Month: May 2022

1 Samuel 18:5-19:24, John 8:31-59, Psalms 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 do what we do and take the next step forward together on our adventure through the Scriptures this year. And we have worked our way all the way into the books of Samuel and the emerging time of the Kings. So, King Saul is Israel’s first king, and he’s the king right now where we’re reading. But another man has emerged and been anointed as King and his name is David. And David’s very presence unsettles and destabilizes Saul. And, so, let’s get into the story and see what unfolds before us today. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. First Samuel chapter 18 verse 5 through 19 verse 24.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s take a look at what’s going on in the book of first Samuel because now there is a king, his name is Saul. We know that, and we’ve been watching him, and we’ve seen that he’s not a very stable person because he is a supreme insecurity issue and definitely is afraid of what people think about him. And now his life is intertwined with David who is a really good looking young man, but is a commoner, is a shepherd, wasn't…I mean, he’s like the youngest in his family. There…he wasn’t on any kind of trajectory to bring him into any kind of fame or fortune or notoriety of any sort. It’s just that he killed the giant, Goliath and that does not go unnoticed. He initiated a great victory for Israel. The armies of Israel were present and saw this happen. As the armies returned back to their villages and their homes like the word spreads about what happened. And, so, this lowly shepherd boy, although he has character and integrity and is good-looking and well-built and everything, he’s still a lowly person in his family and he is thrust into the spotlight. Like, he has to learn some things really fast because he’s gone from being sort of like an isolated shepherd, a person who spends a lot of time alone, a lot of time among the animals and now he’s a national hero. And one of the things we should start to observe right from the get go as we get to know David is his posture. He…he is a national hero. He did defeat the giant, Goliath, but he knows that it wasn’t in his own strength, that God allowed him to do this. And, so, he is in no way puffing himself up like he’s the new thing and that he’s gotta maximize on the traction and get as many followers to follow him as he possibly can. And when he issues decrees…and this sounds a whole lot like social media…but when he issues decrease, people listen. Like, he’s not doing that. He’s trying to stay low to the ground and look at his surroundings because all he’s known is like introverted, shepherding, and now he’s gotta navigate things that…he's…he’s coming into contact with people he would’ve never met. And then there’s the song of the women. “Saul has killed his thousands but David is killed is tens of thousands.” That’s not a good sign. That’s not a good sign in Saul’s mind either. And that gets in his mind and starts working in his mind and his mind starts concocting all kinds of scenarios and he starts to spin. And, so, just in what we read today Saul tried to kill David by spearing him while David was playing music. David had to like…in a hand-to-hand combat, close quarter sort of way, escape. And then Saul decided to send David into battle and like…kinda like honor him, but send him into a battle where he would probably be killed so that that would be the end of David and Saul wouldn’t have to worry about David anymore and Saul didn’t lift a hand against him. It was the enemy who killed him. He died in battle. He can be a great remembered hero, but he won’t have a future. But David was successful in everything that he did in his humility, and the people are starting to follow David because they see that he’s not trying to play the politics here, he’s just trying to survive and understand what’s going on and honor God in what he does and honor his king in what he does. And, so, then Saul, after trying to spear David, after trying to send him into battle to get killed decides to bring him even closer and invites him to marry his daughter. And he ends up marrying his daughter, Michal, Michal, the one who loved to David, but even in this there’s trickery, hoping that David will be unsuccessful. And, so, David being a commoner, he doesn’t have a lot of money, he can’t pay the bride price, he can’t enter into royalty, but what the king wants is 100 foreskins from the Philistines. We know what we’re talking about here, right? We’re talking about David and his men going and killing 100 of the enemy and then, you know, taking their manhood as it were, and bringing it back in, I don’t know, a baggie or basket or whatever, something to display to the king that…here…here are your foreskins. And, so, David goes out and…and doubles the price and brings back 200. And, so, David is once again successful instead of being dead. And then Jonathan, David’s friend, dear friend, is pulled into an assassination plot, but Jonathan will go along which further destabilizes Saul. And then Saul tried to kill David with his spear again. And then Saul sends troops to David’s house where his daughter is so that they can get David. And then Michal has to conspire with David to get him…to save his life, which only serves to further destabilize Saul. Now he feels like the walls are falling down around him because nobody’s loyal to him. But everybody’s looking at what he’s doing and sees it as erratic and sinful, wrong, because David’s posture hasn’t been to try to assume the throne or create some sort of military coup to take over or anything like that. He’s trying to stay low to the ground and figure out what he’s doing. He’s trying to be humble and loyal understanding that God is his only hope. Now that…even though he is for the king, the king wants him dead. So, what hope does he have? God. God is his only hope and he knows it. And here’s what’s interesting. Saul, king Saul, and David both know Samuel the prophet and both know God and worship God. Saul is being led into insecurity and paranoia. His jealousy and envy about David and his fear about what he looks like, his fear of his image are pulling him away from God. We’ve watched this since we met him. These things are