Category: DAB Transcripts

Joshua 24:1-33, Luke 21:1-28, Psalms 89:38-52, Proverbs 13:20-23

Today is the 22^nd day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s always great to be here with you. Always great to see everybody coming in around the Global Campfire just settling in as we take our next step forward. We have been reading in the Old Testament from the book of Joshua for a little bit. Today we will conclude the book of Joshua and move into some brand-new territory tomorrow as we begin the book of Judges but let’s finish the book of Joshua strong. We’re reading from the New Living translation this week. Joshua chapter 24.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we saw this very very brief story just a very very brief couple lines. Jesus is in the temple complex and this is all before His disciples are admiring the temple and all the buildings of downtown Jerusalem. And this is where Jesus is like, “this is all coming down. Like, there won’t be any stone left unturned. The whole thing is coming down.” And of course, this is referring to what will happen in the future within the next 50 years. Jerusalem will be destroyed by the Romans. We’ve talked about this. They were looking for a Messiah. Jesus came. They got rid of Him and then they decide to take matters into their own hands later and rose up and revolted against Rome and were…were crushed in that process. So, we’ve talked about that. But just before all of that Jesus is in the temple, and there’s this…well…there’s a collection box. So, the offering is being given and they’re just watching people put money into the collection box to care for the temple. And it’s here that we learn something really interesting about the way God looks at things because they’re watching people give plenty of money and then they watch a poor widow give 2 minas…2 small…like pennies…2 small kinda…kinda coins, the smallest amount of currency. Jesus comments on that, that the poor woman who put the two tiny little coins, like really hardly any money at all, that…that she had given more than everybody else because everyone else had given out of their surplus. They still had plenty in their own control, but she had given all that she had to God. In other words, she put all of her trust about her existence in the future, including the next day in God’s hands. And, so, as Jesus comments on this this tells us how God is looking at things. It’s not like, “o, you can stroke the million-dollar check because you’re so wealthy and God’s so impressed with that that somehow you’ve gotta have high honor when stroking that million-dollar check is way more than almost any of us could do. If that’s your surplus, if you worth a hundred million dollars and you give a million dollars, certainly that’s more than almost anybody else could give but the person who gives two cents and that’s all that they have and they are completely and utterly dependent upon God from that point forward. God sees that.” So, it’s not about how much you can accumulate it’s about how much you’re willing to trust God with what you have. And that brings out quite a bit of clarity when Jesus is like, “it’s very difficult for rich person enter the kingdom of heaven”, right? Because a rich person has a lot under their control, and they feel a lot of control about what they have. So, if they give a bunch of money that’s a bunch of money, that’s great and it’s a blessing to the kingdom and everything but they still have a surplus that’s way way way more…like everything is…nothing has changed. Like they’re still in control, when entering into the kingdom is the profound awareness of complete and utter surrender, and dependence on God for the next breath and everything else. And, so, that’s definitely some things to think about from the gospel of Luke today.

Then in the book of Joshua, we concluded the book of Joshua today. And, so, we will be turning into the book of Judges tomorrow and that is sort of the story that comes next and it’s a very very different story than the one we’ve been reading. So. we’ll get to that tomorrow. But we remember when we said goodbye to Moses, and we took a minute just to honor that. Like we traveled a long way with Moses, went through a lot of stuff and bore witness to the wandering in the wilderness and the message of the wilderness and just the story of the wilderness. And then Joshua led the people across into the promised land and settled the promised land and now we’re saying goodbye to Joshua. He was 110 years old and Joshua did similar things to what his mentor Moses had done. He gathered all the people together to…to essentially give them a final charge. He reminded them of where they came from and how they had gotten to where they are and who God was and then he said something that is very very famous, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” And that was sort of the…the apex of what he was trying to say, the pinnacle of what he was trying to stress to the people, and they responded in kind, that they would serve the Lord as well, that they would remain in the covenant that the Lord had made with them and that they would honor and serve God. Then Joshua said something just profound, profound enough that it echoes all the way into our laps. “You are a witness to your own decision. You have chosen to serve the Lord.” And the people responded, “we are witnesses to what we have said.” Can we just make that immediate? We are witnesses to our own decision. We have chosen to serve the Lord. Our lives are the witness to whether or not we are honoring that covenant. That right there cuts to the chase. Like it…it…it cuts to the bone, like gets to the bedrock after the same fashion that…that Jesus would speak and answer questions with questions and speak into situations that are the bedrock of what’s really going on. If we, if our lives, if the weight of our lives in this world, the influence, the impact of our lives in this world does not serve as a witness to our decision than all we have is words. And we have learned from the Scriptures plenty, but we also already know this, talk is cheap. It can say anything. But how you live, that’s what you believe. And, so, Joshua is bringing that front and center to the children of Israel who are now settled in the promised land, a story that we have been chasing since the book of Genesis basically this whole year. Now they are settled in the promised land and their leader Joshua is bringing things front and center. This is what he wants to stress before he becomes history. It’s that important. And, so, let’s take it from Joshua, let’s take it from the Scriptures as that important. You are a witness to your own decision. You have chosen to serve the Lord.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into that declaration. This has been our declaration all along but maybe we’ve never thought that our lives are a witness for or against us, that our lives are a witness for or against You, that often what we say and how we actually live are different. And that should not be. And, so, as we leave the book of Joshua and begin to turn the page into the story that comes next, we will certainly learn plenty. But we’re right here right now being a witness to our own decision. And may we hold it with the gravity and the honor that it deserves. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base. Also, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, that’s also home base, they kinda are built on the same platform so they go to the same place. And stay connected.

So, check out the Community section, either place. This is where the different links to social media, the different channels that we’re a part of are. Be good to follow Daily Audio Bible, at least on whatever…wherever you are, if there’s announcements or things going on. Good to stay connected that way. So, check that out. The Community section’s also where the Prayer Wall lives. And that is an invaluable resource. It’s never off. It’s always on. We can always pray for each other there. So, check that out.

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

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement there are a number of numbers that you can use. Well, first of all you can just press the Hotline button, the little red button at the top in the app and share from within the app no matter where you’re at in the world or there are some phone numbers. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. 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’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi fellow DABbers this is Rosanna and I’m from Johnson City TN and this is April 15^th, and I just heard the prayer request from Alec and Tyrone. Alec has a wife named Jesse who has terminal cancer and she’s out of treatment options and Tyrone has a wife who is an unbeliever. And, so, I just want to pray for both of these gentlemen. Dear heavenly Father we come to You and we petition to You on behalf of Alec. Lord Jesus You are the giver of good gifts and You bring healing to our bodies. You still do that today and I pray that You would be with Jesse. I pray that You would supernaturally touch her body and I pray that this cancer would fall away from her body in the name of Jesus. I pray that You would bring a full healing, a supernatural healing that brings glory to Your name. I pray for Tyrone. I pray for his wife. I pray that You can open her eyes, open her heart, open her ears so that she can see Your great love for her, and she can see the fact that You are still pursuing her. And I pray that she would strengthen their marriage and that You would just overcome her with Your love and help her to see You. And God, I thank You for the Daily Audio Bible. I thank You for the fact that it helps so many people to know about You and Your…and Your word and Your love for us. And I also pray for my own mother who has terminal cancer and she’s in the exact same position as Jesse. I pray that You would supernaturally heal her and touch her body and bring a complete healing. We love You Jesus. We know You’re in control.

It’s April 16^th Friday my name is Ted from California. All week since the weekend I’ve been going through a lot of anxiety spiritual battles depression. Something triggered it. I’m not sure. I’m hurting right now, and I just need a lot of prayer and I’m trusting in God to pull me out of this and to make it better and I just want to tell pastor Brian that without this this app and everyone else in the DAB community I would be lost for sure. And, so, I just ask for your prayers and your support. I love you and I thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good afternoon today is Friday April 16^th, 2021 my name is Shondra Brooks and I’m calling from Maryland and I wanted to leave a two-part message. The first being a song, a simple song that’s always in my heart and just as a reminder for everyone who hears this call and sings. And the song is somebody’s prayed for me, you put them on my mind, you held…I’m sorry…you put me on their mind, they took the time and prayed for me. I’m so glad they prayed. I’m so glad they prayed. I’m so glad they prayed for me. As simple as it is it means so much and it’s a major representation of Daily Audio Bible and I’m grateful for Brian and Jill and everyone who even works in the background because truly just the opening message when I first started listening in 2014, I just felt like crying because I was like wow, you know, someone will be able to hear me, and they’ll be able to…and pray with me and for me. And it is appreciated. I also wanted to say I am so grateful and thankful for this. I haven’t even gotten to the 1^st of April as far as the podcast, but God is so faithful and so awesome that the parts that I hear, they directly coincide with where I am and my life and what I need to hear to encourage myself. And in saying all that just to keep it short and sweet, I love you guys. I’m constantly praying for those whose prayers come through and everyone just continue to be faithful even if you feel…feel…feel…feel fearful to call in. God knows your heart. He knows what you stand in need of even…

Good morning family I’m Honeybee from Louisiana. I called in in August expressing my frustration over 20 years of eye surgeries, over 20 eye surgeries but now I’m in a very desperate place for a miracle. I had a macular hole appear the left eye in August and in February there was bleeding in my eye, in the right eye, and the doctor went in and he said there were two blood tumors, and he couldn’t remove them. He did laser them and remove the blood and put it a gas bubble, all that fun stuff, but it’s been two months and he said the eyes full of blood, the pressure is so low that the muscles are starting to lose their shape and what happens is the I caves in and this is the first time in 20 years I said I don’t want to have a surgery. I just want to keep my eye. I’ve lost my sight in my right eye. I can’t see it all for the last two months, but he said you will lose your eye if we do not do this surgery. And then he said if we do it you still might lose the eye. So, please pray for me. I need…I’m discouraged, and I need a miracle. I need God to remove these tumors and restore the pressure and restore the site and I appreciate your prayers. Thank you, my family. I love you.

This is Steve from Branson Mo and I just want to lift up two fellow DABbers in prayer. The first one called in a few weeks ago and I’ve been praying for you daily since. Your name is Jermaine and you’re in upstate New York and you’re incarcerated. And I just want to let you know that I’ve been there. I understand what you’re going through. I’m thinking of you and I’m praying for you. And the second one is a man who didn't…didn’t give a name. He just called in and said that he was not worth anything to anyone and I am praying for you too. I’ve had those feelings and continue to have those feelings. And Father I lift up these two gentlemen to You in the name of Jesus. Touch their lives. Heal them emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically. Father, touch their lives and make them whole. Give them self-worth in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Joshua 22:21-23:16, Luke 20:27-47, Psalms 89:14-37, Proverbs 13:17-19

