Author: Daily Audio Bible Transcripts

Daniel 1:1-2:23, 1 Peter 3:8-4:6, Psalms 119:65-80, Proverbs 28:14

Today is the 25^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s always great to be here with you as we come together around the global campfire and…and release the stresses of the day and engage with the Scriptures and take the next step forward. And that next step forward is going to lead us into a new book today. We completed the book of Ezekiel yesterday, which will lead us today into the book of Daniel.

Introduction to the book of Daniel:

Daniel is one of the more fascinating books in the Old Testament and it’s prized, actually for a couple reasons. One is the historical account that the Daniel tells and then Daniel also has really cinematic sweeping prophetic visions, not unlike some of the visions that Ezekiel had. In fact these visions of Daniel have of been consulted over thousands of years in the study of the end times which is the study of eschatology. So, Daniel was contemporary with Ezekiel. They lived at the same time and Daniel had been taken into exile when Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 597 BC, which is the territory that we’ve been covering for a while now in some of these prophetic books. So, we know that that was a very traumatic time for the people who had been conquered, remarkably difficult for those who had been deported with families being broken apart and all. And these things we heard in the biblical narratives. So, we know this. We know the Daniel went into exile but even though he was exiled he was also favored by God. He was a gifted young man who rose to become very influential, an advisor to the Babylonian kingdom and to King Nebuchadnezzar and beyond. Here’s where things get a little interesting. Even though Daniel was and exile, he was a Hebrew who had been exiled from Jerusalem, and he was a profit, he wasn’t a prophet for or against Israel. The visions that Daniel has in this book aren’t particularly Jewish which gives him a unique voice. So, as we enter the first half of our time in the book of Daniel, which ends today we’ll read the story of Daniel’s life and in the process of reading the story of Daniel’s life we’ll encounter some of the richest stories in the Bible…like stories that I’ve known my whole life, like the story of Shadrach Meshack and Abednego in the fiery furnace or Daniel’s story, Daniel in the lion’s den. This is the Daniel that we’re talking about. And then as we move into the back half of the book of Daniel, we’ll focus on the prophetic visions of four great world empires and the imagery is highly symbolic and it’s this portion of the book that has been and continues to be scrutinized by eschatological scholars. So, obviously if the end times is something that you are a fan of or study or if that’s your pursuit, educationally, well then Daniel is a part of that story and will become a centerpiece of that study. But whether or not that’s your passion, Daniel’s portrayal of God’s sovereignty over all the kingdoms of the world, over all things is a powerful reminder for us. And Daniel will carry us all the way into the final month of the year which isn’t that far away. So, let’s settle in and enjoy the 27^th book of the Old Testament, the book of Daniel. And today we’ll read chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 23 and we’re reading from the New International Version this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this new week in Your word and this is…this is a busy week here in the United States. This this the week of Thanksgiving and then Black Friday all over the world and we immediately find ourselves catapulted into the holiday season, which only gets busier and busier, certainly full of joy, certainly full of goodness, certainly full of wonderful opportunities to ponder and contemplate Your arrival, but nevertheless a busy season. And, so, this week kind of transitions us into that zone, into that space that will carry along with us through the end of the year. And, so, as we move into the book of Daniel, we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead us. And as we continue our journey through the New Testament, we stay in lockstep harmony with You. This is our desire, not only to finish the Bible strong and well but to receive from You everything that You have for us as we continue this rhythm of life. And, so come Holy Spirit we pray into this week and to all that is before us in this week and to all of our thoughts and words and deeds. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And I’ll tell you, this is the week, right? This is…and that might not make perfect sense to you everywhere in the world, but this is Thanksgiving week in the United States and Thanksgiving happens this Thursday and it’s a day of gratitude, but it’s a national holiday and it’s right before Black Friday and it’s like this is sort of the inauguration of the holiday season. And, so, no matter where we are in the world, pretty much, you know, after this week, there’s a lot of marketing going on and a lot of…a lot of incentives to buy a lot of things for a lot of people and a lot of festivity and a lot of joy but a lot of chaos too, right? Just a lot of disruption happens around the holiday season because we’re just changing our rhythms and we’re heading into it. So, let’s stay connected to our journey through the Scriptures as we…as we enter into the new season. And one of the ways that we do that, obviously, is come around the Global Campfire every day, but one of the things that helps us to keep involved in the rhythm is the fact that we’re doing this together. So, there are a number of ways to stay connected during the season.

Check out the community section dailyaudiobible.com for all of the different links to different social media channels that we’re as well as the Prayer Wall, which also lives in the Community section at the website where you can reach out in prayer and offer prayer always. And this is the time year where…where…where we need to stay close, close to one another and close to the heart of God. It can be a very very challenging time, even though it can be a very joyous time. So, stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the journey of the Scriptures in a year is meaningful to your life, then…then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you compress the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Ezekiel 47:1-48:35, 1 Peter 2:11-3:7, Psalms 119:49-64, Proverbs 28:12-13

Today is the 24^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you…yeah…on the threshold of a brand-new week, but we are walking into the last week of this month of November and before this week is over, I guess we’ll be officially launching ourselves into the…into the holiday season. So, with all of that in mind we begin our brand-new week together. We’ll read from the New International Version this week. Today Ezekiel chapters 47 and 48.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another week in Your word that we’re entering into now. And, so, as we as we step through this shiny sparkly threshold into a shiny sparkly new week, we knowledge that this is the week where the year usually begins to speed up. And, so, we greet You, we love You, we worship You, and we invite You into this new week, even as some of us will be traveling and even as things begin to get more and more busy as we approach the Christmas season. Come Jesus into this week. We invite You. We humble ourselves before You. We look for the leading of Your Holy Spirit in every way and we look for Your guidance on the narrow path that leads to life, and we pray this in Your name, the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, is where you find out what’s going on around here. So, there…there’s always something going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned in and stay connected.

Especially stay tuned and connected to…to praying for one another, which is one of the beautiful ways that we love each other. And a great resource for that is the Prayer Wall. That can be found in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com. You can also access it from the Daily Audio Bible app by pressing the little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner, but that is wonderful, always on, never off, resource to ask for and receive prayer and to offer prayer as well. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if this journey through the Scriptures this year in community around the global campfire is meaningful and has brought good news and life to you in your life, then thank you for your partnership. There is 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 comment you can just press the Hotline button in the app, 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:

Hi, this message is for Karla. Your prayer request went up on November 19^th. My name is Candace, I’m from Pennsylvania. I just really…your…your voice…the pain in your voice just really touched me and I would like to go into prayer. Dear heavenly Father, we thank You for Your gracious and loving kindness. We thank You Father God for the lives today. We thank You for Daily Audio Bible. We thank You for this wall of prayer that we can come and put all our pain and anger and joy, our feelings with no judgment at this wall. We thank You for Brian and Jill Father God. Lord we just thank You Father God. I’m lifting up my sister Karla to You today Father God and asking that You just be with her right now in the midst of the storm Father God, in the midst of her storm right now Father God, in every angle of her life, in her mind, in her heart, in her brain Father God. We just ask that You be in her household right now Father God. Be over her mindset Father God, be over her family and friends Father God. Lord let her be open to hearing Your voice Father God, clear more than ever this day Lord. And we thank You Father God that in this storm that You will, You will see her through Father God, that she will make it through Father God. In Jesus’ name we pray.

Hi this is Karen from Washington and I want to pray for Hanging on by the Kkin of My Teeth. I just ask You Lord that the time that she will have with You can be so close to heal all her wounds from all the things that happened this past year in her life and I ask dear Lord that You break off the spirit of shame and want to take it from her Lord, take off the spirit of regret from her Lord. I ask that You remove scar tissue from heart, from the trauma of all that happened with having an abortion. And I ask Lord Jesus that she will know she’s forgiven and that her baby’s in Your arms and that Lord she is going to have a testimony and she’s going to be able to speak to many in the shoes that she’s in right now. So, Lord I just ask that You breathe upon her and that You refresh her…her heart…her broken heart Lord. Thank You, Lord You are faithful. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible listeners this is God’s girl in the East Texas, and I listen every single day. I know…I try not to call in…I haven’t called and in months actually. Life is hard and no matter what we’re going through we have to stay focused on God. This call goes out to Asia in Chicago. I love your heart Asia. You made me cry this morning when I listened to the podcast about you giving the homeless man your gloves and a cup of coffee and an energy bar. The Lord bless you and that’s what God requires of us, to be loving. And another lady called in, I’m sorry because I…I don’t think I’ve ever heard her before but she was talking about, she’s 55, retired and I guess she’s been kind of…you’ve been kind of harsh in what you say to people. And, you know, Jesus got angry in the temple and He let them know real quick how He felt, but Jesus was a kind soul. And as long as you are feeling that knowledge to change your heart, yes, that is God speaking to you because we can’t win anybody to God by being a bullwhip. And I say that to you respectfully, okay? I just want to encourage you to keep seeking after the Lord and listen to His voice. When you hear a negative, that’s the enemy of your soul. But if you hear a positive and it’s something that’s going to edify the kingdom of heaven, draw you closer to Him, or help somebody draw closer to God, you know that’s God. The Lord bless all of my friends, every one of you. When I hear your prayer requests, I go to prayer right then and I wish again I had time to name you all…

