A Walk Through The Word

2 Samuel 14:1-15:21, John 18:1-24, Psalms 119:97-112, Proverbs 16:8-9

Today is the 29^th day of…I almost said April…May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. Hopefully my brain is engaged. A little sip of Wind Farm and we’ll see how this goes. Let’s dive in and we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week. And in the Old Testament we’re reading from the book of Second Samuel. Today we’ll read chapter 14 and 15. And we’re moving through this pretty sordid story of David’s family after he had this affair with Bathsheba. And we’re kind of following the story of David’s son Absalom and his relationship with his father.

Commentary:

Okay. So, just to recap where we are, the drama continues in David’s family, which was foretold to David by the prophet Nathan after David’s affair with Bathsheba. So, we went to that entire, pretty terrible story of how David and Bathsheba got together and an affair that ultimately got her husband, who was one of David’s most loyal warriors killed. So, David took Bathsheba to be his wife and they lost the baby from their affair but had another child named Solomon. And we’ll certainly get to know him. But David has definitely lost some respect inside his family. His daughter Tamar was raped by her brother. Another brother, Absalom, killed Amnon, the brother who did the crime. Absalom was then banished but he’s been brought back to Jerusalem. He hasn’t really had access to his father that much. And he’s begun undermining his father’s kingdom over the course of a couple of years. And now here we are. Absalom is about to declare himself the king in Hebron, which is where David was first made king of Judah before becoming king of all of Israel. So, we have, basically, a coo on our hands. And we left the reading today with David back on the run, a place that he knows well. He spent a lot of time on the run from King Saul. And now he’s on the run from his own son. And all of this started with adultery and has spun out of control.

Then of course, in the book of John, Jesus has now been arrested. So, we find ourselves for the last time this year in the last hours of Jesus life. And I’ve been recommending and continue to recommend that we immerse ourselves, truly meditate on this story. We won’t be coming this way again this year. And truly centering ourselves in this story is not only important for us, this is the story of our salvation after all, it’s also a story that gives us context for everything that is going to happen next as we move forward in the New Testament.

Prayer:

Father, once again, we thank You for Your word and we pray and agree with the psalmist Your word is a lamp before our feet and the light for our journey, which is why we come around the campfire every day, which is why we come together in community every day to allow Your word to wash over us and into our lives and Spirits. And, so, we pray, Holy Spirit, come. Well up within us. Lead us into all truth, which is the promise given. Lead us deeper into intimacy with Jesus today. We pray in His name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what is happening around here. So be sure to check it out.

Check out the Prayer Wall. Check out how to connect with each other and us on social media. Check out the Daily Audio Bible shop while you’re there. Find resources for this journey that we are on as we move through the Bible.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. Thank you for those of you with clicked that link. 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:

Hi Gloria. This is his Little Sharee in Canada and I just heard your message on the community prayer podcast. And I’m so sorry that nothing has changed with your mom’s situation, that she’s still there in Nevada, so far from you. And I just was so moved by the way you described how you feel about her. And I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to continue to pray for you and for her and for your brother and the whole situation. And if I were your mom, there would be something that I would want someone to tell you. If I were your mom I would say, sweetheart, I’m going to be okay. Thank you for choosing to love me so much that you carry the ache of that love inside of you. I want you to be okay. I love you that much and I’m being taken care of by our heavenly Father and I want you to know that you are being taken care of as well. Thanks for loving me some well. And the Gloria I want you to know that your mom does love you dearly and she is going to be okay. Thank you. Thank you for just giving us a glimpse of the Father’s heart. This is how he aches for each one of us. This is how much he wants to be close to us to be able to take care of us. You reminded me of that today and I want to thank you for that. Gloria, I don’t know you but I love you. I love your mom and I’ll be praying for you. God bless you today. Bye for now.

Family, this is Viola from Maryland. I hope you’re all doing well. Brian and Jill God bless you. It’s so good to be back. I am done with my Master’s program and I excelled. Thank you for praying for me. Family, I want to encourage you as were going into the summer months. I know that Brian always talks about the summer months. This is where it’s a little bit lean in the ministry. I want to encourage you to give to this ministry. This is good for us to sow in. And I pray that God will put the __ on __ even to be able to give the Daily Audio Bible ministry. God bless you. Vicki from Arizona, I am so sorry for your loss. I prayed for Boyd. I prayed, I prayed, I prayed. And our God is the God of the prodigal’s. I am trusting God __ that Boyd is in the hands of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And God bless you my sister as you grieve. I pray restoration for you. I pray for strength for you in the name of Jesus. I pray for peace and calm of heart for you in Jesus name. My brother from Cincinnati who is trusting God to work with children, orphans, the fatherless, the abandoned, that is a good ministry. I pray that God will give you direction, God will open doors for you, that God will make it happen, and that he will surprise you, that he will put finances in your hands so that this can work for you in the name of Jesus. Cherry, my sister. You know, the word of God says that when the enemy comes against us in one way he will flee before us in several ways. And concerning your job. You know, those people are not the ones doing this. It is the enemy that is using them. And so, I just want to pray for you my sister for peace in the middle of the storm. I mean there is no testimony without trial. And so, you know, I just want to pray that God will use you as a shining light even in that place, that nothing will touch you, that God will protect you, every unjust situation will be made right in the name of Jesus. And so, Father the Lord oh God I just pray for strength for you, for your daughter in Jesus name. Shout out Alfi, brother thank you for praying for me and every other person here, the Daily Audio, our new…

