Month: September 2019

Isaiah 19:1-21:17, Gal 2:1-16, Ps 59:1-17, Pr 23:13-14

Today is the 15^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and here we are walking into another brand-new, shiny, sparkly week together. Let’s make it count. And one of the ways we do that is to allow God’s word to speak to our lives each and every day. So, as we take this first step forward in this new week let’s do exactly that. This week we’ll read from the New English Translation, the NET Bible and continue our journey through the book of Isaiah today. Chapters 19 through 21.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You that You have escorted us safely to this threshold of a brand-new week. And as we move into this new week, we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead our thoughts, words, and deeds. May all that we do reveal Your kingdom in our own lives, in our families, and in everyone that we touch this week whether its planned or whether its just something that comes up and we had no idea. May we be in tune with what You are doing and what You need us to be a part of as we collaborate in life together. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, and that is home. That's…since we’re a virtual community and we interact and reach out to each other through this medium known as the Internet, which is a technology but is also a place where we spend a lot of our time. Well, since that’s where we…we are, then the website is home base, its our virtual home and its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, check it out.

Check of the Prayer Wall. That’s in the Community section at the website. People are praying for one another and asking for prayer on a continual basis. And by the way, all this stuff can be accessed through the Daily Audio Bible app by pressing the little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.

But the Daily Audio Bible Shop also lives at dailyaudiobible.com. And we’ve been talking about this whole Global Campfire line of resources that are now available. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, home base is the place for that too. 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 in the upper right-hand corner. And I thank you, I thank you humbly for your partnership.

And as always, we are a community, again, virtual as we might be, we are. This is who we are what we are and if you have a prayer request or comment, if you’re carrying some things…then try and actually y drag alone or hoist up on your shoulders alone and your shoulders or bowing down and you’re starting to bend at the waist and your feat are tired and you’re just exhausted because…because you’ve been trying to carry this alone, there’s a thing called prayer and it’s how we shoulder each other’s burdens together. And you don’t have to do this alone, and it makes a world of difference to know that you’re not in this alone. So, you can reach out. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, just press the hotline button, the little red button and at the top of the main screen and start talking and share what’s on your heart and mind, or you can dial 877-942-4253 and that will work as well.

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:

Hi DAB family this is Nadine from Hampshire. I am calling in to ask you guys once again for prayers for my marriage. We have struggled for almost 2 years now. Things are headed in the right direction. They’re getting a little bit better. But we could use all the prayers that we can get. It’s been a tough road for us. I also want to ask you for prayers for my mom. She has been going through a really dark period for a long time due to some family issues and I’ve tried to help her myself. I’ve been praying over her and this issue and trying to get her to be more positive and it hasn’t…it hasn’t worked completely. It’s worth a little bit, but she could definitely use a lot of prayers. I also want to pray for my nephews. That’s part of her dark cloud. She and my father are raising them and they…they’re good boys, but because of some trauma in their life they act out at different moments. So, if you could just please lift up my mom and my dad and my nephews in prayer as well as my husband and I. Thank you so much for this program. It has helped me so much it's…it’s helped me to realize my faults and mend them and I’m just so thankful for Brian and the DAB family. Thank you guys so much and thank you for your prayers.

Hi, my name is Jackie I’m calling from Florida. This is my first time calling. I just need some prayer. My son has been in prison for 12-½ years and…and he's…he’s accepted Christ and he got baptized while being incarcerated but I guess, you know, people and their friends they always guide him through the wrong things and it’s also the choice he makes but I need a lot of prayers and mom. And I also have a child…well…she’s not a child, she’s an adult that’s 23 and she has special needs. She’s like a baby. So, I need a lot of prayers for God to give me strength and continue moving forward. And also for my grandson, I haven’t seen him in a while. He’s 12 years old. His…he’s my son’s and the mom has her ways. And she doesn’t want to let me see him and he wants to see me and my daughter, my older daughter Jessica. So, I just…well…because my older daughter’s…I have an older daughter which is 34. So, he likes to be with us, and I just need some prayer. I just need a lot of guidance from the Lord and strength to move forward. I just…I’m calling just for prayer with me. I need it. Thank you so much and God bless you. I always hear all everyone calling, and I pray for you guys too. And I thank also Brian and Jill for this…for this Daily Audio Bible which is amazing. Thank you so much and God bless you all. Love you. Bye.

Hi family this is Mary Jo in St. Louis. Most of you will not recognize my voice because I probably only call in once or twice a year, but I have been listening to DAB for about 10 years and I want to thank Brian for his obedience to God and being so faithful to reading the word. And not only reading the word but explaining it to us, and leasing us, and encouraging us. And because of that I just feel like my walk with God has become closer and closer, become more sensitive to the Spirit by listening to the word daily and being in prayer. I was actually gonna call in with a prayer request today but as I was preparing my thoughts, gathering my thoughts, I was reminded that the Lord told me earlier in the day that everything’s going to be okay in regard to the situation. So, my prayer request has turned into a praise report before and I thank God in advance for what He’s gonna do in my situation. I also wanted to offer  a word of encouragement to those of you that you have prayer requests, maybe you’ve thought about calling in, but you don’t like the sound of your voice or you’re too shy or you’re afraid you won’t have the words, the right words to say or you’re gonna stumble over your words like I’m doing now. God hears your prayers. And those of us that are praying, we lift you up because God knows your situation. So, you are not unheard even if you don’t call in, even if we don’t hear your voice, but I encourage you to do so. So, God bless you all. I love you and call in and don’t be afraid to leave a message, even if it’s not perfect

[singing] On the pathway to Heaven hills and valleys come each and every day. Well we don’t know where we’re going but Jesus leads the way. So, I will trust in the Spirit and I will calmly pray. Lead me on Lord. Lead me on to Cavalry. I don’t want the pain and suffering, no I want the victory. So, I will lay down my life. He will deliver me. When my journey’s over and I stand before God’s thrown, I will give account of my trials you know, each and every one. Receive the reward for each time I speak. Father, thy will be done. Lead me on Lord. Lead me onto Cavalry. I don’t want the pain and suffering. No, I want the victory. So, I will lay down my life. He will deliver me. [singing stops] Praise God. Brian, I can’t thank you enough pastor Brian for the word this morning on September 10^th about endurance and being stronger. As a woman who’s married to a man of autism who’d high functioning autistic and also extremely brilliant and myself, we get a lot of misunderstanding thrown at us and a lot of oppression. But praise God. Love covers a multitude of sins and Jesus died to bless us and we…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. Greetings in Jesus name. I’d like to address Jessica who called in September the 7^th 2019 podcast in the community prayer and encouragement. And she was asking prayers for her friends Erica, Francisco, Behlin, and Jesus. Also, her congregation is experiencing attack. She’s getting her master’s on a doctoral degree. And Jessica, I want to say to you that I am praying. I am praying for all your petitions. Congratulations on getting your master’s degree.__ This is Angel from California.

