Month: June 2020

1 Kings 18:1-46, Acts 11:1-30, Psalms 135:1-21, Proverbs 17:12-13

Today is the 17^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you, hump day, as we move through the center of the week, a week that’s also at the center of the month. It is a joy to take the next step forward together with you as we continue our journey. So, we’ve been working through the book of first Kings and what we’ve been working through are the difference reigns of two different kingdoms that used to be one kingdom, right? So, we know that the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah are how things are organized now. And they have two different kings and those kings live a…well…they overlap each other in their reigns. And yesterday we saw the northern kingdom relocate their capital city building a city that would be their capital city known as Samaria. And Samaria is basically the equivalent of Jerusalem in the south in the kingdom of Judah, they’re capital cities. Right now that's…that’s all that’s happened. This capital city is being built or has been built. It’s known as Samaria. But later on, that…that will actually matter. Later on by the time we get to the time of Jesus life and ministry these people, while they’re not the people that they are now, they will be in this area, this region, and they’ll be known as Samaritan’s because of their capital city Samaria. And we’ll talk about that later as we get deeper into the story but there’s a king now in Samaria named Ahab. And there is a prophet in the region named Elijah. And Elijah has prophesied that the rains are gonna stop and they have, which obviously creates a problem for the people. So, we pick up our story today while in the drought. First Kings chapter 18.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the book of first Kings we spent our time today in the northern kingdom of Israel. The 10 tribes that had defected and rebelled against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon of the house of David, right? They’ve rejected the house of David and they’ve gone through a series of Kings and there isn’t like one the house because people keep assassinating and wiping the houses out. So, it’s a pretty tribal time, pretty dangerous to be the king I suppose. But Ahab is the king and his wife’s name is Jezebel and she is obviously famous. Although just famous because she was a devout worshiper of Baal and sought to wipe out the prophets of the Lord, wipe out name of the Lord’s. So, certainly evil, but she’s a sero-Phoenician princess who was raised this way. And, so, she is not gonna be happy when she finds out what happened on Mount caramel. The showdown that we read today brought the end of the…the prophets of Baal, the priests of Baal in the land. Of course, what this ends up doing is showing the power of the Lord and the Lord shows His power with fire from heaven and the people see it and their hearts return to the Lord and the Lord is going to lose the skies so that rain can happen on land. But Jezebel is not going to be happy about all this and we’ll continue that story tomorrow.

In the book of Acts, we continue this story that we began with Peter having this vision of essentially unclean meat. And he’s told that what God has made clean is clean and that he should and can in must eat this meat in this vision. Meanwhile Cornelius the centurion has sent for Peter and Peter goes and ministers to the Gentile household who receive the Holy Spirit. And then we saw Peter go back to Jerusalem to report this and there were people that were standing against this, right? They were ridiculing. They were standing against this because Hebrews and Gentiles are not supposed to intermingle, you’re not supposed to go into each other’s houses, your separate, you’re a separate people. But the Holy Spirit comes upon these Gentiles and that’s pretty tough to argue with. Like, they could’ve continued to argue against Peter’s vision, they could’ve continued to argue against intermingling with Gentiles but pretty hard to argue with the fact that the Holy Spirit has made the decision, right? You just showed up in obedience and the Holy Spirit’s made the decision to come upon the Gentiles. They couldn’t argue with that. And the book of Acts tells us that even as persecution, especially instigated by Saul who has come to know Jesus now but even as persecution swirls around Jerusalem and people flee the persecution they are going into other territories where they are interacting with Gentile people who are hearing the message of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is coming upon them too. This is really creating a set up because religious Jewish people who had been adhering…like, not the nominal Hebrew people who were just living culturally, but devout people who’ve been living the Hebrew lifestyle according to the Mosaic law, but who have also come to believe that Jesus was a prophet, was the Messiah, was everything He claimed to be and had put their faith in Him. It was never conceived that their religion, Judaism, was to be dismantled. Like, they never ever thought they were converting to anything else by following Jesus. Jesus was a Jew. He was a Jewish rabbi. He ministered in a Hebrew context. They didn’t conceive that they were leaving anything in favor of something else. And if a person who wasn’t Jewish wanted to convert, then there’s a process. And, so, it was thought then among the Hebrew believers that if the Holy Spirit is gonna let Jewish…or Hebrew…Gentile people be in…be allowed in then they would need to become Jewish, they would need to convert to Judaism not to something called Christianity, which hadn’t even been coined yet. We saw today in our reading the it was the people who had believed in Jesus in Antioch, Gentile people, where this first phrase, this first word Christian was not…so this is a Gentile word, a Gentile description of a follower of Christ. I point this out just so that as we move through the letters and everything, as we move through the…the time period of the early church that we…we understand what’s going on, we understand that they had some things to figure out, big…really, really big things to figure out, some of which we seem to still be struggling with, some that we still seem to be trying to figure out. What we see in the book of Acts is the people are deferring to the Holy Spirit, right? So, they have a way of thinking about things. They have a worldview and they have a culture and customs that they have been raised up in. So, they see things a certain way and the way that they see things is going to be similar to those that are around them. They’re…they’re in the same culture and that is an exclusive culture and there’s not intermingling with Gentiles. So, when the Holy Spirit comes upon Gentiles, they don’t have to work out the dissidence because all of the sudden their understanding of God has expanded. They didn’t make the decision. The Holy Spirit came upon these people. God made the decision. So, in the face of that they have to expand their view of God as opposed to cementing further their sense of tradition. That is very, very much a part of the story of the early church. It has always been very, very much a part of the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ and yet so often we find ourselves fighting the same battles, trying to be the one to decide who gets to be in and who has to be out. And, so, that’s where we are. That’s where we are on a journey through the Scriptures and these stories, both of them, old and new Testament will continue to expand and bloom before us giving us incredible lessons but also an incredible mirror into our own souls.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for that. We thank You for bringing us here. We are grateful. We are humbled that You would even care for us, that You would lead us into all truth, that You would have concern for us that we would know and that we would thrive and that Your Holy Spirit would lead us in the same way that You led in the days of old. We are grateful and we ask that You do exactly that, lead us deeper into Jesus today, deeper into our relationship and our intimacy, deeper into the truth, further on the narrow path that leads to life. Come Holy Spirit into all of this we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home, home base for…for a virtual community like ours where we are geographically, literally all over the map, but we do have a place and the Global Campfire lives there and that’s at dailyaudiobible.com.

So, connect in the Community section, pray for each other at the Prayer Wall.

Check out the resources in the Shop like…like our coffee, like our tea, like our journals, like everything that’s been created over the years, specifically for the journey that we’re on. So, check that out in the Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. And, so, thank you so much for your partnership. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address, if that is your preference is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement 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.

