A Walk Through The Word

Jeremiah 23:21-25:38, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, Psalms 84:1-12, Proverbs 25:15

Today is the 14^th day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you and we’re approaching the middle of another month and I…I don’t know where the times going because it seems like it’s dragging on but it’s not. It’s moving fast. And, so, here we are almost to the middle of October these next couple of days will send us through the middle. And speaking of the middle, we’re in the middle of another week as we continue our journey. This week we’ve been reading from the New International Version, which is what we’ll continue to do. Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 21 through 25 verse 38 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we read Psalm 84 today and I can’t help but coming by this territory every year and talking about this. Like there’s all…so many things that happen in a year that have never happened before because the Bible is alive and it speaks to the depths of our souls in new ways, different things, even if we’ve been through the territory before strike us in new ways and apply in new and unique and inspiring ways, but there are some kind of like road posts along the way along this trail where it’s like, “yeah, this is always…we never need to forget this, we need to remember this always, this needs to get locked in for all time. And Psalm 84’s like that because it holds like very…like a very important key to how to live and it explains so much. So, if I say the word desire what is the first thing that comes up? Like a lot of times it’s like a sexual thing in nature. That word kind of evokes a…or if I say the word passion kinda the same thing happens. And if I say passionate desire we can apply that to, you know, like an athlete who’s training for the Olympics who’s like left everything else in their lives and focused on this one goal in life, while they, you know, are at a specific age and have specific abilities and are tuning those things so that as a world-class athlete they can compete. But normally these kind words, you put these kind words together and it gets erotic, which isn’t a bad thing, either one of them…like pursuing a goal or…or…or sexual desire or whatever that’s not like inherently a bad thing. Either way we can kind of understand the words. But we don’t usually use those words when we’re talking about God, an intimacy with God. And yet, let me read, let me just read from the Psalm. “My soul yearns even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” You see, that’s passionate desire. And we understand passionate desire. We just used a couple of examples, but we could find other ones but we’ve already kind of placed ourselves in those words, but we don’t usually think about them toward God. And yet in the Bible, we see the psalmist passionate with desire for God. A little bit later in the Psalm we read, “better is one day in your courts than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” This is a person whose focus is upon the Lord and the presence of God, to be in the presence of God is the most important passionate pursuit of desire. So, we can look at this and we can say, “yeah, I…I mean that’s true. I don't…like the level of passion that I feel toward my spirituality and my union with God is different than any of the other things that I’m pursuing in life. It’s different. I want that though. Like I would love to feel the way that the psalmist feels. I would love to live into that, with all of my heart. How? How does it happen?” And this is where we get handed the key. Worship. And the thing is, worship means a lot of things to a lot of people. Worship can be the songs that you sing in church when you are in church. But worship can be the records that you put on and play when you’re feeling low and depressed. So, this word kind of is more broad than we understand and yet we kind of define it pretty narrowly and it’s all kinds of religious baggage associated with it. I mean worship is a whole genre of music now, but if we want to get to the baseline then we would have to go back to the words that we spoke at the beginning - passion, desire. And one precedes the other, right? Desire precedes passion. Our desires lead our passions. So, it all begins with desire. So, when we apply our passionate desire in any direction it’s quickly going to become worship, especially if the expectation is life in some form in return. Worship is a word that describes where we focus our passionate desire in hopes of attaining life, which on the one hand means that we can worship just about anything and in just about any direction, but it also means if we acknowledge our source of life, like if that is a primary thing upon our minds, that God is our source of life, then all of life can become an act of worship, right down to our very breathing. Our breath is a gift of God and with every inhale we are receiving the gift of life. And with every exhale, we are releasing it in faith, that there will be another one. Th psalmist here isn’t speaking of theories. The psalmist here is speaking of experiences. The Psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah. Whoever wrote these words experienced union with God and could by comparison and say, “there’s nothing that can compare. Like no matter what the circumstances of life are, there’s nothing that I can pour my passionate desire into, give myself over to but my very source of life itself. Once that has been tasted, hard to…hard…there’s nothing that can compare. It’s hard to go back.” And, so, let’s aim our hearts in that direction. And the way to begin is to begin to observe ourselves, watch ourselves throughout the day with the idea that every breath, everything is an act of worship, everything that we do has the ability to open our eyes and make us aware of God’s presence because He is no less present to us. Like, we’re just usually not paying attention. Just because we’ve become aware of God’s presence doesn’t mean that God has come, that God showed up as we like to say. He never went anywhere. He didn’t show up. We did. He’s always with us. We just once in a while become aware of it. What if we stayed aware of it with this posture that our primary passion, that our primary desire is toward the source of life itself? There’s this old hymn that I heard growing up. I mean it’s still a famous hymn it’s still around but it's….it’s called “turn your eyes upon Jesus” and it describes what we’re talking about here because it says that the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. What if we put that into practice today? What if we practice it for the rest of the week and then just look back at how our week went and just see if any of this is true? What we find is that it is true and when we live into this with our passions and our desires focused toward the source of life, which is our Savior remarkable shifts can happen in very, very shortds amount…short amount…amounts of time.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. You’ve given us an example. We see an example in the psalms. Now we have some understanding and we turn our eyes upon You. We turn our passion toward You. You are our hearts desire. Ultimately, You are our hearts desire. You are the source of life. And, so, why we have orbited around the lesser things that have promised us life is a mystery when You are the only source. And, so, we turn to You and ask that You open our eyes and make us aware of Your presence all around us, everywhere. You will never leave us. You will never forsake us, which means that You are here right now and always whether we’re paying attention to it or aware of it or not. But we want to be aware of it. Our passions and desires, they need to grow. We need to become more and more in tune, more and more aware and less and less asleep to it. And, so, come Holy Spirit lead us deeper into our desire for You we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it's…it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, certainly do indeed stay connected in any way that you can.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for this journey including the God of Your Story, the latest book, which is kind of a written…not kind of…it is an attempt to follow the path or some of the paths that we follow through the Scriptures each year and put that in the written form so if we’re ever disconnected from the Internet etc. etc. we can just keep the journey going, keep moving forward. And often, there’s just more context. And it’s just having it as part of the rhythm of life that resource was a very, very, hard, hard labor for this…for this purpose and to serve this community. And, so, God of Your Story is there in the Shop. Actually, one thing external to the Shop is a release that we had this year, a guided prayer and musical journey that we released back in July for the Long Walk called Heart, songs of the heart, a contemplative journey. And you get that wherever you get your music, so at iTunes or Google Play or whatever. You just have to go to the Shop. You can’t stream these. You have to purchase these albums. The reason is that all of these prayers, if you stream it, then all of these prayers get disembodied from the rest of the project and it’s just very weird, kind of like trying to read the Bible without any Hebrew context at all. But that album it seemed to have come at the right time in the summer time and struck a nerve and continue…the stories that I continue to hear from the project are…are incredible, the way that just taking a long walk, just going for a walk and puttin’ some earbuds on and just moving through and praying through the different emotions that we have really, really felt deeply this year and to invite Jesus into that and into the story moving us forward. That is a great resource. So, certainly, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you, I thank you for everyone who’s ever pressed that link or any of the links. Like pressing that link is why we’re here. And, so, thank you for those of you who have partnered with the Daily Audio Bible over the years. 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, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement 877-942-4253 is number to dial or you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red Hotline button that lives at the top. Be very, very difficult to miss that. You can press the Hotline button no matter where you are in the world and you can share from there.

