Category: DAB Transcripts

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7, Colossians 2:8-23, Psalms 78:1-31, Proverbs 24:26

Today is the 6^th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure. It is awesome to be here with you as we walk through the threshold of a brand-new week together. And this will be our first full week of this month of October and I’m excited to see what’s in store for us as we continue our journey through the Scriptures this year. This week we’ll read from the New International Version and pick up right where we left off, which will take us into the book of Jeremiah today, chapter 6 verse 16 through 8 verse 7.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for that proverb because…because that’s what it feels like You give us every day that we engage in this rhythm of allowing Your word to speak into our lives, it feels like an honest answer and some days it’s the only honest answer we get. And, so, we thank You for Your kindness. We thank You for the voice of wisdom in our lives, we thank You for Your patience and Your grace and mercy over us. And, so, Father as we move into this new week, we look for the honest answers that we find in Your word and we ask Your Holy Spirit to help us recognize the truth. In fact, we surrender and follow You as You would lead us into all truth, which is the promise. And, so, we accept. Come Holy Spirit, lead us in all of our thoughts, words, and deeds in this week we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, it’s where you find out what’s happening around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected in any way that you can or in any way that you want too. It’s always there so there is always a home base.

So, yeah, use the Prayer Wall. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Ask for prayer. Visit the Shop. Visit the community section of the website and get connected on social media. Just stay connected in any way that you can.

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

And, as always, if you have a prayer request a comment there are a number of ways to reach out. You can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top and just start…just start sharing your story or there are a number of numbers that you can dial. If you’re in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you’re in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number or if you are in Australia or the lands down under 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning Daily audio Bible listeners this is Gina from Orlando again. This morning I would like to pray for all who were struggling with hurt - emotional, physical, mental or even spiritual. Father God, please comfort us Your children, please fill our heart because You are the only one that can do a complete healing. Father God You know everything about us, please hear and answer because sometimes the pain is so unbearable, we can’t put it into words. Lord, I pray that You would deliver us from any bitterness, envy, unknown pride and anything else that would estrange us from Your presence. With that said Father God, please give us an added sense of Your presence during our trials and trying times. Lord God if any pain we are experiencing is because of unforgiveness or unconfessed sin God please forgive us and please reveal so that we can repent. Lord God, I pray that You would create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us today. Lord please also give us a heart of flesh that is soft toward You and desires to do Your will. Lord today I also pray that everyone listening would be filled with Your overwhelming joy and peace that Your goodness and mercy will be with us continually also. Lord for myself I ask for direction with finances and the ability to hear You clearly. Father please bless and protect Brian and Jill, all those that pray without ceasing, and those in the DAB community. Thank You Lord for an opportunity and a privilege to pray. In Jesus’ name I ask all these things. Amen. Be blessed Daily Audio Bible, be blessed.

Hello, my name is Susan I’m calling from Plano Illinois. This is my first time calling. I have been a listener for over 11 years and this call mainly is just to introduce myself. I keep hesitating to call. I don’t know why but Brian’s new little button has made a change for that. So, it’s so much easier to call and I can’t let the enemy change my mind. Normally I listen to the Daily Audio Bible while I’m driving to work. So, I can’ always write down the prayer requests but I pray for those as I’m listening to them and there are special ones that stick out in my mind especially those suffering from anxiety, children, or family members or friends who have committed suicide. I just pray for all of you guys. I love you. I recognize voices right off the bat, a lot of the you. First of all I want to thank Brian and Jill and his family and all those behind the scenes who make this possible because it has meant so much to all of us. And I just want to say hi and thank you to all the prayer warriors that call in on a regular basis - Annette from Oklahoma City, Blind Tony I love your poems, Victoria Soldier, Slave of Jesus, Pastor Gene I haven’t heard from you for a while, Lee from New Jersey, Jay from Nashville, Candace from Oregon, Diane Olive Brown, His Little Cherry, Alfaro from Delaware, Tony the Painter I haven’t heard from you for a while or Mark Straight haven’t heard from you for a while, Walta the Burning Bush, Angel from California, Rebecca from Michigan, Biola. I love you guys. I just wanted to introduce myself and say hi. I’ve ordered my God of Your Story. Thank you, Brian. You are amazing. God bless all of you and I love you.

Hey guys. How you doing? This is John the Prodigal. I’m calling. I need your help. I need your prayers. Just got terribly depressing call from my son. He’s ready to give up. He thinks he fails at everything. He’s at the end of his rope. He passed out last week at work, went to the hospital, he’s been at the hospital. He just seems to fail at everything he does, and he beats the crap out of himself. He’s a lot like his dad. And I just wish and ask him that you pray for him. He’s beaten drugs, he’s turned his life around, but he just needs a little help from God. So, just going to ask you to pray for him please. Please pray. I’m praying as hard as I can. I’m doing everything I can and I’m…I’m not doing too good as you all know but please pray for my son Jake. Love you all. God bless you all. You make it a great day. I’m out.

Good morning family this is Mikayla from Gloucester in the UK it is Thursday the 3^rd of October and it has long been on my heart to pray for our leaders in our countries and I was reminded of this a couple weeks ago when our speaker at church spoke on the start of one Timothy two. First of all then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior who desires all people to be saved and to the come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all which is a testimony given at the proper time. Father God, thank you so much for our leaders and those who are in positions of power and authority and influence. Lord I pray especially for the following people and those who represent: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Justin Trudue, Sevaale Ramaphoso, Scott Morrison, Angela Merkel, Stefan Lufan, Jusenda Aarden, Shizoo Abby, Paul Bia, Mohammed Bihari, Burness Oberg, Immanuel Metatron, Vladimir Putin Andrea’s Manwell Lupus Obradoor, Hun Sun, Lee Ji Ping, Gamneth Kuvend, Moon Jain, and Kim Jaun. Lord, there are so many I haven’t mentioned and we lift them up to you as well and I just pray that…that you would be guiding…

Hello family this is Kenny in Ohio. I was just listening to the September 27^th podcast and in the Ephesians 5 where it talks about husbands to love their wives and in comparison to Jesus and His sacrifice for the church and I was just, I’ve read that multiple, you know, 10s to 20s of times but when Brian was reading it from the Voice Translation it just hit home that…that I am, you know, not loving my wife as that and I just need the Holy Spirit to transform me into having that sacrificial love. I just pray over all the husbands and wives as we just read Ephesians and just thank you. Love you all. Bye.

Hi DAB family this is Kimberly from Maryland and I’m asking for a covenant of prayer to go over my friend Donna and Reggie and Marcus. And Marcus has conflicting diseases and needs a kidney and just really really praying at this juncture for a miracle. And if you all could all lift him up in prayer and Marcus I really really appreciate it. Love you all. Talk to you later.

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15, Colossians 1:18-2:7, Psalms 77:1-20, Proverbs 24:23-25

Today is the 5^th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we close the books on another one of our weeks together and this would be the first weekend in the month of October, the final quarter of the year and I’m still moving into this month. I can’t believe that we’re in October. But it’s an exciting time and it’s an exciting time to be here with you as we take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we moved into Jeremiah this week and we also moved into the letter to the Colossians this week and that’s what we will end week with, taking the next step forward in these writings. So, first, Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 19 through 6 verse 15. And we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. And again, as we do so often when we come to the end of the week, we mark the time, we thank You for bringing us this far, we thank You for bringing us through this week, we thank You for bringing us into this month and as the days go by, we thank You for Your faithfulness to us and Your kindness and Your love that is beyond description and beyond comprehension. Thank You for Your patience with us as we continue to walk this path of faith and we invite Your Holy Spirit to plant the word that we’ve heard this week into the soil of our lives. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website it is home base and it’s how you stay connected. And, so…so, do stay connected.

Reminding you of the new resource that we’ve been talking about for the last couple of days, the God of Your Story, which is a 365 day devotional comprised of a written form of the kind of commentary that we do every day here on the Daily Audio Bible and really a representation of all that we’ve learned together over the years. So, I am praying that everybody who considers themselves a part of this community gets a copy of this resource, not only for what it is and for what it can do in our lives, but also because all of it goes to support the efforts of keeping this going seven days a week every day without fail. So, thank you for your partnership in that.

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

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning family this is Shannon from Salem Oregon. I have a praise report and prayer request to share with you. I had applied to a lot of school counselor positions, 13 to be exact. I had five interviews. I was a finalist for two and I wasn’t selected for any of them. However, the one where the principal called to recruit me to apply for that counselor position, she ended up asking me to apply for a long-term sub position in her building and I didn’t think I could because I don’t have the right license for that. My license admits me to 10 consecutive days of something and this was over a six-week position. But she helped me to get the license that I need to do that. And, so, I took that position and in my first full week. It’s been a big challenge. So that’s part of my prayer request. The kids…there are several really just strong behavior issues in that classroom. The classroom itself isn’t really a classroom. It was a reading room and so it’s very small, so we don’t have a lot of room for movement and things which second graders need. There’s a lot of other challenges which I won’t go into, but I just want to ask you for your prayers. I’m still in my master’s program for school counseling as well. So, being a full-time employee and a full-time student and having a family, it’s…it’s really tiring and I’m sick right now. You might be able to hear my voice I have a sinus infection and/or probably some kind of virus. So, please pray. My husband travels two weeks at a time every month to England for his work also. Please pray for us thank you. Bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this Sierra Tango Papa on the Eastern front and just praising God for all that He’s doing in the amazing amazing things that I’m seeing Him move through and in. I just…as I listen to all the prayer requests, one of the things that is so evident is that we are all in process. There is struggle and strive and trial. God wants to be there with us. He wants to walk through that process with us and that’s where we grow and that’s where we have life, that’s where we change and are transformed. And He ask that we join with Him and that His word be that center pole, that north star, that guiding light. So, I just pray for you all, that you’ll just join with me to just press into God and see what He’s doing and join Him in the process and just allow His victory to come through in every situation. I love you all and I’m praying for you all and I know that God is moving in ways that you just can’t even imagine. Looking forward to hearing your story. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Stephanie the Lord’s Chic in Enid Oklahoma. Just wanted to let everybody know that Shane who has the stage for lymphoma is home. He got in last night. And I just want a big shout out to the Portland DABbers - Margie and Jim and Rob - who went out of their way. You guys didn’t know us from Adam and you went and you ministered to him and you brought him food and encouraged him. So, it’s gonna be a long journey. I walked right past him in the airport. I did not recognize my own son because he had lost so much weight and lost his hair. So, if you all would keep us in prayer that the hoops that we’re gonna jump through with insurance and, you know, chemo, and paying for things while that’s pending, we would really appreciate it. But gosh, I can’t believe that through this ministry that people were actually able to put hands on him and touch him and hug his neck while he was in a place where he was alone. You guys are amazing! May God bless you all back a thousand times. And just keep us in your prayers please. It’s gonna be a long road yet. All right. God bless.

