A Walk Through The Word

1 Chronicles 5:18-6:81, Acts 26:1-32, Psalm 6:1-10, Proverbs 18:20-21

Today is the 8th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today, day, after the…the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk, that we do each July 7th and it’s been such a joy. I love, I love being able to look through the windows of the different pictures that have been taken and so that’s been…that’s been a joy and I pray that those of you who participated in and went for a Long Walk and had a long talk with the Lord are feeling refreshed and beginning to regroup, as we continue forward on our journey through the Scriptures this year. And we come here every day for that reason, to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And so, let’s get to that. We’re reading from the book of first Chronicles. Today, chapter 5 verse 18 through 6 verse 81 and we are also working through the book of Acts, where the apostle Paul has refused to go back to Jerusalem for a trial. He has appealed his case to the Emperor in Rome. And at this point, the Roman governor Festus, is trying to figure out what to say to the Emperor. And so, King Agrippa and his wife Bernice are there in Caesarea and they want to hear Paul. And so, Paul is about to share what he has to say in his defense, before he’s sent to the Emperor. And we’ll see that when we get to the book of Acts. But first, first Chronicles chapter 5 verse 18 through six verse 81.

Commentary:

Okay, a couple of things. First of all, what we just read in the book of Proverbs, death and life are in the power of the tongue, those who love it will eat its fruit. This sentiment is also quoted from the book of James, which we will get to a little bit later in the year but we see, this is from the Proverbs. This is ancient wisdom, wisdom that we all know to be true. In fact, the idea that the power of life and death is in the tongue is really widespread and very, very famous. It’s the kind of stuff that we say out loud it. It’s the kind of stuff that we should say out loud. It’s the kind of thing that we have to remember. It’s just that we have to remember it before we’ve said it and not after. Like, we have to remember it before we speak something that becomes death in this world or evil in this world and not do that, not let that escape into the world. Because if the power of life and death, is in the tongue then the power of the deepest, darkness and the power of the light of God is available, based on what we say. Where are we turning for the power? Are we turning toward the darkness, so that we can shred the person that we’re talking to and destroy them until they are on the floor, in tears because they deserve it? And when we bring the power of death that way through our mouths, do we walk away going that was awesome. I feel so good about myself. I flattened them like a pancake. They’re a puddle on the floor. Oh yeah, that’s my wife. Oh yeah, that’s my husband. Oh yeah, I gave birth to that person that I just leveled. These kinds of themes emerge in the Bible and they will continue to emerge in the Bible because they are very, very powerful things that are being said; it’s a powerful thing to have the power of life and death in your mouth. Maybe we should pay more attention to how powerful we are through what we say.

And we’re working backwards. Let’s go back into the book of Acts, just to understand what is going on here. Paul is in prison, he’s been there for a couple years, he’s moved through two Roman governors. The first one, Felix, left him in prison when he, when he was reassigned. And so, the new governor, Festus, wants to hear from Paul, but he wants Paul to be tried in Jerusalem and Paul appeals to the Emperor. Festus needs to know what to say to the Emperor, as he sends Paul to Rome. And he has visitors, King Herod Agrippa the second and his sister Bernice. And it’s widely speculated that King Herod Agrippa and Bernice, they were brother and sister, but likely had an incestuous relationship. But it’s even more interesting than that. So, Herod Agrippa and his sister Bernice obviously had a mom. They had the same mom; her name was Drusilla. She was the wife of the previous Roman governor, Felix. And Paul spent a lot of time with Felix; and Felix was waiting for a bride but he listened to Paul share the gospel. And so, now Paul is sharing the gospel with the next generation of royalty, King Herod Agrippa and the king sister Bernice, as well as the Roman governor Festus. That’s two Roman governors, who are governors over the province of Syria, which is…is the land that Paul is in, as well as a king. So, we followed along with Paul through his missionary journeys, we saw the lightning rod that the Gospel was, we saw mobs and Paul being beaten and stoned, we saw all this stuff going on. Then he goes back to Jerusalem, everyone warns him not to, but he goes back to Jerusalem and is arrested and he hasn’t been beaten up since, it seems. He’s actually being protected by the Roman government, as he’s doing basically a missionary journey to people that are listening to him and protecting him, but people that he could never meet with, any other way. He’s not going to be just able to get a meeting with Governor Felix or Governor Festus, and yet he has been able to spend ample time with both of them sharing the Good News of the Gospel. And so, it’s very, very counterintuitive, but it’s actually, although Paul is incarcerated would prefer freedom to move around, he’s still alive. He’s being protected and he is sharing the Good News with people that weren’t listening and wouldn’t have been listening any other way. So, interpreting the counterintuitive ways of the Lord in our own lives and as we are led to and fro, as his ambassadors into this world, we need to remember that we never know how things are going to play out. We simply know that they’re going to work together for good.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for that example that we see in the book of Acts today. And we also are humbled and deeply grateful for the reminder yet again, that when we speak, things get created. We are made in Your image and You have given the power of life and death and put it in our mouths, giving us a choice. May we choose life, may we choose to bring life into this world through what we say. As a solemn act of worship to You and reverence for You, as your ambassadors. May we be life giving and not life taking. We pray this, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, and it is where you find out what’s going on around here, unless you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can download from whatever app store you use for the device that you have, just search for Daily Audio Bible and you can download the app and have the opportunity to take advantage of all that the app has to offer as it helps guide us day by day, step-by-step and show us our progress through the different sections of the Bible so, check that out. That’s how to find out what’s going on around here.

Yesterday, was our own Daily Audio Bible holiday. The Daily Audio Bible Long Walk, and it came at a good time for me and very refreshing day. A regrouping day and it has been so encouraging to go to Facebook and…and just look at all of the different places on this earth and see all that God spoke around the earth to us, as we took some time to listen, and took some time to share our hearts completely before the Lord. So, those are still coming in, I’m still enjoying that and I hope you have the opportunity to check that out as well. It’s Facebook.com/dailyaudiobible and there’s a Long Walk post on the page, so check that out.

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 freely to anyone who will listen to it, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night and to build community around that rhythm, so that we know this isn’t something were doing alone. We are in this together. If that matters and makes a difference, then thank you so much for your partnership, especially as we navigate these summer months. 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 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:

Good morning, DAB family. This is Ina from London. Today, the fourth of July. I’m just so reflective today, thinking about the first time I came across the DAB family. The DAB app and how much this has changed my life. I was a Muslim and I’ve never been through the Bible, I’ve never read the Bible, page-to-page. But just listening, the whole year and this year, I have been blessed. And I have grown. I would probably say I have grown. And thanks to this DAB, DAB-C that I have been listening to every day. It’s seems as if I know everyone. Sometimes, it just, some callers just put a smile on my face. You know, and I have grown so much. I have grown so much. I can’t express that enough, how much I have grown. And thank you Brian, thank you Jill, thank you China. Oh, Ezekiel, you crack me every day. I listen to you every day. I am a little child as well, so I listen to you every day. I just want to, you know, testify, how much I have grown and how thankful I am. How blessed I have been. Coming close to God every day. Oh, I am so thankful and thank you again family, I love you, I love all of you, I know your voices. And you all crack me sometimes. And I pray with you, even though I don’t call to pray, but I do pray with you. Have a blessed, blessed Independence Day. I love you guys. Thank you.

Hey, Daily Audio Bible family, this is Janet from UK. I know I haven’t been calling in but I’ve been praying. I just, sometimes I get emotional, that’s why, I’m fine. I’m just having Travis. I was listening to you on my way to work. And, the thing that you’re talking about it just relates to me also. I am almost 50 years old. I started nursing back when I was 20 and I’m barely practicing now, all these years. And I started in America, now I’m in England and I’ve been trying to pass the in-pass since 2005. And even now, I’ve tried so many times, and I still haven’t passed. And now, I’m almost 50, back then I was just 27-year-old. Now, I’m almost 50. And I’m still trying to do it. Travis, God is good. And I have to take courage and that also. You need to lean on Him. He’s never to late. Remember, a thousand days for us is just one day for Him. And I thousand years for Him is just one day for us. So, we have to have patience and believe in God. And I’m taking the same advice, Travis. So, just believe in God. What God has for you is always good. His plans is good. So, lean on Him. Rely on Him. He’s taking you, He knows your age, He been knowing your age. So, He’s knows, He knows your capabilities. And so, don’t worry. Don’t worry about its Travis, you’ll do great. I do worry sometimes, cause I’m old now and I’ve taken this test so many times and I think I have good plans as to why, cause my mom is sick and lives in America, so that’s why I wanted to go. I want to go there. But I just have to take courage that God knows best. So, stay strong, Travis. God Bless.

