The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday July 31, 2017 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 29

King Hezekiah Rededicates the Temple(A)

29 Hezekiah began to rule as king when he was 25 years old. He ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. He did what Yahweh considered right, as his ancestor David had done.

In the first month of his first year as king, he opened the doors of Yahweh’s temple and repaired them. He brought the priests and Levites together in the square on the east side of the temple.

He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites. Perform the ceremonies to make the temple of Yahweh Elohim of your ancestors holy. Remove anything that has been corrupted from the holy place. Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what Yahweh our Elohim considered evil. They deserted him. They turned away from Yahweh’s tent[a] and turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors of the temple’s entrance hall, extinguished the lamps, and didn’t burn incense or sacrifice burnt offerings in the holy place to the Elohim of Israel. So Yahweh was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He made them something that shocks and terrifies people and that people ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes. Our fathers were killed in battle, and our sons, daughters, and wives are prisoners because of this. 10 Now I intend to make a pledge to Yahweh Elohim of Israel so that he may turn his burning anger away from us. 11 Don’t be negligent, my sons. Yahweh has chosen you to stand in front of him, serve him, be his servants, and burn sacrifices.”

12 So the Levites started to work.

From Kohath’s descendants were Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah.

From Merari’s descendants were Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallelel.

From Gershon’s descendants were Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah.

13 From Elizaphan’s descendants were Shimri and Jeiel.

From Asaph’s descendants were Zechariah and Mattaniah.

14 From Heman’s descendants were Jehiel and Shimei.

From Jeduthun’s descendants were Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 These men gathered their relatives and performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy. Then they obeyed the king’s order from Yahweh’s word and entered the temple to make it clean.[b] 16 The priests entered Yahweh’s temple to make it clean. They carried into the courtyard every unclean thing that they found in Yahweh’s temple. Then the Levites took the unclean items outside the city to the Kidron Brook. 17 They started on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day they went into Yahweh’s entrance hall, and for eight days they performed the ceremonies to make Yahweh’s temple holy. They finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

18 Then they went to King Hezekiah. They said to him, “We have made all of Yahweh’s temple clean. This includes the altar for burnt offerings, all its utensils, the table for the rows of bread and all its utensils, 19 and all the utensils King Ahaz refused to use during his reign when he was unfaithful. We have restored them and made them holy. They are in front of Yahweh’s altar.”

20 Early in the morning Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city and went to Yahweh’s temple. 21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as an offering for sin for the kingdom, the holy place, and Judah. Hezekiah told the priests, Aaron’s descendants, to sacrifice the animals on Yahweh’s altar.

22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. After that, they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. 23 Then they brought the male goats for the offering for sin in front of the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them. 24 The priests slaughtered the goats and made their blood an offering for sin at the altar to make peace with the Lord for Israel. The king had said that the burnt offerings and offerings for sin should be for all Israel.

25 He had the Levites stand in Yahweh’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres as David, the king’s seer[c] Gad, and the prophet Nathan had ordered. This command came from Yahweh through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests had the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah ordered the sacrificing of burnt offerings on the altar. When the burnt offerings started, the songs to Yahweh started. These songs were accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of King David of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed down with their faces touching the ground, singers began to sing, and the trumpets blew until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the burnt offerings were finished, the king and everyone who was with him kneeled and bowed down. 30 Then King Hezekiah and the leaders told the Levites to praise Yahweh with the words of David and the seer Asaph. They joyfully sang praises, bowed down, and worshiped.

31 Hezekiah said, “You have dedicated your lives to Yahweh. Come, bring sacrifices and thank offerings to Yahweh’s temple.”

The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and everyone who was willing brought burnt offerings. 32 The burnt offerings brought by the assembly totaled 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. All of these were burnt offerings to Yahweh. 33 The animals dedicated as holy sacrifices were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34 But the priests needed more help to skin all the burnt offerings. So their relatives, the Levites, helped them until the work was completed and the priests could make themselves holy. The Levites were more diligent in making themselves holy than the priests were. 35 There were many burnt offerings in addition to the fat of the fellowship offerings and wine offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. So the worship in Yahweh’s temple was reestablished. 36 Hezekiah and all the people were overjoyed because of what Elohim had done for the people. Everything had happened so quickly.

Footnotes:

  1. 2 Chronicles 29:6 Or “the place where Yahweh lives.”
  2. 2 Chronicles 29:15 “Clean” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is presentable to God.
  3. 2 Chronicles 29:25 A seer is a prophet.

Cross references:

  1. 2 Chronicles 29:1 : 2 Kings 18:1–3
Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

Romans 14

How to Treat Christians Who Are Weak in Faith

14 Welcome people who are weak in faith, but don’t get into an argument over differences of opinion. Some people believe that they can eat all kinds of food. Other people with weak faith believe that they can eat only vegetables. People who eat all foods should not despise people who eat only vegetables. In the same way, the vegetarians should not criticize people who eat all foods, because God has accepted those people. Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord will determine whether his servant has been successful. The servant will be successful because the Lord makes him successful.

One person decides that one day is holier than another. Another person decides that all days are the same. Every person must make his own decision. When people observe a special day, they observe it to honor the Lord. When people eat all kinds of foods, they honor the Lord as they eat, since they give thanks to God. Vegetarians also honor the Lord when they eat, and they, too, give thanks to God. It’s clear that we don’t live to honor ourselves, and we don’t die to honor ourselves. If we live, we honor the Lord, and if we die, we honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this reason Christ died and came back to life so that he would be the Lord of both the living and the dead.

10 Why do you criticize or despise other Christians? Everyone will stand in front of God to be judged. 11 Scripture says,

“As certainly as I live, says the Lord,
everyone will worship me,
and everyone will praise God.”

12 All of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God.

13 So let’s stop criticizing each other. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make other Christians have doubts or lose their faith.

14 The Lord Yeshua has given me the knowledge and conviction that no food is unacceptable in and of itself. But it is unacceptable to a person who thinks it is. 15 So if what you eat hurts another Christian, you are no longer living by love. Don’t destroy anyone by what you eat. Christ died for that person. 16 Don’t allow anyone to say that what you consider good is evil.

17 God’s kingdom does not consist of what a person eats or drinks. Rather, God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. 18 The person who serves Christ with this in mind is pleasing to God and respected by people.

19 So let’s pursue those things which bring peace and which are good for each other. 20 Don’t ruin God’s work because of what you eat. All food is acceptable, but it’s wrong for a person to eat something if it causes someone else to have doubts. 21 The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that causes another Christian to have doubts. 22 So whatever you believe about these things, keep it between yourself and God. The person who does what he knows is right shouldn’t feel guilty. He is blessed. 23 But if a person has doubts and still eats, he is condemned because he didn’t act in faith. Anything that is not done in faith is sin.

Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

Psalm 24

Psalm 24

A psalm by David.

The earth and everything it contains are Yahweh’s.
The world and all who live in it are his.
He laid its foundation on the seas
and set it firmly on the rivers.

Who may go up Yahweh’s mountain?
Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart
and does not long for what is false[a]
or lie when he is under oath.
This person will receive a blessing from Yahweh
and righteousness from Elohim, his savior.
This is the person who seeks him,
who searches for the face of the El of Jacob.[b] Selah

Lift your heads, you gates.
Be lifted, you ancient doors,
so that the Melek of glory may come in.

Who is this Melek of glory?
Yahweh, strong and mighty!
Yahweh, heroic in battle!

Lift your heads, you gates.
Be lifted, you ancient doors,
so that the Melek of glory may come in.

10 Who, then, is this Melek of glory?
Yahweh Tsebaoth is the Melek of glory! Selah

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 24:4 Hebrew meaning uncertain.
  2. Psalm 24:6 A few Hebrew manuscripts, Greek, Syriac; Masoretic Text “your face, Jacob.”
Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

Proverbs 20:12

12 The ear that hears,
the eye that sees—
Yahweh made them both.

Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

7/24/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 11:1-13:22 ~ Romans 8:22-39~ Psalm 18:37-50 ~ Proverbs 19:27-29

Today is the 24th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we dive head first into the week and into God’s word. And we’re actually reading from the Gods Word translation this week. Today, second Chronicles chapter 11 verse 1 through 13 verse 22.

Commentary:

OK. So, for days we’ve been traveling with Paul through the book of Romans as he’s laying out his case. He started with Abraham and moved forward. So, we went through Abraham’s faith and how he was made righteous through that faith, through his believing, as opposed to some ritual or custom the hadn’t even been invented yet. And we moved into the law, the mosaic law and its effect, its way of actually revealing sin because there was no other way to expose it, the inability to live up to it. And then he connects Jesus and how he fulfilled the law and how now, through Him, we are under a different law, one of grace because we cannot earn our way, we cannot achieve perfection in the law, even if we could completely keep it, which no one was able to do. Which brings us to this pinnacle, this mountaintop vista that we get today. All of that. We are kind of climbing up the mountain and now we get a view. Union with God, children of God through Jesus with a Holy Spirit that can live and pray with and through us and search our hearts and intercede for God’s people. And then we take the step and look around us and see the world as it really is. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God. This is true because He already knew His people and He already appointed them to have the same form as the image of is Son. We’re talking about Christ-like here. His son is the firstborn among many children. You are one of those children. You were just named in the bible. I am one of those children. He approved of those whom He had called and He gave glory to those whom He had approved of. That’s us guys. That’s us. What Paul is effectively saying is, Jesus begins a new kind of race, a new kind of people, people that hadn’t been seen on this planet since Eden. Jesus is the firstborn among this new thing, with a God and humanity intertwined, occupying the same space at the same time. Which is one of the central things in Sneezing Jesus, which brings up the question, so, are we are we talking about gods then? Are we gods then? No. But we are God-like. We are made in His image and He is within us. We have been reborn into this new thing and we can choose it at will. So, it begs the question, why do we live so much less than what is available? And the thing is, as hard as this might be to get our minds around, I just read it out of the bible. But the thing is, these are the foundational truths of our faith. We have always been saying this. It has just gotten diminished to the point of metaphor, allegory, and self-help. I guess, to that I would say, do you want to help yourself? Then be Christ-like. And, so, Paul sums this up. What can we possibly say about all this? His answer, his conclusion, like, as he’s looking at everything that he’s written here, all that he is outlined, all that he has come to. What can we say about it all? If God is for us, who can be against us? God didn’t spare His own son but handed Him over to death for all of us. So, You will also give us everything along with Him? Who will accuse those whom God has chosen? God has approved of them. Who will condemn them? Christ has died and more importantly He was brought back-to life. Christ is in the honored position, the one next to God, the Father, on the heavenly throne. Christ also intercedes for us. So, you see, it is impossible for us to be alone. It is impossible for us to be abandoned. We’ve reached this point in the book of Romans and it’s like, you almost have to sit down. You almost have to look at the way that you’ve been living and realize, what am I doing? How is it that I have gotten so entangled? How is it that I am so over extended? How is it that I am so over obligated? Why is my life so small? Why does fear swirl around me? Why does it underpin everything about me? Why am I operating out of anxiety so much of the time? Why do I fear what is coming? Why am I stuck in what has already been? Because that’s obviously what comes up. And that’s obviously what was coming up from Paul because he goes immediately on to say, and we need to hear this, all of us need to hear this. What will separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or violent death separate us from His love? The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. Right? So, it’s back to that question. Why am I doing this when so much more is available? Paul reaches his conclusion, which must become our own conclusion. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love, which Christ, Jesus our Lord shows us. And He did. He showed us with His very life what this looks like. We can’t be separated by death or life, Paul says. We can’t be separated by angels or rulers. We can’t be separated by anything in the present or anything in the future. We can’t be separated by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below. We can’t be separated by anything in creation.