pulling him away from God. But Saul’s erratic behavior and his insecurities and his paranoia are affecting David and they are pushing him toward God because David understands God is his only hope for survival. And we have all had these kinds of feelings on both sides before. And when we look into the things that David wrote, for example in the Psalms, we see David’s heart cry all of the time - my enemies are coming down upon me, deliver me, you are my only hope, defeat them. So, if we want to boil this down to just the basics, we can see that the attributes that are being displayed in Saul’s life are leading him away from God and the attributes that are present in David’s life are leading him to God. And we can see this in black-and-white in the story and then find this to be a mirror into our own hearts. Probably none of us are trying to pin somebody to the wall with a sword. But my goodness, we have pinned people to the wall with word swords plenty. None of us or most of us aren’t royalty with that kind of authority and so it’s taken out on the inside of us and it comes out in our words or in our malicious behavior’s. But as we can see pretty clear from the life of Saul from the Bible from the book of first Samuel, it’s not going anywhere. It’s not improving things. Saul falling into the darkness and trying to assassinate David isn’t making Saul better. Saul thinks if David’s just dead everything will be better, but it won’t because the problems were inside Saul before he ever made David. David is just the focus of his anger at this point. There is a lot there for us to think about and there is a lot that we can find in Saul inside of us. But thankfully, there’s a lot that we can see in David that is also within us. And, so, this war that sort of wages leads us to our own strength and our own erratic behavior or our complete surrender and understanding that God is our only hope, which is something that the Bible has been teaching us almost from the very beginning.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and what it brings up innocent and brings up a lot, especially in stories like this where we have these contrasts because we realize we can be Saul and we can be David in the same day. And that shows us how destabilized perhaps we are in certain areas when certain things flip a trigger, a switch comes on then we immediately go into a certain mode. And maybe if we were able to examine it that mode has never worked well, maybe it’s only ever been destructive. But regardless of our behaviors or our patterns, what we begin to realize is when we try to navigate on our own no matter what phobia or no matter what illness or no matter what thing might be coming against our minds, invariably if we follow those paths, we are being pulled away from You. When we humble ourselves and see ourselves as we really are in our own strength, we are nothing. We are like the smallest member of the smallest clan in the smallest tribe. Like, we are nothing. All that we have is what You have given us, and that gives us a heart of gratitude, and that gives us a heart of trust knowing that You will provide what we need. And that allows us to stay true to You and loyal to You rather than in the erratic nature of trying to navigate things on our own and discern what everybody thinks about everything and how that affects us. Holy Spirit, come into this because this hits us where we live. Help us we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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And yeah, check out the Community section. The community section is where there are links to get connected on the different social media channels that we participate in, but also the Prayer Wall is there in the Community section. And the Prayer Wall is a resource that day or night is there for us. If we need to pour our heart out and ask our brothers and sisters to pray for us because we’re getting crushed by the burdens of life and we just…yeah…we’re getting crushed and so we can’t hardly get up and walk, we can reach out and our brothers and sisters will pray for us and let us know that they’re praying for us. Or maybe we just can’t sleep. Or maybe it’s a great day and we feel particularly grateful, and we want to go pray for some of our brothers and sisters who are struggling. It’s funny how it's…it’s so nice to know when we’re struggling somebody will pray for us, but it’s also nice to know that it’s like a big circle and we will find ourselves in better days and know that brothers and sisters need us to pray for them. It’s how we move through this and take the next step forward together. And, so, the Prayer Wall is a great place for that. So, be familiar with that. Check that out. It’s in the Community section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this mission to…to take the next step forward together day by day step-by-step, move through the Scriptures together in community, if that is life-giving and makes a difference in your life then thank you for your partnership. 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 or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB family this is Chris from Virginia I’m calling for prayer for God’s Yellow flower as she recovers from colon surgery. Please pray with me Jeremiah 17:14. Heal me O Lord and I will be healed. Save me and I will be saved for you are the one I praise. Father God, we come to You now asking for healing for God’s Yellow flower. Father she’s been there for us over the years praying hard for this family and loving You Father. Father, we ask for complete healing and we pray that this situation bring glory to this __. I thank You Father for __ in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning from beautiful Cincinnati OH it’s Daniel Johnson junior, how are you right now? It’s been quite a month for me. The last four weeks have been ups and downs and a lot of downs but to me I think that getting to a place of surrender has been so helpful, so important. Have had hospital…my mom’s been in a hospital stay. I’ve had reduced capacity for work because of injuries, personal injuries to my foot to my lower back and God’s been working through it all. And I guess I felt inspired to come up with something off the top of my head this morning that I’m going to share with you.

