Zechariah 10:1-11:17, Revelation 18:1-24, Psalms 146:1-10, Proverbs 30:33
Today is the 27th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor to be here with you today as we greet a brand-new week. And we probably are all aware that before this week is over, we’ll be greeting and entering a brand-new year. So, this is the last time friends that we get to reach out together and twist that knob and throw open the door and walk through the threshold of a brand-new sparkly new week for this year because we are entering the last week of this year. Including today we have five days left together in this year, which will bring us to the conclusion of our year of course but will bring us to the conclusion of the Bible. And, so, I get to this point every year and start feeling a little bit melancholy just a little bit of sadness is there behind it all. I know that we’ll just start a new year, this never ends. But I just feel it. And, so, I’m feeling it. I’m feeling it and honoring it. I’ll never forget this year. And, so, let's…let’s press in. Let’s not like fadeaway - it’s Christmas we’re exhausted now we gotta take all of these…these decorations down and all these stuff to do and try to find the flow and get back into the rhythm and think about the new year and make some New Year’s resolutions we got a lot to do. Let’s not just fadeaway. We talked about this. We talked about this back in October before anything got busy. We talked about finishing well, and we realized that to finish the next year strong we need to finish what we’re doing now well and thoroughly. And, so, let’s press in. This final week of the year we will read from the New Living Translation. Zechariah chapters 10 and 11 today.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into this shiny sparkly new week. It is another week of joy and celebration because we will be transitioning into a new year. And, so, Father as we move forward because we can’t start moving backward days and live our lives in reverse all the way back to the beginning of this year. We can only move forward. And, so, we are here considering this past year and we will be considering this past year for the next several days. This is sort of the natural flow of things. Christmas is over, our hearts are beginning to move forward toward the new year, and we begin to think about the things that need to be changed. And, so, we are looking into Your word for counsel, we are looking into our lives for reality, we are looking to Your Holy Spirit, who is often counterintuitive, for the truth. Where You will lead, we will go. We just need to know where You’re going and where You are leading, which requires that we be vigilant and aware and paying attention. So, we were told in the Proverbs today, again, similar things we were told yesterday. Yes, You beat cream You get butter. Yes, You strike the nose You get bleeding. So, then, yes, if You stir up anger, that’s gonna cause quarrels. And, so, we’re left Your wondering, do we want more that? Like, is that the goal? Is…is the new year designed for more conflict for more division for more quarreling in the world in our nations in our local regions in our cities in our communities in our homes? The answers probably that we would prefer less conflict. That seems to be the natural desire. And, so, we’re told very clearly by the voice of wisdom who has counseled us all year long, if You stir up anger and You’re gonna get quarrels. So, Father, Holy Spirit, come, let us not be stirring that pot. May we take our ladle out of that pot and put it over in a brand-new pot, one that is simmering peace, joy, long-suffering, kindness, all of the fruits of the spirit. Come Jesus we pray into all of this we ask in Your precious name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And I guess all things going on around here are aiming us toward these last few days of the year.
This voyage that we have been on, it’s coming, it’s coming to its conclusion and we can see the harbor. Like we’ve sailed all the way across the year and it’s been stormy seas and we made it. We made it safely and we’re gonna dock in a few days having completed the entire Bible together, having completed an entire year of life together in community. And, so, that’s what’s going on around here.
