Month: November 2020

Ezekiel 10:1-11:25, Hebrews 6:1-20, Psalms 105:16-36, Proverbs 27:1-2

Today is the 4^th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy, it is an honor, it is a privilege, it is a gift, sometimes I even think it’s a miracle that we can be together like this today, right now, around the Global Campfire just coming in out of the chaos of it all finding a place to sit, it’s warm, friends are here. We look across the fire, we see each other, and we know that we are united in spirit, we’re after the same thing - to let God’s word speak truth. It is one of the joys of life to be around this campfire with you and take the next step forward. And, so, let’s do that. We are reading from the EHV, the Evangelical Heritage Version this week and continuing our journey through the book of Ezekiel. Today chapters 10 and 11.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s go back to the Proverbs again. The Proverbs are giving us these, you know, one or two sentences yesterday and today again that are just so penetrating and so now and so immediate and so much of a mirror into our own souls, and so much of a light shining into the world around us, So, today we had two verses, two sentences, and they say a ton. “Do not boast about tomorrow because you do not know what a day may produce.” Right there…I mean right there should bring just a generous dose of humility. No matter what eventualities we have prepared for we have no idea what is coming in our direction. And the humbling thing is that our Father does. We are under the shadow of His wings for us but for us to be out there running our mouths about what we’re gonna do tomorrow, like what’s coming is ultimately not certain. No matter what kind of certainty we say it with there is no way that we can know that outside of walking with God. And in a lot of ways this entire year has been that kind of a metaphor, all kinds of unexpected transitional things in our lives and in our world that we’ve had to adapt to and kinda fight against and accept and all kinds of disruption letting us know how fragile the whole thing is. And we’ve spent so much of our energy just trying to figure out how to get back to how it was when God is only going forward. We’re being invited forward not backward. But then on the heels of the confidence and the boasting about what we’re gonna to do tomorrow, like about how confident we are in our strength and whatever may come we have this second sentence right on the heels of it –“let someone else praise you, not your own mouth, a stranger not your own lips.” You know people who are just…just…like…like their selves are the only thing they think about, apparently, because that’s the only thing they talk about? You know what I’m talking about, where somebody…you can be sharing your day, you can be sharing something deep in your life, but one way or another all they seem to think about is themselves? And, so, they’ll flip the whole thing back around, they’ll acknowledge you, but what they really want to do is just talk about themselves. And you know how challenging it can be to be in a relationship with that kind of a person because it’s only about them. And, so, ultimately this kind of self-promotion, this bragging constantly, the boasting, the praising of self continually out of their mouths, they are awesome and their spouse is awesome and their children are awesome and their everything is awesome…ahh…that just gets repellent after a while. That kind of person ends up alone eventually because…well…for a couple reasons. First of all, it’s a front, it’s that layer of falseness that we were talking about yesterday. So, eventually it all comes down like a house of cards. Nobody is as interested as one might have thought and people begin to back away because really this person doesn’t want to be in a relationship with anybody else. They just need to be seen by other people. Like, they’re on the stage and everybody else in the world is in the audience. So, the world is there stage and everybody else is a bit player in their story. And eventually there’s like no life there. And, so, people retreat and back away when all of this fronting. all of this boasting, all of this drawing attention to oneself really is exposing something very needy underneath, that this person needs to trust, this person needs to find a true friendship, one were the fake…like the Halloween costume comes off and what’s real is really exposed to somebody trusted. And ultimately this leads us to the fact that…yah…it can be dangerous to be in relationships, but you have to start with a foundation of trust in God. God already knows you’re faking. You can’t fool God. He already knows everything that’s going. He can’t be duped. And He still loves you as you are right now with the deep desire and hope that you will enter into relationship with Him where these broken things can be healed and you can be utterly transformed, transformed so much that you begin to resemble Him. You become Christ like. That’s what’s going on here. That’s the goal. And the more layers of falseness that we apply to this, the more difficult the challenge until life one day confronts us and strips it all away. And then we find that to be such a difficult process but then we reflect back upon it, we realize that was the moment we became free because all that we had feared finally happened and it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was and now we’re free to be who we are and to delight in who everybody else is because we don’t need to be better, we don’t need to compare, we’re not in a competition. There is no game going on. There is no cosmic God game where He’s looking to see which one of us human beings is going to achieve the most to be the number one human being. We’re His children. We’re His kids. That’s not what you do to your kids. So, why are we doing it to each other? Because it only leads us into falseness. So once again, “do not boast about tomorrow because you do not know what a day may produce. Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth, a stranger, not your own lips.”

