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
The Power of the Name: Why Jesus Matters More Than Titles
Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, jj. So good to have you all here, so good to see all the new faces and all the returning faces and I say faces, but everybody has a username on the screen. But I really do appreciate it, you guys coming back. There's so many options of what to listen to in a podcast, but you've chosen this one and I am humbly honored and blessed of that. So thank you all for liking and sharing. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, and I thank God for each and every one of you. So I do also make a shout out to our sponsors, two Bars and Lyricists, iron Gate Ministries and Exquisite Creations. Thank you all so much for the work that you do and the intro and outro music from Two Bars and the tumblers from Exquisite Creations. Thank you all so much, so much. I really do appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Now we want to get into this follow-up episode from the previous one and basically we talked about what is in the titles, or how many titles that refer to Jesus is in the titles, or how many titles that refer to Jesus. But we want to now talk about why it's important to see through those titles and into the name of Jesus. And I say that sort of lighthearted, maybe tongue-in-cheek a little bit, but it's so important to understand the importance of the name of Jesus, why? Because the first thing we have to understand is the Bible gives great importance on names. The Bible places a lot of and, as a matter of fact, there are times when people were named something, one thing in the Bible, and then God would come along and change their name for them, like when Abraham was changed to Abraham Jacob, because Jacob that word means deceiver to Israel, which means people of God, and Saul of Tarsus to Paul. Now that's one of the biggest name changes we kind of overlook, because Saul of Tarsus was Paul. Now that's one of the biggest name changes we kind of overlook, because Saul of Tarsus was a persecutor of Jesus and Paul was a great preacher of Jesus. So you know, the name is very important, names are very, very important and you also see it in the naming of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ himself. But I just want to kind of blaze over that, because these are names that we are already familiar with.
Speaker 1:Now one of the things to really understand is that the name of Jesus itself, that name itself is above every other name Philippians 2 and 9,. Wherefore God has also highly exalted him and given a name which is above every name. Jesus is the name of the deity. Jesus is the name of God. Therefore, his name is above the name of the greatest king who ever reigned, the greatest president we've ever had or ever will have, the greatest general who ever won a war. The greatest I mean you can just go down the list Greatest scientist, inventor, architect, greatest artist, musician, poet, songwriter, lawyer, doctor, preacher. Even greater than the name JJ. I'm just kidding, we know that already, but it's important that Jesus' name is above every other name out there. And it goes to the point that his name is so great is that Acts 4 and 12 clearly lays it out. I kind of mentioned it in the last episode of Acts 4 and 12. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We cannot use any other name.
Speaker 1:And before we get into it any further, I think I'll forget if I don't say it right now when we talk about a scripture. I know, I know everybody's groaning. Yes, I get it, but we have first-time listeners and it's important to always establish the ground rule. There's one ground rule in this podcast. It ain't you have to pay $25 to listen to it, or you have to listen to each and every episode. That's not the rule. The rule is the one rule is if you have, if we're talking about a scripture, always read a verse or two above verse or two below, but preferably the whole chapter. Context is key. There are so many things being said right now, both biblically and non-biblically, out of context, and the context and this thing being taken out of context changes the entire meaning of the phrase. So we got to be careful. We've got to make sure we keep the Bible in context.
Speaker 1:Now, repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name. Where do you see that? In Luke, chapter 22, verse 47. And you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now this is the angel speaking, this is the angel telling Mary. You better not call him anything else. You better not call him, because this name is important, because J-E-S-U-S means he shall save his people from their sin. And you know it goes further beyond that, because that was just the salvation aspect, but now you have a healing aspect.
Speaker 1:And in acts 3 and 6, in the name of jesus christ, of nazareth, rise up and walk. That was what peter was saying to the man outside the temple. Silver and gold have I? None but such I have given to thee. This is why context is important Acts 3 and 15. And his name, through faith in his name, that made this man strong. This is where they would testify. So we're going to keep going. Power in the name. Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. This is actually the disciples before the Holy Ghost was even given out in Luke 10 and 17. In my name, there shall cast out devils. This is Jesus talking. A book of remembrance is written, a thought upon his name. This is a blessing in the name of Jesus. And this is in Malachi 3.16. Protection. A name brings protection. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and is saved.
