A Walk Through The Word

2 Kings 1:1-2:25, Acts 13:42-14:7, Psalms 139:1-24, Proverbs 17:19-21

Today is the 21^st day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and here we are, center of the week. Moving through the middle of another one of our weeks together and it is fantastic to be here with you today as we do what we do, take the next step forward together. Our next step kinda…sorta…leads us into new territory. We finished the book of first Kings yesterday. And, so, we’re gonna begin second Kings in just a moment. It’s just that there’s not a whole lot to talk about here. These…these manuscripts were broken apart for the ease of finding things. And, so, we’re not moving into new territory. We don’t need to come to this overview of what’s going to be happening. We’re continuing this journey through the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel and sort of what was going on during their reigns. And, so, we’re moving through history pretty quickly. Sometimes we slow down and get more details on certain kings and others we get like a paragraph when actually a whole generation goes by in that paragraph. But as we begin second Kings we will see a transition. We had a prophetic voice in the book of first Kings. His name was Elijah. And we will watch a transition between Elijah and his successor Elisha. And, so, let’s dive in together. Today second Kings, chapters 1 and 2.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’ve launched ourselves into second Kings and we talked about the territory that we’re going into. And then we got into the book of Acts and we’re seeing now Paul, who is the apostle Paul and Barnabas on this missionary journey, and what we’re seeing is that everywhere they go and begin to share the good news it causes a reaction. It’s not like a passive thing and there is a reaction of either an open heart where people are just overjoyed at the immense good news that is being preached or they are antagonistic toward it. It’s kind of not a passive thing. And, so, we’re seeing that everywhere that Paul goes so that people are stirred up against them and people are stirred up for them. We’ll continue to see this pattern as we continue this journey of the spread of the gospel of Jesus and the formation of the early church.

And then we got to Psalm 139 today. It’s…it’s a favorite one of mine because when I read it it seems like there’s a question there. And the question is, where is God not? Where…where isn’t He, rather than the question we ask all the time, where is He? The Psalms like if I go to heaven You’re there. If I go down to the realm of the dead, You’re there. If I go east or I go west You’re there. If I go to the far side of the ocean You’re there. You will guide me. Your strength will support me. So, if this passage of Scripture is true then what’s being indicated is that there is no where we can flee from God’s presence, which then brings up the question, why are we always looking for it when it’s right here right now? So often that…that’s motivated by a need for like an emotional connection, some sort of sense of His presence, but it seems that that’s more about us than it is about God. It’s like us, getting ourselves into a place where we can experience the presence of God in worship and then we kind of equate that experience with the presence of God because it is the presence of God that we’re actively experiencing. But His presence doesn’t go away. We don’t have to conjure Him up in some sort of way, so that what…that God is drawing near and now we are in His presence. So, what the Psalm seems to be indicating is there’s nowhere you can go that’s not in His presence including heaven and the realm of the dead. So, it would be safe to say that in this life there is nowhere we can flee from the presence of God. And that awareness is a bit of a game changer because it means that God is present to us no matter what we feel like or no matter what is going on. So, why not…why don’t we just practice that awareness today and consider that everything you do, every thought you have, every conversation that you participate in, every action that you take no matter where you are matter what’s going on God is present. He is not distant. He is near. That should be comforting and maybe even sobering because it brings up other questions, like what would I not want God to bear witness to and what do I not want Him to know about or what embarrass me if I really thought that God knew about that? Typically, when we think of things in those terms we are simply naming the things that are trying to seduce us away from God. So, why don’t we practice reality today? Let’s practice reality. We are in the presence of God. Every breath we take, every move we make He’ll be watching over us. Let’s practice this awareness today and then reflect upon how it influenced the day we lived and then become aware that we can live every day aware of God’s presence everywhere.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into this. We so often are back and forth looking for where You went when You didn’t go anywhere. It’s that we probably did. Help us to settle into this awareness that there is nothing that we can do. We are in Your presence now, and all we need to do is become aware of it. Lead and guide us today as we practice this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base and that’s where you can find out what’s happening around here. The Daily Audio Bible app which can be downloaded from whatever…well…whatever app store works of your device puts that in the palm of your hand and so much more. And, so, check that out.

Check out the different sections. The Community section. This is where links are to get connected on social media. This is where the Prayer Wall is.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources that are available in the number of different categories for the journey that we are on, this voyage through the Bible in a year. And, so, check that out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If you find that being around the Global Campfire is life-giving then thank you humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

And that’s all for today other than to tell you the truth. I love you and I’m grateful for the journey we are on together and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DABbers John from New England calling with a great belated praise report and a prayer request. A little over a year ago I called in in the middle of the night I was suffering from muscle spasms in my left leg were waking me up and causing me pain ruining my life and thanks to prayers from Victoria Soldier, Steve, and many others and some good counsel on the Prayer Wall the problem was healed and I’m forever grateful for that to all of you. Thank you. Prayer request for my son’s fiancé Nicole who two years ago went through 12 hour surgery to remove avocado size tumor from the back of her head. A small piece was left behind it was that was covered in nerves and that has grown back now two years year later and it’s the size of a golf ball. A few weeks ago she went through some radiation therapy to try to mitigate it and won’t know until September whether it was successful and I just ask that you pray for my son’s fiancé Nicole that this procedure was successful and that this tumor doesn’t come back and that it is permanently…is permanently healed so that he and she enjoy life and she doesn’t have to be constantly worrying about this and struggling with it. Also, I just want to say many thanks to Brian, Jill, China, the whole Hardin family for the blessing of Daily Audio Bible, which for me last 17 years or so and my wife has become part of our daily ritual. Of course, the Daily Audio Bible Chronological, my evening ritual. Life changing. Thank you. God…

Seeking your face at the start of my day
I found that for me there’s no better way
in fact you said to acknowledge you in all of my ways
and to bring all of my thoughts in subjection to Christ whenever my mind and heart strays
cause trouble surrounds me wherever I go
health problems family problems bills a sack full of woe
should I try to work it all out with the strength of my own hands
or stand in faith and wait on you ignoring my heart’s well thought out but impatient plans
because you said the wisdom of man is foolishness to you
and I know all your words are faithful and true
so I’m seeking your face at the start of my day
cause I know that for me there’s no better way

bindtony1016@gmail.com. I’d like to give a shout out to Alta Lee Maxwell. I want to give you best wishes and congratulations on your…on your getting married and I pray that you and your husband have many fruitful happy years together hopefully in service to the Lord. And once again Brian and the Hardin family I want to thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow keep it…

