11/30/2018 DAB Transcript

Daniel 7:1-28, 1 John 1:1-10, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 28:23-24

Today is the 30th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a great to be here with you today on this very special day because it’s the last day of the 11th month of the year, which makes this the 334th day that we’ve been taking steps forward each and every day to get this point in the year and in the Scriptures. So, well done. So, as we end this 11th month of the year we will also be beginning a new letter in the New Testament when we get there. And this one is called first John. And we’ll talk about that in a little bit, but first we have some territory to cover in the Old Testament and that will take us back into the book of Daniel. Today, chapter 7 verse 1 verses 1 through 28. And we’re reading from the contemporary English version this week.

Commentary:

Alright. As I mentioned at the beginning as we enter into our New Testament reading we’re beginning a new letter and it’s known as first John. So, this reunites us with the familiar voice, an old friend, as we prepare to read the first of three letters that are attributed to the apostle John. Ironically, this letter, it does not specifically specify that it’s from John or from anyone for that matter and it doesn’t specify who it’s addressed to. So, we could conclude that the letter is anonymous, like the book of Hebrews but church fathers it in the mid-second century, so just 50 years after this letter was written, attributed the letter to John the evangelist. And, for that matter, neither the letter nor its authorship were disputed when the New Testament was canonized. Only in more recent times have biblical scholars began to ask questions of style, like between the gospel of John and the epistles of John. So, part of the reason from maybe not addressing the letter to a specific group of people may have been that it was supposed to be circulated throughout many churches. And it’s possible that the initial readers were familiar enough with John that he didn’t need introduce himself for letter, like, they already knew who he was. And it’s also possible that whoever the original recipients of the letter were that they weren’t identified in order protect them. Like, if this letter got…was being circulated and it fell into the wrong hands and could cause potential persecution. So, this letter first John, was probably written from Ephesus, probably written very late in the apostle John’s life. Most scholars date the letter somewhere between like the mid-90s AD and the early 100s. And John was largely writing for one purpose in this letter. There is like pretty much one reason and it’s false teaching. Some of the earliest forms of Gnostic thought, and you’ve probably heard of Gnosticism at some point in your life, but some the earliest forms of Gnostic thought had begun to make their way into the conversation, especially the early docetic view. And that was the view that Jesus wasn’t actually a human being. He just…He appeared to be one but He wasn’t. And, so, this is one of the false teachings that John is combating. Also, there was a view of a man named Cerinthus and he taught that the divine Christ united with the physical Jesus at his baptism. In other words, He was like a normal, you know, just a standard human being up until His baptism, but then, at His baptism, the divine Spirit of God entered and made Jesus a divine being. But then that divine Spirit left Jesus on the cross. Like, you know, my God, why have you forsaken me. This is an indication that this divine spirit is leaving Jesus and then his body dies. That was what Cerinthus was teaching. So, John obviously wanted to combat what he knew to be false, but he had a unique, like, position in all of this. He had an authority that, like, nobody else had. He had been there. He was a part of Jesus inner circle and he’d been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. So, he could talk into, you know, speak into these issues and dispel falsehoods because he was an eyewitness account. And that’s exactly what he did in first John. But beyond just, you know, coming against false teaching, the letter offers plenty of contrasts that are intended to test the postures of our hearts even as they encourage us forward in the assurance of our salvation. And, so, with all of that being said, we begin. First John chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for Your faithfulness and Your kindness and Your mercy over our lives throughout this entire month that we bring to a close today. In fact father, as we look back, we can look back 11 months to the beginning of this year and see how You have slowly and truly and methodically shifted our perspective on so many things through Your word. And, so we are eternally grateful. And Father, as we release this the 11th, month and prepare our hearts to move into the 12th and final month of the year we say, Holy Spirit, come, lead us into all truth we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s happening around here.

It’s a Daily Audio Bible family Christmas time. And, so, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 packed all the way full with goodies, some that you’ll want to keep for yourself, some that you will want to give away as Christmas gifts. It’s just an annual tradition. We pack it full of resources knowing that those resources will go in to the world and we pray over them and God to make them fruitful in people’s lives. And, so, there’s lots of goodies in the Christmas Box. You can find that all at dailyaudiobible.com in the shop in the Christmas section.

And then we’ve also announced to the upcoming More Gathering for women, which is going to take place this April. And it makes a truly life changing gift that keeps on giving because tools for transformation and the continual growth of the heart are imparted at the more gathering. And, so, it’s a life changing thing for sure. And, so, our registration is open now and, yeah, that’s kinda filling up, especially, you know, that we have a select amount of private rooms and just the way that it’s all set up. And, so, those go first, and those go fast and that’s what’s happening. So, certainly do check in. You can find out about the More Gathering at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or you can just go to moregathering.com. And it’s gonna be just fantastic because it is the close of a chapter with the More Gathering. It’ll be the last time we do this in the mountains of North Georgia. And, so, come, experience where it all began and yeah, well, I have yet to meet someone who’s like, oh I wish I didn’t go. Only heard stories of transformation. So, check it out at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. Thank you, 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 you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning fellow DABbers, I’m a Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of Our God and King. Today’s November 26th. Praise God for another year coming to a close. I’m listening to the reading today I didn’t even finish the New Testament reading but I just had a call and share my thoughts. I’ve listened to tis several times. I think I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for over…it’s like 10 years or so…and it was the first time that it really hit me when Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego said, you know, our God will save us, but even if he doesn’t, we’re not going to worship your God. And that really hit me - the whole, even if he doesn’t part. As a child of God, that is so difficult and hard to say but, to me, that was some Job faith to exercise this. And I started to ask myself, how hard would it have been to make that decision, to even say that? You know, a lot of times I’m reading that and thinking, oh, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego were the first to ever be thrown into a furnace, but I doubt it. Sounds like probably something that has happened before, and it makes me it even more difficult to say that because you know that other people have thrown into that furnace and they’ve died. And, so, I’m sitting here looking at my life and looking at the challenges that we face, whether it’s our health or a deceased loved one or a child struggling with addiction or a marriage or work or finances or just our sanity, peace. And looking around the world and knowing that there are people who have not been visibly saved from these things. But able to say to God, God I trust you. And even if you don’t bring me through God I know you’ve got my best interest at heart. It is powerful. I love you guys. I’m out of time. I hope this blesses you as well.

Hi, this is Sharon. I call myself the victorious. I’m not victorious anymore from Northern California. My daughter committed suicide on Friday. Her son’s birthday’s today he was turning six. I’m so lost. I’m so empty. I need prayer…please. I need prayer for my whole family and for my daughter…my daughter Michelle. My angel __. I don’t know how I’m gonna deal with this, honestly. I haven’t been able to listen to the Bible for 2 days, since Friday. I am so overwhelmed, so broken hearted. Please pray for this family and my daughter that she goes to heaven. Thank you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, Michael from Mesa. Today is Tuesday. Calling in just for, I guess, a quick check in. Lot’s going on in my life. For those of you that are praying for me for clients, continue to do so. I think I may have the first one on the horizon, but I’ll need more than one to keep me going. So, continue prayer for that. Update on the house. We’ve got people coming in to help us understand what kind of smell we’ve got going on in the house. We’re pretty sure that we’ve bought into a house where they were smokers and painted over the walls and stuff. They did it during sales time and we didn’t check for that. So, we’re not really sure what we’re gonna do from here but prayer for wisdom and understanding and God’s blessing on whatever…whatever we pursue next. __ ‘s coming. So, just prayers for everyone out there in terms of keeping the focus on Christ, where it belongs and not the busyness that keeps us going. I pray also that we’re all able to continue to endure what the Lord puts in front of us for challenges. And just need prayer for that certainly for myself. I’ve got even my kids making posters of the word endurance, sticking it up around the house, just to keep us focusing on that. Anyway, love you all very much. Michael from Mesa.

Hey everybody, this is Pelham from Alabama. I’m calling today because of Keira from Denver. You called in about your son whose middle name is Yeshua, which is an awesome middle name. And boy, you got my attention with that. But then your call led on into some brutal honesty from you and you reached out to the community. And today when I woke up my Father told me today is an armor day. Where learning about armoring up guys. This is something I’ve been doing for years now and I had a friend say, hey, would you go into battle naked? I didn’t have to think long about that question. And that’s when I learned about applying the spiritual armor of God on a daily basis in the morning because we’re under attack. You have rights to pray for your family. You have spiritual dominion over your children and over your spouse. You can pray for your husband, you can pray for your child, your son, your daughter. So, we’ll do it right now together. In the name of the Father, the Son the, and the Holy Spirit, we put on the full armor of God because we will stand strong in the power of the Lord and His might. The battles we wage are not against flesh and blood they’re against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. Because of this we put on the full armor of God so that we can stand in this evil day and having done all stand, we put on the helmet of salvation on our heads, the breastplate of righteousness on our chest. We guard up our loins with the belt of the truth. We apply the shoes of the gospel of peace, the readiness of the truth, the word of God. What’s really going on is what we know, so we move in peace in this world. We took on the shield of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming darts of the enemy. And we also take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. It’s been with us from the beginning. It will be with us forever. It’s the most powerful thing in existence and it’s ours to fight. By the blood of the Lamb of the word of our testimonies, the enemy is defeated. I love you guys. Armor up.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday November 30, 2018 (NIV)

Daniel 7

Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts

1-2 Daniel wrote:

In the first year of King Belshazzar[a] of Babylonia, I had some dreams and visions while I was asleep one night, and I wrote them down.

The four winds were stirring up the mighty sea, when suddenly four powerful beasts came out of the sea. Each beast was different. The first was like a lion with the wings of an eagle. As I watched, its wings were pulled off. Then it was lifted to an upright position and made to stand on two feet, just like a human, and it was given a human mind.

The second beast looked like a bear standing on its hind legs.[b] It held three ribs in its teeth, and it was told, “Attack! Eat all the flesh you want.”

The third beast was like a leopard—except that it had four wings and four heads. It was given authority to rule.

The fourth beast was stronger and more terrifying than the others. Its huge teeth were made of iron, and what it didn’t grind with its teeth, it smashed with its feet. It was different from the others, and it had horns on its head—ten of them. Just as I was thinking about these horns, a smaller horn appeared, and three of the other horns were pulled up by the roots to make room for it. This horn had the eyes of a human and a mouth that spoke with great pride.

Judgment

Daniel wrote:

Thrones were set up
while I was watching,
and the Eternal God[c]
took his place.
His clothing and his hair
were white as snow.
His throne was a blazing fire
with fiery wheels,
10 and flames were dashing out
from all around him.
Countless thousands
were standing there
to serve him.
The time of judgment began,
and the books[d] were opened.

11 I watched closely to see what would happen to this smaller horn because of the arrogant things it was saying. Then before my very eyes, the fourth beast was killed and its body destroyed by fire. 12 The other three beasts had their authority taken from them, but they were allowed to live a while longer.[e] 13 As I continued to watch the vision that night,

I saw what looked like
a son of man[f]
coming with the clouds of heaven,
and he was presented
to the Eternal God.[g]
14 He was crowned king
and given power and glory,
so that all people
of every nation and race
would serve him.
He will rule forever,
and his kingdom is eternal,
never to be destroyed.

