Foreign hello hello hello hello hello hello good people.

Dr.

Brad Miller here with your daily Bible refresh.

This is the opportunity we have to come together to read the Bible together.

Glad that you join me here today.

We do this by reading from the daily passage selected for this very day.

We're in the Revised.

We use a revised Common Lectionary to do that.

We're in Year C, the epiphany season and we like to make the Bible both understandable by reading a New Testament lesson only from the message translation of the Bible relatable by offering you a couple of points to ponder, to think about and applicable to give you an action step.

And we have a prayer and we do all that under 10 minutes.

It's all brought to you by Voice of God Daily.com here's our reading for today from Acts 10:44 through 48 reading from the message no sooner were these words out of Peter's mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners.

The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn't believe it.

They couldn't believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on a outsider, non Jews.

But there it was.

They heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God.

Then Peter said, do I hear any objections to baptizing these friends with water?

They've received the Holy Spirit exactly as we did.

Hearing no objections, he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Then they asked Peter to stay on for a few days.

A short reading today, really, about breaking religious barriers.

And there's a spirit here of radical inclusion, about how the early church confronts assumptions about who belongs in God's community.

Here's a few points to ponder.

This is about disrupting religious gatekeeping.

The Holy Spirit's dramatic intervention challenges religious exclusivity.

The Spirit moves before the religious authorities can give permission, showing that divine inclusion often precedes institutional acceptance.

And this challenges the contemporary church to examine where we are creating unnecessary barriers to full participation.

There's also what we might call decolonizing faith.

Peter's Jewish companions were shocked by God's inclusion of outsiders.

That's Gentiles.

This mirrors how dominant religious groups often struggle when marginalized communities claim their own spiritual authority.

Progressive Christianity actively works to decolonize faith practices and challenge religious supremacy.

One more point.

There's the evidence of the Spirit.

The evidence of the Spirit isn't doctrinal conformity, but authentic praise and joy.

This suggests that genuine spiritual experience may look different across cultures and contexts.

We must question any standard of legitimate spiritually based on a dominant cultural Normans.

Here's your action step for for today.

Conduct a barriers audit in your faith community.

That is gather diverse people to identify formal and informal barriers to full participation.

Consider the questions about who feels unwelcome, whose spiritual expressions are questions, what unstated cultural norms create exclusion.

Create an action plan to address at least one of those barriers and be a pro in the process lead to inclusion.

Let's we'll pray in just a second here but just a reminder that we have a great resource for you.

It's really simple, but it's straightforward.

It's called the ABC 123 Bible Study Guide.

We created it just for you.

You can go to our notes which you can find our our episode notes which you can find@voiceofgod daily.com that's where you can find the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide as well was the back catalog over 700 episodes of the Daily Bible Refresh.

It's all there for you.

Also with the transcripts.

Let's pray Dear God, in the spirit of radical welcome, forgive us when we try to control who belongs in our community.

Break down the walls we've built around your free flowing grace.

Help us to recognize your presence in unexpected people and places even when it challenges our comfort.

Give us courage to examine our biases, wisdom to change our practices, and humility to follow your lead in creating truly inclusive community.

May we be as generous with welcome as you are with love.

Amen.

Well indeed, it's always a pleasure and a privilege to be with you here on the Daily Bible Refresh.

We're brought to you by Voice of God Daily.

That's where you can find out all about us.

That's voiceofgoddaily.com the website we usually come to you every morning before 6am Eastern time with a daily expression of the reading of the Scriptures that we make it understandable, relatable, applicable to your life.

Until next time, My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

I'll be with you tomorrow.

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

His merciful love doesn't dry up, is created new every morning.