Month: May 2021

1 Samuel 22:1-23:29, John 10:1-21, Psalm 115:1-18, Proverbs 15:18-19

Today is the 18^th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is always a privilege, it’s always an honor for us to get together like this and have the accessibility to the Scriptures like we do and read them fresh and listen to what God is saying through the…the Bible. It is a joy every day to take the next step forward together. And, so, let’s do that. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. We’re still working our way through first book of Samuel. We’re pretty clear now in how David and Saul’s lives our intertwined. King Saul wants David to be dead and David is running for his life and trying to find a way to survive. And, so, let’s pick up the story. 1 Samuel, chapters 22 and 23 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we passed by a very famous portion of Scripture in the gospel of John today. And, so, we’ll talk about it and its context but let’s start by just zooming in on a couple of key words here, “steal, kill, destroy.” So, if you are being said stolen from than something that belongs to you in your possession has been taken by someone who has no right. Kill, we can pretty much understand. Although for something to be killed doesn’t necessarily mean you’re dead. Things can die within us - dreams, hopes, desires. And then destroy is to render something that was perfectly usable, completely broken and worthless. Actually, if you want to get technical here, to destroy something is and its existence. So, like if…if your house burns down may have insurance and everything like that to rebuild another one. But the one you did live in was destroyed, its existence as it was, has ended. Steal, kill, destroy. If we look at our lives just trying to live, right, just trying to make it through another week, just trying to do our very, very best we can see that these themes are around us. Sometimes it feels very much like we’re being stolen from and its nothing we can put our fingers on. It’s not physical, it’s “something is being taken.” Sometimes it feels like we can be experiencing theft, stealing, killing, and destroying like this…this is…this is happening. This is happening to me and I don’t know how to stop it. Jesus said, “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” In other words, the opposite of what the thief’s ambitions are. So, doesn’t that essentially describe life among humanity. That one verse, very famous, John 10:10, very famous verse, but that really encapsulates just about everything doesn’t it? And, so, how is it that we find this concise statement from the lips of Jesus? What’s He talking about? Because John 10:10, this is a quotable verse. This gets said every week. This gets that all of the time, but it’s part of a conversation just like John 3:16 is a part of a conversation when Jesus says, “for God so loved the world.” He’s in the middle of a conversation with a man named Nicodemus under the cover of night. So, this famous verse, John 10:10, “the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy” is part of a…of a conversation that Jesus is having and He’s discussing shepherding. He…He’s using the analogy of…of shepherding, that a flock of sheep they…they may go in and stay in a pen with many other flocks of sheep. It was a custom of the shepherds to keep the sheep together and guard them all in one place during the night, so that a predator or thief couldn’t come and take them. And then when morning comes and it’s time to go out to…out to pasture then each shepherd comes and calls its flock, and the sheep follow their shepherd because they know His voice. So, if you’re a shepherd and you got 10 sheep and your sheep are in a pen with 100 sheep and they’re all bleeding and they’re all moving around but you come, and you call your 10 sheep that you spend your life with, that you love them and you know them by name and you would lay her life down to protect them and you call them, they hear you, they trust you, they know you. Out of the many they come running to their shepherd so that they can go out to pasture. And Jesus in this discussion is basically saying that’s the way of it. Anybody who doesn’t go in the sheep gate and call his sheep how isn’t the shepherd. The one trying to get over the wall into the pen isn’t the shepherd. Anyone who’s not just going in the front door, who’s trying to get in some other way isn’t the shepherd. They’re, a thief and a robber according to Jesus, but the one who just walks into the front door and calls their flock, and the sheep hear their shepherd’s voice, and they follow the shepherd to pasture, that’s the true shepherd. Speaking of those sheep and quoting Jesus, “a stranger they will not follow. They will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” So, this gives us some context to what Jesus is talking about. And, so, now putting our famous verse in context, Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.” Okay. So, it’s not too much of a stretch for us to understand the metaphor here, that we are the sheep, and He is the good shepherd. But what we should probably understand is that if we are His sheep, we know His voice, which means that we can hear His voice, which means that He’s using His voice, which means that if it’s not His voice and it’s somebody else’s voice saying that He’s the shepherd we know better because we know the voice of our shepherd and we shy away from that interloper like sheep do. I mean my neighbor has sheep and a flock and, you know, they walk around and they…they bleat and do sheep things and if I walk over by the fence, and they are very observant creatures, if I walk over toward them, they’re going to stop what they’re doing and pay very close attention to what I’m doing. And if I continue and I say, “hi guys. Good morning beautiful sheep.” Even though I’m being nice, they don’t know my voice. They get skittish. They want to go somewhere where they feel more safe. A flock of sheep feels safe with its shepherd. They trust the shepherd. So, if we didn’t already know this, there are competing voices out there that want things from us, whether they want our money or they want our allegiance or they want our vote or they want our voice. And often enough we can find ourselves following when we should slow down. We’ve been learning quite a bit about how we got…it doesn’t have to be a major slowdown, it’s just gotta be we are intentional about not reacting. There are forces out there that want to steal, kill, and destroy. And that’s a pretty sure bet if we’ve lost the voice of our Shepherd and have gotten isolated. If we’ll think this through. Like, if we’ll actually take some time to meditate on this today many things start making sense and it should give us a profound desire to hear the voice of the Shepherd and to know the voice of the Shepherd. And we might think, “I know…I do…I do…I’ve walked with the Lord for years. And, so, I know what that feels like within me when God is prompting or leading or speaking.” And others maybe like, “I just don’t even know where to start.” Simple enough way to start is to simply become aware of your senses, which is not to say like, “oh, just follow your feelings around.” But when something feels off…isn’t it weird how we can be in a situation that looks normal but something’s not right, something’s not right. We don’t know what it is but something’s not right. And, so, we have this kind of intuition. Sometimes we can figure it out sometimes we can’t. If we’re slowed down enough we can ask ourselves, “is this prompting…is this sense…like if…if I’m gonna go forward with this…this path that I'm…that I’m deciding, will this lead me into life abundant? Is my shepherd there? Like, is this gonna lead me deeper into Jesus or is this about me and my own gratification in some sort of way?” If we just get basic, then we can build a foundation and begin to mature. We can simply ask, “can…can this be done in the name of Jesus? Does this bring love? Will I be known by my love that I’m a disciple in this situation? We don’t have to be rocket scientists or have a PhD in theology. My neighbor’s sheep don’t. I don’t even know if they know their sheep to be honest, but I do know that they know the voice of their shepherd, which in this particular story from Jesus seems to be the goal. So, it’s an attainable goal. And if we learn the voice of our shepherd and follow the voice of our shepherd into pasture, well that might change our whole life. And, so, let’s meditate upon that today and move in that direction today because that will lead us deeper and closer to Jesus today.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come. We need to know Your voice. We need to know it clearly. And we confess that so often we’re confused about it, but that might be less about Your withholding from us and more about our unwillingness to cultivate, to learn, to listen, to be present. And, so, help us Holy Spirit because how we’ve navigated this far in so many situations without Your voice, that's…it’s a miracle. It’s Your kindness and Your mercy and Your patience, shepherding us when were not even listening. But the joy of listening means that we will be led into pasture and we won’t be stolen or killed or destroyed. So, come Holy Spirit. Help us to hear Your voice today we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

