Category: DAB Transcripts

Joshua 7:16-9:2, Luke 16:1-18, Psalm 82:1-8, Proverbs 13:2-3

Today is the 13th day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is great to be here with you today, as we take the next step forward together, which will lead us back into a book that we’re getting into, the Book of Joshua. Well, we have finally found ourselves in the Promised Land. The children of Israel have made their first conquest of a city, that being the city of Jericho, the walls fell down. Then they went to scout a nearby village called Ai, they decided not send the whole army because it’s just small place and they are defeated. They attacked the city of Ai, and they are defeated and it is because someone rebelled against God, in the matter of Jericho. And they’re trying to sort it all out and that’s where we pick up the story. Joshua chapter 7 verse 16 through 9 verse 2.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the book of Joshua we finally now know what’s going on and why the children of Israel were defeated in their second battle. Right, they had marched around the walls of Jericho, the walls came tumbling down, they ran inside, Jericho was destroyed, they had been given specific instructions about what was to happen and there was no plunder to be taken. Everybody knew what was going on, but Achan, Achan he saw some stuff he wanted and he took it and when the Army went to go against the city of Ai and were defeated 36 people were killed and they were defeated, the children of Israel were defeated and ran away, which sent them consulting with God, which eventually revealed that Achan had taken some plunder, against his oath, against his covenant, against his promise, against everyone’s promise and against God’s specific explicit instructions. And this is where idolatry begins. Right, it begins with disobedience, dishonesty, deception and trusting in that which is not God or from or of God. And it did not work out well for Achan. And through this story, we are once again reminded that it will not work out well for us or anyone else.

Oddly enough, when we turn over to the New Testament into the Gospel of Luke, Jesus pretty well explains this for us and I quote “whoever is faithful in small matters, will be faithful in larger ones, whoever is dishonest in small matters, will be dishonest in larger ones. If then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth. If you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you. No servant can be the slave of two masters, such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” And so, what we see unfolding here is that God has given instructions, has also given vision for an outcome of those instructions, they’re clear instructions, they’re not nuanced. But then, like people, we look for the shortcuts, we look for the nuances, we look for what we can get away with, we look for how far we can press the matter. And in the story of Achan and the children of Israel and the battle of Ai, as well as Jesus statements to the Pharisees, we see that there is, indeed, a limit. And it appears to be that the limit is anything that will cause us to be drawn away from God. Anything that will turn our hearts, even a little bit, because over time it will become a lot and actually the children of Israel will teach us this lesson over and over again because what we’ve seen begin with Achan, is a pattern that we will see recur over the generations and once again we’ll…we’ll see where the road goes, and it never goes anywhere good. Whatever we put our trust in, is something that gains our devotion and allegiance and loyalty, if that is not God, we are not on the right path. If we’re not on the right path, we’re not going where we want to go. If we’re not going where we want to go we’re not going to end up where we wanted to be and no shortcut is going to get us there. Jesus said that there is a narrow path that leads to life, but will you ever find it. One of the first steps in finding it, has to be removing anything that would draw us away from it. And this is one of the great themes in the Bible. It’s one of the things that recur over and over again, across the generations. Because we’re still learning those lessons, even in our own personal lives, even in our extraordinarily modern times. And so, we’re left to consider where is my allegiance, where is my loyalty? if I know the answer to those things, I know where my trust is. If the answer to that isn’t God, then we have a problem.

Prayer:

So, Father, we invite You into that, it is not hard. It is our desire to walk with You day-by-day, step-by-step, every moment, of every day in Your presence, doing Your work in this world. And we are distracted by every possible thing that can pull us away from that and we recognize that and we know that and we need You. We need You today, more than we needed You yesterday. We need You more than ever. And so, Holy Spirit, come. Help us to have that margin where we can see these things before, they become strongholds in our lives so that, we can see that the choices that we’re making, are choices to chain ourselves to things that are going to take a long time to get unchained from. Help us to see what You are seeing. We pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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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.

Prayers and Encouragement:

Hey everyone, I’m Christie from Kentucky. I wanted to call and just talk to a couple of my sisters in Christ. I want to thank you both. I sit here this morning with tears in my eyes. Daddy’s Girl in Kansas, you called in and talked about a sister who had lost her mom. She had called in on the community prayer on April the 2nd, I don’t know the ladies name. But Daddy’s Girl I want you to know that thank you for calling in because sometimes when we call in for other people we’re also calling in for someone we don’t even know has walked through that and that was the exact scenario when I lost my mom in 2017 when I begged her. She was in a coma. I begged her please don’t leave, please don’t leave me mom. And then a tear came from her eye, just a single tear. And it, my heart broke. And then I said, it’s okay, it’s okay, mom it’s okay you can go to Jesus. I’ll be okay, I’ll be okay. I’ll take care of the family. You were speaking to me too. Thank you. And LGB, I just wanted you to know that, thank you for your call, it was so precious. The last thing to do is I was singing Amazing Grace over my momma. I love you guys so very much. God is so very good and He works through us when we don’t even know that He’s working through us. I love this family, I love you guys so very much. I pray you have a blessed day today.

Dear Eyes of a Dove, I just heard your call on April the 11th and I just want you to know I am so sorry. I know this feeling of exhaustion, the fear and not knowing what will happen next. Two years ago, I experienced something similar. God gave me the wisdom and strength to let go of my fiancé in the pain, I loved him enough to let him go and place him into the Lord’s hands. To let God, do what He’s famous for. God will bless your obedience. I heard you say he took a job as a trucker and you don’t know how that will help. But like Brian said about Joshua and the walls of Jericho, God works in the most unexpected ways. I will be praying for you sister, you’re not alone and we will be holding your arms up like Aaron and Her did for Moses, we will be holding you up. I love you, love your sister Ashlee in California.

Hello DAB family, this is Atesia calling. I just called prior with the news that I lost my father. He passed away at 92 a couple weeks ago, March 22. His wife, my mother, passed away this Monday, April 4th. I’m calling because I want to get out to respect her as well. I’m so grateful that I am able to share with you, the sadness of these occurrences. I don’t share with family. But thank you for allowing me to share my mourning with you and I know you’re praying and I pray for you. I am grateful. Thank you Brian and Jill. So, my mother left her husband, her man, her entire hero and so, now they rest together. And I feel blessed for it, but I am very sad. I loved them very much. Thank you for allowing me to share, God bless my friends.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Robbie from Canada. I would like to repent. I am perhaps the most double minded Christian that’s ever walked this planet. I often feel like I’m the worst Christian on the planet, but I just want to repent right now because I feel God’s spirit in me and I just, I have to be all in, like Brian was saying today, April 11th Jesus asked us all or nothing and oh wow, I just, that’s the key. And so, I just wanted to just thank you for that Brian, thank you for your ministry and yeah, it’s like you slay me. I trust you, like Job said, it’s so important to have that level of faith. Our bodies are a living sacrifices for God. So, I just wanted to repent and ask for prayer to give me faith and to walk out my whole life in faith and to acknowledge Him in all my ways. I have not been doing that. So far, my life has not been a good testimony for the Lord. So, I want that to change, okay. God bless you all. Thank you.

Good morning family, this is Erin in Michigan and it is what, April 12th today. But I just finished listening to April 9th, so I’m a little behind but I keep on, keeping on. So, Brian, thank you, Jill, China, Ben, Ezekiel, thank you so much for this wonderful podcast. And thank you for answering God’s call. So, I was listening to the April 9th podcast and it was about healing the daughter of Abraham and 18 years being bent over and you know, just being. And right now, friends, I am, you know, a year out from my really big break up and trying to heal from that and trying to look at my behavior and within that I see addiction and within that I see the way that I have learned to deal with things and where I found my worth in the past and where I continue, sometimes, to look for my worth instead of to Jesus, to look for my identity and worth in Jesus. And it just really struck me today that, you know, for over 18 years now I have been bent over with this addiction and couldn’t straighten up and couldn’t stand tall and couldn’t stand worthy in the face of God’s love. And now, I understand Sabbath are no, He asked me to, He asked me to stand up and asked me to be whole and I just praise You. So, today’s, you know, the ninth, that’s not today’s message but the message from April 9th really just blessed my soul. Thank you, Brian, thank you for your obedience to God. And friends, if you look in the mirror and or if you’re shown a picture of you by people that is not, that is not whole and that is not who Jesus sees us. Let us deny that. Alright, thanks friends, have a great day.

Joshua 5:1-7:15, Luke 15:1-32, Psalms 81:1-16, Proverbs 13:1

Today is the 12^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today and every day as we take the steps forward that lead us through the Scriptures. And our next step is in front of us. We’re moving into this brand-new book of Joshua and we’re moving into the promised land. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Joshua chapter 5 verse 1 through 7 verse 15.

Commentary:

Okay. In gospel of Luke today Jesus is being questioned about why He is hanging out with sinners. He even eats with the outcasts. And, so, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law are grumbling, and Jesus responds with three examples about why He is doing what He is doing and these are famous passages. In the first one we have the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one lost sheep and when he finds it he is so happy that he celebrates. And obviously in this example, the lost sheep, the one are the sinners. And, so, Jesus is basically saying through His life and through His actions that He is hanging out with the people that need to be found. And then He talks about a woman who's…who had 10 silver coins, but lost one of them. 10% of what she had she lost. And, so, she lights a lamp and sweeps her house and looks everywhere until she finds it, and when she does it’s such a relief that she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, “I’m happy I found the coin. Let’s celebrate.” And then Jesus says to those two examples, “in the same way I tell you the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents.” And then to drive this point home we come to the very very famous story of the prodigal son. And that is such a famous story that thousands of messages have been given over millennia and this has been looked at from every single angle. But in its context Jesus is responding to the religious leaders and the Pharisees about why He is associating himself with outcasts and sinners. In the story of the prodigal son we have the father, we have the son who does no depart, and we have the son who goes to his father and says give my give me my inheritance early I’m gonna go make my way in the world. And his father does give him what he has coming to him, and he goes and blows it on crazy living. Meanwhile, the father and his other son continue to run the family business while the other son is away doing what he’s doing. Eventually the son that has run off runs out of resources. Finds himself in foreign city in a foreign land and no money. Famine has come upon the land, and he’s got a job and the job is to feed the pigs. But he doesn’t even have enough to eat. And he comes to this awareness that he…he doesn’t deserve to be a son anymore. He can’t just go crawling back to his dad and have any kind of expectation that there’s anything there for him. He chose to leave but he knows his father’s an honorable person and his father has workers. And, so, maybe he could at least get a job with this dad. It would be better to work for his father than it would be to be in this foreign land with no money, and famine, and slopping the pigs. And, so, he heads home, and I quote from the gospel of Luke, “he was still a long way from home when his father saw him.” I’m a father and I have sons and when I think about this story, and I think about my own kids, like I can put myself in the story. The father’s heart was filled with pity, and he ran and threw his arms around his son and kissed him. So, we have the posture of heart of the runaway son, the prodigal son. He now believes and has come to the awareness that he doesn’t deserve anything. He doesn’t even deserve to be called the son. He’s just looking for a place to be near his father, and a place to work. He doesn’t deserve…like he’s come to that place in his life where he realizes he’s not as good as he thinks he is and he needs help, he needs his father. And, so, he says to his father, “I have sinned against God and against you, and I am no longer fit to be called your son.” In this story we put ourselves in this position understanding that we reach this point where we realize we don’t deserve anything from our father. We don’t deserve anything from God. He doesn’t owe us anything. We live our lives kind of entitled, like He does like he’s our squire, we’re gonna say the magic prayers, He’s gonna get right on it because He loves us. And He does. But we can’t fully appreciate the depth of that kind of love until we realize completely and wholeheartedly how much we do not deserve anything. Right? This prodigal son didn’t come back with his head held high, freshly washed, robe with a bunch of arrogance. He came back knowing exactly the truth, he deserves nothing. When a person reaches that point in their life compassion begins to flow, and we see that in this story from the father who saw him from a distance. His heart was filled with pity, and he ran and threw his arms around his son and kissed him. It’s as if his son has come back from the dead, has come back from far off. And the father is so overjoyed that’s a great feast happens, which is when we get to see the son that didn’t leave and his posture. And his posture is he doesn’t want anything to do with the party for the son who left. He doesn’t want anything to do with his brother. He’s mad at his father because he has stayed faithful. He has been faithful. He has obeyed his father. He has done what he’s supposed to do, and he feels like he never got rewarded. The brother who took off and blew his money and destroyed his life and has come back empty-handed with his hat in his hand gets a big feast. And in this story, this is an opportunity for us to examine our own selves. But in this story, these are the people that are like the scribes and the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law. They’ve been trying to do the right thing. And a sinner can come in and get a party when they worked their whole lives to not be a sinner. That doesn’t seem fair. I mean, doesn’t living a godly life and actually really devoting yourself to God count for something? Why is it that sinners get all the celebrations? These are the kinds of things that the son who didn’t leave confronts his father with. Or to just read it from the Scriptures, “the son said to his father, look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends. But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him.” So, he’s basically saying, look, I have been loyal. I have been faithful. I have been a good son. I have stayed here with you. I have worked for you, and you have given me nothing. And this person who has taken advantage of you comes back and we throw a big party? And it really exposes the rub, doesn’t it? We can see why the son would be mad. He’s been faithful. He’s been loyal. He’s obeyed. He’s done the right thing. And it can be easy for us to put ourselves in a position. Like I’ve been trying to walk with God by faith for so long. And yes, the Lord is with me. And yes, the Lord comes through, but I will look out in the world, and I see the sinners just having a heyday and I’m trying to just be faithful and survive when everybody around me who doesn’t care anything about the Lord seems to be having a far greater life. It’s here that the father brings perspective. “My son, the father answered. You are always here with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be happy because your brother was dead, but now he’s alive. He was lost but now he has been found.” So, the perspective for the one, the faithful son, the one who obeyed, the one who didn’t leave is the reminder that he never left his father’s presence and everything his father has belongs to him. The beauty and the brilliance of a parable like this one is there are three characters in this story and any one of those characters we can put ourselves in that position and look at this story from that position and understand perspective all the way around. We can understand the person who leaves his father and takes his inheritance and blows it and ruins his life and becomes broken and then returns. We can understand the position of the father who loves both of his children and can be nothing but overjoyed at the return of his child who was lost to him. All of that without losing any love for the faithful son who never left. The faithful son who never left has always been with them. They are close. They are working together. He will receive his inheritance. Everything that the father owns will belong to that son. But we can also see the perspective of the son who’s like, I’m trying to do the right thing here. I’m trying to walk the narrow path, and everything that I see around me shows me that everyone else is prosperous. What am I doing this for? Of course, the answer to that comes from the father. You are always here with me, right? You are here in my presence and everything I have is yours. So, let’s spend some time today just rethinking this story. It’s very famous. We probably already know it very well. But If we consider the different facets, if we consider the different characters in the story we find out a lot about ourselves because the perspective of each person in this story is something that we can reflect upon and even identify with.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into this. All that we’re reading today is an answer to the question about why You would hang out with people that seem to be the riffraff of the world, that seem to be the outcasts of the world, the sinners of the world, the people that aren’t doing the right thing. And we realize that that has been each one of us and we can grow incredibly arrogant as we walk with You and look down upon other people that You love deeply and are awaiting their return. May we share in that joy with You when another one who was lost is found. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are, as I’ve mentioned many times a number of resources in a number of categories to take this journey deeper. Everything from coffee to things to wear, but also written resources to dive deeper. The God of Your story is one such book. It is a daily 365 deep dive into the things that we talk about here on the Daily Audio Bible in written form, or then there’s other books. Reframe, from the God we’ve made to God with us, a deep dive on what it means to be in a relationship with God, or Sneezing Jesus, what Jesus’ humanity means to our humanity, or there is Promise Land, photographs from the land of the Bible. A beautiful coffee table edition that lets us…lets us flip the pages really easy. A beautiful art piece that allows us to just look into these little windows into these pictures and see the land of the Bible where so many of these pivotal things that we’re reading about happened. Yeah, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with a Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or 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 which would be the little red button up at the top. Can’t miss it. 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:

Dear Lord, we lift up Liz from Louisiana to You. She has a medical school board exam on April 30^th and I…I just lift her up to You and I ask for You to free her mind, give her peace and confidence so that the answers that she already knows flow to her freely and easily as she ponders each question. Make her brain work the way it’s supposed to work chemically electrically and spiritually so that there’s no blocking and no anxiety during this test Lord. And Liz, I ask you to pray this same thing. Pray for God to give you the peace and the confidence and to show you the answers while you’re taking this test and even while you’re studying for it so that the anxiety melts away. It is in Jesus’ name that I do pray this. Amen. It’s your brother Bart from Kentucky and I’m walking in the light.

Hey DAB family this is I Lean on the Lord from San Angelo TX and I am calling in for Liz from Louisiana. Sweet girl you have worked so hard to this point and boards are intimidating. You will do fine. You have committed yourself to an education. You have dedicated yourself in studies and have taken examinations along the way to show that you are competent. That information is in your mind. Ask the Lord continuously for His peace and that you are able to recall the information that you do know and that you have committed to memory. You are going to be a fabulous doctor. You are compassionate and kind and your love the Lord and he has great plans for you. So, Father I come before You and I ask that You do give Your peace, Your wisdom to Liz as she studies for her board, Father that in the midst of the peace that You bless her with she is able to recall the information that she knows. Father, we thank You for the calling You have placed on her life to be able to heal people, help people, love on people and share You through the profession that You have called her to. And it’s in Jesus name that I pray. Liz you’ve put a lot of work into this and you will do well. Finally, I want to thank the DAB family for being there, praying, sending encouragement, joys that you share. Brian and the Hardin family thank you so much. I’ve been a part of this community as a result of a dear friend Kathy Brown introducing me to this, I don’t know four or five years ago and it is it’s a blessing between the reading of the scripture, the commentary, and then getting to know the family around the campfire. So, love you DAB family. I lean on the Lord from Texas.

Hi, this message is for Aaron who called in for April 8^th. You had recently been diagnosed with AML and then on top of that had been diagnosed with fungal lesions in your brain both of which are putting you in a pretty dire state. And you said you were…you were like I’m not sure how God’s gonna pull this off. And, so, I just want to encourage you. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with AML about 20 years ago and about a few days into her treatment for AML she was also diagnosed with a rare blood disorder of TPT. And the treatment for the TPT aggravated the AML and the treatment for the AML aggravated the… We were in dire straits. We threw ourselves at the mercy seat of God. And I want you to know that she was healed of both of those diseases. And the doctors could not explain it, they were like we don’t know how you survived all that. But we knew that it was the grace of God and His healing hand upon her. So, she lived an additional 15 years past all of that and then she had another round of AML which unfortunately took her life in February 2020. But I just want to encourage you that I have seen God heal people from two different diseases that should have taken them out. And, so, brother I’m praying for you. I…I just know that God can touch you and he can bring about something that we cannot even ask for or imagine in this natural life. But his supernatural power goes beyond all those things to do what He does. And, so, I’ll be praying for you. This is Iva from Ohio.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for the daughter Genesis who is cutting herself and she’s going through things and trying to…suicidal thoughts. I want to pray for my precious baby and I want to pray for Susan who’s calling from Mississippi about her son and his wife who are on drugs and how she’s taking care of the child and praying that the children that are there will get with the child and realize it’s not the child’s fault and give her love because she really needs love and pray that that the son and his wife will lose their desire for drugs and God will heal them. Want to pray for Dana also. She called for prayer for her brother…Annie who called for prayer for her brother and I want to pray for Ben and Sarah who’s trying to adopt their child in Liberia and pray that everything goes fine. Gracious Father You have Your way. In the name of Jesus, You have Your way with that precious girl that’s cutting herself, that precious girl that doesn’t know with the confusion. Lord, I rebuke the enemy on every hand that is trying to take that child’s life and trying to do evil things to her life. Lord, You deliver her with Your mighty hand. Lord, You have Your way in the lives of those precious mother and Father that are both on drugs. Lord, You just…You curse the…You curse the desire of the drug Lord and give them…give them…clean…clean out the cobwebs of their lives and give them the strength to get over it Lord and to move on, Lord to be delivered from it with Your mighty hand and bless that precious little girl to give those others so much love that they can never resist even if they try. Father, You have Your way. You bless that mother for being the mother that You’re calling for, a mother that can take in her grandchildren and wants to do it with all her heart. Lord, I ask You to bless that house tremendously in the name of Jesus…

Just before Covid started I was on one of my walks which takes me through a little park area with an old mill and I saw this little squirrel. He would be running back and forth. And I thought, you know what, I’ll take him some peanuts next time. So, I did. And I put the peanuts all over and watched as he ran around and got them but. Be wouldn’t do it when I was near him. So…but I gradually started to get closer to him and closer to him. Well, within a couple years this…this…this squirrel knows me so well he would come running when the car drives up and the car isn’t close to…to where he is. As I step out, I’d see him running and I’d say, how did he know hits me? And I read up about the squirrel and apparently squirrels are able to…to discern your footsteps. I said oh, that’s why he knows them coming. So, we gradually got to the place where I could hold the peanuts in my hand, and he would come and take them out, put them in my purse and he’d come and take them out. I named him Zoomer because we were in the age of zooming. But they found later on that it was a girl because it had babies. So, the name has changed to Zuma. So, as I’m thinking about that, that squirrel knows my footsteps. God knows everything about us. The little hair on our heads He has numbered. And, so, I know that He’s watching over us and trying to gather us in His arms as we’re going through such difficult moments. So, I just want to remind you all, God sees our tears. He hears every prayer, and He answers. Maybe it’s not the way we want but He does. I love you all. Have a wonderful weekend. Soaring on Eagles wings.

