Month: September 2020

Song 1:1-4:16, 2 Corinthians 8:16-24, Psalms 50:1-23, Proverbs 22:22-23

Today is the 6^th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here at the threshold again and throw open the door and step into a shiny, sparkly, new week together. This will be the first full week of the month of September and can’t think of a better thing to do than to begin this week by immersing ourselves in the Scriptures. And, so, we finished the book of Ecclesiastes yesterday. So, we greet this new week we’ll be moving into some new territory. And we’ve been moving through the wisdom literature that is contained in the Bible, that being a part of Psalms, the Proverbs, Job Ecclesiastes. And we’re remaining in wisdom literature as we come into this new book, but it’s a very different perspective, a very…coming from a very different place.

Introduction to the Song of Songs / the Song of Solomon:

This is the book known as the Song of Songs or the Song of Solomon. And it’s some of the most beautiful poetry in the…in the world and these love poems are of the consummation of love and bliss and joy between a man and a woman who have committed their lives and are just basically drunk with love for one another. But this is poetry and its wisdom literature. And, so, there are many layers that…that can be looked at. There are many ways to look at what we’re about to read together. Certainly, the passionate consummation of love between a man and woman who…who are just deeply lost in love is the pretext. So, it stands alone on its own as a witness to…to marital love and the bliss that happens in a passionate physical relationship. But there are other ways to read this - a mystical reading, like what are the deeper layers here? What do the allegories mean? And, so, like ancient Jewish tradition looks at the…the poem from the perspective that it reveals God’s passionate love for His children, the Hebrew people, which is…which is completely supportable in the Scriptures in the old and new Testaments. And then in our Christian tradition we have an allegorical look at the passionate, deep, abiding, like lost in love passion of Christ for His church and His deep desire for His people. And this is one of the cases where all of those can be right all at the same time. It’s a short book. We’ll read it today and tomorrow. And, so, you can read it number of times. You can read it from a number of perspectives on your own just inviting God to take you deeper and deeper into it and see what kind of lens the Holy Spirit leads you to. And, so, that’s what can happen here as we move through this. Invite God into how you hear it, how you receive it. Since it’s love poetry between a man…a man and a woman we have a tradition here at the Daily Audio Bible, my wife Jill comes to join me for these couple of days and I can read the male part and she can read the female part and that takes us into the…into the poetry in a meaningful way. And, so, I welcome my wife Jill along for this ride and we got a brand-new week so we’re gonna read from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Song of songs chapters 1 through 4.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us into this new, shiny, sparkly week that is out in front of us reminding us that we will live into it one way or the other. There is only one way to go and that is forward. And, so, we will be swept forward into this week, but we will either be swept into the torrent of the chaos that can swirl all around us or we will methodically walk hand-in-hand step-by-step with the lover of our souls that we are reading about as we read through the song of Solomon. And we thank You for the gift of love. We thank You for the gift of companionship, we thank You for our spouses, we thank You for the intimacy that we share together, we thank You for the intimacy that You long for with us, that You are within us, which is as intimate as it can be. And, so, we acknowledge that. We settle into that. You want to be with us. We want to be with You. And, so, we give ourselves to You with abandon as we walk into this new week. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is home base, it’s where the Global Campfire is. It’s our entrance into the community together. So, be aware of it. So, check it out.

Check out the resources that are available in Daily Audio Bible Shop. Certainly, be aware of the Prayer Wall. There is nothing better for the times when we are feeling pretty low, but to turn outward…I mean…the things that are going on, they are going on but obsessing about them, it just doesn’t help. It saps our energy, but ironically what does help is to turn outward and understand we’re not the only ones and to reach out in prayer for our brothers and sisters. So, the Prayer Wall is a wonderful place to do that. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we collectively share to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen to it, which is all of us, anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, if that brings life to you than thank you for your partnership. 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 or the mailing address, if that is your preference. is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, 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:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community this is Diane Olive Brown from Newburgh Indiana shalom shalom it’s 6:44 in the morning central time on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 and I just listened to Brian’s commentary and this song came to me from a movie. Maybe you guys know it. And it goes…and so I’m gonna sing it. [singing starts] Words, words, words I’m so sick of words I hear words all day through from him now from you is that all you blighters can do? [singing stops] My point is I have repented. All my life, that’s the way I’ve been - I talk I talk and I talk and I never stop and I never stop and I used to just say everything that blurted out of my mouth. Well, I put my hands in front of my mouth now and I say forgive me Father for I have sinned against You. Instead of listening I thought I was speaking for You, but I wasn’t. I was blustering. I was full of pride and I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Holy Spirit, will You please teach me to have a gentle and a quiet spirit? I love You. My log is on the campfire…

Good morning daily audio Bible family it’s September 1^st this is Angel in Maryland. I’m calling family for your prayers for my sister who lives in Louisiana. She…my family was affected by the hurricane in Louisiana and that was last Thursday, August 27^th and that day she text me saying that she tested positive for Covid and it’s really hard when you’re going through a natural disaster, you don’t have comforts of life and she’s fighting for her life right now. She has…she is married she has two boys age five and age one and I would ask that you just keep her lifted. She’s…she’s been a fairly healthy person, eats very well, exercises but Covid has a way of being unpredictable. So, I ask that you just pray for my sister in Louisiana, that she will be healed. I do believe God is a healer. Thank you.

