Hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller, brought to you by voiceofgoddd daily.com the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide.

We come to you every single day with a fresh reading of the Bible from the New Testament.

We read from the Message version to make it understandable.

We make it relatable by giving you a couple of points to ponder and applicable by giving you a point of action to take.

We come to you every single day with a selected reading from the Revised Common Lectionary.

We're in Year C in Today's reading is for the fifth circle Sunday after the Day of Epiphany.

We do all that when we have a Bible, we have a prayer, and we do all that in under 10 minutes.

Here's our reading for the day from Luke 5:1 11 Reading from the Message Push out into Deep Water Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the word of God.

He noticed two boats tied up.

The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets.

He climbed into a boat that was Simon's and asked him to put out a little bit from the shore.

Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.

When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, push out the deep water and let your nets out for a catch.

And Simon said, master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow.

But if you say so, I'll let out the nets.

It was no sooner said than done.

A huge haul of fish straining the nets past capacity.

They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them, and they filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.

Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus.

He said, master, leave.

I'm a sinner and I can't handle this holiness.

Leave me to myself.

When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him.

It was the same with James and John.

That's Zebedee's sons, co workers with Simon.

And Jesus said to Simon, there is nothing to fear.

From now on, you'll be fishing for men and women.

They pulled their boats up on the beach, left their nets and all, and followed him.

What a profound reading of scripture.

A powerful story about transformation and trust and stepping out into the unknown.

Let's look at a couple of points to ponder here.

There is about the matter of embracing uncertainty.

Simon Peter, who is an experienced fisherman, was Asked to do something that seemed counterintuitive, fish in deep water during the daylight hours.

This story invites us to question our assumptions about how things should be done, especially in our spiritual lives.

Sometimes the most profound growth happens when we're willing to challenge traditional ways of thinking and being.

Another point is holy disruption.

Notice how this encounter completely disrupted the fisherman's normal routines.

Progressive faith often calls us to leave our comfortable spaces and conventional wisdom behind.

The divine frequently shows up in ways that interrupt our carefully planned lives, inviting us to imagine new possibilities for justice and community.

One more point has to do with radical inclusion.

Jesus call to fish for men and women was revolutionary for its time, explicitly including women in the mission.

This reminds us that authentic spirituality should always work towards breaking down barriers and expand our circles of inclusion, especially for those traditionally marginalized by religious institutions.

Here's your action step for the day.

Identify an area where you've been fishing in shallow water that is playing it safe in your faith or social justice work, and take a concrete step to step into deeper water.

That might mean having a difficult conversation about justice issues, or joining some movement of change, or questioning a long held belief that might be limiting your spiritual growth.

It means taking a bit of a risk.

We'll have our closing prayer in just a moment.

Just a reminder that here@voiceofgoddaily.com which is the website which sponsors Daily Bible Refresh, we offer to you a Bible study tool to use in your life and I hope that you'll take advantage of it.

It's called the ABC 123 Bible Study Guide.

You simply go to our website voiceofgoddaily.com and in our show notes there's access to that there.

Please, please get the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study guided voiceofgoddaily.com here's our prayer.

Oh God, you are the source of all being.

And we confess that we often prefer the safety of shallow waters, the comfort of familiar routines, the security of well worn paths.

Give us courage to push out deeper, to question our assumptions, to challenge our comfortable certainties.

Help us to see that our feelings of inadequacy, like Peter's sense of unworthiness, don't disqualify us from your call to justice and love.

Grant us the audacity to leave our nets behind when they no longer serve a greater good and the wisdom to know when it's time to fish in deeper waters in the spirit of love and liberation.

Amen.

What a joy and a privilege it is to be with you here on Daily Bible Refresh hope that you join me again tomorrow.

We usually drop our episodes before 6am Eastern Time.

That's every single day.

We can join me for a fresh reading of the holy scriptures.

That is relatable and actionable and understandable.

Bring your friend.

We'll have some fun here together.

My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

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

His merciful love hasn't dried up.

It's created new every morning.