The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday November 8, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 18-19

The Justice of a Righteous God

18 Then another message came to me from the Lord: “Why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste’? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb anymore in Israel. For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.

“Suppose a certain man is righteous and does what is just and right. He does not feast in the mountains before Israel’s idols[a] or worship them. He does not commit adultery or have intercourse with a woman during her menstrual period. He is a merciful creditor, not keeping the items given as security by poor debtors. He does not rob the poor but instead gives food to the hungry and provides clothes for the needy. He grants loans without interest, stays away from injustice, is honest and fair when judging others, and faithfully obeys my decrees and regulations. Anyone who does these things is just and will surely live, says the Sovereign Lord.

10 “But suppose that man has a son who grows up to be a robber or murderer and refuses to do what is right. 11 And that son does all the evil things his father would never do—he worships idols on the mountains, commits adultery, 12 oppresses the poor and helpless, steals from debtors by refusing to let them redeem their security, worships idols, commits detestable sins, 13 and lends money at excessive interest. Should such a sinful person live? No! He must die and must take full blame.

14 “But suppose that sinful son, in turn, has a son who sees his father’s wickedness and decides against that kind of life. 15 This son refuses to worship idols on the mountains and does not commit adultery. 16 He does not exploit the poor, but instead is fair to debtors and does not rob them. He gives food to the hungry and provides clothes for the needy. 17 He helps the poor,[b] does not lend money at interest, and obeys all my regulations and decrees. Such a person will not die because of his father’s sins; he will surely live. 18 But the father will die for his many sins—for being cruel, robbing people, and doing what was clearly wrong among his people.

19 “‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live. 20 The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. 21 But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. 22 All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done.

23 “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. 24 However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins.

25 “Yet you say, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one not doing what’s right, or is it you? 26 When righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things, they will die for it. Yes, they will die because of their sinful deeds. 27 And if wicked people turn from their wickedness, obey the law, and do what is just and right, they will save their lives. 28 They will live because they thought it over and decided to turn from their sins. Such people will not die. 29 And yet the people of Israel keep saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ O people of Israel, it is you who are not doing what’s right, not I.

30 “Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you! 31 Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? 32 I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!

A Funeral Song for Israel’s Kings

19 “Sing this funeral song for the princes of Israel:

“What is your mother?
A lioness among lions!
She lay down among the young lions
and reared her cubs.
She raised one of her cubs
to become a strong young lion.
He learned to hunt and devour prey,
and he became a man-eater.
Then the nations heard about him,
and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him away with hooks
to the land of Egypt.

“When the lioness saw
that her hopes for him were gone,
she took another of her cubs
and taught him to be a strong young lion.
He prowled among the other lions
and stood out among them in his strength.
He learned to hunt and devour prey,
and he, too, became a man-eater.
He demolished fortresses[c]
and destroyed their towns and cities.
Their farms were desolated,
and their crops were destroyed.
The land and its people trembled in fear
when they heard him roar.
Then the armies of the nations attacked him,
surrounding him from every direction.
They threw a net over him
and captured him in their pit.
With hooks, they dragged him into a cage
and brought him before the king of Babylon.
They held him in captivity,
so his voice could never again be heard
on the mountains of Israel.

10 “Your mother was like a vine
planted by the water’s edge.
It had lush, green foliage
because of the abundant water.
11 Its branches became strong—
strong enough to be a ruler’s scepter.
It grew very tall,
towering above all others.
It stood out because of its height
and its many lush branches.
12 But the vine was uprooted in fury
and thrown down to the ground.
The desert wind dried up its fruit
and tore off its strong branches,
so that it withered
and was destroyed by fire.
13 Now the vine is transplanted to the wilderness,
where the ground is hard and dry.
14 A fire has burst out from its branches
and devoured its fruit.
Its remaining limbs are not
strong enough to be a ruler’s scepter.

“This is a funeral song, and it will be used in a funeral.”

Footnotes:

  1. 18:6 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung; also in 18:12, 15.
  2. 18:17 Greek version reads He refuses to do evil.
  3. 19:7 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads He knew widows.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Hebrews 9:1-10

Old Rules about Worship

That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. There were two rooms in that Tabernacle.[a] In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room[b] called the Most Holy Place. In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.

When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room[c] as they performed their religious duties. But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle[d] and the system it represented were still in use.

This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.

Footnotes:

  1. 9:2 Or tent; also in 9:11, 21.
  2. 9:3 Greek second tent.
  3. 9:6 Greek first tent.
  4. 9:8 Or the first room; Greek reads the first tent.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 106:32-48

32 At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord,
causing Moses serious trouble.
33 They made Moses angry,[a]
and he spoke foolishly.

34 Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land,
as the Lord had commanded them.
35 Instead, they mingled among the pagans
and adopted their evil customs.
36 They worshiped their idols,
which led to their downfall.
37 They even sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons.
38 They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters.
By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan,
they polluted the land with murder.
39 They defiled themselves by their evil deeds,
and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord’s sight.

40 That is why the Lord’s anger burned against his people,
and he abhorred his own special possession.
41 He handed them over to pagan nations,
and they were ruled by those who hated them.
42 Their enemies crushed them
and brought them under their cruel power.
43 Again and again he rescued them,
but they chose to rebel against him,
and they were finally destroyed by their sin.
44 Even so, he pitied them in their distress
and listened to their cries.
45 He remembered his covenant with them
and relented because of his unfailing love.
46 He even caused their captors
to treat them with kindness.

47 Save us, O Lord our God!
Gather us back from among the nations,
so we can thank your holy name
and rejoice and praise you.

48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
who lives from everlasting to everlasting!
Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!

Footnotes:

  1. 106:33 Hebrew They embittered his spirit.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 27:10

10 Never abandon a friend—
either yours or your father’s.
When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance.
It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


11/7/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 16:42-17:24; Hebrews 8:1-13; Psalms 106:13-31; Proverbs 27:7-9

Today is the 7th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is great to be here with you for the next step forward in the Scriptures today. And I’m grateful, grateful that we can be together like this for the next step forward. This week we’ve been reading from the Good News translation. And, so, we’ll continue to read from that and pick up where we left off yesterday. Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 42 through 17 verse 24.

Commentary:

Okay. In the book of Hebrews today, we have a quotation from the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, which we read very recently. And this happens to be the longest quotation from the Old Testament that is found in the New Testament. And in Jeremiah’s prophecy a new covenant is foretold. So, about 700 years later, as the writer of Hebrews is writing this letter, this passage from Jeremiah is quoted. And it’s all in the context of what we been talking about for several days. So, we spent some days talking about Melchizedek as part of a larger point that’s being made. And the point that’s being made is that Jesus is high priest, a priestly king who presides over a new covenant that had been foretold long ago. So, this letter is being written by Hebrews for Hebrews and referring to people and events and scriptural prophecy that are all Hebrew. So, this letter is written to devout Hebrews who understand what’s being talked about here. And they’re simply saying, look, a new covenant was for foretold a long time ago. We’re not just making all this stuff up. We’re not trying to make up a new religion. We’re trying to say, wake up and see what’s happening here. What we see in Jesus is the establishment of this new covenant that was foretold in our own Scriptures. We’re entering into a new era and is not just because we dreamed this all up. It’s because God foretold it and is now fulfilling it through Jesus, who is our new high priest who presides over this new covenant in heaven where there are no flaws. And everything that we’ve presided over, the covenant, the Torah, everything that we been doing, is flawed because we’re doing it and we are not perfect. And everything that we’ve been doing up until now has been a foreshadowing, a shadow of what is in heaven, or to quote Hebrews, ‘the work they do as priests is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven’. So, what’s essentially being communicated here is, what we’ve been doing all along following this old covenant is a picture of what is to come. But God said after we continue to break the covenant over and over and over that a new one was coming. And now these centuries later it has come in the person of Jesus. And it’s not a shadow or a copy anymore. Jesus is the high priest presiding over this covenant in heaven where things are perfect. This is incorruptible and perfect - a better way, a more perfect way, a new covenant. And the result of that is unpacked in chapter 8 verse 13,  ‘by speaking of a new covenant God has made the first one old and anything that becomes old and worn out will soon disappear’. And over the centuries since then many have thought, well, than the Old Testament doesn’t matter then we only should read the New Testament, but it’s a covenant is being talked about here, not the Scriptures. And we’ve gotten far enough into the year to understand that the Old Testament speaks very, very clearly soberly, truthfully, honestly, and lovingly into our lives. But just on a practical level, if we read the book of Hebrews without any Old Testament knowledge whatsoever, like, if we read this having no idea of the context and history, we wouldn’t even know what’s being talked about. Covenants, high priests, priests, old ones, new ones, prophecies being fulfilled – we would have no idea what’s going on. And I think the writer of Hebrews, while quoting from the book of Jeremiah at length as a proof text for what they are saying, shows us that there is a great value in understanding our context and history that is found in the Old Testament. Just a little bunny trail there. The theological point that’s being made in Hebrews is that Jesus is a high priest, presiding over a new covenant, and He does this from heaven, and it is perfect and is leading into a new chapter, a new era. And this will be further unpacked as we go forward. We’re just a little over halfway through the book of Hebrews.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this new covenant and Your welcoming of all people to partake of this good news. We are some of those people and we are grateful. We thank You that we have a high priest in heaven advocating for us. We love You, Jesus, and we worship and thank You. And we pray these things in Your name. Amen.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hey, this is Jerry calling from Duluth Minnesota. I must say that the Daily Audio Bible, the Black Wing pencils, and a journal probably have saved my life. I’ve struggled with depression for many, many, many years and a particularly dark, dark time in the last six months and started new treatments in August. I got the journal on September 6th and started writing in it and it has made an incredible difference in my life. I just received print number 217 of the Global Campfire Initiative there by giving the $200 for the new app and so excited about the opportunity and the potential of the new app of reaching new people. And particularly would like to request prayer for my family. I have two daughters that are going through separation and divorce and one daughter whose husband is accused of molesting their 13-year-old daughter and facing criminal charges. So, I ordered five more of the journals for my wife and kids to give at Christmas time to try and hopefully encourage them to start writing out what’s happening in their life on a daily basis. Maybe not even on a daily basis, just as God prompts you to write. I encourage you to think of the Daily Audio Bible and order some of the journals and pencils for Christmas. They make great gifts. And encourage people to listen to the Daily Audio Bible in the year 2018 and change your life and perhaps…

