Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

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]

Paul asks the Romans, who he has not visited yet, to PRAY for his deliverance from the  unbelievers in Jerusalem so that he might joyfully come to Rome. In an unexpected way, Paul's prayer was answered.

He was only in Jerusalem 7 days before these unbelievers seized him and began beating him with the intention of his death.  Ironically, it is the ROMAN soldiers who "deliver him from unbelievers" of Jerusalem.  He has about 10 more years of ministry after this rescue.  His ministry changes from being a ministry of LIBERTY to a ministry of CAPTIVITY.  He finally gets to "go before kings" in this new phase.

Follow me for 7 minutes as we find out how this prayer was answered. bewithme.us and [email protected] to subscribe for more, with the Lord's will.

We've worked thru 15 Chapters of Paul's passion for the ROMANS and now we discover that what is on his heart is SPAIN. Who knew?

The geography is striking as he is writing this letter from Corinth to Rome, about 1000 miles to his WEST. He says I want to visit you, 1000 miles to my WEST, and keep going to Spain, another 1000 miles WEST past you.  Here's how I am going to do it: I'm going to start by going 1000 miles to my EAST, back to Jerusalem because I have a pocket full of cash for them. Crazy travel plans.

Paul is real. The geography is real. The years are real. Pauls heart is so big it includes Rome, Jerusalem and today we find out: SPAIN.  Listen 7 minutes and subscribe on bewithme.us or write at [email protected]

On one hand (People)...you are mature, but you still would benefit from some reminding.

On one hand (Endpoints)...I have fulfilled the ministry, but I still have ambitions and am planning on more

On one hand (Ministry)...I minister, I write, I serve, I do stuff, but 

• God gives grace
• Christ accomplishes
• Spirit empowers

In other words, I work, but the TRINITY shows up for the heavy lifting.

Join me for 7 minutes to hear 3 sets of the tension of what being a Christian is like. Lord willing, there will be little more tomorrow, so sign up for a blast at bewithme.us or write at [email protected] and I'll send you a link every morning.

Everybody in the New Testament seems surprised that the gentile, the NON-JEWS, are welcomed into God's kingdom.  Perhaps they shouldn't have been. 

God has been hinting all along that this was going to happen.  It has been a 2000 year not-so-secret reveal.  It is a big kingdom that welcomes "All nations," ie: the Gentiles.

What we learn today will help us correctly read, and more thoroughly love our Old Testaments.  We will love the God of the Old Testament, who is exactly like the God of the New Testament. Listen 7 minutes and then subscribe at bewithme.us and maybe someday we can do Be With Me in the Old Testament. What book should we start with?

Don't be surprised if you encounter a KNUCKLEHEAD in your church. What better place on earth is there for them?  If you are a knucklehead, run to a church.

For those slightly more mature, when you find one of these characters in your church, what should you do? Run for the hills? No, you should bear with 'em; help 'em; walk with 'em, and build 'em.  In short: WELCOME the knucklehead.

God is in the knucklehead business.  God's people are in the bearing with the knucklehead business.  Join Him. Bewithme.us so you can stop being a knucklehead tomorrow or on Apple Podcasts.

Bad brother Cain, just after he kills his brother Able, asks the Lord, "Am I my brother's keeper?"  1000 pages later in the book of Romans, we find the answer is YES. 

Like our bad example of Cain, we can hinder, harm, grieve, and even destroy the one for whom Christ died. We can come to sin in using our Christian liberty to stick our thumb in the eye of less mature Christian family members.

Or, we can decide to be a blessing to them.  We can pursue being an up builder, rather than a knocker-downer.  Join me for 7 minutes as we finally answer Cain's question.  Subscribe at bewithme.us or Apple Podcasts incase there is more to the spiritual walk than just this.

What if God welcomes sinners and gives them the ability to stand effectively before His judgement seat? What if He is Lord over days and eating and even life? How then shall we live?

The short answer is humbly.  We'd be careful in our judgments toward others.  We'd be thankful. We'd seek to honor Him in how we eat and live.  We'd honor Him even in the way we'd die.

Because we are going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ someday, it has everything to do with today.  Therefore,  let's kneel now as we keep in view standing before Him on that day.

Kneel with me tomorrow too by subscribing at bewithme.us and Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, instagram, FB, etc.

We all celebrate our birthdays which are the number of days we HAVE HAD.  Imagine if we also knew and celebrated how many days we LEFT.  The former number keeps getting BIGGER.  The latter number keeps getting SMALLER.  Knowing this, it should change the way we love. It should change the way we live.

The time is short and it is even shorter than last week.  The debt we owe for what God did for us is massive, if we really try to quantify it. The currency of the realm is love.  How might I live because of these realities with regard to my tongue, my zipper, my attitude?  Listen 7 minutes! bewithme.us apple and every other podcast directory.

Being a transformed, renewed-mind Christian has consequences. It matters to the individual and to the republic.

God invented authority.  Fortunately, the His fingerprints of this order flow down to the church, the family, marriages, the workplace and here today: GOVERNMENT.  Christians have a high call of the heart, hands and wallet as to our right relationship with government.

Listen 7 minutes to hear the call to be a great citizen of both the Lord's Kingdom and the kingdom you are living in.

There will be more good stuff tomorrow Lord willing. Subscribe at bewithme.us