Month: January 2023

Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalms 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10

Today is the 21^st day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire 21 days. So, when we finish our reading today, we will have completed three full weeks in the Bible and it will be three full weeks in the new year that we’re getting ourselves acclimated to. So, wonderful! Wonderful! We are well underway. I’m looking back at the last three weeks and saying to myself, the Bible is speaking a lot. There’s a lot that I’ve been able to consider and hopefully you too. There’s a lot going on. The Bible is so rich and full of things for us to examine that so deeply bring up the questions that we need to ask in our own lives. And, so, it’s great to be here with you today as we celebrate three weeks in the Bible together. And we’ll do what we do every day, which is to take the next step forward together. And picking up where we left off brings us back into the book of Genesis. We are navigating through the story of Joseph, who is now second in command in all of Egypt. A terrible famine is in the land. The land of Canaan has been affected. Joseph’s family is suffering because of the famine. His brothers, the ones who trafficked him have come to Egypt to find grain so that they can live, and they have ended up before Joseph their brother. He knows who they are. They don’t know who he is, and they have bowed down before him and he is accused of being spies. And, so, they’re a little unsettled to say the least. He’s demanding that one of the brothers go back to Canaan and get his little brother Benjamin and he’s gonna hold the other ones in prison until Benjamin gets back to prove that they’re not spies. And this is where we pick up the story. Genesis chapter 42 verse 18 through 43 verse 34.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for bringing us three weeks into this year, safe and sound. We thank you for all that you have begun to shift and transform and shake loose within us as we simply engage with the Scriptures, as we simply allow them to wash into our lives and speak to us, speak truth to us. We are grateful. And, so, as we kind of bring to a close, our land this week we look at the last thing that was said from the Scriptures this week. Wisdom is supreme so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding. She will exalt you. Embrace her. She will honor you. She will place a garland of favor on your head. She will give you a crown of beauty. Father in our own strength we confess that we can only create wisdom out of our own personal experiences and then we can insulate ourselves and think that our own personal experiences and wisdom that we’ve derived from them is all that there is and we know more than everybody else when the truth is we can’t access the kind of wisdom that we need to navigate this life. We navigate ourselves into situations that we do not understand and cannot interpret all the time. And so often we find ourselves confused and blaming you for something you had nothing to do with. We need wisdom, we confess that. We thank you for the wisdom that we have been able to accumulate. We are asking through the power of your Holy Spirit and through the authority of the Scriptures that you increase our wisdom exponentially. May we be wise sons and daughters of your kingdom, and may we operate and interact with one another using wisdom. We need it now more than ever it seems and it’s only going to increase. Our need for discernment and wisdom is very vital and it has been vital for thousands of years as we are reading it from the Scriptures thousands of years ago. Give it to us as we seek as we humble ourselves before you as we open our hands to you as we open our hearts to you. Come fill us, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is a home base, that is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And the alternative is the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can download free from whatever app store works with your device. And, so, check that out.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there in a number of categories for our journey at the global campfire through a year together.

Also, the Community section is where the Prayer Wall is. It’s where different links to get connected are. So, check that out as well. If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you humbly. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, thank you profoundly and humbly. 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 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. That’s 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:

Coming soon… Traveling back to the USA today.

Genesis 41:17-42:17, Matthew 13:24-46, Psalm 18:1-15, Proverbs 4:1-6

Today is the 20th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today, as we gather around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. And we are fully immersed in the story of Joseph, at this point. And so, that’s where we’re picking up the story. Joseph has been in the dungeon for a while, he’s interpreted some dreams, the news of this interpretation has reached Pharaoh, who has had some troubling dreams. Joseph has been summoned from the dungeon and is now in front of Pharaoh, Pharaoh wants Joseph to take a stab at it. Whether or not Joseph could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. So, let’s pick up the story, Genesis chapter 41 verses 17 through 42 today.

Commentary:

Okay so, as we continue our journey through the book of Genesis, and now continue our journey through Joseph’s story. We’ve seen a remarkable twist of fate, a remarkable change of fortunes. Joseph who really had the latter part of his childhood in his early adulthood essentially stolen from him, by being trafficked into slavery by his own brothers, by his own family, sold into slavery. And having to go through all of the injustice that he went through while retaining character and integrity, it has actually worked out. Even though Joseph had to go through an awful lot of things that would be incredibly traumatic to go through, everywhere he went he tried to thrive where he was. So, even while he’s in prison, he thrives there and is in charge of everything there. And it gives us this picture of the fact that difficult things really, even injust, unjust things happen, and that can become the story, that can become the identity, that can become who we are, what’s happened to us can become who we are. But in the story of Joseph, we watch a person taking the long view and believing that the story isn’t over, there’s other chapters. And in the case of Joseph, he’s brought before Pharaoh, he interprets Pharaoh’s dreams, gives Pharaoh some administrative advice. Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge, and he is second in command of all of Egypt. Like from the dungeon, to second in command of the nation. And as it turns out there are seven years of prosperity and Joseph has been able to begin to accumulate resources that can be used during this, the…the season of famine that is coming. So, Joseph is a very powerful person in Egypt, and he will actually redeem, he will, he will save Egypt during the famine, as well as all the surrounding countries, which is how Joseph’s brothers end up before him. The famine is in Canaan, there isn’t any food. The rumor is there’s food in Egypt, why is there food in Egypt, because somebody foresaw what was happening. That was Joseph and he was able to prepare Egypt for the oncoming famine. Israel and his children back in the land of Canaan, they’re not prepared and so they have to come to Egypt for food, and that’s when the brothers come before Joseph. And they bowed before Joseph and Joseph’s dream came true, and he is aware of who they are, and they are not aware of who he is. And we will watch, as this story continues forward, the way that Joseph is seeking to find out more about his family, but also, more about the hearts of his brothers. And we will continue this story in the days ahead as it reaches a very, very dramatic conclusion.