Today is the 21^st day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is always a humbling pleasure and joy to just to come in and have a seat around the Global Campfire with everybody else and have this place. It’s amazing what…what we’ve been able to do together, right? To build an oasis, like an oasis for the heart that we can come to. It’s like we made…we built this. Every day we can come here and it’s a safe place to be in. Its just God word being read over us and us knowing that we can never really listen to the Daily Audio…like there’s no time that we’re listening that somebody else isn’t listening as well. And, so, we are in this together and that is an awe-inspiring thing. Even after all these years, it’s still an awe-inspiring thing…I mean I’m sitting here thinking about it and I can’t stop talking about it. It’s incredible that we have this place where we can be together. And, so, thrilled. Thrilled that we can take our place and take the next step forward. The next step forward leads us back into the book of Joshua. We’ve been traveling with Joshua and the crossing of the Jordan and the taking of the promised land and the dividing of the promised land. And we will conclude the book of Joshua tomorrow, but we left ourselves yesterday with a bit of a cliffhanger because the 2 ½ tribes were going home, they built this large imposing altar and the 10 tribes found out about it in they’re like, they’ve gathered together for war and have sent some delegates from each of the tribes to find out what in the world is going on. And, so, we’ll pick up that story. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Joshua 22:21 to 23:16.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have basically rounded the corner and we are at the end of the book of Joshua. We will conclude the book of Joshua with tomorrow’s reading. And we had a situation, develop in the last couple of days that could have been catastrophic, actually could’ve been civil war with…well…who knows how that would have gone other than it would have gone bad, right? So, just by way of reminder, these two and half tribes Gad, Ruben, and the half tribe of Manasseh that are in question here, they had been given their tribal land on the other side of the Jordan. It was conquered lands while the children of Israel were still wandering in the wilderness. And this land was given to them on the condition that they would cross the Jordan and fight alongside their brothers to settle that land, which they did. And then they came…they were…they were released, and they went back to the Jordan River and made this big altar. Okay. So, the news of that altar reached back to the other tribes in the land being settled and a story when around about that altar that these 2 ½ tribes were rebelling against the other tribes and against God. That was not true. That is called an assumption. An assumption is a plausible explanation or a plausible way of looking at reality without all the facts. So, you have pieces of a story. In this case, yes, indeed the 2 ½ tribes left camp. Yes, indeed the 2 ½ tribes went back to the Jordan River. Yes, they built an altar there and continued on their way. Those are the facts. The rest of it was assumption, a plausible explanation that happened to be utterly false and could…that…that assumption, that reality that people had begun to live into and believe was the truth, that this 2 ½ tribes went back to the Jordan River and conspired against the other tribes and conspired against God and had built this other altar was going to cause the other tribes to go and squash the conspiracy. And had they strapped on their swords and God on their horses and took off down toward the Jordan River toward these other tribes believing the assumption then it would’ve been catastrophic. Thankfully, they sent a delegation to see if there might be missing pieces to the story. And once those pieces were put into place the assumptions fell apart because they were false realities. Let’s think though about how many assumptions we make in any day, but let’s think of major assumptions that we’ve made that we’ve acted upon that have caused catastrophe in our relationships. Just because you can assume it doesn’t make it real. Even just because you want it to be real doesn’t make it real. And we are a people prone to believing whatever we want to believe. When an assumption is almost a creative power within us to fill in blanks and make a cohesive story that has a very important missing pieces that we made up so that it can make sense. And this isn’t helpful. We remember the story of Jesus at Caesarea Philippi saying, “what are the assumptions about me? What are people saying about me?” And we remember the disciples saying, “they think you’re John the Baptist rising from the dead.” That’s a…that’s a false assumption, right? He wasn’t John the Baptist raised from the dead or something…that you’re one of the prophets of old. That was a false assumption. That’s not who he was. Obviously, that story in the gospel is to lead us to the same question that He was asking, “who you say that I am?” But that it’s ties in here because it’s not “who do you assume that I am or who does everybody else say that I am, not make up an assumption or follow someone else’s assumption. What is the truth of who you say that I am?” So, back to this story in Joshua. The assumption could’ve created something devastating. We need to remember that in our lives before we start trying to figure out things and filling in the blanks and forgetting that those are assumptions and not facts because otherwise we’re living a false reality, something we made up that could lead to something devastating.

Prayer:

Father we invite You into that. Our one point of truth is You. You are the way the truth and the life. When we are pursuing You with our hearts, we are pursuing the pathway of truth and the pathway of peace. When we’re frustrated or just making things up because it seems foggy out there and we need answers, and we start building assumptions then we’re being impatient and creating false realities. Help us Holy Spirit to be present to what is actually happening, to be present to the leading of Your Holy Spirit because You have promised You would lead us into all truth. So come Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Check out the Community section. We’ve talked about that many times. This is where the Prayer Wall lives.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There’s several different departments in that job, several different categories of…that are just full of resources that we’ve crafted over the years for the journey that we are on, whether it’s just to stay connected, whether it’s just to enhance our life experience. Like, we’re kinda coffee fans around here. And, so, we have our own fresh roasted fresh sourced coffee brand that we’ve had for well over a decade now and tea. Hot beverages pair well with quiet contemplation and allowing the Scriptures to wash over us and be a part of our lives. And, so, that’s kinda part of my daily routine. And, so, all of these things we’ve just kinda crafted together over the years. And, so, check those resources out in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

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

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Thank you, Brian, your family, and the team. Everyday Brian you say that you are very thankful and grateful to have us partnered with you to bring the word of God across the world. And yet for me I really think I want to be the one to say that I am very thankful, honored. And it’s such a privilege to be part of a ministry that is impacting, influencing, blessing, touching, changing every tribe, tongue, and nation across this globe. It's…it’s just…it’s amazing just to even have that thought that God’s word is penetrating to these places that I can’t even go to myself, but the word of God through this ministry and through this technology is going across and beyond borders. I’m so thankful for this. Proverbs 11:25 says a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. And I want to say that I am so refreshed that others are being refreshed. And, so, I want to extend this thanks in the same way that you have been extended your thanks. So, thank you so much. This is Ann from Arizona. By.

I just listened to April the 16^th and I heard Jasmine who is a Canadian who is in Africa as a missionary and her husband David facing grace in Jesus. I just lift them up to You today. Wrap Your arms of love around them and sustain them. And I just ask for supernatural healing to flow over her husband’s body, that You would heal him from this covid and this malaria and that You would sustain him and her daughters as their heir Lord for the Kingdom of God. Their Kingdom builders and I pray that You’d reward them for their service and that You would put a hedge of protection around them and keep out the fiery darts of the enemy. Make them strong Jesus. Help her to feel our prayers and our love and our care and our concern for You are the mighty God and Your hand is not short and there’s nothing that You cannot do. I just left this precious family up to You Jesus and we’re trusting and hoping to hear a good report soon. We ask all these things in Your precious name. Amen.

Good morning family it’s Mary Lynn from New Brunswick Canada and I’m calling this morning on Friday April the 17^th or 16^th I’m not sure for Jasmine. And Jasmine I want to pray for you. My husband’s name is also Dennis and as you heard I’m also Canadian and I have two friends that are in Africa as missionaries as well. So, family just pray with me right now. Father I come before You Lord and I stand in agreement with Jasmine’s request for her husband Dennis and his health. Father I ask Lord that Your hand of protection and healing would be upon Dennis right now Lord in the name of Jesus. Father these two people have given their lives at servants for You in this country far away from home. And Lord Your word tells us Lord that You are our healing. Your word tells us that You are our protection. Your word tells us that You’re our stronghold and our…our savior. Father You are our everything. And Lord these people have given their lives in obedience to You, and they are looking to You to fulfill the promises that You have given them. So, Father just like it says in Genesis, “and the Lord said” and that is exactly what happened. Father we’re claiming that for Jasmine and Dennis, faith and grace. We ask Lord that every promise You have ever made to these two individuals for Your service that You would bring them to pass in this time. Give her peace, give her comfort, give her confidence in her savior Father. Help her to hold tightly to the hope that she has. And Father we just thank You. We thank You because it’s done. Your word says and that is exactly what happened. So, we thank You Lord that You have been faithful to this couple. In Jesus’ name. Father, thank You. Jasmine we’re praying for you. Bye family.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is John Opara recording from South Sudan Juba in South Sudan. It’s been quite a while that I checked in. I have been traveling to the field to support our staff that are in the field within South Sudan. So, this has caused me to run behind but thankfully, thanks to God I have caught up now and this is why I am recording to just let everyone know I’m doing OK. I’m preparing to attend my daughter’s wedding in the US. And I need your prayers because I need to first of all go to Nigeria to get my passport renewed and…and then go to US to attend the wedding in June. So, maybe I…I will call in from US when I get there. May God bless you. But I just want you to know and I…I hear all the things that are going on and the…the pain, the attack of the enemy upon the body of Christ and I want you to know that God remains the ultimate power. He is absolutely in control and will never fail you. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Rebecca Joy from Illinois calling in. This is a few days late so I apologize for that, but I am calling in for Radiant Rachel and her niece Kaylee. I’ve heard the prayer request about how Kaylee’s having some problems swallowing food and having a fear of it. And strangely enough out of everything that day that I have related too I related to that because when I was younger, I also had those kinds of irrational fears that I just didn’t know where they came from but suddenly, I was afraid of things like thunderstorms and elevators and just odd things. But I wanted to call in hopefully giving some encouragement and let you know that I’m praying for Kaylee. I want her to know, if you would be so kind as to tell her, that having those fears, feeling those fears is OK but what’s not OK is giving into them and letting them control your life. And, you know, I hope that she learns that lesson a lot sooner than I did because it took me quite a while. I’m 23 now almost 24 trying to still figure that out but hopefully she can get a head start. Yeah. I’m praying for you guys. Thanks for calling in and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Joshua 21:1-22:20, Luke 20:1-26, Psalms 89:1-13, Proverbs 13:15-16

Today is the 20^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today as we do what we do every day, one foot in front of the other, right? We take the next step forward, which leads us through the entire Bible. And we are well underway on this voyage and it’s great to be traveling with you. It would be much more lonely if you weren’t here. And, so, I’m so glad we have the Global Campfire that’s always burning and we can always come around its and just find the oasis that our soul needs as we just relax in this safe place, a place where what’s gonna happen is that the Scriptures are just gonna be read over us and we’re just gonna meditate upon it and recenter ourselves to go back out into the world and accomplish things that we need to achieve today. So, let’s dive in. We are in the book of Joshua working our way through. We traveled across to the Jordan River in the book of Joshua and finally set foot in the promised land. We saw the different battles that were fought, how so many different kings ganged up and then attacked the Israelites, only to lose in the end, and then we have watched the different parcels of land to be issued out to the different tribes of Israel so that they can settle into this new land that was promised to them centuries before. And then as we were concluding our reading yesterday, the establishment of the cities of refuge, the places that people could flee if…if manslaughter, like unintentional death had occurred so they could not just be killed, so they could find justice. And we’ll continue the story today of the allotment of land given to the priestly tribe of the Levites. Joshua chapter 21 verse 1 through 22 verse 20.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Joshua today we have some trouble that appears to be brewing. Like…like we’re at the point of potential Civil War. So, the situation is fairly serious. So, the land, the promised land, the land that we’ve been working toward since the beginning of our year together has been settled and conquered and has been parceled out and the inheritance has been given and the tribes are moving in, but remember there…there’s 2 ½ tribes that were able to claim the land on the other side of the Jordan River, the…the land that they one in battle with King Heshbob and King Ogg of Bishon. It’s kind a high country. It’s still farmland today. It’s good for farming. It’s actually beautiful land. And, so, they have this land and it’s given to them conditionally that they, when their when their brothers cross the Jordan River to go to war, that they go and fight too. And they did. And, so, the work is accomplished. And, so, the 2 ½ tribes are finally commissioned and released to go home and they’re going home wealthy, laden down with wealth from…from all of the battle that they’ve been in. And at this point, everybody’s pretty much on the same page. We have seen a very stiff-necked people do all kinds of very stubborn stiff-necked things that had brought all kinds of trouble upon them. That has been the nature of the whole story so far and that was the nature of the story even once they crossed the Jordan River. The first city of conquest was Jericho, and the second city was Ai and they were defeated at Ai and went through the whole thing of figuring out who had disobeyed the Lord. So, everybody’s pretty clear, like the only way this victory can continue…like the only way this story goes forward is if we obey the Lord. And one of the things that the Lord was doing was establishing the one place, right? They’re not gonna be traveling around anymore in a…so the portable tabernacle isn’t going to be moving around. It’s going to find a permanent home. And that permanent home is known as Shiloh. When we think of like a permanent home, we think Jerusalem, we think temple. But there isn’t any…no temple has been built yet. And Jebus or Jerusalem is still in the hands of the Canaanites. So, there’s sort of a first capital before Jerusalem, and it’s known as Shiloh. And it was the heartbeat or the center of worship for almost 400 years before Jerusalem and before the establishment of a temple in Jerusalem. So, this is the place of the worship of God. This is where the altar is. This is where the holy of holies is. So, these 2 ½ tribes then begin to head home and they get back to the Jordan River and they erect a large imposing altar, one that can be seen from all around, and that has caused a tremendous amount of confusion because are these guys disobeying God? Are they erecting another altar for worship? Are they establishing some custom that God has not commanded us? Have they abandoned us? Are they going to worship false, or other gods? Like what’s happening here? And they have seen how important it is to be completely obedient to God in this moment. They’ve seen some of the other things that they’ve had to do. And, so, now they’ve gathered together. They have been at war with all the “ites” that were in the land, so they’re definitely battle tested and battle ready. They were getting ready to settle down, but they could strap on their swords and gear and ride out in annihilate the 2 ½ tribes, if that’s what it’s gonna take, Civil War. And that’s where we leave the reading today. We’ll have to find out what’s going to happen tomorrow.

