Category: DAB Transcripts

Daniel 4:1-37, 2 Peter 1:1-21, Psalms 119:97-112, Proverbs 28:17-18

Today’s the 27^th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here like I tell you every day because I’m telling you the truth. Every day it’s wonderful, wonderful to come and take a place at the Global Campfire and be together and take the next step forward. And there are some days that just being able to come here and take the next step forward and saying I’m not not doing that, I’ve never not, I’ve never stopped doing that. That is the one thing I will do every day that makes a difference. So, it is a joy. It’s wonderful to be here with you today. And we are continuing our journey to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. When we get to the New Testament today, we will begin another letter, second Peter. We concluded first Peter yesterday and just a heads up, like I now it’s the day after Thanksgiving here and this is Black Friday and this is traditionally like the beginning of the holiday season and things just kinda ramp up and get at warp speed by the time it’s over. As we continue and push toward the end of the Bible the Bible’s gonna kind of do that too and we’re going to be moving through a number of smaller writings, not just in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament as well. And, so, we’re gonna be changing books often throughout the rest of this year. But we’ll talk about them like we’ve talked about everything else and we’ll talk about second Peter when we get to second Peter. But first we need to read from the book of Daniel. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Daniel chapter 4. And we will remember that we had the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace yesterday. And, so, as we move into the territory today, we begin reading a letter from King Nebuchadnezzar.

Introduction to Second Peter:

Okay. So, we find ourselves at the…at the threshold of the New Testament reading for today, which as I said at the beginning brings us into some new territory, what is thought to be the final writing of the apostle Peter as he’s elderly and…and execution is before him, but it’s worth noting…and I mean the Bible…there’s not a book that every word hasn’t been poured over for thousands of years. And, so, like many other portions of Scripture whether or not this is the apostle Peter’s writing or not has been questioned and that dates well back into antiquity. It’s actually, that this letter became accepted as an authentic letter of Peter over time. And by the time we reach the fourth century then this letter…this letter had found its place in the canon of the New Testament. But even still today the things that were suspect, if you want to call it that, in antiquity have carried forward. And scholars today observed that there is a vast difference stylistically between first and second Peter. And, so, on the one hand, those defending the authorship of Peter would say that the stylistic differences arise because Peter more than likely was illiterate and was dictating his letters to a secretary, to someone who wrote them down. And it just happens that one person wrote down what Peter dictated in first Peter and a different person wrote down what Peter dictated in…in second Peter. Then, on the flipside of that, there would be other scholars that would argue against that theory put forth other theories about what could be. And all in all, we kind of come to a similar place that we would…we would with the book of Hebrews. We’re not exactly hundred percent sure. What we are sure of is that this letter mattered and was preserved and was copied and was carried forward and over time became part of the New Testament. If Peter wrote this letter then it’s the last thing, it’s like the last leaving words of the apostle Peter, probably somewhere in the late 60s, A.D., and then he would have been martyred, but shortly thereafter. Church tradition holds that Peter was crucified upside down in…in Rome and also that Paul was, martyred, executed by beheading in Rome and that these things happened close together. So, that would make second Peter and second Timothy, the last writings of Paul and Peter, somewhat contemporary with each other. So, second Peter doesn’t explicit…explicitly say who…who…who the recipients are to be. He says, “I’m writing to you who share the same precious faith that we have.” And we can assume that that is to the same people that received the first letter. But what hopeful words, “he’s writing to you who share the same precious faith we have.” That’s us brothers and sisters. So, this letter has spanned thousands of years and been read by probably billions of brothers and sisters over the years but now we’re gonna read it because we hold that…share that same precious faith they did. So, Peter wrote the first letter just to encourage people who were being marginalized, people who were being pushed to the side and suppressed and were not sure when Jesus was gonna come back, and how this was all gonna work. And it’s just the culture was crushing them, and they were moving around. So, he’s encouraging them to endure and he’s encouraging them to stay true when and continue to walk forward. Second Peter, what we’re about to read warns more about false teachings and…and the behaviors that can erode a community from within. And as we do with second Timothy, when we consider what’s in that letter and instructions to bring a coat, because Paul’s in a dungeon and his parchments and….it’s just such a melancholy scene, we should understand then that this could very likely be the last things that Peter wrote down and the last words that we would hear from Peter in the Bible. And we got to know Peter. He walked with Jesus. I’ve been to Israel so many times now that I can just picture the Sea of Galilee in my mind and just picture Jesus with the…with the boats, with the fishermen and Him meeting Peter and calling Peter and knowing that Peter walked with Jesus around the Sea of Galilee, and saw His ministry, and saw the miracles, and laughed with Him and…and had all kinds of conversations with Him over the course of three years that…that aren’t in the Bible, all kinds of a relationship that was there, this disciple that denied Jesus and that Jesus restored and that stood up on the day of Pentecost and preached the gospel with boldness and 3000 people came to follow the Savior. This is the person that was in the garden of Gethsemane with Him. This is the person that watched Him die. But this is also the person that saw Him raised back to life again. So, we’re…we’re basically saying goodbye to Peter for this year anyway. And, so, let’s give this letter it’s honor. Second Peter, chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father once again, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the daily interaction that we’re able to have with it and the change that that makes. That rhythm changes so much. We look back over a year that is unforgettable, although in some respects we might like to forget it. It’s been quite an interesting year. How would we have navigated without this rhythm without coming together in community and letting Your word speak to us. It has rescued us on so many occasions and corrected us, just taken the wind out of all kinds of situations that we would’ve wandered into and caused mayhem. Thank You for Your kindness. Thank You for the Scriptures to guide our lives. And as this year accelerates and as each day when we’re moving through the Scriptures as that accelerates and we encounter new territory more often, come Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, illuminate Your word. Make it a lamp for our feet and a light for our path as…as we read in the Psalms today. We need You. We can’t do this by ourselves. We can certainly read a book over and over and over, but it’s Holy Spirit that comes and illuminates and makes things alive to us, shifts things, shifts our thoughts, words and deeds and we are grateful and we humble ourselves before You. Come Holy Spirit 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. This is…this is Black Friday. I think it’s Black Friday no matter where you are in the world pretty much. This is the day that although all of these kind of advance Black Friday marketing things have been going on for a long time, it’s kind of like the official day, it’s always been the tradition of, “this is…this is when you start shopping for Christmas. And, so, each year…well…not every year, but for less…more…more than a decade we’ve kind of participated in Black Friday. Usually we have a Christmas box, actually for years and years and years and years we’ve had a Christmas box stuffed full of all kinds of goodies, stuff that you’re gonna want to keep, stuff that you’re gonna want to give away. We don’t have that this year. We determined a few months ago with just…I mean COVID…just I mean the whole…everything being so disruptive…disrupted and the ability to actually do that with excellence, just knowing what it takes to do it this season in the weeks of December, just determined that it is near impossible to…to…to achieve a high level of excellence. And, so, I just decided, “you know what? This has been a really, really strange year. And a lot of things…and a lot of places around the world…like a lot of things have had to change and find new rhythms.” And, so, this is one of the ways in which we’ve had to kind of adjust as well; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t make up your own Christmas box by going to the shop dailyaudiobible.com and looking through the resources there that…well like I…like I said a second ago, some things, you may just want for yourself, you may want to carry with you into the future commemorating the year in the Bible that we’ve had together. And there may be many, many things that are worth looking at and giving as gifts. For example, the God of Your Story is a resource that we brought out last year around this time and it is really…it’s a 365 day, dated companion along with the Daily Audio Bible or if you’re ever disconnected from the Internet or traveling or whatever it…it brings the essence of the journey that we’re on. It brings daily commentary. It’s basically, the kinds of stuff we talk about on the Daily Audio Bible, it’s written down and organized in a daily fashion. And if you don’t have the God of Your Story, and it…it really is a…it was written…it was birthed out of this community, created for this community, its heartbeat is this community. It’s the gold of the things, the commentary, the things we talk about as we move through the Bible in written form. It’s just one resource that’s there and available. And what we’re doing this year is putting most everything on sale, as much as we possibly can. And one of the fun unique things about the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box that’s been true, every year we’ve created a Christmas ornament for each year. I think we began it in 2013. So, when Ezekiel was one, the year after his birth. And we’ve carried that forward. We have them this year. Any order of $40 or more when we’re gonna send you the Christmas ornament in your order for free. So, check out the Daily Audio Bible shop for all of your Black Friday needs. I don’t even know. I have had like every conceivable Black Friday marketing push pushed my way. I even got one add for a bleak Friday sale since it’s been kind of a quote unquote bleak year. And I’m trying not to look at it like that. It’s been a hard year, but it’s been a year of incredible eye-opening. But I don’t know the right words to tell you that we have this Black Friday sale other than to tell you we have this Black Friday sale. This what happens around this time year. We have a lot of really really good resources that make really great gifts and fantastic invitations, direct invitations to take the journey. But like this isn’t the big gift around here the Scriptures? And Isn’t the big gift around here each other? So, anyway, it’s Black Friday and we have a big sale going on in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, which you can find at dailyaudioobible.com then just click Shop up at the top or if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and push Shop and it’ll take you there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I thank you humbly, humbly thank you for your partnership as we make our last push toward the end of the year. 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, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Victory Michelle from New York I’m calling because I want to encourage Sheer Joy. I think you said you’re from Alabama. I’m calling on November 17^th…November 22^nd, sorry. Just want to let you know I know how you feel about going through all the sheer panic and anxiety and fear because I’ve been through it myself and am getting help to. Sometimes that help is prayer, sometimes that help is my family, sometimes that help comes from the form of medication and that’s okay to because God made medication, doctors as well. Just praying that you get the help you need. If you pray this prayer with me, I think it will help. Just repeat after me. Dear God, I loose from my soul right now as an act of my will all my fears and anxieties. I rebuke the spirit of fear in Jesus name and I bind to my soul love, faith, peace, and the sheer joy of God in Jesus name. I’ll be praying for you and don’t stay away from the Daily Audio Bible. That’s one thing that’s been an anchor to me. It’s really the enemies thought that you stay away from the Bible and that God is gonna condemn you or something. He’s not. He’s not gonna condemn you or come after you just because you’ve been away from Him. That’s really from the enemy. So, don’t believe the lie. Listen to Daily Audio Bible every day. It will be a great anchor to you. Okay. Thank you and goodbye.

Good evening Daily Audio Bible family this is Rhonda the Prayer Warrior from Chicago and I am calling to say hello. This is the first time I’m calling in. I’m also calling to say, to ask for prayer because I have been having a situation in my body called Demetra myositis which has kept me from having strong muscle movement in my entire body and I am looking for a solution to this situation. I’m praying that all is well with you all. Pray for me as I have been praying for you all throughout this year of 2020. God bless you all. Bye for now.

[singing starts] May your name be praised in all the earth. May your name be praised in all the earth hallelujah, hallelujah. In all the earth may your name be praised. Glory glory to you alone for you are God the only one. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.  In all the earth may your name be praised [singing stops]. Oh Lord may your people bless your holy name. May your name be lifted up and may people who are about to come into your kingdom Lord be protected and introduced to you clearly and I pray Lord that your good news of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior will spread throughout the earth at this time. In Jesus’ name and for His sake. Candace from Oregon.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Pamela from Pennsylvania and I am just getting caught up, I’m on October 9^th. I’m really enjoying listening to one after the other after the other just seamlessly. It’s really very uplifting and blessing my spirit. I’m responding to the call from Sonia from Austin Texas. It really resonated with me. My father was schizophrenic, and my father committed suicide when I was 16 years old. I’ve been haunted much of my life from the events of my childhood and visiting him in a mental institution where he was locked down. It was like a prison. I don’t think my mother should’ve taken us there. But anyway, God has finally healed all of that pain. My father’s suicide haunted me for 3 years or 15 years sorry but God has healed that and God has also allowed me to minister to my son who has been through so much trauma in his 22 years and has been suicidal most of his life. I’ve been sick, very very sick for 20 years of his life and that was part of it. I could not protect him. But up to recently he has…he still feels he wants to be with God not here, but he has agreed not to do anything to harm himself while I am still walking on this earth. So, that’s a blessing to me. God bless everyone. I love you all. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hello this is RY calling from California, first-time caller but I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about 10 years now. I just wanted to say…oh…I’m responding to the November 24^th podcast talking about living above the stereotype. I am a black American. So, it definitely hit home, your message resonated with me Brian. I agree, not only as a black American but then also being a Christian. You see, you know, where our countries in a post-Christian society, Christians are more and more being stereotyped in a negative way and what resonated to me was when you said the example starts at home. When you live amongst nonbelievers you have to live above the stereotype, so they have something to aspire to mentally in terms of how they view Christians. And I just want to say thank you, I appreciate your message. Thank you for your words on that and it’s a good reminder for me to live above the stereotype, not only with within my own racial group but also as a disciple and really give people some hope that there is a better way and a different way to live, that they don’t have to live according to the lowest common denominator.

