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November 27 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
10 Plays16 hours ago
NOW AVAILABLE IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES on YouTube!! YouTube has enabled automatic dubbing for my channel! This is still in experimental mode so translations may contain some errors, but I feel like God has given this event the Spiritual Gift of Tongues! Thank you, God!
Languages available for you to watch this event on YouTube are: Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Dutch, and Polish. WOW! Thank you, God for spreading the word about reading Your Word! I am still figuring out whether dubbing will be enabled on the audio version/Podcast available on YouTube Music. In the meantime, if you would like to hear today's reading in a different language head over to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@IntheFamilyWayCoaching/videos
If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
Today we will continue Paul's letter to the Ephesians with Chapters 4:1-, 11-24, 26-32 and 5:1-23, and 25-33.
Today we will read and discuss spiritual growth- how our individual growth leads to growth in the whole body of believers! You and the gift(s) God gave you to use are important! When we use our spiritual gifts to so our part of the work God has given us to do our love grows and it benefits the entire body of believers as a whole! It's important to keep growing our entire lives and not think we have reached maximum growth potential. Unlike our physical bodies, which stop growing at some point, our spirits never stop growing no matter how old we are! We are always growing with the goal to look more and more like God and Jesus.
If you enjoyed today's reading and feel like God has lit YOUR light please click the LIGHT button (it looks like a thumbs up or a heart) and consider subscribing to or following my channel, if you have not done so already.
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Transcript
Welcome and Thanksgiving Reflection
00:00:03
Speaker
Well, hello everybody. Welcome to the daily reading for November 27th out of the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley. My name is Robin. I will be your reader today.
00:00:16
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining me. This event is being recorded in 2025. So today was Thanksgiving. And I hope that you had a very thankful and wonderful Thanksgiving today. I hope that it was full of joy and fun and family togetherness and as well as unity in spirit.
Engagement with the Bible
00:00:39
Speaker
We are going to take out our bookmarking commitment calendars and we're going to get out our sticker or our crayon, marker, pen, pencil, whatever you are using to cross off your day because we're going to hear the Bible today.
00:00:57
Speaker
Thank you for joining me, whether you are following along on your podcast or whether you are watching on video somewhere. I hope that you are enjoying this event and I am just super excited with how much it has grown this year.
00:01:10
Speaker
So if you are new, thank you so much for joining me. George, if when you get to today's reading, thank you for joining. Thank you for listening. Thank you for subscribing and clicking that light button. I am so glad that you are going to be hearing this year's Bible reading.
00:01:29
Speaker
And I admire your dedication to start off at the beginning rather than join us when we are here now. So whatever day you get around to hearing this, I hope you see that we love you.
00:01:41
Speaker
And we are so excited to have you join us for this event.
Spiritual Growth and Unity in Ephesians
00:01:47
Speaker
Today's reading is going to bring us into Ephesians chapters 4 and 5. We have been reading in the book of Ephesians, which is a letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesian community in Ephesus. They were in Ephesus, so they were called Ephesians.
00:02:03
Speaker
And he is not writing about any particular problems. He is, however, writing from his a home arrest, house arrest in Rome,
00:02:14
Speaker
and he is writing to give them encouragement and understanding. And today he is going to be talking about spiritual growth and why it's important.
00:02:27
Speaker
Now, this whole book of Ephesians has a central theme of unity in the body. And we know if you've been listening or watching for any period of time this year, that that is something I am very passionate about, is unity in our spiritual body.
00:02:44
Speaker
So I am loving this reading and having it explain why it is so important. Yesterday we talked about unity in the body because we are all part of the building of the temple for the Holy God.
00:03:00
Speaker
And today we're going to be talking about how his Holy Spirit helps us with spiritual growth. and what that looks like when we are growing spiritually and why we want to do so.
00:03:14
Speaker
Why do you want to grow? What happens if you don't grow? What do we look like then? We look immature. Have we all met an adult who didn't seem to act like an adult and we say, that person needs to grow up?
00:03:31
Speaker
Well, the same thing can happen with spiritual growth. If we have been believers for a while, then we should be expected to grow. However old we are, we are always still growing in God because the goal is to become as much, to look as much like God as we possibly can.