1 Kings 15:25-17:24, Acts 10:24-48, Psalms 134:1-3, Proverbs 17:9-11

Today is the 16^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today and every day. It is always a joy to stand here and turn the mic on and…yeah…just visualize all of us around the Global Campfire and know that we are continuing our journey forward for another day. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’re working our way through the book of First Kings. So, the kings of Israel and Judah are what we’re reading about and we kind of…we talked about that yesterday just to keep ourselves oriented because we’re learning of two different nations now. These people had been one people, the Hebrew people but they’ve decided to split into two nations - the nation of Israel in the North and the kingdom of Judah in the South. So, two different rulers, two different kings and they overlap in time and we’re just reading about their stories. And, so, we continue that journey. First Kings chapter 15 verse 25 through 17 verse 24 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, the things that happen in the book of Acts today are profoundly monumental even to this very day. What we read over the last couple of days is a shift in awareness, a complete rethinking, a reframe of what they understood. And when I say they, I’m talking about Peter in particular. But what Peter is learning…well he is going to take it back and share it with the others and their going to have to wrestle pretty hard and that wrestling will last a very long time. The fundamental issue here is who gets to be in. Who gets to be a disciple of Jesus? Who is welcomed into the community of faith of those who are disciples of Jesus Christ? Up into this point it was just assumed this was Hebrew, exclusive. Jesus was a Hebrew. His context was completely Hebrew. His message was in that Hebrew context, even though it expanded, even though it was well beyond that, this was the context from which He was operating. The things that got Jesus in trouble weren’t ultimately His actions against the Roman empire. Rather, He was judged according to the interpretation that the high Council had about the Mosaic law, essentially labeling Jesus a blasphemer. Of course, they went to the Romans and said He’s claiming to be the king of the Jews. And, so, you know, this is how they kind of loosely pulled things together, that Jesus is setting Himself up as a king within the Roman Empire, like a crime against the Empire. But ultimately, all of the things that came against Jesus that would lead Him to His death were hatched in a Hebrew context for Hebrew reasons. So, it would stand to reason then that those who were following Jesus were Hebrew people, and that Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah, and that the Hebrewness of the whole thing was going to remain intact because these are the chosen people until we got to this portion of the book of Acts and met this person named Cornelius who is a Gentile, who is a Roman, and who was a member of the Roman military who is living in Caesarea, which is about the most Roman city in the land. He’s obviously not raging against the Jewish people. He is integrating and being around and fearing God and is a good person, but he’s a Gentile. And he has this visitation and is told to send for Peter, who is a Hebrew and Peter’s having this vision, where he…where he has to rethink what is unclean and he has to understand that he’s been being given a new…given a new revelation, that what was unclean isn’t unclean anymore, that things have shifted. And this is huge. And, so, Peter goes, and he ministers to the house of Cornelius and the Holy Spirit comes upon them. So, now, you know, Peter…Peter could have been going through these motions, as it were, he could be doing these actions, sharing the gospel, seeing the visions. He could be doing this all and obedience not knowing what’s up, but when he witnesses the fact that the Holy Spirit has come upon Gentiles it’s hard then to rationalize, it’s hard then to figure out what’s going on, other than to say, “God did this. God sent his Holy Spirit upon these people. Who are we to comment on what God is doing even though it breaks long-running tradition, even though it seems to be a contradiction.” I don’t think we’re adequately able to understand how big of a deal this is. We will watch that it causes all kinds of problems. It would still cause these kinds of problems. I mean, you’ve gotta think about it. You have believed in a certain direction for a while, right, maybe all your life, maybe for last few years, maybe the last few months, whatever. You have been persuaded spiritually as we move through the Scriptures to believe in a certain direction about certain things. It’s your worldview, it’s your understanding of the nature of how things are. If all of the sudden you have an understanding somehow that things are shifting and that some of the things that you’re holding onto really, really tightly have…that they’ve been fulfilled, that they’re no longer necessary and you’re to move and shift in a different…different direction. Like, changing the way we believe is really difficult because it brings up all kinds of fear of what might happen if we get deceived and end up somewhere…who knows…somewhere way off in Lala land. And yet this is precisely what’s happening to Peter, the apostle Peter, the disciple of Jesus, the one who denied Him, right, the one who walked with Him. This is what’s happening to him. He’s seeing that God is doing a new thing in the world although he does not fully understand the magnitude of it. He sees that God is on the move at least with this Gentile, which opens up a whole new can of worms. We can read through this and just go, “yeah. This is the story. This is how it happened. This is how we got here.” But we don’t always kind of go into the story and kinda realize, “man, this is upending life as you know it.” Like this is tipping things upside down in their faith journey. And if we were faced with the same things, we would find ourselves tipped upside down as well. And, so, this always brings us to this question. “Like, who does get to be in? And does God get to do a new thing if God wants to do anything in this world, even if even if it’s confusing to us, even if it messes with our theological understandings, even if it robs our well seeded doctrines? And as we watch this story continue to unfold…well…hopefully it will challenge us. But hopefully we can enter the story instead of reading this…reading it as this very smooth, very beautiful onslaught of the goodness of God that established His church in the world. May we understand it happened a little different than that. And if we can enter into that story we can enter into our own story and see what God brings up in us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into just that, that we would open ourselves to You, trusting You completely and that You would send Your Holy Spirit upon us to lead us into all truth. This is our desire. It has been our desire and we can see that there are times that we fight, even against that. And, so, as we continue to watch the formation, these…these early weeks and months and years after Your ascension, may we understand what our brothers and sisters were wrestling with then, that we might better interpret and understand what we wrestle with now. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and home base of course, and of course where you find out what’s going on around here. So, check that out.

The Initiatives section shows some of the things that are going on around here.

The Community section will get you connected. And the Prayer Wall, of course, is in the Community section.

And check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for the journey that we’re on. So, check that out. And thank you.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage. And…yeah…humble gratitude for…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 encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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 this is Jane from Australia I just love the way that Stanley from Maryland played piano behind the lady who prayed for Terry in Australia. Wow, that was an incredible gift Stanley. That was just beautiful. What a…what a family…what a family of love. What a circle of love. Thank you, Daily Audio Bible.

This is Alta Lee Maxwell calling from Colorado Springs. It is the 9^th day of June. This is prayers from the power the praying nation. Lord as the body of Christ we are weary of watching the enemy whom You defeated on the cross run roughshod over people and destroy their lives. We are disgusted by our own compromised prayers. We confess that we have been willing to lay down enough of our lives to see them break through the darkness with power. Renew us and revive us Lord. Fill us afresh with Your Holy Spirit. Break down the strongholds in our lives that stand in opposition to You and Your ways. Help us to be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Work a profound spiritual awakening in Your people all over this land. Lord You have said that You are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is in us. We know that means You can do more than we ever dreamed. We invite You to do that in us in Your people and in our country. Ignite a fire in our hearts that illuminates to us the possibilities of what can happen when we pray. Move the hearts in this nation into alignment with Your will. We ask for Your grace be poured out upon our nation. Only You can bring good out of the evil and destruction that has been manifested here. Show us how we can be of service to You in that regard. Help us not to shrink back when You call us into the storm. Shine Your light into our darkness and evaporate it. Help those of us who believe to extend Your life to others. Thank You that You have put gladness in our hearts once again and are even now making all things work together for good in our nation. In Jesus’ name.

