Zechariah 6:1-7:14, Revelation 15:1-8, Psalms 143:1-12, Proverbs 30:24-28
Today is the 24th day of December, Christmas Eve. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy to be here with you today. Christmas Eve, Christmas day, your birthday, New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July…I’m naming all the holidays that are…that are in the country that I live in, but there’s holidays all over the world and no matter what day it is we still have a rhythm. It’s Christmas Eve and we have a rhythm. We’re coming together on Christmas Eve. Even though we’re all over the world we get to be together for these moments on Christmas Eve. And, so, as we take our places around the Global Campfire let’s just look around. I mean, I know we have to do this kind of in spirit in our imaginations but just look across the fire and see your brothers and sisters. We are here. It’s Christmas eve we are a year together and it’s a joy to be here together with you as we take the next step forward. And, so, that next step will lead us back into the book of Zechariah. And a couple days ago when we began Zechariah, we talked about how it had eight night visions in it and how the symbolism in the book of Zechariah is not dissimilar to the symbolism in the book of Revelation. So, we have read through over the last couple of days seven of those night visions, and we will conclude today with the eighth vision. We won’t be concluding Zechariah, but the final night vision is in today’s reading. So, we’re reading from the New English Translation. Zechariah, chapters 6 and 7.
Commentary:
Okay. On this Christmas Eve we read in the book of Revelation of a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast, the beast figure in the Apocalypse of John or the book of Revelation, they’re standing by this sea of glass mixed with fire and they have harps, and they sing a song. And…and let’s make this song…even though this isn’t like “joy to the world the Lord has come, let Earth receive her King” this isn’t “silent night holy night”, this is a song coming from the future coming after victory has been accomplished sung back to us today on Christmas Eve.
Prayer:
Father, this is Christmas Eve and this is the last day of waiting and…and midnight comes and, yeah, this is all traditional and this is our rituals, but it comes and then we realize new dawn is coming, everything has changed, You have arrived, we are saved. And, so, we pray along with our brothers and sisters in the future. “Great and astounding are Your deeds Lord, God the all powerful. Just and true are Your ways. King over the nations. Who will not fear You, oh Lord and glorify Your name because You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You for Your righteous act of been revealed. Thank You, Father. We enter into the mystery of Your arrival as we enter into Christmas celebration. And of the many postures that we have considered about how to behave toward one another over these coming days, we need to consider our posture toward You throughout all of it. And right now, our posture should be that of absolute basically speechless awe. We were wandering in the dark without hope and You would not abandon us to the dark. And, so, You came as a great light into this world to rescue humanity, but to also model for humanity what it is supposed to look like, what it could and should and must become. And then You invited us to be a part of that story, the redemption of all things. And what can we say to that? When we truly get a glimpse of that it makes us feel almost embarrassed for the childishness that we exhibit so often, the self-absorption that we exhibit so often. And yet You have invited us into the biggest story of all, the story of the God of the universe, the story of the most-high God, the redeemer of everything that He touches. And You have touched us, and we are redeemed and that changes everything. And then You have commissioned us to go in Your name and share the good news and be a part of the redemptive story. And, so, this is what we’re thinking about right now, Yeah, we got a lot of stuff to finish up and we got church tonight. There are all kinds of things going on, but this is what we’re holding onto as we continue the activity of the day. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
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It’s Christmas eve, so that is what’s going on around here and we should be just soaking in it. I mean probably we’re busy…just all the little things that have to get done and preparation and then maybe preparation for candlelight services tonight depending on where we are. Lots of places that’s not even a possibility. And, so, we…we will be participating in a virtual candlelight service tonight. Jill will be singing O Holy Night, which you can stream anywhere like, Spotify or Apple music or whatever, or download. So, check that out. But she’ll be singing that tonight and we’ll post links on our social media channels for those of you who aren’t able to attend a candlelight service this evening, or for safety reasons aren’t going to. We’re going to be participating in a virus free candlelight service. So, we’ll post links to that.
And then, yeah, I don’t know what all the traditions out there for Christmas Eve are. For us we’ll be gathering together as a family, enjoying a meal together, and just enjoying a fire, be playing some games, just getting ready for tomorrow when we…when we really truly joy to the world rejoice that the Lord has come and put ourselves in that position of the longing, the weight is over, the longing, the Savior has come while at the same time understanding that we’re still waiting, we’re waiting for the second arrival. And, so, this is a fantastic joyous day, a couple of days we’re we really, really sink our hearts into what’s happening here, that this changes everything. And you can even feel it. Every year we get that glimpse because the world…the world takes note the hearts of people who are even not religious or not even believers or don’t want anything to do with it. Everyone takes note of a lift in our spirits, good will toward one another. And maybe that’s got all of its challenges this year. Maybe we’ve been apart for so long that we don’t know how to be together or maybe we’re being kept apart and so it just doesn’t feel as personal, but it’s still there. It hovers. It comes like a season doesn’t it? It just comes. There’s the first winds of Christmas off in the distance. Once it starts to get cold, off in the distance it’s like we are headed toward this day. And, so, happy merry joyous Christmas eve to you. May you sense the power of what we’re talking about here, that God…God the most-high, the Creator, the supreme…like what words could we use. God came to earth in person to redeem and restore and reveal what life can and should look like for us. And, so, let’s enjoy every moment of this.
