A Walk Through The Word

Judges 2:10-3:31, Luke 22:14-34, Psalms 92:1-93:5, Proverbs 14:1-2

Today is the 24^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we move forward taking another step in the week. I guess we’re at the end of the week now but taking another step forward in the Scriptures. And we’re well on our way but we’ve got a ways to go. That’s the beauty of the rhythm of life together around the Global Campfire, allowing God’s word to speak into our hearts each day. So, we started the book of Judges yesterday we talked about it and it’s kind of this…well…it’s what happens after Joshua’s leadership and after the children of Israel have moved into the Promised Land. So, let’s continue that journey. Judges chapter 2 verse 10 through 3:31 today. And we’re reading for the Amplified Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Judges we met three of Israel’s Judges – Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar and they weren’t all at the same time. So, we…we…we kind of pass through like maybe a century and a half of time in our reading today and we’re already noticing this kind of back and forth. Like the people fall away from God, serve other gods, do their own thing, then oppression falls upon them, the enemy comes down upon them and oppresses them and they crowd to God and God raises somebody up. But what once that person dies then everything kind of goes back, it slides away, they fall away until something else happens and then somebody rises up. But since we’re covering so much time in such a short amount of reading it’s easy enough for us to think like, you know, Ehud was around for a few years, Othniel was around for a few years, Shamgar was around for…they…they like…they were elected officials or something and a lot of time is passing. And, so, if we look under the surface as we’re going to the book of Judges we can see just how and what directions the people are falling away. And as we watch how they are falling away we can also look into our own lives for the same kind of patterns because although we’re passing through centuries and centuries in the book of Judges the circle is kind of the same. Like they keep repeating the same circle and so do we a lot of the time.

Then in our reading from the book of Luke today we have come again to what we know as the Last Supper. And we know it as the Last Supper, because that’s what it was, a last meal, like a last moment with friends where nothings gonna be same again after this. And it’s in this meal Jesus institutes the sacrament of communion or the Eucharist and as Jesus is explaining this and passing the cup, He mentions that there’s a betrayer that’s at the table. And like, we know the story, so we don’t have to unpack all of this but there’s a betrayer at the table. And, so, everybody then at the table, all the disciples start asking who…who…who it could be. And kinda as the as the gospel of Luke reads, once they kinda get done with trying to figure out who it could be then this kind of transitions to a different discussion about who is the greatest of them, right? So, if they’re kinda trying to figure out who’s the lowest of them, then it would…“Stop! Me, I’m the greatest” you know…you can see how the conversation could turn. But then they get on this conversation about who’s the greatest of them. I mean can you imagine being Jesus in this situation if you’re sitting there and you’re explaining that your blood is going to be shed and you’re instituting this remembrance, this thing that should be ongoing among your friends so that you will be remembered for what you’ve done for them. And it’s not that you’re just kind of giving information but you know like tonight, later on tonight you’re going to be arrested and beat up and you’re sitting there at this meal watching those that have followed you the whole way fighting over who is the greatest. I imagine that would be discouraging to say the least and would only add to the isolation Jesus must’ve felt in those moments. Let’s pause here for a second. Like none of us have been around that table…we weren’t at that particular meal, but our culture is continually watching people, even in the faith jockey for position about who can be the biggest, brightest star, who can be the greatest. I mean our culture encourages this. Jesus responded to this. He responded to His friends, but He’s responding to us. Jesus said, “it’s not going to be that way with you. On the contrary, the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest and least privileged and the one who is the leader, like the servant. For who is the greater the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” That’s actually a pretty big reality check for us because, yeah, we can embrace the culture, we can embrace the world and work inside the world system which is for us to get as much as we can, and to become as famous or as big or as important or whatever as we can. something to give us an identity of our own or we can understand that Jesus is telling us something very important about His kingdom. And that’s basically if you want to be the greatest in His kingdom, then you must be the greatest servant, like it's…it’s backward and upside down to the way we see things and Jesus is saying greatest in my kingdom is the servant, the one who is like Christ.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that. We are pulled away from that awareness and that understanding every single day. Our culture does it, but we can’t just blame our culture. We are looking for some kind of identity and we’re trying to craft it and build it based on the criteria of the world and it is so counterintuitive to think if…if I serve well, if I lower myself, if I humble myself then I am actually being lifted up in God’s kingdom. So, Holy Spirit come into this. Help us to become more and more aware of this because what You are offering is a way out of the world, a way out of that other system that is nothing more than a treadmill. No matter how high we rise can’t stay there in that system. Whereas in Your kingdom You’re saying You don’t even have to play that game, it’s not even a real thing, it’s a completely false reality, it doesn’t lead anywhere. Humble Yourself, be a servant, love one another, serve one another. This is the way of Your kingdom. And we can think to ourselves, “well if I try do really do that for very long, I’m just gonna get walked all over.” But the way of Your kingdom is that everyone is on that same page. No one is taking advantage of anyone, there is no lack. So, Father this is how we be in the world but not of it. We have eyes to see these things and ears to hear these things. And, so come and help us become more and more aware of what our hearts posture, what our motivations are leading us into. Are we trying to scratch and eke out an identity in some way, are we trying to just get more and more and more so we can be served, or do we have the freedom to know that we are Your child, everything belongs to You and we are here to be light in the darkness, inviting everyone into the ways of Your kingdom. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, its where you find out what’s going on around here. Can you believe it? Two weeks ago, today was Good Friday. Like it's…just that’s how it moves. Like we we’re just celebrating Easter. It doesn’t seem like it’s been a couple weeks, but it has and staying connected as time flies by this is an important thing. And, so, dailyaudiobible.com is the place to stay connected at least to the community here around the Global Campfire.