Speaker 1:Now, this is not just fine. You're not going to find this in the New Testament, because that's actually in Proverbs 18.10, and we quote it all the time. That's actually in Proverbs 18.10. And we quote it all the time. And it's amazing that we quote it all the time and people still believe that Jesus is the little God among three gods, or three co-equal branches of God, or something like that. Well, that belief makes no sense once you dig it out.
Speaker 1:Prayers answered in the name of Jesus. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now, if there's a different God out there, what if you don't ask it in Jesus' name? What if you ask it in the name of the Holy Ghost? You're not getting it. You may think you get it the devil may actually present it to you, like you think you got it, because he's gotten real good at this but you didn't get what you were asking for.
Speaker 1:What a baptism in the name of Jesus. Now, this is a real big one. Acts 2.38. Be baptized every one of you in the name of the what, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. No, no, no, that's not what he said. We'll baptize you in the name of Jehovah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what he said. We baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ. Why? For the remission of sin, and Jesus actually spent a lot of time talking about it in John 14 and 26,.
Speaker 1:But the Comforter wait a minute. I thought we was talking about Jesus. I thought we was talking about the Son, I thought we was talking about the Holy Ghost, but the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, because Jesus says that, right after that, whom the Father will send in my name. Jesus says that, right after that, whom the Father will send in my name. In other words, you get the Holy Ghost through believing in Jesus' name. So how, then, if all of this is so important and you know Scripture is important but how can we question the importance of the name of Jesus when it's right there in the Bible, made very plain? Now, I get it, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1:There are some of you that listen to this podcast and I love you too, because you guys send me questions to keep me on my toes but there are some people who listen to this who will read the scripture and will say, oh, I'm just going to make light of it and that's just something old hoity-toity stuff. Jesus isn't just any kind of name just like any other name, but what it kind of shows and again, I do appreciate and love all of you but what it does show is that you're still in darkness as Lord, as long as this kind of revelation is concerned. Now, there's no name, and I can just put it out here, just like this there is no name that we can breathe in prayer or sing in praise, or when we are down and out and we need help, that no other name can bring the blessing and power like the, or, you know, when we are down and out and we need help, that no other name can bring the blessing and power like the name of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, this is why a lot of people take it in vain and you kind of open yourself up to different problems when you do that, because the weirdest thing I saw when I was on our outreach team in Johnson City is that people don't believe in God, but as soon as someone pulls a gun out and points it at him, the first thing they say is oh Jesus, oh God, oh Jesus. That's their soul crying out like oh God, don't call me home yet now. When you have that kind of a revelation, it makes it easier to understand why salvation works. It explains, it makes plain the great commission. It makes plain the subtle differences between what was said in the Great Commission and what was said on the Day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up, because Peter already had the keys to kingdom of heaven. Why? Because he already had the revelation of who Jesus was. So this Great Commission.
Speaker 1:Now we talk about this Great Commission all the time and that's where people come up with this Father, son and Holy Ghost thing and they kind of come up with it as a different set of gods. But there are three occasions that Jesus gave the commission, and they're as follows. They sat when they were at meeting Jerusalem Mark 6, 14-18, john 22-23. And then there was another great commission, which was the same great commission that we talk about all the time Matthew 28, 18-20. And then on the Mount of Olives, just before his ascension Luke 24, 45-51, acts 1, 6-9. Now, if Jesus had thought about to repeat this thing at least three times, and it had been so faithful recorded in all the Gospels, then one could understand that Jesus really wanted this to be important and wanted it to be done this way. So let's talk about this Great Commission, because we're talking about how important it is.