Good morning DAB family this is Lee from New Jersey and today is November 19^th and wow we are moving along. Karla, you called in this morning, it was during the today’s reading and at the end, the prayer requests at the end. And I hear you sister. So, this is what I’m gonna tell you. You said two things that are very important, especially the part of being broken. God loves broken vessels. Okay? Because He loves to put people back together. And another thing, all that suffering that you’re feeling right now, the letdown, and everyone turning their back on you and you feeling that even God turned his back on you, this is called a purification process for you sister. Your soul is being purified. Whether you know it or not it’s being put under the fire. Just like a piece of clay that was broken that’s putting back together, it’s being set, put back in the fire to be put back together. And once you’re through the purification process sister you’re gonna feel like if you were swimming and you came up for air, that feeling of coming out of the water and taking a nice big, big, big breath of fresh air. That’s what you gonna feel like. I don’t know when sister because God works in mysterious ways and He doesn’t tell us all these things, but you will see when the time comes and when you breathe you will know that you have gone through the purification process. Love you all. Love you Lord and I’ll be calling back soon.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family my name is Bob Kelly my wife Barbara and I have been listeners for years and we just want to express our thanks to Brian for his consistent reading and explanation and challenges to put the Bible in practice. We are actually part of the DAB Spanish team. We live in Nicaragua and one of the things that we teach our kids in Bible class is that there’s three words when it comes to the Bible: information, revelation, transformation. Information is when you get what the Bible says and read it, understand it. Revelation is when it gets into your heart. And transformation is when a completely changes the way you act. And I appreciate how Brian is continually challenging us for transformation as well as listening to other listeners who…who see that same need. I was thinking the Bible says that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for. I can understand that information. Revelation, I might try that once and see how it works. But transformation is when I do it continually. Anyway, God bless you all. We love being part of this community and __.

Yes, my name is Mark, Mark Nobel I live in __ Florida and I’ve got a feeling that somethings wrong with my neighbor __ and I went to her house yesterday and she was dead on the bed. So please keep me in prayer. This is ___. Please keep me in prayer about this. Her name is Ramone and just God give me comfort and peace. Thank you…

Ezekiel 45:13-46:24, 1 Peter 1:13-2:10, Psalms 119:33-48, Proverbs 28:11

Today is the 23^rd day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we as…well…as we end another week and continue taking steps forward. So, we’ll go back into the book of Ezekiel. We’ve been reading from the New Living translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. And then will move into the letter of Peter, first Peter, that we just started yesterday when we get to the New Testament. But first, Ezekiel chapter 45 verse 13 through 46 verse 24.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another week in Your word. And as the…the number of weeks…well it’s been decreasing since we started this journey…but now we can count them pretty easily on our hands. And, so, we thank You for Your faithfulness to us and for the transformation that has been taking place since we set sail on January 1^st. And as we say here on this week before things start to really really get busy for the rest of the year, we spend a moment of gratefulness. We are so thankful for Your faithfulYou’re Your faithfulness to us. So, we commit to being faithful to this journey until the end and to find out the things that You yet have to do inside of us before this revolution around the sun is complete. So, we thank You for another week in Your word and we look with anticipation, great anticipation for all that You have yet to do. We love You Father. We worship You and we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and that is home base and where you find what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned and stay connected. Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, most of these things can be accessed from within the app as well by pushing the drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. But yeah, stay connected and stay tuned to what is going on around here as we move into this next season of the year, kinda like the final season where everything gets really really busy. So, let's…let’s stay connected in any way that we can and in any way that that that we will.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, cannot possibly thank you enough, humble gratitude is the proper posture. We wouldn’t be here at all if we were not in this together, if we weren’t throwing logs on from time to time on the Global Campfire. So, 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, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or comment there are a number of ways to reach out. One of them would be to just press the Hotline button at the top of the app, the little red button at the top or there are number of numbers you can use. If you are in the Americas 877-942-4253. If you are 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 call.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning everyone this is JoAnn Marie from Southern California this is specifically for Karla. Today is November 19^th and I just heard your prayer and request for prayer. Heavenly father I lift up Karla. Father, from personal experience I know that you are with her though she may not feel it. Father God I know that you love her and cherish her. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will wash over this young woman. She’s right at the perfect place to receive your blessings. Karla don’t worry. Karla keep your eyes on Jesus. My friend used to say the saying, “fake it ‘til you make it.” So, grab your Bible, go through the Psalms and read them out loud. No matter if you believe it or not just do it. Heavenly father again I continue praying for Karla. Holy Spirit wash over her, hold onto her be with her. Father hear our prayers and comfort our sister in Christ who is crying out to you. Thank you that we can give you our burdens. Thank you that you’re hear every single prayer, that you catch every single tear and that we are not alone no matter how we feel. Your word tells us that you are with us. Your word is holy. Your word is true. You are not a God of confusion. You are a God of peace and calm. Father, we pray again in Jesus name. And Lord, we thank you for how you rescue us each day every day all day. Lord we love you and thank you for another…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family I want to pray for the woman who called in today November 19^th that at her wits and that feels like she can’t do it anymore, she can’t pray to God anymore, she’s lost faith in her relationship with the Lord. Her marriage, everything is crumbling. Mam, I prayed for you this morning. when I heard your prayer I got right on my knees to think of you because God was reaching to my heart for you. He showed me a vision of you being like spiritual gas tank pulling up to His heavenly station and your tank was on fumes and it was almost to the point where people had to push you into the gas station just to get to the tank. But I’m gonna tell you right now ma’am that God is coming for you in a mighty way. Ephesians 3:20, He’s going to do exceedingly great expect in things beyond anything you can hope, ask or expect. Jeremiah 29:11. You know that one well. He has great plans. So, I’ve been…I’ve been many times where you are before, feeling unloved, unworthy, unnoticed, invisible. God is coming through in this season to bring out his people who have been in the dark to bring them to the light. He is going to fill up your gas tank overflowingly full to the point where you can’t hold it anymore. So, don’t you dare give up because we’re praying for you, I’m praying for you, Jesus is interceding on your behalf. And He’s gonna come through right now at a time when you least expect it. Amen.

Desperately wanting to Jesus this is PG from NC. I’m calling to answer your question from Sunday, November 17. I’ll speak quickly. Yes, it’s normal to feel like you want justice, that you want all wrongs to be righted. It is. But it’s not the default for believers. We leave that to Christ. Now, you’re trying to control your words, your attitudes and your actions and that’s not really possible. James will teach us that though tongue is a wild thing that can’t be controlled, and we know that our facial expressions will follow words. But how do we do it? Well the good thing is that the word also says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And the good news is that you and I can build up our hearts and minds and train our Spirits. So how do we do that. DAB every day. Don’t just listen, read along, participate. The other thing is we build our Spirits, we train our Spirits by worship out loud. Don’t just hum, don’t just listen, do it out loud. The other thing is by thankfulness. Gratitude is an attitude, but thankfulness is an expression. Express thankfulness to the Lord every day when you get up and then when you lay back down. And call or text two people every day and thank them for something. The other thing is prayer. Now let’s be honest. God doesn’t need to hear a lot of what we have to say but we need to hear what he has to say. So, it’s a lot more listening than talking. But one of the things you can do is you can pray for those who despitefully used you but not conviction, condemnation all those kind of things. Pray blessings, pray repentance, pray mercy. Pray for their families. Bless them in every way. And in doing that you will build yourself up, train your spirit. Out of that abundance your mouth will speak, and your face will match it. Hey, this is PG from NC and just like Brian I love you and I’ll be here tomorrow.

Hey everyone, is Karen in St. Louis. I am asking you guys to please pray. My last besty passed away on Sunday, which was my birthday, but she is in glory with the Lord, no more pain, no more suffering. We had been friends for almost 40 years. And, so, if you would please pray. A couple of things. Her family are not believers and so she was actually responsible in kind of a weird way back when we had gotten out of the record business and then she was working part-time at a record store where she invited me to go to a church where this guy who was in the worship team that worked at the record store was bugging her to go. And I was ready to go because at that time I was in adult children of alcoholics and the Lord was really drawing me to Him. In any event, just pray that I would be a light in the darkness. I pray that the gospel would be given at her funeral. And then we also have a couple of friends that were in the record business with us. We’ve gotten reconnected with them through Facebook years ago. They are both very of evout…devout and radical atheists and in the course of the years they too both have cancer. So, if you would pray that I would be able to continue that relationship with them, that the Lord would be drawing them to him, and I just thank you so much for all of your prayers. And I want to pray for all of those that are dealing with extreme brokenness. It is so hard to see, and it can rock our faith, but God is faithful no matter what. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Jill. God bless you all. Bye-bye.