Daily Audio Bible family this is Lawrence in Atlanta. I’ve been listening for over 15 years and this ministry has brought me joy, has helped me through some of the toughest times in my life, and has been the single most rewarding thing that I’ve done to get to know God and have community with fellow Christians. I’m coming to you today because I’m just broken, and in need of prayer. My marriage has been really tough over the past 14 years. God’s blessed us with wonderful children and blessed us with successful businesses but the relationship between my wife and I has been very dysfunctional and unhealthy in a bunch of different areas for years. And over the years I’ve built up a lot of resentment and anger towards her and I’ve acted out and I’m afraid that what I’ve done has destroyed my family. So, I formed an emotional relationship with someone I work with and my heart more than anything wants to be with that person, wants to spend time with them instead of my own wife. My wife is devastated. She’s hurting so bad. All my family and friends around me are furious with me for not wanting to work it out with my wife. My heart is hard. It is not softened. I’ve asked God to soften my heart towards my wife but I…it’s just not what I want. And I feel that what I…

Hi beautiful family, this is Prisoner of Hope. I am lifting up Bernie and your marriage. Father, he is struggling, he and his wife in their marriage and they need Your help. They need Your strength to keep going and Your wisdom to know what to do. Please help them to love one another in the way that You love them and just help them to forgive and heal and work on restoration. Please protect their beautiful children as they go through this. A man called in asking for a financial provisions for his family. Your dad’s in Kansas your mom passed away a couple years ago and your grandmother recently passed away. And then Remorseful Sinner, you need a financial miracle as well. I’m gonna pray for both of you. Lord please help this man and Remorseful Sinner to manage and steward what finances they do have with wisdom and diligence. Please help them with their debt, be their Jehovah Jira and grant their lives the financial breakthrough that they so badly need. And please especially help Remorseful Sinner to have energy and lift her out of any depression and give her what she needs so she…she can go out and find a job. Searching for Beauty, it looks like you’re stage 4 cancer. I want to pray for you and your daughters. Almighty God by the power of Your healing hand may Searching for Beauty experience health, strength, and peace. Just please alleviate the suffering that she’s going through and continue to help her in her relationship, the relationships with their daughters and extend her life to be with them according to Your will. Manita you are just going through a really tell real time. You didn’t say what, but I just love you so much and I’m going to pray for you. Dear God, please give Manita strength, courage, love, encouragement, comfort, and a fresh portion of Your hope to help her with whatever she’s going through. Thank You that You are on the throne Lord, always our God. Please be near to her and rescue her from her fears and hurst and help her to remember that this trial will not last forever. We ask all these things in the beautiful and powerful mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

1 Kings 22:1-53, Acts 13:16-41, Psalm 138:1-8, Proverbs 17:17-18

Today is the 20th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today, as we gather, yet again, and take the next step forward together on the adventure through the Bible this year. Walking back out to where we left off, leads us back out into the book of First Kings, where we are continuing our journey through the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, and some of the prophetic voices that were intermingled throughout the reigns of the different kings. So, let’s pick up the story, today, first Kings chapter 22.

Commentary:

Okay, so, in the book of First Kings today, we see the king of Israel and the king of Judah, getting together, King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat. So, they’re on friendly terms at this point. And King Ahab of Israel is just kind of musing about a city that they lost in battle, Ramoth in Gilead and about going back and maybe recovering that city. And then he turns to Jehoshaphat and asks if Judah’s armies would join Israel’s armies to retake this city, and Jehoshaphat, following God, is like, yes, we should ask God, though. So, Ahab brings in 400 prophets to inquire of the Lord about this battle and then they inquire, should we go and, and take Ramoth, will you give us victory and all of the prophets started prophesying yes, yes, yes, you will be victorious, go right ahead, God will…will give you the victory. One of prophets even fashions this kind of bowl apparatus, like you will gore the people, you will gore Ramoth in Gilead, you will take this, God will give you victory. King Jehoshaphat is not convinced; he wants a prophet that is working in the way that he would understand a prophet of the most high God. And so, Ahab’s like, there is one more, his name is Micaiah. He never says anything good about me. I hate him, but okay we can get him. And so, they do. They send for Micaiah. And when the official who is summoning the prophet Micaiah arrives at Micaiah’s place. He tells Micaiah what’s going on. It’s a question of the Lord about a battle in Ramoth Gilead and all the prophets have affirmed God’s word is to proceed, that victory is coming, that they will be victorious, go ahead without fear. You need to know what the prophets are saying Micaiah because you need to kind of say the same thing. And Micaiah is like, yeah, yeah I can only say what I hear God tell me to say. And so, that’s how Micaiah gets before these two Kings. So, here’s Micaiah, this obscure profit that we know next to nothing about, showing up here in the Bible, a prophet of the most high God. Definitely respected as that kind of a prophet because he was summoned specifically. But here he is, walking in to whatever setting that they’re walking into but it’s gotta be a large enough space so there are two Kings and 400 prophets, all kind of on the same page. Micaiah is in this precarious position, where everything is pushing him to just affirm what everybody else is saying because what does he know, like it’s such an opportunity for him to second-guess everything. All of these people are bent on this one thing and are affirming this one thing. So, he’s in this position where his easy route is what he did in sarcasm, which is just to affirm what everybody else is saying, yes of course, of course, go you, you will be victorious in battle, yes, yes. But Ahab knows that he’s being sarcastic, so he wants the truth. And that is this thing. Micaiah is in this position where he has to tell the truth, it’s just that the truth is obscured from everyone else, he’s seeing what’s gonna happen and nobody else is. So he’s got to either stand in opposition to what everyone else is saying, or simply kind of go along with it and watch what happens and keep his mouth shut, or just second-guess himself. And we kind of see the acknowledgment of that tension there when Micaiah does his sarcastic affirmation that they should go into battle, but he’s pressed for the truth, and he has to tell it and he does. And what he essentially says is that he sees an army without a leader. And indeed, indeed they went into battle and Ahab was killed in the battle. Here’s the thing though, Micaiah was summoned, and the word of the Lord came. Right, they were warned, and they did not listen. Micaiah was put in the awkward position where everybody was affirming something different, and he needed to tell the truth of what he was seeing. But he wasn’t responsible for the response of the people, he was responsible to tell the truth of the word of the Lord, that the Lord had given him to say. That’s what he did. It did not stop the destruction. Ahab still died in battle; he didn’t listen. That’s not Micaiah’s fault. Sometimes we wind ourselves into circumstances where we’re kind of in this position of Micaiah, where we’re seeing something that nobody else is seeing, maybe everyone else is affirming a different direction, but we have the sense that this is going to be like, this isn’t gonna work and we find ourselves in that difficult position of just keeping silent or just second-guessing ourselves or actually standing up in love and saying wait, there are maybe a few other things to think about here because I’m looking at this and…and what I see, isn’t gonna work out well. That is usually speaking the humble truth in love and were not responsible for what happens after that. Micaiah was asked to deliver a message which, he did. The message was not heeded, and destruction happened. But King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat were warned in advance by Micaiah. Sometimes we may find ourselves where we are the only voice, the only warning there will be and it’s not about us being right at all. It’s not about us, at all. It’s about humbly speaking the truth in love and letting it go.

