Month: January 2019

Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalms 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10

Today is the 21^st day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s a pleasure, of course, an honor every day to come together like this centering ourselves around the rhythm of the Scriptures. It’s the joy of life. And, so, this is the 21^st day of the year, which I guess means officially, right, three weeks into the year and we are definitely sailing forward as we continue to move forward. And man, what three weeks in the Bible will do right? A lot of the different aspects of life and a lot of different stories in the Scriptures have begun to unfold before us. And, so, we’ll continue and pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. We’re reading the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis who has been reunited with his brothers who trafficked him into slavery. He knows who they are. They don’t know who he is. And, so, there’s some drama unfolding. Genesis chapter 42 verse 18 through 43 verse 34 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, Jesus has been telling stories about the kingdom of heaven. And, you know, the announcement of the kingdom, and the revealing of the kingdom is a central thing that was part of Jesus ministry. And, so, of course, he’s gonna talk about it. He’s telling stories and the net net of these stories is that the kingdom of God is something that will grow up among things that are not the kingdom of God, right, the wheat and the weeds. And, so, this is a good time to pause for a second because we have all kinds of ideas about the kingdom of God and what it will be and what it will look like and when it will come and how it will come and, you know, what we will do when we get there and all of this, we have these kind of a notions about things, but these notions are usually of futuristic, right, they’re things yet to come when we need to look at what Jesus is laying out and not miss the fact that He is saying what’s coming is already happening. And that’s a little bit of a rewire for most of our notions because…and we’ll see this as we go forward. Jesus is announcing a kingdom that is already begun and is within and among us already. And yes, the kingdoms fullness has not yet arrived. And yet we usually think it hasn’t even begun, like that’s something that happens later when Jesus announcement was, no, it’s already happening and it’s already among you if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. This is already going on and you need to get on board and be a part of it of what is already going on. Of course, most people missed what He was saying. Most people still do. A lot of times we spend our life thinking that what our mission on this earth to do is to is to be a good little boy and a good little girl and, you know, and try to be try to eek our way into eternity when what Jesus seems to be laying out, and we will be exploring this as we continue through the Gospels because He talks about this stuff a lot, but what Jesus seems to be saying is, you’re not supposed to live here so that you can die and get out of here and be in the kingdom. You are the kingdom, you are a part of the kingdom, it’s happening right now, the kingdom has a mission on planet Earth right now. This isn’t just about something that’s gonna happen later, you’re a part of that story. And, so, you know, let’s ponder that today. We’ll have plenty of time to ponder it over time, but this is kind of a big deal because it reshapes what we believe our purpose is and a fully invites us into a collaborative relationship with God where there is actual work to be done on behalf of His kingdom. And, so, we’re getting the echoes of Jesus ministry about the kingdom, we’re just beginning to explore but we see Jesus keep saying, the kingdom is like this, it’s like this, it’s like this, and He’s ultimately leading us to the revelation that it’s happening right now.

And then in the book of Proverbs we should also listen up. We’re told that the beginning of wisdom is this, “get wisdom”, right? So, like, first, like the thing that I am going to get if I get anything is I am going to get wisdom, right? You set that before you. That is the target, that is the goal, that’s what I’m after. Like, I’m not after a race. Like, I like a race. I’m not after the new car. I like the new car or whatever but the main thing that I’m going to get if I’m going to get anything is wisdom. And we put that before us and remember that in every decision then we can immediately essentially know whether we’re making wise choices and not. And the Proverbs goes on to say, “whatever else you get get insight, prize her highly and she will exalt you, she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland, she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” So, basically you can try to fight your way through life fighting against your culture to get what you can get while everybody else is trying to get what they can get and then we all have these piles of things that represents all of the efforts of our lives or we can get wisdom, make that the priority, and everything else will begin to flow in our direction. Plenty to think about in today’s readings.

Prayer:

father as we dive into this, another workweek here at the beginning of the year, we ask that you show us how to get wisdom and how to make this the mission of our lives because we’re going to need to be wise to collaborate with you and participate in the redemption of this world and the revealing of your kingdom in it. So, come Holy Spirit we pray, plant the words of the Scriptures deep into the fertile soil of our lives and may it yield the fruit of the spirit as a bountiful 100 fold crop of wisdom. Come Jesus we pray. In your mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

The Prayer Wall, of course, is a great place for community and a great place to, you know, to face outward and pray for your brothers and sisters even as you are being prayed for. So, be sure to check that out. That is accessible at dailyaudiobible.com. It’s also accessible inside the Daily Audio Bible app, you just push the little the drawer menu in the upper left-hand corner and you can that. So, pray for your brothers and sisters and stay connected.

If you if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link and it just lives on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button and that’s in the upper right-hand corner just across from the little drawer menu in the upper left-hand corner. And I thank you profoundly for your partnership. 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:

Hello DAB family, this is Walta, the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. Today is Wednesday, January 16^th, 2019 and I heard a prayer request go out. A mother’s calling on behalf of her son who had a gun who said he’s a demon. I rebuke every lie the enemy is speaking over that boy’s life right now in the name of Jesus. And father God I praise You Lord that we’re overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the power of our testimony. My sister, I just want to challenge you to stand in the gap for your son. The word of God tells us that your salvation is strong enough to cover your family. And, so, continue praying for him, I’m gonna pray for him. I also want to pray, I’ve heard a lot of prayers go out for illnesses and sicknesses. And, so, father God I praise you for your family and those who are listening today, and I pray for your divine intervention, your divine healing God over this __ father. Whatever they are struggling with Father, be it mental illness Father or just physical ailments, illnesses that have been diagnosed and the ones that people do not even know what they are. Father God, by your stripes, Jesus by Your stripes we are healed. So, I pray for healing over this family right now in the name of Jesus. And Father God I pray for a miraculous healing God and just breakthrough in the name of Jesus. God, I praise you Lord for answered prayers. There was a man of God who called today and he just read a bunch of Scripture and he started by saying that he was suicidal. I just want to say thank you for sharing the word of God because that is…the word of God is a doubleedged sword and it’s so strong, it’s so powerful, it’s so __, and so soothing and I just want to thank you for sharing that. I love you guys. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.

