A Walk Through The Word

Zechariah 14:1-21, Revelation 20:1-15, Psalms 148:1-14, Proverbs 31:8-9

Today is the 29^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is great to be here with you as we sail through these last couple of days of the year and…and disembark from the journey that we’ve been on all year. Obviously, of course, we’ll be beginning a new journey into a new year, but we are…we are on the home stretch. So, we’ve got a brand-new week and before this week is over, we will have entered a new year and a new decade. So, new is all around us and we will be experiencing the coming of the new this…this week in profound ways if we pay attention. And one way that we certainly do pay attention what’s going on inside of ourselves and in our lives is to pay attention to what the Scriptures are teaching us each and every day, which is why we come around the Global Campfire in community and share this time every day. So today, the next step forward would take us back into the book of Zechariah this week we’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible. And today, Zechariah chapter 14.

Commentary:

Alright. Let’s talk about justice because this is important…an important thing to talk about as we move into a new year and as we’re considering our priorities and the things that we’re resolving to accomplish in the new year. And the idea of justice may not be on the short list of New Year’s resolutions. And the word itself immediately takes us into the political arena. And, so, that can get supercharged in a quick minute but that’s not actually where we’re going here. We’re talking about this because the Bible brought this up today for us to talk about. The Bible in the last chapter of the book of Proverbs told us, “speak up for those who have no voice. For the justice of all who are dispossessed, speak up, judge righteously and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.” So, I suppose globally and culturally we could, you know, we could politicize this and start bending it to our will, but that's…that’s not…that’s not the point…that’s not what I’m trying…that’s not what we’re doing here. We have been instructed from the Scriptures and the Scriptures have spoken into our lives. And, so, it’s up to us to figure out what we’re supposed to do with what the Bible is telling us. So, the proverb isn’t like dispensing suggestions for a more comfortable life or isn’t just kind of stating things that might be good to aim toward, it…it’s actually giving action words to what it’s saying, right? So, speak up is an action, right? Speak up for those who have no voice. In other words, be the voice of the voiceless. Speak up for the justice of all who are dispossessed. Speak up, judge righteously. These are actions. And defend, this is an action, the cause of the oppressed and needy. So, the voice of wisdom isn’t giving us things to think about. The voice of wisdom is suggesting things that must be participated in. And its super easy to get very surface-y and and…and…and get very supercharged. The rhetoric starts flying and the talking points come out, right? Oh….and as we move here in the United States into a new year that happens to be an election year then its just gonna get…its gonna get louder and louder and louder. So, here we are kind of out in front of all that and here’s the Bible saying, “you know, wisdom would be that that justice was on your radar.” Like I said at the beginning, this kind of thing, like justice, this probably isn’t on our New Year’s resolution list but that doesn’t mean it’s not important for the new year. It’s very important for the new year because…because the sense of justice that we have, that…that shapes us, the sense of what is right and what is wrong and what is just and what is unjust. And we have spent this entire year working our way through the stories in the Bible. And some of them very, very in depth. And, so, we have seen what happens to people when…when justice is blurred, when justice is suppressed. And if we ignore this idea of justice then we’re ignoring something that we believe is a foundational fundamental characteristic of the God that we serve. We believe that He is just and good, that His mercy endures forever. So, it’s not…it’s not something we can just ignore or just think that it has nothing to do with us, that the way that we participate in justice is to cast a vote or the way that we participate in justice is to stand back and ask God to be just and bring his justice to the poor and needy. But we’ve been on a journey together all year and the Bible has never given us those kinds of instructions about anything. Instead of that, if we begin to understand what we’ve learned from the Bible this year then we’ve…then we’ve become aware that the voice of wisdom is calling out from every corner and those who are looking for her will find her. We’ve been told that the Holy Spirit, the same one that raised Jesus from the dead, the Spirit of the Almighty God indwells us, is within us, and is transforming us day by day setting us apart as holy, sanctifying us to Him. We are His hands and feet. We are the flesh and bone that brings God’s light and blessing to the earth and one of those blessings are supposed to be that…that the poor and helpless are treated justly, especially if they have no voice. And…and how that hits us and what that means for our lives in the coming year, I…I have no idea. It will be different for all of us, but we shouldn’t just get sucked into that this idea is only a political idea. These are the ways of God’s kingdom. This is what He’s asking us to participate in, and it may not be waving signs, right? It may be just finding the needy and helping however…however possible. I’m not here to say like, “here are the three fundamental ways we should participate in this, and here’s what we should do and here’s what God’s gonna do because that.” Proverbs is speaking the voice of ancient and deep wisdom into our lives and ancient and deep wisdom, the wisdom of God, says that justice matters to humanity. It is our dignity. It is the work of God through us in this world. And it’s being brought up because the Proverbs have brought it up today, like on this day, but this is a great day for it to be brought up because we’re thinking about what the New Year’s gonna look like and this needs to be a category. Not so much a category that we, you know, have outlines all of the different things that we might do, but a category to invite God into. “God, how do I look at this world and see through your eyes what would be just and righteous and then how can I, in my life, participate in that? What does that look like for me in the coming year? How can I simply be aware? That would be a good posture as we pray ourselves into this new year.

