Category: DAB Transcripts

1 Kings 5:1-6:38, Acts 7:1-29, Psalms 127:1-5, Proverbs 16:28-30

Today is the 9^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we move further into our week, further into the Scriptures. So, we’re working our way into Solomon’s reign as we read through the books of the king’s, first and second Kings, and that’s what we’re reading about, the different reigns of the different Kings of Israel. But we’re kind of at the beginning. We’ve learned of Saul, the first king, we learned of David who is the second king, and now David’s son Solomon is the third king of Israel and we’re learning of Solomon’s wisdom and the way that he organized and governed his people. So, from the Good News Translation, which is what we’re reading this week. First Kings 5 and 6.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of first Kings we see the construction of the temple. This is the first Temple ever in Israel. So, like when we think of the New Testament or even when we think of ancient times, we think about the temple usually. The temple features in a lot of stories. Like it’s the centerpiece because it’s the centerpiece of the Hebrew culture. So, even in the time of Jesus, the temple is the center. Previous to this, it had been the tabernacle, right? When we were in the books of Moses we went exhaustively through the construction of the portable tabernacle right down to the hooks that would hold the curtains, like all of it. And this was the portable tabernacle that’s gonna move around with the people, God among his people. So, this is the first permanent structure where the name of the Lord will dwell. And this template we’re watching being built right now is known as the first temple and the place that we’re in in history in the Bible is the first temple period. Later on, that temple will be destroyed and then later on it will be rebuilt and then later on it will be destroyed again. And will get to that. But right now, this is the first temple. So, what we’re watching happen here is Israel reaching sort of an apex and in their culture and in their existence, a permanent temple for God, a place of identity, a national identity. And we gotta watch close because we reach this apex and then we began to move down the other side so quickly. It’s taken us so long to get to this point where the land is really the Promised Land where prosperity is abounding where peace is all around where happiness is plentiful. We read it and then we move through it so quickly that it’s almost like, “wait…that was a big, big, big moment that we just read through. And, so, I’m just pointing it out now because we’re kind of at this place where things are reaching their culmination. This is the best of the best for the ancient Hebrew people.

Okay. So, then we move into the New Testament, which is in the book of Acts and we read of the diaconate…of deacons or what would become deacons being appointed, helpers, people to help in the ministry, especially to the widows. One of these men was named Stephen and he was captured. He was arrested and there was a bunch of debate. And, so, Stephen has been brought before the high Council to be questioned because, in part, Steven’s being accused of customs and traditions that do not apply to the people that are like new inventions. And, so, Stephen begins today to testify on his own behalf before the Council. And what Stephen is doing in his defense is telling the Hebrew story. For us, reading this now, this is incredible review of the territory that we have, that we have moved through since we began our journey at the beginning of the year. But for Stephen before the Jewish Council, he’s establishing that he is truly a Hebrew, he’s not inventing…like he knows the Hebrew story. So, he’s recounting the Hebrew story in all of its detail because he’s a Hebrew who grew up as a Hebrew. So, let’s watch his story because we’re in the…the church era in the book of Acts, the formation of the early church. We watch his story but while we’re listening to his testimony, we have the opportunity to review back those stories that we moved through in detail as we’ve been moving through the year so far.

Then the book of Psalms, one of my very, very favorite Psalms, one that I keep with me, that…that guides my life. “If the Lord does not build the house the work of the builders is useless. If the Lord does not protect the city it does no good for the sentries to stand guard. It’s useless to work so hard for a living getting up early and going to bed late for the Lord provides for those He loves while they are asleep.” This…this Psalm reminds us that all that we are trying to achieve in our own strength, the things that we’re willing to exhaust ourselves over. We need to look deep inside why we are doing what we are doing because if we are trying to do it without the Lord it’s a waste of time. Yeah…yeah…and I’ve wasted plenty of time…and I …in my life and I just…yeah…when I…this verse has kind of guided me for, man, well over a decade but when I encountered it, which was early on in my relationship with the Bible, it’s kinda stuck with me. And knowing it and living it, you know, those are different things. You can find yourself exhausting yourself in some direction for some reason lots of times, but to remember, “if the Lord doesn’t build the house the labor is in vain.” May we remember that.

And then, as if that weren’t enough for today, we flip the page into Proverbs. “Gossip is spread by wicked people. They stir up trouble and break up friendships.” Gossip. This won’t be the last time that this comes up in the Bible. The things that we say to other people about people who are not present. The little stories that we carry around trying to fill in the blanks for people to kinda…to kinda give ourselves a sense of being in the know of being connected, the things that we can spread around my friends. And are we not acutely aware of how things spread around these days. I mean like isn’t that the world we’ve had to kind of encounter and live in this year trying to avoid this read things. Gossip spreads around and infects things in the same way. The Proverbs say that there end result may not be like pneumonia or something like that. The end result is that they stir up trouble and break up friendships, which is a devastating thing. So, yeah, we’ve learned how to social distance this year better than maybe…well…better than I’ve ever known how to do in my life, more than I’ve ever had to do in my life. But maybe we should consider distancing ourselves from gossip. It’s only going to stir up trouble and break up friendships. Maybe instead of a mask we just bite our tongues and not say that thing and not spread it any further. Nothing good can come from it.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for its instruction and its counsel. It…thank You and that it shows us the way to go. And, so, we acknowledge, unless we are laboring with You, we are laboring in vain. If we are building our own kingdom in some way, we are exhausting ourselves for no reason. It doesn’t matter without You. And we have also taken into heart today that what we say matters. It can break up friendships and stir up trouble when we spread gossip. Help us not to spread gossip any more than we spread anything else that’s destructive. Come into this Holy Spirit, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is always home base for the Global Campfire that we share. So, it’s a good place to know, it’s a good place to go, it’s a good place to get connected, a good place to pray for each other.

There are resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop that are specific to the journey that we’re on making our way through the Bible in a year. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. As we move into the warmer months, into the summer months, thank you for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together, as I’ve said so many times, because that has always been true and it’s true now. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or you just hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button of at the top and…and…and share from there.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DAB family this is Paula calling from Albuquerque it is Thursday, June 4^th. Just finished listening to the podcast and I just love, I just love, I don’t know how to say it…else to say it but every time we have one of these days where the proof of Brian’s words of the rhythm of the Scriptures is so profound. All four areas that we read today were connected, just beautiful. I just love it. So, __ if you will with all of us in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi this is Teresa from Missouri and this week Brian mentioned the achievements that we get when we finished the Gospels and I noticed I hadn’t gotten mine so I went back to look at previous broadcasts to see which one I had missed and I found myself on January 23^rd and I heard Heather from Atlanta. And Heather you are crying because you had wanted to be a missionary or a ministry…to do a ministry and then Satan unleashed all kinds of evil against you and it just made me think of the book of Job. And I wanted to tell you that someone’s still praying for you and let you know that you’re not alone and that we care, and we love you. So, hang in there, girl. And I also heard God’s Smile from England and I love your voice and you talked about having a Nana or that was a not proper Nana that would hold you and read to you. Your voice just sounded like someone that…that would be a Nana that I could go and give you a big hug and sit and we could read to each other. So, I just wanted to tell you that, that you are special to me today too. So, it’s June 4^th but I was listening to the January 23^rd podcast. Love you guys, have a good day.

Good afternoon DAB family my name it is Vincent from Connecticut and I walk in love or at least I try to. I first found you in January. I can’t believe you’ve been around for so many years. You people are absolutely amazing. I’m asking for your prayers and I’m embarrassed to ask because there’s so many of you that I hear in deep distress and pain suffering and the pain I have is simply in my heart. I believe that I have not because I ask not, and I believe that you seek ye first the kingdom of God and all things else will be added unto you. Well, I love someone, and I’ve loved them for some time. She is a nurse and I am unable to see her now because of the virus or because perhaps her heart has changed. But this pandemic and this violence has made me painfully, painfully alone and I don’t think that’s what God wants for me. God bless you. And as Brian says, I love you.

Hi family this is His little Cherry in Canada and I am just sitting here looking at my pillow ready to go to bed and I wanted to call and pray again for everyone who has sleeping problems. Oh, daddy here we are again and I’m so grateful that I’m not here alone, so grateful that You’re with me. Lord thank You for Your presence. I pray for everyone in this community who dreads going to bed because they have sleeping issues of one kind or another. Lord, please help each one of us who are facing another night of restlessness, insomnia, pain, whatever it might be. Lord, I ask that in Your mercy You would help us to be able to sleep. I pray for those with insomnia that You’d help their minds to slow down and to drift off and to fall into deep restful sleep. I pray for those who have pain. I pray that You would give them relief, that it would lift, that they would be able to sleep. I pray for those who have to get up many times in the night for whatever reason Lord. I just pray for each one of us that You would comfort us, that You would banish fear, that You would speak peace straight into our hearts. Lord, that You would do a miracle for us and give us good restful restorative sleep I ask You for this in the name of Your son Jesus. Amen.

Hey family it’s Jesse from Washington I need prayers…I don’t know…just for so many things. I’ve been putting off calling the last few days just because it’s just so many things but it’s so clear that it just, you know, an attack on…like a coordinated attack on every aspect of…I guess…really mostly my wife through mental health. She is taking to heart rumors that she’s heard from gossiping friends and gossiping people at church. And, I mean, I know in my heart that I didn’t…I didn’t do anything wrong, I haven’t done anything wrong but the thoughts that are coming from this gossip that’s been being absorbed…I can understand why it would cause somebody pain but it’s just…I mean…there’s no accountability from the other side, there’s no…I don’t know….I don’t know how to explain it. I just know…I mean…I can take accountability for being in situations but…and…it…it…I can’t say to my wife, well I haven’t done anything wrong. It drives her crazy and she’s just so angry and like so hurt. So, I mean all I can do is do my best to just take the verbal and emotional stuff and…but I just…I…it’s… it’s difficult. I’m being humble about it but I…I just know I can’t logically explain to somebody…I don’t…I don’t…I don’t know. I don’t know what to say family I really don’t…

Hello DAB family I’m calling today Friday, June 5^th my name is Veronica and I’m a first-time caller. I want to thank Brian for this great community. I have struggled to ask prayers for this, but God has been pressing it on my heart for weeks. Please pray for my husband and I as we pursue medical treatment for infertility. We have gone through multiple miscarriages. We have been married for 15 years and we are well into our 40s. Our chances to conceive are very low but God has brought us to a place where medical treatment is within our reach. I’m praying my insurance company will cover this procedure as we are still appealing for this. We have grieved and cried over all our losses and we have prayed for God to take this desire from our hearts, but we still have desire like never before. I ask if it’s His will that this procedure will work, and we will finally bring home a healthy baby. I’m pleading that God will give us a miracle and to give us peace no matter what, but above all I pray for His will to be done and to have His way in the situation. Thank you DAB family for your prayers. Bye-bye.