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:

Last week I sat down with the Lord and He began to speak and brought me to a place where I could feel His love and I struggle with that like sometimes when I hear the verse perfect love casts out all fear, I feel like I’m missing something but that was the first time in a long time, 30 years of Christian, I actually felt His love, I felt loved and all I could think of was first John, you love Him because He first loved us and my heart just soared. I was going to go out for a walk and I’ve heard the words Daily Audio Bible and honestly I haven’t listened in two years but when I’m out on the walk and Brian began to read and to talk about God’s love and actually quoted that verse out of first John my heart just soared and I laughed right outload because God is so very faithful to give us what we need, to meet us where we are and that’s why I love Him because He always loves me first and always…

Hello, my name is James Blackstone and I’m calling in regards to prayer. I’m struggling with my faith and my belief in Jesus Christ because I’m at a time in my life where I feel like nothing is working out for me. I’ve been complaining a lot and getting angry lately. Truth is I’ve been struggling with drugs and alcohol the majority of my life. I went to the Dream Center program and did a year and I graduated. But when the coronavirus hit our program stopped. I chose to go back out on the streets and a relapsed. I messed up. So, here I am back in rehab. I need prayer for strength and that God will bring the right people in my life. I miss my mother. I haven’t seen or heard from her in over 20 years. I was in and out of foster homes when I was a kid. Please pray that my mom and family is healthy and protected in Jesus’ name. Thank you for everything and God bless all of you.

Good afternoon family this is Soaring on Eagles Wings from Canada. I, as we are approaching our long weekend or a Thanksgiving weekend, I want to pray for all the truckers in our family. I’ve always admired truckers and the skills that they used to navigate those trucks back and forth and reverse them and this year was going to take a driving course in how to…to drive a truck, not that I’m planning to go anywhere but I just wanted to learn how to drive. But Covid has put a stop to that. So, Father God we have a number of truckers in our family, they do long distances. It’s very…it’s not easy going all those miles and trying to be alert. I ask you therefore God to be their pilot. Cover their hands over the steering wheel with your hands so that you can turn it whichever way they ought to go. Give them far-reaching vision so that they can see ahead Lord God. Give them ears to hear what’s happening round about them and the skill to navigate these trucks in all the areas that they go. And Father, I pray that you keep them safe from Covid. Watch over their families as they do these long distances and leave their families. Protect them from danger. Provide for them. You know their every need. And, so, as I lift them all up to you, we thank God for truckers because they are the ones who move goods and services back-and-forth so that we can eat and drink and be thankful. So, every one of you today, be blessed. Know I’m praying for you. God loves you and so does your family.