Then we turn into the book of Matthew today and we encounter Jesus teaching in parables and he gives three parables today, that are all about the same thing. And if we look at them and not just kind of read them and go like there’s another Jesus parable, I’ve heard this a thousand times in Sunday school like, yeah, yeah, I know all the stories of Jesus. If we actually just look at what He’s teaching us. He’s teaching us a lot because the three stories that He talks about today are telling us what God’s kingdom is like and if it’s God’s kingdom then it is administrated by God. It is God’s kingdom. And so, it represents God. So, God’s kingdom is also what God is like. So, in these three parables, Jesus specifically says this is what the kingdom is like. So, for example, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in the field, or the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, or the kingdom of heaven is like leaven. So, let’s look at what God’s kingdom is like and see how that knowledge applies to our lives, because we all consider ourselves part of the kingdom, right. But if we’re claiming to be part of the kingdom, but we are nothing like the kingdom, well then that’s a problem, we’re claiming something that isn’t true. So, what is God’s kingdom like? Jesus says the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed sees among the wheat and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The landowner’s servants came to him and said master didn’t you sow good seed in your field. And where did the weeds come from? An enemy did this, he told them. So, do you want us to go and pull them up, the servants asked him. No, he said, when you pull up the weeds you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, at harvest time I’ll tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them. But collect the wheat in my barn. So, that’s the parable. And with a parable like this, we look at the characters in the story and go, who is who here? Because if we know who’s who, then we have context for what is being said. Thankfully, in the case of the parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus gives us an explanation. The one who sows the good seed is the son of man. So, this is Jesus. The field is the world. The good seed, these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one. The harvest is the end of the age. The harvesters are angels. This is how Jesus explains this parable. So, if that’s what we’re looking at, then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. Jesus the son of man, who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. The enemy then, according to Jesus, is the evil one. When the plants sprouted and produced grain then there were weeds and wheat growing together, and the servants came and said didn’t you sow good seed? And remember, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, and the weeds are what was sown in among the field of good seed. I guess we could say that like the children of darkness. The children following after the evil one. So, let’s pause here for a second. We look at a scenario like this, a good field that could yield a harvest full of weeds and if we take the metaphor and go this is, this is God’s kingdom. Then we often find ourselves in the position of the servants. Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds? Like we are the defenders of God, and we are going to uproot everything that isn’t part of God’s kingdom, no matter who we have to take out to do that, no matter who has to get hurt, no matter who has to get marginalized, no matter who has to become estranged from God because of a misrepresentation of who God is. We often jump to that place where we are like, we are the weeders of God’s field. The irony is that the message of this parable is quite different, the servants notice that wheat and weeds are growing up together in the same field and this field is God’s kingdom and the servants come and say do you want us to go pull out the weeds. The master says no, when you pull up the weeds you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, at harvest time I’ll tell the reapers, gather the weeds first time in bundles to burn them. But collect the wheat in my barn. And so, often we also can think I’m not only the weeding and the gardener, but I am also a part of the reaping. So, maybe I can’t pull out the weeds now, but one day I’m gonna get sent in and I’m gonna gather the harvest for God. Ironically, we don’t have anything to do with that, at least according to Jesus, the reapers are angels. So, who are we in this story then, are we the children of the kingdom? If we’re the children of the kingdom, then we are, like we have a job and it’s not the jobs that we try to take on ourselves. Our job is to grow, is to grow where we are among the weeds. God is allowing the weeds to grow up among the wheat. We aren’t to do the weeding and we aren’t doing the harvesting either. We have no business calling somebody wheat or weeds, we’re not doing the separating. So, when we look at this parable just under the surface a little deeper, think it through a little bit, we begin to realize I am jumping into, we jump into all kinds of things that we have no business in. It’s not our job, it’s not our role, it’s not our assignment. And we need to start thinking about how we are acting toward the weeds, are we trying to pull them up? Because we can destroy good at the same time, exactly like the master said in this parable. We can cause destruction, while we try to do jobs that were not assigned to us. There is a lot to think about in there but that wasn’t the only parable that Jesus used to describe what the kingdom of heaven is like. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took. So, a man was used in the previous parable. So, a man, we’re talking about the Son of Man here, Jesus. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. The smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. So, what can we say here. This is just a couple of sentences and a little story but what’s lurking here? What are we learning? First of all, it’s Son of Man that sowed the seed. So, we didn’t sow the seed, we’re not, we’re not the sower. God is the sower here and he plants a mustard seed and ironically mustard seed is…is more of a weed for the hearers here. It’s the kind of plant that if it takes root, you can’t get rid of it. Jill and I had a yucca plant at our last house, and I loved it. We had a couple of them. They were there when we got there and I love them, but they grew, and she got sick of them and decided to cut one of them down and she cut it down and it came right back. We found out no, you’re gonna have to find the root. Like you have to get uproot this. I mean, this thing got dug up, got changed to a pickup truck and still couldn’t be pulled out of the ground. It, once it took root, like it’s near impossible to get rid of. And mustard seed is like that. So, it’s not particularly desirable. Like, it’s not something that people want to go and plant. It’s something that people, want to keep rid of. And yet, yet God is planting in his field things that people want to get rid of. And isn’t that story of the gospel, that while we were his enemies, He still came for us, that He would plant us even when we were the undesirable, even when we were in the margin. Like, isn’t this who Jesus is going to. And He’s saying, this is what I’m planting in my field, it’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree. So, that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. So, God’s kingdom is like this small thing that when it takes root is impossible to get rid of. And the very thing that people wanted to get rid of actually grows enough to bring life and shelter. Powerful teachings here. And then, the last parable that we came to today, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until all of it was leavened. So, leaven is yeast and I’m not a baker, my wife is like a magical cook. I’m not a baker or a cook of any of any sort really. I can follow a recipe, but I know what yeast does. I’ve actually made bread before, and I’ve made unleavened bread before and the two are very different loaves. So, yeast makes…makes the dough rise, gives fluffiness and makes a more palatable loaf of bread. But if you took that loaf of bread and decided you wanted to take the yeast out of it, that I don’t know how, I don’t think that’s possible. Right, so once the yeast is mixed in, you can’t take it back out. But because it was there, the whole loaf was a different loaf. It changed the constitution, it changed everything. So, how do we look at this in terms of God’s kingdom. It’s mixed in just like wheat and weeds, it’s mixed in and once it’s mixed in, you can’t get it out and it changes everything. This is what God’s kingdom is like, we have to stop saying it’s different, this is what it’s like. I mean, unless the gospel of Matthew is just a joke and shouldn’t be in the, all of the Gospels for that matter because they all have parables in them. So, if…if the New Testament is a joke, okay then we don’t need to pay attention to any of this, but these are the words of the one that we believe to be God incarnate, the one who came to rescue us, like our Savior. Our hopes are placed in Him. He’s teaching this. He’s teaching about what His kingdom is like and it’s not like this bombastic massive enterprise that is world dominant. Actually, God’s kingdom is like God. God’s kingdom is like what Jesus looks like and what Jesus did and how He operated in this world. God’s kingdom is this small, imperceptible thing that changes everything. God’s kingdom is this small thing that once it takes root, it cannot be taken away, it cannot be removed. God’s kingdom is growing, God’s kingdom is happening now, we are to grow where we are among everything else. It’s not our role to do the weeding, it’s our role to do the growing. Let’s give some thought today to what the master is teaching us about His kingdom and what that might mean to the way we operate in it, live in it, be in it, and conduct ourselves in it.