00:03:51
Speaker
And Paul will sum this up for us in how to do that. So let's begin with Ephesians chapter 4. He tells us to live the way God wants you to live.
00:04:05
Speaker
Live like others are better than you. Wait quietly when you need to. So when Paul says to live like others are better than you, the opposite of that is to act like you are better than other people.
00:04:21
Speaker
So Paul is teaching us to act like other people are better than us rather than acting like we are better than other people. Sometimes we might put that behaving holier than thou, meaning that we are acting like we are more obedient.
00:04:39
Speaker
But that is a form of pride and it's acting like we are better, more spiritual, when that's not the case. Because our behavior of acting like we are better than others is contrary to what Paul is telling us here, that we need to act like others are better than us.
00:04:57
Speaker
And this is consistent with what Jesus told us too. So for instance, he told us the story of the of of somebody going into, he he actually wasn't a story. He said, as an example, he said, when you go into an event like a wedding, don't seat yourself at a place of honor because then the host may come and tell you, you need to move because there's somebody else who is intended to sit there.
00:05:23
Speaker
And instead, sit somewhere lower. And then if the host comes to you and says, move up, then you are then placed in honor by somebody else rather than you placing your honor on yourself.
Understanding 'Shalom' and Scripture
00:05:36
Speaker
So I just wanted us to understand what that looks like. Wait quietly when you need to. put up with each other and love each other.
00:05:47
Speaker
Boy, I love that one. Put up with each other, love each other, and try to work together in God's Spirit. Be at peace with each other.
00:05:58
Speaker
And remember, whenever we see the word peace in our version or in any of our big Bibles, it is translated from the Hebrew word shalom, which remember is more than just the simple translation of the word peace, which tends to mean an absence of conflict.
00:06:17
Speaker
Instead, shalom carries with it a much weightier meaning, meaning to be whole, to be well, to be completed. So be whole, well, and completed with each other.
00:06:34
Speaker
It really puts more depth and meaning into our reading when we understand the context here of what Paul is telling us. Be at shalom with each other.
00:06:46
Speaker
There is one spirit. There is one group of God's people. One, quote,
00:06:56
Speaker
God promised one hope to all of his people.
Faith, Baptism, and Spiritual Gifts
00:07:01
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And there is one Lord. And there is one faith. This is so important. We do not have multiple faiths.
00:07:11
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We have one faith. We are all worshiping the same God. There is one baptism. There is one God.
00:07:23
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He is our Father. And He is in charge of everything. And God is kind to all of us. The psalm says He gave gifts to people.
00:07:36
Speaker
And He made some people to be apostles. He made some to be prophets. He made some to lead others into His kingdom. And He made some to take care of others.
00:07:48
Speaker
And He made some to teach. God gave us these gifts to make his people ready to serve. And these gifts build up Jesus' followers, his body.
00:08:04
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And God gave gifts to help us all agree about what we believe. The gifts help us really know Jesus, and they help us to grow in how we think and act.
00:08:19
Speaker
So our spiritual gifts are meant to help us grow an to help us in our thinking and in our behavior. So now we can grow until we are filled to the top with Jesus.
00:08:35
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And then we won't be children. We won't toss back and forth like we were riding on a wave. Instead, we will know what to do.
00:08:47
Speaker
And we won't blow here and there like the wind. We won't keep changing our minds. And we won't just believe everything we hear or read or see.
00:09:00
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Some people fool others with their lies, but we will talk lovingly about the truth. And we will grow up to be like Jesus.
00:09:13
Speaker
And Jesus is like the head. We are like the body. And each part of the body helps the whole body. And when each part does its work, then the body grows.
00:09:28
Speaker
Its love gets stronger. So notice here that it isn't just our individual growth that we're referring to here. Our individual growth leads to the entire growth of the entire body, meaning it strengthens our whole body, all the body of believers.
00:09:49
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We are all strengthened when you do your part. You are so important. So here is what I say, Paul tells us.
Living a New Life in Christ
00:10:02
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Stop living like people who do not follow God. because their thinking is not good for anything. They don't understand. They live apart from God because they don't know him.
00:10:17
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And they don't know him because they don't care about him. And their hearts are hard. And they cannot tell right from wrong anymore.
00:10:28
Speaker
They do whatever feels good at the moment. And so they do sinful things that make their hearts unclean or dirty. They sin and they just want to keep doing more and more sinful things.