Father God, this is Donna in Pennsylvania. I just listened to a woman calling from her parking lot, she’s a nurse and is just dreading going to work and facing a second wave of Covid patients. She just can’t do it again. Her son is bipolar at home pacing and talking to himself for hours and she can’t help him. Lord, I had a stressful, busy, long day yesterday. I’ve got a…more of one today and not enough sleep last night. And I ask that You would lift us up, help us Lord, moment by moment to trust You because You promise to be there never to fail or forsake us. I ask Lord that You would help us commit this day to YAou, that Your will be done and that You will strengthen us, that we would be able to delight in You today Lord, that nothing could steal our joy in You, no circumstances and that we would remember to wait on You because we were never meant to carry these burdens along. You promised to be with us. Through the fire we will not be burned, through the water we will not be overwhelmed. You are with us moment by moment. Day by day I asked that You would hold us up, lift up this woman and help her and her son, all of those who are nurses and doctors, those facing possible eviction, those who are sick, those who are struggling, hungry and hopeless. O God help us. In Jesus’ name I trust, I wait, I commit, and delight in You today…

Hi DAB family it’s James here from the UK, been a very long time since I last called but I just ask for your prayers over my family. We’ve moved home and it’s been done during the lockdown period. Obviously, a very stressful for a lot of people but we’ve been truly blessed. I have found a new job, my wife also. But we’re struggling and we’re struggling because we are feeling a lack of…of place. We feel that the reason that God’s brought us here is very clear because of the health of my father, which is worsening. And many of you prayed sometime back because he had a…a really catastrophic stroke and he’s still hanging in there, but he needs more help. And, so, we’re back. We are near to mom and dad now which is really great. And God’s blessed us with a house that literally at the moment we’re renting a couple doors down from them. So, we are so thankful, but my wife is struggling. And she’s struggling with the fact that she feels really torn away from her friends, her family, her community. And we just ask for your prayers. I ask for your prayers in particular in her life, that she might find a way to make inroads with a relationship with my mom and find peace. Thank you, family.

Hello DAB this is Tim from Edinburgh in Scotland UK I’ve got a prayer support, praise report, and prayer request. My prayer support is my prayer in intercession for Michael. Michael your call was broadcast on Thursday and you were heading in for eye surgery and I pray for your continued healing, bodily and in soul and in spirit. Thursday was also the day that I started developing systems in my eye, like a curtain being drawn across. On Saturday the Scripture reading included 2 Corinthians 3:16 in DAB which was, “but whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away.” On Saturday I was diagnosed with the detached retina. On Monday emergency surgery was carried out and Monday was also the day that Laura and an unnamed chap, their calls were broadcast again in intercession for Michael. My praise report is…is basically that I just carried along on the coattails of Michael and claimed a share in those prayers. Thank you, guys. The surgery seems to have gone very smoothly and I’m just in recovery phase now. And, so, my prayer request for the whole of DAB family is to pray for everyone and to pray for everyone that anyone specific for whom we pray, we can all share with that. And I know that this will resonate with Brian, that I pray with all those with eyesight issues, conditions, problems and I give all glory and praise and thanks to Jesus who kept me say throughout my procedure, stood there in the gap with me. I give thanks to Jesus and thanks to this wonderful community and this family. Thank you. Amen.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for Michael who had lost his father and mother and going through a divorce and all of the challenges that he’s going through, that God would give him the victory. I also want to pray for Margo in Nigeria who’s stuck at the airport and trying to get back to Canada. I’m asking God bless her with a victory. I also want to pray for my…my sister I think her name is Abigail about the young…two young boys she’s in the hospital with a stroke and her mom dying of cancer. And I want to pray for those who have lost a loved one or anybody to coronavirus. I just want to give one victory. My son had been tested positive, but we went through the incubation period and God blessed us that we made it through. And just praying that God gives us the release…that we released as a nation from this and that we can continue to live as God wants us to in the freedom and that backed with a victory in being able to do the things that He wants us to do. Gracious Father I lift You up I praise Your name I ask You Lord to have Your way in the lives of the DABbers. Lord the sister even…even with that’s taking the test today Lord we pray that You give her the victory. We just pray that You touch those in the hospital. You touch those that lost their loved ones, the name that I could remember and the ones that I didn’t and let them know that I love them and that I’m…that…that…that they’re included in this prayer because __ You that none would perish. He wants You to have the victory and because You are a DABber You’re a DABber. And I want to let You know that God loves You. And the one who was praying for the one on her job and her husband’s a coal worker. Lord we just ask You to have Your way, Lord You heal and deliver…

Ecclesiastes 10:1-12:14, 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, Psalms 49:1-20, Proverbs 22:20-21

