Coffee With The Lord

Hey, a new season of “DISCOVERY Bible Study,” hosted by Dr. LeRoy R. Bartel, is just around the corner! We’ll kick it off Tuesday, August 18 (Zoom invitations will go out August 11 – be watching for it)! Get the date on your calendar NOW! It will be held “Live” each week via “Zoom” on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. CDT/CST (but each Bible study session will also be taped and available online as well).

We call it “DISCOVERY Bible Study” because good Bible study – enriching, satisfying, life-changing Bible study, is “MORE than just a talking head!” DISCOVERY is built right into the experience! It’s engaging! It draws you in! It encourages you to DISCOVER and apply the truth in the Bible for yourself! Another name – the “technical name” – for this kind of Bible study is “Inductive Bible Study!”

We’ll be continuing our study of the epistles under the title “You’ve Got Mail!” This time our focus will be on the “Prison Epistles” (Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians and Philippians).

If you are leading a Bible study, please be aware that the “study guides” prepared for each study are an ideal curriculum for any small group Bible studies you may lead. These are e-mailed weekly along with the invitations to participate in a weekly Zoom session.

If you’d like to be a part of “DISCOVERY Bible Study” message me your preferred e-mail address to “LeRoy R. Bartel” on Facebook, or via e-mail at LeRoyBartel@gmail.com and we’ll get you enrolled and on the distribution list for the weekly Zoom sessions this season.

Dr. LeRoy Bartel, “professor emeritus” at Southwestern Assemblies of God University (now Nelson University) and former National Director of the Division of Christian Education for the Assemblies of God, will continue to “teach”/guide/facilitate each session.

I read a passage this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord” that’s a pretty tall order…

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 (NIV)

Wow!! “Sanctified through-and-through!! Holy! Completely set apart to the Lord, His will, His purposes, His cause!! Spirit, soul, and body – inside and out – every attitude, inclination, molecule and atom, blameless and without fault when the Lord returns!! Can you imagine! How is that possible?! Well Paul, the apostle put it this way… “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it!”

What a relief eh? It will be God’s provision, initiative, activity and power at work in our lives that makes it possible!

But there’s our part as well. And I can tell you that’s when I began to have serious reservations… I know my weakness, I’m aware of the power of temptation, I’m all to aware of the times I’ve fallen short!! I was praying about that this morning when the words of this old gospel song came to mind. From my experience and perspective it helps provide an answer to “my side of it”…

1. Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;

Living with Jesus, a new life divine;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Refrain:

Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;

Moment by moment I’ve life from above;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

2. Never a trial that He is not there,

Never a burden that He doth not bear,

Never a sorrow that He doth not share,

Moment by moment, I’m under His care.

3. Never a heartache, and never a groan,

Never a teardrop, and never a moan;

Never a danger but there on the throne,

Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

4. Never a weakness that He doth not feel,

Never a sickness that He cannot heal;

Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,

Jesus my Savior abides with me still.

Daniel W. Whittle – 1893

When someone asks or appeals to you to do something, how do you know they are serious about it – how do you know it’s important? The words they use? Perhaps their facial expressions? Is it their tone of voice? Maybe their volume? It’s probably a mixture or blend of several of the things mentioned. Hey… use your imagination! (Your Mom or Dad, a teacher, a boss, your child, a police officer – I could go on…)

But how about a trusted “Spiritual leader” – like the Apostle Paul (now use your imagination)! In 1 Thessalonians 5:12-21 (part of my Bible reading today) Paul writes to Christians in a church he planted and appeals to them about some important things in their Christian life in a very pagan (yet religious) city… He uses two Greek words to describe his appeal: The first is a more general word – “erotao” – and simply means to request, ask, or appeal (vs. 12). The second word is stronger though – perhaps one of the strongest word in the New Testament for appealing to someone – “parakaleo” – translated “urge” but including the ideas of imploring, begging, intreating – even begging.

Now picture Paul doing that to you, as a Christian, as you read (and reflect on) these phrases from the passage…

“I ASK YOU to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves.

AND I URGE YOU, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Rejoice always!

Pray without ceasing!

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you!

Do not quench the Spirit! [what the Holy Spirit is doing/saying] Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; and hold fast what is good.

[And finally,] abstain from every form of evil!”

Important stuff, eh? And now imagine Apostle Paul appealing directly to YOU about these things!