Month: February 2018

Exodus 28:1-43, Matthew 25:31-26:13, Psalms 31:9-18, Proverbs 8:12-13

Today is the 8^th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today from the West Coast, from California. I’ll be heading back to the rolling hills of Tennessee today. What a great time last night. Thanks to everyone who came out to say hello at new life Church in Bakersfield. What a wonderful time being in and among community, seeing old friends, and meeting new. It was a joy. So, yeah, we have another travel day getting back to the rolling hills of Tennessee, but first we need to take the next step forward in our journey through the adventure that is the Scripture in our lives each and every day. So, we’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. And today we will read Exodus chapter 28 from our Old Testament reading.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s just take a second, just catching ourselves up to where we are in the grand scheme of things in the Bible. In the book of Exodus, we are at Mount Sinai. The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. Right? The Egyptians have been pretty much crushed by the hand of God in order to set His people free. So, they’re in the wilderness. We’ve wandered around with them for a while, they’ve grumbled a bunch. We’ve talked about all that. But they’re in the wilderness being reshaped and reformed. Now there at Mount Sinai and God is beginning to give language to the expectations of this culture that is being formed. This is known as the law and we’re beginning to move through some of that. And we can find moving through the law to be tedious, in part, because were back reading our own culture in. And we’ve talked about that. And we’ve talked about not doing that. It can also be tedious because it’s very, very detailed. Not many people go to the library to get law books and just read laws for pleasure. But these are the laws that will shape the culture of the chosen people of God and lead them forward into the promise land and govern them in the promise land. So, it’s very important for them. It’s very important for us to follow along with the story. And we’ll find that, as we move through the law, so much of the cultures that we live in find their foundation here. So, yes, we’re reading about how to make priestly garments today and we may not find that mesmerizing, but we see that God is setting apart now, a section of the people to be priests. And their role will be to tell the story to the people, continually, of who God is, how they got where they are, and where they’re going. They will lead the people in the worship of God and they will also minister before the Lord. This is a new distinction for these people. They’ve only ever been slaves. So, this is all new for them and it will serve to shape and transform them.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus is now in Jerusalem and He’s not getting out. Like, He’s there for the final time. So, He’s sharing the good news of the kingdom, but we’re about to turn the corner and enter into the first account of the passion of Jesus, His betrayal, His arrest, His trial, conviction, execution, burial, resurrection. So, you know, we may know this story backward and forward and sideways, but we’re about to turn the corner in the book of Matthew and head into the story that changed the human race. So, let’s not lose our place in the story or skip ahead and say, yeah, I already know this. We’re about to move into the territory that changed everything.

In the Psalms, we have to notice that so many of these are heart cries and we can hold onto them. And we can notice and understand that they are serious and they are honest. And we can see in the Psalms that nothing’s been glossed over. Like, the Bible hasn’t been edited to be all nice and pretty and clean. The Bible contains all of the grit and dirt of life on this planet, all of the motivations of the heart, all of the emotions that we experience. So, right? I mean, if we read the Psalm again today, ‘Be merciful to me. Lord, I’m in trouble. My eyes are tired from crying so much. I’m completely worn out. I’m exhausted by sorrow. Weeping has shortened my life. I’m week from all my troubles. My bones even are wasting away. People close to me are treating me with contempt. Those who know me are afraid of me. When they see me in the street they will walk the other direction. Everyone has forgotten me as if I were dead. It’s like I’m something that has been thrown away.’ Right? That’s honest. The Bible isn’t inviting us to be fakers. We invite each other to be fakers. God’s not inviting us to do that. We’re doing that to each other. What God is inviting is our honesty, which means we have to be honest with ourselves and stop presenting to the world something that’s false. We have to get to the bedrock of who we are. We’re invited to be who we are. God is revealing who we really are. And part of that comes through being honest. And we find that desperate honesty in the Psalms, but it’s not just always an outpouring of pain. Often, when we see an outpouring of pain like we did in today’s Psalm, we’ll see the whole thing turn because there’s only one way to move away from those kinds of emotions, and that is to throw ourselves on God’s mercy, all in, risking everything. So, the psalmist turns. ‘My trust is in you Lord. You’re my God. I’m always in Your care. Save me from my enemies. Save me from those who want to persecute me. Look on me with kindness. Save me with Your constant love. I’m calling You Lord. Don’t let me be disgraced.’ So, the Psalms can speak out what we’re not really able to articulate. But we’ll also find some of the most beautiful outpourings of joy and worship and hope known to man in the Psalms.

And, of course, Proverbs. I mean, where we are now, wisdom is speaking for herself. And we’re going to find that one sentence from the voice of wisdom speaks volumes. So, for example, in today’s reading, wisdom speaking, ‘to honor the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and false words.’ In that one sentence we see things that we have got to stay away from if we want to walk in the path of wisdom. If we are going to walk the path of evil, then we will not honor the Lord. If we’re going to be proud and arrogant then we are not going to be walking in wisdom. If we’re going to try to walk in evil ways and speak falsely, if we’re going to be a liar, we will not be walking in wisdom. It’s clear, it’s concise, it’s one sentence. And it just leaves it there. It’s just the truth. We get to choose what we’re going to do with it. The truth has come into our lives. We get to choose whether were going to walk in wisdom or not. So, every day there’s something to feed us. Every day there’s something to challenge us. Every day there’s something there that we can reach out and grab that will pull us forward. This is how the Bible transforms us. It comes at us from every angle of life and touches everything as we make it a rhythm in our lives.

Prayer:

Father, we are so grateful for Your word. We are so amazed by what You can speak and what You have been speaking for thousands of years and our eyes and our ears and our hearts are open. We want to walk the path of wisdom. We have chosen to slow down and consultant wisdom. We have invited Your Holy Spirit, and we continue to invite Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth now. And now Lord, we’re asking for this to be more than just a devotional time. We’re asking for this to begin spilling out into our lives. We want to not be able to get You off our minds. These distractions, we’re starting to notice them now, these patterns, these things that we run to, these things that we run from, we’re beginning to see what we’re doing here, trying to find a way to make life work. But it’s not going to work without You. So, we acknowledge that. We don’t want to have You off of our minds. So, we invite Your Holy Spirit into everything that happens today, every conversation, every thought, every word, every deed, everything. We want You on our mind and in our hearts. Come, Holy Spirit, plant the words from Your word in our lives, bringing up a crop of the fruit of the Spirit and transforming us utterly and irreversibly. Come Jesus. We pray in Your precious 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, like I was saying, travel day back to the rolling hills of Tennessee today. Had a wonderful, but brief time here in California. So good to see you all. Thank you for coming out. And looking forward to the time that we can be together again someday.

