Today is the 16th day of December.

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.

I'm Brian.

It is wonderful to be here with you today as we do what we do every day and gather.

Take another step forward.

Be together.

Allow the scriptures to speak into our lives. I'm grateful.

So we get to this time of the year and we notice that everything speeds up and I talk about it a lot

because we're moving through so much territory so quickly in the last couple of weeks of the year

and the last month of the year,

that we just kind of got to keep track of it and just open our hearts to everything that we're experiencing.

So we are in the Book of Micah right now.

We're working through the Minor Prophets, and so they're shorter.

We will conclude the Book of Micah today with chapters

5 through 7.

But now slash yourself, daughter, surrounded by soldiers.

We are besieged with a sceptre they strike Israel's ruler on the side of

his face. As for you, Bethlehem Ephrita, seemingly insignificant among the clans of Judah,

from you, a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf, one whose origins

are in the distant past. So the Lord will hand the people of Israel over to their enemies

until the time when the woman in labor gives birth. Then the rest of the king's countrymen will return to be reunited with the people of Israel.

He will assume his post and shepherd the people by the Lord's strength,

...