I don’t even know what to say. What else is there to say? I hope that this is sinking in. It’s sure sinking in for me. So, you know that feeling that is not in your head, that is in your gut, that is in your heart, that is down there right now that is welling up inside of you? This flutter. That’s called hope. Recognize that feeling because that is your faith rising up. That is what happens when the good news becomes your good news. This is the good news of the gospel and it brings light and life. Can’t you feel it? That essence is what we’re to be sneezing into the world. That is the good news. And, so, you realize, it is devoid of ritual and custom and stereotype. It is not about religion. It is not about behavior modification. It is about transformation - being made something else, something integrated, and in union with God. And it is always present. Nothing can take it away from you. You can just choose to ignore it and live devolved and small. But why would we do that for another minute? Why would we ever do that when this is what is being offered? It’s like somebody bringing a semi-truck full of cash, one billion dollars, and somebody opening up a suitcase with a $1 bill in it and us choosing the suitcase with the $1 bill instead. I’m just thinking, well, I can carry the suitcase and I understand the $1 bill. I’m gonna stick with what I think that I know. What we find in the book of Romans today is one of the most beautiful depictions of what it looks like to walk with God - what is actually available to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Like something that we are inside, that is beyond time, that will always be, that will go on forever, that will go on beyond any way we have a way to comprehend. It is around us and within us and lasts forever. This is very, very good news. This is very, very, very good news for the human race. This is what restoration looks like. Why not embrace it with all of our heart, mind and will? Why not fall face first into it? Like, how much more do we need to go through life to finally realize, this is not working? This isn’t working without God. This isn’t working by me trying to compartmentalize Him and make all of my ruling decisions within my own knowledge. Why don’t we embrace our faith fully, all in - all in heart, mind, body, will, strength, love, relationships, all of it.

Prayer:

So, Jesus. It seems like we do this and then we regress into old, tired, worn paths. And then we see it again and then we do it and we enter into that rest. But the distractions always come to seduce us back, to pull us back. And so, right now, we break ties with everything that would pull us back, the things that would cause us to regress. We break those vows that we’ve made with all of that stuff, the things that just keep pulling us back. We break from that. We are new creations. Those things do not have a hold over us unless we allow it. And we don’t. So, come Holy Spirit because we’re walking forward and we are at a fast clip right now. We’ve missed out on things with You, memories that could have been made with You that we omitted, that we ignored, times that we could have spent together, good news and light that we were completely oblivious of sharing. We are walking a new path, one of collaboration, a narrow path, one that leads to life. Come, Holy Spirit, and lead us forward. We ask in the name of Jesus. And we invite You, Holy Spirit, to help us never forget this moment. This moment matters. Right now matters. May it affect the rest of our days. May we never forget. When we feel the pull to go back into old patterns and paths, remind us, Holy Spirit, that we have a choice in that, we don’t have to do that, we don’t have to go there. Help us. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello my Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jay from New Jersey. I’m calling to pray for Naydeen from Michigan. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Naydeen. I see that you have been bit by the Daily Audio Bible bug. It is very infectious, I just want to let you know. So, let’s pray for Naydeen and her husband, children, jobs, and schooling. Heavenly Father, in the precious and mighty name of Jesus Christ, Father, we thank You for Naydeen’s father mentioning the Daily Audio Bible to her and how she has become a part of this wonderful family. Father, we recognize her children’s names and we pray for them in their health and safety. We recognize that Naydeen and her husband are both going to college. And, Father, You know the stresses that are involved in obtaining higher education. So, Father, we pray that You will give them the knowledge, the wisdom, and the ability to manage time like nothing they’ve seen before, so they can obtain the goals that You’ve placed in their lives. Father, we pray for the salvation of her husband. God, many of us have been in situations and are currently in situations where our spouse, our child, our mother, our brother, our cousin, our distant family members just don’t see You, they don’t know You, they don’t have a relationship with You. So, Father, just as Naydeen’s father planted that seed of the Daily Audio Bible, Father, we pray that there will be an opportunity for her husband to overhear the DAB, to see the DAB in Naydeen’s life, to witness the DAB in her actions. And Father, may that witness lead them to You, Jesus. In the mighty name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Please God help me…

Hi, this is Mimi in Atlanta. I’m just calling in for prayer. My father-in-law from ___ his marriage just passed away with a heart attack at 86, but sure wasn’t expecting it. Just got a new car, got things traded in, still teaching Sunday school, just doing amazing things for the Lord. Sharing the gospel at every restaurant, the waiter or waitress always got to hear about Jesus and was left a little book of hope, a little track. So, it just hit us very, very hard. Rick, his sister Christy, and her husband are having to go through mounds of things that are not organized and important papers their trying to find. And, I know within the sound of my voice, other people have gone through this exact same thing. I’m a stylist, so, I have to be at the salon. So, I’m just reaching out to my family for you all to please lift up Rick, Christy, and Tim and also Joshua N., to reconcile with Rick. I’m praying, also, that through everything, God is going to heal and restore for His glory and for His story, so that we can all be on the same _____, heading in the same _____, serving the same Lord, being able to fellowship with each-other. And I wanted to say that, now, when people sneeze, I don’t say God bless you. I say Jesus bless you. That’s been kind of fun. People are kind of caught off guard and then they kind of smile. So, I’m just thrilled. I gave my first book, I didn’t order ten, but I’m going to. I’ve ordered one and I gave it away to a waiter who’s nine months sober and clean and I’m just finishing an amazing book, Would You Like…

Hi my name is Katie and I just want to thank you so much for your Daily Audio Bible. I ask that you guys please pray for the Holy Spirit to just grow inside of me. I just pray for strength from the Lord to deny my flesh every single day and to feed my Spirit every single day because I just want to live for Him and worship His name in spirit and in truth and ____. And I just ask for you to pray for that for me. I don’t know when you guys will receive this but I know that God is a very intentional God and I believe that you’ll receive it at the time that it’s intended. Just thank you so much. And I just want grow closer to Him and I want my Spirit to be strong and I don’t want to sin any more. I know I’m not perfect, so, I will stumble sometimes. But I don’t want to intentionally sin any more. Thank you guys for everything. Hallelujah. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello my DAB family. It’s Max S. from Sydney Australia.  It’s twenty second July. I’m just calling to check in again and tell everybody how much I love this community. I love all of you here. And, also, just a couple of thank you’s. Thank you Drew from the bay area for praying for Australia. I’ll be praying for America too, that the sneeze around the world will happen. Victoria S., you have such a loving voice. I feel so loved when you are praying. I pray that your sister has come to Christ and I’m hoping that she will always be with Christ as well. Pastor Gene, always thinking of you. There’s so many people. Blind Tony, I also have been listening to your journey with your healing of your eyes and have been praying for you too. I just wanted to let everybody know that I am thinking of you and praying that the revival of the ____ and the world will happen with everybody, all the countries. And may we all be part of this great movement back to Christ again. Love you all. Bye.

7/23/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19 ~ Romans 8:9-25~ Psalm 18:16-36 ~ Proverbs 19:26

Today is the 23rd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today at the cusp, the threshold, of a shiny, sparkly, new week and it’s all out there in front of us.  We haven’t made any mistakes yet. It’s all new territory and we get to choose to walk with God into it and just see what an empowered week it can be. So, we’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week and pick up right where we left off yesterday, of course. Second Chronicles chapter 8 verse 11 through 10 verse 19 today.

Commentary:

Ok, so, we’ve been following Paul through the book of Romans as he is reframing his tradition and his faith, showing how Jesus merges, intersects, and turns things in a new direction. And he begins with Abraham, moves through the mosaic law, and then yesterday he gets more personal -  the struggle within. Right, so, like, in my mind, I’m compliant with God’s will. That’s my desire. In my body there are other motivators, there are other things pulling me in other directions and I’m kind of a twisted mess because I’m in conflict with myself. The things that I want to do in my mind are not the things that I do in my body and, so, it’s wretched, but thank God. And we sort of end there with yesterday’s reading because it’s all broken apart. So, it sort of ends at this little lull, this little low, this, sort of, impasse. But we’re continuing the letter forward into today, where he begins to move toward Spirit. And this is some profound stuff. So, like, every verse can be chewed on for a while. Sometimes I come in contact with these brilliant theologians or philosophers and hear a talk or something and it’s like, slow down dude, you are blowing my mind. But I need you to slow down. One sentence, then a thirty second pause would be great. It may take an hour to get through a paragraph but then I’ll understand. You’re blowing my mind. That’s kind of like what is happening here in Romans. So, I encourage you to go back and chew on it.

But just to kind of tease out some of the highlights here, we have to consider, if Christ lives in you, which is so much of what I was wrestling through in the writing of Sneezing Jesus - in you. If He’s in you, if we don’t actualize Him outside of us, He is with-in us, then our spirits are regenerated, eternal, new every day, alive because we have the approval of God. So, Paul asks a question, does the Spirit of the one who brought Jesus back to life live in you? I mean, we could just pause with that for a little while. Consider the implications of that for little while. But he says, then the one who brought Christ back to life will also bring you back to life because it’s the same Spirit that brought Jesus back-to life that lives in you. I’m pausing for effect. The implications of that are pretty far reaching. I mean, what isn’t touched by that? And, so, Paul’s conclusion is: Listen, yes, without Spirit then we’re living in our minds and were living in our bodies and they can often be in conflict with each-other. Our minds can hate our bodies because our bodies are taking us in directions that we don’t want to go. Like, we are just twisted. But because this same Spirit that has brought Christ back to life from the dead is in us then we are not obligated to live either one of those stories. If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us then we are joined heirs, children, adopted into the family of God. But not red headed stepchildren, actually intimate, that we can call him Father. Abba is just the it’s just Aramaic for father. But the implication here is intimacy, not estrangement, intimacy. So, the problem with the best English word to show father and intimacy would be something like, daddy or papa, which can feel too familiar. It can feel irreverent because we’re talking about the Almighty. And so, for a long time I kind of struggled with that, that intimacy, not that I didn’t feel it but just to name it because I wanted that that Almighty reverence. But then I look at my son Ezekiel who is just four years-old and, you know, will bound down the stairs at any point with something new to show me and call me daddy and ask me to listen to him and climb up on my lap and show me whatever it is he wants to talk about. And that intimacy, his awareness that he can-do that, and I’m not going to be mad at him, even if he’s interrupting, which he does all the time. I might tell him, listen, show me this and then I need you to give me a few minutes to get a few things done. But it has nothing to do with anger or reverence. I don’t need him to come-down, stand silently at the edge of my desk until I can grace him with acknowledgement, and then, with a sigh of exasperation, I turn my eyes upon him and so he realizes he has my attention and then he can say: O father may I show you something? It’s not like that between us. He’s my son. He can disrupt whatever he wants. He has total access to me. I love it when he’s on my lap. I love listening to the things that he’s coming up with. My mind, because I’m quite a bit older than him, has a lot more experience. But I revel in the way that he processes things through the heart and mind of a child. That’s what we are talking about here. That’s the Spirit within, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead - within. That’s what that means to our relationship with God. And Paul says that it’s even bigger than just relationship. We’re also heirs. We are heirs with Jesus in the Kingdom, which is a huge thought in and of itself. How do you even get your mind around what we’re talking about here? We are heirs to all of creation, both known and unknown. We are children of the most high God. The Spirit, the animating life force of the God that raised Jesus from the dead is within us, intertwined, and a part of who we are. I mean, how does your mind not explode? We  just need to chew on this. And, so, Paul is saying, this changes the perspective of everything. This makes the small things that were going through, the hardships, the struggles, the trying to figure out how to make ends meet, the relational discontinuity that’s happening in our lives at this moment, all these kind of things, all the sudden they begin to be put into their proper place. They’re far less significant than we think they are. So, the way Paul says it is: I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. The whole world, all of creation is groaning for this and we feel it too because that Spirit within us feels it too - the longing for all things to be made new. But it’s not purposeless. What we’re going through right now allows us to persevere. And that cultivates hope. And it is hope in these things that allows us not only to move forward but to have faith in what we cannot yet see but what we know is there.

