Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
Water Baptism and Denominationalism: What was missing?
Have you ever wondered about the true significance of water baptism and how it connects to spirit baptism? Join us as we unpack this profound topic, referencing biblical scriptures such as John 3:3 and 3:5, to explore the importance of both rites in entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Through a personal narrative and reflective analysis, we bring to light the complexities encountered by early believers who embraced Jesus yet lacked the Holy Spirit, and how a complete spiritual awakening transcends denominational boundaries. Acts 19:1-5 becomes our focal point to emphasize why a holistic spiritual experience is essential for a fuller understanding and deeper faith.
Additionally, we tackle the critical discussion on why water baptism should be conducted specifically in the name of Jesus Christ, drawing insights from Acts 4:10-12 and Acts 2:38. Discover the historical shifts influenced by the Catholic Church, which altered the baptismal formula, and why returning to the original practice holds spiritual significance. Our exploration doesn't stop there; we are thrilled to introduce "Straight Ministry," our newly launched online platform designed to foster community and spread messages of love and hope. Engage with us in this spiritual conversation and join our journey towards enlightenment and unity.
Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, jj. It's been so good to have each and every one of you here with us on this journey. I'm so thankful for your questions. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. Thank you all. Thank you all. You can always be watching or listening or YouTubing any other podcast or program, but you've taken a few moments to walk with us and we really really do appreciate it. Thank you each and every one of you. Thank you to the sponsors let's big shout out to True Bars and Lyricist with the intro and outro, and thank you for exquisite creation. And and no, I haven't forgotten, we still trying to nail down that other sponsor and that's going to happen.
Speaker 1:But I have really exciting news that god is really moving and, uh, we are. I will be announcing it as soon as god tells me to announce it, but it's coming, it's coming, it's coming. Let's just say God is really. You know, god moves in his own time. He does, he moves in his own time and there is no too late or too slow or not soon enough. When I, I guess, when I'm ready to do what God tells me to do, then God will open that door and then I'll be ready to walk through it. But the big news, I believe, is coming, and it's coming soon, and I can't wait for God to make it official. Not for me, not for JJ, because it's not about me. I'm just a guy with a microphone and a Bible, right, it's about each and everything that God wants me to do in his own time, right? So, with no further ado, we have to wrap up this water baptism thing and we have to wrap up the right way to do it Because, remember, we're talking about denominationalism.
Speaker 1:Okay, and please understand folks, this thing walking through denominationalism is not designed to beat other people up. They are very, very good people and I've come to learn this over the years that there are very good people. There are very kind people that really really just want to live for God and maybe just don't know. Okay, really just want to live for God and maybe just don't know, and they were taught by someone else, who was taught by someone else, who was taught by someone else, and that someone else was taught by someone else that maybe got a little something wrong, got a little something wrong and this kind of created a denomination, which is a breaking apart from or separating from the name, and we're really going to talk about that today. How important is the name and what's the right way of doing this water baptism?
Speaker 1:Last week we talked about how important the water baptism is, but now we're going to talk about how it must be done. Thank you, each and every one of you, and with no further ado, because I want to make sure I finish this we had a very good friend on Facebook and I say very good friend, I mean just someone who really loves the Lord talk about. Well, you know, water baptism isn't really that important. What is important is spirit, and it's important to realize, it's important to talk about how important the water baptism and the spirit baptism goes hand in hand. You don't want to have one without the other. Now, in full disclosure disclosure, walkers, it does occur. It does occur, you will we will talk about how there are people who get the holy ghost that haven't been water baptized and the people who have water baptized and didn't get the Holy Ghost. But as we will talk, as we will go through today, we will find out that this is incomplete and that, remember, we talked about in John 3, 3 and 3, 5 last week that both must occur if we're trying to get into heaven. All right. So no further ado ado, let's get right into it. All right, and we're going to continue in the book of acts uh, verse, I'm sorry chapter 19, one through five, and we're going to stand new living translation because I want it to be very plain and very simple. Okay, now again, jj likes to read the king james version, but with the d's and nows that may get a little confusing or whatever. Uh, but let's just stay in the new living translation for now. Okay, so, at chapter 9, verse 1 through 5. And please understand that we do have a rule on this podcast read a verse or two above or a verse or two below, but preferably the whole chapter because context is key. So let's begin.