The Community section will give you all kinds of links to different social media and to our different social media channels that we’re on. The Prayer Wall is in the Community section as well, which is always on and you can always reach out for prayer or offer prayer there. So, be sure to stay connected there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. Thank you profoundly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, 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, which is the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Judges 1:1-2:9, Luke 21:29-22:13, Psalms 90:1-91:16, Proverbs 13:24-25

Today is the 23^rd day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we do what we do and take the next step forward no matter what as day by day this journey pulls us forward and forward and forward through the Scriptures and through a year. And today is an interesting day because we’re kind of turning the corner in the Scriptures. We are moving into a new book, the book of Judges, but we’re also moving into a new era.

Introduction to the book of Judges:

Let’s talk about that for a minute because we really are turning the page. We’ve had kind of a singular leader for a while like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and…and although they were family and tribal leaders, we knbw their stories. And then Moses comes onto the picture and we’re traveling with him and then Joshua. Things are gonna change now. Like, basically, that whole era is coming to an end and the time of the judges is emerging, and on the other side of the time of the judges will be the time of the monarchy, like they’ll want a singular leader again, they’ll want a king. So, we go into this book called judges and we can, by its name think, “well this is gonna be a book of judgment.” It’s actually more kind of a quick overview of the centuries that occurred after Joshua. So, Joshua has died, the land has been settled. Obviously, there's…he's…there’s still some land that isn’t settled and conquered but the tribes have been all given their inheritance and things are settling down, but there wasn’t a dominant leader that was installed. You know, like, Joshua comes after Moses. Moses puts Joshua in place and Joshua had been like the right-hand man of Moses for a long time. So, he took the reins of leadership but there was no dominant leader after Joshua. So, the tribes were just basically ruling themselves doing what they think is right in their own eyes, but a decline begins and they begin to do everything they were warned not to do - all of the mixture, the way that they were seduced…will be seduced away to false gods and who God uses, who God uses to bring the people back to rescue the people. Even those people, like we’ll go into their stories and go, like “wow! Very, very different character than Moses and Joshua.” But we’ll be able to see that the people are just doing what they…whatever they want. So, basically Moses and Joshua made things very, very clear - very clear who God is, very clear who their identity is, very clear where they’re going, very clear who they belong to. And there’s all kinds of rituals and statutes and laws that kind of govern this awareness. And Judges will give us a picture of…well…of how that can disintegrate, and we’ll find a lot in the book of Judges for our own lives. So, let’s dive into this new era. The page had turned. We’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week. Judges chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 9 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and as we…as we do kind of move into this new book, the book of Judges, review the last…the last things in Joshua’s life and prepare to move forward and meet some new people, some interesting and some strange people, we invite Your Holy Spirit, We feel the changing of the seasons in the world and the seasons are changing in the Bible as well. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit into all of it in the days ahead. Come Jesus we pray in Your mighty name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here.

And I guess what’s going on around here is, you know, similar things to what’s going on all around the world it’s just that here, this place is a safe place to gather and we’ve been gathering around this Global Campfire for years. And, so, it is such a joy that we can do this together and continue in community. And, so, yeah, dailyaudiobible.com is the place to go.

Like the Community section gives all the different links to where to reach out on social media. It also is the home of the Prayer Wall that is…that is always happening here. This is a community that…certainly we…we come around the Global Campfire to hear God’s word every day, but we are also in this together and that has always been a distinctive. We are community that loves each other and prays for each other. And, so, no, don’t have…we don’t have to be alone even though…even though we’re separated a lot of the time right now. So, anyway, check out the Community section.

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

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the home page, and I thank you truly from…from my heart, thank you 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, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button at the top, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Abba’s Grace I just had to call in because I just heard Val. I’ve been looking at the days and I’m like she said the 15^th of every month, she’s got a call in to let us know that she is okay. And I’m just so glad to hear your voice. I was just overwhelmed with your call, not even because of what you are struggling with physically but mostly and mainly because of the lies that were consuming you at the time that you called just covered in shame, just…just like Adam and Eve were at the very beginning of time. The same exact lies that deceived us then is still carrying on today. And I just felt so sad and by how we were feeling from within, your inner man. So, thank you, thank you so much for calling just to hear your voice and just hear that praise and your encouragement to others stating that if He could do it for you, He could do it for all of us. He has done it for all of us. It’s done and it’s finished. All of us are loved. All of us have been rescued whether our physical body is being attacked or not, we can rejoice in the fact that our soul has been set free and that our Spirit is currently completely whole, completely healed, completely delivered. May we all awaken to that this year. That’s what this year is about. It’s about that awakening of the truth of what was finished on the cross.

Hello this is Jackie Saved by His Grace in Oregon. I wanted to thank Silver Lining Cindy in Seattle for her advice. Honestly, it’s made me look around and thank God for so many things that I just took for granted in the past. I think all of us are doing that and it’s drawing us closer to God and I know that God did not bring this virus, but He does have a purpose in that this virus is gonna draw…make many people closer to God. I just recently read a couple about to get a divorce that they’d been in the house together and got to know each other all over again and they canceled the court date. So, I want to thank God for all these things and especially Brian and his family and the Daily Audio Bible. Bye.

Dear God, I just want to pray for the anonymous lady that phoned in on April 20^th 36 minutes into the program just crying out to You for help and for comfort for the emotional pain that she’s going through. Oh God, I can feel her pain and sister I want you to know that I feel your pain and I feel for you and more than that Jesus feels it. Jesus has felt your pain and carried you. Oh, dear God, I pray that this sister would feel Your arms around her, I pray that she would feel Your comfort. And thank You God for being there near her. Please hold her together and take her through this and please bring her back to a place of stability and safety and peace. God, please let her know that she’s loved. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Sister, please know that you are loved and not just by Jesus but through all of us who…who love Him and who love you. God bless you sis. Love you.