Daniel 2:24-3:30, 1 Peter 4:7-5:14, Psalms 119:81-96, Proverbs 28:15-16

Today is the 26^th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you. It’s great to be here with you any day and every day, and today it’s great to be here with you. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you here in the United States but happy Thanksgiving to everybody of those of you anywhere in the world. Happy Thanksgiving. It’s Thanksgiving Day, which is a national holiday here in the United States where we…where we…we give thanks and practice gratitude. And today also happens to be my daughter China’s birthday. So, happy birthday China. She…she won’t be having another birthday before becoming a mother as we all know. And I think we’re all pretty excited about that, but happy birthday China. So, it is great to be here with you today and we gather here every day for one particular purpose, and that is to allow God’s word to just wash over us and speak to us. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. We began the book of Daniel yesterday and we talked about that. And we talked about how it's…it’s got kind of a front half and a back half. It’s not like split down the middle or anything. There’s not like a part one or a part two, but the first part of the story is the story of Daniel. And, so, we learned about Daniel being exiled and then King Nebuchadnezzar having a dream that he was demanding that his…his wise people interpret. The catch was the king wasn’t willing to tell what the dream was. Like in order to know that his…his wise people were actually wise people turned…turned into…tuned into the spiritual world he wanted them to tell him what he dreamed and then tell him what the interpretation of the dream was. And there was a back and forth about that until the king decided to kill all the wise people, which was going to kill Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And, so, they went to prayer and God has given the answer. And as we begin our reading today Daniel will go before the king. Daniel chapter 2 verse 24 through 3 verse 30 today.

Prayer:

Thank You, Father for Your word. And on this day that, at least all around me, it is a day aimed at gratitude, a day of giving thanks, a day of understanding that without Your hand before us no path is getting cleared, we’re just moving in circles. And, so, we offer thanksgiving. We are giving You thanks for Your presence in our lives, for Your kindness, for Your care, for Your compassion, for Your goodness. We thank You. And we thank You for such a wonderful unspeakable gift, the gift of each other, that You have given us each other. And we make a mess of that and we often don’t see it has a gift, but at its core if we can get over ourselves, if we can get beyond our own egos and desires and cravings and demands, underneath it all, it would be horrible to be on this planet alone, it would be so lonely. You have given us each other and we are thankful for that gift. And since…since China’s birthday falls on Thanksgiving, we thank You for her and all that her life has meant and represented not only in our own family, but all around the world. We thank You for that. Come Holy Spirit today as we…as we try to live into gratitude and thanks. Lead our steps, lead our words, lead our deeds, lead our thoughts we pray. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the websites, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And, so…so, check out. Be aware of what’s going on around here.

Be a regular at the Prayer Wall. There are so many needs, so many things to pray for and it’s such an opportunity to reach outward and just shoulder one another’s burdens together letting each other know that we’re not alone. We’re not alone. We’re moving to life together. So be aware of that and check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well and a heart full of gratitude on a day of Thanksgiving is all I can say. Thank you with all of my heart. Thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that is your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or you can hit the hotline button in the app, it’s the red button up at the top, you can’t miss it, and you can share from there no matter where you are in the world.

And that’s it for today but happy Thanksgiving everybody. Even if you’re not here in the United States have a happy Thanksgiving there’s never a wrong time to have a heart of gratitude and a thankful posture. So, happy Thanksgiving. That is it for today. I’m Brian I love you I’m thankful for you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Saved by His Grace and Happy Valley. I’m calling in for Duane from Wisconsin who has been so faithful as long as I can remember, calling in and first of all giving praise to God the Father and then Duane prays specifically for sons and daughters that we have called in worrying about. And now he needs us. His son Nicholas is getting out of jail and needs a place to stay. Duane isn’t sure he’ll be able to stay with him and his wife. And, so, family please join me in prayer. Dear heavenly Father I know You love Your child Duane from Wisconsin. He is so faithful to You and he has been so faithful in praying for the sons and daughters of so many and his own sons are in crisis. Please, please look down on him and act in his behalf and on behalf of his son Nicholas and his other son, I can’t think of his name, but I know You know it and Duane knows it. Please bless this family. Let them feel Your peace. Let them know that even a sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground without You noticing and You will surely lift up Duane and his family and the sons.

Hey guys this is Sonny from Florida and I just wanted to call in for Asherah, Sheer Joy in Alabama. I just want to pray for her in regards to, yeah, just the loneliness that she’s facing. Father God I want to pay for Asherah Sheer Joy. I just pray that she would not feel alone in Alabama. I pray that she would have godly brothers and sisters in Christ to make her feel at home, make her feel that she has a family because she does Lord. She has a family in Christ. So Lord I just pray that You would provide the people in her life to help her in her walk and make her feel loved and known and that she might as a result just turn to You Lord more and more and just see how good You are and how much You are always there for her and I pray that in Jesus name. And I also want to lift up mama bear from Southern California, her brother who has stage IV stomach cancer. Father God I just pray for her brother, I pray for healing Lord. I pray for a miraculous healing. Lord You’re willing and able. You can and You want to. Lord You’re a God of healing. So, Father, God I pray for a miraculous healing and her brother stomach. I pray that the cancer will be gone, and I pray that he would come to know You as a result and that just many people come to know You that Your name will be glorified. God, we pray we pray in faith that she would heal because You can and You’re willing Lord and I pray that in the authority of the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hey guys just an update. My wife Amanda is doing well with her chemo and we pray that she just continues to do well as she continues chemo. Thank you, guys. I love you. Bye.

Hello everyone, this is Candace from Oregon. I want you to join me please, please and prayers right now for our beloved Duane from Wisconsin. Dear Lord, thank you so much for Duane from Wisconsin who has prayed over us time and again so faithfully and believed for us. And we want to do the same back for him Lord. It sounds like it was quite the surprise that his son has been released and…from…from incarceration and will need…need to…well he’s asked if he can live with…with Duane and his wife. So, Lord give them incredible insight, wisdom and ability to support and uphold their son in all the right ways and none of the long mornings. Lord, we need wisdom that really only you have. Would you give Duane and his wife unconditional love, unbelievable wisdom and strength and creativity and patience? And I pray that their son would have a new life and a new way forward found in Jesus Christ. And we ask all of this in Jesus’ name.

My wife Kate from St. Simons Allen Georgia has been bed bound for three months with 24 seven nausea dizziness and fainting. Many tests have not revealed any answers. I’m asking for prayers for healing and comfort for her and strength for her spirit. She has been a follower of DAB since the beginning. Thank you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible friends this is Valerie from Cape Spring Arkansas and I had called in on October concerning my 36-year-old son, the one in respiratory therapy school who is very suicidal and doesn’t feel like life is worth living. Anyway, my prayer request was played October 19^th and, you know, he did so much better after that. You know, I was just so thrilled but now he’s really having trouble again and he is just not doing well at all. He’s talking about jumping off a cliff or just going out in the woods and killing himself and making everyone think he’s missing. And he talks about this all the time and you mothers out there that put up with this, you know how heart wrenching this is for a mom. So, I would appreciate your prayers too as his mother. And I thank you for all your prayers for him. I know there’s hope for him at the end of the tunnel. Thank you all so much. And I appreciate the Daily Audio Bible so much. It’s just helped me tremendously with my life.

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

Today is the 25^th day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s wonderful to be here with you today as we take the next step forward like we do every day, the next step. It’s funny, just the next step is what we take and then we…we end up having moved through the entire Bible and then through an entire year. And it’s such a vivid portrait of what next steps can do when we take the next right step and letting the Bible be a voice in that next right step. Well that’s why we come here every day around the Global Campfire isn’t it. So, let’s dive in. And right off the bat here we’re moving into new territory in the old testament brand-new book.

Introduction to the book of Daniel:

This book is called Daniele and it’s an intriguing book to say the least, maybe one of the more intriguing books in the Old Testament. And it’s…it’s an historical account and is certainly helpful and valuable and gives insight into the…the kind of times, the times of exile that we’ve been reading about for quite a while now. It hasn’t been that long ago, but it seems like it’s been a long time ago that we read the story of Solomon and we came to like the apex of ancient Israel’s culture and civilization. And since that time we've…well…we’ve been in a lot of territory but this theme of exile, this thing of conquest and Jerusalem being conquered both historically and prophetically have been kind of where we’ve been camped out and we get a different perspective of that in Daniel. But Daniel also though contains these incredible visions and these visions have been poured over for thousands of years in eschatological studies - the studies of the end, the end time prophecies. Daniel is a centerpiece in that study. So, here’s what’s interesting. We just read the book of Ezekiel and Daniel was contemporary with Ezekiel. He was…he was taken into exile when Jerusalem first fell to Babylon in 597. And we know because we’ve been reading these stories of deportation and exile and prophets both in exile and in Jerusalem. So, we got Jeremiah prophesying from Jerusalem through all of the turmoil and we’ve got Ezekiel prophesying from exile in Babylon during all the turmoil. So, we know that it was not a good easy time whatsoever for those who were being displaced and Daniel was one of those people. And despite the struggle of being deported to a different land Daniel was favored by God. He was gifted. He was young. He rose to become an influential advisor. He was of utmost authority in the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. But there’s quite a story that got him there. And even though Daniel was exiled and was a Hebrew and was a prophet he really wasn’t a prophet for or against Israel, which makes his voice unique because this isn’t a particularly Jewish set of prophecies with the other prophets. We need that…that Hebrew context that we’ve been drilling into all year long to sort of understand the grievances that are being laid out before the people of Israel and what repentance might look like for them and what things might look like if they continue on the road that there on. Daniel’s not really prophesying with that kind of voice at all. So, we’ll notice that Daniels’s…it’s not broken up into two different halves or anything like that, but we’ll see that generally the first part of the book is the story of Daniel’s life. So, we get to know Daniel in the first part of the book. And we’ll find some of the most famous of Sunday school stories in in this part of the book like the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace or the account of Daniel in the lion’s den. Then once we kinda move through that narrative, move into the back half of the later part of the book, it shifts then to Daniel’s prophetic visions. And he has visions of four great world empires. And it…it's…it’s apocalyptic literature. So, as a genre, it’s highly symbolic and allegoric and we’ll see almost cinematic in nature as its retold to us. Remember when we…remember the wheel within the wheel and all of that imagery in Isaiah when we’re trying to think this all through and picture all this. We’ll be doing that with Daniel as well. And of course, if…if eschatology, the study of the end times is a passion of yours then there’s no way to avoid Daniel. It’s the centerpiece of that type of study in the Bible. But whether or not figuring out the end of all things, the end times, the apocalypse is…it is important or not in your faith journey, what Daniel portrays through all of his visions, if we had to kind of boil things down we would see that Daniel is revealing that God is sovereign over every kingdom of the world for all time. Like, God is the most-high God and He is sovereign over all. So, let’s let’s dive in. Daniels gonna to carry us into the final month of the year, which is the month of December and we’re just days away from that.

And, man tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. It’s also China’s birthday. So, I’ve had two major holidays land on two birthdays in my family. Jill’s birthday’s July 4^th. So, that’s a constant. Of course, China’s birthday is the 26^th of November, but it happens to fall on Thanksgiving. So…so we’re…we’re really at the threshold. This is like Thanksgiving Eve, everybody’s cooking lots of food and after this we move into warp speed so quickly that we just need to take a deep breath as we move into this new territory, reminding ourselves that God is sovereign over all things and continue to do what we talked about just a few minutes ago, the next step forward, day by day, no matter what the chaos or…or all the stuff that’s going on swirling around. Even though it’s festive, the rhythm we’ve established is what’s gonna carry us into the new year. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week. Daniel chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 23.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another day. We thank You for bringing us into new territory. It’s always exciting to turn the page and move into new territory. And, so, we thank You for the book of Daniel, and we ask Holy Spirit that You would awaken our minds, quicken our hearts that we might hear and learn and see whatever it is that You have for us as we continue this journey day by day, step-by-step. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it is the website, and it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, everything that you can find at the web is also in the app, just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. Be aware of that.

