Category: DAB Transcripts

Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1–20, Psalms 22:19-31, Proverbs 5:15-21

Today is the 27^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and, of course, it’s a pleasure and an honor as it is every day to be here with you. And here we are, at the threshold of a shiny, sparkly, brand-new week and we’ll get to step into it together and live into it together and allow God’s word to speak to us in all things. And, so, this week we’ll read from the Common English Bible and we’re just kind of really getting ourselves going in the story of Moses and we’ll be traveling with Moses for quite a while. So, we’re just geting to know him pretty well, we’re getting to know his story. We’ll go back into the book of Exodus and pick up where we left off yesterday, Exodus chapter 4 verse 1 through 5:21 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this new week. And we joke about it being shiny and sparkly every time we come to a new week, but it’s not really a joke, it’s true, it’s brand-new. it hasn’t been lived into yet. And, so, we’re stepping into this new week and we’re inviting You because we don’t want to make any decisions that we haven’t counselled with You on and we don’t want the thoughts that would pull us away from You to dominate our week this week, and we don’t want our actions to not reflect Your kingdom. And, so, we need You, and we invite You because this may be a shiny, sparkly, new week, but in order for this week to remain sparkly we’ll have to live into it and make it sparkle and we cannot do that without You. So, come Holy Spirit we pray into all that is coming our way in the coming week. May we reflect Your glory upon the earth and reveal Your kingdom in all of our thoughts, words and deeds we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay connected as we continue to take steps forward that are gonna, very soon, lead us out of the month of January. Already, I can hardly believe it, how fast this is going, but I say that every year and you probably do too. Here we are. Like were about to get into month number two. So, stay connected, see what’s going on around here.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey daily Audio Bible family, this is Broderick from Indiana. I’m just calling in today. I believe it was Margo from Australia and…gee…you just called in and you were asking for prayers for just discernment and just having some hard times with just facing maybe some home sickness or some jet lag and I just want to give this word of encouragement to you or to anyone else that’s just really having a hard time with going into the work or the area of your life that God’s calling you to where we’re being persecuted for it or where He’s just calling us to do difficult things. And when you called in you reminded me of, I think it’s the parable of the seller, Matthew chapter 13 verses 1 through 23. I just think this is a really cool parable because it just really shows a great picture of like what the stages of what our faith goes through sometimes. And I just wanted to remind you of that and just have you take heart in that and I just wanted to encourage you and anyone else who’s going through the same thing and let all you guys know that I’m praying for you and I really love this family community that has…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Stephanie from Colorado. I’m a longtime listener and first-time caller. I am so thankful for this community, it’s been so life-giving for the past six years for me. So, I’m calling in today just to encourage anyone who has been struggling with infertility. It’s a very, very, difficult thing. My husband and I prayed for a baby for two years and month after month it was just two weeks of heartbreak and then two weeks of hoping and the cycle just repeated. And, you know, in the meantime all of our friends and all our family members were announcing pregnancies. And it’s tough, it’s so hard, so hard. So, so right now I just want to speak to God’s faithfulness. We prayed for two years and I have a beautiful five-month-old able and feeding food right now and that to me is just a miracle. It’s just a miracle that he’s here and God is so faithful, God is so good. So, don’t give up. I know it’s so hard, don’t give up. Don’t stop saying, don’t stop speaking, and don’t stop being faithful. Don’t lose hope because God is so good, and I just want to encourage you today. Be blessed.

Hello guys, my name is Aaron, I’m 20 years old. This is my first year doing the Daily Audio Bible and today Brian was talking about the story of Joseph and reflecting on how we can enter in seasons of testing with the mindset that God is good and knowing that He is doing something in that. And it had me reflecting back on a time in my life not too long ago when I lost my father to cancer. And it was a very hard time in my life and the lives of my families who always serve the Lord, and everybody took it differently. My sister kind of had the mindset that if God took her dad she would be done with God. And I looked at things a little differently, that God was trying to do something and although it hurt, I was going to trust Him to show me what it was that He was trying to do. And because of that the life of my dad was able to bless a lot of people and turn a lot of hearts toward Christ. And it was such a powerful experience that I’ll always remember. So, I just want to encourage everybody. God is good and is always on your side and He has your best interest in mind all the time. God bless everybody. Take care. Goodbye.

Hi everyone, this is Sarah from Pennsylvania. I was just listening to the reading on the 20^th and I heard God’s Light requesting prayer, was just diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, having a lot of trouble. I am a fellow MS suffer and I actually called in last summer when I was diagnosed, and I felt hopeless a lot of the times. I felt just like you. I was terrified, but God got me through it and I won’t say that I never felt hopeless because that’s not true, I absolutely did, but that hope always came back and I know it will for you too. I’m praying for you, praying for understanding for your girlfriend, for a capable medical team. And just know that you are valuable no matter what your disability is, what your condition is, where you are in this disease. You are valuable and worthy of life and just please don’t end that. Praying for you. Love you. Good luck. Call back in and keep us updated.

Hey DAB brothers and sisters, this is Byron out in Florida. I’m calling for Keisha in Maryland. Keisha, I heard you call and the concern that you and your husband have about being able to pay your mortgage and how you needed some money, miracle you said to be able to settle that. And I could hear the stress and pain in your voice. I just want to let you know that I’m praying for ya and that is gonna be okay. It reminded me of the story of Elijah being sent to the land and Zarephath. And he runs upon a window who tells him that since there’s a famine in the land she’d gonna make a small cake for her and her son. They need it because they’re gonna die. That’s where she’s at. And I think the words that Elijah gives next to the widow are directed to you too. He said, “don’t be afraid.” Don’t be afraid. God’s got you, you’re going to be all right. It’s going to be all good. And I encourage you, if you have some money that you do have available, find a way to give. If you haven’t been giving up to this point, go ahead and give and see how God shows up for you. Worship God in your giving. I went through bankruptcy last year, it was not fun but the one thing God taught me through that is that if you have love you are not bankrupt, you have the love of Jesus. So, live like it and worship Him and see how He comes through. See how He gives you that peace that transforms your reliance from needing a little bit of money to having His abundant love. So, I’m praying for you. Be strong, it’s going to be okay. Love you.

Hi audio Daily Bible family this is can Kanesha out of Atlanta. I’m calling for, I believe it was, Julie. I heard your prayer request for your babies. Sounds like they were premature or they’re in NICU and one has a surgery coming up. So, I just wanted to let you know that your prayer request…I heard your prayer request and it touched my heart because I too am a parent of a premature baby, he’s now eight. But it is an emotional roller coaster that we go through when they are in the hospital and we have to leave them there in the NICU unit. And, so, I was just calling in to let you know that I am praying for you and your family and also that it was good to hear the Prodigal and Dr. John call back in. I’m praying for you both as I pray for a lot of you. I just can’t remember everyone’s names. And also, I am asking for prayer again for my daughter. The last time I called in she was going through things where she had started using drugs and alcohol. Well, there was an accident where the vehicle hydroplaned. And, of course, she’s okay, but in the midst of all of that she had to try to get help while they were on the highway and there were police involved and even though she wasn’t drunk or like that or anything, she passed her breathalyzer and all of that. In some kind of way, she got charged with DUI. Drugs, I’m not sure. And, so, I’m just asking for prayer for when she goes to court the charges are dismissed because she didn’t have anything on her, she was the designated driver. We just don’t know why the officer padded her charges but…

Exodus 2:11-3:22, Matthew 17:10-27, Psalms 22:1-18, Proverbs 5:7-14

Today is the 26^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today as we close another week down. And, ironically, we’re concluding the last full week of the month of January. This time next week we’ll be in in the next month, February. And that’s how it works, step-by-step, day by day. So, today’s step forward in the Scriptures, at least in the Old Testament, will take us back into the book of Exodus, which we’ve just begun, and we’re getting to know the story of Moses. So, from the English Standard Version. Exodus chapter 2 verse 11 through 3 verse 22 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another week in Your word and as we were saying at the beginning, we look out into the future another week and we will have crossed the threshold into a new month. And, so, we are beginning to feel the rhythm of this year. We are beginning to feel the rhythm of the Scriptures. And now that we’re several weeks into this journey we’re starting to feel the strength that comes from allowing Your word to be a part of our lives each and every day. And, so, we thank You for Your faithfulness to us in every conceivable way, including the gift of Your word. And as we prepare to release this week and allow it to drift and become a part of our history, we do so with gratefulness, with a grateful heart knowing that You love us, are carrying us, You are sustaining us. And although we may thrash and kick about, You are fathering us. And, so, we thank You and we look forward into the coming week for all that You will do and say through Your word. So, come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

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 at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 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:

Hello DAB family today is the 21^st of January and I’m just making my way through the 19^th of January’s prayer and encouragement line. Like so many who’ve called and, I was so, so happy to hear the voice of Prodigal. You know…it was just amazing. I just feel the same way as everyone else has expressed when they’ve called in about that. But there was also Sharon who called in shortly after Prodigal, I believe that’s her name. And you lost your daughter to suicide and shortly after that your husband left and left you alone to the holiday and you called in again. Sharon, and anybody else, anybody else who called in and is contemplating suicide, I hope that you have heard the love that pours out through this family, the desire of our heart to see you well and to hear your voices again. So, Sharon I am praying that you also call in and lift up our spirits with just letting us know…maybe not everything taken care of…but just letting us know that you’re okay because we love you, it’s not fiction, it’s…I mean…we don’t see each other, we don’t, you know, know each other on a face-to-face basis but our spirits are linked to our Lord Jesus Christ who we are all his children. And sister, we love you and we are waiting to hear back from you as well. So, I just wanted to call in and say that. So, anyways, I hope to hear from you soon Sharon. Thanks. Bye.

