2 Chronicles 11:1-13:22, Romans 8:24-39 , Psalms 18:35-50, Proverbs 19:27-29
Today is the 25th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today. Today is my little son Ezekiel’s birthday. He turns six today. And his story is one of the great adventure stories of our time together in the Daily Audio Bible. And I’ll talk about that if we can remember when we get to the end. But we are at the beginning and what we do at the beginning is what we’ve come here to do, focus our attention on the word of God, focus our affection on the God who gave us this gift. So we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. And we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday. 2 Chronicles chapter 14, 15 and 16 today.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. And as we move through Psalm 19 today we echo the words of King David. We make it our prayer. Your instructions, Lord, are perfect. They revive our soul. Your decrees are trustworthy. They make the simple wise. Your commandments are right. They bring joy to our heart. Your commands are clear. They give us insight for how to live our lives. And so we revere You, Lord. We worship You in awe and wonder. May this pure worship last forever. Your laws are true. Each one is fair. They are more valuable to us than riches, even the finest gold. They are sweeter to us in our lives then honey dripping from the honeycomb because they warn us and guide us and lead us into a great reward for those who obey them. Lord, how can we know all of the entanglements we are in? There are sin’s that may be within our lives that we’re generally unaware of. We don’t even see it in ourselves. Cleanse us from these hidden faults. Keep we, Your servants, from deliberate sins. Don’t let them control us and we will be free from guilt and innocent of great sin. Father, may the words of our mouths and the things that we meditate on in our hearts please You. You are our rock and our redeemer. We pray these things in the name of Jesus, our savior. Amen.
Ezekiel Hardin’s Story:
Okay. I mentioned at the beginning today is Ezekiel’s birthday. And I realized I haven’t shared this story in a few years. Ezekiel was born in the most interesting of circumstances. Well, maybe not the most interesting of circumstances, but they were the most interesting for us at the time. Now we were looking forward to greeting what we had planned to be our last of the children. And we had gone through that pregnancy just kind of enjoying all of it. Of course, Jill didn’t enjoy all of it. What woman does enjoy all of pregnancy, especially at the end? But we had just enjoyed this. I had enjoyed seeing my wife with a big bun in the oven out in front of her for the last time. And it wasn’t our first rodeo so we weren’t scared, we’re just enjoying the process and looking forward to a home delivery with a midwife, which is what we had done with several of the kids. And we were ready to go and, to make a long story short, there were complications. And so hours and hours and hours of agony in labor for Jill without the benefit of these high powered medications that are available in a hospital setting was wearing her down and exhausting her and weren’t really getting anywhere. And over hours, this became a matter of concern until the concern got to the point that Ezekiel, the baby, who hadn’t been born yet, his heart rate was dropping. And Jill’s strength was about gone and we still didn’t have a baby. And so the baby’s heart rate got to the point where we were in trouble, we were in a dangerous situation. And we literally had to flee to the hospital. And not the hospital that we had as a backup. We had a backup plan up in Nashville. But we had to go to the nearest hospital. And Jill was in so much pain and so weak she could hardly get out to the vehicle. But we got her in and got her up there and rolled up to emergency and the midwife jumped out and got her in and I went to park. And by the time I got in, which is just a couple minutes later, they had already wheeled her through and by the time I got to her, she was already wired up a lot. And very quickly they were in looking at the baby and checking everything out and the doctor just told us we can continue, but this is probably not gonna get you anywhere. If this continues, you could lose the baby. We need an emergency C-section. Well that happens routinely, but not for my wife. And this was the one thing that she didn’t want to happen. I mean, this was the one fear that she had. This was the one thing she wanted to avoid. But the doctors were telling us if we continued and didn’t make progress, than she was gonna be in danger, too. So they’re getting everything ready and we got a minute to choose and we’re looking at each other and we’re just in this moment, this unexpected moment. We don’t know what’s gonna happen. She felt like we had to move forward with what the doctors were saying. We couldn’t lose… take a chance on losing the baby. She was so tired and scared and her teeth were chattering. And the next thing we knew, a bunch of people came in and she’s being wheeled away and we’re telling each other I love you. It’s just happening so fast and then a few seconds later, I’m sitting there alone. Like, I’m alone. And Jill’s gone into surgery. And so I texted a few allies