Hello DAB family, my name is Tim calling from Michigan. Started this journey last year and I’m still trying to find faith and become a believer and I was making my way through the DAB Audio Bible and I got into about mid-May of last year. This was around November I started of 2018. And we got about ¼ way through the Bible and the New Year sprang and I went to listen to the next podcast and it had been reset. So, it’s funny how the devil always will try to thwart you or push you away or deceive you. So, I just kind of took it as a welcome new beginning into the Bible this year and we’re starting fresh and I look forward to completing it for my first time and I, you know, I hope you guys can pray for me to help get me through this and help me find faith and find Jesus and eventually one day become saved. I appreciate it, I listen, I love listening to the podcast, I love listening to the prayers. It’s outstanding how everybody comes together. So, that’s where I’m at. I appreciate it. I love you all and I ask for prayers. Thank you.

Hi, this is Max Madison. I haven’t been listening. I used to listen a lot more than I do. I started up again this year. I haven’t listened for a year and ½. This past year was very, very tough. I almost lost my faith several times. I even thought about suicide but one thread in faith in Jesus Christ is stronger than a __ of steel but __ inspired me to call in and as someone who used to hate Christianity, if I can just give a piece of advice, I mean, show your grandson and father love and compassion and people are tacked by the media showing a Christianity that’s mean spirited and hateful and the best way to show someone the love of Christ is to show them the love of Christ. Maybe ask them why, maybe they think Christianity is something that completely it’s not because, I mean, unfortunately Christianity, like Judaism in the time of Jesus is corrupted in many __ . And many people don’t hate God, they don’t know God, but they Christianity. And I hope this helps and my prayers are for your grandson because that’s was life does, life skills and destroys faith and I pray that your grandson will continue having faith and that your family will come to faith. Thank you. Bye.

Good morning this is Julie calling from Albany. The burden has been heavy. I’m praying for my brother. I’m praying along with my older brother. We speak often of wanting to help our younger brother. We pray that he surrender to God, feel peace, feel the love and a joy, everything that comes with trusting God. We pray for his physical and mental health and well-being. We pray for his happiness. We want our brother to be happy and not full of conflict and stress and anxiety and fear. We pray for his independence. We pray for his happiness. We pray for him to find God. We love him so much. We just are reaching out today to our Daily Audio Bible family. My brother and I listen daily. We thank you all for being part of our family and ask for these prayers this day for our younger brother. Let him find God and surrender. Let him find that peace and happiness when we surrender and listen and learn. Thank you. God bless you all.

Hello everybody it’s Tony the Painter in London here. I’ve possibly got pneumonia or a really really heavy flu. I think I’m gonna find the results out today, so please pray for me in that. And also, it just reminded me, and so I’ve come to my bookshelf, I’ve re-picked up Sneezing Jesus and I’m gonna have a read of this over the week I think. Thank you, Brian for that. Everybody, I’m praying for each one of you. I hear the messages that you…and the prayer requests. Also, Michael in London, really nice to hear that there’s somebody close by who’s in the DAB. And I’m actually planning to go to a Hillsong church in the next couple weeks possibly not this Sunday because I’m not very well but, yeah, so, who knows, I might actually be able to meet a DABber and hug their neck and say I love that you pray for me. Yeah, so, anyway, I just wanted to say that I love you all and Brian I’m gonna to be reading Sneezing Jesus as I’m sneezing flu-y pneumonia and looking for ways that I can turn this into something that’s gonna be really beautiful for Jesus. I love you all. God, bless. Bye-bye.

Hey Daily Bible Audio family, this is Andrea Delaine from Kentucky and I this morning I just wanted to call and I just wanted to give praise to Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, the resurrected Messiah and I just want to give Him thanks because this month 22 years ago I gave my life to Yeshua, He came to me in such a real way, transformed my heart. I had such a heart full of hatred towards God. I grew up in religion, but I did not know God. I was getting burned out from legalism and not being good enough and it was a nightmare and I was just 15 years old at the time, but I was always starting to cut my arms. And I was like, “God if you’re not gonna help me maybe Satan will.” It was that burden of legalism and the burden of religion that leads us nowhere except worse, but when you Yeshua Jesus Christ set me free he set me free indeed. And the word of God is clear, that the son therefore shall make you free, you are free indeed, and it’s the truth. When you find the truth, it is truly Yeshua Jesus Christ. And, so, this morning I just want to give praise to my Savior, 22 years, that He has kept me, that He has walked with me, that He has brought me through some dark valleys and through horrible things, that He has kept His word, that He is taking care of my life, that He has never left me or forsaken me, and I want to remind you today my brothers and sisters that no matter where you’re at today that if you’re in Christ, that if you are truly in Christ, His promise is to you that He will never leave you or forsake you. He is your Redeemer, Healer. He is everything to you. Call on the name of the Lord and He will save you, He will deliver you. Remind Him what He’s done for you, remind Him what He’s done for all of our brothers and sisters for the ages. He is…

