Month: December 2021

Zechariah 2:1-3:10, Revelation 13:1-18, Psalms 141:1-10, Proverbs 30:18-20

Today is the 22^nd day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is fantastic to be here with you today. It's…it’s fantastic to be enjoying Christmas week together with you even though we’re celebrating with all our friends and family and kinda moving our way toward Christmas day it is fantastic. We’ve been through all of the different seasons together and it is fantastic that we can walk together through the Christmas season. And, so, let’s dive in and take that next step forward. We began the book of Zechariah yesterday and we talked about Zechariah as we began and I mentioned that Zechariah’s gonna carry us all the way till the 29^th day of December, I believe, just a couple of days before the end of the year. And, so, we’re gonna take the next step forward into the book of Zechariah, one of the great sources of text from the Hebrew Bible that discusses a coming…a coming one…a coming Savior. And we touched on that little bit even with our first reading yesterday, but today is today. We’re reading from the Voice this week. Zechariah chapters 2 and 3.

Commentary:

Alright. So, this is Christmas week and…and in the book of Psalms today we got about the best advice imaginable for the coming days. And actually again, this Psalm isn’t about the Christmas holiday in 2021. It’s about life and this should be the way that we live every day. We’re kind of moving into the holiday season where we’re gonna be reunited with probably family, maybe friends, maybe even people we haven’t gotten to see for a couple years because of all that’s been going on in the world, but maybe people that we see often enough. But when everybody’s altogether than everybody kind of falls back into the some…some sort of role that we played in our family or whatever. And, so, those old hurts can kinda creep in or those…you know…those kind of words that…they look like they’re nice but inside there’s like a razor blade or something. And these little things that have always been offensive to us or have hurt us even from child or whatever, they can come up and creep in and boom! Then everything’s blown and we just feel like a child again. Psalms speaks to what…what we could do before any of that, before any of that happens or before we do that. Because maybe it’s us. Maybe we’re the one that has daggers hidden in our paragraphs. So, I quote from the Psalms. “Guard my mouth oh eternal one. Control what I say. Keep a careful watch on every word I speak. Don’t allow my deepest desires to steer me toward doing what is wrong or associating with wicked people or joining in their wicked works or tasting any of their pleasures. Let those who do right strike me down in kindness and correct me in love.” And, so, this is written by King David a long long time ago. But you can see if we listen to that counsel right now, predetermined and pay attention to the triggers that can blow the whole thing up and move forward then we’re seeing that we can choose in advance before anything gets said, before anything happens how we’re going to handle it if and when it does. It’s not a good time to remember this verse, you know, after the volume is at 10 and you can’t unsay what’s being said. The way to avoid some of that conflict is to predetermine and pay attention. Because the Bible has taught us very vividly out from a number of angles that we are light, and we are of the light. and we should have no darkness and we should not be participating in the darkness. It’s best to remember that from the peace and serenity of the light. It’s much more difficult to try to enact anything like this when we’re in the pitch black darkness and it’s a raging inferno of words that are not helpful. These days now and leading into Christmas, this is a time where our soul, especially if we’ve kind of been paying attention through Advent and stuff, we…we should be rejoicing. We shouldn’t really sense of joy to the world. We should really understand that God came for us and we have no business perpetuating darkness at a time that commemorates the light of the world coming to rescue us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that and we predetermine, we decide in advance that we’re not gonna take the bait, that we’re not gonna get triggered that, that we’re not gonna cave, that wherever there is darkness if we experience it or witness it, we will do all that we can to replace it with light and good news and love and joy. We will certainly fail if we try to do this in our own strength. Only with Your guidance can we navigate this, only with us being aware that we’re not moving through Christmas alone. We’re going through it with You together. We’re celebrating together and nothing’s going to take that joy away. So, we’re paying attention to what’s being said. We won’t succeed at that without You, but You would never leave us. And, so, we have to confess that so often we’re not paying attention and we need to and that needs to be a habit of our lives or just…just the normal for us, is that we are paying attention because You are present. And, so, come Holy Spirit. We have an amazing opportunity here to practice this, to put it into practice. And, so, come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

It’s Christmas week. That’s what’s going on around here, kinda counting down the days and they’re some of the more busy days. And, so, let’s remember what…we talked about this. We talked about it even back in October saying this is final quarter of the year and by the time this quarter is over we’ll be at the end of the year, but we’ll also be right in the busiest time of the year for most people. And, so, staying locked into this rhythm that we’ve had all year can really help us navigate. And, so, let's…let’s finish strong because the way to begin our New Year’s resolutions and to begin strong is to end well and to end strong. And, so, let’s do exactly that as we…as we share the final stretch of our journey.

Man, if this journey has been meaningful to you, if our rhythm every day step-by-step day by day moving forward through the Scriptures and through life, if that has been life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership here in the waning days of this year. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com or if you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, 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. Tough to miss. Looks like a Hotline button. You can hit that from anywhere in the world 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:

DABbers it’s Kara Contrite Spirit. I don’t usually get nervous making my calls but I’m just…I’m feeling a little nervous. This is a plea in desperation to all of you guys, you prayer warriors. I need prayer cover for, you know, I always call for my son Nish but this is…I’m asking for prayer cover for him and also for my area, for my…I live right next to a light rail station and the powers and principalities I feel are working here hard core through meth. That’s what I’m focusing on right now. And they work through one particular young man. He’s homeless. He seems to think that the steps to the light rail station are his office for selling drugs. And there are a lot of children in my building. I’ve actually seen him talking to children and he’s been known to talk to children. There’s been posters put up on the doors of all the residents of my building. The authorities knew about him. I see him sometimes talk to, you know, 20 people a day and he's…it's…it's…it’s Satan working through him. I know my son gets drugs from him too. And it's…he’s been doing this for like three years. My son has been back here a year and it’s just…I need your help guys. Please help. I thank you so…

