7/29/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 24:1-25:28 ~ Romans 12:1-21 ~ Psalm 22:19-31 ~ Proverbs 20:8-10

Today is the 29th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we close down another week. And what a week it’s been in the scriptures. The Lord has spoken some amazing things to us through His word. And, so, we’ll dive in and take the next step. We are reading from the Gods Word translation this week, which is today.  Second Chronicles chapter 24 verse 1 through 25 verse 28 today.

Commentary:

Ok. What does a dedicated life, a life given over to relationship with God, what does that look like? What are it’s attributes? What are its characteristics? Like, how could we hold that up and overlay our own lives and just, sort of, see where we have areas of growth and where we’re actually in alignment? I mean, that’s one of the reasons that we come to the scriptures. Right? It’s one of the reasons we go through the stories and look into people’s lives and look at their choices and decisions and see where those pathways lead. But we come to one of the most concise and thorough descriptions of this in the book of Romans today.

So, from the beginning of the book of Romans, we’ve watched Paul, kind of, lay things out systematically. And the breathtaking implications of the gospel are overwhelming, if we sit down-and think about it. And we’ve spent some time doing that. But he, kind of, reaches this place today where he’s saying, ok, so, let’s begin to pull this together. This is what this should look like. Or in Paul’s words, brothers and sisters, in view of all that we have just shared about God’s compassion, I encourage you. And the first encouragement is to look at ourselves, to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. So, no longer do we have to lead a sheep or a goat or a bull and sacrifice its life and spill its blood for some sort of atonement before God. Now it’s bigger than that. Now it’s that we lay our lives down, alive before God. We don’t give God death. We give him our lives and live as a sacrifice before God. That posture alone, just kind of contemplating what that means, it reorients our priorities. It exposes, immediately, our self-absorption. Right. And our pursuits. And it puts something else above all of those things. It puts our relationship and intimacy and intertwining and union with God above all other pursuits or possessions. And Paul says, this is an appropriate way to live and this is worship when you do. Don’t become like the people of this world, Paul says. Instead, change the way you think. Because what Paul’s talking about specifically here is repentance. Because repentance means to change the way you think. It means to change your mind, to shift from the inside, to change inside. Paul says, this is the overlay. This is the path that will allow you to always be able to determine what God really wants. Like it’s right there in black-and-white, what we are looking for. What does God really want? What is good, pleasing, and perfect to God? Paul says, you live your life offering yourself as a living sacrifice. Its worship. It’s appropriate. And when you find yourself being pulled back to the darkness of the world, change the way you think. Then you’ll always know what God really wants - what is good, pleasing, and perfect. And then he continues. Don’t think of yourself more highly that you should, which is not just exalting yourself. Right? Just haughtiness. It’s also, don’t think about yourself more than you think about anything else. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should. Your thoughts should be leading you to use good judgment because this isn’t about getting a leg up over anyone else. This isn’t about being above anyone else. This isn’t about anything like that because we’re all in this together. And Paul goes on to explain how a body has many parts and that’s what we’re a part of. And, so, whatever it is that your part is, whatever your part is, do your part. Be that and stop trying to be some other part. Be exactly what you are as a living sacrifice to God. It is worship. It is appropriate. We are all in this together. If we will all do our part we will be acting like the body. Or, to use the words of Paul, love sincerely. Hate evil. Hold onto what is good. Be devoted to each other like a loving family. Excel in showing respect for each other. Don’t be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord. Be happy in your confidence. Be patient in troubles and pray continually. Share what you have with God’s people who are in need. Be hospitable, which isn’t just about providing a meal or providing shelter. Share what you have inside as well. Bless those who persecute you. Bless them and don’t curse them. We can stop right there for a minute and linger. Be happy with those who are happy. Be sad with those who are sad. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be arrogant but be friendly to humble people. Don’t think you’re smarter than you really are. Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil that they did to you. Focus your thoughts on the things that are considered noble. And as much as it is possible, live in peace with everyone. Don’t take revenge, dear friends. Instead, let God’s anger take care of it. After all, He has the final say. Don’t let evil conquer you. Instead, you conquer evil with good.

And there you go. Want to know where to aim your life? Want to be heading in the right direction and know that you’re moving in the right direction? Well, go back to Romans 12 and read it over and over and over and over, underlining and highlighting and writing it down until it sinks in. This is the trajectory. What you have been given here is a roadmap to get to where you want to go. And like any other road map, you get on the road and then decide to take a detour? You’re going to be heading in a different direction. You’re not going to be headed where you want to go. And all of these detours that wind and wind and wind that we blame God for – like, why am I way over here? It’s like, you had the map dude. You had the map. And here is the map. And Romans 12 shows us that at it first begins with our intertwining with God, our union with God. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices, completely dedicated to Him. This is an act of worship that is worship with our lives, not just something we do for half an hour on Sunday morning. It’s something that is always happening. The communion and union is always happening. Everything is an act of worship. Our very lives are in act of worship. And this is appropriate. It begins there. And then we have to be willing to change the way we think at any given moment. We have to be able to repent at any given moment. Because that is what will allow us to know what God really wants. We will be able to determine what is good and pleasing and perfect. And then we begin to know that we are in this together. We are part of a whole. We are an individual, unique, irreplaceable part of a whole. And if we could accept that we have an irreversible role to play, then we could settle in and be comfortable as ourselves - who we are. And we should do that, be that, with all the glory of the Lord being reflected off of our lives. Do that thing and stop looking around at what someone else is doing. This is not a competition. This is not about us dominating anyone else for any reason. It’s about us being able to love one another and love God purely, from a centered place, from a place that is uniquely us, from a place that is intertwined in union with God. Anything can happen from that place because Jesus lived from that place. And Jesus lived a life that was fully human.

Prayer:

Father, we invite this. And, yes, we will spend some more time contemplating this, what is laid out here in the twelfth chapter of the Letter to the Romans. But even as we see these things and even as hope rises in our heart, because we have some concrete statements that show us where the head, we also can see that this cannot be achieved in our own strength. It’s pretty clear. We can memorize this whole chapter. We can know everything about its trajectory and try to live into the and find that we will fail. Because we will always fail without union with you. And, so, come Holy Spirit, well up within us. We are in union with You. We just so often ignore that fact. You are within. We are to gather. We are inseparable. Nothing can separate us. Help us to live the way we were created to live. We surrender to You. Come Jesus, we pray, in Your mighty 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.

The next to Sneezing Jesus Facebook Live that we’ll be doing is coming up this Thursday, August 3rd, 7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. We had a great time with the first one that we did. I have no doubt we’ll have a great time with the second one that we’re going to do. And, so, hope to see you there. You need to be in the Sneezing Jesus discussion group in order to see that. And it’s a piece of cake. Just go to  facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus and you’ll be in within minutes. And, so, we’ll see you there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, in keeping this global campfire that we share burning. Thank you for your partnership. 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 tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Morning DAB. This is Charlotte from England. Just want to give a quick testimony about something going on in my life over this past month or so. So, I’ve been struggling with doubts about my salvation. And I didn’t know this at the time but it manifested itself in trying to go over and above in God and trying to please Him by doing acts and different works and things like that. And I prayed about it and just gave it completely to God. I just gave up completely. And in that, the very next day, praying today, God has just given me a word. So, through Romans 9:32 10-12 - what Brian read today. So, I got this from him. It’s the faith in God that gains God’s approval. Believe in God and you’ll have eternal life. Faith in God means hold onto what scriptures say about Him both in good times and the bad. And that reminded me of the scripture. It says the test of faith produces endurance and that He knows what He’s doing and has the power to do everything good, in His control. And has the power to do everything more than my power. And then, that God is pleased with me in what I do for Him and He wants best for me in harm not good.  Putting myself in dangerous situations just to please Him. So, just to give the encouragement to anyone out there who is doubting their own salvation, that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. And it’s the faith that we should hold onto not the religious works or laws. Thanks guys. See you later.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Dave from NJ. This is my first time calling in. I’ve been listening for a couple of months but I already feel so connected with this community.  And I’m asking this morning that you would pray for a little two-year-old girl, Elianna, who, three days ago, started to have seizures and has been asleep since then. And the doctors don’t know what is causing it or how to wake her up. And, so, I’m asking that you would pray that Jesus would just raise her up to wholeness and I’m asking that you would pray for her parents, that Jesus would carry the suffering and the fear that they feel as they wait for Him to move. I’m just asking that Jesus would use her little life as an example of how He can turn sorrow into joy. She’s two years old but she already knows who Jesus is and she trusts Him with her little two-year-old heart. Thank you for praying.      

Asia, Asia, my darling sister in Christ. You moved me to tears when I heard your prayer request. The fact that the Lord is by your side is forefront in your mind though because you picked up the phone and called into your DAB family. Please know that you will be in my prayers my sister. I love you. I continue on to pray for Blind Tony, Salvation is Mine and all the DABbers who call in and are going through a difficult time. There’s also a brother who was introduced to the DAB by his uncle and is on home assignment from the mission field. I am praying that your financial support will raise above the 70% mark and that you will have a blessed time visiting with colleagues and potential supporters until you go back to the field. DAB family, I may not call in often. My last was December 6, 2016. But I listen every single day and pray with and alongside all those who call in. I just got back from two weeks’ vacation and haven’t had a chance to check into the Sneezing Jesus group yet but I’m looking forward to the second Facebook Live broadcast and will call back about my planned study group. Pastor Gene, I wanted to surprise you and call you while I was visiting Florida but I just didn’t get around to it. Maybe next time. Ok? Blind Tony, I appreciate your shout out to me. You are such a prolific writer. I thank God for your gift and that you continue to share it here with us. And, Brian and Jill, I thank you guys so much for this medium. It has made a difference to my life and I’m sure to many other people. So, hang in there guys and continue to do what you’re doing and I’ll continue to pray for you. Thanks for listening to me. And this is Sue from Canada. Hang onto your smiles guys.

Hello family. This is Leonora calling from the Florida panhandle area. I do not call very often but in listening to today’s podcast -  It’s Wednesday, July 26th, my husband’s birthday - I heard Asia speak - Asia from Munich. Asia, dear, dear Asia.  We love you so much. And I want you to know that our community, the body of Christ, Jesus, is wrapping our arms around you. We are surrounding you with love, with prayer, with hopefulness, and faithfulness in our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is with you. And in everything that occurs, Jesus loving you as we all love you. And whatever the outcome is, the Lord knows what is to be in this story. And please, please smile. I know it’s hard too now. But smile in your heart because of the love that you have from everyone and most importantly from our God. And He turns all things into good. So, I wanted to encourage you Asia. I wanted to encourage you and let you know how much you are loved. And we are here to support you, always. Thank you. You’ve always been such an inspiration to me since I started listening a few years back. I love you and I love you family. Let’s lift Asia up. God bless you all. Thank you family. Bye-bye.

Good morning DAB family. It is July 25th. I just got through listening to the DAB. Thank you, Brian and Jill, for this ministry that we can come together and hear and read the word of God. I felt called to reply to Asia in Munich about what she’s going through about wanting to have another baby. I don’t know why God has me calling because I’ve never had the privilege of having children but I just felt like He wanted me to tell you that now that you’ve given it fully over to Him, He’ll take care of everything Asia. And I just felt like God wanted me to let you know that. Now, I don’t know what God is going to do but I just felt like he wanted me to call and let you know that He’s got your back. He’s going to take care of everything. So, God bless you, God be with you, and love on that little baby boy you have, Aiden. God bless. Bye.

7/28/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 21:1-23:21 ~ Romans 11:13-36 ~ Psalm 22:1-18 ~ Proverbs 20:7

Today is the 28th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you today as we end the work week and prepare to move into the weekend and the end of this week. We’ve been reading from the Gods Word translation this week. Today, second Chronicles chapter 21 verse 1 to 23 verse 21.

Prayer:

Father, we take this moment to thank You for grafting us into the tree, for nourishing us and connecting us. We so often take this for granted because it’s always been this way. And yet today we’re taking the time to thank You for looking at us with mercy and kindness and love. We are fortunate to be included in Your kingdom. We are fortunate to be adopted into Your family, that we might be children of God. We are fortunate that we can call You Father and we realize that so much of our dialog toward You is full of question an accusation, as if you owe us something, when we are fortunate just to be here. And, so, Holy Spirit, come as we sit with this today. How fortunate we are. Let us raise our eyes and look around us and see how fortunate we are to be grafted into this tree and nourished and included. And as we begin to see the full weightiness of this fact, we are grateful. Our hearts are open. You’ve invited us to be a part of Your work in this world and a part of Your family forever. We are very fortunate. We are very grateful. And we turn our lives outward, toward the world, and invite You to live through us, to love through us, to touch through us, to heal through us, to minister through us, to bring good news through us, to bring light into this world through us, to do the work that You began, to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free through us. We don’t deserve to be here. It’s not a default. You have invited us and loved us and grafted us into your family and we have gratitude beyond words. And may the efforts and actions and thoughts and words of our lives show this. 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. A few things are going on around here.

