A Walk Through The Word

1 Chron 16:37-18:17, Romans 2:1-24, Psalm 10:16-18, Proverbs 19:8-9

Today is the 14th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today and every day, as we gather, and step forward in the Scriptures and in our year that we spent each and every day, step-by-step, day-by-day together. And what a joy and a privilege and an honor that it is for us to be here around the Global Campfire today. And let’s take that next step forward. We are, we have been and are working our way through the book of First Chronicles in the Old Testament. Today, we will read chapters 16 verse 37 through 18 verse 17.

Commentary:

Okay so, we are a couple of days into our journey through the letter to the Romans, written by the Apostle Paul. So, we got through the introduction, and Paul began laying out this argument that God has revealed Himself and that everybody is without excuse. All you have to do is look around. Today, we got a little bit of a taste of Paul’s general tone. He’s very direct but he’s choosing to directly engage with a very serious problem among his people. A problem that is keeping them from seeing what God is doing among them, and the problem is hypocrisy. Paul said that basically that, to condemn somebody else for the same questionable things that you are participating in, isn’t going anywhere, it’s hypocrisy. Or quoting from the Apostle Paul, “if you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this, do you believe that you will escape God’s judgment.” But here’s the thing that we need to get to know about Paul because a lot of time’s people read Paul and feel like it’s very shaming or condemning. That’s not what Paul’s objective is, his objective is to name something that is very destructive to the community as he moves through the process that’s in this letter of revealing Jesus. But if we already think we know all there is to know about God, than there’s nothing else to learn. So, we think that we’ve got it all together and Paul is stepping into this. Paul was a devout Jew, a very, highly educated Pharisee. He was speaking to devout people of the Jewish faith, and he wasn’t talking about things that he had only heard about, or that he had heard rumors about. He was talking about things that he understood very clearly because he had practiced these things devoutly. And so, he’s is calling out this hypocrisy because it blinds the people. And it’s not like it’s not still going on, right friends. Like, it’s not like we can’t find hypocrisy in the world. And it’s certainly not as if we can’t find hypocrisy among our fellow brothers and sisters of the Christian faith. And it’s not as if we can’t find hypocrisy in our own lives. How many times have we found ourselves judging or condemning, whether with our words or actions, or whether we’re just doing it in our minds, condemning and judging people for things that we’ve done. So, putting it back into Paul’s words, if you have persuaded yourself that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an educator of the foolish, a teacher of infants, then why don’t you who are teaching others teach yourself, right. If we’re going to condemn stealing then we shouldn’t be a thief, even, occasionally. Like, if we’re going to condemn adultery, then we shouldn’t be an adulterer, even occasionally. If we’re gonna condemn lying, then we shouldn’t be a liar. Like, whatever we shouldn’t be doing what we’re condemning. We’re judging others for what we do, thereby proving that we know right from wrong. We know what is right and wrong and we’re judging it and participating in it in the dark, it’s hypocrisy. Paul is calling it out and he’s calling it out among people who know the Scriptures and think that they, because they know the Scriptures, they know God and they know everything God will and will not do. Paul is building this argument that you might know the Scriptures, but you are not obeying them. Or putting it back in Paul’s words, “if you brag about the law, do you shame God by breaking the law. As it is written, the name of God is discredited by the Gentiles because of you.” And that’s, that’s where, that’s where we end our reading today, but that’s where Paul was leading us to, talking to these devout Jews who judge others repeatedly for things that they themselves are participating in, which discredits the message, which discredits God. Paul is very convinced, at this point, that God has invited the, like he has invited everyone through faith in Jesus to become a part of God’s family, Jew and Gentile alike. And Paul is telling his fellow Hebrews, you are discrediting God and causing the Gentiles to stay away from God by your hypocrisy. This should be convicting to us as we examine our own lives, because the same thing can happen. Our hypocrisy can turn people completely away from God by looking at our lives and going well if that’s what we’re talking about here, if that’s what this is all about, I don’t want anything to do with that. And in our culture right now, stereotyping is like just labeling things and giving them a label so that we can be against them and dismiss them is prevalent in our culture and so much of this is rooted in our hypocrisy. Paul is in the first century speaking about the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders and the fact that it pushes people away from God. But it’s not really any different now. And Christians, throughout our church history, have been labeled and stereotyped and persecuted mercilessly. And it seems to be a lingering tension and fear in our faith that we’re worried that that can happen again. And so, we want to do everything that we can to make that not happen again. So, we very easily build ourselves an enemy that we have to try to fight against and destroy, and we end up wandering into things that are not Christ-like. And yet it’s pretty clear what Paul’s laying out here is that there is something to do and the thing to do is practice what you preach. And so, may we consider that today, may we even catch ourselves today when our actions and our convictions are not in alignment, because that’s a very tense place to live, that’s a very hard place to be. We can normalize it and get used to things, but it’s a tough place to be wouldn’t what you truly believe and what you are actually doing are not in alignment with each other. So, let’s invite the Holy Spirit today to reveal these places where we cast judgment and shade on people for the very things that we ourselves have been guilty of doing.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. We know like we are all guilty, we all know what we’re talking about here. The ways that we become false for all kinds of different reasons. Some insecurities in our stories, some circumstances that we are in, we put on the mask, when freedom invites us to be true, that we might live in the truth and be an example of the way that life is supposed to be lived. So that when others look at us, they are not repelled by us away from You but are drawn in. Come, Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, lead us away from all that is false in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website and that is where you can find out what’s happening around here. So, check it out. Check out different sections like the Community Section. This is where to get connected, this is where the Prayer Wall lives. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources in a number of categories in the Shop for the journey that we are on.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, thank you, humbly. 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 is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

This is Rodney from Atlanta. I want to pray for the family of the young man. I think he was a nurse who was riding his bike, either to work or from work and was killed instantly by a motorist who did not even stop. I want to pray for the nurse team that’s been affected by this, for the family. Father, I lift up the family of this young man who lost his life doing a good thing. Lord, we know that there’s so much evil in the earth. But God, I even pray Lord, for the motorist who didn’t even have the courtesy to stop. I pray God, You would convict his heart, that he would come forth, in the name of the Lord Jesus. God, I thank Lord, You are a God of justice and You know where this young man is that caused this to happen and caused this other young man to lose his life. Oh God, I pray, oh God, for the family. God, give them peace during this difficult time. Those loved ones, those friends who will be at his funeral service. God, I pray Lord, that You would just, that You would give either him or her the courage and the strength and the anointing to say what needs to be said to this family. God, it’s Your peace that surpasses all understanding. Be present for this family. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Thank God. Amen. And bless you.