Speaker 1:So what was Jesus commanding One? Jesus commanded his apostles to go into all the world Mark 6.15. Preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16.15. Teach all nations, matthew 28.19. Baptize them in the name, matthew 28.19. Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded. And that's matthew 28 20.
Speaker 1:So, and this is where peter and paul had their first falling out too. Paul wasn't even there, but when paul got that commission, he went and did exactly that. Peter, though, on the other hand, decided, uh, he was just gonna kind of preach to the jews in every nation, and that's what good old peter. But paul said, no, I'm gonna preach to the gentiles too, because that would be all nations. That's a completely different bible study lesson. Again, we'll somebody remind me of that in a question.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you have questions or anything like that, send them to walkwithmebiblestudy at gmail. Walkwithmebiblestudy at gmail and put your name in the subject line. If you want me to address you by name, and what name you feel most comfortable addressing you by, all right. Oh, and, by the way, if your name is Ron, don't tell me that your name is Ronetta. I know it's a big thing these days. We're not doing that. If your name is Ron, I'm going to address you Ron or Ronnie. That's just how it's going to be. Okay, so, because I don't believe in lying to people, I know I'm sorry, I just broke the whole flow of this episode. That's fine, because I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to let you lie to yourself. All right, let's get back into it Now.
Speaker 1:Let us also know that when we get along with going and preaching and teaching, we are commanded to baptize. Baptism is very important. We are commanded to baptize. Baptism is very important. It's not something kind of left to our own mood or if we feel like we want to do it, or it's just something that we do as kind of like a special event, but it calls for explicit obedience. To obey this command is necessary to baptize, just as Jesus instructed us to in the name. So when the words Father, son and the Holy Ghost are repeated, the water of baptism is not being obeyed because we're not using the name, because we don't know what the name is in this case, not only let's just say I'm here to baptize, right, and I only repeat the words of Jesus and not obey them. Then what is the purpose of me doing that? What was the purpose of you getting baptized? So that you could feel good about yourself, or did you want your sins washed away? You want your sins remitted? If you wanted your sins remitted, then you've got to be baptized in Jesus' name, because that's exactly the way every single apostle went out and baptized, because they knew and understood the assignment.
Speaker 1:Now the testimony of Scripture is so overwhelming to this point that it kind of seems redundant. Yeah, let's just go with redundant. It seems redundant to even think about trying to develop an argument or kind of debate. The point and the reason why we talk about this is I get a lot of you, I get a couple of you who are baptized in this way and please let me just stop right here and say that I talk about this not to hurt your feelings. At the end of the day, I would rather all of us be in heaven with hurt feelings than to be in hell just burning and hurting. And God is very strict when it comes to obedience and we see a lot of cases like that. When God tells somebody to do something or not do something, he takes that seriously. However, knowing the opposition, we're just going to give a few reasons why you should baptize in the name of the Lord. Number one Jesus is the name of the Father, the name of the Son and the name of the Holy Ghost. I know we talked about that. We talked about why that's the case. But Jesus is that name.
Speaker 1:Scripture never contradicts itself. Now there are a lot of people out there some of you who listen who say, hey, the Bible contradicts itself, I don't know how. Well, let me get this. Let me back up a little. I can understand why people would think that. But that's why context is key, because once you take scriptures out of context, you can pretty much make it say anything. Because once you take scriptures out of context, you can pretty much make it say anything and just like, if there's a video of me saying something, you can pretty much edit that video to say whatever you wanted to say and you can make that video contradict me. So that's why everything has to be in context. But you know, there's the say that people rather take the words of Jesus than the words of Peter. But then they believe in that contradiction in the Scripture. And even Matthew 28, 19 and Acts 2, 38 are right. They don't contradict each other. That's why context is key.