In a little less than a week, next Thursday, so, a week from yesterday, we’ll do the next Facebook Live in the Sneezing Jesus discussion group and we’ll have some discussion about small groups and some other things, take some questions. We had a good time the first time we did it and we will do it again. So, that’s  coming up, August 3rd,  7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. So, you can, kind of, sort that out depending on where you are in the world. In the United States, that would be 8:00 p.m. on the east-coast and 5:00 p.m. on the west-coast and 6:00 p.m. if you are in the mountain time zone. And that will be different all over the world. But you can Google it. It’s easy enough. We’ll see you there. You’ll have to be in the Sneezing Jesus group. So, be sure to go over to facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. And you’ll love that group anyway. It’s just so, man, so many great stories. And it’s been a really, really wonderful thing. So, looking forward to seeing you over there.

I mentioned yesterday, if you have Sneezing Jesus and you’re, kind of, working your away through it, if you wouldn’t mind taking a couple of minutes to go back to wherever you got it and leave a review. That’s actually really, really helpful for those coming before. It’s like planting a seed for someone that’s going to encounter this later. As we keep doing what we’re doing, as we keep facing outward, we keep using this as a resource to open the door to conversations into people’s lives, then it just starts to echo. And, so, people find out about it four or five times removed and then go looking for this strange book title and then they the seeds you planted in reviews. That’s just, kind of, how this works. And, so, if you wouldn’t mind and can take the time. That’s planting seeds.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If you want to plant seeds that way, then thank you for your partnership – profoundly, humbly, honestly -  especially here in the summertime. Thank you for your partnership. There is a link. It’s 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 tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi. This is Christine from San Diego and I just wanted to reach out to my dear sister in Christ, Naydeen of Michigan, the factory worker whose father suggested you listen to Daily Audio Bible. God bless your daddy. You said you had become addicted to listening to DAB on your breaks at work. What an awesome thing to become addicted to - God’s word. I just wanted to encourage you sister and let you know I’m praying for you. I have lived with anxiety and panic attacks as well. I just started listening to the DAB three months ago, especially at night to help me sleep. And I have now weened myself off of my anxiety medication that I was addicted to for over twenty years. Praise God. I was also married to a non-believer, like yourself, and God used me as a vessel to be an example to my husband. I am not perfect in any way shape or form, extremely flawed. But my husband is now a believer. Praise the Lord. You have a lot on your plate sister, with kids, and college, and jobs. But I’m here to tell you that you can do it with Gods help. Let me pray for you. Dear God and Father, I praise You and glorify You and Thank You for how You are working in Naydeen’s life. Lord, thank You for Your unfailing love and Your faithfulness in bringing Your word to Naydeen through the Daily Audio Bible. Lord, God, bless Naydeen and her husband and their children. Let Your word wash over Naydeen and give her Your peace, which surpasses all understanding. Calm her anxieties and help her to be still and know that you are God. Lord, help Naydeen to not get tired of doing what is good. Because in Your timing, Lord, she will reap a harvest of blessing if she does not give up. And I pray Your blessings upon her Lord, God, and upon all those listening to Your word. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Hello. This is Kurt. I’m calling from Massachusetts. I’ve been a longtime listener and probably called in about a year ago at a time when my marriage was failing and I left my wife. I have been living independently for fifteen months and been listening to the Daily Audio Bible. I saw Brian when he came to Massachusetts for the Reframe tour. And Reframe, actually, was something that helped me really think about my life and my relationship. I knew that I had to make a change to my situation which, for anyone who deals with depression or has a spouse with depression can understand. I reached a point where I could no longer handle the situation. Something had to change. Well, by making a change and reframing our situation, my wife, actually, pursued treatments for her depression, including ECT, which you’ll see, if you look it up, that it’s a pretty dramatic method of treatment but it’s actually very effective and miraculous and, as a result, she has made changes, I have made changes and I’m now in the process of getting counseling and I’m planning to move back home on September 1st. So, this can only be done with Jesus’ help and the Holy Spirit driving marriages back together. Praise God for all of the blessings that I have received and my wife has received. Thank you to all of those who are praying for us and for my son, Jeff, from ___ He is ___ as well. Have a great day everybody.

Hey everyone. This is Abby D. from a Minneapolis, Minnesota and I’m just calling to ask for prayer for freedom - that I’d be able to live in freedom, that the people around me would be able to live in freedom. So, yeah, that would be really nice if you guys could just shoot up a prayer to the Lord. I love you guys. Your prayer requests and praying for other people, moves me in a very deep place. It’s cool to see the church be so honest and genuine and not putting on faces or pretending to be this or pretending to be that, but honest people searching for the Lord and caring for each other. So, yeah, thanks for this community. Love you guys. Bye

Hello my Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lisa from eastern Nevada. There’s another Lisa in Western Nevada. So, I don’t want to get confused. Anyway, I just wanted to plug for China and the Daily Audio Bible that she’s reading chronologically. She does such a great job. It’s so amazing that this amazing young woman is so knowledgeable about the Lord already. I just am amazed. I listen to her.  There was a time a while ago where she and Brian both read the same reading on the same day and that was just amazing to me – just wonderfully blessed. I just wanted to say, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to China, it would be a gift to yourself for you to listen to her and her amazing voice. Sometimes she’s scratchy. I love her pronunciations of the names. It makes you wake up and say, who’s she talking about? Because it’s a little different then Brian’s pronunciations. So, if you listen - I just wanted to give that little plug for China because she has become an amazing young woman and Brian and Jill should be so proud of their young woman daughter as they are with their whole family, I’m sure, as we all are with our family no matter what walk of life they are taking. Anyway, just wanted to say that about China today. We love you and talk to you soon again. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hi DABbers, this is Marco from California. It is July 25th. I am just calling to give thanks. Today was my first day on my new job. I originally called in two weeks ago for financial stability because I lost my job and the good Lord has given me a blessing with a new job. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about three weeks and I’m starting from the beginning. I’m on January 14th 2017 and I just wanted to say, Brian, you definitely know what day that is. I’ve never felt strength like that before and it was truly inspiring. I just want you to know that even though it’s long gone from that time, I said a prayer for your mom. And you truly inspire me to be a real man of God with Jesus’ strength because you were able to conduct this ministry after shortly knowing that your mother passed away. And to me that is the bravest thing I’ve ever heard. So, I just wanted to call in and say, Brian, thank you for everything you’ve done. This ministry, this podcast has definitely changed my life for the better and I just want to say thank you. And for anyone that listened to my prayer request and prayed in my name I just want to say thank you as well.

7/27/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 19:1-20:37 ~ Romans 10:14-11:12 ~ Psalm 21:1-13 ~ Proverbs 20:4-6

Today is the 27th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today, as we move into the back half of this week and continue the journey forward. We’ve been reading from the Gods Word translation this week. Today second Chronicles chapter 19 verse 1 through twenty verse 37.

Commentary:

OK. So, we remember after Solomon’s reign that the kingdom of Israel split into two. The northern and the southern. Right? The northern kingdom of Israel. The Southern kingdom of Judah. And, so, we went through all those kings and all of those stories and eventually the Assyrian Empire came in and defeated Samaria. And it fell, which is the capital city of the northern Kingdom. And the ten northern tribes were carried into exile and then vanished from history. During that conquest, the Assyrian Empire was trying to take the entire land. And, so, they invaded Judah and cities were falling but Jerusalem didn’t fall. And this was in the time of king Hezekiah. And there was all this intimidation going on. And Hezekiah went into the temple and prayed. And the next thing you know, the Assyrians are withdrawing. But they leave this really nasty note behind that their coming back. And Hezekiah takes this note and spreads it before the Lord in the temple and says, there is no hope basically. There is no hope but you. You are only hope. You are the only God. Come and save us. We see a very similar story take place in today’s reading during the reign of king Jehoshaphat, who is also a good king, who was also a reformer, like Hezekiah. So, Jehoshaphat hears that a horde is coming across the Dead Sea to attack Jerusalem and it’s a multinational force, it’s a coalition that’s coming. So, if you’re standing on the shore of the Dead Sea and looking across the Dead Sea - if you’re standing in modern day Israel and you look across the Dead Sea - you will be looking into the country of modern day Jordan. But in this time, in this biblical time we are reading about, if you looked across the Dead Sea, you would be looking into the country of Moab. And to the south of Moab would be the border with Edom. People from that side of the Dead Sea were coming across the Dead Sea with the staging area at Ein Gedi because this was a fresh water source in the desert. This is one of the places that David was hanging out in and hiding when he was on the run from Saul. So, this horde is on its way over and there is no hope. So, king Jehoshaphat is in the temple, like Hezekiah, praying the same kind of prayer, hear me God because there’s no way out of this. We don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re outnumbered. We have no way. Without you we have no way. And, so, the messaging that he receives prophetically is that, all you really need to do is go out and be a witness. You not going to fight anything. You just need to go out and see the salvation of your God before you. And, so, they did. And God confused the army’s. I mean, they were allies in their proposed battle with Jerusalem but they were different countries and they weren’t all on the same page and something somewhere sparked them off. And they started fighting each-other. And, so, out in the desert they destroyed each-other. And Israel simply got all of the loot from the battle.

Over and over we see these kinds of stories. These, against all odds stories. I mean, the story of Jesus is one of those stories. All throughout the bible we see these stories where there’s no way out. Right? You’re hemmed in and there’s no way-out. And you’re going to get wiped out. But then you’re not. Then God comes. And there is salvation. In all of these stories there is salvation. So, like, the story that we read today may have, like, historical value and even metaphorical value, which is what I’m doing right now with it. But underneath it all, it’s the story of salvation - that God comes to save. That’s the whole story, all along, throughout this great book that we are journeying through together. And, so, once again we have this opportunity to take a step back from our lives, just a moment, while we’re here around the global camp fire, where it’s safe and think, ok, I have been facing these kinds of circumstances. I have faced them in the past. I am facing them now we’re I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know how this is going to work out. And I’m driving myself crazy trying to figure that out. Every spare synapse in my brain, even while I’m not thinking about, is processing in my subconscious - how I’m going to get out of this - when you’re not going to get out of it by yourself, likely. And, so, the bible also brings us to this place of understanding that when there is no hope, there is no hope outside of God. Because this is how we’re made. This is what we’re made to be - intertwined and connected in relationship with God. And, so, what we learn in the scriptures is that, surrender is a part of that story, letting go is a part of that story, release is a part of that story - for a couple of reasons. All of these extra brain cells that we’re burning, trying to chomp out some sort of workable plan to extract ourselves from the impossible, it may or may not work. Even if it does though, we’ll wind up right back where we started. How many times do we have to go around this mountain? Right? I mean, how many times do we have to do this circle? Surrender offers us the opportunity to rest. It’s not ours to do. And maybe we got ourselves into this mess. And maybe it’s going to take a minute to get out of this mess. But it doesn’t have to be alone, solitary, abandoned. It’s none of those things. But when we fall in our Father’s arms a whole different thing starts to go on. It’s not ours to figure out. Our Father is with us and He is more powerful than anyone or anything on this planet. King Jehoshaphat came down toward the desert to the watch tower and saw that his enemies had destroyed themselves. And they were enriched because of it, without having to do anything. Sometimes we don’t really have to do anything but be still and know that He is God and listen and do what He says. May we take that reminder today. That’s the offer of relationship with God. We can take it or leave it. It’s up to us. But may we take it.

Prayer:

So, Father, we take it. We take Your mercy and Your grace. We take Your love and Your kindness. We accept that we have no right to any of this other than that You have adopted us into Your family and made us join hands with Jesus. That’s so mind blowing. It’s hard to even get our minds to even wrap around the concept -  that You have loved us so much as Your created, as Your children, that we’re all in on this. We’re all part of the same story. You have brought us into this great story of relationship with You and moving through life in this world and moving through eternity together. And, so, why we turn to such lesser things is really confusing. But we do. But we’re not right now. We’re turning to You and You alone. You are the only hope in impossible situations and in every other situation. So, come Holy Spirit, we open ourselves to you. We fall into Your mercy. We fall into Your arms and we rest. Because it’s been so stressful lately. We rest. Come Holy Spirit. Fill us again. 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. Plenty going on all the time. So, be sure to check in.

We’re going to do another Facebook Live in the Sneezing Jesus discussion group that’s on Facebook. And you can find that at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. What a great group. If you haven’t gotten in there, you should. It’s really inspiring. We’re going to do another one and talk about small groups and talk about some of the material in the book – one week from today, the third day of August, 7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. And, so, we’ll look forward to that. Make plans. Looking forward to seeing you there.

