Small Beginnings, Sacred Transformations A reflection on Luke 13, 1821 on the Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh.

My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

So glad to be with you.

As we look again at the Scriptures every single day, we have a goal getting the audible word of God into 2 million years, a million people by the end of 2028.

And we do that by reading the Bible every single day, the New Testament from the message version, to make it understandable, relatable, by giving you some points to ponder, to think about.

Applicable I give you an action step and we have a prayer.

We do all that and under 10 minutes or so we take our daily readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.

We're in Year C, the Lenten season, and we are here to give it to you from the voiceofgoddaily.com that's the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method.

Here's our reading for today from Luke 13, 1821.

Reading from the message Then he said, how can I picture God's kingdom for you?

What kind of story can I use?

It's like an acorn that a man plants in his front yard.

It grows into a huge oak tree with thick branches and eagles build a nest in it.

And he tried again.

How can I picture God's kingdom?

It's like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread and waits until the dough rises.

A short but powerful passage of Scripture for today where we're talking about Jesus.

Beautiful and subversive parables about the kingdom of God.

And there's images here of acorns and bread.

And Jesus uses these images to give us radically different vision of how divine transformation works in the world.

So let's give you some points to ponder.

There's the power of small actions.

Jesus challenges the dominant narrative of his time, and ours, for that matter.

That change comes through grand gestures and powerful institutions.

Instead, he suggests that the most profound transformations often begin with the smallest of actions, like an acorn or a bit of yeast.

So in our age of viral social media and instant gratification, this reminds us that lasting social change and personal growth often happen slowly, organically, and from the ground up.

Here's another point about sacred feminine wisdom.

It's significant that Jesus uses a woman's domestic work, baking bread, as an image of divine activity in a patriarchal society both ancient and modern.

This elevation of women's work to sacred metaphor is revolutionary.

It suggests that the sacred act is found not in grand gestures or official ceremonies, but in the ordinary, the everyday, the work of nurturing and sustaining life.

Another point is about transformative partnerships.

Both these parables describe the partnership between human and natural processes.

The gardener plants, but the tree grows on its own.

The baker adds yeast, but the dough rises through its own mysterious process.

This suggests that building a beloved community isn't about controlling outcomes, but about initiating a process and trusting in the organic unfolding or the transformation that takes place.

Here's your action step.

Practice what we might call mustard seed activism.

Choose a small, seemingly insignificant action for justice or compassion that you can do consistently.

Maybe it's composting your food waste, or maybe it's learning one new fact today about climate change or simply greeting your neighbors by name.

Remember that transformation change doesn't always announce itself with some grand gesture of fanfare.

It often begins with tiny seeds of intention.

We're going to pray here in just a minute, but I did want you to know that we do have a resource for you to go along with the Daily Bible Refresh for your own personal Bible study.

It's called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Method.

You can pick it up at our website, which is voiceofgoddaily.com that's also where you can find well over 800 episodes of this podcast of the re of the word of God, which is read to you and it helps us to get our reach our goal of getting the Word of God, the audible word of God, into 2 million years, a million people by 2028.

Remember voiceofgoddaily.com the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide.

Let's pray.

Oh God, you are a creative spirit and sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of change needed in our world.

Help us to trust in power of small beginnings.

Remind us that every great oak begin as an acorn.

Every loaf of bread has simple ingredients, including yeast.

Give us patience when transformation seems slow and help us recognize the sacred in our everyday actions.

Thank you for the yeast of hope rising in our communities, for the seeds of justice taking root in unexpected places and guide us to plant thereby.

Amen.

Well, good people, it's always a joy to be with you to share these words of scripture here.

During this Lenten season, for instance, or whenever you're listening to this, we hope that you join us every single day as we come to you.

Usually before 6am we drop these episodes and they're just a service to you to help you to get into the scriptures and to listen to the audible word of God.

Our goal a million people, 2 millionaires by the end of 2028.

You can help us reach that goal by joining us again tomorrow@voiceofgoddaily.com and invite a friend to join us as well.

Until then, my name is Dr.

Brad.

Brad Miller.

Remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up.

It's created new every morning.