[Singing] It only takes a spark to get a fire going and soon all those around will warm up to His glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love. Once you’ve experienced it you spread His love to everyone. You want to pass it on. I wish you for you my friend this happiness that I’ve found. You can depend on Him it matters now where you’re bound. I’ll shout it from the mountain tops. I want my world to see that the Lord of love has come to me. I want to pass it on. [End Singing] I love you my DAB family. I’m thinking of you. I’m praying for you. I want you to know that I love you so very much. I just thought that this was one of my favorite campfire songs at camp and I wanted to share it with my brothers and sisters around the Global Campfire of the DAB. I love you all. I love you Brian my brother and my sister Jill and the whole Hardin family. I am so grateful for this community. You guys are my family and I love you. Have a wonderful day and a wonderful tomorrow in Jesus’ name.

Hi DAB family this is Gigi from GVille. I wanted to share with you something today that I feel like it was the word from the Lord or for…for us and it is in Isaiah…it’s Isaiah 52 verse 2 it says shake thy self from the dust arise and sit down in a good sit Oh Jerusalem, loose thyself from the bands of thy neck oh captive daughter of Zion. And what I…I feel like the Lord is saying is that he has won the victory. He has done it, but it takes our faith, our response to Him we have to…to remove that…that band around our neck, to rise off…rise off from the floor and the dust and in the dirt and be able to, you know, sit it His authority enthroned with Him on high and to be able to move forward in His victory. We have to claim it, we have to believe that He has done it. Because the…the devil comes around like a roaring lion, but his only power is to deceive us, that the victory isn’t won, we’re still fighting, we have to work hard. And…and we fail. We don’t have the power, but God gives us the power and He has done it and in faith we respond, we receive, and the Lord has delivered us. In Jesus’ name I speak victory over you guys. You guys run the race, stand in the power of God and you will see what God has done in your life and overcome. And the world will know that He lives within you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Dwayne from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today is May 15^th and I’m calling you with a heavy heart. My son Nathan is struggling. I got some news that he attempted to break into somebody’s shed and I got really upset about what He’s doing. So, I’m asking that you’d please lift up my son Nathan. The Lord will keep him safe, that he will find some direction. He is lost, he’s got a lot going on. So, some of you know, you have prodigal sons so you know what that’s like. So, I’m just asking that you would please lift up my son Nathan, that God will wrap him in His arms, keep him safe and that his eyes will be opened and that he gets the help that he needs. Thank you DAB. Love you all pray for you all.

Hello Eva, this is Running Bear and I want to pray for you and your family. Heavenly Father, King of Kings and Lord of Lords we pray for this family that is suffering so much as they have this court date that is coming very fast but that does not encompass who they are or all that they are working towards Father. Lord, please bring healing into each one of their hearts and lives. Bring people around them that love them and that they can see that in their eyes, they can hear that in their voices. Lord, for this young lady that has been so betrayed where she has to be wondering what words are truth. Father, we…we pray for her, we pray for healing and we pray for a heart that wants You and wants to see You in spite of all of the suffering. Lord, please bless each one of them as they go to speak the truth and to share the truth that their able to recognize the suffering within them, but also that You are the redeemer and that Your desire is to bring healing in their hearts, in their lives, in their minds, and their bodies. And Father, please bless this family with the community around them that love them dearly and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This message is for God’s Smile. This is momma ‘D’ in New Albany, Indiana. I heard your story today about how when you and Peter first got together and how you had surrendered him over to God. And I, several days ago, had called in and asked for prayer for my…I’ve been standing in faith for my marriage for 2 years now and he has divorced me, but the Lord has told me to stand, and I’ve been standing for his salvation and for the restoration of our marriage. And I was driving along, I’m…I’m just driving today, on my way out of town and I was…I guess feeling a little angry and I was saying, “you know Lord, I want him saved, I don’t even think that I want him back anymore” and just as I was feeling that I heard your story about Peter and I was reminded of a time, many years ago when my husband Jim…and I do still call him my husband…my husband Jim and I were just dating but I didn’t know if we were going to be together long-term cause he was not saved. And I remember sitting at my prayer closet one night after my children were asleep and surrendering him to God and saying “God you know, I…I, I want him saved and I want us to be together and if you will do that I will praise you all the days of my life and if you don’t do that I’m still gonna praise you all the days of my life. And within a week Jim got saved and within another week he proposed to me and I said I’m so glad you’re saved now because now I can say yes. And he’s fallen away, and he’s stepped out of our marriage for something else, but the Lord said to me, “don’t you think I could do it again?” Thank you for your encouragement God’s Smile, thank you so, so much. God used you today.