Good morning family it’s Saturday morning the 18^th of December. I’m out walking my dog and just finished listening to DAB and I’ve heard the prayer requests and this song came to my heart. I might have sang it and sent it before. I obviously can’t remember but I just want to do it again. [singing starts] When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word what glory he sheds on our way. While we do His goodwill He abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey. For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey [singing stops]. Obey the word of God. Obey the path that His word shines the light on that you’re supposed to walk. And then in the unknown, in the darkness trust trust trust His faithfulness. Trust He is there. Trust His promises that say He never leaves us no forsakes us. Trust His word that says I am the Lord I change not. Hallelujah. Trust and obey. Be blessed my family. I love y'all. Praying for you. Jesus. Hallelujah.

Hello DAB family this is Carol from upstate New York I’m calling to ask you folks if you would please uphold my church in prayer. Today our pastor, Father Steve died from Covid. He had been sick for a few weeks, but he was young, he was fit. We…I guess he just was one of the people that you wouldn’t expect that would pass away from this illness, yet he did, and his loss is huge. He leaves behind six children, a wife who he adored, he just loved her dearly. And if you would pray for them, but especially for his youngest child who he and his wife just adopted from foster care just about five weeks ago. They went to court and the adoption was finalized. This is gonna be a huge loss for this little boy and as it is, all of us. Our pastor was an amazing man. He ministered to the poor. He preached the truth. He was just a blessing to everybody. He…no one had anything bad to say about him. He was just beloved. So, if you could please keep us all in prayer I would so appreciate it. Thank you.

Hello DAB family this is Colorado Cab and at the end of today’s message I just feel compelled to pray with you a very similar prayer that I pray every time after I hear the requests that are recorded each day. Lord Jesus thank you for today. Thank you for each and every caller that was brave enough to call in and either offer prayer and encouragement to others or to just boldly ask for prayer themselves. Dear Lord Jesus for every caller that’s recorded we know that there are thousands who do not call in. I ask your blessing upon all those who write on the prayer wall, the Facebook page, those dear Lord Jesus who call out privately from their homes and prayer from hospital beds, their cars, prison cells, homelessness. Dear Lord Jesus we know that there are missing and exploited people all over the world right now calling out to you in prayer. Be their refuge dear Lord Jesus. Come to their aide and bring them comfort. Dear Lord Jesus please come. There are so many who need you. You know each and every one of their names and you know every hair on their head. So dear Lord Jesus I stand in agreement for all the prayers that are recorded but dear Lord Jesus also for the thousands that are not. I ask all these things in your precious sons names Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sovereign Lord we lift up our world to You. We thank You for it, the beauty of Your creation and the places where we are. Lord thank You for all of the countries and all of the…all of the nations represented on this podcast that’s part of the community and all of those on the sister podcast as well and all of those not represented. Thank You, Lord for all the different countries in the world and all the different people. And we pray Lord that…we lift up their leaders, lift up our leaders Lord and pray that You’d be giving them wisdom as they have to make difficult decisions every day. I pray Lord that they would be making the best decision to serve their people. And Father God we…we lift up the health services of all of our different countries and thank You for each individual that makes…that makes it…that is a part of it and we pray that You’d be giving them strength and energy and inspiration and motivation and whatever they need to continue serving the people. Lord You know what they need, and we thank You that You are the provider and I ask that You would provide. We entrust our world to You Lord. Thank You that we can trust in You. Thank You that You love us. In Jesus’ holy and precious name. Amen.