Hey, DABbers this is Katie in Kentucky and once again I’m out running and something just made me like almost trip and stumble because we know that God knows our needs before we even say them. But sometimes God like, bam, I know your needs. His little Cherry, it is June 9^th and you just called to pray for those who have trouble sleeping. In about two hours I’m taking my four-year-old for a sleep study. He has had major issues. He just like…he won’t fall asleep he won’t stay asleep. I am exhausted. It’s put a strain on all the relationships in my household. My most common prayer is just laying next to him saying go to sleep, got to sleep, go to sleep. So…wow! You just really…you are speaking God to me right now as I know that God is taking care of us and that he is with this whole sleep situation. So, thank you for your prayers. If you could pray for Caius Daniel. He is my little four-year-old who needs to get some good rest. Thank you, guys. I love you all and I love hearing from you.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I’m just listening __ Trusting in Him and the challenges he is going through with his marriage. And I just want to encourage you Trusting in Him __ seconds or not, God is in it and God is going to keep this marriage together __ continue to pray and seek Him because it’s seems that God is tugging at your wife’s heart and showing her what she has in you and what you have in her. Continue to be encouraged my brother and I know…and know that I’m praying with you and your wife and your family. I also want to pray for Veronica and her husband and her children. And I also want pray for…for Jesse in the…in the challenges that he’s going through and just encourage him and know that God is…God says…God says I’m a God that can do anything more that He’s says that’s why I’m God. And I just want to encourage you in that. Also, continue to pray for our black community and our…our human community with…with the wicked things that happened to that poor 80…to our senior citizen…that they’re beating up senior citizen. It’s nothing but the enemy that is trying to keep us separated as a nation, but we have to remember that righteousness exalts a nation. No matter whatever else they tell us, righteousness exalts a nation no matter what happens. And pray for the peace of God which passes all understanding. Gracious Father I just ask You to touch those marriages of these beautiful people, to touch the Young woman that also God seeing her husband is trying to have a baby. Lord I pray that You bless them to have a beautiful baby…

Hi, my name is Rebecca from Pal alto California and I’m calling in for prayer right now. I don’t know who to really reach out to besides the Lord. I’m not super connected with my Christian family as I’d like to be. And I love them dearly and I’m grateful. I’m calling because I may have crossed boundary lines and done something that was not of God’s will and not of His way in trying to force my will on others. And I feel that I’m in trial and my intention is always to do God’s will and I love God and…and I’m just praying for help for His mercy and compassion and…and for Him to have mercy and know that I love Him more than anything and to show me what I did wrong so I can fix it and change forever. Please help me family. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible audience, Brian. My name is Ron I’m calling from New Caney Texas just outside of Houston. My wife Terri is in her last stages of brain cancer glioblastoma, horrible disease that leaves most dead within 12 months. And she’s lived 32 months. So, we thank God for time that she’s had to enjoy holidays, enjoy us, and to see a third grandchild born during that time. And, so, we’re very thankful for that. Also, thankful that Terry had lived a fantastic life, a fantastic life of blessings. She’s been a blessing to so many people. She’s…she’s the poster child for faithfulness not only to me her husband of 44 years, but to her grandkids and her children. So, just pray for the family to…to be able to enjoy if that…if that’s possible. And so far, it has been the last few days that we have with her and we are just looking forward to seeing a saint of God ushered into His presence. Anyway, we appreciate the prayers, appreciate the work that you do Brian and we listen every day. And we just…we just want to say thank you. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Patricia from New Orleans Louisiana. I’m calling to thank you all for praying for me for remembering me and praying for me. I pray for each and every one your prayer requests being made. I listen every day daily. I’ve not been calling in, but I am praying with you all listening every day. Family, please continue to pray for me. Please, my pains are increasing __. They are getting worse. So, I’m calling in remembering to thank God and to ask for a prayer request for your prayers, please for my pain. I’m trusting God, that God will eventually take my pain away. My pain is crippling. It’s to the point where I can barely __ something to eat. So, please pray with me, pray for me that God takes the pain away. Thank you, family and God bless us all. I love you all. Thank you, Jill. Thank you, Brian…the whole Brian family. Thank you.

1 Kings 15:25-17:24, Acts 10:24-48, Psalms 134:1-3, Proverbs 17:9-11

Today is the 16^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today and every day. It is always a joy to stand here and turn the mic on and…yeah…just visualize all of us around the Global Campfire and know that we are continuing our journey forward for another day. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’re working our way through the book of First Kings. So, the kings of Israel and Judah are what we’re reading about and we kind of…we talked about that yesterday just to keep ourselves oriented because we’re learning of two different nations now. These people had been one people, the Hebrew people but they’ve decided to split into two nations - the nation of Israel in the North and the kingdom of Judah in the South. So, two different rulers, two different kings and they overlap in time and we’re just reading about their stories. And, so, we continue that journey. First Kings chapter 15 verse 25 through 17 verse 24 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, the things that happen in the book of Acts today are profoundly monumental even to this very day. What we read over the last couple of days is a shift in awareness, a complete rethinking, a reframe of what they understood. And when I say they, I’m talking about Peter in particular. But what Peter is learning…well he is going to take it back and share it with the others and their going to have to wrestle pretty hard and that wrestling will last a very long time. The fundamental issue here is who gets to be in. Who gets to be a disciple of Jesus? Who is welcomed into the community of faith of those who are disciples of Jesus Christ? Up into this point it was just assumed this was Hebrew, exclusive. Jesus was a Hebrew. His context was completely Hebrew. His message was in that Hebrew context, even though it expanded, even though it was well beyond that, this was the context from which He was operating. The things that got Jesus in trouble weren’t ultimately His actions against the Roman empire. Rather, He was judged according to the interpretation that the high Council had about the Mosaic law, essentially labeling Jesus a blasphemer. Of course, they went to the Romans and said He’s claiming to be the king of the Jews. And, so, you know, this is how they kind of loosely pulled things together, that Jesus is setting Himself up as a king within the Roman Empire, like a crime against the Empire. But ultimately, all of the things that came against Jesus that would lead Him to His death were hatched in a Hebrew context for Hebrew reasons. So, it would stand to reason then that those who were following Jesus were Hebrew people, and that Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah, and that the Hebrewness of the whole thing was going to remain intact because these are the chosen people until we got to this portion of the book of Acts and met this person named Cornelius who is a Gentile, who is a Roman, and who was a member of the Roman military who is living in Caesarea, which is about the most Roman city in the land. He’s obviously not raging against the Jewish people. He is integrating and being around and fearing God and is a good person, but he’s a Gentile. And he has this visitation and is told to send for Peter, who is a Hebrew and Peter’s having this vision, where he…where he has to rethink what is unclean and he has to understand that he’s been being given a new…given a new revelation, that what was unclean isn’t unclean anymore, that things have shifted. And this is huge. And, so, Peter goes, and he ministers to the house of Cornelius and the Holy Spirit comes upon them. So, now, you know, Peter…Peter could have been going through these motions, as it were, he could be doing these actions, sharing the gospel, seeing the visions. He could be doing this all and obedience not knowing what’s up, but when he witnesses the fact that the Holy Spirit has come upon Gentiles it’s hard then to rationalize, it’s hard then to figure out what’s going on, other than to say, “God did this. God sent his Holy Spirit upon these people. Who are we to comment on what God is doing even though it breaks long-running tradition, even though it seems to be a contradiction.” I don’t think we’re adequately able to understand how big of a deal this is. We will watch that it causes all kinds of problems. It would still cause these kinds of problems. I mean, you’ve gotta think about it. You have believed in a certain direction for a while, right, maybe all your life, maybe for last few years, maybe the last few months, whatever. You have been persuaded spiritually as we move through the Scriptures to believe in a certain direction about certain things. It’s your worldview, it’s your understanding of the nature of how things are. If all of the sudden you have an understanding somehow that things are shifting and that some of the things that you’re holding onto really, really tightly have…that they’ve been fulfilled, that they’re no longer necessary and you’re to move and shift in a different…different direction. Like, changing the way we believe is really difficult because it brings up all kinds of fear of what might happen if we get deceived and end up somewhere…who knows…somewhere way off in Lala land. And yet this is precisely what’s happening to Peter, the apostle Peter, the disciple of Jesus, the one who denied Him, right, the one who walked with Him. This is what’s happening to him. He’s seeing that God is doing a new thing in the world although he does not fully understand the magnitude of it. He sees that God is on the move at least with this Gentile, which opens up a whole new can of worms. We can read through this and just go, “yeah. This is the story. This is how it happened. This is how we got here.” But we don’t always kind of go into the story and kinda realize, “man, this is upending life as you know it.” Like this is tipping things upside down in their faith journey. And if we were faced with the same things, we would find ourselves tipped upside down as well. And, so, this always brings us to this question. “Like, who does get to be in? And does God get to do a new thing if God wants to do anything in this world, even if even if it’s confusing to us, even if it messes with our theological understandings, even if it robs our well seeded doctrines? And as we watch this story continue to unfold…well…hopefully it will challenge us. But hopefully we can enter the story instead of reading this…reading it as this very smooth, very beautiful onslaught of the goodness of God that established His church in the world. May we understand it happened a little different than that. And if we can enter into that story we can enter into our own story and see what God brings up in us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into just that, that we would open ourselves to You, trusting You completely and that You would send Your Holy Spirit upon us to lead us into all truth. This is our desire. It has been our desire and we can see that there are times that we fight, even against that. And, so, as we continue to watch the formation, these…these early weeks and months and years after Your ascension, may we understand what our brothers and sisters were wrestling with then, that we might better interpret and understand what we wrestle with now. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and home base of course, and of course where you find out what’s going on around here. So, check that out.

