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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday December 25, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 8

8 1-2 The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, came, this time bringing a series of five short messages about hope.

Eternal One: First, I have a jealous desire to be among My people in Zion. I want it more than anything. I am burning with angry jealousy for her and her welfare.

3 Second, I will return to Zion and live in the heart of Jerusalem. So it will then be known far and wide as the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will be called Holy Mountain.

4 Third, elderly men and women will sit in Jerusalem’s streets with staffs in hand because of their old age. 5 The city streets will bustle with boys and girls playing outside on the roads and in the squares.

Ultimately, God’s purpose is redeeming His fallen creation. He initiated His plan of redemption by calling and equipping the children of Abraham to be a light to the nations. Zechariah foresees a day when Jerusalem is the center of the world; when people of every race, creed, and color journey to it; and when the Jews show the rest of the world the way to the one True God.

After chapter 8, the Book of Zechariah changes—its tone, its character, its focus. Chapters 1–8 have been about the people and times immediately after the exile ended, a period when Persia ruled the world. Chapters 9–14 seem removed from that world, its people, and its interests—but just how far removed is uncertain. It is possible that these last chapters were not written by Zechariah, and the debate about who wrote them and when they were written has raged since Jesus died. In 27:9-10 of his Gospel, Matthew identifies the author as Jeremiah, a forerunner of Zechariah. More recent scholarship has further confused the matter because the setting in chapter 9 could describe any time in Jerusalem between Hezekiah’s rule before the exile and the Maccabean revolts 400 years later. This inability to positively identify the author and the audience, along with the lack of historical, contextual markers in the text itself, make these words universally applicable. They may even describe the end time when God judges the nations.

6 Fourth, this may come as a surprise to the remnant of these people, eking out an existence during these harsh days, but what is surprising to you is not for Me.

7 Fifth, I will rescue My people from far and wide, from east to west across the land, 8 and I will bring them home to live in peace in Jerusalem where they will be My people once more. I will be truthful and just to them as their God.

9 Here is an encouragement from the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

Eternal One: To those of you who have been listening recently to My words through the prophets, who were working for Me when the foundation of the house of the Eternal One was being laid just decades ago, keep yourselves strong so that the temple walls may now be built. 10 Before then no one could earn a living in Jerusalem or in exile. Neither men nor their animals could find work. No one could move about safely for fear of his enemies because I had turned every man against each other. 11 However, that was the past. I, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, promise I will not treat the remnant of My people as I once did. 12 What you witness now will be very different—a new day when seeds of peace will be sown in fertile soil. The seeds will grow into sheaves of wheat, and the vines will produce luscious grapes. The ground will yield its crops, and pleasant dew will again fall from the heavens. And I will give these things to My remnant as their inheritance. 13 Because you, people of Judah and Israel, were once the objects of scorn among the nations, I will rescue you and you will become a blessing. Don’t be afraid, and keep yourselves strong.

14 When your ancestors angered Me, I was determined to bring disaster to your generation as well as theirs, and I refused to change My plan. 15 All the same, I have now determined to do good for Jerusalem and the people of Judah. Don’t be afraid. 16 Here are the things you must do: Speak truth to each other. Pursue justice in your courts. Render decisions that reflect truth and bring peace to the community. 17 Do not conspire to bring harm against one another. Do not make promises you don’t intend to keep. I hate all these things.

So said the Eternal.

18 The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, came to me with three brief messages about a happy future for His people and the entire world.

Eternal One: 19 From now on, the fasting times of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be happy occasions and times of celebration for the people of Judah. So you should love truth and pursue peace.

20 Many people from many cities will come streaming to My holy city. 21 The citizens from one of these cities will approach the citizens of another and say, “You must come with me. Let’s journey to Jerusalem to seek the blessings of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and ask for His favor directly. I am certainly going.”

22 That is why many people and powerful nations will come together as one to Jerusalem to seek the blessings of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and ask for His favor directly.

Eternal One: 23 A day is coming when 10 men, people from every nation speaking every language will grab the cloak of a Jew and beg him, “Let us come with you because we have heard the True God is among you and we want Him to save us, too.”

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Revelation 16

Just as God used the plagues to judge the Egyptians and deliver His people from bondage (Exodus 7–12), these plagues will help rescue God’s faithful servants.

16 Then I heard a great voice coming from the temple ordering the seven heavenly messengers.

A Voice: Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth.

2 So the first messenger poured out his bowl onto the earth. When he did, a foul-smelling, painful sore broke out on each person who bore the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.

3 The second messenger poured out his bowl into the sea. When he did, the waters became like the blood that spills from a dead body, and every living creature in the sea died.

4 The third messenger poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of fresh water. When he did, they, too, became blood. 5 And I heard the messenger over the waters speak.

Messenger over the Waters: You are just, O holy One who is and who was,
for You have judged these things rightly.
6 Because people shed the blood of the saints and prophets,
You have given them blood to quench their thirst.
They are deserving of these punishments.

God’s judgment is true and just. Violent people are thirsty for blood, so God gives it to them. Sometimes judgment means receiving what you desire.

7 And I heard a voice from the altar agree.

A Voice: Yes, Lord God, the All Powerful,
true and right are Your judgments!

8 The fourth messenger poured out his bowl on the sun. When he did, the sun was permitted to blister people with its fire. 9 The incredible heat of the sun burned their skin; but instead of rethinking their actions[a] and glorifying God, they cursed God’s name because He had the power to carry out these plagues.

10 The fifth messenger poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. When he did, its kingdom was blanketed in darkness. People chewed on their tongues out of the depth of their agony. 11 Still they refused to change their wicked ways,[b] so they cursed the God of heaven because of their painful afflictions and ulcerous sores.

12 The sixth messenger poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. When he did, the river dried up and became a road so that the kings from the east and their armies could make their way. 13 What I saw next troubled me deeply: three foul spirits like frogs appeared, belched from the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the earth-beast. 14 These frogs are demonic spirits. As they go into the world, they perform miracles persuading the kings of the world to gather for the last battle on the great day of God, the All Powerful.

The dragon, beast, and earth-beast are an unholy trinity who send out demonic spirits. These spirits resemble frogs and remind the reader of the plague of frogs that invaded Egypt before the exodus. These foul spirits roam the world, persuading the kings of the earth to assemble together to do battle against God and His chosen.

A Voice: 15 See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the person who watches and waits, dressed and ready to go, so as not to wander about naked, exposed to disgrace.

16 And the kings gathered at the place called Har-Magedon in Hebrew.

Har-Magedon means Mount Megiddo and is sometimes transliterated “Armageddon.” This refers to the battleground where the armies of the earth, led by the forces of evil, will assemble to mount their final attack against God. This place is often associated with the plain of Megiddo in northern Israel because the fertile land there has often been turned into fields of blood during gruesome battles. In a place like this, for one last time, evil will raise its ugly head against good.

17 Finally, the seventh messenger poured out his bowl into the air. When he did, a great voice came out of the temple, from the throne.

A Voice: It is accomplished!

18 At the sound of the voice, there were flashes of lightning, sounds of voices, rumblings of thunder, and tremors of an earthquake. In all of human history, there had never been an earthquake of this magnitude. 19 The great city was torn into three parts, and the cities of all the nations fell. God remembered the great city, Babylon, and made her drink the cup of His fury and wrath. 20 Every island sank into the ocean, and no mountains were left to be discovered. 21 And great hailstones, each weighing nearly 100 pounds, fell from the sky onto the people until they cursed God because the plague of hail was so severe.

Footnotes:

  1. 16:9 Literally, repenting
  2. 16:11 Literally, repent
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 144

Psalm 144

A song of David.

1 Blessed be the Eternal, my rock.
He trains my hands for war, gives me the skills I need for battle.
2 He is my unfailing love and my citadel.
He is my tower of strength and my deliverer.
He is my shield of protection and my shelter;
He holds my people in check under me.

3 O Eternal One, what is man, that You even care to know him?
or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?
4 Humans are like a passing breath;
their time on earth is like a shadow that passes over us during the day and soon is gone.

5 Eternal One, stretch out an opening in the heavens, and descend.
Touch the mountains, and make them smoke.
6 Send forth bolts of lightning, and scatter my enemies.
Shoot Your fiery arrows, and rout the enemy.
7 Reach down from Your high place;
save me out of the great waters;
rescue me from the grasp of these foreigners
8 Who speak only lies
and don’t have truth in their deeds.

9 To You, my God, I will sing a new song;
I will sing Your sweet praises to the sound of a ten-stringed harp,
10 For You deliver kings from their enemies
and You rescue Your servant, David, from the sword of evil.
11 Rescue me,
and save me from the grasp of these foreigners
Who speak only lies
and don’t have truth in their deeds.

12 May our sons be like healthy plants
as they grow and mature,
And may our daughters be like the corner pillars
that decorate a palace.
13 May our storehouses be full
with abundant supplies of every crop,
And may the flocks of our fields
multiply into thousands and tens of thousands!
14 May our cattle be strong and productive,
without miscarriage, without loss,
and may there be no riots or protests in our streets!

15 Happy are the people for whom all this is true;
happy are the people whose God is the Eternal!

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:29-31

29 There are three creatures with majesty in their stride,
no, make it four that move with grace:
30 The lion, which is the strongest of the animals,
does not back down from any other creature;
31 The strutting rooster, the male goat,
and a king as he goes out with his army.[a]

Footnotes:

  1. 30:31 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

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12/24/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 6:1-7:14 ~ Revelation 15:1-8 ~ Psalm 143:1-12 ~ Proverbs 30:24-28

Today is the 24th day of December, which makes it Christmas Eve. What a holy day that it is as we kind of move toward the worldwide celebration of the arrival of the Savior. This is huge.  So there will be many candlelight services tonight all over the world, many midnight vigils ringing in the new day, the day of the Savior’s arrival that we celebrate throughout the earth.  So Happy Christmas Eve to you.  It’s beautiful that we can come around our global campfire, warm ourselves, orient ourselves to God on this very, very special day and take the next step forward in, like I said yesterday, our ever-diminishing steps left in this year.  

