Category: DAB Transcripts

Hosea 10:1-14:9, Jude 1:1-25, Ps 127:1-5, Pr 29:15-17

Today is the 8^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you as we prepare to close the books, right, close the books on another week and allow it to become a part of our history, but before all that we have to take the next, well, we have to live through this day, but we have to take the next step forward as we move through the Scriptures. And I’ve been mentioning along the way, you know, kind of as we move into the latter part of October and then through November that things kind of speed up. We’re going to the minor prophets which are short. We’re going through some short letters in the New Testament. So, we’re kind of moving rapidly as we move toward the end of the year. So, we’ll complete the book of Hosea today in the Old Testament. And then when we get to the New Testament we’ll talk about Jude because that’s a letter we’re about to read. And we will read Jude in its entirety today, which will pave the way tomorrow for the beginning of the final book of the New Testament. So, that’s the lay of the land and that’s where we are in the year. So, we’ve been reading from the God’s word translation all of this week, which is what we’ll do today. Hosea chapter 10 verse 1 through 14 verse 9.

Introduction to the Letter of Jude:

Okay. So, like we mentioned at the beginning, we just concluded the book of Hosea and we will now be beginning the book or the letter the epistle of Jude and will read it in its entirety. It’s 25 verses long and it may sound a little familiar. Many biblical scholars accept the idea that Second Peter, a letter that we read, just days ago, actually imitates Jude’s letter. And if this is true, then Jude’s letter predates Second Peter, which would mean that Juda dates somewhere into the mid 60s A.D. And if this is not the case then the letter could be as late as the end of Jude’s life, which would be somewhere around maybe 80 A.D. But that might be getting a little ahead of ourselves. I mean, like, who is Jude, and this questions actually been raised throughout the entirety of church history. And it continues to be examined among scholars all the way up until now but if we’re moving in the direction of consensus then the majority of traditional scholars agree that Jude, or the Jude that wrote this letter, was the brother of James and the brother of Jesus. But even though he is the brother of Jesus he wasn’t an apostle, he didn’t believe in Jesus during His ministry. It’s interesting what resurrection will do to your belief. But anyway, no matter the trajectory, Jude definitely did become a part of the church and a voice in the church but it’s just not clear who this letter was addressed to. Like, Jude says that he’s writing to all who have been called by God the Father who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. And that’s who he’s writing this letter to. So, that could basically be any believe any time ever. And, so, we can certainly apply this to ourselves but we can see like specifically identifying exactly who the intended reader was, that’s a bit ambiguous. If the similarities between Second Peter and Jude are correct then Jude was likely writing the same people that Peter wrote to and that would be the displaced believers who were fleeing persecution or people who had been exiled in generations past, like the stuff that we’re reading about in the books of prophecy, right, the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles when the kingdoms fell. So, here’s the interesting thing about Jude. Jude had been planning on writing a completely different letter than the one that he actually did write. And he says that in his greeting. So, instead of writing a letter of encouragement and rejoicing words of salvation he had to write about defending the faith. And this was brought up because of an issue that was a widespread and it was a false teaching like some of the other letters were aimed at. And this was a teaching about God’s grace. I mean, this particular issue is addressed many, many times in many letters in the New Testament. So, basically what was going on was that the teaching of an unmerited favor, which is grace, bestowed upon us by God has always been a core understanding of the Christian faith. Like, we’re taught in Scripture, this is a gift, it’s not something we can earn. It’s grace, It’s God’s mercy. So, some people began to twist the concept into a license to do whatever they wanted with whomever they chose whenever they liked because, after all, sins no longer held against us and God’s grace can’t be earned anyway. So, we’re good. Like, we can to whatever we want. Jude forcefully opposes this idea throughout most of the letter. And it’s not as if this behavior isn’t still with us. Jude clearly warns us away from that notion, that path. And then in closing, we’re instructed to remember that false teachings we’re something that were foretold, they were predicted. And, so, the community of faith needs to build each other up in the power of the Holy Spirit. And for those who had unfortunately been deceived, then the community was to be cautious but merciful. And, so, like I said, this is the last stop before we move into the final book of the Bible which is known as the book of Revelation. And then that will be moving us in completely different directions. So, let’s remember because this is like our last stop. These letters that we’ve been kind of moving through for a little while, let’s remember what they have told us because they have told us that the story of radical unspeakable grace is actually true but when we partake of that grace we are entering into a covenantal relationship. So, it matters what we do, it matters how we conduct ourselves because our actions are the true statement of our love for one another and for our faith in Jesus. And, so, we begin, and we’ll read in its entirety the book or letter of Jude.

Prayer:

Father, as we close this week we acknowledge that we have three weeks that remain in this year a year of hope and we acknowledge the words in the Psalms today and we take them to heart, we place them deep within ourselves and ask Your Holy Spirit to continually remind us of this. If You don’t build the house it’s useless to work on it. If You don’t protect city. It’s useless to work hard and get up early and go to bed late in our own strength when it is You who feeds us, it is You who loves us and gives us sleep. So, come Holy Spirit we pray as we release another week into our history and look forward to the weeks ahead that remain in this year because we’re not checking out, we’re just acknowledging where we are in the grand scheme of things as we’re moving toward the end of the year, but we’re not checking out. We know that You have much to speak to us and we cling to You. We find our rest in You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And I’ve if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can find out what’s going on around here as well. All of the other things I’m talking about are in the app. But it’s Christmas time. And, so, a few things happen around Christmas time. One is the More Gathering for women that happens every April. Registration opens because it is the most unique and life impacting gift that we know of. Ahhh…when you give this to your wife or your mom and send her and offer her the opportunity to have some time to breathe, a place to go that’s safe but where there’s no obligations or responsibilities and the opportunity to just feel one’s heart beating again and just consider what the future might hold and invite Jesus into that…ohhh…well…that’s the recipe for More and it’s the More Gathering for women. And come. Come. This will be the last time…the end of an era…the last time we’ll be doing this in Georgia. And we’re just praying and waiting on the Lord for what comes next. But this is following the leading of the Lord, to bring to bring that location to an end. So, let’s celebrate together at Sharptop Cove on the top of the mountain one more time. You can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or visit moregathering.com and that’ll take you to the same place.

Also, great gift idea for this year is our writing kits. Check those out in the Daily Audio Bible shop in the Lifestyle section for the journaler in your life or maybe that’s you. You’ll just…you’ll fall in love with these items. They’re items that I personally use every day. I mean, I don’t want to say 100% but most every single day of my life I am using these resources. So, I love them, and I think you will too. I know you will. So, check those out in the lifestyle section.

And then also in the Christmas section, that’s where you’ll find the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018. And you can see all that’s in there and we’ve been talking about that. There’s some powerful resources, strong medicine in that box and some things for you and some things for you to give away. And we love that, and we pray over these as we send them out expecting that that God will do what He says. His word will not return void. So, that’s available.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it’s on the homepage. And I thank you. I thank you because there wouldn’t be a homepage if we didn’t do this together, there wouldn’t be any of this if we didn’t do this together. And I thank you that we are and we have done this together. So, if you want to partner, thank you. 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 comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Hosea 6:1-9:17, 3 John 1:1-15, Psalms 126:1-6, Proverbs 29:12-14

Today is the 7^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s always the joy of the day to sit down in front of the microphone and know that we’re gathering around the word of God and around our global campfire in community for the next step forward. And the next step forward’s gonna take us into some new some new territory in the New Testament. We have a new letter to explore together. But first we’ll take the next step forward in the book of Hosea. Si, we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. Hosea chapter 6 verse 1 through 9 17 today.

Introduction to Third John:

Alright. So, we read the entirety of Second John yesterday, the second letter of John and we’re gonna do the same thing today, only it will be Third John. And this letter was probably written around the same time that the other two letters were written, and it was also likely written from Ephesus, where church tradition tells us that John spent the latter part of his life. But Third John is a bit different than John’s other two letters because of one specific thing. Like the apostle Paul’s letter to Philemon, Third John is a personal letter and it was written to a man named Gaius. And Gaius was a respected believer within the network of churches that John had leadership over. And John wrote this letter as a word of personal encouragement to Gaius for his passion for the gospel and his willingness to put that passion into action and his willingness to serve and support traveling teachers who were sent out by John throughout the churches. And this was not an uncommon thing in that day and it’s not an uncommon thing now, the custom of welcoming itinerant ministers and caring for their needs. This has been a common thing in the church and John saw this letter as a necessary communication because another church leader named Diotrephes had distanced himself from John and in the process, he refused to offer hospitality to the traveling missionaries and to make this even a worse situation, Diotrephes was throwing people out of the church who disagreed with him and assisted these itinerant ministers. So, John wrote to Gaius because Gaius wasn’t going along with that story. So, John wrote to commend him for his care in showing hospitality to those who were traveling around sharing the gospel and building up and encouraging in the faith the churches. So, this letter from John would’ve affirmed Gaius and that would’ve put it in writing, that Gaius was doing the right thing. And you can only imagine that a personal letter from one of the 12 disciples of Jesus would’ve carried a lot of weight with the churches involved. So, we’re gonna read the whole thing in just a second. But Third John does give us a glimpse into some of the tensions that existed during the formative years of the church. We so often look through rose colored glasses into the time of the book of Acts and think that, you know, everything just went perfectly and swimmingly and smoothly. But then we read the Bible and realize, oh, all of the struggles that that we face in our time may be contextualized different, they may be wearing different clothes, but the struggle existed. And, so, there’s plenty to learn from that. And, so, we begin. And we will also end Third John.