Hi Daily Audio Bible my name is Crystal I’m from Illinois. This is my second year listening to Daily Audio Bible and I just love coming into this community in the word every day. This is my first time calling. It’s truly been like a renewing time just in the last year and a half that I’ve been listening, especially since last year was my first time reading through the Bible as a whole and it’s been a spiritual turning point for me. So, thank you Daily Audio Bible and Brian and Jill just for all you guys do. I do have a few prayer requests. First, for my husband Paul who works with my brother-in-law. They’re contractors and their company has had a hard time lately just running into a lot of obstacles and things going wrong. So, just prayer for them for strength, for renewed faith, for…just them to continue to look to God through it all and grow. And also, for my daughter Bella. She is a kindergartner and has had some very grown-up questions lately and is struggling a lot with fear and she’s super smart, but just prayers that she continues to understand the character of God and just grow her young faith. And then prayers for my friend Allura. She has not been able to find a job lately and she needs a new place to live in less than a couple weeks and she has a new faith in Jesus. So, just prayers for her through all of those trials right now because that’s just been a huge struggle for. And then lastly, my right shoulder was injured a few weeks ago and I’m out of work right now. So, healing for me so that I can get back to work. Thank you, guys. Love you all.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. I just wanted to lift up Carl in prayer today. Heavenly Father I ask that You move into Carl’s life in a way that he could feel Your presence. Lord surround him with love. Help them to know that love comes from You and to recognize when the enemy is lying to him and telling him that he’s worthless. Please help him to find meaningful work and a safe place to live. Protect him, protect his sweet dog. Thank You, Lord. You care about us. In Jesus name. Amen.

Jeremiah 2:31-4:18, Colossians 1:1-17, Psalms 76:1-12, Proverbs 24:21-22

Today is the 4^th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today as we continue our journey through the Scriptures this year. And as we transition into this new month, we’ve been doing a little bit of transition as we close and open new books, so we concluded the book of Isaiah and began the book of Jeremiah yesterday while at the same time concluding Paul’s letter to the Philippians yesterday. So, we’ll continue our journey in Jeremiah but when we get to the New Testament portion of our reading, we’ll begin a new letter, Paul’s letter to the Colossians, but first we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible. Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 31 through 4 verse 18 today.

Introduction to the book of Colossians:

Okay. So, as we just mentioned a little bit ago we’re entering another of Paul’s letters today. This is the 12^th book, although not all of the writings in the New Testaments are books per se. This is the 12^th distinct different writing that we’re encountering in the New Testament and it’s written by the apostle Paul to the Colossians. So, this city, Colossae wasn’t unfamiliar Paul. It was a city maybe a hundred miles from Ephesus. And Ephesus is a place that Paul spent a lot of time, several years. And archaeologists have found the ruins of ancient Colossae in the western part of what is now modern-day Turkey. But even though they’ve been identified, and this is true in lots of places in Israel as well, even though they’ve been…you know…there’s been like some preliminary digging and research there hasn’t been…like Colossae is not a ruin that you can go and get an interpreted visit to, but during Paul’s life Colossae wasn’t an abandoned ruin. It was a cultural stew, a lot of mingling of philosophical and religious ideas. And, so, a lot of that had kind of made its way as a part of the conversation into the Colossian church. And, so, Paul’s letter was written as a response. And just like Ephesians and Philippians, the letters that we’ve just recently concluded, Colossians for the most part is considered to be another of Paul’s letters that were written from prison in Rome while he was waiting…awaiting an audience…a trial before the Emperor. And this letter to the Colossians kind of…kind of breaks down into two sections. The first part of the letter is his doctrinal in nature. So, there are people who that come into the church who were teaching a form of angelic worship and other rituals. And Paul addressed this by basically reiterating that Jesus is supreme over everything, over all of creation. I mean, He wrote that the universe itself was created by and through Jesus and is sustained and continues to exist through His Lordship. So, he’s been pretty clear that worshiping lesser things, right? I mean, same story. Like we’ve been through the story so many times in the Bible and yet don’t we find ourselves turning to so many other things for life. So, it’s still a problem that we deal with today. But then Paul also addressed the circumcised versus uncircumcised controversy that…well…it seems to show up in most of the letters to different…to differing degrees. And this issue would find its way to Colossae and as usual, Paul shared his views about the matter. So, we have the benefit…like we’re reading these letters in succession…we have the benefit of a collection of Paul’s letters, so it allows us to see the different challenges and for that matter the different victories and encouragements of the early church because Paul's…well because the issues are common and Paul’s writing individual letters to a lot of people where a lot of the same territory is covered. The thing is, even though we can see this being common in the early church, these challenges are still with us in one form or another. So, as we read Paul’s letters, we can also experience growth and correction in our own lives, provided that we kinda understand the context of what’s going on. So, understanding the Colossians was written by a man awaiting a life or death judgment, like the other prison letters, allow them to carry some weight, some gravity. Colossians is a magnificent testimony to the Lordship of Jesus in our lives and…and because of that Lordship the implications, the overwhelming reality of what that Lordship offers to humanity, to all who believe. And, so, we begin. Colossians chapter 1 verses 1 through 17 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us into the conclusion of another week and we thank You for transitioning us this week into new territory, from Isaiah to Jeremiah, from Philippians to Colossians. Holy Spirit as we continue this territory through books of prophecy and these letters of the apostle Paul we ask that You would continue to be a lamp for our feet, a light to our path, that You would lead us on the narrow path that leads to life, that You would lead us into all truth as You promised. And, so plant these words that we’ve read deep into our lives today and may our hearts be fertile soil so that the fruit of the Spirit can grow freely. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And one of the biggest things that we have ever offered, ever had to offer, one of the greatest resources that represents the Daily Audio Bible, probably the greatest resource that represents the Daily Audio Bible that I can even think of is what’s going on around here…and it’s got a name - The One Year Adventure with the God of Your Story. And I’ve talked about it for a couple of days. This is a…basically a written version of the kinds of things that we talk about every day here on the Daily Audio Bible as we reflect on what it is that we have read. And, so, I mean this was a desire probably showing up on my radar a decade ago, but not like a burning desire like this has gotta be done now, but it became that way and I talked all about that in the fireside chat a couple days ago. And once I started writing I thought, you know, this would be fairly…it’s gonna be time-consuming, but it’s gonna be a breeze, but it wasn’t a breeze. It was…it was hard-fought every single day because…just because you can say something doesn’t mean you can write it and trying to go back and work through, you know, 13 years of what you’ve said for every single given day and find a path and then rework that so that it reads instead of something that you would listen to became very, very long project, 600 days of writing. And I don’t mean like 600 days like over the course of, you know, 10 years. I mean 600 days over the course of two years. So, pretty much writing every day for two years on this…on this project and I gave it my all. I mean, this is something that represents us, this is something that came from us, this is what we do here as a community every day. And, so, I gave it my best. And I mean, I can truly say, yes, what we do on a the Daily Audio Bible, I don’t know why…I don’t know why that the Lord has allowed us to be here doing this but I’m very, very grateful and I’ve been at this for like 5000 days now. So, I’ve seen that what God is doing through it is very very fruitful and I believe that that will be true of the God of Your Story as well because reading it in written form as well as hearing it with your ear…like this is very strong stuff for the person who’s wanting to go through the Bible in a year, which is…which is what we do here at the Daily Audio Bible. So, as I’ve mentioned over the last couple of days it is a memorial to all that God has done in and through all of us as we’ve been a part of this community over the years. It represents us to the world and it is my prayer, my earnest prayer that everyone in this community will have it and that’s a tedious little thing to say because it can very…be easily construed like I want everybody to have it because it’s going to do something for me but it’ not. I have given myself to this project and I have given everything that we would sell through the Daily Audio Bible shop, everything is being given back to this community. Like, I am in this all the way because I am so grateful to even be here. So, the God of Your Story I think is a treasure, at least in terms of the Daily Audio Bible and the Daily Audio Bible community but is also a resource that is directly supporting the efforts of keeping this going every single day. And, so, it’s my prayer that everyone who’s listening to me can have a copy of this. It’s available at dailyaudiobible.com in the Daily Audio Bible shop. You can go to godofyourstory.com and it will take you there. As I mentioned yesterday, my other latest two books, Reframe and Sneezing Jesus, those are available for five dollars each, as many of them as you want while supplies last when you get the God of Your Story. And this is…this is as inexpensive as we’ll ever be able to make these resources. This is what it costs. I pray you will take advantage of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage or there’s a button in the app in the upper right-hand corner and it just says, “Give” or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