Hi DAB family, this is Nadene from New Hampshire calling in. I would like Alan from New Hampshire to know that I am praying for you, I am praying for your daughter and that her eyes will be open and she’ll start walking the righteous path of the Lord again. And that she will be done with dabbling in this wicca because it’s no good and it’s not gonna get her anywhere. I would also like His beloved to know that Your scriptures have touched my heart deeply. And it’s made me to realize that I need to dive into my bible and find Bible passages and scriptures to pray over my husband and our marriage. We have been in quite the battle lately and some days I’m not sure if we’re gonna make it to the other side together. And sharing your scriptures has really helped me to see this, to see how I need to pray for him. So, thank you. And I just ask you that all to lift up my husband and I and pray that we will make it through together with God’s love and His grace as well as peace. It’s just been such a long, hard fight but I know that God’s will will be done no matter what the outcome is. Thank you family. Have a good day. I love you all and I’m praying for you all.

Isaiah 15:1-18:7, Galatians 1:1-24, Psalms 58:1-11, Proverbs 23:12

Today is the 14^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we close another week together. And even as we close this week, we will be opening a new letter in the New Testament when we get there, the book of Galatians or the letter to the church at Galatia and we’ll talk about that when we get there. But before we get there we need to read from the Old Testament and working our way into and through the book of Isaiah. Today, Isaiah chapters 15 through 18. And we have been reading from the English Standard Version this week.

Introduction to the book of Galatians:

Okay. So, as we talked about a few minutes ago, we’re about to begin another of the apostle Paul’s letters. This letter is to the church at Galatia. It is known as Galatians. And, so, in Paul’s time, Galatia was a province of the Roman Empire, just like Syria was. So, Syria included all of the territories that encompassed the ancient promised land including Jerusalem. Galatia was also a province of the Roman Empire and the area is now in modern-day Turkey. So, we know from the New Testament of five different churches in the province of Galatia that were established during the first missionary journey that Paul took. And these were Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. And since the letter is to the churches in Galatia then we can pretty safely assume that’s who Paul was writing to, these faith communities in these five different cities. As we get going we’ll see pretty quick why Galatians is such an important document in New Testament theology, but we’ll also notice that some of the same things that Paul was dealing with in second Corinthians, The letter, the letter that we just finished, these things were also going on in Galatia. People were visiting the churches behind Paul. They were teaching what Paul considered to be something nuanced or another gospel. In this case the Galatians were being told that they basically needed to convert to Judaism, they needed to do obey Jewish customs and practices in order to follow Jesus, which included male circumcision and the obedience and adherence to the Mosaic law, which is something that Paul stood pretty aggressively against because in his view, Jesus had fulfilled the law and a new covenant had been initiated. And obviously what we’re talking about here are issues that were stirring about as the church was being formed. This particular issue about whether a person needed to become Jewish before they could become a follower of Jesus or whether a Gentile could become a follower of Jesus and be accepted into the family of faith without having to convert to Judaism first, these were the issues and these issues were discussed, debated, and decided on at the Jerusalem Council that we read about in the in the book of Acts. So, we’re not clear whether Paul wrote Galatians before that counsel, the Jerusalem Council happened, or after it happened. Some think that Paul wrote the letter before the Council. And if that’s the case then visitors to the Galatian churches were undermining Paul’s message in attempt to align the teachings of Paul with those of the Jerusalem church, which is how they felt before they had wrestled with the issue. And then Paul wasn’t happy about it, which is why he wrote about it, which would make Galatians one of the very earliest Christian writings that have been preserved and maybe even Paul’s first letter to any church. Of course, when you go into that territory it’s conjecture. Like, there’s just no way to know all of this stuff for sure but these are likely scenarios as far as that the background. If Paul wrote Galatians after that counsel had happened, then Paul was using the letter to absolutely forcefully reiterate what the counselor decided because not everybody was on board with that. But the Jerusalem Council decided that non-Jewish believers or Gentiles didn’t need to convert to Judaism in order to be saved. So, logically it would seem that Paul would use the document issued from Jerusalem and then preserved later in the book of Acts to support his argument if this were the case. But like I just said, this is something…these kinds of things have been debated for centuries. What Paul’s trying to do with this letter to the Galatians and these underlying issues that prompted him writing this letter were pretty big deals at the time for lots of reasons. On the one hand Judaism, it was an exclusive religion for Hebrew people. So, allowing faith in a Jewish rabbi named Jesus…we all think differently of Jesus…but at the time this is kind of the thought. Allowing this to happen without the cover of the Jewish religion, Judaism, this basically meant that everybody could come to God, the Hebrew God, through Jesus but not through Judaism and everybody in the whole world could come to Jesus. We don’t even think about that stuff now. This is…it’s just taken for granted…like we’re not even on that page. But this was a very big page, a very important page in the formation of the church and you kinda see the rub, right? You can kinda see why there was…why there were tension…why there was tension. Once the decision had been made, once the Council had been decided, once it had been observed that God was in fact reaching to Gentile people without them converting to Judaism…like…without the religious baggage, that people were coming to God, then this made a very big distinction because it clearly separated what we now know as Christianity from Judaism, which at least for the early church, especially the Hebrew believers, brought persecution from the Jews and the Romans. But it’s not just this issue that we’ll find in the book of Galatians. The gospel of freedom, the story of grace, the unpacking of justification through faith, there all in this little letter. And, so, off we go. Galatians chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another week in Your word. We thank You for all that it does inside of us, the way that it shapes us, the way that it challenges us, the way that it encourages us, the way that a comforts us. We are grateful. And, so, as we seal another week and it becomes a part of our history, a part of our past, we thank You for what we’ve experienced in Your word and we look forward to all that You have left for us as we continue the journey through this year. Come Holy Spirit would pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And right now we’re in the process of just revealing and offering the new Global Campfire resources, a number of different products that are lifestyle, that are things that we would use in our lives but are being purposed into helping us remember that…that we’re not alone on this journey, not only in the journey through life but on the journey through the Bible. We’re in this together. And so, as I mentioned a couple days ago, we worked and created a logo for the Global Campfire that represents the community aspects of what we do here. And we created a number of things that we talked about - the Global Campfire candle that I love because it smells like a campfire, like it’s so evocative of a Campfire. And we worked on getting that scent just right with a perfumer. And, yeah, really really happy. It’s very, very unique and I love that. And then the Cowboy Cup, the sort of tin, the old-fashioned sort of tin cup style. We have…it’s beautiful…I love it. It’s just so retro, I love it. And the pop sockets, the Global Campfire pop sockets, Global Campfire stickers. Yeah, just check it out at the Daily Audio Bible Shop. And there’s a whole Global Campfire section in the Daily Audio Shop. So, you can check that out at dailyaudiobible.com or you can check it out in the app if you press the little Drawer icon that lives…that lives kind of in the upper left-hand corner. That’ll get you there as well. So, check these things. We worked really, really hard at trying to create an identity for, yeah, for the community, for what it is that we are in each other’s lives, as virtual as it might be, what we are. And, so, those resources are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage. I can’t thank you enough. I can’t thank you enough for your partnership. Thank you. 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 you can press the Hotline button in the app and just start talking or there are a number of numbers that you can dial using your phone, depending on where you are in the world. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is a number to call. If you’re in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 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:

Hello DAB listeners. I’m a recent listener and I just wanted to pray for the marriages that are on the Prayer Wall. I just pray God that You may help these husbands and these wives to come before You and to recognize Lord that first and foremost they are loved by You. I just pray Lord that that love from You may strengthen them in their marriages. May You Lord be in the work of their lives and may You work redemption and reconciliation in their lives. Father God You’ve offered us forgiveness so that we may forgive others. Father God You’ve offered us love so that we may love others. Father God You have offered us grace and mercy that is abundant and new every morning so that we may offer that to our loved ones, to our husbands, and to our wives and to our children. I just pray for all the brokenness in the relationships in this world and I pray Lord that You may guide and heal, that You may guide and redeem and that You may guide and mend and that You may guide Lord all of the thoughts and the feelings of our hearts and minds so that these relationships may be mended. Lord God I pray for whole families. I pray for redeemed families. I pray for families on the track of being redeemed and being reconciled with each other. God, I know that You are able to do this because You have done it in my own family. I pray these things in Your Son’s holy name. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community my name is Lillian I’m calling from Jerusalem, Tanzania in east Africa. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for seven years and this is my second time calling. Family, I’m calling because I need prayers. I’m praying for each and every one of you each and every day when you’re calling and this time, I feel like…I am being a bit I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and I need prayers for my family, myself, my finances. I think I am kind of…not really losing hope but desperate. And please remember me in your prayers. Pray for financial breakthrough and also for wisdom to tackle all the different problems that I’m facing in my life at the moment. Brian and Jill, thank you so much for this wonderful podcast. Love you guys and God bless each and every one of you. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible I’m calling in to pray for the gentleman who called about his brother being released from prison. Heavenly Father make this man’s brother one of our own brothers. Lord, please protect him as he comes out of a life filled with much violence but much redemption. There are many people who meet You while they are incarcerated, and their lives are turned for Your kingdom purposes and You…when the right time comes will call Your own to Yourself. So, Lord I pray that this man is Yours, that You have Your sights on him, that You will protect him and call him by name, that we agree with his brother that he turned from his sin and repent and turn to You. He’s already paid time by the law but we know You’ve forgiven law that we could ever break for all time. And Lord I’m praying for Eric Lucas and I want to ask that the Daily Audio Bible pray for Eric Lucas. He sent in his appeal and he is also spent the largest chunk of his life in prison. He’s now 36. I think he’s been in there for 15 years. So, Lord he has sent an appeal in. We pray that You open the eyes of the right person to read this appeal to have mercy for Eric has a wife waiting and a stepdaughter to care for and to lead and he’s been doing that already from prison. Lord, grant him free access to this world and let him glorify You with his life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What’s up Daily Audio Bible this is Asia from Chicago. I just finished listening to Olea who called in. She’s the one who’s a recovering meth addict and I just want to say, “girl, get it.” That is so awesome that you are 17 days sober. That’s huge, you’re encroaching on three weeks. So, probably by the time you hear this it’ll be three weeks which is so cool because then you’ll almost be a month sober which is crazy. So, I hope you’re going to NA meetings or whatever resource that helps you with just community, but I love you so much and I’m praying for you and you’re so inspiring and you’re so strong and yeah, thank you for calling in and giving us your name and just giving us an update. I actually want to ask for prayer as well. So, a couple weeks ago I was sexually assaulted and I was almost raped and it was super traumatic for me, it was from a guy that I was really good friends with and trusted and I just couldn’t believe that like…it’s just…it’s just been hard because like of course I’ve been…I’ve like lost something from my body and my heart but also I’ve lost a friend and it’s just been very confusing. I’m going to counseling and it’s helping a lot but I have been struggling with just deep feelings of emptiness and depression and I have really good friends so it’s been manageable but yeah, if you could just lift me up in prayer, I’d really appreciate it. This is Asia from Chicago. Love you guys.

I’m calling today to request prayers for homeless people across the USA. For one homeless man in particular Leroy near a gas station in Kentucky. I recently drove over 3000 miles across eight states, and I was just reminded how bad this problem is in the US. __ in my mind more than the others. First in a beautiful big city of Texas. The main street with filled with a combination of successful professionals walking the sidewalks and homeless people who lived on the sidewalks. One seeing this forced me to stop and stare for just a second with a young homeless woman with no shoes and dirty feet sweeping out a sidewalk as the professionals walked past her. There was so many people in the sidewalks I felt hopeless. But this city is not unique. I know this. A more positive encountered occurred a few days later just north of Elizabethtown Kentucky. On my way into a gas station I drove past a homeless man with a sign that said, “homeless 70 years old need help.” I’m embarrassed to admit that I first considered doing nothing as it’s illegal in some places to “so call” encourage them. But I did decide to buy him a sandwich and a bottle of water. So, on my way out I stopped, and I gave him the sandwich and the water and said, “I’ll pray for you.” He was really excited to hear this and he said, “thank you. my name is Leroy. Please use my name when you pray for me.” And, so, I told him that I will. So, first let me ask all of you to pray for Leroy and I want to thank Leroy for educating me. Next let me ask you all to pray for all the other homeless in our country because in my mind __ be represented __. And also, please consider what you might do to give to each one of them. Brian, thank you so much for this venue thank you Daily Audio Bible family for all that you do for me __. God bless

Hi, it’s Sherry from Kansas. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that came to the family reunion and I enjoyed meeting so many of you. I had the privilege of spending time with Terry the Trucker and his wife Jackie and then spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon sitting with several ladies and just talking about things. And it was great it was awesome, but I want to say thank you to Helen and Mike for their prayers and their words and say thank you to Cherry and Greg for giving me the opportunity to be able to go and to be there. And so glad I got too, and I’ve got lots of wonderful pictures to look at whenever I want to remember the good things that happened. So, anyway thanks to Brian and for everyone. I believe it was Michael, the gentleman that arranged everything. It was awesome and I’m glad to be home, but I wouldn’t have missed the trip for the world. Thanks so much. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

Isaiah 12:1-14:32, 2 Corinthians 13:1-14, Psalms 57:1-11, Proverbs 23:9-11

Today is the 13th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you for the next step forward in the Scriptures, in life, in this week, in this month, in this year, all of that, the next step forward. So, we’ve been reading from the English Standard Version this week and as we head toward the weekend, we’ll read from the book of Isaiah today. Chapters 12 through 14.

