12/26/2021 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 9:1-17, Revelation 17:1-18, Psalms 145:1-21, Proverbs 30:32

Today is the 26th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you on the day after Christmas day. And welcome to a brand-new shiny sparkly week. This is the last time we will greet a new week in this year. By the time we navigate this week we will have navigated ourselves into a new month and a new year and a brand-new voyage through the Bible. It’s hard to believe but this is the final stretch in this year. And, so, let’s take the next step forward which leads us right to the place where we left off yesterday and that will be back in the book of Zechariah. We’ll read from the English Standard Version this week. And today Zechariah chapter 9.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for this season that we’re in. We’re kind of in this afterglow now of the celebration of Christmas day yesterday. And now we greet a brand-new shiny week. And as with every other week it is out in front of us, we can determine the scope and trajectory of where we’re headed. We have opportunity to make decisions in advance to cling to You, to be aware of Your presence, to be paying attention. And this is a week that we actually really need to do that, not as if any other week isn’t. But this is a week of transition. This is the week that falls between, between Christmas and New Year’s. This is a week when we start thinking the deeper thoughts about our lives and where they are headed and are they headed where we are wanting to go? And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit, as we navigate this week to speak into those things as we continue this journey, step-by-step, and day by day toward the conclusion of a year and the conclusion of the Scriptures and the beginning of a new year and the beginning of a new journey through the Scriptures. And, so, Holy Spirit we cling to You. We become aware of Your presence. We still ourselves before You. We wait calmly for Your leading and the peace that accompanies Your guidance. Come Jesus we pray. That is our prayer. That was the prayer of so many so long ago looking for a Savior. Come Savior. And we are in the same position now. You have come, You have restored, You have redeemed and we wait Your arrival. So come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name we ask. Amen.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday December 26, 2021 (NIV)

Zechariah 9

Judgment on Israel's Enemies

The oracle of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach
and (A)Damascus is its resting place.
For the Lord has an eye on mankind
and on all the tribes of Israel,[a]
(B)and on Hamath also, which borders on it,
(C)Tyre and (D)Sidon, though (E)they are very wise.
Tyre has built herself (F)a rampart
and (G)heaped up silver like dust,
and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
and strike down (H)her power on the sea,
and (I)she shall be devoured by fire.

(J)Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
(K)a mixed people[b] shall dwell in Ashdod,
and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
I will take away (L)its blood from its mouth,
and (M)its abominations from between its teeth;
(N)it too shall be a remnant for our God;
it shall be like (O)a clan in Judah,
and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
Then (P)I will encamp at my house as a guard,
(Q)so that none shall march to and fro;
(R)no oppressor shall again march over them,
(S)for now I see with my own eyes.

The Coming King of Zion

(T)Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
(U)Behold, (V)your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
(W)humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 (X)I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and (Y)the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and (Z)he shall speak peace to the nations;
(AA)his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from (AB)the River[c] to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of (AC)the blood of my covenant with you,
(AD)I will set your prisoners free from (AE)the waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O (AF)prisoners of hope;
today I declare that (AG)I will restore to you double.
13 For (AH)I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, (AI)O Greece,
and wield you like a warrior's sword.

The Lord Will Save His People

14 Then the Lord will appear over them,
and (AJ)his arrow will go forth like lightning;
(AK)the Lord God will sound the trumpet
and will march forth in (AL)the whirlwinds (AM)of the south.
15 The Lord of hosts (AN)will protect them,
and (AO)they shall devour, (AP)and tread down the sling stones,
and (AQ)they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
and be full like a bowl,
drenched (AR)like the corners of the altar.

16 On that day the Lord their God will save them,
as (AS)the flock of his people;
for (AT)like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17 (AU)For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
(AV)Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.

Footnotes:

  1. Zechariah 9:1 Or For the eye of mankind, especially of all the tribes of Israel, is toward the Lord
  2. Zechariah 9:6 Or a foreign people; Hebrew a bastard
  3. Zechariah 9:10 That is, the Euphrates

Cross references:

  1. Zechariah 9:1 : See Isa. 17:1
  2. Zechariah 9:2 : Jer. 49:23; See 1 Kgs. 8:65
  3. Zechariah 9:2 : Josh. 19:28, 29; Isa. 23:1, 2
  4. Zechariah 9:2 : Josh. 19:28, 29; Isa. 23:1, 2
  5. Zechariah 9:2 : See Ezek. 28:3-5
  6. Zechariah 9:3 : [Josh. 19:29]
  7. Zechariah 9:3 : Ezek. 28:4, 5
  8. Zechariah 9:4 : Ezek. 26:17
  9. Zechariah 9:4 : Ezek. 28:18
  10. Zechariah 9:5 : See Zeph. 2:4
  11. Zechariah 9:6 : [Deut. 23:2]
  12. Zechariah 9:7 : See Lev. 3:17
  13. Zechariah 9:7 : [Isa. 66:17]
  14. Zechariah 9:7 : [Isa. 14:1]
  15. Zechariah 9:7 : ch. 12:5, 6
  16. Zechariah 9:8 : [ch. 2:5]
  17. Zechariah 9:8 : ch. 7:14
  18. Zechariah 9:8 : ch. 10:4; [Isa. 60:17]
  19. Zechariah 9:8 : [ch. 12:4]
  20. Zechariah 9:9 : See Zeph. 3:14
  21. Zechariah 9:9 : Cited Matt. 21:5; [John 12:15]
  22. Zechariah 9:9 : See Jer. 23:5
  23. Zechariah 9:9 : [Matt. 11:29]
  24. Zechariah 9:10 : See Hos. 1:7
  25. Zechariah 9:10 : See Mic. 5:10
  26. Zechariah 9:10 : See Mic. 5:5
  27. Zechariah 9:10 : Ps. 72:8
  28. Zechariah 9:10 : See Ex. 23:31
  29. Zechariah 9:11 : Ex. 24:8
  30. Zechariah 9:11 : Isa. 42:7; 51:14; 61:1
  31. Zechariah 9:11 : [Gen. 37:24; Jer. 38:6]
  32. Zechariah 9:12 : [Jer. 31:17]
  33. Zechariah 9:12 : Isa. 61:7
  34. Zechariah 9:13 : [ch. 10:3, 4]
  35. Zechariah 9:13 : Gen. 10:2; Ezek. 27:13
  36. Zechariah 9:14 : See 2 Sam. 22:15
  37. Zechariah 9:14 : [Isa. 27:13]
  38. Zechariah 9:14 : Isa. 21:1
  39. Zechariah 9:14 : [ch. 6:6]
  40. Zechariah 9:15 : ch. 12:8; [ch. 10:5]
  41. Zechariah 9:15 : ch. 12:6
  42. Zechariah 9:15 : [ch. 10:5]
  43. Zechariah 9:15 : ch. 10:7
  44. Zechariah 9:15 : [Lev. 4:18, 25]
  45. Zechariah 9:16 : Ps. 100:3
  46. Zechariah 9:16 : Isa. 62:3; [Mal. 3:17]
  47. Zechariah 9:17 : [Isa. 62:3, 4]
  48. Zechariah 9:17 : [Isa. 62:8, 9; Jer. 31:12]
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Revelation 17

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17 Then (A)one of the seven angels who had (B)the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of (C)the great prostitute (D)who is seated on many waters, (E)with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and (F)with the wine of whose sexual immorality (G)the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And (H)he carried me away in the Spirit (I)into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on (J)a scarlet beast that was full of (K)blasphemous names, and (L)it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman (M)was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned (N)with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand (O)a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of (P)mystery: (Q)“Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk (R)with the blood of the saints, the blood of (S)the martyrs of Jesus.[a]

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you (T)the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw (U)was, and is not, and (V)is about to rise from (W)the bottomless pit[b] and (X)go to destruction. And (Y)the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in (Z)the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because (AA)it was and is not and is to come. (AB)This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast (AC)that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And (AD)the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings (AE)for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They (AF)will make war on the Lamb, and (AG)the Lamb will conquer them, for he is (AH)Lord of lords and (AI)King of kings, and those with him are (AJ)called and chosen and faithful.”