As always, we’re a community, we’re just talking about this, we’re a community and yes we go through the Scriptures together every day, it’s the rhythm of our lives and we talk about it but we also pray for one another and it's…it’s another one of those things where you look at it and go, “how did this happen?” And yet brothers and sisters who are all over the world who may never, ever, ever share space like in the same room in this life reach out in Spirit and pray for one another and actually care about the stories. And, so, if you’re shouldering burdens that you shouldn’t be carrying by yourself, then reach out. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can reach out as easily as just pushing the Hotline button, the little red button up at the top. Start talking. Or if you prefer to call the…I was gonna say the mailing address…the phone number is 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 evening family this is Michaela from Gloucester in the UK and it is Monday the 30^th of September and I want to say a big thank you to Larry because…because you were lifting up and the lady from the UK who is going through a work issue and because I’m a lady in the UK going through a work issue. I kind of took that prayer for myself. But thank you for your prayers for Abby in London. And then thank you so much for your prayers about Christians in Europe and also for Brexit in the UK because I’ve been praying my hair out, scratching my head not knowing what to do with the whole situation and the only thing I have been able to do is pray and we do value your prayers so much. And…and yeah…Abby from London, if I’ve got your name wrong, I apologize but because I’ve been going through my own work issue I’ve…all…many of us if not all of us have been lifting you up in prayer and you are not alone and God is with you and He will get you through this. And I have a praise report myself. I had a big meeting this morning. So, that’s why Larry, your…your prayers really hit the spot because I needed that encouragement this morning and it went well, best possible outcome really. I still have a job and there’s still a lot of things I need to be working on, but I’ve got that opportunity. And, yes, and also another praise report. You guys prayed for a Bible study I was leading quite a few years ago now and one of the girls has been…she’s grown-up now…I think about 18, 19 now, but she’s been coming along to church regularly on a Sunday. So, thank you so much for your prayers for her. I hope you have a good day. Bye.

Hi this is Rachel. I wanted to pray for Carl. Dear God, please help Carl to feel Your love and to feel like he is important and that his life has value. Please help him to find his place and to be able to turn his life around and become, you know, more stable and on his feet. Please bless him financially, you know, let him know that You hear his prayers and that You are a true living God and not an empty, you know, an empty idol or something, that You do love him and You do care about him and You do answer prayer. So, please I want to lift Carl up. Please get rid of his depression, you know, just take it away completely and give him new life and a new Spirit and…and turn things around for him. And Carl I just want to let you know that there are, you know, listeners from the Daily Audio Bible that…that do pray, we do here your prayers. Sometimes they’re not aired after the…the readings and they’re aired in the community prayer, but we are still here and we’re listening and we’re praying for you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is B calling from Dublin. I’m a two-year listener I think on my third year now actually. I’ve never really called in as often as I would’ve loved to. And, so, this is maybe my third time of calling in. I just felt the need to first of all give a shout out and prayers to the people who call in so regularly and pray for us all, people like Biola from Maryland, Blind Tony, Victoria Soldier, Slave of Jesus, Pastor Gene. You know, I love you and I thank you for all the prayers that you pray for the community for individuals. I just want to encourage you that your labor of love has not gone unnoticed by God and I just feel in my Spirit this morning and this is why I’m calling, to pray over your lives an anointing of the ease, that you have an anointing of the ease over many projects and things and tasks that you may have to accomplish in the next couple of days, that you will receive peace from God and peace of God wherever you go and indeed in your lives nothing shall be missing, nothing shall be broken. Also, overall, Brian and Jill, I pray the same for you. You are the orchestrator of all of us coming together at this Global Campfire as you like to call it. So, thank you so much for answering the call of God, for obeying to put up the Daily Audio Bible. And thank you for allowing us to follow you as you follow Christ. Finally, I just wanted to say to everyone else, if I’ve not mentioned you it’s not because your less important, I just, you know, don’t…don’t remember all the names. But if you do have a connection to this family and you’ve fed from this family I believe you should give to this family…

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Prophetic Intercessor from North Carolina. I haven’t called in such a long time, but I’m determined to finish out the year strong with DAB. I was calling specifically to lift up caregivers. I was talking to an aunt of mine caring for her sister, which is another aunt and she was so weary and so tired and so downtrodden. And then this morning when I listened to the prayer…prayers on October 1^st there was another lady who was talking about taking care of her 94-year-old mother. So, I just want to lift up caregivers this morning. Father in the name of Jesus I come before you to lift up every caregiver in the Daily Audio Bible community. I bring them before you now God and I ask that you would endow them with supernatural strength and comfort on today. God, I ask that the angels would be dispatched into their homes God, to breath a fresh wind of air through that home Lord that would bring encouragement, that would bring peace. God, in the name of Jesus I break off every spirit of heaviness of weariness of depression and oppression. And God, I pray that you would exchange that for your peace, exchange it for your strength, exchange it for your comfort. And where they’ve been failing in the hearts oh God, I pray that you would renew them Lord for you said in your word that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall walk and not grow weary, they shall run and not faint. And God and I pull down eagles wings this morning to attach to their backside God. Send angels into their room God to breathe healing upon them, not only upon their loved ones but upon them God. I come against every manner of sickness and disease and I apply the stripes of Jesus Christ and I pray that the healing balm of Gilead would touch you today and touch your loved one from the crown of their heads to the soles of their feet. Be encouraged. Know that God is the lifter of her head and the strength of your days and He is your dwelling place in all generations. May the…

Hi guys this is Gerta calling from Germany again. I wanted to share a way way beautiful story with you. Today I went to the __. I took my bike and __ station and I fixed it there with a chain that it holds and nobody can take. And on the other side as I waited for the __ I saw a little man going down and doing something on a screw and I went over and asked him what he’s doing there. And he said, “I’ve seen it a few times.” And he’s all by himself. He really really really must be fixing it for me. And I thought that’s so lovely. And the issue was I knew the holder for the protection of the chain over the bike was one screw was lose and I thought, where do I get this screw and how it can affect said. And, so, I want to say thank you Jesus. God is taking care little little small things in unexpected moments where you don’t really think on it and I don’t really believe that somebody’s interested and still know how to fix it or because I didn’t want to buy 30 of 50 screw only to fix one. And, so, thinking about where do I get i? God takes care of little things. Trust Him in moments we don’t expect Him. So, okay thanks again for the program. I enjoyed it with the poems from Blind Tony and stay blessed. So, thank you. Have a wonderful time speak to you soon. Bye. Thanks, Brian for everything

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Megan from California just wanted to call and to thank you all for your prayers for my marriage. I’ve been just so blown away. I’m blessed. It’s still just an ongoing battle and struggle but I really feel the presence of the Lord and I just so appreciate you all lifting me up. I wanted to share an incredible story of the Lord’s love despite a very difficult destructive marriage. On the 27^th of September my husband called me while I was listening to the Daily Audio Bible and as you know if you’re listening on the app it interrupts the DAB. And I took the call and it was really damaging conversation and really destructive. And, so, when the call ended it picked right back up. And September 27^th, you know, we were reading through the passage in Ephesians of wives submitting to their husbands and husbands loving their wives and Brian’s commentary, I felt like he was speaking to me and it was just so encouraging when he says, you know why wives, we talked about husband’s being Jesus to their wives and then he says wives, you know, let’s think about sacrifice. I wrote it down. His commentary was so good. That’s what Jesus did for you. Not every woman in this world but you…you His desire and love compelled Him forward. He loved you that much. That’s how much you are loved and that’s how you are to submit to your husbands as you would to the Lord which does not mean you are supposed to be abused. That’s not how Jesus treats you. That’s not how you’re supposed to be treated. That’s not God’s intention for you. What’s being revealed here is that if your husband is loving you as Christ loved the church then you have a have to respond to that respectfully as you would to Jesus. And I just am so thankful for Brian’s commentary, for this app, and how does just this community’s love…

Jeremiah 1:1-2:30, Philippians 4:1-23, Psalms 75:1-10, Proverbs 24:17-20

Today is the 3^rd day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is a pleasure…a pleasure to keep moving into this new month and keep moving forward, day by day step-by-step, and the steps have brought us to crossroads, a crossroads that the entire 66 times each year and that is the threshold of a new book. So, in the Old Testament, we have concluded the book of Isaiah, which leads us now into one of the most intriguing books of prophecy that is in the Bible and it’s found in the Old Testament and it’s called Jeremiah.

Introduction to the book of Jeramiah:

And it’s intriguing partly because of Jeremiah himself. He was committed to obeying God but not like everything that he was being asked to do. And there were plenty of times he wanted to just, you know, throw the whole thing out and wash his hands of it all and walk away because it seemed nobody was listening to him. And it wasn’t all in his head. Israel and turned her back on God and for more than two decades Jeremiah seemed to be the lone voice warning everybody that this path, this path is going nowhere and it’s not gonna be a pleasant end, which often led Jeremiah to be in conflict with the people. So, like the voice of judgment, a prophetic voice of an impending judgment isn’t really, it’s not easy to receive when everything’s going well. And, so, Jeremiah is prophesying at a time when powerful people and business is going right, and prosperity is happening. And, so, people were getting fed up with Jeremiah, but he was faithful to God and through all that, through the marginalization and persecution and trial he stayed faithful and he was right. His warnings were accurate. The Babylonian Empire and we’ve read of the Babylonian conquest in other books as we’ve wound our way here, but as we go into the book of Jeremiah we need to go before that happened. So, the Babylonian Empire invaded the land in 587 BC and then Jerusalem fell in that conquest and Solomon’s Temple which is known as the first Temple was utterly destroyed. And, so, as we go into the book of Jeremiah, we go back into the time leading up to that and we’ve been reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week, which is what we’ll continue to do. Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 30 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we began our journey through the book of Jeremiah today and we talked about a little bit of its context as we went into it.

