Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Someday, you will get a body that is BEYOND CATEGORY.  It will be imperishable, raised in glory and power and somehow spiritual.  It is difficult for us to imagine, but God helps get us started... We have "different categories of creation" that we can understand.  Even my favorite 4 year old understands these categories.  Fish are different than stars. Animals are different than the moon...

Death is going to be "put under subjection", destroyed and defeated.  Tears will be wiped away  forever and death shall be no more.  Wow.  I cannot wait.  The question is, can I believe it when I cannot quite  see it ? Here is a supporting argument Paul makes. Even Jesus is "put under subjection" in the trinity.  There is order, functionality in the trinity for eternity.  Getti...

Have you ever thought this world was a bit upside-down? Had an interaction with death that was unpleasant? Seen an evil that made you cringe? Wondered WHY is there evil? If Christ wasn't raised, you can expect an eternity of the above.  However, if He really was raised, and the resurrection is true, then it has epic consequences for us: we get a future resurrection We get a future aliveness w...

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis is definitely worth a trip.  It was there that I saw, in 20foot high lettering, YOUR FAITH IS IN VAIN. I was unfamiliar with our verse today and my first thought was how harsh the designers of that dome were. But it wasn't the designers that were HARSH. It was Paul! It is him making an argument to the Corinthians.  He's saying, if Christ wasn't ra...

There is a tension in today's passage.  Paul basically says that "I stand in grace" therefore I WORK HARD.  He's getting to the heart of the idea of "what is an appropriate response to the favor of God?" For Paul, it is to WORK HARD. Listeners may find themselves today as disfavoring God; as late to the party or even a no-show; as an enemy of God.  If so, there is som...

Where are the most beautiful, most powerful women in the world? Vogue magazine? Nope. They are in the church, winning the battle for real beauty. Subjection is something all Christians do.  Submission is something that Jesus did. It is something that Wives do.  It is something the ancients did.   Why would I want to be subject to any One, any one? Doesn't it show  weakness ? Or is it  power u...

Order in the gathered believers is sometimes demonstrated by silence.  Regarding the speaking gifts, in the gathered body, there is a limitation based on gender. That is, women should be silent with regards to exercising the speaking gifts here.   This doesn't mean that women cannot be great teachers; or are of lesser value; or are not gifted. It does say they have a different role than men a...

When the church GATHERS, leaders are shooting for something.  Their goals are order, building up, learning and encouragement.  This doesn't happen by accident.   A theme of how this is accomplished is by LIMITATION.  In today's passage, Paul is going to put limits on the gathering: it is limited by purpose (to get to order, learning, encouragment, conviction, etc.) it is limited by comma...

God goes to great trouble to equip His church with leaders, and order, and teaching. Then He continues to work in real time with a leader in the service with spontaneous leadings and ideas and remembrances.  This is prophesy. The spiritual-bullets of prophesy are not without effect.  They hit their target. This results in a salvation process: COMING: unbelievers walk in the door CONVICTING: hearts...

Prophesy is  spontaneous teaching or ideas, that come to the prepared mind , resulting in accurate  understanding, encouragement, and conviction. It joins the human faculty of the mind of a recognized, vetted, gifted church leader who has prepared  by thinking, study, and discernment.  It then adds to this prepared environment spontaneous , real-time ideas or illustrations of disclosure, teaching,...

There is an overarching concept echoing thru 1 Corinthians.  "You are not your own.  You were bought with a price." Therefore, act accordingly, even in the way you worship.  It is not only about you.  Keep an eye towards your brothers and sisters. Bottom line for worship is to make God big, while building up others.  That is, we should be considering the seekers, the people who are not m...

Remember that Spiritual gifts are given for the common good, and are arranged, apportioned and empowered by God Himself.  Who wouldn't want a little dose of that in their lives? In fact, Paul charges his flock to EARNESTLY DESIRE this practical God-coming-down. It is our way of seeing God specifically HERE and specifically NOW.  It is the way that He is best understood by us.  It is our way o...

In eternity, we will be admiring, considering, and glorifying God for three things.  He tells us that these three things make the hit parade and are worthy enough to last eternally .  We best give them some attention. They are faith, hope, and love. Faith.  Though "my" faith may be human and shaky, the OBJECT of my faith is rock solid. Yet, my faith is asked for, even demanded, and is ge...