I love you. I’m Brian merry Christmas I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hey DAB family it’s His __ here calling from the UK. Today’s the 18th of December and I just heard Quiet Confidence’s message coming through. Oh Lord I just pray over quiet confidence in this moment, just the sadness and the loss that I feel in her voice Lord. She feels so lost in away from the Lord and she’s begging to go home, but Lord I just pray in this moment that you fill her up with your strength, you fill her up with your love and you fill her up with your confidence. In this very moment Lord, Father God, this confidence that she so speaks about. And Lord I just pray again that, you know, even though you love her to come home with you, even though you want or they are in heaven, that you have a purpose for her on this earth, you have such a big purpose for her to just continue on Lord father God, continue on even when she feels lost, even…even when she feels afraid, even when she feels that she is nowhere near you when she’s away from you father God. That you are the closest to her, you are the closest to her that that you’ve ever been Lord father God and that she’s just hanging on. May she just hang on with all her strength. Quiet Confidence me you just keep on hanging on because there’s still something for you. God will call you when…when you’re ready. God will call you when He’s ready to take you up but for now He wants you here on this earth for anything and everything that you can give even if it’s coming out of this…this…this…this lowness that you feel even if it’s you know it’s just…just showing people that you can endure, that you can come back from…from the sadness, from this loss. I pray in Jesus’ name that you find the courage. I pray that you come out of this and I’m just sending all your love to you. Your husband’s there for you, your family and so were we the DAB. Take care. Bye.
Hello friends I’m calling for a prayer request, this is my first prayer request call and almost one year that I’ve been listening every day and the prayer request is for my wife. She’s been having chemo treatments most of 2020 and the doctors say there is no finish line, but we are trusting God for a finish line in February. So, if the doctors treatments goes expected then she will not have any more treatments because of the power and the miracle of our Lord.
This is Thomas King of West Point Mississippi calling to pray for the Bible __ family, Brian and his family, the DBA family want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a great happy and prosperous new year. Let us pray. Father we thank You once again oh dear God. You have been so good to us yet Lord we have been under so much pressure these past few months Lord, due to this pandemic and all the other things that families are going through. Dear God, we pray that You will just continue to keep us O God and bless everyone that’s under the sound of this voice that the hearing today. God, we pray that You would just keep them O God, keep them safe from this pandemic, keep them and watch over them master and please Sir even my sister that have come down and caught Covid we pray that You bless her and her family, all the DBA families dear God that may have caught it. We pray that You would watch over and keep them dear God in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord we pray for our family that is on the sound system and God has blessed me to be with the last 12 years and now I’m calling for the first time in a long time and again I’m Thomas King from West Point Mississippi. God bless You all Brian and family. Amen.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this call is in response to a call that I heard at the end of the December 18th podcast specifically for Quiet Confidence in Virginia. O sister in faith you…thank you for your vulnerability and thank you for reaching out. Lord just makes me want to pray for her because I felt compelled to call. Heavenly Father thank You thank, You for the gift of life and community. Thank You for people that are here, that are willing to bear the burden of prayer. Lord we come lifting up Quiet Confidence and any other person that’s in the same boat, that’s in the same position right now, walking through challenges with their mental and spiritual health. God we ask humbly that first and foremost You forgive us for any sins, forgive us for any opportunities that we may have given the enemy to attack us and to connect us. God we just ask that You lead us through, deliver for us. Lord You are our delivery. You said in Your word that You are not only near to the broken hearted a broken reed You will not despise but Lord You’ve come literally into this world to deliver us. Lord we pray and ask that You touch Quiet Confidence’s mind, her heart, her spirit. We ask Lord that You grant her an unusual faith, an unusual hope an unusual trust in You that will combat the lies of the enemy and in the name of Jesus Satan rebuke You, rebuke You. We rebuke and buffet the attacks that would come to destroy Quiet Confidence’s life and her purpose…
Hi family it’s Shannon from Texas and I already have the best news. My son went to court this morning and let me tell you after a night from hell I could literally write a book about the battle that we’ve had coming up to this point. The three different times he’s been on probation since he was 14, he’s 23 now just battle after battle after battle. I could write a book. Anyway, the judge as he talked to him on the phone, he said that the judge actually prayed with him…and rehab is not something that they do in the area that he’s on probation and he wasn’t even in the area he was supposed to be and he had responded and I tried to report that they didn’t seem to care they didn’t even normally offer rehab. The judge prayed with him and told him he would’ve no…he could see that he was not a liar and that he had integrity he had a family that cared about him and that he would send him away for 8 to 10 years if he saw him again, but he knew that he was going to get it right and that he was gonna send him to six months of rehab. I cannot tell you I have never heard such good news in my entire life. My son said he was in there crying and I just…he said that he has just…this is something he hasn’t been able to break free from and it definitely has gotten worse lately after some deliverance prayer. So, you know, we can’t speak life out of one side of my mouth and death outside the other and that’s something we’ve really…I’m working on we’ve all got to work on. I love you guys thank you for praying. Love you love you. Bye.