A Walk Through The Word

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

Today is the 20^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a great to be here with you for the next step forward in our journey through the Scriptures as we bring to the close another one of our…our weeks together. We’re working our way through the book of first Kings right now and we are dealing with the king of Israel in the North, Ahab, and his story. And, so, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. First Kings 22.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. And again, we thank You for another week. And they…they go by. It seems like we wink, and they go by, but they don’t. They go by day by day, second by second, minute by minute, that’s how they go by and Your presence in our lives is a constant. And often we’re…we’re not  paying attention to that but it’s a constant. You will never leave us or forsake us. So, for all of the moments of this past week whether we acknowledge them or not, You’re present to us and we thank You for that and we have the assurance that that will continue, actually that that will continue forever and ever and ever and ever. And, so, may we rest in that. As we move into the end of this week and prepare to embark on another week, we rest in the fact that You are present. And, so, often the things we get ourselves into that are difficult and hard and challenging, we got ourselves there and we blamed You for it because You were present to us. But Your presence doesn’t mean that we can’t act on our own. You have given us this kind of permission to have a will of our own and we can go Your way or we can go whatever way we want to and…and we will reap the repercussions of that. And, so, we want to walk with the You in this coming week. Come Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base that is…that is our home base on the Internet. So, if you have an Internet browser and you point it to www…that’s how we used to have to describe things before the Internet became like…I don’t know…juts a part of the fabric of our culture. But anyway, dailyaudiobible.com is home base. That’s where the Global Campfire burns. And, so, stay tuned and stay connected in any way that you can.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible then I thank you humbly, deeply, with a heart of gratitude that…that we are here day by day because we are here together. And, 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, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good evening DAB this is Blessings Flow in Pennsylvania. First, I wanted to greet everyone in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and especially thank my brother Stanley in Maryland. Thank you so much for putting my prayer song to music. I was shocked and deeply, deeply encouraged and blessed for reasons there’s no time to share, but I just wanted to thank you for that. Thank you for sharing your gift. And I wanted to pray for our brother whose wife on May 19^th they lost their little baby girl when she was 36 weeks pregnant. I have just been sighing and praying and sighing and praying in the Spirit for you because there are no words and I just want you to know that we’re praying for you, that we love you, that we’re surrounding you, that we’re holding you up, we’re remembering you right now. And Lord together as a family we pray for our brother and our sister in this time of loss, in this time of grief. Lord that You would be near the broken hearted to bind up their wounds, that they would know Your nearness, Your closeness, Your strength. Lord strengthen them with might in their inner man. Be with them as they cry, be with them as they ask questions, be with them as they sit in silence. Just be with them Lord and let them feel the love that surrounds them with this community and I’m sure their church and family as well. We ask this in Jesus…

Hi family this is Salvation is Mine in San Angelo California I hope everybody is doing well in self and in place. I do apologize that it’s been months since I have called in. I want to shout out for people here. Pelham I was listening to June 3^rd and heard that you finished your program. Congratulations on that and that you actually have other people in the program want to go with you. So, that’s a great accomplishment in itself, that you have such an influence over people, other people in such a good way in such a positive way because they want to follow you and I pray that all of that works out for you. I want to also send out prayers for Terry…Terry or Jerry, I’m not sure, I apologize, who called in in regards to his addiction to porn. That was very brave. I really do applaud you, brother. Also, let’s not be fooled, women have an addiction to porn as well. I think sometimes we are just left likely to ask for help with that. So, I’m praying for men and women and children who are showing signs of being addicted to those types of things as well, that the Holy Spirit will come upon them and release them from that. I want to pray for the gentleman who called in said his mom is sick and he lost his marriage. I want you to know brother that you have people on this DAB line that are praying for you and praying for your mother. Excuse me…and praying for your marriage if that’s what God wants. This is salvation is Mine in San Angelo California. I hope everybody’s doing well. Bye-bye.

Good morning this is Trusting Father in South Carolina it’s Monday, June 15^th and I just want to first of all tell you I love you. I’m reaching out because I am up super early, and my heart is heavy, and I know yours must be to. We…we know that there’s of course with all that’s going on right now in our country and really all around the world with the…the fight against racism and injustice. Christ in us helps us to understand that there is something seriously wrong and we need to make things right and I am all about that, but I also recognize that the enemy is really just having it…I don’t even know how to put it into words but…he is having his way. And y’all we’ve gotta be really really careful. There’s so many voices screaming and the enemy are using…the enemy is using those voices and we need to be mindful that there’s that one still voice that we are to stay very in tune with and that’s Father’s voice. And the only way to do that is to get up early in the morning and…and spend that time alone with him and just meditate upon his truth so that when He speaks to us we can be quick to hear His voice above all the other voices. And Father we know that there is so many…so many souls that are crying out. They need Jesus and that’s the bottom line. And, so, holy Father please help us not to miss those opportunities to love on those who are screaming out for You and You hear their cry and know…