Even though it’s Christmas Eve and all of those festivities that go with it, this is the last day of a week and we’ve been reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, which is what we’ll do today, and move to something new on Christmas Day, but for today, Zechariah chapter 6 verse 1 through 7 verse 14.

Prayer

Lord, on this day our affections are set on you, on this eve of the moment that we celebrate or commemorate your arrival.   And so once again, as we so often do, we thank you for your word because your word reveals the great story of how you would not surrender us, we who are created in your image, to the darkness, to our own reality that we had created without you. You would not leave us abandoned. You came.  You came so counterintuitively that, well, most didn’t even know what was happening until the victory was won.  But then you handed this victory into our hands and so we rejoice, and on this day, this sort of final day that we wait, that we keep vigil, that we look and long for the arrival of the Savior, we are also longing for your return. So we love you.  We love you, Jesus, and we thank you.  Come Holy Spirit into all of our hearts, all of our lives and everything about us because this is what the arrival, this is what the Advent of the Savior is all about – that we are no longer separated from you but are intertwined with you.  So come, fill our hearts as our hearts break forth in rejoicing.  We pray this in the mighty name of the Savior who came for us, the name of Jesus, amen.  

SONG played on today’s Christmas Eve DAB “O Holy Night” Lauren Daigle http://apple.co/2hsByaW 

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday December 24, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 6-7

When Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem in 586 b.c., he carries her chief citizens off into exile in Babylon. Thousands don’t survive the brutal journey. Those who do must start their lives over in a hostile land where they are subjects of violence, slavery, and every manner of wickedness. That’s why Babylon becomes synonymous with evil. In this vision, the wickedness of Judah is contained and sent far away to Babylon, where it is not only tolerated but is worshiped. Civilization reaches its nadir when wickedness is worshiped.

6 That night I had an eighth vision. I looked up and saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains made of bronze. 2 The first chariot was pulled by red horses; the second was pulled by black horses. 3 The third was hitched to white horses and the fourth to spotted, strong horses.

A final vision echoes the first vision as four great spirits of heaven unleash judgment upon the whole earth.

Zechariah (to the heavenly messenger): 4 What are these, sir?

Heavenly Messenger: 5 These are the four winds of heaven that disperse His power and enact His will. They have been standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole earth awaiting His command. Now the Lord has dispatched them to patrol the earth. 6 The chariot pulled by black horses will travel to the north land, followed by the white horses and then the spotted horses, which travel to the south land.

7 The strong horses and their chariots went on their patrols of the earth with great speed and excitement at God’s command: “Go now. Patrol the entire surface of the earth.” They did as they were told.

Eternal One: 8 Watch, Zechariah. The horses going to the north land have appeased My restless, vengeful Spirit.

9 The word of the Eternal came to me describing how He would fulfill His promise of restoring Jerusalem and His temple.

Message: 10-11 Find three men who have returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. Their names are Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah. Then collect money, silver and gold, from the Babylonians for rebuilding Jerusalem, and travel to the house of Josiah (Zephaniah’s son) who has also returned from Babylon. You will find Joshua (Jehozadak’s son) there. With the money you took from the Babylonians, fashion a crown for Joshua, the high priest, and place it on his head.

12 Once Joshua accepts the crown, tell him these words from the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies: “Pay attention to a man who is named ‘Branch.’ He will branch out from where He is and will build the Eternal’s temple. 13 Yes, He is the temple builder of the Eternal One and will carry honor. He will sit on the throne of His kingdom to rule, and He will sit on a throne as a priest. Between those two there will be a peace agreement.”

14 The crown will then be taken from Joshua’s head and placed in the temple of the Eternal One as a reminder to Heldai,[a] Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah[b] (Zephaniah’s son). 15 People will come from great distances to assist with the building of the Eternal One’s temple. Tell the men, “If you do exactly what the Eternal, your True God, says, this will happen as you have seen and heard it. Then you will know for certain the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, sent me to you.”

“Branch” is a prophetic title for the Anointed One, that royal descendant of David whom God will send to usher in a new age of justice, peace, and joy. In Zechariah’s day, the people wonder if Zerubbabel is that king. Ac cording to the prophet, God has designs on him as the one to rebuild the temple and occupy the throne, but he is not destined to reign alone as the Anointed One will. Zerubbabel reigns with Joshua, the high priest. Together they are anointed, acclaimed, and crowned leaders to watch over God’s people.

7 Two years after I saw the eight visions, on the fourth day of the ninth month (called Chislev) of the fourth year of the reign of Persian King Darius, the word of the Eternal came to me, Zechariah. 2 The situation was this: the citizens of Bethel had sent a delegation, including Sharezer and Regemmelech and his men, to seek the favor of the Eternal One 3 by questioning the priests working in the temple of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, and by questioning the prophets.

Delegation: During the fifth month of every year, I fast and mourn. Should I continue separating myself from the impure world on these occasions as I have for so many years?

4 The word of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies came to me and told me how to address their question.

Message: 5 Ask the citizens of the land and the priests, “When you fasted and mourned during the fifth and seventh months for the last seventy years, were you really fasting for My benefit or just for yourselves? 6 When you were feasting on holy days, weren’t you just eating and drinking for yourselves instead of honoring Me? 7 Aren’t these the same directives the Eternal One gave you through the work of earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was bustling with people and prosperous, when the villages around Jerusalem throughout the south[c] and the western valleys were settled?”

8 The word of the Eternal came to me, Zechariah, again.

Message: 9 Here is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has to say: “Dispense true justice, have mercy on others, and show all people compassion. 10 Do not take advantage of those who have lost a spouse or a parent, or those who are outsiders or poor. Don’t purpose to do evil toward your fellow Israelites.”

11 Some refused to listen. They turned their backs on this message and plugged their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint, refusing to listen to the law or the messages the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, sent by His Spirit and enacted through earlier prophets. That’s why His great wrath and calamity fell upon His people.

Eternal One: 13 When I called out, they chose not to hear Me, so when they called out, I returned the favor and decided not to hear them. 14 Like a sweeping tornado, I blew them throughout the nations, scattering them in distant lands where they were aliens, all alone. That’s how the land and its cities were emptied out and left so barren that no one even traveled through it. This is how your pleasant hills and valleys turned into empty lands.

Footnotes:

  1. 6:14 Hebrew manuscripts read, “Helem.”
  2. 6:14 Hebrew manuscripts read, “Hen.”
  3. 7:7 Hebrew, Negev
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Revelation 15

The New Testament God is not a God of fluffy love as some suppose. His judgment, while difficult to comprehend, is real; and fear of it should motivate repentance now.

15 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing: seven messengers with seven plagues—plagues that marked the end. With these the wrath of God reached its end.

2 And then I saw something like a sea made of glass mixed with fire flashing through it. Those who had been victorious over the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing on the sea of glass, holding the harps of God in their hands. 3 As they stand and play their harps, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

Victors: Great and amazing are Your works,
Lord God, the All Powerful.
Right and true are Your ways,
King of all nations.
4 Who will not fear You, Lord?
Who will not glorify Your name?
Because You alone are holy,
all the nations will come
and worship before You,
For Your righteous judgments have been revealed.

5 After I had taken all this in, I looked again; and the inner part of the tabernacle of witness opened in heaven. 6 Out of the temple came seven messengers, clothed in pure linen, bright and shining, their chests clad in a golden sash, carrying seven plagues. 7 Then one of the four living creatures stepped over to give to the seven messengers seven golden bowls brimming with the wrath of God who lives throughout the ages. 8 The temple was full of the smoke billowing from the magnificent glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven messengers accomplished their God-ordained end.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Psalm 143

Psalm 143

A song of David.

1 Eternal One, I come to You in prayer.
Hear me out; I plead with You.
Lend an ear to my requests.
In Your faithfulness and justice, respond to my pleas.
2 Be kind and slow to judge Your faithful servant,
for compared to You, no one is truly just.

3 My adversary has pressed in, drawn closer, threatened my life;
he’s crushed me, driven me underground.
He’s forced me to live in the dark;
it’s as if I joined those who died a long time ago.
4 That’s why my spirit is growing faint inside me; I have nothing left;
my heart is completely empty and desolate.

5 And yet I can’t forget the days of old, the days I’ve heard so much about;
I fix my mind on all You have done;
I ponder the work of Your hands;
6 I reach out my hands to You.
All that I am aches and yearns for You, like a dry land thirsting for rain.

[pause][a]

7 Hurry and answer me, O Eternal One,
for my spirit is weak, my courage is gone.
Do not turn away; let me see Your face;
otherwise, I’ll die and be like all those who have gone to the grave.
8 Make me hear of Your faithful love in the morning,
for I trust in You.
Teach me how I should walk,
for I offer my soul up to You.

9 Rescue me from my enemies, Eternal One,
for You are my shelter from them.
10 Teach me how to do Your will,
for You are my God.
Allow Your good Spirit to guide me
on level ground, to guide me along Your path.

11 For the sake of Your name and the good of Your reputation,
preserve me, O Eternal One.
In Your righteousness, save my life from burden and misery.
12 In Your loyal love, silence my enemies for good;
destroy all those who take pleasure in my suffering,
for I am Your faithful servant!

Footnotes:

  1. 143:6 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”
The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:24-28

24 There are four creatures on earth that are small,
but they are very wise and we can learn from them:
25 While ants are hardly a strong species,
they work constantly to store up food during the summer;
26 While badgers are animals without many defenses,
they are wise enough to make their homes in the rocky cliffs;
27 While locusts live without a ruler,
they all know how to move in formation;
28 While a lizard is easy enough to catch in your hand,
it is shrewd enough to enter the palaces of kings.

The Voice (VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

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12/23/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 4:1-5:11 ~ Revelation 14:1-20 ~ Psalm 142:1-7 ~ Proverbs 30:21-23

Today is the 23rd day of December.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here, of course, with you today on this 23rd day…wow!  That means tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  We are here, the waiting is over almost as we finish up this Advent season and consider the arrival of the Savior into the world and into our lives, which makes this season, as the old song goes, the most wonderful time of the year. There is nothing more wonderful than being in this season and being in the rhythm of the scriptures, so we will continue forward with the next step as we take the steps that remain in this year.