Hi friends at Daily Audio Bible this is Karen in Florida and just calling in for prayer today. As I’ve listened to so many prayer requests, I’m praying with you. I’d like you to remember me. About two weeks ago I woke up at 4:30 AM and I’m a single lady, I have a 12-year-old child and I woke up to the sound of someone scratching on my screen at my bedroom window and I…I thought it was just an animal or something and I waited for a while and it was someone at my window and of course I called the police but no one was around that time when they showed up and…and didn’t do a whole lot really about it, just took a report and said, you know, it’s probably just not gonna happen anymore and I doubt we would find anybody and…and it was kind of disheartening but the screen is torn up and so now I am trying to figure out how to finance getting some better windows put in my house or getting an alarm system definitely getting some better lighting outside. It’s been a bit of a challenge to try to even get people over here to…to do anything. And, so, I had to wait a week for an electrician to…to show up to give me an estimate on the lighting for outside and I’d like to get some cameras and I’ve just become fearful it’s 2 AM on Saturday, October 9^th or 10^th and I’m awake calling in asking for prayers. So, please pray for me. I would appreciate it.

Good morning DAB family this is Paul of the Child Advocate from the LA area calling. I wanted first to do a shout out for all the first-time callers. Many of you who share that your longtime listeners, it’s so encouraging to hear your you say your first-time caller and just increasing our family so much and it’s just nice to get to hear another voice and start to recognize your voice. And I wanted to stay congratulations to China and Ben. I actually met China quite a few years ago now when Brian and family were in Los Angeles. She was just a little girl then and she was manning the table, the greeting table, and we chatted for a few minutes and she was just a darling girl. So, I’m so happy for the whole Hardin family. And by the way Brian, I’m going to become a grandmother again soon too. My daughter Allie, our daughter Allie is pregnant, and I wanted to ask for prayers for her. She has a rare condition known as cholestasis, it happens during pregnancy and this is her third pregnancy and she had it with one of her other boys. This one is gonna be a girl by the way. Anyway, it’s a liver disease and it’s very dangerous towards the end of her pregnancy. So, please keep Allie and her baby girl in your prayers. And I also wanted to give a little shout out to Brian on your book the God of Your Story. I faithfully read it along with listening and I have to say it enhances the reading…the listening and the reading so much. I mean you just kind of, you know, expand on what you’ve said, and I just enjoy it. Thank you so much.

Good morning or afternoon depending on where you are, I’m calling from sunny South Florida and I’m calling today in reference to the young man who called this morning regarding the issues that he’s having on his job. He said that he was a first-time caller and did not identify himself, but God knows who you are. I would just like to encourage you to just hang in on in there. I understand exactly where you’re coming from. Several years ago, I had the same issue. I was going to work doing everything that I needed to do, meeting all the deadlines that needed to be met, having all the parent conferences and student conferences as necessary; however, I was the target for the year. I continue to pray for them, and God delivered me from them. So, I want to say to you, be encouraged. Look to the hills from whence cometh your help. God knows all about us. One thing about it is He has promised never to forsake us. We’ve got to pray for the workplace bullies. Trust God forever. Cherish the moments.

Jeremiah 22:1-23:20, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12, Psalms 83:1-18, Proverbs 25:11-14

Today is the 13^th day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you for another day has we step into the Scriptures and out of whatever else is going on and just, come into the oasis that we create for ourselves that we call the Global Campfire. We just, yeah, come in and let God speak and it’s amazing what He does in transforming the way we’re looking at the day and the circumstances that are facing us and re-orients us to His…His guidance and His love and compassion and leadership in our lives. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Jeremiah chapter 22 verse 1 through 23 verse 20.

Introduction to second Thessalonians:

Okay. So, yesterday we concluded First Thessalonians, Paul’s letter…first letter to the church in Thessalonica, also strongly believed by scholars to be the earliest Christian document in existence and the earliest of Paul’s letters. But now we’ve turned the page and here we are at the threshold of another letter and this one is also to the church in Thessalonica called Second Thessalonians. And we can remember from the letter but also from talking about First Thessalonians that this is a church that was formed quickly and was continually pressed in upon by persecution and marginalization. And really the church was never like, was never not shoved to the side, was never not persecuted. So, these people are like early believers in Jesus young in their faith facing persecution, which brings up eventually a lot of questions like, does this ever get easier? Like, what’s going on here? You said that Jesus was coming back. What do we do? And, so, Paul writes this second letter to the church in Thessalonica. And this is one of the letters that would be considered more…more disputed as far as did Paul write this or did someone write this in Paul’s name. There’s some theological nuances that are more developed. There’s just little things that get looked. But we could say many scholars also would say, no, Paul wrote this. Even the earliest church fathers quoted from second Thessalonians. So, likely if this is written by Paul it…it came…it came pretty quickly after the first letter. He is clarifying things that he wrote about before and broadening them and he’s like correcting specific assumptions. Basically you have to know…I mean we’ve talked about this before, but these early letters that are being passed around at the churches are coming from the perspective that Jesus return, like this is an eminent, very, very, like immediate…there’s no time to do anything else but focus upon this, that Jesus is coming back. That’s the kind of context that they’re in. So, in Thessalonica because the people are being marginalized and persecuted there are some that are like, “well, I’m quitin’ my job. Like…like Jesus is already on the white horse. He just hasn’t got to earth yet. Like this is happening now and things are just heating up all around us. So, this is an imminent thing. We don’t have time to think about getting married and stuff. So, I don’t really have time to think about working either because it’s only like…it’s only bringing me persecution and…and hardship and trouble. So, I’m not gonna…I’m not gonna work. I’m just goona wait for Jesus.” And we’ve seen…I mean…that’s…this isn’t the only time this has ever happened. This kind of stuff has actually happened in our own lifetimes where people believe the return of Christ is imminent. It's…you know…everything has lined up and here we go. And, so, people quit their jobs, take extravagant vacations, sell their houses, do all kinds of stuff, wait for the day and then the day…the day comes and…and then they gotta figure it out and start over again. Paul’s kind of addressing this because as people were waiting, they were just idle, and idleness usually doesn’t lead to positivity. Like it usually leads to like meddling and getting in other people’s business and having opinions that you don’t have any right to have and having running commentary on topics that have nothing to do with you. And, so, this is kinda getting in. And, so, Paul ends up telling the church family there that, “you know, if you’re not gonna work then just, you know, you’re not gonna just leech off everybody else who does. Like, you gotta…you gotta work if you…if you want to eat.” And there are other things that Paul wants to address. And it’s not just like a corrective letter, like, “let me set the record straight on some of these things.” These people, this church happened so quickly and under such pressure, that they hold a special place in Paul’s heart. And you can imagine that people who are waiting for Jesus and being faithful and loyal to the cause of Christ and to the message of the gospel but who are just getting pummeled by society, they need a voice of encouragement like continually because they’re…they’re under fire continually. And Paul’s tells them, “I see you”, basically, “your endurance, you’re not doing this is under a cover. Like, I see you. This isn’t being overlooked. Everybody sees this. Everybody sees what you’re doing, that you’re being faithful. And as you are faithful and endure, you’re being made worthy of the kingdom of God. And in the end, although you are experiencing injustice in the end, justice will prevail. And, so, we begin. Second Thessalonians chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another day. This is a continual prayer. We’re always grateful for another day but we are grateful for the way that Your word comes into our lives and it becomes a part of the fabric of the days that we live and Your Holy Spirit brings to mind things when we need them. Sometimes we don’t heed those things and then we have Your word to kind of show us where those pathways lead. And it’s not surprising. Yet, we have Your comfort that You always come for us wherever we are, that wisdom is always there leading us the way back. We are so grateful and as we continue to move forward through the letters of Paul, we ask Your Holy Spirit to ignite in us the joy of our salvation and the understanding of endurance. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that’s where you find out what’s going on around here. That’s where the Global Campfire burns. It’s a virtual community friends. We’re all over the world in every time zone there is, on every continent that…that there is. And, so, we have to look…we have to look at what we are a little uniquely, which is so good, so good that we’ve been able to do what we’ve been able to do all these years and just kinda move through things like what has happened on the earth in 2020 with Covid and all this and we’ve been able to just keep moving forward because we live in this virtual world in community together no matter what’s going on. So, knowing thar dailyaudiobible.com is home base and it’s where you find out what’s going on around here is important to know. So, stay connected, stay tuned. Visit the Prayer Wall. Get connected on social media. Visit the Shop. Check out the Initiatives. And, yeah, let’s continue our journey forward because it has been such a weird year, but such an adventure through the Scriptures this year. How often they’re just like, “wow! Did I need to hear that today!” And, so, what an adventure that we are on and let’s stay connected to it.