Today is the 5^th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you as we reach the end of another one of our weeks together, this the first week of September, although we haven’t lived a full week of September yet. We’ll begin our first full week of September tomorrow, but here we are moving forward step-by-step day by day and it’s great to be here with you as we release another week, allow it to become a part of our history and consider all that God has spoken to us through His word in this week, which has been a lot. We’ve been working through Job, Ecclesiastes, working in…into and through the wisdom literature of the Bible. So, it’s been an incredibly enlightening. So, let’s continue. Let’s continue our journey by taking the next step forward. We’ve been reading from the New International Version this week, which is what we will do today. Ecclesiastes 10, 11 and 12 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another week in Your word and we thank You for all that You bring up in a year in Your word. You touch every part of our lives. And, so, we open ourselves up to the things that You’re touching now, the things that You are bringing us through as You bring us through the different territory in the Scriptures. And, so as this week comes to a close, we release it, we let it go, it becomes a part of our memory, it becomes a part of our history. We are here now, and You are leading us forward and we are grateful beyond words. No matter what we have endured, no matter what we have gone through, no matter what the days bring us, no matter how hard they are we are breathing. You have given us the breath of life. We are here. And sometimes we lose sight of that because of what we’re enduring, and we think it’s bad when it’s good, it’s life, it’s a gift. And, so, we take this moment to acknowledge that with a grateful heart. Thank You for letting us be year now. And as we look to the future, we see only You there. We don’t know what we might face but we see You there and that’s what we need to know, You are there and You are here and You are God, And, so, come Holy Spirit as we move forward together. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned. Stay connected in any way that you can.

Check out the Community section, that’s where the Prayer Wall is. That’s where to get connected, different links to different social media channels. Check out the Initiatives for what’s…what’s going on around here. And check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources that are only there because of the journey we are on and they are made out to be companions on this journey. So, check that out, 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. It lives on the homepage and I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership beyond words. Thank you. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the hotline button in the app 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:

Hi guys this is Dave from Colorado. So, here I am, I was driving through Laramie Wyoming on my way home and just feeling a little disconnected and alone, isolated. You know, I am heading home but I do still have quite a ways to go. But yeah, I was listening to the podcast and a prayer came on for all the truckers. And I don’t know who you are sister, but that timing could not have been any better. For what it’s worth, it certainly lifted my spirits and, I don’t know, it’s kind of uncanny the way God works. But anyways thank you. I just want to say thank you for that prayer. That was really awesome. And also, my brother Mark Street, I want you to know that you’ve been in my prayers. I hope everything’s working out well for you. Keep us posted brother. All right family. I love you all and I’ll talk you all later. Bye.

Hello DAB family my name is Michael from Sarasota Florida and I’ve been listening since May of this year and the reading by Brian and thank goodness for Brian and his ministry. It has profoundly opened my eyes in my heart to God and the Bible. It’s August 29^th and this reading in particular brought me to tears and resonated with me so profoundly, I can’t explain. But there are things going on in my life that I need this community and prayer. Brian, I want you to know that I love you and I will be here for you tomorrow and I am so thankful you are here for all of us. Thank you DAB family.

Candace from Oregon praying along now with my DAB family. Lord Jesus, King of all creation, beautiful Savior, Sovereign Lord, heavenly Father, Abba, Holy Spirit, we cry out to You Lord. We cry out to You on behalf of our amazing brother Mark Street from Australia. Would You be very near to him right now as he struggles with the recovery from a stroke? Would You heal him? And most of all would You just be incredibly close to him, speaking to his heart and mind and soul every step of the way? I pray Lord that You will be with Daniel Johnson Junior from Cleveland Ohio and that similarly You’ll be with him every step of the way as he looks to You for provision, for employment, for full employment in their family and provision. Lord, we know that nothing is too difficult for You. Be with my friend Beth Andre who is very, very week in fourth stage colon cancer. Lord, help us to keep our eyes on You no matter what. We love You so much and we’re so grateful to You Lord.

Hey, DABbers this is Katie in Kentucky and I’ve mentioned before that I often listen when I’m out running which is going on today. It’s Sunday, August 28^th and I was out today listening to all the prayer requests and God just brought back to me something that happened years ago, and I just felt led to call in and share it as an encouragement. I was going through a time where I was working at a church camp and I was being moved to another church camp and I was concerned about everything I put into the first place and moving on. And I saw this beautiful sunrise and then I turned a corner and it like changed and it was like this…almost like this second beautiful moment. And what God spoke to me then was something beautiful happened in the past, I’ve got something beautiful coming up in your future too. And, so, I just wanted to share that encouragement for everybody who’s maybe going through changes and you don’t know how it’s going to play out or something is ending in your life and you’re looking at how things are going to change and move forward. God sent something beautiful in the past and there’s something beautiful and miraculous and wonderful around the corner that he’s gonna bring again. So, I don’t know who all needs to hear that, but I just felt God leading me to call that in and share it. And I know that I actually personally needed that reminder as I’m looking at some changes as well. So, I love you guys. Every prayer request that’s played I’m just…my heart’s bursting for you and, yeah, I love you guys and I’m praying along with you. Bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Carolyn here. This is my first time calling in, but I’ve been a listener for years now. I just really need prayer. I am the caregiver of my father, moved both my parents in with me a year ago and my mom was in hospice care and passed away in January. My only sibling passed away two months later in March and my father is understandably depressed but even more so he’s just angry and miserable and he doesn’t seem to see that he needs to be cared for and can no longer live on his own. He’s getting ready to turn 92 and I’m just exhausted mentally, spiritually. I just feel like I’m under attack. All the peace and joy has been stolen from my home and I just want to surrender it all to God and to just stop feeling this way. So, if you could please just say a prayer for me. Thank you all. Love you Brian.