Hey, my wonderful DAB fam this is Kingdom Seeker Daniel from Chicago. Mr. Brian Hardin, or as one of our dear DABbers refers to you, Pastor Brian Hardin. My friend, my brother, my leader in this incredible ministry, to God be the glory for the great things He has done, is doing, and yet going to do through you, your precious bride, this incredible DAB team behind the scenes and everyone that’s associated to you. I just want to thank you from the very depth of my soul for your candid words of expression but even more so your story. Oh…as a black man, Brian, it was so refreshing hearing you talk about being given a shot coming up in music era that you were by a black man. And, so, that was absolutely awe-inspiring to say the least. So, I just want to say thank you sir. Thank you so, so very much for all that you do, all that you represent, what you stand for, how you lead this incredible ministry. I thank the living God for you, Pastor Brian Hardin. Keep up the great work sir.

1 Kings 3:3-4:34, Acts 6:1-15, Psalms 126:1-6, Proverbs 16:26-27

Today is the 8^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today. Ahh…today would’ve been…would’ve been my mother’s birthday. So, you know how certain days of the year are important to you and you might not realize that until you realize it’s that day. This is kind of one of those days. It’s my mom’s birthday. So, thinking of her as we move into the day and grateful. None of this would be happening if it weren’t for her. So, I’m grateful. So, let’s jump in and take the next step forward. We’re working our way into the book of first Kings now. And, so, in yesterday’s reading we said goodbye to Israel’s second king and his name was David and we followed his story from his youth until his death. And we followed the drama about his successor. But as it turns out, his successor is his son by Bathsheba, which is…I mean…ironically the woman that…that he took. She was another man’s wife. He took her and…and…and they…they got pregnant and David had Uriah, who was Bathsheba’s husband, he had him killed in battle and…and David to Bathsheba to be his wife and the child they had conceived died. But they had another child, Solomon, who has become the king of Israel. And, so, we pick up that story. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. First Kings chapter 3 verse 3 through 4 verse 34.

Commentary:

Okay. So, now we see that King Solomon is certainly in full control and is the king of Israel. And we had this famous passage today where…where Solomon is worshiping In Gibeon before the Lord and he has a dream and the Lord asks him what…what he wants, and Solomon asks for wisdom to lead the people. And then God responds that He will give him more wisdom than anyone’s ever had before as well as all of the things that he could have asked for, which is kind of what the book of Proverbs tells us, right? Like if you gain wisdom, everything else will follow. But if you try to do it opposite and achieve all these things without wisdom, you won’t be wise, and you won’t be able to control these things and you won’t be able to have these things. Wisdom is the thing that can guide our lives on the correct road. And even as we were getting into the book of Proverbs, we heard the voice of wisdom telling us this, that she would be at every crossroads. These ideas would end up being documented by Solomon. And, so…so, what we see is that Solomon asked for wisdom, but he was a very wise man, which is kind of the point of the narrative here. He was wise beyond his years. He was a wise man, and then the Scriptures turn us into an immediate example of this and that’s the example of the two women who were prostitutes who each had children and one of the child…children…one of the baby boys died and how it was that Solomon went about, you know, kind of teasing out the truth of the matter. That kind of became proverbial in its own way throughout Israel to…it was an illustration they used to give themselves rest in their king, that he was just and that he was a wise and that he could see how to bring justice to the land. So, basically where we leave the reading in first Kings today is that, yeah, Solomon is a very respected person who is reigning over a vast kingdom. Many other kings and kingdoms are subject to Solomon. He is at peace. He has all of the resources he could possibly need to do whatever he could possibly imagine. The people are at peace. There is prosperity and a huge amount of development, a huge amount of building and growth is happening. And what we’re seeing is all of King David’s work in establishing his kingdom passed on to Solomon, all of those resources combined with wisdom and the blessing of the Lord is leading this people to their greatest ancient moment, which we will see in the coming days.

And then we flip over into the New Testament in the book of Acts and we see the formation of something that still exists in the church world today. So, basically what’s going on is that many people are coming to accept Christ. Many are coming in every day as the gospel is spoken and at this point the book of Acts tells us the people who believe in Jesus are respected. Like not a lot of people want to be around their group because they’re afraid of getting thrown out of the synagogue, which is to kinda be ostracized from your community, but they’re respected, they’re spoken well of, persecution hasn’t really broken out because nobody really knows exactly what’s going on right now. And we will explore how tensions arose in the weeks ahead. But because kind of everybody is coming together in common as much as possible to kind of all be together, caring for one another, and in particular caring for like widows and people in need, just making sure everybody’s taking care of, a rift broke out between Greek Jewish people and native Hebrew people that the Greek people were being…the Greek widows were being treated differently than the native Hebrew widows. So, this is like one of the very, very, very first issues that we see crop up at all. And what is this issue? Well, it’s the accusation of favoritism, that the Greek widows were being suppressed in favor of the Hebrew widows and they weren’t being treated equally. And, so, often that’s still an issue in our world today. So, the apostles and…and all the people got together for…for a meeting about this. And the apostles are like “man…man….we need to keep…we need to keep spreading the gospel and keep telling people and educating people about Jesus and if we have to stop that and kind of figure out how to count…figure how to do finances, like we need some help. Appoint some people that are honorable. Bring them. Pray for them. We need some help here.” This model, this example here would one day grow up to be called the diaconate. This is where the idea of deacons or the office of a deacon comes into play. And we briefly meet one of those men. I man we…we met them all. We heard all of their names, but we briefly met one of them in a little more detail and his name is Stephen. And we’ll get to know Stephen in the coming days but Stephen will also allow us a bit of a review of the stories that we’ve found in the Bible that we’ve immersed ourselves in this year. So, that is coming in the next days.

Prayer:

Father, we’re thankful for that but we are in this day and this is happening now. And, so, we thank You for Your word in our lives and the way that just begins to build up and accumulate in our hearts and affects the way that we live in. And, so, we invite that today. May we go from this moment and into our day or into our evening or whatever time it is knowing that You are within and around us, that You are surrounding us, that we are in You, that we are hidden with Christ in God, that we are intertwined and that You are leading and directing our steps. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In the name of Jesus’ we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Check out the Windfarm coffee and tea. And just all…I mean everything that we put in that shop is…are things that are just centered around the rhythms of life and a lot of things that…that we do on a regular basis. Some of you are avid journalers and I like journaling. And, so, there’s all kinds of journaling resources in their because…man if you’re gonna take the journey through the entire Bible in a year, then you’re gonna cover a lot of ground, right? So, here we are in June in the 6^th month and just kind of fully getting ourselves here and then this month will over before we know it, but the 6^th month already. So, if we look back…well…if we look back at all the things that have happened in the world it can make our head spin. But if we look back at all that we have encountered in the Bible and the way that the Bible has become poignant and the way that it just has this way of saying what needs to be said a lot of the time and just kinda clicks things into place, we should write that down because a lot of stuff happens. And, so, it’s so easy to forget that God spoke to us through His word, and here’s what it meant to us on that day. And here’s…here’s where we went from there. And later on, we’re able to look back and see the thread that…that…that God is always with us and always leading us if we’re paying attention. And then we can see it in our own hand in the story of our own lives, and that’s valuable and it’s a biblical principle. I mean, piling up rocks or making some kind of a monument to remember what happened there so that future generations will not forget what happened there, that…that’s all throughout the Bible. And, so, it’s a good practice to be in as we take this journey. So, those resources are available in the Shop along with a lot of other resources. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. 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, if you prefer, 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 there are a number of phone numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. In the UK or Europe, you can dial 44-20-3608-8078. If you are in Australia or the lands down under, that part of the world, you can dial 61-3-8820-5459,

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, DABbers this is Sharon in South Carolina I’ve been listening for a lot of years, but I’ve never called in. I was recommended by a good friend of mine __. And, you know, I’ve lost two children before and I’ve heard different ones calling in grieving so much. And she said I should give my testimony about how God showed His loving kindness to me and took away inordinate grief. So the time’s ticking away but the main thing is…well I may have to call back to give the rest of it. But I was riding along, I was a truck driver at the time, and I was riding along, and I had to tell my daughter happy birthday and it had been almost a year since she passed away from breast cancer. And I said, “Father tell her happy birthday.” And He said, “she didn’t have a birthday. She came out of me she came back into me. She always was and she always will be.” Now I know that didn’t come out of my mind. You know, I…every day I was praying, and the tears were flowing inside that truck. I had lost a son in 1986 and then lost her in 2000 and I thought am I gonna lose all my children, but I just want to encourage you today. I love all of you so much and I pray for you every day. I hear you on the radio and I repent for not calling in to encourage some of you. Our Father is so faithful. He…He is the I Am but most of all He is, He is ever present for every need and every concern. Be encouraged today so…

I am really so encouraged by Brian and the Hardin family. I just…this message is going straight to Brian and his family just because I really am just so thankful Brian that you just took the time the other day to actually really say something about what’s happening in the nation and about race and even you taking the time to…to really minister us even with about the pandemic. I really, really appreciate it because as an African-American, I don’t always feel loved, I don’t always feel accepted, I don’t always feel understood. And this is a space where I feel like I do feel loved, accepted, and understood and you made that very, very clear and it only makes me even more involved and committed to this ministry because I think it’s from the heart. And I really appreciate it. It really meant a lot to me that you took some time out to really address it. And I just thank you. Take care and God bless.

Good morning DAB family this is Vito from New Hampshire a first-time caller and longtime listener. I’d like to begin by thanking Brian and Jill and China and Benn and everybody else behind the scenes for making this happen. It’s changing my life. It’s changing people’s lives all around the world and what an amazing blessing and need at a time such as this. I’m calling to ask for prayer for my friend Bill Smith and his wife Jane. Bill and Jane were visiting my wife and I four months ago when Bill suffered a stroke during the visit. Four months later he still is paralyzed on half of his body. He doesn’t recognize the voice or image of his wife. Because of the COVID situation nobody can go visit him and it’s been like that for months. I am…I have a heart for my friend, and I ask for your prayer for him, not only for God’s healing grace, but for his salvation at a time such as this for Bill which is so desperate. I’m praying that there’s somebody feeding him the word of God and bringing him to a salvation in the Lord. I don’t know that he believes in Christ. I think he considers himself a Christian but I’m raising up Bill and Jane his wife, Sarah and Colby his kids. Thank you for your prayers for me. Lord, have mercy and thank you for your provision, your grace, your love, mercy and power. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi Sherry from Kansas I just heard your praise report which is what it is because you are able to accomplish something that you have not been able to do in a really long time. So, I lift you up to God and I pray that He continues to help give you the strength and the ability to get the things done and the simple things in daily life and I hope that things can continue to get better for you every day. I will keep you in my prayers. And again, thank you so much for sharing with us. I pray for you in Jesus’ name. Amen. And God bless you.

