A Walk Through The Word

Numbers 26:1-51, Luke 2:36-52, Psalm 60:1-12, Proverbs 11:15

Today is the 17th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today, as we continue our journey. We’re taking the next step forward in the Scriptures, picking up right where we left off, gathering around the Global Campfire to be together, as we take this next step…next step forward. And our next step leads us back into the Book of Numbers. Today we will read Numbers chapter 26 versus 1 through 51.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the Gospel of Luke today, and we’re just in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, so we’re just kinda getting moved in and we’re moving through the birth narratives. And so, we went to the…the birth narrative of John the Baptist and then we’ve been going through the birth narrative of Jesus, the Lord. And we get this rare and small glimpse into Jesus childhood in the Gospel of Luke today. And this precious little in the Scriptures that depict or give us clues into Jesus childhood. But we did get glimpses yesterday and today. So, Jesus, just an infant yesterday, but He is taken into the temple where circumcision would take place and the offering would be given, and there are a couple of encounters that take place. One with a man named Simeon, a righteous and devout person, who’s looking for what God was going to do next with this people. And according to the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that He wouldn’t die before he saw the Lord’s Messiah. So, he’s in the temple when Jesus comes into the temple. And he is able to hold the baby. He is able to bless the baby. And then we also have this scene today in the temple of a prophetess named Anna, who lives in the temple and was married for seven years. She’s in her 80s now. The rest of the time she’s been serving the Lord and so, she also comes to Mary and Joseph and their infant baby Jesus, and she begins to praise God and to speak over the child. This is happening in the temple. So, if we just pause right here for just a second. Just think back to Zechariah the priest and his wife Elizabeth. And how Zechariah was in the temple worshiping before the Lord, burning incense before the Lord when he is the angelic visitation, and there’s this foretelling of John’s coming and all of the miraculous things that happen around that, not the least of which Zechariah is struck mute and he can’t speak until the baby is born. So, when we were talking about John, we were just saying, he didn’t just appear out of the wilderness in a vacuum. There was something going on with him from the very beginning and this had been something that people talked about. Now, we’re with Jesus in the temple complex and seeing that there are words of praise, prophetic utterances, and rejoicing over the coming of this child. This is happening in the temple. This is something that people would talk about. And then now, we have to skip forward a long way until Jesus is 12 years old and we were told in our reading today that every year, it was their custom to go to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. So, when Jesus is 12 years old, they’re making this journey. This would’ve been a journey that would’ve been done kind of in caravans, in families. Nazareth to Jerusalem is over 100 miles walking and it’s mostly uphill. They could have gone down into the Jordan Valley and taken kind of the…the flatter route until…until Jericho and then up to Jerusalem. But this would’ve been something that they traveled kind of in families. And so, when Mary and Joseph leave, after the festival is over, they’re assuming that Jesus is with the cousins, with whoever. Like is with the friends, is all in the group and they get all whole day’s journey and realize Jesus is nowhere to be found. Any parent, like any parent thinking of this story, like that would be a terrifying thing to discover. I mean Jerusalem is a big city, that’s like lost in New York City, lost in Mexico City, like lost in any big city. And they gotta go back, and it’s gonna take a whole, like a whole day’s journey just to get back, just to start searching. So, what if He’s been kidnapped, what if, what if he’s not even Jerusalem, what if He’s been taken away into slavery somewhere, what if He’s been trafficked. And they get back to Jerusalem, and for 3 days, 3 days they’re looking for their son. I think about that as a parent, and as a father and it’s like I don’t even know like, how many days before you start losing hope and, and as you’re losing hope of finding your son, the terror of what’s happening. I just, it’s hard to wrap my mind around but Mary and Joseph are dealing with this as they search through Jerusalem for a missing Jesus, who they end up finding in the temple. And I quote now from the Gospel of Luke, “After three days they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.” So, even though we have precious little details in the Gospels about Jesus childhood, we can see here from the Gospel of Luke that Jesus didn’t happen in a vacuum either. In this scene alone, we see Jesus in the temple, in Jerusalem, with the best of the best. The best scholars, the ones in Jerusalem, among the teachers, being taught, asking questions. And everybody is amazed at His understanding and His answers. And this is Jesus at 12. So, when Jesus shows up later and begins to, to do his ministry, some of the people who knew about Jesus as a child, would remember that is the kid, remember the kid. His parents came back to Jerusalem, looking all over for him. This is that kid. Which is why, when we read the Gospels, we see why there is so much musing and wondering about Him. And so, the Gospel of Luke has given us insight both into John and Jesus arrival, not only by angelic visitation, but all that surrounded their birth and early life, and how that that would’ve invoked a lot of discussion about what will become of these kids, by those who saw them, and were able to witness the circumstances around them. Which adds to the tapestry of the story and our understanding of the circumstances, and the culture, and the time in which Jesus did His ministry upon earth.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for that. We thank You for all that we can glean and learn from Your word. Whether it’s being applied directly to circumstances in our lives or confronting postures of our hearts or simply giving us insight into the kinds of things that You saw, and the kinds of things that You dealt with as You navigated earth, giving us insight into how to live. We are grateful for Your word, we are thankful for the presence of Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us each and every day. And so, we say again, lead us into all truth, Holy Spirit, as we surrender and humble ourselves before You. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, humbly. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t here together. So, thank you. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

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

And that’s it for today. Happy St. Patrick’s Day by the way, I am Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning, DAB family. It’s Alexis, the Psalmist on the Prayer Wall. Fast forward, I just want to say thank you for all the prayers for my sister, who was having issues along the way in her pregnancy. To the glory of God I can testify that she has continued to carry well, and I believe that she’ll carry this pregnancy to full term. So, thank you for your prayers. Today, I wanted to ask a prayer request for myself. Which I’m not sure if I’ve done before. But yeah, so, we’re coming up to the one-year anniversary since my cousin was killed by a truck driver. And the two-year anniversary since my uncle suddenly passed away due to a liver disease that we didn’t know about. And the maybe 7-year anniversary since my cousin was a killed by ___ and my colleague, two of my colleagues passed away last week. So, this season carries a lot of grief processing. And I just want to ask for your prayers as I go through that. As I process, I want to stay in God. My prayer life has been attacked in this season. So, I’m just asking guys for you to just lift me up, Alexis the Psalmist, and I can be like David and continue to rejoice in no matter what the season. Thanks.

Hello, my name is Jason. I’m a first-time caller. It’s Monday, March 13th. I’m just calling to request prayer in my marriage. My wife has left and is over a false church that she’s in and the pastor has stopped going too. And she has made her decision not to stop going and to leave me. So, I pray that God removes the vail from her eyes and that He restores our marriage. Thank you.