And we also concluded Paul’s letter to the Philippians today. And Philippians concludes with some of the most famous portions of Scripture in the New Testament. And man every year, we get to this chapter and it’s a power packed, and I look at these verses and apply what Paul is saying and I’m like, “man I can see the places where I haven’t done this and I can see the places where I have” and he’s right. So, we quote this one particular passage to each other quite a bit, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” And this is one of the blinking signposts that we talk about nearly every year that we pass this territory, I guess in part because every time every time I pass this territory it’s a blinking light for me. Yes, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding is promised here, the kind of peace that is beyond our understanding and guards our hearts and minds. So, no wonder we would quote that verse to each other but we kinda quoted to each other, like “if…if you just remember…like…if you would just memorize this Scripture then it will happen for you.” Like, we just try to remind each other “just remember the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind.” That’s not how this works, though. That’s the thing. That’s why it’s a blinking light. Paul as he’s prone to do lists out some things that are prerequisites and post requisites, if that’s a word and this idea that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” that’s sandwiched in the middle, like that’s the filling. So, can we go back through this again because I don’t think it’s just a blinking light for me. I don’t think we come to this passage of Scripture every year and it’s just like, “well I got that last year and I’ve kinda mastered that and I don’t really need to read this anymore.” So, we’re talking about the peace of God. And we’re talking about the kind of peace that is so deeply inside of us that it is really hard for us to describe or name or understand it, but it's…it’s undeniable and it guards us, it guards our hearts. So, here’s the path to that. “Rejoice in the Lord always.” I will say it again. “Rejoice. Let your graciousness been known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there’s any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.” So, there it is. There it is, that famous passage of Scripture in its context. Although I would say the entire passage is famous but there it is. Like there’s nothing esoteric here, right? There’s nothing we got a really, really deeply dive into to find out exactly what the context is and what people were thinking. Like, this is pretty straight forward. Here. There is a posture of heart that puts us in the right mind, the right place, to become aware of the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding that is guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. If we’re not going to live into that posture, that we just reviewed, that we just read again, well…then we can’t just spout off to people, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds” not if you’re not rejoicing in the Lord, not if you’re not letting your graciousness be known to everyone, not if you’re not aware that the Lord is near, not if you’re worried about everything, and you’re not in a conversation with God. So, let’s understand that this is a collaboration, that we have a role to play, that we have responsibilities that were supposed to live up to hear. But it’s all available. And then at the very, very end of the letter as Paul’s kind of signing off, he says something that’s very, very, very, famous, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And it’s doubtful that he would be saying that if you were not practicing the posture that he’s instructing us to live into in order to experience the peace of God. So, when Paul says, “I’m able to do all things through Christ”, he is actually talking about a different matter. He’s talking about how he has survived and how the Philippians have supported him, and how they’ve kinda been one of the only ones who did. And he’s just blessing them for that at the same time saying how much it was necessary. And that’s when he says, “I’ve learned how to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.” Alright, let’s just pause there for second. “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.” How many days a week can you say that? I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know both how to make do with little and I know how to make do with a lot.” Man, we’re all…we’re all wanting to be in that place of contentment no matter what’s going on, right? Paul’s like, “whether I have been well fed or whether I was hungry, whether I was in abundance or in need, I found the secret of being content. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And one of Paul’s major points all along was, without Christ, everything, everything is a loss. Everything I’ve tried to do doesn’t matter. And, so he’s found this contentment by focusing his attention and his heart, aiming his posture toward what is good and worth thinking about. And worry and anxiety, all of those things that kind of plague us will, according to Paul, in the light of the fact that we are hopelessly dependent upon God then all of the stress and worry and anxiety that we focus so much of our attention on and that consumes so much of our lives isn’t really worth thinking about anyway and it definitely does not lead to peace. So, we have to learn the same things Paul is learning as he signs off this letter. In our own strength we are so limited, but we can do all things through Christ. And a lot of times when I hear that Scripture quoted, you know, it's…it’s a rallying cry. It’s like a word of encouragement to help someone rise up and fight on. But Paul’s kind of in a place where he’s in jail, he could die, and this is ultimate surrender. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And maybe another way of looking at this is, “Christ can do in me and through me whatever He wants. I will not limit him in any way by all of the other stuff I am obsessed about. I will focus on what is good and true and pure. I will allow myself to become aware that Christ is in me and there is nowhere that I can flee from his Spirit and I will become aware of the peace that that brings knowing that in my own surrender I have simply acknowledged my inability to be sovereign and I surrender to the sovereign Lord who can do whatever He wants through me.”

Prayer:

Holy Spirit we invite You into that. We want all of the promises, we want to be able to do all things through Christ. We want the peace of God that passes all understanding but we’re not always aware that this isn’t an add on. It’s not like we read these Scriptures and somehow, they become like an energy pack that we can just stir in the water and drink and all the sudden we become superhuman. This is about our becoming aware of how powerless we actually are and how unmatched unparalleled Your power is within us. Come Holy Spirit make this real for us. Lead us into all truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, of course and its home base, of course, and it’s where you find out what’s going on around…going…that was funny…I got like totally tongue-tied…going on around here.

And what is going on around here is what we were talking about yesterday. We have a new resource available, a resource that is perfectly aligned with the Daily Audio Bible, and really in so many ways contains so much of the heart of the Daily Audio Bible that…that it’s something very very unique and special for this community and it’s called the God of Your Story. And even though it’s a fantastic resource throughout the world, it was born out of our community, it was born out of us and what we do in this rhythm having the Bible in our lives and talking about it every day. And, so, the God of your story, which is its full name is the one-year adventure with the God of your story. And, so, we’ve published that in conjunction with the one-year brand. like the one-year Bible. And there are many one-year, 365 days devotionals that exist in the world but this one is the only one of its kind. It’s never been done before. And now I know why, because it was a far greater challenge than I had been anticipating. And yet it should’ve come from us, it should’ve come from this environment, this community because this is what we do. We go through the one-year Bibl every year. And we talk about it. We’ve been doing this for 14 years. And, so…so, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to create a one year devotional, January 1^st through December 31^st that actually comments on the reading from the one year Bible. which is just what we do here, right? So, I couldn’t be more excited about that partnership, but this finally gives us something tangible that is written down and has been carefully loved every single day to work through the whole Bible as we do on the Daily Audio Bible and to have it in written form in a way that we can hold onto and refer to and write in and underline in and take on the journey with us through all of the years of our lives. And, so, that is the God of Your Story, January 1^st through December 31^st through the Bible in a year, writing down the kinds of things, the pathway through the Scripture that we take each year and the kinds of things we talk about. And obviously the Daily Audio Bible is different. I mean it's…it's…it’s a different journey. The Bible is an alive thing and it’s speaking to us each and every day. And, so, every year at the Daily Audio Bible is his different, but I worked really, really, really hard to find the path, to find the commonalities, to find the things that are the anchors that we discuss and the transformation that takes place as we allow the Bible to speak to us every day. And I wrote that down. It took two years, it took 600 days of writing to accomplish but now it is here and now it is available and it is beautiful. It is a beautifully hardbound daily devotional. It’s got a great ribbon to keep place, keep track of where you are. And this hardbound edition is a limited-edition and it’s made to be at timeless treasure. Whether it will be are not for you I can’t say but for me it is, and it’s made to be that. It’s made to be a memorial to all that we done here over these years, all that we’ve collected, all the things that we’ve talked about over the years. And, so, I pray earnestly that everyone…that who’s a part of this community will have…will have a copy of the God of Your story. And as I mentioned yesterday, every copy that…that is sold through the Daily Audio Bible shop, all of it is going to support the Daily Audio Bible. I mean we have to purchase the actual books but all of it, like we can give our margins to Amazon, we can give our margins to lots of things and we do every time we buy something. But here, because this is born of us everything is being sown back into the Daily Audio Bible and the ongoing ministry that we do each day. And that includes me. Like I have skin in this game and it’s not just skin in the game because I wrote it. When an author writes something or when a musician records something or when a songwriter has a song recorded there’s royal…there’s royalties that come back and that's…that’s how these artists make a living, but I am giving all of it, everything that would’ve come to me, is also being donated to the Daily Audio Bible. When you get a copy of the Daily Audio Bible, you’re supporting the Daily Audio Bible, and I am too. Where in this together as we always have been. So, I pray that the community will rise up and support this effort and treasure it because it represents us. And even as it’s being shipped all over the world it’s representing us. So, you can find the God of Your Story in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. One thing that I mentioned a couple days ago on the fireside chat is that we’ve made an arrangement. I have a couple of other books Reframe and Sneezing Jesus that I’ve published with the same publisher. And, so, we have Reframe and Sneezing Jesus available for five dollars each, as many copies as you want. And we can't…like that’s what it costs. So, like we won’t…we won’t ever be able to sell it less than that. So, when you get a copy of the God of Your Story it very tangibly directly supports the Daily Audio Bible and you can get as many copies of these other resources as you want for what they cost. So, grab them while we’ve got them. And I thank you, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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

And, as always, if you have a prayer request a comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial or you can press the aforementioned Hotline button in the app in the upper right-hand corner.

