Episode 781
Transform Your Ordinary Life: Daily Bible Refresh on Romans 12 | 781
Today's discussion centers on the transformative message from Romans 12, where we are encouraged to embrace our everyday lives as offerings to God. Dr. Brad Miller delves into the importance of resisting cultural norms that promote individualism and consumerism, advocating for a collective liberation that recognizes our interconnectedness. He emphasizes the value of grace and the idea of a gift economy, where each person's contributions are celebrated for their impact on the greater good rather than their market value. Additionally, listeners are invited to reflect on their gifts and consider how they can serve others, fostering a sense of community. As the episode concludes, Dr. Miller leads a prayer that asks for courage to live differently and build supportive communities where everyone’s gifts are honored.
Welcome to another uplifting episode of "Daily Bible Refresh" hosted by the ever-inspiring Rev. Dr. Brad Miller. Today's episode, delves into the transformative season of Epiphany, capturing the essence of understanding, relatability, and applicability of Scripture in our daily lives.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller begins by setting the tone for the episode, introducing the concept of living the Epiphany season in a way that speaks to our hearts and minds. He focuses on making Scripture understandable, relatable, and applicable, a triad that becomes the central theme throughout the episode. This episode revolves around a reflective reading from the Book of Romans (Romans 7:1-8) from "The Message" translation of the Bible, emphasizing the idea of spiritual freedom and liberation from the constraints of religious legalism.
Here are the key takeaways from today’s episode:
1. Understanding Epiphany:
Dr. Miller encourages listeners to see the Epiphany season as a time of revelation and understanding. He emphasizes that Epiphany is about recognizing divine truths in our everyday lives, particularly through the teachings of the New Testament.
2. Relatability of Scripture:
By focusing on the message from Romans, Rev. Dr. Miller presents the Scriptures in a way that connects to our modern experiences. He uses relatable examples to explain the importance of embracing the freedom Christ offers, moving away from rigid rules and towards a more liberating, faith-filled life.
3. Applicability to Daily Living:
Dr. Miller doesn’t just stop at understanding and relating to the Scriptures; he offers actionable steps for applying these lessons in our lives. He prompts listeners to examine their personal relationships and religious practices to identify areas where legalistic constraints may inhibit spiritual growth.
4. The Metaphor of Marriage:
A significant portion of the episode discusses Paul's metaphor of marriage to explain spiritual freedom. Dr. Miller unpacks this analogy, describing how just as a widow is free from the laws binding her to her late spouse, believers are liberated from the strictures of religious legalism through Christ’s sacrifice.
5. Progressive Christianity and Liberation:
The episode takes a bold stance on Progressive Christianity, highlighting its focus on spiritual freedom and liberation from institutionalized religious norms. Rev. Dr. Miller challenges listeners to rethink their faith practices, advocating for an authentic expression of spirituality that resists oppressive systems.
Rev. Dr. Miller wraps up the episode with a heartfelt prayer, invoking a sense of divine courage and creativity to live out these principles of spiritual liberation. He also introduces a resource called ABC123, designed to make Bible study straightforward and enriching, all detailed further on their website.
Tune in to this episode of "Daily Bible Refresh" for a refreshing take on spiritual freedom, and don’t miss out on the daily inspiration provided by Dr. Miller. As always, remember that God's merciful love renews each morning, offering us endless opportunities for growth and liberation.
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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)
Dr. Brad Miller's insightful examination of Romans 12:1-8 offers a compelling perspective on living out faith in the everyday. He begins by challenging listeners to present their ordinary activities as spiritual offerings, suggesting that true worship transcends traditional boundaries. By using the Message translation, Miller makes these ancient texts relatable to modern audiences, urging them to resist cultural conformity. He emphasizes that aligning oneself with God leads to transformation from within, encouraging listeners to focus on divine guidance rather than societal pressures.
Central to Miller’s message is the metaphor of the body of Christ, which he employs to illustrate the interconnectedness of believers. He passionately advocates for a shift away from individualistic spirituality towards a collective understanding of faith. Each person's role is vital to the community, and it is through our relationships with one another that we find our true identity and purpose. This approach not only fosters humility but also encourages appreciation for the diverse gifts within the church, promoting a culture of support and collaboration.
