Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Peter doesn't exactly hold back in his next little sermon:

Step #1:  You are a KILLER.  You killed Jesus. Denied Him. Delivered Him over to Pilate, who BTW had decided to free Him.  Just to add insult to injury, you wanted a Killer released Barabbas, instead of the Author of Life; the Holy 1, the Righteous 1.

Step #2: Get to know this God you killed. Start with this: He is the AUTHOR OF LIFE.  Who gets killed.  And then gets RAISED from the dead.  Mind Blown.

Step #3:  It is in faith of His NAME Jesus that our strong leaping Lame one is healed.  This fills in a few details that were glossed over in the "just rise up and walk" summary.

This was an audience that received at least the news of the healing with quite a bit of enthusiasm.  They RAN to Peter and John and the now clinging leaper.  May we be so inclined today as we hear the first part of this story.  Come back tomorrow to find out how this all turns out.  In the meantime, subscribe and like and comment at bewithme.us or [email protected] or Apple podcasts, or Spotify, or Facebook or even META.

LEAPING is a rare human activity, at least as far as the Bible is concerned.  It is really only mentioned ONCE in the New Testament. It is the response of a lame man healed by Peter in the name of Jesus.

LEAPING is also rare in the Old Testament.  Isaiah writes of it prophetically in the context of the response of the people of God to God SHOWING UP in a new way.  Isaiah 35 is all about that idea. Specifically, and also uniquely, he writes about the lame leaping on strengthened legs just like in our passage in Acts.  

When the Fall is being unwound, when creation starts to UN-groan, when decay is being pushed back, and when The Holy SPIRIT is making Himself known in a new way then the LAME LEAP on STRENGTHENED LEGS right into our laps.  Listen 7 minutes and leap around a bit with this guy.  Share. Write. Subscribe bewithme.us

Legs that don't get walked on get weak of muscle and of bone strength.  Ask any astronaut. It is called Wolff's Law in orthopedics.  If a person lame from birth were to suddenly jump up and start leaping around, something would happen:  HE'D BREAK HIS LEGS immediately.

Unless...his legs were made STRONG first.  You just have to love scripture, because this is exactly what happens. The details add credence to the account.  You just cannot make this stuff up.

Join me with a 7 minute listen as we see the faith of Peter, the actions of the newly acquired Holy Spirit, and a couple of legs THAT DO NOT BREAK.

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The Holy Spirit has been poured out upon those who learn, are cut to the heart, repent and believe.  Now what.  What about my stuff?  What about my money?  What happens now?

Well, everything changes.  We find the early church not take "vows of poverty", but move toward taking "vows of PROVISION." We find the Holy Spirit move them not towards financial communism, but towards financial COMMUNITY.  We see what happens when the people of God begin to have the eyes and priority of God.

We end up with a joyful, generous, providing, awe-filled, aware and grateful people.  No wonder why they had favor with all the people.  

Please listen 7 minutes and then share with the most generous person you know.  Then subscribe on Stitcher or Apple or Google podcasts.  bewithme.us

It is said that an army marches by it's stomach.  What does the newly formed army of God march by?  We find out in one of the most famous passages in the book of Acts.  

We find they are DEVOTED early on to four things. There is no expiration date to any of them.  That is, marks of Christian practice STILL TO THIS DAY should be characterized by these principles.  Here they are:

1. Words of God--teaching. There is a lot of Jesus to know and appreciate. A lot of podcasts to catch up on. ;-)
2. People of God--fellowship beyond the big worship service. Finding people to practice the 59 one another's on.
3. Practices of God--communion, Lord's supper, in remembrance of Jesus. He told us specifically at the last supper to make it a FIRST SUPPER.
4. Face of God--prayer: connecting this world with THAT world. This is the big-reward of Christianity

The early Christian army marches on these four pillars.  The current Christian army marches on these four pillars.  The Church 23 years from now will march on these four pillars.  No wonder this passage is so famous.  Assess yourself.  Find a weakness.  Fill a deficit. Strengthen each one.  Share this podcast with someone who marches on their stomach.  Subscribe to get a daily blast at bewithme.us or Google podcasts or any other podcast host.  Be With Me: 7 minute of Biblical Wonder is on them all.

It is a beautiful thing to watch the good Lord call the FAR OFF.  I suppose not too many are perfectly close.  Today we see the Lord call 3000 stubborn, unforgiven, unrepentant, ignorant, refusing souls.  At least, they start out that way.