00:10:45
Speaker
Now you didn't get to know Jesus by acting that way. And I'm sure that you have heard about Jesus and someone told you the truth that is in him. And someone told you to stop your old way of life.
00:10:57
Speaker
And that's because your life was being torn up by sin.
00:11:04
Speaker
And you were told to think in a new way. You were told to put on a new self and you were made to be like God. You were made to be truly right and good.
00:11:21
Speaker
Our big Bible says it like this. You were created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So lay aside lying and each one of you speak truth with his neighbor.
00:11:37
Speaker
For we are members of one another. And the psalm says, do not sin when you are angry. Get rid of your anger before the sun sets.
00:11:51
Speaker
And that way, Satan will not have a place to work in your heart. If you steal, then stop stealing and work.
00:12:02
Speaker
Do something useful with your hands and then you will have something to share with people who need help. And don't say things that hurt people. Instead, say things that will cheer them up.
00:12:15
Speaker
Say things that they need to hear, and that will help them. Don't make God's Holy Spirit sad. We call that grieving the Holy Spirit.
00:12:28
Speaker
We don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit. We don't want
Jesus's Sacrifice and Love
00:12:31
Speaker
to make our Holy Spirit sad. Because God gave you His Spirit as a promise that you belong to Him.
00:12:40
Speaker
So get rid of anger. Maybe you've had anger deep inside for a long time. And it may be anger that comes out loudly. It may be a dangerous anger, but get rid of it.
00:12:56
Speaker
And get rid of fighting and saying bad things about others. Forgive each other like God forgave you by sending Jesus.
00:13:08
Speaker
Our big Bible says it like this, get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger and quarreling and slander along with all malice.
00:13:24
Speaker
Malice is a big word and we might not be familiar with it, but malice means to have the feeling of wanting to intentionally hurt another person. Whether it's with your words or whether it's with your here physical body or whether it's by doing something that you know will hurt them, by taking something away from them, whatever it is, malice is the deliberate intent that you want to cause somebody to be hurt.
00:13:53
Speaker
And so we want to get rid of that. And instead, we want to be kind to one another. We want to be compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Jesus also forgave you.
00:14:11
Speaker
Chapter 5 begins by telling us to then be like God. After all, you are his children, and he loves you. He loves you very much.
00:14:22
Speaker
So live a life full of love like Jesus did. Jesus loved us and he gave his life for us. It was his gift to God.
00:14:36
Speaker
Now, what does that mean? It was his gift to God. God intended for him to be that sacrifice. andjeep But Jesus had to choose to go through with it because God gives all of us free will.
00:14:52
Speaker
So it was Jesus's gift of obedience to God that led to it being a gift. And that gift, we were also recipients of that gift because when Jesus gave himself to God,
00:15:08
Speaker
to pay for our sins, it caused us to be the recipients of God's grace and forgiveness for all the sins that we did.
00:15:21
Speaker
Paul goes on to explain, do not even think about using sex in a wrong way. And don't think about dirty thoughts. Don't look at things that make you think about sin.
00:15:34
Speaker
And don't want more and more and more things for yourself. Don't let yourself do that, because these things are not right for God's special people.
00:15:46
Speaker
It's important to understand that it's not just the the doing that is sinful. It is the thinking about them. Jesus explained this when he said that if we even think about being inappropriate with a man or a woman who is not our husband or our wife, we have already committed that sin because we have imagined it.
00:16:12
Speaker
When we imagine we are thinking about doing things, and that means that we have already done them in our hearts. And since God sees our hearts, it's not enough to just simply not act on our thoughts.
00:16:27
Speaker
We need to take it a step further and backtrack. That's a little contradictory, it sounds, but we're going to take our action further by backtracking and not allowing us ourselves to think these thoughts because it is the entertainment of those thoughts that causes us to then sin. We call that premeditated.
00:16:51
Speaker
So if somebody thinks about murdering somebody, then that we call that premeditated murder. When we go to steal something, or if we go to hurt somebody, it might not always be and ah with forethought to hurt somebody. we We just are not thinking about that, but we can be thinking. And that's the, where the malice comes in is the intentional desire to hurt someone with our words and words can hurt very badly.