Prayer:

Father, we enter into that acknowledging, even though we don’t live like this most of the time, the thing that we need is You. It…it's…it’s Your words of praise, it’s Your words of encouragement, it’s Your drawing year that we need. It’s being seen by You that we long for and we exchange it and we try to compete with each other and we try to live in a very, very backward way that is never gonna work, which is essentially what You were saying Jesus in the Beatitudes – this is a backward world, this is not gonna work, it’s the opposite of what You think it is. And, so, help us Holy Spirit to get our minds right, to get our minds in alignment with Yours, the mind of Christ on things, to get our Spirits right, to know that we are inseparably intertwined with You, to get on the same page that we might actually be free. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, it’s where you get connected, it’s how you kinda stay in the rhythm, by being aware, especially of the Community section where the links to the different social media channels are, as well as the home of the Prayer Wall and where that lives. So, definitely, definitely continue to press in there. You can always reach out for prayer and you can always pray and it’s always happening. And, so, be aware of the of the Prayer Wall.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. Thank you profoundly. If what’s happening here in this rhythm of life that we have around the Global Campfire, God’s word read fresh every day washing into our lives and creating a rhythm that creates community around it, if that has been something meaningful in your life then thank you humbly for your partnership. So, I said there’s 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 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 little red button at the top no matter where you are in the world or there are some phone numbers located at different points in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are 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:

Our Father who art in heaven ancient of days
omnipotent and omniscient worthy of all praise
Jehovah raphe Jehovah jireh our healer our provider
we come to you open with our hearts and minds hoping
that you are still willing to bless as we humbly confess
that you’re worthy of all honor though we’ve given you much less
wondering in confusion because we buy into illusion
greedily gulping down a great big slice of the devils pie
exchanging your wonderful truth for a lie
and we need you to heal us both outside and in
strengthen us father revive us again
Jehovah nisi our banner our fortress our friend
please help us heavenly father we love you Amen

blindtony1016@gmail.com like to give a shout out to David Michael, Dice and Darlene Dice. Matthew Fouts it was good hearing your voice again. Know you are all loved and on my prayer list daily. And once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.

Hey this is Jared calling from Duluth Minnesota it’s day 555 in my journey since April 26, 2019 in the Daily Audio Bible renewal time where God wakes me up every morning early in the morning to spend time with Him. What a great time it was today in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 saying for the word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword. And then going on that God has been tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin and we lay naked before Him. He knows us better than what we know ourselves and yet we can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in a time of need. And there’s a time of great need and all of our lives right now. The world is turned upside down, full of turmoil. I know personally I appreciate your prayers for my son Steve as we’ve been estranged from him for now year as he got mad at us and disowned us and hasn’t spoke to us now for almost…almost a year. On the fourth is his birthday. He’s coming up from the cities, Twin Cities, tomorrow and I’ve reached out to him to see if we can get together and…and…and talk and chat and for him to…to be reconciled with him. I appreciate your prayers that that might happen. But in any case, we know that God is in control through all the trial and turmoil of what’s going on right now. May God give us grace, mercy, help in time of need. God bless.

Good morning DABbers this is Running Desperately to Jesus also known as Staying Connected Desperately to Jesus which right now that is definitely my filling, running desperately and staying desperately connected. I am…have always struggled with depression and was on medication and therapy for some time. My therapist retired in 2016 after she was able to get me stable from being sexually assaulted. Today I’m feeling quite depressed. I don’t know if it’s this Covid or what’s going on but I am in definitely a dark place now and what is crossing my mind a lot lately for the past couple days is suicide and I know that is definitely Satan’s work and I’m having a difficult time hearing of God’s word and His voice. So, I’m asking all my DABbers to lift me up to pray me through. I don’t want to go back into therapy because since my…as I said earlier…my therapist that I was formerly with who is very good retired, and I don’t want to start over again. I know that this can be fought with word…with God’s word but right now because I am in a dark place, I cannot even call upon His word. So, DABbers I’m just asking again that you stand in the gap for me to lift me up and to help pull me through this dark space, these dark thoughts, especially the source idle thoughts. I don’t have any friends that really call to check on me. So, I’m actually in this by myself. Running Desperately to Jesus.

Hello, it’s John from Bristol in the UK again. I called a couple months back about my father. He has mental health issues and it’s causing a separation between him and my mother. So, he still has the same delusions. He’s adamant he doesn’t want to go home, and they had such a happy marriage before he had this psychotic episode. But…and he’s still in hospital but he’s…he’s much more stable than he was which is an improvement but mom and dad have a meeting on Wednesday this week. So, if you guys would just cover that in prayer for reconciliation of their marriage that would be wonderful. Thank you so much. God bless.

Hi, DAB it’s Emmy from Illinois just calling in with continued prayer requests for my marriage. I’m struggling right now. Things are a lot better than they were but I’m feeling extremely lonely. Just…I miss…miss having relationships with people, especially right now when the one person in my life doesn’t really want a relationship with me. I know God’s at work. I know that He’s still called me to stand for my marriage but I’m really struggling right now to just want something to be done either finally ended or create a breakthrough. And I don’t know what’s happening and I’m just getting lonely. And as we get closer to the holidays and my 40^th birthday it just makes it even worse because I know I won’t be seeing friends or family. So, if you could just continue to pray for me, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Ezekiel 7:1-9:11, Hebrews 5:1-14, Psalms 105:1-15, Proverbs 26:28

Today is the 3^rd day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy and an honor and everything good to be here with you today as we move into the Scriptures and take the next step forward together. And it’s so good that we can be together today in God’s word. So, let’s set let’s dive in. We’re reading from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Ezekiel chapters 7, 8, and 9 today.

