Month: December 2022

Nahum 1:1-3:19, Revelation 8:1-13, Psalm 136:1-26, Proverbs 30:7-9

Today is the 17th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is a joy and a privilege and an honor to be here with you today, and a comfort too, to be around the Global Campfire together and move forward together is very, very comforting. It’s a comforting rhythm to be a part of. And so, I’m glad we could be together today. We are continuing our journey, obviously, through the Scriptures this year, but were continuing our journey through the minor prophets and so, we have reached the seventh of the minor prophets and we will read it in its entirety today.

Introduction to the Book of Nahum:

The book of Nahum. And there’s pretty much nothing known about Nahum’s life. His name, the name Nahum means comforts and the book of Nahum says he’s from Elkosh. So, we know that we just don’t know what Elkosh is, was it a town, was at the village, did it have a wall, where was it? We’re not sure. Trying to place a date on this prophecy, there are some references to work with. So, Nahum mentions the conquest of Thebes by the Assyrian Empire. Thebes is in Egypt, and this is a historical event, it happened in 663 BC. So, he’s referring to this event and it doesn’t seem like he saying it prophetically, like it’s a future event. And so, we can assume that Nahum was written after 663 BC. He also talks about the fall of Nineveh, which also happened historically and that happened in 612 BC. And so, so Nahum probably wrote this prophetic utterance between 663 BC and 612 BC, between the two events that are mentioned. And this prophetic work is to foretell the destruction of Nineveh. And that was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. And Nineveh is not foreign to us. It’s only been a couple of days ago that we read the entire book of Jonah. And we certainly remember his adventures, but he was to go to Nineveh to deliver the message of judgment. The Ninevites responded with repentance and God was merciful. Nahum, on the other hand, the book that we’re about to read, is about 150 years later than Jonah. And the Ninevites did not stay in a state of repentance before the Lord. They were brutal. They were evil, the way that they treated the people that they conquered was awful. And by the time Nahum prophesies, the Assyrian Empire had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and the 10 tribes of the north were carried into exile by the Assyrians and they were assimilated and disappeared from history as tribes after that. That’s a little different than Jonah because Nahum wasn’t sent to Nineveh to declare anything. In fact, many scholars believe the Nahum’s prophecy would have been an encouragement to the kingdom of Judah and that it was probably written there in the kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel was gone, the Assyrian Empire had taken it over and they were moving people in, basically colonizing other conquered peoples and relocating them, and just moving people around so that they didn’t have an ancestral homeland other than the Empire itself. So, for those in the kingdom of Judah, having seen this up close and personal and being worried about it, then what Nahum has to say, would have brought encouragement to the people in the kingdom of Judah. Regardless, Nahum shows us, once again that God is most merciful and most patient, but He is not weak, and He will not be manipulated, and He will not stand for a nations sin forever. And with that we’ll read Nahum, which contains three chapters. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week, which is today. Nahum, 1-3.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We love You, Lord, we thank You for the Scriptures and what they mean to us, and what they mean to our lives. We are grateful, we thank You for bringing us together, yet another day in community, bringing us to the conclusion of yet another week. One of the very few remaining in this year, we thank You for the journey that we’ve been on and we look forward to continuing this journey, knowing that You have much for us. The days may be few, but that doesn’t mean You don’t have exactly what we need for us to enrich and strengthen and mature us. So, Holy Spirit come in to all that we’ve read this week, plant it in our lives, may become fruit of the Spirit, and may it be used for advancing Your kingdom. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it is where you can find out what’s happening around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does that in the palm of your hand and you can get the app from whatever app store works with your phone and you can download that for free. Just look for Daily Audio Bible.

But obviously, it’s Christmas around here. Can you believe it? A week from today is Christmas eve, like wow! We are here and so it is Christmas that is going around on around here as well as everywhere else. But the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box, the family Christmas for 2022 is still available and this is pretty much, this is pretty much last call. We’re gonna do one more shipment and them it’s, we’re gonna be in Christmas week. So, all of us will be settling in for the festivities. And so, this is kind a last call on the Christmas box 2022 for arrival in time for Christmas so, check that out. You can find it in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, either on the web or in the app, just look for the Christmas category and you’ll find it in there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, thank you, humbly, we couldn’t or wouldn’t be here it wouldn’t be possible for the Global Campfire to exist if we weren’t around, it together. And so, thank you, as we approach the end of the year humbly, 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 P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if ever prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello DAB, this is Allissa from Colorado. I called a while back, asking for prayer for my maybe because I am pregnant. And I also have kidney failure, I’m on dialysis, do my pregnancy is pretty high risk. And it is a complete miracle from the Lord. I am now 5 months along, praise the Lord. And I just wanted to ask for prayers for my baby again, just that, there is a lot of complications, potential things that could go wrong with the pregnancy, like maybe pre-term deliver. Just like, lots of different things. And so, I just wanted to ask for prayer that the Lord would sustain my baby boy and help my body to be able to carry him all the way to term. So, if you could pray for that, that would be absolutely amazing. Thank you, guys, so much. You guys are a wonderful community and I feel so blessed to be a part of this Global Campfire. Thank you and God Bless each and every one of you. Have an awesome day.

This is Candance from Oregon. I’m not feeling good. I’d love it if you’d all pray that God would restore me to full health. I’m, I’m about to have a heart stress test. I’ve had two emergency room visits in the last 48 hours. So, so Candace from Oregon and I need ya’ll to know how much love you and how much I appreciate you. And wow, like you guys are unbelievable fellowship. So, thank you. And Brian, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Keep it up. Love ya’ll.

Hi DAB family. This is Prisoner of Hope. I just wanted to share something with you, that I heard in community prayer. This was actually a few months ago. I heard somebody calling in and asking and praying for first responders. And I thought that they meant they were praying for those who called into pray. And those who are praying in the background. And I just got it wrong. They were praying for firemen, policemen, you know, all those types of workers. But it just made me think, well, wait a second, I what I heard actually is true, in a sense. Not that that’s what they were praying for but that we are first responders. We respond to every person you know, that calls in and asks for prayers. And you know who you are who are praying. And I know there are so many people who are praying in the background. And that we never even hear your voice. But I just wanted to, to be blessed and to think of yourself as I think of myself, as a first responder. So, I just wanted to share that with you because I think that is a neat way to look at what these people need in their emergencies and in their desperations and in their need. So, I just wanted to share that with you. That’s it. Bye DAB family, I love you and God bless you.

He DAB family, this is Jonathan from Denver. I hope you’re having a great day today. It is Tuesday, December 13th, about 4 in the afternoon. I just wanted to call in and ask for your prayers. I called just yesterday, kind of giving an update. Just wanted to get in touch with the prayer family. Man is it hard right now. I’m just feeling a ton of uncertainty about where I’m going, about my future career, about my relationships, about my romantic relationship right now. It all feels very, very much on shaky ground. I just kind of feel in the dark. So, I’m asking that you would pray for God to lead me. To help me to take the next step. Kind of feel a little bit like I’m blind folded right now. But I’m trying to just you know, grab the, grab the hem of His robe and take it step-by-step and find my way through each day. But I just would really appreciate if you could offer your help and your prayers, though all of that. Cause it certainly ain’t easy. I love you all. I am still catching up. I hope to be with you all on December 31st, listening to the December 31st episode. I’ll see you then. I love you. Bye.