00:17:22
Speaker
And we want to be sure that we are not thinking bad thoughts because out of the mouth comes the overflow of the heart, Jesus taught us. So everything starts in the in the mind, which is where our heart is too.
00:17:39
Speaker
When we think about those things, it causes us to want to do them. So we want to be sure that we protect our mind by not spending time thinking about things that we should not be thinking about.
00:17:53
Speaker
And we are taught instead of doing that to whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is pure, to think about those things instead.
00:18:06
Speaker
And by doing that, we will not grieve the Holy Spirit who knows our thoughts and our hearts and our minds.
00:18:17
Speaker
Paul goes on in our version to say, do not tell dirty jokes because they don't fit you. Instead, talk about what you are thankful for.
00:18:28
Speaker
You can be sure of one thing, Paul says. People who sin with sex will not be in God's kingdom. And people who keep wanting more and more things won't be there.
00:18:40
Speaker
They worship things as if they were idols. So don't let anybody lie to you. People who live this way are not obeying God and God is angry with them.
00:18:52
Speaker
So don't go along with them because that would be like living in the dark. And remember, Paul just explained to us that we are children of light.
00:19:05
Speaker
In the past, you lived in the dark, but now you live in God's light.
Living as Children of Light
00:19:12
Speaker
So live like children of the light. Light brings things that are good, right, and true.
00:19:21
Speaker
Find out what makes God happy and don't have anything to do with the dark bad life. It doesn't do anyone any good. Instead, show these things for what they are.
00:19:33
Speaker
people who do People do those things in secret, and it's not even good to talk about what they do. But these things will show up in God's light. And that's why it has been said, wake up sleepy head, come back to life again. And then Jesus will shine on you.
00:19:55
Speaker
So be very careful about how you live. Live like a wise person, not like a fool. And do as much as you can that is good.
00:20:06
Speaker
We live in sinful times, so understand what it is that God does want. Don't get drunk. Drunks often do just what feels good in the moment.
00:20:19
Speaker
And instead, let God's Spirit fill you. Talk to each other by saying psalms and sing about God to each other.
00:20:31
Speaker
Fill your heart with songs and music to the Lord. Always thank God the Father for everything. Give thanks in Jesus' name.
00:20:44
Speaker
And let each other be leaders. And follow each other because Jesus is important to you. So if you are a wife, let your husband lead you.
00:20:56
Speaker
Let him lead you the same way that you let Jesus lead you. And that's because the husband is the leader of his wife, and the husband leads his wife like Jesus leads his followers.
00:21:08
Speaker
And if you are a husband, love your wife and love her like Jesus loves his followers. Jesus gave his life up for his followers.
00:21:19
Speaker
That is so he could do he could make them special and right and good. And now his followers can shine clean, spotless, and without blame.
00:21:33
Speaker
So husbands should love their wives in this same way. and they should love their wives like they love themselves. People never hate themselves.
00:21:44
Speaker
They feed themselves and take care of themselves. And Jesus takes care of his followers. And that's because we are like Jesus's body.
00:21:54
Speaker
God's word says that this is why a man leaves his mother and father, and he lives with his wife. And the two of them become like one person. There's more unity.
00:22:07
Speaker
And this is a big mystery, but it's just like Jesus and his followers. Anyway, each husband should love his wife like he loves himself.
00:22:19
Speaker
And each wife should look up to her husband. And that is the end of our reading today. It was a little bit longer today.
00:22:31
Speaker
There was a lot of good information in there about growing spiritually. Our one line that kind of sums everything up, however, is where Paul tells us to to do. Let's see, where did it go?
00:22:57
Speaker
Paul tells us, so be very careful about how you live. Live like a wise person and not a fool. Do as much as you can that's good.
00:23:09
Speaker
That's our line. Do as much as you can that is good. We live in sinful times, so understand what it is that God wants.
00:23:22
Speaker
that's a lot to do with spiritual growth today, don't you think? There was a lot of information, but the central theme running through all of that information on how to live a right life is that it has to do with growing spiritually.
Spiritual Growth and Unity Revisited
00:23:38
Speaker
It's to not be someone who doesn't know god We are to grow. we are not to stay the same as we were. we are to mature.
00:23:48
Speaker
we are to keep growing. You might think you stop growing when you get to be like 17 or 21 24. And you might think you're fully grown by the time you hit 30 or 40. And it might be that your body might be physically done growing.