Prayer:

And, so, Father we’re at this threshold of a shiny, sparkly, new week and we’re walking into this new week and it’s going to lead us into a new year. And as we move into that new year it’s going to lead us into a new decade. And, so, big new beginnings are upon us and the Proverbs have brought up this idea of the voiceless and the helpless and…and…and a posture toward them. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to begin speaking to us in this regard and to begin opening our eyes and breaking our hearts in this regard, so that our hearts and our motives and the trajectory of our lives lines up with Your will and Your heart. We are Your children after all. You have adopted us and made us Your sons and daughters and turned us loose upon this world to reflect Your glory upon it and part of that is that we pay attention to justice. And, so, come Holy Spirit in whatever way that You want to, in whatever situations You…You allow us to encounter in the new year, we ask that You help us be awake and aware. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Can you believe it? Like this is the last Sunday of the year, the last beginning of a week for a decade. So, that’s kind of what’s going on around here. So, all the preparations to do…well…to turn this ship around and get ready to set sail again in a few days. And just all of the activity that goes around that as well as just moments of trying to be thoughtful and in reflecting and reflective over all that has taken place in last year. So, you’re probably doing the same thing, I mentioned that yesterday, you’re probably doing the same similar…we all kind of do similar things as we prepare to turn the page and move into a new year. So, I hope you are encouraged and excited about the journey in front of us as we begin again in a few days.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of the year, thank you, thank you, thank you with all of my heart. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, you can just press the Hotline button, the little red button in the app at the top and begin to share from there or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Zechariah 12:1-13:9, Revelations 19:1-21, Psalms 147:1-20, Proverbs 31:1-7

Today is the 28^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we close down and release into our history the final full week of the year 2019, leaving us with only three days left in our journey together through the Scriptures this year. So, we can see…we can see land. We set sail a year ago, almost and now we have…and now we are approaching the end of our journey, but we are not there. So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s immerse ourselves in this rhythm that will lead us through the rest of this year. We’ve been reading from the Good News Translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. And we’re reading from the book of Zechariah. Today, Chapters 12 and 13.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. And wow! Wow! You have brought us to the end of the last full week of this year and we sit with that. So, many things that we could reflect back upon that You have done in our lives through Your word and that have happened in our lives this year, so much to think about. And that’s what we do this time of year, we start looking back, the whole culture does it. It’s in or magazines, it’s in our television programs, we’re reflecting back on things that happened in the last year, people that we lost in the last year, just reflecting as we prepare to move forward. And we read in the Psalms today that You take pleasure in those who honor You, those who trust in Your constant love. And as we look back over the years, we can see clearly that this is true, we can see the times that we have trusted in Your enduring love, that Your love endures forever. And we can also see times when we weren’t sure about that and we can see times when we even almost lost it and just didn’t know. And yet, here we are. Like we’re here and Your faithful love does endure forever. We’re here and You have brought us here through so much. And what we see in the Psalm is that You take pleasure in those who honor You and those who trust in Your constant love. We want You to take pleasure in us God. That is what our hearts long for, that You would delight in us as a Father would his children. And we see from the Psalm that You take pleasure in those who honor You and to trust in Your love. And, so, here we are contemplating what the next year might look like and the things that…the furniture that we want to rearrange in our lives for the new year and this is just blinking like a neon. It should be the thing that we want most in the new year, that You would take pleasure in us and our way of participating in that, in that collaboration will be that we honor You and trust in Your constant love for us, that we don’t set our faith in an expectation of what You might do, but that we would set our affection on You and You alone no matter what You do because whatever You do is good and just and righteous and right. And, so, we must trust in Your constant love and honor You in it. Oh…that is one heck of a New Year’s resolution, to set a goal that we might be Your pleasure. It’s a big one but it seems that all we must do is honor and trust in Your love. And, so, Holy Spirit come. May we follow where You are leading and may we recognize that when we find ourselves in seasons of doubt and perplexed…being perplexed, most of the time we have veered from the path, we have stopped talking with You, we have stopped talking with You, we have stopped the rhythm of our lives that is leading us on the narrow path. Help us to recognize these things. You are the first person we blame on so much that You have nothing to do with. So, come Holy Spirit, take pleasure in us, may we honor You and trust in Your constant enduring love for us. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And we’re just in preparations for the clock to strike midnight on the 31^st, right? And then everything begins again. And there’s an incredible amount of preparation for that to take place. And so, we’re in the middle of that. And in many ways, you’re probably involved in the same sort of thing, thinking through how to enter into the new year by finishing this one well. And, so, definitely we’re praying for one another in that. This is the last weekend of a decade, and we’re gonna go into a new week, and before that new week is out, we’re gonna be in the new decade and in the new year. So, that brings with it an enormous amount of excitement and an enormous amount of reflection, at least for me. I look back and it’s just…in some ways it’s a blur, but there are…and you look back and you see those moments that really really jump out and you’re like, “that was an important thing.” Like my daughter got married this year. That was an important thing. There’s so many of those. And, so, yeah, I encourage you to do the same. It's…it’s good, it’s good to reflect back on God’s faithfulness in our lives. And even in the difficult times. I have had a couple of really difficult times and last year that I now can look back and say God was faithful. Of course, He was. Of course, He was. He always is. Why did I endure so much suffering that was unnecessary? Of course, He was gonna be faithful. So, yeah spend some time in reflecting as we go through this weekend.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the final days of the year 2019 then I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. There is a link, it lives on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address 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 in the app.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DABbers, this is Lucy in Alabama I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible since 2015 and I’m a first-time caller. I could really use your prayers. I have been dealing with illness my entire life and never could understand why I always sick when I was growing up. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and then shortly after that common variable immune deficiency. The CVID means that I was born missing a gene that would’ve help me fight upper respiratory infections and I was born with no immunity to pneumonia. That made sense because I almost died of pneumonia when I was six. There is a treatment for the CVID and it’s almost a blessing that I was diagnosed with this because it is a treatment that adds the…what is missing in your genes, it adds it back to your blood. And I had checked with my insurance to see if they would cover it when I started another job in 2016 and they would cover it. And by hematologist discovered that my platelet count was getting high while he was checking my blood count and it just kept getting higher and higher and he stated that he needed to do a bone marrow biopsy in February of 2017. It was when I had that only marrow biopsy that he diagnosed me with Essential Thrombocythemia which is a fancy name for bone marrow cancer. I could really use your prayers. It’s hard being sick all the time. Thank you.