Commentary:

Alright. So, we concluded second Corinthians today, this letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. And, so, as we were going through second Corinthians it would be hard not to notice the Paul spent a lot of this letter defending himself. Like, he had been dealing with a lot of mixed messaging in the church from outsiders who were questioning his authority. And this is the early church, right? So, this is like going on in the early church as these churches are being founded. And we’ve kind of unpacked the back story to some degree. But for Paul, these people that were coming were boasting. Like, they were…they were bragging about who they were associated with, right, the super apostles in order to kind of bolster their own pedigree, which made Paul feel the need to boast himself about all that he had endured, all that he had gone through. So, like on the one hand you have this group of people who are…who are like, “you know, I was raised up under super apostles, right? Like, I walked with people who walked with Jesus.” On the other hand, you have Paul saying, “I suffered for Christ. Like, here’s what I’ve done.” He talks about his shipwrecks, his imprisonments, his stoning’s, his beatings, right, how he has to stay on the run from just about everybody. And, so, he concludes that if he, anyway, has anything to boast about it would be his own weakness and it would be the strength of Christ inside of him. We should…we should probably recognize that Jesus went through exactly these same kinds of scenarios, right, all the time. So often Jesus was accused of being like an agent of the evil one even…even the Pharisees, like the religious people, were saying like, “he throws out demons by the power of the demonic”. And lots of times He was asked to…to prove his authority, right, to give a sign. And lots of times He was questioned about who gave Him the right to do and say the things He was doing and saying. So, the apostle Paul was enduring very similar things. This is a very very similar time. But that invites us to zoom forward to our time and consider our own lives. Like, how would we respond if we were questioned about the things we do and say as it relates to our commitment to Jesus? Like, would anybody even notice? Are our lives daily being transformed? Are we being a channel of light and good news that changes the atmosphere and causes a reaction in our homes and workplaces? Or are we like the challenges of old? Are we running around looking for signs and proof and pedigree? Paul ended this letter today and we just read this by inviting some personal reflection. He said this, “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.” So, he didn’t say, “examine everybody else to see whether they are in the faith.” He said, “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” He didn’t say, “test everybody else.” “Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test.” So, Paul is urging us to test ourselves whether Jesus is within us in such a way that…that the way we exist, like the way we are who we are is fundamentally changed because of Christ because of Christ within. This was like a mandatory paradigm shift for the apostle Paul and a radical departure from who he used to be. And, so, our lives should continually be reflecting the shift in an ever-increasing way. And Paul was…Paul is always been recognized throughout church history as living this way. Lots of people have all kinds of things to say about the apostle Paul and his thoughts. Like, I mean he’s very very direct…he’s a Pharisee…he’s very very direct and very dense and you have to seriously like peel back some of the things that he’s saying and get some context for why they’re being said. But Paul is recognized for being true to Jesus. His devotion to the Lord and sharing the truth have impacted the world and make up about two thirds of the New Testament, right? So, he is honored for living what he preached. He believed in what he taught so intense that he lost his life over it, right? He died a martyr’s death. Paul trusted in God for both his spiritual needs and his physical needs, and this is what he’s talking about when he’s inviting us to examine ourselves. So, let’s do that today. What would need to change? Like, repentance is nothing more than changing, changing your mind, changing from within. So, what would need to change if we want to actually walk this path? And I realize a question like that…I mean…I say it on purpose right here at the end so that it’s a question that we can carry into the day. That’s…this is the question I’m gonna be carrying into the day. This is the question that we need to carry into the day, but a lot of times the answer is the first thing that comes, right? Like, we could…we could throw up our hands and go like, “what would need to change for me to be more Christlike? Everything. You name it. I need to change.” Right? Which just basically is our way of talking ourselves out of even trying to change. So, rather than kinda getting bogged down in the details let’s just invite the Holy Spirit to show us something. Like what’s that one thing that seems to pop up now? Is it anger or lust or rage or jealousy or envy or any number of things? What would be one thing that would move us a step forward in the right direction today?

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into that as we…as we close the books on this letter, Second Corinthians, and release it for another year. We ask that You bring the themes that the apostle Paul brought up in this letter to mind and to heart. And as we carry this question forward, what would need to change? What do I need to repent of? We invite You into that question. Come Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Yesterday we mentioned something going on around here and that was the launch of our new Global Campfire logo and the whole line of Global Campfire things that we created over the course of the last…well…over the course of this year. And it started kinda with a…well I explained it all yesterday, it started with creating the look of this, but then it was like, “what things? Like, what…what are the things that we use in our lives that could be a constant reminder that we could use and that would remind us of the journey that we’re taking through the Scriptures and the fact that we’re part of a community doing this, going to the Scriptures this year. And I mentioned the daily…the Clean Kanteen Global Campfire edition yesterday, which is always met with great enthusiasm because we only do it a couple times in a year, but that also launched the entire Global Campfire line. And, so, there several things you can see in the Global Campfire section of the Daily Audio Bible Shop. For example, we have a Global Campfire candle. Now, before you’re like, “Yeah. Whatever. Whatever.” This is not just any candle. We worked really hard with scent makers, perfumers to get this candle to smell like a campfire because have you ever noticed how the aroma or the atmosphere in a room changes when you have a nice candle burning and it’s just flickering there, putting an aroma into the air and then when you walk into the room and you smell It the atmosphere is changed? And we talked about that when we talked about the aroma of Christ in Paul’s writings. And I can’t say that the Global Campfire candle is the aroma of Christ because…well…because…because it’s a spiritual truth and I’m not a hundred percent sure what Jesus actually smells like, but I will someday and so will you someday, at least if you plan on giving Him a hug like I do. But we weren’t trying…we weren’t trying to create a candle that was the aroma of Jesus, we were trying to create a candle that smelled like the Global Campfire and we worked pretty hard on that to get it right because, have you ever had a candle that smelled like a campfire before? And you might think, “while that might not even smell good”, but it does. It does. I love it. So, just kind of having that around and maybe when you’re listening to the Scriptures, or praying, this is a good thing. It’s a scent. It reminds you that you’re on this journey and that you’re in a relationship with the Scriptures and you’re being ever led forward. So, the Global Campfire candle is available.

We also have a Global Campfire Cowboy Cup. So, you know those cups, the tin cups that you see in old westerns? Cowboys would have them as part of their kit and they’d ride around and everybody had their own cup. And, so, we made some of these and the really beautiful. It looks fantastic with the Global Campfire logo on the side of them. And you can…yeah, you clip them to your backpack or use them out on the porch. Like, if you drop them, they’re not gonna shatter, they’re not made out of glass or porcelain. So, they will hold up to you knocking them off the table.