One other Sneezing Jesus thing. If you have the book and its had some meaning for you. If you would mind going back to Amazon or Barnes and Noble or wherever you got it and putting in a review for it, that would be helpful. That’s always helpful. We always get that kind of word back that we should do that and I’ve not mentioned it. And I’m not going to pound it. Just, if you have chance, that would be awesome. It’s so weird because when you write something, like, when I write something, by the time that I get it done all the way through to its launch and release date, this quite a bit of time. And, so, you just never know. But this has really struck a nerve all over the place and it’s been really, really interesting to watch because that prayer for a sneeze heard around the world is happening. And that is that is humbling. And I want it to continue because it’s the good news. It’s exactly with Paul was talking about in Romans today when he said, but how can people call on him if they don’t believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they haven’t heard the message? And how can they hear if no one tells them the good news? And how can people tell the good news if no one sends them? How beautiful are the feet of the messengers who announce the good news? Ya, that’s what’s happening. And it’s humbling that we all get to be a part of that, a part of the ongoing story. So, anyway, I say all that to say to say, come on over and get into the discussion in the discussion group and we’ll do another Facebook Live a week from today.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we have to bring God’s spoken word to anyone who will listen to it, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night, and to continue to build community around that rhythm so that no one has to feel alone again. If that is light and life to you then thank you for your partnership. 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 tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

My name is Janet. I live in Mobile, Alabama, the United States. I am coveting the prayers of the same. ___ for my daughter and son-in-law, Tony and Rachel. They have three children. Tony was injured on the job about three years ago. And those kids have been taken down the path of destruction ___ things. Please stand with me for my children and my grandchildren. They are now trying to take their house. Doctors have not been able to determine what Tony needs but he was injured on the job and he has since lost his job. He is working again but he is not making enough money to continue living where they live and how they live. And I just know that a breath, just a breath, of the Savior, would save these children from this and prove to them that ___ Lord. Because our Father is a glorious Father and loves us so much. And I just need you saints to stand with me, that their lives would be touched, and the pain would be addressed, and would have the wisdom that they need to make the right ___. I’ve been listening to the DAB for two years now and it has just been such a blessing to me and I just want to thank all of you, every single one of you saints, and I can’t wait to see you all in heaven. ___ praise God for you daily and I pray for you daily – every one of you – every one of you that are suffering. In Jesus’ name, I thank you. God bless you, one and all. Bye

Hey. Good morning ___ fellow DABbers. My name is Jill and I am calling from southern CA. Today is Monday, July 24th and I just listened to the podcast for some of the prayer requests and there was this one, four word prayer request – please God help me. So, I would like to encourage all the DABbers ___. Let us please pray for that brother in Christ who just called out ___. First of all, I’d like to say, boy, young man, I’m glad you called in. That was my prayer about eleven years ago, and off and on throughout my whole life. God hears our ___, He hears those simple ___ please God help me prayers. So, may God bless you. Thank you for calling. And let all us fellow DABbers just ___. Alright everybody. To the King. To the Kingdom. Chow and God bless.

Hello DAB family. This is Joyful Noise from Southern California. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father ___. I believe it was Caleb but You know her name and You know heart, Lord. I’m praying over her depression and she shared that she’s struggling physically. I’m not sure what that is but God, again, You know. ___ great position, God, you can heel whatever affliction she is struggling with God, whether they are emotional or mental, or physical. God, I just pray healing over her, Lord. You tell us that You ask us to come to ___ prayers and supplications as the widow to the wicked judge, persistently, Lord. And only You know why things continue when we’ve been praying God. And I just pray that You pour out Your Holy Spirit over her and Your encouragement let’s her know that she is loved right where she is God. And that You are for her not against her. And that You are with her through this all God. I just do pray, right away, instant healing God. I just pray this over her and I know the DABbers are joining me in in this prayer God. I also pray over Victoria Soldier, who I love, and I know You love her too God, who’s been praying for my son, struggling with extreme insomnia and she’s praying ___ fervently. I’ve never met her and it’s a debt I can never repay, never repay. That he’s now beginning to be healed of that and it’s being lifted. And, oh my gosh, You’re such an amazing Father in heaven. ___ children God. And I’m so thankful for that. I pray also, healing over our children. And all of the Grady’s of the world that are on all college campuses and all high school campuses and everywhere that the next generation ___ gathers. I pray many Grady’s in these groups and in these forums…

Hi DAB. This is Roxanne and today is July the 24th and I was listening today and in between two prayer requests…my brother David from Kansas…I would have sworn I heard your voice crying out to the Father for help. Feeling ____ I know it was you. I promise ___ moved when I heard your voice. And you know, my brother, if I hear you, know that our heavenly Father hears you as well. Praying for you David, that the Father would relieve you from your pain and any distress that you might have and that the Holy Spirit would give you peace in your heart. We love you David ___. Thank you so much DAB, for your faithfulness. I love you all so very much. God bless you all. God bless you David. Keep the faith my brother.

Good morning Daily Audio ___ or should I say good afternoon? This is ___ from ___. I am calling for praise reports. First, I’d like to say that I get the job as a medical technologist with a company that I went and interviewed for to ___. I was given a job offer, which I accepted. Yay! And I start on July 31st. I am really looking forward to this new adventure in my life. And the next thing I wanted to talk about was ___. About two to three months ago ___ was in and she challenged us to give to the Daily Audio Bible. I used to give to the Daily Audio Bible when I lived in another country and had a really good job and free, single, just engaged and could pretty much do what I pleased with my money with no ___. And that changed and I gave up my job and I moved countries. And we became a single income household and I felt, my husband doesn’t share my faith in many ways and ___ taking money from our household to give away in a way that he doesn’t understand because of how he looks at it and. So, I had stopped giving for a while but it was a huge burden to me and I kept saying, Lord if you give me a job, then I will give to the Daily Audio Bible ___. And then this lady about two to three months ago said, you know, no matter how small it is, give. And I decided to sit down and look at our family budget and found a way to remove a portion from it and contribute to the Daily Audio Bible family. ___ as if it’s in our budget. A step of faith. And, I want to say, to my surprise, my husband didn’t even comment on it, even if he noticed the movement, because it really didn’t affect our budget one bit. And, so, I was ___ more. And now I am looking forward to my job because I’m going to be able to post even more. So, I guess I want to say, I want to challenge part of who of maybe waiting for that breakthrough to actually contribute because my grandmother ___. Give from little so when you have much it will be much easier to give from much, if that makes sense. And so, if you just have a little, no matter how small, just start contributing from there and God will open the windows of ___. I hope you guys are having a wonderful day and I’m so happy and feel so blessed to be a part of the Daily Audio Bible family. Have a wonderful day everyone.

7/26/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 17:1-18:34 ~ Romans 9:25-10:13 ~ Psalm 20:1-9 ~ Proverbs 20:2-3

Today is the 26th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you today, taking the next step forward in the adventure through the bible this year. This week we’ve been reading from the Gods Word translation, which is what we will continue with. And we will also continue with the book of second Chronicles today chapter 17 verse 1 through 18 verse 34.

Commentary: 

OK. In the book of Romans we reach a crescendo. Since we began the book of Romans Paul’s been laying out this case. Right? Going through Abraham, going through Moses, the law, faith, righteousness, and making a distinction - the distinction between having faith and simply falling on mercy and trying to be good enough for God to approve you. And, although his letter was certainly read by Gentiles and has a Gentile audience, he is coming at this from a Jewish perspective. Because, for Paul, this is a continuation of that story. And, so, he flat out says, those of my people who are devout, who are truly devoted to God, who are thinking that if they can perfect themselves by utilizing the law, if  they could just obey it perfectly, they would find their way to God. Those people, their misguided. Or to quote from Romans, I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God but they are misguided. They don’t understand how to receive God’s approval. So, they try to set up their own way to get it. And they have not accepted God’s way for receiving his approval. Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval. That’s basically the argument that he’s been making all along, which brings us to the how. And this is huge. Because it’s ok, ok, how do I get in? I want this. How does this work? And, so, for those of us who are facing outward right now and looking at the serendipity of everything that’s happening around us because we’re paying attention to what’s going on around us now, this is important. And for those of you who are checking in and listening every day, trying to figure out what the bible says, but you don’t know what you believe, this is important. Paul says this. And let these be words to you. This message is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we spread. If you declare that Jesus is Lord and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. By believing you receive God’s approval. And by declaring your faith, you are saved. Scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be ashamed. So, there is no difference between Jews and Greeks. Right? Everybody can get in on this. They all have the same Lord, Who gives His riches to everyone calls on Him. So then, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Paul has been building this case since the beginning of his letter to the Romans. You won’t find a way to earn yourself into God’s favor. You won’t be able to stand before God at some point and say I deserve to be here because I have perfected myself and there’s nothing you can say into about it. I deserve to be here. I have been righteous in my own strength. I have rid myself of sin and its nature on my own. Nobody can do that. And as a devout Pharisee, as a person who’s trained in this and who was actually trying to achieve that, Paul knew. It is unachievable. But Jesus revealed God’s heart in a human way that was so compelling and understandable that it took Paul all the way back to the beginning of his own faith at Abraham and realized, this whole thing is built on reaching and hoping beyond hope and leaping in faith and trusting. Because there is more going on than what we can simply perceive with our physical senses. There is a spiritual reality. There is more to this. And the way we get there, the way we reconnect soul and body, spirit and body - integrated together with God’s Spirit within us - the only way to get there, the bridge that crosses that chasm, is faith. We simply believe and walk across that bridge. And when we walk across that bridge, the Spirit of God comes within us and we are no longer who we were. A line of demarcation has been drawn in the sand. There was a time that we were subhuman, as animals, without God. And then there was a time that we walked across that bridge and we were who we were made to be – integrated – spirit, mind, strength, will, everything. Because the Spirit of the risen Christ is now within us we really aren’t who we used to be. That is the story of our faith. That is what brings us here together every day.

Prayer:

So, Father, we confess, You are Lord. We believe. And we realize by looking back at our own life, we have been trying to make life work. We’ve tried to use You as an add-on to make life work. We’ve turned completely away from You trying to make life work. We’ve tried everything imaginable to be full and flourishing. And we realize, just as the apostle Paul realized for his own people, that these pursuits, no matter what kind of ritual or system we try to get ourselves into that tells us it’s going to work, that it doesn’t work. And, so, we’ve come to this precipice and it’s like, it’s too easy. All I have to do is believe? And yet, that’s the invitation. And, so, we declare. We believe. And we also declare, Lord, help our unbelief. We believe. Because, although we walk across that bridge and walk into faith and there is nothing that can separate us from Your love, we can also choose not to believe at any given moment. We can regress at any given moment and go back to old patterns and old ways. And we do. So, this belief thing isn’t a one-time thing. This is an always-on thing. It’s always turned on. It must always be turned on. And, so, forgive us Lord, for the times that we go back to that bridge and start walking across to the other side of it, trying to return to some place that tells us we can make life work on our own. Forgive us for that. Because we’ve done it. We believe and we declare there is no going back. And we invite Your Holy Spirit to come and catch us when we’re beginning to shift in that direction. Awaken us. We choose to pay attention when that’s happening, when we get into certain circumstances that bring overwhelming doubt and we begin to turn, we begin to back away, we begin to ask the questions about whether or not we’re really on our own. We believe against that. We will live into what You have offered us - that death cannot separate us, that life cannot separate, us that angels cannot separate us, that demons cannot, that nothing can separate us from You. We can simply walk away. But nothing can separate us from You. So, we choose to make our own line in the sand. We’re not going back to those places anymore. We are going to believe and believe and believe and hope against hope, no matter how long it takes, until it settles in. There is no going back. We are not who we were. We are intertwined with You. 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. Be sure to check in and check it out. Check out the prayer wall. People are always praying for each other there. Check out the resources in the shop. Check out the different ways to stay connected. It’s all there.

And there’s this great Sneezing Jesus discussion group on Facebook that I want to keep reminding you, if you haven’t been there yet. There’s some, just, really good conversation that’s happening there. You can find it at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. So, be sure to get in there. We’re going to do another Facebook Live and kind of dive into a little bit of the book but also talk about small groups and that kind of stuff. And that’s going to take place on the 3rd of August. So, that’s a week from tomorrow and it’ll be had 7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. So, you can work that out with Google depending on where you a live in the world. And, so, that will be fun. We’ll look forward to that. So, I hope that you can be there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com.  There is a link on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership as we’re in the thick of the summer time. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, press the More button in the lower right hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill TN 37174.