Prayer:

So, Jesus, we love You and we thank You for another opportunity to gather together and take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we thank You for all that we can learn and glean and apply to our lives in the story of Joseph and all that we can learn and glean in our lives from, You are teaching in the Gospels. Holy Spirit, come, help us to consider, help us to change, forgive us Lord, for the ways that we have misrepresented so many things and taken on roles that were never assigned to us, help us to be children of the kingdom. We pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you can find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does that in the palm of your hands so, check that out. And check out the Community Section, that is where to get connected. There is a list of different links to the social media channels that Daily Audio Bible participates in and that’s good to know. And the Prayer Wall also lives there in the Community Section, and that is, that is a resource that is always available, can always ask for prayer and share our stories. We can always go and pray for each other and encourage each other. And so, if you haven’t had a chance to visit yet, make it a point to…to visit and share your story.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If being around the Global Campfire together and taking the next step forward together each and every day is life-giving then thank you, humbly 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, that’s the little red button 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi, this is Bob the Bean. I’m asking for my brothers and sisters to lift my marriage up. Been 40 years, I married my high school sweetheart. Our marriage just crumbling to the ground, right now. I don’t know how to stop it. I don’t know what life could be without it. I’m trying to do this alone and I know that’s not right. So, I wanna reach out to my brothers and sisters. Pray for my wife please. Really struggling now with a lot of anger and help me to not to react to things that are done that are trying to provoke me to react. We haven’t been going to church and I know that’s not right. I’m going to church this morning. Trying to get the train back on the wheels, on the track. Thank you, brothers and sisters.

Hello, this is my first on here. My name is Austin. I’m from Pemberton. And my dad Leo is having health problems, he’s 85 years old. We lost my mother last Christmas, so Christmas of 2021. And so, once the, once this holiday season came his health started to deteriorate as well. Some of the doctors are optimistic but some of them are quite negative and quite grim. I’m worried about him because I love him so much. I loved both of them so much. They are all I have; they’ve always been great parents. So, please pray for them. Pray for him, pray for me please. Thank you.