Prayer:

Father as we end this, another work week, and move into the weekend, we recall what we’ve read today, the encouragement that we were given today from the book of Hosea. Let’s learn about the Lord. Let’s get to know the Lord. He will come to us as sure as the morning comes. He will come to us like the autumn rains and the spring rains that water the ground. We believe that father, you have always come for us. It is only that so often when you come for us we’re not there, we’re somewhere else, we’re distracted by the future or we’re distracted by our past and we’re not here when you come for us. And this season that we’re in, as things speed up and we go running toward Christmas and we go running toward the new year, it’s so easy to be distracted from the fact that you are coming for us, that you are near, that you want to fellowship and have intimacy with us. And that’s ironic because of the season that we’re in. If there’s one season of the year that we should slow down and rest in you and marvel that you would draw near, that you would come for us, it’s this season. And, so, we confess these things, we acknowledge these challenges and we invite your Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit, rejuvenate us with rest and calm and shalom as we move into the weekend. Come Jesus we pray. In your mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And, you know, it’s Christmas time. And, so, we’ve been talking about the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box. We still have some available. They’re still shipping, and we have about a week and a half before we have to cut off for shipping. Like, I mean, you can order them as long as you want but we think about a week and a half and we can still ship them and they’ll still arrive inside the domestic United States in time for Christmas. If you’re outside the United States that windows kind of past. Certainly, you can still order and certainly we will ship promptly…just not sure…we’re talking international and we’re talking Christmas time…so…but if you want these resources, definitely order them and we will ship them immediately. The Christmas boxes this year is a fantastic one. It’s full of fantastic resources. There are three books in there that are all, I think, powerful resources. The Promise Land double DVD set, over four hours of content that just allows you to go and see the land of the Bible virtually. Some…I mean…every major place that we’ve experienced in the Bible this year is the place that you can see for yourself in Promise Land. So that’s in there. Your choice of the Daily Audio Bible Windfarm coffee or our boutique windfarm tea, your choice. 20 of our Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards for this year that have “Hope”, which was our word for the year, on the front of them. They’re beautiful. A black wing Daily Audio Bible, one-of-a-kind pencil, and that’s a fact, they’re only in the box. And they’ll be gone, we’re not allowed to sell them. So, we were allowed to put them in the box. But they’re a Black Wing pencil with the Daily Audio Bible embossed on it. I love that because I love these pencils. And I’ve mentioned the last couple of days, check out in the Shop, check out the Lifestyle section. Check out our writing kits, especially if you’re a journaler or there’s a journaler in your life or you are an artist and maybe you like to sketch or you just like to write. Check that out. Check out all of the writing kits in the Daily Audio Bible shop. Of course, the annual Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb is also in the box this year. And a mystery…everyone’s getting a mystery item. Every box is getting a mystery item as well, some resources that we didn’t have enough of to put in every box, but if we pulled them together, we can give everyone else…we could give something else to everyone in this box. So, it’s available dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop.

Also, the More Gathering registration is now open and you can find out all of the details for the More Gathering that’s coming up this April at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or just go to moregathering.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I cannot possibly thank you enough because truly the Daily Audio Bible is a community experience from top to bottom. And we’re able to get up every day and push play because we’ve partnered together to do this. And, so, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, 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 comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Hosea 4:1-5:15, 2 John 1:1-13, Psalms 125:1-5, Proverbs 29:9-11

Today is the 6^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today as we continue to take these steps forward that lead us to the end of the year and the final pages of the Bible. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Even though we don’t have a lot of days left we have a lot of territory to cover. And, so we began the book of Hosea yesterday in the Old Testament, which we will continue with today. We concluded the apostle John’s first letter, known as First John yesterday, which means we will begin Second John when we get to the New Testament and we’ll talk about that when we get there. But first we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. Hosea chapter 4 verse 1 through 5 verse 15 today.

Introduction to Second John:

Okay. So, as we mentioned at the top of our time together, when we get to the New Testament we will be beginning a new letter and it’s known as Second John. And that’s what we’ll do. And we’ll read second John in its entirety today. And second John was probably written very shortly after First John was written and it was likely written to the same people because of its similarities. And, incidentally, it is those similarities that are reasons most scholars accept John as the authentic writer of these letters. And since it’s believe that John spent the latter part of his life in the city of Ephesus, then that is the likely origin of second John. So, this letter contains a whopping thirteen versus and the first three of them are our words of greeting and then the next three remind us of the importance of love, specifically loving each other, which was so much of the focus of first John. And then the next three verses speak against the false teaching of Docetism like the first one did. And then the next two verses offer instruction now found in the first letter, and these verses advise the readers how to behave toward a itinerant teacher who attempts to introduce false teaching into the church. And they’re specifically encouraged not to offer encouragement or hospitality. And then the final two verses conclude the letter. And it would be easy to allow first and second John a blur together because it’s like the same kind of terrain and subject matter. But if we just take a deep breath, because we’re gonna read this all one sitting. And just imagine, like, between yesterday and today, between first John and second John, imagine that months have gone by, and that the impact of first John is diminishing because of all the challenges that are being faced in the church. And that will put us in the right head-space to read second John because this would’ve come several months later as a reminder and an encouragement of what had been written before. And, so, we begin, Second John.

Prayer:

Father, every day we thank you for your word because it speaks into our lives into the deepest parts of our motives and our hearts posture. And, so, we thank you for that and we take to heart what we read today in the Psalms, that those who trust you are like a mountain that can’t be shaken. And as the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, and they certainly do, so You surround your people now and forever. And, so, we take comfort in that, knowing that you are present, that you are surrounding us, that we are in a bubble surrounded by you. What exactly is it that we have to fear? Come Holy Spirit into this question. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com is home base, its the website, its where you stay connected to community.

The Prayer Wall is there, continual prayer is happening there, all of the ways to connect with your brothers and sisters who are on this journey on social media, those links are available at dailyaudiobible.com as well as the Daily Audio Bible shop where it’s Christmas time.

So, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 is available and it’s crammed as full as we can get it, full of goodies and resources that you’ll want for yourself and some things that you’ll want to give away. And you can see all of the contents of the Christmas Box in the Daily Audio Bible Shop in the Christmas section. So, check that out.

Also, great gift idea in the lifestyle section of the Daily Audio Bible shop is all of our writing kits. They make for fantastic gifts. I couldn’t love them any more than I do because I use them every day. And, so, if your journaler, if you’re a writer, if you’re an artist, if you like to draw, if you…I mean..if you just want to be a little more tactile and intentional in your life, and that’s funny because we’re very digital, and I had a digital journal for a long time but it’s not the same. It’d not the same as writing things down with your own hand and, you know, having those to refer back to at some point in your life or to save them for future generations, written in your own hand, the story of your own life. Yeah, that’s hard to beat and it’s not the same when you type it out, you know, in digital form. So, some fantastic selections in the Lifestyle section at dailyaudiobible.com.

Also, the More Gathering registration is open now as well for the a More Gathering coming up this April in the mountains of north Georgia just outside of Atlanta. We were doing women’s events before we went to the mountaintop at Sharp Top Cove there in the mountains, but the More Gathering was kind of birthed…it’s only ever been there, and this is the last time it will be there. We’re feeling like God is saying this is the last year. And really not exactly sure…we don’t have like the whole story. I don’t like that. Like, that’s not my thing. I usually like to hear from the Lord and Him say, okay, this season is ending because this other season is beginning. And here’s where you’re to head. We don't…we just…we just know that this season is ending, and this is it. So, if you’ve been up to Sharp Top before then come back. This is your chance to end strong and well up there. If you’ve never been but you’ve wanted to come all of these years, you’ve gotta see it. It’s absolutely fantastic. And this is the year. We have we cut the pricing to the bare bare bone. Like we are at cost. The cost is $350 but that’s for nine cooked meals and three nights of lodging and all of the resources, all of the teaching, and just to be able to witness the team in action is magnificent. So, yeah, I mean, just can’t make it a better deal because that’s bone cost for us. Like, there’s nothing in this for the Daily Audio Bible other than that we love to build community around the rhythm of the Bible and this builds community, lifelong friendships. I mean there are groups of women that come every year because this is where they get back together because they live all over the world. The friendships that are formed at the More Gathering, they’re the kinds of friendships that last because the things that you go through together and the things that you can remind each other of are so necessary, that sisterhood is so necessary. So, yeah, More Gathering registration is open now and you can find that at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or moregathering.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the waning moments of the year 2018, then I thank you humbly and profoundly, of course. All of your contributions to the global campfire and the community that we are are tax deductible and you will certainly get an end of the year receipt. So, I thank you profoundly as you are considering your charitable giving at the end of the year to…well I mean…bottom line is, if what’s happening here is life and light and good news to you then thank you for helping that light and life and good news to continue to burn on into the new year where we will great tens of thousands of new friends who are on a collision course with the Scriptures. They just don’t know it yet. It’s this time of year those, you know, those little pangs of contemplation are starting to settle in and then the holidays usually mask all that because we’re very, very busy but then we’ll get between the holidays and that’s when we start thinking about our spirituality and what comes next for us and how much weight we’re gonna lose…and yeah…that’s when people who have been on a collision course with the Scriptures find the Scriptures and become a part of this community and we take another revolution around the sun together. So, if that has been something that’s meaningful to you, then thank you. Thank you for your partnership. We really, truly wouldn’t be here, would have been long gone if we didn’t do this together. So, there’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner 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 the number to dial.