1 Samuel 20:1-21:15, John 9:1-41, Psalms 113:1-114:8, Proverbs 15:15-17

Today is the 17^th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is always a joy to come around the Global Campfire together and find a place and just let the Scriptures speak for themselves and speak over us and speak into our lives. And, so, let's…let’s move in that direction, which is what we’ve come here for. We are working our way through the book of First Samuel. We have gotten to know Samuel in that book and his story. We have also watched Samuel anointed Israel’s first king, Saul. We have also met the shepherd boy David who killed a giant. And that set off in motion an intertwining of the king’s life with this boy, David. Saul, in his insecurity, has him doing all kinds of erratic things. He’s tried to kill David a couple times with a spear himself. He has tried to bring David closer by…by giving his daughter in marriage so that David’s his son-in-law, but he still wants him dead. His son Jonathan, the Prince of Israel, Saul’s son loves David and is trying to protect him. It’s just a very, very erratic situation that we’ve got going on. And, so, we’ll pick up with that drama today. We’re reading from the English Standard version this week. First Samuel 20 and 21.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s talk about blindness today. We have a very very vivid, detailed story in the gospel of John about a man who had been blind from birth. He had only ever been blind. He didn’t lose his site in an accident or have an illness that took away his sight. He was born blind. So, that’s sort of the backdrop as we enter the story. This the fourth of the gospels, so we’ve been reading the stories of Jesus ministry and His personality and His life since we began our journey at the beginning of the year. And, so, we have seen Jesus heal many times and we’ve ironically seen him open the eyes of the blind and he seems to be intentionally picking the Sabbath day to do this. So, because we’re seeing this kind of repeated in the stories in the Gospels, this pattern of opening eyes on the Sabbath day, maybe there are layers here. Maybe this is a living parable that has some depth to it, depth for the time, the actual situation that Jesus was speaking into, but significant depth for us as well. See, almost since the beginning we’ve been hearing Jesus talk about the kingdom of heaven and…and this was language that really had people listening because they were looking for a leader, a Messiah, an anointed one. And we’ve talked about this before. So, we they…the language that He was using was something that was capturing their attention. And then that accompanied by these signs, they’re paying very, very close attention. And does Jesus say so often when He is talking about the kingdom? So often, He’s telling them that the thing that they’re looking for isn’t the thing that’s coming. The thing that they’re looking for is actually already here if they would open their eyes, if they would have eyes to see, right, and ears to hear, that they would be able to see what they were not seeing, so that they would have to see differently to see what Jesus was talking about. And they couldn’t see it. So, then there’s this man. It’s the Sabbath day and he hasn’t seen a thing. He hasn’t seen a day in his life. And Jesus spits on around to make some mud and spreads it on his eyes, which is…I guess that’s cool…a little weird…but it’s fine because the man went to the pool of Siloam and washed, and he could see. He had been blind, but now he could see. So, when he kinda getsd back to the place where he had been previously, maybe looking of Jesus or just back in his own neighborhood, whatever, people recognize him and they’re like, “isn’t he the blind guy?” And, so, this does cause a commotion because this blind person from birth is seeing so people are talking. And eventually the news gets to…to a Pharisee, probably who shares it with another Pharisee. Nevertheless, they come together and start doing some inquiry and they find out Jesus is involved here. And what is their first response? “This cannot be an act of God because this is on the Sabbath day and it has been determined that healing is work. So, He’s working on the Sabbath day breaking the law of God. So, this can’t be of God.” Which causes some problems among the people and they actually step forward and confront the situation. They’re like, “yeah but…yeah but a miracle happened. See that’s the thing. How could some sinner breaking the Sabbath do this?” And then they’re questioning the man’s parents who are verifying “he’s our son and he was born blind. Other than that, he can speak for himself. He’s an adult.” Because they want me thrown out of the synagogue, that could cause…definitely social problems. And, so, they go back and question this formally blind man, “specifically what did he do? How did he do this? Like what were the procedures? What was the process? How did he do all these things?” And the man’s just sharing what he knows. And then they’re like, “we know…we know that He is a sinner. We know that this Jesus is a sinner.” And the man says, “I…I don’t know that. Like, I don’t know whether He is a sinner not. I just know I woke up blind today like I woke up every other day of my life and now I see.” And they’re like, we’re disciples of Moses and we don’t even know where this Jesus comes from.” And he’s like, “guys, I was born blind, and I can see, and you can’t figure out where this person came from? If he didn’t come from God, this couldn’t have happened.” Okay. So, if we zoom out and just think about the story, who’s blind in this story? Isn’t it the religious leaders coming against Jesus, God in the flesh, the religious leaders defending God against God, defending the rule, defending the rule of the Sabbath and how they had fleshed out what that rule actually means with their theology? They’re holding onto that thing that they have figured out and defending that thing in the face of God, Like, they’re so blind that they can’t acknowledge what the people can see, obviously. He was blind he can see. It’s a miracle of God. There is no other answer. And yet they’re like, “yes, there is an answer. these things would not happen on the Sabbath.” Why does Jesus keep doing these kinds of things on the Sabbath? He’s opening eyes that they might see. Physically see, physically become free, become able to see while simultaneously exposing the blindness of the religious leaders who have now got themselves in a position where they think they are defending God and His law and they are sold blind that they cannot recognize God is in front of them speaking to them and giving them signs and wonders to see it that their eyes might be open so that they could see. So, that puts things squarely there in the Pharisee in common Jewish people land. That puts us back in the first century with Jesus, but what about us? How much of what we think we know, how many of our theological formulas would we be staunchly defensive about even if God did something that flew in the face of that? Would we be like, “it’s just trickery because God wouldn’t do something like that on this particular day in this particular fashion using these particular people who I think might believe things differently than I do?” I mean, sometimes do we not look more like the Pharisees than any other characters in these stories. Do we not constantly work out our formulas about what God will and will not do and with whom He might do it? When we live from that place we have to first acknowledge we’re afraid to get it wrong, which is valid enough. But in an effort to not get it wrong we build a box and then we try to stuff God in that box. And He doesn’t care about our box. He cares about the hearts of the people upon this earth that He desires to be in fellowship with. And we’re His children and we’re supposed to be pointing that way, but all too often, like all too often we’re defending our box when God might be right in front of us on the move and we just don’t have eyes to see. We think we know all this stuff. We think we have all these answers, but we don’t have eyes to see that God is the Sovereign most-high Commander of Angel Armies Creator of everything that is known and everything that is beyond our knowing. He will do whatever He wants to do. He is God and what He wants to do is work through us to redeem this place, to reveal and His kingdom and his purposes that have been thwarted by all these boxes we keep constructing. And, so, really at the heart of this story is an invitation for us to examine our own blindness because if there’s one thing we’re gonna need going forward in this world, it’s going to be eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is doing.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come, come into that. So often we keep asking for eyes to see and ears to hear, and so often we see these examples and so often we are counselled that this begins by slowing down a little bit, taking a beat, stop just reacting to everything slow down and look, look for where love is breaking out, look where life and light are, where is the good news. This is how we begin to find the kingdom. And we begin to perpetuate the kingdom by not reacting to things just so we can be right so that we take the beat, slow down, and listen to what You are speaking. What is our assignment Father? We spend ourselves…our time meddling in so many things that we have no business being involved that…that we so often never get to the things that we do belong being involved in. And, so, come Holy Spirit, continue to guide us forward, continue to transform us, we pray. In the precious name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you get connected, stay connected, find people to pray for, find people to pray for you.