Be aware of the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall is and lives and continues to be a resource 24 hours a day seven days a week. So, be aware of that.

There are also links there of where to get connected on social media, etc. So be aware of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. Thank you. If…if what’s happening as we continue to sail across the year together in the Scriptures, as we continue to be a community around the Global Campfire, if that is important and makes a difference in your life then thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can dial 877-942-4253 or you can hit the Hotline button in the app, it’s the little red button up at the top. And no matter where you are in the world you can share from there.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey this is Jared calling from Duluth Minnesota it’s 2:53 in the morning on Sunday November 22^nd, day 575 of my renewed journey in the DAB family. I was so moved today by __ of joy who’s been cycling down for three weeks and can’t move, is scared, not going out of the house, completely alone and your desperate cry for help. Want you to know that we are praying for you and that I’ve been there before in a dark place and so difficult to get out of that…that hole sometimes but __ can help and God will be your rock in time of need. And also, for Rosie, Free in Jesus where one year ago her son disowned her like my son has disowned me and your husband died and contemplating suicide. And again, I’ve been in those dark places. I want you to know that we’re praying for you and that God would just supernaturally bring peace, comfort and joy in your life today and in the future. God bless. Bye.

Hello food DAB family this is Vonnie from Northern California calling on Sunday morning the 22^nd of November. Just heard Sheer Joy crying out for help this morning and even though I know it’s been a few days I am praying for you dear sister and know that the Lord sees you and hears you. And even though your family is praying for you a few days after you called God sees you exactly where you are at that moment and He is going to come in and He is going to enter in His Holy Spirit to help you. And we’re asking, O Father please in the name of Jesus we ask You to bind the enemy and keep him from our dear sister, Sheer Joy. Bring back the joy, restore the joy of her salvation dear Father. Help her in Jesus’ name come in and eradicate any part of the enemy’s plan to bring her down. Bring someone else in, a friend, somebody who can bring light and joy and comfort and encouragement to our friend and bring her out of this pit. I think of David and the psalmist calling out from the pit and she’s doing exactly that Lord Jesus. I pray that You would restore the joy to her, fill her with the love that casts out all fear and all dread and bring her back to fullness and to healing and hope and to health. We thank You in Jesus’ name.

Good morning everybody this is God’s Smile here. Just like to share a little about Maria my helper. Maria had an experience. She’s had two this year. She’s been with me two years, Maria, and our relationship has really grown close. We’ve had some chats about the Lord but that’s as far as it’s gone. Maria had sleep paralysis twice now and, in that paralysis, she sensed evil and her hands were tied in front of her outstretched and she couldn’t speak or move, and it really frightened her. So, when I heard this, I said to her, “Maria there is power in the name of Jesus and so to use that name. And she said, “how do I use that?” and I said, “if you can’t speak it Maria just say it in your mind.” So, we conversed like this and I gave her a little prayer to say and gave it…spoke to her about the Lord and His love for her. So, Maria is covering around tomorrow to…she’s a teacher but she cleans for me. Isn’t that lovely? And, so, I felt…I felt the Lord saying get her a Bible, but I wasn’t sure when to give it. So, this Bibles come today. So, I’m…she’s been messaging me, and I really have this rise deep inside my heart that the Lord is in all this. Of course, He is. But you know, faith is rising to believe she is very close to receiving Him as her Lord and Savior. So, would you pray for us? My discerning about the right time…time’s ticking away…give her the Bible. Bye-bye everybody. Love from God’s smile. Kiss kiss.

This is for Dorothy the special ed teacher who called in with compassion fatigue and for all teachers, front line workers, nurses, doctors, police officers, first responders and I would add veterinarians for we’re doing our best to provide good medical care and love on our patients while providing curbside service and it’s just so difficult for people. There aren’t enough hours in the day and the dogs are so frightened. But we’re doing our best Lord. And I also want to lift up a prayer for the student who called in with so much anxiety she couldn’t leave her apartment. She was too anxious to stay in bed but too depressed to get out of bed. Oh Lord I lift up my prayers for mercy for from 138. I give thanks O Lord with my whole heart and sing your praise because when we call on you, you answer us. And the strength of our souls you do increase. You know that though we walk in the midst of trouble you preserve our lives. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of all that would threaten to overcome us, and your right hand delivers us. You will fulfill your purpose for us, and your steadfast love O Lord endures forever. For I know that you will not forsake the work of your hands but instead pour your Holy Spirit on us. Fill us with your living water. Lift us up with the power that raised Christ from the dead. Renew our strength. It will mount up like eagles. Lord I give you my thanks and I pray your grace and mercy on all of these who have called in. In Jesus’ name. Amen. This is Donna from Pennsylvania.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Wonderfully Made in Albuquerque. Today’s the 23^rd of November. I have a prayer request. I have been struggling with some really really extreme anxiety related to work stresses. The work that I am involved in deals with a lot of regulatory compliance issues and I lead a team that supports…has…is a support group for customers. And I…there are some customers that are pretty combative, and I am not the kind of person that deals well with that. I want peace I hate conflict. I know that conflict exists in this life, but I shut down when I have to deal with people who are like that. And I…it’s Monday, I‘m anxious, the emails are pouring in and I’m starting to shake because I am scared of what I’m going to have to deal with. And, yes, I could leave my job and go to a different job but the challenge with that is there’s always going to be people that are just very abrasive and mean and….and so I’m dealing with…I’m struggling with that, especially with how I respond as a Christian. I really don’t lash out in anger at people but what happens is I…I hold it in, and I think through conversations I want to have which I know won’t be edifying. So, anyway I’m just really really struggling, and I need prayers. Thank you so much.

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

Today is the 24^th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a great joy and deep comfort to be here with you around the Global Campfire as we take the next step forward in the Scriptures and take the next step forward in the year and toward the end of the year. So, we are reading from the New International Version this week. We have been camped out in the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament for a while now. Today we will reach its conclusion and finish the book of Ezekiel. We are also in the New Testament working our way through first Peter. And, so, we’ll continue that journey when we get there. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Ezekiel chapters 47 and 48.

Commentary:

Okay. In first Peter today we’re seeing glimpses of how to face marginalization and being sidelined and even being persecuted, how to resist that by not being what is being said. In other words, people are being stereotyped. The way to resist that is to not be that, to not be the stereotype. So, Peter’s writing to people who have fled marginalization and persecution, who are trying to find a place of peace to live out their faith in harmony and they have run. They are all over the place. This is one of the primary ways that the gospel of Jesus Christ spread around the Roman Empire, the known world of the time. But, you know, if you move to an a new place, a new city and you’re trying to get established and get a job and find a place to live and…and then there’s this stereotype that gets…that…you get labeled…you get labeled something, then it becomes really, really difficult to navigate. And if you’re labeled, “you’re part of a strange religious sect. Like if you hear that about anybody, “oh…they’re…they’re…they’re part of a strange religious sect,” well, we really don’t have any information whatsoever to go on other than it sounds really bad and negative. And, so, the stereotype is there, and that person is looked at a certain way. And, so, followers of Jesus were considered untrustworthy. They were considered really, really strange, religiously. Like the observance of the Eucharist or communion was…was considered very weird, like a very weird ritual to people who had no experience with it. Basically, it's…it’s like it’s not a secret that here in the United States…this has been a year of…of unrest as special…especially racial unrest in the exploration of systemic racism and the implications. And one thing that…well it still goes on today…but was much more prevalent in previous generations would be the use of the N-word. A derogatory word used at African American, black people - a label, a stereotype, a word that can be used to marginalize. We have to remember that people, early followers of Jesus, they were perceived as coming out of Judaism. Jews had been marginalized and persecuted and had been labeled for a long time at this point, and that continues in the world until this very day. So, like in some places to be called a Jew, that’s a bigoted label, like that’s not a good thing. So, for people following Jesus to be called Christ followers or disciples of the Rabbi, Jesus, or Christians, this is the same kind of labeling that’s going on. So, in…in a lot of ways what Peter’s writing in what we read today is, “don’t be that. If you’re going to be slandered or mischaracterized or stereotyped, then don’t be that. Rise above that. Live your life higher. Raise the bar. Be better than that.” So, we see him like, “submit to the local authorities, submit to the national authorities, submit to your employers. Like, live what you say. Live the faith that you claim. Live it because if you’re living it, then you will rise above the stereotype and show that there actually is a better way of navigating humanity because of Jesus making that better way of being in this world visible by resisting the stereotypes, by not receiving the labels, by being better than the labels. And, so, I quote Peter here as he kind of concludes some of…of…of his encouragement. “How is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and you endure the beating for doing wrong, but if you suffer for doing good and you endure it this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps.” And, so, that we’re on the same page, this is…Peter’s not writing about things that might happen or that could happen or that may be on the distant horizon. He’s talking about…the letters written because these things are happening. And, so, he’s counseling how to battle things that are happening and as it turns out it brilliantly, it’s so perfect the way he turns the corner and helps us understand that these kinds of…kinds of marginalization’s, these kinds of things even happen inside people’s homes because maybe one spouse, here’s the good news or maybe they both hear the good news, but one spouse believes, and the other one doesn’t. And, so, I quote Peter again, “wives in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that if any of them do not believe the word they may be won over without words, by the behavior of their wives,” right? Rising above the labeling. “They may be one over without words by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” Yikes! What’s that doing their in a discussion about how to behave in the face of being marginalized? Isn’t it in our homes between our spouse and ourselves that we really actually do have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling? like isn’t that the ground zero for however we might go out into the world and resist by not being what we’ve been stereotyped as? Like doesn’t that have to start at home? Is there any other way to live out what Peter is talking about if it’s not there, present in our home? And when Peter says about “hindering your prayers”, he’s speaking to husbands here. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply to both spouses, but husbands may we pay attention. Our homes are places where we…if it’s a bad day and things aren’t going well and well-worn paths that lead to terrible arguments are being walked down, well we can we can marginalize each other and diminish each other and hurt one another and suppress the voices of each other more dominantly and more awfully inside the walls of our house than we ever would outside. So, for this to…for this whole conversation to land back at home is something we ought to pay very very close attention to. “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”

Prayer:

Father we come into your presence. It would explain a lot. It would be like James saying, “how can you bless the Lord out of your mouth and curse your brothers and sisters who are made in His image out of the same mouth? Surely this isn’t right. Surely, this shouldn’t be happening.” And, so, we are confronted with these things and once again you’ve landed some things in our lap that we cannot look away from. It won’t help. And, so, we’re looking to you for guidance in the ways that we’ve marginalized each other beginning inside our homes and working outward from there. We read yesterday, “we are to be holy because you are holy”, which means we must rise above the stereotype. We must rise above being labeled. We must be the light of the world. And we have a ways to go, we confess. We are not where we should be, we confess. And it’s easy enough to know that globally. It’s easy enough to know that we are all part of something that has some work to do. Its way different when we understand inside of the four walls of our houses is where that work begins. Come Holy Spirit we need you now. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you always can go to find out what’s going on around here. It’s where the Prayer Wall also lives and thrives. Always an opportunity to pray for one another or ask for prayer there. So, check it out.