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

Isaiah 66:1-24, Philippians 3:4-21, Ps 74:1-23, Proverbs 24:15-16

Today is the 2^nd day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s a joy and it’s a pleasure and it’s exciting even to be here with you today as we keep moving into this new month and keep taking steps forward together. We’ll complete the book of Isaiah today in our Old Testament reading, which will take us into some new territory beginning tomorrow. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Isaiah chapter 66 today

Commentary:

Okay. So, a bunch of you in this community are married. A bunch of you are not married, but if you are married, then I’d say this a pretty good…better-than-average chance that you have a wedding ring. And, so, like I have a wedding. Like I’m looking at my wedding ring right now. Is that wedding ring…and I’m looking at mine. Look at yours. Is that wedding ring your marriage? So, is that precious metal, whatever it is wrapped around your finger. Is it your marriage? Right? So, like whether it’s exotic and expensive and fantastic or wether it’s super super thin and basic, none of us can say our wedding ring is our marriage. Right? It’s rather a symbol representing the fact that we have entered into marriage. So, actually being married is way different from wearing a symbol of marriage on our finger. And this is fundamentally what Paul is saying in our reading from Philippians today, but fundamentally what he’s been saying throughout all of the writings, what he said throughout his entire ministry, the covenantal relationship that God offered his people had become empty ritual, kind of like a ring without a marriage. So, the heart and the soul and the commitment required of the relationship had become rules. And Paul had tried. So, for Paul obeying the rules even being a scholar of the rules in order to be made righteous before God had proven unfruitful. It didn’t make him righteous. And, you know, we shouldn’t think of the apostle Paul as like some dude that’s kind of a nominal participant in his faith, that’s not what was going on and he was talking about it today, like, “am I a Hebrew? Yes, I’m of the tribe of Benjamin. I was born of Hebrews. Talk about my zeal, I persecuted the…” like he was saying, “I was all in” in other words. He had obeyed the rules with every effort and he still couldn’t find a relationship with God in them. And, so that’s what he was articulating in our reading from Philippians today. Paul was convinced that only the righteous could ever hope to see God. And, so, prior to meeting Jesus the Christ the resurrected One he applied himself to becoming righteous through the rituals and ceremonies of his faith. It just didn’t make them righteous. It revealed his inability to be righteous, which is like the heart, the crux of so much of his theology and so much of his argument. But even though he had tried his very best and found that he couldn’t become righteous through the law someone did fulfill the law, which was so compelling to Paul, Jesus. And, so, he diligently searched the Scriptures and received direct revelation from Jesus and realized that faith could make a person righteous but law or the rules, the behaviors, the behavior modifications, those things couldn’t make him righteous. And, so, he was compelled to put all of his faith in Jesus, believing that God was doing a new thing in the world and restoring humanity to God through Jesus because now there was a path toward righteousness that was out of the reach of humanity…like out of the reach of us being able to achieve it on our own. And, so, this…well…tipped Paul’s life upside down and to the point that he considered all of the effort that he had put in prior at being righteous he considered it all a waste. So, quoting him, “I consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung” right? So, he’s, like “dude…I tried so hard  to find God and I worked so hard and my good behaviors piled up and I was righteous before the Lord, but now I look at that and see it was just a big pile of crap. Compared to an actual relationship with Jesus it’s all garbage.” Now I realize this theme, this isn’t in our first time encountering these foundational truths that are fundamental to the Christian faith. They’re all over Paul’s writings but there all throughout the New Testament. But sometimes we actually need the things that keep getting brought up in the Bible. We need it because…because we’re often mistaking the ring for the relationship as we try to walk through every day trying to obey the rules so that God will notice us. And because Paul is so pointed, because he is so direct about these topics and because they repeat themselves in so many of the letters, we have to start wondering like, “what…like…what campaign is Paul trying to wage here? Is it that he’s trying to do away with all of the rules? Like, is that the point? Do the tenets of our faith and the rituals of our faith have any value?” I mean is if salvation actually is a gift it’s something that we can never earn, but only something that we can receive. Then what’s the point of trying…what’s the point of trying to live by any kind of rule? Look at the wedding ring that we were looking at a little bit ago. Like, I’m looking at it again. Can you make your spouse love you? Like I’m looking at a ring that says I got married and my wife’s name is Jill and she’s around here somewhere and I know that I can do very, very kind things toward her but I also know I can be a complete jerk too. Like we’re all capable of all kinds of things but no matter how I am, if I set my affection upon her to practically be her servant and do everything that I can I still can’t make her love me. Love is given, love is offered, love is a gift. So, you’re married, and you’ve been given the gift of your spouse’s love. So, then can you do whatever you want in the marriage simply because you been given this love? Right? Hardly! That will not work. When we exchange love between each other we’re taking a big risk and it’s gonna require supreme loyalty, at least if it’s gonna work. And, so, if the relationship is healthy, then the rules of the relationship become apparent, they don’t need to be spoken, we don’t have to follow them out of coercion. The rules define our love. Right? So, Jill and I were married, and we were given the covenant of marriage. We were like…we had to sign documents. It’s a contract. Like our state of Tennessee recognizes that we have the contract of marriage. We…I…we…I don’t even know where it is. I doubt she does either. Like, we have never gotten into a spat that turned into a fight and then one of us went somewhere and came back out holding a manila envelope with our marriage contract. We never reviewed…we never reviewed it. Like this thing that keeps us together is love. And, so, there are things that I will…there are things that I will not do because I will not break my wife’s heart. There are positions I will not get myself into because I won’t even take that chance. And yet it has nothing to do with whether or not that was written down as a rule in my marriage contract and I imagine that you’re pretty similar and this has always been Paul’s point. He was convinced that we’re on a journey to wholeness and restoration and that can happen through faith and entering into a relationship with God that we’ve been offered to Jesus. So, if we’re gonna…if we’re gonna be…I mean I mean we just talked about what it’s like to be in love with our spouse but if we’re gonna be in love with Jesus then we have to act like it. It’s more than a symbol or an icon. It’s more than a ring around your finger. Those are symbols of a reality and may we live ever deeper into that reality today.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit we invite You into that because a lot of times we major on the optics, like we major on how we look like we’re in a relationship with You. Like we get around our faith communities and so it’s all about saying the right versus and the right euphemisms and have our hands raised or, You know, whatever it is that we do so often we’re simply portraying an image like a ring with our marriage. And we want to relationship. It’s not about what it looks like and it’s not about how well we’re doing with the rules, it’s how well we’re doing at losing our self in love with You. So, come Holy Spirit. We’re reminded again and You continue to remind us and we need to be continually reminded because we forget things so quickly that are so much embedded into the fabric of our relationship and so much our reality. So, come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And I…I did a little fireside chat that should’ve showed up in your feed today kinda giving the whole story but today is a really special day because we’re releasing a resource today that is so much the DNA of the Daily Audio Bible that it…that it is kind of the DNA of the Daily Audio Bible in some respects, a brand-new written resource called The God of Your Story or The One Year Adventure With The God Of Your Story. And it’s a new book, that, yeah, I needed to actually create a different podcast to talk about so that we could just talk about the story of how it came to be. I mean, I have been a writer for a while now and I’ve published several books. And I mean, before all that I was a record producer, I was in the music business. So, I know kind of how releasing things works in the world and the world of distribution and all of this. And, so, in the past any time I’ve mentioned something new, a new resource, a new work that’s coming, it’s, you know, it’s a couple weeks away and just letting everybody know and talking…talking about it. It’s a little different this time, so different on a number of levels. First of all, there is no fanfare. This is the fanfare, the God of Your Story is out today and that is largely because I just felt this sense from the Lord that…that this is something to blow trumpets about, this is something to be humble with. And, so, I’m obeying that. And as I explained on the fireside chat, this…this is something that took 600 days of writing to accomplish, something that I thought would be far easier than it ever was. In fact, it ended up being way more of a mountain than I…I think I was even prepared to climb. But here we are. So, mountain got climbed but it was…it was something that has been done before, which seems to be the way of things around here often. And essentially what The God of Your Story is…is…is the gold…is the gold of the Daily Audio Bible or at least what we talk about when we talk about the Bible on the Daily Audio Bible. The challenge was to determine whether or not what we do here every day on the Daily Audio Bible, we read the scriptures and then we usually talk about them. If what we talk about, could that become a written work. That’s a fairly sizable project because we’re talking about the journey through the entire Bible in a year. And I thought, yeah kind of…kind of gonna be a piece of cake other than it’s going to be a lot of work, it’s gonna be pretty straightforward, do this every day. But man, when you try to take what is spoken and make it written. It’s a totally different thing. Nevertheless, when we began the Daily Audio Bible we were reading from a plan and this is the 14^th time through it, this one-year Bible plan. And, so, knowing that this has been our rhythm, we partnered with the one-year Bible, the one-year brand, which is owned by Tyndale House and created a 365-day commentary through the entire Bible as we do on the Daily Audio Bible. So, it’s every day, the kinds of stuff that we talk about, even though no time through the Bible on the Daily Audio Bible is the same. Those of you who have been here for several years like…you know…like every year is a different thing and we move in different directions but finding that path in written form is what the God of Your Story. And I’m not gonna say any more about it than that today to take up any more of your time. I’ve given the story. I’ve told of the journey in the fireside chat. So, check that out. But the God of Your Story is available today, right now at dailyaudiobible.com. Just look in the initiatives section and you’ll find God of Your Story or you can find it in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. And as I mentioned in the little fireside chat it is honestly my sincere prayer because it is really a memorial to this community. The book is dedicated to the Daily Audio Bible community, it was born out of what we have done here, this rhythm that we have kept for these 14 years. And it’s one of the…it is for sure by far the hardest writing project I’ve ever been involved in and is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done just because of the scope and just because of the scale just because of how tedious and involved it was. And is my prayer that everyone in this community will have that, will have that resource and use that resource and underline in that resource and cherish that resource that I very, very much challenged our entire publishing team like this needs to be timeless, this needs to be classic, this needs to look like a book that should be treasured because at least for us, at least for our community that’s what it is. And, so it is a beautifully hardbound edition. It’s a special limited edition and that’s actually a reality. And, so…so it’s out today. And when you…when you get a copy of the God of Your Story from the Daily Audio Bible shop, obviously this is releasing all over the place so it’s available everywhere, but when you get it from the Daily Audio Bible all of the margin goes to the Daily Audio Bible. This is a resource, like I said, that was born out of the Daily Audio Bible and even though it was the hardest…hardest thing I’ve ever been involved in in terms of writing, it would’ve never happened…like it would’ve never happened had we not been on this journey together. And, so, I have made arrangements with the publisher and forgone any royalties and everything. Every copy that we sell through the Daily Audio Bible Shop is all going to support the Daily Audio Bible and the ministry efforts that are growing as we grow. And I’m biting my tongue because I have so much to say but I’m gonna say as little as possible today. You can find the God of Your Story in the Daily Audio Bible shop or you can visit godofyourstory.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we share here together every day, then you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top right hand side 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.