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this Global Campfire that we sit around is a meaningful part of your life than thank you, thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or 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, which is the little red button up at the top 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:

This is Laurie from Texas I’m calling in to pray specifically for, I couldn’t tell if it was Peg or Meg from Texas about her 15-year-old grandson who has been diagnosed with ADD and is rebellious and the parents are at their wits end as to what to do. So, I want to pray over that. Heavenly Father, we know that all humans walking this earth are under Your love and You have a purpose and a direction for their life. And we’ve all chosen at times in our life to rebel. Father, I know that You are faithful. I pray that grandmothers, parents, people that love these children, teachers, everyone in their life Father that knows You, I pray that they would continue unceasingly to pray on behalf of those that struggle with rebellion, that struggle with feelings of being different, being inferior, not fitting in. Father, we don’t always know what…what is behind these feelings, but You know everything, and I know personally that You are faithful. I know that we…we just continue to pray and believe and that You will work your power in the life of this child specifically, that You would grant comfort and his grandmother, that You would give her courage and the strength to carry-on in prayer and that You would also bless the parents with wisdom to know what to do. I thank You God because You are so good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello DAB family this is Lynn Who Loves the Lord calling from Arizona with a praise report. I wanted to let you know that my husband’s foot surgery went well on Wednesday, May 12^th and the doctor says that he has a month’s more of healing and should be good to go, praise God. I also wanted to report back that my shoulder is doing a bit better. I would appreciate continued prayers for healing there. And I just wanted to share recently I’ve been listening to the DAB Global Campfire Community prayers, I’ve been reminded once again about what a really big, mighty, awesome, holy God we serve. It just blessed my soul to hear how God is using Brian and the DAB Community to meet others where they are. Recently, I was tickled to hear about a woman in Oceanside California praying and asking for a Christian friend and then another woman answering the call. I also heard two gentlemen in Pennsylvania trying to Connect and encourage one another. And then just yesterday it just blessed me so to hear the recovered Minister Uncle Joey encouraging the younger woman who was praying for her Uncle Joey in a similar situation. It just…oh it just made me smile. And to say God You are so good, You are so awesome. Thank You for answering our prayers. And then finally just a little tip that I was remembering from a…that I got from a former pastor, Pastor Bill G in Redding, California, would say something to this effect: we tend to gaze at our problems and just kind of get fixated on them and then maybe just glance at God and say a quick prayer when we need to flip that around and gaze at God, gaze at God’s awesomeness, His holiness, His…how amazing He is, how wonderful He is, and then glance at our issues. Of course, occasionally we have to take a look at things and…and deal with problems but not obsess over them. Just trust in our Holy, Mighty Awesome God. He’s got this. He’s got the whole world in His hands. He’s got this covered…

Hi Daily Audio Bible family my name is Ashlyn and I’m calling from Australia with a prayer request for two family members of mine in particular. Firstly, my auntie, she’s like a second mom to me but has tried for many years to have children unsuccessfully and that’s been a source of a lot of heartache for her and most recently has been subject to a lot of really difficult legal proceedings that have been hurtful and there’s just a lot of heaviness over her situation, a lot of darkness that needs covering in the name of Jesus. And I just, yeah, ask that you pray that through this difficult time which has stretched over a period of many years that she would find faith and call on the name of the Lord and be saved and find, yeah, joy that lasts for eternity. And yeah, similarly I would love prayer for my brother. His name is Ryan. He is not a believer either and just he has been not coping very well lately with a lot of anxiety and I’ve seen that transform from something more minor into something very less controlling. So, yeah, he needs prayer as well, that God would just take the reins of his…of his heart, his mind and that he would have a road to Damascus experience and come back to…to God. and, yeah, I really appreciate your prayers over my family, and we’ll continue to uplift all you guys in prayer as you send requests in. So, thank you so much. God bless you guys from Adelaide Australia.

