Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

The good Lord is POURING out His Spirit. However, the target of this generosity is the very prickly humanity.  He pours on imperfect, uncooperative flesh.  It is a good thing.  Perfect people don't need a Savior.

But there is a time limit.  We have during the "last days" to receive it.  The "last days", from a Biblical view have an expiration date of the moment He comes back.  The disciples enjoyed the first of the last days.  We may be living the last  "last day".  How long will we have?  I don't know.  What I do know is you should not wait.  Wait to do what? 

CALL on Him.  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  Not just a particular nation, or gender, or color, or only people from Minneapolis. It is everyone who calls.

What if you only got ONE WORD to call?  What if you only got a single word to say to Jesus when He picks up the other end of the telephone? I was thinking about some possibilities: HELP! AGREE (with You about wrong and Jesus)! Sin! Sorry! or the choice: JESUS!  He POURS, we CALL.  It is not just for people from Minneapolis. After you call on Him, subscribe at Apple Podcasts or write at [email protected]

A group of mockers witnesses the Holy Spirit being POURED FORTH on people.  To explain, Peter goes back 800 YEARS! God told of this long ago.  What are you so surprised at?  Shouldn't you have been waiting and expecting this? Is this the best way to respond to a momentous event in the life of this planet?

This pouring is one of liberality, fullness, over-the-topness, to the point of almost wastefulness. Those in the "last days" get the Spirit in scandalous generosity. This is exactly like the prophet Joel said was going to happen.  Peter warns the scoffers to not miss the moment, not miss the era, and not miss the closure of the era.

But wait, we are still in the LAST DAYs.  The Spirit is poured forth liberally today to those who do something.  Peter is getting to that action point in his sermon.  Come back tomorrow for the rest of the story...In the meantime, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or sign up at bewithme.us

The Holy Spirit is introduced to the planet. Peter says the Person of the Holy Spirit CAN BE KNOWN.  You could ask a good follow up question after meeting His acquaintance such as "What does this mean?"

Or, you could instantly MOCK and make a verbal attack against the miracle, the men, or the message.  Some choose to scorn the MEN by accusing them of drunkenness. We find out here that the Holy Spirit is a morning Person because He's come before 9am. ;-)

Peter, with Matthias (say his name) + 10 others starts a long argument for God.  He begins with the end in mind: He can be KNOWN.  This is a sort-of-mystery now to be revealed.  You can get your arms around this.  The Holy Spirit is indeed TRYING to be known.  Start by listening.

He begins with the prophet Joel and the Last Days.  Joel, about 800 years previous, specifically describes this very day.  We should listen.  We should know.  We should question with good questions.  We probably shouldn't mock.  Share subscribe and don't mock this podcast. 

God has gathered in Jerusalem Jews and converts from all over the known world to witness the coming of the Holy Spirit.  He goes to great effort to bring them there.  He goes to great effort to pre-convert them to the truth of the one true God of Israel.  

Then, He goes to GREAT EFFORT to TELL US where they are all from.  We would be wise to listen.  They come from 1000 miles to the east, 800 miles to the north, 1400 miles to the west and 400 miles to the south.  They each have a place and they each have a language.  Of note, at least one of the languages we don't even have any record of, and one we have record of it but nobody can make heads or tails out of it....Except for God.  One gets the thrust here that God sees all these people, He's gathered all this people, and He's gonna speak His wonders of Jesus to them in each their own heart language.  

They respond in their own language with astonishment, amazement and being perplexed.  So can we.  Please share. Please subscribe in your own language at Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Apple podcasts.  or bewithme.us 

Two groups of people are present for the Pentecost of the Holy Spirit.  The receivers, who are a group of people including the disciples from 80 miles away in Galilee.

Then there are "local" Jews living in Jerusalem.  The Holy Spirit does not yet come upon them. They just get to watch and respond.  Even though, we find out they are DEVOUT men from every nation under heaven.  We get a geography lesson which we must soon talk about too.  We find that they are Jewish and PROSELYTES.  That is, they weren't born Jews, but were pagans who converted to Judaism.

Everybody is a non-Christian to start.  Everybody must be won by the grace of God.  Everyone gets to be amazed and astonished; ask some curious spiritual questions.  Here we see the Lord has a heart for the foreigners...just like always.  Read the Old Testament and look for the term, "All nations, or Every Nation."  You will be quite busy.  Here we see the fruit of the Lord's long history.  There is a group of people in Jerusalem from every nation, worshipping the one true God.  They are ready to witness the TADA moment of the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

Listen and be amazed.  God is so good to the pagans.  Wait, that's me!  Share Subscribe and Like this podcast.