The Meaning of Daniel’s Vision

15 Daniel wrote:

I was terrified by these visions, and I didn’t know what to think. 16 So I asked one of those standing there,[h] and he explained, 17 “The four beasts are four earthly kingdoms. 18 But God Most High will give his kingdom to his chosen ones, and it will be theirs forever and ever.”

19 I wanted to know more about the fourth beast,[i] because it was so different and much more terrifying than the others. What was the meaning of its iron teeth and bronze claws and of its feet that smashed what the teeth and claws had not ground and crushed? 20 I also wanted to know more about all ten of those horns on its head. I especially wanted to know more about the one that took the place of three of the others—the horn that had eyes and spoke with arrogance and seemed greater than the others. 21 While I was looking, this horn attacked God’s chosen ones and was winning the battle. 22 Then God Most High, the Eternal God,[j] came and judged in favor of his chosen ones, because the time had arrived for them to be given the kingdom.

23 Then I was told
by the one standing there:
“The fourth beast
will be a fourth kingdom
to appear on earth.
It will be different
from all the others—
it will trample the earth
and crush it to pieces.
24 All ten of those horns are kings
who will come from this kingdom,
and one more will follow.
This horn will be different
from the others,
and it will conquer
three other kings.

25 “This king will speak evil
of God Most High,
and he will be cruel
to God’s chosen ones.
He will try to change God’s Law
and the sacred seasons.
And he will be able to do this
for a time, two times,
and half a time.[k]
26 But he will finally be judged,
and his kingdom
completely destroyed.

27 “Then the greatest kingdom of all
will be given
to the chosen ones
of God Most High.
His kingdom will be eternal,
and all others will serve
and obey him.”

28 That was what I saw and heard. I turned pale with fear and kept it all to myself.

Footnotes:

  1. 7.1,2 first year of King Belshazzar: 554 B.C.
  2. 7.5 standing on its hind legs: Or “higher on one side than the other” or “with a paw lifted up.”
  3. 7.9 Eternal God: Aramaic “Ancient of Days.”
  4. 7.10 books: Containing the record of the good and evil that each person has done.
  5. 7.12 a while longer: Aramaic “for a time and a season.”
  6. 7.13 son of man: Or “human.” In Aramaic “son of man” may mean a human or even “oneself” (“I” or “me”). Jesus often used the phrase “the Son of Man” when referring to himself.
  7. 7.13 Eternal God: See the note at 7.9.
  8. 7.16 one of those standing there: Possibly an angel sent to interpret the visions or one of those thousands mentioned in verse 10.
  9. 7.19 fourth beast: See verses 7,8.
  10. 7.22 Eternal God: See the note at 7.9.
  11. 7.25 for. . . time: Or “for a year, two years, and half a year.”

1 John 1

The Word that gives life
was from the beginning,
and this is the one
our message is about.

Our ears have heard,
our own eyes have seen,
and our hands touched
this Word.

The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us. We are telling you what we have seen and heard, so that you may share in this life with us. And we share in it with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing to tell you these things, because this makes us[a] truly happy.

God Is Light

Jesus told us that God is light and doesn’t have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you.

If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth. But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away. If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts. But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his message isn’t in our hearts.[b]

Footnotes:

  1. 1.4 us: Some manuscripts have “you.”
  2. 1.10 and his message isn’t in our hearts: Or “because we have not accepted his message.”

Psalm 119:153-176

153 I have not forgotten your Law!
Look at the trouble I am in,
and rescue me.
154 Be my defender and protector!
Keep your promise
and save my life.
155 Evil people won’t obey you,
and so they have no hope
of being saved.
156 You are merciful, Lord!
Please do the right thing
and save my life.
157 I have a lot of brutal enemies,
but still I never turn
from your laws.
158 All of those unfaithful people
who refuse to obey you
are disgusting to me.
159 Remember how I love your laws,
and show your love for me
by keeping me safe.
160 All you say can be trusted;
your teachings are true
and will last forever.

161 Rulers are cruel to me
for no reason.
But with all my heart
I respect your words,
162 because they bring happiness
like treasures taken in war.
163 I can’t stand liars,
but I love your Law.
164 I praise you seven times a day
because your laws are fair.
165 You give peace of mind
to all who love your Law.
Nothing can make them fall.
166 You are my only hope
for being saved, Lord,
and I do all you command.
167 I love and obey your laws
with all my heart.
168 You know everything I do.
You know I respect every law
you have given.

169 Please, Lord, hear my prayer
and give me the understanding
that comes from your word.
170 Listen to my concerns
and keep me safe,
just as you have promised.
171 If you will teach me your laws,
I will praise you 172 and sing
about your promise,
because all of your teachings
are what they ought to be.
173 Be ready to protect me
because I have chosen
to obey your laws.
174 I am waiting for you
to save me, Lord.
Your Law makes me happy.
175 Keep me alive,
so I can praise you,
and let me find help
in your teachings.
176 I am your servant,
but I have wandered away
like a lost sheep.
Please come after me,
because I have not forgotten
your teachings.

Proverbs 28:23-24

23 Honest correction
is appreciated
more than flattery.
24 If you cheat your parents
and don’t think it’s wrong,
you are a common thief.

11/29/2018 DAB Transcript

Daniel 6:1-28, 2 Peter 3:1-18, Psalms 119:129-152, Proverbs 28:21-22

Today is the 29th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s always a pleasure, it’s always an honor to be here with you today. And we’ll take the next step forward, which is what we do every day as we move through the Scriptures in a year. So, we’ve been working our way through the book of Daniel. And, of course, we’ll continue to work our way through Daniel as long as there’s still territory to work through. And in this case, there still is territory. So, we’ll go back out to the book of Daniel. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Daniel chapter 6 verses 1 through 28 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we finished second Peter today. And in concluding 2 Peter we brushed up against the apocalyptic worldview of the first century of the time. And we’ve talked about this before but if we reduce…if we reduce the concept to its essentials, then this is the view that would claim that the world as it was known was something that was changing, a new era was dawning and that this change would eventually bring about tremendous unrest and hardship and challenge, but in the midst of it rescue would come and something new would be born. So, if that sounds familiar it’s because we also share this apocalyptic worldview. I mean, this belief was interwoven within the culture that Jesus lived in and it was the kind of language that He used when He was teaching the immediacy of God’s kingdom. So, like, you now, zoom forward until today and as modern Christians we know like a couple of thousand years have passed since the time of Jesus. And, so, we accept because there’s like no choice that the time of the apocalypse is unknown, although plenty of people have spent their entire lives trying to make these kinds of predictions But even though the time isn’t known the conviction that we are moving forward to an ultimate destiny, that remains and it leads each generation to consider, you know, like the direction that the world is headed in, in light of apocalyptic teachings. So, what does this have to do the conclusion of second Peter? It matters because we get some really good insight into what was going on in the early church. So, even though we generally share an apocalyptic worldview in terms of ultimate destiny, the people that Peter was writing to in the first century, they weren’t looking to the distant future. They thought that the return of Jesus was something that was imminent. So, in the decades that followed Jesus life it was taught that Christ would soon return. Like, we still teach that. We still believe that, but for them this was an immediate thing. Christ would soon return and He would reveal himself and the kingdom of God would be ushered in and ultimately would reveal a new heaven and a new earth. And like I just said,  since this is a pervasive theme throughout the New Testament we also find ourselves awaiting the same thing. It’s our apocalyptic worldview. Unfortunately, by the time Peter wrote this letter years had passed and what was thought to be imminent didn’t happen, not the way that they thought. Jesus didn’t return imminently. And, so, this left a problem that needed needed clarification. And Peter acknowledged the issue. That’s why we’re talking about this as we close the letter of second Peter. Peter acknowledged the issue at and he spoke to the issue as he brought the letter to a close. So now that we have some context and some background let’s, like, let’s listen to Peter. Here’s what he has to say about what we’re talking about. “You must first realize that in the last days some people won’t think about anything except their own selfish desires. They will make fun of you and say didn’t your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have already died, and the world hasn’t changed a bit. Dear friends, don’t forget that for the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years and a thousand years is the same as one day. The Lord isn’t slow about keeping His promises as some people think He is. In fact, God is patient because He wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.” Right? So, the situation was that people were…had put their faith in Jesus thinking that they were…I mean…I don’t want to be too crass…but like signing up for, you know, for a safe passage to the end of the world. Like, this Jesus had been raised from the dead and they believed that, and they believe that he was eminently going to show up and establish His kingdom upon the earth. As I mentioned, like, we are expecting the same thing but since they were expecting it eminently…like any second. And I know this gets a little convoluted because we are expecting this to happen at any second and are always supposed to be prepared. We just simply have the knowledge that it’s been 2000 years. And, so, we have begun the rest on the fact that God will bring this to pass. That is where our faith lies but he will bring it to pass at the moment of His choosing. The brothers and sisters in the first century didn’t have the benefit of a couple of thousand years of church history to prepare for this. So, they’re expecting this to happen any second and years go by and then persecution begins and marginalization begins and everybody’s starting to wonder, what’s going on. So, Peter explains that the Father doesn’t want to lose anyone and He’s entrusted us to reveal the good news. So, when we live by faith and endure the resistance we’re collaborating with God and His redemptive work in the world. And, so, we endure for the sake of the world, on behalf of the world. We wait patiently shining the light into the darkness. So, here’s what Peter says to encourage the brothers and sisters. “God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth where justice will rule and we’re looking forward to that. But while you’re waiting, you should make certain that the Lord find you pure, spotless and living at peace. Don’t forget that the Lord is patient because He wants people to be to be saved. So, as we leave…as we leave Peter’s voice behind for this year in the Scriptures, as we conclude this final writing of his life we can carry this along with us. The next time we find ourselves, you know, like stewing with impatience, let’s remember God’s patience because had the people in the first century, our early brothers and sisters, had they got what they wanted, had Jesus returned imminently and set up His kingdom on the on the earth, we would not be here probably, right? We would have never known God. The story would’ve been a completely different one. Maybe that doesn’t include us. His patients allowed us to know Him. And this should humble us, right, and give us a reason to endure because our endurance reveals God’s patience and God’s patience gives opportunity for those who have not heard the good news to enter into eternal life.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your patience. And, you know, it can hit us like a ton of bricks, that had you not been patient we would not be here. And, so, your continued patience lets us look forward in into future generations and have hope for them as we continue to move forward, advancing the gospel, and reflecting your glory upon this earth. So, come Holy Spirit, into the places that we’ve been incredibly impatience in the short term or in the long term. Help us to rest in you. You have invited us to be a part of this story and our endurance and our patients certainly works strengthening and character building in our lives but it’s not purposeless. We are being patient because you are being patient and you are being patient because you don’t want to lose anyone. And, so, Father, give us that that heart. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And there’s a few things going on around here. Yesterday Jill came on and announced More Gathering 2019. And we are incredibly excited about this year’s More Gathering. This will take place in April in the mountains of North Georgia about an hour outside of Atlanta. And we have been we’ve been doing the More Gathering in that location since it was the More Gathering. And, so, on one hand we’re tremendously excited and on another hand, it’s kind of a little bit of a bittersweet thing that we’re looking forward to because this this be the last More Gathering in the mountains of North Georgia. And honestly, we don’t know exactly what’s next. Just know that the Lord has instructed us to do this, to bring this era, this season to a close. A new season is coming. So, even as I say that, just in my own heart, it’s a little bit of bittersweet thing because we built something there and thousands of women have come over the years and I can see the transformation, like as I just think of it in my mind, I can see what happens at the More Gathering every single time. And, you know, when you compound that over the course of many years, then it becomes quite a great cloud of witnesses. And, so, this More Gathering is a celebration of all of that that has represented. And if you’ve never been able to come to a More Gathering then this is this is your chance. Registration is open now and we open registration at this time of the year because it really does, it really does make a very unique and very impactful gift to give to a sister or a spouse, a girlfriend, a mother. It’s the gift of freedom. It’s the gift of more. It’s the gift of a new way of being in the world and looking at why you’re here and what you’re doing. And, so, so, yeah, that’s coming up and registration is open now at dailyaudiobible.com or you can go to moregathering.com which will get you to the same place and we’ll look forward to seeing you in April.

