A Walk Through The Word

Exodus 8:1-9:35, Matthew 19:13-30, Psalms 24:1-10, Proverbs 6:1-5

Today is the 29^th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian like every day, and it’s great to be here with you on this day as we take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we’re kind of settling into this new territory that we’ve begun in the book of Exodus, the story of Moses and the children of Israel. And right now, the children of Israel have been enslaved in Egypt, and God is demanding their release through Moses and Aaron and things have not gone so well so far. And, so, we pick up the story today. We’re reading from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Exodus chapter 8 and 9 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have things going on in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, which is the story of the Bible. That’s kind of the story of our every day. But we are definitely seeing the plagues descend upon Egypt and the Bible’s saying God’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart. So, let’s like explore this for minute. What does that mean? Because that would seem kinda unfair right? Like God’s hardened Pharaoh’s heart in advance so that he’s gonna take blow after blow after blow as Egypt is sort of disintegrating but God hardened his heart, so nothing can be done about it. That’s not what’s going on here. Think of yourself from a position of power. Like, you know what you’re doing and you have all the bills paid and you have a little bit in the bank…like you have a little sort of place of security and somebody comes along and tells you what you are going to do. Whether you want to or not, you must submit, and humble yourself and obey. That’s probably gonna harden your heart. And that’s what’s happening to Pharaoh. He is the king of Egypt. He is the Pharaoh, but he also believes he is the son of the gods, he is a deity himself, he is a god himself. So, “no God is coming into my land and telling me what to do. Who is this God of the Hebrews”, right? So, you can see his posture here. And, so, what’s happening is God is systematically certainly showing His authority and power but is also demonstrating to Pharaoh and all of Egypt that the God who has chosen the Hebrew people to be His chosen ones in the world, these are His people that He is doing a new thing through and all of these lesser lower spiritual beings that are being worshiped, all of these false gods that nations and people are following will not stand in the face of the most-high God or the people of the most-high God. Pharaoh hasn’t quite learned that lesson, but he is learning it and we will continue that story tomorrow.

