Category: DAB Transcripts

Job 12:1-15:35, 1 Corinthians 15:29-58, Psalms 39:1-13, Proverbs 21:30-31

Today is August 24^th welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here with you this week. I’m looking forward to the territory we’re going through in this week. And even though we’re kind of in more serious territory, kinda dealing with suffering and the kind of topics that we try to avoid if…if we can help it. I just have this sense of optimism that if we embrace this season that we’re going through in the Scriptures and in our lives so much cleaning out can happen, so much restructuring can happen over the next little season. And as we go into the latter part of the year the world may be chaotic but we just…we don’t have to participate, like that’s our prerogative. We have to participate in life, but we don’t have to get swept into divisiveness and we don’t have to get swept into chaos. That’s a choice and when we’re willing to face our own junk, when we’re willing to our own, which these books, these books like Job and Ecclesiastes, they have a way of asking us to face our own stuff. When we do than we’re getting honest and when we get honest God can move. So, let’s dive in. Let’s take the next step. We’re reading from the voice translation this week. Job chapter 12, 13, 14 and 15 today.

Commentary:

Okay. We spent a good amount of time today reading from Job and hearing Job pour out his heart and it’s brutal and it’s honest and it’s how he’s feeling and it’s what he’s sensing and it's…his frustration. And we got…we have in Job what we would call cognitive dissonance. And we feel this way when we believe something to be true or we’ve always functioned in a certain way only to find out it may not be that way, right, which we can bring us into doubt or we reject…or like we were like, “the way I thought things were are not how they are” and that creates a dissonance that we have to wrestle with and try to settle the score so that we can move forward, so that we can understand what we’re dealing with. So, what we have is Job’s friends trying to reason with Job basically saying, “God is good. Everybody knows that. God is just. Everybody knows that. He’s righteous. Like He’s not going to punish a person for no reason, He’s not gonna to judge somebody for nothing. So, Job your plight must be that there’s something…something going on and you just keep trying to say your innocent, which only proves your guilt”, right? Because the cognitive dissonance for Job’s friends and…and Job are that the baseline is, “God is good. God is good.” So, Job has this problem of feeling like truly he hasn’t done anything wrong, truly he’s righteous, which leaves no explanation for his suffering if in fact he’s being judged by God, which Job believes to be the case. Job’s friends have the dissonance because they’re listening to their trusted friend, but there’s no way they can believe Job over what they think that they know about God. And, so, they’re basically just trying to help Job follow the path to discovering his own sinfulness so that he can repent and maybe God would restore him. So, this is why there’s all this back-and-forth. This is why there’s all this wrestling and this is why we say the things that we do to people who are going through things that we don’t understand. I mean because this creates a tension that needs to be resolved. Job wants to solve the tension but it’s not gonna come through the advice of his friends. Like they’re wise people and he’s a wise man and he doesn’t feel like they know anything that he doesn’t know and he’s listened to them, but he knows everything that they’re telling them. The only place he’s gonna actually get the answer he’s looking for is from God. He wants an audience with God but he knows that if he were able to get that audience with God than even his own mouth would condemn him. Like it’s a tension that he’s trying to resolve and, in some ways, where Job is going, like where he is keeping his heart close and true, this thing he is focusing on is revealed today. And honestly, again, one of the most beautiful, difficult, and true statements in the Bible is found in our reading today. I mean when we started Job we saw Job have his life destroyed systematically and we watched him respond by falling down, certainly grieving, mourning, but falling down in worship to God. Job today says something that is a continuum, basically, of that posture of heart through all of this. Job is basically saying, “I have got to find God and I may find that when I do, if I do, that I am not innocent after all and God might kill me for it. Even if he slays me, still I will hope in him.” O man, that posture is so deep. It’s Job acknowledging that he does not understand at all what is going on. And what he does understand or what he thinks he understands about himself, maybe he doesn’t. But he’s got what he’s got, He’s got his convictions and nobody is gonna talk him out of it, nobody’s gonna say the right thing or give the right reference. He wants God and if can find God and God kills him then he’s still gonna hope in God because there’s no other hope no matter what. This is saying like, “even if God ends up being a hopeless waste of time, still I will hope in the Lord and the Lord only.” That is be on our theology friends. That is beyond any formula we can construct to try to explain God and God’s movements among people on planet Earth. And it is beyond any of our circumstances. It’s saying it like it is. There is no other hope. And, so, even if it’s a vain hope, I’m still going to hope. That’s called faith. And the thing that we should be wrestling with because it’s what’s being brought up, this is what we’re supposed to do is wrestle with, is to consider, “do we love of God for what he can do? Would we love Him if He did nothing?” Is that what we’ve got going on here, a transactional relationship? Yeah, that gets the bedrock pretty quick doesn’t it? That like…like cuts to the bone, which is what the Bible promises to do, that it would…that it would be able to get as deep as to where soul and spirit divide, that it gets to get to the deepest essence of who we are. and that’s where we’re at today as we come out of the book of Job.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into this, it’s disruptive, it's…it’s more fun when our reading is something tremendously encouraging or tremendously enlightening in a positive way. It’s difficult sometimes when the mirror goes up and we have to look ourselves in the face and we have to look into our own eyes because the Scriptures are forcing us to be honest. And we see honesty today in the Scriptures and it leads us to consider our own lives and our own seasons of suffering and our own interpretation of what’s going on. So, come Holy Spirit into that as we continue through this day. We need You and Job is showing us that he needed You. There was nothing else that was going to be adequate, no other word, no other circumstance, You and You alone. And that’s over being led understand - we need You, there is no other hope. And, so, come into that as we…as it brings up whatever it brings up, as we wrestle with it, as we consider it, as we embrace it. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Commentary:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it is home of the Global Campfire, it is that where you find out what’s going on around here and there’s always something or another. So, check of the different sections. You can check them all out in the app as well.

But the Community section gives us the Prayer Wall, gives us the different places to get connected on social media. The Shop, of course, is resources that over the years have been developed for the journey that we are on making our way through the Bible in a year. So, check that out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I cannot possibly thank you enough. My vocabulary is not big enough to describe the gratitude and awe that…that I try to often enough. Just the fact that we are here, just the fact that God’s spoken word is always being spoken, that the Global Campfire is always burning is remarkable, but it hasn’t happened by accident, it’s to happened because we’ve been in it together. And, so, thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button, it’s in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family this is Steadfast Stacy in Arizona I’m calling to pray for Barb in Canada who called basically with regrets about not feeling like she had not laid a decent adequate foundation for her children. And I’m praying for her and for myself because I share those regrets and I know that God is bigger for both of us. Dear heavenly Father thank You for Barb, thank You for her call and thank You for her vulnerability that is a blessing to me. Thank You that You are bigger than our regrets, that You know our hearts, that You know who You placed in our homes, what children You gave us, and that You promise us that we were adequate for those children. Lord there’s something about for me in this COVID time, just an awful lot of time to think, an awful lot of ways to see the choices that my children are making and just my maturity in beating myself up about my part in my son’s inability to…to see You in their lives and see their need of You. But Lord this all comes back to my need of You, my need of You to put all that in perspective and my need of You to…to be able to trust that I did what I could. And I’ve been seeking and I’m sure Barb is the same way. I can’t…I…I hear a tenderness in her heart and I pray that You would help her at this time to be comforted by You, to be…have the right words to be sprinkled with grace when she interacts with her children in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning family this is Purely Pampered of Maine today is Wednesday the 19^th of August it’s been almost 5 years since I last called asking for prayers for the situation with my son who came out as a transgendered female and all of the resulting difficulties surrounding the breakup of his marriage and the whole situation. We’re basically estranged and my child and my husband’s choice and have only seen our grandson a few times. The hole in my heart never stops hurting and I would ask for continued prayers. Today I’m asking for prayers for my older son and his fiancée. They found out two weeks ago that their jobs are not coming back and that they have to be out of their apartment by the end of the month. They have two dogs and three cats which have been certified as emotional support animals to my future daughter-in-law. So, considering that and that they’re both unemployed, finding another place is proving quite difficult and they’re facing homelessness. My son has been away from the faith for some years now feeling abandoned and like God cannot be trusted. I am asking that God would intervene in the situation and reveal His power demonstrating that God is a loving God who cares about the details of their lives. Will you please lift them up in prayer? Thank you. I pray for you all each day, the requests that are called in and those that are not. I love you family. I’d be lost without you. I gain such strength knowing that you are there.