And, so it’s boom! Mic drop. There’s a bunch of stuff to think about there because the implications touch everything. And we are in a far better place than we think we are. So, our body and our mind, we will be in conflict with ourselves until we realize the Spirit within, which is the story of humanity. Right? We know the garden of Eden story. We know mankind fell, was separated from God. So, rather than having this animating Spirit in and among us, we were separated from this, left in our mind and our body, in conflict without the Spirit of God. Well, Paul’s saying that isn’t the story anymore. Jesus reunites us into who we’re made to be, humanity as it is intended to be. So, there’s plenty to chew on there. And a lot of times, the way I personally absorb these things, I start asking what-if questions. What-if that were true? And then just let my mind and heart open and wonder what would change within me if embraced that fully.

So, I encourage you to do that today, because you will be dreaming about your true self. And once you can dream it, you can name it, and once you can name it, you can become it. This is how we wake up, which is something that we’ve been talking about for the last month. This is how you wake up. And once you have awakened to this, you can’t see the world-the same anymore. And then you realize the chasm between what we’re talking about here and how the world lives and you see the world needs to wake up and that we get to be a part of that story. So, dream a little today. Dream about who you really are.

Prayer:

And Holy Spirit, we invite You into those thoughts. We invite You into that dreaming. We invite the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, that dwells within us, to rise up within us and take its rightful leadership place. Beyond our mind, beyond our body, that are in conflict with each other often, we invite Your Spirit to rule and reign. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

The Sneezing Jesus discussion group is still going on and still going strong. And if you haven’t been over there yet, come dive in, introduce yourself. It’s lively and wonderful. That can be found at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible - if the community that we are is light and life to you - then thank you for helping it to continue, especially here in the summer. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning DAB family. This is Paula calling from Albuquerque. I’m just going to pray. Father God, thank You so much for every blessing that You give us through this ministry. For laying it on Brian and Jill’s heart to be obedient to Your calling. For all those that are involved that are involved in the background, that we never hear their names or see their faces. For SarahJane, for everything she does. Lord, I want to lift up today, the new marriages. I ask that You bless them, Lord, and that You open their eyes, Father God, to all that you have for them, reminding them every day that You are the foundation, that You are the glue in that relationship. For those of us that desire a relationship with You. Lord, I ask that You be enough for us during the time of transition, during that season of our life. Lord, I lift up our children and grandchildren, that were raised in the faith but have chosen to go their own way. Father, I ask that you bring them back. Do whatever it takes, Lord, to remove the scales from their eyes, that they might see You and see You alone. Thank You for what’s going on in Romans Father. And I know that there are probably unbelievers listening to the podcast. And I pray, Lord, that their eyes are open to what Paul says, as given to him by the Holy Spirit - that we are saved by grace. There’s nothing that we can do by ourselves Father. And I pray that You give them that revelation, that You give them the eyes to see and the ears to hear and the quietness to hear Your voice. Thank You, Father, for all that You do and all that You are. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello DABbers, brothers and sisters. This Marco from California. This is my second time calling. The first time I called, I was near my breaking point. I’ve been asking to pray for me, to pray for financial stability.  Last time I called, I stated how I’d lost my job and had been looking for work and praying every day. And sure enough, I’m on my way to interview right now. I’m not saying it’s guaranteed to be mine but I know that these are blessings that God’s putting in my life. I’m truly grateful. I just want to have another prayer request for my little nephew, Mason. He just started middle school. He was really nervous today. He reminds me a lot of myself. He’s a very sensitive kid in the manner that he feels things much more than normal. So, I’d just like for everyone to pray for him to make new friends, for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for him to have courage and strength and to feel comfortable in his own skin at this new school.  And to all the new listeners, Brian, you are amazing. Thank you for having this resource. I can’t tell you what it’s meant to my life and the involvement and the beauty it’s brought. Thank you. I love you guys. Bye.

Hey guys. Hey. This is Annette A. from Oklahoma City. Wow, it feels like it’s been forever since I talked to you, my family. I love you guys. Hey. Oh man. I really want to give a praise report. Thank You. Glory to God for getting ____ and I through this trip down the Florida, hauling a car, putting dogs at the vets to be watched while we were gone and feeling horrible about that the whole time, going down there, getting totally sick from all the heat, thanks to limes disease, thank you so very much for that, and then having to leave early because I just I just couldn’t take the heat, and then leaving my dad, hoping he wouldn’t be too sad because I cut the trip short. It really worked out the way it should and I’m thanking God for giving us grace and for the husband and I not even being at each-other’s throats and having a great time. Being two days on the road, it was insane. The Lord says that He will send a Comforter. The Lord sent me the Comforter and I tell you, I thank Him so much, not only for getting us through all that, but I lost a very good friend of mine at work. That was very unexpectedly expected. She had stage four breast-cancer and had been fighting that for some time. And I thank God, I thank Him so much, for giving me an extra year with my friend. That was not supposed to happen but the Lord knows. And amongst all the things that have been happening at work-and at home, I didn’t even have time to grieve for my friend and it was terrible. But  the Lord sent me the Comforter in my dream, where we talked about it and I got to be in the Comforters arms and cry…

Hey. How’s everybody doing on this evening? My name is Rene from the Chicago area. I just wanted to pass on because I called couple of months ago about my friend Polly, who had pancreatic cancer. Well, the Lord so fir to call her home. She’s passed and I just want to thank everybody for the prayers, particularly, Miss Jan. Jan, I want to thank you so much for the prayers and everybody else. Prayer means so much to me in my life and I just thank you for the prayers and thank you for praying for me also, that the Lord will provide strength and to give me strength I carry on in the name of Jesus, without wavering, without giving up and giving in. Just pray for me. In the name of Jesus. Amen. I thank you. Bye-bye.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday July 30, 2017 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 26-28

King Uzziah of Judah(A)

26 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. Uzziah rebuilt Elath and returned it to Judah after King Amaziah lay down in death with his ancestors. Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. He did what Yahweh considered right, as his father Amaziah had done. He dedicated his life to serving Elohim in the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear Elohim. As long as he dedicated his life to serving Yahweh, Elohim gave him success.

Uzziah went to wage war against the Philistines. He tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. Elohim helped him when he attacked the Philistines, the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunites. The Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah, and his fame spread to the border of Egypt because he became very powerful. Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at Corner Wall, Valley Gate, and the Angle, and he reinforced them. 10 He built towers in the desert. He dug many cisterns because he had a lot of herds in the foothills and the plains. He had farmers and vineyard workers in the mountains and the fertile fields because he loved the soil.

11 Uzziah had an army of professional soldiers. They were ready to go to war in their companies based on the number organized by the scribe Jeiel and the officer Maaseiah. They were commanded by Hananiah, one of the king’s officials. 12 The total number of family heads among these warriors was 2,600. 13 Under them was an army of 307,500 soldiers. They were a powerful force that could support the king against the enemy. 14 For the entire army Uzziah prepared shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones for slings. 15 In Jerusalem he made machines designed by inventive people. The machines were placed on the towers and corners to shoot arrows and hurl large stones.

King Uzziah Is Cursed with a Skin Disease(B)

Uzziah’s fame spread far and wide because he had strong support until he became powerful. 16 But when he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He was unfaithful to Yahweh his Elohim. He went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the incense altar. 17 The priest Azariah went in after him with 80 of Yahweh’s courageous priests. 18 They opposed King Uzziah. They said to him, “Uzziah, you have no right to burn incense as an offering to Yahweh. That right belongs to the priests, Aaron’s descendants, who have been given the holy task of burning incense. Get out of the holy place because you have been unfaithful. Yahweh Elohim will not honor you for this.”

19 Uzziah, who held an incense burner in his hand, became angry. While he was angry with the priests, a skin disease broke out on his forehead. This happened in front of the priests in Yahweh’s temple as Uzziah was at the incense altar. 20 When the chief priest Azariah and all the priests turned toward him, a skin disease was on his forehead. They rushed him away. Uzziah was in a hurry to get out because Yahweh had inflicted him with the disease.

21 King Uzziah had a skin disease until the day he died. Since he had a skin disease, he lived in a separate house and was barred from Yahweh’s temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the royal palace and governed the country.

22 Everything else about Uzziah, from beginning to end, is recorded by the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz. 23 Uzziah lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in a field containing tombs that belonged to the kings. People said, “He had a skin disease.” His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

King Jotham of Judah(C)

27 Jotham was 25 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerushah, daughter of Zadok. He did what Yahweh considered right, as his father Uzziah had done. But unlike his father, he didn’t illegally enter Yahweh’s temple. Nevertheless, the people continued their corrupt ways.

Jotham built the Upper Gate of Yahweh’s temple and did extensive building of the wall at the Ophel. He built cities in the hills of Judah, and he built forts and towers in the wooded areas. He fought with the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites gave him 7,500 pounds of silver, 60,000 bushels of wheat, and 60,000 bushels of barley. The Ammonites gave him the same amount for two more years. Jotham grew powerful because he was determined to live as Yahweh his Elohim wanted.

Everything else about Jotham—all his wars and his life—is written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. He was 25 years old when he began to rule as king. He ruled for 16 years in Jerusalem. Jotham lay down in death with his ancestors, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

King Ahaz of Judah(D)

28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 26 years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do what Yahweh considered right, as his ancestor David had done. He followed the example of the kings of Israel and even made metal idols for worshiping other gods—the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his son by burning him alive, one of the disgusting things done by the nations that Yahweh had forced out of the Israelites’ way. He offered sacrifices and burned incense as an offering at the illegal worship sites, which were on hills and under every large tree.

So Yahweh his Elohim handed him over to the king of Aram, who defeated him, captured many prisoners, and brought them to Damascus. He also handed him over to the king of Israel, who decisively defeated him. In one day Pekah, son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 soldiers in Judah because they had abandoned Yahweh Elohim of their ancestors. Zichri, a fighting man from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, who was the king’s son, Azrikam, who was in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, who was the king’s second-in-command. The Israelites captured 200,000 women, boys, and girls from their relatives the Judeans. They also took a lot of goods from Judah and brought them to Samaria.

A prophet of Yahweh named Oded was there. He went to meet the army coming home to Samaria. He said to them, “Yahweh Elohim of your ancestors handed Judah over to you in his anger. You killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. 10 Now you intend to enslave the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem. But aren’t you also guilty of sinning against Yahweh your Elohim? 11 Listen to me. Return these prisoners you have captured from your relatives, because Yahweh is very angry with you.”

12 Then Azariah, son of Jehohan, Berechiah, son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah, son of Shallum, and Amasa, son of Hadlai (some leaders of Ephraim) opposed those coming home from the army. 13 They said to the army, “Don’t bring the prisoners here. You’ll make us responsible for this sin against Yahweh. Do you intend to add to all our sins? Yahweh is very angry with Israel because we have already sinned.”

14 So the army left the prisoners and the loot in front of the leaders and the whole assembly. 15 Then the men who were mentioned by name took charge of the prisoners and gave clothes from the loot to all the prisoners who were naked. They provided clothes for them, gave them sandals, gave them something to eat and drink, and let them bathe. They put everyone who was exhausted on donkeys and brought them to Jericho (the City of Palms) near their own people. Then they returned to Samaria.

16 At that time King Ahaz sent for help from the kings of Assyria. 17 The Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and captured prisoners. 18 The Philistines had raided the foothills and the Negev in Judah. They captured and began living in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages. 19 Yahweh humbled Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel. Ahaz had spread sin throughout Judah and was unfaithful to Yahweh.

20 King Tillegath Pilneser of Assyria attacked Ahaz. Instead of strengthening Ahaz, Tillegath Pilneser made trouble for him. 21 Ahaz took some of the things from Yahweh’s temple, the royal palace, and the princes, and he gave them to the king of Assyria. But that didn’t help him. 22 When he had this trouble, King Ahaz became more unfaithful to Yahweh. 23 He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, the gods who had defeated him. He thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram are helping them. I’ll sacrifice to them so that they will help me.” But they ruined him and all Israel.