And 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:

Hello. This is John and this is my first time calling the prayer request line. I’ve been listening to Brian since 2009 and all the prayer requests since he opened up the phones to us. I guess I’m one of the many silent DAB members but today I’ve been moved to call in. In light of the suicides that have been in the news the past couple of months. I feel like ___ neighbors. I’m calling in response to Caleb from Nashville. She asked that she be delivered from depression. So, I am asking our heavenly Father to release her from the chains that hold her down. I’m asking that she have the ability to take in the joy ___.  I ask that she experience the joy of helping someone. I ask that the people of Nashville and the people of DAB join me in lifting Caleb up from the depths that she is currently in. I also___ that do not know their neighbors to wave hello to them the next time you see them. And if the Lord moves you to have a conversation with them, do it. It may take some courage on your part but remember, the Lord is not going to put you some place that he doesn’t want you. The next time you watch the sun rise or set think of Caleb and pray that she and all those who suffer from depression are able to experience where you are at that moment. Let the peace of Christ be with each and every one of you.

Hello DABbers. ___ from Canada and I’ve called a few other times. But today I’m calling with a confession and I’m nervous because I’ve been arguing with myself for a while whether to do this ___. After listening to the weekend community prayer, I decided to throw caution to the wind. And I need to tell you that I think I love you guys. Is that OK? This community is just so winsome. The more I listen… The prayer Yoda’s who phone in and rock everyone’s world. The ___ who phone in and we can hardly understand your prayer requests. And everyone who calls in. This community is piercingly beautiful. And I’ve lost my heart to you. And that hasn’t happened ___. I was involved, heavily involved, in ministry in the past but all of that seems to be over now. I’m still involved with church but I haven’t had a heart community in a long time. So, what I’m trying to say is ___. I’m with you guys. I love you. I hear you. I’m praying for you. And I just want to encourage you that you are gorgeous - this community, this mosaic of beautiful ___ breathtaking. It’s a glimpse of Jesus is what it is. So, God bless you today. And thank you for letting me be a part of you. Bye for now.

Hello. Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jay calling from ___. Just rejoicing that Victoria S’s sister has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her savior. Halleluiah, halleluiah, halleluiah. What an amazing, wonderful ___ eternally saving moment in her life. And now, if your listening, if you have been listening and you feel that tugging on your heart by the Holy Spirit, just say yes, I’m a sinner. Just say yes Lord, there is something better. Yes Lord, there is an eternity that I must pick a side on. If you’re sick of suffering spirit___. If you’re sick of not having a place to turn to, a savior. If you’re sick of not knowing why we’re here and you feel that tugging on your heart ___. Pray with me now.  Heavenly Father, I do recognize that I’m a sinner. I recognize that You are God. I recognize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And I believe that He ___, that he died on the cross for our sin, and rose again to sit at the right hand of the Father. I pray, Lord, that You will forgive me from my sins and except me as Your child. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you Daily Audio Bible. Have a wonderful day.

Hi DAB family. I’ve literally had to re-record this message several times so I could get through it so you could understand me. So, I am going to talk quick. We have been wanting to have a second baby G and have been seeking fertility treatments over the past 3 months. It’s so personal but I want to be as open and honest as I can being of the fact that I am ___. And my doctor suggested that we could go and get checked and on our own. We probably wouldn’t be able to get pregnant because it’s just how a woman’s body changes over time. And, I have to say, I never really had a good feeling going through the whole process because I never was sure this was really from God or from me or we were being selfish. But today we got the news that I am not pregnant and for me ___ is over. I don’t want to continue to force something that I don’t feel a hundred percent God is in. And I’m struggling if God is punishing me from…just…my sins of my past ___. I know that Brian is preaching a lot about Sneezing Jesus and leaving our past in the past and living now. And I just covet all your prayers for me and my husband to make it through this trial ___ and just except everything and for the blessing that we have with our son Aiden. We so much would have loved to give to him a godly brother or sister but I have to believe that this is God’s will even though it’s not ___. And I thank all of you who have prayed for me in the past and will pray for me in the future. I don’t think I can get through this without knowing that. Cheers. Asia in Munich.

Hi. It’s Allison from Scotland here. It’s ___ July. And I’ve just listened to the podcast and the prayers afterward and a voice that just said, please God help me. I actually have nothing to say ___ but I just feel like I just want to come and set beside you so you know there is somebody there. And I don’t know you are or where you are but I just pray that the Lord is right next to you right now ___ on your own so you feel alone.  And if you could call back and let us know you’re ok and how we could help, say more specifically. But please know that you aren’t on your own and we’re right there beside you instead of…we can’t be there in person. My heart reaches ____. I just needed to phone. We hear you and we’re praying for you and your not on your own. Ok. Bye.

7/25/2017 DAB Transcript

Chronicles 14:1-16:14 ~ Romans 9:1-24 ~ Psalm 19:1-14 ~ Proverbs 20:1

Today is the 25th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today. I just threw another log on the global camp fire. Everything is all nice and comfy. I’ve got a good, steamy cup of coffee to my left. We are ready. And we are reading from the Gods Word translation this week -  second Chronicles chapter 14 verse 1 through 16 verse 14 today.

Commentary:

OK. So, Psalm 19 makes some declarations or offers some declarations that we should pay attention to because it’s outlining a posture of heart and a way of life that will work. Like, if we will embrace these things as true and then live into these things as true then we have a model that will work. The teachings of the Lord are perfect. They renew the soul. If you believe that’s true then embrace it with heart, mind, and will. The testimony of the Lord is dependable. Right? What he says is dependable. It makes even gullible people wise. The instructions of the Lord are correct. They make the heart rejoice. In other words, we don’t have to figure out everything for ourselves. We have the instruction of the Lord through His word and through the power of His Holy Spirit within us. The instructions of the Lord are correct and they will make our heart rejoice. The command of the Lord is radiant. It makes the eyes shine. The fear of the Lord is pure. It endures forever. The decisions of the Lord are true. They are completely fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even the drippings from a honeycomb. As Your servant, which is us, I am warned by them. There is a great reward in following them. Because you can notice every mistake? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep me from sinning. And notice, that’s not us saying, ok, I’m going to redouble my efforts and not sin today in my own strength. That would be the discipline that Paul was talking about when he talked about the mosaic law, saying none of us of have been able to achieve this. We can’t achieve this on our own. What the psalmist says is, keep me from sinning, which indicates surrender. I can’t do this. I surrender to you. Keep me from sinning. And, so, we find ourselves moving away from that statement. When we find ourselves moving into sin then we can see immediately that we have assumed control. We have taken it back. We have broken apart the union and intertwining with God that was offered to us through the gospel. Do not let anyone gain control over me. Right? Don’t let anyone have undue or improper influence over me, then I will be blameless and I will be free from any great offense. May the words from my mouth and the thoughts from my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. May my thoughts, words, and deeds be acceptable.

It’s so beautiful, this idea of surrender. We fight against that concept so hard. We want to be individuals, freestanding entities, that have total control over our destiny and we fight this idea of surrender when the Lord is saying, like, surrender isn’t about giving up. I am trying to care for you. You have to let Me. It’s like the analogy of a drowning person in the water. So, a person who has gotten in over their head, out beyond where they can return, strength is waning, they’re freaking out. Rescuers come. And for a person who’s about to rescue a drowning person, this is the greatest moment of danger for them because a drowning person can freak out and make it difficult or even harm the person trying to rescue them. Because their thrashing and losing control, rather than doing what they should do, relax and be rescued. Safe, easy, over. This is how we are with surrender in our lives and yet the offer of the gospel and surrender is, I don’t have to figure out everything anymore. I am not on my own. I never have been nor will be. I’m not a freestanding entity that has to be all-powerful and try to make a way in the world. That’s not even what I’m doing here. I’m intertwined in union with God. That’s what I’m doing here. And it’s a great adventure. And obstacles come my way and they’re hard. Wilderness seasons come. They’re hard but they’re forming me. I have surrendered. I am not in control, which gives such freedom. It simply requires trust, total trust. I have to trust that God is within and among and around me in all things as I surrender to Him. But at some point we have to look at our lives and say, what do I have to lose? Because every other attempt at every other thing isn’t working - not leading me to peace within, the satisfaction and contentment within. I’m always running one place to another, to another, to another, to try to fill the void. But surrender means there is no void to fill. I’m filled completely. I’m where I’m supposed to be. This is the offer of the gospel and the works. May we surrender to it today.

Prayer:

So, Father, we invite you into that. We confess that we have surrendered large portions of our lives to You but not everything. And it’s always a moving target. Because there have been times when we’ve surrendered everything because we’ve had no other choice. We’ve surrendered everything and You have come through and You have been there and You’ve been trustworthy. But then we get back up on our feet and take control again because want to be in the driver’s seat. And then we kind of end up where we started. So, Holy Spirit, show us what it looks like to live a life of surrender - not of giving up but of being  empowered and in union with You. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

If you haven’t gotten into the Sneezing Jesus discussion group yet, check that out. There’s just fantastic conversations and stories that happen there. I’m enjoying it immensely. You guys are so encouraging. And we’ll do another Facebook Live very soon. We’ll talk about small groups. We’ll start to get into some of the chapters and I’ll announce that date as soon as I study my calendar a little bit and just carve the space. But I’m looking forward to that. So, definitely check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com.  There is a link on the homepage. Thank you profoundly for those of you who have been willing to click that link here in the summer months. 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:

Hi. This is Greg from Minneapolis. First time caller. Listening to the Daily Audio Bible for many years. And a little bit behind but I just listened to the June 19th podcast and I’m calling to pray for, specifically, Marco regarding your lost job and your concern about your wife. And then also, Rich, in Little Rock, with adversity you’ve been facing and the love that you desire for the Lord. Guys, I’ve just got to say that, over a 30 ____. Marco, you’ve been many times, and I don’t even have time on this call to share how many times the Lord has delivered me from those back against the Red Sea moments. But He’s there.  Guys, I just pray right now. Lord, Jesus, I pray for healing in Marco. I pray for Your wholeness and shalom, Your comfort over them and their loved ones. I pray, Lord, for Your peace, that they would know that You are in control and You would give them ____ and that they would see themselves as they close their eyes being held by You, Jesus. And they would see themselves on the other side of this desert place they’re in, this adversity, because it will pass. And I pray they would see themselves holding Your hand and praising You for being with them every step of the way. ____ protection over them, Lord, that the enemy would not rattle their faith in the midst of this adversity. And I pray for wisdom, Lord, God. That they would have that wisdom, to know that these things are temporary but they build character, Lord. ____ for You to be praised. So, I just pray that this trial will result in praise and glory and honor to You, Lord, Jesus, and that You would be the hero in their story. In Your holy name, I pray. Amen.

Hi guys. How are you doing? This is John. I ask for your prayers for my marriage. After three weeks of being gone, my wife is coming home late tonight. She’s agreed to a talk.  No promises. No anything. But at least that’s something. So, a bit of a praise report. ____ prayers, I know it won’t be played until whenever but I really would love this to work out for any number of reasons because I think it’s the right thing to do. Brian married us…remarried us at the Serengeti…a while back. So, I believe it’s meant to be. If it’s meant to be it’s up to me. So, I’m just begging you all…and I’m not a guy who begs…I actually do everything by myself and all that…and that’s part of the problem. In the process of taking care of myself I ____ for support.  I’ve got a long way to climb back. If you can just pray for us. And it will be if it’s God’s plan to happen. Thank you so much. Thank you for being there. I pray for you all. I can’t pray like Victoria S. or write poetry like Blind Tony but ____ any of you all…I like to have aspirations. Thank you guys. I’m just praying.

If the foundation ___ then the structure will not stand the stresses and the tolerances that the storms of life demand. It’s hard to build on granite or any kind of rock, even with the proper tools or work around-the-clock ____ drilling, boring, shaping, pouring, bracing, propping up, and shoring, and lot’s more stuff that I’m ignoring. But there is one rock that’s worth exploring. Jesus is that rock. The rock on which I stand. ___ the storms of life and all that they demand. The winds may blow, the waters rise, all on earth may die. You’ll still be safe with Jesus, the rock that’s very, very high. Blindtony1016@gmail.com. ____ haven’t heard from you in a long time. And Gigi, hope you are still hanging in there. And I’d like to give a shout out to Dean S. from Kansas. Hope all is well. And once again, my love to the Hardin family for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all.

Hi family. It’s Laura from Fort Meyers. So, I heard a lady call in…I think for her daughter-in-law or maybe daughter. I am…it just really…it touched me. To think that that woman had someone like her to pray for her because…and then I started thinking…I don’t really ___ unless I’m not aware of it. My own mom doesn’t. Another mom might. My husband doesn’t. So, ___ put more out there for you guys to help pray for me. So, I’ve been trying to figure out what to ask for and I think I need to start with…I had a lot of emotional abuse growing up and I think it’s that and a combination of my personality…make me over analyze everything and sometimes it’s hard ___ or make a decision…and because I just have all these thoughts going on in my head and I’ve been working on it and I feel like things are getting better, especially through this ministry that I’m so grateful for. But I’m just tired of…I want to move on…to…you know…to the next level. So, would you guys start praying for that for me, so I can have more confidence? ___ really what else. I’m just leading from the Holy Spirit…just to move on and get rid of all these jumbled thoughts in my head. Thank you so much. I love you.