The Initiatives section shows some of the things that are going on around here.

The Community section will get you connected. And the Prayer Wall, of course, is in the Community section.

And check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for the journey that we’re on. So, check that out. And thank you.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage. And…yeah…humble gratitude for…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 encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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 this is Jane from Australia I just love the way that Stanley from Maryland played piano behind the lady who prayed for Terry in Australia. Wow, that was an incredible gift Stanley. That was just beautiful. What a…what a family…what a family of love. What a circle of love. Thank you, Daily Audio Bible.

This is Alta Lee Maxwell calling from Colorado Springs. It is the 9^th day of June. This is prayers from the power the praying nation. Lord as the body of Christ we are weary of watching the enemy whom You defeated on the cross run roughshod over people and destroy their lives. We are disgusted by our own compromised prayers. We confess that we have been willing to lay down enough of our lives to see them break through the darkness with power. Renew us and revive us Lord. Fill us afresh with Your Holy Spirit. Break down the strongholds in our lives that stand in opposition to You and Your ways. Help us to be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Work a profound spiritual awakening in Your people all over this land. Lord You have said that You are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is in us. We know that means You can do more than we ever dreamed. We invite You to do that in us in Your people and in our country. Ignite a fire in our hearts that illuminates to us the possibilities of what can happen when we pray. Move the hearts in this nation into alignment with Your will. We ask for Your grace be poured out upon our nation. Only You can bring good out of the evil and destruction that has been manifested here. Show us how we can be of service to You in that regard. Help us not to shrink back when You call us into the storm. Shine Your light into our darkness and evaporate it. Help those of us who believe to extend Your life to others. Thank You that You have put gladness in our hearts once again and are even now making all things work together for good in our nation. In Jesus’ name.

Hey, DABbers this is Katie in Kentucky and once again I’m out running and something just made me like almost trip and stumble because we know that God knows our needs before we even say them. But sometimes God like, bam, I know your needs. His little Cherry, it is June 9^th and you just called to pray for those who have trouble sleeping. In about two hours I’m taking my four-year-old for a sleep study. He has had major issues. He just like…he won’t fall asleep he won’t stay asleep. I am exhausted. It’s put a strain on all the relationships in my household. My most common prayer is just laying next to him saying go to sleep, got to sleep, go to sleep. So…wow! You just really…you are speaking God to me right now as I know that God is taking care of us and that he is with this whole sleep situation. So, thank you for your prayers. If you could pray for Caius Daniel. He is my little four-year-old who needs to get some good rest. Thank you, guys. I love you all and I love hearing from you.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I’m just listening __ Trusting in Him and the challenges he is going through with his marriage. And I just want to encourage you Trusting in Him __ seconds or not, God is in it and God is going to keep this marriage together __ continue to pray and seek Him because it’s seems that God is tugging at your wife’s heart and showing her what she has in you and what you have in her. Continue to be encouraged my brother and I know…and know that I’m praying with you and your wife and your family. I also want to pray for Veronica and her husband and her children. And I also want pray for…for Jesse in the…in the challenges that he’s going through and just encourage him and know that God is…God says…God says I’m a God that can do anything more that He’s says that’s why I’m God. And I just want to encourage you in that. Also, continue to pray for our black community and our…our human community with…with the wicked things that happened to that poor 80…to our senior citizen…that they’re beating up senior citizen. It’s nothing but the enemy that is trying to keep us separated as a nation, but we have to remember that righteousness exalts a nation. No matter whatever else they tell us, righteousness exalts a nation no matter what happens. And pray for the peace of God which passes all understanding. Gracious Father I just ask You to touch those marriages of these beautiful people, to touch the Young woman that also God seeing her husband is trying to have a baby. Lord I pray that You bless them to have a beautiful baby…