Commentary:

Okay. The book of Proverbs today tells us that two things are not good things - a lying tongue and a smooth mouth. And, so, I suppose this is as good of a day as any to talk about what the Proverbs are talking about. And yeah, we…we can certainly look out…outward and see all this stuff but as is always the case once we identify it in the world what’s going on then, we need to turn it back inward to discover whether we’re part of the noise, whether we’re part of the problem, or if we’re part of the solution. So, a lying tongue hates the one it crushes. So, what is a lying tongue? I mean, we could probably say that’s sort of self-evident. It's…it’s the tongue that doesn’t speak what is true. But there are so many nuances to the way that we lie to each other aren’t there? Like we sort of think that we’re telling the truth as long as we have some sort of morsel of truth in the thing that we are fabricating but we have a…we are like being deceptive. So, if we’re willing to embellish and puff up or the opposite, to diminish or crush down the truth, the actual truth, in order to manipulate somebody or in order to hide behind something and try to protect ourself from exposure then we’re not only gonna be crushing people, we’re gonna be doing it with hatred. That is a massive, massive thing to realize. If we’re gonna flatter, if we’re gonna manipulate, if we’re gonna nuance the things that we’re gonna say and they aren’t really what we mean in order to kinda like get close to somebody or get into somebody’s life because they have something that we want or they have something that we need, that we think that we need, we need to get close to them, then it’s going to cause a ruin everywhere ultimately because it’s foundation is false. It’s a lie. It’s gonna crush. And there’s something in me that’s saying stop. Like don’t keep trying to reexplain this with…with other metaphors or analogies. Like this is enough. Its stark. A lying tongue hates those it crushes and a smooth mouth causes ruin. So, if that’s you, then this is where the road is going. If that’s not you, then this is what to avoid because it brings destruction.

Prayer:

Father, we come before You on this and it rings true and it’s convicting, and it does penetrate. It makes us reflect. It makes us consider but the deeper that we consider the more we realize that our entire culture is based on this kind of sidestepping. We are a world of people so afraid of being exposed the truth of who we are that we do everything possible to nuance and to hide when we are all guilty. Like, were any of us, anybody to be fully exposed then we would be fearful of the judgment that would come against us, but we are all in the same boat. It would happen to anybody. And You have invited us into the light. You have essentially said, “that’s the world. That’s how it works. It’s a system built in falseness and held captive by the author of deception and lies.” You have invited us to be free, to walk into the light, to be in the truth. And no matter what that may bring, to know that we don’t have a divided heart or a divided mind. We don’t always have to figure out which personality we have to put on depending on what circumstances we’re in. We just get to be who You made. This is freedom indeed, but it flies in the face of the structures of the world that we live in. And, so, living like this…well…it would indeed be living like You lived Jesus. It would look like You. And we can see the raging of the world against You. And, so, we scratch our heads because it doesn’t make sense because freedom is available, but the system is so rigged against freedom that we find ourselves just trying to find ways to cope and manage when You are offering freedom, that we can live in the light, that we can live in the truth. So, come Holy Spirit and help us over these coming days as we meditate upon this, as we catch ourselves being false or as we become more and more aware of the falseness around us, as we begin to see it. We need Your help to navigate it. There’s no way we’ll be able to figure this out. So, come Holy Spirit we open ourselves to You, well up within. Lead and guide our steps, the thoughts and intents of our hearts. We pray in the mighty name, the victorious name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And there’s always something or another going on around here.