Hi, everyone, it’s Kristy in Kentucky. Michelle, your niece so precious. Your story had me beaming from ear to ear because there is so much truth, Amen? So, much truth in what she said. There are some days that I am just not okay. And there are days that I’m scared. And then, they’re times, a lot, a lot more than not, day, where I am asking people, please, pray for me. So, I just wanted to thank you sister, for sharing that beautiful story. And Jackson, Kelly’s son, what he said, as well. This is just part two of Grandma’s life. Oh, my goodness. I love children, they are so honest and so pure and so innocent. Thank you, Lord, for these precious children, Father. Kelly, we are praying peace in your household as you walk through these most difficult of days. We are praying that this family will feel the love of the Lord and that they will be able to carry that home. Not only for this time but forever. Let this time change their lives. We pray, in the name of Jesus. And to Be a Blessing in California, I love your voice. Every time you come on; you make me smile. Sister, we are definitely praying for Sam. And we are thanking the Lord, in advance, for providing for him a place because we know he will be blessed because he is blessed the life of someone else. All right everyone, I love you guys. And I pray each of you are having a most blessed and lovely day.

Good morning, first I wanted to say how enamored I am at Brian for answering God’s call and starting this ministry from his music intentions, desires and dreams. So, thank you Brian and Jill. Love, the books that you write and the music you sing. Secondly, I would love to say how impressed I am with all the Daily Audio Bible listeners and prayer warriors and prayer soldiers that call in. Your faith is incredible and I sit in awe thinking, these people really believe and they share that and they have such confidence that their prayers will be answered. And one day I hope that I can be one of those prayers’ warriors and cheer leaders for God too. I have been a Christ follower for about 26/27 years. And I’m at a all-low faith right now and hopefully, maybe someday I’ll call in with a prayer request but right now I just want to tell you, wow, I hope I can join you and cheer lead with you in the near future. As I wait for God to connect with me, draw near to me as I’m trying to dray near to Him. Thank you, have a great day.  

Hey DAB family, this is Cats Skill Mountain Aaron calling back in. I called last month that I had just been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and asking for prayer that it hasn’t spread through my body. I had three reasons for calling in this morning. First, I want to thank all of you like Victorious Soldier, Dear Heart in Tennessee and Michael Alverwater who had been calling in praying for me. Your prayers have brought tears of love and thanks to my eyes. And I also thank from the bottom of my heart, all of you who’ve prayed for me who’s names I’ll never know. Second, I want to share a praise report that the results from the PET scan shows only the one tumor and a small spot by my ribs, which looks like it might be pretty cancerous so they believe my assist in chemo will erase. And third, I’m asking for continue prayer. My chemo is continuing every other Friday and on the 29th of July, they’ll do another PET scan to determine whether this chemo regimen is shrinking the tumor, the way that we all hope. Please also keep my sons and especially my wife, who’s been such a blessing from God for me, in your prayers. And finally, through all of this, I’m praying that I have the wisdom to clearly see the path that God would have me walk in all of this and the strength of will to walk it. Thank you and I love you all.  

1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17, Acts 25:1-27, Psalms 5:1-12, Proverbs 18:19

Today is the 7^th day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian. Today’s a special day around here around the Global Campfire. It’s the long walk day. Our own little…our little holiday in the middle of it all, in the middle of the year. Just a chance to regroup, go for a long walk here in the center of the year and reset. And we’ve talked plenty about that leading up to this. So, happy long walk today everybody, especially those of you who are on your long walk right now. It’s great to be here with you today as we do what we do every day and take the next step forward together in the Scriptures, and that leads us back into the book of first Chronicles. We’re kinda of just getting going and reading a lot of genealogies here in the first part of first Chronicles. And as we’ve mentioned before, this is a retelling of who the people are so that they won’t forget where they’ve come from. And, so, let’s dive in. Today, first Chronicles chapter 4 verse 5 through 5 verse 17.

Commentary:

Okay. On this day of the long walk, on this day that is situated pretty close to the center of the year where we take some time to regroup, realize we’ve made it halfway through this year, reflect back, consider where we’ve come from, consider where we’re going, adjust our coordinates and talk to God, walk with God. We have something sitting here for us that as we’re contemplating and considering our lives in considering the rest of the year could really help us as we adjust our coordinates and it’s found in one sentence in the book of Proverbs. An offended ally is more formidable than a city. Such quarreling is like the bars of the castle. So, an offended ally is an offended friend. An ally is somebody we believe has our back whether nationally or internationally, or whether just in our own personal lives. An ally has our back and we have theirs. An offended ally is different than that. An offended ally becomes more formidable than a city. And in this context, we’re talking about a walled city with massive defenses to guard the city. And maybe we would describe this using a different kind of metaphor, but we all probably understand how this goes, right? Let’s just look at ourselves and see how we become that walled city. So, we’re moving along with our friend and our friendships and our allies, the people that have our back and we have theirs, but an offense comes from something that gets said. And this offense swells up because we resent what has been said or done. We resent it often because we feel disrespected in some way and then that begins to fester, and it becomes an offense, and we get angry and we’re mad at that person. And then as time goes by maybe we have conversations with other people about how mad we are about this offense that we have taken up. And boom! We’re a walled city to that person. And it maybe that we’ve been the one that said the thing. Maybe we didn’t mean the thing. Maybe we did mean the thing, but we said the thing and the offense was picked up and we watched a friendship become like a walled city. And as we’re outside the walls then we get mad and we’re like, well then, I guess we’re not allies anymore. I can think of my little son Ezekiel when he was maybe…maybe three years old, probably 2-½, 3 years old. And the little…the little guy and I have always been best friends and love each other dearly, but he got offended one day when he was just little because he got told no. He couldn’t do this thing. I don’t remember what it was, but I remember him running his little tiny legs pumping down the hallway running into the bedroom and looking back down the hallway at me and saying, we are not best friends and slamming the door. And of course, then I have to go down the hall and we have to have a chit chat and work things out between us, but this stuff is with us all along. We should be familiar with what we are talking about here. The walls go up and our emotional availability goes down. We’re offended. Or as the Proverbs put it, such quarreling is like the bars of a castle. So, let’s think about the walled city here. Let’s think about the fact that we’re in the walled city. Let’s think about some of the stories that we have just recently read about people trapped in walled cities under siege who are starving to death because nothing can come in and nothing can go out. Let’s think about how our own spiritual lives and realize when we’re in this, when we’re in an offense and have become a walled city, we may not be protected. We may be trapped. Or let’s look at it from the other perspective. We’re outside the city walls. We’re free to go and come. We’re also exposed, alone, and an easy target. And maybe some of these things can’t be repaired with just a conversation. Like there’s a myriad of possibilities in our lives for this proverb to come near and be important to us. But as we look back over the first half of this year and we look forward to the remainder of the year out in front of us this is an opportunity to consider our relationships and the condition of our relationships and allow the Proverb to come near to us, giving us a visual example of what is happening which allows us then to decide. Is that fine? Are we cool with that? Is that how we want to live, or would we hope for something better? And then we might think, well it’s done. I said it. I can’t take it back. I can’t unsay it. They’re mad. They have a right to be mad or they don’t have a right to be mad, but it was the truth or whatever. And we can just continue to reinforce our defenses. That can so easily become a trap for us, or we can realize the way that this can possibly get undone and begin to move in the right direction is to move in the opposite direction of what caused this in the first place. So, if angry words of offense or accusation were what caused this then…then words of humility and apology are the first step in the right direction. And, so, let’s take this proverb and let’s take it on this day as we spend some time reflecting on where we’re going and let’s choose wisely.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. Our personal relationships are fraught with disagreement that can easily turn into offense that can easily turn into resentment and bitterness and can even make enemies out of us, can put us behind walls from each other. And Lord it seems like it can happen so quickly, so unexpectedly. We’re so not prepared that are our own brokenness and our own stories come into play against someone else’s story and their own brokenness in the immediate of the now and it’s all complicated for us. We can’t navigate this. We can’t be successful on our own. And, so we ask Your Holy Spirit to remind us of Proverbs 18:19, an offended ally is more formidable than a city. Such quarreling is like the bars of the castle. Although these may be things that we need we don’t need them against our friends and allies. And, so, come Holy Spirit and speak into the different situations that we face with our brothers and sisters. I pray this in the precious and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and its where you find out what’s going on around here.