00:24:04
Speaker
But guess what? Your spirit has the opportunity to never stop growing so that we can be full of Jesus's love.
00:24:16
Speaker
That is an amazing thing. we We don't get to the part where or to the point where we say, guess what? I'm not growing anymore. I know everything there is to know.
00:24:27
Speaker
It just doesn't happen. No matter how old we get, we are still expected to keep looking more and more like God and Jesus. There is nothing that should stop that growth.
00:24:40
Speaker
We're like a tree of life. We just keep growing. Now we can stop growing and we can stop growing by reverting to those sinful behaviors or to be acting like a child. But and it's just like sometimes we might say, oh, you're acting like a child. Grow up.
00:24:57
Speaker
We can do that spiritually too. And we want to be sure that we're not doing that spiritually. And it's it's not the same as having one-off behaviors where we have a hard day or a bad day.
00:25:12
Speaker
Overall, we are to experience growth on a steady scale of going up. We're all going to have our off days. We're all going to have our times when we struggle.
00:25:23
Speaker
But the overall big picture is that we are getting better and and more like God all the time. That we are using our gifts that God has given us to help build up not just ourselves, but to build up the whole body so that it's not just us who is growing spiritually individually.
00:25:44
Speaker
but that together as a spiritual body, we are experiencing growth. And this happens when we decide to make sure that other believers are are not having what we call anti-Semitic behavior. There's a lot of anti-Jewish behavior that even is pervasive in the church.
00:26:06
Speaker
And we want to be sure that we are not having division because remember we are all part of that same body and we need to be praying for those people who are not believers in the Messiah but they are still worshiping the same God as us so we need to be sure that we are working toward unity with them because we are all part of the same family tree we have been grafted in to the Jewish olive tree We want to make sure that we don't think that we are better than others, that we are better than Jewish people, that we've been we've we've replaced them.
Unity and Spiritual Heritage
00:26:41
Speaker
And instead, we want to be unified. We want to be sure that we are not encouraging any kind of hateful behavior in the church, but to instead be loving toward everybody, because that is what we are called to do.
00:26:59
Speaker
We are to use our gifts, whatever God has given us. And it might be the gift of encouragement. It might be the gift of helping others. It could be the gift of healing.
00:27:10
Speaker
Whatever it is that we have been given. we We might think that it's just for other believers, but we are meant to strengthen not only ourselves, but one another. And by doing that, we are strengthening the entire body by helping everybody with our gifts.
00:27:30
Speaker
Well, I hope that you are encouraged and that once again, you feel more united with one another and realize how you make a big difference in the world.
00:27:42
Speaker
it's It's like that pond with the ripples again, that image. We may think that we are just doing something small, but we are actually causing spiritual growth throughout the entire body.
00:27:55
Speaker
We are strengthening the entire body of Jesus. That is huge. I love that. i don't I never understood that before reading it today. And i've I must have read it at some point, but I didn't remember or understand it that way. But what an amazing teaching that Paul gave us.
00:28:16
Speaker
that to understand the big picture. This year has been filled with understanding God's big picture as we read through this version of the Bible that gives us not every single detail, but gives us his big picture for understanding and daily application.
Concluding Encouragement and Thanks
00:28:33
Speaker
So I hope that you feel that God has lit your light today, that you are a child of the light, that you will let your light shine brightly, not keeping it under a bushel, but raising it high up on a hill.
00:28:46
Speaker
And that you can help us spread the word about reading God's word so that other people will also be encouraged to know how they can contribute their light to the entire body of Jesus.
00:29:01
Speaker
And we can do that by clicking our light buttons. That one that looks like a thumbs up, it looks like a heart, but it's our light button. And you can also share this with someone that you think may need that encouragement.
00:29:13
Speaker
Well, thank you for being here with me and listening to our daily reading for November 27th from the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley. I hope that you will be hungry again tomorrow for more of God's word. And that you will join me again.
00:29:28
Speaker
And when you do, I hope that you will be just as excited as I am. but So have a fantastic rest of your day. Whatever day you have gotten around to watching or reading today's or not reading, watching or listening to today's reading.
00:29:43
Speaker
And we will see one another again next time. Have a great day.