This is Jill from Arkansas. Join me in prayer for our sister Sinai from PA from March 9th and her request. She will be discharged from the hospital soon and sit up and walk on her own, to be restored to her family. Lord Jesus, we lift up our sister to You. And we come to You Lord, and we believe, as if it has already happened, that You will restore her to full health. Lord, that You would teach her how to care for herself moving forward. And how to make that a priority, Lord, so that she can serve You and she can serve others and take care of her family, Lord. Stress has a powerful effect on our bodies. It can incapacitate use to where we can’t even take care of ourselves in daily living, Lord. I have seen that in my own body, and I’ve seen it reversed in my own body, Lord. But it came with believing that I don’t have to live that way. I don’t have to accept the diagnosis that was given to me, Lord. And neither does our friend Sinai, our sister, our dear beloved. I can hear it in her voice how exhausted she is. Lord, we lift up her arms, we hold her up to You. The strength of her spirit and the strength of her body, to fully recover, Lord. Give her hope and expectation Lord, that You are gonna do mighty, mighty things. Help her to see this progress daily. Help her to know what it is that she can do. Lord, and the people caring for her in the rehab facility, Lord. We just wait to hear …

Hey DAB, it’s Valiant Val here in Vegas. I just wanted to say, good morning and send in a praise report. Jesus is on the throne. He woke me up this morning in my right mind, with all my faculties, in a place to live with air conditioning and heat, with food and water, with smile and grace and a good attitude. Oh, family, if you have that, you have most, you have more than most of the world. Oh, our God is on the throne. He is victory, He is abundance, and He is love. That’s Val. He is all of that, a bag of chips, honey bun and a fruit salad for ya girl. Oh, thank You, Father, that love is the greatest of these. Oh, God, I’m sending a praise report of good things to come. You know the plans for my life, Father. Plans to prosper me and not to harm me. Oh, Lord, I’m ringing in victory, in the mighty and majestic name of Jesus. I’m thinking about our girl Lee Lee that called and said right now, in this moment, just chose to live in victory. Chose to live happy. Make a choice to understand that our God can do everything but fail. In the mighty name of Jesus. I’m ringing in love and victory, right now. Oh, go Heavenly Father. Put it on them, Father. Sprinkle a little joy and peace on that unspeakable joy and peace. In the name of Jesus. Muah.

He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees me when I’ve fallen and hears me when I call. He knows my name is the name of a caller who, as soon as I heard your name, I smiled. I smiled so big. Because that one, in itself just personalizes our relationship with God. And then your call, your prayer request really hit me. You called because you’re angry. You’re angry at your husband, you’re angry at your ex and I just want to encourage you that your walking through the first step of your healing. That God said, let not the sun go down on your anger, however, there is no condemnation to them who are in within Christ. He, He sees you. He knows your name. And so, He alone calls on you right now and speaks to that anger like a storm and He says peace be still. In the name of Jesus. Father God, I take your daughter, I walk with her before your throne of grace. You said we should come boldly before your throne of grace. God, we lay down that anger and we replace it, oh, Father God, with a joy so deep, so unspeakable, so unexplainable. Father, I thank you, Lord. For You are Holy and Righteous. Peace be still. In the name of Jesus. Thank you.

Numbers 24:1-25:18, Luke 2:1-35, Psalms 59:1-17, Proverbs 11:14

Today is the 16^th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today, wonderful to be around the Global Campfire gathering and taking another step forward together. And our next step forward will lead us back into the book of Numbers and back into the story of Moab’s king Balak and Balaam who has been invited to curse the Israelites on behalf of Moab, which he hasn’t been able to do. And, so, we pick up the story. Numbers chapters 24 and 25 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have gotten through this…this drama with Moab’s king Balak and this prophetic voice, this person who can bless and curse named Balaam who was sent for to come and curse the children of Israel out in the wilderness. Because the children of Israel have been wandering around in the wilderness as we know, and that is causing disruption in the nations surrounding them. No nation will let them pass through to get somewhere else. So, they’re kind of out in the wilderness until finally they get attacked. And they win. And, so, they have some territory that they’re settling into, but it happens to be right next to Moab. So, this place is Moab. They’re freaking out about this people moving in, which is why Balaam is summoned in the first place. Come here and see this people out in the wilderness and curse them for me, they’re too strong for me, they’re moving in next to me. We’ve got to do something about them. And, so, Balaam is summoned and Ballam consults the Lord about what he should do. And the Lord tells him, don’t go. Like, I’m not in this. Don’t go. And, so, he comes and tells the people I can’t go. The Lord won’t let me go. And, so, the officials of Moab went back to king Balak and said Balaam…Balaam refuses to come. The Lord won’t let him come. So, king Balak sends more officials, more high-ranking officials back to Balaam and tells Balaam again, the king Balak needs you to come at once with us right now. And Balaam’s like…I mean..I…I already had emissaries sent from Balak and I already gave my answer, but spend the night here and I’ll go talk to the Lord and see what the Lord says. And, so, Balaam goes before the Lord again and God speaks to Balaam again and says go with them this time. Go with them but do only what I tell you to do. And we can read the story and go, man, that’s redundant. What? Like why not just tell him that in the first place the first time the people came to get him? Why does he take this second trip? And now why was he not allowed on the first trip, but he is allowed on the second trip? We were able to get glimpses and see why. God was impressing upon Balaam there’s nothing else for you to do here but exactly what I tell you to do and you need to do exactly what you are instructed to do. There is no wiggle room here. What we end up noticing is that Balaam’s looking for wiggle room. So, it’s almost as if Balaam is like…well…I couldn’t go but now I can. And, so, maybe there is opportunity here. And, so, God reiterates, you have nothing to do but what I tell you to do. So, the next morning Balaam gets up and he leaves with all the people and is riding on his donkey and there’s an angel of the Lord following along and stands in the road blocking the path. And, so, the donkey turns into a field when it sees…when he sees the angel. And they continue on a little bit more then the angel is front of the donkey and the donkey can see it but Balaam cannot see it. And the angel’s blocking a pathway into a vineyard. And, so, the donkey’s trying to get around the angel, but in the process kind of scratches Balaam’s leg against the wall. So, Balaam gets mad. He starts beating the donkey. And they got on a little bit more and then the angel blocks the path altogether. There’s nowhere for the donkey to maneuver. And, so, the donkey just lays down underneath Balaam who is serious and begins to beat the donkey some more. And that is when the talking…talking donkey happens. That’s when the mouth of the donkey is opened. What have I done to you? Why would you hit me these three times? And then Balaam reveals his heart. First of all, he responds to the donkey. Like, he’s so angry. The donkey is talking to him and he’s talking back. He’s not struck silent. He’s not freaking out that he’s talking to a donkey. He’s just angry. So, he’s answering back to the donkey I’d kill you. Like, if I had a sword, I would kill you. And why is Balaam so mad? I quote, “because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand. I would kill you right now.” That is very revealing and goes right down into the heart of Balaam and his motives. He doesn’t want to look like a fool. He doesn’t want to be made of. Even though he’s been instructed that he can only say what God has told him to say he’s also very worried about the optics, what this looks like. He doesn’t want to look like a fool. That’s when Balaam’s eyes are opened, and he sees the angel and the point is made. Balaam you have a job to do. Nothing more, nothing less, exactly what I tell you to say, nothing else. And Balaam seems to have gotten the message because he’s like look, if you want me to go home, I’ll go home. I didn’t know there was an angel here. But God reiterates, “go with the man but speak only what I tell you to speak.” And, so, Balaam does get to Balak. Balak is like, why didn’t you come the first time and all of that. And Balaam has got the message loud and clear. I can only do what I’m told to do. And, so, there are offerings offered on altars and Balaam looks at the children of Israel and seeks the Lord and comes back and essentially says, I cannot curse these people they are blessed by God. Balak doesn’t take kindly to that. I brought you here to curse my enemies. You’re doing nothing but blessing them. And Balaam’s like, I…I can only say what I’m allowed to say. And, so, we see Balak doing something really interesting. Come with me to another place and you can look at the children of Israel from this other place and maybe God will let you curse them from there. And, so, they do that. More offerings, more sacrifices, more seeking the Lord. There is nothing but blessing for Israel. And, so, king Balak is like, don’t bless them. If you can’t curse them don’t bless them. Just don’t do anything. And then Balak says, let’s go to another place. Maybe…maybe you can…maybe God will let you curse them from there. Of course, the Lord won’t curse His chosen people. He will only bless them, which is what happens in the end. But there are so many lessons for us. We can seek God. We can get a no. We can seek God again and maybe He says, okay. Yes. But only what I told you. And we can very easily forget about all that. We can just think, yes, I got a yes, I got a yes. I’m off to the races. I’m off to do the thing that I wanted to do. I got a yes. But then we can get into a situation where we feel foolish, or we feel condemned or we feel whatever we feel and we want to change the script because of what it’s going to make us look like or we can find ourselves in king Balak wants his enemies cursed. You can send for a professional to do it, and the professional comes and says there is no curse for this people only blessing. And, so, what does Balak do? Like here…let's…let’s go over here and look at this whole thing from another angle. Let’s see what the Lord has to say from this other angle. Of course, it’s only blessing and not cursing. And, so, what does Balak do? Well…let’s…let’s go over here to this other place. Let’s look at it from this angle. Maybe from this angle, the Lord will change His mind. We do the same kinds of things. We try to force through what it is that we want even though we may look like fools in the end. And what we’re watching is…well under normal circumstances, we would say this is very manipulative. It just so happens that in this case its manipulative…manipulation toward God. As if we wouldn’t do that too. And, so, there are some deep lessons about motives, the why we do what we do and what we’re willing to do to try to get what we want embedded in this story. The way that this particular drama ends is that Balaam can’t curse the children of Israel. Balak is displeased about it, but in the end Balaam just goes back home. Immediately following that story, we begin moving into how the people did cause the children of Israel to stumble and fall. They were not over calm by warfare in battle. Rather, they sent the women and began fraternizing and the people began going back and forth in intermingling and that led them to the place that God had warned them about. They were bowing down and giving their hearts in worship to the false God Baal. So, they could not defeat them with sword and shield and bow and arrow and sling, and whatever other warfare utensils that they were using. They chose a more seductive form of warfare and were successful. And we can think like, well Balaam didn’t have anything to do that but as we will see…and you’ll have to remember this story because we will come back to a very very short reference back to this time as we continue forward in the Scriptures, and we will find that on his way out it seems as if Balaam gave some advice. He couldn’t curse the children of Israel, but the suggestion of how they might defeat the children of Israel through seduction was planted and what we end up finding out is that Balaam ends up getting killed.

