Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Being a Christian should have some evidences in your life.  God has gone to great trouble to convict you, call you to repentance, work in baptism and then sanctify you over time.  There should be progressive spiritual growth in your behaviors and attitudes.

Don't be discouraged.  Everybody has some initial horribleness in their life as they approach the throne.  If we did not, then Christ died and suffered for nothing.  But here is the main point today.  God wishes MOTION from being a BEFORE person to being and AFTER person. Don't stop with the cop-out "Nobody's perfect" (so I don't have to grow.)  Rather, join the Holy Spirit's work in you to make you better every day.

Start by subscribing so another blog and podcast will come your way tomorrow morning.  Please use this 7 minute tool to help in your sanctification process.  bewithme.us

Dispute-handling is a spiritual exercise. It reflects your belief system in a practical way.  It demonstrates what you think about God, His people, His gifting, and His ultimate Justice.  It is witnessed by those all around you in the church and outside of the church.  The way you handle conflict will leave a trail inside and outside the church.  Of course, the believers in Corinth are getting this very wrong.

Join me for 7 minutes as we use them as bad examples as to how to handle disputes.  They end up on the wrong side of this so that we end up on the RIGHT side of this.  

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It is a brave and sometimes difficult thing to handle the God-given gift of sexuality well.  When it does not go well, then the Church must also be brave and us it's power of reconciliation.  If that doesn't work, then there are powers of discipline to best care for the individual that needs it.

Paul corrects the individual in this situation, but he also corrects the response of the church. When someone arrogantly oversteps the Truths of the Lord, the correct response is not to do nothing.  Here, after all else fails, the unrepentant person of sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, drunkenness or swindling, should be removed from fellowship.

Remember, fellowship is a wonderful thing.  Here we see it's power used for the hopeful good of the wayward.

I hope you are operating in sexual morality.  If not, then stop. Don't make the power of fellowship be used in this way to discipline you.  Sign up at bewithme.us.

Don't you just love that the Bible addresses SEX as a topic?  It is a great gift and area of morality.  God invented it and loves it. It is His rules we must abide by.  

In our passage today, individuals and the whole church are sexually ARROGANT.  That is, making up their own rules.  Paul asks the church to put on its' big-boy-pants and go to DEFCON 4 with these unrepentant individuals.  They need it for their very spiritual lives on the Day of the Lord.  

But too, he is rebuking the church for not doing its duty to this couple.  He is condemning the CHURCH for being ARROGANT in this area of sexuality.  That is, they are not teaching, admonishing and expecting sexual fidelity amongst themselves.  The church here is failing by not shepherding them.  In this case: put them OUT so that soon you can put them back IN.

So everybody, let's not be sexually arrogant.  bewithme.us or [email protected] to subscribe. All the podcast directories have bewithme for your convenience.

We get to chose the attitude we will have as we  receive tough teaching. Paul has got some dicey topics coming up for the Corinthians: Sexual immorality and Pride.  Before he gets there he asks them about how they want to receive the teaching.

If you chose a hard heart and arrogance, you will get THE ROD. Paul would then pull out his authority hat and give you discipline, correction, and his given authority back at you.

If you chose a" listener's heart" that hears and considers, you will get LOVE and GENTLENESS.

You get to chose only so far. You have limited agency and your choice has a consequence. How you decide in your attitude towards receiving spiritual matters determines whether you get the ROD or GENTLENESS.  It sounds like an easy choice.  Make the right choice for your attitude today.  Then, subscribe on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, etc and visit bewithme.us to join us everyday with a spirit of cooperation.

Paul cannot physically be with the Corinthians so he sends Timothy, his CHRISTIAN FRIEND. He describes him as his beloved and faithful child.  So today, let's look at what it is to be in a Christian friendship. 

It probably means you will share meals; share activities; share in different ministries; share in the same mission; share in time; and share this friendship with the next generation.  

Scripture definitely encourages us to have spiritual friends.  Be ready for it.  Expect it.  Look for it.  Start today.  Bewithme.us for sign up .  Apple podcasts or similar for a daily podcast.  Thank you for listening.

What is the posture of Christianity? the attitude? the heart-set?

Paul pulls out his irony card to show the right and wrong answers to the Corinthians.  Wrong is boastful and divisive.  Right is a humble, grateful, maturing posture. 

He describes it as looking a lot like the leaders in the Church. In fact, he says, it looks a lot like ME. 

This is an admonishment, which is a correction so that they become mature.  He wants them to look more like a real Christian.  He wants them to have the right posture.  I want YOU to have the right posture too, all in seven minutes and with a sign up for a daily dose of this podcast at bewithme.us

Wait for it. It is one of the greatest questions of the Bible..."What do you have that you did not receive?"  If you get this right you are a long long way towards the right attitude and affections of Christianity.  

It asks us to consider, count and recall what we have: Stuff, nature, relationship with God, gifts, eternal security, friends, character, resources, abilities, fellowship, money, opportunities, spouse, job, children, positions, beauty and perhaps grandchildren.

Great! Now step two: Lets consider their ultimate source.  Where did this pile of favor come from?  Who sourced all this.

Finally, how do we respond? What room here do we have for the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man of pride?  None.  All this leads to awe and gratefulness.  bewithme.us.

The evil villain in the 1984 movie Ghostbusters is a gigantic Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.  He's sort of this god of self that destroys NYC.  

Paul warns the Corinthians to not be PUFFED up in favor of 1 leader against the other.  He asks that they have a caution regarding judgment of oneself, judgement of others , and in judgment of our leaders.

Listen 7 minutes as we try to defeat the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man of our lives.  Let's not let him wreck havoc by getting bigger that he should.  bewithme.us.

Wisdom is a tricky thing.  Many proclaim it.  Few have it. Practically, who exactly are we following primarily? What should our relationship be with our leaders be?  Do we even have leaders over us?

We are inclined towards self-deception.  The ground here is dangerous. There are many voices, so who is going to be the primary voice I listen to? 

The world says it is wise but is actually folly, craftiness and deception.
It is said of Christianity that it is folly, but it is actually wise.

Today, align with me our thinking of "I belong to God" primarily and also belong to the people and leaders of God secondarily.  Work with me at being wise today.  Do so first by going to bewithme.us and subscribing.