Hey Brian, it’s Spark. I just wanted to thank you for today the 11th. I always love it when you get to, I know you can’t do it every day but when you get to share an outlook of reading through this thing so many times and something new always pops up. It struck me, it struck me pretty hard when, when you were explaining the Proverb today of how we blame God when things aren’t going right. And looking into myself now being far from perfect, a lot of times you can still look when things aren’t going right for you, and you can still do that. But testimony, when Beloved and I were dating, I was in real bad shape. I had just, I lived on probation for about the first few years of our marriage. And probably 10 years before that I was constantly on probation. And I remember one night I was pretty upset, and she was trying to get me to you know, pray. And I looked at her square in the eye and I said, God has done nothing for me. Everything you see around me, I built myself. And it was blasphemous as hell. But she looked at me and she goes, you’re exactly right. That’s the reason you’re in the shape you’re in. How things change following God. How much better my life is. And I want to thank you for that man. Thank you and God. Love, you brother.

Hey DAB, it’s Valiant Val her in Vegas family. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before You, acknowledging that life can be filled with struggle and challenges God. Father, for those of us that are on the struggle bus Lord, we ask for Your divine presence right now, Father, to strengthen us, Lord. During difficult times Father, we lean in and on You, Father. God, Your word reminds us that You are close to the broken hearted and that You save those that are crushed in spirit. So, Lord, we are clinging to Your promises, Father God. We know that You are near, Lord. God, Your word also says do not fear, for You are with us, do not be dismayed. For I am Your God, I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God, we thank You for Your righteous right hand, Lord. And we’re leaning in and on You, Father. God, we thank You, Father. We ask for strength, Lord. Give us courage to face the struggles, Lord. Remind us that You are our constant support, God. We thank You, Father. In times of weakness and weariness, Lord, we thank You God. We thank You that Your word says, even to your old age and grey hairs, I am He, I am He, who will sustain You. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Lord, we thank You that You are our source and that You are our rescuer. Lord, we surrender all of our struggles to You, God. Knowing that You, Father, are greater than any challenge that we may face, Father. So, help us Lord to continue to trust in You, to have faithfulness in You, to rely on You, Lord. We thank You for your unfailing love. God, we thank You for Your presence. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello DAB Family. My name is __ Girl. This is my first time ever calling. I started listening to DAB in September of last year after attending a support group for grief share. That someone introduced it to me. I lost my husband 3 years and three months ago to undiagnosed cancer. I was listening to Lorie from South Carolina who just lost her husband recently from complications of pancreatic issues. Lorie, just want you to know this journey is not easy. Being a widow is very difficult. It’s a day-by-day thing. Loneliness will take over. But sweet girl, just hang onto Jesus. He has been my stronghold, my supporter, my strength on days when I just wanted to give up. All I had to do was just wake up and He’s there. So, you hang on to your Lord. I just ask that You wrap Your arms around her today. And just give her the strength to face each and every day. In Jesus name I pray.