Prayer:

Father, it’s a disruptive story to go through but we have the whole story and we’ve spent the last few days moving through the story in the book of Numbers. And, so, it gives us pause to reflect. And as we place ourselves in the story and consider our thoughts, our motivations, our way of trying to finagle the things that we want, our way of looking for every vantage point to get what we want our way of just trying to…to live on the margins instead of under the shelter of Your wings it becomes apparent and we realize that we look at the story…it’s a pretty dramatic story and we can find ourselves there and it’s humbling. And, so, we ask for forgiveness, and we ask Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, that we might not find ourselves in a position that we’re willing to manipulate anyone, including You if we could, to get what we want. Come Holy Spirit into that we pray as we humble ourselves before You and declare once again, we are utterly dependent upon You. You are our source of life and when we look for a source outside of You, we are walking the wrong path for the wrong reasons with the wrong motivations. Set us aright we pray in Jesus’ 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:

On March 9^th Sinai from PA called regarding her medical condition in which she said her brain was not allowing her legs to work. She was being transferred from a hospital to a longer-term care facility. At the same time she had to make the difficult decision of putting her mom in an assisted care facility. Her voice was worn and weary and tinged I’m sure with a little bit of fear. And I just want to lift her up to you dear Lord. Although Lord Sinai is in a very challenging place with her own health as well as responsibilities with her mother. Lord, we know that your desire is to mold us and shape us more into the image of your Son, our Jesus who exemplified every fruit of the spirit. And unfortunately, because I hate this fruit of the spirit this long-suffering. Obviously, I’m being facetious in that. But the long-suffering Lord, we know You are long-suffering in that we get to understand what it’s like to have Your heart to be hurt and crushed and broken and still press on. We move forward to love others, to keep relationship with You. So, Lord I left Siani up to You right now and I ask that You would just touch her spiritual body from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. We obviously want her physical body to be touched but Lord our bodies are not as important as our spirit man. So, we thank You for whatever work You’re going to do and her and that You’re gonna do for her mother. We thank You dear Jesus. Amen.

Hey DAB family this is the mother that had gestational diabetes that was feeling overwhelmed at the end of her pregnancy. I guess I’m calling in a praise report. Everything of course worked out in the end. By the last couple days, we…sorry…we settled on an induction date and the last couple of days before the induction date I was able to find peace and be prepared and get ready for the baby and even went on an outing with family just before the baby was born. And she’s this beautiful happy healthy baby was born on the 27^th of February. And we’re just loving having her here. And I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers. So, thank you. Bye.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community to be a Blessing in California. I have not been sleeping well it’s about 4:30 on Monday morning and I just would like to ask that you would pray for me. I know casting my cares on Jesus for he cares for me. I know promises and I believe them but for whatever reason I’m not able to shake loose some of the concerns this morning, concerns for my brother who sounding more despondent, more sad, more hopeless. And I’m just asking that you would pray that God would break through the darkness and that he would experience a desire to invite joy into his life and joy is Jesus and that you would pray for me to know how to minister to my brother at this time. Also praying for my community. We’ve had more than 40 inches of rain since the beginning of the year and more year rain is coming and the ground is saturated. There’s really nowhere for the water to go except into the community. I’m in a flood zone. My neighbors are in a flood zone. And, so, praise God our homes have been spared. And I’m just asking that God would continue to spare our homes. Also, for those who have lost their homes because of the flooding. Just ask that God would be with them as well. My stepbrother has multiple sclerosis and has had a relapse. So, prayers for him in a very special way. Young man taking care of his family. And lastly a friend of mines son committed suicide over the weekend. So, if you would pray for Jack and his fiancé Jacqueline as they go through this grieving process and God would be with them. Thank you so much.