And we know it’s the Daily Audio Bible long walk today. So, I think I’m probably safe in assuming that I’m talking to some of you as you’re walking, as you’re enjoying the beauty or as you are on your way or making plans. And, so, that’s fantastic. I’m doing the same thing. And, so, I just encourage you. We’ve talked about it for a couple weeks. This is the day. Enjoy it. And we can get out there and think that there is something to accomplish. I took this day. I set it aside. I’m going for a walk with God and then we can be out there walking like…is this working? Am I doing this right? How…how can I do this better? And that’s really where we get sideways, that there is some sort of objective here. And we just have to remember, when we fell in love and we went on those long walks in the woods or those long walks in the rain we wasted time as if it was never ending. We weren’t always looking at our watch figuring out what the next obligation was. Time stood still. And that’s really the objective, is that we stop paying attention to what we’ve got to get done and start paying attention to what’s going on around us and simply enjoy and empty out, have the conversation. This is time to simply say everything that needs to be said. And, you know, I often think that we’re so busy that the Lord has some things He’d liked to say to us. We just don’t slow down. And when we talk to Him, we’re talking to Him. And, so, we leave that time and He’s kinda going, man…I had some things I would’ve liked to have told you if you had stuck around for a minute. I would’ve comforted you. You didn’t have to run off. You ran in here all stressed out, told me what you were stressed out about and ran off when I would’ve given you a hug. I would’ve told you it’s gonna be okay. That’s what today is about, time to find comfort in our relationship with God, a time of uninterrupted space where we don’t have to leave anything unsaid. And, so, drink deeply. Enjoy deeply your long walk with God and as you move into the back half of the year. And wherever you are, whatever continent you are on, wherever you are on this beautiful planet that God has made for us, snap the picture, maybe take a video and come back to the Facebook page facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. We’ve got a post there for the long walk for this year and you can post into that post your pictures, your videos, share your stories and we all get to enjoy this together as the windows open. As we look through those pictures we’re seeing the world, a place that we weren’t today but a place where you were and we get to enjoy that together.

And then finally I mentioned yesterday, there is a resource that is just tailor-made for what we’re doing today on the long walk and that is called Heart, a contemplative journey and you can download that wherever you get music, at the iTunes Store. Now here’s the thing, it’s not like Apple music, but the iTunes store. Heart, a contemplative journey is kind of a guided prayer and musical journey. Prayers to open up the emotions in our hearts, music to just touch those places as only music can and opening us to the conversation that we are having today about what’s going on in our lives. And, so, that resource is fantastic for…for the the long walk. So Heart, a contemplative journey. You can probably find by just searching my name, Brian Hardin, wherever you get music. So, take advantage of that resource. Like I said it is…it is a wonderful way to open ourselves up to God and the things that we are feeling. It is a wonderful conversation starter. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we do together gathering around the Global Campfire every day and taking the next step forward is meaningful, thank you humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

And that is it for today. I love you I’m Brian, enjoy your long walk. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Oh, thank you Brian Jill and family. It’s amazing to be able to come to you my Daily Audio Bible family of prayer warriors. I’m a long-time listener and this is my very first time calling. But it’s on my heart asking you to pray for my 44-year-old son who’s going to have pretty serious aortic aneurysm repair on the 6^th of July. He has a wife and three children that need him so and his only fear is that he won’t be there for them. And my prayer is for a successful surgery and a problem free recovery. Would you please lift the Mayo hospital open heart surgical team involved in his care and also bless them with godly wisdom and precision? And may all our fears be removed as we trust solemnly placed in God. My hearts grateful that I can come to you with this prayer request and I thank each and ever yone of you for joining our family in this prayer.

Good afternoon my Daily Audio Bible friends. This is Skip Morgan and Sudeen Texas. And and I love the Daily Audio Bible. I love it, I love it, I love it. Just a little background. I’ve been in Hospice care for several years and twice my families been called because they didn’t think I was gonna live but I keep…and the Lord…and the Lord keeps me alive. But here’s my point. I just want to encourage everyone…a few days ago someone wrote on my Facebook page the scripture, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And I replied and hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing the word of God. I hear so many people that are under stress, they’re depressed, they’re going through so much and my heart goes out to you because I’ve been there. But I want to encourage you to somehow, someway play scripture, play worship music, anything you can get your hands on that’ll drive Satan out of your home and out of your mind. And I promise you, I promise you, God promises you that if you will hear and hear and hear the word of God things will change. Things will change. Things will get better. Thank you so much.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family brothers and sisters this is Andrea D'alene from Kentucky in the USA. I wanted to let you know that I am praying for you today and I want to pray for you really quickly. Father in the name of Yeshua Your son, thank You for my brothers and sisters. I ask that You would give them great courage today, that any fear on them would be broken and that You would replace it with Your amazing overwhelming powerful loving kindness. I ask You that You would bolden them to do what is right today. I ask that any suicidal feelings that is on Your people would be broken and be lifted up, that You would infuse hope into them and into their family. I ask that any addiction and all addiction be broken and come under the submission of the Holy Spirit, and I just speak to my brothers and sisters. You are powerful in the power of Yeshua. You have what it takes to succeed in all that God has called You to do and I ask You to continue not giving up on Your loved ones, continue loving on them even if it feels like it’s so dark. It is our job it is our call to overcome evil with good and I pray a holy protection over You to know when to move when to say yes when to say no and have healthy boundaries, things that are going to protect You but also help other people to come to know Yeshua in a powerful way. In the mighty name of Yeshua. Be encouraged today brothers and sisters. You have the hope that this world needs. You have what it takes. I love you. I pray for your healing today in Yeshua’s name. Amen. period

Good morning, good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is John Opara, Opara in my own dialect because I want other people who may not be able to pronounce it the way we pronounce it in my dialect. Anyway, God bless you. I have just returned from leave in Nigeria. I was in Nigeria to…to begin to scout out things as I prepare to retire. And I tried as much as I could to send in my message from there but was not able to do so. But I really want you to pray for my country, Nigeria. Nigeria is very strategic. Not only in Africa but in the world. I’m not saying this because I’m in Nigerian, but this is what I sense in the spiritual atmosphere the strategic nature of my country. But we are in serious trouble. Insecurity everywhere. And I need you to pray for my country. We are heading to election next year and something has got to change because corruption has hit the climax in my country.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible this is Cynthia from Virginia. I am just calling to thank God for this podcast and to let each and everyone know that I listen to you every day and I pray for each of you every day. God is such a blessing to me and my family and I hope to others. And even though we go through stuff He still blesses us. And I thank Him and I thank Brian and everyone else that’s involved in this…for this podcast. It has blessed me so. I also thank Him because the way things are…just tragic things are happening in this world we need someplace to go to pray for one another. And God is good and this goes throughout the whole world and I just wanna say I am praying for you all. Please continue to pray for me and my family. Thank you. Love you. Bye.