Zechariah 1:1-21, Revelations 12:1-17, Psalm 140:1-13, Proverbs 30:17

Today is the 21st day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is great to be here with you. It is wonderful to be enjoying Christmas week together as we move step-by-step and day-by-day toward Christmas day which is how we will wrap up this week together, celebrating Christmas. And today, it’s another one of those days that gets stuck in my memory, it would been my parent’s anniversary today. I don’t know what they were thinking because I wasn’t around but they decided to get married a few days before Christmas. So, it’s days like this that I miss them because they have both gone on and so I would be Facetiming or calling them or whatever with a happy…happy anniversary. But that’s not possible. So, I guess I share with my community here. Nevertheless, we have some work to do. We have the next step forward in the Scriptures and we have been moving our way through the minor prophets which brings us today to the beginning of the 11th of the 12 minor prophets. And it might seem like the last week and ½ or whatever has been kind of a blur, we’ve been moving fast through a lot of territory. Now, we will begin the book of Zechariah, but we won’t read it in its entirety today, nor will we complete it tomorrow. The book of Zechariah is gonna take us right up to the last two days of the year and then those last two days will be spent in the final book in the Old Testament known as Malachi, the final of the minor prophets. But that will be several days from now, over a week from now. So, let’s orient ourselves to what we are going to be spending the next space of time reading the book of Zechariah. There was another minor prophet named Haggai and we read that work. Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries with each other. Although Zechariah continued his ministry long after Haggai and they were actually in the same place and generally at the same time uttering prophecies for the same reason and that reason was rebuilding the temple. So, Zechariah is grandpa, his grandfather was named Edo and he was among the first leaders of the priestly families that came back from the Babylonian exile with Zerubbabel. And remember Zerubbabel’s name, probably because it’s memorable but we read of Zerubbabel reading Ezra and Nehemiah, but Zechariah coming from a priestly family and that being named and probably means Zechariah was a priest as well, or at least part of the priestly family. And the name Zechariah means God remembers and actually God remembering the covenant, that is central to the theme of the book of Zechariah. Now, when we read Haggai, we read it rapidly. Zechariah is a lot longer than Haggai. And it’s got a lot broader scope. For example, Zechariah had a lot of visions, 8 of these visions are written down. They were night visions, and they have an apocalyptic literature type of feel to them, which won’t be all that different than what reading in the book of Revelation. And in light of the subject matter, which is the rebuilding of the temple, we see even through these visions that God wants the Temple rebuilt because it sort of inaugurates, it unleashes part of what he wants to do next which is broad hope and restoration upon the people, but it wouldn’t just fall out of the sky, like it would be a collaboration, the people would have to respond and that’s why we hear words and Zechariah like return to me and I will return to you, which is not dissimilar to any of the prophetic utterances that we’ve read. Zechariah is also a text that reveals that there would be a coming Messiah, part of the foretelling of a Messiah to come, comes from Zechariah, and those those passages we would recognize them. We will recognize them and there’s language about a humble servant riding on a donkey, we find Zechariah quoted in the book of Matthew and in the book of Mark, and in the gospel of John and in in the book that we’re reading in the New Testament right now, the book of Revelation, all drawing corollaries or making reference to Jesus as this Messiah. So, as we read this over the next days, we will see a sovereign God who is absolutely sovereign in all times and all places and in all things. So, as we continue to get the message that really, really becomes front and center, especially in the New Testament as we reach the end of the year, the theme of enduring, let’s also embrace, even in the theme of enduring that God is sovereign overall and God sees us as his children, and so we begin Zechariah chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and now we have reached a place where we will settle in for a few days and move through the same books as we’ve been doing all year and so we invite Your Holy Spirit to speak to us Lord and it’s not as if you aren’t. Perhaps a better way to say it is, we pray that You would help us be aware of what You are speaking, that we would intentionally pay attention, that as we move toward Christmas and then through Christmas in the week in between, that we would focus our attention upon the Scriptures and focus our affection upon You. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you find out what’s going on around here. If you are using the app, of course you can find out what’s going on around here from within the app, so check that out. There’s little drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app screen that opens a drawer and you can access different parts of Daily Audio Bible there, so check that out and stay connected and stay tuned in any way that you can or any way that you want to. I remind us that the Community section, that is where the Prayer Wall lives and that is a wonderful resource for reaching out and looking outward in prayer toward our brothers and sisters but also a place to ask and receive prayer from our brothers and sisters. It’s beautiful, so be aware of that, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, here in the remaining days of this year, thank you, humbly, profoundly, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together and so thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning, this is the Greatest Trucker from Way Out West, it don’t take much to be the greatest trucker and sometimes the greatest trucker well, he ain’t so great. I wanted to call in this morning and thank you all for your prayer requests and praises. I got a prayer request for my wife Terri. She’s sick and been sick, off and on. Has been tested for COVID, it’s not COVID but just kind of a bad cold that just kinda keeps coming back. I’m away in the truck, we have a very good church family there in South Dakota, where we moved about six months ago. And they’re supporting her but I’m not able to be with her when she’s sick like this, it’s really hard. I’m just putting out a prayer for all these people that are away from their family and can’t be with them when their sick. She’s so precious to me, I love her so much. It’s just asking ya’ll to pray for her to just get back her health, in full, full heath. And I’m praying for all the people that ask for prayers on the prayer chain and I thank you for sending in your prayers and I’m sorry I haven’t called in a long time but I’m calling now, so. Love you all, in Christ and pray for ya’ll when I hear your request. Thank you, adios.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. I just want to share, I think my best known experience is throughout this year. It’s been a year of ups and downs where there are times when our faith, my faith, has been put into tests. And sometimes you would meet people who would challenge you, what you believe in and it’s really difficult sometimes to put up an argument and no matter how much you what to push them away with their ill intentions and teachings that are earthly and that contradict our Christian faith, what gives me comfort is the fact that scripture actually foretells that there will be individuals who will be like this who will come up with these things. And it gives me hope that it’s actually found in the bible and that it was foretold and these are things that actually gives me strength. But in a nutshell what I would want to say is to encourage anybody listening, even in my next life or even if I died today and I noticed that Christianity isn’t real or heaven isn’t real, I would never ever regret it because my faith, the word, my belief in Christ, every single day that I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible has given me faith. I has helped me through my difficult moment, it does help me through situations that I feel like that I couldn’t have coped. Listening to how people have overcome their experiences, all of these things tells me, this is real you know. So, I just wanted to share that.

Good morning, DAB family, greetings from South Africa. My name is Olephela. And I’ve just listened to now, today the 17th of December and there was a young, young chap who I think his name is Mandy or is it Mandy, yeah or Bandy I’m not to sure, it was quite clear, lost your grandfather and your really touched me. And, you know, condolences, deep condolences to you and your family from Africa with love, really. We are moved by your prayer request. And nothing like spending Christmas without your grandfather. Let’s pray, pray in the name of Jesus that Lord, that you just come along side this family, that you would comfort them in the name of Jesus. We ask that you just come along side them, this morning, this day, may they feel Your presence through and through. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello, good evening to everyone in the world. I am coming to everyone to ask for prayer for my marriage. I have been married for a year and ½ now and we got married in a pandemic. So that was a struggle and we continue to struggle with communication and we to continue to struggle with…with giving each other grace and…and keeping our hearts soft, I pray that the Lord continues to help us and show us how to keep our hearts soft for each other and my husband is a believer and I know that the Lord is speaking to him and I just pray that he is in the right space, in the right mind to hear the direction from the Lord and to keep his heart soft for me. I am fighting for my marriage because I love my husband and I feel that the Lord brought us together for a reason and I want to continue having this…this kingdom marriage so I can so we can both glorify God and His creation of marriage. So, I ask for prayer. Thank you so much in advance I believe in prayer, but I need more of it, thank you.