Hello, DABbers this is Artie from Arkansas. This morning I’m listening to March 7^th ‘s broadcast and podcast and there was a young lady Rochelle who had called in on…on the 25^th of February and aired today. Wow! Rochelle, Rochelle that was so beautiful, so beautiful. Another young man David also was on this day. He too was a young adult and now he has come back. He’s come back to the Bible, to God, to counting on Him for…for his…his blessings, counting on Him for his walk, counting on Him for prayers for other people and for themselves. Please let’s continue to pray for Rochelle. Rochelle your words are amazing. You…you spoke as if you…as if you were completely involved with your Lord and Savior your entire life and strong and convicted. David, please know you will be prayed for as well. And we just lift you both up. And also Rochelle, the lady and her daughter that you are concerned with, we lift them up.

This message is for Susie in California who called about her eight-year-old nephew with autism who’s been running out into the street into the traffic escaping from school escaping from the home and running out into traffic. Susie your…your story touches me close. My…my son has…he’s on the spectrum as well. He’s doing much better now but he didn’t do this, but he did some things. And this story just also brought my mind straight to…to…to Mark 9 where…where the father brings her…his son to…to Jesus. His son has been dealing with epilepsy all his life and he said that it would have a tendency to throw the boy into the ground and into the fire and into the water and try to kill him. Jesus also cast the spirit out. He said sometimes this kind only comes out with prayer and fasting. So, I’ll be praying for your…for your nephew. Encourage your…your sister, the…the…the boy’s mother, the parents to read this passage. It was affective with my son as well. OK. Praying for you Susie. Thank you for calling in.

Numbers 22:21-23:30, Luke 1:57-80, Psalm 58:1-11, Proverbs 11:12-13

Today is the 15th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today, as we gather together and take the next step forward together. And we have been working our way through the Book of Numbers and we have just begun to encounter a story between the king of Moab, his name is Balak, and a person who speaks to God, who hears from God, but is also known to have the ability to bless and curse things. And Balak summons Balaam to curse God’s people, the children of Israel, because they’re more powerful than Moab and they are making Moab very nervous. So, Balaam inquired of the Lord and the Lord told him not to go. And so, he sent the emissaries away. And they sent another group to them. You gotta come, you gotta come curse these people. And so, he goes back to the Lord, who tells him that he can go with these people, the next batch of people, but he can only do what he is told to do. And that is where we pick up the story, Numbers chapter 22 verse 21 through 23 verse 30 today.

Commentary:

Okay so, we still have an unfolding story Balaam and Balak and the children of Israel and who gets to curse who. And we will continue that story as we move forward tomorrow and then talk about it. We also have this unfolding story in the Gospel of Luke, and we talked how the angel Gabriel had given to Annunciation’s, two announcements about the birth of two different children, one that would become John the Baptist and one that would be Jesus, the Lord. And we talked about the reactions to those announcements. The fact that Zechariah was a priest and happened to be in the temple of the most high God burning incense when he had this revelation. And how he was struck dumb, he could not speak, he could not speak about what he had seen until it had been fulfilled. And in today’s reading, John is born. Everyone assumed that he would be named Zechariah after his father. It’s their firstborn son and it’s they’re, they’re older like this is probably their only son, so he should take the name of his father forward. But he declares what he had heard from the angel and writes it down, his name is John. And everybody’s amazed by this and then immediately Zechariah’s mouth is opened and he began to speak praises to God. So they’re amazed that the boy’s name will be John and then fear comes over them when his mouth is opened and he begins to praise God. And according to the Gospel of Luke, all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said what then will this child become, for indeed the hand of the Lord was with him. And then Zechariah gets a prophecy over his son. We know John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord and that he shows up at the Jordan and he’s baptizing people and calling people to repentance. What we see here, once again in the Gospels, is that it didn’t happen in a vacuum. John didn’t just appear out of the wilderness at the Jordan crying out to the people to turn their hearts back to God. We’re looking at what’s happening. John is born and he is born to a priest of the most high God, who has done work in the temple in Jerusalem, so he’s not obscure, he’s a priest who has had the opportunity to serve God in Jerusalem in the temple. And when he was serving God in the temple, he received a vision and when he came out of the temple, people were waiting for him, and he couldn’t talk. So, the rumors begin there. And then Elizabeth in her old age gets pregnant and then any number of rumors or jokes or whatever, like there in the dialogue of the people that are in their community, people are talking about this. Because Zechariah is a priest who can’t talk and he can do other things because his wife gets pregnant, but he still can’t talk. So, there’s probably plenty of talk about them. And then the baby is born and Zechariah names him John, which is unusual, and the people are shocked by it, but once he does, once he does this act of obedience, his mouth is open, and he begins to worship God and prophesy and freaks the people out. That’s the context for John the Baptist. And so years later, after he’s gone through his childhood and grown into adulthood and he shows up at the Jordan, people are going to find out what’s going on because that was the kid, that was the kid that Zechariah and Elizabeth had, and Zechariah couldn’t talk and then he named him John and everybody was talking about it, and everybody was wondering what’s going to become of this kid. Or to quote the Gospel of Luke, “What then will this child become.” So, they’re wondering. There’s almost this prophetic aura around John his whole life. And so, when he shows up, calling people to repentance, he’s not just showing up like a mirage in the wilderness. They’ve wondered what…what God was going to do through this John. Of course, we know that what he’s going to do is prepare the way of the Lord. And we will watch that unfold as we continue through the Gospel of Luke.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we invite You into all that we’ve read today, all that we read in the Book of Numbers between Balak and Balaam. And all that we’ve read here in the Gospel of Luke, of the arrival of John the Baptist to prepare the way. We ask that You continue to open our hearts, may they be wide open to You and may You lead us into the truth, and may we have eyes to see and ears to hear all that You are speaking into our story, transforming us. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base, that’s the website. That’s where you can find out what’s going on around here, so certainly check it out. You can do the same with the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can download free from the App Store that works with your device. And so, check that out. Check out the different sections. Check out the Community Section. This is where the Prayer Wall lives, which we talk about often. It’s always on, it’s never off. We can always pray there, we can pray for each other, we can ask for prayer. And so, be familiar with that. There’s also links to get connected on social media there in the Community Section. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for the journey that we are on through the Bible in a year. And so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you, humbly, we wouldn’t be here if we were not in this together and so thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning DAB Family, this is Abba’s Child in Southwest Florida. I’m calling to respond to a few people that just called in for prayer today on March 11th. The first one is Beloved in Texas whose 12-year-old daughter is suffering from depression. Oh, sweet girl, my daughters 34 and suffers from depression. I had called in and asked for prayer and someone responded to my prayer, his name was Steve. He and his wife suffered with their own daughter with her depression and her anxiety disorder. I am praying for you, dear on. It’s so hard when our kids are suffering, especially with something that we can’t physically fix. Mental illness is such a curse. And all we can do is trust. And I’m telling you now, the crisis that my daughter just went through, I have learned to truly trust. So, I hope that my prayer for you is that you can have peace in knowing that Jesus has the wheel. And Sparky, you called in today too, to remind us to ask for prayer, that everyone has problems. We all suffer the same issues big and small. And none of them are too small or too big to ask for prayer about. And last but not least, PA Chappy, the pastor whose celebrating his very first year at his new church that has gone from 60 members to 90 members, who was suicidal 8 years ago. God bless you man. I just love hearing stories like that. God is so good, and I will pray for you and your church. I love you all, I love this community. In Jesus …