Micah 5:1-7:20, Revelation 7:1-17, Psalms 135:1-21, Proverbs 30:5-6

Today is the 16^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is great to be here with you like every day, wonderful to have a place to come around the Global Campfire and be together and move forward together. And moving forward today doesn’t lead us into any brand-new territory. We will complete the book of Micah in the Old Testament and continue our journey forward in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. And, yup, there will be some discussion about what we’re reading in Revelation at the very, very end, As I mentioned a good many times, several years ago we took that path and stuck with Revelation and kind of…what I realized was we had to basically skip the minor prophets and that so much territory. And, so, I went back and found those and so I’m kind of composting what we talked about in Revelation at the very end after the prayers. And, so, that’ll be there. But right now, we are here. And, so, let’s dive in and take the next step forward. We’re reading from the English Standard Version. This week Micah 5, 6, and 7 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we complete the book of Micah it comes at a really really good time because there’s some things in Micah that not only really speak to the time of year that it is, but also to our…our very lives. One of the great existential questions that we ask ourselves, whether we form it as a question and make it words or whether it’s just this kind of inner thought is, what does God really want from me? It’s an interesting question to explore at this time of year because so many of us are trying to get so many of the people that we love what they want. In fact, we may be so focused on that and so focused on how to pay for all of that, etc. etc. that we don’t even think about what God might want. What does God want? But from the book of Micah before we can get to what God wants, we have to consider what he does not want. But really before we can even get to that we have to begin with a very said question coming from God. “Oh, my people”, God says, “what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me.” The interesting thing about those questions are that we don’t normally think of God asking that kind of stuff. How have I made you weary? What have I done to you? We can see ourselves saying that to God, what I done to you? And in the passage, He’s saying. “Oh, my people”. He’s talking to everybody. But if we personalize it, which every time I come through this passage, that’s how I read it. Oh Brian, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me. And it just makes me reflect back over a year of ups and downs like life is and victories and also valleys. And, so, wonderful times of adoration and worship, but also times of complaining. So, this is a convicting passage because in so many ways it’s as if God were asking like, what else do I have to do to show you that there is a way and I love you and I will lead you if you would follow me, if you could obey me. And even in Micah, God, right after He says, how have I wearied you, He says things that He’s done. I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent you Moses and Aaron and Miriam, I sent you leaders. And then he says, remember what Balak king of Moab devised. And we remember Balak and Balaam. And Balaam was summoned to curse the Israelites at the insistence of King Balak and he couldn’t curse God’s people, but he did tell Balak what he could do, which was to seduce them away from God. Each one of us could hear a list of our own of the things that God has done that we should be profoundly grateful for. And, so, just to even think of him saying, what have I done to you, that’s pretty sad. And it reads that way because it’s supposed to read that way. That’s where we’re being led because then Micah immediately sort of in response to God saying, what have I done to you and the realization that what God has done to and for us has been for and to our good. And, so, in response, Micah’s saying essentially like what does God want? What can we give him back? What are the expectations? And, so, I quote from Micah. ““With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” And of course, it’s not what He wants. And then we find out what He does want. “He has told you O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” There it is. Like, clear as it could possibly be coming out of the pages of the Bible what God wants, that we would do what we know is right, that we would act justly, that we would love mercy. And its just in the last couple of days we were talking about how merciless we can be. He wants us to love mercy, and He wants us to walk humbly with Him. This is such a good time for us to begin to contemplate these things, not only in our immediate behaviors with those that are all around us in a crazy holiday season, but this becomes at a time of year when bigger thoughts are arising. Our rhythm is disrupted. We’re moving in all kinds of directions but we are ultimately moving to the new beginning of a brand-new year. And, so, to carry with us into the brand-new year what God wants as a baseline is so helpful. And it’s not beyond our reach. It simply requires our vigilant self-control. He wants us to do what we know is right. He wants us to act justly in every way, in a macro level, in…in a way that governance is done in cities and states and countries, nations, kingdoms all around the world, but on a more micro personal level in our own lives. Be just. Bring justice. Act justly and to love mercy. We love mercy when it is bestowed upon us. We don’t always love it when we’re required to offer it. We’re supposed to love it and to walk humbly with God, to be aware of his ongoing pervasive continual presence in our lives, to be aware of it, to know that He has invited us to collaborate to be a part of His story to love our brothers and sisters in His name. This life-changing. As simple as it is, this is life changing stuff if it is the way that our lives are going, if this is where we are aiming our lives - to pay attention to this, to walk humbly with God, to love mercy, to act justly. And, so, cheesy as it might be a in terms of trying to think of what we’re going to wrap up and put under the tree for God, at least we know what He wants. And we can give it to Him, even if that means we have to sacrifice a little, sacrifice a little of our pride, sacrifice a little of our arrogance, sacrifice a little bit of our indifference, or sacrificing all kinds of cash to get everybody else what they want. This isn’t going to cost any money. It’s not that it’s not going to cost, but it’s not going to cost us any money and can and will change our very lives. So, let’s consider that today as we continue forward into this blessed joyous season that we are in, heading toward Christmas.

Prayer:

Father, we love You, we adore You, and we are convicted by what we are seeing in Micah today. We do love You. We worship You. We do adore You. But we are also confronted by the ways that our selfishness and self-absorption rears its ugly head in our lives. But we think of the questions that You asked through Micah - what have I done to You, how if I made You weary, what have I done to make You tired of me? The answer Lord is nothing. It’s on us and we know it and just the question being asked from Your lips is so convicting. You have provided for our every need, and we are here because of Your mercy and grace in our lives. May we make some changes so that we begin to realize that we are worshiping You by the way that we love one another and take care of one another, by the way that we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with You. Holy Spirit, come and let this sink deeply into our consciousness and into our spirit, that we may make changes that we can make and surrender to You in the ways that we cannot make these changes, knowing that You are in the process of transforming us. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website, and that is where you can find out what’s going on around here unless you are using the Daily Audio Bible, which you can download from the app store that is associated with whatever smart device that you use. Just look for Daily Audio Bible and you can download the app for free. And, so, check that out.