Hi DAB family I just wanted to ask for your help. This is Dorothy out in California. Wanted to ask for prayers. I’m embarrassed to…to admit I just…I just feel so lost. I feel lost in my personal life, I feel lost about the future or the state that the worlds in. I have a couple of inventions that I think will help society. I…it’s so expensive to fund I don’t even know what direction to take and I feel like I don’t have enough together in me. And I know we’re supposed to just lay it at God’s feet. I just don’t feel like I have enough together to be able to move forward with anything. And all I can do is get through today. Anyway, I’m sure a lot of…with the curfew in place and everything else going on it’s not just that. It…I just feel lost and I need your help. Anyway, just don’t feel grounded. So, your prayer is much appreciated. This song came to mind. I don’t want to sing right now but [singing starts] all that you are I want. all you’ll allow we’ll embrace. With your strength and compassion all that you are we need [singing stops]

All of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I am calling first time and my name is Wanda. We are living here in Spain and me and my husband we are trying to do ministry for Spanish speaker. We both work this media production, which is a documentary about __ evolution and creation and it’s already four years since we’ve moved here in Spain and it’s been very challenging for me because I am from Belarus and I didn’t know language and during this time we got two babies and now I’m asking you to pray for God to answer our prayers because it’s so difficult. My husband works only part time and __ expensive and we can’t pay many things what we need. And now I just took money from my son from his jar to buy diapers. It’s very difficult…

Hi this is Gloria in New York City it is…it is Wednesday June 3^rd and I haven’t called in a very long time, a very long time. I’ve been listening though, and I heard Bart from Kentucky, I think, mentioned me at the very end. I was surprised, very nicely surprised to hear…to hear that you are praying for people that…some that he hadn’t heard from in a long time. And thank you so much. I have always been praying for a couple for serious things. And anyway, last year, my mom, she did pass away. It’s almost a year ago now. I actually had a pretty serious medical issue myself which…but I just want to give glory to God because I’m doing very well just thank God so thankful because fortunately the divorce I had been praying against did happen and I was not happy about that. It was all this stuff in one month and now you know here we are in we’re all going through a lot of…a lot of stuff but I have to say, I mean, globally and nationally and here in New York City it’s, you know, obviously with the rioting I live pretty close to one of the big hotspots, Union Square. And…but I want to just tell everybody and encourage everyone, I…just…I mean…I just been studying the Bible constantly and have been out there praying for our city, our country. Praying for repentance and for people to…for those of us in the church especially to really get out there and bring the message of the cross to…to a world that’s just perishing. It’s also heartbreaking but through it all God is good and thank you again for remembering me Bart. God bless you all and I’ll try to call, not two years from now. Bye.

1 Kings 2:1-3:2, Acts 5:1-42, Psalms 125:1-5, Proverbs 16:25

Today is the 7^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you as we collectively gather and observe the fact that we’re moving into a new week and it’s a reset and we just take the time to remind ourselves that it’s out in front of us and the choices that we make are going to tell the story of this week and they’re gonna spill over into next week and the next week and they’re gonna fill the days of this month. And, so, let’s be aware that what we do matters, and what we think matters. This is how we write the story of our lives. And, so, here at the beginning of this new week let’s allow God’s word to speak into our lives, affecting our thoughts and actions. So, we’re gotten ourselves into the book of first Kings and as we begin this new week, we’ll be saying a goodbye. We have been traveling with David since he was a shepherd boy. Now he is an old King and today we’ll say goodbye to King David and begin to understand the reign of King Solomon. So, we’re in a brand-new week. We’ll read from the Good News Translation this week. First Kings 2:1 through 3:2.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into this new week and we mark this day in saying goodbye to the story of King David and moving into the reign of King Solomon. And we invite Your Holy Spirit as we move into that story and move toward a mountaintop experience, an apex in the story that we’ve been telling since the beginning of the year. We invite Your Holy Spirit to apply these things into our own lives that we might have eyes to see our own circumstances. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and that is home base and that is where you find out what’s going on around here. But it…it’s also we get connected.

So, there’s a Community section there and if you kind of browse or just navigate around you’ll see that there are a number of different links that can get you connected in different social media channels, as well as the Prayer Wall that lives there and is always on and is always open and always somebody around. And, so, it is a good place to ask for prayer, but it is also a good place to focus outwardly and offer prayer for your brothers and sisters who are in need. So, be sure to stay connected there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. And thank you. Thank you so…so humbly, so very much 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, if you prefer, 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, the little ribbon 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.

1 Kings 1:1-53, Acts 4:1-37, Psalms 124:1-8, Proverbs 16:24

Today is the 6^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today. So, we find ourselves at an end and at a beginning. We are at the end of the week, but we are beginning a new book.

Introduction to the book of first Kings:

So, we concluded the book in the Old Testament, the book of second Samuel yesterday. So, just kinda trying to give us a little bit of an overview and a little bit of a look into the territory that we’re heading into. Let’s…let’s just kind of review. When we started first Samuel we talked about how first and second Samuel and then this book that we’re going into now, first Kings, first and second Kings, were all one document. First Samuel, second Samuel, first Kings, second Kings. So, they’ve been broken apart over time for various reasons and we talked about them in…in the books of Samuel but we’re not like heading into completely new territory. This was all one document. So, as we move into the book of first Kings, we will…we will immediately find the end of David’s reign and pick up the story with his son Solomon who will become king. And it’s a pretty dramatic story. And in the days ahead under Solomon’s reign we’re actually going to reach a mountaintop, like an apex, we’re gonna reach the height of everything we’ve been working for, working toward since the beginning of our year together. So, the Bible has led us through all different eras and stories and formation of a people, the Hebrew people, the people that He chose and we’ve met their leaders. And then in this recent time in the book of Samuel and stuff we saw kingship, right? So, we saw a monarchy emerge that had never existed before. But now the people of Israel have a king over them to rule all of the tribes. And Solomon will lead this era to its apex to the greatest time of ancient Israel. But before his reign is done a down…like we reached the top and we start going down the other side. And, so, a steady slide downward begins to happen. And before we’re done, we’ll watch a number of things happen. Israel will no longer be one nation before this is over. It will split apart into two - the northern kingdom of Israel the southern kingdom of Judah. And, at times they will even be at war with each other. They become two different people and they begin to head in two different directions. But before all of its over the slide will take them down the other side until there’s no kingdoms left. It’s going to take some time. We’ll read the stories and their details, but as we do read these stories, we’ll find that our lives are embedded into these stories. We often find ourselves in the same kind of back-and-forth, back-and-forth back and forth, back and forth that ends up kind of…well…bringing Israel to its own disintegration. But the same thing happens in our own lives. And, so, here we go. We’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week, which is today. First Kings chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us safely and successfully to the end of another week and safely, and successfully into some new territory, into a brand-new book in the Old Testament and we thank You for that. And Father, we mimic the Psalms today, “if You had not been on our side…if You had not been on our side what would we do? We would have been swallowed alive. The floodwaters would’ve swept us away. And, so, here at the end of the week we acknowledge You, that You have sustained us, that You have carried us, that although we have faced or maybe even are facing what we consider to be tremendous difficulties, if You weren’t here we wouldn’t be talking about it we would have been utterly washed away. You have sustained us, and we put our trust in You. We surrender to You. You can fight our battles, but we can’t. So, our hope is in You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here if you didn’t know that. It’s definitely a portal into connection.

The Community section of the website is designed for that, to give links to different places. It’s a good idea if you’re part of the Daily Audio Bible to subscribe to the Daily Audio Bible like on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter if…or whatever you use just to get announcements, to get updates, to see what’s going on around here. But there are also different Community links to get involved in conversations that are happening. So, check it out. The Prayer Wall is also there. Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, thank you. Words…words aren’t adequate. The Daily Audio Bible exists…we all are here right now because we’re in this together. So, thank you for your partnership. So, 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, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can of 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.

2 Samuel 23:24-24:25, Acts 3:1-26, Psalms 123:1-4, Proverbs 16:21-23

Today is the 5^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful, what a joy to be here with you at the…well…at the closing…the closing of another week or, you know, of another work week anyway. So, it’s great to be here with you as we head into the weekend, but it doesn’t matter what day it is or weekend or what part of the week it is. We have a rhythm, a daily rhythm. Daily we immerse ourselves into the Scriptures, and that adds up to making a huge difference in our year. So, let’s take that next step forward. And today’s step in the Old Testament, which is the book of second Samuel is going to bring us to the conclusion of second Samuel. So, we’ll finish second Samuel today before getting into the book of Acts, and then tomorrow we’ll move forward into a new book in the Old Testament. So, we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. Today, second Samuel 23 verse 24 through 24 verse 25.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we continue our journey through the book of Acts and we’re just kind of getting going and just getting moved in we encounter a story today where John and Peter are…are doing ministry in the temple complex, and there’s a man who is a beggar, basically gets brought to one of the gates. In this case the Beautiful Gate is named. And, so, he asks for money. We…we see this tradition continue until today throughout the earth. So, nothing new there in particular, other than this man is in the temple complex and he’s taking donations and Peter and John there looking at him and the guys thinking he’s gonna maybe get a coin or something. And they tell him, “like, I don’t have any money”, right, “silver and gold have I none” - if we’re like quoting the older translations - “but I will give you what I do have in the name of Jesus. Get up and walk.” The man gets up and walks. The people are aware of who this man is because, you know, he's…he’s normally asking for money at this gate…like this is a person who’s there, they’ve seen him before and now he’s walking around praising God. He won’t leave Peter and John. And a crowd begins to form as you could imagine that it would. And then, boom, we sort of begin to see the point of this story in the book of Acts emerge because the crowd forms because they’ve seen something happened that is very unusual. A man who was a beggar who was lame is now walking. It seems like a miracle has happened and their astonished. And Peter says, “what are you so surprised about here? Like, what is so surprising about this man? What’s so surprising about all this?” And it’s a bit of a rhetorical question because a miracle, right, that a miracle has taken place, that’s what’s so surprising about all this. But what Peter began to unpack is Jesus is the source of this power, the one that you took and crucified. The one that you denied and ignored, he was killed by you, but God would not leave Him. He was raised from the dead and has sent His Holy Spirit into the world. It’s not us you should be astonished by. We haven’t really done anything we’ve just been here as a conduit for this power of the Holy Spirit. The power of Jesus has healed this man, not us. And then Peter has the opportunity to share the gospel. What we see here though in the book of Acts is the first recorded miraculous event after Jesus ascended to the Father. This is the first time we see what Jesus told His disciples would happen actually happening. And Jesus physical presence was gone. And yet, His Spirit remained and through His disciples these things happened. The thing to kinda linger on in this story is…is Peter’s question, “why…why are you so surprised about this? Like, what’s so surprising about this?” Because, in effect what Peter’s saying is, “a new normal is here. In spite of you God is doing a new thing. What is so surprising about this?” Applying this to our own lives, we have the ability to ask the same questions. What is so surprising about this? Because when…when something that is out of the ordinary or even miraculously happens and we are somewhere in the vicinity and we hear this or we…we witness this, we go the same places that the people would go. And Peter’s trying to say, “this shouldn’t surprise you. These are the repercussions of this new thing that God is doing in the world. This separation between man and God is no longer real. There isn’t any separation anymore. Anything is possible.” So, let’s kind of move ourselves into the end of this week and into this… and into this weekend like letting those words of Peter kinda bounce around in our hearts and minds. “What’s so surprising about this?” Because that’s a posture change. Like…like that…that goes from the shock of the unexpected to the expectancy that God will move in spite of anything, that nothing is impossible. So, what if we were to imagine that. What if we were to imagine a world where nothing is impossible with God. If we lived in that world. If that’s how we lived our lives with that expectancy than we could also with Peter have that same posture. What’s so surprising about this. This is what our loving Father does. This is what the most-high God is like. He makes the impossible possible.