Speaker 1:While Apollos was in Korea, paul having traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. So right here we have the fact that we have believers. We have believers, people who actually believe in Jesus Christ. And Paul said to them did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? He asked them, remember, they have believed, they believe right now. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? He asked Remember, they have believed, they believe right now. Did you receive the Holy Spirit? No, they replied we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit, but they are believers. So remember, now we're going through denominationalism, we're getting rid of it, because they actually believe in Jesus Christ, they believe that Jesus is saved, but they haven't heard anything about the Holy Ghost. And this is where JJ was back, at 19 years old. I haven't even heard there is a thing such as the Holy Ghost. I've heard people talk about it, but I've never seen anyone actually receive it.
Speaker 1:Verse 3,. Then what baptism did you experience, paul asked, and they replied the baptism of John. Paul then replied John's baptism called for repentance from sin, but John himself told the people to believe in the one who will come after him, meaning Jesus. As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So now we have that this particular way had to be done. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and in this scripture setting we see disciples who were re-baptized in the name of the Lord. So it's okay for anyone to be re-baptized. You can be baptized every week if you want. You can repent every day if you want, but make sure when you are baptized, you are baptized in the name of the Lord, and if you haven't been baptized, you've been baptized in the name of the Lord. And if you haven't been baptized, you've been baptized in the name of the Father, son, the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:It has to be redone. There's just no way around it. If the name of Jesus is not attached to that water baptism, it must be redone. Let's continue.
Speaker 1:Let's go back up now, acts 4, 10 through 12. Be it known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him, does this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. Here's the important part, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That tells us right there that the name of Jesus is the only saving name. It must be attached to the water baptism.
Speaker 1:And so Peter wrapped this up, and this is just explaining what Peter said in Acts 2 and 38. And this, you know, is one of the things that's always been very interesting to me when I've had to speak at other places. A lot of times you have to, you'll say a thing and then got to have you explain it, and maybe two or three times, because we just don't get it the first time. So this is what happens in act 238. This is why it feels like we're going back and we are. I was. I was thinking about uh, before we get into act 238, I was thinking about um, we, when we were in math class, and they tell you that if the math solution, if the equation is correct, if you do it forward and backward, it'll come up with the same result. So one plus three equals four, then four minus three equals one. So it always settles itself out.
Speaker 1:So Acts, chapter 238, peter is giving you the big outline here. And Peter said unto them repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Why? Because you want your sins to be remitted. This is why being baptized in Jesus' name is important. Sins can be forgiven and not remitted. Okay, that's why it's important and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 4 and 5 talk about one Lord, one faith, one baptism, about one Lord, one faith, one baptism. So you know, and I want to point out to something that is very important, that somehow gets lost when we start getting into denominationalism there, the other facts are that in scripture, no one, no one, not one person, not one person. And I would challenge you, I would eat an entire stack of Bibles with Lowry's hot sauce, whatever hot sauce you like. In Scripture, no one, no one, no one ever baptized in Father, son and Holy Ghost. And this is where they get this from. They get this from Matthew, 28, 19.
Speaker 1:And what if people really read 28, 19 the way God said it? They would understand that these titles Father, son and Holy Ghost have one name to them, and we know that that name is Lord Jesus, even if even we have, as people, several titles. Some of us are parents, some of us are co-workers, some of us are siblings. But if you went down to the bank with a check, with a million dollars, and you wrote it parent, child, sibling, parent-co-worker-sibling on the top of the check, you signed it that way and they would really laugh at you, because the name is not attached and we first started seeing that name change or that formula change when the Catholic Church became prominent. And again, there are a lot of great Catholics out there this is not to beat anybody up, but there are a lot of great Catholics. But the problem is they started and they read it. So they saw it Matthew 28, 19,. They see it and they considered it because it was capitalized like a regular it. So they saw it Matthew 28, 19,. They see it and they considered it because it was, you know, capitalized like a regular name, that they thought that these were names. This was not the case. These were titles of one God, but it was the name that was important, not names plural, but names singular. Name that was important, not names plural, but names singular. And there were.
