Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Making a response before God S29e62 Dt26:1
What do you do for what God has done for you? The answer is : MAKE a RESPONSE.
How do you respond? A response is undeniably required.
Functionally, today’s passage is about money. It is about STUFF.
But the stuff is just the "currency" of the response. So are our hands, feet, mouths, and wallets. Realize and respond with me for 7 minutes.
https://youtu.be/qdqehK-54kg
Making a response before God S29e62 Dt26:1
What do you do for what God has done for you? MAKE RESPONSE
How do you respond? A response is undeniably required.
Functionally, today’s passage is about money. It is about STUFF.
The stuff is just the currency of the response
But it is this stuff that indicates what is going on in the heart.
It is about returning a portion of what He has ultimately given you to give ultimately to Him. But moreso, this is about the heart. It is about the inclination of the heart. We’ll look at it in the people of Moses time as well as in DAVID.
Tell this whole story just to get at a MOMENT
There is a story in 1 Chron 21 about David disobediently ordering a census, which was a clear, defined sin for him. He eventually, comes to the error of ways and confesses his sin. As a punishement, God sends an avenging angel through Israel and kills 70,000 people for David’s sin. When the angel comes to Jerusalem , David’s city, David and the elders see the angel with the sword in his hand. David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. CONFESSES David said to God was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done greatevil. But these sheep, what have they done? PRAYS: Please let you hand, o Lord my God be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be upon your people. 26 And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.
27 Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.
28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.
I love this moment. This is the moment I wanted to get to.
David saw that the Lord did something…and he….did nothing?
No, he responded. He sacrificed.
He made response. David made response
What do you do when you realize that you have prayed, that something perhaps you have desired has gone to heaven, Has been HEARD
Which is pretty amazing in an of itself
And that it has been responded to “THE LORD ANSWERED HIM”
What did David do? When he saw, he sacrificed. David has a choice here.
He, and we have agency as we are exposed to the wonders of God.
Answer to prayer, creation marvel, activity witnesses in another’s life, perhaps in the “common graces” that He gives to mankind: life, new birth, years on this planet?
What do you do for what God has done for you?Similarly, the people of Moses’ time, 350 years earlier than David were called to MAKE RESPONSE before the LordDDT 26:5
5 “And you shall make response before the Lord your God
5Recognize . Make response. Before the Lord.
26 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, BLESSINGS2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground,DO SOMETHING which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. DIRECT IT TOWARD THE LORD3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ RECOGNIZE IT SPECIFICALLY 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.
5 “And you shall make response before the Lord your God
5MAKE RESPONSE BEFORE THE LORD
God is a work and we’d best notice it.
Then, we should, we must MAKE RESPONSE
What do I do for what God has done for me?
MAKE RESPONSE. Mind. Realize understand
MAKE RESPONSE with my mouth: declare. Confess. Acknowldeg out loud
Let your mouth know that your mind understands something
Let your mouth know that your heart understands something
MAKE RSPONSE with my actions: going to house of Lord.Involve the Pastor there as you direct it toward the Lord
Let your hands feet know that your heart understands something.
MAKE RESPONSE with my wallet: take some of the first fruit.
Let your wallet know that your heart understands something.
The stuff is just the currency of the response
What is the response exactly to?
It is based on foundationally what the Lord has done for you.
What do you do for what God has done for you?
You MAKE RESPONSE. W Mind, mouth, hands, feet, wallet.