Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Andrew, who has been a disciple for about 5 minutes, makes another disciple of his brother Peter.  Spiritual reproduction happens immediately in the gospels.  It is a good thing too, because NO ONE is born a Christian.  Every single Christian today got there through believing and being made a disciple, usually with the helping hand of ANOTHER PERSON.

We complicate spiritual MENTORSHIP and spiritual ACCOUNTABILITY in the body of Christ today to the point that it scares everybody away.  I'd like to simplify this process down to two essential elements that I think everybody needs:
1.  Encouragement.  (find me someone who doesn't need this.  You can't.)
2. Lunch. or breakfast (find me someone who doesn't need this. You can't.)
the rest is details.  So if you have been a follower of Jesus longer than Andrew, that is 5 minutes, you SHOULD be involved in this process.  It's in the Bible.  So I ask men:
Where are the men you take to breakfast? and I ask women?
Where are the women you take to lunch?

Do you know anyone who meets this criteria? Maybe younger, maybe less mature, maybe in need of encouragement, and maybe hungry for LUNCH? Text them right now. And then share this podcast with them.

Jesus KNOWS US first.  However, this is always a SURPRISE to us.  We think that our first thoughts of Him coincide with His first thoughts of us.  Yes we are that narcissistic.

Nathaniel gets this revelation today as Jesus says, "I already saw you.  I heard you under the fig tree as you were talking to me earlier in prayer." Nathaniel has this meta-moment in realization.  Perhaps he was praying that the Lord would reveal Himself, or make Himself known. 

Jesus knows our warts, our smell, our words and soberingly, our HISTORY.  And yet, here He comes to engage us.  Not that we should be staying the same.  As John the Baptist charges, there will hopefully be some FRUIT in keeping with repentance and interaction of Jesus. 

This may be your first day with Jesus.  It is NOT His first day with you.  Thank you for listening. Share please bewithme.us.  Sign up at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts or 35 other sites.  

Jesus "sees Peter for the first time."  That is, at a certain moment in history, Jesus' physical eyes physically laid eyes upon Peter for the first time.  It was a big moment.  Figuaratively, Jesus' eyes never left Peter from that day forward.  However it was a BUMPY ROAD going forward.  

Similarly, I think Jesus will lay his physical eyes upon me.  I think I will have a resurrected body somehow with some eyes, so I will SEE HIM SEE ME.  I can't wait.  It should be a stunning moment.  I probably won't be able to stand up, nor will I want to.

Peter gets a new name.  We refer to him by his new name: Peter, Cephas, ROCK.  He was Simon before.  But Peter, for at least three years of having this great new name, was anything but a rock.  Rather than, "I name you KNUCKLEHEAD, or HOTHEAD, or Mr. ENTHUSIASTIC" Jesus instead sees all the way to Peter's mature state and names him ROCK.  Just read 1st and 2nd Peter.  You'll see a "different" person than the gospels describe.  

Let's stand in wonder about that moment today.  Share this podcast with someone who cannot see today...

Andrew gets his first question from Jesus and it is a doozy: "What are you seeking?"
Andrew's answer knocked me today.  He did NOT say, eternal life, or happiness, or a million dollars, or relational peace, or a savior that knocks out the Romans.  What he did say was:

"Where are you staying?" 

What is your location today, tonight and tomorrow?  Where will you be? Where are you now?  Andrew then strings together a long series of those NOWS and to this day, he still is in the location of the Lord. He lived the rest of his life at the location of the Lord physically while Jesus was here and then faithfully after Jesus left.  Then, he died in the faith.  He went all the way to the end.  Then, and now, Andrew is found in the presence of the Lord in heaven.  From this moment on, Andrew never leaves the "location" of Jesus.

Lord, I want Your "address".  I want to be where You are.  I want to stay here by Your side, today, tonight, tomorrow, the next day until...until forever.  Thanks for joining me.  Share this with someone who knows where Jesus lives.

Like us, John the Baptist had limited knowledge.  He says twice today, "I did not know."  Yet, he was faithful, and brave, and worked with the knowledge he had.  He was expectant, literally waiting for the Lord Jesus to SHOW UP.  There is a lot we can learn from him.

Jesus says that among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater.  Wow.  He's right up there tied with David and Moses and Isaiah and Hanna and Mary Magdalene, etc.  He lived a life worthy of the praise of his Master Jesus.

Let's not deify John.  He was a real guy, with real limitations, who acted faithfully to the end.  Like us, he had humanity and questions, but pulled it off in receiving praise from the only one who really counts.