I guess the next the next thing on the calendar for travel is Israel. We’ll be heading into the land of the Bible in about a week and a half. So, you definitely want to probably, at least, follow the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page. We’ll be posting every day, multiple times a day as we’re there. Of course, we’ll be talking about it on the Daily Audio Bible. We’ll be taking a group, of course, but we try to make this is interactive and virtual as we can. When we go there, we’re going there to immerse ourselves in the territory, the land of the Bible. And, so, we’ll be broadcasting the Daily Audio Bible from there, talking about what we’re seeing, what we’re feeling, what we’re doing so that, in every way possible, because this is like one of the things we’re trying to do every day, is make the Bible come alive. So, we’ll be posting pictures and videos and all kinds of stuff on social media so you can see what we’re seeing. So, facebook.com/dailyaudiobible will be the place to go for that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if all of the rhythm that’s being established, if what it is that we do as a community together is bringing life and good news into your life, then thank you for your partnership. We can’t do this any other way. If we don’t do this together we can’t do it. And, so, thank you for your partnership, humbly. There is a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. If you prefer, the mail, 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 Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DABbers. I am a Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of God and King. I’m calling into say a prayer for a few of our callers. Father God, we thank You and embrace You for Your holy and righteous. There is no like unto You God. We thank You God that You said we can go boldly before Your throne of grace and whatever we ask we will receive it. You will give it to us Lord. I pray for Blind Tony today God. I thank You for the gift that You have given to him, the gift of psalm, and just wisdom Father. God, I pray for his body right now. I pray that You will heal him in the name of Jesus from the inside out God. I pray that Father God whatsoever may be ailing him right now Lord that You will take it away in the name of Jesus Father and touch Him oh Lord with Your healing hands Father. I thank You Lord because You…Your word would not return to You God without accomplishing the purpose which You were sent. And, so, we just pray for divine healing his body. I pray that You continue to bless his ministry. God, I pray also for pastor Gene. God, You know what she’s been going through these past months and years. I pray that You bless her ministry. I pray that You cover her family Lord. I pray a hedge of protection around her God. I pray for our sister Viola. I praise You for her business. I thank You oh God for her family. Lord I pray that in the name of Jesus that no weapon formed against them will prosper in the name of Jesus. And God, I thank You Lord for Brian and his family. Thank you so much for China. God, I pray that you continue to protect their ministry. God, give them wisdom, give them courage. Lord I pray for healing in their family God. I pray that You will continue to strengthen them. Those parts that are strong, strengthen oh God, and those parts that are week, God I pray that You would just bring Your healing and revival in those parts of their lives. I thank You Lord in Jesus name. Amen. I love you guys.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Sheila from Massachusetts calling. When I was listening today I heard Jim from Southern New Hampshire. Jim, you are such an inspiration. To hear you start your call with, God invited you and your wife to embark on a journey. I was expecting something…you know…positive to come out of your mouth. And to hear you say that Kim was diagnosed with cancer, and that’s your journey, it just reminded me that God calls us into many things, not just happy things, but he calls us into trials as well. And He does so to grow our faith. And when He steps out of the way and things like this enter into our life, that they have a purpose and He knits all things for good. Brother, to hear you praise Him and to understand that your first response would be to fall back and rely on Him, that just…it really brought home to me that our God is so powerful and that if we live our lives with Him in our sites at all times, we can not only endure things, but, you said, that He showed His glory through this situation with you. He already has in your phone call and your sharing of that heart. I bless you and Kim, in Jesus name. And I’ll be praying for you. But brother, He did show His glory in the way that you honored Him with your phone call. Bye family.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible, sisters and brothers, my name is Linda and I’m a first-time caller. And I wanted to just reach out and ask the DABbers for their prayer for my daughter. She has been suspended from her job for drinking on the job. She’s an alcoholic and she doesn’t want to admit that she’s an alcoholic. This has been going on for two years now. She’s gone into one rehab and it hasn’t worked and I’m trying to get her into another rehab now. She’s not willing to go to rehab because she doesn’t like the studying and…but anyway DABbers I just need your prayer, that God could soften her hardened heart. She hasn’t been to church. She will sometimes listen online, but she hasn’t been to church. She’s just been trying to do everything on her own and I’ve told her multiple times she can’t do this on her own without the help of God. She has to bow down and be open and she’s just not willing to do that. So, I just asking for your prayer for my daughter, that she will accept this, this offer to go to counseling again, because at this point now I’ve been supporting her and I can’t do it anymore. And within the next 30 days, if she doesn’t have a job she’s also going to be homeless. And I’m…I need your prayers. Thank you so much. I pray each and every day for all the prayers that come in. And thank you DABbers.

Good morning everyone this is Salvation is Mine in San Angelo California. Today is the last day of January, January 31^st. God bless you all. I continue to ask for your prayers for my emotional and physical and financial health. Today, I’m just asking for God to, please be with me, please be with me, to help me emotionally because I do feel so broken and invisible to everyone around me and gone at this point. So, family would you please pray for me. I really need some help right now. I need help always, but I definitely need help right now. I’m just having a really hard time emotionally and it’s hard to get up and go to work and keep things together and put a fake smile on my face when all I’m doing inside is screaming. So, if you would please pray for me, I would really appreciate that. Thank you, family. This is salvation is mine in San Angelo California.

Hi this is Melody from Canada. I had to pause the January 31^st podcast at the place about being a friend of God, just like Brian did. And God really hit my heart because He is calling me to that and there are a lot of things in my life not happening right now. Like, I’m not getting called to teach, my clearance isn’t happening, my pregnancy is not happening. The other things that I want to happen are not happening and I have this time in my life and space where God is calling me to be intimate with Him and I am saying, nope, I want to be like everyone else and have a successful career and have children and just be busy with that. And like I’m running in every other direction possible. And I know that I said I really want to be a friend of God, but it’s hard for me to trust him, it’s hard for me to desire that. So, thank you for your prayers as He continues to work in my heart. And I really pray that I would be in awe of Him and desire to spend ___ and treasure this time of not being really busy. Thanks.

Happy New Year Daily Audio Bible family. This is Chardra calling from Maryland. Like I said, I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year. And Brian, Jill, I thank you guys so much for the time, the energy, and the sacrifice. I have to admit, every time that I call, when I hear the introductory message, I just feel like whatever I’m carrying is about to be dropped off and about to be laid down at the feet so I can just release every burden and every care that I have. But I also wanted to say that I’m praying for prayers that I hear on the Daily Audio Bible. I’m kind of playing catch up right now. As well as, I wish that you all would keep me in prayer as well. It seems like this multiple sclerosis is trying to give me a run for my money, but I do know who my Redeemer is. I know who I Healer is. And I’m just encouraged. And I just ask that you all will please just continue to pray for me because I know that the devil is already defeated and no weapon formed against me will be able to prosper. I love you guys. And please know, like I said, that I’m praying for the requests that are coming in, even those that don’t come over the air. Thank you. Bye.

Exodus 26:1-27:21, Matthew 25:1-30, Psalms 31:1-8, Proverbs 8:1-11

Today is the 7^th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you. It’s a bit of a travel day. I’ll be heading out to California for this evening. But we can talk about that in a little bit. Let’s dive in and take the next step forward as we move deeper into and through the Bible this year. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week and we’ll pick up where we left off.  Exodus chapter 26 and 27 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, Jesus told two stories, also known as parables, about the kingdom of heaven. One story about waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. There were ten young women waiting for the bridegroom and the other story was about a master who put three of his servants in charge of a pretty good deal of resources and asked them to use them wisely in his absence. And in these stories, some were able to enter into the presence of the king or the master and enjoy fellowship and the others weren’t. So, if we were to distill this down, what characteristics shape the people that were able to enter into the presence of the bridegroom or the master? Readiness, awareness, vigilance, preparedness, patience, risk, faithfulness, loyalty, wisdom. And there are probably other characteristics that we could name. So, there’s a famous passage of Scripture, of course, in the second story. The well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful. Right? You have been faithful in little, so I will put you in charge of much. Come in, enjoy my happiness, share in my happiness. We’re all longing to hear that. But are we aware? Are we vigilant? Are we prepared? Are we willing to risk it all? Remember just a few days ago we talked about friendship with God is for those who fear Him and how that requires risking it all, including our identity? These are the characteristics required to receive the ‘well done good and faithful servant’ in these stories. And, so, they are the characteristics that we need to cultivate and live into. And we won’t be able to do that without wisdom.

