Category: DAB Transcripts

Lamentations 3:1-66; Hebrews 1:1-14; Psalms 102:1-28; Proverbs 26:21-22

Today is the 30th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. Great to be here with you today as we settle into the rhythm of this week. And, so, we got off to a big start yesterday, beginning the book of Lamentations and then reading Paul’s letter to Philemon. We’ll continue in Lamentations today, but we read Philemon in one sitting, which will bring us to the book of Hebrews, where we’ll camp out for a while, once we get to the New Testament. And we’ll talk about that when we get there, but now we are here. Lamentations, chapter 3 verses 1 through 66 today. And we’re reading from the Good News translation this week.

Okay. So, the book of Hebrews that we’re about to begin is one of the most compelling exhortations to stay true, to keep the faith that we have, in all of the New Testament. And while that’s true, the letter to the Hebrews is a bit of an anomaly, because we don’t know, fully, its origins. Although the apostle Paul’s been credited with authorship in several traditions, this is not very likely. And its also unclear which Hebrews are being written too. It could have been Jewish believers in Jerusalem or possibly believers in Rome. So, biblical hermeneutics is the study of the where and the why and the when of a sacred writing, believing that it mattered, that God inspired something to be written at a specific time and that that specific time matters to our interpretation. We can’t fully do that with the book of Hebrews, although we can get close. Timothy, Paul’s spiritual son, is mentioned in the letter. So, it’s contemporary with Paul’s writings or maybe just slightly after. What is very clear is that persecution has begun to take place in the Jewish community and, although it’s not martyrdom, what’s happened is that the Jewish believers and those who sympathize with them have begun to suffer ridicule. They’re looked at with contempt. And, so they been thrust to the sidelines. They been marginalized as irrelevant and weird. And this part we can apply directly to our cultures around the world today, as the efforts of the culture try to frame followers of Jesus as irrelevant, backwards, a little weird. The pressures placed on those early Jewish believer because of this were making many of them just this kind of like fade back into the woodwork, like hiding their faith, doing what they could blend in. And at the same time, others were turning their backs on the faith altogether and not moving back into Judaism. The letter to the Hebrews steps in and encourages Jewish believers to stay faithful to Jesus and not to turn back to their former ways. It encourages them to hold on. And, through them, it tells us the hold fast of the hope that we have in Christ without wavering at all. So, this is a very important message for believers today and it just happens to be given brilliantly through the Jewish heritage in the lens of the Old Testament. And, so, we begin. Hebrews chapter 1.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’ve done a little bit of a flyover of Hebrews to give ourselves some context for where we’re going in that letter. And then we get to the Proverbs and its continuing on with what we began to talk about yesterday, when we were told that when you remove the fuel from a fire the fire goes out and equates it to gossip. When you remove gossip, the quarreling stops. Which should tell us just how insidious that kind of behavior can be in a community and should give us pause before we pass on those tasty morsels. And the proverb continues with that thought today - charcoal keeps the embers glowing. Right? So, it keeps this thing simmering down below, hot coals just waiting to flare up. Wood keeps the fire burning. Troublemakers keep arguments alive. Gossip is so tasty and how we love to swallow it. Now it’s easy enough to come to these kinds of passages in the Scriptures and go, okay, I’m reminded again that my words matter, okay, I’m reminded again that in my interactions lead to things and create things, and this is a good devotional thing, I should remember this. And, so, we kind of move past it without realizing just how significant of the thing we’re talking about here. For the Proverbs to use fire as the metaphor for what we’re talking about when we talk about gossip and arguments, we should pay attention because fire consumes things, burns things up, burns things down, which can be fine if you trying to incinerate garbage, but not so good if you’re burning your house down. Right? So, like, if you’re burning down all of the relationships around you, that’s not a good recipe for life, but that’s not going to stop until the fuel is removed, which is our words. And gossip is one of those transmission vehicles that, it’s like the Bible says, it’s tasty. It’s tasty to be in the know and to have some little bit of information that nobody else has and then to pass it along and then to create a reality around that little bit of information filling in all of the blanks, we love to swallow that stuff. We just need to understand that were swallowing poison. So, it’s easy enough for us to go like, okay, if I am a gossip, I should stop. But it’s not just that, it’s the willingness to listen to the gossip that perpetuates the problem. Like, if there is no place to pour out the gossip, well, then it can’t take hold. So, it’s not just for those who are willing to gossip about someone else. It’s also about those who are willing to listen to such things without pointing out to that person, look, you need to take that up with them, like, this isn’t me, and we don’t have all the details here. So, you need to take that up with them and then I’m happy to have a conversation if they’re here but I’m not going to talk behind their back. That wouldn’t be right. I wouldn’t want that done to me. You wouldn’t want that done to you. So, we can’t do that to them. And that’s fair. And that may get you on the outs for a minute. You’re no longer the place where the gossip gets dumped on but that’s kind of the point. Troublemakers keep arguments alive, the proverb says, in the same way that charcoal keeps embers glowing and wood keeps fires burning. And we shouldn’t participate in any of it if wholeness and restoration and renewal are really what we’re after. And so, let’s remember this as we move through our day. Let’s pay attention to the things that we’re saying and the things that are being said to us. And it’s simple enough to use the proverb. Am I adding fuel to the fire by saying this or by listening to this?

Prayer:

Father, we submit our tongues and our ears to You because we’ve submitted everything - our heart our spirit, our body - everything that we are - our identity, our awareness – we’ve submitted these things to You. And, in doing so, You promise to renew and re-create us as we were intended to be. This is sanctification. And, so, this becomes a much bigger matter. So, come Holy Spirit. We invite You into this area of perpetuating arguments that don’t need to exist and spreading gossip that is full of things that aren’t even real. 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.

Right now, what’s going on is the Global Campfire Initiative, which is our move as a community to face outward and march forward. And I told the whole story of that last week, of all of the new technologies that we’ve been building for years, literally. But it’s now kind of reaching a culmination point, a sort of phase one point, where we’re about to unveil this new integrated Daily Audio Bible app that is completely ours, that is connected to our system that is completely ours, and the new web player that also looks like the app and is integrated and works because it’s ours. And all of that is great. We are going to take some big steps forward. But in prayer, over this year, God has invited us to make this app free. And in the past it’s always been $0.99. And that was kind of always the plan, to keep it that way, until we felt God impressing upon us – nope, this is to be given away. So, we’re inviting the community, the global campfire community to dive in and participate in the Global Campfire Initiative as we face forward and outward toward those who will come into contact because were doing this. And that is really a beautiful thing because, as we take the journey next year, we’re going to hear brand-new voices who are going to find this because of what we’re doing right now. So, we began this last Tuesday with the hope and wish and prayer that we could finish the Global Campfire Initiative by the end of this month, which is tomorrow. And it looks like that’s about where we are. And, so…man…I mean I’m humbled every day that we get to do this at all and I’m doubly humbled when we need to do something together that we do. And, so, I thank you, all of you who have participated in the Global Campfire Initiative up to this point. I thank you from the bottom of my heart because we’re taking some big risks now. And, so, to step forward in faith, and watch God show up through his people is a humbling thing indeed. So, we made these Hatch Show Prints here in the rolling hills of Tennessee, these unique posters that are beautiful in their old school technology, as a memento as a commemorative of this moment in our history. And we only have a few of those left. So, if it’s in your heart to partner with Daily Audio Bible in this way, to do this mission, we’ll send you one of those for your contribution of $200 or more. And you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. Just scroll down and you’ll find, in the initiative section, the Global Campfire Initiative. And you can read about it there and see the Hatch Show Print. And, of course, I told the whole story about this last Tuesday. So, you can just kind of scroll back and listen to that if you haven’t had the chance, but I thank you in advance for your partnership as we step into this new season together.

Of course, if you have a prayer request or comment, if you’re carrying burdens that are best not carried alone, that’s what we do, that’s what the Global Campfire is. It’s a community where we come around the light and warmth of the word and let it wash over us and wash into us each and every day and then we live it out. And one of the ways we live it out is that we’re good at praying for each other. So, if you’re carrying burdens you shouldn’t carry alone, there’s a number you call, 877-942-4253 is that number. And that’s one of a couple of numbers. That’s the number you can call if you are in the Americas. If you are in the UK or Europe we have a number 44-20-3608-8078 and if you are in Australia or the lands down under 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning my DAB family. I hope you are all well. It’s Margo from Australia and I’ve got something on my heart. I’ve been wanting to call in and I am really hoping that it will encourage some of us as it has encouraged me. I want to say something to those of us, and I include myself, who suffer from depression and anxiety. I’ve had the illness for 18 years and it is a horrible thing to live with and it does make life really tough. Unfortunately, in this society it’s really become an epidemic. But what I want to say though is, do not give up on God. If you’ve been this way for a long time, like me, that doesn’t mean that He’s not still going to heal you. I’ve always likened this illness to like being in a prison. So many times, I have cried out to God and just begged Him so to just let me out of this prison, to please set me free from this prison of depression. At this point in time He hasn’t, yet. Just because He hasn’t yet doesn’t mean He’s not going to. It really struck me the other day when we read in Jeremiah chapter 37. When it said that Jeremiah was put in prison and he stayed there for very long time. Now, I don’t know how long that means but maybe it was 18 years like me. I just want to say, don’t ever give up on God. His arm is not to short that it cannot save. Personally, I cannot wait for 2017 to be over. It has been, by far, the worst year of my life, quite frankly. Yet I find myself feeling closer to God than I ever have. I think it’s because I’ve finally come to a place where I’ve stopped being angry at Him for not healing me and I’ve just decided to be strong, take heart, and wait for the Lord. I really hope that encourages you. Bye for now.

Hey Brian. This is Jim from Southern New Hampshire. I want to thank you brother, so much, for your ministry. I praise God for this. God ____ prompted my heart to look for an audio bible podcast and I found the DAB community. I’m so thankful for that. As one brother said today, being washed by God’s word every day is amazing and I have really ___ so very much. Sharon in northern CA, I am praying for you sister. I am praying for your broken relationship, that God would heal and bring reconciliation for your husband and your children. Rayna in LA, I am praying that God will heal your body and take away the pain and will give you the vitality and the steadiness you need to do your job. And today, Thomas, you called in saying that you were going to have surgery on the 23^rd. I assume that that surgery went well brother and now I am praying that God will give you a quick recovery. Daily Audio Bible family, try to ___ today. Keep looking up.

Thank You Father God for helping us. Thank You for being the rock that we could stand on. Thank You Father God for helping us with our depression, our finances, our lives, our work, our children. Thank You Father God for helping those who are in pain and for subsiding their pain. Thank You Father God for helping our kids who are addicted to substances and letting us be a light to them and putting hope in the them. Thank You Father God for the lady that called October 25 about her pain and that she wants to give up and she wants to be pain free and You are going to help her. Thank You Father God. We thank You in advance for all these things. We thank You that You are Our Father. We thank You that we can come to You. We thank Yu that we can surrender all to You. We thank You for being in our lives and our thoughts and our minds even when the world tells us not to and we stray away from You and You come back to us Lord Jesus. Thank You Father God for everything that You do, the blessings that You give us that we don’t deserve. Forgive us for our sins Father God. We love You so much. Thank You Father God for helping us all and for bringing peace into this family. Thank You Father God for helping Brian with his decisions and growing this ministry and giving Him the desires of his heart. Thank You Father God. We love You so much. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Singing – Way past anything I could dream of. Lord You rock my world. My hearts quaking at the sight as You make all things new. Can I really be part of this resplendent joy – Singing stops. You are beautiful. Your justice rolls down like mighty waters. Oh, this very host proclaims your name. Alleluia, Alleluia! Singing starts - Way past anything we could dream of. Lord You rock our world. Our hearts quaking at the sight as You make all things new. Singing stops. We can really be part of this resplendent love.  You are beautiful. Thank You Lord. Thank You Jesus. This is Candice from Oregon and I just want to say to each and every one of you, just what an honor it is to be among you. And I’m thanking God, Brian, for just the wonderful vision and dream of what’s about to take place as far as technology and the new app and I just want to encourage every caller and everyone who’s not calling, just stay in the word and look to Jesus for everything.

Father God, thank You for this new day. Thank You for this beautiful earth that You’ve given us. Father God, I lift up Spain to You today. Thank You for Spain and what You are doing there.  Lord, I pray particularly for all the regions of Spain but in particular, Catalonia. You know what’s going on there Lord, You know about the ___ between the Catalonians and the Spanish government and I just pray Lord that You be at work in that situation. Oh God, we pray for peace, not unrest. I pray Lord that people would be able to talk to each other and to communicate and not act rashly. Thank You for who is in charge there. Thank You for the government officials on both sides. Please be at work in that situation. And may Your name be praised in Spain. I pray Lord, I pray You’ll be blessing Your people there, that Your name will be praised and that more and more people will hear Your word. Thank You for all the different things that make up Spain, all those different regions, all those different flavors. Pray Your blessing on them. In Jesus name. Amen. Alright. This is ___ from the UK. On Facebook quite a while ago I said I thought about changing my name to Beloved By Him. So, this is Beloved By Him from Gloucester in the UK. Today is Friday the 23^rd of October. May God bless You wherever you are. In Jesus name. Amen.

