Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

The Movie Toy Story is really a LOVE STORY .  Or more accurately, a LONGING to be LOVED story.  Woody and the rest of the toys desire to be loved by Andy; to be OWNED by him.  Literally, they most desire that he WRITE HIS NAME ON THEM. Similarly, God tells believers that He will write his name on us .  It is a beautiful conclusion to our life of desire for Him. Join me for just 7 minutes for a fun...

Jesus said He's coming back soon. That was about 704085 days ago. We don't know specifically WHEN, but we do know that it gets closer every day. The call is to be ready. What happens to the Church, prior believers, when the great tribulation comes? This passage supports the idea that the Church is raptured before the trouble starts. I hope that is true.  We'll see in future days as...

Our precious relationship to God is Personal, overwhelming, intimate, irreplaceable and  dear.  What it is NOT, is PRIVATE.  In this passage, the enemies of God learn of God by learning of His relationship with people. God is the first-mover in love and we respond by making Him our "first love" Rev2:4. This relationship is supposed to be a winsome witness to those who do not yet know Him...

If you are a believer, you name is already in the Book of Life.  It has been there since the foundation of the world.   If that is not amazing enough, if you are NOT YET a believer, your name MIGHT ALSO be in the Book of Life.  How?  Well, God knows those who are His from the beginning of time.  Who does NOT know? At least for a while?  US.  Perhaps you are slated to be in the Book of Life, and in...

Those in Sardis have a good reputation.  The bad news is that this reputation is INACCURATE.  They look alive but are truly dead in all the important ways. Yet, they still have a chance for restoration.  The Biblical process is Repenting.    I’m pretty sure you’d want to be in the Book of Life. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t mind your name called out in heaven before the Father and the angels.   Fin...

How’d you like to get a STAR? Faithful believers are promised a star. But wait, Jesus has already identified HIMSELF as the Morning Star.  So, faithful, persistant followers get at prize at the end: It is Jesus Himself.    We’ll be seeing things a little brighter, and with a bit more clarity. IMHO Jesus here says: You get ME! You are getting a star.  And the star is ME.   Bewithme.us bewithme.us@g...

The Church in Thyatira gets a whole right: Love, faith, service, endurance and growth. But for some near to them, Bad theology leads to bad Zipperology. Or at least bad Zipperology is being justified by bad theology. Tolerance for stuff that is bad is not a virtue in the New Testament. He is the God who searches minds and hearts, so there is no fooling Him.  He is not deceived, so let's not d...

God will give His people that finish well a couple of prizes. One is an invitation to a nice heavenly banquet. As if that is not enough, they get a new name.  This reflects an intimacy and a unique identity that only the Lord can give.  Perhaps He is recollecting some experience that only you and He knows.  Perhaps it will reflect a new ongoing reality.  I cannot wait to find out. bewithme.us

Not every idea is a good one.  Not every idea in the church will honor the one true God. We are accountable for what we allow in its' walls. To act with sexual immorality is to act treacherously against the Lord because the morality of sexuality comes from the Lord. Tolerance for everything in the church of Smyrna should result in the corporate grieving of wronging the Lord. Listen as we hear...

Imagine a real church that has few resources; it faces real evil; it is experiencing hardship because of its’ association with Jesus; and they are infiltrated with deceitful people. To make matters worse, they are warned that they have “suffering unto death” ahead.   Jesus calls them RICH. They have an abundance of the really good stuff: His presence, His help and His Person. They have everything...

It is no surprise that God opposes that which opposes Him.  The real surprise is that we can agree with Him in that process. He invites us in to hear the truths that stand against Him and then join Him in resistance.  We are on the right team. We have the right powers. We have the right Leader.  Now act like it. The invitation today is about having the right EAR; tuning ourselves to the communicat...

The amazing thing about losing one's FIRST LOVE relationship with God is that it is RECOVERABLE.  You can walk back the divorce.  You can be restored in relationship. There are steps to take, but it is worth it.  If you find yourself at loggerheads with the Lord, then today's message from Revelation should be an encouragement. If you continue to be hard hearted after hearing this opening...

