Episode 768

Bridging the Gap Between God’s Wisdom and Our Lives | Ep 768

Welcome to "The Daily Bible Refresh" with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller, a podcast dedicated to nurturing your spiritual journey and deepening your understanding of scripture. In this episode, Dr. Miller brings you the daily Bible refresh, centered on 1 Corinthians 2:11-16, exploring the profound wisdom that surpasses human understanding through direct spiritual experience.

Episode Summary:

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller begins the episode by introducing the structure and purpose of the podcast, emphasizing the three key components: making scripture understandable, relatable, and applicable. Using the message translation of the Bible, Dr. Miller delves into the text from 1 Corinthians, discussing divine wisdom, and its relevance today.

Main Takeaways:

  1. Democratization of Spiritual Wisdom:
  • Dr. Miller highlights the Apostle Paul's radical idea that divine wisdom is not confined to intellectual or religious experts. Instead, it is accessible to everyone irrespective of education, social status, or religious qualifications. This democratization suggests that every individual's spiritual journey and insights are valid, even if they deviate from traditional interpretations. In our modern context, this emphasizes the inclusivity and personal nature of spiritual experiences.
  1. Limitations of Rationalism:
  • The host elaborates on Paul's perspective that some truths transcend rational understanding. While empirical evidence and logical reasoning are crucial, they are not the only ways to comprehend spiritual truths. Dr. Miller articulates that emotional intuition and spiritual experiences also play a vital role in understanding God, especially in areas such as social justice, environmental stewardship, and human dignity. This validation encourages listeners to embrace non-rational methods of connecting with the divine.
  1. Spiritual Discernment in Community:
  • Lastly, Dr. Miller underscores the importance of collective spiritual discernment. He explains that spiritual understanding is best achieved within a community, where diverse opinions and experiences contribute to a fuller grasp of God's wisdom. By practicing deep listening without judgment in communal settings, individuals can overcome personal biases and foster inclusive interpretations of spiritual life. Dr. Miller's action step encourages the creation of "wisdom circles" for shared spiritual growth.

Additional Resources: Listeners are invited to download the free ABC 123 Bible Study Guide from the website voiceofgoddaily.com, designed to help delve deeper into the scriptures.

Prayer for the Day: Dr. Miller closes the episode with a heartfelt prayer, seeking openness to God's presence in unforeseen ways and recognition of divine wisdom beyond human logic.

Join us tomorrow for another thoughtful episode that aims to refresh your spirit with God's eternal wisdom. Remember, God's merciful love is renewed every morning.

Website: [voiceofgoddaily.com]

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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
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Hello, good people, and welcome to daily bible

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refresh with doctor Brad Miller brought to you by voice of god

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daily.com. That's where you can find over 700

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episodes of this daily bible reading, which we look to

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bring to you in 3 ways. One way that it is

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understandable, so we read from the New Testament and we read

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the message translation of the Bible. We make it relatable

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by offering you a couple of points to ponder to think about, and we

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make it applicable by giving you an application of the scripture to your

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life. We have a prayer together, and we do so in under

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10 minutes. Our reading today is from 1st

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Corinthians second chapter verses 11

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through 16, reading from the message. We, of course,

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have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on

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firm spiritual ground, but it's not popular wisdom.

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The fashionable wisdom of high priced experts will be out of date in

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a year or so. God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes

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deeper into the interior of his

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purposes. You don't find it lying around at the surface. It's not

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the latest message, but more like the oldest.

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What god determines as the way to bring out

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his best in us long before

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we long before we ever arrived on the scene.

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The experts of our day haven't a clue about what the eternal plan is. If

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they had, they wouldn't have killed the master of the god

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designed life on a cross. That's why we

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have this scripture text. No one's ever seen or

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heard anything like this, never so much as imagined

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anything quite like it, what God has arranged for those who love

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him. But you've seen and heard it because God, by his

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spirit, has brought it all out into the open before you.

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The spirit, not content to flit around on the surface,

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dives into the depths of god and brings out what god planned

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all along. Whoever knows what you're thinking and planning except for

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you, yourself. The same with god, except that he not

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only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it.