Hey everyone, it’s Kristy from Kentucky. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve called, but it’s been a really hard…it’s been a hard couple of weeks. My precious daddy went home to Jesus two weeks ago today, which would have been October 21st and it’s just been very difficult. Losing mom in May…I shouldn’t say losing…but…having to say bye to her in May…and having to say goodbye to daddy two weeks ago has just been…it’s been very hard. But I know God is on the throne and He’s blessed me with two amazing parents. Momma was 86 and daddy was 90. And, so, I know that there’s so many people that have either never had a good relationship with their parents or they lost them early. And, so, I know how very blessed that I am. And I just praise God for their lives and for having a wonderful brother and now they’re all together. So, you know, I have to be happy for them, but it sure is hard being left. Anyway, I love you guys so much. Thank each of you for praying. All of those who have prayed, I haven’t been listening but I know in my heart because I have felt your prayers. I love each of you very, very much and I pray that you are having a most blessed and lovely day.

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to God. I’m calling today for a prayer request and a heavy heart. I had told you for the last year or so that my nephew, Nicholas, who has brain cancer was in for treatment. And just couple months ago he finished his treatment and everything went fine. Well, the other day, on the 3rd, which would have been yesterday, he was taken to the hospital with fluid in his lungs and they found out he had a heart attack. So, he is in the ICU unit. His heart is only working at about 10%, so, things are not looking good. So, I’m asking if you would please pray for my nephew. His name is Nicholas. So, let’s pray please. Lord, I want to ask You that You would lift up Nicholas. We ask that You would place Your healing hand upon him, that You would do a miracle and heal him, be with the doctors and the nurses to guide them Lord, to give them some peace and comfort as well as his wife and his mother, my sister, and his family and friends. So, Lord, again, we ask that You please be with  Nicholas. Give him peace, give him comfort, and if it would be Your will that You would heal him. I thank you all. Love you and God bless. Amen.

Hey DABbers. This is Slave of Jesus from North Carolina. Alright, Holy Spirit, let’s roll. I’m pumped today. Lord, we ask You to watch over Lee from New Jersey. Hey Lee, all I can tell you about anger…you know I used to struggle with that lust trap…and I’m not saying you struggle with that…but once I started having great victories in that…I had this bout of anger towards my family…I’d like be walking behind them…and want to physically want to strike their head. And I decided, hey, I need to deal with this the same way I deal with the lust. You know what I’m going to say. I went out there and got a Scripture…an anger Scripture -  James 119. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry. Said it every morning, said it every night. Just like dealing with the lust. Every time I got angry. Sometimes I would even start getting frustrated with my wife and I might even say that out loud in front of them. My daughter even knows that. We are sitting in the car and she even knows I’m angry. She’ll start saying it -  quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry. And then I had to get a patience one, Ephesians 4:2. So, then I said…you know what…I am going to preemptively deal with this. And I’d be walking up to my house and maybe there was some text during the day…and I knew there was going to be a battle…I’d say it out loud. But then sometimes I would just say it out loud before I walk into my house and start interacting with my family. So, hey brother, that’s what works for me. Lord, we ask You to watch over Jay from New Jersey. And Dimitri, first time caller, been listening for three years. I know, Dimitri, your marriage is struggling and that’s where I was four years ago. I wanted to give it all up. I didn’t care about the marriage. I didn’t care about that stuff. That’s the point where I turned and put everything, went all in, and God rewarded me with a great marriage and great family. Lord we ask You to watch over Drew in the Bay. Amen to his prayers over Lee’s depression. Love you all. Have a great day.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday November 7, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 16:42-17:24

42 “Then at last my fury against you will be spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will be calm and will not be angry with you anymore. 43 But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign Lord. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins. 44 Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45 For your mother loathed her husband and her children, and so do you. And you are exactly like your sisters, for they despised their husbands and their children. Truly your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

46 “Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters in the south. 47 But you have not merely sinned as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption. 48 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters. 49 Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. 50 She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.[a]

51 “Even Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more detestable things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you. 52 Shame on you! Your sins are so terrible that you make your sisters seem righteous, even virtuous.

53 “But someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you, too. 54 Then you will be truly ashamed of everything you have done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison. 55 Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, and all their people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored. 56 In your proud days you held Sodom in contempt. 57 But now your greater wickedness has been exposed to all the world, and you are the one who is scorned—by Edom[b] and all her neighbors and by Philistia. 58 This is your punishment for all your lewdness and detestable sins, says the Lord.

59 “Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will give you what you deserve, for you have taken your solemn vows lightly by breaking your covenant. 60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember with shame all the evil you have done. I will make your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, to be your daughters, even though they are not part of our covenant. 62 And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. 63 You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

A Story of Two Eagles

17 Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, give this riddle, and tell this story to the people of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“A great eagle with broad wings and long feathers,
covered with many-colored plumage,
came to Lebanon.
He seized the top of a cedar tree
and plucked off its highest branch.
He carried it away to a city filled with merchants.
He planted it in a city of traders.
He also took a seedling from the land
and planted it in fertile soil.
He placed it beside a broad river,
where it could grow like a willow tree.
It took root there and
grew into a low, spreading vine.
Its branches turned up toward the eagle,
and its roots grew down into the ground.
It produced strong branches
and put out shoots.
But then another great eagle came
with broad wings and full plumage.
So the vine now sent its roots and branches
toward him for water,
even though it was already planted in good soil
and had plenty of water
so it could grow into a splendid vine
and produce rich leaves and luscious fruit.

“So now the Sovereign Lord asks:
Will this vine grow and prosper?
No! I will pull it up, roots and all!
I will cut off its fruit
and let its leaves wither and die.
I will pull it up easily
without a strong arm or a large army.
10 But when the vine is transplanted,
will it thrive?
No, it will wither away
when the east wind blows against it.
It will die in the same good soil
where it had grown so well.”

The Riddle Explained

11 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 12 “Say to these rebels of Israel: Don’t you understand the meaning of this riddle of the eagles? The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took away her king and princes, and brought them to Babylon. 13 He made a treaty with a member of the royal family and forced him to take an oath of loyalty. He also exiled Israel’s most influential leaders, 14 so Israel would not become strong again and revolt. Only by keeping her treaty with Babylon could Israel survive.

15 “Nevertheless, this man of Israel’s royal family rebelled against Babylon, sending ambassadors to Egypt to request a great army and many horses. Can Israel break her sworn treaties like that and get away with it? 16 No! For as surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, the king of Israel will die in Babylon, the land of the king who put him in power and whose treaty he disregarded and broke. 17 Pharaoh and all his mighty army will fail to help Israel when the king of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem again and destroys many lives. 18 For the king of Israel disregarded his treaty and broke it after swearing to obey; therefore, he will not escape.

19 “So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will punish him for breaking my covenant and disregarding the solemn oath he made in my name. 20 I will throw my net over him and capture him in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and put him on trial for this treason against me. 21 And all his best warriors[c] will be killed in battle, and those who survive will be scattered to the four winds. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken.

22 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take a branch from the top of a tall cedar, and I will plant it on the top of Israel’s highest mountain. 23 It will become a majestic cedar, sending forth its branches and producing seed. Birds of every sort will nest in it, finding shelter in the shade of its branches. 24 And all the trees will know that it is I, the Lord, who cuts the tall tree down and makes the short tree grow tall. It is I who makes the green tree wither and gives the dead tree new life. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I said!”

Footnotes:

  1. 16:50 As in a few Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads as I have seen.
  2. 16:57 As in many Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads Aram.
  3. 17:21 As in many Hebrew manuscripts; Masoretic Text reads his fleeing warriors. The meaning is uncertain.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Hebrews 8

Christ Is Our High Priest

Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,[a] the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”[b]

But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. But when God found fault with the people, he said:

“The day is coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel and Judah.
This covenant will not be like the one
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.
10 But this is the new covenant I will make
with the people of Israel on that day,[c] says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
nor will they need to teach their relatives,[d]
saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
will know me already.
12 And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.”[e]

13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

Footnotes:

  1. 8:2 Or tent; also in 8:5.
  2. 8:5 Exod 25:40; 26:30.
  3. 8:10 Greek after those days.
  4. 8:11 Greek their brother.
  5. 8:8-12 Jer 31:31-34.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 106:13-31

13 Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done!
They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!
14 In the wilderness their desires ran wild,
testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland.
15 So he gave them what they asked for,
but he sent a plague along with it.
16 The people in the camp were jealous of Moses
and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
17 Because of this, the earth opened up;
it swallowed Dathan
and buried Abiram and the other rebels.
18 Fire fell upon their followers;
a flame consumed the wicked.

19 The people made a calf at Mount Sinai[a];
they bowed before an image made of gold.
20 They traded their glorious God
for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
21 They forgot God, their savior,
who had done such great things in Egypt—
22 such wonderful things in the land of Ham,
such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
23 So he declared he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people.
He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them.

24 The people refused to enter the pleasant land,
for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.
25 Instead, they grumbled in their tents
and refused to obey the Lord.
26 Therefore, he solemnly swore
that he would kill them in the wilderness,
27 that he would scatter their descendants[b] among the nations,
exiling them to distant lands.