Good morning DAB family this is Donald __. And anyway I called from South Sudan in East Africa. I…I did not want to make this recording. I didn’t know what to say but I as I took my walk this morning, I heard God say make it a praise report. I want to praise the Lord because my younger brother went home to be with the Lord. On Friday night he was murdered. He had somebody went to his house. An assassin killed him gruesomely because he was a believer. He’s a medical doctor in the northern state of __ in Nigeria and we are from the Eastern part of Nigeria and we are all Christians and my brother is a strong believer. So, the praise report is that in Enook, Dr. Enook Ophara is now before the most high God. Those who thought they have harmed the family did not know they have sent him home. I would have preferred that he went home in a very respectful manner but God __ this, I trust him. May His name be praised. May His name be glorified in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible listeners this is Alisa Marie from Dinuba California. I’m calling today’s 15^th of June and I’m calling in regards to my brother in Christ that called on the 12^th, I believe he called himself Wisdom Calls My Name from Northern California. Brother when I heard your call I was just drawn to…to your…to your request. So, I’m going to say a prayer. Dear heavenly Father we come before You and we bring our brother in Christ, Your son before You Lord. You know he’s been battling with his diabetes for the past 20 years and O Father God we can hear it in his voice and in his heart. The decisions he has made and some wise and some not so wise but Father God we know You still love him and now he’s reaching out to You and he’s asking for healing. So, I ask You that by the mighty name of Jesus that You would touch his body. We call his body into alignment with the word of God, everything in his blood system come into alignment with the word of God. Father You say in Your that You send forth Your word which is Jesus and You healed His body and You delivered His body from all destruction. So, I stand in agreement with our brother, deliver his body from the destruction of his diabetes in the name of Jesus. There is nothing impossible for You Father God. So, we call upon Your name and Your mercy and we ask You to bring healing and wholeness from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. In the mighty name of Jesus. And these next results Father God I pray that they would be good results Father God. I ask You in the mighty name of Jesus. And we’re gonna give You praise, honor and glory ahead of time for healing our brothers body and bringing him to wholeness. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Be blessed.

Hello beautiful DAB family this is God’s grace for Japan which is my prayer for Japan. I’m calling in, what’s today? The 15^th. I’m a little bit behind and I was listening to the 12^th’s prayers for the broadcast and I’m calling to speak and say thank you to I believe John. I hope I got that right that your name is John from South Sudan. Sir, thank you so much for your words. I needed them today. I needed them this week. I live in Japan as an American and I’m…as we’re all dealing worldwide with this intense conversation about racism and the dehumanizing of people from other ethnicities and other races and I’ve been having conversations with friends in America who try to insist it’s distinctly an American problem…this is an American thing. And, so, the way that we deal with it doesn’t have to apply to the rest of the world and I’m trying to have this conversation to tell them that, no we’re actually dealing with it here too. And the reason it’s a worldwide thing is because we are all made in the image of God. And to dehumanize a person based on race or ethnicity is to commit a sin against their humanity and the image of God in them. And, so, I just needed your words because you reminded me that…because I’ve been exhausted, I’m so exhausted and I know we’re all exhausted having these conversations and trying to do what we can do. I had almost forgotten that this is a spiritual war we’re fighting as well, that there are forces trying to destroy the human race. And thank you for your words, thank you for your encouragement. Please pray for us here in Japan. It’s hard here too. But thank you so much brother in South Sudan and my whole DAB family. Your voices are what’s keeping me going. Bye-bye.

I’m actually on the phone with my son. I’m currently incarcerated and I’m looking at a lot of time and I was looking for some prayers so I could get a second chance at being a father the way that I should have been. And my child’s mother it is currently staying in a shelter, so I also need some prayer to maybe…I don’t know…help her get herself situated and have that figured out while I’m not out there to help. You want to ask for anything son? No, I’m good. Alright. Well that’s all I’ve got thank you and have a blessed day. Can you hang up for me Robert?

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

Today is the 19^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we approach the close of another work week and head into the weekend. And we’re continuing to cover ground together. So, let's…let’s continue to cover ground together and take the next step forward. We’ve been working our way through the book of first Kings and we’ve spent some time the last couple of days in the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, the 10 tribes in the north and that’s where we’ll be spending our time today. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. First Kings chapters 20 and 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of first Kings today we see that Samaria the…the northern capital, the capital of Israel, of the…of the nation of Israel, whereas Jerusalem is the capital city of Judah at this point. Anyway, Samaria is under siege from Ben-hadad and they are able to repel those attacks through the providence of God, but this is gonna kinda keep happening and eventually…eventually Israel is going to get conquered by these people, the Assyrians. But we’re far enough into the story of Israel, the northern kingdom at this point. We can see it’s…it’s a pretty tumultuous time with a lot of transfer of power happening through political maneuvering and assassinations. So, that’s kind of where we find ourselves as we’re moving to the territory of first Kings for now,

In the book of Acts, we see Saul who is also known as Paul also known as the apostle Paul going on a missionary journey, on his first missionary journey, and we notice that someone named John Mark is accompanying him. John Mark is somebody that we’ve met. John Mark is thought to be the author, the writer of the gospel of Mark, which is the first of the Gospels ever written.

Now when we look at the Psalm today, Psalm 137, this is Psalm written from exile and this can get a little confusing because this comes from the Babylonian exile. So, this kind of…as we’re…we’re going into a weekend here and going to be moving into some of the territory next week and in the coming weeks, this is a good time to just keep our bearings because it’s really easy to get to the books of Kings, and we’re moving through so much territory and covering so many decades so quickly that it’s similar to the book of Judges. It’s easy enough to get lost. So, we know there’s a northern kingdom. We’ve been talking about it. We know that there’s a southern kingdom of Judah, that this unified 12 tribes of Israel has become two different nations. And, so, now the northern kingdom of Israel is under attack. They will eventually be conquered by the Assyrian Empire and those 10 tribes will be taken into exile and we’ll talk about exile when we get to these battles and stuff, but they are basically going to disappear after that. Meanwhile, there is the kingdom of Judah in the south where Jerusalem is and their going to last longer. They will outlast the kingdom of Israel, but they too eventually will be conquered by the Babylonians and also taken into exile and being taken into exile means you’re being forcibly removed from your homeland and resettled somewhere else. And, so, that’s where this Psalm comes from today. That’s where these words leap off the page, “beside the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem”, right? And the Psalm goes on to say how the people there were saying, “sing us songs of Jerusalem” and they just…they’re not able to do that…like, they’re not able to be entertainment for their captors or…or other people who have been conquered and exiled. They’re broken hearted over the loss of their city and of their temple. And, so, that is the heart cry of Psalm 137. And, so, that kinda gives us the lay of the land. That’s how we’re landing things as we prepare for the weekend and…and this week. This the territory that we’re in. These are the stories that we’re…we’re moving through and are contemplating and considering.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you. We thank you for all of the people that we get to meet in the Bible, all of the stories of all of the lives, of the way that we get the look back at what people were thinking and how they were living and see that the heart remains largely unchanged even though we’re looking back thousands of years. And as we back…look back over these thousands of years we see your faithfulness. Your unwillingness to abandon the human story lets us know that you are unwilling to abandon our story. And…O Lord it is our deepest desire to tell a love story with our lives, one in which we were on an adventure together through these human years, one that we will make memories together and remember them a million years from now. And, so, we thank you for the stories in the Bible and we thank you for the story of our lives and we invite you Holy Spirit to write the story of our lives as we follow you. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen,