It’s me again, Saved by His Grace in Happy Valley. A while back one of my favorite people, Blind Tony called in with a poem about seeing a drunk and maybe laughing at him. But if that drunk were your son you wouldn’t laugh. Or a woman who was prostituting herself for drugs and you feel uncomfortable and look down on her but if she were your child, you wouldn’t. And then, Brian talked about how broken we can become and today, I read a devotion that used Psalm 31:12: I am forgotten as though I were dead, I have become like broken pottery and it occurred to me that we all start with a clean slate and then life attacks us, the world attacks us and were all broken, but take heart, dear DABers, God can and will make us whole again. Just like the broken pottery that they use gold to fill in the cracks, we will be more and precious then ever when He’s finished with us. Love you all. Bye.

Zephaniah 1:1-3:20, Revelation 10:1-11, Psalm 138:1-8, Proverbs 30:11-14

Today is the 19th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we greet a brand-new shiny sparkly week and yeah, this is Christmas week. Today happens to be the final Sunday in the season of Advent and the season of Advent will end on Christmas eve as we ring in Christmas day. And we’ve talked about it several times. I enjoy, personally, Advent, the season of Advent. I didn’t grow up really knowing anything other than having heard the name Advent before and thinking it was something some people do, but I don’t know, we don’t, nobody that I know does but as I have grown older and got more familiar with the heritage of our faith and the fact that there is a Christian calendar and Advent is a season in the Christian calendar; It has become very meaningful to me, it’s not in the Bible, like Advent as a season of celebration or observation, that’s not in the Bible. So, there’s no command to pay attention to Advent but if you ever want to be able to kind of point your heart in a direction toward something so that you can fully truly appreciate it and Advent is such a season. It is a season, the 40 days before Christmas. That’s, well there are Advent calendars that have you coming back every day so that you’re kind of reminded and some of those calendars have goodies in them and the little gifts every day that kind of moves you forward. But underneath it all is really a sense of longing. So, if you have a calendar and every day you moving toward this final day and you get a little something or whatever, however, that however you do that. It is meant to pull you forward toward this one point, which is Christmas day and it’s about the longing of the soul really. We know that before Jesus came people were longing for a rescue, for a Savior. And then the Savior came with great joy to the world. And so, to put ourselves in that position, longing, waiting, needing a rescue, a Savior and we put ourselves in that position then Christmas becomes very, very meaningful as we go through the traditions of it, but as I have said before Jesus came, we read about that, we believe in that, we study his life, we try to become Christ like in our lives but we realize that we too are also waiting because we believe that there will be a second Advent, which means arrival and so we participate in the waiting, and in the longing for Christ’s return. Even as those so long ago waited longingly for his arrival. This is Christmas week. So, before this week is out, we will experience Christmas together and you can feel it in the air. We’ve been through so much the last couple years and that there may be plenty to go through but this time of year, there’s some kind of lift, something new in the air that reminds us that all things will be made new and that there is hope. Hope for the world, joy to the world. And so, let’s enjoy this week fully. And as we dive in today for our next step forward in the Scriptures, we will do what we seem to be doing most every day, reading a whole book in the Bible in one sitting. We’re camped out in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So that’s where will be for the remainder of the year, but in the Old Testament were moving through the 12 minor prophets and today we’ve reached the ninth of the minor prophets.

Introduction to the Book of Zephaniah:

This book is known as Zephaniah and like so many of the other minor prophets don’t know really a whole lot about who Zephaniah was, maybe the…the most substantial information that we can get about Zephaniah is actually found in the book. At the very beginning, the Lord gave his message to Zephaniah when Josiah’s son Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushy, son of Gedeliah, son of Amoriah, son of Hezekiah so, that’s what we know about who Zephaniah was. One thing that’s interesting that has been noted by biblical scholars in that particular description is that Zephaniah wasn’t like the son of so-and-so, nor did he trace his ancestry back like 15 generations or something. He went back four generations, which some scholars find to be intentional and interesting. And a possibility might be that Zephaniah, because we went back four generations to Hezekiah that he might be a descendent of the reforming King Hezekiah who was up right before the Lord and made great reforms among his people to return them to God. So, if Zephaniah were a descendent directly of a king, that would give him credibility, that would give a reason maybe to preserve his work, but it would also perhaps explain his awareness of the world’s situation like the political climate that he was in. The name Zephaniah means God has hidden and as we just read the book itself states that the message was given during the reign of Josiah, which would put him around the mid 600s BC and that would make him contemporary with other prophets that are found in the Bible like Jeremiah. And textual scholars have found similarities in the prophetic writing, well, there are similarities in prophetic writings in general, some are more considerable than others. Zephaniah has a language and tone that is been recognized as similar to prophets like Isaiah. Course, like so many things this is kind of piecing the story together to sort of get a sense of background. So, it seems that based on the style of writing of Zephaniah that he was familiar with Isaiah’s prophecies. Now we have read a lot a prophecy over the last few months. And so, we kind of get the arc of it and we also know that most of the prophets that are found in the Scriptures, their prophecies to God’s people to warn them and to call them back. We remember when we read the prophet Jonah that Jonah was actually not sent to God’s people but was sent to God’s enemies to prophesy and invite them to repent. Zephaniah’s a little different than both of those because his prophecy, he seems to be prophesying judgment on the known world, which included his people in the land of Judah. And so, we will hear about the day of the Lord, and we’ll hear of it because…because we’re being encouraged as hearers of this work to repent before it’s too late. But let’s remember here as we’re going into Zephaniah and as we continue through Revelation God isn’t trying to destroy people, He’s destroying evil, not people, but if people want to be evil and…and want to walk a pathway of evil then…then there gonna be, they’re gonna destroy themselves, they’ll be swept away. But the loyal and lowly and humble will be secure, those who trust in the name of the Lord and Zephaniah will…will have the same kind of arc as other prophets where we…we hear of impending judgment, but we end with promise and hope and restoration. And so, we begin and end the book of Zephaniah, we will read from The Voice this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for this brand-new shiny sparkly week that we are moving into, the final full week of this year, with this week ending with Christmas day and so we only have one more shiny sparkly threshold to walk-through into another week. And that will be a week from today and that will lead us to the end of the year and that is hard to believe. And it would be easy enough to just sort of feel like we’re done but we’re not. We have these days remaining as we push to the conclusion and we pray Your Holy Spirit speak to us, lead and direct our step’s we pray as we move to finish this year strong, so that we might begin a new year strong. Holy Spirit come we pray into all of this; we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi family, this is Susie from Colorado. I wanted to reach out to WWW who has a hand injury and is just really worried about how she’s gonna work, if her hand has to be operated on. I’ve gone through something similar and I am…I am, you’ve been on my heart for the last two days because I know it’s scary and I just pray God would heal the bones in your hand that there would not even be a need for the surgery. Please keep us posted but I’m praying for you. Also, family, would you please pray for two new babies that we are taking custody of, permanent custody of. I named one, a 10-month-old Joseph and then I named the one that we believe is 3 to 4 years old, he’s so malnourished it’s very, very hard to tell his exact age. I named him Gerald. They both have hydro-cephalic syndrome and we will be taking them into our orphanage tomorrow, God willing, in Haiti. So, please pray for these two little boys to…to get well that they can be treated with surgery and not have to suffer this…this terrible disease. And also, little Elijah, I asked you to pray for him before too, he has hydrocephalic syndrome as well. He’s not doing very well would you please pray for him. His situation is inoperable and I just I don’t want him to suffer. Thank you so much.

This is Redeemed from California calling for Irene. She is Zambian and was adopted by white parents here in America. The current polarized climate and blatant racist acts she’s witnessed recently has planted fear in her heart as she prepared to leave for college. Father, I pray that Irene might recognize that her Zambian roots, her American adoption, her beautiful soul, her beautiful skin color and the unique gifts that you have bestowed upon her are not by accident and that You intend to use them for Your, her uniqueness of her family formation for her good and Your glory. Father, she has done the hard work of preparing herself for college and now the enemy is walking around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour her hopes for a good future. Protect her from the enemies’ attacks on her thought-life, that she might not shrink back to who you created her to be. Give her wisdom and discernment to recognize the difference between the deceivers lies and the voice of Your truth, so that the spirit of fear does not become a strong hold in her life. Give her holy boldness as she navigates towards her independence. When she witnesses hateful acts, let it be a reminder of how important it is for her to be a vessel of Your love regardless of their nationality or station in life. Now Father, You’ve opened up the world of opportunities to Irene, so give her a peace that surpasses all understanding and restore her excitement about her future You have planned for her. Help her to meditate on Philippians 4:6-9 that reminds us to be anxious for nothing and tells us what kind of things to think on. Thank you for the good job her parents have done and thank You for answering this prayer, in advance. And we look forward to hearing her testimony of Your faithfulness. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hi, this is Just Judy in Jesus from Wilton, California again. I would like to give a testimony, a quick testimony because I’ve wanted to do this for so long and we quit going to church because of COVID and I just, I feel like I just needed to tell everybody about how I praise God how I love Him so much. He has brought me through, time and time again, of bad times and He continues to…to bring me through everything. When I was younger, I met my husband when I was 14, we got married when I was 16. We went through a season of hell until we were 50. I lost my children through miscarriages or whatever but God still, still after having a hysterectomy gave me a baby. The girl just set the baby on the table and said take care of her and I’ve had her 43 years. Her name is Shannon. She’s the best little angel God ever put on this earth. But God brought me through my addictions. I’ve been through heavy, heavy bike traffic, fast bikes, fast men, fast women for my husband he just liked to never settle down. Leave me alone for a long time and a lot of times. But God brought me through it all and He’s still taking care of business. Leukemia patient, oh my test, things were just perfect today. I cannot tell anybody how much I love Him, how I love Him so much, He is the best God, He is a good, good God. And people, pray for me. I love prayer, I pray for all of you, I listen to this every day. I love you, I love Jesus. Thank You Lord, Father God, thank You for being my Father God. Amen. Thank you, guys, bye.

Hi, this is KD out of Atlanta. Calling in, I’m a little bit behind but I was just listening to the December 10th prayer line where ___ and Joe the Protector were requesting prayer for their children and Joe for his family cause it might be a possible divorce on the horizon. So, I was just calling in to pray for, letting you know that I heard your request and I am praying for both of you. Also, for everyone else who Lord, is just going through things with their children, I am going through some things with both of my older kids too. So, I was just calling in praying for all the parents of wayward children who are experiencing difficulties right now with their children going astray. Just letting you know that things do get better. My daughter, she’s in therapy but my son, we’re still praying for him as well. So, just calling in to let you know that I am still praying for the both of you. Bye.