Hey DABers, this is Emily of Emily and Jim. Sorry to bother you again and hopefully this recording will actually work. I had to call though for the mother of the 12-year-old girl who was diagnosed with major depression. And is being diagnosed with ADHD. I had ADHD, I was diagnosed when I was 46, I’m 53 now. But from ages 10 to 12, to 13 I’m sorry, I was suicidal every single day. I was bullied. I didn’t fit in because kids with ADHD don’t fit in generally. And ADHD wasn’t a thing then and especially not with girls. So, I just want to, first of all, encourage you that it was in clinging to Jesus. My family weren’t even believers. But if somehow reaching out to Jesus and the word, that kept me alive. I’m here today. And so, I want to pray for your daughter because God is going to work in her life. The enemy is not going to have her. And I pray, Father God, for this…this 12-year-old girl, Lord, that you would give her hope. Lord, that she would cling to Jesus. Lord, that Your Holy Spirit would fill her up and fill her with joy. Father, we pray for the right diagnosis, Lord, and Father, the right coping mechanisms. Whatever she needs, Father. But I thank You Lord God, that she will have life, I speak life to her, I speak the joy of the Lord, which is her strength. And, Lord, I thank You, that You have my life as a testimony that the enemy will not prevail. The enemy will not prevail in this 12-year-old girls’ life. Thank You, Lord God, for Your faithfulness. And I pray these things, I pray life and joy and hope for this girl. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hello, my wonderful DAB family. This is Rosie, aka Great to Be Free in Jesus. And I’m calling in regarding the prayer request, Winnie called in about her nephew who lost his wife and lost his home. And I just want you to know that I’m praying for him. Cause I’m sure he’s got a broken heart. I went through a really hard time when I lost my husband. I had never known such grief. And when I would cry, it felt like the tears were coming from the very pit of my stomach. And it was so painful. I was stuck on the question, why. And I was on that question for two years. And people kept saying to me, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And it took me two years to finally do that. I finally just told Lord, Lord, I don’t know why my husband died because You told us to move from Indiana to Oklahoma. And now I don’t have a husband. And I don’t know why he died but You do, and I don’t have to know why. I trust You. And once I did that, all those tears no longer felt like they were coming from the very pit of my stomach. And I also had children at home that I had to finish raising. It was a very hard time. I just wanted you to know, he’s got a broken heart. And I’m praying for him. I love you my DAB family. God bless you.

Hi DAB family, this is God Knows My Name. I’m calling to ask for prayers please. I need prayers for this anger that I’m feeling. I feel so angry. I am pregnant. And I, I’m aware that you know, the hormones get some pregnant women to, to be like that. Sometimes and my anger is started towards my husband. Not for something that he did. And even though I have given some proposals on how we can manage it, including maybe seeking counseling, he prefers to just pretend like everything’s okay. And basically, not address the proposals I’ve given and not propose anything for me and it just makes me even angrier. I don’t know if it’s the hormones. I’m so angry. I’m angry at my daughter’s father. He has refused to talk to her for a very long time and I don’t know why. And I’m so angry because I kept her out of her life for so long and he begged, and I finally let him into her life and now he is just breaking her and me. He just popped in and now he’s just popped out. And I’m so angry that I exposed her to that. And I don’t know why he’s doing that to her, she’ just 11-years-old. She’ll be 11 next month. So, please just pray for me. I don’t want to feel this way.

Hi, this is Victorious Soldier, just calling to pray for some of the DABers. I want to pray for Tim from New Hampshire, and I want to pray for his wife to be strengthened. I want to pray for Dennis from Anis, Texas. She’s the mayor there, there was an unexplained death of her, of her, I think it was her brother or someone in the family. I wanna pray for that family. And they found out that it was no foul play but just pray for that family and the loss of that loved one. I wanna pray for Audrie and I wanna pray for Matthew who needs a miracle for their nephew and the 8-year-old with autism. I wanna pray for them. I also wanna pray for the lady who lost her, her mother, she called on the 9th of March and she lost her precious mother. I wanted to pray for her. And I wanted to pray for those families who are going through who called in on that March 9th. Gracious Father, we just ask You to have Your way. Father, we just ask You to heal. We ask You to deliver. Lord, that precious baby, the lady that is pregnant with her baby and she is going through the, through some challenges, Father. We just ask You to pray, to bless her and bless that family, Father. We just ask You to give life and favor, Lord. We just ask You to open doors, we just ask You to bless those marriages, 30 and 31 years, Lord, we ask You to bless those marriages. Bless those families. Bless those children that are trying to take them with astrology and all of this wicked stuff. Father, You have Your way, the devil wants to take our children, but You have already prayed for them. Father, we just ask You to continue to have a support of our kids, what You have for them, Lord. So that the devil don’t have an opportunity to pull anything else. And Lord, we give You the glory. We just thank You for Brian, we thank You for them being back and getting through with the jet lag and we just thank You for Your grace and Your mercy. We just thank you for Your amazing blessing.

Numbers 21:1-22:20, Luke 1:26-56, Psalms 57:1-11, Proverbs 11:9-11

Today is the 14^th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today around the Global Campfire. And I’ve got my steamy cup of Windfarm coffee here to my left. That’s what I was in the middle of doing when I turned the mic on. So, sorry about that. But what I have before me is our next step forward and that next step will lead us back into the book of Numbers. The children of Israel have turned away from the promised land and are wandering in the wilderness at this point. But it’s a lot of people and it’s disrupting all of the nations around them as we will soon see. Numbers chapter 21 verse 1 through 22 verse 20 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Numbers we have a story being set up here. The children of Israel are moving around in the wilderness. They’re kind of in a no man’s land and nobody will let them pass through. So, their stuck until they get attacked and win. And then they win some territory. So, they have this base of operations but that happens to be next to Moab and the Moabite king, Balak is starting to freak out. And, so, he sends for a person named Balaam to come and curse Israel. And, so, we’re just kind of getting that story set up, but the last words in our reading from the book of Numbers today are the imperative ones in the story. God tells Balaam who has been summoned to curse Israel, “do only what I tell you to do.” And we will see more of this story unfold tomorrow.

