Month: January 2023

Genesis 35:1-36:43, Matthew 12:1-21, Psalms 15:1-5, Proverbs 3:21-26

Today is the 17^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is fantastic to be here with you today as we gather and keep each other warm in these winter months. I know some of you are having summer in the southern hemisphere. It’s always a good time for a campfire and here we are around it gathering to take the next step forward. And our next step forward leads us back into the book of Genesis, first book of the Bible, a book that is introducing us to the people and the family that is the story of the rest of the Bible in large part, the children of Israel. And we now know why they’re called the children of Israel, because Jacob who we’ve met, who we’re traveling alongside with right now, his name has been changed to Israel, which makes his children Israel’s children the children of Israel. And yesterday Jacob and Esau the two brothers, twin brothers were reunited, and it was favorable, and there was no war and nobody died. And, so, they have been reunited. Esau has returned to his land. Jacob is taking his time. And we pick up the story with Jacob from there today. Genesis chapters 35 and 36.

Commentary:

Okay, let’s think about it for a second. Do we want our life to be kind of all over the place kind of vulnerable kind of unpredictable or would we prefer like that we have solid roots, we are rooted, we cannot be shaken, or would we prefer to be tripped up and ensnared or would we prefer that we don’t step into a trap and become ensnared? I suppose we can answer any way that we want but probably most of us want to be rooted and not shaken and most of us want to not be ensnared and tripped up and I mean especially spiritually. These things are addressed today in the Scriptures that we just read from the Psalms and from the Proverbs providing not just the suggestion that we should be immovable or steady or steadfast or not shaken or not ensnared, but we are provided with criteria that reveals the motivations of the heart in a person who is not shaken or who is not ensnared. So, let’s just kind of review and look back at what we read in Psalms and Proverbs today.

Psalms begins asking a couple questions. “Who Lord can dwell in your tent? Who can live on your holy mountain? In other words, who can be near, who can be intimate, who can be in your presence?” And we’d have to say like that's…that’s the goal. Like intimacy with God, deeper union with God, deeper awareness and clarity with the Lord in our relationship with God, this is what we’re seeking. Ans, so, the Psalm tells us, “the one who lives blamelessly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue, who does not harm his friend or discredit his neighbor, who despises the one rejected by the Lord, but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his word whatever the cost, who does not lend his silver at interest or take a bribe against the innocent. The one who does these things will never be shaken.” And as we look at the psalm and kind of look at these characteristics that describe the person who isn’t shaken and describe the person who can dwell in the presence of the Lord, none of these things are ambiguous. There a way of living, a way of looking at the world, a way of responding to the world and the Bible is telling us that they provide a rootedness that we are looking for within ourselves.

And then we move into the Proverbs and in very eloquent simplicity we are told that we should maintain sound, like solid wisdom and discretion, we should maintain these things, right? So, maintenance requires taking care of things when they’re starting to break down, replacing parts, fixing, oiling, greasing. Like, maintenance, maintain solid sound wisdom and discretion. And then the proverb goes on as they, “don’t lose sight of them. They will be a life for you and adornment for your neck and you will go safely on your way. Your foot will not stumble. When you lie down you will not be afraid. When you lie down your sleep will be pleasant. Don’t fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.” In both the Psalms and the Proverbs today we are…we’re given this picture of a posture of heart, a way of being, ways of looking at things, characteristics to espouse, learn, master, and maintain. Because the repercussions of us doing this are that we will become steadfast, that we will not be shaken, that we will have the confidence of the Lord and be kept from a snare, that our foot will not stumble. Like, friends, that’s what…I mean we’re doing everything in our lives to arrange for this. Like we’re doing everything that we can to get enough control over things that we can have some steady footing to stand on. It’s just that normally, life is flying at us so fast that we can never actually be balanced. We’re always standing on one foot while juggling. What if we had two foot…two feet firmly planted on the ground and nothing was flying at us? I mean things were flying at us, but we were able to just kinda see what was coming, and with a steadfast resolution know what’s going on. Like, we’re doing everything and being marketed like crazy to buy things that are gonna provide all of this for us when it’s going to come from within and it’s going to require that we pay attention to things like wisdom and discretion and discernment. And we’re going to have to pay attention to the way that we are treating one another. But again, here at the beginning of the year allowing these things to be actual categories, actual things that aren’t like esoteric concepts, but rather things that we are looking for and embracing and cultivating in our lives, then the Bible will prove true. We have been given some criteria to live into and the repercussions will be stability and awareness of what’s going on. And, so, maybe let's…let’s stick with this all day. Let’s kinda dwell on this today. Maybe go back and review Psalm 15 and Proverbs 3 that we’re reading from today verse 21 through 26. Look at these things. Imagine what they would look like in our lives. Some of them are in our lives to varying degrees. Some of these things we do and some of these things we don’t, and they have a tendency to cancel each other out so that we’re getting nowhere. But if we look at these things and say, okay, for real, for real I need to pay attention and incorporate these things. I want to feel surefooted. I don’t want to be tripped up. I don’t want to stumble. I don’t want to fall. I want to live my life in the presence of the Lord with the confidence that God is with me. This is available. The Bible has just given us a glimpse of what it looks like.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite you into this. None of these things can be mastered on our own. We have tried all kinds of ways to do everything from losing weight to breaking bad habits and we realize how much we lack self-control, how much we lack discipline, how much we lack orientation, how easy it is for us to be lost in the fog or the mist of life. We’re not capable of creating our own righteousness and our own stability. But in collaboration with you, this is what we were made for - to live with confidence, to live with clarity, to live with an outpouring of love that spills from you into the world through us. We desire these things. And, so, we acknowledge our need for your help badly. Come Holy Spirit lead us into all truth. Show us the shifts that need to take place for us to move toward stability, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is where you can find out what is going on around here. So, certainly check it out. You can check it out on the Daily Audio Bible app as well.

