Zechariah 10:1-11:17, Revelation 18:1-24, Psalm 146:1-10, Proverbs 30:33
Today is the 27th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today, this week that is in between, this week that yeah, we’re probably starting to maybe go back to work or maybe we have this week off. It is this interesting week of the year, the last week of the year, where we get reflective and it is a wonderful year, especially considering the journey that we’ve been on. I mean, think about a year ago today, right. And we’re moving through between Christmas and New Year’s and then we start this journey, we’ve been on this journey all year long and now we’re reaching the shore and we’re paying attention to the fact that we’re gonna transition into a brand-new year, and so we’re thinking about our lives and there is no better time than to incorporate the Scriptures and all that we’ve been through together in the last year into that decision-making process. And so it is a joy and an honor to be here with you today in that process and doing what we’ve done every single day, taking another step forward together and that next step forward will lead us back into the book of Zechariah, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week, Zechariah chapters 10 and 11.
Commentary:
Okay, so we we’re talking about at the beginning, how we’re in this in between week, the week between Christmas and New Year’s and it’s a unique week really, even if we go back to work and we’re just kind of back into the flow things and by now, a couple days after Christmas, now that we’re in a week, like we’re starting to move toward normalcy again. But the week in between, this is really the time where our hearts, for whatever reason because the season sort of changes the atmosphere and then we’ll have this week in between, a new beginning, and we know that new beginning is coming, a brand-new year, and so there’s something inside of us, that’s like okay, we’re almost there, it’s a brand-new fresh start and it’s then that we start thinking what do I want that fresh start to look like. What things do I not want to repeat next year that I endured and went through this year? What mistakes have I learned my lesson on? What things do I need to press deeper into that I made a good beginning, but fell off along the way? We start thinking about our health right, how many of you have renewed your gym membership already, getting ready for the new year or that you plan to kind do that before this week is out so, that you can hit the ground running in this brand-new year? Right, and we’ve got our diet books and we’re thinking about it, but we got this week in between and so we’re probably just like living it up and feasting and going yeah, once this week is over everything is gonna change, everything is going to be different, I’m gonna press into this in a different way. And we start thinking about our spiritual lives, I want to walk with God more intimately or we want to understand what the Bible says more truly and deeply, or even at all. We think about our relationships, our relationship with our spouse. Maybe we’ve taken some hits this year, maybe we’d like to not repeat. Maybe we wanna grow closer in our intimacy with one another and walk with one another more truly. Or maybe it’s relationship with our children, maybe there’s some work to be done there or we need to pay more attention. Or whatever, it might be. Maybe it’s relationships at work or maybe it’s vocational goals, we want to get a raise this year and so, we’re gonna position ourselves in a certain sort of way to accomplish a certain amount of things. Or we have this great idea, that before the years out we would like to launch that idea and maybe that could change our lives. Maybe we could amend something, maybe we could do something, maybe we are very skilled at something that we think we should be doing for other people and not just for a corporation, maybe we should strike out on our own. There’s any number, I mean millions of possibilities in all of our stories and it seems like even though those things are contemplated along the way, we kind of get to this point in the year and we start, like those ideas, start becoming serious concepts, serious ideas that we want to actually start moving toward. One of the interesting things about our New Year’s resolutions are that a generous percentage, if not, the overwhelming majority of the goals that we might set for ourselves, they are external things, like I would look so much better and feel so much better and be more healthy if I lost that 25 pounds. I would be so much more happy and fulfilled and actually be able to not be struggling so much if I could achieve that raise, that promotion and none of that is bad or wrong. Those are all worthy, any of the things that we would like to do that would improve us, improve ourselves, make us better people sure. But if we ignore that what we’ve learned from the Bible is that things change from within. That’s actually where the beginning of the change occurs within you. So, yes, our body may be more healthy if we drop those pounds but dropping those pounds does not ensure our happiness other than temporarily and so, along with the goals that we might set we need to understand how are these categorized, like is my interior life, is my heart and the things that it has been through, is that a part of what I want to focus on because any of the changes that we want to make, if we actually want them to be fulfilling and actual changes that you know like, we’re not gonna jump on the treadmill lose 10 pounds by Valentine’s Day be done with the whole thing and then end up right where we are one year from today. If we want things to stick than we actually have to be transformed, we actually have to change and that change always begins within if it’s going to last. And I want to suggest in this week in between that we pay particular attention to the Proverbs, there’s all kinds of stuff that we’re moving through in Revelation: Zechariah and the Psalms. We certainly need to pay attention to those stories, but in terms of how we’re planning to move into the New Year and what we’re planning to do when we get there, Proverbs is indispensable. And so, I just suggest, it’s what I do in this week in between is pay attention to what the Proverbs are saying. And it reminds me also of the Daily Audio Proverb. And if that has not been incorporated into the rhythm of your life yet going into the new year, this is, I mean it’s a couple of minutes a day of unfiltered wisdom poured into our lives over and over and over and it speaks in simple sentences volumes about our lives. For example, today pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, I mean let’s just stop there, if you press milker or beat milk or whip milk, you’re gonna get cream or curds or cheese right. If you press enough, like if you get punched in the nose blood is going to probably flow and we might not even think that that’s earth-shattering wisdom. It’s more like common sense, this is how things work and so we could dismiss the Proverb but we haven’t finished the Proverb, pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, pressing anger produces strife. So, we got these two statements in Proverbs that we could be like that’s just common sense everybody knows that’s how it works and then the last line hits us. Oh, that’s how it works, pressing anger produces strife. If we’re going to stir up anger were going to get fights and quarrels and strife. That’s how it works after the same fashion as if you get punched in the nose, you’re gonna have a bloody nose. Stirring up anger is an intentional thing in the same way that making cream or making curds is an intentional thing, or striking a nose is going to produce a bloody nose. So, we have really wisdom being given to us on both sides, either decision that we make. If our goal is actually how much strife and anger and bitterness can I produce inside of the space of one year, how much resentment can I create for myself to carry for the next decade in the space of one year, how many people, how many arguments, how much division and strife can I make in one year. If that’s the goal, then we have the recipe, stir up anger, stir it and stir it, press into anger, if that’s what you’re going for. I don’t think there’s anybody probably that that’s what they’re actually going for, probably the vast majority, if not all of us, would like to see the exact opposite of that in our lives and so we have the wisdom before us, don’t press in to anger, don’t stir it up, don’t whip it up, which doesn’t mean the we’re gonna have zero conflict in our lives, there won’t be any kind of disagreement or argument or there won’t be any kind of confrontation that we have to press into in the next year. That’s life. Sometimes those things those things happen, but if we’re going to go into those situations and press into anger, then we know what the result is because Proverbs has just revealed to us what we already know. This is how it works and things like this from the Proverbs incorporated into our thoughts and prayers and intentions about the future, about what’s coming in this new year, will help us to understand that the goals and desires that we want they have to be treated and paid attention to from within as well as without. And so, let’s pay attention to, Proverbs, while we’re paying attention to our own lives and where we want to steer them in the coming year.