Prayer:

And so, Holy Spirit, come into that. We do find ourselves in those positions sometimes and they’re tricky being around other people, interpersonal relationships. We’re wired for this, we’re made for this but it can be tricky. We’re all bringing our own stories into the relationships so we don’t always know. But, Holy Spirit, when we feel impressed from You that You are showing us something that we need to say may we humbly speak the truth in love, with no attachment to any kind of outcome, that’s not our role usually. Micaiah gave a warning that was not heeded, that happens in our lives too. We can offer insight that is not heeded but we can also receive it and not heed it and walk ourselves into a wall. So, we know how this goes. And we understand that the ingredient that so often is missing, when we have these kinds of situations, is humility. So, Holy Spirit come, when we feel impressed in some sort of way to speak truth, may we come with hands open, heart open regardless. And we pray this in Your name Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is indeed where to find out what’s going on around here and so certainly do that. You can download the Daily Audio Bible app and put that in the palm of your hand from the App Store that’s connected to your device. So check that out too, if you haven’t checked it out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a number of categories with a number of resources in those categories. For example, check out the…the Daily Audio Bible Wind Farm coffee and tea varieties. We source these in, roast the coffee fresh, send it out to you, mostly because it’s part of our routine here. Whether it’s a warm cup of tea or steamy cup of coffee, which is what I normally have, which is what I have right now, sitting here to my left like it is every day. Having a cup of coffee or tea and spending some time with the Scriptures and allowing them to come into our lives and allowing the Holy Spirit to begin to guide our day. This is what we seek. So, you may be driving through a drive-through every day getting your morning coffee or you may be making a cup of coffee but we can send it to you, roasted fresh and you can see all of the different varieties in the Daily Audio Bible Shop in the coffee and tea section.

And of course, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, humble, humble, humble gratitude as a community we’re in this together and we wouldn’t be in this if we weren’t in this together. And so, thank you, very humbly, for your partnership, as we move through the summer months. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning, this is Julie from San Diego, the Woman Kneeling at the Cross. I have a praise report about our son, Jonathan, who’s 37-years-old, had gone into the hospital with pneumonia. He was there for 4 days. During that time, they found out that he has congestive heart failure. He, a lot of it, it is because he’s neglecting his body and also abusing alcohol, marijuana and later on we found out that he was using cocaine. And that’s caused all of this damage to his heart. We are praying that God would just help him recover and just have, that his heart would be restored. There’s damage that the doctors say cannot be restored. But we know that we serve a God who heals, a God that restores, a God of miracles. And that’s what we’re praying for. I want to thank all of those who were praying. I know Duane from Wisconsin.

Hi, DAB family, this is Kristine from Oregon. And I just, first of all, want to say thank you to all the people who have prayed for me because I heard something from God in each and every one of them. Self-control, which I’ve lacked my entire life. I’m a very sporadic person. And also, that God has been doing some amazing things in my life. And truly, I’m hating things that I’ve loved. And I’m loving things that I’ve hated. And I just didn’t realize when I called last time and asked for prayer, that I was gonna be opening the flood gates of heaven. Because I am just watching God work all around me. So, thank you so much. And I am going to an AA meeting right now, it starts at 12. I’m on my way, so I’m asking for prayer for that. I know that again when, this gets aired it’ll be after the fact but I, my plan is to keep going Monday through Friday, for a while and just see where God leads me. I’ve been super resistant to go to AA. I’ve gone once. I’ve gone to a few celebrate recovery meetings in my past. And I’ve actually made it two separate times, to lawyers. But, like I said, I’ve been, had this career of drinking for so long that it never lasts. So, I made it two days, I called on June 2nd and I made it, June 3rd I was at a, my daughters bridal shower and I had mimosas and then, my first dry day was yesterday. So, thank you so much for your prayers. Oh my gosh, God is so good. And again, I love you guys. I found an amazing group.

Hello DAB fam. I have been listening for a very long time and I just wanted to come on here and just say thank you. Thank you for being such a wonderful community. Thank you to Brian and his family for all that they do at DAB. And I just want to pray for everyone on here really quick. Lord, thank You so much for Your goodness, thank You for Your wisdom. Thank You for Your sovereignty. I thank You for every single person as part of DAB, Lord. And I, I just thank You for their lives. I thank You for their families. And God, as I know many of them are going through various challenges and different things, I pray, Lord, that You would be so near and so present with them. I thank You just for this space that we have to come together every day. And I pray that You would help us to continue to grow and thrive, as we read Your word afresh. Amen.

Hi, this is Samantha from Tennessee and I’m calling cause I wanted to ask you guys for prayer. A girl that’s like a sister to me is dying. She’s been sick for a long time and we’re just at the end. And we’ve been given hours and I just want you guys to pray for comfort for my family and for her family. She has lots of younger siblings. And this is just gonna be really hard on all of them and all of us. And I’m so thankful to God that she’s going to be whole and healed in heaven for the first time in many years. But it’s still really sucks.

Good morning my beautiful DAB family. I’m calling to say thank you for your prayers. And to let you know how much has changed in my life since requesting prayer. This is Libby from Queensland, Australia. First of all, I was filled with fear, the spirit of fear. And I came to realize it was the fear of men. And that now being broken in my life, has opened, opened the doors for God to work in my heart. And my prayer at the beginning of this year was that I would have a beautiful heart and restore in me a clean heart, oh God. And you know, without the essential work of, of removing that spirit of fear, the fear of men, that would never have become a reality for me. So, I thank you so much and I praise God for this, this community. It is an absolute blessing to all of us who listen and pray and call in for help. And God moves, when you call for help. And He has moved mightily in my life. And I praise His name. And I thank you for the love you’ve shown me. And have a blessed day, dear family.

1 Kings 20:1-21:29, Acts 12:24-13:15, Psalms 137:1-9, Proverbs 17:16

Today is the 19^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today from the lush, rolling hills of Tennessee and excited, excited that we’re here around the Global Campfire, excited for our next step forward. And that next step leads us back to where we left off and that happens to at this point be in the book of first Kings where we are moving chronologically through all of the different leaders of the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah, or the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms. Today we’ll read first Kings chapter 20 and 21.