Oh the sweet sweet surrender that which I desperately need
The giving over completely to Your will may I heed
to that sweet sweet surrender it’s what I longed to feel
because to You oh Lord I now must fully kneel
It’s definitely not so easy at first but to do it so I must
Please help me oh Lord with my lack of trust
for in that sweet sweet surrender I truly find my rest
and in that sweet surrender I’m finally my best.

So, God bless you from beautiful Cincinnati OH it’s Daniel Johnson junior your brother here listening to your prayers, longing to be with you in person but knowing that we have that heavenly home waiting for us. Make it…

Good morning this is Donna Longing to be God’s Light in Pennsylvania, and this is a prayer for God’s Yellow Flower who called in this morning to report she’s recovering from surgery, emergency surgery to repair a ruptured colon. So, Father God I lift up God’s yellow flower who has blessed us with her wisdom and faith when she calls in and I ask that You would bless her today, magnify her faith, bless and heal her body completely and quickly, relieve any pain or discomfort. I ask that You would bless those who care for her, bless her family and bless others through her, through her faith and through the Holy Spirit that works in her. I pray all these things in Your precious name. Jesus’ name…

Good morning DAB family. Hi. I’d like to share something and ask for prayer. I have a strong tendency to solve problems, at least try to and I insert myself into family situations and even though I am not asked for help or my opinion. Instead, I need to lay the situations down at the feet of Jesus, pray, and do spiritual warfare. I need to shut up and be still and know that He is God. I ask for prayer you guys. God is for us He’s not against us and He’ll fight our battles for us. He says so in his word. So, as I try to make a life change, I ask for your prayers in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you, you guys. Big hugs to all of you.

Hi family this is Melody Faith calling from Canada. I haven’t called for a while but I’m sending a turn SOS to the aid of my DAB family to please pray for my son who’s having some big problems. They’re just too big for me to talk about right now, for my husband who has just been diagnosed with some tumors. I feel kind of overwhelmed but it’s not about me it’s about them and the fact that we need an intervention. We need God to come through. We are just asking that you guys just remember us in prayer. Thank you so much. Love you all.

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

Today is the 15th day of May, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great, wonderful to be here with you, as we throw open the door and walk into a brand-new week together, that is just calling us forward. We’ll write the story of our lives on this week, at least for the week of this year and this year of our lives. So, let’s choose wisely, let’s choose wisdom, let’s slow down and realize that she is at every crossroads. And one of the ways we seek wisdom is to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures each day and so let’s do that. We’re working through the Book of first Samuel and through the life of Israel’s first king, and we’ve seen some of the weaknesses that are really debilitating to Samuel and it’s kinda amping up, he’s getting more and more erratic as, well, as his image becomes more important than obeying God. It is leading him into some pretty dark places and it leads us in the same direction. But we have also met this young, good-looking, sturdy boy named David, who has been anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, which, as you can imagine in Saul’s state, he’s not going to just be like oh good, good, now I can just go back to whatever I was doing before. He’s certainly gonna try to protect his kingdom and his dynasty. And so, it is inevitable that David and Saul are on a collision course. Today, we will see how David rises to prominence from obscurity, first Samuel chapter 17 verse 1 through 18 verse 4, today and we’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and this brand-new week that we are entering into and all of the things that we are learning and have yet to learn. And as we see the entanglement beginning in Saul’s life between David and Saul, may we find wisdom there, as we watch the story unfold, as we look into it and find situations that we understand, from situations that we’ve been in. We need Your counsel and You’ve given us the counsel of the Scriptures. We thank You for that, lead us into all truth, Holy Spirit, as we devote ourselves to the Scriptures and understanding. Lead us into all truth, we pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi, this is Victorious Soldier, just calling to pray for some of the DABers. I want to pray for Walking in the Light in Tennessee, she’s going through some challenges with her roof and with her son and with the father, she lost her father in the ministry. I’m gonna pray for my precious sister. I also want to pray for Radio Man, I wanna pray for him and the challenges that he’s going through. I want to pray for David, whose wife had a break down. I wanna pray for him. I also want to pray for the gentleman, who, I think it was his brother who was in the hospital, who was a welder and he’s gonna be in the hospital but I want to also pray for that gentleman. And give life and favor, pray life and favor to the DABers, that God will open doors and break down strong holds in life and in their children and family’s life. Gracious Father, we praise You, Lord we just ask you to touch Your, to touch my sister Walking in the Light, to touch Radio Man and to also touch David and his wife from Budapest. Father, I ask that You touch, I ask that You heal, I ask that You deliver as only You can. You are a God that can do anything but fail. I ask You to have Your way Lord. That You open doors that no man can close and that You close doors that no man can open. Father, You have Your way. You heal and You deliver. You set the captives free. Oh Father, we just ask You to have Your way in the sons light. In the name of Jesus. Oh Lord, You have Your way. Let Your precious will be done and we’ll give You the glory. We ask You to touch Brian also, and tell him thank you for the podcast and give You all the glory and honor and the praise for the victor has been won. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello family, this is Justin. It’s May 12th and this is the first time I’ve called in. I discovered the podcast and I would just hope you all could pray for me. I’m struggling with some work burnout and anxiety and bitterness. It’s been a rough couple of months, there was a lot of disappointment, a lot of anger. In many ways it pushed me away from God. But now, that I’m coming back, I’m finding that I really, I have a lot of burnout, I’ve got a lot of anxiety and sometimes on edge. Kind of small things that would normally just you know, not lead to issues or getting me to panic, almost. I sometimes wake up at night you know, thinking about work. I’m just praying that you would help me to heal from these anxieties, these stresses, the burnout from anger and all these other things. And that God would either make my job more bearable, a list of these burdens or you know, open the door to something new that would bring life to me and help me to honor and glorify Him. So, I’m not sure if anyone else has been in this situation but I would appreciate your prayers because you know, it’s kind of rough and I thank you for your time and I thank you for your prayers.

