Episode 761
From Tents to Temples: The Evolution of Worship Spaces | Ep. 761
Welcome to the "Daily Bible Refresh" hosted by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller. In this enriching episode, Dr. Brad Miller delves into a daily Bible reading, bringing fresh perspectives and actionable insights to deepen your spiritual journey. Here's a comprehensive summary along with the top three takeaways from today’s discussion.
Episode Summary:
In today's episode, Dr. Brad Miller explores Acts 7:44-53 from the Message version of the Bible. This passage includes Stephen's bold speech about the tent shrine, Solomon's Temple, and the larger message that God's presence is not confined to human-made structures. Dr. Miller extracts meaningful insights on sacred spaces, spiritual resistance, and the evolution of faith, making the Bible both understandable and relatable. He concludes the episode with a thought-provoking action step and a heartfelt prayer that aims to guide listeners in experiencing God's omnipresence in their daily lives.
Three Key Takeaways:
- God’s Presence Transcends Buildings
- Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 highlights that God's divine essence cannot be contained within any human-made structures, be it the tent shrine or Solomon’s Temple. Dr. Miller underscores that God's presence is omnipresent, found in nature, community, and movements of justice. This challenges us to recognize and experience God beyond the physical confines of traditional worship spaces.
- The Evolution of Faith and Worship
- Dr. Miller reflects on the passage’s historical context, tracing the evolution of worship spaces from portable tents to grand temples. This evolution signifies that faith itself is an evolving journey. Progressive Christianity embraces this by acknowledging that our understanding of God and worship should continuously grow and adapt with human consciousness. The reminder here is that faith is not static but ever-evolving, encouraging us to expand our spiritual horizons.
- Prophetic Resistance and Speaking Truth to Power
- The episode delves into Stephen’s bold confrontation with the religious leaders of his time, urging listeners to confront traditions that may hinder the Holy Spirit's work. Stephen’s unwavering commitment, even in the face of death, serves as an inspiration to challenge rigid, oppressive traditions and to speak truth to power. This leads to a call for spiritual courage and resilience in the face of injustice.
Action Step: Dr. Miller invites listeners to find and create sacred spaces outside traditional religious environments. Whether it’s spending quiet moments in nature, reflective time in the car, or engaging in interfaith dialogue, these practices help expand our understanding of God’s omnipresence.
Prayer: In closing, Dr. Miller offers a moving prayer, asking for divine guidance to experience God in new ways, break free from spiritual comfort zones, and create inclusive spaces of love and justice.
Resource Highlight: Don't miss out on the "ABC 123 Bible Study Guide" offered to deepen your Bible study effortlessly.
Join us next time on "Daily Bible Refresh" where we continue to explore, reflect, and grow in faith together. Remember, God's love is boundless and renewed every day.
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The "Daily Bible Refresh" is presented each day by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller who has a goal of speaking a bit of the bible into two million ears (one million people) in three years (2025-2028).
He is the author of "The A, B, C-1,2,3 Bible Study Guide" Free to you by clicking HERE.
Brad served as a local church pastor for forty years and has a background in radio and podcasting. Moreover, he is a life-long student of The Bible.
He believes in the words of Jesus that “scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21)
The "Daily Bible Refresh" is available seven days a week by 6:00 am ET. The episodes are no longer than ten minutes long and are...
- Understandable: A reading from the New Testament (usually the Gospel) selected from the Revised Common Lectionary using "The Message" translation.
- Relatable: You will have a couple of "points to ponder" from the text which will relate to your life
- Applicable: Every episode includes a way you can take action based on the reading
- A recommended resource to help you go deeper in biblical study and spiritual direction.
- A prayer for your day.
A companion resource to the Voice of God Daily Podcast is the “ABC Bible Study Guide” available by clicking HERE.
The "Daily Bible Refresh" is available every day at VoiceofGodDaily.com on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all major podcast directories.
You can help Dr. Brad attain his goal of getting a bit of the bible into two million ears by subscribing to "Daily Bible Refresh" on Apple Podcasts, leaving a five-star rating, and writing a review. More importantly please share with your network of family and friends about the "Daily Bible Refresh".
Please make listening to the "Daily Bible Refresh" a part of your daily life.
Remember… “All scripture is God-breathed and useful”(2 Timothy 3:16)
Transcript
Hello, good people, and welcome to Daily
Speaker:Bible Refresh brought to you by voice
Speaker:of god daily dot com. I'm doctor Brad
Speaker:Miller and this is the show where we look to offer a fresh
Speaker:perspective on a daily reading of
Speaker:the scriptures of of the Bible. We do so from the lectionary.
Speaker:We're at the revised common lectionary year
Speaker:c. The particular reading for this particular day is in the
Speaker:Christmas tide season or the season after
Speaker:Christmas day and before epiphany, which is January 6th.
Speaker:And we do so by making the Bible both understandable.
Speaker:We read it from the message version of the
Speaker:New Testament reading only that's selected for this day. We make it
Speaker:relatable, and we have a couple of points to ponder for you to think about,
Speaker:and we make it applicable by giving you an action point to follow.
Speaker:We have a prayer, and we do it all in about 10 minutes or so.
Speaker:Our reading for the day is from Acts chapter
Speaker:7 verses 44
Speaker:through 53 for reading from the message.