Joshua 3:1-4:24, Luke 14:7-35, Psalm 80:1-19, Proverbs 12:27-28

Today is the 11th day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today as we continue our journey forward. Yesterday, as we began this brand-new shiny sparkly week we transitioned away from the Book of Deuteronomy, completing that and began the Book of Joshua which is where we are now in preparation to finally, like this mythic land of the Promised Land, is a land we are about to set foot in. So, let’s take the next step forward. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week, Joshua chapters 3 and 4.

Commentary/Prayer:

Jesus, we love You and as we read the narrative in the Gospel of Luke today, we see very, very abundantly clear that a relationship with You is an all or nothing proposition. It is always on, never off, on going, all or nothing, it’s to love You with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is fully given over, and You’v told to us today by example, to count the cost, to understand what’s going on here, be clearheaded about it. This is all or nothing and we can think about that and think about what we’re gonna lose by sacrificing our rights and wrongs and everything that we hold onto. When what You are doing is inviting us to understand that it was never ours in the first place. Everything that we have, has been given to us by Your hand, including the next breath. We are grateful, we are thankful You are giving us a perspective, a way of looking at things, that You love us and You have gone all in, including sacrificing Your very life. And so that’s how this works. We in turn, do the same, to be living sacrifice is available to You for whatever You want to do. And we confess that, that at times is fair and at other times we are so distracted, we wouldn’t know what You wanted us to do. So, these things have to change and they are because You are sanctifying us and transforming us and so, knowing that this is an all in thing, lets us know where we are going. And the things that we would cling to that would pull us away from You are going to be the things that we won’t be able to cling to. So come, Holy Spirit, set our hearts posture, that we might fall deeply in love with You irreversibly, in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base and that’s, that…that’s where you go and find what’s going on. The Daily Audio Bible app, is also available and you can download that free from the app store that’s connected to your phone and you can do the same things from within the app, so check that out. Check out the different sections like the Community Section. In the Community Section, there are links to get connected on social media, the different social media channels that we participate in, check that out. But it’s also the home of the Prayer Wall and the Prayer Wall is just, it…it’s like this amazing resource where we can always, no matter what’s going on, no matter what time of day it is, no matter how things have gone we can always come to our brothers and sisters and tell the story but we can also hold our brothers and sisters arms up. We can intercede and pray for them and let them know that we’re praying for them, go there just pray for our brothers and sisters and what a relief it is to do that. And so, yeah, the Prayer Wall is a beautiful thing that we have, it’s always available to us that can be found in the Community Section on the web or in the app, so check that out. 

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we shared together to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone, anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night and to build community around the rhythm so that we know we’re not alone. We know we’re in this together. If that is life-giving to you, then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage and 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, 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 Daily Audio Bible Family, this is Jimmy from the East Coast. I just wanted to say a couple prayers for some of the DABers. The young lady whose brother left home after a bad fight, which kind of left her little bit upset. I just pray for her and her family that the Lord’s love and peace will be of over them and I pray that her brothers heart will change, and soften and come back home. I just pray peace over her at night, I know she worries. And I pray blessing over that family. And I also would like to pray for Shanda who is trying to be a good mother and matriarch and wife in her family by, you know, curbing those desires to spend a little here and there, comfort, I understand. I’m both sides of the coin. I am, I used to be like your husband, the one doing the bills and now I’m the only one and sometimes it gets to me to and even if it’s just make coffee at home. It helps, so I just pray and I thank you that you and I know God thinks that you are thinking about it and you’re wanting to change. That’s all that matters. And I just pray that God will give you the strength to do so and if there’s anything underlining that He will show you. I pray blessing and peace over your family.

This message is for God’s Chosen. My name is Mother Many and I am from Georgia also. I heard your prayer request this morning and my heart went out to you. I want to encourage you by letting you know that the Lord is with you. He hears your cry, He sees and collects every tear that you cry. Know that the Lord your God is with you; He will strengthen you and deliver you. Isaiah 41:10 tells us, Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thou God, I will strengthen thee, yeah I will help thee, I will uphold thee with my righteous right hand. So, know that the Lord is with you, know that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Cast your cares upon the Lord because He cares for you. This is Mother Many in Georgia. I am new to Audio Bible for less than a year but I thank you Brian and all the Hardin family and I pray daily for all of the DAB family. May God Bless you all. 

Good morning, this is Dr. Mark from Alexandra, Virginia calling into to pray for 12-year-old Genesis and for her mom. Father God, in the name of Jesus we come before You at this time bringing You Genesis before You, asking You Lord, as You will deliver her from thoughts of suicide Lord God. We pray for her, Lord God that You will send her friends, Godly friends, who would be there for her. Who will be able to lead her in the path of righteousness, my God. Holy Spirit, You would speak to her heart and let her know that she is loved and that she is Your daughter. While I pray that You would speak to her heart and let her know that God, that she is special. And I pray for mom, who is asking for discernment. I pray that the discernment of the Holy Spirit would grant mom the wisdom that she needs in order to love her through this process. Thank You Father God for all that You’re doing. Praying for all the DABers and I pray that You would keep us …

Hey friends, this is Eyes of a Dove. This morning I, try to get through this without crying. I am not engaged to Billy anymore. I gave him his ring back last night. And preparing to move me and my kids to the Ravensdell Home alone. And I’m just feeling scared and I’m exhausted, I cried all night. I called a couple friends, prayed. The budget will be tight with me carrying everything. Pray God gives me finances and income to be able to support my three kids on my own. Just pray for Billy and I that, if it is in the end that God makes it as least painful as possible. I don’t know. It’s a really hard time. He wants time alone with his daughter, I don’t want to be in a relationship out of wedlock after four years. So, he’s decided for the summer we shall be separate, live separate.  And he’s also picked up a trucking job, so now he’s going to be gone every other week, on the road. I don’t know how this is gonna help our relationship if he’s gone all the time. So, just pray for us.

Hello, this is Morning Star from Canada. I just want to, just say hello to Richard the Taxi Driver from Montreal. I heard you share today and I love it when you call in. I’m actually from Montreal, I’m not living in Montreal right now but that’s where I was born and raised, in Montreal. And just hearing your voice makes me miss Montreal. So, I just want to say hello to you Richard, The Taxi Driver and God Bless. I also want to pray for the gentlemen who called in, in regards to, I believe its Leukemia, something like that and some brain issues. And I just want to pray for you and just let you know that just, hearing your voice and your request just really broke my heart. Not only because of that situation that you are in but because of the great courage you have and that is rare and I know it comes from the Lord and I’m thanking Him. Thank the Lord for your courage but I also pray that God will be merciful to you and will touch you in a very special and miraculous way. Lastly, just for, I believe it was a gal named Liz. She was calling about some medical exams that she is, struggles with, depression and of course I can only imagine what that would be like after studying for so, for so long. So, we just pray Holy Spirit that You will just be with Liz. We pray oh God, that You will help her to focus and help her to remember everything that she’s been taught. We just leave her in your care. Thank you DABers. Have a great day.

Deuteronomy 34:1 - Joshua 2:24, Luke 13:22-14:6, Psalms 79:1-13, Proverbs 12:26

Today is the 10^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s wonderful to be here with you today. It always is wonderful when come to the threshold of a brand-new week and swing open the door and walk through it together and sense of fresh start. It’s all out in front of us waiting for us to live. We get to live this week and tell the story of God…God’s goodness with our lives. And speaking of new beginnings we have a new beginning today. So, we will conclude the book of Deuteronomy which means we will conclude the Torah or the Pentateuch, which means we will complete the first grouping of books in our year. And, so, if we’ve been using the Daily Audio Bible app and checking off our days we’ll see, we’ll get the tour badge. We’ll see that we have accomplished this grouping of books, which invariably means we will be moving it at some new territory. So, we’ll finish Deuteronomy today and begin the next book, which is the book of Joshua. And we’ll talk about that in a few minutes, but first we’re reading from the good news translation this week. Deuteronomy chapter 34.

Introduction to the book of Joshua:

Will transcribe later today… 

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for this brand-new shiny sparkly week that we are entering and we thank you for this transition into some new territory in the story that we’ve been following. Now we are looking into the promised land. Now we have this new leader. And, so, Holy Spirit come as we move into that, into those stories and to those people’s lives, that you would allow the Scriptures to be a mirror into our own souls, and that you lead and guide and direct us on the narrow path that leads to life. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DABbers this is Judy I’m calling from New York and I just want to lift God’s Chosen from Georgia up in prayer. I felt you sister. I felt you. I know what it means to walk in the wilderness, to have such difficult times in our lives and to feel like God is not with us. You know, that is the lies of the enemy when he comes to us and wants to show us how we are alone, and God is not with us, that’s the enemy. I pray sister that you will feel Him lifting you up. He is your Jehovah Jireh. He is enough. He is enough sister. He is enough and He will pull you through whatever it is that you are going through whatever it is that you’re struggling with. He knows, He sees, He feels, and He will pull you up sister. Do not give up. Do not give in. Keep pressing on even if it means crawling. Do it. Keep pressing on. God loves you very much. God loves you sister. I felt you because I’ve been there. I’ve been there. I’ve been there. And the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hi this is Daddy’s Girl from Wichita KS April the 5^th. I was listening to the Community Prayer on April the second when I heard a heart crying out saying I’m not OK I’m not OK. It was a woman whose mother died in 2013. She said her mother had been sick for a while and she had a chance to be alone with her. She whispered in her ear and said it’s OK go, be with Jesus, that she and her siblings would be OK. And shortly after that her mother died. She said after that she has not been OK since. She needs her mom. As my husband and I were listening to her story I asked the Lord what should I do for her. This is what came to me. Just hold her in the spirit as a mother would. Just hold her close in my arms and rock her and pat her on her back and say you are OK, you are OK. It’s going to be OK. Whisper in her ear it is OK to live. Your mom is OK and she wants you to live and be happy. Don’t worry about her. It took a lot of courage to let your mom go to Jesus. She knew you would be OK. The devil has been telling you all these years that you were wrong to let her go. No. You did the right thing. Weeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning. Let go and let God bring you into His joy. Your mom is OK. So, when you start to see and feel better and know you’re OK your relationship with your daughter will get better and will become OK. God bless you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello this is Jeff from Canada I am part of a DAB family but I’m also part of the DAB Kids family. My two sons and I listen every single night to Ezekiel and whoever attends, and I just want to tell you community if you are…if you have children and you are not going through the…the new testament in a year with Ezekiel you need to do it. He’s doing a great job. It’s actually been very fantastic for us. We’ve been been able to learn a lot about the scriptures and talk and pray about that. Wanted to first of all play pray for Annie. It’s April the 6^th and you said you’re part of the DAB Kids and your brother had a fight with your mom and had left. And we’re just praying for your brother that he will come home and God would touch his heart in Jesus’ name. And just wanted to say thank you Ezekiel. You’re doing an amazing job and we’re super excited to do our nightly devotions in reading the word of God with you and your family. God bless.

