Category: DAB Transcripts

2 Kings 4:18-5:27, Acts 15:1-35, Psalms 141:1-10, Proverbs 17:23

Today is the 23^rd day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and move forward together on our adventure through the Scriptures this year. And the trail leads us back out into second Kings where we are getting kinda moved in and getting to know the lay of the land and getting to know the prophet, Elisha. And we kinda left the story in the middle yesterday. A woman and her husband had built Elisha a room on the top of their house. He had begun to stay there. He wanted to do something nice for her. In the end he told her about this time next year you will have a son and she did and that’s where we pick up the story. So, today second Kings chapter 4 verse 18 through 5 verse 27.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Acts today we have this retelling of what is known as the Jerusalem Council and in an understated way the Bible tells us something that happened that so monumentally shifted things. And we talked about this just a few days ago when we were with Peter up on top of the roof and the sheets coming down with the unclean animals and him going to Caesarea to minister to Cornelius who was a Roman centurion, a Gentile, and yet the Holy Spirit fell upon his household, and they were saved. Well…Paul and Barnabas are off on a missionary journey throughout the Roman empire, and they are indeed going to the Jewish community in whatever city they go to but so often they’re pushed out by the Jewish community, but the Gentiles are listening, and the Lord is doing a mighty work among Jew and Gentile alike even though they are facing an incredible amount of opposition. So, Hebrew people, Jewish people who were religiously devout, fully committed to the Mosaic law, fully committed to obeying God’s through the law, they never really had the concept that accepting Jesus was some kind of new religion of some sort. It was a Jewish thing. Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah. Things indeed were being fulfilled but for the Jewish people. And the whole thing was in a Jewish context. And, so, it’s not unfair to see how they would assume that. So, even Pharisees, even religious scholars were believing in Jesus, but again they never thought it was outside of a Jewish context. And, so, some believers went to some of the other churches and among the Gentiles and preached that the Gentiles…and I’m quoting from the book of Acts, “the Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” They said, “unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” Well, that’s going to be a problem for Gentile people who don’t understand why circumcision would have anything to do with anything. Like you would need to be in a Hebrew context to understand the meaning of circumcision and the covenant that it represents. So, this causes confusion, confusion among the Gentile believers who are like, “are we doing this right? Is this the way to go? Like what are we supposed to do here?” This causes Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusalem where the Jerusalem Council occurred. And people argued at this Council as told in the book of Acts on both sides. So, on the one side you have Hebrew believers in Jesus who believe Jesus was fully in a Jewish context and was for the Jewish people and what His work did was for the Jewish people. And, so, if you wanted to be in with Jesus you needed to kinda convert to Judaism and begin to obey the Mosaic law, the law of God and then honor Jesus and worship Him as the Jewish Messiah, the anointed One, of God, whereas people like Peter and Paul and Barnabas had already seen what God was choosing to do. They had been out in ministry among Gentile people and were watching God make the decision. Like if the Lord sends his Holy Spirit upon people well then God’s making that decision. And that was the argument in favor of the Gentiles. And, so, ultimately a decision was made that, no Gentiles don’t need to convert to Judaism and begin to try to bear the burden of the Mosaic law when even Jewish people have never been able to bear that burden. They shouldn’t be burdened in other words. Gentile people shouldn’t be burdened with things that they don’t even know what they are. Like they have never ever, ever had that contextualized. They’ve been Pagans worshiping many false gods and now they want to come to the one true God. And, so, they don’t need, you know, a mile long list of rules and regulations that they gotta even understand what the context is before they can begin to serve God. And, so, they wrote a letter and sent it back. And that is beautiful and that indeed affirms all are welcome. Like all of us who are Gentile are welcome into the family of God. But that’s not the end of the story and we’ll see it crop up throughout the letters of Paul, especially. Because even though a determination or a decision was made at the Council not everyone was on board with that decision. That has been true throughout all of church history. There are many church councils that we can look at and there were a lot of debate and a lot of people branded as heretics after the fact when they wouldn’t get on board with what everyone had decided. And, so, not everyone was on board with the Jerusalem Council. This is profoundly monumental though in the life of the church, not only because of…because of its inclusiveness, inviting everyone in the world to come to Jesus, but because of the social repercussions. Up until this time Jewish people were considered strange, but a people who were practicing a very ancient religion and were supposed to separate themselves. And, so, they’re in the Roman Empire and they are allowed to worship only their God. Like they have a little bit of, essentially, religious exemption because in the Roman Empire this is a polytheistic culture. They worship many many gods and it’s wide open. In the Roman Empire you can worship any god that you want to worship but there are also the gods of the Empire and those gods everybody has to worship. You can worship any other gods that you want to in addition, but you have to give your loyalty to the gods of the Empire, the gods who made Rome great. Obviously, that will not work for a Hebrew person, and they were given an exemption. They did not have to do that. They didn’t have to go sacrifice to the gods of the Empire etc. etc. etc. but everybody else did. What we see happening at the Jerusalem Council is a distinction is being made. People aren’t going to welcome Gentile’s wholesale into the Jewish community. And, so, a line gets drawn and people who are following Jesus then began to be separated from Orthodox practicing Jews because these Christians, Jewish or Gentile, they are allowing Gentiles, they are allowing something that’s not allowed. And, so, it could be argued that they’re not really practicing Judaism anymore. And that’s what happens. They get shoved into the margins where they don’t have any place of refuge. And as Christians resist they get marginalized themselves until they are…well…for a period of time really considered the problem and tremendous persecution breaks out. So, understanding that what we read today really really affected the world going forward is important for us to sort of understand the lay of the land or the context, how this all happened and how it is that the faith was passed down through all of the generations until we had the opportunity to believe as well and participate in the family of God. And, so, let’s remember this because it’s really important to our history.

Prayer:

Father, we love You. We love Your word. We thank You for Your word. We thank You for Your kindness in our lives to allow us to have it and that we can pour over it and look into the stories and see how things moved out from Jerusalem and how they ended up in our time and in our hearts. And Father, we see that the early church has to grapple with things that they don’t understand and deal with problems that look pretty complicated, and we thank You for Your guidance certainly in that time, by the power of Your Holy Spirit but we also face things are pretty complicated in our own lives and we need that same power. We need Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. And, so, that is what we pray for once again. Come Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that’s homebase and where you find out what is going on around here. And we’ve been talking about what’s going on around here this week.

Our Daily Audio Bible family holiday is coming up on the seventh day of July, also known as the Daily Audio Bible long walk, an opportunity for us to carve out a little bit of time, to set aside a single day out of the year to recognize that we’re in the middle of the year and regrouping is often a good thing and reflection is a good thing. So, we take that day and go out into nature, into beauty, maybe a lake that’s nearby, maybe a park that’s down the street, maybe a national Park that’s hours away, maybe somewhere that no one else would find beautiful but it’s very very meaningful to you, we go there, and we take a long walk with God. Like, time stands still. No hurry. No rush. An opportunity to say everything that’s in our hearts that we been meaning to find time to say having a conversation with God, with no alarm to tell us our time is up with God. It’s an opportunity to go for that long, long walk like you would when you fell in love and realize how beautiful the world is that God has made and how He is loving us and restoring us through beauty and how interesting it is to see how much life is all around us all happening all around us and we’re so rarely paying attention. And regrouping and paying attention to what the second half of the year is going to look like. It’s been a remarkable thing to do as a community all over the world all of these years and it’s something that I look forward to personally every year. Like to know that there’s a day that is set aside for exactly this. And obviously if we’re going for a long walk in nature somewhere beautiful by ourselves spending the day with God it’s like a solitary thing to do, but it’s also a beautiful community experience here, which makes it the Daily Audio Bible holiday for us because even though we are where we are, there are thousands of brothers and sisters all over the world that are doing the same thing where they are. And, so, we put a post on our Facebook page for the Daily Audio Bible for the long walk and just invite you. Like, when you go you’re probably gonna have your phone with you, you’re probably not gonna go without your phone. The trick is to not be on your phone all day in this time that you’ve set aside to go for a long walk with God, but you probably want to take a picture. You might want to shoot a video. You might want something to remember the day that you spent on a long walk with God. And just choose a picture that you took or choose a video or whatever and post that to the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page in the long walk post and all of the sudden we get to do it all over again. Like we get to kinda scroll through and see the amazing beauty of the earth all over the world all on the same day. And it’s so fun. I love it. I love it so very very much. Looking forward to that coming up on the seventh day of July. So, that’s two weeks from today. So, make plans for that. I’m very much looking forward to enjoying it together as a community for another year.

And, as always, if you want to partner with Daily Audio Bible here as we approach the summer months, thank you profoundly. Thank you humbly. We wouldn’t be here if we were not in this together around the Global Campfire. So, thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That’s the little red button at the top or there are a number of phone numbers that you can dial. In the Americas, 877-942-4253 is the number to call, if you’re in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to dial. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world you can call 61-3-8820-5459.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Posting later in the day today…

2 Kings 3:1-4:17, Acts 14:8-28, Psalm 140:1-13, Proverbs 17:22

Today is the 22nd day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it’s great to be here with you today, as we do what we do every day, gather and take the next step forward together. And we are getting ourselves moved into the Book of second Kings and the times of the prophet Elisha and the kings that were in that time period, both in the northern Kingdom of Israel and in the southern Kingdom of Judah. So, let’s pick up the story, 2 Kings chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 verse 17 today.

Commentary:

Okay, a couple of things for us to sort of us to stay in the story with or at least to look at from the portion of the stories that we’re reading right now. In the Book of 2 Kings, Elisha is clearly the leading prophet in the land, as he’s taking on the mantle of Elijah. And in one of the scenes today with Elisha, he goes to a city named Shunem and there’s a lady there, she’s married to a man, and they have means, they have some resources, and they end up building a room for Elisha to stay in when he’s passing through and he begins to do that. And he begins to inquire, what could be done for her, what they could ask the king or even military commanders, or the Lord, what does she need. And she kind of, essentially says, I have my home and I have my own people, like I have what I need but what she doesn’t have is a child. And so, Elisha calls her and tells her, about this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms. That is her greatest hope. And so, she’s like, no, my lord, please, don’t mislead your servant, right. Like, don’t get my hopes up for no reason. This has been a hopeless place in my life. Really interesting what Elisha said, when he told her she would have a child, about this time next year. That is a very similar scene to what Sarah, Abraham’s wife, heard, when the promised child Isaac, was to be born. And as it turned out, the woman became pregnant and about that time next year, she gave birth to a son. 

