Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

The long-term survival of the Church depends on healthy spiritual reproduction.  Paul tells Timothy how to do it.  Timothy is Paul's spiritual "child". His task is to entrust his treasures into another spiritual progeny.  Find faithful men to entrust to.   This is a message to every man and woman in the church today, no matter what your spiritual gift.  We should be looking for thes...

Paul is encouraging Timothy to: Put yourself in the  PATH of sound doctrine. Bible study, sermons, maybe even a podcast. Put yourself in the midst of a  PEOPLE are putting themselves before the pattern of sound doctrine. You'll know them because they are seeking, serving and being struck. Put yourself before the  PERSON of the Holy Spirit whose job is to help. He indwells believers for a reas...

We are to follow the  PATTERN of SOUND TEACHING. Basically, we should be following the Bible. We are to follow the  PEOPLE who are following the Pattern of Sound Teaching; surrounding ourselves with people who surround themselves with the truth. We are to follow the PERSON of God, the Holy Spirit who resides within to help us guard the treasure we have been given. Do you have God as He is received...

I am not ashamed to attach myself to the ongoing rescue mission put in place by God. Yup, I might be in prison and even heading toward death, but that is small potatoes for our sovereign God.  I know Him , and I know His  Gospel . I am connecting myself to Him and His plan.  I am going all in.  I am not ashamed. To all of us cowards out there, let's hear Paul's resilient testimony and ta...

God has equipped his people to engage in all the spiritual battles that may be out there. Perhaps we are BETTER equipped than we have been acting.  Our passage today says that He's given us SPIRITUAL POWER   that is explosive .  He's given us capability as a gift FROM ANOTHER WORLD for us to use here on  this world.   It is as if we've been plinking with rifles when we've got a...

Ours is a faith of FLAMES and TEARS.  The flames come from God.  It is a picture of His indwelling.  The Holy coming to dwell in humanity.   The tears, well, you know all about that.  We live in a world of the tears of separation and sinfulness and sickness.  There is a lot to cry about.  Paul remembers Timothy's tears as he begins his FINAL LETTER to Timothy.  Paul is in prison in Rome in ab...

Appreciating a book of the Bible is like finding treasure.  Some gems are easy to find.  For others, you gotta dig a little. Join me for a review of 2 Peter as I recall with you some of the treasures we have found in the last 2 weeks.  Some were easy and some came with groans.  Here's the good news: GOD HAS MADE HIMSELF KNOWN and we are the better for it. How then shall I live?  Bewithme.us o...

When it is all over for us in this familiar world,  how will we be found ? Peter gives some pretty strong suggestions: be diligent to be found unblemished in behavior and of soul in right relationship with the authority of Scripture and the wise people of God Growing in knowledge, that is the understanding that the mind does GROWING IN GRACE . This is the appreciation for the favor, graciousness,...

For at least a moment, what is coming is a WORLD WITHOUT STARS.  All the stars we know and love will be destroyed, melted and "rolled up like a robe." He who put it all there in the first place is going to take it all away on the great and awesome day known as THE DAY OF THE LORD.  In light of this future reality, Peter asks, What sort of people ought we be and what kind of a life out we...

The Lord's PATIENCE with us is like a " long spirited" parent towards a child.  They see the big picture with a long lens . The patience is with a purpose: that we'd come to the repentance of salvation. The day of salvation is also a day of sorrow .  It is the a-ha moment of awareness of wrongfulness to God, penalty required, and then poof!: Penalty paid, but not by me. It is t...

Join me  today as we look at  time.  There has been an accusation against God that His timing is off; that He is TOO SLOW.   He counters that it is not slowness, but that His PURPOSE is PATIENCE so that PEOPLE do not PERISH.  He wants everybody to have a chance to be with Him. That comes only through repentance.   I didn't repent yesterday. I haven't repented today. "I'll do it...

Have you ever played Hide and Seek with a three year old as they bulgingly hid under the couch cushions as you said, "I don't Seeeeeeeeeeeee you!"? That is the picture we get today from a spiritual scoffer who DELIBERATELY OVERLOOKS something that is right in front of them. It is a person who willfully does not see so they can continue to do what THEY want, and not do what GOD wants...

