12/01/2021 DAB Transcript

Daniel 8:1-27, 1 John 2:1-17, Psalms 120:1-7, Proverbs 28:25-26

Today is the 1st day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we reach…well…for this year anyway, the final threshold of a new month, this being the 12th month of the year. And today is the 335th day of the year. So, once we read today we will have completed 335 days consecutively in a row making our way here to this point. And it feels like the days are shorter because they are. It feels like it’s more busy because it is. We are all thinking about the Christmas holiday that it approaches here in just a couple of weeks. And we can see that there’s only a handful of weeks left in this year. And, so, it would be easy enough to go, well…we’re pretty close, what’s left. I get the…I get that point, I get the gist of the Bible, but there’s so much ground for us to cover yet, important ground as we make this push toward the end of the year. We have been reading from the New Living Translation this week and we will pick up where we left off in the book of Daniel. Today Daniel chapter 8.

Commentary:

Okay. So, when we read the book of James one of the themes that emerged from that letter is that talk is cheap. And then we read Peter’s letters, especially first Peter and we learned that talk is cheap. And now here we are in first John learning again talk is cheap. Anybody can say anything. If we have not learned that by now we have been probably under a rock somewhere. If social media doesn’t show us that anybody can say anything then I guess nothing…nothing really can. And in terms of faith talk can be cheap. If…if our lives are not in alignment with what we are saying then talk is cheap, we’re just talking. And John is essentially giving us a chance to examine ourselves, look at what our claims are and see if our actions actually match with our claims, if there’s harmony between what we say and what we do. and so quoting John. “If someone claims I know God but doesn’t obey God’s commandments that person is a liar and is not living in the truth, but those who obey God’s word truly show how they completely love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” So, if we have to boil this down, John is ready direct here. If you claim that you know God and you don’t obey God’s commandments then you’re a liar. Yikes. I mean, how much more direct did the Scriptures need to be for us to finally get this? Because it’s like we have been in this territory in these letters with James and Peter and John telling us you have to live out what you claim or it’s not real and you’re a liar. And if we just kind of zoom out and go, “well…what…what is…what is the primary goal of the reason that I believe?” Well, maybe it’s eternal life or just fellowship with God. But ultimately, as Christian people following Jesus Christ as disciples on this earth than one of the primary functions of our faith is that we become like Christ – Christlike, like Jesus. Not as a metaphor but as an actual goal that we actually live into. And this would be called sanctification, that we are being actually transformed into the likeness of Jesus, that our lives look like the life of Christ, which is not just something that can be said. Anyone on this journey of faith actually intentionally trying to live Christlike then you know that this isn’t just what you post, or this isn’t just what you say. It may be those things, but it is also everything about you. It’s the way you live. Let’s go back to John. Let me just quote John because it’s speaking as clear as day. John says, “if anyone claims I am living in the light but hates a fellow believer that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble, but anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go having been blinded by the darkness.” If we’re boiling that down to an essential core than he’s saying you can say you’re living in the light and still be in the darkness. Just because you say it doesn’t make it so. If you live it then you make it so. This is really a timely message being given to us on this first day of the last month of the year. We are definitely walking through the final weeks of our journey through the Bible this year. We are right at the front end of a very busy season that culminates with a lot of joy but also can provide an enormous amount of attention and interpersonal conflict with people that we actually love but we all get together and get forced into…into roles that we’ve played in our families are whole lives and the tensions arise and then we’re feeling like a kid again inside, and it’s easy for our actions and our words to not be in alignment with…with each other and neither one of them being in alignment with Jesus. And if we’re reading the Scriptures right today that is generally called darkness. We are moving through the season of Advent, a season of waiting for the arrival of the Savior, the light of the world. May our actions and our words demonstrate how profoundly we have been changed because God came to rescue us, may we perpetuate light and life and good news, and hope and joy in this season, rather than just fooling ourselves and living in the darkness.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit we invite You into that very direct message. Very, very clear, offering us much opportunity to examine and reflect on the ways in which our words and our lives are not in alignment with each other. And just recognizing some of those areas, that is the first step to repentance and change, going in a different direction. It’s just difficult in this world full of masks, not masks about viruses, but masks of pretense about who we really are because we live in comparison to one another and this brings up all kinds of stuff as we participate in the system of the world. When we have been freed from that and have been given permission to live true. Help us Holy Spirit to actually shine the light of truth and light and good news, the message of the gospel into this world into the lives of those that we love during this season we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and it’s where we stay connected to what’s happening. And it’s Christmas time and that is certainly happening around here.

And it’s time to get ready for our annual Global Campfire Christmas party that we virtually have each year. And, so, it’s time to call in your holiday greetings to the community here that has been sharing this space and time with you as we have navigated the Scriptures all year long. And we do this each and every year, and it is one of the most moving things to me. It’s something that I look forward to all year, sitting back and listening to all the different calls from all the different people, brothers and sisters from all over the world sharing holiday greetings and seasons wishes to the community here. So, here’s how it works. We have a Hotline button in the app that I talk about most every day as well as 877-942-4253. That is the prayer line, prayer and encouragement line. And, so, once a year it also becomes the holiday greeting line. The trick is, don’t call in a prayer request and a holiday greeting in the same call. There’s no place to put that. So, if you have a prayer request go ahead and call that in as normal and then call in your holiday greeting if you want to. Or maybe you don’t have a prayer request right now, you just want to call in your holiday greeting. That’s fine. Just call that in. And we will be taking calls for the next week. So, a week from today we’ll close that down and get to the work of putting it all together so we can have our annual Christmas party.