And wisdom is speaking today in our reading from Proverbs 8. I don’t mean, like, it’s speaking metaphorically. I mean, the voice of wisdom is speaking on behalf of herself today. And she’s saying…she’s everywhere calling out to anyone who will listen. And I refer to wisdom as ‘she’ because wisdom is referred to in the feminine in the book of Proverbs. So, she’s saying, I am everywhere. I’m trying to make myself heard. I’m on the hilltops. I’m at the roadways. I’m at the crossroads. I’m at the entrances to the cities. I’m calling out. I’m appealing to you. So, we’re being told that wisdom is available, but we will have to cultivate it. We will have to become friends. We will have to slow down enough to consider wisdom in our choices. But it is available.

So, if our lives are kind of swinging from chaos to chaos and we feel like we’re living upside down most of the time, we probably are. And we’re probably not exhibiting the characteristics that Jesus talks about in the parables that He gave describing His kingdom. And we’re probably not slowing down enough to cultivate and become intimate friends with wisdom. And we’re going to see, as we go forward from this point how wisdom speaks. Like, we should pay very keen attention to when we come to reading the Proverbs each day. And we even have a resource here at Daily Audio Bible called Daily Audio Proverb. It’s a chapter from the book of Proverbs going through the entire book of Proverbs each month to simply pour this unfiltered wisdom of the ages into our hearts and lives. But as we move through the book of Proverbs, we should pay attention. This is wisdom. And wisdom claims, in today’s reading, noting you want can compare with me. Alright, so, like, that’s either the truth or it’s not. But if we consider the things that we’re passionate about are the things that are pulling us in a lot of different directions because we’re trying to achieve them or gain them and then we consider wisdom and we realize we want these other things more than we want wisdom so we’re not willing to slow down and consider the path of wisdom, well, then we don’t want wisdom more than we want those things. And we are upside down. Nothing we want can compare with wisdom, and if we can live in an intimate relationship with wisdom, then we will be vigilant. We will be faithful. We will be aware. We will be prepared. We will understand how to risk. We will hear, ‘well done’. So, let’s begin to pay very keen and close attention to the words of wisdom found in the Proverbs, found from the lips of Jesus, and found in the lives of many of the people that we’ll meet along the way in the Bible. We’ll also meet a lot of people who ignore wisdom. And we can see, if we’re looking, where these paths lead. And we get to choose what path we’re going to walk. Is it going to be the narrow path that leads to life? Then we’re going to need wisdom to walk that path. So, the best thing we can do, right now, is commit ourselves to understanding and gaining wisdom more than gaining anything else because the counsel is, if we gain wisdom, we can gain anything.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the counsel of wisdom. We thank You this gift that You’re offering to us, that’s calling to us from everywhere and we’re ignoring it because we’re too busy, we’re too distracted, we’re too in the midst of all kinds of chaos when wisdom simply calls and calls and calls. We’re listening now. And, so, we pray the Psalm that we read today. We come to You, Lord, for protection.  Never let us be defeated.  You are a righteous God. Save us, we pray. Hear us.  Save us now.  Be our refuge to protect us. Be our defense. Save us. You are our refuge and defense. Guide and lead us as You’ve promised. Keep us safe from the trap that has been set for us. Shelter us from danger. We place ourselves in Your care. You will save us, Lord. You are a faithful God. So, Holy Spirit, we invite You to lead us into all truth. We invite You to help us be vigilant and pay attention to the voice of wisdom. Teach us how to follow her paths. Teach us how to listen to her counsel. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

I will be travelling from here all the way to the west coast and I’ll be speaking in Bakersfield, California this evening at New Life Church. So, looking forward to that very much. Been looking forward to it for a while. So, glad that the day has finally arrived. Looking forward to seeing you. Come out and say hello if you’re in the area. You can get the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section. So, phone numbers, websites, maps, times. All that, you can find at dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O 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 Prayer and Praise:

I love You Lord oh my strength for it is You who light my lamp. The Lord my God lightens my darkness for by You I can do anything. I can man against a troop. By You I can leap over a wall. I can face this day Lord. I can face that ever-growing to do list that I’m not sure what to do about and I can ask for help. You are my strength. You light my darkness. You’re my lamp and my guide. Help me focus on You this day to face the seemingly impossible tasks, what is before me. Your law Lord is perfect. It revives the soul. Your testimony Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Your precepts Lord are right rejoicing the heart. Your commandments Lord are pure and lightening our lives. The fear of You Lord is clean enduring forever. Your laws Lord are true and life altogether. Father God help me focus on what is true and just and honorable and all those things that we focus on your word today and keep my eyes where they should be. And please Lord keep me back from willful sin and presumptuous sins. Things, the habits I fall back on when I’m in trouble, when I’m stressed, those habits that I have that aren’t good, that keep me from the Lord, let them not have them lean over me, help me develop good habits, that I can reach for You, that I can rejoice, that I cannot be anxious about anything because I can talk to You and give them to You in prayer so that Your peace which passes all understanding covers me. By the words of my mouth and the lamentation of my heart in Your sight oh Lord my rock and my Redeemer. In Jesus name. Amen. Beloved by Him from Gloucester in the UK.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. My name is Shelley and this is my first time calling in. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about three months now. I was turned onto it from a cousin of mine who said You have got to check out this app, you will love it and I absolutely do. I just want to say that I’ve been listening to a lot of the prayer requests. Yesterday, I spent about four hours listening to everyone and I just want to pray for all of you, for those that are seeking promotions in your jobs and direction in your career such as myself. I’m seeking the Lord to remove me from place, my current place of employment, and give me the confidence, give me the confidence to venture out and use the skills that He’s given me and the talents. And I want everyone to know that you do have a purpose, and God is showing you your purpose and you just have to listen and stay in prayer. And I’ll be praying for each and every one of you and all of your prayers, your prayer request really touched my heart and I’ve been listening to everyone. And I can’t remember every name, but I just want to say I am praying for those who are heartbroken right now, who are going through issues with their family and the children, and those who are sad through divorce, I know how that feels, and those who have illnesses or health issues I currently suffer from vertigo and sometimes it really prohibits me from being well enough to do certain things, but the Lord, over the past year, has been slowly healing that and I’m thankful for Him doing that as well. And I want to just let everyone know that, just keep Your faith, keep praying, but God does answer our prayers. And sometimes I shake my fist and say Lord when are You going to answer this prayer? I’ve been praying every day and…

Hi DAB family this is Katie __ from Pennsylvania and I am just praising God so much today. Thank you, Brian, Jill, and family, for everything that you do. And I just pray for strength for your entire family. Family I just want to praise God, praise God for all that he has done in the last five years, six years even. In my life He started cleaning me up about five years ago, about, maybe five years ago. And I started a personal Bible study in the book of Job and I was being strongly convicted about my behavior at the time. I was living with someone I wasn’t married to and I had a lot of other problems. And after reading the book of Job I started to seek Him harder and I let go of that relationship. Praise God for strengthening me. And then I started to seek Him more, a personal study. And I was able to, through a friend, find out about this community and I’m so grateful, so grateful. This is my third year through the Bible with you and I just thank you. There have been a lot of other physical ailments along the way. There has been a possible pituitary tumor…

Greetings this is Deborah or Hope Never Failith in Northern California. I’m calling with a praise report. It’s a little overdue but I think it’s just beginning to sink in. After eight months I sold my second house. The mortgage closed a couple weeks ago. I received the profits, was able to pay off the debt that I owed, and I am now financially fit again. Thank you so much for everybody who prayed for me, especially Lisa the encourager. It meant a lot to me to hear somebody praying for me. Life is always a challenge and Hope never Failith has been my motto since I was 17. More than 40 years ago, you can do the math. Anyway, I was thrilled to hear that it was Brian’s word of the year. I look at hope as the same as trusting in God, where trusting that things will get better, where trusting that His plan for our life will unfold, where trusting that He’s going to love us always and take care of us. I pray that all of you seeing that peace that comes from hope and trust in the Lord. Thank You Brian and Jill. Thank You the entire DAB family. I pray for everyone daily. In Jesus name. Amen.