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here, it’s how you get connected. It’s how you resource yourself for the journey. So…so, stay tuned and stay connected.

The Community section is where to get connected, including the Daily Audio Bible women’s group that my wife leads. So, check that out. Different…different links to the different social media channels that were on our in the Community section as well as the Prayer Wall where we are continually praying for one another. Just one of the beautiful beautiful, beautiful distinctions of this community. It’s amazing. It’s amazing how it wouldn’t work on paper, but it works in the Spirit, that we reach out. Even though we may have all kinds of disagreements and diversities we just reach out in prayer for one another knowing that we’re brothers and sisters all over the world. So, stay connected there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. I thank you with all my heart for your partnership. 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, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Susie from Colorado I just heard with great sadness the man who called in that he and his wife had lost their child and I just…he was…he was so grateful to God that they got to actually see the baby and hold the baby before the funeral and I…I just I…I love your faith in God and I appreciate it. It just really is amazing, and I am praying for you and your wife. You said that you’d really really appreciate those prayers from all of us and I just want you to know that you are being pray for. God bless you.

Hello this is Lorrie from Ohio it’s been a little while since I have called in and I’ve been feeling stirred to call for those but have been sharing about not having the strength to…to shower and do work at their home and then again when Jill posted about the letter she receives from those who are incarcerated. To each of you, you are loved, you are a child of God. Then today I heard this prayer of St. Francis and wanted to share. Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood, as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. Thinking of you all and praying for you. In God’s love and peace. Amen.

Hi this is Galena from Atlanta I wanted to thank Elayna for welcoming me to DABbers community. I really am grateful, and I just want you to know that I’m praying for you too. Going through a divorce is a really hard time and you’re in my prayers. I just wanted to say that there’s a lot of things that happened in my life since I’ve called and left my first message or prayer. I actually found a job and I was without a job for two or three months. And the day when I left a prayer was the day when I had an interview and two days later when my prayer was played the same company gave me a job offer. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I think God really truly saw into my heart what I needed and wanted, and He chose to shower me with his blessing. So, I just want to say thank you so much for accepting me into your community and I want to continue praying for Elayna and the young man who is going through a hard time with marriage and his mother who is very bad condition. I just want to pray over all of you who have marital problems right now, that God will deliver you through it and will make you stronger and your relationship with Him will be better than it ever was. Thank you.

Heavenly Father I pray for Alicia from Pennsylvania. I thank You Lord that You moved in the heart of Your child to speak out against racism. Lord that You would move in the heart of all Your people called by Your name to realize that there is something that they can do no matter their station to speak against injustice and offer comfort, compassion and even confrontation where necessary. Lord I pray You bless Alicia with the words that she needs just as You blessed Stephen and he spoke before the Pharisees Lord, for her to keep her eyes on You at all times and to speak in truth and in love. I pray Your protection over her, I pray Your wisdom for her Lord. If there are any others Lord that would be so bold as to hear Your call to their heart to stand up in this time of deep, deep division and to offer comfort. We move away from fear and move towards love Lord. I pray Your blessings on all those Lord that will speak truth and power no matter where they are no matter what the situation Lord. May Your people heavenly Father that are called by Your name bring healing to this land and bring it to the place where it’s supposed to be, that we can live up to the truth that is self-evident and all Your children are created equal. I pray Your blessings in Jesus name.

Hey, everyone it’s Margo in Liberia. I’ve got to be quick. I need prayer for a lady that we’ve been trying to help at the hospital her name is Patience. Her husband died last August leaving her destitute basically with two young children. She moved in with a male friend who promised that he would support her and her children. He got her pregnant. He then demanded in abortion. She attempted the abortion which failed. The man kicked them out. She was staying with friends, but a young man attempted to rape her young daughter. She caught him in the act in they all fled. She ended up on the streets. She was selling cookies that she made over a coal fire so that she could survive. That all ended with the coronavirus lockdowns here. She ended up taking her two children to an orphanage because there was no other way they would survive, and she ended up in our hospital. She is due to give birth any time. We’ve been trying to help her as best we can. She’s so depressed. This week an ultrasound has just shown that the baby she’s carrying has no limbs and we are…we are at a loss. We haven’t even told her this yet. She is already in such a bad way. She will probably refuse to keep the baby. That’s very common here. In a culture like this people will think that she has sinned in some way and this is her punishment. And we don’t know what to do. We don’t know what to do with her or the baby if it even survives once it’s born. There’s no…there’s no infrastructure here to care for babies like this. Can you pray for myself and Annette the social worker, that God will show us how we can help in this situation? Maybe we can help this mother to be able to raise this child and help the mother to be able to live with the guilt of the attempted abortion. Please just pray for the situation, that God would come through and provide a solution. Thank you.