Hey siblings it’s your little sis His little Cherry in Canada. Beloved in Boston soon to be beloved in… I am praying for you. I heard your message how your family is calling feeling caught to moved thousands of miles away from your people and your church. It’s really difficult for you. Your three middle school girls are having real trouble with it, especially your daughter Emma who’s finishing grade eight. Wow. It’s like a flashback because I was Emma and I want…I want you to know that when at the end of grade eight my parents told us that we were moving from the big city to the middle of nowhere to pastor a little country church I simply refused to go. I was not going to leave my middle school science teacher who I was desperately in love with and destined to marry someday to go to the middle of nowhere. And I told my parents I hated them. I did everything that I could do to make them miserable. But you know what happened? They prayed and God did a miracle in my heart. And it may have involved a really cute guy in this little town in the middle of nowhere but that’s beside the point. I decided that I was willing to go after all and once I went, I loved the little town. I loved rural life and I flourished, and I blossomed there like I can’t describe to you. And today I’m so close with my parents. Honestly, I love them dearly and I go see them as often as I can. I just want to encourage you that you follow God’s leading wherever it leads you and He will deal with your daughters and with their hearts and with their destinies and He will do miracles in them and in your family. I love you I’m praying for you.

Good morning this is Mandy calling from Cork in Ireland and this is a shout out to God chosen in Georgia. She rang in requesting prayer because she’s in a dark place and needs God’s strength to carry on. Father God, we lift up our sister God’s Chosen in Georgia and ask that You would give her strength and give her the will to carry on. Amen.

Deuteronomy 33:1-29, Luke 13:1-21, Psalm 78:65-72, Proverbs 12:25

Today is the ninth day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you today, around the Global Campfire, moving forward, step-by-step, day-by-day, bringing another one of our weeks to a close. We have been reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week, which is what we’ll do today and we have been reading from the Book of Deuteronomy for quite a while now, we’ll continue that today. Today, Deuteronomy chapter 33.

Commentary:

Okay, real quick, let’s talk about what we read in the Gospel of Luke today. Yesterday, we sort of discussed when Jesus was saying, “did you think I came to bring peace on the earth, I didn’t come to bring peace but a sword or division”. And we talked about how it wasn’t Jesus, like with a dark side. Rather, it was Jesus revealing a picture of how humanity was designed to be and the contrast with how it is and this brings division. We have an example of this today, that can really stand for all…all the other examples in the Gospel because we see it all the time. So, let me just quote “as He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called out to her, “Woman, you are free of your disability.” Then He laid His hands on her, and instantly she was restored and began to glorify God.” Right, so we read paragraphs like that in the Gospels a lot, all the time. And we read those paragraphs and go, Jesus is amazing, He’s amazing, He’s beautiful. We go, who wouldn’t flock to this? But here’s the other side of that, I continue “But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done; therefore come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.”” Okay, so Jesus didn’t do anything wrong. Jesus brought the kingdom, Jesus revealed the kingdom, Jesus showed us that this was supposed to be normal, that freedom and restoration and healing, like this is…this is how it was meant to be. But even though Jesus was doing good, it still caused division and Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of it. So, I quote “But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it to the water? Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for 18 years-shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day”? So, there it is, like that an encapsulation of what Jesus was saying and this was normal for Jesus. Jesus was revealing the kingdom and the kingdom was coming and people were being restored and healed and just rejuvenated in their soul, and yet the powerful people, the religious elite people were plotting to kill Jesus at the same time. Where this becomes important for us, beyond just simply understanding the context here, is whether or not we find ourselves in that same kind of scenario. Synagogue leaders, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the teachers of the law, these are educated people who know what they’re talking about but they are also interpreting what they are talking about and forcing it upon the people. And so, Jesus is calling out this thing, like shouldn’t a daughter of Abraham be untied on the Sabbath day, if a donkey or a colt can be. The religious leadership, their determination was no, she should not be healed. Nobody can do any work on the Sabbath day. So, if we zoom out and say okay that, that is a specific argument, about a specific point of law, let’s just consider how we feel about things. And if we see someone doing something that we do not think is right or that they should be doing and yet God is with them and they are pure in heart and they see it a little bit different, but God is with them. And if we find our heart in a judgmental position then we have found ourselves in the position of the religious elite, who plotted and succeeded in assassinating Jesus. So, when Jesus tells us in the Gospels, judge not lest you be judged, we see that it touches so many different areas of our lives but we simply can’t ignore it.

Prayer:

And so, Jesus we’re not ignoring it, we’re welcoming You into it. The fact that You have given us the breath of life and allowed us to be on this adventure of life with You, doing Your work in this world, is incredibly humbling. So often our own wounds and our own judgments have us pitted against other brothers and sisters who love You and who are Your children and we see this going all the way back into the time that You were here, where some people would rather that another person be kept in bondage because of this day of the week that it is. Help us to not be that way, help us to be awake, aware, vigilant and surrendered. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base, that is where you can go to find out what is going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app, will also let you do that as well, it does all the same things. So, you get the Daily Audio Bible app from your app store, whatever app store is connected to the device that you use. Just search for Daily Audio Bible and you should be able to find it, so check that out. And while you’re checking things out, check out the Community Section of the website or on the app, that’s where the Prayer Wall lives, that’s were different links to get connected are. Also, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a number of categories there with resources that are…that are only for the journey that we’re on, there for us as a community here, so check those out as well, in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what’s happening here around the Global Campfire is meaningful to your life, then 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 P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, TN 37174.

And of course, as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little 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:

This is for the precious, precious sister that called from Georgia this morning, April 6th, who was praying, crying out for strength. Oh, my sister, my heart broke for you. I’ve been in that place where you’re lost and at the end of your rope. And I want you to know that I will be praying for you and that God has heard your prayer. And when we come at the end of our rope, is when He steps in. I know that there’s gonna be many, many that will be praying for you. Please know that you are loved, that you will be carried, and that God will show up, He never rejects anyone, ever. Bless you, my dear sister.

Good morning, today is April 6th and this message is for God’s Chosen in Georgia. God’s Chosen, first, I would like to say, I live in Georgia. I wish I could meet you personally to help encourage you, but I want to say this morning, I don’t know what you’re going through but looks very, sounds very severe. I wanted to pray in the name of Jesus. Father, that You would undergird her today. Father, that this sister will feel Your arms around her today, oh God. Lord, whatever battle she’s fighting, You said that we have already won, that we are more than victoriously, that we’re more than conquerors. Father, I pray today in the name of Jesus, that You would make Your presence known to her oh God. Father, that You will intervene and whatever challenge and whatever the situation is, oh God, whether it’s physical, emotional, financial oh God, Father, spiritual, that the battle already won. Lord, I pray that You would cover her today in the name of Jesus, surround her with Your guardian angels oh God. Undergird her oh God. Lord, I would love to stand even beside her physically Lord, if I can reach her. Father, help us oh God, to be a community Lord, that we can encourage and lift and build up in Jesus name. God’s Chosen, trust the Lord today. Turn to Him with all your heart, cry out to him. He knows your need. He hears your pain; we hear your pain. We love you and we supporting you. We’re praying for you; we’re lifting you up. He will be the fourth man in your fiery furnace, He will be the one that calms the storm. He is the way maker. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the bread of life. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Father, I thank you today, oh God, that God’s Chosen will be delivered oh God, from the pain, whatever she’s going through. You’re the only One who can do it, oh God. We stand in the gap with her. Lord, we lift up her hands, oh God, like Aaron held up Moses’ hand, oh God. We stand beside her oh God, and we bring a prayer request to You in the name of Jesus. And we thank You for…

Hi DAB family, it’s Pam, His Ransom Soul in New Jersey. I wanted to reach out to the young man who called in to the March 31st podcast and referred to himself as a spiritual misfit. I’m only gonna use that term once here darling, because that is not what nor whom you are, despite the fact that you feel like one. You’ve burned yourself with a lot of needless, meaningless labels. Listen, labels or for canned goods and medicine bottles, not human beings. Please know, there’s no Christian umbrella under which our Lord asks or wants you to stand. He just wants you to stand at the foot of the cross of Christ and give Him your heart. Can I tell you, that many of us here probably haven’t had a straight simple, easy, and definitely not a perfect walk of faith either, myself included. And as cliché as this sounds, it’s a fact that we’re all a work in progress. Right now, you’re knowing and believing the truth that Jesus loves you is key and I’m so thankful it’s kept you from harming yourself whenever you were in a dark place. My prayer for you going forward, is that you truly see yourself as our merciful and grace filled Lord God sees you. His beautiful beloved child, created in his image, bought with and covered by the precious blood of his son Jesus. You are the one for whom are good Shephard leaves behind the 99 to find because Jesus loves you and said do we and so do I. I’m pray for you darling.

Hey DAB family, this is Kirstie in the Kingdom, both heavenly and united. I’m just out walking my dogs in the rain and listening to today’s podcast which, oh gosh, it had rained in the background as well, it there was just this overwhelming sense of peace, as I was listening to all your prayer requests. And I did want to just call in and pray that peace over the DAB family. So, Father God, I just pray that You would come and meet each person of this massive family, where they’re at right now, Lord. I pray that Your peace that passes all understanding would fall down upon on them and fill them with Your love and that gentleness and that whisper of You that can calm even the most tormented soul. I pray that You would flow in and around their days and their workplaces and that they would just feel this overwhelming sense of peace as they go about their day, no matter what their current circumstances are, no matter how difficult things are, I pray that each member of this family would encounter and feel Your peace today. In Jesus name. Amen. I do hope that you feel blessed and feel peaceful this day.

Hey siblings, it’s your little sis, His Little Sharee in Canada. I just wanted to call and encourage someone who may be listening to this and encourage myself too. That it’s not too late for God to do a miracle. It may seem like it, it may feel it, the damage may have been done decades ago and it doesn’t seem like there’s anyway to fix what’s broken but God. But God. I look to Him for redemption and I’m just praying that God would give us courage and faith to believe that it is not too late. We don’t know how he’s gonna do it, we don’t know exactly what He’s going to do, but God is the God of redemption. That’s my timer, letting me know it’s not too late. Love you guys.  