Hi this is Rebecca from Arkansas. Very grateful to the Daily Audio Bible. I’ve just started listening beginning January 1^st. I listen to it on my way to work. My husband was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease about a year and half ago. We think he’s been sick for about 2 ½ years. It’s really, really hard on both of us and I have a wonderful faith community and so very supportive. But there are days where I just feel very frustrated, anxious, afraid, stressed and alone. So, we appreciate your prayers. I…yeah…days are hard sometimes and I’m glad I’m a person of faith, I’m glad I have the Bible to listen to. It would just be nice to know that your praying with and for me. Blessings on you all. Bye.

Hey brothers and sisters, this is Sarah McAvoy from Georgia. I called a couple times back at least a year ago just for prayer requests but I wanted to let you know that I’ve been listening since December 2016 when out of desperation I needed to hear the word of God. I used to have my own prayer time, reading my Bible every day, and when I got a job the Christian school there was no time, no, zero time for me to read my Bible and I was just looking for something, any app that would give me a Bible reading and I found DAB and I had found others, I didn’t like them it was really blah kind of voices but when I heard Brian’s voice it just spoke to me and I began listening and has been my source of the word of God. I just am searching for and am thankful to people who pray. And I want you to know that I’m there for you also. I have found so much there. My prayer request is for my daughter Alecia and her daughter Kristi. Kristi has gender issues. She says that she’s a boy, Marco, she’s only 17. It’s been a strained relationship since then and that is…I pray for others that I know are dealing with children who have gender issues and become a strained issue. I’m just gonna be lifting you up in prayer as you lift up my Alecia and Kristi. In Jesus’ name. Goodbye.

Today is Monday, January 21^st and I’m calling because I’ve heard a lot of calls lately, I’ve been listening almost since the beginning, and I heard a lot of calls about our family and I just am so blessed for the Daily Audio Bible family and I just feel so blessed to be a part of it and there’s so many people that we know but we don’t know. We hear their voices, we know their voices, we love them. I remember when I first started listening, I was so amazed by hearing Brian say, “I love you” always at the end of the podcast. And now I totally understand that. There are so many people. Asia, I heard your story for so many years, what you’ve gone through from when you start looking for a husband and now related…so sorry about your loss. Blind Tony, Viola…Viola…we heard your voice for so many years, you are an amazing person that just…anyway my time is running out…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, my name is Mary, I’m from Indianapolis. I listen to the Daily Audio Bible frequently, but I don’t call in very often. I just am so encouraged, and I feel like Elizabeth when Mary the mother of Jesus came to visit her. Her baby John leapt in her womb as the Holy Spirit filled her. And when I listen to Brian read the word and expand on it. When I listen to the prayers and the love pour out from each one of you as you call in and share your prayer requests and pray for others I feel a Holy Spirit leap within me and I rejoice. I’m so encouraged, I feel like life is exciting and God’s Word is going out and there’s purpose. It’s just so encouraging to be a part of a group of people around the world who care for and love one another in this way. So, I praise God. I also praise God for Brian, for the Daily Audio Bible. I have often been deeply moved by what I’ve heard, particularly one day a couple of years ago I was listening, and Brian said, as he does every day, “I’m Brian I love you I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.” And it felt like that was God speaking to me. And I knew his love in a new way. It sounds so simple but it’s true. Also, “come Holy Spirit we pray” in every prayer. That is my prayer. And for each…for me…for each one of us, I just praise God that He does that, He does come to us, His Holy Spirit each day and we are able to walk in a way that we would be unable to without Him. God bless you all. Much love.

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

Today is the 25^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it is a pleasure and a joy and an honor to be here with you today as we close this workweek down and get ready to move into the weekend. And as we do that we’re coming to a finishing point of our own as we take these steps through the Scripture we’ll be concluding the book of Genesis today and then moving into the book of Exodus. And, so, we’ll discuss what Exodus is gonna represent to us when we get there, but first we’ll read Genesis chapter 50, which is the final chapter of the book of Genesis.

Introduction to the Book of Exodus:

Okay. So, that concludes the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis. And yeah, just a little over three weeks we’ve been on this journey but wow, what a journey Genesis has been. And we’re not done with our Old Testament reading today. This brings us squarely to the threshold of the book of Exodus, which is the second book of the Torah or the Pentateuch. And in the original Hebrew language Exodus means departure. And, so, true to its name that’s exactly the territory that we’re heading into, the epic retelling of God’s deliverance of His people from slavery. And it’s in this book that Moses becomes an actual part of the story. And, so, we probably know that the children of Israel were emancipated from slavery in Egypt, that’s a pretty famous biblical story. But now we’ve followed the trail that shows us how they got there in the first place. So, as we turn the page into Exodus we’re kind of fast forwarding like four centuries, so, 400 years and we just witnessed as we concluded Genesis the death of Joseph. So, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have all died. Now Joseph has died. And we turn the page and go into Exodus and 400 years have passed. So, we see how the children of Israel got to Egypt in the first place, but 400 years go by, Joseph is forgotten, the family line has as expanded as God had said it would. Now they’re like the stand on the sea shore, they’re like the stars in the sky, they’re everywhere, but they’ve become powerful and the Egyptians have enslaved them. And, so, now God is going to go back to rescue that family that we’ve followed along with since Genesis, who are now a vast horde of people. And we took the long view in the book of Genesis, seeing that God’s promise took many generations. Now we’ve gone 400 years in the future and we’re seeing that this promise is still intact all of these centuries later and God is coming on behalf of his people. And, so, we begin. Exodus chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us to this point where we make a transition and move from one book of the Bible into the next and the story carries forward. And, so, we thank You for this mile marker, this moment of reflection. For some of us this is first time we read a complete book of the Bible. And, so, thank You God. And for those of us who have read Genesis a few times, then thank You for letting us revisit the stories that bring us forward and tell us of our heritage. So, come Holy Spirit plant the Scriptures deep in our lives today. We pray, and we ask that it in collaboration with You that we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Come Jesus, we pray in Your mighty name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

The Prayer Wall also lives at dailyaudiobible.com and there’s prayer taking place there just about all of the time. Of course, you can get to the Prayer Wall using the Daily Audio Bible app as well by just pushing the drawer button in the upper left hand corner. Of course, when you push that drawer button it opens a drawer and there’s lots of the stuff that you can maintain from there. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If these last few weeks have begun a rhythm that’s bringing light and life to you that is a source of encouragement and serenity to you, then thank you for your partnership and allowing the global campfire to continue to burn. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 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.

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

Today is the 24^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is always great to be here with you for the next step forward as we continue to move through our weeks and our months and eventually our year, taking steps that lead us through the entire Bible. We’ve taking 23 steps. So, this is our 24^th step and we’ve been chasing the story of Joseph and it’s been a dramatic story to say the least and it will carry us through…well…through tomorrow and tomorrow we’ll finish the book of Genesis. So, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and today, Genesis chapter 48 and 49.

Commentary:

Okay. So, like I mentioned, tomorrow we’ll be finishing the book of Genesis, which will finish the first book of the Bible. So, we’re kind of down to the last pages of that book and in today’s reading now we have experienced the death of Jacob. So, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their lifespans and their children and their stories were all covered in the book of Genesis. And the idea of “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” will carry forward through the rest of the Bible. So, Jacob lays his head down in death even as he blesses his sons and grandsons and then he requests that his bones be buried in the family burial cave. So, they’re in Egypt at this point. So, it’s a bit…it’s a long way back, but we remember, I mean we keep visiting this cave of Machpelah, right, in the valley of Eshkol. And, so, in grand procession, Jacobs bones are taken back to this burial place that still exists until today in the city of Hebron. And, so, we keep coming back here and basically, yeah, we keep coming back because when someone dies they get buried there, but we’ll be coming back here to this to this burial place again a little later from now with great consequences.

And then in today’s reading from the book of Proverbs we’re hold…I mean…I don’t know how to build this up big enough at this point, we’re told something that is absolutely essential to us being able to navigate this year and this life at all. We’re told to guard our hearts above everything else because our hearts determine the course of our lives. So, the Scriptures say, “keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life.” So, let’s not forget, our hearts are where we commune with God and our intimacy with God charts the course for our lives. So, if we’re not going to guard our hearts are have vigilance over our hearts and we’re going to give our hearts to anything that will come along and just promise life and pleasure and we end up giving ourselves to unworthy things then this can become like a tainted water source that becomes corrupt and then eventually makes us sick. Our hearts are like ground zero for our lives. And, so, we have to be intentional and vigilant and absolutely devoted to protecting our hearts if…well…if we want to be in a relationship with God.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. We invite You into our hearts. We invite You and ask that You reveal the ways in which we’re crowding You out of our hearts by putting unworthy things in our lives. “Above all else, guard your heart with all vigilance.” This is what You told us today and You told us to do that because it determines the course of our lives. So, come Holy Spirit, be within our hearts because the course that we want to walk with our lives is something we want to be determined by You. We want to walk in relationship with You in all things at all times in all places. So, come Holy Spirit and show us what it means to guard our hearts above all else. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Stay connected at the Prayer Wall.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it’s 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, 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family this is Joe from Connecticut. Brian thank you and to your family for another year of the Daily Audio Bible. This is an incredible ministry, strong in God’s love and faith thanks to your dedication. Thank you. I’m calling today to lift up my friend Denise in prayer who continues to struggle with fear and anxiety from her early childhood sexual abuse from her father. Nothing is impossible with prayer so please pray for Denise to receive God’s healing to her heart, her mind, body, soul, and spirit, that God will call Denise to be one with Him in His love, joy, hope and happiness. And please pray that Denise will be able to open her heart to know God and for His redemptive healing. Thank you, family for your prayers. Also, please pray that I will continue to be strong in God’s love and faith and be blessed with the wisdom to know His will and have the strength and courage to do His will. Thank you. And welcome to all the new DAB family members in 2019. You are now part of a wonderful supportive spiritual family. I pray for all the DAB prayer requests. I keep all of you are in my prayers every day. I love you family. Thank you. Stay strong in faith.