And then we get into the book of Matthew. Really, really interesting conversation happens between a…a really good person who has obeyed the Mosaic law and he’s come to the rabbi teacher Jesus asking, “you know, what else do I need to do? Like what…what act, what posture, what do I need to do to have eternal life?” And Jesus said, “you need to obey the commandments.” And the guys like, “well, which commandments?” And Jesus is like, “you don’t murder, and you don’t commit adultery, and you don’t steal, and you shouldn’t lie, you shouldn’t give false testimony. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now that idea is certainly in the book of Leviticus. I believe it’s also in the book we’re reading, Exodus. I believe it’s also in the book of Deuteronomy. It’s definitely in the New Testament, it’s definitely from the lips of Jesus. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Actually, at a later point Jesus will summarize the entire law of God, the Mosaic law that we will read through by saying, “it…it can all be encapsulated, love the Lord your God with all your soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” So, in other words, if you’re doing those things, you are walking the right path, you are in obedience to God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Generally, we interpret that or understand what’s being said here as…as the Golden rule, treat others as you would like to be treated. Treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated. And that’s right. And that’s good and that’s true, but it’s even deeper than that. We have talked plenty about separation from God as we’ve experienced it in the Bible. We’ve also watched Jesus come on the scene, announcing and revealing a kingdom that exists and is happening and is in and among us. What we’re watching in Jesus is the declaration that the separation that existed between God and man can be bridged and is gone, therefore the separation that we feel from one another is also gone. It’s not about separation anymore, it’s about union. And we…we’ve already mentioned this. In Jesus high priestly prayer, “make them one as we are one.” Paul’s unpacking of all of that describing us as a body with every part irreplaceable and necessary, whether seen or unseen. So, our trajectory is to become aware of this inter connection, this body that we are a part of, that we aren’t acting as individuals but as believers in Jesus. We are Christ on earth in this world as the body of Christ because Christ indwells us. And, so wherever we are there also is Christ and we are all over the world. So, this deepens, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s deeper than just trying to do for others what you would like to be done for you. It’s loving them as yourself. Loving them like they were a part of the you. It’s pretty hard to be selfish if you’re loving your neighbor as if they were a part of you because than anything you are being selfish about what have to include all of yourself. But it goes deeper than that. If everyone in the body of Christ loved their neighbor as themselves the construct that our culture has created for us, the culture of the lack the one that’s telling us constantly that something’s missing and we need to find that something and buy that something kinda goes away because there is no lack, it’s an illusion. We have what we need, we’re not alone, we’re in this together. We are bound together as one body on this earth that is animated by the very Spirit of God. And I’m not making any of that up and I’m not taking any of that out of context. If anything, I mean context is a huge deal for me, that’s what the Bible says. We’ll see that all for ourselves. So, Jesus says, “love your neighbor as you love yourself”, and then the young man says to him, “I have kept all these. What am I still lacking?” Alright, so, there’s this sense that somethings missing. And Jesus told him like, “if you want to be perfect then go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you’ll have treasure in heaven. And then come, follow me.” So, like He’s inviting this guy to become a disciple. “Come follow me.” That’s what He says to all the people that he follow…that He calls. But Jesus has found the one thing and the man leaves saddened because he had a lot of stuff. This was that particular person’s thing, like Jesus found that thing. The guy came to Jesus and was like, “I think…I think I’m doing everything right. I believe that I have earned righteousness before God but I’m just checking with you and Jesus finds the thing that is his hang up and He will find ours too if we’ll let him and then we’ll have to decide if are going to walk away sad or if we’re gonna embrace Him. But we can say some things about this kingdom that Jesus is revealing. We can say that it is a kingdom of forgiveness and that forgiveness is irreplaceable as we talked about yesterday. We can say that this kingdom is in and among everything, it’s sown in among all things. So, among all the evil of the world goodness is everywhere among it. So, that as Jesus says, “no one will be able to say, look over there, there’s the kingdom or here, over here, here it is.” Because it’s within us. It’s among us. we could say that the kingdom of God is a very interconnected one, one in which we understand our interdependence on one another, one in which we understand that the animating life force, the source is God, and it is the Spirit of God that indwells us. Or we could also say that the kingdom of heaven is…is not a kingdom of lack, it’s a kingdom of abundance, but normally we are only measuring that with our five physical senses. We are only measuring abundance by what we can experience with our physicality, with our bodies, ignoring the richness of a sound mind and the beauty of a whole heart. So, if we began to look through the eyes of this kingdom that we’re beginning to discover through the lips of Jesus, we could clearly say that it is in this world and happening right now and we can experience it fully, but we will have to disengage from the kind of cultural traps that we continually find ourselves in - in the world but not of the world. And if we realize that what we’re ultimately after is wholeness here, where our minds and our Spirits and our bodies are in collaboration with the Spirit of the living God within us, then we wouldn’t be able to help, but seeing God everywhere and we wouldn’t have a sense of abandonment or lack. We would understand we have all we need and there is no lack, there is a never ending supply. This entire world and everything in it, no matter how much we think we have our private property and our own couches that are paid for and like these are our things, everything in this world belongs to God. He is the creator of it, and he has no lack. So, we are beginning to see this kingdom and see that we can be in it. We just need eyes to see and ears to hear.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit again, that’s what we ask for, eyes to see and ears to hear. We open ourselves to You. We invite You fully. we declare nothing is off-limits to You after the same fashion that You found the thing that was gonna hold back this rich Young ruler in the book of Matthew, we ask You might reveal those things to us. What are the things that are gonna keep us from seeing Your kingdom? What are the things that are gonna keep us from operating in Your kingdom? A vast wide-open peaceful place where the world can swirl all around us with its chaos, but we are with You and everything is Yours. Come Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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Exodus 5:22-7:25, Matthew 18:21-19:12, Psalms 23:1-6, Proverbs 5:22-23

