Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

The Samaritan woman is feisty, full of life, curiosity, and questions.  She'd be fun at a cocktail party.  She is also wrong in just about everything she says and thinks and accuses God of.  But that is OK.  Jesus has a divine appointment with her. (You know it is a divine appointment because of this fact:  Jesus sends 12 guys to the grocery store, so he can be alone with his initial interaction with her).

She is stuck on the separation of Jew to Samaritan and of Man to Woman.  However, the real jaw-dropping concept is the separation of Womankind with God.  God shows up to interact with this pistol of a woman, and rocks her world. She accuses God of not having anything for her.  She couldn't be more wrong.  He is her essential need.

Just like God did with the slightly unfavorable character of Jacob/Israel, God wins the unsavory.  He saves the unsavory.  You can quote me on that.  Share the quote with others.  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.  Sign up on the email:  [email protected].

If you only KNEW what God has been up to.  He's been preparing a gift.  It is preplanned, thought out and is ready to be delivered.  You however, have been oblivious.  You'll be surprised about all that went into the GIFT.  You'll be humbled as to the cost and the preparation.

The woman at the well, the Samaritan woman receives this gift for us.  Spiritual people have LONGED for this moment for thousands of years.  She gets it in a way that from her perspective is SUDDEN.  It is really not, because the gift has been planned since the beginning of time.  Do you really thing the fall of mankind was a surprise to God?

She (and we) have a failure of PERCEPTION.  She (and we) are surprised at the gift .  She (and we) are not well acquainted with the WHO. 

If we only knew that the GIFT IS the WHO.  Please share after you listen.  Re-post if you are listening on facebook or twitter or linked in,  Thanks for listening.  

Jesus steps into a spiritual wound that is 750 years old.  And, my favorite, He is WEARY. It is noon and this semi-outcast has to draw water in the heat of the day.  So, there is a big wound.  There is personal weariness. 

Similarly, we get a choice when we have a wound and a weariness. Do we just give up?  Do we engage.  Do we entrust and recommit to serve?  Of Course, Jesus gets it right with the WHO of the story:  the Samaritan Woman.

This is such a cultural faux-pas that not only the disciples marvel at the violation, but the woman HERSELF marvels.  How can you ask me?  What is going on here?

Let's ask:  What is our super old wound?  What is our weariness?  and finally, Who is our WHO?  We have so much to learn from Jesus!  Please share this podcast.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people.  We can all agree on that IF we clarify the timeline.  On this earth, it happens all the time.  Later, it will never happen.  Not once.

John the Baptist won the Humanity Olympic Medal of people born to women.  He was the best of the best here on earth, of all people ever born on earth.  No one ever did it better.  World record holder in being a great man.  

Do bad things happen to good people here now?  Yes.  Just read the newspaper. 
Do good things happen to bad people here now? Yes, it is called common grace
Do bad things happen to bad people here now?  Sometimes yes, though earthly justice is iffy
Do bad things happen to bad people in heaven? Yes, there is perfect justice and a God of justice.
Do bad things happen to good people in heaven?  Trick question.  There are no good people compared to the perfect holiness of God.  Therefore, we need help turning us into good, redeemed, saved, rescued people.  That is the miracle of salvation.  All of us standing there with our hands in our pockets and somehow God winning the race for us.

Yet, Matt 11:11 says that the least in the kingdom of heaven (then) will be GREATER than the world record holder. The lowliest gal in heaven gets more reward than the greatest man that ever lived?  HOW?!?!?!?!?  Only by the favor of God

This gives us hope for the future if...we are on the right team.  Where do I sign up?  By faith.  In the meantime, subscribe on Apple Podcasts to Be With Me 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder.

The Lord says to us in many ways, "You are my JOY"!!!  We answer, "No, I'm not!"
The Lord says to us again, "You are my JOY"!!!  We answer, "No, I'm not!"
The Lord says to us again, "You are my JOY"!!!  We answer, "No, I'm not!"
The Lord says to us again, "You are my JOY"!!!  We answer, "No, I'm not!" x 97
Finally, then we say, "God, You are MY JOY!"

I think this picture is pretty accurate as the Lord throws Himself and His blessings upon us.
The good Book says that He gives the Spirit WITHOUT measure, so of course we have to measure it a little bit to realize that yup You are right God, You DO give the Spirit without measure.  More than I deserve.  More than I realized.  It is God over and over saying:  "You are my joy!"