Genesis 41:17-42:17, Matthew 13:24-46, Psalms 18:1-15, Proverbs 4:1-6

Today is the 20^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is a pleasure to be here with you as we begin a shiny, sparkly, new week and live into it. And often times I will say something similar because we get to the beginning of a new week and I always am struck by the fact that it hasn’t been lived yet and every decision that I make is going to tell the story of what the next week will be like. And, so, to understand that we’re stepping into a new week and a reset and a refresh and, you know, if last week was awful then maybe choosing in advance how we’re gonna live into this week is helpful. And, so, one of the ways that we’ll step into this brand-new shiny, sparkly, new week is to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And this week we’ll read from the English Standard Version. We’ll pick up with the story of Joseph, which we’ve been chasing for a bit now. Joseph is before Pharaoh, he’s been whisked out of the dungeon, and his task is to foretell a dream and Joseph has confessed that he has no power to do something like that, but that God can. So, that’s where we pick up. Genesis 41:17 to 42:17 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this brand-new shiny, sparkly week. And Lord, I mean we’re almost to the point where we could say three weeks of this new year have gone by and as we look back just over this short period of time in this new year a lot has been going on, not only our lives, but You have spoken a lot of things to us and have given us a sense of clarity that we need. And, so, we begin by humbly worshiping and are grateful in our hearts, but we also invite You into this week, all the things we have to decide about, all the conversations that we’ll have, all of the different circumstances that will pull us in a myriad of assorted different directions. But we seek You, we will not be pulled in all of that myriad of directions, we will seek You and allow You to deal with that myriad of things coming our way. So, Holy Spirit come, lead us into all truth as You promised, lead us on the narrow path that leads to life, lead us deeper into Jesus we pray, in His mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay and see what’s going on around here and stay in fellowship with your brothers and sisters who are on the journey together.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we do share in common, and that is to bring God’s spoken word every single day to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to continue to build community around that rhythm so that we know for sure we’re not alone as we take the journey, not only through the Scriptures, but through life. If that has brought life and good news and light into your life, then thank you for your partnership and being light and life and good news back so that everything continues forward day by day step-by-step. So, there’s 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 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:

My name is Keisha from Maryland. This call…this was hard to do. I listen to the Daily Audio Bible often. I’ve been listening for the past two years and it has blessed me so much. I’m calling in because I believe in prayer and I believe in touching and agreeing for everyone else, but right now I need help. I was ashamed to call in because it’s for financial help and I feel like there’s so many people that are dealing with things that are so serious, so much more serious than this, yet I felt overwhelmed and I need your help, I need your prayers. I’ve worked so hard all my life just taking care of everybody’s everything and I’m standing here __ . I’m in need of financial blessings to help us to pay our mortgage so that we won’t lose our home. And it’s not a lot, it’s not a lot of money, but it’s money that we don’t even have. And I’m trusting God and I’m asking for your prayers, that you all touch and agree with us as we stand in our faith that God is going to do it. I have faith and I’m not weary but I’m exhausted and I need strength and I need a miracle and I thank you right now for your prayers.

Hi this is Vernon from northern Alberta. This call is for Janet who called in about her son Jared who is an alcoholic. And I don’t even know for sure why or how, but I feel God told me to call. And, so, I’m thinking about Peter when he ran into the temple and there was a beggar asking for money and Peter said, “I don’t have money but what I do have I give you.” And, so, this is my prayer out of faith. Lord Jesus, I can’t help her with the cost of the rehab program. And Lord, so I ask for You to provide for them so that her son can get help. But Lord I know another better thing, I know that You can heal them, You can take the desire and You can fulfill his needs and help him see that he only needs You. And Jesus, if that’s how You want to heal him, I just want to pray in faith, do it and give this blessing to his mother and to him and the rest of his family. And, so, I just thank You God, I just pray in faith Lord Jesus that will heal him whether it’s through rehab programs in California and You provide for them or whether it’s instantaneous, Lord I just pray this over him. And I thank you for this family. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hey Daily Audio Bible this is Dad’s Light. I’ve listened to you guys for long time and I share in the joy and the pain with you all. Right now, I’m having a really difficult time. I’ve just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I’m about ready to lose my job. I’m stacked up financially and my girlfriend and I are constantly fighting, and I don’t know how to get over it. And I just really need help with prayer. Could you please pray for me? I’m just __ my time. I’ve tried to take my life three times because I feel so worthless. I’m holding onto you, I’m holding onto Jesus, I’m holding onto life as best I can. Please pray for me and strengthen me and I’ll do the same for you and love you guys so much. Thank you.

Hello beautiful family this is Sonia coming from Tampa. I heard the prodigal son and my heart leapt with joy. So many of us have been praying for you. You see my dear brother, I too lost my little will to live many years ago and my only cry out to God was for Him to take me. All I could do was look at the scars running down my stomach as I had gotten a reverse ___ and ended up with a tubal pregnancy instead only to end up in the hospital after making a 22 hour trip to Florida with my five-year-old son. I had walked away from a painful relationship and I was back in my parent’s home, heartbroken, scared with heartache and trauma, my only company. And to make matters worse I discovered that my ex-partner was living in my home with a coworker and she was pregnant. I was distraught and broken, so much that I thought that not even God could put me together again, but He did. He made me stronger and better than I ever imagined. Now when I look at the scars I think about God’s greatness and how He brought me through it. Dear Prodigal son and DAB family there is nothing too hard for God. I am 64 and after 17 years of my mom praying I met a wonderful man and I am getting married October 12 of this year. For some of you that have been waiting on God, continue to wait on Him and trust Him because there is nothing too hard for God. I love you family.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Anne from Charlotte North Carolina and I’m so thankful for every one of you in our international community. I’m in my 11^th year now listening, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. And on the 13^th of January a woman called in and forgive me, I cannot remember her name but she shared a very sad story of taking care of her father when she was accused of stealing and she was cut off in his final days and robbed of inheritance and I wanted to thank you for sharing that because I feel so alone with things that happened to me. I’m an only child and one of my daughter’s whose an attorney got guardianship of my mother without my knowledge and put my mother in a facility out of her apartment and then legally forbade me from even visiting my mother in her final days. And when that happened my mother stopped eating and…and it was just horrendous…horrendous thing and I was not even allowed to attend my mother’s funeral. And it’s just so…things that happen like that are so against nature and you just can’t imagine them really happening. And, yeah, so, it just…actually I appreciate knowing that I’m not alone in such awful betrayal and stealing and suffering. And please pray for my children who are not in my life and have walked away from the Lord.