Isaiah 62:6-65:25, Philippians 2:19-3:3, Psalms 73:1-28, Proverbs 24:13-14

Today is the 1st day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you. It’s fun to step into a new month together and we’re stepping into the final quarter of the year. So, three months ago and in my experience, it’s crazy how fast these three months can get going, but it’s also profound what we’ll find in the Scriptures as we move through this three months. So, welcome to the final quarter of the year. I don’t know if I’d call this the home stretch because it’s a whole 25% of the year, but we’ll take it day by day, step-by-step together in community as we continue our journey. And our journey this week has us in the book of Isaiah. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. And today, Isaiah chapter 62 verse 6 through 65 verse 25.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we were talking about when we began our time together today, this is…this is a new month and this is also the final quarter of the year, and this is actually kind of important because it’s gonna get busier. Like, this year’s only gonna get more busy from here and we’re out in front of it right now. But the truth is, three months from today is January 1, right? The years over and we’re in a new year. And what I have found about finishing…finishing anything…but finishing the Scriptures in year is to finish strong, or to finish at all we have to be committed to finishing. And, so, we’re entering this fourth quarter of the year and we’ve made it this far. And, so let’s commit together to finishing strong, which…which is pretty much the opposite of what Asaph was feeling as we read from the 73^rd Psalm today. He wasn’t feeling strong at all. He was frustrated, he was angry, he was bewildered because of what he was seeing in the world. And we could just pause there and in some ways, we could just go, “yeah. get it. Feel the same way.” For Asaph, and we’re going back thousands of years here, about 3000 years here, it just seemed that everywhere he looked, the unrighteous were really the prosperous and blessed people and the people that were trying to be true, the people that were trying to live into their faith, they were the one struggling, they were languishing away. So, he’s like, “I almost lost my footing. My feet were slippering”…no…slipping…slipping…“my feet were slipping.” I don’t suppose he wouldn’t mind that he put slippers on his feet. His feet were slipping. “I was almost gone. I envied the proud when I saw them even in their wickedness be prosperous.” And, man again, we gotta go, “I kinda know what that feels like. Like that’s been me at one time or another in my life.” And that’s probably been all of us at one point or another in our lives because all of our efforts to live upright before God, you know, that’s…it’s a difficult path. It’s a narrow path. And then we look around and see everybody else who doesn’t even think about it, like isn’t even paying attention to their spirituality as a category in life and they just seem to be having easy. And, so, we get frustrated, we get to bewildered, right? Our hope takes a hit. So, let’s listen to Asaph’s words from several thousand years ago and see if they don’t describe this. He says, “did I purify my heart and wash my hands in innocence for nothing? For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning. If I had decided to say these things allowed, I would’ve betrayed your people. When I try to understand all this it seemed hopeless.” So, if you’ve ever felt like that and maybe…maybe you feel like that now, it’s important to know that this is a crossroads because…because when we find ourselves in that place where we are frustrated and angry and hopeless, the very next decision may very well dictate the direction of the rest of our lives. Like the next choices that we make are for sure going to dictate the short-term path ahead. And if the short-term path ahead is to descend deeper into anger and hopelessness, well I guess the Bible has already been clear about where that paths gonna lead. We can…we can throw our hands up in disgust. We can walk willingly into sin. But it’s not gonna work and we know it. And Asaph…Asaph contemplated the same thing, but he made a different decision. So, quoting…quoting Asaph, “when I try to understand all this, it seemed hopeless until I entered God’s sanctuary. Then I understood their destiny.” So, a lot of what Asaph had been saying in this Psalm was pretty passive-aggressive stuff and he’s contemplating where to go because it seems like a hopeless situation. So…and…and we…we can relate to all of this. So, rather than stepping into like passive-aggressive sin or wickedness, Asaph chose to go back into God’s presence. In God’s presence is where he realized there’s a lot more going on than we know and that’s something that the Bible has been showing us all along. Asaph realized that this foundation that was apparently there for the wicked wasn’t really there at all. It was nothing, when considered from an eternal perspective. Whatever security they may seem to have in this life will not protect them in the next where they will have no protection at all. So, what Asaph began to understand is that what was tormenting him really wasn't…wasn’t about whether the wicked prospered, it’s that they were prospering as compared to him in his own mind. So, it was his envy, it was bitterness that came from comparison and he confessed it to God. So, quoting Asaph again. “When I became embittered and my innermost being was wounded, I was stupid and didn’t understand. I was an unthinking animal toward you, yet I am always with you. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me up in glory.” So, this 73^rd Psalm gives us incredibly powerful and usable counsel, but it also gives us a posture as we move into the final quarter of the year. Comparison and envy, they…they are all over this quarter of the year, this final quarter of the year as things get materialistic as we move toward the holidays. And so here we are. If you find yourself like battling that as we go into this season, as we go into this final quarter of the year, bookmark this, write it down. Psalm 73. Like, come back here and follow the path of Asaph again. Remembering that you’re comparing yourself to somebody else or how well somebody else may be doing as compared to you is not interesting and is not the point. God is the strength of your heart and that is very interesting and very much the point.

Prayer:

Father, we come into Your presence again because You’ve brought this up again and this is something that…that comes up is a recurring theme because it’s a part of our lives. We are continually trying to figure out how well we’re doing as compared to someone else and it's…it just…it doesn’t get us anywhere to compare our story to someone else’s story. Our story is ours and we’re living it and their story is theirs and usually what we know of each other’s stories is what we’ve curated to expose and reveal to other people. It’s not the whole story. And yet, You are here involved in the whole story of our lives, all of it, the highs and the lows, the clean and unfortunately the times when we step into the unclean. You are invested into this story fully. And, so, our question is, “Jesus, how do You see us” because we’ve been looking for those answers by trying to figure out what everybody else thinks and what we think of everybody else. But what do You think because that’s the only thing that matters? And Your word has shown is pretty clearly what You think, that we are Your beloved children. And, so, we’re sorry for the comparison, we’re sorry for the…the way that we’ve diminished ourselves and haven’t lived fully into all that You are leading us into because we’re too busy comparing. Forgive us Father we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Tomorrow, something big going on around here and I can’t wait to share the story with you. So, watch for that. Actually, there’ll be an additional program, a fireside chat that’ll show up tomorrow in your Daily Audio Bible. So, watch for that. Listen to that. It’s exciting news. So, that’s tomorrow. Today is today. Stay connected in any way that you can.

Of course, remember the Prayer Wall is at dailyaudiobible.com and it’s in the app as well. Just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. And people, brothers and sisters, family of God are praying for one another on a continual basis there. So, check that out especially if you’re in need of prayer or if you just feel the Holy Spirit urging you to go to prayer for people. This is a wonderful resource for that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, as I’ve said, I don’t know, thousands of times, thank you. The mission that we share together to continue this rhythm of life with the Bible in the center of it, and to build community around it, that doesn’t happen if there’s no community. That doesn’t happen if we don’t do this together. And, so, we always have and I thank you profoundly. 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, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Isaiah 60:1-62:5, Philippians 1:27-2:18, Psalms 72:1-20, Proverbs 24:11-12