Hey Daily Audio Bible, this is Micah in Awe. Today I heard Karla call in struggling with depression. You said you were heartbroken. The Scripture talking about the oil of joy came into mind. So, I looked up the Scripture. It’s Isaiah 61. I’m just gonna read it now. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor in the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified. So, yesterday I was studying hard words of Missouri. I’m a woodworker and I read that oaks are one of the hardest woods in Missouri because the way that they age. So, this is God telling Isaiah to tell us that we will be called oaks of righteousness. That means that we will stand firm. Just like to encourage you. Stay firm. Stay believing in the Lord. Stay reading the Scripture. God’s gonna deliver you from this and am asking him right after this. I’m praying for you that he pours out the oil of joy over your life. I’ll talk to you later.

Hello dear Hanging On this is Jeanette. I heard your prayer and I want to extend a hand…a hug from a fellow believer in Jesus. There’s been a lot of things that I’ve done that haven’t been in anybody’s interest in the past, but Jesus hasn’t left us even when we can’t feel his presence. He gives us the times to regret what we have done but he doesn’t leave our side. And, so, I want to step forward. My own mother has suffered this sort of loss, her first child. And I’ve been praying for her very much recently. And what the father showed me was Jesus being with her in that room where the abortion happened but the whole room was surrounded with Holy Spirit fire and Jesus accepted the spirit of that young child into his arms to be carried up to heaven. And He laid His hands on my mother’s womb and He said, “I forgive you, I love you, you are my child.” He was very angry at all the circumstances that had driven her to that sacrifice of the child to that situation that put her in such terror, and He covered her with His grace. And it doesn’t matter where you’re standing right now but I know that His grace is poured out for you in the very depths of His heart and the very depths of heaven call out that He loves you because He gave himself on the cross for you. And no matter where you go, no matter what you do there’s a child waiting for you up in heaven who will be in your arms. If you are in tears than just…

Ezekiel 44:1-45:12, 1 Peter 1:1-12, Psalms 119:17-32, Proverbs 28:8-10

Today is the 22^nd day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we continue forward in our journey to the Scriptures this year and continue day by day through the weeks that we have remaining as we make this push into the final stretch of the year. So, today we’ll be going back into the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and then we get to the New Testament we will be beginning a new letter known as first Peter and we’ll talk about that when we get there, but first we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Ezekiel chapter 44 verse 1 through 45 verse 12.

Introduction to the first letter of Peter:

Okay. So…so we concluded the letter from James yesterday, which brings us to the letter known as first Peter. And, so, this is kind of homecoming in a way because we’re being reunited with Peter whose kind of an old friend because we traveled through the Gospels in the book of Acts alongside of him. And, so, we’ve gotten a little bit of a glimpse into his personality and character and we’ve certainly seen that he’s a passionate person, but now we’ll hear that passion distilled down into written form as we go into first Peter. So, Simon or Simeon was actually Peter’s given name, but by the time he had become a part of the inner circle of Jesus, Jesus had given him the name Cephas, which in Aramaic means rock. And, so, when we translate the Aramaic into Greek then that same word is Petros. And, so, Petros, Peter we can see of the origins of the English biblical name for Peter because Petros’s in Greek is rock, which takes me back to my childhood because I used to love this band named Petra, right? And rock. They were a rock band singing songs about the rock of their salvation. So, this is how we get from Simon or Simeon to…to Peter. And Peter’s story obviously as we know it from the Gospels is one of redemption and complete transformation. I mean the Peter in the book of Acts is a very different Peter than the Peter in the Gospels after the coming of the Holy Spirit. So, we see this transformation and it’s a pretty big one because we remember that when we remember Peter’s lowest moment when he is standing outside the quarters of Caiaphas as Jesus is being insulted and ridiculed and he’s denying that he even knows who Jesus is. So, we follow Peter from there all the way to the upper room where tongues of fire fell at the coming of the Holy Spirit. Peter was empowered after that with a boldness and an anointing that we still feel the reverberations of. So, in this letter that we’re about to read Peter writes that his location is Babylon. And, so, there’s plenty of scholarly conjecture about that but the general consensus here is that he’s probably referring to Rome. And, so, with this in mind, then the letters been generally dated from the early to mid-60s A.D. And Peter says he’s writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. And these were five different provinces in the Roman Empire that are all now located within modern-day Turkey. And, so, he addresses us to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners, because as this letters passed around to those people that would’ve been well understood in the Jewish culture, those living as foreigners or the Diaspora, those who had been scattered all over the world over long periods of time in different exiles and most recently those who were fleeing persecution because of…because of their faith in Jesus. Now James, the letter we finished yesterday, as I said from the outset is a bit of a butt kicker because it’s very, very confrontational in a very kind and true way where the truth is being told and you know it’s the truth. So, we can get out of Peter…or out of James ago…whew…that kicked my butt and now I need to catch my breath. But Peter, we got to know him a little bit and he packs a punch of his own. So…we’re…we’re sort of lining up for round two of the unfiltered truth being spoken into our lives in a way that is very practical. But again, just like James, Peter’s not trying to condemn anybody or make anybody feel bad. Like these people are already suffering, they’re already learning to endure. So, he’s not trying to shame them. He’s actually trying to encourage them, bolster them, lift them up because their faith in Jesus is actually causing suffering in their lives. And, so, Peter’s reminding them that there is a hope, a glorious for those who endure. And, so, off we go. We’re at the straight talk portion of the New Testament as we move through…well…through James and Peter and John and Jude. So, let’s continue our journey. First Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 12.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another step forward, another day in Your word. And as You bring us into the ending of another of our weeks together, we look forward to the fact that…well…in a couple days we’ll be entering the last week of this 11^th month and then we’ll be entering into the 12^th month of the year. So, You’ve certainly brought us far and yet there is still a distance to go. So, as we enter into these letters of Peter, we invite Your Holy Spirit to speak clear and true to us. Each of us has a story to tell and each of us is living inside that story. And, so, all the circumstances of our lives are varied and various and wrapped all over the world and within different cultural contexts. And yet Your word is true and when it speaks to us, it speaks to “us”. It speaks to “us” where we are. It confronts “us” where we are and we can just say, “yeah that’s for somebody else” when You are…when You’re pricking our heart. And, so, we open ourselves to You completely as we continue this journey forward. We invite You to come Holy Spirit. May we become more and more aware of Your eternal presence within us. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

I have been mentioning the Prayer Wall this week because it’s just been heavy on my heart. We just have these resources available to us all the time where we can reach out. And this season that we’re moving into…I mean it brings us to the place where we need to reach…I mean we can be full of festive joy and also in the depths of despair at the same time or one minute later. Like, it’s just such an erratic time. And we just get sucked into it. And, so, the Prayer Wall is a resource that’s just…no matter what’s going on…it’s there and you can access it through the app and you can access it through the website and it’s there and it’s just a way to know you’re not alone as we continue to move through and navigate the rest of the year. So, check that out. It’s in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com or you can access it using the Daily Audio Bible app by pressing the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this rhythm that we share each and every day, moving us and navigating us not only through the entire tire Bible but through an entire year together, if that does bring life and light and good news and hope and encouragement into your life then thank you for your partnership. We…we can’t do this if we don’t do this together. That has always been the case and thank God we are…we are just brief weeks away from completing 14 years, seven days a week. So, thank you profoundly for your partnership as we continue day by day all of the steps forward. So, 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, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top and just start sharing or there are number of numbers that you can dial depending on where you are in the world. If you are in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are 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.

And that is it for today. I am Brian I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

This prayer is for Biola. This is Victorious Vanessa from Maryland. Biola I heard your request and I stand in agreement with you for marriage. So, Father we know that as we delight ourselves in You, You give us the desires of our heart. We also have this confidence that anything that we ask You, according to Your word You hear us. And since we know that You hear us, You grant us Your petitions…our petitions. Your daughter Biola is ready for a covenant relationship in marriage and I ask You Father to present her Your best candidate, not just a man of God but an Ephesians 5 man that will love her like Christ loves the church, a man that would wash her in the word daily. Allow their hearts to be knitted together. Anyone that would cause her to fall Father, remove them. Anyone that she would cause to fall, remove them. May they meet each other’s needs 100% physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially. We thank You God in advance in Jesus’ name for Your best candidate for Your daughter Biola. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Hi this is Joanne from Happy Valley responding to running desperately to Jesus call which I just heard. __ I’m 78. In four months, I’ll be 79. I’ve been struggling with…like you have been in my life. I try to be nice but there’s a…like an old spark of anger that’ inside me all the time, maybe jealousy. Wvery time I try to be nice but sometimes I just can’t; however yesterday morning I had yet another epiphany from God about why I am the way I am, and He’s given me hope that we can work this out. He will never…He will give up on you. He will never leave your side no matter how old you are, no matter what you’ve said or done. He will not give up on you. He loves you like crazy and He will always. Just relax and ask Him. And thank goodness for this community because it is by hope He will guide you. Bless you dear. You are gonna be fine. I love you. Bye.