Good morning holy and beloved children of God who listen to the DAB. This is Allison from England. Although I’m a longtime listener I very rarely call in, but I just wanted to say how grateful I am that the DAB has been in my life this year as a constant, as a challenge, as an encouragement and I thank you for the relationship that I have with God through being in His word through this resource. I pray for you all, I listen to all your prayers and I join my heart with yours in vibrant prayer. Lord, so many people are frightened and afraid, so I want to wish hope for this community and for all those lives that are touched by the people of the DAB. May we know the joy and the peace and the hope that can only come from God as we follow You in our lives. Oh, Father son and Holy Spirit we praise Your holy name and we offer You our whole lives to be used in Your service. Support us, be with us, that we may be people of Your kingdom. Amen.

Hi my name is Soraya I and I live in Fairborn Georgia and I’m 10 years old, 10 and half and you guys do really, really good on the Daily Audio Bible and I hope that you guys keep on doing this because it’s really helping kids in the world and I’m very, very proud of you China and Mr. Brian. And like I said before my name is Soraya and bye.

This is Sharon from Kansas City. I just finished listening to April 20^th and a lady called in in extreme emotional turmoil and could barely get words out for her tears. And I just felt so strongly that this is torment from the enemy and that she does not have to…to fight this battle on her own. The battle belongs to the Lord. And, so right, now I just take authority over these…this demonic attack against her that is influencing her emotions to cause her this emotional turmoil as she called it but it’s more than that it is torment and it is painful. And, so, I speak to that torment and I tell you to stop in Jesus’ name. Stop it right now in Jesus’ name. And I speak peace. Peace to your heart, to your emotions, to your thoughts, and we take them captive to the thoughts of Jesus Christ. We ask Lord that she would realize that she has been given a Spirit not of fear or torment or timidity or even pain but one of power and of love and of a sound mind. I speak a sound mind to you. Rest in the Lord. Trust in His name. Thank you, Lord.

Joshua 24:1-33, Luke 21:1-28, Psalms 89:38-52, Proverbs 13:20-23

Today is the 22^nd day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as…well…as we gather to take the next step forward in the adventure that we’re on through the Bible. And today…today is going to be a final day. We’re going to conclude another book, the book of Joshua in the Old Testament, and this will end in era. Actually, things will be very, very different after Joshua, as we’ll learn in the days ahead as we continue our journey forward. But this is one of those kind of apex moments, one of these moments in the history of ancient Israel that we’re reading through in the Bible where things were good and had reached kind of zenith. And following in the footsteps of Moses, like we’ll remember that the entire book of Deuteronomy was the last things that Moses needed, wanted desired, must communicate to the children of Israel before they would cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. Joshua has reached the end of his life as well. These are the last things that he has to say. And, so, we’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week. Joshua chapter 24.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we concluded the book of Joshua, we have a pretty riveting, pretty impassioned plea from Joshua and these are the final things, this is the final charge of his life to these people that he’s led across the Jordan River. And his plea is that they would serve the Lord, that they would serve God with all their hearts, they would not return to false gods, that they would serve only the Lord God, the one true most-high God. And he is warning them like, “if you deviate from this you will destroy yourself”, but he also brings something starkly clear because he’s telling them, “if…if you’re not going to listen to me you’re not going to be able to be with God but also with the other gods that you’re turning to for life or prosperity or whatever. God’s not going to share you. So, if you…if it’s unacceptable for you to serve the Lord, then choose who you’re going to serve.” And that’s when he says the famous words, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” And something rises up within us when we hear those words doesn’t it? Like something…like we’re like, “me too. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” It’s fantastic declaration. It’s a beautiful moment in the Bible, but Joshua presses into that. “You will not be able to serve the Lord if you serve any other gods. He’s a holy God. He’s a jealous God. He demands what is uniquely and rightfully His.” He’s pressing in on them. This is not just something that they can declare it’s something that they have to be. And then we find ourselves in the stories like we always do. We can say those words. We can say, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord”, but inside the walls of that house can be utter and complete chaos. It can…it’s not enough to say it we have to be it. So, Joshua presses in on them and they respond, “no, no, no, we will only serve the Lord.” And then Joshua says something that is really riveting because it is no less a factor right this second than it was when he spoke the words out of his mouth. “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve Him.” We live in a world where, you know, kind of diverting blame funneling it away from ourselves and onto somebody else or under some other circumstance where nothing’s really “our” fault. I mean that’s kind of the norm, but that all starts to fall apart when you hear the words “you are a witness against yourself. Like you will affirm or deny by your own thoughts, words and deeds, whether what you are saying is actually the truth.” So, if you’re gonna say, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord”, then we must also realize that we are witnesses against ourselves about whether or not that’s the truth, right?  That takes it out of the ether and makes it a tangible thing sitting square in our lap. And that’s good. It’s like cold water that gets thrown into your face. You don’t like that. But you’re awake. That’s like getting slapped across the face and you might be really really angry about that until you realize that the house is burning down and somebody’s trying to save your life by smacking you across the face and waking you up. We are witnesses against ourselves. We will affirm or deny not just with what we say but by who we are. And, so let’s live into that today. As stark as it is it is so needed and is so helpful. Are our words for show or do our words reflect who we are?