Lamentations 1:1-2:22; Philemon 1:1-25; Psalms 101:1-8; Proverbs 26:2

Today is the 29th day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. And here we are at the threshold of us sparkly, shiny, new week. And we’ve got some ground to cover this week. Before the week is over, we will enter a new month and we’re going to begin four, that’s right, four books in the Scriptures this week. So, in the Old Testament, we will read through the book of Lamentations, which are about to get to in just a minute, and then begin the book of Ezekiel, and in the New Testament we’ll read Paul’s letter to Philemon, which we will read today, and then move our way into the book of Hebrews. So, we’ve got some ground cover and let’s get to it. We’re going to read from the Good News translation this week and we will begin by beginning the book of Lamentations. And the book of Lamentations is a book that contains five poems and their poems of lament and grief. And this lament is over the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. And we covered some of that territory as we read through Jeremiah’s prophecies. So, in Hebrew this book is called Ica, which means, ‘how could this happen’. And, of course, we know how it could happen. Jeremiah, the prophet, warned over and over - over decades of impending doom if the children of Israel didn’t return from their wicked ways and now the prophecy has come true. And although Lamentations doesn’t claim an author and there’s really no definitive proof, we have church tradition that tells us that the prophet Jeremiah wrote these Lamentations. So, we don’t let for a fact, but he was obviously intimate with this scenario, and in the same time period. So, Lamentations was probably written somewhere in early, 587 BC, as the Babylonians conquered and then completely destroyed Jerusalem in 586. Whether Jeremiah wrote this or not, someone who was an eyewitness probably did. And today in Jewish culture, on the ninth day of Ob, which is July 16^th on the western calendar, Lamentations is read on a day of fasting to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem. And as each poem is read it provides a backdrop for personal reflection. Lamenting, that’s never something that we sign up for. Lamenting is never an easy thing. Grief is certainly hard but it also has a way of washing us clean because it strips us away until all that’s left is what is true, what is bedrock, in our lives. And it can be intensely painful, for sure, but it’s also freeing in hindsight. And when we’ve fallen into the depths and there’s no more depths to go to, then we find there’s hope, there’s nowhere to go but up. The euphemism says there is hope for our future. And we can find this in this book of Lamentations much hope in our personal reflection. And, so, we began Lamentations chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 22.

Okay. So, as we enter the New Testament portion of our reading today, we come to the book of Philemon. It’s just a little personal letter from the apostle Paul that we will read today, all in one sitting. And it’s written to a church leader in the church at Colossae, so, the Colossians, and his name was Philemon. So, Philemon was one of the more wealthy and influential churchmen and in a strange twist of divine providence, Philemon had a servant and his name was Onesimus. And Onesimus ran away and probably stealing from Philemon, so stealing from his master in the process. And Onesimus ends up, not in Colossae, but in Rome, where Paul is under house arrest. And, so, this runaway servant Onesimus comes under Paul’s teachings and then becomes a follower of Jesus and becomes, kind of, like the servant of Paul, attends to Paul’s needs. So, Paul’s written a letter to the Colossians. Right? He wrote the letter to the Colossians we have in the New Testament and he’s preparing to send it back with another servant named Tychicus. But then he writes this very short personal letter to go along with the letter to the Colossians, to the church at Colossae. He pens this personal letter to Philemon and then sends Onesimus, the runaway servant, with Tychicus back to Colossae. And the short of this little personal letter is, it packs a punch. It shows us the importance of forgiveness and it shows us that, no matter what our level of authority is over another person, if they are a believer then they are a brother or sister and we’re to treat them like family. And it also shows us a perfect example of how God does, in fact, work all things together for the good of those who love Him. And, so, with that, we read the letter to Philemon.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’ve already talked quite a bit about the letter and the book that we entered into today. And we can see as we were the first couple of chapters of Lamentations that it’s a gut punch. And it leads us into emotions and territory that are things we try to avoid. And that’s why it’s here. Because we shouldn’t avoid these things. We should invite the Holy Spirit into them and as we read these poems allow the Holy Spirit to move us through lament. Right? And, so, maybe we haven’t, you know, lived in a city with walls that have been torn down and a temple that has been destroyed…like those things…that we have witnessed through Jeremiah and now Lamentations. But we all have regrets. We all have things we’re like, you know, I could’ve done that better, I wish I had done that differently. And, yeah know, now I’m going through what I’m going through because of that, or that sent me into a really hard season. So, a lot of times because it was hard, because it was painful, we try to suppress and repress even going there, like, even thinking about it anymore, like, it is so painful. But the thing is, it’s still inside of us, like, it still inside. It’s still there. Like, it may be shoved up into the attic or down into the basement of our hearts, but it’s still there. And the Holy Spirit uses times of lament to bring us back so that He can heal those places rather than allowing them to continue to seep poison into our lives. And that’s the invitation as we go through books like Lamentations.

And then, obviously, this little short letter to Philemon from the apostle Paul is a treasure to have because we only have a few personal letters and the personal letters are mostly pastoral in nature. And, so, here’s this personal letter to a man who kind of leads a home church. And he’s basically saying, Onesimus is my son in the faith now and he has served me and I would like him to continue to serve me but he is yours so I’m sending it back to you in hopes that you will send him back to me. So, just as little glimpse into some sort of the back story of what’s going on, aside from Paul giving theology and doctrine instruction. This is like a little side personal thing that gives us a glimpse into his existence and his circumstances as he’s imprisoned in Rome.

And then we come to the proverb. And we can’t not talk about that for just a second, Gossip. Gossip is like cancer. I have witnessed this so many times in so many contexts. And gossip takes on many forms but usually always is paired with, married to, assumptions. So, gossip doesn’t become gossip until assumptions are made and the blanks are filled in and the story is formulated and little bits from here and there are collected. Right? And then it’s spoken to somebody else and passed around and the person that’s being referred to isn’t even there to speak. And, so, when they find out that people have been talking about them behind their backs, ok, then there’s a confrontation and there’s quarreling and there’s argument and then there’s separation, then there’s factions, then this whole community that’s involved is divided and you’ve got all kinds of problems. We’ve probably all seen this, maybe participated in it, maybe been on the receiving end of it. But when have you ever seen gossip work out for good? When have you ever seen a gossip, a person who collects all these little pieces of information and then tries to fill in the blanks and start spreading these things around, when have you seen that work out in a good way? It just never does and hasn’t for a long time because we’re reading ancient wisdom here, thousands and thousands of years old, and it didn’t work then. So, we should get a clue that, as juicy as it is in is and as entertaining as it might be, people’s lives aren’t there to entertain you and that division never works out well. The proverb tells us without wood a fire goes out. So, we know that right? You have a bonfire, it’s autumn, you have a bonfire out in the back somewhere, it’s roaring, everybody’s having a good time and then you pull all the logs out of the fire and fire goes out. The proverb says, that’s how it works with gossip. When you don’t have it, because gossip is the fuel, it’s the wood of the bonfire, if you remove it than the division and quarreling will stop. We should remember this. All our words matter. All our words are creating the reality we live in and words spoken as gossip are only adding fuel to a fire that is going to be tremendously destructive in the end.

Prayer:

Father. We acknowledge this. We know this is true, and even in the context of the book of Lamentations, it may be our words, it may be gossip and quarreling and division and divisiveness that we have regrets over that we need to invite You into and that we need to lament over. So much of our story boils back to our words. And, so, we surrender our tongues, our mouths, our thoughts to You, and acknowledge that, without wood a fire goes out and without gossip quarreling stops. Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us forward. 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.

And what’s been going on around here for the last few days is the Global Campfire Initiative – a project that’s been going on behind the scenes for quite a while. And all this year has been focused largely on the brand-new Daily Audio Bible app that is coming very soon. Of course, I told this story in detail last week, and you can just scroll back to last Tuesday and listen to the Global Campfire Initiative if you haven’t had a chance. But we’ve been building a platform that is flexible and secure for this community for a long time and now we’ve been building the app that connects to the platform, giving us a home of our own, one in which we can dream of new ways to stay connected to each other. And it’s so much more, and this is only the beginning. But along with this we have an invitation from the Lord to begin to give it all away. And, so, when this app releases it will be a free app. And, so, in order to take that risk and that big step of faith were inviting the entire community of the Daily Audio Bible to get involved in the Global Campfire Initiative through prayer, certainly, and for those of you who feel compelled and can are we’re asking for help in raising the resources that we need to develop further. So, we have created this commemorative poster, and not just any poster, a Hatch Show Print. So many of you have googled that and found out what I’m talking about. Hatch Show Prints are made one at a time, one color at a time, no computer technology used at all. And they’re made here in the rolling hills of Tennessee and have been made here in the rolling hills of Tennessee since 1879. So, we made 500 of these and we’re just asking for 500 of you who are willing and able to give $200 or more toward the Global Campfire Initiative to contribute toward this need. And as a commemorative of this family, this Daily Audio Bible community and all that we have done together, we’ll send you one of these signed and numbered prints. So, you hang it somewhere and always know that you are a part of something that sends the spoken word of God throughout the earth every single day. So, we’re beginning to come to the close of the Global Campfire Initiative. And, I mean, I cannot thank you enough, those of you who have stepped forward and said yes, this means something to me and I want to pass that forward because it can mean so much to so many who don’t even know about it yet. So, thank you for everyone who has stepped forward as we round the corner on this. We still have a few left. And, so, I’m asking any of you who can get involved, please do. You just have to go to dailyaudiobible.com and just scroll down and you’ll find the Global Campfire Initiative. Just click that and off we’ll go. We’ll send you the Hatch Print and then around November 1st-ish, we will be inviting all of those of you who participated in the Global Campfire Initiative to access the app early, give us some feedback, play with it, and start getting to know it. So, we’re excited about that. So, t’s all at dailyaudiobible.com.

If you have a prayer request or comment 877-942 4253 is the number to call.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi there Daily Audio Bible family. My name is Joselyn and I am calling from Texas. I have never called in before and I have been listening for about two months and I’m actually behind all of you guys. I started the Daily Audio Bible back in January because I needed to start from the beginning and I needed to listen constantly. I’m calling you guys, first of all, to let you know that I am listening. I am now in April for Daily Audio Bible and I am still praying for you guys. So, those of you that have called months and months and months behind, I hear your prayers and I lift you up constantly. So, for those of you that are still struggling with the things you called about months ago, I am still praying. And I know that time is meaningless to God, so, I am praying for all you guys. I called today because my husband, he has told me he wants a divorce. And we’re both Christians and I don’t believe in divorce. I don’t want a divorce. He meets with the attorney’s today. He’s been very threatening to me. He came to my work and stole a diamond necklace off my neck, just ripped it right off my neck. He’s very angry. He blames me for his alcohol problems. He blames me for his unhappiness. He has just been totally attacked and he’s believing all of these lies. And I am just so lost. I’ve moved out of the house, given him his space and I just ask you all to pray. His name is Rubin and he is saved but he’s totally denying God. He’s not taking any accountability for his behavior and I’ve asked him to go to marriage counseling…

Hi, my name is Heather, I live in Chicago with my husband. I am calling today just desperate for hope. I’ve been a believer for most of my life and I grew up in a Christian home but I’m just severely struggling with depression and with anger and with fear. It’s putting a significant strain on my marriage and I just feel very lonely. I want desperately to walk strongly and soundly with the Lord and I’m just finding that each day is just a new challenge. It’s so hard to just make it through one more day. So, I would just love to have the prayers of the wonderful people in this community. And I’m so grateful that there’s something like this out there. Thank you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible. My name is Shirley M. I am a first-time caller and I’ve been listening for probably 8 months and listen to the Bible, read the Bible, for the very first time. I’ve been a Christian, a believer for many, many years. But today I’m calling because I know the power of prayer. And I have a very good mine, that she just received information yesterday that her daughter, that, I believe 25 years old, her name is Regan W. She’s got breast cancer, aggressive breast cancer, and I just want everybody in this community to pray for her and to get a miracle, that they would take this disease away from her. I don’t know if they are saved but I think they believe in God…but I believe that with a miracle like this that they would turn toward and get their strength from God. We’re all praying and I just want to reach out to the large community because I know the power of prayer. And I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello DAB family. This is abiding in him. I’d love to pray for Rayna in Los Angeles. Heavenly Father, we come before You on behalf of our sister Rayna, whose body has turned on her and caused great pain and fatigue and a great deal of pressure on her, pressure that won’t let her do well at her job, that she cannot focus and function, the pressure of being alone. Lord our heart goes out for our sister. We are so thankful that she reached out to the community Lord and we together lift up holy hands over her and stretched out to You, Lord and ___ You to touch our sister. We don’t why she’s going through this suffering. We don’t know why she having to endure this pain. But we do know that You are faithful and true, that You are righteous and pure and that Your love for us knows no boundaries. So, we turn away from the things we don’t understand Lord and we turn our eyes to You and ask that You touch our sister Rayna with a deep and abiding shalom that will exceed all circumstances and from that place of peace You lift her up full, whole, healthy, sane. We ask Your blessings to reign down on her the way that only You can. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Jeremiah 51:54-52:34; Titus 3:1-15; Psalms 100:1-5; Proverbs 26:18-19