Of course, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 is also available now, chock full of goodies. The Promise Land Essential Pilgrims edition, double DVD set is in the Box. Four hours…actually over four hours of content just allowing you to see so many of the places where the Bible actually happened, where all of the things that we’ve read and all of the people that we’ve met, where they lived and where these events took place. Then there’s a couple of my books, Reframe and Sneezing Jesus, as well as Going Solo, a book written by my friend Roberts about the solo parenting life that so many so many within this community and so many within your sphere of influence are living right now. And, so, if you’ve ever wanted to understand what someone going through single parenting is going through than this is a good read. If you are a solo parent, then this is a best friend. And, so, that’s included in the Box as well as the Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb for 2018 with the word “Hope” imprinted on it. And it’s hanging on my tree and I hope it can be hanging on yours. I have all the years that we’ve done the Christmas bulb hanging on my tree and I look at it every day and it reminds me of all of the revolutions around the sun that we’ve taken reading the Bible every day in community. But those bulbs, they represent this community. And, so, I think…I just look at those and think, this represents…this represents the global campfire. This is us and this is us over the years. So, that’s in the Christmas Box. Your choice of our Windfarm coffee or tea. Roasting the coffee every day now to keep up. And it’ll be arriving fresh and ready for the holiday season for you to drink and enjoy. Or if you are a tea drinker, believe it or not, I’m a coffee snob, but I’m a tea drinker too. And, so, we have our Honey Bush and rooibos tea, if that’s your selection for this year. And also, the Christmas Cards, the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards that have “Hope”, which is our word for the year, imprinted on the front. They’re beautiful. You can see all of that at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop and get your Christmas Box while we have them. And we’re also inserting a mystery…a mystery item while supplies last. We have a few resources that we didn’t have enough to give…to put all into…to put in every Box. And, so, we kind of split it up and said, yeah, let’s get these resources in the hands of everyone. So, something else besides what I just said will also be in the Box and we love it. So, we love doing this. We love getting these resources into your hands. We love hearing the stories of what you kept for yourself and what you gave away and what happened because of that. Man and we’ve for so many stories over the years. And, so, we love making these resources available in the Christmas Box. So, check that out, it’s Christmas time.

The international shipping date actually was yesterday, the cutoff date. You can still order if you’re outside of the United States and we will certainly ship immediately. And I wouldn’t wait. Like, if you’re trying to get this for Christmas because yesterday was kind of the day we thought was safe. We will ship and shop, but I wouldn’t wait. If you are inside of the United States, we still have just a little more time because we’ll be shipping domestically and that will be no problem. But I wouldn’t wait because they’re going. And we always make these Christmas Boxes…well…we make them so that there will be things in there that you’ll want to keep, and that there will be things in there that, you know, that you’ll want to give away. And, so, check that out dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the final push of the year, thank you. Thank you profoundly, thank you humbly. As you partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you’re throwing a log on the global campfire, and that is how it is that we all get to show up every day and know that the spoken word of God will be there waiting and that we can immerse ourselves in the rhythm of putting the word of God in our lives every day. And if you’ve spent the year doing that then you understand why that's…why that matters. Because it’s hard to put into words, right? I mean you just start changing from the inside out and then you realize, my whole life was backwards. I’ve been living outside in and the whole thing was always from within, where the Holy Spirit dwells inside of me, leading and guiding me from within, so that my exterior decisions and thoughts and words and deeds are in alignment with the way I was created to be, which is a child f God. So, thank you for your partnership. This is why we do this and I appreciate it. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button on 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 you here tomorrow.

11/28/2018 DAB Transcript

Daniel 5:1-31, 2 Peter 2:1-22, Psalms 119:113-128, Proverbs 28:19-20

Today is the 28th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. 28th day of November, friends. That only gives us a couple of days to finish this month strong and move into the 12th month of the year. And, so, that’s what we’ve come here to do. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. We have begun the book of Daniel, which we will continue to read and then we began second Peter yesterday and we will continue with that letter we get to the New Testament, but first Daniel 5:1-31.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in our reading from 2 Peter today, we experience a bit of a tirade from the apostle Peter against false teachers. And these were people who had come to faith and even to prominence, right? So, like even to standing, maybe even teachers, but they were falling away from the core essentials of the gospel and then were leading other people to do the same. And it wasn’t just matters of doctrine. These people were using their gifting to exploit the week. So, quoting Peter, “They have done evil and they will be rewarded with evil. They think it’s fun to have wild parties during the day. They are immoral and the meals they eat with you are spoiled by the shameful and selfish way they carry on. All they think about is having sex with someone else’s husband or wife. There is no end to their wicked deeds. They trick people who are easily fooled, and their minds are filled with greedy thoughts, but they are headed for trouble.” So, I mean, we can see why Peter is less than fond of these people. And if that wasn’t clear enough, all we have to do is hear what he has to say. “These people are no better than senseless animals that live by their feelings and are born to be caught and killed. They speak evil of things they don’t know anything about but their own corrupt deeds will destroy them.” So, he’s being blunt. He’s being like James I mean, we’re not…were not confused about what he’s trying to say; however, it should be noted that the kind of false teacher Peter described, this is not…this is not the same as this modern custom that we see of mislabeling as a false teacher anybody who asks important and difficult questions of our faith. That is not the same thin. Wrestling with our faith in pursuit of revelation and understanding and insight, this has always been a part of the Christian tradition. But when dogma turns into cement then we’ve got a problem. And, you know, if you’re a little more on the legalistic persuasion you could even think that what I’m saying is wishy-washy, but the reality is just in the Bible. The church was struggling from the very, very beginning and it’s all throughout the letters. And what were some of their earliest struggles? Some of the earliest struggles were whether or not Gentile people could even be Christians. That was a big struggle and they had to wrestle, and they disagreed, and it was a mess in the early church. And so much of the writings from the apostle Paul and like even what we’re reading in second Peter, so much of the persecution that had broken out was because of this decision. So, wresting and asking questions, pursuing understanding is a part of our tradition. Peter’s distinction was that false teachers were intentionally, right, like, they weren’t pursuing understanding or seeking God, they were intentionally and maliciously deceiving God’s people for their own personal gain. He describes them like this, “These people are like dried-up waterholes and clouds blown by a windstorm. The darkest part of hell is waiting for them. They brag out loud about their stupid nonsense and by being vulgar and crude they trap people who have barely escaped from living the wrong kind of life. They promise freedom to everyone, but they are merely slaves of filthy living because people are slaves of whatever controls them.” So that last thing Peter had to say should catch us for second. If there’s is one thing that we could recite before we engage in any conversation or before we make any decision today, anything that we could put in front of ourselves that could change the course of the day for good it would be, “I am a slave to whatever controls me.” So, let’s put that into practice today. Every conversation, right, every decision - I am a slave to whatever controls me - and see what that does for the day. But Peter wasn’t discussing mantras, like things we can say to help us get through the day. He was discussing the characteristics of false teachers and we finally found out why he was so upset as we came to the conclusion of our reading today. So, Peter says, “When they learned about our Lord Jesus, when they learned about the Savior, they escaped from the filthy things of this world, but they are again caught up and controlled by these filthy things and Now they are in worse shape than they were at first. They would’ve been better off if they had never known about the right way. Even after they knew what was right, they turned their backs on the holy commandments that they were given. What happened to them is just like the true saying, a dog will come back to lick up its own vomit.” Alight. So, even though Peter is speaking pretty directly and forcefully against false teachers who were leading people into sin, it was the people who fell into sin that Peter was concerned about. And, so, in that context we’re left with some pretty poignant imagery - a dog returning to its vomit. So, we’ve probably all seen it right? Like,  Rover is out in the yard or in the kitchen and barfs. And if they’re left alone they’ll walk in a circle a couple times, right, and then come back with their nose - nice full nostril inhale. And maybe a couple more circles and then they’ll come back and eat it. That’s disgusting, right? So, here’s the kicker. When we return to our sinful past. It’s like puking in a bowl and eating it like soup. It should sound disgusting, because according to Peter it is disgusting. So, let’s consider the starkness of what is known to be the final writings of the apostle Peter’s life and let’s apply that starkness to the context of our own lives. Exactly what sewage are we continually returning to because we have been deceived into believing that it’s somehow desirous. What influences do we have over those around us that we might invite them to do the same thing? Because this is what Peter was talking about in our reading today. These are tough but they’re important questions. Why would we choose eating out of a toilet over the banquet God has prepared for us? Let’s invite the Holy Spirit into these questions because we are a slave to whatever controls us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. There’s just a lot there. There’s just a ton there. We do find ourselves making big circles and little circles in our lives and we end up where we started on some things and it’s like returning to our vomit when we are…when we are returning to things of old or like resurrecting something that’s dead and trying to carry it around like it’s alive, and it weighs us down, it beats us up, and then we blame You. And there’s just a lot here. And, so, we invite You into it. We don’t want to live this way. We don’t have to live this way. We can walk one step forward every day toward sanctification and holiness, it’s our prerogative. You offered the path. You’ve paved the way. And most the time we’re just not choosing to walk it. So, thank You for the starkness today of seeing what we’re doing as returning to our own sewage and eating it. Help us to remember that imagery Lord as we continue to walk forward with You so that we can see things as they are, not as we have been deceived to believe they are. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And for the last week we’ve been talking about the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018. And yes, that is available. And yes, you can find it at dailyaudiobible.com in the shop in the Christmas section.