Also, today is the release today of the brand-new Christmas album that we have for the community here. It’s called Christmas Time and it was arranged and produced by my son Maxwell and it is available in the iTunes store and is available in the Amazon music store and over the course of the next week, it should begin to roll out into all of the stores. But the fall album is available today and you get it at the iTunes store. So, check it out. We’re very proud of it, love it very very much. It sets an atmosphere, the exact atmosphere that we were trying to set, which is not the bombastic kind of really overjoyed Christmas music but the kind of music you want to listen to when you’re winding down, when the Christmas lights are on and you’re winding down after a long day. This is a beautiful album for that. So, check that out.

The Daily Bible Christmas box, our family Christmas 2021 is available, and you can see all the contents there in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. In the Daily Audio Bible Shop there’s a Christmas section, and if you click that category then you’ll find the Christmas box in there. So, check that out.

And then Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible our brand-new book chock-full of pictures from all the different regions of the land of the Bible in the places where the Bible happened. It is beautiful. It is beautiful in craftsmanship and should be a long-lasting heirloom where you can always refer back and go back and look at the different regions. See kind of what it looked like where the Bible happened. That can be found in Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible. And that is available in the Daily Audio Bible shop as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com also. 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 of the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, or a holiday greeting 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 from beautiful Cincinnati OH this is Daniel Johnson Junior God bless you all. It’s been a little while since I’ve reached out and I wanted to say how awesome it is that we’ve come to the last month of this year. And it’s been an amazing journey so far. None of us knows what is going to exactly happen during this last month but one of the things that I realized for myself when I went through my DAB long walk back in July is that there’s no way I’m gonna be able to go through and be successful at this year unless I rely on the strength that God gives me because I don’t have it on my own. I literally do not have the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual energy to do what I need to do for God without relying on God completely. And, so, that’s my prayer request because I have felt exhausted, literally exhausted over the last several weeks and months. There’s a lot that is going on. And then now we just have the holiday season on top of it all. So, please pray for me and as I pray for you let’s finish this year strong because we can do it because He can do it. And with Him all things are possible. God bless you all from beautiful Cincinnati OH it’s Daniel Johnson junior.

Hey guys this is Tyler from Oregon. I have been recently struggling with, I would say, depression kind of masked a gigantic stronghold. And it’s almost as if I didn’t realize it was there and in a way it’s like claiming that I have light but how dark is that darkness. So, I guess that prayer would be for confronting the hurts to be able to move on a little more so that I can properly forgive and not have plastic forgiveness.

Good morning DAB family I’m calling in…I heard Diane Olive Braun. I heard your…your request this morning this is November 29th, and my heart just broke for you as I listened to your heartbreak. And I just want you to know that I am praying for you. I don’t really know how things will work out. I know your heart is to go and see your aunt and to give her a hug and yet other family members are…are just not making…not making a way for you to do that. And I know that that hurts your heart. And…and I just want you to know that however this turns out that we are praying for you and that you will know that we are all reaching out to hug you and that God is hugging you too. And He sees your heart. He sees your desire and He will honor that. And no matter the distance God’s arms can reach you and can reach your…your aunt. And so we are praying for you today Diane that you will feel God’s comfort in God’s peace. And as you always say to each one of us at the end of your calls, Shalom Shalom. And we say that back to you this morning. Shalom Shalom Diane. God give you peace.

Hello DAB family this is Babba D in Tennessee. I wanted to pray for Crystal today. This is the 29th of November. Heard the prayer request at the end of the program. Lord God we lift up Crystal to You Lord. We ask that You would bless her heart, her soul. Thank You Lord for her willingness to stick it out and put her life on the line for the sake of someone who betrayed her, her husband. She’s willing to wait and forgive. Father I ask that You would silence every voice of the demonic forces trying to influence her mind right now to believe that she is less of a person or she has failed. Lord we ask for Your spirit of restoration from Crystal, bless her Father, give her the desire to seek You, continue seeking You Lord in Jesus’ name. Lord I ask that You would her children the grace to go through this difficult time Lord. Pray for Your mercy on their hearts Lord, that they would not feel it’s their fault. We silence in Jesus’ name every thought every fiery dart of the enemy that’s trying to convince them otherwise and crystal. And in the Father’s name Jesus bless Crystal, the perseverance Crystal, bless her Father in every way possible through Your Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless…

Father God in heaven thank You for this time and I pray that Your words would be with my mouth as I…as I speak. Today is the 29th of November. Thanksgiving has since passed and I’m just listening to the DAB today and I just wanted to talk about it. It was regarding the ending of second Peter. And what I got from it, what I took away from it was that all we have to do is live. The Bible doesn’t tell us to live to the extreme perfection of God nor does it tell us to live with any hopes desires or dreams to get better, but it tells us simply live well. Live a godly life. That maybe because you can’t reach your brother or sister through the word that your traits, God gave us a awesome gift as we are the gifted to share the gospel. Now whether you do that reading word for word or whether you do that by your actions, whether you do that in both, God I pray for our family, the church. Show us what we have right now. Let us know that we have been taught that we have been gifted and it is about our patients in your promise. God there’s no one like You here amongst the earth. Help us to show Your light. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, and I ask. Amen.