Category: DAB Transcripts

Ezekiel 20:1-49; Hebrews 9:11-28; Psalms 107:1-43; Proverbs 27:11

Today is the ninth day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today, and for that matter, every day, as we continue to take these steps forward through the Scriptures. And right now we’re working our way through the book of Ezekiel and in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, and we’ve been talking about that along the way. Today, reading from the New Living translation. Ezekiel 20:1-49.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s talk about Hebrews for a second. And just by way of reminder, Hebrews was written to Hebrews. So, Jewish people. And Hebrews is building and making the argument for Jesus in the Hebrew context. So, all this talk about tabernacles in heaven and high priests and all this stuff…Melchizedek…all this stuff that we talked about so far is within a Jewish context. We, most of us who are not Hebrews, who are not Jewish, but are rather Gentile believers have a bit of an understanding about this because we read the Old Testament. So, we see how this culture developed, where it came from, how it flourished, how it didn’t flourish. And, so, we can navigate this to a great degree, but not the same as if it had been embedded into our culture and we’ve only ever known this, like, it’s how it is. Kind of like how you could move to another country and learn the language and even live there for a decade only to realize all of the unspoken things that are just woven into the culture. So, Hebrews is speaking in a way that’s very clear that the people who are reading this. It’s all interwoven into their culture. And the argument that Jesus is the final high priest from a Jewish perspective is being made. And that all of the rituals and customs that they have in their culture are good but there copies of what’s actually in heaven, perfectly. And this plays into their thought and culture. This isn’t something that’s completely unexpected for them. And Hebrews is just simply trying to say, here’s how we missed this. Jesus blood is the final sacrifice and He poured it out before God once and for all as our eternal High Priest in the perfect place where it cannot be tarnished or ruined or destroyed. And this once and for all language is a big deal because, in terms of sacrifice, this is an ongoing thing. So, the writer of Hebrews is saying, it’s fulfilled once and for all. Like, Jesus doesn’t have to keep dying over and over, following the pattern that we’ve been following all of these years. It’s accomplished. It’s finished, which is what Jesus said as His last words from the cross. So, Hebrews says, ‘but now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by His own death as a sacrifice’, which is a pretty sizable paradigm shift if you are at this time and a Hebrew. So, far into the future, and is mostly Gentiles, like, we know this stuff theologically, but can’t always access how good of news this is because we’ve never had to jump to those hoops and do those rituals and have those sacrifices. But the writer of Hebrews is saying, once and for all it’s taken care of, we don’t have to do that anymore. So, on the one hand you can see how difficult it would be for them to get their minds around that they don’t have to do this anymore, from a religious tradition perspective. And on the other hand, you can see what a relief, what a relief it would be if that were true. I can’t think of a good example because we’re talking about the blood of Christ. So, like, there’s nothing that’s going to be that big in our lives. But it’s like, you know, for your entire adulthood, you’ve probably had to do your laundry. Right? If you don’t do your laundry and you don’t have enough money to wear something brand-new every time you put on clothes, then your dirty laundry is going to pile up and you going to start wearing dirty clothes. But doing the laundry is something that you hate doing. You just have to do it. And somebody comes along and is able to say, once and for all, you don’t have to do that anymore. Well, that would be a big relief. So, that’s not like a great example, but at least it gets us into the right headspace. And that headspace is, it’s done. Sin is dealt with. It’s not supposed to be a part of our story anymore and it doesn’t have to be a part of our story. The sacrifice has been made once and for all before God and Jesus is now this is eternal high priest advocating for us before God and presiding over this new covenant on our behalf. What a relief the good news of the gospel is. Let’s not forget it.

Prayer:

Father, we remember. And in understanding further context, we see how big this is, how good this is, how unstoppable this is. The only thing that can stop it is we, ourselves, choosing otherwise. And we have the entire story in the Old Testament, especially these books of prophecy that we’re reading now, to see where those other paths lead. We can certainly walk away and we will certainly reap what we sow. But that’s not what we’re going to do and that’s what we’re doing. We’re running toward You with a continual heart of repentance, knowing that You are fathering us, that You are teaching us and being merciful to us so that we can grow up and become mature sons and daughters in Your kingdom. So, we invite You Holy Spirit, as we contemplate today - ‘once and for all’ - and how big that is to our lives. Come Holy Spirit and continue to reveal this to us. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Looking at the calendar, I’ve been mentioning that we’ll be in Louisiana on the 19^th and that’s true. We’ll be in Bossier City, Louisiana at River Valley church on Sunday the 19^th of November. You can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the events section and we’ll look forward to seeing you. This will be our last travel date for the year. So, we’re looking forward to it.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link, it’s on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. Of course, if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill, TN 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello, this is Rachel from Pennsylvania. I am calling for Jordan from Detroit ___. I called, probably around last year, just about, me and my last teaching job. I’m in another one now. I teach emotional support for 4^th through 6^th graders. So, those are kids who are…like…mentally ill. And I feel you Jordan. I have had …like…two major mental breaks in the past two weeks and…just…I’m really, really struggling to do this job well and to do it to the best of my ability and up to the standards that it needs to be held and really just doing anything right and what is right and how do you maintain that and how to be professional with everyone else around you while you’re just dying and in this hole and on this island in your workplace. So, I get it. I had a job last year which was just so hard on me and then I left it and now I’m at this job and its worse. It’s even worse than my last job. So, I really do get it Jordan. So, I pray for both us just to get the support we need and to have the lives that we deserve so that we truly can get rest from the Lord because I’m not getting any rest. I’m sure you’re not either. I’m running out of time. I’m praying for you. Bye.

Hi DABbers this is his little Sheri from Canada and I’m calling tonight to pray for anyone who has a sleeping problems – Insomnia, sleep apnea, nightmares - anything that prevents you from getting the rest you need at night. And I want to pray for this this morning because I was reading these verses this morning from Song of Psalms in chapter 3. ‘Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with mur and incense. Look, it is Solomon’s carriage escorted by 60 warriors, all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, prepared for the terrors of the night’. And suddenly, when I read that I pictured our bridegroom king, Jesus, riding to our rescue with 60 warrior angels, the really big ones, the elite fighting force of heaven, who are experienced fighting the enemy and prepared for the terrors of the night, prepared for our terrors of the night. So, Lord Jesus, I thank You that You fight for us, that all the forces of darkness are no match for Your power. Dispatch Your angels, I pray, to minister to us tonight, to defeat every fear, ever pain, every messenger of evil that would rob us of rest. And, Lord, please give Your beloved sleep as You promised. I thank You for all that You’re doing to write what is wrong, to give us peace. As we lay our heads on our pillows tonight we sink down into trust. And we pray all these things in Your name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community. I should have called in before now. Today is November 6^th. My wife has been having really awful back pain for like 6 weeks and the doctors think she has some bulging discs, which doesn’t sound that bad, but in the grand scheme of things it’s really killing her and she can’t go to work and she can’t walk around. She can’t really do anything. Today we’re taking her for a procedure and I just got through praying to the Lord that that procedure would go well and that she would be able to heal and get back on her feet. So, now I am calling to you all and asking you to join me in prayer for her healing for my wife and that the procedure goes well. So, please, join me in prayer. Thank you. Bye.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible DABbers. This is Diane B. from Newburg, Indiana and I say shalom, shalom. It is Monday, November the 6^th 2017. I have Rayna in my heart every day. How ya doing in LA? And I’m praying and believing for you that God will show you the way and He will direct your steps and He will not let you stumble and He will not let you fall. I know you’re getting better. I know it. I know it. And it’s going to be glorious. And then also Rebecca, Rebecca, sewer of the Gospel, even at bars. I love you. You’re from Michigan. And Michigan is my home town too. So, Rebecca, I am praying for you, sewing your seeds of the Gospel. There’s power, resurrection power, in the gospel Rebecca, and you keep sewing your seeds, your gospel seeds. And I’m praying for the most glorious job that you can’t even think of, it’s so great. And I had to do that. I worked a third shift at a gas station and stayed at that job for 6 months and then I got my dream job. So, if it can happen to me it can happen to anybody. So, here you go Rebecca. Take your job. Just keep sewing your seeds, loving people. Here is shalom, shalom to all my beloved DABbers. Glory, glory, glory, glory, to God the glory, and we give all the glory to Jesus and tell…

Ezekiel 18:1-19:14; Hebrews 9:1-10; Psalms 106:32-48; Proverbs 27:10

Today is November 8. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today around the global campfire, this place that we can come in out of the cold and dark and warm ourselves, and illuminate our paths, and be together in community. I brought my coffee along, like I do every day, it’s right here to my left. And of course, I brought my microphone, or you wouldn’t be hearing me. And hopefully some of you brought stuff to make s’mores. So, let’s dive into what the Scriptures have for us today. We’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Today, Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 1 through 19 verse 14.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Ezekiel, we have an important distinction or clarification that further reveals God’s heart through this prophetic book. But let’s quickly work our way toward that. I’ve mentioned this before in other books of prophecy, there’s a lot of discussion about what’s going to happen and what’s going to happen is in good. And God is speaking very directly. So, it’s easy for us, you know, page after page, day after day of impending judgment, to begin to shift our hearts toward God as angry, vengeful and without much grace or mercy, which is where this widespread angry God idea comes from. But in all these prophecies the whole thing turns and God reveals why he feels so strongly about what he’s saying. And it becomes very clear that this isn’t just about Him waking up on the wrong side of the bed and being angry at people on earth and smiting them. He carefully reveals their culpability, which usually boils back to a covenantal relationship that has been broken. And within a covenantal relationship are terms and they are spelled out. So, if you enter into the covenant or contract of marriage or any other business contract or any kind of agreement, there’s going to be terms. They are the terms that you’re agreeing to so that it’s spelled out very plainly what will happen if that happens so that nobody is confused. And that’s a lot of what we see. But what we see is that God sends a prophetic voice of warning way in advance. So, like, we read the book of Jeremiah just recently and that covered the scope of decades of warnings and patience and trying to rectify the situation and pleading and inviting back and all of this. And we have to pay attention to that as we move through these prophecies because, not only are they warnings before hand, they are also promises after the fact. So, like, you’re breaking the covenant, if you continue to break the covenant then this is what’s going to happen, this is what you are leading yourself into. But if you are going to go ahead and continue that and destroy yourself then even after the fact I’m not going to forget you and there will come a day when it all will be restored again. And we need to remember this and see this as we move through these books of prophecy. But in today’s reading in the book of Ezekiel, God is highlighting personal culpability and responsibility, which is an important clarification because this society is largely made up of tribes, clans and families. And each family has a family leader and it’s an extended family, what we would think of as an extended family, not just like man and his wife and their kids. It’s usually a multigenerational thing and they all work together for the common good of the family. So, decisions are made and everyone falls in line and they work together as one. So, this is where things like the arrangement for a marriage or a bride price being paid, all of this kind of comes from that. So, like, if a woman is going to marry a man, she’s going to join his family and become a part of that family. And, so,  the family that she’s leaving, her birth family, might be compensated for the loss of her presence and her work in the family. That’s just the tip of the iceberg but just an example to say, like, here’s kind of what we’re talking about, which leads us closer to this clarification, this distinction. So, the general way that these prophecies would’ve been read would’ve been family centric. So, for example, family leader A leads his family into bail worship, the family follows along and begins to worship bail because their leader made these decisions, and so everybody worships bail and they’re culpable before God for idol worship. And they’re all held responsible because of this family leader. So, they all face the same judgment, kind of like we saw in the book of Jeremiah with the story of Aiken, who did not obey God in the battle of Jericho and made his entire family guilty. Today, God clarifies personal responsibility. So, he says, ‘why do you quote the proverb concerning the land of Israel, that the parents have eaten the sour grapes but their children’s mouth pucker at the taste’. Which is just alluding to what we just talked about. So, in terms of what God is saying to the people, through Ezekiel, He responds - ‘As surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb anymore in Israel, for all people are Mine to judge, both parents and children alike and this is My rule. The person who sins is the one who will die’. And then there are a number of examples of this, clarifying that each individual person is personally responsible for the covenantal relationship with God and each person will reap what they sow. Which leads us to God revealing His heart about all this. ‘Do you think’, God said, ‘that I like to see wicked people die, says the sovereign Lord? Of course not, I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live’. And there it is. There’s God’s posture of heart toward the people that he’s speaking to. And he goes on to say, ‘repent, turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you. Put all your rebellion behind you and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O people of Israel? I want you to die, says the sovereign Lord. Turn back and live’. And of course, we’ve all heard the word repent. Repentance is to change, to change what’s going on inside you, to change the way you’re looking at things, to go a different way. So, God is saying, look, each of you have this choice and this choice affects your destiny and I’m telling you flat out I want you to live and prosper. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. But this is a covenant and there are terms and if you want the benefits of the covenant, the benefits of Me being your God, then you will have to obey the covenant. I am obeying it. I expect you to be faithful and loyal to it as well, but the choice is yours. And that my friends, echoes its way across history and plops itself squarely in our own laps. You can’t blame God for what you have done but you can repent and come running home and the choice is yours.