Hello, DABbers I am a new listener. I called in earlier to pray for some people and now I’m calling to ask for prayer for myself, A New Day in Florida. It’s been really hard during these times. I lost my husband in a violent motorcycle accident four years ago and then my mom the year after him to Alzheimer’s and then when we had a storm here in Florida, Erma, I actually fell and broke my ankle and had to have surgeries to install hardware and I don’t have children. I have a sister but since my mom’s death we’ve been kind of estranged. We’re working on it. But I feel very alone, very alone and I am just asking for prayer that the Lord would fill those places for me. I have a number of things I have to do on the house, repairs and renovations and I’m just so lost without my husband and how to do these things and attack them. So, I just want to ask for everyone’s prayer and thank you so much. I…I was so blessed to have stumbled across this app and God bless…

Ecclesiastes 7:1-9:18, 2 Corinthians 7:8-16, Psalms 48:1-14, Proverbs 22:17-19

Today is the 4^th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today. I can’t believe it’s September already. Truly, for a year that felt like it was going to drag on or is dragging on forever, it’s like…we’re in September already. It's…it’s crazy but we’re moving into it, we’re getting settled into it and we have the Bible to escort us through the gates of every single day and week and month. And right now, the Bible is leading us to the book of Ecclesiastes, which is…yeah…the exploration of the meaninglessness of whatever we might pursue in life even if we get it all but don’t acknowledge God and it. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Ecclesiastes 7, 8, and 9 today.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s talk about sorrow for a minute. One of our favorite things to talk about talk about, right? Like let’s talk about it all the time, every day. No…sorrow…sorrow what does that bring up in you? Like what…what does that word evoke? I guess we could say sorrow in many ways is some of the things that we’re seeing in the book of Ecclesiastes. Sorrow is attached to a lot of things like regret or grieving or…or whatever, pain, suffering. Do you ever think though sorrow is a good thing? Like normally we don’t ever think that sorrow is a good thing even though sorrow is kind of a baseline. Like it is at the bed rock of things. Like when we are experiencing sorrow, we certainly may have erratic emotions, but sorrow exposes what’s really going on. And sorrow is something that the apostle Paul is talking about today in second Corinthians and we just never think about embracing sorrow because we see it as a bad thing. And, so, we’re like, “I only want good things in my life and sorrow isn’t one of them” even though sorrow can bring us back into goodness. So, I gotta confess. Like I don't…I just don’t ever wake up…I may wake up in the morning feeling sorrow but I don’t ever wake up in the morning feeling great and thinking, “yeah…let me get my coffee so I can just…I want to…I want to see how quickly I can get into sorrow.” Like nobody does. And we wouldn’t be able to say that the apostle Paul never experienced sorrow because we've…we’re spending time in his letters, we read of his journeys in the book of Acts. Like this guy experienced suffering and sorrow all over the place, not just externally like from opposition to the message but also internally when there’s conflict in the churches and he’s just trying to hold things together and he’s experiencing sorrow because of the way that people are accusing him of something or there’s just not getting along or they’re straying from the message. So, we would have to say the apostle Paul experienced plenty of sorrow. But Paul in his mindset doesn’t have sorrow as an only bad sensation. So, let me quote Paul from second Corinthians today. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Okay. So, Paul is saying there is a godly sorrow. We might call that at a…a sensation of conviction, the sensation that we get when we know we have stepped over the line in some area of our lives willingly. We did this thing. We regret what we have done. We can see perhaps the repercussions that are coming at us like a wave and we can turn into worldly earthly sorrow because of…because of what might or might not happen because of what we’ve done, but there is a godly sorrow, one that tells us this is not who I am, this is not who I want to be, this is not the way I want to go, this is not the path my life should be taking. To enter into godly sorrow then that should, that awareness should be frustrating and disappointing, should bring us grief, it should feel distressing. Like it should feel like we’re losing something important. When we…when we walk into sin willfully, like clearly, we should experience the weight of the choices that we are making and what is happening because we are stopping in its tracks the work of God in our lives. Like literally, we are halting sanctification. We are pushing stop on the forward progress of being transformed. We are halting it willingly and saying, “right now I’m doing my own thing. Right now I’m going to follow the path of evil in some way. I’m gonna willingly walk into the darkness. I’m gonna willingly walk the pathway that leads to death.” Okay if we’re gonna do that then we are betraying life. That should not feel good. It should not be something that we associate with wholeness or being healthy. It should bring us sorrow because the way Paul puts it, “this kind of godly sorrow leads us away from…from sin, from darkness, from evil and it results in our salvation.” So, if we’re gonna walk away from God in some way, instead of running toward God then…that…we should feel sorrow and that sorrow should lead us to repentance. And repentance is to change, literally to change your mind, like to go in the other direction. It should lead us to repentance. We should feel this separation that we don’t ever want to feel again. So, let’s enter into that today. We have a no shortage of things to feel sorrow about. But let’s focus our attention and awareness on the Holy Spirit’s leading, the things that bring us sorrow because we have walked away from life. Let’s feel the weight of that. Let’s think of what Solomon is saying in Ecclesiastes because as sobering is what he is saying is, he’s still saying the truth. We all we all die. That is the ultimate destiny of each one of us. Our faith informs life beyond this one and we believe this, I believe this, but we all die an earthly death. Why would we walk the pathway to death and foolishness and folly? We should feel sorrow when we’re walking that path. We’re wasting time in this brief moment as Solomon kind of puts before face. It’s not a lengthy indefinite period of time that we get to be in this human body and have the experience of life on planet Earth. Why waste it in the darkness? So, let’s invite the Holy Spirit into that.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come, well up from within us. We…we have tried to mix light and darkness so much that it’s almost like commonplace. And yet there is a way. There is a path that leads to life. It’s narrow, few find it, but we want to be one who does, which means we have to pay attention to the path we are on and where the road is going. And if we know we are walking into darkness, then the path only goes into the darkness and the end of that road is death. We want to walk the road that leads to life. Come Holy Spirit and show us places within that we are willingly bringing sorrow upon ourselves because we are willingly interrupting what You are doing within us. Come Holy Spirit, we open ourselves to You and we meditate upon this as we move through this day. Lead us as we consider. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Check out the Community section. That is how to get connected. There are all the different links to social media there. The Prayer Wall is there. Stay connected in any way you can. Pray for each other. That is one of the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful things about this community, that we are people of prayer and it matters. God has done remarkable things. In this year alone, like we have heard remarkable stories of what God is doing in lives all over the world and this has been going on for a long time, a decade and half to be specific. So, it’s been remarkable that God hovers among his people when his people are people of prayer. And we are. And, so, the Prayer Wall is a great resource. So, check that out.