Deuteronomy 32:28-52, Luke 12:35-59, Psalms 78:56-64, Proverbs 12:24

Today is the 8^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian I am thrilled to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. And that next step forward together has been back into the book of Deuteronomy for a while now, and that’s where we’re going today, back into the book of Deuteronomy. We have a couple of days left. And then when we begin a new week we will also be transitioning into some new territory in the Old Testament. But for now, we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 28 through 52. And just by way of reminder from yesterday, a song was given to Moses to teach the people because God was warning and also foretelling that when things got easy for them, and they were in the promised land they would begin to slide away. And, so, God gave Moses the song that he taught the people and we’re reading the words to that song, and we began that yesterday. We will conclude today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in our reading from the Gospel of Luke today Jesus is basically illustrating through parable what vigilance and awareness looks like and requiring this, vigilance and awareness, that we are alert and situationally aware of what is going on around us, and that doesn’t just mean the circumstances that we can proceed with our five physical senses. That means what’s going on in our hearts. Because the vigilance and the awareness is supposed to be about what God is doing within us and within others and then collectively through the hearts of mankind in the world. And, so, this posture of being alert, of being aware of being ready, of having things prepared. We see this throughout…well…we’ll see this throughout the rest of the New Testament. And there’s context for that. They needed to be aware. Like, there were a lot of things coming against them. But it’s not like there’s not a lot coming against us. We need to be alert and aware of what’s going on, which requires us to take at least one step back from being full-bore full-blown going hard charging ahead. Like if we’re dialed up to 11, we need to turn down to 9 and take a step back because we don’t have any margin. If we are racing at 11 in every area of our lives all of the time, then all we can ever do is react when something happens that was not expected. But if we take a couple steps back and dial it down a little bit then we have a bit of margin. And then when the unexpected happens we have margin to deal with it and we’re not just reacting because it’s those three actions when we live reactionary to everything that is happening around us, we can get ourselves in trouble so quickly. But if we are vigilant and aware and see and see what’s happening in our hearts and have the margin before we just spout off a bunch of paragraphs that we should never say to anybody, then we can allow the Holy Spirit into that margin to lead us into all truth. And, so, Jesus is talking about vigilance but then He comes to something that is famous but is like, “how does this work?” And, so, I’m quoting Jesus here. “I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze, but I have a baptism to undergo and how it consumes me until it is finished. Do you think I came here to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” And then He goes on to talk about how different family members will be against other family members. And it’s like, how does that work because this is the prince of peace, right? Peace on earth, goodwill toward men? And, so, we can read into this that Jesus has another side to Him, right? Or, yes, He’s a peace maker, yes He’s a miracle worker, yes, He’s a wisdom teacher, yes He’s the son of the most high God, and yes He speaks a message that brings shalom. So, why is He saying He didn’t come to do that, but rather bring division? So, Jesus certainly was bringing the message of the kingdom of heaven and was announcing it everywhere that He went, and He was bringing that kingdom, right? Through to the miraculous healings that occurred, this is just the kingdom coming and restoring things to how they are supposed to be, the way that He captured the heart of the people and ignited them and gave them an opportunity to sort of see that there’s another way to be a human being, there’s other ways of looking at things. Jesus certainly did that and the accounts that we have of that in the Gospels endure. Like, we’re reading them or being formed by them, we’re being shaped by them. So, He was certainly showing us the path to inner peace, which cultivates and creates peace everywhere that we are. So, it’s not Jesus with a dark side who also wants to cause division even while He is announcing peace. It’s not Jesus. It’s the message that there is a better way to be here. There is a better way to be among each other. There is a better way to live, one that allows the circumstances that surround us, even if there dire to exist while retaining a connection to God from within that knows that no matter what happens to us, we are safe. God is with us. For this to happen and we…we’re 2000 years into moving in these directions, for this to happen requires under surrender to God. And, so, when human beings are told that the pathway to peace, the pathway to strength is through surrender it becomes like dissonance in our minds because we have been told that dominance is power, and people don’t usually give up power. The more power that they have, the more they are less likely to give it up in favor of a better way. And, so, even though there is a better way it still causes division because not everybody is on board with giving up control. What Jesus was describing is just as much with us today. If we look back over the history of the gospel since the life and ministry of Jesus, we see the church doing amazing things in the world and also some pretty horrible stuff. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the message that He brought to us confronts our hearts. It brings the truth to our hearts, and we can’t hide from the lies that we told ourselves and everyone else. It causes a divide. Not for the sake of long term ongoing division and upheaval, but to bring the truth and confront the lies. And, so, we can begin to understand what Jesus is saying. He’s bringing the truth, confronting the false and the false is plotting to destroy Him. And even as we continue on this march forward, revealing the kingdom, being the hands and feet of Jesus in this world we’re told to expect no different. And, so, what we’re supposed to do is be awake and alert and aware of what is happening so that when truth confronts us and causes dissonance or division inside of us that we know what the path is, surrender. Surrender is the path to freedom, surrendering and acknowledging our utter dependence upon God.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. When we think about it like that we can see, yeah, when we’re confronted with the truth that does cause us to have to recalibrate. And a lot of times if it…if it means that we’re going to give up control we fight, And, so, as we look at our processes and the ways that we react to things we can clearly see where our hearts posture is and we invite Your Holy Spirit into that, that we might understand that the first move in a divisive situation is to surrender to You and allow You to work through us, that it really is about Your kingdom and Your work in this world and not about our dominance. Come, Holy Spirit into this we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s the website, and it's…it’s one of the places you go and find out what’s going on around here. The app would be the other place and that can be downloaded from the app store that you use for the device that you have. Just search for Daily Audio Bible and you can listen from there. Check that out.

Check out the resources that are available in the different categories in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

Check out the Community section for links to get connected on social media and that is also the home of the Prayer Wall. And, so, just knowing that that’s there all the time is a very hopeful thing. There’s never a time we can’t reach out for prayer, and we can do that on the Prayer Wall that lives in the Community section. So, be aware of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we’re doing together coming around the Global Campfire showing up every day being here together and allowing the Scriptures to wash over us and wash into our lives and inform our days and direct our lives, if that is life-giving and meaningful to you then thank you, thank you 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 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 little red button 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 DABbers as I am now at a new DABber and I’m so blessed by this ministry. I have recently become a double DABber. And, so, OK first time calling. This is Peggy in Chicago. And first again thank you so much as I’m continually being blessed by all the praise requests and the families reading. And I am praying along with each one of you, which is in turn blessing to me. So, yes, I’m praying along with each one of you as I get to know my family my new DAB family. And also with that since I’m being so blessed I’m also encouraged that I may also may not want to call in for prayer on my first time. And praying for healing, keeping this short. So, God knows that I have and injury that has a nerve damaged. So, I’m praying that I don’t have permanent damage. And recently I have an issue going on that’s personal and I am believing in God because God’s Jehovah Raffa our healer. He is faithful, He is good. And, so, I thank you Father right now for what I believe you to do. And lift up to my new DAB family and I hope to be calling in again soon. So, signing off. This is Chicago peg.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Gin in Min calling on Tuesday the 5^th of April? Oh my gosh. The 5^th of April. And I’m calling because on Sunday I heard this gal sing, and it was such a Billie Holiday vibe. It was so powerful for me to hear. And my husband David has been in the hospital since November from a stroke. And on Sunday I went in, and I said hey, do you want to listen to…I got something to listen to. And I played that song from that gal that sang it that had that Billie Holiday vibe. And after that I played some of Brian’s…we started reading…listening to the Daily Audio Bible and I paused it and I said, David do you know who this is and he said…and he nodded yes. And I said, who is it. And he whispered, Brian. And it was so…so excited because having the stroke and what you can recognize and what you can’t. And we’ve been listening to…for the last year two years and he knew Brian’s voice and it was just great. And I asked him what he thought about the song and he’s like powerful. And, so, it just ministered to me in the morning and then I was able to share it with David. And, so, just excited about the that that was great to hear. Anyway, just thought I’d say that. Thank you for singing It’s a Blessing and I love sharing things with my husband as he’s in the hospital. Thanks. Bye.

Hello, my name is Aaron and I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia on Christmas Eve of last year. And, so, I began my treatment on January 15^th knowing that God had a plan for whatever was gonna happen. And on March…sometime in March they found a very very rare form of fungal lesions on my brain that were eating my brain and they…and they had to stop my chemotherapy because as they lowered my immune system the…the fungal lesions were ramping up and eating my brain more and more. So, I’m stuck in kind of an odd position because I can’t have the fungal lesions, but I also need my chemo. And if it’s God will that I pass this is really my prayer. God’s gonna heal me if He’s gonna heal me. And I don’t necessarily need prayer for that. I do need prayer for that. Please, please, please pray for that because I don’t want to die, and I don’t know how they’re gonna pull this off. But really if I do…if I…if I have to pass I’m asking for prayer that I pass with grace and mercy and love and __ end in God’s image. Thanks DAB.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Richard from Montreal the taxi driver. Yes, I’m calling in because I want to join my voice to the one with Brian when you’re calling on a Daily Audio Bible that’s saying, well done! I want to say to all of you guys, well done for encouraging our brother who’s calling himself a misfit because me too. I was a misfit. We were all misfits but now we are perfected in God’s Kingdom. And we’re sharpening each other, we’re building each other encouraging each. I know I must be sounding it a little bit annoying with all my joyful and, you know, because when you stop to think about it, you know, there’s a lot of people that are living a lot of stuff. They’re like wares and sickness and death and, you know, all…and how can you be happy? Well, it’s the joy of the Lord. It comes in. And I pray…this is my prayer, that even in trials and in sorrow may yourself be just for a moment, may that last, that you’d be filled with God’s joy and God’s encouragement. And well done to everybody that is encouraging brothers and sisters and building each other up. I’m happy to be part of this beautiful community and I’m saying like Brian, I love you and I’ll see you maybe tomorrow. God bless. Shalom.

Hi everyone, this is Liz from Louisiana. I was just wondering if you can pray for my…my med school board exam scheduled on April 30^th. I’ve been studying for these exams since February, but I really have not been improving and I…I just can’t seem to pass this exam. And I’ve been feeling very discouraged. And I just feel very depressed, and I don’t know what to do. I really don’t want to push it later because we start rotation in the hospital in May. And I also feel like right now I’m just so tired of studying and I have no strength and I really feel like my brain is failing me. I think maybe I take…I need to take a year off but that also doesn’t seem like a good option. I truly would love to be able to take it on April 30^th and pass it but I feel like I really would really need a miracle. I would really need a miracle from God to help me. So, if you guys can pray for me for my board exam on April 30^th just for…for…just if you could just pray for God’s wisdom for me and a miracle from God that would be really appreciated. Thank you.

Deuteronomy 31:1-32:27, Luke 12:8-34, Psalm 78:32-55, Proverbs 12:21-23

Today is the 7th day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather, like we do, around the Global Campfire and find a place and keep warm and exhale all the stress and cares of this life for a bit. And just let God’s word come washing into our hearts and minds. And so, let’s do that, we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week, moving back out into the book of Deuteronomy and today we will read chapters 31 verse 1 through 32 verse 27.