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

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement there are a number of ways to reach out. You can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top or there are phone numbers you can use depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is a 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:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible this is Diane Olive Braun and Jeff my husband is here with me. It’s so wonderful the two of us listening together. I want to share with you something really special to me. I have been repenting a lot and things I thought that were really special were not pleasing to the Lord, mostly that I wasn’t taking time alone with Him and just focusing on other things more important than Him and I’ve been repenting and…and taking quality time each day. And because I hadn’t been giving special time to the Lord I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t sleep at night. And, so, one night I told the Lord I was so tired because I couldn’t sleep. And I said Lord I’m going to try for 5 or 10 minutes to sleep and I put on Brian’s album, Heart and I said if I don’t fall asleep in five minutes I will get up and clean the house. And, so, I put on his album, Heart and I laid my head on my pillow and three hours later I woke up refreshed and renewed and inspired. Thank you, thank you, thank you DAB community and Brian. Shalom, shalom…

Hi DAB family this is CS from SC. A close friend of mine’s son was in an accident earlier this week. He was driving and with his passenger, I believe his girlfriend, was killed in the accident. He’s been charged with…my friend’s sons been charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence. They were both college students both in their early 20s. I would just ask prayer for her family. This young man has…has made some bad choices now. He…he’s always been such a good kid, but he’s made some really bad choices at this point and it’s ended up with some horrific consequences for his girlfriend’s family. So, I would just ask prayer first for her family, for comfort and peace. I don’t know how you get through something like this. I just…I can’t imagine but I would also ask prayer for his family for my friend, just to know how to work through all the challenges that they’re going to have now, the legal battles. And, of course, there’ll be some incarceration I’m sure. So, anyway I would…would just ask that you be in prayer for both families, that they can see God’s will and everything that’s going on and just be there to comfort everybody that’s involved in this situation. Thanks, and have an excellent…

Good afternoon new DAB family God bless you all. Woman who called in in regard to ovarian cancer and her husband suffering from MS, I am believing and thanking God but first and foremost first and foremost for your total healing from the inside out, that every molecular cell that’s in your body is going to be eradicated. I am thanking God for the children that you have that has been helping you fight this. I know that this has been hard for you, but I also know that God is a God delivers and I am believing in His might. Susan from Osceola, Osceola Florida you know the way you’re thanking God in the midst of you losing your son and you yet you’re thanking God for all of the small blessings. Sister I bless you in the name of Jesus. You know that the Lord is going to heal your son Keith. I am so grateful that it’s…you’re in the season with Keith, that you have become so much closer but I am believing that nothing is too hard for the Lord. God bless you. Running Desperately Staying Connected to Jesus. I totally get it. You know when you say that you felt strong when you connected to your DAB family and when you disconnect that you seem weaker. I totally get that. That’s how I felt. You know in my dark seasons you know I felt like Moses you know without with Aaron and Joshua. I totally get it. God bless you. We are still praying for you and I’m praying and believing in your victory. Michaela from Gloucester. Beautiful beautiful song. You know how you’re meeting us in our darkness. That’s exactly what the Lord does. He meets us in our darkness. But I am telling you sister in the name of Jesus I am believing that the Lord will give us the strength to face our tomorrows and to do what’s in front of us because that is the God we serve. And knowing the name of Jesus He is gonna do the same for you in Jesus’ name. I love you. Esther from Orlando.

Thank you God for giving me everything I asked
you freed me from my demons and my true self’s now unmasked
time is running short now as they say this too shall pass
I pray and thank you constantly and there’s not much that I ask
the relationship that I have with you I pray will always last
last is first and first is last a simple little verse
but some men go from good to bad and some from bad to worse
help me just be patient God and follow where you lead
help me not be selfish Lord and consumed with pride and greed
wherever two are gathered I know that you’ll be there
keep my mind’s eye simple God and strip my ego bare
make me in your image God I’m flesh but still I’m clay
fill me with your spirit Lord and renew my strength each day
one and one are usually two but you and I are one
finish God the work in me you clearly have begun

blindtony1016@gmail.com. I’d like to give a shout out to Terry the Truck Driver and also Melisa. I hope you’re still hanging in there. Know that you are both in my prayers every day and very much loved and thought of and missed. And once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit flow keep it flowing y’all. All right. Bye-bye.

Hello, my dear DAB family this is Terry the Trucker calling this evening. It’s Saturday, November the 21^st. Today we had a eulogy for my wife’s aunt Marilyn that passed away a few weeks ago just suddenly. It was not expected. This is also the birthday of my oldest stepson Mikey. Died in a car wreck at the age of 14. This is also the day that my wife when we left the church, she told me she had chills that she had a fever and wasn’t feeling right. We took her into the hospital. They tested her for the flu and been with my wife of 32 years. I’ve only known her to be sick one time out of 32 years and they suspect it’s the virus. I just ask you all to pray for my wife for my family and myself. I’m spending the night in my truck less than a block from the house. So, I know I’ve been exposed to her but why take the chance of spending the night if maybe I don’t have it. We’ll know in a couple days if she has the virus for sure but I ask you all to pray for me and I continue to pray for each and every one of y’all as I drive up and down these highways. Terry the Trucker.

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

Today is the 23^rd day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today for the next step forward as we continue the journey that we are on that’s taken us from Genesis to Revelation all the way through the Bible this year. And at this point we find ourselves in the Old Testament in the book of Ezekiel and in the New Testament we’re working our way through first Peter. This week we’re reading from the New International Version. Ezekiel chapter 45 verse 13 through 46 verse 24.

Commentary:

Okay. In first Peter today…well in first Peter the letter itself, Peter is working to encourage people that are downtrodden in one way or another. And I feel like in any year that’s appropriate and applicable. Of course, we’re all always going through something or another, but this year in particular we’ve all been going through a lot of things together and have found confusion about things together and have found our fragility together and found out some of the things that we’re…the…the stable things in our lives are shaky and so we feel the ground shifting beneath us. And in times like this, in times where the status quo has been disrupted than we work really hard to reestablish the status quo because that's…that’s when we can just go back to sleep in our lives and try to keep moving forward toward the most pleasurable experiences that we can have in life, but with all of our thrashing about when things…when the status quo is interrupted, with all our thrashing about when we can’t put things back together the way that we want them to be, we can’t domineer and control everything, well that’s kind of the point where what’s really going on inside of us gets exposed. That’s when the pride comes out, right? That’s when even the hopelessness and the terror and the fear and all the other things that can accompany all of the emotions of the disruption of the status quo can emerge. And then it’s what we do with that that’s gonna really matter. And a lot of times we angry, angry spiritually, disrupted spiritually, angry at God, walk away from God, move into rebellion or we’ll hold on tight to God and move through the storm but we can have a tendency to be back and forth. Peter says today and I quote, “you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then, but now you must be holy and everything you do just as God chose you is holy.” On one hand we can look at that and…ahh…just more…more scriptures that can reveal the way that I fall short on a daily basis. And then we can feel sort of the subtle condemnation that even estranges us from God because we’re trying and we’re failing. Or we can look at what Peter’s saying here as an invitation forward. Not that we have to try are very, very best to combat the bad thoughts and things that go on in our head or the actions that we take, but there’s an invitation into holiness. God is holy. God has chosen us and grafted us into His family, has placed His Holy Spirit within us to comfort us. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead indwells us. This is an invitation to holiness. Holiness is to be set apart to God, to realize that the chaos and the fray, we just don't…I mean we have…let’s say we have 100 years to live, well in a century enormous things can trance…be transformed in the world, enormous things can happen, but nowhere near as much as a millennia, a thousand years. And we don’t have that span. So, we have the span of life on earth that has been given to us and we live into that as if everything is happening for the first time because it’s the first time it’s happening to us. But we are reading a letter that’s a couple thousand years old and it’s still speaking to us. So, the chaos that is in the world, the kinds of things that are in the world that disrupt us, disrupt our status quo and throw us into dissonance, this isn’t new. It’s always been going on. And God is inviting us near. We know we can’t set ourselves apart unto God all by ourselves by sheer discipline. We will fail. And yet God is inviting us near. If, as the Bible tells us we are partakers of His divine nature than that also means His holiness covers us. You must be holy because I am holy may not be grounds…I mean, they may be grounds for conviction and repentance but it’s not there to condemn us. It’s there to pull us forward into what’s being described. You must be holy because I am holy must be possible then. And this begins when we get our eyes off of everybody else’s life, and we get our eyes off the swirl of chaos that could suck us in so easily and we get our eyes on the author and finisher of our faith. And, so let’s going to this day considering these things, considering holiness an invitation into the furtherance of our transformation, our sanctification. Holiness will lead us to wholeness and we usually find that we surge forward in these areas when we find ourselves under pressure. We’re not gonna look back on this year in a couple of years and just be hashtag 2020 and it’s a throwaway year. This is not a throwaway year. What we’re going to find is that we grew more this year than we anticipated. We learned more. We moved forward. The disruption forced us to stop standing still and to take steps forward. And if our steps forward are toward our Savior than our steps forward are toward holiness and our steps forward are toward wholeness, who we were created to be

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that. We have examples of what that looks like in Your life as captured in the Gospels. We see the essence of what is true and what is holy, and we see it lived out facing opposition. So, You have given us an example of what this looks like. Holy Spirit help us to live into this we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, stay tuned and stay connected in any way that you can, in any way that you want to as we continue our journey into the…the rest of this year.

So, be aware of the Community section. That’s where the Prayer Wall is. That’s where all the links are to get connected.

Be aware of the Shop. There are resources there. So, stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. Thank you profoundly for your partnership. 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, which is the 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:

It’s Friday, November 20^th and this is soaring on Eagles wings from Canada. Duane from Wisconsin I just finished listening to your prayer request and oh my heart is so broken for you as you are just shedding tears over your son. He’s now out of jail and he needs a place to stay. And I also know that your other son Nathan has a drug addiction and all the brokenness in your voice as your crying out to God and I am joining you and your family as you pray for these sons of yours. Mighty God in heaven You created them. And You see this Young man now who is out of jail. He has a child that’s going to have a first birthday. I pray God that You would arrest him where he is and help them to see that he needs Jesus. I pray for Duane and his wife in making the decision about should they take them in or should they not. Guide them Father God for wisdom on high and I pray in the name of Jesus that Satan will no longer have a hold over the views boys, that they will be set free to become men of God and serve You, be examples in their community and…and…and for their parents to see where God has taken them from and where He’s taking them to. And, so, I join You in the mighty name of Jesus. I call down heaven for You Duane. Your family, Your sons, deliver them Jesus I pray, and we praise You and thank You in the mighty …

Good morning DAB family this is Mama Bear from Southern California today is November 20^th, 2020. I need you all to please keep my brother and his family in your prayers. Today we found out he has stage IV cancer, stomach cancer. And my brother is not a believer. And I’m asking everybody please pray that his heart is softened to the Lord that he accepts Jesus. And I pray for healing for him too. And I pray for his beautiful very young family, three girls all under the age of nine with an amazing young wife. I ask for healing but most of all salvation. He’s very stubborn and hardheaded and we sure could use all the prayer he can get. I thank you so much. God bless you all. And I listen to all of you every day. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Hello DAB family this is Beautiful Heart from New South Wales Australia. I haven’t called in for a little while. Things have been busy, so I guess for everybody. But I’m just ringing because I was asked…would like to ask for some prayer. I am moving house, relocating about four hours north of where I’m currently living and relocation is always fun but I would just love…love prayer around my relocation, that it would go smoothly and just that I would really trust…trust God through this time and through settling in in my new home in my new circumstances. I’m extremely blessed to be able to take my work with me and become a remote employee. So, I don’t need to be looking for a new job and I will be moving a lot closer to family while moving away from some of my other family. So, it is a move tinged with sadness but also joy in what the Lord is planned. And I would just, yeah, just love your prayer family around this entire move. Thank you so much. I look forward to sharing a praise report with you soon. Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Good morning today’s November 20^th and I am giving thanks for Duane from Wisconsin. My brother I just heard your call that you called in on the 17^th and we so appreciate you for what you’ve done and praying for our children and now I want to let you know that I am praying for your son Nicholas. And I want you to know that you are loved and you are being held in prayer and so is Nicholas for wisdom and discernment for unity for you and your wife as you have to speak to your son and see where he will wind up living, if he has a place to live. God will help you my brother. God is a not a respecter of time. And, so, even though this is being recorded three days after you left your message, I want you to know that I am praying for you. I love you my brother. I thank God for you and for all of you that are praying for our prodigal children. So many of us like His Little Cherry from Canada, we have children. I raised my son in the ways of the Lord he’s a good young man, he…but it’s not being good. I’m praying for the Lord to bring him back, and that’s His promise to us, to instruct your children in the way they should go. So, and for those that are just not seeing anything God is in control. I thank the Lord for our brother Duane from Wisconsin. God bless you and know that I am praying for all of our prodigal children.

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

Today is the 22^nd day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today at the threshold of a brand-new shiny sparkly week that we get to live into. And, so as we do every week, we turn that knob together and throw open the door and walk into it. And there it is, all fresh, shiny and sparkly. And we’re gonna make tracks on this week. We’re gonna leave footprints. There’s nothing we can do about that. We’re gonna leave our footprints. Where’s that road gonna go though? What path are we gonna walk? That’s what we get to choose and let’s must choose wise. We don’t have a lot of weeks left in this year. It’s important that we make wise decisions about how to finish strong and how to begin a new year well. And, so, I know that I’m a little bit in front of it, but trust me, I’ve done this for a lot of years and you have lived through a lot of holiday seasons and you know that shortly, very shortly, in a matter of day it’s going to be an onslaught. The whole world is gonna have stuff for us to buy and they’re gonna need for us to buy it. And all of the festivities that are joyful and wonderful, but they do disrupt the rhythm. And this is a rhythm that we’ve been all year as we allow God’s word to wash into and over us each and every day. So, we got this brand-new week and we’re gonna make tracks. Let’s walk the narrow path together. Let’s make tracks on that path. This week we’re going to read from the New International Version and continuing our journey through the book of Ezekiel, which we will finish up this week. And today, brand-new week, brand-new territory in the New Testament. We’re going to reunite ourselves with somebody that we’ve heard from before, somebody that we know, somebody that we got to know in the Gospels, but in particular in the book of Acts, a disciple known as Peter and the letter known as first Peter. But we’ll talk about all that when we get there. First, Ezekiel chapter 44 verse 1 through 45 verse 12.