1 Chronicles 15:1-16:36, Romans 1:18-32, Psalms 10:1-15, Proverbs 19:6-7

Today is the 13^th day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is wonderful to gather together with you today as we come together around the Global Campfire like we do every day and find our place and just understand that we’re here and we are here together. And that’s not like just a metaphor. There’s never…we’re not alone. At whatever point we’re listening, somebody else is too. And, so, it is wonderful that we can come together around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward and move forward together one step at a time. And our next step in the Old Testament leads us back into the book of first Chronicles. We’ve been working our way through the genealogies and we’ve pretty much come out of the genealogical portion of Chronicles and are more in the narrative portion. And then yesterday we began Paul’s letter to the Romans. And we talked about that. And, so, we’ll be taking the next step forward in Romans as well, which is a wonderful season that we get to move through each year as we listen to Paul explain to us how it is that he arrived…his understanding of the gospel, how it is that he migrated from devout Pharisee persecuting the way of Jesus to becoming a persecuted advocate of the Lord Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel. So, excited to take that next step. And let’s go ahead and do that. First Chronicles chapter 15 verse 1 through 16 verse 36 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, yesterday we began Paul’s letter to the Romans and we kinda did a flyby a little flyover just to orient ourselves into what we we’re moving into and then he started reading and it became really clear even in Paul’s introduction where we’re going. Paul was saying that the good news tells us how God makes us right or righteous in his sight. And according to Paul, this is accomplished by faith. So, that is and will be the crux of many of Paul’s arguments. Like he will…that…that is the flag that he’s planting in the sand. Today Paul is beginning…because this is a bit of a lengthy letter, so we’ll be spending some time as we go through it. We just have to remember they we’re reading a letter and not like a theological textbook. So, Paul begins to lay things out today by telling us, reading this letter, that…that God has made himself obvious to everyone. There isn’t an excuse for not acknowledging God. And it’s not God’s fault that we’re confused about Him and it’s not God’s fault that humanity has suffered greatly because we refuse to acknowledge Him. It’s just that when we were reading through the book of Genesis, and we reached the third chapter of Genesis we saw an exchange happen. God was exchanged for the knowledge of good and evil. And, so, through the knowledge of good and evil we’ve been trying to figure everything out, which has created an enormous amount of distortions about God throughout the human story because we cannot contain God in our minds, in our knowledge only. Paul puts it like this, and I quote, “although they knew God, they didn’t honor God as God or thank Him. Instead, their reasoning became pointless and their foolish hearts were darkened.” And then he says, “they traded God’s truth for a lie, and they worshiped and served the creation instead of the creator”, which simply left humanity to create gods for itself or to…to make gods of themselves, which ultimately created corruptions that human beings were never intended to experience. Paul says it like this. “Since they didn’t think it was worthwhile to acknowledge God, God abandoned them to a defective mind to do inappropriate things. So, they were filled with all injustice, wicked behavior, greed and evil behavior. They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting deception and malice. They are gossips, they slander people, and they hate God. They are rude and proud, and they brag. They invent ways to be evil and they are disobedient to their parents. They are without understanding, disloyal, without affection, and without mercy.” So, what Paul’s laying out here is a bleak picture of life on earth after the rebellion that we talked about in Genesis 3. And its…its still an accurate picture of life on earth. And what Paul’s doing this portion of the letter is simply painting a picture of how things are so that we can begin to get a glimpse of how things ought to be and so that we can begin to understand that there is a way. And we will certainly be getting to that in the days ahead.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You. We thank You. We thank You for Your word and we thank You that we have this document that we can hold in our hands tangibly that spans thousands of years and introduces us to the human heart, our heart, and introduces us to You and Your presence in our lives to restore our hearts. And, so, we are grateful. And as we continue in the days ahead, through the letter to the Romans, Holy Spirit come. May we see things that maybe we’ve never seen before or understand things in a way that we hadn’t before, quickening or awakening things in us that change us irreversibly. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that is homebase, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so, check it out. You can use the Daily Audio Bible app for that as well, which can be downloaded free from the app store of…of your device. So, check that out.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm showing up for each other so that no one has to be alone, if that is life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership. 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 is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, or there are a number of numbers you can dial depending on where you are. In the Americas 877-634-3337. In the UK or Europe 44-20-3318-4217 and in Australia 61-2-6108-4605.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Thank you God for giving me everything that I’ve asked
you’ve freed me from my demons and my true self now unmasked
time is running short now and as they say this too shall pass
I praise and thank you constantly there’s not much that I ask
the relationship I have with you I pray will always last
last is first and first is last a simple little verse
some men go from good to bad some from bad to worse
help me just be patient God and follow where you lead
help me not be selfish and consumed with lust and greed
wherever two are gathered I know that you’ll be there
keep my mind’s eye simple God and strip my ego bare
make me over in your image God I’m flesh but still I’m clay
fill me with your spirit God and renew my strength each day
one and one and usually two but you are and I are one
finish God the work in me you clearly have begun

blindtony1016@gmail.com.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family it’s Soaring On Eagles Wings from Canada. You know, when I was growing up as a little girl in my culture men were supposed to be strong. They don’t cry, they don’t show their emotions. Thank God that’s changing now. And when I listen to all the men coming on the DAB praying or being…or asking for prayer it just stirs my heart. And, so, today I choose to pray for those who are going through marriage difficulties whether they want a separation, or the wife wants a separation. I don’t know but god sees everyone. And DAB men who are struggling with all of this, God sees your heart. He knows everything that concerns you. He created marriages and it was his intent that a wife and husband should be together until death part them. But you know when this world fell and went into sin all sorts of things happened. But Abba You see their heart, You see the emotions, You see the pain. I pray for them, Lord. I pray that they would be guided to knowing what they should do and what they shouldn’t. And I pray for the wives Lord. O God, You’re able to do abundantly more than we can ask or imagine. And I pray for relationships to be mended and marriages come back together again in the mighty name of our Savior. Renzo, I haven’t heard you for a while. I’ve been missing you. I pray the lord continues to guide you into the right path for you…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Saved by Grace in California. I just want to lift my sister up who called in for prayer who’s having financial problems with taxes and husband who’s also having some health challenges and her faith is truly being tested. And I just thank God for you sister for your sharing that and your wanting…reaching out. So, Father God in the name of Jesus I lift my sister up to You in her situation and her circumstance Father God. I thank You God that we can continue to look to You Father God and keep our focus on You because You said seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all things You got all these things, You’ll take care of everything. I pray for my sister Lord that You would increase and help her strengthen, solidify her trust and faith in You God. I pray Father that You show her little glimpses of You in these circumstances, that You…that she is not alone, that You have not leaving her and that You have not forsaken her oh God. I pray Father God that You’d give her favor in the eyes of the IRS and her job Father that they would not garnish her…her checks Father she would be able to provide for her husband and herself financially as You have always done in the past. Remind her that You are that same God that got her through all those difficulties and circumstances and You are the same God that would deliver her on today.

Hey DABbers, this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina. Alright Holy Spirit let’s roll. Amen to prayers for Writer for Christ. I love how you said you got an answer to your prayer. So, you’ve been praying for…I guess a smaller commute. I think I missed the first or just can’t think of it at the moment. But this is your second time calling. And…but your answer to the prayer was wait. What great insight. What great wisdom. Like, we think if we don’t get what we want from God that He’s not answering our prayers or even that it’s no. That’s not necessarily true. And, so, thank you for pointing that out to everyone. Sometimes wait is some of the best. I’ve debated this job I’m at. I commute 45 minutes each morning. You know, I’m getting old. I’ve kind of got some weird signs that I’m toward the end of my life and that, you know, can make me wanna go, you know, like OK, let’s focus on family and focus on important things. But I know God’s giving me so many signs that this job is where I’m supposed to be. But my drive into work is my…is my God time. That’s when I listen to DAB. That’s when I listen to little Ezekiel on the way in. That’s when I call a guy and pray on the way in every single day. And if I didn’t have this job and this commute even if I was home you’d think I’d have more time for God but I think I’d spend less time with God. So, it’s just weird that the commute is actually helping me and as…as long as I keep hearing that message, you know, I haven’t thought of it as a wait every time I think about God. Should I just quit and do something more godly, do something more for You. It's…it’s just been a blessing to actually have this time away. It’s sad for my family but it’s God time that’s kind of made for me and I don’t have to try to force. It…it’s drive time. So, thanks for calling us and reminding us. Sometimes God answers our prayers with the wait. Love you all. Have a great day.

