Genesis 8:1-10:32, Matthew 4:12-25, Psalms 4:1-8, Proverbs 1:20-23
Today is the 4th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you as we are round…round the corner and move through the first weekend in this new year and decade. So, it’s good to be here with you as we continue moving into our new year. And, so we’ll take the next step forward and continue…continue…well…explaining things and moving into our new year. But let’s get into the Scriptures. We’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week. As we go back into the book of Genesis for today, we will recall a great flood upon the earth that we read about yesterday. And today we will read Genesis chapters 8 through 10.
Introduction to the book of Proverbs:
Okay. So, we…this is our fourth day of the year, so we’re moving into the year and on day one we talked about the book of Genesis that we were beginning then on day two we talked about the first gospel, the Gospel of Matthew that we were getting into, then yesterday we talked about the Psalms. And, so, today we will complete the four books that we are involved with right now, the book of Proverbs. And ironically, I think Proverbs is, in today’s reading going, to do a far, far better job than anything I could say. I mean I can say the book of Proverbs has traditionally been attributed to King Solomon as the notorious wisest person to ever live. It’s likely that he collected these proverbs and sayings and wisdom from…from all over the known world of his time. He was a king with…with perhaps more influence than anyone else at his time. And, so, these sayings are indeed really profoundly helpful, practical advice, but there is a distinction that we need to make and the Proverbs will make that distinction and that distinction will become more apparent as we move through the year and that is this, the advice, the words that we will find in Proverbs those are not wisdom. Those are sayings and advice that come as a result of wisdom’s presence. The distinction will become important in a myriad of ways as we move through the Bible, but practically where we sit right now is that we can certainly immerse ourselves in the sayings of wisdom and even obey the sayings of wisdom, like take the good, practical advice and implement it into our lives so we would be heading the voice of wisdom, but we can also live in wisdom, understanding that there is a wisdom that is beyond any human wisdom, that there is the wisdom of God flowing through all of creation and that we can learn to walk in wisdom, as opposed to just looking for wisdom’s advice. So, I’ll just kind of leave it at that and just move into today’s reading understanding that we are beginning today and we will continue forward into the next several days, but we are hearing today a voice that is claiming to be the voice of wisdom speaking to us. And, so, today we read Proverbs chapter 1 verse 20 through 23.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for bringing us in the first weekend of this new year and decade, and we thank You that as we conclude this week we are introduced to this voice calling out of the pages of Proverbs, the voice of wisdom, the voice that’s telling us that she is…that she is a she and that she is shouting everywhere for anyone who will listen to her, that she is available and that she is present to us and that she’s asking how long we’re gonna stay asleep, how long we’re going to be simpleminded, how long we’re going to stay stuck. And we hear her saying, “come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with You and make You wise.” And, so, we become aware of Your presence in our lives and we will continue to do this each and every day. We will invite You to lead us into all truth, and we invite You Holy Spirit to help us to begin to tune the years of our hearts and listen for the voice of wisdom. And may we recognize as we begin to even kind of put…make this a category as something that we should pay attention to, may we recognize our Savior Jesus as He begins His ministry in and may we look for the times that He says things like, “if You have eyes to see or ears to hear”, that may we understand that this is how wisdom works. Come Holy Spirit w pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website and it its home base and it’s always where you can find out what’s going on around here. And these first couple weeks of…of the year we’re just talking about different aspects and little things that are good to know for the journey along the way.
And, so, one of those things we’ve kind of talked about, we talked about the fact that we are a community of prayer and that we shoulder one another’s burdens together, and pray for one another, and love one another. And we’ve moved through several days. So, you know, we’ve heard the voices of our brothers and sisters as they come…come in on the end…at the end. Ands, so, there’s always way more calls than we can ever get to during the week. And, so we, for several years have had a weekend prayer and encouragement program, which is just all of those voices that came in during the week. And, so it makes this really, really wonderful time together just hearing voice after voice after voice and just kinda bopping all over the world as we’re doing it. And that happens every weekend, every Saturday evening, which will be this evening. So, watch for that. When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll see a program that’s called Community Prayer along with the next day’s program. So, just watch for that, be aware of that, engage with that. It is…it’s really interesting because a lot of times the journey begins with Daily…Daily Audio Bible. Just looking for the Bible. “Just…read me the Bible. That’s all I want, that’s all I need.” And, so, that’s what happens and that’s 100% and then maybe…just…it…it lingers on, keeps playing and so you begin to see there’s more things going on, there’s a community aspect and then you hear the prayer requests and realize, “wow, there’s like…I’m not alone…I’m not alone. I can do this as alone as I want, but I don’t have to be alone. This is the Bible in community.” So, just watch for that later…later tonight
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. 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 request or comment you can dial 877-942-4253 or you can just press the Hotline button, it’s at the top in the app. Can’t miss it, little red button up at the top. Just push that and off you go.