Prayer:

Father, we allow that to sit in our laps. We sit with that. We invite Your Holy Spirit to reveal the ways that we’re breaking the covenant, that we’re being unfaithful to You. You use the word adultery and adulterer many times in these prophecies in order to explain what it feels like for You and what’s really happening. And, so, we don’t want any part of that. It’s leading nowhere but destruction. Come, Holy Spirit and show us the places that we’ve compromised ourselves, that we’re stepping out on You, that we’re cheating on You, and then blaming You for the repercussions of it. We’re sorry. We’re sorry that we’ve done this, we’re sorry that we do this. We invite Your Holy Spirit to correct us in this. We choose another way. We repent. We turn around and face You and come running back. Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Looking at the calendar, the next time we will be out on the road, actually, the last time that we will be out on the road for the year will be November 19^th. So, just like a week and half from now. We’ll be in the Shreveport Louisiana area, Bossier City, bringing the Sneezing Jesus message at River Valley church. So, if you’re in the area be sure to come out. You can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com. Just go to the events section and maps and phone numbers and websites and like all that stuff are there. So, we’ll look forward to seeing you out on the road.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link, it’s on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill, TN 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Wrapped in His Unfailing Love. I want to thank you all for all your and for ___. And…just…I am so blessed today to hear that Darryl, I don’t know why we so surprised when God answers our prayers. It’s just a wonderful, hallelujah. Lord, I want to pray for Jordan from Michigan today. I just heard your prayer request. I was reading today in my devotional. It says do not be afraid for I am close beside you, guarding and guiding all the way. So, I am always with you. You are often unaware of My presence. So Jordan, I know that you are being attacked by the enemy and right now, please family pray with me. Lord, I lift up our brother Jordan to You. He is being attacked by the spirit of anxiety and depression and right now, we just cast those terrible afflictions back down to hell where they are from. They are not meant for your people. And Lord, I pray that you would replace this with the fruit of Your Spirit in Jordan, which we already see that brings him…brings him to full fruition of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control, Lord. Inundate Your servant Jordan with this. And every day, help him to put on the armor that will defeat the enemy and that he can stand his ground, that he would just put on the full armor of God, Lord, every day. Bless all our teachers, Lord, but especially Jordan. In Jesus…

This is Kim from Oklahoma and I’m calling today to hopefully bring some encouragement to Jordan from Michigan. I heard your message last year when you were a first year teacher and began to pray for you. And then I heard your message today. And I am not a teacher, but I have been an administrator at a small school for about 25 years. And I just wanted to you that one thing that we have seen over the years is that first year teachers have it really rough. And we have a Christian school, but it seems like that the students are critiquing that new teacher, parents are wanting to see what kind of teacher that they might be, and who you are, and what you stand for. And, so, I’m just calling to encourage you just to stand firm, that if you know that this is where God wants you, that you would remain steadfast, and just pray that God will help you to have good classroom management skills and to shine His light wherever you are. So, today I Pray for you Jordan. Dear Lord, I pray for Jordan. I pray that You would be his peace and his joy and that he may trust You like he’s never trusted You before during this trial, that he shine God’s light and be victorious in Christ. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is To be a Blessing from California. This morning, as I was listening to the community prayers from the 4^th of November, I was just struck by so many, so many people praying for all of us, and I’ve been praying as well. It’s just an honor to be able to know that I can participate in supporting you and the requests that you have for your family, and for friends, for yourself. I’m speaking specifically of Rayna, for Sharon the Victor, for Shannon and her challenges, for Shantay, for Lee of New Jersey, for Pam in New York, and Gloria, for so many others. Father God, without a doubt, we are so grateful to be Your children. We are so grateful for Your deep love for us, knowing that because of Jesus, your son, we are victorious. Because of Jesus, we have your peace. Because of Jesus, we have your fruits of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience - so many others, Lord.  I ask in the name of Jesus, that each one who listens to call…who desires call…but doesn’t feel courageous enough…for those struggling with various aspects of their lives. I ask, Father, that by Your Holy Spirit, You would draw close to them, walk beside them, wrap them in Your arms, let them know how much You love them and experience Your presence through the joys of bringing to their attention, things only you would know about that would make him happy, that would let them know…

Hi everyone, this is Sheryl in Arizona. It’s been a while since I called. I’m calling tonight, it’s going on 7 o'clock my time, to just ask for prayer. My husband and I live in Arizona and we’ve been here, the second time since 2013, and we are just so…we’re just so unhappy. Neither one of us feels like Arizona is our place and we just really miss, though there is beauty here and all of that, we really miss being somewhere where there’s seasons and we can that physical change and that transition throughout the year. He’s from Illinois and I grew up in North Carolina. Both places are just beautiful and have four seasons. And we just really do feel like we are in a desert. And he works at a job that he just absolutely hates and is experiencing burnout. It’s a very real thing. And it’s not that we are not grateful, and we definitely see the hand of the Lord and the blessings of God upon our lives. We just really, really…I’m just asking for your prayers, Daily Audio Bible, for us to have clarity and courage. We feel like it is time, we would really like to be in Illinois. We know that it gets incredibly cold there but I lived there with him for 8 months and loved it. So, please, I just ask you for your prayers. I would appreciate them. We would appreciate them so much. And I love you all and I love hearing you, it definitely makes me feel not so alone. Okay. Thank you. I love you. Bye.

Ezekiel 16:42-17:24; Hebrews 8:1-13; Psalms 106:13-31; Proverbs 27:7-9

Today is the 7th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is great to be here with you for the next step forward in the Scriptures today. And I’m grateful, grateful that we can be together like this for the next step forward. This week we’ve been reading from the Good News translation. And, so, we’ll continue to read from that and pick up where we left off yesterday. Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 42 through 17 verse 24.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Hebrews today, we have a quotation from the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, which we read very recently. And this happens to be the longest quotation from the Old Testament that is found in the New Testament. And in Jeremiah’s prophecy a new covenant is foretold. So, about 700 years later, as the writer of Hebrews is writing this letter, this passage from Jeremiah is quoted. And it’s all in the context of what we been talking about for several days. So, we spent some days talking about Melchizedek as part of a larger point that’s being made. And the point that’s being made is that Jesus is high priest, a priestly king who presides over a new covenant that had been foretold long ago. So, this letter is being written by Hebrews for Hebrews and referring to people and events and scriptural prophecy that are all Hebrew. So, this letter is written to devout Hebrews who understand what’s being talked about here. And they’re simply saying, look, a new covenant was for foretold a long time ago. We’re not just making all this stuff up. We’re not trying to make up a new religion. We’re trying to say, wake up and see what’s happening here. What we see in Jesus is the establishment of this new covenant that was foretold in our own Scriptures. We’re entering into a new era and is not just because we dreamed this all up. It’s because God foretold it and is now fulfilling it through Jesus, who is our new high priest who presides over this new covenant in heaven where there are no flaws. And everything that we’ve presided over, the covenant, the Torah, everything that we been doing, is flawed because we’re doing it and we are not perfect. And everything that we’ve been doing up until now has been a foreshadowing, a shadow of what is in heaven, or to quote Hebrews, ‘the work they do as priests is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven’. So, what’s essentially being communicated here is, what we’ve been doing all along following this old covenant is a picture of what is to come. But God said after we continue to break the covenant over and over and over that a new one was coming. And now these centuries later it has come in the person of Jesus. And it’s not a shadow or a copy anymore. Jesus is the high priest presiding over this covenant in heaven where things are perfect. This is incorruptible and perfect - a better way, a more perfect way, a new covenant. And the result of that is unpacked in chapter 8 verse 13,  ‘by speaking of a new covenant God has made the first one old and anything that becomes old and worn out will soon disappear’. And over the centuries since then many have thought, well, than the Old Testament doesn’t matter then we only should read the New Testament, but it’s a covenant is being talked about here, not the Scriptures. And we’ve gotten far enough into the year to understand that the Old Testament speaks very, very clearly soberly, truthfully, honestly, and lovingly into our lives. But just on a practical level, if we read the book of Hebrews without any Old Testament knowledge whatsoever, like, if we read this having no idea of the context and history, we wouldn’t even know what’s being talked about. Covenants, high priests, priests, old ones, new ones, prophecies being fulfilled – we would have no idea what’s going on. And I think the writer of Hebrews, while quoting from the book of Jeremiah at length as a proof text for what they are saying, shows us that there is a great value in understanding our context and history that is found in the Old Testament. Just a little bunny trail there. The theological point that’s being made in Hebrews is that Jesus is a high priest, presiding over a new covenant, and He does this from heaven, and it is perfect and is leading into a new chapter, a new era. And this will be further unpacked as we go forward. We’re just a little over halfway through the book of Hebrews.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this new covenant and Your welcoming of all people to partake of this good news. We are some of those people and we are grateful. We thank You that we have a high priest in heaven advocating for us. We love You, Jesus, and we worship and thank You. And we pray these things in Your name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

It’s where the prayer wall is. It’s where the Daily Audio Bible shop is. Its where you to find out what’s going on around here on the calendar. And next up on the calendar is the 19^th of November. And we will be in Bossier City, Louisiana, bringing the Sneezing Jesus message at River Valley church. Looking for that. If you’re in the area, please come say hello. Love to shake her hand, and hug your neck, and hear little bit of your story. So, put it on your calendar. It’s on ours. Put it on yours and will see you soon in the South. 