24 Ahaz collected the utensils in Elohim’s temple, cut them up, and closed the doors to Yahweh’s temple. He made altars for himself on every corner in Jerusalem. 25 And in each city of Judah, he made places of worship to sacrifice to other gods. So he made Yahweh Elohim of his ancestors angry.

26 Everything else about him—everything from beginning to end—is written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 Ahaz lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the city of Jerusalem because they didn’t put him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

Romans 13

Obey the Government

13 Every person should obey the government in power. No government would exist if it hadn’t been established by God. The governments which exist have been put in place by God. Therefore, whoever resists the government opposes what God has established. Those who resist will bring punishment on themselves.

People who do what is right don’t have to be afraid of the government. But people who do what is wrong should be afraid of it. Would you like to live without being afraid of the government? Do what is right, and it will praise you. The government is God’s servant working for your good.

But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid. The government has the right to carry out the death sentence. It is God’s servant, an avenger to execute God’s anger on anyone who does what is wrong. Therefore, it is necessary for you to obey, not only because you’re afraid of God’s anger but also because of your own conscience.

That is also why you pay your taxes. People in the government are God’s servants while they do the work he has given them. Pay everyone whatever you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay them. If you owe tolls, pay them. If you owe someone respect, respect that person. If you owe someone honor, honor that person.

Love One Another

Pay your debts as they come due. However, one debt you can never finish paying is the debt of love that you owe each other. The one who loves another person has fulfilled Moses’ Teachings. The commandments, “Never commit adultery; never murder; never steal; never have wrong desires,” and every other commandment are summed up in this statement: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” 10 Love never does anything that is harmful to a neighbor. Therefore, love fulfills Moses’ Teachings.

11 You know the times in which we are living. It’s time for you to wake up. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first became believers. 12 The night is almost over, and the day is near. So we should get rid of the things that belong to the dark and take up the weapons that belong to the light. 13 We should live decently, as people who live in the light of day. Wild parties, drunkenness, sexual immorality, promiscuity, rivalry, and jealousy cannot be part of our lives. 14 Instead, live like the Lord Yeshua Christ did, and forget about satisfying the desires of your corrupt nature.

Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23

A psalm by David.

Yahweh is my Roeh.
I am never in need.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside peaceful waters.
He renews my soul.
He guides me along the paths of righteousness
for the sake of his name.
Even though I walk through the dark valley of death,
because you are with me, I fear no harm.
Your rod and your staff give me courage.

You prepare a banquet for me while my enemies watch.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.

Certainly, goodness and mercy will stay close to me all the days of my life,
and I will remain in Yahweh’s house for days without end.

Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

Proverbs 20:11

11 Even a child makes himself known by his actions,
whether his deeds are pure or right.

Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday July 29, 2017 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 24-25

King Joash of Judah(A)

24 Joash[a] was 7 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. Joash did what the Lord considered right, as long as the priest Jehoiada lived.

Jehoiada got Joash two wives, and Joash had sons and daughters.

After this, Joash wanted to renovate the Lord’s temple. He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go to the cities of Judah, and collect money throughout Israel to repair the temple of your God every year. Do it immediately!” But the Levites didn’t do it immediately.

So the king called for the chief priest Jehoiada and asked him, “Why didn’t you require the Levites to bring the contributions from Judah and Jerusalem? The Lord’s servant Moses and the assembly had required Israel to give contributions for the use of the tent containing the words of God’s promise.” (The sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into God’s temple and used all the holy things of the Lord’s temple to worship other gods—the Baals.)

The king issued an order, and they made a box and placed it outside the gate of the Lord’s temple. Then they issued a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem that the contributions should be brought to the Lord. (In the desert the Lord’s servant Moses had required Israel to make contributions.) 10 All the officials and all the people were overjoyed. They brought the money and dropped it into the box until it was full. 11 Whenever the Levites brought the box to the king’s officers and they saw a lot of money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would empty the box and put it back in its place. They would do this every day, so they collected a lot of money. 12 The king and Jehoiada would give the money to the foremen who were working on the Lord’s temple, and they hired masons and carpenters to renovate the Lord’s temple. They also hired men who worked with iron and bronze to repair the Lord’s temple. 13 As the men worked, the project progressed under the foremen’s guidance. They restored God’s temple to its proper condition and reinforced it.

14 When they finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, who used it to make utensils for the Lord’s temple. They made dishes and gold and silver utensils for the service and for the offerings. As long as Jehoiada lived, they sacrificed burnt offerings in the Lord’s temple.

Joash’s Sin Leads to His Assassination(B)

15 When Jehoiada was old and had lived out his years, he died. He was 130 years old when he died. 16 He was buried in the City of David with the kings because of the good he had done in Israel for God and the temple.

17 After he died, the officials of Judah bowed in front of the king with their faces touching the ground. Then the king listened to their advice. 18 They abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors and worshiped idols and the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. This offense of theirs brought God’s anger upon Judah and Jerusalem.

19 The Lord sent them prophets to bring them back to himself. The prophets warned them, but they wouldn’t listen. 20 God’s Spirit gave Zechariah, son of the priest Jehoiada, strength. Zechariah stood in front of the people and said to them, “This is what God says: Why are you breaking the Lord’s commands? You won’t prosper that way! The Lord has abandoned you because you have abandoned him.” 21 But they plotted against Zechariah, and by the king’s order they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22 King Joash did not remember how kind Zechariah’s father, Jehoiada, had been to him. Instead, he killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah died, he said, “May the Lord see this and get revenge!”

23 At the end of the year, the Aramean army attacked Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the people’s leaders. The Arameans sent all the loot they took from Judah and Jerusalem to the king of Damascus. 24 The Aramean army had come with a small number of men, but the Lord handed Joash’s large army over to them because Joash’s soldiers had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. So the Arameans carried out the Lord’s judgment on Joash. 25 When the Arameans withdrew, they left him suffering from many wounds. His own officials plotted against him for murdering the son of the priest Jehoiada. They killed Joash in his bed. When he died, they buried him in the City of David, but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26 These were the men who conspired against him: Zabad, son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith. 27 The record about his sons, the many divine revelations against him, and the rebuilding of God’s temple is in the notes made in the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

King Amaziah of Judah(C)

25 Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan from Jerusalem. He did what the Lord considered right, but he did not do it wholeheartedly. As soon as he had firm control over the kingdom, he executed the officials who killed his father, the former king. But he didn’t execute their children. He obeyed the Lord’s command written in the Book of Moses’ Teachings: “Parents must never be put to death for the crimes of their children, and children must never be put to death for the crimes of their parents. Each person must be put to death for his own crime.”

Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them by families to regiment and battalion commanders for all of Judah and Benjamin. He organized those who were at least 20 years old and found that he had 300,000 of the best men for the army, those who could handle a spear and a shield. He also hired 100,000 soldiers from Israel for 7,500 pounds of silver.

But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, Israel’s army must not go with you, because the Lord isn’t with Israel. He’s not with these men from Ephraim. If you go into battle with them, no matter how courageous you are, God will use the enemy to defeat you, because God has the power to help you or to defeat you.”

Amaziah asked the man of God, “What should I do about the 7,500 pounds of silver I gave the troops from Israel?”

The man of God answered, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”

10 Then Amaziah dismissed the troops that had come to him from Ephraim. But they became furious with Judah and returned home.

11 Amaziah courageously led his troops. When he came to the Dead Sea region, he killed 10,000 men from Seir. [b] 12 The Judeans captured another 10,000 alive, took them to the top of a cliff, and threw them off the top of the cliff so that they were dismembered.

13 The troops that Amaziah sent back so that they couldn’t go with him into battle raided the towns in Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed 3,000 people and took a lot of goods.

King Amaziah’s Sin Leads to His Defeat(D)

14 After Amaziah came back from defeating the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up as his gods, bowed down to them, and burned sacrifices to them. 15 The Lord became angry with Amaziah. He sent him a prophet who asked him, “Why do you dedicate your life to serving the gods of those people? Those gods couldn’t save their own people from you.”

16 As he was talking, the king asked him, “Did we make you an adviser to the king? Stop! Do you want me to have you killed?”

The prophet stopped. He said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you because you did this, but you refuse to listen to my advice.”

17 After getting advice from his advisers, King Amaziah of Judah sent messengers to King Jehoash,[c] son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu of Israel, to declare war on Israel.

18 King Jehoash of Israel sent this message to King Amaziah of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon. It said, ‘Let your daughter marry my son,’ but a wild animal from Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle. 19 You say you defeated Edom, and now you’ve become arrogant enough to look for more fame. Stay home! Why must you invite disaster and your own defeat and take Judah with you?”

20 But Amaziah wouldn’t listen. (God made this happen because he wanted to hand over the Judeans to Jehoash because they had sought help from Edom’s gods.) 21 So King Jehoash of Israel attacked, and King Amaziah of Judah met him in battle at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 22 Israel defeated the army of Judah, and the Judeans fled to their homes. 23 King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah, son of Joash and grandson of Ahaziah of Judah, at Beth Shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He tore down a 600-foot section of the wall around Jerusalem from Ephraim Gate to Corner Gate. 24 He took all the gold, silver, and all the utensils he found in God’s temple with Obed Edom and in the royal palace treasury. He also took hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

25 Joash’s son King Amaziah of Judah lived 15 years after the death of Jehoahaz’s son King Jehoash of Israel. 26 Isn’t everything else about Amaziah, from beginning to end, written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? 27 After Amaziah turned away from the Lord, conspirators in Jerusalem plotted against him. Amaziah fled to Lachish, but they sent men to Lachish after him and killed him there. 28 They brought him back by horse and buried him in the city of Judah with his ancestors.

Footnotes:

  1. 2 Chronicles 24:1 In the Masoretic text this king of Judah is also called Jehoash, a longer form of Joash.
  2. 2 Chronicles 25:12 Seir is another name for Edom.
  3. 2 Chronicles 25:17 In the Masoretic Text this king of Israel is also called Joash, a shorter form of Jehoash.
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Romans 12

Dedicate Your Lives to God

12 Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God’s compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you. Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect.

Because of the kindness[a] that God has shown me, I ask you not to think of yourselves more highly than you should. Instead, your thoughts should lead you to use good judgment based on what God has given each of you as believers. Our bodies have many parts, but these parts don’t all do the same thing. In the same way, even though we are many individuals, Christ makes us one body and individuals who are connected to each other. God in his kindness gave each of us different gifts. If your gift is speaking what God has revealed, make sure what you say agrees with the Christian faith. If your gift is serving, then devote yourself to serving. If it is teaching, devote yourself to teaching. If it is encouraging others, devote yourself to giving encouragement. If it is sharing, be generous. If it is leadership, lead enthusiastically. If it is helping people in need, help them cheerfully.

Love sincerely. Hate evil. Hold on to what is good. 10 Be devoted to each other like a loving family. Excel in showing respect for each other. 11 Don’t be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord. 12 Be happy in your confidence, be patient in trouble, and pray continually. 13 Share what you have with God’s people who are in need. Be hospitable.

14 Bless those who persecute you. Bless them, and don’t curse them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy. Be sad with those who are sad. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be arrogant, but be friendly to humble people. Don’t think that you are smarter than you really are.

17 Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you. Focus your thoughts on those things that are considered noble. 18 As much as it is possible, live in peace with everyone. 19 Don’t take revenge, dear friends. Instead, let God’s anger take care of it. After all, Scripture says, “I alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back, says the Lord.” 20 But,

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him a drink.
If you do this, you will make him feel guilty and ashamed.”

21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good.

Footnotes:

  1. Romans 12:3 Or “grace.”
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Psalm 22:19-31

19 Do not be so far away, O Lord.
Come quickly to help me, O my strength.
20 Rescue my soul from the sword,
my life from vicious dogs.
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion
and from the horns of wild oxen.

You have answered me.