This is a prayer for Diane Olive Brown from Treasured Possession. Gracious heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, I lift Your daughter up to You Father God who is hurting, who…who needs to know the love, the security, the hope, the peace that only You can offer. Our earthly fathers Lord God are a reflection of You, and she is losing her earthly father Lord. I pray that he goes into Your hands Father God. I ask Lord God that You would fill her to the full and overflowing of Your Holy Spirit, give her experiences Father God of Your outrageous love that goes beyond all we can ask, think, or understand. Wrap Your arms around her. You are her Father Father God. You are her Father for eternity. I pray Lord God that You would just hug her and hold her and give her Your piece and bless her in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I thought that I was standing tall but really I was down
smiling broadly ear to ear trying to hide the frown
believing I could do all things while running from the doubt
saying straight and narrow is the path but walking in and out
confident and self-assured trying to hide my fear
growing stronger day by day get dying every year
life is one big paradox we say and still don’t do
help me Lord to reconcile and surrender all to you

blindony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Sherlock and Kim and Michelle from LA and David Michael, know you all are very much loved thought of often and prayed for every day. And once again Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.

This is Holly from Glendale Arizona I would just like to pray for Mary whose husband passed away. Mary my husband passed away three years ago, and I would just like to let you know that the Lord will be with you through all this sometimes day by day, sometimes moment by moment. Seek Him and He will guide and direct each step along the way. I will be praying for you. I will remember you. Reach out to us in times of need. We are there for you. God bless you through this season. We will remember you and your family. I know it’s difficult. It does get easier. You always remember. He will always be a part of you and I just want to let you know that I care about you and I will be praying for you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Hello DAB family this is Eleanor from Albuquerque New Mexico I have never called before, but I have been listening to the DAB from partway through the first year. I am sure there are others like me who have never called in but are listening and praying. Many prayers go up for those who are in need and you won’t know about them, but God knows about them. I wish you all a blessed Christmas and a wonderful new year. God bless you.

Greetings everyone this is Toni from Germany I don’t know when this will be played, if it will be before the new year or after but happy 2020. I…last year I had made a proposal that with the word of the year that whenever we are meeting people for example when they’re giving us customer service or when we are perhaps giving customer service or when we meet someone on train or somewhere, a stranger or someone we don’t know and they ask how are you doing, last year the word was Maintain. And, so, to indicate that we are part of the Daily Audio Bible just in case they are we can say I’m maintaining. So, I think perhaps we can do it this year and say I’m settling or something to that effect, I’m getting settled, I’m focused on being settled. And I think that could be our key phrase or word that should trigger others to know that we are part of the Daily Audio Bible. Someone in the Christmas party said that her word was endure. My goodness, the two really resonate for me together. Settle and endure. Scott, from Portland Oregon, I’m…I’m laughing at what you said. I identify with everything that you said except for I do make it more than two times a month to church. God bless everyone. I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season and I especially think about those who are alone and who are suffering for whatever reason. May God be with you. Amen.