Hello family this is Angel. You didn’t know me yet but I’m your sister in Christ and I don’t know exactly how long I’ve been listening but I know it was before Zeke was born, so it’s been at least nine years but I’ve been growing with you, learning with you, praying with you, crying with you. So, I want to just say hi and say I’m here. And I’m here also today to ask for your help. Jesus said some things come only with fasting and prayer. And I’ve been fasting and I’m going to continue fasting and I’m asking you to continue praying with me. My 15-year-old is in dire need of your prayers her name is Elyse, which means consecrated to God and I know that He has such good plans for her. I know that she’s going to come through this is gold but for the last year and a half she’s been suffering so badly with PTSD, with depression, with not being able to get out of bed or function even the smallest level. Yes, she’s seeing counseling, yes, we have a psychiatrist and those things do and will help but they are not the answer. Christ is the answer. Please pray for my precious one Elyse who is consecrated to God. Pray that the anxiety will leave her, that she will grow, that she will thrive, that she will be able to speak truth to herself and that she will know God’s presence in a…in a new…in a new way, that no depression can touch her, that generational bonds would not have any…

Good morning DAB family this is Tina from Ohio thank you Brian and all of my DAB family for all of your guy’s faithfulness and your prayers. I just want to say a Jewish prayer, but I will not be saying it in Hebrew I will be just saying it in English. May the one who blessed our fathers and our mothers -Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah bless and heal those who are ill. May their blessed holy one be filled with compassion for their health to be restored and their strength to be revived. Blessed be the holy one. May God swiftly send them a complete renewal of body and spirit, complete healing from the heavens, healing of the spirit of the body speedily and soon and let us say amen. God bless each and every one of you and may the Lord’s face shine upon you and may His continence rise upon you and be gracious unto all of you and give you all peace today. Be blessed and encourage my brothers and sisters.

Hi neighbors it’s Lisa the Encourager I hope you’re having a most blessed day. I pray God’s blessings upon you and your life. I’m praying today for your children and stress. So, whatever stress is in their life that’s what I want to pray for and pray away from. Dear God, I thank You again so much for Brian and his ministry with the Daily Audio Bible to each and every one of us God. I pray special blessings over Brian so that he doesn’t have stress God, that You eliminate any stress in his life and in addition to that I pray for the Daily Audio Bible children God, any and all of our children whether they are dealing with stresses in relationships, work, marriage, children, teenagers Lord, whatever stresses are coming into their lives bombarding them and keeping them, their minds away from You because their minds are so focused on the stress God. I pray that You will swoop in and just take it away from them and just give them peace, give them love, give them direction, and just help them Lord God to rely on You in all things and give it all to You and not trying to beat themselves up…up about it and help them to know that You are the Almighty conquer and that they can surrender that stress over to You, You will take it from them Lord God. Help them to know that, see that, feel that, touch that, understand that in a mighty, mighty way. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Treasured Possession and let’s pray. Father God, I love You so much. I thank You for all of the blessings and all of the power and all of the goodness and all of the joy and peace in the patience and the kindness and for self-control Father God, all of the fruits of the spirit that are ours in Christ. And more than anything Father I thank You that our identity is found in You, that when we place our hopes, our dreams, our desires in Your hands than those around us that are in pain, those around us that show up in ways that are quite disappointing, when those around us show up in ways that just baffle and astound as Father God You never change. You are right there, and You love us with a love that is so far beyond what we can ask, think, or imagine. Father God, the words of first Corinthians 13 talk about Your love. That is Your love and it is so far from our human heart, but You Father God can fill us with that love and help us see that love and show that love. Help us Father God to love one another that way. Help us Father God to love more than we need to be right. I ask Father God that You would strengthen and empower those who are going through relationships today that are hard, that are difficult, that are challenging their very knowledge of who they are in Christ. And I thank You Lord that You love beyond that we can never know with a peace that passes understanding. And it’s in Jesus’ name I ask these things and I praise you for these things. Amen.

Job 8:1-11:20, 1 Corinthians 15:1-28, Psalms 38:1-22, Proverbs 21:28-29

Today is the 23^rd day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we begin a new week. And you know what that means. It’s all out in front of us, shiny and sparkly. Nothings gone wrong nothings gone right. It’s all out in front of us and the way that we live into this week is gonna dictate what this week looks like. And, so. here we are entering another one of our weeks together. This week will read from the Voice Translation and we will continue our journey through the book of Job, which we’ve really…we’re just getting going but we understand what happened to Job and it’s devastating to say the least. We watched Job’s posture in all of the devastation and that has been to stay and remain true and upright before God, yet he has enormous questions that his friends who have come to see him and are mourning with him they’re trying to answer. But Job wants something that they can’t give him. He wants an audience with God. And…and his friends, they have words about that, about the arrogance of that notion. But we’ll continue with our story. Today Job 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we greet this new week with expectancy. We open our hearts to You. We’ve been weighed down, we’ve been crushed, we’ve been flattened, we’ve lamented and sought answers like Job. We…we can relate to where we are in the Scriptures, but we see Your faithfulness. We are here and this theme keeps coming up but it’s a reminder. We are still here. Your breath is still within us. We are still here. You are sustaining us. And, so, all of the things that have been kind of shut down because of the assaults of life on us, especially this year, we wanted to begin to lift. Even as things get more and more chaotic, we want that to lift. We don’t have to live under that cloud, not if we let go and understand our utter dependence upon You, that we are completely dependent upon You and You are faithful. When we put our trust in You completely and wholly, the atmosphere changes in our lives, the way we look at everything changes in our lives and all these things we’ve been carrying around they begin to lift. This is what we’re asking for as we go into this new week. And, as we prepare and look ahead into the changing of seasons into new month before us come Holy Spirit, we put our trust in You. Lift these heavy burdens, same kind of burdens we’re reading about in the Psalms, same understanding that this has always been going on and this part of the story. And this part of the story teaches us, and we are dependent completely. Our own strength is not enough, and we need You and You are available. So, we throw up our arms and surrender and say come Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, lead us on the narrow path that leads to life, lead us deeper into Jesus we pray this coming week. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is…is home base, it’s where the Global Campfire is, it’s where we come every day and center ourselves in God’s word and step away from all the chaos of life. So, be aware of that and be aware of what’s going on around here.

Be aware of the Community section. There different links to get connected, like…like DAB Women, a ministry of the Daily Audio Bible that Jill my wife leads on social media where she’s offering words of encouragement on a daily basis among the women here in this community. If you’re not a part of that yet the link to it is in the Community section as well as other links to be connected. So, get connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we share together as a community around the Global Campfire is meaningful to you, the mission to bring the spoken word of God to anybody who will listen to it, which is all of us who are listening to it and all of us who have encountered it over all of the various myriad of serendipitous ways that we’ve found this and we’ve found ourselves in community here then we are those who are willing to listen somewhere on this planet some time of day or night, and it’s a beautiful thing that because of this community the Scriptures are never not being spoken out somewhere in the world. Like there is never a time that this isn’t being listen to somewhere in the world. And if that resonates with you, if…if that has mattered to you, if that has brought life into your…into your world than thank you for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, there is a link on the homepage. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you’ve a prayer request or encouragement can hit the Hotline button in the app 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.

Job 4:1-7:21, 1 Corinthians 14:18-40, Psalms 37:30-40, Proverbs 21:27

Today is the 22^nd day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian. It is a joy and a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today as we reach the conclusion of another of the weeks that we get to share together this year. I think this is the…the end of the 33^rd week of the year, give or take a few days. Anyway, we’re well underway in this voyage. Yesterday we began the book of Job, and we talked about that. We’re gonna continue that today. We’re reading from the expanded Bible this week. Job, chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for another week on this adventure through the Scriptures in their entirety in community, what we call the Global Campfire, we thank you for bringing us this far. Every day of our lives You have been faithful and we are here and sometimes we need to remember that, we’re here, and that is because you have brought us here. And, so as we end another week and release it, because that’s all we can do and it becomes a part of our past, it becomes part of the story of our history, we are grateful for your faithfulness in our lives. Holy Spirit come, continue to lead us and guide us into all truth, lead us deeper into Jesus. Reveal the narrow path that leads to life that we might walk upon it every moment of our lives. We pray this in the mighty and majestic name of the Savior, Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to…to know what’s going on around here. Check out the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall is and that is constantly a haven for prayer - to pray and to be prayed for. So…so, check that out.