15 And the angel[c] said to me, (AK)“The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16 And (AL)the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast (AM)will hate the prostitute. They will make her (AN)desolate and (AO)naked, and (AP)devour her flesh and (AQ)burn her up with fire, 17 for (AR)God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and (AS)handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is (AT)the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

Footnotes:

  1. Revelation 17:6 Greek the witnesses to Jesus
  2. Revelation 17:8 Greek the abyss
  3. Revelation 17:15 Greek he

Cross references:

  1. Revelation 17:1 : ch. 21:9
  2. Revelation 17:1 : ch. 15:7
  3. Revelation 17:1 : ch. 19:2; Nah. 3:4; [Isa. 1:21; Jer. 2:20]
  4. Revelation 17:1 : ver. 15; [Jer. 51:13]
  5. Revelation 17:2 : ch. 18:3, 9; [Isa. 23:17]
  6. Revelation 17:2 : ch. 14:8; Jer. 51:7
  7. Revelation 17:2 : See ch. 3:10
  8. Revelation 17:3 : ch. 21:10
  9. Revelation 17:3 : ch. 12:6, 14
  10. Revelation 17:3 : [ch. 12:3]
  11. Revelation 17:3 : ch. 13:1
  12. Revelation 17:3 : ver. 7, 9, 12
  13. Revelation 17:4 : ch. 18:16
  14. Revelation 17:4 : Dan. 11:38
  15. Revelation 17:4 : Jer. 51:7; [ch. 18:6]
  16. Revelation 17:5 : ver. 7; 2 Thess. 2:7
  17. Revelation 17:5 : See ch. 14:8
  18. Revelation 17:6 : ch. 16:6; [ch. 13:15]
  19. Revelation 17:6 : ch. 2:13
  20. Revelation 17:7 : ver. 5
  21. Revelation 17:8 : ver. 11; [ch. 1:4; 13:3]
  22. Revelation 17:8 : ch. 11:7
  23. Revelation 17:8 : See ch. 9:1
  24. Revelation 17:8 : ch. 13:10
  25. Revelation 17:8 : See ch. 3:10
  26. Revelation 17:8 : See ch. 3:5
  27. Revelation 17:8 : ver. 11; [ch. 1:4; 13:3]
  28. Revelation 17:9 : [ch. 13:18]
  29. Revelation 17:11 : ver. 8; [ch. 11:17]
  30. Revelation 17:12 : ver. 16; Dan. 7:24; [ch. 13:1; Zech. 1:18-21]
  31. Revelation 17:12 : [ch. 18:10, 17, 19]
  32. Revelation 17:14 : See ch. 16:14
  33. Revelation 17:14 : See ch. 3:21
  34. Revelation 17:14 : ch. 19:16; Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:3; Dan. 2:47; 1 Tim. 6:15; [ch. 1:5; Matt. 28:18; Acts 10:36]
  35. Revelation 17:14 : ch. 19:16; Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:3; Dan. 2:47; 1 Tim. 6:15; [ch. 1:5; Matt. 28:18; Acts 10:36]
  36. Revelation 17:14 : See ch. 2:10; Luke 18:7 (Gk.); Rom. 1:6
  37. Revelation 17:15 : ver. 1; [Isa. 8:7]
  38. Revelation 17:16 : See ver. 12
  39. Revelation 17:16 : [Jer. 50:41, 42]
  40. Revelation 17:16 : ch. 18:17, 19
  41. Revelation 17:16 : Ezek. 16:37, 39
  42. Revelation 17:16 : [ch. 19:18]
  43. Revelation 17:16 : ch. 18:8; [Lev. 21:9]
  44. Revelation 17:17 : 2 Cor. 8:16
  45. Revelation 17:17 : [2 Thess. 2:11]
  46. Revelation 17:18 : ch. 16:19
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Psalm 145

Great Is the Lord

[a] A Song of Praise. Of David.

145 (A)I will extol you, my God and (B)King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
(C)and praise your name forever and ever.
(D)Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his (E)greatness is unsearchable.

(F)One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On (G)the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of (H)the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your (I)abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The Lord is (J)gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is (K)good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.

10 (L)All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your (M)saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to (N)make known to the children of man your[b] (O)mighty deeds,
and (P)the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 (Q)Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

[The Lord is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.][c]
14 The Lord (R)upholds all who are falling
and (S)raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all (T)look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You (U)open your hand;
you (V)satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is (W)righteous in all his ways
and (X)kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is (Y)near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him (Z)in truth.
19 He (AA)fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also (AB)hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord (AC)preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and (AD)let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 145:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
  2. Psalm 145:12 Hebrew his; also next line
  3. Psalm 145:13 These two lines are supplied by one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac (compare Dead Sea Scroll)
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Proverbs 30:32

32 If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,
or if you have been devising evil,
(A)put your hand on your mouth.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

12/25/2021 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 8:1-23, Revelation 16:1-21, Psalm 144:1-15, Proverbs 30:29-31

Today is the 25th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I am Brian. It is a joy and an honor to be here with you, it’s the 25th of December and so it’s hard to hide the fact that this is Christmas day. Merry Christmas everybody. We have journeyed all year all the way back to Christmas day again, O and what enjoy it is to be here around the Global Campfire, just to have a few minutes around the Global Campfire with you today and it’s a joy to be with my family as I’m sure it is for you as well. This is a day that we get to…to appreciate that the longing for a Savior is over, a savior has come.

Song - Joy to the World by Crowder

So, on this Christmas day and every day for that matter, we come together to take the next step forward as we continue our journey through the Scriptures and our next step forward leads us back into the book of Zechariah. Today we will read Zechariah chapter 8.

Commentary:

Okay, so obviously it’s no secret that it’s Christmas day and I love…I love the season, it brings me so much joy, I so deeply enjoy it. This year we had two new babies born into our family. Reagan, China and Ben’s daughter and Eden which is Kristin and Jocelyn’s daughter. So, I’m overjoyed. And their gonna be dressed up so cute and I love, I love Christmas. I love the music of Christmas. I love the spirit of Christmas and I’m sure you do to. You get together with family maybe we only see once a year or not that often, and with all the things that have been going on last couple years, maybe we haven’t seen certain people for quite a long time, that we get to see again today and that’s a beautiful thing and we’ll feast together and celebrate the coming of the Savior and exchange gifts and maybe have a fire in the fireplace and everything is decorated pretty. We actually do a pretty good job around the world of festivity in celebration all centered around the arrival of the Savior and I…I love it very much. I also know that that’s not necessarily everyone’s story, that may be the majority of our stories, but we may be at the Christmas table this year missing someone who is no longer with us, or we may be all alone with no one to share the joy with. For some, Christmas day really isn’t the day of…of warm hearts and burning fireplaces. It’s a day of loneliness or a day where the…the best thoughts of Christmas are Christmas’s past when we were little or the kids were little, or whatever. I just want to acknowledge that; it is joy to the world the Lord has come but circumstances of our lives over the last year may have done everything possible to steal that joy away and I understand. It’s easier, it’s more festive, it’s more heartwarming to talk about a baby in a manger, angels singing the shepherds, wisemen traveling and a deep sense of hope and I feel all those things but I also feel underneath it all no matter what Christmas I come to, I mean, it pretty much, we get to this point in the year and I’m looking at another week and we finish a journey and that starts, it doesn’t bring me down, it just starts to make me feel melancholy inside, we’re nearing the end of another year. I look back over the year at all that’s happened some good, some challenging right. That’s the nature of any life in a year and because of my temperament and my makeup, I, as a creative person I can get melancholy like, that’s really where creativity ends up coming from a lot. So, today is indifferent and every Christmas kind of brings out because there’s so much festivity and joy and that’s so wonderful but there are also people who fall through the cracks of that and I’m not really one of those who falls through the cracks and I’m lonely and depressed and I don’t have anybody, that’s not my story. I do have a family, but there is something underneath all of the joy, it’s not depression. I’ve wondered about it for many many years because I’ve recognized it in myself. Actually, completely kept it to myself for…for most of my life and really only began to talk about it during the season of The Daily Audio Bible. I used to think there was something wrong with me, why can’t I experience this kind of joy. Why is there something underneath it all, that feels not joyful and I used to think it was just my temperament or maybe a little bit the touch of the Christmas blues right, just like a little mild depression or something like that. But over the years reading through Revelation, reading through this portion of Revelation on Christmas day, I realized man that there’s this doesn’t feel like this reading doesn’t feel like Christmas, it doesn’t feel merry and happy, angels are pouring out bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth. The things that happen on earth are monumental. Several years ago, though I realized wait, wait, wait, this isn't…this isn’t the Christmas tree, Christmas presents, feasting kind of story but this is no less important because what we’re watching in Revelation right now is that baby Jesus, lying in a manger, all grown up as the King of Kings and the King of Kings is eradicating and destroying evil, just annihilating evil, moving the world toward shalom; the way things are supposed to be. And that’s when we’ll begin to realize that things aren’t as they are supposed to be and we know it. And then the hope of Christmas becomes the hope of the world, the hope that there could be change, the hope that all things will be made new again. So, I’ve realized over time, yeah this isn’t the Christmas blues, if I really want to think about what I’m feeling, if and it’s hard sometimes when you’re trying to like specifically describe an emotion, but I began to realize I’m a very busy person, so running all the time but this feeling, this blues if that’s what you want to call it, this sort of sense underneath it all, that somethings not exactly right. I finally realized I think…I think that’s longing and it was actually beginning to observe and appreciate the Advent season, which is about longing, but I began to realize yeah…yeah, underneath it all we can run we can have wonderful, joyous moments, but underneath it all, we are longing with the rest of creation for all things to be made new again. And sometimes when we slowdown and we sort of change the scenery and were festive and happy, like on Christmas, like this kind of a holiday and we’ve kind of changed our rhythm and so we’re more still, we can begin to feel it. And it can be experienced in all kinds of ways but I just want to suggest that maybe you’re feeling lonely because you are lonely but probably a part of it in all of us is that underneath it all, we are groaning for things to be as they were intended. We are longing, we are longing for this grown-up Jesus that we’re reading about in Revelation, we are longing for all things to be restored and made new again. So, I just want to say maybe…maybe that’s not you, maybe you don’t even know what I’m talking about and that’s fine, but for those of you that do, don’t just stuff it because what we begin to realize is it’s like the rest of life. It’s bitter and it’s sweet. We are longing for something that we know is coming. The restoration of all things but we are here now and we can still experience joy in fullness and hope and Christmas was the beginning of the story. And in Revelation we’re reading more the conclusion of the story and we are in the middle of all of it and it matters that we learn to endure and it matters that we get it through our skulls that we are the body of Christ; the physical hands and feet of Jesus in this world and we are here to do the work of Christ as we become Christ like in this world, we are not passively observing the story we are active participants in the story. So, let’s embrace all of it because it’s all part of it, it’s joy to the world the Lord has come and the longing for him to come back. It’s all part of it and so I’m going to go now and embrace all of it.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Christmas, we thank You for coming, we thank You for a humbling Yourself and leaving perfection and entering the fray with us very imperfect people in a very imperfect place and You have given us hope that things can be restored, even things in us, they can be restored. You are making all things new. And so, we rejoice in that hope on this Christmas Day. We pray that Your Holy Spirit would hover in our homes, would hover around our tables, would hover in all of the discussions and conversations that we will have, would be involved in all of the festivities and that we wouldn’t get sidetracked, that we would stay near to the awareness that You are present with us, even if…even if we’re eating Christmas dinner alone, You are present with us. So, come Holy Spirit, we pray, in the mighty name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday December 25, 2021 (NIV)