Then we flip over into the gospel of Luke and we see an enunciation, an angelic visitation by the angel Gabriel who was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, according to the gospel of Luke. And he was sent to a girl named Mary. And he told Mary that she would be with child and give birth to a son that was to be named Jesus and that He would reign over the house of Jacob forever, and that His kingdom would have no end. Mary’s ultimate response to the angelic visitation was, “here am I the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” Interestingly though, because we’re just…we’re in chapter 1 of the gospel, we’re just getting going, we met a man named Zechariah as we began Luke. And he was a priest, and his wife Elizabeth had no children. They were barren and they were old, and they were righteous, very, very much parallel between Abraham and Sarah who were old and righteous but barren. And Zechariah receives an angelic visitation. And it’s a pretty poignant one because it’s Zechariah’s turn to serve in the temple. This a like a rotating duty, and it’s his turn to be in the temple burning incense before the Lord when he receives this angelic visitation. So, he is in the temple of the most-high God receiving an angelic visitation that tells him he’s going to have a son, and that this son is to be named John. So, what we have here are two annunciations. The angel Gabriel gave two announcements about forthcoming children, one in the temple of the most-high God to Zechariah who would be the father of John who would come to be known as John the Baptist, the other to a maiden in Nazareth named Mary who was told she will become the mother of God and she is to name her baby Jesus. The thing that makes this kind of interesting is the responses to the angelic visitation. John the priest, a priest of the most-high God is in the temple of the most-high God burning incense when he receives an angelic visitation from the most-high God telling him that he will be a father and he should name his son John. His response to this announcement was, “how can I know that this will happen, for I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years?” The result of that statement was that Zechariah was no longer able to speak until the child was born and named. On the other hand, same angel, different town, Mary is visited and her response to the announcement is, “here am I the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.” These are very different responses to very similar announcements because they reveal different postures. And, so, the Scriptures invite us to look at this and place ourselves in the story and look into our own hearts, so we feel impressed by God of a direction, of the path forward. Let’s even imagine that it is confirmed, maybe even buy like an angelic visitation. This is happening to Zechariah and his response is, how can you prove to me that this is true? How can I know that this will happen because you’re telling me something that’s not possible? How can you prove it to me? What Mary was being told by Gabriel is even less possible than what Zechariah was being told, and Mary’s response is, I…I don’t know how this can be but here am I the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word. Both of these people who received angelic visitation were told things that were impossible, things that couldn’t happen. The educated priest wanted proof and certainty. The lowly maiden wanted to be available to serve God even if it was impossible if she could. In both of the enunciation a son was born, and John the Baptist and Jesus came into the world. It’s just that Zechariah was struck dumb so that he couldn’t say another word until the promise was fulfilled. And, so, where do we land in this story? Are we the person that’s like going to need some certainty. Can you show me something that would give me confidence and proof that this is real? The other posture is, I don’t understand what I’m being told. I don’t understand what’s being revealed but I am a vessel. I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be done as you say. The gospel of Luke is giving us an opportunity to check in with our own hearts.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that as we check in and just consider the stories here and the announcements here and the responses to those announcements and just consider where we would…we would fall in that. Would we be Zechariah who imitates so much of the story of the children of Israel as we’re going through it right now or Mary, a person with eyes to see that things are going on beyond our understanding, and that if You are in it nothing is impossible. Holy Spirit, come. Help us locate our hearts in this and may they begin to move in trust and utter dependence on You. We pray this in Your beautiful name, the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is where you find out what is going on around here.

But I do have something to tell you that’s going on around you. So, I’m just gonna tell you because you won’t find it at dailyaudiobible.com. I think I’m the last one…I think I’m the last one to say this. I’ve been waiting to make sure. I didn’t want to jump any guns. So, it has been…it has been told here in the Hardin clan, here around our family that expansion is his ongoing, is continuing, and that we would…would be able to be adding another member to the family yet this year, and this announcement came from our daughter China and her husband Ben who are expecting their second child. They have a daughter named Reagan who we are smitten with, very smitten with and love very much and she will turn two next month. And this new little one is due to arrive we believe in October. And, so, certainly want to bring that to the community here so we can jump up and rejoice together. China grew up…like she grew up on…under the shadow of the Daily Audio Bible. That’s the thing. Like, she’s been a part of this since she was 10 years old. And, so, yeah, more…more…more life than not has been spent around the community here and through all of the travels over all the years to all of the places all over the world. And see she pioneered Daily Audio Bible Kids and grew all the way through that into Daily Audio Bible Chronological with her mom. So, certainly very proud of her, certainly excited to rejoice about a new grandchild and simply letting you know and just asking you to pray over her pregnancy as she continues to read through Chronological and continues to do all of the work that’s involved there as well as the work of being a mom of a toddler, which is a lot of work and then the work in her body of…of nurturing and giving life to another life that will come into this world. And, so, thank you for your prayers over that. I just wanted to let you know that we have another Daily Audio baby coming this year and we’ll be excited to keep you informed about all of the progress along the way. But thank you for your prayers.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DAB family this is Bertie your brother in Christ calling in today to lift up David from Kansas in prayer. Dear Lord I thank You for David and I pray that You can bless him in his efforts to serve You Lord at children’s church in __ . Lord I pray that he could be motivated to continue to serve You. Even though he has this brain injury Lord I pray that You can help him to remember Your promises Lord, how You love him and are with him always and to not be afraid Lord. I pray that You can heal him of this injury Lord and if it is Your will Lord to work through him to continue to bless other people. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Brother I’d just like to encourage you. I can understand having moments of fear where you seem to forget everything you’ve read and the promises you know that…that God has given to us. But one verse that’s very near and dear to my heart of some 56 verses 3 and 4. When I’m afraid I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise. In God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? And in second Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 God tells us that we aren’t supposed to have a spirit of fear but a spirit of love and of self-control and of power. Brother I hope you’re encouraged today and I hope you can continue to remember that you have the Holy Spirit with you at all times and that ultimately God is using you and everything that you’re going through to bless other people. Goodbye.

Hello, DAB I am a first-time caller. I’ve been listening to DAB for the last couple of years but this year I’ve been committed to listening to it every day and it truly is my oxygen in each day and I really appreciate this ministry. I could use some help. My name is Christy and I need to go to the psych ward and pick up my son. He has been in for about a week and we know there are some issues. He’s an adult son. So all I can do is be there for him, pray that I have the strength to be solid for him, and to not be pushy when I need to __ stand back. And he’s not following the Lord. He’s really following deconstructionism. And, so, he's…he doesn’t have that to lean on and this last year has been a bad year for him. He’s made a lot of poor choices. So, one of my prayers is that he would…we would be able to get him a full psych eval and help him to get back on the feet and understand what his challenges are instead of feeling shamed by them. We love our son, but we also know that he…he can’t continue on the way it is and he needs some help. So, pray for me to be strong for him and that Jesus would just reveal himself to him in a way that he cannot deny, and he can embrace. Thank you.

