Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Abraham gets to watch the Judgment of God.  Abraham gets to watch the Judgment of God on someone else.  It changed him forever.

He stands before the Lord in Genesis 18 and 19 as the Lord choses to reveal a part of His character that Abraham is unfamiliar with:  His Judgment .   

Today, we also get to watch as God Judges those who will not receive the message of the apostles that is confirmed with lepers healed, demons removed, and even the DEAD RAISED.  

Listen as we wrestle with two big questions:  Why is God Judgmental?  and Why does He allow us to SEE IT?

What do you do about the "hard passages" of scripture?  What do you do about the INCONVENIENT truths that are in scripture?

Skip them and continue on your path of rainbows and puppies? or...
Face them, STAND BEFORE them, wrestle with them and find the treasures within them?  

Let's start today with JUDGMENT.  That makes me squirm a bit.  Let's trip over a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah.  That makes me squirm even more.  Listen as we STAND before judgment, Sodom, and Gomorrah.  We are in good company.  Abraham did the same thing.

Who do you know that is running a race today?  Everybody.

Who do you know whose race is a marathon?  Everybody.

Who do you know who is in need of endurance?  Everybody.

Join me in Matthew and Listen with prayer for those that need endurance for their race.

Jesus gives a strong ANTI-advertisement for being a Christian.  Persecution. Wolves. Dragging. Betrayal by secret. Betrayal by family.  Lots of bad news.

This passage is horrible but for the BUT.

He gives His PRESENCE with the Spirit.  The Spirit trumps all the above.

His charge is to go all the way to the end.  With God all the Way.

Listen for the first day of the rest of your journey.  

Let's talk about MONEY Luke 10: 8-10

On one hand the gospel is completely tied to money.  There are budgets to meet, buildings to re-roof, parking lots to pave, health insurance to shop for, and paychecks to support ministers.  there are a lot of fiduciary details necessary to run a church.  Why? Because the pastors and ministries COMPLETELY deserve it.  Who will you go to when your world falls apart?  You will call your pastor.  (Or you should...)  In the meantime, feed him.

On the other hand, the gospel is so valuable, so precious, so financially dear, that it is priceless.  Jeff Bezos could afford to buy a fraction of a single percentage of what is required to save him and his family.  The gospel should be completely separated from money.

Both truths in one passage.  God is amazing. Listen for the details...

God has a strong heart for the Jews.  That is clear from page 1 of the Bible.  

Also present from page 1, but maybe not so clear, is God's heart for the Gentiles.  They are mentioned 100 of times mostly as the NATIONS.  It is a great exercise to WATCH for this terminology as His Kingdom expands geographically throughout time.

But in todays verse, quite curiously, Jesus says NOT NOW to the Gentiles.  The call to the Gentiles is restored later in the Gospels, famously in Matt 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS...

Listen to the call, and the NOT CALL

Jesus sends the apostles out.  He tells them to be LOOKING for a certain type of person.  Someone who is WORTHY.  Who are these people?  How are they described in scripture?  By what criteria does the Word recommend such people? 

Of course then, we should all be rigorously searching for such people to join with as well.  Forgiven people under the mercy of God.  Spiritual first responders.  Hey, maybe even second responders.  Citizens of a different kingdom, who aren't quite "home" yet.  People who are running TO the spiritual battle.  People possessed by God.  I hope and pray that you have such eyes, and that you have such People.

Jesus is the great AUTHOR.  That means He does what pleases Himself.  Here in Matthew 10:1 we see the sending out of the 12 with a set of resources that Jesus has given them AUTHORITY to use.  It is an incredible list.  verse 8 casually adds raise from the dead.  

Soooooo, when Judas betrays Jesus, what had he seen? What had he done? What snippet of Jesus' authority had he utilized?  But then he betrays.  It makes the tolerance, forbearance and patience of Jesus all the greater.

Finally we see what kind of people are gathered to Jesus in this very special group of Apostles.  Of particular note in our current day of political polarization, Jesus chooses at least two that we know of, that are at the exact polar opposites politically, and UNITES them under His new kingdom.

Listen and see how Jesus did it.  

We know death.  But we don't know YOU (Jesus).  We don't know what you are capable of.  We don't know to trust you.

You make these outrageous claims.  We LAUGH at you.  We still do today.

There is a kid in today's account that needs a SNACK.

There is a choice in today's account: Laugh or be amazed.  Listen and chose.

What happens to the bleeding woman is not just physical.  Scripture is complicated in the sense that the warts of humanity are on full display.  So yes she is a person we are compassionate toward because of her 12 years of suffering.  We admire her for her faith and her single focus toward Jesus.  But she potentially makes everybody near her "unclean", even Jesus. THEN SHE LIES ABOUT IT.  "not me", all denied.  That includes her.

Thankfully, Jesus does not stop there.  He asks a question that He knows that answer to.  And then there is this moment:  She SEES THAT SHE IS NOT HIDDEN.  Exposed before God.  History Channel of my life playing on every station.  Exposed before the pressing crowd.  Awe happens.  First the Awful.  She feels awful for what she has done.  We should too.  Then Awe-full as she is (forgiven) and welcomed into the family of God.  "You had me at ....DAUGHTER" (Renee Zellweger).

Listen for what happens when someone sees that they are NOT HIDDEN.