Good morning DAB family, this is Bridgett from Leo City and I just wanna pray for a few of the DABers. First, I wanna pray for Incognito. Lord, I just ask for Your, Your Spirit of comfort to come upon this family to, to come upon this tragic situation. And God, that, Lord, You would let Your Spirit rest on this ten-year-old who found her father, my God. Just ask You sweet Jesus, to come and to turn this around, this situation Lord God, in only the way that You can, my God. I ask You Father God, to just let Your Spirit come and comfort each and every person, my God. I pray also Father, for Renzo, Lord God. For his eyes and ears, Lord, I pray that Lord, that You would help him to meditate on You, Lord God. Philippians 4:8, Renzo, focus on such things in Philippians 4:8 and be mindful and watchful yourself. And that is what you’re doing. So, continue to do that. Don’t let the enemy lie and steal the truth that you are already doing that. In the name of Jesus. And I want to pray for this wife, Anonymous. Lord, I just ask You for this marriage, my God, Jesus. Lord, I pray, Father God, Lord, that You would come Holy Spirit, and uproot and expose everything that is in the dark, Lord God. That Your Holy Spirit would speak to this man of God. That Your Holy Spirit would comfort this woman of God. That Your Holy Spirit, my God, would take what the enemy intends for evil and turn it around for good, Lord God. Show up my God, in this situation.

Hello DAB friends, this Anna in the Trenches. I wanna thank you all so much for praying for me. We have been losing people due to accidental overdoses. We have a lot of friends that struggle with addiction. And so, on Wednesday we had a funeral for a girl who came to our church from the prison, got out of prison and then started using again. Often, people disappear once they get out of prison, they stop coming to church then you know, you can only do so much. And anyway, it wasn’t an intentional overdose. But if you could just pray for her sister and her friend. Her name was Jessica. Anyway, and last night we found out that Melissa, another girl that got out of prison not that long ago, and just got off parole, was with Jessica when Jessica died. And we’re really worried about Melissa. And about her sobriety and her walk with the Lord. So, if you could just pray for Melissa right now that she would stay sober and process her trauma and just reach out to anyone and walk with the Lord during this time.

Hello my Daily Audio Bible Family. This is Aussie James and yeah, I no longer live in Japan, I’ve been back in Australia since 2019. But I haven’t called in for ages. I think last time I called in was 2018. But I’ve been listening along most of the time though sometimes I haven’t, but I have been listening pretty much consistently in the last little while. So, yeah, I just heard about Pelham’s passing and I’m really to bad to hear about that. When I first joined the Daily Audio Bible, he had just joined it as well and we were praying for each other, on the prayer line. Yeah, just pray for me, I’m, I’ve got, you know, just finding it hard with my work and I’m doing a bit of seminary study as well. Just thinking direction of when we go back to Japan to live or even just for a visit, cause we haven’t been back because of the you know, the situation in the world with all the lock downs and everything, we haven’t been back yet. But things are starting to open up. But we’re just planning when that will be the right time to make a visit. And yeah, there’s opportunity for maybe move back there for longer term. But I just wanna get my seminary studies completed before I do that. And a shout out to my friend Slave of Jesus, glad to hear you’re still around mate. And also, James the Teacher we’re praying for you and all the situations in your life at the moment. Thank you, my wonderful Daily Audio Bible. Love you all, bye.

Hi guys, it’s Emily in Seattle. It’s Saturday January 14 and I have a prayer request. My husband is a delivery driver for a small courier company. And his dispatcher, dispatches two companies. And the one that my husband doesn’t work for is in a serious situation right now. A driver is missing and he had some samples of blood with him that were from a clinic going to hospital, I think. And we can’t find the guy or the samples or his car or anything. And because this is blood, that he was supposed to deliver, there could be lawsuits involved because patients’ lives are at stake. So, if you could pray for Jack, that’s the dispatcher and the owner of the company, named Kevin. That God would protect it and then they wouldn’t go under because of this situation. Even if they were taken to court. Just pray that God would that everything would work out for the best. Thank guys.