to pray and then I reached out into this community, just posted it up. This is kind of what we’re going through right now and pray for us. And this community rose up and prayed. And I remember sitting in that hospital room typing that out and just feeling this flood of calm come. It wasn’t that it was any less of a problematic situation. It was that I tapped in and I didn’t feel like I was alone. And that is the power and the beauty of this community and one of the reasons that I’ve worked as hard as I possibly can to protect it. And about a half an hour later, I was holding this new born baby that we named Ezekiel. And because Jill had gone through surgery, she’s out of it but she came around but they needed to keep her in the hospital for a couple of days. So we were camping out at the hospital for a couple of days in the middle of the summer, July 25. Those of you who live in the south know what I’m talking about. It’s a hot steamy time. But the Daily Audio Bible needed to continue, so I had all my stuff out in the family van and I would go out there each day and record the Daily Audio Bible in a 120 degree van with no air conditioning. You have to have silence to be able to do this. So I’d read the Daily Audio Bible and open the side door just to be able to breathe while putting it all together and so it was kind of news flashes every day from the hospital. But eventually mother and child got home and this little guy has grown from an infant all the way up to six years old and starting school. And through all of that, he became the Daily Audio baby. And it wasn’t too long after that that we launched into the Family Gathering Tour, the very thing that has inspired the Family Reunion that we’re doing in September. And we travelled all over the world over the course of eighteen months and the little boy…he’s been more places than most people even though he can’t remember it all. But every evening and every city at the very end of our gathering, we get Ezekiel, (bring) him up on stage, thank everyone. Thank everyone who prayed because we felt very very much surrounded by the community and by the prayers of God’s people. And we attribute…yes, it was a difficult surprise but we attribute the safe delivery and health to the prayers of God’s people in this community. So if you’ve been around for a while, if you’ve been around the Daily Audio Bible that long than you’ll remember this. If not, than there is another chapter in the Daily Audio Bible story and history. One of the key moments for me where I realized what we have here. Yes, it’s different. Yes, it’s on the Internet. Yes, it’s all over the place and decentralized and all of these things. Yes, it doesn’t look like a standard physical community where people can enjoy life in the same region. But that doesn’t make this any less of a community. So thank you to all of you who prayed for us back then and who continue to pray for us now. I have always had the conviction that it is the prayers of God’s people that sustain what we’re doing here. And I am grateful to God for you. This is why I say I love you every day at the end. It’s not gimmick. It’s because I love this community and I’m grateful for it. So happy birthday Ezekiel. Number six.
Announcements:
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And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello my DAB family. This is Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Today is Monday, 23rd of July and I’m calling in today because I heard James the teacher from LA on Sunday evening, the 22nd prayer request. James, my friend, your situation really hit me home fairly quick. I went through that exact same situation. My wife was depressed after giving birth and I turned to pornography and sexual sin to comfort myself. And to cut a long story short, I want to pray for You because…keep pressing into God. I got divorced. I didn’t find the DAB until after my divorce. And James I’m praying for ya. Heavenly Father, James is coming to You with a humble heart knowing that he is having trouble on his own and he does not want to do this by himself Lord. He’s coming to You begging You for help Lord. Lord I ask You to soften his heart and just help them hear what You want him to do Father. Lord, I also ask You to soften his wife’s heart Lord and for her to get out of the stigma mental health. Lord there’s so much digging around about mental health Lord and let her open her mind and let her feel comforted that any help that she gets is normal and that depression is a normal part of life sometimes Lord, but help her press into You as well Lord. Lord don’t let James fall down the path I fell down Lord. And Lord I know You’ve open my mind to what I did wrong Lord and keep opening James’s mind. His mind is open Lord and He’s coming to You with a humble heart now. So, strengthen him. Send the Holy Spirit to him Father. And he’s blessed Lord. Bring them close to You and You draw them close to You too Lord so that they will be able to get through the situation and James will be able to finish his Masters Lord and support his family in the way that he wants to support the Lord. Lord and we know that everything is possible through You Lord. And we lift up James to You. In Your name Lord. Amen. Love You family. Talk to You again soon. Bye.