22 I will tell my people about your name.
I will praise you within the congregation.
23 All who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him!
Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel.
24 The Lord has not despised or been disgusted
with the plight of the oppressed one.
He has not hidden his face from that person.
The Lord heard when that oppressed person
cried out to him for help.
25 My praise comes from you while I am among those assembled for worship.
I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who fear the Lord.
26 Oppressed people will eat until they are full.
Those who look to the Lord will praise him.
May you live forever.
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and return to the Lord.
All the families from all the nations will worship you
28 because the kingdom belongs to the Lord
and he rules the nations.
29 All prosperous people on earth will eat and worship.
All those who go down to the dust will kneel in front of him,
even those who are barely alive.
30 There will be descendants who serve him,
a generation that will be told about the Lord.
31 They will tell people yet to be born about his righteousness—
that he has finished it.

Psalm 23

A psalm by David.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Proverbs 20:8-10

A king who sits on his throne to judge sifts out every evil with his eyes.

Who can say,
“I’ve made my heart pure.
I’m cleansed from my sin”?
10 A double standard of weights and measures—
both are disgusting to the Lord.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

7/22/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10 ~ Romans 7:14-8:8  ~ Psalm 18:1-15 ~ Proverbs 19:24-25

Today is the 22nd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. And here we are at the end of another week going through the stories again in the books of Chronicles and digging in deep in the book of Romans. So, we’ve been reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week, which is what we’ll do today. Second Chronicles chapter 6 verse 12 to 8 verse 10 today.

Prayer:

Thank you Father for another week in Your word. Another week of life with You. And as we shut the doors, close the books, finish the chapter, and press send on this week and let it become a part of our history, we thank You for Your faithfulness because it is the common thread that weaves its way through all of our days and weeks and months. We thank You for Your faithfulness to us, Your loyalty to us, that far outpaces anything that we can give in return but You compel us forward. You invite us deeper and we choose to say yes and reach for You and want to be with You at all times in all places and in all things. Come, Holy Spirit, You are invited into everything about us. Nothing is off-limits to You. So, come, as we finish this week and prepare to start a new one and you be the center of all things about us we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check that out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible shop. Check out the Resources that are available there. Stop by the Prayer Wall and pray for those in need. Maybe your carrying something you don’t want to carry alone. That’s a good place to go.

I’ll remind you of the Sneezing Jesus discussion group that exists on facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus, where an amazing discussion has been taking place. So, be sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hi this is Victoria S. Just calling tonight to pray for some of the DABbers. I really want to call and pray for Marco from California, who lost his job. It is really refreshing to hear a young man that is trying to do good for his family and stand on the word of God. And I just want to pray for you tonight Marco, and let you know that everything’s going to be alright, that God, He hears your voice and He has His perfect time for you. He said He’ll never leave you nor forsake you. He said that none of His will ever be in want. He is your shepherd. He definitely has blessings for you. Gracious Father, I want to pray for Marco tonight and all the young men who are going through challenges like Marco. Lord, I know that You are a God that answers prayers. You said You’d never leave us nor forsake us. David said he was young and now he’s old but he’s never seen the righteous forsaken or seen them begging for bread. Lord, this young man has a heart to do good for his family and a heart to do Your will and I know with those two that You are the God that can meet his needs. Lord, You open doors that no man can close and You close doors that no man can open. Father, You bless him with Your mighty and special way, every one of the young men who are going through the things he’s going through. You bless his family, Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus. You give his wife to be the strength for him and to help him through it all, that their marriage even grows stronger, in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, You touch the DABbers, You touch our leader, our one who is speaking to us of Sneezing for Jesus.  I just want to give Him my victory tonight, that my sister accepted Christ as her Savior and I want you all to rejoice with me and the angels rejoice and pray for her that the Lord bless her and heal her in the mighty name of Jesus. And Lord I give You all…

Hello community. I’m calling from the UK. I’ve been listening for about two years and I just want to say to Brian and Jill that the interview about Sneezing Jesus is just amazing, absolutely amazing. I’m growing more and more in the Lord and, yes, God is in me. God is in each one of us and that impacted me so much from the interview.  I love you guys. I listen every day and I’m looking to get more and more involved. I pray for allot of you and I love you dearly.  My name is Rebecca and we live in Nottingham Shire.

Hi beautiful family. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. Sneezing all the way from Bradenton Florida and Sarasota Florida and excited. I’m only on the second chapter of Sneezing Jesus because I’m really tied up with ministry and full time work and I want to really digest it. But man, Brian, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you. I’m encouraging you guys to join us tonight for Brian’s live podcast on Facebook, although, I think you guys are going to get this message after the fact but, oh well.  So, I wanted to pray for a few brothers and sisters, if you could join me. Father, we thank You so much, for Your kindness, Your grace, Your mercy, which is made evident every day by the way you take care of us, how much You love us, how much You guide us, and carry us through Your word. Father, one more time, thank You for Brian, for Jill and for the ___. So, Jesus, I want to pray for my brother Robert Clark’s nephew, who has been applying for disability for the last seven or eight years and continues getting denied. We’ve only been at it for two years and it is very disheartening and very hard when you don’t have an income and you’re unable to work, like is the case with my husband. So, I am praying for a miracle for You to touch the right people in the Disability Administration, that this will be approved and also for comfort, so that when my brother’s nephew hears of the news he will not completely discouraged. I also want to pray for ___ the Joy. I want it for her Father, that You will complete the work that You have started in her. I want to pray for her baby Eli. And I want to pray that You will do a mighty work in his life, that You will protect him, that You will protect ___ the Joy and that You will do whatever it takes to draw ___ the Joy to You permanently, Oh God, so that You can truly turn her life around. Father, bless my brothers and sisters. I love you guys. Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. Bye.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s great to be here at the global campfire, as Brian likes to call it. I was introduced to the Daily Audio Bible by my uncle, who is huge role model for me. I’ve been listening to it for the past month now and it has absolutely been changing my life. I’m a missionary in Chiang Mai Thailand and I teach at a school there named ___ National School. I don’t get paid to do what I do but I work about 12 hour days. I’m back here in the states after completing my first year there. I’m raising support for a steady income flow so I can support myself while I’m there. It’s been an incredible story of faith and provision that God has been taking me through this last year in Chiang Mai and He has been steadily providing monthly support for me while I’ve been here travelling all over the states meeting people that I know and people that I’ve never met before. I just want to ask for more prayer, that my faith will stand firm and, if the expectation is that God wants me there in Chiang Mai then He will provide a way. He’s already provided about 70% of my support, so, Hallelujah. But I still have some left to go and I’m just asking for prayer on that, that I stand firm, and that I’d also be expecting the money to come in and the provision to come in.  Also, I’d like to ask for prayer for my sister who struggles with anxiety as so many prayer requests I hear are about anxiety. I’ve been growing to understand it a little bit more and so, I just ask for prayer for her…

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday July 28, 2017 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 21-23

King Jehoram of Judah(A)

21 Jehoshaphat lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king. He had the following brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All were the sons of King Jehoshaphat of Israel. Their father gave them many gifts: silver, gold, and other expensive things, along with fortified cities in Judah. But Jehoshaphat gave the kingdom to Jehoram, who was the firstborn.

After Jehoram had taken over his father’s kingdom, he strengthened his position and then executed all his brothers and some of the officials of Israel. Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king, and he ruled for 8 years in Jerusalem. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as Ahab’s family had done, because his wife was Ahab’s daughter. So he did what the Lord considered evil. But the Lord, recalling the promise[a] he had made to David, didn’t want to destroy David’s family. The Lord had told David that he would always give him and his descendants a shining lamp.

Edom Wins Independence from Judah(B)

During Jehoram’s time Edom rebelled against Judah and chose its own king. Jehoram took all his chariot commanders to attack. The Edomites and their chariot commanders surrounded him, but he got up at night and broke through their lines. 10 So Edom rebelled against Judah’s rule and is still independent today. At the same time Edom rebelled, Libnah rebelled because Jehoram had abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors. 11 Jehoram made illegal places of worship in the hills of Judah. This caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to chase after foreign gods as if they were prostitutes. So he led Judah astray.

12 Then a letter came to him from the prophet Elijah. It read, “This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: You haven’t followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or the ways of King Asa of Judah. 13 Instead, you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel. You, like Ahab’s family, have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to chase after foreign gods as if they were prostitutes. You have killed your brothers, your father’s family. Your brothers were better than you. 14 The Lord will strike a great blow to your people, your sons, your wives, and all your property because you did this. 15 You will suffer from a chronic intestinal disease until your intestines come out.”

16 The Lord prompted the Philistines and the Arabs who lived near the people of Sudan to attack Jehoram. 17 They fought against Judah, broke into the country, and took away everything that could be found in the royal palace. They even took Jehoram’s sons and wives. The only son left was Ahaziah,[b] Jehoram’s youngest son. 18 After this, the Lord struck Jehoram with an incurable intestinal disease. 19 Two years later, as his life was coming to an end, his intestines fell out because of his sickness. He died a painful death.

His people did not make a bonfire in his honor as they had done for his ancestors. 20 He was 32 years old when he became king, and he ruled for 8 years in Jerusalem. No one was sorry to see him die. He was buried in the City of David but not in the tombs of the kings.

King Ahaziah of Judah(C)

22 The people of Jerusalem made Jehoram’s youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, because the raiders who came to the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Jehoram’s son Ahaziah became king of Judah. Ahaziah[c] was 42 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri. Ahaziah also followed the ways of Ahab’s family, because his mother gave him advice that led him to sin. He did what the Lord considered evil, as Ahab’s family had done. After his father died, they advised him to do what Ahab’s family had done. They did this to destroy him.

Ahaziah followed their advice and went with Ahab’s son King Joram[d] of Israel to fight against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. There the Arameans wounded Joram. Joram returned to Jezreel to let his wounds heal. (He had been wounded by the Arameans at Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Aram.) Then Jehoram’s son Ahaziah[e] went to Jezreel to see Ahab’s son Joram, who was sick.

God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall when he went to Joram. He went with Joram to meet Jehu, grandson of Nimshi. (The Lord had anointed Jehu to destroy Ahab’s family.) When Jehu was executing judgment on Ahab’s family, he found Judah’s leaders (Ahaziah’s nephews) who were serving Ahaziah, and he killed them. He searched for Ahaziah, and Jehu’s men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. They brought him to Jehu and killed him. Then they buried him. They explained, “Ahaziah is Jehoshaphat’s grandson. Jehoshaphat dedicated his life to serving the Lord with all his heart.” But no one in Ahaziah’s family was able to rule as king.

The Priest Jehoiada Opposes Queen Athaliah(D)

10 When Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah, saw that her son was dead, she began to destroy the entire royal family of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshebath, daughter of the king and sister of Ahaziah, took Ahaziah’s son Joash. She saved him from being killed with the king’s other sons, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Jehoshebath was the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest. Because she was also Ahaziah’s sister, she hid Joash from Athaliah. So he wasn’t killed. 12 Joash was with the priests. He was hidden in God’s temple for six years while Athaliah ruled the country.

23 In the seventh year of Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada strengthened his position by making an agreement with the company commanders: Azariah, son of Jeroham, Ishmael, son of Jehohanan, Azariah, son of Obed, Maaseiah, son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat, son of Zichri. They went around Judah, gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the leaders of the families of Israel, and came to Jerusalem. The whole assembly made an agreement with the king in God’s temple.

Then Jehoiada said to them, “Here is the king’s son. He should be king, as the Lord said about David’s descendants. This is what you must do: One third of you, the priests and Levites who are on duty on the day of rest—a holy day, must guard the gates. Another third must be at the royal palace. And another third must be at Foundation Gate. All the people must be in the courtyards of the Lord’s temple. No one should come into the Lord’s temple except the priests and the Levites who are on duty with them. They may enter because they are holy, but all other people should follow the Lord’s regulations. The Levites should surround the king. Each man should have his weapon in his hand. Kill anyone who tries to come into the temple. Stay with the king wherever he goes.”