Of course, additionally most of us are thinking about what the next year might look like and we have this new word that we’re going to live into as we look into the Scriptures in the new year, “Mend”. It’s time. It’s time to heal. Yeah, this…this has been a hard year, but, you know for some of us it’s been a hard decade or a hard life. There’s always challenge, there’s always difficulties, things are hard but it’s time to mend. And mend is something that we have to allow to happen in us, but it’s also something we have to participate in. And we’ll see. We’ll see it happen in the Scriptures. We’ll be challenged to take steps in our lives. But, yeah, this is what we’re gonna focus on. This is what the new year is going to bring, a time to mend. And, so, very, very much looking forward to that as we…you know…we get to December 31st and it really is the end of the journey, it’s just that another journey begins the next day. And it’s not…I mean we start over but it’s not starting over it’s moving forward. What the Scriptures are gonna look like in the next year in the year 2021 will be different than what it looked like in 2020. That’s just how it is. The Bible is just…it speaks to the heart, it speaks to the motives, to the why of things, to the story beneath it all, to the plot. And, so, it is always a relevant thing because we are all…we like…we do things because we are motivated by something to…to act. And sometimes those are colossal mistakes and sometimes they’re wonderful victories. And as we walk the path of wisdom…well…we can stack things in our favor I guess. We can…we can simply live true. We can simply be who we were made to be. We can be wise about what we decide to do and where we allow our heart to be taken. And, so, I’m really really looking forward to that. It's…it’s funny because we’re counting down these days but let’s finish well. Let’s not get into the new year before we’re in it. We can make some plans. We can have some goals. We can have agendas. We can think about what we want to do or become, but we do that first by finishing what we started this year. And in these coming days, we will reach the conclusion of the Bible and all of our badges in the app, as we finish all the different sections and complete the Scriptures together. All those things will go off and we’ll see that we’ve accomplished something, we’ve accomplished a journey through life and a journey through the Bible. And, so, yeah, that’s kind of what’s going on around here.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these last days of the year, if it’s mattered this year then 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 of the app, or the mailing address 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.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi DAB family this is Nobody Gets Left Behind in Colorado. I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Grandpa Bob, Walta the Burning Bush, my sister in California, John from Bethlehem. I just want to thank you all for praying for my daughter Halo. And I wanted to give a shout out to Val from Vegas. You made my day the other day with your call in on the 15th, brought tears to my eyes. Just love the excitement in your voice, it was just beautiful. I’m praying for Only Tony. This is just a short list of some of the people. I’m praying for Ron for the Philippines, Byron’s son Nehemiah, Rosie Great to be Free. I just love you guys and I love hearing your praise reports. So, praying is always a great thing to do especially when you get to hear all the things that God’s doing in your lives and I know He’s doing a lot in our lives and in our life and, you know, just gearing you guys pray for my daughter Halo was just beautiful and she just…it made her so happy to hear all of you. And I told her don’t call in just to hear yourself baby. Just you…you listen to what they’re telling you. You listen to the advice that they’re given you and you follow that advice. And, you know, she is praying for that little girl in her class. You know, just kind of rearranging her prayer to not be God change that person but God to fix all of the things that are happening in that person’s life that is making them broken. So, that was some great advice from all of you guys. I just love you all and I just have one little quick prayer. If you could pray for my brother Jeremy in prison. He’s been there for 18 years. Love you guys. Have a great day.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Anonymous in Tulsa Oklahoma. I want you to know that I wish each of you, those who speak, those who work behind the scenes, those who just listen a blessed Christmas. This has been a difficult, strange, interesting, awesome, phenomenal, remarkable, different, in all of these ways year and we’re going into a new year with still this just carrying this load, but the thing is is we don’t have to carry it. We can shed it and place it in the Lord’s lap and let Him carry it while we walk along with Him on our path in life. This path is called the journey of life and that it’s not ours to walk alone. He always walks with us as long as we ask Him to. Christmas reminds me of that, that He came to this earth to walk along with us, to show us how to walk in servitude, in patience and kindness and forgiveness and in love. And I love each of you remarkably differently and in all different kinds of ways. Thank you for coming. Know that you’re being prayed for whether you’re here speaking, behind the scenes, or listening. Amen.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Blessed Assurance calling in a prayer for Quiet Confidence in Virginia. I believe she called in on December 18th stating that she had mental issues and she was really struggling. I’d like to lift her up in prayer now. Our heavenly Father holy holy holy is Your name. I lift up to You Quiet Confidence. I ask Lord that You protect her and comfort her, give her peace. Lord I ask that You draw near to her and in doing so she will draw closer to You. Lord God I…I pray that You protect her from the evil one for all that he says in her ear. I ask that you strengthen her husband of 24 years. Please bless and Lord and give him strength to continue to care for her. Give him peace and understanding love. Lord God will lift us up in our process Jesus Christ name. Amen.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family it’s Faithful Hope in the UK and I have my daughter with me, Exuberant Emily. And we’re going to sing to you. What about me? O, and we’ve got Happy Hana as well. And we’re going to sing to you. Okay. We are? [singing starts] I love you and you love me where a happy family with a great big hug and a kiss for me to you don’t you know we love you too? [singing stops]
I feel impressed to pray for someone who was specifically tonight thinking of committing suicide. O God has just laid this on my heart. So, I lift up whoever this person is to You. Lord Jesus You see every single detail regarding that situation. And Lord God, I pray a hedge of protection around that person – spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally Lord Jesus. I pray that You would give them hope where they feel so hopeless. Lord God may You give them a glimpse of life and their future could be with a clean slate that You give to us that You provide to us. Lord Jesus I pray God that You would give them just a vision of what it would be like to as they turn their eyes upon You look and look full in Your wonderful face. In Jesus’ name.
Hi this is Radiant Rachel I’m gonna continue paying for husbands. If you would pray with me. Lord I pray that You will give…