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Daily Transcripts
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08/01/2015
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2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21 ~ Romans 15:1-24 ~ Psalm 25:1-15 ~ Proverbs 20:13-15
Today is August 1st. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It's great to be here with you and coming to you again from the central region of Washington State which is in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Of course, if you're in the US, you probably know. Well, I don’t know. I’ve talked to a lot of people that don’t know their US geography. But if you are international, then you have a free pass. The United States is a big place and where I am is in the upper left hand corner, not too far from Canada and about as far west as you can go. I mean, I guess we’re inland, but if I drove 3 hours, I would run into the Pacific Ocean. It is good to be here. It's beautiful. It's lovely, wonderful to be here and wonderful to be here with you, wherever it is that you are today.
So we have a brand new month. Can you believe it? We’re going into our 8th month for this year and we’re ending a week as we begin a month. So we’ve been reading from The Message this week and we’ll conclude our week reading from 2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21.
Prayer:
Father, again we thank you for your Word. And God, we thank you for our community. We thank you that you’ve established the rhythm of life, centered around the rhythm of the Scriptures every day in our lives, orienting our hearts to you, being soothed and cradled and disrupted and shaken on so many levels so that we might be who we are, your children, and be set free. So we thank you for your Word, and, God, as we enter this new month, we consecrate our lives and our hearts before you, dedicating in advance this month of August and looking for all that you might do in and through us and in and to us. Come, Holy Spirit, you have free rein here. Come and go as you please and lead us into all truth, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Commentary:
Alright, I need to talk to you about something else. Now, a couple weeks ago, I said I need to talk to you about something and I began to roll out the Global Bible Read. And all of the things that are coming onto the community’s radar, things literally for one to two years we’ve been working so hard on, and what I’m about to share with you is another one that’s been a couple of years in the making and I’ve alluded to it all year. And that is Reframe.
For two years, actually a little more than two years, I’ve been working on this next book and it’s called Reframe – From the God We’ve Made to God with Us. And I will go into more depth - actually it will probably be one of these times where I offer a separate podcast, a separate program, specifically, even to just kind of talking this through, but I’ll do that once I get back to Nashville. I’m going to finish this festival, Creation Northwest, where we’re having a wonderful time, and then take a couple of days and catch my breath out here in this area and then head back and that will be kind of the turning of the page from the summer festival and to where I begin to turn everything into Reframe in all of my travel and speaking.
But August 1...I can’t believe this day has come. I mean, this day has been squared out on the calendar since January 1, even before that. It’s been like this is an important day and it’s like here it is. So it’s like when I was talking about the Global Bible Read and kind of giddy and nervous and like, man, we’ve been working on this for so long, I feel the same way. Reframe is something that I worked harder on than anything in recent memory because I needed to drill into what I was trying to say, and the truth about Reframe, and I’m sure I’ll re-visit this territory, but the truth about Reframe is that I dove into it knowing it was time for another book and got 12,000 words in, and that’s a lot, and threw it all out. It was like it’s not time for another book. What does that mean? That means I’m on this treadmill. That means I’m becoming what I don’t want to be. That means I’m becoming this personality or something. That’s not the life that I want to live. I mean, the Bible has changed me so profoundly, for so long, if I’ve got something to say, I want it to be something that is meaningful and something of that I feel compelled, like a burning inside that God is saying “say this.”
And so for two years, really writing hard, working hard, I began to unpeel the layers of my own life because I needed to get at something, and I’ll unpack all of this in more detail later. That something is what is this thing we keep talking when we talk about a relationship with God? When we’re talking about intimacy with God, what are we saying? And because this year’s theme has been reframe, we’ve dove into this a lot by just pulling it from Scripture over and over and over, Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, it’s everywhere. But what I began to realize is, man, a relationship with God is something a believer assumes they have. It’s like a door prize that you get when you walk through the entryway of belief, so you believe and you accept Christ and then your prize, your gift bag is now you have a relationship with God. And so we enter through that doorway, and then we kind of get ourselves into a subculture and we get around other believers and then we’re talking about relationship with God all of the time, but what does that mean? And I began to realize, ironically, growing up as a pastor’s son, I mean, being indoctrinated into the faith and understanding the love of Christ for me from the day I came out of the womb, I began to realize most of the things that I know about God somebody else told me. Most of the things I know about God somebody told me about God. God didn’t tell me. I just formulated this idea of who he was based on everything I’ve ever been told.