Good evening family I wanted to tell you about something that happened the other day. We had a thunderstorm here where I live in the early hours of the morning before it was light outside. I was up getting ready for work and there was a particularly bright flash of lightning. And when I went back through the house after that flash of lightning, I found one of our small solar lamps was lit and it had been dark when I got up. Apparently the flash of lightning was bright enough to power that solar lantern for a couple of minutes. And I got to thinking when the light of Jesus is shining through your life no matter how brief your contact is who’s swallowed in darkness even a brief flash of the love of God in your life - a smile, a pat on the back, a cheerful good morning, even the slightest touch of the light of God on someone’s life - can be enough to eliminate their darkness. So go out there and be the light. This is hands to heaven. God bless you all.

Hey DAB family this is Minnesota Aruka buchina. Have not called in a while but just want to let you know that I love this community. I love this family and I thank you so much for all of the prayers and the answered prayers __. I’ve told you in the past about my son who has struggled with alcohol and drug issues and he’s been in prison for…off and on for the last 13 years and hasn’t been to Minnesota back in 13 years because of his addiction and…and jail time. But he is actually getting out. We’ve gotten the OK and authorization to bring him back to Minnesota. So on Monday the 13^th he’s actually gonna…my husband’s gonna pick him up and he’s gonna be living with us to begin to kind of get back on his feet. So, he just ask for prayer. So let us pray. Heavenly father I just thank you so much for Brian and this platform and this amazing community and family that is all over the world and how we stand unified. So, father I just ask that you be with my husband as he leaves on Sunday to go pick up our son Lord. The name Aruka means to restore and renew. So, Lord I pray that You stir up a restoring and a renewing in Tori’s heart and in any of us that struggle with children in this community, the struggle with issues and bondages. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that this renewing begins to happen here and today in all of these people’s lives. And we just give You the glory. I pray for protection upon this family and this transition Lord. Help us to be able to stay strong in You and to be able to be as strong example for Tori’s life giving You the glory and the honor.

Hello DAB family this is Widespread Jesus out of Omaha NE. It’s been since November since I called and I just wanna say God is good. I asked for a prayer for my niece Chloe, and she had a breakthrough in her living arrangements and in her work. She had a recent surgery and she’s recovering well and just thank you for the prayers for her. Praise God. I also…my job situation I formally transitioned on February 1st. It’s been tough but it’s going well it’s getting better each day. Thank you for the prayers for making that transition in my career. And then also an update on Nick our friend. He’s out of the hospital praise God but he’s still struggling. He has some bed sores and such that need to be killed and he’s waiting for a liberal transplant. But he’s still fighting Lord and we just thank you for the prayers and continued prayers for breakthrough in that he could be fully healed in Jesus’ name. What prompted me to call today is 3 months out from my wedding to marry my bride. I’m so excited and we are both excited but it’s just a lot of stress that’s coming up a lot of anxiety with all the wedding planning and it just seems like our communication skills are lacking where we can talk through things and we get in some frustrations and we just discourage us from the whole wedding planning and we know this is God’s will for us to be together and we just want to pray for peace and comfort through this process pray for unity that we can come together and over the next three months and just have excitement and joy about our upcoming wedding and we pray against any attacks from the enemy Lord. I just pray that you can lift up us over the next three months as we approach our wedding day. Thank you DAB family. I love you. Have a wonderful day. Amen.

Numbers 19:1-20:29, Luke 1:1-25, Psalm 56:1-13, Proverbs 11:8

Today is the 13th day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it’s wonderful, wonderful to be here with you today. Wonderful to be around the Global Campfire today together, as we continue to move in and through this brand-new week. As we continue to move in and through all the territory that is in the Scriptures. When we reach the New Testament today, we will begin the Gospel of Luke and I we’ll talk about that when we get there. We are still working our way through the Book of Numbers, in the Old Testament, and so, we return to the children of Israel in the wilderness. They had been on the threshold of moving into the Promised Land, but as we know, that didn’t work out, and so, they are in the wilderness. And we have been hearing different statutes and laws reaffirmed and being given. There is a new generation arising in ancient Israel in the wilderness. So, let’s pick up the story, Numbers chapters 19 and 20, today.

Introduction to the Book of Luke:

Okay so, this brings us to a new threshold, we are opening the door and walking into the Gospel of Luke, the third of the Gospels. A very well written Gospel and an intriguing story. Luke is part of what we know as the synoptic Gospels. And we talked about this before because we read Matthew and Mark, and so, Luke is, well those are the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. And they’re called that because they’re very similar in their composition. They’re very similar in the way that they’re laid out and the stories that they tell about Jesus, so familiar that most scholars believe that the one gospel couldn’t really exist without the other. They were written at different times, to different people, for different purposes. But they provided source material for each other. Most scholars believing that the Gospel of Mark, the one that we just finished yesterday, is the earliest Gospel narrative of the life and ministry of Jesus. Not that everybody agrees on that. But not everybody agrees on anything. So, regarding Luke, the scholarly opinion is that Luke didn’t write only the gospel of Luke. Luke is the first of two a two-volume set. The volume two, is the book of Acts. So, if you’re listening to scholars, you often hear them referred to as Luke/Acts. And it’s thought that Luke borrows, just as Matthew does, from the Gospel of Mark. We find a lot of the same stories. And there is vigorous discussion among scholars that maybe there was a document even before any of the synoptic Gospels, that all of them are borrowing from. That’s just speculation though, like there isn’t such a document that has ever been discovered. Which certainly doesn’t mean it didn’t exist, we just don’t have it. And so, scholars call this this supposed document Q, and believe that it did exist and that it wasn’t in narrative form. It wasn’t like a Gospel; it wasn’t like a story that we read. It was a chronicling of all of the sayings of Jesus that anyone could ever remember. Like, again, we don’t have such a document, it’s just scholars looking at the similarities and going, how did this, how, what was, what was the backdrop for all of this coming to be written down? A document that’s extra biblical, so it’s not in the Canon of Scripture. We’re not going to be reading it this year. It’s not part of the…the Bible as we know it. Does have some similarities to this idea…idea of Q and that would be a document called the Gospel of Thomas, which does have a lot of sayings or purported sayings of Jesus in them. Some of the sayings very much identical and very similar to things we find in the Gospels. Other things, not really compatible with what we’re reading in the Gospels. And those sayings probably come more from a Gnostic perspective and origin. And so, this isn’t this lost Q document, this supposedly lost Q document. But all of this, all of the speculation, all of this research and study and digging and unearthing, is part of the process for trying to date when a text was written. Where, perhaps, the text was written. Why a text was written. To whom a text was written. And so, all of the stuff that I’m saying about the Gospel of Thomas or Q or whatever, this is just part of scholarship because if we know when a text was written, then we have at least a glimpse of the history, like what was going on in the world at the time. If we know to whom a text was written, then we can be more specific about what was going on with those people. If we understand some of these things, then we know how to approach a text to interpret correctly what God is saying through His word. What we can say is that Luke is written to a Gentile audience, whereas the first Gospel that we read, like the Gospel of Matthew is very clearly written to a Jewish audience. So, whereas Matthew reveals to Hebrew people that Jesus is for, is the foretold Messiah, the foretold anointed one. A Gentile doesn’t necessarily care about that in the first century. Luke reveals the Gospel of Jesus is inclusive, is open to everyone in the world, is not only a Hebrew centric religion, but the entire world is also welcomed into the family of God. And so, we begin with the beautiful Gospel of Luke chapter 1 verses 1 through 25 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for another day, another step forward. We thank You for bringing us to be able to step into the Gospel of Luke and start over again and walk alongside You Jesus, as You ministered and modeled what humanity can and is supposed to look like. So, we are grateful for the journey ahead and we are grateful for the journey that has brought us to this point. And we ask, as we so often do, that You would continue to lead us into all truth. We have come here to seek the counsel of the Scriptures in our lives, so that we might be transformed, so that we might live our lives as they were intended, so that we would grow in our knowledge and intimacy with You. And we can’t do that, if we’re not walking on the narrow path that leads to life and walking in the truth. And You have promised in the Scriptures, to lead us into the truth and so lead us. We pray, as we move onward, in the journey forward, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