We’re reading from the Holmen Christian Standard Bible this week and we have kind of slowed things down now.  We were racing through all of these smaller books and letters and now we’re in the book of Zechariah and Revelation and kind of moving through.  So today Zechariah chapter 4 verse 1 through 5:11.

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word and the companion that it has been every single day of this year and the rhythm that it has kept our lives in, always orienting us back day by day toward your heart and your heart for us and we love you, Lord.  We thank you and as we’re still in this season, this longing for the arrival, we long for more of you.  We long for all of you.  We long for your return when all things will be made right.  So our prayer is come, we are waiting.  We are longing and even as we wait and even as we long, we reach toward you.  We walk with you.  We walk toward wholeness that you have offered us through your sacrifice so that we’re not waiting for something to happen, but we are participating in it happening as the book of Revelation that we’re reading right now shows us.  So come, Holy Spirit, we pray.  In the blessed and mighty name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website and it’s where you find out what is going on around here so check it out.  We’ve been talking about the More Gathering for the last couple of weeks. That is coming up in April and yeah, this is the 23rd, so there is still time for that to be on the Christmas list.  So if it has been something you have been kind of having in the back of your mind, thinking yeah, maybe I need to check that out, then check it out.  Www.DailyAudioBible.com.  You’ll find it and all of the details that you would want to know are there so look into it.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in this season and this kind of final stretch toward the end of the year, then I thank you humbly and truly for your partnership.  There is a link.  It is on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  If you use the app, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner of the app.  Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.  

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

And that’s it for today.  I love you. I’m Brian and I’ll be waiting for you on Christmas Eve, which is of course tomorrow.  

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hello brothers and sisters.  This is Justin S. from Sacramento, CA, giving my first call to the Daily Audio Bible. I’ve noticed a lot of calls about loneliness.  While we are a digital community, we are also people in real life and we should be connecting with each other.  You can connect with people on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page.  I would recommend starting local groups so that we could get together on a regular basis, maybe a couple times a week meet somewhere and listen to the Daily Audio Bible at like a coffee shop or something like that.  It would be great for everybody to be able to meet each other.  So anyway, I just wanted to say I love you all.  This has been a godsend to me and thank you, Brian and Jill and all the people working in the background.  We’ve got all of our prayer warriors who are just awesome. You are blessed and bless each other. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Bye.  

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family.  Today is Monday, December 19th and today I am calling to pray for Bonnie and Vivek.  Father God, I just pray over the judge, that he may grant mercy to Vivek.  Father God, you said who is a god like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? Father God, I pray that Vivek is your inheritance and Bonnie is your inheritance, Father God, for you, you are the God of all grace.  You called into eternal glory Christ after you have suffered a little while, that you will yourself restore him and make him strong, firm and steadfast, Father. In 1 Peter you said that for the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people and it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions.  And I pray for Vivek’s heart, Father God, that he lives in self-control, upright, and godly in this present age and that he forgets the friendships of his youth that led him astray, Father God.  And in Matthew 6:14, Father God, you said for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, Father God.  So I pray for the judge, that he grant mercy to Vivek, Father God, and you have also said, Father God, that remember, Lord, your great mercy and love for they are from old.  Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways, Father God.  According to you, to your love, remember me for you, Lord, are good.  Father God, I just lift up Vivek and Bonnie and the judge, Father God, that he has the grace, that he feels the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that be with God’s people and that he may be one of them that grants mercy to Vivek.  In Jesus’ mighty, mighty, and precious name I pray, amen.

Good morning, Daily Audio Bible.  This is John C. from Guntersville, AL.  I’m calling because I heard Joyce’s request yesterday.  What courage that girl has.  What a witness.  Joyce, go find a quiet place and wait for Jesus’ arms.  Thank you.

Hello everybody, this is Miguel from California.  I’ve been thinking and praying a lot for those that have called in that have been struggling with depression and especially loneliness. I’ve been thinking and praying for you guys a lot and I’ve been waiting on a word from the Lord to give to you and I believe I have it.  Two minutes isn’t enough for me to read this entire scripture, but I want to call your attention to 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 about the body of Christ.  I encourage you to open that and see what the Lord says about being part of the body which is this.  All people who are in Christ, you are part of the body. You are never alone. We are calling out the lie that the enemy has given you that you are alone.  You are never alone.  Even in hard times, in verse 26 of that passage says if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.  If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  But know that when you’re going through hard times, the body of Christ is mourning with you and walking with you through that and when you’re having good times, we’re right with you there as well.  Secondly, you can read Psalm 23, that even in verse 4 it says even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil.  Why?  For you are with me.  Jesus is with you.  We are with you.  And in verse 6, surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  None of you are ever alone.  The body of Christ is with you.  Jesus is with you.  May this empower you, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Hi DAB family.  This message is for all of the people who did not hear their names mentioned in 2016. I’m going to reference this to you. You are being prayed over.  You are being thanked over.  Anything that you have asked God to bring and do in your life, he is going to do it if he hasn’t already done it.  I want to tell you how much I love you, how much this community loves you.  I want to tell you that no matter what you’re going through, God is working behind the scenes.  It may seem impossible.  It may seem that it is just not going to happen, but God is working behind the scenes for you, for that husband that you’re praying God will bring you, for that wife you’re praying that God will give you, for those children you want to bear that God will do for you, for your financial, your mental, your physical, for healing of relationships, for restoring of relationships, for bringing that husband or that wife who left you back into your life.  God will do it if you believe and you claim it every day, no matter what your circumstances are.  Get up and thank God for all those things that he is doing in your life.  I thanked him for years to bring me a godly husband.  I thanked him for years to bring me a child and it didn’t happen when I did it, but it happened eventually.  So you have to claim your victory.  Help somebody else.  If you are down and out, just go out and even if it is just saying hello to somebody, how’s your day?  Step out of your own problems.  I encourage you to do this for 2017.  Brian and Jill Hardin, thank you.  Thank you, all the people behind the scenes at DAB who make this family happen.  I love you.  I pray that you have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.  2017 is your year.  It is for you.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Cheers! Asia from Munich.  

Hey guys, this prayer…  Well, it is not really a prayer, but this call is for Brother Santiago from Maryland, called in just talking about that sister who called in about going blind from malnutrition and all that.  Both of them calling.  I really appreciate you guys calling in.  Those are powerful.  Really, really thankful.  It upped my gratitude.  It’s really easy to just take it for granted and I definitely don’t want to do that, so I appreciate your calls.  And then also that other sister who called in earlier that same day.  Well, I’ll leave it for another day.  I appreciate you guys all calling in.  I appreciate it very much.  I’m praying with you guys.  I love you guys.  You’re not alone.  We’re in this together.  Thanks Brian, Jill, and family for this app.  God bless you guys.  Love you all. Talk to you later.  

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday December 23, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 4-5

Fifth Vision: Gold Lampstand

4 The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?”

I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand there with a bowl on its top. It has seven lamps on it and seven channels for each of[a] the lamps on its top. 3 There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

4 Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

5 “Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me.

I said, “No, my lord.”

6 So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,’(A) says the Lord of Hosts. 7 ‘What are you, great mountain?(B) Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain.(C) And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!’”

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me:(D) 9 “Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house,(E) and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. 10 For who scorns the day of small things?(F) These seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line[b] in Zerubbabel’s hand.”(G)

11 I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?” 12 And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold conduits, from which golden oil pours out?”

13 Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

14 “These are the two anointed ones,”[c](H) he said, “who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”(I)

Sixth Vision: Flying Scroll

5 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.(J) 2 “What do you see?” he asked me.

“I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “30 feet[d] long and 15 feet[e] wide.”(K)

3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse(L) that is going out over the whole land, for every thief will be removed according to what is written on one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be removed according to what is written on the other side. 4 I will send it out,”(M)—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It will stay inside his house and destroy it along with its timbers and stones.”(N)

Seventh Vision: Woman in the Basket

5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Look up and see what this is that is approaching.”

6 So I asked, “What is it?”

He responded, “It’s a measuring basket[f] that is approaching.” And he continued, “This is their iniquity[g] in all the land.” 7 Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman(O) sitting inside the basket.(P) 8 “This is Wickedness,” he said. He shoved her down into the basket and pushed the lead weight over its opening. 9 Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork,(Q) and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

10 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

11 “To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,”(R) he told me. “When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal.”

Footnotes:

  1. Zechariah 4:2 Or seven lips to
  2. Zechariah 4:10 Lit the tin stone
  3. Zechariah 4:14 = Joshua and Zerubbabel
  4. Zechariah 5:2 Lit 20 cubits
  5. Zechariah 5:2 Lit 10 cubits
  6. Zechariah 5:6 Lit It’s an ephah
  7. Zechariah 5:6 One Hb ms, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read eye

Cross references:

  1. 4:6 : Hs 1:7; Hg 2:4-5
  2. 4:7 : Mt 17:20; 21:21; 1Co 13:2
  3. 4:7 : Is 40:4
  4. 4:8 : Zch 6:9
  5. 4:9 : Ezr 3:8-11; 5:16
  6. 4:10 : Hg 2:3-4
  7. 4:10 : 2Ch 16:9; Ps 34:15; Pr 15:3; Am 9:8; 1Pt 3:12
  8. 4:14 : Jr 33:17-22
  9. 4:14 : Rv 11:3-4
  10. 5:1 : Ezk 2:9-10; Rv 5:1; 10:2
  11. 5:2 : Ex 26:15-25; 1Kg 6:3; 1Pt 4:17
  12. 5:3 : Dt 11:26-28; 28:15-68
  13. 5:4 : Ps 147:15; Is 55:11
  14. 5:4 : Ezr 6:11; Dn 2:5; 3:29
  15. 5:7 : Hs 9:15; Rv 17:1
  16. 5:7 : Lv 19:36; Dt 25:14; Pr 20:10; Ezk 45:10; Am 8:5
  17. 5:9 : Jr 8:7
  18. 5:11 : Gn 11:9
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Revelation 14

The Lamb and the 144,000

14 Then I looked, and there on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him were 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.(A) 2 I heard a sound[a] from heaven like the sound of cascading waters(B) and like the rumbling of loud thunder. The sound I heard was also like harpists playing on their harps.(C) 3 They sang[b] a new song(D) before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders,(E) but no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed[c] from the earth. 4 These are the ones not defiled with women, for they have kept their virginity.(F) These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were redeemed[d][e] from the human race as the firstfruits(G) for God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.(H)

The Proclamation of Three Angels

6 Then I saw another angel flying high overhead,(I) having the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.(J) 7 He spoke with a loud voice: “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

8 A second angel[f] followed, saying: “It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen,[g] who made all nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality,[h] which brings wrath.”(K)

9 And a third angel[i] followed them and spoke with a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger.(L) He will be tormented with fire and sulfur(M) in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb, 11 and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever.(N) There is no rest[j] day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or anyone who receives the mark of his name. 12 This demands the perseverance[k] of the saints,(O) who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus.”[l]

13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed.”(P)

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!”