1 Chronicles 12:19-14:17, Romans 1:1-17, Psalm 9:13-20, Proverbs 19:4-5

Today is the 12th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you, as we pass through the center of another one of our weeks together. Hump day, like it’s hump day, are we in the dog days of summer? I’ve heard that term all my life, I don’t even know what that means. I think it means when it’s so hot that the dogs just lay around and I guess we’re getting there. But either way, we take the next step forward and we get to experience all of the different seasons, seasons on the earth, the seasons of life and we get to do it together in community, as we gather and keep taking our steps forward in this relationship that we have with the Scriptures. And so, that’s what we’ve gathered around the Global Campfire for, let’s dive in. We’ll be returning to where we left off, which is the custom, that leads us back into the the book of First Chronicles, and today we will read chapter 12 verse 19 through 14 verse 17.

Introduction to the Book of Romans:

Okay, so, now that we have come to the New Testament portion of our day, today, we are entering some brand-new territory. We concluded the Book of Acts yesterday, and we concluded the Book of Acts, actually really the last half of the Book of Acts, getting to know this person named Saul who then met Jesus and became the Apostle Paul. So, he was a former persecutor of The Way of Jesus. He met Jesus. And then he became the Apostle Paul, an advocate for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we’re turning away from the narrative story of Paul’s journeys and the things that were happening around the early church, and moving into the letters of Paul, the things that he wrote and sent and that have been preserved. And our first stop is the Book of Romans, most biblical scholars agree that Romans is the most comprehensive work or writing of the Apostle Paul, and that we arrive at a lot of our theological understanding of what the Good News of Jesus is, in this letter. Romans was probably written from the city of Corinth. This is a place that Paul spent a lot of time and did some of his most impactful missionary work. And it was probably penned somewhere in the mid-50s A.D. and dating these Scriptures enters into all kinds of controversies, because there’s  all kinds of biblical scholarly debates over dating different things. But what we do know about the writings of the Apostle Paul, and this is an interesting thing, they are the oldest writings that we have in the New Testament. So, Paul’s letters are some of the earliest Christian writings that are still in existence, predating for example, the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These letters are older than those Gospels. So, when Paul finished this letter to the Romans, he sent a deaconess, her name was Phoebe, and she was from the church in Cenchreae, which was just outside of Corinth, and she was sent to hand deliver the letter and make an introduction to Paul. The church in Rome wasn’t planted by Paul. I mean, we remember the story, Paul had wanted to go to Rome, and he does end up going to Rome but he goes to Rome as a prisoner. And we don’t actually know who brought the Gospel of Jesus to Rome. The speculation, a likely scenario is that somebody, or a group of somebody’s, who had been influenced by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and we’re familiar with the teachings of Jesus, carried the Gospel back to Rome, and the church was established. And Paul really wanted to go there. We know that from the Book of Acts. He’s a naturally born a Roman citizen, looking forward to visiting the capital city of the Empire that he is a citizen of, but he had other business before he could go to Rome. He obeyed the Holy Spirit, went to Jerusalem, where it looked like everything was gonna get up ended because he was arrested and mobbed and assassination attempts and plots. But he then became under the guard of the Roman military and was able to continue his missionary efforts, speaking to more powerful people that he would’ve ever been able to get a meeting with. And then he appealed to Caesar, and eventually we got to Rome. And everywhere that Paul went, he got in trouble, right. There’s all this kind of antagonism toward him and that was because of what he was teaching, this Gospel that he was teaching was that the Messiah of the Jews had come and they should recognize that, but because he had come through Jesus, God was welcoming all who had believed into the family of God: Jew and Gentile alike. And this was a massive shift in the way that people understood things, especially the Jews. This was a massive shift to their traditions. And one of the reasons Paul was constantly in a riot somewhere or fleeing for his life. It’s in Romans that Paul fully explains how he got there. Like, how it is that he went from this devout Pharisee, persecuting people who followed Jesus, to a Christ follower willing to die for Jesus. And he wrote this letter in a way that a Jewish person would fully understand the argument, connecting Jesus to the Hebrew story that had been taking place all the way going back to the book of Genesis and the patriarch Abraham. And Paul explains this, and it got him in all kinds of trouble that the Mosaic law and its purpose were different than the way that it was being used for, that its purpose was to reveal our human inability to arrive at perfection. Nobody can become righteous before God on their own because they’re that good, except for Jesus. And through him we can all be made righteous before God. This is the compelling message of the Good News of Jesus. Not everybody was on board, and many were very antagonistic toward it, as it remains true until today. But in Romans, Paul will explain to us how it is that this devout Pharisee, could make such a transition to become a follower of Jesus Christ. And so, with that, let’s begin Romans chapter 1 verse 1 through verse 17 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we love You, Lord. And now, as we move into some new territory with a new complexion to it, as we move into these writings from the Apostle Paul and the other writings in the New Testament, we invite Your Holy Spirit, that our hearts may be open to what You are saying through Your word, and that we might grow and understand and go to new depths of understanding about the Good News of the Gospel, about its impact in the world, about the way that it changes us, and about the ways in which we are to go forward because of it. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base. It’s where you can find out what’s going on around here and the app does that as well. You can download the app for free from the App Store that works with your, with your device, your phone or tablet. So, check that out. Check out the Community Section. This is where to get connected, there are different links to different social media channels that we participate in, and groups that we host. It’s also the home of the Prayer Wall, which is always available to us. We can always pray for each other, we can always ask for prayer there in the Prayer Wall, and that’s in the Community Section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, humbly for your partnership, we wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t here together and so thank you. 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 is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello, Daily Audio Bible. Happy Long Walk Day. It’s the 7th day, it’s the 7th month. It’s me Sebastian. I’m calling in to pray and to hear God bless our community. I pray that You bless all of us who struggle in life. I believe that is all of us. But I do pray that You would help us in our individual tasks and challenges, no matter how powerful they are, no matter how dangerous they are, no matter how boring or just hard and unyielding those challenges are. I pray God, that You lead us through each and every one of them. I pray that You help us overcome. I pray that You give us treasury and to love You above everything else. Thank You for taking care of us. Thank You for blessing us. Thank You for leading us on the narrow path. I thank You God that You help us, each and everyone of us with our quests, with our prayers. Thank You. Love you. Bye Sebastian.