28 Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor;
they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead!
29 They angered the Lord with all these things,
so a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas had the courage to intervene,
and the plague was stopped.
31 So he has been regarded as a righteous man
ever since that time.

Footnotes:

  1. 106:19 Hebrew at Horeb, another name for Sinai.
  2. 106:27 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads he would cause their descendants to fall.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 27:7-9

A person who is full refuses honey,
but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

A person who strays from home
is like a bird that strays from its nest.

The heartfelt counsel of a friend
is as sweet as perfume and incense.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


11/6/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41; Hebrews 7:18-28; Psalms 106:1-12; Proverbs 27:4-6  

Today is the sixth day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. And I’m glad we can take the next step forward in the Scriptures together. And that next step will be in the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews in the New. So, let’ dive in. We’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Ezekiel 14 verse 12 through 16 verse 41.

Commentary:

Okay. So, let’s touch on Hebrews first and then move our way backward to Ezekiel. The last couple of days we’ve been just kind of talking about Melchizedek, just trying to figure out why this obscure figure from the book of Genesis shows up in the book of Hebrews with a bit of a cameo appearance in Psalm 110. And all of that discussion wasn’t to make a theological statement, it was just to say, who is Melchizedek and what is his significance? How does this obscure figure become a significant person that gets mentioned again in the New Testament with more information than we had in the Old? And we talked a little bit yesterday about Psalm 110 where Melchizedek shows up in verse four - the Lord is taken an oath and will not break his vow, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. We talked about Melchizedek being a priestly king that was not from the tribe of Levi. And then we talked about different literature that showed us that Melchizedek was still in the thought of the Hebrew people right through until Jesus time. And at Jesus time they were really looking for a Messiah. They weren’t necessarily naming or looking for Jesus in particular, but they were looking for this kind of person to show up. And Psalm 110 was one of those references that they would use that prophetically speaks of such a person. So, in the book of Hebrews today that’s made explicit, that the writer of Hebrews is clearly looking at Psalm 110 as a prophetic foreshadowing of the Messiah and then declaring that that Messiah was Jesus. And Hebrews kind of finishes off at that thought today. So, we can see that whether King David, when now penning Psalm 110, thought anything different than that this was about himself, over time it was definitely perceived as a prophetic utterance. And for the writer of Hebrews, in a Hebrew culture, writing to Hebrew people, it was apparent that Jesus closed the loop, that He is a priestly king who sacrificed himself once and for all and now lives as priest forever on behalf of us all. And all of that discussion has a cultural and contextual background, and we talked about that. But the larger story or the bigger narrative that’s going on in Hebrews is intended to show how God is doing a new thing, a new thing that they were expecting, but a new thing that they didn’t recognize, and showing that Jesus is this new thing. And, so, for devout Jews the Torah, the law, is the thing. But Hebrews is saying there were things going on before there was a law, those things predate the law, they’re not under the law, the law didn’t exist, and those things matter. Which is how Melchizedek winds its way into the story and sets precedent for God doing new things, things beyond the Mosaic law, not because the law is evil, of course, but the laws purpose is to expose failings and sin. It’s to show and reveal when we’ve stepped out of bounds, but Jesus appearance in the story changes everything. He fulfills the law and becomes the high priest forever, on behalf of us all. Very, very similar to the kinds of things the apostle Paul wrote about, especially in the book of Romans, but all throughout his teachings. So, we can get lost in all kinds of thoughts about Melchizedek, but Melchizedek is a part of a larger point and that point is that Jesus is the son of God came to take away the sins of the world and that the law cannot do it because no one can achieve perfection in it. And, so, that’s kind of where we sit in the book of Hebrews.

In the book of Ezekiel, God has been telling what’s coming. He’s been telling people what’s about to descend upon them, and none of it is good. And in the narrative, we can see what seems to be frustration on God’s part, like how He is exasperated, and how He has tried. And then we reached a portion of Scripture that I find to be one of the most riveting portions of Scripture in the Bible. And I encourage you to take some time to reread it yourself. It’s Ezekiel chapter 16 verses 3 through 34, where God is very, very descriptive about the story as He sees it with His people. And He describes an orphaned and tossed away beauty left to die in a field just after birth, covered in blood, and no one cared for this little girl. She was left to die. She was unloved when God came along and found her and nourished her and cared for her and raised her and watched her grow and watched her become beautiful and entered into a covenant of marriage with her and offspring were born and it was beautiful, except that she began to notice her own beauty and flaunt her own beauty and over time to give herself to others. In other words, to break the covenant. And then the trajectory just spins out of control. She’s not only giving herself away to other gods and idols, she is giving yourself away to other nations, and she’s destroying God’s children by sacrificing them to other idols, and basically this has to stop. That’s essentially what God is saying. This has to stop and I’m going to stop it. And you’re not going to like it, but this has to stop if you’re ever going to turn around and return to me. I find it heartbreaking because of the imagery that God chose to use because it’s imagery of betrayal and heartbreak and jealousy and loss and all of the angst and unrest that comes when a relationship disintegrates through betrayal and adultery. And, so, many of us could read that passage and see ourselves there, know those emotions, and whether you’ve been betrayed or not you can still understand what that would be like. And, so, what we’re seeing is less of a vengeful, angry, irritated, tyrannical God and more the heart of a lovesick, brokenhearted God. And it starts to make sense because we can see the we would feel the same way. And it gives us a lot to think about in our own relationship because so often we think our relationship with God, the only emotion in any of it is our own, God doesn’t feel anything, he doesn’t really care, he’s just quick to forgive and that’s that. It doesn’t matter what we do and he’s just always on, he’s always available to us to turn to but we only really turn to him when we need him to do something. And we can imagine what that feels like. And we have to imagine what it feels like for God for us to really enter into this relationship with him. So, going back through that passage of Scripture will be helpful and healthy as we contemplate our relationships with God.

Prayer:

Father, we see in this imagery Your heart toward us. We see why You are a jealous God. We just rarely can bring ourselves to the level of value that You do. We don’t value ourselves the way You do. We don’t see ourselves as the treasure that You do. And, so, sometimes we can’t even imagine that You could feel this way about us and yet we’re reading it right off the page, the Scriptures. You spoke this thousands of years ago and things haven’t changed. You are smitten with us. Why, is beyond our comprehension, but You created us and I guess that matters a lot. You know everything about us, every cell that makes us who we are, every hair on our head, every experience that we’ve had, all of the choices that we’ve made, and You’ve still loved us. And put in these terms, found in the book of Ezekiel, we are stopped in our tracks as we realize what our behavior does to Your heart. So, come Holy Spirit, wash us clean, restore us, make us new again, we run back into your arms. There is no other hope but You, and we thank You for Your patience and kindness, long-suffering, and love for us. Amen.

Song:

Ezekiel by Gungor

https://youtu.be/59xPDnsL4qw

Lyrics

http://www.lyricshall.com/lyrics/Gungor/Ezekiel/

I found you naked
I found you lying there in blood
Your mother left you
Your father threw you out unloved

I clothed your body
I washed the blood and earth from your hair
I gave you jewelry
I gave you everything I had

I gave my heart
My heart, my love
I gave my heart
My heart, my love

You became mine
You were a stunning bride
The world they saw you and how you loved their eyes my bride

You broke my heart
My heart, my love
You broke my heart
My heart, my love

You sold your body exposed yourself to all my love
You slept with strangers; you gave them everything we had

Come back my love
My love come back
Come back my love
My love come back

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday November 6, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41

The Certainty of the Lord’s Judgment

12 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 13 “Son of man, suppose the people of a country were to sin against me, and I lifted my fist to crush them, cutting off their food supply and sending a famine to destroy both people and animals. 14 Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, their righteousness would save no one but themselves, says the Sovereign Lord.

15 “Or suppose I were to send wild animals to invade the country, kill the people, and make the land too desolate and dangerous to pass through. 16 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, even if those three men were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be made desolate.

17 “Or suppose I were to bring war against the land, and I sent enemy armies to destroy both people and animals. 18 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, even if those three men were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.

19 “Or suppose I were to pour out my fury by sending an epidemic into the land, and the disease killed people and animals alike. 20 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved by their righteousness.

21 “Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How terrible it will be when all four of these dreadful punishments fall upon Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, and disease—destroying all her people and animals. 22 Yet there will be survivors, and they will come here to join you as exiles in Babylon. You will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and then you will feel better about what I have done to Jerusalem. 23 When you meet them and see their behavior, you will understand that these things are not being done to Israel without cause. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Jerusalem—a Useless Vine

15 Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, how does a grapevine compare to a tree? Is a vine’s wood as useful as the wood of a tree? Can its wood be used for making things, like pegs to hang up pots and pans? No, it can only be used for fuel, and even as fuel, it burns too quickly. Vines are useless both before and after being put into the fire!

“And this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Jerusalem are like grapevines growing among the trees of the forest. Since they are useless, I have thrown them on the fire to be burned. And I will see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another. When I turn against them, you will know that I am the Lord. And I will make the land desolate because my people have been unfaithful to me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Jerusalem—an Unfaithful Wife

16 Then another message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins. Give her this message from the Sovereign Lord: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.

“But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked. And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

“Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. 10 I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. 11 I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, 12 a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. 13 And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and costly fabric and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! 14 Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.

15 “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. 16 You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? 17 You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me! 18 You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them. 19 Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.

20 “Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? 21 Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols? 22 In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.

23 “What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, 24 you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square. 25 On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution. 26 Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity. 27 That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. 28 You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied. 29 You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia,[a] the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.

30 “What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute. 31 You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment. 32 Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband. 33 Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you. 34 So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Prostitution

35 “Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Lord! 36 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols,[b] and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods, 37 this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you. 38 I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury. 39 Then I will give you to these many nations who are your lovers, and they will destroy you. They will knock down your pagan shrines and the altars to your idols. They will strip you and take your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked. 40 They will band together in a mob to stone you and cut you up with swords. 41 They will burn your homes and punish you in front of many women. I will stop your prostitution and end your payments to your many lovers.