Hello family. It’s Drew from the bay area listening, calling in for Julian. Julian __. I want you to know that I’m lifting you up and am praying for you sister. Heavenly father, I ask you, you are holy and hallowed. Hallowed is your name, which means holier than anything. Holy, holy, holy God you know what I mean. We need to pray for Julian, you would just lift her up, you would lift her family up and her finances up, everything else Lord, that you would use everything that she’s doing for good and that she would be a shining light. Lord, that all the glory would be given to you and that others would see be pointed to you Lord God, that you would draw them to you and you would reach out and draw those around her and her family. We pray and ask these things in Jesus name. And then a shout out to Cherry pie, Cherry Chase. Sister, forget the whole skin color thing. It’s not about skin. Look at things the way God looks at things. And He separates the sheep from the goats. It’s good and evil. And we must fight against evil with good things that we do. Pray up, praise God, and He’ll show you how to do the right thing. And loving your enemies will keep coals of kindness on their hand and will draw them to God and push them away from you and they’ll see that and leave you alone. Yeah, we’re praying for you Cherry. James, James from UK and James from LA, we’re praying for you. All right.

Hey fellow DABbers. This is the Redeemed Prodigal and I think if there is one thing that God would say that would surprise us it’s that I am not ashamed of you and I’m not afraid of you. I want your heart. You think I’m out to change you to ruin you to, in many ways, judge you. All the judgment has already been taken care of. All of your sins have already been taken care of and what I want is for you to know my delight for you even in your brokenness. I just think that it’s really important to remember that God’s grace has no end. So, I just felt like my heart has been pulled and led by God to share that with you today. So, if you needed that or if that helped you I’m glad God used me in a way to give encouragement. I guess that’s it. Have a good day.

2 Samuel 13:1-39, John 17:1-26, Psalms 119:81-96, Proverbs 16:6-7

Today is the 28^th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you around the global campfire as we come in out of the chaos of the world and warm ourselves in its light. And just allow the Word of God to wash over us. And speaking of the chaos of life, King David has some chaos within his family and we’re about to enter into that story. 2 Samuel chapter 13 today. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we encounter something terrible in the Old Testament and something beautiful in the New Testament. So, let’s just dive in and talk about it for a second. So David has an affair, right, with a married woman, Bathsheba, who happens to be the wife of Uriah the Hittite and was one of David’s top thirty most loyal warriors. A colossal misjudgment. That brings Nathan the prophet who tells David he’s going to have problems from within his family as a result of this and that is pretty much exactly what we see playing out here. Amnon, David’s oldest son, has lustful desires for his half-sister Tamar, which results in his rape of her. Probably because she wasn’t a willing participant, he throws her out. So, he has deeply shamed her. And when her brother Absalom finds out about it, he tries to comfort her, asks her to keep quiet about it for now, but this obviously broke her. And two years later justice was served. Absalom had made a plan and Amnon was killed. And then Absalom is on the run. So, he’s in Geshur. He’s back in the kingdom of his grandparents. And, ironically, Geshur is up in the Galilee region and would later have a different name, Bethseda, a place where Jesus ministered. So, yep, we can say the prophecy of Nathan came true. David’s family is in turmoil. And here’s the thing about this story. It is a horrible story. It is in the Bible because it’s a horrible story and we’re supposed to wrestle with it. But in wrestling with it, there is no way to overlay a 21^st century cultural view on top of a thirty-five-hundred-year-old story, right? So, when I hear of the rape of Tamar and I consider it in the world that I live in, I’m outraged over this like we all would be. Like we all are. And, so, who do we look to? We look to David. He’s their parent. He’s Tamar’s father. Where is he in this thing? Why isn’t he rushing in to rescue her and set things right somehow and where are the wheels of justice on this train? We have to peel that back and enter into the time that they are living in, which leads us to hot buzzwords like patriarchy, which is fundamentally ordering a society though a patriarch. So, there is the oldest man in a family, he’s the patriarch, his first born son will be the next in line, his first born son will be the next in line, so on and so forth. Which essentially means that the males held the primary power in the society. And so we can get lost in a quagmire because we can get distracted and we can think, okay, well this story brings up all the things that we should be talking about today. This is a very, very old story that has been talked about in different ways over the last three thousand years. So, all that there may be plenty of things that need to be talked about, that is not the point of this story. The point of this story is a continuation of what David did. When David had this affair with Bathsheba, as much as there might have been a glossing over of the whole situation, everybody knew what happened, especially David’s family. And this obviously eroded his authority. He lost respect. And we don’t have every little detail of this story. We don’t know what’s going on in David’s mind. He might be thinking of self-protection because how many scandals can the kingdom handle? Or he might have been following his advisors? We don’t know. The point is that Nathan told David in advance that his family was gonna come unglued, that the problems that he was gonna face were gonna be from within. And this is what is happening. And we’re not done with Absalom. Absalom served what he felt was justice, which was the killing of his brother Amnon, who had raped his sister Tamar. So, we could say ultimately Amnon didn’t skate by free. He was assassinated for what he did. But David’s problems are not over. Absalom had lost complete respect for his father. Now he’s estranged from his father and we’ll see where that story goes. So, I’m not justifying the rape of Tamar. I think it’s horrible. I think rape or sexual assault of any kind is horrible. I also happen to think that adultery is horrible, and that was the first step in the process of the story that we are telling right now. And if patriarchy is your hot political button right now, look, we’ve come a long way in the last thirty-five hundred years and we have a long way to go. We’re in process. I’m not advocating this and I would wager that the Bible is not advocating this either. If we go back thirty-five hundred years, this is how the world works. So, we can make judgements from thirty five hundred years later and that’s fine, but it’s not the point. That’s how the world was, including slavery and all kinds of things that we would consider not a part of our society and not helpful in any way to humanity. That’s how things were. So, to try to wash over and not just enter into the story in a time how things were makes us back read a bunch of stuff that isn’t there. In fact, I would wager that the Mosaic law in terms of things like slavery and patriarchy were a dramatic move forward in the world in comparison to the cultures that were in the surrounding areas at the same time. So that was then, this is now. We’ve come a long way since then. We’re in the process of restoring this world, but that’s what we are here to do. We’re here to collaborate with Jesus as his hands and feet in this world to restore Shalom to this planet. Wholeness. A peace. But it’s never gonna come to the world until it comes to us individually.