Hey family this is Melissa. My name is Melissa Smiley, I’m from Albertville Alabama. I want to welcome all the new listeners. If I sound funny I’ve got bronchitis right now. Anywho…I’ve been listening, I’m starting my 8^th year and I’m telling you is life-changing. God has grown be so much, my faith has grown, I’m learning so much about the word. Pastor Brian, when I didn’t have a church this was my church and I thank God for Brian teaching is the word. I thank you for striping our legs when we need t. You striped my legs the other day when you talked about us going on social media and basically, you know, not lifting our Christian brothers or sisters up. And I always say, well, I don’t do Facebook, but I do go on YouTube and when I see a Christian artist or somebody doing something wrong it’s better me lifting them up…it’s like y’all need to quit and stuff. So, thank you Brian, you help us so much. If you don’t hear your call just know somebody’s praying for you if you don’t every name called out. Sometimes I don’t hear my name called out but know that somebody somewhere is praying for you and stay the course. Stay with it. These the eight years, I tell you, I can’t imagine my life without the DAB. I love Brian, love you Jill, China, the whole crew. I love this family. Like I said, welcome new listeners. Love you all. Bye.

Genesis 39:1-41:16, Matthew 12:46-13:23, Psalms 17:1-15, Proverbs 3:33-35

Today is the 19^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure to be here with you. This like completes our second full week of the year. So, we got two weeks under our belts and what, four or five extra days, which brings us to the 19^th day of January. So, how you doing? How have the last 19 days been? Are we settling into our rhythm for the year? And hopefully we are, and hopefully we’re beginning to understand that…hmmmm…the Bible isn’t quite is benign and dusty is it may have appeared. In fact, maybe it really is sharper than any two-edged sword that could reach to the level where soul and spirit divide as the as the Scriptures will tell us for themselves a little later on. Anyway, we’re moving our way through the book of Genesis and the book of Matthew and Psalms and Proverbs with a step each and every day and today’s step will take us back into the book of Genesis. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’ll read Genesis chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 16 today. And, by way of reminder, we are just getting into the story of a man named Joseph who, as a young teenager, was despised by his older brothers and they have sold him and trafficked him into slavery in Egypt and we will pick up the story from there.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another week in Your word and we thank You for this new year and this new rhythm that’s being established. On the one hand, we could say, yeah, we’re in the new year and we’re just kind of going forward, but on the other hand we’re still just…we’re still just getting going in this new year in our lives in our goals in our dreams and hopes and in the Scriptures and You have spoken plenty and we are deeply grateful because the moving and shaking and prodding and pushing and Your kindness and Your love and Your generosity and Your grace and mercy over our lives, like we’re beginning to see this and it is so good. So, come Holy Spirit, plant Your word in our lives. In our Spirits may we be fertile soil, exactly what Jesus was talking about in the parable that we just read. Plant the word in our lives and may it yield the fruit of the spirit one hundred-fold changing us from within utterly. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay connected in any way that you want to or choose to.

You can certainly find different places on social media that we are at by going to dailyaudiobible.com and then clicking the Community section. And staying connected to the Daily Audio Bible channels certainly lets you stay connected to the Daily Audio Bible. Like, if there’s something going on and we’re announcing it you’ll be able to find out that way, but there are also other groups like DAB Friends where  there are thousands of people who are in constant interaction with each other and you can get involved in any way that you want but you get the links in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. If what’s happening here is bringing you good news and life and light, then thank you for being an agent to bring light and life and good news that keeps the global campfire burning. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. 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.

Genesis 37:1-38:30, Matthew 12:22-45, Psalms 16:1-11, Proverbs 3:27-32

Today is the 18^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s a pleasure, of course, like every day to be here with you and step away into the calm, into some serenity. Everything that’s being, you know, not cooperating in our lives right now, it’ll still be there when we get out to the other side of this time, but our perspective may have shifted as we allow the word of God to wash over us and into our lives and just allow our souls to relax. This is a safe place and we can breathe, we can exhale. So, we’re getting to the end of another of our weeks together. Of course, this is our 18^th step of 365 steps that will take us to the entire Bible and we’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week, which is what we will continue to do today and tomorrow. And from our Old Testament reading will be reading…let me think about how to say that…from the Old Testament portion of our reading we’ll read Genesis chapter 37 and 38 and then we’ll move into the book of Matthew. So, first Genesis chapter 37.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we covered some significant ground as has been the case almost every day in Old and New Testaments, Psalms and Proverbs. They’re speaking loud and clear.

In the book of Genesis, so, from our Old Testament reading, we’re following the story…well…we’ve been following the story from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. Of course, Jacob had a brother named Esau and yesterday we kind of read the big picture of where Esau went and who his people became and now we’re settling into Joseph’s family and as we’ve already covered Joseph’s name has changed to Israel and his children then would become the children of Israel and now we are beginning to understand their stories. And, so, as we’ve begun that journey, we see that the brothers have a little brother named Joseph who they cannot stand because he’s a dreamer and he’s young and he’s a little bit arrogant and they can’t stand him because he is favored by his father. And we read the account today of Joseph going back to Shechem and remember, Shechem is the place where their sister Dinah had been raped. Shechem is the place where Abraham, Abram, came into the land and was given the promise of the land. So, we keep seeing this kind of geographical landmark because really important things in the Bible happen, there. So, Joseph is sent back because his brothers, apparently, are shepherding their sheep up at Shechem. So, he goes there to look and it turns out that they’ve gone on to Dothan. And we know this, how this story goes, they’re going to kill Joseph, but instead they sell him. So, they human traffic their brother into slavery in Egypt. Alright, I want to pause here and take us on a very, very brief little side trail, a little bunny trail as it were, because I think it lays out context as we go forward. A few days ago we read the story of Lot, right, and his daughters and their decision to have sex with her dad and there are other parts of that story were Lot was going to throw his virgin daughters out to the throng to be gang raped and it brings up all kinds of stuff, stuff that looks remarkably similar to some of the political struggles in the world today. And, so, we can read certain stories and then a kind of basically back read our culture into those stories and say, “I don’t agree with that story that’s in the Bible, that’s not how we should be doing things.” So, for example, like, you know, if there were throng around my house I would not consider throwing my daughter out to the throng in order to save my guests, even if those guests happen to be angels. Although, at least my knowledge, I’ve never had angels in my house. And I know for sure and certain, I’ve never had my neighbors, like, surround my house asking that I send out my guest so that they can have sex with my guest. Like, I’ve never been put in that position before and probably neither have you, but probably neither had Lot, but we see that Lot his offering his daughters in that story and so it gives us all kinds of heebie-jeebies because we can’t imagine that. And, so, because it was a poor treatment of women in this case, then we get all patriarchal and have all kinds of questions and this happens in some of the letters of Paul too. Like, I already know in the year, the emails that I’m gonna get. So, I want to stop at this particular juncture where we are right now in the story and point out that Joseph’s brothers human traffic their own brother into slavery in Egypt and there were no women involved in this and what they did was evil. So, let’s just understand that although we are going to experience some raw and unfiltered stories in the Bible when we back read our own time and culture into it we’re missing the point. Part of the point in the Lot story was to show how evil the world had become. Part of the point of the story, because we’re just beginning a very long story with Joseph, is to show how evil the world had become, like it wasn’t just a sexist thing. And wat we’re gonna see as the story of Joseph begins to unfold is that in spite of evil there can still be good, in spite of darkness there can still be light.