If you want to partner with Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the website on the homepage and I thank you, I thank you profoundly, especially as we move through the summertime for your partnership. If what’s happening here is…is life-giving than thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996, Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, as always, we are a community that loves one another and prays for one another and if you’re shouldering burdens that you shouldn’t ought to carry alone you can reach out. There’s Hotline button in the app, like there’s a Hotline button in this community that you can reach out any time of day or night and share your story. And, so, 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Well hello my DAB family this is Mark Street from Sydney Australia today is the 15^th __ of August __. I desperately need your prayer because of my health. I woke up this morning __ to hospital and I found out I’ve had a mini stroke. There’s still debating on what to do about it. I’m not…I’m not in fear of my life because I love God, but my family needs me. I want to be around to help them. So, could you please…please pray that the doctors will __ I’m healthy and get past the stroke. And I thought I was leading a healthy life, but they’ll teach me how to eat and be healthy and through God. Thank you family, I love you. Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Bye.

Heavenly Father I’m coming to You on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ are lost a child. I pray for those who one night find themselves tossing and turning weary but unable to rest. I pray for those laying in bed begging You for the oblivion of sleep but unable to hear You’re still small voice of the turning of the broken heart and the anguished screaming of the mind as they try to comprehend the incomprehensible. Lord they need to feel You near right now. In the absence of light and sound and activity let Your presence being made known to them. Let all the Scriptures they have hidden in their hearts begin to surface one by one. With each breath of Your word they exhale let them inhale Your piece. Help the Lord to count their blessings even in the midst of their overwhelming grief. Help them start with the blessing that is their child’s life however brief it may have been. Show them things they can be thankful for - true things, just things, pure things. Help them to turn away from the grief toward You. Let their tears be healing ones that wash away the sharp edges of their grief. If they seek solace in music let it be songs of worship that draw them closer to You. Take each wakeful moment and use it for Your glory and their good. Father I ask Your mercy upon those who walk this valley without You, who’s hope died with their child. Of us all Lord, they are the most wounded because their pain is not tempered with eternity. Draw them to Yourself Lord. Put one of Your children in their path, perhaps one of us that understand a portion of their pain that can lead them to You. I pray they will seek their answers from the only one who has them and may they find peace with You to be the only answer they need. I pray all these things or something better in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hi this is Vickie from Arizona and I am excited. I just wanted to call and share a praise report because I had prayed about losing weight and I…I’m down 30 pounds today. So, I’ve been doing a diet and I’m excited because I had tried so many different things and nothing worked. So, I am just getting close to goal and my clothes are fitting me better and I’m just happy. So, sometimes you just gotta give a shout out to God when, you know, praise…pray and then praise. Because a lot of times we don’t share the victory. And I know I had called in about weight loss before. So, I wanted to share that victory because I feel like God is listening, He’s attentive to the cries of our heart, that He did say He’d never leave us nor forsake us and what’s important to us is important to Him. And sometimes I feel like we just focus on what we need instead of focusing on what He’s just given up. So, I just want to take this opportunity to give a shout out and just say thank you God for coming through, thank You God for always making a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way. Thank You for opening doors that we need opened and closing doors that need to be shut in our life. Thank You that You are always good, that You’re…You know us so intimately and so…so delicately God. I just thank You that You are an on time God and whatever we have need of Father God that You are making away, You are ordering our footsteps, that we are the apple of Your eyes, that we just…we just know that we love You Father, that God we just thank You for everybody who’s in a struggle today Father God I just lift them up to You and I ask You for victory. We just declare and decree victory over the Daily Audio Bible family in Jesus’ name. Amen. Have a blessed day.

Hello DAB family this is Bouncing Pouncing Love and Joy calling from Minneapolis Minnesota. My fiancé and I met young year ago yesterday. He introduced me to the DAB then and I have been listening faithfully ever since. I am thankful for the blessing Brian and all of you are in my life. Please pray for my fiancé Chris’s son Gabriel. He is 36 years old. A few months ago, he cut himself off from his family. Chris feels dishonored, heartbroken, and concerned for his son who suffers from PTSD and physical trauma from his three tours of active duty in the military. Please pray for peace for Chris and that the Lord would be working in Gabriel’s heart and mind to bring him to a life of obedience and faithfulness to his Father in heaven. Thank you for your prayers. God hears each one and we trust that Gabe will have a powerful testimony one day because God doesn’t do waste anything he allows us to walk through.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Angel in Maryland I just want to thank Brian first for doing what you…you do. I’ve been listening since 2013 off and on and I picked it up again a few a few days ago and I’m celebrating because I’ve listened for 21 consecutive days. They say if you can do something for 21 days it’s a new habit. So, please pray for me family that I continue and that I actually end the year solid, having listened every day. But I do want to encourage the caller Daniel from Tennessee. He…he called…well it was on today’s recording, August 17^th. But Daniel you have the five children and you’re a widower and your story really stood out to me because you described your current stable job as “depressing.” And I am in a very similar situation and you want to venture out and your own and I really identify with that. So, I just wanted to call in and encourage you because my birthday was actually August 13^th and in that message Brian in the commentary kept repeating the phrase keep going and I felt that was for me on my birthday because several times over my life my dad has told me, you know, the phrase of the Maasai warrior, those of the warriors in Kenya that wear the beads on their necks, their rite of passage is the kill a lion with their bare hands and their motto is keep going. And that’s what’s keeping me going. So, in Jesus name you will be successful. In Jesus name I will be successful. So, stay encouraged Daniel. Amen.

Good day neighbors this is Lisa of the Encourager calling. I know I’ve been absent for quite some time now, but I did get everything done with my house after the tornado hit. And fortunately, everything worked out really well. So, I appreciate any and all of your prayers during that difficult time. And I’m calling to continue to pray this evening for all of your children in your lives and for whatever they’re going through. I just want to continue to pray for our children. And if you don’t have children your grandchildren or your nieces or nephews. So, I’m gonna start this off by praying for them. Dear Lord I thank you God so much for the Daily Audio Bible and what it means to all of us and the community that we have together. And I appreciate Lord Jesus the Daily audio Bible community and the love that they have that we share with each other. I want to pray for each one of them and their children Lord God and whatever situation they might be encountering whether that is illness and if it is going back to school with COVID and the stress or maybe it is staying home and working on schoolwork remotely or maybe it is a child that’s addicted to drugs or maybe it is a child that’s in prison or a teenager or young adult. I’m praying God that your hand will be upon each of them Lord and that you will bring victory in their lives in each one of these difficult situations and that your hand and love will be upon them. And I thank you Lord God so much…

Hey DAB family this is David the Beloved Child of God in Northern California and I’m calling on behalf of Barb in Alberta who called in and asked to pray for her adult children. So, let’s pray. I pray for my own adult children as well and all of those who have children. Lord we just pray for our kids. We ask that You would reach out to them, protect them, guard them, keep them safe in You Lord. Lord I heard Barb say that she wished she would’ve provided a greater foundation. Lord, You be their foundation, You be their stronghold, protect our children from this world, this culture that is screaming at them with all kinds of noise. Protect them from evil Lord. God we just ask that You will also give us peace and allow us to wait on You and trust You and know that You love them more than we love them. God, we ask that You would do a miracle and that we would see it, that we would see it’s Your hand involved. God, I pray for peace again. We need peace in this crazy mixed up world. God, I ask that You will give us wisdom and even boldness when we need it. Lord help us to love. Help us to love our kids only the way that You can love our kids God. Fill us with Your Spirit so that we can lead them closer into You and…and to just know how beautiful they are. God we thank You so much for allowing us to be parents and forgive us for the times that we break Your heart for the things that just seem to be leading us astray away from You. __ peace in Jesus’ name Amen.

Job 1:1-3:26, 1 Corinthians 14:1-17, Psalms 37:12-29, Proverbs 21:25-26

Today is the 21^st day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today as we move forward, taking the next step on our journey through the Scriptures, and that leads us to the threshold of a brand-new book and we’re actually kinda moving into some new territory, a different kind of complexion than we’ve experienced before as we’ve gotten this far in the Bible. And today we’ll begin the book of Job.