Genesis 39:1-41:16, Matthew 12:46-13:23, Psalms 17:1-15, Proverbs 3:33-35

Today is the 19^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you on this 19^th day of the brand-new year and it’s great to be around the Global Campfire as we take the next step forward, the 19^th step forward in the Scriptures this year, which will lead us back into the book of Genesis and back into the story of Joseph, who is one of the sons of Israel, Jacob’s sons. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Genesis chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 16.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have several things going on as we do each and every day that we move through the Scriptures. And, so, looking back into the book of Genesis as we really get fully immersed in the story of Joseph, who is the favored son of Jacob, whose name has become Israel. And, so, he had the coat of many colors and he was a child in Jacob’s old age and so his other brothers despised him in part because of the affection that his father had for him that was different than the real rest of the brothers but also because he’s a teenager, he’s a teenage boy. And, so, he has dreams and obviously like later on he becomes an interpreter of dreams. That’s one of the things that we were reading about today. So, obviously these dreams have significant…significance in his life, but he’s a kid and he doesn’t know exactly how to interpret what he’s seeing. And, so, he tells his family the way that the dreams go, are that the family ends up bowing down to him. And, so, he has a couple of dreams and the brothers just hate him for the dreams. Even his dad’s is kinda like, really? You think we’re gonna bow down to you? And, so, as the story goes there’s animosity specifically toward Joseph. Among all of the children of Israel there’s some animosity toward Joseph. He’s a boy coming of age and that can be problematic and a difficult time in any young boy’s life and in the family’s life as well. So, this is all going on, but there is favoritism going on as well. And Joseph kind of reports back to his dad what his brothers are doing. And, so, he’s kinda like the tattletale. And as it turns out Joseph is sent to find his brothers and find out how they’re doing. And he has to go on a pretty long journey. If he’s going from…from the south near the Negev all the way Shechem he’s gotta go pretty far to the north to find them. And as the story goes, they see him from far off, they decide let’s end the dreaming by ending the dreamer. Let’s kill him. Let’s be done with him. He ends up being thrown into a pit. They take his precious robe, his…this unique gift given to him by his father. This robe is taken from him. But he retains his integrity. His clothes aren’t his character. He retains his integrity, even as he’s thrown by his own family into a pit, while they figure out what they’re going to do. And can you imagine Joseph in a pit in the middle of the desert screaming for help and no one coming to help him, just kind of being in this pit and left there. And then he gets pulled from the pit, only to be transferred into the hand of the Ishmaelites trafficked by his own family and he is taken into Egypt where he is sold into slavery. Well…sold…I guess as if…if you can think of it in those terms. He ends up in Potiphar’s house. So, he ends up in a high-ranking officials home and his integrity is intact, and his hope isn’t lost. He isn’t bitter. He's…he’s not in a corner going, how…why is this happening to me. He’s holding onto God to figure out where this whole story is going. And in short order, he becomes the…the supreme leader of Pharaoh’s house. He’s in charge of his household. And of course, Pharaoh’s wife notices that he’s handsome and well-built and she wants a little of that action. And, so, she goes and asks for it, and he won’t. He won’t go to bed with her. And this goes on and on and on, right? She keeps pressuring him and pressuring him. And he keeps telling her, I can't…like I can’t do that. I cannot break trust with my master. I cannot sin against God. And, so, one day they’re alone and she presses in on him and he has to remove himself and he flees and he…he leaves his robe behind. This is like the second time this has happened. His robe has been taken from him again. And yet he flees with his character and integrity intact. And for all of that, for this young man who is vital and handsome and good-looking and desirable, for all of his integrity and character where does he end up? In another dungeon and another pit. He had been thrown into a pit in the desert and now he is in a pit after losing his robe again. Now he’s in the dungeon and he hasn’t done anything wrong and he has to stay there for years. And of course, he does interpret some dreams and those dreams come true, and it eventually gets him out of the dungeon and before Pharaoh. And that’s gotta be crazy culture shock if you’ve been for years in a dungeon and the next thing you know guards are coming in going, get a bath boy. Shave. You’re going to see Pharaoh. And he ends up in front of Pharaoh and he’s told a dream that he needs to interpret. And we’ll pick up the story from there. But we’re watching a story unfold that has many many layers to it in. I mean one of those layers are that what Joseph is wearing is not who Joseph is. And even when we find ourselves in the corner going, why is this happening to me, the story of Joseph allows us to understand that maybe we’re in the middle. Maybe this is the part of the story where there is challenge and difficulties to overcome, but maybe this isn’t the end of the story. Because as we will see in the coming days this is not the end of Joseph’s story.

And then we move into the book of Matthew and Jesus begins now to teach with parables and they’ll be many parables that we will encounter as we continue our journey through the book of Matthew. But a parable is a like an illustration story, a story that says more than just the words, pictures that mean more than the words and nuances that allow for many layers so that like a parable story can be pondered and looked at from many different angles and many truths can emerge from these parables. This is part of a rabbinic tradition, teach your disciples using parables. And in the parable today, Jesus says, consider the sower who went out to sow. When he sowed some seed…some seed. And, so, as the story goes, a sower goes out to sow and he sows a field that has different kinds of soil in it, different kinds of terrain. And the way that the seed gets established in the soil depends upon the soil that the seed fell upon. And in this case, Jesus gives the interpretation. When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. So, seed was sown along a path. For us we need to consider in our hearts what kind of soil are we. What type of soil is available to the seed of the good news of God’s kingdom? If we are the path, then we hear the word about the kingdom, but we don’t understand it and it’s easily snatched away from us. So, if we’re the path, what we do? Seek understanding. The reason that it was stolen away was because the person didn’t understand. But there’s other soil. And…and I’m quoting Jesus, “and the one sown on rocky ground”…so seed that fell on soil that is rocky, “this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, but he has no root and is short-lived. When distress, or persecution comes because the word, immediately he falls away.” So, what do we do if we’re rocky soil? What do we do if we’re the person who hears and we rejoice and we’re like, yes, I am in. Yes, absolutely count me in. But there are rocks all around so that the roots cannot go deep. We cannot get routed because there is no soil to take root. And, so, when we’re challenged, according to Jesus, when distress, or persecution comes to when were challenged we aren’t rooted and so we immediately fall away. And, so, what do we do if we’re rocky soil? I…I have to deal with rocky soil. Like, we have a farm and we have to take care of it and it has rocky soil. And I have learned that you can kinda deal with the rocky soil, you can work around it. But if you want it to be fertile, you want to use it for something, you gotta dig up the rocks. You gotta get them out of there. And, so, if we are rocky soil, if we believe in the good news of the kingdom of God but anytime we’re challenged internally we have to face hardship, we find ourselves shaking our fists at the sky going why are you letting this happen to me. Then we need to get routed. And in order to get routed we need to take a look at the soil in our hearts, the hardness, the rockiness and begin to work with the Holy Spirit in removing the rocks so that there is good soil. And then there’s the thorny soil. So, some seed falls on soil that is thorny and according to Jesus this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. So, what do we do if we’re thorny? And isn’t that what it feels like, the worries of the world, the worries that we’re carrying around on our shoulders, the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, like this treadmill that we’re running on thinking that we can achieve and achieve and achieve and it becomes a distraction that we spend our whole lives trying to pursue. It feels like thorns. Anxiety and worry feel like thorns and our gut, right? So, what do we do if we’re thorny soil? We begin to become aware that the worries of life, the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of our pursuits are distracting us. And then finally there is seed that was sown on good ground, and it bore fruit, some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown. And, so, we look at this and go…I mean we can look at this from lots of different angles and it’s been taught from lots of different angles, but I read this and I go, well, what kind of soil am I because the goal here is to become good soil that bears fruit. And what fruit do we want to bear? The fruit of the Spirit. But we need to look at the soil. We need to get out and walk around and investigate the terrain of our hearts.