Today is January 28^th, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you today. Looking at the number, January 28^th and just realizing we’ve only got a few more days in this month and I’m still scratching my head about where the weeks have gone because I know I just celebrated Christmas but…but I don't…and…and that happens every year and I don’t know why I can’t finally get my…I mean, I’m at this every single day. So, I should be able to mark my days but then I get to the end of January and I’m like, how did that happen so quickly? Anyway, how are you? How’s your day going? You’re probably just like right where you need to be. You’re right centered in the here and now, January 28^th, you’re not wondering where the month went. You lived it fully. And that’s great. I want to grow up to be like you. And, so, that’s why I read the Bible every day to us. And I let’s get to it. We’re in the book of Exodus. We have begun to…to get to know Moses who is a major character in the Bible, and we’ll be journeying with Moses for…for a while as I’ve mentioned. So, we’ll get to know him. He has reluctantly obeyed God and gone back to Egypt and confronted Pharaoh who has essentially laughed him out of the palace and made things much more difficult for the Hebrew people. And we can already tell a pretty big showdown is gonna happen at some point. So, let’s take the next step forward. We’re reading from Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Exodus chapter 5 verse 22 through 7 verse 25.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Matthew Jesus brought up a subject that He has already brought up and He was even more direct and forceful with it this time than…than the first time we encountered it because it is, according to Jesus, an irreplaceable component of God’s kingdom, and it’s a word that…I mean…it can…it can be a tricky work, forgiveness. It’s kind of a funny thing because we like the concept of it. We just…we just don’t want to have to do it. We want everybody else to have to do it, but we don’t have to let go. So, the way that this goes down is that Peter’s just asking like, “okay. I see forgiveness is a part of this story. How many times…like define this for me. If…if somebody sins against me, how many times,  seven? Like do I forgive them 7 times.” Jesus is like, “no, like 77,” right? So, like if you forgive somebody 77 times and you’re counting it up and you get to offense number 78 and you tell that person, “I don’t forgive you because I’ve forgive you 77 times” then you probably haven’t forgiven them 77 times. Jesus tells a story - a master and a servant. A servant, who…who owes a great deal, an amount he can’t pay. He falls to his knees and begs for forgiveness. He begs for mercy. He begs for more time. The master forgives him completely and sends him on his way. But then that person will not forgive his brother, his fellow servant who owes them significantly less. He won’t forgive that debt. He throws him into prison. So, just imagine this for a minute. Imagine God saying to you, “you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt when you bagged me to. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?” I do not ever, ever, ever want to hear those words from my Father but I’m quoting Jesus here. “This is what my heavenly Father will also do to you, unless each one of you forgives his brother from his heart.” Like that…that’s pretty hard to navigate around. Like, that’s pretty hard to set aside and say, “well it doesn’t really mean what…it’s…it’s not…that’s not what it means” because Jesus has taken away the ability to sort like fake it. He said, “from the heart.” So, it’s like…it’s got to be real and genuine. And this…this can bring up all kinds of things inside of us, because we immediately…you know when we start thinking about forgiveness we have to begin to think about the wounds of our lives and some of them have been fairly significant. Like, none of us…none of us gets out of here without getting hurt in some way and some of us have been hurt pretty bad. And, so, just to even go there at all is a pretty…pretty difficult journey. But to think of forgiveness, you know, it’s really easy to be like, “you just don’t understand. Like you don’t know happened to me, the trauma. Like you just don’t understand. I…I…the guy with the microphone…I…I wouldn't…I’ve been through my own traumas…I wouldn't…but normally we’re not trying to say this to somebody else, we’re trying to say to God, “like I can’t do what you’re asking me to do because it broke me and I’m fragmented and I don’t even know how…how to approach forgiveness when something so wicked has happened. And, so, we can be angry that God would even think about asking us or forcing us into this kind of posture, but let's…let’s just pause for second…and understand like, we’re 19 chapters into the book of Matthew and Matthew is the first of the Gospels and for this year anyway, this is first accounting of Jesus ministry and so we’re getting to know Jesus for this year as we go through the Gospels. And we noticed right away there was something different. Like, we saw right from the get-go, and we began to realize is that we’re looking at somebody who is different because they are whole. Their…their heart and their mind and their bodies are not all detached and living in separate realities. Wholeness, the lack of separation any longer inside of ourselves and from God, this is the message of the gospel. And, so, this is what Jesus is revealing in His ministry as He reveals the kingdom of God. And you could be like, “I am tracking with you there. What has that got to do with forgiveness?” Forgiveness can bring wholeness. Forgiveness isn’t saying, “alright. I guess it was okay that that happened to me. I forgive them for what they did. I guess I have to do that. It’s gotta be okay.” That’s not what forgiveness is. And forgiveness isn’t. “Okay. I’m not gonna talk about that anymore, that wound anymore. I’m not gonna…I’m gonna forget it. Like, I’m gonna…I’m gonna suppress it down and never visit it again.” That’s not it either. Forgiveness is saying, “injustice in some way was done to me. It happened. It shattered to me in some way. I’m broken because of it. There’s poison inside of me like seeping through my veins. It affects my life and it has affected the way my life has gone, and I cannot do this anymore and I cannot get free of this by myself. I’ve tried to medicate. I’ve tried everything. I can’t do it. And, so, I release this to You God. You are the judge. I release this to You. You handle this. I release them to You. God, I can’t handle this anymore. I release them to You. I unchain myself from that person or event and I give it to you.” Forgiveness is one of these things, at least in the ministry of Jesus that is very direct because it’s very important because forgiveness sets us free and unforgiveness does the opposite. And Jesus came to set us free. So, we can hold onto those wounds as if they’ve become a part of our identity. We can hold onto those attachments or things that have hurt us as if we wouldn’t even know how to be ourselves without carrying that around anymore, or we can understand this is part of the process of walking the narrow path that leads to life and wholeness. And I realize I’m…I mean I’m talking to lots and lots of people and there lots and lots of stories. There are plenty of things to release. There are plenty of things to let go of. There are…I mean the posture of forgiveness isn’t a one-off, it’s a lifestyle, it’s always on and never off. And at least in my experience, some of the deepest roots of bitterness and awfulness and frank…frankly darkness and evil happen between spouses. Like that’s ground zero. Like that is your ultimate union with another person and that union then represents your greater union with God. And the thing that will destroy that out right straightaway is unforgiveness. And we all know it. Unforgiveness leads to bitterness, anger, resentment, you name it, and none of that will bring us to God.