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can, of course, do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link it’s on the homepage or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill, TN 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hey, this is Jerry calling from Duluth Minnesota. I must say that the Daily Audio Bible, the Black Wing pencils, and a journal probably have saved my life. I’ve struggled with depression for many, many, many years and a particularly dark, dark time in the last six months and started new treatments in August. I got the journal on September 6^th and started writing in it and it has made an incredible difference in my life. I just received print number 217 of the Global Campfire Initiative there by giving the $200 for the new app and so excited about the opportunity and the potential of the new app of reaching new people. And particularly would like to request prayer for my family. I have two daughters that are going through separation and divorce and one daughter whose husband is accused of molesting their 13-year-old daughter and facing criminal charges. So, I ordered five more of the journals for my wife and kids to give at Christmas time to try and hopefully encourage them to start writing out what’s happening in their life on a daily basis. Maybe not even on a daily basis, just as God prompts you to write. I encourage you to think of the Daily Audio Bible and order some of the journals and pencils for Christmas. They make great gifts. And encourage people to listen to the Daily Audio Bible in the year 2018 and change your life and perhaps…

Hey everyone, it’s Kristy from Kentucky. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve called, but it’s been a really hard…it’s been a hard couple of weeks. My precious daddy went home to Jesus two weeks ago today, which would have been October 21^st and it’s just been very difficult. Losing mom in May…I shouldn’t say losing…but…having to say bye to her in May…and having to say goodbye to daddy two weeks ago has just been…it’s been very hard. But I know God is on the throne and He’s blessed me with two amazing parents. Momma was 86 and daddy was 90. And, so, I know that there’s so many people that have either never had a good relationship with their parents or they lost them early. And, so, I know how very blessed that I am. And I just praise God for their lives and for having a wonderful brother and now they’re all together. So, you know, I have to be happy for them, but it sure is hard being left. Anyway, I love you guys so much. Thank each of you for praying. All of those who have prayed, I haven’t been listening but I know in my heart because I have felt your prayers. I love each of you very, very much and I pray that you are having a most blessed and lovely day.

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to God. I’m calling today for a prayer request and a heavy heart. I had told you for the last year or so that my nephew, Nicholas, who has brain cancer was in for treatment. And just couple months ago he finished his treatment and everything went fine. Well, the other day, on the 3^rd, which would have been yesterday, he was taken to the hospital with fluid in his lungs and they found out he had a heart attack. So, he is in the ICU unit. His heart is only working at about 10%, so, things are not looking good. So, I’m asking if you would please pray for my nephew. His name is Nicholas. So, let’s pray please. Lord, I want to ask You that You would lift up Nicholas. We ask that You would place Your healing hand upon him, that You would do a miracle and heal him, be with the doctors and the nurses to guide them Lord, to give them some peace and comfort as well as his wife and his mother, my sister, and his family and friends. So, Lord, again, we ask that You please be with  Nicholas. Give him peace, give him comfort, and if it would be Your will that You would heal him. I thank you all. Love you and God bless. Amen.

Hey DABbers. This is Slave of Jesus from North Carolina. Alright, Holy Spirit, let’s roll. I’m pumped today. Lord, we ask You to watch over Lee from New Jersey. Hey Lee, all I can tell you about anger…you know I used to struggle with that lust trap…and I’m not saying you struggle with that…but once I started having great victories in that…I had this bout of anger towards my family…I’d like be walking behind them…and want to physically want to strike their head. And I decided, hey, I need to deal with this the same way I deal with the lust. You know what I’m going to say. I went out there and got a Scripture…an anger Scripture -  James 119. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry. Said it every morning, said it every night. Just like dealing with the lust. Every time I got angry. Sometimes I would even start getting frustrated with my wife and I might even say that out loud in front of them. My daughter even knows that. We are sitting in the car and she even knows I’m angry. She’ll start saying it -  quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry. And then I had to get a patience one, Ephesians 4:2. So, then I said…you know what…I am going to preemptively deal with this. And I’d be walking up to my house and maybe there was some text during the day…and I knew there was going to be a battle…I’d say it out loud. But then sometimes I would just say it out loud before I walk into my house and start interacting with my family. So, hey brother, that’s what works for me. Lord, we ask You to watch over Jay from New Jersey. And Dimitri, first time caller, been listening for three years. I know, Dimitri, your marriage is struggling and that’s where I was four years ago. I wanted to give it all up. I didn’t care about the marriage. I didn’t care about that stuff. That’s the point where I turned and put everything, went all in, and God rewarded me with a great marriage and great family. Lord we ask You to watch over Drew in the Bay. Amen to his prayers over Lee’s depression. Love you all. Have a great day.

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41; Hebrews 7:18-28; Psalms 106:1-12; Proverbs 27:4-6  

Today is the sixth day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. And I’m glad we can take the next step forward in the Scriptures together. And that next step will be in the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews in the New. So, let’ dive in. We’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Ezekiel 14 verse 12 through 16 verse 41.

Commentary:

Okay. So, let’s touch on Hebrews first and then move our way backward to Ezekiel. The last couple of days we’ve been just kind of talking about Melchizedek, just trying to figure out why this obscure figure from the book of Genesis shows up in the book of Hebrews with a bit of a cameo appearance in Psalm 110. And all of that discussion wasn’t to make a theological statement, it was just to say, who is Melchizedek and what is his significance? How does this obscure figure become a significant person that gets mentioned again in the New Testament with more information than we had in the Old? And we talked a little bit yesterday about Psalm 110 where Melchizedek shows up in verse four - the Lord is taken an oath and will not break his vow, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. We talked about Melchizedek being a priestly king that was not from the tribe of Levi. And then we talked about different literature that showed us that Melchizedek was still in the thought of the Hebrew people right through until Jesus time. And at Jesus time they were really looking for a Messiah. They weren’t necessarily naming or looking for Jesus in particular, but they were looking for this kind of person to show up. And Psalm 110 was one of those references that they would use that prophetically speaks of such a person. So, in the book of Hebrews today that’s made explicit, that the writer of Hebrews is clearly looking at Psalm 110 as a prophetic foreshadowing of the Messiah and then declaring that that Messiah was Jesus. And Hebrews kind of finishes off at that thought today. So, we can see that whether King David, when now penning Psalm 110, thought anything different than that this was about himself, over time it was definitely perceived as a prophetic utterance. And for the writer of Hebrews, in a Hebrew culture, writing to Hebrew people, it was apparent that Jesus closed the loop, that He is a priestly king who sacrificed himself once and for all and now lives as priest forever on behalf of us all. And all of that discussion has a cultural and contextual background, and we talked about that. But the larger story or the bigger narrative that’s going on in Hebrews is intended to show how God is doing a new thing, a new thing that they were expecting, but a new thing that they didn’t recognize, and showing that Jesus is this new thing. And, so, for devout Jews the Torah, the law, is the thing. But Hebrews is saying there were things going on before there was a law, those things predate the law, they’re not under the law, the law didn’t exist, and those things matter. Which is how Melchizedek winds its way into the story and sets precedent for God doing new things, things beyond the Mosaic law, not because the law is evil, of course, but the laws purpose is to expose failings and sin. It’s to show and reveal when we’ve stepped out of bounds, but Jesus appearance in the story changes everything. He fulfills the law and becomes the high priest forever, on behalf of us all. Very, very similar to the kinds of things the apostle Paul wrote about, especially in the book of Romans, but all throughout his teachings. So, we can get lost in all kinds of thoughts about Melchizedek, but Melchizedek is a part of a larger point and that point is that Jesus is the son of God came to take away the sins of the world and that the law cannot do it because no one can achieve perfection in it. And, so, that’s kind of where we sit in the book of Hebrews.

In the book of Ezekiel, God has been telling what’s coming. He’s been telling people what’s about to descend upon them, and none of it is good. And in the narrative, we can see what seems to be frustration on God’s part, like how He is exasperated, and how He has tried. And then we reached a portion of Scripture that I find to be one of the most riveting portions of Scripture in the Bible. And I encourage you to take some time to reread it yourself. It’s Ezekiel chapter 16 verses 3 through 34, where God is very, very descriptive about the story as He sees it with His people. And He describes an orphaned and tossed away beauty left to die in a field just after birth, covered in blood, and no one cared for this little girl. She was left to die. She was unloved when God came along and found her and nourished her and cared for her and raised her and watched her grow and watched her become beautiful and entered into a covenant of marriage with her and offspring were born and it was beautiful, except that she began to notice her own beauty and flaunt her own beauty and over time to give herself to others. In other words, to break the covenant. And then the trajectory just spins out of control. She’s not only giving herself away to other gods and idols, she is giving yourself away to other nations, and she’s destroying God’s children by sacrificing them to other idols, and basically this has to stop. That’s essentially what God is saying. This has to stop and I’m going to stop it. And you’re not going to like it, but this has to stop if you’re ever going to turn around and return to me. I find it heartbreaking because of the imagery that God chose to use because it’s imagery of betrayal and heartbreak and jealousy and loss and all of the angst and unrest that comes when a relationship disintegrates through betrayal and adultery. And, so, many of us could read that passage and see ourselves there, know those emotions, and whether you’ve been betrayed or not you can still understand what that would be like. And, so, what we’re seeing is less of a vengeful, angry, irritated, tyrannical God and more the heart of a lovesick, brokenhearted God. And it starts to make sense because we can see the we would feel the same way. And it gives us a lot to think about in our own relationship because so often we think our relationship with God, the only emotion in any of it is our own, God doesn’t feel anything, he doesn’t really care, he’s just quick to forgive and that’s that. It doesn’t matter what we do and he’s just always on, he’s always available to us to turn to but we only really turn to him when we need him to do something. And we can imagine what that feels like. And we have to imagine what it feels like for God for us to really enter into this relationship with him. So, going back through that passage of Scripture will be helpful and healthy as we contemplate our relationships with God.

Prayer:

Father, we see in this imagery Your heart toward us. We see why You are a jealous God. We just rarely can bring ourselves to the level of value that You do. We don’t value ourselves the way You do. We don’t see ourselves as the treasure that You do. And, so, sometimes we can’t even imagine that You could feel this way about us and yet we’re reading it right off the page, the Scriptures. You spoke this thousands of years ago and things haven’t changed. You are smitten with us. Why, is beyond our comprehension, but You created us and I guess that matters a lot. You know everything about us, every cell that makes us who we are, every hair on our head, every experience that we’ve had, all of the choices that we’ve made, and You’ve still loved us. And put in these terms, found in the book of Ezekiel, we are stopped in our tracks as we realize what our behavior does to Your heart. So, come Holy Spirit, wash us clean, restore us, make us new again, we run back into your arms. There is no other hope but You, and we thank You for Your patience and kindness, long-suffering, and love for us. Amen.

Song:

Ezekiel by Gungor

https://youtu.be/59xPDnsL4qw

Lyrics

http://www.lyricshall.com/lyrics/Gungor/Ezekiel/

I found you naked
I found you lying there in blood
Your mother left you
Your father threw you out unloved

I clothed your body
I washed the blood and earth from your hair
I gave you jewelry
I gave you everything I had

I gave my heart
My heart, my love
I gave my heart
My heart, my love

You became mine
You were a stunning bride
The world they saw you and how you loved their eyes my bride

You broke my heart
My heart, my love
You broke my heart
My heart, my love

You sold your body exposed yourself to all my love
You slept with strangers; you gave them everything we had

Come back my love
My love come back
Come back my love
My love come back

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11; Hebrews 7:1-17; Psalms 105:37-45; Proverbs 27:3

Today is the 5th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you at the threshold of a brand-new, shiny, sparkly week. And this will be our first full week in the month of November, the 11th month of our year together. And this week we’ll read from the New Living Translation. Of course, we will pick up where we left off yesterday. So, for our Old Testament reading today, Ezekiel chapter 12 verse 1 through 14:11.