Good morning, Daily Bible Audio, my name is Jesus, I’m calling from South Florida. And this morning I would like to pray for as sister who called on yesterday’s podcast May 10th. Her name, she goes by Light in Tennessee. And my sister, I am on my knees now praying, asking God to give you the strength to be strong for what you’re going through. To part the waters and help you remove the mountains that you face in front of you. My sister, I also am an recovering alcoholic. Just like you are being there for your son, the only support I have is my mother. They say a mother’s prayer is the closest we got from the blessings from God. Keep praying for your son. I pray that the Lord restores everything that you lost. With your car, with work, and everything. May you be restored. May the glory of God restore everything, everything that has been put aside from you, my sister. I pray this in the Holy name of Jesus. I myself, am in recovery. And I seek, I seek to be able to bring this light to many. Thank you so much for listening and pray for you, my sister, Light in Tennessee. Keep that light shining. Keep the light shining. Dark don’t know light unless we bring it in. In the name of Lord Jesus Christ, I pray restoration in your life. I pray for recovery, for abundance, that the Lord will sustain you under water, blessings just flow in your life. And that you and your faith continue to be strong. Light in Tennessee, shine, shine, shine as bright as you can. Brian, thank you so much for this Daily Audio, thank you for this podcast. Like you say every day after every podcast is done, I love you. That means …

Hello everyone, my name is Michael in North Carolina. Today, I’m calling on Thursday, May 12th 2022. To ask if ya’ll could please pray for me. For the last couple of weeks, I feel like I have just been dwelling in a sinful nature a lot and I don’t like it when I feel like it when I’ve been dwelling in a sinful nature. And it just feels like I’ve been, kind of rebelling against the Lord. And I just do not like those feelings at all, the dwelling in sin and you know, just like I feel like I’ve abandoned God even though I’ve been trying to tune into the Daily Audio Bible here every day but. Yeah, like I said, if ya’ll could please pray for me on that and also, I feel like sometimes I’ve been taking what the Lord has all the amazing things that God has done in my life for granted. So, if ya’ll could please pray that I just, you know, try to have a grateful heart. I’m just, you know, I really appreciate what you know, God has done and He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. I’m really happy that you know, we can freely repent and you know, you know, turn back towards you know, focusing on God. And so, yeah, I can’t really think of anything else to say but I love hearing your guy’s prayers and you know, I’m trying to keep you all in prayers too. So, you know, yeah, I really appreciate this community. Thank you Brian, Jill, everyone else in the Daily Audio Bible family, than you God almighty. Peace out.

1 Samuel 15:1-16:23, John 8:1-20, Psalms 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 as we bring another one of our weeks to a close together. So, congratulations on that. We were looking out over this week just a week ago saying it was all new and how we have lived it and told the story and we just keep moving forward together. And, so, let’s do that. We’re working our way through the book of first Samuel and immersing ourselves in the life and times of Israel’s first king, king Saul. Today first Samuel 15 and 16.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word and another week as we continue this journey and make our way into the center of another month. And we just keep moving day by day and you keep speaking, day by day through the Scriptures, through the guidance of your Holy Spirit, through the fellowship of brothers and sisters around us. We thank you. We thank you for what you have begun to speak to us in the book of first Samuel as we look into Saul’s life and as we watch and be more concerned with his image than with who he actually is or could be. May that be our story Father we pray. May we be image bearers of the most high God, and nothing else. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home, that’s home base. It’s the website, it’s where you can find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does the same thing in the palm of your hand, and you can get the app wherever…well…wherever the app store that’s connected to your phone is. Search for Daily Audio Bible and you’ll have that and that is the most comprehensive experience moving through the Bible in a year and that allows us to kind of check off our days, find out if we’ve missed anything, take some notes that we don’t want to forget, maybe even “star” an episode that we don’t want to forget, we want to review and go back to later in the year or just remember it. All kinds of stuff packed into the app. So, check that out.