Hello this is Alisha, My God’s is Abundance. Today is January 21^st and I have just finished listening to today’s message. Thanks Brian for your ministry and for bringing us your word, this word about wisdom today. I’m taking a page out of Victoria Soldier calling in to pray for some of the DABbers today. Walta, the Burning Brush, may you be blessed with a wide path to stand on as you continue to fight the good fight, may you be strengthened enough that your hand may bend the bows of bronze that we learned about today in the Psalm as you battle for your DAB family. Ken from Michigan, trying to find faith and to become a believer. Well Ken, it sounds like you’re just about there or already there. May you be blessed with the wisdom of Proverbs 4:7-10 that was read today. I pray that wisdom just throws a crown upon you so that you can continue to hear and accept the words of our heavenly Father. As you listen and hear may you be led to bow your knee, repent to whatever you are holding on to that might be holding you back, and acknowledge that Jesus is your Lord, our King. And we look forward to walking through this year with you Ken. May Madison…or Max Madison who shared his wisdom and insight about reaching to nonbelievers by showing them God’s love. Max, I’ve long believed the same thing and  as a sister, friend, and partner to family and friends who are nonbelievers, I thank you for your insight and pray that you are surrounded by the love of Christ each day in a tangible and undeniable way. May you also be blessed with an unshakable love of life, that you might choose life each day and not hate life ever again, and that’s to consider suicide again. And for Julie who was burdened by prayers for her younger brother. My sister, I share your struggle as the sister of a brother who proclaims himself to be an atheist…

Hi, my name is Angela, I’m calling from California. I don’t really know what I was going to say today but I need prayer. I’m the one with that has voices in my head and I’m just not doing really good. I still feel like killing myself every day. I don’t feel like living anymore. I’ve been spending a lot of time with my family because of these thoughts and the physical illness that I have. It’s like I’m planning for it to happen. Every day I plan to…just something happen to me or I plan to do this every day and it’s gotten so close that I’ve almost done it and it’s an everyday occurrence for me and I just need you guys to pray that I can get through this and that God will do a miracle for me and that He’ll just to touch me and heal me because I know He can do it but I’m just struggling really hard right now. I’ve got my children to think about and everything else and I try to think about but when these things hit me I don’t think about anything else and I walk around and people think I’m normal when I walk around but it’s not, I’m not, I have all these things going on inside me and I just really need your prayers. It’s really been hard on me and I can’t take it anymore. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m down to my lowest point in life. I went through a phase where I just got so depressed I didn’t want to do anything, and I couldn’t get up and do anything. I just sat in one spot for about a week and I just…I was to that point where I just wanted to take my life and I am not, I’m not doing…

Hi, this is Jackie calling from Colorado. Last time I called I was living in Hawaii. That was just a little over a year ago and I called several times for my son Justin who was involved in quite a few court cases and I just kind of let it go and I never, you know, called back again and about six weeks ago I started listening to the Daily Audio Bible podcast again and I just…God opened up a whole new area in my life and I’m so grateful that he did and I…my prayer…I actually have a praise report for my son, he’s been incarcerated now for a little over year and he’s getting out in a couple months. I.E. that’s why I’m here in Colorado. And he’s doing really well. He was delivered from alcoholism and at the same time, during the same period, I was delivered from drug addiction that I had not confessed to anybody really. I just accepted it as a part of my life and just always would be, but I was delivered from that and I’m just so grateful that the Lord listened to me and gave me the strength to go through it and I just wanted to tell other people that I listen…

Good morning brothers and sisters, my name’s Mike, originally from South Africa and now living in London. I just want to encourage some of you that are calling in because I feel your pain. I tell you, God can heal everything, He can take everything away. You just have to be patient, you just have to pray and then lean on Him. It is not in our own understanding brothers and sisters, but God takes it care of it, He really does. Honestly and truly, I know where you’re at, I hear some of those calls coming in and some of you are close so close to tears and so close to breaking, but I’m gonna to tell you one thing now, God’s prayers never go unanswered, may not be in your time, may not be instant, but God is working on your behalf. The moment you pray that prayer it is done. Be in peace, be in joy, whatever happens today God is in control of your life and that prayer that you’ve prayed is being answered. Just believe, just believe. God bless and have a wonderful week. It’s Monday morning today. Have a wonderful week.

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

Today is the 23^rd day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today as we continue forward and take the next step in our adventure that we have embarked on as a community to take one step a day every day for a whole year and read the entire Bible. So, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and we are rounding the corner and, you know, in a few days we’ll finish the first book of the Bible, which is the book of Genesis. We’re not quite there, we have a few days to go, but we are also rounding the corner on this Joseph story that we’ve been tracking for a while and what a drama it is so. SO, Joseph, you know, Jacob, Joseph’s father has now discovered that Joseph, in fact, isn’t dead and all the grief that he’s had for all of those years mourning him may turn into joy. And, so, we’ll pick the story up. Genesis chapter 46 and 47 today and we’re reading from the English Standard Version. Sid I already say that? I don’t know. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’re beginning to see the antagonism between Jesus and the religious establishment and we kind of know where this story goes. The religious establishment is gonna do everything they can to ill Jesus in the end and in the end they’ll succeed. So, in today’s reading, the religious establishment is questioning why Jesus does the things that He does and why He does them the way that Ge does them because He is breaking the religious traditions. And Jesus pushes back by simply exposing the fact that they also break their own religious traditions. What he’s trying to do is help them understand their religious traditions and what they have made of the law is not what it was intended to be. And, of course, this calls into question all kinds of things, you know, what the religion is about, how God will feel about these changes, how to control the population and keep them devout. Like, all kinds of things begin to come up and it’s antagonizing because what Jesus is talking about is deconstruction. Ironically, the kind of antagonism that Jesus faced with the Pharisees early in his ministry, you have to wonder if He wouldn’t be in just as much trouble if He came here today speaking the same message to Christians. I know that sounds odd but at the end of Jesus confrontation today He said it all, “for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said this, this people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Okay, Jesus spoke this 2000 years ago when He was speaking of a prophecy that was like 700 years older than that. So, this has been going on a long time and it’s still going on. And I’m a product of the church, right? I grew up in the church, the son of a pastor. I have been in ministry a long time. Like, if there’s something that I do understand I think it's…it’s the ways of the church and it’s been an interesting journey for me over the course of 14 years reading the Bible every day. And looking at stuff that Jesus is saying and then going back in the context of why they’re mad at him and realizing that we’re repeating the same cycle in so many ways, right? So, for example, what is the message of the gospel? If like…if we were…if we were to articulate what the message of the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ is, we would say, “it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter what has brought you to this point, if you will believe and accept Jesus as your Savior, your sins, all of them, no matter what they are, no matter what they have ever been, they will be washed away and you will be clean and God’s mercy will overshadow you and you will be born into the family of God and become a part of the body of Christ, brothers and sisters all over the world.” Right? So, that’s what we would say and that is what we believe. That is absolutely the truth. Ironically, that grace, that hovers over you in the pitch, right, to accept Jesus, that seems to go away after you do because after you do you better never sin again, or your brothers and sisters will crucify you. This is the behavior Jesus is pressing in on here. The religious establishment had gotten about the business of trying to corral the people into a fundamentally uniform process of obeying the law, and yet the spirit of the law had been lost. And, so, we have wrote traditions to follow with the whole thing being about modifying behavior as opposed to experiencing union and intimacy with God. And if you do a 360 around you we see this is still going on. We just have Christian traditions instead of Jewish Hebrew traditions to enforce. And this so quickly turns to judgment and, O my gosh, and you can just go out on social media and find the wars. And so often they boil down to what somebody did say or what somebody didn’t say or what opportunity somebody missed when they should have said this or how they might be believing something that we don’t believe and that that can’t be right. And, so, we’ve absolutely become Pharisees thinking that we are protecting God and that we are holding onto the traditions and enforcing what God would have us do in protecting the true doctrine. But the bottom line is the true doctrine, like, the true religion can be destroyed over time when mankind tries to interpret and enforce everyone else about it. So, Jesus is pressing into exactly this with the Pharisees today, but all we have to do is just harken back to what he’s been saying all along. “judge not lest you be judged. The way that you judge others is the way you are going to be judged. Forgive and you will be forgiven. If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven.” These are all things Jesus has been laying out all long since we started the journey. So, we have to consider our own posture of heart in the way that it is that we look at our fellow brothers and sisters all around us, especially, especially our brothers and sisters who do not see things the same way that we do. We can find ourselves being very, very pharisaical and then we have to listen to Jesus words, “for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.” So, may we not be people who will honor the Lord with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him, because that is vain worship which means not doing anything and may we be very careful not to teach as doctrines the commandments of men.