Commentary:

Okay, so we just read the 137^th Psalm, a Psalm or song of lament from the Israelites who were in exile. And that is actually out in front of us. That’s still in the future as we move through the Bible. But this Psalm is showing us where the story is going. So…so really to appreciate and even to consider in our own lives, we just need to remind ourselves of the story that we’re on or in. We started this journey back in the book of Genesis back in the month of January and we’ve the moving day by day step-by-step since then. And, so, we’ve moved through a lot of territory and learned about a lot of people and a lot of things. We met Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We saw Jacob change…his name changed to Israel. And he had children, and they were the children of Israel. And we followed the story of Joseph and the slavery in Egypt and the Exodus from slavery in Egypt and the wilderness journey and that conquering of the promised land and the time of the judges and then finally they wanted a king, and so we met King Saul and all of his story and the intermingling with king David who was his successor, and then all the intrigue of David’s life and then king Solomon brought us to this kind of mountaintop apex moment and we…we…it just went by so fast. We talked about it. Like we just reached the top of this story. It’s kind of gonna slide downward from here. And that’s where we are in the story now. We’re watching the fact that the children of Israel, they decided to divide themselves into two nations - the northern kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah - each having their own government, their own monarch, their own king. We’ve seen at times they’ve been friendly toward one another. They are family after all. We’ve seen other times where they are absolutely at war with each other. We have begun to see the prophetic voices in and among the kings like Elijah. We even watched the Lord rescue Samaria from Benhadad the Syrian king, only to watch king Ahab kill Naboth to get his property. Although once he was confronted he was repentant. Nevertheless, this kingdom that we spent our time in today, the northern kingdom with the capital city of Samaria, eventually…eventually they won’t be able to hold out. Eventually the northern kingdom of Israel will be conquered by the Assyrian Empire and following that the kingdom of Judah will have its time in exile. They will be conquered by the Babylonian Empire. And, so, we get into Psalm 137 today and it’s a song written from exile because exile was the way of building an empire in those days. One of the methods used for conquering and resettling the people. So, in the case of the northern kingdom…and we’ll go through all the story and talk about this again when we get there. The Assyrians conquered the northern 10 tribes of Israel and displaced them, carted them off, made them leave their homeland, made them settle in a different land, a different land that had been conquered by the Assyrian Empire. They…they were moving people around, intermingling people displacing them from this possession of a homeland so that over the course of centuries as the generations would continue, because people were still going to continue to have children and families, eventually the homeland and the story and the identity of it would be forgotten so that all that would be left of it would be the stories of the Empire. This is the posture that this Psalm, Psalm 137 is written, from people who have been conquered and have had to gather whatever they could and be forcibly removed from their homeland and re-settled somewhere else. Families being split apart, people being lost never to be seen again, drug away into a new land where you’re supposed to build a new life as part of this empire that just conquered you. When we know that and we begin to read this Psalm it’s so sad. By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down. There and wept when we remembered Zion. On the Willows nearby we hung our harps. Those who captured us told us to sing. They told us to entertain them. Sing as a song about Zion. How can we sing a song to the Lord in a foreign land? May I never be able to play the harp again if I forget you Jerusalem. May I never be able to sing again if I do not remember you, if I do not think of you as my greatest joy. Now we can appreciate where this Psalm is coming from. It’s coming from a deep place of disorientated pain and anguish that everything seems lost, that they are now in a place they don’t even recognize, told build a life and entertain the people with the songs of their homeland. We can certainly appreciate the depth of emotion that’s coming from the Psalms today. But have we…have we ever felt that way? Now certainly most of us have never had the experience of being conquered and being on the run for our lives. Although I know that’s true of…of many that I have heard from in the community around the Global Campfire throughout the years. So, I know some people have actually had that experience and can read this Psalm in a way that most of us can’t. But we can understand the situation. Even though we haven’t been conquered and on the run for our lives we have felt like life has tipped upside down and we don’t recognize what’s going on exactly anymore. We don’t know exactly where we are or how we got here. What’s familiar is not familiar and we’re in a world where we see people that should be familiar, but something’s changed…likes things changed. Things changed through death or things changed through betrayal. And all the sudden the people we thought we knew we didn’t or any kind of thing that crushes our spirit. We’ve faced these kinds of pain before where we feel disoriented enough to not know what we’re looking at and not know exactly where to go from here. The Psalm we read today allows us to have language. It allows us to see that we’re not alone, not the only ones who have these kinds of feelings or that have ever felt this way. And as with so many beautiful things in the Bible, Psalm 137 doesn’t put a bow on what’s going on. It’s simply acknowledging what’s going on. In other words, it’s simply being honest about what’s going on. And maybe there’s a lesson in there for us when we feel that way, when we have those feelings exile, when we feel disoriented and upside down and confused. Maybe the first move is to get honest, honest with what we’re feeling and what it’s connected to and what it actually feels like to be in it instead of numbing it or running away from it, to be in it just for a minute to look at it in the eye, to look at it face to face, to see what this monster of emotion is. What is going on here? To be honest with ourselves and to be honest with God. Because when we find ourselves in these wilderness experiences where things are disoriented and upside down, usually we are closer to ourselves and to God then…then we realize and that we normally are. And, so, taking the pain of it, the experience of it and becoming honest in it and inviting God into it. If we remember, the wilderness was not the end of the story for the children of Israel. And even though exile is out in front of us in this story it’s not the end of their story either. And when we have these kinds of experiences and these kinds of emotions it’s not the end of our story either. It’s just that the fastest way through these kinds of things is to be honest and learn the lesson that is there for us so that it’s a place that we visited but never returned to. Our Psalm today, Psalm 137 is honest and may it compel us to be honest in the seasons that are disorienting to us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. These things come, they go, they last, they’re short or long. We are disoriented, so we just don’t even know. And yet, You are always in north star. You are always the place to get oriented, the place to get right side up again, to get oriented again that we might see clearly. And, so, we run to You, father asking for Your interpretation of what’s going on. We’re making ourselves crazy trying to figure it out and we lose sight that…that there is a long story of life that we are walking through and this is but a chapter and so we stay stuck. We need You. We’re never gonna navigate anywhere successfully without You. And, so, Holy Spirit come into the seasons that are difficult and that are hard to understand and may we walk in complete trust in You as we put one foot in front of the other. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, it’s home base and that is the website and that is where you find out what is happening around here. So, certainly check it out.

Check out the different sections like the Community section. This is where the Prayer Wall lives. And the Prayer Wall is there for us to go and invite people into our stories and pray for us but it’s also there for us to go and be involved in other people’s stories by praying for them and encouraging them. And that can be found in the Community section whether using the Daily Audio Bible app or visiting on the website. And, so, certainly be familiar with that. Check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if you find this mission to bring God’s spoken word read fresh every day and offered freely to whoever may encounter it wherever they may be whatever time of day or night it may be, whatever part of the earth they may be on and to build community around the rhythm of showing up every day for each other here around the Global Campfire, if that is good news, if that is life-giving, if that is encouraging into your life then thank you humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the home page at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is Doctor John in Illinois. I’m just calling in this morning for our sister Victoria Soldier with her sister-in-law. And how often that she has held up the DAB family and how many times that she’s made an effort to pray for people and be consistent in her prayer. And so, our sister, our dear sister is asking for help. So, I’ll be in agreement with you sister. God bless you for your caring and for your love and your grace and your mercy to all of us. And we share your hurt and your heartache but we want to share your joy and your hope in God’s perfect work. And this is a prayer also for Ethan who’s called in for help. He doesn’t know which way to go. He’s struggling with situations or maybe habits or just trying to make a change in his life and he’s having a hard time making those changes. So, brother, I want to pray with you too. Heavenly Father we just thank You for Your mercy to us. And I guess most of all God the gift that we have that You hear us and You’re mindful of our needs since You know our hearts. Your word says that You know our needs before we ask. So, Father I’m asking for my sister right now. I’m asking for my brother that You would meet their needs. And Father I guess most important that You would show Yourself to them, You reveal Yourself to them in a mighty way and give them the peace and assurance that You’re always there, that You’re always listening, that Your ways are not our ways, and Your thoughts are not our thoughts but they’re always good. And truly all things do work for good for them that love You and are called according to Your purpose. So, Father would You hear, would You listen? God, bless You DAB. God bless You sister and brother. Father we thank You for Your mercy to us in Jesus…