Check out the Community section where…where we get connected and that’s where the Prayer Wall is.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for the journey we are on through the Bible in a year in community. So, check that out.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what’s happening here immersing ourselves in the Scriptures, day by day, step-by-step, to gather the next step forward together, if that is life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are 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. That’s the 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 will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Daily Audio Bible it’s Laura Lee in Boynton Beach I’m calling in to encourage and pray for Jeremiah in Michigan, Giver of Good Gifts. Jeremiah, I totally want to ask the Lord to continue to empower you to walk out that simple step of obedience to reach out after a season of boundaries that needed to be…I come from a lot of abuse, a lot of manipulation, control, greed, all of that. And with my mom having the dementia now that…that unforgiveness tries to raise itself up against the will of God __ nothing to love Him. And that looks different with parents, it looks different with siblings. And I just…Lord, heavenly Father You are able, and You are willing, and You will guide and strengthen each step of what that looks like. We have given up our rights to hold anyone accountable against what they do to us and we’re not responsible for their change but when they see what You’ve done in our lives may it be a great witness of Your great power, Your love, Your mercy and Your strength to do what reconciles, what restores, and what empowers love, which is always sacrificial because Your Son and His sacrifice and Your sacrifice of giving Him to us and the work of the Holy Spirit. All of that on our behalf when we didn’t deserve it, nor could we earn it. So, yes, I pray You bless the meeting with his parents. I pray that his parents have open hearts and open minds and open eyes in Jesus’…

Good morning DAB my name is Jesus I’m calling from South Florida and this morning I am calling on a prayer request for my sister Jones from upstate New York. She called for the prodigal children. I myself and in a waiting time and trusting God that He will bring my daughter back home. The situation at home where my wife and her couldn’t get along and that’s our daughter, that’s our blood daughter and she left…and she left, and she has been out of contact with us for a while. But anyway, sister Jones from upstate New York I am thankful that you called. Happy belated Mother’s Day to all of you. And I want to thank you so much sister Jones for having the heart and patience and trust in the Lord God that he would bring your children home. My children also, my daughter also has two boys and a girl and but she also knows the Lord and was just derailed by the ways of this world, you know. I pray…I pray for all the parents especially mothers who patiently wait on the Lord in the name of their prodigal children back home. And the Lord will give us the trust that we need and help and the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to pray not just for our needs for the parents that are waiting on the return of their children. Dear God oh Holy Spirit you’re the one left behind to guide us. I pray that you’d be the lead that we need, the guidance that we seek. As you hold within us the trust that we need to have in God to know that one way or another whether our children come back, may they just be safe in his presence God. I pray this with my heart wide open and…and thank you sister Jones for upstate New York for bringing your message and may the Lord guide your children back home…

Dear family and friends this is Heather from California. Just wanted to let you know couple things. First, my husband Dike who’s been at the hospital in rehab for a month, he’s coming home tomorrow praise the Lord thank You Lord and thank you for praying for us. And pray for him to be able to get home and be relaxed and help us with the caregiver and, yeah, that the Lord will watch out for Dike because I have a long room with my mom. Praise God her white count has got up. But we do have some issues that are going on with her liver now. The enzymes are pretty high. So, we need prayer on that that the enzymes…that the medicine works so that way she doesn’t have to be off of chemo for too long. And, so, I’m just so thankful to you guys. I can’t even sign you how blessed. Like 13 weeks has been so crazy and it’s gonna be crazy still because…anyways…it’s been crazy because my husband’s gonna be here and I gotta go take care of my mom and thank God for my sister-in-law Becky that she’s gonna help me with my mom because caregivers are very expensive. Oh, my goodness. Thank You Lord for family. I just want to let you guys know that I get up every morning and read with you guys, so I feel like I’m not alone. And I know that God is always there and always with me, and my family and I just want to tell you guys how much I love you. And thanks Brian. You are the best bud. I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate your daily “I love you. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Thank you, guys. Love you.

Hi DAB family this is Joanna from this Pacific Northwest, and I am on a sick day today which is actually kind of nice. I’m just sitting at home drinking tea and listening to the DAB. And this morning I was struck by just how beautiful this community is that we’re from all different backgrounds and cultures and political sides and whatnot but we all can come together on our love for Jesus and our pursuit of His word and I just…I love that. So, I just wanted to pray and encourage you all this morning. Jesus thank You so much that Your…Your community is founded on I love for You Lord. Thank You that You have blessed You us beyond what we see in this world, beyond the limits that our culture and our understanding of each other has but Lord Your Spirit comes in unites us. You give us love and peace and joy and gentleness for each other. You give us healing and insight and such tenderness and compassion from You that we can share with each other. So, Jesus I’m just so glad to…so glad follow You, so glad for this community and for my church community. And we just praise You this morning Jesus. I pray this in Your name Lord. Amen.