Prayer:

Jesus, we come to You, these are Your words that we are speaking about, so we come to You. You said these things and they do prickle us, they do make us go, “wait, what are we talking about here”, because on some level we don’t want to be the Pharisees but on the other side of it we want to do right. And, left to our own devices, this will lead us to judging others, this will lead us to unforgiveness, this will lead us into all kinds of things that make our religion nothing more than a tradition when what You are inviting us into is a personal, dynamic, always on, never off, life-giving relationship with You, and that is what we seek. But we do have the tendency to try to box that up and make it dogma and tradition as opposed to life-giving relationship. So, we need You. So. We’re coming to You Jesus. What are You bringing up? What are You speaking to us in this regard? Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

If you’re at dailyaudiobible.com and you click the Community section, that’s where you’ll find all the links to different social media channels and as I’ve mentioned a couple of times, it’s a good idea to follow us on Twitter and maybe follow us on some of the other social media channels like Facebook .This way, if there’s an announcement, if there’s something going on, if we’re having technical difficulties which we…I mean…this is a seven day thing so occasionally something’s not working on one of the servers or whatever, it just is helps us to get the word out. So, that’s a good idea, but there are also other groups like DAB Friends to get involved with where there’s conversation juts happening naturally and kind of always. So, you can find all those things in the community section at dailyaudiobible.com.

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

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

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

Today is the 22^nd day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s always a pleasure to come back around the global campfire and come in out of the dark and come in out of the cold and just sit and let God’s word wash over us. It’s always a joy. So, let’s take that next step. We’ve been tracking along with the story of Joseph and we’ll pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Genesis chapter 44 and 45 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we are nearing the end of our time with Joseph and we’ve been following his story and we have a lot of the detail of his story, so we can really get into the texture of it. And we see in the story of Joseph, a young man whose life, in a lot of ways was stolen from him, a young man who has or would’ve had every right to be bitter, every right to be angry. I mean, at every turn Joseph was doing the right thing and then receiving, essentially, the repercussions of doing the wrong thing. So, he’s doing right but he’s reaping the reward of doing wrong at every turn. So, if there’s anybody in the Bible thus far that we have encountered that would have the right to bitterness, right, that would have the right to angst and paranoia and just fear, it would be Joseph because what happened to him is unbelievably life altering and in traumatic, but that’s not the Joseph story. Somehow at every turn Joseph did not lose his faith and trust in God. Like, he held onto the one thing that would be his only hope and he held onto it tightly and everywhere that he went, even though bad went to worse he was shortly leading the scenario, which was not only about making life tolerable for him it was making life better for everyone else who was in the same circumstance. God was with him and we can only imagine what Joseph observed and learned through these trials that equipped him to take charge and command the moment Pharaoh appointed him. So, Joseph’s revealing himself to his brothers, and the weeping, yes, it’s a very, very dramatic scene, but Joseph’s words to his brothers are riveting because he essentially tells them after testing them, like after observing them and seeing that they understood the weight of what they had done to him he reveals himself and tells them to not fight each other, not blame each other, not be sad about this anymore because it was God who had sent him ahead to save their lives and the lives of the future generations and all of the land of Egypt. That is quite a perspective, wouldn’t you agree? And the only way Joseph could keep this kind of perspective, because we’re not talking about a couple weeks of hardship or even a couple of months of hardship, we’re talking about a year after year after year with Joseph toiling away in a dungeon with no way out. So, there’s no way Joseph could have navigated this without having a long view, without him continually waking up every morning and being able to tell himself honestly this is not the end of the story, this is not all that’s going on, I don’t know what’s happening here and I don’t know why this is happening, but this is not the end of the story, there’s more going on here and I will keep my faith in God alone. That perspective is a bit of a game changer because it invites us to approach the times of difficulty and hardship differently. I mean, we can look at a time of hardship that we enter into and trace our steps back and there are times that we can say, “I am here entirely because of my own doing”, right? Like, “I literally walked off the narrow path that leads to life and walked over here and I am over here in this mess because I did this”. That would be right and true and then we can walk back onto the narrow path that leads to life and own it. A lot of times when we choose we get off into the darkness and blame God for leading us off the narrow path that leads to life and into the darkness, which is absurd, but we blame God for all kinds of things He has nothing to do with. Or we could take a third approach and, you know, if we are facing times of hardship, but we have not navigated into them, then we can understand that there must be more going on than I understand and I have a role to play in this and embrace the process because we may be paving the way for those who are coming behind us and it could be vital and important, a critical mission for our family tree for generations to come. I mean, it’s easy enough to go, “well, not so much, that’s not my life story” but then we’re reading the story of Joseph in the Bible and it really wasn’t his life story either and yet he was able to acquire and maintain a perspective that kept him believing that there was more going on and if you would keep taking one step and putting it in front of the other one day things might start making sense, and they certainly did.

Payer:

Father, we invite You into that, our times of trials and hardships and difficulties, and how it is that we interpret those times because how we interpret those times dictates how we feel about You, how we feel about the world around us, how we feel about our fellow brothers and sisters navigating the planet Earth at this point in history, it affects everything, and yet these times of trials are never purposeless. So, come Holy Spirit we pray and give us the long view, change our perspective we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay connected.

There are a number of resources in the Daily Audio Bible Shop that they should check out for this journey. For example, the Daily Audio Bible journals and all of our Black Wing writing utensils and kits and, yeah, I mean, if you’re gonna journal, journal right. I mean, I’ve been a journaler most of my adulthood. And, so, I have collections of journals from different times in my life and then I went digital and journaled about 10% of what I used to journal, and I thought all the technology, you know, being able to take pictures and all this kind of stuff would just make things so much easier, but I just did so much less. And then I started journaling with a pencil, like going extremely old-school low tech and found the joy of writing what was in my heart, in my own hand, on a piece of paper, sharpening fine graphite and just having this tactile experience that just…I don’t know…it clicked with me. And, so, we contacted black wing and, yup, they agreed to let us bring Black Wing stuff into our shop. And, so, we find that the pairing is wonderful. And, so, I have my own journal and black wing writing kit and I carry with me pretty much…I don’t travel anywhere ever without it with me. I’m writing with these pencils every day of my life and am looking at a couple of nice sharpened ones right over here sitting on my Journal right now. So, if you’re taking this journey through the year and, you know, we have a journal in our app and you can write your thoughts down right in the app, right from the web player. As they happen, write down little things that you want to remember. But for kind of more longform, like this is kind of what’s been going on in my life…this is where I believe God is leading me…like the things that you would…the things you would want to document in your own hand and journal, then we have these Daily Audio Bible journals these Black Wing writing utensils, and if God’s going to speak to you this year then take notes.

Also, the Daily Audio Bible Windfarm coffee and tea is in the Shop. You can subscribe and have some fresh roasted coffee. And that’s the deal. It’s roasted fresh at the beginning of every month and we ship it out at the beginning of every month and you can have it sent to you every month and it will arrive fresh. You could be drinking fresh roasted coffee that will be fresher than you’re buying anywhere else and it is spectacular. It’s…we’re kind of coffee connoisseurs around here and have dialed this in over the years. And also, our Windfarm tea. You can have that sent to you every month. And I partake of that delicious tea a lot in the winter time. I’m drinking a lot of tea these days. So, you can have that sent to you, however much you want every month, or you can, you know, just look through and order what you like. But check that out. That helps support the mission of the Daily Audio Bible and us being here every day.

The music from the Daily Audio Bible is the shop. So, like, all the background that sets the atmosphere, because that’s what we’re trying to do, is create a sacred space that you turn the Daily Audio Bible on, you put your earbuds in, or you listen in your car or whatever, and we’re trying to create a different space so that when we enter into this space together around the global campfire it’s a different place and it’s peaceful, it’s serene, we can exhale, it’s safe, we are among friends, and we can allow God’s word to wash over us and give ourselves that a few minutes of serenity. So, all the music from the Daily Audio Bible is available in the Daily Audio Bible shop too. I mean, it just kind of sets the scene so I’m not paying attention to everyday, but as I’m listening right now, like this music is from the soundtrack to the Promised Land films and that’s all available in the Daily Audio Bible shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link and it lives on the homepage. I thank you humbly and profoundly for everyone who’s ever clicked that link over the years. That is how we show up every day. And, so, 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, 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello everybody, this is Asia from Chicago. I love you guys so much. I’m literally moved to tears right now because it’s just so beautiful that we have this community with each other and I’ve felt so encouraged from this. Thank you, Brian and Jill and China and everybody on the team. China, congratulations again on your engagement. So, beautiful. I wanted to call for Asia in Germany. I think about you all the time and I think about how your heart has been doing after your miscarriage and how your husband and you are doing and how all of it and just my heart breaks for you every time I think about you and I just want you to know that I’m praying for you and you are loved all the way here from Chicago. I wanted to also lift up Jonathan and Crystal, they’re living in Louisiana and you guys called a couple weeks ago because you were living in your car. Praying for you all the time and also, praying for…a mother called in for Matt, her son, who left a suicide note. I’m praying for him, praying for your heart, praying for your family. Lord, we just lift up all of these things. There’s so much going on but Lord we thank You that You care so much, every single thing that we think and feel and that You love us so…You love us so much, that You care about the birds of the air and You…You give them life Lord and we just want to trust you Lord. Thank You for your love Jesus. Woooo, wow, emotional. Love you guys. Keep your heads up, thank you guys for your prayers, everybody the thinks about me. Love you all. Bye.