So, don’t You love how God works sometimes guys. I’m sitting here laughing. Just a couple days ago I listened to a call from a gentleman, I forget your name, I apologize, from Canada, who was in a hurry for an appointment, didn’t have time to pull over to help somebody that was stuck. Today, up in Saskatchewan, where we had a good blizzard going, I’m a mail carrier, I had an appointment like immediately after I was done work. And, so, I was hustling all day today. And wouldn’t you know, I look over and there’s this guy, his tires of just spinning away, and I looked at it and in that split-second decision I said, I don’t have time for this I’ve got to keep going. So, I turned away and I started walking away and like in that split-second I thought of your call and I had to turn back. I’m like okay, okay, I get it. See how the Holy Spirit’s moving. So, because of your call the other day, it made me aware to that moving, and I turn around. It took me like five minutes. I got the guy out. So, I thank you for your call. He thanks you, even though he didn’t know about you or your call. He thanks you for your call. Yeah, God’s moving people. We’ve got to be attentive to when He’s moving and say yes, which I reluctantly did today and here I am about 40 minutes early for my appointment. So, yeah, God’s funny sometimes. I love it. Love You guys. I Appreciate the call again. And we’ll talk to You again soon. Bye.

Good morning, it’s Beloved by Him from Gloucester in the UK. Father Jesus this is my second call of the morning. I called in __ the morning when I was in Gloucester. I’ve driven to work and listened to Wednesday, 31^st of January’s podcast and __ Brian. Thank You for wrestling with that piece of Scripture. Thank You… And thank You for sharing that with us. I’m going to have to spend plenty of time now getting my head around it and getting my heart in the right place for it. So, yeah. Guys if you haven’t listened to 31^st of January yet, listen to it. If you have listened to it, listen to it again and get our heads around it because that is what it’s all about isn’t it. Father God, thank You that we can be Your friend. Thank You that You want us to be Your friend. And Father God, help us to be a better friend. Help us make the time to get our heads around what it actually means to see You and get our hearts in the right place in our attitudes in the right place. In Jesus precious name. Amen. Thank you very much Brian as always. I hope you guys have a blessed day wherever You are. Bye.

Exodus 23:14-25:40, Matthew 24:29-51, Psalms 30:1-12, Proverbs 7:24-27

Today is the 6^th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as it always is, every day, for these moments that we can step out of the chaos, and allow God’s word to be a part of our lives, guiding and instructing us as it does so well. So, thrilled that we can take the next step forward. And the next step forward will take us back into the book of Exodus where we’re hearing the first of the law being given to govern this new people that God is forming out in the wilderness. So, we’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Exodus chapter 23 verse 14 through 25, verse 40.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Exodus we are at Mount Sinai. God has come down upon the mountain to speak with Moses. He’s telling Moses what the culture is to be shaped like. And Moses is writing this stuff down and formalizing it. The people are agreeing to it and entering into covenant with God about it. And then he gives them some advanced words, because it’s not like they’re in the desert, and God’s going to give this law, and everybody’s going to agree to obey it, and they’re going to go marching into the promised land, and it’s just all going to happen in a day, kind of like drive-through freedom, kind of like instant gratification. It’s not going to work like that. The process is important, even though the process is going to take some time and will have its own set of difficulties. Yeah. So, you see how we’re talking about our own lives again. Right? You see how this story becomes a mirror into our own souls. So, if we could hear the words spoken to the children of Israel in the Scriptures and apply them to our lives, it would sound like this. I will make the people who oppose you afraid of me. I will bring confusion among the people against whom you fight and I will make all your enemies turn and run from you. I will throw your enemies into panic. I will not drive them out within a year’s time. If I did the land will become deserted and the wild animals would be too many for you. Instead I will drive them out little by little until there are enough of you to take possession of the land. So, if we could just remember, ‘little by little’, as we walk through our days. If we could understand where we’re going, what we’re doing, what we’re invited into. What God is calling us into isn’t going to be like going through a drive through. It’s going to be little by little, but a little every day gets you to the end. So, kind of like what we do here at the Daily Audio Bible together every day. Little by little we go through the entire Bible. And we have plenty of time to talk about all kinds of things. It becomes comprehensive. It becomes embedded in our souls. It becomes a part of who we are. Little by little we are getting there.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, for the encouragement that You are the Almighty God and anything that opposes You has no ultimate chance of victory. And when we are walking with You, when we are in Your will, when we are moving in collaboration and relationship with You, that extends to us. And, so, Father, little by little, continue to do the work inside of us. And little by little, allow us to take the land. 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.

On the calendar tomorrow, tomorrow evening, I will be on the West Coast in Bakersfield California, and I’ll be speaking at New Life Church, and I’m looking forward to it. So, if you’re if you’re out there and you’re in the area come say hello. Looking forward to that. The information that you would need to know can be found at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section. We’ll see you tomorrow night.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then thank you, humbly. We are a community and we do this together and there is no other way. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper 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 with reque…reque…I can’t talk…I don’t know why…all of the sudden…but if you have a prayer request or comment, there are few numbers that you can call depending on where you are in the world. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. If you’re in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 and if you are in Australia of the lands down under 61-3-8820-5459 is the number.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Dily Audio Bible. This is Nathan from Bloomington Illinois. Hey Brian, I listened to your commentary on the 29^th and, oh man, you are spot on, that was so wonderful to hear, what you had to say. I think we find ourselves so much in that situation that we get caught up in what we believe and knowing that’s right when it may not be. And we want to claim that were right, we want to claim that we know things, but maybe we don’t know as much as we think we do and I am in that boat and that’s one of my struggles, about always being right and listening more than talking. And you know, that I know I need to see God daily for wisdom to show me every day, every brand-new day, to show me what I need to say, what I need to do, how I need to think, how I need to perceive things, because it’s so easy wrapped up on being the __ and not even know it. Discernment, that’s my word for this year, discernment. So, just wanted to share a little bit of that today. Thank you so much again Brian and Jill for what you do and the team behind the scenes and making this all happen. I can’t fathom what the day-to-day operations are but we thank you. We are blessed because you’ve been blessed. So, have a great day. Make it a great day.

Hey everybody this is Pelham from Birmingham, Addicted to Christ. Brian, man, your message, I’m pretty sure I’ve called in and said both things that you said - a lot of us here ourselves saying in our own heads like, I’m under attack, or I can’t withstand this attack, or the attack is really bad right now, the enemy is really coming against me. I’m pretty sure I’ve said that, probably two times in the last two months, maybe three times. So, you’re reading me like a book. You’re reading my mail man. I mean the words about deception and what’s really going on in this world and what God is using, the enemy schemes, what he’s doing with it, what he’s using it to do to strengthen people and to teach people what forgiveness means and to refine and…anyways…Brian, I just had to call in and say thank you today. You blew my mind, your words were amazing. And everybody, I went to work for the first time. Someone literally said, I don’t know who it was there, but they said first day worst day. And I don’t know who said that, it was one of the other workers, and they had like five people say that this is half of what I was making when the owner of the bagel, __ bagel, decide it wasn’t a good fit because he thought that my dreams were in a different place, to do something with my own company or, you know, web design, other stuff that I do. Anyways, I was just calling in to say that I love you guys. Thank you for praying for me and please keep praying for me and Molly and Anderson in our financial situation, my job situation. Bye.