1 Samuel 18:5-19:24, John 8:31-59, Psalm 112:1-10, Proverbs 15:12-14

Today is the 16^th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we greet another shiny, sparkly week and step through the threshold into that week together seeking God’s wisdom from the scriptures. So, this week we’ll read from the English Standard Version and we’ll pick-up our story now. David, whom we’ve met and King Saul, Israel’s first king, their lives are intertwined. David has killed the giant Goliath and now he’s a national hero. He was like a shepherd boy and overnight he becomes this national hero. And Israel’s first King Saul, who we’ve…we’ve observed to be quite the insecure person begins a struggle with…well…with David’s popularity. So, let’s pick-up the story. 1 Samuel chapter 18 verse 5 through 19 verse 24 today.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us across this threshold into this brand-new week. And we look out over this week as we so often do and realize that it’s…it…it’s out in front of us, nothings messed up about it yet. We get to walk into it, hand-in-hand in lock-step with…with Your guidance and the leading of Your Holy Spirit and this is our intention, to slow down, to listen, to be aware in every circumstance and to not react to things, to actually slow-down enough to hear what You’re saying. Come Holy Spirit we pray into all this, we ask because we need. Come Jesus, we ask in Your precious name. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my name is Jonathan and I’m calling for prayer for my wife. She’s 7 months pregnant and in the hospital with COVID pneumonia. Her name is Julianna, and this is just really hard. I love her very much. She means everything to me and my family. So, we have a son, a 1-year-old. I just really need the Lord to reach out and heal her and bring her home to us. So, I’d appreciate anyone’s prayers for her. I know this will probably get played a few days from now, but I believe God can…well, God is outside time and space and can move freely within them. So, I’m trusting for Him to work a miracle for her. Thank you anyone and everyone who prays for her and God Bless you.

Hi, this message is for the young lady who called in who said that she was pregnant with her significant other in college, that she was a triplet, and she was worried about raising a child, not being married and being in school. I also went through that. I was a lot younger than you. I was finishing high school and starting college. I got pregnant and I never even considered abortion because I knew that no matter what God could help me through the tough parts. And trust me there are tough parts and that’s just the same for any parent no matter the circumstance. There’s always tough parts of parenting but you can do it. It sounds like you got a big family too for support and help and they love you and I’m sure that they will love your baby as well. Don’t ever think for a second that that baby is not better off having a life even if this world is evil. God might have a plan for that baby. God has a plan for that baby. That’s why it’s here even though you thought you couldn’t have one. God gave you that baby as a present, enjoy it. This is Holly Heart in Michigan.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Nathan from Bloomington, Illinois. Hey, I’ve got a quick story. I’ve got this friend who just has really been struggling. I know he’s depressed. He just got on depression medication like a month or so ago. His marriage has not been good for several years. He’s been married before, he’s 60 and yadda yadda yadda. He just doesn’t want to have to go through life’s struggles. And then he caught COVID. And he put it off about getting any kind of help or…and then he got bacterial pneumonia and went into the hospital. He’s a pretty healthy person, he’s also very stubborn. But he had to be ventilated and…and I know that had to be tough as he saw his life pass before his eyes. His daughter was with him and he was her dis__. I just bought my grandchildren fishing poles I’ll just never be able to go fishing with them. That was last week. I talked to him last night. He pulled his own tube out and they discharged him from the hospital 4 days after being ventilated because so many people were praying for his life and have been for a while. His attitude was totally different. Life’s too short to allow things to happen that you have control over. He’s a different man, I tell ya. So, just something to think about. Embrace your…

Hey DAB fam, this is Preston from the Bay Area. I’m calling in today to lift up Dana from Alabama. You work in manufacturing. I just am calling to lift you up that God would give you the strength to handle these…these men you work with. Having bullies in the workplace can make a fantastic job very difficult. And I…I understand where you’re coming from. So, I’ll just go ahead and pray. Dear Father, we lift up…we lift up Dana. We thank You that You have blessed her with a wonderful job, a job that she loves, a job that she’s very proud to have Father. We thank you that you have blessed her this far and we ask that Your Holy Spirit would just continue to bless her at this job. Father, we ask for Your blessing, we ask for Your intervention in the situation for her at work. We just ask that Your Holy Spirit would create peace and cause these men to humble their hearts and recognize that the pain that they’re causing and lead them to repentance Father, that this behavior would stop Father. We just ask that Your Holy Spirit would just act in this. In Your precious name, Jesus Christ…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Jasmine calling. I am a Canadian missionary who’s living in Africa and I called in about a month ago asking for prayer for my husband Dennis who is struggling with COVID, malaria and with pneumonia all at the same time. I’m calling in today just to give you an update and to send in a praise. Dennis is doing much, much better. He’s still recovering but we’re so very grateful that he is breathing and walking on his own now. And, so, I just wanted to call in and say thank you. Thank you to those of you who left messages, thank you to those of you who prayed. We felt your love and your support and I’m just so very grateful to God and I just wanted to give you that update and to say…

Heavenly Father, Jesus, Jesus our dearest Savior and King, Holy Spirit. This is Candance from Oregon as You Lord already know, sharing now in front of everyone my thanks to You because my son Micah, Your, beloved Micah, Lord, was so gloriously freed from alcohol. He is not had any alcohol since about April 22^nd or so, I think it was. I am so impressed. You are an amazing Lord. This person whose been on one drug or another but mostly alcohol so many years. And, so, Lord, while we praise You because we have been asking for this and You…You are a God who hears and answers prayers. So, we want to also lift Your other difficult, difficult request…Tamika needs You Lord. Tamika needs that sense of Your presence that gives her confidence and peace likes she’s never had before. Intervene Lord, come into her situation and give her that assurance. In Jesus’ name we pray.