Zechariah 10:1-11:17, Revelation 18:1-24, Psalms 146:1-10, Proverbs 30:33

Today is the 27^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you, kinda in between, right, like this feeling that Christmas has passed, like we’re moving forward and we have this sense of the arrival of the new year and new beginnings coming but we’re kind of in between right now. And, so, this is gonna be…well…it’s a different kind of week, a disruptive week where we get to kind of think about what the next year might look like. And, so, as we do every day, no matter what time of year and no matter what we’re experiencing, we turn to the Scriptures and we allow them to speak into our lives as part of the direction for our lives. So, we’re reading from the Good News Translation this week and we will continue our journey through the book of Zechariah in the Old Testament today, chapters 10 and 11.

Commentary:

Ok. So…so at the beginning today we were just mentioning like here we…like we’re in this in between…between the Christmas holiday and the beginning of a new year. And, so, there’s this week and it's…it’s like a unique week out of any other week of the year just because its book ended by major holidays. I mean Christmas, obviously, perhaps the most major holiday on the planet and then that leaves one week until a new beginning comes and we…we sense that in this week, that…that a new beginning is coming. And, so, because of the fact that we have this new year in front of us and that’s a big thing, like marking a new year is often a line in the sand for a lot of people about a lot of things. It’s just…this is the kind of the week we get serious about thinking about what we might like life to look like in the coming year. And, so, you know, this is…this is when we renew the gym membership, right? This is…this is when we crack open the books about nutrition and we start thinking about how we might like to feel in the coming months, how we might like to look one year from today when we’re between the holidays again. And it’s also time, the world over, and this isn’t a unique thing, I’ve noticed this…this all of the years of doing the Daily Audio Bible. This is…this is the time that we think about our spirituality in ways that we don’t the rest of the year. And, so, this is the time that a lot of people go looking for…for things like the Daily Audio Bible. A lot of you found this community and became a part of this journey that we’re on at this time last year and that’s happening right now in the lives of many brothers and sisters who are here today, like just checking things out…like hi…welcome, glad you’re here. Hopeful… Hopefully your boarding for the journey through the Bible next year. This is what happens this time of year. But one of the things we might notice as we are doing this kind of contemplation, and I do this kind of contemplation every year, “like what’s the next year supposed to look like? What is in my life right now that is not serving any purpose? What needs…like is just wasting my time? What do I need to move out so that I can move other things in? What do I need to move out to make space for nothing but God?” I think about these things too. We all think about these kinds of things but a lot of times, I would say most of the times, what we’re thinking about his exterior things. “How can I balance and get in order my environment, my exterior environment? How can I lose that weight? How can I position myself to get the promotion that I want or to beat out the other candidates for something down the road? How can I clean my closets this year? How can I get rid of the clutter that’s hidden everywhere but I know that…that I just pushed things to the margins in my home, maybe even in my life? How do I get rid of all this clutter?” Obviously, the rhythm of our lives containing the Scriptures in them…obviously, what we’re doing every day, allowing God’s word to speak into the day, absolutely gives us direction for the path ahead in every conceivable way because here we are toward the end of the year, there’s just a few days left, and we can see that on this journey through the Bible this year just about every part of our lives internally and externally has been touched in some way by the word of God. But as we move into the new year there’s one specific portion of the word of God that can be utterly invaluable as we look for practical advice into the actions that we take and that is the book of Proverbs.