We also have Global Campfire pop sockets and those kinda came on my radar I guess a couple years ago because my wife and my daughter, China, before she was married, she was using one. Those are the little sticky things that you put on the back of your tablet or phone case, right, and it gives you a little handhold so that you can hold onto it, put it between your fingers. Those are called pop sockets and we have Daily Audio Bible Global Campfire pop sockets.

So, as you can see like, there’s just a couple things but they all just fit in different little places in life. All different kinds of lifestyles are in the Daily Audio Bible all over the world. So, we were just trying to create things that gave us a tangible sense that we were connected on this journey. And, so you can see all of the Global Campfire line at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop in the Global Campfire section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage and I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership more than words can say. I’ve tried…I’ve tried and I’ve used lots of words over the years but really, humble gratitude, profound sense of thankfulness that we’re even here, that we’re even living at a time when this technology exists and that this whole thing that were doing just kind of grew up out of the dust of the Internet and became a community here. I’m profoundly grateful. So, thank you for your partnership and allowing it to live and continue. 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 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 or you can press the Hotline button in the Daily Audio Bible app, the little red button at the top and start talking, be connected immediately. And that’s it for today.

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:

I’m calling to thank God for the opportunity to be at the family reunion last weekend. As a new listener, I’ve only been listening since March. I almost wanted to go to prove to myself that this is real. I mean, it’s so crazy that we are able to do this. And to meet Brian, to meet the family, to meet the team, to see everything that goes into a podcast, to see and meet the faces of you, the community who pray for each other, it was such an encouragement, and such a blessing. And I want to encourage all you new listeners that this is something that is very special that God is doing through the use of the Internet and the creativity and the vision that was given to Brian when this started. So, thank you Brian for everything you put into that. And while I’m on the matter of praise, I want to thank God for all of the positive momentum in my marriage. There’s so many of us out there hurting who are in situations that seem impossible. And I’ve been separated from my wife going on 11 months. There’ve been times where I have felt complete despair, but I’ve not given up hope. I’ve trusted in God and I’m beginning to see the reward. There’s still a long road ahead but I so appreciate your prayers and want to encourage all of you that there’s always something to be thankful for no matter what you’re facing. Bless you. This is Jarred the Encourager.

Windows of opportunity surround us each day
choices are chances to do things God’s way
is there healing or venom in the things that you say
help us sweet Jesus to do things your way
do you do unto others before they do you
do you render to Caesar the all that he’s due
do you humbly ask Jesus your strength to renew
are you really for God or is it all about you
storm clouds may gather but they will not prevail
God has all power and his word will not fail
Satan’s a liar a robber a thief
help us sweet Jesus with our unbelief
windows of opportunity surround us each day
choices are chances to do things God’s way
is there healing or venom in the things that you say
help us sweet Jesus to do things your way
mom was a Christian and daddy was too
they did all the good things that parents can do
sometimes we’d listen and sometimes we’d stray
but we always had chances to do things God’s way
jobs friends and family they all have their place
they all can add balance as we run the good race
but they also add tension and trials each day
help us sweet Jesus to do things your way
do you encourage your family do you uplift your friends
do you know that your jobs are just means to your ends
do you glorify Jesus and all that you do
are you really for God or is it all about you

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Once again, thank you Brian for this wonderful forum for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. Lee from New Jersey, missed you this week brother and Victoria’s Soldier too. Hope you both are well. Know you’re in my prayers every day. Love you. Bye-bye.

Good morning family it’s Sunday, September 8^th and I am about ready to go to church, I’m really excited to go to church, I love to go to church, it’s the highlight of my week. I get to serve today both as a host and in children’s ministry and always so so so excited about Sunday’s coming and how they are the beginning of a great week. But today my excitement is tempered with just…just horrible sadness. My friend has two children, a senior in high school and a sophomore in high school and on Friday the sophomore in high school who’s already struggling with school and life and God and his parents, found his father who had taken his own life and I’m just broken for these two children. There’s been struggles, you know, there was a divorce. And, so, I just can’t even imagine. So, I wanted to call you on Friday, but I didn’t have the words. So, I found some of the words and just beg you family to pray. The boy’s name is Jude and the senior girls name is Anya and they both have struggles Lord God. They’ve been through a lot and I just pray for them all the time but now Lord God it’s just gotten to the emergency status where these two young people now have to deal with the fact that their father couldn’t go on. So, thank you for agreeing with me family. I love you. Thank you, Brian and Jill. I enjoyed the Song of Solomon as I always do. And as always, this is a lifeline for so many. So, praise God that this is available. Praise God for this family and please cover the whole family with your prayers including the man who took his life. His mother is just devastated about this as well. Thank you, family. Love you. Goodbye.

Hey DAB family my name is Allie from Eugene Oregon and I’m calling for the first time. I’ve been a long-time listener and I am actually calling from Pune India and I’m just calling for prayer for safety and just health. I feel great so far, but I’ve been over here a couple times before and one time I got quite sick. So, just praying for health and wholeness and am also praying, I’m here on business with my team that’s based here in India. And I’m just really praying that God would bless my team members and let me really poor into them. I don’t believe any of them a Christian. So, I just pray that God would allow me to show the love of God to them. Thank you, guys and thank you Brian and family for this amazing ministry and thanks for this new call in button. It’s amazing. Thank you.

Hi this is Rebecca from Southhampton and I listen to the Daily Audio Bible kids. I learned about Jesus at school. Amen.

Hello dear Daily Audio Bible family. I’ve been listening for about a year and ½. This is the first time I’ve called in. My name is Carmen. I live in Germany and I’ve been living her for like 40 years. I started listening to the DAB when I was really down in the dumps. My husband left me for a woman who was like 30 years younger, which just was a really sock in the face. You know, there’s just too many details to go into. I was just very disappointed, very hurt, lost 25 pounds, couldn’t eat, was just a total mess. But I am back on my feet, I’m back to normal, I found joy again. My…my open wounds have turned to scars. I am learning patience, I’ve drawn much closer to the Lord again and He is strengthening me, and I’ve come to realize that His timetable is not mine and I have to trust and depend on Him. But listening to the Daily Audio Bible has just really helped me so much. It’s just carried me, and I am just so thankful for this, what Brian and Jill and the whole family, the team has created. It’s just a wonderful community and I feel like I know everybody, all the people that call in. I listen faithfully to the Chronological and to Brian’s regular reading. There are so many people I would love to pray for and name right now, but I just don’t even have enough time. I did hear a woman from Philadelphia in call in yesterday in a similar situation. So, I don’t know your name, but I will be praying for you as you seek wisdom to know God’s will just as I am also doing. I know that God can do anything, but I know that the other person is also responsible for what they choose to do. So, please just know everybody I love you. I’m so glad to have met you all and thank you for your prayers and I’ll be praying for you also.