Hi this is Andrew for Washington. This call if for the lady who called in and said that she had a brain operation back in 18, had optical damage and first-time in four years they put up a Christmas tree. Man, just wanted to say that your story touched my heart and I felt compelled to call in and just tell you that I’m so happy you called in and shared and that you found joy and peace and contentment through DAB family and God’s goodness in your life. Wish you a Merry Christmas and blessed new year.

Habakkuk 1:1-3:19, Revelation 9:1-21, Psalms 137:1-9, Proverbs 30:10

Today is the 18^th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we reach the conclusion of another one of our weeks together. And it’s been getting customary that we’re moving really rapidly through territory, especially in the Old Testament. Now that we’ve reached Revelation in the New Testament we’re…we’re…we’re in the last book. So, we’ll carry that all the way through the end of the year, but in the Old Testament we’re moving rapidly through the minor prophets. Seems like we’re reading a book a day. And that’s pretty close to true and that will be true today as we close out this week.

Introduction to the book of Habakkuk::

We have the eighth book of the 12 books in the grouping known as the minor prophets and our book today is called Habakkuk. And since we will be reading the whole thing today. Let’s just talk about what we’re going to read. This person named Habakkuk, it’s almost as if there’s less known about who Habakkuk was than any other biblical writer practically. There are some traditions. There’s a Jewish tradition that associates Habakkuk as the son of the Shunamite woman that was resurrected in Elisha’s ministry. And that’s found in the book of second Kings. You probably remember that story. It’s a tradition. We read that story. There’s nothing about Habakkuk in that story and second Kings, but that’s a long-running tradition. There’s an apocryphal tradition about Habakkuk, which means he’s written of in books that may have been contemporary with the…the biblical narrative and maybe even books that were revered but didn’t end up in the canon of Scripture. And Habakkuk is mentioned in one such book as almost like a minister to Daniel while he was in the…the lion’s den. I don’t know if that would make him a spiritual being…like it's…the thing is most…most scholars find these kinds of traditions to be legendary like this last one we just talked about with Habakkuk being in the lions den with Daniel. I guess anything is possible. It’s just not in the Bible in the book of Daniel when we read the story of Daniel and the Lion’s den. So, they’re traditions and…and…and probably legends, but that doesn’t mean that Habakkuk wasn’t important. It has been preserved as a biblical prophecy. We are about to read it out of the Bible right now and there are passages in Habakkuk that are very famous. So, for example we have read all of the letters of the apostle Paul, we have read the book of Hebrews and in those letters and in the book of Hebrews we would hear things like the just shall live by faith. This is like a central core Christian doctrine that is repeated in the writings of Paul, especially, but that idea, that saying, it comes from Habakkuk, but the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. So, we could probably say with pretty good assurance, Paul being a studied Pharisee was familiar with the prophecy of Habakkuk. And actually what we’ll read in Habakkuk is a…a bit of a conversation that is fairly direct. Habakkuk doesn’t like what’s happening around him. He doesn’t understand the way that the Lord allows things to happen. And, so, we kind of move from that place of frustration and confusion and watch the whole thing move toward worship in the end. And, so, we begin and end today the three chapter book of Habakkuk.

Prayer:

Thank You, Father for another week in Your word, a busy week indeed. We have covered so much territory in so many different books and we are grateful, and we rely on You Lord. We rely on You to plant what we have heard into…into our hearts, into the field of our heart, that in due season the fruit of the Spirit might be born in us. We thank You for the gift of Your word. We thank You for the gift of salvation that we cannot earn. It is a gift. We thank You for the opportunity to have the gift of life that we are conscious, that we are aware that You exist. And may we become more and more aware of Your presence on a continual basis because You never leave or forsake us. And, so, as we continue forward from this point into Christmas week which is one week from today we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. May we stay in alignment with You. May we pay attention through this season to all that You are leading us to and all that You are leading us away from. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s homebase, that’s the home of the Global Campfire, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app which is a free download from your app store whatever device they you’re then you can access all the things from within the app as well to find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to do that. Stay tuned. Stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of this year, thank you. Thank you humbly. Thank you deeply. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

Hey guys it’s Daniel from Georgia just wanna say how much I love you guys and I’m so thankful that you guys are part of my…my life and just…and this podcast and I’m just so proud. I just wanted to ask for prayer of that, you know, I would continue to walk with the Lord and that I would continue to be steadfast and have endurance that sort of thing. __ for a lot of things. And I just want to ask for His vision and all that I do. And I appreciate you guys prayer’s. God bless all of you. Always listening and that kind of thing. Alright. Bye. Love you.

Hey DAB fam this is Sparky. Hey y'all. Brian was reading through Revelation today and it really kind of struck a chord. And pardon me, I don’t have it in front of me but when he was addressing the fact that you say that you’re rich and I don’t need any help pretty much to paraphrase him. But you’re stubborn. And it really rung a bell with me because I’m a working man. I keep a roof over the…a roof over the kids head. You know, that’s all my kids. And when things are going right I feel pretty rich and I don't…I don’t necessarily push so hard for God ehen I feel like I’ve got what I want. And man. that that just stoned. It really did. DAB fam that…that stoned to where I think God said don’t just come to me when you’re poor. When things are going good don’t lose sight of me. Don’t quit looking for Me. Don’t quit listening to you DAB. And got to thank Brian. Revelations the tough one to get through for me because it came up when it was fire and brimstone and then there’s a lot of good lessons in this. I love you DAB fam. I’m praying for you, all of your community prayers, especially Eyes of a Dove. My wife and I are praying so hard for you. We love you guys and I hope you all have an awesome week. I’ll be praying as I go through the community…

