his wife will be completely without distraction, a time of just complete enjoyment Lord, of this marriage that’s ordained by You and that You want him to participate in completely, freely, and undistracted, filled with Your love. Thank You Lord Jesus for everything You’re doing and may this exam go exceptionally well. Help them to look to You, to rest in You, to believe You for all things. I pray that You will just bless him Lord from the top of his head to the tips of his toes and that this path that he is on will come to great, great good for him, for his family, and for everyone in his life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday July 26, 2018 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 17-18

Jehoshaphat Rules in Judah

17 Then Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, became the next king. He strengthened Judah to stand against any attack from Israel. 2 He stationed troops in all the fortified towns of Judah, and he assigned additional garrisons to the land of Judah and to the towns of Ephraim that his father, Asa, had captured.

3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father’s early years[a] and did not worship the images of Baal. 4 He sought his father’s God and obeyed his commands instead of following the evil practices of the kingdom of Israel. 5 So the Lord established Jehoshaphat’s control over the kingdom of Judah. All the people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so he became very wealthy and highly esteemed. 6 He was deeply committed to[b] the ways of the Lord. He removed the pagan shrines and Asherah poles from Judah.

7 In the third year of his reign Jehoshaphat sent his officials to teach in all the towns of Judah. These officials included Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. 8 He sent Levites along with them, including Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent out the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9 They took copies of the Book of the Law of the Lord and traveled around through all the towns of Judah, teaching the people.

10 Then the fear of the Lord fell over all the surrounding kingdoms so that none of them wanted to declare war on Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought him gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs brought 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.

12 So Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful and built fortresses and storage cities throughout Judah. 13 He stored numerous supplies in Judah’s towns and stationed an army of seasoned troops at Jerusalem. 14 His army was enrolled according to ancestral clans.

From Judah there were 300,000 troops organized in units of 1,000, under the command of Adnah. 15 Next in command was Jehohanan, who commanded 280,000 troops. 16 Next was Amasiah son of Zicri, who volunteered for the Lord’s service, with 200,000 troops under his command.

17 From Benjamin there were 200,000 troops equipped with bows and shields. They were under the command of Eliada, a veteran soldier. 18 Next in command was Jehozabad, who commanded 180,000 armed men.

19 These were the troops stationed in Jerusalem to serve the king, besides those Jehoshaphat stationed in the fortified towns throughout Judah.

Jehoshaphat and Ahab

18 Jehoshaphat enjoyed great riches and high esteem, and he made an alliance with Ahab of Israel by having his son marry Ahab’s daughter. 2 A few years later he went to Samaria to visit Ahab, who prepared a great banquet for him and his officials. They butchered great numbers of sheep, goats, and cattle for the feast. Then Ahab enticed Jehoshaphat to join forces with him to recover Ramoth-gilead.

3 “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” King Ahab of Israel asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah.

Jehoshaphat replied, “Why, of course! You and I are as one, and my troops are your troops. We will certainly join you in battle.” 4 Then Jehoshaphat added, “But first let’s find out what the Lord says.”

5 So the king of Israel summoned the prophets, 400 of them, and asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold back?”

They all replied, “Yes, go right ahead! God will give the king victory.”

6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not also a prophet of the Lord here? We should ask him the same question.”

7 The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, “There is one more man who could consult the Lord for us, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but trouble for me! His name is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

Jehoshaphat replied, “That’s not the way a king should talk! Let’s hear what he has to say.”

8 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Quick! Bring Micaiah son of Imlah.”

Micaiah Prophesies against Ahab

9 King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, dressed in their royal robes, were sitting on thrones at the threshing floor near the gate of Samaria. All of Ahab’s prophets were prophesying there in front of them. 10 One of them, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, made some iron horns and proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says: With these horns you will gore the Arameans to death!”

11 All the other prophets agreed. “Yes,” they said, “go up to Ramoth-gilead and be victorious, for the Lord will give the king victory!”

12 Meanwhile, the messenger who went to get Micaiah said to him, “Look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with them and promise success.”

13 But Micaiah replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what my God says.”

14 When Micaiah arrived before the king, Ahab asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold back?”

Micaiah replied sarcastically, “Yes, go up and be victorious, for you will have victory over them!”

15 But the king replied sharply, “How many times must I demand that you speak only the truth to me when you speak for the Lord?”

16 Then Micaiah told him, “In a vision I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘Their master has been killed.[c] Send them home in peace.’”

17 “Didn’t I tell you?” the king of Israel exclaimed to Jehoshaphat. “He never prophesies anything but trouble for me.”

18 Then Micaiah continued, “Listen to what the Lord says! I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the armies of heaven around him, on his right and on his left. 19 And the Lord said, ‘Who can entice King Ahab of Israel to go into battle against Ramoth-gilead so he can be killed?’

“There were many suggestions, 20 and finally a spirit approached the Lord and said, ‘I can do it!’

“‘How will you do this?’ the Lord asked.

21 “And the spirit replied, ‘I will go out and inspire all of Ahab’s prophets to speak lies.’

“‘You will succeed,’ said the Lord. ‘Go ahead and do it.’

22 “So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of your prophets. For the Lord has pronounced your doom.”

23 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah walked up to Micaiah and slapped him across the face. “Since when did the Spirit of the Lord leave me to speak to you?” he demanded.

24 And Micaiah replied, “You will find out soon enough when you are trying to hide in some secret room!”

25 “Arrest him!” the king of Israel ordered. “Take him back to Amon, the governor of the city, and to my son Joash. 26 Give them this order from the king: ‘Put this man in prison, and feed him nothing but bread and water until I return safely from the battle!’”

27 But Micaiah replied, “If you return safely, it will mean that the Lord has not spoken through me!” Then he added to those standing around, “Everyone mark my words!”

The Death of Ahab

28 So King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah led their armies against Ramoth-gilead. 29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “As we go into battle, I will disguise myself so no one will recognize me, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.

30 Meanwhile, the king of Aram had issued these orders to his chariot commanders: “Attack only the king of Israel! Don’t bother with anyone else.” 31 So when the Aramean chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat in his royal robes, they went after him. “There is the king of Israel!” they shouted. But Jehoshaphat called out, and the Lord saved him. God helped him by turning the attackers away from him. 32 As soon as the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, they stopped chasing him.

33 An Aramean soldier, however, randomly shot an arrow at the Israelite troops and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. “Turn the horses[d] and get me out of here!” Ahab groaned to the driver of the chariot. “I’m badly wounded!”

34 The battle raged all that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans. In the evening, just as the sun was setting, he died.

Footnotes:

  1. 17:3 Some Hebrew manuscripts read the example of his father, David.
  2. 17:6 Hebrew His heart was courageous in.
  3. 18:16 Hebrew These people have no master.
  4. 18:33 Hebrew Turn your hand.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Romans 9:25-10:13

25 Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,

“Those who were not my people,
I will now call my people.
And I will love those
whom I did not love before.”[a]

26 And,

“Then, at the place where they were told,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called
‘children of the living God.’”[b]

27 And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out,

“Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore,
only a remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth
quickly and with finality.”[c]

29 And Isaiah said the same thing in another place:

“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
had not spared a few of our children,
we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
destroyed like Gomorrah.”[d]

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law[e] instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said,

“I am placing a stone in Jerusalem[f] that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
But anyone who trusts in him
will never be disgraced.”[g]

10 Dear brothers and sisters,[h] the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given.[i] As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.

Salvation Is for Everyone

5 For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands.[j] 6 But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). 7 And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” 8 In fact, it says,

“The message is very close at hand;
it is on your lips and in your heart.”[k]

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”[l] 12 Jew and Gentile[m] are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[n]

Footnotes:

  1. 9:25 Hos 2:23.
  2. 9:26 Greek sons of the living God. Hos 1:10.
  3. 9:27-28 Isa 10:22-23 (Greek version).
  4. 9:29 Isa 1:9 (Greek version).
  5. 9:32 Greek by works.
  6. 9:33a Greek in Zion.
  7. 9:33b Isa 8:14; 28:16 (Greek version).
  8. 10:1 Greek Brothers.
  9. 10:4 Or For Christ is the end of the law.
  10. 10:5 See Lev 18:5.
  11. 10:6-8 Deut 30:12-14.
  12. 10:11 Isa 28:16 (Greek version).
  13. 10:12 Greek and Greek.
  14. 10:13 Joel 2:32.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 20

Psalm 20

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 In times of trouble, may the Lord answer your cry.
May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm.
2 May he send you help from his sanctuary
and strengthen you from Jerusalem.[a]
3 May he remember all your gifts
and look favorably on your burnt offerings. Interlude

4 May he grant your heart’s desires
and make all your plans succeed.
5 May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory
and raise a victory banner in the name of our God.
May the Lord answer all your prayers.