Finally, we get the memo.  Oh, I get it now!  God has been so very very very good.  I realize what God has done for me.  "God, You are MY JOY too!"  Other words for this are belief, trust, entrust, or set my seal to it.  Please say with me today, "God, You are my JOY!"  Then share this podcast or write at [email protected]

What in the world is John the Baptist still doing with disciples?  Some of John's disciples, namely Andrew and probably John have left John to follow Jesus after John said, "Behold the Lamb of God".  John still has a few hangers on.  

But John is doing everything to point to Jesus in this passage.

God is true.
He is above all.
He must increase.
He is the bridegroom.  He's the big cheeze
He is the Christ of Israel and the World
The Spirit is at work and with out Him, we cannot even receive one thing
He is appropriately baptizing not just for repentance, but to Himself.

Here is a fun thing:  John gives a new word picture for BELIEF.  That is SET YOUR SEAL to Him.  Agree in this way.  Believe Trust. Receive.  Or, SET YOUR SEAL TO HIM.   Yes I agree.  Listen 7 minutes and you too can agree and set your seal.  Thank you for listening and considering today.

Nicodemus turns out to be one of the most courageous men of the Bible, though we don't find out about it in Jn 3.  It is a bit of a cliffhanger until Jn 19.  It is worth the wait.

A characteristic of the Christian walk is courage.  We need courage to face the stuff that God has for us personally.  That is hard enough.  "But wait! there's more!" We also need courage to help the friends around us walk their Christian walk.  It is nicely called "Christian Fellowship" in the business.  My preferred term:  being the VELVET BRICK.

I had a dear friend who actually was KNOWN as the the VELVET BRICK.  This was spoken of  with a great deal of admiration because it demonstrated the difficult to achieve characteristic of Nicodemus:  his COURAGE.  That is the brick part.  The velvet part is the beauty of Christian love and fellowship and faithfulness and meekness.  It is so much easier to achieve impact and motion with our fellow walkers with God when we do it kindly.

Oh for friends who are both BRICKS and VELVET as they demonstrate the courage of Nicodemus!  Listen, and go be that velvet brick.  share podcast, as always.

Uncomfortably, the Word says we LOVE the DARKNESS.  How much?  A little? Or enough to cost a really valuable thing?  In a sense, our death-grip on our affection for the regular old way I am costs in return THE TRINITY.  The Trinity is beyond value, you have to give me that.  Our death-grip on our evil ways then is exchanged for this:  The Father giving His Son.  Your commitment to evil costs a divine family member.  Which of your own children would you give to keep your stubborn way of life; of acting; of thinking?

 He gives us children and grandchildren with indescribable love for a reason: that we might understand the crazy love that the Father has for Jesus.  That is one of the reasons why He used the family language.  

Hey, we have selected ourselves to the bad group already by our holding on to this.  Don't you think it might be time enough to change? Our stubbornness has wounded the trinity.  It 'broke' the Trinity. It made the Father GIVE THE SON to get you out of this mess.  You broke the Trinity.  Listen. 

Nicodemus the "night guy" that comes to Jesus gets a personal invitation that is eventually extended to the whole world of every tribe.  The question is, how does Mr. Nighttime ACCESS the wonders that God promises?  How does he get something super valuable: peace with God, forgiveness from sin, and eternal life?

By something almost impossible: He has to believe.  He has to change his mind.  He has to change mental history.  He has to break with his favorite way of thinking: his own. Fortunately, the Lord promises HELP with this almost-impossible project.  Thank you Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

The door, if you will, is belief.  Other words you might relate to are seeing Him, Hearing Him, Treasuring Him, not rejecting Him, not hardening my own heart or keeping Him. You can do it.  He will help.

Is the MOST FAMOUS verse in the Bible also the MOST FAMOUS verse IN MY SOUL?  Maybe it should be.  I probably should think about its' value in general, and especially its' value to me and my soul. With that in mind, let's soberly consider it.

For God:  It starts with Him; is sourced in Him; is initiated with Him.  Without this, we'd all be lost.  This is the foundation the rest of this great wonder rests on.

So Loved:  God has lots of great qualities.  Hesed, faithfulness, justice, mercy.  Sometimes I even get a shine about God's wrath on my holiest of days. I am also thinking of His creativity, correction and forgiveness.  But today, He majors this whole rescue plan on LOVE.  I drew a picture in my head and in my Bible.  An arrow zooming out of the heart of God.

The World:  Yup, that means all the enemies of God.  Which is everybody.

Gave His only Son:  He uses family language here to help us understand how much this hurt. We glimpse at it when some thing or some one messes with my children or grandchildren.  

When God gives His only Son, to the tribes of the world, out of love, in an initiation by Him to do something for us, WE PROBABLY SHOULD PAY ATTENTION.  Wonder.  Consider. Admire.  And then what?  What should I DO?  Listen 7 minutes and find out.