Including if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If what’s happening here, day by day step-by-step this rhythm of life that allows us to come together in community around the Global Campfire and just be here and to know we have a place, a place in every day that is an oasis, that is safe, that is a place where we can let our burdens go for a few minutes and allow the Bible to just speak to us. If that is life-giving to you, then thank you for your partnership. There’s 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, which is the 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:

Hello DAB family this is Carma in Fort Wayne Indiana. On October 6^th Joyful Jay in the Everglades called and talked about how hard it is to pick up the heavy hairy phone. I knew the Holy Spirit was indeed talking to me as God has been prompting me to call for quite some time. And yet the enemy has been feeding me lies that my problems are not that big of a deal. Besides I’m blessed with some great friends who faithfully pray for me. So, Satan led me to believe that I don’t need others to pray too. But I am part of this DAB family and have listened every single day since September 2017 after a tragedy in my life. And when one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. So, today I’m asking you to pray for my family and me. For 19 months we have been living in crisis mode. My sister’s family was completely torn apart by infidelity, lies, greed, drugs, and the list goes on. She had a beautiful family by all outward appearances, but it was completely destroyed. Now her four children live in four different places and my mom and I are blessed to have the youngest was 13 years old living with us. I’ve always longed to be a mom myself but it’s quite a challenge to suddenly become the parent of a teenager who has been through so much trauma. I need your prayers family. I feel like I take one step forward and two steps back and it is just so emotionally exhausting. In addition, I recently resigned my job which had become a poor fit for my skills. So, I’m job searching too which is also emotionally taxing. I want my life to exude joy in the midst of so much hard, but I need the Holy Spirit and the faithful prayers of others to do it. Thanks for praying. It is a joy to be on this journey together.

Hello, my name is Lydia and I like listening to the Daily Audio Bible Kid’s radio. I’m from Georgia and I would ask that…ask you would pray for me for my cold and for my daddy since he’s going to Louisiana to help build the hurricane and for mama and I in that we would be comforted. Thank you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Jane Ruth from Nebraska. And, you know, I came face-to-face with reality today. I realized that the reason why I have been unwilling to talk and ask for prayer is because I am so proud. I don’t want to admit that I am 62 ½ years old and I’ve never been married, and I don’t have any children, and I want a partner. I want to be married. And the reason I don’t want to admit this, is because all of my history is based on that. Why are you not married? And why don’t you have children? And if I tell why it brings the whole story of where I’ve been and what’s happened and if I stay in the problem, I can’t live this way. If I live in the solution, I can’t live alone because I cannot support my story without a firm foundation in Christ. So, I need help.

Hello, my dear Daily Audio Bible family this is Maria the Missionary in Mexico. I want to give a shout out specifically to Cheryl from Ontario Canada. Thank you so much, what a blessing and an encouragement. I called in with an update about my coworker Barb and you said you were praying for her and for us as well. Well that just couldn’t come at a more timely moment. We are thriving in Jesus. We love Mexico, we love our ministry here. So much to love but I’d be dishonest to say that it’s just been a breeze and that lately we haven’t been having a bit of stress. Of course, Covid has added to it because my husband’s not only a missionary pilot down here, he’s also part of the contingency team which as you can imagine with Covid has a lot more to do. So, he’s very busy in that ministry. And then just because of random and unforeseen circumstances none of our other coworker pilots in all of the country are here at the moment or can fly. They have their medical things going on or medical that their spouse has, and they have to leave or paperwork stuff. So, it’s just kind of interesting and obviously my husband has had tons to do. Also, when he was on a trip, a commercial flight, he picked up what looks to be Covid now because the people that caught it from him on that trip, they tested positive Covid. He thankfully is getting over that fine. Our kids all started getting sick and they seem to be fine. I can feel some stuff in my lungs happening. So, I really appreciate your prayers. Barb our coworker, her tumor in behind her ear, in her air canal is too large for the Gamma knife so we’re just praying that God directs her to the right surgeon. Anyway, thank you all. I love you and I will update you as I know more. God bless.

Hey, my wonderful DAB fam this is Kingdom Seeker Daniel and fam I want to pray for just a couple DABbers. So, would you please be so kind to join me. Let’s look to the Lord. Father, we thank You and we praise You for who You are. You are the God of another chance. And Lord You…You designed marriage. And, so, God we pray that You would be the restorer of Dimitri from Oregon’s marriage Lord as his wife has filed for divorce. But he does not want to divorce. And, so, the court the court date is set for November 4^th. God, we ask that You would manifest Your will in this situation. Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy but God, Jesus came that we might have life. And I pray that Dimitri and his wife would experience that life being given back to this marriage in the name of Jesus. Will You cause life to be revived through this marriage? Touch that wife’s heart and mind. You know where she is and what’s standing in the way. I plead Your precious blood over…over Dimitri and I pray God that You would turn this marriage around to the glory of Your great name. In Jesus’ name. And then remember Candace from Oregon’s sons, specifically Micah who’s going through a difficult time. Lord I pray that You would save all of the…the boys God but specifically do a work and Micha’s heart. I pray that You would comfort Candace’s heart and let her know that You are at work concerning her sons in the name of Jesus. We thank You and we praise You for the restoration, for the healing, for the deliverance and the breakthrough coming to Candace’s home and boys in Jesus’ name.