Then, in the Book of Acts we well, we actually concluded Paul’s first missionary journey. Today, they made it back to Antioch. So, they had been out and about in the different cities and we saw this seen today, that is almost comical if it weren’t so tragic, just how erratic things were for the people bringing the Gospel of Jesus. So, we’re in a city called Lystra. And the Apostle Paul is speaking, he’s teaching the good news. And there’s a person who has been lame and never walked and Paul can see that he has faith and he calls them out right, like in the middle of church, like right in the middle of it all. Stand up on your feet and the person stood up on their feet and began to walk. This is a sign and a wonder in a pagan town. So, they determined that yes, indeed this is miraculous. Yes indeed, this is divine. It is of the gods and so they decide that Paul and Barnabas are actually Zeus and Hermes and the next thing you know a crowd is gathering from the city and the priests of Zeus are coming with animals to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. So, that’s the height of heights, right. Like, nobody that I know has ever wanted to be sacrificed to, but nobody’s ever tried to offer a sacrifice to them, to appease them, so that they would extend their goodwill upon them. This is what’s happening. So, Paul and Barnabas are freaking out about this, this is like the exact opposite of what they’re after, they’re trying to reveal Jesus. They are trying to expose God to these pagan people who are worshiping false gods and instead, it seems that the people think that they are those false gods, embodied. So, they got to run into the crowd and say we’re not gods, we are humans. Instead, the crowd turns on them and stones Paul and leaves him for dead. That is a massive shift to be happening on the same day. Like, one extreme to the other. Paul wasn’t dead though. But, man, he was left for dead. So, I mean a person who gets stoned to death, you can only imagine broken bones and the blood and the suffering of something like that, it seems hard to kind of imagine. Paul was fully stoned and left for dead and he gets back up and goes into the city. And they just continue their journey. That’s a miraculous thing in and of itself that they just continued their journey, strengthening those who have come to believe, but it is also a picture of the fact that the good news of the Gospel has always faced resistance from the very beginning. In fact, the kind of resistance that they are facing right now, is really unheard of, for most of us. This kind of resistance and persecution certainly does exist in the world and people do, indeed, die for the name of Jesus, because they will not denounce their faith, in certain parts of the world. But, for most of us, this isn’t really an issue. But what we need to see here is, is that it was an issue for the early church. They had to learn to find joy while they were enduring hardship. Otherwise, immense discouragement would descend upon the people and they would fall into depression and fall away right. So, they had to find a way to encourage themselves. One of the things that we will see, as we continue through the New Testament, is that one of the ways that they found, to encourage themselves was to embrace endurance. As we continue on in our journey in the New Testament, and get into the letters, we will see that the theme of endurance is everywhere. Everywhere, people are having to endure. So, I’m just pointing it out right now, because we’re seeing it. Like, this is part of the recipe of the early church, enduring hardship and finding joy, just to be associated with the name of Jesus, just to know you are in the family of God, just be in, brought them joy and when they suffered, they counted it joy, because Jesus had suffered. And so, to suffer along with Jesus, alongside Jesus, as Jesus did, was considered something to hold onto dearly, which really is in a sharp contrast to the way that we perceive things usually. And so, let’s consider those things that we are having to endure right now and how we look at those things. And let’s begin to realize that just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s bad. And these difficulties that we face and learn to endure, shape us, just like the wilderness and we are seeing endurance shape the early church in the book of Acts.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we don’t like endurance, we would prefer not to participate in endurance. We would prefer that we could just ask You to take everything away and that it would just go away. And yet, we would become very, very weak, when we actually need to mature and become strong. So, help us to properly interpret the things that we have to endure, because sometimes there are things that we have to contend for and we are pleading with You. At other times, You are inviting us in, to walk-through something because we are going to gain knowledge and wisdom that we cannot get any other way. Help us to have a discerning heart. Help us to listen to Your Holy Spirit, so that we understand and properly interpret what’s going on with us. Come, Holy Spirit, into this, we pray, in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s where you find out what’s going on around here. I mentioned yesterday and will continue to mention that we have something special coming up on the seventh day of July, and that is our own little Global Campfire holiday, known as the Daily Audio Bible long walk. And I kind of unpacked that a little bit yesterday but I think the first long walk was in 2008. So, this would be the 14th one, coming up here, 14 years in a row we’ve had this holiday, so it’s a tradition around here and it’s quite simple. We have reached the halfway point of the year and as we move through the halfway time in the year, it’s a good time to reflect, we’re halfway through. So, we reflect back on where we’ve come from but we’re also, so we’re just kind of re-setting ourselves for the second half of the year, so that we finish strong, and so, in the middle, is where we find ourselves and we just simply give ourselves permission to take a day. Not a random day, an intentional day off to spend with God. We may talk to God every day. Hopefully we do. Hopefully lots. Hopefully it’s an ongoing conversation but so rarely do we have the time to have uninterrupted time with most anybody, including God. And so, all of our communications are quick texts, quick posts, quick calls. We don’t ever really have the time to just let time stand still. Although, we have the capacity for that. If we’ve ever fallen in love, we know that time can stand still and we do all kinds of romantic silly things, long walks being one of them. Where so much communication can happen. So, we take a day, in the middle of the year. The 7th of July and go somewhere beautiful and that somewhere beautiful for you can be the closest park to where you live or can be hours away, to a place that’s so beautiful and has so much meaning for you. It doesn’t really matter, the important thing is to go outside and enjoy what God has made, what He has bestowed upon us to enjoy. And we take a day and we’re spending a lot of the time in silence and we’re not filling our minds with all kinds of visual and all kinds of inputs. We’re just observing the beauty of creation and drinking it in, it’s very healing, to just walk and sit and watch the squirrels and the bunnies and hear the birds and the breeze on our face. It’s so restorative but then to be spending that time with God, where we actually are unhurried and uninterrupted, where we can say everything that is in our hearts. Everything that needs to be said and also take unhurried time to just walk in silence and feel the presence of the Lord and hear as He responds to us and gives us advance words about what the second half of our year is supposed to look like. I mean, this can sound like something that we should do on a regular basis and that’s true but we just don’t. But as we’ve, kind of immersed ourselves in the Scriptures and we’re halfway through and we’re moving toward the second half, this is the time, to give ourselves a day of unhurried time in our lives. I mean, every day, we come around the Global Campfire and so often I say like we’re just exhaling, we’re releasing everything that’s going on, we’re giving ourselves permission for a few minutes of this day, to be devoted to the Scriptures. And all those anxieties and all of the stresses that come with life, we can go get all those things, like we can pick up where we left off, but it’s remarkable how often the Bible is speaking so specifically to us, that, when we leave the Global Campfire and go back into our day, our posture has changed. Some things have shifted, we’ve reminded ourselves of the story that we’re in and what’s most important to us, becomes more and more clear. Imagine what a day with God could do, to reprioritize the trajectory of our lives. And so, make plans for that, for 7 July. There will be thousands and thousands and thousands of us all over the world, going for a long walk with God. And so that’s a very individual thing, but what makes it a communal thing is that we can share with each other. And so, we’ll put a post for the Long Walk up on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page, and we can all come back and share pictures or videos. Cause, that’s the thing, like, we’re on this Long Walk and we don’t want to forget. So, maybe we take pictures and but we can share those things and they become, those pictures become windows, into each other’s lives. Whether it’s a little video that you took of where you are, or little video of you, kind of talking about where you are and sending greetings or pictures, whatever. Something that commemorates your Long Walk and we get to share those together and it’s beautiful. It’s absolutely stunning to me, not only to see the beauty of creation all over the world and to be able to get a glimpse into where brothers and sisters are and what it looks like where they live and to be able to share the same thing, myself. But just to drink in the beauty all over the world and just to hear the stories as we share with one another of our Long Walks, makes it a community experience. And so, that is coming up on the seventh day of July, which is two weeks from tomorrow. So, let’s make plans for that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. We couldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together and so thank you, profoundly for your partnership, as we head into the summertime. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

2 Kings 1:1-2:25, Acts 13:42-14:7, Psalms 139:1-24, Proverbs 17:19-21

Today is the 21^st day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is awesome to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire together, take the next step forward together. That next step actually leads us into a brand-new book. We concluded the book of first Kings yesterday with the story of Ahab and Jehoshaphat and Micaiah the prophet and 400 other prophets who are hearing different things and a battle that took Ahab’s life. Now we begin second Kings, and there’s not a whole lot for us to discuss. Like these books - first Samuel, second Samuel, first Kings, second Kings - like these were all one text at one point. So, we’re moving into second Kings, but its delineation was made at a much later date. One thing that we will do is continue through the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel, but we will also get a good…we’ll get to know prophet Elisha, who will succeed Elijah who was sort of the profit that we dealt with in first Kings. But as we move into second Kings, we are essentially picking up right where we left off. And, so, let’s do that. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Second Kings, chapters 1 and 2.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we begin the book of second Kings, we were able to witness the departure of Elijah and sort of the transmission of his authority, his prophetic authority upon Elisha. And Elijah went up in a whirlwind, chariots of fire. And Elisha saw that and Elijah’s cloak foul from the chariot as he’s departing. And, so, Elisha has the cloak of Elijah. He goes back to the Jordan River, hits the water and it splits so that he’s able to walk over. Other prophets see this. And, so, Elisha has taken on the role of Elijah. And we will see Elisha often as we continue to move through second Kings.

In the book of Acts, we are journeying with the apostle Paul on his very first missionary journey. And, so, he is going to places where the gospel of Jesus has never been fully taught if it has ever even been heard of. And what we see is that the gospel of Jesus draws people to it. They want to hear about this, but not everybody is accepting of it, which is exactly how it was when Jesus Himself was walking the earth and conducting His ministry. And yet many do believe. But if we notice now that the gospel is spreading forth from Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire and now Paul is traveling…like a traveling missionary throughout the Roman Empire things were not easy. In fact, it’s easy enough to say that what Paul is experiencing on his missionary journey is what he had intended to perpetrate upon people who believed in Jesus. He was on his way to Damascus to do the same kinds of things that are happening to him when he saw the bright light and met Jesus. Now he’s on the receiving end of this persecution and once again we see that persecution, pressure, stress on the situation is actually what was a catalyst to spread it out throughout the world. They didn’t have it easy. They walked a difficult road. If they hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here. And, so, when we consider the times of the early church or the times of the book of Acts let’s remember that. We often look through rose colored glasses like it was a utopian kind of time. But as we actually read the accounts of the time in the Bible, we see that God’s grace was sufficient and his Holy Spirit was indeed leading them, but it was not easy.

And then finally we read from Psalm 139 today which is…which is one of my favorite Psalms personally, find tremendous, tremendous comfort in it. And, so, let’s go back to some of the stanzas in that Psalm and absorb them very, very…let’s focus our attention for a second. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you’re there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast.” I love that passage, I love it so much because it in effect says, there is nowhere that I can go to be outside of your presence. Wherever I go, even if it’s in the depths, even if it’s on the other side of the world, wherever I go I cannot escape your presence. I find a tremendous amount of comfort in that. It helps me know that the feelings of God’s presence aren’t something that have to be conjured up. We don’t have to like whip ourselves into it so that we can become aware of it. It’s never taken from us. We are in God’s presence now, right now, and we will remain in his presence all day. Where can we go that He is not? What if we were aware of it all the time? What if we were perpetually aware that we are in God’s presence, and there is nowhere that we can go that He is not? What a comfort. What a relief. We spend so much of our lives trying to figure out where He is and what He is doing when we are in His presence if we would become aware of it.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, come. Open our eyes. Give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear. Make us aware that You are everywhere. We are in Your presence and our request that You lead us deeper, deeper into Jesus, deeper so that we become more and more aware. Make us rooted in this. Make this a nonnegotiable in our lives and in our hearts and in our minds. You are here. You do not abandon us. We are in Your presence. Lead us we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, well normally I would say dailyaudiobible.com and…and all of that but there is an important thing to announce and make us aware of. dailyaudiobible.com is the website by the way, and the app is available in the app store.

But we are at the time just preceding our own little Global Campfire Daily Audio Bible holiday that takes place every year on the seventh day of July. And I think this will be the 14^th seventh day of July that we’ve observed this. And those of you who have been around for more than here already know it’s the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk.