Isaiah 10:1-11:16, 2 Corinthians 12:11-21, Psalms 56:1-13, Proverbs 23:6-8

Today is the 12^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today. Ah…busy, busy, busy. Let’s take a deep breath and let’s just blow it out. I’m coming in here. I’m doing it with you. We’re just coming in here around the global campfire, it’s crackling and we’re here together and it’s warm and it’s serene and peaceful. And like yesterday, we were talking about casting our cares on the Lord. So, we release those things, we let them go and we center ourselves and allow God’s word to take the focus of our attention right now. As we say all the time, whatever it is we were doing, whatever it is we needed to step away from, or whatever it is we gotta do today or whatever it is that’s happening, it’ll still be there. It’s just interesting how walking back into life after letting God’s word wash into our hearts changes the way that we look at things, which is such…such the beauty of the Scriptures. So, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. And today, Isaiah chapter 10 and 11.

Commentary:

Okay. So, when we started the book of Isaiah a few days ago we talked about how it’s one of the most quoted…it’s one of the most quoted books in the new testament…okay…let me say this again…it’s one of the most quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament, and this is largely because Isaiah gives clear prophetic promises of a coming deliverer or a Messiah. And, so, the writers of the New Testament reveal Jesus as this…as the promised Savior, in part, by showing the ways that he fulfills prophecies, which is the centerpiece, one of the main reasons or intentions of the gospel of Matthew. So, we just read today, we just read in the book of Isaiah some of those prophecies that allude to this coming Messiah that refer to Jesus, but we just read through it and did you catch it? Like, write? We can move right by it and be like, “What? How does this…? Like how does what we read today have anything to do with Jesus? How did these connections made by the New Testament writers? Like, how is it that Jesus even became a contender?” So, we see some of that today. So, we began reading from Isaiah chapter 10 and we read, “woe to those who do decree iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppression to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be there spoil and that they may make the fatherless their prey.” Okay, so essentially Isaiah is naming a pattern that had been happening long before Isaiah and continues all the way until today, right? So, this this pattern of justice and the denying of justice and the taking advantage of people so that certain people, certain parts of society feel marginalized, suppressed, oppressed. And this was for sure going on when Jesus was around because this is who Jesus went to to do his ministry, but the hope that is found in the prophetic writings was that one day a redeemer would come and make things right. So, in our reading today, Isaiah foretold the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom, which we read all of this, which happened and would carry away 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel and then threaten Jerusalem. And like I said, we read the stories, so we know that it happened. And we also know that the Babylonian empire conquered the remaining southern kingdom of Judah. But what Isaiah foretold was that all would not be lost, right? So, Isaiah says, “in that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more, lean on him who struck them but will lean on the Lord, the holy one of Israel in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God. Okay, so the Hebrew people, the Jewish people in the first century, which is the time of Jesus. Those people were the descendants of this foretold remnant. So, the prophecy had become a reality, but the problem was they were back in their homeland after exile, but it wasn’t there land. In the first century at the time of Jesus the land was controlled by the Roman empire. Actually, it was considered a part of the Roman Empire, the province of Syria. And, so, the Hebrew people who were back in the land that was promised to them were back in the land, but it was not their land and they were being marginalized and they were experiencing the oppression and the injustice that Isaiah and written about and they were longing for a redeemer. They were longing for the land to be restored to them under their control. So, when we read Isaiah’s prophecies as it relates to Jesus, now we can kinda see where they’re coming from. We can see why they were expecting a redeemer and for that matter, how they were looking at what this person would be like because Isaiah gives a description. “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears here” and that is very true of Jesus, “but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins”. So, there’s a description of this redeemer that is foretold to come. And, so, people are looking for this Redeemer because there’s a description and we can see that Jesus fit this criteria. So, in the first century, when Jesus was performing his ministry whether or not he was the foretold Messiah was a topic of discussion about and among the people that were hearing him mostly because these prophecies were known, they were woven into the culture. So, then later the New Testament writers would use the Old Testament prophets extensively…extensively using the book of Isaiah that we’re reading to further reveal what people had missed…a redeemer did come. And then God’s work of restoring all things was absolutely at work in the world through Jesus. And, so, that’s, in part, how we get from here to there.

Prayer:

Father, we love You and we love Your word and we love the many facets of Your word and we love what it does to us and how things come clear in our lives, like how, like yesterday, how it became clear that we have to collaborate if we want to cast our burdens on You, we have to do that, we have to let them go and that snaps things clear in our lives. And then in the book of Isaiah today, we begin to see how the dots connected between old and New Testament and it snaps those kinds of things clear for us. So, we thank You for…for how You are removing the veil so that we can see clearly. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is home base, it is where you find out what’s going on around here and there’s something going on around here today to talk about and I’m excited because it’s exciting when we get to a day to talk about something that’s been being worked on for a long time.

A good portion of this year we’ve been kinda working forward towards this and this was all revealed that the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion a couple weeks ago but…so last week we talked about our new journal 2.0’s. Those came in and we’re excited about those and the steeped coffee, the portable coffee solution for the Windfarm brand of coffee. Finally found a solution to keep its fresh so we can have a fresh coffee experience even if we’re traveling or on the go or are not in a place we can make a nice cup of coffee. So, those were last week.