Footnotes:

  1. 16:29 Or Chaldea.
  2. 16:36 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Hebrews 7:18-28

18 Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. 19 For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

20 This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, 21 but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him,

“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
‘You are a priest forever.’”[a]

22 Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.

23 There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. 24 But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. 25 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save[b] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

26 He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.[c] 27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. 28 The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.

Footnotes:

  1. 7:21 Ps 110:4.
  2. 7:25 Or is able to save completely.
  3. 7:26 Or has been exalted higher than the heavens.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 106:1-12

Psalm 106

Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord?
Who can ever praise him enough?
There is joy for those who deal justly with others
and always do what is right.

Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people;
come near and rescue me.
Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen ones.
Let me rejoice in the joy of your people;
let me praise you with those who are your heritage.

Like our ancestors, we have sinned.
We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly!
Our ancestors in Egypt
were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds.
They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them.
Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.[a]
Even so, he saved them—
to defend the honor of his name
and to demonstrate his mighty power.
He commanded the Red Sea[b] to dry up.
He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert.
10 So he rescued them from their enemies
and redeemed them from their foes.
11 Then the water returned and covered their enemies;
not one of them survived.
12 Then his people believed his promises.
Then they sang his praise.

Footnotes:

  1. 106:7 Hebrew at the sea, the sea of reeds.
  2. 106:9 Hebrew sea of reeds; also in 106:22.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 27:4-6

Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood,
but jealousy is even more dangerous.

An open rebuke
is better than hidden love!

Wounds from a sincere friend
are better than many kisses from an enemy.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


11/5/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11; Hebrews 7:1-17; Psalms 105:37-45; Proverbs 27:3

Today is the 5th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you at the threshold of a brand-new, shiny, sparkly week. And this will be our first full week in the month of November, the 11th month of our year together. And this week we’ll read from the New Living Translation. Of course, we will pick up where we left off yesterday. So, for our Old Testament reading today, Ezekiel chapter 12 verse 1 through 14:11.

Commentary:

Okay. So, yesterday we started talking about Melchizedek because his name showed up at the end of our reading yesterday. And, obviously, today we spent a good deal of time referring to him in the book of Hebrews. So, we looked at the two references were Melchizedek is named by name in the Old Testament and learned that he was a priestly king who ruled the Canaanite city, at the time, of Jerusalem, in Abraham’s time, in the book of Genesis. And then we saw him show up again in the Psalms at the time of David, who happened to be the king of Jerusalem, the king of Israel, during the time of the united monarchy - a priestly king that was not from the tribe of Levi, but was rather in the order of Melchizedek. So, in the book of Hebrews we see the parallel being made and we can see why - Jesus is equated with all of this as a priestly king. We can leave it right there all nice and tidy and say that’s pretty cool, but it’s a little bit more complicated than that. And this is where some context helps us, although we won’t be able to tie this off in a nice little gift box, but we will have the lay of the land. So, Melchizedek is mentioned in the book of Genesis and then not mentioned again until the book of Psalms, but because he shows up in those two places, quite a ways away from each other in history, and then he shows up again in the book of Hebrews, quite a bit away from the book of Psalms, we see that, somehow, he captures the imagination of the Hebrew people and that continued on for thousands of years even though there is no further material about him in the Bible. And the writer of Hebrews tells us things about Melchizedek that are not found in the references to Melchizedek in the Old Testament. So, we can safely deduce that something happened along the way and it’s from what’s written in Hebrews that the plethora of things have been said and thought and written about Melchizedek. And it’s here that we begin to see how extra-biblical thoughts find their way into the biblical text. So, let me show you what I mean. So, we’re reading from Hebrews chapter 7 today and chapter 7 verse 3 reads, there is no record of Melchizedek’s father or mother or of any of his ancestors, no record of his birth or of his death, he is like the son of God, he remains a priest forever. Okay. So, in the Old Testament, it’s true, he shows up out of nowhere and then he kind of disappears just as fast as he came. So, it’s true. Like, there is no lineage for how Melchizedek found himself to be the king of Salem nor for how he became the priest of the most high God. And the interpretation of that is found in Hebrews. He is like the son of God. He remains a priest forever. In other words, he didn’t die, which is an interpretation of the Scriptures. But those details are not found in the Old Testament mentions of Melchizedek. Or are they? How did they come to this? The idea comes from Psalms – you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Ok? You are priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, which becomes a little bit of a quandary because, at face value, Psalm 110 is referring to the reign of David. And David died. And that’s explicitly stated in the Bible. Unless, Psalm 110 isn’t about David, but is more of a messianic prophecy, a foretelling, a foreshadowing of Jesus, or at least of a coming priestly king in the order of Melchizedek who will be a priest forever. So, it’s hard to think that David, king of Israel, raining from Jerusalem, writing Psalm 110 thought that that’s what he was writing about. Which certainly doesn’t discount the fact that he may have been writing a prophetic song. And in no way am I trying to diminish that idea because Matthew, Mark, and Luke all refer back to this Psalm, not necessarily about Melchizedek, but they definitely tie it to Jesus. I say what I say about David because David’s got a united monarchy. He’s the king of Israel. He’s bringing Israel to its apex. So, at this point in history things are going great. Like, they’re not thinking about needing a Messiah, a deliver. At David’s time they’re kind of basking in all that God has done. He gave them the land that he promised that he would and they have their own country and they have their own king and they have their own military and they have their own economy. Things are going well. So, this is kind of an instance where things become more clear and revealed over time. Alright, so, here’s where we jump into the deep end of the pool. It’s pretty clear that Melchizedek captures the imagination of the Hebrew people and that that lasts for a long time. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in Israel some of that thought came to light. There are documents that would describe Melchizedek in terms of angelic or even divine, even godlike. In one of the documents Melchizedek is depicted as the leader, like, the main angel in a war in heaven against the angels of darkness, which caused many people to wonder if Melchizedek was actually the Archangel Michael because Michael/Melchizedek are similar sounding names and on and on it goes. You can see there’s just so many jumping off places to follow trails and come up with stuff because it’s interesting. But what we can say is that Melchizedek, although mentioned very little in the Bible, was carried down through culture and history as something unique, something different or representing something unique and different and that this was carried down through the generations. And we see this as showing up in the material found in Qumran, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. So, I’m not saying, like, so there you go, it’s found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, so it’s as good as the Bible. I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying this is how we see that this person’s uniqueness or what he represents, that uniqueness, carried forward and wound its way into messianic thought, because by the time we get to Jesus, where not in the time of David anymore, things haven’t been going so well. These people have been through the ringer. They’ve been in exile, 10 of their tribes are lost, the territory has changed hands several times, and they need somebody, they need someone to deliver them. And the writer of Hebrews, who is speaking, by the way, to Hebrews, is speaking of Melchizedek in a way that these people understand and is showing them in every conceivable way, Jesus is that person. And I’ll leave that explanation for tomorrow, not so much in things that I might say, but the book of Hebrews will unpack it for us. And, hopefully, this little bit of context over the last couple of days helps with that, helps us understand that. Now, I’ve got to tell you, like, there’s a lot to this you can go as far as you want. There are brilliant scholars that can go much deeper and wider and are more articulate than me. And, I do not, and have never claimed to know everything there is to know about the Bible. That would be God. So, my taking us through some of this isn’t me trying to make a theological statement about anything. It’s just one of these pieces of the Bible that we come to, and we read through, and we’re like, okay, it’s the Bible, it’s true, I believe it, but we don’t really even know what’s being said or the gravity of it. And getting a little context around it lets us see, okay, this, what’s being said here, is a pretty big deal, which only makes it richer and truer and deeper as we sew it into our own lives.

Prayer:

Father,  we invite Your Holy Spirit to come into all of this and do the tilling and sewing. What we want is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives to flourish and reproduce itself all around us. And we believe this is possible because You sent your Son to die for us and gave us the gift of Your Holy Spirit to lead us and the gift of the Scriptures that continually jar us and shake us and make us pay attention and contemplate. They keep us from falling asleep in our own lives. They keep us oriented to Your kingdom in this world. So, come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lee from New Jersey. Today is November 1st. The first day of the 11th month and I’m calling in from a very cold New Jersey. It’s cold for us. It’s below 40°. It’s 37° right now. So, that means that we’ve got to bundle up a little bit more. And we’ve been pretty spoiled up here anyway because we’ve been blessed with a lot of great weather. So, just wanted to call and thank Byron down in Florida and of course thank all of you that have been praying. I know all of you have been praying, even the ones that don’t call in. So, Byron did call in and he shared some very, very wonderful, spiritual wisdom – some words of spiritual wisdom, obviously. So, I am, word for word, verbatim, I listened to all of that Byron. And thank you very much and I will definitely take that to heart. So, you probably heard that I called back since then and things have gotten a little better. Actually, things have gotten a lot better. So, the next person to work on is just my daughter, the relationship between my daughter and me. And that’s got to be worked on. But by God’s grace, again, I am thankful for my family and thankful for the things that I’m getting that I don’t deserve. That’s so true. So now, Byron, I want to pray for you and your family. Heavenly Father, I want to pray for my brother Byron down in Florida, who is a faithful servant of the Lord. He is faithful in many ways and does his very best to be there for all brothers and sisters in this community, Lord. Continue to bless him and his family. Continue to bless him with that open heart and open mine Lord. When I say open heart and open mind, that he is open to receiving Your wisdom and Your love - Your wisdom is his mind and Your love my in his heart. And how he passes that forward onto people in this community, people within his community, down there in Florida…

