Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

1. The first thing to KNOW is that Jesus is in every Old Testament Book.
2. The first thing to LEARN is about the Good News of Jesus.
3. The first thing to OBEY is to be BAPTIZED. 

If you BEG FOR IT, you are probably understanding it perfectly. Phillip teaches the Eunuch from Ethiopia on a 100 day trip back home from Jerusalem.  We don't know how long it takes, but we know where they started: 700BC in the book of Isaiah.  When Jesus did a similar Old Testament summary about HIMSELF, He started 700 years before that!

Baptism marks understanding and belief contemporaneously, publicly, willfully and Illustratively.  If you haven't BEGGED for Baptism, you probably should.  Go get baptized, and write me about the story [email protected]. 

Real belief usually starts with real questions.  If the physical world we live in has crashed into the spiritual world, you'll likely have some questions.  If God really really really has come down, you'll have a few inquires about it.  If you are introduced to Jesus 'one day,' you will want to know about the thousands of years of planning that went into that moment.

Do you have some spiritual questions?  If so, you are in good company.  In fact, you are in EXCELLENT company.  Questions are even a MARK of spiritual activity; of spiritual ENCOUNTER.  Doesn't every spiritual yielding, every spiritual moving, begin with a real question?

What is your question today?  Of course, you have one.  Even Jesus has one for you: "Do you believe?" Stick around with me in this podcast.  We will answer one good question a day or so.  I am privileged to ask and answer them each day with you.  If I don't get to ALL of the questions today, then come back tomorrow.  I'd imagine heaven might just be like that. Please subscribe on Google or Apple or Spotify podcasts.  Sign up for a daily send of this at bewithme.us.

If you read the book of Isaiah, you likely will get to a few sections where the writer refers to a person not HISTORICALLY, but in a future PROPHETICALLY.  He wrote this stuff down in 740BC that was to come true in 33AD.  Today we see a real guy, making a real inquiry of Phillip who the Lord sent to answer his questions.  He is reading Isaiah and in in one of the sections that points forward to the "Suffering Servant". Any diligent reader of Isaiah 53 should be asking his question:  "Who is this about?"

Gotta love the Old Testament.  In many ways, God reveals Himself more clearly there than anywhere.  Here we see it play out in real time.  

God WANTS to be understood.  He has gone to great trouble to be understood.  He planned out His revelation and unfolded it for thousands of years.  

I pray you too are STUCK on the Old Testament.  I pray you too ask: WHO IS THIS ABOUT.?Then subscribe on Spotify. or [email protected] or bewithme.us

A man is on an 8 month pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  It is where His people live.  It is where His temple is.  It is incredibly important for Jews and for devout, God-fearing gentiles.

How'd you like to have everybody down through history know that you had your testicles cut off, but NOT KNOW YOUR NAME.  We find that here in this really cool man: the Ethiopian EUNUCH.

He has travelled the same distance as from LA to NYC in the USA.  He takes a chariot or maybe more than one.  We know he can read.  He packs a bible for the trip.  He is a trusted, important man in his home country of Ethiopia.  He won't be able to enter the temple because of his gentile-ness and the castration.  He is going that far JUST TO BE NEAR the temple.  Ahhhh, the biblical importance of PLACE.

Too, God knows where you are.  Maybe He is launching a rescue mission for you too.  He knows where you live, where you are, what car you drive, what bus you take, what has been going on with your GENITALS, what job you do, who your boss is, and what is going on in your heart.  Please share with your favorite eunuch.  

Simon, a brand new believer, messes up. This is pretty much like every new believer that I have ever met, so don't be discouraged.  He gets a rebuke from Peter that is incredibly thorough.  So, THEN WHAT?  How does he respond?  Stick around and find out in 7 minutes.

Simon starts strong, with belief and baptism.  Have you believed? Have you been baptized? 

But his heart isn't pure, his thoughts are tainted, he's in the bond of sin and there is some wickedness hanging around.  In other words, NORMAL.  Appropriately, his leaders make these allegations toward him.  So then it is the big moment of what to do next.  He can repent and turn and show evidence of regret.  Or, he can attack Peter, revile him and reject his authority.  

Listen 7 minutes.  I think there is something here to learn about new, medium and old believers.  The road to salvation may be short, but the road of sanctification is long.  

Subscribe and listen every day.  You can tie this podcast to a moment of your morning.  Share and like and retweet.  Thanks for listening.

The gospel eventually has to "go on the road from Jerusalem."  It first goes with Philip to Samaria.  It is there where we find what happens when "self-greatness" gets swallowed up by REAL GREATNESS.