What we find by immersing ourselves in the wisdom that has been collected or the advice that is calm as a result of the wisdom of the ages that are collected in the book of Proverbs is that Proverbs councils us that fundamentally, we can move all kinds of furniture around in our exterior lives, like we can move all kinds of things around but if the clutter is inside of us, it’s still not going to bring us that sense of calm and peace and awareness and interaction and integration - the things that were looking for in our lives. Proverbs helps us get to the bottom of why we are motivated to do just about anything, but at this time of year, why we are motivated to make these changes. We want to make these changes because fundamentally, we want our lives to go more smoothly. And yet if our lives are in turmoil within us. No amount of organization outside of us is going to fix that. Proverbs helps us get to the bottom of why we do what we do and what we find in this ancient book is that the heart of people…like people were motivated after the same fashion thousands of years ago because the conflicts that we feel within ourselves, they’re the same. The exterior is simply different clothing. So, like we read one verse from the book of Proverbs today. “If you churn milk you get butter. If you hit someone’s nose it bleeds. If you stir up anger you get into trouble.” Alright, so we can be like, “if you churn milk you get butter. Is that really wisdom? Doesn’t everybody kinda know that? Like, if you hit somebody in the nose then it bleeds. Isn’t that obvious? Like, is that…how is that going to help me in my interior life? Like, how does that help?” What the proverb did here is state three obvious things, two of them very obvious - the beating of cream yields butter, the striking of the nose causes bleeding. Those are external and very obvious things. And then it tells us one more obvious internal truth that is just as true as these obvious external ones - stirring up anger causes quarrels. So, if we just think about the new year what do we want? Usually we want peace, right, more serenity of some sort in some area of our lives. That’s why we would make changes. If we are feeling an imbalance in our body, like we’re just carrying around too much weight or whatever, we just don’t feel good, that would motivate us to perhaps stick to it in the coming year and get our…get our physical bodies to feel the way that we would like to feel or…or any of the other things that we would change. So, do you want more quarreling and divisiveness in your life in 2020? Like, is that what you want? Because the Proverbs is telling you how to get there. Stir up more anger. If you stir up more anger it will give you more quarrels just like beating cream will give you butter and hitting someone in the nose will cause it to bleed. If you want less quarreling, less trouble, less divisiveness in your life, then the answer isn’t to turn more butter or to punch other people in the nose. The answer is to stir up less anger. And as we move out of the Christmas holiday and toward the new year, I mean, we still may have friends and family around from out of town, or we may be still out-of-town or whatever but we’ve been disrupted enough to…to see that stirring up anger causes quarrels. I mean, we can see that when we’re fighting for a parking place at the mall because of the 75% off sales that are going on. We can we can find the materials to stir up anger out of just about anything, but if we would recognize what wisdom is telling us - stir up less anger, have less conflict. That’s as obvious as stirring cream into butter. And yet so often we still are confused about how anger got stirred up and why we are in this conflict. So, we can see that we have to pay attention. We have to pay attention to what’s going on inside of us to where we can feel and become aware that anger is being stirred up inside of me. And if I don’t see this now and find out why and go into the situation and correct the situation, whether it’s with another person, or whether it’s just with ourselves, if not, this is going to whip up into some kind of conflict in my life and I’m trying to avoid that. So, I’m stopping here, I’m stopping the churning, and I’m looking at what’s really going on before it gets out of hand. This is amazing advice for our lives out of one verse of the Proverbs. And, so, we obviously read a portion of Proverbs every day.

There’s also the Daily Audio Proverb going through one chapter of the book of Proverbs every day. So, going through the entire book of Proverbs every month. Proverbs are meant to be heard over and over and to be contemplated. So, we spent a bunch a time right now, right, like 10 minutes or more like we were just talking about one verse of Proverbs. We were considering, we were contemplating, we were focusing in on, we were asking of the Scriptures, “what you saying for our lives?” And if we could do this with any of the Proverbs, just one proverb a day, one verse of Proverbs a day, one little section, whatever that you can focus in on and apply to your life can change and will change a lot of things in the coming year. So, while we’re making our New Year’s resolutions about getting in shape, and decluttering, and getting better promotions, and getting rid of the old this and getting rid of the old that, let’s think about how we might want to get very friendly with the voice of wisdom in our lives in the coming year. That might be the greatest New Year’s resolution we could possibly make for ourselves and for everyone around us.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. This really is that time where we are thinking about these kinds of things. It’s actually a gift that we have this disrupted week to think about these kinds of things because it allows us to consider how we might finish this year strong and how we might begin the new one strong. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to bring wisdom to us. Come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

I guess we’re like…we’re like in the in between where we are getting ready to like, disembark this particular voyage and then start a new voyage into the new year. And we talked about some…some of the things that…that we’re focused on that and we feel like the Lord is bringing into our lives, we talked about that for the new year on the Christmas program that we always do. So, there’s a couple of words as we move into the new year. One, that’s maybe more like the decade and one that’s for the new year, “Vision” being for 2020 and moving into this new decade. And we just talked about…not…that…that’s a word that a lot of people are using, “Vision 2020”, you know, seeing clearly. But I have spent a lot of time thinking about, “what does clearly seeing even mean spiritually, what does that look like?” And I just realize everything that we need to see, we…we can if we have eyes to see. Everything we need to hear, we can if we have ears to hear, which is what Jesus continually told us. And, so, I’m like OK, the kingdom is everywhere, the kingdom is now, the kingdom is happening. We know it hasn’t reached its fullness, but Jesus told us it is now, and it is in and among us. So, what if we have vision for that? What if that’s what we’re looking for instead of everything that’s wrong? Because we get very, very obsessive about things that are wrong in the world or in our lives. What if we spent this new year looking for the things that were right? What would that do to us, if we spent a whole year looking for the things that are right, the things that God is doing, the opportunities that we have to participate in good in this world? And, so, that’s Vision and then Jill really felt strongly, the word “Settle” - settle into the new year and beyond. And so, we’re just praying into that. Settle for her means settle, like settle down, like calm down. But settle also means to plant roots, to become rooted and stable and unmovable and unshakable. And, so, yeah, we’re living into that and you can do the same. As we prepare to move into the new year, we can pray into that. What does that look like for you? What words is God giving you over your new year. That’s what’s going on around here.