Good morning all you DABbers. This is Darrell from Depue. I’ve got a praise report and I want to thank everybody for praying for me. Last week or two weeks ago I called in asking for prayers for my business and hallelujah, God is so good. I received check after check after check this past week to get caught up with all my bills. And, so, hallelujah God is so good. But I want prayer sent out to my brother Dan. My  brother Dan has stage four lung cancer. Three years ago he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and now he has lung cancer. So, can everybody please pray for Dan to get through this second batch of cancer that he’s going through. Have the good Lord watch over him, protect him. We know that our God is Jehovah Rapha, the Almighty Healer. So, God in heaven, please watch over Daniel and may the good Lord bless him. And all you DABbers, I love you and I want to thank you so much for your help. God bless each and every one of you. Thank you. Love you all.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Mimi in Atlanta. I’m just asking today for prayers for the Lord’s insight and wisdom on my financial status. As a hair stylist, it fluctuates and coming in towards the end of the year I want to focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas and just time spent with family and friends. But the heaviness of all this is just starting already way on my Spirit. So, it’s November 1st. I’m just going to pray and ask the Lord to please help me and everyone else that is hearing this prayer request that is struggling financially. Let’s just pray. Daddy, we just love You so much. And we know Jesus, when You were here on earth, every time we came with facts, a few loaves and a few fishes, and thousands needed to be filled. Father, you just lifted up those minimal provisions, that’s all we have, it’s just minimal provisions. Lord, I just pray a miracle, a miracle of blessing. It didn’t happen instomatically, all the loaves and fishes didn’t just appear once You lifted them up to be blessed. But Father as the disciples were about their business distributing them they became plenty and then there were left overs. So, Lord, I just pray for all of us, to get our eyes fixed on You and Father, just to remove, in Jesus’ name, the spirit of worry or fear, depression, anxiety, all those things, Lord, because we’re coming into Thanksgiving and then onto Christmas. Father, I just pray November 1, 2017, that the words we hear Brian speak and read are alive and they’re changing us from the inside out. So, I’m just asking for everyone to just…let’s just join up with each other around this campfire, hedge it up and just…

Hey family. It’s Jordan from Michigan. It’s great to be back. I’ve missed you guys. Sorry I haven’t been calling so much. This new teaching job I got in Michigan has been a lot like last year. For those of you who remember, it was like hell for me last year. The Detroit school that I was working at and this school is no different in a lot of ways. It’s really been beating me up and I have really, really bad anxiety and some depression. It’s been really hard. It feels like just mentally beat all the time. I have a hard time just sitting down and writing my lesson plan and doing my work that I’m supposed to be doing because I have so much anxiety all the time. So, please pray for me. I really need it. And pray for my students, that I will be able to reach them and fulfill my purpose.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday November 5, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11

Signs of the Coming Exile

12 Again a message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, you live among rebels who have eyes but refuse to see. They have ears but refuse to hear. For they are a rebellious people.

“So now, son of man, pretend you are being sent into exile. Pack the few items an exile could carry, and leave your home to go somewhere else. Do this right in front of the people so they can see you. For perhaps they will pay attention to this, even though they are such rebels. Bring your baggage outside during the day so they can watch you. Then in the evening, as they are watching, leave your house as captives do when they begin a long march to distant lands. Dig a hole through the wall while they are watching and go out through it. As they watch, lift your pack to your shoulders and walk away into the night. Cover your face so you cannot see the land you are leaving. For I have made you a sign for the people of Israel.”

So I did as I was told. In broad daylight I brought my pack outside, filled with the things I might carry into exile. Then in the evening while the people looked on, I dug through the wall with my hands and went out into the night with my pack on my shoulder.

The next morning this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, these rebels, the people of Israel, have asked you what all this means. 10 Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: These actions contain a message for King Zedekiah in Jerusalem[a] and for all the people of Israel.’ 11 Explain that your actions are a sign to show what will soon happen to them, for they will be driven into exile as captives.

12 “Even Zedekiah will leave Jerusalem at night through a hole in the wall, taking only what he can carry with him. He will cover his face, and his eyes will not see the land he is leaving. 13 Then I will throw my net over him and capture him in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Babylonians,[b] though he will never see it, and he will die there. 14 I will scatter his servants and warriors to the four winds and send the sword after them. 15 And when I scatter them among the nations, they will know that I am the Lord. 16 But I will spare a few of them from death by war, famine, or disease, so they can confess all their detestable sins to their captors. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

17 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 18 “Son of man, tremble as you eat your food. Shake with fear as you drink your water. 19 Tell the people, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says concerning those living in Israel and Jerusalem: They will eat their food with trembling and sip their water in despair, for their land will be stripped bare because of their violence. 20 The cities will be destroyed and the farmland made desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

A New Proverb for Israel

21 Again a message came to me from the Lord: 22 “Son of man, you’ve heard that proverb they quote in Israel: ‘Time passes, and prophecies come to nothing.’ 23 Tell the people, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will put an end to this proverb, and you will soon stop quoting it.’ Now give them this new proverb to replace the old one: ‘The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled!’

24 “There will be no more false visions and flattering predictions in Israel. 25 For I am the Lord! If I say it, it will happen. There will be no more delays, you rebels of Israel. I will fulfill my threat of destruction in your own lifetime. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

26 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 27 “Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, ‘He’s talking about the distant future. His visions won’t come true for a long, long time.’ 28 Therefore, tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No more delay! I will now do everything I have threatened. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’”

Judgment against False Prophets

13 Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own prophecies. Say to them, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all!’

“O people of Israel, these prophets of yours are like jackals digging in the ruins. They have done nothing to repair the breaks in the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on the day of the Lord. Instead, they have told lies and made false predictions. They say, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ even though the Lord never sent them. And yet they expect him to fulfill their prophecies! Can your visions be anything but false if you claim, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ when I have not even spoken to you?

“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because what you say is false and your visions are a lie, I will stand against you, says the Sovereign Lord. I will raise my fist against all the prophets who see false visions and make lying predictions, and they will be banished from the community of Israel. I will blot their names from Israel’s record books, and they will never again set foot in their own land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

10 “This will happen because these evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash! 11 Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. 12 And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘What happened to your whitewash?’

13 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury. 14 I will break down your wall right to its foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 15 At last my anger against the wall and those who covered it with whitewash will be satisfied. Then I will say to you: ‘The wall and those who whitewashed it are both gone. 16 They were lying prophets who claimed peace would come to Jerusalem when there was no peace. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’

Judgment against False Women Prophets

17 “Now, son of man, speak out against the women who prophesy from their own imaginations. 18 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits you women who are ensnaring the souls of my people, young and old alike. You tie magic charms on their wrists and furnish them with magic veils. Do you think you can trap others without bringing destruction on yourselves? 19 You bring shame on me among my people for a few handfuls of barley or a piece of bread. By lying to my people who love to listen to lies, you kill those who should not die, and you promise life to those who should not live.

20 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against all your magic charms, which you use to ensnare my people like birds. I will tear them from your arms, setting my people free like birds set free from a cage. 21 I will tear off the magic veils and save my people from your grasp. They will no longer be your victims. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 22 You have discouraged the righteous with your lies, but I didn’t want them to be sad. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising them life, even though they continue in their sins. 23 Because of all this, you will no longer talk of seeing visions that you never saw, nor will you make predictions. For I will rescue my people from your grasp. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

The Idolatry of Israel’s Leaders

14 Then some of the leaders of Israel visited me, and while they were sitting with me, this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, these leaders have set up idols[c] in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests? Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel have set up idols in their hearts and fallen into sin, and then they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves. I will do this to capture the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols.’

“Therefore, tell the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent and turn away from your idols, and stop all your detestable sins. I, the Lord, will answer all those, both Israelites and foreigners, who reject me and set up idols in their hearts and so fall into sin, and who then come to a prophet asking for my advice. I will turn against such people and make a terrible example of them, eliminating them from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“‘And if a prophet is deceived into giving a message, it is because I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet. I will lift my fist against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel. 10 False prophets and those who seek their guidance will all be punished for their sins. 11 In this way, the people of Israel will learn not to stray from me, polluting themselves with sin. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’”

Footnotes:

  1. 12:10 Hebrew the prince in Jerusalem; similarly in 12:12.
  2. 12:13 Or Chaldeans.
  3. 14:3 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung; also in 14:4, 5, 6, 7.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Hebrews 7:1-17

Melchizedek Is Greater Than Abraham

This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.” There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.

Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel,[a] who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.

The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. 10 For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.

11 So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?[b]

12 And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. 13 For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. 14 What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

Jesus Is like Melchizedek

15 This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. 16 Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17 And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied,

“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”[c]

Footnotes:

  1. 7:5 Greek from their brothers.
  2. 7:11 Greek the order of Aaron?
  3. 7:17 Ps 110:4.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Psalm 105:37-45

37 The Lord brought his people out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold;
and not one among the tribes of Israel even stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they were gone,
for they feared them greatly.
39 The Lord spread a cloud above them as a covering
and gave them a great fire to light the darkness.
40 They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;
he satisfied their hunger with manna—bread from heaven.
41 He split open a rock, and water gushed out
to form a river through the dry wasteland.
42 For he remembered his sacred promise
to his servant Abraham.
43 So he brought his people out of Egypt with joy,
his chosen ones with rejoicing.
44 He gave his people the lands of pagan nations,
and they harvested crops that others had planted.
45 All this happened so they would follow his decrees
and obey his instructions.

Praise the Lord!