Then in the New Testament, Jesus is being questioned about His authority and we’ve seen this story before. And, so, they’re…you know…Jesus asks His own question that unpacks the truth of what they’re trying to get at. And honestly, maybe one of the more truthful things depicted from the religious leaders that are against Jesus is said in this story. So, this…the religious leaders want to know who gave Jesus His authority to do the things that He’s doing. And He says, “I’ll answer you, but you answer me a question. Who gave John his authority?” The people believed John to be a prophet of God. We’ve gone through the whole story of John. It’s ironic that the priestly community…because John’s dad was a priest. So, it…in some ways is ironic that the priestly community is skeptical and rejecting of John as a prophet but they’re also rejecting Jesus as a prophet. So, religion is rejecting both John and Jesus. But the people, the people are accepting. So, we…we…we know this story. We’ve even talked about this story. It’s really this story that Jesus then tells after the exchange that we want to focus on and remind ourselves of. So, the story that Jesus told after this exchange goes like this. “A man planted a vineyard leased it to tenant farmers, moved to another country to live for several years.” The story Jesus is telling is to the religious leaders about the religious leaders. “A man planted a vineyard.” This is, “God planted a garden and gave it to tenant farmers.” This…these are the religious leaders intended to care for the garden. “And then he moved to another country for several years. And at the time of the grape harvest…so when the harvest came, he sent to collect a share of the crop.” The crop in this case are the soul…the hearts of man…mankind properly steward and cared for and grown up. So, the master sent to collect but the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, sent him back empty-handed. So, the owner sent another server, but they also insulted him, beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away. These are the prophetic voices that were sent all along, but specifically were referring back and including John in the story and Jesus in the story. This is how religion is treating the prophets sent by God. They insult them, beat them up, send them away empty-handed. No harvest is given to the master. They wound those who are sent and chase them away. So, as Jesus continues the story, the farmer, the owner, the master, God in this story thinks, “what will I do? I’ll send my cherished son. Surely, they’ll respect my cherished son.” But when the tenant farmers saw the son, and again the tenant farmers are the religious leaders specifically charged with caring for the souls of the people, like actually creating the harvest, when they saw the son, they said to each other, “here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill Him and get the estate for ourselves. Let’s kill Him and get the kingdom for ourselves in other words.” And, so, they dragged Him out of the vineyard and murdered Him. Obviously, they haven’t done this to Jesus. Jesus is speaking a story that tells what’s about to happen in a way that the religious leaders know He’s talking about them. And, so, He says, “what do you thinks gonna happen? The master will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.” And as we spoke about yesterday, they did rebel. Within the next 50 years they did rebel and they also got completely and totally and absolutely crushed. The thing is, the religious leaders were in an interesting…interesting, very, very volatile situation. They have…they…they have a religion that is very, very ancient, that is monotheistic, which means they believe there is only one God, and He is the most-high God, and there is no other, whereas the entire culture of the Roman Empire was polytheistic, so many gods and you needed to worship whatever God you wanted too. But you needed to revere and honor the gods the Empire because they made the Empire, and they made the Empire great. So, you can worship whoever you want but you can’t reject the gods of the Empire. But the Jews, they couldn’t worship the gods of the Empire. They didn’t want to be a part of the Empire. They wanted those people gone. They wanted to restore this place of the one true God. So, they had a sort of volatile situation where the Romans are tolerating the Hebrew people and worshiping their one true God and they’re allowed to keep their one true God religion, which is separate from everybody else within the Romans control. They were tolerated as long as they could keep it together. There had been a history of zealotry, especially in the Galilea, but all over, of rebellion of what would be looked at, at least if you were a Roman as like terrorism, like domestic terrorism. There’s these people within the land, they hate this land, and they want this land to fall apart, they want it to fall. And, so, they’re like doing all these little things. So, the religious leaders are responsible for trying to hold the whole thing together and keep false messiahs from rising of the don’t have the power or authority to actually make a substantive change. They would lose a battle and be wiped out very publicly. So, John…John or Jesus in that mix, people drawing crowds, people igniting the hearts of people in a religious way, turning them back to God so that they are becoming passionate about their faith, that can turn volatile in the second. In fact, it’s those very people who incite a mob to get Jesus crucified that can turn in a second and terrible things can happen being done by people who wouldn’t do those things, except for they got swept into it. So, in order to sort of keep the culture and keep the religion from being wiped out by the Romans they gotta keep the peace. They’re going to the Romans for protection. And Rome is saying “as long as you can keep it together, we’ll protect you and allow you to have your separatist ways.” So, this is politics and religion as strange bedfellows. And the result is the crucifixion of God. And the end result is total destruction. And that is essentially what Jesus’ parable lays out. And this parable still has meaning, plenty of meaning for us as we look around the world and see these kinds of situations develop.

Prayer:

Jesus, it’s to You that we come, it was You who were here sharing that the kingdom is a kingdom of love and that love conquers all and is more powerful than any destructive force on the face of the earth. The kingdom is here and among us and within us. Do we not see it? And the truth is…well…the truth is only sometimes. Only sometimes do we see it, but very often when we’re not seeing it, we’re participating in obscuring it. Very often when we’re not seeing it, we’re participating in things that are not a solution and are not moving anything forward. And, so, we gotta look back inside of our own hearts, which is where so much of this work has to be done. It’s so easy for us to look out into the world and see all of the problems and what should be done, and we say something like, “they should do something about that” when actually it really starts inside of us for each of us. And, so, come Holy Spirit. We don’t want to be this way in any way. We don’t want to not be seeing what You’re doing in this world. We do not want to be on the other side of it. We want to participate, and it starts by believing that we will be known by our love and not by the battles we fight on social media. So, come Holy Spirit. We need You now more than ever. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can stay connected that…well…I mean that’s the best way to stay connected.

Just use the Drawer icon, the little…well…the little drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app and you can get to things like the Community section. The Community section whether in the app or on the web. This is…well…this is where to get connected but it’s also where the Prayer Wall lives. And, so, you can use it on the app or on the web, either way. And this a place where we come to pray for each other, ongoing…ongoing-ly…I was gonna say, I’m not sure that’s a word, but you get the point. Like it’s constant. We are constantly praying for each other. That is one of the distinctives of this community, is that…yeah…when we…when we come together around the Scriptures, and then come together with a willing heart to accept each other and pray for each other, understanding that we are all in a process of being transformed, that is a beautiful thing to behold and it’s definitely the kingdom of heaven at work in our midst. And, so, yeah, the Prayer Wall is something to always be aware of. And, so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this mission to bring God’s word read fresh every day and given to anyone who will listen no matter where they are no matter what time it is, if that has been life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning my DAB family this is Paula calling from Albuquerque. Today’s Thursday April 15^th. It’s Tax Day in the US. Brian, your commentary on today’s reading was so profound. I listened intently and had to re listen as a matter of fact to your commentary. It kind of took me back to my own foundation when you described the Samaritans being kind of a mixed people and people kind of looked down on them because they really didn’t know who they were or what they were. I am Creole. So, that is me. I was born in Louisiana and raised in…in New Mexico which is very different. And people did often look down on us because we were raised which, you know, the population here is largely Hispanic, Native American, and Caucasian. Well, you know, obviously a Creole person is like all of that put together. So, today was just very, very touching. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for allowing the Holy Spirit to use you the way you do. You are just amazing, and I just love how you break things down in a similar way that my pastor does. I am just so grateful for you always. I love you all family keep listening to the word having eyes and ears. I love you all.

Good morning DAB family I finished listening to April the 14^th and I come in total agreement with what Brian was saying on proverbs 9:4…13:4 regarding the sluggard and the diligent. So, yes Lord, I come in agreement with my beloved brother and teacher Brian. Cause us to be diligent and to take control over our motivations and our bodies. We tell ourselves to get off of that couch that bed that mental sluggish condition right now in the mighty name of…of Jesus and we look up to where our help comes from. It comes from the Lord who is always willing to help our want as we engage with him to move one step at a time. Help our desires Lord to align themselves with your will for our lives. We will not get weary in well doing for a due time we will reap as we so diligence if we faint not. Galatians 6:9. I love DAB family. I love you brother Hardin and your family, your entire family and staff. And I just thank God for you. Be blessed. Amen. Alisa Marie from Dinuba California.

Hi DAB family I’m __. I’m calling in from India and I would like you all to pray for my family. Everyone in my family has been diagnosed with covid and we are all under home isolation and I would request you to pray for us. I have been a regular listener, but I haven’t called anytime soon for this. So, thank you so much. Take care. Bye-bye.

Hi DABbers, this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina. Alright Holy Spirit let’s roll. So, I get the feeling I need to tell you guys about a miracle but let’s get some prayers out of the way first. Amen to prayers for Keith as he struggles with his third year of cancer. Amen to prayers for Chris asking that he would stop running away for God and become the husband that he was intended to be. Amen to all the prayers for all the DABbers out there. I’m praying for Roberto the Significant. I kinda like that. I think he should call himself that too as well. Amen to all the prayers for getting closer to God instead of playing video games. As I’m sitting here almost getting ready to play a video game, but I had to call you guys first. So, just feel like we got a…we got lot of tough things going on and you don’t believe in Jesus or God because of miracles but I’d like to share one that I got, one of the few times I can't…not one of the few times…in the beginning when I came to God. So, like the first year of my faith. So, I get in a motorcycle accident and broken ribs I can’t breathe, I’m being carried to the ambulance and I ask the ambulance people to get my iPhone out of the motorcycle pack and I get it and I contact a DABber in China. And this was back in the day, you know, we didn’t have a lot of Facebook and things like that. And that DABber put a prayer on the Prayer Wall. So, the doctor came in at first for the first X Ray and says, “hey you got broken ribs. But here’s this air pocket and that means your lungs…you poked your lungs and we got to get you into a full MRI.” And, so, meanwhile there are thousands of DABbers out there praying for this guy in North Carolina. I used to use my name back then. And then when the doctor came back like 2 hours later when I had a full MRI…full MRI they said, “hey, we don’t know what happened, but you healed yourself. And we’re just going to keep you here in the hospital for a couple of days to make sure we didn’t miss something.” But I know that it was the prayers and God that healed me. So, just wanted to share that miracle. Love you guys…

Hey DAB family Kathleen Mount Zion IL. DABbers I just…I want to thank you first of all. I have called in for prayer many times through the years and I continue too because I like hearing familiar voices and hopefully you don’t mind hearing my familiar voice. Please do know in the background that also that I am there, I am praying for you. I listen to the prayers and I do, and I pray. And I am currently building a prayer closet. I think I mentioned that to just have a special place especially for this family. But I want to ask you again to pray for my brother Dan. I have called in about him and his wife so many times because they are both believers and yet everything in their life just seems to be crazy all the time. And I think my brother Dan is running away from a special appointment by God. I really do. I feel like he’s Jonah. He’s talented. He's…but he just runs from God and hides and…and this causes an anxiety and a dark cloud that comes over him, a cloud, a spirit of oppression that just beats him down and he could be free of all that. Like I said he is a believer. He just…I think God has something special for him. When he was young he went to a religious school for a while and then later on he went to the seminary but there were just things that it didn’t work. He never became a preacher, but I don’t think that’s the end. I don’t think that that means that God doesn’t have something really special for him. But anyway, recently his wife left him and he’s just beside himself. Just keep him in your prayers…