So the Levites and all the Judeans did what the priest Jehoiada had ordered them. Each took his men who were coming on duty on the day of rest—a holy day, as well as those who were about to go off duty. Jehoiada had not dismissed the priestly divisions.

Jehoiada gave the commanders the spears and the small and large shields that had belonged to King David but were now in God’s temple. 10 All the troops stood with their weapons drawn. They were stationed around the king and around the altar and the temple (from the south side to the north side of the temple). 11 Then they brought out the king’s son, gave him the crown and the religious instructions, and Jehoiada and his sons made him king by anointing him. They said, “Long live the king!”

12 When Athaliah heard the people running and praising the king, she went into the Lord’s temple, where the people were. 13 She looked, and the king was standing by the pillar at the entrance. The commanders and the trumpeters were by his side. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. The singers were leading the celebration with songs accompanied by musical instruments. As Athaliah tore her clothes in distress, she said, “Treason, treason!”

14 Then the priest Jehoiada brought the company commanders who were in charge of the army out of the temple. He said to them, “Take her out of the temple. Use your sword to kill anyone who follows her.” (The priest had said, “Don’t kill her in the Lord’s temple.”) 15 So they arrested her as she entered Horse Gate of the royal palace, and they killed her there.

16 Jehoiada made a promise to the Lord on behalf of the king and his people that they would be the Lord’s people. 17 Then all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed Baal’s altars and his statues and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.

18 Next, Jehoiada appointed officials to be in charge of the Lord’s temple under the direction of the priests and Levites.[f] (David had arranged them in divisions for the Lord’s temple. They were appointed to sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord as it is written in Moses’ Teachings. They made these offerings with joy and singing as David had directed.) 19 Jehoiada appointed gatekeepers for the gates of the Lord’s temple so that no one who was unclean[g] for any reason could enter.

20 He took the company commanders, the nobles, the people’s governors, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the Lord’s temple. They went through Upper Gate to the royal palace and seated the king on the royal throne. The nobles, the governors of the people, and 21 all the people of the land were celebrating. But the city was quiet because they had killed Athaliah with a sword.

Footnotes:

  1. 2 Chronicles 21:7 Or “covenant.”
  2. 2 Chronicles 21:17 In the Masoretic Text this king of Judah is also called Jehoahaz, an alternate form of Ahaziah.
  3. 2 Chronicles 22:2 In the Masoretic Text this king of Judah is also called Jehoahaz, an alternate form of Ahaziah.
  4. 2 Chronicles 22:5 In the Masoretic Text this king of Israel is also called Jehoram, a longer form of Joram.
  5. 2 Chronicles 22:6 Some Hebrew manuscripts, 2 Kings 8:29, Greek, Syriac, Latin; other Hebrew manuscripts “Azariah.”
  6. 2 Chronicles 23:18 A few Hebrew manuscripts, Greek, Syriac, Latin; most Hebrew manuscripts “Levitical priests.”
  7. 2 Chronicles 23:19 “Unclean” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is not presentable to God.
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Romans 11:13-36

13 Now, I speak to you who are not Jewish. As long as I am an apostle sent to people who are not Jewish, I bring honor to my ministry. 14 Perhaps I can make my people jealous and save some of them. 15 If Israel’s rejection means that the world has been brought back to God, what does Israel’s acceptance mean? It means that Israel has come back to life.

16 If the first handful of dough is holy, the whole batch of dough is holy. If the root is holy, the branches are holy. 17 But some of the olive branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in their place. You get your nourishment from the roots of the olive tree. 18 So don’t brag about being better than the other branches. If you brag, remember that you don’t support the root, the root supports you. 19 “Well,” you say, “Branches were cut off so that I could be grafted onto the tree.” 20 That’s right! They were broken off because they didn’t believe, but you remain on the tree because you do believe. Don’t feel arrogant, but be afraid. 21 If God didn’t spare the natural branches, he won’t spare you, either. 22 Look at how kind and how severe God can be. He is severe to those who fell, but kind to you if you continue to hold on to his kindness. Otherwise, you, too, will be cut off from the tree.

23 If Jewish people do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted onto the tree again, because God is able to do that. 24 In spite of the fact that you have been cut from a wild olive tree, you have been grafted onto a cultivated one. So wouldn’t it be easier for these natural branches to be grafted onto the olive tree they belong to?

25 Brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery so that you won’t become arrogant. The minds of some Israelites have become closed until all of God’s non-Jewish people are included. 26 In this way Israel as a whole will be saved, as Scripture says,

“The Savior will come from Zion.
He will remove godlessness from Jacob.
27 My promise[a] to them will be fulfilled
when I take away their sins.”

28 The Good News made the Jewish people enemies because of you. But by God’s choice they are loved because of their ancestors. 29 God never changes his mind when he gives gifts or when he calls someone. 30 In the past, you disobeyed God. But now God has been merciful to you because of the disobedience of the Jewish people. 31 In the same way, the Jewish people have also disobeyed so that God may be merciful to them as he was to you. 32 God has placed all people into the prison of their own disobedience so that he could be merciful to all people.

33 God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep
that it is impossible to explain his decisions
or to understand his ways.
34 “Who knows how the Lord thinks?
Who can become his adviser?”
35 Who gave the Lord something
which the Lord must pay back?
36 Everything is from him and by him and for him.
Glory belongs to him forever! Amen!

Footnotes:

  1. Romans 11:27 Or “covenant.”
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Psalm 22:1-18

Psalm 22

For the choir director; according to ayyeleth hashachar;[a] a psalm by David.

My God, my God,
why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away from helping me,
so far away from the words of my groaning?
My God,
I cry out by day, but you do not answer—
also at night, but I find no rest.

Yet, you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
Our ancestors trusted you.
They trusted, and you rescued them.
They cried to you and were saved.
They trusted you and were never disappointed.

Yet, I am a worm and not a man.
I am scorned by humanity and despised by people.
All who see me make fun of me.
Insults pour from their mouths.
They shake their heads and say,
“Put yourself in the Lord’s hands.
Let the Lord save him!
Let God rescue him since he is pleased with him!”
Indeed, you are the one who brought me out of the womb,
the one who made me feel safe at my mother’s breasts.
10 I was placed in your care from birth.
From my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be so far away from me.
Trouble is near, and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded me.
Strong bulls from Bashan have encircled me.
13 They have opened their mouths to attack me
like ferocious, roaring lions.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax.
It has melted within me.
15 My strength is dried up like pieces of broken pottery.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You lay me down in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me.
A mob has encircled me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
17 I can count all my bones.
People stare.
They gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among themselves.
They throw dice for my clothing.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 22:1 Unknown musical term.
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Proverbs 20:7

A righteous person lives on the basis of his integrity.
Blessed are his children after he is gone.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday July 27, 2017 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 19-20

King Jehoshaphat’s Religious Reforms

19 King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned safely to his home in Jerusalem. Jehu, son of the seer[a] Hanani, asked King Jehoshaphat, “Why do you help wicked people and love those who hate the Lord? The Lord’s anger is directed toward you because you have done this. However, you’ve done some good things: You’ve burned the Asherah poles in this country, and you’ve wholeheartedly dedicated your life to serving God.”

While Jehoshaphat was living in Jerusalem, he regularly went to the people between Beersheba and the mountains of Ephraim. He brought the people back to the Lord God of their ancestors. He appointed judges in the country, in each fortified city of Judah. He told the judges, “Pay attention to what you’re doing. When you judge, you aren’t doing it for a human but for the Lord. He will be with you when you hear a case. May you have the fear of the Lord in you. Be careful about what you do. The Lord our God is never unjust. He is impartial and never takes bribes.”

In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat also appointed some Levites, priests, and family heads from Israel to administer the Lord’s laws and decide cases. They lived in Jerusalem. He ordered them, “Do this wholeheartedly—with the fear of the Lord and with faithfulness. 10 Warn your relatives living in other cities about every case they bring to you, even if the case involves bloodshed or commands, rules, or regulations derived from Moses’ Teachings. Then your relatives will not become guilty in front of the Lord. Otherwise, he will become angry with you and your relatives. Do this, and you won’t be guilty of anything. 11 Now, the chief priest Amariah will be in charge of you in every matter involving the Lord. Zebadiah, who is the son of Ishmael and the leader of the tribe of Judah, will be in charge of every matter involving the king. The Levites will serve as officers of the court. Be strong, and do your job. May the Lord be with those who do right.”

King Jehoshaphat Defeats Judah’s Enemies

20 Later the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites[b] came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some men reported to Jehoshaphat, “A large crowd is coming against you from the other side of the Dead Sea, from Edom.[c] The crowd is already in Hazazon Tamar” (also called En Gedi).

Frightened, Jehoshaphat decided to ask for the Lord’s help. He announced a fast throughout Judah. The people of Judah gathered to seek the Lord’s help. They came from every city in Judah.

In the new courtyard at the Lord’s temple, Jehoshaphat stood in front of the people. He said, “Lord God of our ancestors, aren’t you the God in heaven? You rule all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess power and might, and no one can oppose you. Didn’t you, our God, force those who were living in this country out of Israel’s way? Didn’t you give this country to the descendants of your friend Abraham to have permanently? His descendants have lived in it and built a holy temple for your name in it. They said, ‘If evil comes in the form of war, flood,[d] plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple and in front of you because your name is in this temple. We will cry out to you in our troubles, and you will hear us and save us.’

10 “The Ammonites, Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir have come here. However, you didn’t let Israel invade them when they came out of Egypt. The Israelites turned away from them and didn’t destroy them. 11 They are now paying us back by coming to force us out of your land that you gave to us. 12 You’re our God. Won’t you judge them? We don’t have the strength to face this large crowd that is attacking us. We don’t know what to do, so we’re looking to you.”

13 All the people from Judah, their infants, wives, and children were standing in front of the Lord. 14 Then the Lord’s Spirit came to Jahaziel. (He was the son of Zechariah, grandson of Benaiah, great-grandson of Jeiel, whose father was Mattaniah, a Levite descended from Asaph.) 15 Jahaziel said, “Pay attention to me, everyone from Judah, everyone living in Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. This is what the Lord says to you: Don’t be frightened or terrified by this large crowd. The battle isn’t yours. It’s God’s. 16 Tomorrow go into battle against them. They will be coming up the Ziz Pass. You will find them at the end of the valley in front of the Jeruel Desert. 17 You won’t fight this battle. Instead, take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the Lord for you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be frightened or terrified. Tomorrow go out to face them. The Lord is with you.”

18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face touching the ground. Everyone from Judah and the people who lived in Jerusalem immediately bowed down in front of the Lord. 19 The Levites, descendants of Kohath and Korah, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with very loud songs.

20 They got up early in the morning and went to the desert of Tekoa. As they were leaving, Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. Trust the Lord your God, and believe. Believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”

21 After he had advised the people, he appointed people to sing to the Lord and praise him for the beauty of his holiness. As they went in front of the troops, they sang, “Thank the Lord because his mercy endures forever!” 22 As they started to sing praises, the Lord set ambushes against the Ammonites, Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir who had come into Judah. They were defeated. 23 Then the Ammonites and Moabites attacked the people from Mount Seir and annihilated them. After they had finished off the people of Seir, they helped destroy one another.

24 The people of Judah went to the watchtower in the desert and looked for the crowd. Corpses were lying on the ground. No one had escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat and his troops came to take the loot, they found among them a lot of goods, clothes,[e] and valuables. They found more than they could carry. They spent three days collecting the loot. 26 On the fourth day they gathered in the valley of Beracah. Because they thanked the Lord there, that place is still called the valley of Beracah [Thanks] today.

27 All the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned to Jerusalem. They rejoiced while Jehoshaphat led them. The Lord gave them a reason to rejoice about what had happened to their enemies. 28 So they brought harps, lyres, and trumpets to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem.

29 The fear of the Lord came over the kingdoms in that area when they heard how the Lord waged war against Israel’s enemies. 30 Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was peaceful, since his God surrounded him with peace.