Prayer:

Father, we embrace that we carry that with us into this day. We invite Your Holy Spirit to keep it alive in our hearts as we move into the weekend and we ask that You begin to change our posture, to change our heart so that we expect these things to happen because it’s Your kingdom breaking out on this earth. What’s so surprising about that? It’s been Your plan all along. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, 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, stay connected to the Daily Audio Bible as we stay connected to the journey that we take step-by-step day by day forward through all the weeks and months and seasons of life and…yeah…whatever is happening in the world. We just continue to move forward as we let God’s word inform our steps. So, stay connected. Stay connected to the Scriptures. Stay connected to each other.

Check out the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com. It’s a place to get connected and the Prayer Wall is there. It’s a place to connect through prayer.

The resources in the Daily Audio Bible shop are there for the purpose of the rhythm of life that we have allowing God’s word to speak to its us each and every day. So, Journal your way to the Scriptures. Write down the things that God is speaking to you. Check out these resources for this journey in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link and it lives on the homepage and I am deeply, deeply grateful. Thank you for your partnership. If you are using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. If you prefer the mail, 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.

2 Samuel 22:1-23:23, Acts 2:1-47, Psalms 122:1-9, Proverbs 16:19-20

Today is the 4^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today. You feeling moved into this new month yet? I’m trying to get there. I just keep thinking it’s May, but it’s not. It’s the 4^th day of June and it is a wonderful thing to be able to come around the Global campfire, day or night. No matter what time it is, it’s always burning, we’re never alone here. There’s always somebody else here listening as well. In fact, lots of somebodies are always listening as well. We can never be alone at the Daily Audio Bible. Whenever where listening somebody else is too, always, whenever it is. So, yesterday we stepped into some new territory. We finished the Gospels day before yesterday, and we moved into the book of Acts yesterday. And we talked about that so we’re gonna continue that journey, but this is the journey…this is the story of what came next after Jesus resurrection. So, we will get to that soon enough. But first we’ll go into our Old Testament portion today, which leads us back into the book of second Samuel and the story of King David. And we really only have two or three days left in second Samuel. So, we’re making progress and we should be. We’re in the 6^th month of the year so we should be making progress. And let’s make some progress. Let’s take the next step forward. Second Samuel chapter 22 verse 1 through 23 verse 23.

Commentary:

Okay. So, let’s just kind of catch ourselves up to where we are in the stories that we’re moving through in the Scriptures. In second Samuel, obviously, we’ve…we’ve been kind of working to the story of David’s life and his reign, while being able to observe pretty up close and personal his strengths and weaknesses. And we can kind of tell that the book of second Samuel is drawing to a close because it’s kind of inserting all these different things, like these…that these are the last words, like the last songs of David. These are David’s elite warriors. So, we’re kind of getting all these lists and closing down that story. We haven’t got to it yet, but as a we’re reading the lists of the warriors and all the different things that they did we’re going to find the name in…in this list in the Bible of the elite warriors of David and that person’s name is Uriah, Uriah the Hittite. This is the man that David had killed in battle so that he could cover up the fact that he had gotten Uriah’s wife Bathsheba pregnant.

Then in the book of Acts today we see the coming of the Holy Spirit with the sound of a mighty wind, and what appears to be tongues of fire or flames of fire. And that famous, a very, very famous story, but this is actually the birth of the church as we know it. All of the people are speaking in these languages that foreigners who are in Jerusalem understand. Their confused about it and Peter steps forward to explain and he gives a message that we read today this kind of first almost evangelistic sermon. That’s probably not quite right, but Peter’s talking to the crowd and telling them about Jesus and their listening, because of the effects of the Holy Spirit, these languages that the people are hearing. And, so, Peter’s unpacking the message of Jesus and his ministry and who he was and that he was killed and…and who he is. And this cuts them to the heart. And, so, they want to know what they’re supposed to do. And, so, Peter explains, “all of you must turn to God and change the way you think and act, which is essentially to say, repent. Repent - change the way you think and act. That’s what repentance is. “And each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.” So, this is all part of his message. According to the book of Acts, 3000 people, 3000 people were added to the followers of Jesus Christ that day. So, this is the flashpoint. This is sort of the birth of the church as we know it. And 3000 people, that’s been an intriguing thing. Like where do you baptize 3000 people. And really the only candidate would be the temple, like would be where the ritual baths are large and lots of people are ritually cleansing themselves continually to go into the temple. And some of those Mikvah, some of those ritual baths, they still exist in the old city. So, this is the beginning of the church after Jesus ascended.

And we learned also from the book of Acts today just how they were living. They were living altogether kind of single-mindedly with purpose, caring for one another, meeting at each other’s houses and sharing meals together. And according to the book of Acts, at this point there’s sort of this aura around these people. The way the Bible describes it is, “a feeling of fear came over everyone as amazing things and miraculous signs happened through the apostles.” So, there’s sort of this air of respect, curiosity, and this awareness that something mystical seems to be happening. Of course, as we continue our journey through the New Testament, we’ll find out that that’s not how it stays. The church for sure goes through some really trying times but right here at the flashpoint we see that the people are gathering together, and every day new people are coming in.

Then in the Proverbs we are told, “whoever gives attention to the Lord’s word prospers. And blessed is the person who trusts the Lord.” We have talked about Proverbs many times on our journey so far this year and we have understood that this is wisdom speaking to us. And in so many cases it’s like what we learn is that wisdom isn’t complicated, wisdom is simple. It’s just hard to be aware and pay attention and have self-control enough to obey it. “But whoever gives attention to the Lord’s word prospers. And blessed is the person who trusts the Lord.” May we live into that this very day.

And then in the book of Psalms today we were told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for where it’s leading us even as we are transitioning in the Old Testament and moving into the book of…the book of Acts in the New Testament. So, we’re kind of transitioning. And we thank You because we are constantly transitioning too. And we thank You that Your word in our lives each and everyday changes things. And we’re told today in the Psalms to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. So, Father we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love You prosper. May there be peace inside Your walls and prosperity in Your palaces. For the sake of my relatives and friends let me say, may it go well for You. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is good for You. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s a home base, its where the Global Campfire is, it's…it’s our home as we are virtual all over the world. And, so, stay tuned and stay connected.

The Community section has a number of different links to where to get connected on social media. The Daily Audio Bible Shop is packed full of resources that are…they are there for the purpose…the purpose of accompanying us through the journey, whether that be journaling our way through the journey or just growing deeper because some of the resources that are there or just some of the fun things to wear and carry around. So, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link and it is lives on the homepage and I thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if…if we weren’t in this together. And that’s a fact. And, so, thank you, thank you that we are. 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, if you prefer, 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:

Hi I’m a first time caller my name is Galena and I want to pray for the young man who called who was in the dark place and his marriage was falling apart and his mother was on the deathbed. Lord I want to lift up this Young man to You and give them into Your hands. Would You comfort him Lord? Would You pour Your grace upon him? Would You give him strength to go through this season of his life Lord and help him see how much You love him Lord. Send him the Angels Lord all around him. Surround him Lord with Your heavenly angels and earthly angels to help them through this time Father, to pray for him, to listen to him, to give him love. And Lord remind him how much love he has so he will spend the days with his mother Lord feeling blessed and he will continue Lord growing in his knowledge of You.

Hi it’s Sherry from Kansas and I’m about to say something I’ll probably be embarrassed about later but I just want to tell you that I just finished mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors and I managed to dust and vacuum. And you don’t know what that means to me because I have not either physically or emotionally been able to do this for quite some time. And I know that whenever I accomplish something like this, like even just taking a shower is a huge thing for me then I give glory to God because I know that it is by His grace and His strength that I am able to accomplish anything, even such seemingly small things is doing a little cleaning. So, I just want to publicly right now thank God for all that He does and all that He gives and how He takes care of us even in the small things and that without Him…without Him there’s nothing worth accomplishing. Without Him there is there is no life, no breath, no…no joy, no nothing to be thankful for. So, thank You most gracious and loving heavenly Father for hearing our prayers and for giving us what we need of for each day, that we go from strength to strength by Your will and by Your love. Thank you, Father.

Aloha dad family this is Robin from Hawaii. Just as Kristi from Kentucky called in today talking about her heart being so burdened, mine too. Our country and our world’s still recovering from COVID and now we have such conflict in our United States due to man’s sinful heart. Oh God, forgive us. May the church be the light in the darkness. God may they know we are Christians by our love for one another and for all mankind. Lord help us as individuals to make an impact. And God equip our pastors and our leaders to guide us and bring about transformation in our country and in the world. God, I pray that you would anoint another Billy Graham, another Martin Luther King to speak to the hearts and minds of your people. God may your Spirit reign in the United States and in the whole world and may we see revival. In Jesus’ name I pray. Love you DABbers. Aloha Kaia Coua - God is love.

On this Pentecost Sunday, this is Stephanie Avery, a long-time listener from Rwanda days. I have a prayer for these troubling times here in the United States. Father God I come in Your son Jesus name asking You to forgive us of all our wicked ways. I pray, Holy Spirit just come afresh on us to break down the walls of fear, hate, and __ . Holy Spirit bring Your love, Your righteousness and Your justice. Let us who are believers speak boldly of You the son of the living God and the soon coming King. Jesus… Jesus You said that we will have trouble but take heart You have overcome the world and we are victorious in Jesus’ name. Shalom. Stephanie from North Carolina.

Good morning DAB family this is Laura from Georgia A.K.A. walking in the wilderness. Today is June the 1^st and I want to say thank you to Abby who called in. Thank you for your empathy and thank you for your sympathy for black America. This journey is…is…hasn’t been easy for us and no matter how we protest, whether it be silently, whether it be calmly… and then when we don’t know what else to do unfortunately it erupts into heated…and violent at times. But we’re tired. We’re so tired. But I’m so thankful when I hear people like Abby who realize that it’s not the same for us as it is for you. Just thank you. And I know that God is bigger than any situation and that is who I’m drawing on. I’m raising two sons who are now adults and I had to teach them so many things, especially when they come across the police. And every day when they travel to a different place, I’m always saying I need to hear from you when you make it to your destination. So, thank you Abby and for all those who are praying and show empathy and sympathy and understand. And thank you DAB family. Blessings. Peace.

Today is June 1^st and this is Julie from Texas and I wanted to read you guys something that I God has just shown me as of yesterday being Pentecost Sunday and I wrote this. It is never in my life have I ever had such a clear and burning desire to be the daughter, the child that You Father have called me to be flowing with Your authority and power that would allow me to do as Jesus did. Jesus You said now go and do the same. And that is exactly what I am going to do. The kingdom of God is here in and among us and in obedience and with the authority that You authorized. I will do as You did Jesus. You healed the sick, You raised the dead, You cast out demons and most of all You loved perfectly. You commanded it. So, it should be obvious obedience in which I follow Your order and share the good news of the kingdom of God. Have Your way in me, I’m ready.

Good morning today is June 1^st and I am a first-time caller. This is Lady and I am a very recent Daily Audio Bible listener. First of all, I’ve been blessed but this morning I wanted to just call to say thank you Abby. You blessed me, literally brought me to tears because I felt your heart. And, so again I just want to say thank you.