1 Samuel 17:1-18:4, John 8:21-30, Psalm 111: 1-10, Proverbs 15:11

Today is the 15^th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy to be here with you today as we end a week. Another one of the weeks has gone by that we get to share together the voyage across the year. And I guess, sometime about halfway through today will be the dead center of the month as we continue the journey. The journey right now has us in 1 Samuel as we read through the Old Testament. And we are squarely planted in the life of Israel’s 1^st king Saul. We’ve also met this young, good looking boy named David and today the whole story is gonna change. And David…I’ve said David’s life and Saul’s life were intertwined from the time they met but it’s gonna be much more apparent. And some of these behaviors that we’ve been examining throughout this week as we look at Saul, and they are the same kinds of behaviors in ourselves and in our culture, well they’re gonna be exasperated because this kid, this little shepherd boy named David is about to become a national hero. So, we’re reading from the Voice this week, which is today. 1 Samuel chapter 17 verse 1 through 18 verse 4.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We…we…we earnestly thank You with deepest gratitude for bringing us through this week and every week, every week that we’ve traveled to this point. That we are breathing is a gift and we acknowledge that, and we thank You for bringing us this far into this year. And, so, Holy Spirit as we continue the journey, the journeys that we’ve been on through all the different stories, but the journeys that we are currently on in the monarchy with Saul and David and as we continue to move through the final gospel of John and hear Your words Jesus for the last time, at least in this form, from the scriptures this year we are grateful. And, so, we end this week and release it to You with a heart of gratitude. We are thankful and we are open, and we ask Holy Spirit that You would plant what we’ve learned and what we’ve heard into the soil of our lives, that we would cultivate it, that it might yield fruit for Your kingdom. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, home of the Global Campfire, it’s where we come every…like no matter how we get here, we get here into this infrastructure that is…that is the Daily Audio Bible. And, so, this is the Global Campfire, and this is where you find out what’s going on around here. Of course, you can find all that out using the Daily Audio Bible app as well. And, so, either way.

The Community section, the Prayer Wall, the Shop is there, just everything that’s going on. And, so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if what we’re doing together around this Global Campfire makes a difference for you, then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. 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.

Prayers and Encouragement:

Hi DAB this is Eva from Colorado Springs and I’m just calling to lift up the families with sexual abuse and marriages that are just in crisis. And I…I’m just praying for the Holy Spirit to surround you and to bring healing into your lives and to just bring supernatural…the needs that you need in whatever specific situation you’re in. God is bigger than out situation and it’s…it’s hard to see that sometimes but I know that He is. He’s been in our family. My now, ex-husband, there’s a situation with him and one of my daughters and there’s a court situation coming up in July that two of my daughters and myself have to testify for and I pray that God’s hand would be in that and that justice would prevail, and God’s will would ultimately win and that my daughter would see that God does what is right and good and that God is over all of it. Thank you all for praying for me and for praying for each other in Jesus’ name.

Yes, I’d like to pray, I believe her name was Pathfinder, the lady that’s getting ready to see her mother. I just want to pray for you. Lord, I just pray that You’d be with her Lord God, that You would guide her, that You would put a watch over her mouth Father God. It is so easy for us to throw our opinions on other people, Father God. And I just pray that You would give her a time of peace with her mother, that all those things wouldn’t matter, opinions, likes, dislikes, Lord that they would just not matter at all during this time and that You would just heal this…this relationship Father God. We are so different, we are so selfish, and sometimes we want our way instead of Your way, Father. And I just pray that You would lead and direct her Lord, that she would see Your way in this situation. I pray Father Lord God, that You would just give her the ability to show her mother light and that light is You. And I just thank You Jesus for leading us and guiding our path and just ministering through us. In Jesus’ name.

Hi Daily Audio Bible I’m calling because I would like to thank the girl who prayed the other day for people who are coming out of this season of COVID and are watching so many people getting married and starting families and launching their lives and are still in the waiting and are still waiting on God. And as I was…that prayer was for me. I’m getting older…I’m…I’ve been newly single for 7 months now and I just cannot fight this desire that God’s placed on my heart. And just struggling with patience and struggling with His timing and His will. And I just…I could use prayers specifically for myself as I’m navigating this new world, these new waters. And I…I just kinda…I’m just on my own. I need prayer that I can feel complete in God because I just don’t right now. And it did help though to hear that prayer because I felt like it just…it just hit me as that’s…that’s me. So, thank you so much for anyone who listens, and I appreciate your prayer.

Hi DAB family, I’m Jasmine calling from Virginia. I’m 15 years old and I just want to share 1 thing I’ve heard, and I learned today listening to the podcast. So, Brian had said we don’t have to hide in the baggage we can step forward. So, that reminded me of something I heard on Sunday where it said that there’s no need to worry about what others think of you because at the end of the day the only one who can judge you who created you and knows you best is the Lord. So, I just wanted to encourage people, you guys out there to just own up to that as I try to own up that myself. And, yeah, I love you.