God bless you DABbers this is Norma from the Bronx I am just responding to Desperately Running to Jesus, my sister who was asking if…if it’s okay for her to feel having those feelings. And I just like I was relating to her. And I’m relating to her because first of all I’m 57 and I’m also going through similar situations as far as myself responding in a certain way like aggressive. And God has been showing me that, you know, at our age after so much giving and working hard and being mistreated and unappreciated, a lot of these…these feelings from frustration are…are kind of well up. And I hope that this helps. And what He’s showing me is, you know, to just keep releasing it to Him every time you feel frustrated, every time you feel disappointed, unappreciated. And I just keep asking Him to just fill me up with so much compassion and so much mercy and to help me to see things from the other person’s point of view, to understand them. And that helped me to speak with more grace and more mercy towards people. Remember, it’s never too late because Abraham, God dealt with him until he was way past 100 years old. So, it’s never too late…

Hi family this is Erin from Michigan let’s pray. Dear God, here I sit in my warm home with my happy life and my friends and my family around me and I just really couldn’t think of how things could get better. It’s not perfect by any means but Lord God I give you the praise God for my wonderful life. And then my dear sister Karla calls today. It’s Tuesday, November 19^th and she said her heart is broken Lord God and I just…I pray for Karla. I ask You to lift her up, I ask You to show her today in a very real and positive way that someone is praying for her Lord God and that even in the midst of her heartbreak and her wanting to give up and her…her Hoping that she can trust You because she’s been let down so many times Lord God. I lift Karla up, I lift her up, I ask You to help her today in a very…very supernatural and special way so there can be no question that You are there with her today Lord God. I pray Your peace, Your perseverance, Your protection and Your prosperity over dear Karla Lord. Help her to know that we love her. Help her to not believe the words in her, You know, that are coming to her that…that says she can’t trust You and that she’ll never be free of the heartbreak she’s feeling right now. We pray all of these things in the powerful and precious name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Karla, I heard you today. I love you and I’m gonna keep praying. Thank you for calling in. Your heart will be healed. I’m speaking that truth over you. All right. Take care.

[singing begins] One step forward and two steps back, cross our fingers don’t step on a crack we may feel what’s coming or be under attack but we are in Christ so there is no lack. If God is for us no one can stand against. Don’t let the enemy keep you on the fence. Jesus’s His word the sword and defense so raise your mighty I am and rest. I will declare the Almighty has rescued me. In him I am righteous secure and free. My spirit will bow down to my God alone. I stand in faith in Jesus my cornerstone. I will stand in faith. This too shall pass. God’s word and the love they fail not. God’s word is what will last. I will not fear. I have strength in him. I am strong and courageous in Jesus my king. I will rejoice and sing. I will rejoice and sing. [singing ends]

Hey, DABbers this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina. All right Holy Spirit let’s roll. __ from Florida, amen to all the prayers for healing dealing with cracked ribs and his heart problems. Amen to all the future homes we’re building and that we get the utilities we need. Amen to prayers for David Watkins cancer treatment. Blind Tony always love your poems. Amen to your prayers for Alfaio from Delaware. DABber Drew from California, amen to all your prayers about your worries and good luck on your job issues. Jason, we pray for Jason Lord. We pray for Jason knowing that God definitely gives an “S” about him and the enemy that’s coming against his brain will be destroyed in Jesus’ name Amen. I have been listening to the DAB for, I think it’s been eight years, and I’d never heard or understood, even though I’ve heard it every time with Brian, about James. This is so cool about this “without faith…works…without works faith is dead.” And I’ve never understood that because you can’t earn your way into heaven. It’s grace. But what a great explanation this year. I don’t know if I’d missed that or whatever. So, I wrote in my journal here about…”it shows…our actions shows what’s really in our hearts.” So, I’m in my DAB journal and I wrote this, I said, “James is all about faith without works is dead. It does not mean we can earn our way into heaven. It means that our actions shows what’s really, we in our heart. For example, if we have faith, true faith, that God is willing to provide for us, we’ll be willing to give away more of our resources to others that need more of it. And it could be said about fear. I’ve heard that faith means there’s an absence of fear. So, if you have anxiety, you know, you really gotta start to question your faith at how much faith you got.” And, so that’s a good indicator that you gotta get closer to God. But get back, read James and listen to Brian’s commentary on the 17^th of November. It’s awesome. Love you all. Have a great day.

Ezekiel 42:1-43:27, James 5:1-20, Psalms 119:1-16, Proverbs 28:6-7

Today is the 21^st day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is wonderful it is a joy to be here with you as we take our next step forward, something we’ve gotten in the habit of doing, taking the next step forward each day. So, today we’ll go back into the book of Ezekiel before concluding the letter of James. And we are reading from the New Living Translation this week. Ezekiel chapters 42 and 43.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we concluded the letter of James today and yeah…I mean that…that book…that letter…that…that letter will kick your butt. And, so, if you’re like me, then you’ve been challenged once again by the Scriptures. And as we concluded this letter, the final words of encouragement, as is…is customary with many of the letters in the Bible offers some practical postures that we need to live into or we’re supposed to live into. But as we look at the ending of James, we need to remember that James is writing to Jewish brothers and sisters, so Hebrews. And these Hebrews had been forced to relocate and move around because persecution had begun. So, James says, “dear brothers and sisters”, and man, that’s the context for who he’s writing to, but this is for every single one of us, “dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You too must be patient. Take courage for the coming of the Lord is near.” So, what James is describing here is what we’ve started to talk about a lot because the Bible’s bringing up it…bringing it up a lot and that is endurance. Be patient as you wait for the Lord. How often do we do that? I cannot tell you the probably, thousands of conversations that I have been a part of over the years where a person is very frustrated at God because they are not willing to be patient. And yet what James says is true. “Look at the farmers, they have to wait for the rains to come. That’s how it works, and so they eagerly wait for the rains and then they eagerly look for the harvest to ripen.” That’s the example the Bible is using. That’s what James is using to illustrate this point. We must be patient in the same way understanding that the harvest comes throughout seasons. And as we wait patiently, we are being ripened. So, that is very encouraging for us but for those who had been, you know, displaced because of persecution and facing that kind of marginalization that kind of hardship, then those…those words give a person a reason to continue another day because we’re reminded that a process is underway. So, we’re impatient because we haven’t reached the conclusion, but we are not at a standstill. No matter what it feels like a process is underway and in that process we must be patient and practice endurance, which can be more difficult than we can imagine sometimes, largely because our culture and everything we watch on television and listen to on the radio promises us that it’s gonna…that we can have it now. Buy now pay later is the way of things, instant gratification. But this process that’s happening inside of us, the process of sanctification, it doesn’t work like that. It’s like a farmer. So, a farmer can’t plant a seed and then wake up the next day and go out and get the harvest. If a farmer plants a seed, he’s going to go out the next day and it’s gonna look like nothing has happened and nothing will happen. Sometimes the long wait, right, as we ripen, the long wait through the seasons discourages us and then we find ourselves behaving just like the children of Israel in the Scriptures, grumbling, right, grumbling through our wilderness experiences. James actually spoke to that though. Brothers and sisters don’t grumble about each other or you will be judged for look the Judge is standing at the door. So, we only spent a few days working through this fairly short letter from James, but we’re left with plenty to think about. James wrote a forthright, direct, clear letter so that nothing can be misunderstood in what he was saying and so we should be forthright in receiving what was said, and in bringing that to God, especially in terms of things we may need to repent of, things that may need to change so that where not just hearers but doers of God’s word.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that, the point at which what we believe animates our lives so that what we do and think and say is centered around our relationship with You. And we…all…all of us confess that there have been plenty of times that it’s been lip service, that we’ve talked a good game about a life that we are not living. And, so, we are inviting Your Holy Spirit to come and unify those things, reveal those things so that in heart, mind, and will we are in alignment with You even as we continue to explore the necessary aspect of life known as endurance. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and that makes it home base for a community that’s virtual like ours. So, that is the place to go to stay tuned and stay connected.

Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app most of the things that we’re talking about at the website, they are also available in the app. So, you can just click the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. But it’s a portal, it’s a way to stay connected.

And one of the one of the beautiful distinctives of this community that has kind of evolved over the years is the fact that we love one another well and we pray for each other continually. And the Prayer Wall is a place to go that really represents that because it’s just always on and there are people praying all the time. So, it’s a wonderful place to go if you’re shouldering something you need to offload and you need not carry by yourself but it’s also place to go when you’re feeling strong and you remember what it feels like to be weak and you just go and offer some love, some heart, some encouragement, some prayer. And that’s kind of…that’s the glue here. And, so, the Prayer Wall is a wonderful resource. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I cannot thank you enough. We literally and truly would not be here doing this if we did not do this together. And, so, I thank you…thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com, just lives kind of 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, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is a number that you can dial, or you can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button that lives at the top and…and off you go.