Kind of have to be under a rock to not know that today is election day in the United States. Probably no matter where you are in the world. And, yeah, we’ve been on the radar kind of all year, with all kinds of stuff and Covid hasn’t helped and there’s just a lot of swirl going on. And I make it a very, very specific, very intentional point to do what we do here, to take the rhythm of the Scriptures and let it be a part of our lives every day. And I feel like the Scriptures In our lives can comment on what’s going on in our world better than me being some…just another noisemaker. So, I would like to give as simple, as trivial, as obvious of advice as I can give you. Maybe you’re one of the people who have already voted. Great. Awesome. If you’re going to the polls today, pray, listen, obey and then walk away in peace. There’s nothing else to do here. I mean I’ve lived long enough that I’ve been through several elections and even from my youth I cannot think of an election where the rhetoric hasn’t amped up to the point where we are led to believe that what we are about to do is the most pivotal thing we have ever done in the nation’s history, maybe in the history of all humanity. That's…that’s not true. The most important thing we have ever done is to become a part of the family of God. We are a part of a kingdom that is upon this earth that spans and crosses every single border. This is our allegiance - the kingdom of God. And God will not be toppled my brothers and sisters over this or anything else. And, you know how this goes. This ends at some point and somebody is…is the winner and that’s gonna leave about half the people bumbed and about half the people rejoicing. And we can all do what people do these days - get on the Internet and just start making noise, start sending out memes. Take all of the divisiveness that has been amped up this entire year and really live into it, like really live into it and make this country an “us versus them” understanding that we are making the body of Christ, then divided in “us versus them” because so many of us are believers who are completely and totally opposite in their political convictions. So, the last thing that I have to say isn’t my opinion, isn’t anything to do with me other than it’s my voice reminding you. We have a Savior. His name is Jesus. He loved us when we were still His enemy. He loved us as a people despite our animosity and he laid his life down that we might live. And just mere hours before He did that, He was sitting with his friends having his last meal. And at that last meal He said something that must reverberate through everything about our lives, including all of what happens today. He said a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you. So, friends it gets pretty simple then. When you pray and listen and obey and walk away in peace and love one another as we have been loved as we come out of this, the most divisive of all seasons that we experience as a nation every four years. If there…if there ever were a time to be a city on a hill, to be the salt of the earth, to be light in the darkness, to be the hands and feet of Jesus to love one another as we have been loved, well it that would be coming out of this wouldn’t it. And, so, let’s walk through this day at peace loving one another as we have been loved.

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 everyone, this is Lisa the Encourager. I’m calling tonight to pray for our elderly parents or just our parents in general. I’ve certainly called in for our children many times, but I definitely want to focus on our parents today. I know Howard called in about his mom being in rehab and how difficult that was and how she looked very weak. And I just want to pray for him and his mom. And I have a similar situation with my dad going through that. So, I can empathize with your situation Howard. And also, Charlie called in about his parents and them being diagnosed with Covid. So, I want to also pray for his parents and anyone else out there that is going through a difficult time with their parent’s health and how stressful that can be and making a lot of hard decisions. And I’m just gonna pray that God is gonna guide us through those things and that they will be as peaceful and as comfortable as possible. So, let’s go to the Lord in prayer about all of our parents. And also, I wanted also to just say, I respectfully admire Brian for what he went through with his mom and continued to be a ministry to all of us. So, I just thank you again Brian for that because I know that had to be a hard time when you lost your mom. Dear God, I thank you so much for Pastor Brian and what he means to all of us and also thank you God for these…all of our parents Lord that are getting older in life. And I just pray God that your hand will be upon them, that they can recover, and you can comfort them where they need your comfort…

Hey DAB family this is Danny from Southern Oregon I wonder if you could please pray for my 15-year-old grandson Christopher and his friends. The other day these four friends skipped school and they were heading to one of the boy’s houses. And Christopher’s not allowed there. And anyway, shortly after he left school the school called my son and his mom, and they immediately began looking for him and texting him and calling him. And it appears that Christopher got a little bit worried that he was and I get into trouble so when he was about two blocks from this boy’s house he ended up going home to his mom’s and that was about 11 o’clock in the morning. And at 1230 the police were dispatched to a fatality. One of the…my grandsons’ best friends accidentally shot and killed one of the other boys and the third boy was standing right next to him and I’m sure is suffering a lot of PTSD from what he witnessed. And I know…I’m so thankful my grandson was not there but he’s so upset that he’s lost his best friend and they ended up arresting the boy for murder because some things just didn’t add up. And so please…please pray for Tony. He was the one standing next to him and ended up just covered head to toe in brain matter. It was point-blank. And…and pray for Dustin who’s been arrested for murder, that the truth come out and maybe they would all come to know the Lord through this. Thank you.

This is Kathy from Kentucky. I have a different kind of prayer request. I’m gonna take a test in martial arts specifically, Shaolin in two weeks. If I pass, I’ll be a 2^nd degree brown belt and well on my way to black belt. When I was a girl growing up, I was not allowed to play team sports __ passed after I got out of high school. And I would’ve been good at some kind of sport. I trained on the swim team the summer before I graduated from high school and then after that I was too old. So, it’s important to me to be able to do something at my age, 67. So, please pray for my martial arts test Shaolin on the second Saturday of November the 14^th.

Hi this is Julie from California I just started listening to the Daily Audio Bible about a week and a half ago. It was recommended through another podcast that I listen to and it has been up total and complete godsend. The last three years or so have been just really horrible. My marriage was almost at its end. My father-in-law passed away. We sold everything and moved out of state to take care of my mother-in-law at a very remote place where I had no support and found out she had Alzheimer’s and ended up staying for 2 ½ years when our plan was to stay a year. And then my dad passed away while we were gone, and my mom was diagnosed with leukemia. She’s in remission and doing phenomenally well praise God, but also there were issues with my son and now he no longer talks to us and I lost my job and we filed bankruptcy. Like, just thing piled on after thing piled on after thing and really kind of wrecked my relationship with God for a long time because I really couldn’t read my Bible, I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t do journaling. I mean I was on…I was on a regular track of reading the Bible in the year every year for like three or four years and then I just stopped. And this is miraculous because I actually am feeling like I’m getting the word in me and feeling more joy and I just am really thankful for you guys and I would just appreciate prayers where…where you feel like praying for me and a…a word. I’m happy to hear a word if you have a word for me because I need God so much right now. Thank you. God bless.