And now I want to talk to you about the Global Campfire. And you might be like, “well, you say that all the time, that’s our community, right? Like…that’s what we kinda…that’s what we do every day is come around the global campfire.” That’s all true. And the idea for the Global Campfire is one of those things that just sort of happened like in the day by day flow of things…just sort of happened one day a couple years ago. I’m just reading the Daily Audio Bible and talking and…and it…I just saw this giant bonfire in my mind, and I saw us from all angles kinda coming in out of the dark into the light into the fire glow where we could just kind of sit around this campfire together and allow God’s word to speak. It just became this metaphor for what we do every day and the rhythm of what we do every day and the community aspect of what we do every day and the prayers that we pray for one another and the ways that we reach out in the heart and mind and yeah…it’s just the community experience of the Daily Audio Bible. So, we’ve been kinda calling it that for a while. We had the Global Campfire initiative that we did a couple years ago to help launch this new app and this new experience that will ever…ever grow forward. So, for example, like the new Hotline button, there’s a lot of development and that’s part of part of creating community around the rhythm of the Scriptures. So, anyway, here’s where things start to converge. Yeah know, we’ve had resources in the Daily Audio Bible Shop since we’ve had a Daily Audio Bible Shop but earlier this year, I was looking at all that going, “Okay. We really haven’t even tended this garden for several years now. What resources would we put in here that would be like lifestyle kinds of resources, the kinds of things that you have because they remind you of something because they make you feel close to something or because they say something that you agree with and that you want to be reminded of, like those kinds of things, what could we do? And, so, first had to start with, “well, what would that even look like?” And, so, we went into design mode and kind of looked at our Daily Audio Bible marks, our logo and etc. And, so, we created a global campfire logo that represents the community aspect of what we do here. And then we began creating those kinds of pieces, those kinds of things that we use, but then when we use them, they can remind us that we’re not alone and can be that constant reminder. And, so, we got about the business of creating some items like that and they are now in the Daily Audio Bible shop. There’s a whole Global Campfire section in the Daily Audio Bible shop now where you can see these. And I don’t spend a ton of time trying to unpack every single one of those items. There’s a dozen of these items that we kind of considered. All of these things can be used in this way - as a reminder of our journey through the Bible, as a reminder that we’re not on this journey alone, and as an invitation to those who are feeling very alone in this world. And, so, we’ve created these and I’ll try to unpack a few of them each day for the next couple of days but I just wanted you know they’re all available and I think I only have one item to highlight today and I would expect this particular item of all the items to probably not be in stock by tomorrow. And, so, I have five words to describe this - Klean Canteen Global Campfire edition. So, we have brand-new Klean Canteen’s in stock. Currently the very brand-new ones. So, they have this new lid on them that as a little carrier, you can clip it to things, I’ve been using it for a little bit. Believe it or not, I had my perfect fire engine red Daily Audio Bible Klean Canteen, I had that for…well…since the first edition of the red one, so a couple years and I lost it…I left it somewhere and I’m pretty…pretty careful about my Klean Canteen. And, you know, I was without…like so many of you are like, “there’s only so many of them…we just keep trying to get them.” I was without my Klean Canteen for a couple of months knowing that these would be coming in and they are in now. And, so, the brand-new ones, they have a little bit of a different lid, which is an improvement and they will keep your coffee hot all day long. At least they keep my coffee or tea, which I drink several days a week warm all day. So, I’m sipping a hot coffee all day long. So, you can see them in the Daily Audio Bible Shop in the Global Campfire section. And this time we ordered double what we normally order expecting these are probably gonna be pretty popular and go within a couple of days. So, there you go. To launch our Global Campfire mark, logo, thing that sort of represents what it is that we do as a community every day, we’re launching these Klean Canteen’s along with all of the other lifestyle items in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, check it out, especially with a Klean Canteen’s. Get them while you can.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in this mission that we share together that sort of encapsulates all of it, including the Global Campfire, including our community experience. If what we’re doing bringing God’s spoken word to whoever is willing to listen anytime, anywhere, and to keep building community around that so that we do know we’re not walking through this journey alone, if that is life for you, then thank you for your partnership and being life to it. We can’t do this if we don’t do this together. That has always been true. And, so, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage, at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or comment you can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button that will connect you right away or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

This message is for Stephanie the RN from Oklahoma. Stephanie, this is Reba the RN from Nebraska. My heart goes out to you with your panic attacks and having to switch where you’re giving care. And us nurses, we take care of everybody else and then by the time we realize that we need to take care of ourselves it’s pretty extensive sometimes. I myself been kind of taking a break from work. I resigned from my position…oh…on the 20^th of August and part of it is to take care of myself and then also to take care of my father whose health is failing. So, as I go through my changes in my situation, I will be praying for you Stephanie that you take the time you need to take care of yourself so that if ER and ICU and those intensive places are where you are to serve that God will grant you the calmness that you need. And I encourage you just…just take some time to take care of yourself. Sometimes God just has to stop us so we realize how valuable we are, especially when we are called to care. So, I’ll be praying for you Stephanie in the coming months. Thank you.

Good morning DAB it’s Xavier from Cameroon. I would love to let you know that I…though I have some personal problems as far as things that make my mind not to be stable my countries in need…my countries in need of prayers because in the past 3 to 4 years we’ve been experiencing disable unrest. __ has taking the lives of thousands of people and I’ve been working as a tribe protection assistant for the past year now, struggling to restore some dignity in the life of the vulnerable, you know, carrying out psychosocial activities with children to ensure that their emotional mind and their well-being is being restored and there’s a lot of challenges that we’re faced with. You know, lots and lots of days of lockdown where people cannot move and it’s occurring affects in our activities. And, so, I would like you to put us in our prayers. The children with whom we work with, they have parents and caregivers as well. You know sometimes it’s not easy for a child to see how parents are being maltreated by, you know, some senseless individuals. But I just want Christ to touch the lives of the leaders of this country so that, you know, this war comes to an end, people can go back to their daily activities. There hasn’t been a community that has seen the best yet to come. There’s all these communities are struggling to get on their feet and upright themselves. __ you have houses that have been burnt, homeless people, people have been separated from their families, children have experienced lots and lots of violence. I just want the DAB family to put us in prayers and that God bless the lives of the leaders.

Hello, my brothers and sisters, fellow DABbers, this is Randy from rocket city. I wrote a poem inspired at the Labor Day DAB 2019 Family Reunion camping that captures our unique DAB community centered around the reading of God’s word. It’s titled, The Beautiful Gathering.

Some gather around causes to save and protect
some gather politically to promote and elect
some gather to cheer to spur their teams on
some gather to protest and say it’s not fair
desiring freedom like at Tiananmen Square
but we are the people who gather online
we gather together time after time
we gather around Jesus the word made flesh
we listen to truth the life and the way
we as a community every day
then moved by the spirit through what Brian may say
we get to the task we call in and we pray
we love one another in the spiritual realm
we care for one another when we are overwhelmed
we praise we encourage we weep and we cry
how noble our desire
how global this campfire
how noble our fee
how great when we meet
how sweet when we gather
on air as a DABber
praise God this revival
the Daily Audio Bible

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Teresa from Indiana. Hello, Brian and Jill thank you so much for this forum. I just want to ask God today to bless all of us all over the world and just help us, keep us, give us strength to continue to move forward. I’m a longtime listener, call in every once in a while. The new red button is very exciting. I’m glad to be using it today. I want to pray for our children who are prodigal’s. Just want to lift them up and ask God to give them strength, give them courage, give them what they need to get back and to be strong. So many of our children have been blessed by teaching early in life and they know the right way but for whatever reason have been led astray. So, God we’re asking You today to create in our children a clean heart and renew a right spirit within them that they maybe get back to You. As the deer panteth for the water, Lord let their souls long after You. I particularly ask that You would lift up my son Jonathan. He said to me just the other day, “mom I fight every day with myself to do the right thing.” So, I’m praying for courage for him and all our children. In Jesus’ name. I love you. Amen.