Introduction to First Peter:

Okay. So, as we were talking about at the beginning of our time together we’re moving into some new territory and reacquainting ourselves with an old friend in the New Testament today as we move into the letters of Peter. And we we’ve gotten to know Peter like I said in the beginning from the book of Acts, especially, but also from the Gospels. And even just coming down through church history Peter’s passion and his tendency may be to speak before he takes a beat to think about what he might say. Some of those things, kind of ring through and some of the stories that we’ve enjoyed getting to know Peter in. And, so, we’ve seen that but now we’re gonna sort of hear his passion in written form. So, Peter, his name, like his…his given name was Simon or…or Simeon, but by the time there was sort of an inner circle of…of…of Jesus disciples Jesus had given Simon the name Cephas, which in Aramaic means “rock”. So, you might think, “well…Simeon or Simon or Rock or Cephas…like how do we get to Peter?” It’s when you…it’s when Aramaic is translated into Greek, then this name or this word, Cephas is pronounced Petros, which means rock in Greek. But Petros and Peter, like you see how we get to the name Peter. And you can remember when were reading through the Gospels and then the book of Acts that the transformation that happened in Peter’s life, especially after the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is irreversible and very dramatic. We remember the…like the lowest moment of Peter’s life occurs outside of the high priest’s quarters, Caiaphas, after Jesus has been arrested. And Peter denies Jesus, denies that he knows Him, swears that he doesn’t know Him and then once he realizes what he’s done he’s just undone, so deeply ashamed of what he has done in denying the savior. So, that’s quite a difference from Pentecost when the Holy Spirit falls and then Peter preaches his really…a message that is basically is sort of the first mass explanation of the good news that we find in the Scriptures. Of course, this letter’s coming after, much much later. And Peter writes that he’s writing from Babylon. So, here again this is where you get into scholar…scholarly conjecture, where did he actually travel vast distances away from his homeland to pen this letter or…or was he referring to something different? Maybe like a slang term, maybe some kind of term used for the city. And, so, Rome is where a general consensus lies, that this letter was probably written from Rome. Of course, if you want to do the scholarship you can find out that he wrote it from lots of places. Nobody alive today was an eyewitness to this. And, so, this is…we dive in and we try to find a context for what it is we’re reading. Peter says that the letter is to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. And these were five provinces of the Roman Empire and they all find themselves situated in modern-day Turkey today. And Peter’s saying that the letter’s written to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners. That would have been something that the Hebrew believers who received this letter would’ve understood, those living in the Diaspora, those who had been scattered all over the world in different exiles, in particular, the Assyrian exile in the Babylonian exile, but more contemporary with Peter would’ve been those who fled persecution because of their faith. And we’re gonna find when we…as we read this letter is that Peter hasn’t really lost his passion. If James is a butt kicker than Peter is kind of a butt kicker too, we’re just kind of in that section now where the letters that we’re reading through in the in the New Testament are very forthright and very direct. So, Peter’s wanting to be forthright and direct but it’s not for condemnation purposes or anything like that. It’s to lift up, it’s to encourage and bolster people who are suffering hardship because of their faith and to give them a reminder of what’s to come if they will endure. And you remember, it’s been months now I’ve been saying, “you watch, endurance is going to become quite a theme, quite a major theme as we move toward the conclusion of the New Testament.” And we will find that quite evident in this letter, first Peter that we’re about to read. So, let’s buckle in and sit down and prepare for some straight talk from the apostle Peter. First Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 12.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into a new week, a week that we get to tell the story of our relationship to the world. And we’ll use words to do that, but we’ll use our lives to do that. And may we glorify You in everything that we do and think and say. This is our desire. We confess our failure, but it is our desire to open ourselves and to humble ourselves and to surrender ourselves even more this week than last, to continue to lose ourselves in this relationship. We yield ourselves to You and Your will and Your ways in our lives. Come Holy Spirit in this final full week of this 11^th month of this unforgettable year. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home, its home base, where you find out what’s going on around here. So, yeah, always be aware of that and what’s happening around here.

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But check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources available there for the journey that we are on. And, so, be aware of that as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. You see, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. All…everything that is Daily Audio Bible is…is there. And, of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can access all these things using the Drawer icon, which is the button in the upper left-hand corner. And that opens up a drawer and you can get all to all this stuff. But anyway, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I cannot thank you enough. I cannot. I cannot. Like that’s actually the truth. I don’t have the words. I’ve used them over the years to express awe and gratitude and all those things are daily…daily truths. It’s amazing that this is happening, that we get to do this together that we have shared…that…like…I can’t imagine having going through the year of COVID without you guys. I can’t imagine going through the stuff that we went through in the United States this year alone, like just hopelessly alone glued to the news with no anchor, with nothing to pull me forward in the Scriptures, always pull us forward because they always become a mirror, they are always relevant because they expose our hearts to ourselves, like they challenge the motives of our hearts. I cannot imagine having to have gone through this without you. And, so, I am grateful, and I am thankful for your partnership because we wouldn’t be doing this, we wouldn’t have gone through this together if we hadn’t gone through this together. And, so, thank you. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Asherah, sheer joy, you know, full of joy. My joy will not be taken away from me. Right now, I am not full of joy. I’m not full of anything. I just…I haven’t left my house in three weeks. I’ve been locking myself away. I haven’t gone to school I haven’t talked to anyone. I have just been cycling down in this…in this pool of fear and just unable to move, unable to get myself to do anything. I’ve been scared to listen to my Daily Audio Bible podcast. I’ve been scared to pray because I know what I’m doing is not right, but I can’t get myself to move. I need prayer. I need help. Please. My…I’m completely alone right now. I’ m in…I’m in Alabama for school and I have no family here. And my friends that I had made during my first year of school moved away the second year and I haven’t been able to make any new ones. Nobody is able to…to even call me out when I’m not available or not…or not at school and it’s…I just need prayer family. I need help. I’m going out right now to seek help. I’m finally stepping out. I listened to the November 10^th podcast because I’ve been behind and I just noticed that I’m so scared to go to God for help even though He’s the one who I should be the least scared of to go to help. And despite the disruption going on around me that I need to just rest in Him and He will take care of it all. So, family please just pray for me and just keep me in your prayers. This is Asherah, Sheer joy. Just keep me in your prayers. Bye.

Dear Bible family its Faithful Hope in the UK and it’s a pleasure to be a part of this community, a privilege and may the Lord bless you for your support and encouragement to one another. This morning I would like to pray for people who are in abusive relationships. Some of us may have escaped others may still be stuck in situations. But I’d like to pray for those brothers and sisters amongst us. So, let’s pray. Father God, You are the Father of the Fatherless. Lord, I would lift before You this morning our brothers and sisters in Christ who are dealing __ the consequences of being in an abusive relationship or still stuck there. Lord, I pray that You would bring Your love, peace, and compassion to each one, that You would strengthen each one, that You provide wisdom to know the right action to take whether that be to leave or in some cases it may be to stay. Everybody is different and everybody knows their own situation. But Lord I do pray for those who are struggling with this and pray that Your hand of protection will be upon them, that Your spirit of encouragement will be with them and that You will lead them in the right actions to take. And I believe someone here this morning needs to know that. So, Lord I commit them into Your hands and play Your blessing on each one in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello, my wonderful DAB family today is Thursday, November 19^th and this is Rosie and it’s great to be free in Jesus. I’m calling in to let everyone know how much I appreciate the DAB. At this time last year I was really going through a tough time because it was when my son quit having anything to do with me. And I was really hurt. I was so hurt that I cried all day long and I cried myself to sleep every night. Crying out to God because I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t talk to me. I couldn’t understand what I had done. And I got to the point where I thought about ending in all. But the last time I thought about ending it all was when my husband died but I couldn’t end it then because of my children. The Lord would always bring them to my mind when I would think of a way to do it. And, so, I couldn’t do it. And you guys really help me through this time of not being able to talk to my son, not knowing when I was going to see him or if I would ever see him again. And I was just totally devastated but you guys help me get through it even though you didn’t really know a whole lot about it. You helped me get through it and I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the DAB and how you helped me to keep my focus on God. Anyway, I just want to tell you that. I love you. God bless you.

Hello DAB Emily this is Paula the child advocate from the LA area calling in. I was so moved to hear that special ed teacher call in sharing that she had compassion fatigue. As a former teacher and administrator, I know the fatigue that comes with teaching any type of student. And then to get the call from the young man who was a former special ed student, oh my gosh it almost made me cry. That was so touching, and it made me feel like everything that we do as teachers is worthwhile. So, my prayers go out to all teachers and all students also. And I wanted to say today, excuse me, is the birthday, the 21^st birthday of one of the first children that I ever was an advocate for. I’m in a call her Mel. Mel was seven when I first got on her case and as I said today, she turned 21. She had a baby when she was 16 and I was really concerned because she wanted to keep that baby and he is now five years old almost and he is adorable and she’s the best mother ever. But I have some concerns and I’d like you to pray for Mel. On Facebook she seems to always be posting very provocative photos of herself and I just think, “what is she doing trying to like, push your body out there, she looking for a man? And what kind of man is going to be attracted to that?” So, if you could please pray for Malcolm that she can be respectful of her body and know what qualities she should be looking for in a true mate. I thank you for that family. I listen every day and you’re all in my prayers. God bless you. Bye for now. Paula from LA.

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

Today is the 21^st day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you and keep this journey going as we end another one of our weeks together and prepare tomorrow to go through the threshold of a shiny sparkly new one but we’re here now. And let’s finish this week well. We’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week. Today, Ezekiel chapters 42 and 43.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another week. We’re looking at the weeks and they’re just diminishing. We’re looking at the seasons and we’re finding ourselves in complete transition. We’re mere days away from the holiday season and a part of…parts of our hearts are so excited just to feel peace on earth, the joy, this…the unity that kind of comes around this season. Yeah, this has been the strangest year of our lives for most of us. And, so, we’re moving into a new season and new territory and You are not surprised, and You will be there through the joy and the melancholy of it all. You will be there through the highs and the lows of it all. You’re the one constant that we certainly can depend upon, the only constant that we can certainly depend upon. And we depend upon You for life itself. You are the source of life. You are the most-high, and no matter what other things that I can come up with to say and no matter what else the brothers and sisters within the hearing of my voice could come up with to say, we would still fall short. We can’t describe You. You are indescribable. Your beauty and authority and might have no bounds. We have no grid of reference whatsoever. And yet You love us? You even know we are? Ans this is what the Scriptures tell us, and this is what we live into, and this is what we believe, that You have brought us to be a part of Your family, sons and daughters of the most-high. Of course, You will walk through us through this next season and every season for all eternity and we are grateful, and we are hopeful in that. Come Holy Spirit we pray as we put this week to rest and prepare to move forward into all that You have for us. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its website, its where you find out what’s going on around here and there’s always something or another going on around here. So, stay tuned and stay connected.

Check out the Community section. I’ve said it many many times. I will say it many, many more times as long as the journey continues because in the Community section is where you can get connected, all the different links to where you can connect on social media as well as the Prayer Wall. The Prayer Wall lives there and it’s a destination. It’s a place we can always go and pray for each other, turn outward, kind of get our minds and hearts off of our own stuff and just shoulder to shoulder carrying each other’s burdens together for others. But it’s also a place to ask for prayers when we’re carrying things that we shouldn’t be carrying alone. So, that is a beautiful, an irreplaceable resource there, the Prayer Wall. That’s in the Community section.