Joshua 19:1-20:9, Luke 19:28-48, Psalms 88:1-18, Proverbs 13:12-14

Today is the 19^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and a privilege and an honor every day to come around this Global Campfire together, take the next step forward and move our way into and through all of the weeks that we get to share. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. We’re in the book of Joshua and as I mentioned…I think it was yesterday…we’ll be concluding the book of Joshua during this week. Right now, in the book of Joshua the…the different allotments of land are being divided up for the tribes of Israel to live in, in this land of promise. So, we continue that story. Joshua chapters 19 and 20.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke, Jesus is making His…well…His final journey to Jerusalem where He will be arrested and we…we kinda know how this story will go in general. And once again, I remind us that we come through this territory and then we move beyond the Gospels and we move beyond this territory and what comes next. And, so, it’s really important while we’re walking alongside Jesus that we really embrace…really embraces as much of it as we can. So, today something really, really sad, really sad, actually there’s a place that commemorates this…this spot. So, Jesus has walked from the Galilee down into the Jordan Valley where it's…it's…it's…it’s downhill. And, so, it’s flat there and they can kind of move around a little easier. It’s a more direct path that ends up in Jericho. And then from Jericho, because they’ve moving south, from Jericho they have to than turn eastward and upward. So, it’s an 18- mile climb from Jericho to Jerusalem, and it’s all uphill the whole way. So, Jerusalem sits at the high points. So, you can only…you can only go up to Jerusalem, which is why you hear that in the Scriptures and why…why you may have heard that in the past, up to Jerusalem. For example, even in the…in the Psalms, there are the Psalms of Ascent the Psalms, the songs that will be sung on the way uphill up to Jerusalem. So, this is a totally uphill, pretty treacherous walk that Jesus has to take, and the pathway is essentially following the Kedron Valley. And the Kedron valley is in the Bible. So, it’s a geographical landmark that runs right through Jerusalem actually separating the Mount of Olives from like Mount Zion or where the temple was or where the Temple Mount is out today. And, so, the Mount of Olives is a pretty big hill and runs along and their villages on etc. etc. And, so, we see Jesus passing through some of those villages and getting this colt. And as it’s told in the gospel of Luke once they crest the Mount of Olives and begin to come down the downward side, into Jerusalem Jesus starts to cry and it’s really really sad. There is a place. You can walk down the Mount of olives kind of following the ancient road. It doesn’t look anything like an ancient road now. It looks on one side like a massive, massive graveyard where people are buried awaiting resurrection and just different compounds that are on the Mount of Olives while you walk your way down. And there’s a place called Dominus Flevit, which is Latin, which means “the Lord wept.” And there’s a Byzantine chapel there. I belie a crusader era, small little chapel there. But from there you can look down upon the Temple Mount and you sort of can see what that view would’ve been like. That would’ve been the quintessential view of looking out over Jerusalem and kind of cresting Mount of Olives and seeing the temple of God there. And Jesus begins to weep. He says, “how I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace, but now it’s too late. Peace is hidden from your eyes.” And then He goes on to talk about how it would all get tore down. Here's…here’s the situation. We’re in the book of Joshua now in the Old Testament, right? So, we’ve gone through the Torah, the formation of a people set apart to be a nation of priests to bless the whole world and we’ve gone through their struggles and how quickly and how often they lose sight of their purpose of the main story, right, and get lost in the subplots of their own lives and where that leads them and how we had a wander in the wilderness because the wilderness journey, this…the message of the wilderness hadn’t been learned. And, so, now we get to cross the Jordan River and seen the conquest and now the division of the land and the assignment of the land to the people. These are the set a…set apart ones, the chosen people. And their capital city, as we will read from the time of King David, forward will be Jerusalem. The very first temple, like the very first permanent temple, not a Tabernacle that’s portable and moving around, but a permanent fixture, a building is in Jerusalem, the temple of God, the place where the people come to commune with God, the place where they believe communication happens between God and people. So, Jesus who is God incarnate, right, who was incarnated into human flesh and dwelt among us as one of us participating in the human story and in the human condition, God with human eyes crests the Mount of Olives and this place, this…this what He…what He sees is His temple, the temple made for the worship and communion with God among the people set aside and set apart as holy to be a nation of priests to remind the world who God is. God’s cresting the Mount of Olives and looking down on the entire enterprise and God begins to weep about it. Like, that’s the magnitude of what we’re seeing here. “How I wish that you of all people would understand the way to peace”, right? So, here’s God who’s walked through all of the things we’re reading about in the Torah and in Joshua and everything else that we’re going to read for the rest of this year in the Old Testament. This same God who is the lead these people is about to be killed by His own people, His own creation. His own creation will reject Him on religious grounds. So, He’s crying about it. It’s sad and He speaks prophetically. “Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place because you did not recognize it when God visited you.” Ah…and the thing is, we’ve talked many times about what…what the Hebrew people of the first century were looking for when they were thinking about a coming Messiah. They were looking for a righteous anointed one certainly, one that would communicate the ways of the Lord and bring people together with the intention of revolt, of cleansing the land of the Romans, and everyone else and restoring it back to God. And Jesus, God in flesh came saying. “the kingdom that you’re looking for isn’t coming at all. The kingdom of God is already here already among you already within you already underway. Do you not see it? Can you not perceive it? Do not have eyes to see? Do you not have ears to hear?” And they just couldn’t get on board with that. That’s not what the Messiah’s gonna do. The Messiah’s gonna…gonna overthrow Rome and this Jesus, He might get a mob together but it’s only gonna get us in trouble. And, so, we know how the story goes. Jesus was betrayed, Jesus was crucified, they thought they had gotten rid of Him. So, a little bit later, like within the next 50 years-ish from this moment where Jesus crests the Mount of Olives and weeps they decide they have their Messiah. They decide to rise up and revolt. They all do get together and…and…and do revolt against Rome and they do take over for a brief period of time of a couple of years. And this is interspersed in the story of the great fortress, the great Herodian fortress Masada, where this rebellion at least traditionally is understood to have ended because although they did take over and although they did mint their own coins and although they did have some autonomy there for a couple of years, Rome the Empire, basically got the forces of the Empire together and sailed for Jerusalem and when they got there they were merciless and they destroyed Jerusalem utterly, tearing down the temple of God, destroying Jerusalem completely and forbidding Hebrew people to even enter the ruins of the city. And then they rebuilt it and then let Jews go in. So, Jesus is crying about what’s gonna happen and He’s crying about how it didn’t have to happen. And I mean this helps us enter the story greatly, to just see the emotion of God, God who came for us, God among us, God with us, Emmanuelle being rejected. Also gives us an opportunity to think about how many times we decided by force by own will and strength we’re going to make God’s will happen, that we’re just going to jump out here because we know what’s supposed to happen and we’re gonna go make that happen when it’s not, when God’s not in it as was the case in the story that we are in and the gospel of Luke.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite you into this. We enter into this story again. It…it tears our hearts to think of you standing there weeping, weeping over what might’ve been, what could have been. But it was too late and we have to wonder in our own lives, how many times that you’ve been a gentleman and patiently waited and watched us and what could have been if we hadn’t gone our own way. And, so, forgive us Lord. We repent, we return to you and ask Holy Spirit to continue to illuminate the narrow path that leads to life that we might walk it pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. I say it every day because this journey is…is so much better together than it is trying to spend the whole year and through the whole Bible alone. It makes a difference that we are in this together and that we know we’re in this together. So, check it out.

Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

Check out the Community section. This is where the Prayer Wall lives. We can always reach out for prayer. We can always reach back through prayer toward each other. And, so, be aware of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission which is to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given freely to anyone who will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, that is, if that’s life-giving than 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 encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DABber family this is the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and our King. Today I listened to the reading from proverbs speaking of the sluggard who desires but doesn’t get what he desires because he’s lazy. And…and then it speaks of the diligent who gets abundance just due the hard work. And I know this sounds like something so simple and it’s like…dah… right? But I am struggling in certain areas of my life, certain things, certain projects, personal projects that have been placed on the back burner of my life. Dreams deferred, you know, due to, some barriers that were thrown in my way in life in general. And not to get too too deep into this but when I heard that it really hit hard. And, so, I just want to share this with you guys. It is a prayer request but it’s also sort of encouragement, that, you know, some of us have had some traumas in life that has caused us to be discouraged and caused us to forsake some projects and plans and ambitious desires in our lives. And I just want to say to all of us that dreams deferred make the heart sick but be encouraged because the Lord who has started a good thing in us, He is faithful to complete it. He is faithful to complete it. And I pray that God will remind me of this every single morning that I wake, that I am a word of God…

Morning everybody. It’s God’s Smile here. It’s a lovely still day outside. There’s some lovely clouds and the sky is a nice pale blue. I’ve got some tomato plants growing on my windowsill. There absolutely wonderful to watch them grow. They’re growing so fast. You know, they’re growing 10 millimeters each day. How awesome is that? I’ll soon be able to put them out. But my dad was a farmer and he used to say never doubt when May is out and especially here in England. We can get snow in May even, which it doesn’t usually last very long but still it’s enough to kill off the seedlings isn’t it? So, I just wanted to thank everybody who rings in with encouragement and prayer, what’s on their heart, and singing songs. I get ministered to so often. Sometimes it’s just one word and other times it’s just everything that that person was saying. I can see in the…in my mind’s eye and God does something beautiful doesn’t He? I’m sure you guys will experience that too. What a wonderful bloody ministry we have to reach each other and pray for someone else and that knock on effect touches so many in our obedience to love and care and pray for someone. I’m just…I’m just so thankful. I’m thankful to be sat up in the morning again because it’s been a bit tough of late. I was starting to get up a couple mornings a week and that fell by the wayside. Time’s ticking. I’ve been rappiting on, haven’t I? I’m going to send my love. This is God’s Smile here with a big yes.

Hi, it’s Donna from California and just finished Wednesday night Bible study and prayer group and got some very shocking news. A lady at our church, we have a small church, took her life and left behind her husband and her 12-year-old, I think she’s about 12-year-old, her daughter. And I am…I’m just absolutely in shock. I…I can’t even imagine this person doing that. And I know that there’s been prayer requests lately in our community concerning people who have loved ones who’ve taken their lives and people who are maybe pondering that as well as…and I…I just…I…I really don’t know…I…I don’t know what to say about it. I…I pray. Please join me in prayer for this family for this grieving husband and their…their daughter and our church. I didn’t know her that well. I just know that she was a bright, beautiful, vibrant woman with a strong faith. And it’s leaving a void in my heart. So, I can only imagine what it must be for her husband and her daughter. I'm…I’m just so sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t know what kind of pain she must have been in.

[singing starts] Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone I loveth is born of God and knoweth God he loveth not knoweth not God for God is love beloved let us love one another. First John 4:7 and 8 [singing stops]. O, Brian what a wonderful sermon this morning. That is so true. The Kingdom of God is within us. We’ve got to let his love out. We gotta live his love show. Father I just worship you this morning. Bless your people today. Let us show love amongst ourselves and everywhere we go let our light so shine before men that they see our good works and glorify you. O, Yeshua is within us people. Let us love one another. Everyone that we come in contact with is our neighbor. What a wonderful thing this morning Brian. That was so wonderful. It touched my heart so much. Thank You, Father. Thank You Yeshua. Have a wonderful day fellow DABbers. I love you and I pray for all of you everywhere. Yeshua’s mighty name. Amen.

Hey DABbers, all around the world this is Sam from Spain and I’m just so thankful and so grateful for your prayers and walking together through the wonderful stories of the Bible. And I am praising God for all the men that have been praying for their wives who I am joining you in praying for your wives. I think it’s so encouraging, the number of men that ask for prayers for their wives. And thank you. It’s wonderful. Bless each and every one of them and Lord strengthen the spiritual forces of each of those husbands Lord so they can continue loving and interceding for their wives in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Joshua 16:1-18:28, Luke 19:1-27, Psalms 87:1-7, Proverbs 13:11

Today is the 18^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s wonderful to be here with you today as we greet a brand-new shiny sparkly new week. And here we are. We’re at the threshold. And we can just stand here at the threshold. Maybe it was a pretty chaotic week last week. Maybe things spun out of control. Maybe by all indications all that torrent and chaos is gonna to sweep us into this new week, but we’re standing here right now, and we get to make some determinations. We’re not like powerless here. How we approach things, how we live into them, how we seek wisdom, how we seek the Scriptures, this changes the course of this week and hoe it’s gonna play out. And, so, here we stand at the threshold like we always do. Nothing is ruined. Everything is beautiful. It’s the future. It’s not here yet. We’re gonna to live into it moment by moments and step-by-step and we’re gonna continue this rhythm so that the Scriptures are a part of every step that we take, if we’ll slow down and pay attention. So, let’s dive in. This week we’ll read from the New Living Translation continuing our journey through the book of Joshua. Actually, we’ll conclude the book of Joshua before this week is over more toward the end of the week and then we’ll be moving into some…some totally different and new territory in the book of Judges, but that is out there in the future and we are right here. Today Joshua chapters 16, 17, and 18.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and we are so grateful, it is the centerpiece to what we do in rhythm day by day step-by-step, allowing Your word to wash into our lives and transform us by challenging us to repent, to think differently, to walk in a different direction. And, so, we are grateful. And as we move into this brand-new sparkly week that’s in front of us, we submit ourselves to You. We ask, Holy Spirit come and help us to apply what we’ve learned and incorporate it into all of our thoughts and words and deeds. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi family this is Dave the counselor in Florida. I’ve been a listener for many, many years. As a Christian counselor I’m in my office counseling people in crisis a lot. So, I have the Global Campfire coin that I keep in my hand and my pocket because it reminds me that there’s a family around the world that are praying, and I need it. It’s the Holy Spirit that who is the counselor the comforter our strength and our guide. So, for those of those who need counseling you need to call a counselor. This is your encouragement. It is OK to not be OK and it is OK to go call a counselor. But I covet your prayers. It is fierce working here at times where we have marriages on the line, we have young people on the line. There are fierce battles raging as you all know. And, so, my prayer’s specifically for God to raise up more excellent Christian counselors to create space for these counselors to work and He would empower us to tune into the Holy Spirit while we guide folks. Thank you, family for being a praying family. Your prayers are not in vain. Your encouragements are helping people and it helps me. And I just want to end by saying a prayer for you all. Father I thank You for this family for the encouragement of the Daily Audio Bible Global Campfire. It is because of this that I’m able to let my light shine and I’m so eternally grateful. Father, the church is alive and it’s well and Your word is being lifted up and Your people are being lifted up. We love You we thank You. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Have a wonderful day everybody.