Hey, Daily Audio Bible Family. I know there’s a couple people, more than a couple, that have prayed for deliverance from alcoholism and I need that prayer too. I would just call myself Lynn, for now. I just, I’m dealing with a lot and I would really appreciate you helping me with prayer and drinking because it’s leading me into some bad territory. And I’ve made some mistakes and I’m feeling regret and shame and guilt. And I just need your prayers because I’m trying to sooth my worries and fears and sadness with alcohol and it’s, I’m feeling regret today for some things I’ve done. And I would just really appreciate that prayer. And help me to just release some of the things that I’m worrying and caring about to God. Because this is what makes me start drinking. And I, just pray for me please. And I’ll be praying for those that, that have prayed for the same thing.

Hey, this is Jerry calling from Duluth, Minnesota. I’m outside of Solve Hospice House. Ready to go in and say goodbye to my mom. And just wanted you to know that the Long Walk, couple days ago when we knew that she just had hours or days to live was so incredibly meaningful. As I walk through Anger Park in Duluth, which is just an incredible park. I appreciate your prayers and thank you for your prayers. I called in February when she got the news that she was going to die and not live. And it was 22 below and asked prayers. We were heading to Florida to get her there and she had the time of her life. And she says, what a way to go. And then back at the nursing home, for the last few months. And I asked her yesterday morning, you ready to go to heaven today mom, oh, yes, I hope so. It’ll be the best day of my life. I had the opportunity to do the funeral, as I did my dad and grandmothers. Just pray that God would be glorified that those that are there would be drawn to Him and looking to Him: the author and finisher of our faith. Thank you so much. God bless.

Hello DABers, this is Kristen, Christ in Me. I would like to pray for a young lady named Kayla. She attempted suicide and she was abused by a boyfriend. She is now homeless. He destroyed her stuff. And she’s just asking for prayers that she would be able to find a place to stay and that she could get her life together and get a job. And I prayed with her, just reminded her to trust in the Lord and to call upon Him. So, if you could just pray for Kayla. Thank you.  

1 Chronicles 9:1-10:14, Acts 27:21-44, Psalms 8:1-9, Proverbs 18:23-24

Today is the 11^th day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we do what we do, find a place around the Global Campfire, and relax and exhale and allow the Scriptures to speak into our lives. We don’t have to be working out any problems. We don’t have to be wrestling or chewing through any issues. This is a place to come and allow the Scriptures to speak to us where we open our hearts and simply allow the Bible to speak. And, so, let's…let’s do that. Moving back to where we left off yesterday will move us back into the book of first Chronicles where David will become the king. First Chronicles chapter 11 verse 1 through 12 verse 18 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Acts we finally see how Paul ended up making it to Rome. We left our reading yesterday with everybody jumping off a ship that was falling apart in a great storm that…and the ship had run aground. And, so, everybody is…is trying to get to land, but they have no idea where they are. As it turns out they had shipwrecked on the island of Malta. And I remember one year pulling up the map seeing where Malta is and greetings to our…our brothers and sisters in Malta. We have Daily Audio Bible listeners who live on the island of Malta, which is pretty cool. But I looked…looked it up, looked at where Malta is in the ocean, trying to imagine this storm that was pulling this ship wherever it wanted to go. And if they hadn’t shipwrecked on Malta there was nowhere else really to shipwreck. They would’ve been on the bottom of the ocean in a watery grave. But as it turns out everybody did make it to shore. They did discover they are on the island of Malta and the Maltese people were kind and friendly and knew what was going on and built this great bonfire to warm up everybody from the storm. And that’s where we have this scene where Paul’s collecting sticks to kind of add to this bonfire and a poisonous snake jumps out and…and bites him on the hand and is just kinda hanging there and everybody sees this. The Maltese people see this, and they determine this man, Paul, must be a murderer. He escaped the sea, but he will not escape the snake. Of course, nothing happens to Paul. There waiting for Paul to swell up or have trouble breathing or to fall over dead or something, but nothing happens to Paul. He just sits there and goes on about his day. And they see this and then they determined that he’s not a murderer that has escaped the sea but will not escape the snake. Rather, he’s a God. This is not the first time this has happened to Paul. But I just want us to pay attention to the fact that these are extreme opposite things. This man must be a murderer. He has escaped the sea, but this snake will kill him. God will judge him. He will receive justice. To go from that place to this person is a God. Those are extremely different things, which shows us just how wide and varied the assumptions are when people encounter the presence of God. Anyway, Paul has to go through the process of getting…again of declaring that he’s not…he’s not a God. And then we watched as the people stayed on Malta until fair weather and that the Lord did His work on the island of Malta - healing and good news being spread among the people. And then when the winter season was over, they were on an Alexandrian ship and they had to bounce around a few places, but eventually Paul does land in Italy and makes his way to Rome. And as we arrive at Rome with Paul, we also concluded the book of Acts.

And, so, tomorrow we will be moving into some brand-new territory, and we’ll talk about all this. We will not be leaving Paul. We will be rather moving into Paul’s letters. And the first letter that we will encounter is a lengthy letter from the apostle Paul known as the book of Romans.