However, we have another announcement to make today and there’s no one better to make this announcement then the most beautiful redhead in all of the world, my wife, Jill

Jill: Thanks babe, flattery…flattery gets you everywhere. So, it’s true. We have a very special announcement. Every year when I get ready to announce More gathering, I say that I’m more excited this year than any other year and I say that because it’s true you. You would think it gets old but the anticipation, the excitement, the palpable energy, it’s true. I get more excited every year about what God is gonna do. With that being said, this year, More Gathering 2019, I have the bittersweet pleasure of announcing that this is our final year at Sharp Top camp in Jasper Georgia. This has been what Brian and I have been sensing the last couple of years and we just…we waited…we waited to make sure that our sense was right, that it was from the Lord, that it wasn’t just us feeling tired or, you know, just emotional, or just feeling the distance of travel. It was something that we were sensing and did not even no it until we came together and had a conversation. And both of our senses were the same. And, so, after much prayer, much consideration, this will be the last year that more gathering will be in Jasper George. Now, with that being said, I cannot at this time announce what More Gathering 2020 will look like, because I don’t know at this point. I am not worried. I am not anxious. I am not concerned with where were going. I believe God knows. I fully believe and trust that when I’m supposed to know, He’ll make that inevitably clear and I’m actually quite excited, quite tickled about that because that’s the journey with God. We walk blindly by faith. We trust Him to provide. We trust Him that He knows, that He’s already taken care of it. And, so, we’re just gonna walk, and we’re gonna obey, and we are going to celebrate this last year together at Sharp Top in Jasper George 2019. Now, if you’ve been on the fence and said, I need this mountaintop experience, which you hear other women talk about, this is the year for you to come. This is it. This is the last chance. And I can tell you that if you’re wondering about any of it - the lodging everything - it is the most spectacular food experience. Sit down hot meals. The grounds are phenomenal. It’s just…the whole thing…I cannot say enough how impeccable the camp has served us, the staff, the team at Sharp top. I am eternally grateful for all that they have done. They have exceeded every single expectation in the weekends that they have provided for us. That part I will absolutely miss, the excellence that we are served with, the excellence that a just operate every day in. Like, well done. Well done young life and Sharp Top. So, here’s the deal. We usually offer some sort of discount up to a certain time. If you take part in that, you’ll save money. We have done away with that this year. We have we are offering the absolute lowest price possible to make it affordable for you to come. So, if you’re waiting for, you know, a promotion our discount, that’s not happening this year. This is the rock-bottom flat rate price that we can offer to you. Now if this is your first time and you have never been and you need a private room, I’m gonna tell you right now, those private rooms are gonna be to first to go. They will go fast and we never have enough to sell because everyone wants a private room. Don’t let that stop you. There’s something beautiful happens in the rooms. The friendships that are forged, they last a lifetime. I mean, it’s truly amazing and spectacular to see those friendships and how they blossoming and the reunions that women continue to have year after year because they went through something deep and beautiful together and together is how it’s supposed to be done. So, this is it. This is your last chance to come to the end of an era and we’re gonna celebrate together. That’s what we’re gonna do, celebrate the end of an era together and we are going to celebrate going forward. Sign up dailyaudiobible.com or moregathering.com. Now, the last thing that I want to say ism we always, always have women that cannot afford to go that want to be able to be there. And maybe you know that you absolutely cannot go but you can afford to send somebody. I wish I could tell you the gift that it is that you would be giving to a woman in need. I wish I could tell you the transformation that I see on women’s physical faces and the posture that takes place over the course of the weekend of women who just walk in bearing the burdens of life and literally carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders and leave free because they know who they are because God has met them there and spoken specifically to the spirit of who He calls them to be, who he says they. And seeing freedom take place…well…I can tell you…there’s no greater gift. It takes all of us. It takes all of us doing our part and doing what we can. If that’s you and you know that you can help give and you would like to be a part of that and that way you can email me at jill@dailyaudiobible.com. And for those of you that can. I just want to say thank you in advance. Thank you for the gift of freedom that you have already given to some women. A lot of times assistance comes in at the end and there’s not enough time for women to get all of the pieces in order that they need to come because where women. You know, we’ve gotta take care of the food and the kids and all of the things that we take care of. So, we’re mentioning it now while there’s time for women to get all of the things done. So, that’s it. This is the big announcement. It’s the last year at Sharp Top. We hope that you will join us for the end of an era, the final the final frontier in Georgia, in Jasper Georgette. We are gonna finish well and strong and then we are going to wait with anticipation to see what God does next.

Brian: Amen to that. And yes, to everything you’ve said, everything that Jill has said is right. So registration for the More Gathering 2019 that will take place in the mountains of Georgia for the final time is open now at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. And if this has been something that you’ve desired to come to for years then this is the time. And we always…you know…like…we could weight to the beginning of the new year to start talking about the More Gathering, but it is such a unique and fantastic Christmas gift that we talk about it now because it’s like…give the gift of freedom…the gift of more in life. We think that is that is the gift we are all looking for. So check it out. You can you can register for More Gathering 2019 now.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the common mission that we share to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to keep building community through things like the More Gathering around this rhythm so that we know that we know that we’re not coping through this alone, we have brothers and sisters all over the world. If that has brought light and good news into your world, then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible 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 you here tomorrow.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday November 29, 2018 (NIV)

Daniel 6

Daniel in a Pit of Lions

Darius divided his kingdom into a hundred and twenty states and placed a governor in charge of each one. In order to make sure that his government was run properly, Darius put three other officials in charge of the governors. One of these officials was Daniel. And he did his work so much better than the other governors and officials that the king decided to let him govern the whole kingdom.

The other men tried to find something wrong with the way Daniel did his work for the king. But they could not accuse him of anything wrong, because he was honest and faithful and did everything he was supposed to do. Finally, they said to one another, “We will never be able to bring any charge against Daniel, unless it has to do with his religion.”

They all went to the king and said:

Your Majesty, we hope you live forever! All of your officials, leaders, advisors, and governors agree that you should make a law forbidding anyone to pray to any god or human except you for the next thirty days. Everyone who disobeys this law must be thrown into a pit of lions. Order this to be written and then sign it, so it cannot be changed, just as no written law of the Medes and Persians can be changed.”

So King Darius made the law and had it written down.

10 Daniel heard about the law, but when he returned home, he went upstairs and prayed in front of the window that faced Jerusalem. In the same way that he had always done, he knelt down in prayer three times a day, giving thanks to God.

11 The men who had spoken to the king watched Daniel and saw him praying to his God for help. 12 They went back to the king and said, “Didn’t you make a law that forbids anyone to pray to any god or human except you for the next thirty days? And doesn’t the law say that everyone who disobeys it will be thrown into a pit of lions?”

“Yes, that’s the law I made,” the king agreed. “And just like all written laws of the Medes and Persians, it cannot be changed.”

13 The men then told the king, “That Jew named Daniel, who was brought here as a captive, refuses to obey you or the law that you ordered to be written. And he still prays to his god three times a day.” 14 The king was really upset to hear about this, and for the rest of the day he tried to think how he could save Daniel.

15 At sunset the men returned and said, “Your Majesty, remember that no written law of the Medes and Persians can be changed, not even by the king.”

16 So Darius ordered Daniel to be brought out and thrown into a pit of lions. But he said to Daniel, “You have been faithful to your God, and I pray that he will rescue you.”

17 A stone was rolled over the pit, and it was sealed. Then Darius and his officials stamped the seal to show that no one should let Daniel out. 18 All night long the king could not sleep. He did not eat anything, and he would not let anyone come in to entertain him.

19 At daybreak the king got up and ran to the pit. 20 He was anxious and shouted, “Daniel, you were faithful and served your God. Was he able to save you from the lions?”

21 Daniel answered, “Your Majesty, I hope you live forever! 22 My God knew that I was innocent, and he sent an angel to keep the lions from eating me. Your Majesty, I have never done anything to hurt you.”

23 The king was relieved to hear Daniel’s voice, and he gave orders for him to be taken out of the pit. Daniel’s faith in his God had kept him from being harmed. 24 And the king ordered the men who had brought charges against Daniel to be thrown into the pit, together with their wives and children. But before they even reached the bottom, the lions ripped them to pieces.

25 King Darius then sent this message to all people of every nation and race in the world:

“Greetings to all of you!
26 I command everyone
in my kingdom
to worship and honor
the God of Daniel.
He is the living God,
the one who lives forever.
His power and his kingdom
will never end.
27 He rescues people
and sets them free
by working great miracles.
Daniel’s God has rescued him
from the power of the lions.”

28 All went well for Daniel while Darius was king, and even when Cyrus the Persian ruled.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. 6.28 Cyrus the Persian ruled: 539-530 B.C.

2 Peter 3

The Lord Will Return

My dear friends, this is the second letter I have written to encourage you to do some honest thinking. I don’t want you to forget what God’s prophets said would happen. You must never forget what the holy prophets taught in the past. And you must remember what the apostles told you our Lord and Savior has commanded us to do.

But first you must realize that in the last days some people won’t think about anything except their own selfish desires. They will make fun of you and say, “Didn’t your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have already died, and the world hasn’t changed a bit.”

They will say this because they want to forget that long ago the heavens and the earth were made at God’s command. The earth came out of water and was made from water. Later it was destroyed by the waters of a mighty flood. But God has commanded the present heavens and earth to remain until the day of judgment. Then they will be set on fire, and ungodly people will be destroyed.

Dear friends, don’t forget that for the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years is the same as one day. The Lord isn’t slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is. In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.

10 The day of the Lord’s return will surprise us like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a loud noise, and the heat will melt the whole universe.[a] Then the earth and everything on it will be seen for what they are.[b]

11 Everything will be destroyed. So you should serve and honor God by the way you live. 12 You should look forward to the day when God judges everyone, and you should try to make it come soon.[c] On that day the heavens will be destroyed by fire, and everything else will melt in the heat. 13 But God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, where justice will rule. We are really looking forward to that!

14 My friends, while you are waiting, you should make certain that the Lord finds you pure, spotless, and living at peace. 15 Don’t forget that the Lord is patient because he wants people to be saved. This is also what our dear friend Paul said when he wrote you with the wisdom that God had given him. 16 Paul talks about these same things in all his letters, but part of what he says is hard to understand. Some ignorant and unsteady people even destroy themselves by twisting what he said. They do the same thing with other Scriptures too.

17 My dear friends, you have been warned ahead of time! So don’t let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance. 18 Let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you to keep on growing. Praise Jesus now and forever! Amen.[d]

Footnotes:

  1. 3.10 the whole universe: Probably the sun, moon, and stars, or the elements that everything in the universe is made of.
  2. 3.10 will be seen for what they are: Some manuscripts have “will go up in flames.”
  3. 3.12 and you should try to make it come soon: Or “and you should eagerly desire for that day to come.”
  4. 3.18 Amen: Some manuscripts do not have “Amen.”

Psalm 119:129-152

129 Your teachings are wonderful,
and I respect them all.
130 Understanding your word
brings light
to the minds
of ordinary people.
131 I honestly want to know
everything you teach.
132 Think about me and be kind,
just as you are to everyone
who loves your name.
133 Keep your promise
and don’t let me stumble
or let sin control my life.
134 Protect me from abuse,
so I can obey your laws.
135 Smile on me, your servant,
and teach me your laws.
136 When anyone disobeys you,
my eyes overflow with tears.