The episode culminates in practical steps for listeners, including the creation of a community gift inventory. Miller’s vision involves identifying personal talents and utilizing them to serve others, thereby enriching the community. He contrasts the concepts of a gift economy with merit-based systems, advocating for a model that values contributions based on their impact rather than their market value. This call to action resonates with the principles of progressive Christianity, encouraging listeners to engage in sacred resistance and collective liberation, ultimately creating a community that honors every individual’s gifts and fosters an environment of grace.
Takeaways:
- Embrace your everyday life by offering it to God as a meaningful sacrifice.
- Resist the cultural norms that promote individualism and consumerism in daily life.
- Recognize our interconnectedness, as true liberation comes from collective support and care.
- Value each person's unique gifts by focusing on contributions to the community, not market value.
- Create a community gift inventory to share resources and skills for greater impact.
- Live out your faith by being a positive force against systems that diminish others.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
Foreign hello good people.
Dr. Brad Miller:Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh brought to you by voiceofgoddaily.com My name is Dr.
Dr. Brad Miller:Brad Miller and here to offer you a fresh expression of a daily reading of the Holy Scriptures of the Bible.
Dr. Brad Miller:We read from the Revised Common Lectionary the particular verse selected for this very day.
Dr. Brad Miller:We're in the year C of the Common of the Revised Common Lectionary in the epiphany season and today's reading we're going to look to make it understandable, relatable and applicable.
Dr. Brad Miller:We do that by making it understandable by reading the New Testament lesson only for this day from the Message translation of the Bible.
Dr. Brad Miller:Relatable by offering you a couple of points to ponder and applicable by having given you an action point.
Dr. Brad Miller:We have a prayer and we do everything in under 10 minutes.
Dr. Brad Miller:Our reading today is from Romans 12, verses 1 through 8.
Dr. Brad Miller:Reading from the Message Place your life before God.
Dr. Brad Miller:So here's what I want you to do.
Dr. Brad Miller:God helping you take your everyday ordinary life.
Dr. Brad Miller:You're sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around life and place it before God as an offering.
Dr. Brad Miller:Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.
Dr. Brad Miller:Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Dr. Brad Miller:Instead, fix your attention on God.
Dr. Brad Miller:You'll be changed from the inside out, readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it.
Dr. Brad Miller:Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings out the best out of you.
Dr. Brad Miller:Develops well formed maturity out of you.
Dr. Brad Miller:I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, especially as I have responsibilities in relationship to you.
Dr. Brad Miller:Living then as every one of you does, in pure grace.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God.
Dr. Brad Miller:No, God brings it all to you.
Dr. Brad Miller:The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what God does for us, not by what we and what we do for Him.
Dr. Brad Miller:In this way we are like the various parts of the human body.
Dr. Brad Miller:Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not as the other way around.
Dr. Brad Miller:The body we're talking about is Christ's body, the body of chosen people.
Dr. Brad Miller:Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body, but as a chopped off finger or a cut off toe, we wouldn't amount to much, would we?
Dr. Brad Miller:So since we find ourselves fashioned into these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body.
Dr. Brad Miller:Let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other or trying to be something we aren't.
Dr. Brad Miller:If you preach, just preach God's message, nothing else.
Dr. Brad Miller:If you help, just help.
Dr. Brad Miller:Don't take over.
Dr. Brad Miller:If you teach, stick to your teaching.
Dr. Brad Miller:If you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy.
Dr. Brad Miller:If you're put in charge, don't manipulate.
Dr. Brad Miller:If you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond.
Dr. Brad Miller:If you work with a disadvantage, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them.
Dr. Brad Miller:Keep a smile on your face One of my favorite passages of scriptures is this.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's really about an alternative community, the way people often understand community.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's about some I call sacred resistance to the norm and where Paul reimagines what it means to live faithfully in a world that is often oppressive.
Dr. Brad Miller:Here's some points to ponder.
Dr. Brad Miller:One of them is everyday resistance.