And that is it for today and that is it for our…well…we haven’t really had a first full week yet, but this is the end of our first week of this new year and decade. And, so, that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
This is Valery calling from South McDonagh. I am currently three hours into a 5-hour drive to go see my brother who is in Sacred Heart trauma unit with a severe brain injury. He is an alcoholic and a drug user and has become increasingly abusive to our mother. Today there was an altercation and when my mother was trying to get away from him, he fell off the top of her car and landed in the middle-of-the-road and now has a severe brain injury. It’s very hard for me to feel sympathy and compassion for my brother but my heart is breaking for my mom. As you can imagine, she is full of guilt and devastated and feels like she killed her son. So, I’m asking the family to please keep my mom Shirley in your prayers. Help me to minister to her. Help me to find the words to say that can somehow bring her comfort even though I know that nothing I say will bring comfort. Help me to feel love and a compassion toward my brother. Help the doctors to be able to figure out what they can do to help him recover from this injury. At this point we don’t even know if he’s going to survive and then if he does what type of life…quality of life you will have. My time is running out, but I do ask for prayers again for Shirley and Anthony. Thank you.
Hi Anonymous my name is Cricket from Colorado and my heart broke when I heard your prayer request today. I will be praying for you until I hear you call back and update us on your situation. First of all, God loves you and He knit you together in your mother’s womb. Yes, it is true that apart from God, listen to that, apart from God, there is nothing good in us. All that is in us, good is from God because He dwells in us. But let that not bring you fear, let it bring you joy and hope because God also says He promises to finish this good work in you and that His children cannot be snatched from His hand. So, you are His and will walk in heaven with Him someday. But for now, the purpose of your walk here on earth is to love others as He loves you and to help them find Him so that none will be lost. Anonymous, there is nothing good in me except for Him. Daily, I fail horribly, and I am encouraged when he reminds me that He is there, and He picks me up again. I see Him in the good things that He prompts me to do. So, focus on the good, not the bad. You are His precious child and He loves you. Strive every second to become His best friend. Seek Him in all that you do, and He will change you and you will start to see the right choices and the good that comes from Him in you. He loves you. We love you and I will be praying for you for a very long time. Please let us know how you’re doing. Goodbye.
I am praying for the young woman, the anonymous young woman that called in about her desperation. I just would like you to know that when I heard your call for help, I broke down in tears and in fact I am still shaking because I’ve been there just very recently. And I want you to know, I mean I was looking at that semi-truck and I was looking at bridge abutments and I was dark, I was at the end of my rope and it seemed there was no way out. It’s so dark down there, but I want you to know that things turned around for me and they will turn around for you as well. Just very recently a huge change came in my life, one that I’ve been longing for for years and years. And I’m new to audio Bible. When I heard this message this morning, I felt right reaching out to you and am praying for you praying for you. Do not give up. Trust God. I know that’s hard…very hard for you right now but just trust Him. I love you.
Hi, I’m a new listener and I’ve enjoyed this so much, so I want to say thank you and how grateful I am that this type of app exists. I also would like to send a prayer for my friend Sabrina whose brother passed away unexpectedly. He was only about 30 years old and it…it shouldn’t have happened. So, I want to pray for her and her family they find peace. Thank you. Have a blessed day.
Good morning DAB family this is Lady of victory from Chicago. Today is Friday, December 27th hope everyone is having a great day. As I was listening today, I listened to Anonymous who said as if she drives into a truck nobody would miss her. Jeanette who has a sick mom and who is also dealing with some ills…ills with neuropathy. I know my daughter has that as well and it’s very painful…I mean difficult to maneuver life. And then Daniel who was praying for commuters and/or drivers. My husband drives for a living and so I do understand what all of that means. So, I wanted to send up a quick prayer. Anonymous, I am a trained mental health counselor and please realize that you do not have to go through this alone. Seek help. Do not separate yourself or distance yourself from loved ones. You will be missed if something…if you’re not here. So, please seek out help. Colossians 1:16 says that you are made with a purpose and for purpose. Everything that God made He does it on purpose. And, so, your purpose in the world would be missed if you’re not here. So, please seek out help. Jeanette we are praying for you. Realize that your anchor is in the Lord and everything else is sinking sand. So, seek out God as you go to be with your mom. I lost my mom April 13th of this year. So, I know the pain of going through the holidays alone for the first time, but God has been my anchor as He will be yours. So, seek the face of God. We all have a lot of things for 2020, a lot of different words. Ours is…for our family is to endure 2020 but I’d don’t just say endure…
This is Joanne from Happy Valley it is December 27th. I just heard anonymous. And honey, please, don’t drive in front of a truck. For one thing, you’ll impact another life forever. But the main thing is, we know God is good and we know that we are all bad. But His love for us is so strong that He took on human flesh with all its frailties, suffered beatings and a horrible death on the cross to pay for our sins and all the bad that is in us. When I look back over my life, I saw that even though I never acknowledged Him He was watching over me all the time and loving me and keeping me from getting into danger because of my sinning. And in spite of all the bad I did He still loved me more than I can imagine. And that is how He feels about you. Anonymous, he adores you. I can’t talk to my family about the things I’ve done. Church is full of sinners just like me and they’re trying to pretend they’re not. So, can’t talk to them. But He loves you no matter what. Please know that. And if you need to…to dump on somebody, my email address is jomiller3380@gmail.com. There’s nothing that would cause me to not love you. You’re safe with me. Please, reach out and I’ll share God’s love with you. God bless you.