Prayer:

Father, we invite Your Holy Spirit into that question as we meditate upon it today. This gives us an opportunity to confront what is false within us. But in order to confront the darkness, in order to confront what is false we have to see it. And, so we invite Your Holy Spirit to show us these areas where we might be saying “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord”, but in practice we are turning to so many other things to give us life and to give us hope. And we acknowledge Father that the road ahead in the Scriptures is gonna show us how that can disintegrate, how You can have this statement, but if it doesn’t become who You are, how things over time begin to fall back apart again. And we know this because we’ve lived it and we’re tired of it. We actually want to plant the flag, “as for me, and as for my house we will serve the Lord.” And, so, we begin Father by simply asking, “where are we not? Where have we gone astray?” Come with Your comfort and guidance, come with Your correction, come with Your rebuke, come and lead us back to the narrow path that leads to life, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Be familiar with the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives and that is an ongoing, always on, never off place to reach out for prayer and to offer prayer. So, if you’re in the middle of the night just sitting there staring at the ceiling…yeah…I mean grab every phone or whatever and go to the Prayer Wall. There’s…there’s nothing…nothing really that…that sooths sort of the…the bigger questions and the anxieties that can come at us, then…then actually trying to reach outward out of ourselves beyond our circumstances toward each other. And, so, this is always available, always on. So, check that out.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for our journey, lots of different kinds of resources. I haven’t spoken in a while about the resource called, “The God of Your Story.” I don’t know why. I mean it was like one of the most difficult uphill climbs of a project that I have ever, ever, ever been on. Like on paper it was like. “of course, trying to write down maybe some of the best thoughts, the best things, the best path that we’ve taken through the Bible, to write that down should be easy because this is what we do every day”, but it wasn’t. And just…just…to write down the things like in written form really, really trying to dig into offering in written form the gold of the Daily Audio Bible over these last 15 years, that was difficult. But it is out, it is available wherever you can get a book, including at the Daily Audio Bible Shop where the proceeds, all of the proceeds of the Daily Audio Bible Shop support the Daily Audio Bible. So, it's…it’s a good place to go. But “The God of Your Story”, you can get that anywhere you can get a book. It’s just…it’s a tangible written 365-day journey through the Scriptures like the one that we’re on but in written form, which communicates in a different way. And having that tangible form, you know, like if the Internet’s out or whatever, then you just keep on going. But if you’re listening to the Daily Audio Bible and you kinda wanna regroup and end your day, and kind of look at the same passage of Scripture maybe from a different perspective, it is a fantastic resource for that. That’s what it was made for. So, check out this latest written resource, “The God of Your Story at the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you with all of my heart. We are in this together and that is why we are here and that makes all the difference. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage. 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, which is the little red button at the top and begin to share from their 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.