Good morning, my family DABbers. I was listening to the May 11^th broadcast and today is actually the 12^th but I listened to a lady who was going to visit her mother and I could so relate to everything she had to say. And I just wanted to tell you I lost my sweet mother the day after Mother’s Day May 10^th just a couple days ago. And I flew down from my state of Michigan to Florida to be with her the week before she passed - 89. The day before she died on Mother’s Day, she…I was holding her cold hands and she said to me “I love you so much, I love you so much” and she had dementia and…but she had clarity and I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I too struggled with my relationship. And I just want to encourage you and others out there, life is precious. My mother’s home with Jesus now and I have peace in my heart but spend…spend the time with your mother doing what you say. Guard your words and pray. God will give you the wisdom and He’ll wrap His arms around you as well. God Bless you. I love all the DABbers. I listen every day. So thankful for this broadcast. Have a good day.

Olivia, I can’t remember…have I pressed submit on my first one. This is God’s Smile here. So, I’m gonna start all over again. Forgive me. I want to share with you about Peter and I. I was a young Christian and I’d just come to the Lord and I was very lonely, living alone and suicidal and I asked the Lord for somebody to love me. Little did I know that God’s love was there for me at that time. But he understood. I didn’t pray for a husband, but He gave me Peter. And Peter wasn’t a Christian. And as time go on and we got closer I became aware that I wanted him to be…to know Christ. And one night I was talking to the Lord and I said, “Father if I…I have to choose between you or Peter, it’s You I choose Lord above all else, it’s You. I want You in my life.” And I didn’t want to give Peter up. I wrote him a letter, I bought him a bible, and, in that letter, I told him I loved him and if he wasn’t in my life at some point then these were the verses to lead him to Christ. Well, I gave him this and Peter came to Lord very soon after and so did his mom. I believe in the surrender to Christ giving Peter up for…for God, that He released Peter to me. I don’t know what He’s going to do with you, but I believe if you surrender and listen to the wisdom of other callers, He will bless you and keep you and show you the way you should go. Love, God’s Smile, kiss, kiss. Muah, muah, muah, muah.

1 Samuel 15:1-16:23, John 8:1-20, Psalm 110: 1-7, Proverbs 15:8-10

Today is the 14^th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today, truly, truly great. How are you? How is everybody? I love that we can come around this Global Campfire together and just let the fire light just kind of shine on our faces and let the fire of the Holy Spirit come within us and lead us into all truths through His word. It is a beautiful thing that we can do this and so I’m glad to be here for the next step. And that next step leads us back into 1 Samuel where we’re getting to know King Saul, Israel’s 1st king. Today, we’re gonna meet somebody, somebody that we’ve been getting to know through their work in the book of Psalms. We’re actually gonna meet this person in the narrative story today and his name is David. And once David and Saul meet, their lives will be intertwined in some profound ways that will…that change them both. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the Voice Translation this week. 1 Samuel chapters 15 and 16.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we kind of saw the last straw in Saul’s reign. He disobeyed God. He was sent by God to…to attack the Amalekites who had given the Israelites problems on their way through the desert. They were being sent to bring judgement upon the Amalekites not to enrich themselves. So, they weren’t supposed to take anything. Nothing was to be taken as like pillage or booty or whatever. So, basically this is the same kind of commands that…that Joshua was given when they were settling in the land. This was what they were commanded to do. And we remember Jericho and we remember Akin, who he couldn’t keep his hands off some of the stuff that he took, and it caused a bunch of problems including Akin losing his life. So, Saul is sent with the same kind of command and he essentially disobeys in the same kind of way. And then when he’s confronted by Samuel, he does a bunch of back-peddling “well I didn’t really take all of the sheep and stuff the people did, they did that, they did it to sacrifice, it was all for sacrifice. I just kept King Agag alive, etc. etc.” like he’s doing all this side stepping and back-peddling and diverting blame, all the kind of stuff that we probably are all too familiar with in our own lives and in…in…in our own culture like surrounding us. plausible deniability. But Samuel see’s right through it and he’s having none of it and he informs Saul that the kingdom has been taken from him. That’s gonna take some time. That’s not gonna…like Saul doesn’t just go “okay, okay, I’ve sinned against the Lord, I resign, where do I sign? Here’s my crown, give it to whoever you please.” Like, that’s not how it’s gonna go. It’s gonna take some time. But God has spoken, and Samuel’s gonna leave and Saul’s gonna be humiliated again in front of everybody because Samuel won’t go worship God with him. And, so, Saul’s like, “would you just…would you just go worship with me? Like, don’t leave me here in front of all these people. Would you come and make it look better?” And…and we just see so much of how Saul is committed to the imaging of a thing than a reality of a thing and how weak of a leader that makes him. But we also met David today. And now David is an armor bearer for the king and a musician for the king to calm him down. And, so, their stories are intertwined, and they will remain intertwined, like I said at the beginning, in some really interesting and dramatic ways.

Prayer:

Father, once again we thank You for Your word and we thank You for navigating us through another week. And as we move through this territory this week in the life of the 1st king Saul, we have plenty that we’ve been challenged with. It’s like we can see these behaviors in the narrative of Saul, we can see these kinds of behaviors in other people, but it takes time to slow down and by Your Spirit so that they can be revealed in us. Sometimes we are the least self-aware. As selfish as we can be, we can also be very much not self-aware not in any way understanding the impact that we have on others. Saul’s story gives us kind of a…almost a 360-degree view of the situation. And, so, come Holy Spirit and we invite You. It is our desire; it is our deep desire to walk with You. There is no one more important. There is nothing more important. So, come Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth transforming us into the image of our Savior, Jesus, we ask in His name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base. Of course, home also lives within the Daily Audio Bible app.