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

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello, beautiful Daily Audio Bible Family, this is Asia from the City of Angels. And I have to send a prayer up, right now, to our Father in heaven who hears all of our prayers. For Winnie, who called in on the 8th, today of March. And just again giving an update regarding what’s going on with her family. Her, I believe it’s her nephew’s wife passed. And now the family is left with three children, one baby and two girls. And this nephew has just pretty much abandoned his family. Whether he’s bereaved, whatever he’s going through, he is not present in their lives and this duty of raising these children and taking care of is falling on the elderly family members, including her mother and father in their 80s. And herself as well, she works full time. So, we just pray, Father God, that You open the eyes and the ears and the heart of this young man during a time as this, such a suffering time as this, that he may truly step into his role as a father and raise his kids biblically to know the Lord, as it says in Your word, Father. And we pray, Father God, that You gird him up with the full armor of God and that in this time, You bless him, you bless his children with stability, with love, with healing. And that they can see their fathers change as a true testament of the faith, that will become part of their testimony one day. And that, You, together, heal this family. And we say all of this in the name of our glorious Healer, our mighty Counselor, our good Shephard, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ name. Amen.

Hi DAB family, this is Annie who called a couple months ago in regard of my brother Wo Wo. And I promised I would call back to say what God has done for me and for the family. And Wo Wo of course. And I’m very thankful for all of you who prayed for my brother and everyone who thought, brought the time to go pray for him. And he is doing much better as now, it’s exactly a month when he came back. And I just thank you, everyone, so much who pray for him. And I hope that the Lord, will bless you in return.

Hey DAB, good morning. It’s Val. Sorry, it’s super early everyone. My voice is a little crazy but hey I gotta call this one in. This one is for my little brother, my half-brother, he’s in Washington. And he’s in prison. And I don’t think he’ll mind me sharing that. I’m gonna call him One Blessed Man. Lord God Jesus, thank You for my reconnection with my brother, Lord. I’m so grateful, Lord. God Lord Jesus, God and protect him, Father. Lord, I wanna say thank You for how You’re repairing this relationship, Lord. It feels like a Esau and Jacob moment, God. Lord, thank You, thank You, Father, for where he’s at spiritually, Lord. He might not be where I want him to be physically, Lord, but we know that God, all things are possible with You, Lord. And Heavenly Father, I’m putting a blessing on his life right now, Lord. I decree and declare that once he’s released, he shall never see the inside of a prison again, Lord. Lord, I decree and declare, every promise that Your word has for my brother, One Blessed Man. God Lord Jesus, this is Your son Father, and You love him God. And You have a purpose and a calling on his life. And Lord, I’m putting it into the atmosphere, and I need all the saints to lift him up, please, for me. One Blessed Man in Washington. I love you brother, I love you. He’s listening to the DAB family.

Hey, this is Mindy, I’m calling from Ohio, and I was calling to encourage Sheila that had called on March 7th and to encourage her cousin too, that had just recently witnessed to their family, their Hindu family, to a big group of them, 15 of them. And just praying alongside you for God to water the seeds that you have planted. And I just wanted to encourage you because last year, my son was in third grade, and we were studying seeds. And I was just so amazed at God’s design of seeds. And all seeds have these parts, all seeds have a seed coat, the seed coat protects the seed until it’s ready to grow. All seeds have stored food, the stored food helps the baby plant to grow and the food builds, the food is built into the seed, and it can use it when it’s underground before it breaks through the surface of the soil. And then, all seeds have a baby plant built into that little seed. And it has a root, which will grow down and leaves that will grow up and those are the first leaves that the plant will use when it breaks through the soil to bring in energy from the sun, to make food for itself. And so, I’ve just been so encouraged, knowing that when we plant seeds, that God has already designed that seed to have so much in it to provide for that seed to grow. So, be encouraged by that. We’ll be praying alongside you for your family to, like you said, to humble themselves and come to the Lord. So, have a great day. Bye.

Hey beautiful DAB family, this is your sister Prisoner of Hope. I am lifting up Not Shaken. Your daughter made an announcement like your prayers are not being answered. She’s fighting for custody and is having a lot of anxiousness and you just sound absolutely desperate. And I just wanna remind you that sometimes it’s seems like our prayers go unanswered and that the Lord is just drawing out of our faith a deeper reliance and trust in Him. And that should bring out a deeper sense of gratitude and love and humility. I hope that is what it’s doing for you. You said that you just need God’s power. And I just want to assure you, you already have God’s power. He may be doing something different that you don’t agree with or, just trust Him. I am just begging you to trust Him in all this. And Lord, I pray that You would give them that, give them a sense of knowing that You are moving. That Your power is involved here. That You are fighting for these children and that You are fighting for Minnie Mouse and You want peace and goodness and blessings over their life. I am liftin up Tyler from Kentucky. You said you were in jail for the last 17 months falsely, but you also had a chance to listen to DAB and you’ve moved closer to God. So, I thank You, Lord, for that. He also wants his marriage to be restored, Lord. He’s been separated for four years and she’s seeing someone else. But we want You to save this marriage, please. Please bring restoration and may this all be to Your glory. I’m praying for Sheila. You’re looking for a job. Lord, I pray that You would provide that for her. She wants to bless others. Her and her cousin had an opportunity to witness to about 15 family members from the Hindu faith. Lord, they brought about persecution from that. So, I would pray that You would move them, soften their harden hearts and draw them to Jesus. And then, David from Kansas, I’m just praying for your fearful, frequent panic attacks. And the brain injury that’s left you anxious and weak. Lord, please bring healing to him. Please continue to encourage him with Your word and Your love and Your goodness. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.