Zechariah 8

1-2 The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, came, this time bringing a series of five short messages about hope.

Eternal One: First, I have a jealous desire to be among My people in Zion. I want it more than anything. I am burning with angry jealousy for her and her welfare.

Second, I will return to Zion and live in the heart of Jerusalem. So it will then be known far and wide as the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will be called Holy Mountain.

Third, elderly men and women will sit in Jerusalem’s streets with staffs in hand because of their old age. The city streets will bustle with boys and girls playing outside on the roads and in the squares.

Ultimately, God’s purpose is redeeming His fallen creation. He initiated His plan of redemption by calling and equipping the children of Abraham to be a light to the nations. Zechariah foresees a day when Jerusalem is the center of the world; when people of every race, creed, and color journey to it; and when the Jews show the rest of the world the way to the one True God.

After chapter 8, the Book of Zechariah changes—its tone, its character, its focus. Chapters 1–8 have been about the people and times immediately after the exile ended, a period when Persia ruled the world. Chapters 9–14 seem removed from that world, its people, and its interests—but just how far removed is uncertain. It is possible that these last chapters were not written by Zechariah, and the debate about who wrote them and when they were written has raged since Jesus died. In 27:9-10 of his Gospel, Matthew identifies the author as Jeremiah, a forerunner of Zechariah. More recent scholarship has further confused the matter because the setting in chapter 9 could describe any time in Jerusalem between Hezekiah’s rule before the exile and the Maccabean revolts 400 years later. This inability to positively identify the author and the audience, along with the lack of historical, contextual markers in the text itself, make these words universally applicable. They may even describe the end time when God judges the nations.

Fourth, this may come as a surprise to the remnant of these people, eking out an existence during these harsh days, but what is surprising to you is not for Me.

Fifth, I will rescue My people from far and wide, from east to west across the land, and I will bring them home to live in peace in Jerusalem where they will be My people once more. I will be truthful and just to them as their God.

Here is an encouragement from the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

Eternal One: To those of you who have been listening recently to My words through the prophets, who were working for Me when the foundation of the house of the Eternal One was being laid just decades ago, keep yourselves strong so that the temple walls may now be built. 10 Before then no one could earn a living in Jerusalem or in exile. Neither men nor their animals could find work. No one could move about safely for fear of his enemies because I had turned every man against each other. 11 However, that was the past. I, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, promise I will not treat the remnant of My people as I once did. 12 What you witness now will be very different—a new day when seeds of peace will be sown in fertile soil. The seeds will grow into sheaves of wheat, and the vines will produce luscious grapes. The ground will yield its crops, and pleasant dew will again fall from the heavens. And I will give these things to My remnant as their inheritance. 13 Because you, people of Judah and Israel, were once the objects of scorn among the nations, I will rescue you and you will become a blessing. Don’t be afraid, and keep yourselves strong.

14 When your ancestors angered Me, I was determined to bring disaster to your generation as well as theirs, and I refused to change My plan. 15 All the same, I have now determined to do good for Jerusalem and the people of Judah. Don’t be afraid. 16 Here are the things you must do: Speak truth to each other. Pursue justice in your courts. Render decisions that reflect truth and bring peace to the community. 17 Do not conspire to bring harm against one another. Do not make promises you don’t intend to keep. I hate all these things.

So said the Eternal.

18 The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, came to me with three brief messages about a happy future for His people and the entire world.

Eternal One: 19 From now on, the fasting times of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be happy occasions and times of celebration for the people of Judah. So you should love truth and pursue peace.

20 Many people from many cities will come streaming to My holy city. 21 The citizens from one of these cities will approach the citizens of another and say, “You must come with me. Let’s journey to Jerusalem to seek the blessings of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and ask for His favor directly. I am certainly going.”

22 That is why many people and powerful nations will come together as one to Jerusalem to seek the blessings of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and ask for His favor directly.

Eternal One: 23 A day is coming when 10 men, people from every nation speaking every language will grab the cloak of a Jew and beg him, “Let us come with you because we have heard the True God is among you and we want Him to save us, too.”

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Revelation 16

Just as God used the plagues to judge the Egyptians and deliver His people from bondage (Exodus 7–12), these plagues will help rescue God’s faithful servants.

16 Then I heard a great voice coming from the temple ordering the seven heavenly messengers.

A Voice: Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth.

So the first messenger poured out his bowl onto the earth. When he did, a foul-smelling, painful sore broke out on each person who bore the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.

The second messenger poured out his bowl into the sea. When he did, the waters became like the blood that spills from a dead body, and every living creature in the sea died.

The third messenger poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of fresh water. When he did, they, too, became blood. And I heard the messenger over the waters speak.

Messenger over the Waters: You are just, O holy One who is and who was,
for You have judged these things rightly.
Because people shed the blood of the saints and prophets,
You have given them blood to quench their thirst.
They are deserving of these punishments.

God’s judgment is true and just. Violent people are thirsty for blood, so God gives it to them. Sometimes judgment means receiving what you desire.

And I heard a voice from the altar agree.

A Voice: Yes, Lord God, the All Powerful,
true and right are Your judgments!

The fourth messenger poured out his bowl on the sun. When he did, the sun was permitted to blister people with its fire. The incredible heat of the sun burned their skin; but instead of rethinking their actions[a] and glorifying God, they cursed God’s name because He had the power to carry out these plagues.

10 The fifth messenger poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. When he did, its kingdom was blanketed in darkness. People chewed on their tongues out of the depth of their agony. 11 Still they refused to change their wicked ways,[b] so they cursed the God of heaven because of their painful afflictions and ulcerous sores.

12 The sixth messenger poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. When he did, the river dried up and became a road so that the kings from the east and their armies could make their way. 13 What I saw next troubled me deeply: three foul spirits like frogs appeared, belched from the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the earth-beast. 14 These frogs are demonic spirits. As they go into the world, they perform miracles persuading the kings of the world to gather for the last battle on the great day of God, the All Powerful.

The dragon, beast, and earth-beast are an unholy trinity who send out demonic spirits. These spirits resemble frogs and remind the reader of the plague of frogs that invaded Egypt before the exodus. These foul spirits roam the world, persuading the kings of the earth to assemble together to do battle against God and His chosen.

A Voice: 15 See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the person who watches and waits, dressed and ready to go, so as not to wander about naked, exposed to disgrace.

16 And the kings gathered at the place called Har-Magedon in Hebrew.

Har-Magedon means Mount Megiddo and is sometimes transliterated “Armageddon.” This refers to the battleground where the armies of the earth, led by the forces of evil, will assemble to mount their final attack against God. This place is often associated with the plain of Megiddo in northern Israel because the fertile land there has often been turned into fields of blood during gruesome battles. In a place like this, for one last time, evil will raise its ugly head against good.