Hi everybody, it’s Margo from Australia, currently in the UK. So, we have left Australia and to be honest this is not what I had planned for my first call to DAB after I left Australia, but honestly, I need to be honest and say I am really, really…I am so overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed, I guess I would say crushing grief. I feel so sad at all that I’ve left behind and I didn’t realize the intensity of my feelings that I knew I would be sad and I knew it would be hard but I think I really underestimated what the cost would be and I…I’m still jet lagged too, so that doesn’t help, but I know that this will pass, I know that mourning has a beginning and an end. But right now, I’m in the hardest time. So, yeah, please, can you pray for me? I’m kind of assuming everyone knows my story. I should say I’m moving from Brisbane Australia to Liberia with my husband to be missionaries there and I know, 100%, this is the call of God on my life but that doesn’t mean that following Jesus is not going to be painful at times. I’ve been having trouble eating obviously sleeping and now I kind of feel weak and shaky but…gosh now I feel like I’m just going on and on and on about all my problems, but anyway I would be so grateful for your prayer. Love you all. Bye.

Hi DAB family, this is Lisa from Knoxville. I wanted to first say hello to all of the family reunion attendees that we were able to meet, my family and I. Jay from Nashville, Becky, Laura, and all the families from New York area, Danielle and his brother, just everyone that we were blessed to have the opportunity to meet and fellowship with during those days. Pelham, great to see you all, and Annette Allison. But what I was calling for today was a prayer request that was mentioned on the podcast from the 17^th, January 17^th, it was from a lady named Steph from Canada who was waiting on some immigration needs as far as trying to get a permanent residency here in the United States. Steph, I am Canadian myself and I have been in the United States since 1996 and I’ve been through the immigration process. I’m a permanent resident now and this year will plan to get my citizenship hopefully. But I just wanted to let you know that I’m praying for you and if you would like to connect, my email address is the word cleverlisap@yahoo.com and I’ll keep you in my prayers, girl. I understand exactly what you’re going through and how stressful that situation can be. Lifting you up. Have a great day.

Hi DAB family it’s James here from the UK, long time no speak, I hope you’re all good. I know some of you are good, which is why I hesitated then because there’s so many prayer requests recently that have come through and people have shared their pain. And I just want to know that, you know, as many say, I’m thinking of a them, those who are leaving those prayer requests and I’m praying, even if some people leave they request and don’t think that they’ve been heard. Please know that there are many, many people out there that don’t always call in but are praying for you. And I just wanted to ask for your prayers for a certain person. He currently struggling at the moment. His name is Ben and he’s in a mental health ward at the moment here in the UK. And he’s going through some really dark stuff, which I’m not gonna get into detail on. But I would just lift him up to you guys and ask for your prayers for him. He’s recent with Scripture and expressing a real interest in a Christian faith. And it’s just amazing to watch this turnaround in his life, but he needs lots of prayer cover. There’s so many things that are bringing him back into the dark stuff that’s happened in his life and he has got mental illness that he’s working through and having support for, but Jesus is really making an inroad into his life in an incredible way. And I just pray that you would hold up Ben in your prayers over the next week, over the next month because there’s a very good chance he’s going to be released from hospital soon. He’s still not 100% well in the way he can live back in society. We just need to really cover Ben in prayer and ask that he have the right support network around him so that the Holy Spirit will just continue to do that work in his life and that…

Hi this is Jazz from New York City. I’m calling for a prayer request. I’m a medical student, I’m in my last year and I just ranked my residency options. So, I’m just asking that you’d join me in faith just in believing that God will lead me to the hospital, to the residency program He has chosen for me. I very much want to get into a radiology residency. That’s kind of where my heart is and I also like oncology. So, just keep these in mind, but I’d really like a radiology residency. Also, I’m waiting to hear back about my scores for one of my board exams, Step2CS. If you could just join me in believing that I did well, and I passed. I certainly studied very, very, very hard and I’m just praying for God’s best throughout this process. My academic transcript isn’t the best. There were some challenges that I faced with respect to my family. My parents had cancer and I took care of them. They’re doing wonderful by the grace of God, but med school was challenging for that reason, but I’m praying and believing for the best throughout this time and just accepting what God has for me. Thank you and God, bless. Thank you so much.

Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalms 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10

Today is the 21^st day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s a pleasure, of course, an honor every day to come together like this centering ourselves around the rhythm of the Scriptures. It’s the joy of life. And, so, this is the 21^st day of the year, which I guess means officially, right, three weeks into the year and we are definitely sailing forward as we continue to move forward. And man, what three weeks in the Bible will do right? A lot of the different aspects of life and a lot of different stories in the Scriptures have begun to unfold before us. And, so, we’ll continue and pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. We’re reading the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis who has been reunited with his brothers who trafficked him into slavery. He knows who they are. They don’t know who he is. And, so, there’s some drama unfolding. Genesis chapter 42 verse 18 through 43 verse 34 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, Jesus has been telling stories about the kingdom of heaven. And, you know, the announcement of the kingdom, and the revealing of the kingdom is a central thing that was part of Jesus ministry. And, so, of course, he’s gonna talk about it. He’s telling stories and the net net of these stories is that the kingdom of God is something that will grow up among things that are not the kingdom of God, right, the wheat and the weeds. And, so, this is a good time to pause for a second because we have all kinds of ideas about the kingdom of God and what it will be and what it will look like and when it will come and how it will come and, you know, what we will do when we get there and all of this, we have these kind of a notions about things, but these notions are usually of futuristic, right, they’re things yet to come when we need to look at what Jesus is laying out and not miss the fact that He is saying what’s coming is already happening. And that’s a little bit of a rewire for most of our notions because…and we’ll see this as we go forward. Jesus is announcing a kingdom that is already begun and is within and among us already. And yes, the kingdoms fullness has not yet arrived. And yet we usually think it hasn’t even begun, like that’s something that happens later when Jesus announcement was, no, it’s already happening and it’s already among you if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. This is already going on and you need to get on board and be a part of it of what is already going on. Of course, most people missed what He was saying. Most people still do. A lot of times we spend our life thinking that what our mission on this earth to do is to is to be a good little boy and a good little girl and, you know, and try to be try to eek our way into eternity when what Jesus seems to be laying out, and we will be exploring this as we continue through the Gospels because He talks about this stuff a lot, but what Jesus seems to be saying is, you’re not supposed to live here so that you can die and get out of here and be in the kingdom. You are the kingdom, you are a part of the kingdom, it’s happening right now, the kingdom has a mission on planet Earth right now. This isn’t just about something that’s gonna happen later, you’re a part of that story. And, so, you know, let’s ponder that today. We’ll have plenty of time to ponder it over time, but this is kind of a big deal because it reshapes what we believe our purpose is and a fully invites us into a collaborative relationship with God where there is actual work to be done on behalf of His kingdom. And, so, we’re getting the echoes of Jesus ministry about the kingdom, we’re just beginning to explore but we see Jesus keep saying, the kingdom is like this, it’s like this, it’s like this, and He’s ultimately leading us to the revelation that it’s happening right now.

And then in the book of Proverbs we should also listen up. We’re told that the beginning of wisdom is this, “get wisdom”, right? So, like, first, like the thing that I am going to get if I get anything is I am going to get wisdom, right? You set that before you. That is the target, that is the goal, that’s what I’m after. Like, I’m not after a race. Like, I like a race. I’m not after the new car. I like the new car or whatever but the main thing that I’m going to get if I’m going to get anything is wisdom. And we put that before us and remember that in every decision then we can immediately essentially know whether we’re making wise choices and not. And the Proverbs goes on to say, “whatever else you get get insight, prize her highly and she will exalt you, she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland, she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” So, basically you can try to fight your way through life fighting against your culture to get what you can get while everybody else is trying to get what they can get and then we all have these piles of things that represents all of the efforts of our lives or we can get wisdom, make that the priority, and everything else will begin to flow in our direction. Plenty to think about in today’s readings.

Prayer:

father as we dive into this, another workweek here at the beginning of the year, we ask that you show us how to get wisdom and how to make this the mission of our lives because we’re going to need to be wise to collaborate with you and participate in the redemption of this world and the revealing of your kingdom in it. So, come Holy Spirit we pray, plant the words of the Scriptures deep into the fertile soil of our lives and may it yield the fruit of the spirit as a bountiful 100 fold crop of wisdom. Come Jesus we pray. In your mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

The Prayer Wall, of course, is a great place for community and a great place to, you know, to face outward and pray for your brothers and sisters even as you are being prayed for. So, be sure to check that out. That is accessible at dailyaudiobible.com. It’s also accessible inside the Daily Audio Bible app, you just push the little the drawer menu in the upper left-hand corner and you can that. So, pray for your brothers and sisters and stay connected.

If you if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link and it just lives on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button and that’s in the upper right-hand corner just across from the little drawer menu in the upper left-hand corner. And I thank you profoundly for your partnership. 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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family, this is Walta, the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. Today is Wednesday, January 16^th, 2019 and I heard a prayer request go out. A mother’s calling on behalf of her son who had a gun who said he’s a demon. I rebuke every lie the enemy is speaking over that boy’s life right now in the name of Jesus. And father God I praise You Lord that we’re overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the power of our testimony. My sister, I just want to challenge you to stand in the gap for your son. The word of God tells us that your salvation is strong enough to cover your family. And, so, continue praying for him, I’m gonna pray for him. I also want to pray, I’ve heard a lot of prayers go out for illnesses and sicknesses. And, so, father God I praise you for your family and those who are listening today, and I pray for your divine intervention, your divine healing God over this __ father. Whatever they are struggling with Father, be it mental illness Father or just physical ailments, illnesses that have been diagnosed and the ones that people do not even know what they are. Father God, by your stripes, Jesus by Your stripes we are healed. So, I pray for healing over this family right now in the name of Jesus. And Father God I pray for a miraculous healing God and just breakthrough in the name of Jesus. God, I praise you Lord for answered prayers. There was a man of God who called today and he just read a bunch of Scripture and he started by saying that he was suicidal. I just want to say thank you for sharing the word of God because that is…the word of God is a doubleedged sword and it’s so strong, it’s so powerful, it’s so __, and so soothing and I just want to thank you for sharing that. I love you guys. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.

