Ezekiel 45:13-46:24, 1 Peter 1:13-2:10, Psalms 119:33-48, Proverbs 28:11
Today is the 23rd day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s awesome to be here with you today as we continue our journey through this week and continuing our journey through the book of Ezekiel. We have been moving through Ezekiel for a while now. Couple more days in Ezekiel and then we will…we will conclude that book. We began the first letter of Peter yesterday in the New Testament and so we will continue that journey today to let us dive in. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Ezekiel chapter 45 verse 13 through 46 verse 24.
Commentary:
Okay. So, today is the 23rd day of November and the day after tomorrow in the United States is Thanksgiving Day, which is a national holiday for us here in the United States, but typically the day after that which is Friday is known as Black Friday and that’s definitely true in the United States that…that's…that’s true around the world as well. It's…well…I guess it's…it’s not really a holiday. It’s just something that retailers definitely dive into. People are going to be out shopping for Christmas. So, all of these big sales begin and that kinda kicks off what we know as the holiday season or the Christmas season and it will only amp up all the way through the rest of the year pretty much. And, so, that’s where we’re sitting. We’re right on the cusp of things becoming busy, the busiest time of the year. And it’s in the busiest time of the year that we may be going too fast, and we find ourselves back in old ruts where we’re just reacting to things because we feel like we don’t really have the time to process everything that’s coming our way. Ironically, we see words that give counsel for this kind of attitude or this kind of behavior in first Peter today. Now, there…there was no Black Friday. Peter isn’t commenting on the holidays that exist in our day and time and in our parts of the world, but it is the holiday season that makes us feel full of joy but also feel very busy usually. And, so, it’s so easy because maybe we’re tired, we’re not getting enough rest, we’re running too fast, we’re trying to figure out how to pay for it all, all of the stresses that come put us in a position where one wrong word, right, can send us into a tornado of awfulness. And if we paid attention to James, we know that a lot of that awfulness comes from our mouths. That’s really where it lives. The awfulness might separate us bodily from one another, but it originated with words and behaviors that we had grown accustomed to and fall back into because we’re not paying attention. Listen to what Peter says. “Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, but like the holy one who called you become holy yourselves in all of your conduct. For it is written, you shall be holy because I am holy.” So, Peter’s obviously not talking about the Christmas season. He’s talking about every day, like this is what normal is supposed to look like. But the holidays can certainly give us a gut check and first Peter can certainly give us a reminder of where were supposed to be walking instead of in this old rut that we have fallen back into being reactionary and spewing things out of our mouths that should not be said. So, Peter gives us something that we can kinda just let sit there in our back pocket and we can kinda carry around with us. And if we can stay observant enough to know like, “okay it’s startin’ to heat up inside of me. I’m gonna boil over and when I do things are gonna come out of my mouth”, that’s how it’s gonna boil over. If we can catch ourselves there and simply say, “you must be holy because I am holy.” Let’s take that into the rest of this week because before this week is out many, many, many of us will be kind of in…in situations that we’re not normally in. We’ll be around family members that maybe we’d only see once a year or a couple times a year. We will be all pulled together and then all of a sudden, boom, it will be the holiday season. If we could hold on to this, “you must be holy because I am holy”, that could save us from all kinds of awfulness, which means its at least worth meditation, right? It’s at least worth thinking about.
Prayer:
Father we invite you into that. And we are inviting you into all kinds of things about us but if we had to break it right down we’re asking your Holy Spirit to help us keep guard over our tongues, because James is right, we can burn our whole life down with our tongue, and we’ve set fires with our tongues and we’re moving into a time that is the most joyful, but is also a volatile time for many. So come Holy Spirit, may we be aware of your presence and walk with you in all of our interactions. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base. That’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And always something going on around here. But now we’re at the end of the year plenty is going on around here. So, something brand-new today. And I guess with every resource that becomes available around here there’s a story and I love to tell the stories and this story is about my son Max, Maxwell.