Your podcaster's vision of God is dim, partial, immature, childish and temporary. To me, that says, "Look harder!", "Keep going!", and in a daily way, "Tell me what you see." There will not be Bible podcasts in heaven, so enjoy this one now.  We will be seeing God NOT dimly, partially, not with our immature eyes.  We will see God face to  Face. My face to HIS FAC...

There is some hard internal work necessary to fulfill the charge from the "LOVE CHAPTER" in the Bible.  Four 'Forbears' jump out. The "forbearing" means to restrain an impulse, refrain, or bear with.  It is about the critical internal work necessary to love. Watch as the passage answers the 4 bear questions: Bear WHEN? Bear with WHO? Bear WHERE? and Bear WHY?. Forbear...

Join me for 7 minutes in "the LOVE CHAPTER" of the Bible.  Here, in 1 Corinthians 13 the call is a high call.  That is why you'll hear this at about ½ the weddings you attend.   Some of the truths about love are visible and some take place behind the scenes.  None of them are as trite as "she makes me laugh".  This is the real deal.  There is some challenging  internal and...

You've heard "the LOVE" chapter at weddings.  There is only TWO problems with it.  First, it is not specifically about a romantic love.  In fact, it was written to the CHURCH, not to a marrying couple.   The second is that it heaps a heavy burden upon us all.  It is a very high call that no person will have total success in fulfilling.  I always get a kick out of that if it is read...

Spiritual Math today: Tongues   +  No-Love   =   NOISE Knowledge  +  No-Love = NOTHING Giving All + No-Love   =  No Gain Faith   +   No-Love   =   NOTHING You get the picture. Love is substantive and is the best way to live.   Love is the "excellent way" that colors and empowers all the spiritual gifts.  It is the provision of God to the church that most clearly demonstrates His essentia...

People turn to 1 Cor 12 to dissect and understand Spiritual Gifts that God gives the Church.  If we back up just a bit, we wonder about  why did God care so much to arrange, appoint, compose and give to the Church?  He tells us: that members of His Body might have the same care  for one another. We are to be demonstrating the same godly characteristics.  Who are you practically caring for in your...

We can view God's body, His church, incorrectly.  In human terms it is called body dysmorphism .  That is like a person looking in the mirror and "seeing" a distorted image. The first thing we can see wrong is ourselves . That is, the part of the body that we are.  "I don't like being a foot." The problem here is value. I am dis-valuing what God has created, appointed...

Feet are talking in today's passage.  That's the nice way of saying it.  They are actually  complaining about three things: They complain about who they are and what they do. "I'm not a part of the body!" They complain about who God is and what He does "I don't like your arranging!" They complain about who others are and what others do "I have no need o...

The Holy Spirit  indwells.  But the Holy Spirit wants to  out-dwell. That is, He wants to manifest or SHOW HIMSELF.  He's chosen a particular way for that to happen. His primary mechanism of 'being seen' is by demonstrating Himself in the Spiritual GIFTS.  The internal and kind of invisible God is going to be made know by the external and visible gifts So two questions:  WHERE can I...

Let's distinguish between Saving Faith and the GIFT OF FAITH. SAVING FAITH is more PRIVATE, more initial, more primary.  It is that moment of belief that involves a calling, being chosen, repentance, and confession.  It is primarily for YOU. The GIFT OF FAITH comes later for dealing with a particular TASK, a TESTING or for a season of TIME.  It is a unique empowerment for a particular PURPOSE...

In 55AD, God is  indwelling His people in a relatively new way.  Since the time of Jesus, The Godhead has transferred His earthly "residence" from cities and ark and temple to PEOPLE.  There's a new sheriff in town, and everybody is just figuring it out.  New realities of the ways God is making Himself apparent need to be explained, because of course the Corinthians are getting a fe...

When you get a bike for Christmas, and Dad wheels it up the stairs, you know that the gift is from BOTH Mom and Dad.  Similarly, Paul teaches that the certain gifts are given by the Holy Spirit but the tag on the gift says, "This is from ALL OF US," that is, the TRINITY.   Your gift is given by a God of Unity. Your gift serves to unify you to 1 Lord. Your gift serves to unify you to 1 un...