Spiritual Sobriety: Choosing Presence Over Passive Living | Ep 765

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Hello, good people, and welcome to daily bible

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refresh brought to you by voice of God daily. I am

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doctor Brad Miller and here to bring you the daily bible refresh where

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we look to offer a fresh perspective of a daily

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reading of the scriptures. We read from the revised

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common lectionary. Year c is where we're at right

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now. Year c, we're in the epiphany season. We like to

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make the Bible understandable, relatable, and applicable.

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Understandable by reading from the new testament version, a reading for

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this day only from the message version of the Bible,

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relatable in as in as much as we give you a couple of points to

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ponder, to think about from the scripture, and applicable in as

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much as we give you a action point,

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something that you can apply to your life. We have a prayer and we

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do all of this in less than 10 minutes. Our re

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reading for the day is from Ephesians

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5:15 through 20, reading from the message.

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Don't waste your time on useless work,

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mere busy work, the barren pursuits of

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darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are.

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It's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do

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in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those

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frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

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Wake up from your sleep. Climb out of your coffins. Christ

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will show you the light. So watch your step.

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Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get.

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These are desperate times. Don't live carelessly,

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unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the

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master wants. Don't drink too much wine that

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cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God,

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huge drafts of Him. Sing

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hymns instead of drinking songs. Sing songs from your heart

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of Christ. Sing praises over everything,

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any excuse for a song to God the Father, in the name of our

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master, Jesus Christ.

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Wonderful reading of scripture from Ephesians. It's about living mindfully.

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It's about, living with intention. It's about being

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aware. It's about being waking up, being being alert about the

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reality of the meaningfulness of the world around us. Let

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me give you a couple of points to ponder. One of them, it has to

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do with the conscious being a conscious person

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living in an unconscious world. Remember how

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this passage starts? It starts with watch your step and

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use your head. In a modern context, we

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might say this speaks to the importance of being alert, of being critically

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aware of the systems and structures around us rather

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than sleepwalking through life accepting

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everything at face value. We're called to be thoughtfully

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engaged persons, engaged citizens if you

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if you will, who examine and question the status

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quo. We are all about having an

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awareness that social injustice does exist in the world.

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There are environmental concerns which are real and there

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are systematic in inequalities in our world

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which need to be addressed, and we are called to do something about

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those things. Another point, it's about

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transformative community. The text here from Ephesians

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speaks of moving from darkness to light. So that's not

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about judgment, but that is really about transformation.

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In Christianity, this can be understood as moving from isolation

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to community, from ignorance to awareness, from

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apathy to engagement. The emphasis on singing

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together. Ain't that cool? That part there. It's about sharing a

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community vibe, if you will, and suggest that spiritual growth

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spiritual growth isn't just an individual thing, it's a

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communal thing. It is where our voices blend together. It is

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collaborative. One more point, spiritual

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sobriety and mindful living. It's interesting

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how the writer of Ephesians talks about wine here. The contrast

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between wine and the spirit isn't about a strict prohibition,

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but about choosing consciousness over numbness.

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In our modern world we often sometimes people talk about, you know,

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checking out, whether that's through substance abuse

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or maybe endlessly and mindlessly scrolling on your phone

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or a consumer culture kind of a thing,

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or just busy, busy, busy, busy, busy work and not really getting

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anywhere. The text from Ephesians here today invites us to

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choose a presence, being engaged,

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being fully aware and alive in the moment, and our

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and understanding our role in creating

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positive change. Here's your action step for the day.

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Identify one sleeping area

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of your life. Perhaps it's just mildly

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consuming something. Maybe it's overeating or over drinking or

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overdoing television or Internet stuff.

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It is about also examining your life.

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Do not be passive with your life about

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those personal things or do not be passive

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about accepting injustice in our world. So choose

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to wake up. Spend a few

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minutes, maybe 15 minutes researching some area

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of injustice or some area where you know these things are just not

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right. Maybe you wanna write something in a journal, record something about it,

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or maybe have a meaningful conversation with someone about what you can do

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where you wake up from a slumber and

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do something about some area, which

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actually you can do something about.

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Before we have our closing prayer, I wanna remind you to lift up that we

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have a resource for you, a free resource that you

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that can help you with your bible study. I just know that I can. I

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put this together a couple years ago. It's the ABC 123

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Bible study guide and what it does, it simply makes by reading the

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Bible and studying the Bible as easy as ABC

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123. You can find it at our show notes at voiceofgoddaily.com.

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It's our free gift to you for the daily

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Bible refresh. Let's pray. Divine

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God, Spirit of love and justice, wake us up to the reality of our

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world and our role within it. Help us to move

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beyond any busyness to meaningful action, beyond

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unconscious living to purposeful engagement. Give us

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courage to examine our lives, wisdom to choose consciousness

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over comfort, and strength to work for positive change.

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May we sing songs of justice and hope,

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not just with our voices, but with our lives, in a

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spirit of love and community. Amen. Well, it's

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been great to be with you. My name is doctor Brad Miller, and you've been

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listening to the daily Bible refresh.

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Remember, I'll be with you again tomorrow morning, bright and early, so I hope that

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you'll join me. Until then, remember that God's loyal

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love doesn't run out. His merciful

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love hasn't dried up. It's created

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new every morning.