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 you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button at the top or there are some numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253 will be the number to call. If you’re in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12, 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:7, Psalms 47:1-9, Proverbs 22:16

Today is the 3^rd day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is…it is a joy to be here with you today as we exhale, as I say often. Let it all go, it’ll all be waiting but we need a change of atmosphere. And, so, we come around the Global Campfire and we let God’s word wash over us, wash into us and then we go back with a new perspective into what we were doing into the world and what a joy it is that we can do this together. So, let’s take that next step. We began the book of Ecclesiastes yesterday and we’re gonna continue that journey today. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Ecclesiastes 4, 5, and 6 today.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in second Corinthians today Paul is essentially talking about or unpacking the fact that there are…there are things that will never be in harmony with each other. He says, “what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” Belial is this word that simply means, like worthlessness or maybe meaningless. “What harmony is there between Christ and that which has no value? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” We could push back on that and say, “well a believer and an unbeliever, their human beings. There’s a lot in common.” But in Paul’s view, those who believe are new creatures, new creations, which for Paul isn’t like a reset, like a restart of humanity. It’s a different kind of species, like a new humanity upon the earth, one that has been restored and made righteous before God, a different kind of thing of which Jesus was the firstborn which we’ve already talked about. Paul’s talking about all this in the context of not being yoked together with unbelievers. And if you have the choice you shouldn’t. I mean my two cents on that, which is probably worth about two cents is that life is a winding road and marriage is difficult enough as it is. With no faith to fall back on…O…that’s very difficult. But what Paul is saying is also beyond just whether or not you should marry an unbeliever. This goes to Paul’s philosophy in general. We are new creatures upon this earth part of God’s divine family knit together as a body, the body of Christ. And basically trying to live with one foot in the world as a person who has already died to it while keeping one foot in this new creation that we are living into is essentially the same as God inviting His chosen people to separate themselves so that they become…can become a nation of priests to the rest of the world. And we read that story already and we saw what that mixture did. It all fell apart. So, why do we often find ourselves in a position where we did…where basically we’re wondering, “how dark…how much of the…like how much into the shade can I go, like before the actual darkness…like how far into the darkness can I go, while remaining in the light?” When Paul deals with these kinds of issues he’s basically saying, “why would you do that? Why would you do that?” And it’s fair. Like why would we do that? Why do we do that? Why do I do that? Like, why are we doing this?” Because like borrowing from Solomon, it’s meaningless. It’s chasing the wind. And, so, Paul gives words of encouragement. And I quote Paul. “Therefore, since we have these promises dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. And, so, we find that the Scriptures have led us to consider like what is the defiling us. What are we allowing to contaminate the new creature that we have been made? What are we allowing to tell us who we are? Because if it’s not our faith in God then we are chasing the wind. And, once again we find Paul saying it’s a bigger story, like “look higher. Live into this. Be righteous because you can now. You can be holy, be set apart, because you can be in union with God because you can, He’s your father, you are adopted into His family. Don’t waste this gift, don’t waste your life. And the pollution that you once lived in, you don’t have to do that