Prayer:

Father, it is to You that we want to be led. It is a growing awareness of Your presence in and around and among and through and in all things, including our lives and our relationships and our marriages. And one of the things that flows through all of that in Your kingdom is the ability to let go, the ability to release, the ability to forgive. And all we have to do is look at our own lives and we can find the places that we’ve been bound up because of bitterness and unforgiveness. We were talking about our marriages a minute ago Father and all we have to do is look there really to find places that have been walled off and places that have become battle lines and we might count 7 times or we might count 77 times and then we’re done with it. And, so, we begin the slow, steady, methodical process of dismantling and disintegrating our relationships through this unforgiveness. And You’ve been very clear, very clear in the Scriptures that that is leading nowhere. And, so, Father help us to learn to forgive. Help us to learn to release and let go. And help us to be willing to ask to be forgiven because in one way or another we’re in need of it. Father, it’s our desire to dwell in Your presence in Your kingdom and to reveal it in this world and one of the ways that we will do that is that we walk in forgiveness. Come Holy Spirit we pray into this because it’s a big thing for us. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Song:

Sara Groves - It’s Me

Well, it came and caught us off our guard
We were just laughing, feeling alright
Had such a great time just last night
We walked into a minefield undetected
You took a tone and I took offense
Anger replacing all common sense

Oh, run for your life, all tenderness is gone
In the blink of an eye all goodwill has withdrawn
We mark out our paces and stare out from our faces
Baby, you and I are gone, gone, gone

Incomprehensible layers of isolation
Now you’re the man with a heart of stone
Making me pay by being alone
Soon you will justify righteous indignation
Now I’m a woman who holds all her pain
Looking for somebody else to blame

Oh, run for your life, all tenderness is gone
In the blink of an eye all goodwill has withdrawn
We mark out our paces and stare out from our faces
But baby, you and I are gone, gone, gone

We hold all the keys to our undoing
Cutting me down in small degrees
You know my worst insecurities
I’m making no effort to understand
No one can hurt you like I can

Deep down inside the girl’s waking up
She’s going out to the boy she loves
It’s me, oh, baby, it’s me

How in the world can tenderness be gone
In the blink of an eye?
Oh, how in the world can tenderness be gone
In the blink of an eye?

And the girl in me, she’s calling out
Oh, the girl in me, she’s calling out
To the boy in you, to the boy in you
And the girl in me, she’s calling out
Oh, the girl in me, she’s calling out
To the boy in you

Baby, come back, baby, come back to me
Baby, come back, baby, come back

Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalms 22:19-31, Proverbs 5:15-21

Today is the 27^th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s wonderful to be here with you today as we come in and find ourselves around the Global Campfire, find ourselves…even though we’re all over the world. Just knowing that we’re not alone. No one ever listens to the Daily Audio Bible alone. Someone somewhere, many someone’s, many somewhere’s normally. It…it’s always happening. We’re never alone. So, it’s great to be here with you now as we take the next step forward in our week and in our adventure through the Scriptures. And we have begun the second book of the Old Testament, the book of Exodus. And we have met a person named Moses and we’ll be traveling through the story of Moses and the rise of the children of Israel for a while now. The children of Israel have thrived and flourished in Egypt after Joseph’s death, but they have also been enslaved. And we learned of Moses in the…in the river, in the basket and becoming Pharaoh’s daughter and killing an Egyptian and fleeing. And then there’s this burning bush that’s not being consumed and God is calling Moses to go back to Egypt, back to Pharaoh and demand…and demand the people’s release. So let’s pick up the story. Exodus chapter 4 verse 1 through 25 verse 21 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, wow, there’s so much to talk about you guys. Like every day there’s so much to talk about. Let’s talk about the book of Exodus just for a second and let’s touch on the book of Matthew. So, in Exodus we have met Moses. Obviously, the burning bush incident has occurred and we…we witnessed that today and…and God instructed Moses to go back and supplied him with some signs that he could see knowing that he was going back with some actual power of God. And Moses is doing all kinds of backpedaling about why he can’t do what he’s being asked to do and why he’s not qualified to do what he’s being asked to do. And…and he's…he’s telling God this who is speaking to him in a burning bush that is not being consumed. It's…it's…it’s beautiful to watch God’s patience, how He’s just having the conversation about all of the concerns that Moses has. And he’s essentially saying like, “I see that you have these concerns, but I will be with you and I am that I am. Like I will be with you. You don’t have to fear. You’re not going alone. I’ll go with you.” But Moses just keeps backpedaling. “I can’t talk. I don’t know how to form my words.” All of these things until we reach another one of the really sad, sad scenes in the Bible because here is God and…and we’ve watched the story unfold right, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who became Israel who had children, who were the children of Israel, Joseph going to Egypt, the early children of Israel going to Egypt and becoming a massive people while in Egypt over four centuries. There was a promise and Abraham was told all these things were before his progeny. And, so, now God is coming because the people have accumulated and are now ready to leave Egypt so that they can move toward the land of promise, so that the promise can be fulfilled. And, so, God comes and calls this prophetic voice in Moses, “go back. You’re gonna lead my people out of Egypt.” And Moses says, “could you send somebody else?” We can certainly put ourselves in the position of Moses and understand that what He’s being asked to do is pretty serious. And yeah, like his concerns are legitimate. Will the people listen to him? Will they pay attention to him? Like he’s gotta go back to a nation where he’s wanted for murder. Like, he’s being asked to do some big things and so we can easily get into the into the mindset of Moses, but what about the heart of God in this situation? God has heard his people crying out. They have become a people and He has heard their cry and He has come for them and He’s being asked to find somebody else. You have to wonder how many times that has happened at critical points in our human story when there was no one else. We have to look at our own lives when we’re feeling the nudge, when we’re feeling the pull, when we’re being swept into something that God seems to be pulling us into. And, you know, always when you get a vision for something, the beginning of the story is always fun. It’s a dream, but then when you have to do it, it’s not a dream anymore. It’s a very, very, very high mountain to climb. So, we could think of how many times God has been asked to send somebody else throughout our history and we can only imagine because if we look at our own lives, we realize that’s been us too, that’s been our voice to Him too. Thankfully God is patient and perseverant. And Aaron comes, Moses brother, and they do go back, and the people believe them, and they are able to get before Pharaoh and speak the word of the Lord, right? So, like, through it all, at the end of it all Moses obeyed and was given an audience before the Pharaoh of Egypt and he was able to say in the ears of Pharaoh the word of the Lord, “let my people go.” And, of course, Pharaoh’s like, “who’s the Lord?” He didn’t let the people go. Actually, where we leave today’s reading, he has withdrawn supplies for them to do their forced labor. And, so, now things have only gotten harder.