Hello this is Kay from Ohio I wanted to pray for Ethan. Man I don’t know how old you are but you remind me so much of both of my boys. So I’m gonna say my son instead of my brother. My son, I’m praying for you. I hear you. Oh God that You will restore, renew, refresh Your Spirit in him right now. He feels alone like…like he’s disappointed every. I can’t remember if he even mentioned himself but he's…he needs a breakthrough. God, he feels like the waves are crashing in on him. He can barely keep his head above waters. Oh God that you would come and see about him great Jehovah. Only you can do it. If you don’t do it, it can’t be done, and we know that you can do it. God come and see about Ethan. Let him feel your presence right now as the prayer request floods in about other people, that he will pray for them and feel that his problem starts to lessen because he took the focus off himself. But lord we ask that those prayer…answered prayers start coming in, that we’re praying for her my son Ethan, that he will feel You that he will draw closer to You and leave it at Your feet, and that heaviness on his heart will start to dissipate because he left it in Your hands, Your capable hands. Father, we know You’re able. We know You can do it. We asked that it ne in your divine will God and we’re asking for those suddenly and immediate prayers to come through in Jesus’ name. God bless you.

Hey DAB family this is DJ from Ohio. This is probably my second time calling, second year DABber but I always listen daily and pray for everyone. I’m calling because I just wanted to give everyone encouragement to keep praying. Prayer is so important, and it just really solidifies how well God can really do great things in our life. I really was thinking about first Kings 3:5-4 where God had appeared to Solomon in his dream at Gibeon and where He just said ask Me for what you need, and I will answer it. It also made me think about John 14, if you ask for anything in My name, I will do it. Just encourage everyone to go continue praying. Even when you feel like it’s not being heard or you feel like it’s just not going anywhere continue to pray, continue to stay faithful in God. Every day I write in my journal to stay prayerful, stay hopeful, and stay faithful. So, everyone continue to pray. God will see it through. He will continue to bless you, He will continue to bless us. And just remember that we call in daily to pray for others and we call in daily to ask for prayer for ourselves. So, prayer is so powerful. So, I just want to encourage you all to continue to pray. I love you all and…

Hey DAB this is White as Snow from Tennessee and just giving an update on my daughter Rachel who’s on the strict diet trying to heal herself with her stomach issues. She switched to potatoes. She was eating just fruit. Now she’s on potatoes so it’s a little better. But we just went on a trip and she kind of broke down at one point and confided in us that she deals with fear quite a bit. You know, she feels like she needs to be doing things but her mind, you know, is telling her that she can’t do it. So, just asking for prayers for that. We’re thankful that she kind of opened up to us and confided in us and, you know, we…and I’m thankful that we got to spend some time with her. But yeah, just appreciate your prayers with that. Thanks so much.

Hello this is Purchased and Owned by him from Texas my first time calling in. I’ve been listening for about a year now. Please pray for the salvation of my daughter Rebecca and family who live in the UK. My other daughter and her husband are going to visit them the first week of July. Also please pray for restoration and healing of my relationship with one of my sons. And here’s a prayer from Colossians 1. How about praise you, Lord for the love for each other that the Holy Spirit gives us. I ask you God to give us all spiritual wisdom and understanding so then the way we live will always honor and please you and that our lives by your power will produce every kind of good fruit. I also pray that we will be strengthened through all Your glorious power, that we will have the insurance and the patience we need to live in the way You want. May we be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that we can always be thanking You Abba Father for You have been enabled us to share in the inheritance that belongs to Your people for You have rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into Your Kingdom, the Kingdom of Your dear son Jesus who has purchased our freedom and forgiven us all of our sins. Amen.

1 Kings 19:1-21, Acts 12:1-23, Psalm 136:1-26, Proverbs 17:14-15

Today is the 18th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today, as we gather and take the next step forward and Happy Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there. Today, is Father’s Day here in the United States. And like I say with mothers, like I realize, no matter where we live around the world, we honor our mothers and our fathers and on different days, and in different cultures, for different reasons, but it’s Father’s Day here in the United States. So Happy Father’s Day, fathers. May you be honored today, as you point your families to our heavenly Father.

We have been working our way through the book of First Kings, which is what we’ll continue to do. And the life and times of the kings of Israel in the North and Judah in the south, and the intermingling with the prophetic voices. So, we’ve met Elijah; there was famine in the land for three years. Nobody could find Elijah; King Ahab in the North is married to a woman named Jezebel. The northern kingdom is fully immersed in Baal worship. Elijah shows back up, says rain is coming and then there’s a showdown with the prophets of Baal. God answers with fire from heaven, Elijah tells Ahab, he better get back to his home before the rains overtake him. That’s kind where we left off. Ahab was riding his chariot back to Jezreel and the prophet Elijah tucked in his robe and outran the chariots and outran Ahab back to Jezreel. And so, we picked up the story from there. We’ll read from the Good News Translation this week, first Kings chapter 19.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this brand-new, shiny, sparkly week we are stepping into. And we look forward, with great anticipation, for all that You will lead us into and through, all that we will experience as we experienced this week in Your presence. And we pray that our thoughts, words and deeds may glorify You. May we make You proud Father, this week. And we ask, with the power of Your Holy Spirit, that You would continue to lead us day-by-day, step-by-step, as we engage and immerse ourselves in the Scriptures. Lead us on the way that we should go. We ask in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi, everybody, this is Bernie. I’m calling in to ask for prayer for my marriage; we’re kind of in dire straits. And I don’t know which way to go. I’m crying out to God and I’m just asking for you guys to pray along with me. So, heavenly Father, Lord, I just ask that You intervene, and You bring healing where healing needs to come and understanding, Father. And I lay everything down before You Lord, and I just ask that You save my marriage and protect my children’s hearts for any more wounding. Unite us together, Father, in Jesus name. Thank you, guys.