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

Daniel 11:36-12:13, 1 John 4:1-21, Psalms 123:1-4, Proverbs 29:2-4

Today is the 5^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is an honor and a pleasure to be here with you today. I’m kind of chuckling because these are the first words I’ve spoken out of my mouth today. Usually I have conversations before Daily Audio Bible but this is it, like, your the first person I’m talking to today out loud. So, it’s great to be here with you for the midweek as we take the next step forward in our adventure through the Scriptures this year. Yesterday, from the Old Testament reading, we concluded the book of Daniel, which means that we’ll be beginning a new book in the Old Testament today and that will be the book of Hosea, which will bring us, right now, into the final grouping of books that we will encounter in the Old Testament this year. And this grouping of books is called the minor prophets. And lest we tune out and think, well, these are less important books, that’s not why they’re called the minor prophets. They’re called the minor prophets because they’re shorter in length, compared with, like, longer books of prophecy like Isaiah or Ezekiel. So, in terms of the territory ahead in the Old Testament, this is where we’ll be camping out, in the minor prophets. And there are 12 books beginning with Hosea and ending with the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. So, obviously it’s December 5^th and we have 25 days left in this year. So, we’ll be moving through these 12 books rapidly as we make this final push into the end of the year. But let’s talk about the territory that we’re immediately heading into. the book of Hosea.

Introduction to the book of Hosea:

Hosea as a prophet probably lived in the eighth century BC and was able to see firsthand the disintegration and the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel, which happened to be his homeland. But even though his homeland had been the northern kingdom, many biblical scholars believe that Hosea’s prophecies were collected together in the southern kingdom of Judah after the Assyrians had destroyed Israel, the northern kingdom, and carried the 10 tribes and exile. Now, one of the most poignant themes that are in the Bible we also encounter in the book of Hosea and that is the theme of marriage. And the theme of marriage in the Scripture is often used to represent God’s love for the people that He entered into covenant with. And this theme is vividly captured in Hosea and it’s a fitting metaphor because we’ve been through a number of books of prophecy and we’ve observed God’s people chasing other gods over and over and over committing spiritual adultery. So, obviously the theme of marriage is poignant and that when placed in the context of marriage, God’s reaction to the betrayal of his people is totally understandable. He behaves like a scorned lover who is heartbroken and shocked and longs for His lost love. And that is portrayed more clearly in the book of Hosea than pretty much anywhere else in the Bible because God instructed Hosea to use his actual living life to speak as living prophecy. God instructed Hosea to marry a prostitute and her name was Gomer. And this represented the idolatry and the adultery and harlotry of Israel. And, as the story goes, Gomer and Hosea had children together and at God’s instruction each of the children was given a prophetic name that spoke directly to Israel. And then Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea he divorced her, representing God’s casting away of Israel. And then at God’s instruction, in an about-face, Hosea was sent in pursuit of Gomer once again. And the irony is that Hosea had to buy back the woman that had been his wife and who had played the harlot and committed adultery. And he did, he bought her back, representing the lengths God was willing to go to in order to be reunited with those He loves. So, the portrayal of God’s love is potent in the book of Hosea because it’s a picture of His love for each of us individually and it forces us to look at the ways that we continue to betray the lover of our soul and it forces us to see the impact that this has because so often we’re moving through life as if whatever we do has no impact on God, but the book of Hosea shows us otherwise. And most of us, you know, you live long enough, and you experience a broken heart at some point or other in your life, usually. Abs, so, most of us have probably experienced what it’s like to have you heart broken or to have like a sense of betrayal. And the book of Hosea provides us with a good picture of what that looks like through God’s eyes. And, so, we begin. We’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. Hosea chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 5.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the promise that the person who has the son is the person who has eternal life because eternal life is found in the son. And, so, Jesus, we thank you that this is something that we have already begun to participate in. Like, so often we are thinking that our eternal life is something that begins after we die. And yet we are alive and we will not die because you have come for us, which means that our eternal life has begun and we are living within it now. And this promise found in this little letter of first John is a game changer and should alter our perspective and give us such a wide view of what we are participating in as we move through life here on earth in collaboration with you. So, come Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, this is Your promise. Show us the narrow path that leads to life and may we follow you all the days of our lives, which is forever. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And it’s hard to miss that it’s Christmas time. And, so, that means it’s Christmas time around here too and so are Christmas traditions. They come out as we decorate, you know, we have our traditions here around the global campfire.

One of those traditions is the announcement of the More Gathering for women because we believe, and not only do we believe, we have heard that the More Gathering given as a gift has been one of the most profound gifts ever received by many. And we know why, because we see it every year. So, the More Gathering early registration is open now. And, yeah, this is a fantastic thing to sew into the life of your wife or your mother or your sister or your sisters or your best friend. Just come and bring them along and in enjoy, not only the beauty of being on the mountaintop there in North Georgia, but also the mountaintop experience that it is with God and the reset that it that it becomes in life. So, I registration is open and available. You find out all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or you can visit moregathering.com. That’ll take you to the same place.

Also, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018, and those are flyin’ out the door, is available. We have packed it chock-full of resources, things that you will want for yourself, things that you will want to give away, all of them worthy gifts that can be life-changing resources. So, the Promise Land DVD set, just a virtual tour of the land of the Bible where you can see and allow the geography of the places where the stories that we’ve spent so much time in the Scriptures actually happened. And then there are three books included in the boxes here. Two are mine, Sneezing Jesus and Reframe and then the third is for my friend Robert, who was written what I believe to be the most impactful book on the solo parenting journey on just being a single parent. And it pours into the life of that unique experience in way that it is so needed right now. So, you may be a single parent and you may need this, but whether you are or not, I seriously doubt that you have someone in your life that could. That’s in there. And then you’ll have your choice of our Windfarm fresh roasted coffee at altitude in the Rocky Mountains. I mean, what gets more Christmasy than that? Or our boutique tea. This year its honey motion rooibos that we’re putting in the box. It’s delicious. I drink it often. And, you know, I’m kind of partial to coffee, but tea is something that, especially in the cold weather, it’s something that’s in my life most every day. And, so, I drink…I mean…Windfarm brand is our brand and it represents exactly what we do as community – call to the four winds the breath of life. And we are a praying community. And that’s what we’re building, a spiritual windfarm that calls life into the world every day. And, so, yeah, your choice of our Windfarm coffee or our Windfarm tea is in the box this year. And 20 of our Christmas cards for this year that say “Hope” on them. There beautiful. You can see them at dailyaudiobible.com along with their matching envelopes. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb is in there and a Black Wing pencil.

And I need to say, yes, definitely order your Christmas boxes, but also check out the Lifestyle section at dailyaudiobible.com for all of our…I mean…our writing kits are fantastic gifts because it’s the best of the best. I mean we went to painstaking troubled to create the journal. We went to painstaking trouble to find the right paper and the right writing instruments and it's…yeah…just check it out at dailyaudiobible.com in the Lifestyle section.

Okay. If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. I thank you profoundly for those of you who’ve clicked 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 the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey family, this is Judy in Salt Lake. I’m calling for Sharon. Sharon, I heard your call. Steve and I have been praying for you nonstop. I can’t even begin to imagine the heartache and suffering that you’re going through, but I want to pray for you now. Father in heaven, first I ask You to forgive for my sins, that You hear my prayer. Father, I hold up Sharon to You. I hold up her entire family but mostly her right now. Lord, wrap Your arms around her. Don’t let her go. Let her know that You are there for her no matter what. Don’t let her second-guess herself. Father, we know that You only hold us accountable for what we know. We don’t know what her daughter knew or didn’t know but we do know that she was suffering, or she wouldn’t have done what she did. Father, don’t hold it against her. Don’t hold it to her charge. Whatever it is I ask forgiveness for her, that she can meet her mom someday in the kingdom. Father, please bless the family. It’s such a tragedy, a loss of a child. And a loss of any life is tragic but when it’s Your child Lord. You know, You watched Your own child die on the cross. Father, please, please comfort Sharon in her distress, in her anguish. Father, all of our hearts go out to her.

Hi, this is Victoria Soldier, just calling and wanted to pray for one of the DABbers and some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for this beautiful mother who lost her baby who committed suicide. I wanted to…she said her name was Sharon and was victorious and she didn’t feel like she was victorious any longer. Lord, You touch my sister. You touch her in a mightily in special way. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus You help her to be victorious Lord. Oh Lord You speak to her and let her know that her baby is fine, that her baby made her peace with You Lord. Oh Lord she need You Lord. She needs You. She lost this beautiful baby that You entrusted her with. And Lord, let her not feel the guilt of the depression or whatever that the Young woman goes going through Lord. It’s just sin that hangs around and tries to take over our lives, but Lord I pray the victory in that Young girl’s life, that she reaches heaven, that her mom would get to be with her again. Lord, touch that mom and that family Lord of that Young girl Lord. In the name of Jesus touch her Lord, touch that mom to hold on Lord. Touch that mom and that family to hold on in the name of Jesus. Lord, You have Your way. Lord we pray for this nation and we pray for our Young people who are going through things and are going through depression Lord. We ask that You be with them Lord. We ask that You be with them every step of the way and help us to be there with them in the name of Jesus. And Lord we ask You that You have Your way in that woman’s life. You strength her Lord and You give her some peace Father in the name of Jesus. And Lord I would be ever so careful to give Your name the glory and the honor and the praise. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Have a good day DABbers. I just wanted to say hi to Brian and Jill and…

Hi, my name is Eva Armstrong, I’m calling from Pennsylvania. I’m calling for Sharon victorious in Northern California. Your call just struck my heart about losing your daughter because Sharon, I lost my son. It’s been 20 years ago but he’s my firstborn son. So, I know where you’re coming from. I wanted to tell you that you can still be victorious. Don’t give up the name because that’s what God says you are. I know I felt like Satan had left me bleeding on my doorstep after my son died of his own doing. It was probably accidental, but it was one of those things teenagers do. Anyway, you are victorious. You are much loved, and I want you to know that I’m going to be praying for you and please, go easy on yourself. Don’t take on too many extra tasks. Don’t punish yourself for things you didn’t say or do. Take every little bit of encouragement that people give you, every scripture, every song. If you can, maybe write them down. God will bring something good out of it. Let’s just go to the Lord for a minute. Heavenly Father, I pray that You would put Your arms around Sharon, that You would comfort her, that You would guide her step-by-step. when she’s too weak to walk Lord pick her up and carry her because this is a very difficult time. And You know what it was like to be wounded Lord. We just put ourselves in Your arms and Your hands. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Karen, if you can I am ema94rn@gmail.com. I’d be happy to share with you some more. Bye.