Hey everyone. It’s ___ from FL. I just posted on the Facebook Wall but I wanted to say it so you guys could kind of hear it in my voice. I posted on the Facebook group about allot of stuff that’s kind of going on with me and my health at three in the morning. Man, the response I got was just… A thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it. It means so much to me and it stirs my heart so ___ that you guys really care. And that you guys aren’t just spitting religious platitudes and that there’s a genuine heart. And I just want to ask that God bless all of you in just the most amazing ___. That’s all guys. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And by the time this gets played I’ll probably have some more test results. I’m going to just praise God now, so that the test results, the praise and I give them will match the praise that I give now. Thank You Father for how much You care, for the heart You’ve given Your people. Thank You for all of what You do. You’re everybody’s disease and that You forgive everybody’s sin. In the name of Jesus. Amen and Amen.

7/24/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 11:1-13:22 ~ Romans 8:22-39~ Psalm 18:37-50 ~ Proverbs 19:27-29

Today is the 24th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we dive head first into the week and into God’s word. And we’re actually reading from the Gods Word translation this week. Today, second Chronicles chapter 11 verse 1 through 13 verse 22.

Commentary:

OK. So, for days we’ve been traveling with Paul through the book of Romans as he’s laying out his case. He started with Abraham and moved forward. So, we went through Abraham’s faith and how he was made righteous through that faith, through his believing, as opposed to some ritual or custom the hadn’t even been invented yet. And we moved into the law, the mosaic law and its effect, its way of actually revealing sin because there was no other way to expose it, the inability to live up to it. And then he connects Jesus and how he fulfilled the law and how now, through Him, we are under a different law, one of grace because we cannot earn our way, we cannot achieve perfection in the law, even if we could completely keep it, which no one was able to do. Which brings us to this pinnacle, this mountaintop vista that we get today. All of that. We are kind of climbing up the mountain and now we get a view. Union with God, children of God through Jesus with a Holy Spirit that can live and pray with and through us and search our hearts and intercede for God’s people. And then we take the step and look around us and see the world as it really is. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God. This is true because He already knew His people and He already appointed them to have the same form as the image of is Son. We’re talking about Christ-like here. His son is the firstborn among many children. You are one of those children. You were just named in the bible. I am one of those children. He approved of those whom He had called and He gave glory to those whom He had approved of. That’s us guys. That’s us. What Paul is effectively saying is, Jesus begins a new kind of race, a new kind of people, people that hadn’t been seen on this planet since Eden. Jesus is the firstborn among this new thing, with a God and humanity intertwined, occupying the same space at the same time. Which is one of the central things in Sneezing Jesus, which brings up the question, so, are we are we talking about gods then? Are we gods then? No. But we are God-like. We are made in His image and He is within us. We have been reborn into this new thing and we can choose it at will. So, it begs the question, why do we live so much less than what is available? And the thing is, as hard as this might be to get our minds around, I just read it out of the bible. But the thing is, these are the foundational truths of our faith. We have always been saying this. It has just gotten diminished to the point of metaphor, allegory, and self-help. I guess, to that I would say, do you want to help yourself? Then be Christ-like. And, so, Paul sums this up. What can we possibly say about all this? His answer, his conclusion, like, as he’s looking at everything that he’s written here, all that he is outlined, all that he has come to. What can we say about it all? If God is for us, who can be against us? God didn’t spare His own son but handed Him over to death for all of us. So, You will also give us everything along with Him? Who will accuse those whom God has chosen? God has approved of them. Who will condemn them? Christ has died and more importantly He was brought back-to life. Christ is in the honored position, the one next to God, the Father, on the heavenly throne. Christ also intercedes for us. So, you see, it is impossible for us to be alone. It is impossible for us to be abandoned. We’ve reached this point in the book of Romans and it’s like, you almost have to sit down. You almost have to look at the way that you’ve been living and realize, what am I doing? How is it that I have gotten so entangled? How is it that I am so over extended? How is it that I am so over obligated? Why is my life so small? Why does fear swirl around me? Why does it underpin everything about me? Why am I operating out of anxiety so much of the time? Why do I fear what is coming? Why am I stuck in what has already been? Because that’s obviously what comes up. And that’s obviously what was coming up from Paul because he goes immediately on to say, and we need to hear this, all of us need to hear this. What will separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or violent death separate us from His love? The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. Right? So, it’s back to that question. Why am I doing this when so much more is available? Paul reaches his conclusion, which must become our own conclusion. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love, which Christ, Jesus our Lord shows us. And He did. He showed us with His very life what this looks like. We can’t be separated by death or life, Paul says. We can’t be separated by angels or rulers. We can’t be separated by anything in the present or anything in the future. We can’t be separated by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below. We can’t be separated by anything in creation.

I don’t even know what to say. What else is there to say? I hope that this is sinking in. It’s sure sinking in for me. So, you know that feeling that is not in your head, that is in your gut, that is in your heart, that is down there right now that is welling up inside of you? This flutter. That’s called hope. Recognize that feeling because that is your faith rising up. That is what happens when the good news becomes your good news. This is the good news of the gospel and it brings light and life. Can’t you feel it? That essence is what we’re to be sneezing into the world. That is the good news. And, so, you realize, it is devoid of ritual and custom and stereotype. It is not about religion. It is not about behavior modification. It is about transformation - being made something else, something integrated, and in union with God. And it is always present. Nothing can take it away from you. You can just choose to ignore it and live devolved and small. But why would we do that for another minute? Why would we ever do that when this is what is being offered? It’s like somebody bringing a semi-truck full of cash, one billion dollars, and somebody opening up a suitcase with a $1 bill in it and us choosing the suitcase with the $1 bill instead. I’m just thinking, well, I can carry the suitcase and I understand the $1 bill. I’m gonna stick with what I think that I know. What we find in the book of Romans today is one of the most beautiful depictions of what it looks like to walk with God - what is actually available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Like something that we are inside, that is beyond time, that will always be, that will go on forever, that will go on beyond any way we have a way to comprehend. It is around us and within us and lasts forever. This is very, very good news. This is very, very, very good news for the human race. This is what restoration looks like. Why not embrace it with all of our heart, mind and will? Why not fall face first into it? Like, how much more do we need to go through life to finally realize, this is not working? This isn’t working without God. This isn’t working by me trying to compartmentalize Him and make all of my ruling decisions within my own knowledge. Why don’t we embrace our faith fully, all in - all in heart, mind, body, will, strength, love, relationships, all of it.

Prayer:

So, Jesus. It seems like we do this and then we regress into old, tired, worn paths. And then we see it again and then we do it and we enter into that rest. But the distractions always come to seduce us back, to pull us back. And so, right now, we break ties with everything that would pull us back, the things that would cause us to regress. We break those vows that we’ve made with all of that stuff, the things that just keep pulling us back. We break from that. We are new creations. Those things do not have a hold over us unless we allow it. And we don’t. So, come Holy Spirit because we’re walking forward and we are at a fast clip right now. We’ve missed out on things with You, memories that could have been made with You that we omitted, that we ignored, times that we could have spent together, good news and light that we were completely oblivious of sharing. We are walking a new path, one of collaboration, a narrow path, one that leads to life. Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us forward. We ask in the name of Jesus. And we invite You, Holy Spirit, to help us never forget this moment. This moment matters. Right now matters. May it affect the rest of our days. May we never forget. When we feel the pull to go back into old patterns and paths, remind us, Holy Spirit, that we have a choice in that, we don’t have to do that, we don’t have to go there. Help 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. So, be sure to check that out. Check out the resources that are available in the shop. Check out the prayer wall.

As I understand it, Sneezing Jesus should be pretty much everywhere now. It takes a while for everything to get everywhere, but as I understand it, it’s pretty much everywhere now. If what we’ve read in Romans is something that is igniting and burning within you, then Sneezing Jesus is a great resource to further that - that story, that journey that you are on.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. If what we do as a community is life and light and good news to your soul, then thank you for your partnership. We’ve only ever done this together and we can’t do this if we don’t do this together. Thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you use the app, then you can press the More button in the lower right hand corner or if you prefer is a mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill TN 37174.

And of course, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment there are a number of numbers that you can call. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. If you live in the UK you can dial 44-20-3608-8078. If you live in Australia or the lands down under you can call 61-3-8820-5459.  

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello my Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jay from New Jersey. I’m calling to pray for Naydeen from Michigan. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Naydeen. I see that you have been bit by the Daily Audio Bible bug. It is very infectious, I just want to let you know. So, let’s pray for Naydeen and her husband, children, jobs, and schooling. Heavenly Father, in the precious and mighty name of Jesus Christ, Father, we thank You for Naydeen’s father mentioning the Daily Audio Bible to her and how she has become a part of this wonderful family. Father, we recognize her children’s names and we pray for them in their health and safety. We recognize that Naydeen and her husband are both going to college. And, Father, You know the stresses that are involved in obtaining higher education. So, Father, we pray that You will give them the knowledge, the wisdom, and the ability to manage time like nothing they’ve seen before, so they can obtain the goals that You’ve placed in their lives. Father, we pray for the salvation of her husband. God, many of us have been in situations and are currently in situations where our spouse, our child, our mother, our brother, our cousin, our distant family members just don’t see You, they don’t know You, they don’t have a relationship with You. So, Father, just as Naydeen’s father planted that seed of the Daily Audio Bible, Father, we pray that there will be an opportunity for her husband to overhear the DAB, to see the DAB in Naydeen’s life, to witness the DAB in her actions. And Father, may that witness lead them to You, Jesus. In the mighty name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Please God help me…

Hi, this is Mimi in Atlanta. I’m just calling in for prayer. My father-in-law from ___ his marriage just passed away with a heart attack at 86, but sure wasn’t expecting it. Just got a new car, got things traded in, still teaching Sunday school, just doing amazing things for the Lord. Sharing the gospel at every restaurant, the waiter or waitress always got to hear about Jesus and was left a little book of hope, a little track. So, it just hit us very, very hard. Rick, his sister Christy, and her husband are having to go through mounds of things that are not organized and important papers their trying to find. And, I know within the sound of my voice, other people have gone through this exact same thing. I’m a stylist, so, I have to be at the salon. So, I’m just reaching out to my family for you all to please lift up Rick, Christy, and Tim and also Joshua N., to reconcile with Rick. I’m praying, also, that through everything, God is going to heal and restore for His glory and for His story, so that we can all be on the same _____, heading in the same _____, serving the same Lord, being able to fellowship with each-other. And I wanted to say that, now, when people sneeze, I don’t say God bless you. I say Jesus bless you. That’s been kind of fun. People are kind of caught off guard and then they kind of smile. So, I’m just thrilled. I gave my first book, I didn’t order ten, but I’m going to. I’ve ordered one and I gave it away to a waiter who’s nine months sober and clean and I’m just finishing an amazing book, Would You Like…

Hi my name is Katie and I just want to thank you so much for your Daily Audio Bible. I ask that you guys please pray for the Holy Spirit to just grow inside of me. I just pray for strength from the Lord to deny my flesh every single day and to feed my Spirit every single day because I just want to live for Him and worship His name in spirit and in truth and ____. And I just ask for you to pray for that for me. I don’t know when you guys will receive this but I know that God is a very intentional God and I believe that you’ll receive it at the time that it’s intended. Just thank you so much. And I just want grow closer to Him and I want my Spirit to be strong and I don’t want to sin any more. I know I’m not perfect, so, I will stumble sometimes. But I don’t want to intentionally sin any more. Thank you guys for everything. Hallelujah. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello my DAB family. It’s Max S. from Sydney Australia.  It’s twenty second July. I’m just calling to check in again and tell everybody how much I love this community. I love all of you here. And, also, just a couple of thank you’s. Thank you Drew from the bay area for praying for Australia. I’ll be praying for America too, that the sneeze around the world will happen. Victoria S., you have such a loving voice. I feel so loved when you are praying. I pray that your sister has come to Christ and I’m hoping that she will always be with Christ as well. Pastor Gene, always thinking of you. There’s so many people. Blind Tony, I also have been listening to your journey with your healing of your eyes and have been praying for you too. I just wanted to let everybody know that I am thinking of you and praying that the revival of the ____ and the world will happen with everybody, all the countries. And may we all be part of this great movement back to Christ again. Love you all. Bye.