Howdy DAB family this is Darren from College Station. I had called upon y'all to pray for one of my coworkers and her…I believe I labeled her as her auntie but it was actually her mother-in-law but nonetheless we had her name and she had COVID, she had pneumonia and a bacterial infection and I just received confirmation that she is back home and she’s out of the hospital. So, praise Jesus. Thank you so much for your prayers for her. And I also just wanted to call in and ask for prayer for my wife Lynn Whin Marraccini to receive Jesus in her heart. She is…we have been married for 13 years and I have been praying for this for 13 years and I haven’t called this in to my family. So, it’s time for me to do this. I need you all to pray for my wife Lynn’s heart to receive Jesus as her personal Lord and savior, to recount anything else that she is choosing to believe in, and to accept Christ as her Lord for the forgiveness of her sins and for her salvation. Can you stand in agreement with me family? Thank you.

Hi family today is Tuesday December 14^th, and this is Robert P from Tennessee. I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and support. I’m on my way to the hospital this morning to see the status of my wife. The doctors tried a procedure yesterday to put a drain in her abdomen for ascites fluid from her liver failure and unfortunately, they perforated one of her intestines and that’s not gonna be very good. They cannot operate to fix it and basically, we’re just gonna bring her home. Please pray for my family and thank you for doing that. And just pray that we can send her to the arms of Jesus in peace and tranquility. And pray for my decision-making abilities as this is just difficult. Thank you, family. God bless you all. Robert P from Tennessee, subaruman.rt@gmail.com …

Hello good morning my name is Emmanuel. I really want to thank God for the platform Daily Audio Bible. It’s helped me a whole lot and it’s been a source of God, you know. It helps me in a way that even when I wake up from my…from sleep and I get to hurry to do the day’s job, you know, I just plug in my headset and there I am listening to the word of God. I wanna thank pastor Brian for this initiative. Also, I would like to, you know, would like this community to remember me in prayer as regards God’s direction for my new walk, my new walks of life because as it is currently I’ve been having struggles trying to know the right path and what next to do. I trust God to help me out. So, I need my family of faith to join hands with me to seek the face of Abba, that His divine direction for the path that I need to tread, the path that will give me the time to worship, the time to do God’s will, and also to be there for my family, my immediate family and the body of Christ as a whole. I…

Jesus, thank you…

Nahum 1:1-3:19, Rev 8:1-13, Ps 136:1-26, Pr 30:7-9

Today is the 17th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and do what we’ve come to do, take the next step forward in the Scriptures which will bring us to some new territory, brand-new book, the seventh book of the Minor Prophets.

Introduction to the Book of Nahum:

The book of Nahum which we will read in its entirety today and there are plenty of unknowns about who Nahum is, there are plenty of knowns. The name Nahum, means comfort and we’re told in the book that he was from Elkosh, although where Elkosh is…is an unknown. Nobody knows if this was larger kind of town somewhere, or if it was a little tiny village that’s just disappeared. Where Elkosh is…is unknown but dating when Nahum may have been written is a little bit easier because there are historical events that are contained within the prophecy. So, Nahum mentions the conquest of Thebes, which is in Egypt yet the Assyrian conquest of Thebes, that’s a historical event, it happened in 663 BC. So, if Nahum is mentioning this event than we can sort of say that the prophecy happened after that date, but a lot of the prophecy in Nahum is about the destruction of Nineveh and that also is a historical event that happened in 612 BC and so, somewhere between those two years is likely when this prophetic utterance happened. And like I said, this is about the destruction of Nineveh. And it’s just like a few days ago reading the book of Jonah with another prophet who ran away from God because he didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he feared that God might have mercy on Nineveh, which he did. But we’re like 150 years into the future now from Jonah and the Assyrians, they had conquered the northern kingdom and destroyed it and carried all of those 10 tribes away into exile where they are gone, they were never tribes ever again. That has happened and their brutality for conquering peoples was legendary so they repented for a time after Jonah came to Nineveh. And you can only imagine that the word of Jonah being swallowed by a fish and spit out on dry ground, that would spread pretty fast and so that would give him some credibility. But this is 150 years later and they’re not thinking about Jonah’s prophecy anymore. They’re thinking about conquest and God is displeased and this is an Oracle about the destruction of Nineveh. There…there are plenty of scholars that think that Nahum may have written this prophecy down from like a city like Jerusalem in the southern kingdom knowing what had happened to the northern kingdom and issuing this Oracle of destruction on Nineveh on the Assyrians, which would’ve been received as words of comfort to those who had lost everything including their families. And this would be the second time we’re encountering prophecies about Nineveh in two different books so we can see from Jonah that God is merciful and patient, but we see from Nahum, He’s not…He’s not a pushover. He’s not gonna be pushed around, He’s not gonna allow injustice, no mercy and no humility, which is what we we’re reading about yesterday in Micah. He won’t let that go on forever. So, with that we will read the three chapters in their entirety, the book of Nahum.