Introduction to the book of Job:

And Job is part of a collection of books in the in the Scriptures known as wisdom literature. Of course, wisdom literature as a genre isn’t exclusive to the Bible, there’s wisdom literature in the world but the wisdom literature of the Bible includes part of the Psalms. And the book of Proverbs, obviously, is largely the voice of wisdom. And, so, we’ve definitely been moving our way through the book of Proverbs this year. But the wisdom literature also includes the book we are about to read, Job and Ecclesiastes as well as the song of songs or the song of Solomon. But let’s talk about Job. This…this book that we’re about to read is considered widely as one of the most beautiful pieces of literature in the world but certainly in the Bible. And this book Job, in…in poetic fashion deals with the problem of evil and human suffering and it cries out, “why me” like “why me” and then trying to wrestle and grope for that answer. And from a theological perspective this is called the Odyssey, like the defense of God in the face of human suffering. So, like, the ultimate cosmic question that has been wrestled with philosophically, theologically and on for a very long time, for thousands of years is “how can a good, loving, benevolent, all-powerful God allow such evil and suffering to exist in the world?” And the book of Job is going to take us into that territory and allow us to wrestle with it as we watch Job and his friends wrestle with it. And the interesting thing about Job is that exactly where this book came from, like the origins, this has been disputed for so long, mostly because there’s like nothing in the book gives that gives any kind of anchor point in history, like no…no figures are mentioned that can be searched, no geographies mentioned that can be searched out and kind of attached to a specific time. And, so, this leaves biblical scholars just trying to piece clues together, make best guesses, which leads to a lot of conjecture. But despite this, scholars widely accept the book of Job may very well be one of the most ancient books in the Bible. But even in…even in the Jewish tradition, scholars are like…there’s no complete consensus. Some believe that because the Hebrew is so archaic and there are Hebrew words that aren’t used anywhere else in the Bible that are found in the book of Job, that Job was very…this is very ancient, like contemporary with Abraham, maybe or Jacob. But then others believe that…that this…this was written during the time of exile when things were so bad for the Hebrew people and these questions were being wrestled with and perhaps that the use of certain Hebrew words and the way that this is all organized is because the scribe who wrote this down didn’t have Hebrew as their first language. And then there are many who follow the tradition that Job was collected or written by Moses. And if that were the case, then this is…this would be Moses theological treatise on suffering or maybe it was an oral tradition that had been passed down and finally collected at that time. Regardless, Job is very ancient. It is considered one of the most beautifully written pieces of literature and is riveting as we will enter into the story and begin to wrestle with the issue of suffering. And we’ll Job and we’ll see the backdrop basically. The backdrop, what happens to Job is the backdrop, his suffering is the backup. And the we’ll see his friends who hear of what has happened to him, they come to be with him and sit with him in his suffering and then they begin the dialogue. And it’s in the dialogue that we begin to see the wrestling with the question of suffering. And is what we find is that the things that Job’s friends say to Job aren’t dissimilar to the things that we say to people that are suffering or that people say to us when we feel like we’re suffering, only to find out, as the…as the book goes on, that they didn’t know what they were talking about. And we will see the Job, he doesn’t want answers from people. He wants God. He wants the answer from God. He just doesn’t know where to go to find God to get this answer until God shows up. And we’ll leave it at that. Let’s dive into the book instead of talking about the book. We’re reading from the expanded Bible this week. Job chapters 1, 2, and 3.

Commentary:

Okay. So, obviously we’ve begun the book of Job and we talked about the book of Job and we’re gonna settle in with the book of Job for…for a little bit, but we see now the predicament, we…we see the backdrop. What happened to Job is that systematically everything in his life was dismantled. Like he lost everything that gave him security. He lost those that he loved, he lost his health, he lost it all. And the way that it reads in the Scripture, you know, it’s like one bad message can’t hardly be delivered before the next messenger arrives with even more bad news. And he can’t finish before even something worse comes along. You can’t even catch your breath, like something we should be able to immediately kind of identify with. Although, I don’t know that many of us have ever had any kind of scenario like Job actually did. But it feels like that at times, like bad news turns to more bad news, you can’t like quite process, the thing that happened before the next things hitting and you’re just over overwhelmed by it all. Like you find yourself laying on your back, looking up at the sky going like, “how did I fall down? Like, what…what happened?” And it’s in these moments that we do begin to turn to, “why me? What is going on?” And suddenly the voice of accusation begins to be tipped toward God, right? There’s this subtle questioning of God, “why did you let this happen to me?” And we’ve all gone through this and it's…there’s an irony here because all of the sudden very subtly we can become the accuser of God. And we must remember who the accuser in this story is. In the Job story the accuser is…is called the Satan or the devil. It’s one of the first things that we can kind of just begin to glean out of Job is I can become that agent toward God in very slow-moving subtle ways when I have to face hardship and suffering. What we don’t see in Job is that behavior. We see Job very sad, shocked, can’t even recognize him and even lamenting the day that he was born. But when Job got all the bad news, and this is one of the most riveting things in all of the Bible for me, like I don’t ever get to this point and…and…and just shocked by it, just taken aback. Job’s response isn’t to do what his wife told him to do, which is curse God and die. He…he just falls down. I can’t understand that. He just falls down and begins to mourn but his mourning isn’t, “why, why, why?” His mourning is worship. “Naked I came here. Naked I’ll leave here. The Lord gave. The Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” That is so huge. I am…I mean…I wish I could suffer that way. That’s not usually how I can approach these things. The thing of it is though, our response to suffering and hardship really tells the truth about how we sense God’s presence in our lives. It actually is the thing that begins to answer the question about whether or not we believe God is good. It’s certainly easy enough to believe God is good when showers of blessing are falling all around you and things are perfect. It’s a different story when things aren’t perfect. So may we go into our day thinking about that. May the image of Job receiving one after the other after the other after the other the worst possible news, his response is to fall and worship before God.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit we invite You into that as we move into this new territory with a completely different complexion, as we begin to…to plumb the depths of our own suffering, as we begin to look at it through this lens that the Bible is bringing us to. We invite Your Holy Spirit. We believe You are good, and Your mercy endures forever. And we confess that we find that statement to be a challenge when we’re facing hardship and suffering. What is that all about Lord? We just want to move on when hardship comes, we just want to get out of it as quickly as possible and forget it as quickly as possible. And yet the times that we have had to endure, which is such a major theme in the Bible, the times that we’ve had to keep moving when it felt like there was no more energy, when it felt like everything was stacked against us, we’re still here. We’re still here. You have somehow brought us through. We’re still here and some of those most difficult moments have been the moments that have shaped us, that have given us our convictions about life. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit into all the territory that we’re gonna cover in these coming days and weeks. Come Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Song

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord - Brent Bourgeois

May the day perish on which I was born 
May the stars and its morning be dim   
Why is life given to the bitter of soul   
Or to those who stand in anger of Him  

He pierces my heart and does not pity  
He breaks me with wound upon wound 
Remember I pray that You made me like clay
And You’ll return me to dust again soon

Oh naked I came from my mother’s womb   
And naked I shall return
For the Lord gave the Lord has taken away
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name
Of the Lord

He commands the Sun and it does not rise
He treads on the waves of the sea  
Yet how small a whisper we hear of Him    
For He is not a man you see

That my words were written forever  
With pen and golden rod
My redeemer shall stand at last on the earth  
In my flesh I shall see God  

Oh naked I came from my mother’s womb
And naked I shall return
For the Lord gave the Lord has taken away
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name
Of the Lord

But now ask the beasts and they will tell you  
And the birds of the air and they will teach you 
Or the fish of the sea will explain it to you  
That the hand of the Lord has done this
In whose hand is the life of every living thing  
And the flesh of all mankind

Oh naked I came from my mother’s womb
And naked I shall return
For the Lord gave the Lord has taken away
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord

Esther 8:1-10:3, 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13, Psalms 37:1-11, Proverbs 21:23-24

Today is the 20^th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here with you today to step out of it all, to exhale, to just calm down, come around the Global Campfire, let it all go for a few minutes and let God’s word wash into our hearts and inform our lives, including the decisions and choices that we have to make for the rest of this day. It’s just our time step away and catch our breath and it’s a joy to be here with you today. And today we will conclude the book of Esther. We’re reading from the expanded Bible this week. Esther chapters 8, 9 and 10 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word, and as we continue through the letter to the Corinthians, we have encountered some of the most well-known portions of the New Testament. This love chapter that tells us that there are many gifts and you give many gifts to many people and these gifting’s and the weight of our lives, we are irreplaceable, we are all part of a whole, we make up the body and we are all needed and all necessary and we can seek these gifts and we can press in and pursue these things, but we need to understand that it’s not the gift that’s permanent. It all passes away as we continue to be perfected. What does matter is that we love. We can try to exercise all the giftings that we have but if we have not love than it doesn’t matter at all. So, help us to see that Lord as we look at each other’s gifting’s, as we look at our own. The one gift that we all have, the one equalizer, the one thing that we all must do no matter where we are positioned in the body, whether seen or unseen, the one thing that we must all do is love. And Holy Spirit, we can…we can see this, we can understand this, we can even see that if…if…if everyone in the world would begin to operate out of a place of love most of the world’s issues would disappear. We see this and yet living into this is a challenge. And we don’t have to worry about everybody else’s gift and everybody else’s path into love, we have to consider our own. Are we operating in love? Come Holy Spirit and well up from within and permeate that question as we meditate upon it today. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Song:

Without Love – Sarah Groves

You can rise in the halls of power
You can speak to the masses
You can heal their disease
You can stand as the man of the hour
You can bring them to their feet
You can bring them to their knees

Without love I have not
Without love, without love

Without love I have not
Without love

You can fall on the blade of the martyr
You can give all your possessions to the poor
You can tell all you’ve seen of the future
Predicting every famine every war

Without love I have not
Without love, without love

Without love I have not
Without love

Love always protects, love always trusts,
Love always hopes the best for us
Love is slow to anger, love isn’t proud
Love never fails, love will never fail us

Without love I have not
Without love, without love

Without love I have not
Without love

Without love I am nothing

Without love I am nothing

Without love I am nothing at all

Esther 4:1-7:10, 1 Corinthians 12:1-26, Psalms 36:1-12, Proverbs 21:21-22

Today is the 19^th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here with you today as we move through the center of the week together glad we can be on this journey and reach the middle of the week together. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the Expanded Bible this week and we’re working our way through the book of Esther today. Esther chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Commentary:

Okay. A couple of…a couple of things to just take note of as we continue our journey through the Bible. So, first in the book of Esther, obviously this is a very dramatic story and this evil Haman who had plotted to annihilate, like exterminate the Jews…well…he comes to his own end, an end similar to the kind of and he was planning for the Jews and the Jews are spared and we’ll conclude the story tomorrow. One kind of interesting biblical thing about Esther is that when this…when the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Scriptures, written in Hebrew were translated into Greek because the Greek Empire or Hellenization had come to the land of the Bible and Greek became the common tongue then the Scriptures were translated into Greek and that is called the Septuagint. And, I mean its ancient. It would’ve been, say for example, the…the Old Testament or Tora the apostle Paul would’ve studied and read in his scholarship. It was found there were…there were six additional chapters to the book of Esther, and we don’t find them now in most of our Bibles. Those words, those chapters are called the additions to Esther. Because although they’re very, very ancient their origin is uncertain. So, it’s like a scholarly debate. And this material that we’re talking about is…is…is mostly…is mostly centered around one thing. So, when Mordechai puts on sackcloth and ashes and he’s morning because of the decree that was issued by Xerxes or Ahasuerus to destroy the Jews he gets word the Queen, Queen Esther, who asks then and sends words back to Mordechai saying, “gather the Jews that are in Susa here in the Citadel and fast and pray for me and me and my attendants we’re gonna do the same thing and fast and pray for three days before I go before the king. And if I live, I live and if I die, I die.” And, so, these additions to Esther are largely the prayers of Mordechai interceding about the situation. So, if that’s interesting to you, you can certainly read the additions to Esther in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. I’ve read the entire book of Esther with the additions to Esther and you can find that in the books and audiobooks section of the Daily Audio Bible Shop if you’re…if you’re curious because that’s the portion of the story that…that we read today.

And then in the book of first Corinthians Paul is answering some questions about spiritual gifts but kind of ultimately Paul is answering questions about unity. Like he’s calling the church higher and we’ve looked at that a number of times as we’ve gone through this book, how he’s like…you can have one party on this side and one party on this side of…of an issue and he’s trying to elevate everybody, like lift…like raise the bar…everybody raise the bar here and see what’s really going on. And we find most of the things that we…that are divisive among us are things that are non-essential things. Let’s see where were going together. Let’s lift our vision. And, so, we see that today in the area of spiritual gifts because it’s really easy to get enamored by somebody’s gifting, right? And, so, certain gifts are really visible, are like supernatural or whatever. You start paying attention to that person as if somehow that person is closer to God or how that person is elevated, something very easy, you could start almost worshiping the person or following the person when the person has only been given a gift that is being used by God. This is God’s power and it has been gifted. And, so, there are different kinds gifts like the gift of wisdom or the gift of…like a word of knowledge or faith or the ability to heal or the ability to prophesy or to have the…the gift of discernment or glossolalia, which is like speaking in an unknown language, speaking in tongues or the gift of being able to interpret that. Different people have different gifts and it’s not the person or the gift that needs to cause divisiveness or needs to rally people to them so that they have undue attention paid to them. The gift is from God. The gift is to serve the whole community, the whole body. And then Paul breaks it down by talking about something we understand. We all have a body. It is one body. It’s our body but it’s made up of different parts. The different parts make up the one body. So, the five fingers make up the hand. So, for Paul to kind of like raise the bar here, he’s saying like, “we’re all part of one body, the body of Christ. Like we’re all in this together - seen or unseen. Every part of the body is necessary. Every part of the body makes up the whole. If there’s a part missing, then the body isn’t whole. If one part of the body is damaged or injured in some way and it’s painful than the whole body hurts.” Or just to be more concise with what Paul is saying he’s like, “there’s not…basically, there’s no one part of the body that can say to any other part, “I don’t need you” because that’s not true. The body needs all the parts to be a whole body and it’s beyond visibility or notoriety”, right” So, Paul’s like, “some of the most hidden parts are the most important parts.” So, what he’s fundamentally saying is like, “you can’t just run around worshiping gifting. That…that's…that’s not how this works. All of the gifts of the Spirit that are bestowed upon humankind in community are there to serve the community and to serve the body and edify the body and to build up the body. Like everything is necessary - seen or unseen. It’s all necessary to create a whole”, which would’ve given them perspective, but should also give us perspective. We don’t have to compare who we are to somebody else or their life. Who we are, what our gifting’s are in the body are irreplaceable, like everybody else. And, so, you can’t be over here going like, “well…I’m just…I’m just a lowly ear, but what I really, really wish I was was the bellybutton and I just look at the bellybutton over there and think, ‘awe…look, if I could just be a bellybutton like that instead of this year over here.” It’s all necessary. In fact, it’s required that we be who we are and that we walk in the gifting that we have. It’s necessary because it helps make up the whole body. When we’re only trying to be a different part than we are then division and brokenness is the result. We’re supposed to be ourselves. We’re supposed to be who we were created to be. And, so, let’s go into this day with that in mind instead of just looking at how everybody else seems to be killing it at life and how we’re not. Maybe that’s because we’re spending so much time trying to be something that we’re not instead of living into the fact that we are irreplaceable in this body. We matter as much as anybody else in this body. We all make up the whole.

Prayer:

And, so, Father, we invite You into that. It’s definitely a struggle and we see because we are reading an ancient letter that this has been a struggle all along for a very very long time. And, so, here we are often dealing with the same kinds of things on a daily basis. So, often we’re focused on our own flaws and just kind of buying into that somebody else is more perfect than we are when every gift has its own set of struggles, every story has its own plot. We all come to this body broken and become whole because we are grafted in. None of us deserve to be here. None of us are better than anybody else. We’re here because You loved us first. While we were still Your enemies You loved us and came for us and rescued us and gave us a place in this body. And, so, may we be grateful today and may we learn to not only be grateful for who we are, but to be able to celebrate everyone else knowing that together…together we make up a whole, together what is broken can be mended. So, come Jesus we pray. In ytour mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, like I say most every day, stay connected in any way that you can.

Check out the resources that are available in the Shop, some fantastic…well…comprehensive tools for the journey that we’re on together. So…so, check that out.

Check out the Community section of the website which is where the Prayer Wall is and is something we should all be connected to, always able to reach out with…for prayer or with prayer any time of day or night no matter where we are in the world. So, that is a resource to know about.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we continue to navigate the summer months, thank you. Thank you, thank you humbly and in awe like I often say because who would've…who would’ve known…would’ve known we would’ve grown up in a time that this could even happen at all. And here we are, day by day in community all over the world working our way through the Bible together. So, if that brings life into your life than thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button at the top or there are numbers you can dial depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253. In the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 or if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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

Esther 1:1-3:15, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Psalms 35:17-28, Proverbs 21:19-20

Today is the 18^th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is joy and an honor to be here with you today around the Global Campfire taking the next step forward on our journey through the Bible this year. And yesterday we concluded the book of Nehemiah, which now brings us one of the great stories of the Bible, kind of an oasis. We’ve been through a lot in our lives like in this year presently is in the last months, but we’ve been through a lot in the Bible too. We’ve experienced just a lot of things including the complete disintegration of ancient Israel and the carrying away of these people into exile.