Prayer:

Father, once again we find ourselves challenged, we find the Bible being a mirror and forcing us to look at ourselves and we thank You for that. It shakes us. It disrupts us. It’s necessary. It’s You, Fathering us. It’s You, loving us and saying there’s more. And, so, we reach for You and invite Your Holy Spirit to show us the ways that we’re trying to mix things up in unhealthy ways with…with things that can never be in harmony with one another. We need You. We need You alone. We need Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. And we trust in that promise that You will. Come Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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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 basking in the spirit and I’m still lying in my bed
the sun has not yet risen and I’m very glad that I’m not dead
it’s quiet and it’s dark and it seems the world is still asleep
but I feel you all around me God inside too real deep
it feels just like I’m glowing and I know that can’t be true
pre-dawn is my favorite time to come in prayer to you
there are no real distractions no voices cars or lights
no human interference no arguments or fights
only me reflecting thoughts that spring from deep within
thoughts now filled with gratitude that used to be about sin
I come to you for power I come to you for grace
I come to you my father because there really is no other place
I lift you up for what you’ve done because you’ve done so much for me
I praise you God for who you are and how you set me free
it seems like I can’t get enough of praising you each day
the closer that I get to you the more I love to pray
thank you God for lifting me, for loving me, for setting free
I thank you God my eyes can see a concept like eternity
the suns now up and I’m still in prayer
I still can feel you everywhere
inside outside all around even deep below the ground
because you Are truly awesome

blindtony1016@gmail.com. I’d like to give a shout out to God’s Smiles and Peter and Gentle Ben and Rebecca from Michigan. Know you are all loved and prayed for daily. And once again, Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit flow. Keep it flowing y’all. All right, bye-bye.

Hello this is Duncan the Piano Man from Fredericksburg Texas this on Sunday morning August 30^th. Lincoln my prayers are for you. Let me pray right now. You’re the uppermost in my mind. A number of you have had deaths in your family this week from the terrible virus that we’re all dealing with. But for people to stay together for marriages to stay together I am burdened especially today. My wife and I went through 43 years of marriage and we had a lot of stormy times. God brought us through though and it will be a year in October that she’ll have been with the Lord in eternity. So, let me pray now Father before this thing runs out. I just pray for Lincoln and his wife. Father I am just praying that You would soften her heart. Lincoln wants so much for this marriage to stay together. And Father they’re still Young at and I don’t know if they have any children, but I bring him to You Lord Jesus. Also, Father that that marriage would be mended, and that marriage would be strengthened, and they would just stay together till death do them part. And Father that they would grow together in You. Quicken that spirit Lord. Father pray for also that lady in New York who is behind financially and a lot of things and deals with mental issues and also has no work. And Lord there’s probably a lot of other things. Be merciful to them Jesus. Thank You for hearing our prayer. Father I…we love You and we leave love each other in You. Thank You, Lord. Amen.

Good morning family. Hey, I had a revelation this morning. I every morning do the Daily Prayer which you can access on the app under the navigation bar under helpful links. And I’ve been doing it…well…for almost 2 years now every morning faithfully and I can’t tell you what a difference it’s made in my life. I really recommend it. What I thought this morning and I believe the Holy Spirit gave me was this is a prayer that is so socked full of what we need to know about our relationship with God that every morning you’re reviewing it and it gives God the opportunity to speak into your heart. So, that’s what the spiritual disciplines do. They in themselves do not make you holy or righteous or anything, they just give God the opportunity to pour like a faucet into your soul. And, so, one that I really appreciate too is solitude because it allows me to just sit and muse with God all day. Anyway, I better take off now. I just wanted to share that with you. Please during this really heartbreaking time in our country it’s…it’s so important to get everything straight, get your plumb line straight with God and have a clear conscience. It’s worth everything. Okay kids. Bye.

Hi this is Kristi from Kentucky this is about the eighth time I’ve tried to record this. It’s kind of difficult. I’ve been listening for 12 years and the first time I’ve ever called in for prayer. I put this on a Prayer Wall about a year ago but I’m still…I’m still patiently or impatiently waiting sometimes. I was involved in a Christian community in Ohio where I have two children that are still there. I was involved with them for many years. I lived there for a couple years but when I moved in, I saw that they were becoming increasingly more controlling over people’s time, their money, their interactions outside of the community and who they could speak to and who they couldn’t. And I saw red flags. Anybody that leaves is deemed either a sinner in love with the world or mentally ill. And, so, out of all of the years that they’ve been in existence only like five or six people that have left are actually in any kind of relationship with the church and most people in community aren’t even allowed to talk to them, which has happened to the two of my children and me. Since I left it has been, it’s been really ugly. It took me a year of some intense biblical counseling to really recover emotionally, spiritually. But my children are still there, and they refuse to have any relationship with me or to pursue restoration of any kind. I haven’t spoken to my daughter since December…it’ll be two years in December. I’d ask you to join me in prayer for all truth to be revealed whether it’s myself or them, all the darkness be revealed, and light come into that darkness. People are set free in Jesus’ name.