Hi everyone, it Sharon in St. Louis. Sharon the Victorious one and you are still victorious because your victory is in Jesus. Your call yesterday, oh gosh, I cried and sister I am grieving with you and I can’t even imagine, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through sister. And I pray for salvation is mine. It’s so good to hear from you. Father God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus who’s interceding for us right now, for You right now, I just pray that You would show up, that You would come quickly Lord in a miraculous way Father God to minister to Sharon’s heart, to minister to salvation is mine’s heart, to minister to those hearts of all those in the DAB family that are hurting. And I pray Lord that You would rule Your people to be around them and about them. Lord, that You would show up in such a supernatural way that they would just know, that You would encourage their hearts Lord, that You love them because You do love them in spite of these horrible things that happen, that You are a good good Father. So, I just pray that You would come quickly Lord Jesus. I pray for this pain to be lifted from salvation is mine. I pray that You would direct her to a good doctor. And I pray for this little __ Father, that You would make Sharon’s grand-daughter or grandson just resilient in this Lord. And we thank You Father God. We thank You Lord that You are Lord of all, that our hope is in You. In Jesus’ name.

Daniel 11:36-12:13, 1 John 4:1-21, Psalms 123:1-4, Proverbs 29:2-4

Today is the 4^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we come around the global campfire. And if you’re in the northern hemisphere, the campfire sounds pretty good to keep us warm now that it’s getting cold. But those of you in the southern hemisphere even though it’s nice and warm a campfire’s always a good thing. So, let’s dive in and take the next step forward. We’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. Daniel chapter 11 verse 36 through 12 verse 13.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we had a small conversation yesterday about the love of God and our role in that love and we continued with that theme today as we reached the climax of John’s first letter and implications are pretty far-reaching because they reveal the role that we each have to play in making God’s love known. So, this is basically the theme that we’ve been talking about in the letter of first John. So, that’s the context, but inside that context, we encountered a couple of very famous passages of Scripture. And, so, let’s look at them in their context because John was trying to lay groundwork and he was trying to tell his readers to be a people of discernment first so that the implications of God’s love could explode into vivid color. So, as we’ve been moving our way through first John it’s become apparent that many were being deceived and abandoning faith in Christ and some began to follow new teachings, while others, they didn’t start following like, yeah know, some sort of side bunny trail theologically, they became antagonistic, and even anti-Christ. One of these teachings that we’re going around and deceiving people claimed that Jesus was a spiritual apparition, kind of like a ghost that you can see, rather than a flesh and blood human being, which means that the question was ultimately whether or not Jesus was the divine made visible or whether He was the divine made flesh. And, so, this teaching would later be called Docetism and John addressed this issue specifically in discerning the spirit of God. And this was an important thing - to discern the spirit of God in order to reveal the implications of God’s love. So, here’s how John said it, “this is how you can recognize God’s Spirit. Every person who declares that Jesus Christ has come as a human as the Spirit that is from God, but every person who doesn’t declare that Jesus Christ is come as a human has a Spirit that isn’t from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that you have heard is coming. That spirit is already in the world.” So, we might wonder, like, why is it so important for John to clarify Jesus humanity, and what that has to do with God’s love. But we’ll see this as it all comes together. According John, the people who abandoned what they’d first been taught in favor of a false teaching, they didn’t have God’s Spirit. Instead they were embracing the antichrist spirit. And in that context John said something that became very famous, that became first John 4:4, “dear children, you belong to God so, you have won the victory over these people because the one is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” So, basically in the context, John is telling his readers that the Spirit of God isn’t this distant, veiled, ghostly, esoteric thing as some of the false teachings were suggesting. Instead the Spirit of God resides within those who believe and is greater than any deception from the world. So, I mean, if we just want to go theological we could say, okay, there we go, John has made his theological point clear, but his point was like a lot more, a lot deeper than theology. John wanted his readers to comprehend the reality, and even as I say this, like, I’m wanting us to comprehend this same reality because it’s mind blowing. So, the reality John wanted his readers to understand was that the Spirit of God was within them. In other words, because of Jesus, the human and the divine could be in collaboration, intertwined like Jesus was. And what would be the evidence of that? What is it that will be the evidence that the Spirit of God is within each and every one of us, living within us and we are living within him? Love. Here’s how John said it, “Friends we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love. God has shown us His love by sending His only son into the world so that we could have life through Him. This is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His son to be the payment for our sins. Dear friends, if this is the way God loves us, we must also love each other. No one has ever seen God. If we love each other. God lives in us and His love is perfected in us.” So, this is the point where the implications of John’s message that we’ve been leaning toward since the beginning of the letter begin to have the impact that was desired. We’re being told that Jesus was the physical human embodiment of God’s love for us, right? Let that sink in for a second. Jesus was the physical human embodiment of God’s love for us, a love we could see in action. It wasn’t demonstrated by a ghost or an apparition. It was offered by God in the flesh. He came in person to make this so. And when we love each other, we’re making the same love visible in the flesh, our flesh, just like Jesus did, Christ-like. Here’s how John said it, “We have known and believed that God loves us. God is love. Those who live in God’s love live in God and God lives in them. God’s love has reached its goal in us. So, we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world we are exactly like him with regard to love. No fear exists where His love is. Rather perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love.” So, again that’s a very famous passage of Scripture and it’s been quoted, you know, for a long, long time, but in its context we’re starting to see that this is, like, colossal, what John is saying. So, he tells we can’t see God but we can see each other. And when we live within the reality that the Spirit of God lives within us, we begin to understand that being the body of Christ is not a metaphor, it’s a reality. We can physically bring the love of God to the world just like Jesus did, right? Again, Christ-like. I mean to be Christ-like means to be like Christ. And, so, we’re supposed to be moving in that direction because it’s the same Spirit. It’s the same Spirit animating and guiding our lives. It’s the Spirit of God. And God’s love is made perfect in us as we open ourselves to not become a stagnant pond like we were talking about yesterday, as we become a reservoir, an oasis. And as we do that our love is perfected, and perfect love casts out all fear. So, we talked about love a lot when we were in Paul’s writings, right? So, we’ll remember, like, first Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter, giving us such a beautiful description of what love is. But if there were ever a case to be made about why we must live in love, it’s here in the chapter of 1st John. When we love we’re are assured of God’s Spirit within us. It’s the evidence. And when we love we’re physically demonstrating God’s love. Like, it’s reflecting it, we’re being that oasis, it’s flowing through us to the world. And while this is going on we’re being perfected. And when we love we’re being Christ-like. So, how we respond to this today, how we respond to this in the waning weeks of the year, that’s gonna have to be contextualized into our own stories, but it’s the same Spirit of God. And we can invite that Holy Spirit to lead us and heed what the apostle John said today, “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, because love comes from God.”

Prayer:

Father, the implications are truly astounding. All the sudden the purpose for our lives snaps into clear focus and all of the little circles that we keep making, they get blurry. We are here to be animated by your Spirit and to be like our Savior and to love the world like You do, to actually be Your physical hands and feet, a visual embodiment of your love. That changes everything. And, so, come Holy Spirit and begin to transform us from within. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com its home base, its the website, its where you learn and find out what’s going on in the global community of the Daily Audio Bible that we lovingly refer to as the global campfire. So, be sure to check it out.