Hello DAB family, my name is Tim calling from Michigan. Started this journey last year and I’m still trying to find faith and become a believer and I was making my way through the DAB Audio Bible and I got into about mid-May of last year. This was around November I started of 2018. And we got about ¼ way through the Bible and the New Year sprang and I went to listen to the next podcast and it had been reset. So, it’s funny how the devil always will try to thwart you or push you away or deceive you. So, I just kind of took it as a welcome new beginning into the Bible this year and we’re starting fresh and I look forward to completing it for my first time and I, you know, I hope you guys can pray for me to help get me through this and help me find faith and find Jesus and eventually one day become saved. I appreciate it, I listen, I love listening to the podcast, I love listening to the prayers. It’s outstanding how everybody comes together. So, that’s where I’m at. I appreciate it. I love you all and I ask for prayers. Thank you.

Hi, this is Max Madison. I haven’t been listening. I used to listen a lot more than I do. I started up again this year. I haven’t listened for a year and ½. This past year was very, very tough. I almost lost my faith several times. I even thought about suicide but one thread in faith in Jesus Christ is stronger than a __ of steel but __ inspired me to call in and as someone who used to hate Christianity, if I can just give a piece of advice, I mean, show your grandson and father love and compassion and people are tacked by the media showing a Christianity that’s mean spirited and hateful and the best way to show someone the love of Christ is to show them the love of Christ. Maybe ask them why, maybe they think Christianity is something that completely it’s not because, I mean, unfortunately Christianity, like Judaism in the time of Jesus is corrupted in many __ . And many people don’t hate God, they don’t know God, but they Christianity. And I hope this helps and my prayers are for your grandson because that’s was life does, life skills and destroys faith and I pray that your grandson will continue having faith and that your family will come to faith. Thank you. Bye.

Good morning this is Julie calling from Albany. The burden has been heavy. I’m praying for my brother. I’m praying along with my older brother. We speak often of wanting to help our younger brother. We pray that he surrender to God, feel peace, feel the love and a joy, everything that comes with trusting God. We pray for his physical and mental health and well-being. We pray for his happiness. We want our brother to be happy and not full of conflict and stress and anxiety and fear. We pray for his independence. We pray for his happiness. We pray for him to find God. We love him so much. We just are reaching out today to our Daily Audio Bible family. My brother and I listen daily. We thank you all for being part of our family and ask for these prayers this day for our younger brother. Let him find God and surrender. Let him find that peace and happiness when we surrender and listen and learn. Thank you. God bless you all.

Hello everybody it’s Tony the Painter in London here. I’ve possibly got pneumonia or a really really heavy flu. I think I’m gonna find the results out today, so please pray for me in that. And also, it just reminded me, and so I’ve come to my bookshelf, I’ve re-picked up Sneezing Jesus and I’m gonna have a read of this over the week I think. Thank you, Brian for that. Everybody, I’m praying for each one of you. I hear the messages that you…and the prayer requests. Also, Michael in London, really nice to hear that there’s somebody close by who’s in the DAB. And I’m actually planning to go to a Hillsong church in the next couple weeks possibly not this Sunday because I’m not very well but, yeah, so, who knows, I might actually be able to meet a DABber and hug their neck and say I love that you pray for me. Yeah, so, anyway, I just wanted to say that I love you all and Brian I’m gonna to be reading Sneezing Jesus as I’m sneezing flu-y pneumonia and looking for ways that I can turn this into something that’s gonna be really beautiful for Jesus. I love you all. God, bless. Bye-bye.

Hey Daily Bible Audio family, this is Andrea Delaine from Kentucky and I this morning I just wanted to call and I just wanted to give praise to Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, the resurrected Messiah and I just want to give Him thanks because this month 22 years ago I gave my life to Yeshua, He came to me in such a real way, transformed my heart. I had such a heart full of hatred towards God. I grew up in religion, but I did not know God. I was getting burned out from legalism and not being good enough and it was a nightmare and I was just 15 years old at the time, but I was always starting to cut my arms. And I was like, “God if you’re not gonna help me maybe Satan will.” It was that burden of legalism and the burden of religion that leads us nowhere except worse, but when you Yeshua Jesus Christ set me free he set me free indeed. And the word of God is clear, that the son therefore shall make you free, you are free indeed, and it’s the truth. When you find the truth, it is truly Yeshua Jesus Christ. And, so, this morning I just want to give praise to my Savior, 22 years, that He has kept me, that He has walked with me, that He has brought me through some dark valleys and through horrible things, that He has kept His word, that He is taking care of my life, that He has never left me or forsaken me, and I want to remind you today my brothers and sisters that no matter where you’re at today that if you’re in Christ, that if you are truly in Christ, His promise is to you that He will never leave you or forsake you. He is your Redeemer, Healer. He is everything to you. Call on the name of the Lord and He will save you, He will deliver you. Remind Him what He’s done for you, remind Him what He’s done for all of our brothers and sisters for the ages. He is…

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

Today is the 20^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is a pleasure to be here with you as we begin a shiny, sparkly, new week and live into it. And often times I will say something similar because we get to the beginning of a new week and I always am struck by the fact that it hasn’t been lived yet and every decision that I make is going to tell the story of what the next week will be like. And, so, to understand that we’re stepping into a new week and a reset and a refresh and, you know, if last week was awful then maybe choosing in advance how we’re gonna live into this week is helpful. And, so, one of the ways that we’ll step into this brand-new shiny, sparkly, new week is to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And this week we’ll read from the English Standard Version. We’ll pick up with the story of Joseph, which we’ve been chasing for a bit now. Joseph is before Pharaoh, he’s been whisked out of the dungeon, and his task is to foretell a dream and Joseph has confessed that he has no power to do something like that, but that God can. So, that’s where we pick up. Genesis 41:17 to 42:17 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this brand-new shiny, sparkly week. And Lord, I mean we’re almost to the point where we could say three weeks of this new year have gone by and as we look back just over this short period of time in this new year a lot has been going on, not only our lives, but You have spoken a lot of things to us and have given us a sense of clarity that we need. And, so, we begin by humbly worshiping and are grateful in our hearts, but we also invite You into this week, all the things we have to decide about, all the conversations that we’ll have, all of the different circumstances that will pull us in a myriad of assorted different directions. But we seek You, we will not be pulled in all of that myriad of directions, we will seek You and allow You to deal with that myriad of things coming our way. So, Holy Spirit come, lead us into all truth as You promised, lead us on the narrow path that leads to life, lead us deeper into Jesus we pray, in His mighty name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay and see what’s going on around here and stay in fellowship with your brothers and sisters who are on the journey together.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we do share in common, and that is to bring God’s spoken word every single day to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to continue to build community around that rhythm so that we know for sure we’re not alone as we take the journey, not only through the Scriptures, but through life. If that has brought life and good news and light into your life, then thank you for your partnership and being light and life and good news back so that everything continues forward day by day step-by-step. So, there’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 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:

My name is Keisha from Maryland. This call…this was hard to do. I listen to the Daily Audio Bible often. I’ve been listening for the past two years and it has blessed me so much. I’m calling in because I believe in prayer and I believe in touching and agreeing for everyone else, but right now I need help. I was ashamed to call in because it’s for financial help and I feel like there’s so many people that are dealing with things that are so serious, so much more serious than this, yet I felt overwhelmed and I need your help, I need your prayers. I’ve worked so hard all my life just taking care of everybody’s everything and I’m standing here __ . I’m in need of financial blessings to help us to pay our mortgage so that we won’t lose our home. And it’s not a lot, it’s not a lot of money, but it’s money that we don’t even have. And I’m trusting God and I’m asking for your prayers, that you all touch and agree with us as we stand in our faith that God is going to do it. I have faith and I’m not weary but I’m exhausted and I need strength and I need a miracle and I thank you right now for your prayers.

Hi this is Vernon from northern Alberta. This call is for Janet who called in about her son Jared who is an alcoholic. And I don’t even know for sure why or how, but I feel God told me to call. And, so, I’m thinking about Peter when he ran into the temple and there was a beggar asking for money and Peter said, “I don’t have money but what I do have I give you.” And, so, this is my prayer out of faith. Lord Jesus, I can’t help her with the cost of the rehab program. And Lord, so I ask for You to provide for them so that her son can get help. But Lord I know another better thing, I know that You can heal them, You can take the desire and You can fulfill his needs and help him see that he only needs You. And Jesus, if that’s how You want to heal him, I just want to pray in faith, do it and give this blessing to his mother and to him and the rest of his family. And, so, I just thank You God, I just pray in faith Lord Jesus that will heal him whether it’s through rehab programs in California and You provide for them or whether it’s instantaneous, Lord I just pray this over him. And I thank you for this family. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hey Daily Audio Bible this is Dad’s Light. I’ve listened to you guys for long time and I share in the joy and the pain with you all. Right now, I’m having a really difficult time. I’ve just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I’m about ready to lose my job. I’m stacked up financially and my girlfriend and I are constantly fighting, and I don’t know how to get over it. And I just really need help with prayer. Could you please pray for me? I’m just __ my time. I’ve tried to take my life three times because I feel so worthless. I’m holding onto you, I’m holding onto Jesus, I’m holding onto life as best I can. Please pray for me and strengthen me and I’ll do the same for you and love you guys so much. Thank you.