Joshua 22:21-23:16, Luke 20:27-47, Psalms 89:14-37, Proverbs 13:17-19

Today is the 21^st day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you for another day, another step forward in the adventure that we are on, the one that takes us all the way through the Bible in a year, day by day step-by-step together in community. And I’m glad that we can be together today. So, like every other day we’re picking up where we left off and where we left off yesterday in the Old Testament is in the book of Joshua and there’s some drama because there’s two and a half tribes that were given land on the west side of the Jordan River, provided that they would cross the Jordan River onto the east side into the Promised Land and help their fellow tribesmen settle the land, which they did. And then they were dismissed. So, they were headed back to the other side of the Jordan, and they built an altar that has caused a lot of confusion and that’s where we pick up the story. Joshua chapter 22 verse 21 through 23 verse 16.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have almost completed the book of Joshua, which is the first book that tells kind of what happens after Moses becomes a part of history hen Joshua takes leadership. And, so, Joshua’s now telling us that he’s old and he’s about to die and we’re gonna be finishing the book of Joshua tomorrow, but this story that we’ve spent the last couple of days working our way through in the book of Joshua has some really, really important advice embedded in it for us now in the times that we’re facing, for that matter for times anybody’s ever facing but it’s appropriate for us now. So…so, we remember being on the other side of the Jordan River, right? We remember wandering around in the desert for all that time and finally getting to the Jordan and finally getting to crossover and we remember that the tribes of Ruben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, they loved the land that was on the eastern side of the Jordan River. It was perfect for shepherding. It was perfect for what they did. And they went to this whole thing with Moses about, “could they have this land?” And Moses telling them, “you’re gonna…you’re gonna not cross over?” This whole negotiation happened, and it worked out that if they would cross over, fight with their brother tribes, settle the land, then they could come back and have the land that had been conquered on the east side of the Jordan. And that happened. They…they were faithful, and they were true to that. They did that and they were given their leave. Everything was good until they got back to the Jordan River and erected a replica of the altar of God. What it looked like was that the tribe of Gad and Ruben and half the tribe of Manasseh were going to go back over on the other side of the Jordan and that was gonna become a boundary and they were turning away, like they were rebelling. They were turning away from God. They had made their own altar, which got all the tribes in the Promised Land on the western side of the Jordan River together to go like, “if we let this happen then all of us are going to be destroyed.” So, they all got together and they’ve all been battle worn, like they have been fighting and are used to combat and they’re…they’re gonna go attack their brothers, their gonna go attack these two and half tribes because it appears the two and half tribes have rebelled against God, which will bring judgment upon them all and they’re ready to go. Thankfully they went, thankfully they sent somebody to find out the other side of the story, to find out why they would build this altar, why they would have rebelled against God. If they hadn’t done that they would’ve raced down, and the Jordan River would’ve run red with blood. It would’ve been awful Civil War. But they went down and asked and the two and half tribes were like, “absolutely! We would never turn away from God. We built this replica because we’re…were worried that the Jordan is gonna be a border and someday in the future the people on the east side of the Jordan are going to say to the people on the west side, “you have no place with God.” And, so, they built this this altar as a memorial, as a witness for future generations about who follows God. Here’s where this gets personal. The tribes on the east side of the Jordan River who were settling this newly conquered Promised Land, heard a rumor. They heard a story about an altar and about a rebellion and they took that bit of information, that rumor and started fabricating assumptions about what it meant, creating this plausible understanding, this plausible reality, and then began to live into that plausible reality created by a rumor to the point that, like the militaries being called out, to the point that the plan to attack their brothers who had fought alongside them was being hatched. That’s what can happen with a rumor and assumptions. That’s what can happen with disinformation and this kind of stuff happens personally individually, like we make up assumptions about things all of the time and…and we’re not very good at it. And, so, our assumptions invariably are flawed, but we’re making up realities about people that might have some truth in them but are not true. In the case of the story that we’re reading it was true, an altar had been erected. It was not true that it had been erected to rebel against God and offer sacrifices to false gods. The fill-in the blank part, the assumption part could’ve caused bloody Civil War. So, now you can see how we do this to each other and we suffer the consequences of doing it to each other, whether it’s just like a personal fracturing of a relationship are the disintegration of a friendship or whether it’s on national or even international levels. This stuff happens and these rumors and false assumptions, like the fabrications of reality that we then live into and believe can have us attacking our brothers and sisters for no reason. If we want to take the lesson from the Bible here, is that there was a moment of pause, right? Wisdom was at the crossroads. And they’re like, “yeah, before we go down there and start swinging swords, we should send an envoy to go find out what in the heck, like what’s happening? Why the altar? What is this about? Once the story was corrected, once the assumptions were exposed, once the rumor fell apart then things made sense. That is so often…so often the case in our personal interactions. So, let’s take a lesson from ancient Israel and apply it to modern life today.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite you into that. We confess and it’s not like you don’t know, it’s not like you haven’t seen us take these missteps so often that it’s embarrassing. We have made assumptions. We have listened to rumors. We have listened to chatter. We have formulated plausible explanations. We have made up false realities and lived like they were true. We are all guilty of this. And if we would pause, if we would slow down and meditate upon us, just think back over our lives, we would see the chaos and destruction that it has caused in our rearview mirror, but our rearview mirror isn’t our windshield. What has happened does not have to continue happening. We don’t have to consume rumor and gossip and assumption like it’s some sort of delicious delicacy. We can see it for the putrid disease-ridden poison that it is. And, so, Holy Spirit we ask that you help us to stop making things up, to actually go find out what’s really going on in our relationships. We need you in this. Our default is usually to go to dark and negative places when we need the default to be light and life and good news and hope and charity. So, come Holy Spirit into all of this as we meditate upon it today, as we catch ourselves going into those dark places. Stop us. Give us the opportunity to go wait, wait, wait, wait, “I’m not going there. That doesn’t go anywhere good.” Help us Jesus we pray in your mighty name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, its where you find out what’s going on around here and there’s, you know, usually something or another going on around here. We’ve been…I guess all of us in one way or another have been…well…we’ve been working on how to…how to work through this virus thing. And now the language is like, “how do we come out of this virus thing?” And I have had interactions with lots of people who have, you know, like introverts and extroverts have been dealing with this in very, very different ways. But introvert or extrovert I’ve talked to all kinds people who have this feeling like, “I want to get out of this, but I don’t want to be the same. Like I don’t want to go…I don’t want to just try to go right back to where I left off. I want to be…I want to be different. Like, this is shifting some things and giving me a chance kind of look at the disruption and see like that treadmill that I lived on was also not getting me anywhere. And I…I mean I don’t like going through this anymore than anybody else does, but I do like to hear those kinds of things because that’s really why we come to the Bible every day, right? Is to let God’s word wash over us, to sort of inform where we’re going, and even in the day that we’re gonna live, like how we’re gonna live this. That’s how change happens, little by little, day by day, step-by-step. So, in lots of ways we’re thinking about new normal. And that can sound ominous, like, you know, some…something really bad happened and now this is a new normal or we can just understand like, “I’ve been disrupted and it’s given me an opportunity to reset, to find new normals that are more healthy across the board.” So, I guess that’s some of what we’re all going through around here but around the Global Campfire, you know, we’re always here, we’re always talking about these kinds of things. This is the kinds of stuff that the Bible brings up in us. And, so, this is…yeah…stay connected to this rhythm as we continue our journey forward.

Check out the community section. That’s a great…there are great ways to stay connected there, including the Prayer Wall.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there specifically for the journey that we’re on as we move through the Bible.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bile I don’t know what words I can use to express the gratitude other than awe and gratefulness that the Global Campfire burns, like that every day we’re throwing logs on it, every day it’s here. And that is because we’re in this together. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app…and by the way if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app…I mean you know that we released a very very massive update to the app last week. And as is normal, when somethings that big of…of an infrastructure shift happens then there’s gonna be little hiccups here and there. And, so, worked all last week to update the update, like you find out immediately certain things that you couldn’t know in any kind of other environment and update those things. So…so make sure you stay to the most recent update, which is now 1.1.60 that fixed pretty much all of the little issues that different people were experiencing. Actually, for the most part everybody was…everything worked perfect, but there’s always different phones and there’s always different environments and circumstances and settings and stuff like that. So, make sure your updated. Everything should work really great and the badges, the achievements, the progress that we’re making as we move through the Scriptures, as we check off the days that we’re listening to, that’s working great. But anyway, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app screen or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Alisha here from Pennsylvania just calling to pray for all of those healthcare workers out there, the doctors and people taking care of other people. And we just pray Lord that You keep them safe and help them find peace in this time where they’re witnessing so much Lord. We just want to lift them up to You. Lord I pray for all the college kids that are turning to online classes, just help them to hang in there and to continue to feel motivated and connected. Just help them to continue to learn Lord, to know that they can do this with You. Lord I want to reach out, pray for all the teachers out there that are…whether their teachers just learning how to move online or if they’re mothers and fathers teaching their children, just be with them, give them patients, give them understanding and give them the tools that they need Lord to make it a successful semester for everyone. Lord, I pray for those graduates or undergraduates that are working on different things like research and development or people that are trying to student teach online Lord. I just pray that You’ll keep them…that You’ll keep them in Your in Your hands Lord. Lord I just thank You so much for my family, I thank You for everybody that is healthy, and I thank You that this whole thing is not as blown out as it could have been. In Your name I pray Lord. Amen.