6 Now I know that the Lord rescues his anointed king.
He will answer him from his holy heaven
and rescue him by his great power.
7 Some nations boast of their chariots and horses,
but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.
8 Those nations will fall down and collapse,
but we will rise up and stand firm.

9 Give victory to our king, O Lord!
Answer our cry for help.

Footnotes:

  1. 20:2 Hebrew Zion.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 20:2-3

2 The king’s fury is like a lion’s roar;
to rouse his anger is to risk your life.

3 Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor;
only fools insist on quarreling.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


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07/25/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 11:1-13:22, Romans 8:24-39 , Psalms 18:35-50, Proverbs 19:27-29

Today is the 25th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today. Today is my little son Ezekiel’s birthday. He turns six today. And his story is one of the great adventure stories of our time together in the Daily Audio Bible. And I’ll talk about that if we can remember when we get to the end. But we are at the beginning and what we do at the beginning is what we’ve come here to do, focus our attention on the word of God, focus our affection on the God who gave us this gift. So we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. And we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. 2 Chronicles chapter 14, 15 and 16 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. And as we move through Psalm 19 today we echo the words of King David. We make it our prayer. Your instructions, Lord, are perfect. They revive our soul. Your decrees are trustworthy. They make the simple wise. Your commandments are right. They bring joy to our heart. Your commands are clear. They give us insight for how to live our lives. And so we revere You, Lord. We worship You in awe and wonder. May this pure worship last forever. Your laws are true. Each one is fair. They are more valuable to us than riches, even the finest gold. They are sweeter to us in our lives then honey dripping from the honeycomb because they warn us and guide us and lead us into a great reward for those who obey them. Lord, how can we know all of the entanglements we are in? There are sin’s that may be within our lives that we’re generally unaware of. We don’t even see it in ourselves. Cleanse us from these hidden faults. Keep we, Your servants, from deliberate sins. Don’t let them control us and we will be free from guilt and innocent of great sin. Father, may the words of our mouths and the things that we meditate on in our hearts please You. You are our rock and our redeemer. We pray these things in the name of Jesus, our savior. Amen.

Ezekiel Hardin’s Story:

Okay. I mentioned at the beginning today is Ezekiel’s birthday. And I realized I haven’t shared this story in a few years. Ezekiel was born in the most interesting of circumstances. Well, maybe not the most interesting of circumstances, but they were the most interesting for us at the time. Now we were looking forward to greeting what we had planned to be our last of the children. And we had gone through that pregnancy just kind of enjoying all of it. Of course, Jill didn’t enjoy all of it. What woman does enjoy all of pregnancy, especially at the end? But we had just enjoyed this. I had enjoyed seeing my wife with a big bun in the oven out in front of her for the last time. And it wasn’t our first rodeo so we weren’t scared, we’re just enjoying the process and looking forward to a home delivery with a midwife, which is what we had done with several of the kids. And we were ready to go and, to make a long story short, there were complications. And so hours and hours and hours of agony in labor for Jill without the benefit of these high powered medications that are available in a hospital setting was wearing her down and exhausting her and weren’t really getting anywhere. And over hours, this became a matter of concern until the concern got to the point that Ezekiel, the baby, who hadn’t been born yet, his heart rate was dropping. And Jill’s strength was about gone and we still didn’t have a baby. And so the baby’s heart rate got to the point where we were in trouble, we were in a dangerous situation. And we literally had to flee to the hospital. And not the hospital that we had as a backup. We had a backup plan up in Nashville. But we had to go to the nearest hospital. And Jill was in so much pain and so weak she could hardly get out to the vehicle. But we got her in and got her up there and rolled up to emergency and the midwife jumped out and got her in and I went to park. And by the time I got in, which is just a couple minutes later, they had already wheeled her through and by the time I got to her, she was already wired up a lot. And very quickly they were in looking at the baby and checking everything out and the doctor just told us we can continue, but this is probably not gonna get you anywhere. If this continues, you could lose the baby. We need an emergency C-section. Well that happens routinely, but not for my wife. And this was the one thing that she didn’t want to happen. I mean, this was the one fear that she had. This was the one thing she wanted to avoid. But the doctors were telling us if we continued and didn’t make progress, than she was gonna be in danger, too. So they’re getting everything ready and we got a minute to choose and we’re looking at each other and we’re just in this moment, this unexpected moment. We don’t know what’s gonna happen. She felt like we had to move forward with what the doctors were saying. We couldn’t lose… take a chance on losing the baby. She was so tired and scared and her teeth were chattering. And the next thing we knew, a bunch of people came in and she’s being wheeled away and we’re telling each other I love you. It’s just happening so fast and then a few seconds later, I’m sitting there alone. Like, I’m alone. And Jill’s gone into surgery. And so I texted a few allies to pray and then I reached out into this community, just posted it up. This is kind of what we’re going through right now and pray for us. And this community rose up and prayed. And I remember sitting in that hospital room typing that out and just feeling this flood of calm come. It wasn’t that it was any less of a problematic situation. It was that I tapped in and I didn’t feel like I was alone. And that is the power and the beauty of this community and one of the reasons that I’ve worked as hard as I possibly can to protect it. And about a half an hour later, I was holding this new born baby that we named Ezekiel. And because Jill had gone through surgery, she’s out of it but she came around but they needed to keep her in the hospital for a couple of days. So we were camping out at the hospital for a couple of days in the middle of the summer, July 25. Those of you who live in the south know what I’m talking about. It’s a hot steamy time. But the Daily Audio Bible needed to continue, so I had all my stuff out in the family van and I would go out there each day and record the Daily Audio Bible in a 120 degree van with no air conditioning. You have to have silence to be able to do this. So I’d read the Daily Audio Bible and open the side door just to be able to breathe while putting it all together and so it was kind of news flashes every day from the hospital. But eventually mother and child got home and this little guy has grown from an infant all the way up to six years old and starting school. And through all of that, he became the Daily Audio baby. And it wasn’t too long after that that we launched into the Family Gathering Tour, the very thing that has inspired the Family Reunion that we’re doing in September. And we travelled all over the world over the course of eighteen months and the little boy…he’s been more places than most people even though he can’t remember it all. But every evening and every city at the very end of our gathering, we get Ezekiel, (bring) him up on stage, thank everyone. Thank everyone who prayed because we felt very very much surrounded by the community and by the prayers of God’s people. And we attribute…yes, it was a difficult surprise but we attribute the safe delivery and health to the prayers of God’s people in this community. So if you’ve been around for a while, if you’ve been around the Daily Audio Bible that long than you’ll remember this. If not, than there is another chapter in the Daily Audio Bible story and history. One of the key moments for me where I realized what we have here. Yes, it’s different. Yes, it’s on the Internet. Yes, it’s all over the place and decentralized and all of these things. Yes, it doesn’t look like a standard physical community where people can enjoy life in the same region. But that doesn’t make this any less of a community. So thank you to all of you who prayed for us back then and who continue to pray for us now. I have always had the conviction that it is the prayers of God’s people that sustain what we’re doing here. And I am grateful to God for you. This is why I say I love you every day at the end. It’s not gimmick. It’s because I love this community and I’m grateful for it. So happy birthday Ezekiel. Number six.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here in the community. It’s a way to reach out and connect, so be sure to check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the common mission that we share to continue to bring God’s spoken word read fresh every single day so that anyone who might encounter it no matter where they are in this world may enjoy, if that has been a source of life for you, than thank you for your partnership in allowing it to continue forward. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If your using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O.  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 here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello my DAB family. This is Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Today is Monday, 23rd of July and I’m calling in today because I heard James the teacher from LA on Sunday evening, the 22nd prayer request. James, my friend, your situation really hit me home fairly quick. I went through that exact same situation. My wife was depressed after giving birth and I turned to pornography and sexual sin to comfort myself. And to cut a long story short, I want to pray for You because…keep pressing into God. I got divorced. I didn’t find the DAB until after my divorce. And James I’m praying for ya. Heavenly Father, James is coming to You with a humble heart knowing that he is having trouble on his own and he does not want to do this by himself Lord. He’s coming to You begging You for help Lord. Lord I ask You to soften his heart and just help them hear what You want him to do Father. Lord, I also ask You to soften his wife’s heart Lord and for her to get out of the stigma mental health. Lord there’s so much digging around about mental health Lord and let her open her mind and let her feel comforted that any help that she gets is normal and that depression is a normal part of life sometimes Lord, but help her press into You as well Lord. Lord don’t let James fall down the path I fell down Lord. And Lord I know You’ve open my mind to what I did wrong Lord and keep opening James’s mind. His mind is open Lord and He’s coming to You with a humble heart now. So, strengthen him. Send the Holy Spirit to him Father. And he’s blessed Lord. Bring them close to You and You draw them close to You too Lord so that they will be able to get through the situation and James will be able to finish his Masters Lord and support his family in the way that he wants to support the Lord. Lord and we know that everything is possible through You Lord. And we lift up James to You. In Your name Lord. Amen. Love You family. Talk to You again soon. Bye.