All is well. I am Daniel I ask you all to pray with me my brothers and sisters listening this moment. The most high God, this day You have made for us. Father You said the wonders shall not cease. Thank You. I am honored father to be a brother of Your Daily Audio Bible family. We are fully armored Father and we stand together moving forward with You. Father You said, if You are for us, who dare be against us. There is no obstacle on our path bigger than You father. Father You said, speak of that which is not as if it were. Father You said You have not because You do not ask God. Father You said in Your word that I Am that I Am. I ask You Father to open the eyes of faith in my brother Pelham, that he may see clearly Your perfect will this moment. Father of our faith and Your faith together is unlimited. Our yes and Your yes is limitless Father. Thank you. I am Daniel. I am fully armored and I stand with you Pelham and all of my family in Christ. In all ways, here, this moment I seek him. Lord find his name and further his kingdom, answering his call saying, here, Father I am. In Jesus name. Amen. Pelham, my brother in Christ, choose to believe His word each moment you wake opening your eyes to a new day He has made for you. You are His most prized possession as the child of God you are through His word. Receive the gift already given in expectancy my brother, according to His perfect will. His more than enough good is already yours to choose from to receive by believing what He has already spoken. He cannot lie. He said I will not, will not, will not, fail you. Believe the good inside you and listen clearly. See what is yours through eyes of faith. Blessings that chase you down and overtake you and all of those He has…

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Paul from Houston. And I just want to call and request prayer for my marriage. I’ve had a separation for a good part of a year, starting around Valentine’s Day of last year. And I’m just praying that God could restore different things. I’ve seen him in different ways…it’s been a tough year but it’s been kind of an amazing year in some ways because there’s been addictions that have been broken and things that have been broken over many years that have…that God is allowing to minister to other people and to go into situations that I would never have anticipated. And I’m just praying though, that God could restore what the enemy has stolen and what he’s taken for me and my family. And I just thank you. I thank you guys so much for…for the ministry Brian…and all the people praying. And I tell you…it’s such a blessing to listen to so many different prayers from so many different people. Thank you for praying for me and my family as I want to pray for yours. And I just thank you and you all have a great day. Paul from Houston. Thanks.

Hey, this is Jaden Lopez again from New York. I want to say thank you for all the prayers that you guys have given me. I really enjoyed that __ prayed with me throughout this time. And I love you guys. __. Keep praying. ___ . Thank you.

Hey everybody it’s Peter from Toronto. It’s the 30^th of January around 2AM. The reason I’m calling is that I am going through some changes, or enlightenment, stuff that I was brought up with in this particular church I found out that the Bible doesn’t pass or cut mustard as they say. And my current church and Daily Audio Bible is speaking of the same thing of deception and another YouTube ministry was speaking of the same or have the same sort of sermon. So, I believe God is speaking to me on that, that way. Recently, I haven’t been able to settle down, doing my normal prayers, and relaxation. Though a lot of people have been asking me to pray for them for different health issues, I have done a tracheary prayer for them. I like to get really into the muscle on the meat of things and I’m just so upset. Another thing at work, it’s people are asking me to speak up for them or holding me as a person that will speak up for them and speak the truth. And I don’t know if I am able to take that responsibility or I have just have been…just…basically…I’m just exhausted and I need your prayers and to help me through these patches. My family, especially for my daughter, who is been estranged for years because of her mother and my mom passing away three years ago. Her birthday was on the 25^th and that threw me into a tailspin as well. So, I’m really discombobulated or whatever. Anyway, blessings to everybody.

Exodus 21:22-23:13, Matthew 24:1-28, Psalms 29:1-11, Proverbs 7:6-23

Today is February 5^th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we get ourselves going into the brand-new work week. And I’m honored we can take a few minutes out of all of the busyness that we face, kind of non-stop, and center ourselves in God’s word. So, we’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Today, Exodus chapter 21 verse 22 through 23 verse 13.

Commentary:

Okay, I don’t remember exactly what day it was, but a couple weeks ago we talked about apocalyptic worldviews. And we went into some of the history and just kind of defined it. And so, just by way of reminder, if you live your life believing that the world is coming to an end and then we’ll be reborn again in some way, that God is bringing everything to a close and will bring justice and an end to deception and evil and then something new will come forth, then that’s an apocalyptic worldview. And the thing that’s important about that is if we believe that, and I believe that because it’s in the Bible. Jesus is talking about it today. But it’s this thing that’s out in front of us that influences how we live now. And that’s not a bad thing, either. I mean, Jesus invites us to be vigilant. Jesus invites us to live as if it’s today. So, having an apocalyptic worldview isn’t a bad thing, but being able to name it and then understanding what a pivotal component of the faith journey that it is, is helpful, because it gets pretty murky. Right? You’re looking out there into the future at a time and then you’re trying to figure out if this is the time. And people have been doing this for a long time, thousands of years. And they were most definitely doing it in Jesus’ time. So, Jesus is in Jerusalem. The temple has been made extravagant by Herod’s developments. It’s a beautiful place and the disciples are commenting on it and Jesus is telling them…he basically…get a good look, it’s all coming down. And that proved to be true. I mean, within fifty years of Jesus saying that, Jerusalem was destroyed, including the temple. So, Jesus’ disciples ask Him when this is going to happen. And Jesus begins to talk about the apocalypse. And He’ll be continuing that conversation even in tomorrow’s reading. So, we don’t need to go over everything that Jesus said, we just read it. We can re-read it, it’s pretty clear. I’m just pointing it out again, because Jesus is talking directly about it. He actually talks about it a lot, every time He talks about enduring to the end and this kind of perseverance. This is attached to the apocalyptic worldview. And it’s a big part of our faith. However, it’s a part of our faith that feels like simmering dread a lot of times. Like a light layer of fear over everything because we believe that God will bring justice and eradicate evil and bring the end of what is now and give birth to something new. But what we have in the Scripture is a lot of symbolism and imagery. So, Jesus even refers in his talk today to the prophet Daniel. Well, the book of Daniel is apocalyptic in nature, especially the second half of it when he starts having, when Daniel starts having visions. And then we get to books like the book of Revelation and it’s full of symbolism and evokes a lot of dread. And perhaps a lot of unnecessary dread, because it’s so shrouded in mystery. So, why don’t we just pay attention to this as we’re moving through the Scriptures this year? Why don’t we just name it and understand that this is what’s going on? And, rather than looking for the fear and the anxiety and the dread, why don’t we look for the hope in all of this? Because this is a year of hope. So, let’s just recognize the apocalyptic worldview in the Scriptures, in our own lives, and spend the year, in part, at least, when we encounter this, acknowledging, ok, this is, this is that. And one of the places we can get hope, even in today’s reading, is when Jesus says, this stuff is going to happen, it’s going to be difficult, kind of like having a baby is. All these things are like the first pains of childbirth, Jesus said. So, I have never given birth to a child, but I have five kids so going through the process isn’t a new thing to me. And, you know, there is incredible happiness and joy and longing, a bit of dread about the process. There is pain and pushing involved. It’s very difficult work that brings new life.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for its counsel. We thank You that it touches everything about us, including our view of what is yet to come. And we invite You into this, every step of the way, because You bring light and You bring life and You bring good news and You bring hope. And we need all of these things to survive. So, we invite your Holy Spirit into what we’ve read today and ask You to plant it in our lives. And 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, looking at the calendar, just two days from now, day after tomorrow, I’ll be in Bakersfield, California and I have the privilege of speaking at New Life Church. Looking forward to that very much. So, if you are in the area, be sure to come say hello. You can get the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section. So, we’ll see you soon out on the west coast.