Prayer:
And so, Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the counsel of Proverbs today. Simple, true something that we know, but so, sparkly put that it’s right before us and we cannot ignore it, we thank You for that because…because we don’t want more strife and division and anger in the new year. We’ve seen so much of what that looks like in the last few years, around the world, among Christian people, You name it, we’ve seen what divisiveness and division looks like, and we confess that big and small ways we participated in one way or another and that’s why it feels so tense and now we’re looking toward peace, we’re looking toward shalom, we’re looking for guidance on how to live from the Scriptures, which means that the Scriptures are going to invite us to make some changes. So, Holy Spirit, we invite You, we open ourselves to You, we become aware of You, we seek Your counsel, Your comfort, Your guidance, even Your discipline, even your correction as we move toward a new beginning, that we might finish what we started this journey, that we might finish strong and well so that we move into the new year strong and prepared. Holy Spirit come into this we pray, in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
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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.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hello Daily Audio Bible, this is your girl Stephanie Hickman and I’m calling in to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I love you so much DAB family and friends. Hope you’re doing well. Continually praying for you. Happy Holiday’s everyone.
Hi, this is Josie calling from Texas, this is my first time calling and I am asking for prayers for my husband and myself. He is in the hospital. He had a hemorrhage and now dealing with withdrawals. And I am asking for prayers for not only physical healing but spiritual healing, that he feel the presence of God. And just asking for prayers for me for trust and peace and that I feel God’s presence and His work in all of this. God Bless, thanks.
Hey family, my name is Navi from Canada. I’m just calling regarding the lady who called in today’s December 21st, so, she called in, I heard the phone call today, her message today. So, she’s requesting prayer for her marriage, she’s been newlywed a year and a half, I guess, I think. I am praying for her; I am praying for you. I’m praying for your marriage and for the restoration of the communication in your marriage. And I pray that the Lord will show Himself strong in the midst of you two. In the name of Jesus. I am also praying for the lady who, who is buying, who bought alcohol just because she couldn’t handle the weight of being alone in the holidays. And I am also praying for her. I’m praying that she will experience the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of her pain and her loneliness. Thank you, family. I really feel blessed by all your prayers and encouragement. Thank you, Brian, so much. Thank you, bye.
Hello DABers, this is Emily, of Emily and Jim. And I want to share with you a DAB Christmas story. See Jim, is in Texas right now. He went back to get the spouse visa but now we need a lawyer and I’m here in Wales and it’s really hard. We don’t know where God wants us to be in Wales, housing prices are crazy. I have a great job but we want to ministry and we really miss each other. This is our first Christmas apart in the 12 years we’ve been together. I miss him. So, when Brian announced the Christmas’s boxes this year, I thought, you know, I’m gonna send Jim a Christmas box. And I sent it to Jim LOML – love of my life – Mecelle. I got the address messed up and Sarah Jane was amazing a fixed the address but she’s really sneaky because she didn’t tell me that there was a box that was coming to me Emily LOML – love of my life – Mecelle from Jim. And so, when I opened the box, it was just like we were together. And we decided we we’re gonna play the CDs together, I’m getting emotional. And I just love this community. And I thank you Brian and Jill and Sarah Jane for helping us to feel more together this Christmas. And I just bless this community for the way you’ve supported us through thick and thin and continue to support us, through your prayers. And I just bless you and thank you and wish you a very Merry DAB Christmas.
Good morning, everybody. Hey, this is Annette Allison, I haven’t called in a while. The COVID got me down and just really messed up my voice. I guess I kind of got kind of embarrassed. But anyways, I love you guys. I hope everyone has a most Merry and Joyful Christmas and know that if you don’t think anybody loves you, you know that I sure do. Because you guys are the best part of my whole family and I love you, thank you Brian and Jill and all of your wonderful family. I love you guys all so very much. And, I hope everybody has a great New Year and make Jesus your number 1, right. Love you, all. Bye Bye.