Today's message is like a FLY STUCK on FLYPAPER, calling out, "ooooh, it smells so TASTY where I am. Come be like me." He promises freedom, but all the while he is ENTRAPPED and ENSLAVED.  We will let this potentially enticing fly teach this lesson.   Pictured like this, we will not trust that fly for a second. His end is coming and it is not looking pretty.  He is a lesson in cauti...

There is a group of people who are  good examples of being bad examples. They are those " who DO NOT TREMBLE "before the Lord. They are those who do their wrong BOLDLY .  They figure prominently in today's passage. There are lessons to be learned from them. We'd be wise to glean from them what we can. Why is it so often that the most ignorant, the most unknowledgeable is the mo...

God is in the rescue business and it is a good thing, or ALL OF US would be lost.  Remember, God is also in the Justice / Judgment business.  Absent His help, His mercy, His wrapping us in HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, we'd all be toast. Without Jesus, every single one of us is on the wrong team : the unrighteous team . Everybody. But here's the good news: He makes a way that HIS righteousness can...

Peter was an eyewitness to the transfiguration of Christ and and earwitness to the voice of God borne to him by the "Majestic Glory" saying, "this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Yet, Peter says we have something MORE SURE , more RELIABLE , more SOLID than this experiential evidence: We have the Bible . The prophetic word of Scripture is the most reliable commu...

Peter is on his way off this planet soon.  He knows this because Jesus has made it clear to him. Jesus gives him this message, "You are dying," so that PETER GIVES US the message of this book of 2 Peter. "Some of this is review.  You already KNOW some of this but I'm going to remind you of it again. Why? So that after I am gone you will REMEMBER it. I am dying, so you are going...

God's part in our spiritual GROWTH is above our pay grade. Our part in our spiritual GROWTH is NOT above our consideration. God gives us markers to assess how things are going on this sometimes elusive spiritual walk.  7 characteristics should be increasing in our life to keep us from being ineffective or unfruitful. We'd do best to pay a bit of attention to them to see how we are doing....

The natural qualities of godliness do not easily come to mankind except by the eager application of relational practices aimed toward God.  Your  habits  will for the most part, determine your  holiness;   and what you do  practically   determines your participation in the divine nature. Assess your virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love.  The growt...

Peter is the best  KNUCKLEHEAD in the Bible. I say that to honor his ending, especially from where he started.  I think he's a great encouragement to us. This book, 2 Peter is his figurative and literal  LAST WORD. Join me as we give ear for 7 minutes at a time. He wants us to PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE NATURE.  H e wants us to be holy like He is holy. How does that happen?  Poof? No, it happe...

If you are a fan of 1st Peter, then you are a friend of mine.  I hope you are going to miss it as much as I am. It is a book about trouble and suffering and calls to every human.  It is a book about good leadership and good followership aka submission.  It is a reminder that though indeed there will be trials, we do not have to go through the trials ALONE. We have His tending, protection and His p...

It's almost heresy to say one particular book is my absolute favorite in the Bible. With that caution, 1 Peter is my absolute favorite book in the Bible (today). Join me in a highlights show of many of the TREASURES that are there for the taking. 1 Peter is THICK with RICHES and they are there for us to trip over. This 7 minutes will be an encouragement from the good Lord to read this very go...

Hold on to your hat as we survey the excellencies of Chapters 1 & 2 of 1 Peter.   We'll find that we are exiles, but we are guarded; that this is not God's first day; that even angels longed to look at what's in 1st Peter; that we are STRANGERS to holiness; that it is a good thing to be of God's possession; that our conduct in submission and suffering is being watched by Go...

Peter finishes his letter with a call to greet warmly, to kiss, those who have been in the battle.  Yup, this is a book about the realities of life. It is specifically a whole lot about suffering and doing suffering correctly.  It is not easy. He asks for a nice warm greeting to people who have been in the battle successfully (Silvanus) and  less than successfully (Mark).  God is faithful.  It is...

Regarding suffering: Be not SURPRISED by it. It comes to all Be SHARING in Christ's suffering. He did it first and did it well. Be the SAME in the suffering of other people. We may suffer alone, but we are not alone in our suffering. Be STEADFAST . If you are resisting temptation, suffering is quite frequent. Be SOVEREIGN . Or at least, let Him be sovereign in the CALL to suffering. Be SHORT...