Which brings us to the book of John, where Jesus is praying what is known as his High Priestly prayer and he’s praying it over his friends. And he’s praying it over us. Jesus said, I’m not praying only for them, speaking of his disciples, but also for those who believe in me because of their word. That would be us. When Jesus says, I pray that they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you , I pray that they also will be in us so that the world will believe that your sent me. I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so that they can be one just as we are one. I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you loved me. Okay, so that’s where this is all headed. That we’d have oneness with one another, oneness with Jesus who had oneness with the Father. Union. A place where there is wholeness and completeness and peace. So, we can judge David and his passivity from three thousand years ago, but we have to look in the mirror too because are we experiencing that oneness and that wholeness? Can we experience that oneness and wholeness with anyone, including our spouse, all of the time? Okay, well then there is still some work to do. We’ve done a lot of work moving forward in a lot of ways in the last several millennia. We’ve also made colossal mistakes over the last several thousand years as humanity. We’re still in process. We’re still working it out. We’re still making mistakes. We’re still restarting things. We’re still in process. But we have the prayer of Jesus our Savior over us, asking God to make us one just like the Father and the Son are one. But that can’t happen unless we are in Christ and live into it, actually live that out. That is how all of the stuff that outrages us gets eradicated from the world. So, if we want to judge their society than we can. If we want to judge our own, well then, we have to include ourselves by at least asking ourselves, what am I doing to restore Shalom into my home, into my workplace, into my neighborhood, into my church community, into my town, into my nation, into this world? Am I so self-absorbed that the universe revolves around me and everything really is about what’s happening to me? Or am I getting down on my knees and washing the filth from the feet of my brothers and sisters? Am I remaining in Jesus’ love by obeying him? No matter what story we enter into in the Bible and no matter what kind of reaction we have to it, at the end of the day, the more that we ponder, the more that we zoom out, the more that we gain proper context which is so vitally important in anything, the more that we find the whole thing becoming a mirror and everything bouncing back into our lap and asking us, what am I doing about it? How am I participating in bringing Shalom? How am I participating in revealing the kingdom of God upon this earth? What am I doing to reflect the glory of the Lord upon this earth?

Prayer:

Father we invite You into all of that. We invite You into whatever the Scriptures bring up just about every single day because we need You. And everyday we are made aware. We are reminded that we have a role to play in all of this. And so we pray along with You Jesus, make us one. Make us one that we may be in You as You are in the Father. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what is happening and what’s going on around here. So be sure to check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible and help keep the global campfire burning, than 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 P.O 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:

This is Candace from Oregon. First and foremost, I want to offer my love and condolences to Vickie from Arizona and to your family in the loss of your husband. You said on a Wednesday, probably, almost the last Wednesday of May. I pray that God will come and I know He will for you. He is the husband to the husbandless and I know firsthand. Lord, bless Vickie and bless her family and all those who have lost this beloved person. And I just want to also be in agreement with Monica from Kentucky. Thanks, by the way, Monica, for just all your encouragements. But I want to add my agreement that while you need to be part of the church family, this DAB is part of that, but also one your own community, people that you, as she said, can forgive and do life together. And then agreeing with Brian Hardin when he said recently we ask for a bountiful harvest of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Thank You Lord for everything You’re doing. Thank You for being so present and so faithful and true.

Hi. My name is Nonny. I’m 15. I’ve called before like when…I called before because I didn’t really have any friends to go through this with and I just want some more and I’m such __ I don’t know what to do. And I’m hurting so much and it’s hard to trust God when there’s just so much leaving you and there’s so much you’re losing. I don’t know what to do. And I know I have to trust Him but it’s hard. It’s really hard. That’s it. I just pray because I’m really struggling __. Thank you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lee from New Jersey. Today is Friday, May 25^th and today is day 24 of my prayer against anger. So, today’s prayer is a little different because it’s to praise God for a day without it, without anger. So, yesterday was one of those days. So, I want to praise God every single time. And of course, ask God to teach me what I need to learn those days that I __ up. So, Father thank you for a wonderful day yesterday Lord, a wonderful day, not a peaceful day Lord, but for a day that didn’t require anger or where anger didn’t show its ugly face. And yes, issues appeared, things needed to be resolved, and they were resolved without the use of anger, without the need of anger Lord. No boiling point. Nothing. I thank You for that Lord. I thank You for continuously blessing us and continuing to shine Your wisdom on us, that we may reflect Your wisdom in our daily lives with our families and everyone that we interact with on a day-to-day basis. Lord I ask that I die moment to moment Lord that I continuously die Lord to you, that I continuously forget who I used to be yesterday every single second Lord that I die instead of moment to moment, second to second Lord. That you continue to renew me every second of the day Lord. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Family, also wanted to ask for prayer for our teenagers and technology, that they may fill their minds with more appropriate material - music, literature - because they are our future and, of course, they’re loading themselves up with popular culture and the music out there, stuff like that. So, just want to pray for that as well. Asking you all to pray for that. Of course, I know one of my brothers is praying for our children so add that to your prayer…