It’s family Christmas time around here. And, so, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 is available and flying out the door and it’s chock full of goodies. We’ve packed as many resources as will fit in the Box to make them as available as we can. And, so, the Christmas Boxes your has the Promise Land to DVD set, which has over four hours of content, allowing you to see the land of the Bible, to allow the Bible to come alive, like, the stories that we’re so familiar with, to see where they happened and what that actually looks like. So, that’s in there. Two of my books, the two books that I’ve ever that I feel like are really about spiritual transformation. If you’re really wanting to understand what your faith is supposed to do in your life, rather than it being some kind of esoteric thing that is more about what happens after we die, th,en what happens while we’re here living on planet Earth. Yeah, then these…these are for you. My book, Reframe, and my latest, Sneezing Jesus, is in the Christmas Box as well as Going Solo a book written by my friend Robert. I actually wrote the forward to his book because I think the topic is so crucial right now. And it’s called Going Solo for a reason. It’s about the single-parent journey. And as I’ve said a few times when we’re talking about the Christmas Box, man, there are tens of thousands who are here in this community every day, who are Going Solo every day. But there’s probably no one in this community that doesn’t have someone in their lives who are Going Solo. And this is…this is the book for that person because it’s not trite, it’s not simplistic, it’s not pandering, it’s like…it’s like the friend you need who will speak to you honestly and pour into your life but not expect anything back from you. And that is rare. Not only is that rare in life, certainly rare in the solo parenting journey. So, we’ve included this resource because we want it out there. All of these, we want them out there helping people, ministering, explaining, pulling people forward because that’s what we’re here to do. Like, that’s why this community exists, that’s why this rhythm of the Scriptures every day exists, and that’s why we’re so passionate about it. It’s pulling people forward into spiritual maturity. So, these resources are in the Christmas Box as well as the annual Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb that has the year on it, of course, and our word for the year, “Hope”. Then you also can choose from our DAB blend fresh roasted coffee at altitude in the Rocky Mountains and its being roasted fresh and sent to you. So, it’s as fresh a coffee as you’re gonna get anywhere. Or if you’re a tea drinker, you can choose. We have our honey bush and rooibos tea this year in the Box if you’re a tea drinker. And I love tea. I’m a tea drinker too and I’m a coffee snob and I love coffee. But I’m a tea drinker too. I drink tea most every day at some point. So, those are your choice…will be in the Box…as well as a pack of 20 of our Hope cards. The Christmas cards for this for this year have the word “Hope” on the front, which has been our word for the year. So, you get 20 of those along with their matching envelopes. And the Daily Audio Bible Black Wing addition, a Black Wing pencil, which is from all of our writing kits and stuff. And incidentally, check those out. Our Daily Audio Bible journals and the Black Wing pencils that I use every day to journal with. Every day of my life I’m writing with these. I fell in love with them a couple years ago when I discovered them, man, just late in my mom’s life. Really, she only had weeks. I didn’t know it, but she only had weeks with us. And it was Christmas time. It was really hard, really hard, really hard. And Jill and I were doing everything we could to try to have some sort of Christmas spirit. And we had just gone out to this gallery and we’re just looking around and I stumbled on these pencils. I’ve kind of had…I don’t want to say I’ve had love affair with them because, how do you do that with a pencil? But I’ve loved these pencils ever since and they’re my favorite thing to write with. Their just old-school, analog, you know, they’re just the best pencil you can. So, we have some fantastic writing kits, journaling kits in the Daily Audio Bible shop in the lifestyle section. Check those out. I love them, which is why we have them, but I think you’ll love them just as much as I do. So anyway, long story short we talked to black wing and they were willing to make us some pencils. They weren’t willing for us to sell them, but they were willing to make them and they’re embossed with Daily Audio Bible on them. And, so, we’ve included one in all of the Christmas Boxes this year. So, check that out. And we’re also throwing in a mystery item. So, in addition to everything that I just said, something else will be in the Box when it arrives. So, you can find out all of the details and order your Christmas Box at dailyaudiobbile.com in the Shop, in the Christmas section.

And don’t forget More Gathering registration, early registration for this upcoming More Gathering in April is open and filling as we speak. So, you find out more information about that in the initiatives section at dailyaudiobible.com or just go to moregathering.com. That’ll take you to the same place.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage and I thank you profoundly for those of you who have clicked that link. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t do this together. So, thank you. 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 comment there are a number of numbers that you can use. If you are in the Americas, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. If you are in the UK or Europe, 44-20-3608-8078 is the number. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world, 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

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

Daniel 9:1-11, 1 John 2:18-3:6, Psalms 121:1-8, Proverbs 28:27-28

Today is the 3rd day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today as we gather to take the next step forward on our adventure through the Scriptures. And the days are counting down as we move toward the end of this year. And so, we’ll take that next step forward. We’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. Daniel chapter 11 versus 2 through 35 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in our reading from first John today, we were greeted with quite the provocative question, and that question is, “suppose a person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need, how can God’s love be in that person if he doesn’t bother to help the other believer? So, a stark penetrating question right out of the gate. And as a rhetorical as John’s question is, trying to answer it only brings about like other questions. For example, does God bestow his love individually and bless each of us for our own benefit alone or does He love and bless us so that he can then love and bless through us? And, you know, that’s something to chew on for a minute, but Jesus was quoted in John’s gospel with these words, “your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” So, in trying to answer John’s question we start to see the same point James and Peter were making. We can’t claim faith that has no action behind it and we can’t claim to walk in God’s love. If we have no outflow of that love beyond ourselves. True faith and love compels us into action and John’s said as much. Here’s what he said from our reading today, “dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere not empty words. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be reassured in His presence.” So, in other words, we are assured that God’s love is in us, and that He is loving through us when we become willing to give that love away. And this starts to peel back the layers and it starts to expose the ways that we assume we are lacking because we hoard things, we hoard God’s blessings as if the supplies limited, which leads us to become self-absorbed and self-ish, right, which according to John reveals that God’s love…and this is hard right here…is absent. Whew! So, it’s like we need to take breaks along the way to catch our breath because this is really direct, this is pretty stark. So, let’s take a look at this a different way. We’ve been exploring the land of the Bible this entire year, right, as we’ve gone through the territory in the Scriptures. We’ve rooted ourselves geographically lots of times. And the Dead Sea is something that is all throughout the Bible and is a real place that we’ve encountered lots of times on a journey through the Scriptures. It’s the lowest point on earth. So, like, just for reference, the lowest point in the United States, which is the country that I live in, is in California in this desert called death…well it’s in the Mojave Desert I think…but it’s in this place called Death Valley. And it’s like 250 feet below sea level. So, like, the Dead Sea is like a thousand feet below sea level, more. So, water is continually flowing into the Dead Sea because it’s the lowest point, but water never flows back out of the Dead Sea because it’s the lowest point. And, so, because of this there’s no life, which is why it’s called the Dead Sea. Now, if we just go north a ways, following the Jordan River which terminates in the Dead Sea. If we just follow the Jordan River we will eventually run into the sea of Galilee, which is the next body of water to the north. In fact, it is the lowest lying freshwater lake in the entire world. And in spite of the billions of gallons of fresh water that flow out of the Sea of Galilee, it has not run dry for thousands of years. It has not become stagnant because new water is constantly flowing into it and then it flows out of it through its tributaries, mostly the Jordan River, which brings life all the way down the line. So we might be wondering, like, what does this got to do with what we’re talking about. John’s challenge was that we need to realize that there is no shortage of God’s love, but we will only ever experience that reality if our hearts are open and flowing with it rather than being closed off and at the lowest point and stagnant. So, this gives us a picture of reality, but it challenges us to examine ourselves. Are we living in lack because we are selfish? If so, then we’re becoming stagnant and just like the Dead Sea there’s no life to be found on that path. But if our hearts are open, then we will invariably be compelled to do more than just run our mouths, right, just lip service to things. We’ll be compelled to love, which will compel us into action. But if John is right, then we’ll be surprised to find that the more love that flows out of us the more we are filled again anew every day. And with God’s love there is no lack. So, that means that if we will give God’s love away, this is the only way we can ever remain full, like the Sea of Galilee, right. Billions of Galleon gallons of water flow into that lake from all of the surrounding mountainsides and it’s not empty, it’s full, even though those billions of gallons of water are flowing back out of it. It stays full. And there’s no lack of God’s love. And we can we can stay full. And He will give us whatever we ask, because whatever we ask is gonna be in alignment with His wishes. This is what John tells us today. So, in this season, like, this holiday season that’s upon us, let’s remember that the greatest gift we can possibly offer, that will be our open hearts. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in Scripture, God can do miraculous things through the open hearts of his children. There is there is no lack of God’s love for the world. It has not been depleted. And we are each invited to be an oasis that never runs dry reflecting the glory of the Lord upon the earth and sharing the love of God to all of God’s creatures upon the earth, especially those created in His image. So, let’s just not say Joy to the world. Let’s not just sing these songs. Joy to the world the Lord has come. Let’s let that sink in today and allow the love of God to begin flowing through us so that we will never be empty and stagnant.

Prayer:

Father, we invite you into that. Thank you for that. That just shakes us awake, reorients us to what’s going on here, explains so much of the lack within because we’re being self-ish when we should be an open, flowing oasis for all who are thirsty. Come Holy Spirit fill us anew. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on.

And it’s Christmas time, of course. And, so, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box, our annual tradition that contains the annual Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb and all kinds of resources that we pack in here and try to make them is economical and inexpensive as possible because we know there are things in there that you will want to keep for yourself and that there are things in there that you will want to give away. And we love that and we’re praying over those resources as they go in into the world. So, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box is available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop in the Christmas section.

Also, registration for More Gathering 2019, which will take place for the last time in the mountains of North Georgia about an hour outside of Atlanta, registration is available and open right now and you can find out all of the details dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or you can just go to moregathering.com and that will take you the same place. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it’s on the homepage. Thank you, thank you, 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 comment, 877 942 4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you. Today would have been my dad’s birthday, would have been his 74^th birthday. So, I’m thinking of him today. Make sure you make sure you go out and love someone that you love today, and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Daniel 9:1-11, 1 John 2:18-3:6, Psalms 121:1-8, Proverbs 28:27-28

Today is the 2^nd day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you. And here we are, a second day of the final month of the year and first day of the brand-new week. And obviously this will be our first full week in the month of December. However, today begins the season of Advent. Today is the first Sunday in Advent and if… I mean…obviously if you observe Advent then you already know that. If you don’t have it is the traditional season of contemplation and preparing our hearts for the Advent, which means arrival, the arrival of the Savior. So, it allows our hearts to enter into the story. And, of course, we’ll talk about that as we move further and further into the season, but today is the first Sunday in Advent. And, so, if you’re like, lighting Advent candles, you would light the first candle, the prophets candle, which represents our word for the year. Today is the first Sunday of Advent, which represents hope. So, let’s go into this season together, full of hope.