2 Samuel 20:14-21:22, Acts 1:1-26, Psalms 121:1-8, Proverbs 16:18

Today is the 3^rd day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we move through the midpoint of the first week of this 6^th month of the year that we’re moving into. It is wonderful to be around the Global Campfire with you today. And today we’re moving into some new territory in the New Testament. We concluded the Gospels yesterday, which means that we will move into the book of Acts today and we’ll talk about that when we get there but we’re not quite there yet. In the Old Testament we are continuing our journey along the side King David and learning of his reign. So, we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. Second Samuel chapter 20 verse 14 through 21 verse 22.

Introduction to the book of Acts:

Okay. So, like we were talking about at the beginning we are moving into some new territory in the New Testament today. Yesterday we finished up the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And I was telling you if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app and you’ve been checking off the boxes than we get the Gospels achievement yesterday. And I love that. So, that shows us that we’re ending a certain section of the Scriptures moving into a more historical account of the early church. This is a new era, the beginning of the church era. That’s the era that we’re in right now. We’re with just a couple of thousand years into it. The book of Acts sort of unpacks what happened after Jesus ascended, after he returned to the Father. And in a lot of ways we could call this book that we call the Acts of the apostles, this could almost be second Luke because Luke and Acts share the same author and that is thought to be Luke who was a physician. So, if you read the book of Luke and then immediately read the book of Acts you see they’re like volume 1 and volume 2 and this vast accounting of Jesus life and ministry and of the repercussions of that ministry and the reverberations that happened after His ascension. So, the first chapters of the book of Acts we’ll…we’ll get to understand the ministry of the apostle Peter. And, of course, Peter is somebody that we’ve met in the Gospels. We’ll get to focus on his ministry and then we’re gonna meet this person that is gonna affect the rest of the Bible and we’ll be traveling with him most of the rest of the way. His name was Saul, right? Not the same Saul that was the first king of Israel that we’ve been reading about in the book of Samuel. This is a Pharisee in the first century who very, very much opposes this new message of Jesus. And it’s not because His ethics were off or something like that. It was that people were saying he was the Son of the most-high God, which for Saul and for the rest of the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and leaders, this is blasphemy. So, Saul was doing everything he could to oppose this when he met Jesus. And, so, we’ll spend the latter part of the book of Acts getting to know Saul whose name becomes Paul. And we know him now as the apostle Paul. And we will find that his letters makeup like the bulk of the remainder of what we’re going to read in the New Testament. The book of Acts we also encounter the comforter, the one Jesus says He would send, the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the energy that sets the hearts of Jesus disciples on fire and then sets the world on fire. When you understand a bit of church history, and you understand a bit about the Roman Empire, and you understand a little bit about the first century you realize the chances of this message succeeding were small, very small. And yet this message has swept the entire world. Nothing of the early church would’ve been possible without the Holy Spirit, without the Spirit leading into all truth, right, as is promised in the Scriptures. And we should remember that because it’s the same Spirit that is empowering us to bring the good news and light and life and shalom into the world today. So, we’re moving it is a new territory and it’s exciting. And, so, let’s buckle up for the book of Acts. Today Acts chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into this new territory. It’s like we turned the page and we finished the Gospels and now we’re in the accounting of the early church. And as we watch the story unfold we ask that Your Holy Spirit, whom we will read plenty about in the book of Acts would awaken us, would lead us into all truth, would help us to understand that this is the beginning of the story that we are in right now. And we also Father thank You for the comfort found in the 121^st Psalm, that You are with us, that You will not leave us, that You are sustaining us, that You are watching over us and guarding us, that You are here and You have always been. And we are so grateful. So, come Holy Spirit into what we’ve read today and plant it in our hearts. May our hearts be good soil for Your word. And may the fruit of the spirit be harvested in our lives we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay connected to what’s going on around here. Check the Initiatives section for that.

Check out the resources that are available in Daily Audio Bible Shop including the entire Global Campfire line that we introduced not too long ago. A lot of fun stuff, just reminders that we’re part of a community going to the Scriptures together. It’s nice to have these reminders. I have them around me continually and I’m continually in awe that this is even happening. And, so, check out the resources that are available in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. And I thank you for your partnership with all of my heart. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t doing this together. So, thank you. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, there is a 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 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 today is May the 29^th and I had to say man those prayers I heard at the end of today’s podcast made my spirit soar. I can’t tell you. I was hooting and hollering and saying yes Lord yes Lord. Man, this DAB family is something else. The prayers that you lift up to God, wow. Especially his little Cherry and the other lady you were praying for the unleashing of our…of the potential of our children who have been breathed life into by our Creator. Never thought of it that way but yes Lord. I just…I gotta say amen to those prayers and I gotta say thank you Lord for this DAB amazing prayer warrior family that you have put in here, the ones who call in for prayer and the ones who answer prayer. And I just have to say also, blessed are you oh Lord our God who hears our prayers who is faithful to answer and who daily carries our burdens. Thank you, family. That was some powerful today. I just had to call in and say that. Woo. Pray for our kids as well, that their potential is unleashed, and I think that’s going to be an ongoing prayer from now on. Thanks very much. Be blessed family and be a blessing.

Hi this is Missy from the Midwest. I’m listening to a podcast from the community prayer line May 1^st or 2^nd I’m not sure what it was but at the 2 hour 28 minute 33 second mark John Ofsoul from South Sudan in East Africa came in and he…he just sang a song with a guitar, the song “they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” And as I heard him sing this I’m…I’m next door in Wisconsin to the state of Minnesota the city of Minneapolis that’s been burned and rioting and awfulness and the song just really really touched me. Thank you, John for singing this. I saw the evil of a man having his life taken and I saw the city burning to the ground and I saw the Father crying from heaven and it broke my heart and it caused me to weep. And I just ask for you all DABbers to please pray for Minneapolis as we go through these this awful time. Thank you.

Hey everybody this is Pelham from Arab calling in. It is the 29^th of May and time to call in and tell you guys that it’s pretty much been a year and I’m I am gonna finish this program on the second but they’re letting me leave early. Today I paid my last payment to the house. You pay a percentage of your paycheck and that was my last one. The Lord got me through this thing, which is incredible. It’s unbelievable. I now can check a piece of chicken better than…well I don’t know who else…anyways I know how to make some really good chicken tenders. I work in a chicken plant now and I’ve been doing it for a while. So, I’m calling to let you guys know that we made a year and I’m about to be out, I’m about to move. So, I need prayer warriors out there to please pray for the Lord to lead me to where me and Otis are supposed to be. There are several men that want to come with me wherever I go. And I need guidance there because they…there’s opportunity for me to start something of my own and I’m scared of that. I’m scared of…of that type of calling or what that may mean. I…I covet you all’s prayers on this. There’s so many amazing things happening that two minutes is not nearly enough. But man, everybody out there, think about when I first called in a year ago before going into this. I think I called from jail even, possibly. But I’ve been calling in for 14, I think, 14 years now or 13 years and just another chapter coming to an end and I want to let everybody know I love you. Okay. I’ll here you later. Bye.

Good morning DAB, this prayers for I believe his name is Terry and Australia. [singing starts] The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness oh Lord. Great is the high faithfulness [singing stops]. Terry this is your sister Blessings Flow in Pennsylvania. I heard your prayer request about the 20-year pornography addiction. I just want you to know that I’m praying for you brother. I so appreciate your vulnerability and I know that hit home with many people. As I was thinking about you, I remembered when I was a missionary and I remember there was a time, a short season I was going to be furloughed going back home and I was just kind of anxious that I would fall back into certain patterns of…of sin and I remembered I was anxious about this and I had this dream in that season where I told a leader about it and in the dream she just laughed a belly over laughed and laughed and when I woke up I knew for me it meant that, you know, I’m anxious about this but the Lord wasn’t. And it calmed me and it just reminded me as I pray for you brother, that one day at a time the Lord loves you and as you grow in that love and knowing that love I think you’re going to desire the addiction even less. Praying for you. God bless you.

Hi DAB family this is Will from beautiful Bozeman Montana. And I am a little behind, probably maybe a month or less than a month behind. But I just want to say that I’ve been thoroughly blessed this year with the DAB, and I’ve been kind of holding back on calling and just listening. I’d do a roll call, but I might mess up because I don’t have a list. But I just listened to the prayer request and Victoria Soldier, thank you so much for your inspiring prayer and your anointed prayer. I do have a prayer request. I told a young man he is a coworker that I would have thousands of people praying for him. His name is Justin. Justin is not a believer. He’s on blood thinners and just has had some health issues. He’s a little overweight but more than anything he’s not a believer and I just want God to show himself to him and I thought I’d just step in and just offer that. And not only that but just make myself known in a sense I have…we have an advocate who can go before us in the name of Jesus and pray. And part of the issue of his…of his illness is the stress that he’s been carrying, his wife is very ill, and he’s had to take time off of work to deal with that. So, pray for her healing as well. Pray that God would reveal himself. DAB family I love you. Thank you. This little app is awesome, being able to just push a button and record like this. And, so Brian, Jill thank you all for your ministry. Thank you all for everything you do, and DAB family thank you for your contributions. And it’s been a blessing. I love you.

Hi DAB family this is Steven in Florida. I’d like to lift up and pray for the young man that called in today and said that his marriage was on the rocks and his mother was kind of not doing well and he said he was going through a dark time. And I just want to lift him up brother and let him know that dark times…God is always with us during our dark…dark times and the gospel is telling us…the Gospels are telling us that Jesus went through really hard times and…but God definitely has a plan for you and he will see you through this and…and when this is all over you’re gonna a see that He has blessed you more than you ever imagined that he had blessed you before. And, so, hang in there man. And another prayer of praise for the father who called in a few days ago and said his son that had run away has come back. And, you know, I’d like to just praise God and thank God for doing that and hopefully it opens…it opens up a new relationship in the family and its…we have the…we have the stories of the prodigal son where God does not reject his children. You know, a father never lets his children go, a mother never lets her children go. And, you know, it’s…it’s…it’s a gift from God. Family is a gift from God. And that’s it. Thank you, Brian again and I’m taking the Old Testament man. King David rockn’.

How do I ride when I don’t have the fare
how do I eat when the cupboard is bare
how do I hold on if my faith just ain’t there
some people would say it’s the power of prayer
take your burdens to the Lord and just leave them there
I mean he really does care
your burdens you share
but ain’t Satan the ruler and power of the air
he got the whole world in his hands
he got the whole world in his hands
he got the whole world in his hands
but he gives us the power to make our own plans
and therein the crux of the whole matter stands
because the choices we make chances we take
laws that we break for our own selfish sake
it becomes hard to admit that you made a mistake
and then you ask yourself over and over again
didn’t I know that the Lord was truly my friend
that his kindness and his grace and his mercy don’t end
that all of my battles eventually I’d win
now here I am with this big stupid grin
on the floor on my knees in a jam once again
knowing my actions was nothing but sin
and Satan’s still telling me you’re going to win
he never stops tryin’ and lyin’ Amen
but what if I had stayed what if I had prayed what if I just trust and obeyed
but what if’s are fruitless because I can’t change the past
but one thing I pray God and humbly ask
help me a better person to be
a better son a better father a better servant for the
because one thing even my blindness I see
and that’s nothing that will ever change until I change me

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow keep the flow and yell. All right. Bye-bye.