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jeff B. calling from Canada. Been listening now for just about six months and really appreciating the program. I’m visually impaired, so having Brian actually read it out loud…I don’t know…just faith comes by hearing…and it’s very powerful. So, thankful for that. Thank you, Brian and Jill for your ministry. Wanted to reach out. I go to Africa every year and I’m about to go on June 11^th here. I’ll go for about a week. And what I do in Africa is, although we do a gospel festival, and a pastor’s conference, I personally reach out to government institutional and business leaders and we share…I bring a group of business and government leaders with me. We share business and value that way. But we also share our faith story and we lead leaders to the Lord. And it’s a powerful thing. It has an impact on the entire region because we get decision-makers and people of influence to come to Jesus. Every year before I go there’s obviously opposition. And, so, I’m just asking as a new community that I feel connected with, I’ve been praying for you guys over the last six months. I’m asking you to pray for me. And I will give you an update if I have a chance. And just want to again, thank you for the ministry. And have a very blessed day.

2 Samuel 12:1-31, John 16:1-33, Psalms 119:65-80, Proverbs 16:4-5

Today is the 27^th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today at the shiny, sparkly threshold of a new week. And we get to walk into this together and live into it together, knowing that all of the conversations and choices and thoughts of our lives will form the week that we’re about to have. So, allowing the Scriptures to speak to us into our souls will help us navigate that. So, this week we’re gonna read from the Common English Bible and pick up the story of David that we began yesterday, this horrible moment in David’s life where he takes Bathsheba, who happens to be the wife of one of his top 30 warriors, and then he has him killed. And the whole things just sordid and a mess. And we’ll pick up that story. Second Samuel chapter 12 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we reached the conclusion of this pretty sordid story between David and Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. And we talked about all that yesterday, David had Uriah the Hittite killed, who happened to be Bathsheba’s husband. And he was one of David’s most loyal warriors. So, the prophet Nathan comes and tells a story to David, as if it’s something that he is observed. David doesn’t know that he’s being told his own story. And, so, David is furious, right? He’ absolutely furious. He sees very clearly until Nathan tells him you are that man. And then David is crushed, like, all of the things that he’s been telling himself to get through this, all of the cover-up, everything is exposed. David is crushed. And Nathan pronounces forgiveness but tells David that there’s gonna be trouble up within his family as a result of all this. And we will certainly see that that is indeed the truth. David deeply regrets and deeply repents after this. And if you want to go deeper into that, simply read Psalm 51, which is David’s prayer of repentance over this entire situation here.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We rejoice in Your word. Some stories in Your word are difficult but they become mirrors and we see things exposed in us because of them. And we invite Your Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit, Jesus, that You spoke of in John, the one that would come to us, the one that would lead us into all truth. And, so, Holy Spirit come, well up within us and do exactly that. We surrender our will and our ways to You as we go into this new week and ask You to lead us into all truth on the narrow path that leads to life. Come Jesus. We pray in Your precious name we ask. And You said if we would do this it would be given to us. So, we ask in Your name that You would lead us into all truth the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what is happening and what’s going on around here. So be sure to check in and check it out.

Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible shop. Check out the Prayer Wall.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that’s on the homepage. I thank you humbly 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:

At that time Jesus said, I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes father, for this was Your good pleasure. All things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and those who the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your soul for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Those are the words of Jesus from Matthew 11:25-30. And the Lord just prompted me to share that with you tonight family for anybody who is burdened as I have been lately. Also, I wanted to reach out to Zoe’s mom. Every week I get a reminder on my calendar on my phone to pray for Zoe, whose name means eternal life. And, so, I’ve been asking every week for the Father to draw her back. And, so, family this is pray for her right now. Father, we lift up Zoe and any other prodigals in our families who’ve run away and who are chasing after the world. And we ask that Your Holy Spirit will remind them of Your goodness and Your love and draw them back in Lord, draw them back into Your goodness into fellowship and to come to You. Help us to lay our burdens down and to take Your yoke on us…

Hi. This is North Carolina and Nebraska calling in. It’s my first time calling in but I’ve been listening for the last three years. Today is May 24^th and I want to lift up Kentucky Monica. Thank you for lifting up others in prayer. I want to lift up Kim from Kentucky, the pediatrician. Thank you for being the hands and feet of God to those who are most in need. I want to lift up Vicki in Arizona. Praying for you about the loss of your husband. We thank you so much for calling in and being vulnerable and sharing your heart. And please keep calling in and keep reaching out that others can love you during this time and that Jesus is loving you during this time. I want to pray for Jay the trucker. 23 days of sobriety. Jay, we’re so proud. Keep trucking. Keep living for God every day, every day, every minute. Thank you for sharing your victory. For California, Avania now in Nicaragua. We are united in prayer for you my sister. I want to lift up and celebrate my recovery brothers, Mr. C, Mr. Km and Mr. D. for completing our steps buddy with sobriety and integrity. I want to lift up my marriage of 18 years. My wife is amazing, although I’ve been honest from the beginning about having same-sex struggle, it’s still difficult on her and on me as well. So, I want to lift up our marriage to you and I want to lift up Jesus for and being with us every step of the way. Love you all. Signing off from North Carolina to Nebraska.