Summary of Jehoshaphat’s Reign(A)

31 Jehoshaphat ruled as king of Judah. He was 35 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. 32 Jehoshaphat carefully followed the example his father Asa had set and did what the Lord considered right. 33 But the illegal worship sites on the hills were not torn down. The people still didn’t have their hearts set on the God of their ancestors.

34 Everything else about Jehoshaphat from first to last is written in the records of Jehu, son of Hanani, which is included in the Book of the Kings of Israel.

35 After this, King Jehoshaphat of Judah allied himself with King Ahaziah of Israel, who led him to do evil. 36 Jehoshaphat joined him in making ships to go to Tarshish. They made the ships in Ezion Geber. 37 Then Eliezer, son of Dodavahu from Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat. He said, “The Lord will destroy your work because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah.” So the ships were wrecked and couldn’t go to Tarshish.

Footnotes:

  1. 2 Chronicles 19:2 A seer is a prophet.
  2. 2 Chronicles 20:1 Greek; Masoretic Text “and some of the Ammonites.”
  3. 2 Chronicles 20:2 One Hebrew manuscript, Latin; other Hebrew manuscripts “Aram.”
  4. 2 Chronicles 20:9 Greek; Masoretic Text “judgment.”
  5. 2 Chronicles 20:25 Latin; Masoretic Text “corpses.”
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Romans 10:14-11:12

14 But how can people call on him if they have not believed in him? How can they believe in him if they have not heard his message? How can they hear if no one tells the Good News? 15 How can people tell the Good News if no one sends them? As Scripture says, “How beautiful are the feet of the messengers who announce the Good News.” 16 But not everyone has believed the Good News.

Isaiah asks, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 So faith comes from hearing the message, and the message that is heard is what Christ spoke.

18 But I ask, “Didn’t they hear that message?” Certainly they did! “The voice of the messengers has gone out into the whole world and their words to the ends of the earth.”

19 Again I ask, “Didn’t Israel understand that message?” Moses was the first to say, “I will make you jealous of people who are not a nation. I will make you angry about a nation that doesn’t understand.” 20 Isaiah said very boldly, “I was found by those who weren’t looking for me. I was revealed to those who weren’t asking for me.” 21 Then Isaiah said about Israel, “All day long I have stretched out my hands to disobedient and rebellious people.”

God’s Continuing Love for Jewish People

11 So I ask, “Has God rejected his people Israel?” That’s unthinkable! Consider this. I’m an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he knew long ago. Don’t you know what Elijah says in the Scripture passage when he complains to God about Israel? He says, “Lord, they’ve killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to take my life.” But what was God’s reply? God said, “I’ve kept 7,000 people for myself who have not knelt to worship Baal.” So, as there were then, there are now a few left that God has chosen by his kindness. [a] If they were chosen by God’s kindness, they weren’t chosen because of anything they did. Otherwise, God’s kindness wouldn’t be kindness.

So what does all this mean? It means that Israel has never achieved what it has been striving for. However, those whom God has chosen have achieved it. The minds of the rest of Israel were closed, as Scripture says,

“To this day God has given them a spirit of deep sleep.
Their eyes don’t see,
and their ears don’t hear!”

And David says,

“Let the table set for them become a trap and a net,
a snare and a punishment for them.
10 Let their vision become clouded so that they cannot see.
Let them carry back-breaking burdens forever.”

11 So I ask, “Has Israel stumbled so badly that it can’t get up again?” That’s unthinkable! By Israel’s failure, salvation has come to people who are not Jewish to make the Jewish people jealous. 12 The fall of the Jewish people made the world spiritually rich. Their failure made people who are not Jewish spiritually rich. So the inclusion of Jewish people will make the world even richer.

Footnotes:

  1. Romans 11:6 Or “grace.”
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Psalm 21

Psalm 21

For the choir director; a psalm by David.

The king finds joy in your strength, O Lord.
What great joy he has in your victory!
You gave him his heart’s desire.
You did not refuse the prayer from his lips. Selah
You welcomed him with the blessings of good things
and set a crown of fine gold on his head.
He asked you for life.
You gave him a long life, forever and ever.
Because of your victory his glory is great.
You place splendor and majesty on him.
Yes, you made him a blessing forever.
You made him glad with the joy of your presence.
Indeed, the king trusts the Lord,
and through the mercy of the Most High, he will not be moved.

Your hand will discover all your enemies.
Your powerful hand will find all who hate you.
When you appear, you will make them burn like a blazing furnace.
The Lord will swallow them up in his anger.
Fire will devour them.
10 You will destroy their children from the earth
and their offspring from among Adam’s descendants.
11 Although they scheme and plan evil against you,
they will not succeed.
12 They turn their backs and flee
because you aim your bow at their faces.[a]

13 Arise, O Lord, in your strength.
We will sing and make music to praise your power.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 21:12 Hebrew meaning of this verse uncertain.
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Proverbs 20:4-6

A lazy person does not plow in the fall.[a]
He looks for something in the harvest but finds nothing.
A motive in the human heart is like deep water,
and a person who has understanding draws it out.
Many people declare themselves loyal,
but who can find someone who is really trustworthy?

Footnotes:

  1. Proverbs 20:4 Fall was the start of the planting season in Palestine.
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

7/21/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 4:1-6:11 ~ Romans 7:1-13 ~ Psalm 17:1-15 ~ Proverbs 19:22-23

Today is the 21st day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we take the next step forward. And we began the book of second Chronicles yesterday and the life of Solomon and of course, this is a revisiting of the territory that we covered in the books of the Kings. So, we’re in Solomon’s reign and we’ll read second Chronicles chapter 4 verse 1 through 6 verse 11 today. And we’ve been reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay, so, Paul is continuing on. So, we started with Abraham several days ago, worked our way through circumcision, and Abraham’s belief being seen as righteousness to God. And then we began to understand the mercy and kindness and grace of God that was extended through Jesus. So, what Paul is doing is saying Jesus is the continuation of this story and now that we have this piece of the story, now that Jesus is come and done his work in this world, this changes the dynamics of everything. So, what Paul’s talking about today is the law, because this is the de facto thing that the Jewish people believe in and try to observe even though they know that they cannot live up to it. It is the perfect thing. If they could perfectly obey it then they could be righteous before God but they can’t. No one can live up to it perfectly all of the time and so they fall short. But if they could live perfectly in the law that could be perfect before God. Paul is saying, no one has ever been able to do that but Jesus. And Jesus came and offered His life to welcome us into righteousness before God through mercy and grace. And so, Paul started at the beginning with Abraham but now he’s kind of focused in on this law and he’s saying, the law is the thing that gives sin a reality and then he gives an example that we can still understand. If a woman is married and she gives herself to another man she has broken her covenant with her husband and her vow before God. So, she’s broken this law and, so, she will be known as a person who’s committed adultery, an adulterous. But if her husband had died, she can give herself to that same man at the same time then. But if her husband has died then she hasn’t broken any law. It’s this law that lets her know what is right and what is wrong. And, so, Paul is saying, so, does that make the law a bad thing? Since were free from this, does that make the law a bad thing? Absolutely not. Paul says, the law is a benign thing. It’s when you rub up against it that what’s really going on is exposed. This is how you find out what sin is. So, let’s use a real world example. Here in the United States, out on the interstates the speed limit pretty much is 70. Right? I mean, I know that it’s 75 in certain places and 55 in certain places but, like, in general, 70.  And it’s posted. It’s posted every few miles. If you’re going 90, you’re going over the speed limit, you’re breaking the speed law, and you might get busted, you might get a ticket. You’re breaking the law. If there were no signs and those laws had not been passed about speed limits, you can go as fast as you wanted because you wouldn’t know there was anything governing your speed. But because you know it and then you willingly break it, then you’re breaking that law. So, Paul’s just simply saying, the law reveals the sin and sin being exposed then, you know, we can decide, okay well then I’m not going to sin, only to realize our powerlessness and hopelessness in achieving that goal. Actually finding perfection, actually never sinning on our own, in our own strength, that’s not possible. However, when we die to sin, we die to who we were and are resurrected as new creatures in Christ, then all the sudden grace and mercy hovers over us in everything. We are being sanctified. We are being perfected, day-by-day, closer and closer to the Savior.

Prayer:

So, Father, that really is our desire, that we are sanctified, that we are holy and acceptable to You, that we totally understand that we cannot achieve this on our own, that we can’t earn our way, that we can’t be so perfect that You have to see us as righteous because we simply are righteous. We understand fully that this can’t happen without an intertwining, without You within us. That it is no longer us. That we have died to the person that we once were without You and that we have been joined in union with You. We understand that it is all about You. That this is the only way that this is possible.  And yet, because it is possible, it gives us a passion to be righteous and more righteous tomorrow than today, to be upstanding and good before You. That the outflow of our lives is a reaction to Your goodness and mercy and kindness and grace for us. So, come Holy Spirit and fill us anew with Your grace. Thank You so much, that Your mercies are new every morning because we need that. But everyday is a step forward and we invite Your Holy Spirit to pull us forward, forward, forward into sanctification so that every day we are more and more like You. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

We had a really good time at Facebook Live about Sneezing Jesus last night. It was good. We’ll have to do that again soon. If you missed it, you can still find it at the Sneezing Jesus page. If you haven’t got into that group yet and you’re going through Sneezing Jesus, you definitely want this as a portal. It’s a great place of encouragement and some of the stories that are coming in…I mean…the book is just out… but as we move through it, it’s just really nice to have somebody to talk to and that’s a great place for it. So, you can find the Sneezing Jesus group at facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. And I’ve been hanging out there a bit every day and so it’s just really great to interact and to spend time with each other. So, check that out.

Sneezing Jesus is available in all of the formats and I’ve been mentioning that this week. I waited a little on the audio book because we just didn’t know. But it’s everywhere. And, so, if you prefer audio editions, it’s available.

We will be bringing the message of Sneezing Jesus out on the road this fall and then into the new year a little bit. And if you’d like to see that come to your area, go to sneezingjesus.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there’s this tiny little form, and fill that out, and get in touch. We’ll see if that can happen. So, we hope to see you out on the road a little later in the year.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is link. It’s on the homepage. Thank you for your partnership. We wouldn't…this community wouldn’t exist if we didn’t do this together and, so, thank you for your partnership here in the summertime. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, there is a button in the lower right-hand corner. It says More. Push that button and you’ll find the links or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174

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

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

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Sandy in New Hampshire. Father, today, we come to You and we thank You for this family, all across the world, Lord God, that no one is alone. We give You thanks. We give You praise. Father, in the name of Jesus, we lift up the Hardin family. We lift up those that help this podcast to be what it is everyday - a community where no one is alone. So, God, we lift them up and we ask, in the name of Jesus, that You will guide them and protect them, Father, that You will grant them wisdom. Lord, we thank You for that. We thank You that You are God. There is no other. Father we ask that You would provide for them. And Lord, we pray for a family who is fighting. God, we ask You to fight in the heavenly realms because You are the Lord of heaven’s army. God we ask You to fight on the behalf of those that struggle with depression, that struggle with addiction, that struggle with discouragement, Lord God, that are struggling right now. In the name of Jesus, we lift them up. God, we form a circle around them. And Father, You said in Your word that those who are strong should bear the burdens of the week. So, Lord, right now, in Jesus name, God we come because we’re all week at one time and we ask You in Jesus name to meet us. Lord, rise up strong for Your defense, there is no one that can stand against it. My God, I ask that You would fight for those who need to know Your presence Lord God. Holy Spirit, I ask that You move on hearts to change people’s mind. I ask, Lord God, that You would cause Your presence to be so real to them that it draws them, Your love draws them. I’m asking this in Jesus’ name for each one struggling right now…

Hi family. My name is Tom.  I’m from northern New Jersey. I’m a longtime listener, probably about 8 or 9 years. Thank you, Brian and Jill for this great program. I have a prayer request for my son.  He’s battling addiction and after years he’s finally decided to get help and now he’s in a 30-day program but the health insurance is fighting it.  So, I’d really appreciate all your prayers going towards this situation to try to help him and also specifically to help him with this situation. He’s not a believer. I am trying to push him in that direction but you know how that goes sometimes. So, any prayers and especially for the insurance company to come through would really be appreciated. Thank you very much. Take care.