Reaping the Earth’s Harvest

14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man[m](Q) was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 Another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying out in a loud voice to the One who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.”(R) 16 So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

17 Then another angel who also had a sharp sickle came out of the sanctuary in heaven. 18 Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from earth’s vineyard, because its grapes have ripened.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle toward earth and gathered the grapes from earth’s vineyard, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.(S) 20 Then the press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press up to the horses’ bridles for about 180 miles.[n](T)

Footnotes:

  1. Revelation 14:2 Or voice
  2. Revelation 14:3 Other mss add as it were
  3. Revelation 14:3 Or purchased
  4. Revelation 14:4 Other mss add by Jesus
  5. Revelation 14:4 Or purchased
  6. Revelation 14:8 Lit Another angel, a second
  7. Revelation 14:8 Other mss omit the second has fallen
  8. Revelation 14:8 Or wine of her passionate immorality
  9. Revelation 14:9 Lit Another angel, a third
  10. Revelation 14:11 Lit They have no rest
  11. Revelation 14:12 Lit Here is the perseverance
  12. Revelation 14:12 Or and faith in Jesus, or and faithfulness to Jesus
  13. Revelation 14:14 Or like a son of man
  14. Revelation 14:20 Lit 1,600 stadia

Cross references:

  1. 14:1 : Rv 3:12; 7:3; 13:16
  2. 14:2 : Ezk 1:24; 43:2; Rv 1:15; 19:6
  3. 14:2 : Rv 5:8
  4. 14:3 : Rv 5:9
  5. 14:3 : Rv 4:4, 6
  6. 14:4 : 1Sm 21:4-5
  7. 14:4 : Ex 23:19
  8. 14:5 : Zph 3:13
  9. 14:6 : Rv 8:13
  10. 14:6 : Rv 5:9; 7:9; 11:9; 13:7
  11. 14:8 : Is 21:9; Jr 51:7-8, 49; Rv 18:2
  12. 14:10 : Ps 75:8; Is 51:17; Jr 25:15-17
  13. 14:10 : Lk 17:29; Rv 20:10; 21:8
  14. 14:11 : Is 1:31; 34:10; 66:24; Rv 19:3
  15. 14:12 : Rv 13:10
  16. 14:13 : Rv 1:3; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14
  17. 14:14 : Dn 7:13; Lk 21:27; Rv 1:13
  18. 14:15 : Jl 3:13
  19. 14:19 : Rv 16:19; 19:15
  20. 14:20 : Is 63:1-6
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Psalm 142

Psalm 142

A Cry of Distress

A Davidic Maskil. When he was in the cave.(A) A prayer.

1 I cry aloud to the Lord;(B)
I plead aloud to the Lord for mercy.(C)
2 I pour out my complaint before Him;
I reveal my trouble to Him.(D)
3 Although my spirit is weak within me,
You know my way.(E)

Along this path I travel
they have hidden a trap for me.(F)
4 Look to the right and see:[a]
no one stands up for me;
there is no refuge for me;
no one cares about me.(G)

5 I cry to You, Lord;
I say, “You are my shelter,
my portion in the land of the living.”(H)
6 Listen to my cry,
for I am very weak.(I)
Rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.(J)
7 Free me from prison
so that I can praise Your name.
The righteous will gather around me
because You deal generously with me.(K)

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 142:4 DSS, LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg read I look to the right and I see

Cross references:

  1. 142:title : 1Sm 22:1; 24:3
  2. 142:1 : Ps 3:4; 77:1
  3. 142:1 : Ps 30:8
  4. 142:2 : Ps 77:2; 102 title
  5. 142:3 : Ps 77:3; 143:4
  6. 142:3 : Ps 140:5
  7. 142:4 : Ps 69:20; Jr 25:35
  8. 142:5 : Ps 16:5; 27:13
  9. 142:6 : Ps 79:8; 116:6
  10. 142:6 : Ps 18:17
  11. 142:7 : Ps 13:6; 143:11
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:21-23

21 The earth trembles under three things;
it cannot bear up under four:
22 a servant when he becomes king,(A)
a fool when he is stuffed with food,
23 an unloved woman when she marries,(B)
and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

Cross references:

  1. 30:22 : Pr 19:10; Ec 10:7
  2. 30:23 : Gn 29:30-31; Dt 21:15
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

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12/22/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 2:1-3:10 ~ Revelation 13:2-18 ~ Psalm 141:1-10 ~ Proverbs 30:18-20

Today is the 22nd day of December.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  Oh my goodness, we are in the final countdown toward Christmas Day now.  I’m excited for the festivities of it and the joy that is contained in it, the wonder and the mystery that God came to be with us. We can get overwhelmed in the festivities when the simple truth can be seen by those who actually maybe even dread the holidays because it doesn’t look like everyone else, or that is the perception, when the reality of the holiday is that God is with us.  Like the psalmist was saying in our reading previous to this – where can I go from your Spirit?  This idea of being alone on the holiday, yeah, that is not real.  That is not a reality.  We are not alone because God has come to be with us.  The whole point of the word Emmanuel, the whole point of this holiday, may we hold onto that even as we move into the scriptures for today.  

We’re reading from the book of Zechariah that we began yesterday and we’ll be kind of camping out in here for a little bit.  We’ll continue forward, reading from the Holman Christian Bible this week, Zechariah chapter 2 verse 1 through 3 verse 10.  

Commentary

Okay, so there is some incredible advice contained in the prayer in the book of Psalms today that really lands this time of year.  We’re a couple days out from Christmas, which means you may be about to travel or you may be about to host family that is traveling in. There may be any number of things going on now and you get together with everybody you grew up with but who are now adults and have families of their own or have moved to other parts of the country and are living different lives and somehow everything gets all jumbled together.  It’s like a time warp and you go back all those years to when you were kids and any number of things can start, all the little idiosyncrasies of different generations and all this kind of stuff, and before you know it, volatile things are being said, things that are pregnant and waiting to birth a bad day.  The psalmist gives us words for that and a prayer for that and a choice to be made now ahead of time before it ever gets started in the first place.  

Lord, set up a guard for my mouth. Keep watch at the door of my lips. Do not let my heart turn to any evil thing or perform wicked acts with men who commit sin.  Do not let me feast on their delicacies.  Let the righteous one strike me.  That is an act of faithful love.  Let him rebuke me.  It is oil for my head.  Let me not refuse it.  

Prayer

Father, we give authority over our mouths, our tongues, the words that form down deep in the soul of ourselves and then are formed up through our mouth and spit out into the world and can’t be unsaid.  We give that to you now.  We even give our inner monologue, the things that we’re not saying out loud, that we’re governing but are there in our hearts, we give that to you.  

This is a season that reveals your unwillingness to remain separated from us, that you want to be with us and we want to be with you in all things.  May we represent you well in this season in all of the gatherings that will be taking place, millions of them, millions and millions of them around the world.  May we be a light.  May we shine the kingdom’s brightness through our homes and every step we take. Wherever we are may it be holy ground because you are there within us and you have not been inhibited in any way by our own foolish choices or foolish choices of words.  Come Jesus.  We need you in this.  Come, we pray in your holy name.  Amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base.  It’s the website.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here.  All the connections that can be made you can find them at www.DailyAudioBible.com if you just look around.  So check that out.  Be sure to stay tapped in.  Check out the prayer wall.  People are always praying for each other there.  There are just lots of ways to make a connection, so be sure to check that out.  

The More Gathering is another thing we’ve been mentioning.  There is certainly still time for that last minute Christmas idea and it is bigger than an idea.  It can be life-changing.  That is not just talk.  I’ve seen it with my own eyes which is why we continue to do it.  It’s an incredible amount of effort and requires a great team to do it and it is just a lot of work on behalf of the hearts of the women who come, but I’ve seen with my own eyes that it is worth it.  So check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  You’ll find it very easily, everything you would want to know.  So we have the advance registration pricing and that will end at the end of the year.  Be sure to give it a look over and some prayerful consideration.  So that can be found at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com where everything else can be found. Thank you humbly, deeply, really from my heart.  Thank you that we can be this community for each other.  So the link is on the home page.  You can find it in the app by pushing the More button in the lower right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Good morning everybody.  This is Alicia from Kansas.  Today I believe is December 18th and I just wanted to call and give a praise report.  I thank you all for praying for my daughter Keegan.  I had out of a mother’s anger and a mother’s heart divulged something to her father wanting to blame him and we are not married, but I broke her trust. I called in and asked for prayer for this and I just wanted to tell you all that Keegan and I have been talking. She has walked away from our Lord but that doesn’t matter.  The fact that I can still be a light in her life and that I’m able to…  There was a time in my life when I was a cruel, self-centered, self-seeking, self-pleasing alcoholic and today I can humble myself and admit that I did wrong and it was uncomfortable but praise God.  Thank you all for your prayers.  I’m listening to the prayer line right now and halfway through and realized listening to all the prayers and all that moms that are hurting for their wayward children that I needed to call in with my praise report. The Lord is faithful even though we are not faithful.  We don’t always get the answer that we want, but I know that my identity does not lie in my children.  It lies in who I am in Christ Jesus.  For you moms out there that are hurting, lean into him.  Grow into him.  He is our Abba Daddy, our Father, and he is our Bridegroom.  He is the best husband of all.  So just wanted to call and say that.  I hope everybody has a blessed week and look forward to listening to Brian tomorrow.  Alright, be blessed.  Bye-bye.