1 Chronicles 2:18-4:4, Acts 24:1-27, Psalm 4:1-8, Proverbs 18:16-18

Today is the sixth day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. It’s kind of our Long Walk eve, tomorrow’s the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. Looking forward to that. But looking forward right now, to diving back in and taking the next step forward on our long walk through the Scriptures, this year. And so, just by way of reminder, we are working through some genealogies in the book of first Chronicles. Sort of, reassembling, well, the of the genealogy of the people who have been carried away into exile. And then in the book of Acts, we have been traveling along the apostle, well alongside the apostle Paul on his journey back to Jerusalem where he didn’t stay very long and definitely caused a commotion, a significant commotion with assassination plots involved and everything. He’s been whisked away and now he is on the Mediterranean coast in Caesarea Maritima, where we will pick up with his story when we get to the New Testament. But first, we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week, first Chronicles chapter 2 verse 18 through 4 verse 4.

Commentary:

Okay so, Paul going back to Jerusalem, we’ve talked about this and we read it, we’ve mentioned it, even as early as yesterday. Like, he’s coming back to Jerusalem because the Holy Spirit has told him to go back to Jerusalem. He knows he’s going to be arrested there and every port that he stops in, to visit with the believers, they, it’s a tearful goodbye and many people warn him not to go. So, we kind of know that part. Now, the rest of the story is beginning to take shape and we can see it. So, we know Paul got to Jerusalem, we know he was arrested in Jerusalem, we know that a riot was about to form about Paul, we know Paul was protected by the Romans, we know that he was brought before the Council of the Jewish people. Like, the high council for them to make accusation against him and in that high council, Paul, in his own defense, shared The Way, what we would call the Gospel or the Good News. He shared about Jesus, to the entire Hebrew counsel, who were making accusation. And they couldn’t do anything to him, right, like he’s under Roman guard. He’s being protected by the Empire and he’s telling them about Jesus, while being protected, which doesn’t stop 40 people from getting together, to try to make an assassination plot to just kill him, which is in fact what happens. It’s just that that plot gets uncovered and Paul then gets removed from Jerusalem, under heavy guard of the Roman people. He goes through Antipatris and ends up in Caesarea Maritima, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In today’s reading, the high priest, the high priest, with an entourage, including attorneys or lawyers, they come to Caesarea to make accusation in front of the Roman governor, whose name was Felix, and he was married to a woman named Drusilla, who was a Jewish. So, he had heard of The Way, that he had heard about Jesus. And so, when the high priest and his entourage arrived and begin to make accusation against Paul, Paul then has the opportunity to begin to defend himself. And once again, he is able to talk about Jesus, while being guarded by the Roman Empire. So yes, he’s somewhat incarcerated, in that he doesn’t have total freedom to move around, but he wasn’t going to have total freedom to move around anyway because the Jews were trying to kill him. But now he has soldiers protecting his life as he shares the Gospel or The Way of Jesus, to unbelievably, prominent, powerful people. Felix is the most powerful person in the land. He is not the Roman Emperor but he is in charge of this province. Ananias is the high priest of God. So, while being protected by the Romans, Paul is sharing, in a forum, an articulate message of the Gospel of Jesus. And it’s so interesting, the Lord had told him to go to Jerusalem, and in such counterintuitive ways, Paul is being protected as he continues to be on mission, to be a missionary, to be somebody bringing the Good News. Which gives us a glimpse of the fact that God does counterintuitive things, if we hadn’t already noticed that in the Bible, God does counterintuitive things to further His work and we are watching that, as the apostle Paul begins to share the Good News with the most powerful prominent people in the land.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another day to step forward and we thank You for this story, that we are watching happen as You protect Paul, by way of the Roman soldiers, so that he can share the Good News about what You have done to rescue humanity. We are grateful for this; we are grateful for this example of faith and utter dependence upon You. And as we continue in the days ahead, we look forward to seeing how this story fleshes out. And so, Father, we pray that You would water what has been planted in our souls, the Scriptures in our lives, planted deep within us, that they might transform us and change us in every way, in all we do and say and think. We pray this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, and that is the website and its where you find out what’s going on around here. You do the same thing using the Daily Audio Bible app, just push the drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and that opens up a drawer and you can find things like the Community Section, like the Initiatives Section, you can find out what’s going on around here so, check that out.

There is something going on around here, tomorrow. Tomorrow, is our Daily Audio Bible holiday, that we have here, just around the Global Campfire. It is a day we call the Long Walk. And we’ve been talking about it for a couple weeks now so, we can have the drift, but it’s a day that we set aside. Hopefully, you’ve done that, hopefully you’re carving out that time. We go somewhere beautiful, near or far. It’s just important that we get out into nature, that we get somewhere where we can allow the beauty of what God has made and situated us in, to be evident. Let things slow down, we are attached to our technology and our obligations and responsibilities and they are driving us forward and we never have time, never to slow down. Unless, we make it. This is a time where together, we make time, to slow down, to enjoy what God has made, to go for a Long Walk, wherever you might go, whether you’re circling around a lake or hiking in the mountains, or just making a revolution around the park down the street. Wherever it’s beautiful to you, go there and enjoy it fully with…with no guilt, knowing that you set this day aside for something much more purposeful than anything else you’re doing, a day with God, in the middle of the year, to look back and reflect on where you’ve come from, since the beginning of the year. And to look forward to where you’re going. Having actual, generous, time to speak about everything that’s going on in your life. Having actual generous, time in silence to listen, to the Holy Spirit leading and moving us forward, in speaking advance words to us. This is the Long Walk and this is what will be going on tomorrow. And what makes this a community experience together, is that we’ll put a post on our Facebook page Facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. We’ll put a post there for the Long Walk and you can post pictures, stories, videos, just enjoying everything that God has for us, during this Long Walk. So, yeah, looking forward to it very much, that’ll be happening tomorrow. And just real briefly, I’ll mention a resource that is perfect for the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk, a resource that is here, at the Daily Audio Bible, for us, of us, it is a guided prayer and musical journey, that you can get wherever you are able to download music. It is called Heart, A Contemplative Journey, and it moves us through prayer and through some compositions, through the emotions that we experience as human beings, inviting God into all of those things. And so, that, it can’t, it can’t be gotten like where, whatever streaming service you’re using. You have to go somewhere like the iTunes store or the Google play store. You can purchase the album, if we had it set up for streaming, it’s like all of those prayers will be disembodied from the, from…from the work itself. It’s all strange if they’re torn apart, it’s a cohesive work. And so, if you want to take that and have that accompany you on the Long Walk, it is a fantastic resource for that. It’s a way to get the conversation started by just acknowledging the way we feel and inviting God into all of that. And then beginning to move into personal conversation, from there. So, check that out. It’s called Heart, you can just search, well, you can probably just search for Heart, you might find a band named Heart, I don’t know. But, search for my name, Brian Hardin, you’ll probably find it. So, enjoy that, as a resource on your Long Walk and this will be fun. It always is. And I’m looking forward to it.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you, thank you, as we navigate through summertime, thank you, humbly 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 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, it’s Radiant Rachel and I was listening to the prayers on July 2nd. Lord, thank You so much for Your blessings. Thank You for the open door that You have provided for Sparky and be with him as he goes back to school and goes through this. And lift up those who called in with the hard stuff going on in their lives. The father, who’s grieving his son, and has to go through identification. And the father who’s going through brain cancer and bone cancer. We grieve together with our family. And we ask You to come, grieve with us and with them. And bring them peace. Help them to be able to honor their grief, to identify it, to speak it, to give it to You, speak it out to You, Lord and invite You into it. And comfort them and bless them, Lord. Be with them and bless the mother as she’s gonna give birth. We pray that You will be with her through this and bless the child. Bless our families Lord, and heal our souls and activate our spirits, Lord, so that we will go on mission for You and find our identities. Amen.

Hi, DAB family, it’s the Daughter of the King from Australia, here. I just want to thank you, Brian and your family and the team for everything that you do. This is just so amazing. I have benefited and appreciate, having listened for the last 3 or 5 years, it’s very special. And yeah, it’s really making a big difference in my life. I just want to say a quick hello to His Little Sharie from Canada. Thank you for praying for my son’s best friend, I appreciate that. Thomas, thank you so much for ringing in. I am a few days behind but I heard you today and I so appreciate you giving us your name and as you know, lots of people have been praying for you. And I just wanted to ask you, if you have a friend or a friendship or a relationship, whether it’s with a human or a pet, where you can just be friends? You don’t have to perform; they don’t have to perform. You don’t have to take boxes, neither do they. It’s just a friendship and there’s acceptance and caring. And, I just want to encourage you that God actually doesn’t expect a performance. He, he just wants a response, the same as we all do from each other, a love response. And the word of God is actually just full of so many amazing promises. It’s, it reveals His character, it reveals our identity in Christ, which is, that’s actually impacting me the most currently, is knowing or finding out who I am in Christ. So, bless your journey, Thomas. And God bless everyone, bye.