Commentary:

Okay so, there are plenty of things we can talk about today but we really need to focus in on what Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke because what Jesus said today is very, very famous, very famous, but it is like it’s the key to living. It’s the posture that if we’re in that posture living from that space that He is describing if we’re living from there, then we are on the right path. And I wish, I wish there was, I wish, this might sound weird but I wish there was some way that Jesus could say this to us. His voice, I don’t know what His voice sounds like or sounded like but maybe we would listen, maybe we would listen, even though we’ve heard this a thousand times because when we revisit this, we’re going to know whether this is what our life looks like, or not. And if it’s not what our lives look like then…then…then some things need to change. This is one of the times in the Scriptures where me trying to bring context or explain what the meaning might be here is so irrelevant. He said it so clear and so I just want to repeat what Jesus said and in whatever voice Jesus speaks to you, I hope you hear it from Jesus because He said this and we have put all of our faith and hope in Him and we have believed that what we’re doing here is being transformed into His likeness, that we are being made Christ like, that what we’re supposed to look like is what He looked like, and so we simply need to listen to what He has to say and ask ourselves if our lives look like that. So, this is what Jesus has to say to us today. “I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than the birds? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? If then you’re not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will He do for you - you of little faith? Don’t strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious. For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things and your Father knows that you need them seek His kingdom and these things will be provided to you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.” That is so beautiful and what that does not mean is that we just go oh, okay, great and exhale, I’m going to take a nap and shirk all my responsibilities and just let God take care of me. What Jesus is saying is, don’t strive after these things making them the focus, even the God of your life. Your heavenly Father already knows. Seek the kingdom where you are with what you have, do what you are doing, do what you can do knowing that it’s going to be okay and all of the stress and anxiety that are inside of you twisting your insides continually and making you lose sleep and making it even worse, doesn’t do anything, that doesn’t do anything. Your Father knows what you need. I hear this every year, every year, it’s one of the things that I take steps back and reflect upon my own life because it’s not my nature. My nature is to look out in front of me and find the 10 things that can go wrong and be prepared for them even though none of them happen. Then I have to examine how much anxiety goes into that, how much energy goes into that, when the Lord knows the 10 things and the thousand other things and He doesn’t have an upset stomach and He is not losing sleep because it’s all His and we are His children, heirs to this kingdom. So, it’s all ours too. This simply requires eyes to see and ears to hear, a different way of looking at things, looking at things from within inside out, not outside circumstances bubbling in and bringing us anxiety. It’s this depth of hope and love within that spills out into these situations and changes them. Otherwise, the circumstances are flying at us faster than we can even comprehend and what they are bringing to us is putting anxiety within, living backwards to the way that Jesus is modeling things for us. So, may we seek the kingdom and these things will be provided for us.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, that is a deep, deep desire and we continually wonder if we are doing it or if we’re doing it well, or how does look, what is it supposed to look like when you are continually telling us to be aware and vigilant and looking around us and bringing the good news, being Your hands and feet in this world to anyone. Being fully aware that everyone is invited. Come, Holy Spirit, into this we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home, that’s home base, that’s the websites, that’s where you can find out what’s going on around here. Of course, the Daily Audio Bible app, allows you to do exactly that, as well. And you can download the Daily Audio Bible app, free from whatever…whatever app store is connected to the device that you use, so check that out. Check out the different sections like the Community Section, that’s where the Prayer Wall lives. Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. They are there for the journey that we are on and that is the journey that takes us through a year but it also takes us through every chapter and every verse and every word that’s in the Bible and what a journey it is, so check out the resources that are available in the app or on the web.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, first of all, thank you, thank you with all humility, we would not be here if we were not in this together and it makes this, it makes us a community experience and so thank you, 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 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 there are a number of numbers that you can call: if you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the 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 that part of the world 61 3 8820 5459 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: 

Good morning family, requesting continued prayer for my daughter Genesis, she’s 12-years-old. As you know, she has a history of suicidal ideation. I did put her with professional counseling and recently she confessed to me that she was cutting. So, of course I, I’m, I looked at it and I was just really asking God to keep me together. I need prayer for family, prayer for her that God will rest her spirit and protect her and keep her from harming herself and will give her a sense of identity in Him. That He will grant her Godly friends, at least one or two, she doesn’t have friends and at age 12 that’s very difficult. She’s very angry family, very angry and I get it, but I need discernment and I really need a lot of discernment, wisdom to know how to handle her and love her through this process until God rescues her for me. I thank you, family for helping me pray for my daughter’s salvation and deliverance. Her name is Genesis. Thank you.

Hi, this is Susan from Mississippi. I’ve called back last year, Novemberish, I think. And I was calling about my son and his wife who are on drugs. We have adopted their baby who will be two at the end of this month, April. And I’m calling because they’re still struggling to get their act together but it’s better. But it’s not that that I’m calling about today, I’m calling about my other children. I have 4 boys and the other three I don’t know really what you could call it. I know they’re upset because their parents have had to take on a child at our age but they’re taking it out on the child. They don’t want to participate in activities with her, they don’t want us to even bring her over. They just want to pretend that she doesn’t exist and it’s not her fault and I don’t know what they expected us to do because we couldn’t just leave her for the system. So, my prayer is, not only to help us raise her but to also help my son and his wife to get better so that they would eventually will be able to take her back but also for my other three to be on board with us, not, not financially, not babysitting, just to be around her and to love her because again, it’s not her fault. So, I just ask for prayers for all around for all of us and I really do appreciate it. Thank you so much, God loves you. Bye.

My name is Dana from South Carolina and I’m calling in to pray for little girl Annie, that requested prayer for her brother. Lord Jesus, I pray Lord that You would surround him with people that know You and I pray dear Lord, that he would have a true encounter with You. And God, I pray Lord that You would remove the scales from his eyes God and draw him closer to You. And I pray Lord that You would just bring him home. In Jesus name. Amen.

Good morning DAB family, I wanted to call in and pray for Ben and Sarah who are in Liberia right now waiting on the adoption of their child. I heard them, Ben, call in several months ago and just felt called to pray. So, God, thank You so much for Ben and Sarah’s faithfulness God and willingness to be obedient in adopting this child God. We know that it’s a very hard and stressful thing to go through God but we know that You called them to it and we thank You that they’re willing to go across the world Lord because You told them to God. So, I just pray for peace over them, I pray joy over them God, I pray protection, I pray healing, pray against any attacks from the enemy, just keep them safe God, while they’re waiting. Keep their child safe Lord. And I just pray that You move the process along God. And we know it’s all in Your hands. I pray for the right people to get the right documents God for everything to flow smoothly God. I pray for yeah, just the process and I just pray for the waiting for Ben and Sarah. I know it has to be so difficult to just be waiting for their child and wondering and unsure God. But I just pray that they can just feel Your peace God and know that it’s all in Your hands. Cause this is what You ‘ve called them to. I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

You did it
You did it
You brought me through
You did it
You did it
You brought me through
Ah, I had a bad night last night but I was able to eventually get some sleep and when I woke up this morning, that’s the ditty that was going through my head. And when I walked out into the kitchen, the sun was just rising and the light, the light in the treetops was just gorgeous and I found myself saying “oh Daddy, the light, the light, it’s so beautiful.” And I realized that I was having a very prophetic moment because every sunrise is prophetic. It’s a promise that He will get us through, He will get all the way through to that resurrection morning and we will gasp “oh Daddy, the light, the light, it’s so beautiful” after all the darkness that we’ve been through. So, I just wanted to call in and share that, to encourage just that He will get us through. Love you guys.

Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20, Luke 11:37-12:7, Psalms 78:1-31, Proverbs 12:19-20

Today is the 6^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian and it’s of course wonderful to be here together today, wonderful to come around the Global Campfire and just let God’s word speak into our lives. And, so, let’s move in that direction. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Deuteronomy chapters 29 and 30 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we are rounding the corner in the book of Deuteronomy. We have several days to go in front of us, but we’ve…we’ve talked about what Deuteronomy is, the final discourses of Moses to the children of Israel. They will very soon move in opposite directions, the children of Israel toward the Jordan River and across toward the promised land and Moses in the opposite direction into the mountains where he will die. This gives what he has to say a lot of gravity, a lot of weightiness because for all the grumbling he is the human leader that they know, the prophet of God, the one who speaks on behalf of God and tells them what God is saying. And, so, this is very important. And we have moved through the retelling of the places that the children of Israel camped. We’ve been through the story, kind of a retelling of the story. We’ve reviewed the law. We’ve seen new covenants made new statutes enacted. And we can look at the whole thing and go, “man, there is a lot to this. There is a lot to pay attention to. There’s a lot that they have to do. I’m so glad that we don’t have to do those things.” The interesting thing is all of those things that they have to obey and do are establishing a culture, a framework so that everything that they do reminds them of their identity and won’t allow them. In fact, there’s whole tribe that is there to not let them forget who God is and how they got where they. But all of the rules, they distill down, they boil down to a core that can be understood, and we see that very clearly in what Moses is saying today. And, so, let’s go back and just look at a few verses. I quote. “This command that I give you today” and  this is Moses speaking “is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.” Right? So, the idea that “there’s just so much to this in the minutia” and “who could ever” and “it’s not beyond your reach. It’s not too difficult.” This is what Moses is saying. And he goes on to say, “what you are supposed to do is not up in heaven, so that you have to wonder who is going to go up to heaven and get it and proclaim it to you so that you can follow it. And it’s not on the other side of the ocean so that you have to ask who’s going to go over there and get it and bring it back and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it. The message is very year you, in your mouth and in your heart so that you may follow it.” So, I we just stopp there, take a step back for second. There is a lot in the law in the country that you live in. If you go and look at the national laws you’re gonna find a library. There’s a lot to it, but so often the actions that we take in our lives…while…it’s like Jesus said, it flows up from our hearts. Our hearts posture is why we do the things that we do. We may disobey a law because we think we can get away with it. We may obey a law because we think we’ll get caught. That’s certainly a deterrent. But when it comes to matters of faith and love these decisions are made within us. And although we may have rules, they become apparent and natural because we are in love. So, for example in marriage adultery is against the rules. We don’t have to usually be told that every day. We know that. And there is a deterrent. We could blow up our entire family and things will never look the same for the rest of our lives. That’s a deterrent. But the greater issue here is we wouldn’t break the heart of the one that we love. And, so, when things get boiled down as Moses doing today’s talk we can see this. And, so, let me go back to quoting Moses. “Today I have set before you, life and prosperity, death and adversity, for I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commands, statutes and ordinances so that you may live and multiply and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow and worship other gods and serve them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish, and will not prolong your days in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you, life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live. Love the Lord your God, obey him, and remain faithful to him, for He is your life and He will prolong your days as you live in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” What we see here is that this is a choice. Choose life Moses says. And he has already told them that choosing life is not too difficult and is not beyond their reach, which means it’s not too difficult and it’s not beyond ours either. This comes down to the posture of our heart. Moses is telling them to choose life. Jesus would say something similar. There is a narrow path that leads to life, and few ever find it. But finding it is less complex than we make it. We get lost in the minutia of theology and doctrine wars and all this kind of stuff that just stirs up what we believe and what we don’t. When what were supposed to do this fall in love with God. That is choosing life and when we are in love, things become apparent to us. It becomes important that we treat one another appropriately because we are children of the most-high God, and we do not want to offend our Father by denigrating what He has created. So, if we could take a step back in our own lives and become observant of ourselves and our motives and our passions and our decisions and our words and sit there and hear the words echoing from the Scriptures, “today I have set before you, life and prosperity, death and adversity”. Knowing that the way that we live, the choices that we make are showing whether we are choosing the one over the other. How we are living reveals what we are choosing. And, so, may we hear out of the Scriptures from the lips of Moses what we need to hear. Choose life. Choose life. Friends, this is the offer of the gospel. This is what we believe that Jesus came to set us free and give us life eternal, that He has come that we might have life abundantly. Or, as Moses said, “I set before you, life and prosperity.” The offer is there. It’s all or nothing. May we choose life.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into that and we can often think like I’m either choosing one or the other, but the truth is we’re choosing both and that is why things are the way that they are. When You have given us clarity that when we fall in love with You like You have fallen in love with us everything changes, and we are choosing correctly. So, this isn’t just about us, brute force having self-control. Although we need this. It’s not just about managing our behaviors. Although we need this. It is about a change that happens inside when a stony heart falls in love and softens and becomes a heart of flesh, a heart given to You Lord unreservedly knowing that this is the safest thing, knowing that this is what we were made for. Come Holy Spirit, help us to think on these things, reveal the paths that we need to get off of. May we day by day, moment by moment choose life. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home, home base, home of the Global Campfire. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so, check it out. Check out the different sections whether you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app or the website.

