Hello, good people, and welcome to the daily

bible refresh brought to you by voice of

god daily.com. My name is doctor Brad

Miller, and this is the podcast where we look to offer you

a fresh expression regarding the daily

reading of the Trimble, of the scriptures. We

do so by offering it in under in 3 ways, as

an understandable way, relatable, and applicable.

It is understandable as that we in as much as we use

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

and today, the particular reading for the day is all about the baptism of

the lord. And we read it from the message

translation of the bible and the new testament reading only for

this day. We make it relatable by offering you a couple of

points to ponder to think about regarding this regarding this passage of

scripture and applicable by offering you an action

step that you can apply to your

life. We have a prayer. We do all of this in under 10 minutes.

Our particularly our particular reading for the day regarding the

baptism of our Lord is from Luke

chapter 3. We begin with verses 15 through

17, reading from the message. The interest

of the people was by now building. They were all beginning to wonder,

could this John be the Messiah? But John

intervened. I'm baptizing you here in the river.

The main character in this drama to whom I'm

Amir Stejian will ignite the kingdom life, a

fire, the holy spirit within you, changing you from the inside

out. He's gonna clean house, make a clean sweep of

your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper

place before god. Everything else he'll put out with the

trash to be burned. It can to

continue in the reading with verses 21 and 22.

After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized.

As he was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit,

like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the

spirit, a voice, you are my son,

chosen and marked by my love, pride

of my life. What a wonderful and powerful

imagery we have here about the radical nature of

baptism. We have John the Baptist's powerful words

and the actual transformative image

of Jesus's baptism. Here's a few points to ponder.

One of them is the politics of liberation. John gives this message here

about clearing house and making a clean sweep, And I

don't think that was just about personal morality. It is in the context of the

Roman occupation and religious hierarchy. This is

a call for systematic change. It reminds us that authentic

spirituality sometimes demands challenging

oppressive systems and working towards collective

liberation. Another point. There is

a divine affirmation of identity. There's a voice

from heaven declaring that Jesus is the beloved, and it

carries with it the profound implications for human dignity.

We live in a world where many people face rejection due to their

identity, socially, racially,

sexually, gender. This story reminds

us that divine love transcends human

prejudices. Each person is

chosen and marked by love. Get that?

Every person is chosen and marked by love exactly as they

are. And we also have the point here, which I think is important of

environmental sacredness. This has to do with the imagery of water.

Then the the the image of the sky and the image of a dove

descending. This creates a powerful picture of

creation and its role in a

sacred moment. This passage invites

us to see environmental justice as a part of our

spiritual imperative. Baptismal waters

connect us to rivers and oceans and lakes that are

facing pollution and climate crisis.

Here's your action step for the day. I would like to invite

you, whether you've been baptized or not, to practice

baptismal remembrance. That is,

how do you personally interact with water?

Do you interact with with water by washing your hands or showering or drinking

water? Pause to connect

to how you connect with water and how that connection with you

personally is connected to every living being,

which all have water as a commonality

through which life happens,

and choose something that you can do to be connected to that personally or

maybe environmentally in your community. Maybe you can do

something about clean water initiatives or environmental

justice. Get involved. We're gonna pray

in just a moment, but before we do, I want to remind you that we

do have a resource for Trimble study as a gift to you

from the daily Trimble refresh. You just go to voice of god

daily.com. That's our website. In there, you can get the show notes

for this particular show, transcript, and other aspects of that

which can be helpful to you. And you can get there also our Bible

study guide. We call it the ABC 123

Bible study United because it simply makes Bible study

simple and relatable, as easy as

C. You'll find it at voiceofgoddaily.com.

Let's pray. Source of living

water. We come to you as we are carrying both

our certainties and our doubts, our commitments and our questions.

Remind us daily that we are your beloved,

that our identity is grounded in your unconditional love.

Give us courage to challenge systems that harm,

wisdom protect your creation, and compassion to see your

image in all people. May we be agents of your

transforming spirit, creating ripples of justice and love

in our communities and in the world.

Amen. Well, it's been good to be with you. My name is

doctor Brad Miller. It's my pleasure to come to you every morning to

hear the daily bible refresh. I'll be with you again tomorrow morning.

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.