Okay. Let’s push pause. Let’s look at the story of the Bible so far. We don’t have to review every story. But if we look at the arc after…after a word of the Lord, after a promise is given things don’t just get easy and just kind of sail downhill into the promise, they get harder and more difficult and then the promise must be contended for and that season of difficulty becomes a refining furnace that purifies. This arc is over and over and over throughout the stories of the Bible. Take for example the story that we just read as we concluded the book of Genesis, the story of Joseph who’s having dreams as a child, but before those dreams are fulfilled he’s trafficked into slavery by his own family, right, falsely accused, thrown into a dungeon. Like, we know the story. It got way more challenging before the outcome became apparent. Joseph was refined and by the time that Pharaoh called him up he was ready to lead. We’re gonna watch the same thing happen to Moses and then at some point we might wonder why in the world it’s happening to us, misread the obstacles and challenges, become estranged from God and angry, while missing the point that we were being refined and called up into the next thing for us. This is important context for our lives and it’s coming from the Bible.

We move into the book of Matthew and Jesus is asked a question, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”, which is…which is like the exact…like the…the worst question that could be asked based upon what Jesus is teaching about the kingdom. And, so, Jesus uses a child as an illustration by calling a child and saying, “unless you’re turned and become like children, you’ll never even enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” We know these kinds of stories. we know Jesus love for children. It’s legendary. There’s lots of paintings depicting it. Like, we know this, but are we hearing what He’s saying, because He’s saying once again what He’s been saying all along. The world is backward, it’s all backward to the ways of God’s kingdom. You become the greatest in God’s kingdom by not even thinking about that. That’s not the goal. Humble yourself like a little child if you want to be great in God’s kingdom. I mean, it should be obvious to us how opposite the world is to what Jesus is saying because our cultures are normally about how much we can shine the light on us as individuals. We can’t become superstars of God’s kingdom and…and…and that the evidence of that be that we’re on the cover of a magazine or have a best-selling book or like…that’s not the evidence, the humility of a child in a person, at least according to Jesus, is the evidence. But we live in a culture that…that…that praises and worships individuality, that the accomplishment that one person can do. But this is not the way of God’s kingdom. So, one of the last things that Jesus said in our reading today was, “if two of you on earth agree to ask for anything it will be done for them by my father who is in heaven. In fact, where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am among them.” He didn’t say anything about one, which is not to say that God’s presence does not exist if you are by yourself. What Jesus is laying out for us and what the apostle Paul will unpack thoroughly for us is that this whole process is not about us getting to be more and more individual and unique and high and mighty and celebrated. It is that we become aware that the separation that existed between us and God no longer exists, which means the separation from each other also no longer exists for those who are in Christ. We are being made one. And Jesus specifically prays for that and Paul gives us useful language, “the body. We are one body.” The objective isn’t to be the greatest in God’s kingdom. The objective is to be overwhelmed by the fact that we are in it at all.

Prayer:

Father we invite you into all that we’ve read as we launch into our week here. We…we find that we have asked you to send someone else just like Moses. We’re all guilty of this. It’s in us all and we’ve all been less than humble like a child as we’ve represented you in this world. We have misrepresented you on a number of occasions and even had the audacity to blame you for things that you had nothing to do with. And, so, there's…this kind of stuff comes up a lot because we struggle with these things…this…this is the battle and we thank you for bringing these things up in your word so that we can wrestle with them, so that they won’t go away until they’re dealt with. And, so, come Holy Spirit, help us to have the humility of a child today. Help us walk around this earth with wonder that we’re here and wonder that there are others like us here and that we bear your image. Help us to be light in the darkness. Help us to be good in a world that is full of evil. Hep us to continue to understand that the journey that we are ultimately on is a journey inward, that you are awakening things in our hearts, that you are awakening our hearts to your presence. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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The Prayer Wall is that the website.