And we get into the book of Matthew and Jesus is dealing with problems of His own because He’s not playing along. Like, Jesus looks now like a superstar communicator who has some pretty miraculous powers to back Him up and the religious leaders are checking Jesus out but He does things that breaks their rules and it’s inflaming them because they think they’re the keepers of the rules of God and then here is God breaking, apparently, His own rules when in fact all He’s doing is showing them that the way they had interpreted the rules had gotten so backward that the heart and soul of why the laws existed in the first place had died. So, Jesus is being accused of being a child of the devil, which is where apparently where He gets his power from. So, He’s healing people because he’s empowered by Satan to do it. This is what the religious people are saying about Jesus. And, so, Jesus as His own response, right, and it’s a logical response, “a kingdom divided by Civil War is doomed”, right, “a town or a family splintered by feuding will fall apart”, that’s more close to home, that’s something we probably really understand. And then Jesus says, “if Satan’s casting of Satan and he’s divided and fighting against himself what you’re saying is not making any sense.” But it’s here that Jesus says something that is deeply poignant and that we should understand. Jesus says, “I tell you every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which will never be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven by anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come.” So, that is a pretty poignant statement and every time we come around this territory I think the same thing in my life, like, this particular story and passage of Scripture brings me back to a very specific place my life, a very specific time, because I grew up the son of pastor and before my father was a pastor he was an evangelist. We traveled around a lot. And, so, I was in church a lot and the idea of blaspheming the Holy Spirit as an unpardonable sin somehow got etched into my childhood and I lived in fear of it continually because how do you know? How do you know, which may have shaped so much of my own life, just trying to know, like, how do you know when you’re doing it right? Because this was one of those things where this is an unforgivable thing forever and ever. How do you know if you’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit? First, we have to understand what blaspheming is. So, to blaspheme something is to defame and profane it. And we don’t use the word blasphemy much anymore and if we do, you know, it’s being it’s in the Bible. And, so, we are specifically talking about God, defaming and profaning God. So, Jesus is having this confrontation and being accused of casting out Satan by Satan and then He turns to this blaspheming the Holy Spirit talk and it’s very like, you can go, how are these things connected? There connected because even though Jesus was accused of blasphemy it was actually the religious leaders who were blaspheming because they were saying that what the Holy Spirit was doing through Jesus and the outward signs of healing and miraculous events, that these things were actually not from God, they were from the devil, right? That’s blasphemy and Jesus is giving a pretty compelling and stern warning that they’re not going to listen to. And where it does become poignant is whether or not we’re going to listen because we might very easily say, “I would never do what they were doing. I would never say Jesus was of the devil. And for that matter I would never claim that the Father or the Holy Spirit. I mean that would never be something that I would say.” So, whew, thank goodness I will not be committing this unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is good. And yet, when the Holy Spirit resides within His children, His redeemed ones throughout the earth, and we look at those fellow brothers and sisters and in one way or another deny the work of God in their lives we have wandered onto thin ice and we need to back away slowly. And that right there, that right there should penetrate the rest of our day. The religious leaders of Jesus time, they get framed in the Bible as being antagonistic and just, you know, only out to get Jesus and that’s true, that is part of the story, but the truth is these were devout people trying to serve God, who had been corrupt because the law had lost its spirit and all they had left was a set of rules and ethics that they tried to try to live by because if they could do them perfectly than they could become righteous before God. Like, if they could obey the law perfectly than they could become righteous before God. So, when Jesus comes in and starts breaking the rules He’s completely shattering their paradigm. And anytime your beliefs…the system gets challenged and some things get shattered, that’s very disruptive. So they’re not looking at Jesus as the Messiah, the son of David, the son of God, anything other than on a human being who seems to have miraculous powers, but it does not line up with their understanding of how things are supposed to go. So, they determined that the only way Jesus could be doing this much good would be by the power of Satan, which makes no sense until we find ourselves doing the same thing, until in small or subtle ways we find ourselves not being able to figure out how God could be using that person because they are such a sinner or that person because they have done these things or anyone over here, they’ve done…they’re doing things in the name of Jesus that are good in the world but they have some kind of dark piece of their history that we know. And, so, we can find ourselves blaspheming God inside of them because we are willing to deny God’s power to redeem.