Hi, my name is Rebecca from Pal alto California and I’m calling in for prayer right now. I don’t know who to really reach out to besides the Lord. I’m not super connected with my Christian family as I’d like to be. And I love them dearly and I’m grateful. I’m calling because I may have crossed boundary lines and done something that was not of God’s will and not of His way in trying to force my will on others. And I feel that I’m in trial and my intention is always to do God’s will and I love God and…and I’m just praying for help for His mercy and compassion and…and for Him to have mercy and know that I love Him more than anything and to show me what I did wrong so I can fix it and change forever. Please help me family. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible audience, Brian. My name is Ron I’m calling from New Caney Texas just outside of Houston. My wife Terri is in her last stages of brain cancer glioblastoma, horrible disease that leaves most dead within 12 months. And she’s lived 32 months. So, we thank God for time that she’s had to enjoy holidays, enjoy us, and to see a third grandchild born during that time. And, so, we’re very thankful for that. Also, thankful that Terry had lived a fantastic life, a fantastic life of blessings. She’s been a blessing to so many people. She’s…she’s the poster child for faithfulness not only to me her husband of 44 years, but to her grandkids and her children. So, just pray for the family to…to be able to enjoy if that…if that’s possible. And so far, it has been the last few days that we have with her and we are just looking forward to seeing a saint of God ushered into His presence. Anyway, we appreciate the prayers, appreciate the work that you do Brian and we listen every day. And we just…we just want to say thank you. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Patricia from New Orleans Louisiana. I’m calling to thank you all for praying for me for remembering me and praying for me. I pray for each and every one your prayer requests being made. I listen every day daily. I’ve not been calling in, but I am praying with you all listening every day. Family, please continue to pray for me. Please, my pains are increasing __. They are getting worse. So, I’m calling in remembering to thank God and to ask for a prayer request for your prayers, please for my pain. I’m trusting God, that God will eventually take my pain away. My pain is crippling. It’s to the point where I can barely __ something to eat. So, please pray with me, pray for me that God takes the pain away. Thank you, family and God bless us all. I love you all. Thank you, Jill. Thank you, Brian…the whole Brian family. Thank you.

1 Kings 14:1-15:24, Acts 10:1-23, Psalms 133:1-3, Proverbs 17:7-8

Today is the 15^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you as we move into our week, continue our journey through this month of June, and continue our journey through the Bible. So, we’re in the book of first Kings in the Old Testament and things have kinda fallen apart. So, Solomon had his reign, brought Israel to its apex. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king but 10 of the tribes defected or rebelled or abandoned Rehoboam’s rule and…and abandoned the house of David, for that matter and have appointed their own king’s name is Jeroboam. He’s the King of Israel while Rehoboam, Solomon’s son is king of Judah. Rehoboam is…it would be good…Jeroboam and Rehoboam sound very similar. So, it’s easy for us to get kind of mixed up. It would be good for us to just know who we’re talking about here. Jeroboam the King of Israel, the 10 tribes of the north has lead Israel into idolatry by setting up golden calves in Dan in the north and Bethel in the South. Those are the borders of his kingdom. And now a nation that was once one chosen people has been divided into two different nations who have animosity for each other. So, we pick up that story. We’ reading from the New Living Translation this week. First Kings 14:1 through 15:24.  

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the Old Testament today in the book of first Kings, now is the time that we’ve gottta…we’ve gotta pay attention to the fact that these 12 tribes that we watched form…I mean we watched the 12 sons who whose offspring became the 12 tribes of Israel, we watched them be born and we watched them in slavery, we watched all of the things that they did, including the wandering in the wilderness but they unified as a people, as a family. And this family was united under King Saul. But then…well…we know the story that happened there. And, so, the house of David rose up and the tribes had all ratified this. This king who was from Judah was going to be king of Israel. They all had to get behind this. And, so, they got behind David. And remember the story of David. We see why they got behind David, because everybody knew he was running from Saul and everybody knew he was a great leader in Israel. So, when David died Solomon ascended to the throne, although there was…there was some drama, some significant drama involved in that, but Solomon ascended the throne and brought this unified Israel, this unified monarchy to its apex. And then Solomon drifted away from God. And it…you know…it was a brief description of what happened. The wives and concubines that he had, he started trying to pacify them and let them worship their own gods and he was seduced away. We’ll…we’ll hear more about these things as we continue through the Bible, especially when we do the book of Ecclesiastes. But after Solomon’s reign things fell apart. So, Solomon’s son, David’s grandson, Rehoboam became king of Israel and everybody came together to ratify that he would be the king over all the tribes of Israel, but he was arrogant and he told the people, especially of the northern tribes that he was going to make life even more difficult for them than his father had made. And, so, they rebelled and made Jeroboam their king. And now there are 10 tribes in the north, the nation of Israel and two tribes in the south, the nation of Judah. I say all that by way of review because we are in the books of the Kings, the books of the kings of Judah and Israel. And they…they weren’t born and they didn’t die on the same day. So, there’s gonna be plenty of overlap. Like even in today’s reading, Jeroboam the King of Israel in the North has been prophetically rejected by God, but his reign went on for a couple of decades. In the meantime, Rehoboam lived and reigned and his son succeeded him, and his grandson succeeded him, and we see…we should note that the kings of Israel and Judah, after Solomon’s reign, they were not loyal to their covenant with God until king Asa of Judah, which we briefly read about today, began to turn things back around, began to serve God as his ancestor King David had done. So, in so many ways it is like we’re repeating the book of Judges only in a very organized political military. Again, in the book of Judges everybody’s doing what’s right in their own eyes and now everybody can’t do what’s right in their own eyes. The king can. But this thing that they thought was gonna unite them and make everything better was just a brief temporary fix. The thing that will hold them together is their covenant with God but seems to be the thing that’s disposable. And we will continue this journey as we move through many, many generations and centuries of Kings who ruled in Israel and who ruled in Judah.

In the New Testament some pretty significant developments are happening in the book of Acts, things that have implications that are far, far, far reaching and actually craft the story of the early church. So Cornelius, Roman centurion, is a God-fearing man. And this is what the Hebrew people called a Gentile person who wasn’t converting to Judaism but was attempting to live among the Hebrew people and worship among the people and honor the God of the Hebrew people. They were God-fearing and respected, and this was a respected man who had a vision telling them to send for Peter. Like just send some people south out of Joppa and get Peter and bring him back because he had some things to say. So, he does obey that. Meanwhile, Peter’s on the roof of a house in Joppa having a vision of his own – a sheet coming down full of animals that are, under the Mosaic law, unclean. And Peter is being told to eat those animals, like…like to disobey the law. Like something new is afoot and Peter is confused. He’s like, “I’ve never…like I can’t. I’ve never done anything like that…like this. I’ve never let anything unclean touch my lips to eat them.” And then in the vision he’s told what God has made clean is clean. Like, so something new is happening. And then these people arrive to…to pick up Peter and Peter’s told to go with them. We have to remember that Cornelius is not a Hebrew, he’s a Gentile. And the things that Peter’s seen in this sheet; those are the kinds of things that Gentiles eat. They’re unclean. And we are beginning to practically see that this new thing that God is doing in the world through Jesus, this thing that’s forming in the world called the church that is evolving right after Jesus ministry may in fact be a little different than anybody was thinking because up until this point, Jesus was considered by some to be the Hebrew Messiah, pretty much rejected by most. That could be true. But everything Jesus had done was in a Hebrew context, and His ministry was in a Hebrew context to mostly Hebrew people and His message was very, very much in the Hebrew context. He was a rabbi who commented on all on the customs and on the Hebrew people. So, what’s going on here with an angel telling a Gentile to go get Peter? And what’s going on here with Peter seeing unclean things that are now permitted? A vast shift with far, far reaching implications is afoot in the early church in the book of Acts. And we will watch that come to fruition in the days ahead.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your faithfulness to us in our lives. And father as we come to the Scriptures each day, we ask that you would lead us into all truth. This is a promise one that we hold onto. And, so, we continue our journey forward believing that you will continue to lead and guide our steps through the Scriptures, through our understanding of them, and through the way that we live our lives because of them. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the home of the Global Campfire, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned, stay connected.