Hello everybody. Greetings from Oklahoma City. Hey, I’d like to call in for a couple of folks today. Listening to md…I’m sitting here spinning wrenches. Welcome to Tinker Air Force Base, maintenance shop. So, Vickie from Arizona, sister I want you to know that I’m praying for you and I’m thinking about you with the loss of your husband and stepping out into a brave new world here. You are not alone. You’re never alone. We are here right beside you praying for you and lifting you up and praying for peace for you and hope all the arrangements that you have to make after will go smoothly. And don’t be afraid to ask for help, right? From friends, neighbors, coworkers, people want to help, they truly do. So, and even people like us, we can help you to. So, I love you, I love you, I love you. Sending you great big hugs. Terry the truck driver. My new friend. Hey. I bet you didn’t know that when you called in you would be helping somebody from Nicaragua. Isn’t it amazing how words can travel the world? I think it’s truly amazing how we can, we can, our struggles maybe helping someone be brave and I asked that for both of you guys, that you guys get some bravery between trying to face things that are difficult. I love you guys. I think that’s it. I’m thanking the Lord for success of my oldest son Nikki. He’s doing really well in construction industry. And pray for my youngest son Alex, that, well, wherever he’s at he’s safe. Okay? I love you guys. Have a wonderful day. Take care. Bye-bye.

Hey, what’s up everybody? It’s Miguel from Santa Rosa. Just yesterday, there was a verse read, John 14 verses 1-3. This is Jesus speaking. Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go there to prepare place for you? And if I don’t put prepare a place for you I will come again and will take You to myself, that where I am where you may be also. Jesus spoke this to the disciples in the midst of confusion and confusing news and impending crucifixion of Jesus. This verse was formative for me 19 years ago when my oldest sister passed away from cancer. I was 11 at the time. It was a week before my 12^th birthday. And this verse spoke volumes to me because I saw the promise that is there, that what we see around us, what we experience, all the pain all the confusion, everything that we see here in this lifetime, it’s not the end. Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us and He wouldn’t say that if it weren’t true. He’s said this is a comfort to his disciples that were about to walk through an incredibly confusing and painful time. So, I say this to share this for all of our community because I hear a lot of calls come in, there’s a lot of confusion out there, there’s a lot of pain out there. This is how Jesus comforted His disciples. So, I invite you, too, to John 14 verses 1-3 and let Jesus’ words comfort your heart. Bless you.

2 Samuel 9:1-11:27, John 15:1-27, Psalms 119:49-64, Proverbs 16:1-3

Today is the 26^th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we begin to close the books on another week. And we have spent this week moving through David’s life and we’ll continue to do that in 2 Samuel. And we are reading of Jesus final days for the final time in the book of John. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week, which is today. 2 Samuel 9, 10 and 11 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so in 2 Samuel we’re working through David’s life and we come to this pretty horrible story of David’s sordid affair with Bathsheba. And as sordid of a story as it is, it’s maybe even worse than we might see on the surface. And we can’t go all the way through the story because we’re not finished with the story, but David has sent the army to war and he stays back in Jerusalem and he wakes up from a nap and there’s Bathsheba. He can see her as he looks down from the palace. She’s beautiful, she’s naked. He wants her. He has her. He’s the king. But she becomes pregnant so then there’s all of the cover up, right? Because she’s married to Uriah the Hittite.  And this is actually where the story takes a turn for the worst. Because Uriah the Hittite was one of David’s top thirty warriors. In all of the military, he was one of the top thirty. A man loyal and sworn to loyalty to the king. So all of the sudden, this affair that David has with Bathsheba isn’t just a betrayal of some (commoner) around Jerusalem. It’s one of David’s most loyal warriors he betrays by taking his wife. But that’s not the end of the story. He’s gonna take Uriah’s life over this and Uriah did nothing. David sends for Uriah so he can come home so that he can send him home to Bathsheba so that they can sleep together so that she can show up pregnant and the whole thing be covered up, which is sordid enough. But Uriah won’t go home, right? He’s one of thirty most loyal warriors. He won’t even go home, not while his brothers are sleeping in tents out in the open in battle. So, David writes a letter to Joab, rolls it up, gives it to Uriah. Uriah doesn’t know that it is his death sentence. He takes it back to Joab, the instructions are read, Uriah is killed in battle. We get it. This is a horrible, horrible, horrible thing David has done. But just to pour salt into the wound here, this is exactly what Saul was trying to do to David over and over and over, right? Send him into battle where he can be killed. Try to arrange for his, sort of, murder by war. David was always stealthy enough to escape. Uriah was killed. So we’ve been following the story of David and his humility and his approach to leadership, but when we get to this story, and it’s like David has perpetrated an evil that is as evil as anything in the Bible. And we’ll have to hang on until tomorrow for the conclusion of the story because we’re not done.