Good morning DABbers this is Still Waters calling in from the Netherlands. I’m a new DABber I started back in January. I found the Daily Audio Bible in December last year and I thought, “okay. Let me have a look at this.” But then when I started, I couldn’t stop I kept being drawn back to it. So, thank you very much Brian. And I just want to encourage everyone because today on the 18^th of April we read from Luke 19 and the story of the __ just reading __. The __ was a chief, a chief tax collector which meant he was very rich. And look at him, he had no reputation to keep anymore, he was short, he was a tax collector, a chief tax collector __. And he wanted to experience Jesus, so he had to climb a tree. And when Jesus called out his name, my goodness, I can only imagine how he felt. The great joy, excitement that he was filled with, I felt it, that excitement, that every human being, every believer should feel once they say yes to Jesus Christ. And salvation my friends, I like to encourage everyone that salvation is a life lived with great joy and excitement. And let us all just enjoy…enjoy the love of Jesus Christ with great excitement, with great joy and share His love for the world. Thank you, Brian for Sneezing Jesus it was lovely to listen to. Thank you. Bye-bye. Have a lovely day.

I just want to give a shot out to Scott who just accepted the Lord, that You just accepted the Lord and I just praise God for the wonderful way He has brought You before the throne of grace. Lord God I just thank You for Scott and for his willingness to…to accept You as Lord and Savior and I pray Lord that You would help him to grow and mature as he reads Your word and that he would keep his eyes focused on You and through all things and all things and because of all things. We just praise You Lord and thank You for Scott once again in Jesus’ name I pray. Way to go Scott. I’m so proud of You. This is Susan from Canada. Just praising God.

Hi this is Helen in Durham North Carolina I would like to share a personal lesson I received from today’s reading, a rebuke from a friend, from Jesus. In the passage in Luke about the 10 minas, the one servant buried his mina because he was afraid. He said you take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. Well that hit me. I recalled elsewhere in Scripture we read that God makes a way in the wilderness, streams in the desert, He makes something out of nothing. As I heard Brian read this parable the Lord told me a woman who has named herself in the past as miss much afraid that I am guilty of often hiding what he’s given me to invest in the world. My testimony, what I know about Him, just speaking up because I’m simple afraid I’ll say it all wrong. I might be inept, but He can take what I do have and say and use it for His glory for his purposes and the other person’s lives. So, the sweet Lord spoke to me this morning, gave me a rebuke and also encouragement. I said thank you, I hear you and I’ve asked Him to sink this deep into my soul so that I can share whatever I have with others and let Him take care of the results. I’m praying for my two sons to find Jesus, one with emotional issues of anger depression and selfishness. He has a four-year-old son that is suffering from his dysfunction. Please pray. And the other is chasing the world of financial gain and sensuality. I love them both so much. Please pray. Thank you, Brian for being faithful for so many years to walk this calling of reading the Bible to us. God does speak through you.

Val from Vegas I’m so excited for you. Thank you for calling in and sharing your praise report on what’s happened with you. Like, what a quick turnaround. It seems like just a week ago when I heard you call in like super sick, destitute, ready to give up and look at you now. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that with us and all of you out there that are feeling like that, hang in there. God’s got something for you.

Shabbat shalom, today is Saturday, April 18^th and I had very good holy week and I pray that you had a holy week that was very special to you. During this time, I have been battling and trying to understand what am I supposed to do with this time. So, I do pray, and the Holy Spirit does help me pray for others and the Holy Spirit is sent out to help others in need just as I am in need. My name is Danielle I am in Maryland and at this time I do a little bit of checking myself to see what is it that I’m supposed to do, what do I need to do and I’m left but one thing at this time, I have an addiction. And, you know, I am honored by God that God had taken another addiction away from me and I’m praying for the Spirit of God to break and break and break the chains of addiction in my life and for others who have been struggling with addiction and to be set free, to be set free and to just enjoy each day without curdling back to what feels comfortable. I’m asking the Daily Audio Bible family to pray with me and to pray for others who have addictions…addictions and ask for those things be broken by the blood of Jesus. Thank you for your prayers and thank you for praying together and the family and by the campfire because God hears us, and God sees…

Joshua 21:1-22:20, Luke 20:1-26, Psalms 89:1-13, Proverbs 13:15-16

Today is the 20^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we continue our journey through life and through the Scriptures together. And it’s a joy, as always to come around the Global Campfire and be together and know that we’re not alone and know that we’re stepping forward together. So, we’ve been reading from the Amplified Bible starting yesterday and that’s what we’ll read from you in the days ahead here and throughout…throughout this week. And today we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. Joshua chapter 21 verse 1 through 22 verse 20.

Commentary:

Okay. So in the book of Joshua basically we remember being on the other side of the Jordan River and the two and a half tribes saying, “this is perfect for us, can we have this?” And ultimately, they were told, “if you’ll go with your brothers across the Jordan and help them win the land for themselves then yes you can.” And, so, that time has come and these two and a half tribes now who have been across the Jordan helping the other tribes settle the land have been given leave to go home. So, they are on their way and they’ve gone all the way back to the Jordan River and then erected an altar to God before crossing over the river. That seems to be patently against what Moses said to do. And, so…and the children of Israel have learned the lesson like, “yes if God goes before you who can stand against you but if God doesn’t how can you stand at all?” So, they’ve gotten together now because they’ve heard about this alter that’s been erected and they’re trying to figure out what to do because their brothers have just helped them kind of clear the land and settle and now they’re going back home, but it seems like they’re going back home in rebellion, which should cause the other tribes to rise up and go to war with them and like it’s looking like a bad situation. And we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to continue that story and see how things play out.