My prayer today is that the HAND OF THE LORD BE WITH YOU, as it was John. Be faithful with this podcast.  That probably means sharing it.  

John says, "BEHOLD the RHINOCEROS of God."  No, he does not.  It makes no sense.  How then does, "Behold the LAMB of God" make any more sense than Rhino?  Well, absent what the Bible tells us about the history and future of the lamb/Lamb, it makes no more sense than a rhino. 

Lambs are in the Bible from almost the first page.  God provides a lamb for Abraham rather than sacrificing his son Isaac.  Lambs are the symbol and the blood provider for the Passover (the real one) and the food for the remembrance of the Passover from then on.  Everybody had to have one and sacrifice it at exactly the same time all across the country.  They help to remember the favor, the presence, the activity and the choice of God.

Lambs are in the Bible in the future.  In fact, Jesus Himself is called the Lamb.  The word actually gets a Capital LETTER in reference to Jesus.  Read on, but the Lamb gets a SONG, Worship, falling down before Him, a throne, a river, unique powers, a marriage with the Church, and a big wedding party.

So, when John says, "Behold the Lamb of God," it means so much more than a Rhino. Listen 7 minutes and appreciate the history and the future!  Then share this podcast.  Thanks.

A great response to exposure to the truth could be and should be, "What then shall I do?"  It indicates eagerness, willingness, humility and intent. It is a marker that the listener has been stirred and that there is a willingness to change.  

John the Baptist calls for "bearing fruit in keeping with repentance." Soldiers and crowd members and tax collectors each ask about what that might specifically mean for them individually.  Of note, the answers are all different.  Discernment will be required for us.

Admirably, they are expectant in their questions.  Let's too be ready in our watching, listening, smelling so that when He shows up we see, hear and find Him today.  

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Jesus has GIGANTIC SHOES! At least if you read the Bible's account of them.  Amazingly, all four gospels comment about how fantastic Jesus' shoe wear is.  Think about that.  Of all the things to put in the Bible, God made space in a sense to have room to talk about Jesus' shoes!

We find out about the style of the shoe-wear.   We find out about the straps.  We find out about their VALUE, particularly in comparison.  In comparison to what?  No.  In comparison to WHO.  John the Baptist can't say it in enough ways, "I am not worthy to carry.  I am not worthy to untie.  I am not worthy to bend down and touch them."  Essentially the gospels say that "Jesus' pinkie toe is greater than John the Baptist.  Quit worrying about who John the Baptist is and refocus on the Great One whose SHOEs are gigantic, special and valuable."

This isn't shoe-worship.  This is the OWNER OF THE SHOE worship.  What is special about these sandals is WHOSE SANDALS they are.  He's the one to worship.  We might look to His shoes for just a second, and value Him, that is WORSHIP Him for who He is.  

What a HOOT.  Thanks for listening.  

Do you ever feel that there is a Word from God, from His Scripture, that isn't quite DONE WITH YOU?  That is just what He does sometimes.

Jesus tells Satan, because he obviously forgot, that there is more to life than bread.  The essential elements includes His Word if one wants to live an abundant, supplied life.  Be With Me is just that, an effort daily to place ourselves by a discipline in the path of a discovery.  Every word is worth considering.  I wonder how much I miss.  Yikes.

This whole section of Scripture is an advertisement for the Old Testament.  It is all that Jesus has access to at the time.  The Old Testament was good enough for Jesus for all aspects of faith and practice...so...it probably should be good enough for me.

"Be gone" Satan works best by decreasing the distance between God an me, probably by His Word, His ESSENTIAL Word.  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

Listen 7 minutes today while Satan promises something he doesn't own; he offers something that is not his to give.  He pretends to command the topic of authority, that he has already messed up fatally in.  

Certainly there are kingdoms.  Certainly those kingdoms have some glory.  Every city's airport signs say so. But who made the kingdoms?  Who made authority and charged the delegation of that authority? Who made the accountability that follows the receipt of godly authority?
There are kingdoms.  There is glory.  It is just not his to give.

Famous line from Jerry McGuire movie, "You had me at hello."
Truth from this passage, "You lost me when you opened your mouth." Why?  Because you don't stand in the truth.  You are fundamentally a liar.  You cannot be trusted with anything.  You have a perfect track record with lies and failure. Today, you are promising something that is just NOT YOURS TO GIVE.

Thank you for your attentions of 7 minutes.  The gospels are worth walking through chronologically.  You are faithful students of the Word.  Keep up the good work.  See you tomorrow too!