Hello beautiful family this is Sonia coming from Tampa. I heard the prodigal son and my heart leapt with joy. So many of us have been praying for you. You see my dear brother, I too lost my little will to live many years ago and my only cry out to God was for Him to take me. All I could do was look at the scars running down my stomach as I had gotten a reverse ___ and ended up with a tubal pregnancy instead only to end up in the hospital after making a 22 hour trip to Florida with my five-year-old son. I had walked away from a painful relationship and I was back in my parent’s home, heartbroken, scared with heartache and trauma, my only company. And to make matters worse I discovered that my ex-partner was living in my home with a coworker and she was pregnant. I was distraught and broken, so much that I thought that not even God could put me together again, but He did. He made me stronger and better than I ever imagined. Now when I look at the scars I think about God’s greatness and how He brought me through it. Dear Prodigal son and DAB family there is nothing too hard for God. I am 64 and after 17 years of my mom praying I met a wonderful man and I am getting married October 12 of this year. For some of you that have been waiting on God, continue to wait on Him and trust Him because there is nothing too hard for God. I love you family.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Anne from Charlotte North Carolina and I’m so thankful for every one of you in our international community. I’m in my 11^th year now listening, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. And on the 13^th of January a woman called in and forgive me, I cannot remember her name but she shared a very sad story of taking care of her father when she was accused of stealing and she was cut off in his final days and robbed of inheritance and I wanted to thank you for sharing that because I feel so alone with things that happened to me. I’m an only child and one of my daughter’s whose an attorney got guardianship of my mother without my knowledge and put my mother in a facility out of her apartment and then legally forbade me from even visiting my mother in her final days. And when that happened my mother stopped eating and…and it was just horrendous…horrendous thing and I was not even allowed to attend my mother’s funeral. And it’s just so…things that happen like that are so against nature and you just can’t imagine them really happening. And, yeah, so, it just…actually I appreciate knowing that I’m not alone in such awful betrayal and stealing and suffering. And please pray for my children who are not in my life and have walked away from the Lord.

Hey family this is Melissa. My name is Melissa Smiley, I’m from Albertville Alabama. I want to welcome all the new listeners. If I sound funny I’ve got bronchitis right now. Anywho…I’ve been listening, I’m starting my 8^th year and I’m telling you is life-changing. God has grown be so much, my faith has grown, I’m learning so much about the word. Pastor Brian, when I didn’t have a church this was my church and I thank God for Brian teaching is the word. I thank you for striping our legs when we need t. You striped my legs the other day when you talked about us going on social media and basically, you know, not lifting our Christian brothers or sisters up. And I always say, well, I don’t do Facebook, but I do go on YouTube and when I see a Christian artist or somebody doing something wrong it’s better me lifting them up…it’s like y’all need to quit and stuff. So, thank you Brian, you help us so much. If you don’t hear your call just know somebody’s praying for you if you don’t every name called out. Sometimes I don’t hear my name called out but know that somebody somewhere is praying for you and stay the course. Stay with it. These the eight years, I tell you, I can’t imagine my life without the DAB. I love Brian, love you Jill, China, the whole crew. I love this family. Like I said, welcome new listeners. Love you all. Bye.

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

Today is the 19^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure to be here with you. This like completes our second full week of the year. So, we got two weeks under our belts and what, four or five extra days, which brings us to the 19^th day of January. So, how you doing? How have the last 19 days been? Are we settling into our rhythm for the year? And hopefully we are, and hopefully we’re beginning to understand that…hmmmm…the Bible isn’t quite is benign and dusty is it may have appeared. In fact, maybe it really is sharper than any two-edged sword that could reach to the level where soul and spirit divide as the as the Scriptures will tell us for themselves a little later on. Anyway, we’re moving our way through the book of Genesis and the book of Matthew and Psalms and Proverbs with a step each and every day and today’s step will take us back into the book of Genesis. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and we’ll read Genesis chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 16 today. And, by way of reminder, we are just getting into the story of a man named Joseph who, as a young teenager, was despised by his older brothers and they have sold him and trafficked him into slavery in Egypt and we will pick up the story from there.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another week in Your word and we thank You for this new year and this new rhythm that’s being established. On the one hand, we could say, yeah, we’re in the new year and we’re just kind of going forward, but on the other hand we’re still just…we’re still just getting going in this new year in our lives in our goals in our dreams and hopes and in the Scriptures and You have spoken plenty and we are deeply grateful because the moving and shaking and prodding and pushing and Your kindness and Your love and Your generosity and Your grace and mercy over our lives, like we’re beginning to see this and it is so good. So, come Holy Spirit, plant Your word in our lives. In our Spirits may we be fertile soil, exactly what Jesus was talking about in the parable that we just read. Plant the word in our lives and may it yield the fruit of the spirit one hundred-fold changing us from within utterly. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

You can certainly find different places on social media that we are at by going to dailyaudiobible.com and then clicking the Community section. And staying connected to the Daily Audio Bible channels certainly lets you stay connected to the Daily Audio Bible. Like, if there’s something going on and we’re announcing it you’ll be able to find out that way, but there are also other groups like DAB Friends where  there are thousands of people who are in constant interaction with each other and you can get involved in any way that you want but you get the links in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. If what’s happening here is bringing you good news and life and light, then thank you for being an agent to bring light and life and good news that keeps the global campfire burning. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 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.

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

Today is the 18^th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s a pleasure, of course, like every day to be here with you and step away into the calm, into some serenity. Everything that’s being, you know, not cooperating in our lives right now, it’ll still be there when we get out to the other side of this time, but our perspective may have shifted as we allow the word of God to wash over us and into our lives and just allow our souls to relax. This is a safe place and we can breathe, we can exhale. So, we’re getting to the end of another of our weeks together. Of course, this is our 18^th step of 365 steps that will take us to the entire Bible and we’ve been reading from the New Living Translation this week, which is what we will continue to do today and tomorrow. And from our Old Testament reading will be reading…let me think about how to say that…from the Old Testament portion of our reading we’ll read Genesis chapter 37 and 38 and then we’ll move into the book of Matthew. So, first Genesis chapter 37.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we covered some significant ground as has been the case almost every day in Old and New Testaments, Psalms and Proverbs. They’re speaking loud and clear.

In the book of Genesis, so, from our Old Testament reading, we’re following the story…well…we’ve been following the story from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. Of course, Jacob had a brother named Esau and yesterday we kind of read the big picture of where Esau went and who his people became and now we’re settling into Joseph’s family and as we’ve already covered Joseph’s name has changed to Israel and his children then would become the children of Israel and now we are beginning to understand their stories. And, so, as we’ve begun that journey, we see that the brothers have a little brother named Joseph who they cannot stand because he’s a dreamer and he’s young and he’s a little bit arrogant and they can’t stand him because he is favored by his father. And we read the account today of Joseph going back to Shechem and remember, Shechem is the place where their sister Dinah had been raped. Shechem is the place where Abraham, Abram, came into the land and was given the promise of the land. So, we keep seeing this kind of geographical landmark because really important things in the Bible happen, there. So, Joseph is sent back because his brothers, apparently, are shepherding their sheep up at Shechem. So, he goes there to look and it turns out that they’ve gone on to Dothan. And we know this, how this story goes, they’re going to kill Joseph, but instead they sell him. So, they human traffic their brother into slavery in Egypt. Alright, I want to pause here and take us on a very, very brief little side trail, a little bunny trail as it were, because I think it lays out context as we go forward. A few days ago we read the story of Lot, right, and his daughters and their decision to have sex with her dad and there are other parts of that story were Lot was going to throw his virgin daughters out to the throng to be gang raped and it brings up all kinds of stuff, stuff that looks remarkably similar to some of the political struggles in the world today. And, so, we can read certain stories and then a kind of basically back read our culture into those stories and say, “I don’t agree with that story that’s in the Bible, that’s not how we should be doing things.” So, for example, like, you know, if there were throng around my house I would not consider throwing my daughter out to the throng in order to save my guests, even if those guests happen to be angels. Although, at least my knowledge, I’ve never had angels in my house. And I know for sure and certain, I’ve never had my neighbors, like, surround my house asking that I send out my guest so that they can have sex with my guest. Like, I’ve never been put in that position before and probably neither have you, but probably neither had Lot, but we see that Lot his offering his daughters in that story and so it gives us all kinds of heebie-jeebies because we can’t imagine that. And, so, because it was a poor treatment of women in this case, then we get all patriarchal and have all kinds of questions and this happens in some of the letters of Paul too. Like, I already know in the year, the emails that I’m gonna get. So, I want to stop at this particular juncture where we are right now in the story and point out that Joseph’s brothers human traffic their own brother into slavery in Egypt and there were no women involved in this and what they did was evil. So, let’s just understand that although we are going to experience some raw and unfiltered stories in the Bible when we back read our own time and culture into it we’re missing the point. Part of the point in the Lot story was to show how evil the world had become. Part of the point of the story, because we’re just beginning a very long story with Joseph, is to show how evil the world had become, like it wasn’t just a sexist thing. And wat we’re gonna see as the story of Joseph begins to unfold is that in spite of evil there can still be good, in spite of darkness there can still be light.