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If you want to partner with a Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anybody anywhere any time and to build community around the rhythm of showing up every day and taking the next step forward together, if that is life-giving to you than thank you humbly and 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 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. It’s day four of our missions trip to Nicaragua. Prayers and praise will be posted upon return…

Genesis 32:13-34:31, Matthew 11:7-30, Psalm 14:1-7, Proverbs 3:19-20

Today is the 16th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is fantastic to be here with you today, as we gather and find a place around the Global Campfire here and move forward together. We are still continuing our journey through the book of Genesis in the Old Testament, and we are with Jacob, who has fled Laban, after 20 years in his service, he’s taken his entire household and is going back home and on his way. He has sent messengers to Esau his brother, if we remember right, last time we saw Jacob and Esau together, Esau wanted to kill Jacob, for all of the trickery, the fatherly blessing, the inheritance, the birthright that was taken through deception. And so, last time they parted company it was not on good terms and Jacob is a little freaked out about it. And that’s where we pick up the story, Genesis chapter 32 verse 13 through 34 verse 31.

Commentary:

Okay, so we have a bunch of stuff happening in the Scriptures today. In the book of Genesis, we have been traveling alongside Jacob. And again, not to be like overly redundant, but this is important for us to remember. Abraham was called by God into a land that he didn’t know. Right, and he entered into a covenant with God. A child of promise was born to Abraham and Sarah his wife, the child Isaac. Isaac has children of his own now. Jacob and Esau and we’ve gone through their whole story. We even talked about it at the beginning, how the last time we saw them together, there was a lot of animosity. But they’re heading toward each other again and they meet again. Jacob is fairly well terrified, he’s moving all of his household around into different camps trying to figure out, like, if one camp gets attacked maybe another camp can get away. He’s selecting all these gifts and sending them ahead to sort of soften Esau, if Esau is still mad. And it gets dark, and so Jacob has everybody separated into camps and trying to keep them safe and he’s by himself and he has a wrestling match all evening with somebody. And that somebody has been appointed great conjecture over the years. On the one hand, many people say he’s wrestling with his brother Esau they’re…they’re fighting with each other, they’re working it out. Other people say no, he’s wrestling with God. And that other people would be like, no, no, really, it really does have to be Esau, because when he does see Esau, he says you look, you know, seeing your face is like seeing the face of God. And so, this has been wrestled with and it could be easy enough for us to go, does it, I mean like how, like what, why does this matter? And the reason that it does kinda matter in this particular context is that this is where we see Jacob’s name get changed. Jacob’s name has been changed to Israel, that’s a pretty important name in the Bible. And as we’ve kind of pointed out before, if Jacob’s name has changed to Israel, then…then Jacob’s children are the children of Israel. And that is what we are indeed watching be formed before our very eyes.