1 Samuel 14:1-52, John 7:31-53, Psalm 109:1-31, Proverbs 15:5-7

Today is the 13th day of May, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, and it’s wonderful to be here with you today. Just like it’s wonderful to be together any day. Especially, centered around what we’re doing, which is to take the next step forward in the Scriptures, together. And so, truly, wonderful to be with you today, around the Global Campfire. We are working our way through the Book of 1st Samuel. 1st Samuel introduced us to Samuel and his leadership as the final judge of Israel. And then, we were introduced to Israel’s first king, that Samuel anointed, and his name is King Saul. And so, we’ll spend the rest of the time that we have in 1st Samuel reviewing the life of King Saul and some of his interactions with Samuel. And so, let’s pick up the story. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, 1st Samuel chapter 14.

Commentary:

Okay, so again, in the Book of 1st Samuel we are watching Saul and his reign and his style of leadership and once again, we’ve seen that he’s navigated himself into a really awkward position. And we know that Saul has a pretty profound fear of man, we’ve already been able to witness this day-by-day and today is no different. It’s just that the thing that he was trying to avoid, which is to look weak before his men, is the very thing that he navigates himself into. And so, Jonathan, the Prince of Israel, the son of Saul, decides to go check out what’s going on with the Philistines and he believes that the Lord has handed them into the hands of Israel. And so, they have this criteria and there’s a cliff and they climb up this cliff and a battle begins and Jonathan slays a bunch of Philistines, and that begins to cause an up roaring of the Philistine camp. And so, that amps up until the Israelites, including Saul, can hear that there’s commotion in the Philistine camp. And so, something’s going on. And eventually, they realize that they have a military opportunity to defeat the Philistines in this battle. And so, Saul makes all of his troop’s vow not to eat a thing until the enemy has been vanquished. It just turns out that fighting in hand-to-hand combat burns a lot of calories. And so, the men become exhausted and in capable of pressing into this battle further because they don’t have any energy. And eventually they’re so famished that you know, they’re killing livestock and just eating the livestock with the blood still in it, which is obviously against the Mosaic Law. So, Saul’s decision to be like, decisive in his leadership position, actually limits what is possible and what is capable to be done by…by the Army. Meanwhile, Jonathan, who started this skirmish, got the whole thing going, and initiating the victory for Israel, he doesn’t know about this vow. And so, he eats some honey and he is refreshed and restored until he finds out that there was a vow and he wasn’t supposed to eat anything. This ultimately comes down to Saul deciding that somebody in the camp has sinned and must die because they have sinned against the Lord in a way that is worthy of capital punishment. And in the end, the fact that Jonathan had eaten some honey comes out. And now, Saul is in this really awkward position because he has vowed that the sinner was going to die even if it was his own son, which it turned out to be in this case. And so, Saul is going to kill his son, the heir to the throne of Israel in order to remain this decisive leader. It’s just that, the men know that Jonathan brought about the victory, this all began with Jonathan and he didn’t know about the vow. And so, they stand against their king and say “surely as the Lord lives, not a hair on his head will be touched, it was God, through Jonathan, that brough about the victory”. So, Saul, probably was relieved that he didn’t have to watch his be executed but he also, ends up, looking weak, which is something that he’s trying to avoid, even if it would cost him his son. And so, we can see that these issues are pretty deep in Saul’s life and we’re not finished experiencing them. In fact, if we’re paying attention, this mantle of leadership that is on Saul, is beginning to really destabilize him. And it’s not to much of a stretch for us to consider what we would do to avoid humiliation or looking weak. And what kind of insecurities are destabilizing us.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the story of King Saul. And we thank You for what it surfaces in our own lives as we consider. Certainly, we don’t have the type of decision to make like a king would, but we definitely experience the kinds of insecurities that Saul seems to have. And so, Holy Spirit, come and speak to us in those places. The erratic things that we will go to in order to avoid looking weak. The things that destabilize us to the point that we are constantly pretending to be something different that who we are. You have created us to be who we are. It matters that we are, who we are, in Your Kingdom. Help us to realize that we don’t have to pretend. You’ve invited us into freedom, may we walk in it. And we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s 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.