Hi there DAB family this is Sean Sean of the mountains calling in from Fayetteville Arkansas and I’m calling in response to Sonia from Austin Texas who called or I at least heard her on October 9^th and she was talking about her father who had committed suicide and I just want to pray for her and for others who may have been dealing with the suicide of a family member. My brother, my only sibling took his life four years ago and it was just really a shock and really devastating and I mean I and my family members have walked through that in these past four years and we’re coming to some good places and the Lord has met us very sweetly. So, I’d like to pray. Dear Jesus we are so grateful and thank You that You have walked through suffering, that You are acquainted with deepest grief, that You…You put our tears in a bottle and You bring new life to us, You bring what’s needed. I pray for those who are walking through this, who may be walking through this thing recently. Lord would You just meet them in their deepest need. Help them to grieve well and to be able to remember their loved ones in good ways and not just the suicide. And we put all these things in Your hands in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jeremiah 19:1-21:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-28, Psalms 82:1-8, Proverbs 25:9-10

Today is the 12^th day of October welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you as we move into our work week together, spending day by day time…time around the Global Campfire no matter what’s going on, releasing, reorienting, refreshing. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Jeremiah chapters 19, 20, and 21 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Jeremiah today we…we do get very, very clear perspective on why people would speak against Jeremiah and why they would be upset with Jeremiah. We also get some pretty profound perspective on God’s willingness to be as counterintuitive as He wants to be including dismantling what one would think was un-dismantlable. I’m not sure that’s a word, but to tear down something that seemed to be indestructible, basically in order to achieve His purposes. That shouldn’t be surprising because we see examples of it over and over and over in the Bible.  But we usually try to kinda gloss over and not look at it because it’s so disruptive and uncomfortable. Basically, what God is telling the prophet Jeremiah to tell the people, all the people, including the royalty, including the leadership of the country that God’s intention is that Jerusalem will fall. Okay, so those inside of Jerusalem who are seeing themselves as God’s chosen people even though the prophets have been coming to them and talking about spiritual adultery and idolatry and all of the things including child sacrifice and all of the things, they still at an identity level believe there God’s chosen people and that Jerusalem is the footstool of the Lord, like His temple. This is non-destructible; this is God’s place and nothing is gonna tear it down. So, the closer they are to that orbit, no matter what they do, the safer they feel. Kind of a “too big to fail” sort of scenario. Of course, we…we in our time…we should be wise enough to know that nothing is like that. Nevertheless, God has made it clear that because of all the goings-on that have profaned what He had in mind in the first place that Je’s gonna tear it all down and He’s gonna use the Babylonians to do it. So, Jeremiah is trying to tell the people this in a time where things are generally peaceful and prosperous. And it’s only over the course of a couple of decades that these things…like that things heat up. So, the people are against Jeremiah, because he’s saying things that they can't…that they don’t believe can happen and that he’s just disrupting their good culture and their good peaceful time. And, so, they want to do away with him. And finally, God says, and I quote from Jeremiah here, “this is what the Lord says: See!” I love that because we’ve been trying to do that all year. So, for the Lord to say “see” is like saying, “open your eyes. Have eyes to see.” So, “this is what the Lord says. See! I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.” In other words, you are at a critical crossroads, “Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, or plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live. They will escape with their lives. I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the Lord. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon and he will destroy it with fire.” Okay, that is disruptive if you live near God’s temple and believe that it’s indestructible, that God put His name there and he would defend it, For God to come and say I have chosen another nation to come in wipe this place clean because I have been warning you and warning you and warning you and warning you about your spiritual adultery about your idolatry about you…you have abandoned me. You have broken the covenant. And, so, now your own actions, the choices you made to walk away, you’re about to reap what you knew the curses of the covenant would be, here’s where it gets really disruptive. God is saying basically you’re at a crossroads. I’ve put a choice before you and it’s a life and death decision. If you want to live surrender to the enemy. Yeah! You see how hard what’s being said here is. Not only for Jeremiah the prophet to say it, to deliver the message but for the people to believe it because it sounds utterly wrong to them. It’s going to require something that they don’t want to do. It’s going to require them to take a very big, very counterintuitive, very disruptive step of faith. They’re gonna have to believe the word of the Lord through the prophet over what they believe brings them security, their city, their nation. And we will continue to see this struggle as we continue through the…the books of prophecy but specifically the book of Jeremiah as we continue this journey. But it should give us clues, as if we haven’t been given them already throughout the entire Bible this far, that when God decides that time is up, that His patience has run out in a certain direction and that wherever mankind would go from that point, will never circle back around to good, only evil, so He is starting over again, that that’s going to happen no matter how secure people feel in their environment. So, we could take this on a macro level and just, you know, look into the world and look for the clues but we can take this at a micro level, at a personal level and understand how much disruption makes us squirm, how much the interruption of the status quo makes us angry, how willing we become to focus all of our energy to keep things the same when God is wiping the slate clean because we’re not gonna circle back and we need to restart again. As it turns out in the story that we’re reading, Jerusalem is invaded by Babylon is conquered by Babylon and the city is destroyed. The temple is burned and destroyed the people are carried into exile. Oddly enough, it’s from that very context that we will see very soon the most famous passage in the Scriptures right now, “behold I know the plans that I have for you”, right? This is in the book of Jeremiah. And it’s within this context of God saying, “we have got to bulldoze. Like we have got to start over, the foundations are fragmented, we have got to start over again.” So, let’s ponder that as we move through the weeks ahead, the months ahead, around the world, in our own country, in our own hearts, in our own lives.

Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit we pray into this. We fight what is disruptive to us would, what causes us angst, what causes us confusion inside. We fight these things because they don’t feel good. They don’t feel right, and we can’t see that they’re not supposed to. They are escorting us. They are causing us to get up and move and You are willing to continue to make us uncomfortable until we will get up and move because we are not where we are supposed to be. Help us to trust in You, Father, even when it doesn’t make sense to us. You are our ultimate source of life. We trust You. So, whatever we’re seeing the disrupts us is different than what You are seeing, and we will trust in what You are doing over what we think. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus’, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, it’s where the Prayer Wall lives, it’s where resources are available in Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, check it out, be familiar. We’re a big…a big family around this Global Campfire so we should be familiar with what’s going on around here. So, let’s get connected in any way we can, in any way that we want to. Check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, that can be done at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, and by the way if you’re using the app, all the things that I just talked about, you can access all of that, Prayer Wall included, from within the app. Just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. But if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And thank you profoundly for that. Or, if you prefer the mail, 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, it’s the red button up at the top next to the…next to the Give button that we were just talking about. You can’t miss it. It’s a Hotline button, you can’t miss it. So, you can press that button and share from there, or there are phone numbers located in different parts of the world depending on where you are. If you are in the Americas 877-942- 4253 is the number. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. If you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Howard, I would like to pray for you dear. You have three daughters and you have a mom and you have a wife that you just dropped off for a biopsy. Lord I lift You up my brother. He has all these women surrounding him in his life Lord and every single one is so important for him. And I know that all the family is important for You. So, Lord I pray that everybody’s gonna to be safe Lord. And the boyfriend and daughters and grandchildren, first of all I pray for that Lord. I pray that their just gonna have company a great company and they’re going to be choosing just companions for themselves, saved people as well. So, I’m praying for that first of all. And I’m praying second of all for the health of everybody Lord. I know You give trials. We are so stubborn Lord. We know that You also give us all good gifts Lord. So, I pray Lord that You will open our eyes and we will see what we need to do in our situations, that You will open the eyes of this family and they’re going to see what they have to do in this situation of sickness, isolation. And I pray Lord that You will comfort this family with a lot of good things and a lot of good news Lord, and they will be rejoicing in You and Your will be done Lord. Let us take what You give. Let us be joyful in the day. Pour the joy into that family Lord. Pour the joy in every situation. Let them open their eyes to trust You in this.

Hey DAB this is white as snow in Tennessee except today it’s from Canada. One of the advantages of being a truck driver even though the borders still close because of Covid it is open for deliveries and things like that. So, I came in from Buffalo in New York into Ontario. So, I wanted to say hi to his little Cherry and all those who call in from Canada. And I was thinking that it doesn’t matter where I am, I can still feel close to anyone who calls in and prays through the good, the bad, the ugly. You know, this community is just so awesome it doesn’t matter where we are, we can still be connected. And it’s such a blessing. And just wanted to lift up Terry the Trucker. I pray that you’re granddaughters doing well and recovering and that if you haven’t gone home yet that you will be able to get home soon. You’ve…you know…being stuck in your truck having to quarantine until things are clear. But I just pray that your drawn closer to God through this and just know that, you know, there’s tons of people praying for you and thinking of you. And I just pray that everyone has a blessed day

Hey DABbers, this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina. All right Holy Spirit let’s roll. Amen to prayers for Teagan and Hagan and their parents. Ronald Taylor, thinking about killing yourself brother. You know the enemy is all in…in your call because you got your name out, you said that, and everything else got garbled. So, we know that it’s the enemy. We know that. But here’s the cool thing. You’ve got tens of thousands of people praying for you and it’s like, you know, if…if you’ve never watched It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s an old classic movie, go watch that movie and see the beginning of the movie where all these people are praying and they send the guardian Angel down to help him. So, I can just see that happening for you. So, that is…that is just awesome. Pelham, I love your call about, you know, Joe the Protector who’s calling about Terry the Trucker, you know. See how this works everyone? This is like a pandemic of prayer, this entire society. So, I don’t know. I think that is so cool. Amen to prayers for Samson and his…his getting through college and for those that are trying to get in that class in Samson’s prison there. Amen to prayers for Jaelyn’s mom recovering from a wonderful birth. Darrell from Atlanta, man you’ve got a great voice. You’ve got, you know, you’ve got a voice for radio or something. But I just I love your call about using God’s word as a sword. So, you know, I love that too. Not much time I got left but Paul from South Wales, why follow Jesus 365 man. I just loved your call. That was really, really cool. Now, this call was supposed to be about Joe. So, I got 25 seconds left. Joe, you know, when I first came to Christ God was like, yeah I had this atheist family that I portrayed and God was like all these Bible verses about hey if you don’t leave your family than you’re not a real Christian. That was the enemy trying to destroy my wife, my marriage. They are gonna be…the only Jesus they’re gonna see is you. That’s it. You’ve got a chance with them. So, stick in there, Joe. Love you all…