Simon is a real  guy who thinks he is really something.  In fact, people around him think so too. But what happens when the junior-great-amazer encounters the REAL-GREAT-AMAZER? He is among the first people from a "foreign country" (is any country really foreign to the good news?) to hear the good news of God's greatness in the new way of Jesus.

Simon does NOT turn into a perfect person in an instant.  He will make a BIG MISTAKE tomorrow.  But for today, we see him EMPTY HIS POCKETS of his greatness and FILL HIS POCKETS of real greatness and of the real GREAT ONE.

Listen today for 7 minutes as we see what happens when so-called greatness runs smack dab into REAL GREATNESS.  Subscribe, follow, like, find us on Spotify, etc.

Today we move from the 1st martyr (Stephen), to the 1st persecution of the Church.  It is called a RAVAGING.  It is the 1st Ravaging.  It results in the 1st Scattering and the 1st geographically displaced evangelist (Phillip).

Some New Christians were getting their houses searched, being captured and dragged off.  It must not have been fun.  Perhaps they were wondering whether God fell off His throne or something.  "How could a just God let this happen?" They don't see the whole picture.

Meantime, the scattering of the Jerusalem Christians results in Phillip landing in Samaria.  It is the arch-enemy of the Jews for the last 500 years.  He preaches and they listen, signs are done, the paralyzed are healed, spirits are healed and JOY is in the city.

Sometimes we just don't see God's bigger picture when all we can see is our suffering.  God is at work both then and now.  They could not 'read ahead' to see the next paragraph or the next page.  We cannot either.  It resulted in JOY that they did not see.  Perhaps ours will too.  Share with someone who is suffering.  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.  Link listening with something you do in the mornings or afternoons. 

With the stoning of Stephen everything changes.  It becomes OK to persecute the FOLLOWERS of Jesus unto DEATH.  This gets everybody's attention in Jerusalem to the point that they are scattered to the world.  

Up to this point in Acts, the WORLD has come to Jerusalem.  Now, Jerusalem believers go to the WORLD.  Stephen catalyses this change in the ministry model.  

For believers, don't be SURPRISED if you are Persecuted.  It is a good marker.  Don't miss this MOMENT when the target of death potentially and actually comes to Jesus' FOLLOWERS.  We might be TESTED in this way.  It is not a bad thing because it has helped with the spreading of the message of rescue and reconciliation.  I hope you are persecuted today.

Share. Like. Re-tweet. Subscribe.  May they be means to your persecution.  ;-)

Between the moment you DECIDE to have a ROCK throwing event, and you actually THROW a rock, some stuff has got to happen.  You have to FIND GOOD ROCKS.  You have to change locations and position.  You have to take off your JACKET.  You have to find somebody to take care of your jacket so it is not stolen or misplaced.  You may have to trash-talk a little.  THEN you throw a rock.

So, there is TIME. It doesn't happen instantly.  Well, SAUL is the guy who is recognized as the coat holder in todays story.  Perhaps there were too many to HOLD, so they had to lay them down at his feet.  I think it shows a characteristic of leadership and trustworthiness about Saul.

After Saul-Paul's conversion this event appropriately HAUNTED him.  At least, he remembers, recalls, retells and re-kindles the horror of killing and arresting the early Christians.  It changes everything for Paul.  He receives great grace regarding this event.  If HE can receive great grace for hunting Christians, I can too for whatever my sin is.  Decide. Receive. Believe. Be Baptized. Subscribe on apple podcasts.

I'm 60% sure it was DL Moody who when finding out he was terminal said, "Gather my children about me and I will teach them how to die." Stephen gives us a crash course in Acts 7.  The people around him were not listening to his 'lesson', they literally had their fingers in their ears.  Let's do a better job hearing his wisdom.

1. Be full of the Holy Spirit: die a believer.  What is plan b?
2. Pursue the character and characteristics of God in the ways we have available to see glory.
3. Be ready for a Trinity party.  Stephen got one at the end.  Maybe God will be good to us at the end.
4. Pledge, and directionally dedicate your soul TOWARDS the Lord.  Everybody is going to live forever.  I suggest heading toward Him when we "fall asleep" here.
5. Know that I will require forgiveness and grace 30 seconds AFTER I die.  Therefore, generously give forgiveness and grant grace in the 30 seconds BEFORE I die.  Bonus, do that before the 30 seconds before your death.

Listen 7 minutes to Stephen's MASTER CLASS on how to die well.  If you haven't died yet, subscribe on Stitcher, Apple, Spotify or Google podcasts.  Any directory you may prefer carries this podcast.  It will be sent to you daily on the directory you prefer.  Or, sign up for a daily send at bewithme.us. write at [email protected]