And that is it for today. I am Brian I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

I want to say hello to this beautiful community of believers that I have the privilege of being a part of. This is Mary from Georgia and I want to pray for Summer from Ohio and Running Desperately to Jesus. I just heard their prayer requests this morning and I just want to ask for God’s help for them. Father thank You so much for the beautiful gift of this community that You have given to all of us and I ask Your continued blessing on it and on Brian and his family and I ask that You would just grow this community even more so than You already have. I especially want to lift up Summer, my sweet sister in Ohio and my other sweet sister who called herself Running Desperately to Jesus. That is the most beautiful way to describe Yourself. That’s who we all should be. And I just ask that You would please, give them Your…more of Your grace and more of Your peace Father into their minds and their hearts. I pray that You would help them to fill their ears and their thoughts and their eyes with You with Your truth that is found in the Bible Lord. I ask that You would point them to people in their community, maybe their church or their neighbor heard or at work who could just speak more of Your truth into their lives. I ask that You would please, allow Your…Your people to lift them up wherever they are and just give them peace and rest from their mental anxieties from what weights so heavily on their hearts. I ask that You would use this time of struggle so that they can help bless others in the same way that I know You will greatly bless them and heal them Lord in Jesus’ name.

Hi DAB family this call is for Vivik’s mom who is blind. We haven’t heard from you for a very long time. You used to call in all the time to give us some updates on Vivik. I know he was going through a difficult time a while ago. Hope things are much better for him now, hope he’s thriving and getting stronger in the Lord. Hope your daughter is doing well. You’ve been on my mind a lot and I just wanted to let you know that I love you and I’m praying for your family and please call in soon and give us an update on how you, Vivik and your daughter are doing. God bless you. Take care. And thanks to Brian and the Hardin family for everything you do for us. Bye.

Good morning. Hey this is Annette Allison from Oklahoma City. This message is for Running Desperately to Jesus. Sister, I think I know exactly how you feel. You know, I’ve had some pretty bad relationships in my past and taken advantage of many times by supervisors and bosses and coworkers because I tried to be nice. And I understand that sometimes being nice, it’s kind of hard to say no and…but then people kind of take advantage of you and then you like resent them when you did what you set out to do, which is kind of funny. But, you know, I understand and my life at one time I was angry and bitter, and I had no happiness whatsoever, nothing brought me happiness. And I understand. And the Lord was convicting my heart and I had been in the Daily Audio Bible for about a year and a half and I just asked Him to bring joy in my life. But I think the thing that I have learned over the years is that happiness and joy is a choice. Okay? And maybe that is something that you need to hear, that it is a choice and it’s not something that just magically happens in your heart. You have to work at it, you have to find the joy in work and the joy in anything. And I think Ecclesiastes may help you out. Read that. And just ask for the Lord to…to bring joy into your life and to practice it. Practice smiling. Practice being nice. Practice being polite. And do it with a smile even if you don’t feel like it because those are muscles that we need to work out and if we don’t work about it ain’t gonna work.

Hey Daily Audio Bible Family, this is Fashionably Late Vinnie calling you from the flatlands of Ohio in the USA. I first want to say thanks to Brian for putting this button in the app where we can just tap in and share our prayer requests. It’s just so much easier to hear you guys now if you have access to that button. It’s like you guys are in my living room and we’re sharing prayer requests. I can just hear you all so much better and I feel so much closer to all. So, thank you Brian for developing that and putting that in there for us. Thing two as per my nickname, Fashionably Late. I am very fashionably late with the podcast. I just finished September 27^th and it is actually November 17^th today. So, a couple weeks for me, a couple months ago for all of you we went through the song of Solomon and that can be a bittersweet read if you are single like me. And I had a hard time at first but I appreciate Brian’s perspective that it can be a poem between two lovers. It can also be a poem between God and us, Him calling out to us, searching for us to be in relationship with us. So, if you are single and this season of life, I just want to encourage you. God is calling out to you. God has something for you in this season of your life. So, spend time with him like you would spend time with the people you love. Go on a walk with him this week and take a moment to listen to share your heart and just let him call out to you, let him call you into whatever he has for you in the season because there’s a purpose for it. All right. God bless you all. Ciao.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Melissa and I am also from Ohio and I wanted to pray right now for Summer from Ohio who called in the other day. It was…today is November 16^th, I think. And summer, I just…I just love you. I do. I love that you said you were spent because it sounds like it. It does. And that tugged at my heart so much because I know. I don’t know but I know being spent. And I am also a mom and I am also walking a rocky path. So, I just want to pray for you right now Summer from Ohio. I am here in Ohio with you and I’m just can lift you up to God. Lord God I just lift Summer up to You and so much of what her is on her heart and I just pray Lord I just pray that You would give her strong shoes, strong shoes Lord to walk this path that she would be an example. And Lord God just bring into her life people that would pour into her their love and support and encouragement. In Jesus’ strong and holy name. Amen.

Good morning it is November 18^th, and this is Denise who is originally from California, now lives in Charlotte North Carolina but travels a lot for her job so has already made it on a Monday morning to Orlando for a business trip. So, the sound that you hear in the background is the Orlando airport, but I had to stop and find a quiet a place as possible to lift up the people whose prayers were played on November 17^th. Isabel in Australia for the fires in Australia, I just want to lift up your country and bring the healing rain from the Lord. And Asia from Chicago your tears for JJ the homeless man and all homeless in Chicago, you had me crying in seat 13C. So, sister I prayed with you and I pray with you now for healing and the protection and all of the complex things that go into homelessness, let those just be parted like the waters to get to the other side. Summer from Ohio, I heard your tears and I heard your pain and I heard everything that you had to say, and I lift those up. And for Jason who was suicidal who you say that doesn’t hear you. Lord I just ask that You open Jason’s ears up right now, You open his ears up so that You open his heart up and You send the right person the right messenger that there is another way and that he is made in God’s image and that he is destined to help other people when he gets on the other side of his own pain. And then Desperately Running for Jesus, I don’t have a response. Suffice to say that I know it is never too late because Moses’ ministry started very late in his life and Sarah had a baby very late in her life and there’s a whole list of people in the Bible who did things late. And, so, whatever God is working on you I know it is for good because He works for good and His blessings can’t be reversed. Amen.

Ezekiel 40:28-41:26, James 4:1-17, Psalms 118:19-29, Proverbs 28:3-5

Today is the 20^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you. And I hope it’s great for you to be here as we come in from the…from the hustle and bustle that is all around us and kind of amping up here for the holiday season that we’re about to enter into. So, we can always remember, we have this little oasis that we’ve carved out for ourselves throughout this year, this safe place to hear from God’s word. So, let's…so, let dive in. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’ll go back into the book of Ezekiel today from the Old Testament. Today, Ezekiel chapter 40 verse 28 through 41 verse 26

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’re working our way through the letter of James, and as we have noticed and as we have talked about, James is very direct, is attempting to leave no room for misunderstanding, is speaking very clear and pointedly. And it’s interesting because this is written a couple thousand years ago, right? So, this is appointed direct letter from a couple thousand years ago, but my goodness, if…I mean it could’ve been written yesterday and apply. So, James says today as we began our reading, “what is it that’s causing you to quarrel and fight? Like, what’s causing the quarrels and fights among you?” If we just stop there, we know that he is speaking something very practical into our lives right now even though it’s a couple thousand years ago because that is an important question. “What is it that’s causing the quarrels and fights among you?” James answers it rhetorically by saying, “don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you.?” In other words, aren’t the fights that you are experiencing externally actually fights that are happening inside yourself first. Ahhhh…like we could just stop right there and ponder that for the rest of the day. James is basically saying, “look, the fights and quarrels, this conflict it seems to be ever present comes out of our sense of not having what we want or desire or…or not having what we think we deserve.” Like we’ll  see somebody else who works less hard than us who has more than us and we think we deserve what they have…like we want their story or their things because we’re perceiving a lack inside of ourselves, because we’re comparing our lives to someone else’s life and it can get pretty nasty, right? It can be just us shunning that person and losing the relationship, it can be in our family, I mean, it can be that we are dominating to make up for our own deficits because we’re like trying to force out of others what we think we deserve, which of course brings quarrels and fights. And after a quarrel or a fight like that, even if you get what you were looking for, even if you get the thing or the words you were looking for, do you walk away going, “There. Now the world is right again. All is shalom. Balance has returned, right? No, because the deficit you feel inside is still there and it will never be full. We’re always gonna come up empty because we’re looking in the wrong place. James said, “you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it and when you do…when you do ask Him you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong. You only want what will give you pleasure.” So, we can be like, “well…I have had enough of this James guy, right? Like, I mean, he’s so full of condemnation but that’s not what he was trying to do. He was trying to like…it’s like a smack across the face, which is not pleasant but wakes you up or like ice water thrown into your face, which might make you mad, but it wakes you up. Its liking condemnation isn’t the point. He’s working his way down to the root of all this. “Don’t you realize” and I’m quoting James here, “don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you and enemy, an enemy of God? I say it again. You want to be a friend of the world, you’re making yourself an enemy of God.” This is why he’s being so direct. If we’re gonna to try to get an identity by trying to be relevant in our culture and follow the ways of the world, then we need to understand that we are living so backwards that according to James, we are at odds with God, that we’re making ourselves God’s enemy. I don’t know about you. I think I do a little bit, but I think I know enough to say we might all be in agreement on this, nobody wants to be the enemy of God. So, that means we need to look at what we’re doing here because James says, “if we’re gonna live this way we are going to make ourselves an enemy of God.” So…so what we do, especially if like in this moment we’re realizing…this is me….like…I…I do this all the time…looking at everybody else to find an identity and I’m continually living in jealousy and envy and I’m continually passively aggressively acting that out in my words and deeds. And it’s right. Even if I get what I’m after I’m still empty inside. So, if we realize this, what do we do? Thank goodness James wasn’t just pointing out problems. He was leading away from problems by naming them and then offering insight. So, James says, “here’s what you do. Humble yourself before god. Like, don’t wait for life to humble you, to crush you, humble yourself before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Now that part we probably all know and can quote because it’s one of the most famous verses in the Bible, but do you see why context matters when we’re reading the Bible? Because we can say resist the devil and he will flee from you all day long. But now we at least know when James was even talking about when he said that, and we realize what he’s saying is we must resist the devil and he will flee from us. We must humble ourselves before God because we don’t want to be the enemy of God because our lives are diametrically opposed to the way of life. So, James says, “humble yourself before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come close to God and God will come close to you. Wash your hands you sinners, purify your hearts. Your loyalty is divided between God and the world”, right? That’s not going to work. You’re never gonna get there from here. And James is really encouraging strong repentance. “Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up in honor”, right? So, you can demand honor, you can demand possessions, you can demand identity, you can demand status, and you can become envious and frustrated when you don’t get it. And, so, you can by force try to take it from another, only to find that you are empty and that you have now made yourself an enemy of God by using worldly tactics or you can humble yourself before God and come close to God and He will come close to you. There is a fork in the road for us today friends. We have a path to choose. By default, we’re going to choose one or the other and as James has pointed out clearly, the path we have chosen will be borne out in our actions. We will actually live what we believe. So let’s invite the Holy Spirit. Where are our loyalties divided?