17 Finally, the seventh messenger poured out his bowl into the air. When he did, a great voice came out of the temple, from the throne.

A Voice: It is accomplished!

18 At the sound of the voice, there were flashes of lightning, sounds of voices, rumblings of thunder, and tremors of an earthquake. In all of human history, there had never been an earthquake of this magnitude. 19 The great city was torn into three parts, and the cities of all the nations fell. God remembered the great city, Babylon, and made her drink the cup of His fury and wrath. 20 Every island sank into the ocean, and no mountains were left to be discovered. 21 And great hailstones, each weighing nearly 100 pounds, fell from the sky onto the people until they cursed God because the plague of hail was so severe.

Footnotes:

  1. 16:9 Literally, repenting
  2. 16:11 Literally, repent
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 144

Psalm 144

A song of David.

Blessed be the Eternal, my rock.
He trains my hands for war, gives me the skills I need for battle.
He is my unfailing love and my citadel.
He is my tower of strength and my deliverer.
He is my shield of protection and my shelter;
He holds my people in check under me.

O Eternal One, what is man, that You even care to know him?
or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?
Humans are like a passing breath;
their time on earth is like a shadow that passes over us during the day and soon is gone.

Eternal One, stretch out an opening in the heavens, and descend.
Touch the mountains, and make them smoke.
Send forth bolts of lightning, and scatter my enemies.
Shoot Your fiery arrows, and rout the enemy.
Reach down from Your high place;
save me out of the great waters;
rescue me from the grasp of these foreigners
Who speak only lies
and don’t have truth in their deeds.

To You, my God, I will sing a new song;
I will sing Your sweet praises to the sound of a ten-stringed harp,
10 For You deliver kings from their enemies
and You rescue Your servant, David, from the sword of evil.
11 Rescue me,
and save me from the grasp of these foreigners
Who speak only lies
and don’t have truth in their deeds.

12 May our sons be like healthy plants
as they grow and mature,
And may our daughters be like the corner pillars
that decorate a palace.
13 May our storehouses be full
with abundant supplies of every crop,
And may the flocks of our fields
multiply into thousands and tens of thousands!
14 May our cattle be strong and productive,
without miscarriage, without loss,
and may there be no riots or protests in our streets!

15 Happy are the people for whom all this is true;
happy are the people whose God is the Eternal!

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:29-31

29 There are three creatures with majesty in their stride,
no, make it four that move with grace:
30 The lion, which is the strongest of the animals,
does not back down from any other creature;
31 The strutting rooster, the male goat,
and a king as he goes out with his army.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. 30:31 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

12/24/2021 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 6:1-7:14, Revelation 15:1-8, Psalms 143:1-12, Proverbs 30:24-28

Today is the 24th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian. And the 24th of December is also known as Christmas Eve, and it’s also known as the last day in the season of Advent. So, here we are, Christmas Eve. Many of us will participate in a Christmas Eve service or maybe even a midnight service to hear the Christmas bells ring in. Those of us who have kind of paid attention to the season of Advent and checked our hearts and tried to put ourselves in the position of longing and really immerse ourselves in the coming of Christmas…yeah…the longing is coming to an end and once again we will be able to celebrate the joy and the relief of the coming of the Savior. And what joy, joy to the depths of our soul, joy that can touch the brokenness in us and know that all things can be made new again, joy that lets us know that we are restored to God because of the coming of the Savior. And, so, happy Christmas Eve everybody. It is wonderful to be around the Global Campfire sipping virtual hot cocoa and munching on virtual Christmas cookies and warming ourselves and celebrating together. And of course, taking the next step forward in the Scriptures. And our next step will lead us back into the book of Zechariah in the Old Testament. Today we will read chapters 6 and 7.

Commentary:

Okay. So, this is the final day of the Advent season. This is the eve of Christmas day, and we have all the last-minute stuff we’ve gotta do. And as I was saying at the beginning, maybe we have…we’re gonna participate in a celebratory service tonight. And, so, we can get really wrapped up in the festivities and we should…we should…we should immerse ourselves to the degree that we are able. Enjoy. And as we look back over the Zechariah and what we read today we were given clear direction, a way to honor the coming of the Savior, a way to collaborate with God and His work in this world. We’re told, and I quote, “dispense true justice, have mercy on others, and show all people compassion. Do not take advantage of those who have lost a spouse or a parent or those who are outsiders or poor.” And as we read that I was like man, is there a better message that we could take into the holiday? Is there a better thing that we could carry with us into Christmas? And, so, let’s purpose in our hearts to follow the counsel of the Scriptures. And no doubt within the next day or two…like if…if we’re gonna participate in a Christmas Eve celebration this evening we will be singing carols, right? We will be singing songs of the holidays and we’ve probably been listening to those for the last month. I know I have. I love Christmas music. I love how it just attaches itself back to my childhood all the way to my present. I love the carols of the holidays. I love especially the ancient carols where the words are…are words that have been sung by millions of brothers and sisters over hundreds of years, but there was a song today in the book of Revelation, and it is certainly not a song that’s a part of our popular traditions around Christmas, but that doesn’t make it any less of an appropriate song for the season. The words to the song…and by the way this song is sung by those who endured to the end and were victorious. And as Revelation puts it they’re standing on a sea of glass holding the harps of God in their hands and they sing, “great and amazing are your works, Lord God, the all-powerful. Right and true are your ways, king of all nations who will not fear you, Lord? Who will not glorify your name? Because you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you for your righteous judgments have been revealed.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the words to a song that we long to hear, And speaking of longing, so many years ago people were longing for a Rescuer, for a Redeemer for the Anointed One for the Messiah for the great rescue and that is what we are commemorating and we rejoice that You would not abandon Your creation otherwise we would…we wouldn’t be here. And, so, we love You and we do indeed rejoice in Your salvation. We worship You, Jesus and we pray these things in Your name. Amen.

Song

O Come O Come Emmanuel – Kim Walker Smith

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight

O come desire of nations bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid thou our sad divisions cease
And be thyself our King of Peace

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday December 24, 2021 (NIV)

Zechariah 6-7

When Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem in 586 b.c., he carries her chief citizens off into exile in Babylon. Thousands don’t survive the brutal journey. Those who do must start their lives over in a hostile land where they are subjects of violence, slavery, and every manner of wickedness. That’s why Babylon becomes synonymous with evil. In this vision, the wickedness of Judah is contained and sent far away to Babylon, where it is not only tolerated but is worshiped. Civilization reaches its nadir when wickedness is worshiped.

That night I had an eighth vision. I looked up and saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains made of bronze. The first chariot was pulled by red horses; the second was pulled by black horses. The third was hitched to white horses and the fourth to spotted, strong horses.

A final vision echoes the first vision as four great spirits of heaven unleash judgment upon the whole earth.

Zechariah (to the heavenly messenger): What are these, sir?

Heavenly Messenger: These are the four winds of heaven that disperse His power and enact His will. They have been standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole earth awaiting His command. Now the Lord has dispatched them to patrol the earth. The chariot pulled by black horses will travel to the north land, followed by the white horses and then the spotted horses, which travel to the south land.

The strong horses and their chariots went on their patrols of the earth with great speed and excitement at God’s command: “Go now. Patrol the entire surface of the earth.” They did as they were told.

Eternal One: Watch, Zechariah. The horses going to the north land have appeased My restless, vengeful Spirit.

The word of the Eternal came to me describing how He would fulfill His promise of restoring Jerusalem and His temple.

Message: 10-11 Find three men who have returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. Their names are Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah. Then collect money, silver and gold, from the Babylonians for rebuilding Jerusalem, and travel to the house of Josiah (Zephaniah’s son) who has also returned from Babylon. You will find Joshua (Jehozadak’s son) there. With the money you took from the Babylonians, fashion a crown for Joshua, the high priest, and place it on his head.

12 Once Joshua accepts the crown, tell him these words from the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies: “Pay attention to a man who is named ‘Branch.’ He will branch out from where He is and will build the Eternal’s temple. 13 Yes, He is the temple builder of the Eternal One and will carry honor. He will sit on the throne of His kingdom to rule, and He will sit on a throne as a priest. Between those two there will be a peace agreement.”

14 The crown will then be taken from Joshua’s head and placed in the temple of the Eternal One as a reminder to Heldai,[a] Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah[b] (Zephaniah’s son). 15 People will come from great distances to assist with the building of the Eternal One’s temple. Tell the men, “If you do exactly what the Eternal, your True God, says, this will happen as you have seen and heard it. Then you will know for certain the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, sent me to you.”

“Branch” is a prophetic title for the Anointed One, that royal descendant of David whom God will send to usher in a new age of justice, peace, and joy. In Zechariah’s day, the people wonder if Zerubbabel is that king. Ac cording to the prophet, God has designs on him as the one to rebuild the temple and occupy the throne, but he is not destined to reign alone as the Anointed One will. Zerubbabel reigns with Joshua, the high priest. Together they are anointed, acclaimed, and crowned leaders to watch over God’s people.