And then lastly, we…we turn into the book of Proverbs today and a very very important truth is spoken. People’s own folly corrupts their way. Let’s stop there. Like, that…that’s half of the proverb. People’s own folly, right? Their own actions, their own mistakes, their own sidesteps, their own willfulness, their own action corrupts their way. And in the proverb goes on, but their hearts rage against the Lord. So, in other words, people are responsible for ruining their own lives with their own foolishness and then they blame God for it. And that is a truth to pay attention to. We are all guilty at one point or another of blaming God for something that God had nothing to do with that we are totally responsible for. God is like the cosmic trash heap for everybody’s suffering, even if we bring it upon our own self. And, so, if we find ourselves shaking our fist at the sky saying how could you allow this to happen to me it…it may be that the response is God asking, why did you allow this to happen to you, son? Why did you do this sweetheart? Like, why are you blaming me? Do you want out of this? Let me show you the way. But I didn’t do this to you. But we blame God for things that he doesn’t do all the time then we’re not culpable. God is the sovereign one, He is the all-powerful one. So, He’s gotta be responsible. Man, stepping back and thinking about that, thinking about what we’re talking about here, it’s that somehow we feel like…like we’ve risen to the position where we can assume and comment on what God will and will not do. And let’s just think about this in our other relationships. If what we do is sidestep and deflect away from our own deficiencies and blame somebody else for what we do, that is not a recipe for any kind of lasting or deepening relationship. So, why do we find ourselves doing this to the only one who’s willing to actually stand along with us no matter what we get ourselves into and lead us regardless? It’s actually important that we stop blaming God for things that we do. Healthy relationships usually work when both parties own their lives, own their actions, confess and are committed to one another. God has promised not to abandon us. There’s nothing that He can’t guide us through and out of even if we’ve made the mess ourselves. If we’ll walk with Him and follow Him and obey Him and not blame Him for what we’re doing because He loves us enough to let us walk away too. And He’s patient enough to wait for our return. Maybe our move here is to stop moving away, is to actually let this settle. No matter what comes our way, o matter what we navigate ourselves into, or no matter what comes our way out of the clear blue, God will not abandon us. And, so, maybe the words of the Proverbs ring true for us. Maybe it’s time to stop ruining our lives with our own foolishness and blaming somebody else and raging at God, the only one who knows the way forward.

Prayer:

Father, firstly, we rejoice and thank You. We’ve moved through this territory of the book of Acts, the immediate happenings after…after Your ascension Jesus. And, so, we are looking forward to the territory in front of us as we deepen our understanding of the faith. But we also invite You into what we’re talking about in Proverbs. We get frustrated. We don’t understand why things are that…they are the way they are sometimes. And then sometimes things are the way they are because it’s how we made them and we don’t want to accept the responsibility. And, so, it’s easier to deflect the blame and we confess that we’ve done this toward You, and we are sorry. You would never leave or forsake us regardless of how we feel. And so often we find ourselves estranged from You for things that we’ve gotten ourselves into. We are sorry. We humbly repent. We ask once again that You would give us eyes to see and ears to hear, that You would indeed lead us into all truth. We depend on You. We trust You and we are…we are truly sorry for the times that we’ve blamed You for things You had nothing to do with. Forgive us Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that is home base, that is the website, that’s where you can find out what’s going on around here. So, indeed, check it out.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. We have the special edition of the snapback hats while they’re there, as well as a lot of other things, a lot of other resources to take this journey deeper and wider. And, so, yeah, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop either in the app or on the web.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. Thank you humbly. We couldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, thank you. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning everybody this is God’s Smile here. Do you want some good news? Do you want a praise report? Well just listen to this. So, yesterday was Peter’s birthday and it started off tough for me but by the time the afternoon came I was able to get on my feet and cook him his favorite meal. And we managed to get that done. And my son Tom was poorly sick. So, I said to Peter shall we take a dish down for him. He lives about 40 minutes away so it’s a good drive. And Peter said how about you having a drive Hellen. You’re looking OK. And I thought, yes why not. Now bear in mind it’s 15 years plus since I’ve driven and then it wasn’t very often. And, so, I got in the car I adjusted the seat. My little legs couldn’t reach the pedals from where Peter once sat and started the car and off, we went, and we drove to Tom’s. I wasn’t nervous at all I was just filled with such joy that the Lord could give me enough strength and life to drive. And I wasn’t nervous at all. And it was just like I'd…I’d driven yesterday, you know. And, so, when we dropped off Tom’s meal Peter said the beach isn’t far. Do you fancy having a drive? And, so, we went to the beach. My favorite place. And it was…the wind was howling but oh my goodness it was so good to feel that wind on our faces. Isn’t God good? Isn’t He good hey? Kiss, kiss. Times running away again. Love you.

Hey Daily Audio Bible it’s Lucas. I…I finally moved away from my parents place __ here to move closer to work. So, no more driving an hour there in an hour back two hours every day. I’m grateful for that but right now me and my wife, we picked out a bad neighborhood and it’s full of meth heads. Like there are good people there. It seems like we, you know, take care of each other because, you know, I met one guy and, you know, he was really nice, and he helped replace a doorknob and in our mobile home. And speaking of that, the mobile home we’re living in it’s really beaten up. The landlord ’s willing to fix it but it’s been beaten up by other bad tenants. It’s been affecting work. I’ve been living in it not even a week like with all the unpacking it’s been constant constant work. And I messed up at work with a simple job and I pissed off one of the guys that are above me. This simple job and he’s threatened to tell the office and possibly have me eliminated. So, I…I really need prayer please. I…I feel like I’m at my breaking point here. So, please pray for me. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Rhonda and this is my first time calling but I’ve been listening for a while to the Daily Audio Bible, a couple years now. I’m calling because I feel like I’m consumed and I know that God is with me but my families experiencing extreme hardship financially and my husband is also sick. He is in need of a kidney transplant. Our taxes are consuming us. My husband has had multiple businesses, but the taxes is one area where he has not been able to get ahold of it and handle them the way that we should and now I’m dealing with bank levies and I’m dealing them coming after my wages and I feel like I’m going to lose my mind. And yet I keep hearing God say or keep listening to words where God is saying I’ll be with you, I’m not gonna let the storm overtake you. But I feel like the person in the Bible saying Jesus help me with my unbelief. And, so, I’m asking for prayer because I just need this to stop. It’s really hard and it’s bringing so much stress in my marriage and in my family and in my home. So, if you could just pray for God to give us a way and show us the light, help us get rid of this debt that I believe that is now over $200,000. It's…it's…it’s a lot. I just appreciate your prayer. Thank you.