Hi family this is Peggy in California. And I, like so many of you, just absolutely love this community and appreciate it so much. It’s a place to share our deepest hurts and our joys and it’s just wonderful and I thank you all for participating and making it what it is. I’m calling today like many others who have called for my adult children. In particular one of my sons, he’s a twin, actually. I got a call from his twin yesterday telling me that his brother’s not doing well, he’s very depressed and seems to be disinterested in…in life, in not moving forward. Recently had a breakup with a girlfriend that I think what’s…he’s exhibiting is actually something that started before that. So, of course, I’m heartbroken and I worry about him. And he was raised in the church, but he doesn’t seem to have a very strong connection if any. So, I just pray that would lift Mason up in your prayers. And I thank you for doing that for me. Have a good day.

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14, Hebrews 4:1-16, Psalms 104:24-35, Proverbs 26:27

Today is the 2^nd day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s wonderful to be here with you today as it is every day. It’s my oasis just like it might be your oasis coming in around the Global Campfire and letting all the other stuff go. And when is there never not other stuff to focus or obsess on or be brought down by. But just to come in here and know that I’m not alone in here, that we are in here together and then God’s word is gonna speak and wash into our hearts and lives. That…yeah…that’s my oasis too. And, so I’m so grateful that we can be in this together as we take the next step forward. So, let’s do that. We’re reading from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week. We began the book of Ezekiel, another book of major prophecy. And again, the major prophets aren’t major because they’re more important. The major prophets are…well…they’re called the major prophets because of the volume of material in these books. And then when finish the major prophets we’ll move into the minor prophets, which it doesn’t mean they’re like the minor leagues of prophets just hoping one day the be called up to the big game. It’s just…they’re shorter, more direct, or focused. And, so, we will get there when we get there, but we are here at the beginning of a new month and the beginning of the week or at least the beginning of the workweek. And, so, let’s dive in. Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 16 through 6 verse 14.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Hebrews today we encountered a very, very, very famous passage of Scripture. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to the point of dividing soul and spirit, joint and marrow, being able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.” This is a scripture so famous that we may have committed to memory, but have you…have you ever thought about what kind of instrument we are talking about when we are talking about how deep the Scriptures can penetrate? I mean, so like many of you have medical backgrounds, many of you have psychology backgrounds. Like what scalpel, what tool, what can go that deep? And even if we said we could go that deep, maybe not with a scalpel because how would we even find where soul and spirit divide? But if we could approach that in some way, in some kind of psychological capacity, like how long would it take to get there, to the essence, to the core of the true self? This is the claim that the author of Hebrews is making about the word of God. And we just talked about like, where do soul and spirit meet? Where would that be? How do you even find that place? Well…if the soul, as many believe is the seed of consciousness, like the awareness that you are you. And if it encompasses our emotional nature and our moral convictions. And if the spirit is…is what makes us alive, if it is the source of life, it is God within animating life itself then we’re talking about…I think we’re talking about as deep as you can talk about. Like this is at the level of consciousness. This is at the level of our instincts. This is at the level of…of love and feeling and emotion and conviction. This is where we make choices. This is where we decide what our bodies are going to do and then our bodies go and do those things that we’ve decided that they’re going to do, whether they’re good things or bad things. According to Hebrews this is how deep the word of God can penetrate. So, it just…it cuts through all the crap that we invent to cope and it cuts through all of the façade of personality that we create to have some sort of place in this world and to cope and move around. And it goes below, beneath, under all of the wounding of our lives, all of the things that have pulled us into isolation. It gets under or behind all of that to a place that’s true and speaks there. It speaks truth there. That’s why we’re showing up here every day. I mean that’s why we come around this Global Campfire because the word of God speaks deep things into our deepest truest self and over time, that changes things. We might call this transformation. We might call this sanctification, if we want to be all theological. But what’s happening is that we’re being changed. Our identity is coming into alignment with the nature of our Father as we have been adopted into His family as His sons and daughters. And according to Hebrews, the Scriptures guide that process. What a joy.

Prayer:

Father what a…what a relief. Thank You for this gift. Thank You for giving this to us. Thank You for every day bringing Your word into our lives in a way that we need coming at us from every angle. And we’ve spent a year in Your word, and You have come at us from every angle, encouraging and rebuking us in ways that we simply can’t hide because You’re touching every aspect of our lives. And, so, we are grateful for that and we are deeply committed to finishing this year well as we move forward into all that You have yet to speak to us. We’re hearing loud and clear. It’s been a disruptive year and it’s been very, very difficult on many levels but such a reset on so many fundamental levels in so many primary ways. You have done the hard work of inviting us into starting over in a lot of ways, and we are thankful for that and we look forward to all that You have yet to speak, not only in the days and weeks ahead of this year, but for the rest of our lives. So, we are thankful for Your word and we are thankful that it is something that can get to the core beyond our own deception of even ourselves, it can get the core. And, so, we commit ourselves to continuing the relationship that we have with the Scriptures, allowing it to speak to us each day. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s where you find out what is going on around here. And there’s always something or another to check out. So, stay connected.