Hey everybody. Hey this is Annette Allison. Just to let you know, hey, hooo, I’m doing okay and trying to go into a city party and I just decided to throw on some praise music and just go for it. And I feel way better. I hope you all enjoyed the ride today. We took a great big ride listening to the community prayer and it was such a beautiful day. And, Lee from New Jersey my brother man you have just broke my heart. You broke my heart this week. It just reminded me so much of when my grandma passed away and it was just the same thing. And I could not even imagine somebody else having to go through the situation of watching somebody die even though we know and we trust they are going to be with the Lord. It’s still painful. And I know for myself as I was listening throughout the whole community prayer, I was praying for you. And I don’t know, I’m sorry if I felt this way, but I was almost hoping that in the midst of the story that you were going to pick some family up from the airport that she passed away while you weren’t there. And I only say that because it just left such…it was hard. And I just didn’t want…I didn’t want that for anybody else. That process is just so painful to watch. And I was just hoping that she just passed away slow…ya know…without pain and transitioned easily. And I just want you to know that I’m praying for you and that I’m very very sorry for the loss of your mom. And heavens again, whorah, that’s great. But I want you to know that I’m praying for you. I’m really really praying for you and I’ve been so happy and when your first call came I was right by that spot where…I call it your spot, and it’s pretty cool. And it’s like right as soon as I passed it your call came. It was pretty neat. You know? So, I love you guys. Have a wonderful, wonderful day. And y’all take care. Bye.

Hi everybody, it’s Margo from Australia. I just wanted to ring today, first of all because I’ve just passed my 12 month anniversary of listening to DAB and I’ve loved every minute of it. And I wish I found it a lot earlier in my life. I wanted to comment. I’ve been thinking all week. About a week ago we read in Chronicles the verse where David says, when he was buying the threshing floor and he was offered it free but he said, no I will not get to the Lord that which costs me nothing. Now, that is one of my all-time favorite Bible verses. And I think it’s really good if we really think about that verse and what it means to us in our life. I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing. Wow, that’s powerful and life-changing. And I think it’s a really good verse to remember at those times when we are suffering, when life’s hard, when the Lord asks difficult things of us, when we don’t feel like being Christlike, when we’re angry at God for our lot in life. You know what? That’s okay because I won’t give to the Lord that which is easy. I won’t give to the Lord that which cost me nothing. I am planning, my husband and I, we’re going to Liberia next year and that’s going to involve fairly significant sacrifice for us. But you know it helps me when I have those moments of feeling freaked out about it? You know what? I just think, I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing. How powerful is that? What a motto to have that as our life motto. And I hope that you guys really think about that verse, and that it will encourage you and help you as it has me. Because in this life there will be suffering. And that’s okay. That’s how life is. There won’t be suffering in eternity. That’s the deal. Anyway, love you all heaps. Have a great day everyone. Bye.

Hi. This is Sherry Gallagher. This is my first time calling. I’ve been a longtime listener and God’s really been blessing me and I just give Him praise and glory for that but I am in need of some prayer. I just spent my last dollar and I’m living in a hotel because my place just came up with bed bugs and I was getting ready to move. So, now I’m not even sure what I can bring with me, if anything. I may just have to give everything up and start all over. I’m not sure. But I really need a financial breakthrough and I need, ya know, God to do something about these bedbugs to provide a solution. And I need to get out of this hotel. So, if you could just pray for me and just pray that God will bless me and make a way out of no way I would be really grateful. Thanks.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday July 25, 2018 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 14-16

Early Years of Asa’s Reign

14 [a]When Abijah died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Asa became the next king. There was peace in the land for ten years. 2 [b]Asa did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord his God. 3 He removed the foreign altars and the pagan shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. 4 He commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his law and his commands. 5 Asa also removed the pagan shrines, as well as the incense altars from every one of Judah’s towns. So Asa’s kingdom enjoyed a period of peace. 6 During those peaceful years, he was able to build up the fortified towns throughout Judah. No one tried to make war against him at this time, for the Lord was giving him rest from his enemies.

7 Asa told the people of Judah, “Let us build towns and fortify them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours because we sought the Lord our God, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they went ahead with these projects and brought them to completion.

8 King Asa had an army of 300,000 warriors from the tribe of Judah, armed with large shields and spears. He also had an army of 280,000 warriors from the tribe of Benjamin, armed with small shields and bows. Both armies were composed of well-trained fighting men.

9 Once an Ethiopian[c] named Zerah attacked Judah with an army of 1,000,000 men[d] and 300 chariots. They advanced to the town of Mareshah, 10 so Asa deployed his armies for battle in the valley north of Mareshah.[e] 11 Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “O Lord, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O Lord, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!”

12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians[f] in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah, and the enemy fled. 13 Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar, and so many Ethiopians fell that they were unable to rally. They were destroyed by the Lord and his army, and the army of Judah carried off a vast amount of plunder.

14 While they were at Gerar, they attacked all the towns in that area, and terror from the Lord came upon the people there. As a result, a vast amount of plunder was taken from these towns, too. 15 They also attacked the camps of herdsmen and captured many sheep, goats, and camels before finally returning to Jerusalem.

Asa’s Religious Reforms

15 Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle. “Listen to me, Asa!” he shouted. “Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Law to instruct them. 4 But whenever they were in trouble and turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him out, they found him.

5 “During those dark times, it was not safe to travel. Problems troubled the people of every land. 6 Nation fought against nation, and city against city, for God was troubling them with every kind of problem. 7 But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.”

8 When Asa heard this message from Azariah the prophet,[g] he took courage and removed all the detestable idols from the land of Judah and Benjamin and in the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, which stood in front of the entry room of the Lord’s Temple.

9 Then Asa called together all the people of Judah and Benjamin, along with the people of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them. For many from Israel had moved to Judah during Asa’s reign when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 The people gathered at Jerusalem in late spring,[h] during the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.

11 On that day they sacrificed to the Lord 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep and goats from the plunder they had taken in the battle. 12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul. 13 They agreed that anyone who refused to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death—whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They shouted out their oath of loyalty to the Lord with trumpets blaring and rams’ horns sounding. 15 All in Judah were happy about this covenant, for they had entered into it with all their heart. They earnestly sought after God, and they found him. And the Lord gave them rest from their enemies on every side.

16 King Asa even deposed his grandmother[i] Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. He cut down her obscene pole, broke it up, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 17 Although the pagan shrines were not removed from Israel, Asa’s heart remained completely faithful throughout his life. 18 He brought into the Temple of God the silver and gold and the various items that he and his father had dedicated.

19 So there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Final Years of Asa’s Reign

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from entering or leaving King Asa’s territory in Judah.

2 Asa responded by removing the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace. He sent it to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, along with this message:

3 “Let there be a treaty[j] between you and me like the one between your father and my father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”

4 Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa’s request and sent the commanders of his army to attack the towns of Israel. They conquered the towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah,[k] and all the store cities in Naphtali. 5 As soon as Baasha of Israel heard what was happening, he abandoned his project of fortifying Ramah and stopped all work on it. 6 Then King Asa called out all the men of Judah to carry away the building stones and timbers that Baasha had been using to fortify Ramah. Asa used these materials to fortify the towns of Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram. 8 Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians[l] and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and charioteers?[m] At that time you relied on the Lord, and he handed them over to you. 9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.”

10 Asa became so angry with Hanani for saying this that he threw him into prison and put him in stocks. At that time Asa also began to oppress some of his people.

Summary of Asa’s Reign

11 The rest of the events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord’s help but turned only to his physicians. 13 So he died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 He was buried in the tomb he had carved out for himself in the City of David. He was laid on a bed perfumed with sweet spices and fragrant ointments, and the people built a huge funeral fire in his honor.