Introduction to the Book of Esther:

And, so, now we reach this story. It’s another story from exile for. In fact, this story couldn’t have happened had they not been, had the children of Israel not been in exile. But this is a story where the Jewish people, there was a plot to completely annihilate them. And it’s odd because this story is ancient, thousands of years old and yet there have been these kinds of plots throughout history, including the story of World War II and the extermination of the Jews. So, it's…it’s on that kind of level that this plot is hatched in this book that we’re gonna read. And, so, that gives us a little kind of a backdrop at least to understand and this book is called Esther. And it’s not a long book we’ll…we’ll read through this entire book in three days but it’s full of drama. And it’s the story of a Hebrew girl and her name is Hadassah and she’s orphaned while she’s in exile in Persia, which is where…where we…where we’ve been in the book of Nehemiah. We’ve been in Jerusalem, but Nehemiah was coming from Persia, from Persian king Artaxerxes. And, so, Hadassah was orphaned, and her cousin Mordecai takes her and embraces her like…like his daughter and they’re from the tribe of Benjamin. And exiled Hebrews often would localize their name or take on a localized name. And, so, Hadassah was given the name Esther and that translates to star or…or morning star in the Hebrew tradition. And as we’ll find out from this book, she is gorgeous, like stunningly beautiful and has a quiet character. And, so, when King Ahasuerus who is thought to be Xerxes wanted to find a replacement queen from the queen that he had banished whose name is Vashti. And we’ll get to that story. He ends up…he ended up choosing Esther, but she kept the fact that she was a Jew secret. And that proved providential because there’s another person in Haman and this is the person who wants to annihilate, literally destroy the Jewish people. He was a descendent of King Agag Amalek and the Hebrews and the Amalekites, they were hostile to one another all the way back to….well…all the way back to Jacob and Esau and the prophet Samuel had executed king Agag, if you’ll remember, right, after King Saul defeated the Amalekites in battle. So, there is hatred here and it shows up in Haman’s life and in his plot. And it becomes kind of “against all odds”, that kind of a story, kind of an “against all odds” sort of situation. And Esther, the book of Esther, is the basis for the festival of Purim for the Hebrew people, which is still observed and celebrated until this…this very day. So, the story itself, like if we just absorb the story itself, it’s a beautiful encouraging story. But as we begin to look at some of the details of the story and apply them to our own lives we begin to see that there is stuff for our lives there, that everyone has an important role to play, that nobody knows that they’re not here for such time as this. And such a time as this may be like saving an entire nation, but it also might be like saving your marriage or having the right thing to say at the right time. And, so, let's…let’s dive in. We’re reading from the expanded Bible this week. Esther chapters 1, 2 and 3 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us into new territory today as we come into the book of Esther. And as we just kind of begin to get the backdrop of the story, we certainly invite You to lead and guide our thoughts and hearts as we contemplate what we’ve read. And as this story unfolds may we once again see what we have seen so many times in the Scriptures, against all odds when it seems like all is lost You rescue. And, so, we trust in You, we put our faith in You, and we love You and we worship You and we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the…it is the website, it is where the Global Campfire is in a community like ours. And, so, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

Check out the Community section, that’s where the Prayer Wall is, that’s where there are different links to get connected.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop, that’s where resources are for the journey that we are on.

Check out the Initiatives, that’s where some the things that are going on around here. So, yeah, stay connected as we continue this journey, day by day step-by-step. But we are so far into this year now that it should rhythm of our lives as we…as we continue this, but there’s so much out in front of us and we need each other so much. And, so, let’s stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. It’s the beauty of community. And, so, I thank you. Thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that is your preference, 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, which is 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

My beloved DAB family I just want you, each and every one of you to know that I am praying for you and as you call in and you request prayer I’m always listening and praying for your needs. May the Lord bless you richly. I would like to answer Jesse from Washington state. He called in and asked for prayer for his employee, Yami, who witnessed a stabbing and he’s asking for divine protection for his family as well as the victim’s family. And Jesse I just want you to know that I am praying for you my brother and I am praying for your request. And I pray Psalm 91 and that’s the Psalm of divine protection upon this family I’m praying. And, so, God bless you my brother and keep calling…calling in. This is Angel from California.

Good morning everybody it’s Barb calling from Alberta Canada. I am just calling in again to ask for prayer for my kids but for all kids, I guess. My kids aren’t kids, they’re…they have kids of their own already of course but, you know, I just really see this struggle within them, this pulling away and I know that it’s an attack from the devil but they are being pulled away by questions and wrong thoughts I guess or…or wrong ideas and just so many things come against them, you know. And I feel like that I could have laid a better foundation when they were growing up and I am just so sorry about that, that I didn’t. And I often pray God just please don’t make them pay for my mistakes. But I also know that God is faithful and that He hears our prayers and I just feel like if I have this family praying for them too that there’s nothing that can come up against that. So, I really appreciate any help that you guys can give me on this.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family I’m about a five-year listener first-time caller and I’m calling to ask for your prayer for my sister Joanne who is suffering from a severe liver problem. She has not turned the corner toward recovery yet and she’s suffering greatly. And in addition, her husband also is currently being diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening problem. She has three grandsons, one of which can manage to keep his life going. The other two would…would need help. But anyways, I live 600 miles away so I’m here visiting to see everything that’s going on and…and try to help as much as I can. It’s a dire situation and I know that prayer works. So, I’m asking you to pray for Joanne and Bob and her sons and for God’s will to be done because He’s a good God and He’s a loving God and He will make all things new. I appreciate this community and it’s been really lifesaving for me and I ask and thank you all and I did want to mention I know there’s lots of healthcare…I’m a healthcare provider myself and I know there’s lots of them working hard for COVID patients, but there’s lots of other patients out there that need prayer. And, so, thank you all so much and God bless you.

Hi DAB family this is Truly Thankful Taylor from the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. Val from Vegas today is August 15^th so you may be calling in to give us an update. I just wanted to tell you that I am thinking about you my sister and praying for you and just be…stay strong and know that God is with you and that you’ve just been on my heart. And also Running Desperately to Jesus, I heard your call in again and I am praying for you. You have constantly been on my heart. I’m praying for your relationship with your grandson and everything going on but especially when you’re reaching out about your fleshly desires and your sinful desires to want to give into temptation. So, I want to pray for you now. I also want to encourage you to pour into God’s word, read it, let it wash over you. Even more, listen to our podcast here at the DAB over and over if you have to. Put worship music on and just soak in God’s presence. And then also James chapter 4, just really read on that and especially just submit yourself then to God, resist the devil he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Let me pray for you sister. Dear heavenly Father God we just come to You now. God, I pray for my sister Running Desperately to Jesus. I pray over her life Lord Jesus. I pray right now God that You would give her strength, give her endurance Lord to resist the enemy, that in Jesus name he has no authority, that her fleshly desires Lord would put to rest, that she would only long for You, that You would be desperate for You, needing You at every place and completely submerging herself in her relationship with You Lord Jesus. Put Your angels around her to protect her and keep her safe, keep her away from those thoughts, away from those desires and give her strength. We love You Jesus we thank You. We pray all this in Your name. Amen.

Hi, my name is Sonny I just wanted to call in to ask for prayer. My wife and I are missionaries in Italy and we’re currently in furlough. And during our furlough, my wife, we found out that she had cancer Hodgkin’s lymphoma, so we are dealing with that now. We’re currently staying in Florida right now. The…yeah…if you guys could just pray for us that we would continue to have wisdom on how to move forward, but also just deity in our marriage, that Satan and all demonic principalities would be kept at bay from our marriage, and…yeah…just for healing, that my wife Amanda would be healed. So, thank you. Thank you for this community. I listen to you guys…well…Brian I listen to you every day and it’s…it’s very encouraging. I thank God for your guys ministry and this community. Love you guys. Bye.

Hi, DABbers what’s going on? It’s Val in Vegas. I just wanted to say I love you guys. Keep rolling. Please don’t give up. Keep pushing forward. God’s got this.