Hi neighbors this is Lisa the Encourager. I’m calling in for James the teacher from Los Angeles. I wanted to tell you how much it meant to me when you called in probably about, I don’t know, four…three to four years ago and you prayed for all of our churches, anybody and everybody that put our church on your list you would call in and…and make a…a impactful prayer for all of those churches. So, that really meant a lot to me and I just wanted you to know that God impressed upon my heart to share with you that, James, you have a real purpose in life. And sometimes it may not always look like a human perspective purpose, but Jesus has a purpose for you. And just like you were calling in and praying for those churches, that was an amazing gift that you gave all of us. And, so, you made an impact on all of those churches. So, you have so much to give. So, that’s what God pressed upon my heart to let you know and that to think about your spiritual gift and pleasing God and just put all your efforts in that regard and please God and…and don’t concern yourself as much about pleasing the human nature. And I’m going to pray for you James. Dear God, I just pray for James. I pray that he’ll know how much You love him. You love him enough to press something upon my heart to share with him God. You love him enough to die for him Lord and help him to know…

My name is Tad and I’m suffering from anxiety, fear, and depression. I need a lot of prayer to get me through this. I need God’s help to get me through this. And, so, I’m just asking the DAB family out there, pastor Brian, can you just keep me in your thoughts and your prayers. Try to get me through this. I’m in a dark place right now and it hurts. I love you. Thank you very much. Bye.

Hi this is Simona I’m calling from Southern California and I just want to reach out and you know let everybody know I’m praying for everybody, especially the guy that called in the other day and said how close he’s gotten to God because of this app and how he lost his 13-year-old daughter. And I just want to be an encouragement and ask everybody to lift me up in prayer. I’m 32 years old, a single mother of an 8-year-old. I’m in stage 4 kidney failure. I do dialysis three days a week. I’ve had over 31 surgeries and I just found out I might have the beginning stage of cancer. So, I just ask God to continue to give us His healing, give us His peace, give us His joy because my 8-year-old looked at me today and told me, “mom you can go to heaven because I don’t want you to suffer anymore.” And for him to tell me that it brought tears to my eyes. So, I just want to encourage everybody out there to stay close to God and cling to God because God is all we have. Without God we are nothing. We are nothing. Even in the midst of our affliction God is still God and no matter what we go through even is a child…if a child loses his mother or father, God is God and God will hold us and keep us and keep us close to Him. So, I continue to lift up everybody on this prayer line, everybody that calls in I lift them up in the mighty name of Jesus. Alleluia Lord have Your way with each and every person. Thank you, Brian for this app. Thank you to your wife and your daughter. Everybody that participates and helps make this app possible, I thank you and I lift you up and May God…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family today is April 14^th, 2021. This is Patrick from Seattle and I would ask like to ask for your help with your prayers. My heart is very heavy because my nephew Jeff who isn’t even 40 is a firefighter and at work, he contracted covid more than a year ago. And yet a year later is still experiencing very significant physical and mental issues from the long whole syndrome from the covid. He’s had cognitive decline and significant heart issues, fatigue, a loss of memory, etc. And, so, I’d like to ask for you to join me in prayer for Jeff please. Holy Father our Lord Jesus Christ in Your heavenly name I ask for Your supernatural and miraculous healing from my nephew Jeff. I know You demonstrates that You can heal all things. And as the creator who knit us together in our mother’s womb, I ask You for healing and comfort and relief from this illness to my nephew Jeff so that he can continue serving, serving You and serving the people around him. I ask for You to extend healing not only to him but to his family to his parents who are grieving and worried and to his family around him, his tightly knit family. So, please let Your life-giving water splash down on him and around him and into him and through him and provide healing and recovery and relief from this.

Joshua 15:1-63, Luke 18:18-43, Psalms 86:1-17, Proverbs 13:9-10

Today is the 17^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s always wonderful to be here with you today around the Global Campfire. It’s nice to reach the conclusion of another one of our weeks together. And we’ve been reading from the New English Translation, the NET Bible this week. That’s what we’ll continue to do today. Joshua chapter 15.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us another week through Your word and we are so grateful. We’re…it’s shocking actually, it…it’s amazing how profoundly the Scriptures speak into the issues of our lives. And, so, we are grateful for the gift of Your word and grateful for the gift of community to move through the Scriptures this year together in community. We’re…we’re grateful. We recognize ourselves in the story in the gospel of Luke how the blind man just cries out in Jericho, “have mercy, have mercy on me!” And we hear, “what…what do You want me to do for You?” And we echo the same sentiment. Open our eyes so that we might see that we might see Your kingdom at work in this world. Open the eyes of our hearts lord we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to be a part of what’s going on around here. You can be what’s going on around here.

Check out the Prayer Wall. We can pray for each other there no matter what time of day or night it is We can ask for prayer there.

Check out the resources that are in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. They are…they exist to accompany us on our journey through the Scriptures in a year. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible if…if…if the mission to bring the spoken word of God every day just like we do and gather around this Global Campfire just like we do, if this is life-giving to you than thank you humbly, profoundly 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 encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top, or you can dial 877 942 4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is Consider the Lilies formerly known as Lacy. It’s Friday April 9^th and after listening to the reading today in Luke about Jesus healing the daughter of Abraham that was bent over, I wanted to reach out and ask for prayer. I am bent over and getting ever more so all the time. I’ve told you before I’m elderly and alone in the world and I’m severely arthritic but I’m very bent over and I hate it. And that just really spoke to me. And I’m reaching for the hem of His garment and asking Him to have mercy and straighten me up and heal me and I ask that you’d join me in that prayer in Jesus’ name. Thank you and God bless you.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray with some of the DABbers. I want to pray again…keep…keep the fire going on with my teacher in LA and just let him know that don't…whatever your wife asks you for trust in the Lord. Begin to think of what the Lord has done for you and what the Lord can do for you. Remember what He did for…for…for Abraham just because he was obedient. Just be obedient to Him and listen to His word. I want to also pray for my sister who says that her daughter is struggling with a drug addiction. I…I didn’t…she’s a first-time caller and I wanted to pray for her and her precious daughter and all of our kids who are going through the drug problem, the…the or the heavy…all the strongholds. I want to pray for them. I want to pray for those who are going through in their marriages. That the devil is trying to attack their marriages. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus You have Your way in the name of Jesus. Lord You bless our husbands to become Kingdom men that they can hear from the Lord and know the direction of the Lord. Lord You touch in those marriages. We need more Kingdom men in our marriages. We need more Kingdom single men so we can…we can hear from the Lord. Our nation needs or hear from You Lord. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus You touch our children. Breakdown that stronghold of drugs Lord. Take away…kill the spider Lord and then knock the web down. We need You Lord in the name of Jesus. We need You Lord. We need You. Somebody’s going through. Somebody sick. Somebody’s missing their parents or someone who’s died in their family. Lord we ask You to have Your way. We ask You to strengthen us. We ask You to let them rejoice in the fact but they will get to see him again and know that we all have the appointment with death but that we know that we have the death of…

Hi DAB family this is Will from beautiful Bozeman Mt. I just heard prayer requests for April the 9^th Victoria Soldier you were finishing it up and the spirit of God was moving on you. James the teacher, Troy, your mother. All those people I want to pray for, people or who are facing troubles with their marriage. Father I just join in prayer. You are a good God. You are a merciful God. You are a loving God, yet I know Your heart hurts for the people who are suffering with emotional and depression type pains. I pray God that You bring healing in marriages that are broken. I pray Lord Jesus that You would heal broken bodies that, You would touch Troy’s mother that Lord You would just…You would just fill her up. Renew her mind and her strength Father. Draw her closer to You Lord. Give her a good prognosis Father. I pray Father that…that You would just heal the marriage of the husband who just gave up on God. Turn his heart around. Help Chris to say yes to Your will Lord and no to all the confusion. God clear his heart out. Clear his mind up. God give him strength. Show Yourself to him Lord. Fill him with Your Holy Spirit. Renew him in every way God. Renew their marriage Lord. Renew all marriages, Father. Thank You for this group. Thank You for Your holiness. Thank You for Your holy word and thank You for Your holy will. Thank You so much God for Brian and Jill and thank You again for this ministry. We love You; we praise You; we thank You. You are holy and we praise You and love You Lord. In Your righteous and holy name, I pray. Amen. Thank You, Lord.

Yes, hello hi I’m calling from California and I just love the Daily Audio Bible and I’m just asking for some prayers today for my son in law who’s going to enter a detox program for alcoholism. My poor daughter has been dealing with this man and she loves him, and…and they have four children together. And we just…I just ask for prayers for him to…to accept God in his life and to…and to have the alcohol stop taking control of his life and I just ask for all of you who have suffered with any kind of addiction. I too have and I have four years of sobriety. So, I know that God can and does heal and miracles can happen. And it just pray that…that he gets one and I sure would appreciate all your prayers. Thank you.

Good morning fellow dabbers this is Tamberly. I want to lift up a few of the people in prayer this morning. James the teacher in LA, I want to lift you up and your wife up. Father God I…I pray for James and his wife Lord Jesus that You would give them wisdom and direct their paths during this difficult journey. Father God I pray blessings over their children Father that You would also direct their paths. Lord keep their mind and eyes fixed on You Father God. I pray that each of them, James and his wife both I believe are believers, Father God that they would press into You this time and that through this situation no matter what happens that each of them would draw closer to You and their relationship would be even more solid than it’s ever been. Father God, I also want to lift up Anya…Anya from Slovenia and her sister Barbara. Father God Barbara has experienced the miracle of birth and has give…given birth to a beautiful child Father God. I pray for this time for her that You would make another miracle in this woman’s life Father God that she would be around to take care of this child and nurture this child in You Father Jesus. Father God I just want to pray encouragement over this family and pray peace over this family Father God and just pray abundant health and unmistakable…the unmistakable touch of Your hand on the situation. I also want to lift up the gal that called in today about her brother committing suicide and…or…I’m sorry her son-in-law committing suicide and her daughter wanting to follow suit and talking about the heartache and the aftermath that ensues as a result of this act. Father God I pray for all of those that are struggling with mental illness. Please help them Father. Please Lord come near to the brokenhearted. In Your Son’s name I pray. Amen.

Joshua 13:1-14:15, Luke 18:1-17, Psalms 85:1-13, Proverbs 13:7-8

Today is the 16^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we continue the journey, step-by-step, day by day, moment by moment forward through life and through the Scriptures together. And this week we’ve been reading through the book of Joshua and the conquest, the settled…well…well…the conquest of the promised land and we’re…we’re about to kinda move into the time of settling of the promised land. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Joshua chapters 13 and 14.