The Good news is the Ephesians were DEAR TO THE LORD.  The bad news is that they lost their first-love intimacy with Him.  They got to a state where HE wasn't quite DEAR to THEM. Our passage is not so much about DUTY, but of DEARNESS.  The Lord is in our relationship with us in a profound way.  He desires to be DEAR TO YOU. Let's do what it takes to let Him. Listen tomorrow too at bewith...

The Church at Ephesus does so many things RIGHT.  When God drops the curtain of all pretense and looks carefully at them, there is much to commend.  May this be true of us. Imagine God doing a spiritual health check up.  He doesn't have to FIND anything, He KNOWS already. God knows truly who we are.  The question is, do we? Let's assess this same idea with the Lord in ourselves. Bewithme...

Somebody had to first be sorry for your sins so that you could then one day be sorry for your sins. He had to first take your sins seriously so you could soon take them seriously . The only reason that Jesus DIED was to help you LIVE without sin. Listen 7 minutes today as we see Jesus twirl His spiritual keys about. He boldly show us He has the keys of Death and Hades.  He is telling us His creden...

You will see Jesus some day.  He'll probably have Royal robes and a sash of Gold; Holy hair; feet of powerful ability; hands that hold an army; a mouth full of the Word; and my personal favorite: Eyes that are not green or brown, but are like flames of fire.  He has a voice that can roar like the roar of many waters.  If you have ever been to Niagara Falls and ridden on the Maid of the Mist,...

Many people when they die are decayed, lowly, degenerative, sometimes paralyzed, and sometimes full of cancer. When we meet them in heaven, will they look the same? Surprisingly, the Bible has a lot to say about it. Jesus bore our image HERE so we could bear HIS IMAGE THERE. He bore the image of dust so we can bear the image of immortality . He came to look like us here so we can look like Him the...

If you wanna find God, go look in the midst of His people.  He is found in the midst of the knuckleheads He loves.   He is in the midst in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  He is in the midst of the Israelites in the Exodus. He is literally in the middle of the churches of Western Asia.  Should it be any surprise that we will find Him today in the midst of the church He loves? Moses understoo...

It is my suggestion that you : place yourself along side the people that God has placed Himself alongside.  go stand in the middle of those whom God stands in the middle of listen from the place where God speaks as loudly as a trumpet stand in the midst of those God stands in the midst of Where is this amazing place? It is in THE CHURCH. It is in the literal, local, knucklehead-filled, imperfect c...

When Jesus comes back, absent His help, all the earth will WAIL at His appearing. It is every individual saying, "Oh NO! Judgement is here! I'm in big trouble." Or, we can WELCOME His appearing. To do so, we'll need significant help. First, We'll need help with our death problem...if we could only find Someone who is "the firstborn of the dead..." Second, we&apos...

Welcome to the Book of Revelation. The type of literature is a SHOWING. There will be a lot for our spiritual eyes to see.  This will be our exposing ourselves to God, thru Jesus, thru an angel, thru John, thru the writing as He exposes Himself to us. I cannot wait! There is a blessing proclaimed here for the  hearing,  for the  reading   and for the  keeping.  We humbly approach this book because...

123 John is a love story. God started it all because God is love.  He then shares that love with us so we can share it with folks around us.  123John is a compact book of wisdom and practical knowledge.  In it we learn how to recognize the genuine lover of God and how to recognize the pretenders.  In 123 John we learn that the people of God are being HELD by God.  For what might the Lord be holdin...

Our allegiance to God should result in evidence . The Children resemble the family. We should be in a new relationship with sin: NOT making a practice of it. NOT being in the habit of it. Agreeing with God by being horrified by it. Then, we take this internal transformation outside .  We love the sisterhood. We love the knuckleheads God has placed around us in the church. Our behavior should leave...

123John is a love story of God to people.  It is about a loving God who then evidences that love by action. Similarly, our being loved and being in God's family should give evidence as well.  He asks of us that our allegiance result in evidence.  We are spiritual children. This means that we OOZE needfulness and adoptability. Remember, SUFFICIENT people don't think they need a savior. We...

How'd you like to be a person who comes with a WARNING LABEL stamped on you? We meet such a person in 3John.  He's a guy who gets  authority wrong. This leads to additional errors of thought and action.  He demonstrates being anti-missional and anti-church. The church should not tolerate such a person. Let the people of God, treat the sent of God, in a manner worthy of God. Too, let the...