Prayer:

Holy Spirit. We invite You into that. Right here at this crossroads, now that we’ve had a couple of days working through James here, we see very clearly that there are implications to what we do and think and the decisions that we make, those choices matter, and they lead to their logical conclusions. And so often we’re not even paying attention to where we’re going, we’re just reacting to everything and it’s not working. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to come so that we can be proactive, so that we can see what we’re doing before we do it so that we can, in the moment, humble ourselves before You and draw near to You and resist the devil and he will flee from us so that we can live free. Come Holy Spirit into all of this that we’ve discussed today. We are powerless to change ourselves without Your transformative power in our lives and we need to change here. It’s not right that we bless and curse out of the same mouth. It’s not right that there are fights and quarrels among us because of our own deficits and our own emptiness when fullness is available when You have offered Yourself and that You have come to indwell us. We have no business behaving some of the ways that we’ve been behaving and it’s leading nowhere, and James is confronting us with it as he’s been doing for thousands of years. And, so, here we are, confronted. Come Holy Spirit change us. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…well…since I say “.com” I think everybody in the world now knows that that means website, it’s the website. But because where a virtual community it’s kind of home base, it’s a jumping off point, it’s a way to come and stay connected and find resources for the journey. So, do that. Stay connected in any way that you can.

Check out the Community section. Check out the Prayer Wall. Check out the links to the different social media channels and check out the resources that are available in the Shop for the journey, including the God of Your Story, which is our newest resource and one that could not be more aligned with the journey that we are on because it mimics the journey we are on as we move through the Bible this year. So, check that out.

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 comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or you can just press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top and start sharing your story.

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

Ezekiel 39:1-40:27, James 2:18-3:18, Psalms 118:1-18, Proverbs 28:2

Today is the 19^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you. In fact, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here with you now taking the next step forward in our journey through the Scriptures this year. And it won’t be long before we wrap up the book of Ezekiel, but we will still continue forward for the next few days. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Ezekiel chapter 39 verse 1 through 40 verse 27.

Commentary:

Okay. So, James is here in our lives right now just pretty much kicking butt. I don’t know if you’re feeling that way, but I always feel that way reading the book of James because it’s so direct, so concise, so clear. And, so, I mean basically, we’ve kind of passed through the middle of this letter and what James is trying to…to point out here is that, yes, indeed, absolutely, faith is where the story with God begins, absolutely and he even refers to Abraham in the same way that Paul did; however, James says, “once that story has begun, like yes, you have to reach out in faith and live and walk by faith but once that story is happening it’s not…your faith isn’t real if your life doesn’t measure up to what you say.” In other words, your faith isn’t faith if your actions do not describe the faith that you claim. Like faith isn’t something you can just claim that you have as a possession and have put in a drawer or a closet and compartmentalized into a part of your life that is reserved largely for a couple of hours on Sunday morning. But that that faith goes back into the drawer and the you move back into your life and that faith doesn’t inform the way you live and transform the way you see everything. According to James, our faith should change us utterly. It should be an influence over our thoughts and our words and our deeds in a way that irreversibly affects the way we move forward into life and through the world and in all of our interactions, otherwise it’s not really faith. And James drove that point home by saying, “just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” So, obviously James is…well…I mean if the James that wrote this is the brother of Jesus then he is speaking very directly as the leader of the Jerusalem church. So, he may have been a very direct person but probably he’s being this direct because he doesn’t want to be misunderstood at all. If we have faith but it’s not affecting the way we live and isn’t transforming us then according to James, it’s dead faith. And, so, James moves into a prime example of how this actually practically works. One of the ways that we actually put our faith into action is in the way that we monitor and steward what’s coming out of our mouths. So, James likened our tongues to the bit in a horse’s mouth or the…the rudder of a ship. So, it’s a small thing that can steer something very large. Our tongues are a small thing hiding behind our teeth, but they steer the entire trajectory of our lives. Such a big deal that James said that we can burn our lives down all around us with our tongues. Ohhhh…yeah…I mean…so, we have all said things we would un-say in the moment and we’ve all said things that later on we regret having said. And then there are times that we…right…you just are burning your life down around you…you’ve just…you’ve started and it’s just a scorched earth because all self-control is lost and the gloves are off and things are being said that shouldn’t be said to another human being at all. So, fundamentally, James…James is saying that’s a problem, that’s a big problem, but if we are willing to observe how dark our words can be and how they can bring darkness into a situation, if we’ll see that we can burn our lives down around us with our mouths and realize that then we also need to realize that the equal and corresponding good can come from that. Like we can use our words to bring light and life and good news in the same way that we can bring darkness. The odd thing is that we can do those two things, all on the same day even in the same hour even just minutes apart. James says, “sometimes the tongue praises our Lord and Father and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so, blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely my brothers and sisters this is not right.” So, since we realize there’s a lot of power going on in this little member behind our teeth, that we have such power to bless and to curse, then maybe the first actionable step forward in putting our faith…like living the faith we claim would be in harnessing and controlling what we say because we all know what can happen when we don’t. We can indeed be angels of mercy and stone-cold killer’s with our tongues. And as James is telling us, that’s not right. And if we could control our tongues like the rudder of a ship, the rest would follow, the rest of us would follow in body and in soul and set us on a path that will put our faith into action in everything we do, because what we’re learning from the book of James is…we can thing say anything but if what we’re saying does not line up with the way we’re living our lives then what we’re saying isn’t true.

Prayer:

Father that’s stark, that's…in some ways it might even see them confrontational or harsh, but we thank You for Your word. We thank You that through the power of Your Holy Spirit, it will look us in the face and confront us and on this particular issue most of us need to be confronted. And, so, Holy Spirit come into what we say, into what we claim, and into how we’re actually living that out. And as we’ve learned today there is no better place to begin looking for evidence of this transformational faith then in what we’re saying out of our mouths. So, we ask forgiveness for starters for using our mouths to worship You and to denigrate and diminish those You have created around us all on the same day. We acknowledge along with James, this isn’t right. And, so, we step into that because it’s not right and it never will be right and it’s causing damage because we’re trying to mix darkness and light at the same time into some kind of potion that’s supposed to transform us when it’s doing nothing because we’re practicing a dead faith according to James. So…so…so we just let that be. We invite You into that. We invite You to convict us in the areas that we need to be convicted and to correct us in the areas that need to be corrected so that we might live our faith and so that it might transform us irreversibly so that we might reveal Your kingdom in this world. We ask this, we pray this, we humble ourselves and receive this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here and it’s how you stay tuned and stay connected. So, be sure to do exactly that in any way that you can, in any way that you will.

Some primary places to stay connected are the Prayer Wall and that can be found in the Community section of the website as well as all the different social media channels that we’re participating in at the Daily Audio Bible. So, you can find all those resources in the Community section.