What Reframe did was force me to go back to zero and begin to write from a place that was only what I actually had experienced with God, with the hope that what I could finally arrive at, what I needed to arrive at is what is a relationship with God? What is that shaped like? How does that work? Because there are so many formulas, so many doctrines, so many dogmas, so much theology, so many rules that are attempting to explain a being that is not explainable, to try to humanize to the point of understanding someone who is infinite and almighty. Does God want to be in a relationship with me? Can I be in a relationship with God? How does that work? What does that look like? What is its shape? Is God actually willing to condescend himself to the point that he will, over time, live out life with me, revealing himself to me, showing me who he is, for himself? How does that work?
In the psalm we read today, this ancient psalm 4000 years ago, David said, “God friendship is for God worshippers. They are the ones he confides in.” Or in another translation, “the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he makes known to them his covenant.” Or even more, just literally from Hebrews, “he’ll speak the secrets to his allies.”
So how do we become that, because it is available, it's all throughout the Scriptures. What does it look like to be in a personal relationship with God? What I realized was what I needed to do first was to discuss what a relationship with God isn’t, the we often assume that it is, so the we can kind of clear all that out of the way so that we can find out what it might be.
So I'm not going to go a bunch further. I'm not going to spend all of the time that I want to spend on this right now other than to say August 1 has been a day that has been earmarked for many, many, many, many months. Reframe releases officially October 1, two months from today, but today Reframe becomes available for presale. Ironically, that is a big deal in the publishing world now. I mean, you can write your own book and publish your own book and put your own book out whenever you want to, but if you're going to deal with the publishing world and use those avenues to allow global distribution all over the world, then that's what you have to do. I come from that background. I spent so long in the music industry that how the mechanisms work are very familiar to me. So Reframe is now available for presale.
Alright, here's how this works if you ever wanted to know. Presales in this industry all get accumulated and then they work toward your first week out in the book world and, for that matter, in the music world. This is just how this industry works if you ever wanted to know. So that is why you see so many certain artists or whatever and there will be all these big press releases, “oh, they sold this many books” or “they sold this many records” or whatever and they show up on the charts and blah, blah, blah, blah. That's all by design in an industry because once you can make a splash then it has reverberations that have positive repercussions throughout an industry in and of itself and allows then whatever project; that is, musical, film, book, whatever media we’re talking about to have the opportunity to reach further.
The truth is, some of this stuff I get it. I understand it completely. I even know the whys. But since I’ve become a fulltime minister, and since I’ve become a pastor, and especially when it comes to the Daily Audio Bible and the Daily Audio Bible Community, I think like a pastor. Most of this stuff has lost its shine. I mean, when I was in the music industry, you have no idea just how crazy it can get. Like, for example, when you're working a new single from a new record, you're diving into that single 3 months before the record comes out so the idea is that your single is peaking, right? So like if it is going to get on the charts, then it is going to be peaking on the charts by the time the record comes out and you have maximum impact. And the way the charts and the music industry are… Am I boring you? I hope not). I don’t even know why I'm explaining all this. Well, I kind of do.
Nevertheless, the way that the music charts work, like when you go see who is #1 and #2, and like the top 5 songs or the top 50 songs or whatever, the way that those things are accumulated are by single sales, like in terms of iTunes, but they are also by how many spins that song has gotten. A spin is a play. So how many times a song has been played on any given station, they are all accumulated all across the country, any country and then they are ranked and that is how you arrive at that. So when I was in the music industry, we would literally be counting spins and comparing spins and then radio promoters would basically be begging radio stations “if you could just give it 2 more spins this week, then we would know across the board, across this cross section of stations, if we could get 2 more spins a week from this many stations, then that would jump this thing 2 numbers.” Everybody is after that #1.
That kind of stuff I used to live and die by, had to live and die by, but I haven’t had to live and die by that for a long time and I’ve decided I'm never living and dying by anything like the ever again. I explain all of that in terms of presales of Reframe because there is one certain legitimate thing about all of this. If you can move into a place where your project does reach that splash, then the opportunity for your message is exponentially increased and when it comes to Reframe, my heart is on fire with this message because this message set my heart free and I could weep over that. So at this point it is more than a desire. It is a passion to get this into the hands of as many people as I possibly can, but I'm not going to play the game and game the system, so I'm turning to you.