And, so, let me tell just an abbreviated story. Daily Audio Bible began on the first day of January 2006. And, so, every day, seven days a week since then this is where we’ve been, around the Global Campfire moving through the Bible together each year. It was the seventh day of July 2007, so like a year and a half after the Daily Audio Bible began that there was a big prayer gathering here in Nashville in the rolling hills of Tennessee at our football stadium. And proceeding that there was like a walk through the Nashville area. Tens of thousands of people, like the streets are closed down. And people are walking through. Not randomly like it was chaos. It was planned. But tens of thousands of people kinda walking through the streets and it was silent because that was the point was to kinda silently prayer…pray and walk into the stadium. So, there’s tens of thousands of people walking through the streets of Nashville in silence before the Lord, interceding, and praying on the way to going into the stadium. And Jill and I, our family, we participated in that. And if we remember, like if we go back to that point in time all of these little things that we do right in the palm of our hand like broadcasting live from wherever we are to Facebook or to YouTube or to Instagram or anything, this stuff hasn’t been fully invented yet. It is definitely not available in the palm of our hands. But this day of prayer that happened in Nashville was televised in certain areas. And, so, it was one of these times where we’re physically in this location and praying but other listeners to the Daily Audio Bible are throughout the earth being able to watch and participate. And, so, we’re able to kinda like create posts. And not in real time, interact in any sort of way that we could today. But at the time it felt like, wow, we’re really doing this and we’re really doing this together. And, so, the next year which would’ve been 2008 we just commemorated that beginning moment of really feeling connected in real time, and again not like what we can do today but at the time this was really really cool, and we began the Daily Audio Bible long walk. And it’s really simple. We have reached the halfway point through our year, the seventh day of July is close to the middle of the year. It’s like here we are halfway through our journey through a year, halfway through our journey through the Scriptures and the halfway point is a really good time to take a moment to reflect, to look back at the first half of the year and to look forward to the second half of the year. And what better way to do that than to take one day out of the year and give it to God. And that’s not to say that we’re not giving ourselves to God in every moment of every day. But to take a day and go for a long walk with the Lover of our souls, our Creator, the One who knows every hair on our head, the One who has hopes and dreams for us, the one who is Fathering us, our Lord. We certainly talk to God every day. But to take a day to go out into the beauty of creation to find somewhere beautiful whether it’s right down the street from us set up park or whether it’s several hours away, a meaningful place to us that we find beautiful, we take this day and we go there and we take a long walk because it’s so rare to have unhurried time with anybody but we so rarely have unhurried time with God. We always may be worshiping or asking for help, but it’s always on the go it feels like. We never have a day where we can just go and enjoy everything that the Lord has made and enjoy just being together with God, enjoying His creation and actually having the time to say whatever we need to say and actually having the time in silence to listen and hear God’s response to us. We just so rarely if ever have that opportunity. And it’s not because we can’t have the opportunity it’s because we don’t take the opportunity, we don’t prepare for the opportunity. And, so, the seventh day of July has been that for us all of these years, a special little Global Campfire holiday where we give ourselves permission to take a day. And the seventh day of July is two weeks from this Thursday. And, so, we take this day and do just that, have the time, a day away with God, a long walk, an unhurried walk. I’ve often over the years invited us just to kinda look back to the time where maybe we fell in love and how time wasn’t really a thing in that zone. When you fall in love it doesn’t matter you do the craziest things, like go for walks in the rain and find it to be romantic. Like later on you’re like, I’m not going out in the rain, I don’t wanna get wet. But when we fall in love it just doesn’t matter what we’re doing. Just us being together, our souls being knit together, it just…time stands still as it were. July 7^th is about remembering falling in love with the Lord, remembering what that’s like, rekindling that, our first love to go and enjoy what God has made, enjoy the day and just be able to verbalize everything that’s going on, not just a quick immediate spur of the moment anxiety inducing kinds of things that we need God to do for us, but just to let time stand still and enjoy fellowship with God. And it’s remarkable when we go out into beauty how restorative nature can be. Like, a long walk in a park in silence is really remarkable, at least it has been for me. Like just how much life is happening that I’m not aware of and that I’m not paying any attention to. A long silent walk and the little critters of the earth and birds and the wind in the trees and the swaying of the flowers, it’s all happening. We’re just so busy we rarely take the time to notice, but on the 7^th of July we take the time to notice and not only say everything that we need to say and hear everything that we need to hear but also re-group reset and launch into the second half of the year feeling like we’ve found right side up again, like we’re not just swirling around trying to figure it out. Like our feet are on the ground again, we are rooted again. And it’s a beautiful thing. We as a community moving through the Scriptures together, we are all over the world in every time zone on every continent. And, so, it’s not like we can all gather together and take this gigantic, tens of thousands of people walk. But we still can. It’s an individual, thing. It’s a time that we spend with God. But it’s also a time that where aware that our brothers and sisters all over the world are doing the same thing. And then we do a post on Facebook on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page and invite everybody to post their pictures from their long walk into that post. And, so, over the course of a couple of days they all…all come in as they’re happenings. And we’re all over the world so it’s happening in different time zones. It is like little windows are opening up into each other’s lives and we get to look through those windows and kinda see what it looks like where you are, what it looks like where I am. Maybe some of the things that you were impressed by or that the Lord revealed to you or showed you during your long walk had become such an encouraging kind of reset and restart as we move through the second half of the year that we’ve just always continued to do it. And, so, that is coming up on the seventh day of July. And, so, make preparations for that. Give yourself permission maybe to take a day off. Give yourself permission to go on a long walk with God. And, so, we’ll continue to talk about that as we get nearer and nearer and then the day will arrive. It’s one of my favorite Daily Audio Bible days. I love watching pictures come in from all over the world, some remarkable…I mean…the beauty of God’s creation is staggering. And to be able to get glimpses into places we may never be able to visit or go. Just know we have brothers and sisters everywhere, and just to see the beauty of God’s creation all over the earth on a single day is awesome. So, plan for that. The seventh day of July, the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. It’s our own little holiday here. And we’ll continue to talk about that as we continue day by day toward that day. So, make some plans for that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission here to bring the spoken word of God to whoever might be able to listen wherever they may be on this planet no matter what time of day or night that it is and to build community around the rhythm of showing up around the Global Campfire every day, if that is meaningful and life-giving then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DAB family this is steadfast Stacy in Arizona. First a quiet thank you too Blind Tony for his faithful poetry ministry and to the Hardin’s for their faithful work with DAB. Such a blessing to me and my family. This prayer is for K J in Southeast Asia. Thank you for calling again and helping us know about your prayer needs for Mackenzie and her nut allergy. Thank you for the miracle of being able to connect with us. We were missionaries in that part of the world and understand the darkness and I’m just honored to pray for you. Father in heaven please take care of Mackenzie and her team and K J and help with that situation Lord to Your glory to make that team healthy and cohesive and deal with their physical spiritual and medical needs. Lord, give them unity with each other and clear direction as a team as they minister to the local church and try to be Your hands and feet in a dark place. Thank You that Your light shines so bright in dark places. And thank You for the opportunity to pray for them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family my name is Christina I’m a first-time caller I’ve been listening since the 1^st of January, and it’s been such a moving journey from me. I was listening to today’s Bible reading and I heard a gentleman caller who needed prayer because he is having a hard time in the last few years and he’s listening to a lot of fellow believers around him telling him certain things about salvation that I’m feeling is really just affecting him. And Lord I just pray for this gentleman. I just ask that You give him the words that he needs to hear. And a lot of people around us, a lot of other humans will say things and they have a lot of things to say sometimes but is that really what You have to say Lord? And I ask that You heal his heart and give him the support that he needs during this time Lord and that he knows it’s what You say that really matters. Doesn’t matter what other people say. He needs to listen to Your word and listen to what his word says to You. Lord, I’m just new myself to this community. I’m a recent Christian about a year ago and I was just asked to serve as a worship leader and begin training on that and I’m just so excited. I’ve been singing my whole life and I feel that the Lord has set me up for this moment and I just ask for prayer during this time that I am a good steward of…of this position. And I’m just so thankful for Brian and his whole family and for this whole community. God bless you all.

Hello DAB family today is Wednesday June 15^th my name is Tiffany and I’m from South Central Ohio. This is my first-time calling in. And while listening to the prayers and the requests after today’s reading I heard the heart cry of a young man who did not give his name and the Lord really touched my heart for him. Whoever you are Sir I want you to know that I’m praying for you and to remind you that you are so precious to our Lord. There’s not one thing about who you are or what you’re going through that he is not intimately aware of. And it is by his love and grace that he will keep you and continue to work deeply in your heart and life. He’s not a God who abandons his beloved. So, stay the course young man and know that you are not alone in your journey. You are in good company and our loved dearly by your fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. And I pray that the Lord encourages your heart and gives you the strength to continue after Him. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi DAB family this is Tammy from the Adirondacks. I just got done listening to the June 15^th podcast and there was a young man who called in. You…you were saying that the past couple of years have just nearly killed you and people are telling you that you have to be strong. And I don’t know…I…what I do know is…I am…I’m a new Christian, saved myself. And what I do know is what I have read in what the word has told us is when we are weak, He is strong. You asked the Lord into your heart, you asked for forgiveness, you repented for your sins. And you're…if you’re living a life that is pleasing doing the best that you can, you’re going to mess up, you’re going to make mistakes. But the Lord knows that. He knows that. You’re…He’s not expecting perfection. He’s just expecting you to come to Him. He is expecting you to come to Him when you’re weak. He’s expecting you to come to Him when you’re having a hard time. He’s expecting you to come to Him when you’re lost or broken. That’s what He wants to do is help you. He will restore your heart and your mind and your soul. That is what He wants. He wants the broken ones. So, don’t get discouraged brother. Don’t get discouraged. It took me…it’s taken…and I’m still figuring out…but don’t get discouraged. You are on the right walk. You are walking with the Lord and that’s all He, that He asks of us. Love you. Be blessed.

Greetings from Springfield MO from the Midwest Soul Sister. I am praying this morning for the gentleman, the godly man calling up for prayer for his family and his marriage in Dubai. God I just pray that You would come alongside this gentleman God and remind him that You see him, that he is on Your radar, God that You would come and minister to him. God, I pray unity over his family. I command in the name of Jesus that order would be brought out of this chaos God, that You will help him Lord and lift his eyes towards You. God that he would be brave and courageous and remind him that Your favor rest on him. So, God I just pray that he would turn his eyes to You, and he would find refuge in Your promises in the name of Jesus.

Hello this is Jennifer calling from the Seattle area and I’m calling in regards to a per request sent out by Patrick, a retired police officer in the Seattle area. He said he has retired and is now going to work helping with wellness for police officers. And I’m so happy to hear that. My ex-husband is a police officer and has struggled so much with PTSD and trauma from the things that he’s witnessed on the Police Department over the years. So, I would just love to sing a prayer right now for Patrick and for all law enforcement servants. So, heavenly Father I pray for Patrick. Thank You for giving him this opportunity to work with police officers. He’s been in the trenches. He knows what it’s like and he’s a believer. So not only can he offer them ways to cope but perhaps Lord he can offer them the hope of Jesus. And, so, Lord may Your light shine brightly through him as he has this opportunity. May Your Holy Spirit work through him. I thank You that he’s excited to get started and pray for every officer that he’s going to touch, that they would be blessed and that You would give them hope. And Lord I just pray for all law enforcement around our country and even around the world. It is a hard job, and it hardens hearts. Oh God I pray that You would work in the hearts of the police officers, that You would protect their lives, that You would keep them safe, that You would bless their families, that You would protect their families, and Lord that You would point them to You. I pray for even a revival in the police offices around the country Lord, that strong Christians would stand up for what they believe in and be willing to share You with others. So, we pray this all name Jesus. Amen.

1 Kings 22:1-53, Acts 13:16-41, Psalms 138:1-8, Proverbs 17:17-18

Today is the 20th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it’s great to be here with you today, it’s great to be here with you any day, it’s great to be here with you every day as we gather around the Global Campfire and find a place, exhale, relax, take the next step forward together. That next step certainly leads us back into the book of first Kings, where we are getting to know the kings of Israel in the North and the kings of Judah in the south, now that, now that the children of Israel have broken apart into two different nations. We are also dealing with different prophets in this time, Elisha, in particular, and we’ve met Elisha and will get to know Elisha a lot better as we continue the journey but for today, first Kings chapter 22.