Hey, DAB Family. This is James in LA. I just heard Winters prayer request for Quill. And you called Quill they. And God sees Quill. He/she/they God sees Quills heart and soul. Sees, God sees what He made, and God sees what redemption looks like. And we don’t necessarily know what that looks like, but we can trust God that He knows what He’s doing. So, Father God, we pray for Quill. Whatever Quills birth name, whatever Quill’s assigned gender at birth. Whatever Quill’s life experience, all of that. God, You seen all of it, You know all of it. You know all the pain that they’ve gone through, You know all the pain that they’re in right now and all their choices good, bad, and otherwise, and You love them. You love them. You love them. You didn’t send Jesus to condemn any of us. Please God, apply the blood of Christ to Quill. And open Quills eyes to see Your pursuing love, especially through Winter. Thank you, God for Winter. Jesus name. Amen.

Hi, Daily Audio Bible Family. I hope you’re all having a God Blessed day, nigh, whenever you’re all listening to this. Anyway, if ya’ll could please say a prayer that God would provide my family with just simply enough finances that we need, to be able to help keep a roof over our head, to be able to pay off the rent and other important bills and stuff, you know. That would certainly be appreciated. Thankfully God always comes on through. And so, the story behind my situation is a really long one. But basically, there’s been, just been a lot of stuff that’s been going on with my family, like over the last several years. Like, my mom had passed away three years ago, right before COVID hit had really took a big hit on everything. And then, of course COVID took a big hit. And so, ever since then, my cousins been helping with the business that my mom had ran for almost 20 years straight, to help keep a roof over our head. I’m working a full-time job separately to help out with finances there. And then, like, my dad’s in Kansas; he’s stuck over there. And so, he won’t really be able to help out much. And then, my grandma had passed away recently on June 5th. And so, yeah, like I said, there’s just been a lot, a lot of stuff that’s been going on. And so, but anyway, this has been a really good season of discipline that God has helped put upon me. You know, it’s just really helped me to truly rely, depend on Him and Jesus Christ, that every single solitary moment, every single solitary moment that passes by and that there’s not a single moment that we don’t depend on Jesus Christ. If it wasn’t for Jesus Christ, that we you know, wouldn’t be alive to this very day. You know, and thriving, of course. And so, anyway, and like I said, God always comes on through at the exact you know, you know, perfect time on His timing. I mean, and so, anyway, hallelujah and Amen to that. And so, yeah, like I said, if ya’ll could please say a prayer. That would certainly be appreciated. God bless ya’ll.

Hi, my name is Sharissa from Washington. I am calling in response to today I listened to Ethan’s prayer request, and he said he was from Texas. And I just wanted to pray for Ethan and encourage him. Ethan, I relate to what you shared, and I just wanted to let you know that first off, that’s God’s not disappointed in you. I know it can be easy to feel ashamed. Especially when you keep making the same mistakes, over and over again. But something God showed me recently and in my time with Him was that He was more concerned with the shame, getting in between us, than the fact that I had made a mistake. So, I just wanted to encourage you to first, just go back to Him. He’s never ever, ever gonna reject you cause He loves you, you’re His kid. And no matter how many times you make the same mistake, He’ll take you back. And I know you said you’re struggling with letting go. I just feel like you know, anytime you cry out to Him for help with letting go, you are letting go; you’re surrendering. Yes, it’s easy to want to return to things that comforted us or, or just make, you know, just the brain just, is wired to keep going in the direction that it’s used to. But every time you turn to Him, and every time you ask Him for help, He’s there. He won’t ever leave You. He’ll never forsake you. He is not worried about the fact that you’re struggling with this. He just wants to be there for you when you, when you cry out to Him and when you ask for Him to be there, He’s there. God I just ask that You would comfort Ethan. Help him to know that he’s not alone. Help him to find people to be accountable with. And I pray …

1 Kings 18:1-46, Acts 11:1-30, Psalms 135:1-21, Proverbs 17:12-13

Today is the 17^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is fantastic to be here with you today as we gather again, take the next step forward together which brings us to the conclusion of another one of our weeks together. So, well done. We have made it through another one of our weeks together. Probably more appropriately, we’re about to finish another one of our weeks together. And, so, let’s dive in. And we have been working our way through the book of first Kings and we are moving through the different…the different kings of Judah in the south, and the different kings of Israel in the North now that we have a divided kingdom. We have met the prophet Elijah and king Ahab in the northern kingdom of Israel and it’s not raining. And it hasn’t rained for three years. And, so, there is famine in the land. And God is about to invite Elijah back to center stage. He’s been hiding and they’ve been looking for him for all this time and he’s about to make an appearance. So, let’s pick up the story. First Kings chapter 18 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for this week, another week to immerse ourselves day by day step-by-step. We thank You for all that we’ve experienced in this week in our lives, in our physical lives in things that we’ve done and said and thought and also in all that You’ve planted in our hearts. May our hearts be fertile soil. May we collaborate with You in tilling the soil and being good soil that You plant Your word in. And may we reap a harvest for Your kingdom as we continue this journey forward day by day and step-by-step. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website, that is where you can find out what’s going on around here. And, so, certainly do check out what is…what…what…what is going on around here.

Check out the Community section and visit the Prayer Wall. See what’s going on in each other’s lives, and pray for one another and encourage one another.

Check out at the Daily Audio Bible Shop for resources for the journey that we are on.

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

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family, this is Ethan calling from Texas. I…I just want to give a little thank you to everybody out there because I had called in at a very low moment without hope just looking for some prayer and some direction and I just want to say thank you for anybody out there who heard my call in and decided to say a prayer for me. I have recently found the strength that is certainly not my own to put down a lot of things in my life specifically substances that have been holding me back and taking me away from God. I have made the decision to be sober and to start seeking out an in-person fellowship with Christians, to go and seek out a church where I can meet the pastor and I can…I can worship God. And I just…I just want to say thank you to everybody out there all of you for just hearing what I had to say and saying a prayer for me. I’m praying for all of you. I hope you have a great day. I hope everything goes good.  In the name of Jesus, I pray that everyone in this DAB family is rooted in Christ, that you have a good day, that you walk with the Lord, you never deny His name and you honor His commandments. I love all of you. Have a great day. Go in peace and go with God. Bye-bye.

Hi good morning my name is Maria and I’m calling…I’m a first-time caller and I’m calling from East Providence RI and today is June 12^th 2023 and I just listened to Ethan from Texas and I just felt his pain and I am praying for you Ethan. You are redeemed. You’re loved by God. I…when I heard your prayer, I just felt my needs in your…in your prayer. You are a sweet young man. God bless you and your family and don’t give up. Better days are ahead because you are loved, and you are redeemed by God. Thank you so much for calling Ethan and may God bless you and keep you. Bye-bye. Have a good day.

Good afternoon my name is __ I’m __ from Maryland and I’m from Haiti. I’m asking your prayers for the position…my position that I have to apply, and they call all the teammates except me. So, I would appreciate it that you…appreciate it that you pray for me so that I have my job back. __ that I’m applying for another job but my position due to __. Thank you for your prayer. May God bless.