Then, in the New Testament we also kinda got a bad situation. I mean have…like we all probably know, like, what a mouse trap is, right? You set a mouse trap to get a mouse or whatever it is you trying to trap or catch or get rid of, whatever rodent, whatever. But have you ever stepped into a word trap, right? Something you’re supposed to step into because it’s supposed to get you to say something that maybe don’t even mean, but to trap you, to ensnare you so that it can be used against you. That is basically what it has happened to Jesus and the reason that it’s happened to Him is that He continues to call into the light what is in the darkness. And this is making the religious leaders, because He’s mostly focusing His attention on them because they are continually questioning Him. So, it creates a lot of tension. They’re asking Jesus, “who gave you the authority to do what you’re doing?” He knows what they’re trying to do so He asks them a question about John the Baptist, basically “was he from God or not?” An that is pulling into the light what is in the darkness. So, they have to get together and go like, “if we say he’s from heaven then Jesus is just gonna go like, ‘why don't…why didn’t and why do you not believe in him? Like why don’t you believe that God sent him?’” But if they were to say like, “you know, he was just from…he made all this up in his head” then they’re going to be in trouble with the people because the people believe fully that John was a prophet. So, all they can do is say, “I don’t know.” And, so, Jesus turns the whole thing back on them and is like, “then I don’t know. I’m not telling you who gives me the authority to do what I do.” He’s basically exposing that they’ll do the same thing to him that they’ve been doing to John. And he illustrates how this has been an ongoing systemic thing by using this parable of the vineyard owner. So, this person who owns a vineyard leases his land to tenant farmers and then goes away in at harvest he sends somebody to get his…his share, but they beat this person and send them away. And, so, the master then sends another servant to get his share and they beat that one too and send him away. And then he sends a third one and they do the same thing again. What Jesus is showing in this parable is the prophetic voices that God has sent all along to the people and how the religious leaders have ignored these things, that this is an ongoing thing. So then, in Jesus story the master sends his own son to be his representative to get what is deserving of the master because there is no higher representative. And they decide this is…this is the heir so let’s kill him, which they do in Jesus story. Then they realize He’s telling the parable about them. And, so, they’re just…they’re just trying to find a way to silence Jesus. Thus, the word traps. And, you know, if Jesus were to say something that was against the religious order or whatever, that could be called blasphemy, that could be called any number of things but that isn’t going to be able to get Jesus killed. Like that’s not good to be able to get him executed. The Romans don’t really care about that unless it’s causing unrest. To get Jesus actually in trouble He’s gonna have to do something against Rome, which is why they set this word trap - “Should we pay taxes”, basically. What we should notice is that Jesus, He…He kept His cool. Like He slowed things down enough to see what was actually going on and then responded appropriately. He wasn’t aggressive toward them or anything. He used wisdom to drag into the light what was in the darkness. He didn’t get into a debate, He didn’t get into a yelling match, there wasn’t arguing, there wasn’t a big fight. He…He just drug into the light what was in the dark and after that nobody had anything more to say about it. They just privately went and continued to plot against Jesus. And, so, let’s remember that. Let’s remember that posture. We have seen it over and over and over since the beginning of the year since we’ve been traveling with Jesus. We watch him calmly move into these situations. He’s not intimidated, which would be normal. He’s just there calling into the light what is in the dark. He’s not trying to prove anything. He’s certainly not trying to draw attention to Himself. Like we don’t have any examples of these exchanges where Jesus then, you know, leaves the situation and goes into a private place and self congratulates or gets His disciples together and says, “look at how awesome I was in that situation.” He’s just moving through life being light in the darkness.

Prayer:

Jesus, there is never a shortage of darkness but there’s no shortage of light either if we have eyes to see it. And this is what we’ve been focusing on, how we see things, our vision in this year. And, so, again, You know, we’ve seen this story before as we cross through this territory again, we are reminded. So, come Holy Spirit, help us to slow down and know that at every crossroad wisdom will be there and if we will walk in wisdom then we will walk in the light and that may disrupt the darkness, or even get the darkness to plot against us but what we’re seeing when we watch You is someone simply being completely true. And this drags into the light what is in the dark. So, in imitating You we’re gonna be walking that same path. So, our prayer today Lord is that You would come with Your light and expose what is dark within us, that we might first to deal with our own issues before…well…before trying to pull the speck out of somebody else’s eye, that we pull the beam out of our own. So, come, Holy Spirit, thank You for these words of correction today. Thank You for this example, once again of what the narrow path actually looks like. We invite Your Holy Spirit to cause us to meditate upon this today. We ask in Your holy name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that’s the website, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, all you need’s an Internet connection to get dialed in. And that’s the beauty of this community that we share. It doesn’t really matter where we are geographically in the world, we’re not separated. But…which is an interesting thing because that’s, you know, so much of the world is kind of in that circumstance right now, but it's….it’s amazing and beautiful that we can come around the Global Campfire and know that we’re not alone. We’re here with our brothers and sisters. No matter what time of day or night while listening, we’re here with our brothers and sisters. I mean, we can be listening to this in the middle of the night and simply become aware that brothers and sisters on…in a different part of the world are having breakfast and as we’re kind of in loneliness or isolation and kind of feeling the weight of the middle of the night upon us and all the thoughts that come in the night we can just become aware, it's…it’s morning somewhere else and I’m not alone. My brothers and sisters are here having their breakfast and getting ready for their day. It's…it’s…it’s really remarkable when you think about it. It…it…it awes me that we’re doing what we’re doing. So, I’m so grateful that we have a community and we have a place to come together in community and at primary place is around the Global Campfire at dailyaudiobible.com and there’s a Community section there with further ways to reach out and social media channels and there are resources there in the Shop, all that have been crafted over the years that aid in encouraging us on the journey that we’re on as we move through the Scriptures. So…so to check it all out and stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you with all of my heart. The Global Campfire wouldn’t burn, it wouldn’t even exist if we weren’t in this together. And, so, so grateful that we are. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app and share from there 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 family this is Dimitri from Portland Oregon calling back. Just wanted to thank you all for praying for me. Just wanted to give you an update. My wife and I are still struggling in our marriage. Like I said last time, she is ready to get divorced and move on with her life. And I know that’s not God’s will and I’ve been praying about it. I let it…I let God take over the entire situation and I received peace in my heart that now God is in control and I rely on Him to do the rest. So, I pray you guys that you guys can pray for me to continue with this, to continue being strong and for my wife to do the right decision. And pray for me guys. And it’s going to be alone hard road but I’ll…I’ll be thinking about you guys and I wanted to thank Brian for this amazing platform for always reading the Bible every day. It’s what’s keeping me alive in this struggle, keeping me alive the past five years that I’ve been listening this…to this platform and I thank you all again. Stay blessed and I’ll see you guys next time.