And then, just real briefly, we flip over to the book of Matthew, and we see Jesus having a conversation about John the Baptist. And what we’re beginning to see is the tension that is arising around Jesus. The people, including John and his disciples, are expecting a certain kind of Messiah, a certain kind of anointed one. They have some expectations about God sending a…a Redeemer, a deliverer. And in their mindset, they’re…they’re looking at…at their status. They are a people that live within a land of Empire, the Roman empire. They are in their ancestral homeland but it’s not there’s and it hasn’t been since the Babylonian exile. So, it’s been centuries and the Jewish people have a little bit of exemption in the Empire around their worship. They, the Jewish religion is a very ancient old religion, and it was already in the first century, a very ancient old religion. And typically, people inside the Roman Empire are expected to worship a variety of God’s, the gods of the Empire, the gods that protect the Empire. The Jewish people had sort of an exemption from that, they worship one God. And but…but sort of the repercussions of that are that they’re marginalized inside of the culture. And so, they’re within the Empire’s boundaries, but they don’t have citizenship, they don’t have a voice. They’re in their ancestral homeland, but they have no control. And so, this breeds all kinds of tensions. So, we have groups of spiritual leaders, like the Sanhedrin, especially the Sadducees, trying to keep the tension, like trying to work with the Roman people, collude with the Romans and just keep the people under control, keep the Romans from getting mad enough to just, you know, wipe them out. But then you have people on the other extreme, like zealots who are like we’ve got to get the sword of the Lord and unsheathe it and go and destroy God’s enemies. So, there’s this kind of waiting for somebody to rise up that can lead like that and pull all of the people together. And here comes Jesus, clearly and anointed of God, moving about the countryside, speaking of the arrival of the kingdom of heaven, with signs and wonders following Him and people are wondering, is this the one, is this guy. Even…even John sends his disciples to Jesus because that’s the talk, like that's…that’s what’s going on underneath the surface here. And so, John’s disciples come to Jesus, essentially going John wants to know, are you the one or should we be waiting for somebody else, because Jesus is kind of fitting…fitting the bill. He's…he kind of looks like what He should look like, except for He’s not doing a lot of like battle cries and raising swords and rallying people together in some sort of military move. So, Jesus ends up telling John’s disciples, go back and tell John what you’re seeing and what they’re seeing is that the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are being raised, infirmities are being healed, good news of the kingdom is being announced to the poor. Like, yes, this looks different than what you’re expecting but go tell John that what’s happening is that the kingdom is breaking forth. And so, it’s very clear that the kingdom Jesus is talking about is different than what the expectations are. And so then, Jesus in today’s reading is simply asking the crowds why did you even go to see John in the first place? What was the motivator? We’re you trying, what we’re you trying to see? Did you want to see or read swaying in the wind? Did you want to see somebody dressed in soft clothes? What did you go to see, a prophet? Yes, you went to see a prophet, and that is what you saw. And so, you have gone out to see a prophet and you have come to me and we have different styles and none of it is good enough for any of you. Are none of you getting what’s going on? And then Jesus says to what could I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplace who call out to other children, we played the flute for you, but you wouldn’t dance. So, we got sad and sang a lament, but you wouldn’t mourn. Right, like no matter what we did, you wouldn’t respond. For John, and I’m quoting Jesus, “for John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon. And then I come eating and drinking and you say, look, there’s a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” And so, we’re able to get some insight here in the, to a little bit of the exasperation like Jesus is like I’m doing this right in from your very eyes and speaking to you plainly, but your set of expectations are different than this. And so, what can we do? Like what hoop do we need to jump through to actually get your attention? And we’ll watch this tension continue to…to build. We probably know where this story goes, but at this juncture, we get the opportunity to consider our own expectations of God. And God’s presence is not something we can escape. Like, wherever we go, He is. We just spend a lot of our time asking Him where He’s gone. When He’s right here. It gives us the opportunity to consider our own relationship with God and is it just a series of expectations? Is God, the powerful one, who goes about making our lives easy? Are we putting God in the same position that Jesus is talking about, where it’s like all these hoops that have to be jumped through and no matter what happens we’re not having eyes to see what God is at work doing in our lives, because…because it’s just different then our expectations? Some things to think about today.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You that each day we have plenty to consider, plenty to go back to, plenty to wrestle with, plenty to consider more deeply, and we thank You for this opportunity. Holy Spirit, come do this work within us, transform us, align us with what is true, that we may walk the pathways of truth and wisdom. We pray this in the name of Jesus. 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, which can download free from whatever app store works with whatever device that you have, just search for Daily Audio Bible. And you can find out what’s going on around here and take the journey from within the app. And so, certainly check that out. The Community Section, one of the most important buttons on the web or in the app, will give you links to different social media channels that we participate in. But also, that is where the Prayer Wall lives, and we’ve talked about the Prayer Wall, and we will talk about the Prayer Wall. It is a resource that is always there for us, as part of the Global Campfire community here. We can always go and tell our story and ask for prayer, we can always go and just check in on different people stories and offer prayer and encouragements to them. And that can be found in the Community Section, either on the app or on the web. And so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If…if the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night, and to build community into that rhythm of showing up every day around the Global Campfire, so that as we take this journey, a year of life lived together in community, we realize were not alone. It’s not a solitary endeavor, we’re in this together. If that is life-giving to 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 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 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. I’m calling in to request a special prayer for my 20-year-old daughter who has so far, an undiagnosed physical illness. We’re getting more diagnostics later this month. And but it is unable for her to stand and so we have been bed ridden for several months. She has a hospital bed and a wheelchair. She also has Asperger’s and anxiety. And her, she’s been having more frequent manic episodes that are just terrible. And it is very difficult on me to manage because I also have been recently diagnosed with MS. So, I’m a single mom in this situation. I’ve got to still work. We’re trying to secure some in home health care, and it’s just been very overwhelming. And we really appreciate your prayers. Thank you so much.

