Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

How can a podcaster talk about the same thing for four mornings in a row?  Perhaps it is worth our attention  because it has affected us every day since then .   I'm struck with the grievousness of the fall today.  I'm thinking of all the lives it has cost: billions of humans, and then the precious rescue/redeeming/restoring life of Jesus.  Listen with a little tear as you hear about the...

Every serial killer has his first kill.  Satan gets the first KILL of BILLIONS in the garden called Eden.  He is a " murderer from the beginning." Well, Eden is the beginning. Adam was there . Adam was silent . Adam allowed his beloved to be beguiled by a serial killer.  He allowed the clear command to be doubted . He allowed her to eat with a serial killer.  Adam fails Eve and God in th...

God creates Eden for man, woman, and Himself.  But there is another sentient being found there in Genesis 3:1.  It is the serpent. Satan.  Think on this:There was room for him in Eden, or at least he was allowed . Temptation for our great grandparents was  allowed .  Free will, for good and for bad was allowed , JUST LIKE TODAY . Wherever this podcast finds you today, you are in an environment whe...

Of all the paragraphs in the Bible, this one might be the saddest.  God has allowed choice in His Eden garden, even the choice for rebelling against Him. He has allowed Eve and Adam to surf with the serpent.  This results in asking some accusing questions of God and even denying His clear truths. The serpent's arguments are: He didn't really say that He said it, but He didn't really...

Leaving, Cleaving and Sex. What could be more fun? Welcome to Marriage 101. Our society is more and more confused about their identities and liberties of sexual behavior. However, God is not confused.  He's given some exceptionally clear principles for gender, for marriage, and for sex.  It all starts right here in the book of Genesis. Join me for a 7 minute primer. Bewithme.us and Spotify to...

I'm a big fan of the RESCUE MISSION that God sends to help with the big problems of Sin and Death .  But the FIRST RESCUE mission sent by God to address a certain need, " aloneness " , is EVE . Join me for 7 minutes as we look at the problem and the wonderful answer that is Eve and eventually the rest of her female kin. She is fabulously designed , made for a purpose and answers the...

The first big problem arises on the created earth: ALONENESS.  Adam was alone. To bring emphasis to the point, God brings him every animal, probably in pairs. There is no suitable helper in the animal kingdom. But God is not finished. He makes an ultimate creation from man and for man: WOMAN. She is designed specifically to a purpose and to a person.  She is made of him and for him.  She solves th...

Let's talk about WORK: Work is created BEFORE the FALL, before sin. Work is not the result of sin Work is commissioned by God Work IS A BLESSING We are to be Gardener and Guardians; Cultivators and Keepers. This podcast is only 7 minutes. Why? Because it is ENOUGH.  Enough to get you started each day in a spiritual thought or two.  And, because I know that you gotta go WORK. See you tomorrow...

There is a great battle at The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God sets a limitation, a boundary ,  and a line not to cross.  There the CHARACTER of God is questioned. The tree is never again heard from...or is it? We bristle at the same battle line. We scream or whisper to God: "I don't like borders. I'll make my own.  I'll do it MY WAY !" Let us today be aware o...

Smack dab in the middle of Eden is the "BUT" tree.  All the other trees are good for food and pleasing to the eye, BUT...It is the CAUTION tree, the FORBIDDEN tree, the COMMANDMENT tree and the TRUST tree. This "do NOT" tree is the central object of mankind's rebellion against God.  It is at this object where not only the  cautions of God are questioned, but the  character...

If you wake up and see a TREE OF LIFE, you are in for a wonderful day. It is a marker that your relationship with God has been restored , you are a believer , that you are in heaven and that you are going to be there forever . It is a MERCY that our access to the TREE OF LIFE was forbidden when we were in our fallen state of broken fellowship.  He has created us for eternal fellowship with Him. be...

You were made with some very common stuff of our world: Oxygen, Hydrogen, Carbon, etc. All of that is in every handful of dirt on our planet. You were also made of the most rare element possible: THE BREATH OF LIFE which is the BREATH OF GOD .  This makes you permanent . This makes you planned . And this makes you PRECIOUS . Your CRITICAL ELEMENT isn't carbon , it is the BREATH OF GOD . This...

There is a sweet moment after a wonderful piece of music. It is the silence, the REST that comes AFTER the beautiful creation, and BEFORE what comes next, applause. God's 6 day creation is like that beautiful music. The silence is GOD's rest. the Sabbath is the Pause Before the Applause. The applause then,  is our response to what God has done.   God blesses the sabbath. God makes the da...