Check out the Initiatives section. See what’s going on.

Check out the Community section. Get connected. The Prayer Wall lives there. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Or maybe it’s you. Maybe you’ve been carrying something on your back up a mountain with other things chained to your ankles and your slogging along and maybe you don’t have to do it alone. Maybe it makes a difference if a brother or sister…if you just know they’re there, calling out your name just thinking about you. It’s just amazing. It’s amazing. It’s amazing how the body of Christ works and it’s amazing to…to see it in action here in our community. So, yeah, reach out. Check out the Prayer Wall. Reach out, reach back.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is 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 encouragement, you can hit the hotline button in the app, little red button at the top. And just…yeah…I love that thing. It’s like, if you’ve got the Daily Audio Bible app you…you got a hotline and a hotline to people who are gonna pray. And, so, I love that. So, hit the hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB this is David the beloved child of God in Northern California it’s been well over a year since I’ve called in. I’m still involved with young life doing ministry to adolescents and you could be praying for that community all over the world. It’s been especially hard in the COVID-19 pandemic. And young life camps are closed throughout America this summer. So, pray for creativity for young life leaders. Also, I just want to say, Jesse from Washington. I don’t know what it is about you brother but every time you call in I just…you’re on my heart. You’ve been on my prayer list for many, many months and I’m praying for you. Just know that. I’m not very good about praying a lot of the phone here but for some reason you’re the one guy that I just continually…every time I hear you call and it just piques my ears and I pay attention. Praying for faithfulness. Praying for you specifically to stay faithful to your wife. Stay strong stay encouraged. And then finally family, I would ask that you would pray for my neighbors Randall and Debra. Randall has stage IV cancer. Doctors aren’t given him much prognosis for a healthy lifestyle going forward and maybe two years to live at the most. First off and more than anything I ask that you would be praying for a miracle. My wife and I are praying for him and his wife is really losing hope. So, pray for Deborah that she would have hope. Pray for a miracle for Randall who is also having trouble sleeping. Jesse also just want to let you know I’m praying against all the attack of gossip that your wife is experiencing. Stay strong family. Love you. Bye-bye. This is David the Beloved from Northern California.

Good morning DABbers this is in response to Abby who called in and to the mothers who are weary of being afraid of what might happen to their children of…and for the families who have lost members to violence. I don’t have my own wisdom other than to say I long Lord to be a part of the solution and not the problem. So, I want to pray for Micah 6:8. What does the Lord require of you? To do justice. To love kindness. To walk humbly with your God. So, Lord I pray that You would work justice in my heart, in my thoughts, in my words to others, and my actions. Open my eyes to see injustice around me and give me the courage to speak and act against it. Lord, let me show kindness to all I encounter, to remember that they are made in Your image and so treat others as Kin. And Lord let me walk humbly with You, banish pride, and to love in Your name. I pray wisdom and humility in our leaders. Oh Lord, help our country Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I am a longtime listener and a first-time caller and I’m just going to call myself Virginia from Dallas because that’s who I am. My name is Virginia and I’m living in Dallas Texas. And at the beginning of the year, Daniel the Kingdom Seeker sung a song and…and he released a word and it said “rest, trust and worship.” And I realized how much we were going to need that as we began our journey through 2020 - the rest, the trust in our God, and the worship that will get us through. And, so, daily when I…when I start my work day of course it’s at home now and part of the prayer that I pray it says rest trust and worship and O Lord even in this day’s most stressful moments may I rest in you. Increase my love for Your word and Your people and let passion rise within me. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit rise inside of me in the mighty name of our Lord Jesus, in the matchless name of our Savior. And I just wanted to say to my brother how much I appreciate that word and how it has carried me through the tribulations of 2020. I love you DABbers. I listen and I pray along with you. I remember you. I love you. And I thank God for community that understands the power of love and prayer. Brian…

I would just like to ask for prayer request. I’m in a marriage. I accepted Christ about six years ago and my husband has not, and this causes me to struggle with my faith. So, right now I’m just struggling really hard trying to believe God’s word and deal with my husband at the same time. It just keeps putting doubts in my head. So, I’m just…just requesting prayer for me for like God to strengthen my faith and pray for my husband that isn’t saved. Thank you so much. I just joined this about a week ago and I’m loving it and I wish that I joined it so I could have been a part of this from the beginning of the year, but I’m thankful that it is now part of my life and I’m getting in the word more. So, I’m thankful for that and if you could just please lift me and my husband up in prayer and most importantly pray for my strength in…in God and these doubts from the enemy just stop because I feel like I’m being attacked right now. Thank you and have a great day.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this Taria calling from Chicago. I’ve called in a couple of times before with prayer requests for my family and to offer encouragement to others but today I’m calling because I just learned that a gentleman that’s done some work with me around my house for the better part of 10 years now just shared with me that his son and his wife have recently passed away. He lost his son earlier this year and lost his wife just not even a month ago. He and his wife came to America over 40 years ago to build a better life for them and their small family. He is now here separated from the majority of his family from his home country and his support system and it just breaks my heart that such a wonderful hard-working loving person is just dealing with so much on top of everything else that’s going on in 2020. So, I’m just asking for the Daily Audio Bible family to pray for Mr. Batista, that he can get through this extremely difficult time and just be surrounded by all the love and faith and endurance that it’s gonna require of him to…to stay strong. Thank you very much.

Good morning prodigal I’m glad to hear your story. You know what? Israel fell to pieces because they didn’t know who they are. America falls to pieces because she’s been torn apart by her internal strife. My family was torn apart because we didn’t know who we were and that’s how it’s been. But I know I’ve got a Father who cares about justice. I’ve got a God of hope as it says in Romans. It fills me with all joy and peace as I serve Him. And I know that He cares to put good food on my plate, He cares about who I am because my Father is the prize…kind of person I want to be. My Father walked here on earth in the person of Jesus Christ. He showed exactly what sort of family I’m a part of. And prodigal I’m proud to be in your family. I’m proud to call you my brother and I’m also proud that we have a Father that cares to do justice in the courts of heaven. And that’s exactly where we belong. Even on this moment on our knees while were waiting for revival to break out in America where there’s fighting and violence on the spirit of consternation and if frustration and of anger has its way, I know that the Holy Spirit is on the wave behind that. I know that my God is great and just, greatly to be praised. His Angels are mighty and waiting for us to pray the word and to release them into the atmosphere around these cities. He’s waiting for us to be strong in Him not in who we are here in flesh but in Spirit. And I praise the Lord for watching over …

Convicted Beyond Measure what a glorious and beautiful name. I heard your prayer, your plea this morning and was overwhelmed with the heart of the Lord for you. A sweet and soft kind love, the embrace of a loving parent who weeps over their child in sadness and in joy. And what a wonderful name Convicted Beyond Measure, for conviction in Christ is the realization of how much we are loved. Lord I ask for my sibling that you give them peace, peace not in their emotions but peace in their soul knowing that You are in control. Lord, open their eyes to Your work that they might not be distracted by their own faults and flaws or distracted by the works of the enemy but see Your hand in all things and hold fast to that so that they may follow You and bring healing and love and joy and peace and kindness and gentleness wherever they go just as their Father and their brother Lord Jesus Christ did before them. Amen.