Hi DAB family.  My name is Beloved by the Beach.  This is my second call.  I’ve been a listener since the beginning of this year and honestly wept the first time I heard the prayer line.  The love that people have for each other that they’ve never meet and may never meet, it is truly overwhelming and such a lovely, wonderful example of the kingdom of God.  I’m calling today to encourage people who haven’t called who want to call to call.  One woman mentioned she was hesitant to call because she is a crybaby.  Evidently I’m a crybaby too.  There are lots of us.  Nobody is going to be able to pray for you if they don’t hear what you need.  As somebody who struggles like they are constantly on the outside, I found a family here.  I pray along with you all.  I especially pray for the names that I haven’t heard frequently because when I first started listening the devil was whispering in my ear that it was all the same people being mentioned and prayed for which simply isn’t true.  So I would like to encourage everybody out there who is hurting or lonely or just has a simple need, a physical need, an emotional need, to call in today and let us pray for you and know that people are praying for you across time lines, across the world.  In Jesus’ name, let all our prayers be heard.  God bless you all.  Amen.

Help me, Lord, upon this day to be more Christ-like in every way.  Help me choose the right words to say while at work and while at play.  Help me pray and talk to you.  Help me choose the right things to do.  Help my whole life become brand new.  Draw me always, Lord, closer to you.  Renew my strength when I feel weak.  Cleanse my heart and guide my feet.  Purify the things I seek.  Keep me humble.  Keep me meek. Guard my hands from things they touch. I seek your Spirit very much. Forgive me, Lord, when I don’t do right.  Help me fight the good Christian fight in the day as well as night.  Help me always to seek thy light.  Help me never to be too proud to say I’m trying to live in a Christ-like way.  And if I fail and start to sin, take me back Lord.  Please take me back.  BlindTony1016@gmail.com.  I would like to give a shout-out to Rumbii.  Hope all is going well with you and your family.  And Mark B. and Troy N., my friends down under.  Yeah, and my other Mark too.  I forgot about my other Mark too, Mark P.  Yeah.  Happy holidays to all of you.  Once again, my thanks to the Hardin family.  Love to the entire DAB community.  Happy holidays.  Alright. Bye-bye. Keep it flowing, y’all.  

Hey family.  This is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA, calling in with another prayer that I hope uplifts someone today.  The title of this prayer is You Came as a Babe.  Let’s pray, family.  Dear Jesus, Blessed Savior, we thank you so much that you came to this world in human form. You didn’t come dome from the heavens as a Spirit for us to see falling from the sky.  You came from the most precious place that a human being can come from.  You came from the womb of a woman.  You came being formed as a human being.  You came as a babe to come and save us.  You grew up as a child with the wonders of the world in your hand, knowing that someday you would be on the cross, knowing that someday you would die for all of our sins, knowing that someday you would be at the feet of your own Father, just asking him to forgive us.  Lord, we thank you so very much that you came to us this way.  You came to us as a man who can feel.  You came to us as a man who could bleed.  You came to us as a man who could love.  You came to us as a man who would correct us and guide us and lead us in the way we’re supposed to go.  Thank you Heavenly Father.  Thank you Lord go for sending your son to us in this form that we could know the passion that was in his heart for his people.  We thank you so much for blessing us with this gift that we can’t even imagine that someone would give us.  We thank you so much, dear God.  We thank you so much dear God.  We praise and bless your holy name, dear Father.  In the blessed name of your son Jesus Christ I pray, amen.  Family, have a great holiday and please say Merry Christmas. Thank you.  Bye-bye.  

Hi, this is Bill Behrman.  Been a long time since I’ve called.  Many things have happened.  But first of all, I want to thank all of you that have prayed so faithfully for me.  I went back to Uganda.  I got a septic infection.  Died twice and ended up here in the States again after being medevaced at a rehab center. Now I’m pretty well okay, still having some trouble with eating with my arms, but other than that, everything seems to be okay.  But thank you so much for praying for me.  I pray, Lord, you bless everyone that is praying and thank you so much.  Lord bless.  

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday December 22, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 2-3

Third Vision: Surveyor

2 [a]I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”

3 Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him. 4 He said to him, “Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the number of people and livestock in it.”(A) 5 The declaration of the Lord: “I will be a wall(B) of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it.”

6 “Get up! Leave the land of the north”(C)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 7 “Go, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.” 8 For the Lord of Hosts says this: “He has sent Me[b] for His glory against the nations who are plundering you, for anyone who touches you touches the pupil[c] of His[d] eye. 9 I will move against them with My[e] power, and they will become plunder for their own servants.(D) Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me.[f]

10 “Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become My[g] people.(E) I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me[h] to you. 12 The Lord will take possession of Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will once again choose Jerusalem.(F) 13 Let all people be silent(G) before the Lord, for He is coming from His holy dwelling.”

Fourth Vision: High Priest and Branch

3 Then he showed me Joshua(H) the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord,(I) with Satan[i](J) standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord[j] said to Satan: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”(K)

3 Now Joshua was dressed with filthy[k] clothes(L) as he stood before the Angel.(M) 4 So the Angel of the Lord[l] spoke to those[m] standing before Him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then He said to him, “See, I have removed your guilt from you,(N) and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”

5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban(O) on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him in garments while the Angel of the Lord was standing nearby.

6 Then the Angel of the Lord charged Joshua: 7 “This is what the Lord of Hosts says: If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, you will both rule My house and take care of My courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

8 “Listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your colleagues sitting before you; indeed, these men are a sign that I am about to bring My servant, the Branch.(P) 9 Notice the stone(Q) I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes.(R) I will engrave an inscription on it”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and I will take away the guilt of this land in a single day. 10 On that day, each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree.”(S) This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

Footnotes:

  1. Zechariah 2:1 Zch 2:5 in Hb
  2. Zechariah 2:8 Or me
  3. Zechariah 2:8 Or apple
  4. Zechariah 2:8 Ancient Jewish tradition reads My
  5. Zechariah 2:9 Or my
  6. Zechariah 2:9 Or me
  7. Zechariah 2:11 LXX, Syr read His
  8. Zechariah 2:11 Or me
  9. Zechariah 3:1 Or the adversary
  10. Zechariah 3:2 Syr reads The Angel of the Lord
  11. Zechariah 3:3 Probably stained with human excrement
  12. Zechariah 3:4 Lit He
  13. Zechariah 3:4 = the angels

Cross references:

  1. 2:4 : Is 49:19; Jr 31:27; Ezk 36:11
  2. 2:5 : Is 26:1
  3. 2:6 : Jr 6:22; 10:22; 50:9
  4. 2:9 : Is 11:15; 19:16
  5. 2:10-11 : Ps 47:9; Is 42:6; Mc 4:2
  6. 2:12 : 2Ch 6:6; Zch 1:17; 3:2
  7. 2:13 : Hab 2:20
  8. 3:1 : Hg 1:1, 12, 14; 2:4; Zch 6:11
  9. 3:1 : Gn 16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-16; 31:11-13
  10. 3:1 : 1Ch 21:1; Jb 1:6-12; Rv 12:10
  11. 3:2 : Dt 4:20; Am 4:11
  12. 3:3 : Dt 23:13; Is 4:4
  13. 3:3 : Lv 22:3
  14. 3:4 : 2Sm 24:10; Jb 7:21; Mc 7:18
  15. 3:5 : Ex 28:36-38
  16. 3:8 : Is 4:2; 11:1; Jr 23:5; 33:15; Ezk 17:22-24; Zch 6:12
  17. 3:9 : Ps 118:22-23; Is 8:14; 28:16; Dn 2:35, 45; Zch 4:10; Rv 5:6
  18. 3:9 : Zch 4:10
  19. 3:10 : 1Kg 4:25; 2Kg 18:31; Mc 4:1-8
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Revelation 13

The Beast from the Sea

13 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.(A) He[a] had 10 horns and seven heads. On his horns were 10 diadems,(B) and on his heads were blasphemous names.[b](C) 2 The beast I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth was like a lion’s mouth.(D) The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 One of his heads appeared to be fatally wounded,[c] but his fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.[d](E) 4 They worshiped the dragon(F) because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast?(G) Who is able to wage war against him?”

5 A mouth was given to him to speak boasts and blasphemies.(H) He was also given authority to act[e][f] for 42 months.(I) 6 He began to speak[g] blasphemies against God: to blaspheme His name and His dwelling—those who dwell in heaven. 7 And he was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. He was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.(J) 8 All those who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book[h] of life(K) of the Lamb who was slaughtered.[i](L)

9 If anyone has an ear, he should listen:(M)

10 If anyone is destined for captivity,
into captivity he goes.
If anyone is to be killed[j] with a sword,
with a sword he will be killed.(N)

This demands the perseverance[k] and faith of the saints.(O)

The Beast from the Earth

11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb,[l](P) but he sounded like a dragon. 12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast on his behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 He also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people. 14 He deceives those who live on the earth(Q) because of the signs that he is permitted to perform on behalf of the beast,(R) telling those who live on the earth to make an image[m] of the beast who had the sword wound and yet lived. 15 He was permitted to give a spirit[n] to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he requires everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark[o] on his right hand or on his forehead,(S) 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom:[p](T) The one who has understanding must calculate[q] the number of the beast, because it is the number of a man.[r] His number is 666.[s]

Footnotes:

  1. Revelation 13:1 The beasts in Rv 13:1,11 are customarily referred to as “he” or “him” rather than “it.” The Gk word for a beast (therion) is grammatically neuter.
  2. Revelation 13:1 Other mss read heads was a blasphemous name
  3. Revelation 13:3 Lit be slain to death
  4. Revelation 13:3 Lit amazed after the beast
  5. Revelation 13:5 Other mss read wage war
  6. Revelation 13:5 Or to rule
  7. Revelation 13:6 Lit He opened his mouth in
  8. Revelation 13:8 Or scroll
  9. Revelation 13:8 Or written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered from the foundation of the world
  10. Revelation 13:10 Other mss read anyone kills
  11. Revelation 13:10 Lit Here is the perseverance
  12. Revelation 13:11 Or ram
  13. Revelation 13:14 Or statue, or likeness
  14. Revelation 13:15 Or give breath, or give life
  15. Revelation 13:16 Or stamp, or brand
  16. Revelation 13:18 Or This calls for wisdom
  17. Revelation 13:18 Or count, or figure out
  18. Revelation 13:18 Or is a man’s number, or is the number of a person
  19. Revelation 13:18 Other Gk mss read 616

Cross references:

  1. 13:1 : Dn 7:3
  2. 13:1 : Rv 12:3
  3. 13:1 : Rv 17:3
  4. 13:2 : Dn 7:4-6
  5. 13:3 : Rv 17:8
  6. 13:4 : Rv 12:3
  7. 13:4 : Ex 15:11; Is 46:5
  8. 13:5 : Dn 7:8, 11, 20
  9. 13:5 : Rv 11:2
  10. 13:7 : Rv 5:9; 7:9; 11:9; 14:6
  11. 13:8 : Ex 32:32-33; Ps 69:28; Php 4:3; Rv 3:5; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27
  12. 13:8 : 1Pt 1:19-20
  13. 13:9 : Rv 2:7
  14. 13:10 : Jr 15:2
  15. 13:10 : Rv 14:12
  16. 13:11 : Dn 8:3
  17. 13:14 : Rv 12:9
  18. 13:14 : 2Th 2:9-12
  19. 13:16 : Rv 14:1
  20. 13:18 : Rv 17:9
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Psalm 141

Psalm 141

Protection from Sin and Sinners

A Davidic psalm.

1 Lord, I call on You; hurry to help me.
Listen to my voice when I call on You.(A)
2 May my prayer be set before You as incense,(B)
the raising of my hands as the evening offering.(C)

3 Lord, set up a guard for my mouth;
keep watch at the door of my lips.(D)
4 Do not let my heart turn to any evil thing
or perform wicked acts
with men who commit sin.
Do not let me feast on their delicacies.(E)
5 Let the righteous one strike me—
it is an act of faithful love;
let him rebuke me—
it is oil for my head;
let me[a] not refuse it.(F)
Even now my prayer is against
the evil acts of the wicked.[b](G)
6 When their rulers[c] will be thrown off
the sides of a cliff,
the people[d] will listen to my words,
for they are pleasing.(H)

7 As when one plows and breaks up the soil,
turning up rocks,
so our[e] bones have been scattered
at the mouth of Sheol.(I)

8 But my eyes look to You, Lord God.
I seek refuge in You; do not let me die.[f](J)
9 Protect me from[g] the trap they have set for me,
and from the snares of evildoers.(K)
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by safely.(L)

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 141:5 Lit my head
  2. Psalm 141:5 Lit of them
  3. Psalm 141:6 Or judges
  4. Psalm 141:6 Lit cliff, and they
  5. Psalm 141:7 DSS reads my; some LXX mss, Syr read their
  6. Psalm 141:8 Or not pour out my life
  7. Psalm 141:9 Lit from the hands of

Cross references:

  1. 141:1 : Ps 22:19; 38:22; 70:5
  2. 141:2 : Ex 30:8
  3. 141:2 : Lk 1:10; Rv 5:8; 8:3-4
  4. 141:3 : Ps 34:13; 39:1; Pr 13:3; Mc 7:5
  5. 141:4 : Ps 119:36; Pr 23:6; Is 32:6
  6. 141:5 : Ec 7:5; Gl 6:1
  7. 141:5 : Ps 109:4
  8. 141:6 : 2Ch 25:12
  9. 141:7 : Ps 53:5; 88:3-5
  10. 141:8 : Ps 7:1; 57:1; 144:2
  11. 141:9 : Ps 38:12; 140:5
  12. 141:10 : Ps 7:15; 35:8; 57:6
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:18-20

18 Three things are beyond me;
four I can’t understand:
19 the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship at sea,
and the way of a man with a young woman.

20 This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”(A)

Cross references:

  1. 30:20 : Pr 28:24; 1Jn 1:8
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

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12/21/2016 DAB Transcript

Zechariah 1:1-21 ~ Revelation 12:1-13:1 ~ Psalm 140:1-13 ~ Proverbs 30:17

Today is December 21ST.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here.  It’s always great to be here and it’s especially great to be here during the busyness of Christmas week but the joy of Christmas week.  

So we’ve been moving really quickly.  Even as our year speeds up, we’ve been moving quickly through different books, especially the books of minor prophesy.  They are shorter.  And then some of the letters in the New Testament are shorter and so we’ve kind of blazed our way all the way through the New Testament and are rooted in the book of Revelation, obviously, through the end of the year.  But today we come to the second to the last book of the Old Testament and we’ll kind of camp out here until just the last couple of days of the year – the book of Zechariah.    

Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)

The book of Zechariah was written during the reign of the Persian King Darius, so this falls within the same general time period that Haggai which we read yesterday was written.  So Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries with each other.  

Within the first couple of verses Zechariah reiterates what is a central theme of the entire Old Testament – return to me, God says, and I will return to you.  Throughout this book of prophesy God confirms his acceptance of authentic worship and it shows God at work.  It confirms once again God’s sovereignty and clarifies his control over the beginnings and endings of man.  This is not to say that he usurps a person’s will.  Everyone is responsible for their choices, but God is sovereign.

So as we begin and enter into the book of Zechariah, there are 8 different visions and then 2 oracles contained in this book.  Much of the imagery is clear and beautiful and just a wonderful foreshadowing of Jesus, so contained in these visions and throughout the imagery in them, we’re offered unbelievable hope and promise.  

So, reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, we begin the book of Zechariah chapter 1 verses 1 through 21 today.  

Prayer

Father, even as we move into the book of Zechariah and we hear the recurring theme come back, come back to me.  Return to me and I will return to you, we ask that you plant that one so deep in our lives that we can never forget it, that at any point in our lives that we feel like we have drifted or shifted we can remember this –  return to me and I will return to you.  May this be the opening volley of any day.  As we open our eyes and call upon your name,  may we remember to walk with you, to return to you and you return to us.  We pray along with the psalmist:  Rescue us, Lord, from evil around us.  Protect us, Lord, from the clutches of the wicked.  You are our God.  There is no other hope.  So we hide ourselves in you fully, completely, uninhibited, naked and unashamed before you.  We fully return to you and not partially and try to just shine ourselves up so we’re in good standing.  We want to be lost in you with no way to know where we begin and you end and vice versa. We are intertwined.  We are of you.  We are for you.  We are with you in all things.  Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here and it is how you stay connected. Every way to connect, whether it be on social media or through the website or however, that can all be found at www.DailyAudioBible.com so be sure to check that out and see what is going on and make connections with others who are going through the Bible with you.  

Looking at the calendar counting the days to Christmas, I just realized this would have been my parents’ anniversary.  This would have been their 54th anniversary.  Of course, my father, he passed many years ago.  My mom is not doing so great and maybe that is what brought it…  It’s a bunny trail.  Sorry to divert into a bunny trail.  I just saw the date on the calendar just now, talking and realized this would have been… So yeah, it would have been their anniversary, which has nothing to do with Christmas or nothing to do with the Daily Audio Bible, but it has something to do with me, so just sharing it with you.  

But anyway, www.DailyAudioBible.com, that is the website and if you want partner with the Daily Audio Bible, that is really where to go.  If Daily Audio Bible has been a life-giving source and the community has been helpful, then thank you for your partnership here at the end of the year.  The website, that is the place to go, but if you use the app, you can push the More button. And if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.  

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

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

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hey family, it’s Jordan from Michigan.  I’m calling because God entered Byron from Florida and directed him to send me a message, which I heard on December 17th.  I just want to thank you, brother, for heeding God’s call and for really inspiring me.  When I heard it I cried and I felt a new sense of life coming right through me, so thank you.  I will start beginning my 30-day challenge one again, day 15.  Recently God has been putting some new friends in my life to help me with my loneliness because after my best friend passed away, I haven’t had any friends, so it has been nice to have some new friends and even though my life is a mess, I have something there for me to be thankful for.  Please, family, continue to pray for me as I go through a very serious bout of depression and as I try to get a sign from the Lord of whether or not I should be staying at this school.  I have been looking for other jobs, so thank you, family. I love you.  Goodbye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Cheryl in Arizona.  I had to stop the community prayer.  I have been listening for about the last 40 minutes and I just heard Patricia from New Orleans, LA call in and I just was completely overwhelmed by her request and her call and I just want to say, Patricia, that I appreciate your call. Thank you for the opportunity, as with just all of you to pray.  Whether I call in or not, I am definitely praying for you all.  Patricia, I heard you say that you need prayer in all aspects of your life and I was praying for you before I called and I will continue. And also I didn’t quite get your daughter’s name, but I know you said she lost her job and you were asking for prayers for her to find another job.  I do pray.  I know that the Lord hears you and all of you.  My heart was so moved with compassion and I just want to say that you’re a blessing.  All of you are.  I thank God for this community and this family and Patricia, may every need that you have, both spoken and unspoken, be met by the one who created you, who knows your frame and your heart and knows every need, including your sphere of influence and your daughter.  I pray these things and I bless you all and I love you all so much.  In the name of Jesus.  Alright, bye-bye.  And Merry Christmas to you all, too.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community.  This is David in Kansas.  It is December 17th.  This is my prayer for healing.  Please pray with me.  Merciful Father, Almighty God, Blessed Lord Jesus, we come before you to pray healing over the members of our community, those that surround our community, those who hear the prayers of our community.  We ask for full, complete, miraculous healing and give you nothing but praise.  Lord, today I want to lift up Mark N. in Florida.  He called.  His cousin Chuck N. is going to have to have heart surgery.  We’re lifting Chuck up to you, Lord, and asking you to pour out healing and to guide the surgeons as they work on his heart.  Pastor Gene called saying that she has had chronic pain for quite a while, but may have finally discovered a reason and possibly a treatment for the chronic pain, so we’re lifting that up to and asking that this be taken care of, one less thing that she will have to worry about.  Shelly from Missouri asked for prayers for her granddaughter who is 10 and hospitalized with severe mental issues. It seems almost even as if something has possessed her, taken over her and is just affecting her mind and causing her to not act as she should, so we’re asking you for a miracle to be poured out upon this little girl for her to be restored to her family.  There was a woman who called.  Her son had hit his head and was having trouble remembering things. We’re asking for healing of that. Homeward Bound called.  Prayer for Vickie’s husband Paul who was in the head-on collision.  He is in critical but stable condition.  We are lifting up a big praise but a small praise, obviously, where we want him to be healed from this terrible collision, but there was no brain or spinal injury and we’re lifting that up to you, Lord, so hopefully he can heal and get back to normal.  That is what I have today, family.  Thank you for praying with me.  I love you. Goodbye.  