Prayer:

Father, You have taken us through a big week and there’s just a bunch of stuff that You brought up in one weeks-time and here as we prepare to close, You know, we’ve reached the end of the week You’ve left us with plenty consider over the next couple of days. Holy Spirit, come because we’re realizing that yeah, You’re gonna press in and You’re gonna touch all the soft spots, but it happens quickly and we’re not always sure how to sort it out. And, so, we invite You into that disruption. So many times we’re like, “oh, there too much going on, I’ve gotta slow things down” when You are actually working in shaking loose things that need to fall away here at the beginning of the year so that You can actually answer our prayer of leading us on the narrow path that leads to life. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit into all that we’ve said today and throughout all this week. Come Jesus we pray in Your mighty name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check in and check it out. Stay connected in every way that you want to.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible, 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, this is Valerie calling __ , I just wanted to call and pray for some of the prayer requests. Dear Lord, I just want to come to You right now and I want to pray for Marjorie and for her surgery that she’s having Lord. I pray that You will go before her and the doctors Lord and we know that You’ve already prepared a way, we know that You know the end. Lord we already know that You know the end result and what will happen. So, I pray Lord, I pray that You will just give anyone concerned with Marjorie’s case wisdom to know the right thing to do and I pray for her as well. I pray that You’ll give her peace, give her comfort and let her know Lord that she is in the palm of Your hand and that You have already worked out the solution and that You already know what is best for her. Lord, I also want to pray for, I believe it’s Margo in Australia, who is was heading to Liberia. Lord, I listened to Brian’s message today about being ready to go, just go, go where You send us, go where You plant us, and Lord I hear Margo’s heart and I know how anxious she is for her family, how her heart is willing but she’s also torn because she’s leaving everything she knows behind and her son just moved out. So, Lord I just pray that You give her an extra measure of peace. Sometimes Lord it’s just a little bit harder for mothers to just let go of everything even though our heart is willing, and we’re excited to serve You. But Lord I do just pray that You’ll just give her a measure of Your peace and Your comfort at this time. And Lord I also want to pray for Brandon that just called in about meeting reconciliation with his wife. I pray Lord that You will work in that situation and allow forgiveness to come into that Lord and I want to thank You that Prodigal called in. What an answer to prayer that is. Thank You, Prodigal for letting us know…

Hi DAB, this is Sharon from Southern California and I just heard Prodigal’s call and it lifted my Spirit. Prodigal, I am so thrilled to God to hear your voice. I’ve been praying for you as everyone else has. I called on the 31^st, I gave a little update, things are worse between me and my daughter and I…I’ve been feeling lost, I’ve been feeling empty, I’ve been feeling…I can’t explain how you feel when you love someone and they don’t love you back and I’ve been functioning but my heart has not been in it. And your call was the first genuine smile I’ve had in all this time and I thank you, I thank God because God is in everything and everyone and your call reminded me that I am not alone, God is hearing me, He sees me and that He’s got me. So, thank you prodigal for calling in and letting us know that you’re still fighting that fight…gives me encouragement and let’s me know that I can still fight the fight, it’s not over. Thank you. Love you guys. Keep praying, I’ll keep praying. Bye, happy new year, bye.

Hello there, Daily Audio Bible family, this is Treasured Possession. The desire of my heart for 2019 is to go from phase to phase and not to experience periods of doubt, self-doubt, self-pity, despair, and going numb. And in 1 Peter 5:6-10 in 2 Timothy 1-7, I see where they divide the place where my hearts desire and God’s word are separated, my soul from spirit because I have a default in those weaknesses. In the story of Lot, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, I saw a picture stories of how shame, which is what those things come from, can destroy your legacy. Lot passed what was most precious to him to the enemy when in crisis when God was fully able to blind the enemy and deliver everyone. How many times have I tried in my human reasoning to argue with Satan. Just shut the door, trust God and invite God into my fear and grief. And shame turn you into a salt pillar. Your flavor, your faith can just turn into a pillar of regret. So, I cannot look back and let the treasurer my heart be my hearts focus, which is the loss in my past. And I can’t grief, pain, suffering and the lies of the enemy invite me into the cave of isolation and despair. I did this for years and just oozed it on myself instead of alcohol like Lot did. I let shame steal my identity. I let grief drown me until I could no longer show up for those I love and help them to discern by example how to of endure in faith. So, I pray, and I thank God because He’s called us out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for all You’ve done. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. As I’ve reflected on the last few years in the Scriptures with DAB, I do so with such thankfulness in my heart. Nothing has changed me more in such a short amount of time then the pouring in of the Scriptures in my life on a daily basis. In early January 2017 a friend of mine made a Facebook post and attached a link to the Daily Audio Bible and I will be forever grateful to her. I had always wanted to read to the Bible but I would get derailed in that journey year after year until the DAB. I did finish 2017 and I finished it well and then I just kept on going. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit brought the DAB into my life for such a time as this. Little did I know how much this beautiful rhythm I was establishing would sustain me through two very difficult years, but God knew. So, I really want to encourage new listeners to keep going with this and make the word of God number one priority in your life this year. God has handed us His word is food on a silver platter through this ministry and He has seasoned it well through Brian’s thoughtful commentaries. If you are a regular listener, I pray that you will use your sphere of influence to share the Daily Audio Bible. It can be as simple as adding a link to the ministry in your next Facebook post. This year I’ve added the DAB Chronological and Proverbs my daily reading and I’m very excited about that. So, thank you Brian, thank you Jill, thank you China and to all of the DAB team behind the scenes and the financial partners who keep this ministry going. I seriously can’t imagine my life without it. This is Marsha calling in from Monument Colorado praying for everyone that calls in…

Hi this is Scottish Tom from the Cleveland Ohio area and calling once again for Prodigal. Sorry, I’m a bit behind on the community prayer line. I’m still listening to last week’s one, but I did hear your second call and that was the message I was hoping to hear. But just know that we’re all here for you, we’re all praying for you and you can do this and call in as often as you need to. We’re all praying for you. Good to hear your voice again and good to hear that you’ve made that promise to stick with us. Take care. Bye.

