Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Every penny used for personal use, governmental us, or ministry use ultimately came from one thing: WORK.  Join me as we honor work, love work, example work and even  expect work. Work is good for everybody from the worker himself to the economy that gets the production. It is godly, good, and one of our great common-grace blessings upon the world. Yet, there are those who are idle not because of...

If you are human, you know our hearts have a tendency to wander a bit.  A big challenge of life is to steer them in the right direction and then keep them on the path you desire. This is exactly the writers of 2 Thessalonians purpose in charging them to DIRECT your hearts in  a certain direction.   So today, if you face some challenge, DIRECT your heart. If you are wrestling with your heart, DIREC...

Timothy asks for PRAYER that the Word of God SPEED AHEAD. He requests that by the fundamental spiritual reality of conversation with God, that another fundamental spiritual process will thrive. By the Word of God, he means the Old Testament and the book of 1 Thessalonians, which was the sum total of the Bible at the time.  Moreso, he means the active preaching/teaching/sharing the truths of God by...

What good is  eternal comfort  now?  Does eternal comfort do anything practical for me in the here and now? Silas makes an argument that attaching ourselves to eternal comfort, gives us current comfort, which results in  GOOD WORDS AND GOOD WORKS .  Wait, so something from another place (heaven), and another time (eternity) and from another Person(Fr and Jesus) can make a difference in what I SAY...

A people get a spiritual prize they did not win; they receive a trophy they did not merit; they get GLORY they did not EARN.  Such is Christianity.   Then, there is Christian COMMUNITY, where one can stand nearby and WATCH this happen. Paul Silas, and Timothy are doing just that with a young Church they planted a year or so ago. The spiritual reality they see causes them to THANK God.  They Thank...

Today we'll hear about a group of people that refuse to love the truth; that do not believe the truth and that even take pleasure in doing the wrong thing. These are people who have the "FOREVER BUS" of being with God forever come by, stop in front of them, and open the door. They have agency and choice and opportunity, at least for a time, to GET ON THE BUS.  And yet, they REFUSE t...

A spiritual FOREVER BUS is coming to this earth.  In it, Jesus is going to gather up believers and those who believed until their deaths. From then on, they get to  always be with the Lord. The Thessalonians are worried they  missed the bus .  You gotta love 'em that their INTENT is to be ON THE BUS.  They've got some bad teaching on the matter and they are rattled. Paul tells everybody...

After finishing a flash forward to the day of justice, the day of judgment, (and for the believer: the day of non-judgment;) Paul states that it is with this END IN MIND  that his prayers are formed.  That is, a view of  that day informs the prayers that he has today. that God would make you worthy of His Calling (He is the agent, the mover, the Caller, and He does what He desires) That God would...

God's justice is featured in today's passage.  It affect believers NOW and LATER.  It affects those opposed to God NOW and LATER. Let's find out how in a 7 minute podcast. We are heading toward marveling. We will be marveling at God's activity, God's character and the display of God's characteristics. Believers get what they have always wanted: to be with Him forever....

Another great place to start is right here.  Listen for 7 minutes a day as we walk through the book of 2 Thessalonians one bite at a time.  Click on the hyperlink for today's episode or subscribe for a daily email at bewithme.us Paul is grateful about the brothers and sisters. He is  directionally grateful in sending his thanks  TO GOD .  This beats just a warm feeling in his belly.  He leave...

Imagine walking through 1st Thessalonians in 7 minute segments of consideration.  Imagine 26 thoughts of summary that put the whole arc together.  Imagine this as its' own 7 minute episode.   Imagine that the link is right here for you to click on and be encouraged. Imagine no further! 1 Thessalonians is summarized right here for all of us. If you are new to the podcast, then consider startin...

Are you in a Christian Community?  There is no such thing as Christianity without community. Are you in a Community of AFFECTION? Your community should be characterized by warmth and affection as you regularly check in with each other from the battle that is the Christian Life. Are you praying for the GIANTS and the not-so Giants of the faith?  Who of us does not need it? Who of us isn't occa...