Hi DAB family this is Elizabeth from Detroit I’m a first-time caller I’ve been listening for a few months and I wanted to thank Brian and everyone behind the scenes. This is an amazing podcast and outreach. I was not planning on calling in anytime soon since I’m a new listener, but I heard an urgent prayer request on June 10^th from Marla in Albuquerque who suffers from depression. I’ve been praying for you. Then a few days later on June 14^th I heard your praise report about the medication being…arriving safely at your doctor’s office. That’s such good news. I wanted to say that you’re not alone in the struggle of having bipolar. I have bipolar too and I know how debilitating it can be. I want to pray over you. Dear heavenly Father You know Marla from the inside out. You created her in her image. She’s precious in Your sight. I praise You Father for the Latuda shipment coming in. I praise You Father because I know You’re with Marla in the waiting. You are beside her, You’re behind her, You are before her. Lord I pray that Marla will sense Your presence and her perspective will shift. I pray that she’s alleviated from all bipolar depression so she can get back to…into the daily rhythms and activities of her life. Father renew her strength, surround her with people who will support and encourage her. I pray all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This is for the man who lost his baby daughter on May 19^th. I can’t imagine the pain that you two must be going through and I’m so sorry that you’re having to deal with or endure it. But I just want you to know that I am so lifted up by the way that you…you perceived it in that God is good and that you’re not blaming him and that you had the honor of holding your baby daughter before she died. And, so, Lord just…just bless this family. I just ask that I know they are going to speak to those who have gone through this same thing. But yet Lord I ask for a miraculous blessing on them of children. I think it’s in Isaiah 54 about the tents being enlarged. And I just ask for that for them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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

Today is the 18^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor to be here with you today around the Global Campfire as we just kind of step away for second. There’s always plenty of distraction and there’s always swirling thoughts that can kind of pull us away and lead us down paths that lead us in a funky mood or whatever. There’s always something, but this little space that we’ve created each day is an oasis. We just kind of step away from it all. It’s not going anywhere. We…we might change in the process and approach it differently when we return, but this is just permission to allow God’s word to speak into our lives and just rest in that knowing that we’re not alone. If you’re listening to this right now, you’re not listening alone. Nobody ever is. Ever. So, we just ease back, relax, and let God’s word speak. And that will take us back into the book of first Kings. Yesterday we had a showdown in a place called Mount Caramel which still exists until this very day. It’s a mountain. And there’s a king in the North, his name is Ahab and there’s a prophet in the North and his name is Elijah. And there was a showdown between the God of Israel and the prophets of Baal. The prophets of Baal are no longer with us, but Elijah is. God showed up with fire from heaven, loosed the skies so that rain, which had been absent for three years is coming upon the land. Ahab the king is in his chariot racing back to Jezreel. Elijah’s running and running faster than the chariot to outrun this storm. Meanwhile, Ahab’s wife, her name is Jezebel, is about to find out that all her prophets are dead. She doesn’t know it yet. And that’s where we pick up the story. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. First Kings chapter 19 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so we can’t skip by first Kings because this is such an amazing story, it’s such an interesting turn. So, Elijah has prophesied to the King of Israel Ahab that there’s going to be no rain. Ahab searches for Elijah for three years all over the known world trying to find him because there isn’t any rain. Elijah shows back up on the scene and confronts the king, summons the prophets of Baal to mount caramel and essentially throws down a challenge that the God who answers from heaven by fire is the true God. Of course, the people were like, “yeah that sounds like a good deal. The God who answers by fire from heaven, that would be the most powerful God. That’s a good deal.” And, so, this all happens, the prophets of Baal spent all day cutting themselves and the whole thing. And then God answers by fire. The prophets of Baal are killed. Rain comes back to the land. Ahab the king is racing back in his chariot to his wife Jezebel who’s in the city of Jezreel. Jezebel finds out that her prophets are dead even though fire came from heaven and the people’s hearts are returning to the God of Israel. She’s not Hebrew. She…she…she married the king for an alliance. So, the Hebrew God and the Hebrew traditions and the Hebrew way of things, this isn’t so important to her. She’s very upset and she sends a note to Elijah that says, “may God punish me very severely, even kill me, if I don’t kill you by tomorrow, basically, “if your heads on your shoulders tomorrow then may God judge me.” And it’s really interesting what happens there because Elijah had just…I mean…the miraculous was all around him. The things that God had just done to affirm him as His prophet, the power that had just been displayed, like he should be walking, you know, a foot off the ground in confidence and the people’s hearts are returning to God. Like he should be…like, this