Prayer:

Father, we invite you into all this. That’s a lot we’ve covered today, and we thank you for the examples that are in the story of Joseph. We thank you for all that they have for us to learn about our own lives and we thank you that the story of your people is unfolding before us in the book of Genesis. And Jesus, we thank you for the way that you taught, way that you are gentle and kind but…but willing to step into things when they were simply wrong and make corrections and the way that you have given us these stories to ponder and contemplate and consider. And, so, Holy Spirit we invite you to help us examine the soil of our hearts today. What kind of soil are we? The truth is, we can be all in these kinds soil in different areas of our lives, but it’s our desire to be good soil that produces good fruit for your kingdom. Help us. We will never navigate this without you. Help us, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you can find out what is going on around here unless you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app and then you have it in the palm of your hand. So, just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the main app screen and that will open up a drawer and check out the different sections.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there in the shop for the journey that we are on in a number of categories. So, look into that.

And of course, the Community section is where to get connected. There are different links to the social media channels that we are a part of as well as the Prayer Wall there in the community section. So, dive in and get connected in any way that you want to and in any way that you can.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible thank you profoundly. 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 PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can for sure hit the Hotline button in the app. That should work wherever you may be in the world as long as you have an Internet connection, or there are a number of numbers that you can dial. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Coming soon. Day 6 of our missions trip to Nicaragua. Prayer and Praise will be posted when we return to the states…

