Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Like the Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014, we are being asked to POUR OVER OUR HEADS a whole bucket of God's goodness.  It is His love, His choice, His plan, His Blessing, His Redemption, & His forgiveness all at once.  It is quite overwhelming.  I think that is the point.

After you poured the Ice Water over your head to raise awareness and $ for ALS, you were supposed to "nominate" a friend to challenge them with this experience.

God pours this over Paul's head.  Paul pours this over the Ephesians head.  Today, I'm asking YOU to pour this LAVISHMENT of God's grace over yourself. What could be more fun!?! Consider yourself challenged.  Come back tomorrow by subscribing at bewithme.us or write at bewithme.us@gmail 

Buckle in! Let's join Paul as he has a front row seat to the grace of God.  He is the #1Fan of what he sees and shares with us.  This is the book of Ephesians. 

Paul has spent 2 years living there in fruitful ministry.  He obviously loves and cares about them.  He cannot wait to share the accomplishments and character of God. Eventually, he'll call them to walking in a manner worthy, but not yet.  Ephesians starts with God's character and characteristics. There will be power, purpose, predestining, and God's KINDNESS.

Join me for 7 minutes a day, maybe in the morning as we see what the Ephesians see.  Bewithme.us is how to subscribe for a blast tomorrow, or join me on Spotify or Apple or Google or any podcast provider for a daily episode. Try to attach the listen to a part of your day: driving, eating cereal, brushing your teeth or something like that.

What if every bit of Romans was for God's glory? What if all of our 78 bites of the elephant were bites of His glory? Perhaps God looks down upon us and says: Yup, that is Me. Yup. I am pleased with you knowing all the parts of me.  

How do you end a Masterwork? You repeat and reinforce themes that you said you were going to talk about from the first paragraph.  Here is the activity of the Godhead for us all.  It is the work of Christ.  It is the response in our minds and in our behaviors. You remind everyone that it is His power and ability that is the big mover. He is able. Now to Him who is able be glory.  

Thank you for being with me for 78 bites of glory.  Please subscribe at bewithme.us so we can walk to the next verse tomorrow.  

God is a peacemaker. He's going to make all things right and fix the rebellion of mankind. As part of that, He's going to do away with Satan, evil, death, tears, sickness etc. He promised it on the 3rd page of the Bible, and promises it again today.

Join me as we look down the road a bit to see Satan crushed, and all his minions triumphed over. It is the God of Peace that does this.  We benefit as we look forward to a land with no more tears or death.

God is in the CRUSHING business. I can't wait. It is coming soon. 

Meantime subscribe on Spotify or Apple or leave an email at bewithme.us and tomorrow's podcast will come right to your inbox while we wait for the crushing.

Sgt. Phil Esterhaus called out to his police force colleagues every week on Hill Street Blues.  After the roll call, the assignments,  & the updates, he'd shout, "Let's be careful out there."  Paul does the same at the end of his letter to Rome.

Your understanding of God is betrayed by your behavior.
Your behavior betrays your understanding of God.

So, we can watch behavior and assess who it is that people are serving. 

There are some bad guys out there, so "Let's be careful out there!" You'll probably need to be careful tomorrow too, so subscribe at bewithme.us and Lord willing, I'll warn you again then.

Today we honor motherhood. Paul is  mothered by a woman who has taken a special role: "go mother the apostle Paul." This is a concept we all understand: she cared for him, made a big deal about his birthday, listened to his concerns, maybe bandaged a wound, and made him TATER-TOTs because he had a hankering for them.

The church is characterized by warmth and family and mothering.  Let's all shoot for this in our walk.  Let's go make TATER-TOTS for GOD.

Please comeback tomorrow to hear another fantastic story ;-) by signing up at bewithme.us or Apple Podcasts. 

If you were invisible except for the moments where you loved others, would anyone ever see you? 

Listen 7 minutes today as Paul pours out his love for a whole list of people.  In fact, it is so over-the-top it'd be inappropriate in any other context. The starting engine is God's love. He loves His church. He loves the people in His Church.  We are supposed to resemble the character and characteristics of God.  We should be loving the people in God's church. 

So who is your 'beloved in Christ?' If love is the engine, might we need to rev it up a bit? bewithme.us Spotify share, like, retweet, re-post and comment.

If your participation in the life of your church makes you TIRED, you might be on to something.  The body of Christ is to strengthen the inner man, but it is also to make the outer man TIRED.  Growing tired with the toil of using your gifts in the church is a wonderful thing.  Use it as a marker.  Lean INTO TIRED.  

We do so with a heart of affection. I hope you have people who are happy to see you when you walk into church.  If not, you could be doing it better by serving, and giving to those who cannot give back to you.  Be a joy to your "dearly beloveds."

Listen to a few seconds more than 7 minutes today.  Sorry about that. Spotify. Apple Podcast.

Paul notes that he is indebted to a wife and husband team, Prisca and Aquilla. He notes that not only he personally is in debt to them, but all the gentile churches. Essentially, everybody in the scope of Paul's ministry owes them a debt of gratitude, that they probably don't even know about.

First, they have a 20 year history of co-ministry with Paul, and are of only a few friends left standing at the bitter end. Second, in a moment that no one planned on, they "risked their necks" for Paul.  They laid their life on the line to save Paul's life, thereby saving the ministry to the Gentiles.  This is a big deal.

Paul appreciates them today and so should we. Please pray for this podcast.

2000 years ago, Paul commends a woman named Phoebe to a group of people that have not yet met her.  I am doing the same today.  She is a person who has been tested.  It is not her first day.

She is described as a patron.  This is a person who uses their position of power, their resources and their knowledge of systems to help people.  What kind of people? People who are not in positions of power; who have more limited resources; and less knowledge of how the system works.  The foreigner, or resident alien is often assumed in the use of the word.  A patron helps the most needful people.

The charge today is threefold. First, let's learn about her. Second, let's honor and commend her, as Paul did.  Third, let's endeavor to be like her and use our power for good.  Please come back tomorrow by subscribing on Spotify or bewithme.us or [email protected]