Good morning DAB family. Happy New Year. This is Bridgett from New York City. I’m calling in first and foremost to say hi, Happy New Year, God bless you all. Welcome to everyone who has just joined us. Looking forward to a New Year and just being steady and consistent in the Lord. I wanted to pray for Hudson’s brother, he said that his brother is diabetic and that he’s having trouble. So, I’m just gonna lift him up right now. And Father, Jesus, thank You for a brother that cares, Lord God. Thank You for a brother that has asked for prayer. Thank You for this brother, Lord God, that called on Your Saints, Lord God, to pray for his brother, Lord God. And I just ask You that by Your Holy Spirit, my God, that You would come, that You would come and eradicate this diabetes in this child, Lord God, in this young man, Lord God. That You would come, Holy Spirit, and remove, Lord, and steady his blood and insulin levels, and Father, He would not have these boughts any longer. In the name of Jesus, Lord God. I ask You Father, for a full healing, Lord God, and a restoration to his body, Lord God. That this young Hudson would see Father, that You are true, that You are true to Your word. You say ask, see, knock and the door will be open, and you tell us to bang on the door when we struggle, Lord. That we will answer that You will answer, Lord God. So, I thank You Father for this young man and I pray Father, for a supernatural healing upon him. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Good morning DAB, this is Diana. I’ve walked with the Lord for 47 years and continue to grow, daily, every year. The Lord gave me a word last year, of trust and boy have I had to walk through trust. And now, this year, He has given me the word, faith. And we are continued on a walk that daily, takes faith. So just pray, that I will learn everything the Lord has for me to learn in trusting and having faith in what He is doing in our life. Thank you, God Bless.

Hey DABers, this is Slave of Jesus, North Carolina. Alright Holy Spirit let’s role. I mean we gotta a guy Chameleon, you’ve been listening for 15 years, you just called in for the first time. How cool is that? Great call, hope to hear you back. Micah in Awe, you talking about how you’re tithing 5% to DAB and you just keep getting blessing. I know, is that the weirdest thing in the world. So, the more we give, the more God pours on the blessing. Is not a magic formula, you don’t do it for that. But it’s just, I don’t know, mathematically, the more I give, the more money I have, it doesn’t make any sense. But yea, that’s just the way that it seems to work for me too. So, last year it was get ready for 2023, I had this vision that it was the first time that we were gonna get our special needs daughter living separate from my wife and I, after 20 years of marriage, 21 years of marriage. And that does not look like that is on the horizon. Actually, it’s just the opposite. We bunch a step, backwards yesterday, her main worker gave us three weeks’ notice that takes her to all her volunteer jobs. And the lady that my wife has finally been comfortable with staying overnight, including me and we had three nights in a row last week, I was so excited because I’d see light at the end of the tunnel. She’s moving in a couple months. So, we are back to square one of what to do, but God, if you’d just pray that my wife and I have wisdom and know how to integrate taking care of our special needs daughter with us trying to have a intimate marriage. Yeah, just prayers for that, I would really appreciate that. You guys are the ones that will help us see the answer that God wants and that’s what I should be praying for. Rather than, what I want. Love you all, have a great day.

Hello, my DAB family, this is Jamie in Jersey, Standing on the Word of God. I humbly ask you to please pray with me. Dear Father in Heaven, we want to praise, honor and glorify You but so often our faith is weak. Though, sometimes, we may waver, we know that at the end of every day, you are always waiting for us to come home to You. Remind us, that whatever we are feeling, there is one truth that prevails above all else, that You are faithful, and we are always going to be safe in Your hands. Help our heads and our hearts and our souls to believe in You and trust in You fully, without a doubt, knowing that in You, all things are possible. Father, help our faith to grow stronger every day, help us to continually realize that You are working everything for our good. Lord, may Your great love and sacrifice for us, inspire and encourage us to truly live our lives for You. Help us please to strengthen our faith. Help, let our faith grow strong and obedient to Your word, to love, serve, forgive and to always trust in You. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for praying along with me my brothers and sisters. May God richly bless you and give you the desires of your hearts. I love you all, have a good night.

Hi, it’s Andrew Buntner calling again, and I think for simplicity, I’ll go off my nickname which is the Bush Man. I just wanted to thank everybody for your prayers. I called in regard to divorce and what I’m going through there. And the blessing that I was given through the church, the miracle roof repair. Where I got everything that I needed for my kids. I feel I owed it to you guys to give you all an update. Unfortunately, the courts weren’t able to get the kids in my custody, just as of yet. The judge did go ahead and say that I should have parenting time, I should have unrestrained 50/50 custody for my kids. But unfortunately, my wife isn’t obliging. And it looks like I’m gonna be at least another month without them. And I just wanted to say that I find comfort in this program and Brian. And the gospel itself. Lots of help from the church, reading the Bible and listening to it here, and also listening to everybody else who, you know, everybody else’s stories and praying for you guys too. I’m happy to do it, it’s the least I can do because I feel the results of your prayers. I mean, today was a day where I, it started off a little rough and I realized that the job I’m at it’s causing me an allergic reaction and I wasn’t, I’m not able to continue on. But I mean, at 1 o’clock today another miracle happened, and I had another employer reach out to me and it’s gonna be a raise in pay and it’s gonna be something I’ve worked for doing. As, I, I don’t even know what to say there. I can’t believe all these miracles that keep on happening to me in this dark time. And I can only, I’m sure contributed to the prayers and the Lord Almighty. Looking out for little ol Bush Man here. I wanna thank …