Two years after I saw the eight visions, on the fourth day of the ninth month (called Chislev) of the fourth year of the reign of Persian King Darius, the word of the Eternal came to me, Zechariah. The situation was this: the citizens of Bethel had sent a delegation, including Sharezer and Regemmelech and his men, to seek the favor of the Eternal One by questioning the priests working in the temple of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and by questioning the prophets.

Delegation: During the fifth month of every year, I fast and mourn. Should I continue separating myself from the impure world on these occasions as I have for so many years?

The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies came to me and told me how to address their question.

Message: Ask the citizens of the land and the priests, “When you fasted and mourned during the fifth and seventh months for the last seventy years, were you really fasting for My benefit or just for yourselves? When you were feasting on holy days, weren’t you just eating and drinking for yourselves instead of honoring Me? Aren’t these the same directives the Eternal One gave you through the work of earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was bustling with people and prosperous, when the villages around Jerusalem throughout the south[c] and the western valleys were settled?”

The word of the Eternal came to me, Zechariah, again.

Message: Here is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has to say: “Dispense true justice, have mercy on others, and show all people compassion. 10 Do not take advantage of those who have lost a spouse or a parent, or those who are outsiders or poor. Don’t purpose to do evil toward your fellow Israelites.”

11 Some refused to listen. They turned their backs on this message and plugged their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint, refusing to listen to the law or the messages the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, sent by His Spirit and enacted through earlier prophets. That’s why His great wrath and calamity fell upon His people.

Eternal One: 13 When I called out, they chose not to hear Me, so when they called out, I returned the favor and decided not to hear them. 14 Like a sweeping tornado, I blew them throughout the nations, scattering them in distant lands where they were aliens, all alone. That’s how the land and its cities were emptied out and left so barren that no one even traveled through it. This is how your pleasant hills and valleys turned into empty lands.

Footnotes:

  1. 6:14 Hebrew manuscripts read, “Helem.”
  2. 6:14 Hebrew manuscripts read, “Hen.”
  3. 7:7 Hebrew, Negev
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Revelation 15

The New Testament God is not a God of fluffy love as some suppose. His judgment, while difficult to comprehend, is real; and fear of it should motivate repentance now.

15 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing: seven messengers with seven plagues—plagues that marked the end. With these the wrath of God reached its end.

And then I saw something like a sea made of glass mixed with fire flashing through it. Those who had been victorious over the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing on the sea of glass, holding the harps of God in their hands. As they stand and play their harps, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

Victors: Great and amazing are Your works,
Lord God, the All Powerful.
Right and true are Your ways,
King of all nations.
Who will not fear You, Lord?
Who will not glorify Your name?
Because You alone are holy,
all the nations will come
and worship before You,
For Your righteous judgments have been revealed.

After I had taken all this in, I looked again; and the inner part of the tabernacle of witness opened in heaven. Out of the temple came seven messengers, clothed in pure linen, bright and shining, their chests clad in a golden sash, carrying seven plagues. Then one of the four living creatures stepped over to give to the seven messengers seven golden bowls brimming with the wrath of God who lives throughout the ages. The temple was full of the smoke billowing from the magnificent glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven messengers accomplished their God-ordained end.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 143

Psalm 143

A song of David.

Eternal One, I come to You in prayer.
Hear me out; I plead with You.
Lend an ear to my requests.
In Your faithfulness and justice, respond to my pleas.
Be kind and slow to judge Your faithful servant,
for compared to You, no one is truly just.

My adversary has pressed in, drawn closer, threatened my life;
he’s crushed me, driven me underground.
He’s forced me to live in the dark;
it’s as if I joined those who died a long time ago.
That’s why my spirit is growing faint inside me; I have nothing left;
my heart is completely empty and desolate.

And yet I can’t forget the days of old, the days I’ve heard so much about;
I fix my mind on all You have done;
I ponder the work of Your hands;
I reach out my hands to You.
All that I am aches and yearns for You, like a dry land thirsting for rain.

[pause][a]

Hurry and answer me, O Eternal One,
for my spirit is weak, my courage is gone.
Do not turn away; let me see Your face;
otherwise, I’ll die and be like all those who have gone to the grave.
Make me hear of Your faithful love in the morning,
for I trust in You.
Teach me how I should walk,
for I offer my soul up to You.

Rescue me from my enemies, Eternal One,
for You are my shelter from them.
10 Teach me how to do Your will,
for You are my God.
Allow Your good Spirit to guide me
on level ground, to guide me along Your path.

11 For the sake of Your name and the good of Your reputation,
preserve me, O Eternal One.
In Your righteousness, save my life from burden and misery.
12 In Your loyal love, silence my enemies for good;
destroy all those who take pleasure in my suffering,
for I am Your faithful servant!

Footnotes:

  1. 143:6 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:24-28

24 There are four creatures on earth that are small,
but they are very wise and we can learn from them:
25 While ants are hardly a strong species,
they work constantly to store up food during the summer;
26 While badgers are animals without many defenses,
they are wise enough to make their homes in the rocky cliffs;
27 While locusts live without a ruler,
they all know how to move in formation;
28 While a lizard is easy enough to catch in your hand,
it is shrewd enough to enter the palaces of kings.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

12/23/2021 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 4:1-5:11, Revelations 14:1-20, Psalm 142:1-7, Proverbs 30:21-23

Today is the 23rd day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today. Christmas eve, eve, can you believe it? How did we get here, but here we are and it’s wonderful to be around the Global Campfire with you on Christmas eve, eve as we continue our journey forward day-by-day, step-by-step which will include Christmas eve and Christmas day and so on and so forth, but it is a joy and an honor and a privilege to be here with you today as we move in deeply into the Christmas season and holiday. And we have sort of slowed our pace as far as moving through very, very rapidly moving through different books of…of the Scriptures. We’re camped out all the way through the Christmas holiday and right to the end of the year now, as we entered the book of Zechariah yesterday, which will take us up into the last couple of days of the year and we’ve been in the book of Revelation for a bit, which will take us to the last day of the year. So, let’s dive in for today. Zechariah chapters 4 and 5.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another day, another step forward and these steps are leading us to a great celebration ultimately and eternally, but a great celebration is coming here in a couple of days upon the earth, joy to the world and we can sense that, we can we can feel that but we can also feel the tension that’s underneath that, not only from just preparing for festivities and trying to figure out how we’re gonna pay for it all of and all of the things that are just human in nature, but underneath it all, we can feel. Yes, we know what it feels like to have goodwill toward one another. We can feel the joy of Your arrival. But the tension that’s underneath it and the loneliness for many, that accompanies it can be really, really difficult. And so, we are grateful, we are grateful for even what we were given today as a gift from the Scriptures, from Psalms and so we pray these words out of the Scriptures because they are true. You are the one I called to, O eternal one. I said, Your the only safe place I know. You’re all I’ve got in this world and ultimately this is so true and yet You are all that we need, when we lose sight of that is when we start siphoning off each other for being validated or for finding an identity, but You are what we need. You are the one, You are this safe place. And so, praying again out of the Psalms, when my spirit buckled under the burdens I bear, You knew my way. And so, we rest in that, even as we take steps forward that lead us into the holiday season and through the holiday season and into the new year. We rest in the fact that You will not leave us and You are a safe place that we can run to. And so, Holy Spirit, we pray that this would come to mind, that we would remember this when we’re overwhelmed with some kind of an emotion, whether that be anger or whether that be depression or loneliness or hopelessness or anything. You are a safe place. You are a place of refuge and we run to You and we worship You and we find hope and comfort in You. And we pray these things in the name of Jesus. 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.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday December 23, 2021 (NIV)

Zechariah 4-5

The heavenly messenger who had been talking with me returned and stirred me, as if I had been asleep. It was time for a fifth vision.

Heavenly Messenger: What do you see before you?

A fifth vision shows the lamp of God’s grace completing what has begun.

Zechariah: I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl on top of it and seven oil lamps on it. Each of the seven lamps has a spout, which the wicks lie in to soak up oil as they’re burned. There are also two olive trees nearby: one on the right and the other on the left of the bowl.

But what are these things, lord?

Heavenly Messenger: Do you not know what they are?

Zechariah: No, lord. I don’t.

Heavenly Messenger (changing the subject): The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has said this to Zerubbabel: “Your strength and prowess will not be enough to finish My temple, but My Spirit will be.” And He says this to those thwarting Zerubbabel’s efforts: “Who are you, O mighty mountain of opposition? Before Zerubbabel, you will become nothing more than a smooth plain, and he will quarry the capstone and bring it out to the sound of people shouting, ‘God, grant it Your grace! God bless it!’”

The word of the Eternal came to me again to reiterate what was just reported.