Commentary:

Okay. What’s being said in the book of Proverbs today is actually pretty important and pretty profound. So, let’s go back through it real quick. “There is one who pretends to be rich and yet has nothing”, right? So, they’re poor pretending to be rich. “Another pretends to be poor and yet possess is great wealth.” So, this person is pretending to be poor when they are actually rich. “The ransom of a person’s life this is wealth. Thus, the poor person has never heard of threat”, right? So, if you’re…if you’re gonna be kidnapped for ransom as is being indicated here in the Proverbs, that’s the scenario. If you’re gonna be captured or taken, it will be for ransom and if you’re poor you can’t pay. So, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be held for ransom, you don’t have it. But the rich person, they…they would be able to pay the ransom, right? So, there’s basically four scenarios here and only one of them work. So, there could be a poor person who’s not pretending who just is poor and acknowledges that they’re poor. There could be a rich person who’s not pretending anything, they just are wealthy and let it be known. Then there are the scenarios of pretending - being poor while pretending to be rich and being rich while pretending to be poor. The only person in this equation that’s going to have trouble is the one pretending to be rich that has nothing because they could be held for ransom because they’ve been posturing and putting on a false front that they have money, but they don’t so they’re captured, and they have no way out. So, the moral of the story here is actually pretty straightforward and hits us between the eyes because we’re all guilty and we’re all guilty repeatedly. Don’t pretend to be more than you are. That is not only living completely false, it’s a dead end that’s gonna get us into a lot of trouble. Fluffing ourselves up, puffin ourself up, wherever it might be, whether it be in actual life in local community or whether that be posting stuff on the Internet that is false and is presenting something that is not true but rather is providing a very over embellished view of what’s going on sets us up for failure, actually sets us up for ransom that we can’t pay. And, so, let’s take that to heart. We don’t gotta present something that’s not true. We don’t have to present something that’s way bigger than the truth actually is. We’re given permission to be ourselves. And, I don’t know, we can’t get much bigger than a son or daughter of the most-high God. So, let’s rest in that today instead of all of the energy that it takes to keep us…keep up a false front.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. We take heed to the voice of wisdom in our lives today and ask, Holy Spirit reveal to us the ways that we are falsely embellishing our lives. We want to be true and walk the pathway that leads to life. We can’t walk that true path if we’re false. So, come Holy Spirit and show us the areas in our lives that need some work. We pray this in the name of Jesus our Savior, the true one. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it's…it’s the web…it’s the website. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can access all these things as well but just be familiar with what’s going on around here is a good thing as we take this journey.

And, so, be familiar with the Community section. This is where the Prayer Wall is. And the Prayer Wall is something that’s never off, always on. Always we can go there and ask for prayer. Always we can go there and offer prayer. It’s just never off. We can always go there and get our minds off of our own problems and just be with others in their time of need and know that the same thing will happen when we have need. So, be familiar with that. Check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if…if the mission to bring the spoken word of God every day as we do, and to build community around the rhythm, as we do and have been seven days a week now for over 15 years, if that matters, if that brings life to you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, no matter where you are in the world or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning everyone it’s Garfield of Flower Susan from Canada calling and today I want to pray for Inca from Denmark I believe and her brother Soren. Dear Lord Soren needs You. He knows of You, but he’s turned away. Help him dear God to turn back to You and surrender completely and totally for Your will in his life. Lord God, we know You love us more than we can understand. And You want what’s best for us even though we think we know You know better. And I pray Soren will submit to You and Your will out of love and repentance. Dear God bless his life. I don’t know…just bless him dear God with…with a softness of heart to receive You once again and to just submit totally in repentance and love for You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Hi there, I’m calling from Africa. I am a Canadian who is a missionary here to Africa with my husband and our two daughters. My name is Jasmine, and I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible for the past I’d say on and off the past seven years. It’s been a very helpful resourceful tool for me in my walk with Christ. I’m reaching out to you today because if you could please pray with us that God would provide healing for my husband who has been hospitalized. He is contracted covid. And at the same time because his immunity is so compromised, he has developed malaria and a severe case of pneumonia. So, I ask would you please pray with us for restoration for healing, that also we would be protected as we feel very alone and far from any sort of good care. He cannot be air flighted anywhere out of the country. So, we are staying within the country for now. Please be praying for us for my daughters, Faith and Grace and for my husband Dennis. Thank you.

Please pray for my soul. I’m so far away from being useful to anybody for anything. I need help.

Hi this is Bonova I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible for about two years. I’m calling in as my sister has been detected with covid. I would request you to pray for her. Her name is Rachel. My name is Bonova. This is the very first time that I’m calling. I’ve been a regular listener and I get a lot of encouragement from Daily Audio Bible. Thank you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community from beautiful Cincinnati OH this is your brother Daniel Johnson junior. I’m out here walking again. It’s a beautiful spring morning Monday April the 12^th 2021 or as we like to say these times around 2021. It’s my birthday week. This coming Friday April the 16^th is my birthday and I’m so fired up to be completing another trip around the sun. God has been so good over this past year. As we…hang on a second…let’s throw another log on the on the camp…on the Global Campfire and let’s pray. Father Lord Jesus Holy Spirit we come to You, holy victorious trinity today against shame. So many of Your people, so many people in this world are being oppressed by the enemy with shame. I mean…and we know, and we come to understand that there's…guilt is one thing when we have done wrong but this feeling of actually being wrong, being unworthy we come against that now in the name of Jesus Christ and we declare, and we break every agreement with shame right now. The shame…the shame of being too…too ashamed to let others into our burdens, that we’re too ashamed to let others in know, You know, about deep embarrassing issues, You know, the embarrassment that we have about these things. We just want to let it go God. Jesus, You came to set the captives free. And You…so set us free from all of the shame. We claim this now in Your name. Amen. From beautiful Cincinnati OH this is Daniel Johnson junior God love you. I love you. Let’s make it a great day.

Joshua 11:1-12:24, Luke 17:11-37, Psalms 84:1-12, Proverbs 13:5-6

Today is April 15^th welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s great to be here with you. I guess this would be the dead center of this fourth month of the year. Great to be here with you in the middle of it all. Ready to take the next step forward that will…that…well…will tip us into the downside of the month and we’ll be in the back half. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Joshua chapters 11 and 12 today.

Commentary.

Alright. So, in the gospel of Luke today we encountered a couple of…of different stories, one in which Jesus explains some very profound things about the kingdom of God. But before we got into that there was a story of 10 men with leprosy who were crying out to Jesus and He tells them to go show themselves to the priest. And on the way they realize that their clean. And, so, they continue on to show themselves to the priest except for one of them. Nine of them continued onto the priest and one of them returned and fell down before Jesus to thank him. That right there is enough. Like that right there gives us plenty to consider about gratefulness and how often…how often the Lord rescues us, and we just keep moving on, like it’s owed to us or something. We just keep moving on with a quick thank you, whereas this person returns to Jesus from being declared well. He returns to Jesus and falls before Him to give him gratitude. That’s quite a different posture than we carry within ourselves most of the time because God rescues us every day in one way or another if we’re paying attention. But there’s a very intriguing feature in this story. He…so…so, this one guy comes back and then I quote from the Bible, “he fell with his face to the ground at Jesus feet and thanked him. Now, he was a Samaritan.” Every year at one point or another…I mean…we find Samaritans showing up in different gospel stories. Like Jesus with the woman at the well. She’s a Samaritan. Or the story of a man walking to Jericho from Jerusalem who gets ambushed and beaten up and stripped of his clothes and left for dead and then a priest walks by and the other side, and a…a…a scribe walks by on the other side of the road and then a Samaritan comes along and takes care of this person and pays his medical bills. Or in the story we’re reading right now, the one that returns to Jesus cleansed from leprosy happens to be a Samaritan. What’s being communicated here is also quite profound. For a Samaritan to be a hero of a story, that’s very very countercultural and unusual in the culture of Jesus time among the Hebrew people. Or for a Samaritan to be the one out of the 10 people who were healed come back, that's…that’s social commentary. We just kind of blow by it, like their the Jebusites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Samaritans, like they’re just other people, but it has no specific resonance with us a lot of the time. So, who are the Samaritans? Why are they not liked very well? Why are they sort of considered outsiders or different, not accepted by Hebrew people? The truth is that we will learn that story, like we’ll learn that story as we continue reading through the Bible, but that story won’t begin to actually materialize and make sense until we get to the era of the Kings of Israel. But the time at which we find Samaritans in stories that have meaning, we find those in the Gospels with Jesus ministry. So, kinda gotta tell the story. The story we’re gonna read, but a story that will help us remember when we do read it.

So, right now we have just…like we’re in the book of Joshua. So, we’ve crossed the Jordan River and all of the people of the lands are attacking Israel left and right and building coalitions and just trying to push them back across the Jordan River. They just keep winning. And, so, now they have defeated the land and we will continue to watch them settle the land and then there will be a period after this once things are settled that we will enter a time known as the time of the judges and we will read about the judges and that is a time of kind of decline. And we’ll watch all that, we’ll see all this happen. And then the people decide they want a King. This is not what God wants. He is their king. He is their portion, God in the midst of them all. But they still want a king and they’re…they’re adamant about it, right? And, so, they get a king, his name is Saul. We’re gonna learn a lot about ourselves with Saul. Then another king arises, his name is David. We’ll find all kinds of interaction between Saul and David and David becoming King. And there’s all kinds of stuff for us to learn about ourselves there too. David then has a son. His name is Solomon. Solomon, king Solomon brings Israel…the Israel…the ancient Israel that we’re reading about in the Scriptures, he brings them to the apex of their civilization where they look like the chosen people in the promised land. It looks like that for a brief moment but then Solomon dies, and he has a son in his name is Rehoboam. Rehoboam essentially promises to be much more difficult of a king, much harder with much more requirements on the people than his father had been. So, 10 of the tribes, right? We’re traveling along with the 12 tribes of Israel. 10 of the tribes rebel against King Rehoboam and abandon king Rehoboam declaring their own king and their own king’s name will be Jeroboam. Jeroboam will lead those 10 northern tribes into idolatry. We’ll see all that unfold before our eyes. But that is a split in the kingdom. And, so, the northern 10 tribes that abandon Rehoboam they become known as the kingdom of Israel, whereas the tribes including the city of Jerusalem, this is the kingdom of Judah. So, this one people who are brothers and sisters, like literally family, divide themselves into two different nations. In the north King Jeroboam leads the people into idolatry. It’s sort of a hybrid. They have a lot of the same Hebrew customs. They believe in the God that saved them from Egypt. It just looks more like a golden calf then. And they would call it Yahweh. And it’s just have kind of like a real hybrid sort of messed up mingling of traditions. So, the people in the South in the kingdom of Judah. They have Jerusalem. They have all of the clergy, right, the Sanhedrin there and God’s temple in Jerusalem. And, so, they look at what’s going on in the north as apostasy or heresy, like they’re not worshiping God correctly. And, so, they begin to kinda look down upon them. Eventually a capital city to rival Jerusalem is made in the northern kingdom and the capital city to rival Jerusalem was known as Samaria, which is now where we begin to find the word Samaritan. But what happens as will see from the narrative in the Bible, what happens is that the Assyrian Empire eventually invades and is successful at conquering the northern kingdom of Israel. So, the Assyrian Empire defeats those 10 tribes. And as was the case in empire building at that time the people were deported. They were taken into exile. They were moved into another part of the Empire, another conquered part of the Empire. They were moved into live in in a new part of the Empire and the emptied out land of the northern kingdom of Israel was repopulated with other conquered people. So, they’re just moving people around so that as the generations pass, people forget what was their ancestral homeland and they just become people of the Empire, Assyrians, they’re just assimilated. That’s actually what happens with the 10 northern tribes. After they’re conquered, they disappear. They are never cohesive tribes ever again. They have never been cohesive tribes ever again. They were assimilated into the Assyrian Empire and then began to just disappear, just as disappear into the people. Okay. So, the northern tribes have been moved out, new people have been moved in, there’s a remnant of old northern tribes then still in the land and it’s all mixed up, and finally they send to the Empire and say, “you gotta send a priest or something to this land. We don’t know how to worship the gods of the land. And, so, we keep getting eaten up by animals. And, so, a priest of God comes back to the northern kingdom, and now there’s all of these new people who worship all of these different gods and being taught how to worship Yahweh. But the’re being taught how to worship Yahweh in a way that was considered a perverted way in the first place. And the capital city is Samaria, and so you have Samaritans, Samaritans who are trying to worship the one true God but have very, very different ways of doing it and very different customs then people in Jerusalem. And, so, they’re kind of looked down on. They’re not really worshipers of God. So, like they’re looked down on religiously but they’re also a mixed people, not God’s chosen pure people. So, they just live in this land. And, so, they’re considered untrustworthy, maybe dirty, maybe lazy, the kinds of stereotypes that you see being attached to people around the world who are being systematically marginalized and looked down upon. So, for these people who are looked at in this way to show up in the Gospels as respectable, upstanding…like people who end up doing the things that weren’t done. For example, the priest in the story of the man who was beaten on the side of the road, right? He’s the clergy and he didn’t help, or the scribe didn’t help. And there’s ways to explain this. Like, Jewish custom is they thought he was dead, and you shouldn’t touch a dead body, or you become unclean. And, so, of course they moved to the other side of the road. That’s not really the point in Jesus’ story. Like He doesn't…He doesn’t give them that out. He just says they move aside on the other side of the road and then…then the Samaritan comes along and pays the guy’s medical bills and nurses him back to health. For that to be happening is a bit of social commentary about who it is we’re looking down on and why we might be looking down on them. So, there’s plenty there that still…like, there’s plenty there to apply to our lives in the modern world. We leave that story, and the Pharisees ask Jesus specifically when the kingdom of God is coming. And who doesn’t want the answer to that question right? We would like the answer to that question ourselves, right? When is that gonna happen? And that’s where this really disruptive answer comes in that is like a bombshell, like a mic drop. Like it should be disruptive until this very day. It should…I mean the implications are huge. Jesus’ answer to the question, “when is the kingdom of God coming” is this, and I quote Jesus, “the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed nor will they say look, here it is or there. For indeed the kingdom of God is in your midst.” In other words, this kingdom you are waiting for, this one that you’re looking for a Messiah to come and lead you into with a military overthrow of the Roman Empire, they’re going to push the Romans into the sea and take this land back over, this idea that that’s what’s going to happen in order to reestablish the kingdom of God, that’s not gonna happen. The kingdom of God is already happening. So, this is in the Bible. So, we can go read this every day but functionally this is rarely how we see things. Usually we are looking through the same type of lens that the ancient Hebrew people were looking at when they were considering whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. They’re looking for something in particular. So, we…we are looking for something in particular that is very similar to what they were looking for. We want Jesus to come and invade the earth beat up the bad guys and throw the evil out and establish the kingdom of God, when what Jesus is saying is it’s already underway. Are you not seeing this? Are you not hearing this? It’s already happening. You’re invited to participate. That changes the dynamic considerably from a person waiting for something to happen to a person participating in what is already happening. That would…I mean…if we’re waiting for…waiting for Jesus to do whatever Jesus is going to do and we just wait our whole lives then didn’t we miss participating in what He was doing? And that’s the kind of clarion call here. We’re…we’re not waiting to get busy the harvest is already ripe. The laborers are few. And then the disciples, they…they ask at the end of this discourse, they ask Jesus, “like, where is this gonna happen? Like, essentially, like how can we know this? Where is this gonna be?” And then Jesus says something really interesting, “where the dead body is there the vultures will gather.” In other words, you could see the signs if you were looking for them. You would be able to…like in this case, you’ll be able to smell it. So, that’s interesting because that’s another sense. We see Jesus talking about eyes to see and ears to hear. And now “where where the dead body is there the vultures will gather.” Like you can you can see the signs or maybe…maybe a better way to say it is you can sense what’s going on if you’re paying attention, if that is what you want to see or hear, if that is what you are looking for. If you seek you will find. How much of today would change if we understood that the kingdom is underway? It is within us it is among us all. All we need is eyes to see and ears to hear. How would that change our lives if we stopped waiting for something to happen and understood that it is happening. And we can sense what’s happening when we look for the movement of love in this world because God is love. And Jesus told us we will be known by our love. This is what we need eyes to see and ears to hear and a nose to smell. This is what we need to sense. This is where the kingdom is at work. So, all of the divisiveness that’s all over the place, all the fighting and rhetoric that has just permeated societies for…well…definitely for the last few years, but it’s always been going on, but it seems like things have amped up several notches. All of that. We keep looking for the kingdom in those things, and it can’t be found there. That’s not eyes to see or ears to hear. That’s the wrong fight. The true battle is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as if they were us as ourselves.