Genesis 37:1-38:30, Matthew 12:22-45, Psalm 16:1-11, Proverbs 3:27-32

Today is the 18th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is fantastic to be here with you today. Got a nice steamy cup of Wind Farm coffee to my left, as is the normal way of things. Looking out over the day, coming in and centering ourselves here at the Global Campfire, allowing the cares of this life to just take a break. Just kind of leave them outside the circle. We can go grab all the cares of this life all we want; we can drag around worries that aren’t even ours if we want. But we need a break from it, and this is that break. So, we come in here and it’s safe and we allow the Scriptures to speak to us and then we can go deal with those cares of life. We can pick them back up and drag them around or we can approach them with maybe some new clarity that the Scriptures bring into our story. And so, it is wonderful to be here with you today as we take the next step forward, which leads us back into the book of Genesis. We’ve been moving through Abraham and then Isaac and then Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel and then we learned of his children, who will one day be the tribes of Israel. Yesterday, we also learned about Esau’s family tree and his family line because he becomes the Edomites. We have not seen the last of the Edomites. And although the brothers have kind of reconciled, there is enmity between the Edomites and the Israelites, although they are brothers. And we’ll see this pickup along the way, as we continue the story. But now, we are about to meet one of Israel’s or Jacob’s sons and immerse ourselves fully in his story for a while, his name is Joseph. So, we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week, Genesis chapter 37 and 38.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the gospel of Matthew today, Jesus talks about something that is, that…that won’t be forgiven. And so, we should probably like go wait, what and pay attention to what is being said here and what is going on here. Specifically, like we’ll just start at the statement that Jesus makes. “Therefore, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy. But the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.” That is intense. And you know, I grew up as a church kid, I grew up as a pastor’s kid. I’ve been around this my entire life. And so, this particular passage really haunted me as a child, really badly. Like really badly. Enough to have me at the altar every time the altar was available, worrying about this unpardonable, this unforgivable thing that is somehow blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. As a kid, I didn’t know what that meant but I was terrified that I had done it. And I was much too afraid to talk to anybody, like my parents about it, in case well, in case I had done it. Ironically, it’s a bit different in context. It’s a bit different what Jesus is saying. And it’s more near then we then we understand. I can remember, like maybe a decade ago, maybe a decade ago, I came across this website where people who had been hurt or people who were just atheist or whatever, like they were literally like taping or recording their confessions and posting them like this was them getting on camera saying I deny the Holy Spirit. And that was going to be the unpardonable sin, so like you can’t go back from that, you’re damned after that. If there is a God, you’re damned and so that clears it all up. I deny the Holy Spirit. I am doomed, if there is an afterlife but I don’t believe there is one. And that’s kind of what was going on there. I thought man this is dark, but man, this is sad. What would…would bring somebody to that place that they would do this. And the irony is that some of them were doing it because someone else had blasphemed the Holy Spirit and destroyed what that could be for another person, who in turn denied it all together, which is generally what Jesus is talking about here. So, we started our story today, Jesus is healing, and the Pharisees are upset about him healing on the Sabbath day and even plotting to destroy him. But Jesus continues to do what Jesus is doing, to reveal God’s kingdom and to bring the benefits of God’s kingdom into the lives of people. And so, people were finding wholeness again. They were being healed and as the Bible tells us that the crowds were astounded and said could this be the son of David. In response, the Pharisees say it’s not, he’s not the son of David. He throws out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by the power of the evil one, by the ruler of demons, he casts out demons. So let us pause there for second. Was Jesus bringing healing and wholeness and restoration to the people, by the power of the ruler of demons? Like were the Pharisees telling the truth? That’s kind of a softball question, we can all say no, they weren’t telling the truth. No, He wasn’t throwing out demons by the power of the ruler of the demons, He’s God, He was throwing them out. He was doing what He’s doing under the power of God, or we might say by the Spirit of God, or we might say, the power of the Holy Spirit. So, it’s either the prince of demons or the power of the Holy Spirit, which is Jesus operating under? We would say, of course, the power of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees were attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the ruler of the demons, that is blasphemy. Elevating anything to the position of or above God is blasphemy. That is what Jesus is saying and going after here. Like, hey Pharisees, you are calling what God is doing of the devil. Like God is doing this and you are attributing it to the forces of evil, you are elevating the forces of evil to the position of God. You don’t want to do that. It doesn’t even make sense, which is why Jesus goes on to say every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan’s driving out Satan, he’s divided against himself, how will that stand. This doesn’t even make any sense. If I throw out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons drive them out? Where this gets really close to home, especially in the Christian subculture is that we can be quite flippant with what we label things as. We can be very flippant and very easily say something is of the devil, and it may be, that may be true but we can be loose enough that to start labeling things of the evil one that we just don’t understand. And that’s not okay. To call something of the evil one, that we just don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it’s evil or from the evil one. We have this example, right in front of us, clear as day, the Pharisees were certainly envious of Jesus, but they were also calling Jesus of the devil, which means that they were calling God of the devil, which also means that they were calling what God was doing of the devil. And according to Jesus that won’t work, that’s not a good plan. And so, before we start labeling things because we don’t understand them and we can’t imagine that God would work in such and such a way, that we then make it of the devil, then were doing the same thing. God has no problem doing things we don’t understand. God doesn’t really care, He’s going to do what is right and good and He’s going to restore things, even if it breaks the rules, even if it’s on the Sabbath, even if it’s not part of the tradition. Even if nobody’s ever done it that way before. And so, like yesterday, we were talking from the book of Proverbs about how wisdom and discernment are the things we need most as we’re looking at the world. We needed in these times. We can’t just go around labeling things that God might be doing just because we don’t understand them, because we could inadvertently find ourselves calling what God is doing of the devil. I just don’t think any of us want to even be anywhere near that territory. We just have to observe ourselves and realize how close to that territory we get.

Prayer:

And so, Jesus, we are taking what You are saying to heart and examining it in our lives and inviting Your Holy Spirit to come and show us the ways that we’re dancing around things that are dangerous and are not healthy and are not good. We do not want to stand in Your way. We don’t want to stand in Your way, whether we understand what’s going on or not. We want to follow You. So, Holy Spirit, come. Help us see the ways that we label things and dismissed things and deny things, that You may be doing in this world. Help us to have eyes to see and ears to hear. Help us to have wisdom and discernment. We pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base and that’s the website and home base is also in the palm of your hand if you have the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can download free from whatever app store is connected to your device. So, check that out. Check out the Community Section, there are links to get connected on social media on the different social media platforms that we participate in there, in the Community Section. And that is also the home of the Prayer Wall, which is always available to us no matter what is happening, no matter where we are, no matter what time it is, we can always go and share our story with our brothers and sisters and invite them, invite them into the story and hear back prayer and encouragement from our brothers and sisters around the world, showing us yet again that we are in this together and not alone and that is the Prayer Wall. So be aware of that. It is in the Community Section on the app or on the website.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, humbly, we would not be here if we weren’t here together and so, thank you deeply 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 will be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi, this is Victorious Soldier, just calling to pray for some of the DABers. I want to pray for To Be a Blessing from California, glad to know that you got a miracle of finding a place to live. I’m praying for all of you all in California and the disasters that that are going there. I want to pray for Tony. I want to pray for Victoria who going through with her husband, and I want to also pray for Kathy. I want to pray for Kathy from New York, her friend Natalie over the brain. I want to pray for them in the surgery, even the guiding of the doctor’s hand. I want to pray for Eva who is going through some challenges with the…with the, in the mental hospital. I want to pray for my precious sister. And I want to pray for Debbie. I want to pray for Debbie and also Victoria. Lord in the name of Jesus, the names I called You know everything about them. Father, You’re a miracle working God. You’re a mighty God; You’re a Holy God. We ask You to have Your way. We ask You to open doors that no man can close. We ask You to bless that precious baby, to be the baby that…that you called him to be. We ask You to touch that ___. We ask You to guide that doctor’s hand, let it be a tremendous miracle. And everything be done, and everything being done under one roof, at one time. You guide the doctor’s hand, the doctor’s mind and all of the minds of those that are going through. Father, will You just have Your way in the DABers life. We just ask You to give them life and favor. We ask You to give them mercy. We ask You to have mercy and we ask You to have Your way. We thank You for this podcast. And we just thank you for blessing Your people. We give You the glory and the honor and the praise. In Jesus mighty name, we pray. Amen.      