Different links to different social media channels and groups are there in the Community section.

The Daily Audio Bible Shop is there with resources for this journey. So, thank you for staying connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio  Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well, 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, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Exodus 2:11-3:22, Matthew 17:10-27, Psalms 22:1-18, Proverbs 5:7-14

Today is the 26^th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we begin a brand-new week together. And yesterday we concluded the book of Genesis and began the book of Exodus which is what we’re journeying through now. So, we met this baby and his name was Moses and we’re going to be getting to know Moses for quite a while, but we were able to make his acquaintance yesterday as a baby in the Nile River in a basket being discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter and then raising her…raising him as her own. So, we’ll read from the Evangelical Heritage Version this week. Exodus chapter 2 verse 11 through 3 verse 22.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and as we move into this brand-new week and…and…and look out before us, we take this time as we do most weeks to understand that it’s all out in front of us. What this week is going to look like has yet to be written, and it will be written by the choices that we make. So, we invite Your Holy Spirit to come and offer wisdom in the deepest places of our souls and in all of our important decisions that are before us. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. So, that’s where you find out what’s going on around here. Be sure to stay connected as we continue our journey forward.

You can find the social media links in the Community section of the website and that’s where like links to DAB friends on Facebook or the Daily Audio Bible women’s group, which is a massive group of women encouraging one another, led by my wife Jill. So, like if you haven't…if you’re a woman and you’re not connected there then you may be missing out on a lot of encouragement for you days. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link and it lives on the homepage and I thank you with all my heart 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 that is your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:13-17:9, Psalms 21:1-13, Proverbs 5:1-6

Today is the 25^th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you at the end of another one of our weeks. And this is actually the final weekend of the first month of the year. So, well done. And as we end this week there’s also another special line that we’re gonna cross. Today, we will conclude the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis and then begin the book of Exodus. So, well done! And let’s get to it. Let’s conclude the book of Genesis and then we’ll talk about the book of Exodus as we begin it. But first, Genesis chapter 50, which is the final chapter of the book. And we’ll conclude the story of Joseph.

Introduction to the Book of Genesis:

Okay, so that concludes the book of Genesis and the book of Genesis concludes with the conclusion of the story of Joseph. So, what we have started at the very beginning, right, when we started on January 1^st, the first words of the Bible were, “in the beginning.” So, we started at the beginning, we got a glimpse of how things were always intended to be for us. We saw how that got blown apart. We saw separation from God be introduced into the human story and then we watched humans try to use the knowledge of good and evil to essentially glorify themselves so that they could be their own God, which is what the serpent essentially tried to promise them, but we watched that disintegrate and fall apart completely until everyone’s heart was evil and the world was flooded, which took us to the story of Noah. As we continued to journey forward, we met a man named Abram whose…his name was changed to Abraham and he entered into a covenant with God. God selected Abram changed his name to Abraham and then said, “I’m starting over with you. I’m going to create a people set apart unto me on this earth among all of the other people who bear my image, but who have rejected me and embraced separation. Through you. I’m going to create a people set apart as mine and through you will be the light to the world and all the nations will be blessed.” So, in other words God’s saying, “we’ve tried a few things but this knowledge of good and evil inside the heart of man is corrupting him utterly. So, I’m going to create a people of my own through Abram, Abraham. So, Abraham didn’t have any kids. We know that. He had a child in his old age, the son of promise named Isaac. And we went through all of that story. Isaac then had sons, Jacob and Esau. We went through that story of conniving and deception by Jacob and it certainly was revisited upon him. He did reap what he sowed but in the end Jacob’s name became Israel. Alright. And, so, his children then are the children of Israel of which Joseph was one of them. And Joseph was trafficked into Egypt as we know. But that is how the children of Israel got to Egypt. And, so, we close Genesis at that point. Now we’re about to pick up the second book of the Bible.