Paul leaves his first letter to the citizens of Thessalonia with a blessing.  It is a prayer, it is a plea, it is a charge and it is based on the character of God.  I have stolen this prayer for you.   In it, we find a God who has come down to make a peace that otherwise would be impossible;  we find God Himself  personally   acting on our behalf; we find a finished, completed work; we find an ong...

Imagine if we had some sort of a warning system that gave us a heads-up about incoming EVIL.  We'd be all primed and ready for the sneaky threats of evil so we'd be ready to respond right and immediately.  This is what Paul is calling for as he concludes his letter to the Thessalonians.  We are to flee evil and not fool with it.  If you knew I had a vial of poison, would you open it and...

To HOLD ON to something good means first to LET GO of the bad. That is the discernment process. It sometimes can be exhausting.  We are to test and discard all the bad stuff.  He's made most of it plain. Claiming ignorance doesn't go far. There is so much that we already know is GOOD.  God has gone to great lengths in creation, common graces, implanting consciences, His history on earth...

Be careful here.  We can, just like in 50AD, DESPISE what God says.  The mechanisms of the revelations to us might be a little different, but the principle of our despising can be the same.  We both can say, "I don't know it. I don't want to know it. It cannot be known. Or, I am waiting for a new word, a new revelation."  This is all to say, "I just don't want to obey...

Rather than walking with...I choose to go ALONE Rather than keeping in step with...I choose to find my own way Rather than teaching...I choose ignorance Rather than hearing...I choose silence Rather than growth...I choose immaturity Rather than advantage...I choose to DISADVANTAGE myself Such is QUENCHING the Spirit.   Please listen for 7 minutes as we consider shooting ourselves in the foot spiri...

The bar for Christian gratefulness is set very high. Grateful people are no accident. We are charged to push out stuff that isn't grateful, and to push in gratefulness to our hearts and then to our lips toward our God. Here's the new part: in ALL circumstances. God is at work in moving the stubborn, sinful, hearts of men and women towards holiness. He wants us to be thankful in prosperit...

This might be a little heretical, but I think it is helpful to think about LOWERING the bar for prayer. We get our undies in a crumple about composing complex prayers overing confusing situations, and might tend to just not do it.  1 Thess encourages us to JUST DO IT.  Specifically, "I mention you before God...", or "I remember you before God..."  He'll figure out the rest...

You will probably encounter EVIL today. You won't be inclined to leave this evil for the ultimate justice of God Your inclination will be to REPAY that evil for your evil thereby making the situation doubly evil. You will have a hard time assessing your evil accurately You have a way out of this situation before it starts You can change your inclination to let God do the repaying if necessary...

How might the church respond to the fainthearted and weak?  The old joke is that the church is the only place where we shoot our wounded.  This is exactly NOT what Paul is saying.  Fainthearted people are those who are losing heart, and running on empty.  It may be from sickness, problems, consequences of sin, age, grief or conflict.  Our response is to ENCOURAGE. Weak people just plain lack the c...

Everybody in the church has a job.  Everybody in the church has a  hard job.   The Thessalonian church is just a few months old and apparently they needed to be reminded of the duties that a brother has to his leaders.   Brothers should be IN FELLOWSHIP, at peace with their people, be respectful an esteeming highly their leaders. None of these things are easy. It is no fun to be admonished. Leader...

So a big day is coming up and we are supposed to be ready for it.  It is the Day of the Lord. We are to BE SURE we are on the right team.   We are to BE DRESSED like our Daddy. He's dressed as a warrior on that day and we should be too.  Our battle is a bit different than His.  He's got His battle taken care of against Sin, Death and Evil.  We need to be ready for our battle. We are dres...

There is a day of judgment and justice coming.   For some it will be an unwelcome surprise, but it really shouldn't be.  He's told us all about it first. For some it will be a welcome joy: It is the day to wake up, rise up, meet up and be with the Lord.  There is, however, this pesky issue of JUSTICE, judgment, and punishment.  The summary word for all that is WRATH.  The big question is...

Don't be uninformed about the following: Everybody dies. Everybody wakes up from that "asleepness".  For believers, this is such an encouragement because we awaken to being gathered to be with the Lord, meeting Him and other believers, and then NEVER leaving His side.   Believers may die, but then they awaken to be with the Lord always.   With this news, we should be encouraged if w...