Hey everybody. Hey this is Annette Allison. Just to let you know, hey, hooo, I’m doing okay and trying to go into a city party and I just decided to throw on some praise music and just go for it. And I feel way better. I hope you all enjoyed the ride today. We took a great big ride listening to the community prayer and it was such a beautiful day. And, Lee from New Jersey my brother man you have just broke my heart. You broke my heart this week. It just reminded me so much of when my grandma passed away and it was just the same thing. And I could not even imagine somebody else having to go through the situation of watching somebody die even though we know and we trust they are going to be with the Lord. It’s still painful. And I know for myself as I was listening throughout the whole community prayer, I was praying for you. And I don’t know, I’m sorry if I felt this way, but I was almost hoping that in the midst of the story that you were going to pick some family up from the airport that she passed away while you weren’t there. And I only say that because it just left such…it was hard. And I just didn’t want…I didn’t want that for anybody else. That process is just so painful to watch. And I was just hoping that she just passed away slow…ya know…without pain and transitioned easily. And I just want you to know that I’m praying for you and that I’m very very sorry for the loss of your mom. And heavens again, whorah, that’s great. But I want you to know that I’m praying for you. I’m really really praying for you and I’ve been so happy and when your first call came I was right by that spot where…I call it your spot, and it’s pretty cool. And it’s like right as soon as I passed it your call came. It was pretty neat. You know? So, I love you guys. Have a wonderful, wonderful day. And y’all take care. Bye.
Hi everybody, it’s Margo from Australia. I just wanted to ring today, first of all because I’ve just passed my 12 month anniversary of listening to DAB and I’ve loved every minute of it. And I wish I found it a lot earlier in my life. I wanted to comment. I’ve been thinking all week. About a week ago we read in Chronicles the verse where David says, when he was buying the threshing floor and he was offered it free but he said, no I will not get to the Lord that which costs me nothing. Now, that is one of my all-time favorite Bible verses. And I think it’s really good if we really think about that verse and what it means to us in our life. I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing. Wow, that’s powerful and life-changing. And I think it’s a really good verse to remember at those times when we are suffering, when life’s hard, when the Lord asks difficult things of us, when we don’t feel like being Christlike, when we’re angry at God for our lot in life. You know what? That’s okay because I won’t give to the Lord that which is easy. I won’t give to the Lord that which cost me nothing. I am planning, my husband and I, we’re going to Liberia next year and that’s going to involve fairly significant sacrifice for us. But you know it helps me when I have those moments of feeling freaked out about it? You know what? I just think, I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing. How powerful is that? What a motto to have that as our life motto. And I hope that you guys really think about that verse, and that it will encourage you and help you as it has me. Because in this life there will be suffering. And that’s okay. That’s how life is. There won’t be suffering in eternity. That’s the deal. Anyway, love you all heaps. Have a great day everyone. Bye.
Hi. This is Sherry Gallagher. This is my first time calling. I’ve been a longtime listener and God’s really been blessing me and I just give Him praise and glory for that but I am in need of some prayer. I just spent my last dollar and I’m living in a hotel because my place just came up with bed bugs and I was getting ready to move. So, now I’m not even sure what I can bring with me, if anything. I may just have to give everything up and start all over. I’m not sure. But I really need a financial breakthrough and I need, ya know, God to do something about these bedbugs to provide a solution. And I need to get out of this hotel. So, if you could just pray for me and just pray that God will bless me and make a way out of no way I would be really grateful. Thanks.