Today is the 30^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible and welcome to the end of the month. We’re here to close down another month and that this is the ninth month of the year. So, well done. Nine months together every day, which makes this the 273^rd day of the year. So, we’ve taken a lot of steps together. We’ve covered a lot of ground together and we have one more quarter, right? So, one more stretch to go. I am kinda getting ahead of ourselves though. We’re still here. This is September 30^th and we haven’t finished the month yet. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1 through 62 verse 5 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, like we talked about when we began Philippians this is a letter that Paul wrote while he was incarcerated. And this is a capital…this is a capital case, right? So, what’s hanging in the balance here is Paul’s life and eventually the outcome of the trial would be the end of his life. So, that should add a certain amount, you know, like a little bit of weightiness to the words that we read that Paul wrote while he was imprisoned. So, in our reading today his words encouraged humility, a humble posture toward each other as fellow citizens of heaven. And as he’s prone to do, he gave of us a picture of what our lives should be shaped. So, let’s just…let’s review that. I’m quoting here. “My dear friends, just as you’ve always obeyed, so now not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to His good purpose. So, do everything without grumbling and arguing so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.” And let’s just pause there for a second because that’s cool. “We shine like stars in the world?” So, I guess if you ever dreamed of being a star, this is how you actually do it. So, Paul says, “among whom you shine like stars in the world by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast of the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing, but even if I am poured out as a drink offering”,  and Paul’s talking about his potential execution here, “so even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith. I’m glad and I rejoice with you.” Okay. So, Paul, you know, there’s lots of lists and character traits to avoid and to stay away from and to embrace and to become in the writings of Paul. So, this isn’t particularly unique. And the idea that we should suffer long, right, be long-suffering and patient with our fellow human beings, this isn’t particularly new concept. We were taught…I was taught the golden rule from childhood and the idea that we should live a clean, upright kind of life and avoid darkness and the muck and mire of life. That’s not revolutionary thought either. But the thing is, Paul’s writing these kinds of lists as like…I don't…like life encouragement…like life tips or like biblical life hacks. Paul was convinced throughout his ministry that this is all going somewhere and that ultimately where we are headed is into our full and complete restoration that would remake us into the image of Jesus our Savior and offer us a place alongside Jesus as joint heirs with Jesus as additional sons and daughters of the most high God, along with Jesus. This is Paul’s view of where this is all going and what Christ actually means. This is the good news. And when you think about it in terms like we just said, it is staggering, right? It’s a big monumental shift in the world. So, much bigger than just a list of characteristics or behavioral traits that we should try to live into, right? Behavior modification wasn’t Paul’s objective. Behavior imitation was Paul’s point, right? You can’t be Christlike if you’re not like Christ. So, in telling us to live a life that’s worthy of our salvation Paul was telling us to imitate and live our lives like Jesus did. And that brings us to one of the best known passages, one that maybe offers the most concise view of Jesus or of Paul’s Christology than any other…any of his other letters. Paul says…and he’s saying this about Jesus, “who existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a servant taking on the likeness of humanity and when He had come as a man, He humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Okay. So, for Paul, a man who had lost his freedom and was awaiting trial before an Emperor would decide whether he would live or die, Paul’s convictions here would have mattered greatly to him and these words would have made Paul’s chains take on a totally different context to his readers. So, rather than like invalidating the gospel, invalidating Paul, and, you know, sending him into a dungeon where he would disappear from history, Paul was actually walking the path of Jesus, right? Paul was following the same course. These same things happened to Jesus and ended in his death. So, as Paul is considering becoming Christlike himself, we see that he is, in a most iteral way, walking in the footsteps of Jesus here. And, so, for Paul instead of being hopeless about the fact that he’d been thrown into prison and the Emperor could have him killed, Paul realized this is what imitating Christ looks like. But, why would why would he put himself in this position? Like, why would any of the early believers be willing to imitate a person when what you’re gonna to imitate is incarceration and execution? Like, who imitates somebody and tries to imitate them all the way to their death? Paul answers why he’s doing this. He said, “for this reason, God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.” This is Paul’s view and he embraced it to the point that…that leaving the body, like leaving the human life behind would be preferable because it would be immediate and full restoration in the presence of the Savior, which is far, far, far better than being chained up in a dungeon and wondering whether you’re gonna have your head chopped off today or not and be nailed to a cross and hang there for hours in agony until you die. So, it’s important that we understand that this is Paul's…this is Paul’s cosmic view of what God is doing in the world. And Paul was thoroughly convinced that Jesus is Lord of it all. And, so, knowing Paul’s view of Jesus Lordship helps us understand how we must imitate Christ in our earthly lives. We’re to imitate Christ because we’re being made into his image, which means we’re becoming as he is, which is the center of the gospel and mind boggling to say the least. But this is what we hope and as believers in Jesus

Prayer:

Father, we’ve covered some territory here and, You know, try to dissect it, in part theologically, and it can get tedious but the fundamental truth here is that we are being transformed. As we believe and as we walk with You, we are being renewed or remade. And any time that we turn toward the darkness and walk in that direction we are literally interrupting that process, which is walking away from You but it’s also walking away from who we were created to be. And, so, help us to see it in those terms today and every day. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here on this last day of the month of September. So, I guess what’s going on is we’re getting ready to launch into a new month and with this new month are some surprises. So, I’ll look forward to that over the next couple of days. But the website is the place to go to stay connected on…well…every day

So, the Prayer Wall lives at dailyaudiobible.com and that is a great place to go and pray and a great place to go and ask for prayer. We’re a community, brothers and sister shouldering each other’s burdens as we move through life together and experience the rhythm of the Scriptures together. So, stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you. I thank you for your partnership with all my heart. Thank you for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here. That’s a fact. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. And thank God that we are. So, 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 we have a prayer request a comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Isaiah 57:15-59:21, Philippians 1:1-26, Psalms 71:1-24, Proverbs 24:9-10

Today is the 29^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we walk into a new week together. And, obviously, it’s the 29^th of the month. So, before this week is out, we’ll be in a new month together. And on top of all of that, we’re beginning a new week, but also beginning a new book, actually a new letter in the New Testament, the letter to the Philippians and we’ll talk about that when we get there, but first we’re continuing our journey through the book of Isaiah. And this week we’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible. Today, Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 through 59 verse 21.

Introduction to the book of Philippians:

Okay. So, as promised, we’re gonna begin a new letter today, now that we’ve reached the New Testament portion of our time together. So, we finished Paul’s letter, his epic, short but epic letter to the Ephesians, which brings us to Philippians. And with Philippians there’s very little debate among biblical scholars about Paul’s authorship of this letter, and there’s not much debate about Paul’s incarceration when he wrote this letter. Most would agree that Philippians was written somewhere around 61 A.D. from Rome while Paul was awaiting trial before the Emperor. And, so, with this in mind, we realize that were again reading another very early Christian writing that predates the Gospels and for that matter the book of Acts. So, Philippi was a city and its inhabitants were noticed Philippians and it was a Roman colony in Macedonia, which is now like northern Greece and even though Philippi itself was a prosperous city, the church that was planted, those people were not particularly wealthy but they loved, they were rich in love and rich in their concern for the apostle Paul. And, so, in part, this letter to the Philippians is a thank you. Knowing that Paul had been imprisoned in Rome the church at Philippi sent a person named Epaphroditus who was a member of the congregation all the way to Rome to see how he was doing to just like to bring him a gift from the congregation and to lift his spirits. And, so, obviously, Paul was overjoyed. Obviously, he took comfort in that. And Epaphroditus stayed for long time just helping, serving, caring for Paul’s needs. He’s is imprisoned so his mobility is limited, but Epaphroditus got really sick, just about died. And, so, when he was restored to health. Again, Paul was determined to send him back to Philippi and he sent them back with this letter, which shares of his circumstances. So, that gives us a little bit of context but Philippians this is quite a bit more than just a mission’s update, like a newsletter. In Philippians Paul gives language to the joy that we find in our salvation more than any of his other letters, he talks about this and encourages us to persevere, knowing that we actually can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, which is one of the most famous verses in the Scriptures, and it’s found in the letter to the Philippians so we’ll encounter it. I mean joy…joy like actual pure joy…that’s in kind of in short supply around the world. And in these kind of times Philippians is like a light house, like a beacon leading us back to where true hope and joy can actually be found, which is in Christ alone. So, we begin. Philippians chapter 1 verses through 26 today.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and we thank You for its guidance in our lives, that it is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. And, so, Father as we begin this letter to the Philippians and continue our journey through Isaiah, as we look forward into the new month we invite Your Holy Spirit to continue to guide us forward, guide us in our thoughts, and our words, and our deeds as we greet this new week, we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Stay connected on social media if you are on it. Stay connected the Prayer Wall, if you need it or if you’re led to pray for your brothers and sisters. All of the links and all of these things are available dailyaudiobible.com. And, of course, you can access them in the app as well by pushing the little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. Yeah, so, stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link that just kinda hangs out on the homepage and lives there. And, so, I thank you with…with humble gratitude for anyone who’s ever pressed that link. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, which is right next to the little Hotline button that’s new for us or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Isaiah 51:1-53:12, Ephesians 5:1-33, Psalms 69:19-36, Proverbs 24:7

Today is the 28^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is…it is a joy and an honor to be here with you at the close of another of our weeks together. And, yeah, we’ll begin a new week tomorrow, but we are really pretty close to the end of another month together. So, next week, yeah, we’ll be will be graduating into the next month, the month of October. But we’re here at the close of the final full week of the month of September and we’ve been reading from the Voice Translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. Isaiah chapter 54 verse 1 through 57 verse 14 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for bringing us through another week in Your word and we thank You that as we approach the sunset of this month and prepare to move into the final quarter of the year, we invite Your Holy Spirit. You have…You have led and guided us every step of the way to this point and You have transformed us in ways that we would find difficult to even put into words. And this is the power of Your word because it is transforming us from within. So, come Holy Spirit as we release this week into our history and as we look forward with anticipation to all that You have yet to speak to us. Come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And I guess what’s going on around here is we’re finishing our week together strong getting ready to move into a new week and a new week will bring us into a new month and a new month will certainly bring new experiences and new things to pray about, new things to consider and contemplate. And staying connected to one another is one of the things that we do. And, so, dailyaudiobible.com is that hub.

In the Community section you can find all the different social media channels that we’re on. The Prayer Wall lives in there where people are praying for one another on a continual basis. So, be sure to check that out.

The Daily Audio Bible shop lives at dailyaudiobible.com as well and there are a number of resources there for this journey. So, check that out as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in this mission that we share to bring the spoken word of God to whoever will listen to it anywhere on this planet anytime of day or night. If that brings light and life and good news into your life, then thank you for giving back in any way that you can. 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, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request a comment, you can press the Hotline button in the app and just start talking or you can dial 877-942 4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Jennifer calling from the Pacific Northwest. I’m calling because I need prayer. My husband of 23 years moved out on Friday, the 13^th of September. It’s only been 10 days, but it’s been terrible, and my five children and I are alone. And, so, I’m praying in the name of Jesus that my husband’s affair with this other woman would end and that he would repent and turn to God and would return to our family. So, Daily Audio Bible family if you would please pray for my husband. He’s been a police officer for over 20 years, and I know he has PTSD and I’ve called in for him before but I really would appreciate your prayers for his affair to end and for him to return to Jesus and return to our family in the name of Jesus. Thank you so much Daily Audio Bible. Bye-bye.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible listeners this is Gina from Orlando. This morning I’m going to pray for those that are experiencing breakups in the family and or your marriages because of mental illness. I pray that the spirit of depression and oppression be cast out of the life and relationships of all those suffering with mental illnesses. I pray that the joy of the Lord renew and your loved ones down and overtake you and saturate your life and the life of those that you love and are connected to. I pray that you experience the abundant life that the Lord died to give you and us. I pray that you and your family and your loved ones live to give a powerful testimony because of the test that you and your family will overcome in Jesus’ name. I pray that the Holy Spirit of God rule you and your loved ones in every area of your life and that you be able to continue to fight and remain faithful until the Lord’s return or your return to Him. My prayer today would be for deliverance for my husband Thomas and for all my family members that are dealing with bipolar depression and pray for family restoration as well. I pray for direction and favor and finances to find a new home. I pray more so that my husband Thomas’s eyes will be opened and he will do is right in God’s will rather than following the leading of his own mind and that he would that the Lord do the work in him so that he can be well and restored. I pray that the Lord will protect my children and grandchildren and our relationship, and the enemy would not be allowed to break us apart or turn them against me because of my stance for God and finally I pray that I do God’s will. Many blessings Daily Audio Bible listeners. Have a great day.