Hi this is Chris the sojourner of Chris and Beth from Georgia and I’m calling because Beth is in surgery right now having a total knee replacement and just wanna ask for your prayers for her recovery, her safe surgery, for me for strength as her caregiver, for all of the health care workers right now - the surgeon the nurses the anesthesiologist. She really wants to thank everybody who’s reached out to her especially so many folks from the Israel trip this year that have just reached out with…with support and love. So, thank you all for that and thank you for your prayers.

1 Kings 15:25-17:24, Acts 10:24-48, Psalm 134:1-3, Proverbs 17:9-11

Today is the 16th day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is always a privilege and always a joy when we gather together around the Global Campfire and become a community, all over the world, and join hearts and minds together and take the next, the next step forward in the Scriptures. So, it is with joy that we come together today for exactly that, the next step forward. And that next step forward will lead us back into the book of First Kings and we are at the point now in the books of Kings, we’re kind of back and forth. And we’re getting some long stories, some very, very short paragraphs about kings and that’s kind of how this will go. The kingdoms have split into two, as we know. There’s the northern kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah. They each have their own king now, they’re separate nations who are continually, even though they’re family, are continuing, continually at war with one another. So, since there’s two kings, they don’t like, pass away all on the same day and then a new King is anointed in the, like they pass away at different times. And so, we’re kind of keeping up with the overlap of who’s King where, at what time, who is loyal to God, who is disloyal to God and leading the people into idolatry. When do they have animosity with each other, when are they at peace with one another. These are the kinds of things that we are moving through now. And it’s unlikely that we’re gonna remember every single one of these kings names and what they did and what they were known for. But if we will just remember, as we move through this territory, there is the kingdom of Israel, it’s the northern kingdom and there is the kingdom of Judah, where Jerusalem is, that is the kingdom of Judah. So, if we’re talking about Israel, we’re talking about the North. If we’re talking about Judah, we’re talking about the southern kingdom. And so, let’s dive in and continue learning the life and times of Israel’s kings and Judah’s kings. Today, First Kings chapter 15 verse 25 through 17 verse 24.

Commentary:

Okay, so yesterday, in the Book of Acts, we started this story that we continued forward today. And I was mentioning, in an understated way, the Bible is telling us in one of the most monumental stories that we can find in the New Testament. And we talked about the goings-on that we had read yesterday. Cornelius, a Roman, a Gentile, a soldier, a stentorian, a God fearer who loved the Lord and was generous to the poor, was praying in Caesarea, a Roman city on the Mediterranean coast. I’m gonna guess, a hundred miles maybe from like, like northwest of Jerusalem. The ruins of this ancient city exist until today and it was a spectacular place, a jewel, a place that Herod had built to be a truly Roman place, a place that the Romans would want to come and find familiarity and like sort of a place for holiday, to come to this land. But this is also the seat of governance of the entire province on behalf of Rome. And so, Cornelius is there as a stentorian, and as a Roman soldier. He has a vision, the vision tells him to send for this guy named Peter, who’s in Joppa, staying with a man named Simon the tanner by the sea. And so, he does that. Meanwhile, Peters having a vision of his own, where this sheet comes down were unclean animals are there and he’s told to kill and eat them. And he has a problem with that because he’s never done anything like, never done anything clean, unclean like that. But he hears a message that God is declaring. Like, don’t call unclean what God declares clean. And at that point, that’s when the messengers from Cornelius arrived to collect Peter. Peter is instructed to go with these people back to Joppa. And he does do that and that’s kind of where we pick up the reading, today. He arrives in Joppa. Cornelius has gotten his entire family and friends, like they got a large group of people there at the house. Peter arrives. Cornelius greets him by falling to the ground in honor. So, this is a very, very weird situation for Peter to be experiencing: a Roman Gentiles stentorian, a soldier in power is humbling himself before Peter, of fishermen from Galilee, who also happens to have been the disciple of Jesus Christ. So, an odd situation right at the front door. And peters like get up, like, I’m just a person. Get up. And then Peter goes ahead and says what the problem is, you know I’m not supposed to be here, we’re not supposed to be here, we’re not supposed to be mixing and intermingling with the Gentiles. We’re not supposed to be here, but I had this vision, and I was told to come here. So, here I am and the tension of this weird situation because I was instructed by the Spirit to come here. So here I am, what can I do for you? And Cornelius is like, wow, this is so weird because I had a vision too and I was told to send for you, which I did. And so, I’ve gathered everybody here hoping that you would come and it’s really nice of you to come. Thank you for coming. So, we are all here to hear whatever it is you have to say. So, both of these guys are like pushed together in this odd situation and neither know exactly what’s going on or what they’re supposed to be doing. Peter knows, at least in his tradition, that he’s not supposed to be there, but he’s not supposed to be hanging out with Cornelius. And if people find out about this, this is gonna cause problems for him, but he had been instructed to go. So, all he knows to do is to tell the story. And he begins to tell the story of Jesus and the good news of the Gospel. And while he’s doing this, the Holy Spirit falls upon Cornelius and his household. That is the monumental thing. It’s understated and we can read through it and go like, why is that a big deal? It’s a big deal because Cornelius was a Roman Gentile, the oppressor as it were, and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. So, Peters like well, then there’s no reason for them to not be baptized. The Holy Spirit has fallen upon them, as the Holy Spirit has come upon us. What we’re seeing here is a massive, exponential increase in awareness of what God was doing among the people in the Book of Acts. It’s not that it’s so monumental that it was like a change in God’s plans. God, if we remember, all the way back to meeting Abraham and going through all of the development of the children of Israel, we knew that they were to be a nation of priests, through whom the entire nations of the world would be blessed. So, it wasn’t like they were never going to have interaction. But they were not supposed to be mixing. And we’ve seen enough of the story to see that the mixture did cause their downfall. Now were in the first century, where they’ve all been in exile and they are back in the land, but they’ve never controlled the land again and they want these Gentiles, the Romans, the Greeks, they want them out. They want God to restore the land. And God comes directly to restore the land and restore the story and they miss it and crucified Jesus. So, the early believers in Jesus were largely Jewish people. The New Testament is written by Jewish people. Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah, the Jewish Messiah they believed in. There really wasn’t a separate kind of faith, this separate conversion process. And so that caused all kinds of debate in the early church. And this thing that happened with Cornelius is a big, big deal. Because what’s being indicated here is that all are welcome. And it wasn’t really going to be a matter of human debate. The Holy Spirit had spoken, and Peter saw this, with his own eyes. And we’re gonna see that Peter’s gonna go back and report all this and we’ll see that this causes problems. And Peter is gonna have to say the truth. Like, what are we supposed to do? The Holy Spirit fell upon these Gentiles, just like the Holy Spirit fell upon us Jews. So, what are we supposed to do here because God is making a decision and we can’t fight against the decision of God. We have to figure out a way to get on board. And that wrestling will cause division in the early church for those who believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, and in order to worship Jesus and appreciate and follow Him as a disciple, then you would convert to Judaism and then follow the Messiah. Where there was this other argument, like nobody’s been able to obey all of the laws of God, even as Hebrew people who grew up with this in the water, when it’s been the tapestry of our culture. How are we supposed to expect Gentiles, who don’t know anything about the fabric of this culture, to all the sudden come in here, learn all of the culture and then perfectly obey the law to follow Jesus. God is doing something new, and he is welcoming these Gentiles. And that will lead us, before the Book of Acts is over, to the first church council, the first time that people had to really get together, who had very, very differing opinions on things, to try to seek God and understand what was going to happen. And we’ll see that the Gentiles, because of what God is speaking through the Holy Spirit, are welcomed into the story. But not everybody welcomes them. And it causes division and a split and persecution later on in the story. But at least for me, I’m not sure I can understate how big of a deal this is. I read this story and I am a Gentile, and I am humbled, I am grateful this story welcomes most of us into the family of God. Grafts us in as it were, which is something that this guy, Saul, who hated the name of Jesus and then met Jesus and became Paul, the apostle Paul. He becomes really the champion for this argument that everybody in the world, the Gentiles are included in this story, and all are welcome. So much of what we will read when we begin to read the letters of Paul have this point in mind. And Paul does not have an easy go of it, as we will see. His message of inclusion and that Jesus is the Messiah, is going to put his life, well, it’s going to tip it upside down. He’s gonna find great joy in it, but it’s not going to be anything like he ever knew before. In fact, he will look at his previous life and say, it’s just all filthy rags. Just to walk with Jesus is the joy of life and we’ll see that many people want Paul dead. And that this Gospel, eventually costs him his life. And so, what we see here in Caesarea by the sea in the home of Cornelius the centurion, is a monumental move in the story that we are reading as we read the New Testament.