Speaker 1:Even if you don't look at the encyclopedia, it talks about it and they talk about Britannica, talks about the baptism formula being changed from the name of Jesus Christ to Father, son and Holy Ghost by the Catholic Church in the second century. There are other encyclopedia references where everywhere in older sources, it talks about baptism only being taken place in the name of Jesus Christ. Volume 3, 82, if anyone has Encyclopedia Britannica, the Canny Encyclopedia of Religion talks about the early church, always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, until the development of the Trinity Doctrine in the 2nd century. So this is actually 200 years, or more than 100 years after the forming of the church. So please understand, this is not just something I just pulled out of thin air, and it's backed up by actual secular sources. Hastings Encyclopedia, volume 2, three, 37, talks about X, two, 38, when the name is the ancient synonym for person.
Speaker 1:So payment was also made in the name of some person, referring to ownership, just like we talked about before. If I paid you, um, I paid you in a check, jj has to be at the top of that check and then when you went and go to cash it, your name had better be the name that it was paid to the order of on that check, otherwise you're not cashing anything. We run into a lot of that now where the name is misspelled. If you misspelled the name, the bank is probably going to balk at cash, even if you and one of the biggest names that misspelled I don't know why the first name is joseph. People spell it all kinds of ways, but banks will balk at it, they will hesitate. They'll have to get the manager, and the manager has to call the branch manager and the branch manager has to call the division manager and the division manager has to call the corporate office manager. All these people have to be involved because all these people have to have their names attached to the transaction as an approval.
Speaker 1:Somehow we think that the most important transaction of all does not require a name and that's, and I get it. I get it, I really do. It's hard to tell people this. It's hard to tell people who've been going to church their entire lives that this one detail may be wrong. And, like I said, I had a friend, a good Facebook friend. She always posts things about God every day. She always posts, and she's very and again, this is not to beat anybody up God, every day, she always posts, and she's very. Again, this is not to beat anybody up Y'all. And I have come to Be a little softer on this over the years, not that this has to change, but I've just been like you ain't saved if you not. I think God has tempered me In this, not to back off the requirement of Jesus' name, baptism, but the fact of how I express it or how I tell other people.
Speaker 1:The Bible is very clear, very clear, that the name has to be attached. And once that name is attached, the name has to be attached. And once that name is attached, then it's attached for the remission of sins. You don't get baptized to get the Holy Ghost. This is literally two separate and I guess we're going to stick with the term transaction. These are two different transactions in the same healing process, the same delivering process, the same delivering process, the same salvation process, and there's three transactions.
Speaker 1:One is to repent, which means you have to be fully sorry for things you've done and you don't have to. And let's just talk about that for a second, because in denominationalism they come up with a lot of different. So you know saving formulas, salvation formulas, and they sound really, really good, but they're always sort of missing something right. And and even if you've lived under this process for some time, you will feel that, and you may feel it now. You may feel that you know what I have. There is something different about me, but something may be missing and you know you have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But that's not complete. You have to. You have to repent, you have to, and that's usually a whole dour sounding word.
Speaker 1:People get all upset you got to repent, and there's always somebody on the corner with the sign you have to repent, or just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, how else would you know to repent except you believe? How else would you be baptized except you believe? So, yes, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I get it. Yes, absolutely. But that's not the complete doctrine, that's only the beginning, that's not the complete salvation, that's only the beginning.
