Coffee With The Lord

Offering thanks to God for provided food at each meal and asking God to bless it… Does it really matter or is it simply a religious formality for Christians?

Well, first of all, it is an important act of thanksgiving and gratitude.  God provides everything that nourishes us, and that we enjoy!  Offering thanks and gratitude to God for his provision and blessings has a rich legacy and precedent in Scripture!

Secondly, I believe offering thanks is an important and effective testimony!  I seek to do it publicly in cafeterias, restaurants, and even at banquets or provided meals at conferences, etc.  I’ll even ask those at a gathered table for the privilege of taking a moment and offering thanks to God for the provided food.  As parents, It is also a wonderful testimony and example to our children (because of the influence of my parents in this regard, as a child I always bowed my head in thanksgiving and prayed over my food in the cafeteria in public school… regardless of what my classmates may have thought or said!)

But there is another, almost overlooked, practical value for this practice!  In my Bible reading today during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” I was reminded of it… Here it is in the words of Apostle Paul to Timothy:

“God created [food] to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”  (From 1 Timothy 4:3–5 ESV)

Is it taking Paul’s words to far to say, that beyond the thanksgiving offered, there is a “sanctifying,” (even purifying, even liberating) effect for a believer regarding the food set before them?  In a culture where you may not have known the source or preparation procedures (or even if food had been consecrated to pagan gods), Paul’s words had a liberating and assuring effect.

Just take it from me… I’m going to continue to offer sincere thanksgiving and blessing over the food I eat – and I’m going to do it as a public testimony of my faith in and gratitude to God!

A new season of “DISCOVERY Bible Study” is just around the corner!  Now is the time to enroll to participate!!

We call it “DISCOVERY Bible Study” because good Bible study – enriching, satisfying, life-changing Bible study, is “MORE than just a “talking head!”  DISCOVERY Bible Study has DISCOVERY 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 for it – the “technical name” for it – for it is “Inductive Bible Study!”

“DISCOVERY” is hosted and led by Dr. LeRoy R. Bartel a longtime Bible professor at SAGU (Southwestern Assemblies of God University) and former National Director of the Division of Christian Education for the Assemblies of God.  He will “teach”/guide/facilitate each session.

Our first online session will be held Tuesday, September 12 (Zoom invitations with attached study guides will go out the week earlier)!  Get the date on your calendar NOW and sign up to participate! It will be held “Live” via “Zoom” weekly on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. CDT/CST (but each Bible study session will also be taped and available online as well).

If you are not already signed up for “DISCOVERY Bible Study” from last season, text message your preferred e-mail address to 972-921-9317, or Facebook Messenger to LeRoy R. Bartel, 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.

DUMB! DUMBER!! DUMBEST!!! That’s all I’ve got to say about the person II read about in the Bible this morning!

I’m an ol’ Montana farm boy, raised in the mountains, and know just a little about hunting, fishing and trapping… I KNOW you don’t set a trap, build a blind, or leave a fish hook exposed if you expect to trap, kill or catch anything!! Sometimes animals of prey are smarter than some people!!!

Proverbs 1.8-19 addresses that very topic… Here’s an excerpt…

“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction! Do not forsake your mother’s teaching! … If sinful men entice you do not give in to them! If they say, ‘come along with us… cast lots with us; we will all share the loot’ – do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths! For their feet rush into evil, they are swift to shed blood. HOW USELESS TO SPREAD A NET WHERE EVERY BIRD CAN SEE IT! These men lie in wait for their own blood – they ambush only themselves!” (NIV)

Now before, I get too carried away about others… I think I need to remember the times I watched someone build a moral trap and then I walked right into it… Yup! I did it!! Dumb! Dumber!! Dumbest!!

I needed to pray passionately and personally this line of the “Lord’s Prayer” (or better “the Prayer Jesus Taught His Disciples to Pray”)… “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one!” (Matthew 6.13) I also need to remember this word of warning (and assurance) from the Bible… “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind! God is faithful! He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear! But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it!” (1 Corinthians 10.12-13 NIV) And one more just for good measure… “Flee youthful lusts! Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart!” (2 Timothy 2.22)

HEY, DON’T BE DUMB!!