Obviously, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in these final days of the year, the gratefulness is real and in the humility is real and the awe that…that we get to do this together every day, that’s real. Thank you for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t do this together. So, there is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, you can dial 877-942-4253 or you can just press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at top and start…start sharing your story from there.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is a message for Scott in Utah who is suffering from ringing it in the years. Today is December 19^th and I heard your message. Today I want you to know Scott that I am praying for you. I’m very sorry to hear your sadness and your, almost, despair and I hope that you reach joy soon.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family, I’m gonna take a page out of one of our sister’s books and just to stay anonymous but I just need some prayer. I don’t really know where else to go. I’m driving home from a worship rehearsal and, you know, it just occurred to me, if I drove in front of a semi-truck that I could probably be with the Lord tomorrow but then of course, you know, the…the Bibles really clear about you know, not…not approving of suicide. I feel really far from God. I don’t know why I would want to be in this relationship with Him, where he’s always right and I’m always wrong, He’s always good and I’m always bad. You know…please just pray for me. I’m kind of at the end of my rope. I can’t really talk to a family and I don’t have any friends that I can go to about this because I’m not very close with any of the people at my church. Thank you.

Good morning DABbers this is Jeanette from Canada and I am in desperate need of your prayers. My mom is in a care institution with terminal breast cancer in Maryland and I’m going to be joining my sister who lives there along with my brother from Boston to spend the Christmas and the new year with her because this may be the last time we will have a Christmas with her. But I also am experiencing extreme generalized peripheral neuropathy, which I do believe comes from post chemotherapy or one of the drugs that I have been taking for it or radiation…I don’t know. But this is just something that is almost unbearable. It is so difficult, and it has no rhyme or reason. It’s like electrical current running all over your body at various times and frequency strengths and I’m at my wits end and I have to fly. So, I truly, truly need some prayers to anchor me and I’m expecting that this will be healed because I have asked the Lord and many people are asking. Yet in the meantime, I have to be patient and wait. So, I’m asking you to join me in prayer and help me for…as I as I fly because if this is so troublesome, I don’t know…flying will be very difficult. So, I’m depending on you my family. And I just love you all. Thank you so much for praying. Amen.

Good morning family it’s Daniel and Arizona it is December 20^th. I just wanted to put in prayer request, kind of an interesting prayer request, but I wanted to pray for drivers and commuters. I do a lot of driving to work. I’ve been driving about an hour to work in about an hour back and in the afternoons, I’ve got a pickup my kids and I just…I want to pray. There’s just so many angry people out there and it totally manifests in the way that they drive and I mean I…I don’t know any of their stories or what’s going on in our lives but I just I can just see people who are…are hurting or whatever. And I just want to pray for all the people. Again, I’m just seeing it manifest in the way that they drive, and I just felt like that was on my heart, to pray for people who have commutes and long drives. And this would be…driving would be a time for peace. And I don’t know, for me, it’s a time of listening to the Bible and reflection and being quiet. So, thank you. Have a good day family.

Father God thank you that you are Sovereign, thank you so much for this world and this universe you have created for us. Lord, we lift up the nation of Australia to you. Lord, we pray for rain. Lord we pray that you would be restoring the nutrients in the soil, restoring the moisture in the soil, restoring what needs to be there for a good harvest in the next season or even in this season Lord. Father God we do lift up those in Australia who rely on the land, the farmers, and also all the __ effects of all the people who are affected by this drought Lord. We pray Lord that you’d be providing their needs. Father God we thank you so much for the firefighters who are fighting those bushfires and trying to protect people and protect land. Lord we ask for you to be at work and Lord we pray for an end to this drought that Australia can have the right kind of rain to recharge the rivers, to recharge the reservoirs, to recharge the groundwater. We ask your blessing on Australia and we trust in you for the future, the next season and the season after that Lord. We pray that you’d be healing any damage done by this prolonged drought. In Jesus holy and precious name. Amen. All right guys, Michaela from Gloucester I hope you have a blessed day were of you are. Bye.

Hi all you, lonely ones this is Rachel from Pennsylvania and I was thinking of you and I just wanted to say hello, happy holidays, happy new year. I know this is not the holiday party greeting but, you know, I was just thinking about you, so I wanted to say hello and let you know that I will also be thinking about you throughout the time between Christmas and New Year’s. I want to pray that you guys have comfort and joy and you find something to occupy your time with that brings you happiness and that God will be with you and help you to get through the holidays if they’re tough for you, with…with a happy heart. And, yeah, I guess…I don’t know…I don’t know names, but I know Prodigal, you came to my mind, so happy new year. All right. Bye.