Hi this is Donna from California. Getting caught up on a couple days I got behind. And July 5th the last caller I think you said your name is Morning Lift. And I…I’ve listened to your prayer request a number of times now and it just breaks my heart. There’s so many, it seems, like or maybe I’m just in tune with more of these but other marriages they’re breaking up. I think Lawrence called in. I called in a prayer for him too, but I went through this. I’m on the other side of it and I’m older now and I just want to give you all a perspective from somebody who’s been through it and over it. And Morning Lift you’re call just really broke my heart because I…I did that to my former husband. I had biblical reason for ending my marriage. There was a lot of trouble. And I’m happy to say we’re good friends now but when he got the divorce papers that broke him. It actually sent him to the emergency room with an outbreak of hives. And, so, your call really convicted me about that. I regret what I did. I had…I felt justified and falling in love with other men. I never crossed the physical line, but I certainly crossed it, you know, every other way and I’m sorry about it. So, if anyone…if this speaks to anybody if…if you’re hearing it's…it’s not worth it. Stick to your marriage. Do your part no matter what they’re doing. Follow God and…and…and seek to serve your spouse. I love you all.

1 Chronicles 9:1-10:14, Acts 27:21-44, Psalm 8:1-9, Proverbs 18:23-24

Today is the 10th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it’s great to be here with you. It’s great to be here with you every single day that we get to gather, which is every day around the Global Campfire, and take the next step forward. And so, how if you been since yesterday? I hope all is going well, things are well here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. And even better that we can gather and take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And so, let’s do that, we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week. We have been working our way through the book of First Chronicles and we’ve been working through the…the…the genealogies in the Chronicles and we’re still in them. But we are nearing the end of them. So, let’s dive in and let’s move forward together today, First Chronicles chapters 9 and 10.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the Book of Acts we are traveling with the Apostle Paul again. He’s not on a, like a formal missionary journey because he’s not a free person, he’s sailing to Rome to stand trial before the emperor. Which doesn’t make him less on mission. This is very different but here we are traveling with Paul again and it’s like Paul can’t travel anywhere easily. Everywhere Paul goes, he’s bringing the gospel and it’s bringing tension. So here we are on a ship with Paul. They’re in this massive storm, they’ve been thrown around by the sea for two weeks. They’ve been fasting, they’ve thrown everything that they can overboard. They think they are going to die. Paul comes forward and says, I warned, I warned us all about this. This was totally avoidable, but the Lord has come and told me that none of us are going to die. The ship will be lost. But all of us are going to live. So, here’s Paul in the middle of this hurricane type storm, that’s completely carrying this ship, wherever it will. Paul has received word from the Lord, and now he’s encouraging the terrified people, and these are experienced sailors. These are hardened mercan-, like these are soldiers and prisoners and he’s encouraging everybody to eat something because they’re gonna need some strength. They’re not going to die. The ship will be lost. They need to eat, and people find encouragement in this, and they eat along with Paul. And sure, enough pretty soon, they begin to sense, there may be land somewhere. And so, they’re…they’re checking the depths of the sea and they see that it’s getting shallower and shallower. And so, they’re getting concerned. And exactly what Paul says is going to happen, does happen, they run the ship aground, it hits a sandbar, it begins to break apart because of the storm. The people have to jump over and head toward land. So, we can look at this and go okay, these are the Acts of the Apostles. This is what happened, this is the story of what happened after Jesus. And so, now we’re understanding what happened to Paul. Then we turn and apply it into our lives and just think of what that would feel like to be on that ship, having been tossed around for a couple of weeks, having become systematically hopeless for any type of rescue or even surviving. We could think of those kinds of situations where everything seems upside down, that we’re being tossed, and we don’t know where we’re headed. And we think we’re going to crash. The seas are choppy, life’ seas get choppy sometimes and sometimes were in an actual bona fide storm. One of the things that we can look at, is exactly what Paul said, this was avoidable, we didn’t have to go through this, but since we are going through this, be encouraged, all will not be lost. We will not lose ourselves in this story, is what Paul is telling them. We’re going to lose stuff but we’re not going to lose ourselves. So, we can certainly take comfort in the stormy seas in our lives by looking at this story in the Apostle Paul’s life. We can also flip over to what we read in our reading from the Psalms today. And I quote, “when I look up at your skies at what your fingers made, the moon and the stars that you set firmly in place. What are human beings that you think about them. What are human beings that you pay attention to them. You’ve made them only slightly less than divine, crowning them with glory and grandeur.” I mean if that’s true, if what’s being said from the Psalms is true, then God has crowned us with glory and honor and knows us, and knows who we are, and wants to be in this relationship. And that is true whether we’re in a storm that we made, whether we’re in a storm that we didn’t make or whether we’re not in a storm at all and the sea is like glass in our lives. So, regardless of where we find ourselves, and we all…all experience the choppy waters of life. I really wish that, I really wish that weren’t so, but I can tell you that we all experience these things. It’s a matter of what we do, and Psalm eight points us in the right direction.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we pray Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth. There is no one like You. There is nothing like You and You know who we are. And so, Father, some of us are crying out from the middle of the storm, we feel like we’re going down and we feel like there’s no hope. We reach for You, may we feel Your hope that this is not the end of the story. And other, others of us are feeling like things are going really well right now. We’re in this moment where we can appreciate Your blessing and having brought us some things. And so, we recover, and we rest, and we restore this place. We get to experience both, we prefer the calm seas but the stormy seas certainly come, and they certainly tether us to You, we hold onto You for dear life. And so, regardless of where we are Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth. You made Your glory higher than heaven, from the mouths of nursing babies, You have laid a strong foundation because of Your foes in order to stop vengeful enemies. When I look up at Your skies at what Your fingers have made, the moon and the stars that You set firmly in place. What are human beings that You think about them. What are human beings that You pay attention to them. You’ve made them only slightly less than divine, crowning them with glory and grandeur. You’ve let them rule over Your handiwork, putting everything under their feet. All sheep and all cattle, the wild animals too. The birds in the sky, the fish of the ocean, everything that travels the pathways of the sea. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth. We declare this, we pray this. We believe this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is indeed where to get connected and stay connected and find out what’s going on around here. So, certainly be familiar with the Community Section. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives, that’s where different links to be connected are.