Genesis 35:1-36:43, Matthew 12:1-21, Psalms 15:1-5, Proverbs 3:21-26

Today is the 17^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is a pleasure, it is a joy, and man we’re so fortunate, right, we’re so fortunate to be able to get together around this global campfire and live in a time where this sort of technology…I mean…like we’re living in science-fiction world to our brothers and sisters who were here just 100 years ago. So, it's…I mean…look at what God has done and allowed us to find each other and to be in each other’s presence as we take the next step forward. And that next step forward will take us back into the book of Genesis and back into the story of Jacob, whose name has become Israel. And, so today we’ll read Genesis chapter 35 and 36.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Genesis we said goodbye today to Isaac and Rachel. So, this is Jacob’s father and Jacob’s beloved wife. And, of course, Jacob’s name has been changed to Israel and his kids are now the children of Israel, literally, and that Rachel has died giving birth to the final of those children and his name is Benjamin and this won’t be the last time we interact with these kids. Now, as we go further into the Bible we’ll be interacting with their progeny, right, their descendants who become tribes but this isn’t the last time we’re actually gonna be dealing with these actual kids, the original children of Israel, the true vintage ones. We’ll continue to follow their story in the coming days.

And then we get the book of Matthew and we’re beginning to see what we were talking about yesterday. Remember when we talking about bearing the burden of light in a dark world and the fact that we are not gonna intellectually be able to figure out our faith simply in our mind without our heart being involved and engaged and intertwined in the process, like every relationship? We begin to see what this actually and practically looks like. So, let’s just go with Jesus. He’s moving around the Sea of Galilee. He is announcing the good news of the kingdom. He is touching people and they are finding wholeness and healing. Whether that be a physical thing or a mental thing, He’s healing people wherever He goes and it’s causing quite a stir and we would think that a person like this, right, a person who’s going around and being kind and healing people miraculously and speaking words that are igniting something that are like, unified, are actually speaking to a person’s heart. I mean, you’d think this would be celebrated. So, why is Jesus finding himself in trouble everywhere He goes, especially with the religious people? And let’s pay attention to this as we go through the Gospels. The people who have a beef with Jesus are the people who are the religious Jews. Like, the people who are the keeper of the religion are the people who have a problem with Jesus. And as we continue to go through this story throughout the year we’ll find out, I mean, things have changed but things haven’t changed that much. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Jesus is moving around the countryside doing good and revealing the kingdom and announcing it. And, so, He’s walking along on the Sabbath day. And this is where we begin to see light in the darkness and we also begin to see what happened, what it is that Jesus is coming into because in the book of Genesis we’re reading this origin story and as we continue through the book of Genesis and further we’re gonna meet a man named Moses, and I don’t want to be a big spoiler here, but we’re gonna meet a man named Moses and a law is going to come from it and now we’re going to zoom into the book of Matthew and come a couple thousand years to the future and we’re to begin to see what became of that law. In effect, the heart connection to the law that was baked in to the giving of the law, and we’ll read all this as the days unfold before us in the coming months, that heart connection, that integration that we’ve been talking about a was broken. And, so, the law became all law. So, you go to library and you get a law book and you open it up, you’re gonna read laws and it’s gonna be some seriously boring stuff, but it’s going to be the letter of the law. This is exactly what happens when this particular behavior happens. Like, this is how we have ordered our society. And yet the law of God, right, the law of God revealed through Moses, that can’t be just about behavior modification can it ? Like, did Jesus come to earth in the flesh, God in the flesh, to die for the sins of the world so that we could behave better, like, so that we could obey the rules better? Like, is that what a relationship is like? He would give His life for that? No, He wouldn’t. And that’s what we see revealed throughout His ministry. So, we rub up against this today. The law had become a means of controlling the population and the threat, right, of course, was God’s judgment. And, so, they are diligently trying to obey the letter of the law and they have forgotten their heart. Along the way. So, Jesus is walking along and his disciples eat a couple of kernels of grain because they’re hungry and they get chastised and persecuted because of it because they worked on the Sabbath day. And the next thing you know, Jesus is about to heal a person with a hurt hand, with the deformed hand. And the religious leaders are watching for whether or not He’s gonna do it so that they can come against him for healing someone on the Sabbath. So, that’s how far off things have gotten. And Jesus does heal this man and what do they plan to do? They go out and plot to kill him. So, this is bringing light into the darkness and what Jesus is doing is bringing light back to the people that were given a promise of a promised land. Like, these people that we’re reading about in the book of Genesis, we’re going through all of these genealogies and getting to know all these children of Israel. They’re promised this land and they’re promised that God will be their God. Now we’re 2000 years ahead in the book of Matthew and the law has become a means of control and His people have forgotten who they are and Jesus is coming into the scenario to announce the kingdom of heaven, and to remind them of who they are. And part of the way He’s doing it is by flying in the face of what they thought was the religious obligations handed down by God. And Jesus is saying that this was…what has become of this law was never what it was intended to be. And, so, of course, you can do good on the Sabbath, of course, you can do God’s work on the seventh of course, you can heal someone on the Sabbath, which is exactly what He did. He flew right in the face of, in fact, what they thought and what they assumed was that Jesus was committing a grave and evil sin for working on the Sabbath, which is how backward things had gotten. So, I say all that to say, this is the stuff we want to watch as we’re watching Jesus in the Gospels because we can know the Bible stories and just go, yeah, there were people who were jealous of Jesus and they were evil and they crucified Him and He died for the sins of the world and that would the story but there’s a whole back story going on here that informs our lives. And, so, let’s pay attention as we continue forward with Jesus in the Gospels and what it is that Jesus is willing to invade. Like, what territory, even what theology is Jesus willing to step into and break in order to set people free?

