Finding Courage in Community A study based on Revelation 2, 8, 11 on the Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

That's me.

Thank you for joining me on my mission to get the audible word of God into 2 million years.

That's a million people by 2028.

We do that through a daily reading of the New Testament.

We use the message version to make it understandable.

We give you some points to ponder to make it relatable.

Then we give you an action step to apply to your life.

We give you these daily readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.

That's a three year cycle of reading through the Bible.

We're in year six, see the Lenten Season.

We do all of that in under 10 minutes or so and have a prayer to boot.

It's all brought to you by our website voiceofgodaily.com the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method.

Today's reading is from the Revelation 2:8 through 11 reading from the message to Smyrna.

Write this to Smyrna.

To the angel of the church.

The beginning and ending, the first and final one.

The once dead and then come alive speaks.

I can see your pain and poverty, constant pain, dire poverty.

But I also see your wealth.

And I hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be good Jews who in fact belong to Satan's crowd.

Fear nothing in the things you're about to suffer.

But stay on guard.

Fear nothing.

The devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing.

10 days.

It won't last forever.

Don't quit even if it cost you your life.

Stay there believing.

I have a life crown sized and ready for you.

Are your ears awake?

Listen.

Listen to the wind, words, the spirit blowing through the churches.

Christ conquerors are safe from devil death.

Wow, quite a reading there from the Revelation.

And today we're going to explore some issues of resilience and authentic faith and responding to challenging times.

Let's look at some points to ponder here from today's reading.

One is about redefining wealth and power.

The message to Smyrna begins with a powerful paradox.

A community experiencing dire poverty is declared wealthy.

This invites us to question moderate metrics of success and worth in our world of extreme wealth, inequality and corporate power.

What does true richness look like?

Perhaps our wealth lies in our capacity for compassion, our commitment to justice and our courage to stand with the marginalized.

Another point, it's about religious authenticity versus religious power.

The text critiques those who pretend to be good Jews but belong to Satan's crowd.

Rather than reading this as anti Semitic, which would be a very harmful misinterpretation, we can understand it as a critique of using religious identity as a tool of oppression.

Today we might also ask how do religious institutions sometimes become instruments of exclusion, represent rather than vehicles of liberation?

How do we practice authentic faith that serves love and justice?

One more point.

It's about resistance versus spiritual practice.

The encouragement to stay there, believing even in the face of persecution, speaks to the spiritual discipline of resistance.

In our contemporary context, this might mean standing against Christianity, Christian nationalism, speaking truth to power, or maintaining hope while working for climate justice.

The life crown promise isn't about individual reward, but about the victory of love over systems of death.

Here's your action step.

I want to invite you to practice holy resistance, that is Identify one issue where your faith calls you to take a stand against against injustice and oppression.

This might be supporting some mutual aid assistance network or joining some sort of a climate action effort, or speaking up against discrimination in your community.

Remember, resistance isn't just about opposing something.

It's also about creating space for something better to emerge.

Something better is going to emerge in just a moment when we pray together.

But I did want you to know that we have a great resource to help you to help you in your daily Bible study.

It is called the ABC 123 Bible Study Method.

You pick it up by going to our website voiceofgodddaily.com it's a free resource for you to use in complement to the Daily Bible Refresh.

It's for you to do your own personal Bible study.

It's a free resource for you.

I just really would like for you to take that and make use of that or here's our prayer for today.

Oh God, you are a source of courage and love.

In times when justice feels distance and hope seems like a luxury.

Ground us in the wealth of community and the power of shared conviction.

When we face our own trials, whether personal or political, remind us that we're not alone in the struggle.

Help us find wealth in our connections, strength in our solidarity and hope in in holy resistance.

Give us wisdom to distinguish between empty religious performance and authentic spiritual practice.

May we be brave enough to stand firm, compassionate enough to stand together, and wise enough to know that love always wins.

Amen.

Always a great privilege and pleasure for me to spend some time with you here on the Daily Bible Refresh.

We're here every day.

We usually drop our episodes before 6am Eastern time hope that you'll join us in this daily searching through the scriptures on a everyday basis that is relevant and applicable to your life.

See you again tomorrow.

This time, bring a friend.

Until then, My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

Reminding you that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.