Prayer:

Jesus, there’s plenty here…plenty of context here, plenty to consider here, plenty to examine here about our own lives and postures and motivations and what it is our expectations are. So, we invite Your Holy Spirit to reprioritize and continue to transform and rearrange us that our lives align with what You’re doing in this world. And we can know…we don’t have to be confused about that. We have to simply be open to love and forgiveness and patience and kindness and all of the fruits of the spirit. These things, beginning to blossom and bloom in our lives create a harvest so that our lives…we’re not confused about what we’re doing. We know exactly what we’re doing. We’re revealing Your kingdom through our love as we become living sacrifices and allow Your life to touch this world through us. Come Holy Spirit. Help us to realize what an invitation this is. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and its where you find out what’s going on around here. The other place that’s home base that’s equivalent would be the Daily Audio Bible app. You can access all these things from within the app as well.

So, be familiar with the Community section of either one. They go to the same place. This is where the Prayer Wall is. This is where to get connected on social media.

But also, be familiar with the Daily Audio Bible Shop. This is where resources are, whether they be written resources to take this journey deeper on specific topics or well they’re just fun things that we keep around to remind us that we’re going through the Bible together in community. And, so, check…check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well and I thank you profoundly and with all humility, thank you for your partnership. We couldn't…we couldn’t be here if we were not here together doing this together. And, so, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If using the asp you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you are the world or you can just hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top and share from there no matter where you are in the world. But If you prefer to use the telephone than in the Americas, you can dial 877-942-4253. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 or if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, my name is Alec and I’m in Fort Worth TX. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for many years. I’ve never called in even though I listen to the prayers and…and pray for as many people as I can. And you guys are such a close family to me even…even though I’ve never spoken with you guys. I’m calling in today with a very special prayer request. My wife has been…my wife Jessie has been battling cancer for two years and we are to where the doctors have run out of treatment options and…and…and don’t give us a good prognosis. And…and…so…so, we need supernatural healing for my sweet wife. She is just an amazing lady. She’s an amazing servant of the Lord. She always underestimates how much she understands but her heart knows of God and just absolutely loves people. And I just…I pray that the Lord will have mercy and hear our request to let her stay here for a longer period of time. We just celebrated our 39^th anniversary and our 40^th since our first date. And I’d like to be able to spend many more years loving my wife and just being able to…to have her with our grandkids and…and helping them develop in the Lord. So, please pray for Jesse. Please ask for…ask for Him to…to reconsider His wishes. Thank you, guys for listening. Thank you, guys for praying. God bless you all.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible my name is Tyrone I’m just asking prayer for my wife. My wife is not a believer and it’s been a struggle just to share witness. She’s attended churches and heard the word and really, she’s just a little confused when it comes to salvation. I’m just asking for your prayer that my wife be saved, my wife can allow the Holy Spirit to speak to her heart and allow her to be able to accept the good news, the best news. Just asking you guys to pray for that and…and for my marriage. I know at times it gets trying where sometimes I just want to give up. But I just pray that you just pray for unity and for us to keep strong regardless of what circumstances or feelings we have. Just be in agreement with me, with my marriage, that it’ll flourish and that our testimony would touch many other lives out here all across the United states and the world. Thank you.

Hey everyone, this is Nobody Gets Left Behind in Colorado. Just wanted to pray for our brother James in Fort Worth. Today is Saturday the 10^th of April. I just heard your…I heard your message about your daughter Ryan who passed away in January of 2020. This was just such a touching story and I want you to know that I’m praying for you and it’s so beautiful to see the beauty that’s made from the ashes. So, thank you for sharing that story. I did just want to speak a little bit about what’s been heavy on my heart lately. And it’s been my mom and she’s 65 years old and she OD’d last week. It broke my heart. I had so much hope for her and she was just very hard to deal with and here comes God to rescue the day and to save the day and I get to take my dad out of the nursing home this weekend and he’s always wanted to go to Royal Gorge so we…God made the opportunity for us to take him to Royal Gorge this weekend. So, I’m just overwhelmed with God’s love for us and how He makes really good things from bad things. And…I just…I wanted to share that and tell everybody I love you guys and I pray for you and I hear you and I’m just so thankful to be part of this Global Campfire.

Hi this is Paul from Ohio and every day almost I decide before I listen that I’m gonna call and keep praying for a Christian partner in my life, a wife who I can love like Christ loved the church and a path and a purpose. I’m 61 years old and still looking for God’s purpose for me. He’s given me so many gifts. I want to use them for Him. But then I always hear another prayer request or another praise request that changes my trajectory. I can’t remember his name but this morning I heard a prayer, I heard a testimony that affected me deeply. A man who lost his child years ago to asthma and is thanking God because without her…her loss he would not be as close with God as he is now. He knows…knows not thinks or believes…he knows that she is with the Lord. I want that kind of faith. I want to feel that peace, joy, security, courage. I want that. Everything else will come, I know it. I seek the faith of that man for having that type of outlook on life despite the fact that his daughter is no longer with him. Anyway, every time I start, and I have a direction that direction seems to be changed.

Hi, DAB I’m Allison I’m coming in on the 11^th of April after listening to DAB. I’m from Somerset in England and I work for a mental health charity in the UK. I work on a…a missional support helpline. I wanted to ask prayer or give prayer for some of the people that are struggling with their mental health tonight. Lord You know who they are, You know their needs and their problems. I’m so…I’m so honored Lord as I know…I know You’ve helped me with my own struggles. And if it were not for You Jesus I would not be here today. Jesus as You’ve helped me and continue to do so may You also help people who need You in their life struggle and their suffering and their day-to-day situations. They may not know You yet but I’m praying You can soon be part of their solution to gain an understanding of what may help. Give them some hope and light Lord. Thank you, Brian so much for the opportunity to ask the DAB family for prayer. I have gained so much in my spirituality and walk with Jesus that I feel more confident in prayer now and I’m more able to appreciate my faith more. I’m stronger in the knowledge, in my knowledge. I don’t have to face struggles alone. I love you DAB family. Love you lots. Thank you so much. Thank You Lord. Thank You for giving this to me. Bye.

Joshua 9:3-10:43, Luke 16:19-17:10, Psalms 83:1-18, Proverbs 13:4

Today is the 14^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we continue our journey forward into the beautiful springtime. Of course, I know we are all over the world. So, those of you in the southern…southern hemisphere are experiencing autumn coming on. How weird is that? But whether it is a springtime fire or a autumn…an autumn fire it’s a Global Campfire that we are around and we can come around it no matter where we are. And, so, let’s dive in and take the next step forward. We’re in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. There have been two cities in the promised land that have been conquered. The rest of the land is not conquered. The people of Israel are in the land and everyone that is there is freaking out. And we left the story yesterday with the kings of the region trying to form an alliance and band together all of their armies to come against Israel and…yeah…push them back out of the land. So, we’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Joshua chapter 9 verse 3 through 10 verse 43.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we pass through the middle of our work week, we could talk about our work habits. Straight out of the Proverbs today, “the appetite of the sluggard craves but gets nothing.” So, a sluggard is…is…is laziness, the kind of unmotivated, right? Kind of like I just can’t get myself going, I’m just gonna sit here and watch some more TV or whatever, can’t really get it going. So, that person still craves accomplishment or achievement or whatever. A person that has a craving to see something achieved or that they would like to do. Like you can be a sluggard and still be a dreamer, but the dream won’t be achieved. You can crave by the appetite of the sluggard craves but gets nothing. “The desire”, this is how the proverb ends, “the desire of the diligent will be abundantly satisfied.” In other words, the one who this craving, this desire to achieve or to accomplish or to do something, if they will be diligent step-by-step day by day, they will be abundantly satisfied. I could say what we’re doing here moving through the Scriptures is a is a good example of that. If we show up every day, day by day step-by-step and we are diligent we will achieve what we set out to do, which was move through a year of life together in the Scriptures as a community. If we’re diligent we will be abundantly satisfied in achieving that goal. Or we can be like many who have a craving, a desire to read the Bible, to see what actually is in the Bible, what it actually says, but don’t really get past a couple of days in this area. Then the appetite of the sluggard craves but gets nothing. So, what can we say then? We can say that you can desire or crave all you like. If you’re not willing to motivate yourself and be diligent it will never be anything but a craving or a desire. But if you are willing to be diligent you will be abundantly satisfied.

Prayer:

Father we take that to heart. It goes to our motives. It goes to our motivation and sometimes we have to take control over that. Sometimes we have to tell ourselves using self-discipline that You are getting up off the couch right now and You are going to be diligent in taking the next step forward toward what it is You desire. Help our desires to line up with Your will for our lives and help us Holy Spirit to be motivated, that we not be weary in well doing, but that we not be a sluggard when we need to be doing. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s the websites, that’s where you find out what’s going on around here and how to get connected and stay connected.