Footnotes:

  1. 14:1 Verse 14:1 is numbered 13:23 in Hebrew text.
  2. 14:2 Verses 14:2-15 are numbered 14:1-14 in Hebrew text.
  3. 14:9a Hebrew a Cushite.
  4. 14:9b Or an army of thousands and thousands; Hebrew reads an army of a thousand thousands.
  5. 14:10 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
  6. 14:12 Hebrew Cushites; also in 14:13.
  7. 15:8 As in Syriac version and Latin Vulgate (see also 15:1); Hebrew reads from Oded the prophet.
  8. 15:10 Hebrew in the third month. This month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar usually occurs within the months of May and June.
  9. 15:16 Hebrew his mother.
  10. 16:3 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads There is a treaty.
  11. 16:4 As in parallel text at 1 Kgs 15:20; Hebrew reads Abel-maim, another name for Abel-beth-maacah.
  12. 16:8a Hebrew Cushites.
  13. 16:8b Or and horsemen?
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Romans 9:1-24

God’s Selection of Israel

9 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.[a] I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.[b] God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.[c]

6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”[d] though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”[e]

10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.[f] 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”[g] 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”[h]

14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15 For God said to Moses,

“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,
and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”[i]

16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”[j] 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

Footnotes:

  1. 9:3 Greek my brothers.
  2. 9:4 Greek chosen for sonship.
  3. 9:5 Or May God, the one who rules over everything, be praised forever. Amen.
  4. 9:7 Gen 21:12.
  5. 9:9 Gen 18:10, 14.
  6. 9:10 Greek she conceived children through this one man.
  7. 9:12 Gen 25:23.
  8. 9:13 Mal 1:2-3.
  9. 9:15 Exod 33:19.
  10. 9:17 Exod 9:16 (Greek version).
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 19

Psalm 19

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.[a]
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.

God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
5 It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
6 The sun rises at one end of the heavens
and follows its course to the other end.
Nothing can hide from its heat.

7 The instructions of the Lord are perfect,
reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The commandments of the Lord are right,
bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are clear,
giving insight for living.
9 Reverence for the Lord is pure,
lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true;
each one is fair.
10 They are more desirable than gold,
even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
even honey dripping from the comb.
11 They are a warning to your servant,
a great reward for those who obey them.

12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
and innocent of great sin.

14 May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Footnotes:

  1. 19:3 Or There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 20:1

20 Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls.
Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


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07/24/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19, Romans 8:9-23 , Psalms 18:16-24, Proverbs 19:26

Today is the 24th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. How ya doing, by the way? Hope things are well whatever you might be. And if they’re challenging, well, and I’m sure that they are for all of us. This is our time. The time to set that aside, all those consuming thoughts, and center ourselves in something good. And allow the word of God to wash into our lives. So, let’s do that. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. And picking up where we left off yesterday. 2 Chronicles 11:1-13:22 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, weve entered into the writings of the Apostle Paul. Obviously, we’re working our way through Romans, which is the first of his letters that appears in the Bible but certainly won’t be the last. We’ll be travelling with Paul for a while. And Paul will bring us to these vistas, to these mountain top views from time to time where we can see the scope, the whole horizon of our faith. So, often we’re moving through the Bible, we’re being encouraged every day to endure, we’re being encouraged to press on and we’re being encouraged that this is going somewhere. This helps us. This helps us to keep moving one foot in front of the other forward in our lives and in our relationship with God. But sometimes we come to the implications of what this all means and we can see this horizon and it’s hard to take in. You have to sit with it. And we’re at one of those vistas today. So, Paul was essentially outlining the fact that Jesus was the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. But firstborn of what? What does that mean? Essentially, Paul’s telling us that Jesus’ resurrection began a new thing on planet earth. One that hadn’t been seen since Eden. And this new thing was the reunification of God and man. And we’re not separated from God by sin anymore. Instead, we’ve been reborn into this new family of God, of which Jesus was the firstborn. Where sin no longer has a claim to our soul. It’s the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that lives in us. So, for believers in Jesus, and we’re reading about ourselves in the Scriptures today. And becoming truly aware of these implications of this horizon is beyond words. And Paul basically says that. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these, the Apostle Paul asked. And then he answered the question, which is also pretty massive. If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Who dares accuse us when God has chosen for his own, Paul wrote. No one. For God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who will then condemn us? No one. For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us. And he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. I mean, that is so massive. How is it that we can forget this at some point at least every day? What if we took this in, mediated on it, let it sink and seep into our souls and began to live from this place? Live to this day like that was the truth? We can apply these things to what we’re facing and in light of this truth, everything changes. The atmosphere changes. So, it’s not that the wrinkles are gonna disappear from our lives. It’s that we’re going to radically alter our perspective when we truly become aware of what’s really going on. So, let’s remember today nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing.

Prayer:

So, Father, we receive Your love. We invite Your love. We invite You to come now. We become aware of Your presence. We feel You surrounding us. We feel You within us. Nothing can separate us from Your love. And You are for us, so who can be against us? And we realize that this has nothing to do with the challenges that we might face today and everything to do with how we’re going to respond. Come Holy Spirit and let us navigate this day as mature sons and daughters of the Most High God. We ask this in Jesus name, a name that makes this all possible. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link. It’s on the homepage. And I thank you. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. 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 here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi family. It’s Tamika from Carlisle. I was just reaching out because I really need some assistance and prayer for my family and me. My girls…I have four children…and my two oldest want to go live with their dad for a year but I can’t…that’s what they said…but I haven’t seen them in about a month either. So, I get a lot of emotions with that but on top of that I know that I don’t really want them here because of the horrible crimes and things that are happening right here in my neighborhood. I know I don’t want them here either and I can’t provide anything better. So, I agree with it but I know it’s going to set war the rest of my family. Nobody wants me to let him do this because it’s all about money for them. But I just want them to have the best shot. And I haven’t been able to do that. I haven’t been able to give that to them. So, now I’m out of work. I’m trying to go back. I’m trying to go back to Ultra, the only thing that I know that I make good money from and don’t have to train. But I got in trouble. I don’t have a license. I have to pay for transportation for the next year to matter what. So, it’s so much harder. Family please, I never wanted a job so bad in my life and never need to work so bad. By this time next year I want all my kids together in one house. Please. Thank you.

Like Satan I was stubborn and I had to be the best
hard driving impatient and cut above the rest
insensitive self-reliant and chronically independent
I even tried to compete with God
was I crazy or just demented
demented now that’s the perfect word

it has that demonic sound
and demons did control my life
they ran me in the ground
it had to be for self-esteem
that may be independent
independence made me critical egotistical and a cynic
being critical and egotistical has led to isolation
isolation led me into sin and lots of aggravation
once your deep within the sin you’re far away from God
and once again poor self-esteem will start to make you feel odd
the cycle just repeats itself
you know you just can’t win
unless some way you can get to God
and make the cycle end

now how does one get back to God
there are many different theories
I guess that’s where a lot give up
the spirit often wearies
especially if their Spirit isn’t one that’s from the Lord
Satan tries to make it hard for us to get restored
but really it’s quite simple accept and disagree
deliverance is a gift my friend that’s absolutely free
you can learn to be dependent God will always help you too
stay humble and compassionate because love will bring you through
and as your walk in faith get stronger you once again become God’s son
the cycle will be broken and the battle can be one
but there’ll be other battles and other victories too
as long as you stay close to God but the choice is up to you

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Egbert Lopez, Tracy Baker hope you both still hanging in there. Know your loved and thought of and in my prayers every day. And once again, Brian thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flown’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.

Hello my fellow friends, Daily Audio Bible. I am Margaret the Sinner. I have been listening to DAB for the past seven years. I’ve not called in very often. My petition today is I’m having severe stomach issues, don’t know what is going on, praying about it and hoping that you will pray with me that this can be resolved. I also, right now want to reach out to Terry the Truck Driver. Oh my gosh, you are a saint. You are a saint. I’ve been listening for so many years and when I hear your voice and I hear your petitions I am right there with you my brother. I love you and I pray for all of your petitions to our dear Lord Jesus. Annette Allison, it goes without saying. The teacher, James, the teacher from LA I just heard your petition today. My dear brother, I am right there with you. Victoria Soldier, you are my rock. I love you. So wonderful. I love you so much. God bless you all my Daily Audio Bible family. I will call again. Rebecca from Michigan. Let me not stop there. Rebecca from Michigan. You are so awesome I need to hear from you again. Please pray for me, for my stomach issues and I pray for you every day. I listen every day, every day for last seven years. God bless you. Thank you Brian. Thank you Jill. God bless you.

