Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Happy Fourth of July to those of you in the USA.  Speaking of real estate, today two people move into two real locations.  One moves toward the Person and promises and acreage of God--Abram.  The other, Lot, moves his tent and his life toward Sodom. This nearly costs Lot his life. Our identity is defined by who and what  we move toward.  7 minute listen. Maybe one INCH of movement.  The podcast no...

Welcome to the strange, perhaps morally ambiguous story of the Father of Faith, the "Exhalted Father with no current children", of Abram. He gives his wife, "tell 'em you're my sister" Sarai into the hands of the Egyptian Court.  She is apparently so beautiful, that only a Pharaoh qualifies to consider as a wife partner.  The only problem is: she is already married. I...

"Building an altar" is to stop what you normally do, and focus on what God is doing.  It is carving out one's attention to be directed appreciatively towards God.  For Abram, it is done after first hearing, and later seeing God Himself.   Let's not take "the appearing" of God lightly.  It is a big deal when God becomes manifest here in a tangible way.  When we do see...

God Blesses Abram  for a reason. The sweet promises and Person of God is not just for himself.  It is for all the families of the earth.   God makes  ONE redemptive plan.  It is through this ONE guy, and the people that are his, that blessing is to come to this planet.  This is a big day in Scripture.  Join me for 7 minutes.  bewithme.us Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube at: http...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNijvDWAn2Wv2KFun2AnvCA Travel 10 generations with me from Noah to Abraham.  The problem is, even in a genealogical history, we encounter a family that can have no kids! And to boot,  Abraham is supposed to be the genetic pathway for many physical nations!  He is also the father of EVERY BELIEVER in the one true God.  Welcome to Abraham's PAIN POINT.  We have...

At the Tower of Babel, God sets the scene to use the scattering of the nations and the favoring of Israel, to benefit and draw back the nations.  This is coming in Chapter 12.  When God "comes down to see" it is always done in judgment. We cannot pridefully build stuff towards God, as we have problems BIGGER THAN CAN BE SOLVED WITH BRICKS!  Bewithme.us.

Modern people aren't the first to invent a "Sin City". That started with Babel and the Tower they built. Every generation seems to unify in wicked defiance against their Creator.  It is not a new story, but it is always new to us. Humans cannot earn their way to God by their striving.  BUT, God has striven toward us. Similarly, He is not opposed to effort, He is opposed to trying to...

The "Hebrews" are from a man called Eber. The Hebrews are his clan. God first divides the world around the Hebrews.  We are even seeing this today. God Blesses the world by blessing this nation Then He Saves the world through this nation. Genesis follows the people of Mr. Eber from here on out. His line will carry all throughout the Bible, starting with Abraham. Please listen or watch an...

Sometimes the spiritual diet is not just made up of Twinkies.  Sometimes you encounter a more difficult passage, where you have to dig around a bit to find the good stuff.  Welcome to the genealogy of Noah's sons. They are real people who lived in a real place and had a real relationship with God--most of them a poor relationship.  The real diamond comes through the line of Shem.  He's g...

All I am asking today is for us to LEAN IN to the Genealogy of Noah and his sons.  We go from 8 people total on the ARK to the filling of whole landmasses.  They are being fruitful numerically, just like God asked. The ark worked.  Humanity was saved.  They didn't turn perfect though.  Even Noah got caught in sin upon landfall.  People do continue, but so does their fallenness.  So does OUR f...

The ESV commentary on today's passage says, "This unusual episode provides an unexpected sequel to the flood story." No kidding! We'll look at drunkenness, disrespect and nakedness.  We'll assess our relationship with all three. We'll remedy all the common problems in our world.   Watch or listen for 7 minutes.  Subscribe on YouTube or Google podcasts.

Rainbows MEAN SOMETHING. They mean that there currently is Divine RESTRAINT. They mean that there is Divine RESCUE.  They mean that there is an opportunity for Divine Relationship. By knowing these things, we can then FIND THE RAINBOW MAKER. Join me for a 7 minute search for the Rainbow Maker. Subscribe to my YouTube channel! There are lots of videos there.  If God grants another day to us both, t...

We can know what God is thinking at a particular moment in time when we see a particular sign: THE RAINBOW.  He tells us that when He puts His bow in the clouds, HE SEES IT and REMEMBERS His covenant with mankind. This rainbow remembering covenant is one of divine restraint and also one of divine blessing.  First, He is holding back righteous judgment.  Second He is offering diving rescue and rela...