Ezekiel, this is Jersey Jane for Jesus. And I listen to your father’s words from the Bible almost every morning, I’m a little behind. And so many people have said things, positive things about you. And I remember on April Fool’s Day, you took your dad’s place, that was so funny. But I wanted you to know that an adult, really enjoyed how you are able to say all those prayers and words. You amaze me that you can pronounce those difficult names. And, I loved listening to you. And I hope children around the world are listening because you’re a very special young man. And I prayed to our Lord and Jesus that they follow you, that they love you and see the light that you’re giving them. You’re giving them the word of God. And that is so special, Ezekiel. Thank you for doing this for kids. Byyyyyyyyeeee

Hey Daily Audio Bible family, it’s James the Teacher and I’m calling in a for Travis. Hey, Travis, I know a lot of people have been calling in for you, letting you know, you know, you starting out later in life with studying to be a pastor. And you expressed your concern about not being smart enough. You know, I was kind of a smarty pants, myself, got into college young, got into teaching really young, really, really young. I was 22 when I started teaching High School kids. And it wasn’t till I’d been doing it for at least 10 years that I started having any real idea what I was doing because, you know what? It had almost nothing to do with really, with what I learned it college. Even a lot of my teaching credential stuff, which was good, didn’t prepare me to be a High School teacher. Because a lot of being a teacher, is pastoral. And I didn’t have a father’s heart for a long time. But you’ve got life experience. You gotta have something going on inside you, you would feel called to pastoring, to caring for the souls of people. And people are gonna see that you’re older and that you’ve lived life and they’re gonna respect that. So, don’t you downplay yourself, man. Gods got you exactly where He wants You, for exactly the reason that He needs You there. And if you’re not open to that yet, I hope that you will be soon. Love you, bro.

Hi, this is Brian from Ohio, from Huber Heights, Ohio. I really need some prayer for my son, my 33-year-old son, Mitchell. Please God, God, I pray You will help him, God. He’s homeless, he’s mentally ill, he’s a drug addict. He’s got no money, no place to go, no friends. He’s been recently kicked out of the homeless shelter for a year. I don’t know what’s gonna become of him. He has professed to be a Christian years ago, but I think he needs to address that with God. I just pray that God would give him the help that he needs to overcome these things and that his life would be restored and that he would be able to serve God with his life. And that he would be truly saved. I love Mitchell very much and I ask for your prayer for him. Thank you very much and God Bless.

1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17, Acts 23:11-35, Psalms 3:1-8, Proverbs 18:14-15

Today is the 5^th day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we gather together and move forward taking the next step on this adventure that’s leading us through the Bible. And we’re moving into some new territory, new but familiar territory actually. We finished the book of second Kings yesterday and the book of second Kings ends with Babylon conquering the kingdom of Judah and carrying its people into exile and Jerusalem including the temple of the Lord being destroyed, which effectively ends the chronicling of kings, right? There’s no more king in Israel and there is no more king in Judah. There are no more kings to chronicle, which brings us to the books of Chronicles.

Introduction to the book of Chronicles:

And we’re going to go back through some of the same stories at the same time period. It’s just going to be through a little bit of a different lens. And, so, we don’t know who wrote the book of Chronicles. We do know they were one text and then were broken apart, just like the books of Samuel, ad the books of Kings. And there is a Jewish tradition that suggests that Ezra the priest and scribe was involved. But there isn’t a complete consensus on that or the time period. It’s thought that the books of Chronicles were probably penned about four centuries…400, 450 years before Jesus came and that is the time period of Ezra. And as I was just mentioning, we’re covering a lot of the same stories and territory that we covered in the books of Samuel in the books of Kings, but the lens is shifted away from royalty or the monarchy and this…these stories are seen through the lens of the priesthood, those who are charged with reminding the people who they are and who God is and where they’re going. And, so, a lot of the same stories with the little bit of a different complexion. So, as we launch in today and…and continue forward these…the first section of the book of first Chronicles is a lot of genealogy. And this is a really interesting point that we’ve reached in the Bible, at least for me. It’s a very memorable thing. I mean name after name after name who begat who is a tedious part of the Bible for most people. And this genealogy section or the genealogy sections of the Bible are often sort of skipped over, like what in the world do I need to try to sound out names I cannot pronounce. I don’t know anybody with any of those names and these people lived thousands of years ago. How is the story connected to my story? Why do I need to actually read these names? But if we begin to understand what’s happening it does become meaningful. And all you have to do is sort of just look back a day, just look back a couple of days back when we were reading second Kings and remember our journey through Samuel and Kings and the way that that story ends is that the northern kingdom of Israel is carried into exile by the Assyrian Empire and the southern kingdom of Judah is conquered and carried into exile by the Babylonian Empire. These are conquests of kingdom’s, military overthrow of a people who are then deported from their homeland. And it’s not like the enemy sat down with a pen and paper trying to document who belongs to who. People were sent away into exile in waves, and nobody had any control over it. If you were the conquered people, you did what you were told, or you die. And many people did die. And people died without their families knowing they had died. And people’s families were split apart and sent in different directions. This is exile. This is being conquered. And, so, they’re being re-settled into other areas. These genealogies that we’re about to read in first Chronicles is an attempt to remember who they are and where they came from and how they’re knit together as a family and to remember those who are lost. And, so, every year we come to this particular territory I…I remember the different kinds of museums that I have attended, that are there for remembrance, are there because an atrocity of some sort happened and people need to not forget what happened and not forget who was lost. So, I mean like…I’ve…I’ve talked about Holocaust museums in the past. I am thinking right now of the time I spent in Rwanda in Africa many years ago and visiting the different sites where genocide had taken place. And actually, it’s very stark, where the bones of the people that were killed in the genocide in Rwanda are preserved. And you can just…you know…walk into a room full of skulls of people who had died and another room of clothing that people were wearing when they died and rooms full of pictures of those who were lost so that family members who never knew what happened can come and see if they can find that name or remember the connections. And every time that I’ve been in a place like this there is this kind of contemplative space, a room that’s starkly lit, like the one that I’m thinking of in Rwanda had starkly lit. It’s got a very tall ceiling. It’s circular and floor-to-ceiling it’s pictures of people who were lost in the genocide. And it’s a quiet room. It’s not supposed to be a room to tell jokes and stuff. It’s a somber event to be in there. And you can sit down, and you begin to realize there is the voice of a woman coming through the speakers very softly saying the name’s, repeating the names of the people that were lost over and over and over so that this will never happen again. And, so, that it can be remembered and so that they can be remembered. And, so, if we put ourselves kind of in that position with that kind of posture understanding that this genealogy is in many ways a reconstruction of who they were and how they’re connected after such a terrible thing had happened to both the northern and the southern kingdoms, then we can find some meaning in the territory that we’re moving into. And, so, with that said, we will begin the book of second Chronicles. Chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 17. And we will begin at the beginning with the first man.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have already talked about the new territory we moved into in the Old Testament as we began first Chronicles. And, so, we have the lay of the land there. And just briefly just to point out what’s going on in the book of Acts, Paul went to Jerusalem as it turns out. We remember as he was moving in that direction, he was being warned every step of the way and there was only trouble in front of him. And we remember those sad goodbyes on the docks as they’re setting sail, people crying and Paul saying, you know, we’re never going to see each other face-to-face again. So super bittersweet on this journey back to Jerusalem. And Paul gets back to Jerusalem, but he’s not free for very long. He’s snatched up and grabbed in a mob formed and just, they’re trying to kill him and then the Romans find out that he’s a Roman citizen, so they have to protect them, which is interesting. It’s the Romans now protecting Paul from the Jewish people who are his people. And in today’s reading Paul leaves Jerusalem. Like he wasn’t there that long. And the commotion that was getting stirred up was significant. I would say, at least in my opinion…and you may have a different opinion, but if you have 40 people literally pledging themselves not to eat or drink until they have killed you that’s a pretty serious thing. And, so, as it turns out Paul is led out of the city in the evening after dark under heavy guard and sent on his way to the coast to Caesarea. And Caesarea was a very cosmopolitan very new city on the coast, a jewel, a beautiful place. And the ruins are extravagant until today. But at the time this would’ve been a playground for Romans, a place to go. That was the intention, to make a destination place in the Roman province of Syria. This is also the place if we remember from just a little bit earlier in the book of Acts that the apostle Peter was led to go in order to share the good news with the Roman centurion Cornelius and his family. So, this is where Paul is on his way, and this is not a dominant Jewish city. This is a dominantly Roman city. And, so, a significant less chance of Paul being assassinated before he can even stand trial. But as we learned, they had a stop on the way and that was in a city called Antipatris. And the ruins of Antipatris still remain. Very fascinating place, at least to me. I’ve been there a few times because there is the Roman road that still kind of exists, pieces of it going into the city, and there are like chariot tracks from repeated use from that era where you can still see where the chariots kinda ground their way into the road. I remember standing there just going, man this…this is how Paul got into this city on his way to Caesarea, and these chariot tracks, there from that time. They’re not just singular chariot that tracks, they’re like a worn into the stonework. So, it’s repeated use. But it’s just so fascinating to just look at that and go, man I’m touching the Bible here. This is this is where that happened. And I find that to be…even as I talk about it, like lifts something in me. It’s like touching these places and realizing these are real stories that really happened is really meaningful. Nevertheless, so Paul stops in Antipatris and then on to Caesarea which is where we leave him today. So, his journey to Jerusalem, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit and against all of the people that were warning him away happened and he was there just briefly and now he is no longer in Jerusalem. We are on the Mediterranean coast in the city of Caesarea Marittima. So, it seems like Paul, at least the fear of immediate death has been removed from Paul. We’ll have to see how this plays out as we continue the story tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, we love You. We thank You for Your word. We thank You for these new territories that we get to investigate and hear about and learn of and people that we get to meet and we get to watch You in the middle of all of it realizing You are in the middle of all that’s going on among us. May we have five days to see and ears to hear exactly that. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and where you find out what’s going on around here. And we’ve been talking about what’s been going on around here. Couple of things.