And Exodus picks up this very same story, we’re just moving centuries into the future as we pick it up. So, these original children of Israel, the actual children who became tribes of Israel had…had certainly died. We’re centuries into the future, but their offspring had flourished in Egypt. They had become as numerous as the stars in the heavens, which is what God promised Abraham. But this flourishing that was happening was happening in Egypt and we’re centuries in the future and Joseph is forgotten and the Egyptians began to fear the numbers of the Hebrews and to fear their loyalty. So, like I said, Joseph’s forgotten and they don’t necessarily remember that he had saved them from devastation centuries in the past. So, Israel’s children were enslaved. And the new Pharaoh of Egypt wanted to curb and control the explosion of population among the Hebrews. So, his version of population control was to demand that the Hebrew midwives would literally…would throw every boy, every baby boy that was born into the Nile River and the girls could live. And this…this, among other things certainly cause the Hebrew people, the children of Israel, Jacob’s children, they cried out to God. And there was a baby and he was a boy and he was supposed to be thrown into the Nile River, but instead he was…he was put into the Nile River in a basket and then his little sister kinda watched from a distance to kinda watch out for him while he’s technically in the Nile River. But he’s being saved. This little boy’s name is Moses and we will be journeying with Moses for quite a while. And as it turns out, this little basket that had this little baby in it was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh and he was given the name Moses. And, so, he was a Hebrew who had been raised as an Egyptian and we will watch that story unfold as we now begin the second look at the Bible, the book of Exodus.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You, we thank You, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us these 25 days into this new year all the way to the last weekend of this first month. And we acknowledge, time, it moves by quickly, but as we established this rhythm, it strengthens us, it encourages us, it gives us wisdom for the road ahead. And, so, we thank You for all that You’ve done in our lives as we’ve journey through the book of Genesis, all that You are doing as we move through the first Gospel of Matthew. And we invite Your Holy Spirit as we release this week into our history and look forward to the next, that we would be aware of Your presence in all things. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its the website, its where you find out what’s going on around here. And there’s always something or another going on. So, be sure to check that out.

Stay connected on social media. If you’re on social media stay connected to the Prayer Wall. Pray for your brothers and sisters.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. And I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or you can just press the Hotline button, the little red hotline in the app at the top, you can’t miss it, and just start sharing from there.

And that is…that’s it for this week friends and that’s it for today. I love you I’m Brian and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Daily Audio Bible listeners my name is Brent. I was encouraged to call by Ben from Ohio. I’m the guy that’s been on the fence from calling in. Anyway, I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for eight years. I’ve been a Christian since I was a young child and I talk to God all day long every day but I struggle from an addiction to prescription pain medicine that I used to take for my back but I now take for the euphoric feeling that I used to feel before I built up a tolerance. So, I end up taking too many and running out two weeks before my refill is due, and it’s been a vicious cycle and has destroyed my marriage. I’m still married but my wife and I don’t talk very much anymore, and I need deliverance from this stronghold. And I ask that you will pray that God will free me from this bondage. That’s about it. Thank you.

While happy new year family this is Biola calling from Maryland. I actually had to call even though I’m recovering from tooth surgery and my cheek looks as if a chipmunk hid a nut or two in it. Pray for me when you think of me for full recovery. But I had to call in because I heard Kimberly, Yvonne, and Victoria Soldier. I had to call into pray for you. Kimberly I am so sorry for what you’ve gone through. Father Lord I pray for Your daughter. You are the one that comforts oh God Lord and heels. I pray that You will heal Kimberly completely oh God emotionally oh God Lord Father even spiritually. I pray that You will give her a heart oh God even to forgive these people oh God and release them even though I know it’s very difficult. But Lord You said oh God Lord that when we do forgive its freeing. Father God I pray that You will heal her from PTSD in the name of Jesus. Father every part oh God that the devil is using to harass this woman oh God Father I put a stop to it right now and I command it to cease and desist in the name of Jesus set her free Lord. In Jesus name give us her sleep oh God in the name of Jesus. Yvonne…Yvonne my sister I heard Your prayer request regarding Your children. You know it is comforting what happened to the prodigal son. The prodigal son’s dad just kept waiting, waiting proudly praying for him and that is a picture of our Lord. You are not responsible for their choices, but I know as a mother myself I know how You feel. So, keep praying for them. Father Lord I pray that You will draw Yvonne’s children back to You. Arrest their hearts oh God Lord in the name of Jesus. Father let them turn their way even from darkness back into light in the name of Jesus. Lastly Victoria soldier so sorry for Your cousin. I pray that God will comfort You in Your loss in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community I just wanted to call and pray for Brian this morning. This is Darby in Georgia. And Brian I just…I was thinking about meeting today in Genesis 39 and I think it’s verse 22 or 23 where God just he…he was with Joseph. It’s all about Joseph and being put in prison. And I think with depression and anxiety you can feel as if you’re in a prison, that you’re in a pit. But Joseph lived as if God was with him because he was. And at that right time God brought him out of the pit and raised him up so that he could not only be free of that but also be a blessing to many others. And I just pray today that God would give you hope, that God would fill you with a sense of his nearness even though you said you feel like He’s far from you, He is not. And I know I’m not the only one that’s been provoked by just your hopelessness today. I just pray that God would just give you a sense through His Holy Spirit that He is near to you, He is not far. And God, fill him with hope, fill Brian with hope and let him choose to live this day as if You were with him. Give him direction, give him wisdom, and surround him with others Lord who will help to fill him with hope and to see You and to raise his head up and look for You and find You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi this is Linda calling from Folsom California and I’m a first-time caller and wanted to call. Today’s date is 1/19 and I just listened to the prayers for today and I’ve been meeting to call for a long time. I’ve been a listener for about five years. And Ben, I’m just going to thank you and do a callout for pushing us to call because I’d wanted to call again today and your prayer of “just call” has…has prompted this. So, I thank you but today I’m really calling about Brian. My brother, I heard your prayer today. I heard your anguish and feeling depression and problems in your marriage and lack of memory and I just want you to know you’re not alone. I…it’s been for me about 15 - 20 years, that I had to because of my depression have a ECT which…that’s the electroconvulsive shock therapy. And, so, since then I have suffered not only the disease of bipolar but with lack of…loss of memory and how frustrating. I do know…I do know what that feels like and I want you to know how much God loves you and it can be frustrating but continue in the blood of Christ. Remember how much He loves you and wants to be with you. Let Him…let Him and don’t shoot Him…don’t shut Him out by telling Him that you don’t feel Him. He loves you. He is inside of you. I also want to do a shout out that I am praying for Diana and Burning Bush. That was such great news. Welcome with your citizenship and I’m so glad to hear about your sister. Love you all.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Kylie calling from Brooklyn New York. I’m a first-time caller. I’ve been listening since 2018. I just…I heard some calls today. I’m reaching out for new listeners who haven’t called in before and I was super touched, and I was grinning really widely on the train. So, I just wanted to say that this community has been a family to me since I stepped foot into it in October. Even just by listening I have been met in places I never thought I could be met in by this community. So, thank you. It’s like a hug every day listening to you. Be well and talk soon.