Hey DABbers. This is slave of Jesus from North Carolina. All right, Holy Spirit let’s roll. It is 11:59 PM but I had to take my mask off and pick up the phone and call because I just heard James the teacher in LA calling. He needs prayer for his marriage so let’s do that. Lord, ask You to watch over James in his marriage. I ask You to give him the wisdom of Solomon of how to deal with his wife’s depression but Lord, I ask you to watch him, teach him his ways, that a cancer, that the wondering mind…today on July 22nd I urge you to go back and listen to this Daily Audio Bible. And Brian’s reading so apropos that you’re calling about this issue as he talks about we do what we don’t want to do. And I think it’s in Mark and he talks about this but, yeah, just go back and listen to that and pray to that. He talks about how, you know, it’s dealing with our mind and that is really where it’s at. So, when our mind is elsewhere, it’s not with our marriage, it’s going to destroy it like cancer. You may think about something, I don’t like to give advice or anything but in my experience, in my experience, when my wife is dealing with all kinds of stuff it was going to counseling together, couples counseling. And it’s something I did with her because of my other actions. But eventually I just stopped going and then she kept going. It’s the best 90 bucks per session that we ever spent in our budget that really helps my wife dealing with all kinds of other things. But it started with me agreeing to go with her to a couples counseling. So, I don’t know. That’s what worked for us to get her started. So, love you all best. Have a great day. Bye. __ this call halfway around the world is going through because it was a little bit garbled the first two times I called. Love you all. Have a great day.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday July 24, 2018 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 11-13

Shemaiah’s Prophecy

11 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he mobilized the men of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 select troops—to fight against Israel and to restore the kingdom to himself.

2 But the Lord said to Shemaiah, the man of God, 3 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin: 4 ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not fight against your relatives. Go back home, for what has happened is my doing!’” So they obeyed the message of the Lord and did not fight against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Fortifies Judah

5 Rehoboam remained in Jerusalem and fortified various towns for the defense of Judah. 6 He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These became the fortified towns of Judah and Benjamin. 11 Rehoboam strengthened their defenses and stationed commanders in them, and he stored supplies of food, olive oil, and wine. 12 He also put shields and spears in these towns as a further safety measure. So only Judah and Benjamin remained under his control.

13 But all the priests and Levites living among the northern tribes of Israel sided with Rehoboam. 14 The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons would not allow them to serve the Lord as priests. 15 Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the pagan shrines, where they worshiped the goat and calf idols he had made. 16 From all the tribes of Israel, those who sincerely wanted to worship the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem, where they could offer sacrifices to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 17 This strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they supported Rehoboam son of Solomon, for during those years they faithfully followed in the footsteps of David and Solomon.

Rehoboam’s Family

18 Rehoboam married his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab son of Jesse. 19 Mahalath had three sons—Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

20 Later Rehoboam married another cousin, Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom. Maacah gave birth to Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved Maacah more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and they gave birth to twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

22 Rehoboam appointed Maacah’s son Abijah as leader among the princes, making it clear that he would be the next king. 23 Rehoboam also wisely gave responsibilities to his other sons and stationed some of them in the fortified towns throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin. He provided them with generous provisions, and he found many wives for them.

Egypt Invades Judah

12 But when Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he abandoned the Law of the Lord, and all Israel followed him in this sin. 2 Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign. 3 He came with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horses,[a] and a countless army of foot soldiers, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians.[b] 4 Shishak conquered Judah’s fortified towns and then advanced to attack Jerusalem.

5 The prophet Shemaiah then met with Rehoboam and Judah’s leaders, who had all fled to Jerusalem because of Shishak. Shemaiah told them, “This is what the Lord says: You have abandoned me, so I am abandoning you to Shishak.”

6 Then the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is right in doing this to us!”

7 When the Lord saw their change of heart, he gave this message to Shemaiah: “Since the people have humbled themselves, I will not completely destroy them and will soon give them some relief. I will not use Shishak to pour out my anger on Jerusalem. 8 But they will become his subjects, so they will know the difference between serving me and serving earthly rulers.”

9 So King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem. He ransacked the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace; he stole everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. 10 King Rehoboam later replaced them with bronze shields as substitutes, and he entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 11 Whenever the king went to the Temple of the Lord, the guards would also take the shields and then return them to the guardroom. 12 Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger was turned away, and he did not destroy him completely. There were still some good things in the land of Judah.

Summary of Rehoboam’s Reign

13 King Rehoboam firmly established himself in Jerusalem and continued to rule. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from among all the tribes of Israel as the place to honor his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, a woman from Ammon. 14 But he was an evil king, for he did not seek the Lord with all his heart.

15 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Record of Shemaiah the Prophet and The Record of Iddo the Seer, which are part of the genealogical record. Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 16 When Rehoboam died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Abijah became the next king.

Abijah’s War with Jeroboam

13 Abijah began to rule over Judah in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign in Israel. 2 He reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother was Maacah,[c] the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah.

Then war broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 Judah, led by King Abijah, fielded 400,000 select warriors, while Jeroboam mustered 800,000 select troops from Israel.

4 When the army of Judah arrived in the hill country of Ephraim, Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim and shouted to Jeroboam and all Israel: “Listen to me! 5 Don’t you realize that the Lord, the God of Israel, made a lasting covenant[d] with David, giving him and his descendants the throne of Israel forever? 6 Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a mere servant of David’s son Solomon, rebelled against his master. 7 Then a whole gang of scoundrels joined him, defying Solomon’s son Rehoboam when he was young and inexperienced and could not stand up to them.

8 “Do you really think you can stand against the kingdom of the Lord that is led by the descendants of David? You may have a vast army, and you have those gold calves that Jeroboam made as your gods. 9 But you have chased away the priests of the Lord (the descendants of Aaron) and the Levites, and you have appointed your own priests, just like the pagan nations. You let anyone become a priest these days! Whoever comes to be dedicated with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of these so-called gods of yours!

10 “But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned him. Only the descendants of Aaron serve the Lord as priests, and the Levites alone may help them in their work. 11 They present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord every morning and evening. They place the Bread of the Presence on the holy table, and they light the gold lampstand every evening. We are following the instructions of the Lord our God, but you have abandoned him. 12 So you see, God is with us. He is our leader. His priests blow their trumpets and lead us into battle against you. O people of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed!”

13 Meanwhile, Jeroboam had secretly sent part of his army around behind the men of Judah to ambush them. 14 When Judah realized that they were being attacked from the front and the rear, they cried out to the Lord for help. Then the priests blew the trumpets, 15 and the men of Judah began to shout. At the sound of their battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel and routed them before Abijah and the army of Judah.

16 The Israelite army fled from Judah, and God handed them over to Judah in defeat. 17 Abijah and his army inflicted heavy losses on them; 500,000 of Israel’s select troops were killed that day. 18 So Judah defeated Israel on that occasion because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 19 Abijah and his army pursued Jeroboam’s troops and captured some of his towns, including Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, along with their surrounding villages.

20 So Jeroboam of Israel never regained his power during Abijah’s lifetime, and finally the Lord struck him down and he died. 21 Meanwhile, Abijah of Judah grew more and more powerful. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

22 The rest of the events of Abijah’s reign, including his words and deeds, are recorded in The Commentary of Iddo the Prophet.

Footnotes:

  1. 12:3a Or charioteers, or horsemen.
  2. 12:3b Hebrew and Cushites.
  3. 13:2 As in most Greek manuscripts and Syriac version (see also 2 Chr 11:20-21; 1 Kgs 15:2); Hebrew reads Micaiah, a variant spelling of Maacah.
  4. 13:5 Hebrew a covenant of salt.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Romans 8:26-39

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[a] in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[b] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn[c] among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[d]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[e] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes:

  1. 8:27 Greek for God’s holy people.
  2. 8:28 Some manuscripts read And we know that everything works together.
  3. 8:29 Or would be supreme.
  4. 8:36 Ps 44:22.
  5. 8:38 Greek nor rulers.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 18:37-50

37 I chased my enemies and caught them;
I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so they could not get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You placed my foot on their necks.
I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.
They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
42 I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory over my accusers.
You appointed me ruler over nations;
people I don’t even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
foreign nations cringe before me.
45 They all lose their courage
and come trembling from their strongholds.