137 Our Lord, you always do right,
and your decisions are fair.
138 All of your teachings are true
and trustworthy.
139 It upsets me greatly
when my enemies neglect
your teachings.
140 Your word to me, your servant,
is like pure gold;
I treasure what you say.
141 Everyone calls me a nobody,
but I remember your laws.
142 You will always do right,
and your teachings are true.
143 I am in deep distress,
but I love your teachings.
144 Your rules are always fair.
Help me to understand them
and live.

145 I pray to you, Lord!
Please answer me.
I promise to obey your laws.
146 I beg you to save me,
so I can follow your rules.
147 Even before sunrise,
I pray for your help,
and I put my hope
in what you have said.
148 I lie awake at night,
thinking of your promises.
149 Show that you love me, Lord,
and answer my prayer.
Please do the right thing
and save my life.
150 People who disobey your Law
have made evil plans
and want to hurt me,
151 but you are with me,
and all of your commands
can be trusted.
152 From studying your laws,
I found out long ago
that you made them
to last forever.

Proverbs 28:21-22

21 It isn’t right to be unfair,
but some people can be bribed
with only a piece of bread.
22 Don’t be selfish
and eager to get rich—
you will end up worse off
than you can imagine.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday November 28, 2018 (NIV)

Daniel 5

King Belshazzar’s Banquet

One evening, King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his highest officials, and he drank wine with them. He got drunk and ordered his servants to bring in the gold and silver cups his father Nebuchadnezzar[a] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Belshazzar wanted the cups, so that he and all his wives and officials could drink from them.

3-4 When the gold cups were brought in, everyone at the banquet drank from them and praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Suddenly a human hand was seen writing on the plaster wall of the palace. The hand was just behind the lampstand, and the king could see it writing. He was so frightened that his face turned pale, his knees started shaking, and his legs became weak.

The king called in his advisors, who claimed they could talk with the spirits of the dead and understand the meanings found in the stars. He told them, “The man who can read this writing and tell me what it means will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. He will wear robes of royal purple and a gold chain around his neck.”

All of King Belshazzar’s highest officials came in, but not one of them could read the writing or tell what it meant, and they were completely puzzled. Now the king was more afraid than ever before, and his face turned white as a ghost.

10 When the queen heard the king and his officials talking, she came in and said:

Your Majesty, I hope you live forever! Don’t be afraid or look so pale. 11 In your kingdom there is a man who has been given special powers by the holy gods. When your father Nebuchadnezzar was king, this man was known to be as smart, intelligent, and wise as the gods themselves. Your father put him in charge of all who claimed they could talk with the spirits or understand the meanings in the stars or tell about the future. 12 He also changed the man’s name from Daniel to Belteshazzar. Not only is he wise and intelligent, but he can explain dreams and riddles and solve difficult problems. Send for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.

13 When Daniel was brought in, the king said:

So you are Daniel, one of the captives my father brought back from Judah! 14 I was told that the gods have given you special powers and that you are intelligent and very wise. 15 Neither my advisors nor the men who talk with the spirits of the dead could read this writing or tell me what it means. 16 But I have been told that you understand everything and that you can solve difficult problems. Now then, if you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. You will wear royal purple robes and have a gold chain around your neck.

17 Daniel answered:

Your Majesty, I will read the writing and tell you what it means. But you may keep your gifts or give them to someone else. 18 Sir, the Most High God made your father a great and powerful man and brought him much honor and glory. 19 God did such great things for him that people of all nations and races shook with fear.

Your father had the power of life or death over everyone, and he could honor or ruin anyone he chose. 20 But when he became proud and stubborn, his glorious kingdom was taken from him. 21 His mind became like that of an animal, and he was forced to stay away from people and live with wild donkeys. Your father ate grass like an ox, and he slept outside where his body was soaked with dew. He was forced to do this until he learned that the Most High God rules all kingdoms on earth and chooses their kings.

22 King Belshazzar, you knew all of this, but you still refused to honor the Lord who rules from heaven. 23 Instead, you turned against him and ordered the cups from his temple to be brought here, so that you and your wives and officials could drink wine from them. You praised idols made of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, even though they cannot see or hear or think. You refused to worship the God who gives you breath and controls everything you do. 24 That’s why he sent the hand to write this message on the wall.

25-28 The words written there are mene, which means “numbered,” tekel, which means “weighed,” and parsin,[b] which means “divided.” God has numbered the days of your kingdom and has brought it to an end. He has weighed you on his balance scales, and you fall short of what it takes to be king. So God has divided your kingdom between the Medes and the Persians.

29 Belshazzar gave a command for Daniel to be made the third most powerful man in his kingdom and to be given a purple robe and a gold chain.

30 That same night, the king was killed. 31 Then Darius the Mede, who was sixty-two years old, took over his kingdom.

Footnotes:

  1. 5.2 his father Nebuchadnezzar: Belshazzar was actually the son of King Nabonidus, who was from another family. But in ancient times, it was possible to refer to a previous king as the “father” of the present king.
  2. 5.25-28 mene. . . tekel. . . parsin: In the Aramaic text of verse 25, the words “mene, tekel, parsin,” are used, and in verses 26-28 the words “mene, tekel, peres” (the singular of “parsin”) are used. “Parsin” means “divided,” but “peres” can mean either “divided” or “Persia.”

2 Peter 2

False Prophets and Teachers

Sometimes false prophets spoke to the people of Israel. False teachers will also sneak in and speak harmful lies to you. But these teachers don’t really belong to the Master who paid a great price for them, and they will quickly destroy themselves. Many people will follow their evil ways and cause others to tell lies about the true way. They will be greedy and cheat you with smooth talk. But long ago God decided to punish them, and God doesn’t sleep.

God did not have pity on the angels that sinned. He had them tied up and thrown into the dark pits of hell until the time of judgment. And during Noah’s time, God did not have pity on the ungodly people of the world. He destroyed them with a flood, though he did save eight people, including Noah, who preached the truth.

God punished the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah[a] by burning them to ashes, and this is a warning to anyone else who wants to sin.

7-8 Lot lived right and was greatly troubled by the terrible way those wicked people were living. He was a good man, and day after day he suffered because of the evil things he saw and heard. So the Lord rescued him. This shows that the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their sufferings and to punish evil people while they wait for the day of judgment.

10 The Lord is especially hard on people who disobey him and don’t think of anything except their own filthy desires. They are reckless and proud and are not afraid of cursing the glorious beings in heaven. 11 Although angels are more powerful than these evil beings,[b] even the angels don’t dare to accuse them to the Lord.

12 These people are no better than senseless animals that live by their feelings and are born to be caught and killed. They speak evil of things they don’t know anything about. But their own corrupt deeds will destroy them. 13 They have done evil, and they will be rewarded with evil.

They think it is fun to have wild parties during the day. They are immoral, and the meals they eat with you are spoiled by the shameful and selfish way they carry on.[c] 14 All they think about is having sex with someone else’s husband or wife. There is no end to their wicked deeds. They trick people who are easily fooled, and their minds are filled with greedy thoughts. But they are headed for trouble!

15 They have left the true road and have gone down the wrong path by following the example of the prophet Balaam. He was the son of Beor and loved what he got from being a crook. 16 But a donkey corrected him for this evil deed. It spoke to him with a human voice and made him stop his foolishness.

17 These people are like dried up water holes and clouds blown by a windstorm. The darkest part of hell is waiting for them. 18 They brag out loud about their stupid nonsense. And by being vulgar and crude, they trap people who have barely escaped from living the wrong kind of life. 19 They promise freedom to everyone. But they are merely slaves of filthy living, because people are slaves of whatever controls them.

20 When they learned about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they escaped from the filthy things of this world. But they are again caught up and controlled by these filthy things, and now they are in worse shape than they were at first. 21 They would have been better off if they had never known about the right way. Even after they knew what was right, they turned their backs on the holy commandments that they were given. 22 What happened to them is just like the true saying,

“A dog will come back
to lick up its own vomit.
A pig that has been washed
will roll in the mud.”

Footnotes:

  1. 2.6 Sodom and Gomorrah: During the time of Abraham the Lord destroyed these cities because the people there were so evil (see Genesis 19.24).
  2. 2.11 evil beings: Or “evil teachers.”
  3. 2.13 and the meals they eat with you are spoiled by the shameful and selfish way they carry on: Some manuscripts have “and the meals they eat with you are spoiled by the shameful way they carry on during your feasts of Christian love.”

Psalm 119:113-128

113 I hate anyone
whose loyalty is divided,
but I love your Law.
114 You are my place of safety
and my shield.
Your word is my only hope.

115 All of you worthless people,
get away from me!
I am determined to obey
the commands of my God.

116 Be true to your word, Lord.
Keep me alive and strong;
don’t let me be ashamed
because of my hope.
117 Keep me safe and secure,
so that I will always
respect your laws.
118 You reject all deceitful liars
because they refuse
your teachings.
119 As far as you are concerned,
all evil people are[a] garbage,
and so I follow your rules.
120 I tremble all over
when I think of you
and the way you judge.

121 I did what was fair and right!
Don’t hand me over to those
who want to mistreat me.
122 Take good care of me,
your servant,
and don’t let me be harmed
by those conceited people.
123 My eyes are weary from waiting
to see you keep your promise
to come and save me.
124 Show your love for me,
your servant,
and teach me your laws.
125 I serve you,
so let me understand
your teachings.
126 Do something, Lord!
They have broken your Law.
127 Your laws mean more to me
than the finest gold.
128 I follow all of your commands,[b]
but I hate anyone
who leads me astray.

Footnotes:

  1. 119.119 As far as. . . are: A few Hebrew manuscripts and ancient translations. Most Hebrew manuscripts have “You get rid of evil people as if they were.”
  2. 119.128 I. . . commands: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

Proverbs 28:19-20

19 Work hard, and you will have
a lot of food;
waste time, and you will have
a lot of trouble.

20 God blesses his loyal people,
but punishes all who want
to get rich quick.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday November 28, 2018 (NIV)

Daniel 5

King Belshazzar’s Banquet

One evening, King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his highest officials, and he drank wine with them. He got drunk and ordered his servants to bring in the gold and silver cups his father Nebuchadnezzar[a] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Belshazzar wanted the cups, so that he and all his wives and officials could drink from them.

3-4 When the gold cups were brought in, everyone at the banquet drank from them and praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Suddenly a human hand was seen writing on the plaster wall of the palace. The hand was just behind the lampstand, and the king could see it writing. He was so frightened that his face turned pale, his knees started shaking, and his legs became weak.

The king called in his advisors, who claimed they could talk with the spirits of the dead and understand the meanings found in the stars. He told them, “The man who can read this writing and tell me what it means will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. He will wear robes of royal purple and a gold chain around his neck.”

All of King Belshazzar’s highest officials came in, but not one of them could read the writing or tell what it meant, and they were completely puzzled. Now the king was more afraid than ever before, and his face turned white as a ghost.

10 When the queen heard the king and his officials talking, she came in and said:

Your Majesty, I hope you live forever! Don’t be afraid or look so pale. 11 In your kingdom there is a man who has been given special powers by the holy gods. When your father Nebuchadnezzar was king, this man was known to be as smart, intelligent, and wise as the gods themselves. Your father put him in charge of all who claimed they could talk with the spirits or understand the meanings in the stars or tell about the future. 12 He also changed the man’s name from Daniel to Belteshazzar. Not only is he wise and intelligent, but he can explain dreams and riddles and solve difficult problems. Send for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.