is…this is a big thing. But he gets this is note and he freaks out and he runs away. The prophet who had just called down fire from heaven runs away out of fear from Jezebel. And he doesn’t like just run and hide, he seriously actually flees, he runs far. So, he is in the northern kingdom of Israel near Mount Carmel, which is kind of somewhat of a coastal mountain. It’s not right on the ocean but it’s not that far from the Mediterranean coast. This is…this is the Jezreel Valley. This is fertile territory. He runs south all the way to Beersheba, which is in the transition zone of the desert, the southernmost border city of ancient Israel, now Judah. So, Elijah crosses an international border from Israel into Judah, keeps fleeing south to Beersheba, leaves his servant and then goes into the no man’s land of the desert, not just camping out and hiding in the desert but continuing in the desert all the way into Egypt. All the way to Mount Sinai where we spent so much of our time earlier in the year where the law was given. I’ve never…I never measured. Like I’m guessing here, but I’m thinking that to drive from Mount Caramel all the way to Mount Sinai, even with like with no delays whatsoever at all, that’s gotta be like 10 hours just moving steadily in a car. And that’s if there’s like interstate. Like we’re talking about barren wilderness, empty desert here. And he’s on foot. So, this is a very long way that he’s running. And he gets back to this mountain and it’s beautiful that he would go. Like he…he really feels alone here. And, so, he’s making this journey. It’s just interesting. He gets to Mount Sinai and he’s in a cave and he’s waiting, and God shows up and God says, “what are you doing here, Elijah?” That is so interesting. Elijah, of course, pours out his heart. Like he’s the only one. There’s nobody left, He’s the only one that’s true, everybody’s trying to kill him. He's…he’s at the bottom, right? He’s really, really low and he’s kind of gone on almost a pilgrimage to make some sense of all of this and God tells him to come out to meet him on the mountain. And that’s when it’s really really fascinating because all the power is displayed on the mountain. I mean the same kind of power that was shown up at Mont Carmel - fire from heaven and everything. So, there’s a windstorm and rocks are falling off the side of the mountain and God’s not in that. And there’s an earthquake and that shakes the whole land and God’s not in it. And there’s fire and God’s not in it. Like it’s not in all these fantastic displays of power that you would expect. That’s what we’re looking for, the signs and the wonders. Instead it’s just in the whisper. Elijah knows that God’s out there waiting now in the still small voice. And he goes out and God asks him again, “what are you doing here?” And Elijah then pours out his heart. Like I’m the only one. There’s nobody left. This…this is why I’m here. Like everybody has abandoned you and everyone is trying to kill me. And that’s when God tells him, “it’s not true. Go back the way you came. You have to appoint a new king. Like my plan isn’t finished. What’s happening here isn’t over. Your job isn’t done. You have to appoint your successor as well, a new prophet in Israel. Your work isn’t finished.” Man, I…I love the story because it's…you know…we have a very, very good narrative. It’s a very well reading story. It’s a beautiful story to behold. But once it becomes a mirror it’s a pretty serious story to penetrate deep into our own hearts because how many times have we been this character in this story? How many times have we heard from God, obeyed God, walked in the confidence of the Lord, seen God move in our lives until somebody is offended and we get a text, we get a nasty note, and then we run, run, run, run, run until we’re out in the wilderness again, wandering again, alone again. And it’s like God comes to us in His kindness and mercy and says, “what are you doing here?” And maybe that’s the question for the day. Maybe that’s the question for this season. Maybe that’s the question that needs to be asked. What are you doing here? And maybe you got here because you were looking for God chasing signs and wonders looking for him to show up in his power and majesty when He never left you, he never forsook you. He was always there, the still small voice. He was never absent from you. And maybe He’s saying, “go back the way you came. Your work is not accomplished yet.” It’s funny, no matter how many times I think about that story there’s never a time that I can’t think of some area in my life that that does not apply to. And I think of lots of times in my lives…life in years well gone by where clearly…where looking for God in the wilderness was sort of the way I lived, wandering around in the barrenness looking for something. And I am so grateful that…that God comes to each one of us at one point or another with the same question, “what are you doing here?” And, so, may we stir some of that into our cup today and sip on it as we ponder.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. I mean it’s true. We’ve spent plenty of our lives wandering in the wilderness. We’ve spent plenty of our lives on the run from things. We don’t often slow down enough to search for You in…in all of this. We’re usually waiting for You to move things out of our way so that we can just walk on…on a path. We’re just waiting for…for You to show up and do things for us, not expecting that You might show up and say, “what are You doing here?” So, we invite You into that. We need Your leadership, we need Your counsel, we need Your correction, we need Your rebuke, we need Your kindness, we need You. And, so, we open ourselves to You so that You might lead us in the steps forward from here. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Song:

Sanctuary - Chris Rodriguez

Seems I left the innocence of Eden long ago
Tempted by my heart to go it on my own
Beyond the garden, somehow through the desert
Of my wanderings alone, You have never let me go

I turn from You and still You cover me
I fall so far, You find me in the deep
Anywhere I am, anywhere I am
You sanctuary me

I have felt the separation deep within my bones
Brought me to my knees, crying out for hope
Beyond the garden, somehow through my tears
You heard the words I could not speak, You were there to rescue me

I turn from You and still You cover me
I fall so far, You find me in the deep
I lose my way, You’re reaching out to me
Anywhere I am, anywhere I am, You sanctuary me

I turn from You and still You cover me

I fall so far, You find me in the deep

I lose my way, You’re reaching out to me

Anywhere I am, anywhere I am, You sanctuary me

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

Today is the 17^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you, hump day, as we move through the center of the week, a week that’s also at the center of the month. It is a joy to take the next step forward together with you as we continue our journey. So, we’ve been working through the book of first Kings and what we’ve been working through are the difference reigns of two different kingdoms that used to be one kingdom, right? So, we know that the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah are how things are organized now. And they have two different kings and those kings live a…well…they overlap each other in their reigns. And yesterday we saw the northern kingdom relocate their capital city building a city that would be their capital city known as Samaria. And Samaria is basically the equivalent of Jerusalem in the south in the kingdom of Judah, they’re capital cities. Right now that's…that’s all that’s happened. This capital city is being built or has been built. It’s known as Samaria. But later on, that…that will actually matter. Later on by the time we get to the time of Jesus life and ministry these people, while they’re not the people that they are now, they will be in this area, this region, and they’ll be known as Samaritan’s because of their capital city Samaria. And we’ll talk about that later as we get deeper into the story but there’s a king now in Samaria named Ahab. And there is a prophet in the region named Elijah. And Elijah has prophesied that the rains are gonna stop and they have, which obviously creates a problem for the people. So, we pick up our story today while in the drought. First Kings chapter 18.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the book of first Kings we spent our time today in the northern kingdom of Israel. The 10 tribes that had defected and rebelled against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon of the house of David, right? They’ve rejected the house of David and they’ve gone through a series of Kings and there isn’t like one the house because people keep assassinating and wiping the houses out. So, it’s a pretty tribal time, pretty dangerous to be the king I suppose. But Ahab is the king and his wife’s name is Jezebel and she is obviously famous. Although just famous because she was a devout worshiper of Baal and sought to wipe out the prophets of the Lord, wipe out name of the Lord’s. So, certainly evil, but she’s a sero-Phoenician princess who was raised this way. And, so, she is not gonna be happy when she finds out what happened on Mount caramel. The showdown that we read today brought the end of the…the prophets of Baal, the priests of Baal in the land. Of course, what this ends up doing is showing the power of the Lord and the Lord shows His power with fire from heaven and the people see it and their hearts return to the Lord and the Lord is going to lose the skies so that rain can happen on land. But Jezebel is not going to be happy about all this and we’ll continue that story tomorrow.

In the book of Acts, we continue this story that we began with Peter having this vision of essentially unclean meat. And he’s told that what God has made clean is clean and that he should and can in must eat this meat in this vision. Meanwhile Cornelius the centurion has sent for Peter and Peter goes and ministers to the Gentile household who receive the Holy Spirit. And then we saw Peter go back to Jerusalem to report this and there were people that were standing against this, right? They were ridiculing. They were standing against this because Hebrews and Gentiles are not supposed to intermingle, you’re not supposed to go into each other’s houses, your separate, you’re a separate people. But the Holy Spirit comes upon these Gentiles and that’s pretty tough to argue with. Like, they could’ve continued to argue against Peter’s vision, they could’ve continued to argue against intermingling with Gentiles but pretty hard to argue with the fact that the Holy Spirit has made the decision, right? You just showed up in obedience and the Holy Spirit’s made the decision to come upon the Gentiles. They couldn’t argue with that. And the book of Acts tells us that even as persecution, especially instigated by Saul who has come to know Jesus now but even as persecution swirls around Jerusalem and people flee the persecution they are going into other territories where they are interacting with Gentile people who are hearing the message of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is coming upon them too. This is really creating a set up because religious Jewish people who had been adhering…like, not the nominal Hebrew people who were just living culturally, but devout people who’ve been living the Hebrew lifestyle according to the Mosaic law, but who have also come to believe that Jesus was a prophet, was the Messiah, was everything He claimed to be and had put their faith in Him. It was never conceived that their religion, Judaism, was to be dismantled. Like, they never ever thought they were converting to anything else by following Jesus. Jesus was a Jew. He was a Jewish rabbi. He ministered in a Hebrew context. They didn’t conceive that they were leaving anything in favor of something else. And if a person who wasn’t Jewish wanted to convert, then there’s a process. And, so, it was thought then among the Hebrew believers that if the Holy Spirit is gonna let Jewish…or Hebrew…Gentile people be in…be allowed in then they would need to become Jewish, they would need to convert to Judaism not to something called Christianity, which hadn’t even been coined yet. We saw today in our reading the it was the people who had believed in Jesus in Antioch, Gentile people, where this first phrase, this first word Christian was not…so this is a Gentile word, a Gentile description of a follower of Christ. I point this out just so that as we move through the letters and everything, as we move through the…the time period of the early church that we…we understand what’s going on, we understand that they had some things to figure out, big…really, really big things to figure out, some of which we seem to still be struggling with, some that we still seem to be trying to figure out. What we see in the book of Acts is the people are deferring to the Holy Spirit, right? So, they have a way of thinking about things. They have a worldview and they have a culture and customs that they have been raised up in. So, they see things a certain way and the way that they see things is going to be similar to those that are around them. They’re…they’re in the same culture and that is an exclusive culture and there’s not intermingling with Gentiles. So, when the Holy Spirit comes upon Gentiles, they don’t have to work out the dissidence because all of the sudden their understanding of God has expanded. They didn’t make the decision. The Holy Spirit came upon these people. God made the decision. So, in the face of that they have to expand their view of God as opposed to cementing further their sense of tradition. That is very, very much a part of the story of the early church. It has always been very, very much a part of the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ and yet so often we find ourselves fighting the same battles, trying to be the one to decide who gets to be in and who has to be out. And, so, that’s where we are. That’s where we are on a journey through the Scriptures and these stories, both of them, old and new Testament will continue to expand and bloom before us giving us incredible lessons but also an incredible mirror into our own souls.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for that. We thank You for bringing us here. We are grateful. We are humbled that You would even care for us, that You would lead us into all truth, that You would have concern for us that we would know and that we would thrive and that Your Holy Spirit would lead us in the same way that You led in the days of old. We are grateful and we ask that You do exactly that, lead us deeper into Jesus today, deeper into our relationship and our intimacy, deeper into the truth, further on the narrow path that leads to life. Come Holy Spirit into all of this we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home, home base for…for a virtual community like ours where we are geographically, literally all over the map, but we do have a place and the Global Campfire lives there and that’s at dailyaudiobible.com.

So, connect in the Community section, pray for each other at the Prayer Wall.

Check out the resources in the Shop like…like our coffee, like our tea, like our journals, like everything that’s been created over the years, specifically for the journey that we’re on. So, check that out in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. And, so, thank you so much for your partnership. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address, if that is your preference is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement 877-942-4253 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.