46 The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he subdues the nations under me
48 and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 You give great victories to your king;
you show unfailing love to your anointed,
to David and all his descendants forever.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 19:27-29

27 If you stop listening to instruction, my child,
you will turn your back on knowledge.

28 A corrupt witness makes a mockery of justice;
the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.

29 Punishment is made for mockers,
and the backs of fools are made to be beaten.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


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07/23/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19, Romans 8:9-23 , Psalms 18:16-34, Proverbs 19:26

Today is the 23rd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s wonderful to be here with you as we step into this new work week and continue to take steps forward through our lives, through the Scriptures and through this year. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’ll pick up where we left off. 2 Chronicles 8:11-10-19 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we’ve been following the letter to the Romans written by the Apostle Paul, we’ve obviously been following his argument for Jesus and the good news and the announcement of what it means to humanity. Today, man, today… it’s worth going back and reading again. Because the implications, like what it actually means to our lives for those of us who believe and have put our faith in this, it’s astounding. So, Paul said today, the Spirit of God. Alright, let’s stop there. Can we even comprehend what we’re talking about? The Spirit, right? The animating life force of the God of all, the Almighty, the Lord of heaven’s armies, that spirit. The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, that spirit lives in you. If I had a mic that wasn’t attached to a stand, I would drop it. I mean, what else is there to say? That reality can be contemplated the rest of our lives. So, taking a moment and separating that from a theological concept or some kind of metaphor and actually considering it as a reality. The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. What if we actually embrace that reality? Which we are supposed to do. What would that change? How would today change if that is how we walked around and that is what you believed? The Spirit of the living God, the one who raised Christ from the dead, lives in me. And that changes everything, right? We can never rightfully walk around on this earth and say, God has abandoned me, I don’t know where he went, I don’t know. The Spirit of the living God is within you. How can he abandon you? He’s wherever you are. He’s within you. So, Paul drops that bomb. And right on the heels of it, immediately following that he said, You have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do, right? In other words, this is a choice. You don’t have any obligation to do what you know is wrong. For if you live that way, you’re going to die. But through the power of the Spirit, the same one that raised Jesus from the dead, the Spirit of the living God, the Holy Spirit. If by that spirit we put to death the deeds of our sinful nature, we will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. And that’s just another bombshell that was dropped today. Another mic drop. But there’s more. Since we are his children, we are his heirs. Can you think about that for a second? An heir of God? I mean, how would you even articulate what you are set up to inherit if you are an heir of God? According to Paul, we’re joint heirs with Jesus which makes us heirs of God’s glory. I mean, holy cow! It’s like so good and so big and so vast, there’s no way for us to even get our mind around it. But, according to Paul, if we’re going to share in his glory than we also must endure and share in his suffering. And Paul’s speaking directly to a people who are under oppression. They are being persecuted. They are opposed. They are marginalized. So, it’s a word of encouragement, of endurance. And he goes on to actually unpack that. What we’re suffering now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. So, you can apply that to your own life. What you’re going through right now may indeed be very, very difficult. Listen, I mean, I get it. There are all kinds of circumstances that are difficult to navigate through, you know? This is perfecting us. And we need to grow in strength and loyalty if we’re to grow into what’s said here. I mean, come on. If Amazon shows up at your door today with a big box that’s full of God’s glory, which obviously I know that can’t happen, but would you be ready to receive that gift? How would that look on you? We can say God’s glory would look great on me, but God’s glory is an all consuming fire. Are we ready for this? And what would our lives look like if we walked around in that kind of humble authority, navigating this life, above it all, looking at life’s circumstances through the glory of the Lord, understanding exactly what was really going on, and being the hands and feet of Jesus in this world? Navigating as he did. Becoming Christ-like, in other words. This is all available. So, we’ve reached this point in Romans and it’s like, if this is all true, than we are living so much less than is available to us. It’s…it’s not even funny. It’s actually sad. Because if the church of Jesus Christ lived into what the Scriptures are saying to us, we could change the world. No joke. We could change the world. So, consider this today. Maybe spend some more time in Romans 8 today. Contemplate this today. Look at the ways in which you’re living less. It is important that we rise up and become the more and live into the more and take and learn to wield the authority that is given to us by God through Jesus. So, imagine what beginning to live into this fully will look like for you and invite the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, the one that lives in you, to lead you and guide you forward to the next set of decisions.

Prayer:

Spirit of God, Holy Spirit, we invite You to come. This is some big stuff. I mean, these are famous passages in the Scriptures and we can just blow through them, but the implications are overwhelming. They’re really bigger than we can comprehend, that we know how to comprehend. So come Holy Spirit we pray. Plant these words in our lives and make them more than words, make them realities. Show us how to fully live into this, we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, like I say most days, be sure to check it out.

Pray for your brothers and sisters at the prayer wall. Connect through social media. Pray for your brothers and sisters and interact there on the different social media channels. Check out the Daily Audio Bible shop for the resources that we have created along the way for this journey.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link. It’s on the homepage. Thank you profoundly, profoundly for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. 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 here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Yeah hi. This is Matthew from Sydney Australia. I’d just like to ask you guys for prayer because I just went to the eye doctor and need to get a new pair of glasses and it cost me $500, Australian dollars at this. And, basically, I don’t have the money for it at the moment. I’m having to save up and pay for it but hopefully God will provide for that. Also pray for me because I started at a new church and I want to know if God really wants me there. I think he does. But, yeah. So just…just pray for these things. And, yeah, I just started listening to the Daily Audio Bible about three days ago and I love it. I think it’s a blessing for anybody who here’s it. So, keep up the good work guys. And yeah. Cheerio for now.

Hello my beautiful Daily Audio Bible family. This is Tolou calling from Canada and I just had to call in this morning. As I listened to your voices I prayed with you, laughed with you, and cried with you. And I realized this year that I do want to do life more with you. So, that’s my calling. I just want to read words from Psalms 121 and I pray that for everyone out there, whatever you may be going to that the word of God will bring you comfort and will bring you strength. And it says, I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. And these words came back to me today as I was driving in. It’s just before 9 AM here. It’s a very cloudy day and there’s so much haze in the sky. Usually I can see the Canadian Rocky Mountains as I drive into work but today I can’t because it’s all obscured by clouds. And I realize that even though I can see those mountains in their majesty as I normally do, it doesn’t change the fact that they are there. They are still there, I just can’t see them right now because it’s a cloudy day. And I just want to encourage you, if you are going through a cloudy day, please just remember that our Lord, our heavenly Father is there. Even though you can’t see him and even though things you do may not really remind you but He is ever present with you. He is the maker of the mountains, the maker of heaven and earth and He is the one our help comes from. So be encouraged today. We live by faith and not by sight. A wonderful, wonderful day. I love you. God bless you. Tolou from Canada.

Hi everyone. My name is Tara. I’m from the District of Columbia. I’m a first-time listener and a new Christian. I was diagnosed one month ago with multiple sclerosis and I could really use your prayers and encouragement. I want to just share a verse that’s helped me through the past four weeks. It’s Psalm 41 verse 1-3. Blessed are those who have regard for the week our Lord delivers them in times of trouble. The Lord protects and preserves them. They are counted among the blessed in the land. He does not hand them over to the desire of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness. Thanks everyone. I’ll be thinking of all of you and God bless.

Hey Daily Audio Bible. This is Jeff, formerly from Massachusetts, formerly from Virginia Tech. I’ve graduated and I am moving on to a new life in Jesus. I’m currently living in a community of men who do youth ministry. And, so, I live with a few priests, a few consecrated men, and the rest are lay people like myself. So, I’d ask that you to pray for us, pray for our community, pray for those who we outreach to. I graduated with a degree in philosophy and discerning the priesthood, discerning consecrated life, discerning, you know, what my next steps are. And I’d ask you to pray for my vocation and for all young men and women who are discerning their vocation. Please pray for all my friends who I go to school with. Please pray for them in their walk with our Lord as they continue to grow in faith and love. Please, keep in your heart all those who are ensnared by the devil, all those who practice Satanism or any form of witchcraft or anything like that. These pray for those who are under the devil’s possession and that they might be released from that. I ask you to pray for all of those who suffering from mental or physical illness, those with depression, anxiety, drug addiction, alcoholism. I ask that you pray for my family, my brother as he is about to be married and he is currently engaged. And please pray for my mom and dad who I love. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday July 23, 2018 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19

11 Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. He said, “My wife must not live in King David’s palace, for the Ark of the Lord has been there, and it is holy ground.”

12 Then Solomon presented burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar he had built for him in front of the entry room of the Temple. 13 He offered the sacrifices for the Sabbaths, the new moon festivals, and the three annual festivals—the Passover celebration, the Festival of Harvest,[a] and the Festival of Shelters—as Moses had commanded.

14 In assigning the priests to their duties, Solomon followed the regulations of his father, David. He also assigned the Levites to lead the people in praise and to assist the priests in their daily duties. And he assigned the gatekeepers to their gates by their divisions, following the commands of David, the man of God. 15 Solomon did not deviate in any way from David’s commands concerning the priests and Levites and the treasuries.

16 So Solomon made sure that all the work related to building the Temple of the Lord was carried out, from the day its foundation was laid to the day of its completion.

17 Later Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Elath,[b] ports along the shore of the Red Sea[c] in the land of Edom. 18 Hiram sent him ships commanded by his own officers and manned by experienced crews of sailors. These ships sailed to Ophir with Solomon’s men and brought back to Solomon almost seventeen tons[d] of gold.