1 Samuel 12:1-13:23, John 7:1-30, Psalms 108:1-13, Proverbs 15:4

Today is May 12^th welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you around the Global Campfire. Come on in. Find a place. There’s always room. And we gather here to take the next step forward like we do every day through the Bible, next day forward in life and in this year. And our next step leads us back into the book of first Samuel, where we have met Israel’s first king. His name is Saul, and we will be spending some time now moving through the stories of Saul’s life and there are plenty of things for us to learn along the way. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. First Samuel 12 and 13.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’re getting to know Israel’s first king, king Saul and I mentioned that there’s a bunch of stuff for us to examine in his life because it becomes a mirror into our own lives. And Saul as the king as a leader has a bit of weakness and that is the fear of man. He is very interested in what people are thinking about him, how things are appearing and that clouds his leadership. And that is not to say that leaders shouldn’t be aware or even concerned with what people that their leading think or feel. Like, that’s important. But Saul is the king. His loyalty is supposed to be to God on behalf of the people. But he’s more concerned with what the people are thinking and saying, then obeying God, which is not going to work out. Like, if there’s anything we’ve learned so far from our time in the Bible is that following those pathways, they don’t end up anywhere good. So, yesterday as Saul is anointed the king of Israel we found that the tribes…the tribe of Benjamin was called forward then the clan then the family and then Saul and Saul’s hiding. In today’s reading Saul’s son Jonathan, the prince of Israel has stirred up some trouble with the Philistines and so there’s going to be a battle and Saul has assembled some troops and they are preparing but Samuel had said wait until I get there for a sacrifice. Saul waits a week, notices that some of his men are beginning to withdraw. Maybe they have a little bit of a gossip session going around. Who knows, but Saul sees that his strength seems to be diminishing as the king while they wait for the prophet Samuel. And, so, Saul decides to offer these sacrifices to God in front of his men to sort of hold things together. About the time that he completes the sacrifice Samuel shows up and is wondering what in the world is going on, because God had commanded Saul to wait for Samuel. And, so, Samuel inquires, like what’s happening and that’s where we see in Saul’s defense. That’s where we see what’s motivating him. So, Saul says, and I quote, “when I saw that the men were scattering and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash I thought now the Philistines will come down against me and Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord’s favor, so I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering. And, so, Saul basically gives his recipe for disobeying God, right? I mean, he saw that the men were scattering, that Samuel didn’t show up at the time he said, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash and those three things together whipped up into his mind, allowed him to make a decision to disobey the Almighty God who had made him king of Israel. What is the recipe for us? What sets of circumstances would need to happen in order for us to override what we know is right in disobey God? What has to happen to trigger us to start doing things in our own strength again? Probably a lot less than an assembling army of Philistines. We are all guilty, but if we look into Saul’s life, if we see what happens right here we see that it goes nowhere good. Samuel replies to Saul, you have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, He would’ve established your kingdom over Israel for all time, but now your kingdom will not endure. And he goes on to tell him that the Lord is looking for someone pure in heart, someone after God’s own heart, someone who won’t have a recipe for disobedience. And that is what’s going to happen. So, Saul just got anointed in yesterday’s reading as the king and in today’s reading it’s all over. Now, from today’s reading week we learn that Saul was 30 years old we he became the king and he reigned for 42 years. And, so, what Samuel is telling Saul that is going to happen didn’t happen that very day. It took some time to happen, but the idea that Saul would have a dynasty and that his son would sit in his place on the throne as king and then his grandson and then his great-grandson, and so on and so forth, Saul will be the only one of his family to ever be king. And, so, it allows us to just kind of wonder, what if Saul didn’t have that weakness? What if his heart was after God and obeying God above all things? What would this story look like? Which allows us to look at our own story and wonder the same kinds of things and those are worthy of considering. We’ll get to sort of see the answer to that question. It’s gonna take some time, but there’s gonna be another king, and the next king is a very flawed very human person but is a man after God’s own heart. So, not only do we have Saul as a mirror into our own lives and the things that we fear in the things that kind of pull us in all sorts of directions, but we’ll be able to contrast that with the next king. And it’s gonna to take it little bit of time like I said, but his name will be David and we’ll meet him soon and we’ll get to know him long before he ever becomes King.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You. We thank You for where we are in the Scriptures, we thank You for where we are in the yearly and we thank You for Your love and kindness and graciousness and compassion for us as we take this journey. And Holy Spirit as we consider even what we were just talking about today, what three things would need to happen for us to decide that the best move in our lives is to be disobedient to You and willingly do what we know is not right? That’s a hard question. It’s a very situational thing but the answer should be, we would never do anything. It would be the most unsafe thing to do, to openly rebel against You. And yet we’ve done that so many times we wouldn’t even be able to keep track. And thankfully You’re not keeping track either or we would be utterly doomed. But You have loved us and forgiven us and restored us and You continue to restore us, and You continue to sanctify us and set us apart. And, so, as we embrace that process, part of that is to reflect upon our own lives and our own motivations. What are we afraid of that would make us disobey You? Holy Spirit, we invite You into that question as we consider today, and we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, and you can find out what’s going on around here there. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can do the same thing. The Daily Audio Bible app can be acquired at whatever app store is connected to whatever device that you use. Just search for Daily Audio Bible and you can download the app for free. And it’s a fantastic way to engage and move through the Scriptures in a year and kind of keep track of what’s going on and where we are in the grand scheme of things as we take this journey through the Bible. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what’s happening here around the Global Campfire brings life and good news and hope and joy and encouragement, not to mention the voice of the Scriptures into our lives every day, if that is meaningful and matters to you then thank you for your partnership. 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. That’s the little red button up at the top or there are a number of numbers that you can call depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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:

Good morning DABber family this is the Burning Bush that we not be devoured for the glory of our God and king. I’m calling to wish China Jill and all the DABber family moms happy Mother’s Day. I pray to God that you’re having a blessed day, that you’re acknowledging the blessing that God has given to you to be able to birth humans on this planet or to parent humans on this planet. So, God bless you. For those who are estranged from their kids right now, I am praying for you that God will fill that gap in your heart and that God will warm the hearts of your kids towards you. I pray for healing in those relationships. For those of us who have lost our mothers and are struggling how to celebrate this day, I pray for all of you and all of us that God will continue to assure us of His presence and that He’s a parent of all the parentless. But anyway, I just wanted to share that with all my family today. I love you guys. Love you, love you. May God bless and keep you. Amen.

Hey, my DAB family this is big shoes tiny feet from Norway. I just want to thank you for the work you’re doing Harden family and also DABC for doing an amazing job. And it brings me really closer to God and it changes me every day. And also, I just want to shout out to God’s Smile in Cheeky Peter. You guys, you lift my spirit every time. It doesn’t matter how bad of a day I’m having you guys just cheer me up. So, just thank you for calling in and being who you are. Bye.

Mother’s days coming to a close and I hope that all you mothers out there have had a very blessed day, any mother who is not just biological there have been those who have been adopted moms. Some are waiting to be moms, and some are care givers for other children. Whatever kind of a mom you are may the Lord bless you and keep you strong as you continue to care for the children you love. Today I’m asking for prayer for my friend and sister, God’s Yellow Flower. She had to be taken to hospital by ambulance this afternoon and she may have had or in the process of having surgery at this moment. Her daughter and son-in-law are away on a cruise and it’s her son Keith with the fourth stage cancer and her two grandsons that are at home. She may be in hospital anywhere from two to five days. Could you please send a concert prayer up to our heavenly Father for her? This is a difficult moment. And, you know, she will be concerned about Keith and Keith will be concerned about her. But please just pray with me for her.

Father God thank You for this day You have given us. Thank You for the weekend. Thank You for all of the ways in which You have blessed us and all the opportunities we have had to serve. Open our eyes Lord to see what You are doing and how we can help. Help us to be salt and light. Help us to be Your ambassadors and to be a good witness to our communities and our work colleagues and our family. Please be at work in their hearts and minds. Lord, we lift up the care givers to You thinking especially of our brother David and his wife penny and son Zach. Thank You, Lord for their love and desire to help and to care. Please be giving them what they need. Lord, please be giving guidance and wisdom on what to do. We ask You just to be at work in the whole situation. We do pray for healing Lord and for restoration. Please be blessing their marriage and the other caring relationships out there. Please be at work Lord in just giving them what they need and restoring them and guiding them. In Jesus’ holy and precious name. Amen.

Good morning. First, I’d just like to say what a blessing and a gift from God this ministry is to me and how thankful I am to hear the word of God being read to me in this season of life. It’s just bringing great understanding and teaching me to really listen and pay attention. So, I’m so thankful Brian for your gift in this ministry to read the word to us. Thank you. Praying for many of you as I hear your voices and your hearts and believing and standing in agreement as you lift your prayer requests up to us and the praises. Just so thankful I can rejoice when we hear the praises and the testimonies. This morning as I heard the little girl call in about her brother, they had called a while back, and I just thought of the scripture, out of the mouth of babes God has ordained praise. And, so, this morning I stand with this little girl as she’s asking prayer for her brother who it sounds is a prodigal, that he would come home. And I was reminded that the Lord sees her brother and knows exactly where he’s at. And, so, Father, we thank you this morning that you hear the hearts of this little girl and her family, their prayers. You hear them. There’s not one thing that they care about that you don’t care about. And, so, we stand with her and her family today believing for the return of the brother, that his heart will be totally surrendered to you, living for you, and there will be a testimony behind their prodigal life that says you reached into the depths of his darkness and brought him back into the light. And, so, we thank you this morning God for his return in Jesus’ name. Amen.