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

Today is the 16^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today and every day. It is always a joy to stand here and turn the mic on and…yeah…just visualize all of us around the Global Campfire and know that we are continuing our journey forward for another day. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’re working our way through the book of First Kings. So, the kings of Israel and Judah are what we’re reading about and we kind of…we talked about that yesterday just to keep ourselves oriented because we’re learning of two different nations now. These people had been one people, the Hebrew people but they’ve decided to split into two nations - the nation of Israel in the North and the kingdom of Judah in the South. So, two different rulers, two different kings and they overlap in time and we’re just reading about their stories. And, so, we continue that journey. First Kings chapter 15 verse 25 through 17 verse 24 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, the things that happen in the book of Acts today are profoundly monumental even to this very day. What we read over the last couple of days is a shift in awareness, a complete rethinking, a reframe of what they understood. And when I say they, I’m talking about Peter in particular. But what Peter is learning…well he is going to take it back and share it with the others and their going to have to wrestle pretty hard and that wrestling will last a very long time. The fundamental issue here is who gets to be in. Who gets to be a disciple of Jesus? Who is welcomed into the community of faith of those who are disciples of Jesus Christ? Up into this point it was just assumed this was Hebrew, exclusive. Jesus was a Hebrew. His context was completely Hebrew. His message was in that Hebrew context, even though it expanded, even though it was well beyond that, this was the context from which He was operating. The things that got Jesus in trouble weren’t ultimately His actions against the Roman empire. Rather, He was judged according to the interpretation that the high Council had about the Mosaic law, essentially labeling Jesus a blasphemer. Of course, they went to the Romans and said He’s claiming to be the king of the Jews. And, so, you know, this is how they kind of loosely pulled things together, that Jesus is setting Himself up as a king within the Roman Empire, like a crime against the Empire. But ultimately, all of the things that came against Jesus that would lead Him to His death were hatched in a Hebrew context for Hebrew reasons. So, it would stand to reason then that those who were following Jesus were Hebrew people, and that Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah, and that the Hebrewness of the whole thing was going to remain intact because these are the chosen people until we got to this portion of the book of Acts and met this person named Cornelius who is a Gentile, who is a Roman, and who was a member of the Roman military who is living in Caesarea, which is about the most Roman city in the land. He’s obviously not raging against the Jewish people. He is integrating and being around and fearing God and is a good person, but he’s a Gentile. And he has this visitation and is told to send for Peter, who is a Hebrew and Peter’s having this vision, where he…where he has to rethink what is unclean and he has to understand that he’s been being given a new…given a new revelation, that what was unclean isn’t unclean anymore, that things have shifted. And this is huge. And, so, Peter goes, and he ministers to the house of Cornelius and the Holy Spirit comes upon them. So, now, you know, Peter…Peter could have been going through these motions, as it were, he could be doing these actions, sharing the gospel, seeing the visions. He could be doing this all and obedience not knowing what’s up, but when he witnesses the fact that the Holy Spirit has come upon Gentiles it’s hard then to rationalize, it’s hard then to figure out what’s going on, other than to say, “God did this. God sent his Holy Spirit upon these people. Who are we to comment on what God is doing even though it breaks long-running tradition, even though it seems to be a contradiction.” I don’t think we’re adequately able to understand how big of a deal this is. We will watch that it causes all kinds of problems. It would still cause these kinds of problems. I mean, you’ve gotta think about it. You have believed in a certain direction for a while, right, maybe all your life, maybe for last few years, maybe the last few months, whatever. You have been persuaded spiritually as we move through the Scriptures to believe in a certain direction about certain things. It’s your worldview, it’s your understanding of the nature of how things are. If all of the sudden you have an understanding somehow that things are shifting and that some of the things that you’re holding onto really, really tightly have…that they’ve been fulfilled, that they’re no longer necessary and you’re to move and shift in a different…different direction. Like, changing the way we believe is really difficult because it brings up all kinds of fear of what might happen if we get deceived and end up somewhere…who knows…somewhere way off in Lala land. And yet this is precisely what’s happening to Peter, the apostle Peter, the disciple of Jesus, the one who denied Him, right, the one who walked with Him. This is what’s happening to him. He’s seeing that God is doing a new thing in the world although he does not fully understand the magnitude of it. He sees that God is on the move at least with this Gentile, which opens up a whole new can of worms. We can read through this and just go, “yeah. This is the story. This is how it happened. This is how we got here.” But we don’t always kind of go into the story and kinda realize, “man, this is upending life as you know it.” Like this is tipping things upside down in their faith journey. And if we were faced with the same things, we would find ourselves tipped upside down as well. And, so, this always brings us to this question. “Like, who does get to be in? And does God get to do a new thing if God wants to do anything in this world, even if even if it’s confusing to us, even if it messes with our theological understandings, even if it robs our well seeded doctrines? And as we watch this story continue to unfold…well…hopefully it will challenge us. But hopefully we can enter the story instead of reading this…reading it as this very smooth, very beautiful onslaught of the goodness of God that established His church in the world. May we understand it happened a little different than that. And if we can enter into that story we can enter into our own story and see what God brings up in us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into just that, that we would open ourselves to You, trusting You completely and that You would send Your Holy Spirit upon us to lead us into all truth. This is our desire. It has been our desire and we can see that there are times that we fight, even against that. And, so, as we continue to watch the formation, these…these early weeks and months and years after Your ascension, may we understand what our brothers and sisters were wrestling with then, that we might better interpret and understand what we wrestle with now. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and home base of course, and of course where you find out what’s going on around here. So, check that out.

The Initiatives section shows some of the things that are going on around here.

The Community section will get you connected. And the Prayer Wall, of course, is in the Community section.

And check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for the journey that we’re on. So, check that out. And thank you.