2 Samuel 19:11-20:13, John 21:1-25, Psalms 120:1-7, Proverbs 16:16-17

Today is the second day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we get ourselves moved in and settled into this brand-new 6^th month of the year. And, so, as we’re getting settled into this new month let’s take the next step forward on our journey through the Scriptures this year. We’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week and we are certainly continuing with the journey through the life of King David in second Samuel. But today is a day of importance, a day to recognize. Today we will complete the book of John, which means that we will conclude the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John today - which means we will be leaving the stories that center around Jesus ministry in his earthly life and moving toward what comes next, what came next. So, we’ll kind of be leaving a whole category in the Scriptures, the Gospels and moving forward, which also means that if you’ve been kind of checking off your days using the Daily Audio Bible app and you’ve kind of listened through from the beginning of the year and they’re all checked off, that when we check off today we will achieve the Gospels badge. But let’s…let’s talk about that later. Let’s get into the Scriptures and let’s pick up the story of David. Second Samuel chapter 19 verse 11 through 20 first 13.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we concluded the gospel of John today even as we watched kind of topsy-turvy way that the king was restored to the kingdom, King David in second Samuel. But we watched the very last conversation that is written down in the Gospels today and it is a picture of Jesus cooking breakfast for his friends who were on the Sea of Galilee fishing. It’s like the story is coming to a conclusion at the same place in the same kind of setting that it began. It was Jesus who was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, right, saying, “come follow me” to these men who left everything and followed him. And now here they are back on the sea. Jesus is back in the Galilee making some breakfast telling them to cast their net on the other side. And they…they begin to become fully aware of who they’re interacting with because of that. And they catch all those fish. And you remember those fish, all those fish that they caught when Jesus told them to cast their nets on the other side the first time? They left those according to the Scriptures. They dragged them on shore, and they left them and followed Him. So, almost poetic, almost beautiful, that after the resurrection He comes back and gives them a big catch of fish that they can pull onto shore. And, of course, then at breakfast Jesus is talking to Peter and he asks him three different times if Peter loves Him, if Peter loves Jesus. And each time Peter’s like, “you know I love you.” So, there’s, you know, a theological understanding here or a parallel here as well. Peter denied Jesus three times. And, so, over the centuries many theologians have seen this parallel. Maybe Jesus is pressing into that, into those betrayals, going after his heart, healing him, restoring him and inviting him into his destiny to “feed my sheep.” And that scene there, it…I mean the whole thing is really, really beautiful, but that scene there is the one that usually gets the attention, Jesus pressing in on Peter, maybe restoring him from the denials back in Jerusalem. But what comes next is like one of the most compelling things in the whole Bible to me. Like, so I can’t go by it any time we pass this particular territory. I can’t go by it without mentioning it because it’s riveting to me. Like it…it’s personally challenging to me. It’s something that I ask myself throughout the rest of the year. Like, all of the time. So, basically Jesus is talking to Peter and telling him, you know, “when you were young you could go wherever you wanted to go but when you’re old, you’re gonna…you’re gonna go somewhere you don’t want to go. And the gospel then unpacks the fact that Jesus is telling Peter in advance that you will die a martyr’s death. Peter’s reaction to that news is to turn around and look at John, the beloved disciple, at least that’s the way it seems to be depicted here and then look back to Jesus and go, “what about him? Lord, what about him?” Jesus response to Peter is, “if I want him to live until I come again, how does that concern you? Follow me.” In other translations Jesus says something similar, “what is that to you?” Right? “How does that concern you?” So, let’s pause. How does that concern you? I ask myself that all year long. “What is that to you? How does that concern you?” And its good exercise to get into because, you know, the offenses that we take, the slights that we are given, the things that happen that set us off, “what is that to you? How does that concern you? You follow me.” Those are the last words of Jesus depicted in the Gospels, “follow me.” That’s the last thing that Jesus says that’s recorded in the Gospels. “How does that concern you? You follow me.” If we could…if we could take that little piece at the very, very last sentences of the gospel of John and remember that, remember that beautiful scene of Jesus cooking breakfast for his friends, of restoring them, of loving them and then speaking directly to the comparison game that we all play because that’s what’s happening here, Jesus is telling Peter about his…his life and Peter just wants to compare to…to the other disciple, “what about him?” Let’s remember Jesus words, “how does that concern you?” Does that concern you? Does that have anything to do with you? If it does what is it and why? “As for you, you follow me”

Prayer:

Jesus it is wonderful to reach this point in the year. It is wonderful to know that we’ve made progress and that we’ve progressed through the Gospels, but it’s also a little bit of bittersweet moment to get here because we’ve been walking with You since we began this journey. And it’s not as if we’re leaving it’s just that we’re moving into the things that began to occur after Your resurrection. And, so, we’re not walking through stories that tell of Your humanity and Your life, Your earthly life. We’re moving into the stories where Your Spirit flows upon the earth and begins to change things dramatically. So, that is exciting, but we mark it. We mark the moment here on this day that we conclude the Gospels. And, so, we thank You for all that You have spoken to us through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as we’ve gotten to know Your personality, as we’ve gotten to know Your ways. And we can see them in human form in ways that we can fully comprehend, even though comprehending You is beyond our capacity, So, we thank You for all that You have shown us and we invite You into the days ahead. Come Holy Spirit. And that is exactly what we will be reading about in the days ahead. Come Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask, Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find what’s going on around here. There’s always something or another going on around here, but today is a special day because we concluded the Gospels today. So, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app and you’re checking off the days that you listened to and you’ve listened to everyday up till now then you should get the pop-up that tells you you have completed the Gospels and have been awarded the Gospels badge for this year. You can always go look at these in the achievement section. So, you push that little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app and look for achievements. And clicking into there shows you kind of the progress that you personally are making through the Scriptures this year and where you are in the different categories or sections of the Bible. Like for example, we’ve concluded the Pentateuch, so we’ve achieved that badge a while ago, but today we achieve the Gospels. And we just continue to go forward until we have achieved the entire Bible. So, that’s exciting. It was exciting to achieve my badge. It was particularly exciting because I’ve drew…like these badges, like this progress, this has been on drawing board and dreaming board for years. And, so, it’s just very, very complicated because everybody has a different journey. And, so, to have individual journeys like this…there’s a lot of computation going on. But, yeah, such a joy to reach the end of the Gospels and achieve the Gospels badge for this year. So, make sure you check into that. Check it out. If you don’t have the app yet make sure you download it and get involved.

And now we need to talk about something a little more serious. And this is such a strange year, isn’t it? Yeah, I’ve never seen a year like this one so far in my lifetime and I think that’s true. And we’ve had some really, really horrible things happen in the United States over the last week. And I find myself for the second time in only a couple months saying things about what’s going on because I’m really, really trying to maintain a space for us that God’s word speaks, we listen and then we go back into the world refreshed because there’s no shortage of places to find bad things to focus upon. But the…the unrest that has been happening throughout our cities, like you’re in those cities, we’re in those cities. It’s in my city. It’s in all of our cities. So, we’re all aware and it’s bothering us all on many many levels. I’m pretty sure it’s not a secret that I’m a white guy, but I’m a white guy that was never raised to consider skin color to be anything of importance in terms of…in terms of eternity, in terms of spirituality because we all need Jesus. And I’m not sure but I don’t think…I don’t think our spirits have color. And for me, it was a black man who took a 16-year-old kid who was bound and determined to find some way into the music business, it was a black man who took me under his wing and brought me into his studio and let me figure things out for free at nighttime. I was the white kid going into the black community to learn. I can remember…I mean this is the time when gangsta rap was like starting to happen. And, so, I can remember working in one studio trying to work on Christian music while gangsta raps happening in the other studio and guys would come and get me because I’m the only white person around to come listen to what they’re saying and offer opinions. So, I’ve been seeing all this stuff that’s going on like everybody else and I’m shaking my head like most everybody else going like, “I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to go. In fact, I know this is not how it’s supposed to go.” And I’ve been thinking about it a lot. We probably all have. It’s kind of wall-to-wall in the news. You can’t escape it. So, you think about it. And, so, I just wonder if I could just tell us a little story, a true one, that happened…that happened a long time ago.

Once upon a time there was an empire and its capital was Rome and it was known as the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire continued to expand until in the first century there was a province called Syria. And within that province there were many many cities and millions of people, but there was a city called Jerusalem. There was also a region known as the Galilee, and there were people there. They had previously been there for a long time. In fact, they even ruled the land for a time, but they were conquered and carried away. And, so, the land kind of changed hands over time. And when we get to the first century this is a part of the Roman Empire and these people who were kind of living in the land, it had previously been theirs, but that….and they believed it was their ancestral homeland and…but it was occupied by this empire. And the people of this empire, they were pagan, they believed very, very differently than the original people, the Hebrew people, the Jewish people. But Rome was in control and this was a part of the Empire. And, so, Roman people were all throughout the land and Roman soldiers were all throughout the land. In fact, they policed the land. And the Hebrew people felt oppressed by the Roman people. They felt marginalized by these people. There was brutality toward these Hebrew people. And these Hebrew people were afraid, and they were crying out to God, but some of them, they would…they would kind of ambush and cause harm and mayhem and burn things and they would attack things. And, so, that escalated things. And, so, there was this incredible amount of tension percolating just waiting to boil over. And into that environment, a little baby boy was born and His name was Jesus and He grew up around it all. And when He became a man, He began to teach and speak to His people who were oppressed and marginalized and pushed to the side and were unheard. They were at an economic disadvantage and they felt like they had no voice. And the forces set against them, if they stepped out of line was brutal. And, so, they were simmering in their culture. You might say that if they had the chance, they would have held up a sign that said, “Jewish lives matter”, but they had it bad. They weren’t even allowed to be citizens of Rome. They were truly a people occupied or truly a people living in and among another people with no real way forward. After this little kid Jesus grew up and did His ministry, He ended up being killed by these Romans on a cross. Of course, He was given up and betrayed by His own people. So, this little kid, Jesus who grew up and was killed, was executed unjustly. And these tensions, they kept happening until one day these people completely revolted and they took over for a while but then the Empire came and crushed them and destroyed Jerusalem altogether.

But this Jesus, He ministered to these people who were feeling the way that they were feeling. He knew how they were feeling because He was feeling it too. He was raised in it. It was His ethnicity. And He came to them and they came to Him and He had words for their situation. And He said, “blessed are those who are poor and realize their need for God, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for justice, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Blessed are those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing what’s right, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” Certainly, I say the story as a way of bringing comfort even to my own self. But I say the story because the gospel is no less relevant right this minute.

Jesus told us to open our eyes and see. May we do that, my brothers and sisters, may we open our eyes and see. And rather than engaging in useless rhetoric and…and fighting on the Internet and binge watching the news, maybe we could open our eyes and see because we can add to the noise and there’s plenty of it, there’s no shortage or we could reveal this kingdom. Is this real or not? I mean, like are we here believing this is real or are we here because it’s just a calming place to go every day to have a few minutes to catch our breath so we can face the rest of the day? Like do we believe this? If we believe this, then we must open our eyes and see. What that means for you may be totally different than what that means for me and that is okay. We are part of the same body. And friends, we are the body of Christ. That means black people, white people, Asian people, Hispanic people, all people are in the body of Christ. Believers all over the world have all kinds of skin colors and somehow Jesus lets us all in as His body, right? Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His site. Jesus loves the little children of the world and the gospel is as relevant now as when it was forming under the ministry of Jesus Christ in the first century in Roman Syria. And they didn’t have eyes to see or ears to hear, but do we?