Hello DAB family. This is Joyful Noise from Southern California. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, I lift up Grady to You God and I’m so thankful for his heart for others, his heart for his generation, his heart for his circle of friends, God. I heard the grieving in his voice and I know You hear it too. And You know it. You know his heart is for You God. And I just pray a blessing over him. I pray encouragement. I pray just a sense of peace that what he is doing is making a difference God, no matter what he sees with his eyes God and I just thank You so much for him and all the Grady’s on all campuses across this world and in our nation God. It is such a dark time to be young in this nation and there are so many distractions and so much deception and so much discouragement. We know where it comes from. It comes from the enemy but these children do not belong to the enemy God. They belong to You. So, I just pray that You raise up a generation of Grady’s, God. I already see them on the campuses all over our nation reaching out to seek and save the lost, God. And You promised us that You will leave the ninety-nine to find the one. And, God, I just pray that You’ll remind Grady and just continue to encourage him. And, again, all the Grady’s out there that are doing this in silence and are perhaps struggling with - is this even making a difference. God, I just pray that You give them a sense of peace and You go before Grady and all of the Grady’s as a pillar of fire, removing all the deception and discouragement and distraction that is facing them so that they may ultimately shine a bright light in this dark old world and draw so many back to you, God. In Your precious son’s name and for Your name sake, I pray all of this in Jesus holy and righteous name. Amen. Grady, thank you so much for who you are. I just want to share with you, as a mom of a college student, that I was lifting up my daughter in prayer when I heard your call and I was just really crying out to God because I can’t say with impunity…

Hi DAB family. This is Mom Who Prays from California. I’m calling to share with a sister who works in Corrections and stated that she was assaulted at work. I’ve worked in corrections for over 24 years and I know the environment very well. I would be happy to connect with you via email for prayer and encouragement. My email address is momwhoprays@sbcglobal.net or you can find me Facebook under Christina _____. I’ll be happy to pray for you sister. I also wanted to call to lift up some of my sisters in Christ before the Lord -  Jill, Victoria S., Salvation is Mine, Lisa the Encourager, Annette A., Candice from Oregon, Walta, Asia, Pastor Gene, Cherry C., Lisa from Alabama, our sweet little sister Gigi, and Christi from Kentucky. Also, Viola, my sister, prayers for you regarding your master’s program. You guys are all such a big blessing to me. Also, lifting up Aleah, David from Kansas, Phil B., and Joe the Protector. We hope you’ll check in real soon. We miss you all. Tom and Molly, I’m still keeping your family in prayer. And our sister from Canada who shared about the mud pies, that was such a wonderful message of encouragement. Thank you my sister. It brought tears to my eyes as I was on my one hour commute to work. Duane from Wisconsin, thanks for being such a faithful prayer warrior. Lee from New Jersey, thanks for keeping it real and speaking from the heart. God bless you my brother and your family. Slave of Jesus, thanks for sharing so many words of wisdom and encouraging us to prepare for battle by memorizing God’s word. And Blind Tony, I’m still keeping you in prayer. May God continue to heal you and give you power to stay strong in the Lord, regardless of your circumstances. You’re an inspiration to us all. Not only what you share but how you live. God bless you brother. And Brian and Jill, words just are not enough. Just continued prayers over you and the entire Hardin family as always. And DAB family, let’s be Sneezing Jesus everywhere we go, okay. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday July 26, 2017 (NIV)

2 Chronicles 17-18

King Jehoshaphat of Judah

17 Asa’s son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king. Jehoshaphat strengthened himself to wage war against Israel. He put troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and placed military posts in Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, who lived in the old way like his ancestor David. Jehoshaphat didn’t dedicate his life to serving other gods—the Baals. Instead, he dedicated his life to his ancestor’s God and lived by God’s commands. Jehoshaphat did not do what Israel was doing. So the Lord established Jehoshaphat’s power over the kingdom. All the people of Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat, and he had a lot of riches and honor. He had the confidence to live the way the Lord wanted him to live. He also got rid of the illegal places of worship and poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah in Judah.

In the third year of his reign, he sent his officers Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah. With them were the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, Tob Adonijah, and the priests Elishama and Jehoram. They taught in Judah. They had the Book of the Lord’s Teachings with them when they taught the people in all the cities of Judah.

10 Fear of the Lord came to all the kingdoms around Judah. As a result, they didn’t wage war against Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought gifts and silver as taxes. The Arabs also brought him flocks: 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats. 12 So Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built fortresses and cities where supplies were stored in Judah. 13 He had large supplies of food in the cities of Judah and an army of professional soldiers with him in Jerusalem. 14 The following is a breakdown of these soldiers. They are listed by families. Judah’s regimental commanders were Commander Adnah (with 300,000 fighting men), 15 next to him Commander Jehohanan (with 280,000), 16 and next to him Amasiah, Zichri’s son, who volunteered to serve the Lord (with 200,000 fighting men). 17 From Benjamin there was the fighting man Eliada (with 200,000 armed men with bows and shields), 18 and next to him was Jehozabad (with him was an army of 180,000 armed men). 19 These were the men who served the king in addition to those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

Micaiah Prophesies against King Ahab(A)

18 Jehoshaphat was wealthy and honorable and became Ahab’s in-law. A few years later he went to visit Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for a banquet in honor of Jehoshaphat and the people who were with him. And Ahab persuaded Jehoshaphat to attack Ramoth in Gilead with him.

King Ahab of Israel asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth in Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat told the king of Israel, “I will do what you do. My troops will do what your troops do. We will join your troops in battle.” Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “But first, find out what the Lord’s word is in this matter.”

So the king of Israel called 400 prophets together. He asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”

“Go,” they said. “God will hand over Ramoth to you.”

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord whom we could ask?”

The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “We can ask the Lord through Micaiah, son of Imla, but I hate him. Nothing he prophesies about me is good; it’s always evil.”

Jehoshaphat answered, “The king must not say that.”

The king of Israel called for an officer and said, “Quick! Get Micaiah, son of Imla!”

The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were dressed in royal robes and seated on thrones. They were sitting on the threshing floor[a] at the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying in front of them. 10 Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made iron horns and said, “This is what the Lord says: With these horns you will push the Arameans to their destruction.” 11 All the other prophets made the same prophecy. They said, “Attack Ramoth in Gilead, and you will win. The Lord will hand it over to you.”

12 The messenger who went to call Micaiah told him, “The prophets have all told the king the same good message. Make your message agree with their message. Say something good.”

13 Micaiah answered, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives, I will tell him whatever my God says to me.”

14 When he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah,[b] should we go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”

Micaiah said, “Attack and you will win. They will be handed over to you.”

15 The king asked him, “How many times must I make you take an oath in the Lord’s name to tell me nothing but the truth?”

16 So Micaiah said, “I saw Israel’s troops scattered in the hills like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘These sheep have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he wouldn’t prophesy anything good about me?”

18 Micaiah added, “Then hear the Lord’s word. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and the entire army of heaven was standing on his right and his left. 19 The Lord asked, ‘Who will deceive King Ahab of Israel so that he will attack and be killed at Ramoth in Gilead?’ Some answered one way, while others were saying something else.

20 “Then the Spirit stepped forward, stood in front of the Lord, and said, ‘I will deceive him.’

“‘How?’ the Lord asked.

21 “The Spirit answered, ‘I will go out and be a spirit that tells lies through the mouths of all of Ahab’s prophets.’

“The Lord said, ‘You will succeed in deceiving him. Go and do it.’

22 “So the Lord has put into the mouths of these prophets of yours a spirit that makes them tell lies. The Lord has spoken evil about you.”

23 Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, went to Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. “Which way did the Spirit go when he left me to talk to you?” he asked.

24 Micaiah answered, “You will find out on the day you go into an inner room to hide.”

25 The king of Israel then said, “Send Micaiah back to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the prince. 26 Say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this man in prison, and feed him nothing but bread and water until I return home safely.’”

27 Micaiah said, “If you really do come back safely, then the Lord wasn’t speaking through me. Pay attention to this, everyone!”

28 So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to Ramoth in Gilead. 29 The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you should wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

30 The king of Aram had given orders to the chariot commanders. He said, “Don’t fight anyone except the king of Israel.”

31 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “He must be the king of Israel.” So they surrounded him in order to fight him. But when Jehoshaphat cried out, the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him, 32 and the chariot commanders realized that Jehoshaphat wasn’t the king of Israel. Then they turned away from him.

33 One man aimed his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between his scale armor and his breastplate. Ahab told the chariot driver, “Turn around, and get me away from these troops. I’m badly wounded.” 34 But the battle got worse that day, and the king propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. At sundown he died.

Footnotes:

  1. 2 Chronicles 18:9 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
  2. 2 Chronicles 18:14 1 Kings 22:15; Masoretic Text “Micah.”

Cross references:

  1. 2 Chronicles 18:1 : 1 Kings 22:1–40
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Romans 9:25-10:13

God Chose People Who Are Not Jewish

25 As God says in Hosea:

“Those who are not my people
I will call my people.
Those who are not loved
I will call my loved ones.
26 Wherever they were told,
‘You are not my people,’
they will be called children of the living God.”

27 Isaiah also says about Israel:

“Although the descendants of Israel are
as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore,
only a few will be saved.
28 The Lord will carry out his sentence on the land,
completely and decisively.”

29 This is what Isaiah predicted:

“If the Lord of Armies hadn’t left us some descendants,
we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.”

30 So what can we say? We can say that non-Jewish people who were not trying to gain God’s approval won his approval, an approval based on faith. 31 The people of Israel tried to gain God’s approval by obeying the laws in Moses’ Teachings, but they did not reach their goal. 32 Why? They didn’t rely on faith to gain God’s approval, but they relied on their own efforts. They stumbled over the rock that trips people. 33 As Scripture says,

“I am placing a rock in Zion that people trip over,
a large rock that people find offensive.
Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.”

If You Believe You Will Be Saved

10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of the Jewish people is that they would be saved. I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God, but they are misguided. They don’t understand how to receive God’s approval. So they try to set up their own way to get it, and they have not accepted God’s way for receiving his approval. Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval.

Moses writes about receiving God’s approval by following his laws. He says, “The person who obeys these laws will live because he obeys them.” However, Scripture says about God’s approval which is based on faith, “Don’t ask yourself who will go up to heaven,” (that is, to bring Christ down). “Don’t ask who will go down into the depths,” (that is, to bring Christ back from the dead). However, what else does it say? “This message is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the message of faith that we spread. If you declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. 10 By believing you receive God’s approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved. 11 Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.”

12 There is no difference between Jews and Greeks. They all have the same Lord, who gives his riches to everyone who calls on him. 13 So then, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Psalm 20

Psalm 20

For the choir director; a psalm by David.

The Lord will answer you in times of trouble.
The name of the God of Jacob will protect you.
He will send you help from his holy place
and support you from Zion.
He will remember all your grain offerings
and look with favor on your burnt offerings. Selah
He will give you your heart’s desire
and carry out all your plans.

We will joyfully sing about your victory.
We will wave our flags in the name of our God.
The Lord will fulfill all your requests.

Now I know that the Lord will give victory to his anointed king.
He will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty deeds of his powerful hand.
Some rely on chariots and others on horses,
but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God.
They will sink to their knees and fall,
but we will rise and stand firm.

Give victory to the king, O Lord.
Answer us when we call.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Proverbs 20:2-3

The rage of a king is like the roar of a lion.
Whoever makes him angry forfeits his life.
Avoiding a quarrel is honorable.
After all, any stubborn fool can start a fight.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group