Today is our FIRST CONTACT
with an amazed, perplexed group of devout Jew's FIRST CONTACT
of a group of Galilean Apostles and disciple's FIRST CONTACT
with the FIRST CONTACT of the Holy Spirit upon our planet in a new way.

We get to hear about the Holy Spirit coming anew and see some of the first reactions of those who were in the firing line of this revelation.

It is a day of first impressions as the wonders of God are discussed.

We probably should be paying particular attention, because in a sense, the rest of the Bible is about the Holy Spirit.  This is "page one" of that book. It is the "Christmas morning" of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

What happens when the Holy Spirit comes to planet earth in a new way?  Stick around until tomorrow, because THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.  Share. Subscribe. Ascribe Likeage.

The disciples need a 12th guy.  They know that the Lord knows who it is.  Their problem is how do THEY get the message all the way from heaven to the room they are in. How do they do it?  You'll never guess.  It is DICE.  Spiritual Dice.  They rolled lots.  You just can't not enjoy the Bible.  

They believe the prophesy of David from a thousand years before, "Let another take his office", in referring to Judas. Of note, for 2000 years, since Moses, these spiritual dice have been a crude way of answering some very important questions: "How do we find out your will Lord? What would you have us do? What would please you in this situation?" Moses even charged the Levites with being specialists in this area of discernment.  We ask similar questions today.  Why don't we use dice any more?  Stay tuned, we will be learning about the relationship and benefits of the Holy Spirit all through this book.  

And Matthias.  He gets selected.  Dear Matthias.  Literally, his name is going to be inscribed on the foundation in heaven.  He is faithful to the end.  He helps establish the church.  He is a spiritual hero of world-class proportion.  He's the decision ever made in the Christian Church by using spiritual dice.  Say his name:  Matthias.  Save a spot on your lunch calendar in heaven for this guy.  Share his name and this podcast.  Subscribe at bewithme.us .  Listen again tomorrow if we are both still here.

Why were there 12 disciples originally?  Because Jesus said so.
Why were there 11 disciples after the last supper?   Because Judas said so.
Why were there 12 disciples after the ascension? Because DAVID, King David of 1000 years before said so! (and the Holy Spirit who wrote through David, of course)

We find the negotiations and figuring out of the early church here.  They first search the scriptures (and maybe ask Jesus who was with them for 40 real days).  Then they TRUSTED the scriptures.  That is, everybody decides how authoritative scripture is going to be in their life.  Will I do what the Bible says?  Here we see the 11 disciples answer.  Will we be a people of the book?  Yes.  Will we try to obey it when we see it? Yes.  Will we search out our answers there?  Yes.  Will we use the Bible to figure out what the will of God is?  Yes.

Watch this in real time.  This is fascinating to watch the first-steps of Biblical adherence of these not-yet-Holy-Spirit-filled men.  Why did there end up being 12 disciples again?  Listen 7 minutes and find out WHY.  Tomorrow we'll find out HOW.  Subscribe, like, share and be a fan: bewithme.us

There was a man who had a secret life and fooled everybody.  Everybody thought he "was one of us" and shared even in ministry.  But he didn't fool Jesus.  He knew all along.  Eventually, the whole world knows his nasty actions.  No one names their kid after this guy.  He was the last guy in history to have this name:  JUDAS.

How did this happen?  Judas had lots of opportunities.  In fact, for 3 years, he probably had yielding opportunities in his soul every breakfast lunch and dinner.  Rather than say yes, he said no.  Over and over.  

Now it is easy to see.  Everybody knows now that Judas' outside did not equal his insides.  we even find out what happens to Judas' insides today.  He deceived everybody except Jesus.  

The good news is that the church survives his treachery.  The church gathers and gets another who has proven himself to be a minister.

While it is yet today, let us all be sincere in our insides and outsides. Let them = each other.  Let's yield to Jesus on the outside but especially on the insides.  Don't miss any opportunity to yield.  Maybe even today while listening to these 7 minutes.  Subscribe at bewithme.us please.  

An orchestra is a good example of what it means to be of 1 ACCORD.  It is a group that is literally one the same page, with the same timing, following the same leader, and producing one product with their many inputs.  This is the inspiring description of the early church when all of it could be squeezed into one room.

They DEVOTED themselves to this.  They remained faithful in an intimate, sticky, obstinately persistent way.  They attached themselves to the orchestra.  They persevered in the task of prayer.

So, in the last 7 days, have you been making good prayer-music with the people of God?  There is a call today to pray.  There is a call today to be sticky to the task.  There is a call today to be firmly attached to actual, real people.  This is the music of the early church.  This is the music of today's church.  bewithme.us