1 Kings 14:1-15:24, Acts 10:1-23, Psalms 133:1-3, Proverbs 17:7-8

Today is the 15^th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you as we move into our week, continue our journey through this month of June, and continue our journey through the Bible. So, we’re in the book of first Kings in the Old Testament and things have kinda fallen apart. So, Solomon had his reign, brought Israel to its apex. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king but 10 of the tribes defected or rebelled or abandoned Rehoboam’s rule and…and abandoned the house of David, for that matter and have appointed their own king’s name is Jeroboam. He’s the King of Israel while Rehoboam, Solomon’s son is king of Judah. Rehoboam is…it would be good…Jeroboam and Rehoboam sound very similar. So, it’s easy for us to get kind of mixed up. It would be good for us to just know who we’re talking about here. Jeroboam the King of Israel, the 10 tribes of the north has lead Israel into idolatry by setting up golden calves in Dan in the north and Bethel in the South. Those are the borders of his kingdom. And now a nation that was once one chosen people has been divided into two different nations who have animosity for each other. So, we pick up that story. We’ reading from the New Living Translation this week. First Kings 14:1 through 15:24.  

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the Old Testament today in the book of first Kings, now is the time that we’ve gottta…we’ve gotta pay attention to the fact that these 12 tribes that we watched form…I mean we watched the 12 sons who whose offspring became the 12 tribes of Israel, we watched them be born and we watched them in slavery, we watched all of the things that they did, including the wandering in the wilderness but they unified as a people, as a family. And this family was united under King Saul. But then…well…we know the story that happened there. And, so, the house of David rose up and the tribes had all ratified this. This king who was from Judah was going to be king of Israel. They all had to get behind this. And, so, they got behind David. And remember the story of David. We see why they got behind David, because everybody knew he was running from Saul and everybody knew he was a great leader in Israel. So, when David died Solomon ascended to the throne, although there was…there was some drama, some significant drama involved in that, but Solomon ascended the throne and brought this unified Israel, this unified monarchy to its apex. And then Solomon drifted away from God. And it…you know…it was a brief description of what happened. The wives and concubines that he had, he started trying to pacify them and let them worship their own gods and he was seduced away. We’ll…we’ll hear more about these things as we continue through the Bible, especially when we do the book of Ecclesiastes. But after Solomon’s reign things fell apart. So, Solomon’s son, David’s grandson, Rehoboam became king of Israel and everybody came together to ratify that he would be the king over all the tribes of Israel, but he was arrogant and he told the people, especially of the northern tribes that he was going to make life even more difficult for them than his father had made. And, so, they rebelled and made Jeroboam their king. And now there are 10 tribes in the north, the nation of Israel and two tribes in the south, the nation of Judah. I say all that by way of review because we are in the books of the Kings, the books of the kings of Judah and Israel. And they…they weren’t born and they didn’t die on the same day. So, there’s gonna be plenty of overlap. Like even in today’s reading, Jeroboam the King of Israel in the North has been prophetically rejected by God, but his reign went on for a couple of decades. In the meantime, Rehoboam lived and reigned and his son succeeded him, and his grandson succeeded him, and we see…we should note that the kings of Israel and Judah, after Solomon’s reign, they were not loyal to their covenant with God until king Asa of Judah, which we briefly read about today, began to turn things back around, began to serve God as his ancestor King David had done. So, in so many ways it is like we’re repeating the book of Judges only in a very organized political military. Again, in the book of Judges everybody’s doing what’s right in their own eyes and now everybody can’t do what’s right in their own eyes. The king can. But this thing that they thought was gonna unite them and make everything better was just a brief temporary fix. The thing that will hold them together is their covenant with God but seems to be the thing that’s disposable. And we will continue this journey as we move through many, many generations and centuries of Kings who ruled in Israel and who ruled in Judah.

In the New Testament some pretty significant developments are happening in the book of Acts, things that have implications that are far, far, far reaching and actually craft the story of the early church. So Cornelius, Roman centurion, is a God-fearing man. And this is what the Hebrew people called a Gentile person who wasn’t converting to Judaism but was attempting to live among the Hebrew people and worship among the people and honor the God of the Hebrew people. They were God-fearing and respected, and this was a respected man who had a vision telling them to send for Peter. Like just send some people south out of Joppa and get Peter and bring him back because he had some things to say. So, he does obey that. Meanwhile, Peter’s on the roof of a house in Joppa having a vision of his own – a sheet coming down full of animals that are, under the Mosaic law, unclean. And Peter is being told to eat those animals, like…like to disobey the law. Like something new is afoot and Peter is confused. He’s like, “I’ve never…like I can’t. I’ve never done anything like that…like this. I’ve never let anything unclean touch my lips to eat them.” And then in the vision he’s told what God has made clean is clean. Like, so something new is happening. And then these people arrive to…to pick up Peter and Peter’s told to go with them. We have to remember that Cornelius is not a Hebrew, he’s a Gentile. And the things that Peter’s seen in this sheet; those are the kinds of things that Gentiles eat. They’re unclean. And we are beginning to practically see that this new thing that God is doing in the world through Jesus, this thing that’s forming in the world called the church that is evolving right after Jesus ministry may in fact be a little different than anybody was thinking because up until this point, Jesus was considered by some to be the Hebrew Messiah, pretty much rejected by most. That could be true. But everything Jesus had done was in a Hebrew context, and His ministry was in a Hebrew context to mostly Hebrew people and His message was very, very much in the Hebrew context. He was a rabbi who commented on all on the customs and on the Hebrew people. So, what’s going on here with an angel telling a Gentile to go get Peter? And what’s going on here with Peter seeing unclean things that are now permitted? A vast shift with far, far reaching implications is afoot in the early church in the book of Acts. And we will watch that come to fruition in the days ahead.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your faithfulness to us in our lives. And father as we come to the Scriptures each day, we ask that you would lead us into all truth. This is a promise one that we hold onto. And, so, we continue our journey forward believing that you will continue to lead and guide our steps through the Scriptures, through our understanding of them, and through the way that we live our lives because of them. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the home of the Global Campfire, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned, stay connected.

Check out the Initiatives section. See what’s going on.