Commentary:

Okay so, we have a fascinating story going on in the book of first kings or, we had, because King Ahab ended up dying. We had an interesting story in the book of first Kings today. So, the king of Israel, the king in the North, his name was Ahab and the king of Judah, the king in the South was King Jehoshaphat and they were visiting with one another and Ahab, the king of Israel was just kind of musing about this city, Ramoth Gilead, that has been taken from him and it actually belongs to them and they need to go and attack and take it back. So, he asks Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, will you go into battle with me to take back the city of Ramoth Gilead. Jehoshaphat agrees, like that they’re one people, that they’re brothers, that they will go as one that they’ll do this, but Jehoshaphat, being the king of Judah, were the temple of God is in the city of Jerusalem, inquires of Israel’s King Ahab whether or not there is a prophet of the Lord in the land that they can inquire of the Lord about this, about this plan that they are hatching to go to war to take back a city. So, these 400 prophets of the Lord are brought to prophesy and they begin to prophesy in the name of the Lord, that success is in front of them, that they should go into battle at once, they will be victorious, God is with them, and they will gore the enemy. What’s interesting is that, Jehoshaphat hears the prophets of the Lord, Jehoshaphat is a God-fearing man, the kingdom of Judah, worships at the temple of God in Jerusalem and for some reason he’s not fully buying it, because he will re-inquires, like is there anyone else that’s a prophet of the Lord. And that’s actually a little bit of a clue to what comes next. But in the end, there is one other person, the prophet of the Lord named Micaiah but Ahab doesn’t like Micaiah because every time Micaiah prophesies in the name of the Lord, it’s something bad against Ahab. So, he doesn’t like him, but they send for him. He is a prophet of Yahweh, the Lord and so they go get him and they tell him, all the other prophets are saying this is a good idea, God is in, and that we should go into battle, so make sure that you hear the same thing from God when you come and give the same message. Micaiah comes and he kind of pretends to give the same message, kind of sarcastically in some sort of way, or maybe quietly, he does it in a way that Israel’s King, King Ahab knows that he’s not actually giving what he believes the words of the Lord are and then Micaiah actually gives the words that he had heard from the Lord, which is essentially, if you going to battle you’ll be killed, and there will be no Shephard in Israel and everybody will flee back to their own home. So, Ahab says to Jehoshaphat, you see what I told you. This guy never says anything good about me. But Micaiah’s contrary prophecy to the 400 prophets of God, then sort of causes a showdown among the prophets. So, a prophet, Zedekiah, son of Kenaanah, as the Bible tells us, walks up and smacks Micaiah right across the face and says which way did the spirit of God go when he left me to then come and talk to you. Wow! I mean, that’s like one prophet beating another prophet, both of the same God, both hearing two different things that they believe that the Lord is saying. And Micaiah had told about why there was a discrepancy in what was being said among the prophets, why they had divergent messages, and he tells a story about a spirit being sent from God to deceive the prophets. What is that about? It’s actually a passage that has been wrestled with for a very, very, very long time because we need typically to make the theology work so that we have a view of a perfect God that would never do such a thing. One good scholarly supported view of this is that those 400 prophets prophesying in the name of the Lord, were not actually hearing from the Lord. So, in this instance, a distinction was made that Micaiah was actually speaking with the mouth or with the words that God had put in his mouth. Whereas Ahab’s 400 other prophets of the Lord, were never really listening to the Lord in the first place and were prophesying falsely so that a distinction was made so that the king had very, he had both options, but he had a very, very clear warning from God himself through the prophet Micaiah about the battle he was intending to go into and that it was going to cost him dearly. It was going to cost his life. Of course, as the story goes, as we know, since we just read it, Ahab decides to go into battle, incarcerates Micaiah until he gets back, Micaiah says if you come back, I haven’t spoken in the name of the Lord, I haven’t spoken truly. Of course, he doesn’t come back, which affirms Micaiah as having heard directly from God and having delivered a warning that would’ve saved the king’s life. So, we look at Micaiah, a prophet of God, who seems to keep to himself to some degree, isn’t part of the troop of the 400 prophets of God anyway, and he gets summoned to speak on behalf of the Lord and the Lord gives him the message to speak and he goes and speaks in the name of the Lord the true message that God has given him to speak and only bad things happen to him, right, like he gets rejected, he gets smacked by the other prophets, he gets incarcerated, he’s limited to food and water or bread and water to eat, but he is still sent to speak the truth, even though the truth is rejected and it causes hardship for the prophet. Sometimes we find ourselves in similar circumstances, where all kinds of advice is being given in the situation to maybe somebody that we love or somebody we care about or somebody that we know, or for that matter just a set of circumstances that involve us, advice is being given and it and it gives us a check in our spirit and were sitting there, sensing that there needs to be some kind of alternative to this advice. There needs to be at least the opportunity for the person who’s making the decision to be clear on what’s going on here and we’re in that same kind of situation where we can speak the truth, humbly and offer it, which may be the only warning that the person ever gets. But we find ourselves may be then seemingly opposing those who have given other opposite advice, maybe even in the name of the Lord. Super, awkward position to be in, that’s what we’re seeing happen with Micaiah today. And Micaiah obeyed God and did what he was told to do, even though it wasn’t going to be easy. But there are times we find ourselves in situations where we may be the only one that can speak truth into the situation and if we sense that God is leading us, then the lesson here is that we must obey God, even if it’s not easy. Which is a big deal, because so much of our lives are lived in such a way that we believe if we sacrifice and obey God, then his response will be only blessing and good, like it’s a payback. Like, if we do this, then he will do that, as if our relation is a transaction, we obey, He blesses. We obey, He blesses. Sometimes He invites us to obey Him and trust Him because it’s about more than just us and we may have to step into something hard sometimes. What the lesson teaches us is that we certainly better be sure about what God is telling us to say and then once we are, we better say what God is telling us to say, even if it’s difficult. But regardless of whether we’re heeded or not, we’ve released the information, it’s out there, the person was warned. So, we become God’s mercy in that moment, even if it’s not accepted. Plenty to think about there as we think about the circumstances and intertwining of our lives and the different kinds of people that we have to work alongside and with, each and every day.

Prayer:

So, Father, we see this, we see what unfolded before us today and as we think about it, it’s impossible to navigate a situation like this without the power of Your Holy Spirit leading and directing us. And it’s interesting, that so long ago all of these thousands of years ago, we can look back and see that people who believe they are hearing from You, hear different things and offer contradictory advice. If we feel like we need to say something because You are leading us to say something, then Holy Spirit, speak to us clearly, clearly enough that we know that if we step into the situation, it may not be easy, but we are convicted, You are sending us to speak. Lead us into all truth, we are hanging onto that hope, that is a promise and that is what we seek to walk on the pathway of truth, Holy Spirit, we pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it is where you find out what’s going on around here and so certainly do check in. The Daily Audio Bible app is also available and checks in on all the same things and so you get the app from whatever app store is connected to your type of device. So, check that out. Check out the different sections. For example, check out the Community Section, there are links to different social media channels that we participate in. That is a great way to stay connected in whatever way that you can or whatever way that you want to, but also in the Community Section, that’s where the Prayer Wall is and the Prayer Wall has been and always on, never off, part of the community here for many, many years. So, no matter what time of day or night, that it may be, no matter what continent you may be on, no matter what time zone you may be in, you can always reach out, it’s always available. You can always reach out and ask your brothers and sisters for prayer, share a little bit of your story what’s going on. But it’s not just repository for prayer requests, it’s an always on, ever moving thing. And so, it is a wonderful opportunity to reach out in prayer and offer encouragement. Sometimes were carrying a load, it’s too heavy and it seems like the more we carry, the shorter we get, it’s just kind of shrinking us down. And we need prayer, but there are other times where we feel very strong, very much connected to what’s going on and an opportunity to remember that we didn’t always feel that way and we are brothers and sisters that are struggling and moving through hardship and we can pray for them so they we’re always praying for one another. It’s the glue that keeps us together and so certainly check that out. It can be found in the Community Section, whether you’re on the website or whether using the Daily Audio Bible out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what’s happening here is meaningful to your life. Thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello DAB family, this is Ruby Rivera in Minnesota and I’m calling in response to the gentleman you called on June 15th. He is struggling to stay in the race and my call is just to encourage you to stay in the race. A quick story about two half marathons that I ran. The first one was phenomenal. The weather was absolutely miserable. It was rainy. It was call, only about 40° but I was running the race for someone else, beside me and the energy from the crowd was phenomenal. It was, it poured into my experience of continuing, they were encouraging. The second race was not fun. It was, I ran alone. The weather was fine, it was cloudy, so it wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold, so it was a comfortable temperature. But the crown was far more distant. They were cheering on but it didn’t have the same energy and they felt more like spectators, than encouragers. So, for you, I am saying, stay in the race and keep calling in to DAB family, because you are not alone. And we are here to cheer you on so stay in the race. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Hello DAB family, this is Voice of the Turtle and I’m calling, it is June 15th. And the last couple of days I’ve heard prayer requests about brothers who seem as if they are at the end of their rope, especially the brother from today, he didn’t give his name. And also yesterday, I believe the brother was Stephen Leiland but I want to go ahead and pray and give them encouragement. So, Holy Spirit, as we come before you as a community, I pray for these brothers. I pray personally Abbah, that You will manifest Your presence within them. Holy Spirit, You who live on the inside of us, especially these our brothers, give them a tangible visitation of Your presence. Let them know that they are not alone, let them know that You have not forsaken them. And in the case of my brother from today, I encourage you in the same way that Jesus encouraged Peter on the night that he betrayed Him. I pray for you, that your faith fail not, and once you have recovered, strengthen your brothers. Stephen Leiland, this prayer is also for you, I pray that your faith, fail not. And Father, we just simply ask that You will be God to them. Supply their need, be in their mist, let them know that they are not alone. And help us to continue to bare one of those burdens and so fulfill Your law, the law of love, which is in Jesus. We bless You, we honor You, and we thank You. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Brothers, stay encouraged. We’re looking forward to your praise report. Be blessed.

Good morning, this is Dani from Southern Oregon. Gosh, you know I was on my way to work, and I was late and I was stressed about the day and I’m driving to work and I’m listening to Ezekiel in DAB kids and he accidentally said that Peter went on the rooftop to spray instead of pray and he started giggling, and Jill started giggling and I’m giggling and I just want to thank you guys for not editing that out. I really needed a laugh right at that time and I think it just changed my entire attitude for the day. So, I love it, to hear, I love, love hearing Ezekiel read and make mistakes because it’s so human. And I think the kids can relate to that too, so anyway, thanks for not editing that out. That was awesome. Thanks for the laugh you guys. Have a great day, bye.

Hey DAB family, it is Beloved in Boston. I haven’t called in, in a few months, it’s been very crazy over here for us as we have got a house in Florida. We sold our house here and by the end of July, we’ll be moving our family of five, to the Fort Myers area. So, if you could just all be praying for my girls, mainly. Through this process as there’s a lot of loss and grief, and transition and change. So, that’s just a quick plug there. I also wanted to send a quick praise report, this is my first day now, reading the Bible again. How amazing is that. I have finished, as of yesterday, a full year in the Bible for the first time ever in my life. And thanks to the DAB family for this community, and for Brian and his family and team for this podcast. So, anyway, I wanted to praise Jesus for that. And quickly, it’s the end of June 15th, and I just heard a prayer request by a man, who it sounds like is being told that there’s something he has to do to be saved and to be close to Jesus and have a relationship with Him. And so, for that man, I just wanted to speak truth over you, this is a complete lie from the enemy. There is nothing you have to do except surrender into His loving arms and then just chase after Him, pray to Him, worship Him, do the things that out flow from you because God has filled you with so much of His love. All you have to do is say yes and let Him in. It’s that simple, it’s not hard. Love you all.

Hey DABers, it’s your girl Val in Vegas. Happy mid-June, we made it. Hey, we are halfway through this thing, ya’ll keep going man, this has been the best year through the Bible, for me. And it just gets better and it’s better together, you all make it so amazing for me. And thank you. And I want to say a special hello to my guy Micah and to all people that are still feeling any kind of lingering effects to COVID. Or to any kind of respiratory issues, where you’re still feeling sluggish and lethargic and just not fully back to you. I’m right there with you man. But God’s got us baby. We’re gonna keep praying for good health and energy and focus and frequency and the Lord is gonna keep providing it. I love you brother and I love everyone in this community, let’s pray. Lord God, thank You, thank You for the ability to come to You in prayer God. Right now, Lord, we’re praying for health, God. For guidance in what we should do as it relates to our health, Lord. For energy Lord, for frequency God, for You to breath Your breath into us, Lord. God, we want to be better than before we got sick. We’re not just asking to put us back together to where we were. Lord, Your word says that we get double for our trouble. So, Micah, you hold on brother. You’re healing is coming; healing is coming for all of us. And we thank You in Jesus name. And we love You, thank You Lord. Thank You Lord. I’ll see you all next month. I love this community and I love you guys. Hey, make sure you go and tithe, please, please, please, give to this ministry.