the weekly prayer podcast doesn’t get transcribed

Genesis 31:17-32:12, Matthew 10:24-11:6, Psalms 13:1-6, Proverbs 3:16-18

Today is the 15^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we greet a brand-new sparkly week. All of it is out there in front of us, all of it is a story to tell, and we will tell the story with the decisions that we make this week. And one of the best decisions that we can make this week is to immerse ourselves in the rhythm of the Scriptures each day and allow them to speak to us and inform our choices. And, so, let’s dive in. This week we will read from the Christian Standard Bible and picking up the story where we left off. We are now with Jacob who is desiring to go back to his homeland. His wives have agreed and they’re trying to figure out a way to do it with as little drama as possible. And, so, that’s where we pick up the story. Genesis chapter 31 verse 17 through 32 verse 12 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for bringing us into this brand-new shiny week out in front of us. And as we begin this third week of the brand-new year we thank you for your presence in our lives, your kindness, your guidance, your patience with us. And we pray Holy Spirit that as we move into this week and as we gather around the Global Campfire every day and take the next step forward together that you would lead us into the truth, that you would plant the words from the Scriptures in our lives, that they would challenge us and transform us in the way that we think actually in all of our thoughts and all of our words and in all of our deeds. Come Holy Spirit into all of this, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Coming soon… In Nicaragua doing missions work and will post when I return.

Genesis 30:1-31:16, Matthew 10:1-23, Psalm 12:1-8, Proverbs 3:13-15

Today is the 14th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you on the 14th day of January, that’s the 14th day of our new year. This marks two full weeks that we have been able to live into this new year. And as we complete our reading for today, we’ll complete two weeks every day in the Bible. We are off to a fantastic start. Now when we go to the back of the ship and look back at where we’ve sailed from, we can barely see the land on the horizon. We are getting out into the deep and we will be sailing across this year together. But two weeks in, so much as happened, so much for us to think about, so much for us to allow to be brought up in our lives, as we move through the stories that are found in the Scriptures. And so, it’s great to mark this moment, two weeks, two weeks in, well done. We can do this, we’re gonna do this and it’s gonna be awesome. So, let’s dive in and take the next step forward. We’ve been reading from the New International Version this week, which is still this week, so that’s what will continue to do today. We are still working our way through the book of Genesis; we have found ourselves in the story of Jacob. So, we went through the story of Abraham and Isaac and now Jacob. Who has found himself married to two women who are sisters. One is barren, the other one has had some children, a family is in formation, this family will be the family that we follow through the rest of the Bible. And so, let’s dive in, Genesis chapter 30 verse 1 through 31 verse 16.

Commentary:

Okay so, as we complete our second full week in this year and in the Scriptures together; we continue to see the family drama in Jacob’s life. Jacob has gone from having two wives, who are sisters to now, essentially having four wives, the sisters and their and their attendants. And we’re basically watching a sisterly battle over who has the most children, which is their identity. And this comparison between the two is giving them a perceived value and it and it’s come down to Laban and Jacob and the family itself extended is that this is not going well. Jacob is beginning to build well for himself, and this is creating envy in the larger family. And so, there’s a bunch of drama going on and it’s come to the point where Jacob feels like he has to leave, and he’s tried to leave before but he’s been convinced to stay. But now he feels like he’s being led to leave, he’s got to leave. And so, we end our week by seeing kind of a counsel between the lives and their husband and he’s kinda sharing that they need to go, and they’re telling him we don’t have a reason to stay. So, if God is leading us, let’s go. And we will watch the story unfold, obviously, as we continue forward.

In the book of Matthew today, we saw Jesus, who is the rabbi to these disciples who are following him, we lose that at some point. Like, we know it in the back of our mind, Jesus is a rabbi traveling around the countryside. He’s got disciples who are following Him, but we lose track of what that looks like. There were other rabbis who had other disciples traveling around the countryside, like this is the tradition. A rabbi would call somebody to take their yoke upon them and they would leave everything and follow this rabbi. And then the rabbi would essentially become their 24-hour-a-day teacher like for this season. They would raise them up and…and give them all of the wisdom that they had learned and transfer all that treasure that was in their heart to their disciples, so that their disciple would one day grow up and maybe be released to have a tribe of their own, disciples of their own. Or to go into the world and live what they had learned following the rabbi. So, Jesus is called people to be His disciples, but He hasn’t really gone looking for like qualified Torah, excelling people who look like they will one day grow into being something. He kind of goes out among the ordinary people and invites them to become His disciples. And so, they are following Him around as He’s doing is teaching, they are witnessing what He is doing and everything that He does is essentially a teaching moment for them. They are observing all of it. So, he sends them out on a field trip basically, today. Telling them like look go to the lost sheep of Israel. So, He’s like I’m not sending you into a culture that you do not understand, I am not sending you to people that you do not know. I am sending you to what you do understand and the kind of people that you do know and I want you to take steps of faith. Like don’t take any money, don’t take any supplies, you’re going to go out and you’re gonna learn what it’s like to practice your faith. You’re going to go and learn what it’s like to do what I’m doing. So, we got to see that happen today in the gospel of Matthew.

