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

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The fashionable wisdom of high priced experts will be out of date in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