First of all we announced last week our intention to return to the land of the Bible. And I remember last week coming and telling the story of how he got there and just wondering if anyone was interested in going and what that would look like and it is sold out. And faster by far than anticipated and left us kind of scurrying going, what do we…how we handle all this getting our feet under is now and it is sold out and there is a little bit of a wait list. Our partner and keeper of logistics and organization told me this is the fastest any tour has ever sold out for us. So, Israel 2023 is full and there is a wait list at this point.

The other thing that we are talking about can’t be sold out. Every one that can participate and that is the day after tomorrow is our own Global Campfire holiday. Every seventh of July we call it the Daily Audio Bible long walk. And that is exactly what it is. We take a day in the middle of the year, it happens to be 7^th day of July and kinda set it aside realizing we’ve made it to the midpoint of the year. We have half of the year to go. We have come a long way in the first half of the year, and we have a ways to go in the second half and we have learned from the Scriptures and from our life experience we can be heading in a certain direction and get off by a degree or two, and end up somewhere totally different than we were planning to go. And, so, sort of taking some time to reorient, reprioritize, go out in the beauty of God’s world that He has created for us to enjoy and drink it all in, enjoying the serenity, enjoying the silence, realizing that life is abounding everywhere we look, and having a long walk, thinking these things over. What’s important? How have I gotten off track? And saying everything that we never have time to say to God, talking about everything like we had a whole day with God. Imagine. But we do and we’re setting it aside and we’ll say all we need to say and hear all that we need to hear and move into our second half of the year. And that is a very personal thing to do. It is a very intentional thing to do. And that is what we’ll be doing on the seventh the day after tomorrow. And we’ll make this such a beautiful community experience. And we will put a post on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page that’s facebook.com/dailyaudiobible for the long walk. And as you go and do your long walk, you’ll probably want to take a picture, maybe you’ll want to take a video, something to remember the time that you had and you can come back to that post and share your pictures, share your videos, share your stories. And then all the sudden we get to participate in each other’s long walks look through little windows called pictures but look through little windows of what the world looks like today all over the world and the beauty of God’s creation and how He is speaking to us all over the world. So, make plans for that, the day after tomorrow. I’m very…I always very much look forward, have my…my own little traditions usually end up going into similar places and very much looking forward to this day. And, so, plan for that day after tomorrow and we will do the long walk together.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we share in common to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone, anywhere, anytime and to build community around the rhythm of showing up around the Global Campfire every day, if that is life-giving to you and thank you humbly for your partnership as we navigate through the summer time. Deeply, deeply appreciative. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

Coming soon…

2 Kings 23:31-25:30, Acts 22:17-23:10, Psalm 2:1-12, Proverbs 18:13

Today is July 4th, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you. Happy Independence Day to those who live in the United States. This is a pretty large national holiday for us. in in this country, Independence Day. And so, we celebrate and at night people blow off the fireworks, all over the place and it's…it’s fun, but it’s even more special around here because today is my wife, Jill’s birthday. She’s a July 4th baby and so we always go out and sit outside and watch all the fireworks and celebrate her birthday like, it’s all about that, and so that’s fun. It’s great to be here with you today, just a couple of days before the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. And so, it’s a special time in the year when we arrived at this place. So happy birthday Jill, who has along with our daughter China, been doing Daily Audio Bible Chronological this year, and what a beautiful, beautiful work that is, beautiful work that it is. It can make me misty eyed, just thinking about it, but it’s wonderful to be here, it’s wonderful to celebrate and it’s also wonderful to have the opportunity to take the next step forward on our journey through the Scriptures, and so let’s do that. We are still working our way through the book of second Kings and at this point we are only dealing with kings that were kings in Judah because there is no more Israel. And so, there are no more kings of Israel. Israel is gone and now that territory, that land, belongs to the Assyrian Empire and Assyria is bringing foreign people that have been conquered from other places, into the former land of Israel. And the people, the children of Israel, who were of those 10 tribes that were conquered, they have been exiled or deported to other regions of the Assyrian Empire. And so, all that’s left now, of what we know, what we, what we followed as it came about, what was the children of Israel, all that’s left is the kingdom of Judah. So those are the king’s that we are left with, as we continue this journey. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week, second Kings chapter 23 verse 31 through 25 verse 30.

Commentary:

Okay, a couple of things. We, today with today’s reading, concluded the book of second Kings. So, we will be moving into some familiar but new territory tomorrow. We’ll talk about that then as we, as we begin the book of Chronicles. But what we bore witness to today, as we ended the books of the kings, was the, was the conquering and destruction of the kingdom of Judah. So, let’s just recap the times of the kings really quickly, so that this kinda lands, we’ve been through a lot of territory and a lot of stories. The first king of Israel, we remember, was named Saul, right. And then, there was a shepherd boy, very good-looking, well-built man named David and he killed the giant Goliath and became a national hero, which eventually made Saul go after David, with multiple assassination attempts. But in the end, Saul died in battle with his sons against the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. And finally, David wasn’t on the run anyone anymore, and eventually he became the King of Judah, right, Judah, the tribe of Judah. And then, shortly after that, he became the King of all of Israel. So, he was Israel’s second king. His son, Solomon followed him and was the third king of Israel and Solomon, with all of his wisdom was a massive developer and brought Israel to its finest hour, the United monarchy, the United tribes of Israel, the children of Israel. But Solomon, even though he was the wisest man, was seduced away, and in his later life, fell away from the Lord. And so, when he died, his son Rahaboehme became king. But that needed be ratified by all of the tribes. And when 10 of the tribes of the north, came before Rahaboehme, asking for him to be a little kinder on the labor force than his father had been, Rahaboehme, with arrogance and bluster, shot them down. There was a man who was kind of the spokesperson, kind of the leader, his name was Jeroboam and 10 of the tribes in the north, denounced the house of David. The 10 tribes came together as the kingdom of Israel. They anointed Jeroboam to be their king. And in short order, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, led the 10 tribes in the north, the kingdom of Israel into idolatry. Which left Rahaboehme, in the south, the king of Judah, but he was reining in the holy city of Jerusalem. And then we began to move through the different kings of Israel and the kings of Judah and how they overlapped and the prophetic voices that were involved in the story, over those centuries. And then we saw the Assyrian Empire eventually, truly with all force, raid and surround the capital city in the north of Samaria, and the kingdom fell. And so, the 10 tribes of the north, the kingdom of Israel, were carried away into exile and assimilated into the Assyrian Empire, and those 10 tribes at that point, disappeared from history. Like, never again did they come back to the homeland and form cohesive tribes again, until today. So, after Israel fell and became a part of the Assyrian Empire, the kingdom of Judah still remained and had a little bit of a longer life and we went through those kings, and in today’s reading, we see the Babylonian Empire and King Nebuchadnezzar raiding the land of Judah and succeeding. Jerusalem fell and that kingdom of Judah, those people, the citizens of Judah, were carried away into exile, in the Babylonian Empire. And then, Jerusalem was demolished, destroyed, like, there’s is still archaeological evidence in Jerusalem to this very day, that just shows the burning of Jerusalem in the Babylonian conquest. And the temple of the most-high God was destroyed. The palace of the king, all the governmental buildings, all of the more wealthy affluent neighborhood like, the city was destroyed. And that’s kind of where we are, everything that we’ve gone through, since we met Abraham, kinda comes to an end here. This is certainly not the end of God’s people, but what they were going for, this Promised Land, that could be their ancestral homeland, that they could build up, that they could be a people set apart among all of the nations who worshiped God and could reveal God to the nations, through their adherence and obedience to Him, revealing a completely different culture and a completely different way of doing things. As we’ve witnessed that worked, but it worked in fits and starts. It worked for a while, and then rebellion set in and it didn’t work and it was this kind of ever downward spiral, which eventually led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. So, it’s pretty sad moment actually. And then we got to think about ourselves. We are also to be a set apart people, revealing God to the world. When we trust God, when we have learned the lesson of the wilderness, confess our utter dependence and live in that place and follow what we are being led to do with humility and just a sense of gratitude that we get to be involved at all, then things move in certain directions, that are ever upward leading. It’s kind of like what we’re reading yesterday, were the roots go down, so that the fruit can spring up. But then when…when we find ourselves seduced away, in some sort of way, it has a way of compounding itself, until we look up one day and realize we are one way off track. And so, we return. And then maybe we go off track. And then maybe return and maybe that’s the pattern and God is gracious and kind enough, and loving enough and shepherding us, and fathering us enough, that He has compassion on us. But what would it look like if we stayed going in a straight line? Why do we have to find ourselves feeling in spiritual exile? Why not be moving in a straight line, not deviating, what would that do to our lives? Because in this long story that we’ve been reading about this one family of people, Israel’s children, we’ve been able to witness what it looks like to cling to God and what it looks like to depart from Him. We’ve seen where those pathways lead, we know where those pathways lead. Why would we choose the wrong path, knowing where it goes? So, let’s consider that, as we sit here in the center of the year, just kind of moving through the middle of the year and a time to reflect back on the first half of the year and a time to consider the second half of the year. This is a good time to consider the road, the path that we are walking.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we indeed do that, we invite Your Holy Spirit into it, as we even look back over the first half of this year and consider the path that we’ve been walking. As we look back over the rhythms of our lives, we look at the paths that we have chosen, we could see where they lead. And then as we look into the Scriptures, we see this is true of all people, the road that we are on and the path that we have chose, are made by the words that we speak, and the choices that we make and they are leading somewhere. And so often we’re just not paying attention to where they’re leading. And so, we’re taking this time to reflect upon the story that we’ve read so far, all the way until, well, until the children of Israel are no longer in the Promised Land. And we see the metaphors for our own lives, and so, it gives us pause to consider, to consider the welfare of our own spirit, our own heart and the condition of the spirit of our family and our children, our spouses and our communities. And it’s easy to be discouraged because it feels like it’s an ever spiral downward and yet Your mercies are new every morning and the story can change at any point. And so, we humble ourselves before You, recommitting ourselves as we saw the children of Israel do so many times. As we move into this second half of the year, we invite Your Holy Spirit to awaken us and root us in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudioible.com is home base and it is where you find out what’s going on around here. We get a couple of things going on. The Daily Audio Bible Long Walk, our own little Global Campfire holiday is coming up this Thursday, so just a couple of days from now. We’ve been talking about it for week and ½ or so, and so we could probably have the lay of the land but if you’re just kinda going what? Long Walk, what’s that? It’s in the center of the year, the 7th of July, not the exact center, but we’re passing through the center of the year. And every July 7th for the last, I believe, 14 maybe this is 15 years, we’ve done this. It’s a day, in the middle of the year, that we carve out and set aside for God, for a Long Walk, to go somewhere beautiful and to not feel guilty about it and to not be bogged down by all the obligations and responsibilities. But to say, no, like actually one day out of the year, I can take a day out of the year and consecrated to God and go enjoy everything that He has worked so hard on to make beautiful for me to enjoy. And all of the life that is happening in nature all around me, to re-connect and all of these obligations and responsibilities that crush me, they can be put in their proper perspective. You simply need to be out in beauty and so that’s what we do, go somewhere beautiful, near or far, down the street, or a couple hours away, wherever you find beauty and a place of meaning. Go and take a Long Walk, walk for hours if you want. Walk for a few minutes and sit down and enjoy hours with God, just watching the life that is around you. People walk 20 or more miles on the Long Walk. Some people walk ½ a mile and sit all day, just mesmerized by the presence of the Lord and all that He is created for us to enjoy. So, it’s that time, that we never have sure, we may pray every day, we may talk to the Lord every day, we may be very, very real religious about it, very regular about it, but there’s never enough time. It seems like there’s never enough time for anything. So, what if we had a day and it was like, I can say all that I need to say, even the things that I keep forgetting to say. I can talk about whatever we need to talk about because we’re unhurried. When does that ever after happen, unless we arrange for it and that’s what we’re doing here, arranging for unhurried time with God and imagine that the Lord has some things that He would love You to know or direction that He would like to aim you in and He just keeps waiting because you’re so busy? He’s patient, He’s kind and He’s waiting, He needs to tell this to you, just waiting for your schedule to clear up, but it never does. Imagine that the Lord has things to say to you, that you haven’t had time to hear, this is that time and it makes a huge difference in the second half of the year. So, make plans for that coming up this Thursday, take the day and go enjoy and those of you have to have like a 10…10-page plan, a minute-by-minute, yeah, that’s not really what this is like, this is where you don’t have to do that. Your unhurried, there is no agenda, other than to simply enjoy the time and the passage of time with God. A very beautiful, solitary thing to do. What makes it a community experience, what makes it like, the Global Campfire holiday is that, even though we’re doing it alone, we’re not doing it alone. We’re doing it with other brothers and sisters, all over the world, all at the same time. So, take a picture wherever you go, maybe shoot a little video, wherever you go and post it to the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page. We put a post on the page for the Long Walk and you can post as a comment, in that post and all of a sudden, we throw open the windows to the world, we get to see what the day look liked all over the world, and just really feel kind of, knit together. Like, this is really happening, we’re really doing this, we’re really doing this all over the world. We really are brothers and sisters. It’s a beautiful thing, that really ties the community together, for the second half of the year. So, really, really looking forward to that myself and I hope you are as well. That’s the 7th of July, just a couple days from now.

