Month: November 2023

Okay, so before we can point out the distinction, we just have to understand what’s going on here. Abram has met God, God has invited Abram into a land that he would be shown, and he’s following God’s directions. Understand Abraham’s not following Scriptures, he’s not referring to prophecies, he’s, none of that has happened yet. So, the Bible that we are reading hasn’t happened yet at all. But Abram knows who he’s following and that his entire destiny is based upon that relationship, because he’s left behind his home and all of the resources and culture that he’s used to navigating and he’s away from all of that, and he’s pursuing the direction of the God who introduced himself to him. So, he’s clear that his life is in God’s hands. So, we have the king of Salem who is a priest of the most high God, who’s coming out and blesses Abram. Of course, Abram in rescuing his kin, Lot, also saves the necks of several bunch of kings, one of them, the king of Sodom, who expects that he will have to reward Abram for what he’s done and is trying to negotiate that deal. Abram makes a distinction, he gives a tithe, a 10th to Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God. But tells the king of Sodom he won’t take anything; he’s not taking anything from anyone in terms of plunder because in no way is he leaving the door open that later someone will be able to say that they made Abram. Right, they made Abraham who he is. Abram is acknowledging God alone. So, we can say that we can say that solidly and that’s our first introduction to Melchizedek. Abraham makes a distinction between the king of Salem, priest of the most high God, and the other kings. So, who is this guy, and does his name mean something? According to the Scriptures, Melchizedek is the king of Salem or Salem, also known Jarut-Salem, or Yarusalem or Yarushalime. So, Melchizedek is a Canaanite king who rules the region and city of Jerusalem, also known as Salem. And the majority of biblical scholars would agree on that. What does his name mean? So, Melchi-Zedek, that the king of righteousness or maybe more literally, my king is righteous, or maybe even more literally my king is right and that’s it. Melchizedek only shows up one other time in the Old Testament by name and that is found in the Psalms, Psalm 110 verse 3, which reads the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And thoughts about this begin to spray off into all kinds of different directions from there. And I mean, you can see how the order of Melchizedek, what is that? I mean, that sounds like the title to a thriller, does it not? I mean what is the order of Melchizedek and how does one get into the club?

So, who is Melchizedek and why is he compared to Jesus in the book of Hebrews? Now, when you start digging into that territory, it starts getting complicated really fast and the waters get very murky. And you find everything from remarkable correlations to fantastical things that you would expect to read in a adventurer or fantasy novel. So, if you want to lose yourself down that rabbit hole, there’s plenty of stuff to read about it. But if you want to stick to biblical scholarship than we still got a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. So, we don’t have several hours to talk about this, and I am nowhere near a leading expert on it. But overtime I have done enough research and scholarship on it to at least give us some context and a little bit of a baseline. Maybe just like a little platform from which you can do as many deep dives as you personally want to do. But in terms of what we do here every day as we go through a portion of Scripture and apply it to our lives, context is important. So, let’s try to get some context. Melchizedek is a figure that first appears in the Bible in the book of Genesis chapter 14. And obviously, we read that many months ago back in the month of January. The story is about Abraham and Lot and a battle where there were five kings against four kings, and Lot was captured and taken away in this battle, and Abraham went in pursuit and recovered, recovered everything. And on his way back, he runs into this figure, Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the most high God. And Abraham pays him a 10% tithe of the plunder from the battle and Melchizedek then in turn blesses him. So, no big deal so far, just a retelling of an event that happened and perhaps the first theological handle that we have in the Bible relating to Melchizedek is a distinction. And so, let’s look at that real quick. I’m reading from Genesis chapter 14, after Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh, that is the Kings Valley. And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God most high brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing, blessed be Abram by God most high, creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God most high who has defeated your enemies for you. Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. The king of Sodom said to Abram, give back my people who were captured, but you may keep for yourself all the good you have recovered. Abram replied to the king of Sodom, I solemnly swear to the Lord God most high Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise, you might say I am the one who made Abram rich. I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten, and I request that you give a fair share of the goods to my allies, Aner, Eshkol and Mamre.

Ezekiel 10:1-11:25, Hebrews 6:1-20, Psalm 105:16-36, Proverbs 27:1-2

Today is the 4th day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, and here we are at the end of another week. A week that has switched months for us and launched us into the 11th month of the year, and day-by-day we get closer to the destination, the completion of the Bible. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, we have much territory to cover, and we’ll take the next step forward into the Scriptures today. So, we’ve been reading from the Good News Translation this week, which is what we’ll do today, Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 1, through 11 verse 25 today.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the book of Hebrews today, the last verse that we read we encounter an interesting name that harkens back to the Old Testament. The verse reads on our behalf Jesus has gone in there before us and has become a high priest forever, in the priestly order of Melchizedek. And tomorrow when we encounter the book of Hebrews, we’ll be hearing much more about Melchizedek. And so, we probably need to talk about him a little bit. So, I’m gonna start that today by just explaining who Melchizedek is and where he shows up in the Bible, and we’ll probably only get through the Old Testament part of that. But we’ll talk about it more tomorrow.

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14, Hebrews 4:1-16, Psalm 104:24-35, Proverbs 26:27

Today is the second day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we get ourselves settled into this new month. And even as we do that, we’re settling into the book of Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, and the book of Hebrews in the new. And things get moving rapidly as we move toward the end of the year because we move through some shorter material, books of minor prophecy that are shorter and letters from the apostles that are shorter. So, we’ll be touching seven of the books of the Bible in the month of November, but that will happen a little later. Ezekiel will take us into the final week of the month and Hebrews will take us into next week. So today, Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 16 through 6:14. And we’re reading from the Good News Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay, in the book of Hebrews we come to certainly very popular portion of Scripture, but it also happens to be one of the guiding Scriptures for what we do here every day. The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through to where soul and spirit meet. So, where is that? Where do soul and spirit meet? I’ve heard this Scripture all my life and just always kind of moved past it by thinking, well it goes very, very deep. That’s the point, it…it’s something that can penetrate. But where do soul and spirit actually meet? Where is it that our true selves, our spirit, and our awareness or consciousness, where do these come together, other than the very, very place of our identity, the eternal places within us. So, the writer of Hebrews is telling us that the word of God can counsel and rebuke and correct us at that deep of a level, at the place where all of our constructs and all of our personality and all of the things that we…we do to make the world work, fade away into what is true and implant truth at the that place, thereby forming us as people and changing our convictions, ambitions and coping mechanisms. The word of God can speak to us there. And you know, if you’ve been on the journey this year, you can already see that. You can already bear witness to the truth of that. We can all agree, the Scriptures judge the desires and thoughts of the heart, exactly as Hebrews tell us today. And there aren’t many things in this world that can speak that deeply or that can navigate through the maze of who we are, our wounds, our history, our convictions our worldview and everything else that goes along with that. But the word of God can and does. So we can see so clearly what it gift it is to have the Bible in our lives every day. But this passage goes on and tells us why it’s not as popular. We probably can’t quote it, but it goes on to tell us why. There is nothing that can be hid from God. Everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before His eyes. And it is to Him, that we must all give an account of ourselves. And with that awareness, we see the irreplaceable gift of the Scriptures in our lives, being able to speak to us far deeper than really anything else can, and to guide us along the path that leads us to truth. That’s what this is all about. That’s why we’re doing this every day. That’s, I’ mean we’re coming together for community around the Global Campfire, but the essential piece that can’t be missing is the Scriptures spoken over us, aloud every day, because this is powerful stuff. This is stuff that can change us at the level of our identity. It can bring out into the open who we really are. And isn’t that what we spend our whole lives searching for and isn’t the renewal and transformation and sanctification, what we seek? That’s why we just did this Global campfire initiative, to further strengthen and build community wrapped around the rhythm of the Scriptures being spoken aloud every day. And as I’ve already said I thank you, humbly those of you who’ve stepped forward into this. So, that we can continue to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night, because it’s potent. It orients us at the level of our identity toward God.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we rejoice and thank you for the gift of your word in our lives. Not only through the rhythm of…of what we do at the Daily Audio Bible as a community every day, but through the personal transformation that you bring about in our lives through your word, every day. We thank you for this gift and we open our hearts to Your Holy Spirit, and we invite Your word to speak into the places where soul and spirit meet. And we acknowledge that nothing can be hidden from You, all of creation is exposed and lies open before Your eyes. And we want that to be true of us willingly, we open our hearts to You completely. We trust You completely. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base. That’s where you find out what’s going on around here, so be sure to check it out. Check out the Prayer Wall while you’re there. Maybe pray for some people, maybe there’s something that you need prayer for. That’s why the Prayer Wall is a great place for that. So, be sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we share in community, then dailyaudiobible.com is the place to go. There’s a link on the homepage or if you prefer the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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 family, this is Pamela, Resting in the Lord in Pennsylvania. I’m extremely thankful for the words that Brian read today and shared commentary on from the book of Proverbs about when we open our mouths, slicing others and just excusing that behavior as a joke. I have dealt with that and I think it’s…it’s starting to turn. I think God is working here. And praise…praising the Lord for that. I am going to lift us up in prayer as we deal with people like this in our lives. And try to not return evil with evil but return evil with good. So, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, it’s hard to live in this world. It’s getting so dark. It’s getting so hard. But your light still shines. It’s shines around us, and it shines in us. So, help us Lord to do your will. Help us to receive Your word and allow it to change us from the inside out. Allow it to help us to be life giving instead of death giving. Guide us Holy Spirit, every minute of every day as we maneuver through this dark world. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Good morning, this is Salt and Light from California Central Coast. I’m calling in for a prayer request for my precious friend Janelle Block and her husband Harry Swagger. Janelle has cancer that has returned to her body and Harry had surgery for his back and the hardware that they put in infected his body, they had to remove all of his metal out of his body. They are just having back-to-back battles. They both love Jesus dearly. And I’m asking for a miracle in both of their bodies. In Jesus precious name. If you guys could pray for him, I’d be so grateful. Bye for now.

Hi family, this is Pamela, Resting in the Lord, in Pennsylvania. I’m calling in for, I believe it’s Covered by His Blood. Sister, you talked about your two sons, Treyvon is leaving for the military and your other son doesn’t live with you. And your husband is working a lot. And you are asking God for your sight back. And struggling with depression. And I just want to encourage you. I spent 22 years struggling with multiple physical ailments, lupus was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. Pain searing through every fiber of your body. Can’t…can’t regulate body temperature, legs so cold they can’t warm up and in such pain. Why am I telling you all this? Because God is faithful. God is faithful sister. Even in the waiting, even in the waiting He was faithful. I encourage you to cry out to God. Cry out to God and continue to cry out to God. And you will hear your name lifted up. We will all be praying for you. God will give you a purpose even in the waiting. Even in the state you are in now, you have a purpose right now. Right here on the DAB, calling in to pray for people. Whatever it may be, whatever God directs you, I’m praying for you sister.

Good morning DAB family, this is Clever Lisa T in Tennessee. And this morning I’m calling for Bob, from Phoenix. You called on October the 25th. I wanted to share a quick story. My father-in-law, whose name is also Bob, is 75 years old. And one week ago, he made the best decision to surrender his heart and his life to Jesus Christ. And this morning, I am preparing, as I speak to you, to take him to church where he is scheduled to be baptized. He was adamant about following through with believers’ baptism as a sign of obedience. And his story is probably a little different than yours. He has a terminal cancer diagnosis and he’s on home hospice. But after decades of our family praying for Bob and witnessing to him, last week he truly, truly turned his life over to the Lord. And we can tell a difference in him. He has a different countenance about him. He has a peace that he did not have before. He was truly afraid to die and to leave this earth. But that fear has since been replaced with a peace that only the Lord could provide. And he’s just a changed man. He recognized the sins that he carried. He recognized his need to repent and so, turning that over to the Lord has made a profound impact obviously on his eternal life. And I just, I wanted you to know I’m praying for you Bob. I’m praying that you get to the same place that this Bob has. And for your peace and for your love for the Lord. It will happen. I believe it.

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14, Hebrews 4:1-16, Psalm 104:24-35, Proverbs 26:27

Today is the second day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we get ourselves settled into this new month. And even as we do that, we’re settling into the book of Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, and the book of Hebrews in the new. And things get moving rapidly as we move toward the end of the year because we move through some shorter material, books of minor prophecy that are shorter and letters from the apostles that are shorter. So, we’ll be touching seven of the books of the Bible in the month of November, but that will happen a little later. Ezekiel will take us into the final week of the month and Hebrews will take us into next week. So today, Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 16 through 6:14. And we’re reading from the Good News Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay, in the book of Hebrews we come to certainly very popular portion of Scripture, but it also happens to be one of the guiding Scriptures for what we do here every day. The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through to where soul and spirit meet. So, where is that? Where do soul and spirit meet? I’ve heard this Scripture all my life and just always kind of moved past it by thinking, well it goes very, very deep. That’s the point, it…it’s something that can penetrate. But where do soul and spirit actually meet? Where is it that our true selves, our spirit, and our awareness or consciousness, where do these come together, other than the very, very place of our identity, the eternal places within us. So, the writer of Hebrews is telling us that the word of God can counsel and rebuke and correct us at that deep of a level, at the place where all of our constructs and all of our personality and all of the things that we…we do to make the world work, fade away into what is true and implant truth at the that place, thereby forming us as people and changing our convictions, ambitions and coping mechanisms. The word of God can speak to us there. And you know, if you’ve been on the journey this year, you can already see that. You can already bear witness to the truth of that. We can all agree, the Scriptures judge the desires and thoughts of the heart, exactly as Hebrews tell us today. And there aren’t many things in this world that can speak that deeply or that can navigate through the maze of who we are, our wounds, our history, our convictions our worldview and everything else that goes along with that. But the word of God can and does. So we can see so clearly what it gift it is to have the Bible in our lives every day. But this passage goes on and tells us why it’s not as popular. We probably can’t quote it, but it goes on to tell us why. There is nothing that can be hid from God. Everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before His eyes. And it is to Him, that we must all give an account of ourselves. And with that awareness, we see the irreplaceable gift of the Scriptures in our lives, being able to speak to us far deeper than really anything else can, and to guide us along the path that leads us to truth. That’s what this is all about. That’s why we’re doing this every day. That’s, I’ mean we’re coming together for community around the Global Campfire, but the essential piece that can’t be missing is the Scriptures spoken over us, aloud every day, because this is powerful stuff. This is stuff that can change us at the level of our identity. It can bring out into the open who we really are. And isn’t that what we spend our whole lives searching for and isn’t the renewal and transformation and sanctification, what we seek? That’s why we just did this Global campfire initiative, to further strengthen and build community wrapped around the rhythm of the Scriptures being spoken aloud every day. And as I’ve already said I thank you, humbly those of you who’ve stepped forward into this. So, that we can continue to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night, because it’s potent. It orients us at the level of our identity toward God.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we rejoice and thank you for the gift of your word in our lives. Not only through the rhythm of…of what we do at the Daily Audio Bible as a community every day, but through the personal transformation that you bring about in our lives through your word, every day. We thank you for this gift and we open our hearts to Your Holy Spirit, and we invite Your word to speak into the places where soul and spirit meet. And we acknowledge that nothing can be hidden from You, all of creation is exposed and lies open before Your eyes. And we want that to be true of us willingly, we open our hearts to You completely. We trust You completely. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base. That’s where you find out what’s going on around here, so be sure to check it out. Check out the Prayer Wall while you’re there. Maybe pray for some people, maybe there’s something that you need prayer for. That’s why the Prayer Wall is a great place for that. So, be sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we share in community, then dailyaudiobible.com is the place to go. There’s a link on the homepage or if you prefer the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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 family, this is Pamela, Resting in the Lord in Pennsylvania. I’m extremely thankful for the words that Brian read today and shared commentary on from the book of Proverbs about when we open our mouths, slicing others and just excusing that behavior as a joke. I have dealt with that and I think it’s…it’s starting to turn. I think God is working here. And praise…praising the Lord for that. I am going to lift us up in prayer as we deal with people like this in our lives. And try to not return evil with evil but return evil with good. So, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, it’s hard to live in this world. It’s getting so dark. It’s getting so hard. But your light still shines. It’s shines around us, and it shines in us. So, help us Lord to do your will. Help us to receive Your word and allow it to change us from the inside out. Allow it to help us to be life giving instead of death giving. Guide us Holy Spirit, every minute of every day as we maneuver through this dark world. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Good morning, this is Salt and Light from California Central Coast. I’m calling in for a prayer request for my precious friend Janelle Block and her husband Harry Swagger. Janelle has cancer that has returned to her body and Harry had surgery for his back and the hardware that they put in infected his body, they had to remove all of his metal out of his body. They are just having back-to-back battles. They both love Jesus dearly. And I’m asking for a miracle in both of their bodies. In Jesus precious name. If you guys could pray for him, I’d be so grateful. Bye for now.

Hi family, this is Pamela, Resting in the Lord, in Pennsylvania. I’m calling in for, I believe it’s Covered by His Blood. Sister, you talked about your two sons, Treyvon is leaving for the military and your other son doesn’t live with you. And your husband is working a lot. And you are asking God for your sight back. And struggling with depression. And I just want to encourage you. I spent 22 years struggling with multiple physical ailments, lupus was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. Pain searing through every fiber of your body. Can’t…can’t regulate body temperature, legs so cold they can’t warm up and in such pain. Why am I telling you all this? Because God is faithful. God is faithful sister. Even in the waiting, even in the waiting He was faithful. I encourage you to cry out to God. Cry out to God and continue to cry out to God. And you will hear your name lifted up. We will all be praying for you. God will give you a purpose even in the waiting. Even in the state you are in now, you have a purpose right now. Right here on the DAB, calling in to pray for people. Whatever it may be, whatever God directs you, I’m praying for you sister.

Good morning DAB family, this is Clever Lisa T in Tennessee. And this morning I’m calling for Bob, from Phoenix. You called on October the 25th. I wanted to share a quick story. My father-in-law, whose name is also Bob, is 75 years old. And one week ago, he made the best decision to surrender his heart and his life to Jesus Christ. And this morning, I am preparing, as I speak to you, to take him to church where he is scheduled to be baptized. He was adamant about following through with believers’ baptism as a sign of obedience. And his story is probably a little different than yours. He has a terminal cancer diagnosis and he’s on home hospice. But after decades of our family praying for Bob and witnessing to him, last week he truly, truly turned his life over to the Lord. And we can tell a difference in him. He has a different countenance about him. He has a peace that he did not have before. He was truly afraid to die and to leave this earth. But that fear has since been replaced with a peace that only the Lord could provide. And he’s just a changed man. He recognized the sins that he carried. He recognized his need to repent and so, turning that over to the Lord has made a profound impact obviously on his eternal life. And I just, I wanted you to know I’m praying for you Bob. I’m praying that you get to the same place that this Bob has. And for your peace and for your love for the Lord. It will happen. I believe it.