Hey Daily Audio Bible, this is a message to all those teens out there that are struggling voice faith, in the storms of this world, who is a hard place, the struggle of faith. But Bible tells us to be bold. Romans 1:16 I believe, be bold in our faith. I myself am a teenager, I’m 15. And I want to speak encouragement to all of us out there. If we are struggling with our beliefs, it doesn’t matter. We are serving the creator who created all and no one can tell us to do otherwise. Just praise him and spread the Bible. So, if you have a friend that may need help, they’re not that close with God. They’re one heartbeat away, one car crash away from not being with Jesus eternal. So, be bold and spread the faith. Pray for that. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello fellow DABers this is Wind and Wire from Vancouver Washington and my number one prayer, and I ask for your prayers for my children, who just need to come to know Jesus in their own, each in their own way. And just pray for that and I ask you to pray for that. I’m also asking for prayers for my wife that…that her shoulder will be healed completely. And these are the prayers that I have today. Thank you so much. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hi this is Lorrie from South Carolina. I just wanted to call in a praise report because something happened that is a miracle to me. But tonight, I was driving home from work and my gas tank showed that it was empty, and I didn’t have any gas. So, I got out, I pulled over to a gas station and I prayed, all the way inside. Father, please let me find money in my bill fold that I don’t know about. But instead, the clerk, Tracy. I said, Tracy, let me try my debit card for three dollars. And I tried it and it wouldn’t work. And she said, I’m gonna give you 10 dollars on tank number 10. And I said, no, I can’t take your money and she said yes ma’am you can. And after I fought with her, I gave her my company’s name because she needs to be working at my company as a caregiver too. Because obviously she has the compassion of Jesus. And she paid for my gas home tonight. So, I’m gonna be praising Jesus all the way home tonight. I was saying, Jesus, how was I gonna make it. And He made a way for me. He made a way where there was no way. And that’s what He does in my life every single day. And if there’s people out there who don’t believe all they had to do is call me. I am one living miracle after another. And I pray for all of you, and I love you all. And I pray that you get the same miracles today that I received. I love you Jesus. And I love you Hardin Family. Amen.

Hi DAB family, this is Linza calling from the West Coast. I also go by Philippians 4:6 on the Prayer Wall. Thank you all so much for all your prayers about my cancer. It does turn out that I have stage 4 terminal cancer, stomach cancer. And my health has just deteriorated pretty fast. I could really use your prayers that the hospital that I’m at keeps me admitted until my amazing care takers fly in on Thursday. If you could just pray about that, it’s been kind of a battle to make that happen. And I’m really scared to go home because I’m not able to do basic things like get in and out of bed, dress myself, make food. So, I’m just really praying that God protects me in the week that I have before my caretakers get here. I’m really blessed that my best friend from college is a doctor and she…she and her dad and her mom are gonna have me stay with her parents and they’re a retired nurse and surgeon. And so, they’re medical professionals. And they’re so amazing and kind that they’re opening up their home for me. So, I just have to wait until Thursday when I’ll get there and have somewhere safe where I can be cared for outside of the hospital. So, I’m just blessed and praising God for providing for me in that way. And also, I just really need your prayers urgently. I’ve just been in so much pain and just the procedure gets scarier and more painful. And that I still see God’s light in all of it. So, thank you so much for your prayers. I really appreciate it.

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Vicky from the Desert. Please pray with me tonight for all who have cancer and for their healing. Heavenly Father, I come to your throne of grace. I’m grateful for Jesus dying for my sins. Thank you for Jesus shedding His blood, His blood that washes all our sins away and has great healing power. Heavenly Father, I ask that You apply the blood of Jesus over all who have cancer, that You have your healing power blow through them, from the head to the bottom of their feet. Your healing, healing of any cancer in them. I ask this Lord, for all who have this, whether they know they have cancer or not. Whether they go through chemo or not, I ask Lord God. Asking for a miracle. Please heal them Lord with Your healing power. In Jesus name I pray. Thank you, family, for praying with me. Vicky from the Desert. Thank you.    

The 11th and 13th posts are there now. Sometimes we’re not able to post the same day due to other commitments and responsibilities.

Just posted the 15th. Won’t be able to post the prayers until next week. Traveling in Nicaragua doing missions work.