Commentary:

Okay. So, yesterday we started talking about Melchizedek because his name showed up at the end of our reading yesterday. And, obviously, today we spent a good deal of time referring to him in the book of Hebrews. So, we looked at the two references were Melchizedek is named by name in the Old Testament and learned that he was a priestly king who ruled the Canaanite city, at the time, of Jerusalem, in Abraham’s time, in the book of Genesis. And then we saw him show up again in the Psalms at the time of David, who happened to be the king of Jerusalem, the king of Israel, during the time of the united monarchy - a priestly king that was not from the tribe of Levi, but was rather in the order of Melchizedek. So, in the book of Hebrews we see the parallel being made and we can see why - Jesus is equated with all of this as a priestly king. We can leave it right there all nice and tidy and say that’s pretty cool, but it’s a little bit more complicated than that. And this is where some context helps us, although we won’t be able to tie this off in a nice little gift box, but we will have the lay of the land. So, Melchizedek is mentioned in the book of Genesis and then not mentioned again until the book of Psalms, but because he shows up in those two places, quite a ways away from each other in history, and then he shows up again in the book of Hebrews, quite a bit away from the book of Psalms, we see that, somehow, he captures the imagination of the Hebrew people and that continued on for thousands of years even though there is no further material about him in the Bible. And the writer of Hebrews tells us things about Melchizedek that are not found in the references to Melchizedek in the Old Testament. So, we can safely deduce that something happened along the way and it’s from what’s written in Hebrews that the plethora of things have been said and thought and written about Melchizedek. And it’s here that we begin to see how extra-biblical thoughts find their way into the biblical text. So, let me show you what I mean. So, we’re reading from Hebrews chapter 7 today and chapter 7 verse 3 reads, there is no record of Melchizedek’s father or mother or of any of his ancestors, no record of his birth or of his death, he is like the son of God, he remains a priest forever. Okay. So, in the Old Testament, it’s true, he shows up out of nowhere and then he kind of disappears just as fast as he came. So, it’s true. Like, there is no lineage for how Melchizedek found himself to be the king of Salem nor for how he became the priest of the most high God. And the interpretation of that is found in Hebrews. He is like the son of God. He remains a priest forever. In other words, he didn’t die, which is an interpretation of the Scriptures. But those details are not found in the Old Testament mentions of Melchizedek. Or are they? How did they come to this? The idea comes from Psalms – you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Ok? You are priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, which becomes a little bit of a quandary because, at face value, Psalm 110 is referring to the reign of David. And David died. And that’s explicitly stated in the Bible. Unless, Psalm 110 isn’t about David, but is more of a messianic prophecy, a foretelling, a foreshadowing of Jesus, or at least of a coming priestly king in the order of Melchizedek who will be a priest forever. So, it’s hard to think that David, king of Israel, raining from Jerusalem, writing Psalm 110 thought that that’s what he was writing about. Which certainly doesn’t discount the fact that he may have been writing a prophetic song. And in no way am I trying to diminish that idea because Matthew, Mark, and Luke all refer back to this Psalm, not necessarily about Melchizedek, but they definitely tie it to Jesus. I say what I say about David because David’s got a united monarchy. He’s the king of Israel. He’s bringing Israel to its apex. So, at this point in history things are going great. Like, they’re not thinking about needing a Messiah, a deliver. At David’s time they’re kind of basking in all that God has done. He gave them the land that he promised that he would and they have their own country and they have their own king and they have their own military and they have their own economy. Things are going well. So, this is kind of an instance where things become more clear and revealed over time. Alright, so, here’s where we jump into the deep end of the pool. It’s pretty clear that Melchizedek captures the imagination of the Hebrew people and that that lasts for a long time. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in Israel some of that thought came to light. There are documents that would describe Melchizedek in terms of angelic or even divine, even godlike. In one of the documents Melchizedek is depicted as the leader, like, the main angel in a war in heaven against the angels of darkness, which caused many people to wonder if Melchizedek was actually the Archangel Michael because Michael/Melchizedek are similar sounding names and on and on it goes. You can see there’s just so many jumping off places to follow trails and come up with stuff because it’s interesting. But what we can say is that Melchizedek, although mentioned very little in the Bible, was carried down through culture and history as something unique, something different or representing something unique and different and that this was carried down through the generations. And we see this as showing up in the material found in Qumran, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. So, I’m not saying, like, so there you go, it’s found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, so it’s as good as the Bible. I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying this is how we see that this person’s uniqueness or what he represents, that uniqueness, carried forward and wound its way into messianic thought, because by the time we get to Jesus, where not in the time of David anymore, things haven’t been going so well. These people have been through the ringer. They’ve been in exile, 10 of their tribes are lost, the territory has changed hands several times, and they need somebody, they need someone to deliver them. And the writer of Hebrews, who is speaking, by the way, to Hebrews, is speaking of Melchizedek in a way that these people understand and is showing them in every conceivable way, Jesus is that person. And I’ll leave that explanation for tomorrow, not so much in things that I might say, but the book of Hebrews will unpack it for us. And, hopefully, this little bit of context over the last couple of days helps with that, helps us understand that. Now, I’ve got to tell you, like, there’s a lot to this you can go as far as you want. There are brilliant scholars that can go much deeper and wider and are more articulate than me. And, I do not, and have never claimed to know everything there is to know about the Bible. That would be God. So, my taking us through some of this isn’t me trying to make a theological statement about anything. It’s just one of these pieces of the Bible that we come to, and we read through, and we’re like, okay, it’s the Bible, it’s true, I believe it, but we don’t really even know what’s being said or the gravity of it. And getting a little context around it lets us see, okay, this, what’s being said here, is a pretty big deal, which only makes it richer and truer and deeper as we sew it into our own lives.

Prayer:

Father,  we invite Your Holy Spirit to come into all of this and do the tilling and sewing. What we want is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives to flourish and reproduce itself all around us. And we believe this is possible because You sent your Son to die for us and gave us the gift of Your Holy Spirit to lead us and the gift of the Scriptures that continually jar us and shake us and make us pay attention and contemplate. They keep us from falling asleep in our own lives. They keep us oriented to Your kingdom in this world. So, come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

If you want partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lee from New Jersey. Today is November 1st. The first day of the 11th month and I’m calling in from a very cold New Jersey. It’s cold for us. It’s below 40°. It’s 37° right now. So, that means that we’ve got to bundle up a little bit more. And we’ve been pretty spoiled up here anyway because we’ve been blessed with a lot of great weather. So, just wanted to call and thank Byron down in Florida and of course thank all of you that have been praying. I know all of you have been praying, even the ones that don’t call in. So, Byron did call in and he shared some very, very wonderful, spiritual wisdom – some words of spiritual wisdom, obviously. So, I am, word for word, verbatim, I listened to all of that Byron. And thank you very much and I will definitely take that to heart. So, you probably heard that I called back since then and things have gotten a little better. Actually, things have gotten a lot better. So, the next person to work on is just my daughter, the relationship between my daughter and me. And that’s got to be worked on. But by God’s grace, again, I am thankful for my family and thankful for the things that I’m getting that I don’t deserve. That’s so true. So now, Byron, I want to pray for you and your family. Heavenly Father, I want to pray for my brother Byron down in Florida, who is a faithful servant of the Lord. He is faithful in many ways and does his very best to be there for all brothers and sisters in this community, Lord. Continue to bless him and his family. Continue to bless him with that open heart and open mine Lord. When I say open heart and open mind, that he is open to receiving Your wisdom and Your love - Your wisdom is his mind and Your love my in his heart. And how he passes that forward onto people in this community, people within his community, down there in Florida…

Good morning all you DABbers. This is Darrell from Depue. I’ve got a praise report and I want to thank everybody for praying for me. Last week or two weeks ago I called in asking for prayers for my business and hallelujah, God is so good. I received check after check after check this past week to get caught up with all my bills. And, so, hallelujah God is so good. But I want prayer sent out to my brother Dan. My  brother Dan has stage four lung cancer. Three years ago he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and now he has lung cancer. So, can everybody please pray for Dan to get through this second batch of cancer that he’s going through. Have the good Lord watch over him, protect him. We know that our God is Jehovah Rapha, the Almighty Healer. So, God in heaven, please watch over Daniel and may the good Lord bless him. And all you DABbers, I love you and I want to thank you so much for your help. God bless each and every one of you. Thank you. Love you all.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Mimi in Atlanta. I’m just asking today for prayers for the Lord’s insight and wisdom on my financial status. As a hair stylist, it fluctuates and coming in towards the end of the year I want to focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas and just time spent with family and friends. But the heaviness of all this is just starting already way on my Spirit. So, it’s November 1st. I’m just going to pray and ask the Lord to please help me and everyone else that is hearing this prayer request that is struggling financially. Let’s just pray. Daddy, we just love You so much. And we know Jesus, when You were here on earth, every time we came with facts, a few loaves and a few fishes, and thousands needed to be filled. Father, you just lifted up those minimal provisions, that’s all we have, it’s just minimal provisions. Lord, I just pray a miracle, a miracle of blessing. It didn’t happen instomatically, all the loaves and fishes didn’t just appear once You lifted them up to be blessed. But Father as the disciples were about their business distributing them they became plenty and then there were left overs. So, Lord, I just pray for all of us, to get our eyes fixed on You and Father, just to remove, in Jesus’ name, the spirit of worry or fear, depression, anxiety, all those things, Lord, because we’re coming into Thanksgiving and then onto Christmas. Father, I just pray November 1, 2017, that the words we hear Brian speak and read are alive and they’re changing us from the inside out. So, I’m just asking for everyone to just…let’s just join up with each other around this campfire, hedge it up and just…

Hey family. It’s Jordan from Michigan. It’s great to be back. I’ve missed you guys. Sorry I haven’t been calling so much. This new teaching job I got in Michigan has been a lot like last year. For those of you who remember, it was like hell for me last year. The Detroit school that I was working at and this school is no different in a lot of ways. It’s really been beating me up and I have really, really bad anxiety and some depression. It’s been really hard. It feels like just mentally beat all the time. I have a hard time just sitting down and writing my lesson plan and doing my work that I’m supposed to be doing because I have so much anxiety all the time. So, please pray for me. I really need it. And pray for my students, that I will be able to reach them and fulfill my purpose.