It's been a ministry philosophy and just the nature of our community that there aren’t a ton of asks. I mean, I realized when I started the Daily Audio Bible and it exploded, I realized by the time I had gotten done, from the first read through of the Bible, this is a phenomenon I have no idea how it is that I ended up leading this phenomenon. I have no idea why the Heavenly Father would let me steward his Word like this. And I still don’t. But I'm like the guy in the parable that Jesus talks about who found treasure in a field and sold everything to buy the field. That is my story so the Daily Audio Bible to me has been nothing but something that was holy and something that was holy that I didn’t sell out, so that is why this has never become a circus. That is why you're not bombarded by every opportunity that is out there and it is super lucrative. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people, good people with really good ministries or good organizations or good products that want access to you. That is not a bad thing. That is called marketing. But I don’t know, man, the Daily Audio Bible has been a family and so just from day 1, even when those opportunities start coming in, it was just like no, that's just not what we do.
So there are not a lot of asks. I mean, even in terms of just trying to keep the whole thing afloat and the lights on and moving, there just aren’t a lot of big, big asks. I probably should ask more. I probably should say hey, this is what we need to do, but there is a balance between just trusting God and following his Holy Spirit and keeping things true. It is a fine line between that and a circus. With Reframe, I'm asking. I'm asking if you're interested in this message, that you go and get this book and get it in advance. I promise you, if I could give this to you, if I could give this to anyone, I would in the same way that I do every day give the scriptures and trust God. The thing is, if you're going to try to get a message really out there and work with a publisher, then they don’t give you the material for free. It is costing them. It's an enormous amount of time, personnel, effort. I wouldn’t even know where to go. I mean, I can’t do Publishing 101. There is just a huge amount of effort into it, so I can’t. But we started looking around, like, okay. What can we give back? That has been our DNA. How can we give more than we ask? How can we give more than we receive? So we’ve come up with a few things.
If you preorder Reframe, then we’ve created a group study component to Reframe. It is 5 cinematic films and those don’t release until October either, but we’ll give you the first one and we’ll give you the first chapter so you can kind of get going. We’ll give you something that is really near and dear to Jill and my hearts. We’ll give you a couple songs from her new record. I'm excited about it. It has taken forever to make because we just can’t dedicate the 4 months of practically 24 hours a day that it takes to make a record. I haven’t been a record producer for a long time, so diving back into the studio with Jill, kind of brushing off all of those chops and getting back into producer mode, this is the first pop record that I’ve produced in a lot of years. So diving back into that is something that we’ve both been excited about and we’ll give you a couple songs that are done from that. Giving this stuff is like the closest I can come to giving you Reframe.
So I'm going to shut-up now because I already feel like…it just makes me very uncomfortable, but hopefully I’ve made some sense. Reframe is available for presale now. Just go to www.ReframeBook.com and you’ll find to a lot more there. You can watch the book trailer which is killer and get these things that I was just talking about now. So thank you. I'm thanking you in advance for supporting this work because this can change the rest of your life and I'm not kidding because it has changed the rest of my life. Www.ReframeBook.com.