Hi everyone at the DAB family I’d like to ask everybody to please pray for me. For the last five months or more…I don’t know…I don’t even…I stopped counting I’ve been dealing with pain, but it hasn’t been physical pain. I’m not sick or anything. I’m not sick or anything. It’s just been emotional turmoil. It’s just been…I’ve just been in…in emotional turmoil and I’ve never felt like this before. It’s…it’s the most pain…emotional pain I’ve ever experienced before and I’ve been praying to God every day and I have been trying to be hopeful and I’ve been trying to be just seek God and trust in Him and believe in Him and know that it’ll eventually end, but I’m in so much pain every day and I can’t continue being in so much pain…

Hi this is Kim from recovery I just wanted to pray and lift up the lady on Friday that called in and said she just lost her dad. Let’s go to prayer. Jesus, I know in the word You say that You’re always close to the brokenhearted and You save those that are crushed in the spirit. Lord I just want to lift this lady that has lost her dad and kept from California. Lord just have her feel Your comfort, have her understand how close You are with this Lord. And sometimes that when we get in those moments that we feel so alone in that…that loss. Lord just have people come around her. Give her the peace that You…You give us so greatly Lord. Give her comfort, give her Your arms around her, surround her with Your love and thank You for Your willingness to take every part of this life with us Lord. And we just want to thank You and we pray that You’ll be with all the people that are going through this grief, that they know You are close. And we pray this in Jesus name.

Hi this is Andy from Birmingham I’d like to leave a prayer for Susie from Colorado who runs an orphanage for a child named Junior who called on the 17^th of April. __ I prayed, and I could see this tear in her eye and remembered Psalm 56:8 says, “He collects tears and hurt.” So, my first prayer is that our Lord will be so close to Junior that he see this…see the compassion and I pray that he would not be consumed by what’s happened in his life. Lamentations 2:22 says, “because of His great love we’re not consumed for His compassions never fail.” And finally, Jeremiah 8:10 says, “don’t grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” So, my final prayer will be that Junior would learn to draw his strength from God, not rely on his on strength. And I’ll keep praying for Junior. God bless you.

Hello DAB family this is Greg and Beketa from Sweden. On behalf of both myself and my wife Begeta this is to say a big thank you for your prayers which sustained us during our move to our new country. My wife, she is Swedish. We had heard Jesus days before moving assuring us before everything will be fine. He prompted me to put our flight forward when we realized that we could still be in the UK because of lockdown. On the day we moved standing in line and just about to board our flight an official came up to us informing each British person that only Swedes their immediate families and medical personnel will be allowed to fly. I was informed that I could not fly but my wife was allowed to go. All our belongings had been advanced to Sweden ahead of us. The Lord’s necessary reassurance enabled us to not to give up upon receiving this downer. It took the airport several calls to Sweden and us producing evidence of a tenancy agreement before we both were fortunately allowed on board. So, we thank Jesus that we’re now in Sweden. We ask him to detail His plans for us going forward. I now need to quickly learn Swedish and start earning since my wife is caring for her elderly health challenged mother full-time. We do thank you for and we appreciate your prayers. Our abundant Christ can assure that no prayer goes or went unanswered by the Lord. Thank you, Father in Jesus’ precious name. May we blessedly and joyfully hear and obey you when you speak, after all we’ve just been answered by our creator the God of heaven. We’re really grateful to Jesus and everyone here at Daily Audio Bible. Goodbye for now and thank you. Greg from South Sweden.

Hey Daily Audio family this is Becky in Orlando. I just wanted to call and let you know that I just listened to today’s podcast, it the 17^th of April and my heart goes out to the mom whose daughter wrote the letter about how…what it was like…how the gentleman with COVID-19 died under her hands as she was giving him compressions. I feel so sad for you and for your family and all the doctors and the nurses and for all the family members that have lost somebody due to cCOVID-19. And, so, I am glad that you shared that with us and the importance of social distancing and those poor young girls who are not going to get to see their father again. So, my heart goes out to everyone in…in the world who is dealing with this. And thank you so much Daniel from Singapore for calling us and letting us know how you’re doing. I do remember praying for you and for everybody in Singapore. And at that time, I did not ever expect it was gonna be like this in the United States. So, I’m just gonna continue praying for our world and I love all of you so much. So, thank you. Thank you for being my family and being there for me every day. Thank you, Brian for reading the Daily Audio Bible. So, alright guys. I love you. Bye.