It’s Christmas time around here. I’m sure everyone in the world pretty much knows that and that pretty much everybody in this community probably knows that. It’s Christmas time around here. And, so, that’s what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box is available for 2022. And that is full of goodies, some for you to keep, some for you, maybe to give away. You can check that out at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop or using the app in the Shop. Just find the Christmas category and you’ll find the Christmas Box there in the Christmas category. It’s kind of getting down to it though for Christmas for shipping. And, so, these next couple of days are like…we’re going to do one more shipment out at the beginning of the week and that’s as far as we think we can go to have things arrive for Christmas. You can certainly order them as long as we have them, but for arrival for Christmas we’re kind down to it. So, heads up on that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if being around the Global Campfire is meaningful then thank you humbly for your partnership as we approach these last weeks 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. That’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is Protected by His Wings in Tennessee. This prayer is for…the Lords laid it on my heart to pray for those that don’t ask for help, who don’t call in requesting prayer requests, who maybe as a child asked for help and didn’t get it. Maybe they have an alcoholic mom or a drug addicted father and they had to bathe themselves and fix themselves breakfast and they had to take care of their siblings and get them dressed for school and make sure they got on the school bus and they didn’t do any extracurricular activities because they the parent was too drunk to get him to school or they had to make sure they had to get their mom cleaned up from the vomit before their dad got home or who would be injured and their parent was…was too drugged out to help them and get them to the hospital. This prayer is for you whether you are that child or whether you were that child. Dear heavenly Father, we pray for those who feel abandoned, who feel alone, who feel unloved. Dear Lord, as I spent my 52^nd birthday with my mom not calling me because she was too drunk, I chose joy because God You have blessed me immensely and given me a life beyond measure with peace and hope and joy. And that’s thanks to You sending Your son to die for my sins. Dear lord give everyone out there who hears my voice Your hope in Jesus’ name.

I have a 26-year-old child that’s nonverbal autistic that I have placed…which is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life…placed him in the care of a state facility which is Brenham Supportive State Living Center. I need…I need much prayer. He has behavior issues. He is nonverbal. He has good cognition but poor expression. I need everybody that has no idea how difficult this is…I need prayer. I really need prayer. This child is my life and I want him back home. Have you ever heard the phrase it takes a village? Sometimes it takes a village. This is that scenario.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I wanted to say Merry Christmas and wanted to give you life and favor to everyone, those that are really going through, my precious sister who called the other day and was crying and she just didn’t feel like she could hold on any longer because during these times a lot of things come to your mind because there’s a little more time at home and with the COVID. But I want to pray for my precious sister. I didn’t remember her name. And I also want to pray for God’s Gal in Minnesota. I want to pray for Carol in New Brunswick. I wanna pray for all of…I want to pray for that husband and wife who wanted to have a baby and pray that God open up her womb like he did like he did Sarah and give them the baby that He has a special purpose for, a special purpose for them to raise in the way of the Lord. I just ask you to continue to pray for all of the people. Pray for Blind Tony and Joe the Protector and for those…those young people who are going to school and being bullied and even those in the prison. Gracious Father we just ask You to have Your way. You’re a God of all grace and mercy and truth. We just ask You to heal those that’ve been going through cancer. Father, we just ask You to deliver. We just ask You to strengthen those that are going through, those that have lost loved ones and don’t know how…don’t have the strength. You say that when we’re weak You are strong and Lord we ask You to strengthen them. We asked You to guide them. We ask You to give them life and favor. O, Father somebody today that don’t know which way to go somebody…

Dear DAB family this is your sister Ashley from California. And y'all, I just wanna say that it is such a blessing to be a part of this community, especially this time of year. And Brian and everybody on here that puts this together, thank you guys for faithfully taking care of this and helping us to continue on and press on to finish this and finish it well. And for those of you who are struggling, guys just keep…do what you can. God sees us and He…He knows exactly what we need to hear right at the right time. But I just wanted to come on here and I wanted to see thank you Brian for the blessing of teaching at the end of Revelation at the end about Revelation. So often when I read revelation it just…it goes so fast, and I am not able to catch it and really apply it. So, I just wanted to say thank you for that. It is a butt kicker. I feel like it is doing the burpees of the Bible as far as like spiritual development but it is a blessing because even though you may not like it and they’re not fun it helps you become stronger. So, I just wanted to say thank you for that. And I am just so grateful you guys because with the DAB this is now my fifth time finishing a Bible and this year was so special because I got to read halfway through with my grand mommy before she passed away. And it has helped keep me going as my son Jackson has had his ALL Leukemia. So, I love you DAB family and bye.

Hello, this is Glen from Orlando. I’m saying a prayer for my brother who says he lost his job and he can’t provide for his family and he’s on unemployment and his money is running out. I just want to give you some advice, having been there myself. Give it to God. Pray like it’s already been done. God will give you that job that you’re looking for. He’s done it for me so many times in the past where I’ve felt the exact same way. You can get through this. Fall into the arms of Jesus and let Him give you peace. Then when he does give you that job you’ll know it was a miracle and you can praise and glorify His name. God bless you, my brother. I’m praying for you.

Deep Dive into the book of Revelation:

Part 4

Okay. So, let’s take a quick look at what we read in Revelation today. As I said when we began this book, its interpretations are many. And that’s a gross understatement. And these interpretations in no way agree with each other in a lot of cases because we have lots of complexity in prophetic utterances and in symbolism and no way to concretely determine time. So, our goal here isn’t to interpret every nuance of the book of Revelation, or any of the associated Old Testament visions and apocalyptic prophecies that exist. We’re just trying look at things as we go along to keep ourselves rooted in the story and have a bit of context so that we can engage with the text. So, there were seven seals and Jesus, depicted by John as a lamb, was able to open these seven seals. And we’ve seen six of them, opened. Four of those seals represented horsemen and their riders who were tasked with unleashing unrest upon the earth. The fifth seal had to do with those who had been killed for holding on to their faith, martyrs. And the sixth seal seems to depict the end of the cosmos as we know it. So, we’re expecting this seventh seal but that’s not what we get today. We will get to the seventh seal, but what we have today is a discussion on people who are sealed. So, we had these four horsemen that were sent into the earth and then as we began today’s reading, we have four angels who are standing at the four corners of the earth restraining the four winds of the earth. And most scholars would agree, this…this is symbolism that is meant to show that they have power over the earth. And then another angel rises up from the East and…and mentions that the earth or the sea of the trees shouldn’t be harmed until the servants of God are sealed, that the seal of God will be placed on their foreheads. And the number of those to be sealed are 144,000, 12,000 each from the named tribes of Israel but the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Ephraim are omitted…are omitted from this list. And it gets…it…It gets pretty complicated here, this hundred 144,000. You’ve probably heard of the 144,000 in a lot of ways before. And there’s a wide range of speculation among scholars, and entire church denominations have been formed out of interpreting this. So, if you take a literal view of the book of Revelation then 144,000 people, 12,000 people exactly from specific tribes will get the seal of Christ. And these are all ethnic Jewish people who know the tribes that they come from, which would be rather complicated because when the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, the 10 tribes there were taken into exile by Assyria, they’re lost, like they’re lost to history. And when the southern kingdom, which would be Benjamin and Judah, were taken into exile by Babylon, they were eventually able to go back and they were paying close attention to the Levites, like to the priestly tribe. But tribal identity was mostly lost. So, if John is talking about ethnic Jews then then it’s complicated. And if we were taking a presentist attitude interpretation, like this is all happening or this is about to happen then it’s kinda complicated to find 12,000 ethnic Jews who know the tribe that they are from in this day and age, and it would be equally is difficult to find 144,000 ethnic Jews who live in modern-day Israel who are believers in Jesus. The number’s more like 10% of that. Just for a little perspective I mean, there are mega churches in the world that contain more people who are professing to be followers of Jesus than all of the believers who live in modern-day Israel put together. And for those who don’t take 144,000 as a literal number, some would say that this represents all ethnic Israel, all those who are ethnically Jewish will be saved at Christ’s second coming, while others would say the 144,000 isn’t a literal number. It’s a figurative number and it represents all who will be sealed, the people of God and the formation of a new and true Israel. And I'm…I’m not gonna upack that conflict right now. Like, we’ll wait until we get into Paul’s letters next year because it would take us down a bunny trail that would take way too long. So, I think it’s safe to say that most but not all scholars do not take this 144,000 number to be a literal number with exactly 12,000 people from specific tribes. Like this is more of a figurative speech representing God’s true people. And part of that comes from what comes next. So, we have this 12,000 from all of these tribes numbering 144,000, and we get to the end of that. And then John says after this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the lamb and they were robbed in white with palm branches in their hands. So, if the number’s just 144,000 then the next thing we know we have people without number. No one can number them. So, more than 144,000 which leads some scholars to say, okay there’s 144,000 and those people are being sealed in this time of testing, this tribulation, and they’re the remnant army of God. And then we move to this other visionary experience, where the host of heaven, all the souls standing before God and before the Lamb, from every nation, tribe and tongue are standing before God. And we can easily think these are the ones that had been martyred, but that’s not the…then the ones that are martyred aren’t talked about here. So, who is this throng of people dressed in white if they’re not the 144,000 and they’re not the martyrs? So, we get an answer that as we read along. One of the elders, so one of the 24 elders asks John who they are. Who are the people robbed in white? Where did they come from? And, so, John’s like, sir, you know. So, he’s saying like, you would know but I don’t know. And, so, the elder tells him. These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So, these are the ones that stay true. And some interpret this as that these are the true children of God descended from Abraham. God’s promise to Abraham was that he would multiply their descendants and they wouldn’t be able to be numbered. So, these are the children of God who have come out of the great tribulation. So, if we’re interpreting this futuristically then there is a great tribulation to come that’s can be very, very, very difficult on the earth, but if we’re a little more pragmatic in our interpretation then tribulation has been around a while and Christian specific tribulation has been around since Jesus. And enduring that and growing strong because of it and allowing it to shape us and build character and make us true is part of the metanarrative of the New Testament. Either way, this throng of people from every tribe and nation and tongue are before the Lord and they have washed their robes and they have become white, and they have washed them in the blood of the Lamb. So, to look at this literally would present some challenges. Like if…if you wash a robe in blood, it’s not going to come out white. And where did they get these robes in the first place? And…and where can one acquire one of these robes, it becomes difficult to make literal. Symbolically, the interpretations are that, you know, those who wash their robe in the blood of the Lamb, and it comes out white, that is representing the ongoing work of sanctification, the process of becoming pure and clean and Christ like, which requires endurance and perseverance and all the things that we’ve been talking about all year. And for those people, beautiful, beautiful imagery is given. These people serve God, day and night in His sanctuary in His presence. And the one seated on the throne will shelter them and they won’t hunger anymore, and they won’t thirst anymore, and the sun won’t beat down on them and strike them anymore and…and…and heat won’t hurt them anymore because Jesus the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will shepherd them. He will guide them to springs of living waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And I think that is beautiful no matter how you’re looking at this book, no matter how you’re interpreting this. It’s a beautiful picture that in the end there is God’s presence and things are as they should be, and nothing is lost and there is no lack, and tears will be wiped away by God himself, which is where we end today in the book of Revelation,

Prayer:

Father, once again we’re inviting you to speak through all that we’re reading in your word and we’re taking it all in and inviting you. And it is our hearts desire to be one in that wrong with people from every tribe and nation and tongue. We want to be one of them and we have the clear picture that we must endure and that we must remain true and that our lives can’t be spent just trying to be one in that throng but one of many that you were able to reach and love and rescue because you were able to work through us. Come Holy Spirit. Give us the eyes and the ears of the kingdom. May we each be responsible for a great cloud of witnesses celebrating before your throne. Come Jesus we pray. In your holy name we ask. Amen.

Micah 1:1-4:13, Revelations 6:1-17, Psalm 134:1-3, Proverbs 30:1-4

Today is the 15th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. It’s great to be here with you every day or any day, and I’m glad that we have this place that we call the Global Campfire to…to be together and take the next step forward together. Yesterday, we were able to experience the book of Jonah in its entirety, which means that we get to move into some new territory yet again today and that territory will be the book of Micah and we’ll get to camp out here for a couple of days.

Introduction to the Book of Micah:

Micah is the sixth of the 12 minor prophets. And since we’re going through the entire Bible, then will go through all 12 of the minor prophets. So, we’re kind of approaching the halfway point through the minor prophets. We don’t know very much about Micah, outside of the book of Micah but we do know some things. Micah’s name means who is like God and we know from the text, he was from the town of Moresheth and many scholars associate that with Moresheth Gatt which would put him in the lowlands, the Shephelah among the southern villages in the kingdom of Judah. And as Micah begins, we’re told that the Lord gave His message to Micah of Moresheth during the years when Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. The visions he saw concerned both Samaria and Jerusalem. But that gives us a bunch of information. The capital city of the northern kingdom was Samaria, the capital of the southern kingdom was Jerusalem, and the time of certain kings is named. So, we know who he is speaking about, and we know roughly when and that would put in probably in the early decades of the eighth century BC. We also know that Micah has a brief mention in the book of Jeremiah and that’s like a century later, so that lets us know that Micah’s prophecies were preserved and were still being referenced a century later. And Micah will follow the same general pattern that many of the prophets do; there are first prophetic utterances about doom and destruction and judgment, followed by a message of hope and restoration. In Micah this happens three times and within the text of Micah are promises of a coming deliverer, and that coming messianic deliverer is associated with Jesus. So, for example, in the book of Matthew, Micah is quoted, “but you O Bethlehem Efratah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah, yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past will come from you on my behalf.” And even Jesus, our Savior, quoted from the text in Micah describing…describing his own ministry, and the disruption that it brings. He says don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth, I came not to bring peace but a sword. This is Jesus quoting from the book of Micah. And what we’ll see in Micah is that God is angry, like He is very displeased with corruption, idolatry, rebellion and the exploitation of the less fortunate. He’s very displeased about it, but He’s even more passionate about putting things back together, about bringing hope and restoration for those who keep the covenant. So, with that, let’s begin the book of Micah, we’ve been reading from the English Standard Version this week, which is what will continue to do, Micah chapters 1 through 4 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for Your kindness, we thank You for Your love, we thank You for our lives, we thank You that we have the Scriptures, and they point us toward You, and that we have been welcome into an intimate relationship with You. We are beyond grateful. Words fail us. There is no vocabulary that can describe anything but a mere glimpse of Your power, Your might, Your Majesty. And yet You know each of us by name and are fathering us and leading us, and part of the way You are doing that is allowing us to come together and feast upon Your word each and every day. And we are grateful for this. And so, Holy Spirit, plant what we have read today into our lives, into our hearts, today and every day, that it might cleanse us and correct us and direct us forward, on the narrow path that leads to life. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is the website and its where you find out what’s going on around here. There’s always stuff but it’s Christmas time and so it’s Christmas that’s going on around here. And so, I will mention just for the last couple of days until well, until it’s Christmas week, that the Daily Audio Bible Family Christmas Box for 2022 is still available and we’ll still be shipping it. We’ll do are, kind of last Christmas shipping, at the very, very beginning of next week. And so, we’re down to these final days. And I invite you to check out all the stuff we’ve crammed into the box for this year. You can find it at dailyaudiobible.com or in the app by going to the Shop and in the Shop is a Christmas category and the Christmas box is in the Christmas category. And so, check that out. And our annual Christmas party is…is coming soon, within the next couple of days. So, watch out for that. That will just, that will just show up right where you go to get the Daily Audio Bible every day. That will just show up as an additional episode and so excited for our annual Christmas party. And so, try to get that out here with the next day or two if possible. So, watch for that.

And lastly, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If moving through the Bible in community around the Global Campfire has been life-giving this year. Thank you, humbly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together as a community and so thank you, humbly. 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 P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, 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’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hey DAB family, this is Danny from Southern Oregon. I have been just saturating myself with Hardin family. Brian, I am so glad that you mentioned Jill’s song Do You Hear What I Hear because I’ve never listened to it before and wow! Oh my gosh, it is so good. It’s the best rendition I have ever heard. And it’s so exciting, I just get, I just get like full of energy when I listen to it. Oh, and then I love her, O Holy Night too. I’ve been listening to that, since it came out and been going to sleep with Max’s Christmas album. And you know, our roads are pretty icy and snowy and it’s a little bit tense driving and so, I’ve been putting on your heart album while I’m driving and it just calms me, relaxes me, reminds me that God is with me, no matter what and I love it. And I’m also loving the sleep album. So, just want to thank you, whole family for everything that you do to make our lives better and bring us closer to Jesus. You guys are so amazing. Thank you.

Hello DAB family. Guess what, Dr. John from Jordon, New York and I am grandpa Dr. John. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Sarah had Ezra Keegan Scott Allie on November 27 after three days of induction, they elected to do a cesarean section, which was likely a really good idea because he was 9 pounds and 13 ounces. That little chunk-a-roo came out with the wrist roles. He is so stinking cute, and I see lots of babies and I know cute and he’s like pegging the cuteness scale. So anyway, thank you all for your prayers. Sarah and Ezra are both doing well. And Papa Joshua is popping buttons. So, as is Papa, I’m going by Papa and yeah, it’s awesome. So, thank you very much. Dr. John signing off, bye bye.

Hello fellow members of the Daily Audio Bible family. It is I, Lawrence the Slow Boat. Sometimes, I get behind but not lately. Sometimes, I actually turned the boat around and revisit prayers and people that I’ve stared on the DAB app. In doing this, I am struck by the troubles of man and especially our young men and by the anxieties, helplessness, and the deep grief of those who love them. Believe me, I have lived through this. So, I want to start by encouraging Mikayla from Gloucester for the love she shows her nephew Taylor. And I pray for Betty from Hamburg in the turmoil of her son Nathan’s mind after his period of catatonia. And also, for Rich in Arkansas, who on October 15th had not had one good word in the past week and cries out for help. And for Yolanda and her son bullied and beaten so cruelly. And for Kevin displaced to the United Kingdom, wondering if God has forgotten him. And for Brian and his son Mitchell, oh Brian, I know, I hear your torment as you feel you can do nothing for Mitchell. For the man, just released from 23 years in prison and who now feels so alone, my prayers for you be incense rising up to God’s throne.

Hello Daily Audio Bible friends and family. I’m Israel from Lancaster and I’m calling because I need prayer. I just got COVID and have been fortunate enough not to catch it, until now. However, I am concerned. So, I’m reaching out to my family in Christ. And I thank you in advance for your prayers. And just know, that I also pray for your petitions. And I want to thank Brian and the whole family, for what they do in this great ministry. I appreciate every one of you and love you as well and I thank you.

Good morning DAB family. This is Consider It Pure Joy in Ohio. Got the four mutts here, with their jiggling collars in the background. And I’m convicted by the fact that on December 6, I didn’t pray for People On the Water. You see, my 23-year-old, getting ready to graduate from college, has a very similar struggle. It’s not a struggle, it's…it’s maturity. Has the process that she’s going through, and she’s looked around the last four or five years, seen a lot of people who call themselves Christians, not be very Christian-like. She has been around relationships that have disappointed her. She’s seen really bad things happen to really good people. She’s just struggling with her purpose and what I thought I planned, and what God’s intent really is. Tate, I I appreciated your comments around meeting someone with skin on. What a statement, what a comment. So, today, People On the Water, Tate, your family, I’d say all of us, pray for this generation that has had to go through so much over the past four or five years, in a time that is so foreign to us. And I pray that their…their eyes be open, that their hearts be changed, or in People On the Waters case, encouraged. And I pray that we be those people to do that. So, God bless you all. Love you all, you’re fantastic. Thank you, Brian. What a ministry. God bless. Bye Bye.

Trying to be the man that I though you wanted me to be
Caused me not to be the man I should have been
But women are just one of the many of weaknesses of men
I’ve allowed many things in this life to set the standard for my own validation
And when I failed to measure up,
they became a source of frustration, aggravation, worriation as well as pride, ego and self-esteem deflation
And I really can’t blame anybody else for the things that I do
Even though all of us are victims, it’s true
We’re all dealing with forces outside of our control
Trying hard to rob us of our eternal soul
And we often can’t even see it because we’re too full of ourselves
Trying hard to dodge our daily past, present and future hells
That’s why I thank You, Father for giving me eyes to see
That all we really need in this life, is Thee
And you created us to lead, not follow, to taste but not swallow
Because it’s the Holy Spirit, our constant friend
Comforter, counselor, that still small voice within
Telling us to seek first the kingdom and everything else will be added
Because we serve a High Priest that’s already had it
Jesus said He had a cross to bear and that we would have one too
And every day that statement is being proven true
Father, please, give us wings and eyes of faith
So we can rise above and see beyond those places that the world is telling us are safe
Blindtony1016@gmail.com And once again Brian and the Hardin Family, thank you for this wonderful podcast, for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowing ya’ll. Alright, bye bye.

Jonah 1:1-4:11, Revelation 5:1-14, Psalms 133:1-3, Proverbs 29:26-27

Today is the 14^th day of the December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it’s great to be here. Welcome back to the Global Campfire. We’re all here. We’re all cozy. We’re all ready to take the next step forward together as we continue to take steps forward toward the end of the year and steps forward in the Bible each and every day to lead us toward the end of the Scriptures for this year. And we are moving our way in the Old Testament through the portion of Scripture known as the minor prophets. These are shorter works of prophetic utterances that are in the Scriptures. So, we’re moving through them rather quickly. Yesterday we talked about Obadiah and then we read the whole thing, all of Obadiah, which happens to be the shortest book in the Old Testament. Today we aren’t embarking on the next to shortest book in the Old Testament, but we will read the entire book today, the book of Jonah.

Introduction to the book of Jonah:

Jonah is a super famous story in the Scriptures. Jonah was a prophet. He lived in the northern kingdom of Israel. We’ve talked about this since we started the minor prophets. Just remembering that after Solomon, the kingdoms split into two and there was the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jonah was from the northern kingdom of Israel. He lived practically…practically due west of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee and he lived during the reign of King Jeroboam the second. Jonah is a little bit different than most of the other prophets in the Bible because most of the other prophets in the Bible were instructed to speak to God’s people, the children of Israel. This is not who Jonah was sent to speak to. He was instructed to go to the city of Nineveh. And at the time Nineveh was one of the largest cities on the face of the earth. So, this is like any of the largest cities on the earth today, like Mexico City or New York City or Los Angeles or I don’t know, London…oh…I don’t know all of the major cities in the whole earth. But if we think about the largest cities, at this time Nineveh was one of the largest cities although considerably smaller than the cities that we have of today. It’s one of the major cities in the known world. The ruins of Nineveh still exist. They’re located near that of the modern city of Mosul in Iraq and a lot of the ruins of ancient Nineveh have been damaged or destroyed during the time of Isis there. Anyway, Jonah…Jonah did not want the assignment. He did not want to do what God was asking him to do. He did not want to go to a people who were the enemies of Israel and speak to them on behalf of God because if they’re enemies of Israel they’re enemies of God. And, so, rather than obeying God. Jonah went in the opposite direction, literally the opposite direction and went to the Mediterranean coast and got on a ship in Joppa which is basically the coastal suburb of Tel Aviv today. And we probably all generally know what happened to Joan after he got on that ship. He ended up not on the ship, but rather in the belly of a great fish. And after three days of repentance, he was spewed out on the shore alive, which, you know, as Christians we can see the obvious foreshadowing of Jesus in the story. And Jesus even talks about the sign of Jonah being the only sign that this generation will receive when He was walking upon the earth doing his ministry. But Jonah doesn’t just parallel Jesus or foreshadow Jesus. It parallels our own lives. When we hear instructed to do something and we don’t want to do or we let pride or our fear of obeying get in the way and we find ourselves in disobedience or rebellion then basically we can’t do anything but find ourselves on the run from God, which is incredibly foolish maybe…maybe stupid isn’t even…even too strong of a word. It’s a really foolish thing to do because it’s not possible. And, so, Jonah had a lot more difficult time of things than he needed to have. Even though he ultimately obeyed, he was swallowed in the open sea by a fish. Ironically, like we look at the fish and go like holy moly what will…that is…that must’ve been miserable. And certainly it must’ve been miserable. But the alternative was that Jonah would’ve been dead. And, so, the fish that came along actually became Jonah’s salvation. God used the fish as a vehicle to get Jonah back on track and save his life. And when we find that we are running from God and we know it, it can very much feel like life is swallowing us alive. But in the end as things are made right again, we may find that the very things that we felt like were swallowing us actually were transportation. They were moving us back onto the right path and ultimately to firm footing again where we can start over and be obedient. And, so that let’s begin and conclude. There are four chapters in the book of Jonah. We will read the entire book of Jonah today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have moved to the book of Jonah in its entirety today and we already kinda talked about it. I just want to point out that it’s not really until the end that we begin to understand why Jonah didn’t want to obey God in the first place. And so much of it is very, very focused on Jonah and his own self-image and perhaps even his place in his culture in his region where he lives among the people. Nineveh was the enemy. God was telling Jonah to go to the enemy and invite them to repent before the Lord God. Jonah, being a prophet would have preferred to prophesy anywhere but Nineveh. He would prefer to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh to his own people. Instead, God is telling them to go to the enemy and invite them to repent. How would he look if he did that? How’s he gonna explain, yeah I went all the way to Nineveh. And by the way that’s not like a walk across town. Like, we read from Jonah that to walk across Nineveh would take three days. For Jonah to obey God and actually go to Nineveh was hundreds and hundreds of miles with no airplanes and no like combustible engines to get anywhere, a very very committed journey. And, so, he’s going to go there and proclaim the word of the Lord and tell the people to repent and then come back? And how’s that gonna go over? Yes, I went to the enemies of our nation, the enemies of God and told him to repent. And, so, Jonah goes in the other direction. He’s trying to get away from this mission. And we know the story. He ends up in the belly of a fish. He ends up on dry ground again. He ends up going to Nineveh and obeying God. He walks a day into the city and proclaims the word of the Lord, that they should repent or meet complete destruction. And their response is to humble themselves before the Lord God and repent. This makes Jonah exceedingly angry, right, according to the scripture. Like he is furious about this. And that’s when he tells the Lord, this is why I didn’t obey you. This is why I didn’t come here. These are our enemies and you’ve told me to come here and tell them to repent and I knew that you are kind and merciful, or just to quote it from Jonah, “for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.” So, Jonah’s basically saying, I knew this would happen. I knew this is what you were going to do. This is why I did not want to come here. I want to die. My life isn’t worth living anymore. It’s such a weird response unless we think well why? Like, what’s the big deal? God did something very, very kind and gracious. He reached out mercifully and gave people an opportunity to turn from their wicked ways so that they wouldn’t be destroyed. Now Jonah will have to go home and say I went to Nineveh at the instruction of the Lord and the Lord told them to repent and they repented. Our enemies whom we want to destroy if we can, they repented. God was merciful to them. Jonah is set up for ridicule completely. But it’s not just that he’s set up to look bad, his heart is not for what God wanted, which is the repentance of everybody. Jonah didn’t want those people to be spared. He wanted them to be destroyed. And that’s where it can get so personal for us. We can be merciless toward people that do not think about things the same way that we do or that do not share our political convictions or who do not share our theology on certain subjects or who cut us off in the road or who did anything to displease us. We can get merciless. If we felt like God was sending us to people that we wanted God to destroy and that we’ve done our part and bad mouthing or posting or whatever and we felt God saying, no, I want you to go to them. I want you to go to them on my behalf. This could feel a little bit like the story of Esther and not for such a time as this. This could feel like the king telling Haman to go and put the Kings robe upon Mordechai and put him on the king’s mule and march him through the city and declare this is how the king wants to honor his loyal servant. We can find ourselves doing everything we can to stay away from that situation or if we try to obey, we’re going with our nose…we’re like plugging our nose. We don’t want to do this because God might be merciful, and we might look stupid. So, it’s kind of important for us to remember that just because we hate somebody doesn’t mean God does. Just because we don’t want to tolerate somebody or their disgusting to us or their deceived according to us, God loves them. God loves them as much as He loves you and I. And, so, Jonah really does in fact bring out much for us to consider about our own lives.

Prayer:

Father, that’s where we are. That’s what we’re doing. We’re considering. And once again, as we do every day, thank You for Your word. It brings these things up in our lives for us to consider. And Holy Spirit, come. We’re guilty of all of this. We’re guilty of all the things we find in the Bible, but shame and condemnation isn’t the point. Repentance and change is the point, an invitation to put these broken pieces back together in our lives so that we can begin to look at the world and its people like You do. So, come Holy Spirit. Show us the places where we have just been merciless toward people even wishing for their destruction in some sort of way, their hardship in some sort of way, so that they can get what they deserve. That isn’t for us to decide. It is our job to obey You and part of obeying You is loving what You love, and You love what You have created. You don’t love all of the things that we’ve invented to destroy ourselves and to separate ourselves from You but You love us. May we love one another. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

And it’s Christmas time around here. And we’ve been saying that for a couple of weeks because it’s Christmas time around here. It’s Christmas time around everywhere. And, so, reminding you the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box that is all full of goodies like the Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible coffee table edition is in there. The God gut of your story is in there. The Christmas ornament for 2022 is in there. Daily Audio Bible Global Campfire candle is in there. Sneezing Jesus is in there. Reframe is in there. It’s full of goodies and you can see them all in the Daily Audio Bible Shop in the Christmas category. And, so, they are available. This is the final week for shipping for Christmas. We…we will be doing, like all this week and then we’re gonna ship early next week for the final shipment domestically to arrive for Christmas in the United States. So, just be aware. If you want to get the family Christmas box for Christmas this is time to go to the Daily Audio Bible Shop and grab that. And then I’ve also been mentioning the Christmas music that you can stream and incorporate into your playlists for the season. The Christmas Time album. Beautiful, beautiful contemplative Christmas album by Maxwell Hardin. Family Christmas. Another beautiful orchestrated contemplative Christmas, classic Christmas album and you can for my name. And then the powerhouse of our family is Jill in just about every conceivable way, but she’s a fantastic singer. And, so, you can look up her name, Jill Parr and find her Christmas songs that are available as well to incorporate into your holiday season. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we approach these final weeks of another year, thank you humbly. If this mission to bring the spoken word and offer it freely to anyone who will listen every single day, wherever they may be, whatever time it may be, no matter what’s going on and to build community around that rhythm. If that is meaningful then thank you humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage 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 you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey, DABbers it’s Valiant Val here in Vegas. I just heard our guy, People on the Water. Man, we love when you call in. You’re so beautiful and so young. He’s only 19 and he’s been in college for a couple months and he’s quitting college. And, you know, what People on the Water? That’s OK. Good. Hashtag good. You know it definitely sounds like you know what you need to do, you know, that at 19 you don’t have to have it figured out because maybe…who…I’m far beyond that and I’ve yet to figure it out. And you know what People on the Water I don’t think we fully figure it out because it’s God’s way and He never gives us all the answers to the playbook. He kind of gives us the plays and we just have to run those plays just bit by bit. That’s the way this life is, little by little. So, I’m asking you to give yourself a break and a pat on the back and for all young people and teenagers, young adults that are calling in. You all put so much pressure on yourself. Stop it. God continuously gives us assignments in life, and He never gives us all the answers at once. He gives us the ability to see to the end of the road. He sees around the corner and down the street. He sees the end before the beginning. So, Lord God I come to You right now for People on the Water and Young people Lord in general. Allow them to give them results a break Father. God thank You for the assignments that You give us throughout this life, for the very dissidents and even the new ones that we’re all on right now. God we just need to have hope and faith in You and things will work out and be fine. People on the Water, one of the things that I do, and I can’t seem to figure it out is go serve, go volunteer, go be of help to someone else. It gets you off…

Hello Deb family this is pastor Steve from southwest Ohio just calling to say that you are greatly…all greatly loved and prayed for without ceasing. I know there are several people who’ve called that are very disheartened and sad and down. Well, His word tells us that we are to look up and be glad and be thankful for every rich blessing we receive. And they are many. I’m thankful for you all within this family and I praise God for the ministry that it provides especially for me every day. Just know again that you are all greatly loved and prayed for, and this is for everyone. So heavenly Father in the name of Jesus and by the power of Your Holy Spirit we ask that You would touch every heart out there that have called and that will call and help them with whatever need they have and we’ll give you praise for doing that in Jesus’ name. Everyone take care. God bless.

Hey Daily Audio Bible it’s Winter from Texas and I just listened to December 6^th and 7^th back-to-back and I heard People on the Waters dad call in and People on the Waters himself call in and let me just tell you I understand the struggle of wanting to quit college. I've…I am in a profession that’s not really right for me I think, and I’ve thought every day about quitting because I don’t really need the degree to do my field. It’s just helpful in the future, you know? But you’ve got to trust God. I know you’ve heard like you’ve got to trust God and you gotta turn to God and all that. What I mean is if you went home and you were hungry and there was food in the fridge you would probably eat it. If…if you’re in a bad space and you go home to God and you’re hungry He’s willing to feed you. You need to be fed because you can’t just continue being hungry right? God will take care of you. He’s taking care of the fields, the birds. He’s taking care of me with almost seemingly meaningful things. On days when I wanted to cry, He’s given me parking spots, He’s given me green lights. He’s given me just somebody who’s there for me and who will talk with me. Like, God cares about you. And even though it seems just dire and bleak right now you’ve got to trust that He’s gonna be there for you. OK? You’re not alone. He will always be there for you. Just go home and eat. OK?

Hello DAB my name is Rachel and I’m calling from Pennsylvania it’s my first time calling, first year listening to the DAB. I wanted to call and lift up in prayer Jasmine from New York who called in on November 22^nd about having issues with procrastination with God and with her schoolwork and anxiety and low self-esteem. Lord I place her before you and I pray that you would have your way in her life, that you would increase her faith and strengthen her from the inside out Lord and that you would see her heart and know that she wants to serve you despite things that are coming up. She called in because she knows she needs more of you Lord. So, I pray that you would honor her for that and that she would be lifted up. I also pray that she would be surrounded, that people would come into her path that would guide her spiritually and help her to move forward in this journey Lord whatever that may be. And I…I pray over anybody else who’s struggling with anxiety and depression and just feeling unworthy because you don’t condemn us. You correct us but you don’t condemn us. Your word says that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. So, any felling of condemnation and lack of self-worth, that’s not God. That’s the enemy. He’s the accuser of the brethren. So, I rebuke that fear spirit of accusation, that spirit of condemnation that is plaguing our people particularly around this holiday season where it’s just depression is running rampant. God, I rebuke that in Jesus’ name. Let your people be lifted up because you did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind. So, I pray Lord, that you would give a sound mind unto your people, that they would be lifted up and know that you love them and that they are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. Amen.

Morning everyone it’s Susan from Canada God’s Yellow Flower calling, and I have a praise report today. As most of you know I’ve been looking after my son who is now 44. And when he was 39 he was diagnosed with stage four cancer. And heavens above there was no treatment for this cancer so he was put on a trial with 19 others and he’s the only one who is still in remission. We just got the report today. All the others have not done well but Keith. And I just give praise to God. The scientific part of the…of this miracle is baffling to the doctors. Keith’s case is being studied all around the world and nobody can understand it except my DAB family and my prayer warrior friends. I don’t know why God chooses to bless someone and not others. And know that I’m praying, continuing in prayer for all your loved ones and you yourselves who are suffering from this horrible disease. It’s so difficult. Keiths life is…like he only has half a lung working because his cancer’s spread to his lungs. And he needed treatments and it’s burned out his lungs. So, he’s on oxygen all the time and really can’t do a lot. But he’s with us still. He’s such a gracious and grateful young man. Thank you for your prayers and continue on please.

Hi DAB family this is Rock Ann in Georgia, and I was just calling today. I’ve been sick and out of Commission a little bit I was just calling today to tell you wow Brian I’m so excited that you’re gonna even dive a little deeper into the Book of Revelation. Maybe not every day but at the end of the prayer time. What a great way to end up the year. Thank you so much for that. This podcast and this program is so life giving and so wonderful. And I just want to thank you so much for it. You’re an amazing teacher and guide and God is using you greatly in the lives of so many people. And I just want to say thank you so much to you, to the DAB family and to all of those who pray and intercede and get involved and our so intentional about investing in the lives of the people here. I just love this program so much and love you all and pray for you so often. And thank you again until next time.

Obadiah 1:1-21, Revelation 4:1-11, Psalm 132:1-18, Proverbs 29:24-25

Today is the 13th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it’s wonderful to be here with you today, as we gather around the Global Campfire and do what we do every day, take the next step forward together. Our next step forward leads us to into, yet again, new territory in the Old Testament. We have reached our final destination in the New Testament; we are working our way through the book of Revelation. And so, that’s the last book in the New Testament, so that will carry us to the end of the year. And incidentally, since we have been putting some of the additional discussion about the book of Revelation at the end of the programs from last few days. Just letting you know, there won’t be one of those today at the end up to the prayers; there won’t be one of those tomorrow, after the prayers but then we’ll pick back up in a couple of days. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves; that’s in the New Testament, but we have quite a bit a ground to cover in the Old Testament.

Introduction to the Book of Obadiah:

And today we will read the shortest book in the Old Testament in its entirety. So, a whole Old Testament book today, one of the minor prophets known as Obadiah. And Obadiah identifies himself as the author in the text. Although almost nothing is known about who Obadiah was. The name Obadiah means servant of Yahweh. But that wasn’t an uncommon name so, dating the prophecy specifically becomes difficult. A general consensus is that Obadiah probably was a contemporary with Jeremiah and that his prophetic works used Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem as its context. And if that’s correct then Obadiah would be dated somewhere to the late 500s BC. This shortest book in the Old Testament has 21 verses and it would, it uses those 21 verses to deal with a very, very big family issue and discusses the destruction of the Edomites. And we might be like really, the destruction of the Edomites, family issue, Obadiah, what’s this doing, like what, how does this work for us? If we remember back when we were moving our way through the book of Genesis, way back when our journey began. We certainly remember that we met a guy named Abraham, we’ve talk about Abraham since we met him. He appears all over the Bible. We remember that he had a son of promise, his name was Jacob, but he also had a son with Hagar, actually the son he had with Hagar was his firstborn son, his name was Esau. If we will remember our story, Jacob’s name eventually gets changed and his name is changed to Israel and it’s his children that become the tribes of Israel. They are the children of Israel. And we’ve been following their story throughout the entire Bible, but Esau. He had a family too and his family flourished and became a people as well and they became known as the Edomites. And now let’s remember the fact that through the story of Joseph, we were told how the children of Israel came to Egypt and then we read of Egyptian slavery and then we met Moses and we saw the plagues upon Egypt as God set his people free. And they came into the wilderness and as they wandered in the wilderness, they had a struggle. They were kind of trapped, they needed to get places. But in order to get places they would need to move through other people’s land. And if we’ll remember, that was a hard sell and it was a hard sell to the Edomites, who were their brothers. The Edomites wouldn’t let their relatives pass through their land as they were trying to get to their own land. And then during other points in Israel’s history, there was attack and war and the Edomites watched. They stood by and watched; they did not help their family. But it wasn’t just their silence or their passivity, the Edomites were willing to pillage their own family, while they were suffering. And God is not pleased about it. And that’s what we’ll find out very clearly as we read the book of Obadiah because Obadiah announces the total destruction of Edom. And again, we might be okay that is cool, that’s good. Now I understand the story and what we’re about to read, but how is that like the Edomites so long ago. What is that got to do with me? Actually, quite a bit. We are believers, we are followers of Jesus. We have been grafted into God’s family, we are family with each other, those of us who follow Christ. And it is too often five minutes on social media will show you this is true; it is too often that we are at war with each other, and we are brothers and sisters or we’re silent and passive as we watch our brothers and sisters get destroyed or suffer. And they may be of a different stripe than we are, and we may think that’s what they deserve, that’s, they’re reaping what they have sown. Obadiah rejects that idea and Obadiah shows us that God does not favor arrogance. And so, there’s plenty for us to consider there. And so, with that, let’s dive in and begin and complete the book of Obadiah.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for the territory that we were able to move into and through today in the book of Obadiah, reminding us that we’re supposed to be taking care of each other. That the restoration of all things, the putting back together and the restoration of shalom, requires our participation in taking care of each other. Help us to remember that it is a never-ending battle with ourselves, the way that we react to things and the way that we react to one another. And the battles that…that we wage with each other, so that we can be dominant, or so that we can be right, when You are right, and You are true. And You have instructed us that we must care for one another. And so, we thank You for that. There’s so much there for us to contemplate, and we invite Your Holy Spirit, as we consider it. And then, we read in the book of Revelation prayers and worship. And we too, along with those casting their crowns before You, declare worthy are You our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things and by Your will they existed and were created. Which means that by Your will, we exist and were created. And we glorify Your name. There is none above You. There is none beneath You. There is none beside You. There are none like You. You are God and You alone and our hearts reach and long for You, saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. So, Holy Spirit, flood us with an awareness of Your presence in our lives, as we pour our hearts out in worship to You today. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Revelation Song by Jill Parr