Song:

Hope Was Born This Night – Sidewalk Prophets

Tonight I can see a star shine

And its splendor fills up the sky

It’s the same that appeared

And the wisemen revered

When Hope was born this night

Out upon the snowy fields

There’s a silent peace that heals

And it echoes the grace

Of our Savior’s embrace

Because Hope was born this night

Glory to God in the highest

Peace on earth

Goodwill to men

Let all of the world

Sing the chorus of joy

Because Hope was born this night

I can hear the Christmas bells ringing

As softly a church choir sings

It’s the song used to praise

The ancient of days

When Hope was born this night

There are angels in this place

And my heart resounds in the praise

Like a shepherd so scared

I’ll rejoice and declare

That Hope was born this night

Glory to God in the highest

Peace on earth

Goodwill to men

Let all of the world

Sing the chorus of joy

Because Hope was born this night

Gloria

Gloria

Gloria

Gloria

Glory to God in the highest

Peace on earth

Goodwill to men

Let all of the world

Sing the chorus of joy

Because Hope was born this night

Because Hope was born this night

know hope was born this night

Because Christ was born this night

So, as we go into this first Sunday of advent and immerse ourselves fully in the season and in the brand-new month that we have, we’ll be the God’s Word Translation. And of course, is our constant tradition, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday and take the next step forward, which will lead us back into the book of Daniel. Today chapter 9 verse one through 11 verse one.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word and we certainly thank you for this brand-new month and the beginning of this season that we know of as Advent and we invite your Holy Spirit to allow us to contemplate, to allow some space in our lives even in all of the busyness that will only get worse and worse as we move forward, to simply slow down and actually give some thought and some heart space to what this season is all about. So many years ago now the people waited, they waited for Savior to come as was foretold and then you came. And we rejoice because you have come, but we find that we too are waiting, we are waiting for a return, your second Advent, your second arrival that we read about in Scripture. So in this season of Advent we embrace that longing that we are ultimately longing for all to be made whole, all to be restored and made right. This is our hope and obviously a central piece of that story was coming, your arrival. And, so, in this season, yes it’s festive, yes it’s joyous, but in this season we embrace the undercurrent, the longing, the joy, the deepest joy that you would not believe people abandoned, that you came to rescue us, So, come Holy Spirit and plant this deep in our lives as we move further into this season we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus. We ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com is home base, of course, its where you where you find out what’s going on around here.

It’s Christmas time, obviously, as we’re just moving into the Advent season. I love this…I love this season. I just I love the holiday season and the holiday spirit. So, in light of that the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 is available at dailyaudiobible.com in in the shop.

Also, early registration for the More Gathering for women coming up this April is available in the Initiatives section at dailyaudiobible.com or you can just go to moregathering.com. And, yeah, come and, yeah, bring your sisters with you, bring your mother, bring those who could use more in their lives, and who could use a breather in their lives to refocus and reconsider the trajectory of life. Yeah, bring them as well. So, you can find out all about that, all the details that you would want to know at moregathering.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in this season where we’re approaching the end of the year. Thank you, 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 mail 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 the number to dial.

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

Daniel 8:1-27, 1 John 2:1-17, Psalm 120:1-7, Proverbs 28:25-26

Today is the 1^st day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure, it is a joy, and a day of rejoicing that we’ve made it this far. So, we’re at the last day of a week, but the first day of a month, and it’s the first day of the month of the last month of the year. So, off we go friends. This is our final adventure for this year. The day that we conclude this month we will conclude this year and will conclude this revolution through the Bible. So, let’s dive in and take the next step forward. All this week we’ve been reading from the Contemporary English Version, which is what we’ll do today. Daniel chapter 8 verses 1 through 27 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in first John and in harmony with the letters from James and the letters from Peter, John taught that the evidence for a claim of faith is to be a transformed life otherwise it’s an untrue claim. And he said it like this, “but if we claim to know Him and don’t obey Him we are lying, and the truth is in our hearts. We truly love God only when we obey him as we should and then we know that we belong to Him. If we say we are His, we must follow the example of Christ.” So, as we can see, John doesn’t mince any words any more than Peter or James did about these kinds of subjects. And why would he? I mean, the fundamental goal of our faith is that we might live our lives as Jesus did, right? And becoming Christlike isn’t just something that we, like, that we say, like, we claim. It’s something that we have to become, which requires our participation and our collaboration with God. And this doesn’t just apply to our interaction with God, it touches all of the relationships of our lives, which is something that John pointed out. So, in his own words, “if we claim to be in the light and hate someone, we are still in the dark, but if we love others we are in the light and we don’t cause problems for them. If we hate others we are living and walking in the dark, we don’t know where were going because we can’t see in the dark.” So, I mean John’s point here as we begin this final month of the year is pretty clear and that point is, talk is cheap. We can claim whatever we want but if our words and our deeds are not in alignment with each other then we aren’t living truthfully. And, okay, that’s fair enough and penetrating. I mean, that’s a glass of cold ice water in the face. But why are we pulled toward what is false? According to John, the problem is that we’ve put our trust in the world. So, in John’s words, “don’t revolve the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world you cannot love the Father. Our foolish pride comes from this world and so do our selfish desires and our desire to have everything we see. None of this comes from the Father.” So, let’s be clear. When John spoke about the world he’s not referring to planet Earth. Instead, he’s describing the system that the world…basically the system that mankind has devised to navigate this world without God. So, if we’re gonna put our faith and our hope in a system that is designed to exalt man then we are trusting in the world and God is not in that. And this is why our sensual cravings for everything that we see and our pride in our accomplishments and our pride in our material possessions, this is why they can’t fill the void in our souls. Like, if we’re going to tether ourselves to this kind of existence, then according to John, we can’t make claims of faith that are true. And if that’s a not a stark enough awareness, John informed us that the world system that we may have put our trust in and that we may give our loyalty and allegiance to, its destined to fade away. So, we’ll take some time today here at the shiny threshold of a new month to examine ourselves by actually contrasting our claims with our actions, like getting observant and watching what it is that we say versus what it is that we do, that we’ll find that our deepest insecurity is tied to our attempts to make life work without God, right, the world’s system. And we’re looking to the world to give us meaning and purpose. And, so, we obviously react in pride and selfishness or we surround ourselves with stuff so that we can mask the emptiness. John challenged us to pull away from the fading world system and realize that we’ve been given so much more than the world could ever offer. We’ve been swept into the dance of eternal life. So, here we are, first day of the final month of the year. It’s a sprint to the end of the year and there’s a lot of territory to cover and not to mention the fact that is going to be a busy month. Let’s embrace what we’re talking about today. Our words and our deeds must be in alignment or our faith is false. That’s stark, but we are invited to pull away from the world system knowing that eternal life is ours. And if we will embrace this and choose to bring our claims and actions into alignment we will be walking on a narrow path that leads to life, even in the busy seasons of the year.

Prayer:

Father as we enter into this new month, we invite Your Holy Spirit into what we just talked about and every other moment, everything that’s going to happen by surprise, everything that’s going to happen by plan, every interaction, every conversation, every gift we’re gonna bye, we want You to be part of all of this. Come Holy Spirit. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com is the website, its home base of course, and it’s the home of the global campfire that continues to burn on day by day as we take steps forward.

And, so, and we’re taking steps forward into a brand-new month now, which, I guess, you know, I guess we can’t be more in the holiday season then we are and along with that always brings the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box and this year is no different. Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box is chock-full of resources, goodies in there that you will want to keep and goodies in there that you will want to give as gifts. And, so, you can check that out at dailyaudiobible.com. This is our opportunity to kind of bundle these resources together and offer them as inexpensively as we possibly can because we know, we pray over them, we know that they go into the world and do what they’re supposed to do and land in the lives that they’re supposed to land in. So you can find that at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop in the Christmas section.

So, the Christmas Box is in there along with the Daily audio Bible Christmas cards for 2018. And they are imprinted with “Hope” on the front of them, the word for the year. And they are beautiful and beautiful to give away. And there’s nothing gaudy about them, like, they’re not Daily Audio Bible advertisements, they’re just Christmas cards, but a great opportunity for you to invite those that you love, those you care about to take the journey through the Scriptures with you in the coming year.

Also, the Family Christmas project, the musical project that we released, which is very contemplative and beautiful. It’s like the perfect holiday companion to, you know, to the evening, like, after a long day and you’ve got the Christmas lights on and maybe there’s a fire going or all the other lights are out, maybe some hot cocoa or whatever and you’re just kind of breathing in the season, just meditating on that. The Family Christmas a project is the perfect companion for that kind of environment. So, check that out dailyaudiobible.com as well. You can order a physical CD, physical copy. Of course, you can get this music on Spotify or Apple music or iTunes as well if you are streamer or a downloader. Just look up my name, Brian Hardin and Family Christmas and you’ll find it.

Also, the More Gathering for women, early registration is open now and now we are beyond excited about what God will do in the mountains of Georgia this coming April. And, yeah, pray about it. If you’re supposed to be there then register and come. If you’re supposed to be there and bring someone, then maybe this is this the Christmas gift that they will never forget, the most unique gift that they ever got, something that they anticipated and then something that delivered and lasted the whole year. That’s what happens at More. So, check that out as well at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or you can just go to moregathering.com for more information, all the information that you would want to know about the gathering is there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. I thank you in this season as we approach the end of the year for your partnership. I thank you profoundly. The global campfire doesn’t burn if we don’t add logs on it together. And, so, thank. So, there’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner 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 the number to dial.

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

Daniel 7:1-28, 1 John 1:1-10, Psalms 119:153-176, Proverbs 28:23-24

Today is the 30^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a great to be here with you today on this very special day because it’s the last day of the 11^th month of the year, which makes this the 334^th day that we’ve been taking steps forward each and every day to get this point in the year and in the Scriptures. So, well done. So, as we end this 11^th month of the year we will also be beginning a new letter in the New Testament when we get there. And this one is called first John. And we’ll talk about that in a little bit, but first we have some territory to cover in the Old Testament and that will take us back into the book of Daniel. Today, chapter 7 verse 1 verses 1 through 28. And we’re reading from the contemporary English version this week.