Also want to remind you of the More Gathering for women that is coming up this April in the mountains of northern Georgia, just about an hour outside of Atlanta. Looking forward to that very much and hope you can come if you’re a lady, it’s for women. Hope you can come and join the sisterhood. It is a beautiful thing to behold, indeed. You can get all the details for the More Gathering at moregathering.com. So, be sure to check that out as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link, it’s on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper 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 Prayer and Praise:

Hi Daily Audio Bible. My name is Liz. I’m calling from Oregon. You are blessed and highly favored by our Lord our Father. I wanted to say this is my first year. January has been my first month. We’re almost through. I am so beyond grateful. I’m trying not to get emotional because…I don’t have too many…But I love you all. You guys are all a blessing to me. I want to first thank a few people. Slave of Jesus, North Carolina, Diane B. – shalom, shalom -  Blind Tony ___ there’s so many more and I’d like to let you know how encouraging you are and how grateful I am to you and to Brian and his family. I’m calling in for prayer. 2017 was the best. 2018 is starting off to be wonderful and I’m so blessed by the DAB program. So, I’m going to go ahead and say I’m praying for my future husband. I don’t know who he is, but I want to know healing from past wounds and insecurity. I’m starting my own business because I know that God has made me to do more and be more. So, I’m believing Him for that. Please my fellow DABbers, pray against fear, loneliness, insecurities, and procrastination. Pray for focus to __ and full faith in God. Thank you so much for your prayers and continued support. And I love you all so much. Thank you.

Hi friends this is Lisa the Encourager. I wanted to pray tonight for Siaka from Sydney Australia. Siaka I know you are crying when you called in and you have a chronic illness and yoy’re also in the middle of an strange relationship. So, I’m praying for you that you will be healed soon from your chronic illness. And I’m very, very sorry that you are having to deal with two very stressful situations at the same time. You know, sometimes when we have one burden to carry, it’s enough to overwhelm us, but you’re going through to really difficult situations, you’re having a relationship issue and your also dealing with a real chronic illness. So, I just want you to know that I really hear you, are really sorry for what you’re going through, and I love you, and I’m praying for you. And also, I wanted to pray for Homeward Bound, called in about her 20-year-old neighbor that had a drinking problem. And, of course, we don’t know what her name is but I’m just going to call her Angel, because I think she needs a lot of Angels to pray for her on her behalf. And, you know, she was recently raved and is really struggling with all of that heavy anxiety, which is horrific. Again, she had two horrible things that have happened to her. So, I’m praying her for her, who I’m calling Angel. So, dear God I just come to You in prayer for Angel and I come to You in prayer for Siaka Lord, as they are both beautiful women that I know You created and love. And I know Lord God that You hear their struggle and their pain and their problems, and I pray Lord God that You would be with them…

Hi. This is Victoria S. I’m just calling tonight to pray for some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for Madden who spoke about the spirit of judgement. Thank you for that Madden. It’s so good to know that sometimes when we have those challenges, but when we recognize them, that means God is doing something in our lives. And I just want to pray that God continue to use you, and continue to show you in His will and His way and His light. I wanted to pray for Jason who’s soon to be more committed and pray that the Lord will continue to bless you to be even more committed. And I want to say to Jalen, you’re a man from New York and a first-time caller, and Jalen, I just thank God for you and pray that you continue on in the Lord and let Him use you and bless you in a mighty and special way. And I wanted to pray for Jim in New Hampshire for his wife of who has cancer. And I’m praying with you and agreeing with you that she goes through it and she gets a victory in Christ Jesus through the healing. We just know that God could do anything but fail, gracious Father. And I also want to pray for my friend Sharon. She’s still trying to reach to get her mother. And she’s getting all kinds of blocks, but God is faithful. And I wanted to encourage you, Sharon, to hold on. Gracious Father we come before you tonight. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus, Lord You heard our prayers Lord, You heard our prayers for this woman who has cancer. Her and her husband are enjoying life and they want to be together. Oh Lord and it’s such a blessing to have someone who wants to be together in our days and time. But I want to thank You Lord for healing her. I want to thank You Lord for delivering her. I want to thank You Lord for setting her free from this cancer Lord. I want to thank You for blessing her husband to be there with her. Oh Lord in each day that he’s there here there, bring them closer and strengthen them Lord. Lord, we thank You for those who are first-time caller’s…

Hello my DAB family. This is Mark S. from Sydney Australia. Today is Monday, 29^th of January. And today Brian, Brian, Brian, I love you so much my brother and my preacher. You hit the money…really…for me today on your homily on deception as the root of all quarrels and problems. And wow. It’s so subtle what you said Brian, I subtly change the truth to fit the situation to make me feel like I fit in, to make me feel like I belong. And yet you’re so right Brian, it’s those little subtle changes in what the truth is instead of letting the truth be the truth. And Brian, how much can I thank you for someone helping to save my soul and how much I’ve changed to your teachings Brian? And we’re so blessed in what you’ve gone through and sharing your life experience with God Brian. And I can’t show enough gratitude Brian. I wish I could be there to hug you neck and thank you personally, but big virtual hug from me Brian, that you gave to me another lightbulb moment that I am…certainly meant a lot to me Brian. Love you and your whole family and thank you for following Christ and helping change a lot of us Brian. And also, family and community I love you all too. Talk to you soon. Bye.

Hey DAB family this is Byron out in Florida. I have so much in my heart that I wanted to say I’ll try to fit it in the two minutes. But a while back I asked you guys to pray for me and my family because we were moving Nehemiah into new situations and seeing how that’s gonna work because he’s getting bigger now. And it’s been about a month or so with that and it’s not working. It’s not working. It’s causing some stress. And it’s causing teachers stress and it’s not working. And I was having a conversation with my wife about it last night. And she asked me plainly, like why, why am I so insistent on pushing him forward? He doesn’t seem to be ready. And I have my reasons for it, but when she drove down to really try to find out why, I looked in my heart and I said, why? You know, what I found there surprised me. Because of the struggles with him, and the struggles with my wife’s sickness, and my own personal struggles with that stuff I was __ saying that I talked about last year and the year before. But life was very difficult and I even told my wife this. It wasn’t getting easier. After all this time it wasn’t getting easier. And God gave me such a wise wife that she said it’s not important for it to get easier. And, so, imagine the comfort that God gives me when eight hours later I listen to the DAB and that’s the exact same message that God puts on Byron’s heart, that it’s not going to get easier, but the path that we’re on is getting deception out of our lives. God is good and He is faithful and if we would trust him He would lead us through kicking and screaming if need be, those areas where we need to root out deception. And it’s not easy and it won’t get easier, but there is a promise that one day you will complete the task he started…

Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is Jay calling from New Jersey. Just wanted to give out a praise report. So, a while back I called in with some confessions about, you know, different things that I was dealing with in life, and sins that I could not stop committing. Well, it has officially been 117 days without any alcohol, without any drugs, without any other things that I’d dealt with. So, listen, I want you to think about where you are in life and what you’re willing to do to follow Christ. You know, I didn’t want to confess these things to you guys and I didn’t want to confess to my church and I definitely didn’t want to confess to my wife. And there are conflicts I currently am dealing with, not knowing where my wife is, and her not wanting to be in our child’s life, but even in the face of that __, which I caused through self-gratification and self-satisfaction, just selfishness, wanting to please myself. There is still peace, there is still hope, there is still good. I will not lie to you and tell you that is not painful, because it is. However, there is a peace that passes all understanding that can only come from God Himself. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this peace. We thank You for this 117 days. And Father, I pray now in the name of Jesus Christ that this will resonate with someone who also needs to reach out and seek help either professionally or in a group setting with the things that they’re dealing with. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Exodus 19:16-21:21, Matthew 23:13-39, Psalms 28:1-9, Proverbs 7:1-5

Today is the 4^th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s wonderful to be here with you, because here we are, at the threshold of a brand-new, shiny, sparkly week. Like, everything is out in front of us. The old week is over, the new week has come, and we get to choose our going to live into this week. And thankfully we have this daily rhythm to allow the Scriptures to speak into how we’re going to navigate this week. So, we’ll pick up where we left off, of course, as we do every day. And we’re in the wilderness at the mountain of God and Moses is preparing the people to meet their maker. We’ll read from the Good News translation this week. Exodus chapter 19 verse 16 through 21, verse 21 today.