7/23/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19 ~ Romans 8:9-25~ Psalm 18:16-36 ~ Proverbs 19:26

Today is the 23rd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today at the cusp, the threshold, of a shiny, sparkly, new week and it’s all out there in front of us.  We haven’t made any mistakes yet. It’s all new territory and we get to choose to walk with God into it and just see what an empowered week it can be. So, we’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week and pick up right where we left off yesterday, of course. Second Chronicles chapter 8 verse 11 through 10 verse 19 today.

Commentary:

Ok, so, we’ve been following Paul through the book of Romans as he is reframing his tradition and his faith, showing how Jesus merges, intersects, and turns things in a new direction. And he begins with Abraham, moves through the mosaic law, and then yesterday he gets more personal -  the struggle within. Right, so, like, in my mind, I’m compliant with God’s will. That’s my desire. In my body there are other motivators, there are other things pulling me in other directions and I’m kind of a twisted mess because I’m in conflict with myself. The things that I want to do in my mind are not the things that I do in my body and, so, it’s wretched, but thank God. And we sort of end there with yesterday’s reading because it’s all broken apart. So, it sort of ends at this little lull, this little low, this, sort of, impasse. But we’re continuing the letter forward into today, where he begins to move toward Spirit. And this is some profound stuff. So, like, every verse can be chewed on for a while. Sometimes I come in contact with these brilliant theologians or philosophers and hear a talk or something and it’s like, slow down dude, you are blowing my mind. But I need you to slow down. One sentence, then a thirty second pause would be great. It may take an hour to get through a paragraph but then I’ll understand. You’re blowing my mind. That’s kind of like what is happening here in Romans. So, I encourage you to go back and chew on it.

But just to kind of tease out some of the highlights here, we have to consider, if Christ lives in you, which is so much of what I was wrestling through in the writing of Sneezing Jesus - in you. If He’s in you, if we don’t actualize Him outside of us, He is with-in us, then our spirits are regenerated, eternal, new every day, alive because we have the approval of God. So, Paul asks a question, does the Spirit of the one who brought Jesus back to life live in you? I mean, we could just pause with that for a little while. Consider the implications of that for little while. But he says, then the one who brought Christ back to life will also bring you back to life because it’s the same Spirit that brought Jesus back-to life that lives in you. I’m pausing for effect. The implications of that are pretty far reaching. I mean, what isn’t touched by that? And, so, Paul’s conclusion is: Listen, yes, without Spirit then we’re living in our minds and were living in our bodies and they can often be in conflict with each-other. Our minds can hate our bodies because our bodies are taking us in directions that we don’t want to go. Like, we are just twisted. But because this same Spirit that has brought Christ back to life from the dead is in us then we are not obligated to live either one of those stories. If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us then we are joined heirs, children, adopted into the family of God. But not red headed stepchildren, actually intimate, that we can call him Father. Abba is just the it’s just Aramaic for father. But the implication here is intimacy, not estrangement, intimacy. So, the problem with the best English word to show father and intimacy would be something like, daddy or papa, which can feel too familiar. It can feel irreverent because we’re talking about the Almighty. And so, for a long time I kind of struggled with that, that intimacy, not that I didn’t feel it but just to name it because I wanted that that Almighty reverence. But then I look at my son Ezekiel who is just four years-old and, you know, will bound down the stairs at any point with something new to show me and call me daddy and ask me to listen to him and climb up on my lap and show me whatever it is he wants to talk about. And that intimacy, his awareness that he can-do that, and I’m not going to be mad at him, even if he’s interrupting, which he does all the time. I might tell him, listen, show me this and then I need you to give me a few minutes to get a few things done. But it has nothing to do with anger or reverence. I don’t need him to come-down, stand silently at the edge of my desk until I can grace him with acknowledgement, and then, with a sigh of exasperation, I turn my eyes upon him and so he realizes he has my attention and then he can say: O father may I show you something? It’s not like that between us. He’s my son. He can disrupt whatever he wants. He has total access to me. I love it when he’s on my lap. I love listening to the things that he’s coming up with. My mind, because I’m quite a bit older than him, has a lot more experience. But I revel in the way that he processes things through the heart and mind of a child. That’s what we are talking about here. That’s the Spirit within, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead - within. That’s what that means to our relationship with God. And Paul says that it’s even bigger than just relationship. We’re also heirs. We are heirs with Jesus in the Kingdom, which is a huge thought in and of itself. How do you even get your mind around what we’re talking about here? We are heirs to all of creation, both known and unknown. We are children of the most high God. The Spirit, the animating life force of the God that raised Jesus from the dead is within us, intertwined, and a part of who we are. I mean, how does your mind not explode? We  just need to chew on this. And, so, Paul is saying, this changes the perspective of everything. This makes the small things that were going through, the hardships, the struggles, the trying to figure out how to make ends meet, the relational discontinuity that’s happening in our lives at this moment, all these kind of things, all the sudden they begin to be put into their proper place. They’re far less significant than we think they are. So, the way Paul says it is: I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. The whole world, all of creation is groaning for this and we feel it too because that Spirit within us feels it too - the longing for all things to be made new. But it’s not purposeless. What we’re going through right now allows us to persevere. And that cultivates hope. And it is hope in these things that allows us not only to move forward but to have faith in what we cannot yet see but what we know is there.

And, so it’s boom! Mic drop. There’s a bunch of stuff to think about there because the implications touch everything. And we are in a far better place than we think we are. So, our body and our mind, we will be in conflict with ourselves until we realize the Spirit within, which is the story of humanity. Right? We know the garden of Eden story. We know mankind fell, was separated from God. So, rather than having this animating Spirit in and among us, we were separated from this, left in our mind and our body, in conflict without the Spirit of God. Well, Paul’s saying that isn’t the story anymore. Jesus reunites us into who we’re made to be, humanity as it is intended to be. So, there’s plenty to chew on there. And a lot of times, the way I personally absorb these things, I start asking what-if questions. What-if that were true? And then just let my mind and heart open and wonder what would change within me if embraced that fully.

So, I encourage you to do that today, because you will be dreaming about your true self. And once you can dream it, you can name it, and once you can name it, you can become it. This is how we wake up, which is something that we’ve been talking about for the last month. This is how you wake up. And once you have awakened to this, you can’t see the world-the same anymore. And then you realize the chasm between what we’re talking about here and how the world lives and you see the world needs to wake up and that we get to be a part of that story. So, dream a little today. Dream about who you really are.

Prayer:

And Holy Spirit, we invite You into those thoughts. We invite You into that dreaming. We invite the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, that dwells within us, to rise up within us and take its rightful leadership place. Beyond our mind, beyond our body, that are in conflict with each other often, we invite Your Spirit to rule and reign. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

The Sneezing Jesus discussion group is still going on and still going strong. And if you haven’t been over there yet, come dive in, introduce yourself. It’s lively and wonderful. That can be found at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible - if the community that we are is light and life to you - then thank you for helping it to continue, especially here in the summer. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning DAB family. This is Paula calling from Albuquerque. I’m just going to pray. Father God, thank You so much for every blessing that You give us through this ministry. For laying it on Brian and Jill’s heart to be obedient to Your calling. For all those that are involved that are involved in the background, that we never hear their names or see their faces. For SarahJane, for everything she does. Lord, I want to lift up today, the new marriages. I ask that You bless them, Lord, and that You open their eyes, Father God, to all that you have for them, reminding them every day that You are the foundation, that You are the glue in that relationship. For those of us that desire a relationship with You. Lord, I ask that You be enough for us during the time of transition, during that season of our life. Lord, I lift up our children and grandchildren, that were raised in the faith but have chosen to go their own way. Father, I ask that you bring them back. Do whatever it takes, Lord, to remove the scales from their eyes, that they might see You and see You alone. Thank You for what’s going on in Romans Father. And I know that there are probably unbelievers listening to the podcast. And I pray, Lord, that their eyes are open to what Paul says, as given to him by the Holy Spirit - that we are saved by grace. There’s nothing that we can do by ourselves Father. And I pray that You give them that revelation, that You give them the eyes to see and the ears to hear and the quietness to hear Your voice. Thank You, Father, for all that You do and all that You are. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello DABbers, brothers and sisters. This Marco from California. This is my second time calling. The first time I called, I was near my breaking point. I’ve been asking to pray for me, to pray for financial stability.  Last time I called, I stated how I’d lost my job and had been looking for work and praying every day. And sure enough, I’m on my way to interview right now. I’m not saying it’s guaranteed to be mine but I know that these are blessings that God’s putting in my life. I’m truly grateful. I just want to have another prayer request for my little nephew, Mason. He just started middle school. He was really nervous today. He reminds me a lot of myself. He’s a very sensitive kid in the manner that he feels things much more than normal. So, I’d just like for everyone to pray for him to make new friends, for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for him to have courage and strength and to feel comfortable in his own skin at this new school.  And to all the new listeners, Brian, you are amazing. Thank you for having this resource. I can’t tell you what it’s meant to my life and the involvement and the beauty it’s brought. Thank you. I love you guys. Bye.

Hey guys. Hey. This is Annette A. from Oklahoma City. Wow, it feels like it’s been forever since I talked to you, my family. I love you guys. Hey. Oh man. I really want to give a praise report. Thank You. Glory to God for getting ____ and I through this trip down the Florida, hauling a car, putting dogs at the vets to be watched while we were gone and feeling horrible about that the whole time, going down there, getting totally sick from all the heat, thanks to limes disease, thank you so very much for that, and then having to leave early because I just I just couldn’t take the heat, and then leaving my dad, hoping he wouldn’t be too sad because I cut the trip short. It really worked out the way it should and I’m thanking God for giving us grace and for the husband and I not even being at each-other’s throats and having a great time. Being two days on the road, it was insane. The Lord says that He will send a Comforter. The Lord sent me the Comforter and I tell you, I thank Him so much, not only for getting us through all that, but I lost a very good friend of mine at work. That was very unexpectedly expected. She had stage four breast-cancer and had been fighting that for some time. And I thank God, I thank Him so much, for giving me an extra year with my friend. That was not supposed to happen but the Lord knows. And amongst all the things that have been happening at work-and at home, I didn’t even have time to grieve for my friend and it was terrible. But  the Lord sent me the Comforter in my dream, where we talked about it and I got to be in the Comforters arms and cry…

Hey. How’s everybody doing on this evening? My name is Rene from the Chicago area. I just wanted to pass on because I called couple of months ago about my friend Polly, who had pancreatic cancer. Well, the Lord so fir to call her home. She’s passed and I just want to thank everybody for the prayers, particularly, Miss Jan. Jan, I want to thank you so much for the prayers and everybody else. Prayer means so much to me in my life and I just thank you for the prayers and thank you for praying for me also, that the Lord will provide strength and to give me strength I carry on in the name of Jesus, without wavering, without giving up and giving in. Just pray for me. In the name of Jesus. Amen. I thank you. Bye-bye.

7/22/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10 ~ Romans 7:14-8:8  ~ Psalm 18:1-15 ~ Proverbs 19:24-25

Today is the 22nd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. And here we are at the end of another week going through the stories again in the books of Chronicles and digging in deep in the book of Romans. So, we’ve been reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, which is what we’ll do today. Second Chronicles chapter 6 verse 12 to 8 verse 10 today.

Prayer:

Thank you Father for another week in Your word. Another week of life with You. And as we shut the doors, close the books, finish the chapter, and press send on this week and let it become a part of our history, we thank You for Your faithfulness because it is the common thread that weaves its way through all of our days and weeks and months. We thank You for Your faithfulness to us, Your loyalty to us, that far outpaces anything that we can give in return but You compel us forward. You invite us deeper and we choose to say yes and reach for You and want to be with You at all times in all places and in all things. Come, Holy Spirit, You are invited into everything about us. Nothing is off-limits to You. So, come, as we finish this week and prepare to start a new one and you be the center of all things about us we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check that out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible shop. Check out the Resources that are available there. Stop by the Prayer Wall and pray for those in need. Maybe your carrying something you don’t want to carry alone. That’s a good place to go.

