Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

There is a battle for a guy's SOUL today.  In fact, it is the battle for TWO guys' souls.  One is a straightforward story about the gospel, some opposition, and then a miracle that leads him to BELIEF.  This part is hard to miss. The second is also a demonstration of "the hand of the Lord being upon you." Usually we say that as some sort of a blessing, and here it is too, but i...

"Paul's First Missionary Journey".  Actually it was Saul Actually it was Saul and BARNABAS It was their 4th and 6th journeys in the service of the Lord, respectively They were sent from ANTIOCH and not Jerusalem This was 14 YEARS after Jesus' death and resurrection The founding church and Peter were a little slow on the uptake of the idea of GENTILES in the church.  It only too...

It is easy to root against Herod. It is easy to cheer him getting eaten by worms.  It is easy to think that I would have done a much better job with the agency, authority and the attitudes if I was in his position.  The sobering realization is that I too have agency, authority, and attitudes that I will be accountable for.   His culminating sin is not giving God glory when he was referred to as a...

The good Lord strikes (makes) and angel to strike (poke) Peter.   This angel is given power to alter sound waves, light waves, physical stuff like locks, as well as the consciousness of people.  You'd agree that these connections to our current reality are quite important to us.   This whole scenario points to the fleetingness of what we hold so permanent.  It also points to the power of the...

At first blush, being "at the top of someone's prayer list" sounds like a great honor.  But think about it. Of all the people that person knows...Of all the problems in the lives of all those people...Of ALL those, YOU ARE THE WORST; the most URGENT; the most at RISK.  You are in the most trouble.  It means that You are in the worst situation in that person's whole world. Peter...

God wants to do something IN Saul so that God can do something WITH Saul.  As a surprise to me, it takes a while.  Reading chronologically with an eye to the years passing is an ENCOURAGEMENT to me.  Sometimes it takes a while for the God doing something IN period of time.   For Saul, it was 14 years.  Some was in Damascus and Arabia (3 years), some was in Jerusalem (15 days) and a lot was in his...

Perhaps it is a small point, but giving $ NEVER is an option in our relationship with the Lord.  EVERYBODY is supposed to give in gratefulness and in support of the Body.  Everybody.  Everybody.  Everybody is ABLE.  Never does scripture question whether you ARE able.  It does offer the discernment of HOW you are able.  I'm not sure how the "if you are able" concept got started.  It&...

Antioch (Antakya) Turkey describes itself as a "City Famous Forever." the Bible tells us WHY. It is that some foreigners went to Antioch because of a persecution in Jerusalem after Jesus died.  When most were preaching JUST TO THE JEWS, some of these JEWISH CHRISTIANS  began to speak the word to GENTILES. We find out that God was pleased with this, as "the hand of the Lord was with...

Like a good movie, the scene shifts back to Jerusalem from the previous action in Caesarea, 75 miles away. They have found out that the Holy Spirit has FALLEN directionally, and efficatiously, and forgiving-ly on the we-thought-they-were-unclean GENTILES.  Their response?  THEY DON'T LIKE IT! They criticize Peter for 1. going there and 2. the horror:eating with them. Remember God has been wor...

The Spirit has a fall today.  It is directional, it is weighty, it is generous, it is abundant, it is unexpected, it is uncomfortable and it is toward people I am not that fond of. Welcome to another great moment in Church history.  The HOLY SPIRIT VOTES WITH HIS FEET and lands on gentiles. The specifically-mentioned-circumcised-historically-Jewish believers have been pointedly WITHHOLDING baptism...

Knowing and Believing are two different things.  One is a head thing.  One is a heart thing.  The people that hear Peter's message KNOW everything.  But they lack one thing: BELIEF.   Unfortunately, we all sit under the reality of sinfulness.  Do you doubt it?  Then just go for a drive and listen to the words that come out of your mouth.  Or, record your words for a day.  Worse, record your T...

Cornelius makes the mistake of MIS-WORSHIPPING Peter.   Peter makes the mistake of MIS-FELLOWSHIPPING Cornelius. The Lord smashes both these PEOPLE together to help fix both PROBLEMS. It is an important moment in Church history.  It is important to the Lord for us to worship HIM only.  It is important to the Lord that we open the doors of the church to the people He values. We still struggle with...

The lightbulb finally turns on for Peter.  The three visions about Iguanas and birds weren't just about dietary habits.  The Spirit then verbally chimes in to say, "ACCOMPANY THEM (the gentiles) WITHOUT HESITATION."  This is big, as there has been a couple of thousand years of hesitation . Of note, this is Peter's perception and understanding and interpretation of the Old Testa...