13 When Daniel was brought in, the king said:

So you are Daniel, one of the captives my father brought back from Judah! 14 I was told that the gods have given you special powers and that you are intelligent and very wise. 15 Neither my advisors nor the men who talk with the spirits of the dead could read this writing or tell me what it means. 16 But I have been told that you understand everything and that you can solve difficult problems. Now then, if you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. You will wear royal purple robes and have a gold chain around your neck.

17 Daniel answered:

Your Majesty, I will read the writing and tell you what it means. But you may keep your gifts or give them to someone else. 18 Sir, the Most High God made your father a great and powerful man and brought him much honor and glory. 19 God did such great things for him that people of all nations and races shook with fear.

Your father had the power of life or death over everyone, and he could honor or ruin anyone he chose. 20 But when he became proud and stubborn, his glorious kingdom was taken from him. 21 His mind became like that of an animal, and he was forced to stay away from people and live with wild donkeys. Your father ate grass like an ox, and he slept outside where his body was soaked with dew. He was forced to do this until he learned that the Most High God rules all kingdoms on earth and chooses their kings.

22 King Belshazzar, you knew all of this, but you still refused to honor the Lord who rules from heaven. 23 Instead, you turned against him and ordered the cups from his temple to be brought here, so that you and your wives and officials could drink wine from them. You praised idols made of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, even though they cannot see or hear or think. You refused to worship the God who gives you breath and controls everything you do. 24 That’s why he sent the hand to write this message on the wall.

25-28 The words written there are mene, which means “numbered,” tekel, which means “weighed,” and parsin,[b] which means “divided.” God has numbered the days of your kingdom and has brought it to an end. He has weighed you on his balance scales, and you fall short of what it takes to be king. So God has divided your kingdom between the Medes and the Persians.

29 Belshazzar gave a command for Daniel to be made the third most powerful man in his kingdom and to be given a purple robe and a gold chain.

30 That same night, the king was killed. 31 Then Darius the Mede, who was sixty-two years old, took over his kingdom.

Footnotes:

  1. 5.2 his father Nebuchadnezzar: Belshazzar was actually the son of King Nabonidus, who was from another family. But in ancient times, it was possible to refer to a previous king as the “father” of the present king.
  2. 5.25-28 mene. . . tekel. . . parsin: In the Aramaic text of verse 25, the words “mene, tekel, parsin,” are used, and in verses 26-28 the words “mene, tekel, peres” (the singular of “parsin”) are used. “Parsin” means “divided,” but “peres” can mean either “divided” or “Persia.”

2 Peter 2

False Prophets and Teachers

Sometimes false prophets spoke to the people of Israel. False teachers will also sneak in and speak harmful lies to you. But these teachers don’t really belong to the Master who paid a great price for them, and they will quickly destroy themselves. Many people will follow their evil ways and cause others to tell lies about the true way. They will be greedy and cheat you with smooth talk. But long ago God decided to punish them, and God doesn’t sleep.

God did not have pity on the angels that sinned. He had them tied up and thrown into the dark pits of hell until the time of judgment. And during Noah’s time, God did not have pity on the ungodly people of the world. He destroyed them with a flood, though he did save eight people, including Noah, who preached the truth.

God punished the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah[a] by burning them to ashes, and this is a warning to anyone else who wants to sin.

7-8 Lot lived right and was greatly troubled by the terrible way those wicked people were living. He was a good man, and day after day he suffered because of the evil things he saw and heard. So the Lord rescued him. This shows that the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their sufferings and to punish evil people while they wait for the day of judgment.

10 The Lord is especially hard on people who disobey him and don’t think of anything except their own filthy desires. They are reckless and proud and are not afraid of cursing the glorious beings in heaven. 11 Although angels are more powerful than these evil beings,[b] even the angels don’t dare to accuse them to the Lord.

12 These people are no better than senseless animals that live by their feelings and are born to be caught and killed. They speak evil of things they don’t know anything about. But their own corrupt deeds will destroy them. 13 They have done evil, and they will be rewarded with evil.

They think it is fun to have wild parties during the day. They are immoral, and the meals they eat with you are spoiled by the shameful and selfish way they carry on.[c] 14 All they think about is having sex with someone else’s husband or wife. There is no end to their wicked deeds. They trick people who are easily fooled, and their minds are filled with greedy thoughts. But they are headed for trouble!

15 They have left the true road and have gone down the wrong path by following the example of the prophet Balaam. He was the son of Beor and loved what he got from being a crook. 16 But a donkey corrected him for this evil deed. It spoke to him with a human voice and made him stop his foolishness.

17 These people are like dried up water holes and clouds blown by a windstorm. The darkest part of hell is waiting for them. 18 They brag out loud about their stupid nonsense. And by being vulgar and crude, they trap people who have barely escaped from living the wrong kind of life. 19 They promise freedom to everyone. But they are merely slaves of filthy living, because people are slaves of whatever controls them.

20 When they learned about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they escaped from the filthy things of this world. But they are again caught up and controlled by these filthy things, and now they are in worse shape than they were at first. 21 They would have been better off if they had never known about the right way. Even after they knew what was right, they turned their backs on the holy commandments that they were given. 22 What happened to them is just like the true saying,

“A dog will come back
to lick up its own vomit.
A pig that has been washed
will roll in the mud.”

Footnotes:

  1. 2.6 Sodom and Gomorrah: During the time of Abraham the Lord destroyed these cities because the people there were so evil (see Genesis 19.24).
  2. 2.11 evil beings: Or “evil teachers.”
  3. 2.13 and the meals they eat with you are spoiled by the shameful and selfish way they carry on: Some manuscripts have “and the meals they eat with you are spoiled by the shameful way they carry on during your feasts of Christian love.”

Psalm 119:113-128

113 I hate anyone
whose loyalty is divided,
but I love your Law.
114 You are my place of safety
and my shield.
Your word is my only hope.

115 All of you worthless people,
get away from me!
I am determined to obey
the commands of my God.

116 Be true to your word, Lord.
Keep me alive and strong;
don’t let me be ashamed
because of my hope.
117 Keep me safe and secure,
so that I will always
respect your laws.
118 You reject all deceitful liars
because they refuse
your teachings.
119 As far as you are concerned,
all evil people are[a] garbage,
and so I follow your rules.
120 I tremble all over
when I think of you
and the way you judge.

121 I did what was fair and right!
Don’t hand me over to those
who want to mistreat me.
122 Take good care of me,
your servant,
and don’t let me be harmed
by those conceited people.
123 My eyes are weary from waiting
to see you keep your promise
to come and save me.
124 Show your love for me,
your servant,
and teach me your laws.
125 I serve you,
so let me understand
your teachings.
126 Do something, Lord!
They have broken your Law.
127 Your laws mean more to me
than the finest gold.
128 I follow all of your commands,[b]
but I hate anyone
who leads me astray.

Footnotes:

  1. 119.119 As far as. . . are: A few Hebrew manuscripts and ancient translations. Most Hebrew manuscripts have “You get rid of evil people as if they were.”
  2. 119.128 I. . . commands: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

Proverbs 28:19-20

19 Work hard, and you will have
a lot of food;
waste time, and you will have
a lot of trouble.

20 God blesses his loyal people,
but punishes all who want
to get rich quick.

11/27/2018 DAB Transcript

Daniel 4:1-37, 2 Peter 1:1-21, Psalms 119:97-112, Proverbs 28:17-18

Today is the 27th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is a pleasure to be here with you as we enjoy these final days of this 11th month together. So, we’ve been reading from the Contemporary English Version this week, which is, of course, what we’ll continue to do throughout the rest of this week, but when we get to the New Testament today we will be beginning a new book, a new letter, known as second Peter and we’ll talk about that when we get there, but first, we are in the book of Daniel, chapter 4 verses 1 through 37 today.

Introduction to 2 Peter:

Okay. So, like we said at the beginning, we are beginning another letter and things are just going to speed up as we continue to move to the old and new Testaments. There’ll be a season in December where it’s like we’re beginning a new book every day, but the letter that we’re beginning today is thought to be the final writing of the apostle Peter. Now, it’s only fair to at least point out that the authenticity of this letter has been questioned and it’s not like a new thing, like somebody trying to dismantle the Bible or something like that. This goes all the way back into antiquity. And, so, by authenticity, we don’t mean that the letter exists or that it was inspired by God, or that it belongs in the Bible, but mean that the author matches the name of the letter, right? So, that the author was the apostle Peter. Acceptance of this is something that happened over time and over time the letter was fully considered Scripture, but by the fourth century. So, in more modern times of scholarship it’s the stylistic differences that have been observed between first and second Peter. So, those who would defend Peter’s authorship would say that he, you know, was probably illiterate and whatever he could write, maybe couldn’t write like a whole letter. And, so, he would dictate to a secretary or someone helping him what he wanted to say. And, so, the differences between first and second Peter would be because he dictated the text to a different person. So, kind of the net /net of all of this is that, all in all, there are compelling reasons to consider this letter as we do the book of Hebrews, right? So, the author is unknown. But there are equally compelling reasons to consider the author to be the apostle Peter as named in the letter. So, if the apostle Peter wrote a second Peter, it would’ve probably been in the late 60s AD and he was martyred shortly thereafter. It’s church tradition that holds that Peter was crucified upside down at his own request during his death, during his execution even though the Bible doesn’t explicitly verify this. And Peter doesn’t explicitly say to whom he’s writing in this second letter of Peter. He says he’s writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. So, we assumed that he was writing to the same people that he’d previously written to because he refers to the first letter in this second letter, but if he’s writing to you who share the same precious faith we have then, I mean, then he’s writing to us too…like…that criteria matches a lot of people. So, you know, whereas the point of first Peter was to bolster and give instructions to believers about how to ensure the pressures that are coming against them. Second Peter’s point is about false teachings and evil behavior from within the church. And we should probably be giving Second Peter just as much gravity as we did Second Timothy knowing that Second Timothy was the final words of the apostle Paul. You know, we gave it the gravity that it was due, and we should do the same with Second Peter knowing that…well…knowing that Peter knew he was about to die. And he says as much in the letter. And, so, this is a man who walked with Jesus along the Sea of Galilee, right? This is a man who saw Jesus perform miracles. This is somebody who laughed out loud and heard Jesus laughing out loud. This is a person who cried with Jesus, lived with Him, ate his last supper with Hi, and then denied Him and watched Him die, but this is also a man who saw Jesus raised to life again. This is the man who preached the first sermon after the coming of the Holy Spirit, right, with the tongues of fire at Pentecost, where 3000 people chose to follow Jesus right at the origination of the church, that these may be the final living words of the apostle Peter. And, so, they should carry weight in our lives. And we’ll see that he chose to use those final words as a means of encouragement, encouragement to maturity, and to combat false teaching, and remind us of the certainty that Jesus will come for us. And, so, with that being said, we begin today, Second Peter chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word. And as we acknowledged just a little bit ago, things do speed up. Certainly, they speed up in time because of the holiday season that we are in. And they speed up in the Scriptures as we move closer and closer into the minor prophets and in some of the shorter books in the New Testament, some of the shorter letters. And, so, it’s as if the Bible speeds up even as our lives speed up. And it’s an important time that we put into practice all that we’ve learned all year long about the fact that our intimacy with you is something from within and not from without. And we acknowledge that everything from without is being disrupted in this season. And, so, it’s easy for us to lose touch with ourselves, with our hearts, with you because of all the festivities and all of the activity. So, come Holy Spirit we pray as we move through these final days of this 11th month of the year. Lead us into all truth we ask in Your precious name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And, yeah, we’ve been talking about the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box for a few days. And those are those are flying out. So, if you haven’t had a chance to look into it yet, this is this is an opportunity where we try to gather as high an impact of resources that we have and bundle them together so that that its as cost-effective as this possible. So, these resources cannot only get into your life but into the lives of those that you choose to give them to. And this is good Box. There’s the Promise Land two DVD set - over four hours of content that allows you to immerse yourself in the land of the Bible and kind of fly in and look around at the places that we’ve been visiting all year. So, that’s in the Box. Then, my books, Reframe and Sneezing Jesus, two books that really go together in terms of spiritual transformation and just…you know…just trying to unpack some of the jargon of our faith. Like, what do we mean when we say we’re in a relationship with God? And what is it that Jesus coming to earth and dying for our sins is supposed…what is that supposed to do for our humanity? We know that’s supposed to do for our eternity but what is that supposed to do now? These things are explored in these books and they’re my best shot. I mean, there my best shot of wrestling and wrestling and wrestling with my own faith. And, so, those are in the Box. My friend, Robert, has written the book named “Going”…or titled, Going Solo. And I wrote the forward to that book. And its it’s the journey of a single parent. And I wanted it in the Box this year for a couple reasons. One, because it’s an honest look at this topic. It’s not just full of, you know, trite little promise kinds of pat on the back sort of things, you know, little encouragements. It’s like down in the mud. It’s like down in what it’s really like and how to find hope in all of that, that season that can be very lonely when you’re going solo but you have kids that are depending on you. So, me just saying that…I just…I mean…there are tens of thousands of you who know exactly what I’m talking about because you’re walking that road. But I don’t believe there’s anybody that doesn’t have someone in their lives walking down a path. And this is a great resource because it does not pander at all. Like, it’s an honest friend. So, that’s in the Christmas Box. The annual Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb with our word, “Hope”, on it for the year 2018 is in the Box. A pack of the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards for this year, those also contain our word, “Hope” on the front of them and they’re beautiful, beautiful this year. So, a pack of 20 of those with their matching envelopes, those are in the Box. And our own, one-of-a-kind, Black Wing pencils that are labeled with Daily Audio Bible on the side. We can’t even sell them. We just approached Black Wing to see if we could get them and made they were gracious enough to make them, and we can put one in the box but we can’t sell them, you know, like in boxes of 12 like Black Wings go, but they’re in the Box or it’s in the Box as well. And something else, a surprise from our vault, one additional resource. We have a number of resources but some of them we don’t have enough in stock to give everybody. So, we decided let’s use these, let’s get these into the hands of people. And, so, a surprise item is well. So, you can find all of this at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop, in the in the Christmas section. And, so, check it out. You also buy the cards, just a pack of 20 cards and envelopes, like if you need more cards. I mean we don't…I mean we make these and we go to the labor of it every year because its part of our community experience, but these resources…like…we’re not making them to make money off of you. So, you can get 20 cards for five bucks. And I don't…I mean…that's…I think that’s as good as it would get anywhere. We’ve made them as resources for the community so, that you can invite your friends and family along on the journey with you next year if you want. So, check all that out at dailyaudiobible.com.

Also, don’t forget the family Christmas CD, our music that I created a couple of years ago. I love Christmas music. I always have my whole life. And before I was doing this my life was the music industry as a record producer. So, that’s something that I have always loved and have had to give up in some ways to do ministry, but still love to create. And I created this a couple of years ago and just a very, very contemplative, orchestrated, peaceful Carols. And, so, you can get that at dailyaudiobible.com as well or he know if you like iTunes or what wherever, wherever you get your downloaded digital music, just look up Family Christmas, look up my name and you can stream it all you want, but make it a part of the Christmas journey, especially as we approach the Advent season and the season to contemplate the mystery and the overwhelming display of love, that God would come in person to rescue us. I think that the family Christmas album sets that tone well. So, make that a part of your season as a part of the community experience that we share here.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. I thank you profoundly. Like, we literally…the global campfire would not continue to burn if we didn’t throw logs on it, and that’s something that we each do. And, So, thank you, thank you for your partnership. 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 you here tomorrow.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday November 27, 2018 (NIV)

Daniel 4

King Nebuchadnezzar’s Letter about His Second Dream

King Nebuchadnezzar sent the following letter to the people of all nations and races on the earth:

Greetings to all of you!
I am glad to tell about
the wonderful miracles
God Most High
has done for me.
His miracles are mighty
and marvelous.
He will rule forever,
and his kingdom
will never end.

I was enjoying a time of peace and prosperity, when suddenly I had some horrifying dreams and visions. Then I commanded every wise man in Babylonia to appear in my court, so they could explain the meaning of my dream. After they arrived, I told them my dream, but they were not able to say what it meant. Finally, a young man named Daniel came in, and I told him the dream. The holy gods had given him special powers, and I had renamed him Belteshazzar after my own god.

I said, “Belteshazzar, not only are you the wisest of all advisors and counselors, but the holy gods have given you special powers to solve the most difficult mysteries. So listen to what I dreamed and tell me what it means:

10 In my sleep I saw
a very tall tree
in the center of the world.
11 It grew stronger and higher,
until it reached to heaven
and could be seen
from anywhere on earth.
12 It was covered with leaves
and heavy with fruit—
enough for all nations.
Wild animals enjoyed its shade,
birds nested in its branches,
and all creatures on earth
lived on its fruit.

13 “While I was in bed, having this vision, a holy angel[a] came down from heaven 14 and shouted:

‘Chop down the tree
and cut off its branches;
strip off its leaves
and scatter its fruit.
Make the animals leave its shade
and send the birds flying
from its branches.
15 But leave its stump and roots
in the ground,
surrounded by grass
and held by chains
of iron and bronze.

‘Make sure that this ruler
lives like the animals
out in the open fields,
unprotected from the dew.
16 Give him the mind
of a wild animal
for seven long years.[b]
17 This punishment is given
at the command
of the holy angels.[c]
It will show to all who live
that God Most High
controls all kingdoms
and chooses for their rulers
persons of humble birth.'

18 “Daniel,[d] that was the dream that none of the wise men in my kingdom were able to understand. But I am sure that you will understand what it means, because the holy gods have given you some special powers.”

19 For a while, Daniel[e] was terribly confused and worried by what he was thinking. But I said, “Don’t be bothered either by the dream or by what it means.”

Daniel replied:

Your Majesty, I wish the dream had been against your enemies. 20 You saw a tree that grew so big and strong that it reached up to heaven and could be seen from anywhere on earth. 21 Its leaves were beautiful, and it produced enough fruit for all living creatures; animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. 22 Your Majesty, that tree is you. Your glorious reputation has reached heaven, and your kingdom covers the earth.

23 Then you saw a holy angel[f] come down from heaven and say, “Chop down the tree and destroy it! But leave its stump and roots in the ground, fastened there by a chain of iron and bronze. Let it stay for seven years[g] out in the field with the wild animals, unprotected from the dew.”

24 Your Majesty, God Most High has sent you this message, and it means 25 that you will be forced to live with the wild animals, far away from humans. You will eat grass like a wild animal and live outdoors for seven years,[h] until you learn that God Most High controls all earthly kingdoms and chooses their rulers. 26 But he gave orders not to disturb the stump and roots. This is to show that you will be king once again, after you learn that the God who rules from heaven is in control. 27 Your Majesty, please be willing to do what I say. Turn from your sins and start living right; have mercy on those who are mistreated. Then all will go well with you for a long time.

The Rest of Nebuchadnezzar’s Letter about His Second Dream

28-30 About twelve months later, I was walking on the flat roof of my royal palace and admiring the beautiful city of Babylon, when these things started happening to me. I was saying to myself, “Just look at this wonderful capital city that I have built by my own power and for my own glory!”

31 But before I could finish speaking, a voice from heaven interrupted:

King Nebuchadnezzar, this kingdom is no longer yours. 32 You will be forced to live with the wild animals, away from people. For seven years[i] you will eat grass, as though you were an ox, until you learn that God Most High is in control of all earthly kingdoms and that he is the one who chooses their rulers.

33 This was no sooner said than done—I was forced to live like a wild animal; I ate grass and was unprotected from the dew. As time went by, my hair grew longer than eagle feathers, and my fingernails looked like the claws of a bird.

34 Finally, I prayed to God in heaven, and my mind was healed. Then I said:

“I praise and honor
God Most High.
He lives forever,
and his kingdom
will never end.
35 To him the nations
are far less than nothing;
God controls the stars in the sky
and everyone on this earth.
When God does something,
we cannot change it
or even ask why.”

36 At that time my mind was healed, and once again I became the ruler of my glorious kingdom. My advisors and officials returned to me, and I had greater power than ever before. 37 That’s why I say:

“Praise and honor the King
who rules from heaven!
Everything he does
is honest and fair,
and he can shatter the power
of those who are proud.”

Footnotes:

  1. 4.13 angel: The Aramaic text has “watcher,” which may be some special class of angel.
  2. 4.16 long years: Aramaic “times.”
  3. 4.17 angels: See the note at 4.13.
  4. 4.18,19 Daniel: See the note at 2.26.
  5. 4.18,19 Daniel: See the note at 2.26.
  6. 4.23 angel: See the note at 4.13.
  7. 4.23,25,32 years: Aramaic “times.”
  8. 4.23,25,32 years: Aramaic “times.”
  9. 4.23,25,32 years: Aramaic “times.”

2 Peter 1

From Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.

To everyone who shares with us in the privilege of believing that our God and Savior Jesus Christ will do what is just and fair.[a]

I pray that God will be kind to you and will let you live in perfect peace! May you keep learning more and more about God and our Lord Jesus.

Living as the Lord’s Followers

We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.

Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love. If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful. But if you don’t grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven.

10 My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won’t stumble and fall. 11 Then our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give you a glorious welcome into his kingdom that will last forever.

12 You are holding firmly to the truth that you were given. But I am still going to remind you of these things. 13 In fact, I think I should keep on reminding you until I leave this body. 14 And our Lord Jesus Christ has already told me that I will soon leave it behind. 15 That is why I am doing my best to make sure that each of you remembers all of this after I am gone.

The Message about the Glory of Christ

16 When we told you about the power and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling clever stories that someone had made up. But with our own eyes we saw his true greatness. 17 God, our great and wonderful Father, truly honored him by saying, “This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him.” 18 We were there with Jesus on the holy mountain and heard this voice speak from heaven.