Today is the 28th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you around the global campfire that we come out of the cold and warm ourselves and light ourselves each and every day. And it’s great to be with you at the end of another week. And as we end this week we will be ending books in the Old and New Testament, setting us up well before the beginning of a new week where we will begin to new books - one new book one new letter. So, we’ll complete the book of Jeremiah and the letter to Titus today. We’re reading from the Names of God Bible this week. Jeremiah chapter 51 verse 54 through 52 verse 34.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we can’t pass up this proverb without paying attention to it because it’s so stark. And it was pretty stark yesterday too. So, the Proverbs, obviously, are full of wisdom and it is the wisdom of ages that has been collected and passed down. And, so, it advises on a number of levels - a lot of the time, just practical advice for the posture of life that works, like, one that builds wisdom block upon block until you become wise and know how to operate in this world, kind of, know how to look for the story behind the story. But then sometimes it’s very, very stark about behavior. So, I mean, like we were talking about yesterday, do you know somebody in your life that it’s is a really abrasive and cutting person, like, really critical, but it’s always veiled, it’s sort of like you don’t know whether they mean it or not but you know that they do, but they’ve left themselves an out so that they can jab that you are nick you or cut you and then, kind of, wait a little while, and then do it again and like they have this critical thing going on, toward you? But then when they’re called out on it, they’re like, ‘what, I was joking, I was just joking’. ‘You know, I didn’t mean that’, when you know that they did. And it, like, baits you because on the one hand you know what’s going on. Right? Like, you’re being torn down and yet, maybe you’re related to this person or is a family event, or is a coworker that is above you and you can’t you know you can just walk out…like you… you’re kind of trapped taking this and then hearing that it’s only a joke but you know it’s not. And, so, you’re isolated and there’s really not a whole lot you can do about it because you know that, like, defending yourself and striking back, that’s not going to go well, that’s only going to amp this up and only going to make more problems. And then, you know, if you if you go other directions and have conversations etc., etc. trying to find a solution, then they’ve got the out. Like, this person, ‘you just can’t take a joke, you just can’t take a joke, I was just kidding’. It just, like, makes it worse on you. Right? So, it’s like this horrible situation. That is what the proverb is talking about. Now, listen to the starkness of the language though, ‘Like a madman who shoots flaming arrows, arrows, and death, so is the person who tricks his neighbor and says I was only joking’. So, if you have someone in your life that does that to you then now you have a bit of context, you can step away, refer back to this proverb and go like, man, this is crazy behavior. Like, the person who does this is so insecure inside that they’re acting like a madman, who are shooting these arrows of death and not even understanding and then stepping away, like, disassociating from their own behavior that they are being abusive and spin it like it was just a big joke. Very, very, very unhealthy. And, so, you can observe that as it is happening to you and just go, this is unhealthy. So, yeah, I need to be aware and find ways to step away from this, but I’m also naming it – its crazy, it’s unhealthy, its destructive. And if I engage in the same way, like, if I can if I try to turn this around and do the same thing back, then I’m acting like a madman too. If you are this kind of person, where the critical things are coming out of your mouth before you can catch them, and you are nicking and cutting and swiping at people, especially those that you love and you continue to do it and are just like, ‘what…it was just a joke…can’t you take a joke’. The best thing we can say here is that that’s not healthy and that’s not going anywhere. And if we want to take this behavior biblically, then it’s mad, it’s like a madman who shoots flaming arrows, arrows, and death. And don’t think for a minute that our words don’t have that kind of power because our relationships and interrelationships are formed by our words. And, so, as we close this week down, we have we have this to consider.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into this, the use of our language and our words, especially as it impacts our brothers and sisters around us, the people around us. How are we stewarding our words? Because we don’t usually think of it in those terms. We just communicate and sometimes we’re thoughtful and sometimes we’re not and it’s just talk, just words. And yet, Your word continues to show us that words are pretty powerful things and they’re not as benign, they do things, they create things, and they need to be stewarded. There are times that we shouldn’t wag our tongues. There are times that we should bite them and hold back what we are about to say because it’s going to be destructive and it’s not in a healthy way. It’s not like we’re going to tear down a few things so that we can immediately rebuild upon them so that we can enter into an issue together and work through it toward a solution. Rather, it’s just like snipers on the sideline digging, cutting, tearing down and then acting like it was a joke. Help us Holy Spirit to steward what we say and may we speak words of the kingdom this day and every day. 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.

And it’s what’s going on around here right now is the Global Campfire Initiative. So, a few days ago, on Tuesday, I released this talk about the Global Campfire Initiative, something that’s actually been going on behind the scenes for quite a while, but is now reaching its apex, kind of reaching the light of day in a way that will impact this community. And, so, I brought into the story and invited you in to participate in what we’re doing here, in building this platform, and launching this new app for the Daily Audio Bible, and turning outward, and making it free as we go forward for everyone on an Android or an iOS device. And I’ve talked about the classic Nashville that we’re bringing into this mix with the Hatch Show Prints that we had made. And they are beautiful and frameable and commemorative, not only of this initiative, but of the Global Campfire, of our community. It represents who we are together and what we’re doing together. And, so, that you can hang it somewhere that you can see it and remember that you’re never alone and also remember to pray, so that we always are praying for each other. And, so, for those of you who are able and willing to contribute $200 or more toward this initiative. And I unpack it all in that talk. I made that talk someone have to like re-state the story all day every day. So, go back and listen to that if you haven’t. So, for those of you who can contribute at that level, we will send you one of these signed and numbered Hatch Prints, although they are about to be gone. So, jump in on that if you can in and check it out. Thank you for your partnership. Truly, literally, this is a move of facing outward. We’ve invested so many resources and so much time over the last three years in development that for the Lord to tell us ‘give it all away’ and for us to step into that is a big risk and clearly doing what God is saying to do. And, so, what that leaves us doing is saying, okay, like usual, what we do we have to do together or we can’t do it all. And, so you’re invited. This is something that were doing together for a specific reason and that specific reason is the sea of people who are drowning that need to find their way into this community where the rhythm of the spoken word of God can wash over them daily and begin to restore and repair and then transform and sanctify. We were all on that road at one point. We all found our way here at one point. We either found our way here to Daily Audio Bible or we found the Scriptures. At one point or another we were drowning and the word of God came and began to tell us who are and began to be the rescue and then began to actually change things inside and then all of the sudden we are thinking different. And it’s like I say at the beginning of every year that we start the Daily Audio Bible, look at yourself in the mirror because you’re not going look the same at the end of this year. Some profound shifting will happen. And it won’t be something that you can see in your face it will be something that you can see in your eyes, you’re changing from the inside out. We’ve experienced this, but there are there are many out there who need to find this and they need to be able to get free and there’s always been ways to do that but not with the app and now we’re are stepping into that together. So, you can find out about the Global Campfire Initiative by listening to that program, but also if you’re looking to contribute and see the Hatch Print that I’m talking about, that’s at dailyaudiobible.com. Scroll down to the initiatives, you’ll find it. Or there’s a banner for in the Daily Audio Bible shop. So, it’s easy enough to find. And, I thank you for helping us finish this initiative well, strong, ready. And off we go into the wild frontier. That has always been the story of the Daily Audio Bible community. So, check that out a dailyaudiobible.com.

If you have a prayer request or comment 877-942 4253 is the number to call.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lee from New Jersey. Today is October 24^th and I’m calling with a very heavy heart. I got into a big fight with my wife yesterday and it’s in correlation with the anger issues that are just getting out of control - the yelling, the screaming on my end. And, basically, she’s telling me that she doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore. My daughter hates me, my 14-year-old. So, basically, they both want to have nothing to do with me anymore. My son, who’s 6, I guess he’s too young to even think about these things, very innocent. So, honestly, I don’t blame them and I don’t believe in divorce, but if they want to go through with it I can’t stop them. So, family, it’s a weird prayer because I feel like I deserve this. I mean…if I haven’t been so good to my family…I don’t see why I should deserve the best from them. So, I’m going to ask that you all pray for wisdom, that God give me the wisdom on how to deal with this situation. But if it be God’s will to keep us together, maybe to keep us together so I can become a better man, a better father, a better husband, and above all a better servant of Christ. So, family I know you guys are on it. I mean…I am not even going to ask…but I will. So, again, this is Lee from New Jersey. Very heavy heart today, very sad. I’m on the brink of losing my family. I don’t want to lose them but by that the same token I haven’t been the best husband or father that I’m supposed to be. And this is all related to my anger issues. God bless you all.

I want to thank God for the Daily Audio Bible. Two years ago I was faced with two devastating diagnosis of major surgery for parathyroid and also for prediabetes. The morning routine of checking blood sugar, my weight, recording all that, and then planning my food for myself and my dog was overwhelming. And I didn’t know how to continue my Bible study. So, I turned to the Daily Audio Bible and have been listening every morning for over two years. And, so, now I’ve learned things about the Bible that I didn’t know before, even though I’ve been reading the Bible since I was able to read, at age 6. So, I want you to continue to pray for my health because I’m 64 and I have to continue this diet and exercise for the rest of my life, like it or not. This is Kathy from Kentucky. Thank you very much for the Daily Audio Bible. It’s been a stress reliever in my life and I thank you very much. Please continue to pray for my health. I live alone…for my finances. Thank you. Kathy from Kentucky. Bye.

Hi this is Natalie from Arizona. Good day Daily Audio Bible family. Just touched…so pleased and honored to be a part of this family. I just listened to the Global Campfire that was posted today, October 24th and I just warn you all before you listen, just don’t listen while driving, because I was so moved just listening to the podcast, I was almost brought to my knees. And I’m in the car and my children are wondering what was going on with mom, what’s wrong, and it was just crazy because the Holy Spirit was just moving and the by the end of the podcast, I was home by then, I’m just listening, and I’m praying for an opportunity to be a part of the giving, just praying, Lord I want to be somehow be a part of this movement, I don’t want to be left out and just praying for the opportunity. And then we heard the story about developing the new app. It was so moving and then discovered that the new app is free. It was just mind blowing because I just told one of my friends about the current app, that it’s $0.99. But I’m so glad to move forward and be able to tell others in the future that the app is free but for those of us who are just desperate to give and to participate in the giving portion of all of this, I’m just so glad for the opportunity to purchase the unique artwork. Thank you, Brian and Jill. I just pray for my entire family. Let’s just, together, watch God move. Praise the Lord.

Hello family. My name is Demetri and I’m a first-time caller. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible about three years. And I think I’m ready call and ask for you guys prayer. Me and my wife, we are struggling. I’ve been finally caught in something I shouldn’t be doing. It might be the worst we’ve ever been and I know I can’t so this without you guys prayer and Gods mercy. I ask you guys to pray for me and my wife. We really need it. I love you family. Bye.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Dave in Illinois and I am calling this morning in response to Brian, your message you left us regarding the Global Campfire initiative. I  just really wanted to call and encourage folks. Yeah know this is my first year going through the Daily Audio Bible but it is already been life-giving to me. It is something that I crave in the mornings. It’s part of my rhythm of my morning and my day and I’m grateful. Brian, thank you for being faithful. I can only imagine the sacrifices you have made over the decade plus you’ve been doing this. But you’ve done that and you are impacting folks across the world and now we get the partner in that with you and that is absolutely wonderful and amazing. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do that through the Global Campfire initiative. I just gave this morning and I just want to just issue…just give encouragement and a small challenge to the community. I know it can seem like $200 is a lot, and it definitely is, but we have to think where that investments going. And, so, if that’s something you want to do, I know for me, I’ve wanted to partner with the Daily Audio Bible for a while, and this just was perfect timing. Actually, we had, this morning, we sold something that was just a little more than $200. So, we gave all that to the global campfire initiative. So, my challenge will be that y’all want to want to partner with Brian and the rest of the community in this then just pray that God will provide the resources and that you be faithful to respond and give whatever He provides. So, I’ll just pray for us real quick. Father, thank You for Brian for his faithfulness, for his example that he sets for us. And I pray that we will be faithful too. Lord, open up doors for us and I pray that You will provide the resources because all we have is Yours. I pray that You would bless this next wave that you are bringing with the Daily Audio Bible and all that…

Jeremiah 51:1-53; Titus 2:1-15; Psalms 99:1-9; Proverbs 26:17

Today is the 27th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today for, of course, the next step forward in the journey that we find ourselves on together. And if my math is correct, this is day 301. So, this is our 301st step of 365 steps on this adventure that is the Bible. And we’re kind of turning the corner on the book of Jeremiah and we’ve spent most of this month reading from Jeremiah in the Old Testament. We will conclude the book of Jeremiah tomorrow. We are also reading Paul’s letter to Titus, which we will also conclude tomorrow. But it’s not tomorrow. It’s today. So, from the Names of God Bible. Jeremiah chapter 51 verses 1 through 53.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s talk about the proverb for second and then we will tie it to something that Paul says in Titus. Okay. So, do you know someone in your life that, they seem to be in every single argument around you, like, they are in everything, like, they can be around people and maybe overhear somebody debating or having a conversation and then they insert themselves into the equation, uninvited, as if they can’t help themselves? We all probably know people like that. Maybe we even are a person like that. The book of Proverbs counsels us that that is like sneaking up behind a dog and grabbing her by the ears. And I don’t care whether it’s a little dog or a big dog, that’s never a good plan because you’re going to get growled at, snapped at, maybe even bitten. That’s what you set yourself up for when you insert yourself into other people’s business and it doesn’t usually go well. And a lot of times we are that person, we might be thinking, well I’m just trying to help people, and I talk to people, and I’m just trying to help but what we’re not realizing is, we really like hearing ourselves speak, and we like to instruct people, whether they want it or not. We feel like we have a valuable opinion and it needs to be heard whether anyone wants to hear it or not. And then, pretty soon, nobody wants to hear it. And then we wonder why we don’t have any friends. And it’s because we keep grabbing a dog by its years by inserting ourselves when we’re not invited. Now, conversely, we probably also could bring to mind a person in our life that we think is full of wisdom and wise and it’s rare to find that kind of a person inserting themselves into every equation. Those are the people that we seek out. We actually want their opinion. We actually want to know what they have to say and what they might be able to share because they live a life that we look up to and they carry wisdom that we seek and we witness their relationship with God and we witness their self-control, like, we witness the evidence of that relationship and we seek it out. Paul refers to that kind of person in his letter to Titus. So, he’s going down a list of different life circumstances and behaviors that would be appropriate and proper in those circumstances. And then he says, after all, God’s saving kindness has appeared for the benefit of all people. It trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world. So, like, so that we can live this way right now, so that we can live self-controlled moral and godly lives right now, while at the same time hoping for what we are expecting - the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So, Paul basically gives us an example or a view of the opposite of what the proverb is talking about and tells us that it’s available right now in this present world. Which brings us to the ultimate question of: why do we do the things that we do? If we don’t have any really deep relationships because we insert ourselves into everything and grab the dog by the ears all of the time. Then we can ask ourselves, what’s underneath that? Because that behavior is just an outpouring of something below and were exposing our own insecurities. And yet, according to the letter to Titus, God’s saving kindness invades that space and trains us to avoid things that are ungodly, in every way, and trains us to live self-controlled, including our tongues - self-controlled, moral and godly lives in this present world, in the right now.