1 Kings 20:1-21:29, Acts 12:24-13:15, Ps 137:1-9, Pr 17:16

Today is the 19^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today. It’s always a special day when we come to the threshold of a brand-new shiny sparkly week out in front of us and just kinda inside remind ourselves yet again His mercies are new every morning. It’s a fresh start. It’s a brand-new week and even though last week may have been filled with any number of chaos’s that happened then. Maybe some of that spills forward, but how we deal with it…well…we’re at the threshold. It’s a new week. It’s a new story to tell. And, so, we just exhale and inhale and keep doing that because that’s what we need to do to stay alive. And another thing that we need to do to stay alive is take the next step forward together in the Scriptures, allowing them to feed us, to feed our Spirit. And, so, we will certainly do what we do every day which is pick up where we left off. We’ll read from the New International Version this week. First Kings chapter 20 and 21.

Prayer:

Father, we love You and we adore You and that is where we begin as we begin this week. We love You. We adore You. Our loyalty is Yours. You have rescued us, and we don’t deserve anything. You have been loyal to us when we were as far away from that as possible, and You have saved our lives and so we honor You. Our hearts gratitude is to You. And we thank You for Your word, this beautiful gift that brings us together each day. And we thank You for the community here. We love one another as we move step-by-step day by day through the Scriptures. And, so, Holy Spirit come into this week. Lead and guide us in each of our individual stories. We are utterly dependent upon You, and we trust You. Lead us by the power of Your Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB family this is Simone calling in from Houston…Simone calling from Houston and calling for the gentleman that called at the end of the broadcast on June 14^th asking for prayers for Stephen, Leland, Emy. Oh, I heard your heart, and your call just broke my heart and I just…I want to pray for you. Father God on today we lift up our brother in Christ Lord God. Lord God, we thank You that he even had the courage enough to call in and ask for prayers. Father God, I ask right now in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus that You will pour out Your Holy Spirit on this gentleman Lord God, pour out Your spirit on him Lord God. I thank You right now as I make intercession for this gentleman and as we hold him up and undergird him in prayers in community Lord God, that You’ll make every crooked path straight in his life Lord God. I thank You Lord God that right now supernaturally Father supernaturally You are opening doors and windows and You are making financial provision for this gentleman to do everything that’s court ordered, required, and necessary to do and be the father he needs to be. Lord God, we thank You for provisions because You are Jehovah You are Jehovah Rapha You are Jehovah Rapha, and You are our provider. You are Jehovah Jira, and You provide, You heal, You…You give us everything that we need so we touch and agree because Your word says where two or three are gathered in His name there He is also. So, I touch and agree with this gentleman that all provisions are being made and that You are making every path straight Lord God and that he is covered, and I ask that You would keep his mind in perfect peace as he continues to lean on You and be stayed on You. It’s in Jesus’ mighty name. Praying…

Hello my DAB family I love you so much and appreciate you and this is Chicago Peg and I wanna pray for our some of our fellow DABbers. And Patty previously from Florida now in Tennessee. Dear sweet sister at the time of your prayer request your grandson Noah was only two days old and born with a blood infection. He possibly had a seizure. And I am…I’m sorry he’s in the NICU. And I’m also well familiar with us with my nephew having been in the NICU but by God’s grace has come out of this. And my whole heart as a fellow mom grandma, etc. I’m praying together with you Patty in the healing merciful name of Jesus, praying for complete healing for Noah. Oh, our hearts go up to you Patty. And I’m also praying for Prairie Sky for your depression. You said you have trouble making friends and even looking for a lease and for living. Oh, precious lady I pray that the Lord our God our very present help in time of need. Oh, just call on the name of the Lord. Find your peace and your strength in Him. We are praying for you. Your fellow DABbers are praying for you Prairie Sky and we love you so much. I pray that He will strengthen you in Jesus’ name. Amen, Amen and Amen. Fellow DABbers I love you so much, praying for you. Chicago Peg signing off, breathing in His grace breathing out His praise.

It’s June 15^th and I just heard a gentleman who called in and he was stating that the last two years nearly killed him and he’s just struggling to hang on and to finish the race is how he put it. I just want to let him know and pray for him that God would let him know that all he needs to do is to hang on to Jesus, that all he needs to do is to look up because His redemption is there is right there. I just pray that he could see that. I pray that Lord that You would bring someone close to him that would help show him You in the flesh. Lord my heart is just so burdened for him to finish the race and Lord I believe he will because I believe that You’re a powerful God that can oversee this whole situation for this gentleman and help him to be able to see You and know that You are going to care for him, You are going to take care of whatever it is that’s standing in his way, to feel redemptive, and to feel saved, and to feel that You are there Lord God. I just lift him totally up to You and put him in Your hands Lord God, to give him the peace and the strength and the courage that he needs to finish the race and to finish it strongly and that his life would be just a testimony of You there in his presence. I praise You and I thank You for what You’re going to do for this gentleman Lord. I love You all and I love this gentleman too knowing that God is going to be there for him. Amen.

Hi this is Michelle from Boston I’m calling for the final caller on June 15^th. You didn’t leave your name but you’re struggling with salvation and the thoughts of salvation at the end, and have you done enough do you feel enough. And I hope to encourage you today because I used to worry about this as well. I used to worry if I had enough faith at the moment that I pass away, is that when I would make it? What if I have faith now and not then? I think after talking with my sister and reading the Bible one thing that stands out to me is that I have no role in my salvation besides surrendering to God. I used to think that I had to have faith and like I had to feel saved in order to be saved. And that is not the case because faith is a gift from God. Faith is something that I used to think that I had to like, you know, scrunch really hard and try and produce more faith and squeeze it out of me, but faith itself is this gift from God. We cannot contribute to one iota to our own salvation.

Hello DAB fan this is Joyce from Virginia today is June 15^th and the very last prayer request played on today’s reading was from a young man who is really struggling and says that people are telling him that if he doesn’t hold on that he will not be able to finish well and basically won’t be saved. And just wanted to read you a couple of verses from John 10 my friend because we don’t have to hold on to Jesus. Jesus is holding on to us. So, Jesus says in verse 27, “my sheep hear my voice and I know them. They follow me. I give them life that lasts forever. They will never be punished.” And here’s the key part. “No one is able to take them out of my hand. My father who is greater than all gave them to me. No one is able to take them out of my Father’s hand. My father and I are one. So, friend, be encouraged. The Lord will get you through this hard time and Ge is holding you in his hands. Bye-bye.

1 Kings 19:1-21, Acts 12:1-23, Psalm 136:1-26, Proverbs 17:14-15

Today is the 18th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today and every day, another step forward is what we’ve come and gathered around this Global Campfire to take, and so let’s take that together. And, of course, that next step takes us back into the book of first Kings, where we are really dealing with King Ahab and his interactions with the prophet Elijah. Some of those interactions have included a mighty show of force from the one true God, who answered by fire on Mount Carmel and which led to the end of 450 prophets of Bale. Ahab’s wife Jezebel is a Bale worshiper and she’s very serious and devout about it. So, she’s going to have to find out eventually about these prophets, let’s pick up the story, first Kings chapter 19.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we are grateful for the gift that it is in our lives in the direction that it brings. Holy Spirit, come and plant what we’ve read, all of the different stories that we are moving through and these amazing things that are happening. And as we continue to read and understand and grow in our understanding, plant it deep in our lives so that as we navigate our days, the Scriptures are there, reminding us of what we know. Lead us by the power of Your Holy Spirit. You are the only true God, and we are watching how You are manifesting Yourself in these situations in the Scriptures and those give us examples for how You are working in our lives. May we recognize and follow Your lead. We ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that where the Global Campfire, well I guess that’s where we throw the logs on the campfire. We are the campfire but that’s home base of the campfire. The Daily Audio Bible app is equal and is the best way to experience the Daily Audio Bible and that can be downloaded free from the App Store that is connected to your device. So certainly, check that out and get familiar with it.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, as we approach the summer time, if being around the Global Campfire, having a place around the Global Campfire, moving through the Scriptures together in community, if that makes a difference, if that brings hope and life and good news and clarity and direction, all of the things that the Bible provide to us, if that is part of your story, because of being around the Global Campfire, than thank you, humbly and profoundly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that would be the little Hotline looking button at the top of the app screen. Or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Morning DAB family, this is Brian calling out of Florida. I’ve been listening since April. I think this app is amazing and I’ve been sharing it with a couple of my family members. I think it’s great, everybody should be listening to it. But today, I actually made an account and I wanted to leave a recording and I wanted to ask for prayers of discernment and grace and patience and just wisdom. I’ve been a manager at a construction company for the last eight or nine years and the companies been sold and it’s a great company. I make great money and I’d like to change careers, so, I can have more time with my family and just more good in my life and that’s gonna require me to make a major pay cut and lose my benefits until the foreseeable future. And I feel in my heart that it’s the right decision and everybody that knows about it, is pressuring me to stay with the major company but the stress really gets to me and I never see my family. And I’m just in a really bad spot right now, I feel trapped. I just, I just feel like I’m in a hole and I just need, I just need some kind of wisdom I need prayers. I need something, to just send an answer to me and what I should be doing. I’m just very confused right now. And thank you, thank you.

Hello DABers, this is Steve from Texas. I was listening to Steve, Stephen, Leila and Danny. The, this is June the 14th and he’s battling, he has no custody on the daughter and he has no money. And he hasn’t seen his kids in 4 months. And I’m lifting up Stephen and the Lord’s hand. I pray Lord that you console his heart and give him the shalom that surpasses understanding. I’ve been through what he is going through and understand Lord, the pain and the outpouring of his love over his children, Lord. And I pray Lord, that You maintain that relationship, despite all the hurdles of the court. I pray for Your divine intervention, Lord, in his life. In Jesus Christ name.

Hey DAB family, this is your sister Ashley from California. And I am calling on June 14th and I wanted to call and respond to the brother, who was on at the very end of today’s reading. My heart broke for you brother. I know that for me, during the pandemic and through COVID, my life went from one path to, it went, it felt like it went to a downward spiral. And I’ve released that and I am so sorry, my heart breaks for you with where you’re at right now with your daughters. But as I finish listening to you, there was a, I’m driving to work but I saw this truck that said, real men love Jesus and the license plate said L-Roy. And brother, I just want to remind you, I just want you to know that God see’s you and He hears you and He loves you, He is for you and He, I know it’s hard. I don’t want to throw a bible verse at you to say, just to like, put a band-aid on it and like, and like make it all better and that’s not gonna happen. But if you keep turning to the Lord and you keep honestly crying out and letting Him know how you feel and then turning to Him and turning to His word and coming back to hear Him, He will heal, He will help you. And that will be for your good and His glory. So, I just want to encourage you brother. Take heart, be strong and encouraged, God’s got you. Love your sister Ashley in California.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Laura in HeverHill. Today’s the 14th day of June. I just heard a gentleman, the father of Stephen, Leila and Emmy. Lord, I hear a broken man. A dad, whose heart is desperate to see his children, to provide for his children. Lord, everything that is going on in the desperation of this family, You know. I pray Father, for protection for the girls, wherever they are. I pray for this father, for his needs to be met. And Lord, I pray Father, I thank You that he’s seeking Your face. I thank You God that he is turning to You. Lord, I just pray Father for amazing grace and mercy and peace and strength and restored joy to this family. Father, please guide and direct his steps and his ___ I pray in Jesus’ name.

Hi, it’s Sparky. I liked to pray for the father of Stephen, Leila and Emmy. Bear with me brother, if I cry with you. It is very heartfelt and there are a lot of us dads that can feel like you sometimes. So, go ahead and pray together. Father God, I ask that You give this man strength. I ask that You reach deep down into his heart, help him to know that those kids love him and adore him for every piece of time in his life that he has spent on them and for them. Father God, I ask that You give strength to this gentleman, I ask that You help him to rise up and be the strongest piece of iron that You have ever laid hands on when it comes to his faith and his strength. He’s been gone a while, Father; he’s walking back and he’s falling on his knees before You. As another father, I am on my knees with him, praying that this situation will sort itself out. Lord, I ask that You give him the peace and the encouragement, the same encouragement that Peter had when he fell short, so many times and he was walking with Jesus. But Jesus still, grabbed him by the hand and said, you haven’t been gone to long, stand up and walk with me. I love you brother. It’s in Jesus name we pray. Amen.  

