Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

If God dwelt among us, would it make any difference?  If God dwelt within us, would anything change?

This is exactly Paul's point today.  God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, now indwells believers from their point of belief.  We have been waiting for this for thousands of years.  This changes a few things.  Actually it changes more than a few.

The LOCATION of God determines access, ownership, morality, identity, and function.  It will spill over into what He says about many upcoming topics including marriage, evangelism and rights.  Hold on, for "you are not your own" is coming.

Yes God indwells.  Yes, it is supposed to make a difference.  Please go to bewithme.us and subscribe if you haven't yet.  Or your favorite way to get podcasts.  Fun fact: the most popular podcast provider for this podcast is Apple.  

Is your work fire-ready? Is it ready to be fire-tested?  When it is tested hard, will it be found to have substance, or be burned up and unlasting?  The Bible teaches that not only will people be judged, but so will the actions of those people. 

The big point today is to NOT be found wanting.  Those who are will still be saved, but they won't receive any extra rewards, and will so have to "suffer loss". 

Not all work will survive.
All work will be tested; will be judged.
Some work will be worthy.
Some work will be revealed and regreted.

Work in a way that will withstand the testing.  subscribe at bewithme.us.

The big news is GOD GIVES the GROWTH*. God is the primary mover for both belief and for Christian maturity. The * part is that He sovereignly choses to use humans in this process.

So we must not overstate the importance of specific humans like the Corinthians were doing. Similarly, we must not understate the importance of specific humans like some in the church are doing. God is in the business of revealing the treasures of God via the Person of God (Holy Spirit) with the help of the Pastors of God to the PEOPLE of God.

For those God calls to Himself, He always also calls them to the people of God. Today we emphasize that the way of calling to spiritual growth (GOD GIVES THE GROWTH) is by the *, that is by the people and pastors of God. This is why Christians cannot just say, "I follow Christ".  We must say, with the full counsel of Scripture: "I follow Christ*".  Thanks for listening to this as a podcast.  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or at bewithme.us

If we lay a blanket of spiritual assessment over the Corinthian church's nooks and crannies, what would we find?  For them it was Jealousy and Strife.  But the real problem is spiritual GROWTH.  You see, that was their problem BEFORE and it STILL is their problem.  This is not the spiritual marker you want to see:  sameness. feigned ignorance. stubbornness. disobedience.

If we lay a blanket of spiritual assessment over your life's nooks and crannies, what would we find? For you it is _________________ and ___________. Have you grown? Are these things STILL your problem? Is your spiritual life characterized by sameness, feigned ignorance, stubbornness and disobedience? The mark of Christianity is G.R.O.W.T.H. Are you growing in these areas? If not, you are in good company with the people of Corinth.  

Please like, share, subscribe at bewithme.us or write at [email protected]. Listen to the Podcast.  I did it for you.

God wants to impart something to us that the heart of man has not even imagined.  It is beyond category.  We will probably need some help in our 1.5 Kg brains to understand it.  Fortunately, God has been planning this for a long time.

The Holy Spirit is the one who has the "foot in heaven": comprehending the mind of Christ, understanding the thoughts of God, and searching everything in the depths of God. He also indwells us, and is a Helper, Teacher to interpret spiritual truths. This is His "foot in my head."

So what is the big deal.  Why might this be important to me?  Because you are going to need it is practical application.  Life is hard.  Stepping correctly requires help.  That is called wisdom and this is how you get it.  Additionally, it is how you enjoy the pleasure of God.  Obviously, He's gone to great trouble to help us.  

God gave you the gift of THOUGHT.  He's gonna need it for you to have a relationship with Him.  There is only one problem: His thoughts are so big and wonderful we have cannot understand them. We have already called them STUPID and FOLLY.  There is this gap.

So we are gonna need a communicator.  A Helper.  We need someone to go to heaven, understand the thoughts of God and then bring those thoughts into our thoughts.  That, Ladies and Gentlemen is the SPIRIT.  The Spirit is the go between that helps us.  He is the Helper.  

Then, we have a job to do with the tool of our thoughts.  We get to use it freely to decide, to yield, to have faith.  In the passage today belief means "to love the Lord," and "to understand the thoughts of God".  Listen 7 minutes as Paul makes this process prepared for eternity clear to the Corinthians.  Then subscribe at bewithme.us so he can make something else clear tomorrow.

The giant of the faith, Paul, describes his actual non-giant-of-the-faith self as WEAK, FEARFUL and TREMBLING.  What?  Why is that?  Well, because that is the way he ACTUALLY was.  It likely is a statement of reality.

Secondly, it is to get us to refocus our dependency on the right thing: the POWER OF GOD (amidst the people of God). His main concern is WHERE his people are putting their faith.  What does their faith rest UPON?  Me? Weak and trembling?  Not a good answer.  On God and all of His reality?  Yup.  Right answer.

When God has us positioned as trembling, relying on the reality of His power and presence, He has us EXACTLY where He wants us.  Go use this superpower of trembling today.  subscribe please at bewithme.us

Imagine DELIGHTING God today.  He says it is possible.  God takes great pleasure in a person who knows Him experientially; who wrestles and walks with Him a bit.  He delights in someone who then uses that knowledge in a practical way.

If knowing stuff about God and knowing God doesn't make a difference in what you say, think or do, then what is the point?

Amazingly, He wants to be known. He wants to be known accurately for His covenantal faithfulness, righteousness and justice.  Let's get our arms around that today both conceptually and then practically.  It is supposed to make a real difference.  When we do this, He is DELIGHTED. You can delight me too by subscribing at bewithme.us for another blast tomorrow. 

You are SUPPOSED to stumble over Jesus.  You have to.  Everybody has to.  The current population of the spiritual kingdom is populated by STUMBLERS.  If you think all of Christianity a bit in the ridiculous category then know this: GOD AGREES WITH YOU.  He is quite comfortable with being in the category of what seems to us to be: STUPID, folly and foolish.

So the person and personality of Christ is supposed to STOP US IN OUR TRACKS.  We are supposed to stub our toe on Him and pause and notice and say, "what was that? Who was that?"  

The first step is being stupid. The second step is to stumble. The third step is to NOTICE.  The fourth, to be CURIOUS. The fifth, to ask for HELP. The sixth is where God shines brightest and helps us when we need it most.

This podcast is for anyone who thinks Jesus is stupid; ridiculous; and Christianity is FOLLY.  Exactly.  You have stumbled over the STUMBLING STONE. The big question is, "NOW WHAT?" Share, like, subscribe at bewithme.us. We are on Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, iVoox and Pandora and 20 other podcast directories.  Stumble and notice with me tomorrow too.

Don't blame me.  Paul said it first.  He said the reality of the cross will seem like folly to those exposed to it.  Our more common word today would be stupid.  He says the truths of God, summarized as "the Cross", will seem to people around us as stupid.  So, I too say so with great respect.  I don't think I have heard anybody else use the term, but it is, in my humble judgment, appropriate here.  The history and promises and benefits of God-come-down-on-a-rescue-mission will at first blush appear as just stupid.

If you join this blog and especially the Podcast thinking this whole Christianity is just stupid, you are the most welcome here.  In fact, a great many believing Christians today, started exactly there: thinking this whole Jesus thing is just stupid.  You are in excellent company.  But don't stop with stupid.  It would be stupid to stop without enough data to go beyond stupid.  Join me at the "stupid cross"  and let's figure out together whether the cross really is stupid. The Lord can take your inquiry.  The cross can take your rigorous scrutiny. Please come back tomorrow by visiting bewithme.us and signing up for a daily visit of this podcast if you wish.