Prayer 

Father, that is what we want. All of the story that is let has led us to this place and all of the behaviors that go along with it, that are at times destructive or unhelpful, at minimum, we surrender that to You because it’s unlikely they were not aware, that were just completely unaware. And, so, we surrender those insecurities and those wounds and the assumptions that we continually formulate, the things that we invent in our heads all of the time. All of that stuff that motivates us in ways that are not self-controlled, moral, and godly in this present world, all of that we surrender to You and invite your Holy Spirit to come, restore, repair, heel, and make new again - those places that are trigger points for us in our behaviors. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And, right now, what’s going on around here is the Global Campfire Initiative. And I talked at length about it a couple of days ago on a special program that was put out on the feed. So, you’ve got that. If you haven’t listened to it yet, that’s the whole story. Listen to that. It’s an initiative that has been internally going on for three years and all with the goal of, kind of, beginning to arrive where we are arriving now, and that is in integrated system that we can grow from and do what we do better and dream up new ways to continue to build community around the rhythm of the Scriptures, and in what we experience each and every day here around the global campfire. So, part of that has been building a completely new infrastructure over the last couple of years. Sort of a platform from which to launch some of these things. And the first thing being launched from this platform is a brand-new Daily Audio Bible app that will fully release before the new year. And it’s just a starting point. It’s like the 1.0 version but it definitely brings some features into the mix that have long been requested, like the ability to check off the days that have been listened to. So, like if you miss a day or two here and there and you just can’t remember which one it was, you’ll know that now. It just happens automatically. Or the ability to jot down some notes within your app. So, if you hear something that is jumps out, leaps out, and you just need to jot it down real quick so that you don’t forget, maybe you journal about it later or maybe it’s just a thought that you want to capture, that can all happen now. And you’ll be able to look back like a year from now, being able to look back to this time and see what God was speaking to you and what was going on in your life. It’s all there. And the Prayer Wall that lives a  dailyaudiobible.com is being integrated into this new app so that you can access it from there, right in prayer requests, pray for people right from within the app. And for many years, the Daily Audio Bible app has been and $0.99 app. So, just to help out a little bit with the development costs. But as this was all being built over these last years, and with the app all of this year, I just felt God saying, give it away. And, so, all of this work to make a much better experience, is something that God is saying put out there for free. And, so, for us to do all of this we have to do it together and that is the Global Campfire Initiative. And, so, we looked for something that was very, very much rooted in the rolling hills of Tennessee and Hatch Show Prints are classic Nashville. So, we went on to Hatch, downtown Nashville, talked to them, created this beautiful poster that commemorates the community that we are, the global campfire. And, so, for those of you who can contribute $200 or more toward this specific thing, we have 500 posters, and they are well on their way to being gone. And we will send this to you as a memento as a commemorative, something…and it’s completely frameable…these are cool….so you can frame them, put them somewhere that you can remember, and constantly pray for your brothers and sisters around the world, but also know that you’re not alone. This is a constant reminder. We are in this together. We are moving forward together. So, you can check that out at dailyaudiobible.com. Just scroll down a little bit to initiatives and there it is, you’ll see it. Or there’s a banner in the Daily Audio Bible shop for it. It’s easy enough to find. Get involved as we make some big risky steps forward together. So, check it out at dailyaudiobible.com

And one of the beautiful things that we do so well here at Daily Audio Bible is pray for one another. So, if you are carrying some things that you don’t need to be carrying by yourself, you are not alone. There are a number of numbers that you can call if you have a prayer request or comment. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. The number for the UK and Europe is 44-20-3608-8078 and the number for Australia and the lands down under is 61-3-8820-5459. Don’t go through it alone. You don’t have to. There are thousands and thousands of us who pray, every day.

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 DAB family. This is Joyful Noise from Southern California. Blessed Beyond Measure, I just heard your comment on the prayer hotline and, oh my goodness, what you said sister, every single day, I listen in to hear, how is Blind Tony doing, how did his surgery go? I want to hear one of Victoria S’s prayers. You know, how is Candice from Oregon doing…and…gosh…Theo and his two kids and praying over them   and praying over so many of your children. I love that parents and grandparents continue to call in and ask for prayer over their children. The next generation is where my heartbeat is, so you can count on me DAB family, to pray for your kids as you have prayed for mine. Thank you so much for that. I just want to thank you, Blessed Beyond Measure, because I’ve just been trying to put into words why this community is so important to my day and so important to my walk, my walk with Christ. Ya know, every single day he sends us out to be missionaries. Ya know, I think it was Charles Spurgeon who said, ‘every Christian is  a missionary or a counterfeit’.  We’re all missionaries and God has already chosen our mission field and He calls us out into it every day. ____. You constantly point me to true north. So, thank you so much DAB family. Have a blessed, blessed day. And just know that I am praying for you. If you could continue to pray for my children, Zachary, Zoey, and Samuel. Some are in college some are in high school, some are post college, and they are all seeking their path and it’s such an amazing thing to watch but I know we cannot become weary, we cannot become complacent as it pertains to our children…

Hello DAB family. It’s Mark S. from Sydney Australia. Today is Tuesday, the 24^th of October. I’m just ringing in response to the community announcement. My DAB family, I want to implore everybody to try and give as much as they can to this community project and I’m not trying to boast by saying this community has done so much for us. God has helped us so much for us. I for one put $200 in and, as I said, I’m not trying to boast. I‘m struggling financially but I think God deserves every cent and if you can afford it, as Brian said, please do. I’m trying to look beyond what Gods going to give me and double what I think for helping out. Brian, I love you. And just so everybody knows, I work in the IT industry and the type of set ups that Brian talks about, and I’ve worked with similar situations, he’s too polite to tell everybody, we’re talking 100s of 1000s of dollars of development costs and hardware costs. So, family, dig deep, because God is so wonderful and I can’t do without this community. I love you all. I thank you all so much. Love you family. Bye.

Hi. This is Steve from New Hampshire. Brian, thank you again, so much, for all you do. Appreciate it. I’m calling to pray for Terry from Alabama. You shared about your issue with pornography and I really believe that it’s representative of probably a lot of folks that aren’t calling in. But I want to pray for, as you asked for, healing, total deliverance for yourself and healing for your girlfriend in this regard. And, so, Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus, the name above every name, the name that has the power to break the chains of any bondage, including pornography. And I just ask that You would set my brother free. In the name of Jesus, Lord, bring healing Lord, God, bring restoration Lord, God, minister to this girlfriend, that she would experience complete healing from the pain of this sin Lord, God. And thank You, Lord, that You are the Lamb of God that came to take away the sin of the world and we are free in You, whom the son sets free. Yes, free indeed. I praise You Lord. God bless you, Terry.

Yes. Good morning Daily Audio Bible people, DABbers. This is Diane from Newburg, Indiana and I’ve got a huge prayer request. I was given a gift from my birth of my voice, my voice and my song. And all my life everyone’s said, you have such a voice you have beautiful music, your songs are so beautiful. But from years of abuse and backsliding and gluttony and other sins, I destroyed my own voice. I’m asking you to agree with me that God will restore my voice. It may not be as high or anything like it was from my birth but that He will once again give me my voice back to honor and glorify Him. And I want to sing this song and I want you to hear this song from your heart, not from the terribleness of my singing, but for you to be restored. Father, restore them as I sing. Singing – God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He looks for ways to help us. He will make a way for us. He will be our God and hold us closely to His side. With faith and hope for each new day, God will make a way. God will make a way. Like the…

Jeremiah 49:23-50:46; Titus 1:1-16; Psalms 97:1-98:9; Proverbs 26:13-16

Today is the 26th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and, as is the case every day, it’s great to be here with you as we take the next step forward on the adventure through the Bible this year. And that adventure will take us back into the book of Jeremiah today and then we will be beginning Paul’s letter to Titus when we get to the New Testament. So, from the Names of God Bible this week, Jeremiah chapter 49 verse 23 through 50 verse 46 today.

Okay. Yesterday, we finished Paul’s second letter to Timothy, which is thought to be the final writings, the final writing, the final communication from Paul before he was martyred, before he was executed. And, so, that brings us to Paul’s epistle, or his letter to Titus. And this is the third of three of what we know of as the pastoral letters, which are first and second Timothy and Titus. And they are called this because Paul is writing to his sons in the faith, directly, like as a personal letter, rather than to a church, and is addressing their personal needs and instructing them directly as leaders, as pastors. So, he’s writing as a pastoral figure to his sons in the faith, who are now also pastors. And Titus was an early convert and followed Jesus at the witness of the apostle Paul and was able to accompany Barnabas and Paul to Jerusalem. So, like to the Jerusalem Council, where circumcision, right, this issue that has cropped up and all of Paul’s writings. This Gentile…ya know…how Gentiles grafted in to this story…all of that in those decisions. Titus got to see a lot of that stuff, a lot of the things that happened to form the early church. And Titus was definitely on Paul’s third missionary journey. And Paul often sent Titus as a messenger to different churches to offer pastoral care and to send and bring messages and to let Paul know how things were going as we see in his letters. This letter, this personal letter to Titus, was written probably around A.D. 63. So, the year 63, right around the same time Paul wrote the first letter to Timothy. So, Paul writes to his son in the faith Timothy and then he writes to a son in the faith Titus around the same time and then the letter was sent to Crete, where Titus was the pastor of the churches there, whereas the letters to Timothy were, obviously, sent to Ephesus, where Timothy was the pastor. And, so, one of the motivations for Paul to write a personal letter to Titus was to encourage him, to encourage Titus to finish the work that had begun there, and also to bestow apostolic authority to Titus from Paul so that Titus would have this letter if anyone came and questioned whether or not he had any right to be there leading anything. Right? If they questioned his spiritual authority in the church he would have this personal letter from Paul. And it also set down in writing the things that Paul had instructed Titus to do as the churches were being built up. So, it serves as reinforcement to things that Paul had spoken to Titus. So, Titus is a personal letter, like we talked about. And, so, having it gives us an intimate look at the instructions that were given from Paul, the spiritual father to Titus, the spiritual son who had been raised up in the faith into leadership. And these letters, the letters to Timothy and Titus, are very helpful for anyone in authority or leadership today. They deal with the kinds of things leaders still face and they still bring a great amount of instruction and encouragement, even today. And, so, we begin. Paul’s letter to Titus, chapter 1.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we begin this letter to Titus from Paul that will only take us a few days to move our way through, we immediately recognize some of the features in Titus as similar to what Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy, and these include characteristics that need to be present in a person’s life if they seek to lead God’s people. So, we can see that Paul had taught this to Titus and to Timothy but then reiterated it in writing to them, not only to remind them, but also to give them the backup. So, when someone’s going through this ordination process and maybe some people dispute some of these things, then these guys, Timothy and Titus, have these personal letters from the apostle Paul to show, this is what the apostle Paul has taught us to do, this is what is right to do, these are the criteria necessary to move forward in spiritual leadership. And then Paul writes to Titus, specifically to the place that he’s in, like in the circumstances that he’s in, which are different than Timothy’s. So, Titus is on an island that is south of Greece out in the middle of the Mediterranean ocean, which is quite different than Ephesus, which is on the mainland, now a part of modern-day Turkey, which is where Timothy was. So, these are far enough apart that they have different cultures and a different way of life and a lot of Jewish people lived on Crete. And, so, we see Cretans first mentioned in the book of Acts as some of the people who first heard the apostles on the day of Pentecost, like, when the Holy Spirit fell upon them and then they began to minister, and Peter gives this message that is compelling, and thousands of people begin to follow Jesus. So, Cretans are among those people, which is probably how the gospel of Jesus first found its way onto the island, through the stories of what they had witnessed in Jerusalem. So, there’s a thriving Jewish community on Crete, and even though there was this Jerusalem Council that would welcome Gentiles into the family of God through Jesus, we’ve seen the tension, we’ve seen it all along, between people who grew up Jewish who wanted to follow this Rabbi, Jesus, but couldn’t get their heads around the fact that God might be welcoming the whole world to come back to him through Jesus. And, so, there’s all this tension over all the traditions. Right? Circumcision is the one that boils to the top the most but religious tradition is definitely a point of contention in this new movement. And, so, Paul says directly to Titus, there are many believers, especially converts from Judaism who are rebellious and they speak nonsense and deceive people and they need to be quieted because they’re ruining whole families by teaching things that that they shouldn’t be teaching. So, Paul tells Titus, listen, you’ve got to instruct the people that they shouldn’t pay attention to Jewish myths or commands given by people who are always rejecting the truth. Because we have to remember, a lot of things were forming around what Jesus represented. A lot of conversation as this faith grew up was had. And the Jewish people, they have an ancient history, and it had and has many sects to it, entire mystical ways of looking at the world. So, it’s not surprising that Jesus would can fall into some of these categories as people consider what it really all means. And, so, Paul, in his pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus, address these kinds of things by just saying, look, the truth has been revealed, we’ve been teaching it from day one, we’ve been moving around and sharing this good news all along, and now people are trying to do all these add-ons. Stay true to the simple gospel message that you were taught and make sure that you teach it truly and hold true and keep the faith, which is what Paul is telling Titus to do today.

Prayer:

Father there is no shortage of mystical thought about You in the world today. There has never really been a time that we haven’t been trying to figure You out. And, we confess, that we can’t even figure our own selves out. So, how would we figure You out, other than the simple faith of understanding that You indwell us and that we are being changed into your likeness through the process of sanctification. Each and every day, we are being set apart and made holy and invited to live from that place, that true essential place, each and every day. And, so, we continue to invite Your Holy Spirit to instruct us in the way that we should go, the path that we should walk, the things that we should pick up, the things that we should consider, the things that we should reject. All leading us on the narrow path that leads to life, because You have promised to lead us into all truth. And, so, we defer, we surrender and invite You to lead and guide us. 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.

