Hello, good people, and welcome to daily biblerefresh,

brought to you by voiceofgoddaily.com.

Indeed, I am doctor Brad Miller here to offer you a fresh

perspective on the reading of the scriptures, which is

based on 3 three qualities. Being

understandable, we read from the new testament

version of the bible only from the message translation,

and we focus in on the revised common lectionary.

We're in year c, and today's

selected verse is the particular verse in the epiphany

season. We also like to make it relatable so it is

understandable and relatable. We give you a couple of points to ponder, to

think about, and applicable, we give you an action point. We have a

prayer, and then we we conclude everything in

less than 10 minutes. Our reading did for the day is from

1st Corinthians 2:1 through 13, reading

from the message. You'll remember, friends, that when I first

came to you to let you in on god's sheer

genius, I didn't try to impress you with polished speeches

and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and

simple. First, Jesus and who he is, then

Jesus and what he did, Jesus crucified.

I was unsure of how to get about to go about this and felt

totally inadequate. I was scared to death if you want the truth of it. And

so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else.

But the message came through anyway. God's spirit

and God's power did it, which made it clear that your

life of faith is a response to God's power,

not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me

or anyone else. We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass

on to you once you get your feet on firm

spiritual ground, but it's not popular wisdom.

The fashionable wisdom of high priced experts that

would be out of date in a year or so. God's wisdom is something

mysterious that goes deep into the inter

into the interior of his purposes.

You don't find it lying around on the surface. It's not the

latest message. It's more like the

oldest. What God has is has as the

way to bring about the best in us long before

we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our

day haven't a clue about what the eternal plan is. If they had,

they wouldn't have killed the master of the god designed life of the cross.

That's why we have this scripture text. Here it

is. No one's ever seen or heard anything like this. Now

never so much as imagined anything quite like it, what

god has arranged for those who love him. But you've seen and

heard it because god, by his spirit, has brought it all out

into the open before you. The spirit, not content

to flit around on the surface, dives into the

depths of god and brings out what God planned all

along. Whoever knows what you're thinking and planning except

you yourself. The same with God, except that he

not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in

on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life

and salvation that he has given us. We don't have

to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading

books or going to school. We learned it from God who taught us

person to person through Jesus, and we're passing it

on to you in the same firsthand personal

way. Wow. A great, passage of scripture here about

God's wisdom, which really goes beyond human understanding.

So let's reflect for a second on 1st Corinthians 2:1

through 13, and Paul's talking here about

wisdom and the power and the simplicity of sharing the gospel.

Here's a couple of points to ponder. There is a power

of the authentic of authentic vulnerability.

Paul admits to his fears of inadequacy and reminds us

that true spiritual leadership isn't about perfection

or a polished performance, And in our age of

seeking a perfection and polished performance, this is goes

against the grain. There's carefully curated social media

post, which you all know about it, where everyone, where many

people want to appear as an expert. Well,

Paul's words are refreshingly countercultural. His message suggests that

our greatest impact often comes through authentic

vulnerability rather than a projected or

perceived strength. Another point, this goes

beyond a binary thinking. When Paul speaks of God's wisdom being

mysterious and deep, he challenges a tendency to reduce

faith to simple formulas or or certainties.

Progressive Christianity embraces a mystery that understands

that God's truth often lies beyond our human

constructs and our comfortable categories. And this

vast passage of scripture here advise us to move past the

surface, move past any interpretation that would just

touches on the surface, and dive deep into the to

the complexities of a relationship with God. One more

point. This is about the experiential over

intellectual knowledge. Paul emphasizes that

understanding God comes through a direct personal

experience rather than some sort of an academic study alone.

And this validates the diverse ways that people experience

God and understand God. And it suggests that

theological truth isn't confined to

traditional educational institutions or processes

or any established religious institution that's passed on from

some supposed higher authority. It's a deeply

democratic version version of a vision of a

spiritual wisdom which can come to us individually.

Here's your action step. I want to invite you to practice

holy vulnerability. That is share a genuine

struggle that you have in your faith journey. Share it with a

trusted friend or maybe a small group that that you're part of or

just maybe journal about it. And rather than looking for

solutions, listen. Listen to other

people, listen the way God speaks to you,

practice prayerful listening, and

practice holy vulnerability. Look to

Paul for an example of this, being authentic and

to build a genuine spiritual depth in your own life and a

genuine spiritual depth in community with other

people. Before we pray, I wanna remind you

that we have a resource for you that will help you go even

deeper to the scriptures. It's pretty simple. In fact, we call it the

a b c 123 bible study guide. You

can get it at voice of god daily.com, and

it's free to you. Abc 123

at voice of god daily. Let's pray. Oh,

god, we thank you for meeting us in our uncertainty and inadequacy,

and help us release our need to appear perfect or to

have all the answers. Guide us deeper into your wisdom

that transcends human understanding. May we find

courage in our vulnerability, hope in our questions, and

connection in our shared journey. Give us grace to

trust that your spirit is at work even and

especially in our moments of doubt and weakness.

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

is doctor Brad Miller, and it's my pleasure to be with you here

every day on the daily bible refresh. And I hope

that you would join me tomorrow as we delve into another passage of

scripture from the revised common lectionary. You

can find everything about us at voiceofgoddaily.com.

We invite you to invite others to join us on a daily walk

for a daily Bible refresh. Until then,

remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out. His merciful

love doesn't dry up. It's created new

every morning.