Then in the book of John, we’ve been talking about it for days. That we’re covering territory, the last final days of Jesus life for the last time this year so that we can give it gravity and honor it. So Jesus has been telling his friends that the Holy Spirit will be sent, the advocate who will lead us into all truth and that we should love each other. That’s gonna be the distinctive in this new thing that God is doing in the world, it will be love. And this is the last conversation that he’s going to have. This is it. This is the last teaching with his friends before he loses his freedom and everything moves toward the cross. And so that’s part of that conversation in our reading from today. Jesus is instructing us to remain in his love. This whole thing is built upon love. So I wanna re-read a paragraph from today’s reading so that we can personalize it and actually take it within ourselves and make it a part of our lives and make it a part of this day. And all of these words, these are Jesus words. So this is what he spoke I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. This is my commandment, love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for using my name. This is my command. Love each other. So, it’s almost as if… What else is there to say? What else can I say to expand upon that because it’s very clear. Jesus is saying that if our lives are going to make any sense then we have to remain in his love and the only way to remain in his love is that we obey him. So, in other words, when we are in rebellion, then we are not remaining in his love. But the reason that Jesus was sharing this wasn’t that he could lay down the final law and lord it over us. It was, as he said, so that we could be filled with his joy. That we could experience joy that will overflow. So, if we obey his commands, then we are remaining in his love. And the byproduct of remaining in his love is that we can experience overflowing joy. We follow that pathway by loving one another as he loved us. And there is basically the context for our lives. I have spent years wanting to understand what this intimacy with God is like. I’ve written books about this. To be a friend of God. To not be just an adherent to a religion. To actually experience the intimacy and friendship that is spoken about in the Scriptures. And Jesus talks about that in this paragraph that we just read. These final things that he’s saying. I no longer call you slaves. A master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends since I’ve told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me, I chose you. Man, those words change the dynamic and change the atmosphere, right? Because we feel like we’ve chosen to accept Jesus, now we’re hanging on for dear life and he’s seeing all the effort we’re putting in to try to obey his commands and is he gonna shower those blessings down us? Man, the dynamic changes when you realize you didn’t choose anything. You were chosen, right? All those things we think that we deserve to have because we’ve chosen to live a sacrificial life in love with God, that sort of melts away when you realize you didn’t do the choosing. You were selected. You were chosen. You were invited by God to participate in the renewal of all things. So, we weren’t chosen like we won the lottery, we weren’t chosen so that blessings could shower down upon us. What Jesus is saying here is, I chose you to become a part of this story. Remain in my love and you do that by obeying my commandments, you do that by loving one another like I’ve shown you what love looks like. You love like I loved and you’ll experience overflowing joy. But that’s not gonna make it easy. If the world hates you, Jesus said, remember it hated me. The world will love you if you belong to it, but I chose you. You’re no longer part of that system. It’s a whole new thing going on in the world and I chose you to be a part of it. And those who are in the dark aren’t going to get it. And they’re not gonna like you just like they didn’t like me. But you’re continuing the story. You’re replacing darkness with light when you remain in my love, when you obey me, when you love one another. This is striking. It’s beautiful to have that context for what this day is supposed to look like. It’s also humbling that Jesus was saying all of these things as this last reminder, like shake it up one more time to remind them, I’m about to be gone from you for a minute because I’m about to make all of this possible.

Prayer:

Jesus, we enter into that deeply. We drink deeply from that. We want desperately to remain in Your love. And what You’re telling us is that the way that we do that is to obey You. The way that we do that is to obey Your commandment to love one another. And we love each other when we look at the world through Your eyes and love in the face of hate and indifference we love. And so we declare that we love You. We love You, we worship You. We invite Your Holy Spirit, this advocate that You were talking about, to continually remind us of the things that You’ve said. And this is what You said the Holy Spirit would do and so we invite You, Holy Spirit, to continually remind us. Show us what it looks like to love as You love. Show us what it looks like to remain in You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what is happening and what’s going on around here. So be sure to check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, dailyaudiobible.com is a good place to go for that. There’s a link on the homepage. Thank you. Thank you supremely and humbly 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 P.O 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. My name is Lillian. I’m calling from Tanzania. That’s in East Africa. This is my first time calling. I’ve been listening to DAB on and off for about 4 years now but beginning this year I made a vow to loosen daily and so far, I’ve been able to keep up. And I thank you very much for this community, Brian and Jill for creating it. And I thank each and every one who is a member of this community and your amazing unity and love. I’m calling in today to request for your prayers. I am going through a very difficult and dark moment of my life. Friends, I need your prayers guys to just lift me up to God, me and my family. We are going through a financial crisis and I’ve spent everything I’ve worked my entire life for. Please pray for me. Pray for strength. Pray for wisdom in all the decisions I’m required to make. And pray for the Holy Spirit to really guide my footsteps in this moment of my life. I thank you all and ask you to pray for me as I pray for you, each and every one, the ones who are calling in and the ones who are not calling in. Thank you. And God bless you all. I love you. Bye-bye.

Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible. This is prophetic intercessor from North Carolina and it is Tuesday, the evening of Tuesday, May 22^nd. And, you know, it just was impressed on my spirit to call in and encourage someone. I was listening to the song that He is our strength like no other. And I remember calling in around this time last year as I was going through the process of a divorce and I was so broken and so disheartened and so disillusioned and I called in and so many of you called in and prayed for me. And I just want to thank you, for each and every one who lifted me up during that time and encouraged my heart. And, you know, I’m a testament that there is beauty for ashes. And, so, I wanted to return the favor and encourage someone this afternoon, that just hold on a little while longer. Hold through the pain, hold on through the frustration, hold on through the hopelessness because God is coming to turn it and He’s coming to give you beauty for your ashes. So, remember that [singing] He is your strength, He’s like no other, He’s like no other, and He will reach you. [singing ends] there is no pain to deep that exceeds the reach of God. He is reaching for you today. So, hold on. [singing] He is your strength, He’s like no other, He’s like no other, and He’s reaching for you. [singing ends] love you guys so much. Be blessed.

Hey DAB family. James here from the UK. Just calling to pray for Cherry Chase Cherry pie. You left a message, you left a prayer request with regards to your work situation and racial hatred and tension in the workplace. And, you know, we’ve been talking about the royal wedding this week at work, at my work, and just what a tremendous occasion it was. I’m guessing a lot of you have seen it. But it really struck me when I heard you call but, you know, that we can create situations that make things look like there changing. And it’s great that we believe that change is coming soon and change continues to happen in terms of the way that we look at integration. But I really felt your prayer request when you talked about what was happening in your workplace and the fact that it felt like it was a throwback to the 1960s. And I just wanted to say, the white man listening to request, I just felt this burden and desire to pray for Cherry Chase. So, I’m hoping that there’s many others that aren’t able to call in but will be feeling the same way. So, I just want to lift you up. Lord Jesus, I just pray for Cherry Chase in her place of work Father God. She is facing principalities and powers that may be hard for her describe or understand or for any of us to really get to grips with. There’s a terrible evil in this world that makes our skin color, our origin, our ethnicity something that we actually use as a way of differentiating against each other, of creating prejudice, which is just totally perverse. And Lord Jesus, You stand against that. Jesus, You stand against…

Hello, good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jay calling from Tennessee! Yes. So, I have made it and I have been listening every day, and praying every day. But I heard Sean 316 say something that struck me because I’ve been…I’ve been…led by the Spirit to call so many times and I just never did it. So, Sean 316, thank you for telling us to call and if God has answered our prayers because it motivates others and it helps others. So, my prayer, before I left for Tennessee and before I even applied for a job was that God would send me to a place where I can openly be a Christian, I can openly share the gospel with people, I can openly, you know, work with people who don’t mind me talking about Jesus. And would you believe that once I started applying for jobs I got accepted, offered and accepted a job in Tennessee without even having to interview? I’m here now on my, what is this, my third day of work and all my bosses are Christian, all my coworkers are Christian. I ran into a couple situations where I needed help and the companies that I dealt with were Christian companies and they didn’t even charge me any money. It’s just, it’s amazing. And even going downtown, where the people are a lot younger and in that frame of mind where they really don’t want to believe in Jesus, they are very respectful of what you believe and they don’t, they don’t hate you for it, as I dealt with back in New Jersey. Anyway, I love you and I just want to let you know that when you pray, God does listen. He may not answer the way that you want him to because I wasn’t planning on moving to Tennessee but he will answer your prayers. Love you guys.

2 Samuel 7:1-8:18, John 14:15-31, Psalms 119:33-48, Proverbs 15:33

Today is the 25^th day of May. Welcome to the daily audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we buckle in and take the next step forward through our week and through the Scriptures. And from the Old Testament, we are observing the life of David. So, we’ll continue with that journey today. Second Samuel chapter 7 and 8. And we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of John, Jesus, this is having his final meal with his friends, He’s having a final conversation with his friends and when we get to the conclusion of that conversation today, from here, Jesus will go to pray and will be arrested and, subsequently, executed as we know. We’re moving into that story. But if we can imagine this little band of brothers who have walked with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry have been counseled and taught by Him who have been with Him in great joy and who have walked many dusty miles of confrontation. These are the final things that He has to say to them all. And what He chooses to say is interesting because it’s what they need to understand. It’s the next step. It’s what they need to know about their future, but it is also precisely what we need to know because Jesus is describing our state of being, how things are for us. So, Jesus say’s, all who love Me will do what I say. And in reality, we could stop right there and say, that’s it, that’s the thing - all who love me will do what I say. This is fundamentally the truth of the Bible. For example, we haven’t gotten to the book of Ecclesiastes yet. We will soon. What for all of Solomon’s wisdom, in the end, this is the exact conclusion that he comes to. So, Jesus says the same thing - all who love me will do what I say. My father will love them and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey. And remember, and Jesus is saying this to his friends, these aren’t my own words. I’m telling you words from the Father. I’m telling you in advance, while I’m right here in front of you, that the Father is going to send in advocate. The Holy Spirit is going to come as my representative and then He will lead you forward, He will continue to teach you everything, he will continue to remind you of all the things that I’ve already told you because these things are coming from the Father. Okay. This is what our lives are supposed to look like because this is our reality as those who believe in Christ. The Holy Spirit has been sent. And we’re almost to that story, once we conclude the book of John and move into the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to lead and guide us into all truth, to remind us who we are, who God is, and where we are going together. Jesus said, I’m never going to leave you here. I’m never going to abandon you as an orphan. I will come to you. The Holy Spirit will lead you. He will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I’ve told you. And then Jesus has a gift, a parting gift as it were, to his friends, a gift that all of us get to receive. I’m leaving you with a gift, Jesus said. That gift is peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift that the world can’t give. So, don’t be troubled. Don’t be afraid. Remember, I’m going away, but I’m coming back. And if you love me you’ll obey my commands. So, love God and obey Him is about the shortest, most concise description of what our lives are supposed to look like that we can arrive at. And we can certainly spend some time today observing ourselves with that in mind and simply asking, is that what my life is shaped like. Is that…I know that’s what I’m going for but is that who I am. I love God, I obey Him. Because if that is the shape of our lives, then we can indeed experience this gift Jesus was talking about, which is peace of mind and heart. A peace that cannot be achieved any other way. So, let’s observe ourselves today, for sure, and enter into this and consider it but also invite the advocate, the Holy Spirit that has been sent to live within us to reveal to us the ways that that’s simply not true of us so that we might repent, change our mind about the trajectory of our of our lives and turn.