Despite the not-so-good intentions of mankind's heart, God offers rescue and relationship . Fortunately, this depends more on the character of God than of the character of man. After getting off the Ark, Noah finds himself in the BIG ARC, the big theme of history. This is the RELENTLESS PURSUIT of God towards mankind.  He offers rescue and relationship to Noah and to us. 7 minutes today. Subs...

Noah gets off the boat and BUILDS AND ALTAR. This pleases God.   God gets off the boat and BUILDS A COVENANT. This pleases US. Now people weren't perfected by the crucible of the Ark.  When looked at critically, they are evil at the core. YET, God chooses to make a 100% reliable promise to these knuckleheads. We see wonderful, perfect DIVINE RESOLVE in today's story. Listen or watch 7 mi...

Nobody was happier to get off the ARK, after some 370 days, than NOAH. Just imagine the smell of living in close quarters with literally every single animal left on the planet. God gives Noah a renewed earth to live with Him. My guess is that Noah was thrilled. I hope you too like the earth, because for believers, it will be our renewed home for eternity . We get to live back on the renewed earth...

Join me to hear a real story about a guy named Noah and his birds.  Also hear about his rescue vehicle, an ARK .  Most importantly, hear about the Rescuer that REMEMBERS him.  This is very important to you, as he is your great grandfather.  No rescue of Noah = no you . Ultimately, we are heading towards BELIEF .  Proclaim with me, "I believe in the flood . I believe in the rescue . I believe...

God REMEMBERS Noah.  It's a good thing. In so doing, He too remembers all of those to come from him.  That means you and me.  Remembering in the Bible means He thought of us, but also that He exerted divine help on our behalf.  Join me for seven minutes as we remember what God did for us by remembering Noah. Thank you for being here.  Subscribe to be here tomorrow too at bewithme.us or write...

Peter prophesied that after his time, people will  DELIBERATELY OVERLOOK  the flood. To deny the PAST helps to rationalize our denial of the FUTURE. If one says there is no previous judgment, it lends itself toward there being no future judgment.  This then means I can do what I want. If you deny the flood, you then get sloppy on judgment, creation, the Creator, and the cost of the rescue.  Don&ap...

The safety of the rescue operation to save humanity from the flood involved 100 years of construction and God who CLOSED A DOOR.  In my view, i t is not remarkable that those who deserved destruction got destruction by a just God. What IS is remarkable is that some, who deserved destruction DID NOT GET destruction by a just God. The remarkable event is  that there is grace, there is mercy and that...

Noah built the ARK in his driveway everyday for about 100 years . Then, on ONE PARTICULAR DAY, God said to him, GET INTO THE BOAT . There is  a time for long obedience in a single direction.  There is also a day where a specific faith ; a specific obedience is required. Get into the boat... NOW .  Today is the day to make your faith REAL .   Join me for 7 minutes as we watch NOAH do this after 100...

All of human history depends upon the ARK Our "Meta" thoughts about the ARK  are only possible because of the real MEGA ark Think about the ark, for without it, you wouldn’t be thinking now It is the "most important object in history"*, for without it, there is no cross          This ARK is the first step to the cross          The work of the Cross was possible because of the w...

Join me for 7 minutes as we take some instructions on: How to build an ark Who to build an ark When to build an ark and WHY build an ark The parallels for what we might need to build in our world are staggering.  Appreciate this massive example with me today! bewithme.us, apple podcast, spotify to come back tomorrow.

Join me for 7 minutes as we ask NOAH some tough questions: Noah, were you PERFECT in character? (no) Noah, did you do everything everybody around you was doing? (no) Noah, did you PLEASE GOD? (yes) Noah, did you yourself need a rescue? (yes) Noah, what was it about you that was so special (righteousness that comes by faith) bewithme.us Spotify and Google Podcasts

If every intent of man's heart is "only ever evil", then the flood make perfect sense.  What doesn't make sense is, "WHY IS THERE A BOAT?" Why does God save any? Why is there a rescue? You come from ADAM and EVE. So you’d know about your sin. You come from NOAH. So you ‘d know about HIS RESCUE. Yes, you come from a sinful people. But yes, you come from a RESCUED peopl...