Commentary:

Alright. Let’s go back to Mount Sinai and what we read from the book of Exodus today. The people have gathered around the mountain. God has come down in dramatic fashion and communication has begun. God is beginning to formalize what the culture is supposed to look like. Okay. So, the children of Israel were in Egypt for 430 years. So, everyone that was alive that came out of Egypt had come out of slavery. That’s all they knew. They were then led into the wilderness where they were not and could not be self-sufficient and were learning utter dependence on God. And God, in transforming them from slaves to chosen people, has begun to speak and to initiate laws that would govern the culture. And we’re reading the Torah. So, we’ll be spending plenty of time reading through the law. So, I want us to have a bit of context as we go into this, because it is so easy to take our time, our culture, wherever we are, and back read it into this. And we have to understand, this is like 3500 years ago. So, we’ll take one example from today’s reading and just use that as a way of getting context. And that is Exodus 21, slaves. Right? Because we can take our modern culture and understanding and back read it into this and read the treatment of slaves and go like, yikes! Slavery is a plague on the human race, what is this doing in the Bible? So, let’s try to access what we’re talking about here. The first thing that happens when God comes down upon the mountain is that we see the 10 Commandments being given. So, this is the first thing God is issuing, essentially the foundation for everything. The next thing that God wants clear is that there are no other gods. There is no other place to give their worship and allegiance and heart. And then the very next thing that he talks about, so at the top of the list here…and believe me…as we go through the law…there’s all kinds of stuff here…so…like…we’re at the very, very beginning of this. At the top of the list here is the treatment of slaves. Okay. This is something that was never discussed before. These people were slaves and they were slaves for life without any rights. So, the first thing that we have to notice is that slavery, as the children of Israel understood it, is not going to be part of the story for the Hebrew people going forward. And the word slave, itself, has its own baggage that we back read as well. So, you know, if we lived say, 200 years ago, we would understand this word a certain way. If we lived 400 years ago we would understand it a different way. We live now and we understand it a certain way. But the word slave can also be accurately translated as servant, bond servant, hand maiden, maid servant, etc. So, we’re not talking about sneaking into a foreign land with ships at the ready and capturing people, putting them in chains, sailing them to a different land, in a different country, and then selling them for life with no rights as basically cattle or property. Remember, this is exactly what these people are walking out of. So, going back to what’s being initiated in law, see that no one is slave for life doesn’t want to be. So, no one is a servant, a worker, maidservant, a bondservant, with no way out. So, essentially what’s being instituted here are parameters prohibiting that. All servants were to be set free in the seventh year. So, a person could agree to a six-year employment contract, if we want to try to move into modern vernacular. But this was comprehensive because they would go to work…and there were not, like, corporations, and that kind of stuff. There were farms, agriculture, builders, tradesmen, this kind of stuff. And when they would come into this kind of an arrangement, then they would also be given a place to live, food, all of this. So, it’s an investment on both sides. So, when something’s sold, especially when it refers to a person, not selling the person, and all rights to the person, and the person’s body, and welfare for life without rights, they’re essentially selling a contract or a covenant for six years of the person’s work. So, if a servant enters into this arrangement with someone for a six-year term and they marry someone while they’re there, someone who is also under the employee of this person and it comes to the seventh year, they can leave, but them leaving doesn’t cancel whatever’s remaining in time with the spouse. They have to finish their agreement, their contract, their covenant. And if the couple loves the arrangement and they could live the rest of their lives in this arrangement, then that can be arranged for. The servant isn’t just saying, I’m selling myself to you without any rights forever and ever and you can treat me or my kids or whoever however you want. It’s an investment on both sides. The person may be saying, for life I will serve in this capacity, I will serve in this household, I will serve here, I love you, I will be here. But on the other side of that is a commitment to care for and provide for for life, including elderly years. So, this is very, very different than the kind of slavery or human trafficking that we would associate with now. This law is in place to keep that from happening.

And then there’s some discussion about female slaves or servants. And we have to understand the history here, the culture here. Marriages were arranged. Now, I know in our, like, western way of thinking that’s just not something that we practice and we can bristle. But again, we can’t back read our culture into a culture 3500 years ago. That’s how things were done. How we do things now is how we do things now. Culture is constantly, constantly on the move, always changing. So, if we’re going to go back this far and look at what an arranged marriage looks like, we have to understand that this is a family centric culture. So, a person’s individual identity is found within the family. Families stayed together for generations. They all stayed together because that’s how they could survive. That’s how there could be enough people to do the work involved in providing food and shelter for everyone. So, when a woman married a man, she was leaving one family and joining another family. So, there was way more at stake than love. One family would lose this person and their labor and their work for the whole family. She would be leaving and joining another family, where she would then labor and work for that other family. She’d become a part of the other family, an important part of that new family. And she would have children and bare children into that new family, expanding that new family. So, when you’re thinking of this in terms of survival, then this would be arranged. A price would be set for that value. And that money or goods or whatever the arrangement was would be transferred to the family who was losing her to compensate the whole family for her loss, because she’s going to be going over and joining a new family and all of her efforts are going to benefit this new family. So, we can read words like, if she is sold to someone who intends to make her his wife, but he doesn’t like her than she is going to be sold back to her father. Her master cannot sell or to foreigners because he has treated her unfairly. We can go, like, yuck, and I don’t like the culture, I don’t like that arrangement, I don’t like how that works. Fine! But we don’t live then. We don’t have like four generations of people living in one complex, one family compound farming and shepherding in order to survive, but they do. And, so, this is actually protection. Someone can’t just make an arranged marriage, pay the price, decide they want out, and then no longer look at the arrangement as a covenant and a life commitment. But, rather, actually, sell her to foreigners, where she won’t have any rights, where she will literally be a slave with no way out. That is now against the law.

So, we can look at these things, but we have to understand them in their context and understand that what’s actually happening here is dramatic steps forward, protections that didn’t exist in the nations around them. This is a new thing. So, the long and short of the story is, when we back read our current culture into a culture that it is on a different continent, likely, at a radically different time, we can bristle up. And different cultures at different times have used all of this for much manipulation and injustice. But that’s not what’s going on here in the Bible. We have to remember, these people were slaves. They don’t have a culture outside of slavery. Justice has been nebulous, at best, for them. And now it’s being defined.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You, once again, for another day, another step forward in Your word. And as we move through the law there will we plenty of things that we can’t really associate with, because they’re not really in existence in the culture that we live in. And Father, we thank You that scholarship can give us context and we can understand that You are transforming people from slaves to chosen, people of God. And we invite You to continue to do that work in our souls. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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Looking at the calendar, a couple of days from now, on the 7^th, which is Wednesday. Wednesday evening, I will be speaking in Bakersfield California at New life Church. Looking forward to that. Hope you can come out and say hello. You can get the details dailyaudiobible.com. Hope to see you there.