Hi family this is his little Cherry in Canada. And when Brian read in the Song of Solomon today, “you are my private garden”, I remembered something that happened to me recently and I wanted to share it with you. There’s a lady down the street from me whose entire front yard is a flower garden and she spends a lot of time in it. Everyone in the community admires it as they walk by including me. And I got to know her just by saying hello when I walked by. And sometimes we chat. And over time we became friends. But recently she did something that took our friendship to a whole new level. She asked me, “would you like to see my private garden?” And I could tell she was offering me something really sacred and I said, “oh yes, I’d love too.” So, everyone can see her front garden but in the back yard, there is another garden that is her private sanctuary and there’s a tall fence around it, so I had no idea it was even there. But it was magical. The front yard can’t compare because she’s been working on her private garden for years and there are hundreds of different plants and flowers. She pointed them out to me, and her face was absolutely glowing as she told me all about them. She led me to little looks and crannies where we sat and had flower tea and fruit. It was really obvious that this beautiful place was her passion. She spent so much time and energy on it, and I felt so honored to be there. So, today when Brian read, “you are my private garden” I had a new understanding of how God feels about us and also a new understanding of what an honor it is to be invited into his feelings as we pray for each other because each one of us is His private garden.

Hey everybody this is Pelham from a Arab Alabama or A-RAB Alabama if you ask Siri, that’s what I’ve heard because I don’t have a cell phone right now because I’m in a recovery program. I’m calling to touch base with everybody. Just…well, I’ll dive right into it. So, Jesus has been so active in my day today. I mean, without Him I couldn’t make it through a day of where I am. I live in a beat-up house with 20 guys. It’s…it’s…I don’t think the health department would approve of it to be honest with you. And the guy who’s the head of it almost got into a fight with another guy the other day and beat the door off the hinges, literally. The door to my room that I’ve taken about 18 to 20 different scriptures, literally. I write them down so that I can memorize Scripture through the day while I’m working in the chicken plant that I work in and I go over them when I get home. I tape it on my door. If I…you know…I don’t do it every day but I try too. Sometimes the job that I’m doing’s so busy I can’t do it. Sometimes it’s not. And it’s funny because I was thinking…when I put the Scripture on there…I was thinking, “this is one powerful door” because it’s got so many scriptures on it. And that very night, the administrator of the program, the director of the program literally punched the door off the hinges. I had to go out of my way to get it back on. So, yesterday on my way home something put me under attack, and I was miserably sad on the way home. And I got in and I had a package and the package turned out to be a notebook that had been written by the DAB family at the reunion to me. I just want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. That reached out and pulled me out of that place that I was in. If I had longer, I’d say more but I’m running out of time. I love you guys. Hope everybody’s doing well. Goodbye.

Isaiah 8:1-9:21, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Psalms 55:1-23, Proverbs 23:4-5

Today is the 11^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is a pleasure and a joy to be here with you around the global campfire together in community as we take the next step forward in our journey through the Bible this year. And I think we have moved into the book of Isaiah, we’re settling in now, we’ve gotten many chapters into the book. And, so, we will continue that journey and we are fully moved into the letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, second Corinthians and we have a few days left in that letter. So, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Isaiah 8 and 9 today.

Commentary:

Okay. In Psalms today we read some things that certainly we’ve all felt before. Maybe…maybe some of you are feeling this right now. Listen to these words. “Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.” Right? Have you ever had those moments when life has become so overwhelming and anxiety is just kinda like ripping you up, that you’re like, “if I could just fly away”, right? “If I could just fly away from here. If I could just get out of here.” Right? So, the Bible’s speaking our language. The Bible…right…like the Bible isn’t going, “now, now there dear. It’s all gonna be…”. We’re not…it’s not just giving us a pat on the butt. It’s actually speaking honest words from honest lips that are very human and that we all understand, which is why a few stanzas later in this song that King David wrote, we find one of the most famous passages of Scripture in all of the Bible and one that gives us incredible amounts of comfort. “Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved.” So, a very famous passage of Scripture to be sure, but here’s the thing about the famous passages that we know from the Bible, they’re not magic spells, right? There is…the Bible is full of books but there is no book of magic in the Bible that’s full of versus full of magic spells that can be recited to get things done. So, certainly memorizing Scripture, certainly, being able to recall Scripture is obviously appropriate and I couldn't…I couldn’t say how immensely helpful, but the words themselves, like just saying the words, even if we’ve memorized the words, the words aren’t magic. There are explicit instructions, right, that we must cast or give our burdens to the Lord. So, like just saying “cast your burdens on the Lord and He will carry…”, like just saying the words isn’t actually casting your burdens anywhere. It’s just saying some words about burdens. So, David laid out how he was feeling and we all understand how that feels, and like I said, some of us are feeling that way right now and we have this famous verse that we can recite and wonder, you know, like how do I make this work, but the verse contains the instructions within it, that you have to let go of your burdens and give them over to the Lord. The famous passage that we might be able to quote from memory is inviting us into action. So, if we’re not willing to let go of our burdens, if we’re not willing to cast them on the Lord then we can recite that verse all day long, it’s not gonna do anything. If we want to move to the part where God is gonna to take care of us and not permit us to stumble then we’re gonna actually have to collaborate by doing our part, which is to let…to release…to let our hands that are gripping this burden, let go, let it go, give it to the Lord, which doesn’t mean that we do that right now. Like, okay, ah…exhale, “I release, I let it go, I give it to you God” only to go back and get it in an hour, right? Like, we’re casting…we’re letting go…we’re casting the burden on the Lord like permanently. We’re not going to the Lord and saying, “hey, this thing is heavy. It’s overwhelming. Could you babysit this for me for an hour so I can catch my breath and then I’ll come back and get it.” Right, we’re being invited to fully trust God. We’re being invited to release our expectations and invite Him to show us the next steps, letting Him take care of us, right? He says He will - if we’ll let go of our burdens, He’ll take care of us, but we have to let Him. This is an ongoing thing on our part, right? This is a trust issue on our part. So, David said he wanted fly away like a bird and I know what that feels like and I think you know what that feels like to and I think a lot of you know what that feels like right this minute. Maybe you’re not gonna get wings today, right? So, maybe you’re not gonna walk out the front door and all of a sudden have wings and you can just fly away. But you don’t need to get wings today. Let go. Cast your burdens on the Lord and He will care for you and shelter you with His wings. You don’t need your own. He will shelter you with His wings

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into that. Anxiety, depression, overwhelmed, underwater - these kinds of words, this kind of language is common in all of our cultures. The world is moving fast, too fast and there’s too much…there’s too much going on. And, so, it sweeps is away. This is the world. It just pulls us into like a tornado and we’re just spinning, spinning, spinning, not knowing which way is up and there’s too much to keep up with and we can’t keep up. And, so, we find ourselves of the world, not just in it. But You’re giving us permission to step away. You’re saying, “you don’t have to live that…you have to be in it, but you don’t have to be of it. You don’t have to be swept away, you can let go. I’ll navigate with you.” And, so, we need that. We cast our burdens upon You. We release them to You. We let go. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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