Like, the Community section. This is where to get connected on social media. It is also the home of the Prayer Wall where we can always pray for one another any time of day or night. We can always ask for prayer any time of day or night. It’s a beautiful resource. So, be aware of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you humbly. We couldn’t, wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. And, so, thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or 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 is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning, DABbers this is God’s Chosen from Georgia. I’m calling in this morning to ask for prayer and I please want you to lift me up in prayer. I need strength to be able to continue to fight. It looks to me like I’m at the end of myself wandering in the wilderness. The only way I know to turn is to turn to God. But I’m looking for him everywhere this morning. I can’t find any strength of my own. I need strength from Him to continue to push on. I’m in that desperate and desolate place and need help. I need prayer. Please lift me up. Lift me up. Lift me up. Help me Jesus. Help me. I need strength to continue to fight. Help me Lord Jesus. Thank you.

Hi this is Dorothy out in California responding to Misfit as well as Mike in New York. Mike in New York, I’m so…what came to mind when I was listening to you was for God is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. You discussed your pursuits and your ideas, and I am looking forward to…don’t be surprised if you hear from God and He gives you your life back or He turns your world upside down and gives you a whole new direction. So, just excited for that. Also…and…and Misfit, and actually I…I almost felt the same thing, you were wanting God. Both of you. You want God. You want to know Him, and you want to know His will. And it says that you…this is for both Mike and Misfit…if you search for him with all your heart, He’ll let you find Him. And I’m so excited because Misfit it says that the Bible says that there’s none who seeks after…there’s none righteous and it says we love Him because He first loved us. And, so, that seed in both of you actually, God put there that yearning for Him and yearning to know Him. And, so, I know you’re gonna be…you’re gonna be OK as you just yearn for Him because He put that there. Keep going. Keep going. There is a throng of believers cheering you on here and…and…and the ones that already existed. So…

Hey DAB fam this is Nobody Gets Left Behind in Colorado. I’m calling for my daughter Halo. I just want to thank everybody for your prayers for her. Rob, Levi, another woman I can’t recall her name. Today’s reading, it was Luke 10:3. Go your way. Behold I send you out as lambs among wolves. I know you guys have heard some of our prayer requests. You know, she’s a…a devout believer at 9 years old. She witnesses to the kids in her classroom and she’s just an amazing child. Don’t wanna brag or boast but I do wanna boast on the Lord and His glory and the things that He does through Halo. She was invited to a boxing event to sing the national anthem. It was a pay per view event. She…she just did amazing. I just pray…ask everyone to pray for her that she never loses her boldness and continues to use her talents for the Lord. And I covet your prayers family and I thank you for always being here. I don’t know what I would do without this family. This is my 11^th year and I'm…it feels like the first year. It’s just the…the best place to be in the world and I thank God for Brian and Jill and their children. And I just encourage you brothers and sisters to go your way, behold Jesus is sending us out as lambs among wolves. Love you guys. Take care.

Green upon green upon green upon brown
such intricate detail right here on the ground
a miniature forest right here in the grass
bending and swaying as the breezes blow past
tiny little bushes abundant with leaf
ants on the ground crawling beneath
little tiny palm trees 2 inches tall
tower above deserts bushes in all
a microcosm of life complete in every way
God is amazing what more can I say
little tiny boulders a 16^th of an inch
dwarf boulders even smaller too small to even pinch
long lushes leafy strands trimmed in green and gold
some are trimmed in purple but all of them are standing bold
and then I see this flower it’s tiny petals white
also yellow asters that sprang up overnight
and a dandy lion standing tall with its fur ball
perfectly round it’s tempting me to blow on it and spread the seed all around
but I decide to leave it in its present form just as if it was in a book
I love the detail that God implores
I love the way things look
but even with such intricacies I still see tiny flaws
and once I recognize that fact it gives me cause to pause
‘cause I know that I don’t look so good when sometimes God looks at me
the closer that you look at things the more of them you see
and God has seen me very close he knows each part of me
but he still loves me anyway my beauty he still sees
thank you God for hearts and eyes that see
beyond my flawed ugliness to the beauty inside of me

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Drew from the Bay Area. It was nice hearing from your brother and I’ll be praying for a little Drew now that he's…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family my name is Rashonda I’ve been a part of the community for well over a decade and I’ve only called in maybe five times. I called in for my son when he was three. He had heart surgery and that was successful. I’m calling for two reasons today. I’m calling for him because we have to do a follow up appointment now. He’s 16. I’m just praying that his heart is still healing and it’s working well and that he is finished with his cardiology visits. I’m also praying because I have a heavy heart today just about my marriage and finances. It’s me who has a hard time sticking to the budget and even if it’s $5 here or $2 there $6 here, I’m not sticking to the budget. I never have stuck to the budget over 20 years. And, you know, is really starting to take a toll on us because that five and $10 here and there turns into three and $400, you know, $500 by the end of the month. And, so, please pray for me that I can just shake this thing that I have with comfort, that the real issue would be brought forth, my real heart issue to why I’m not content and satisfied with what I have because I have so much. My husband’s so gracious and he just loves me like Christ but he’s really tired because that extra money could have gone into savings. So, please pray for us that I can be obedient to the budget in Jesus’ name.

Deuteronomy 28:1-68, Luke 11:14-36, Psalm 77:1-20, Proverbs 12:18

Today is the fifth day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we take the next step forward, forward, of course, in our week, in our month, in our life for that matter. But forward in the Scriptures, which leads us back out into the book of Deuteronomy. This week we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible and today, Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Commentary:

Okay, let’s do a little exercise today and think about what we are known for; think about that. What are you known for? And maybe that’s some kind of talent that you have or the occupation that you have, or the money that you have or don’t have or any of those kinds of things can go into all of those things but let’s just strip all that away. That’s, that’s what we do and certainly in this culture we are known by what we do. But if we strip it away, who are we, what kind of person are we? And we can think that we know ourselves, but how do people, what kind of a person do people think that we are? Are we argumentative and belligerent, are we kind, are we a peacemaker, are we a tough guy and nobody’s gonna get past us? Do we judge everybody and everything? Are we peaceful and the kind of person that people come to confide in for advice? Like, we can be all kinds of things. But if we think about how we would be known, the kind of person that we are, typically that’s going to come from the analysis of our words. If we are known as hateful, it’s probably because we speak that way, if we are known as kind, it’s probably because we speak that way; the power of life and death is in the tongue the Scriptures tell us but our one sentence from the Proverbs today tells us an awful lot as well. And I quote “there is one who speaks rashly like a piercing sword but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” So, if we speak rashly like a piercing sword that’s not like the tongue of the wise. The contrast is right here in the book of Proverbs for us to examine but wisdom is at the crossroads, at every crossroads saying go this way, walk this way and this is a crossroads, if we’re going to continue to speak rashly, we’re going to continue to wield a sword that slices and dices the hearts and souls of those that we love and those that we don’t. We’re just like a renegade with a weapon we don’t really know how to use but it’s a life and death weapon and we’re wielding it on whatever makes us upset. By contrast, the tongue of the wise brings healing. So, all we have to do is take like a few steps back, a few steps back enough to get perspective and ask ourselves, do I bring healing with what I say because we are certainly invited to do that and that is the path of wisdom. And so, if the answer is no, I don’t, I hurt everybody, then we aren’t walking the path of wisdom. It doesn’t have to be the we heap condemnation upon ourselves. It’s more of an awareness, I’m not going the direction that I should be going. I’m not going to end up where I want to cause we need to get off that road, which begin this with at least, at bare minimum listening to ourselves. We can say all kinds of horrible things as if we didn’t say them because we’re reacting in anger, we’re not listening to what we’re saying but in retrospect, we didn’t mean that, we don’t mean that, we didn’t have control, we swung a piercing sword and it didn’t lead us on the path of wisdom at all. And so, let’s allow the contrast, in the book of Proverbs to kind of spillover into our lives. This was penned thousands of years ago, thousands of years ago, people have been healing with this. And so, it’s no surprise that we still deal with this, these kinds of things as well. We have this contrast to at least locate where we are and if we’re not on the past wisdom, well we need to move in that direction as quickly as possible.

Prayer:

So, Holy Spirit, come because frankly for all the wisdom and experience we might think that we have, we know so very little. And yet You know everything and have invited us into intimacy with You. So, why we keep trying to go out there and do our own thing and react in anger and cause damage it’s well, now that we’ve taken a few steps back to look at it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. We need You. Come, Holy Spirit, we humble ourselves, we repent. May we speak wise words that bring healing. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you can find out what’s going on around here. The alternative would be the Daily Audio Bible app, which allows you to do the same thing. And so, check out places like the Community Section. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a lot of resources in there to deepen our journey and to be a companion on that journey. And so, check out the resources in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered to the world freely to whoever will listen, wherever they may be, whatever time it may be and to build community around the rhythm of showing up at the Global Campfire every day, if that is life-giving to you, 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 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 Ben from Minnesota. I just wanna tell you that we’re praying for you and your wife and the adoption out of the country. My daughter recently adopted here in America and that was, it took a long time. So many, so much paperwork and so many things you have to go through, so many hurdles you have to jump over, so I’m praying for you guys to get back to the states, safe and well with your new adopted child. And I wanted the say to Ezekiel, thank you for your April Fools fun reading with your dad today. That was so much fun. Seven years now, my husband and I have been listening to Daily Audio Bible. We look forward to, just the fun stuff that happens on that day on April 1st. I believe Jesus had humor and it’s good to have humor and the children are important. So, that was a perfect reading, that was for today, when Ezekiel was reading. Thank you all. God Bless.