Prayer:

Jesus as we’re moving into this story again this final time this year we take it to heart. We do love You. We do desire to obey You. We are completely aware that there is no other way to navigate life, we thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth. Thank You for the gifts of peace of mind and heart that comes as a result of being in love with You, following You, obeying You. Come, Holy Spirit and make this is true of us. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what is happening and what’s going on around here. So be sure to check it out.

Check out the prayer wall. Pray for your brothers and sisters while you’re visiting there. Check out the shop, the resources that are available to equip you for this journey through the Scriptures this year and every year.

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

Hi all. This is the Misfit Man from Cincinnati. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about a year now. First time calling in because I need…I need you guys help. I need some prayer. Been thinking for a while and been really feeling God tug on my heart that I need a change of occupation, that He is really calling me to work with children, orphans, the fatherless, the abandoned. It just breaks my heart when I see kids that have terrible fathers or no fathers at all. And I’m a father of five myself. And I just, I just can’t help it, I just want to help be there for those kids here on this earth to point towards their heavenly Father. So, anyway, I’m not exactly sure what to do or where to go. I’m still asking God myself and praying for direction and clarity but just asking for your all’s help to pray for that as well for me. So, I appreciate it. I am thinking about praying for you guys that call in. And I, yeah. That’s it. Thanks guys. Bye.

Hi family this is Craving Peace from Pennsylvania. And the Lord has put him in my heart this morning to pray for some people. Please pray with me family. Father I thank You for this day. I thank You for all things. And Father I pray for Cherry Chase Cherry pie with everything that she’s facing Lord. I just pray that You would strengthen her and help her in this situation of facing the hatred and all of the situations in her workplace. Father, please strengthen her. And I just pray that someone would come alongside her and make this burden lighter for her to get through. And Father, I also pray for Pelham, Father that You would strengthen him as well to stand against whatever he spacing. You know what it is Lord and nothing is impossible with You. And I just pray that You would strengthen him as well. And Father, too, for my sister in Virginia whose son has been out of jail for a little while. I don’t know her name Lord but You know her name. And Father You’ve put it on my heart today and I just pray that whatever they’re going through Lord that You would strengthen them and help them to stand. Father, thank You for this community. Thank You for each and every one. Thank You for this day, for all things. And we pray this in our Savior Jesus’ name.

He Daily Audio Bible family. This James the teacher in LA here. It’s May 22^nd, Tuesday morning. I’m listening to the Cherry Chase Cherry pie talk about racism in her workplace and I’m heartbroken. I mean, you know we all hear about racism in our workplaces. A lot of us are experiencing it but I’m…anyway…your my sister, you know. So, I want to pray for you. Father God, we pray for our sister Cherry. We pray, first of all, that no matter what opposition or trials she goes through that she would, that she would shine the light of You on everything including in the suffering, especially in the suffering. And that in suffering for doing good, God, she would know that she’s receiving a reward from You and that she would be a powerful witness to those who don’t know You or maybe more painfully God, those who know You but just don’t understand Your body, don’t understand the body of Christ, don’t understand that You have, that You gave the blood of Your son to cover every tongue in every nation, every color, every race, every socioeconomic background, every original religious background, everybody. Yeah Lord, thank You that we can call upon our brothers and sisters, people literally…

Hi everyone. It’s Karen in St. Louis. Hey Cherry Chase. My heart goes out to you sister. I don’t have the experience of being African-American this country. And we do live in a country that has racism and we have sexism and so many other sins in this broken world. And I just want to encourage you sister. I’ve actually been in a situation, several times, where I worked in male dominated industries where I was sexually harassed numerous times, where I was looked over for promotions. And, you know, another thing is just being a single female in the church, being ignored and passed over and just not have any credible anything because, you know, males are the ones that the believers and so it’s frustrating. But the one thing that the Lord told me as it was so difficult to get up to go to work every day was that I was working for Him. I wasn’t working for them. And the one thing that He showed me through it as I pressed into Him and is a surrendered to Him and allowed the Holy Spirit just fuel me for each day is that at the heart of the matter it is the heart of the matter. We’ve been putting a square peg in a round hole for far too long, trying to change things from the outside in. And we really need to impact hearts. And that’s where the real lasting change happens. And through my responses to the things that I went through, there were many where hearts changed. And that actually some people came to know the Lord. And so, I just pray that for you sister. I just know that the Lord is our victory. He is and he will make all things new. He will make you be the victorious one through this. And, so, I just want to encourage you sister. I love you and I pray that you will sense all of the prayers for you…