And then finally, as we end this second week we look into the book of Proverbs, and we need this set of three sentences to sink in. This is also a game changer. Like this, if this can be remembered, if this can be the focus, this changes our lives. Blessed are those, and we want to be that right like, don’t we spend a lot of energy trying to get into the zone of blessing, like we want to be blessed. So, here we go. Blessed are those who find wisdom. Blessed are those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies, nothing you desire can compare with her. It’s the Bible is telling us that wisdom is better than money, wisdom is better than jewelry, wisdom is better than anything that you can desire because the wise person, the person with wisdom knows how to attain and achieve these other things. They…they come to the wise person, a person walking in wisdom. It’s so much like what Jesus is teaching, that things, that life is lived from within, that you can spend your whole life trying to make everything perfect outside of your life, but if you are in turmoil inside, nothing is ever going to feel like it has order or stability. But if you have order and stability in your soul and a profound and utter dependence on God, then we can live at peace, even if there’s chaos all around us. Wisdom works like this. We can spend our whole lives trying to achieve the trinkets that are available, as beautiful and flashy and sparkly as they may be, those things that we achieve will not make us wise people. But wisdom from within shows us how to live in every situation. So, the counsel here is that nothing we desire can compare with wisdom. So, like above all else, wisdom should be the goal. And we certainly become wise from experience, we can certainly become wise from the Scriptures by simply watching the stories unfold in seeing where the roads lead, we also become wise by putting our allegiance and utter dependence in God, the fear of the Lord is the be beginning of wisdom. And we also gain wisdom by stopping our reactions. Like instead of just like, something rubs us the wrong way, and so our immediate reaction is to punch back. Like not even knowing the situation, we will react so much and get ourselves into so much trouble. But wisdom would have a pause, a beat, a moment to check in with ourselves and reflect on what is going on before we make a mess. And so, let’s consider this. This would change how this year shapes up.

Prayer:

So, Father, we want change. We want things to shape up, that we are at peace inside of our souls trusting You and knowing that each day is an adventure to live. And that, that You are not oblivious, that You are with us always and would never leave us. Father, we are asking for wisdom, we need wisdom, maybe, I mean we have more knowledge than we have ever had in human history, we may need wisdom now more than ever. And how to interpret and walk through all this knowledge that we’ve amassed. We need Your Spirits guidance in our lives and so, we ask as we so often do that, Holy Spirit, You would lead us into all truth and away from that which is false. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, so check it out. If you don’t have the Daily Audio Bible app, you can download that free from whatever app store works with your device and take the journey from there, check that out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a number of categories in the Shop with resources for the journey that we are on. For example, the Lifestyle category in the Daily Audio Bible Shop is full of resources for the journey. For example, that the Daily Audio Bible Journal to write in or like the Global Campfire Cowboy Cup or the Global Campfire candle is all of the Black Wing pencil stuff, that I journal with, can be found in there. Some wearables like our Shalom Fleece Sweatshirt. Check it out in the Lifestyle section in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, humbly, we wouldn’t be in this, we wouldn’t be in this, 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, 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning family this is Lilly from Gotco, from California. Being in the season that I am in my life, I am now an Abuelita, which is grandmother in Spanish. So, I am now calling myself Lita Lilly and all the treasures, that that, that that entails. But I heard Annie today. I just wanted to encourage you sweety girl. For being 10 you are so wise. And if you ask for more wisdom, you will be granted that. I am praying with you, with your brother, for your brother and his mental problems. I share in that with you, and that grief and pain. And I just encourage you to just keep trusting in the Lord as you are, and He will give you that peace in your mind and heart. And we’ll be praying for healing for your brother. I’m also praying, I’m calling for Alissa, who’s in the hospital on dialysis and scared because her child, she’s pregnant and has a four-year-old at home. And I just encourage you sweet girl, that when our faith doesn’t feel strong, just keep praying. You know, we’re all here for your, we’re all praying for you. Just being with you sweet girl. God is always faithful, that’s all I’ve known through this journey in my life. Is that He is faithful no matter what. And so, I’m praying for your health and for your little girl to just be given peace. When you talk to her may God just embrace her and give her a strong hug and you too, Annie. I just love you all. Have a great day. Bye Bye.

Good morning family, this is Incognito but not to God. Requesting prayer for myself and for my family. Yesterday, January the 8th I received a call that nobody likes to receive. My nephew was found dead, Sunday morning by his 10-year-old daughter. My eldest sister, that’s my eldest sister’s son, and she lives internationally. So, you can only imagine when she got the call. So, just requesting prayer family. I’m asking God to just give us the wisdom to know how to proceed and to send the comforter. Lord, times like this. A year ago, we lost his brother in a tragic way as well. So, it’s a lot. But I’m gonna praise God anyhow. Thank you, family.

Hi, Daily Audio Bible family, it’s Renzo in Florida. I would just ask for some prayers. I’d been doing good, but I feel like, actually to explain my testimony a little bit, I’ve been clean from pornography for three years now. But, as you know, it’s a battle everyday with my thoughts. So, ask if you guys could just pray for my thought life and that it’s clean and honors God. And just, I keep an eye on where my eyes are at for sure. And I would appreciate that. God bless you. Jesus loves you.

