Category: DAB Transcripts

Numbers 19:1-20:29, Luke 1:1-25, Psalms 56:1-13, Proverbs 11:8

Today is the 13^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here. It’s great to be here with you today as we prepare to reach the conclusion of another one of our weeks together and draw our workweek to a close. And even as we do that, we’re going to be entering a new book today, the gospel of Luke when we get to the New Testament and we’ll talk about that when we get there, but first let’s continue our journey through the book of Numbers. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. And today, Numbers 19 and 20.

Introduction to the book of Luke:

Okay. So, this brings us to the gospel of Luke. And Luke is a little bit more of an intriguing gospel. It’s the third of the synoptic Gospels. And as we talked about as we encountered the other two Gospels, the synoptic Gospels are called that because they’re very similar in the way they’re composed and they definitely share some of the same stories, even some of the same phrases, very similar in the way that their laid out, so similar that it…it’s widely believed by scholars that one couldn’t exist without the other. And even though they were written at different times and by two different people, they were…well…especially Mark was used as source material for the others. And we’ll enjoy the gospel of Luke tremendously because it’s the tightest, most concise of the Gospels. It’s written well. It flows well and it’s a narrative style. Abd we’ll get used to this flow because we’ll see it again because Luke didn’t only write the gospel of Luke, he also wrote the book of Acts that we’ll come to after we finish the Gospels. Now, we’ve read Matthew and Mark. We’re now gonna read Luke and we’ll encounter some of the same stories from a bit of a different perspective because the Gospels have a different perspective and a purpose. So, for example, when we read the Gospel of Matthew when we started our year together, and in Matthew we noticed Jesus was fulfilling prophecies. Like that was the point. This was done because it fulfilled this prophecy. And, so, Jesus is fulfilling all these prophecies letting us know that this is a narrative established to speak to Hebrew people. Luke will take us through these stories again that we’re familiar…that we’re familiar with, but Luke is written to a Gentile audience. And, so, it’s revealing that the gospel is inclusive, is not a Hebrew only religion. It includes the whole world and welcomes all who believe into the family. And, so, with that in mind we begin the third gospel. Luke chapter 1 verses 1 to 25.

Commentary:

Okay, so it may not have seemed like it as we were reading through our…our reading from Numbers today but some pretty monumental shifts happened today in the Old Testament. So, let’s just look at those so…so we have context for where were going. The children of Israel have moved out. They’ve been disqualified from moving into the Promise Land. They’ve been turned back into the desert to wander until the whole first generation, the people who came out of Egypt dies leaving basically the conquest of the Promise Land to the second-generation, to the children who were supposed to grow up free in the land of promise. They’re gonna have to do what their parents didn’t. And that’s a pretty big deal. That’s why there’s a lot of this review going on about the laws. And one thing that we should gather is that God is expecting precision. He is expecting ultimate obedience here. They are in the wilderness where utter dependence upon God is being made more and more apparent to them and their complaining about it every time their faith gets stretched. And that sounds so familiar. Nevertheless, there out in the wilderness, and they need to get somewhere. And to get somewhere the best way that they can go that they’re being led is through the land of Edom, but the Edomites are like, “absolutely not.” And we could…we could understand why they would have concerns. “Like a million people are going to come on this main road and walk through and they’re gonna pay for their water and can do anything. Like that just doesn’t quite add up. So, you can understand why they would have some pushback but the important piece about this is what Moses said, “we are family.” And that is true. The Hebrew people were the descendants of Jacob, the Edomites were the descendants of Esau - Jacob and Esau. And if we’ll remember the misdirection and trickery of Jacob that was visited on Esau., well we can sort of see that the family rift is centuries old and the Edomites won’t let them pass. That’s a mistake on the part of the Edomites and there are other things along the way that they do, and an entire book of minor prophecy will be devoted to the Edomites once we get near the end of our year together. But this is important. They turned to their family to get where they needed to go, and they were rejected. And, so, there’s no water. The people are grumbling and complaining to Moses again, “we would’ve been better off if he died before the tent of meeting than to die of thirst out here in the desert. We would’ve been better off in Egypt.” And this becoming a recurring theme. “We’re in the wilderness going toward the Promise Land, but slavery was better. Let’s go back to slavery again.” Sounds so familiar because we walk in these footsteps so often. God tells Moses to go out to a rock and command it to give water. He gathers the people together and gets his walking stick as God had told him to do and then he basically yells at the people, “you rebels. You, rebellious people.” Right? “You stiff necked people. Do we have to bring water out of this rock?” And then Moses hits the rock twice and water comes out, but that’s not what God told Moses to do. He told Moses to go speak to the rock. He didn’t tell him to yell at the people and ask them if he had to bring water out of the rock for them, and what a nuisance and all this, and show anger and strike the rock. So, God gave them the water that they needed to survive. Unfortunately, the anger and rebelliousness in Moses heart disqualified him from leading the people into the Promise Land. That will also be left for the next generation. And after that Moses and Aaron and his son Eliezer climbed Mount Hor. Eliezer was installed as the high priest and Aaron passed from the story. One interesting thing, one thing that was pointed out to me when I was much, much younger, that I’ve always held onto because the exclusion of Moses from leading the people into the Promise Land seems pretty…pretty harsh. Like he didn’t get to go. Like he got to lead them, but he didn’t get to go. But we do find Moses in the Promise Land. We find him along with Jesus at His transfiguration speaking to Jesus in the Promise Land.

And speaking of Jesus, we’re just…just getting going in the gospel of Luke. And, so, what’s being set up here is the story of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth who were very old but were foretold that they would be having a child in their old age. And, of course, there’s some clear parallels here with Abraham and Sarah. And Zechariah was told as a priest of God in the temple offering incense before the Lord, he was told by an angelic visitation that he would have a son, that his son would be named John, that he would be a prophetic voice that would prepare the way of the Lord. And this prophetic voice would be really the first prophet in 400 years, the time that passes between the Old and New Testaments. So, we can often think that John shows up out of the wilderness wearing camel’s hair and eating grasshoppers, and that’s true, that’s what the Bible says but he got there somehow. He’s the son of a priest, a vision and angelic vision happened in the temple. And when John emerged from the temple. He couldn’t speak. This wouldn’t go unnoticed until somebody just shows up out of the wilderness with a message of repentance. There would’ve been a lot of wondering about who this child might be, and we’ll pick up with that story tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for its beauty in the way that it can touch so many parts of our lives, that it can touch us on so many levels and cause us to ponder and contemplate our own lives and our own path. And, so, we are so grateful for this and we are so grateful for one another. We are so grateful that we can do this together in community. So, come Holy Spirit and plant the words from the Scriptures into the soil of our lives today. And may they grow and yield fruit for Your kingdom. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

You find all the different links to stay connected in the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall is. That’s in the Community section as well.

The Daily Audio Bible Shop is there, resources are there. I guess one thing I haven’t talked about in a long time is coffee. Coffee…coffee and tea are part of my daily life and have been for I guess as long as I’ve been an adult. So, a long time. And we’ve been involved in coffee and tea for well over a decade. We have our own brand, roast our own coffee in Colorado, source our own tea. And you can have it delivered to you each month or you can just choose what you like, and have it sent to you. That all is in an effort to…well…to offer resources that we’re kinda gonna consume anyway. Usually like we’re gonna have a cup of coffee of some sort…maybe we’re gonna pay a premium for it. And we just started thinking, “you know, we’re lovers of these things, we consume these things. What if…what if we could create a superior product, fresher product, get it to people fresher and kinda like use the old monastic way of making things to support the monastery. You know, like maybe we could have a few of these things that were just gonna help out a little bit.” And, so, that’s kinda we’re coffee came from and it’s become a part of the fabric of the Global Campfire. Coffee and the Bible pair well together. So, just I mean, it’s a relaxing kind of ritual to enjoy waking up, waking up spiritually, waking up physically, or winding down for that matter. So, those resources are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Just look for coffee and tea. And you can have it sent each month. Oh…and we also have…we went in search of this…it was for a long time coming too. “What…what kind of a more instant…instantly available coffee could we provide?” Like we were kind of like, “could you do the K-Cup thing?” And we looked at that and we looked at how old that coffee is and how long and it’s got a sit and how much of it you gotta make so that there’s no way it’s gonna be fresh. But we did find a way of steeping coffee. It’s like basically a coffee filter that you would pour your coffee through like in your coffee drip maker wrapped around coffee. You just steep it like tea. And, so, that its nitro sealed to push oxygen out, so it doesn’t oxidize or doesn’t break down and deteriorate and keeps…keeps well. And, so, those are great. Keep those with me wherever I go because a lot of times…a lot of times I find myself staying in hotels and that’s not the greatest option for coffee. So, these are available just to kind of have at the office and such. And you’ll find those in the Shop as well in the coffee and tea section. So, check those things out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link that lives on the homepage and I thank you for your partnership. If what we’re doing around this Global Campfire brings warmth and light into your life, then throw a log on from time to time. Thank you for your partnership. 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, the little red button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Numbers 16:41-18:32, Mark 16:1-20, Psalms 55:1-23, Proverbs 11:7

Today is the 12^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you as we…as we continue moving through this week and we kind of move our way toward the middle of another month. What a joy…what a joy to be on the voyage together through the Bible. So, let’s get to that. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. And, yeah, there’s chaos in the desert. That’s kind of what we’re working through in the book of Numbers as the reality that…that they won’t be entering the Promise Land in this generation is settling in. So, today Numbers chapters 16 verse 41 through 18 verse 32.

Prayer:

Father, thank You, thank You, thank You, for Your word and as we concluded the gospel of Mark today, the second gospel, we experienced the story of Your resurrection and we look forward with great anticipation to be…to begin the gospel of Luke tomorrow. And we also take to heart what was spoken of in the Psalms today about betrayal because in one form or another we’ve all tasted of that bitter cup, some in very, very deeply profound ways, some in smaller ways, but we…we know what this feels like and, unfortunately many of us also know what it’s like to offer that cup. And, so, we take to heart what is spoken of in the Psalms, that when we’re going through that kind of a trial of…of betrayal, we can ask for Your help and You will keep us safe. Morning noon and night, You will hear our concerns and sometimes when we are in the throes of the feelings of betrayal it is morning, noon, and night constant on our minds. And, so, we can even see in the Scriptures into David’s heart. It was constantly on his mind, this betrayal. And, so, we identify with this and acknowledge what the Psalm says, when we feel attacked from all sides You will rescue us unharmed by the battle. And, so, we rest in that as we move into our day and invite You. Come Holy Spirit into all that we’ve read, plant it deep into the soil of our lives and continue revealing to us places where the soil can’t support it and help us to get the rocky ground or the thorny ground or the shallow ground out of our lives. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. And, yeah, stay connected in any way that you can or any way that you want to.

Also, the Daily Audio Bible Shop is there. All these things can be gotten to in the app as well. There are resources there for this journey.

For example, the God of Your Story, which is in so many ways the gold of the Daily Audio Bible, written down. I mean the kinds of things that we talk about change every year, every day, but a path that we follow, a path of transformation, a path of looking to the Bible to…to penetrate deep inside of our hearts and shift things in the way that we look at them, in the way that we…in the way that we are in this world, who we are in this world. Looking to the Scriptures to inform that, that’s what we do every day. That’s what’s in the God of Your Story. It's…it's…it's…it’s as comprehensive of a…of a pathway through the Bible that I…that I know. And writing it down over the years of the Daily Audio Bible. I mean, it took two years to do. It's…it’s a resource for this community, for this family. Whether we’re plugged in or unplugged we can still immerse ourselves in the rhythm that is the Scriptures every day, and it allows us to take a deeper dive coming at the same passages from different angles. It…it’s a resource that is of us and for us and everything about it supports the efforts of the Daily Audio Bible. So, everybody in this community I hope can have a copy of that. And you can find that at the Daily Audio Bible shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer that, 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, the little red 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.

Numbers 15:17-16:40, Mark 15:1-47, Psalms 54:1-7, Proverbs 11:5-6

Today is the 11^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you coming in from the cold and around the Global Campfire and…ahh…we’re all here, its roaring and we’re ready to settle in by stepping away, just exhaling everything else that was going on and just allowing God’s word to become and be a part of our day and inform our day and lead us…lead us into the truth. That’s what the Scriptures promise. And, so, that’s were here for. So, we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. We’ll go back into the book of Numbers. The children of Israel…I mean…they had been given the law, they’d spent a bunch of time at Mount Sinai, they formed camp, they broke camp, and it was time to go into the Promise Land and the spies went in. And well…we read the story. Things didn’t go well, a bad report, and it’s just chaos right now. A whole generation has been doomed to wander in the wilderness. God has basically closed the door. It was like, “you were here at the threshold of your promise. It was time and…and you rejected Me and now you’re not going in.” And, so, there’s is a bunch of chaos happening in the wilderness. Numbers chapter 15 verse 17 through 16 verse 40.

Commentary:

Okay. So, lots of times, most every day at this time right here, you know this, we talk about what we read and we try to unpack it in…in a way that would affect our day. Like that’s the point, it’s to allow God’s word wash into our lives and…and give us something that we can focus upon and meditate upon and incorporate into the soil of our hearts so that it can be planted there and yield fruit. It’s just…these days…this day…I don’t know how to explain the death of Jesus. If I’m being honest…if I’m just being…if I can just be…if we can be honest with each other, I hate that it ever had to happen. And, I mean I know the theology…I know…I know it’s going on here. We know what’s going on here, but that’s what we kind of…that makes us…that makes it easy for us to glaze over it. This is…this is the One that we worship. This is the One that wouldn’t let us go into the darkness. This is the One who will never leave us or forsake us and has never left us or forsaken us. So, you know, if you love…if you love Him, then it’s hard to watch Him die even if you’re reading it on paper, even…even if it means you get to live. And some…at some point you realize like, “that was supposed to me. Like, that was what I earned. I’m not supposed to be able to walk around free like this. I…this is a gift and every day should be a question mark for us. What am I doing with that gift? If I don’t have to be separated from God or my brothers and sisters, if I don’t have to live separated anymore then why am I?” What are we doing with this gift? May we not grow dull to that question because the answer to that question is basically the answer to the question Jesus asked in Caesarea Philippi, “who do you say that I am?”

Prayer:

Jesus, we say that You are the Savior and that as we move through this story we are looking at true, true love and we confess we can’t love like that and we don’t have people in our lives that are gonna die on our behalf. And this has gotta matter enough that it changes us. So, come Holy Spirit and give us eyes to see the day as we contemplate the cost, the cost of it all. And You have given us freedom. Reveal to us the ways that we are choosing bondage. Reveal to us the ways that we, like the children of Israel, are grumbling through the wilderness, thinking about cucumbers and fish back in slavery. Bring to mind the ways that we have walked back into slavery willingly. We want freedom. You have offered it and we want it. That will be how we honor You in this, is to live free. Come Holy Spirit and show us the masks that we’re wearing and the entanglements that don’t need to be there. Show us what is impeding us from walking and being children of the light in this world we ask in Your precious name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and that is home and there’s always home. The Global Campfire is always burning. There’s never a time that we can engage with the Daily Audio Bible alone. Somebody else somewhere else listening too. And, so, we’re never alone.

And…and dailyaudiobible.com is home, its where the Prayer Wall lives.

Resources are available specifically created for the journey to take us further and deeper in any way that we can think of. And, so, those are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if this matters then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage or if you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if the mail is what you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And we are a community that prays for each other. If you’re shouldering burdens that you shouldn’t shoulder alone then you can just press the Hotline button in the app. It’s like that easy to reach out, right? You can just go to the Prayer Wall, it’s that easy to reach out. And, so, if you…yeah…if you have a prayer…prayer request or encouragement, hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that is it for today. Go into your day contemplating what the Savior has done for you. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Numbers 14:1-15:16, Mark 14:53-72, Psalms 53:1-6, Proverbs 11:4

Today is the 10^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we continue the journey, the next step forward into the week, into the Bible, into our lives. And what an honor that we get to do this together with each other around the Global Campfire. So, let’s get to what we’ve come here for which is…which is God’s word. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Today, numbers chapter 14 verse 1 through 15, verse 16.

Commentary:

Okay. We've…we’ve talked about this before. We’re in a season on the Christian calendar called lent and this is a time of fasting and contemplation, meditation. It's…it’s an ancient tradition. And yeah there’s fasting. And yeah maybe it’s, you know, candy bars that you’re fasting or television or whatever, but the point of the fasting is to remove something from our lives that maybe brings us pleasure, and use that time, use that space to contemplate the price of sin, to contemplate our lives, separated from God, to contemplate the state of the world in separation from God. And yes, this is a year where we’re looking for the good, where we’re looking for the kingdom, we’re asking for eyes to see and ears to hear. And yes, it’s all around us. But no, this is not how things were intended to be. And there’s a reason, it’s our rebellion, it’s our willingness to stay separated. And we see that on such clear display today as Jesus is the high priest’s quarters. And yeah, while we were in Israel, like this story is really, really vivid because it’s like less…less than two weeks standing in this place where this story happens and being down in the pit, you know, where Jesus is being held and understanding they’re spitting on Him and smacking Him around and blindfolding Him and asking Him to prophesy who hit Him. Just…I mean the cruelty…the cruelty of it all. And the people perpetrating this cruelty are God’s people, are the people that…that are in charge of the soul care of…of the people, of the Hebrew people. They’re instigating all of this. They’re missing that God was right in front of them. And, so, the high priest is like, “are you…are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of the glorious God?” And Jesus answers them directly, “I am.” And it’s utterly and completely rejected outright, and He is sentenced to die. They missed it so badly and it’s so sad and that’s our story. That’s our story friends. It’s been staring at us in the face and we’ve missed it so badly over the course of our lives in so many instances on so many occasions and it’s so sad. And this season is for that. Like it’s a place in the year to go with that, sit with that, sit with the kinds of things that are actually painful about sin, like the things that we just try to repent and avoid go on. We’re supposed to actually sit here and understand, “this cost something. What kind of love is this? What kind of love is this that we’re talking about, that God would come as a human and be utterly rejected by creation and killed to reveal the state of the world and how backward things are to the way they were intended and to bridge that gap and make a way?” And, so as we go through this story in the Gospel of Mark, and as we go through this season…and believe me…like whether you’re observing lent or not…like, that’s not in the Bible. Nobody’s telling you that you should be doing this. There’s just a reason there are rhythms that have traditionally been in the Christian year and this is one of those, for us to truly, truly appreciate what we’re talking about when we talk about what it took to bring us back, to rescue us from the darkness. And, so, as we go through this story this is an appropriate time to really focus our hearts attention and meditate upon this.

Prayer:

Jesus, as we go into this day, we’re considering You before the religious leaders who missed and we confess we’ve done the same thing. We’ve done the same thing many times and we are sorry. We, as Peter, have denied You more than three times, many more than three times whether in thought or word or deed. And we sit with that and we understand that this is what separates us and separation from You is indeed hopeless. And, so, Holy Spirit come. And as we move through our day help us to continue to remember this story - Jesus before the high priest, Jesus in the pit tied up waiting for what would come next. Help us to contemplate this moment and give it the gravity and reverence it is due. And we pray this in the mighty name of our Savior, Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and that’s where we find out what’s going on around here.

It’s where the Prayer Wall lives. It’s where it’s never off and always on. You can reach out no matter what’s going. And, so be sure to check that out. It’s in the Community section of the website or you can get there from the app by pressing the little drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we’re doing together is bringing life and light and joy and good news, and comfort, then thank you for your partnership in the rhythm that we have each and every day allowing God’s word to speak to us. So, there’s a link for that on the homepage as well. You can do that in the app as well. Just 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 press the Hotline button, the little Red 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.

Numbers 11:24-13:33, Mark 14:22-52, Psalms 52:1-9, Proverbs 11:1-3

Today is the 9^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great be here with you today as we move ourselves into this new work. I’m excited for all that God will speak to us through His word and I’m so grateful that we have this oasis to come to. Oh, my goodness! The cares of life can be…can be large. I mean, we can be surrounded. There can be a lot of chaos and stress but we have a place, we have a place around the Global Campfire where we’re not alone and where peace rules as we just allow God’s word to…to work inside of us and to wash over us so that we can reemerge into the day getting our heads on straight, right, reoriented to God. So, it’s such a gift we can do this. You guys, I’m so grateful. And, so, let’s do it. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Today numbers chapter 11 verse 24 through 13 verse 33. And now we’ve kind of turned the corner in the book of Numbers. The whole first part of Numbers were like really, really specific instructions and very, very consistent numbering and counting of everything. But now we’ve left Mount Sinai. Now we’re on the March. Moses said goodbye to his father-in-law and the people around the wilderness are complaining about how they used to be able to eat cucumbers when they were slaves and maybe should go back to being slaves so they could have their cucumbers. And God is planning to send them meat.

Commentary:

Alright. Since we left Mount Sinai, like we slowed things down in the Old Testament once we got out of Egypt and went through all of the giving of the laws and statutes and customs and rituals and instructions and all of that and all the counting. And since we left Mount Sinai it’s been kinda busy. People are complaining and a bunch stuffs happening, but a very pivotal, very pivotal thing happens in the Hebrew story today because the children of Israel have broke camp and they have moved out and now they have sent some spies to cross over into the Promise Land and spy out the land. And we encountered a place that…that we know, like a place that we were there when it was set in our translation that we are reading from this week. They go to Bunch Valley, but its native name is the Valley of Eshkol. In that Valley is a field and at the end of that field is the cave and that cave was bought by Abraham as a burial place and he first buried his wife Sarah there. And it became the ancestral burial ground for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and it’s it still exists, it’s still there today, but it’s interesting to note that the spies went back to this place where their…where their ancestors were, their patriarchs were buried. And this is where they got the grapes. This is where they brought the grapes back from. So, they come back to camp and they basically say, “the place is awesome but we can never take it.” And it’s so weird because just a couple weeks ago we were in the wilderness of Zin where this is taking place. But they come back and they can’t take it. There’s giants in the land, the Anakim and Nephilim. And this is another one of those places. Remember way back in Genesis where we’re like strange things pop their heads up from time to time and it’s like, how are these connected because we’ve seen Anakim and Nephilim, the giants. We saw them earlier. We saw the sons of God and the daughters of Eve. This is where they came from and we discussed how there is so much conjecture about what they are, what they were, what they represented. But to try to get like as clear as a theological understanding as we can, we can say, okay the Bible says these were the sons of God. These were lower Elohim. They were lower created beings that were higher than humans, perhaps in some way. Many people think they were to be the guardians of humanity, but they…they fell. And I’m not somebody that can say for sure. I didn’t have the pleasure of being there. I’m not sure. But what I know is that these giants keep popping up and they don’t pop up in a friendly way, like in a…they…they pop up in a way that the Hebrew people are against them. So, we see that the children of Israel at this point are terrified of them but when they do go into the land…well…they…they will war with them and conquer them and we will even see it show up again in the famous story of David and Goliath. Who is he fighting? A giant. So, it’s just interesting to observe these undercurrents. But the spies come back and say it’s a good land that we cannot conquer. And as we leave today’s reading discouragement is spreading and this is dooming an entire generation as we will see. It’s actually dooming one generation and completely affecting the next, their children, because they do not believe they can take this Promise Land and so they won’t. And there will be plenty for us to look at us in our own lives as we travel that story.

Then we are in the gospel of Mark, and so we have reached the time of Jesus arrest, the time of his trial and his execution and resurrection. And we’re in the season of Lent now, the season that is designed on the Christian calendar and has been for millennia to…to guide our hearts into a proper posture of understanding deeply the cost of sin, the cost of separation from our Creator, the separation from God. We were never meant to live that way and sin is what carves the canyon and lent helps us…and there’s a lot of fasting and stuff that happens…and lent all toward keeping our hearts posture in the story as we are led toward Easter. And, so, we encounter this story of the last supper today and we should give it the gravity that it is due. We should understand that this is the story that changed everything for us and we should go into this day doing all that we can to have eyes to see and ears to hear, and an open heart that…that we might live worthy of the story that we’re telling in the gospel of Mark.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that. You…You’re well aware of our failures and misgivings, all of our hang ups, all of the masks that we wear, all of the ways that we are naked and ashamed, all of the ways that we try to hide, all of the ways that we try to hide what we’re trying to hide and just bottle it up, and the ways that we’re just not living pure and true, You…You’re well aware, and yet You cover it all and You just reach with a hand inviting us forward, day by day step-by-step with You, inviting us forward. And, so, we reach for You as we contemplate what it took to make this possible and we give our hearts gratitude to You in worship. We thank You Jesus, for coming to rescue us and we will love You for all eternity. We pray these things in Your name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned and stay connected.

In the initiatives section of the site you’ll find Israel 2021. We’ve just recently returned so it’s kinda hard to think about going back but that’s next year. And, so, that trip is pretty…getting pretty full now. Just reminding you to check it out. Love to see you, love to have you, have…have you experience like the wilderness of Zin for yourself or even the places that we are moving through in the story of Jesus last days. To see those for yourself, it…its life changing. I guess its…it kinda gets used a lot but it kind of is…it sort of changes perspective on a lot of things. So, that’s…that’s at the website. That’s available and you can check that out.

Check out the resources in the Shop.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. The link is on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

Numbers 10:1-11:23, Mark 14:1-21, Psalms 51:1-19, Proverbs 10:31-32

Today is the 8^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we collectively, like we do at the beginning of each week, mark the fact that everything is new, everything is out in front of us, we’re walking into this new week and we have the opportunity to walk into this new week with God. So, we step through the threshold together into a brand-new week. We’ll read from the Contemporary English Version this week and continue our journeys through the book of…the book of numbers in the Old Testament the book of Mark, the gospel of Mark in the New Testament. So, today numbers chapters 10 verse 1 through 11 verse 23.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for Your word once again and thank You for bringing us here into this new week. And we offer our gratitude. We are truly humbled and grateful that You’ve allowed us to be together in community and that we together in community can hear from Your word. We are so grateful because Your word does give us the advice for our next step. Your word does give us a context for how to be in this world and we are so grateful for that and it is changing us and we continue to open ourselves completely to You and invite You to continue to lead us forward on the narrow path that leads to life. And we thank You for this. And may we have eyes to see Your guidance we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned and stay connected.

Check out the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives, and the Prayer Wall is such a valuable resource in this community. It’s place that you can go to at any time and can…I mean if you’re feeling pretty down and got some stuff facing you nothing can change the atmosphere by turning your focus away from yourself and onto others. And, so, the prayer wall is always…always happening. You can just always go there and find somebody to pray for or maybe you’re needing prayer and that is a wonderful place to go and get it. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link that’s living on the homepage. If you use 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 comment you can hit 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 DAB family this is Missy from the Midwest I’m calling in response today to Lori’s call. She talked about how she went on the pilgrimage in 2019 and was baptized by Brian, how she overcame addiction through Jesus Christ and she’s now been six years sober. The story she gave was amazing. So, Lori I just wanted to tell you thank you for calling that in. I have someone in my family that is also very bogged down by demonic oppression along with addiction and I was convicted today to really seek God in prayer for that person and hearing your call really confirmed that. Thank you so much. God bless all.

Hi this is Travis I want to thank Grace who showed me this app. It’s been wonderful and I want to ask everybody who’s…who’s listening to pray for my son Brady. He suffers from absolute epilepsy and it’s a bad case. He has many as 20 seizures a day and he…he really suffers with it and at times he’s questioned God’s love for him in this…doesn’t know…doesn’t understand why this is happening to him and as many of you know seizures and when you have multiple of them they do affect your cognitive ability at some point and Brady has suffered with some of that. So, please pray for my son Brady. And also pray for his brother and mother who suffer with him and for me suffers with him. And one specific prayer request for me is that I not allow the stress of…of all this to cloud my vision and to see that God has so richly blessed us even in the midst of this trial and to help me rule my spirit and to control my spirit when anger and things, resentment bubble up and stress. It’s just a prayer request for…for all of us but most particularly for my son Brady. So, thank you all. Thank you for this broadcast it’s so richly blessed me just in a few days I’ve been listening and I’m spreading the word. Thank you all and thank you for your time in prayer for me and my son and my family.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Sierra from Florida I am 24 years old this is like my 18^th recording because I keep stumbling over what I’m trying to say. But overall, I just wanted to say how blessed I am, or I feel that I found Daily Audio Bible. I’ve been looking, I been searching for something that I can listen to on the way to work…  have an hour drive to work every day…that goes to the Bible and is engaging and relatable and I just really appreciated Brian’s commentary, but I find especially encouraging the end of each episode when people pray for each other. It makes me cry and I just love it so much. It’s very uplifting and I just wanted to pray blessings for you guys. If I could ask you guys around the community to pray for me. I just became a Christian about a year and half ago maybe. It was October 2018 and God has just been exploding in my life and I feel such a calling. And, so, I felt the call to go into the mission field and I’ve never been out of the country before and in one month I will…I’ve…God pulled through and the funding and everything. In one month, I’ll be going to a missionary school in Mexico and I’ll be three months there through YWAM and three months doing outreach and I have no idea where I’ll be, I’ll be somewhere else in the world, but I’ll be doing missions work for six months. So, I really just wanted some prayer, or I was just wondering if someone would pray for me for just spiritual courage. And I’m just walking totally in faith and I just everyday could use prayer. So, if you guys could pray for me, I would absolutely love that. I would be very blessed. And I just want to bless all of you. Thank you very much for just being there and existing. Have a good day.

Greetings DAB family today is Monday 2 March 2020 this is Daddy’s Dreamer from Tampa or DDFT for short. I’m going through a lot with my preteen children and would appreciate your general prayers regarding me and my kids, but I thought I would give my family greater insight into my callsign. In this season of my life I have taken one Corinthians 2:9 as my life verse – “what no lie is seen no ear has heard and no human heart conceived, God has prepared these things for those who love Him.” I have meditated on this verse and it has brought me such joy. One day we will not have to endure the scientific rules of this world perhaps. As Pink Paint has suggested the Lord may introduce us to new colors, new musical notes and maybe even emotions and a state of mind that would’ve been impossible to experience here on earth. I have a military background and often suggest to my coworkers and compare heaven to possibly be the ultimate mission. It all may sound simple and stupid, but it really does excite me to the core. I love this family and tell everybody that will listen about this community. Keep pressing play new DABbers. This is DDFT. Stay positive and always let His light shine through you. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tammy in Kentucky and I wanted to call and ask for prayer for everything going on in my life. I have an adopted son from foster care. We’ve ha d him for about 3 ½ years and he’s 17 ½ and this morning we woke up at six something and he had left to go visit his girlfriend who lives an hour and a halfway. I mean, he’s only known her like two weeks. He just constantly finds new girlfriends. And she was diagnosed yesterday with flu and strep. And just…these are the things he does. He’s very impulsive and just never even tells us. Then I get so torn up about because these are not things you should do, and I worry about his actions and what he’s doing. My husband and I stress and fight over this and we have such marital issues. I just don’t know where to turn sometimes and I usually talk to my dad, but my parents died within the past eight months. So, I don’t have that rock to turn to. So, I just feel so alone at times. So, I just need prayer. We need prayer for our adopted son. I want him to follow Jesus and we’ve tried the past three years that he’s been with us but it’s…it’s…I’m hoping we planted a seed for down the road. You know, we want him gone in six months when he turns 18. It’s just not a good situation. So, please pray for us. Thank you. My time is running out.

Good morning DABber family this is Wala the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. I just heard a prayer from truly thankful Taylor, and she was praying for stay at home parents. And Taylor as you were praying, my heart is lifted because my mom was a stay-at-home parent and I swear she’s the best mom in the world. And one of the best things in my life was coming home just always knowing that she was always there. And up until now, being a mother myself, my mom is my hero and she is my favorite person in the world. And she passed a couple years ago but she’s still my favorite person in the world. So, I just want to encourage you and let you know that what you’re doing right now, it is a blessing and it is an investment that will not go in vain. And I just want to encourage all to stay at home parents out there, I honestly wish I could afford to stay at home, but I can’t. And, so, I am really like just…kudos to you parents that are stay-at-home and loving your babies and being there for them and offering them what they would not be able…you can’t pay for it…you cannot buy it. Anyway, that’s it. May the Lord bless and keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you, give you peace. And that prayer is for all my DABber family. Give you peace. May His favor be upon you for a  thousand generations - your children and your children’s children. Love you.

Numbers 8:1-9:23, Mark 13:14-37, Psalms 50:1-23, Proverbs 10:29-30

Today is the 7^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today like it is every day no matter what part of the week it is. But it’s the end of another of our weeks together and they just…they just keep going by and then just keep going by until we complete our journey. So, it’s is wonderful to be here around this Global Campfire bringing to a conclusion another of the weeks that we get to share together, and we’ll take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we’ve been reading from the English Standard Version this week. And today numbers chapters 8 and 9.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another week in Your word and we just keep marking the weeks and You just keep taking us deeper and we take to heart the words of the gospel of Mark today, “stay awake.” This seems to be the theme screaming out of the Gospels, “have eyes to see, stay away.” And we confess the slumber…the slumber of our lives, the way that we get so focused on whatever it is that’s happening to make us uncomfortable. If we could just open our eyes, if we could just wake up and see the vastness of Your goodness and the eternal nature, the never ending-ness of it all and that we are in the middle of it, but that our vision is so narrowly focused that we can see, that we are just under the haze of life. We’re slumbering. Awaken us God that we might see You at work in this world in and among us, through us and all around us. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, certainly stay tuned and stay connected in any way that you can.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. It is stocked with resources that are for this journey, including our…our journal, including all of the writing…like the journaling stuff. Yeah, if you’ve come this far in the Scriptures and don’t have a journal you might…you might want to grab one somewhere. Every time that the Lord speaks something to you that’s meaningful for your life it’s such a helpful thing to just kind of document that, to write that down so that you don’t forget so that you can go back and be reminded. So, that…those…those resources are available in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage and I thank you with all of my heart profoundly for your partnership. 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, the little red button at the top or you can just 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 beautiful family this is Susan Schultz I’ve been a listener since 2012 but I don’t call in much but I have been the airport liaison for the More conference for seven years and I love you all so much and I pray for you all the time, especially the pilgrims and I love all my More ladies. Hi, I love you. Hope to see you all soon. But I just wanted to call to rejoice with Harold. I have learned through More conference and I even have a jacket that says it, “I can do hard things.” I started running at the ripe old age of 57 two…two summers ago and I have made it my goal to run a half marathon by my 60^th birthday which is six 6/6/60. Hey Nora Lee, my other six 6/6/60 DABber. I know that what God has taught me through running is that I can do hard things and when I did my very first…the longest run I’ve ever done since my training started, I was listening to the DAB. It was an 11-mile run and I made it the whole way, but in the middle, I was rejoicing because Harold called in and said that he was saved, and I…I just couldn’t believe it. I mean it’s…we’ve been praying for him since January and I was so excited because my training started in January and he was training and I just…he’s been on my heart ever since. And, so, I just thank you all and love you all. And, so, thank you Jesus…

[singing starts] Have Your way Lord. Have Your way. Have Your way Lord. Have Your way. Have Your way Lord. Have your way. Have your way. Have your way. Someone needs you Lord now today. Someone needs you Lord now today. Someone needs you Lord now today. Have your way. Have your way. Someone’s crying Lord have your way. Someone’s crying Lord have your way. Someone’s crying Lord have your way. Have your way. Have your way [singing stops]. I’d like to ask for prayer for the family and friends of Caleb Mekins a 31-year-old minister who passed away in Ethiopia. This is Blessings Flow in Pennsylvania.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community this is Abiding in His Love from New York. It’s February 29^th. This is my first-time calling in. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible on and off. Today I’m calling in…I actually struggle with calling in. I’ve been trying to call in but every time I put it off and I just want to reach out to the community to pray for myself as a parent for spiritual guidance in helping my daughter. She’s 12 years old and lately she’s been going through some tough times and struggle with self-defeating thoughts. Most days…her days are mostly overshadowed by just feeling oppressed. I know that’s not typical, that’s not of God and the Bible say that He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. And I’m praying that over my daughter, that whatever spirit of oppression, depression or sadness or self-defeating thoughts, that those will be gone in the name of Jesus and for other parents who are struggling with adolescent children that may be going through the same thing, I pray dear God that we will use our weapon of praying to destroy whatever plans the devil has to destroy our children. So, I ask you guys to keep us in your prayer, to uplift us. My daughter is Kay. I thank you. God bless you.

Proud witness right here in this place
it’s the light of God’s love all over my face
all those who see me they ask me what’s up
it’s the presence of God that’s filling my cup
love overflowing in rivers and streams
causing reflections visions and dreams
dreams of the future reflections of the past
visions and fulfillment of all that I’ve asked
it could be a gesture a word or touch
something so small can accomplish so much
because it comes from you Father up in heaven above
filling me with mercy wisdom and love
helping me to be a blessing today
to all those my Father whom you’ve sent my way
someone who’s hurting someone in need
yet all are desiring to somehow be freed
so help us keep patient and do things your way
help me dear Lord to have the right words to say
someone’s confused about what they heard
longing for the truth that comes only from your word
there’s a powerful witness right here in this place
it’s the light of your love all over my face

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Brian, Jill, Max, China, China, Ezekiel and Christian, you know, the whole Hardin family. Thank you so much for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowing y’all. And it was so nice hearing Jill’s voice again. I haven’t heard you in a long time. Sounds good.

Hello DAB listeners my name is Janice and I’m in Illinois. I’m here to report that I’m not just a DABber nor double DABber. I am a triple DABber. Because of a difficult trial I am going through right now I have many sleepless nights. So, instead of laying in my bed worrying and stewing over my troubles I listen to DABC and DAB for Kids and I let God’s words wash over me. I’ve been listening to Brian since the end of the first year of broadcasting DAB. China I was listening the year that you went to India with your dad. As a second-grade teacher in a Christian school I would use those DAB for Kids in my classroom. You were 11 years old. This year they are replaying that first year of DAB for kids. DABber’s, what a blessing it is to hear China and her dad teaching the Bible together. Then I listen to China, the grown-up. Oh my, what an incredible wisdom God has granted you China. So, I am a triple DABber and God’s word is carrying me through this, the most difficult time I’ve ever gone through. Thank, you China for obeying the Lord’s calling on your life. Thank you, Brian and Jill for bringing your children up at the feet of Jesus.

Hi this is Asia from Chicago it’s March 1^st and I just heard Tony the Narrator or Tony the Narrator if you say it like him. Hey man. I’m so glad that you called in such a vulnerable spot. I just was really moved and heartbroken to hear you speaking and crying about your ex-wife and her boyfriend and it’s just so…I just can’t…I just…I can’t even fathom how hard marriage, loss, and divorce and marriage breakup could be. I…just this week had just a guy that he and I were talking and then we had a conversation and decided that we were gonna just be friends and it was so hard for me it was really sad. And I just can’t even imagine, I mean a hundredfold the anguish that you must be enduring right now, and I just want you to know that it’s okay to lament, it’s okay to grieve. It’s so hard. It’s not what we want. It’s never what we want, right? And we can do everything we can to distract ourselves. But I’m so proud of you for being brave and strong, for calling it like it is instead of, you know, putting a fake, a pseudo-silver lining over it. “Oh, it’s going to be fine, I’m good, Jesus is good.” Like those are all true things and it is good but brother, kudos to you for being strong and admitting when you are weak. And I’m here for you and I’m praying for you and I love you. This is Asia from Chicago.

Numbers 6:1-7:89, Mark 12:38-13:13, Psalms 49:1-20, Proverbs 10:27-28

Today is the 6^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian here in the rolling hills of Tennessee and I’m glad that we live when we do, because no matter where you are, no matter what hills or valleys or plains you are…you live in, no matter what continent you’re on, no matter how many oceans away from the rolling hills of Tennessee you are we still can all come around this global campfire and move through the Bible together and be community together and know that we’re never alone. And that is a beautiful, beautiful thing. So, it’s wonderful to be here with you today as we take that next step forward. And we’re working our way through the book of Numbers. And, again, you know, we talked about this in Leviticus, you know, we’re reading an accounting of the setup of a culture mixed in with all of the orders about how they will, you know, how they will order themselves as a culture, as a nomadic culture moving around. And, so, we’re sort of getting all that and there’s a lot of numbers in Numbers. We’re doing a lot accounting. And, so, we can just be like, “gosh. Like, how…how many more days before we get through this?” And we will. We will. What’s happening here is the establishment of the Hebrew people. Like, it’s got a lot of detail and some of its narrative. And, so, we’re reading all the stores and we can really lock into those and some of its instruction and some of its commandment and law and statutes, but this is the origin story and this story actually has value and meaning. It’s very, very important. I mean, there’s plenty of things in the Old Testament that are riveting to our hearts, but this part of the story is an important part of the story because all that’s being formed here, this is the context into which Jesus came. Jesus can’t fully be understood with…like decoupled from His Jewishness, without kind of understanding the culture that He’s speaking too, what He’s saying and why He’s saying it and why that’s causing unrest because like we can read Jesus and be like, “who’s got a problem with any of this? Why do they want to kill him?” But without understanding that backdrop of what they’re trying to protect and what they’re trying to hold onto, then it doesn’t make a lot of sense. So, Number’s matters. Yeah, there’s a bunch of numbers but after these numbers after everything gets set up. Everything…after everything is established, we’re gonna be moving out and we’re gonna begin journeying with them toward the Promise land. So today, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week by the way. Numbers chapters 6 and 7.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the book of Numbers today we…we read very repetitively all of the different offerings that are being brought from all the tribes so that the altar could be consecrated. It’s not like they had to do this every day. This…this was the consecration of the altar that was built that was the centerpiece of their culture and the tabernacle along with all the…all the other utensils and the most holy place and the holy of holies in the tabernacle. They’re consecrating the altar. So, it’s all recited you know, and all of these numbers because it’s recounted exactly as they were putting it down historically for themselves. And, yeah, it can be a little tedious but then we broke out of that and it was like the altar is consecrated and we came to the most well-known benediction in the Scriptures, perhaps in the world, “the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace.” And according to the Scriptures this puts the name upon the people of Israel, it put the name of God upon them, and God will bless them. A benediction is prayer of blessing. There are many of them in the Bible. The one that I just read to you…you probably have heard it before. It may be pronounced over you in church every Sunday depending on where you go to church, but I want to show you something. So, just…you’re driving, you’re riding on a train, you’re laying in bed, you’re sitting on a chair., whatever you’re doing…whatever you’re doing just try to calm yourself for second. “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace.” Doesn’t that change things. Doesn’t a prayer of blessing spoken over you change the atmosphere. And here…here’s the interesting thing about a prayer of blessing, you can’t pray a prayer of blessing and speak words of cursing at the same person at the same time. If you are blessing them then you are blessing them. I’ve just prayed this prayer of blessing over you. Why don’t you go into your day and pay it forward? Try going through this day and in the encounters that you have, even silently. If you’re going through the grocery store and you’re going through the check-out, and you’ve swiped your card and you’re leaving, if just breathe silently, “may the Lord bless you and keep you.” What if you just went through today blessing everyone. Try it and see what your day looks like. And what about your family? Maybe when we get home from work some cross words are said. There’s all of the fuel for a big fire to ruin the rest of the day. What if you spoke words of blessing instead of cursing? What if just even silently, “the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Those are not fighting words. Those are words of blessing. What about over your children? “The Lord bless you.” Nobody’s stopping you from bringing good into the world. Nobody’s stopping you from being light in the darkness. All we need is to be present and have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Song:

Benediction - Matt Redman

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord smile on you,
shine His light upon you.
May the Lord lift you,
turn His face towards you.
Give you His peace,
give you His peace.

May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord smile on us,
shine His light upon us.
May the Lord lift us,
turn His face towards us.
Give us His peace,
give us His peace.

Blessed we came to this place today
and blessed now we will go.
In the name of the Father,
the Spirit and the Son.
Blessed we came to this place today
and blessed now we will go.
In the name of the Father,
the Spirit and the Son.

Blessed we came to this place today
and blessed now we will go.
In the name of the Father,
the Spirit and the Son.

May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord smile on us,
shine His light upon us.
May the Lord lift us,
turn His face towards us.
Give us His peace,
give us His peace.
Go now in peace,
go now in peace.

Go now in peace.
And the blessing of our God,
and the blessing of our God.
Go now in peace
and the blessing of our God.

Numbers 4:1-5:31, Mark 12:18-37, Psalms 48:1-14, Proverbs 10:26

Today is the 5^th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today just about back…just about back from this jet lag from our Israel pilgrimage, feeling stronger and stronger every day. I just love it when I’ve like…I’ve turned the corner and my heart, my soul, my spirit, my body, we…we’re pretty much in the same place now which is good and I’m excited to see what's…what is in store for us today in the Scriptures. So, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Numbers, chapters 4 and 5 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, Jesus is talking to some Sadducees who have come to Him today and the distinction between the Sadducees and the Pharisees was that the Pharisees believed in a resurrection and the Sadducees did not. And we can see that Jesus…Jesus falls on the side of the Pharisees here, completely affirming the resurrection and the ongoing life of the soul. And one of the scribes is listening to all this and he kinda heard this dispute going on. So, he comes to Jesus and is like, “what’s the greatest commandment?” And Jesus recites that, “the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Th scribe then responds to Jesus affirming that he and Jesus are in complete agreement about this that and he offers his interpretation. He’s like, “you’ve spoken well. You’re right teacher. You have truly said He is one, there is no other besides Him and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding with all the strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices,” right? So, like Jesus never said anything about sacrifices. This is the scribe’s interpretation of the greatest commandment. And a very fascinating thing happens here. When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.” It was that distinction in interpretation, that add on, that loving God with all that you are is much more than sacrifice. So, like, all that you are is much more to God than anything you could do. So, there we have more clues about what this kingdom of heaven that is within us and among us is like. All your activity that you believe is on behalf of God does not equal a relationship with God. And Jesus response, “you’re not far from the kingdom of God.” In other words, “you are a scribe well educated in your religion, but you seem to have eyes to see, which is fascinating indeed because we’re seeing that we need eyes to see everywhere.

Prayer:

And, so Jesus we thank you for this, for another thing that we’ve learned today about your kingdom, it's…it’s that we give ourselves completely to you. It’s not about what we can do. It’s about how we can offer ourselves completely and holy to you and be completely and wholly available to you. So, come Holy Spirit and allow us the awareness that we need today, the eyes to see today about how we can be available to you by giving ourselves completely to you and to your service. Come Holy Spirit 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.

And that’s kind of getting back into the saddle and…and…and moving…moving into this month. Man…I can't…March how did it get to be March? What happened? Didn’t we just celebrate New Year’s day? It’s crazy. So, we’re just kinda getting settled back in but I want to take the time to remind you of the community section in the Daily Audio Bible website or in the app. The Community section gives you all the different links to all the different social media channels that we are interacting on so you can back and take a look at the entire Israel journey that we were…that we’ve just concluded as well as all kinds of different ways to…to interact.

One way that I’d love to mention is that if you are a woman and you’re not part of the Daily Audio Bible women’s group where my wife, Jill kinda helms that and is continually creating very, very high-quality content. Not that that’s what we’re doing here. But she very diligently pours her heart into the women here. And, so, if you’re a woman, you may want to be a part of that Facebook group and you can find the links to that in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com. Just look for social media in there and you’ll find it.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link and it’s on the homepage and a thank you. The…the truth is we wouldn’t be here this…this wouldn’t be here 15…if we hadn’t been in this together. And, so, if you find what’s happening in this community be life-giving and…and an encouragement for your soul than thank you for your partnership. So, the links on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or just hit that very convenient outline button that just lives in the app and it’s just always there. We have that app, we have a hotline button, we’re never alone. Hit that…hit that button and start talking.

That should do it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Numbers 2:1-3:51, Mark 11:27-12:17, Psalms 47:1-9, Proverbs 10:24-25

Today is the 4^th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today. Feeling a little bit more…a little bit more like myself here moving through the jet lag. And today, at least in my life it’s a mile marker, a milestone marker. Today is my birthday and I’ve stopped celebrating the passing of another year in my life in my biological age. I’m 15 today. This is my 15^th Daily Audio Bible birthday. So, watch out. You got a raging teenager going lead you through the rest of this year in the Scriptures, but I'll…I’ll try to act more my biological age than my Daily Audio Bible age. But anyway, it’s a…at least for me, it just marks…I can’t believe it…15 years. Wow! That is…I can’t believe it. But anyway, let’s move into the Scriptures and allow God to speak to us into our day. And, so, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. And we’ll read Numbers chapters 2 and 3 today.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in our reading from the Gospel of Mark today Jesus is in Jerusalem, the holy city that we just returned from and He’s walking in the temple complex and it’s like He gets ganged up on because the chief priests, not the minor ones, like the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, they came to Him and…and they’re asking Him, “like, by what…” you know… “like, by what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you the right to do this? And Jesus is like, “I’ll answer that question if you answer one of mine.” And then He asks the question about John, “is he from heaven or is he from man.” So, we can read this and ho like, “Jesus is very astute. He’s very observant. He knows what’s going on. He sees what they’re doing. And, so, He outwits them with this question.” And although that's…that’s true, there’s more that He’s asking, then it might seem, because He’s not just trying to catch them in their own trap or catch them in their own trick. He’s asking a question that would inform, that would reveal their hearts whether or not they have eyes to see and ears to hear. So, he’s like, I’ll answer that question, but…but I’m not gonna answer that question if you don't…if you can't…if you don’t have eyes to see or ears to hear the answer. “So, let me ask you a question? What about John? Was he sent from God or was he just some crazy guy?” And, so, they discuss it and they’re not saying like, “hmmm…let’s truly ponder that question.” They’re trying to figure out the right answer that will keep them protected and safe in their power. Like, so, they’re like, “if we say from heaven then it would be like, why didn’t you believe him? But if we say he was from man then the people are going to freak out because they thought he was a prophet.” And, so, they’re like, “we don’t know.” And, so, Jesus is basically then saying, “you don’t have eyes to see and ears to hear, so I’m not telling you by what authority I do these things.” And then immediately he launched into a parable to illustrate to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, especially because He's…He’s there with the chief priests and scribes and the elders. And, so, He’s telling this story for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear the story of God and man. So, He talks about a beautiful vineyard being cultivated and developed and made right for…for…for growing. And, so, this man who owned the farm then leases the farm to tenant’s, right? These would be the ones in authority. These are the ones Jesus is specifically identifying as these high priests, scribes and elders in this parable. But not just them presently. All the way back. The line of the Levites that were reading about in the book of Numbers. Like, we’ve just zoomed a couple thousand years forward and this is them, at least in office. And He was like, “the time for harvest came and the farmer sent someone to collect and that person got beat. These are the prophetic voices that have been sent all along, calling the people, inviting the people back. But the leaders beat them or killed them or struck them on the head or treated them shamefully until finally, God said, “I’ll send my beloved son. Surely, surely the people of God will respect the son of God. But instead they identified this beloved son and decided, “if we can get rid of Him, we can have it all.” And, so, they killed Him, right? In the story is the story of God and man and the story of redemption. And Jesus concludes poignantly, “what will the owner of the vineyard do?” You know, like “after all that’s happened, after they’ve beat up servants, killed servants, and killed his son, what’s he gonna do? He will come and destroy the tenants”, right? And the tenant’s in this story is aimed at the people Jesus is talking to, these religious elite people who are so entrenched in their tradition and so accustomed to their power that they do not have eyes to see or ears to hear. In so many ways this parable is like an invitation to the chief leaders to open their eyes to what they are not seeing, the kingdom of heaven in the world. And just like the parable goes, they left there and plotted. They’re gonna arrest Jesus and get Him out of circulation. So, if there is one thing that we should be beginning to see fairly clearly as we move through the Gospels, this kingdom is here, it is happening, it is moving forward, it will reach its fullness, but it can go completely undetected if you don’t have eyes to see and ears to hear, which is why in part we’re spending this year with this word that we’re just simmering on all year, this word “vision”. We also have a word, “settle”. But this word, “vision”, is a specific kind. It’s eyes to see the kingdom at work in this world and our place in it. May we not be deeply religious people who are completely aligned.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that. We way ask again for her eyes to be opened. We may be asking this many many, many, many, more times all year long to keep it on our radar to understand that it’s available. We can open our eyes. We just have to look around and stop looking for everything that’s challenging us or everything that’s bad. We have to look for that which is holding back the darkness. That’s the kingdom. And when we see light poking out of the darkness no matter where it’s coming from, we need to recognize it. We need to take Your words to be true. Those who are not against us are for us. Wherever light is peeking out, no matter where it’s coming from, may we recognize Your kingdom at work in this world. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

It’s…well…it’s my birthday. That’s going on around here. Probably try to find an hour or two to take a little reflective drive or something and just continue moving through the jet lag. It's…I mean there are some hours now that…that are making sense, but a lot of the hours don’t because you’re just kind of moving back…moving back into this time zone. So, thank you for your prayers over that.

Reminding you that…visit the Daily Audio Bible shop. There are a number of resources there for the journey through the Bible in a year. And, so, take advantage of those. They’ve been created for this journey including the Promise Land films that I’ve mentioned a number of times as we were in Israel. That is a great…that resource was created for this journey to. Just to…just changed me when I was able to go to the land of the Bible and get some context, like look around and understand the context of the stories. That’s when this whole thing was birthed just to really try to bring as…as comprehensive review of some of the places that we’ll visit in the Bible into our eyes and into real life so that we can see them. So, that’s available in the shop. So, check it out.

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 thank you for clicking that link. If you are 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 comment 877-942-4253 is number to dial or you can just hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top.

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