Prayer:

And so, Jesus, we are grateful. Holy Spirit, we are grateful for this story that we see and for the events that underlie the story that You have invited everybody to come to you. That everybody has the opportunity to believe and be in relationship and right standing in fellowship with You forever. We are recipients of this gift, and we are humbled and are grateful. And we are sorry for the ways that we’ve taken it for granted. We are sorry for the ways that we have misrepresented the good news by the ways that we have tried to exclude. We are thankful that You were making decisions in the Book of Acts, and You continue to do what is right. And may we see what You are doing and follow. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If you find being around the Global Campfire to be a life-giving source, a source of encouragement in your day-to-day life, then thank you, humbly, for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, TN 37174.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Dear sister, Kristina in Oregon, this is Amber in California. And I just wanted to call and let you know that I’m praying for you. And that I related to your call so much. I have been addicted to just about everything. I have two years clean off everything and it was not an overnight thing. It was tough and God finally delivered me. I’m almost 38 and all these 36 years I was hooked on something every day. And it destroyed my life. But today, I praise God that He’s delivered me. And that’s what I will pray for God to do for you, is deliver you from anything that is not of Him. Just lean on Him and His strength will get you through. You just take those first couple of steps in faith and then He will catch you and hold you the rest of the way. That’s just how He is. And He’s proven that to me, time and time again. He’s saved me, rescued me, so many times. And finally, I got it. So, I’m praying for that for you sister. And I’ll continue to pray. God bless. I love you all. I listen to the prayers every day, and I pray for you all every single day. I cry pretty much every single day. And I just wanna let you all know that I’m praying for you guys. Love you, goodbye.

Hey, this is Micah in Awe, calling for Ethan in Texas. I heard your prayer request and I’m praying for you brother. I know what it’s like to be drowning in different problems and feeling like nothing is going well. Like, there’s no joy. There’s just times in life where we go through those seasons and I’m praying for you now. In fact, I’ll just pray right now. Lord, I just ask You that You please visit our brother Ethan, Lord. And bring some joy to his life, Lord. Bring some relief, bring help from various places. And we remember the Scripture, I lift my eyes into the hills, looking for where my help comes from. And we know that our help comes from You, Lord. We ask that You just bring him help now, Lord. Bring him encouragement, bring him a charm of great joy, Lord. Let the valley of this season of life be over. Let him be on the hilltops and the mountain tops, enjoying your favor and being a blessing to others, Lord. He loves you and he’s asked for Your prayer, and he’s said that he’s prayed for others. We just ask that You show up in a big way for him, Lord, please. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

I’ve been thinking about fathers. They are so important in God’s plan for the family. But there is so many difficult issues relating to them. I know stories of abandonment, abuse, neglect and indifference. It also seems like some men just don’t know what to do. So, instead of engaging with their family, they back off and don’t do anything. I’d like to pray for the fathers listening right now. Heavenly Father, children are precious gifts from You. May Christian men realize the responsibility and privilege they have as fathers. May these men embrace the challenge, rather than shy away. May they cherish their wives, be the kind of men their children look up to. May they teach their sons to be men of God and show their daughters, what a good man is like. May they be men of integrity, strong and yet tender, filled with grace and joy. Father, no man is able to fulfill that calling without You at the center of his life. I pray that Christian fathers will call on the Holy Spirit and depend on Him for strength and guidance to do the right thing. I ask that these men will dig deeply into Your word, where they will see how You relate to Your children. That they will learn from Jesus, how to love and serve, where there is a need for forgiveness, may they confess and repent before You and before their family. And then purpose to go forward in Your strength and for Your glory. In Jesus name. Amen.

DAB, this is Carpe Diem Driver calling from Maryland, once again. As I continue to pray and help others, I still need help myself. Please Father, show me the way. Show me what I need to do to get my situation turned around. I’ve just had my electricity turned off, I’m in the dark now. I can’t read, I don’t know what to do. The further I move towards Him, the further things more keep happening to me. And I don’t know what to do. Please God, send me an angel, send me guidance, help me to solve this situation financially. Help that I need to get my life turned around and get my life back together again. In Jesus name that I pray. I reach out to You; cause God is the only thing that I know. He’s the only thing that I know. The only one that can help me. And I hope and pray that your prayers will be heard. And I’m gonna get out of this situation, one day soon.

Hello DAB family. Papa D from Tennessee, currently in Texas. Praying for Ethan from Texas today, June 12th. Father God, we ask that You would break off every dominion of oppression and condemnation off of our brother Ethan. We ask in Jesus name, Lord God, that Your Spirit would rest on him. Any demonic stuff, we command it to go to the feet of Jesus and do what Jesus is telling you to do. In Ethan’s life, you have no power and no authority. Holy Spirit, would You lead Ethan out of this, where he feels like he’s let down a lot of people and himself. Lord, we ask in Jesus name. Help him get up, help Ethan Lord to be strengthened by Your Spirit, by all the prayers, Your angelic hosts released as we pray and lift our brother up. Your __ that breaks the yoke. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Blessings everyone. Shalom.