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…yeah…humble gratitude for…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, 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, 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 this is Jane from Australia I just love the way that Stanley from Maryland played piano behind the lady who prayed for Terry in Australia. Wow, that was an incredible gift Stanley. That was just beautiful. What a…what a family…what a family of love. What a circle of love. Thank you, Daily Audio Bible.

This is Alta Lee Maxwell calling from Colorado Springs. It is the 9^th day of June. This is prayers from the power the praying nation. Lord as the body of Christ we are weary of watching the enemy whom You defeated on the cross run roughshod over people and destroy their lives. We are disgusted by our own compromised prayers. We confess that we have been willing to lay down enough of our lives to see them break through the darkness with power. Renew us and revive us Lord. Fill us afresh with Your Holy Spirit. Break down the strongholds in our lives that stand in opposition to You and Your ways. Help us to be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Work a profound spiritual awakening in Your people all over this land. Lord You have said that You are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is in us. We know that means You can do more than we ever dreamed. We invite You to do that in us in Your people and in our country. Ignite a fire in our hearts that illuminates to us the possibilities of what can happen when we pray. Move the hearts in this nation into alignment with Your will. We ask for Your grace be poured out upon our nation. Only You can bring good out of the evil and destruction that has been manifested here. Show us how we can be of service to You in that regard. Help us not to shrink back when You call us into the storm. Shine Your light into our darkness and evaporate it. Help those of us who believe to extend Your life to others. Thank You that You have put gladness in our hearts once again and are even now making all things work together for good in our nation. In Jesus’ name.

Hey, DABbers this is Katie in Kentucky and once again I’m out running and something just made me like almost trip and stumble because we know that God knows our needs before we even say them. But sometimes God like, bam, I know your needs. His little Cherry, it is June 9^th and you just called to pray for those who have trouble sleeping. In about two hours I’m taking my four-year-old for a sleep study. He has had major issues. He just like…he won’t fall asleep he won’t stay asleep. I am exhausted. It’s put a strain on all the relationships in my household. My most common prayer is just laying next to him saying go to sleep, got to sleep, go to sleep. So…wow! You just really…you are speaking God to me right now as I know that God is taking care of us and that he is with this whole sleep situation. So, thank you for your prayers. If you could pray for Caius Daniel. He is my little four-year-old who needs to get some good rest. Thank you, guys. I love you all and I love hearing from you.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I’m just listening __ Trusting in Him and the challenges he is going through with his marriage. And I just want to encourage you Trusting in Him __ seconds or not, God is in it and God is going to keep this marriage together __ continue to pray and seek Him because it’s seems that God is tugging at your wife’s heart and showing her what she has in you and what you have in her. Continue to be encouraged my brother and I know…and know that I’m praying with you and your wife and your family. I also want to pray for Veronica and her husband and her children. And I also want pray for…for Jesse in the…in the challenges that he’s going through and just encourage him and know that God is…God says…God says I’m a God that can do anything more that He’s says that’s why I’m God. And I just want to encourage you in that. Also, continue to pray for our black community and our…our human community with…with the wicked things that happened to that poor 80…to our senior citizen…that they’re beating up senior citizen. It’s nothing but the enemy that is trying to keep us separated as a nation, but we have to remember that righteousness exalts a nation. No matter whatever else they tell us, righteousness exalts a nation no matter what happens. And pray for the peace of God which passes all understanding. Gracious Father I just ask You to touch those marriages of these beautiful people, to touch the Young woman that also God seeing her husband is trying to have a baby. Lord I pray that You bless them to have a beautiful baby…

Hi, my name is Rebecca from Pal alto California and I’m calling in for prayer right now. I don’t know who to really reach out to besides the Lord. I’m not super connected with my Christian family as I’d like to be. And I love them dearly and I’m grateful. I’m calling because I may have crossed boundary lines and done something that was not of God’s will and not of His way in trying to force my will on others. And I feel that I’m in trial and my intention is always to do God’s will and I love God and…and I’m just praying for help for His mercy and compassion and…and for Him to have mercy and know that I love Him more than anything and to show me what I did wrong so I can fix it and change forever. Please help me family. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible audience, Brian. My name is Ron I’m calling from New Caney Texas just outside of Houston. My wife Terri is in her last stages of brain cancer glioblastoma, horrible disease that leaves most dead within 12 months. And she’s lived 32 months. So, we thank God for time that she’s had to enjoy holidays, enjoy us, and to see a third grandchild born during that time. And, so, we’re very thankful for that. Also, thankful that Terry had lived a fantastic life, a fantastic life of blessings. She’s been a blessing to so many people. She’s…she’s the poster child for faithfulness not only to me her husband of 44 years, but to her grandkids and her children. So, just pray for the family to…to be able to enjoy if that…if that’s possible. And so far, it has been the last few days that we have with her and we are just looking forward to seeing a saint of God ushered into His presence. Anyway, we appreciate the prayers, appreciate the work that you do Brian and we listen every day. And we just…we just want to say thank you. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Patricia from New Orleans Louisiana. I’m calling to thank you all for praying for me for remembering me and praying for me. I pray for each and every one your prayer requests being made. I listen every day daily. I’ve not been calling in, but I am praying with you all listening every day. Family, please continue to pray for me. Please, my pains are increasing __. They are getting worse. So, I’m calling in remembering to thank God and to ask for a prayer request for your prayers, please for my pain. I’m trusting God, that God will eventually take my pain away. My pain is crippling. It’s to the point where I can barely __ something to eat. So, please pray with me, pray for me that God takes the pain away. Thank you, family and God bless us all. I love you all. Thank you, Jill. Thank you, Brian…the whole Brian family. Thank you.