Coffee With The Lord

One way you can spell “Christmas”… You can spell it L-O-V-E!!!  (And this Christmas I’m going to revel in that spelling during the rest of this Christmas season)!!!

Here’s the passage that impacted me today during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” in that regard…

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that GOD SENT HIS ONLY SON INTO THE WORLD, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that THE FATHER HAS SENT HIS SON TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.”  (From 1 John 4:7–14 ESV)

Now first off… CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT GOD LOVING US SO MUCH THAT HE SENT HIS JESUS from heaven’s glories to the squalor and sin of earth… He lived among without sin, demonstrated His Kingdom power and love among us in miraculous acts, taught Kingdom principles to His followers, and suffered and died for our sins – on our behalf – to redeem us, save us and transform our lives!  His gift as a result of that sacrifice?  Then he rose again to give us eternal life!!

YOU CAN SPELL “CHRISTMAS” …  L-O-V-E!!  That why I’d just love to have a pic/painting with the manger scene in the foreground, Golgotha and the cross in the background, and behind that the empty tomb… anyone know if such a pic/painting exists? If an artist/or graphic person has never done one… It’s time!! I might call it… “CHRISTMAS IN PERSPECTIVE” or  “Christmas Spelled L-O-V-E!”

And as 1 John 4.7-12 goes on to emphasize… Why don’t we celebrate His coming this year BY LOVING ONE ANOTHER – LOVING OTHERS – AS HE LOVED US? … Self-sacrificially, generously, and unconditionally!!!  “CHRISTMAS SPELLED L-O-V-E!”

Get your spiritual “RDAs” – your “Recommended Dietary Allowances” from daily Bible reading!

I call it “NECESSARY FOOD” based upon Job 23:12 where he declared, “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my NECESSARY FOOD!”

In fact, daily Bible reading made such an impact on my life (since age 16) I developed a daily Bible reading plan by that name! And I OFFER A PDF OF IT FREE to anyone who requests it by messaging or e-mailing me their preferred e-mail address at leroybartel@gmail.com of texts me at 972-921-9317.

Here’s how it works… how it’s different and unique:

Perhaps in previous years in your Bible reading you’ve gotten bogged down in the difficult “genealogies” of the Bible and given up on reading the Bible through. When I developed the Necessary Food Bible reading plan several years ago, I set it up to help with those challenges. Using the plan, you read A PASSAGE from each of the following parts of the Bible daily…

• The Old Testament historical books
• Bible Poetry (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.)
• The prophetic books (in the Old Testament and Revelation)
• The New Testament historical books (the gospels and Acts)
• And the epistles

Not only that, THE READING PLAN IS “PASSAGE DRIVEN” – in other words it focuses on the natural divisions of Scripture – NOT an arbitrary number of chapters and verses. But here’s the “good news”… following the “NECESSARY FOOD” Bible reading plan you complete the entire Bible in a year!

So if you’d like to have a FREE COPY, e-mail or message me (leroybartel@gmail.com or text at 972-921-9317), include your preferred e-mail address, and I’ll send a free “pdf” copy of the Bible reading plan to you.

AN ADDED NOTE: If you desire to reproduce it and use it in your church, Bible study group, or other organization, you may… I only ask that you always include the copyright information any time it is used or reproduced.

I just finished reading Ecclesiastes this morning as a part of my Bible reading during  “Coffee with the Lord.”  I picture Ecclesiastes as kind of a refining process.  The “Teacher” (Hebrew – “Qoheleth”) tries everything to find real significance and meaning in life… Pleasure, philosophy, possessions, projects – wine, women, song – hard work and entertainment – focus and foolishness.  He systematically tries it all and “boils off” all the “stuff” of human search and quest (everything humanly promising in life – everything “under the sun.”

His frustrated conclusion with each attempt?  It’s “vanity”! (or meaningless)!  Just another promising, but disappointing experience – a passing vapor!

But at the bottom of the cauldron – the one thing that matters when all is said and done at the end of the book is this…

“Now all has been heard (and tried); here is the conclusion of the matter: FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, FOR THIS IS THE DUTY OF ALL MANKIND.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14)

As we approach the end of another year and the beginning of 2024, I don’t want to try to “reinvent the wheel!”… I don’t want to retrace the disappointing steps of the “Teacher” in Ecclesiastes… I want to embrace what he discovered at the end of the book as my own…

So here’s the bottom line – the conclusion – what matters…

• Loving reverence for God (i.e. the “fear of the Lord”) – my “Heavenly Father”, and
• Obedience motivated by faith and love
• Keeping in mind that everything – yes, everything will ultimately be judged by Him – the good and the evil.

Hey, I’m learning from Ecclesiastes…