Prayer:

Father, we are ever thankful for the gift of Your word, which is the centerpiece of why we gather around this Global Campfire every day. It is to allow the Scriptures to speak into our lives and they speak into our lives in so many ways, we find ourselves in the stories of people who have gone before us, we find their…their attitudes and convictions are similar to our own. It shows us that thousands of years can pass, many cultures can change, the…the clothes that we wear and the technology that we use and the transportation that we have may change, but the heart of humanity, we are still trying to sort through the same things thousands of years in the future and we will never sort any of this out without walking with You in a straight line consistently and we see this over and over and over. This is what You keep calling Your people back to, through the prophets, come back, come back. We have a covenant, return and so there’s no way that we can’t get this message on a daily basis, as we move through this particular territory in the Bible and so we’re getting the message loud and clear. And so, each and every day a little bit more, we invite Your Holy Spirit to continue to chip away as we open ourselves to You completely, chip away and remove and demolish the things that separate us from You. We…we may hear of the destruction of a city and walls falling down and armies entering but that isn’t unlike what we need in our own hearts that the walls come down in Your Spirit just floods in eradicating all of the things that separate us from You and Your will for our lives. And so, come Holy Spirit into this as we continue to seek Your counsel and comfort as we continue to humble ourselves before You and Your sovereignty. Change us God, we pray, help us to collaborate with You in that change, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base. It is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, has been Christmas time all around here and all around everywhere. I guess we’re kind of getting down to last call. It’s a week from today, it’s Christmas Eve, and so, we have had well the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box that is available. Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible is available, as well as all of the Christmas music that we’ve been talking about that is available for Christmas time, but anything that you’re wanting shipped to you is kinda, last call for that. We will continue to ship but it’s been hectic shipping and receiving time in the world all over the place so don’t…don’t delay, but you can check out all of these items, any of the items in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, whether that be at dailyaudiobible.com or whether that be in the app, you can access the Shop from either place. And so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here as we approach these final days of this year, hard to believe but final days of this year and it’s been a challenging year for sure. But if what we’re doing here together, around the Global Campfire is a place of life for you then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper left-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And of course if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app from anywhere in the world 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hey Daily Audio Bible friends, my name is Mandy and I’m calling to ask for prayer for me and my family. My Papa, who is my maternal grandfather passed away on the 1st and he was like a second father to me and this Christmas is going to be really hard for us. So, if you could pray for us and especially me that would be very appreciated. Thank you. Bye.

Hello friends, this is Brother Doug from Florida. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for two or three years now and I’m a first time caller and I’m calling because of Robert P. From Tennessee he shared a story on today’s Daily Audio Bible and regarding his wife Bonnie of 31 years, and Robert, you said something that really touched my heart and that was you don’t know what to do. I can so relate to that. 12 years ago my wife was in her final stages of…of cancer and when the whole thing started two years prior, I didn’t know what to do. And I was impressed to love, love her, love her, love her and do everything I could. So, I’m going to encourage you Robert to love her and I know that you love her, but I want to encourage you also with some Scripture: 1st John 4:18, part of that the last part of it says perfect love casts out all fear. That’s for you as well because when you think that you’re not doing the right thing that’s fear coming into your mind. Place perfect love on you my friend. First Peter 4:8: above all love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. That’s another way, just love her as much as you possibly can, show her, speak blessings to her. Ephesians 5:25 husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. It’s all about love at this point, Robert. I know you love Bonnie. I know how you care for her or else you wouldn’t be so concerned and so worried about what’s going to happen. O my friend we love you as well. I’ve never met you but I feel like I know you. May the Lord Jesus Christ richly bless you and give you all love and encouragement that you need in this season.

Father God, Lord, I’d like to pray today for those who are going through the sadness of losing a loved one. Lord, I’d like to pray for those who are suffering with the agony of seeing life being leached away from people that they adore. It’s wrong Lord. Death is wrong. Suffering and pain are wrong. Illness is wrong. You never made the world this way. Not initially, it’s our fault through Adam that this is among us. That this is our situation and this is our lot. And Lord, we thank You so much that through Your Holy Spirit we can know about the sacrifices that Jesus made so that this suffering, this pain actually has a purpose. That there is light at the end of the tunnel and that that light is You. Father God Lord, we ask You to comfort those that are suffering such things at this time especially with it being Christmas. When each one of us consider those that we’ve lost and wish that they were near and wish that they were here. And wish that we could just buy them a Christmas present. Tell them that we love them. Father God Lord, we raise them up, in the name of Jesus. Amen. This is Tony the Narrator, I love all of you, have a Merry Christmas.

Hi, DAB family this is Lindsey calling in from Minnesota. I’m out on a walk this morning and it’s pretty cold so hopefully everybody can hear me okay. But I just wanted to call in and really echo and reinforce the prayer that I heard from Child Advocate out in LA. The prayer for those who are incarcerated just really touched my heart, impacted my heart. I know a couple of people here in Minnesota who work with juvenile detentions centers and with youth who are incarcerated and I just echo your prayer Child Advocate that the Lord would be with these people. That they would come to know You and that they would truly feel your presence dispite being in this isolated circumstance. And also, that if they’re able to, you know, be free from incarceration, that they can continue on a path in life where they can help others and let others know about You. I just pray this in Jesus name.

Hey DAB, this is Refined by the Fire in Ohio. I have two things on my heart this morning. I just wanted to call in and first is just to pray for people that the holidays and Christmas are not a joyous time, whether that’s we’ve lost somebody or we have painful memories from our past, it’s just not something that we necessarily look forward to. Lord, I pray that You would surround each individual with Your presence and Your peace that they would experience You in new way this season Lord. That would build a new category for what this season means to them and that it would begin to override and erase the pain and the hurt that they have carried with them Lord. And that the season would bring on a new meaning full of joy and hope that they have not experienced before. And, also just want to pray for the marriages. Lord, marriage is such a difficult institution in this world Lord. It is beautiful and difficult and Satan wants nothing more than to destroy it. So, I pray Lord, that we would now and always that we would view our spouse as You would view them. That You would help us to have a heart for them to be able to see the pain and the struggle that their having. And that we would use the love that You have given us and to overflow that to them as well Lord. And to try to protect it at all cost. Thanks guys, I love you all have a great day.