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


Proverbs 27:3

A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,
but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


11/4/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 10:1-11:25; Hebrews 6:1-20; Psalms 105:16-36; Proverbs 27:1-2

Today is the fourth day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. And here we are at the end of another week, a week that has switched months for us, and launched us into the 11th month of the year. And day by day we get closer to the destination - the completion of the Bible. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We have much territory to cover. And we’ll take the next step forward into the Scriptures today. So, we’ve been reading from the Good News translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1 through 11 verse 25 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Hebrews today, the last verse that we read we encounter an interesting name that harkens back to the Old Testament. The verse reads, on our behalf Jesus has gone there before us and has become a high priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek. And tomorrow, when we encounter the book of Hebrews, we’ll be hearing much more about Melchizedek. And, so, we probably need talk about him a little bit. So, I’m going to start that today by just explaining who Melchizedek is and where he shows up in the Bible. And we’ll probably only get through the Old Testament part of that. But we’ll talk about it more tomorrow. So, who is Melchizedek and why is he compared to Jesus in the book of Hebrews? Now, when you start digging into that territory, it starts getting complicated really fast, and the waters get very murky, and you find everything from remarkable correlations to fantastical things that you would expect to read in an adventure or fantasy novel. So, if you want to lose yourself down that rabbit hole, there’s plenty of stuff to read about it, but if you want to stick to Biblical scholarship, then you’ve still got a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. So, we don’t have several hours to talk about this and I am nowhere near a leading expert on it, but over time I have done enough research and scholarship on it to at least give us some context and a little bit of a baseline, maybe just like a little platform from which you can do as many deep dives as you personally want to do. But in terms of what we do here every day, as we go through a portion of Scripture and apply it to our lives, context is important. So, let’s try to get some context. Melchizedek is a figure that first appears in the Bible in the book of Genesis chapter 14. And, obviously, we read that many months ago, back in the month of January. The story is about Abraham and Lot in a battle where there were five kings against four kings and Lot was captured and taken away in this battle and Abraham went in pursuit and recovered everything. And on his way back, he runs into this figure, Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of the most high God. And Abraham pays him a 10% tithe of the plunder from the battle and Melchizedek then, in turn, blesses them. So, no big deal so far, just the retelling of an event that happened and, perhaps, the first theological handle that we have in the Bible relating to Melchizedek is a distinction. So, let’s look at that real quick. I’m reading from Genesis chapter 14. After Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shiva, that is the King’s Valley, and Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God most high, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing. Blessed be Abram by God most high Creator of heaven and earth and blessed be God most high who was defeated your enemies for you. Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the good he’d recovered. The king of Sodom said to Abram, give back my people who were captured, but you may keep for yourself all the good you have recovered. Abram replied to the king of Sodom, I solemnly swear to the Lord God most high, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say I am the one who made Abram rich. I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Okay, so, before we can point out the distinction, we just have to understand what’s going on here. Abram has met God. God has invited Abram into a land that he would be shown and he’s following God’s directions. Understand, Abraham’s not following Scriptures. He’s not referring to prophecies. None of that has happened yet. So, the Bible that we are reading hasn’t happened yet at all, but Abram knows who he is always following and that his entire destiny is based upon that relationship because he’s left behind his home and all of the resources and culture that he’s used to navigating. And he’s away from all of that and he’s pursuing the direction of the God who introduced himself to him. So, he’s clear that his life is in God’s hands. So, we have the king of Salem, who is a priest of the most high God, who is coming out and blesses Abram. Of course, Abram in rescuing his kin, Lot, also saves the necks of a bunch of kings. One of them, the king of Sodom, who expects that he will have to reward Abram for what he’s done and he’s trying to negotiate that deal. Abram makes a distinction. He gives a tithe - a tenth to Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, but tells the king of Sodom he won’t take anything. He’s not taking anything from anyone in terms of plunder because in no way is he leaving the door open so later someone will be able to say that they made Abram. Right? That they made Abraham who he is. Abram is acknowledging God alone. So, we can say that. We can say that solidly. And that’s our first introduction to Melchizedek. Abraham makes a distinction between the king of Salem, priest of the most high God, and the other kings. So, who is this guy and does his name mean something? According the Scriptures, Melchizedek is the king of Salem, also known as Jerusalem. So, Melchizedek is a Canaanite king who rules the region and city of Jerusalem, also known as Salem. And the majority of biblical scholars would agree on that. What does his name mean? So, Melchizedek - the king of righteousness or maybe more literally, my king is righteous, or maybe even more literally, my king is right. And that’s it. Melchizedek only shows up one other time in the Old Testament by name and that is found in the Psalms. Psalm 110 verse 4, which reads, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And thoughts about this begin to spray off in all kinds of different directions from there. And, I mean, and you can see how. The order of Melchizedek, what is that? I mean, that sounds like the title to a thriller, does it not? I mean, what is the order of Melchizedek and how does one get into the club? So, we have to, first, acknowledge that a lot of things happen between Abraham and King David writing Psalms. Right? So, Abraham has Isaac. Isaac then sires Jacob and Esau. Jacob’s name changes to Israel. He has kids. They become the children of Israel. They are enslaved in Egypt. They are freed from Egypt. They wander in the wilderness. They come into the promised land, that is the conquest. We go through generation after generation after generation of judges and then kingship is introduced into the culture with King Saul and then comes David. So, a lot happens between the two times Melchizedek is named in the Old Testament. And even though a lot has happened, a lot of ground has been covered and a lot of years of past, Melchizedek doesn’t disappear from their thought. Even though he was only mentioned two times in the Old Testament far apart in history, he is still being referred to. Why would that be? Why would this obscure event in Abraham’s life that refers to an ancient Canaanite king who happened to the be a priest of the most high God continue forward in the culture extra-biblically throughout all the generations all the way down to King David writing a song? So, there can be all kinds of explanations but from a scholarship perspective, I think this is what holds the most water- Melchizedek is the first priest named in the Bible and he is a priest of the most high God, king of Salem. In David’s time, priests could only come from the tribe of Levi, as mandated by the Mosaic law, and yet, Melchizedek was most certainly not a Levite because Levi hadn’t been born yet in Abraham’s time when this incident happened. So, in Abraham’s time, there is no Mosaic law because Moses hasn’t been born and there are no Levites because Levi hasn’t been born. And yet, Melchizedek is a priest of the most high God, but most definitely not a Levite but the Bible makes it clear that he’s a king. So, Melchizedek is a priest of the most high God, who is also a king. So, when David writes Psalm 110 and he pens this song and writes these lyrics under the inspiration of God, a statement is being made. David is to be a priestly king in the order of Melchizedek. So, like Melchizedek was. And it so happens that David is king in Jerusalem, the same city. So, David is a king who is aligned with the priesthood. So, maybe not occupying the office and the function of Levitical priesthood, but nevertheless, the priesthood before God. And this is a bit of a big deal from a theological and from a cultural perspective in David’s time because they do have the Torah, they have the Mosaic law, and it’s the underpinning of their entire society, and priests can only be Levites. And yet, David is to be a priestly king. And the way that this can work is that David is being set aside by God, like Melchizedek, in the order of Melchizedek, to serve in that role even though he’s from the tribe of Judah and not the tribe of Levi. Okay. So, I have to take a small bunny trail that applies directly to this. So, probably the most compelling theological understanding would place us back in the life of Moses. So, we know the story of Moses and his childhood and him being placed in the river in a wicker basket and being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter and ending up killing an Egyptian and having to flee for his life and all of this. And the next thing you know Moses is before burning bush and God is calling him to set his people free from slavery in Egypt. And God is telling him to go and Moses is resisting, he was giving every excuse. And his main excuse is, I don’t know how to speak, like, I’m not a public speaker, I don’t know how to do this. And God’s telling him, you really don’t have to do anything but just obey me. Like, I’ll put the words in your mouth. It’s all good. You don’t have to worry about this. And, finally, Moses is like, send someone else, please send somebody else, which for me is a very sad scene in the Bible because of how much it imitates our own lives. But in the end, God relents and sends Moses brother Aaron to be the mouthpiece. And this is where we see sort of like this dual role - a priestly role and a governor or a kingly role. Moses and Aaron make up the two pieces but that is more like the plan B. Right? So, the plan A was that Moses would be empowered by God to lead his people and would be the mouthpiece of God to those people. In other words, a priestly governor, a priestly ruler, a priestly king. So, in other words, Melchizedek was a priestly king of the most high God. Moses would’ve been invited into that but didn’t enter into it. But then God invites David into that role once kings are introduced into the story of Israel. And that is where I’m going to stop for today. We are going to read about Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews extensively tomorrow and we’ll pick this up then, once we have a little bit more New Testament context to the story 

Prayer:

Father we thank You for the beauty of Your word. And as we apply our minds and hearts to all of its nuances and intricacy, we invite Your Holy Spirit among us. We thank You for this gift. We love You, Father, and worship You. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

It’s been a flurry of activity around here as we begin to deploy this new app and platform. And those of you who contributed to the Global Campfire Initiative will have been receiving your invites. And, so, you are some of the first people to even see this. So, we’re excited about that and we’ll continue forward toward our projected release of all of this in December.

Looking at the calendar, the 19h of this month, the month of November, we’ll be back out on the road in the deep South. We’ll be in Shreveport Louisiana area, Bossier City, Louisiana. And we’ll be sharing Sneezing Jesus at River Valley church in Bossier City. So, you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the events section. And, we’ll look forward to seeing you there.

If your partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Then as I say, often, I can’t thank you enough, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner. Had to catch myself. I almost said the upper right-hand corner because that’s how it is in the new app, but the lower 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.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning. It is Beloved by Him from Gloucester, UK and it Wednesday, the first of November. And, this is a praise report, really. I’ve been listening consecutively for to whole months now from ___ and it is amazing how God has blessed me since then and how much better I am now then I was when I started. So, let’s pray. Father God, thank You for the DAB. Thank You so, so much for Brian and the team behind it. Thank You for Brian who answered Your call and for everything you’ve done with it through then, for all those people who reviewed the DAB way back when I first started listening a long time ago. Father God, thank You for the Global Campfire Initiative. Thank You that the team are going to make this free and we pray Lord that You’d be at work in that, that You would help us discover all of those bugs, all of those problems, so that when it comes to releasing it properly it will just be a great instrument of grace for people to find You and learn and know more about You. Father God, I lift up my brothers and sisters out there who aren’t listening right now, who can’t listen for whatever reason, whether it’s a technical difficulty, no access to wi-fi or data, or ___ whatever. I pray Lord that You’d blessing them where they are and sending people and sending companions for them to help them through. Father God, for those of us who are in a dark state right now, be it depression or anxiety, something that’s stopping us from listening, I pray Lord that Your light will shine so, so brightly in our lives. We’d love to see You and be blessed by You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.  