Hi, my names Sam from Texas and just calling in because…express my gratitude for this community, for this…Brian and everybody that listens in. About a year ago I found this just wanting to, you know, have the word of God, you know, to hear it in my life every day and now it’s…it’s…it’s a staple of my day. You know, I start my day before I put anything else into this mind, I put this podcast in this word of God. Prayer requests. Could you all please lift up my church community in Allen Texas? We…we’re going through a…a lawsuit. And not to get into any details but just lift up my pastor, his name is Dustin and the leadership. You know, sometimes you gotta rip off the Band-Aid to heal and I know the situations gonna be handled by God and He’s gonna get the glory. Another prayer request I have is for a new believer, her name is Taylor. She’s an alcoholic. She’s just got 60 days sober yesterday by the grace of God and I…I praise him for that. You know she came to the Lord about 3, 4 weeks ago, you know, and the Lord’s really been knocking on her on her door and seeking her her whole life. And I was in a previous relationship with her but I had to make a decision to end it so that she could focus on herself and I could also focus on myself because me and God get some business to do and I’m grateful for that. You know, just lift up Taylor and her recovery that she has a spiritual experience with the Almighty God and Jesus could continue to enter her heart, softens her heart and her mind to Him. Thank you, guys. Have a blessed day.

This is my second time prayer requesting. My names Ryan Kelleher I live in Santa Barbara California and my heart’s heavy and I’ve had a long journey of…I want to say mental illness but I’m not even sure. I just thought I’d reach out and receive some…some prayer. Thanks guys.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, Psalms 46:1-11, Proverbs 22:15

Today is the 2^nd day of September…I was gonna say July and I have no idea why because that was a while back. It’s the 2^nd day of September, and here we are in a brand-new month and we’re obvious…I’m obviously trying to move into this new month, but we’re moving into some new territory along with moving into this new month. We finished the book of Job yesterday, which brings us to the book of Ecclesiastes today.