So, check that out, either way…either place, especially in the Community section. This is where the Prayer Wall lives. And I say that a lot. I want to continue to remind us that it’s there, always happening, always being used, always…always an opportunity to pray for someone, always a place to go and ask for prayer. And, so, be aware of that it’s…it’s in the Community section either in the app or on the web. And, so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if this Global Campfire that we sit around each day and enjoy fellowship and company and comradery and the scriptures and life, if that makes a difference in your life, then thank you for your partnership. Thank you deeply and humbly. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or the mailing address is P.O. 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, the little red button up at the top 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:

Hi, it’s Big Hearted Ben and Radiant Rachel and we are going to be praying for Angel Heart. My mom isn’t by I am. I’m praying to, with you. Yeah, see. __ Dear Jesus, please help Angel Heart to not…to not…not know what’s going on and for her…he to speak when she wants to and not for when she doesn’t have to take a breath she stops speaking. Please help her to have all the things that go…go bad to go away to cast those demons away into the pit of fire and…and never come back, never come back ever again, in this world. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Amen. Bye.

Hi V from Illinois this is Bonnie from Virginia. I heard your prayer request. It reminded me about my own life, my husband leaving me when I was 4 months pregnant for my son and I already had a 4-year-old daughter. My husband returned after 5 months almost when I was…the time to give delivery to my son. But he returned because his gall bladder was swollen, and it was almost going to burst, and he did not have money to…to treat himself. So, I helped him to receive the treatment. And I did not have anyone to support me. I was legally blind, but my husband was able to see, and I was totally an orphan with no family support besides my own income at teaching or a teacher in elementary school. But I trusted in God and leaned on Him every day. And we started living together after his return. We came to America and again he started showing his attitude. So, we got separated again in America. I had my 11-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. New country, no family support, but just trusting in God I was able to make it. My son is 23-years-old now and my daughter is almost 27 and she is…

Peggy in Texas and I do need community, I need support. I turned to the DAB family asking for prayer for my 15-year-old grandson. He is so rebellious, so angry, confrontational, he’s hurting, and his God…God-fearing parents don’t know what to do and where to turn at this point. He’s…he’s lying. School is difficult. He’s been diagnosed with ADD, he’s on Riddelliine the drug. His behavior seems to be at the point where his parents are…are wondering what to do and where to turn and…and should he be sent to a school to a place where he could be disciplined. I don’t know. And they’ve asked, you know, would that cause more rejection in his life. As a grandmother or the grandmother, I’m asking…I’m asking the DAB family to pray with me. I feel alone in this. I…easy to turn to the Lord but I need support at this point. And, so, if you will pray with me, I would deeply appreciate it. If you’ll pray that the hold of the enemy will be broken as we pray for wisdom for his parents and…and for this child. And I’m open for whatever advice you have for this grandmother. I thank you for being there. Thank you. May the Lord bless each one. May have His will in our lives. Thank you.

This is Cindy from Minnesota and I’m calling to…specifically about Sam who had called in about her residency coming up and just feeling resentful that she has to leave her child. And I just wanted to encourage you first of all that I’ve been praying for you and asking God to give you wisdom. And also, just to share that my daughter through no choice of her own has had to become a single mom and she has had to…her heart’s desire also was to be a stay-at-home-mom and she’s not able to do that either. And she…she…just I’ve seen God really work in wonderful ways. I am her…her nanny so I help take care of my granddaughter and then we make it so that I’m there so that, you know, her daughter can come and eat lunch with her or there’s just little things that she does during the day to connect with her daughter to make it better. And I…I just really wanted to encourage you cause I think your hearts really in the right place wanting to be home with your child and that’s…that’s good and sometimes circumstances come along that don’t allow us do that. But I’m…I’m just praying for you and praying that God gives you the wisdom to know what to do next.

Good Morning Daily Audio Bible family. I’d like to call myself The Prodigal Son because I’ve fallen away from the gospel’s countless times and yet I’m still drawn by…by the love which is shared every single day on this platform at Daily Audio Bible. And today, the 11^th of…of May I think the reading that Brian put forth actually made me to go down deep in my heart. You know I am someone who is filled with a lot of grief from loss of my parents and then sometimes my…my savings, which each time I want to do something for food it…I just find myself at the starting point. And sometimes due to these unresolved conflicts in my heart, when I get into, you know, an argument or sometimes when someone, you know, wants to talk to you, you know, the way I respond is somewhat different. And this is what I’ve been growing through for quite some time now. And the lesson today just…just took me to a moment of, you know, going through my thoughts in the past and in as much as I need help, I really needed to hear it. I…I really needed to…to understand that sometimes these unresolved conflicts in me actually puts enough anger and sometimes I fix the relationship that I have with people who are close to me, people who can put forth good ideas and that changed my life. So, Brian, I thank you for today. And I also want to reach out to every single person going through a difficult moment in your life be it emotional struggles, I just want you to know there is a place for you in this family.

Dear Tamika from Pennsylvania, it’s Susan from Canada, God’s Yellow Flower calling, and I hear your brokenness. It sounds to me like you are at rock bottom and you don’t know where to go or even how to look up. The mountain before you is so steep and so high it seems insurmountable. But I’m praying that God will lift you up out of that pit and help you to sore as eagle’s wings with Him. Knowing He is God, and He loves you so dearly. I pray dear Lord for You to provide for Tamika. Provide her with a job, provide her with a home and bring her children back to her. Dear Lord, I don’t know how You’re going to do it, but I pray dear God that You would, that You would take her into Your arms and just heal her brokenness and fill her with Your Spirit of love, peace, goodness and all the other fruits of the Spirit. Lord God, let Your presences be felt by her at this very moment wherever she’s at, Your presence that brings peace. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.