Hi family.  This is Sandy in New Hampshire again.  I’m totally embarrassed and red-faced.  I was trying to go back and fix this.  Oh, okay. It didn’t work, but I want to reach out to people that are in pain and people who are in painful situations and people who are on the verge of giving up.  You have a hard something in front of you that is like a stone, but if you could realize that before God it is just a little grain of sand.  Don’t give up.  Don’t give up.  Don’t give up.  Remember the reason for the season is Jesus.  Jesus is all those good things that people are trying to fill under Christmas trees and Jesus wants to fill everything in our hearts for good, so I want us to just realize that there is peace and rest in his presence and my prayer is that God will fill us with his presence so that the gifts we give of his presence is impactful.  I’m praying for people who are in tight spots, who just don’t know which way to go. I’ve heard people that just break my heart.  The grandma who can’t go to somebody’s house because of drinking.  Grandma, your presence is needed there.  Don’t not go to Christmas because of the mess.  Go and be that light for your grandkids.  And love on them.  Love on them.  I want you to know I’m praying for you.  God bless you.  It is just one week until the presence of Jesus is revealed, to the Lord in our celebrations.  May we reflect.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Dorothy calling and on my heart all week has been the word reconciliation and I know at this time of year we think about this.  There are so many people that come to mind, those we have hurt, those who have hurt us, and maybe justly or unjustly, things that were said or done.  Maybe it was imagined and maybe it was real, but God knows all those things and to the degree that it depends on us, I pray that we would reach out to those, even if it is hard, because God did this for us and this is the scripture that God gave me today.  Therefore anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.  The old has gone.  The new has come.  All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God would reconcile the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them as he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  So at this time of the year when we think about loved ones and it is so hard sometimes to reach out, I just pray that we would.  And I hear your prayers and I pray for you all every day and I pray God’s blessing upon all of you and a very Merry Christmas.  Amen.  Bye family. Love you.  

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday December 21, 2016 (NIV)

Zechariah 1

A Plea for Repentance

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius,(A) the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah(B) son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: 2 “The Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors. 3 So tell the people: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Return to Me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. 4 Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.(C) But they did not listen or pay attention to Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 5 “Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever? 6 But didn’t My words and My statutes that I commanded My servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? They repented and said: As the Lord of Hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so He has dealt with us.”(D)

The Night Visions

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

First Vision: Horsemen

8 I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

11 They reported to the Angel of the Lord standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”(E)

12 Then the Angel of the Lord responded, “How long, Lord of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that You have been angry with these 70 years?”(F) 13 The Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

14 So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The Lord of Hosts says: I am extremely jealous(G) for Jerusalem and Zion. 15 I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made it worse. 16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; My house will be rebuilt within it”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

17 “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”(H)

Second Vision: Four Horns and Craftsmen

18 [a]Then I looked up and saw four horns. 19 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”

And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, “What are they coming to do?”

He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Footnotes:

  1. Zechariah 1:18 Zch 2:1 in Hb

Cross references:

  1. 1:1 : Zch 7:1
  2. 1:1 : Ezr 5:1; 6:14
  3. 1:4 : 2Kg 17:13; 2Ch 7:14; Ezk 33:9, 11
  4. 1:6 : Jr 51:12; Lm 2:17; Zch 8:14-15
  5. 1:11 : Jos 11:23; Jdg 5:31; Is 14:7
  6. 1:12 : Jr 25:11-12; 29:10
  7. 1:14 : Ex 20:5; 34:14; Dt 5:9
  8. 1:17 : 2Ch 6:6; Is 40:1; Zch 2:12
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Revelation 12:1-17

The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon

12 A great sign[a] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.(A) 2 She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign[b] appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns,(B) and on his heads were seven diadems.[c] 4 His tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth.(C) And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth he might devour her child. 5 But she gave birth to a Son—a male who is going to shepherd[d] all nations with an iron scepter(D)—and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God,(E) to be fed there[e] for 1,260 days.(F)

The Dragon Thrown Out of Heaven

7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael(G) and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, 8 but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent,(H) who is called the Devil[f] and Satan,[g](I) the one who deceives the whole world.(J) He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Messiah
have now come,
because the accuser(K) of our brothers
has been thrown out:
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night.
11 They conquered him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not love their lives
in the face of death.(L)
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe to the earth and the sea,
for the Devil has come down to you
with great fury,
because he knows he has a short time.

The Woman Persecuted

13 When the dragon saw that he had been thrown to earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent’s presence to her place in the wilderness, where she was fed for a time, times, and half a time.[h](M) 15 From his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river flowing after the woman, to sweep her away in a torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. 17 So the dragon was furious with the woman and left to wage war(N) against the rest of her offspring[i]—those who keep God’s commands and have the testimony about Jesus.(O)

Footnotes:

  1. Revelation 12:1 Or great symbolic display; see Rv 12:3
  2. Revelation 12:3 Or another symbolic display
  3. Revelation 12:3 Or crowns
  4. Revelation 12:5 Or rule
  5. Revelation 12:6 Lit God, that they might feed her there
  6. Revelation 12:9 In Gk, diabolos means slanderer.
  7. Revelation 12:9 In Hb, Satan means adversary.
  8. Revelation 12:14 This expression, occurring in Dn 7:25; 12:7, = 3½ years or 42 months (Rv 11:2; 13:5) or 1,260 days (Rv 11:3).
  9. Revelation 12:17 Or seed

Cross references:

  1. 12:1 : Gn 37:9-10
  2. 12:3 : Dn 7:7
  3. 12:4 : Dn 8:10
  4. 12:5 : Ps 2:7-9; Rv 19:15
  5. 12:6 : 1Kg 19:3-8
  6. 12:6 : Dn 12:11; Rv 11:3; 12:14; 13:5
  7. 12:7 : Dn 10:13, 21; 12:1
  8. 12:9 : Gn 3:1
  9. 12:9 : Lk 10:18; Rm 16:20; Rv 2:9; 3:9; 20:2, 7
  10. 12:9 : 1Tm 5:15
  11. 12:10 : Jb 1:9-11; Zch 3:1
  12. 12:11 : Jn 12:25
  13. 12:14 : Dn 7:25; 12:7; Rv 11:2; 13:5
  14. 12:17 : Rv 11:7; 13:7
  15. 12:17 : Rv 1:2, 9; 19:10; 20:4
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Psalm 140

Psalm 140

Prayer for Rescue

For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.

1 Rescue me, Lord, from evil men.
Keep me safe from violent men(A)
2 who plan evil in their hearts.
They stir up wars all day long.(B)
3 They make their tongues
as sharp as a snake’s bite;
viper’s venom is under their lips.(C)Selah

4 Protect me, Lord,
from the clutches of the wicked.(D)
Keep me safe from violent men
who plan to make me stumble.[a](E)
5 The proud hide a trap with ropes for me;
they spread a net along the path
and set snares for me.(F)Selah

6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
Listen, Lord, to my cry for help.(G)
7 Lord God, my strong Savior,
You shield my head on the day of battle.(H)
8 Lord, do not grant the desires of the wicked;
do not let them achieve their goals.
Otherwise, they will become proud.(I)Selah

9 When those who surround me rise up,[b]
may the trouble their lips cause overwhelm them.(J)
10 Let hot coals fall on them.
Let them be thrown into the fire,
into the abyss, never again to rise.(K)
11 Do not let a slanderer stay in the land.
Let evil relentlessly[c] hunt down a violent man.(L)

12 I[d] know that the Lord upholds
the just cause of the poor,
justice for the needy.(M)
13 Surely the righteous will praise Your name;
the upright will live in Your presence.(N)

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 140:4 Lit to trip up my steps
  2. Psalm 140:9 Lit Head of those who surround me
  3. Psalm 140:11 Hb obscure
  4. Psalm 140:12 Alt Hb tradition reads You

Cross references:

  1. 140:1 : Ps 18:48; 71:4
  2. 140:2 : Ps 36:4; 56:6; Pr 6:14
  3. 140:3 : Ps 58:4; Rm 3:13; Jms 3:8
  4. 140:4 : Ps 71:4
  5. 140:4 : Ps 36:11
  6. 140:5 : Ps 35:7; 141:9; 142:3
  7. 140:6 : Ps 31:14; 130:2
  8. 140:7 : Ps 28:8; 118:14
  9. 140:8 : Ps 10:2-3
  10. 140:9 : Ps 7:16; Pr 18:7
  11. 140:10 : Ps 11:6; 36:12
  12. 140:11 : Ps 34:21
  13. 140:12 : 1Kg 8:45, 49; Ps 9:4; 82:3
  14. 140:13 : Ps 11:7; 64:10
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 30:17

17 As for the eye that ridicules a father(A)
and despises obedience to a mother,
may ravens of the valley pluck it out
and young vultures eat it.(B)

Cross references:

  1. 30:17 : Gn 9:22
  2. 30:17 : Dt 28:26
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

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12/20/2016 DAB Transcript

Haggai 1:1-2:23 ~ Revelation 11:1-19 ~ Psalm 139:1-24 ~ Proverbs 30:15-16

Today is December 20th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian and it’s a pleasure to be here with you as we’re kind of celebrating and moving through Christmas week.  It’s hard to believe but I don’t even want to get into that.  I’ve been saying that at the beginning of every month this year. It’s been a really interesting year that I’m sure we’ll get a chance to talk about before it’s over.  But right now, in all of the craziness that Christmas week can bring, we have this oasis that has been given to us, this global campfire that burns and burns and burns and we all come in out of the cold and warm ourselves and have time together and have time with God in his word.  So let’s move to that.