1 Kings 18:1-46, Acts 11:1-30, Psalms 135:1-21, Proverbs 17:12-13

Today is the 17^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today and thrilled that we can gather around the Global Campfire and take another step forward together. That will lead us, the next step that is, will lead us back into the book of first Kings. And we need to remember that after Solomon’s reign Israel split into two different nations or kingdoms. The northern kingdom of Israel, which was 10 tribes and then the southern kingdom of Judah which was the tribe of Judah and Benjamin. And we are now chronicling the kings of both of those kingdoms and how they overlap and sometimes how they remain at war with each other, even though they’re the same people, people lead out of slavery and into the promised land and now they’re fighting against each other. But first Kings isn’t dissimilar kinda to books like the book of Judges. If you remember when we went to the book of Judges, sometimes we met a judge and we had a long story, a lot of information to process and talk about and then with other judges we get like a paragraph of what they did and when they did. That can be true in Kings as well. Some of these kings we’ll get to know they’ll be much more detail and story for us, whereas with some of the other kings we get a paragraph. But that’s we’re moving through, is a chronicling of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. And at this point we have also met the prophets Elijah who has prophesied a drought, or a famine in the land and then he goes into hiding worries being kept alive by the birds. And, so, we pick up the story. First Kings chapter 18.

Commentary:

Okay. Such big things happening in the Scriptures today. So, in the book of first Kings we have the showdown with Elijah that was kinda being set up in yesterday’s reading. So, it’s Elijah, the one prophet of God against 450 prophets of Baal. And you can imagine the scene, these people crying out to Baal to answer with fire from heaven and show His power and show that he’s the true God and they are cutting themselves and dancing around and just trying to whip things up into a frenzy. And Elijah’s just like maybe you need to be a little louder, maybe he’s doing something else, just maybe you need to press in. And they do. Nothing happens. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah restores an altar, digs a ditch around it, covers the alter, the wood, the stones with water and fire comes from heaven, consuming the sacrifice. And everyone there saw it and they fell to the ground. It changed them. It disrupted them and changed them until they were confessing once again, “the Lord our God is the true and only God”, which invariably led to the demise of the prophets of Baal. Mount Caramel is a real place. In fact, there’s a monastery on the top of Mount Carmel that protects this place and commemorates what happened there. And the Kishon Valley, the stream running below the mountain is visible from the top of Mount Carmel. This happened in a place. And if we remember there was severe drought so bad that everyone was suffering looking for Elijah who had spoke the word of the Lord that began the drought. Elijah goes back atop Mount Carmel begins to pray. And we just read this. He sends his servant to look toward the sea because Mount Caramel’s not that far from the Mediterranean Sea. And after seven times the servant was sent comes back and says there’s a tiny little, tiny, tiny cloud, about the size of a man’s hand coming up out of the sea. And that’s when Elijah knew, like, okay tell the king he better get going back to Jezreel. And then Elijah is able to run and outpace the chariot as he runs from Mount Caramel back to Jezreel. I guess I probably have to look it…look it up on the map, but that's…that’s a long, long, long way to run. I’m gonna guess no less than 50 miles give or take. And the famine is brought to an end by the mighty power of the only true God. We have a massive display of God’s power that disrupts the people and turns their heart back to God. So, it's…it’s a mountaintop moment that happened on a mountaintop. If only it could last. We’ll have to see how this story continues to play out as we continue our journey tomorrow.

Then in the book of Acts, we are continuing a story that as we’ve already mentioned was so profound that it changed the early church and the reverberations of that shift echo until today. So, we remember yesterday of Cornelius and his household in Caesarea and Peter coming there beginning to share the gospel and the Holy Spirit falling upon them. News has spread as the book of Acts told us. News has spread very very quickly. So, by the time Peter gets back to Joppa people already know what happened. And as we can see right out of the gate where are some people there that are like, this is not supposed to happen. We are not supposed to extend fellowship and hospitality to outsiders or to Goyim, to Gentiles. But once Peter told the story everybody had to kinda come to the same sort of conclusion that Peter had come to, not only from his visions in Joppa but also…like Peter doesn’t have any power to force the Holy Spirit upon someone else. Nobody has that power, to just make someone receive the Holy Spirit. And at this time, they truly believe that the only people invited to receive the Holy Spirit were Jewish people. So, the Holy Spirit fell upon Gentiles, Cornelius’s household. Peter could only conclude what..what am I supposed to do? Like the Holy Spirit came upon them. God spoke. God’s Holy Spirit came upon them. So, who was I…who are any of us to denounce something that God has chosen to do? I don’t know…I mean this is one of the most pivotal moments in the Bible and in…in our church history, like a complete rewiring of their understanding. No longer were they like separate and chosen and put aside. But God was inviting everybody to the family to be set apart and put aside as holy people even Gentiles. And as we continue our journey through the New Testament, we’ll see that. This is a serious serious problem for some people and a point of exuberance and joy for others. All love Jesus but now we have a little bit of a rift between them and will see how this goes as we continue our journey.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We love You with all of our hearts. Help us to ingest and process and allow the Scriptures and the stories found in them deep into our hearts, that they may change us.  And we thank You, that through Jesus all of us, even we who are Gentiles are welcome into Your family. Thank You. We don’t deserve this or anything. And, so, our hearts are grateful today. Come Holy Spirit. Well up from within us with gratefulness. And may we share kindness and compassion with those around us. None of us deserve this. Everyone is invited. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that is ground zero, that is home base, that is the home of the Global Campfire. And if you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, that is the same. So, the Daily Audio Bible app can certainly be downloaded from whatever app store is connected to your device. And, so, definitely download that and experience the Daily Audio Bible through the app.

Check out the different sections like the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources that are available there specifically for this community, specifically for making the journey through the Bible in a year in a number of different categories. Check out the Community section. That is where the prayer wall lives. That is also where different links to get connected on social media are. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. I say thank you probably 9 out of 10 times that I mention anything like this, may be more, I don’t know. That’s the right word. Thank you. The truth is that we are in this together. That’s how this whole thing kind of burst forth from the dust of the Internet. And from the day that we began, we haven’t missed a day, which puts us in year 17 that we’re moving through right now every day. And here every day without missing a day since January 1, 2006. And that has only been because we’ve been in this together. And, so, thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible this is Jesus from beautiful South Florida, and I just want to wish you all a great start of your week. May the Lord mighty God will bless us in abundance each one of you. Well, this call this call is a better prayer request made by a brother named Demetrius. Demetrius from Portland OR you called on the community prayer on the 10^th of this month. Today is the 13^th and brother I have been praying for you since I heard your petition and it’s about your marriage and I want to tell you that I also going through the same circumstances, and I want to pray something over you brother, something that has been put in my heart. And yes, as husbands and men we want everything to be fixed right away. We want restoration, we want healing, we want it now. And that’s the way it works because we love our marriage, you know, we love our wives. But brother the Lord has come up to me and has shown me a different way to pray for marriage. And what I pray is restoration of a friendship of a unity of respect. Remember that before we become married, we are friends. And in that friendship, there is fruit that are blessings, that are good moments, that are memories. Once we get married, we come into this this journey, a journey that has a lot of trials, tribulations, responsibilities. And some of those responsibilities are up to us men to do as God has blessed us as the head of the family. So, brother Demetrius I want to tell you and I want you encourage you it’s something that has helped my life.

This is Eyes of a Dove. I was thinking to myself, I like to call in and pray for my daughter and for all the DABbers kids at every school that they be safe from mass shootings. And then I thought can God handle more than that? Could I pray for a greater coverage? What if I said the world? To God, if I ask Him to protect the world’s children in every school in every college in every technical program for all the children for the legions of angels to go, God said that every person could have a legion of angels to protect them. If that’s the case, I can pray and ask the Lord. Dear God, please protect all of the children from the demonic forces that seek to kill steal and destroy them. Father, that any person with guns or with killing on their mind would not be able to enter those schools, Father that You would supernaturally put a boundary around around these schools and around these children and that we would fear not for legions of angels protect our children. Father God, I ask it be Your way, that Your hand would come down like a hedge of protection a ring of fire around these children Lord God. Thank You for protecting our children. Thank You for giving us our children. They are gift from You. Father and I just pray for the children that have fear, Father that they would not fear but they would trust in You, trust that You are there to protect them keep them safe. Let the teachers not be afraid Father God but help them to be strong and courageous and wise in every situation. We thank You for our school teachers in our districts. Thank You Lord. Yeshem, Yeshua. Amen.

This is for Prairie Sky suffering from depression. I understand what you are going through. You’re at the bottom of the waves and all you can see around you are the dark wall of water closing in on every side but there is a horizon out there and when the waters of your life come you will see the glorious horizon, that future that God has for you. And until that time I pray as Paul prayed for the Colossians, that you will be strengthened with all might according to God’s glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Amen.

Hi DAB family this is Tammy from the Adirondacks. My husband and I just got done listening to the June 13^th podcast. And Prairie Sky you called in. Your depression is just taking a toll on you from the sound of it and you’re not alone. I know where you’re at. But we just want to pray for you sister. Father God, we lift up Prairie Sky to you Lord. Lord you are the mighty physician, You are our healer, You are our comforter, You are our ever present help and tomes of trouble. And there’s nothing too big for You Father God that You cannot heal us from. And we’re asking dear Lord to just pour Your anointing down on Prairie Sky, lift this depression, fill her heart and her mind and her soul with Your peace and Your joy and Your love. Let her know that she is so worthy of all Your love and more, that she is Your daughter and that You love her, and You cherish her and that she is the righteousness of You Father God through Your son Jesus Christ. Sister, be encouraged. Be encouraged and just lean and press into the Father. Jesus take care of her and just watch over her and Your precious name we pray. Amen. If you need somebody to talk to, reach out to somebody to talk to, reach out to me reach out on the DAB, the Prayer Wall or Facebook or somehow if you need somebody to talk too. You’re not alone. You don’t have to go through this alone. God bless. Love you.

I’m praying for the father that I just heard on the Prayer Wall. He sounded broken. He hadn’t seen his daughters in four months, and he was saying how the courts wanted him to give all this money that he doesn’t have and he’s feeling lost and alone and estranged from his children. Dear heavenly Father please cover this man in Your blood in the blood of Jesus. Please give him the ability to look up and to hold on for just another moment. Lord, I ask I ask that You send help his way in an unexpected and miraculous way dear Jesus. I pray Lord. I pray that he will have an understanding that You Lord at the author and finisher of his fate and he will look to You. Amen.