Hello DAB family this is Paula the child advocate from the LA area calling and I’m using the new red button. This is pretty exciting. Thank you, Brian and Jill for doing this. I’ve been hearing a lot of prayer requests for marriages and I have to tell you it really touches my heart. I have been so blessed to be married for my husband for almost 45 years and I just want to share my story with you. When I was a teenager for some reason, I don’t know, I wrote myself a little poem prayer to ask God to send me a godly husband and when I go to bed at night, I used to say this little poem that I wrote. And I just held onto that prayer my whole life. Oh, when I was about 23, 22 I don’t know, I met my husband and before that I had almost been engaged, I had three proposals from three different guys and I came close to being engaged but the Holy Spirit just told me it wasn’t right. It broke my heart because the guy I was dating cried and begged me not to break up with him, but I just knew it wasn’t right. I heard somebody asking in a prayer for us to pray for her because she didn’t know if it was right. Well, the Holy Spirit will tell you in your heart if this is the right person. Well, in our first years of marriage my husband did not go to church with me very often but after we had children, he did go on a regular basis, but I think it was mostly out of obligation. But I want to tell you the miracle that God performed. Now that we been retired, we’re Catholic, and my husband goes to mass every single morning every single morning seven days a week he loves the Lord. He spends time in prayer, he does the hours. I mean, it’s a miracle. So please do not give up hope for your marriages. Pray and trust in Jesus. I love you all. I love to hear your calls. I love your voices. Thank you, Brian and Jill. Bye for now.

Hello daily audio Bible this is been from Legos I would like to pray today against the spirit of depression and its onslaught on the minds of the children of God. I declare that his power is broken in Jesus’ name that even as people see the despair in the world they would see the hand of God at work, they will see the need to preach the gospel more, and to do more for the Lord instead of being overwhelmed and feelings of despair in Jesus’ name. I remember Wade in Japan, I remember Karen and Dublin, and I pray today for Patty who is dealing with extreme anxiety for the healing hand of God will touch her mind and heal her in the name of Jesus. Father we ask for your intervention in Jesus’ name. I thank you for Brian and Jill and the great work they’re doing with the Daily Audio Bible. I declare that the Lord will continue to encourage them in Jesus’ name. I pray for those marriages that are having challenges that the Holy Spirit Himself will intervene and let the desire for peace be paramount above all else, that the internal purpose be paramount above self in Jesus’ name. Thank you.

Isaiah 51:1-53:12, Ephesians 5:1-33, Psalms 69:19-36, Proverbs 24:7

Today is the 27^th day of September. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we end a work week and move ourselves into the weekend and hopefully a little catching up, a little rest for us. But no matter what day it is or what part of the week it is or month or year, whatever, we have a rhythm and that rhythm includes allowing God’s word to speak into our lives bringing us clarity and rest. So, let’s just exhale all of the stuff that’s swirling around us and inhale peace and this serenity that we share around the global campfire as we let God’s word speak. So, we’ve been reading from the Voice Translation this week and we’ll continue to do that until this week is up. Isaiah, chapter 51 through 53 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as working our way through the book of Isaiah today we encountered a scripture that describes Jesus, right? “So, that when he was hurt because of us He suffered so. Our wrongdoing wounded and crushed Him. He endured the breaking that made us whole. The injuries He suffered became our healing. We all have wandered off like shepherdess sheep scattered by our aimless striving and endless pursuits. The eternal one laid on him, this silent suffer, the sins of us all.” Right? So, this is in the Voice Translation. “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity”, right? That’s…that’s the passage we’re talking about here in the in the language that we’re most accustomed to. But this portrait in the book of Isaiah is stark and it helps us to understand that the benefits…the panoramas, right, the too good to be true moments that we’ve been experiencing in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, didn’t just happen. That happened at a great cost. It was given as a gift to us freely and we receive it freely and we can’t earn it and we understand this but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t very costly to the gift giver. And, so, understanding that God cares as much as He does about us individually, this should absolutely pull us forward and at least attempt to look clearly at all that God has given us now in this world to live this life because He envisions a life for us.

And this is what Paul starts talking about in our reading from Ephesians today when he instructs us to imitate God. And that’s what he says, “so, imitate God.” I mean, can we pause there for a second? Where do we even start? Imitate God? Like, that this is even possible, or a category is a pretty big deal. Imitate God. Follow Him like adored children and live in love as the Anointed One loved you. And the way that the Anointed One loved us is what we just read out of the book of Isaiah. He loved you so much that He gave himself as a fragrant sacrifice pleasing God. So, on one side of the coin just the idea that we are God’s precious children and that we can imitate our Father the Almighty in everything we do, that’s such…that is so overwhelming, right? Like the rest of Ephesians, it’s like almost too good to be true. On the other side of this coin, what we were just talking about, the gift came at a price and that price was the sacrifice of our beloved Savior, the Anointed, Jesus. So, we can have these awe-inspiring gifts that God has given us and we can receive them joyously because they’re ours for the taking, but the outpouring of love that made this possible should truly and deeply humble us because what we are staring at face-to-face squarely is what true and unconditional love actually looks like. And, so, where does this get…like in our lives where does the rubber meet the road on this. We’re talking about this conceptually, we’re talking about this literally, but it’s overwhelmingly good news. And, so we have to process all this and how do we begin to live this out in our day-to-day lives? Well, one place for sure would be in our marriages, which is where the apostle Paul took the discussion today. So, quoting Paul here, “the Spirit makes it possible to submit humbly to one another out of respect for the Anointed. Wives, it should be no different with your husbands. Submit to them as you do to the Lord for God has given husbands a sacred duty to lead as the Anointed leads the church and serves as the head. The church is his body, he is her Savior. So, wives should submit to their husbands respectfully in all things, just as the church yields to the anointed one. Husbands you must love your wives so deeply, purely and sacrificially that we can understand it only when we compare it to the love of the Anointed One, the love that he has for His bride, the church. We know He gave himself up completely to make her His own, washing her clean of all her impurity with water and the powerful presence of His word. He has given Himself so that He can present the church as His radiant bride, unstained, unwrinkled, and unblemished completely free from all impurity, holy and innocent before Him. So, husbands should care for their wives as if their lives depended on it the same way they care for their own bodies. As you love her you are ultimately loving part of yourself. You are one flesh.” So, for years right, this…this passage has been misused really in unhealthy and pretty controlling ways. So, listen. Husbands let’s think about Isaiah. “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised…” Isaiah is depicting a person who has been disfigured because they have been beaten nearly to death. Brothers, that is what Jesus did for you. Right? He desired you and loved you and it compelled Him step-by-step forward to death. You’re supposed to love your wife like as Christ loved the church. So, what Ephesians is saying, and this is…this is a big deal. You are tangibly bringing the love of Jesus to your wife. You are Jesus with skin on and you bring the ministry of Jesus to your wife. And wives, let’s think about Isaiah, like the same thing. That sacrifice, that is what Jesus did for you, you, you, not every other woman in the world but you, you. His desire, His love compelled him forward. He loved you that much. That’s how much you are loved. And that’s how you are to submit to your husbands, as you would to the Lord, which does not mean you’re supposed to be abused. That’s not how Jesus treats you. That’s not how you’re supposed to be treated. That’s not God’s intention for you. What’s being revealed here is that if your husband is loving you as Christ loved the church then you have to respond to that respectfully, as you would to Jesus. And that’s not a big stretch to consider submitting to and trusting and respecting a love that would die for you, right? So, there’s no is no room for abuse of control in that kind of equation. And according to Paul, we’re supposed to submit to one another out of our deep respect for Jesus, which means that we’re supposed to love each other with the love of Christ. We’re supposed to bring the love of Christ to each other. So, we can look at it idealistically and just go, “well…if that could be done it would be good”. But this is supposed to be normal. And if we would live into this imagine the turmoil that would be eliminated from our homes. Imagine the joy that we would find living in the light together. But if we’re not in a live into what Paul’s saying here in the letter to the Ephesians then…then we’re not. Paul says, “live as people of the light because the light produces in you what’s good and right and true.” Is that what we’re going for? If that’s what we’re going for then we’ve been given a pathway today with what we’re supposed to be looking for as we live into this. And as we just talked about, there’s no truer place, there is no greater place for this to be lived out than within our own homes, in our own marriages. This is where it actually gets worked out.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, as we end our work and prepare for the weekend we invite You into that because the truth is we haven’t been doing what You’ve…what You’ve been instructing, not with any kind of consistency. It so often boils down to the well-worn ruts that have just been formed over the years and all of the soft spots that we like to go after in each other in ways that we like to hurt each other in order to get control and just all the stuff that we do in relationships. And we have to acknowledge, that’s not how You’ve loved us and we’re not imitating the way You’ve loved us at all. And we acknowledge that’s wrong. Come Holy Spirit. Let us love one another as You have loved us. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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