And resources that are available for the journey we are on. So, the resources can be found in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

And getting connected and staying connected can be found in the Community section of the website where the Prayer Wall lives. So, certainly, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if the mission that is the Global Campfire, the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and released out into the world for anyone who will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to build community around that rhythm, the day by day step-by-step journey that we are on together so that we know we’re not alone, not…not…not on our journey through the Bible and not in life. We’re not alone. You have brothers and sisters all over the world going through all the same kinds of things that we go through. And that makes a big difference, to know that there are people out there that care and that are facing it just like we are. So, if that brings life and light and hope and good news into…into your world than thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Brian, hi DAB family this is Emily in Seattle I haven’t touched back in a while, but I have a prayer request. And I’m usually pretty shy about needing those but I’ve got one now. My dad is 94 God love him and he’s not doing too good. So, if you could pray for him, I’d appreciate it. Then pray for my brother Mike, I’ve mentioned him before. He’s pretty sad because he’s not close to Jesus like we are. And he’s pretty sad because he thinks when someone dies that they end up __. I think everyone in my family’s saved but it’s just me and my husband who are close to Jesus. And, so, that’s kind of a bummer but pray for everlasting life for my family, salvation for those who don’t have salvation yet and that this will be a blessing and not a curse. And I guess that’s it. I’m losing it here. So, __ my mom Roberta, my dad Charlie, my brother Mike, and me of course too. Praise God. Bye.

Hi __ this is __Selena I’ve been recently been all over the Prayer Wall and I’m going to continue to be all over the Prayer Wall. I’m praying for you guys and just lifting you all up to the Lord. In my case my boyfriend left me for another woman, and I’ve just been going through it. But in all of that the Lord has completely freed me of sin. It’s just a really hard time. But I am sleeping at night. There’s one positive and I’m learning about laying it down for the Lord, laying my sorrows down. So, if I could just please have prayer just for joy, for quick healing. I just want to be back to normal but in God’s time. I thank you all and I love you all very much. I’m always praying every day. I put down my social media I put down my Xbox I put down…I’m throwing away the wolves and just taking God and you and I want to hear all of your prayers, requests. In…in your sorrow please know I am behind the scenes fighting for you in the name of God. I love you guys. Bye.

Yes…I know a boy…I don’t really know him. His name is Titus, and he is dying and he’s 7 and I would like to pray for him. Dear Jesus, __ I pray that you will make it not so scary to Titus that he’s dying and make his family not so sad. And in Your name. Amen.

James the Teacher in LA I was so glad to hear your voice after such a long time but I’m really sad that your wife is asking for a divorce. James, I’ll be praying for you. I pray that the Lord turn her heart around and even as you’re going through this difficulty remember how years ago you prayed, you trusted God for a child and God provided that child. And you’ve even prayed for your students and you saw how God worked in the life of your students. James, I want you to just take a moment and think back of God’s goodness to you in those past years. And as you go through this struggle be encouraged that He’s able to do above all that you could ask and could desire. If you need to get counseling with your wife, I would suggest you get some counseling with her and the two of you together with God worked this out. I’m praying for you and I’m trusting God on your behalf. Just continue…continue to trust Him and see Him work mightily in this situation. Just praise God for you in Jesus’ name. Randolph from Toronto.

Hi DAB family my name is Ashley and I’m from California and I want to share a little of encouragement. So, first I just want to read you Psalm 13 verses 5 through 6. But I trust in Your unfailing love. I will rejoice because You have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because He is good to me. I want to share that this is a special time in my life, this time of year, because I remember God’s goodness. He changed my life in a matter of a week, and He led me down the path of a new career and revealed that I was pregnant with my son and He took away people that I thought were supposed to be in my life. But He saved me. He rescued me and I constantly thank Him for that, and I just want to encourage anybody out there who may be going through a hard time and it may be confusing. I even have to preach this to myself, but I just want you to know that in the midst of chaos, in the midst of suffering God is doing a work no matter how you’re feeling…how you’re feeling He is working. He is working. He loves us. He has a plan, and His ways are better than our ways. And He will always provide and always take care of you. So, if you’re having a hard time right now, I just want to let you know. I love you DAB family and Brian and China and Jill and…and the whole family I’m so grateful for you. So, I have a blessed rest of your day. Today is April 9^th 2021. Take care everybody.

Joshua 7:16-9:2, Luke 16:1-18, Psalms 82:1-8, Proverbs 13:2-3

Today is the 13^th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we continue to move forward. In the Old Testament we are moving our way through the book of Joshua now. So. we’ve finished the Torah or the Pentateuch, and we are reading the story that comes next as the children of Israel cross the Jordan into the promised land and the walls of Jericho have fallen. The next city that was to be conquered was called Ai, but the children of Israel ran away from the people of Ai in defeat. And, so, now it’s been determined that somebody that took things from Jericho that were supposed to not be taken, that were supposed to simply be devoted to destruction. And, so, all of that is getting sorted out. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Joshua chapter 7 verse 16 through 9 verse 2.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the Old Testament today in the book of Joshua it is discovered that this man Aiken has taken treasure, has pillaged in some way the ruins at Jericho and hidden them. And this has caused the Israelites to be defeated in battle, in the next battle with Ai. And, so, all of the discovery is done, right? All of the investigation is done and it’s learned that Aiken is the one guilty for this and they find stuff buried in his tent and then all…all of…everything that has anything to do with Aiken then is destroyed. Then the children of Israel take the Army and go against Ai and defeat Ai. So, the second city is defeated in the conquest of the promised land. So, Ai was the little village and it…it’s ruins still do exist, at least as archaeologically identified. I’ve been to that place. It’s in what we know as the West Bank near Bethel just like the Bible says. It’s…it’s like the site of it…it’s like in a couple people’s backyards in kind is sort of sort of kind of like a neighborhood near…near main road. And, so, we’ve been able to speak to the archaeologists there and film a little bit there. There’s not a whole lot to be able to see that site. It’s sort of like a village up on a hill where this happened. But we could be like, “man, that’s pretty harsh, a harsh way to deal with Aiken. First conquest, all of this stuff going on.” And, so, we can scratch our heads and go like, “that's…that’s a pretty severe punishment.” But if we’re wondering about that or maybe we’re wondering, why the severity and what those implications might be, really, we kind of find them in the gospel of Luke coming out of the lips of Jesus as He concludes a parable. “No one, no servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Okay. So, in the incident with Aiken, this is the first battle for the promised land. And if we pause just for a second and remember what it took to get to the promised land, like a whole generation wandering in the wilderness, like all of the plagues, freeing the people from slavery in Egypt, like all of that. Most of the time that we have been together this year in the Scriptures in the Torah we have been moving toward this place and it took an awful lot to get there. And, so, disobedience and rebellion are going to be introduced with the very first act? Well, that would undo…that would undo the whole thing. That would set a precedence. And, so, essentially a counter precedent was set, because as we saw the giving of the law what is one of the most important things for the people to remember? That there is one God and only one God, that there is no other, and that to disobey God, or to chase after another God is breaking the covenant. So, to the rebel or disobey against God or chase other gods in any form is idolatry and a breaking of the covenant. The children of Israel can hardly get across the Jordan River before we see this begin. And, so, that gives us just a little bit of a context for Aiken and a little bit of understanding from Jesus. And the thing is this is always gonna be a problem for them. This kind of stuff is going to plague the children of Israel. And…and really modify and diminish some of the mission. But we’ll watch that unfold as we continue the journey, not just to the conquest of the…of the promised land, not just like through the book of Joshua but through their entire history. We will…we will see that they are indeed what God called a stiff-necked people, right? Stubborn. But are we any less stiff-necked? That’s a fair question as we move forward. And the stories as we move forward will serve as a mirror to answer that question.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us here. We are grateful. We love You. We revere You. We thank You for Your word and for all that it is bringing into our lives, all that we are learning, all that is being reconstructed in us, all that is being transformed and renovated. May we stay open to Your work we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s happening around these parts.

If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can access pretty much all of these things from there as well. There’s a Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app screen and that opens up a drawer and in there you’ll find these things like the community section, whether on the app or on the web and that’s where the Prayer Wall lives that we talk about often because we are a community that…well…one of the things that binds us together because we’re all over the world, literally really really far away from each other physically. is that we’re in it together in spirit through prayer and just through being in each other’s lives as we take this journey through the Scriptures. So, be familiar with the Prayer Wall. That’s in the Community section of the website or in the app.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage. If it’s the app that you’re using, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is Alan in New Milford CT. I would like to lift up my brother who called in on April the 8^th whose family is suffering from covid virus. You have so many of your family members that you had mentioned my brother and you sounded so beaten, so desperate, so hurt. I can understand as a father how frustrating it must be to care for a family and trying to deal with a disease for which you have no power over. So, I want to join the many thousands and thousands of my brothers and sisters who are gonna pray for you in the next few days. Our dear heavenly Father we thank You for Your great grace and that Your hand can wrap around this world and touch families and loved ones wherever they may be. Father we take authority over this covid virus that has ravished this man’s family and we curse it to its roots. And Father we stand on Your word. There are so many wonderful scriptures that regard healing and it’s by Jesus stripes…stripes he bore upon his back by which we are healed. And Your word tells us I am the Lord thy God who healeth thee. Father we stand on Your word. We just ask You to be merciful and gracious. And God where there may not be adequate medical help for them, we know that You are the chief physician. And, so, we look to You oh God to spare this man’s family and encourage him and strengthen him and God give him hope. Father we all need hope in this time in this day. There’s things going far beyond our own strength to do end to deal with. But God, we thank You that You are a gracious and merciful God. And, so, we bind together and thank You Father in Jesus name. Amen.

Hello DAB family my name is Matthew from the UK. Today is the 8^th of April 2021. Let us pray. Father in the name of Jesus I come before you on behalf of my brothers and sisters at the Daily Audio Bible. I come on behalf…I come before you on behalf of Brian and his family. Lord bless them, protect them, and continue to encourage them to continue to deliver the Daily Audio Bible to the entire world. Father, I lift up every member of the Daily Audio family that is calling out to You now for one submission or the other. Father, those who are grieving, those are in pain. My Lord and my God, I commit them to You that Lord that You shine Your face towards them oh God and grant them the desires of their soul. Father, particularly today I lift up Carlos Vallecula from Brooklyn to You whose family have been afflicted with covid. Father You Lord who delivered me from covid You will deliver Carlos and his family from covid. Carlos do not be afraid for the Lord your God is with you. He said He has not given you the spirit of fear but the spirit of power of love and of sound mind. Everyone who came to Jesus received healing, therefore I do clear healings and the name of Jesus to your family. Be strong in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.

Hi this is Radiant Rachel and I have a prayer request for my niece Kaylee who some of you might remember has called in and sang some prayers before. She is struggling with a fear of feeling food in her throat. She was choking…well not exactly joking…it was in her esophagus and not her windpipe about a month ago and she’s been taking some steps of progress and eating things like pizza and sandwiches and then she goes back to not wanting to have any solid food. And also, you know, not feeling comfortable with feeling even like cold go down her throat, like cold liquid. So, just please keep her in your prayers as she goes through the healing process of getting comfortable with feeling food in her throat again. And we just Lord we lift Kaylee up to You today. We just pray that she will have no more fear and that she will be able to eat and enjoy food like a regular little 7-year-old. And I just pray that she will be able to use this experience in the future to help someone else who might need some comforting. And we just thank You for healing her and thank You for giving her the nourishment that she needs to grow and develop and thrive in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning DAB family today is April 7^th, 2021 and I just want to thank Brian and Jill and the Hardin family for this podcast and the countdown begins for baby China to arrive. And I also want to pray for Emily, and I think her name is Kayla and some of the other DABbers, Victoria Soldier. You guys are heavily in my prayers, even some of you that I can’t remember your names, but God knows your names. And I would also like to ask for prayers for my family, my household. Our house almost caught on fire due to the circuit box being so hot. It burnt. A lot of our things…our stuff that were plugged into the socket and we’re having a hard time getting the insurance to cover those things that we lost. They’re asking for so much but we’re just trying to stay positive and get everything that they want. So, this is __ from Mississippi. Just please keep us lifted up in prayer as well. And thank you so much. Have a blessed day everybody.

My name is Terrell calling from Missouri. I’m really going through it right now. I’m going through a divorce with my wife having to move out of the house pretty soon. We’ve been through it for the last six years and I’m just…I’m ready to do something better within our marriage. I really don’t want to lose my family. I don’t wanna lose my wife. Coming off of Easter this past Sunday, I’m hoping and been praying for a resurrection in my marriage. I want to see a revitalization…revitalizing…I want to revitalize everything that’s going on and just make it all brand new. We’ve hurt each other in the past, nothing physical, but we just want to…I want to move past everything that’s been wrong. I’ve learned so much over the last few years and I just want to be able to apply it to my marriage and do right by my wife and kids. I’m praying to be able to get her back, get my family back and just work through this in a way that God’s called me to be. Thank you.