I’ll remind you of the Sneezing Jesus discussion group that exists on facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus, where an amazing discussion has been taking place. So, be 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 are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi this is Victoria S. Just calling tonight to pray for some of the DABbers. I really want to call and pray for Marco from California, who lost his job. It is really refreshing to hear a young man that is trying to do good for his family and stand on the word of God. And I just want to pray for you tonight Marco, and let you know that everything’s going to be alright, that God, He hears your voice and He has His perfect time for you. He said He’ll never leave you nor forsake you. He said that none of His will ever be in want. He is your shepherd. He definitely has blessings for you. Gracious Father, I want to pray for Marco tonight and all the young men who are going through challenges like Marco. Lord, I know that You are a God that answers prayers. You said You’d never leave us nor forsake us. David said he was young and now he’s old but he’s never seen the righteous forsaken or seen them begging for bread. Lord, this young man has a heart to do good for his family and a heart to do Your will and I know with those two that You are the God that can meet his needs. Lord, You open doors that no man can close and You close doors that no man can open. Father, You bless him with Your mighty and special way, every one of the young men who are going through the things he’s going through. You bless his family, Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus. You give his wife to be the strength for him and to help him through it all, that their marriage even grows stronger, in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, You touch the DABbers, You touch our leader, our one who is speaking to us of Sneezing for Jesus.  I just want to give Him my victory tonight, that my sister accepted Christ as her Savior and I want you all to rejoice with me and the angels rejoice and pray for her that the Lord bless her and heal her in the mighty name of Jesus. And Lord I give You all…

Hello community. I’m calling from the UK. I’ve been listening for about two years and I just want to say to Brian and Jill that the interview about Sneezing Jesus is just amazing, absolutely amazing. I’m growing more and more in the Lord and, yes, God is in me. God is in each one of us and that impacted me so much from the interview.  I love you guys. I listen every day and I’m looking to get more and more involved. I pray for allot of you and I love you dearly.  My name is Rebecca and we live in Nottingham Shire.

Hi beautiful family. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. Sneezing all the way from Bradenton Florida and Sarasota Florida and excited. I’m only on the second chapter of Sneezing Jesus because I’m really tied up with ministry and full time work and I want to really digest it. But man, Brian, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you. I’m encouraging you guys to join us tonight for Brian’s live podcast on Facebook, although, I think you guys are going to get this message after the fact but, oh well.  So, I wanted to pray for a few brothers and sisters, if you could join me. Father, we thank You so much, for Your kindness, Your grace, Your mercy, which is made evident every day by the way you take care of us, how much You love us, how much You guide us, and carry us through Your word. Father, one more time, thank You for Brian, for Jill and for the ___. So, Jesus, I want to pray for my brother Robert Clark’s nephew, who has been applying for disability for the last seven or eight years and continues getting denied. We’ve only been at it for two years and it is very disheartening and very hard when you don’t have an income and you’re unable to work, like is the case with my husband. So, I am praying for a miracle for You to touch the right people in the Disability Administration, that this will be approved and also for comfort, so that when my brother’s nephew hears of the news he will not completely discouraged. I also want to pray for ___ the Joy. I want it for her Father, that You will complete the work that You have started in her. I want to pray for her baby Eli. And I want to pray that You will do a mighty work in his life, that You will protect him, that You will protect ___ the Joy and that You will do whatever it takes to draw ___ the Joy to You permanently, Oh God, so that You can truly turn her life around. Father, bless my brothers and sisters. I love you guys. Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. Bye.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s great to be here at the global campfire, as Brian likes to call it. I was introduced to the Daily Audio Bible by my uncle, who is huge role model for me. I’ve been listening to it for the past month now and it has absolutely been changing my life. I’m a missionary in Chiang Mai Thailand and I teach at a school there named ___ National School. I don’t get paid to do what I do but I work about 12 hour days. I’m back here in the states after completing my first year there. I’m raising support for a steady income flow so I can support myself while I’m there. It’s been an incredible story of faith and provision that God has been taking me through this last year in Chiang Mai and He has been steadily providing monthly support for me while I’ve been here travelling all over the states meeting people that I know and people that I’ve never met before. I just want to ask for more prayer, that my faith will stand firm and, if the expectation is that God wants me there in Chiang Mai then He will provide a way. He’s already provided about 70% of my support, so, Hallelujah. But I still have some left to go and I’m just asking for prayer on that, that I stand firm, and that I’d also be expecting the money to come in and the provision to come in.  Also, I’d like to ask for prayer for my sister who struggles with anxiety as so many prayer requests I hear are about anxiety. I’ve been growing to understand it a little bit more and so, I just ask for prayer for her…

7/21/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 4:1-6:11 ~ Romans 7:1-13 ~ Psalm 17:1-15 ~ Proverbs 19:22-23

Today is the 21st day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we take the next step forward. And we began the book of second Chronicles yesterday and the life of Solomon and of course, this is a revisiting of the territory that we covered in the books of the Kings. So, we’re in Solomon’s reign and we’ll read second Chronicles chapter 4 verse 1 through 6 verse 11 today. And we’ve been reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay, so, Paul is continuing on. So, we started with Abraham several days ago, worked our way through circumcision, and Abraham’s belief being seen as righteousness to God. And then we began to understand the mercy and kindness and grace of God that was extended through Jesus. So, what Paul is doing is saying Jesus is the continuation of this story and now that we have this piece of the story, now that Jesus is come and done his work in this world, this changes the dynamics of everything. So, what Paul’s talking about today is the law, because this is the de facto thing that the Jewish people believe in and try to observe even though they know that they cannot live up to it. It is the perfect thing. If they could perfectly obey it then they could be righteous before God but they can’t. No one can live up to it perfectly all of the time and so they fall short. But if they could live perfectly in the law that could be perfect before God. Paul is saying, no one has ever been able to do that but Jesus. And Jesus came and offered His life to welcome us into righteousness before God through mercy and grace. And so, Paul started at the beginning with Abraham but now he’s kind of focused in on this law and he’s saying, the law is the thing that gives sin a reality and then he gives an example that we can still understand. If a woman is married and she gives herself to another man she has broken her covenant with her husband and her vow before God. So, she’s broken this law and, so, she will be known as a person who’s committed adultery, an adulterous. But if her husband had died, she can give herself to that same man at the same time then. But if her husband has died then she hasn’t broken any law. It’s this law that lets her know what is right and what is wrong. And, so, Paul is saying, so, does that make the law a bad thing? Since were free from this, does that make the law a bad thing? Absolutely not. Paul says, the law is a benign thing. It’s when you rub up against it that what’s really going on is exposed. This is how you find out what sin is. So, let’s use a real world example. Here in the United States, out on the interstates the speed limit pretty much is 70. Right? I mean, I know that it’s 75 in certain places and 55 in certain places but, like, in general, 70.  And it’s posted. It’s posted every few miles. If you’re going 90, you’re going over the speed limit, you’re breaking the speed law, and you might get busted, you might get a ticket. You’re breaking the law. If there were no signs and those laws had not been passed about speed limits, you can go as fast as you wanted because you wouldn’t know there was anything governing your speed. But because you know it and then you willingly break it, then you’re breaking that law. So, Paul’s just simply saying, the law reveals the sin and sin being exposed then, you know, we can decide, okay well then I’m not going to sin, only to realize our powerlessness and hopelessness in achieving that goal. Actually finding perfection, actually never sinning on our own, in our own strength, that’s not possible. However, when we die to sin, we die to who we were and are resurrected as new creatures in Christ, then all the sudden grace and mercy hovers over us in everything. We are being sanctified. We are being perfected, day-by-day, closer and closer to the Savior.

Prayer:

So, Father, that really is our desire, that we are sanctified, that we are holy and acceptable to You, that we totally understand that we cannot achieve this on our own, that we can’t earn our way, that we can’t be so perfect that You have to see us as righteous because we simply are righteous. We understand fully that this can’t happen without an intertwining, without You within us. That it is no longer us. That we have died to the person that we once were without You and that we have been joined in union with You. We understand that it is all about You. That this is the only way that this is possible.  And yet, because it is possible, it gives us a passion to be righteous and more righteous tomorrow than today, to be upstanding and good before You. That the outflow of our lives is a reaction to Your goodness and mercy and kindness and grace for us. So, come Holy Spirit and fill us anew with Your grace. Thank You so much, that Your mercies are new every morning because we need that. But everyday is a step forward and we invite Your Holy Spirit to pull us forward, forward, forward into sanctification so that every day we are more and more like You. 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.

We had a really good time at Facebook Live about Sneezing Jesus last night. It was good. We’ll have to do that again soon. If you missed it, you can still find it at the Sneezing Jesus page. If you haven’t got into that group yet and you’re going through Sneezing Jesus, you definitely want this as a portal. It’s a great place of encouragement and some of the stories that are coming in…I mean…the book is just out… but as we move through it, it’s just really nice to have somebody to talk to and that’s a great place for it. So, you can find the Sneezing Jesus group at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. And I’ve been hanging out there a bit every day and so it’s just really great to interact and to spend time with each other. So, check that out.

Sneezing Jesus is available in all of the formats and I’ve been mentioning that this week. I waited a little on the audio book because we just didn’t know. But it’s everywhere. And, so, if you prefer audio editions, it’s available.

We will be bringing the message of Sneezing Jesus out on the road this fall and then into the new year a little bit. And if you’d like to see that come to your area, go to sneezingjesus.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there’s this tiny little form, and fill that out, and get in touch. We’ll see if that can happen. So, we hope to see you out on the road a little later in the year.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is link. It’s on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. We wouldn't…this community wouldn’t exist if we didn’t do this together and, so, thank you for your partnership here in the summertime. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, there is a button in the lower right-hand corner. It says More. Push that button and you’ll find the links or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174

And as always if you have a prayer request, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Sandy in New Hampshire. Father, today, we come to You and we thank You for this family, all across the world, Lord God, that no one is alone. We give You thanks. We give You praise. Father, in the name of Jesus, we lift up the Hardin family. We lift up those that help this podcast to be what it is everyday - a community where no one is alone. So, God, we lift them up and we ask, in the name of Jesus, that You will guide them and protect them, Father, that You will grant them wisdom. Lord, we thank You for that. We thank You that You are God. There is no other. Father we ask that You would provide for them. And Lord, we pray for a family who is fighting. God, we ask You to fight in the heavenly realms because You are the Lord of heaven’s army. God we ask You to fight on the behalf of those that struggle with depression, that struggle with addiction, that struggle with discouragement, Lord God, that are struggling right now. In the name of Jesus, we lift them up. God, we form a circle around them. And Father, You said in Your word that those who are strong should bear the burdens of the week. So, Lord, right now, in Jesus name, God we come because we’re all week at one time and we ask You in Jesus name to meet us. Lord, rise up strong for Your defense, there is no one that can stand against it. My God, I ask that You would fight for those who need to know Your presence Lord God. Holy Spirit, I ask that You move on hearts to change people’s mind. I ask, Lord God, that You would cause Your presence to be so real to them that it draws them, Your love draws them. I’m asking this in Jesus’ name for each one struggling right now…

Hi family. My name is Tom.  I’m from northern New Jersey. I’m a longtime listener, probably about 8 or 9 years. Thank you, Brian and Jill for this great program. I have a prayer request for my son.  He’s battling addiction and after years he’s finally decided to get help and now he’s in a 30-day program but the health insurance is fighting it.  So, I’d really appreciate all your prayers going towards this situation to try to help him and also specifically to help him with this situation. He’s not a believer. I am trying to push him in that direction but you know how that goes sometimes. So, any prayers and especially for the insurance company to come through would really be appreciated. Thank you very much. Take care.