Ezekiel 10:1-11:25; Hebrews 6:1-20; Psalms 105:16-36; Proverbs 27:1-2

Today is the fourth day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. And here we are at the end of another week, a week that has switched months for us, and launched us into the 11th month of the year. And day by day we get closer to the destination - the completion of the Bible. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We have much territory to cover. And we’ll take the next step forward into the Scriptures today. So, we’ve been reading from the Good News translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1 through 11 verse 25 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Hebrews today, the last verse that we read we encounter an interesting name that harkens back to the Old Testament. The verse reads, on our behalf Jesus has gone there before us and has become a high priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek. And tomorrow, when we encounter the book of Hebrews, we’ll be hearing much more about Melchizedek. And, so, we probably need talk about him a little bit. So, I’m going to start that today by just explaining who Melchizedek is and where he shows up in the Bible. And we’ll probably only get through the Old Testament part of that. But we’ll talk about it more tomorrow. So, who is Melchizedek and why is he compared to Jesus in the book of Hebrews? Now, when you start digging into that territory, it starts getting complicated really fast, and the waters get very murky, and you find everything from remarkable correlations to fantastical things that you would expect to read in an adventure or fantasy novel. So, if you want to lose yourself down that rabbit hole, there’s plenty of stuff to read about it, but if you want to stick to Biblical scholarship, then you’ve still got a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. So, we don’t have several hours to talk about this and I am nowhere near a leading expert on it, but over time I have done enough research and scholarship on it to at least give us some context and a little bit of a baseline, maybe just like a little platform from which you can do as many deep dives as you personally want to do. But in terms of what we do here every day, as we go through a portion of Scripture and apply it to our lives, context is important. So, let’s try to get some context. Melchizedek is a figure that first appears in the Bible in the book of Genesis chapter 14. And, obviously, we read that many months ago, back in the month of January. The story is about Abraham and Lot in a battle where there were five kings against four kings and Lot was captured and taken away in this battle and Abraham went in pursuit and recovered everything. And on his way back, he runs into this figure, Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of the most high God. And Abraham pays him a 10% tithe of the plunder from the battle and Melchizedek then, in turn, blesses them. So, no big deal so far, just the retelling of an event that happened and, perhaps, the first theological handle that we have in the Bible relating to Melchizedek is a distinction. So, let’s look at that real quick. I’m reading from Genesis chapter 14. After Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shiva, that is the King’s Valley, and Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God most high, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing. Blessed be Abram by God most high Creator of heaven and earth and blessed be God most high who was defeated your enemies for you. Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the good he’d recovered. The king of Sodom said to Abram, give back my people who were captured, but you may keep for yourself all the good you have recovered. Abram replied to the king of Sodom, I solemnly swear to the Lord God most high, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say I am the one who made Abram rich. I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Okay, so, before we can point out the distinction, we just have to understand what’s going on here. Abram has met God. God has invited Abram into a land that he would be shown and he’s following God’s directions. Understand, Abraham’s not following Scriptures. He’s not referring to prophecies. None of that has happened yet. So, the Bible that we are reading hasn’t happened yet at all, but Abram knows who he is always following and that his entire destiny is based upon that relationship because he’s left behind his home and all of the resources and culture that he’s used to navigating. And he’s away from all of that and he’s pursuing the direction of the God who introduced himself to him. So, he’s clear that his life is in God’s hands. So, we have the king of Salem, who is a priest of the most high God, who is coming out and blesses Abram. Of course, Abram in rescuing his kin, Lot, also saves the necks of a bunch of kings. One of them, the king of Sodom, who expects that he will have to reward Abram for what he’s done and he’s trying to negotiate that deal. Abram makes a distinction. He gives a tithe - a tenth to Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, but tells the king of Sodom he won’t take anything. He’s not taking anything from anyone in terms of plunder because in no way is he leaving the door open so later someone will be able to say that they made Abram. Right? That they made Abraham who he is. Abram is acknowledging God alone. So, we can say that. We can say that solidly. And that’s our first introduction to Melchizedek. Abraham makes a distinction between the king of Salem, priest of the most high God, and the other kings. So, who is this guy and does his name mean something? According the Scriptures, Melchizedek is the king of Salem, also known as Jerusalem. So, Melchizedek is a Canaanite king who rules the region and city of Jerusalem, also known as Salem. And the majority of biblical scholars would agree on that. What does his name mean? So, Melchizedek - the king of righteousness or maybe more literally, my king is righteous, or maybe even more literally, my king is right. And that’s it. Melchizedek only shows up one other time in the Old Testament by name and that is found in the Psalms. Psalm 110 verse 4, which reads, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And thoughts about this begin to spray off in all kinds of different directions from there. And, I mean, and you can see how. The order of Melchizedek, what is that? I mean, that sounds like the title to a thriller, does it not? I mean, what is the order of Melchizedek and how does one get into the club? So, we have to, first, acknowledge that a lot of things happen between Abraham and King David writing Psalms. Right? So, Abraham has Isaac. Isaac then sires Jacob and Esau. Jacob’s name changes to Israel. He has kids. They become the children of Israel. They are enslaved in Egypt. They are freed from Egypt. They wander in the wilderness. They come into the promised land, that is the conquest. We go through generation after generation after generation of judges and then kingship is introduced into the culture with King Saul and then comes David. So, a lot happens between the two times Melchizedek is named in the Old Testament. And even though a lot has happened, a lot of ground has been covered and a lot of years of past, Melchizedek doesn’t disappear from their thought. Even though he was only mentioned two times in the Old Testament far apart in history, he is still being referred to. Why would that be? Why would this obscure event in Abraham’s life that refers to an ancient Canaanite king who happened to the be a priest of the most high God continue forward in the culture extra-biblically throughout all the generations all the way down to King David writing a song? So, there can be all kinds of explanations but from a scholarship perspective, I think this is what holds the most water- Melchizedek is the first priest named in the Bible and he is a priest of the most high God, king of Salem. In David’s time, priests could only come from the tribe of Levi, as mandated by the Mosaic law, and yet, Melchizedek was most certainly not a Levite because Levi hadn’t been born yet in Abraham’s time when this incident happened. So, in Abraham’s time, there is no Mosaic law because Moses hasn’t been born and there are no Levites because Levi hasn’t been born. And yet, Melchizedek is a priest of the most high God, but most definitely not a Levite but the Bible makes it clear that he’s a king. So, Melchizedek is a priest of the most high God, who is also a king. So, when David writes Psalm 110 and he pens this song and writes these lyrics under the inspiration of God, a statement is being made. David is to be a priestly king in the order of Melchizedek. So, like Melchizedek was. And it so happens that David is king in Jerusalem, the same city. So, David is a king who is aligned with the priesthood. So, maybe not occupying the office and the function of Levitical priesthood, but nevertheless, the priesthood before God. And this is a bit of a big deal from a theological and from a cultural perspective in David’s time because they do have the Torah, they have the Mosaic law, and it’s the underpinning of their entire society, and priests can only be Levites. And yet, David is to be a priestly king. And the way that this can work is that David is being set aside by God, like Melchizedek, in the order of Melchizedek, to serve in that role even though he’s from the tribe of Judah and not the tribe of Levi. Okay. So, I have to take a small bunny trail that applies directly to this. So, probably the most compelling theological understanding would place us back in the life of Moses. So, we know the story of Moses and his childhood and him being placed in the river in a wicker basket and being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter and ending up killing an Egyptian and having to flee for his life and all of this. And the next thing you know Moses is before burning bush and God is calling him to set his people free from slavery in Egypt. And God is telling him to go and Moses is resisting, he was giving every excuse. And his main excuse is, I don’t know how to speak, like, I’m not a public speaker, I don’t know how to do this. And God’s telling him, you really don’t have to do anything but just obey me. Like, I’ll put the words in your mouth. It’s all good. You don’t have to worry about this. And, finally, Moses is like, send someone else, please send somebody else, which for me is a very sad scene in the Bible because of how much it imitates our own lives. But in the end, God relents and sends Moses brother Aaron to be the mouthpiece. And this is where we see sort of like this dual role - a priestly role and a governor or a kingly role. Moses and Aaron make up the two pieces but that is more like the plan B. Right? So, the plan A was that Moses would be empowered by God to lead his people and would be the mouthpiece of God to those people. In other words, a priestly governor, a priestly ruler, a priestly king. So, in other words, Melchizedek was a priestly king of the most high God. Moses would’ve been invited into that but didn’t enter into it. But then God invites David into that role once kings are introduced into the story of Israel. And that is where I’m going to stop for today. We are going to read about Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews extensively tomorrow and we’ll pick this up then, once we have a little bit more New Testament context to the story 

Prayer:

Father we thank You for the beauty of Your word. And as we apply our minds and hearts to all of its nuances and intricacy, we invite Your Holy Spirit among us. We thank You for this gift. We love You, Father, and worship You. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

It’s been a flurry of activity around here as we begin to deploy this new app and platform. And those of you who contributed to the Global Campfire Initiative will have been receiving your invites. And, so, you are some of the first people to even see this. So, we’re excited about that and we’ll continue forward toward our projected release of all of this in December.

Looking at the calendar, the 19h of this month, the month of November, we’ll be back out on the road in the deep South. We’ll be in Shreveport Louisiana area, Bossier City, Louisiana. And we’ll be sharing Sneezing Jesus at River Valley church in Bossier City. So, you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the events section. And, we’ll look forward to seeing you there.

If your partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Then as I say, often, I can’t thank you enough, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner. Had to catch myself. I almost said the upper right-hand corner because that’s how it is in the new app, but the lower 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning. It is Beloved by Him from Gloucester, UK and it Wednesday, the first of November. And, this is a praise report, really. I’ve been listening consecutively for to whole months now from ___ and it is amazing how God has blessed me since then and how much better I am now then I was when I started. So, let’s pray. Father God, thank You for the DAB. Thank You so, so much for Brian and the team behind it. Thank You for Brian who answered Your call and for everything you’ve done with it through then, for all those people who reviewed the DAB way back when I first started listening a long time ago. Father God, thank You for the Global Campfire Initiative. Thank You that the team are going to make this free and we pray Lord that You’d be at work in that, that You would help us discover all of those bugs, all of those problems, so that when it comes to releasing it properly it will just be a great instrument of grace for people to find You and learn and know more about You. Father God, I lift up my brothers and sisters out there who aren’t listening right now, who can’t listen for whatever reason, whether it’s a technical difficulty, no access to wi-fi or data, or ___ whatever. I pray Lord that You’d blessing them where they are and sending people and sending companions for them to help them through. Father God, for those of us who are in a dark state right now, be it depression or anxiety, something that’s stopping us from listening, I pray Lord that Your light will shine so, so brightly in our lives. We’d love to see You and be blessed by You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.  

Hi. Good morning Daily Audio family. It’s really nice to know that I have friends and brothers and sisters around the world for praying and believing who are strong who are in community. I just want to be vulnerable with my brothers and sisters this morning. I feel so lonely and on my own. I have been divorced for about four years now and live on my own and often on my quite time, it’s when we’re in isolation that the enemy tries to attack most, mainly in fort life, mainly ideas and notions and addictions and comforts. Sometimes we comfort ourselves in our loneness with different substances like drink and alcohol and even pornography to satisfy those needs. And I want to be honest with you, I’m struggling. I’m struggling with ___ of loneliness and with a God who is there, who knows my thoughts, who knows my coming in and going down, who knows my thoughts. I just want to put my need out there and say, I really need companionship and accountability, that the right people, the right friends, will come around me, that God will just comfort me. And You said You will never leave me or Forsake me. I just need stability and ___ that word today. I wish you and thank You for considering my prayer request and I love you all and appreciate you, Brian and Jill. God bless you all. Bye-bye.    