Visit of the Queen of Sheba

9 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She arrived with a large group of attendants and a great caravan of camels loaded with spices, large quantities of gold, and precious jewels. When she met with Solomon, she talked with him about everything she had on her mind. 2 Solomon had answers for all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. 3 When the queen of Sheba realized how wise Solomon was, and when she saw the palace he had built, 4 she was overwhelmed. She was also amazed at the food on his tables, the organization of his officials and their splendid clothing, the cup-bearers and their robes, and the burnt offerings[e] Solomon made at the Temple of the Lord.

5 She exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements[f] and wisdom is true! 6 I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of your great wisdom! It is far beyond what I was told. 7 How happy your people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom! 8 Praise the Lord your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne as king to rule for him. Because God loves Israel and desires this kingdom to last forever, he has made you king over them so you can rule with justice and righteousness.”

9 Then she gave the king a gift of 9,000 pounds[g] of gold, great quantities of spices, and precious jewels. Never before had there been spices as fine as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

10 (In addition, the crews of Hiram and Solomon brought gold from Ophir, and they also brought red sandalwood[h] and precious jewels. 11 The king used the sandalwood to make steps[i] for the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and to construct lyres and harps for the musicians. Never before had such beautiful things been seen in Judah.)

12 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba whatever she asked for—gifts of greater value than the gifts she had given him. Then she and all her attendants returned to their own land.

Solomon’s Wealth and Splendor

13 Each year Solomon received about 25 tons[j] of gold. 14 This did not include the additional revenue he received from merchants and traders. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the provinces also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

15 King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold, each weighing more than 15 pounds.[k] 16 He also made 300 smaller shields of hammered gold, each weighing more than 7 1⁄2 pounds.[l] The king placed these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

17 Then the king made a huge throne, decorated with ivory and overlaid with pure gold. 18 The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, and the figure of a lion stood on each side of the throne. 19 There were also twelve other lions, one standing on each end of the six steps. No other throne in all the world could be compared with it!

20 All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were solid gold, as were all the utensils in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. They were not made of silver, for silver was considered worthless in Solomon’s day!

21 The king had a fleet of trading ships of Tarshish manned by the sailors sent by Hiram.[m] Once every three years the ships returned, loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.[n]

22 So King Solomon became richer and wiser than any other king on earth. 23 Kings from every nation came to consult him and to hear the wisdom God had given him. 24 Year after year everyone who visited brought him gifts of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

25 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his horses and chariots, and he had 12,000 horses.[o] He stationed some of them in the chariot cities, and some near him in Jerusalem. 26 He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River[p] in the north to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt in the south. 27 The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stone. And valuable cedar timber was as common as the sycamore-fig trees that grow in the foothills of Judah.[q] 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt[r] and many other countries.

Summary of Solomon’s Reign

29 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Record of Nathan the Prophet, and The Prophecy of Ahijah from Shiloh, and also in The Visions of Iddo the Seer, concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat. 30 Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 31 When he died, he was buried in the City of David, named for his father. Then his son Rehoboam became the next king.

The Northern Tribes Revolt

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of this, he returned from Egypt, for he had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon. 3 The leaders of Israel summoned him, and Jeroboam and all Israel went to speak with Rehoboam. 4 “Your father was a hard master,” they said. “Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us. Then we will be your loyal subjects.”

5 Rehoboam replied, “Come back in three days for my answer.” So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. “What is your advice?” he asked. “How should I answer these people?”

7 The older counselors replied, “If you are good to these people and do your best to please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.”

8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers. 9 “What is your advice?” he asked them. “How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?”

10 The young men replied, “This is what you should tell those complainers who want a lighter burden: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11 Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!’”

12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Rehoboam’s decision, just as the king had ordered. 13 But Rehoboam spoke harshly to them, for he rejected the advice of the older counselors 14 and followed the counsel of his younger advisers. He told the people, “My father laid[s] heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!”

15 So the king paid no attention to the people. This turn of events was the will of God, for it fulfilled the Lord’s message to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh.

16 When all Israel realized[t] that the king had refused to listen to them, they responded,

“Down with the dynasty of David!
We have no interest in the son of Jesse.
Back to your homes, O Israel!
Look out for your own house, O David!”

So all the people of Israel returned home. 17 But Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.

18 King Rehoboam sent Adoniram,[u] who was in charge of forced labor, to restore order, but the people of Israel stoned him to death. When this news reached King Rehoboam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19 And to this day the northern tribes of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David.

Footnotes:

  1. 8:13 Or Festival of Weeks.
  2. 8:17a As in Greek version (see also 2 Kgs 14:22; 16:6); Hebrew reads Eloth, a variant spelling of Elath.
  3. 8:17b As in parallel text at 1 Kgs 9:26; Hebrew reads the sea.
  4. 8:18 Hebrew 450 talents [15.3 metric tons].
  5. 9:4 As in Greek and Syriac versions (see also 1 Kgs 10:5); Hebrew reads and the ascent.
  6. 9:5 Hebrew your words.
  7. 9:9 Hebrew 120 talents [4,000 kilograms].
  8. 9:10 Hebrew algum wood (also in 9:11); perhaps a variant spelling of almug. Compare parallel text at 1 Kgs 10:11-12.
  9. 9:11 Or gateways. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  10. 9:13 Hebrew 666 talents [23 metric tons].
  11. 9:15 Hebrew 600 [shekels] of hammered gold [6.8 kilograms].
  12. 9:16 Hebrew 300 [shekels] of gold [3.4 kilograms].
  13. 9:21a Hebrew Huram, a variant spelling of Hiram.
  14. 9:21b Or and baboons.
  15. 9:25 Or 12,000 charioteers.
  16. 9:26 Hebrew the river.
  17. 9:27 Hebrew the Shephelah.
  18. 9:28 Possibly Muzur, a district near Cilicia.
  19. 10:14 As in Greek version and many Hebrew manuscripts (see also 1 Kgs 12:14); Masoretic Text reads I will lay.
  20. 10:16 As in Syriac version, Latin Vulgate, and many Hebrew manuscripts (see also 1 Kgs 12:16); Masoretic Text lacks realized.
  21. 10:18 Hebrew Hadoram, a variant spelling of Adoniram; compare 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:14; 12:18.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Romans 8:9-25

9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life[a] because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,[b] you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,[c] you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[d] of God.

15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[e] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[f] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

The Future Glory

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[g] including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope[h] for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Footnotes:

  1. 8:10 Or your spirit is alive.
  2. 8:12 Greek brothers; also in 8:29.
  3. 8:13 Greek deeds of the body.
  4. 8:14 Greek sons; also in 8:19.
  5. 8:15a Greek you received a spirit of sonship.
  6. 8:15b Abba is an Aramaic term for “father.”
  7. 8:23 Greek wait anxiously for sonship.
  8. 8:24 Some manuscripts read wait.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 18:16-36

16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the Lord supported me.
19 He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
22 I have followed all his regulations;
I have never abandoned his decrees.
23 I am blameless before God;
I have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
He has seen my innocence.

25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You rescue the humble,
but you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for me.
The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.

30 God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your shield of victory.
Your right hand supports me;
your help[a] has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.

Footnotes:

  1. 18:35 Hebrew your humility; compare 2 Sam 22:36.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 19:26

26 Children who mistreat their father or chase away their mother
are an embarrassment and a public disgrace.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


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07/22/2018 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 6:13b-8:10, Romans 7:15-8:8 , Psalms 18:1-15, Proverbs 19:24-25

Today is the 22nd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s always a pleasure to be here with you today, but especially a pleasure because here we are turning the knob, opening the door walking through into a brand-new week together. And this week we will read from the new living translation and we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday in the book of second Chronicles. Chapter 6 verse 12 through 8:10 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for all of the weeks that we have been able to spend, all of the days moving us forward to this point and we look forward to this week and all of the weeks that are out in front of us as we continue this journey. We invite Your Holy Spirit to plant the word of God in our hearts and in our minds, transforming us day by day as everything about us is changed into Your likeness. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Check out the other resources that can be found in the Daily Audio Bible shop. Stop by the Prayer Wall. Pray for your brothers and sisters.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage and I thank you profoundly for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, 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 here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Daily Audio Bible members. This is Demetri calling back from Portland. Just wanted to give a quick update and thank everyone for praying for our marriage and our family. We’re doing a lot better. God’s been good and been getting us closer and closer to each other. So, thank you for that. Like always, thanks to everyone who prayed for us. And I wanted to ask for another prayer. Me and my wife are moving to Washington DC for three months. She got an internship at the White House and we’re excited to have the opportunity and we wanted you guys to pray for us so everything goes well there, specifically, pray for us to find housing there. It’s been very difficult looking for a place to stay. If you guys can pray for that and if anyone has any ideas who maybe live around the area that can give us any kind of pointers that we would love to hear from anybody about what we can do. My email kivasa@gmail.com. Thank you very much for everybody for your prayers and I’ll be looking forward to hearing from anybody. And thank you again for praying for us and keep lifting your prayers. And then this is Demetri from Portland. Thanks again. Love you. Bye-bye.