Speaker 1:You can't believe in Kari Krishna and then go get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, because that means nothing to you. You're literally just getting wet. You can't believe in John Smith you know the Mormon church and then you're baptized in Jesus' name because it means nothing to you. So you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, be baptized in Jesus' name, repent of your sins, and before that or sometime in that, you've got to repent. You've got to say God, forgive me for the things I've done, for the life I've lived. You don't have to repent of everything. Well, in third grade I stole a pack of Wharton and cookies. Now it's a general repentance. God, forgive me for the things I've done. God, I need you, okay, and I'm tired of living this life. I got to turn my life around. That's the real meaning of the word repentance.
Speaker 1:And then you get baptized in Jesus' name so that all of the sins that you just repented of, that you just told God that you needed forgiveness of, can be remitted. And it's delicious, like um. Let's look at it, and I like to look at it this way because it makes it easier to explain. Look at your credit card statement. You can run up a credit card to within an inch of his life and then stop charging on it, stop using it, right? This is sort of an act of repentance because, oh god, I've been buying all this stuff. Stop doing it. You stop doing it right, but the balance is still there, still gaining interest. Even if you cut it up, throw it in the trash, burn it, then burn the trash, the balance is still there and there must be a payment for it. So this is repentance.
Speaker 1:However, to have it remitted would be to get the credit card statement and say you know, let's say it's a $10,000 credit card. You've earned up to $9,946. You get that credit card and that bill says zero. You owe nothing for this and that's the reason for the water baptism. It wipes away the balance that you've already stopped accruing.
Speaker 1:And this is why it's important to understand why this is important, because once you stop accruing that sin and you wipe that sin away, getting the Holy Ghost means a lot more Right and it's all attached to his name and for some reason, when we started creating denominations, we lost that very important aspect of the belief Again. You have to believe that Jesus exists, that Jesus is Lord and that Jesus can forgive all your sins, and you have to get those sins remitted after you stop doing them, and then you are reborn again in the Spirit, like John 3, 3 and 3, 5. This is what Jesus said and everything led up to this Water baptism in Jesus name Repentance of your sin, and not even in that particular order. Not even in that particular order Because I've known people who've gotten the Holy Ghost before being water baptized. I've known people to get the baptism of the Holy Ghost for many years after getting water baptized. I've known people who've repented of their sins and didn't do either. But these three things must happen. These three things must happen. These three things must happen. I do thank you all for joining us.
Speaker 1:We are going to talk about. We got a question a couple weeks ago and I said I would touch base on it. We're going to touch base on it next week and it's a very sensitive subject and people get really sort of been out of shape on it. And I say been out of shape because there's so many doctrinal teachings on it where they talk about living holy. And what do you do after you've repented of your sins, after you have been baptized, after you get the Holy Ghost? How are we supposed to live? How do you take care of that gift of salvation? Because, I mean, we want to live our lives and we have to maintain that. We're going to talk about fully living next week and what all that means. I know it sounds kind of gutter, but it's not as hard as it looks. It's not as hard as it sounds, and yet it's not as easy as it sounds either.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you so much for joining us on this episode. Uh, thank you so much for the question and thank you so much. And oh, by the way, if you are looking for you want to ask more questions or comments or anything like that, if you're on certain platforms, now me, talk to me at walkwithmebiblestudy at gmailcom. Walkwithmebiblestudy at gmail. That is the best way to get in touch with me so that I can respond. I just found out that we're on like four or five different platforms and some of them don't actually respond directly to me. Even YouTube doesn't. Sometimes YouTube doesn't allow me to see the comments until much later. So walk with me. Bible study at Gmail dot com. Any questions or comments? Thank you so much. You know what to do. Love you all, love you, love you. Oh yeah, by the way, I'm also here and I'm on Instagram now, which is really great. Thank you all so much, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:We are now on what was formerly known as Twitter and it's you have to kind of Google it at straight ministry. There's a hint about what I'm going to tell you At straight ministry, and by straight it's spelled the same way as the straight gate. There's that other hint S-T-R-A-I-T. Straight ministry and I'm looking forward to interacting with you all there. Thank you all so much. I'll see you all on the next one. Tell somebody that you love them, tell somebody that God loves them and tell somebody that there is a better way. I look forward to seeing you all. God bless you all. Bye-bye.