Be aware of the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for the journey that we are currently on as we continue making our way toward the end of the year.

Check out the Prayer Wall. That is a fantastic place to go and intercede for each other and request prayer.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is 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 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, it’s the little red button at the top, you can’t miss it or there are numbers that you can call. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. If you are 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 call.

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 family this is Michael from Fort Worth Texas. I just wanted to call in today basically to encourage and be thankful. And I’m thankful for Brian Hardin and this whole DAB family community all the people behind the scenes that work hard to put this on and I am thankful for all those people and China for her…her effort on the Chronological side and all the people that do the different languages and all that stuff going on. This whole app is an awesome thing and I’m just thankful for that. And I would encourage anybody who doesn’t contribute to challenge themselves to give monthly to the DAB to keep the servers spinning, to keep the updates coming and keep this great ministry viable from now on, from today to the future for…for everybody and for anybody new that would come on board. Also just wanted to say thank you for all the faithful prayer warriors who call in diligently daily and all the new ones we got now are very awesome and appreciate all you guys your encouragement your words of wisdom that you share with us your songs love all that stuff and just thankful for all you guys. Stay safe. Love you all. Again, Michael from Texas. Stay safe. Love you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. First of all, I want to say thank you very much. This is Jane Roos from Nebraska. I…I want to say that when Brian says, “don’t shoulder your problems alone”, believe him. This is a praise report. From the moment that you speak out your prayer request to the moment that you realize that God is holding you and this fellowship is praying for you, it is phenomenal what God is doing because I have experienced an amazing, amazing transformation in so many ways. And, so, let me just say thank you. I can’t even go into everything that has happened in detail and I won’t. First of all, let me say you are all loved. How does my daddy love me? With all his heart no matter what I do forever and always. I borrowed that from a pastor. I have been experiencing ADHD in a big way. My conscious mind always processes…only processes 40 bits per second but my subconscious processes 40 million bits per second. It’s scary. My mouth won’t say what my head wants…my head needs to say. I just want you all to know that you are loved.

Hi family I’m calling in today to pray for Brian from Austria, his first time calling today on October 29^th he called in for prayers and support. Brian I’m so thankful that you called in and you shared your heart with us about your wife being unfaithful. And you are so right. You can’t do this alone. Many of us have been where you are in some form of betrayal in our marriage one way or another and I just want to encourage you. I want you to know I’m going to be praying for you and your wife for a long time. As many of us have experienced healing in our marriages, we know that it’s possible for you. So, Father, Holy Spirit we just lift up Brian and his wife to You. We thank You that we all come to the foot of the cross, needing forgiveness restoration healing, places in our lives that have been broken. And sometimes that causes us to not be faithful in areas of our lives or our marriage. So, Father I thank You for complete healing for Brian and his wife. I thank You for restoration, healing, intimacy. I thank You that You would encourage Brian to pursue his wife as they were first dating and coming together that You would pour out Your love and Your love is there. I know…I know it’s already there…

Hello DABbers. Just reaching out to say hello and follow up with another thanks. I’m just thankful for all of you, thankful that Kingdom Seeker Daniel has a great idea for the month of November and that’s for everyone just to call in thanks. I mean I could go on and on and it’s just crazy but, you know, we have so much to be thankful for every day no matter what’s going on, like just whose we are, God, all that He’s done. We could just go on and on about all He’s done. And then, all that He’s doing and then all that He will do. It’s just…to focus our mind on those things and just praise Him, I want to do that. I love living that way, but I want to do that with all of you. So, it’s just an encouragement and to let you know that I’m thankful for you every day. I don’t call in to say it but I am. So, thank You Jesus. Thank You, Lord for all that You are and all that You give. You just give so much. We are so blessed and may we just focus on that every day, but especially next month maybe inspire us Holy Spirit to just do that together. That would be really cool. Love You all. Bye.

Ezekiel 1:1-3:15, Hebrews 3:1-19, Psalms 104:1-23, Proverbs 26:24-26

Today is the 1st day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you as we greet the new month while simultaneously greeting a brand-new, sparkly, shiny week. So, this is one of those rare opportunities where we’re…we’re starting all over, like it’s a brand-new start here to the month and the week. And welcome to the 11^th month of the year and the 306^th day of the year. And on top of all of this newness we have a brand-new book we’re going to move into as we begin a new week and a new month. So, we moved to the prophecies of Jeremiah and then we saw those prophecies come true and then we moved through the book of Lamentations and lamented that all of the stuff that had been prophesied did come true pertaining to the destruction of Jerusalem. And, so, now we find ourselves on the threshold of the book of Ezekiel.