Dr. Brad Miller:Don't become so well adjusted to your culture and that speaks directly to modern things like capitalism, consumerism, individualism.
Dr. Brad Miller:Progressive Christianity calls us to resist narratives through our daily choices.
Dr. Brad Miller:How we spend our money, how we spend our time, how we share our work, how we relate to others.
Dr. Brad Miller:Every ordinary moment as it talks about the scripture becomes an opportunity for sacred resistance.
Dr. Brad Miller:Another point is collective liberation.
Dr. Brad Miller:Paul uses the human body as a metaphor to challenge individualistic spirituality.
Dr. Brad Miller:We find our meaning in relationship to others, particularly those marginalized by dominant systems.
Dr. Brad Miller:This invites us to see our liberation is bound together with others.
Dr. Brad Miller:We cannot be truly free if others are oppressed.
Dr. Brad Miller:One more point has to do with a gift economy versus a merit system.
Dr. Brad Miller:There's an emphasis here on grace and I love that and on the gifts and grace challenges, a meritocracy and a scarcity mindset.
Dr. Brad Miller:Each person gifts are valued not by market worth but but by their contribution to the collective greater good.
Dr. Brad Miller:And this model's a system that is often at odds to one that is based on abundance.
Dr. Brad Miller:We need to or want to based on scarcity.
Dr. Brad Miller:We need to want a model that is based on abundance, sharing and mutual care.
Dr. Brad Miller:Here's your action step.
Dr. Brad Miller:This has to do with creating a community gift inventory.
Dr. Brad Miller:List whatever gifts and skills and resources that you have in your life and that you can use alongside and apply them to the needs and vulnerabilities of others and share this with others in your community.
Dr. Brad Miller:Focus on how these gifts that you have could serve the needs of others.
Dr. Brad Miller:Then you might want to organize a gift circle, which is where you kind of take your gifts and combine them with the gifts of others and those shared resources and skills can combine together to do a greater good.
Dr. Brad Miller:That's, I believe, what Paul is envisioning here.
Dr. Brad Miller:Maybe we can make it happen in our own communities.
Dr. Brad Miller:I'm going to have a prayer in just a second, but I did want you to know that we have a Bible study resource that I just want to give to you.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's called the ABC 123 Bible Study Guidelines.
Dr. Brad Miller:You can find it at our website, voiceofgoddaily.com that's also where we have all the back episodes of Bible Refresh of Daily Bible Refresh.
Dr. Brad Miller:Over 700 episodes and all the transcripts are there as well.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's all a gift to you.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's the ABC 123 Bible Study Guide.
Dr. Brad Miller:You find it@voiceofgod daily.com let's pray.
Dr. Brad Miller:Oh God, you are the divine source of all gifts.
Dr. Brad Miller:Help us resist a culture of consumption that reduces everything to market value.
Dr. Brad Miller:Give us courage to live differently, even when it makes others uncomfortable.
Dr. Brad Miller:Remind us that our ordinary lives can be extraordinary.
Dr. Brad Miller:Acts of resistance free us from comparing and competing, from measuring worth by productivity.
Dr. Brad Miller:Show us how to build communities where everyone's gifts are honored, where no one is disposable and where grace flows freely.
Dr. Brad Miller:May our lives be living presence and systems against any systems that diminish and divide.
Dr. Brad Miller:Amen.
Dr. Brad Miller:Well, good friends, it's been good to be with you here on Daily Bible Refresh.
Dr. Brad Miller:My name is Dr.
Dr. Brad Miller:Brad Miller.
Dr. Brad Miller:I look forward to being with you tomorrow on Daily Bible Refresh.
Dr. Brad Miller:We usually drop our episodes before 6am Eastern Time.
Dr. Brad Miller:I.
Dr. Brad Miller:I invite you to be with me and to invite others in your life, in your circle to be with us as well.
Dr. Brad Miller:Until next time, remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out.
Dr. Brad Miller:His merciful love hasn't dried up.
Dr. Brad Miller:It's created new every morning.
Dr. Brad Miller:Sa.