Iguanas are a picture of something once  not chosen  that are  now chosen. Jewish dietary regulations, founded by God are now being changed by God.  He's sovereign.  It is His prerogative.  But I don't LIKE IGUANAS.  I never have and never will.  Such is Peter's response. So the Lord runs through the vision AGAIN.  Still Mr. Knucklehead.  Then a THIRD TIME.  You'll never believ...

The Lord tells Peter what He thinks about Iguanas.  Peter basically says to God, "No. You don't think like that." And, this being Peter, he is quite emphatic about what he (Peter) thinks the Lord is thinking.  This is one second after the Lord tells Peter what He thinks about iguanas.   This is to free Peter and his people with regard to DIET, but also with regard to PEOPLE.  The Lo...

Some of you will be "listening in the New Year," as this drops for my first responders on New Years Day, 2022.  You will not be the first to consider your priorities, your strategies and your disciplines.  If this is part of your auditory resolutions, then I am humbled to be a part of it.   Join me in thinking ahead towards the  end  of 2022.  Wouldn't we all like to think  back on...

Good giving is like a fragrant offering before the Lord.  If so, what does your giving smell like? Today we are introduced to a gentile man with an incomplete view of God, but a spot-on view of giving.  His name is Cornelius, a roman Centurion.   He demonstrates excellent HABITS OF THE HEART including this generosity.  He is devout, that is, his spiritual efforts are priorities.  He is prayerful. ...

Tabitha becomes a SAINT twice. Tabitha becomes a NON-saint twice. Most of us will only get ONE CHANCE TO BECOME A SAINT.  You don't need a committee.  You can do it today. First let's start by defining terms.  We have got everything BACKWARDS.  According to the Bible a SAINT = a LIVING believer.  After we die we are called "witnesses", but never saints. Let's look at the l...

Life here is pretty difficult.  People get paralyzed. People get ILL. Everybody DIES.  Where is God in all of this? Why is there suffering?  Who is with me in all of this?  Does God even care? Nope. Not gonna answer all of those in seven minutes. Peter steps into the pain of some real people. Aeneas is from Lydda, 23 miles from Jerusalem.  Tabitha is a little further up the road in Joppa.  Peter g...

Hey, I learned something today. The Lord is a God of COMFORT.  Who knew?  Apparently not me.  And, it is OLD news. He's been in the comfort business a long time and will be in the future.  And I am supposed to be a participant as well as a recipient of this comforting.   Comfort is part of God's CHARACTER.  It is in His DNA.  Comforting the spiritually and relationally grieving is right...

Do you ever feel like you are in a spiritual holding pattern? Like you are just WAITING for something else to happen? If so, you are in good company.  Moses, Abraham, and now SAUL all "wait" for more than a DECADE to do their big thing. Saul gets saved and then is discipled somehow by Jesus for 3 years in Arabia.  He then goes to Jerusalem for 15 days.  They want to kill him there too. ...

If I come back to you and your faith 1000 days from now, will it have matured?  What plans are you enacting NOW to make that happen THEN? Today's bible lesson is 1000 days long. Saul does a few things immediately.  He gets un-blinded, he gets baptized and he starts to immediately proclaim Jesus.  Then there is a 1000 day window of time.   We know he is persecuted.  Oh the great irony of the t...

Christmas is a little  confounding. The whole concept, much less the reality of God coming down is both wonderful and scary.  Certainly we need the help.  We need it globally and in the intimate locality of our hearts. Some day Jesus will come as the great Inter-Galactic-Champion in glory, power, destroying evil, and giving all their due in judgment. But not today.  Today is Christmas morning. Tod...

My gift to you this Christmas is MURDERERS, adulterers, the unkind, those of the wrong political party, from the wrong country, of the wrong color, wrong language, and of the evil sort.  In short, I am going to give you KNUCKLEHEADS for Christmas. It is the best Christmas gift you'll ever get! This is the body of Christ .  These are His people.  By receiving it, you say God is THIS BIG: Big e...

By my count, Ananias gets to 8 crisis points before he decides whether he will follow and obey what the Lord asks of him.  It is always best to read these encounters as if you don't know how they will turn out.  Let's not read the stunning conclusion just yet.  Let's sit with him in his eight crisis.   It is not everyday that Jesus appears to you in a vision and tells you to go spec...