Hello DAB family. This is Joyful Noise from Southern California. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, I lift up Grady to You God and I’m so thankful for his heart for others, his heart for his generation, his heart for his circle of friends, God. I heard the grieving in his voice and I know You hear it too. And You know it. You know his heart is for You God. And I just pray a blessing over him. I pray encouragement. I pray just a sense of peace that what he is doing is making a difference God, no matter what he sees with his eyes God and I just thank You so much for him and all the Grady’s on all campuses across this world and in our nation God. It is such a dark time to be young in this nation and there are so many distractions and so much deception and so much discouragement. We know where it comes from. It comes from the enemy but these children do not belong to the enemy God. They belong to You. So, I just pray that You raise up a generation of Grady’s, God. I already see them on the campuses all over our nation reaching out to seek and save the lost, God. And You promised us that You will leave the ninety-nine to find the one. And, God, I just pray that You’ll remind Grady and just continue to encourage him. And, again, all the Grady’s out there that are doing this in silence and are perhaps struggling with - is this even making a difference. God, I just pray that You give them a sense of peace and You go before Grady and all of the Grady’s as a pillar of fire, removing all the deception and discouragement and distraction that is facing them so that they may ultimately shine a bright light in this dark old world and draw so many back to you, God. In Your precious son’s name and for Your name sake, I pray all of this in Jesus holy and righteous name. Amen. Grady, thank you so much for who you are. I just want to share with you, as a mom of a college student, that I was lifting up my daughter in prayer when I heard your call and I was just really crying out to God because I can’t say with impunity…

Hi DAB family. This is Mom Who Prays from California. I’m calling to share with a sister who works in Corrections and stated that she was assaulted at work. I’ve worked in corrections for over 24 years and I know the environment very well. I would be happy to connect with you via email for prayer and encouragement. My email address is momwhoprays@sbcglobal.net or you can find me Facebook under Christina _____. I’ll be happy to pray for you sister. I also wanted to call to lift up some of my sisters in Christ before the Lord -  Jill, Victoria S., Salvation is Mine, Lisa the Encourager, Annette A., Candice from Oregon, Walta, Asia, Pastor Gene, Cherry C., Lisa from Alabama, our sweet little sister Gigi, and Christi from Kentucky. Also, Viola, my sister, prayers for you regarding your master’s program. You guys are all such a big blessing to me. Also, lifting up Aleah, David from Kansas, Phil B., and Joe the Protector. We hope you’ll check in real soon. We miss you all. Tom and Molly, I’m still keeping your family in prayer. And our sister from Canada who shared about the mud pies, that was such a wonderful message of encouragement. Thank you my sister. It brought tears to my eyes as I was on my one hour commute to work. Duane from Wisconsin, thanks for being such a faithful prayer warrior. Lee from New Jersey, thanks for keeping it real and speaking from the heart. God bless you my brother and your family. Slave of Jesus, thanks for sharing so many words of wisdom and encouraging us to prepare for battle by memorizing God’s word. And Blind Tony, I’m still keeping you in prayer. May God continue to heal you and give you power to stay strong in the Lord, regardless of your circumstances. You’re an inspiration to us all. Not only what you share but how you live. God bless you brother. And Brian and Jill, words just are not enough. Just continued prayers over you and the entire Hardin family as always. And DAB family, let’s be Sneezing Jesus everywhere we go, okay. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

07/20/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 1:1-3:17 ~ Romans 6:1-23 ~ Psalm 16:1-11 ~ Proverbs 19:20-21

Today is the 20th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we take the next step forward in this week in the scriptures and in our lives. In the Old Testament we’re beginning the book of second Chronicles today and there isn’t really an overview to give about second chronicles that isn’t the same as when we talked about first Chronicles. We’re just kind of moving forward. First and second Chronicles were all one text and they we’re just broken apart for the ease of locating things at a time where we didn’t have word processors and search engines and stuff like that when we needed to go to the right scroll to locate what we were looking for. But, generally speaking, first Chronicles ends with the end of David’s reign and second Chronicles begins with the beginning of Solomon’s reign. We saw this same kind of pattern in the books of the Kings and so we begin. Second Chronicles chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 17 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so, Paul is laying out his argument and his argument is reframing their understanding of their faith as they’ve traditionally known it. Paul is bringing Jesus into the mix and saying, look, this revelation, what Jesus did, that God came here in the flesh and dwelt among us, this is a big deal. And, so, we have to reframe what we think we know because we know more now and here’s how this works. And that’s basically what Romans is doing. And it can get tedious. Paul is packing, like, every sentence with theological understandings and it’s like, wow, slow down a second. I need to process this. So, a few days ago, Paul begins with Abraham. He’s like, let’s go back to the beginning and work our way forward. And let’s remember, because this was his first reframe, let’s remember that it was Abraham’s belief that was counted as righteousness in God’s eyes, not his following of a recipe, because there was no recipe. It was his belief. Let’s start there. It was his belief in what God said that was counted as righteousness to him. All the other stuff that we’ve been kind of stuck in under this law came later.

And then, yesterday, he talks about the law and he talks about mercy. Right? He talks about Grace that overcomes the deficiencies that we find in the law because the law shows, it reveals, our hopelessness and powerlessness to achieve righteousness in our own strength. We cannot get there on our own but God is merciful. He is a Father. He has grace that He extends to us through Jesus and that changes everything.

And, so, what Paul is going into today, and you can sort of see this build. It’s the entire faith that we ascribe to. What he is saying today is, so, now that we know this that we have a merciful kind graceful God that would come and, while we were still enemies, while we were still sinners, He would die to offer freedom to us. Now that we know that he’s that kind and now that we know that that kind of Grace exists and is extended toward us, does that mean we can just do whatever we want? Because every time we do something wrong there is grace and it multiplies and multiplies. So, should we intentionally just do what we know isn’t right so that we can receive this grace even more and more? Absolutely not, he says. Because when you become a slave to something you are obeying it and you have died to who you were. The waters of baptism are a representation of this. You go into the water declaring that who you were without Christ is dead, is going to be left behind in those waters, and you will come back out a new creature.

But the whole thing that we’ve come to this far is beautifully summarized today at the end of our reading. And the very last verse that we read is one of the very famous verses in the Bible, right? For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Absolutely astounding, the truth in that verse. But it’s even more powerful when we just go back a couple verses and understand the entire paragraph, the narrative that he was saying that led to that statement, because it applies to us all. So, what fruit was produced from the things that you are now ashamed of? Right? So, you can look back over your life and go like, man, college was not so good of a season for me, or man, you know, some of those things that I did to and against my spouse, or some of those things that I did to against my parents and my friends, or the way I betrayed, the way I did those things that I knew were wrong, I’m ashamed of those things. So, Paul’s just simply saying, where was the fruit in that, did you get what you were looking for, was there a bunch of fruit produced from the things that you are now ashamed of? Right! Because the end of those things leads to death. But that’s not you anymore. You’ve been liberated from those things. You can let them go. That was an earlier version of you. That was the version of you separated from God. That’s not your story anymore. You are intertwined with God now. You are a new creation. Those things that you were enslaved to before that we’re leading you toward death. That’s gone. You’ve now changed yourself. You are now slaves to God and as you obey your master that will only lead to fruit, which will result in your sanctification. And the end of that story is eternal life because the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Prayer:

So, Father, we thank You for the book of Romans. We thank You for your word. We thank You for this truth washing into our lives. We thank You for this opportunity to remember what it was like without You. It’s nothing we really want to relish in but it’s good to remember that that old person is gone now and it was leading nowhere and You intervened and came and rescued us. And now every day, we march forward deeper into sanctification. Every day we are being made set apart and holy. Every day we are being transformed into Your likeness. We are looking more and more like You, Jesus, every day. And the end of this story is the beginning of forever and ever and ever and ever with You, Eternal Life. So, we thank You, God, for the gift of mercy and grace and, like Abraham, we believe. That’s what we bring to the table because that’s all we have to bring to the table. And You supply us with everything we need. You indwell us and fill us. It’s no longer us. The person that we were without You is gone. Now it’s a new creature intertwined with You. It’s a collaboration in life, moving us deeper into restoration and wholeness and sanctification and eternal life. What do we even say to that? Thank You…is…is…it’s flat…it’s not enough. This is the point where our vocabulary fails us. This is too good to articulate. And, so, we just simply worship You, walk with You, enjoy this life with You, and share the light and good news of it everywhere we can in every way we know how. So, come Holy Spirit, show us what that looks like as we walk with You today. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Couple things are going on around here.

Tonight at 7 p.m. we’re going to do a Facebook Live inside the Sneezing Jesus discussion group and I’m just going to share some thoughts. And it’s great forum for us to get together, like, to be together, all in one place at one time when we can kind of fellowship. Even though we are all over the place and maybe even spread out in all kinds of different time zones, we can be together in the same place at the same time, a little bit. So, that’s going to happen at 7 p.m. tonight. That’s Central Standard Time, which is the time zone for the rolling hills of Tennessee. And you’ll just have to, maybe, look up wherever you are in the world, the difference. I know what it’s like here in the United States. I know that that’s 8 p.m. on the east coast and I know that’s 5 p.m. on the west coast and I know that it’s 6 p.m. mountain time. But I don’t know where it is all over the world. So, you can just Google that. I hope to see you there. You’ll need to be in the Sneezing Jesus group, discussion group, to see that. So, you can find a pretty easily facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. So, we’ll see you there tonight.

Other thing that I’ve been telling you about this week is that all the formats of Sneezing Jesus have been released, including the audio addition, so, you can get it at Audible or iTunes or wherever else you get audiobooks. So, it’s out there. It’s out there in all kinds of formats. And if you haven’t had a chance, be we sure to check that out.

We’ll be doing the Sneezing Jesus tour beginning this autumn and into the new year. If you would like to see that come to your area, there’s a form you can fill out - small one, just a couple things, just a way to get in touch.  Go to sneezingjesus.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll find it. Boom! Piece of cake. You’ll find it in 1 minute. And we’ll see if that can happen.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, in the common mission that we share -  to bring the spoken word of God fresh every day to anyone who will listen to it, anywhere on this planet, anytime of day or night and to continue to build community around that rhythm that we share each day - so that we know, that no matter what, we’re not alone. There’s somebody, no matter what, we’re not alone. If that has brought light and life and good news into your life, then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request for comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian, I love you, and I’ll certainly be waiting for you here tomorrow. But I’ll also be waiting for you here, tonight, at the Sneezing Jesus page. So, I’ll see you there or I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello. Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jay calling from New Jersey. It has been a little while since I’ve called in. Well, allot has happened this while that I haven’t called in. I am now married and I’m enjoying the honeymoon phase of life. So, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much God for life. We thank you for health. We thank you for strength to call in to the DAB and listen to our brothers and sisters and to pray with them. God, we love You so much, there’s no possible way that I could even begin to fathom. You’re awesome. So, we praise You now. We lift You up. We glorify Your mighty name. In that God, thank You for the many blessings that we’ve been able to experience the last month, getting married. Many people have had children, others are getting engaged, some are even having birthdays, and celebrating anniversaries, so, God, we thank You for that. Father, we thank You for the new jobs, and we thank You for the new cars, and we thank You for our homes. God, we thank You for being able to satisfied with what we have, because I know it’s so easy sometimes to get caught up in what others have and what we don’t have and where we want to be and how we want to get there and then we can forget to be satisfied with what we have. So, thank You Father. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Lauralee and I have received my 10 Sneezing Jesus books and that was Saturday, and its Monday and oh boy…I had…anyway…I’m just going to lift up the names of the people to our heavenly Father with this community. Thank you, Brian and Jill and the Hardin family for your faithfulness. Lord Jesus, your word says draw near to you and you will draw near to us. So, I pray for pastor Dwayne, Joanne, Robert, Cheryl, and Matthew, that those small little books will draw their eyes to you, draw them by your spirit to you, and open new days and new ways to live your life out in and through you. We come to you in Jesus’s name Lord, God, our Father and mention His righteousness only to call on Your obedience and Your sufferings. You magnify the law in its construction and its cost and made it faithful. May we be secured by your blood, saved by your light, joined by your spirit. Let us pick up your cross and follow you. May your grace prepare us for your appointment and make us willing that we should choose your inheritance for us and a point that we will keep or loose, suffer or enjoy. If blessed by prosperity, let us be free from its snares and use, not abuse, its advantages. And may we cheerfully and patiently submit to those afflictions, which are necessary…

Hello DAB family this is Marsha from Colorado. I’m a member of the Sneezing Jesus Facebook group and I feel so compelled to share a post I made this morning, July 17th, for those of you who are not on Facebook. So, here’s my post. Something very powerful is happening deep within me today. I have power read Brian Hardin’s new book, Sneezing Jesus, and now I am going back through, slowly listening on audio and taking notes. It is obvious to me that God has placed a powerful anointing on this book and I feel God’s presence as I listen and read. It’s deep, it’s wide and it’s having the effect the author desired and prayed for. Thank you, Brian. All the sudden I find myself navigating through some very troubled waters that God brought to my attention just yesterday. If I handle this through the knowledge of good and evil without God’s guidance, it has the potential for great destruction. Had I not received this book last week and devoured it, and made the decision to wake up and see what’s it’s like to be fully human, intertwined with God, I know I would not be sharing this post today. God’s timing is impeccable. I was literally on my knees in prayer last night about this and awake all night in turmoil, but today God specifically showed me how to proceed, which was opposite of how I was going to handle it. I am tremendously thankful for His intervention. I went from turmoil to peace in a short amount of time and I can’t wait to see the restoration God has in mind for this. I am almost giddy in anticipation. Now that’s powerful, and I think this is the stuff that sneezes are made of.

Hi, this is Nadene from Michigan and I want to say first of all, that I have never been much of a reader of the Bible or even very spiritual. And, so, I was trying to get rid of some fears that I have of death and a lot of…I have panic attacks. And I asked my dad and he suggested this. And on my breaks, at work, because I work at a factory, I’ve been listening to it. And now, for at least 2 weeks, they’re letting us listen to music at the factory and I’ve just been listening to this on my own personal speakers. And I’ve become quite addicted to listening and it’s changed my life a lot, in the fact that I actually feel like I want to learn more and I’m asking questions. And I wanted a prayer request because my husband is not a believer because of a church we went to. And I want to be firm in my faith so he can see what Christianity is supposed to look like. And I’m not feeling like I’m doing a very good job. With two young kids, two full-time jobs, and college split between the both of us, it’s pretty hectic to even get out the door to go to church. But I wanted to thank you all for being such a wonderful community. Thank you very much. Bye.