Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

The great irony of Lazarus being raised from the dead is that he then gets to live and die a second time.  His new life is still fragile and wonderful. He acts as a beacon to Jesus' power, so Lazarus gets put on the Pharisee's KILL LIST. 

Life is precious.  Invest 7 minutes of it here.

https://youtu.be/v5-HDFHD_40

Worship should be wildly committed, radically positioned in the human experience, public, costly and urgent. With a great nod to SNL's year 2000 skit, worship is to give Jesus MORE COWBELL.

Join me for 7 minutes to watch exactly that happen in our story from John 12. Watch Mary give Jesus MORE COWBELL.

Subscribe for more cowbell tomorrow.

https://youtu.be/la7fa3S16_I

If you knew a friend were to die in a week or so, would you throw a dinner party? That's what Mary, Martha and Lazarus did. They responded to the call of their day: "What might I do on the day that I know I have Jesus?"  Jesus told them plainly that they would not have all days to do so.

Similarly, we won't always have the luxury of the spiritual time to receive Him kindly into our spiritual souls. Like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, we have got a decision on what we should do with the limited time we have left to respond.

https://youtu.be/HisvUzIpkIw

The nasty Caiaphas speaks words about Jesus that are truer than he knows: it is better that 1 should die than the whole nation (and the whole world) should perish. This describes Jesus' mission in a nutshell.  He is here to rescue by paying a penalty for sin, and then conquering death as a bonus. 

We are soon entering THE GREAT WEEK, the last week of Jesus' life.  You'll want to SUBSCRIBE to this YouTube channel to not miss a word of it. 

https://youtu.be/eE02fqh2QDU

The resurrection of Jesus is the singular core belief of Christianity.  If you don't believe in the resurrection, I cannot see how you could be a Christian. It is so important, that Jesus gives us a BETA version of resurrection to help get us started. This is the resurrection of Lazarus.

Let's get our heads around the resurrection of Lazarus.  It will help us understand the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is only 8-9 days away.  Let's get to it!

https://youtu.be/9YATKAcloeg

When Jesus tells death to do something, death faithfully obeys.
Death is loyal to the commands of God.

When God speaks authoritatively Death answers faithfully.

I hope that we can at least be as good examples as death itself.  Listen and subscribe 

https://youtu.be/lJKJqYrQ7KA

Borrowing from Julius Caesar, "I came, I saw, I conquered" Jesus does that over death, but first He weeps.

Jesus weeps because He loves people.  Every person who has ever lived has felt the sting of death.

Jesus weeps because He loves the cross. At least, He knows He will embrace the suffering and humiliation of the cross to get to the conquering part.

Write this down: He is made like us to help the likes of us. Subscribe to this channel.

https://youtu.be/e-W8SJtt1Hs

"The Teacher is here and is calling for YOU."
Mary hears that Jesus is calling for her specifically.
Everyone who comes to belief has that exact, specific, individual call. Yes, Jesus comes to save "The World", but He does so one at a time. He does it specifically and personally. If N is the kingdom, it grows by N + 1. 
Perhaps YOU are the +1 today. If not, subscribe to the Youtube channel so you can be the one tomorrow.

https://youtu.be/S3tkxIFME8E

The first diamond Martha gets is Jesus' revelation of Himself: I am the resurrection and the life.
The second diamond Martha gets is her invitation to participate in Diamond #1 by belief. This is the associative Christianity that we get to enjoy. Jesus flat out challenges her: do you believe this? And how about you, dear listener?
DO YOU BELIEVE THIS? If so, come back tomorrow

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS.? If not yet, Come back tomorrow.
https://youtu.be/5yqn8HnlN6U

Jesus demonstrates how much He loves Martha, and women, and humanity by the treasure that He gives her. He could have given it to a king, or His disciples or the Elon Musk of the day. Yet, He chose to give it to Martha.

Martha gets the biggest diamond.  Fortunately, she shares it with us today. Please listen, and especially subscribe and like. 

https://youtu.be/FQY66yFRXYg