We’ve been moving at a fast pace through the minor prophets and we’re going to kind of continue with that and read another of the minor prophets in their entirety and then tomorrow we’ll kind of begin to slow things down and pace ourselves toward the end of the year.  

Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)

So we’ve come to the book of Haggai.  Judah was carried away into exile by the Babylonians and it was terrible. We’ve gone through the whole story. It was a terrible time of great sorrow, perhaps the lowest moment for the children of Israel in all of the Bible. This is about 540 BC.  Cyrus, king of Persia, invaded and then conquered Babylon and in 538, a couple years later, he issued a decree allowing native Israelites to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple and worship their God and rebuild their culture.  This was obviously a day they had been waiting for, obviously a great day of liberation for God’s people.  The book of Haggai comes about 18 years into that process.  

It is a snapshot that is immensely relevant to us today because it takes a hard look at motivations.  Through the prophetic words of Haggai, God challenges his people about what matters most to them and God also offers hopeful promises to those who will take courage, even though they have grown weary because of the realization that Jerusalem and the temple, they may never be able to rebuild it to the splendor that Solomon had built it.  Haggai invites us all to turn the spotlight on ourselves and see whether it is God’s work or our own satisfaction that we hold highest in our lives and invites us to man up or woman up in the face of discouragement knowing that God is supremely faithful and sovereign.  Then, once the light of truth comes crashing into our lives, it invites us to reframe everything, to repent, to live pure lives and it shows us that we can live courageously for God building his kingdom because he is always with us, ever present regardless of circumstance.  We are secure and as we are faithful to God, he is unquestionably faithful to us.  

So we’ll dive in and read the entire book of Haggai today, chapter 1 verse 1 through 2:23.  

Commentary

There is so much richness in the scriptures today, I don’t even know exactly where to begin.  We do this  whole series on Haggai, but it kind of speaks for itself and if you’ll go back and review it yourself and apply it to your life, it can be an incredibly powerful thing.

Doesn’t some of this ring familiar?  

Think carefully about your ways. You’ve planted much but harvested little.  You eat but never have enough to be satisfied.  You drink but never have enough to become drunk.  You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm.  The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it.  

It’s fascinating because this is millennia ago and yet these issues are still among and within us now.  We feel like we’re spinning our wheels in some areas.  It can be the physical areas of finances and health and that kind of stuff. It can be the inner life that we live, the things that we are trying to set aright and do correctly and walk with God in.  It can feel this way.  In Haggai God is saying ‘hold on, hold on.  Stop what you’re doing and think carefully about your ways and then go and get back to work on what I told you to do because you are building other things and I asked you to build the temple.  You’ve gotten discouraged because some of you saw what it looked like and you know that Jerusalem is destroyed and there is just not enough manpower or centuries to put it all back together.  But I didn’t ask you to do that.  I just asked you to build it.  So consider carefully your ways because I am with you.  I am here and I will protect you.’  It is so beautiful and that is just scratching the surface.

And then we get into the psalm today.  It is a popular psalm but it is reiterating what God was saying to the people who had returned, the exiles who had come back and in particular to the leaders, Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest, but David ends up saying ‘where is it that I can possibly go that you are not?  I can run wherever I run and you will be there.  I cannot escape your spirit.’  That is also so beautifully comforting.  But it also invites us to go back to Haggai and carefully examine our ways because sometimes we’re trying to escape God’s spirit.  We want to be our own sovereign.  We want to make our own choices and build our own things when we were meant to collaborate with the Spirit of God.  There is no other way to live.  I mean, there is no other way for a human being to live.  This is how we were made.  This is how it was in the beginning.  This is how we are designed and all we have to do is look around and see the effects of millennia of horror to understand that it doesn’t work without God. It doesn’t work.  We’ve made all of this and we’re going nowhere.  We’re spinning our wheels as a species when we were called to something higher.  

So you are encouraged to go back through Psalm 139 and the book of Haggai today and carve out some space to let God speak because he is speaking.  I know it is busy.  I know that it is a little crazy out there.  Consider carefully your ways.  What is most important to you?  That speaks for itself.

Prayer

Father, we welcome you into what you have spoken through your word today. We need this.  It is so comforting.  It describes the reality we were intended to have, but it also shows us the reality we’re in and the one we’re creating for ourselves and you’ve invited us to think about it.  You’ve invited us to consider deeply what is really going on here.  So we invite you into all that.  There is nowhere we can go that you are not.  There is no way you would abandon us, but in thought, word and deed we have abandoned you in ways.  Show those to us, Holy Spirit.  Show those ways to us, that we’ve been building other things that are going nowhere.  Come Jesus, we pray.  In your mighty name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base.  It is the website and since we’re a virtual community, the website is our home, our landing place.  So it is our virtual home for all of us and it is where you stay connected and find out what is going on around here so be sure to stay connected there and find out what is up.  

We’ve been talking about the More Gathering for Women.  We have advance pricing right now so that it can be taken advantage of for the holiday season.  If you’re still kind of looking for that perfect thing that is unique and different and maybe unexpected, yeah, this is more than a trip.  It is that.  It is some travel.  It is that, but it is so much more than that.  You can find out all about it at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  You’ll find the More Gathering in the Initiatives or the Events section.  It is hard to miss if you’re just scrolling, so check that out.

Of course, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we’re ending the year, if this has been a year and you feel like Daily Audio Bible and the community have been life-giving to you, then thank you for being life-giving so that it can be life-giving next year as well.  Thank you for your partnership.  There is a link.  It is on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  It can also be found in the app if you push the More button.  Then, of course, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, this is a community and we love each other well.  (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

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

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi, this is Chad from Illinois, speaking directly to Jimmy from Georgia who called in just a few days ago about having marital problems.  Jimmy, I just wanted you to know that I’m praying for you. I just want to provide a story of hope for you.  A couple years ago my wife had an affair on me, stepped out with another man, and it resulted in a pregnancy.  She lived with me for the entire pregnancy until she gave birth and then we separated for a few short months until I could __________ my heart.  A lot of prayer happened during that time for me and my wife and Zion, the little one, as well.  Come to find out, the Lord changed my heart and really turned things around in my mind.  I was able to forgive her act and realize that I had my own shortcomings that I didn’t bring to the marriage like I should have.  And today we have 9-month-old baby boy by the name of Zion. I’m so thankful to God that he changed my heart and was able to keep our marriage together and today we’re going very strong and united and better than we ever have been.  And I just wanted to share that with you, Jimmy.  I don’t know your situation and I don’t know the problems that exist, but I know that my marital problems were very bad and yet the Lord provided strength through that and we came out of the other side and we thank God for that.  I just wanted to share that with you.  God bless you, Jimmy, and thank you, Brian, for this wonderful outreach ministry that you provide to all of us.  Have a great day.

Hi, this is Michelle from Los Angeles.  I don’t call in very often.  I’ve been with Daily Audio Bible for about 9 years, but I just want to say to Byron who called in today, Byron from Florida, when you kept saying ‘God loves you,’ and you said it over and over and over, I was all of a sudden overwhelmed with just tears running down because apparently I needed to hear that as well.  And you were talking to Jordan I think.  You were calling for him, but it was just so powerful how you kept repeating it over and over.  I think a lot of us sometimes forget that, even in our worst day and our good days and how much he loves us and he brought his son into this world.  And I want to thank all you prayer warriors.  I do try to listen every day and I just hear everybody’s prayers and I pray over them.  I don’t call in often, like I said, but I’m close.  I hear your prayers.  I see you prayer warriors out there.  God bless you guys for just being so on top of it.  Love you, Brian.  Thank you for a great job, for all of you.  Okay, have a really great day.  Bye. Merry Christmas.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Tamberly J.  I am calling specifically for James’ friend, or James, the teacher in LA, his friend or student, Abbie, who was in the car accident and got hit by shrapnel and it went into her brain and she is in a brain surgery.  James, it struck me that she was thankful that if she went to heaven or if she woke from this, that she would say she was glad it was her and not somebody that wasn’t saved, and that just really touched my heart.  I am in wholehearted agreement with you that these are kingdom people and so Lord, my prayer is that you would heal, Abbie, Father. That you will give her the desires of her heart and that those around her come to know you as their personal Savior and King.  Father, that they would be led to have an attitude and be inspired by Abbie and her walk with you, Father.  Father, please don’t take her now.  Please let her live out according to your glory, bringing many, many, many people to you. In your Son’s name I pray, amen.  

Hi, my name is Max and I’m calling from Indiana.  Just need some prayer.  This holiday season has been particularly difficult.  Just feeling a lot of aloneness, a lot of just abandonment, rejection.  I went through a divorce a couple years ago and so just having to do all that split, the kids back and forth and it is hard on them, and just the whole idea that we’re supposed to be happy during the happiest time of year, but the fact is that it’s not always happy because there are things that we all struggle with.  So just appreciate your prayers.  I pray that I can have some peace and joy during this holiday season and that my kids can have a good Christmas as well.  Just thankful for you, Brian, and all you’re doing here with the Daily Audio Bible.  It’s kind of like a friend that I can lean on at any time and I really do appreciate it.  

Hi, this is Bart in Kentucky.  Byron out in Florida, you prayed.  It was played on the 16th.  You prayed for Jordan and I want to thank you for that prayer.  It was to Jordan.  It was excellent.  But it was for all of us.  So for those of you listening, if you haven’t listened to the prayers after the podcast and commentary on the 16th, please go back and listen to it again, the prayer.