God is surely at work: Revealing what He wants them to know from the Old Testament and the words of Jesus; convicting and cutting their hearts, helping with turning and repenting; forgiving sins, gifting Himself in the Holy Spirit, calling people to Himself who are FAR OFF.
Wow.  Thank you Lord.

And men and women have a high exhortation in these few verses today: get busy KNOWING; be convicted and cut to the heart; inquire about stuff you don't know about; decide to be baptized; actually be baptized; receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; receive His word; in short, "save yourself."  As we have seen, looking at the previous paragraph, that is impossible, but we get the point.

Admire this process as the Church grows 2600% as we see the compelling call to cooperative creatures.  Please cooperate.  Subscribe at Apple Podcast or Spotify or Google Podcasts.  

Repenting is a NASTY NASTY business. It is painful.  It is humbling. It is scary.  It is humiliating. It is agreeing with God. It is changing my mind. It is resolving to change. It is having faith in the right thing. It is receiving forgiveness. It is agreeing I have sin.  It is agreeing I am in big trouble because I have sin.It is the HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD.

The road of CONVICTION leads to the square of Repentance.
The road of having God call you to Himself leads to the square of Repentance 
The road of being struck by your sin leads to the square of Repentance.

The road of forgiveness leads through the square of Repentance.
The road of having the penalty taken away leads through the square of Repentance.
The road of the gift of the Person and the Power of the Holy Spirit leads through the square of Repentance.

I pray that you may stand on the Hardest square in the world today.  Please share with others you love that also may one day stand on the Hardest square in the world.  It is a nasty business, but Jesus has got this. bewithme.us

Subtitle today is "how does one become a Christian?"  Usually, we hear of faith, belief, receiving, coming, confessing or calling on Jesus.  But today, we find out there is a step BEFORE that.

After hearing that the Holy Spirit is predicted from 800 years before;  after walking with Jesus for 40 days after his execution; after being reminded that the big cheese DAVID pointed to Jesus, after finding out there is now a fulfillment of reigning on "David's" throne; and possibly most painful: that you, specifically, killed Jesus,  SOMETHING HAPPENS.

They don't exactly come to belief.  They come to more like grief.  They are CUT TO THE HEART.  They are STRUCK within.  

It is the best moment of their lives.  Here is the crazy part: The Holy Spirit who is now being sent worldwide in a new way is starting right here.  He is HELPING them turn this light bulb on in their hearts.  The Holy Spirit, who many of them just mocked is making a way to get ready to do the hardest thing in the world: Change your mind.  Change your heart.

Listen 7 minutes and then share, like, follow, distribute, comment or subscribe.

Are you HARDCORE devout convert?  Are you a super-Jew? If so, then Jesus is your guy.  You killed Him, but you can and should KNOW FOR CERTAIN He is God.

How? Well, you are such good Old Testament scholars, that let's use that source.  And David is your hero? Well, he talks about Jesus too. Let me interpret correctly Ps 16 and Ps 110 for you.

 And what about the craziness of this loud, fire representing, wonders-of-God-proclaiming miracle you have seen in the Galilean visitors? Oh, the prophet Joel talked about that 800 years ago.

You killed Him 6 weeks ago but He came back for 40 days, left again, but now sends His SPIRIT.  What are you gonna do about it? You, of all people, CAN KNOW FOR CERTAIN.

Obviously, please come back tomorrow.  It is just starting to get good.  Meantime, like, share, post, reply, grieve, be struck, comment, subscribe.  Don't just sit there.  Start with 7 minutes of listening.  It is close to 8 minutes today, but worth it.

Devout Jewish Men and Women of Jerusalem KILL JESUS.  So saith Peter.  He says you Jews used the hands of Lawless Men, the Romans to do the dirty work.

You killed Jesus.  So pay close attention to who He is.  
1. Attested to by God.  If you like God, you should have liked Jesus.  God endorsed Jesus by the miracles.
2. The big one: HE LOOSED the pangs of death.  The Father, who you are such big fans of, raised Jesus from the dead.  If so, you should be paying very close attention by now.
3. No surprise, David, 1000 year before this moment, told you this was going to happen.  If you like David, you should like Jesus.
4. Something is happening in real time that you just saw: the Holy Spirit is being poured out in a new way and you had the miracle of hearing the wonders of God in your heart language.

You are murderers of Jesus.  He was the real deal.  He is God.  What are you going to do now?  Stick around.  Come back tomorrow and find out.  Subscribe. like. share please.