Heavenly Messenger: Zerubbabel’s very own hands have laid the foundation of this new temple, and his hands will complete it. When he does, it will be clear to you that the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has sent me to you. 10 Now all who have frowned on the day when only slight progress was made to reconstruct the temple will celebrate when they see the stone that centers the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, who will survey Jerusalem.

(finally answering his earlier question) The seven lamps on top of the lampstand are the eyes of the Eternal One, diligently searching the earth.

Zechariah (to the heavenly messenger): 11 What are the two olive trees, the ones on the right and left of the lampstand? What do these mean?

12 (persisting) And the two fruitful olive branches that extend toward the lampstand, the ones supported by the two gold pipes pouring out their gold oil—what do these mean?

Heavenly Messenger: 13 Do you not know what they are?

Zechariah: No, lord. I don’t.

Heavenly Messenger: 14 The olive trees are the two men who have been anointed with fresh oil, Zerubabbel and Joshua. They will rule Jerusalem jointly, one over politics and one over religion, and serve the Master over all the earth.

That night I had a sixth vision. I looked up and saw a large scroll flying.

Heavenly Messenger: What do you see before you?

A sixth vision reveals the righteous ness held in God’s word, the true measure by which all are judged.

Zechariah: I see a large scroll flying. It’s at least 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.

Heavenly Messenger: This scroll is God’s curse of judgment that blankets all the land. On one side, it is written that all who steal will be banished from the land. On the other side, it says that all who break their solemn vows will be banished. The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says, “I will dispatch this curse of judgment into the home of every thief and every perjurer who invokes My name. The decree will remain through the night in that house until it destroys everything, even its wood and stone.”

The heavenly messenger who had been talking with me went out. It was time for a seventh vision.

Heavenly Messenger: Look up. What do you see moving forward?

A seventh vision explains that the wickedness infecting the world will one day be contained by the agents of God.

Zechariah: What is it?

Heavenly Messenger: It is a six-gallon basket[a] moving forward. Like the scroll, it, too, is a mark of judgment carrying the iniquity that they committed in the land.

Suddenly, the basket’s lead cover was lifted, and I saw a woman inside. She seemed to want out.

Heavenly Messenger: This is Lady Wickedness.

The messenger pushed the woman back into the basket and replaced the basket’s stone (that is, its lead cover) over the mouth so she’d stay inside it. Then in this vision, I looked up and saw two women moving forward with wings resembling the wings of storks. With the power of the wind in their wings, they lifted the basket up to a place somewhere far away, between heaven and earth.

Zechariah: 10 Where are they taking the basket?

Heavenly Messenger: 11 It is being delivered to the land of Shinar, which you know as Babylon. A temple is being built for it there; and once it is ready, they will put the basket on its own altar cart. Let the Babylonians worship what God has condemned.

Footnotes:

  1. 5:6 Hebrew, ephah
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Revelation 14

The number “666” stands in contrast to the perfection of the Lamb and the Spirit. Because this number is “the number of a person,” readers have tried to pin down the identity of this person throughout history. In John’s day, the name and title “Nero Caesar” was a likely candidate for the beast because Nero persecuted and executed believers, demanding obedience and even worship. Every era seems to have its Neros, those beastly characters who occupy seats of power and yet use their power to oppress God’s people. The speculation continues as to this person’s identity, but what has not changed is the message of hope in the midst of extreme persecution; that is the beauty proclaimed in this vision given to John.

14 The scene changed. I looked and saw the Lamb standing on top of Mount Zion, and with Him were the 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name inscribed on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven roaring like a waterfall and clapping like thunder. The voice I heard was like a symphony of harpists playing their instruments. As I watched, they began to sing a new song before the throne, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders. The only ones with the ability to learn this song were the 144,000 who had been rescued from the earth, virgins who had not given themselves to sexual relations. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been purchased from among humanity as the firstfruits, set apart for God and the Lamb. In their mouths, no lie was found; no blemish marred them.

I saw another messenger flying through midheaven. He carried an eternal gospel, bringing good news to all the citizens of the earth—every ethnicity, nation, language, and people.

Heavenly Messenger (with a loud voice): Fear God. Give Him glory, for the time of judgment has arrived. Worship the One who fashioned heaven and earth and created the seas and the springs.

Another messenger, a second, came along.

Second Messenger: Fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great city! She has intoxicated all the nations with the wine of the wrath of her sexual perversion.

Another messenger, a third, followed.

Third Messenger (with a loud voice): Those who worship the beast and its image, and all who receive its mark on their foreheads or on their hands, 10 will be forced to drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured out undiluted into the cup of God’s anger. And they will face the torment of fire and the agony of sulfurous flames before the holy messengers and the Lamb. 11 The smoke of their torment will rise throughout the ages for eternity. Day and night will come and go without pause or cessation. There will be no end to the torture experienced by those who worship the beast and its image and by those who receive the mark of its name.

12 Here is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and remain faithful to Jesus.

13 Then I heard a voice call out from heaven.

A Voice: Record this: “Blessed are the dead who have died in the Lord from now until the end.”

Spirit: Yes, they will rest from their labors because their deeds remain with them.

14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, a golden wreath atop His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 Another messenger proceeded from the temple and called with a loud voice to the One who sat on the cloud.

Heavenly Messenger: Take Your sickle and reap the harvest, because the harvest of the earth is full and ripe and because the time to harvest has come.

16 Then the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth gave up its harvest.

17 Just then another messenger proceeded out of the heavenly temple. He also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another messenger (the one with authority over fire) came out from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle.

Messenger of Fire: Take your sharp sickle and gather together the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for the grapes are ripe and ready for harvest.

19 So the heavenly messenger swung his sickle over the earth, gathered the fruit of the vine from the earth, and threw it into the great winepress, which is the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trampled outside of the city, and blood flowed from the winepress. The blood ran deep. It reached as high as the bridle on a horse and ran for the distance of about 185 miles.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 142

Psalm 142

A contemplative prayer[a] of David while he hid in a cave.

I call out loudly to the Eternal One;
I lift my voice to the Eternal begging for His favor.
I let everything that’s going wrong spill out of my mouth;
I spell out all my troubles to Him.
When my spirit buckled under the burdens I bear,
You knew my way.
They conspired to trip me up and trap me
on the path where I was walking.
Take a look around and see—to the right, to the left
no one is there who cares for me.
There’s no way out of here;
no one cares about the state of my soul.

You are the One I called to, O Eternal One.
I said, “You’re the only safe place I know;
You’re all I’ve got in this world.
Oh, let me know that You hear my cry
because I’m languishing and desperate;

Rescue me from those who torment me
because there’s no way I can stand up to them;
they are much too strong for me.
Lift my captive soul from this dark prison
so I may render to You my gratitude;
Then Your righteous people will gather around me
because You will treat me with astounding goodness.”

Footnotes:

  1. 142:title Hebrew, maskil
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:21-23

21 Three situations disturb the earth,
no, make it four that it cannot endure:
22 When a slave is elevated to king,
when a fool is full of fine food,
23 When a hated woman finally marries,
and when a serving girl takes possession of her mistress’s wealth.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday December 23, 2021 (NIV)

Zechariah 4-5

The heavenly messenger who had been talking with me returned and stirred me, as if I had been asleep. It was time for a fifth vision.

Heavenly Messenger: What do you see before you?

A fifth vision shows the lamp of God’s grace completing what has begun.

Zechariah: I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl on top of it and seven oil lamps on it. Each of the seven lamps has a spout, which the wicks lie in to soak up oil as they’re burned. There are also two olive trees nearby: one on the right and the other on the left of the bowl.

But what are these things, lord?

Heavenly Messenger: Do you not know what they are?

Zechariah: No, lord. I don’t.

Heavenly Messenger (changing the subject): The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has said this to Zerubbabel: “Your strength and prowess will not be enough to finish My temple, but My Spirit will be.” And He says this to those thwarting Zerubbabel’s efforts: “Who are you, O mighty mountain of opposition? Before Zerubbabel, you will become nothing more than a smooth plain, and he will quarry the capstone and bring it out to the sound of people shouting, ‘God, grant it Your grace! God bless it!’”

The word of the Eternal came to me again to reiterate what was just reported.

Heavenly Messenger: Zerubbabel’s very own hands have laid the foundation of this new temple, and his hands will complete it. When he does, it will be clear to you that the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has sent me to you. 10 Now all who have frowned on the day when only slight progress was made to reconstruct the temple will celebrate when they see the stone that centers the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, who will survey Jerusalem.

(finally answering his earlier question) The seven lamps on top of the lampstand are the eyes of the Eternal One, diligently searching the earth.

Zechariah (to the heavenly messenger): 11 What are the two olive trees, the ones on the right and left of the lampstand? What do these mean?

12 (persisting) And the two fruitful olive branches that extend toward the lampstand, the ones supported by the two gold pipes pouring out their gold oil—what do these mean?