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

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button 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:

[singing starts] thankful thankful thankful [singing stops]. Thankful for Kingdom Seeker Daniel and Lady of Victory. Thank you so much for that. Oh my gosh you guys have such beautiful voices. My name is Grace Filled DeCastro and basically as soon as I heard you guys singing, I just knew it was you. You are gifted and there’s just something about the two of you that just always makes me smile. I seem to know your voices without, you know, even blinking I know it’s you guys. I just want to say thank you Brian for this amazing podcast. I mean, it’s done so much for myself, my family, and friends that I actually have invited to just listen and they’ve stuck to it and some who are not believers are slowly getting there. So, I’m really really grateful. I would like to ask the DABbers if they could pray for a friend of mine. She’s a believer. Her name is Marie and her husband Gray who has, I just found out, had a mild stroke and is in the hospital at the moment. Please pray for full recovery and that he’s able to come home in Jesus’ name. Thank you once again. [singing starts] thankful thankful thankful [singing stops]. Thank you. Have a blessed blessed day everybody. Love you guys. Bye-bye.

Good morning daily audio Bible family this is Shante calling from the Treasure Coast of Florida. Wow it has been one week yesterday since we have been here in Florida and we have been so so blessed. We love our new place. All the kids have their own rooms and we have just, you know, enough space, a nice backyard. We’ve not had that in a good while, in some years. And anyway, I started my job yesterday and the people are so nice. It’s a nice large campus and I am working with two people in my immediate area. We have enough space to space out and, you know, not have to wear masks the entire day because we’re keeping ourselves…social distancing. But yeah, I’m just so excited. They’re like, “yeah just take your time. No rush. And learn everything, you know, we don’t want to overwhelm you.” And I’m…I’m just so grateful. I’m just like pinching myself. Like it’s such a shift from where we were at, you know, from being furloughed for seven months or so and just…just all the different situations we been through these last years and I’m so grateful, so so very grateful. I just praise God so very much and I thank you all for your prayers over the years that have brought us to this point. And yeah, I just wanted to call in with that continual praise report. I know I had to call in a praise report because God is so good and I…I just I …

Well hello from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio this is Daniel Johnson Junior. How are you? Yeah today as I was listening, I went for a walk and a happy co…a happy coincidence happened. So, I had just spent time with my wife earlier this morning and I was reading to her Psalm 116 and that turned out to also be the Psalm for today. Just a little story about a 21-year-old young man back in college. Seemed a lot like this person that’s described in Psalm 116 today. Just feeling so troubled in life, directionless and then God reached down and helped him, brought people into his life to help show him the truth. And when he…when I was 21 years old on this day November 17^th, which is now 21…29 years later, I declared that Jesus was Lord truly for the first time and I got baptized. And just as today marks that anniversary I’m feeling just very emotional about all that God has brought me through and all that God will continue to bring me through. And I believe that the best response that I have here is in verse 12 through 14 and I’ll read it from the version we read today the Living Translation. “What can I offer the Lord for all He has done for me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me. I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all His people.” May that be the case for me. God bless you from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio make it a great…

Hey DABbers I’m calling in for Dorothea who is a teacher on the West Coast and for all first responders from the cashiers and…and grocery guys in the grocery store stocking shelves, the teachers, the doctors, everybody, pharmacists, firemen, truck drivers. There’s so many people I can’t even name them all. But right now, in the name of Jesus I commit them, I commit them, we commit you to the mighty hand of God and we pray blessings over you, comfort overview, relief over you. May blessed be the God and father of the Lord Jesus Christ for you, the Father of sympathy and the God of every comfort. May you be encouraged may He come for you with every trouble so that you may also be able to comfort those who are in any kind of trouble or distress with the comfort that you yourself have received from the mighty hand of God. And right now in the name of Jesus I pray that all the small and temporary troubles, hurts, fatigue, I pray right now in the name of Jesus that the power of the Holy Spirit will follow up on each of you and fill you with the strength and the energy and health and life so that you can continue to be a blessing to all those who come in your path. I pray for refreshing of your spirit that you will be refreshed. I pray that you will receive blessings from the north south east and west. I pray that God would put in your life and in your path people who can bless you and give you strength and encouragement and shower you with love. We love all of our first responders, everyone from the…from every aspect of making this life that we live now in this pandemic go. We thank you; we give honor and glory to God for you, and we ask that you will stay strong and steadfast. Amen.

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

Today is the 20^th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy as it is always to be here with you. It’s one of the great consistent joys of my life that we can gather like this and allow God’s word to come into our lives, to speak to us, to speak to us in every area and to give us what we need. And, so, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Ezekiel chapter 40 verse 28 through 41 verse 26.

Commentary:

Okay. I don’t know if it feels like James is cracking the whip for you, but it…I mean I don’t read the book of James where I don’t feel like the whip has been cracked but I got a spanking in some sort of way. I just know I’m not alone. That’s the thing. I just know James wasn’t written for me, that James was written for people who were dealing with the kinds of things that I deal with because that the kinds of things you deal with. They are part of our story and challenge. And this letter from James’s just kinda steps into the middle of it and calls out hypocrisy and just asks us to look clearly, to have eyes to see not what everybody else is doing, but to have eyes to see our own lives. And that can be uncomfortable. That can even be painful. But it can be so good because we’re getting eyes to see, which allows us to move forward. It forces us to a crossroads. Remember back in the very beginning of this year we met wisdom and she told us she’s at every crossroads and we’ve talked about her a lot throughout the year. James forces us to these crossroads in terms of…well…the difference between what we say we believe and what we say about our faith and the story of our faith that we’re actually telling with our lives because those are supposed to be the same story but they’re often not. So, today James is like, “what’s causing the quarrels and fights among you?” And that question right there, like we can just take that and go into the day. What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? And we can look in our marriage and go, “what is causing the quarrels and fights among us? We can look in our family and ask that question. We can look in our community and ask that question. We can look in our nation and ask that question. We can look at the world and ask that question. What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? It’s a rhetorical question though. It’s a question he’s asking in order to teach a lesson. He has the answer, and he gives the answer. “Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?” O man. So, now all the sudden we’re plunging into the depths because we’re talking about conflicts that develop because we don’t have what we want. We can’t fulfill our desires or we’re not getting what we somehow believe we deserve. And if we just pause and take this slow, we can see that these things can be true as intimately as between a husband and wife and as macro-ly as encompassing the entire world of humanity. When we examine ourselves as compared to somebody else and find ourselves lacking and they have something that we think we deserve or want then we use all kinds of domination try to take it from them or negotiate it away from them or ruin it for them because we’re making them miserable. Like we do this stuff all the time. And what happens? Quarrels and fights. When we’re trying to get our identity by comparison to some other person we cannot achieve an identity and so we dehumanize the person and we look at what they have or what they have achieved or some sort of advantage that they have in some sort of way that we don’t. But even if we could destroy the one, we’re in competition with and get everything we have we’re still not gonna be happy. There is no life there. There is no identity in being better than another person. The identity is bestowed upon us by our Father, by God. And, so, James says, “you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And when you do, you don’t get it because your motives are wrong. You only want what will give you pleasure.” And that’s mostly true. The things we’re asking for, the things that will make life easier for us in some sort of way, they will make us have to endure less. Now James can kick butt and we joke about it and we’ve talked about it because it really does press into some…some behaviors that were all guilty of. But James didn’t sit down and think, “how can I condemn God’s people for all time. You know, like how can I just make everybody feel bad about themselves like a failure. That’s what we need. We need everybody to feel like a failure.” That’s not what James is after. What James is after is that people would live true like the Savior, they claim. And it appears that James, although he didn’t believe in Jesus ministry, ended up believing. When your brother rises from the dead you rethink some things you could say. So, James ultimate encouragement is, “if you’re gonna claim the name of Jesus if your gonna claim to be His disciple then you’re gonna need to live like He lived otherwise you’re just saying stuff. And anybody can say stuff. And all this comparison, all this trying to get an identity by leeching off each other, denigrating each other, suppressing each other, causing quarrels and fights that are never ending so that disharmony is the story we’re telling instead of unity.” He’s not doing it to heap condemnation. He’s doing it because in his view, what’s being done is dangerous. It’s walking up to the line and becoming a friend of the world and playing that game. But playing that game, it won’t work, it won’t go anywhere. James says, “don’t you realize” and I’m quoting this, “don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God. I say it again. If you want to be a friend of the world you make yourself an enemy of God.” Yeah. That’s an ouch thing. That’s James 4:4. Go look it up for yourself. If we’re gonna try to play the rules of the culture. If we’re gonna try to be in the world and of the world while simultaneously claiming allegiance to Jesus Christ, while not living in any way like He lived, the dissonance is gonna be unbearable but it’s going to lead nowhere because when we try to play that game we make ourselves an enemy of God. That is the last thing on earth anywhere, that is the last thing in all of my existence that I would ever want to be - an enemy of God. And so, what we do about all this? Because these kinds of behaviors, these kind of things, they sneak up on us and we just find ourselves in the thick of it saying things we shouldn’t say, doing things we shouldn’t do knowing better the whole time not being able to do anything about it because it’s what we want. And, so, we’re going to get what we want one way or another because we feel empty inside somehow, because we’re comparing ourselves and we’re not measuring up. At least that’s the way we’re perceiving it. And, so, we get jealous and we get envious and we do all kinds of stuff. So, what are we supposed to do about all this? If James isn’t just heaping condemnation by exposing it all. What do we do? James tells us, and I quote, “humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come close to God and God will come close to you. Wash your hands you sinners, purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up in honor. I’m not sure what else to say. I think the instructions are pretty clear. And if the Scriptures are speaking into places that are like a little too close for comfort then we know now what to do and the posture that we need.

Prayer:

Father we humble ourselves. And what a grace that is. What a gift that in…in and of itself is, that we have the chance to humble ourselves before we get humbled by something that we don’t want anything to do with. Thank You for this grace. And we humble ourselves before You and invite You fully. Nothing is off limits to You, God, nothing is off limits to You. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit as we are in a posture of repentance, knowing that the last thing we want to be is an enemy. The last thing we want to do is offend You. But we’re not capable in our own strength of doing anything but those things. It’s Your Spirit within us that we must yield to. We have what we need to live a victorious life as a servant, as an ambassador, as Your representative in this world. We have what we need. It’s just we get our eyes on the culture that is built expressly to tell us what we don’t have. It’s built to show us lack. It’s there to part us from our resources so we can keep buying things that promise fullness and wholeness and it doesn’t work. And, so, we move into pride, we move into arrogance, we move into envy and jealousy. We compare ourselves. We get all wound up and tied up and it doesn’t work. We’re humbling ourselves before You. We have what we need because it has been given as a gift from You. And whatever we lack You do not lack and therefore we lack nothing. Come Holy Spirit as we consider the ways in which we need to humble ourselves today. We ask this the precious and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And yeah, stay connected to what’s going on around here. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible, you can stay connected through there, use the…using the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. All the things that are on the website or kind of there in the…in the drawer. So, you can check that out.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Check out the Community section to get connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. So, there is a link on the homepage of the website. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner.