Commentary:

Alright. As I mentioned at the beginning as we enter into our New Testament reading we’re beginning a new letter and it’s known as first John. So, this reunites us with the familiar voice, an old friend, as we prepare to read the first of three letters that are attributed to the apostle John. Ironically, this letter, it does not specifically specify that it’s from John or from anyone for that matter and it doesn’t specify who it’s addressed to. So, we could conclude that the letter is anonymous, like the book of Hebrews but church fathers it in the mid-second century, so just 50 years after this letter was written, attributed the letter to John the evangelist. And, for that matter, neither the letter nor its authorship were disputed when the New Testament was canonized. Only in more recent times have biblical scholars began to ask questions of style, like between the gospel of John and the epistles of John. So, part of the reason from maybe not addressing the letter to a specific group of people may have been that it was supposed to be circulated throughout many churches. And it’s possible that the initial readers were familiar enough with John that he didn’t need introduce himself for letter, like, they already knew who he was. And it’s also possible that whoever the original recipients of the letter were that they weren’t identified in order protect them. Like, if this letter got…was being circulated and it fell into the wrong hands and could cause potential persecution. So, this letter first John, was probably written from Ephesus, probably written very late in the apostle John’s life. Most scholars date the letter somewhere between like the mid-90s AD and the early 100s. And John was largely writing for one purpose in this letter. There is like pretty much one reason and it’s false teaching. Some of the earliest forms of Gnostic thought, and you’ve probably heard of Gnosticism at some point in your life, but some the earliest forms of Gnostic thought had begun to make their way into the conversation, especially the early docetic view. And that was the view that Jesus wasn’t actually a human being. He just…He appeared to be one but He wasn’t. And, so, this is one of the false teachings that John is combating. Also, there was a view of a man named Cerinthus and he taught that the divine Christ united with the physical Jesus at his baptism. In other words, He was like a normal, you know, just a standard human being up until His baptism, but then, at His baptism, the divine Spirit of God entered and made Jesus a divine being. But then that divine Spirit left Jesus on the cross. Like, you know, my God, why have you forsaken me. This is an indication that this divine spirit is leaving Jesus and then his body dies. That was what Cerinthus was teaching. So, John obviously wanted to combat what he knew to be false, but he had a unique, like, position in all of this. He had an authority that, like, nobody else had. He had been there. He was a part of Jesus inner circle and he’d been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. So, he could talk into, you know, speak into these issues and dispel falsehoods because he was an eyewitness account. And that’s exactly what he did in first John. But beyond just, you know, coming against false teaching, the letter offers plenty of contrasts that are intended to test the postures of our hearts even as they encourage us forward in the assurance of our salvation. And, so, with all of that being said, we begin. First John chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for Your faithfulness and Your kindness and Your mercy over our lives throughout this entire month that we bring to a close today. In fact father, as we look back, we can look back 11 months to the beginning of this year and see how You have slowly and truly and methodically shifted our perspective on so many things through Your word. And, so we are eternally grateful. And Father, as we release this the 11^th, month and prepare our hearts to move into the 12^th and final month of the year we say, Holy Spirit, come, lead us into all truth we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s happening around here.

It’s a Daily Audio Bible family Christmas time. And, so, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 packed all the way full with goodies, some that you’ll want to keep for yourself, some that you will want to give away as Christmas gifts. It’s just an annual tradition. We pack it full of resources knowing that those resources will go in to the world and we pray over them and God to make them fruitful in people’s lives. And, so, there’s lots of goodies in the Christmas Box. You can find that all at dailyaudiobible.com in the shop in the Christmas section.

And then we’ve also announced to the upcoming More Gathering for women, which is going to take place this April. And it makes a truly life changing gift that keeps on giving because tools for transformation and the continual growth of the heart are imparted at the more gathering. And, so, it’s a life changing thing for sure. And, so, our registration is open now and, yeah, that’s kinda filling up, especially, you know, that we have a select amount of private rooms and just the way that it’s all set up. And, so, those go first, and those go fast and that’s what’s happening. So, certainly do check in. You can find out about the More Gathering at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or you can just go to moregathering.com. And it’s gonna be just fantastic because it is the close of a chapter with the More Gathering. It’ll be the last time we do this in the mountains of North Georgia. And, so, come, experience where it all began and yeah, well, I have yet to meet someone who’s like, oh I wish I didn’t go. Only heard stories of transformation. So, check it out at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. Thank you, thank you 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 comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning fellow DABbers, I’m a Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of Our God and King. Today’s November 26^th. Praise God for another year coming to a close. I’m listening to the reading today I didn’t even finish the New Testament reading but I just had a call and share my thoughts. I’ve listened to tis several times. I think I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for over…it’s like 10 years or so…and it was the first time that it really hit me when Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego said, you know, our God will save us, but even if he doesn’t, we’re not going to worship your God. And that really hit me - the whole, even if he doesn’t part. As a child of God, that is so difficult and hard to say but, to me, that was some Job faith to exercise this. And I started to ask myself, how hard would it have been to make that decision, to even say that? You know, a lot of times I’m reading that and thinking, oh, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego were the first to ever be thrown into a furnace, but I doubt it. Sounds like probably something that has happened before, and it makes me it even more difficult to say that because you know that other people have thrown into that furnace and they’ve died. And, so, I’m sitting here looking at my life and looking at the challenges that we face, whether it’s our health or a deceased loved one or a child struggling with addiction or a marriage or work or finances or just our sanity, peace. And looking around the world and knowing that there are people who have not been visibly saved from these things. But able to say to God, God I trust you. And even if you don’t bring me through God I know you’ve got my best interest at heart. It is powerful. I love you guys. I’m out of time. I hope this blesses you as well.

Hi, this is Sharon. I call myself the victorious. I’m not victorious anymore from Northern California. My daughter committed suicide on Friday. Her son’s birthday’s today he was turning six. I’m so lost. I’m so empty. I need prayer…please. I need prayer for my whole family and for my daughter…my daughter Michelle. My angel __. I don’t know how I’m gonna deal with this, honestly. I haven’t been able to listen to the Bible for 2 days, since Friday. I am so overwhelmed, so broken hearted. Please pray for this family and my daughter that she goes to heaven. Thank you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, Michael from Mesa. Today is Tuesday. Calling in just for, I guess, a quick check in. Lot’s going on in my life. For those of you that are praying for me for clients, continue to do so. I think I may have the first one on the horizon, but I’ll need more than one to keep me going. So, continue prayer for that. Update on the house. We’ve got people coming in to help us understand what kind of smell we’ve got going on in the house. We’re pretty sure that we’ve bought into a house where they were smokers and painted over the walls and stuff. They did it during sales time and we didn’t check for that. So, we’re not really sure what we’re gonna do from here but prayer for wisdom and understanding and God’s blessing on whatever…whatever we pursue next. __ ‘s coming. So, just prayers for everyone out there in terms of keeping the focus on Christ, where it belongs and not the busyness that keeps us going. I pray also that we’re all able to continue to endure what the Lord puts in front of us for challenges. And just need prayer for that certainly for myself. I’ve got even my kids making posters of the word endurance, sticking it up around the house, just to keep us focusing on that. Anyway, love you all very much. Michael from Mesa.

Hey everybody, this is Pelham from Alabama. I’m calling today because of Keira from Denver. You called in about your son whose middle name is Yeshua, which is an awesome middle name. And boy, you got my attention with that. But then your call led on into some brutal honesty from you and you reached out to the community. And today when I woke up my Father told me today is an armor day. Where learning about armoring up guys. This is something I’ve been doing for years now and I had a friend say, hey, would you go into battle naked? I didn’t have to think long about that question. And that’s when I learned about applying the spiritual armor of God on a daily basis in the morning because we’re under attack. You have rights to pray for your family. You have spiritual dominion over your children and over your spouse. You can pray for your husband, you can pray for your child, your son, your daughter. So, we’ll do it right now together. In the name of the Father, the Son the, and the Holy Spirit, we put on the full armor of God because we will stand strong in the power of the Lord and His might. The battles we wage are not against flesh and blood they’re against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. Because of this we put on the full armor of God so that we can stand in this evil day and having done all stand, we put on the helmet of salvation on our heads, the breastplate of righteousness on our chest. We guard up our loins with the belt of the truth. We apply the shoes of the gospel of peace, the readiness of the truth, the word of God. What’s really going on is what we know, so we move in peace in this world. We took on the shield of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming darts of the enemy. And we also take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. It’s been with us from the beginning. It will be with us forever. It’s the most powerful thing in existence and it’s ours to fight. By the blood of the Lamb of the word of our testimonies, the enemy is defeated. I love you guys. Armor up.