And that's it for today. I'm Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:
Hi, I'm Michelle from the UK. I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible since last year and it has really been a source of encouragement. I was in the hospital this time last year, very, very sick and it got me through some of the toughest times. I'm in a hard spot at the moment and I really need God's guidance. I don’t know really where to go. I’ve been very, very hurt by some of the things that have happened in my church and I’ve decided I'm supposed to find a new home. Today is the first day that I'm going to look for a new church and I pray that God gives me peace. All I want is for myself and my family to be in a place that we are appreciated and loved and cared for and used. And somewhere that we’re going to be so happy and just pray that God will just give me the desires of my heart, that I will have a happy and whole big family with no stress on Sunday morning that I don’t want to go to church, I don’t want to go to church, I don’t want to go to church. I'm fed up with the fight. I want to go somewhere that we can all in the morning get up and be happy to go to. So, yeah, I suppose I'm asking…
I love you, Lord with all my heart, and Satan knows that too, that’s why he tries so hard, dear God, to make it seem untrue. There were many times within my life when I have done his will and even now there are still times when I long to do it still. I will not make excuses, God. You know that I am weak. Forgive me, God, and strengthen me. Your favor is what I seek. I repent in ashes, tear my clothes, I tear my heart as well. I know about your spirit, God, my life’s a living hell. You know all things, so you know, God, that Satan cannot win. My love for you is much too strong, you’re my master and my friend. My life is filled with stresses, God, I’m under much duress. It’s clear to see in retrospect I haven’t done my best. Every day is a new chance, God, to turn my life around. I thank you for this precious gift. It’s really quite profound. Satan still is tempting me, but his call is losing power. I know deep down inside, dear God, that this should be my finest hour. I know I have to lose myself in order to be strong. I’m often overconfident and, just like Peter, often wrong. You know the future and the end, and all life is in your hands. I need your help right now, dear God, before I make new plans. Is this battle really mine or is this battle yours? Should I stand and fight, dear God, or run when Satan roars? Hold my hand and guide my feet, especially guide my heart. I will not be presumptuous. Lord, show me how to start. Blindtony1016@gmail.com. It was really nice hearing your voice again. Matthew F. And…
Hello Brian and all the people that are listening to Daily Audio Bible. I’ve been listening for a while and it gives me great comfort and joy and helps me get through my day and I praise God for every minute of it. I’m going to get to my request. My brother is a cocaine addict or a crack addict and he’s been struggling for most of his adult life. He’s 52 now and the law is coming down on him. He has committed some crimes because of it, nothing violent, but yet still crime. And he’s such a good person. He loves his family. He tries. He tries so hard to maintain a Christian life. He goes to AA meetings two and three times a day. He prays. He listens to the Word and he reads his Bible and he’s very helpful and tries to help people whenever he can. He’s a good person who needs God’s care and God to fix him and to come into his life and heal him and heal his illness. I pray that you do this for him. His name is David and my name is Billie. I love you, Lord. Amen.
Hi brothers - Daily Audio Bible. It’s so wonderful to hear you guys today on Sunday. I appreciate hearing Alleah from Waxahachie and Joe the police officer. Brother, it’s gotta be tough being a Christian in that environment sometimes God bless you. I wanted to call, if you would allow me to pray for Heather in Northern California. Heavenly Father, I call out to you and lift up sister Heather’s situation, Father God. As a father of a young lady, I can only imagine how painful this horrible with her daughter being in this situation at a Christian school, Father God, how difficult this must be. Father God, I lift her situation up to you and pray, Father God, that you would slip into the situation during this mediation process, Father God. Certainly the devil has played a big role in this, Father God. Please, Father God, remove any ability, any say, any influence, any power that Satan and his minions may have in this situation, Father God. Help the healing to begin. Father God, heal this young woman. Help her, Father God, restore her faith in you and trust in you and understand that this not part of your plan, it is not part of your doing, it’s not something that you would desire in any way, Father God, but that the evil one has slipped in. And for this young man, Father God, that committed this offense or was involved in this offense on his way to being a pastor, Father God, step in and work in that heart, Father God. Restore that man to the full capability of what you need him to be in order to be a pastor.
Good morning, Daily Audio Bible. This is Tracey B. out of Arlington, TX. Blessed be. I’m calling for a little praise report. Just wanted to call and give thanks for what’s been going on in my life. As some of you know, I went through a DWI back in 2013 and it can be the end of the world for a lot of things, but it was something I needed. I prayed to God to give me help with my drinking, it had become out of control and just driving around drinking all the time and I prayed for something like this, although it was rough. Sometimes I think I needed him to drop the hammer like he did, but at any rate, I'm halfway through it. I’ve got 10 months to go left and then I’m free of it. I’ve been to all the alcohol classes and I’m actually continuing to going to the alcohol classes. I'm about 8 months, 9 months, well, no, about 6 months not drinking alcohol. I’m 51 and some people think that is the end of life, the going down, but I’ve looked at it like this. This is the first time I’ve been substance free, nicotine free, alcohol free since I was 10 or 11 years old. My life is starting again. I'm beginning to live a different life. So I just wanted to give a little thanks and let some of you know my progress. I'm more than pleased with what is going on. I'm still speaking once a month to men at a homeless shelter and I'm getting better and better…
This is Terah, the massage therapist from Woodbridge, VA. I'm calling because I'm desperate. I need prayer. My husband is constantly threatening to leave me and no matter how hard I try to keep my family together, no matter what I say or what I do it is the wrong thing. And I'm trying so hard to keep my family together. Please pray for me because I'm scared.
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Tamarie 08/01/2015 21:04 |
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