Speaker 1:Now, there's not two Gospels. I've seen this lately sort of emerge. People start coming out with different books and different gospels and they look and sound so wonderful. They have some nice sayings in them and some stark things to be said, but there are never two gospels, there's never two ways to baptize. Now I get it. There's people who argue that there are only Jews and Jewish proselytes that were baptized in Acts, chapter 2. But now they're trying to believe that there's two Gospels because that's trying to say this is a Gospel for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. But even Paul went out and preached the same way Peter preached. Remember I told you he was going to come back to Peter and Paul. But we have to understand that those are in fact the same gospel. There's just one gospel.
Speaker 1:Now, if we accept the literal fulfillment of Acts 2 and 4, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost itself, it is absolutely necessary that we also accept the literal fulfillment of Acts 2.38. We can't have, we can't accept one thing as literal and then say the other thing was a figurative thing. Or we accept one thing as it just happened, this actually happened and then say this other thing didn't actually happen, it just kind of happened and we're just going to try to make it up as we go along. That's not good either. And also, before I forget you know Peter had just heard Matthew 28, 19 a week ago. So it's not like it was 2,000 years ago and Peter said the exact same thing that Jesus had told him to say, and he had just received the Holy Ghost, which was to guide him into all truth.
Speaker 1:Now, if he had actually received the Holy Ghost and guided him into all truth, he is going to say things in a plainer method than he would have actually understood them. It's like you and I all truth. He is going to say things in a plainer method than he would have actually understood them. It's like you and I can say the exact same thing. I'm a trainer on my job. There's like 15 trainers, right, and we could all say we could all teach the same book in different methods, but we have to follow the plan in the book. We could change the word here, change the word here, but we can't change the meaning. And I don't want to get into it because I can't, but I'm using this as an example. You have to learn what that book says. Alright, and remember. Now let's go back. You have to learn what that book says, all right, and remember.
Speaker 1:Now let's go back to Peter. He was entrusted with the keys to the kingdom. Whatever you bind in heaven is going to be bound on earth. Whatever you loose in heaven is going to be loosed on earth. You think God was a poor choice of recruiters? No, no, why Jesus? Why do you think Jesus even asked the question? Because Peter needed to reveal himself? Alright, and I don't want to go into that, because I could spend two hours talking about that. But could it be possible, though, that God made a mistake in giving those keys to Peter?
Speaker 1:Oh man, for you to say that is about as close to blasphemy as you can get, because Peter went on and talked about how you got to have that Jesus name baptism in remission of sins. And this is exactly the same thing that Jesus was talking about in 2447. Remission in the name of Jesus. There's no other name whereby we must be saved, acts 2447. If we are his children and we take on his name as a family name this is why we call ourselves Christians, the bride, why the bride takes her husband's name.
Speaker 1:What do we do in word and deed? We do in the name of Jesus. Water is both word and deed. Water baptism is word and deed. Colossians 3.17.
Speaker 1:Now, in water baptism, we are identified. In death, we out to the world, we die out to sin, and it's also a burial and resurrection symbolized there. Now, where were the father and the holy ghost crucified and buried, if these are three separate people? The father was never, never hung on a cross and the Holy Ghost couldn't even appear because Jesus had not yet been crucified. So and I know I just ran through a lot of information, I know I did, I know I did, I'm sorry, but I want you, you fellow walkers, to go through and read this out, because I can take every little word and break it down to the Hebrew meaning and then it still will not be absorbed or whatever, but I want you to understand this, I want you all to understand this how important that Jesus' name baptism really is. All right, we are out of time. We are out of time. I love each and every one of you. Thank you all for listening. Thank you all for liking and sharing. Thank you all so much. We love you. We love you, we love you.
Speaker 1:Tell somebody else out there. You meet them in the street. You get that little urge, you get that kind of a feeling to say hi, just tell them, jesus loves them. Tell them, jesus loves them. That's probably the only contact they'll have, the positive contact they'll have that day. People are hurting out there. You walk in. People are hurting out there and they're angry. They don't know why they're angry. They're hurt. They don't know why they're hurt. Believe're hurt. They don't know why they're hurt, believe it or not, it's God's time to draw them in your direction. All right, god bless each and every one of you. See you all in the next one.