1 Kings 15:25-17:24, Acts 10:24-48, Psalm 134:1-3, Proverbs 17:9-11

Today is the 16th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it’s wonderful to be here with you today as we gather and take the next step forward together and that next step will lead us lead us right where we left off yesterday, and that happens to be first Kings chapter 15 verse 25 through 17 verse 24, today.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the book of Acts, as we travel alongside the apostle Peter at the moment, we have something that is so profound that happened in today’s reading, that it changed the church of Jesus, irreversibly and changed the course of history in the process, until today. Like, it’s still changed today, because of what we read in the end the book of Acts today. There will be several times through our journey, through the rest of the year that we’ll have to refer back to this moment and remember this moment, especially through the lens of the apostle Paul and understand what is going on here. In yesterday’s reading, Peter’s on a rooftop in the city of Joppa and he’s praying and he sees a vision and, in this vision, there are a number of animals but they would be unclean animals to eat but the message, the messenger in the vision tells him that he should eat these things and of course he resists that saying, he had never done anything like that before. And then he is told, what God has made clean, is clean. Then, these people show up to collect him and take him to Caesarea to Cornelius. Cornelius, is a Roman centurion by Hebrew standards, he is a Gentile. He is an outsider; he is not to be messed with. But he is also not to be associated with, in terms of hospitality and friendship. The Hebrew people are separate. They have been separated; they are separate to God. They don’t intermingle with anybody; they’re trying to get their ducks in a row. So, the God will see that they’re not mixing anymore, and that God should restore them. That is the common understanding of the Hebrew people who feel like they are being occupied, like this land should be theirs. God should give them their homeland back but instead it’s under Roman control and they just get to, squat there, this is the environment that Jesus came into. And so, Jesus message, the vast majority of the time, was to the Hebrew people, in a Hebrew context. Jesus was known as a Hebrew rabbi or even a Hebrew prophet, the signs and wonders are largely among the Hebrew people, indicating that God is hearing them. The people are flocking to Jesus but they’re Hebrew people. So, this whole thing is happening in Hebrew context after Jesus’ death and resurrection and the birth of the church and the falling of the Holy Spirit upon the people, this is all happening in a Jewish or Hebrew context. The earliest early church was Hebrew people, was made up of Hebrew people, in a Hebrew context. Peter is talking to a non-Hebrew family, a Gentile family, a Roman family and he has been summoned there to tell about Jesus. Cornelius received of visionary communication, that he should send for Peter and Peter received a visionary communication that what God has made clean, is clean and also that he should go with these people back to Caesarea. So Peter is in a Gentile house. Something he definitely, culturally, should not be doing and yet he had just had this disruptive vision about things being made clean that had previously been considered unclean and then he had been told to go with these people into a Gentile home. So, he’s sharing the Gospel and the Holy Spirit falls upon them, as the Holy Spirit had fallen upon the Hebrew people in the upper room, on the day of Pentecost. This is the first time they had ever seen anything like this, this was not a part of their framework for where things were going. Gentiles received the Holy Spirit and the dots were beginning to connect for Peter, because of this vision of things that were unclean, being declared clean, which might even include unclean people. Peter sees that the Holy Spirit has spoken here and they are baptized, the first Gentile people to be welcomed into a brand-new thing God was doing in the world. This is a game changer in the early church and now in the world today the Christian faith is made up almost completely of Gentile disciples, Gentile believers throughout the earth. What began as an exclusively Jewish thing, has become dominantly a Gentile thing. So, what we see today, is one of the biggest flashpoints, or monumental shifts that we can find in the Bible. This changes everything and is still changing things today. We’re going to see that this causes a significant amount of unrest and requires quite a bit of discernment and counsel. We’ll see that. But this is the flashpoint. Cornelius summons Peter and the Holy Spirit responds to Gentile people, filling them and they are baptized in the name of Jesus and welcomed into the community of faith. And this has not been done before, and this is not going to sit well with everybody, but thank goodness. I am a Gentile and I am grateful to be welcomed into the family of God. Most of us have the same story and we can trace those roots back to this moment in Caesarea in Cornelius’s home, among his household. And so, let’s appreciate that. Let’s have a sense of gratitude that this very, very exclusive thing was being transformed into…into an inconclusive thing were all are invited, everyone can come, let’s enjoy that shift, as we read it but let’s also understand that this sets off a chain of events and we will see this as we continue through the book of Acts and through the letters of the apostle Paul and all the way through the rest of the New Testament, but it begins here.

Prayer:

This changes things substantially and we thank You Father for that shift, we thank You for the awareness that began to descend upon the apostles that everyone, everyone is invited. Thank You for Your mercy and kindness so that most of us who are hearing this today, can only be grateful, we shouldn’t have been able to be here and yet You welcomed us, even when we were estranged and even when we weren’t permitted to be involved. You died for us and swung open the doors and invited humanity to participate in the process of restoring our species. Thank You, we love You, may we work with You and not against You. In this we pray in the precious and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that where you find out what’s going on around here. That’s where the Global Campfire is always burning. The Daily Audio Bible app is the same and you can download the app from whatever, whatever app store you use and so, check that out. Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, many resources in many categories for many different purposes but all centered around moving us as a community through the Scriptures in a year, so check that out. Check out the Community Section, there are different links to social media channels that Daily Audio Bible participates in, it’s also the home of the Prayer Wall, always available to us. Always, we can ask for prayer always, we can offer prayer, that’s in the Community Section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. If coming around the Global Campfire every day is a life-giving thing, is a source of good news in your life, then thank you for your partnership. So, there is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, we are indeed a beautiful family wrapped all around the world, on all the continents in all of the time zones and one thing that is strikingly beautiful about us, is that we pray for each other and it really is remarkable. So, if you are shouldering burdens that are slumping your shoulders, if you are dragging things that are attached to your legs that are just too heavy and you shouldn’t be carrying all this alone. You don’t have to, you can reach out, there is a Hotline in the app there’s a little red button up at the top, hard to miss. You can press that no matter where you are on planet Earth or there are a number of numbers that you can use: in the Americas 877-942-4253 is number to dial, if you are in the UK or Europe 44 2036 088078 is the number to dial, and if you are in Australia or the Lands Down Under 61 38820 54 59 is the number to call.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello, my DAB family, this is __ calling from the UK. I trust we are all doing well by the grace of the Lord almighty. I’m calling today for someone approached me and said she wanted to pray for somebody. I do not know who the young man is but he’s a 24-year-old, his name is Steven. I’ve heard he’s had a really rough life from childhood. He’s lost his mom as a child. And it’s just been going downhill from there. Right now, he’s hooked on drugs and alcohol and he’s supposed to get on a plane, soon, to a rehab rehabilitation, a Christian rehabilitation center. So, the prayer is that he gets on that plane. Because there’s really not much one can do if he decides not to get on that plane. And get on that plane, gets to his destination and stays there. And, by the grace of God, comes out of there a new being, a new creation. I thought to bring it to my family because I know that Scriptures tells us that when two or three are gathered in His name that He’s there. So, I ask you to please, remember Steven in your prayers and ask that the Good Lord, will lead him through the right path and bring him out on the other side. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Thank you very much for praying with me and may God bless each and every one of us.

Hey DAB family, it is Monday, June 13th and this is your sister Ashley from California and I am humbly coming on here because I want to update you guys and ask you for prayer. The update is, is that, about a week ago, my Grandmommy Jody, who you all have been joining me in prayer, came home from the hospital. She was having problems with her liver enzymes, they were too high and they couldn’t figure, they can’t figure out why, they are like that. So, she, they cannot treat her Leukemia, with that. So, she decided that she wants to come home and there will be no further treatment. So, that’s the update. And what I’m asking for you, to join me in prayer for, is that, after Brian talked today about Solomon and finishing well, that is what came to my heart, what the Lord put on my heart. Guys, I want to ask you to please, help me to pray that my Grandmommy will finish well. That she will be honest about her feelings with the Lord but that she will be like David was and pour out her heart but then turn her eyes upon the Lord. And that she will cling to hope in him, so others will see Jesus and will want to know what helped her to overcome and to be a Proverbs 31 woman. Guys, she is, she is valuable, she is trustworthy, she is a hard worker, she’s well trust, she’s valuable, she’s a treasure. So, please join me in prayer for my Grandmommy. Grandmom, if you listen to this, I love you and we’re gonna get through this a day at a time. I love you DAB family. Bye.

Hello, this is Bob from Arizona. I’m listening to 2nd June podcast today. Right away, a gentleman by the name of John Wimberly, called the exact in Jonathan, was asking for prayer for a drug addiction. And his plea was, affected me, I certainly am not affected by that but I know friends, family, who are. And John, Jonathan, your plea was heard, certainly by me and all the DABers. And we do pray for you, we pray you do exactly what the Lord has called you to do and you’re doing that. You’re giving Him glory, you’re giving Him honor, you’re sharing that with us and building our faith. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will give you strength and power to overcome this addiction. I believe you said you were in training right now, in rehab of some sort. So, I pray that be successful, all glory given to the Lord. And I thank you for your spirit, you had a deep sense of Christ in your life, the Holy Spirit in your life and I’m encouraged by that. So, in Jesus name, just help him Father. Help him to just be confident in his faith and show him Your face. I pray for that in Jesus name. Amen.

Hi, everyone this is __ in Anjure. Calling from Dubai. I was going through and still going through a lot of depression because of some family issues with my wife and my wife’s family and my family. I ask for a humble prayer request to everyone around the world who is listening to the Daily Audio Bible, it will change a lot of things, the way I look at the life, so I ask everyone to ___ prayer to have a unity in the family. To get back the things that were normal to us. And thank you.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Casco Mountain Aaron in New York State. I’m calling for prayers because I was diagnosed this week with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I go in for my last few tests today, which will find whether the cancer is just in one large tumor in my heart and lungs. I say just, or if it has spread through my body. I’m ready to walk whatever path the Lord wants me to run and I’m at peace with this but my greatest fear in life would be not being here for my wife and sons. So, I can’t deny that I have definite fear here. So, I’m just asking for your prayers over that fear, over the diagnosis and that God willing, this has not spread through my body. Thank you all and I love you.      

1 Kings 14:1-15:24, Acts 10:1-23, Psalms 133:1-3, Proverbs 17:7-8

Today is the 15^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we cross through the center of the month. And we have a lot going on in the stories that we are immersed in right now the Scriptures. In the book of first Kings, we have a divided kingdom. The nation of Israel, the kingdom of Israel is divided into the kingdom of Judah in the south, and the kingdom of Israel in the North. There are two different kings. The king in the North’s name is Jeroboam and he is led 10 of the tribes into idolatry. And, so, let’s pick up the story from there. First Kings chapter 14 verse 1 through 15 verse 24.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Acts today we have something taking shape that is so profoundly impactful that it will…that it will and has completely changed the dynamic of the church of Jesus, which is a pretty big thing to say, and it will take until tomorrow for us to fully understand this. But essentially what we have going on is Peter in Joppa staying with Simon the tanner who goes up on a roof to pray and has these visions of like a sheet coming down out of the heavens. And contained within this sheet are all kinds of different animals and they are all considered unclean animals. And a message comes to Peter saying, eat these things, like eat them. And Peter’s like, I can’t. That would be against the law. Like, I’ve never done that. I’ve never eaten any unclean thing before. I can’t do it. And then the message comes back, essentially saying, what God has declared clean is clean. Meanwhile, the day before up in Caesarea, which is a major Roman outpost, a beautiful place. The ruins of Caesarea Maritima right on the Mediterranean coast today are pretty extravagant. This was like a playground on the ocean for the Roman elite. Like this was an awesome place at the time. Well, a Centurion, and so a Roman official in charge of 100 people, receives a message from the heavens to send to Joppa and go to Simon the tanner’s house and collect Peter and bring him back to Caesarea so that he can hear what he has to say. So, people go in that direction. It’s an overnight trip. And about the time that Peter is getting done with these visions that he…that are really really messing with his mind…like he is confused by it, these people arrive telling Peter like, we need you to come with his back to Caesarea. There’s a Roman centurion names Cornelius. Don’t be afraid. He’s a godly man. He’s a devout man. He sends for you. Well, they arrive. Peter had heard a message from the Holy Spirit that he should go with them without any reservation. This is all what is supposed to happen. Well, not only was Peter’s vision a bit disruptive to him but the fact that there were people on behalf of a Roman, people who were not Hebrew people were there sending for him and he supposed to go back into this Roman household, this Gentile household, this is something he’s not supposed to do. They’re supposed to stay separate and apart, not supposed to intermingle. And that’s only one aspect of it. The relationship between the Hebrews and the Romans, I mean sometimes was good, but mostly was oppressive to like a Hebrew commoner. So, they kinda kept separate for religious or spiritual reasons but they also kept separate because they just didn’t mingle, like they were not friendly toward one another. So, Peter has this disruptive vision and then he has his disruptive visit, and the Lord is telling him to go, which is what he does. And what happens as a result of all of this profoundly impacts the early church irreversibly and continues to affect the church of Jesus Christ, those who are disciples of Jesus until this very day. And we will see how that is and how that materializes as we go forward tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, we love You. We thank You. We thank You for Your guidance and Your comfort and Your direction in our lives. Your love for us. But also, to follow You means that we may run into disruptions that we do not fully understand. Help us to cling to You and obey You. Whether we fully comprehend what’s going on or not, be with us in the shaky times. Be with us in the disruption. Help us to embrace it as we cling to You knowing that it’s shaking something free, something that has us bound up in some sort of way. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is our homebase, its where you find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does the same thing and that can be acquired or downloaded anyway, free from the app store that is connected to your device. And, so, check that out. It is the grand way of experiencing the Daily Audio Bible and being able to keep track of our progress and where we’re going and where we’ve been. And, so, yeah, check out the Daily Audio Bible app.