Heavenly Messenger: 13 Do you not know what they are?

Zechariah: No, lord. I don’t.

Heavenly Messenger: 14 The olive trees are the two men who have been anointed with fresh oil, Zerubabbel and Joshua. They will rule Jerusalem jointly, one over politics and one over religion, and serve the Master over all the earth.

That night I had a sixth vision. I looked up and saw a large scroll flying.

Heavenly Messenger: What do you see before you?

A sixth vision reveals the righteous ness held in God’s word, the true measure by which all are judged.

Zechariah: I see a large scroll flying. It’s at least 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.

Heavenly Messenger: This scroll is God’s curse of judgment that blankets all the land. On one side, it is written that all who steal will be banished from the land. On the other side, it says that all who break their solemn vows will be banished. The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says, “I will dispatch this curse of judgment into the home of every thief and every perjurer who invokes My name. The decree will remain through the night in that house until it destroys everything, even its wood and stone.”

The heavenly messenger who had been talking with me went out. It was time for a seventh vision.

Heavenly Messenger: Look up. What do you see moving forward?

A seventh vision explains that the wickedness infecting the world will one day be contained by the agents of God.

Zechariah: What is it?

Heavenly Messenger: It is a six-gallon basket[a] moving forward. Like the scroll, it, too, is a mark of judgment carrying the iniquity that they committed in the land.

Suddenly, the basket’s lead cover was lifted, and I saw a woman inside. She seemed to want out.

Heavenly Messenger: This is Lady Wickedness.

The messenger pushed the woman back into the basket and replaced the basket’s stone (that is, its lead cover) over the mouth so she’d stay inside it. Then in this vision, I looked up and saw two women moving forward with wings resembling the wings of storks. With the power of the wind in their wings, they lifted the basket up to a place somewhere far away, between heaven and earth.

Zechariah: 10 Where are they taking the basket?

Heavenly Messenger: 11 It is being delivered to the land of Shinar, which you know as Babylon. A temple is being built for it there; and once it is ready, they will put the basket on its own altar cart. Let the Babylonians worship what God has condemned.

Footnotes:

  1. 5:6 Hebrew, ephah
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Revelation 14

The number “666” stands in contrast to the perfection of the Lamb and the Spirit. Because this number is “the number of a person,” readers have tried to pin down the identity of this person throughout history. In John’s day, the name and title “Nero Caesar” was a likely candidate for the beast because Nero persecuted and executed believers, demanding obedience and even worship. Every era seems to have its Neros, those beastly characters who occupy seats of power and yet use their power to oppress God’s people. The speculation continues as to this person’s identity, but what has not changed is the message of hope in the midst of extreme persecution; that is the beauty proclaimed in this vision given to John.

14 The scene changed. I looked and saw the Lamb standing on top of Mount Zion, and with Him were the 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name inscribed on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven roaring like a waterfall and clapping like thunder. The voice I heard was like a symphony of harpists playing their instruments. As I watched, they began to sing a new song before the throne, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders. The only ones with the ability to learn this song were the 144,000 who had been rescued from the earth, virgins who had not given themselves to sexual relations. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been purchased from among humanity as the firstfruits, set apart for God and the Lamb. In their mouths, no lie was found; no blemish marred them.

I saw another messenger flying through midheaven. He carried an eternal gospel, bringing good news to all the citizens of the earth—every ethnicity, nation, language, and people.

Heavenly Messenger (with a loud voice): Fear God. Give Him glory, for the time of judgment has arrived. Worship the One who fashioned heaven and earth and created the seas and the springs.

Another messenger, a second, came along.

Second Messenger: Fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great city! She has intoxicated all the nations with the wine of the wrath of her sexual perversion.

Another messenger, a third, followed.

Third Messenger (with a loud voice): Those who worship the beast and its image, and all who receive its mark on their foreheads or on their hands, 10 will be forced to drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured out undiluted into the cup of God’s anger. And they will face the torment of fire and the agony of sulfurous flames before the holy messengers and the Lamb. 11 The smoke of their torment will rise throughout the ages for eternity. Day and night will come and go without pause or cessation. There will be no end to the torture experienced by those who worship the beast and its image and by those who receive the mark of its name.

12 Here is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and remain faithful to Jesus.

13 Then I heard a voice call out from heaven.

A Voice: Record this: “Blessed are the dead who have died in the Lord from now until the end.”

Spirit: Yes, they will rest from their labors because their deeds remain with them.

14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, a golden wreath atop His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 Another messenger proceeded from the temple and called with a loud voice to the One who sat on the cloud.

Heavenly Messenger: Take Your sickle and reap the harvest, because the harvest of the earth is full and ripe and because the time to harvest has come.

16 Then the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth gave up its harvest.

17 Just then another messenger proceeded out of the heavenly temple. He also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another messenger (the one with authority over fire) came out from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle.

Messenger of Fire: Take your sharp sickle and gather together the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for the grapes are ripe and ready for harvest.

19 So the heavenly messenger swung his sickle over the earth, gathered the fruit of the vine from the earth, and threw it into the great winepress, which is the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trampled outside of the city, and blood flowed from the winepress. The blood ran deep. It reached as high as the bridle on a horse and ran for the distance of about 185 miles.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 142

Psalm 142

A contemplative prayer[a] of David while he hid in a cave.

I call out loudly to the Eternal One;
I lift my voice to the Eternal begging for His favor.
I let everything that’s going wrong spill out of my mouth;
I spell out all my troubles to Him.
When my spirit buckled under the burdens I bear,
You knew my way.
They conspired to trip me up and trap me
on the path where I was walking.
Take a look around and see—to the right, to the left
no one is there who cares for me.
There’s no way out of here;
no one cares about the state of my soul.

You are the One I called to, O Eternal One.
I said, “You’re the only safe place I know;
You’re all I’ve got in this world.
Oh, let me know that You hear my cry
because I’m languishing and desperate;

Rescue me from those who torment me
because there’s no way I can stand up to them;
they are much too strong for me.
Lift my captive soul from this dark prison
so I may render to You my gratitude;
Then Your righteous people will gather around me
because You will treat me with astounding goodness.”

Footnotes:

  1. 142:title Hebrew, maskil
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:21-23

21 Three situations disturb the earth,
no, make it four that it cannot endure:
22 When a slave is elevated to king,
when a fool is full of fine food,
23 When a hated woman finally marries,
and when a serving girl takes possession of her mistress’s wealth.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

12/20/2021 DAB Transcript

Haggai 1:1-2:23, Revelation 11:1-19, Psalms 139:1-24, Proverbs 30:15-16

Today is the 20th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is an honor to be here with you today as we come around the Global Campfire on a busy week, this being Christmas week and just kinda let it all go for a second as we come together and warm ourselves by the fire but take the next step forward. And our steps forward are definitely leading us to the end of the year. And it’s like if we were taking a voyage and we had sailed, we left the shore a long time ago and we’ve been in the deep for a long time but we can see land now. We can see our destination. And it’s great to be here with you so we can see it together. And the way that we will get to our destination is the next step forward. And, so, that will lead us back into the book of Revelation in the New Testament. That’s where we’ll be until the end of the year, but today we have reached the 10th out of the 12 books that are known as the minor prophets, and we’re gonna read a whole book again today. This is the book of Haggai.

Introduction to the book of Haggai:

And if you noticed a little bit of a trend with these minor prophets we don’t have a lot of personal information about who they were. There are some things known about each one of these people. There are even traditions and legends about some of them. And although we don’t have a ton of information about Haggai’s life there is a lot of information about the context for this prophecy. So, we undoubtedly remember the conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians and the 10 tribes that were carried away and disappeared. We will also undoubtedly remember, we spent so much time on these, that the Babylonians conquered the kingdom of Judah and destroyed Jerusalem, deporting its people into exile. We remember when we read from Jeremiah that the Lord spoke to those exiles that they should thrive and prosper, where they are while they’re waiting. It’s gonna take 70 years. Haggai was among the first who were able to return from the Babylonian exile and go back to Jerusalem, probably in the first wave to go back to Jerusalem, which would’ve been in complete rubble, would’ve been a disaster. We know that Haggai probably wasn’t just more like a lowly common…commoner because in Haggai we see that the message was delivered to important people, people that we’ve already met. Like this message was delivered to Zerubbabel who was the governor of Judah. And we learned of Zerubbabel’s story when…when we read Ezra and Nehemiah. And this message was also given to Joshua who was the high priest at the time. So, he could have been just a commoner but having access and being able to deliver a prophetic message, and then having that prophetic message understood and accepted and then preserved, yeah, he probably had reason and stature to have access to the leadership. And the reason for the message that we’re about to…to read is to motivate the people, to kinda get them moving, but to…to really come to grasp this, we need to go back. So, Babylon conquered Jerusalem. We’ve read that over and over…like a references to it over and over. We have experienced this story and this happened historically in 586 BC as people are being exiled and deported away from Jerusalem. And Babylon itself was then conquered by the Persian Empire. And that happened historically in 539 BC. And it’s the Persian king Cyrus that allows the first people to leave exile and return to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild for the glory of the Lord. And that happened under Zerubbabel’s leadership and that happens somewhere around 538 BC. Haggai message comes 18 years later in 520 BC. And I’m like rattling off all these dates and it can be like how do we know this. It’s in the prophecy. Some…some of the most precisely dated statements that are in the Bible are in Haggai because the dates are in the book. August 29th through December 18th 520 BC. So, for 18 years people have been able to return and come out of exile and…and to rebuild and yet the temple 18 years later is still incomplete. And there have been plenty of opposition and intimidation, both political and just physical intimidation. Some of those stories we’ve already read as we’ve moved through those stories, but the threats had stalled the efforts and so the people started like building their own homes and building their own lives and actually not paying attention to the fact that the temple had always been the centerpiece of the people. It was like the centerpiece of all of God’s people, the place where God would dwell among his people and this place is to finished. And, so, Haggai brings a voice from the Lord that is essentially going “why…why are you building luxury and homes? And why are you building a life for yourself when the centerpiece of your life in this culture is still in ruins”, which is the temple. And through Haggai it’s revealed that since the people have come back they’ve been working really hard to rebuild all kinds of things and to have all kinds of crops and care for themselves, etc. etc. but they’ve…they been thwarted all along the way. Haggai is revealing that that is because they’ve neglected the centerpiece, the temple. And, so, if we zoom out and just kind of look at the situation, the people have been using their energy and their freedoms to try to make a life of their own on their own without the centerpiece, without the temple, without God in their midst. But that was not working. They were working hard but gaining little ground because they were putting themselves first and ignoring God and…and the place where God would dwell. And they learned that if they had put their trust in God first, God would’ve flooded the prosperity of the surrounding nations into the temple. So, their work would’ve yielded more had they put God first in their efforts instead of being self-absorbed and in their own strength trying to build a life for themselves which, again, these minor prophets…we’re like, “what is going on here?” But they’re like, boom! Once you understand the context you realize this stuff is still going on. This stuff is in my own heart. I find myself doing these kinds of things. I need to pay attention and listen because we can spin our wheels and work as hard as we possibly can to make gain for ourselves, as hard as we possibly can and it feels like we’re just inching our way along when maybe we’re forgetting that there is one who would lead us if we would get our priorities straight and really truly understand it, really truly isn’t all about us, then maybe our efforts would yield so much more. Not only for our own well-being and happiness but for God’s kingdom in this world. And, so, we will read in its entirety the book of Haggai.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for taking us through the book of Haggai today, reminding us yet again in our own strength we can hope for so little. In Your strength nothing is impossible. We thank You for the reminder from Psalm 139 today that there is nowhere we can flee, there is nowhere that we can go to escape You. Wherever we go You are there and that is so comforting. And may we embrace that reality and truth. We have never been alone. We will never be abandoned. You are with us and we are grateful and deeply, deeply thankful that You care so much about us. How can that even be? And yet this week is a celebration of just the lengths You have been willing to go to in order to capture our attention and our hearts. And, so, as we continue these days toward Christmas, as we continue through this Advent season of longing and paying attention to our hearts we long for You, long for Your return, we long for all things to be made new. Our heart cries out for this. We know that something’s not right. And we know that only You can redeem and restore. And, so, our hope is in You. There is no other hope. But there needs to be no other hope. You are our hope and You are the God of heaven’s armies and You are our Father. And, so, we hope in You. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that is home base. That’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And you can do that using the Daily Audio Bible app as well, which you can get for free from your app store, wherever that might be, you can find out what’s going on here around here as well.

This is Christmas week. And, so, all of us are kind of moving our hearts and minds and probably bodies with all of the last minute things to do. As we navigate this week let’s remember to stay immersed in this season of Advent, stay immersed in these stories that we have been tracking with, not only in the Bible but as we move through this season. Super easy this week, the Christmas week to get pulled in all kinds of directions, all kinds of last minute things, all of the different kind of anxieties that come up, all kinds of people maybe traveling into town or us traveling out of town or just all of the last minute things. Let’s just make sure we  stay rooted and grounded in the story that makes Christmas even a holiday, makes it even possible, the arrival of Christ in this world to rescue us. And, so, let’s keep our hearts tethered to that story as we navigate all of the other little side stories that are going on in our lives.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here at the end of the year you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. If you are using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That is the little red button up at the top 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:

Dear Lord thank You for this day, thank You for all You’ve given us. I pray for Jimmy and Mrs. Bell. And that she’s doing fine with Mr. Bell and Jimmy finds a home. Mr. Row because he’s out of the hospital and his family. Bliss because she’s still really sick and Josh. And I pray for my mom my grandma and my aunt because six years ago on the 23rd of December their dad died, and my grandpa’s husband died. So, I pray…I pray that you help them with that. Amen.

Hi DAB family it’s James here from the UK. It’s been I don’t know a couple of months since I called in and I just want to say a huge thank you for your prayers. At the time when I had called in, I was in a really low place and life had got tough, really really tough. And, you know, my wife and I we’re still together, we’re still trying to push through. We’ve really benefited from so many things recently but counseling and just a chance to really recognize and appreciate how important we are to each other again. And, so, I think that’s in no small part due to the prayer support that I’ve had that been coming my way. And there’s many people out there that…just supporting many of us, many of us couples in prayer. I just want to pray for anyone that’s going through challenges with their marriage at the moment, and just trying to work it all out and ask, you know, what’s the point, where am I going with this? And I tell you, the point is to stand supportive even when things are difficult, even when you’re sometimes pitted against each other, to recognize that we haven’t got a huge amount of time on this planet and we’ve got to try and make the most of it in terms of what we do to speak into one another’s lives, to lift each other, to break through the coldness that can happen in life, the sadness that can happen in life, to embrace each other and to show God’s love to each other. Amen.

Good morning, everyone it’s Susan from Canada Gods Yellow Flower. I love you my dear family. And today is December 16th and Brian spoke on Micah 6…excuse me…to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with the Lord. And yes, like when Brian says we do that sometimes, but those words hit me right in the gut and I want to live them constantly. So, I just pray Holy Spirit that you would convict me whenever I am about to do something against that verse. I want to do justice. I want to love mercy. And I want to walk humbly with God every day of my life, but I need your help. So, I just pray this for myself and for everyone else who was convicted buy these desires of God that we should all do as God wills and one day hear those words, well done my good and faithful servant. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Good evening, DABbers this is God’s chosen from Georgia. Thank you, Brian for that reading today. And what really got me was the question you asked, what gifts are we giving to Jesus? What are we giving to the Lord? And it got me thinking, what do we have in our hands, what have we bought to give to Him, what is the gift that you are going to give to Him? And I think of so many mothers at this time who are either hurting for their children and all whose hearts are broken, what do they have that they want to bring to Jesus? In the midst of their despair, in the midst of their calamity, in the midst of their brokenness what do they have that they want to give to Jesus? And, so, Lord I pray this evening that you will look into all hearts that are broken, all those whose hopes have been crushed, those who do not even have anything to bring, those who are angry, those who seem to be lost completely, those who are in doubt of your love. I pray that in a divine way you will visit each of them during this season. I pray that your love would overshadow their heart. Amen.

Hey DAB fan this is Dawn Rising in Michigan and I just wanted to call and tell you a story of failure and God’s love. So, the scene is I was in a grocery store after work with my kids and I was standing in line and the checkout person was extremely chatty with a woman in front of me and I was just annoyed, right? I wanted to get home, wanted to get on with my day. And here’s this woman and she had $200 in whiskey sitting on the belt and was talking…just complaining. She was complaining about the…you know… she doesn’t have a car, she could only be…use the bus and it’s always late and it doesn’t drop her off in the right spot and just kept going on and just was complaining. And here she is buying all this alcohol. And I just…you know…in my mind I was like, yeah, she’s probably getting ready for a party. But then I was listening, and she said that her best friend just died and she didn’t have any friends around her because when she moved up here with her husband her husband died. And, so, she was completely alone, and she was just going to get through the holidays with all of that alcohol. And she wanted it in a bag, so she wasn’t embarrassed when she rode the bus home. And I need to tell you of my absolute failing. Instead of having compassion and warmth and sadness and everything that she was going through I was annoyed. I just wanted to get through the line. And, so, I completely failed her, and I have just been sobbing for days about this because God has convicted me and showed me of my shortcomings. So, although I did not do God’s will for this woman, I’m coming on here to ask you to pray for her to pray for someone who can intercede for her and to stand in the gap in her time of sorrow. And I know that’s you family. Thank you.