Check out the Community section. Get connected. The Prayer Wall lives there. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Or maybe it’s you. Maybe you’ve been carrying something on your back up a mountain with other things chained to your ankles and your slogging along and maybe you don’t have to do it alone. Maybe it makes a difference if a brother or sister…if you just know they’re there, calling out your name just thinking about you. It’s just amazing. It’s amazing. It’s amazing how the body of Christ works and it’s amazing to…to see it in action here in our community. So, yeah, reach out. Check out the Prayer Wall. Reach out, reach back.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is 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 encouragement, you can hit the hotline button in the app, little red button at the top. And just…yeah…I love that thing. It’s like, if you’ve got the Daily Audio Bible app you…you got a hotline and a hotline to people who are gonna pray. And, so, I love that. So, hit the hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB this is David the beloved child of God in Northern California it’s been well over a year since I’ve called in. I’m still involved with young life doing ministry to adolescents and you could be praying for that community all over the world. It’s been especially hard in the COVID-19 pandemic. And young life camps are closed throughout America this summer. So, pray for creativity for young life leaders. Also, I just want to say, Jesse from Washington. I don’t know what it is about you brother but every time you call in I just…you’re on my heart. You’ve been on my prayer list for many, many months and I’m praying for you. Just know that. I’m not very good about praying a lot of the phone here but for some reason you’re the one guy that I just continually…every time I hear you call and it just piques my ears and I pay attention. Praying for faithfulness. Praying for you specifically to stay faithful to your wife. Stay strong stay encouraged. And then finally family, I would ask that you would pray for my neighbors Randall and Debra. Randall has stage IV cancer. Doctors aren’t given him much prognosis for a healthy lifestyle going forward and maybe two years to live at the most. First off and more than anything I ask that you would be praying for a miracle. My wife and I are praying for him and his wife is really losing hope. So, pray for Deborah that she would have hope. Pray for a miracle for Randall who is also having trouble sleeping. Jesse also just want to let you know I’m praying against all the attack of gossip that your wife is experiencing. Stay strong family. Love you. Bye-bye. This is David the Beloved from Northern California.

Good morning DABbers this is in response to Abby who called in and to the mothers who are weary of being afraid of what might happen to their children of…and for the families who have lost members to violence. I don’t have my own wisdom other than to say I long Lord to be a part of the solution and not the problem. So, I want to pray for Micah 6:8. What does the Lord require of you? To do justice. To love kindness. To walk humbly with your God. So, Lord I pray that You would work justice in my heart, in my thoughts, in my words to others, and my actions. Open my eyes to see injustice around me and give me the courage to speak and act against it. Lord, let me show kindness to all I encounter, to remember that they are made in Your image and so treat others as Kin. And Lord let me walk humbly with You, banish pride, and to love in Your name. I pray wisdom and humility in our leaders. Oh Lord, help our country Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I am a longtime listener and a first-time caller and I’m just going to call myself Virginia from Dallas because that’s who I am. My name is Virginia and I’m living in Dallas Texas. And at the beginning of the year, Daniel the Kingdom Seeker sung a song and…and he released a word and it said “rest, trust and worship.” And I realized how much we were going to need that as we began our journey through 2020 - the rest, the trust in our God, and the worship that will get us through. And, so, daily when I…when I start my work day of course it’s at home now and part of the prayer that I pray it says rest trust and worship and O Lord even in this day’s most stressful moments may I rest in you. Increase my love for Your word and Your people and let passion rise within me. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit rise inside of me in the mighty name of our Lord Jesus, in the matchless name of our Savior. And I just wanted to say to my brother how much I appreciate that word and how it has carried me through the tribulations of 2020. I love you DABbers. I listen and I pray along with you. I remember you. I love you. And I thank God for community that understands the power of love and prayer. Brian…

I would just like to ask for prayer request. I’m in a marriage. I accepted Christ about six years ago and my husband has not, and this causes me to struggle with my faith. So, right now I’m just struggling really hard trying to believe God’s word and deal with my husband at the same time. It just keeps putting doubts in my head. So, I’m just…just requesting prayer for me for like God to strengthen my faith and pray for my husband that isn’t saved. Thank you so much. I just joined this about a week ago and I’m loving it and I wish that I joined it so I could have been a part of this from the beginning of the year, but I’m thankful that it is now part of my life and I’m getting in the word more. So, I’m thankful for that and if you could just please lift me and my husband up in prayer and most importantly pray for my strength in…in God and these doubts from the enemy just stop because I feel like I’m being attacked right now. Thank you and have a great day.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this Taria calling from Chicago. I’ve called in a couple of times before with prayer requests for my family and to offer encouragement to others but today I’m calling because I just learned that a gentleman that’s done some work with me around my house for the better part of 10 years now just shared with me that his son and his wife have recently passed away. He lost his son earlier this year and lost his wife just not even a month ago. He and his wife came to America over 40 years ago to build a better life for them and their small family. He is now here separated from the majority of his family from his home country and his support system and it just breaks my heart that such a wonderful hard-working loving person is just dealing with so much on top of everything else that’s going on in 2020. So, I’m just asking for the Daily Audio Bible family to pray for Mr. Batista, that he can get through this extremely difficult time and just be surrounded by all the love and faith and endurance that it’s gonna require of him to…to stay strong. Thank you very much.

Good morning prodigal I’m glad to hear your story. You know what? Israel fell to pieces because they didn’t know who they are. America falls to pieces because she’s been torn apart by her internal strife. My family was torn apart because we didn’t know who we were and that’s how it’s been. But I know I’ve got a Father who cares about justice. I’ve got a God of hope as it says in Romans. It fills me with all joy and peace as I serve Him. And I know that He cares to put good food on my plate, He cares about who I am because my Father is the prize…kind of person I want to be. My Father walked here on earth in the person of Jesus Christ. He showed exactly what sort of family I’m a part of. And prodigal I’m proud to be in your family. I’m proud to call you my brother and I’m also proud that we have a Father that cares to do justice in the courts of heaven. And that’s exactly where we belong. Even on this moment on our knees while were waiting for revival to break out in America where there’s fighting and violence on the spirit of consternation and if frustration and of anger has its way, I know that the Holy Spirit is on the wave behind that. I know that my God is great and just, greatly to be praised. His Angels are mighty and waiting for us to pray the word and to release them into the atmosphere around these cities. He’s waiting for us to be strong in Him not in who we are here in flesh but in Spirit. And I praise the Lord for watching over …

Convicted Beyond Measure what a glorious and beautiful name. I heard your prayer, your plea this morning and was overwhelmed with the heart of the Lord for you. A sweet and soft kind love, the embrace of a loving parent who weeps over their child in sadness and in joy. And what a wonderful name Convicted Beyond Measure, for conviction in Christ is the realization of how much we are loved. Lord I ask for my sibling that you give them peace, peace not in their emotions but peace in their soul knowing that You are in control. Lord, open their eyes to Your work that they might not be distracted by their own faults and flaws or distracted by the works of the enemy but see Your hand in all things and hold fast to that so that they may follow You and bring healing and love and joy and peace and kindness and gentleness wherever they go just as their Father and their brother Lord Jesus Christ did before them. Amen.