Month: February 2023

Exodus 35:10-36:38, Matthew 27:32-66, Psalm 34:1-10, Proverbs 9:7-8

Today is the 13th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is wonderful to be coming to you from the rolling hills of the Galilee today. I don’t get to say that very often but the rolling hills of the Galilee are a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful place. We’ve been able to see that and visit some of the lands in the north and we’ll be really walking in the footsteps of Jesus today but we’ll talk about all that in a little bit we have gathered here together around the Global Campfire to take the next step forward in the Scriptures, and that next step will lead us right where the previous step ended and so, we pick up the story in the book of Exodus today, and we will read chapter 35 verse 10 through 36 verse 38.

Commentary:

Okay, so, obviously in the book of Matthew, we have reached Jesus crucifixion and death. And in a few days, we will actually be in Jerusalem following these footsteps of Jesus last days. And this is the first time that we’ve encountered this story this year in the first gospel, the gospel of Matthew. And I am struck by the indifference of the chief priests, the leaders and the teachers of the law of Moses. Jesus had become a threat to the status quo, and it was a complicated situation and it’s easy enough to kind of go on the religious leader side of things and appreciate what they had to discern and the way that they had to balance things out but their indifference, their mockery. It’s like they had had enough of Jesus and they just needed to get rid of him as quickly and efficiently as possible, as clearly as possible, making as big of a statement as possible that this guy is not the guy were looking for. And anyone was following him and needs to see where he ended up. And a very, very challenging piece of that is that God had come, they had been crying out and hoping for restoration and God had come and was in front of them and they couldn’t see it and not only could they not see it, they determined that they needed to get rid of it. In other words, they need to get rid of Jesus. In other words, they needed to get rid of God is quickly as possible. And these are the religious leaders leading the people to God and in the ways of God. The irony is striking to me. And I’m not trying to oversimplify, there was a lot going on and it was a complicated situation, but once they…once they started getting called out by Jesus and the inner workings of certain things were being exposed and the people or listening in Jesus was gaining momentum and He wouldn’t play ball, like He wouldn’t get with the program. The program that was kind of keeping the peace for the Jewish people, He became a threat. And it’s very, very easy for us who have hurt the story hundred or 200 or 500 times to just move to the end, Jesus rises from the death. The world is rescued everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. It’s a great story. If we can just linger here with Jesus, the Lord, hanging on a cross because he’s affixed there with nails, that He’s probably actually gasping for breath, while the chief priests and leaders of and the teachers of the law are there saying He saved others, but He can’t save himself. If He’s the king of Israel, He should come down from the cross, we’ll believe Him then. And of course, they would, if He came down from the cross. But He had been all over the countryside and everywhere He went, things were being put back together. People were being restored; hope was being restored. It’s like what else…what else would He need to do? And if we could take this kind of blunt scene, it’s a terrible scene, that Jesus is crucified on a cross, and blood is everywhere and pooling at the bottom of the cross and He can’t breathe. And people are making fun of Him, and jeering at Him, and sneering at Him at this public execution. Like Jesus is broken in body, obviously He is broken, He is dying, and this is the lengths of humiliation and humility and servanthood, that the most high, the Almighty God, who incarnated Himself into human flesh and became one of us, and dwelt among us, this is the lengths God was willing to go to, utter humiliation, total defeat, it seemed, to rescue us. Like there’s not a whole lot else we should meditate upon today. This is where the Scriptures have led us, and we should sit here and consider how many times we’ve missed God’s movements in our lives and labeled them and mislabeled them, how easily we can miss God standing right in front of us as well. And the lengths that God has been willing to go to, to put us back together again.

Prayer:

And so, Jesus, what do we say? We could say thank you, we could say anything, we can say we lay our lives before you as a living sacrifice, we can say anything. How we live is actually what we’re saying that we believe about You, we invite Your Holy Spirit’s to enter into that thought and allow us to consider because You demonstrated a total commitment to our rescue. It is beyond our comprehension, and it is beyond our capacity, and we stand in awe of it. We also realize that our level of loyalty has been less than that, considerably, and we ask for Your forgiveness. And as we meditate upon this seen today, we ask that Your Holy Spirit would awaken us, the joy of our salvation. We ask in Your name Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay so, here in the land of the Bible, we are certainly also contemplating the cross and we’ll walk in those footsteps days from now and contemplate it kind of firsthand, as we walk those steps. But we’re not there yet, we’re in the Galilee and spending some serene days walking in the footsteps of Jesus ministry. And also, just northern Israel. And so, northern Israel actually, was what we did yesterday. So, our first stop, the ruins of an ancient village called Chorazin, and this was a place Jesus ministered and a place that Jesus frequented, and a place that also Jesus said woe to you, woe to you Chorazin. And so, it’s ruins, nobody lives there. And so, obviously, woe to them, but we were able walk around and view a place where Jesus was and get a little bit of an understanding and backdrop for the people around the Galilee, before moving further north, actually, all the way to the Lebanon border North, like as far as we can go north. To the ancient city of Dan, the tribe of Dan was there. It was a former, formally, a city formally known as Laish, the Dan-ites conquered it and changed the name to Dan. And so, we visited there. There is a lot of history there from the Canaanite era, all the way forward, and all the way forward into the divided monarchy, when Israel was the 10 tribes in the north and Judah were the tribes in the south, with two different kings and so we talk about King Jeroboam, the first King of the northern kingdom of Israel and his leading Israel into idolatry. Because there’s a pagan temple in Dan that Jeroboam had set up and he set another one up in Bethel, a twin to the one in Dan. So, we just talked about that and talked about owning a relationship with God and considering that. And it’s a beautiful nature preserve as well. And so, really beautiful morning being able to get out into nature and walk and appreciate and learn and then open the Scriptures and consider. And then there at Dan as well, is an ancient Canaanite gate, one of the oldest, one of the two oldest Canaanite gates it Israel. And the one there and Dan dates all the way back to pre-Abraham times. In fact, it’s very likely that Abraham went through that gate, Lot was captured and as…as the Bible tells us, Abraham went after his family, once they were captured and…and chased all the way as far as Dan. And so, we’re looking at the ancient Canaanite gates from the time of Abraham, and so, he probably went through there. So, that’s pretty cool to stare at that that piece of archaeology and realize that goes all the way back to the beginning of the story, like it takes all the way back to Genesis again. And that’s pretty, it’s a pretty striking moment to realize that, and…and every time I go there, I marvel at it. And so, that was a wonderful morning and then we moved from there to the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, which is also famous in the Scriptures and Jesus is also located there. This is where Jesus went with His disciples and asked who do people say that I am and…and they tell Him. And then He asked them, who do you say, who do you say that I am. And this is where Jesus said upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And so, we moved around that site for a while contemplating Jesus question, who do you say that I am. And then moved into lunch and had a really great lunch together, a place that we always go. It’s it's…it’s a wonderful lunch and it’s the right time to eat and just kind of decompress from what we’ve seen. And then we moved from the lunch to Mount Bentall where we could see Mount Herman and she was covered in snow. And there was a ton of snow getting up to Mount Bentall like more snow than I’ve ever seen in Israel. There was snow upon the top of the mountain, we’ve had that before, we’ve been up there and there’s been snow, this was the second time. There was a lot of snow this time and a lot of snow on Mount Herman, so we were up there on the Syrian border, literally looking across into Syria, looking at Mount Herman and we took some time to pray for our brothers and sisters, not only Syrian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted. But all of our brothers and sisters who do not have the freedoms that we just take for granted, especially in our worship, we just take for granted, so many of our brothers and sisters do not have these kinds of privileges. And so, rather than focusing inward, we focused outward and…and prayed for them and that’s a moving thing, it’s a moving thing to do. And then, we spent some time up there, really pretty day. Got some coffee, enjoyed some time there and then moved down the mountain and back toward the Sea of Galilee, ending our day at Bethsaida, another place that we, you know, that the Bible locates Jesus feeding 4000, doing miraculous works, teaching, preaching, revealing the kingdom. A couple of the disciples of their hometown was Bethsaida. So, we went there and spent some time talking about it. And some of us and I just took the time to go for a walk. It’s really a great way to land the day. It’s so serene there, it’s so beautiful there, it’s a place that I can feel Jesus. Like, I can picture, I can picture Him walking through the countryside there. And others of us kind of toured the site there’s a lot of archaeology, a lot of really, really interesting biblical things about that place. So, that’s kinda how we ended our day and Jill sang over us. We sang with her and went for a walk and enjoyed just some serenity as we ended the day before coming back to the hotel. A little bit earlier. Trying to pace ourselves, get a little bit of rest. And so, that’s where we found ourselves, really, really beautiful day, having now gone north, south, east and west from Dan to Beersheba and we still have so much to go, but we have accomplished those goals. And so, today we’ll spend our time mostly centered around the Sea of Galilee and I look forward to telling you about it, after happens, after we do it. Thank you for your continued prayers over us everything is going quite well, and we are definitely enjoying our time, it’s definitely an effort and definitely takes a lot of energy, but we are doing well and so thank you for your continued prayers.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, humbly, we wouldn’t be able to do any of what we do if we didn’t do it together and so thank you, humbly 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 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 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:

Good morning DAB family, I wanna go by GIA, which stands for God in Action. I’ll share a little bit of my testimony as well as ask for prayers. May of 2021, I wound up being admitted for observation, I laid there hemorrhaging for 21 hours and I was pregnant. They couldn’t find out what was going on. Bottom story short, I wound up losing the baby because of Anemia, loosing too much blood. Well, I had to get a D and C and his name was Matthew. I was 15 weeks pregnant. So, to fast forward time, I wound up relapsing, I was clean, I wound up relapsing on drugs. And in January 4th of 2022, my boyfriend at the time, had to call an ambulance for me, I was unresponsive. I knew, prior to that, I wasn’t feeling well, everybody was begging me to go to the hospital. I kept putting it off, cause of the drug use. Anyway, I wound up going to the hospital weighing 95 lbs soaking wet. I had a infection in my blood, they couldn’t figure out what it was. Now, today they know it was probably came from the D and C that they did or the pressure sore that I wound up creating because of the infection, it caused me to lose so much weight. They told my family I wasn’t gonna make it. I was on life support, the infection kept attacking all my major organs. I wound up having to get open heart surgery to try to pull me off the respirator three time. But by the grace of God, I made it. I’m here and I’m alive. Unfortunately, from it, one of the issues was the infection went to my eyes, so I am now 100% legally blind. I’ve been, I had to learn how to walk again and how to talk again. And how to feed myself and then adapt to being blind. God has brought me so far. I used to pray before therapy, every day, that He would just lead me. And my spirit has been so high. I’ve had my time; I’d say I’m usually at a high spirit for 95% of the time. But then, there’s that 5% and today was one of those days that I’m just really dwelling on my disability. But by the grace of God, I was wondering how, because prior to that, I was a believer in Christ, and I was that one out of one hundred sheep that went stray. And I’m, I’m grateful that He brought me back to Him and His grace and His mercy. But I’m asking just for, you know, there’s something that God wants to reveal to me in this time and that it be revealed. I don’t ask why anymore. So, just pray for my vision and that my, I know He’s gonna restore it but there’s something that He wants me to see first. And I just pray that everybody you know, don’t focus on the trip so much, that they forget about the destination. Which is heaven on earth. I love you guys and have a blessed day.

Hey DAB, it’s your girl Val here in Vegas. I sure hope ya’ll ain’t done with me. Oh, I’ve just been feeling so many of my sisters and brothers on my spirit. I got to reach out. Erica in San Francisco, I love you, but the best part is our heavenly Father loves you even more sis. I lost my mother 12 years ago last month and my grandmother a week later, my mom is 62, my grandmother at 92. Honey, I share that to share that the loss of a mother is a pain that is unreal. God blessed me to be there with her when she took her last breath. There’s nothing like that, being with the person that was there with you when you took your first breath. Oh, but sis you said it. You are her legacy honey and like your mama, God is my boyfriend, He my bunkey, He’s my lover, my master, woo, He my everything. Jesus and Paul were single, so it’s good enough for me. Honey, I need you to know that your mother is proud of you, woo, she’s so proud of you Erica. Baby you grieve, you celebrate her birthday on February 9, mine is February 15 and I will be celebrating your mother on the ninth. You didn’t leave her name; I want to know that sweet woman’s name. She did it right when she raised you. Lord God, we come before You right now, Father, for Erica. God, right now put in her heart to rejoice always. Oh, heavenly Father, give her pain for the grief that she’s feeling as a loss of her mother, God. Oh, heavenly Father, go and be with her. Wrap Your loving arms around her. Oh, Father, You are close to the broken heart. He’s got you sis. In Jesus name. Now, you go, and you celebrate your mother. To die is gain, honey. You get to spend eternity….

Hey, my beautiful DABers, so good to connect with all you guys. Come from SoCal, this is Christ in Me and I just heard, I believe it was Winston. I’m sorry, Webster, Webster and he was just sharing about how he desires to have just like more faith and have that relationship with God to maybe, it not be so logical and just so systematic like that. And brother, I just wanted to encourage you in that bro, because I’ve spent many years in apologetics, and it was such a huge foundation to my faith. And I found that, you know, as you’re finding right now that that can’t be like, all right, like having a logical faith and you know, there is reason behind our faith and so I totally get it. But man, bro, I just wanna pray that…that you would have an encounter with God and that He would come down right now and He would meet up with you so that, you would know that that not only is God real but that He is crazy about you every single day. That when He formed you, even before that you were gonna be here, that He formed you fearfully and wonderfully. Man, that He know that you were just gonna be so amazing and that, and that you would experience that personal intimacy and relationship, as He has with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit right. So that they had that beautiful relationship and that now, that you would have that union with them. And so, Lord God, may this just come…come about in his life Lord, that he may have that fullness of joy in You and thank You Got, that You are faithful and that You will meet him God. In Jesus name. I love you brother; love you DAB family.

Hi, this is Michele from Boston, I’m calling for Webster who was saying that you feel like you lack faith. You’ve been asking for faith for 13 years and seeking and you don’t feel it. I want to suggest that maybe what you’re looking for, what you’re expecting to feel, maybe isn’t the way that God is manifesting faith in your life. When I heard your story, and I heard that you’ve been asking and praying for 13 years, to me, that sounds an awful lot like faith. Faith is not a feeling that we can manifest within ourselves. We don’t need to feel faith in order to have faith. We don’t need to feel saved in order to be saved. That’s a lie. And so, I just wanna encourage you to think that maybe, God is giving you faith and you just haven’t been looking in the places where He’s given it to you. So, Lord, I pray for Webster and for all of us, who, desperately want the feeling of faith. We are desperately wanting to feel in our hearts, that we are close to you, that we trust You completely and those of us who continue to ask and to ask and to ask, and I thank You for providing that faith. You promised that You will provide us faith. And there is nothing that we can do besides ask for it. So, Lord …

Good morning DAB family. It’s February the 8th. This is Sam from Alabama just catching up. I’ve been out of the country for the last couple weeks. But I was listening to, I believe it’s the January 25 podcast from Paul in Houston. I just want to encourage you brother. I too, was separated now divorced 8 ½ years and estranged for my oldest daughter. And I just wanted to encourage you brother, keep praying into it. As the word says, God will redeem the years the locusts have eaten. And I promise you that’s a promise, He promises us and God will never go back on His word. And, also, where I’ve been the last couple two weeks, I’ve been in South Sudan and out in the bush. Just with the brothers and sisters of the N____ and N___ and then the D___  and W__ T___ and the J___ brothers and V___ and just want a blessing it was. And again, John, every time I hear your voice, it takes me over to South Sudan. I just love the people and just love the country and it’s such a blessing. Also, Margo from Liberia or Australia, we took MAF Uganda, in and out of there and, also, MAF South Sudan. But there was a pilot there that I met, and I told him about you and your husband flying for MAF Liberia and I didn’t you’re your last name I just said Margo from Australia and Liberia. He knew exactly who you were. And his name is Andrew and I just think, what a small world. And blessed be the tie that binds. I love you DAB, be blessed and be a blessing.

Exodus 34:1-35:9, Matthew 27:15-31, Psalms 33:12-22, Proverb 9:1-6

Today is the 12^th day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today. We greet this shiny sparkly new week from the land of the Galilee where we will head out for our second day in this region. We had a great time yesterday and we’ll talk about that in a little bit. But let’s dive into the Scriptures for today which is why we have gathered around the Global Campfire. We’ve got a brand-new week. We’ll read from the Contemporary English Version this week and obviously picking up where we left off yesterday, which leads us back into the book of Exodus today. Chapter 34 verse 1 through 35 verse 9.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this brand-new week that is out before us and we ask that You lead and direct each of our steps and that we would be aware of Your presence, that we would slow down and pay attention and heed the voice of wisdom in our lives. And even as we are here in the Galilee region and walking in Your footsteps draw us deeper, we pray. Whether we are here actually touring the land or whether we are just here as the community virtually appreciating this journey, lead us deeper. Jesus awaken our hearts to what You are teaching and how it is that we are to look at ourselves and our lives and our brothers and sisters all over the earth. Come Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus we ask in all of this. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, we spent our first sabbath, which was yesterday here in the land of the Bible here in the Galilee region and we began to explore now that we’ve gotten into this region and are able to kinda camp out here for a few days. Having a base of operations at one place we can kinda spoke out and explore this part of the country. And, so, we drove about an hour away from here to a place called Cana, famous place for the first miraculous sign of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding celebration. And, so, there are a number of different places, different churches kind of centered in a specific region there in Cana commemorating this spot and this miracle and so we went to one of those and were able to look around and enjoy just the fact that we’re in Cana, but also to observe wedding renewal celebration among the community here, which is always a beautiful beautiful beautiful time just to see all the couples standing there and really just appreciate the effort that has gone into staying together and being married and two becoming one over a lifetime and the centuries of marriage represented among all of the couples. And, so, Jill and I were able to kind of walk through wedding renewal celebration and participate together and just really be there, be there in the moment together and with everybody else appreciating each other. And, so, we did that and then moved on from Cana to Nazareth and we went to Mount Precipice. This is a place that traditionally represents the story where Jesus comes home to Nazareth after having been tempted in the wilderness by Satan. He comes back to Nazareth and announces His ministry which causes a debate. And the people of Nazareth think they have Jesus figured out and they know him and they…they want to see signs and wonders. They want him to do some magic for them so He can prove himself. And that eventually gets into a debate that eventually gives Jesus to a cliff and He’s gonna be pushed off the cliff but then He passes right through them and moves on their way. And, so, Mount precipice commemorates this. There’s no X marks the spot for something like this. But this is one of the cliff faces, one of the only cliff faces in that area. It’s just a fantastic biblical view. There’s so much to see. The entire…well…I don’t know about the entire…but a very very large portion of the Jezreel Valley which is so…so significant in the Scriptures as a landmark, And within that valley are a number of things like Mount Tabor which…which harkens back to the judge Deborah, the only female judge of Israel. It’s also one of the places that many believe the Transfiguration of Jesus took place. And then there’s Mount Gilboa. The story of Saul, the first king of Israel and his death. The story of Gideon takes place there. Then there’s Mount Caramel at the other side of the valley. And down there on the other side of Mount Caramel we have, you know, Armageddon, Megiddo is situated over there, and so the Valley of Armageddon. So, there’s just a lot of biblical history and I’m barely scratching the surface. It was windy up there. It was a windy day around the Galilee, a little brisk but sunny and beautiful and really lovely. So, we looked, looked at the view of the Jezreel Valley and considered the story and considered what pushes us to the edge and what it would take to just pass right through that and move on our way. And then we did move on our way and went into Nazareth for lunch and had some lunch and then headed back to the Sea of Galilee. And then on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, so we had to go all the way around the eastern side to a place called Cursi. This is a place that marks the spot where Jesus came over to sort of the land of the Garrazines of the Gadarenes, a gentile part of the lake. And He comes over to the other side, passes through a storm that’s going to capsize the ship, calms the sea. And then when they are arrive on the beach there’s a naked man running on the beach yelling at Him, “Why are you interfering with me?” And he’s demon possessed and there’s a legion of demons that get cast into a herd of swine and run down and drown in the lake. Meanwhile the man is set free and word spreads fast and people come from all the villages around and there’s a Decapolis city, Hippos Sosita over there. And, so, word would’ve spread. People come down and see what’s going on and see the swine and see the man who was crazy actually healed and restored in his right mind and…and they asked Jesus to leave. And we talked about that. We talked about how we do that and what that looks like in our own lives and allowed that to be a moment and took some time to just walk the grounds. Not super large, but it’s super interesting. And really, really lovely, very beautiful and serene. And, so, we took some moments to catch our breath. It’s been hard charging for several days and then we drove up to the top of the Golan heights and there’s a really wonderful view there of the Sea of Galilee where we can see the Decapolis city of Hippos Sositha, which is undergoing quite a bit of archaeological preservation and exploration right now. So, we were able to see that and have a unique view of the Sea of Galilee from up above before coming back down and adding to the hotel and having moment to rest and refresh before dinner and then our…our Facebook live broadcast last night which always knits us together as a community and it’s a beautiful time to just share experiences, reflections on the journey thus far. And, so, a great day. A great first day in the Galilee. Today we will head into the North country and find ourselves as far north as we can go, which will complete one of the missions, which is to go north, south, east and west in this land. We began on the West at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and then went all the way down through the wilderness to the Red Sea, which is as far south as you can go and then came up the east side of the desert and ended up at the Jordan River, which is the border with the current country of Jordan. So, that’s as far east as you can go and then came up and into the Galilea and we’ll go as far north as we can go today. But as I have said before, can’t really tell you until it happens and so we’ll talk about that after we do it. We are…we are having a wonderful time and thank you for your continued prayers. We’ll continue to post updates on social media, pictures, and so you can see kind of where we are and what it looks like follow along with the trip.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. Thank you humbly for your partnership. If we weren’t in this together, we wouldn’t be in this at all. And, so, thank you. 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 I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello my name is River Joy this is my first time calling in to the prayer line and I just wanted to ask for prayer because I’m in a period of my life right now where life has just been really hard for a really long time and I really trust God and I know that he’s gonna deliver me from this and I know it’s just a time for me of patience just like, you know, in the wilderness. But I…some days it’s just really hard to keep hiking and keep making it through and I…I really do trust the Lord and I know it's…it’s a lesson on patience but I’m just asking for prayer to help me get through this time because sometimes I feel like I’m running out of endurance. So, if you guys could just keep me in your thoughts and prayers and ask the Lord to…to lift me out of this wilderness and…and help me make it through. And I’m praying for all of you as well. And thank you for listening and thank you for caring and God bless you all.

Heidi ho siblings it is I your little sis his little Cherry in Canada. I’m calling today to ask you to pray for me. I am starting some counseling because there are some dysfunctional ways that I deal with conflict and other relational dynamics. I’m also taking a course from my church starting that this week on how to have healthy relationships. So, this is really scary for me because these dysfunctional ways that I deal with stuff, they’re long standing…what…they’re long standing…they stand long…been going on for a long time. So, I’m really fearing angsty about the whole thing, but I know that God’s leading me to do this and so here we go here we go guys. I’m doing it and I’m proud of myself for doing it. It’s a brave thing to do and I’m grateful that God has given me the courage to at least step out and begin. So my prayer is that I would continue to accept this invitation to do something hard. And I know that in the end it will be worth it. So, thank you for your prayers. Love you guys.

Hi this is for Grandpa Bob. This is Kathy from New Hampshire New Every Morning and I just wanted to let you know that I had noticed that you had been missing. When I first started listening maybe 6-7 years ago you called in a little more often and every time that you called, I would just have this feeling wash over me, just like oh I wish I had a grampa Bob in my life and what it would be like if everybody had a Grandpa Bob in their life. And I just thank you for calling in. It’s good to hear from you. And going to lift up your little wife Marlene. Lord God we lift Marlene up to you and we pray for her recovery from her hip surgery. We pray that she’d be up and walking about and they’d be taking walks together Lord God as soon as possible. And Jesus we just ask…he asked for another year to add on to their 51 years but we asked for many more years for this couple Lord God and that they be able to spend the rest of their lives together. We ask this in Jesus’ name. We ask for blessing upon Bob and Marlene and thank you Lord God for answering my prayer. I was hoping that you would call and it was great to hear from you. Amen.

Good morning God bless you all the DAB family this is Aaron from Vegas haven’t called in a while but I just wanted to lift up marriages today. Father in the name of Jesus Christ we thank You for every marriage. We pray for marriages that are struggling today Father God and we pray that You would have Your way in them. Bring them back together Lord. We pray for a spirit of our conciliation in every marriage Lord God. We come against the spirit of abuse whether it’s emotional whether it’s psychological whether it’s physical whether it’s sexual. Lord, we pray for unity in the Spirit. We pray for the fruit of the Spirit to take place in every marriage Father God. We pray for a Spirit of forgiveness Lord God. We pray that people would be reunited with each other, that there would be love and their relationships Father so they can be an example to their children and to the community Father God. Give us O Lord that marriage, that relationship that You have with the church Lord in the name of Jesus. Help us to blend together and to work together Father God. We pray for marriages that are struggling spiritually financially in the name of Jesus. We pray for marriage is that…that one spouse or…or maybe both spouses are sick, physically sick Lord God or mentally sick. We pray Father God in the name of Jesus. We come against the spirit of divorce. We come against the spirit of separation. We come against the spirit of argument and fighting Lord God and we just pray Father God that You would have Your way in every single marriage Lord in the name of Jesus. Oh God take away the spirit of fear and intimidation. As couples pray for their marriage and pray about their marriage Father God remind them that You’ve given them love, power, and a sound mind. And we thank You for these things in advance Lord in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

Hi my DAB family this is your sister Ashley from California and I just wanted to come on here and I wanted to say thank you to Brian because there are no coincidences. That’s not the way God works. He has a plan. His Providence just works that way. And I just wanted to say thank you for the teaching today on February 7^th about Jesus teaching the parables about being ready to go but willing to stay. My great grandmommy Natel, she used to say…you have to…I’m ready to go but I’m willing to stay. And, so, it is about having your heart be ready for the Lord and…and taking care of people and I loved that Brian just…that was such…that was so encouraging and all the prayers from today. Oh you guys just bless my socks off. So, I just wanted to say thank you for that and I also wanted to come on here and ask for prayer and also just thank God because the outpouring of love that this family has demonstrated O guys you don’t even know. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. But our family, there’s just…it’s a season I’m overwhelmed with all the illnesses and trying to make it through a day at a time and being utterly dependent on the Lord. So, if you could just please keep us in your prayers, like overwhelmed with work overwhelmed with people getting sick overwhelmed with, O, just all sorts of things. So, please keep my family in your prayers. And yeah, thank you DAB family. I love you and I am praying beside you guys and standing in the gap. And just God bless you guys. Bye.

Exodus 32:1-33:23, Matthew 26:69-27:14, Psalm 33:1-11, Proverbs 8:33-36

Today is the 11th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today. Today, coming to you from the Galilee. We have left the wilderness behind and have arrived in the Galilee last evening. And so, today, we get to begin to immerse ourselves in this part of the country and in this part of the Bible. And looking for this evening to our live broadcast. And I say this evening, because that’s what it will be for us, but depending on where you are in the world, like back in the United States that’ll be midday. Nevertheless, we’ll talk about all that in a little bit, but first let’s dive in and take the next step forward in the Scriptures, and our next step leads us back into the book of Exodus. Moses has been with God on Mount Sinai and God has been revealing the tabernacle and the priesthood and the functions and the wardrobe and the construction, he's…he’s been kind of laying out what’s gonna organize the people. Meanwhile, the people have been down at the bottom of the mountain and Moses isn’t coming back. And they’re starting to wonder about that. And that is where we pick up the story, Exodus chapters 32 and 33 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us through another week. We thank You for bringing us here into the land of the Bible and now that we’ve landed in the Galilee, and we begin to chase down Your story Jesus and experience the north of the country. We ask that Your Holy Spirit, lead and guide us, whether we are here in person or whether we’re virtually traveling, lead and direct us, lead us on the pathways of wisdom, lead us deeper into intimacy with You, in union with You, guide our steps. We pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay so, as I mentioned at the beginning, we have arrived in the Galilee region, and we’ll be centering ourselves in this part of the country for the next several days. We climbed our way from the lowest points on earth, we’re still below sea level here at the Sea of Galilee. But we’ve climbed up a lot so, the low point, I guess, geographically anyway, the low point of the journey is behind us. And we began our journey yesterday at the…at the Dead Sea, that’s where we spent the night. And our first stop of the day was at the oasis Ein Gedi and Ein Gedi is mentioned several times in the Bible. So, it’s definitely a geographical location in the…in the biblical narrative a number of times. And so, we kind of explored that and there’s caves all over that area. And so, there’s caves all along the oasis of Ein Gedi, early monks had gone to live in the deserts, but also David hiding from Saul in the caves of Ein Gedi. We don’t know the exact cave and there’s some traditions, but we don’t know the exact cave, but he cut off a piece of Saul’s robe there in that area. And so, we talked about that, and we opened up the book of second Chronicles and read a story from King Jehoshaphat’s life when an army came across the Dead Sea, allied armies from different nations to attack Jerusalem and their staging area was kind of Ein Gedi, which makes sense, that’s freshwater in the wilderness. So, we just pretty much read the 20th chapter of second Chronicles, which is that story and applied it to our lives as we contemplated leaving the wilderness. And what the wilderness has meant to us, not only on this journey but in our lives. And then our next stop, maybe half an hour up the road a little bit, was at Qumran where one of the greatest archaeological finds in history was found and that being the Dead Sea scrolls. So, exploring that story as it connects to biblical scholarship and the find there and would it has represented. And the Assin people, who preserve these documents and their story. And so, we explored that a little bit, did a little shopping there. And then next, moved to the Jordan River for baptisms outside of Jericho, where the Bible tells us that Jesus was baptized because that’s where John was baptizing people. And so, there are places there at the Jordan River both on the Israeli and the Jordanian side for…for baptism, this tradition goes back a long, long ways. And so. we went down there, and it wasn’t a disappointment in any way. It was very, very frigid water, as it always is, very cold, take your breath away kind of cold. But the shock of it definitely sears it into your memory, and that is probably important when…when you are claiming your devotion to Jesus unto death and willing to leave behind who you were without him, in those waters that are flowing down to the Dead Sea. And so, it couldn’t be more appropriate. And so, it was a joy and humbling privilege to be there and to witness that and to participate in that, and to have a moment with so many who are traveling along with us. They are standing in the Jordan River, leaving behind everything that was who we were without Christ. And so, that is, that is always a deeply, deeply humbling and very moving time and but it’s cold as well. And so, we did that and finished up. And then kind of moved kinda from the Jordan River way, way up high overlooking Jericho, looking down into Jericho and looking at the ancient pathways up to Jerusalem, it was a really clear day. So, it was an opportunity for us to really see the Judean wilderness where Jesus was tempted, to look down into Jericho and see that and then we could see the Mount of Olives all the way from there. And so, it was a really good glimpse of the…the difference in geography or the difference in altitude. Jerusalem is much higher than Jericho is and from Jericho up to Jerusalem is up, uphill the whole way. So, we just kind of explored some of that and just oriented ourselves a little bit. We talked about Jesus story of the good Samaritan, talked about the valley of the shadow of death. And then we came down the mountain and began the head toward the Galilee. A little bit of stop, we weren’t able to go into Jericho proper, this time. Normally we would go for lunch there. But there have been some activities that need to take place and that is keeping people out for safety reasons and so, we don’t ever take any chances like that. And so, we bypassed that and headed for the Galilee. And it’s a couple of hour drive, I guess, from there. Maybe two and half hours but we get to see the change in the geography as we’re climbing out of the open wilderness and things become more and more green the further north we go, kind of following along the Jordanian border really, really beautiful drive. It was a really beautiful drive on a really beautiful day. So, we get to enjoy the sunset and arrived within view of the Sea of Galilee as the sun had set and we we’re just watching some of the colors in the sky. And we had to drive really the length of the Sea of Galilee from…from South to North and that was really, really beautiful and checking into our hotel when we get to finally unpack for a few days. Kinda, we’ve been wandering in the wilderness, and it feels like it’s been forever, it’s just been a couple of days, but all the jostling around kind of comes to a little bit of a stop. We finally can unpack and just know that we’re coming back the same place for a few nights, as we explore this region. So, we got checked in and I went out on the porch and the sky was just glowing red as the sun had set. And there was just exploding with color and, I don’t know, every time I get here, something in me exhales and…and that was, that was true of arriving this time. And so, today we’re gonna explore around this area, we have several places to visit. And I will be able to tell you about that, after we do it. So, that will have to wait till tomorrow, but thank you for your continued prayers over us. Thank you for being here virtually as we are here physically representing everybody and looking forward to sharing every step of the journey all along the way. And we continue to post as things are happening on social media. So, you can go and can follow along and check that out.

Tonight, and I say tonight, but it’s not necessarily gonna be tonight for everybody. It’s gonna be today or this morning for some people, but at 730 this evening. So, like in the rolling hills of Tennessee that’s 1130 in the morning on Saturday. And you’d have to kind of check wherever it is the difference between Tel Aviv and where you may be, but we’ll be going on Facebook live and coming together as a community and just sharing some of our experiences thus far. And so, looking forward to that. Thank you for your continued prayers, as we continue the journey forward. And that is all I can tell you because that is what is happened so far, and I’ll look forward to telling you more as it happens.

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

This is Morgan from Texas, today is February the 5th. I heard a prayer about this young man about him as a parent, as a father. And so, my prayers for you sir. Heavenly Father, I just pray for…for wisdom for this young man. I pray for peace and understanding. Lord, I pray that You flood him with the goodness of You, God. Cause You are a good Father. Lord, I pray for the situation and how life is that it’s not his fault. Yes, God gave us will but man Lord, You save us that it says in Your word that You never leave us, nor forsaken us. And Lord, I just pray for…for his children. I pray for the blood of Jesus over them. I pray for their protection, I pray for the fruit of the spirit upon his children: love, joy, peace, and patient and kindness and gentle and meekness. I pray for his boys, so they grow up to be a man of God. And that, yes, they see situations but Lord, I cancel that out in the name of Jesus, that what they see, they see the goodness of God. That a restoration for his boys, soften their heart, in Jesus name. And I pray for his daughters as well. Peace upon his daughters. Let them see, have their eyes open to see the situation they’re at, that this is not Godly. Conviction revealed in Jesus name. And Lord, I just pray that as this father goes through his day that You show the goodness of God. That You show and remind him and send Your Godly people over his behalf. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello DAB family, this is God’s Tree, for I have many branches, but I’m rooted in the word of God. I want to thank those that have been praying for me. I expressed a couple of weeks ago about heart being broken by my husband of 29 years. And we were in the process of planning our 30th wedding anniversary. And I found out about some things about him that had broke my heart. So, now I’m in space where I’m seeking God in what direction to go with our relationship. Should I continue or should I stay. I have people in my ear who tell me to let the marriage go, he did wrong, and etc. etc. But in my world, I’ve invested 29 years of relationship and I married him before God, and I believe that God wanted me to stay in this relationship. So, I’m just asking that you all pray for me and him for restoration, for understanding, and for the enemy to take his hands out of the situation. Because what God put together no man could put us under, and I know God put us together. I’m pressing forward and I’m trusting God and that’s all I can do. I don’t want to look like a fool but at the same time I want to trust and believe God. So, I ask that you continue to lift me up and I will lift you up. For God gets the glory out of all of it anyway. God bless you and I love you DAB family. And again, thank you all for thinking of me and praying for me.

Hi, my name is Roesha, aka Ro. I’m calling on behalf of my brother Roy, broken with the purpose, who’s incarcerated. But he’s been doing the Daily Audio Bible readings since the first of the year and it’s ya’lls prayers on the hotline that has really spoke to his heart. Mainly, this call, because of those who are depressed, or having social anxiety or suicidal thoughts, he wants to reach out to you with a testimony of why hurt people, hurt other people or themselves. Since he was 11 years old, he’s held in a lot of hurt, shame and pain and didn’t blame God or those who caused it. He only blames himself and spent 24 years doing everything he could to carry that instead of talking about it. Which led to him hurting others. Secret struggles like homosexuality and abuse towards himself from a stepfather who wanted to beat him into being a man, when at the same time the stepfather would hurt his mother and sisters and the fact he couldn’t protect them, made him feel less than a man and made him hate himself. Then, finally he hurt other people, like him, who are broken and found himself in the pit of despair and brokenness. And instead of talking about it, he held it all in until he found himself in a cell, surrounded by people on death row, wanting to live and he just wanted to die. Because no one knows how he feels inside and that’s when God told him, he was not alone, and His grace is sufficient enough for him. And He has called him by name to bring him out and tell his story of hurt, shame and pain. And God desired to take it all away. Paul could talk about what no one wants to out of fear of not being understood, how it feels to be alone surrounded by people who don’t know your shame. How it feels to hate what you have become, to not know who you are. Well God knew, God knows and God cares.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family again, this is Brennan from behind the fence down in Hamilton Correctional in Florida. First off, just thanking God for the prayers that I’ve heard, for the camp here, and just praising God that prayers have been answered. The violence and the stabbings that had been happening have basically ceased, since we began to pray. We’ve not had any kind of those I believe, in almost three weeks. Men’s lives are being changed. And God’s been good to me. I’ve got placed in a faith-based dorm. Got accepted into a seminary school. So, God is just moving but it’s Satan is also beginning to threaten attacks against my family with some men in here as well. So, but God is faithful. And right now, I just wanna stand on His word and thank God and just claim that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. That every mouth that is risen against us shall be silenced in Jesus name. And just pray for the campfire, the all the families and those represented Lord, I just ask that You would bless them right now, Lord God. Want to thank you for this community and for all the prayers that come in, Lord God. I uplift Sheena and God’s Yellow Flower and those in Canada, Lord God. And Lord, uplift our country. Lord, I ask that You would just intervene in my family’s life, Lord God. That You would continue to help us to look to You, to trust You, to honor You in doing all that we do, Lord God. Even when we don’t understand it, Lord God, I pray for Shawn and his family right now, Lord God. And I pray for financial blessing and direction and ministry, Lord God. And doors to be open and Lord, You are a good God. And we just honor You and we praise You and I just lose Your power, Your Holy Spirit, in these situations. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Be blessed DAB family again, it’s Frank from Behind the Fence. Love ya’ll, praying for ya’ll and we could use an uplift at Hamilton Correctional. In Jesus name. Amen.

Father, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I stand in the gap today for my brothers and sisters. I lift up families today. I take authority over everything that will stop families. Husbands and wives. I take authority over fighting and arguing. I take authority over a rebellious children, children who are disrespectful to their parents. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I call forth, right now, husbands and wives to come together. In the mighty name of Jesus, Father, we thank You, oh God, for Your word, for Your word is true. You said, ____ Your word, not come to pass. You said, heaven and earth would pass away. We stand on Your word. Oh God, we thank You for deliverance today, in the lives of Your people. Father, I lift up every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, Father, we thank You for saving and deliverance and setting free by Your mighty power. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. This is the Pastors Wife from Huntington. Thanking God for everyone. Be blessed.  

Exodus 30:11-31:18, Matthew 26:47-68, Psalms 32:1-11, Proverbs 8:27-32

Today is the 10^th day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you coming to you today from the land of the Bible. And in particular coming to you from the Dead Sea. And although the Dead Sea may be dead, but we are quite alive and enjoying our time here. It’s been quite a magnificent journey through the wilderness, which is where we still find ourselves. We’ll be navigating out of the wilderness today, but we definitely spent yesterday in the wilderness, but we’ll talk about that in a bit. We are here to take the next step forward in the Scriptures together and that next step leads us back into the book of Exodus. Today we will read chapters 30 verse 11 through 31 verse 18.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we continue our journey through Proverbs 8 and the voice of wisdom comes forth to speak on her own behalf, she has given us plenty to consider and plenty to describe herself and plenty of opportunity for us to examine ourselves. She has told us that she is at every crossroads, that she is calling out at the crossroads. So, like at that at every point of decision she is there calling out at the intersection where we’re going to choose to go this way or that based on the choice that we make. She is there calling out. She has told us that acquiring her, acquiring wisdom, is the most valuable thing that we could acquire in our lives because wisdom and using wisdom will draw everything else, we need to us. And then in today’s reading she tells us she was there with the Lord when He established the heavens, when He created the sky, when He created the earth, when He created the waters. In fact, I quote, she says, “I was beside Him as a master craftsman. I was His joy day after day.” So, the claim here is that through wisdom God created the cosmos and wisdom is available calling to us at every crossroads. So, why would we ignore her when she is delighted in us as well. She says, “I rejoiced in His presence at all times. I rejoiced in His inhabited world. I was delighted with the children of Adam. So now you children listen to me because those who keep my ways are blessed.” So, I’m not trying to overly personify wisdom other than that we’re reading it out of the Bible and the Bible is reading it first person as if wisdom is speaking and that she is calling to us and that she delights in all that God has made and that she is here for God’s people. And I’m just inviting us to consider the question that we’ve been asking. Why is this not a category in our lives? Like, why is this not something paramount that we are actually seeking diligently and truly paying attention to? And it’s easy enough to say, well we are because by our very lives and our life experience we are accumulating wisdom. And that’s true. But what about slowing down at the crossroads like we were talking about yesterday? What about slowing down? What about reducing the pace of life? Understanding that reducing the pace of life will actually increase productivity. Reducing the pace of life so that wisdom can be a category so that we’re not blowing through every decision without weighing it out, without considering what wisdom would say? Then we are missing out on something that is available to us and is also the most valuable thing that we could acquire in our lives. So, let’s think about that. Let’s continue to think about that. Let’s make wisdom an actual category, something that we seek even if we don’t know what we’re doing, just slowing down and not blasting through our choices, that would be a good beginning, slowing down and weighing out the paths and inviting the Holy Spirit. Understanding that wisdom is present, and it will become clear to us. This would radically change how we live, which means it would change our lives. And, so, it’s worth our consideration.

And then flipping back into the book of Matthew we are moving through the last days of Jesus. I…man…it’s just…I love the story, but I also find it to be difficult. I see things in the story that just make me sad. Like there’s such a sad little line in in the Gospel of Matthew today. It’s not even a verse. It’s like a half a verse, one sentence. “Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.” I hate that line. I don’t like it because…I mean it’s easy enough for any of us to look at the story and go, how can they do that, I would never do such a thing. But they had claimed the same thing. Peter’s like, I would rather die than deny you. And they’re all saying the same thing. And then we get to this point in Matthew, “then all the disciples deserted Him and fled. It means Jesus was abandoned. He was left alone to do the heavy lifting by Himself. And I could never say that that wouldn’t be me because it has been me in my life. Likely it’s been all of us. We’ve all run away. We’ve all abandoned. We’ve all denied. I guess part of it is so sad that God reduced Himself, incarnated Himself and became human and dwelt among us, and lived a life among us, and modeled for us what life could look like and gave us vision for the kingdom of heaven and its advancement and what it will look like and what God is like. I mean Jesus is showing us what God is like because we believe Jesus to be one with the Father. This is God in the flesh. This is what God is like. Jesus is what God is like. And, so, God comes in person and then all of His followers deserted Him and fled. That is heart breaking. That God created us to know Him and to be known by Him and then came in person and was utterly rejected by His creation. That is sad. And then Jesus is betrayed with a kiss. That is sad. Betrayed with a kiss. That is heartbreaking stuff. And then Jesus is arrested and bound up and that was the end of His freedom. He can’t go where He wants to go now. All of His opportunity to flee and He could’ve done it. They could’ve had the Passover meal. They could have done all of that and then He could’ve just said I’m getting out of Jerusalem. Let’s get out of here and just disappear. But he went into the garden of Gethsemane and waited for His arrest and then He was taken into custody and is brought before the high priest Caiaphas. So, the high priest. This is the top person. This is a person who represents so much to the people about God. And before the questioning that we were able to witness in the Gospel of Matthew today is over this high priest is tearing his robes and accusing Jesus of blasphemy and the Council has affirmed that He deserves to die. And then they spit in His face. That…ahh…that is so sad. They spit in God’s face. And Jesus is bound. He can’t even wipe the spit off his face. It’s got a just rolled down His cheek into His beard. It’s terrible. This is what is being done to God. This is what God is allowing to be done. And then they punch Him and slap Him and just, they verbally abuse and physically abuse Jesus. And this is just the appetizer. And, so, let us embrace this story. As I suggested yesterday, this is the first encounter with the passion narrative for this year in the first gospel that we are reading. May we embrace this story. May we see the profound love of God because we’re looking right now at a love that is almost incomprehensible and is totally self-sacrificial. It’s the story that has changed all of our lives. May we embrace that story and allow it to go to new depths of awareness in our hearts and allow just the picture of a love so deep that literally it’s incomprehensible, it's…it’s too big, it’s too fast and it is bestowed upon all who believe. That should also change everything about what we do. And, so, the Scriptures have given us a couple of reasons to consider some things that would change everything. Let it be so.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into this. Draw us deeper into the story of Jesus final days on our behalf, and may we come face-to-face with this kind of love and may it transform us and lead us on the paths of wisdom. Help us to slow down and listen for her voice as we’re making our decisions. Change us, transform us we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, our journey yesterday began in Eilat at the Red Sea at the southernmost tip of modern-day Israel and we had worked our way all the way from Ashdod to the southernmost point of Israel and then we began to work our way north. That’s all you can do. There’s no more land to go South. You have hit the Red Sea. That’s the end of it. And, so, we began working our way north. Our first stop was at a place called Temne, which is…is archaeologically famous for its mining going all the way back to pre-Israelite, back to Egyptian times, but also it is believed that Solomon did mining there in Temne as well. Mining copper and other…other minerals. But there is a tabernacle, a replica of the tabernacle that we read about in the book of Leviticus, how it should be constructed - what color thread, everything, like all of the particulars, how everything should be. And it’s set up there in the wilderness. And, so, it’s quite a striking thing to see first of all, just to see in the wilderness and really situate yourself with the children of Israel in the wilderness. Well then to kind of go through it all in the wilderness and just see all the moving parts of it really snaps what we read in the Scriptures into place because you have a visual representation as you kinda walk through the process. And, so, that’s always just a really expanding kind of thing to…to experience. And it was no different this time than any other time. So, that is a beautiful thing to do. And when we finished doing that, we ended up back having a bathroom break at __ dairy \, the kibbutz that is dairy farmers in the desert. So, we stopped and of course, I had my second batch of ice cream that I like so much. Get to have it twice a year, once or twice a year. So, splurge on that a little bit. And then we had a drive of a couple of hours through the desert continuing foreword to our next destination which was Masada which is really a gem of an archaeological site, dating back to the times of Herod the great. And of course, Herod built a lot of things throughout ancient Israel that are still standing until today. One of the things that he constructed that is not still standing today was the second Temple in Jerusalem. But Herod had a number of fortresses, many of which are still viewable to today, Masada being one of them. And Masada has a very deep connection to the Israeli people now because of the revolt that ultimately led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of God many of the Israeli rebels who were rebelling against the Roman Empire ended up on Masada. And the Roman Empire was making a statement to those people and everyone else who wished to defy Rome that there’s nowhere to hide. And, so, they built a siege ramp to capture Masada. And rather than being captured, abused, tortured and then put into slavery if they weren’t killed, they decided it was better to die. It was better to die at each other’s hand. It was better for them to choose death than then to allow what was going to happen to them, to happen to their families. And, so, that…that piece of the story is definitely rooted there in Masada as well. And it’s just also unbelievable views of the Dead Sea and the entire wilderness region there along the Jordan rift. And of course, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. And, so, we spent some time in Masada and then came back to the Dead Sea and just had some time to reflect upon the wilderness journey that we’ve taken so far and some time to reflect on owning…owning are part of the wilderness and owning our part of our relationship with God. And then we made it to our hotel and went out and floated in the Dead Sea. Many people floated in the Dead Sea because that’s a beautiful thing to do when you’re at the Dead Sea. It’s a little cold. It’s a little colder than it normally…than it normally is when I have come to the Dead Sea, but many people were braving it and it was very beautiful day. And, so, we had a mud party where you spread mud from the Dead Sea over your body and then go float in the Dead Sea. And that is a relaxing way to end things before dinner and just some rest and recuperation for the journey ahead. Today, we will finally exit the wilderness and end up in the Galilee, but that’s a story for tomorrow because that is out in front of us still. So, thank you for your continued prayers over stamina over technology. We’ve had some challenges in all kinds of different areas and that’s just part of…part of it. Thank you for your continued prayers.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible thank you humbly. Thank you. 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 I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Coming soon…

Exodus 29:1-30:10, Matthew 26:14-46, Psalm 31:19-24, Proverbs 8:14-26

Today is the ninth day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today. Coming to you today from Eilat, on the shores of the Red Sea. We have gone through our first full day of travel around the land of the Bible. We’re gonna be heading out for day two in a bit. What a joy to be coming to you from Israel, from the land of the Bible. And since we are community around the Global Campfire every day, for the purpose of moving through the Bible. So, let’s dive in, we’ll talk about what we were doing yesterday and what we’re doing, like what’s happening here in Israel at the end. But we’re at the beginning. Let’s dive in and take the next step forward. The next step leads us back into the book of Exodus where we are still with Moses who is receiving from God, the ordinances and statues, the laws that will govern and…and knit together this cohesive people, the children of Israel, who have come out of slavery in Egypt. And at this point God is revealing to Moses the priesthood and its function and how it works and what it represents. And so, let’s dive in, Exodus chapter 29 verse 1 through 30 verse 10 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so, it’s so interesting as we move Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs every day. It’s just so interesting to be in the wilderness with the children of Israel, as the laws are being given and to be out here in the wilderness with the opportunity to just immerse ourselves kind of, in the landscape and contemplate what is happening in the desert, like what is happening in the wilderness.

Then we move into the New Testament, and we are now…we are now in the passion narrative, we are in the last days of Jesus life and watch the story unfold and to be aware that we too will be able to walk in the footsteps that we are hearing about before this journey is over. It’s very meaningful and this is the first time that we are moving through this story this year. And I always point it out when we reach the passion narrative in the Gospels because we have four opportunities to look at this, and this being our first time through this year, may we really, truly immerse ourselves in the story. The story of redemption, the story of salvation. But as we look into the story, we realize that this story includes immeasurable suffering on our behalf. It’s the story of the great lengths God has been willing to go to the rescue us. So, we have moved through Jesus’s Last Supper and that is it. I mean, it’s the Last Supper and so it’s famous but that’s what it is, a last meal, the last meal together with Jesus friends, like they’re all around the table and this is the last time this is gonna happen like this. Everything that happens after this is gonna blow their worlds apart. It’s going to change everything. And it’s not that it’s a hopeless story but this is kind of the last moment that things are normal, at least, as they understand normal to be. Everything in their entire lives are about to change. And we follow Jesus into the garden of Gethsemane and He’s praying and we…we have to notice the humanity in these prayers. Is there any other way to do this, is there any way for this cup to pass but if not, then this is the cup I will drink. But I have walked around the garden of Gethsemane and I mean what is there is very, very, usually very overrun with pilgrims of people who also want to be there, experience it. So, it’s kinda hard to put yourself at night and it’s quiet and it’s dark and just to be there among the ancient olive trees. It’s that this scene and Gethsemane is so sad to me. Jesus, the Lord, who had come to reveal the kingdom of God and show that there is a better way to be a human being, that there is a way that this was all made to work where everybody gets taken care of and the world gets put back together again. And lots of people are listening but all the people with the power wanting to snuff Jesus out and here He is crying out to the Father, do we have to do this, and the answer is, we do, and we will certainly continue forward with the story tomorrow. But may we take it to heart, may we immerse ourselves in it and allow it to be inside of us, transforming us. And so, Jesus, we love you, we thank You here as we chase down Your footsteps and see with our own eyes some of the things that You would have seen, some of the hills and the valleys and the waterways that You would’ve seen. May this come alive to us, whether here or virtually, connected to this me this comes alive to us, may we immerse ourselves in the story of Your last days in Jerusalem and may Your Holy Spirit draw us deeper into the story of salvation. We pray, in Your precious name. Amen.

Announcements:

Alright, so, on our first day of traveling we left the Mediterranean coast and the ancient Philistines city of Ashdod and began to travel kind of southeastwardly. Our first place that we got to get off the bus and kind of visit and see some ancient ruins is the very ancient city of Beersheba. And Beersheba goes all the way back into the book of Genesis in the time of Abraham. So, we’re talking about very ancient ruins. Beersheba is kind of like in a transition zone where things are becoming more and more arid, the further south you go, the more the desert becomes a reality. If you keep going south and you are in the open desert, it’s not a concept it’s the real deal and it’s a barren wilderness. But Beersheba, sits in a transition zone. And so, we’re able to look around at the ruins but also, just imagine how a city like how a city an ancient world without electricity or anything like that can survive and the need for a…a constant source of water and how it was that they provided for that. And it’s not anywhere near open desert but if there were nothing developed anywhere be this vast and empty wilderness space. And so, to think of Hagar and Ishmael being sent away, they were sent into the wilderness of Beersheba where Hagar hears directly from the Lord, and she declares you are the God who sees me. So, in Beersheba were like a literally stepping into the book of Genesis and moving from there. And so, we spent some time there and kinda got ourselves prepared for moving into the wilderness and talked about what the wilderness represents in our lives and that’s a lot of the things that we go through with the children of Israel as they’re on their wilderness journey, are things that we will need to contemplate as well. What is the wilderness represents in our lives. And so, we began it and put our hearts in that space as we were able to experience the wilderness itself. We were able to visit a beautiful overlook, that gave us a glimpse into the wilderness of Zin and it’s a panorama that’s large enough for us to kind of imagine what it might be like for hundreds of thousands of people to be down in the wilderness and how they would have, like you get the sense of the impossibility of the situation, you get the sense that they couldn’t survive on their own and you can see that one of the lessons of the wilderness is they were utterly dependent upon God to survive. And it’s from the wilderness of Zin that the spies were sent to scout out the promised land, the story that we haven’t come to yet in the Bible, but we certainly will. And then we were able to have lunch with actual Bedouin people and enjoy brushing up against that culture, hearing little bit about it, enjoying a meal, enjoy hospitality. And like, it’s in a tent and you’re sitting down on…on these mats and eating as your seated, you’re not at table and you look out the flap of the tent and you see camels and dirt and dust, and you realize I'm…I’m in a totally different kind of place than I’m used to, like this is very different. And just kind of immersing ourselves in the fact that we’re here, we’re in the wilderness, we’re experiencing, like this is a happening. That’s awesome. And then, yeah and then a good-sized chunk of road to move all the way down to the very, very southernmost part of modern-day Israel, which is at the Red Sea. We have a favorite place down there, there’s a Kibbutz, which is kind of communal living, which is a vast understatement but a collection of people together in common for the community and they are dairy farmers and so, there’s like fresh ice cream there and it’s just some of the best that I that I’ve had, maybe it’s just being there, but it, I love the vanilla ice cream there. And so, hopefully, we’ll get to do that again today, but little restroom break, stretch the legs maybe have a little bit of ice cream and then all the way down to the Red Sea and on the banks of the Red Sea as the sun is setting we’re able to really exhale and really appreciate where we are and it’s remarkable to just kind of become aware of, I’m here, literally looking at the border of Egypt, like I am here. I look across the water and that is the country of Jordan, look further south, and that’s Saudi Arabia like I am here. So, after experiencing that, then of course going and checking in and getting settled into our hotel and having dinner and I that was day one, we have come as far south as we can go and we have experienced two of the major bodies of water, the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Before this day is over, we will experience the Dead Sea, but we’ll talk about all that tomorrow.

I’m just reminding you that this Saturday, so the 11th we will have made our way, all the way up into the north into the Galilee and that evening, Saturday evening about 7:30 PM, which is gonna be like back in United States that gonna be during the day, so we’re all over the world. And so, every time zone that’s pretty tough just Google local time in Tel Aviv and then make the adjustments to where you are, and you can figure out what time it will be where you are when it’s 715 in Israel. And we are planning to do a Facebook live we do this every time we calm, we all get together as a group. It’s a little bit of a debrief where we just cannot unpack a little bit of all the things, we’ve been experiencing in all of the things we been drinking in because it’s like drinking from a fire hose. And to be seen by friends and family from around the world him for the Daily Audio Bible Global Campfire community come in and be a part like were all in this together, we’re going through this together and we’re able to answer some questions just share some stories, so make some plans for that. That will be a Facebook live at the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page which is Facebook.com/dailyaudiobible that we will look forward to seeing you then.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible humble gratitude, thank you. If you find being around the Global Campfire is life-giving than thank you for being life-giving. 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 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, this is Prodigal Princess in Massachusetts. I’ve called previously with reports of how my dad had introduced me to the DAB, while I was in the throws of some serious drug addiction, some hard-core substances. And I was in early in recovery and there were several callers who called in and had encouraged me and I just wanted to thank you for that and thank you for your prayers. And I wanted to report that I’m almost 2 and half months clean and sober off of heroine and pentynyl or any IV drug use. I have been working in the field. I’m going through some things, professionally, some toxic work situations. Things that are out of my control. I’m trying to figure out, you know, what is in my control and what is out of my control and what kind of council I need to receive and how I should act and be pro-active. And unfortunately, as an individual in recovery, it is a population that is often marginalized and mistreated and I’m going through some of that. And I’m just praying for strength and trust in the Lord. And whatever the outcome may be professionally. And I also wanted to give a praise report regarding some educational opportunities that I’ve been able to pursue and request. I need to enroll in one more class and I missed the adjunct deadline because of medical issues and pray that …

Good morning, this is Ms. Van from Virginia. It is February 4th. I’m just calling in to pray for those that are grieving, those who have lost children, loved ones. Father, I thank you in the name of Jesus, that You are a restorer, Oh God, in our brokenness. You said that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but You know how to deliver them from them all. You will deliver from them all God, so we look to You, the deliverer, Oh God, we look to You, the one that we can come and lay all of our cares upon You because You care about us Oh God. In their pain, Oh God, that they feel Oh God, that there will be no more joy, Oh God, that they may not be able to recover from the pain, Oh God. But as You did for me, You are still able and will do for others because You’re not partial. You are the faithful creator, Oh God. Even in our faithlessness, Oh God, You do not change. Oh God, every promise You have made toward us, Oh God, for our healing, Oh God, You are still able and will carry out every word. You’ll watch over it, to perform it concerning those who are hurting. You’re the Lord of our comfort, the Lord of our mercy. Oh God, I pray, Oh God, that You will go out today and restore and bring peace. Turn the mourning into dancing, as You have done for me, Oh God, as You continue to do for me, do for others, Oh God, who are hurting today, who are in despair, who are weary in their well-doing, Oh God. Turn it around all things to work together for the good of those who love You and who are the called, according to Your own purpose, Oh God. Come, Oh God, and let Your presence be felt in their lives this morning. In Jesus name, I pray…

Hi, this encouragement is for Mike in NYC. This is Mike in Hampton Roads and I just wanted to reach back and encourage you brother that yes, forty years young, your kind of at the halfway point and definitely life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond to it. So, I just pray that your responses will be in a way that helps you make goals and plan your time and do things that will glorify God and align yourself more with Him. Find yourself that family, the community that will help you grow and prosper. I pray in Jesus name.

I look around my mountain home, to see what I can see
And I see a pattern clear as day that Autumns just like me
Fallen leaves leave barren trees.
I need You Lord. I’m on my knees begging You to help me please.  
Because I need relief from this disease. And just like these trees I’m baren too
And I don’t know Lord, just what to do, but I do know the answer lies in You
Because only You can make my life new.
My prayer sincere, my heart is true, without you Lord, I know I’m through
Fall, just like those Autumn leaves, my life was stripped away
Possessions, friends and family too my value, strength and pay
My hopes and dreams impute your schemes with change right before my eyes.
To accommodate my selfish whims, my pockets full of lies.
Just like leaves to from green the gold, to red and then to brown
I was flying high and looking good, but now I’m on the ground
Slowly turning into dust that soon will blow away.
Help me Lord to do Your will and help me as I pray
Help me just like You helped the trees to make it through a storms
The snows, the winds, the bitter cold and all of winters norms
And help me see the springtime again, the rain and golden son
Help me bear good fruit again when that healing time is done.
I love you Lord with all my heart, my body, mind and soul
I surrender my all to You, Let Your will unfold.
blindtony1016@gmail.com Once again I’d like to thank Brian and the Hardin family for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow, keep it flowing ya’ll. Okay, bye bye.  

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, this is Blessed One in AZ. It’s Saturday, February 4th and I’m so blessed, so happy to be loved by God, by Jesus. If I could just ask everyone for prayer for my family. We are, seems like flaming arrows being shot at us. My daughter, her name is Michelle, her family is fractured right now. They’re experiencing separation, mental health issues and suicidal tears. My brother was just recently laid off from a 14-year job. He’s a good man. And my grandson is struggling with mental issues and he’s only 11. I have such faith and such love, and I have God in my heart. They all know God but they don’t KNOW God. If I could just ask for prayers that, for God to come into all of their hearts. For them to start leaning on Him for their solutions. That He always makes things right. And right now when this storm is happening, I look to the Lord for salvation. I know He’s going to take care of this, I just, out of this whole situation, I want them all to know the Lord. I want them to know the Lord. So, please pray for my daughter Michelle, my granddaughter Tatum, my brother Jeff and my grandson Ashton. Please pray that they learn to look to the Lord for their problems. I thank you all for your prayers. I love all. Thank you for being here for me and I’m so blessed to have this community that I can count on. Have a blessed day.