Hi. Good morning Daily Audio family. It’s really nice to know that I have friends and brothers and sisters around the world for praying and believing who are strong who are in community. I just want to be vulnerable with my brothers and sisters this morning. I feel so lonely and on my own. I have been divorced for about four years now and live on my own and often on my quite time, it’s when we’re in isolation that the enemy tries to attack most, mainly in fort life, mainly ideas and notions and addictions and comforts. Sometimes we comfort ourselves in our loneness with different substances like drink and alcohol and even pornography to satisfy those needs. And I want to be honest with you, I’m struggling. I’m struggling with ___ of loneliness and with a God who is there, who knows my thoughts, who knows my coming in and going down, who knows my thoughts. I just want to put my need out there and say, I really need companionship and accountability, that the right people, the right friends, will come around me, that God will just comfort me. And You said You will never leave me or Forsake me. I just need stability and ___ that word today. I wish you and thank You for considering my prayer request and I love you all and appreciate you, Brian and Jill. God bless you all. Bye-bye.    

Hi everyone, it’s Lisa the Encourager. I hope you guys are having a great day. I am calling in to pray for some of my Daily Audio Bible friends. I’m calling to pray for Edgar. He is in Belize, He’s on a pilgrim’s journey. So, I want to pray for Edgar tonight. I also want to pray for Julie from Maryland, to lift up her husband in prayer. He’s a godly man and she just wants us to pray for him. So, I am going to praying for him for you tonight sweety. And also, doctor John, I am praying for Phoebe, she’s in medical school and I know that…I can’t imagine…I’m sure that’s a lot of stress and I guess she mentioned that she has some depression and anxiety and am just praying that she’ll alleviate some of that stress and that she’ll just have piece in God through all of that - from God. And also, Melany had called in abut her sister, that she was in a horrible accident and needed healing from that. So, I am praying for that for you and your dear sister Melany. And lastly, Homeward Bound called about her dad needing surgery and he needed it in two weeks. I think that was from October the 7th. It’s been some time now. So, I’m not sure if he’s had surgery or is post or pre-op but I am definitely going to be praying for your dad, Homeward Bound, and it’s my pleasure to pray for your dad. So, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for Edgar and him on his pilgrim’s journey. Lord, I just pray You’ll protect him and give him all the kind of resources that he needs in order to complete this pilgrimage and that he’ll give all the glory to God and he will be able to be lifted up in His Spirit and feel fulfilled, Lord…and I just pray for…    

Hey Daily Audio Bible friends, this is ___ in ___ Chicago. I just left a message but I believe it got messed up, so, please delete that one and play this one instead. Anyway, let’s pray. God, thank You so much for today. Thank You for how You went before me and the people in the small group tonight as we met and had to talk about some tough stuff and You just did a miracle and gave me a humble heart, allowing us to listen to constructive feedback. I ask that You would open my heart to people that I have closed my heart to and just give wisdom on boundaries and all that stuff. Thank You, that You are constantly at work in the world and Yu are constantly at work in our lives. I thank You for the lady that calls into the Daily Audio Bible and sings songs over us. I ask that You will just strengthen and encourage her. Whether or not You bring back her original voice, we thank You that you’ve given her willingness to call in and bless us with the voice that she has right now. This is such a great, really amazing thing. So, thank You, God, for that. Thank you everyone that is listening and I ask that if there is anyone that is listening right now that wants to give up on life that You would bring them joy and peace and hope. Thank You so much that two days ago marked the one year anniversary of someone know and love being in the hospital for suicide, suicidal tendencies, but now is living and working and much healthier than before. So, we thank You so much for that beautiful transformation. Amen. Love you all. Bye.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday November 4, 2017 (NIV)

Ezekiel 10-11

The Glory of the Lord Leaves the Temple

10 (A)I looked at the dome over the heads of the living creatures[a] and above them was something that seemed to be a throne made of sapphire. (B)God said to the man wearing linen clothes, “Go between the wheels under the creatures and fill your hands with burning coals. Then scatter the coals over the city.”

I watched him go. The creatures were standing to the south of the Temple when he went in, and a cloud filled the inner courtyard. The dazzling light of the Lord's presence rose up from the creatures and moved to the entrance of the Temple. Then the cloud filled the Temple, and the courtyard was blazing with the light. The noise made by the creatures' wings was heard even in the outer courtyard. It sounded like the voice of Almighty God.

When the Lord commanded the man wearing linen clothes to take some fire from between the wheels that were under the creatures, the man went in and stood by one of the wheels. One of the creatures reached his hand into the fire that was there among them, picked up some coals, and put them in the hands of the man in linen. The man took the coals and left.

I saw that each creature had what looked like a human hand under each of its wings. 9-10 (C)I also saw that there were four wheels, all alike, one beside each creature. The wheels shone like precious stones, and each one had another wheel which intersected it at right angles. 11 When the creatures moved, they could go in any direction without turning. They all moved together in the direction they wanted to go, without having to turn around. 12 (D)Their bodies, backs, hands, wings, and wheels were covered with eyes. 13 I heard a voice calling out, “Whirling wheels.”

14 (E)Each creature had four faces. The first was the face of a bull, the second a human face, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15 (They were the same creatures that I had seen by the Chebar River.) When the creatures rose in the air 16 and moved, the wheels went with them. Whenever they spread their wings to fly, the wheels still went with them. 17 When the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; and when the creatures flew, the wheels went with them, because the creatures controlled them.

18 Then the dazzling light of the Lord's presence left the entrance of the Temple and moved to a place above the creatures. 19 They spread their wings and flew up from the earth while I was watching, and the wheels went with them. They paused at the east gate of the Temple, and the dazzling light was over them. 20 I recognized them as the same creatures which I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Chebar River.

21 Each of them had four faces, four wings, and what looked like a human hand under each wing. 22 Their faces looked exactly like the faces[b] I had seen by the Chebar River. Each creature moved straight ahead.

Jerusalem Is Condemned

11 God's spirit lifted me up and took me to the east gate of the Temple. There near the gate I saw twenty-five men, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, two leaders of the nation.

God said to me, “Mortal man, these men make evil plans and give bad advice in this city. They say, ‘We will soon be building houses again.[c] The city is like a cooking pot, and we are like the meat in it, but at least it protects us from the fire.’ Now then, denounce them, mortal man.”

The spirit of the Lord took control of me, and the Lord told me to give the people this message: “People of Israel, I know what you are saying and what you are planning. You have murdered so many people here in the city that the streets are full of corpses.

“So this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to you. This city is a cooking pot all right, but what is the meat? The corpses of those you have killed! You will not be here—I will throw you out of the city! Are you afraid of swords? I will bring soldiers with swords to attack you. I will take you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners. I have sentenced you to death, 10 and you will be killed in battle in your own country. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord. 11 This city will not protect you the way a pot protects the meat in it. I will punish you wherever you may be in the land of Israel. 12 You will know that I am the Lord and that while you were keeping the laws of the neighboring nations, you were breaking my laws and disobeying my commands.”

13 While I was prophesying, Pelatiah dropped dead. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, “No, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

God's Promise to the Exiles

14 The Lord spoke to me. 15 “Mortal man,” he said, “the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and those of your nation who are in exile. They say, ‘The exiles are too far away to worship the Lord. He has given us possession of the land.’

16 “Now tell your fellow exiles what I am saying. I am the one who sent them to live in far-off nations and scattered them in other countries. Yet, for the time being I will be present with them in the lands where they have gone.

17 “So tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. I will gather them out of the countries where I scattered them, and will give the land of Israel back to them. 18 When they return, they are to get rid of all the filthy, disgusting idols they find. 19 (F)I will give them a new heart and a new mind. I will take away their stubborn heart of stone and will give them an obedient heart. 20 Then they will keep my laws and faithfully obey all my commands. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But I will punish the people who love to worship filthy, disgusting idols. I will punish them for what they have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

God's Glory Leaves Jerusalem

22 (G)The living creatures began to fly, and the wheels went with them. The dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel was over them. 23 Then the dazzling light left the city and moved to the mountain east of it. 24 In the vision the spirit of God lifted me up and brought me back to the exiles in Babylonia. Then the vision faded, 25 and I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me.

Footnotes:

  1. Ezekiel 10:1 See 1.5-12.
  2. Ezekiel 10:22 Probable text the faces; Hebrew the faces and them.
  3. Ezekiel 11:3 We will … again; or We won't be building houses any time soon.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Hebrews 6

Let us go forward, then, to mature teaching and leave behind us the first lessons of the Christian message. We should not lay again the foundation of turning away from useless works and believing in God; of the teaching about baptisms[a] and the laying on of hands; of the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment. Let us go forward! And this is what we will do, if God allows.

For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God's light; they tasted heaven's gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; they knew from experience that God's word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.

God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated. (A)But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth nothing; it is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.

But even if we speak like this, dear friends, we feel sure about you. We know that you have the better blessings that belong to your salvation. 10 God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to other Christians. 11 Our great desire is that each of you keep up your eagerness to the end, so that the things you hope for will come true. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised.

