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
Wallowing in the scandal of history S31e1
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You have got to be kidding me.
Who in their right mind starts a gospel and the beatitudes with a genealogy?
Isn’t that the most boring, most skipped over, the stupidest start of any life story? All a genealogy holds is history, people and scandal.
That is the big point. People need a rescue. Not perfect people, for there are none of them. Flawed people are the ones He came to save. Start the beatitudes with me in SCANDAL.
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https://youtu.be/34DS_vQUIcs
The Book of Matthew Podcast-the beatitudes of matthew
Started March 13,2026
Wallowing in the scandal of history S31e1
I wanna get to the beatitudes
Everything in scripture is best understood in context. So a couple of chapters of run-up probably won’t hurt anybody.
Then you open Chapter 1 of the gospel of Matthew. Bango!
You have got to be kidding me.
Who in their right mind starts a gospel with a genealogy.
Isn’t that the most boring, most skipped over, the stupidest start of any life story?
Jesus wasn’t born in a vacuum.
In the geneology we get HISTORY, PEOPLE, and SCANDAL
He had a rich history—this is how He came, 1000’s of years
We’ll summarize this history by touching on the people that lived it.
Complicated history—people.
Purpose of His coming is His glory
Purpose of His coming is His commitment to His people.
Scandalous history—this is why He came
As I read and remember the actions of God there is steadiness, long-sightedness, faithfulness, and covenants that are only broken by the people He made the covenants to. Here we go !
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Are you sure you want to lure us into your redemptive story by starting with Jesus? Yes. He gets one line.
Rescue has a name: Jesus
Rescue has an office: Christ (Greek) Hebrew (Messiah) anointed one. God promised David, someone would sit on his throne forever. So this is a big deal. Jesus’s last name is not Christ. Anointed messiah. Interesting when we curse, “JC”often we curse with Jesus’ NAME in vain, and Jesus’ OFFICE, title, purpose in vain.
Rescue has a history: David. Abraham.
Rescue has a genealogical history David SON of Abraham
Rescue has an author: Matthew. AKA levi. Jewish. Tax collector. Most dispised professions. Jewish guy collecting taxes for Herod. A sell-out to his own people. Taitor , near-traitor. Educated.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Are you sure you want to lure us into your redemptive story by then starting with PEOPLE? Super-flawed people? Hyper-flawed people? Generations and generations of Mankind and womankind that often-times does not flatter us? YES. That is the point.
People need a rescue.
Non-flawed people don’t need a spiritual rescue
Fortunately, there are no non-flawed people
People are never adequate enough to rescue themselves
½ the time they insist they don’t need a rescue.
A genealogy disabuses everybody of that notion
Now we’ll cut them some slack as they are forward-looking to the rescue only as much as we hold ourselves to a higher standard as we look BACKWARD with more clarity.
They get a break because they didn’t see clearly.
We don’t get a break because we now see clearly.
This cannot be true, we all need a break. We all need grace.
We need a guide thru rescue. And GRACE
Back to People: not ONE of the people mentioned is without fault.
Can always look back and see sin. Taking redemptive matters into their own hands to start. Abraham
David: murderer, luster, leerer, distrusting of the Lord. He’s the OT that we all compare favorably with. If He can make it so can I.
Isaac: the usual doubts.
Jacob: father of 11 murderers. Great griever.
Judah: Father of Perez and Zerah by TAMAR
Tamar is his daughter in law. His son’s wife.
Thought she was a prostitute.
To Judah’s credit, she did ACT like a prostitute
But to give him no quarter, what was he doing becoming involved with a prostitiue?
It is complicated. Messy. Sunshiny word that means SINFUL
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
What are women doing here?
What are gentiles doing here. Rahab, ruth.
What are women of questionable character doing here?
What are men of questionable character doing here?
What are kings and heros doing here?
.This is the chosen people.small, needful, sinful
I mean no disresptect to my Jewish brothers and sisters. But, no reading of the OT can come to the conclusion that we are OK. We don’t need God. Gotta LOVE the OT. Real. Imperfect. Just like the people I live with now. Oh my goodness, we need a Savior. We’re 5 verses in an have before us, an un-admirable assortment needful people-hood, Welcome to the beatitudes. It starts with a geneology which is nothing more than Wallowing in the scandal of history.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.