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God offers a full report of the gifts of life and salvation that he

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has given us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses

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and opinions. We don't learn this by reading books or going to school. We

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learn it from God who taught us person to person

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through Jesus and we're passing it on to you in the same

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firsthand personal way. The unspiritual

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self just as it is by nature can't receive the gifts of God's

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spirit. There's no capacity for them. They

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seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known

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only by spirit. God's spirit and our spirits in

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open communion, spiritually alive. We

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haven't we have access to everything God's spirit is doing

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and can't be judged by unspiritual critics.

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Isaiah's question is this, is there anyone around who knows God's

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spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing? He has been

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answered. Christ knows, and we have

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Christ spirit. What a great and

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affirming, scripture lesson for this day which comes

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from the revised common lectionary year c. We're in the

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epiphany season. We're talking here about divine wisdom that

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goes beyond human understanding, and Paul

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explores this powerful relationship between God's spirit

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and humanity, the human understanding of it.

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So a few points to ponder to think about this. There is a

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democratization of spiritual wisdom.

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Paul challenges the notion that spiritual understanding is reserved for

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the intellectual or for the religious, experts

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or some sort of academic exercise.

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And this is a radical idea, so and it suggests that divine

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wisdom, wisdom of God is accessible to all people

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through direct spiritual experience. It's

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it's it's regardless of your education or your social status

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or your religious credentials. In our modern

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context, this affirms that everybody's spiritual journey is

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valid. Your insights are real even when

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they diverge from the traditional

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religious interpretations or traditional interpretations.

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Secondarily, a second point, there is limitations of rationalism.

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While our contemporary world often prioritizes empirical evidence and

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logical reasoning, Paul presents an alternative way of knowing.

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This is an anti intellectual, but it rather suggests that

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some truths transcend purely rational

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understanding. And for Christians, this

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validates emotional intuition and

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spiritual ways of encountering God, And particularly in

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matters of social justice or environmental stewardship

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and human dignity, this is important.

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Another thing to think about here, friends, is spiritual discernment as

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a collective practice, and we do it in community with with

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with with one another. Paul speaks here about we have Christ

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spirit, and he's addressing the community,

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not just individuals, but the corporate body.

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And this suggests that spiritual discernment is best practice

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in community, where diverse opinions and

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perspectives and experiences all interact with one another

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and contribute to a fuller understanding of God's wisdom.

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The communal approach helps guard against individual

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biases and promotes an inclusive

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interpretation of a spiritual life. Here's your

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action step. I would like for you to think about creating a wisdom

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circle. That is, maybe a couple other people who

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may have some yearnings like you do

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for a little more depth either in Bible study or spiritual development,

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and share how you've experienced God in your life in

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unexpected places particularly or through some non traditional

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means. And in this little circle of people, it's important that you

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practice deep listening. That means without judgment,

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alright, and and totally acknowledging the spirit can work

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through whatever means people are sharing

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their experience. We're gonna pray here in just a moment, but I did want

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you to know that we have a resource for you that you may want to

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take advantage of. It's called the ABC 123

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Bible study guide. We provide it for you at our website voice

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of god daily.com, completely free. It'll help you to

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go deeper into the scriptures, and I think that's what you

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wanna do. It's just simple as as abc 123,

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the abc123 bible guide. Let's pray.

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Loving spirit, we confess that sometimes we've limited you to our own

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understanding, expecting you to fit within our comfortable

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boxes of familiar patterns. Open our hearts to recognize

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your presence in unexpected places and the

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wisdom of those we've overlooked and the questions that

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challenge our certainties and the movements for justice and

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peace in our world. Help us to trust that

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your wisdom often exceeds our logic and your love transcends

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our boundaries. Guide us as we learn to listen to you and to each

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other with open hearts and minds.

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Well it's been good to be with you. My name is doctor Brad Miller here

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on the daily Bible refresh, where we look to offer

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you an understanding of the scriptures that is understandable, relatable,

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and applicable. I'll be with you again tomorrow morning, and but

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until then, remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out. His

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merciful love doesn't dry up. It's created

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new every morning.

About the Podcast

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Daily Bible Refresh
The New Testament Read Daily: Understandable, Relatable and Applicable

About your host

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Dr. Brad Miller

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller is a lifelong student of the bible as well as a pastor and radio/podcast host for over 40 years. He believes that the Voice of God does speak to people through consistent listening to the word of God through the audible reading of the bible.