Also reminding you, brand-new resource, brand-new product in the Daily Audio Bible Shop are the limited editions for the summer months, while supplies last. Which probably won’t be too long, it won’t be through the summer, but is our brand-new navy and white with the leather Daily Audio Bible patch ,our brand-new snapback hats. Those are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If the mission that we have to keep doing what we do, which is to bring the spoken word of God read fresh, every day and offered to anybody, who will listen to it, wherever they may be on this planet or in their lives. No matter what time of day or night it is, and to build community around this, showing up for each other every day, taking the next step forward together. If that brings life, encouragement and good news into your world then thank you, humbly for your partnership. 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 is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello everyone. It’s CeCe from North Carolina. I’m just calling in just to reflect on the reading that Brian did today. After hearing him read that they ripped apart the temple that Solomon built to dedicate to the Lord was just really sad. He spent 7 years building it and putting it together and measuring and making sure everything was perfect. And it just gets destroyed and demolished because they didn’t keep their word and that’s really saddening to me. I just pray that you know, when you dedicate something to the Lord, you cherish it and you keep it upright and you don’t let people destroy it and I feel like that’s what people are doing to people’s face now. Making them think that they shouldn’t believe or turn away from the Lord. And you know, it’s just very disheartening because that’s what we see right now. I just pray that whatever hope and faith that you have within yourself, you keep ahold of it. You cherish it because in the end, that’s gonna save you. So, that’s just my reflection for today. Not really a prayer but I pray for everyone. And I hope you all have a good 4th of July. Amen.

Good morning family. It’s Jay from the Bay. I’m just calling to ask for prayer for two people. Last week I came into work and one of my favorite patients, I discovered he passed away. Which hurts my heart because the last thing, conversation that we had was him saying how much he hated God because He gave him cancer. And He just kept putting him through things. Of course, I said, don’t say that. He loves you. I believe he had a change of heart after that conversation. But the last time I saw him he was in shambles and disarray and not like his normal self. And I’m really sadden by that. He wasn’t close with his family, and when they called his family to let them know they were like okay. We don’t care. And that hurt my heart even more. So, I’m just praying that he made peace with God before his transition. And my second prayer request is for a co-worker. I came into work on Monday and our management let us know that our co-worker was (oh Jesus) killed. He was riding his bike home to his partner, 10+ years and somebody hit him. Hit him so hard he died instantly. And the man left. The person who hit him, left the scene. So, it’s really, really hard cause he was just the sweetest little thing he could be. The most talented nurse ever. So, if you guys could pray for that, for us, for our whole team, for their families and souls and etc. That would be great. Thank you guys. I love you all. I hope you having a blessed day.

Good morning, this is Dr. Mack from Alexandria, Virginia. I’ve been listening to all the prayer requests for the members of this platform. And I’ve been praying along with each one of you . Wondering which one of these prayer requests that I should focus on. I decided to pray for each one of them. So, for those who have been praying for reconciliation of marriages, I pray that God would grant you the request that you have prayed, earnestly. For those who have been praying for healing and deliverance from substances, I pray that God would deliver you, in the name of Jesus. And those of you who have been praying for the return of children back to the homes and for those who are in prison and need to be delivered from imprisonment, physical, spiritual, emotional, oh God who hears and answers prayers will hear you. Father, in the name of Jesus, may you bless this community and the blessing that only you alone can give. Blessings of peace, finances, reconciliation of marriages, bringing hope to the hopeless, strengthen the weak. This spirit of peace and happiness for a spirit of heaviness in the name of Jesus. Thank you also for Brian and his family. Bless us all today, even as we look to you, for you are deliverance, your peace, your mercy and your provision. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Hello DAB family, this is Diana from Florida. And I just wanted to thank Pastor Brian for his beautiful commentary on the July 5th podcast, right at the beginning, before we got started with the Book of 1st Chronicles. Because the explanation that you provided about the importance of the names of the genealogy of the Book of 1st Chronicles was absolutely breath taking. I could not get over that. As somebody who’s been in love with the Bible for so many years and initially struggled immensely with the genealogies because you’re reading through all these names and you don’t always understand who these people are, why does this matter. Is this important? You tend to check out. But over the years I’ve come to understand it and realize the value of the genealogies and have found such an immense value in the genealogies in the Book of Matthew. And the genealogies even in the Book of Genesis. But always struggled with the Book of 1st Chronicles and even some of the genealogies in between. And your explanation really helped open my eyes to see that the names of these people mattered and that the reason for the genealogy, was so that the people of Israel would not forget the point, that they would not forget where they were coming from, even though they were in exile and it served as an encouragement to them to know that one day, they would be reunited and they would be back in the Promised Land. And that’s amazing to me.