God makes Time God steps INTO time God does not NEED to rest God counts to 7 and rests God does this to help us We need rest. To show us, God rests first.  To do so, He has to enter time.  He has to count to 7 before then exhaling . This helps us get the message. Bewithme.us  for any New Testament series. Or, subscribe for tomorrow by counting to ONE. Apple Podcasts, etc. 

On the first page of the Bible, we learn: You are loved You are blessed You are special You have a job You have dominion over a bunch of stuff You have the  blessing of God to do the  mandate of God. God assessed His 6th day of creation and found it VERY good. You could assess His sixth day of creation too.  I wonder if YOU will also find it VERY GOOD. Check it out. bewithme.us Apple Podcasts Spot...

We carry two things of God with us: His IMAGE. We are made in His likeness.  We are created, male and female, to bear His image to others in His creation.  We are surrounded by the image-bearers of God. His charge for us to exercise DOMINION. He's given us sovereignty over some stuff. We are to have responsibility that we carefully carry.  He has given every person, even children, the "b...

If you go to the zoo today, you will meet an animal that was created on DAY 5 ½ .  Maybe it will be a Red Panda or a Komodo Dragon! On that day, God made an arsenal of land, sea and air.  He made creatures in the water, in the air and on the ground.  It is as if He was building an army, navy and Air Force of LIFE. Let's then point to the CREATURES, and especially to the CREATOR of it all. Per...

We just had a total solar eclipse here in Ohio. It emphasized the importance of the sun by having it lost to us for a few minutes. Notice with me in Genesis that God made the sun and set it to give light and to rule. We wondered on eclipse-day, how long the world would last if the eclipse did not go away? We thought NOT LONG.  Anarchy would soon follow. No person here can currently say, "Sun,...

God made some stuff on the THIRD DAY that ended up in my coffee cup this morning.  He made COFFEE. On the first day He makes time. On the second day He makes a place for us. On the third day, HE MAKES COFFEE. Let's appreciate this amazing process that started on day three.  I did not PLAN on especially appreciating my coffee this morning.  I discovered it anew.  Listen seven minutes and you m...

In West Side Story, one of the great moments in theater takes place as Maria sings SOMEWHERE . A PLACE FOR US to Tony. Check out the 1961 film if you haven't seen it. Similarly, God MAKES A PLACE FOR US on day two of creation.  He makes a vertical space--a vault, an atmosphere for us to live in. He makes a horizontal space as He separates water and land.  Literally, he make a place where the...

Join me in a sequential look at the FIRST BOOK of the Bible, GENESIS . Today, for 7 minutes, we'll look at the FIRST DAY of the First Book. We'll see God's:  Antecedence : God was there BEFORE creation even started Attention : God leans in here. Without His attention directed here, none of this would have happened.  This is also to say that I wouldn't have happened.  My very ex...

Reflections on 4 years of 7 minute sequential bites of the New Testament. It's been more important to get the Bible THRU ME, than for me to "get thru" the Bible. I wish I could have done better.  I wish I could have been a better teacher and guide. I was tasked with the Almighty and as you see, I am not very mighty. I  am grateful to people. I am especially grateful to the Lord.  Th...

Ultimately, heaven is where we go to be with God forever. Where HE is, WE is. Fellowship with Himself is what He made OURSELVES for. He made EDEN for MAN and God. He makes HEAVEN for God and Man. Thank you for walking with me these 99 episodes in Revelation. God has been so very kind, even GENEROUS each day. I am humbled to have shared even one word of it. He promises that the reading of Revelatio...

Revelation is God speaking in His LOUD VOICE.  In it, He invites us to AGREE with Him that Jesus is WORTHY, so we should WORSHIP Him. He is sovereign and shelters those who say yes, in His presence.  The whole thing is an invitation to make room in our hearts for Him.  He wants us to "eat the book" in enthusiasm.  He wants us to repent if necessary.  Trust me, it is necessary ;-) Bewithm...

Listen 7 minutes to hear the TOP 10 highlights of Revelation! This is Vol 2, for one volume just wasn't enough.  Here's one to remember: #18: Revelation is a LOVE STORY. We used the movie Toy Story to picture Woody longing to be loved ANDY, to be owned my him.  What he and the rest of the toys MOST DESIRED was that Andy WRITE HIS NAME ON THEM.  Similarly, in Revelation, God tells believe...