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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 Prayer and Praise:

Good morning guys this is Jen in SoCal, a.k.a. Prayer Warrior Princess. I heard Shannon in Texas calling today, which is the 26^th, Friday for her son Jadrian, and I also wanted to let Elizabeth in British Columbia know, and the older sister of the younger adopted brother know that I have been praying for you and will continue to do so. These are special prayer request to me. I wanted to first share, really quickly, before I pray, that when we have wayward kids it creates a parental identity crisis for us. And often we are focused, hyper focused, on fixing our kids and that perpetuates the lies about our identity. So, instead of desperately asking repeatedly what to do about my kid, our question needs to be, tell me who I am in the midst of this trial. And I think it’s no accident that Brian was teaching today about identity and the great I Am and Moses. So, Father, in the name of Jesus, you are the God of identity, You are the I Am. So, I pray that You would trade these lies for truth, trade blame for how You approve of us, trade shame for how You cherish us, trade fear for how we are loved by You, alienation for intimacy with You, condemnation for the knowledge, security, of exoneration in Christ, desperation for contentment, estrangement for connection with the Holy Spirit, brokenness to build our faith, and empathy and compassion, and striving. Release us to receive from You as You broadcast to us. In Jesus’ name.

Hi, this is David from England. I’m just ringing to reach out to Joe the Protector from Georgia, who was asking for prayer for his daughter Madison. I want to encourage you Joe. I was in a psychiatric unit less than one month ago. And I don’t believe it was the medical care that I got there, it was very secular. A few staff did believe in the Lord Jesus, but not the majority by any means. But God reached down into the darkness that I was in there. And I just want to encourage you through that, that it’s not necessarily the care, the Medicaid care, but it’s that our God can break into the darkness. I pray this in Jesus name. Psalm 84:6 for you.

Good morning DAB family. It’s January 27^th and the Holy Spirit has led me to call. I’m calling due to the call from Shannon from Texas that was podcast on January 26^th in regard to her son Jadrian. Shannon, that could’ve been me a year and half ago. I was having the exact same issues with my son. And miraculously God came to me. After praying, and praying, and praying, He came to me and he told me what I needed to do. I don’t know if you are on the DAB Facebook site, but I left my testimony for you there yesterday. My name is Bonnie R. and I’m in Ohio and you can go in there and read that testimony and I would ask that you reach out to me, message me, however you can do that. I’m praying for you. I’m heartbroken for you. I remember everything that I went through. And God answered my prayers. I need you to know that. Because I listened, He heard and I obeyed. My son’s life has turned around and our relationship is wonderful. There’s no more raging, cursing, you know, emotional abuse. It was horrific. And I can hear in your voice that you’re going through the same thing. I want you to know, I’m praying for you and I know God will be there to answer your prayers. I know your enduring a lot right now. Just stay strong in your faith. Go to Him. Be patient, be still, and listen and He will let you know what you need to do for yourself and your son. I know you can do that. Thank you for listening and thank you DAB family for all your encouragement during all these times of trouble that…

Hello. This is John from Central Point Oregon. Today is January the 27^th and I just wanted to reach out to my brother in Minnesota, who came across some people in a snowstorm that needed some help and he made excuses and put off getting involved. I just want to encourage you brother, you’re not the only one that’s gone through that. I’ve been guilty of that myself. And it was interesting that I heard your request today as we were going through the dialogue between God and Moses, and how he had made excuses as well, as we have all. So, I just want to let you know just like God said, you know, I will give you the things to say, you know. The question, who gave man the mouth to speak? It is I. Same thing with us. You know. Like he said. God will provide. And, so, I want to say that I pray in agreement with you, that God will provide for future opportunities. Not to lose heart to look forward to future opportunities to reach out and help. And I also want to just really quickly ask for prayers for moving forward with my own spiritual walk with God. Because I’ve been faltering…

Hi. This is Donna from California and I’m calling for Jordan from Michigan who called January 23^rd about your job in a secular school. What you described really resonates a lot with me because I, too, work for a secular school, in my case a university that’s also my alma mater. I’ll get fortified over the weekend and on Monday all strong and by Friday, I’m depleted from being in a system with so much that is contrary to the things of God. It too makes me vulnerable to temptation. A couple of things that have really helped me, one is a Scripture from Colossians, chapter 3 verses 23 and 24 from the Contemporary English Version, that says, do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself and not just your earthly master. In fact, the Lord Christ is the one you are really serving and you know He will reward you. It also helps me knowing there really are people there who need the light of Christ. And if I focus on that I don’t have to worry about this big powerful institution and its politics and all. I just let God take care of that. A smile, a kind word, can mean more than we know. Remember God has placed us in these places that are hostile to Him for a reason, that we may be salt and light. We may be the only glimpse of hope that they see. Lord, I pray that You meet Jordan in this coming workweek and in the things that are causing him to stumble. Help him reach for You in those moments and know that You are reaching back and that You’ve got hold of him. Help him know this deeply, in his innermost being. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Hey, how you doing family. It’s Dale B. calling. Darrell, I heard your call about your son and you live in Depew. That’s not too far from me. I’m just letting you know that it really sounds like you’re doing everything you can and that’s all you can do. Keep praying. Janet in Texas, I want you to walk to the light and look to the feelings that you have in your stomach. You know what’s right and what’s wrong about your son. And you know, hey, you don’t have to listen to that. When he swears, just say to him, don’t talk to me that way, I don’t like it and walk away. Now, Mr. Lopez, in New York, your grandmother may be blind but how wonderful that she took you in. And you already have wisdom at your age so don’t worry. Everything will keep coming. Joe, it was your daughter’s birthday yesterday. I’m happy that Madison turned 19. I pray for her depression and to help you keep going. I also want to do a quick shout out to Tony. Tony remember when they used to keep this prayer line open for longer than two minutes? It’s been a long time buddy. Keep the faith and keep calling. I love you guys. Talk to you later. Bye-bye.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s Sheila from Massachusetts. And I want to start by saying I love you. I love our community. I love everybody and it. It’s amazing without even seeing people’s faces that I can have such strong feelings and a sense of connection to the people that are part of our family. Today, basically, I want to talk and pray for Pelham and Molly in their marriage. Pelham and Molly, I’ve been with you all for many, many years as a family member praying for you, praying for you and you trying to get pregnant the first time, praying for you after the loss of a child, I was praying for you, Molly, when you got pregnant the second time for a healthy delivery and pregnancy. You’ve been through some ups and some downs and sometimes when we are in the middle of a down it feels like everything is falling apart and it’s the worst time, but the two of you have strong marriage, marriage and God, a marriage blessed in that, and the evil one will twist those marriages. Pelham when I heard you say your family was falling apart it broke my heart. You guys have just work so hard to have the family that you have. Center on God and I rebuke the evil one in the name of Jesus who is coming over the marriage of Molly and Pelham. I rebuke the evil one who is trying to put discourse and divide in them. Brother and sister, stand strong in the Lord. Remember, I love you are the strongest words there are. And the two of you have had plenty of love throughout the years. In Jesus name I pray for you. Amen.

Hey Daily Audio Bible this is Rebecca from Michigan. You guys… Today is January 28^th. My parents are married 62 years today. But that’s not what I called you about. What I called you about is, you guys been praying for me…you all from Christmas. Well, I don’t think it ended, because today somebody just did it again, where I went to go get something to eat at Olga’s kitchen, and somebody said, have a good day, and the next thing you know, the waitress came and said your meals paid for. You can go when you’re done. I’m like, wow, I think I got the favor of God on me. I don’t know if you guys have been sending bolts of lightning up to God, but I heard bolts of lightning goes up when you pray. I don’t know if that’s true, but the angels of God…I’ve been thinking about the angels of God going up to God and lifting prayers up to Him…and I pray all those prayers you guys have been praying. People are getting healed. I pray for financial favor. I pray that you guys have God’s miraculous works in your life and favor, supernatural favor is in your life, because of all the prayers and blessings you sent to me. I love you guys. Thank you for your prayers. Keep up the good prayers. I really am appreciating this. I’m enjoying my life. I can’t believe it. I’m actually enjoying life this year. It’s just so awesome. I can’t wait to see what God has planned for me next. Bye.