In the Daily Audio Bible Shop you can find resources for the journey that we’re on including the God of Your Story, which…well I guess it’s been about a month now since we’ve been talking about that. And now that we’re kind of moving ourselves into the holiday season I’ll remind you that it is a…really, really is a fantastic resource to invite those that you love into the rhythm of life that is, you know, having the Bible in your life every day. A lot of times people will say, “I’m a reader. I just…I’ll read it myself. I’ve found over the years that that’s code for, “I’m not gonna do this.” But there are those who are. I’m a reader. And, so, the God of Your Story kind of offers in written form the rhythm that we experience here in the spoken realm each and every day. So, it makes for a fantastic companion to the Daily Audio Bible. It’s the essence of the Daily Audio Bible, but it also creates an experience that is readable for those times that we’re disconnecting or disconnected from…from, you know, the Internet or…or we’re just trying to…to get into silence. It just makes for a great resource. So that’s available in Daily Audio Bible Shop. As I have said that every time I’ve talked about…well…maybe not every time, but many times that I’ve talked about this, all of the proceeds from the sale of the God of your story from the Daily Audio Bible Shop, all of it is being sewn back into…into the ministry in keeping of the journey going every single day. So, check that out in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link and it lives on the homepage. And I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership as we approach the end of the year. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app 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 comment you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Ezekiel 37:1-38:23, James 1:19-2:17, Psalms 117:1-2, Proverbs 28:1

Today is the 18^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we take the next step forward through the week and through the month and through the year. And as we get into our workweek, we are reading from the New Living Translation this week. Today, one of my favorite portions of Scripture Ezekiel chapters 37 and 38.

Commentary:

Alright. Obviously, we, you know, we’re approaching the back portion of this 11^th month of the year and then we have the 12^th month of the year and we will have completed the entire Bible. So, we’re well into the Bible. So, we’ve read the book of Acts, we’ve read of the early formation of the church, we’ve read the writings of the apostle Paul and…and the way that he brought a theological underpinning to the story of Jesus, and we’ve read the book of Hebrews, which…which does the same thing from a very Hebrew perspective. And then yesterday we turned the corner into this letter from James and all of a sudden now we’re not envisioning what’s happening inside of us, or creating a grid of theology, we’re just talking very directly, very practically, very unflinchingly, right? So, James said…and listen this is…I'm…I’m quoting this from the Bible. “Don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it’s like glancing at your face in the mirror. You see yourself, you walk away, and you forget what you look like.” Is that…first of all that’s very direct and kinda confrontational, kinda convicting, but is it not true how we can center ourselves here around this global campfire, set aside this oasis and have this safe space to let God deal with us in any way He wants to through His word. And then we can go back out into the world, and an hour later it’s all stolen, like it’s gone, we forgot who we are again, we forgot what we look like again. And that gives us a big indicator. Yes, life is busy. Yes, the world is moving at a pace that cannot be sustained. And, so, yes it’s very easy to forget anything we do an hour ago at sometimes, but it’s a totally different thing if that process is transforming you and becomes a part of everything else you will do. In other words, not just listening but obeying what you’ve heard, as James was saying, that’s the difference, when we apply what we have heard in the word into every situation that we’re going to face as opposed to setting aside a little bit of time to hear from the Bible and then just go off into the day and forget everything that was said. James didn’t want his readers to be fooled, right, to fool  themselves, which is exactly what he said, “I don’t want you to fool yourself.” So, like ingesting all of the word of God in a year for informational purposes and to finally notice what it says, that’s not the same as being a person who is being transformed by what it says into the life of faith. Like, what would be the point of hearing God’s word and then forgetting it? Nothing’s gonna happen. And James didn’t want  those who were reading the letter to be fooled about the fundamental shift that’s supposed to take place within the heart of a believer. Like, for James as we will continue see in this letter, what happens when Christ becomes part of the life we are living is so profound that the evidence of that shift must be visible in the actions of our lives. So, faith isn’t really faint if it’s not accompanied by action, like the corresponding deeds that would describe our faith and turn it into action. So, quoting again from the Bible, “what good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions. Can that kind of faith save anybody? So, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. So, let’s take that into our day and let’s put it in the context or give ourselves the visual of what we saw in the book of Ezekiel, a valley full of dry bones and a question, “can these bones live again?” And a response from the prophet, “you would only know. Like you’re the only one who could know that because you’re the only one who could do that.” And the instruction from God, “prophesy, call to the four winds the breath of life.” We may feel like our words and our deeds do not line up when it comes to our faith. We may feel like the world is spinning too quickly and we are running too fast so that we do forget what we look like after looking in the mirror, so that we do forget what we’ve heard, just a few minutes after we’ve heard it, it’s been stolen from us. We may feel like dry bones, long forgotten in a field far away. Can these bones live again? Can you live again? Since the hope of our faith centered around the idea that resurrection is possible, available, and inevitable that we begin to realize that we will find the life when our thoughts, words and deeds no longer oppose each other, when we’re not saying one thing and doing another. As James tells us, that's…we’re just fooling ourselves. But when those align then what is dry and dead can be pulled back together again.

Prayer:

So, Father we enter into that. We acknowledge the truth of it all. We acknowledge that and we acknowledge that in order to line up with what we are reading here, some changes will have to be made inside of us, inside of the way that we live each and every day, the way that we react to everything instead of finding a way to be proactive within ourselves because we are being transformed and nothing…nothing can shake us off the narrow path that leads to life, so we can observe the things that are going on around us, knowing that we are not going to endure any of it alone. So, come Holy Spirit, let our faith be more than words, let our faith propel us into this life where we reveal Your kingdom each and every day. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website, that is the place to find on what’s going on around here, resources that are available, all the different links to the connection points. So, be sure to check that out.

In the community section of the website you will find the Prayer Wall. And the Prayer Wall is a resource that is always on and you can always reach out for prayer and always offer prayer at the Prayer Wall. That’s a great community resource, which is why it’s in the Community section. So, be sure and check that out.

Check out resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, including our newest resource, the God of Your Story, which is…well…I’ve shared the story. It was a long journey to try to…to try to distill down into written form the journey that we take each year and the kinds of things that we talk about while we’re taking this journey and created into a 365-day devotional format. And that is what we’ve done. That’s what the God of Your Story is, which makes for a fantastic companion to the journey that we’re on right now through the Bible. And that makes for a great Christmas gift, but it also…I mean…I have prayed that everyone who is in this community has this tangible reminder, this holdable reminder of the journey through the Bible in a year that we’ve taken together. And, as I’ve mentioned a number of times, all of the proceeds from the sale of the God of Your Story through the Daily Audio Bible Shop, all of it goes to the…the efforts to…to keep things going every single day. So, check that resource out.

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. 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 comment 877-942-4253 is the number to call or you can just hit that little Hotline button at the top of the app, the little red button and start talking, sharing your story.

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

Ezekiel 35:1-36:38, James 1:1-18, Psalms 116:1-19, Proverbs 27:23-27

Today is the 17^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Welcome to a brand-new shiny, sparkly, week that we get to walk in together and discover together and experience God together through his word as we continue to take the steps forward through this year. So, we’ll read from the New Living Translation this week and today Ezekiel chapter 35 and 36.

Introduction to the book of James:

Okay. So, as we begin our new week and continue our journey through today’s reading we have come to another threshold, another letter and this letter is known as the epistle or letter of James. And, so, there’s a brand-new voice that we haven’t heard in our journey through the Scriptures so far this year. So, let’s explore what we’re about to explore. Looking at this letter throughout the history of the church we see that there’s been plenty of scrutiny over all of the centuries from a number of ways, including who is James? Which James wrote this letter? And without knowing for sure, specifically, the James, then dating the letters more difficult. But there is a solidly supported scenario and that is that James, this letter or epistle, was written by the half-brother of Jesus, who was named James and interestingly didn’t believe in Jesus during his ministry on earth. But after…after the resurrection James then became a pillar of the early church presiding over huge implication ridden, fundamental decisions, like the Jerusalem Council, like the one that opened the way for Gentiles to be accepted into the faith. And the reason many scholars find this to be maybe the most appealing of the scenarios is because, like with Hebrews whose author we don’t know with any certainty, whoever did write the epistle of James had enough influence and authority among the early believers that the letter was recognized and was read and was copied and was preserved was handed down so that we have it today. So, whereas James the brother of George may not fit that bill, whereas James the brother of Jesus certainly fits the criteria, significantly. So, as with the letter to the Hebrews, this letter from James was written from a Hebrew perspective, it was written to Hebrews. In fact, it’s addressed to the 12 tribes, the Jewish believers scattered abroad right into the Diaspora. So, that gives some clues to who the intended original recipients were and the letter may have been addressed the way that it was because of the spreading out of the gospel that came as a reaction to pressure, to persecution, to the things that they were needing to endure. Stephen’s stoning was contemporary, so this could’ve been a catalyst. If this is the case, then James was possibly writing to early believers who would once have been in his pastoral care as the leader of the church in Jerusalem. So, these would have been believers that fled in all directions to find somewhere that they could live in peace but who still felt a connection back to the Jerusalem church, their home community. After all, this was the Jerusalem church, this was the mother church so a letter coming from Jerusalem would’ve been treasured, especially if was written by the half-brother of Jesus, the leader of the church. So, if this is all true then this would actually make this letter one of the earliest of Christian writings that have been saved. And if that’s true, then the letter of James preserves inside of it some of the earliest postures of the Christian faith. And as we’ll see, there are clear postures in the letter of James. I mean more clearly than anywhere else in the New Testament, James teaches that the choices that we make, the stuff that we do, the thoughts that we have that then propel our bodies to do things, that matters. James pretty much tells us in no uncertain terms that we can say anything we want about what we believe but, in the end, how we live is actually saying the truth about what we believe and not necessarily what’s coming out of our mouth. In fact, this is…this is where we find in the Bible that faith without works is dead. So, we have a very, very early Christian writing stating these postures and this explicit connection between faith and works. And what we do hasn’t always been popular and continues to be debated about so that the definition is very clear because Paul obviously is telling us that we can’t earn anything, it’s a gift. So, in some ways it makes James and Paul look like they’re in opposition to each other. And it…I mean…it goes further than that. I mean, come all the way to the Protestant Reformation and we get to Martin Luther. And even Martin Luther, the reformer, just did not appreciate the book of James because it went against some of the things that he thought about “in faith alone”, “by grace alone”. Whereas James is kinda like, “you, okay, true. But if you’re not living your faith you don’t have any, its dead.” So, had James known that someday a thousand years in the future the church would go through some type of reformation and his letter would’ve be questioned, he probably would’ve been completely indifferent. This little letter is very likely to kick our butt this week because it is one of the most bold declarations, most confrontational, truth packed letters in the New Testament or in the Bible. But it’s not just to be confrontational, like its purpose isn’t just challenge. There’s something underneath and underneath is a plea, it’s a message that begging to be heard. It’s was begging to be heard when it was written, and it is begging to be heard now. And that is this - “live your life by faith and live your faith through what you do.” Right? It’s as poignant right now as ever maybe in some who hangs more poignant. So, let’s embrace the challenge as we enter our week and enter the letter to James. It’s not enough to know what the word of God says. The word of God has to change us, and that change becomes apparent as we live it. And in living it, we begin to understand that we must be people of action. So, we begin. James chapter 1 verses one through 18.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this new week and this new territory in the Scriptures, and as we continue our journey forward throughout this week we invite Your Holy Spirit to speak to us both from the book of Ezekiel and from the letter of James, and from the Psalms, and Proverbs. You are continually pursuing our heart and sometimes we are open to that and sometimes we are closed. And we open ourselves, we surrender ourselves to You and before You. We worship You and invite You completely into every aspect of our week - all of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

In the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com you’ll find all the different links to the social media channels that we’re on find. You can find all this in the app as well by pushing the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. But the community…the Prayer Wall also lives in the Community section. So, that is a fantastic resource, it’s always on and always active, a place to go and pray for your brothers and sisters or to go and ask for prayer. So, be sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you, thank you, humbly and profoundly. It’s been said…well…I don’t know…we’ve been at this for thousands of days…it’s been set over these years that we couldn’t do this if we didn’t do it together and that has always been true and remains true. So, I think you, that if…if the community that we share is bringing life into your life then thank you for being life-giving to keep the fire burning. So, there is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that is all for today, other than to tell you that I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Ezekiel 33:1-34:31, Hebrews 13:1-25, Psalms 115:1-18, Proverbs 27:21-22

Today is the 16^th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we close the books on another one of our weeks together and we’re running out a week’s. I mean, I don’t want to be out ahead of ourselves because there’s so much left for us in the Scriptures but were running out of weeks. It’s like when we began this journey and we sailed off in the book of Genesis on the 1^st January and a few weeks later it was like we’re…we’re well out…we’re well out from shore, we’re out in the deep and we’re taking this journey. Now we’ve been taking this journey all the way through the year and we can begin to see the faint signs of shore at the other side. And, so, well done for making it this far and we’re gonna turn like we were talking about yesterday into a busier season of the year and this is the point, this is really the point where we’re just out in front of it and we need to make the decision that we are finishing strong. We started a journey and we are not abandoning ship and we will sail to the other side together. So, here we are closing down another one of our weeks together. And we’ve been reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Today, Ezekiel chapters 33 and 34.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and even as we end this week we also will and the letter to the Hebrews. And, so we prepare as we move into the new week to move into new territory. And, so, we invite You in advance and we ask Holy Spirit that You would seal all that we’ve read in the book of Hebrews to our hearts and to our minds so that it changes our behaviors, so that it changes our deeds. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Check out the Prayer Wall in the Community section. Check out the resources that are available in the Shop, some of which make for fantastic Christmas gifts. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well and I can’t thank you…can’t thank you enough for your partnership as we move ourselves into the final stages of the year. Thank you profoundly for your partnership. So, 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, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, you can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up 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:

Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Andrea. I wanted to share my testimony with you. And this is for you if you have not yet given your life to Yeshua, Jesus. I was 15 years old when Yeshua encountered me and I was a cutter, I cut my arms, I prayed to Satan, I was going down a path that was not good even though I was raised in a religious home. And I would cut my arms thinking it would relieve the pain on the inside but I’m telling you, Yeshua, Jesus is the only one that can relieve the pain on the inside. He’s the only one that can heal the sin sick soul. And I just want encourage you today that if you have not given your life to Yeshua, if you’re battling any demonic things, principalities and witchcraft, turn to Yeshua. He is all-powerful and He will deliver you and set your soul free. And I just want to pray for you if you are in depression, anxiety, suicidal or anything or if your family members are. I just pray right now in the name of Yeshua that you would be healed and be made whole and that you would be able to receive the amazing gift of His forgiveness, salvation, that he would set your soul free today. Call upon the name of the Lord and you will be safe my friend. I just felt led to call in. And, so, I just encourage all family members and friends to keep praying for your loved ones. When I was going to that I felt people’s prayers. Your prayers make a difference. And as a result, today I am saved, still following the Lord over 20+ years later. Never give up on your loved ones. Pray daily for them. Love you my friends. Have a great day. Bye.

Hi Sherry from Kansas. I just want to thank you for calling in this morning and sharing your thoughts with us and letting us know that you understand now that the most important thing that we can do is continually thank God. And I have been working really hard this year on bringing my relationship closer to God so that He is in all of my thoughts, all my actions, that I converse with Him through the day and I’ve really been struggling with that. Things get in the way, I let them get in the way. It’s hard to manage that and manage job responsibilities and family responsibilities. And when you said that it just clicked, you know. What I need to do throughout the day is to praise God through thanksgiving and I feel like you’ve just given me a key to what I have been struggling to do. And, so, I hope this is helpful to other people, but I really just wanted to call and thank you. And I will give you a praise report on the line to let you know how this works for me. But I just feel like the doors been opened with that key and that I have a way to move forward. So, thank you, not only for this time you called and Sherry, but I certainly enjoy listening to you as well as many, many others when they call in. Have a great day, guys.

Hello DAB family this is His Welsh girl. I’ve been listening for five years, but this is my first time calling. I really love listening. It’s so brilliant. This global church praying for each other is wonderful and I pray with you all as I listen to the prayer requests and thank you Brian and Jill. And I wondered if you’d please pray for me. Seven years ago, after 36 years away from the Lord, He very patiently and kindly brought him back to Him, brought me back to Him. And during those 36 years He blessed me with three children, but my marriage failed largely due to my behavior. And on Saturday my daughter is getting married and I’ve just been feeling overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety and regret and guilt, I guess. And my children and my…I have a new husband now and we’ve been together a long time but none of them know the Lord and I just…please pray for my daughter’s marriage and our relationships within the family and for their salvation as well, please. And thank you. That’s brilliant. Thank you.

This is Candace from Oregon. The first time I ever called in for prayer a request it was for my son Micah. This was just a few months after I started Daily Audio Bible from an invitation from my husband who had already been listening for several years. I think this was about 4 ½ years ago. So, many of you have prayed for Micah ever since and I am so grateful. And I just wanted you to know that today is really a special day in Micah’s life. He had been laid off and so was again on a job search and this time he was able to get a job that is really a dream come true for him and puts him on a career path that is nearest and dearest to his heart. It’s in a high-tech industry, it’s a very ground level position but one that he’s very excited about. So, would you pray with me for him right now. Lord we know that’s Micah’s struggle with alcohol has…has wreaked havoc in his life. And thank You that he was able to report to work this morning completely recovered from having drank a lot, completely recovered and ready to roll and I pray that he will begin now a season of sobriety that lasts for years and that he will have peace that could only come from You and that he will know it is from You Lord. Bless him today. I rebuke all false spirits and anything that would come in to harass him in any way. I pray that You draw him in close to You Lord. Help them to be honest with You in Jesus’ name we pray. Thank you, family.