God's Sure Promise

13 When God made his promise to Abraham, he made a vow to do what he had promised. Since there was no one greater than himself, he used his own name when he made his vow. 14 (B)He said, “I promise you that I will bless you and give you many descendants.” 15 Abraham was patient, and so he received what God had promised. 16 When we make a vow, we use the name of someone greater than ourselves, and the vow settles all arguments. 17 To those who were to receive what he promised, God wanted to make it very clear that he would never change his purpose; so he added his vow to the promise. 18 There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us. 19 (C)We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary. 20 (D)On our behalf Jesus has gone in there before us and has become a high priest forever, in the priestly order of Melchizedek.[b]

Footnotes:

  1. Hebrews 6:2 baptisms; or purification ceremonies.
  2. Hebrews 6:20 in the priestly order of Melchizedek (see 5.6).
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Psalm 105:16-36

16 (A)The Lord sent famine to their country
and took away all their food.
17 (B)But he sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
18 (C)His feet were kept in chains,
and an iron collar was around his neck,
19 until what he had predicted came true.
The word of the Lord proved him right.
20 (D)Then the king of Egypt had him released;
the ruler of nations set him free.
21 (E)He put him in charge of his government
and made him ruler over all the land,
22 with power over the king's officials
and authority to instruct his advisers.

23 (F)Then Jacob went to Egypt
and settled in that country.
24 (G)The Lord gave many children to his people
and made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He made the Egyptians hate his people
and treat his servants with deceit.

26 (H)Then he sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They did God's mighty acts
and performed miracles in Egypt.
28 (I)God sent darkness on the country,
but the Egyptians did not obey[a] his command.
29 (J)He turned their rivers into blood
and killed all their fish.
30 (K)Their country was overrun with frogs;
even the palace was filled with them.
31 (L)God commanded, and flies and gnats
swarmed throughout the whole country.
32 (M)He sent hail and lightning on their land
instead of rain;
33 he destroyed their grapevines and fig trees
and broke down all the trees.
34 (N)He commanded, and the locusts came,
countless millions of them;
35 they ate all the plants in the land;
they ate all the crops.
36 (O)He killed the first-born sons
of all the families of Egypt.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 105:28 Some ancient translations did not obey; Hebrew obeyed.
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

Proverbs 27:1-2

27 (A)Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then.

Let other people praise you—even strangers; never do it yourself.

Cross references:

  1. Proverbs 27:1 : Jas 4:13-Jas 4:16
Good News Translation (GNT)

Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society

11/3/2017 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 7:1-9:11; Hebrews 5:1-14; Psalms 105:1-15; Proverbs 26:28

Today is the third day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we dive in and take the next step forward through the Scriptures this year. And this week we’re reading from the Good News translation. And, so, for our Old Testament reading, Ezekiel chapter 7 verse 1 through 9:11.

Commentary:

Alright. So, the portion of the Proverbs that we are in right now is speaking directly to the kinds of things that come out of our mouth. And, of course, before something ever comes out of our mouth, it bubbles up from within our heart and filters through our mind and is formed into words and then we use, of course, our facial muscles and tongue to say those words. And we should become aware of the things that are forming in our heads that we’re about to say because, you know, when something comes bubbling out of our heart and filters through our mind, there’s still time. There’s still time to invite the Holy Spirit before we actually say the thing. So, for example, we talked about insincere talk the other day with the clay pot that’s of substandard quality but varnished to look like it’s valuable and the proverb equated that to insincere talk. Today the proverb tells us, look, insincere talk brings nothing but ruin. So, as one of the things of my father, that he would say to me, that has actually stuck, and, you know, I have been without my dad for 15 years now, but one of the things that he would counsel me on is, son nothing good can come from that - whatever that was. Today, it’s insincerity. Insincere talk brings nothing but ruin, the Bible says. So, nothing good can come from that. But the proverb starts, you have to hate someone to want to hurt them with lies. So, have you ever been lied to or lied about and then became aware of it and it wasn’t true, it was a lie and you were deeply hurt by it? Or maybe you’ve hurt someone that way? Maybe you’ve told things that are not true, spread things that are not true, and hurt someone deeply? According to the Scripture that comes from a place of hatred. So, remember when we were talking about things bubbling up in our heart and then filtering through our mind and then we speak them with our mouth. Well, that thing that was bubbling up in your heart before it was formed into words was hate and nothing good can come from that. The chaos and confusion that you may cause by that may feel like revenge or justice to you, but nothing good can come from that. Only ruin can come from that, according to the proverb. And, so, once again the Scriptures become the mirror that we have to face ourselves in. And once again the Bible penetrates deep, like we were talking about yesterday in the book of Hebrews, to the place where soul and spirit meet. If hatred is there and insincerity is there, in other words, falseness is there, then nothing good is going to come from it. And here is an example of the Scriptures reaching us at that level and challenging us, that we are new creations. This stuff does not have to linger anymore and be a part of our story anymore. And as old as the Proverbs are they still speak prophetically into our lives because this is the rhythm of the Scripture. How many times have we read through prophets who have been instructed by God to go warn people? Nothing good is going to come from what you are doing. It is only going to lead you to destruction and loss. It is only going to be bad. Come back. Return to me. Come home. This doesn’t have to happen. Our words work the same way. They bring about the same kind of destinies. And if we are harboring hatred and hurt people with lies and our insincere and false. Well then, there’s our warning straight out of the Bible today. It’s not going to go well. Turn back, come home, invite the Holy Spirit back into a leadership position in your life because it doesn’t have to go this way unless you want it to.

Prayer:

Father, we don’t want to live our lives piling up things that amount to nothing but ruin. We want our lives to matter. We want to reflect Your glory in this world, but we all have our own injuries and wounds, our own histories. And, so, we invite You into those places that are so deeply hurt that we would strike back with insincerity and lies and hatred in the places that we think there’s injustice toward us. And yet You are telling us through Your word, perpetuating that, passing it forward, is going to bring nothing but ruin. And, so, we give You control over our minds, our spirits, our identities and our tongues. And we ask, Holy Spirit, that You would come into those places that are broken and that we would yield to You before we say something that nothing good can come from. Come Holy Spirit. We pray. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check it out.

So, there’s always plenty going on around. So, check it out. Looking at the calendar, the 19th of November will be our next date out on the road. And we will be in the Shreveport Louisiana area bringing the Sneezing Jesus message at River Valley church, which is in Bossier City, Louisiana. So, if you are in the South, come say hello, love to see you. And you can get all the details: maps, times, websites, phone numbers, all that kind of stuff dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the daily audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the website on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If you are using the app you can press the More button in the lower 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.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Joe The Protector from Georgia. It’s October 30th at 7:50 in the morning. I just got finished listening to the podcast and the prayer at the end and I just want to lift up our sister Candice from Oregon. Candice from Oregon, I just want to encourage you and lift you up and when I heard you on today’s podcast it just gave me a new Spirit, like I believe you have. You’ve got a fresh new Spirit and it gave me something when I heard you singing and I just want to lift that up and lift that up to Jesus and thank Him for giving you courage through this time. And just know that you are loved. Alright. Love you all. Bye.

Hello DABber friends. This is Amanda from Virginia. I wanted to call in out of encouragement and sharing for Jacqueline from Texas. Oh, sweetheart, I have been where you are. I am on the other side of that and it was the hardest, darkest era of my life, but I can tell you that there is hope in Jesus. You are so doing the right thing by just engulfing yourself in the word because, think of it like your shelter, my husband did the exact same thing. I have 5 very small children and over a year ago he became angry and withdrawn and cynical and he is saved as well but he went to the darkest place I had ever seen. He got a girlfriend, which happened to be one of my good friends, and ended up sleeping with her for 8 months. It was just insane. And I cannot tell you the level grieving and depth of confusion and hurt and betrayal from the whole thing. But I’m telling you honey, this is an attack. It’s an attack on your family. It’s an attack on your husband and it’s an attack on you. Surround yourself like armor, with the word of God, with music that is just speaking life, and surround yourself with people that are seeking and praying for you. One of the best things that I did that changed everything was to pray for my husband. I actually had an alarm on my phone. So, it was three times a day. I actually called it my battle prayer because I felt like I was going to battle for my husband…for…

Hey everyone. This is Tony the painter. I just want to say a big thank you to everybody who replied to me on the prayer wall, especially to Brian and Jill but especially, especially, especially, especially to Jill. The words that you wrote were…yeah…just lovely. Thank you so much. Things are pretty bad. My marriage is dying or dead and guys…I just…being 4000 miles away from your spouse for like 10 months now is painful. I just want you to know I am praying for. I’m praying for the Global Campfire and the new app and…yeah…I just love you guys so much. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible, this is Paul from Houston and I was calling regarding response to the lady that didn’t give her name from September 16. I know, I’m a little behind, I’m trying to catch up. But she was mentioning, she was asking prayer for her husband who had a bipolar condition and had been speaking a lot of negativity and threatening different things and going with different episodes and I just want to pray that there would be peace in the house and I thank You Lord that Your Holy Spirit will dwell there. And I ask Lord that the Spirit of control or this bipolar condition would be addressed and I ask Lord that this husband would seek out that help that he needs and I thank You Lord that he’d be open to that and I ask Lord that your Holy Spirit to work there so that there will be a softening of hearts and a softening of countenance and I ask Lord that you would just be with them and be with this family Lord and I ask Lord for peace and Lord I pray that people would not be affected by these words for they realize that these words are not from God but there from the enemy. And I thank you Lord that you realize that the enemy tries to throw darts at You and that he have put Your shield up, put Your armor on, and be ready for that battle. And I just thank You Lord that You would bless and You prosper this family Lord and that You would be with them and I ask for Your peace and Your protection and Your Holy Spirit to guard this family. In Jesus’ name. I just thank You Lord for that. And thank you guys. Anyways, thank you for praying for Houston. We’re still recovering. There’s a lot of folks still having difficulty getting contractors and…