And we get into the book of Matthew and Jesus is dealing with problems of His own because He’s not playing along. Like, Jesus looks now like a superstar communicator who has some pretty miraculous powers to back Him up and the religious leaders are checking Jesus out but He does things that breaks their rules and it’s inflaming them because they think they’re the keepers of the rules of God and then here is God breaking, apparently, His own rules when in fact all He’s doing is showing them that the way they had interpreted the rules had gotten so backward that the heart and soul of why the laws existed in the first place had died. So, Jesus is being accused of being a child of the devil, which is where apparently where He gets his power from. So, He’s healing people because he’s empowered by Satan to do it. This is what the religious people are saying about Jesus. And, so, Jesus as His own response, right, and it’s a logical response, “a kingdom divided by Civil War is doomed”, right, “a town or a family splintered by feuding will fall apart”, that’s more close to home, that’s something we probably really understand. And then Jesus says, “if Satan’s casting of Satan and he’s divided and fighting against himself what you’re saying is not making any sense.” But it’s here that Jesus says something that is deeply poignant and that we should understand. Jesus says, “I tell you every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which will never be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven by anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come.” So, that is a pretty poignant statement and every time we come around this territory I think the same thing in my life, like, this particular story and passage of Scripture brings me back to a very specific place my life, a very specific time, because I grew up the son of pastor and before my father was a pastor he was an evangelist. We traveled around a lot. And, so, I was in church a lot and the idea of blaspheming the Holy Spirit as an unpardonable sin somehow got etched into my childhood and I lived in fear of it continually because how do you know? How do you know, which may have shaped so much of my own life, just trying to know, like, how do you know when you’re doing it right? Because this was one of those things where this is an unforgivable thing forever and ever. How do you know if you’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit? First, we have to understand what blaspheming is. So, to blaspheme something is to defame and profane it. And we don’t use the word blasphemy much anymore and if we do, you know, it’s being it’s in the Bible. And, so, we are specifically talking about God, defaming and profaning God. So, Jesus is having this confrontation and being accused of casting out Satan by Satan and then He turns to this blaspheming the Holy Spirit talk and it’s very like, you can go, how are these things connected? There connected because even though Jesus was accused of blasphemy it was actually the religious leaders who were blaspheming because they were saying that what the Holy Spirit was doing through Jesus and the outward signs of healing and miraculous events, that these things were actually not from God, they were from the devil, right? That’s blasphemy and Jesus is giving a pretty compelling and stern warning that they’re not going to listen to. And where it does become poignant is whether or not we’re going to listen because we might very easily say, “I would never do what they were doing. I would never say Jesus was of the devil. And for that matter I would never claim that the Father or the Holy Spirit. I mean that would never be something that I would say.” So, whew, thank goodness I will not be committing this unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is good. And yet, when the Holy Spirit resides within His children, His redeemed ones throughout the earth, and we look at those fellow brothers and sisters and in one way or another deny the work of God in their lives we have wandered onto thin ice and we need to back away slowly. And that right there, that right there should penetrate the rest of our day. The religious leaders of Jesus time, they get framed in the Bible as being antagonistic and just, you know, only out to get Jesus and that’s true, that is part of the story, but the truth is these were devout people trying to serve God, who had been corrupt because the law had lost its spirit and all they had left was a set of rules and ethics that they tried to try to live by because if they could do them perfectly than they could become righteous before God. Like, if they could obey the law perfectly than they could become righteous before God. So, when Jesus comes in and starts breaking the rules He’s completely shattering their paradigm. And anytime your beliefs…the system gets challenged and some things get shattered, that’s very disruptive. So they’re not looking at Jesus as the Messiah, the son of David, the son of God, anything other than on a human being who seems to have miraculous powers, but it does not line up with their understanding of how things are supposed to go. So, they determined that the only way Jesus could be doing this much good would be by the power of Satan, which makes no sense until we find ourselves doing the same thing, until in small or subtle ways we find ourselves not being able to figure out how God could be using that person because they are such a sinner or that person because they have done these things or anyone over here, they’ve done…they’re doing things in the name of Jesus that are good in the world but they have some kind of dark piece of their history that we know. And, so, we can find ourselves blaspheming God inside of them because we are willing to deny God’s power to redeem.

Prayer:

Father, You have taken us through a big week and there’s just a bunch of stuff that You brought up in one weeks-time and here as we prepare to close, You know, we’ve reached the end of the week You’ve left us with plenty consider over the next couple of days. Holy Spirit, come because we’re realizing that yeah, You’re gonna press in and You’re gonna touch all the soft spots, but it happens quickly and we’re not always sure how to sort it out. And, so, we invite You into that disruption. So many times we’re like, “oh, there too much going on, I’ve gotta slow things down” when You are actually working in shaking loose things that need to fall away here at the beginning of the year so that You can actually answer our prayer of leading us on the narrow path that leads to life. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit into all that we’ve said today and throughout all this week. Come Jesus we pray in Your mighty name. Amen.

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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.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, this is Valerie calling __ , I just wanted to call and pray for some of the prayer requests. Dear Lord, I just want to come to You right now and I want to pray for Marjorie and for her surgery that she’s having Lord. I pray that You will go before her and the doctors Lord and we know that You’ve already prepared a way, we know that You know the end. Lord we already know that You know the end result and what will happen. So, I pray Lord, I pray that You will just give anyone concerned with Marjorie’s case wisdom to know the right thing to do and I pray for her as well. I pray that You’ll give her peace, give her comfort and let her know Lord that she is in the palm of Your hand and that You have already worked out the solution and that You already know what is best for her. Lord, I also want to pray for, I believe it’s Margo in Australia, who is was heading to Liberia. Lord, I listened to Brian’s message today about being ready to go, just go, go where You send us, go where You plant us, and Lord I hear Margo’s heart and I know how anxious she is for her family, how her heart is willing but she’s also torn because she’s leaving everything she knows behind and her son just moved out. So, Lord I just pray that You give her an extra measure of peace. Sometimes Lord it’s just a little bit harder for mothers to just let go of everything even though our heart is willing, and we’re excited to serve You. But Lord I do just pray that You’ll just give her a measure of Your peace and Your comfort at this time. And Lord I also want to pray for Brandon that just called in about meeting reconciliation with his wife. I pray Lord that You will work in that situation and allow forgiveness to come into that Lord and I want to thank You that Prodigal called in. What an answer to prayer that is. Thank You, Prodigal for letting us know…

Hi DAB, this is Sharon from Southern California and I just heard Prodigal’s call and it lifted my Spirit. Prodigal, I am so thrilled to God to hear your voice. I’ve been praying for you as everyone else has. I called on the 31^st, I gave a little update, things are worse between me and my daughter and I…I’ve been feeling lost, I’ve been feeling empty, I’ve been feeling…I can’t explain how you feel when you love someone and they don’t love you back and I’ve been functioning but my heart has not been in it. And your call was the first genuine smile I’ve had in all this time and I thank you, I thank God because God is in everything and everyone and your call reminded me that I am not alone, God is hearing me, He sees me and that He’s got me. So, thank you prodigal for calling in and letting us know that you’re still fighting that fight…gives me encouragement and let’s me know that I can still fight the fight, it’s not over. Thank you. Love you guys. Keep praying, I’ll keep praying. Bye, happy new year, bye.

Hello there, Daily Audio Bible family, this is Treasured Possession. The desire of my heart for 2019 is to go from phase to phase and not to experience periods of doubt, self-doubt, self-pity, despair, and going numb. And in 1 Peter 5:6-10 in 2 Timothy 1-7, I see where they divide the place where my hearts desire and God’s word are separated, my soul from spirit because I have a default in those weaknesses. In the story of Lot, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, I saw a picture stories of how shame, which is what those things come from, can destroy your legacy. Lot passed what was most precious to him to the enemy when in crisis when God was fully able to blind the enemy and deliver everyone. How many times have I tried in my human reasoning to argue with Satan. Just shut the door, trust God and invite God into my fear and grief. And shame turn you into a salt pillar. Your flavor, your faith can just turn into a pillar of regret. So, I cannot look back and let the treasurer my heart be my hearts focus, which is the loss in my past. And I can’t grief, pain, suffering and the lies of the enemy invite me into the cave of isolation and despair. I did this for years and just oozed it on myself instead of alcohol like Lot did. I let shame steal my identity. I let grief drown me until I could no longer show up for those I love and help them to discern by example how to of endure in faith. So, I pray, and I thank God because He’s called us out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for all You’ve done. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. As I’ve reflected on the last few years in the Scriptures with DAB, I do so with such thankfulness in my heart. Nothing has changed me more in such a short amount of time then the pouring in of the Scriptures in my life on a daily basis. In early January 2017 a friend of mine made a Facebook post and attached a link to the Daily Audio Bible and I will be forever grateful to her. I had always wanted to read to the Bible but I would get derailed in that journey year after year until the DAB. I did finish 2017 and I finished it well and then I just kept on going. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit brought the DAB into my life for such a time as this. Little did I know how much this beautiful rhythm I was establishing would sustain me through two very difficult years, but God knew. So, I really want to encourage new listeners to keep going with this and make the word of God number one priority in your life this year. God has handed us His word is food on a silver platter through this ministry and He has seasoned it well through Brian’s thoughtful commentaries. If you are a regular listener, I pray that you will use your sphere of influence to share the Daily Audio Bible. It can be as simple as adding a link to the ministry in your next Facebook post. This year I’ve added the DAB Chronological and Proverbs my daily reading and I’m very excited about that. So, thank you Brian, thank you Jill, thank you China and to all of the DAB team behind the scenes and the financial partners who keep this ministry going. I seriously can’t imagine my life without it. This is Marsha calling in from Monument Colorado praying for everyone that calls in…

Hi this is Scottish Tom from the Cleveland Ohio area and calling once again for Prodigal. Sorry, I’m a bit behind on the community prayer line. I’m still listening to last week’s one, but I did hear your second call and that was the message I was hoping to hear. But just know that we’re all here for you, we’re all praying for you and you can do this and call in as often as you need to. We’re all praying for you. Good to hear your voice again and good to hear that you’ve made that promise to stick with us. Take care. Bye.