And whether via the website or the app, check out the different sections like the Community section, it is where to get connected on social media. It is also where the Prayer Wall is and lives and stays and is always available.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop there are resources that are available for the journey that takes us across a year and through the entire Bible. So, check that out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm of doing what we do, showing up around the Global Campfire every day knowing that we’re in this together with brothers and sisters all over the world. We’re literally staying on the same page as we move through the Scriptures. If that has been life-giving to you than thank you for being life-giving back. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB family this is Toni from Germany. I am calling on behalf of a really good friend of mine, Norm or Norman. And he has been in the hospital since middle of March. He’s had a long journey of battle with health. Oh my gosh he’s like contending with five different things, big things. And his poor…what…lovely wife is Delia is walking so beautiful with the Lord. She’s gotta make decision right now whether or not they should do a tracheotomy on him. And I know that you may get the message after the fact. So, I just leave this message that you pray for these decisions Delia has to make on behalf of Norm. He is in ICU. Yes, please. And we have seen him get a little better at a time but this morning he had a set back and low oxygen level. So, I just would…I just ask for your prayers. I want to share one thing and that is that I did complete a masters in…related to the faith, a masters and ministry but I would be a lay minister not a pastor, you know, ‘cause I’m Catholic and women cannot be ministers in the Catholic Church but we can be lay ministers. So, I just want you to know in the last two years I’ve been pursuing that, and I was able to complete that by the grace of the Lord and now I could serve Him in a new and beautiful way. And I will ask for prayers from you for my ministry. God bless you. I love you. Bye.

Before my feet hit the floor at the start of the day
I go to the father through Jesus to pray
I thank God for allowing me to see a new day
and forgiving my sins in a most marvelous way
I ask him to search me especially my heart
and remove all those thoughts that might keep us apart
I thank God for Jesus for family and friends
for cleansing me daily from all of my sins
I thank him for strength and for providing good health
and for meeting my needs in times of no wealth
for granting me peace in the midst of the storm
for giving me green pastures and keeping me warm
I ask him to bless me as I go through the day
and to bridle my tongue to control what I say
tell me to bless those who are hurting and alone
to carry his love where it’s never been known
to never bring reproach or do the wrong thing
to always sing praises and to honor the king
and forgive those mistakes that they make along the way
and help me to forgive others come whatever may
to walk in his word that my life might be the light
and encourage those who are trying to do what is right
to not get discouraged when everything goes wrong
to be steadfast and unmovable and to suffer quite long
to be patiently persistent humble not loud
exercising restraint not pushy or proud
but help me to be like Jesus today
filled with the spirit and eager to pray
striving every moment to still be in you
knowing you’ll help me and all that I do
this is my prayer at the start of my days
my heart of a flowing in bubbling with praise

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Delta Alpha Foxtrot. It was good hearing your voice. As always, a pleasure hearing your voice. And I will be praying for your children too. And once again Brian and the Hardin family…

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is KJ in Southeast Asia first-time caller and I just…yeah…love this community and it’s really unbelievable the way we can mobilize prayer across the world. So, we are overseas workers here and received a new family just about four months ago to join us in our work here. We mobilize the local church which is only about 1% of the population to reach out and show love to their neighbors sharing the gospel and hoping to see the church grow here. So, this family, the wife suffers from a nut allergy and as careful as she is being here seems like the enemy is using it too…yeah…create anxiety and even unexplained anaphylactic shock attacks that have landed her in the hospital already two times and overnight in the ER and sometimes two nights. And, so, we as a team are going to be praying and fasting for her. Her name is Mackenzie. And also I just thought…yeah…I wanna mobilize prayer for her across the world that…yeah…we could continue to serve together here and see God’s Kingdom grow in this place where it’s mostly dark. And, so, yeah, would you pray for her for the nut allergy to be completely healed in Jesus’ name? Love you. Thank you.

Hi DAB family it’s Jill and Jeb Lenowski and I was just asking for prayer for me and my family. We’re going on a cross country trip in a car with a bunch of people and a dog. And we were just asking for prayer that we would have safe travels. And…yeah.

Hi everyone, I don’t really know where to start with this or how to start. The last couple of years have been…well…they've…they nearly killed me. And that even outside of the pandemic and everything it’s been really…  And I’ve wanted I’ve wanted to draw comfort in my faith and find comfort in my other believers but in the midst of things being this hard people keep…a lot of them keep saying that to get…to get through or even be saved at all I just…I really have to hold on to God, I really have to cling tight, and I have to finish the race well. And that if I'm…if I’m too weak or if I’m not able that I’m going to fail and that I…that I will fall away conclusively. And I…I don’t know what to do or how to live with that if that’s what the stakes are here. I…I guess I need…I don’t know….

1 Kings 12:20-13:34, Acts 9:26-43, Psalm 132:1-18, Proverbs 17:6

Today is the 14th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is fantastic to be here with you today, as we gather once again around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. Today, is our 165th stop that we’ve taken, day-by-day, step-by-step, and we are well underway, obviously. But that happens one step at a time. And so, let’s dive in together. We will be moving back into the book of first Kings. Yesterday, we kind of we…we kind of started down the other side of the mountain. Solomon’s reign as ended, his son, Rehoboam is king but 10 of the tribes have rebelled against Rehoboam and we’ll pick up the story from there, first Kings chapter 12 verse 20 through 13 verse 34.

Commentary:

Okay so, contained in what we read today from the book of first Kings we have a…a very stark, very important lesson that applies to our lives today. So, certainly we’re reading and ancient retelling of a tumultuous time in ancient Israel, where the kingdom is divided, the kingdom has split into two kingdoms. And so, now we have 10 tribes in the north, the kingdom of Israel and then we have Benjamin and Judah in the south where Jerusalem is the kingdom of Judah. Still loyal to David’s line. And so, Rehoboam is there King but the northern 10 tribes have a new King named Jeroboam. So, we have two Kings ruling over what Solomon had ruled over. This is actually pretty important for us, right now to understand that because as we move forward we’re in the books of the kings and so we’re chronicling the different Kings and we’re gonna find that they overlap. So, there will be a king in Israel and a king in Judah and they are certainly not always friendly to one another. So, just understanding that after Solomon, the kingdom divided into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. I will go a long way to helping us understand what’s going on as we continue through the chronicling of the kings. So, King Jeroboam was the king of Israel the king of the northern 10 tribes who have rebelled against Rehoboam in the South had been foretold by prophetic utterance that he would one day rule. Now, he is ruling but he is leading those 10 tribes directly, clearly and unreservedly into straight up idolatry. He believes that if the people in the north continue to travel into the land of Judah, to go up to Jerusalem, to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to the house where God has put his name, if they keep doing that their hearts will return to Jerusalem and to the Lord and to the king, which will mean that he will one day be done away with. And so, he creates idols, golden calves and he puts one in the city of Dan and he puts the other in the city of Bethel. This would’ve been the northern and southern boundaries of his kingdom, the kingdom of the 10 tribes the kingdom of Israel. Actually, the remnants of Jeroboam’s temple of idolatry remains in Dan until this day, you can still see where that was. The one in Bethel has been destroyed long time ago, there’s really not nothing there. So, here’s where it really gets interesting in our own lives. A prophet of God from Judah, so, a prophet of God from the southern kingdom of Judah, was instructed to cross the border into the northern kingdom of Israel, go to the city of Bethel, which is the southern border city, and curse this altar. And don’t drink anything. Don’t eat anything and don’t go back the way you came. Clear instructions to the prophet, who then obeys the Lord, crosses over goes to Bethel, goes to the temple. The king, King Jeroboam is there offering incense, the prophet curses the altar, the altar breaks open, ashes fly out, the king’s arm is frozen in place and then release like it’s a very dramatic scene and then the king wants this prophet to come back to the palace where he can be rewarded, where discussions can happen. But of course, the prophet says he can do that and he won’t do that, even if the king wants to give him half the kingdom, like he’s he can’t do it. He is eat nothing, he is to drink nothing. He is to return a different way than by the way that he came and so he departs and he’s on his way, in obedience, heading back to the southern kingdom of Judah where he lives. A prophet, an older man, an older prophet, who is now in the land of Israel hears about all this and goes and tells him that God has changed the plan, that a messenger has come to him and he is supposed to get the prophet and bring him home, where he can eat and drink and rest up. And the prophet that was sent to the altar, listens to the prophet telling him this and he follows him back to his house. Then that result is that he disobeyed God and he never made it back to the kingdom of Judah. This is a riveting lesson for us, one that every time we come by this way, I try to point out because it’s so deeply important. When we hear the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives, however, that happens for us, however, we understand how God speaks to us, when we know we have been given instructions from the Lord to do something. If somebody else comes alongside and says plans have changed, God told me to tell you, thus and so and it deviates from what we had believed in our hearts that God had told us to do and we turn and follow this other path, it appears that the road doesn’t go anywhere good. The interesting thing is that God could send someone to rescue us, or someone could come along that is ultimately deceiving us and we have to know what we truly believe God told us to do and obey that alone. Or we are invariably going to end up in a pile of trouble somewhere down the line and it’s interesting because we’re always wanting to know what God is saying and what God is doing, and we will run into people that we think and be an Oracle on behalf of God to speak to us what we can’t seem to find out for ourselves. And so, we can very, very easily find ourselves walking down a path in the name of the Lord, that the Lord didn’t have anything to do with and that is somewhat of a terrifying thought. And this isn’t about when we’re trying to discern something and we invite trusted people into our lives to listen and we’re just trying to work through what the Lord is leading so that we can understand the clarity of the path, that’s not what happened in the story. The prophet heard clearly from God and was clearly obeying what he had been instructed and was almost through with the mission, when he deviated from the path because somebody else came and said God told me to tell you this. So, what is the net net here, if we have clearly heard from God, then we should obey exactly what God has said, nothing more, nothing less. Otherwise, we could be putting ourselves in some sort of jeopardy and so often when we do that we’re mad, we’re shaking our fist at the heavens, why did you send me into this brick wall why what I was for always obeying you…you told me things that you sent messengers to tell me things and I’m obeying these things if what the Lord has told us is different than what somebody tells us that the Lord is saying, we better slow down and discern clearly and this is one of the reasons for this story being in the Bible to teach us this.

Prayer:

And so, Father, it is Your voice that we want to hear, it is Your counsel and instruction in comfort and love and companionship that we desire more than anything, to be in Your presence and to be aware of it because we are always in Your presence, to be aware of that, walking with You, fellowshipping with You. This is our deep heart desire. So, we are listening, listening for Your guidance, and it is certainly our intention to obey. Protect us, give us discerning hearts and minds that we might see traps that have inadvertently been laid for us, that could cause us to deviate from the path and land us where we do not want to be. Come, Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, as Jesus promised. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and it is where you can find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app, does that as well and that can be gotten from your app store so, check that out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a number of categories in the Shop, with a number of resources in those categories but they are all aimed at our journey, moving through the Scriptures together, whether that be things to wear, things, things like our coffee and tea which you can have sent to you each and every month or you can just order what you want. The Daily Audio Bible Journal, all of the things to write in your journal with, things that we use around here, all kinds of written resources to take the journey deeper. Things to listen to, just a bunch of stuff in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, all aimed at being a part of the community. The Global Campfire meeting every day, taking the next step forward together. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, deeply, humbly, honestly, thank you for your partnership. We couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to be here if we weren’t in it together and so thank you. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Prayers will be posted this evening.