Hello everybody this is God’s Smile here. I’ve struggled for a day to call in because it’s been really not worth it __. The pain that I live through has been with me since my 20s and I’m 54 but I would say the last 15 years have been very aggressive and most definitely the last couple of years have…I didn’t think these levels would be possible and this is with morphine and morphine based drugs. It still leaks through and becomes overwhelming. I usually get a couple of hours where I can ring in and smile with you and pray with you but it’s less weak, it’s not really, it’s been relentless. So, I’m just trying to get through. And I love Jesus and I sing praises to Him with tears. I will never deny Him, and I trust Him. I’m just finding it so incredibly hard because my __ the pain. Time’s running. I’m going leave it there. Kiss kiss.

Hi this is Radiant Rachel and I am just praising God today on my second anniversary October 7^th. And I would like to lift some people up in honor of my anniversary. Dear Lord, I pray that you will surround the community of listeners here and will bless them in their relationships with partners who are seeking you Lord with eyes wide open and hearts wide open. I also want to pray for Howard who called in today from North Carolina. I pray that you will surround the women in his life with your healing power. And Lord you know what each and every one of their needs are. I pray that you will be with them and guide them and that you will bless that family. I also pray for Rebecca’s heart and Skye, her husband from Michigan. I pray for healing over Rebecca for her jaw and neck and spine as well as the seeds that they are planting. I pray that you will send good soil and water for them and that those people will join your kingdom in your name I pray. Amen.

[singing starts] Oh, how wonderful Oh how marvelous is my Saviors love for me. Oh, how wonderful Oh how marvelous is my Savior’s love for me. More. More about Jesus. More. More about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see more of His love who died for me. My Jesus is the sweetest name I know and He’s just the same as His lovely name. That’s the reason why I love Him so for Jesus is the sweetest name I know. His name is Jesus and He’s so wonderful. His name is Jesus and He’s so beautiful. His name is Jesus and He’s so marvelous just to know that He does love me [singing stops].

Jeremiah 16:16-18:23, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:3, Psalms 81:1-16, Proverbs 25:6-8

Today is the 11^th day of October welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we do what we do at the beginning of every week, we take stock of where we’ve been and where we are understanding that this is a brand-new week. It’s like a line of demarcation. We’re moving into a new week and how we live this week is up to us and we’re at the front end of it. So, just knowing that, like continually reminding ourselves that when we get to the end of this week we will have lived week based on the choices that we made and we can choose ahead of time, like right now to allow the Scriptures to speak into the choices and decisions and chaos of the world and give us eyes to see and ears to hear, so that we can make wise decisions so that we can slow down and pay attention to wisdom, who is shouting out at all of the thresholds, at all of the forks in the road showing us which way to go if we’d slow down and listen and be wise in the things that we do. So, as we move into this shiny sparkly new week let’s do that. And if we string weeks together walking in wisdom, we’re gonna be wise and life is gonna shape and we’re gonna have context and perspective. And, so, let’s live into it. So, we got a brand-new week. We’re moving back into the territory that…well…we’re picking up where we left off. That’s what we do every day. And, so, that’s moving us back into Jeremiah. This week we’ll read from the New International Version. Jeremiah chapter 16 verse 16 through 18 verse 23 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this new week and it is our hearts desire to live into this week with all of our hearts in fellowship, in union with You as step-by-step day by day we actively participate in Your work in this world and continue to take note of the transformation that is happening within our hearts as the motives of our lives are conformed, are transformed into Your will for us. And, so, we…it is our intention to live into this fully. We certainly cannot do that without the guidance of Your Holy Spirit. And, so, we open ourselves, we become aware, well up within us Holy Spirit. Comfort us, correct us, lead us into all truth we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base it’s our home base it’s where the Global Campfire is. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here, the different initiatives and such. So, check it out. Stay tuned, stay connected, stay dialed into the journey.

Check out the Prayer Wall. Check of the resources that are available in the Shop for this journey and stay dialed into the Scriptures each day and to each other, brothers and sisters who are taking this journey with us. And the starting point of course is home base, dailyaudiobible.com. So check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well there is a link on the homepage. I thank you profoundly for your partnership. 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, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you’ve a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button at the top, can’t miss it, kinda looks like a hotline button because that’s what it is. So, you can’t miss that, 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.