Hi everyone, it’s Lisa the Encourager. I hope you guys are having a great day. I am calling in to pray for some of my Daily Audio Bible friends. I’m calling to pray for Edgar. He is in Belize, He’s on a pilgrim’s journey. So, I want to pray for Edgar tonight. I also want to pray for Julie from Maryland, to lift up her husband in prayer. He’s a godly man and she just wants us to pray for him. So, I am going to praying for him for you tonight sweety. And also, doctor John, I am praying for Phoebe, she’s in medical school and I know that…I can’t imagine…I’m sure that’s a lot of stress and I guess she mentioned that she has some depression and anxiety and am just praying that she’ll alleviate some of that stress and that she’ll just have piece in God through all of that - from God. And also, Melany had called in abut her sister, that she was in a horrible accident and needed healing from that. So, I am praying for that for you and your dear sister Melany. And lastly, Homeward Bound called about her dad needing surgery and he needed it in two weeks. I think that was from October the 7^th. It’s been some time now. So, I’m not sure if he’s had surgery or is post or pre-op but I am definitely going to be praying for your dad, Homeward Bound, and it’s my pleasure to pray for your dad. So, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for Edgar and him on his pilgrim’s journey. Lord, I just pray You’ll protect him and give him all the kind of resources that he needs in order to complete this pilgrimage and that he’ll give all the glory to God and he will be able to be lifted up in His Spirit and feel fulfilled, Lord…and I just pray for…    

Hey Daily Audio Bible friends, this is ___ in ___ Chicago. I just left a message but I believe it got messed up, so, please delete that one and play this one instead. Anyway, let’s pray. God, thank You so much for today. Thank You for how You went before me and the people in the small group tonight as we met and had to talk about some tough stuff and You just did a miracle and gave me a humble heart, allowing us to listen to constructive feedback. I ask that You would open my heart to people that I have closed my heart to and just give wisdom on boundaries and all that stuff. Thank You, that You are constantly at work in the world and Yu are constantly at work in our lives. I thank You for the lady that calls into the Daily Audio Bible and sings songs over us. I ask that You will just strengthen and encourage her. Whether or not You bring back her original voice, we thank You that you’ve given her willingness to call in and bless us with the voice that she has right now. This is such a great, really amazing thing. So, thank You, God, for that. Thank you everyone that is listening and I ask that if there is anyone that is listening right now that wants to give up on life that You would bring them joy and peace and hope. Thank You so much that two days ago marked the one year anniversary of someone know and love being in the hospital for suicide, suicidal tendencies, but now is living and working and much healthier than before. So, we thank You so much for that beautiful transformation. Amen. Love you all. Bye.

Ezekiel 7:1-9:11; Hebrews 5:1-14; Psalms 105:1-15; Proverbs 26:28

Today is the third day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we dive in and take the next step forward through the Scriptures this year. And this week we’re reading from the Good News translation. And, so, for our Old Testament reading, Ezekiel chapter 7 verse 1 through 9:11.

Commentary:

Alright. So, the portion of the Proverbs that we are in right now is speaking directly to the kinds of things that come out of our mouth. And, of course, before something ever comes out of our mouth, it bubbles up from within our heart and filters through our mind and is formed into words and then we use, of course, our facial muscles and tongue to say those words. And we should become aware of the things that are forming in our heads that we’re about to say because, you know, when something comes bubbling out of our heart and filters through our mind, there’s still time. There’s still time to invite the Holy Spirit before we actually say the thing. So, for example, we talked about insincere talk the other day with the clay pot that’s of substandard quality but varnished to look like it’s valuable and the proverb equated that to insincere talk. Today the proverb tells us, look, insincere talk brings nothing but ruin. So, as one of the things of my father, that he would say to me, that has actually stuck, and, you know, I have been without my dad for 15 years now, but one of the things that he would counsel me on is, son nothing good can come from that - whatever that was. Today, it’s insincerity. Insincere talk brings nothing but ruin, the Bible says. So, nothing good can come from that. But the proverb starts, you have to hate someone to want to hurt them with lies. So, have you ever been lied to or lied about and then became aware of it and it wasn’t true, it was a lie and you were deeply hurt by it? Or maybe you’ve hurt someone that way? Maybe you’ve told things that are not true, spread things that are not true, and hurt someone deeply? According to the Scripture that comes from a place of hatred. So, remember when we were talking about things bubbling up in our heart and then filtering through our mind and then we speak them with our mouth. Well, that thing that was bubbling up in your heart before it was formed into words was hate and nothing good can come from that. The chaos and confusion that you may cause by that may feel like revenge or justice to you, but nothing good can come from that. Only ruin can come from that, according to the proverb. And, so, once again the Scriptures become the mirror that we have to face ourselves in. And once again the Bible penetrates deep, like we were talking about yesterday in the book of Hebrews, to the place where soul and spirit meet. If hatred is there and insincerity is there, in other words, falseness is there, then nothing good is going to come from it. And here is an example of the Scriptures reaching us at that level and challenging us, that we are new creations. This stuff does not have to linger anymore and be a part of our story anymore. And as old as the Proverbs are they still speak prophetically into our lives because this is the rhythm of the Scripture. How many times have we read through prophets who have been instructed by God to go warn people? Nothing good is going to come from what you are doing. It is only going to lead you to destruction and loss. It is only going to be bad. Come back. Return to me. Come home. This doesn’t have to happen. Our words work the same way. They bring about the same kind of destinies. And if we are harboring hatred and hurt people with lies and our insincere and false. Well then, there’s our warning straight out of the Bible today. It’s not going to go well. Turn back, come home, invite the Holy Spirit back into a leadership position in your life because it doesn’t have to go this way unless you want it to.

Prayer:

Father, we don’t want to live our lives piling up things that amount to nothing but ruin. We want our lives to matter. We want to reflect Your glory in this world, but we all have our own injuries and wounds, our own histories. And, so, we invite You into those places that are so deeply hurt that we would strike back with insincerity and lies and hatred in the places that we think there’s injustice toward us. And yet You are telling us through Your word, perpetuating that, passing it forward, is going to bring nothing but ruin. And, so, we give You control over our minds, our spirits, our identities and our tongues. And we ask, Holy Spirit, that You would come into those places that are broken and that we would yield to You before we say something that nothing good can come from. Come Holy Spirit. We pray. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

So, there’s always plenty going on around. So, check it out. Looking at the calendar, the 19^th of November will be our next date out on the road. And we will be in the Shreveport Louisiana area bringing the Sneezing Jesus message at River Valley church, which is in Bossier City, Louisiana. So, if you are in the South, come say hello, love to see you. And you can get all the details: maps, times, websites, phone numbers, all that kind of stuff dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the daily audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the website on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If you are using the app you can press the More button in the lower 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Joe The Protector from Georgia. It’s October 30^th at 7:50 in the morning. I just got finished listening to the podcast and the prayer at the end and I just want to lift up our sister Candice from Oregon. Candice from Oregon, I just want to encourage you and lift you up and when I heard you on today’s podcast it just gave me a new Spirit, like I believe you have. You’ve got a fresh new Spirit and it gave me something when I heard you singing and I just want to lift that up and lift that up to Jesus and thank Him for giving you courage through this time. And just know that you are loved. Alright. Love you all. Bye.

Hello DABber friends. This is Amanda from Virginia. I wanted to call in out of encouragement and sharing for Jacqueline from Texas. Oh, sweetheart, I have been where you are. I am on the other side of that and it was the hardest, darkest era of my life, but I can tell you that there is hope in Jesus. You are so doing the right thing by just engulfing yourself in the word because, think of it like your shelter, my husband did the exact same thing. I have 5 very small children and over a year ago he became angry and withdrawn and cynical and he is saved as well but he went to the darkest place I had ever seen. He got a girlfriend, which happened to be one of my good friends, and ended up sleeping with her for 8 months. It was just insane. And I cannot tell you the level grieving and depth of confusion and hurt and betrayal from the whole thing. But I’m telling you honey, this is an attack. It’s an attack on your family. It’s an attack on your husband and it’s an attack on you. Surround yourself like armor, with the word of God, with music that is just speaking life, and surround yourself with people that are seeking and praying for you. One of the best things that I did that changed everything was to pray for my husband. I actually had an alarm on my phone. So, it was three times a day. I actually called it my battle prayer because I felt like I was going to battle for my husband…for…

Hey everyone. This is Tony the painter. I just want to say a big thank you to everybody who replied to me on the prayer wall, especially to Brian and Jill but especially, especially, especially, especially to Jill. The words that you wrote were…yeah…just lovely. Thank you so much. Things are pretty bad. My marriage is dying or dead and guys…I just…being 4000 miles away from your spouse for like 10 months now is painful. I just want you to know I am praying for. I’m praying for the Global Campfire and the new app and…yeah…I just love you guys so much. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible, this is Paul from Houston and I was calling regarding response to the lady that didn’t give her name from September 16. I know, I’m a little behind, I’m trying to catch up. But she was mentioning, she was asking prayer for her husband who had a bipolar condition and had been speaking a lot of negativity and threatening different things and going with different episodes and I just want to pray that there would be peace in the house and I thank You Lord that Your Holy Spirit will dwell there. And I ask Lord that the Spirit of control or this bipolar condition would be addressed and I ask Lord that this husband would seek out that help that he needs and I thank You Lord that he’d be open to that and I ask Lord that your Holy Spirit to work there so that there will be a softening of hearts and a softening of countenance and I ask Lord that you would just be with them and be with this family Lord and I ask Lord for peace and Lord I pray that people would not be affected by these words for they realize that these words are not from God but there from the enemy. And I thank you Lord that you realize that the enemy tries to throw darts at You and that he have put Your shield up, put Your armor on, and be ready for that battle. And I just thank You Lord that You would bless and You prosper this family Lord and that You would be with them and I ask for Your peace and Your protection and Your Holy Spirit to guard this family. In Jesus’ name. I just thank You Lord for that. And thank you guys. Anyways, thank you for praying for Houston. We’re still recovering. There’s a lot of folks still having difficulty getting contractors and…

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14; Hebrews 4:1-16; Psalms 104:24-35; Proverbs 26:27

Today is the second day of November, welcome to the daily audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we get ourselves settled into this new month. And even as we do that, were settling into the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews in the New. And things get moving rapidly as we move toward the end of the year because we move through some shorter material, books of minor prophecy that are shorter and letters from the apostles that are shorter. So, we’ll be touching seven of the books of the Bible in the month of November but that’ll happen a little later. Ezekiel will take us out into the final week of the month and Hebrews will take us into next week. So, today, Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 16 through 6:14. And we’re reading from the Good News translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Hebrews, we come to what is certainly a very popular portion of Scripture, but it also happens to be one of the guiding scriptures for what we do here every day - the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it cuts all the way through to where soul and spirit meet. So, where is that? Where do soul and spirit meet? I’ve heard this Scripture all my life and just always kind of moved past it by thinking, well, it goes very, very deep. That’s the point. It’s something that can penetrate. But where do soul and spirit actually meet? Where is it that our true selves, our spirit and our awareness or consciousness, where do these come together other than the very, very place of our identity, the eternal places within us. So, the writer of Hebrews is telling us that the word of God can counsel and rebuke and correct us at that deep of a level, at the place where all of our constructs and all of our personality and all of the things that we do to make the world work fade away into what is true and implant truth at that place, thereby forming us as people and changing our convictions, ambitions, and coping mechanisms. The word of God can speak to us there. And, you know, if you’ve been on the journey this year, you can already see that. You can already bear witness to the truth of that. We can all agree, the scriptures judge the desires and thoughts of the heart, exactly as Hebrews tell us today. And there aren’t many things in this world that can speak that deeply or that can navigate through the maze of who we are - our wounds, our history, our convictions, our worldview and everything else that goes along with that. But the word of God can and does. And, so, we can see, so clearly, what gift it is to have the Bible in our lives every day. But this passage goes on and tells us why. It’s not as popular. You probably can’t quote it. But it goes on to tell us why. There is nothing that can be hid from God. Everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes and it is to Him that we must all give an account of ourselves. And with that awareness we see the irreplaceable gift of the Scriptures in our lives, being able to speak to us far deeper than really anything else can, and to guide us along the path that leads us to truth. That’s what this is all about. That’s why we’re doing this every day. We’re coming together for community around the global campfire but the essential piece that can’t be missing is the scriptures spoken over us aloud every day because this is powerful stuff. This is stuff that can change us at the level of our identity. It can bring out into the open who we really are. And isn’t that what we spend our whole life searching for? And isn’t the renewal and transformation and sanctification what we seek? That’s why we just did this Global Campfire Initiative - to further strengthen and build community wrapped around the rhythm of the scriptures being spoken aloud every day. And, as I’ve already said, I thank you humbly, those of you stepped forward into this, so that we can continue to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night because it’s potent. It orients us at the level of our identity toward God.