And, so, you know, the way things usually go around here is that I’m gonna tell you I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow. And that’s true. I love you. I don’t care what color you are. I care what color you are, as it relates to the story that you have but it doesn’t change anything for me. I don’t care if you’re green although that would be unusual. So, I am telling you I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow. And this is the time that the voices come, and we hear each other’s voices and we pray for each. We’re not gonna do that today. I’m just gonna let the music play for the next few minutes. This is the time to be silent. This is the time to pray for the mercy of Christ. So, use this time however you want. Shut it off and move into your day or linger here for a moment and listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit. We just observed and celebrated Pentecost the day before yesterday. We are told in the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit is here, is here to be our comforter, the one who will lead us into all truth. We need that now more than ever and at least as bad as they needed it when it fell upon them in the upper room in Jerusalem on Pentecost. Use this time to invite the Holy Spirit to lead you forward in the way that you should go. And may the Lord bless you and keep you. Amen.

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

2 Samuel 18:1-19:10, John 20:1-31, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 16:14-15

Today is the 1^st day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today. So, yesterday we turned the knob and stepped into a shiny, sparkly new week and now we’re turning the knob and walking into a shiny, sparkly new month that is out in front of us waiting to be lived into, this 6^th month of the year. So, by the time we finish this month we will have experienced quite a bit a transition we won’t be reading in the Gospels anymore. That’s just…that’s just briefly in front of us. So, we will be moving into new territory in the Bible, but we will also be reaching the center point of the year as…as we end this month. So, wow! And if I’m counting right this is the 153^rd day of the year if we’re counting for leap year this year. So, we’ve been at this a while day by day step-by-step, allowing God’s word to continue to do what God’s word does. Sort of just touches the places in our lives that need to be touched. It just continues to pull us forward. And, so, let’s allow that flow. Let’s be pulled forward by picking up where we left off yesterday. King David is on the run from his son Absalom who’s trying to take over the kingdom and…and…and in the process trying to do away with his father. So, some family drama to say the least is going on. Today second Samuel chapters 18 verse 1 through 19 verse 10. We’re reading from the God’s word translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we've…we’ve kind of come to the end of this story where Absalom the son of King David is trying to take over the kingdom of his father because Absalom is dead. And, so…so, he won’t be trying to take over the kingdom of his father anymore. And it’s really interesting what we observe today. David has run from his own son, fled Jerusalem, the capital city, like fled from his son. His son has disgraced his father in a number of ways publicly and had the intention and sought the advice on how to kill his father. David, of course, does indeed know this story. It was his story when King Saul was pursuing him. So, he is stealthy, he does know what he’s doing even though he’s got a much larger and different kind of entourage and he’s older. So, it works out that there’s gonna be a battle and David tells his commanders to go kindly toward Absalom. In other words, try to spare Absalom. In the end though Absalom is killed in battle. And David comes apart at that point. Like he goes into complete grief. He just begins to disintegrate, which certainly causes dissonance, right? Because the armies of…who were loyal to the King, who have basically rescued and saved the king’s life and his kingdom now feel bad for what they’ve done because the king is so distraught. And, so, they don’t know how to feel, which is when Joab steps in is like basically, “if you do not go out to your men who have saved you they won’t be here tomorrow you won’t have anybody left.” So, what kind of things happen in a person’s life that can bring them to this kind of behavior? Like why is David so completely undone? Obviously, he’s lost a child. He’s lost his son. So, that is completely understandable, but like what is fueling this? Probably regret. Some of you…some of you kind of like know…you’ve been through this to some sort of degree. Others of you may not, but you can go through your life estranged from someone. I have seen this so many times in my life. An offense can happen in your life that estranges you. And it can be a serious offense that should estrange you, but it then goes on and on. Maybe it’s between a…a child and a parent, or between siblings or between best of friends. Something happens, something happens that probably shouldn’t have happened. It causes a rift, the rift grows into estrangement, separation. And then that can go on for decades until somebody dies. And then all the sudden the time lost, like it…it liquefies basically, and the loss becomes overwhelming because the realization that like, that…that the story is written and there’s no modifications that can be done anymore. That reality creates its own kind of dissonance inside of us where we’re realizing and maybe even wishing that we had…that…that we had walked the path differently because we lost something and we didn’t realize how much it meant until it was gone. And, so, that’s the kind of reaction that we sort of see in David’s behavior. And it would make sense why because he had this son Absalom, a beautiful boy, beautiful young man, a very respectable, very good-looking person. But David kind of undermined himself in his own family by taking another man’s wife and…and having that man killed. And then one of David’s other sons rapes his daughter Tamar and David basically doesn’t really step into that much. And, so, Absalom kills Amnon who raped his sister and he has to go on the run for his life. And he’s estranged with…from his father for years in Geshur. And then when he’s brought back to Jerusalem, he’s not allowed to see his father’s face for a couple of years while living in Jerusalem. So, now Absalom’s dead and David’s realizing that, you know, he had a role to play in the animosity that happened between son and father. And maybe one of the things we can consider in the scene that has played out before us is whether or not it’s worth it. I mean we can be right. We can be right for decades. We can be convinced. We can be cemented in for decades that we’re right but when that person that we have some kind of connection to that we’re holding an offense against for so…for a long period of time when they are not in the picture anymore, that disappears. It…it was vapor in the first place. Maybe it’s better to say what you need to say now. Maybe it’s better to do what you need to do now before the story comes to a conclusion.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into our regrets. We don’t like to often think about them. They usually have a lot of pain associated with them. And once You’ve kind of wrestled with regret, you come to a realization that You can’t win really. And, so, you’re gonna wrestle and wrestle and wrestle or you’re gonna decide to just move on because there’s no other way. And maybe we’ve never really invited You into those things. And maybe we have a regrets in the making in our lives right now, things that are gonna really really hurt later because we so desperately needed to be right right now. And, so, we’re inviting You into this because we see a glimpse of it, we see a picture of it, we see hints of it coming out of the pages that we’re reading today. So, we invite You into these areas. Some of the stories can’t be rewritten. They can’t be modified. They are what they are, and we invite You into that and we release it to You and offer it to You and invite You to lead us on the path that is forward. In other cases, maybe things have just been festering and they’ve blown up and time has gone by and we’ve just let it go by. And not all these things are entangled with other people. Some of these things are just based on the decisions that we’ve made, some of the choices that we wish we hadn’t made because we made them completely without You and now, we have the scars. We invite You into the places of regret Father and we open ourselves fully to You and we invite You fully into these experiences and we take comfort in knowing that we’re not carrying this alone. You are with us and You will never leave us. Come Holy Spirit into all of these matters that we’re talking about today. Permeate these things. Be in and among us as we consider. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, which makes it home base for community like ours. It’s virtual and all over the world. Of course, home base can also be found in the Daily Audio Bible. Most of the stuff that’s on the website’s in the app as well. So, stay connected.

Stay connected in the Community section. That gives you all the different links to different social media channels to interact on. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives, which is…man it is there all the time. When we’re at the lowest of lows and we’re reaching up or when we’re at the highest of highs and we’re reaching out it is there for us. And, so, make use of that.

Check out the resources that are in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. They are there and have been created for this journey, the journey that we’re on through a year. So, check that out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you for your partnership. We would be here no other way. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. 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, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, just press the Hotline button in the app, 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:

Hi this is Rachel from Pennsylvania. Would you join me in prayer? Dear Lord, we lift up the family struggling with the pregnancy. Lord You know what’s going on with the baby in the womb and where and how this baby will be best taken care of and what this couple can handle with You to lean on. So, I pray Lord that You ease their pain and that You bless them with the desires of their hearts. I also want to lift up Laura…Laura Lee from Boynton Beach. Please bless her and bless her business and her family and her friends. I thank You for her encouragement. I also…I also want to pray for Rosie and her children and grandchildren as she lifts up our children and grandchildren regularly. I just pray that You bless her and I thank You for her and her prayers and how thoughtful they are and how well put together they are and I just thank You for how she relates them to You and the word of God and it’s just such a blessing. And also, I wanted to say to Valerie, welcome. We’re so happy that you are with us and I pray that you will become best friends with God. Welcome to the family.

Hello DAB my name is Perry Sky I’ve been listening to the broadcast for more than 12 years, but I’ve never called in. I want to wish everyone a happy Pentecost weekend. I’m praying for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon us this weekend. I’m praying for the salvation of my husband’s soul and the restoration of my family. My family is very broken and has been for some time. My husband had…has issues that have caused alienation in my family and my children have abandoned us. My family is gone. I have no close friends and I have no support system and I’m disabled, and life has become hopeless, but I know that God is the restorer of families and He can restore mine too. So, I need prayer over restoration and hope and inspiration. Thank you for listening.

Hey DAB family this is Abby. I am just calling in tonight because I have just been following the news about the murder of George Floyd and I don’t know what to say. I…I…I don’t know if what I’m gonna say is the right thing to say. I just do know that as a white woman, I can’t keep quiet about this and I cannot just not say anything. I just want to say to all of my black brothers and sisters who are listening right now that I am so sorry that you have to endure the pain and the trauma and everything that you have to endure being a citizen in the United States and even across the world. I’m so ashamed. I’m so ashamed that, you know, if I’ve been part of the problem, I’m so ashamed of what people who look like me have done to you. I just wanted to put that out there and say that because I just…I don’t know what words to say but I’m just so sorry and I love you and I recognize my privilege and I’m doing everything I can to educate myself and to learn to do better and I promise you that I will raise kids who will do better and I just want you to know that I love you and I’m sorry.

Hello, I would like to pray for the lady that called in on April 8^th who suffers satanic abuse. Father God please heal my sister in Christ. Minister to her heart in a deep and personal way so that through the word of God she may learn how to be truly intimate so that she may experience healthy relationships. Bring Christian warriors in her life who understand what she’s going through and can walk through the spiritual battlefield alongside her. Break any strongholds. I also pray that this satanic abuse is brought into the light. So many people don’t acknowledge that it exists or turn a blind eye to it and I just pray that we all just wake up and see that this does go on. It went on before and it goes on still now. If we say nothing, do nothing we’re complicit. So, I just pray that we have open…we have eyes to see and ears to hear not only the good that’s going on but also, I just pray that we’re equipped to handle satanic attacks and help our fellow brothers and sisters. Amen.

Good morning family this is Soaring on Eagles Wings from Canada and I’m calling in to lift up a few people to you. Terry from Australia was so transparent about his addiction with pornography. He doesn’t want to be in that space anymore and he’s tried all that he can try with no success. So, Father God I’m asking You now to take over and intervene in his life and remove this…this bondage that’s upon him Lord God. Help him to be the overcomer that You have created him to be. Let truth be poured into his life Father God and send him all the tools that he needs spiritually and in every other way to deliver him from this. Terry we are standing with You and we’re supporting You as You continue to fight the good fight. Shannon from Texas. You had a job offer, You moved, now Your job has been rescinded. What is she to do Father, God? She needs direction and she needs help. So, I’m asking You to guide her steps and show her the path that she should go. May she walk in Your footsteps Lord as You lead her to the right job in the right direction and I thank You. And I continue to lift up my friend Susan whose son has stage IV cancer. And now somebody else in her life as cancer. It’s been such a difficult time for her lately. So, precious Jesus, shine Your light into her life. Lift her up. Plant her feet on solid ground. When she gets anxious or fearful, remind her Lord God of what You have done and what You will continue to be. Surround her and her son in her family in the name of Jesus I pray…

2 Samuel 18:1-19:10, John 20:1-31, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 16:14-15

Today is the 1^st day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today. So, yesterday we turned the knob and stepped into a shiny, sparkly new week and now we’re turning the knob and walking into a shiny, sparkly new month that is out in front of us waiting to be lived into, this 6^th month of the year. So, by the time we finish this month we will have experienced quite a bit a transition we won’t be reading in the Gospels anymore. That’s just…that’s just briefly in front of us. So, we will be moving into new territory in the Bible, but we will also be reaching the center point of the year as…as we end this month. So, wow! And if I’m counting right this is the 153^rd day of the year if we’re counting for leap year this year. So, we’ve been at this a while day by day step-by-step, allowing God’s word to continue to do what God’s word does. Sort of just touches the places in our lives that need to be touched. It just continues to pull us forward. And, so, let’s allow that flow. Let’s be pulled forward by picking up where we left off yesterday. King David is on the run from his son Absalom who’s trying to take over the kingdom and…and…and in the process trying to do away with his father. So, some family drama to say the least is going on. Today second Samuel chapters 18 verse 1 through 19 verse 10. We’re reading from the God’s word translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we've…we’ve kind of come to the end of this story where Absalom the son of King David is trying to take over the kingdom of his father because Absalom is dead. And, so…so, he won’t be trying to take over the kingdom of his father anymore. And it’s really interesting what we observe today. David has run from his own son, fled Jerusalem, the capital city, like fled from his son. His son has disgraced his father in a number of ways publicly and had the intention and sought the advice on how to kill his father. David, of course, does indeed know this story. It was his story when King Saul was pursuing him. So, he is stealthy, he does know what he’s doing even though he’s got a much larger and different kind of entourage and he’s older. So, it works out that there’s gonna be a battle and David tells his commanders to go kindly toward Absalom. In other words, try to spare Absalom. In the end though Absalom is killed in battle. And David comes apart at that point. Like he goes into complete grief. He just begins to disintegrate, which certainly causes dissonance, right? Because the armies of…who were loyal to the King, who have basically rescued and saved the king’s life and his kingdom now feel bad for what they’ve done because the king is so distraught. And, so, they don’t know how to feel, which is when Joab steps in is like basically, “if you do not go out to your men who have saved you they won’t be here tomorrow you won’t have anybody left.” So, what kind of things happen in a person’s life that can bring them to this kind of behavior? Like why is David so completely undone? Obviously, he’s lost a child. He’s lost his son. So, that is completely understandable, but like what is fueling this? Probably regret. Some of you…some of you kind of like know…you’ve been through this to some sort of degree. Others of you may not, but you can go through your life estranged from someone. I have seen this so many times in my life. An offense can happen in your life that estranges you. And it can be a serious offense that should estrange you, but it then goes on and on. Maybe it’s between a…a child and a parent, or between siblings or between best of friends. Something happens, something happens that probably shouldn’t have happened. It causes a rift, the rift grows into estrangement, separation. And then that can go on for decades until somebody dies. And then all the sudden the time lost, like it…it liquefies basically, and the loss becomes overwhelming because the realization that like, that…that the story is written and there’s no modifications that can be done anymore. That reality creates its own kind of dissonance inside of us where we’re realizing and maybe even wishing that we had…that…that we had walked the path differently because we lost something and we didn’t realize how much it meant until it was gone. And, so, that’s the kind of reaction that we sort of see in David’s behavior. And it would make sense why because he had this son Absalom, a beautiful boy, beautiful young man, a very respectable, very good-looking person. But David kind of undermined himself in his own family by taking another man’s wife and…and having that man killed. And then one of David’s other sons rapes his daughter Tamar and David basically doesn’t really step into that much. And, so, Absalom kills Amnon who raped his sister and he has to go on the run for his life. And he’s estranged with…from his father for years in Geshur. And then when he’s brought back to Jerusalem, he’s not allowed to see his father’s face for a couple of years while living in Jerusalem. So, now Absalom’s dead and David’s realizing that, you know, he had a role to play in the animosity that happened between son and father. And maybe one of the things we can consider in the scene that has played out before us is whether or not it’s worth it. I mean we can be right. We can be right for decades. We can be convinced. We can be cemented in for decades that we’re right but when that person that we have some kind of connection to that we’re holding an offense against for so…for a long period of time when they are not in the picture anymore, that disappears. It…it was vapor in the first place. Maybe it’s better to say what you need to say now. Maybe it’s better to do what you need to do now before the story comes to a conclusion.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into our regrets. We don’t like to often think about them. They usually have a lot of pain associated with them. And once You’ve kind of wrestled with regret, you come to a realization that You can’t win really. And, so, you’re gonna wrestle and wrestle and wrestle or you’re gonna decide to just move on because there’s no other way. And maybe we’ve never really invited You into those things. And maybe we have a regrets in the making in our lives right now, things that are gonna really really hurt later because we so desperately needed to be right right now. And, so, we’re inviting You into this because we see a glimpse of it, we see a picture of it, we see hints of it coming out of the pages that we’re reading today. So, we invite You into these areas. Some of the stories can’t be rewritten. They can’t be modified. They are what they are, and we invite You into that and we release it to You and offer it to You and invite You to lead us on the path that is forward. In other cases, maybe things have just been festering and they’ve blown up and time has gone by and we’ve just let it go by. And not all these things are entangled with other people. Some of these things are just based on the decisions that we’ve made, some of the choices that we wish we hadn’t made because we made them completely without You and now, we have the scars. We invite You into the places of regret Father and we open ourselves fully to You and we invite You fully into these experiences and we take comfort in knowing that we’re not carrying this alone. You are with us and You will never leave us. Come Holy Spirit into all of these matters that we’re talking about today. Permeate these things. Be in and among us as we consider. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, which makes it home base for community like ours. It’s virtual and all over the world. Of course, home base can also be found in the Daily Audio Bible. Most of the stuff that’s on the website’s in the app as well. So, stay connected.

Stay connected in the Community section. That gives you all the different links to different social media channels to interact on. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives, which is…man it is there all the time. When we’re at the lowest of lows and we’re reaching up or when we’re at the highest of highs and we’re reaching out it is there for us. And, so, make use of that.

Check out the resources that are in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. They are there and have been created for this journey, the journey that we’re on through a year. So, check that out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you for your partnership. We would be here no other way. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. 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, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, just press the Hotline button in the app, 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:

Hi this is Rachel from Pennsylvania. Would you join me in prayer? Dear Lord, we lift up the family struggling with the pregnancy. Lord You know what’s going on with the baby in the womb and where and how this baby will be best taken care of and what this couple can handle with You to lean on. So, I pray Lord that You ease their pain and that You bless them with the desires of their hearts. I also want to lift up Laura…Laura Lee from Boynton Beach. Please bless her and bless her business and her family and her friends. I thank You for her encouragement. I also…I also want to pray for Rosie and her children and grandchildren as she lifts up our children and grandchildren regularly. I just pray that You bless her and I thank You for her and her prayers and how thoughtful they are and how well put together they are and I just thank You for how she relates them to You and the word of God and it’s just such a blessing. And also, I wanted to say to Valerie, welcome. We’re so happy that you are with us and I pray that you will become best friends with God. Welcome to the family.

Hello DAB my name is Perry Sky I’ve been listening to the broadcast for more than 12 years, but I’ve never called in. I want to wish everyone a happy Pentecost weekend. I’m praying for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon us this weekend. I’m praying for the salvation of my husband’s soul and the restoration of my family. My family is very broken and has been for some time. My husband had…has issues that have caused alienation in my family and my children have abandoned us. My family is gone. I have no close friends and I have no support system and I’m disabled, and life has become hopeless, but I know that God is the restorer of families and He can restore mine too. So, I need prayer over restoration and hope and inspiration. Thank you for listening.

Hey DAB family this is Abby. I am just calling in tonight because I have just been following the news about the murder of George Floyd and I don’t know what to say. I…I…I don’t know if what I’m gonna say is the right thing to say. I just do know that as a white woman, I can’t keep quiet about this and I cannot just not say anything. I just want to say to all of my black brothers and sisters who are listening right now that I am so sorry that you have to endure the pain and the trauma and everything that you have to endure being a citizen in the United States and even across the world. I’m so ashamed. I’m so ashamed that, you know, if I’ve been part of the problem, I’m so ashamed of what people who look like me have done to you. I just wanted to put that out there and say that because I just…I don’t know what words to say but I’m just so sorry and I love you and I recognize my privilege and I’m doing everything I can to educate myself and to learn to do better and I promise you that I will raise kids who will do better and I just want you to know that I love you and I’m sorry.

Hello, I would like to pray for the lady that called in on April 8^th who suffers satanic abuse. Father God please heal my sister in Christ. Minister to her heart in a deep and personal way so that through the word of God she may learn how to be truly intimate so that she may experience healthy relationships. Bring Christian warriors in her life who understand what she’s going through and can walk through the spiritual battlefield alongside her. Break any strongholds. I also pray that this satanic abuse is brought into the light. So many people don’t acknowledge that it exists or turn a blind eye to it and I just pray that we all just wake up and see that this does go on. It went on before and it goes on still now. If we say nothing, do nothing we’re complicit. So, I just pray that we have open…we have eyes to see and ears to hear not only the good that’s going on but also, I just pray that we’re equipped to handle satanic attacks and help our fellow brothers and sisters. Amen.

Good morning family this is Soaring on Eagles Wings from Canada and I’m calling in to lift up a few people to you. Terry from Australia was so transparent about his addiction with pornography. He doesn’t want to be in that space anymore and he’s tried all that he can try with no success. So, Father God I’m asking You now to take over and intervene in his life and remove this…this bondage that’s upon him Lord God. Help him to be the overcomer that You have created him to be. Let truth be poured into his life Father God and send him all the tools that he needs spiritually and in every other way to deliver him from this. Terry we are standing with You and we’re supporting You as You continue to fight the good fight. Shannon from Texas. You had a job offer, You moved, now Your job has been rescinded. What is she to do Father, God? She needs direction and she needs help. So, I’m asking You to guide her steps and show her the path that she should go. May she walk in Your footsteps Lord as You lead her to the right job in the right direction and I thank You. And I continue to lift up my friend Susan whose son has stage IV cancer. And now somebody else in her life as cancer. It’s been such a difficult time for her lately. So, precious Jesus, shine Your light into her life. Lift her up. Plant her feet on solid ground. When she gets anxious or fearful, remind her Lord God of what You have done and what You will continue to be. Surround her and her son in her family in the name of Jesus I pray…