Hey, this is Eyes of a Dove. And I’m actually sending a message to the gentleman that called and said he was a spiritual misfit. He felt that he didn’t quite fit into the fabric of what society would deem a Christian for he had been, earlier in his life a stout believer. But then he went into Pagan and other realms, I believe he said. And in his dark places, the thing that caused him to not want to harm himself was that thought that Christ Jesus had loved him and still does. And I want to tell you my friend, straight from Eyes of a Dove, we love you here too. And it’s okay if you don’t fit into that perfect fabric. This is a family and we’re willing to carry you along on our journey through the Bible and just allow the Lord to come in whatever capacity and just be a sponge and just let it come and consume you. And take it for where it’s at. The Lord will meet you where you’re at and He loves you. He loves every confusion, every broken piece. And just the thought that you’re knocking on His door again, that you’re asking for some spark of recognition from your Father’s eyes, not quite sure who your father is, just that you know and sense in your deep soul and spirit that He loves you, my friend. He loves you. He is mad, crazy, in love with you and I’m gonna be praying for you, my friend. You didn’t leave your name, you just said that you were a misfit. But man, you’re graphed into the vine and please stay. Put your log on the fire and be blessed and absorb the time that you stay with us. I hope it’s for good. Bye friend.

Hey, this is Rachel from North Carolina. I’m calling to pray for the Spiritual Misfit that called in on, well it was played on March 31st. Welcome, we are so glad you’re here. You are so welcome here. We, we are here for anyone who trying to get to know who God is. But the Bible says what truth is. I would encourage you, keep seeking, keep seeking to know God, to know what’s true about Him. Which may be different than what you’ve been told. And that’s okay. That’s why God gives us His word as something we can rely on, so we can learn about Him. So welcome. Let me pray for you. God, thank You for this new friend, this new log on our Global Campfire. Thank You for bringing him here. I ask that You would bless him to know You more and that You would continue to reveal Your love to them. Continue to guide them into all truth, like You say Your Holy Spirit does. And bless them to know You more as he or she draws near to You. Thank You. Amen.

Greetings, Daily Audio Bible family. This is Michael the Goldsmith from Washington State. Hey, I am calling in a response to a caller that called in the end of the podcast March 31st. You didn’t leave your name but you identified yourself with others as being a spiritual misfit. You were thankful for this community and that we’re here for you and we are here for you, I tell you. We, you said you tried many different roles in your Christian life from being a legalist to being a liberal. You even experimented with forces outside of God. You have doubts with your faith and where you fit in. And I tell you, I’ve been a listener for 15+ years and this is the 3rd time I’ve called in. And this is a kicker why I called in. God just really tugged on my heart strings here. You’ve been to different churches where they’ve used the bible to condemn people, to abuse people, in Jesus name. And we just want to say, we are so sorry, we are sorry as a community that you ever experienced that. We just want to affirm with you, Jesus knows you and loves you and you’ve seen that in your own life when you reached out to Him, He has been there for you. The Gospel is good, good news and its unbelievable news as we receive a free gift that is not of our own, so righteousness not of our own. I just pray that your faith with increase, that this, like the bible says this foolishness of preaching will transform you. You will grow, your reality will change to His view. Your view of yourself will change to His view, a loved child of His.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is C from Mississippi. Today is April 1st 2022 and oh my land, it was such a blessing to hear Ezekiel. I thought we was going to hear China and Brian cause they always switch it up on April 1st, it was just wonderful hear that sweet little voice. I just wanna just thank the Hardin family for all that they do and I was just thinking about, about this time last year we was sitting around in a circle listening to Brian, ready to throw our log on the fire. And really we was just all waiting on the birth of baby Reagan Brave Brown. She’s about to be 1 in a couple of weeks. You guys, time just flies by. Everybody have a blessed day. I love you guys so much. This is C from Mississippi.  

Deuteronomy 26:1-27:26, Luke 10:38-11:13, Psalms 76:1-12, Proverbs 12:15-17

Today is the 4^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we move forward in our journey through the Bible. This week we are reading from the Christian Standard Bible and continuing the journey through the book of Deuteronomy. Today we will read chapters 26 and 27.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we encounter a really famous scene or passage. Although it’s very very short, thousands of sermons have been spoken about this passage and it’s the passage that contains Mary and Martha, the sisters. The reason that this is such a popular passage to teach from is that it gives this contrast in response to the presence of Jesus. So, it’s Martha who welcomed Jesus into her home. And between the time that Jesus comes into her home and the time that she gets exasperated enough to come to Jesus and ask Jesus to ask her sister to get up and help her she’s been doing what she thought was expected of her, what she thought she’s supposed to do, to be a good hostess, to be busy, to be working, to be surveying. And while Martha is busy and working and serving her sister Mary’s not. Her sister Mary is hanging on every word that comes at a Jesus mouth or to put it more accurately, “she was sitting at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said.” Martha can’t do that. She’s busy doing what she’s doing, preparing a meal, preparing some snacks, repairing some drinks, doing whatever she’s doing. She’s busy doing it and she seems upset that her sister isn’t also up doing it with her. So, we have the contrast. Martha’s busy, Mary’s busy listening to Jesus. What makes this such a compelling story is how easy it is for it to become the mirror into our own souls. It is very easy to get on the faith treadmill. It is very easy to believe that the faster we can go the more that we can get done, the harder we can charge the more people that can be convinced. The harder that we can work for God the closer we are to God. In other words, activity, or work on behalf or for God equals a relationship with God. Ironically, that isn’t how any other relationship that we know of works. And I’m not talking about working relationships where we have an employment contract, and we are supposed to do this and we’re supposed to do that and that’s what it's…it's…is expected. I’m talking about actual relationships with people are not formed by our activity on their behalf alone. I am a married man. I love my wife, Jill, very, very, very, very much and I tried to do all kinds of work that will make her life good and all kinds of responsibilities that I just have as the husband of my house. And she has the same thing going on, things that she has to do that are in my…in my favor on my behalf and things that just need to be done because we have a household. I may notice that she is working extra hard in a certain direction, and I may commend her for that, or I may not even notice. I don’t need her to be exhausted on my behalf in order to feel loved by her and vice versa. I don’t have to exhaust myself continually upping the ante and keeping on being busy so that she can feel loved. I don’t want to oversimplify this. The work that we do for each other is appreciated. Like everybody who’s married…like we know this stuff, like it’s appreciated, but that isn’t a single signifier that you are so busy on my behalf that you love me. And yet so often that is what we are told the relationship with God looks like. The more we can do for God the closer we are to God. But we can do all kinds of work on behalf of someone that we will never meet. And, so, Jesus gives the proper context here. Martha goes to Jesus, asks Jesus to get Mary off her behind and helping her, and Jesus respond, “Martha, Martha”, and we could put our own name in there, friends. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice and it will not be taken away from her. So, friends, yeah, it’s true. We’re human beings. We’re worried and upset about many things on any given day at any given moment. We find things if we don’t have something. We just are prone to being moved forward by activity because of anxiety or because of other…some other kind of negative impulse. Mary’s not exhibiting that, that franticness. She’s just listening to Jesus and Jesus is basically saying look, the worry, the being upset about many things, it’s not necessary. Can we like stop there for a second? It’s not necessary to get close to God, to be worried and upset about many things. One thing is necessary, and Mary was doing the one thing, sitting at Jesus feet and listening to what He said, which is not an excuse for ignoring our chores. It’s the posture of our heart. Are we frantic? Are we worried and upset about many things, and that is what is driving us forward and trying to get closer to God when we find God in the exhale of it all? When we realize that the worry and upset is not necessary for what we are after is kind of a game changer. And, so, let’s think about it today. To be in a relationship with God, to be in a place of peace, of shalom, to be in a place of learning of open heartedness to the words of Jesus does not require being worried and upset about many things. So, we’re here in our little oasis that we create for ourselves every day around this Global Campfire. And many, many times we talk about leaving…leaving what we’re dragging and just giving ourselves a minute here of serenity, a moment to allow the Scriptures to speak to us, a moment to catch our breaths and then we can leave the Global Campfire and grab all of those anxieties and worries and throw them back over our shoulder get back to our day if that’s what we want to do. What if we began to realize that that’s not necessary? It’s possible we can do it. We certainly can keep it up. We can carry these things but it’s not necessary. What does that do to the rest of our day? What if we put it into practice just today and not pick all that stuff up when we leave this Global Campfire, this little oasis that we have together? What if we don’t take those things up because they’re not necessary? What we do the thing that is necessary, to be in the presence of Jesus at peace hanging on His every word? Sounds like a much better day.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into that. There’s plenty of things going on. There’s lots that we have to get to and there’s plenty that can bring up anxiety or upset or worry or any kind of negative emotions that we experience. There’s plenty. And yet in your presence being with you allows us to look at these things as they are. They are not giant monsters. They are situations to be dealt with and you know it all and you can show us how to navigate. And, so, Holy Spirit, we humble ourselves before you acknowledging that we need to now more than ever, that we will never not need you. We humble ourselves before you and ask that you…that you lead us into all truth. And we pray this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home, home in the Global Campfire, home of everything. And, so, check it out. That’s where you find out what’s going on around here. If you’re using the app, which you can get the Daily Audio Bible app from whatever app store is connected to your smart device. And, so, check that out. But if you’re using the app you can push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and that’ll open up a drawer and you’ll find things like the Community section within that drawer or on the web at…up at the top.

In the community section are places to get connected on social media, but it’s also where the Prayer Wall is. And yes we are people of the Scriptures and that’s why we come around the Global Campfire every day, but we also end up falling in love with each other and praying for one another and being a community together as we take this journey. And, so, praying for one another is a beautiful thing that is so distinctive about the community here and the Prayer Wall is a place to do that. That’s in the Community section. So, you go to the Prayer Wall and just pray for your brothers and sisters, just kind of read what’s going on and pray for them and respond to them. Let them know you’re praying for them. Or maybe you’re just enduring right now and it’s just nothing but hardship in front of you and it’s crushing you and it’s hard to carry. Maybe you don’t have to do that alone. Maybe you can share some your story and others can pray for you and send encouragement your way. That’s the beauty of the prayer wall. And, so, certainly check that out. It’s in the Community section, whether on the web or in the app.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day offered freely to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm so that no one has to feel alone, if that’s life-giving and meaningful to you then 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 or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Coming soon. Playing a little catch up still…