Prayer:

Father, we rejoice in and thank You for the gift of Your word in our lives, not only through the rhythm of what we do at the Daily Audio Bible as a community every day but through the personal transformation that You bring about in our lives through Your word every day. We thank You for this gift and we open our hearts to Your Holy Spirit and we invite Your word to speak into the places where soul and spirit meet. And we acknowledge that nothing can be hidden from You, all of creation is exposed and lies open before Your eyes, and we want that to be true of us. Willingly, we open our hearts to You completely. We trust You completely. Come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Check out the prayer wall while you’re there. Maybe pray for some people. Maybe there’s something you need prayer for. The prayer wall is a great place for that. So, be sure to check that out. And the prayer wall will be integrated into the new Daily Audio Bible app and web player as that moves through the beta process and gets ready for release for the new year.  So, we’ll keep you posted on that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we share in community, then dailyaudiobible.com is the place to go. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, the current app, press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill TN 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning DABbers. This is To Be a Blessing in California. I wanted to thank the woman in Indiana. I apologize, I don’t remember your name. But you saying God will make a way that I heard the other night when I wasn’t able to sleep and I found myself worrying. I didn’t know I was worrying until I heard the Psalm and it gave me such peace to remind me of the sweet love that Jesus has for us and that we don’t have to worry because He’s got us, He’s taking care of us. What a gift that was for me and I know that it was for many others. I’m praying for you all. I’m praying for Terry and his situation. I’m praying for Karen and her needs. I’m praying for Heather in Illinois. I’m praying for Blind Tony and Victoria S. I’m praying also for Sharron, who is learning by faith how to walk with Jesus even more. Speaking the Word, let God bless you and nourish you with His word and we will be victorious. What an amazing thing that will be. And that is to be victorious. God bless you all. Have a great day. Bye-bye.

Hi family. How are you this fine, fine day? This is Viola from Maryland. I hope you are all doing well. I’m about 2 weeks behind but it’s all good. I did say that I was in school. Brian and Jill, God bless you. But being in school hasn’t stopped me from praying for you. I pray that God will continue to protect you as you go on your journey to different states to promote Sneezing Jesus and I pray in the name of Jesus that everyone that we have given the book to will come to know the Lord. And I heard your prayer request for quitting cigarettes sister. You keep praying out to God so He is able to help you quit. I pray that when you smell cigarettes or you even see them, it will bring you sickness, it will be disgusting, as a matter of fact you will not have any desire for it anymore, in the name of Jesus. This is one of those things I did not want in my life any more. It was so horrible. It smelled. I couldn’t stand the smell of it and I pray the same for you in Jesus’ name.  Edgar, good to hear from you. So, you are in ___ brother. I pray that God will keep you and uphold you there and help you in the name of Jesus. Jay from New Jersey. I did hear your prayer request and every time since that prayer request and the lord has placed on my heart to pray for you. Brother, I pray for you today, that the Lord will give you a heart, a heart to follow after you, a heart that seeks passionately for Him in the name of Jesus. And that God will strengthen you so that you will not fall and that your heart’s desire. What does God say, that the ___. I pray in the name of Jesus that God will deliver you fully. Gabriel, young sister, I heard your prayer request and first of all I pray that God will comfort you as ____ over the person that killed themselves and I pray that God will use you as salt and light in the name of Jesus. I want to give a shout out to my good friend Nevi. Nevi, I haven’t heard form you in a while. Text me. Okay? Asia, my sister from Munich, I pray for you from time to time. And I want to pray for…

Hi. This is Max from Tennessee and I’m calling in for Jaqueline and her husband. You said he’s looking to divorce and he’s been threatening. So, I just pray, Father, Spirit of the Lord, I just pray that You come and be very close to them in Jesus’ name. Both of them are believers. Her husband’s being very deceived right now. So, I pray Your grace over them that you will bring comfort to Jaqueline and that you would bring sobering truth to her husband in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jaqueline, if you’d like to reach out to me, it’s max@edmiston.org I’d love to share my testimony with you and testimony from people in my life as well. Love you. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible. This is Rebecca from Michigan. Today I went to the church that is close to my house. It’s in a movie theater called Imagine theater. We kind of rent a room in the theater. But after the theater, there’s like a bar in it. So, I went to the bar, not to drink alcohol, but I sat at the bar to talk to the bar tender girl. Right now she’s a single mom just like me except my child is 31 and hers is maybe 2. And she’s younger than me. I’m like old enough to be her mom. We started talking and I talked about the church and you know she was talking about how she wanted to read the bible and I told her about Daily Audio Bible. So, you might get a bar tender listening to Daily Audio Bible. So, pray for the girl at Imagine theater, the bartender. I don’t remember what her name was. God knows everybody’s name. So keep her in your prayers. I told her how she could listen to it, how you guys pray for people, and how Brian talks about what we just read and how she can relate it to her life. Yeah. Pray for her. And you know you guys, I’ve been trying to decide if I should get another job or something because I’m doing ___ for ___ university and I don’t just go to work. I love my job and I love working with ids and I like driving but it doesn’t really support me and I don’t have any health insurance and I…

Ezekiel 1:1-3:15; Hebrews 3:1-19; Psalms 104:1-23; Proverbs 26:24-26

Today is the first day of November, the first day of the 11th month of our year. So, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we take this step into the new month. And this next step forward takes us into a new book. So, having wound our way through the warning prophecies of Jeremiah and then seeing those prophecies come true in the fall of Jerusalem and the carrying off of the Jewish people and exile in Babylon in the book of Lamentations, we find ourselves at the threshold of the book of Ezekiel. And Ezekiel is the first of two prophets from the Babylonian exile. Ezekiel prophesied to the Jewish people for the first two decades of their exile in Babylon. And true to form, the prophet prophesies and the people are too busy assimilating themselves into the new culture to listen. Ezekiel also contains descriptions of almost cinematic visions that in many ways parallel the visions of John on the island of Patmos when he wrote the book of Revelation. And these parallels are often cross-examined in eschatological studies, the studies of the end times, but this doesn’t make it a lofty and unapproachable book. These visions have a great impact, personally, on Ezekiel and if we’re able to allow ourselves to approach the book and the imagery from the perspective of what it speaks to our hearts, rather than trying to force it into a timeline of some sort or a linear ABC list, we’ll be able to revel in its deep and rich textures, allowing it to speak to us as a sunrise would rather than how the morning newspaper does. The book of Ezekiel holds much promise for us today and is one of the most relevant books of prophecy we have. Ezekiel may have spoken these words thousands of years ago, but it is as if he is saying them now. And, we, once again, have the opportunity to ignore or embrace what God is saying. And with that, from the Good News translation this week, Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 15. And we’ll begin with Ezekiel’s first vision of God.

Prayer:

Father, as we begin this brand-new month, this 11th of the 12 months that are the revolution through a year, we look back, as we do at the beginning of most months and we see Your continued faithfulness and counsel and guidance through Your word each day. And as we begin the book of Ezekiel and begin to move our way through those prophetic utterances, we invite Your Holy Spirit to speak to us. As we continue through the book of Hebrews, we invite You to speak to us. And of course, we are led into your faithfulness and worship and adoration in the book of Psalms, but we also find ourselves there, for they speak true, the cry of the heart. And we receive Your counsel from the book of Proverbs. And we continue to meditate on Your words in the way that we use them, the way that we use them for good and the way that we use them falsely, as You have been challenging us. So, come Holy Spirit. We consecrate this month and our hearts to You and Your service in this world in this brand-new month. Come Jesus. We pray in Your name. We ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

So, couple things. As we bring to the closing, the Global Campfire initiative. I just want to thank those of you who participated. Thank you for hearing me and understanding what we’re trying to do and why we’re trying to do it, in building out this platform and the new integrated app that goes along with it and making it free, free for anyone. We are full steam ahead and kind of our wrapping up development of phase 1 of this. Those of you who participated will be getting an invitation with instructions on how to access the app and begin to use it. And it’ll take a couple of days for the us to get that all organized together and out but we’re beginning that today. Super, super excited, like perma-grin on the face about this day because it’s been a long slog forward to get this point. So, I can’t thank you enough. And I’ve already said it all, but it just bears repeating. Thank you for sewing into the lives of those who are coming in making a better way to experience the spoken word of God in and among this community. Thank you.

And then, I haven’t mentioned the calendar in a few days, but coming up on the 19th of this month, so in a couple weeks, we will be in Shreveport, Louisiana, in Bossier City, Louisiana, to be specific, and we will be bringing the Sneezing Jesus message at River Valley church in Bossier City. So, if you are down south then come say hello. For sure, come say hello. You can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com. Just scroll down to the events section and you’ll find everything you want to know there and we’ll see you soon.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link and it’s on the homepage. And I thank you, thank you every day for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner and if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill TN 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 Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hey DAB family this is Byron calling from Florida. I’m calling for Lee in New Jersey. Hey brother, I’m so sorry that your family is going through this difficult time, this conscious moment, where it seems to be coming apart due to your anger issues. You know I’m praying for you and that we’re all praying for you coming together as a community to cover for you guys man. But here’s the thing, do you deserve, perhaps, for your family to leave because of your anger issues? Yeah. Maybe. But is it in God’s will for your family to stay together? Yes. Yes. 100% absolutely yes. You need to understand that those two things are not related to each other. We are Christians. The very story of our live is that we are getting from God what we don’t deserve. So, take all that anger, all that frustration, and all that screaming and direct it upward, direct it towards God, direct it toward Your Father because He can take it and moreover, He can do something about it. Don’t take this lying down. Don’t resign yourself that you have to lose your family because you deserve it. Our God is bigger than that, stronger than that, and more merciful than that. So, trust Him and wait for Him and allow Him to show up and do something awesome to you so that when it’s done, all you can say is, God is gracious, He is merciful and He’s done so much for me. That’s all of our story. And I know, particular to my family, that’s my story too. I have a family I don’t deserve and I praise God for it. Praise Him for it to man. Love you. Praying for you.