And, as always, we are a community and one of the great things about us is that we are willing to accept each other where we are and pray for each other where we are and walk together, knowing that we are all struggling in some way or another, and the last thing we need to do is heap a bunch of stuff on each other. We walk together, we pray for one another. We’re in this together. We desire good and God’s goodness in each other’s lives. And that his huge. So, if you have a prayer request or encouragement hit the hotline button or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community prayer and praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Treasured Possession and I have to admit straight up that it’s not easy to call and talk about this. I…I want to be included and yet I know that saying that you’re different from everybody else excludes you, but I know you people. You people are God’s people and so your hearts are full of His love so that’s what I’m coming forward to. I am…I am on the spectrum and I’ve been praying about Michael and praying for his parents and thinking about them and how hard it is when you have meltdowns like that and they come one after another and especially if you’re a big person that can be kind of violent and scary. And oh God my heart just goes out to you. I love you guys so much. And I just want Michael to know it’s not your fault. It… it…it’s a trigger. It…it’s an effect, it’s something that happens and you feel so bad after it’s over and your parents are scared and you’re scared and…and you just pray and God brings His peace but I…I want to give you encouragement. As you get older Michael it’s going to get easier it’s going to get better as you know yourself. They happen when you push yourself past your limits, when your sensory influx is too much, when there’s too much going on, when there’s too much stress. And sometimes you piggyback off of the stress of others and it just adds to your own stress. So, lately it’s been real crazy around our house but…but God is so good and He is so forgiving and so merciful. And He brings us out of it, and He heals us, and we get better every time. So, that’s what I’m praying for you. Lord Jesus pour your spirit on Michael and his family. Bless them, give them your peace in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus thank you for your love over the family of this mother who is recovering from ovarian cancer. Thank You for Your healing grace over her husband with multiple sclerosis. Thank You, father for bringing the assurance of heart that You are present in all things. Thank You for drawing their children and to care for them in these hours. And father I pray that there would be a spirit of oneness this Thanksgiving, a spirit of…of lifted heads knowing that You are present Jesus there at the __ of the table, caring for those who care for others, loving those who love You, loving and giving in all things. Jesus I pray for complete healing for both of these people father for healing of the heart, the mind, and soul, and body, the whole being father because Your stripes have paid the price, Jesus Your precious blood has paid the price already and it is done by Your word. Thank You, Jesus.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible my brothers and sisters in Christ. This is Running Desperately to Jesus also known as Staying Desperately Connected to Jesus. What a God, what a God, what a God I serve. My brothers and sisters lifted me up. Yes, brothers and sisters I do struggle with depression, but I have made always a commitment to myself that I could be down and out but would not go into a dark place and not be oval to pull myself up. Lots of trials, lots of tribulations that we all go through. Devil caught me off guard, but God says in His word that we are supposed to stay vigilant sober and prayed up. And there I fell short. My family I am…I can’t even begin to tell you, Michael, God’s Smile, I mean, and the names go on and on. I started listening to the Community Prayer and listened to it on Monday night all into Tuesday morning and I kept hearing my name my name my name. So, the devil is a lie. He has no dominion, no power especially with my brothers and sisters come together in Christ and lift me up. What can I say but what a mighty God I serve? I love you all. You are the best. I never thought I would have anyone that would praise and lift me up and stand in the gap for me while praising God at the same time until I read into DAB and my family that continues to grow. You are awesome. I love all of you. Running Desperately to Jesus Staying Desperately Connected to Jesus. My family rocks. Thank you, guys all.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Duane from Wisconsin all praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today is November 17^th and I just heard Kingdom Seeker Daniel call in and give praise to me and praise for my son. My son Nicholas is out of jail, but he called and left a message yesterday on the 16^th that he needs a place to stay and I’m not sure he’s going to be able to stay with us. I have to talk to my wife and see if that’s the right avenue for him. I’m not sure where he’s going to end up if he doesn’t come here because I haven’t talked to him. I gotta talk to my wife first. So, lift that up and thank you. Thank you all for praying. I appreciate it. I love him so much. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Hi DAB family it’s November 17^th this is Sunset Cindy in Washington state and I just got through listening to this really beautiful song from Kingdom Seeker Daniel and Lady of Victory. It was just full of harmony and sweet notes and I was just so grateful that I’m a part of this family that you’re singing about. This is how we are as family, just these harmonious parts and they all fit together, and they make a beautiful song to the Lord, sweet incense. I think He’s got a big smile on his face. That song is so beautiful. And also on November 17^th a lady called in who’s being treated for ovarian cancer and husband has MS and her kids are back home trying to help with him and her. And what a blessing that you have three twentysomething kids that that are willing and able to come help you. I’m sure the Lord has placed a compassionate heart in all of those lovely young people. I’m just gonna lift them up in prayer Lord Jesus. Give this family strength and hope and compassion and just steadfast energy that they need every day to accomplish your will in their lives. Thank you DAB family for all of the resources we have. Thank you, Brian and China and Jill for your dedication to your virtual family. Love you all. God bless.

Hi this is Larry from Palm Beach Florida and I’m calling in response to the weekend and the weekending of November 14^th prayer line. And we finally heard from Michaela from Gloucester. It was so nice to hear her voice; however, she said she wasn’t in a good spot, she hasn’t been in a good spot, but she hasn’t reached bottom yet. So, Lord we lift up Michaela from Gloucester, a wonderful warrior, prayer warrior for this at and we and maybe we can get Biola from Maryland and Esther from Orlando to pray for her in their…in their mighty voice to rebuke the devil or whatever is bothering you. Lord we don’t know what’s going on with him in Michaela’s life, but you do but we…we pray that you will open doors that need to be open and close doors that need to be closed. Give her wisdom and discernment and give her strength and fortitude as she fights whatever battle she needs to fight. And Michaela I was so glad to hear from you. You have a lot of friends here that will be lifting you up in prayer and we’re grateful that we heard from you and whatever it is that’s going on in your life we rebuke it in Jesus’ name. God bless and hope to hear from you soon.

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

Today is the 18^th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today as we continue the journey, move through hump day here. We started the book of James yesterday or the letter of James in the New Testament. We’ll be can continuing that today, but we began the book of Ezekiel, one of the major prophets in the Scriptures quite a while ago and we’re continuing that journey for about another week I guess until we finish Ezekiel. But we’ll be moving through Ezekiel 37 today, one of my favorite favorite, favorite passages of Scripture, the valley of the dry bones. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Ezekiel 37 and 38.

Commentary:

Okay. First off, in the book of Ezekiel today we read Ezekiel chapter 37 and I said that’s one of my favorite passages of Scripture. The valley of dry bones, that image all the way back from the first time ever read it, but every year that I’ve read it that imagery just sticks with me. You see that the people are in exile, you see that the people feel like they’re…they’re ruined and that they’re…they’re…like what’s gonna happen to them is really, really uncertain. And, so, Ezekiel has his vision…vision of the valley of dry bones. And, so, this is like an ancient battlefield and the dead were never burried, and they just sat in the open field until they became dry bones. So, a very long time they have been sitting there and there’s this valley of dry bones. And God asks, “can they live?” And it’s like such an interesting question because we can see the valley of dry bones is a vision, so it’s used in metaphorical sense even prophetically here. And, so, we can think about the dry bones in our own lives and then that question comes right? “Can these bones live?” And it’s more…it’s more confrontational than it seems when you think about the places that you think are dead inside of you. A question, “could these things live again” like…is like in your face because…well…and some of these things we’re like, “whether they could or not, they’re too painful. Like what I went through is too painful. Like I don’t even want to think about this stuff anymore.” Of course, Ezekiel doesn’t know whether the dry bones can live again. So, he says the right thing to God, “only you could possibly know the answer to that question.” And answering that question God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the dead bones, to call the four winds, the breath of life from the four winds. And he did and those dry bones came back together again, and they received muscle and skin and sinew, and they came back to life again. So, out of a battlefield full of defeated warriors, life came. That has always stuck with me and after a couple years of reading it it just really felt like the Lord was speaking into my spirit, “build a wind farm.” And not like a literal like wind farm with windmills creating energy to power my house, a spiritual windfarm, one that is continually calling to the four winds, the breath of life in every way possible. And, so, that’s why prayer in our community is so vital to our community. Yes, it keeps us in touch with each other. Yes, we cry together. Yes, we rejoice together. Yes, indeed we get to know each other as we stay focused and moving together through the Scriptures. Yes to all of that, but we are also calling the breath of life into what looks like it’s dead on a continual basis and it matters. It’s even why when we…when we began to roast our own coffee and import tea. It’s why the brand is called Windfarm because in every way that we can we want to be doing that, calling the four winds, the breath of life into that which is dead all around us.

And now let’s turn to the book of James and let me quote here, and I don’t think this needs a lot of interpretation really. Let me just quote from the letter. “Don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away and forget what you look like.” Is that the truth or not? I mean maybe we don’t look in a physical mirror like we’re fixing our hair for work and then we go to work and we don’t remember what we look like, but spiritually we behave this way all of the time. We can at one moment know fully who we are in Christ and that we are actually a child of the most-high God and then we can walk out the door and live like sons and daughters of the evil one or live completely confused and disoriented. We forgot our identity. We forgot what we look like. And, so let’s take that heart today as well, and just let it kind of ruminate, let it stew, let it just percolate through our…through our day. Let’s watch ourselves. Have we forgot who we are? Have we forgotten what we look like? Is that what our behaviors erratically are showing, or do we know exactly who we are in Christ?

Prayer:

Father, it’s kind of like James says, intellectually we know what the Scriptures say about who we are, we have heard the good news, but You’re saying You can’t just listen to it, You have to live into it, You have to become it otherwise it’s just…You’re just fooling Yourself. So, we don’t want any part of that. We’re here to learn, we’re here to grow, we’re here with the goal that we would be transformed into Your likeness because this is what the Scriptures tell us is happening, that this is what’s going on. And, so, when we claim our faith and then go out into the day and act like anything but a person who’s in love with You, then we are just fooling ourselves. And then we would have the audacity to be angry at You for not jumping into every beck and call, like it ever time we ring the little bell You’re just supposed to show up when we don’t even know who we are. And, so, once again we reorient ourselves to You. Our identity can only be found in You. You bestow an identity upon us, and You have done that. You have grafted us into Your family and made us joint heirs with Jesus to Your kingdom. That is who we are. May we live like it today. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. Say it most every day, this is where to find out what was going on around here.

We have the Global Campfire Initiative going on around here right now although this is the final day.  And I won’t be mentioning it anymore. It will be concluded, and I just want to thank everybody. Honestly, it’s so humbling. I just want to thank everyone who has participated in this. So, happy. So happy to send you the heart album, the LP. I just love it. And, so, I’m so happy to be able to send that to you and I…I trust that you will hold onto it and treasure it and that it will be a memento of this year that we spent together in God’s word. The one thing that sort of stabilized the year, at least for me, in spite of all of the just challenges, some of the very, very…we have had some significant societal challenges in the last 12 months that have taught us a lot and the Scriptures being the constant through that…just…I thank you for your partnership as we continue to move forward and be in a position where we will be here no matter what happens in the world. And that is the goal. We will keep spinning the windfarm, right? We’ll keep calling to the four winds, the breath of life. We will keep speaking the word of God out over the earth as long as God will allow us to, as long as we stay in this together. And, so, thank you profoundly for everybody who has participated in this. Today, like I said, today is the last day. If you want to get involved and participate in this than here’s what you do, you can use the web, or you can use the Daily Audio Bible app. If you want to use the web go to dailyaudiobible.com. When you get to the website you will see up at the top, the navigation and you’ll see Initiatives. Press that button and you’ll find the Global Campfire initiative in there. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you’ll notice that there’s a little Drawer icon. It’s in the upper left-hand corner. When you press that the drawer opens. When the drawer opens, you’ll find initiatives. Press that and you’ll find the Global Campfire initiative. And again, I thank you with all my heart.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button that’s in the app. It’s the red button that looks kind of like a hotline button, lives kind of up at the top in the app screen. No matter where you are in the app you can find it. So, you can press that, 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 Susan from Canada God’s Yellow Flower calling and it’s the wee hours of the morning and it’s very quiet here and I am just loving the depth of the stillness of the time I have with God. And I just want to thank Him in the spirit of Thanksgiving for this month and always of course. I want to thank him and give him glory for in the midst of heavy trials we still have blessings and if we focus on God, we see the blessings. I hear the cold wind raging outside and here I sit in a warm cozy place. I look at our cupboards and they’ve got an abundance of food in there. I look at the relationship that my son Keith and I have developed through this illness that we are…that we are going through together and I just…I just praise him for the closeness and the love that we share and the bonds we have for each other. It’s only because of the Lord that we can do this. And I just give Him all the praise and glory for this time I have with my son before he…before he passes. So, there’s lots to be thankful for in the midst of crisis and just look for your blessings and be thankful. Love you all. Bye now.

Good afternoon DABbers this is Running Desperately to Jesus also known as Staying Desperately Connected to Jesus. I don’t even know where to begin with thanking everybody for their prayers. I was just so overwhelmed. I have fought with depression for a while; however never have hit the part where I went into a dark space and wasn’t able to pull myself out. But just like Moses’ arms were held up and the war was one and when his hands were let down the war was being lost, my Daily Audio Bible family lifted me up and the battle was one. So, although there still continues to be struggles, of course, in just daily living I know where to turn, first to God and then of course to my Daily Audio Bible family, which is so awesome. I wish I had the opportunity to meet every one of you. However, we all know that we’re striving for that mark to be with Him and will all get to meet each other one day. Again, I thank all of you. I…it took me a while to make this call because I wanted to be able to speak and not cry and I think I’ve accomplished it. Running Desperately to Jesus. Also Staying Desperately Connected to Jesus. I love my family.

[singing starts] Thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Lord for loving me. Thank you, Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Lord for loving me [singing stops]. Father God thank You that You meet us where we are. Lord we invite You into where we are right now whether we are celebrating or we’re happy, joyful or we’re sad or worried and anxious and we’re afraid or we’re sitting in darkness. Father God thank You that You meet us where we are and thank You Lord that You meet us in our darkness. Shine Your light into our lives Lord. Shine so bright that…that everything else pales into comparison to You, that the shadows flee. Father God, we might feel that we don’t have strength to face tomorrow. We might feel that we don’t know what to do or that we can’t do what’s in front of us. Thank You, Lord that You give us what we need. Thank You for meeting us where we are and thank You for carrying us through. In Jesus’ holy and precious name. Amen. Hi guys is Michaela from Gloucester hope You have a blessed day where You are.