Introduction to the book of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes is one of the more interesting books in the Bible, at least for me. Like there was a time it was my least favorite thing to read in the Scriptures because it kinda comes up across the depressing and a little hopeless and pointless and I used to not like…just…didn’t reconcile well with what I had assumed life was supposed to look like. And but now it’s one my favorite…one my favorite books because its brutally honest and we face some hard stuff. And Job does the same kind of thing, it just does it from a different perspective. So, to…to kinda get ourselves in the right frame of mind to enter into Ecclesiastes, the best thing that we can do is think about what would happen if you got everything you ever wanted? And you can think, “that sounds heavenly.” Like, “that sounds like what I’m after.” But imagine it. Imagine that all of the challenges of your life essentially, they kind of evaporate. So, money is no longer a problem. You checked the bank this morning and there was $100 million in your bank account, like more than you can spend and your house is paid for, your vehicles are new you, got money in the bank, your kids are doing great, they’re obeying, they’re not rebellious, you can care for them, you can care for their children, you can care for their grandchildren into the future, whatever you’d like to pursue you can pursue it and when you’re done with it you can be done with it and just everything, the resources for everything, the power for everything is at your disposal. So very, very few people in the world ever experience anything like that. We’re always just striving forward to…to get through or to make ends meet, or just to get a little ahead or have a little nest egg or to pursue a dream but not a lot of people can do whatever they want whenever they want with whoever they want, but the writer of Ecclesiastes who is known to be Solomon who collected and penned many of the Proverbs, he did have that ability. That was his life. So, his father, King David had gone through the establishment of the city of David, right, and making Jerusalem the capital city of Israel, and he fought many battles and he collected many treasures, but it was left to his son to build the temple of God. And we remember the story of Solomon praying to the Lord for wisdom and God saying that He would grant him wisdom and grant him long life and grant him riches and honor, and everything else. And, so, Solomon did have this. Solomon took ancient Israel to the apex of their civilization. The brief period where the wind was at their back and everything was in their favor happened under Solomon’s reign and rule. And he was so wise people traveled from all over the world to hear him and to speak to him and to consult with him. He was the king. And, so, he was the supreme ruler of the land with the power of life and death. He was enormously wealthy and brought Israel into a time of immense prosperity. So, he could dream in any direction and he did. We’ll find this from the book of Ecclesiastes, but we also found this when we were reading of the story of Solomon, of his development, of the things that he built, of the things that he dreamed, of the people who came to hear him, of the alliances that he formed. So, he’s a very powerful…maybe the most powerful man in the world at this time. He also had 700 wives and 300 concubines, so 1,000 of the most beautiful women in all of the world available to him all wishing to bear a prince or a princess. And I know all of our children are princes and princesses but like for real, like to bear a royal child. So, this is a very powerful person who has been given the wisdom of God. So, you’d expect like if he gets later in life and he wants to write down the story, you’d think it would be this unbelievable adventure story, a memoir of unspeakable experiences and instead what he writes is that it’s all meaningless, which just seems like such a weird conclusion to come to, but that’s what he concludes, it’s chasing the wind, it’s all meaningless. It’s almost hard to comprehend because we’re always chasing that next…that next thing. Like, if I could just achieve this then my life would be better. If I could just get or attain that then my life would be better. And, so, we…we chase these things, but we can never get to the end that, we’ll always be chasing something. So, if that’s really what’s going to make life better, we’ll never get there because we’ll only be chasing the next thing. Solomon gives us the perspective of somebody who got all the things, everything you could ever want he experienced. And, so, we get a look at his perspective on what it looks like to get off the wheel, basically to stop chasing and pursuing other things because they don’t lead anywhere, they’re meaningless. And, so, Ecclesiastes comes to similar conclusions that Job comes to. Now Job dealt with suffering and in that context, we explored it. Solomon wasn’t exploring suffering he was exploring whatever he wanted to explore. But it gives us the perspective of…man…if you do achieve it all, if you do, then you find out that it still did not fulfill you. And he concludes that only God can do that. There is no other way to fulfillment and what you have is something that you should appreciate and enjoy and see it as a gift from God and be looking at what everybody else has or whatever else you are trying to achieve because if you achieve it all you’re still not gonna be fulfilled. So, it gives us a prime opportunity to explore those pursuits and to consider what we’re trading our life for. What is promising us more that we would actually trade the days of our lives that we cannot get back that are precious? What we trading our lives for? Is it really gonna be worth it? So, Ecclesiastes is part of the wisdom literature of the Bible, which also included Job, which includes Proverbs, which includes part of the Psalms, which includes apocryphal texts, like Sirach. So, that’s kinda the genre that we’re reading and some of the territory that we’re heading into. And may we allow the Holy Spirit to come and teach us. We have Proverbs and we see all of these wise sayings, but this is deeper than that. This is an older man nearing the end of his life reflecting back on all that he’s experienced and coming to certain conclusions about the way that he’s spent his own life. And may we find that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. And maybe we’ve been trading our lives chasing the wind. And, so, we begin. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Ecclesiastes 1, 2, and 3 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, you can kinda see what we’re talking about the book of Ecclesiastes, everything is meaningless, it’s chasing the wind. And, so, let’s just…for a quick second since we’ve already talked about Ecclesiastes…just…let’s look at what we read today. Solomon basically said, “look, I have done it all. I have gone as far as you can go in any number of directions and it’s meaningless, it’s chasing the wind because no matter what we achieve, no matter what gets accomplished, it’s gonna be forgotten here upon the earth. No matter what we achieve, no matter how we accomplish, we’re no different than the animals because we all end up in the same place, which is we all experience death. And then Solomon is basically using all of the knowledge that he has upon the earth, the earth’s knowledge, to say nobody knows what happens after that. Nobody can prove anything. So, it's…it’s all meaningless. And, so, what’s missing from the equation? What is it that makes it all meaningless? The lack of faith. Faith isn’t a part of the equation of what we were talking about today. It’s only faith that makes anything have meaning. And Solomon at this point in his life seems to be doing what…what you do as you kind of continue to grow and age ask the big, big questions. You kind of come to the end of what you can know and then realize it is meaningless. Without a view of eternity, without a faith view, without faith in God then really, we all do end up in the same place and everything that we’ve worked so hard to achieve fades away or is given to who knows. And, so, in so many ways we are, in the book of Ecclesiastes, looking at life apophatically. That’s a process of subtraction to arrive at the truth instead of a process of addition. So, if you’re looking cataphatically, like essentially a process of addition, you’re saying, “this is like that. This is like.” Whereas if you are looking apathetically, you’ll be like, “that is not like that. This is not like that.” In so many ways what Solomon is talking about is what Jesus said, “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word and it’s disruptive on..on…in many places at many times. It’s disruptive it shakes us. It…it shakes us out of our comfort zones and forces us to look at what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. And right at the outset we can see there is no purpose or meaning without a bigger view. The same kinds of things Paul is writing about in his letters, “look higher. This is a bigger story.” But it if we don’t see that bigger story than all we see is the toil of our lives trying to scrape forward and achieve some sort of security and some sort of happiness that all fades away in time. There is no hope but you. And, so, we are acknowledging that and we invite your Holy Spirit as we continue into this month and into this territory that the Bible is leading us into, that you take us deep, deep to the level of our motivations, deep to what it is we’re trying to do here. Are we trying to be our own God? Be our own sovereign? Carve of our own niche? Even if we could do that we end up in the same place as everything else on this earth, which is the grave. If we have no hope beyond that it is meaningless. And, so, you are our meaning. You are our purpose, not what we can do for you. You are our hope, not what you can help us do to make life better. You are our only hope and we put our hope in you. And we ask, Holy Spirit, sweet comforter, that you come into the disruptive places and that you comfort us and that you reprioritize and reorient our posture and what we’re aiming toward in this life. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Song:

Turn Turn Turn - Anthem Lights

[Spencer Kane]

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven

[Joey Stamper]
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven

[Caleb Grimm]
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

[Chad Graham]
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven

[Spencer Kane]
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

[Joey Stamper]
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven

[Caleb Grimm, Spencer Kane, Joey Stamper]
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sow
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late

[Chad Graham]

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn