Author: Daily Audio Bible Transcripts

Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:13-17:9, Psalms 21:1-13, Pr 5:1-6

Today is the 25^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor to be here with you today as we move into our workweek. And there’s a surprise for us today. I have a surprise for you. We’re gonna finish the first book of the Bible today. We’ll finish the book of Genesis. So, just like that we’ve move through a whole book of the Bible, a big one too. And look at all we have covered. From the origin story of creation Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, Noah and the flood, Abraham going into a land he didn’t know following a God he had never met and entering into a covenantal relationship. And covenants and covenantal language permeates the Bible. The son of promise, Isaac and then his son Jacob, and then his son Joseph, a lot of ground has been covered and lot to plot…to apply to our lives has been placed before us and planted in our hearts. And then so today we will finish the story of Joseph by reading the 50^th chapter of Genesis, and then we’ll move in Exodus and when we get there, we’ll kind of do a little flyby and get a little kind of context of where we’re going, and then we’ll read the first couple chapters of Exodus. So, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Genesis chapter 50.

Introduction to the book of Exodus:

Okay. And that concludes the book of Genesis. So, well done to us all for making it through the first full book of the Bible, which brings us now to the second book of the Bible, known as Exodus. And if we remember Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible are known as the Torah or the Pentateuch. So, we’re entering the second book of the Torah. And if we remember when we were talking about Genesis, we’re like really really trying to establish the fact that there’s a family line here - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, whose Israel, and then he has children, and they are the children of Israel. That’s important because it affects the whole Bible. It’s important to know where they came from and their origin story and how everything became what it became because their story so parallels our own life journey. So, when we left the book of Genesis just now Joseph died, had made his brothers promise to bring his bones out of Egypt when they left. Now as we turn our attention to the book of Exodus, we’re moving forward several centuries. And, so, with one turn of the page hundreds of years have gone by. And, so, with the flip of a page then everybody that we’ve been traveling with has died and their progeny has flourished. And, so, we’re hundreds of years in the future now with the future generations of promise and they are still in Egypt. And as we will see their…their prosperity, their flourishing begins to make the Egyptians uneasy because they can one day outgrow them and take over. And, so, they enslave them. And what we will learn is that this slavery goes on for 400 years. So, that’s a long time to be holding onto a promise about land, right? And the oppression of the Hebrews by the Egyptians doesn’t go unnoticed. And, so, we will meet another major figure in the Bible. We’ll watch him grow up. And he has a very interesting childhood. We’ll watch them flee Egypt. We’ll watch him return from Egypt to set God’s people free and his name is Moses. So, basically in Exodus we’ll meet Moses’s, we’ll see the plight of the Hebrew people, we’ll watch Moses become the leader of these people and we’ll watch a very drama filled confrontation between God and Egypt and in particular the king of Egypt the Pharaoh. Eventually, God’s people will be freed from their slavery and sort of the center part of Exodus will deal with their trials in the desert. And then as we move into the last part of Exodus God will begin to weave His story into the fabric of this new culture. These recently freed slaves are in the desert and God is establishing a completely new culture in the desert among them and He will be weaving Himself into everything that they do. And we’ll see things like the tabernacle and the way that sacrifices are to be given to God. And, so, what we’re watching is God culture making. And we get to sit on the front row and watch it happen. And, so, let’s begin. Exodus chapter 1

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’ve already transitioned from Genesis to Exodus and talked about that.

Let’s look at one thing and Jesus says in the book of Matthew today because it’s really famous. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” So, this is obviously the call to the path of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Like this is Jesus saying what it’s gonna take. “If you want to come after me deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” Let’s stop there and talk about deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus. That seems to be the precursor of one of the greatest most pervasive themes of the Bible – endurance. And we don’t like to hear about it and we don’t like to do it that well. And, so, we don’t hear about it a lot. And if we can avoid it, we do. And yet, Jesus is saying yeah, the life following me is a life where you’re denying the false identity that you are trying to craft and build. You’re denying yourself and you’re taking up your cross and following me. You’re taking on my identity. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And that’s famous. And, so, we…we think of it in terms of like being willing to die for the cause of Christ, to become a martyr. And, indeed, that has been required of many brothers and sisters over the millennia, but it’s deeper than this. It’s not just a willingness to humanly die, it’s the act of dying to yourself, taking up your cross and following Him. In other words, dying to yourself so that you can actually live for Christ. Later in the New Testament when we get to the letters of Paul, we will hear Paul describe it as a living sacrifice. Okay. So, that’s kind of the lay of the land. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus then your identity isn’t a worldly crafted thing, it’s the identity of the child of the most-high God, a disciple of Christ, and you will have to participate in the act of endurance often. We’re still kind of at the beginning of the year. I…mean it’s not my favorite thing to talk about, endurance. The Bible just brings it up over and over and over and over. And I have over the years, I’ve thought, “why? Like, why can’t your yoke be easy and your burden light? Like, we like those kinds of scriptures better.” But I have come to realize that endurance isn’t the absence of God’s blessing. Endurance is actually evidence of God’s blessing. Think about it. Think about your life. What have the greatest lessons that you have ever learned come through? Challenge, endurance, something that you had to see through, something that you had to stick with. This is how we grow. And Jesus, God made flesh is telling us that this is a part of following Him. In other words, this is a part of how it’s supposed to go. So, we’ve got a reframe some things and rewire some things because none of us likes to go through difficulty and challenge and most of the time we wallow in it, we get stuck in it, we dig a hole there, we camp out there when we’re supposed to move through it and gain strength and wisdom and keep going. But just normally, we get mad at God, and walk away and get rebellious and act like a toddler and only to find that we missed…we…like it took so much longer than it had to take. And we missed so much that we just misunderstood that “I am apparently going into a season of endurance here, of challenge and obstacle. And, yeah, I’m gonna still hate it. It’s not fun.” But it is also not a waste of time. It’s not without purpose. And Jesus is telling us this right out of the gate. And then He something interesting. “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” In other words if we could have a life of ease and get everything that we wanted but we’d lost our identity, we got sucked into creating a false identity because of all the stuff that we have achieved and all of the stuff that we have and we thought that this is who we are and we lost the plot of the story that we are a child of the most-high, then in the end, what does that profit a person? It’s a pile of stuff. It may be cool stuff, but it’s a pile of stuff. Hundred years from now nobody’s gonna care about any of that stuff except for maybe antique dealers. And, so, let’s pour that into our coffee and stir it around today and keep it with us. Endurance is unfortunately my friends, a part of the journey. Endurance, fortunately my friends is a part of the journey. This is how we grow. Let’s just bring it really close. Let’s pretend we decided that today is the last day we’re going to go through the Bible in community and we step off this train, we don’t go any further, we don’t endure until the end, we don’t maintain the rhythm until the end, we are going to lose so much that God will gift us through His word. But those of us who stick it out show up every day and continue to show up every day, week by week, month by month, we’re going to see transformation in our lives. And this is about the time where were starting to think about, maybe not doing the New Year’s resolutions anymore. Like, yeah, salad’s getting’ old and all the stuff that goes with it. And then there’s all the temptations all around us to just jump off the wagon of health. And, so, we do. We’re like just this once. And then it becomes the trajectory that we head in. And, so, we can get to the year…end of the year having had wonderful goals for the year that we didn’t endure and so we didn’t achieve. If we want to achieve being a disciple of Jesus, then we’re gonna have to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him.

Prayer:

Jesus, we enter into that. We invite Your Holy Spirit into that to apply it to our lives in places that need attention in this area right now. But we also acknowledge, You’re not asking for something You didn’t model. Like You’re not demanding something that You didn’t show how it’s done and explain it. And we have all these kinds of ideas about what it is to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow You when at the end of the day this really does boil down to what is driving us. How is it that we are trying to achieve an identity? What is making us continue forward on any given path? What we have to do is lay down anything that’s not a path that pursues You. The things that distract us or the things that pull us away, what does that profit us? Help us to see that clearly Holy Spirit, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here always. It’s how to get connected. So, be familiar. Come visit. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can…you can do all this within the app as well.

Be familiar with the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives. That’s where different links to social media, different channels on social media we participate in. It’s how to get connected in that way.

The Daily Audio Bible Shop is there with things to take this journey deeper, things to take this journey wider, things to just wrap ourselves in and be involved and understand that we’re involved in a community as we make this journey through the Scriptures. So, check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible that can be done at dailyaudiobible.com as well or in the app as well. And I thank you. If…if the mission that we share in common here to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given freely to the world to anyone who will listen to it anywhere upon this beautiful planet that God has given us to be home any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm so that we know we’re not alone – we’re not alone in our quest to move through the Bible and understand it, but we’re not alone, period. We’re not alone, we’re in community together as we take this journey. If that has meant something in your life, then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, the link, there’s a button in the upper right-hand corner or if you prefer the mail, 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, which is the little red button up at the top or there are number of numbers that you can use. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number or if you are in Australia or that part of the world. 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Amy calling from the center of Canada. I…I’m lying awake in bed again, another sleepless night. I suffer from insomnia and it’s exasperated my…by my depression. I also have type one diabetes and have been unemployed for almost a year now. I feel like I have a lot on my plate. And the thing that I can’t stop thinking about and I feel almost obsessive about at this point is finding a partner, a husband. I feel really feel really lonely and I’m…I feel angry that God has let me have this strong desire for my whole life that I have not been able to get rid of or fulfill. And I know it’s not up to me but it’s really hard for me to let go of trying to do all the right things and go on the dating apps and it all feels so empty.

Hello, Daily Audio Bible this is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Today is January 21^st. Yes, I’ve been away for a bit. My wife and I took a vacation. We went out to see our youngest daughter, our 9^th granddaughter was born on Christmas Day and they live out in Seattle. So, we took the train from Milwaukee out to Seattle. So, that was fun to see the beautiful country they God has created. So, everyone’s doing well. And I want to thank all of you for your prayers. I am calling in for God’s Smile and then there was a gentleman who called in and he said he only has apparently a few months to live. He has cancer and I apologize I can’t remember your name, but you wanted us to pray for you. So, Lord we lift up God’s Smile and this gentleman who was told that he doesn’t have long on this earth. He’s battling cancer. Be with God’s Smile Lord. We ask for Your comfort and peace. She is such a joy for us Lord and the peace she gives us, we are asking that You would give her that piece, the piece that she…that flows through her from You to us Lord, we’re now asking You would allow it to flow from us to her and that she would get the rest she needs and the strength she needs to carry on and be a light for You as she is. We ask that You be with this gentleman who’s battling cancer who has a wife and children Lord. We’re asking that You will give him extended time on this earth to be a light for him for his wife to be there with his children and grandchildren. We want to lift this up to You are great and precious Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And God bless.

Good morning my name is Soniato here from Ontario CA. Please key from my family in Boston they have Covid 19. Her name is Jeannie – Jeanine, Evelyn, Gobanni. Please pray for them for healing. Thank you. God bless you.

Good evening everybody this is God’s Smile here. You know, this community’s a beautiful thing and sometimes a caller just touches you very deep inside and I’ve just listened to a lady who’s recently got out of hospital with Covid an she said that her husband had left her after 46 years. She’s no help at the moment and she said that the home health hasn’t kicked in. And she’s alone. So, I don’t know your name dear lady, but I’d like to pray for you. Father God, we as a community, we wrap our owns around this lady and we ask that You would breathe and surround her with Your love not that Your love is never there but Father would You whip it up, would You whip that love up so that it is felt and seen. May she hear You as she reads Your word. And Father when this home health kicks in, I ask dear Lord, I ask because I can come to You and ask these things that this home help would be more than just a help, she would become a friend. And could I go as far to ask dear Lord that You would give her a Christian lady? Wouldn’t that be just wonderful? Father I don’t know if she has a church, but I pray the church around her would support her. Time’s ticking away. I send you my love and a kiss. Kiss kiss. Love you all.

Hi family this is Biola from Maryland I hope you’re all doing well. Brian and Jill God bless you. God bless your ministry. We’re looking forward to China’s little baby. Well, I pray that God will continue to touch her and protect her. Family today is January 22^nd. Today would have been my father’s birthday. He went home to be with the Lord in 2016 September 20. So, I just want to ask for prayer especially for my mom who is still grieving his death that God would just uphold her and be with her Jesus’ name. A listener from Montana, oh my gosh sister. I listened to your message like two or three times. I was so intrigued and convicted by what you said. Sister, you have such a sweet spirit. I am so happy that you found Daily Audio Bible. You know it is because of new listeners like you that I am proud to give to Daily Audio Bible. It is ministry worth sewing into. Sister I pray that God will continue to let you experience His joy. I can…I can tell from your voice that joy in spite of the blindness I am thanking God for your life and for your sweet 2-year-old and for your husband and for your marriage and I pray that God will continue to just wrap His arms around you and just show you His love intangible ways in the name of Jesus. And then I’m also praying for the brother who called in and said he was blind, and he just found Daily Audio Bible app. Oh wonderful brother. I pray that as…__ word is you walk by faith not by sight that God will show you different things in your life and He will answer your prayers. Before you call He will answer in the name of Jesus. Now Sarah from London I am praying for you sister that God will touch you He will continue to wrap His arms around you He will make your heart for Him. You will have a heart that follows hard after Him in Jesus…

This is Chili from Florida and I’m calling in for an urgent prayer request. I’ve had some heart issues for quite a while and now I’m in the…the hospital. You know chest pains and just really scared right now. Trying to have faith and trust in the Lord that His hands of healing will heal and touch my body and get me through this. It’s just…it’s just a scary time, you know, ‘cause I did have to also confess to my wife of a sin. I sinned against her recently. So, my hearts also broken. So, I just really need prayer with you guys 'cause I’m just scared right now. Thank you guys I love you very much and I’ve been with this group for years…

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Abba’s Joy. It’s been a while since I’ve called in but first, I just want to say I’m so excited because I read through the entire Bible with you all last year and it’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for so long, so many years as a believer. And I finally did it and it was life changing. It was a huge blessing and to be able to do it with you guys was just amazing. But I wanted to call in because I wanted to share something. After listening to the wonderful message from yesterday I went back and read the entry in the God of Your Atory and if you don’t have it I encourage you to go get it. So, one thing Brian wrote that was profound to me in my current situation. After all that Joseph had to endure which was not by choice or because of anything he did when he saw his brothers he observed. He could have easily spoken what his flesh may have been feeling or even acted on it but like Brian says in his distress he didn’t even reveal himself. He goes on to say to slow down and be observant. My biggest challenge right now DAB community is navigating adolescence with my teenage son. He loves the Lord with all of his heart and has been raised in the word but there’s a lot happening that overwhelms an exhaust’s my heart. And anyway, Brian helped me to see that I don’t have to reveal myself in my distress I just need to just slow down and sometimes just observe the situation because I don’t even know where my son’s heart may be at the time. And responding in my distress will only provoke him and escalate both of our emotions. So, for those parents in the same boat as I am trying to raise godly teenagers in the midst of a…of everything that’s going on with all these distractions I encourage…

Genesis 48:1-49:33, Matthew 15:29-16:12, Psalms 20:1-9, Proverbs 4:20-27

Today is the 24^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is so awesome, it is truly a privilege to be here with you today as we…we reach out and turn the knob and open up the threshold and step into a brand new shiny sparkly week. It’s all new, it’s all before us. And we remind ourselves of this so often because it’s so important. This is a new week. It’s a new start. We haven’t messed this week up yet and we get to choose how we’re gonna live it. And, so, let’s keep that before us as we step into this perfect new week where nothing has happened yet. And let’s take a first step into this week by going into the Scriptures together. We’ll read from the English Standard Version this week. Genesis chapter 48 and 49 today.

Prayer:

Thank You, Father for Your word. And as we greet this new week, we take heart what You’re saying in the Proverbs, that we should keep our hearts with all vigilance because the springs of life flow from our hearts. This is so important for us. So, we take a moment just to consider that because our hearts have been broken Father. So many times, so many pieces of our hearts have been lost along the way. And yet, as we find in the Scriptures, we are to love You with all of our heart, and we confess we don’t have our hearts. We don’t have them all, they’ve been fragmented. We’re not wholehearted about anything. We’ve been broken. We didn’t achieve this all along, that we should guard our hearts with everything that we have because life springs from it. And yet You are the healer of the brokenhearted. And, so, as we move toward the conclusion of our first month we would like to hold on to this over these coming days, opening our brokenness to You, not hiding it, not trying to protect it, but actually trusting You with it, that…that You are the healer of the brokenhearted. Give us our hearts back that we might be vigilant about them going forward understanding that indeed the issues of life spring forth from our hearts. Heal us God we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and its home base for a virtual community like ours. It’s where the Global Campfire is burning. And the Daily Audio Bible app, same thing. You can access all the stuff using the app as well. So, check it out. Check out the Community section. Check out the Prayer Wall. Check out the Shop. There are resources there that just kind of continue to draw us into the journey that we are on as we take a year to move through the Scriptures together. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. I thank you. If what’s happening here is making a difference to you then thank you for making a difference back. We wouldn’t be here. None of this would be happening if there weren’t a Global Campfire. If we were not in this together throwing logs on keeping it burning we wouldn’t have this. And, so, thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button. That’s in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, 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.

Genesis 46:1-47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalms 19:1-14, Proverbs 4:14-19

Today is the 23^rd day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we bring to a close another week. And there are 52 of those, but we’ve already move through a couple, actually three. So, look at how time flies. 49 more weeks and we’ll be at the end of another year. And it’s great to know that we we’ll be doing that together as we continue our journey through the Scriptures. So, we’re in the book of Genesis, we have been following along with the story of Joseph. And not to be redundant, but it’s important to kinda remember this family that we are examining because they affect so much of the Bible. Abraham, Isaac, who was Abraham’s son, and Jacob who was Isaac’s son. And Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and then he had children and those of the children of Israel. And this story of Joseph that we’re following along with is one of those sons of Israel. And Jacob or Israel hadn’t seen his son Joseph in decades literally believing that he was dead for decades. And, so, we have kind of a resurrection moment happening. Genesis chapter 46 and 47 today. And we’re reading from the New International Version this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we bring this week to a close, we look back into the book of Genesis, and we’ve been following this Joseph story and finally Joseph and his father Israel or Jacob are reunited, and it is a beautiful beautiful beautiful scene. And, so, the children of Israel 70 in all according to the Scriptures as they start out in Egypt have moved to Egypt. We have some ground to cover, but this is how the children of Israel got to Egypt. And as the Bible has already alluded to, they prospered there. They increase in number is there. They actually grow into a great nation there, but they will also be enslaved there. And we’re gonna spend 400 years in Egypt and then we will meet the next person that we are going to be traveling with and his name will be Moses.

Then we turn into the book of Matthew today and Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah, “these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” That prophecy spoken from Jesus from Isaiah really is the plot of the ministry of Jesus in so many ways. He’s trying to call the truth out in people’s lives and the truth is borne out in how they conduct themselves not in what they say. Because what they say or sad and had led into great hypocrisy and control in all kinds of…well…all kinds of hiding, echoes back from Genesis chapter 3 - naked and ashamed. And that’s how humanity came out of that and hiding ever since, putting a false front out there while the truth remains hidden in the darkness of their hearts. Jesus is calling out the truth. He’s saying like, “let’s unite what you say with who you are not who you pretend to be. Then you can be true. Then you will have eyes to see and ears to hear that the kingdom of heaven is among you now.” So, that can help us understand the trajectory of Jesus ministry, butit should…it’s no less relevant right now. This culture around the world that we live in, the world, the world that we live in is naked and ashamed and hiding. We are all trying to present a perfect version of ourselves, but it is exhausting. Why don’t we just relax and be made perfect for real so that we don’t have to hide naked and ashamed so that we can be true and reveal the kingdom of heaven that is among us.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that. We’re certainly not done talking about these kinds of things because in the Scriptures You are certainly not done talking about these kinds of things. And, so, as we follow along in the Scriptures it’s like we are following along in Your ministry. We are walking alongside You. We are drinking up every word that You say. Holy Spirit plant these words in the soil of our lives. We want to move toward springtime. Even though that seems a ways away, we want to move toward springtime and see this new life that we are planting right now begin to poke up in our lives so that we might begin to see that we actually are being transformed, that the way we think about things and the way we react to things is changing. Holy Spirit come we pray. And all of this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay connected in any way that you can, or any way that you want to.

The Daily Audio Bible app is also a portal into the community just like dailyaudiobible.com. There is a Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app screen, and it looks kind of like a drawer, three lines, and it opens up a drawer that helps you access some of the things. Like in the Community section, that’s where the Prayer Wall lives and we…we’ve talked about…we’ve talked and we’ll talk about because it’s a central piece of the community heartbeat here that we pray for one another and that we always can. So, be aware of that in the Community section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, 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, which is the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Genesis 44:1-45:28, Matthew 14:13-36, Psalms 18:37-50, Proverbs 4:11-13

Today is the 22^nd day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we come in out of all that’s going on. Maybe this is…we’re starting our day right now. Nothing’s really happened yet. We’re orienting ourselves right here the beginning of the day. Maybe it’s lunch break. Maybe it’s commuting in the car. Maybe it’s commuting on the train. Maybe it’s commuting on a plane. Maybe it’s the end of the day. Maybe you’re on the other side of the world from Tennessee the rolling hills of Tennessee here. It doesn’t matter. We’re all together and no matter when we come in here and push play, we are not alone. Somebody…somebody else is many somebody else’s somewhere in the world is right on the same page. We are always in this together. And, so, it is a joy to be here with you at the Global Campfire for the next step forward, which will lead us back into the book of Genesis, back into the story of Joseph and his brothers who are having lunch Joseph’s house in Egypt. And it’s a very strange situation because the brothers who have bowed down to Joseph just like he dreamed have no idea that this is their brother. So, let’s continue. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Genesis chapters 44 and 45.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Genesis today we…we continue the story of Joseph and Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers after observing them, really putting them through some pretty significant tests where they would sense that they were in pretty deep trouble to say the least. Maybe life as they knew it was over. And Joseph is observing his brothers and testing them because it’s revealing their hearts. It’s forcing the story of Joseph, that has been maybe buried in their consciousness because he’s long gone and dead. It’s forcing it all back up to the surface. And they talk about how Joseph pleaded with them, begged them and how they were being judged. And you can only imagine what’s going on in Joseph’s heart, but in the end, he reveals himself and they are stunned. They are just speechless and stunned. And he tells them something pretty interesting when he sends them off to go get Israel, Jacob, their father, “don’t quarrel on the way.” Like, he just knows the blame game, like the regret of it all. Like the turn of fortunes and how this can all get nasty in the family. He’s just like, “go get dad and bring him back and you’re gonna be taken care of.” And we will continue that story. It was a beautiful moment to see Jacob speechless. Old man believing that his favorite son, his favorite son Joseph was long dead and he…it’s like a resurrection. And, so, you can imagine just how completely speechless this whole situation was. And we’ll continue the story as we continue forward tomorrow.

And then we get into the book of Matthew and let’s talk about faith for a second. Faith is one of these words that we use and it’s like an overarching thing, “like this is my faith. A lot of times when we say something like that what we’re talking about is this is…these are my religious practices, like this is how I have ordered my life around the truth that I believe in. But faith, what exactly are we talking about? When does that kick in? A little bit later in the Bible, we’re gonna here that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. So, in other words, faith allows us to have access to something that we can’t prove. That is actually the point at which we step into faith. Like once we have all of the understanding that we can have, and wisdom challenges us to seek knowledge and to seek understanding. And, so, once we have achieved and sought out all that we can by way of understanding and insight, we still find that there are plenty of things that we cannot prove and there are plenty of things that remain in the realm of mystery. This isn’t just a religious thing. This is life itself. We can go in any direction trying to become a foremost authority on something, whether that be brain surgery or whether that be quantum mechanics or the way we fall in love. At some point we will reach the end of what is known and what can be known and then we will be at the threshold of faith. That’s where faith starts. Faith allows us to move forward with hope in what we cannot see. So, basically if you already have control over something, if you already have all of the understanding of something or if you already possess something you don’t need faith for it. You have it. Faith begins when we have stepped into mystery. So, in our reading from the book of Matthew today, Jesus has fed a large crowd and then He sent His disciples across the lake and he went to pray. He just found out John the Baptist was dead. So, He needed a minute. And He could tell that the winds were against the boat and so He walks on the water and He comes by them and He’s like, “take courage. It’s I. Don’t be afraid.” And they’re like, “it’s a ghost.” And then Peter’s like, “if it’s you tell me come to you on the water.” And Jesus is like, “awesome. Come. Come.” So, Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water toward Jesus and then he saw the wind and he was afraid and then he began to sink. He was believing in the impossible and achieving the impossible through faith until he looked around for certainties and then he began to sink. And it’s so beautiful. Peter starts to sink and he’s like, “save me Lord. Save me.” And Jesus reaches out and He says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” I…I love this. I love this because it’s not like a shaming thing here. It’s not like Jesus going like, “well…you could have done it, but you only got a taste. Shame on you. You should’ve had more faith.” And we read these things into the Bible. So, often it’s Jesus saying, “you were doing it. You were doing it. You were walking on the water. Why did you doubt. Why did you doubt?” Can we take that into our day today? Can we understand that all of our attempts to try to control things through facts and understanding are always going to leave us…lead us into the realm of mystery? And that is when faith begins. So, understand that if we pray a prayer like “Lord, increase my faith.” A lot of times what we’re asking for is “Lord, increase my certainty.” If we’re asking God to increase our faith then He will lead us until we have to step out of the boat and we will only ever be stepping out of the boat because that is how we will grow in faith. And when we have faith to step out of the boat and walk in…and walk on water as it were, once we’ve mastered that then we can ask for something even greater because nothing is impossible with God according to Jesus, who is God made flesh, who is the human God. So, let’s carry this into our day and into our weekend and into our life. Let’s just hear Jesus at every juncture when we have this opportunity to step into faith and we know, we know but we don’t know. And every time we start to sink because you start looking around and we start not being able to control the situation anymore. Let’s hear Jesus. “Why did you doubt. You were doing it. You were doing it. Why did you doubt?”

Prayer:

Jesus, we come into that because it's…it’s huge. We cannot please You without faith. Without faith it’s impossible to please You. The Scriptures tell us this. And, so, we need to get wise about faith and not just call our faith our religion, to actually live by faith, which means that we’re gonna have to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Holy Spirit, come. We reach for You. We take Your hand. We walk by faith forward on this journey inviting You to show us what it’s all about helping us to realize the things we fear are things that we have…that…that we do not need to fear and the things that we see as limitations, they can be overcome. Show us Holy Spirit how to live as we were intended to live, true and by faith we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here like I say most every day because it is. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, check it out. Be familiar.

As I say often, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app…and by the way, if you’re not, go grab it from your app store. It’s a free download and it is the way to experience the Daily Audio Bible in community. By far the best. So, check that out. It’s another way to find what’s going on around here. Just press the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app screen.

Check out the Community section. That’s where to get connected on social media. That’s also where the Prayer Wall lives.

Check out the resources that are in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. They are made for this journey. For example, the God of Your Story, which is our latest written resource that we…that we released is basically…it took two full years to write that book. And I thought it was gonna take like six months at the most just because of the repetition of going through the Scriptures for 15 years. But trying to write down the gold of the kinds of commentary, the kinds of things that we talk about, trying to bring context and something that we can walk away from our time around the Global Campfire carrying in our pocket, like something that we can use in our day in the transformation process of our lives, that is always the goal. So, to try and write that down - a very very different process. So, it’s a very different experience. But the God of Your Story is the…the perfect companion to what we’re doing here at the Daily Audio Bible. Whether you’re ever disconnected from the Internet and just want to keep up or whether you, you know, you just want to take the journey deeper, the God of Your Story is a resource for going through the Bible in a year as we do and talking about it. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage and I thank you with all my heart for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t doing this together. So, thank you that we are. So, there is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible 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 877-942-4253 is number to call or you can just press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top and share from there no matter where you are in the world.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey guys it’s Bridget from New York City and I just wanted to call in to pray. I caught up on a few episodes and I listened to some of the prayer requests and, you know, some of some of your…your requests have just filled up my heart but in…with such an…I have such a grief with you and I'm…I’m with you and I just want you to know that, you know, we serve a God that is amazing , that He chose us, He chose us for this world. Whether we’re in a good place or not, you know, He still wrote our name and said, you know, this is the person that I want to be on earth during this time for such a time as this and He knows our names and although I can’t mention every single person’s name that I want to pray for I do want to tell you all that God hears your prayer requests He hears your heart he knows he knows he knows he knows what you’re feeling what you’re thinking. And I just pray that this year, you know, for 2021 you all will continue to draw near to the Father and draw close to Him and that your hearts will be laid bare before Him and that you would just let Him in completely to…to just ravage your heart and take over every area of your life and that your hope would be so deep in Him and your love so entrenched by His love that no man can take it away not even death not even sickness not even disease nothing and that we would pray in confidence knowing that He hears us. Lord I just lift you up on high Father and I thank you that we can come to you and let you hear our prayers Lord. Help us father to continue to draw near to you Father God as we continue to listen in Jesus’ name I pray. Love you guys.

Hey DABbers it’s your brother from Indiana and I just really wanna encourage people with what I’ve just heard on this podcast from January 16^th. Just a prayer the requests. First sister Sharon from Southern California I believe and then somebody before her was crying and then she was trying to in the spirit of this just this empathy felt for one another between brother and sister and I just want to praise God in that. I just think that’s so beautiful. Honestly. She said in the name of Jesus. Okay. So, regarding the name of Jesus she said I know that you can do it because I know you’re gonna do it for me. It was in terms of a relationship struggle. She had that faith. And I want that faith. Don’t we all want that faith? I pray that God would give us more faith like that, that he would grant us more faith. She __ saying thank You for everyday and she…she has plans to be joyous when God answers her prayer. It was just so encouraging. And…and I’m trying to go a little clip further __ from Des Moines…Des Moines regarding Paul’s message, they will come back. And she knows this because she didn’t hear from her son for a decade and he came back. Like just this faith. Like come on. I really want that. I want that. I pray that over all of you. Honestly. And then the singer Candace from Oregon. That was amazing a beautiful prayer. __ on speaking terms. Come on Holy Spirit intercede for this prayer I pray this in Jesus’ name. Thanks God. Thank you.

Hey guys I got a couple prayer things. One, if you could pray for a family that’d be great. They need some help and some healing and some stuff. Also, if you could pray for me. I guess it’s a confession more than anything but like my heart has gotten really hard and really like inward focused since Covid and all this stuff. So I find myself being really angry and like reluctant to help people who really need it. And I know like we gotta be safe you know with Covid and all that. It’s just I’m having a really hard line…I’m like…I’m going way too far to one side and not like not willing to help because I’m so worried about it. I…I’m having a really hard time and I’m not loving as I should, loving people as I should. If you guys could please pray for me that would be great. I’m praying for all you guys I love you guys and alright well praying for us all.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for Francine from Tennessee her and her husband who has the Covid. I’m just calling to pray for them and all the people who are having problems with Covid. Gracious Father we just ask You to touch Francine and her husband and those who have the Covid. Lord You know all about it, Lord. You know more about it than anyone because You’re the great physician. We ask in You Lord that You heal. We ask in You that You intervene. That You be their breather Lord. As You breathe the breath of life into man You help them to breathe as only You can. Lord we ask that You heal. We ask that You be with them. Father we know…let them know that they’re more than a conqueror and You’re still working miracles. You haven’t changed although the world has changed. But thank You Lord that that that that You have not changed. Lord we give You the glory. We ask You to have Your way. You touch them Lord. You work Your miracles God as only You can, and we will give You the glory and the honor and praise. Lord we ask You to touch also Paul’s children and all of the children Lord that are going through even the children that we need we need You in our schools, we need You in the lives of our children. Lord we just ask You Lord to be their protector. O Lord to be their guide. O Lord to be there to be their strength Lord in the times of challenges. Lord with the bullying and the stocking and the __ of confusion. But we thank You Lord that You are a God of peace. You just spoken and the winds obey You. O Father we thank You Lord for the miracle. We thank You for somebody who needs who needs a __  from You today tonight Lord somebody who thinks they can’t make it let them know that You’re carrying them and You never leave them nor forsake them. That’s one thing You’ll never do is never leave us. You’ll be there before we even ask …

Hello, my name is Alyssa and I’m calling from Montana. I was introduced to the Daily Audio Bible just a couple weeks ago on January 6^th to be exact. My brother-in-law showed it to my husband and my husband showed it to me and I cannot even tell you how thankful I am. Brian thank you so much. You have no idea how much you’re ministry has been an answer to some of my deepest prayers because I was born totally blind. I don’t read print. And, so, as you can imagine reading the Bible for me is really really challenging. I have to have somebody read it to me and my husband’s often at work. So, I’ve always wanted to do a daily plan and I’ve always wanted to do it on my own. And this app and this Daily Audio Bible is so accessible for me. I used to get envious of people that could just open their bibles and read whenever they wanted and now, I feel like able to just open my Bible every morning and read and listen and just on my own is so easy use. I’m just so thankful. I’m so sad I didn’t find it sooner, but you know what God’s timing is perfect. So, thank you Jesus. And I also want to say I’m thankful for all of you my fellow listeners because it kind of gets lonely sometimes cooped up in this apartment with my sweet 2 year old daughter while my husband is working full time. And it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one listening, that you guys are all in this with me. So, I’m thankful for you and I can’t wait to get to know you better, all of you and spending the rest of the year with you. God bless you. Bye.

Hi this is the blind man from Ohio…and I am really really encouraged. This is my first time calling in. I’ve only been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for a few months and I really love the…this podcast and everything that I listen to. I…I’m really encouraged. I like Brian and everything that he talks about. And God gives him…anoints his lips too let everyone know what God’s word should say and I follow along with him the best I can. I, of course, I’m the blind man. I can’t see. So, my encouragement is Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And my daily motto is walk through…walk with…walk with through faith and not through site. And God bless everyone. And I follow and I pray with everyone’s prayer requests also. God bless.

Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matt 13:47-14:12, Ps 18:16-36, Pr 4:7-10

Today is the 21^st day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today, 21 days into our journey. That’s three weeks. Seems like longer doesn’t it? Just three weeks though and look at all that we have covered in three weeks in the Scriptures, and how much sound wisdom and advice there is for living our lives. So, let’s dive in and take the next step. That will lead us back into the book of Genesis. We’re reading from the New International Version this week and we are covering the story of Joseph, who was trafficked by his brothers into slavery in Egypt and the story made a turn and now Joseph is second in command only to Pharaoh but famine has descended upon the land and his brothers of come from Canaan to get grain and Joseph has spotted them and incarcerated them. And let’s find out what happens next. Genesis chapter 42 verse 18 through 43 verse 34.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s talk about what’s going on in Egypt in the book of Genesis. Joseph’s brothers have returned because they ran out of food and starvation is upon them. And they brought Benjamin Joseph’s blood brother, like full-blown brother is along with them and Joseph is obviously moved to tears. He hasn’t seen his little brother in so long. And you can imagine the love and the loneliness and all of the years that have transpired between them in the…what has been lost. And then he has his other brothers there who are responsible for that loss. So, it’s interesting what’s going on because Joseph’s heart for his family is apparent to us as we’re reading the story but not apparent to the brothers at all. They don’t even know that this is Joseph. So, Joseph is actually being quite shrewd. He’s kind of drawing this out. He…he hasn’t just revealed himself, “hey, I’m your brother” and then like killed them all for what they did to him or put them in prison or sold them into slavery for several years so they can see what it felt like. He’s not doing those things. He’s observing them. And this is a wise move. This is wisdom in action here. He’s not revealing the whole story. They don’t know who he is. In fact, he’s going through all of the trappings of showing them that he’s not their brother by working through an interpreter and the whole thing because he’s watching them to see where their hearts truly are as opposed to just talk. We will find so often in the Bible that talk is cheap. And don’t we know that from our lives? But your character, your integrity, the way you actually live your life, that’s saying the truth. That’s the story behind the story that Jesus talks about when he’s looking for the truth and revealing the kingdom. So, Joseph is looking for the truth of their hearts, not the truth of the moment or not something that they could say to pacify him, the truth of the matter. And we will obviously get the next installment of this story tomorrow.

Then in the book of Matthew Jesus is continuing with His parables about the kingdom and that’s been going on for the last couple of days where illustration after illustration is given with the intention of revealing the kingdom because this is what Jesus says, “the kingdom of heaven is like” and then He tells the story. So, we have one of those today, “the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish, and when it was full the fishermen pulled it up on the shore and they sat down and collected the good in the…in the baskets and through the bad away. And this is how it will be at the end of the age” according to Jesus. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. This is Jesus describing the kingdom of heaven. So, if the kingdom of heaven with this particular illustration is like fishermen out fishing and they fill up their nets and they bring all the fish ashore and then they separate them all, the ones that they can sell and the ones that they can’t they throw them back, then we can learn a couple of things. Like we can learn them from all of these stories that Jesus is telling. One this is happening. It’s not coming. It will continue to come into its fullness but it’s happening, not something we’re waiting for, something we are supposed to be participating in. Second, it’s all happening all at the same time. You have to have eyes to see and ears to hear the kingdom. And once you can see it you realize that it is indeed happening right alongside everything else that’s happening. And in the end, it will all get sorted out. So, we’re not waiting for this great army to come in and just destroy everything and establish a kingdom. We are that kingdom. We are those people and the way we take over is by our love and by our endurance, by our witness, that we stand as a witness to the world there is a better way, a kingdom that we are all invited to be a part of, God’s kingdom, a place where identity is not achieved by comparison, and that we have all that we need and are satisfied knowing that we are children of the most-high God. This is a radical shift. This is a radical shift for the people who are hearing Jesus, but it is a pretty disruptive radical shift for us because ironically, we’re mostly waiting for…we’re mostly waiting for God to do something, when in effect God is sort of waiting for us to do something. And we could look at all the imagery in the book of Revelation for example and go, “like, well no, there is going to be some kind of go cosmic humongous upheaval and battle.” Yeah, this is the very very end when God eradicates evil as a category on earth and anyone who wants to hold onto their evil gets what they want and they also get destroyed because they wouldn’t give up their evil. But what Jesus is talking about to the people who are listening to Him is the same thing He’s talking about when we hear it from the Scriptures. “this thing is happening if we would have eyes to see and ears to hear.” And how do we do that? We’ve been talking about that, seeing what’s going on behind what is presented, looking and observing ourselves for the way we present a false image of who we are in order to be liked. Like developing a personality, a mask that we wear around that’s curated for everybody instead of being true. What if we could all live true? That is the invitation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the way humans were designed to live, without all this baggage that we waste our precious lives on. And the way that we will begin to see what we need to see and hear what we need to hear will be to pursue wisdom. We are watching Jesus teach wisdom. We are watching Joseph use wisdom.

And then from the Proverbs wisdom speaks and I quote, “the beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom.” So, in other words, set your mind upon it. Pursue it. I continue to quote, “though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her and she will exalt you. Embrace her and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown. Listen my son. Accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many.”

Prayer:

Father we acknowledged this, we acknowledge what’s coming up out of the pages of the Bible, we acknowledge and ask, we need this wisdom, and we want to pursue this wisdom and we need the help of Your Holy Spirit to guide us toward this wisdom and we need to learn to stop reacting. When something happens, we need to stop and think about wisdom and then move forward. Show us how to be patient. Show us how to reach for You in all things instead of just trying to be quick and immediate or maybe we get…we’ve gotten offended and so we go to battle so quickly and destroy relationships. And this is a year where we’re amending things. This is a year where we’re allowing You to mend us from within. And, so, we have to slow down. It doesn’t mean we have to slow all of life down. It’s like at warp speed and it could certainly use a little slowing down, but it means that we take a beat, a second, before we start spouting off things in response. We take a beat and consider what wisdom might look like and what wisdom might say. Come Holy Spirit we pray into all of this. We would love nothing more than to focus upon wisdom this year and get to the end of this journey knowing that we have slowly but surely become wise. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Commentary:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so, yeah, stay tuned and stay connected. We’re a community going through this together. And, so, it’s good to be connected in any way that we can or any way that we want to.

So, check out the Community section of the website. I was talking about that yesterday. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives and that is an important component, just a holy, sacred component of what we do is a community here, is pray for one another. And prayer at the Prayer Wall, that…that’s constant. It never…it never stops. So, check that out.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there that…that are for the journey that we’re on, whether that be things to write in, things to write with, books resources…written resources to take the journey deeper, things to where, all of our own Windfarm coffee and all the different varietals and our Windfarm tea for our tea lovers around the world and all the different varieties. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com also. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you humbly, truly, deeply, profoundly. Thank you for your partnership. So, there is a link on the homepage. 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, which is the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello everyone. Alexis hello it’s so great to meet you. This is God’s Grace for Japan. And oh man when I heard your message Alexis to the family, I felt you so hard. I remember when I was your age, and I was so isolated from my peer group because I just really wanted to be closer to God and because I loved Jesus, but that alone was enough to make me feel really estranged from what everybody around me was into. And it’s I think probably the world you’re in is probably more difficult than my world was back then and you’re in the right place. And I’m so happy that you’re here. And just the fact that you’re asking for that prayer and that you’re reaching for Him, I know you won’t be disappointed. He says a Luke, “if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” As long as you keep asking, He will pour it out. Just don’t stop asking. And if you feel stuck you know you have us to call into and ask for prayer. You know, you have so many Big Brothers and sisters here to hold you up and to encourage you. This is such a hard world but I’m already just so grateful that God has inspired this passion in your heart, just this desire to walk in His path. The Daily Audio…the Daily Audio Proverb is also a fantastic small, short tool if you’re looking for wisdom right now in this insanity. I encourage you to utilize that and I’m praying for you. I’m so happy to hear your voice and don’t be afraid. It’s a great journey. Bye bye. God bless everyone.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family it’s James here from the UK and I have just woken up this morning with an incredible sense of God just wanting to speak to I think quite a few people out there within the DAB family to let you know that your prayers are really important to Him. And I think this might be especially for some of those people who are maybe further on in years and are feeling like they’re not important anymore and all the decisions are being made by a younger generation and…and they’re not bringing heard. You’ve got to know that your wisdom and your prayer life and what you’re able to do in supporting younger generations by praying for us is really…is really important. And you are really important, and you are really valued by Jesus. I want to thank you for your prayers. Your prayers over us, over our families when we pray in with our requests, thank you for what you’re able to do. Thank you for your wisdom. And whoever you are who’s maybe thinking right now that you don’t matter that you don’t count, you absolutely do. Amen.

Hello everybody at Daily Audio Bible this is Matt from Michigan. I’m fairly new to Daily Audio Bible but I’ve been reading the daily Bible for quite some time and I’m really enjoying the prayers and…and all the love that you guys share. I’m glad to be at the fire with you. And I wanted to say to All the Treasures from Wyoming, that God definitely does delight in you and I tell my grandchildren he sings over us. When I sing…I’ll hold them and rock them and hold their head on my shoulder tell them then sing songs to them and tell them how much I love them and I tell them, “you know Jesus sings over us. He sings over us. He rejoices over us with singing.” So, He delights in all of us. We’re like flowers to Him. So, God bless you. And I’m so glad to be a part of Daily Audio Bible at the fire. That’s my log for the day. God bless. Bye bye.

Good morning DAB family this is Zainab from London. I’m just calling to say thank you all for your encouraging words for your prayer. You make me feel so welcome and I am part of this family now and I just thank you for all your prayers and encouraging words. I’ve been really really enjoying everything. I’ve been listening to Ezekiel. He’s so funny. I…I…I’ve been…I’ve been following the chronological as well as well as the proverbs and the psalms. So, I’ve been everywhere. I’m just enjoying everything, spending more time trying to know…to get closer and closer to God and I’m so thankful for all your commentary and the way the Bible is explained, especially today Brian explaining what blaspheming means. Oh my god it just throws so much light on what…what it really means and how we can easily blaspheme if we’re not careful. So, thank you so much. I benefited so much today about the act of blaspheming. You know, thank you and I know so many people will benefit from it today. So, I thank you, I thank you so much. I look forward every day to…to join you to join __ up every midnight to wait for, you know…I normally read by my…my…my daily reading at midnight as well as during the day…

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Beautifully Broken. Hey, I’m just calling to encourage all the new listeners that have joined on for this year. I’m starting my 4^th year with Daily Audio Bible with Brian. I’ve listened for three years. And now this year I’m also doing DABC and I’ve added Psalms and Proverbs. None of that was planned. It just happened and it starts to get pretty addictive, which I think is a good addiction. But I just want to encourage new people. I want to say that with my first year those years ago when I started my intent was to go through the Bible in a year and I did it pretty poorly that first year. I fell asleep as I would listen to it. I did it often as rote. A lot of times it was just a check off my list. I missed a lot of days. I got way behind, caught up, didn’t maybe listen to everything. I just want you to know I didn’t give up. I didn’t let that make me feel like, well because I wasn’t doing it well, I just stopped. I think that’s a huge lie of the enemy. Push through, persevere through. Don’t worry if you miss large chunks, just pick up where you were. If you do you feel like you want to go back and…and make that up, do. But just don’t stop. Just keep getting up. It is life changing and the enemy does not want you to succeed at this. So, just keep on keeping on friends. This is so worth it. It is amazing and it will absolutely change your life in ways you cannot imagine.

Hi family this is Victoria from the beautiful rolling Hills of north western Missouri. I called a few weeks ago and asked for prayer for my dear from Joni and her son Thomas who had an accident at work related to his…he’s on the spectrum and there was something going on with his meds. There was an incident, and he harmed a man. And, so, now everything is in court. So, I have an update and some more prayer petitions please. So, the update is that Thomas’s court date was January 5 and Joni and her husband Ron, Thomas’s parents, are being named in the civil case. So, that’s not good I don’t think but what is good is that the judge wanted a couple of weeks to decide what he will rule. So, I think that’s fabulous. Hallelujah for delays when it comes to God and working things. And, so, we have more time. They, let’s see, Thomas’s next court…his trial is January 25 and 26. Some good news. He had a reduction of felonies and misdemeanors and some were even dropped. So, thank you Lord. Joni says she’s in constant prayer or she may fall apart. So, I ask…I ask you family if you’d help me pray that God will…will lead everything here. He will fill the heart, the mind, the Spirit of this judge and all those involved with mercy, understanding, and forgiveness. I pray that everything is led by God and that He moves the heart of the judge with compassion. Thank you, friends. Amen.

Genesis 41:17-42:17, Matthew 13:24-46, Psalms 18:1-15, Proverbs 4:1-6

Today is the 20^th day of January. Wow, it’s the 20^th day of January already? Wow! So, we are two thirds of the way through the first month of the year. It shouldn’t be a surprise. We’ve done it day by day step-by-step, but sometimes you’re just like wow! It was like Christmas 10 minutes ago but here we are it’s the 20^th of January and we are well on our way in establishing this rhythm of the year on this journey through the Scriptures. So, let’s dive into the book of Genesis, which is where we are in the Old Testament. We are with Joseph. And we have seen Joseph, a young, good-looking, well-built man trafficked into slavery by his own family, accused of inappropriate activity toward his master’s wife, thrown into a dungeon and forgotten. And now he’s been summoned before Pharaoh because Pharaoh has had a dream. So, Joseph finally gets a bath and finally gets to shave and he’s before Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s telling him, “I hear…I hear you can interpret dreams.” And Joseph’s like, “I can’t really do anything, but God can give you what you want.” And that is where we find ourselves. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Today Genesis chapter 41 verse 17 through 42 verse 17.

Commentary:

Okay. So, on any given day there’s any number of things that we could be talking about, but let’s just try to recount what we read today, beginning with Proverbs and the understanding that the Proverbs are continuing to call out of the pages of the Bible that wisdom is the thing to go for. Like wisdom is the one thing to gain or achieve. Get it above all other things. And if you have wisdom and are wise any of the other things that you’re after can be achieved and can be attained through wisdom or the wisdom will show us that that thing isn’t even worth spending our energy in trying to attain. We will know. But if all we do is live reactionary lives from thing to thing to thing just trying to achieve the next commercial thing that’s being sold to us and we ignore wisdom in our lives then…well…then it leads to destruction of our lives, the dismantling systematically piece by piece of…of our existence until we are shaking our heads going, “what’s happened? What’s going on here?” And we realize then if we’re honest and looking for the truth that we have followed the path of foolishness and it has led right where the path of foolishness goes. Even if that’s who we are, like even if that’s where you are right now, at the bottom, just one rung above the bottom because you started to try to dig out January 1^st and you’re one wrung up the ladder now, this is still true. We can start to seek wisdom at any point no matter what is going on. And if we will follow the path of wisdom and continue to live in wisdom day after day step-by-step, we will…we will navigate out of this. It is possible. We have to do what we know is right, slow down enough to look for the story behind the story, right? The true story, the one Jesus is talking about. And that’s as good as a…well…let’s just work backwards.

Let’s go to Matthew where Jesus tells a number of parables, a number of wisdom teaching parables. Because Jesus was often known as a wisdom teacher, right? The same wisdom we’re talking about in Proverbs. Jesus is teaching wisdom. And what He’s doing in particular today is giving us a way to understand how the kingdom of heaven that we have always thought was something that was yet to come, how that we realize that it is already here and that is already happening, and it is preserving everything and we can participate in it, but we need eyes to see and ears to hear. We need to be able to see what is true instead of what is curated. We need to live what is true instead of falsely curating and presenting who we are. And then we begin to see. And, so, Jesus gives one particular parable. A man sowed good seed in his field, right? So, this is a plowed field ready for planting and then it’s planted ready to go. An enemy comes in and sows weeds. Can’t figure this out until everything starts to sprout and then it’s seen that there’s weeds everywhere among the wheat. This is a wisdom parable from Jesus to show us the state of things as they are. This is the world we live in. The weeds and the wheat are being allowed to grow together. This is God’s mercy, but in the end, the weeds will be pulled up at harvest. And, so, the obvious question coming from this parable is, “are you wheat or are you weeds?” Some important things for us to consider today.

And then we move back to Genesis we continue the story of Joseph and there’s not…I mean…we just read the story. Joseph’s brothers have come, and they have bowed down to him fulfilling this dream that he had when he was 17. Let’s remember that Joseph wasn’t in Pharaoh’s service according to the Bible until he was 30, 13 years after he had been trafficked into slavery by his brothers. It took 13 years before he came into Pharaoh’s service. Another seven years went by in prosperity, and now we are in the season of famine, probably a couple years into famine. Joseph lost his childhood and spent his young adulthood in a dungeon. Like we said yesterday, he had every right to his bitterness and his depression and all of the things that would bring him down as if he had been cursed personally by God. It’s just that, that’s not in this story. And that’s the point. That’s not in this story. Joseph…Joseph knew what had happened to him was unjust. He didn’t blame God for it though. He held onto God as the only hope of ever getting anywhere else. That is a sharp contrast to the way that we normally behave because the second we face something that we have to endure is usually the time that we just throw up our hands and go, “God’s not there for me.” And all of the things that we say, maybe we could take a cue from Joseph or maybe we could take a cue from wisdom or maybe we could take a cue from Jesus teaching wisdom. God loves us. That’s not what’s going on here. And somehow Joseph was able to hold on, hold on and believe that God was his hope and that one day…one day this story would right itself. Now Joseph’s brothers are before him and he’s making accusations that they’re spies, and they are incarcerated. So, what’s gonna happen here? Is Joseph gonna get his revenge? Because he’s got them in his power now and they don’t know who he is. What’s gonna happen? That is a story to continue tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for the opportunity to come into Your presence and to come into each other’s presence and to just come around what we call the Global Campfire, this oasis, this calm serene place where we can focus our attention on what is really going to matter, that those things can get within us and change our perspective about all the things that we have to do. And, so, we thank You for encouraging us. Again, wisdom above all else, wisdom. Because wisdom will give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Come Holy Spirit we pray. Lead us into all truth as You promised. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s the website, it is definitely where you dive in, definitely where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be familiar and stay tuned and stay connected.

Everything that you find at dailyaudiobible.com you can also access pretty much from within the Daily Audio Bible app. There is a Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner that gives you a bunch of these choices. So, check that out. Be familiar with the Community section. This is where the Prayer Wall lives. And the Prayer Wall is…is just a very important component. It's…it’s been with us 24 hours a day seven days a week for almost as long as the Daily Audio Bible. It’s always been this place to go. And, so, it’s not just you got a prayer and so you want to post it, or you just want to pray for people. There is a history here. Tens and tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters over the years, have come to this virtual prayer wall to offer up prayer, to hear what needs to be prayed for in people’s lives, to offer our own prayer requests because of what’s going on in our lives. It’s something that’s been going on for a very very long time. And, so, it’s a sacred place around here, that Prayer Wall. So, be familiar with it. I can’t even count really the…the things that God has done through that Prayer Wall. The things that I’ve heard over the years, spectacular things. And it's…it’s even deeper than that, because sometimes you know, we want to offer a prayer and we want God to answer it the next morning and it’s all better but sometimes it doesn’t work that way. And sometimes we find that we’re…we’re kinda working through some difficulties, some…a difficult patch, And that’s hard, it’s painful. And, so, it kind of begins to isolate us. When we’re facing something difficult, whether it’s physical or whether it’s emotional, whatever. When we begin to focus on the pain then we begin to take steps toward isolation and then we get isolated and then it’s just even that much worse because it’s like not only am I going through this, nobody cares even though we’ve withdrawn because of pain. But praying for people through it all, despite it all while we’re going through things. It's…it’s remarkable what that does. Because it…it turns our focus off of our pain and off of our suffering and how nobody cares and it focuses our attention on other people who are going through similar things and it focuses our affections on God who is the only hope. So, if you haven’t been to the Prayer Wall, be familiar, be a regular. It's…it’s surprising how profound it is to pray for one another. So, check that out. It’s in the Community section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage and I thank you. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. And that’s pretty much across the board. That’s how it’s spelt built. We’re in community and we do this together. And it doesn’t work if we don’t show up. If we’re for not here it doesn’t work. But it works when we do. So, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible there’s a link on the homepage. 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 press the Hotline button that’s in the app, little red button at the top that looks like a red hotline button, press that no matter where you are in the world and you can share 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 Daily Audio Bible family my name is Sarah, and I am from London England. I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible since 2017 and it has been a blessing, but I haven’t always followed it through. It’s been on and off. And this year I have decided that I will definitely want to seek God more and just to be consistent and, you know, follow the Bible through and really getting to know God on a deeper level. I was raised in a Christian household and I…my relationship with God hasn’t always been strong. It’s always been quite lukewarm. And back in 2009 I…I heard from God during my quiet time and the word that He revealed to me was consecrate. And back then I had never heard of the word and I even had to go into a dictionary to find out what the word was. So, after I found out what the word was consecration, you know, I really wanted to get close to God but there’s load…loads and loads of distractions in my life and I haven’t really had the opportunity to really seek God wholeheartedly. And since then, I have been through a lot of challenges that I look back and think that maybe I should have, you know, consecrated then I would have never…I would have never have gone through what I’ve gone through. So, I want to just ask for prayer. I want to just ask for prayer for God, you know, for God to…to draw closer to God. And also to…just to…you know…for all the distractions to be taken away because every time that I want to draw close to God distractions always come in and I never seem to fulfill that. So, I just wanted to ask for prayer for that. God bless you all thank you. Bye now.

Good morning DABbers this is Shaw from Oaktown Orlando FL. I usually don’t call in, but I was inspired by Tonja with a J from South Florida that you finished the Bible last year. You know, I’ve been listening to DAB for a few years now and I haven’t gotten through a whole year. You know, I got through most of it and missed some days, but you’ve really inspired me to focus and…and make it through. You know, there’s other areas of life that I’ve really focused in and I’ve been successful. And I’m like, “why not this one?” So, I appreciate your excitement, I appreciate the energy, and I’m going to finish the Bible this year. I’m making that, you know, my…my goal. So, right now I’m on day 10 but I’m catching up. This morning I’m taking some time to catch up and I just really appreciate your inspiration. Brian, Jill, you guys are amazing. Appreciate everything that you do. You know, it’s so good to be able to…I do this in the morning…to just listen and get the goodness of the Spirit and just connect with the Lord in the morning just to get your day started off right. So, again I appreciate everything that each and every one of you do. You know, I listen to all these recordings and I’m just so inspired by, you know, the movement that everybody has, the changes in the life and everybody just praying for each other. So, I’m praying for each and every one of you. Know that. I love you. God bless. And we’ll talk to you soon. Signing out. Shaw from Oaktown Orlando Florida.

We are all reflections no matter what you say or do
and most of the times we tend to reflect those things in our hearts that we believe to be true
even though the scriptures warn us that the heart is deceitfully wicked and very easily misled
the scriptures also advise us to pay very close attention to those things upon which our heart is being fed
because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
and our words become the reflections of those things our heart seeks
how much influence does social media exert on the things that you do and say
how much time do you spend on the Internet in the course of a normal day
how much time do you spend reading God’s word
how much time do you actually spend each day in prayer
our actions are the outer manifestations of whatever is internally there
are you reflecting God when you open your mouth to speak
or are your actions more self-serving reflecting passions and desires that run deep
because it’s nice to receive love and praise from the world and our peers
but that’s too fades just like the passing of years
and only that that you do for Christ has the power to last
social morays and fads all eventually pass
proverbs says that gossip tastes sweet when you first take it in
but it turns into a poison once it gets deep down within
that’s why it’s so important to feed daily on God’s word and prayer
and not be so quick to ingest and repeat those things from the Internet that people are so eager to share
pray for God’s Holy Spirit to lead you to all that’s true
and try to be an accurate reflection of Christ and all that you say and do

BlindTony …

Hi this is Tara in Los Angeles and I’m calling to pray for Jeremy in South Oregon. Lord Jesus I just lift my brother up to You. He has cancer and he is looking at going to Hospice soon. And I just pray Your peace and Your love over him. And I know that the nights can be scary and feel lonely and sadness can be overwhelming sometimes. And Lord Jesus I just to ask that he would feel Your peace and Your love just wash over him in just a physical way and that he will just know deep in his heart in his soul that everything is going to be OK. And I lift up his family to You and I just thank You for them just loving him and walking with him through this difficult time that he’s been going through. And I pray that they will be blessed for having had this walk with him. And I pray Lord that You would…they would have a strengthened relationship with You through all of this, that they would turn to You in their grief in their loneliness and their fear and that they too would know ultimately that everything is going to be OK. And I just thank You for that Lord. I thank You for Jeremy’s time here and I thank You for where he is headed when he goes home. And Jeremy, I just give You a hug brother. It’s a soul hug. And I was there in 2019 and came through it but I know the fear of leaving Your family. And just love You very…

Lord God we lift up the country of Mexico to You. Thank You, Lord for this land and for its people and we thank You Lord for our brothers and sisters who live there and our brothers and sisters who are working there serving You. Praying especially for Maria and others like her serving the people of Mexico on Your bath. We pray Lord that You would be blessing their work greatly, that You would be guiding their hands and inspiring them and providing their needs as they seek to serve You in Mexico. We pray Lord that the love and forgiveness of Jesus would overpower any strongholds of crime, violence, and corruption. We pray Lord for the government of the leaders and pray that You would be giving them wisdom on how best to serve Mexico, that You would help them to be honest and upright and good examples to people. We pray Lord that the people would find You, they would seek You and that they would find You and they might find their identity and purpose in the love of Christ and in the purposes of God and we pray Lord for Your Spirit to fall on Mexico, that You would break any chains of darkness and…and remove any influences that…that aren’t helpful. We pray Lord for renewal. We pray that Your name will be glorified in Mexico in Jesus’ holy and precious name.

Hello dear friends my husband of 46 years recently left me, and I’ve recently just gotten out of the hospital with Covid and I really don’t have anyone to help me here at home. And the home health services haven’t kicked in yet and I’m just asking for your prayers. I appreciate you and I love you community…I love you. Thank you.

Genesis 39:1-41:16, Matthew 12:46-13:23, Psalms 17:1-15, Proverbs 3:33-35

Today is the 19^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy as it is every day to be here with you as we come in out of whatever’s going on and come around the warmth of the Global Campfire as a community to take the next step forward. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. And just as a reminder we’ve been working through Abraham, right, Isaac, and then Jacob. And then Jacobs children because those are the children of Israel. And now we are focused and on one of those children, the story of Joseph who has been sold into slavery by his own brothers and he’s making his way to Egypt. That’s where we left him and we’ll pick up with that story. Genesis chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 16 today.

Commentary:

Okay. A couple of things for us to look at. First in the book of Genesis, we are working our way into and through the story of Joseph, like I’ve said we’ve zoomed in on this one son of Israel, this one child of Israel, Joseph. So, let’s just look at the turns the story has taken at this point. Joseph is 17 years old. He is the favorite child of his father. He has these dreams that one day his family, especially his brothers will bow down before him. His older brothers hate him, and they eventually decide to kill him but instead they traffic him. They sell him to some Ishmaelites who take him to Egypt and sell him. I mean we could just stop there and go, “that is a sudden dramatic turn for the worse in your life if you are like still high school age and your family traffics you and you are taken to another country.” Yeah, that’s bad news. We hear of those kinds of stories in the world today. So, we have some context for what Joseph is going through. Can you imagine the fear, the uncertainty, the loneliness for your father for your family, but then the knowledge that you had been betrayed by your brothers, your family, and that’s what landed you in Egypt up for sale? So, then Joseph is fortunately bought, if you want to call it fortunate, by Potiphar, the captain of the guard for the king of Egypt. So, that’s a high ranking official. And Joseph proves that he is resourceful, that he is able to manage things. And the Bible tells us that he’s well-built and good-looking. So, maybe Joseph is in pretty decent position if he has to have been sold into slavery because eventually, he is in charge of the household. But we know how the story goes. Potter’s wife sees all of the attributes of Joseph and wants those attributes to accompany her into the bedroom. And he will not do it. And he will not do it until the point…like she’s pressing in on him like on…on a regular basis until he finally has to flee, leaving his cloak, leaving evidence. She lies about him. This is guy, a 17, 18-year-old guy that is good-looking and has all of the hormones of an 18-year-old guy and he does the right thing. And, in exchange for his loyalty and fealty to his master he ends up in a dungeon. He’s eventually in charge of the dungeon. Eventually there are other officials in the dungeon, and he interprets dreams. The dreams come true and Joseph is forgotten for another two years. The thing that’s going on here that we should pay attention to is that Joseph has been trying to do everything right and only bad things are happening. He’s doing the right thing and only worse is happening. So, we could commiserate with Joseph on some level in…in at least affirming that he has a right to feel bitter. Like, he has a right to feel like he’s been betrayed and that he’s not loved or cared for and that even God is not looking down upon him favorably in any sort of way because every time he tries to be honorable something worse happens. So, you would almost believe the Joseph has a right to sit in that dungeon rotting away in bitterness and depression and loneliness. He could shake his fists up at the sky and say, “this is not fair.” That’s probably how we would behave. It’s…it would be understandable. It’s just not in the story. That’s just not how Joseph conducted himself. Somehow despite it all, and he’s been betrayed on so many levels, despite it all he doesn’t think this is God’s fault. He thinks God is his only hope. And we should remember that. We should remember that today and every day and we should remember that as we press forward tomorrow into the continuation of the story.

And then we get into the book of Matthew and Jesus is teaching in parables. And parables are like illustrations stories, stories that are told that have a deeper meaning. And if you can understand the parallel or the metaphors being used then you can unlock the deeper meaning and have greater understanding. And this is one of the reasons that Jesus was known as a wisdom teacher because parables are a staple of…of wisdom teaching. So, the parable that we read that Jesus taught today in the book of Matthew is a famous one. And, so, it’s likely that we’ve heard this story before about the seed being thrown on different kinds of ground and what happens to that seed. And then Jesus unpacking that the seed is the word of God that goes out and people hear it and then the ground is the metaphor for the people that receive that seed or that word and how it works out in their lives. And that’s clear enough that we could go back and examine our own lives to find out what kind of soil is in our heart. Like, we may need to get some rocky stuff out of our lives so that we can become fully good soil. And that’s the point of this teaching. But let’s look behind this because understanding this is a distinctive of Jesus style of communicating is important. He’s using these parables for a reason. When we watch Jesus walk into a room we don’t see him just adapt and kind of fade in and fit in. We see Jesus walk into a room and call out what is really happening there, the story behind the story. Like, what’s in any room…like if we go to a party…what’s in any room? All kinds of people who are catching up on all kinds of things who are mostly probably friends in some way. But we walk into these things with sort of a mask on. We’re bringing in what we believe to be the best presentation of our personality and the best curated stories of how our life is going. And behind all of that is the truth about everything. Everybody in this room that we’re talking about, everybody at this gathering or party that we’re talking about has a story behind the story. And the story behind the story is the true story, not the presented curated story. So. when we watch Jesus operate in the world, He only addresses the story behind the story. He is only calling out the truth of the matter, whether that be to the religious Pharisees or whether that be to the villagers. He is calling out the truth. But people don’t know how to see that way. We like our measure of darkness where we can hide plenty of stuff. And then when the light comes and shines into the darkness what’s in the dark starts squirming. What Jesus is offering, although it’s provocative and causes all kinds of problems, what Jesus is doing here and what we hear him say all the time is, “do you have eyes to see and ears to hear.” And what he’s saying is, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is here now. Can you not perceive it? Can’t you see it? Can’t you hear it?” And then He models how we would begin to see it. Because isn’t this our prayer? Don’t we pray this, “God, let me see Your kingdom. Let me participate, let me see where you’re going, let me see what you’re doing so that I can fall in alignment.” Do we not pray these prayers? Jesus is showing us through His ministry how it’s done eyes to see, ears to hear. The story behind the story is the truth and if you can see the truth and if you can live true then you can see the kingdom and the kingdom comes crashing in and it is utter freedom because there is no reason to be false. There is no identity in curating our lives, our identity comes from our Father, we are children of the most-high God. There’s nothing to hide no matter what anybody might say. And yet we live hiding right? Back to Genesis 3 naked and ashamed and hiding all of our lives, when Jesus is simply saying, “that’s not how humanity was designed, that this wasn’t the way for you. You had and have perfect permission to be true. You can be true.” Which doesn’t mean you just run around telling everybody the truth, the hard truth, the truth in love and you just add everybody. It’s you inside yourself. You don’t have to be false. You can be true. And when you begin to see that inside yourself you are cultivating eyes to see and ears to hear all around you. The kingdom of heaven is at hand all around us. We will find it in the story behind the story, the true one. And let’s watch that. Like, let’s take it on board we need it. This needs to sink in. This is how to live. But watch how many times Jesus talks about eyes to see and ears to hear as we continue through the Gospels. Watch how much of a theme this is. Watch how He’s trying to open the eyes of humanity to show them there is a better way. You can lay down the darkness and walk away from what’s false and just be, be who you are. You don’t have to measure up. The culture is creating all of the demands on you but in the end, they don’t mean anything. We are already children of the most-high God. There’s nothing else to achieve here other than to live true and show others that there is freedom in the light when we walk away from what is false and dark.

Prayer:

Jesus this is so fundamental to…to Your teachings and to this faith and yet it is so seldom brought forward. And yet this changes everything, a new way to see, a new way to hear that will lead us into truth, into all truth. And, so, what else can we ask for but eyes to see and ears to hear? And, so, we’re asking. Help us to begin to see what’s going on behind what’s presented. Help us to look for the truth and may begin in our own hearts because it’s so easy to look into somebody else’s life and make assumptions about what’s going on in their world when that is like trying to get the speck out of our brother’s eye while we have a log in our own. Help us to begin to see the story behind the story inside of ourselves. Help us to live true from within we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Be familiar with the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall lives. That’s where all the different links to the different social media channels we participate in are. So, that’s how to get and stay connected. So be familiar with that.

The Daily Audio Bible Shop has resources for the journey that we are on. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this mission to bring the spoken word of God to whoever will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and to build a rhythm, a rhythm that builds community so that we are not on this journey alone that we share history together as we all aim our hearts to glean what God has for…for us from the Scriptures on any given day. If that…if that brings life to you then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible 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, which is the little red button at the top or there are numbers that you can dial depending on where you are in the world. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. In the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. If you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey everyone it’s Margo from Australia soon to be leaving to go back to Liberia. And this parts the hard part. It’s very hard whenever I have to leave Australia. So, I’m asking for prayer for this transition. We’ve been in Australia for an extended period this time because of Covid and it’s also gonna be quite complicated to get back to Liberia the way things are. We have to get a negative Covid test here then we have to stop over in London and get another negative Covid test. Then we go to Uganda and we’ve got to have a couple weeks there for some more training for my husband. And then we have to have another negative test, Covid test to go to Liberia. And like everyone I really wish the world wasn’t a like this. But at the moment we are leaving on Saturday and it’s such a wrenching every time I have to go. Once I get there, I know I’ll settle in and I’ll…I’ll get back into the swing of things, but the leaving is so hard. I don’t want to leave my three sons, my mom, my sisters, all the comforts of Australia go back to a culture that I don’t understand yet. And a lot of the time I can’t understand the people. And I know it’s my calling and I love what I do. I love it I truly do but sometimes I’m just very aware of how hard it can be, and I would love your prayers. I just want to be able to really feel the presence of Jesus with me as we set off again and I want to be constantly reminded of why am doing this and the fact that it is an honor to suffer for Jesus in any way. Okay guys. Love you all heeps. Thanks for praying.

Good morning this is little Carol 1960 calling from Lancaster County Pennsylvania and I just want to say this place is my oxygen. I just can’t even express…I cannot even express how this has been a blanket and also solid ground for me through very difficult times. And those of you who call in my heart both goes out to you and I have compassion and empathy for you. I pray for you. You also are such an encouragement to me. And I just want to share a little bit. My life has been like a novel. I won’t go into it now. I will perhaps later. But been…going…went…lived through some almost death experiences -violent home, runaway etc. And the Lord carried me through. He…He knew me before I was even born. And I just see signs of that all through my life but there’s something that happened recently that just knocked my feet out from under me and it was due to my own sin and my own choice. And now I am alone, my church has asked me to leave. I had an affair with someone within the church. I was in a lonely, lonely marriage for so long and I fell. My children have left me. I only have this one person in my life who loves me. And I just want to say shame is very real and conviction is very real and pain is very real, but I hope that this really helps us to __ …

Hello this is Wonderfully Made in Albuquerque. I have a prayer request. But before I share the prayer request, I need to share something about myself. I haven’t explained why I’ve called myself Wonderfully Made. So, I’m going to. So, I have a distinct mark on my face, and it’s been there since I was about a month old because of a…a tumor that was removed from my face. It was a malignant tumor and the doctors had to remove it or else I would’ve died. So, it’s been there ever since and I’ve learned at a very very young age that…well…God looks at the inward appearance, at the heart, man looks at the outward appearance. And also, one of my life versus is from Psalm 139, I praise you. Your works are wonderful I know that full well. I praise you for I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. And I probably got that mixed up but it’s from Psalm 139. So, I thought when I started calling into DAB that that would be the name I’d give myself. And, so, that’s what I am wonderfully made. But there are times when I don’t feel wonderfully made and today is of those and I’m running out of time to go deeper into it. So, I’ll just ask for prayers that I will look to the Lord and trust that what He has made is wonderful. So, thank you. Goodbye.

Hello DAB family this is Sunset Cindy on January 15^th and I just listened to Jeremy Neff from Southern Oregon and I was deeply moved that he’s invited us all into his journey. He’s talking about hospice is coming up for him and he can see the end of his timeline. He can see that his journey might be ending unless the Lord intervenes with a miracle which I pray for. And also, I pray for strength for him and his family. There is such a deep compassion I can hear in his voice for the word of the Lord and how deeply grateful he is that he got to read through the Bible. I too read through the Bible for the first time with you all last year and I’m deeply grateful. His love for the word and his love for the Lord are sustaining him and I want to tell him I’ll be lifting him up in prayer as well. Whenever he comes to mind, I pray the Lord brings him to mind when he’s needing some encouragement, I’ll be offering that up to the Lord for him. Thank you, Jeremy for including us in your journey and Lord bless you and keep you and Lord bless and keep your family safe. Amen. God bless you all. I love you.

Hi this is Radiant Rachel I’d like to lift up Jeremy Neff and his family to you Lord today. I’m just praying that you will comfort them and that you will walk with them through…through the year and I pray healing over Jeremy. I pray that he does not have chemo or radiation backlash and I pray that his body begins to heal. And Lord I just pray that your will will be done and that you will bring healing and restoration to the family and…and peace and joy in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Janelle living in China. I hope it’s OK that I’m calling again in the same month. I am currently on December 19^th. So, I’m a little less than a month behind at this point. Hoping to catch up soon. Still haven’t been completely as consistently listening everyday as I would like but I had heard a prayer that I think played on December 16^th or 17^th. The caller was Quiet Confidence. And quiet confidence you were talking about how you wanted to go home. And, oh sister I can relate to that. About three years ago I was in a severely depressed state and I was never suicidal, but I had that same phrase running through my mind. And I know that my situation and your situation are not the same, but I’ve been through something similar and I’ve come through the other side and I hope that by this point on January 19^th you are doing much better and if you’re not I hope you can hang in there and that you can pray this prayer that I found helped me and I hope will help you as well. Holy Spirit give me peace. It’s a prayer that I found actually eases tension in my muscles. Even if it’s just for 30 seconds it’s enough to get through that 30 seconds. And sometimes that’s all you need. Just keep praying that. Thank you. Bye.

Genesis 37:1-38:30, Matthew 12:22-45, Psalms 16:1-11, Proverbs 3:27-32

Today is the 18^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian, and it is wonderful to greet the new day and move into this brand-new week, how yesterday as we began this week the Psalms and the Proverbs gave us such practical wisdom. And the way the life is to not let wisdom and understanding out of our site. And, so, let’s build upon that. Let’s carry that with us into this week continually. And let’s continue this rhythm that we have started, oh, just 18 days ago…well…17 days ago. We’re just getting’ started but so much has happened and so much has already been spoken over us and into us and we’re starting to see the rhythm that the Bible in our lives each day in community brings. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week, picking up from yesterday. Genesis chapter 37 and 38.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s catch ourselves up in the book of Genesis because we covered some ground and we’ve met a bunch of people and read a lot of different names. So, let’s just revisit…revisit the story we’re telling and the family story that we’re telling. Abraham and his wife Sarah, right? Abraham had two sons, Ishmael through Hagar. And the Ishmaelites spread out and became the land or the nation of Edom. That region today is like southern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. And then we read of his offspring, his progeny. They’re spread forth. And we read of the different chiefs and we…we have and will read of the chiefs of Israel. So, one thing that we can say that we are clearly rooted in is a tribal time upon the earth, an earlier time, different customs, different convictions, different things that matter in different ways than they do today. So, when we try to back read 21st-century culture into something that’s thousands and thousands of years old upon the earth we can get lost. We have to read into the time and try to get ourselves into the time and just understand what was going on so that we can glean from the stories, right? It’s easy enough to look at some of these stories and go like, “ugh…I can’t imagine that they did that like that. I can’t imagine that that’s in the Bible. We would never do that today.” Fair enough. We’re thousands and thousands of years…like thousands and thousands of years in the future. I mean we can look back just as century just 100 years and look at things that we would not do that way ever anymore and “why would they think that? And why would they do that?” They did what they did because that’s how they did things when they did things in the time that they were in. And believe me 100 years from now or 500 years from now are a thousand years from now should the Lord tarry they will look back upon how we did things now and wonder why we did the things that we did because aren’t we wondering it? Aren’t we wondering why we do some of the things that we do? So, we just have to let the time be the time and the culture be the culture and what’s going on be what’s going on and look at the heart of the matter as we go forward. So, Ishmael and then the son of promise, Isaac. Isaac had his firstborn, Esau and his second born, Jacob. Jacob and all of the conniving that went on ended up having the birthright and having the father’s blessing and basically everything that Isaac owned. Lots of problems happened between Jacob and Esau. In fact, Esau wanted to kill Jacob, so he had to flee, and he was gone for decades. During those decades he had 12 children. We’ve met all of those kids. They are pretty much all grown and now where we’re at in the story Jacob’s name was changed by God to Israel making his children the…the children of Israel. That’s how we have the children of Israel. And each one of these men will be tribal leaders of tribes that are named after them because it’s their progeny. And over the top of all of what we just said, and all of the people there is a promise of a land. We know it as the Promised Land. God entered into a covenant with Abraham and gave the land to him, telling him that through him the nations would be blessed. So, that is the trajectory. Like that is the thing that’s tying all of these people together. There’s this promise. So, God reveals this promise to Abraham then he reveals it to his son Isaac and then he reveals it to his son Jacob or Israel - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, right? We will hear them mentioned together as we continue forward into the Bible - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These are known as the patriarchs. So, one of these children of Israel his name is Joseph and we met him today. He’s a 17-year-old kid, good-looking guy, full of all of the things that a 17-year-old guy would be full of including arrogance and fearlessness and no way to assess the risks that they might be taking with the words that they’re using. And, so, he has some dreams. These dreams…actually this is very important that he is beginning to have dreams. And trying just to begin to maybe understand how to think about what these dreams might mean, that is going to play a huge role in Joseph’s life and in the entire story of the Promised Land. But right now, where we are in the story, he’s…yeah…I mean his brothers just…they know their father favors him. And he’s probably being a 17-year-old little punk, right, to his pig brothers, enough that they hate him anyway, enough that they grow to hate him. And when they see him coming, they hate him enough to decide to kill him. And, so, they throw him in a cistern. Now, not all the brothers are on board with killing their brother. Some of them aren’t. One of them wants to get him back to his father. In the end they sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. And we just talked about who they were. And what we see in the Bible here now, is Joseph’s brothers selling Joseph into slavery. We see the first act, at least in Scriptures of deliberate human trafficking. And we will at length be spending time with Joseph and his story after he is sold by his brothers and ends up in Egypt.

Okay, and then we need to talk about Matthew because Jesus talks about something that is like unforgivable, like the unpardonable sin. That's…that’s what it was…that’s how it was known as I was growing up. He talks about something unforgivable and the unforgivable thing is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And the context of this is that Jesus now…I mean we’ve been traveling with Jesus. We’ve found out his family line. We…we saw His birth. We’ve seen his baptism. He’s been ministering. We’ve seen His kind of posture of wanting to keep when He does a healing or a miraculous thing to keep it on the down low. Like, we’re just learning His personality. But Jesus keeps getting in trouble. And we’re watching what He’s doing and should…we should scratch our heads and go. “why would you get in trouble? Why would He be in trouble for making the blind see? Like why would He be in trouble for throwing out the oppressive spirits that were tormenting somebody? Like why?” Why would that… and…who’s getting Him in trouble? Like who is against Him? The religious people. The religious people, the Pharisees are against Him. In fact today for the first time we see them deciding to find a way to kill Jesus. So, there is an obvious disconnect. Jesus is upon the earth doing the will of God and saying, “something great is happening. Something great is among you.” He is revealing that the kingdom is already among them and with them. And He’s operating in that kingdom which is how these things are happening. And all they can do is try to frame Jesus and His power as power coming from beelzebul, coming from the devil, like coming from the forces of evil, that Jesus is doing good by the forces of evil. And He almost laughed, He’s like, “how can a kingdom divided like that even exist? Like what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense.” Of course, when Jesus filets what they’re saying, when He…when He basically calls out what’s really going on, we talked about this the other day - when light shines into the darkness what is squirming into the darkness does not want to be exposed. It wants to shut out the light. And that’s what we see happening here. And the irony is its not people just people trying to live their lives. It’s the religious leadership that wants to do away with Jesus. And, so, it’s kinda in this context of them accusing Jesus of doing what He’s doing or having the power that He has because He’s a disciple of evil and…and what He’s doing is being done by the dark powers of evil. That’s when Jesus basically says, “you can…you can say things about me. You say things about the Son of Man but if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit and hold that conviction then there’s…it’s a nonstarter.” So, what is blasphemy? Let me just read the definition out of the dictionary. Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity or sacred objects or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. So, Jesus is basically saying, “you can say bad things about me but when you begin to declare that the work of God that is coming through me and the outflow of that power that is bringing the kingdom by healing the sick, when it is clear that what God is doing is good even though it rewires your paradigm and you don’t understand it when you call it of the devil you are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. You are calling God’s work among God’s people the works of darkness.” Where this gets close to home is when we use words like, “that is of the devil.” Now it might be…it might be but when we just sort of say it flippantly like…we don’t understand how God could be working through that person who’s an obvious heathen of some sort like, or that we just don’t agree with theologically, and we think that they are just deceiving people but God’s good still is happening, God still is working and we say…we just dismiss them, they are of the devil. That’s pretty scary stuff friends. We better think really, really clearly if we’re gonna make those kinds of declarations because that is exactly what the Pharisees were doing to Jesus and that is exactly why He said what He said. One thing that we’re going to find out, and it will be a fairly common theme, fairly relentless all the way through the Bible is that the things that we say, they matter. The power of life and death is in the tongue. And we will find that our words are the way we tell the story, right? And this is how we’re writing the story of our lives. And if our lives are full of cursing people made in the image of God or cursing the things that God is doing because we don’t understand them, well that’s not going anywhere.

Prayer:

Father, we enter into that. But it’s not always easy to know. And this isn’t even a category we’re normally even paying attention…but You’ve brought a brand-new category that’s pretty significant in the way that we live right front and center. Like we watched You Jesus do this in the time that You did Your ministry a couple of thousand years ago. But what You were bringing front and center is no less in need of being front and center now. The things that we do matter. We are all connected. And this transformative process that we are in is making us one. We will see this. We will pray this, that we would be one as You and the Father are one. So, this transformative process is knitting us together as Your body in this world. And we cannot…we cannot keep cursing parts of the body because we don’t understand it. We need Your discernment. We need the voice of wisdom in our lives and we probably need to bite our tongues a whole lot more than we are. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray right here at the front part of the year because this can transform the year. Like this…if we pay attention to what we are saying and what we are blessing and what we are cursing, if we pay attention to this the whole complexion of the year’s gonna change. So, come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it’s the web address, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, of course, the Daily Audio Bible app brings us all of those things as well.

And shout out for the app. Like if you’re not using the app, that is definitely the best community experience and that is definitely where we continue to build and develop the experience of community and moving through the rhythm of the Bible in a year. And, so, once you’ve registered for the app then you…it helps you keep track of what days you’re on and how far…the progress that you’re making. And as we move through different sections of the Bible it…it…it awards us. It like, it lets us know, “hey you just completed the Gospels” or “you’ve just completed the Torah.” As we continue forward then we’ll…we’ll just be able to mark the sections of the Bible as we move through them. And the Prayer Wall is there of course. It’s just a…yeah…if you don’t have the app, or if you haven’t used the app in a very very very long time…yeah…come back. Come back and check out the out app. It is definitely the way to stay connected. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com on the web but you can also do it in the app by pressing the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And I thank you. I Thank you with all my heart, truly. It's…I mean there are days that I’m just in awe that like we’re in year 16, seven days a week doing this because we’ve been in this journey…on this journey together for…for all these years and we’ve been in community. And, so, thank you for your partnership. So, talked about the website, talked about the Give button in the app. If you prefer mail, 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. That’s in the app as well no matter where you are in the world, 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 neighbors this is Lisa the Encourager I’m calling today to wish all of our newcomers in 2021 a very happy welcome with tons and tons of virtual confetti. I’m throwing up in the air and it’s landing on your head and I hope you have a big smile on your face because this is absolutely gonna change your life from this year going forward. I never realized when I first turned on the Daily Audio Bible and made it a goal that I just wanted to read through the Bible or listen to the Bible in a year. And five years later I’ve never stopped. It is just amazing that the way that Brian presents the word of God to us. It becomes such a pattern in your life and such an amazing force that will absolutely change your life. And I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you and hearing your stories and how God has blessed and change your life. I also wanted to reach out to Radiant Rachel and just give her some kudos that last year when you were reading all those prayers over your husband and sharing them with us in different types of areas of improvement for your…for your husband. And I was saying them over my husband as well and I’ve seen such a change in his life and I just wanted to thank you so much and I believe Ben is your son and he’s just so adorable. And I also want to thank him. So, I thank you all so much. I love you all and I pray that you all have a wonderful 2021 and blessings and that the Lord will shine His face upon all of you. God bless. Lisa the Encourager.

Hi family this is Biola from Maryland. Happy new year. We want to thank God for bringing us into 2021. We want to thank God for His goodness in our lives as a family, Daily audio Bible. I have been a part of this beautiful community the year Jill was pregnant with Ezekiel. And I was there, you know, praying along while she was in labor and Brian had told us to pray and all of that. Well, over the years I’ve been faithful. And just, you know, listening to the Bible over and over and over again is addictive you know? Well, I just want to say God bless you all. Welcome to all our new members. Everyone that found Daily Audio Bible God bless you. I want to reach out to my sister, my new sister in the Lord in London Zinab. Zinab welcome. I pray in the name of Jesus that the Holy Spirit who drew you even to Christ to come to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and then to find this app. That Holy Spirit will help you to grow. I pray Philippians 2:13 over you my dear sister, that God will continue to give you the desire and the power to walk…to…to walk in Him as His child, to learn, to hunger and thirst for Him, to learn more and more about Him so that you will grow in your faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. This is not a religion my sister this is a personal walk with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I pray that He will delight you at every turn in Jesus’ name. The other sister who is new hat called in. She’s in her final year in college. Sister, I pray that God will help you, that He will give you the spirit of excellence and wisdom and understanding and you will not be stressed anymore in the name of Jesus. Lastly, family I want to encourage you this is a new year. Give to Daily Audio Bible through your…

Hey, my name is Karis I am me from South Carolina I am 17 both my parents listen to this. So, hey. Yeah, this is my first time calling in. I just started listening at the beginning of the year. I listened to DADB Chronological a while back but this my first time here and I am just so shocked at how…how close this family is and how vulnerable everybody is being with their prayer requests. So, I wanted to come on here and just give Alexis some encouragement. You were talking about just…you needed some prayer for fear of man and getting over that. And, so, I wanted to read you this Bible verse. It’s from Matthew 10:28. It says, “don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” I am also in high school. I’m a senior. And I get it. I get not wanting people to talk about you, not wanting people to think bad things about you. You want to please everybody around you. I really understand that. And, so, I just want to give you encouragement and let you know that you’re not alone in that. And then I wanted to let Steve from South Carolina know that I’m praying for you and your daughter who has breast cancer. That is a really scary thing. And, so, I’m just praying for you. Thank you all so much for being so vulnerable.

Good morning this message is Yvonne from New York. I heard your message about caring for your elderly mom and I’m here to encourage you. Since then, you’ve been raised with Christ. Set your heart on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand. Set your mind on things above not on earthly things. Therefore, as God’s chosen people holy and dearly loved cloth yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgive you and bind these altogether with love. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to be…called to peace and be thankful. Yvonne, I’m praying for you that you will take in all of this word. You are dearly loved. You have been given a new heart and it is soft. You are not what you see. You are not what your mom is. You are what God says you are. And, so, you receive this word Yvonne and go on and read this. It’s Colossians chapter 3. Read it for yourself and take it in. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And whatever you do whether in word or deed and in caring for your mom do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. You are blessed Yvonne. You are blessed. You are an inspiration to me and so many others. So, I’m rejoicing in the Lord for you. I love sister. Be blessed.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is All the Treasures from Wyoming. I’m calling…I’ve actually been wanting to call for a while. Still don’t have my thoughts completely wrapped around what I want to share but at the end of last year just a couple weeks ago Brian challenged us when he was talking about New Year’s resolutions. And the words that he spoke kind of stopped me in my spiritual tracks. And he talked about what if my New Year’s resolution would be to have God delight in me. And I still don’t know what to do with that because I realized that thought had never in all my years of being a Christian, that thought had never entered my mind. I love Jesus so much like you all do and I love the gift of being able to delight in Him. I love loving Him, but I’ve never really thought about Him delighting in me. And I still can’t imagine that yet. But I think mostly it’s because I see myself through the eyes of my failures. I know I’m forgiven. I don’t live in failure. But I still have deep sorrow and regret over them. And, so, I envision Jesus loving me but I can’t imagine Him delighting in me. So, I have been wanting to call and to share that with you guys and maybe there’s others who feel that way. If so, we can just pray for each other to get his eyes to see…

Hey DAB family this is your sister Julie in Idaho and I just wanted to share something really cool that happened yesterday. Unfortunately, the winds were pretty powerful up in the panhandle of Idaho yesterday and it blew some trees over on the power lines and so we were without power for a good 24 hours. And what was really cool about that is that I happen to have the God of Your Story and I thinking, “I’m gonna miss my DAB today. What am I gonna do?” And then I remembered I have the God of Your Story by Brian. And I bought it last year. And I’m telling you it was such a treasure to have yesterday because I missed all of you so much but I was able to get out my own Bible, my paper Bible and the God of Your Story and I felt like you were still there with me around the Global Campfire. So, if that happens to you or if you’re in a place that gets a lot of power outages you might want to think about investing in the God of Your Story. And even…even if your power isn’t going out to just invest in that and maybe go through it every day after you listen to DAB and actually physically read your own paper Bible. It really brings another dimension into the God of our story. So, Brian I thank you for your resources. They have been treasures to me ever since I started about…I think I’m going on my sixth year now. But I can’t even imagine not doing this every year and I can’t imagine you guys not being there with me around the Global Campfire. You are my family. You are my church and I love you. And welcome to all my new brothers and sisters. And those of you that are sitting on the fence, please get off and come over and sit by the fire. Put a log on. We love having you I love hearing voices from all over the world. I love you and I can’t wait to all be with you someday around the real campfire, the heavenly campfire.

Genesis 35:1-36:43, Matthew 12:1-21, Psalms 15:1-5, Proverbs 3:21-26

Today is the 17^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we…well…we are through the center of the month but we reach out and twist the knob and throw open the door and here’s a brand-new week for us waiting for us. And I love that imagery, like I love thinking about this every beginning of a new week because it’s like nothing’s happened yet. We haven’t screwed anything up yet. We haven’t made any wrong decisions yet. Like, everything is out in front of us and we can choose to apply what we’ve been learning for these last couple weeks, that there is the voice of wisdom and she is calling to us and she is pointing the way if we’ll slow down and pay attention to the fact that every choice that we make leads somewhere and does something. So, when we start to build our lives on wisdom by making small but wise choices systematically over time, we are moving on the path of wisdom toward becoming wise. And, so, let’s do that this week, let’s live into it. It’s not something’s that’s happening to us. It’s something we are happening to. We don’t have to live reacting to everything that comes our way. We can decide in advance what the posture of our heart is going to be no matter what comes our way. So, welcome to a brand-new week. Of course, we’re just going to pick up where we left off yesterday as we continue our journey. This week we’ll read from the New International Version. And today Genesis chapters 35 and 36.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for what is being spoken over us as we begin this brand-new week from the book of Psalms and from the book of Proverbs, practical straight up clarity. Who gets to be in…who gets to be in Your presence? The one whose walk is blameless who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart, who’s tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor and casts no slur on others, who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps an oath even when it hurts and does not change their mind, who lends money to the poor without interest, who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. In other words, who doesn’t take advantage of the vulnerable. Thank You for that clarity. Thank You that we can revisit this and overlay our lives and allow Your Holy Spirit to reveal avenues of growth for us. We thank You for what is spoken in the Proverbs today, a plea to not let wisdom and understanding leave our site. Don’t let them out of our…like…like a little child we would not let our little child out of our site. We have to hold onto wisdom and understanding in the same way and preserve sound judgment and be discreet because that will bring life to us. You’re giving us clarity. If we will believe this then these are the things to pursue because these are the things that lead to life. According to the Scriptures they are an ornament to grace our neck. We’ll go on our way in safety and our foot won’t stumble if we won’t let wisdom and understanding out of our site. When we lie down, we won’t be afraid. Our sleep will be sweet. We won’t fear sudden disaster. We won’t fear the ruin that overtakes the wicked because we will know that You are at our side and You will keep our foot from being snared if we won’t let wisdom and understanding out of our site. Help us to not let wisdom and understanding out of our site, so that we might be blameless before You. And we realize this is a gift. We realize we can’t earn this, but we also realize that we have to participate. We have to participate in being transformed and our participation is to surrender to Your will and Your ways and walk the path. And You’re showing us the path that leads to life. May we walk it. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and like I say every day because it is, it where you find out what’s going on around here.

It’s how you get connected via social media or through the Prayer Wall. It’s where the Daily Audio Bible Shop is. There are a number of valuable resources that really coincide with the journey that we’re on to either take the journey deeper or wider or…or just simply to belong. Like, there’s a whole Global campfire line of stuff that just lets us feel connected in a tangible way to each other knowing that we’re moving through the Scriptures together on this journey. So, check those resources out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can also do that at dailyaudiobible.com or within the app. So, using the website there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, as always, we are a community. We love on each other. We pray for one another. We catch up with each other. We move through a year of life together and we follow each other stories. And, so, if you’re shouldering some things that are a little too heavy for you or on the other side of that if you’re rejoicing because your burden is light, and you want to give glory to God for that then reach out let us know. Just hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello. Hi this is my first time calling for the Daily Audio Bible. I am so thankful to be a part of this community and my father recommended this to me and I am so happy. I wanted to call for Zinab. She just had a beautiful story and I wanted to say that that we are praying for you and we’re so thankful that you have come to Christ. Thank you. I also wanted to call for a young lady who called about her college, her last semester and how she wanted to get through the Bible in a year. We’ll be praying for you. I will also ask if you could all pray for me. I have experienced a lot of anxiety this past year and I would just ask that you could pray for me this year 2021 to get through it with faith in Jesus Christ as God’s son that  I would just really get through this year. Last year was difficult I know for all of us. My life was definitely a lot better than other people experienced for 2020 but I know it could have been better. Thank you, so much.

Hi DAB family it’s His River and Rain here calling from the UK. I just wanted to say a happy new year to you. It is currently the 12^th of 0January but I just want to say a big happy new year. I hope it’s treating you well. But recently God has…God has been on the move, He’s been moving, not in a way that we expected. But one of my friends from church her sister have recently collapsed. She collapsed on Sunday. And, so, from Sunday until now she’s been in a coma and the doctors are very…quite pessimistic about it saying that she might not survive. But from…with her family and the churches that, you know, her family is a part of the Lord we’ve all just been praying. We’ve been praying so hard praying on worship and…and having different prayer meetings. I mean even though we can’t gather, you know, this is a crazy thing, you know, but even though we can’t…we cannot gather we’ve been having so many zoom meetings to just pray together. And the doctors, as I said, the doctors said she might not survive or she might not recover and be, you know, severe brain damage but God has just been sending so many miracles and what we’ve prayed for has just come to pass. You know, she’s moved her hand and she has taken a few breaths and then we’ve heard a couple of hours later that now she’s extending her arms and extending her legs and trying to cough. So, I just wanted to just ask for more prayer, more prayer for her, full recovery because we know God can do it. And I just want, you know DAB, my DAB warrior prayer warriors just to be part of this and to pray alongside us all because I know that you guys are good.

Good morning DABbers this is God’s Little Princess in East Texas. My name is Nikki but my first name is Deanna that means God’s little princess. I’m a few months new to being a DABber. I’ve encouraged…I’ve been encouraged by it tremendously. I’ve encouraged two friends to join me and they have. Another friend is the one who got me listening to DAB. My husband David is 61 and he’s in the hospital with Covid. Up and down every day. Different news all the time. I’m finally after 10 days and our second hospital understanding in this crisis what “be still” means. Please pray for mine…from my husband’s mind, my three children, they’re grown, my three grown…grandchildren, for our emotions to run to God. It’s one night good, one morning bad or vice versa. I just now, which is yesterday, got off the roller coaster and planted my feet and heart and my mind on the rock. We don’t know what will be in the future. We don’t know how this is gonna go. But I’m clinging to what God spoke to my heart. We have lots of prayer support here, tons actually. I’m so thankful. But I felt I wanted you all whom I love hearing pray and encourage and put your lives out there to get to know me and cover me as well. Brian, my nerves are really raw my emotions are raw but I’m so grateful for all of you. If you would just pray for my husband and for us…

Hello, my dear Daily Audio Bible family this is Maria Missionary in Mexico. I’m calling today with a heavy heart for my friend Glesel. Glesel and her husband Jonathan they are our personal friends, and we all attend church together here and I’m their daughters, their two daughters Sunday school teacher. They got the news this year that they’re going to have another baby, actually last year. And they were…they were so excited to find that out and then they got the really hard news that the baby is a large growth on its neck back and head. It’s been a really hard year for the Glesel. Her grandfather then man who raised her died. Other family member or two I don’t remember had surgeries. It’s been really difficult. And now there’s this and it just feels very heavy and difficult. I told her about the Daily Audio Bible and that we could pray for her if she wanted me to. So, she said, “yes. Please.” You know, she said it would be fine to post this prayer request. Well, I’m gonna pray for our friends our…our brother and sister and I asked that you pray along with me family. Padre Celestia, we just want to come before You today thank You for Jonathan and Glesel and their daughters. Thank You for this new baby that You’re forming in her womb. Lord You are the great healer, the great physician and this is not a problem for You. And we just ask that You would touch this little life and heal this baby and may it be glorifying testimony to You Lord and Your power. We pray for peace and joy in the midst of this circumstance for Johnny and Gelesie. __…

Hi good morning my name is __ from Nigeria and I’m glad to be part of the Daily Audio Bible even if it’s just been 12 days this year. Actually, calling to…I mean I’ve heard…I’ve also been able to pray with others but I’m at a point where I need a lot of strength, you know, to get through this year because __ decisions here in the UK trying __ by myself. So, just praying for strength to get through this and for all of this to make sense, you know, life in general at the end of the day. So, thank you very much and thank you for this platform.

This this is Candace from Oregon. I want to speak to people who lost loved ones unexpectedly. It’s been almost 4 years as many of you will remember when I lost my husband very unexpectedly. It was March 11, 2017. This community came around me in…in an incredibly loving way and held me up during that time for which I am deeply grateful. So, I want to speak to everyone who’s mourning. I know that for me it was like having half my body blown off. I had had a relationship with this man that I loved so dearly and who loved me for 41 years. And only in the last two years, two or three he had become finally someone who really walks really close with Jesus something he always wanted but finally was actually experiencing for himself. Lord I pray that You be with all these dear ones. I know that for me the first year was hard and the second year was really hard for just like a whole new set of reasons. Human beings are so complex Lord. We were fearfully and wonderfully made by Your hand. So, please be with these dear ones who are in grief and mourning. I pray that You would help them to either call into us and or call others who can grieve with them and love on them and give them support, and most of all I pray Lord Your Holy Spirit, Your healing power to come and surround them on every side and help them to…

Gen 32:13-34:31, Matt 11:7-30, Ps 14:1-7, Pr 3:19-20

Today is the 16^th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian, and it is great to be here with you as we close a week down together. We have 52 of these in here and so we reach these weekends and understand, yeah, this is one of them and so here we are. Kind of marks the time when we pay attention to that. It’s like. “O another week has gone by.” And before you know it, we’re months into the journey. And then just like that, it’s Christmas. It just so quickly comes. But right now, we are laying the groundwork for how the Bible will unfold before us, and it has been a fantastic beginning to this new year. So, let’s dive it. We’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. Genesis chapter 32 verse 13 through 34 verse 31.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for this week that we’ve been able to spend in Your word. We thank You for all of the things that You are revealing to us and showing us all of the things that start knitting themselves together in this story of transformation and redemption that we call the Bible, we thank You. Because these stories, these people that we are meeting, these people that we are getting to know, these are our spiritual ancestors. This how we got here, and we thank You for allowing us to look in upon our heritage but more importantly to watch the way You reveal Yourself over time, and to understand that this story continues, and we are a part of it right now. So, come Holy Spirit we pray in all of the things that we have learned and considered this week. Plant them in the soil of our hearts and in the areas that need cultivation, that need care the soil is not good soil. Come Holy Spirit, as we surrender to You make us good soil we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, its where you find out what’s going on around here. It’s where the Global Campfire is burning. Of course, if you have Daily Audio Bible app all of this stuff is accessible, and the Global Campfire is burning there too. So, check it out. Stay tuned, stay connected.

Be aware of the Community section. There are links to get connected in the different social media channels that we participate in. The Prayer Wall is there and lives there. And, so, it’s always easy. There’s just always a place to reach out for prayer and always a place to reach out and offer prayer. So, definitely dive in and get connected as we continue our journey.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the …if the mission that we are sharing in common to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and to build a community around that rhythm so that we know we’re not alone as we take the spiritual journey, but we’re also not alone as we take a year of life and move through it. We’re in this together. If that is life-giving to you then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the ap 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 prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top no matter where you are in the world or there are phone numbers that you can use depending on where you are. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. In the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey family this is Francine from Tennessee. My husband and I have Covid and he’s home from recovering from a blood clot in his lung and tonight he…he…he’s so sick and we’re waiting to get antibodies Tuesday, and this is Friday night. And I’m calling to ask prayer for his breathing to be what it needs to be and for his pickups to subside. They’re a rare side effect. And I am so thankful for you family and I appreciate your prayers. And I pray that the Lord will touch and help all of those who are sick and suffering and that he will heal and raise us up to live I healthy life. And I just appreciate the prayers so much. Thank you. His name is Danny Smith. Thank you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Shannon in Southern California and I just heard Paul’s prayer request. He’s a longtime listener first time caller and he’s praying…he’s asking for prayer because his children…his children…say they don’t love him anymore. I’m working the same thing and I want to pray. I want to pray for Paul. And there was another young lady who called in and said that her daughter and she…her were having difficulties. And I want to tell you guys it’s been a long time that my daughter and I have not spoken, and I pray every day for their strength and for my strength and for reconciliation for clarity and I pray the Lord’s presence in their lives. And I pray that for you Paul. I pray that the Lord touch your children touch their hearts whisper to them to tell…and confirm that God loves you and loves them and I pray for reconciliation for your family. I pray for reunification Lord in the name of Jesus. I know that You can do it because I know You’re gonna do it for me and I thank you Lord. I thank you for every day. I thank you for…for allowing me to go through this because I know when you…when my reunification comes with my family, when we are reconciled it’s going to be so joyous and Your name will be praised. Thank you, Jesus. Paul, please, please continue to pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hey family this is Debbie in Des Moines. Hey Paul, I was just listening to you talk about your children and how they said that they don’t like you anymore and don’t want to be around you. I want to tell you that they will come back. My son, I did not hear from him for 10 years. I lost a decade in not hearing from my son. He was very angry with me, very angry. And I prayed, you know, I just held onto the Lord and I just prayed and just put him in his hands. And it took 10 years, but he is back in my life now and now I am believing God for his salvation. Psalm 10:17, “Lord you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you hear their cries and comfort them. “Praise…praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all comforts.” And that’s second Corinthians 1:3. Hang on…hang on to God’s word. Hang on, He hears you, He sees her tears, He sees your heart. He loves you. He will bring your children back to you. Happy…

Hey brothers and sisters, hello DABbers it is your brother from Indiana. I was just listening to the audio Bible from today, I don’t know what today is right now. And I was just encouraged to just kind of lift up a prayer for a sister who is in her last semester of college. I understand school can be a extremely stressful and unnerving time and I really just lift you up in prayer, praying the Holy Spirit would interceded for this prayer, that you would trust on God and in His resources and what He gives us, that being the armor of God, the spiritual fruits. May you look for God and may you know Him, and may you come to a relationship with Him giving Him your burdens because His yoke is light, and it is not heavy. As I heard when my brother say in Arizona, walk in the freedom Jesus provides. Sister, know that we are praying for you. Please, do not hesitate to ask to call on God. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Thank you, God. Thank you brothers…

Hey daily audio Bible family this is Billy from Montgomery with a Trinity stone. I wanted to put a prayer request out there for Kairos outside. It is a group of ladies that get together and they do kinda like we do Kairos inside, our prison ministry. They do a Kairos outside. It’s a three or four day weekend that’s like a…a mass flock or Curcio or a Paseo. It is a three or four day religious experience. Basically, a weekend with God is what it is. But so, we do the same thing with prisoners inside the prison. Well, they have a Kairos outside team that works with the ladies or the significant others of people that are inside of prison. So, it’s like the…the women that are outside, they go to jail. The same time the husband goes to jail they go to jail also because it’s an isolated incident, that it’s something that is…it’s isolating for them. So, this is a weekend where they can kind of explain to the ladies what the husbands went through when they do their Kairos weekend. And it’s a wonderful, wonderful weekend. They do this without charging the ladies anything. So, anyway they’re doing a Kairos outside in South Alabama January 29^th that’s a Friday and it’s gonna be the 29^th and 30^th and 31^st I guess three days. So, I just wanted to cover them up in prayer. It is in South Alabama and it’s a Kairos outside and I will talk to guys later.

[singing starts] O sweet Jesus tell us what to do. Holy Spirit tune our hearts to you. Heavenly Father faithful and true. Be very near that we may walk with you. [singing stops]. Your heavenly Father has accountability here on your head. And make sure you’re on speaking terms with Him because He knows everything, you’re thinking too any loves you so dearly. Don’t abandon Him but turn your thoughts over to Him and let yourself melt in the beauty of His presence in His mysterious grace and love. [singing starts] turn your eyes upon Jesus [singing stops]. Look into His wonderful face. Let everything else fade to insignificance and set your heart to honor Him and everything you think and do and say. In Jesus’ name I pray this for each one of us. Candace from Oregon.