Manny years ago, when Maxwell was just a little fella, he’s a little bit younger than his bigger sister China. Well, China when she was a little girl had vision for Daily Audio Bible Kids and we launched Daily Audio Bible Kids when she was 10 I think…9 or 10…I can’t remember…I’d have to count the years. And once in a while Max would make a cameo appearance and then we started having the Maxwell minute., where he’d just come share some of his thoughts and he had the best thoughts. I’ve had so many great conversations with him throughout his life. But when he was a little kid just the way his mind would work I remember him talking to me about Adam and Eve and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the serpent. And he was like, “so the snake did he say like “sssssss” to them and they just understood what he meant? Stuff like that would be in the Maxwell minute. And then Max grew up a little bit more and learned how to read and then he began to do Daily Audio Bible Kids carrying that tradition forward that Ezekiel now has. And as Max got older and older, he got a little bit less interested in the day-to-day daily recording. And, so, big commitment for a kid, largely because he got bit by the music bug, and I began to teach Maxwell how to play piano about that same time and he really really took to it and he became really amazing at it. And then he got really really good at engineering, audio engineering and production kind of following in the pathway of his father because that was…that was my vocation before there was a Daily Audio Bible. Well…he’s not a little kid anymore. He’s a grown young man now, but through all the ups and downs of growing up and being a teen and moving through all of those uncomfortable years and all of those uncomfortable distinctions and all that stuff that goes with becoming a grown up. I would say music has been his anchor. It’s something that he has pursued throughout his life. And if I’m being honest, he has far surpassed me as a musician. And, so, earlier this year I asked him if he would begin to create a Christmas album for us around the Global Campfire. And he has been working on that throughout the course of the months of this year. And I love Christmas music. I don’t know, there’s some kind of connection point to my childhood through Christmas music because I’ve just loved it my whole life. I’ve been an avid collector of it. I have more Christmas music than anybody I know. So, I’m a little bit of a connoisseur of Christmas music when it comes Christmas time. And I love this record. It’s cool, it’s modern but it’s contemplative and thought-provoking. And this will be the second Christmas album that we’ve released over the years here around the Global Campfire. The first one was a few years ago called Family Christmas. That was a production that I was able to do. But I love Max’s production just the modern feel, just the way kid of modern composition…composing is going right now is…it’s to really pack life, to not sterilize the tracks, to actually have atmosphere and noises from recording and try all kind of unique instruments in different configurations. And I just love the treatments to these classic Christmas carols. I’ve had the advantage of listening to it all week. So, this brand-new Daily Audio Bible Christmas album is called Christmas Time. And like our other Christmas record it is the kind…it…it’s not the kind of music that’s gonna get you up and dancing and having a party. It’s the kind of music that…that you…that you listen to when you’re having a cup of coffee or cocoa or whatever and, you know, you turn the lights off in your house and just have the Christmas lights on and it’s peaceful and serene and different and very calming, that’s how this album Christmas Time feels. And it’s coming just in time for the holiday season. So, this brand-new recording will release on December 1st. So, a week from now, but it is available for preorder on…well…at the iTunes store for Apple devices and at the Amazon store. In about a week it’ll begin to move out into all the digital platforms worldwide, but Apple and Amazon allow us to do a pre-release with prerelease pricing. And when you get this new album Christmas Time, you’ll get three of the songs instantly and then the other ones will show up in your music collection on the first. So, if you like Christmas music as I do, if you like Christmas music that…that sets an atmosphere of reflection and contemplation then this will be a great addition to the collection. So, you can go to the iTunes store…and you’ll have to go to the iTunes store and not Apple music and search for Maxwell Hardin or Christmas Time. And I’m so excited for you to hear. This is the first thing he’s allowing to go out into the wild for a while now and I’m proud of it and I’m proud of him and I’m hoping you can pick up a copy for your holiday season. And, so, that’s brand-new today and moving us into the holiday season.
We also have the brand-new Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible. and I have loved the feedback that I’ve been able to hear so far. I love the pictures on social media when they arrive. I love that. And, so, that resource is available at the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Just go into the Books and Audiobooks section or go into the Lifestyle section and you’ll find it there while supplies last. We have some more on the way, but I think it’s starting to get doubtful that they are going to arrive before Christmas. There’s just this massive supply chain issue in the world right now. But Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible is available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop at dailyaudiobible.com.