Zechariah 9:1-17, Revelation 17:1-18, Psalms 145:1-21, Proverbs 30:32

Today is the 26^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian. It is an honor to be here with you post-Christmas, right, like day after Christmas and yeah, like wow, a lot of leftovers, maybe some shopping, maybe some friends and family are gonna be here for the rest week, maybe your traveling today, who knows. What I do know is that it is wonderful and an honor and a joy to be here around the Global Campfire where no matter where we have traveled to or no matter where we are going we…we have this place and we come in out of the cold and just center ourselves together around God’s word and allow it to speak into our lives. And, so, that will take us today back into the book of Zechariah. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Today Zechariah chapter 9.

Prayer:

Father…Father, we thank You for that right at the end because…because we are in a season where we react much more than we stop and think and…and perhaps it doesn’t matter what season were in, perhaps that’s our status quo is to react and not stop and think, but especially in this season where things can be volatile we invite Your Holy Spirit. This is wisdom’s words, and this is something that we’re supposed to live into. So, if we have been foolish enough to be arrogant and we may have done that over the last few days and plan evil, well then, we should stop and think. So, we take this moment to acknowledge that and to stop and think. And as we move from this time together we ask Your Holy Spirit to help us to do that to…to go through this day thinking about what we’re going to say, whether or not we’re going to be foolish, whether or not we’re gonna be arrogant, whether we’re craft evil plans of some sort. Help us Holy Spirit to stop and think before we engage in our thoughts, words, and deeds. It’s just that little beat, just that little second that Your Holy Spirit indwells, and we can listen, or we can ignore and go our own way, but we want to stop and think. And, so come Holy Spirit into this day where we may be out shopping, exchanging, fighting for parking places, finding all kinds of situations to be stressful. Help us Father to remember to stop and think. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’ s going on around here. So, certainly stay tuned and stay connected. We are in the final days of this year and of this decade. I cannot believe Christmas was yesterday. I guess I still have that glow, but it’s like wow that comes and goes quickly and we get into this day and we start turning our attention to how to dismantle all the things that we’ve built up for Christmas and how to kind of get ready to sail into the new year. And, so, I’m kind of there to. And I’ve started a lot of years, so I have some experience with this and I’ve learned over the years the way to start a new year strong is to finish the one you’re in strong. And, so, that's…that’s what I’m focusing on. I’m sure that’s what you’re focusing on too as we focus on the remaining days that will lead us to the final chapters of the Bible. And after that, a brand-new beginning, which I’m looking forward too. And one of the ways we do that is to stay connected as we take our journey through the Scriptures. So, stay connected at the at the website or through the app in any way that you can and in any way that you want to.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we approach the end of this year and decade then I as I say most every day, I can’t thank you enough. The reality is we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t do this together and I’m grateful, grateful, grateful that we have been here together all of these years. So, there is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, 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 comment you can hit the Hotline button, the little red button in the app 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 hear tomorrow.

Zechariah 8:1-23, Revelation 16:1-21, Psalms 144:1-15, Proverbs 30:29-31

Today is the 25^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today. Obviously, today is Christmas Day. So, Merry Christmas. What a day of celebration. Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

Song:

Joy to the World

Alright. So, even though it’s Christmas day and there’s a lot going on such, it is such a joy and an honor to be here on Christmas around this Global Campfire, maintaining this rhythm of allowing God’s word to speak into our lives every day, no matter what day it is. It is a joy to be here with you on Christmas day, taking the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we’ve the reading from the Good News Translation this week. So, we’ll continue with that. And today we’ll read from Zechariah, chapter 8.

Commentary:

Okay. So, this…this marks my 14^th Christmas of reading the Daily Audio Bible. So, this is my 14^th Christmas day reading this portion of Scripture. And it's…it’s really interesting. I mean…in years gone by, I can read this portion of Scripture and go like, “man…could there be any other portion of Scripture that we could read on Christmas day because this is…this is just a lot of judgment and a lot of really horrible, horrible things happening on the earth in the book of Revelation. And I, you know, my…I mean…my temperament…I’ve been a creative my entire…I mean…I’ve made my way in the world by creating things. And, so, that kind of gives me a natural kind of melancholy temperament. And, so, when the rhythms of my life change, like if I’m finishing a lengthy project and finally that it’s done and there’s that lull or there’s the disruption of the patterns of life like Christmas and there’s kind of sort of this pause, this lull, this different thing. Even though it may be incredibly joyous, just underneath it all is like the blues, I guess, is the best way to describe it. Sort of this unsettledness, this…this I don’t think I would go as far as to say depression or anything just kind of like, why, why isn’t everything right today. Everything. Everything around me, like friends, family, gifts, joy, festivities, feasting all…all of the things that we should do to commemorate and celebrate the arrival of the Savior. Like it’s all here, it's…it’s all good, why does it feel like something’s missing? And I usually…like I can feel it even as I’m talking about it. And, you know, being an introvert with a lot of festivity and a lot of people around, at some point during the day I will sneak away for a few minutes somewhere and just, you know, kind of breathe and then it just kind of bubbles up and I can…I can feel that, that kind of melancholy, that kind of, “what is missing from an otherwise perfect day that would make me feel this way? What am I missing? What is it that I can’t name? What is it that I can’t find that’s causing this?” And I don’t think I’m alone. I’ve talked to a lot of people in my life. I don’t think I’m alone. I think more of us than not experience this at some point during this season. And over the years, I’ve even taken that, the questioned God, “what is this? Like, what am I missing? I am tuned in. Like, I am so thankful and so grateful that you would come and rescue I…I can’t even believe the story that I’m celebrating today because it changes everything in the world. And, so, I am rejoicing and it is joy to the world and I am happy and what is going on here? And I’ve even…even read the stories from Revelation, read this passage of Scripture on Christmas day and thought, “man…what is going on here because this just kinda feeds into it.” But I’ve realized, at least with this particular portion of Scripture over the years, something…something pretty important for us to remember and maybe even some words to touch the empty place inside that…that many of us feel at some point today. Yesterday in Revelation we were standing in a very, very interesting place that’s very hard to imagine. We were standing on the shores of sea of glass on fire and next to that sea were the remaining brothers and sisters who had endured until the end and God had given them harps and they were singing a song of worship, an ancient song of Moses, but also the fact that this is a prophetic vision and this is in the future. So, we’re like standing there with our brothers and sisters who endured until the end watching them worship God. And, so, we turn the page and we get to today and there is these bowls of God’s wrath being poured out upon the earth, and it just seems completely merciless because it pretty much is because what we’re seeing today is our little baby Jesus, born helpless, lying in a manger. We’re seeing him all grown up. And what’s happening in the book of Revelation today isn’t just God being mad and foretelling some kind of judgment with the invitation to return to Him. Everyone that is going to return to Him has. What we’re seeing today is a merciless outpouring of God’s wrath upon evil itself. Unfortunately, as the story goes, there are people that are swept up into that and those are the ones who refused…refused in the face of utter destruction to turn to God and live. But nevertheless this is an all out attack by the God of Angel armies, the Savior, on evil on the things that have been destroying the planet and destroying the people. And isn’t that what we’re praying for when we pray come Lord Jesus? Isn’t that what we’re asking for when we ask God to make all things new again? Isn’t this our hope, that one day evil itself will be eradicated and annihilated from existence? Wow. That is a Christmas story because Christmas carried the story of God’s redemptive power and plan forward. So, for me, as I’ve snuck away to have private moments on Christmas and just kind of sit with the feeling that something’s missing, or something’s not right I’ve thought to myself, that's…that’s how it is. Like what I’m feeling is deep, I can’t name it because it’s cheaper than my words. It’s my soul, longing to be restored. It is my soul longing for things to be as they are supposed to be. When we read this passage in Revelation, we have a prophetic vision that God fully intends to restore all things. But in order for that to happen the deception that has been deceiving the human race since the Garden of Eden must be eradicated and annihilated. Before all things become new all things that are old need to pass away. And what a metaphor for us on this day. What a metaphor for us as we move into the final week of the year. The old has to pass away for the new to come. And even in our own lives when we face struggles we might fight so hard just to return to the status quo when God may be inserting obstacles in our way that are intended to rid us of the old so that the new can come, so that this longing that just never really goes away inside of us, this longing for restoration so that it can actually happen.

So, I’m not sure how festive the Christmas message this is for me to give to you today. I am quite certain there is no shortage of wonderful, magnificent Christmas retellings and Christmas messages for today. This is just what Christmas kind of shapes up like for me and I know I’m not alone. And if you feel that and maybe you experience it is loneliness or maybe, you know, you experience it as an any number of disruptive emotions. But probably if you sit with that, maybe loneliness would be the thing because maybe your alone today or maybe that…maybe somebody’s missing…like my mom…and my mom is missing from the world and I hate that at this time of year, that my father is gone from this world, I hate that at this time of year. So, it’s easy for us like to identify like a loneliness or loss or grief or any of these things, but I believe that if we actually can get still for a few minutes that what this boils down to is a deep ancient longing. We are groaning along with all of creation for restoration, and it is so good. It is so good to find that place because Christmas represents the fact that we are headed in that direction if we are in Christ

Prayer:

And, so, I pray a blessed Christmas over You. Holy Spirit we invite You. We realize that there is no where we can go from Your presence. And, so, You are in and among us as a community all over the world. As we celebrate Your arrival, You’re coming for us and we invite Your Holy Spirit into these places that…that feel out of…out of sync with the holiday. We invite You into those places of deep longing and we ask that You whisper into our souls, the truth that all things are being made new, that we are going somewhere and that that somewhere is good. And we thank You Jesus, for coming for us and modeling life for us. And we ask as the spirit of Christmas, as all of these festivities are at their height today, that we embrace them fully, that we drink deeply…deeply of joy today. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Merry Christmas everyone. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Song:

Joy to the World