Hello global campfire. This is Drew from Dallas. Today is October 28^th and I’m calling to express gratitude because last week marked one year since I began listening to the Daily Audio Bible. And last week we also celebrated my son’s first birthday. And those two milestones are related because I learned about the DAB from our doctor, who told us about it as he delivered our son, whose name is Jack, into this world. And, so, over the past year, as baby Jack has grown, so has my love for God, thanks to the Daily Audio Bible. Jack and I often listen together. And, so, he is quite familiar with Brian’s voice. And I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in year two. So, thank you so much Brian and everyone else who’s behind the scenes for sharing the spoken word of God with us. It has made such a difference in our lives and we continue to be deeply grateful.

This is Peg in Texas. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I lift up the one who called from Kentucky. I think her name is Karen and yet I’m not sure I remember correctly. But you know exactly who she is and you know the concerns of her heart before they were even shared with the DAB family, a part of Christ’s body on earth. Now I pray for her and all those who have expressed tremendous loneliness. Father, You understand better than we understand ourselves. You understand that there is a sadness in not being connected, there is a sadness in being surrounded with one’s thoughts and not having feedback. Sometimes we need to hear that our requests are taken seriously. Sometimes we need to hear our name placed before You. And, so, now I place her name and I just ask for the others that have expressed the same thoughts of loneliness that You will minister to each one. Even in being alone, I pray that she and others will begin to experience the truth in that You have said that You will never leave and that You will never forsake. How grateful l am that You are ever present, that You see, that You hear, that Your spirit invades, and that You convict and convince through the Holy Spirit. I pray that Karen and for all those who are lonely. I pray that they will make the choice to talk with You, to listen to You as You speak through Your word. I pray that You will grant her and others, and even myself, the joy of friendliness whenever and wherever we rub shoulders with others. I pray that You will grant her an interest in those that cross her path, nurses and doctors and other patients, maybe family far away or maybe someone down the street or maybe someone at church.

Hi Daily Audio Bible. This is Paul from Houston and I’m calling in response to a September 3^rd call by Tony the painter from London. And he was asking for prayer regarding his marriage with his wife from North Carolina that they hadn’t seen each other since January. So, I was just wanting to pray that God would open the doors for Tony and for his wife and that they will be reunited and I ask that God would just orchestrate that and that openings would come at the right time and his green card would come at the right time. And I just thank God and ask that his marriage would just be the whole and it will be together and I thank you Lord for blessing his marriage and I thank You Lord for being with him, with Tony and with his family. I thank You Lord for blessing them wherever they are, whether it’s in London, North Carolina, or wherever they end up. Thank You God that You ordained it and that You orchestrated it and I thank You God that You are in control of him and of our lives. I thank You Lord for the marriages out there, Lord, that You would unite husbands and wives. And I thank you Lord that You would orchestrate these different things. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Lamentations 4:1-5:22; Hebrews 2:1-18; Psalms 103:1-22; Proverbs 26:23

Today is the 31st day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. Of course, it’s awesome to be here with you today as we prepare to close down the 10th month of the year. Today is the 304th day of the year, which leaves us with 61 steps to go to the finish line. And, also today, we will conclude the book of Lamentations. So, let’s get to that. We are reading from the Good News translation this week. Lamentations chapter 4 verse 1 through 5 verse 22 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’re quite a bit of ways into the book of Proverbs and we have been dispensed. Each day, a bit of wisdom has been given to us that is practical and usable and true. And we also notice that it deals with all of the different postures and issues of our lives, encouraging us in the path that leads to and operates within wisdom. But we also have to acknowledge that where it is taking is now, the territory that we are going through right now, is pretty close to home, because its dealing with the things that were saying and how that affects things and it uses metaphors that we can understand to show us what we’re doing, which gives us a great opportunity to ask ourselves, ‘is that what I want to be doing with my words’. In other words, if this is what is happening, is that who I want to be? So, let’s look at this proverb. Insincere talk is how this proverb begins. So, what are we talking about we talk about insincere talk? We’re talking about language or the portrayal of an emotion that is not authentic, that is not genuine. In other words, we don’t mean what we’re actually saying and we don’t feel what we’re actually portraying or saying it because it’s what we feel like we should say or we’re exaggerating what we’re saying or what we’re portraying ourselves to be feeling, we’re exaggerating and stretching that beyond what is true and authentic. And the proverb says this is cheap talk. And we know that euphemism. We know that proverb - talk is cheap. This is what we’re talking about. But underneath that, we have to understand that it’s a sham. It’s not true. It’s not genuine. It’s not authentic. It’s not real. It veils the truth. It hides what you’re really thinking. So, as the proverb goes, ‘insincere talk that hides what you really thinking is like a fine glaze on a cheap clay pot’. So, if we’re looking at the metaphor, then the clay pot is made of cheap materials is maybe poorly constructed, isn’t going to hold together all that well, maybe it’s porous and actually won’t hold liquid, and so there’s a glaze that’s put over the top but that’s going to break down and it’s going to leak, which probably brings us to another euphemism -  that won’t hold water. That’s what we’re talking about here. So, this glaze is slapped on top of it to make it look like it’s a finely crafted piece, but it’s not. It’s cheap. It’s going to hold up. It’s not what it’s being presented to be. So, put that starkly, as the Proverbs are prone to do, we immediately have the mirror that the Scriptures become up in front of our faces and we have to examine ourselves. That’s the invitation of the proverb. Do you want to live wise or not? If you do, then this is this is what you need to pay attention to. This is what the Proverbs teach us. So, we have to look at ourselves and say, am I true, am I real, am I authentic and genuine in the things that I communicate or is most of this a sham? I don’t think there’s anyone listening right now that’s like yes, yes, every day I roll out of bed and see how fake I can possibly be and when I lay my head down at night, if I can feel like I fooled everyone, then mission accomplished. Like, I don’t think we live our lives that way. But using this proverb and the metaphor that it presents us, we might find that we very much are participating in insincere talk throughout any given day. And according to the proverb, we’re trying to pass off something as valuable that is cheap. And if we’ll pay attention to this proverb, if we’ll put it in our hearts and walk through this day observing ourselves, we’ll probably catch ourselves. And as we observe ourselves being this way, then we have the opportunity to name it and change it.

Prayer:

Father, we come into Your presence asking for Your help with this, the false places inside of us that just come spilling out all kinds of social situations. How is it that we can be true and sincere and present in our language, in our speech, rather than peddling something off that isn’t true? Come Jesus we pray, we need Your help, and we ask for in Your name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

What has been going on around here for the last week is the Global Campfire Initiative and that initiative will be concluded today. It was our hope to move through a week of the initiative and then be able to move forward in the development that we’ve been talking about. And, so, before the days out, the Hatch Prints will be gone. There are a few left. You can still certainly get involved. I don’t know what else to say to say that I am humbled that we can do this together and that we have done this together and that you’ve cared that were in this together and were doing this together. That is so heartening to know that there are passions about the spoken word of God in community that are beyond my own. So, thank you. And if you do want to participate, dailyaudiobible.com is the place to go. Just scroll down and you’ll find the Global Campfire Initiative. And thank you for helping us finish this strong and completely. From the bottom of my heart and the heart of all of the team, everybody who’s involved in writing lines of code or praying or whiteboarding or dreaming, thank you.

Of course, one of the things that we do very well around here is pray for each other. If you have a prayer request or comment, if you’re shouldering burdens, there’s a place to bring them and have them shouldered together in community. 877-942-4253 is the number you can dial.

And that’s it for today. This concludes the 10th month of our year together, concludes the month of October. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow as we begin a new month.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning my Daily Audio Bible family. I hope you are well. This is Erin in Michigan and I am calling with a prayer request for my niece, that she would turn back to God and also to take care of yourself. She has health issues and needs to eat well and sleep well and then do her college work. So, just lifting her up and holding her out to God because I know that she’s been chosen by him and has a great purpose in life. Lord, just ask for truth, health, and strength to get there. And my main request, Lord, and family, is to pray for me. I am embarking on a path that leads towards working towards racial reconciliation and I want to arrive in a church that believes that this is the church’s work and I totally and fully believe that as the body of Christ we are the ones to heal the divisions that have long been not even recognized as a division. So, Lord, I lift up our churches. I lift up our brothers and sisters of color, Lord. And I lift up those of us in the church, as it is our work to heal the racial divide that has scared our country since its inception. So, thank you for praying with me family. I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day. Bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible DABbers. This is Dianne B. from Newburg, Indiana and I’m calling to mainly pray for Rayna from LA. Sister, I am in your shoes right now and want you to know that hang in there and just obey Psalm 91 -  the secret place. Get in the secret place every day. Focus on that. Focus on the word. Focus on worship. And I hear your pain and you feel hopeless. And people are saying, ‘what’s wrong with you’? And you love your job and you were free of fibromyalgia once but it’s come back full force. And I stand with you sister. I stand with you and I am fighting with you in my own battles in similar ways. So, every single day I am going to lift up your name to the Lord and I am going to pray that you be restored better than you were before because it is (singing) Him whom we love, it is Him whom we follow, it is Him whom we trust, it is Him, Jesus (singing stops). God bless you sister. I am going to pray every day. Shalom, shalom. Nothing is missing. Nothing is broken.

Good morning DAB family. This is Cheryl from Arkansas. And I have a prayer request today and ask that all of you guys, myself included, that we pray for our sisters and brothers in Puerto Rico. I pray that we the Spirt of Jesus and the love of Jesus when we think of them and our hearts go out to them and that we treat them as one of us and that we treat them as the sisters and the brothers that they are, just like the sisters and the brothers to the right of us and to the left of us in the different states and cities within the United States. I ask that you pray with me, that we pray for the love that we have unconditionally and that we not treat them any differently because they’re not different. And that’s my prayer. And I just thank you guys are praying with me. Thank you, have a good day. Bye-bye.

Almighty and powerful God, I come to you tonight on behalf of Lee, who confessed his sin of anger to the DAB family. We are told to confess our sins, one to another, and to pray for one another and as the DAB family we do that right now. At the same time, You tell us, if we confess that You are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Father God, Lee’s anger must have been like a powder keg, he lost control and the flames were explosive, not just singing the relationship with his wife and his 13-year-old daughter but charring the relationship to the point of ashes. Oh, Father the family is deeply hurt. Lee is depleted, feeling unworthy of love and respect and a place within the family. Oh God, I pray that Lee’s anger will not go unchecked, the festering great bitterness. I pray Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit that Lee will embrace as the elective God always because of confession and beloved. Because he is Your child, that he will put on tender mercy, that he will put on kindness, that he will put on humility and meekness and longsuffering as You tell all of us, all of us as Your servants, and as the servants of our family. Father, we can’t do it without the powerful work of the spirit within. Grant it, I pray. At the same time, I ask, that in time that his wife and his daughter and his little son will see that Lee is repentant and they will have listening ears and open hearts and that by Your Spirit You will grant supernatural willingness to forgive and that restoration of the family will be Lees gift from You. Oh, Father I pray in the strong name of Jesus. I leave this petition with You and thank You.