Speaker:And all this time, our ancestors had a tent shrine
Speaker:for true worship made to the exact
Speaker:specifications god provided Moses. They had it
Speaker:with them as they followed Joshua. When God cleared the
Speaker:land of pagans and still had it right down to the time of
Speaker:David, David asked God for a permanent place
Speaker:for worship, but Solomon built it.
Speaker:Yet that doesn't mean that most high God lives in
Speaker:a building made by carpenters and masons.
Speaker:The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote, heaven is
Speaker:my throne room. I rest my feet on earth.
Speaker:So what kind of house will you build me, says God,
Speaker:where I can get away and relax? It's already built,
Speaker:and I built it. And you continue so bullheaded,
Speaker:calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears,
Speaker:deliberately ignoring the holy spirit. You're just like your
Speaker:ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same
Speaker:treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who
Speaker:dared talk about the coming of the just one, and
Speaker:you've kept up the family tradition. Traitors and murderers,
Speaker:all of you, you had God's law handed to you by
Speaker:angels gift wrapped, and you
Speaker:squandered it. Wow. What a profound reading from the scripture
Speaker:and lots of lessons there, lots of things to reflect on.
Speaker:We're talking about, really, a powerful speech
Speaker:from Stephen about sacred
Speaker:spaces and spiritual resistance.
Speaker:So here's a couple of points to ponder to think about. That
Speaker:understand that the relationship with God goes beyond
Speaker:any buildings or boundaries. And Stephen here reminds us
Speaker:that God cannot be confined to human made
Speaker:structures. And in understanding that's a
Speaker:progressive understanding of of the scriptures here, this speaks to
Speaker:that God's divine presence is everywhere and anywhere. It's
Speaker:in nature. It's in community. It's in people. It's in movements
Speaker:of justice. And this really challenges us to break
Speaker:free from any institutional kind of
Speaker:constraints or confines that might limit our
Speaker:experience of God's presence in our life. Another point to
Speaker:think about is the evolution of faith. This passage
Speaker:traces the evolution of worship spaces
Speaker:all the way back to Solomon's temple, which at one time
Speaker:was a tent, a portable tent.
Speaker:This reminds us that faith must evolve and adapt and,
Speaker:progressive Christianity embraces this evolution and recognizes
Speaker:our understanding of how God is and how we
Speaker:worship should grow in human consciousness
Speaker:and understanding. One more point, it has to do
Speaker:with prophetic resistance. Stephen is the
Speaker:key figure here and he's the one giving this speech and he gives a
Speaker:bold confrontation to the religious leaders of
Speaker:his time who he said deliberately ignore the Holy
Speaker:Spirit. And really that speaks to a modern call to kind of
Speaker:challenge which is not of the Holy Spirit and
Speaker:traditions that are rigid and oppressive. And Stephen here,
Speaker:was really calling the truth to power. And even when it's
Speaker:uncomfortable and of course, in Stephen's case as we learned from the
Speaker:Bible, it led him to lose his life by way of stoning.
Speaker:Here's your action step for the day, practice finding a sacred
Speaker:or unexpected place. One of mine is
Speaker:driving in the car, a sacred space for me because that's
Speaker:one of the places I can be alone to have some reflection time.
Speaker:So I'd spent a few minutes, 5, 10, 15 minutes or
Speaker:so, intentionally experiencing God's presence
Speaker:somewhere outside of our traditional religious space, you know, a
Speaker:church or a religious place. Maybe
Speaker:it's in nature. Maybe it's in your car like me. Maybe some
Speaker:other place. And doing
Speaker:so, be in conversation with only yourself,
Speaker:but also think about how you might be in conversation with someone of a
Speaker:different faith tradition and how it may
Speaker:expand your understanding of what sacred space
Speaker:is all about. We're gonna pray here in just a moment, but I
Speaker:do want you to know we do have a special resource which is gonna help
Speaker:you to, in a very direct manner, study
Speaker:your Bible. Because I know that's why you're here. It's one reason you
Speaker:want to get into the Bible a little deeper. So the resource is called
Speaker:the ABC 123 Bible study guide,
Speaker:and I put this together just for you. And it really makes bible
Speaker:study as easy as a b c 123. You
Speaker:can find it at our show notes at voice of god daily.com,
Speaker:and I hope that you'll take advantage of it. Let's pray.
Speaker:Divine God, who cannot be contained by walls or dogma,
Speaker:open our hearts to experience you in new ways. Help us to
Speaker:break free from the calluses of comfort that prevent us from
Speaker:growing. Give us courage to speak truth to power just like
Speaker:Stephen did, and wisdom to recognize that
Speaker:where we resist change and grace to evolve in our understanding.
Speaker:May we be bold enough to find you in unexpected places
Speaker:and humble enough to admit when our traditions need a bit of
Speaker:transformation. Guide us as we seek to
Speaker:create spaces of inclusion and justice for
Speaker:all can experience your love freely.
Speaker:Amen. Well, it's been good to be with you. My name
Speaker:is doctor Brad Miller, and I will be with you again
Speaker:tomorrow here on the daily Bible refresh brought to you by
Speaker:voice of God daily. Until then, remember that God's
Speaker:love doesn't run out. His merciful
Speaker:love never dries up. It's created new
Speaker:every morning.