Sharon in St. Louis here guys. Hey, the Lord’s really been impressing upon my heart just in the midst of this…during the summer it’s just been an onslaught that I would either react with flash or in Spirit and He’s just really been impressing upon me about the power of the Holy Spirit and I wanted to share that with you. The Holy Spirit is such a gift, it draws us to reconciliation to God. The Holy Spirit breathes new life in us to convict our hearts, not only for salvation, but also as we walk this side of heaven because we are still sinners just saved by grace . So, the Holy Spirit convicts us when we use Him. And we should not grieve the Holy Spirit. It also gives us…the Holy Spirit gives us illumination and revelation in the word. And you can read the Bible, but if you don’t have the Holy Spirit you’re not going to have __ reading that Bible. He guides us into all truth. So, when you start having the Holy Spirit working as your reading the word you really grasp the truth of the word. And even Jesus meditated on the Scriptures. So, it’s important for us to be in the word but also to pray. And so, He gives us wisdom in situations. He gives us power in temptation because we will be tempted. He gives us power not to react or get angry or fearful while where in the midst of hard situations in this fallen world. He is our helper and He is our comforter when no word or works can do that. He gives us fruit as we abide in Christ. So, the Holy Spirit, just pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Important part of our trying God. I love you all. God bless you.

He daily on the Bible family it’s James P. I need you guys to pray for me and my marriage. Talking it over with my wife in the last couple of weeks, I think we’ve both come to the conclusion that she’s facing a bout of depression. Frankly, I think it’s been going for…at least since our latest daughter was born seven months ago if not longer. And, you know, a lot of it was masked by her pregnancy. And you might think it was postpartum depression but it’s really developed more recently and not even with that. And after our first child she had a round of it and we were able to get her extra support…but it’s bad. I need help. And honestly, I have been kind of not on top of it with my Master’s program the last two years. I got to a point of wallowing in guilt for feeling shut out of our relationship and seeking comfort in pornography to the point where I didn’t have the courage to then speak out and say something to her. But we’ve started to talk about it. But haven’t been to a doctor yet, haven’t gotten any kind of diagnosis. And she’s been diagnosed with it before. So, this isn’t her first time. I just need you guys to pray because, while we recognize there is as an issue, taking action is hard. And talking to people without being afraid is hard. Hard for me to call you guys. So…

Hi. This is Victoria Soldier calling to pray with some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for Bernie’s mother, Rosemarie. I want to say congratulations to Matthew for your nine year anniversary. And Lord, thank You for the word and I’m just glad that the Lord’s word is blessing you and continue to bless because that’s what we are…the light of this world. I want to pray for Michael, Michael who’s going through…pray for his mother and his sister and his brother. And I’m sorry to hear that you lost your little brother and let you know that my heart is with you. And I’m definitely praying for you, that God continue to have…continue to give you the good things and continue to give you the healing for your family and direction and strength in your time of losing a loved one, especially a brother that is younger than you. And I also want to pray for Sandra and just say great Sandra that the Lord is answering your prayers. And I pray that God continue to bless you that way. I want to say thanks to Brian and Jill and the DABbers. And thank you Blind Tony for the strength. Your poems have done wonderful, wonderful things that God has showed up and showed out just by learning to hear your poems and knowing that God is faithful. Gracious Father, we just praise You today. We praise You, we magnify You. We thank You Lord for being who You are. We thank You for being able to supply all our needs. Oh Lord we have those at night that called You and they need You Lord. We ask You to bless mother, Ms. Rose Lord, Ms. Rosemarie. Lord, we ask You to bless her. We ask You to heal those others Lord. We ask You to heal, I think it was Sandy. We ask You to heal…

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday July 22, 2018 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire community of Israel, and he lifted his hands in prayer. 13 Now Solomon had made a bronze platform 7 1⁄2 feet long, 7 1⁄2 feet wide, and 4 1⁄2 feet high[a] and had placed it at the center of the Temple’s outer courtyard. He stood on the platform, and then he knelt in front of the entire community of Israel and lifted his hands toward heaven. 14 He prayed,

“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. 15 You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.

16 “And now, O Lord, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow my Law as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ 17 Now, O Lord, God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David.

18 “But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! 19 Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. 20 May you watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. 21 May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

22 “If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar at this Temple, 23 then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Pay back the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.

24 “If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave to them and to their ancestors.

26 “If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, 27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.

28 “If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is— 29 and if your people Israel pray about their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple, 30 then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart. 31 Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

32 “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands when they hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, 33 then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.

34 “If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to you by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name, 35 then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.

36 “If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far away or near. 37 But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ 38 If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their captivity and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name— 39 then hear their prayers and their petitions from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you.

40 “O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to all the prayers made to you in this place.

41 “And now arise, O Lord God, and enter your resting place,
along with the Ark, the symbol of your power.
May your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation;
may your loyal servants rejoice in your goodness.
42 O Lord God, do not reject the king you have anointed.
Remember your unfailing love for your servant David.”

The Dedication of the Temple

7 When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. 2 The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying,

“He is good!
His faithful love endures forever!”

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God. 6 The priests took their assigned positions, and so did the Levites who were singing, “His faithful love endures forever!” They accompanied the singing with music from the instruments King David had made for praising the Lord. Across from the Levites, the priests blew the trumpets, while all Israel stood.

7 Solomon then consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar he had built could not hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrificial fat.

8 For the next seven days Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters.[b] A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. 9 On the eighth day they had a closing ceremony, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the Festival of Shelters for seven days. 10 Then at the end of the celebration,[c] Solomon sent the people home. They were all joyful and glad because the Lord had been so good to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.

The Lord’s Response to Solomon

11 So Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction of the Temple and the palace. 12 Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said,

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. 13 At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15 My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. 16 For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.

17 “As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, 18 then I will establish the throne of your dynasty. For I made this covenant with your father, David, when I said, ‘One of your descendants will always rule over Israel.’

19 “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, 20 then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. 21 And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’

22 “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.’”

Solomon’s Many Achievements

8 It took Solomon twenty years to build the Lord’s Temple and his own royal palace. At the end of that time, 2 Solomon turned his attention to rebuilding the towns that King Hiram[d] had given him, and he settled Israelites in them.

3 Solomon also fought against the town of Hamath-zobah and conquered it. 4 He rebuilt Tadmor in the wilderness and built towns in the region of Hamath as supply centers. 5 He fortified the towns of Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, rebuilding their walls and installing barred gates. 6 He also rebuilt Baalath and other supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses[e] could be stationed. He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout his entire realm.

7 There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 8 These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them for his labor force, and they serve as forced laborers to this day. 9 But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for his labor force. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, officers in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. 10 King Solomon appointed 250 of them to supervise the people.

Footnotes:

  1. 6:13 Hebrew 5 cubits [2.3 meters] long, 5 cubits wide, and 3 cubits [1.4 meters] high.
  2. 7:8 Hebrew the festival (also in 7:9); see note on 5:3.
  3. 7:10 Hebrew Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month. This day of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in October or early November.
  4. 8:2 Hebrew Huram, a variant spelling of Hiram; also in 8:18.
  5. 8:6 Or and charioteers.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Romans 7:14-8:8

Struggling with Sin

14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[b] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Life in the Spirit

8 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power[c] of the life-giving Spirit has freed you[d] from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.[e] So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Footnotes:

  1. 7:18 Greek my flesh; also in 7:25.
  2. 7:23 Greek law; also in 7:23b.
  3. 8:2a Greek the law; also in 8:2b.
  4. 8:2b Some manuscripts read me.
  5. 8:3 Greek our flesh; similarly in 8:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 18:1-15

Psalm 18

For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. He sang:

1 I love you, Lord;
you are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.

4 The ropes of death entangled me;
floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave[a] wrapped its ropes around me;
death laid a trap in my path.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth quaked and trembled.
The foundations of the mountains shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angelic being,[b] he flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
12 Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
and rained down hail and burning coals.[c]
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded
amid the hail and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
great bolts of lightning flashed, and they were confused.
15 Then at your command, O Lord,
at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.

Footnotes:

  1. 18:5 Hebrew Sheol.
  2. 18:10 Hebrew a cherub.
  3. 18:12 Or and lightning bolts; also in 18:13.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 19:24-25

24 Lazy people take food in their hand
but don’t even lift it to their mouth.

25 If you punish a mocker, the simpleminded will learn a lesson;
if you correct the wise, they will be all the wiser.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.