And a couple of days ago we released this little fireside chat, discussing the Global Campfire Initiative – an initiative to continue to build all of the infrastructure that it is going to take to move us forward and face outward. And one of the key components of that is the brand-new daily app that we will be releasing, in a big risk, as a free app so that there are zero barriers to a person being able to come in and hear the spoken word of God every day. But it’s a step that we need to take together. And, so, we have inaugurated something that’s been internal, the Global Campfire Initiative, just bringing it to the community, inviting you to participate. And we printed 500 patch show prints here in the rolling hills of Tennessee using letterpress, ancient - old, not ancient - technology to create these beautiful posters that are just printed very, very old-school. Each one’s a little bit different and they’re completely frameable. They say Global Campfire on them and the Daily Audio Bible and the rolling hills of Tennessee. You can see all that at dailyaudiobible.com, you can see what they look like. We’re inviting you to participate in the Global Campfire Initiative. And so, for those who are able to contribute $200 or more toward this, and again I unpacked it all, that’s why I made this specific fireside chat program, because I wanted to be able to tell the whole story. And, so, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to that, go back and listen to that and it will all make complete sense. But we printed 500 of these posters for 500 people who can contribute in this way so that we can just knock this out and move this development forward. And I expect that we will run out of those posters within the next few days. So, check out that program. If you had a chance to listen to it yet, that will give you all of the details. And then, you can find the Global Campfire Initiative and contribute to it at dailyaudiobible.com. Just scroll down to the initiatives section and you’ll find it, or there’s a banner for it at the Daily Audio Bible shop as well. Easy to find. So, check that out and help us to do exactly what I said, face outward, and to continue to build that the platform that will allow us to dream and move forward together. If you have contributed to the Global Campfire Initiative and when we’re sending you one of these posters, we will also be inviting you to experience the new Daily Audio Bible app early and we’ll be sending out those invitations around November 1st. So, you can experience it, and a lot of the new features that are included, and it’s a complete…I mean from the ground up…it’s a completely rethought app, and the first of its kind for our community. And, so, you’ll be able to experience that early, give us some feedback, and help us to squash any bugs that might still exist before it’s released into the wild. And this is just the beginning, just the beginning of the…finally…having the technology to really connect things, the way that we have dreamed about for several years. So, thank you. Thank you for your partnership on the Global Campfire Initiative.

If you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number that you can call because that’s one of the things that are distinctly beautiful about this community, is our love for one another and willingness to be the body of Christ in this world. And part of that is to hold each other up in prayer and rejoice with each other when we are rejoicing and weep with each other when we are weeping. We’ve done that well. And as we begin this initiative, this Global Campfire Initiative, over time, we’re going to have many, many more ways to do it well. So, your prayers over all of that are coveted and necessary and I thank you deeply.

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 everyone. This is Jay calling from New Jersey.  I just wanted to take a moment to just thank every single person. You know, two minutes just isn’t enough time to express and convey how I feel and say every name and thank every person…and just…ah…I’m just overwhelmed by the amount of love this community showing me. And…I just…you know…God works in mysterious ways and we, in our lives, are faced with decisions that we ourselves have to make…and there’s consequences to every decision that we make. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad. But God is always there. And as far as I’m concerned, DAB family, you’ve always been there for me. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I thank you now. I praise You and I glorify You for the wonderful, amazing, loving, spiritual, prayerful family that I have in the Daily Audio Bible. In the name of Jesus, Christ I pray. Amen.

Thank you so much. My name is Thomas K. I’m from West Point, Mississippi. I’m requesting prayer, especially for tomorrow, Monday, which will be the 23^rd of October. I have an operation on my throat. I’m asking all saints of God to please pray for me as I pray for you and your family. Thank God and bless all of you. In Jesus’ name, we do say, Amen.

Good morning DAB community. This is Richard stronginhisgrace@gmail.com. Today is Monday the 23rd of October. I haven’t been listening to the DAB readings for quite a while…and now I’m back. It’s good to allow the word of God to wash over you and submit to his word in your life. I know, at times, I’ve been disobedient and rebellious and have tried to go my own way but when I come back to the word it’s always reassuring, that God is washing me with His word, as I listen. And as I listen, the enemy wants to fight against me paying attention. He’ll put in little thoughts, thoughts of sin. The enemy puts in thoughts of just anything to distract you from letting the word of God wash over those things. And I want to encourage you today, community, to just let the word of God do its work in the washing of the water of the word. Let it build your faith and keep you is submission to the Holy Spirit. That’s what I have to say today family.

Hi DAB family. It’s ____ from Carlisle. I just had to call in and make sure that all of my brothers and sister in the DAB family are sharing the app for this because many, many people are going to have hard times being in and out of churches, but this is a way to stay planted in the word of God, no matter what. And I had to walk away. And I haven’t been able to find a church for a long time and I don’t know what I would’ve done if I wouldn’t have been able to still stay rooted in some type of real God growing. And, so, I’m not one of those real big tech people, people that like to go out and ah…you know…be in all that kind of stuff…I’m just one of those bookworm people. But, truthfully, this app has changed my life and I don’t know what I would do without it. So, I say that to all of you guys. Make sure you’re sharing it with your friends and your family because you have no idea how much they need it. I love all of you guys and may God bless you all, especially Brian and the soldiers that come on here and pray. You know who you are, we all know who you are, and we thank God every time we hear your voice. So, may God just bless you all. Amen.

Jeremiah 48:1-49:22; 2 Timothy 4:1-22; Psalms 95:1-96:13; Proverbs 26:9-12

Today is the 25th day of October. Welcome to the daily audio Bible. I am Brian and is great to be here with you today for the next step forward in the scriptures this year. And it’s a special day because we will conclude Paul’s second letter to Timothy in today’s reading and, as we mentioned when we began this letter, this is the final writings of the apostle Paul’s life. So, we will come to the final word written by the apostle Paul in today’s reading. But first, reading from the names of God Bible, Jeremiah chapter 48 verse 1 through 49 verse 22.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we concluded Paul’s second letter to Timothy, which is also the final writings of the apostle Paul’s life. And, you know, these are the final things that he has to say to Timothy. Obviously, it’s full of melancholy because Paul knows he’s going to die and he’s hoping to see Timothy again and Paul is sending Tychicus to represent him at the church in Ephesus, to give Timothy the opportunity to come, if possible. And he’s even asking Timothy to bring the warm coat that he left with Carpus in the city of Troas. Right? So, winter’s coming and he’s in a dungeon and his execution is eminent. And ya, so, there’s just a lot of melancholy in all that. And it’s within that that we have the famous quotation, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race’. And, so, Paul’s, kind of, final instructions to Timothy are, listen, things aren’t always going to be good. People will abandon you. People are going to say all kinds of things and teach all kinds of things and you need to be patient and just continue to teach the truth even when people, you know, even when people shop around looking for someone to tell them what they want to hear. You need to just patiently continue to teach the truth and you’re going to have to endure some suffering. It may get rocky out here. Consider yourself a missionary and devote yourself to this work and keep your head clear. And then Paul says, my life is coming to an end and it’s now time for me to be poured out as a sacrifice to God. I have fought the good fight, I have completed the race, I have kept the faith. That verse has always flattened me ever since I really began to understand the context of this letter. When I began to understand that it had come down to abandonment, that this great apostle, Paul, who we revere and who is responsible for so much of the New Testament that we read, that it all came down to a dungeon with winter coming on and pretty much everyone gone. And Paul warns Timothy and he talks about these kinds of things in his other letters, that this is not an unopposed life, that even though the good news of the gospel is the hope of the human species and the integration of God and people can once again happen and this world could begin to flourish, most people are going to ignore this and some are going to be hostile. And Jesus warned the same thing. And, so, Paul’s words are humbling and give us a lot to contemplate. Because this is a guy that is going to be executed, who was able to say, I did what I came to do, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. And the way that I did that wasn’t through grand spectacles, it was that I kept the faith until the very end. I want that to be true of my life. Don’t you? Like, at the essence, at the core, no matter what happens, I want that to be true. And it’s pretty clear that Paul wanted that to be true in his life and he wanted to transfer that conviction to Timothy so that it might be true of him. And that as this letter spread around that it might be true of all. And, so, here are the final words of the apostle Paul and may they be spoken over us each. The Lord be with you. His is goodwill be with all of you.

Prayer:

Father, we come into that. It is a baseline heart cry - that we can fight the good fight, that we can finish the race, that we can keep the faith. And we have to also acknowledge that so many times we’ve measured that by how much we feel You are blessing us, like, that has become our measure, when we see that that is isn’t the measure at all, when we look at the apostle Paul and we look at your life Jesus. That isn’t the measure at all. This isn’t a fight for how much exterior blessing we can have. It is a fight for our heart and soul. And, so, as battered as we might be, with the circumstances that swirl around us, we regroup and center ourselves in you once again. We stand up once again and start fighting the good fight and we will finish this race and we will keep this faith by the power of your Holy Spirit, and by no other power is it possible. So, come, Holy Spirit, and help us to move forward as we honor those who have gone before us and finished the race, those who have finished the race by giving their lives so that we might have this treasure. 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.

And what’s going on around here for the next few days is the global campfire initiative. And if you haven’t had chance to listen the fireside chat, the little community meeting that we put out yesterday, then please do. The global campfire initiative is just some of the growth that is happening inside of this community and some of the ways that God is asking us to face outward so that what we do here every day, this rhythm of the scripture in our life, in community, in the beauty of the community that we share together, is more available. So, be sure to check that out. You can participate in the global campfire initiative at dailyaudiobible.com. If you just scroll down a little bit to initiatives, you’ll see it. Or if you’re in the Daily Bible shop you’ll see a banner for it as well. It’s easy enough to get to. Thank you for participating in the next steps forward for us together as a community.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, obviously you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link right on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re 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, TN 37174.

If it’s the global campfire initiative that you’re looking for than just find that in the initiatives section or in the Daily Audio Bible shop.

If you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number that you can dial, if you’re in the Americas. If you’re in the UK or Europe you can call 44-20-3608-8078 and if you are in Australia or the lands down under you can dial 61-3-8820-5459. Of course, you dial any of those numbers from anywhere, but we’ve tried to give some localization the best we can. So, there you go.

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 my Daily Audio Bible family. My name is Rayna here in California, Los Angeles area. I’ve called before. I listen daily. I don’t call in often but I do pray and listen and pray along with all of you. Today, I have to reach out. Again, I’ve called before. I’ve gotten really sick with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and other ailments in my body due to severe stress that I’ve ensured over the years and especially this one long year. It’s now taken its toll on me. The fibromyalgia pains are just extreme to the point where I can’t even think and work right. I draw blood for a lab. So, I have to be steady. I have to be focused. And I’ve found it very difficult to go to work lately. And it’s just been really hard to focus and feel like I’m worth anything. I don’t like to hear questions like, what’s wrong with you? Because it makes me feel like I’m not good enough anymore. So, I’m just asking God to just take this away from me completely. I’ve been liberated from it before but it’s just come back with full force and…I just…sometimes I wonder why I am still here. I struggle with also being alone in the house. I just want to go to work. I really love my job and ask you to please pray for me. I’m beginning to feel worthless. That God would just give me a new body and reinvigorate me and give me health again. Thank you, my Daily Audio Bible family, for just being there.

Oh God, I thank You for our churches and our church community. Thank You Lord so much for what they are doing and Father God thank You so much for the work you’ve laid upon their hearts to do. Father God I pray especially now for the children’s relief work of our church communities of our Christian communities Lord. Whether it be part of the DAB or DAB Kids or DAB teens or whatever or whether or it be the midweek Friday clubs or Tuesday clubs evening clubs or the Sunday morning clubs that people can learn, get to learn about You Lord. Thank You so much for what you are doing. Thank you for people who you’ve laid on their hearts to be a children’s worker or relief worker in their spare time to volunteer Lord. Father God, I pray that you’d be leading those people that you be leading those churches, giving them wisdom on how best to help children find you, how best help them grow, how best to disciple them. Please be blessed in these works Lord. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Hey family. This is Melissa again. I have a prayer request. My oldest daughter, her name is Darion, we call her Pudding. She would kill me if she knew I told ya’ll this. She will be going to China for a year to work. So, I need you all to pray for her. Me and her dad are, kind of, ya know, iffy about this, but this is something she wants to do. She’s 28 years old. She’s a good girl and I need to ya’ll to please keep her lifted up in prayer. Joselyn, you called in and were talking to a lady about her kid being sexually abused, and you said you didn’t let your kids spend the night, go to sleep over. I’m so glad you called in and said that because I don’t let Gabby spend the night with people and it’s just cause of things that happened to me. Allot of times when ya’ll call in to talk to other people and encourage them you don’t realize you’re encouraging other people too. So, thanks for so much for that. I love ya’ll. Ya’ll have a great day. Bye-bye.  

Hello Daily Audio Bible you make this family such a big, big lovely family. Brian, I just want to say thank you. For the last 5 years five years that I’ve listened to the Daily Audio Bible I love the fact that you get to this point in Jeremiah 29:11 and to take a pause and expand and expound and just tell us how great it is to have context. Yes, that’s one of my favorite versus as for many I know it is. It is great to understand context. In the bible, it will give us a big picture of what God is trying to tell and teaching us. So, I just wanted to say thank you Brian. And it’s great to know God has plans for us but whatever situation He has placed us, whether we like it or not, He is going to use that. So, we should try our very best to praise God, to flourish in all those moments. I am very happy that I am a member of this very wonderful family. Each one of you are loved by God. I really mean that. God loves us. And if God never did anything else for any one off us more than he has already done, the death of His son, Jesus Christ on the cross is good enough. It is the best gift anyone of us could ever receive - the gift of salvation, the gift of His undying love. Her pursued…

Jeremiah 44:24-47:7; 2 Timothy 3:1-17; Psalms 94:1-23; Proverbs 26:6-8

Today is the 24th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today and fantastic that we can take the next step forward into and through the adventure that are the scriptures in a year, in community. And, so, let’s get to that to a reading from the Names of God Bible this week. And we will continue forward in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 44 verse 24 through 47 verse 7 before taking the next step forward in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. But first Jeremiah chapter 44.