Happy New Year DAB family, this is Mommy’s Little Rock from Arkansas. I just wanted to say, I am so grateful for this app. I’m so grateful for my DAB family. I am so grateful for my cousin, Colet who shared with me, the DAB information years ago and I’ve been following ever since. I just wanna pray for those, and ask for prayer actually for those of us who are still grieving the loss of either a parent, a loved one, family member, spouse, child, sibling, even our fur babies, our animals, our pets. And even loses of jobs and homes. And I just want us to pray for those individuals who are really going through some emotional and mental things right now. Also, just a prayer for my health, my overall health. I’m still recovering from surgery I had in 2021. And just the after effects from it. Sometimes gets me a little down but I’m here, I’m happy and I’m looking forward to this new year. I just ask for all of ya’lls prayers for me and I continue to pray for each and every one of you every single day before I leave to go to work. I appreciate you guys so much. And love Brian and his family, Jill, everyone, for answering the call that God gave over his life and proceeding to create such an awesome, awesome app for us to come together virtually. So, I hope you guys are off to a good new year, Happy New Year. Stay blessed and I love you all. Bye Bye.

Hello. This is Anonymous from North Carolina. Asking for prayer for my husband and myself, our marriage. My estranged husband. I don’t know where to start. What to say. Just please pray for us. We have separated and he has mistreated me, told me he hated me, for now reason, unprovoked. Abandoned me I need him. Took my rings, my wedding rings. Took my money and holding it hostage. Because I won’t sign a separation agreement that has not been fully evaluated and won’t disclose the finances to our attorneys. I’m continuing to pray for him as I pray for everyone else. And I just hope God just touches his heart. He knows what he’s done is wrong. And he’s a man of God. He’s a minister and I just pray that You, touch his heart, Lord. Please pray for me. Pray for me, pray for us.  

Genesis 28:1-29:35, Matthew 9:18-38, Psalms 11:1-7, Proverbs 3:11-12

Today is the 13^th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian. It is fantastic to be here with you today as we gather yet again, each and every day around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. And we have been navigating our way through the first books that we are encountering this year, which is the book of Genesis in the Old Testament and the book of Matthew in the new. Of course, Psalms and Proverbs every day as well. So, we’re still working our way through Genesis, and we have spent a lot of our time this week moving through the life of Abraham and then we met Isaac and now we’ve met Jacob. And, so, we’re in these emerging generations. We are reaching the latter parts of Isaac’s life and that’s where we find ourselves today. Genesis chapters 28 and 29.

Commentary:

Okay. So, let’s keep up with what’s going on in the book of Genesis. As we have pointed out like this is the origin story of the people that shape the entire Bible. And, so, Abraham…and Abraham has passed away now and is buried in the Cave of Machpelah. And then Isaac, the son of promise and then Jacob and Esau. And it’s like the promise is going to continue through Jacob, but Esau’s not happy with all that and so we’re seeing in all this, the early origin story all kinds of family drama, all kinds of humanity. And that’s important for us just kind of have. Like these are human beings. They made mistakes, they made missteps. And they also as we will see soon enough enter into direct rebellion, like they’re human beings trying to sort this out. And we get to watch this story unfold and watch where the choices that they make lead them. So, today we saw like Esau discovering that his mom and dad didn't…that were not fond of Canaanite women, didn’t want intermarriage. And, so, what does Esau do? Right after all that’s happened to him, he just goes and marries another Canaanite woman. So, like, we see all of this kind of drama happening and we see the animosity between Jacob and Esau at this point, so…so severe that Jacob has had to flee and go live somewhere else. He had to go live with his mom’s family. Esau is where he is and he’s got several wives and he is going to grow into a people. Esau’s people will later be known as the Edomites. And the Edomites, although they are brothers with the Israelites are enemies with one another. And we’ll get to experience that when everybody grows up. But right now, we are also traveling along with Jacob, who has gone back to his mother’s family. He has ended up with his uncle and his mother’s brother, whose name is Laban, and he has fallen in love with Rebekah who would be his cousin. We remember that there was a bit of shrewd trickery going on with Jacob, right? Getting the birth right from his brother, Esau, and then sort of conniving with his mom and getting the blessing from his father, Isaac. Well, we saw that the tables turned a bit. Jacob is living with his mother’s origin family, and he agrees that he will work for Laban his uncle for seven years in order to marry Rebekah. And he works for seven years, and seven years passes in about a sentence, because the Bible tells us it went by really fast. He didn’t even hardly notice how fast time went by, because he was so in love with Rebekah. And but seven years past. The wedding took place. The wedding night took place. The following morning took place and here’s Jacob to his surprise finding that it’s not his wife Rebekah that is in the bed next to him. It is her sister Leah that is in bed next to him, and he has consummated a marriage with Rebekah’s sister Leah which is an awful trick. So, Jacob confronts the issue and Laban’s like yeah, yeah, yeah. Well we, you know, first daughters get married first and then second daughters. So, you had to marry the first daughter first to get the second one. We’ll give her to you, and you just need to agree for seven more years and then you will have both of them as your wives. You can imagine the tension that that’s going to cause in this household. Two sisters married to the same man. I mean sisters living in the same house, right, forever, there’s going to be conflict. So, two sisters sharing the same man, this is the recipe for a bunch of problems. And..and…and to compound the issue Jacob does marry Rebekah. So, he’s married to Rebekah and Leah and Rebekah can’t get pregnant. And, so, she is the beloved wife. Rebekah is loved by Jacob, but Leah can carry on the family line. So, she’s actually having children in hopes of the affection and love of her husband. And she has several children today - Ruben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. And if you’ve ever been around the Old Testament, been around the Bible that much, those are familiar names. We don’t always know them as babies who are firstborn. We know them as tribes. These are names of the tribes of Israel, because Jacob’s name is going to be changed to Israel and these are his kids. The children of Israel. That’s important to know because the children of Israel are the rest of the story. And we’ve met the first four of them and we’ve discovered that the first four of them come from a wife of Israel, of Jacob, that he doesn’t really love. He loves Rebekah. And, so, we’re seeing this family form that will be the tribes of Israel in a very human very drama filled way. But this is the story of God’s people.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus moving about the countryside revealing the news of the kingdom of God and performing miraculous signs. And we get a glimpse of some of the repercussions. Some of these stores that we’re going through, these are stories that we get to revisit. And, so, we get to take…we get to talk about them from different angles as we go through, but we’re just watching now the repercussions of Jesus showing up on the scene. We’re seeing the people’s hearts come alive with hope everywhere Jesus goes, and people are beginning to flock to Jesus for…for healing and restoration. And then we see in today’s reading that what Jesus is doing is causing disruption among the clergy, among these spiritual leaders, among the scribes and Pharisees and teachers of religious law. Because we saw this kind of venom laced quotation from the Pharisees today in response to Jesus restoring people. The Pharisees said it is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons. So, like, in other words, Jesus is using the dark forces of evil to perform these signs of casting away evil. It’s just all black magic. So, in a very real way, they are labeling what God is doing as evil. The people who are leading the people in the worship of God and the traditions of the faith, the people that are there to reveal God are missing the fact that God is standing in front of them. And not just missing it but labeling it evil. They don’t understand what’s going on here. They see that it is drawing a crowd. There is likely envy involved. But also like, what happens if this is left unchecked? Like, the reality is, God was doing a new thing and not just a new thing but had come in person to do this new thing. And the people who…who should have seen it first, should’ve understood it first mislabeled it, of the devil, the prince of demons. And we can easily go, well they are just stupid Pharisees. But these people were not stupid. They are highly highly trained people. It doesn’t really all start to connect. We can just easily go, well…the religious people were jealous of Jesus, and they just continue to plot against Him until they could finally assassinate Him. But it really becomes immediate when we start to consider the…to…to consider the ways that we extend our judgment against things that we don’t understand. That we can super easily talk about something being of the devil when it may or may not be. More than likely, we don’t understand. It’s working against something in us that makes us uncomfortable. We’re…we’re watching right now the people of God miss the fact that God is among them. Do we miss that still? And we need to look inside at how were labeling things.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. We think that we know more than we do. And often when we get disrupted, we think we’ve gotta defend You as if You are not the Almighty God. Somehow our words and our theological framework is gonna save the day and keep You on the throne somehow, when really we’re just wrestling with our own insecurities. And, so, we invite You Holy Spirit into the depths of our soul speaking truth to who we are and who You are. And may we rest in that. And may we be openhanded in seeing what You are doing in the world whether we understand it or not. May we recognize the advancement and the revealing of Your kingdom and Your love for the people of the earth in the way that You have loved us. And may we be sensitive and careful in listening to Your Holy Spirit before we…before we attach labels to things so that we can just dismiss them and not have to deal with it. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website, that is where you find out what is going on around here. And, so, check that out. There’s also the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can download from whatever app store works with your smart phone or smart tablet or whatever your device is and you can jump in from there. So, certainly do check that out.

And while you are looking around, check out the Community section. This is where you’ll find links to get connected on social media. This is also where the Prayer Wall lives and that is something to certainly be aware of as we take this journey through a year together. A lot happens in a year and once in a while it feels like things have gotten sideways, and sometimes it feels like things are too heavy to carry alone because speaking it and it’s nice to know there are brothers and sisters throughout the earth that actually care, that we actually care about each other as we take this journey, that we’re actually willing to be there as a word of encouragement to pray for one another. And this is an ever present, always on, never off thing at the Prayer Wall in the community section at dailyaudiobible.com or if you’re using the app, just push the little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner an that’ll open a drawer and you’ll find the Community section in there. So, certainly check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if you find being around the Global Campfire is life-giving than 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 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 on Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Coming soon… It’s a travel day to Nicaragua today. Please keep the team in your thoughts and prayers. Jesus thank You for safe travel as the team flies in and thank You Jesus for Your hand on every detail of the mission. We love and praise You Father. You are the great I AM and we worship and praise You. The breath we breathe is Yours Lord. You are great! You know each of us…all of us. You created us to love and serve others for Your name’s sake Lord and that’s our prayer Father, that we glorify You on all we do…in our thoughts, words and deeds. Thank You Father for Your love, mercy, and grace. We love You. Lead us into all truth Father. Amen!