Maxwell Hardin and the Christmas Time record are available in the iTunes store or the Amazon store. So, check those out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission here to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who would listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and build community around that rhythm, also known as the Global Campfire, if that has been life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership as we begin to move toward the end of the year. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. 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, the little red button 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, my DAB family this is Work in Progress here in California. Just got a prayer request for a woman named Marlene. Marlene works at a Grocery Outlet kind of in our neighborhood here. And…and, you know, a while ago I could tell, you know, I’ve kind of gotten to know her a little bit, and…and a while back I could, you know, saying hi I could tell something was kind of on her mind and kind of talked to her and she said that, you know, her cancer had come back. And, so, she allowed me to pray with her. And anyway, long story short with that, her cancer, she went in for surgery and everything was good…good with that. But today I saw her again and it was that same kind of thing where I could tell something was wrong and…and…and she told me that her…a week ago her husband was killed in a motorcycle accident and she was right there and, you know, saw…didn’t see it happen but, you know, she…she…she…it was a bad accident let's…let’s put it that way. And, so, she again…I hugged her and she just burst into tears and I told her that I’d be praying for her and I know you guys will be too. Her name is Marlene. Really really sweet gal. So, if you could just lift her up in prayer for healing and that she draws near to the Lord that would be great. Thanks DABbers have a great day.
Hello everyone, my name is Christina and I’m from Indiana. My family and I have posted multiple things on the Prayer Wall and have had plenty of responses and prayers and people keeping us in your thoughts and we want to reach out and say thank you for everything that you have done. Even the simple kindness of praying for someone that we’re not used to. We’re used to doing everything on our own and not having people here and I’m thankful that we do. I’m thankful to God that he showed this app to my husband, and he has shared it with me, and I’ve shared it with countless others. And that God is continuously helping us through the struggles that is life and the problems that we are having continuously. But I really want to say, please pray with me for my family for all of my family. Dear God I want to thank You for everything that You’ve given me, all the blessings of both of my kids, my two five year old’s that don’t understand what’s going on but still push through every single day like nothing’s happened. I want to say thank You for the life that You have given me and my husband and continually to push us and carry us through our struggles. Thank You for everything and that…
Hi family, it’s Machala from Gloucester. It is Saturday the 20th of November, and it is half one in the morning. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers over this past year. I have been struggling but things are getting back on track now. I’m moving in the right direction, and I can only thank God for that. I don’t know where I’d be without Him. I’d appreciate your prayers for sleep. Sleep is happening but not as much as I would like or as much as there should be and I can’t or I'm…I’m struggling to get my brain to switch off. Yeah. Father God thank You so much for this day You have given us. Thank You for all that has happened. Thank You for the opportunities and the things that have been achieved. Sorry if there’s opportunities that I’ve missed and those things that could have gone better. I give them all to You and submit them to Your care. Lord You know those thoughts that a whirling round, those things that are stopping us from sleep and we do commit them to You. I pray Lord that You would help us to rest, that You would help us to relax, that we would find peace so that we may be restored through sleep.
Hey friends this is Planted by the River in California, and I was just overtaken by the prayer request from…I am sorry I missed your name…but the woman whose has a husband who has had multiple strokes and they’re now calling in Hospice. And I was just emotionally overcome by your message about tears and pain and also laughter and joy. And all I could think of was the joy…the joy of the Lord is your strength, and you radiate it my friend. I’m just praying that the God will…that God will cradle your heart and protect you from the pain of the loss of your husband as…as he goes through his end of life and God…and God will be there with you. And I just want to say your husband is blessed to be having a woman beside him like you to take care of him through this…these multiple strokes and this process. And I just picture you and he and God together passing through this challenging time in life. And sister I just pour out God’s blessings on you and His favor and His peace. I love you friend. And just know that we’re all here with you going through it together and God is with you and we love you. Praise God. Take care.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is His Girl Warrior from Alabama it is Saturday November the 20th and my grateful for today is my parents…are my…bla…are my parents haha - Norman and Becky. I’m grateful for them being alive and still being a part of my life and that they are generally healthy. I’m thankful for their kindness and support in this last year of my life which has been kind of a Cray Cray one. Please pray for their salvation. My parents are not believers, and neither are my brothers. So, please pray for my brothers Shane, Joshua and Benjamin and please pray for my nephew Madison and Manesis, Brianna, and Riley. They need Jesus and I…they listen to me but they…just pray that God would move on their heart and the Holy Spirit would take the scales off their eyes and that the hard life stuff that they’ve experienced won’t keep them from the love of Jesus. Anyway…so it is a beautiful day here in Alabama. I’m about to head out and go hiking. Alright I love you guys. Thank you that I can know that a worldwide army of prayer warriors is going to be praying for the salvation of my family. Alright. See you guys later. Bye.