Commentary:

Okay. So, this week we’re reading from the Names of God translation, which, like I said yesterday, preserves any reference to God in its original language. And, so, most of the words used for God, we kind of recognize, we’ve heard them around. But the names of God Bible puts them in some context, like using them in sentences, like, so we can see, like, how they’re actually used. And, so, yesterday we looked at, what is it mean when the Bible says I am Yahweh, Tsebaoth, Elohim of Israel, which means I am Yahweh, the Lord of armies or the leader of the heavenly hosts, the God of Israel, and we talked about, in the New Testament, when we see Yeshua we’re just pronouncing Jesus name in its original tongue. So, we come to a couple of other words today. Let’s just point them out so that will always know going forward when we hear these names pronounced or in song or, you know, spoken somewhere, we know what they mean. So, we come across as Adonay Yahweh lives. So, Adonay, you probably have mostly heard it Adonai. This translation phonetically writes it out, Adonay, because that is actually more proper Hebrew. Adon – Adonay. And we pronounce it Adonai. But this means the Lord, like the highest, like, the top Lord. And of course, we talked about Yahweh yesterday as being, like, a personal name, a personal name ascribed to God. And, so, we can be, like, so, this is God’s name? Like, this is his first name, like, Yahweh is the name? Like haven’t they called…like Jehovah…like what are all these names? Well, in terms of Yahweh, when God speaks through Jeremiah, but it’s not just Jeremiah, but we’re in particular talking about Jeremiah because we’re reading through Jeremiah as we’re reading this translation. This is what God calls himself, Yahweh. So, for God to say, as Adonay Yahweh lives, He’s essentially saying, as the highest God lives. So, like, as the highest Lord of all, who is God, and whose name is Yahweh lives. That’s what where talking about when we’re talking about Adonay Yahweh. And when God refers to himself as Yahweh Elohim, He is a saying, I am the God whose name is Yahweh. Okay, let’s look at another one. As I live, declares they Melek whose name is Yahweh Tsebaoth. Well, we’ve already talked about Yahweh Tsebaoth. What is Melek? Melek is the king. So, as I live declares the king whose name is Yahweh, the Lord of armies. Okay, and then we get to the Psalms and we encounter the word El. Which is just root of Elohim, and it just means God, like the highest, the mightiest God, El. And we also encounter, arise oh Shophet of the earth. So, Shophet is one who governs. So, like, the judge, like, arise oh judge of the earth. Okay, so, there’s our Hebrew for the day.

So, let’s talk about second Timothy. So, in this letter, Paul, as he often does, is making some contrasts but we have to understand the context or at least remember, remind ourselves of the context. This is a personal letter from Paul to Timothy. Timothy has been raised up in the faith since youth and has been a protégé and a son in the faith of Paul. So, Paul has mentored Timothy up in ministry and has placed him as the pastor of the church in Ephesus. So, Paul is writing to somebody that he knows well and he’s writing to somebody that he trusts and who trusts him and he’s writing in the context of a personal letter to a pastor, to someone leading God’s people. And when that context becomes apparent, like, what we are actually talking about here, it really opens up. So, Paul tells Timothy, you’ve got to understand, in the last days there are going to be violent periods of time and people will be selfish and they will love money and they’ll brag and they’ll be arrogant and they’ll be abusive with their language and they’ll curse their parents, show no gratitude, have no respect for what is holy, they’ll lack the normal affection that you find in families, and they won’t be willing to make peace with anyone. Like, these are the people that have to be right, even if they’re wrong. They have to be right. They’ll be slanderous, they won’t have any self-control, they can be brutal, and they can have no love for what is good. They’ll be traders, they’ll be reckless and conceited, and it will be pleasure that they’re after more than seeking God. They’ll look good, like, on paper. They’ll appear to have a godly life but they will not let the Holy Spirit change them by His power. You need to avoid those kinds of people. So, we can read that as instructions just for our daily lives, for those kinds of people who are like black holes, sucking the life out of every room they walk into or, you know, people who are two-faced, who are really just playing a game. So, we can take that and go, alright, I know some of those kind of people. But when you bring into the context of a pastor or priest, you begin to understand that this is a dangerous kind of person within a faith community. All kinds of dissension and division, and any number of things can happen. Paul even goes on to talk about how some of these people, these guys, they go into, you know, “minister” to women and the ministry may be a little bit different than studying scripture. It may be more ministry done in the bedroom. And Paul’s just saying, like, none of this is good and none of this will build up the community and you’ve got to understand what you’re dealing with here and avoid it, shut it down. And you know, like, those of you are pastors, you’ve got this crystal clear. You know exactly what Paul is talking about, which is interesting, that Paul’s talking about this a couple of thousand years ago in the early church. And these kinds of things continue to go on. And these kinds of behaviors are so destructive inside of the community. And these kinds of people, who are not willing, as Paul would say, to allow God’s power to change them. And these are the kinds of people that go from place to place, to place, to place causing harm - the kind of people that have a desire for community but are so broken that they want the whole thing formed around them. Everything centers around their orbit and they can’t be wrong. So, Paul is essentially saying, like, this is not healthy, this behavior is not healthy. And when it’s habitual and a person isn’t pressing in any way, like, isn’t looking for transformation, doesn’t even see that they’re doing anything wrong, and will not be corrected, will fight even when they know they’re wrong, there’s a nonstarter here. There’s no way this to move forward and it’s got to be avoided. And, so, Paul then contrasts that kind of behavior with his own because what he’s telling Timothy is, look, this kind of stuff is going to show up from time to time and you just need to be able to spot it early and understand completely what’s going on here. And so, when you do spot this kind of stuff you also have a couple of reference points for how things should be. You have my example. So, Paul is saying, you have my example, you have walked with me and lived with me and ministered with me. You have what you’ve seen and you have the Scriptures. So, let’s start with a contrast of Paul. Paul’s saying, look, you know my teachings. You know how I live my life. You know what burns inside me as purpose. You have witnessed my faith. You have seen my patients. You have seen my love and you have seen me endure things. And you know about the persecutions and sufferings that happened to me. You were there in Antioch and Iconium and Lystra when things were not going so well and I was getting stoned and thrown out of places. So, you’ve seen what I’ve gone through and I endured those things and you watched God rescue me, which is a direct contrast to the kind of behavior that I’m telling you to avoid in your personal life and in the faith community of Ephesus. So, you know that. And you know that I have lived true. And you have also watched me face persecution. You have watched me face opposition. So, you’ve got to know that this kind of comes with the territory. And, so, he sums this thought up by saying, listen, continue in what you have learned and what you have found to be true. You know who your teachers were. So, stick to that and don’t listen everything that’s going on, all of the discussion that’s going on, stuff that we were talking about yesterday. From infancy, Paul says, Timothy, from your infancy you’ve known the holy scriptures and they have the power to give you wisdom so that you can navigate all this and so that you be saved through faith in Jesus. Which brings us to Paul’s declaration on the value of Scripture, which also happens to be, like, a formative Scripture for what we do here every day, for the Daily Audio Bible for the community that we are. Paul succinctly names why it is that we do what we’re doing together every single day as we journey through the scriptures in a year. Every scripture passage is inspired by God. All of them are useful for teaching, pointing out errors, correcting people, and training them for a life that has God’s approval. They equip God’s servants so that they are completely prepared to do good things. This is why we’re here. This is why we do what we do, which creates a natural and nice segue into just mentioning, you will have received an additional program in your feed in the app or wherever you’re listening to Daily Audio Bible today. And it’s a little fireside chat about this community, about the global campfire that we share every day, and how we got here, and where were going together. So, it’s sort of like an all community meeting about how we do what we do and how we need to do it going forward. So, by all means, if possible, don’t miss that.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for Your word. We thank You for the richness in it and like we were talking about yesterday, just the adventure of discovery. It’s endless - the contexts, the words, the way that they speak to us and go inside of us and transform us as we continue to expand and mature and grow up and You. And, so, we do believe that every scripture passage is inspired by God. And we do believe all of them are useful for teaching and pointing out errors in correcting people and training them for a life that has Your approval. This is what happens to us every day, so, we can bear this out in our own lives, that, yes, Your word has done those things in our lives and You have equipped us so that we’re prepared to do good things. We’re prepared. We may choose otherwise but You have prepared us and continue to transform us through Your word. So, come Holy Spirit. We invite You to continue that work that You have begun in us at the beginning of this year and to see it through all the way to the end of this year as we continue to speak Your word, every single word in the Scriptures this year. 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. And it’s the fireside chat is what’s going on around here, what I just mentioned, so make sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re 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 Springhill Tennessee 37174.

And of course, 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:

Singing – The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him. The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him. We fear You Lord and we trust in Your unfailing love. The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him. The fear of the Lord is ____ inside. It means friendship with God and eternal life. The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him. We share You O god ___. We find healing within Your forgiving love.

Hello everyone. This is Jay from New Jersey calling, freshly discharged from the hospital as of Tuesday. As a result of just the guilt of everything that I’ve done I had some thoughts of wanting to take my life. So, I went into the hospital there and admitted myself. So, I’m out now and I’m going to catch up on the DAB. I got an email from Mark S. saying that everybody is sending me out love, so, thank you in advance. And let’s just pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the DAB family that just loves me so much and Father I pray that their prayers, as I hear them, will just encourage me and assure me that I’m wanted and I’m needed and I’m loved and that Your will be done in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. All right. Talk you soon. Love you guys.

Hi family. I haven’t called in a while. This is Kim from California. I do need to ask for your prayers. First, I’d like everyone to pray for everyone that is in California that has had any kind of loss with all the fires. California is on fire right now, as I’m sure everybody knows. Things are getting a little bit better. Some of the fires are contained but a lot of people have lost their homes. They’ve lost loved ones. They’ve lost everything. And a lot of those people are workers in the Napa area and Sonoma area. There’s a lot of workers out there that people…everybody thinks that there’s ten million dollar homes out there…well there are but those people have insurance and the people that don’t have insurance, they’ve lost everything. So, I am going to ask for your prayers. And it is supposed to rain tomorrow…a little bit. ____. We live in the woods. We are surrounded by woods. There’s a lot of forest out here. So, I also ask for my own personal prayers for my husband and my family and all our neighbors in our little town and everyone that is involved in these fires. We are preparing in case we do have to evacuate. But I just want to ask for your prayers for everyone in California. I pray for rain. Thank you so much for your prayers. I do pray for you all the time. Thank you so much Brian and Jill. Thank you so much for this wonderful forum. God bless you all. Kim from California.

Hi Brian. This is Terry from Alabama. I love this community. I’ve been part of this community since your second year of doing this. I met you with John Eldritch and I need some help. I need prayer. I’m in love with a beautiful woman and I have been addicted to pornography for a long time. I’m in counseling for it and I’m working towards with a prayerful life of getting rid of it. But I need more prayer because of that addiction has resulted in lies that have caused pain to my girlfriend and I want her to have some healing and I want our relationship to have healing. So, please pray out for me and pray for my addiction and  pray for my girlfriend and I love you all and I need your prayers. Thank you.

Jeremiah 42:1-44:23; 2 Timothy 2:1-26; Psalms 92:1-93:5; Proverbs 26:3-5

Today is the 23rd day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you. Back in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Little tired from travel, but we had a great time in Utah yesterday, a great time in Sandy with our new friends at the Fellowship church. So, thanks for having us out and thanks for all of you came in. And was good to be with you. And it’s good to be with you all today as we take the next step forward through the adventure that were on together, through the Bible. So, we’re reading from the names of God Bible this week and by the time we reach the end of this week we will have completed the book of Jeremiah and moved forward and we will also have completed the letter, Paul’s second letter to Timothy, that were reading and moved forward into the letter to Titus. So, that’s kind of the lay of the land for the week. But let’s dive in. Jeremiah chapter 42 verse 1 through 44 verse 23 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so let’s look at some context today, mostly in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. But a brief little bit in Jeremiah. And what I’m going to say about Jeremiah has less to do with context and more to do with words. So, we’re reading from the Names of God Bible this week, which retains the original language reference when God is spoken of. So, a number of times today we read Yahweh, Tsebaoth, Elohim of Israel and we kind of piece it together enough to follow along with the story. But what are these words? So, Yahweh is a name of God. Like, if I were to say, I am Brian, well, we read in the Bible, I am Yahweh. So, in other words, God is referring to himself as God but Yahweh is the name being used, as in like a personal name. Tsebaoth is a word that refers to, like, a military commander. And Elohim, that refers to the Divine, that refers to God as the All-Powerful, as we would understand God to be. So, Yahweh, Tsebaoth, Elohim of Israel is usually translated something like, the Lord of Heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, or when the personal reference, Yahweh, is preserved, I am Yahweh, the Commander of Heavenly Forces, your God, the God of Israel. And, of course, in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as Yeshua, which is how his name would’ve been pronounced by his mother and his family and everyone who knew him when he was walking upon the earth.

And, so, now that were in the New Testament let’s talk about second Timothy for second because we see something really fascinating in today’s reading that’s kind of mind blowing because we never think about it. So, this New Testament, that begins with the gospel of Matthew and ends with the book of Revelation, these writings weren’t just dropped out of the sky in a bound, gilded book that said New Testament on the front of it. And, you know, the apostles didn’t just find this left in the upper room in a corner somewhere and realize…oh…well…here’s what we need to believe and here’s what we need to do. Right? So, Timothy, for example, he couldn’t have gotten the first letter that Paul sent him, known as first Timothy, and read and thought, you know I need to cross reference that with second Timothy to see if it corresponds because he hadn’t gotten the second letter from Paul yet, the one that were reading now. So, he didn’t have it to base any doctrine or have any encouragement or any reminders of things that he needed to pay attention. Right? Paul didn’t sit down and write all of his letters, all at one time, all from one place and then distribute them around so that they all landed at the same time. And even if he had done that, you know, like, if he wrote a letter at the same time to the Galatians as he did to the Ephesians and he sent them out, well the church at Galatia doesn’t know what the letter to the Ephesians says, and vice a versa. So, it’s not all part of the New Testament at this point. In the 27 books of the New Testament that we have, as the New Testament, although that had kind of been settled and these were the books that had been used, this wasn’t, like, affirmed by the church at large until like the late fourth century. And there were other things being written and other things being said along the way. And, you know, that’s where this term Gnosticism comes in but not everything was Gnostic. Some things were just newer. Some things just had in incongruences. And that most scholars would agree. In, like, the books and letters that we have in the New Testament these are the oldest writings. So, there’s this period that is centuries. So, like, if Jesus died in the 30s - and I don’t mean like the 1830s or 1730s, I mean, like the 0030…like the 30s - then there is this period of development where God begins to reveal the New Testament through his people. And like in the case of Paul’s letters they are written one at a time to different people in different places for different reasons but even Paul suggests, you know, to share these things, pass them around. And, so, that’s what began to happen, the letters began to be copied and passed around. So, if you are in Ephesus and you have letters from Paul that were written to the Ephesians to the church at Ephesus, well, then you may eventually get a copy of letters written to the Galatians and you may share copies. And then copies of letters from Philippi come in. And these letters begin to be shared around and they begin to be read in the churches and be used for instruction and doctrine in the churches and they become very, very valuable, irreplaceable, to the common life of faith that these churches share. But there was a point in this story were nothing was written yet. So, if we were to consider the book of Acts, which was penned by Luke, by the author of the Gospel of Luke. So, Luke and Acts are this two-volume set. And Acts begins to show us all of the things that happened in the development of the church. And these things all had to happen before they could be written down, before an accounting of those happenings could be written down. So, there is a period where a lot of stuff is going on and theology and understanding and doctrine is being formed and then becoming commonly understood and accepted before it can ever be written down. So, we see that through the power of the Holy Spirit, first, the message, the good news, the gospel of Jesus, was spoken aloud and over time doctrinal statements or creeds were formed - things that people would recite and memorize and say together as a statement of faith as an agreed-upon thing, like, this is what we believe. And sometimes these things would be sung with a melody, sung together. Kind of like how we have songs that we sing in church and we sing them but they are making statements about what we believe, even as we give our hearts in worship. They are also making statements about what we believe to be true or they could just be statements that were spoken, recited together, like ancient liturgy. And, so, people would say certain confessions of faith and declarations before they were baptized, knowing that their declaration, along with their immersion in water, could be a death sentence for them. And, so, these statements were important and weighty and valued. And they weren’t just for baptism, they were for common life. They were statements that held people together in common that they would memorize and recite and understand and ponder the mystery. And we encounter these at different points in the New Testament. And their older than the letter or whatever is being written. The statements embedded or the creeds that are preserved, they are older than the writing. So, they give us a glimpse back into that formation period.