The other thing that we’re talking about is the pilgrimage that we are intending to take, to the Land of the Bible and that is to take place, February 6th through the 19th 2023. We had been annually, taking pilgrimage to the Land of the Bible, with the Daily Audio Bible Community for a decade, then COVID hit and changed a lot of things and we’re not really completely sure about the future or ongoing plans but we do have plans for this. Take a journey to the Land of the Bible to root ourselves in the soil and in the text and to see the Bible, where it happened and that is a remarkable thing to do. It’s a life-changing thing to do, actually. We end up not looking at the Bible the same, after that. It’s really interesting how we have read the Bible, maybe you’ve read the Bible many, many times, but we read the Bible, read the stories in the Bible, we see those stories occurring in our imagination, they kind of get fleshed out inside of our imagination and so they look a certain way to us. But it’s sort of murky, right, you can only see so much. But what if you’re standing in a place and your eyes are open and you can turn in a circle and see a 360° view of…of that place, wherever it is that we are, and you can hear the crunch of the soil beneath your feet, and you can smell the breeze in your face and you realize I am, like, this is where David slew Goliath. Or this is where Jesus made his adult hometown, I’m standing in it. I’m standing where Jesus stood. And on and on it goes and it just changes the way we see and read the Bible because we’ve seen things that are no longer in our imagination but we’ve seen them. And so, if that awakens something in you. And it’s something that’s on your bucket list then check it out. We’d love to spend time with you in February, touring the Land of the Bible, North, South, East, West and all of the central regions. We cover every region in the Land of the Bible, we see all of the major bodies of water the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River. You can be baptized in the Jordan River. So much and it’s so worthwhile to take a spiritual pilgrimage and root yourself in the Land of the Bible, where the Bible happened. So that’s coming up. You can check it out. There’s a few places to check it out. dailyaudiobible.com, if you’re at the website, there’s a navigation at the top, that’s normal for websites. One of those buttons is called initiatives, if you hit the initiatives button, you’ll see Israel 2023 in there. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can push the drawer icon, in the upper left-hand corner and that’ll open up a drawer, and inside that drawer, you’ll find initiatives and if you push the button, you’ll find Israel 2023 there. Or, go to dailyaudiobibleIsrael.com, that will get you there as well, give you the details that you would want to know, so check it out. Look forward to seeing you.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God, read fresh, every day and offered freely, to anyone, anywhere, anytime and to build community around the rhythm of showing up every day and taking the next step forward together. If that brings life and hope and good news into your world, thank you, humbly for your partnership, especially as we navigate through the summer time. Thank you, deeply. 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 if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today, other than to say Happy, Happy Fourth of July everybody and happy birthday Jill. I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. Happy 1st of July, happy new month. It’s so amazing to be going into the second half of the year. And I just want to pray over this month with all of us, that July would be a month of supernatural blessing, trust in God for us. It will come to pass, manifestations, in Jesus name. I just want to encourage everybody. I know that when we come to these milestones, it can be kind of challenging to look back and see, maybe I haven’t reached my goals and things like that. But people you have six months ahead of you and so it’s, you can do anything. God has blessed us with so much to be able to do anything. And if you can’t do anything on your own there’s a community to support you. So, I just pray that you know, God would give us all the courage and the patience and the you know, the tenacity, the hope to go after the things we want with our hearts, that He has placed in our heart and have a good July everybody. Have a good week. We can, have a good weekend, take care. Bye.

Hey guys, it’s Beloved in Boston. How ya doing? It’s July 1st the start of a fresh new month. Yeah. And I wanted to pop on here and kind of give a praise report, followed by a prayer request for my friend named Sam. My 11-year-old daughter, Olivia and I, took her to a prayer night at our church on Tuesday night. And at the end, she accepting Jesus into her heart, which was so amazing, right? And then, long story short, you know, half-hour to an hour later, we were in the ocean, baptizing her and it was just an amazing night. And Jesus is so good. But of course, the enemy does not like this, at all. You know, he’s fuming, as we all know. He attacked, he attacked in her relationship with her boyfriend and some legal things and really just truly enemy attacks. And so, I am heading out, my family and I, to go camping for the 4th of July holiday. And we won’t have cell service and so I just really want an army of people to be praying for her, as the enemy is just gonna keep coming at her to distract and to destroy any steps forward, she’s making in this new wonderful journey and the kingdom, right guys? So, please just keep Sam and her boyfriend Josh in your prayers, Lord. Pray that she can continue to stay sober and praise Jesus that’s she’s been sober for over 90 days now. And just look at how good our God is. Love you all and I know and feel so safe and secure that while I don’t have access to her that you guys will be there carrying her, in spirit and in prayer. Thank you so much. Happy 4th of July.

Hey everybody, this is Addicted to Christ or Pellom in Birmingham, not in Birmingham, from Birmingham. I’m in Alabama though, so I’m calling in today because I just wanted to say a little something to everybody out there. So, life and who we are in the world as believers and people who have a relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, different than the people around us in the world that we move in. We’re called to spread the news; we’re called to tell others about it. And that, right there, is one of life’s most difficult missions. Especially, with the climate that we’re in now in the United States. To even talk about Jesus is…is trouble, it’s extremely difficult in the workplace or in society, even to bring Him up. And I wonder why that is? Could that be because there’s something out there, that’s the opposite of Jesus, there’s something out there that wants us to stay quiet. And it’s created this machine that we’re in that’s made it, where you virtually get your head chopped off to even mention the name, metaphorically speaking. Yeah, that’s the enemy. That’s what he’s done. So, it’s an art form to bring Him up. In fact, at this point, we have to bring Him up without saying His name. So, you bring up Jesus by being Jesus, not by speaking Jesus. And know that life is like a great movie and every great movie has a crisis and seems like the good guy could not possibly win. But we’re on the underdog side. All you gonna do is hold on tight, let Him do the hard work

Hello, this is Five on the Farm and I’m calling for Katie, who called on, I believe, June 22nd. Who, is an attorney in Boston and you have panic attacks. Katie, I’m also an attorney. I want you to know that you will not be alone. I am putting you on my calendar, you are in my prayers, you will stay in my prayers. When a panic attack comes, just remember you are not alone. There is nothing to fear because you are not alone. And the Holy Spirit is there with you and I am praying for you. Take care and I know you will have success in your career. One attorney’s work to do the right thing and help bring order and understanding into the world. Whether it’s business contracts or working with the courts for children. There is so many ways that you, as an attorney can bring better into the world and help end discord. Take care, and you’re in my prayers Katie. Good bye.

Good morning my beautiful brother from California, I believe your name was Alfie. I heard this prayerful joy emanating from your being, in your voice this morning, oh my. You praised God for what He has done and your testimony was just stirring the joy in my heart and I wanted to share that with you. I just think that is absolutely wonderful. I add my prayers with yours in God answering your prayer and celebrate that we overcome by the blood of the lamb, our Lord Jesus, our brother Jesus and the word of our testimony. Abide us everything will align with God’s perfect plan for you because you are His and you are His blessed son that He perfectly loves. So, anyhow, this is Abundantly Blessed, Tanya from Massachusetts. Enjoy this day and thank you so much for sharing, Alfie from California.

Hey guys, this is The Single-Minded Plumber calling. I wanted to call and thank all you guys and tell you, I love you, God Bless you and have a great day. My mind just goes blank. I got a little social anxiety and every time I call in, it’s like, have you ever based jumped, or jumped from a high place like a cliff or high-diving board into water? I get that feeling every time I call in. But I call myself The Single-Minded Plumber because at the beginning of the year, everyone was talking about words, words of the year, words to focus on. And to me, single mindedness was really coming to mind because I hold a lot of reservations for kind of, excuses to do things, that are probably not good for me. And not follow what the Lord is telling me. And so, it’s kind of like a ribbon around my finger to remind me to not turn my eyes away from the Lord. And that pretty much anything, anything else, is gonna get me in trouble. You can’t serve two masters. And plumber, obviously, cause I’m a plumber. I make piping systems to deliver fresh water and take out waste. And, Brian, thank you, and all of you guys who call in and pray for other people, thank you as well. You guys have really changed my life. There hasn’t been a single thing I’ve called in for that the Lord hasn’t blessed me with. God Bless all you guys, I love you. Have a great day.