And then last, ahhh, there’s so much to talk about in today’s reading, is what we read in the book of Psalms because a major question was asked at the beginning of Psalm 15, “Who may worship in Your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter Your presence on Your holy hill?” So, in other words, who gets to be where you are? That’s an important question, right? Isn’t this what we’re pursuing the presence of God in our lives, a true and intimate life-giving relationship that we can understand so that we can move through life as we were intended to, right? So, the question’s an important question and the question was answered. So, who gets to do this, who gets to be where you are? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right. Now there’s more. I’m pausing so we can think about how much of this applies to us - those who speak the truth from sincere hearts, those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Ok now we’re starting to touch some sensitive spots in our heart, right? Because the description we’re being given is who gets to be in the presence of God? “Those who despise flagrant sinners and honor the faithful followers of the Lord and keep their promises even when it hurts. Those who lend money without charging interest”, right, so those who are doing a good thing to take advantage of someone and “those who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent, those people. Such people will stand firm forever.”

Prayer:

Father, once again, You have given us so much to think about just from a few minutes in Your word and You have again continued to press in on us and touch sensitive areas that make us have to stop and consider. And, so, we’re thankful for that even though some of this is heavy lifting, some of this is hard work and some of this we don’t want to deal with right now. And for sure, some of us, are going to just five minutes from now we’re gonna forget what we’ve read and we’re gonna be back into our day. But You will not let up, You will keep coming after these things in our lives until we will face them because You will have Your way if we will surrender and Your way will set us free even if we are fighting You for the things that are hurting us. So, we humble ourselves and we invite Your Holy Spirit to all that we’ve read today, plant it in our lives, use it for Your good purposes of sanctifying us and making us whole. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

While you’re at dailyaudiobible.com you’ll find the community section of the website, which will, which will give you links to all the different places on social media where you can interact.

The Prayer Wall, of course, is at dailyaudiobible.com as well. The Prayer Wall is a place to go and pray for your brothers and sister but it’s also a place to ask. You know, maybe you’re shouldering some things that are too heavy for you to carry and you need some prayer support. And the Prayer Wall exists for this. And, so,  that can be found at dailyaudiobible.com. It can also be found in the Daily Audio Bible app by pushing the little drawer button that’s in the upper left-hand corner of the app.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage and I thank you humbly and profoundly with all humility for those of you who have clicked that link. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t doing this together. And, so, thank you for your partnership. 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, there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you live in the world. Of course, it doesn’t really matter, you can use any of these from anywhere in the world but if you are in the Americas, 877-942-4253 is the number, that’s 877-94Bible, if you still dial numbers like that. If you’re in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 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 everyone, my name is Doug, from Alabama here in the United States. I’m going to have to talk a little bit more quickly because I initially started listening back in college around 2008 - 2009. I believe I called in once then but, you know, over the years I haven’t listened, you know, on and off, I was never able to totally make it through. The point being I need, you know, when you call it tells you you only have two minutes so, you know, I have to be a little quick here. So yeah, today is the 13^th of January and I was listening to the 12^th of January’s reading and I was planning on calling in at some point, you know, for myself with some problems I have but I believe there was a lady, I want to say her name was Janet and she has a son named Jared. And listening to her, you know, her problem I guess, you know, her son has a substance abuse problems with alcohol and as someone else who, you know, also has addiction problems, I just really felt moved to call in and just let you know that I can definitely empathize with what you’re going through and also for someone who’s on the other end like your son that I will definitely keep you in my prayers every day as long as I can remember because I can get a bit busy. But I will definitely keep you in my prayers. And then the call that was right after yours, I believe David, I think that he had a son that was going through a separation. And David, you mentioned that you have anger problems. And I have much the same, nothing where, you know, I’m throwing tables and things like that but, you know, a lot of times you have those anger problems, you know, problems with anger where it’s totally up inside of you and you’re just like…arrrr…you know…and…but I do believe me…I call just for both of you Janet and David and Janet your son Jared to let you all know that I’ll…as long as I can remember…I’m going…I’ll keep you all in my prayers. And I do hope to call again soon, but I believe in…

Hi this is Apple of His Eye from St. Louis, it’s Monday, January the 14^th and __. I’ve had vertigo since last Thursday and I’m worse and worse with hours and hours of literally spinning and nausea. I have been to the doctor __ in the middle of the year so it’s been a year, but it is getting worse. I take some anti nausea pills but it’s extremely hard to live with. I have __ to help comfort me though as __ Daily Audio Bible and over again including the community prayer. So, I am lifting you up in prayer even as I am lying here spinning __ . Thank you, thank you for your love and care and prayers. Goodbye.

I’m calling for prayer for my 26-year-old son, Matthew, who wrote a suicide note on the 10^th of January and he has not been seen since and we’re looking for him. Please lift him up in prayer that he will come back home safe and sound and God would keep a hedge of protection about him and pray for my strengths and his brother strength, his family and siblings. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hi, this is Beth calling from Canada and it’s my first time calling. I used to listen to this beautiful community years ago and then I stopped, and I just felt a tug in my heart to start up again this year and then today I just really felt compelled just to call to ask for some prayer. I have an immigrations situation and I’m trying to get my green card and it’s been pending for over a year now and I really need God’s supernatural hand on my case to have it turnaround in the next two weeks before one of my documents expires. And definitely looking at the timelines it looks like, you know, it’s not gonna happen but I know with God all things are possible. So, I know He wants what’s best for me. So, I just ask…reach out to everybody just asking if they can just pray for me. I just felt this overwhelming anxiety of this situation and I just want to be a permanent resident of America finally so bad. I just love this country and I would like to also pray for anybody else that is struggling through a similar immigration situation and also thank God for this trial in my life because even though it’s been really difficult it’s helped me realize I can’t rely on my own strength and that I just have to rely completely on Him. And that it also got me closer to Him and it really helped me just kind of burn off some of the impurities in my life and, you know, bad habits and bad attitudes and bitterness and things like that. So, I just thank God for allowing this trial and I also just pray that He will have His divine and on the application and that everything would be turned around with no more delays or denials or any other problems. In Jesus’ name. Thank you all so much and God bless you.