Okay, are you with me? Because it can be tedious. So, the apostle Paul doesn’t have the writings of the apostle Paul as he’s planting these churches. He writes the letters later to the churches to remind them of the statements, right, the creeds and stuff that he has taught them that the things that they can have tangible and hold in common and recite together when they come together for worship, so that they can retell the story of what they believe. And these are earlier things than these letters. So, why am I telling you all this? Because we encounter such statements in Paul’s letter to Timothy, to second Timothy that were going through today. And we remember that this is a personal letter, a personal letter from Paul to Timothy, who is a son in the faith and is also the pastor at Ephesus. And, essentially, Paul is encouraging Timothy to be strong, be true, be faithful, be loyal, and to not get distracted by you every nuanced argument out there. So, he’s referring to the fact that people are saying different things, maybe even writing down different things, and that it’s not a good use of his time to try to argue out every new thought. And in addressing that, he’s like, this is a statement that can be trusted. Right? So, this this is one of these early statements that people have the memorizing and reciting - if we have died with Him we will live with Him, if we endure we will rule with Him, if we disown Him He will disown us, if we are unfaithful He remains faithful because he cannot be untrue to Himself. Right? So, Paul is reminding Timothy of this declaration. And he’s also reminding Timothy to remind others to continue to teach this forward. And, so, Paul is saying, remember these things that you were taught. Remember these things that you have memorized. Don’t let anyone else in the church forget these are the core essentials, these declarations, this is essential. And he’s saying and reminding Timothy to do that because of all this other thought swirling around. Because Paul’s discussion here with Timothy is to not get distracted in every kind of argument that can be thought up. I mean, Paul even names, Hymenaeus and Philetus, like people who are doing this. So, like people who are in and around the church who are, you know, having these esoteric conversations because they heard somebody who heard somebody say something who heard somebody say something. And it’s a distraction, Paul’s saying. And he’s going back and saying, you have these core statements, right, because Timothy couldn’t get up and say, let’s turn to the book of first Timothy. He could certainly say, I got a letter from our father in the faith, Paul who’s in prison and this is what he has to say, this is kind what he told me. But the framework of the way that we interact with the New Testament, they didn’t have that framework. So, these statements we find in Paul’s letters or letters from other apostles or from gospel writers, things that kind of look like poems in the middle of a story, which is kind of how the statement that were talking about today is second Timothy looks, this is where we get clues to what was going on in the formation of the church before there was a New Testament that sought to solidify the theological understanding of the good news. These statements are some of the earliest statements, earliest understandings of what God was doing in the world that we have. And we should recognize and treasure them because they are probably some of the oldest statements of faith in Jesus that we have. And, so there’s a couple more statements like this in today’s reading that we have. So, Paul names Hymenaeus and Philetus as people that are kind of stirring up all this weird stuff, these useless arguments and misleading debates. And, so, he calls them out and he says they’ve abandoned the truth and then he explains what they’re doing -  their destroying the faith of others by saying that people who have died have already come back to life. So, they either reason this out themselves or they heard this somewhere and Paul’s saying that’s the kind of stuff were avoiding. So, Paul says, like, in spite of what they’re doing, in spite of all that, God’s people have a solid foundation. These words are engraved on it. And then we have a couple of these statements - the Lord knows those who belong to him, and, whoever worships the Lord must give up doing wrong. So, although we can find these themes in lots of places in the Scriptures, we get a little glimpse at how these things came to be. And when we begin, over time, to understand the context of things the Bible really, really opens up to us.

Prayer:

Father, once again, we thank You for Your word and the treasure that it is and our ability to dive deep and swim and drink deeply and understand what a treasure hunt this is, to engage with Your word, and invite Your Holy Spirit to speak through it. What a guide it is. What an adventure it is. And we thank You for that. And, so, with Saints of old, we say what has been said for so long - if we have died with You we will live with You, if we endure we will rule with You, if we disown You if we walk away You let us You will disown us, if we are unfaithful You are faithful because You can’t be unfaithful to yourself. And we invite Your Holy Spirit to plant this ancient declaration deep in our hearts. We ask this 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.

And here is what’s going on around here. Tomorrow, along with the Daily Audio Bible, there will be an additional program, a fireside chat, a little community discussion around the global campfire that, for those of you who haven’t been around all that long, gives a little bit of a glimpse into the story of how the Daily Audio Bible came to be and how we’ve grown up together and where were headed together. So, it’s like a little all community meeting and I hope you will listen to that. I think it’s important for us to be on the same page as we go forward. So, watch for that tomorrow

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then there’s a link that lives on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com and I thank you profoundly for your partnership. If you’re 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 TN 37174.

And of course, 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:

God bless you Daily Audio Bible. Hey this is Scott calling from Houston and I wanted to call in and offer some encouragement to Darrell from___. Darrell, I heard your call about the prayer for your business so that you can pay your employees. I want you to know that I’ve heard you many times Darrell and I’ve appreciated your encouragement. So, Lord, I pray for Darrel right now, that You will help things to come together for him. Please break down strongholds that would prevent him from being able to move forward for his business. I pray for you Darrell and I’ll keep praying for you. And Jay from New Jersey, I wanted to call and tell you that I’ve really appreciated your calls over the years and don’t let the enemy accuse you of being false because we all feel that time to time. And the best thing you can do is to offer your sincerity back to the Lord Jesus that He will…He will defend your heart for you. And also I wanted to remind you that sometimes when we fall and we give in to temptations and addictions. We have to realize that the enemy is not just trying to annoy us and make our life difficult and a struggle, although he wants to do that. He wants to ultimately just take our faith and completely destroy it. So, he doesn’t care what he has to do. If he can get us to doubt our connection to the Holy Spirit he’ll will do whatever he’s got to do. He’s just using us. But God’s grace will never fail you. He is always there. Within our own doubt He is stronger than the evil one, who is just trying to destroy us and he’s getting…he’s trying to get us to destroy ourselves. So, God bless you my friend. I will keep praying for you. Love you all. Bye now.

Hey guys. This is Sharron calling. I’ve called in a couple of times before and I just wanted to reach out to everyone who’s kind of having a lot of trouble with depression and mood and anxiety and such. Mostly, specifically to Sharron in California. I just want to say that I know exactly what is going on. I was there just only a few months ago and the only two words that ever came were I can’t. I just felt heavy. I felt alone. I was constantly crying out, why God, why? But then I got a verse. And I don’t know if this will help you. It really helped me. It’s Song of Solomon, Chapter 2 verse 6. And it simply states that, His left hand cradles my head and His right arm encircles my waste. And I know that we all feel very alone at times but also know that He is right there. He is holding us. And it took me so long to get help. And I just hope that you can take a step out and ask for that helper. Find someone that can help you get that help, whether it be a doctor or a counselor or what have you. But please, reach out just a little bit further than asking for prayer because it just might be that God’s answering your prayer by putting someone in front of you. So, I just hope that that will help. And I would…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Ron from upstate New York. I’m calling with a prayer request for my granddaughter Shay. She’s going through some depression and anxieties and stuff like that. And she’s also searching for God. And if you would pray for her to find God, I believe once she does that much of her anxieties will subside. Love you family. Amen.

Wow. What a DAB day. It’s Thursday, October 19^th and this is Blessed Beyond Measure from New Jersey. Now. Could all of these spirit led moments be captured in a single podcast? Well, the answer is yes when we will let God be in control. Today’s highlight started with our reading of Jeremiah 33 and then Brian’s reiteration of the Lord’s redemption plan, then and today. Next, Blind Tony, one of everyone’s favorite DAB family members, speaks words of truth that makes you want to will love the Lord more and more. Then we move to precious Gigi, who reminds us how we are going to be endure our days on earth as believers in Christ as we are waiting to enter God’s perfect place for us. She, in my opinion, is living Luke 18:17 – I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it. In conclusion, Asia from Munich rings it on home by thanking others in our family for their courage to publicly confess their sins and being open to receive love and prayers that will follow. Also, we spoke about those who have lost all hope and are met by those who are prayer warriors, picking up the burden and calling on our heavenly Father to fill those calls with a hope only He can give. Brian and DAB staff, you’ve totally yielded to the Holy Spirit, to weave to today’s readings and calls into a single message for our Lord and Savior. I’m Blessed Beyond Measure from New Jersey.

Jeremiah 39:1-41:18; 2 Timothy 1:1-18; Psalms 90:1-91:16; Proverbs 26:1-2

Today is the 22nd day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible and greetings from the state of Utah. Excited to be out here and getting ready to share the Sneezing Jesus message. And we can talk about that a little bit later. Here we are at the threshold of a shiny, sparkly new week that we get to walk through and into together. We’ll read from the Names of God Bible this week, which is fun and important for us to encounter once in a while. Basically, what the Names of God Bible translation does is any time God is referred to, its original utterance - so, in its original language that is retained even though this is an English translation and everything else is kept in English, when God is referred to - it is retained in its original language. So, we’ll will take the next step from the book of Jeremiah, of course. But we concluded Paul’s first letter to Timothy, and so will begin Second Timothy today when we get to the New Testament reading. And we’ll talk about that when we get there. But first, Jeremiah chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 18.

Okay, like I mentioned at the beginning, we concluded Paul’s first letter to his protégé, to his son in the faith, Timothy, whom was serving as the pastor at the church of Ephesus, which brings us to Second Timothy, the second letter, Paul wrote to Timothy. And it came in a very short period of time - the first and second letters. This particular letter has kind of a special place in the New Testament and should hold a gravity and a sobriety for us because this is the apostle Paul’s final writing of his life. So, the apostle Paul whom we’ve journeyed with and traveled with and watched do so many things - so much ministry in so many places on so many travels - and who has poured out his life while he was alive, is about to lose his life. Paul is back in prison in chains in a dungeon. Winter is coming and this is probably somewhere in the vicinity of the year 67. And it’s become absolutely against the law to be known as a Christian. And just about everyone has deserted Paul. The only one who has stayed with him in Rome is Luke the physician, who authored the Luke and Acts. Paul knows it’s just a matter of time and he will likely be executed. And he deeply wants to see his son in the faith, Timothy, face-to-face one last time. But the way the narrative reads in this letter, he’s trying to tell Timothy some of the things that he would prefer to tell him in person but he’s writing them down just in case it’s too late. It’s in this letter that he says, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race’. But before he says this, he gives Timothy’s parting words. And this is a man, the apostle Paul, this is a man who is given his life to the cause of Christ and has suffered at every turn. And now he knows there’s one more bit of suffering and it will be his execution and he will die and his death is imminent. And he tells his son in the faith important words of counsel - keep your head, be vigilant about your faith no matter what happens, no matter what Timothy, stay true. So, Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy is a passionate plea for the faith. And when we can understand that this is being written from a condemned man and one of the most influential people in all of the faith, the impact on us should be and can be the same as it was when it was originally read. And, so, we begin. Second Timothy, Chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word. And as we take the journey through Paul’s final writings, we ask that Your Holy Spirit make us see it soberly as a deep encouragement from a saint who is about to die. May we listen with that gravity in honoring that but in also applying it to our lives. And as we move into this this new week we consecrate ourselves to You, offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to You in the tradition of St. Paul. Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us forward. Lead us with assurance. Lead us with stability and hope. Come Jesus. We pray 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.

So, like I mentioned at the beginning. We’re out here in Utah, in sandy Utah, to bring the Sneezing Jesus message today at the Fellowship Church. So, looking forward to seeing you, those of you who are coming.

And then I have also been mentioning the global campfire, the little fireside chat, the little community meeting that is coming up this Tuesday. You don’t have to do anything to attend this meeting, but simply watch your feed. It’ll show up along with the Daily Audio Bible and I’m encouraging everyone to listen to this because it is a bit of, you know, where we’ve come from and where we are going together. So, watch for that to show up in your feed on Tuesday morning. And that will be great.

And then looking a little bit further down the calendar into the month of November. November 19^th, we will be in the Shreveport Louisiana area, Bossier City, Louisiana at River Valley Church. And, so, put that on your calendar. If you are in the area we would love to see you.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link it’s on the homepage. Thank you, humbly, and profoundly for clicking that link. If you’re 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 of course, 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:

My name is Marcus. I’m calling from Cincinnati. I’m reaching out to Sharon who called on October 14^th with sincere prayers. My heart goes out to you and I pray for your life to come together for your family to heal. I also pray for the grandfather who prayed for Brett, his grandson suffering from depression. And I reach out to Jay. There is redemption on the other side. Brian, thank you for your ministry. And I continue to pray for everyone. Jesus, in Your name, please grant peace to this entire team.

