Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

The big call is to walk in a manner worthy of God.  Paul first qualifies himself by describing the heart of a pastor: I Have a gentle heart like that of a nursing mother (yesterday's podcast). I have the right motivation (being affectionately desirous of you); I have the right hands (ones that labor and toil because no work=no witness, or at least not a very good one); I have the right behavior (blameless conduct); I have the right heart (that of a FATHER with his children).

So this sets up the call to walk in a manner worthy of God.  It is requested by exhortation, encouragement and a charge--a little kick in the butt.

All this results in God being pleased. Likely, our good Lord has a call to you right now that would please Him if you answered it.  Listen 7 minutes and let's figure it out.  Then subscribe at bewithme.us or [email protected]

Men in our passage today describe themselves as WOMEN. Exposed women. Nursing mothers. Gentle with their months-old infants.  No better picture illustrates love, dedication, intimacy, immediacy, need and sacrifice.

This is exactly how the men want us to know what LEADERSHIP for the new Thessalonian church is like.  Leadership is like being a nursing mother to the infant church.  It is tender, it is committed, and it is exhausting. What is being a leader to the church like?  It is like a nursing mother caring for her infant.

It is a "mother in full."  "I am exactly what you need. I was made exactly for this. I am equipped exactly for this.  I am gifted exactly for this. I am exactly who you need."  Let us honor today all women who have participated in this miracle.  Let us honor today all the MEN who SEE THEMSELVES in this way toward the church.  We need more men like this. bewithme.us Subscribe as a podcast at Apple, podcast addict, Spotify, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Google podcasts, iHeart Radio, Chromechasts or even audible.  

Other than being hunted by a Mob, Paul has a lot of good things to say about the people of Thessalonia:

• they are in the right place: they are loved and chosen by God Himself
• they have chosen the right examples: Paul, Timothy and Sivanus
• they have started well: believe, listening, receiving and starting to change
• they have the right circumstances: AFFLICTION
• they have the right attitude: joy
• they have the right reproduction: now they are examples to those around them
• they have the right report: now others are reporting how they have turned to God and have been changed.

If you have some relational, financial, situational, or physical AFFLICTION, this encouragment is for you.  Listen 7 minutes, subscribe, like, and savor. Bewithme.us. [email protected]

You are at a great place to start listening to this podcast.  It is day #1 in the book of 1st Thessalonians.  We are following the early church.  Paul is on his second missionary journey having just visited the city of Thessalonica.  Unfortunately, there was a riot there and a mob compelled his departure.

But he saw that God was at work in his 3 weeks there.  So, from Corinth, he first sends the young Timothy to go back the 350 miles and check on them.  His return is the impetus to the letter.  They are doing well.  They are still on Paul's heart.  They are, more importantly, still on God's heart!  So the first few verses we find Paul remembering them before God.  God has not forgotten them.

Please listen 7 minutes each day as we march through God's wonderful revelation of Himself to the Thessalonians, and now to us.  Please subscribe at bewithme.us or write to [email protected].  Subscribe on your favorite Podcast portal like apple, google, Spotify...

Best of. Conclusions. Summary. Highlights.  What a blast. Join me for 7 minutes of ALL of the book of James.  Look for a Highlight/heartlight.  Yes I made that up.

Have a trial? Then James is for you. Expect it. Welcome it. He says to trial, "You complete me."

What is that pesky thing between my KNOWLEDGE and my ACTION? That is, when I know something, do I actually do something about it?  Sometimes, NO. What is lacking is the INTENTION.  I don't have the mind set towards action or change.  Stuck in the mud? Jame is for you.

Tongue gotten you into trouble?  James is for you.
Need a push towards humility and meekness? James is for you.
Don't know what meekness is? James is for you.
Would love to have powers of healing/saving/and being raised evident? James is for you.

All this in 7 minute bites. Summarized in one 7 minute bite: this one! bewithme.us

You have spiritual problems.  Everybody does.  You'd love to access the POWER to fix them. (The prayer of a righteous person has GREAT POWER as it is working!)That is exactly what today's passage talks about.

But hold on just a second. Before we get to the power, let's see the context of its' distribution. It is administered in a particular PLACE: the church. It is administered by particular PEOPLE: a community that you are amongst. It is administered under a particular PROTECTION: elders, organization, authority.  It is administered amidst certain PRACTICES: people you know and trust so much you can confess your sins to them.  Finally, it is administered in amazing-land of the PARACLETE. The Holy Spirit has gifted certain people in the church to help those who humbly request, and faithfully walk in community.

We all want this overflowing atonement that the prayers of others can give us.  If so, then get to the right community, in the right church, under the right authority, and with the right attitude of humility.  THEN, great power is going to be working.  Please listen tomorrow too.  Write and I will put you on the list. [email protected]

We should have an inclination to prayer. Everybody. The sick, the suffering, the cheerful, the leaders, the followers, the sinner, the prophet, those who are out of gas, and those who have some gas in the tank.

What struck me today was the sense of community that this prayer is born out of. There is a community that is engaging in the ONE ANOTHER's of scripture.  There are about 60 of them in the New Testament, but two are mentioned here. Both are high, high, high calls: to pray for one another and to confess our sins to one another. 

Here is the Lord's genius in helping the wanderer, the sick, the mature, the one bearing authority, the sufferer, the sinner, ie: everybody.  Put them in community to help one another.  This is where prayer makes the most sense.  I thank you for being in this little podcast community.  Please share to make it bigger and stronger.  subscribe bewithme.us

But what KIND of patience does James call us to? A passive, weak patience? Nope.

He turns to the farmer first. Farmers work hard, have spiritual-callouses, know the principle that what happens in August depends on what happens in April.  They know that August is WORTH it and is precious. There is patience in every day, a lot of "not yet today" in farming.

And look to the prophets.  They are marked by faithfulness to the end, and suffering in the meantime.  We want a patience that finishes well.

Listen patiently to 7 minutes of James making an argument and explanation of what spiritual patience is all about.  Please comment and review and write bewithme.us  or [email protected]

Welcome to a real day coming when money talks, riches rot, garments are eaten, inert metals corrode and there is flesh-eating-treasure.  It the dystopian, upside-down, Alice-in-Wonderland day that all of us will actually see. It is the ARMIES-OUT day of the Lord's judgment.

If your money could talk, what would it say about you?  In our passage it says the temporary owner committed fraud, injustice, inconsideration, self-indulgence, mis-treasuring and murder. 

All money talks.  It gives evidence on the outside of what is on the inside. Let's get the insides right.  Listen 7 minutes and let's get started. If today is not yet the day of Judgment, please like, share, retweet, and subscribe at bewithme.us for another daily blast.  If it is a LORD-OF-HOSTS kind of day, you won't need to bother...

Every person you see today is an eternal creature. But, as far as the here and now is concerned, they are MISTS.  Frankly, they just may not be here in the morning.  We MUST view ourselves as MISTS.  It helps us with a humble posture towards God regarding TIME.

So SHOULD a mist be making plans?  Sure, but with a humility of vision towards time.  Should a mist be planning travel and engaging in business to bring home the bacon?  Yes, with an attitude of humility toward the one who invented time. It is not that God doesn't like planning, travel and the provision of services.  What He doesn't like is arrogance, boasting, and the stinking thinking about time that will harm me.

Please share with someone you know to be a mist on Facebook, retweet on twitter, link up with LinkedIn, and subscribe with bewithme.us.