Introduction to the book of Ezekiel:

Ezekiel is another major book of prophecy in the…in the Scriptures in the Old Testament. And here’s what we know about Ezekiel. We know that he was a well-educated person, we know that he was deeply loyal to God. We discover that in this in this text. And we also understand that he was loyal to the traditions of the people, the Hebrew people. He came from a priestly family and…and like Jeremiah he used his prophetic ministry as instructed by God symbolically in a lot of ways. He symbolically acted out what he was prophesying. And Jeremiah had been prophesying previous to Ezekiel, but they also had a time where they were prophesying alongside of each other it’s just they were doing it from two different locations speaking on behalf of God from both sides of a story basically. Jeremiah prophesied from Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s prophecies were from exile in Babylon and there was considerable upheaval in the world of that time, a lot of empires going against other smaller nations and assimilating and conquering them while other empires were fighting…well…empire against Empire. So, Babylon, the Babylonian Empire had conquered the Assyrian Empire. And if we remember from the Scriptures, it was the Assyrian Empire that came and conquered Israel and took the 10 tribes and just deported them. They disappeared from history after that. And then Egypt and Babylon were clashing inside the land of ancient Israel because that was kind of like a land bridge between continents. So, controlling that major trade route is what made this land so important and so valuable. And we’ve watched the different alliances in the Scriptures, especially going through the book of…the book of Kings and Samuel and Chronicles. And, so, there were times where were the Hebrew people were vassals where they paid tribute to Kings who had conquered them then they would rebel and maybe regain their freedom and it was kind of a back-and-forth thing on a continual basis But we also watch in the Scriptures the generational decline of the entire system. So, in 597 B.C. the Babylonians subdued Jerusalem. And they did start deportations, they did take people into exile in order to assimilate them into the empire in different regions. And Ezekiel was among the first to go into exile and then a few years later, Zedekiah who had been installed as the king rebelled against Babylon. This is something that Jeremiah prophesied against as we were going through his…his work in the book of Jeremiah. So then in 588 the Babylonians came back to Jerusalem, laid siege to the rebellious city, and two years later they broke in and conquered Jerusalem and completely destroyed Jerusalem. Up to this point even though things had changed hands and tribute was being paid and all this stuff was going on Jerusalem hadn’t been destroyed. But the Babylonians destroyed it. There…like there’s evidence in Jerusalem until today of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. So, similar to Jeremiah, Ezekiel in his early years of prophecy in exile was prophesying of…of the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem prophesying the same thing from Jerusalem. So, we’re just at two sides…like at two different points in the same story. Jeremiah’s in Jerusalem, Ezekiel is in exile in Babylon. But as we just talked about, eventually the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. And, so, after the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed then Ezekiel’s prophecies transform and some of the most beautiful hope filled messages of encouragement and restoration in all of the Bible can be found. Things like Ezekiel 37, which has been such an important portion of Scripture in my life and in the life of the Daily Audio Bible – the…the valley of dry bones, the spirit instructing Ezekiel to call to the four winds the breath of life. So, significant. And we’ll get there. Ezekiel also has really interesting imagery, almost like visions that are cinematic. Kind of like Daniel, or even the book of Revelation - apocalyptic literature it’s called as a genre. And, so, Ezekiel shares place along with Daniel and Revelation and many other portions of Scripture for those studying eschatology - the study of the Apocalypse, the end times. And, so, as we go through Ezekiel it's…it’s like going through any of the other books of prophecy. We understand…we have to understand that this is the genre this is a prophetic narrative that includes visions. And, so…well…basically we have to understand that things speak to us in different ways. So, if you’re sitting on a mountaintop and you have a really nice picnic and you’re there with somebody you love and it’s a perfect day and the scenery is wonderful, you can be having your lunch just looking out over it all not saying anything to each other because words don’t need to be said. You’re in this moment and nature is speaking to you, beauty is speaking to you, the power of God and His creation is speaking to you. And then after lunch if you pick up a novel and start reading then that book is gonna speak to you differently than nature did. And then if you read for a while and you pick up the newspaper, well the newspaper’s gonna speak to you in a different way than the novel did. And if you spend the whole day there and you watch the sun go down then the sunset is gonna speak to you different than the newspaper did. So, let’s just invite God to speak to us in whatever way that we’re listening as we move through the book of Ezekiel and to guide us into what we need to hear for the days ahead in our own lives. And, so, let’s begin. We got a brand-new month. We got a brand-new week. We’ll read from the Evangelical Heritage Version of the Scriptures this week. Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 15.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word. We thank You that we have this image of all things new - brand-new week, brand-new month, brand-new territory in the Scriptures - and it brings us a sense of sigh. Like we’ve been through a lot this year and we are here, and You have been faithful, and You continue to lead us forward. We are so deeply grateful. And, so, Father as we move through these days, they have been indeed tumultuous days this year on a number of levels and continue to be on a number of levels right now as we continue to move through this time. May we find comfort and rest under the shadow of Your wings, that we are cradled and protected by Your mighty strong arm, that we are Your children and we are here bearing witness to the birth of new things because You are doing a new thing, You are continually doing a new thing and we want this new thing to continue in our hearts, this transformation, this sanctification, this setting us apart, that we lose our taste for the world and hunger and thirst for Your kingdom. Declaring along with the psalmist, better is one day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere else. And, so, as we move into this final couple months of the year we already know where gonna need You. When do we not?  We think we don’t sometimes and then we take things up in our own power and strength and crash them. We’re not doing that anymore. We learned our lesson. We need You and only You. And we need Your ways and only Your ways in our hearts and in our lives. This is what will lead us on the narrow path that leads to life. And its life that we are looking for and life comes from You. You are the source, the source of life. And, so, come Holy Spirit we pray as we…as we consecrate this week and this month to You. Come Jesus in Your mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Man, this is it like not one of my favorite days of the year, not because there’s anything really, really bad going on. It's…it’s…this is the day where in the clocks…the clocks set back. And, so, in the time zone that I live here in Nashville that just makes for…that makes…that makes it dark. It’s gonna be dark maybe a few minutes after 5 PM. By the time Christmas gets here it’ll be dark by 430 in the afternoon and that’s…that’s not my favorite. There’s nothing wrong…everything’s fine…it’s just not my favorite. But I’ll be looking forward to it getting dark in our earlier today as will many of you. And, so, that is what’s going on around here right now, but there are always different things going on in the Daily Audio Bible world especially at the Prayer Wall. It’s an ongoing ever-growing ever-present thing where we can always have a place to go for prayer and always have a place to go and offer prayer. So, be aware of that. That’s in the Community section of the website. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the little Drawer icon. That’s in the upper left-hand corner and you can also get to the Prayer Wall. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you, humbly and profoundly. 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 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or just hit the Hotline button. It’s the little red button in the app if you’re using the app. And if you’re not, you should be using the app. This is the portal…this is…this is where we’re developing community. And, so, be familiar. Be aware. That’s where the…that’s where the Hotline button is. So, check that out.