Good morning guys. This is Jenn in SoCal, AKA Prayer Warrior Princess. I have some prayer requests for you please. Number one, my nephew Dillon is 21 and he was one of the people that was shot in Vegas. He was shot in the shoulder and he has shrapnel that, apparently, they are going to leave it there because it’s safer than trying to remove it all. So, prayers please, for his recovery, not just physically but from the posttraumatic stress that has resulted for my brother’s whole family. Not only was Dillon shot but my sister in laws family is in Puerto Rico and they’re still without electricity and suffering over there. So, there’s that. And this week is the anniversary of my stepmom, Nancy’s death. And, so, my dear family is kind of going through the ringer right now. And, so, not only my dad is grieving his wife but my uncle also passed away in the last six months. So, my dad, my brother, my sister in law and their two kids could really use your prayers. And they don’t yet know the Lord. So…that would…I keep saying so. I’m totally nervous. I’, not sure why. I love you guys. Why be nervous? Anyways…and another side thing. One of my instructors, I asked them last night, when I asked her if there was anything else I could do, she said, I need a miracle. And I’m assuming she meant in order to get everything accomplished last night. Regardless, can you guys pray for a miracle for my teacher for whatever she was looking for however the Lord wants to minister to her. That would be awesome. Thanks you guys. Love you. Bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Amberly calling. I wanted to call and request prayer today. I had emergency surgery and had to be care flighted to Salt Lake City four weeks ago. And, anyway, I go to the doctor tomorrow to see if it’s okay for me to go back to my job as a first-grade teacher this next week. And I’m hoping I will be able to. But the reason for the surgery is because the hysterectomy that I had this summer came completely undone after ten weeks, at ten weeks post op. And I had a significant prolapse of my bowel and other stuff. And, so, it was pretty horrifying, actually. And I struggled a little bit but I was not completely healed on the inside from what the surgeon said that go in and redo everything. And, so, I’ve had a little bit of trepidation. And, so, I covet you guys prayers as far as healing all the way around goes and if I’m not healed completely that they would be able to see that. And if I needed to still stay home and continue to heal rather than go back and hang out with my littlest that that would be abundantly clear. I just ask God’s blessing over my body and complete healing and that my spirits would stay up and my focus would be on the Lord and not, you know, kind of feeling sorry for myself and having a little pity party. So, I’m sure some of you have been there and done that. So, anyway, thank you so much for your prayers. I love all of you. Bye.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s Adam calling. Today is the 18^th of October. I’m calling in just to say, one thing that’s on my mind is to share this: Proverbs chapter 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Now, I’ve seen this happen over and over and I’ve just seen God. He is faithful. He always clears the way. So, the message for today is just to trust in Him. Trust in Him and see where that takes you because you’ll be surprised. God is faithful and he will deliver you from anything and everything. Now, make it a good day guys. Bye.

Hello every one ____, that’s ____Indonesian for good morning. This is Jubilant Perseverance calling and I just wanted to pray and ask God to go before us in the upcoming days. Heavenly Father, thank You for life and for a beautiful new day that we have to live by Your hand. It is because of Your control and Your authority that our world continues to spin, that our sun continues to give us warmth and heat, and we continue to see the beauty around us in nature. I ask first, on that note, for  ____ all of the believers that are in California and Oregon near the wild fires or with homes in neighborhoods that have been consumed by them, I ask that You will please comfort them and give them wisdom about next steps and enable them to take one step at a time to move forward with their lives. I pray for those who have been victims of all of the natural disasters that have been going on recently – mudslides, earthquakes, hurricanes, wild fires – all of these things that are signs that we are not in control and signs that there is more going on beyond humanity. I pray that it will open the eyes of the unbelievers who don’t believe that You are powerful who don’t believe that You are in control that they will see that everything that you’ve created is Yours and everything…

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

Today is the 19th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we close down another week together. And we began this beautiful book of Esther yesterday and we will conclude it tomorrow. So, we’re kind of like right in the middle of it and that’s where we’ll pick up. We’ll pick up where we left off yesterday, where there is this new queen, Esther, who happens to be a Jewess but she hasn’t revealed that. And then there’s this man Haman who is like second in command to the King. So, like on either side of the king are a Jewess and one who wants to utterly and completely destroy the Jews. And the drama builds. Esther chapter 4 verse one through 7 verse 10 today.

Commentary:

Alright, Esther is such a beautiful story. Right? I mean…it’s just a beautiful, beautiful story. Not so much for Haman. But pretty much for everybody else. But it’s this intentionality of God working in and among circumstances when we don’t even really know completely what’s going. I mean, so, Hadassah who is Esther, lost her parents, was orphaned, was then taken in by her uncle and raised up. So, we can say she had significant disadvantages against her, the most unlikely person to become a queen. And yet this is what happens. Her beauty grows. Her character grows. She’s beautiful inside and out. And when the king is looking for new Queen…I mean…he has a lot of beauty of beauty to pick from, but Esther is chosen. And, so, when Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews…and you know this…this has just happened throughout history…the destruction of the Jewish people…and this is just one more instance of the kind of Holocaust that was planned for them by Haman. And Esther is just kind of settling into what has just happened to her. She lost her parents. She’s been raised by her uncle. Her uncle loves her. Then she’s swept away from her uncle and brought into the harem of the king waiting her turn. And the next thing she knows she’s become queen and then she discovers this plot and she doesn’t know exactly what to do because she’s still moving into being Queen and she knows that if she goes before the king uninvited that she could lose her own life. And Mordechai is kind of like, yeah, that might happen anyway. Who knows, Esther, who knows, you could’ve been born for this, you have been put where you are for such a time as this. And that proves true. And, so, this is a giant example because we have a beautiful queen and we have all of this intrigue and it’s all consolidated into, you know, a kind of a tight little book and story. But these kinds of things are going on all the time. Maybe not on such a grand scale but if we open our eyes and start paying attention and walk with God in everything as we face out into the world and Sneeze Jesus into the world and infect the world with light and good news, we’re going to find that ‘for such a time as this’ is common for us. We just have to be paying attention. It’s just…I talked about serendipity…in one of the Facebook lives that we did for Sneezing Jesus…I said, you just watch…if you’re paying attention…you just watch the little things that happen that put you in positions to say the right thing at the right time on behalf of the Savior. And that’s true. If we’re paying attention. If were not so self-absorbed about what’s going on around us, what’s swirling around us or how we are being affected, if we’ll face outward away from that and start paying attention, light and life are everywhere. And we need to be a part of it. And the opportunities are endless to just do good, to just be light in this world. And this story certainly shows us, on a grand scale, what that looks like. But it looks the same for all of us in big and small ways.

And then we have the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, unpacking what the body of Christ is and telling us something very, very important that also pulls us away from self-absorption. You are a part of something greater than yourself. All by yourself, isolated, there’s only so far you can go. But when you understand that you are a part of a greater whole and that greater whole is the body of Christ in this world, the physicality of Jesus in this world, lived out through our own flesh - that is mind boggling. Like, just that awareness alone, that Christ is in me and I am a part of his body and together we make up this whole. Then what we’re actually saying here is that Jesus is still in the world, on earth, physically represented, and doing his work in the world through us. And we are a part of that, big or small, we are a part of that. And every part of the body is irreplaceable and important. That changes the order and scope of our lives. That definitely pulls us away from the self-absorption of just what is happening to us and around us, making us aware that we are a part of something happening in the world, a new way of being in the world, in Christ. And we all have a role to play. And there is for such a time as this for each of us. I mean, that should change how we live today. Right? That should change how we live tomorrow. That that should give us pause before we launch into some sort of tirade against someone, someone near to us or someone away from us. That should give us pause before we step into things that are not going to be helpful. There are gifts and there are gifts for us all and we all play a role in a whole. It’s incredible.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for the book of Esther. We thank You for the letter to the Corinthians. We thank You for this awareness, that we have a role to play. And as we continue to play these roles there’s going to continue to be for such a time as this. And we are part of a greater whole. And it’s not about us trying to rise above anyone. It’s about us being the body of Christ in this world, Your body, Your work, Your kingdom and You have invited us who do not deserve to be here at all into this glorious, dramatic, beautiful story that never ends. And, so, we’re humbled and we invite your Holy Spirit to give us the eyes and ears that would make us aware of the things that are happening around us and our role in it as opposed to only what’s happening to or around us. Help us Holy Spirit. Lift our eyes to the horizon so that we can be oriented once again and see what is really going on around here. Help us Jesus we ask in Your precious 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’s going on right this minute is just the launch of all the Sneezing Jesus items that there are are now available in the Daily Audio Bible shop. So, you can get the Sneezing Jesus book there, you can get the sneezing Jesus 10 pack there with all of the goodies that go along with that. We have case pricing for Sneezing Jesus there. The medallion you can get there. The Sneezing Jesus films are there. It’s all in one place in the Daily Audio Bible shop. We even have a category for it, a Sneezing Jesus category, so that you can find all that. So, if it’s time for replenishing, that’s the place to go. If you haven’t jumped in and taken the journey, the Sneezing Jesus journey, then that’s where you can find 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, humbly and deeply and truly for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re 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 TN 37174.

And of course, 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…next week…which is tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Lawrence in California. Just calling to pray. Father, just thank You this morning. We love You Father. We praise You. We give You thanks, honor and glory. This morning father, You have children that are desperate. They’re in desperate situations. They don’t know where to turn. They are out of strength. They are low on faith. They are at end of their rope. But Father, You can do all things. Nothing is impossible for You. So, we call You this morning to stand up and save those who are desperate, those who are crying out to You who are hurting, who are suffering, who don’t have answers, who need your provision. Thank You Father. Thank You for hearing them. Thank You for hearing them as You are hearing me right now. Thank You for responding. Thank You for being near to us even when we don’t feel You. Thank You Father You are worthy to be praised and to be thanked and to be honored and to be glorified. And we ask all these things in Your Son’s name.

Hi. My name’s Heather. I live in Chicago and I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible off and on a fairly short time. This is my first time calling. I really need prayer for multiple things in my life. The most pressing one right now being that my husband and I are on the verge of splitting and I’m just very confused and don’t know what to do. I just feel frozen by fear. On top of that I struggle with depression and anxiety and have for years but since we’ve moved to Chicago it’s just gotten so much worse. I’m also unable to have children and this is something that I am having a hard time moving past. I still feel very much in a state of mourning. I have severe endometriosis and due to multiple surgeries, my body doesn’t want to conceive. In fact I am moving towards parry menopause at the age of 32. So, there are many heavy burdens on my heart and there are a lot of days where I just feel like I would rather be with the Lord than have to struggle through. So, I could really use allot of prayer. I just need God’s healing and clarity in these areas in my life and in my marriage. Thank you.

Hello. Greatest Trucker from way out west. Today’s the 14^th of August, Monday. I’m listening to the program this morning and Brian was reading the book of Ezra. And Ezra was a very powerful reading this morning, where Ezra stood out there and read the bible from morning until night…and it occurred to me that Brian Hardin is the modern-day Ezra and that we are the people standing out there listening to him from morning until night. And I just want to thank God for this ministry and thank Brian for doing what he does. And in the New Testament reading today, when Paul said that ___. And so, for this ministry. In Jesus’ name. I’m praying for all you people. Keep praying for me.

Hey family, this is Viola from Maryland. I hope you’re all doing well. Brian and Jill, God bless you. God bless your ministry. Family, pray for my friend that I want to give Sneezing Jesus to this week. And that this week that her heart will be receptive in the name of Jesus. And they will support her and she will be able to accept Him into her heart in Jesus’ name. Hey Debbie and Lawrence, I want to welcome you back into God’s family. Welcome back. And I pray that God will continue to grow you in the name of Jesus. The word of God says in Psalm 63 – that God will give us hearts that follow ___ after Him, hearts that cling passionately to Him. So, I am praying in the name of Jesus that you will have such hearts, even for God and Debbie I am praying for healing for your body. From the crown of your head to the soul of your feet I am praying the Lord will touch your body, the Lord will heal you from cancer. There is nothing our God cannot do. I am trusting God for you in the name of Jesus. ___ daughter had laparoscopy and is now in intensive care, I am praying for her and praying that God will touch her body and raise her up from that sickbed in the name of Jesus. That the Lord of healing will touch her with healing in Jesus name. David, I am rejoicing with you that you reconciled with your wife and I want to use you as a point of contact so that other people in similar situations, God will restore, God will reconcile. And I’m praying for your business, that God will restore all that was lost, in the name of Jesus. Jake, I’m praying that God will wrap His arms around you, and comfort you over the loss from your Father. Listen brother, it doesn’t matter how he has died. The fact is he’s gone. So, I’m just praying God will comfort you as you mourn his loss and that you will think about good thoughts as you confide in Him in the name of Jesus. Lisa, I’m praying for you that God will touch your marriage, God will restore you and your husband, Nate, in the name of Jesus. There is nothing he cannot do. __ what is going on in your home right now. I pray that God will touch your hearts and heal you…

Hi. This is Shannon. I wanted to encourage Stacy in Washington state and Mary C. in Georgia, and Peggy in Texas. I know what it is to be sick and to be in a place where it feels very much alone. When I was 16 I had a type of autoimmune disorder and went to a host of doctors that couldn’t do anything for me. But God is good and He heard my cry. And my illness and the pain that I experienced is now a distant memory. And there’s a scripture in Psalm 107 verse 23 and 24…I believe….and it says that those that go and do business in great waters. And when people do business in the great waters, nobody can help them. Right? And when you’re in that place, when you’re sick, and no one can help you and the doctors don’t know what to do. You’re in that place, you’re in the great waters, you’re in the deep. The next verse says that these people see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. And I am praying that you…while you’re in the deep…and you’re alone…and in your struggle…that you’re not alone. And that I’m praying. And that you will see the wonders of God in deep and you will find healing. And I found healing in complete restoration. So, I am praying that for all of you. I have your names. I pray for you every day. So, be encouraged that while the pain is great He is greater and His healing is greater.