Daniel 6:1-28, 2 Peter 3:1-18, Psalms 119:129-152, Proverbs 28:21-22

Today is the 29^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s always a pleasure, it’s always an honor to be here with you today. And we’ll take the next step forward, which is what we do every day as we move through the Scriptures in a year. So, we’ve been working our way through the book of Daniel. And, of course, we’ll continue to work our way through Daniel as long as there’s still territory to work through. And in this case, there still is territory. So, we’ll go back out to the book of Daniel. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Daniel chapter 6 verses 1 through 28 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we finished second Peter today. And in concluding 2 Peter we brushed up against the apocalyptic worldview of the first century of the time. And we’ve talked about this before but if we reduce…if we reduce the concept to its essentials, then this is the view that would claim that the world as it was known was something that was changing, a new era was dawning and that this change would eventually bring about tremendous unrest and hardship and challenge, but in the midst of it rescue would come and something new would be born. So, if that sounds familiar it’s because we also share this apocalyptic worldview. I mean, this belief was interwoven within the culture that Jesus lived in and it was the kind of language that He used when He was teaching the immediacy of God’s kingdom. So, like, you now, zoom forward until today and as modern Christians we know like a couple of thousand years have passed since the time of Jesus. And, so, we accept because there’s like no choice that the time of the apocalypse is unknown, although plenty of people have spent their entire lives trying to make these kinds of predictions But even though the time isn’t known the conviction that we are moving forward to an ultimate destiny, that remains and it leads each generation to consider, you know, like the direction that the world is headed in, in light of apocalyptic teachings. So, what does this have to do the conclusion of second Peter? It matters because we get some really good insight into what was going on in the early church. So, even though we generally share an apocalyptic worldview in terms of ultimate destiny, the people that Peter was writing to in the first century, they weren’t looking to the distant future. They thought that the return of Jesus was something that was imminent. So, in the decades that followed Jesus life it was taught that Christ would soon return. Like, we still teach that. We still believe that, but for them this was an immediate thing. Christ would soon return and He would reveal himself and the kingdom of God would be ushered in and ultimately would reveal a new heaven and a new earth. And like I just said,  since this is a pervasive theme throughout the New Testament we also find ourselves awaiting the same thing. It’s our apocalyptic worldview. Unfortunately, by the time Peter wrote this letter years had passed and what was thought to be imminent didn’t happen, not the way that they thought. Jesus didn’t return imminently. And, so, this left a problem that needed needed clarification. And Peter acknowledged the issue. That’s why we’re talking about this as we close the letter of second Peter. Peter acknowledged the issue at and he spoke to the issue as he brought the letter to a close. So now that we have some context and some background let’s, like, let’s listen to Peter. Here’s what he has to say about what we’re talking about. “You must first realize that in the last days some people won’t think about anything except their own selfish desires. They will make fun of you and say didn’t your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have already died, and the world hasn’t changed a bit. Dear friends, don’t forget that for the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years and a thousand years is the same as one day. The Lord isn’t slow about keeping His promises as some people think He is. In fact, God is patient because He wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.” Right? So, the situation was that people were…had put their faith in Jesus thinking that they were…I mean…I don’t want to be too crass…but like signing up for, you know, for a safe passage to the end of the world. Like, this Jesus had been raised from the dead and they believed that, and they believe that he was eminently going to show up and establish His kingdom upon the earth. As I mentioned, like, we are expecting the same thing but since they were expecting it eminently…like any second. And I know this gets a little convoluted because we are expecting this to happen at any second and are always supposed to be prepared. We just simply have the knowledge that it’s been 2000 years. And, so, we have begun the rest on the fact that God will bring this to pass. That is where our faith lies but he will bring it to pass at the moment of His choosing. The brothers and sisters in the first century didn’t have the benefit of a couple of thousand years of church history to prepare for this. So, they’re expecting this to happen any second and years go by and then persecution begins and marginalization begins and everybody’s starting to wonder, what’s going on. So, Peter explains that the Father doesn’t want to lose anyone and He’s entrusted us to reveal the good news. So, when we live by faith and endure the resistance we’re collaborating with God and His redemptive work in the world. And, so, we endure for the sake of the world, on behalf of the world. We wait patiently shining the light into the darkness. So, here’s what Peter says to encourage the brothers and sisters. “God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth where justice will rule and we’re looking forward to that. But while you’re waiting, you should make certain that the Lord find you pure, spotless and living at peace. Don’t forget that the Lord is patient because He wants people to be to be saved. So, as we leave…as we leave Peter’s voice behind for this year in the Scriptures, as we conclude this final writing of his life we can carry this along with us. The next time we find ourselves, you know, like stewing with impatience, let’s remember God’s patience because had the people in the first century, our early brothers and sisters, had they got what they wanted, had Jesus returned imminently and set up His kingdom on the on the earth, we would not be here probably, right? We would have never known God. The story would’ve been a completely different one. Maybe that doesn’t include us. His patients allowed us to know Him. And this should humble us, right, and give us a reason to endure because our endurance reveals God’s patience and God’s patience gives opportunity for those who have not heard the good news to enter into eternal life.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your patience. And, you know, it can hit us like a ton of bricks, that had you not been patient we would not be here. And, so, your continued patience lets us look forward in into future generations and have hope for them as we continue to move forward, advancing the gospel, and reflecting your glory upon this earth. So, come Holy Spirit, into the places that we’ve been incredibly impatience in the short term or in the long term. Help us to rest in you. You have invited us to be a part of this story and our endurance and our patients certainly works strengthening and character building in our lives but it’s not purposeless. We are being patient because you are being patient and you are being patient because you don’t want to lose anyone. And, so, Father, give us that that heart. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And there’s a few things going on around here. Yesterday Jill came on and announced More Gathering 2019. And we are incredibly excited about this year’s More Gathering. This will take place in April in the mountains of North Georgia about an hour outside of Atlanta. And we have been we’ve been doing the More Gathering in that location since it was the More Gathering. And, so, on one hand we’re tremendously excited and on another hand, it’s kind of a little bit of a bittersweet thing that we’re looking forward to because this this be the last More Gathering in the mountains of North Georgia. And honestly, we don’t know exactly what’s next. Just know that the Lord has instructed us to do this, to bring this era, this season to a close. A new season is coming. So, even as I say that, just in my own heart, it’s a little bit of bittersweet thing because we built something there and thousands of women have come over the years and I can see the transformation, like as I just think of it in my mind, I can see what happens at the More Gathering every single time. And, you know, when you compound that over the course of many years, then it becomes quite a great cloud of witnesses. And, so, this More Gathering is a celebration of all of that that has represented. And if you’ve never been able to come to a More Gathering then this is this is your chance. Registration is open now and we open registration at this time of the year because it really does, it really does make a very unique and very impactful gift to give to a sister or a spouse, a girlfriend, a mother. It’s the gift of freedom. It’s the gift of more. It’s the gift of a new way of being in the world and looking at why you’re here and what you’re doing. And, so, so, yeah, that’s coming up and registration is open now at dailyaudiobible.com or you can go to moregathering.com which will get you to the same place and we’ll look forward to seeing you in April.

Of course, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 is also available now, chock full of goodies. The Promise Land Essential Pilgrims edition, double DVD set is in the Box. Four hours…actually over four hours of content just allowing you to see so many of the places where the Bible actually happened, where all of the things that we’ve read and all of the people that we’ve met, where they lived and where these events took place. Then there’s a couple of my books, Reframe and Sneezing Jesus, as well as Going Solo, a book written by my friend Roberts about the solo parenting life that so many so many within this community and so many within your sphere of influence are living right now. And, so, if you’ve ever wanted to understand what someone going through single parenting is going through than this is a good read. If you are a solo parent, then this is a best friend. And, so, that’s included in the Box as well as the Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb for 2018 with the word “Hope” imprinted on it. And it’s hanging on my tree and I hope it can be hanging on yours. I have all the years that we’ve done the Christmas bulb hanging on my tree and I look at it every day and it reminds me of all of the revolutions around the sun that we’ve taken reading the Bible every day in community. But those bulbs, they represent this community. And, so, I think…I just look at those and think, this represents…this represents the global campfire. This is us and this is us over the years. So, that’s in the Christmas Box. Your choice of our Windfarm coffee or tea. Roasting the coffee every day now to keep up. And it’ll be arriving fresh and ready for the holiday season for you to drink and enjoy. Or if you are a tea drinker, believe it or not, I’m a coffee snob, but I’m a tea drinker too. And, so, we have our Honey Bush and rooibos tea, if that’s your selection for this year. And also, the Christmas Cards, the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards that have “Hope”, which is our word for the year, imprinted on the front. They’re beautiful. You can see all of that at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop and get your Christmas Box while we have them. And we’re also inserting a mystery…a mystery item while supplies last. We have a few resources that we didn’t have enough to give…to put all into…to put in every Box. And, so, we kind of split it up and said, yeah, let’s get these resources in the hands of everyone. So, something else besides what I just said will also be in the Box and we love it. So, we love doing this. We love getting these resources into your hands. We love hearing the stories of what you kept for yourself and what you gave away and what happened because of that. Man and we’ve for so many stories over the years. And, so, we love making these resources available in the Christmas Box. So, check that out, it’s Christmas time.

The international shipping date actually was yesterday, the cutoff date. You can still order if you’re outside of the United States and we will certainly ship immediately. And I wouldn’t wait. Like, if you’re trying to get this for Christmas because yesterday was kind of the day we thought was safe. We will ship and shop, but I wouldn’t wait. If you are inside of the United States, we still have just a little more time because we’ll be shipping domestically and that will be no problem. But I wouldn’t wait because they’re going. And we always make these Christmas Boxes…well…we make them so that there will be things in there that you’ll want to keep, and that there will be things in there that, you know, that you’ll want to give away. And, so, check that out dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the final push of the year, thank you. Thank you profoundly, thank you humbly. As you partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you’re throwing a log on the global campfire, and that is how it is that we all get to show up every day and know that the spoken word of God will be there waiting and that we can immerse ourselves in the rhythm of putting the word of God in our lives every day. And if you’ve spent the year doing that then you understand why that's…why that matters. Because it’s hard to put into words, right? I mean you just start changing from the inside out and then you realize, my whole life was backwards. I’ve been living outside in and the whole thing was always from within, where the Holy Spirit dwells inside of me, leading and guiding me from within, so that my exterior decisions and thoughts and words and deeds are in alignment with the way I was created to be, which is a child f God. So, thank you for your partnership. This is why we do this and I appreciate it. 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 on 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 the number to dial.

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