Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Paul is no stranger to injustice.  Usually he gets a plate full of it.  In Corinth however, he actually enjoys justice as his case is thrown out before he even has to open his mouth in his defense. The Lord has him settled in Corinth for at least 18 months.  

The question for today is how do I make the most of my next (Lord willing)18 months.  What might I devote myself to and KEEP DOING?  What does the advocacy of the Spirit of Jesus within me prompt me to STOP DOING?  What might seem good to the Holy Spirit and to you to START DOING? The 18 month clock is ticking.

Serving. Administrating. Loving. Hospitality. Teaching. Caring. Anger. Gossip. Porn. Words. Kindness. Finances. Time. Pick one or two.  See you in 18 months, perhaps. 

Meantime, subscribe at bewithme.us or [email protected]

Apparently, the good Lord looks upon our cities with a different set of EYES and TIMING. He says to Paul, "I have many in this city who are my people." When Paul looks around he sees a different picture. He sees something more like, "I don't see, yet, what you see, Lord".

The Lord wants a people for His name, for His possession.  He wants to BE WITH people.  This would be a good name for a podcast.  Here, the Lord is blowing our minds with His foresighted sovereignty.  The AND part here is quite humbling.  He tells Paul to keep preaching and teaching and disciplining.  This is to mature the already-believers and to bring in the not-yet-believers-that-God-already-sees-as-His-own.

Lord, do you have many in my city that are Your people that I see as not Your people?  Give me those who are not your people that you have called and you'd like a bit of cooperative sovereignty going on. Help me to not be afraid. Let me value your "Be With Me" in my life and in the lives of others.  Amen and Amen and Amen.  write [email protected] and I'll send you the podcast each morning early early early.  

Paul goes to his furthest point on the "second" Missionary Journey: Corinth.  He stays for 18 months. He's very involved with people, both Jews and Gentiles, as they are melded together into the new church.

He gets opposition to his message as well as his person.  All along we find he is involved with his OCCUPATION (tent making) while being OCCUPIED by the WORD.  It is here in Corinth that Paul pens the books of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.  Remember, there were believers there, but also the Jews that made a rabble and a mob.

Listen as Paul settles down for the long haul in Corinth.  Meantime, do your occupation, but be Occupied by His Word.  Subscribe to Bewithme.us as it might help.

God exists. In Him we have our being. We are created. In Him we have breath and life.  In Him we have sustenance.  This is not from the Old Testament Bible.  It is from the Paul McCartney of their day. Even the secular poets agree.  They write about it.  

If all this is so, as your poets have agreed, then we are a bit beholden to Him.  We are commanded to agree with His view of judgment and repent.  The authority for this is powered by the resurrection of Jesus.  That is how we know He is strong enough to take away our big sin problem.  

God is near. His mercy is great. I can believe and hear and follow and receive.  Even Paul McCartney agrees. ;-)

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The people of Athens are 'spiritual' people.  All people are spiritual people.  God made all of us that way.  He put "eternity in our hearts."

But the athenians have gotten the DIRECTION of their worship wrong and are generally worshiping the wrong thing.  Paul is on a mission to straighten them out by instructing them on some critical characteristics of the God they have been looking for.

He is creator. He is not needy. He isn't located in temples anymore. He is giver of life. He is maker of mankind.  We are all spiritual-brothers. You are made for eternity. He is not far. He is within reach. If you seek Him, you can FIND HIM.

Some suggestions: Open His Word. Sit under some teaching. Walk with the wise. Wonder a bit. Maybe for these 7 minutes.  FIND HIM.

When Paul saw the Parthenon, it was already almost 500 years old.  Though it stands now as a generic monument to Greek architecture, its' purpose then was infinitely different.  It was made for WORSHIP.  Great efforts, resources, commitments, money and devotion were actively happening to WORSHIP.  

There is only one problem at the parthenon and every other temple (except for the synagogue) that Paul encountered: they all MISSED THEIR MARK.  Perhaps the Greeks had a "God shaped hole in their hearts".  Perhaps God indeed had put "eternity into man's heart" as it says in Ecc 3:11.  But all those temples worship idols, that is, "gods" that DO NOT ACTUALLY EXIST.  The Athenians have the right heart but the WRONG TARGET. In reality, there is only ONE GOD.

Watch as Paul uses their spiritual inclinations to bend their MIS-worship to true worship.

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Can a civilian person who gives some eager attention to the scriptures actually make sense of them?  The Bereans show us YES. If you do what they do, which is described as NOBLE, the Scriptures will be clear to you.

They make an entrance for the Word    BE RECEPTIVE
They receive it with enthusiasm                BE EAGER
They examine it actively                                 BE CAREFUL
They use an authoritative source              BE HUMBLE
They do this daily                                                BE REGULAR
They do this together                                      BE IN COMMUNITY
They end up believing                                     BE IN AWE

All noble listeners, please subscribe and follow and like and make BE WITH ME a part of that practice for you.

A mob/rabble forms that is so angry at an IDEA, that they attack a BUILDING.  What? They mis-anger so badly that they will take ANY target to vent.  What could cause such passion?

That it is NECESSARY for the Christ to SUFFER. The very unpalatable passion of the crucifixion HAS TO HAPPEN.  It is critical to wipe away general sins, and wipe away big sins.  The cross and all the preceding HORRORS are the antidote to the sin problem.

BIG BAD suffering is necessary for BIG BAD SIN.  Big gulp sin NEEDS big bad suffering. The emotional, theological, relational, positional and physical suffering is NECESSARY. 

It is how we know that our sins are paid for sufficiently.  My worst sin is covered by Christ's worst suffering.  Listen to this horrible news for 7 minutes. Subscribe at BeWithMe.us please.

Magistrates today have a bit of "come to Jesus" moment.  The lightbulb goes on that they have MISUSED the authority that they have been given.

Having authority = Being accountable for that authority
Authority OVER = Authority UNDER

We too have lots we are authoritative over.  You might be president of a country, or of a family, or of a work section, or of a sibling, or of a pet.  In addition, we are all also authoritative over our words, over our thoughts, over our actions and even over our attitudes.  With that authority comes accountability.

The Magistrates in the story connect the dots.  They are terrified that they misused their authority.  Let's be careful with all the corners that we have charge over, for we also must account for those corners.  Thank you for your precious 7 minutes.  See you tomorrow.  bewithme.us

Following the great question: "What must I do to be saved?" is an action. But, it is not an action of DOING, it is an action of BELIEF.  We are very tempted to always be "working" our way to God.  Even the question betrays that bias, "What must I DO to be saved?"

The easy work of God is the hard work of our belief.  The work of God is to believe.  We are even tempted to add some works on our part after hearing that.  I'm not saying believing is easy, for this is what it means:

1. I believe that He exists; 2. That He created all; 3. That He created me; 4. That He knows me and my limits and my sin and that I'm not able to get out and I'm in big trouble; 5. That He made a rescue plan; 6. That the plan involves sacrifice, blood and death; 7. That I cannot do any of that myself; 8. That Jesus can and is sent, a sacrifice and is sufficient to do the job; 9. That believing is by grace thru faith and not by works; 10. That the easy work of God is the hard work of belief.

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