19 All of this makes us even more certain that what the prophets said is true. So you should pay close attention to their message, as you would to a lamp shining in some dark place. You must keep on paying attention until daylight comes and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 But you need to realize that no one alone can understand any of the prophecies in the Scriptures. 21 The prophets did not think these things up on their own, but they were guided by the Spirit of God.

Footnotes:

  1. 1.1 To everyone who. . . just and fair: Or “To everyone whose faith in the justice and fairness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ is as precious as our own faith.”

Psalm 119:97-112

97 I deeply love your Law!
I think about it all day.
98 Your laws never leave my mind,
and they make me much wiser
than my enemies.
99 Thinking about your teachings
gives me better understanding
than my teachers,
100 and obeying your laws
makes me wiser
than those
who have lived a long time.
101 I obey your word
instead of following a way
that leads to trouble.
102 You have been my teacher,
and I won’t reject
your instructions.
103 Your teachings are sweeter
than honey.
104 They give me understanding
and make me hate all lies.

105 Your word is a lamp
that gives light
wherever I walk.
106 Your laws are fair,
and I have given my word
to respect them all.
107 I am in terrible pain!
Save me, Lord,
as you said you would.
108 Accept my offerings of praise
and teach me your laws.
109 I never forget your teachings,
although my life is always
in danger.
110 Some merciless people
are trying to trap me,
but I never turn my back
on your teachings.
111 They will always be
my most prized possession
and my source of joy.
112 I have made up my mind
to obey your laws forever,
no matter what.

Proverbs 28:17-18

17 Don’t give help to murderers!
Make them stay on the run
for as long as they live.[a]

18 Honesty will keep you safe,
but everyone who is crooked
will suddenly fall.

Footnotes:

  1. 28.17 live: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 17.

11/26/2018 DAB Transcript

Daniel 2:24-3:30, 1 Peter 4:7-5:14, Psalms 119:81-96, Proverbs 28:15-16

Today is the 26th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today. I’m buckled in here in the Daily Audio Bible chair with the Daily Audio Bible mic in front of me and a nice steamy cup of Windfarm coffee just sitting here to my left, being kept warm by Daily Audio Bible Clean Canteen. It’s all things Daily Audio Bible. And off we go into a new day and a new work week. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. And we started the week, which was yesterday, we started the book of Daniel. And, so we will continue Daniel chapter 2 verse 24 through 3 verse 30 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in our reading today from the New Testament we concluded the apostle Peter’s first letter. And it will be hard to not notice that the theme of endurance was like running throughout the whole letter. And we’ve spent plenty of time discussing the fact that a lot of the letters in the New Testament were written to marginalize believers who were trying to avoid persecution, right? Unrest. So, it’s interesting when we’re talking about a topic like this, it just kind of goes by us. Like, we think back on how those people were under pressure and then we may even take it a step further and think about the persecuted believers who are in the world today, but we don’t really have a grid to understand what we’re talking about, not really, because the truth is, I mean, the majority, the vast majority of us haven’t faced any kind of persecution. We may have phrased marginalization for some reason or another and so we know, kind of, what that’s like, but like out and out full-blown persecution we don’t really understand the grid. So, let’s just take a minute because this theme of endurance, as I’ve said, like, a lot of times, it’s not gonna let go. This is going to follow us all the way to the end of the year. And there’s a reason for it. I mean, the message of endurance and staying true was the message that was given to people who were being persecuted. So, it was a message of encouragement to tell them to hold on. And that’s a message we still need to hear. So, during the earliest years of the church it was not illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire, but Roman society and the culture in the Empire were polytheistic. In other words, they believe that there was a plethora of many god’s. So, for them, god’s were everywhere and they were involved in all kinds of human activity, right, for good or for mischief. And people could worship whatever gods or goddesses that they wanted. It was expected that the gods of the Empire, right, the ones that made Rome great, these were to be worshiped by all in the Empire. And Christians wouldn’t do this, so, it immediately made them stand out. Now, Jewish people, they wouldn’t do is either, they would not worship the gods of the Empire, but they were tolerated because they were following a very ancient religion. And, so, for a time, since Christianity, since The Way, right, following Jesus, came out of a Jewish context, for a while Christianity was perceived basically as just a sect of the Jewish faith, right, like the adherence to a specific rabbi. But as we will recall through the letters of the apostle Paul in the book of Acts, there was a rift in the early church about Gentiles. And when that got settled in favor of the Gentiles, right, like an inclusive gospel that welcomed anyone who believed, then this didn’t work with Judaism, which was very exclusive. So, plenty of Jewish people were believing in Jesus, but they wanted anyone coming in from the outside to convert to Judaism and then follow Jesus. So, when that’s not how things shook out then the Jewish community denounced the message of Jesus and then Christians no longer had sort of this protection of Judaism, right? Like, they were no longer considered part of the Jewish faith. So, they didn’t have the cover of this ancient religion in the Roman Empire anymore. And, so, they were expected to begin to worship the gods of the Empire, which they wouldn’t do. And, so, they came under a lot of pressure to conform and a lot of marginalization and thus we see why in the early church writings the message of endurance. So, our earliest brothers and sisters in the early years of the formation of the church were in a real, true struggle with stereotyping and the harsh realities of bigotry and slander. Like, they were in a constant struggle and they didn’t have any way to fight back. So, the only option was to rise above the noise and let their lives speak louder than the accusations no matter what happened to them. And some pretty terrible things were being said about them and, you know, some of that stuff is still contained in ancient writings. For example, we call each other brothers and sisters, right? Part of the family of God, the body of Christ. We take these things for granted and it’s just the language of the church, it binds us together. But if you’re outside looking in it looks very weird. So, like, they call each other brothers and sisters. And this has been written about. Like, this was in incestuous religion were people love each other when they meet each other and they immediately call each other brother and sister. And then, you know, what happened in a church service was under speculation. And the rumor was that, you know, they would come into like a church service in this already incestuous situation because everybody thinks are brothers and sisters and then they go away and they close the door and that they…basically things turn into a meal that turns into a terrible orgy and they worship the penis of their priest. And it’s like…a lot of pretty horrible things were being said and these people, like, they’re being hit from all sides, they’re being hit from marginalization in the Empire, just in society itself and they’re also being…all kinds of stories are being told about them from the Jews. So, like, there’s nowhere from them to go. So, when we see things in like some of Paul’s letters about the Eucharist, like communion service and how it had turned into like a drunken meal. And Paul is like, eat at home. Like we can see now, all of the stuff that’s swirling around about these early believers. So, we just have to think like, what would that be like? What would that be like for us? And I mean, you know, it’s very easy go, well, it’s getting that way. You know, I’ve been hearing that my whole life. We are not facing what they were facing. But what if we were? What if culture shifted and the persuasion of the culture in the country that we live in toward our faith began to marginalize us in the ways that I’ve just described? Ike, if you were a nonbeliever, how quickly would you be running to sign up for this religion? And if you had put your faith in Jesus and you were walking with God and like the transformation that comes from following Christ was happening inside of you and you knew that the distortions of your culture were completely false, like, how do you respond? Endurance. What else is there? So, having a better understanding of these challenges helps us understand why this encouragement is so prevalent in the New Testament, which makes, you know, some of Peter’s closing thoughts like come into crystal clarity for us. So, you know, in light of what we’ve just talked about in terms of the circumstances that our early brothers and sisters were facing, understanding Peter’s words have to make perfect sense. So, I’m quoting Peter, “it is no shame to suffer from being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name for the time had come for judgment and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s good news? And Peter’s encouragement, which is one of the most famous quotations in the Scriptures, “be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack. You must resist the devil and stay strong in your faith. You know that all over the world the Lord’s followers are suffering just as you are.” So, you know, gotta talk a lot about endurance in the final days of the year because the Bible talks a lot about endurance. And now we know why. Like we understand the context of what our brothers and sisters were facing and why these letters were written the way that they were. And like I said earlier, like not very many of us have ever needed to endure like the early believers did, but if they did not stay true, it’s pretty unlikely that we would be here. Our faith was handed down by the few who chose to stay true and it is our calling to do the same thing. It’s easy enough for us to get self-absorbed and focused on all the things that we’re having to endure in our lives and lose sight of the fact that we are enduring for a reason and that is to carry the gospel forward to its conclusion and that conclusion is that our Lord Jesus will rule and reign forever. You are as much a part of that story as they were. So, the question just becomes whether or not we’re going to endure and stay true because future generations are depending on it. Our brothers and sisters that we’re reading about from the early church, they didn’t know. They didn’t know the impact of staying true. They didn’t know what it was gonna do to affect future generations. They had no idea that this was gonna spread all over the world. We have no idea what our staying true is going to bring but staying true is more than us just reaching the end of our journey and finding union with God. Everything we do is going to reverberate in our family line and affect the branches on our family tree. So, we need to do our part and we do our part by overcoming. And how do you overcome something if you have not endured?

Prayer:

Father…I mean…this is not the first time that we come into your presence on this topic and it’s none of our favorite. We have subtly been told over time that, you know, that us coming into a relationship with you should mean that we don’t have to endure anything…things just progressively get better and better and better, rather than the fact that we’re being transformed from the inside out and the way that we look at things is completely different. And, so, we continue to look through the world’s eyes at what you are supposed to provide for us as if you are the magic product that will make our lives complete. And, so, when we encounter seasons where we have to endure and we’re facing suffering or hardship we feel as if you have left us, and that we’re all alone because we think that we’re not supposed to have to endure anything, that you’re just gonna fix everything. And yet the Scriptures are so clear, and we are encountering it every day now as we move into the end of the year and the final books of the Bible. Our brothers and sisters who were there when this all started, they had to endure. We look at your life Jesus and you had to endure. We look at people like the apostle Paul, the apostle Peter, and they had to endure. But somehow, we think it’ gonna be different for us and we don’t. And yet endurance is a part of our human experience and it is not purposeless. This is how we become strong. And, so, we have to confess, yeah, we want to be strong, we just don’t want to go to the gym. We want to be healthy, but we just don’t want to eat right. And this is the story of our lives. And, so, it spills over into our spirituality. We want union with you. We want intimacy with you. We’d like to walk around 6 inches above the earth, but we don’t want to endure anything. Forgive us Lord for choosing to stay week. Come, Holy Spirit, help us to become strong even if this means we must endure. Come, Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Song:

To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice – Keith Green

To obey is better than sacrifice

I don’t need your money

I want your life

And I hear you say that I’m coming back soon

But you act like I’ll never return

Well you speak of grace and my love so sweet

How you thrive on milk, but reject My meat

And I can’t help weeping of how it will be

If you keep on ignoring My words

Well you pray to prosper and succeed

But your flesh is something I just can’t feed

To obey is better than sacrifice

I want more than Sundays and Wednesday nights

Cause if you can’t come to Me every day

Then don’t bother coming at all

La, la, la

To obey is better than sacrifice

I want hearts of fire

Not your prayers of ice

And I’m coming quickly

To give back to you

According to what you have done

According to what you have done

According to what you have done