I want to thank you father for all that you’ve done
the gift of your word your spirit your son
for still waters green pastures and restoring my soul
and for giving me this opportunity to gracefully grow old
and even though giants still inhabit the land
you’ve made room for me __ and allowed me to stand
and even though I’m completely surrounded by terror
I’m also at peace in spite of all error
you’ve stretched out my tent cords and smoothed out the riffs
enlarged my territory and showered me with gifts
I want to thank you father for all that you do
and for giving me this opportunity to live life anew

blindtony1016@gmail.com

I’d like to give a shout out to Michelle Cole from Los Angeles, know that you are thought of often and prayed for daily. And also wanna you know that I recently read the article that was done on you in the New York Times about the wonderful work you do on the blackish show. I pray that this year will be the year where you will receive final receive the worldwide…worldwide recognition that you deserve for the many fine shows that you costume work on especially blackish. And once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. All right bye-bye.

Nehemiah 12:27-13:31, 1 Corinthians 11:1-16, Psalms 35:1-16, Proverbs 21:17-18

Today is the 17^th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is a joy to be here with you today as we come in out of whatever and just settle ourselves around the Global Campfire and continue our journey forward through the Scriptures this year. So, we’ve been working our way through the book of Nehemiah and we’re…we’re actually going to conclude the book of Nehemiah in today’s reading. So, we’ll conclude that story before continuing forward tomorrow. And we’re also continuing to work our way through first Corinthians which is what we’ll continue to do until we finish. So, we’re reading from the Expanded Bible this week. Nehemiah chapter 12 verse 27 through 13 verse 31.

Commentary:

Okay. So, today we concluded the book of Nehemiah and we’ve been paying attention to the stories found in the book of Nehemiah because they really overlay with…with our own lives in really remarkable ways when we are feeling a sense of calling, a sense to…to lead something, a sense to move in a certain direction. So, we just kind of watched Nehemiah’s story and how he prepared and how he planned and how he behaved and conducted his affairs the whole way. And, so, we reached the conclusion today and the wall is built around Jerusalem and that was Nehemiah’s dream. We remember that the exiles were allowed to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding God’s temple, which they did. But there’s nothing to protect it and that really, really, that was a horrible thing for Nehemiah to think about while in exile even though he was the…the cupbearer of the king, the high…obviously a high ranking position, access to the king on almost a daily basis. But he’s thinking of God’s temple, the place where God has set His name, the place where God interacts with mankind just sitting there in Jerusalem and nothing to protect it. So, he’s got this passion to build the wall and it is built. Like he accomplishes this goal. And, so, we see the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem today with two different choirs climbing up on the wall and moving in opposite directions to kind of like circle the city and sing and praise and worship. And, so, you can imagine the satisfaction that Nehemiah must’ve felt…felt being able to complete his mission, right? To see this vision through even though it…there was nothing about it that was easy. Everything was hard. Everything challenged him - discouragement, intimidation, politics. You name it, they faced it and endured it. God’s faithful and now they’re walking on top of the wall worshiping. And as we read Nehemiah returned to Babylon to serve the King, King Artaxerxes, but then he was given permission to go back to Jerusalem. And he comes back to Jerusalem and he realizes how quickly everything was falling apart. All of the vows that they had vowed before God were like going by the wayside. So, like Tobiah, which is one of the names we should remember because he’s like one of the chief instigators of all the intimidation and politics and threats. He happen to be related to the…the keeper of the storerooms in the temple. And, so, in Nehemiah’s absence Tobiah was given like a special room in the temple of God. And, yes, it was a storeroom, but he had been given this room to use how he pleased in the temple of God. One of the chief instigators of trouble as they’re rebuilding the wall. And in the time that Nehemiah was gone the Levites who were continuing to prepare and worship and lead people in worship and remind people of their story and lead them forward in the worship of God, they…they…the offerings were not coming in so they were not being resourced. So, they had to go to their own lands and farm. And, so, the daily worship was falling apart. And then there was the abuse of the Sabbath day to the point that Nehemiah like to shut the doors, the gates of Jerusalem and go, like, “yeah, you’re not coming in here. There’s no commerce happening on the Sabbath day.” People are sleeping outside and he’s threatening like, “arrest them” because the Sabbath day of rest was…was being ignored and the people had begun to intermarry again with the peoples around them and they felt like this was…these were the very things that led them into exile. This is…these are the very things that disintegrated their culture in the first place and…and led them to be carried off eventually. So, we kind of go from this moment where worship is happening on top of the walls as people march around…around the city and it’s a beautiful moment then Nehemiah has to leave, and he comes back and it’s all falling apart. Like his vision his mission his calling, it’s like disintegrating. The walls there, the missions accomplished, but the people like, they got a strong wall and weak…weakness inside them, which gives us kind of the last glimpse as the story of Nehemiah ends in the Scriptures into our own leadership in situations because not everybody gets on board. And if you’ve ever led anything at all, like you can look at the story of Nehemiah and just hear the naysayers, you can just see through Nehemiah’s story into…into your own and it can be frustrating because you’re called by God to do this thing and you are leading this thing but it’s so much opposition. And then…and then even those who were on board they just jump…jump ship or whatever. And what do you do with that? It feels like defeat. It feels like…“ahh…this wasn’t sustainable.” “Ahh…did I waste my time? Ahh.” And it can be so discouraging that you just throw your hands in the air, walk away, and feel like, “I’ll never do that again” or whatever. And, so, we gotta look back to Nehemiah because Nehemiah facing significant discouragement. In fact, he’s is more than discouraged, horrified. He’s horrified at some of the things that are happening. And what does he do? He kinda has to boil it back down to, “did I obey God? Did I fulfill the mission? Did I do? because I can’t be responsible for what everybody else does. And I can’t feel like I failed when I didn’t, when I obeyed.” And that’s kind of where Nehemiah is and that’s why we see him in the final long paragraph’s saying, “remember what I did Lord.” Like, “count this to my favor.” “I’m” basically, “I’m sorry that this isn’t all perfect, maybe how it’s supposed to be but it’s not all in my control. Remember me for my faithfulness. Remember what I did. I was true. Let what I did stand. Let it matter. Remember this.”

Prayer:

Father as we close the books on Nehemiah for this year and continue our journey forward that's…that’s where we leave things today. And, so, help us to be faithful. Help us to be true. In spite of all of the opposition and difficulties, in spite of our inability to hold it together, or to manage things in a way that we would’ve prescribed, in a way that we would’ve liked to see things. Help us understand that we are only responsible to steward what we have authority to steward and what we…what we can manage. And remember that and hold that in our favor and may we not be discouraged because discouragement comes when things didn’t work out the way we thought or the way that we planned. But if were true, if we obeyed, if we followed Your leadership and Your leading then that is what we have control over. That’s what we can do. And if we release the rest, then we find that we did what we were supposed to do. We didn’t fail we succeeded. So, come Holy Spirit into that in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is home base, and it is where you find out what’s going on around here. It’s how you get connected. It’s how you stay connected. There are resources that are available there for the journey that we are on together. So, it’s kinda home base.

And, so, yeah, if you’re familiar great. If you’re not, you should be, especially the Prayer Wall, especially the ongoing prayer that is happening there. It’s…it’s just good to know and there’s always a place to reach and there’s always someone praying somewhere. And, so, that’s in the Community section of the website. Well…different links to get connected in social media, but also the Prayer Wall, that’s in the Community section.

Obviously, resources are available in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com, thank you. If the mission that we share collectively to bring God’s spoken word to whoever will be willing to listen wherever they might be on this planet whatever time of day or night it might be, that it’s always available. If that has brought life to you, then thank you for your partnership as we navigate these summer months. So, there is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that is your preference, 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, which is the red button at the top or there are a number of numbers that you can call depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078. If you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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

Nehemiah 11:1-12:26, 1 Corinthians 10:14-33, Psalms 34:11-22, Proverbs 21:14-16

Today is the 16^th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you as we…as we enter into a brand-new shiny, sparkly, week and as we zoom through the center of another of our months together just marking the time, day by day step-by-step on the voyage of a lifetime through the Scriptures together in community around the Global Fire. It’s so good, so good that we could be together today and take that next step forward. So, we’re at the beginning of the week. This week we’ll read from the Expanded Bible and we will pick up where we left off in the in the book of Nehemiah. Today chapter 11 verse 1 through 12 verse 26.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You Lord for this new week and as we move through the middle of another month it just seems to go so quick. It was just the middle of last month and now it’s the middle of this month and soon it will be the middle of next month. Help us Holy Spirit to stay here now, to be present to what You are doing now and not what You will do or what You have done. These things are so vitally important, but these are things that we rest in. We look back, we see Your faithfulness. We trust You for what is out in front of us. We need Your guidance and leadership here now, as we continually are making choices and saying things and doing things. We need Your guidance. And, so come Holy Spirit into today we ask in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

You can check out pretty much everything that’s at the website in the Daily Audio Bible app by pushing the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner, things like the Prayer Wall, yeah, you can get to that from the app, you can get to that from the website in the Community section.