Good evening DABbers this is Running Desperately to Jesus calling for you Diana. I have started and stopped calling on the prayer line so many times because I feel I don’t know what to say to you but then God let me know that you need to her know by His stripes you are healed. To be healed down here on earth or in eternity, but the ultimate is that you are going to be healed. Your boys will be taken care of. God has them in the palm of His hand. He will honor your request because you have been faithful to Him Diana. You have been faithful, you have taken His word and made it into rhymes and poems so that it…it touches everyone’s heart. Your legacy is here. Your boys will be taken care of. Diana, we love you, I love you. I desire to see you in person. I don’t…I don’t know what else to say. My heart wants to cry but at the same time I’m happy because I know that this whole thing, cancer does not have dominion over you. I love you Diana. Running Desperately to…

Hello, my name is Claire and I’m calling from Canada. I am a longtime listener and first-time collar. I just want to say that I’ve been praying for everybody all these years. Everybody I hear call in, I pray with you and I’m just glad that you guys do call in. I did want to mention the guy that was running, that he just started listening as a podcast. I thought that…just…it made me so happy to hear that because I pray for the salvation and that people would start listening to the Daily Audio Bible all the time. And anyways, I want to call in because I have a friend and this is probably running prevalent through a lot of people’s lives, but I had a friend that’s been injured, he’s had crones for many years. We’ve been friends for 20 years and he’s really suffered. He is a believer but it’s the crones, they ended up putting him on painkillers when he went through surgery and after that he became addicted to them. And anyways, he’s living with my mother now and we’re trying to get him into detox and the enemy really has, you know, a grip on him emotionally and spiritually and I just, you know, want to ask, you know, everybody to please pray for him as, you know, he is really fighting a battle and, you know…I’m sorry but it’s just, you know, I don’t…I…I really want to see him healed once and for all. And just so you know I’m praying for all the people that are dealing with sicknesses and cancer right now and all these kinds of things. I am standing in prayer with all of you as well. So…I didn’t want to cry or anything but be blessed everyone and thank you for this podcast. It’s an amazing gift to my day. Thank you. Bye for now.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community I’m calling in today because I just listened this morning and Ben from Columbus Ohio encouraged those of us who have been reticent to call in to just get on it and do it. And, so, here I am. I’m going into my 10^th year with the Daily Audio Bible and I’ve been praying for all of you this whole time, just never called in myself. But I just wanted to share a praise report. Over the last…some of the things you’ve shared with me and my wife of the last 10 years even though you didn’t know you were sharing them with us, you were. So, we’re both soldiers in the U.S. Army and the last 10 years both of our children were born. We’ve done seven moves, we’ve done 23 month-long training deployments, we’ve done two combat deployments between two of us. We’ve done two noncombat deployments between the two of us. The year before this last job I’ve had I did 190 days on business travel over that one year. We did to master’s degrees and then we both got selected to command at the next level. Her unit that’s about 4000 people, mine is about 600…well 640 exactly today. I am currently on one of those noncombat deployments right now. And here comes…that was the praise report, here comes the prayer request. Reintegration with my family, looking at that in about 30 days. I’ve spent a lot of time away from them training and being deployed over the last 3 to 4 years and I need to be the person they need me to be. I need them…I need them to just see Jesus through my actions when we get back under the same roof. So, that’s…sometimes it’s more difficult coming back from all that time separated and living apart but just help when we’re back together and living under the same roof together. All right. I love you all. Thanks.