Good morning DAB family this is Eyes of a Dove in Snoqualmie Washington. I had a wonderful weekend but it’s like to me confessing something and then asking for your guy’s prayer and support. All of us on here are…none of us are perfect. And I know that we can all come across perfect or not. I think that’s what brings us all together. You know, we seek to be like Jesus. And I’ve come from a really broken past, broken marriage and at a time when me and my three kids we had nobody and I got into construction to take care of them but with that came pride and being the breadwinner and not wanting another…a man in my life, which led to actually finding a guy and after 2 ½ years of being together last night he asked me to marry him and I said yes. And it’s kind of a secret because shamefully we’re all together, our kids, and we know that’s not under the Lords…what He would want for us. And he wants us to be united under Him in marriage. And, so, I come to you and confess that I’ve been hiding out from you guys.Felt ashamed. And I would like you guys to lift me and Izzy and Braden and the kids all up in prayer. We all desire to be one family. All the kids have been bugging us for months and praying for us that we would and now we are. And now we have to figure out a way to have a wedding and we don’t want a big affair, but we do want our moms and dads there and with Covid restrictions in Washington state it’s made it much more difficult. So, if you all would just be praying the Lord would bless our union and continue to heal us and help us have a great marriage…

Unless the Lord had been my help my soul would soon have slipped into the silence. If I say my foot is slipping your mercy Lord will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties your comforts are my delight. I’m saying this particular verse from Psalm 94 verse 17 to 19 for my teacher sister all the way in California who called in, Dorothea, who shared her own anxieties with the overwhelming workload as being a teacher. I am in the same boat here in the UK by the way is Dr. Cano calling from the UK and honestly, I could relate to what you are sharing. The demands upon us are so many but we thank God that the burden that we get from Jesus is light because he carries every single weight, every single anxiety and we can find comfort in Him. And my prayer for you sis and my prayer for myself and every other person who’s working during this time is that the Lord will give us different strategies, wisdom to manage the workload. He will give us ways to communicate to those who are our seniors for them to support us in this work that we are doing, and the Lord will indeed crown our efforts with success in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray for all the first responders __ staff here in the UK, nurses, doctors, police officers, every single person who is working tirelessly during this time, may the Lord strengthen you, may he empower you, may He give you courage and wisdom. And even for those who are the recipients of our care, our students, our patients, Lord bestow your blessing upon each one in the mighty name of Jesus. God bless you my Daily Audio Bible family. I love you so much and thank you so much Brian for this wonderful ministry. I’ve been loving it for over three years.

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

Today is the 17^th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to be here with you today around the Global Campfire taking the next step forward. And we’re still working our way through the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament but when we get to the New Testament we’re moving into entirely new territory and we’ll talk about that because, I mean, we’re gonna be hearing from a totally different voice than we’ve heard from so far in the whole Bible. So, we’ll talk about that when we get there. But first, Ezekiel chapters 35 and 36. And we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Introduction to the book of James:

Okay. So, for the most part in the New Testament we’ve…we’ve read the Gospels, of course, and we read the Acts of the Apostles, of course, which was written by Luke or the same author that wrote the gospel of Luke. Luke and Acts are two volumes from the same author. But then we’ve spent most of the rest of our time reading the letters of the apostle Paul. Then of course we got to the letter to the Hebrew’s and its author is debated…well it has been debated for centuries and so most people just would say unknown. The origin, the absolute de facto for sure author of the letter of Hebrews is unknown, as scholars’ debate about some of the…the letters of the apostle Paul. Nevertheless, not to get too far in the weeds we’re moving into new territory now, territory that we haven’t been in before with a voice that we haven’t heard before, although we know this person. We’re about to read the letter of James, and James is known to be the brother of Jesus. But like all of the rest of the Scriptures that have been poured over for thousands of years by everybody from laymen to scholars to theologians to clergy and teachers. Billions of people over thousands of years have poured over the passages, every passage that we find in what we now know of as the Bible. So, James, the letter of James, has fallen under the same kind of scrutiny and scholarship as we would expect, and that includes debates about which James we’re talking about here. Which James wrote the letter of James? Which makes it difficult than to date James because which James we’re talking about would matter. And although there isn’t like 100% consensus there’s really not 100% consensus about a lot of things in the Bible. There is a scenario that’s maybe…maybe the most likely and that would be that the letter of James’s probably really was written by James, the half-brother of Jesus. And this James that we’re talking about, the half-brother of Jesus didn’t believe in Jesus or His ministry or His claims during His earthly ministry. James emerges as a leader and even like a foundational pillar of the early church after the resurrection. And it was James, if we remember from the book of Acts…if we remember from Paul’s letters, we have talked so many times about the Jew / Gentile distinctions and the problems and the controversies and the challenges that the early church faced. And one of the earliest challenge…challenges was, “if God is doing a new thing in the world and Gentiles are allowed to be a part of it, how do they get in? Like, what governs that? How does it work?” And the first counsel that we know of, the first major decision in the church era was the Jerusalem Council, which is referenced in the book of Acts. It was James, the leader of the mother church, the Jerusalem church, the half-brother of Jesus who presided over that counsel. And, so, the reason that…that James, the half-brother of Jesus, is the leading, by far, candidate for who wrote the letter of James is in many ways because it was preserved. You know, if just some James decides to write some letter and nobody knows who this James is, and he writes this letter and gives it to somebody, I guess theoretically it could be preserved, but probably not preserved and passed around other churches and held in high esteem or even low esteem, as we’ll see in a second. Whoever wrote this letter had credibility. Same way with the letter to the Hebrews. Whoever wrote this people knew who they were. They were recognized, and it seemed as if they should save what was written down. So, you would think that James, the half-brother of Jesus the Christ fit the criteria necessary to maybe hold onto the letter and would maybe give it credibility and significance in a way that…that there are no other candidates that could fill. So, although there’s debate, James was probably written by James, the half-brother of Jesus, the leader of the Jerusalem church. And this letter really gives us glimpses into the Hebrew side of the early church. Most of what we look at, most of what we examine is examined through Gentile eyes. And certainly, the apostle Paul spoke to Hebrew people and tied the story of Jesus to the Hebrew narrative that had always been going on. Certainly, he did that, but his primary mission was to bring the good news of the gospel to the Gentiles. And we know that after the Jerusalem Council not everybody was on board with those decisions. And, so, we get a look in this letter from James into the early Hebrew believer’s perspective of the faith. It's…it’s addressed to the 12 tribes, the scattered 12 tribes, the diaspora, for those who have been dispersed. And, so, that tells us it’s a pretty broad audience that this is sent to bring the gospel. But it may have been…it may have been more specific than just those who have been carried away in exile. Persecution, marginalization, these kinds of things had begun and the gospel had begun to spread because of that. So, if a person lost their job and they were marginalized in their neighborhood and nobody was being nice to them anymore because they believed in Jesus and they decided they’d had enough and God is leading them to another city and they pack up their things and move to another city than they take the gospel with them to that city, a place where it’s more receptive and the gospel than spread throughout the empire, the Roman world of the time. And of course, the stoning of Stephen that we read about in the book of Acts would and could have been a large catalyst. So, if that scenario’s true than James would possibly be writing to the early believers who had been in his pastoral care in Jerusalem but had now begun to spread out. And the believers who received this letter wherever they received this letter, they had fled in all different directions to find a place of peace where they could just live their lives. But they would’ve always felt connected to the place that they found their faith in the Jerusalem church. And that’s the mother church. So, a letter from the Jerusalem church. But that would’ve been something that would been treasured and kept and preserved especially…especially if James wrote it, the half-brother of Jesus, the leader of the church. And what we’re about to see is a little bit of the nuance that is a very important one. In Paul’s letters and in the letter to the Hebrews we’re exploring faith and we’re going all the way back to the beginning of the Hebrew story, all the way back to Abram and seeing that it was his faith. And remember in the book of Hebrews we read the hall of faith. So, all of these…example, after example, after example in the Scriptures showing that faith is the essential activator of everything in relation to God. James believes that very thing, but he makes a very important distinction that is basically yes indeed faith is the essential piece. We must absolutely live by faith; however, faith without works is dead. That distinction has not always been popular throughout the journey in the history of the Christian faith. Even the reformer Martin Luther would have preferred to omit James from the canon of Scripture because Martin Luther, among other things, held a conviction of solo fide, it’s faith alone…faith alone that saves you. James wouldn’t argue with that, he would just say, “there’s a way of evidencing that you have faith, and that is how you live your life, your works. You can say whatever you want to say but there are ways of speaking that are far more powerful than words. Anybody can say anything, but you live what you actually believe.” So, the reformer Martin Luther may have called a letter of James, a letter of straw, but James probably couldn’t, wouldn’t have cared less. Because we’re about to hear a new tone in the Scripture. James is very, very forthright, very direct, very…attempting to be very clear so that there are no misunderstandings. And, so, we really are entering into the portion of Scripture that is about probably to kick our butt. And our butts will be kicked throughout James and the letters of Peter. So let’s just get ready for that and let’s just be grateful for it out in front because sometimes it’s the things that challenge us or disrupt us or kick our butt that make us stand up and wrestle with it and move forward instead of staying stagnant. And, so, with that, let’s begin. James chapter 1 verses 1 through 18.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another day, another day of life and another day to be in community together in Your word. And we thank You for this new territory, this letter of James that is certain to challenge us. It challenges me every year. And, so, we welcome that. We often try to minimize disruption and challenge and anything that we might have to endure, anything that we might have to go through even though it’s the very thing that will make us stronger. We try to avoid those things but we’re grateful that in the Scriptures You confront everything, You touch everything. You move into whatever is going on with us and force us to ask the right questions about where we’re headed and we’re grateful that James begins to unpack that this very day by telling us when our faith is tested our endurance has a chance to grow. And we should let that happen. We should let it grow because if our endurance is completely developed, we’ll be perfect and complete, needing nothing. We’re also told that if we need wisdom, which we do, we’re to ask You Father and You will give it to us generously You’re not gonna rebuke us for asking for wisdom. So, we’re asking for wisdom. Give us wisdom as we move into this new territory in the Bible and as we move into this new territory in the world. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here as I say most all the time. So, stay tuned and stay connected.

We are doing the Global Campfire initiative right now and that will come to an end tomorrow. And that is just the converging of a few things, like I shared last week. The Heart album, Heart a contemplative journey that we released in July really came at a time that it was needed. And, so, just a lot of really, really wonderful feedback about things that God did through that project and continues to do through that project. And then there was the reemergence or reawakening a new affection for an old technology, that being vinyl albums and just the love to…the love for having album artwork and stuff available kind of how they…how it used to be. And then there’s the Daily Audio Bible app that we are pouring in sowing resource into continually with the objective that it continues to become the portal, it continues to become the way that no matter where we are, it’s just in our back pocket or in our purse. We have a way to be connected no matter what. And, so, we pressed up some vinyl of the Heart album and we’re just inviting anyone while the supplies last. And they’re about by gone. Anyone who can give $100 or more into this initiative, specifically earmarked to sow deeper into app development, then we want to send you the Heart album on vinyl. I want to say it’s a collector’s edition because it’s beautiful. It’s something to treasure. I think I said it a few days ago and I hadn’t planned to say it but when I said it I was like, “that rings true.” It’s one thing we can hold onto from 2020 and say this was a good thing. And there are many things in hindsight, we will see about 2020 that are a good thing, but a lot of…a lot of us are gonna acknowledge it was a difficult trip around the sun, to say the least. But this is a bright spot in that. So, here’s how you get there. Go to dailyaudiobible.com or open up the Daily Audio Bible app. If you are at the website at the .com look for Initiatives. Click Initiatives and you’ll find the Global Campfire initiative. If you’re in the app push the little icon in the upper left-hand corner, it’s a drawer that will open up, press Initiatives and you’ll find the Global Campfire initiative. And I thank you. I thank you profoundly for your partnership.

If you have a prayer request or encouragement you can use the very app that we’re talking about here. One of the things that we were able to incorporate in the last year because of the continued building is the Hotline button and that’s the little red button of the top. And I talk about it all the time. You press that no matter where you are in the world and you can…you can share, you can reach out, you can pray, you can ask for prayer right there. So, that’s what you do or if you prefer, 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.