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:

Hey my friends it’s Mike and I’ve been in this journey with you for over 10 years and when you offer a prayer request you should know that there are people like me who are just instantly praying with you and for you. And when you feel alone you’re not alone and when you feel like you can’t go on and there’s no one in your corner look over your shoulder you got your DAB back there just cheering you on and praying for you and believing with you. So, this…this call is really to challenge and encourage and…and really ask everyone in the DAB to journey through the Daily Audio Proverb for the next 30 days, hopefully for the month of November. Each day invest five minutes in…in the Daily Audio Proverb and you can hit it right there in the app and if you do and if you let it permeate your life, your relationships, how you respond, it will have a dramatic impact. Proverbs 8 says you’ll have more joy, you will find life and grace. And then actually if we don’t get wisdom or if we refuse wisdom that we’re only hurting ourselves. We’re actually moving toward death and not towards life. And I…I found this myself a couple years ago, how I was…I was responding foolishly, and I realized, “wow! I need more wisdom. Where do I get that?” And I heard Brian mention the Daily Audio Proverb. Changed my life. I invite you to take the challenge for the next 30 days, five minutes a day, Daily Audio Proverb. You won’t regret it and you’ll be glad you did. Your Father is madly in love with you any he gave you this gift. I love you guys. Bye.

Good morning my name is __ I am calling in for prayer. I’m having a hard time right now. I need a place to live. I’ve been watching…listening to Brian for about four or five years. It’s my first-time calling in. I would like for all of you to pray for me to help…to ask God to help me find a place to live. I’m kinda down right now but I’m trying to pull myself up and keep going and wait on the Lord to guide me and help me find a place to live. So, please pray for me. I love you all and thank you Brian for what you do every day. Bye.

This prayer goes out to Brian from Australia. I heard his call for prayer about saving his marriage and being patient and stepping up to stay in it and I just wanted to say I’ve been there my brother. The strength you’re showing is amazing. Your love for your wife is amazing and for your family and kids is amazing. I just pray that God directs you and guides you and keeps your family safe and together. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. And good luck brother.

This is Candace from Oregon please join me in prayer is for Radiant Rachel’s stepdaughter Gabby, I believe her name is Gabby. Lord, we ask You to surround this beautiful Young woman. We ask You that she would be completely freed from all foul spirits that have been harassing her in any way and that the only spirit allowed to surround her is the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ over and under her, in front of her, behind her, and on either side. I pray Lord that she would just become free to become everything that You made her to be in all her beauty Lord. I pray that she will take medicines that are helpful, that You will just restore her health by any means You choose Lord, that You give her robust health. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and for His sake. We ask You Lord to bless Radiant Rachel’s entire household. Pour out Your blessing on them Lord and put a hedge of protection around even the building, the house itself and especially guard the hearts of each person and their family. We ask this in Jesus’ name and for His sake and to His honor and glory. May we all become obedient to You Lord, taking every thought captive to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.