There are links to get connected on social media there as well. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there that are meant to be companions on the journey we are taking together through the Bible in a year in community around the Global Campfire. And, so, there’s plenty of Global Campfire stuff in there just, yeah, to be a companion on the journey. So check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. If what we’re doing here is…is a life-giving thing to you than…than thank you for your partnership, especially now as we move through summertime. Can’t thank you enough. So, there’s a link on the homepage, If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that is your preference, 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, which is the Hotline button or the 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.

Nehemiah 9:22-10:39, 1 Corinthians 9:19-10:13, Psalms 34:1-10, Proverbs 21:13

Today is the 15^th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you as we seal another week up and continue to move forward because the only way is forward. And, so, this week, yeah, we live into this week and then it becomes a part of our history and we start over again with a shiny sparkly week that we get to live into. But now we are at the conclusion of the week so let’s take that final step for this week. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and we’re back in the book of Nehemiah. Today chapter 9 verse 22 through 10 verse 39. And just by way of reminder we’re in the middle of a prayer, the law has been read to the people, great repentance is happening, a great revival is happening, and we’re in the middle of a prayer.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we are grateful again at the end of another week, we are grateful again that You have brought us this far. We’re still here. The days go by and they add up to weeks and we realize we’re still here, You are still sustaining us, You are still guiding and directing us. We…we would have lost it all, including our minds by now without You, and yet You are here Fathering us, being patient with us, helping us grow and mature. And, so, we acknowledge this as we end another week. You have been faithful, and You have given us what we need, and You have instructed us, and our role is to trust You. And, so, as we release this week, we trust You, and as we look into the new week, we trust You. There is no safer thing to do. There is no safer place to be. Everything else is in our own strength and we are not strong enough. But You are the most-high God our Father and we trust You. And, so, come Holy Spirit well up from within, lead us into all truth, lead us forward in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s the home of the Global Campfire. So, be sure to check it out if you haven’t. Be familiar with it.

The Prayer Wall lives there and a fantastic resource. Day or night no matter where you are in the world somebody’s praying and you can always reach out and you can always participate. If you can’t sleep, go there. Find out what people are asking for prayer for, pray for them. If the burdens of your life are keeping you up, maybe that’s a place to go and offer your story so that others might shoulder the burden along with you. So, that is a fantastic resource in the Community section. Check that out.

If you want to partner with a Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. My heart is full of gratitude as it is on a daily basis, gratitude and awe that, yeah, this…that we just have the gift of each other, that this can happen and that…that this is happening is overwhelming sometimes. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey, family this is Dave from Colorado I was wondering if I could ask for some prayers for my nephew Richie. He is right about 40 years old and his girlfriend Tammy, they’ve been together probably like 20 years something like that. She was on a waiting list for several years for kidney, you know, attached to the dialysis machine and not really able to go too far from home, but she finally got the kidney and that was January last year and then, you know, things are looking better. She was able to go to the mountains for the day or go camping, you know, she was just starting to kind of enjoy life. Anyway, yesterday morning God decided to bring her home during her sleep. I guess I suppose it was painless but my nephew he is just devastated and so are her kids so if you could pray for them that would…that would be awesome. I appreciate that. And also, White as Snow, I heard your call last week and it sounds like not only you don’t have to struggle with all those doors anymore but kind of sounds to me like God opened one of them and got you in a little better position. Anyway, I just wanted you to know you’re going to be in my daily prayers now. You know, as a fellow truck driver I know what it’s like out there on the road. Anyway, I guess that’s it for today. I love you all family and I appreciate you all so much. We’ll talk to you later.

Good morning DAB family this is Rebecca from North West Arkansas. I’m calling to pray for Jude from Maryland that has gone to the hospital for COVID symptoms. You called in and you’re going to the hospital and you wanted to pray for other people and I just think that is precious and I just wanted to pray for you. Dear Father we pray right now that You would put Your hands on Jude, and that he would heal her completely, that You would give her Your Holy Spirit and the strength of Your Holy Spirit in her. Help her feel that and help her know that You’re with her. Be with her doctors and nurses. I pray that You would protect all the doctors and nurses that are taking care of COVID patients right now and that You would give them strength, give them what they need physically and help them have the rest they need. Lord I pray that You’ll also be with all the children going back to school and be with their teachers. I pray that You would protect them from this virus and help them to learn in a health and safe environment. Lord thank You so much for DAB and thank You for Brian and his family and all those who participate in making this a wonderful podcast. We love You and we thank You Father and we praise You in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio…Audio Bible family this is Theo I was led by God to this…to this site and to this Prayer Wall. Thank you, Pastor for everything that you’ve done. I’m new to this, just a few days old to this site, and I absolutely have fallen in love with it. Thank you for the brothers and sisters that have been praying for me since I’ve posted my prayer request on the Prayer Wall. And I’ve attempted to reach out to others that need prayer also. And just continue to pray for me for protection and healing. And I really need it. And I just want to say how much this has changed my life and my walk with Christ. And I just want to say that I appreciate everything that every…everyone is doing just loving and caring for each other. So, I just want to say thank you very much. And as I said in the Prayer Wall, a little bit of love and a lot of prayer goes a very long way and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much. God bless you.

Hi family at Shannon from Texas and I need some prayer today. I know God transcends time. S,o the simplest thing happened this morning and I am losing it because I feel like I’m just losing it because of everything that’s going on. I lost a credit card and I feel like the world falling apart. So, I know that this little thing is pushing me over the edge like this…I am just not doing well. So, I’ve been taking care of a sweet little six-month-old baby boy that screams constantly. I’ve been finding myself just getting angry over prayers that are answered and just hope deferred. So, please pray that I find that card and that I just…just for me overall. Thank you. Love you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Sunset Cindy in Washington I am a first-time caller. I just started listening to DAB and actually last month, July 17^th and I am so thankful that my cousin, shout out to my sweet cousin for suggesting this. She could tell I was struggling with some, you know, loneliness and isolation and things that are happening during this COVID crisis that were in and out it’s so helping me to focus on other things, focus on the things of the Lord and give me an opportunity to hear His word and listen to people all around the world. It is astonishing the connection I feel with all of you. And I just wanted to pray for Valerie who’s also a new listener. I was listening today it’s August 12^th. She is calling in to say she’s trying to catch up as I am also trying to catch up. I would love to catch up with all the rest of you. I know I’ve got a long way to go. It’s August and I…I…but I’m almost through January as well. So, I’m just praying for her. And also, Jude I heard you call in about going to the hospital and praying for your COVID symptoms that you would be well and 100% and all of the medical providers that are helping with this crisis. I would also like to have the family pray for my immediate family. I have a family member who’s in…extreme anxiety attacks are happening to his mental…you know it’s just really affecting him mentally…

Hi family this is __ in __ South Africa my message today is for Valerie. Valerie, I heard you call in today on August 12^th and I just wanted to say welcome. I always get so excited when I hear a new voice on…on DAB and it’s just, yeah, it’s just amazing to have you as part of the family. So, yeah, 2 and ½ weeks you’re in there, you’re going and I just pray that God would…would sustain you and help you to…to reduce the number of ebbs that you mentioned, ebbs and flows, and increase the number, the amount of flowing daily hours of routine and with purpose. I’ve been listening to DAB for about 10 months. It’s just changed my life in so many ways. It’s just blown me away and just continuing to do so daily. It’s hard work listening and…and concentrating and I’ve been writing notes and trying…I’ve got hundreds of questions because the Bible is a tricky book but it’s just wonderful to…to be able to…to learn daily to be able to enjoy Brian’s incredible teaching and the way…his explanation of Scripture and I just pray for…for enormous joy for you and purpose and focus as you continue on this journey and pray for strength and comfort for you and, yeah, just once again thank you for phoning in. It’s wonderful to hear your voice and I pray that God would bless you richly on this journey. Lots of love. Bye.