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
Belief in Action: What Jesus Really Meant
Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I'm your host, jj. It's so good to have each and every one of you here. It's so good to be back behind this microphone with each and every one of you. Thank you all so much for your liking and sharing. Thank you so much for your patience, since we were gone for a few weeks. Then I decided to blow up my sound system, but we are back. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Quick shout out to our sponsors True Bars, lyricist, who does the intro and outro music and Spins the Creations making new tumblers for us as we speak, and we have a bit of an announcement we are starting a non-profit and I'll let you know more details about that as they become available. We kind of got to keep things quiet legally until we don't have to anymore, but thank you all so much. It's also a good opportunity if you guys wanted to donate to and follow some of the programs, because we really want to do something that's going to edify the marriage structure within the community and within the church. So these are big, exciting times. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to all of you participating and walking with us on this, participating and walking with us on this, and big, big shout out, big shout out, big shout out to our tutoring program that just ended. I think each year is a success because I can see progress. So, that being said, we're going to get into our lesson and, oh, before I do that, we've got to cover the other things.
Speaker 1:If you have questions, biblical questions, feel free to send them to me WalkWithMeBibleStudy at gmail. All one word, all lowercase, walkwithmebiblestudy at gmail. Now, the good thing about that if you have anything that sort of bothered you, even if you just want to compare answers to what your pastor's giving you or some other person giving you, or even what you think you want to discuss, go ahead and just send it to that email address. I read them all. As a matter of fact, today's episode is still based on that one question. That was such a small question with a very long answer.
Speaker 1:And the other thing we want to talk about is when we are going through Scripture. I don't think I mentioned the last episode and I didn't even think about it, but when we're going through Scripture, always make sure you don't want to be deceived by me. You don't want to be deceived by anyone, because the only reason why you're listening to this channel, this podcast, is because you desire to have a close relationship with God, and that means going to heaven. So if you have a Bible, always go with us, walk through this podcast with the bible and always read the verse two above or verse two below, but preferably the whole chapter, because context in anything is key. I myself, jj, can take any script out of context and deceive you with it, any scriptural context and deceive you with it, and there are a lot of people out here that are doing this. But that's not what we are trying to do. We're trying to get to heaven. So I always want to make sure you read a verse or two above verse or two below, preferably the whole chapter, because that context is very, very important.
Speaker 1:So with that, no further ado, we're going to get back into remembering what that original question was. Oh, and before I forget, if you want me to mention your name in the question, go ahead and put your name in the subject line. If you do not put your name in the subject line, I will assume that you want to be anonymous, and that's great too. I don't want to call anybody out. I know a lot of people want to be reticent about these sort of things, and that's fine. Just if you want your name called out, keep your name, put your name in the subject line, so I know, all right. So let's get back into it.
Speaker 1:We're talking about what does it mean to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, the last time, last time we were talking about what that meant. Belief sort of leads to an action, and it always will. It's not something you could just say hey, listen, I believe that eating is good for you, or eating healthy is good for you, and then you don't eat healthy and you don't really believe it. You just say it Well, I believe I should not stand in the middle of the street so I don't get run over by a car. Well then, you probably are not going to stand in the middle of the street so I don't get run over by a car. Well then, you probably are not going to stand in the middle of the street. But if you're just basically giving it service, then that's going to be a whole problem and I'm not sure what just happened. So what does this really mean again?
Speaker 1:So, this belief on the Lord Jesus Christ, it actually ended up and basically. So what happened was he had the disciples who were actually believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. He told them to go and do something, and they went and did exactly that Go and wait in Jerusalem until you know what's going to happen, until you get in view with the power from on high. So the account of how this happened is found in Acts, chapter 2. And this is chapter 2, 1 through 4. Now I would suggest you pause this and read it. I would suggest you pause this and read it.
Speaker 1:And to the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one court, or one mind, in one place, and something. There came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of a fire, and it set apart each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So this was all a direct result of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's where it began, and when we got here, here, it was another step. It was a manifestation of what happened if you, or when you, believe in the Lord. Now, remember this was not just the 12 apostles that experienced this. This was not just the 12, or actually the 11, because, remember, judas Iscariot had offed himself. So this was not just the original apostles experiencing it.
Speaker 1:There were about 120 people who were also believing on the Lord, jesus Christ, including Jesus' mother, who was not an apostle, mother who was not an apostle. So don't let people tell you that she's a saint or she's some special. She has special privileges or something to that effect. Jesus' mother had to go through the same exact thing that the rest of the apostles did, and the same thing that you and I have to Now. If she needs it, please understand that you and I need it too. So what does this really mean? What really happened when the day of Pentecost fully come?
Speaker 1:Now we can start with verse 1. They were all in one for one thing 120 people sitting together in the morning waiting for something. All they knew that they were waiting for something. We can think in the hindsight sort of way that they knew what they were waiting for, but they had no idea. No one had ever received the Holy Ghost at this time. There was no manual, there was no Bible. We didn't know what symptoms was going to happen. All they knew is that they were waiting for a power that they had no idea was coming, but it would enable them to be witnesses to the Lord.
Speaker 1:Now this is both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and to the other parts of most part of the earth and Judea and Samaria and to the other parts of the earth. And Jesus knew that. This new church I'll put that in quotation marks because that's what he called it he needed more than just enthusiasm. He needed more than just zeal. He needed more than just like a little touch. He knew about the forces that was going to come against the church. He knew that the military was going to come against the church. He knew that the military was going to come against the church. He knew ecclesiastical people from the system of Judaism was going to come against them. Civil Roman society was going to come against them. People just didn't want to do the right thing. The social world was going to come against them, but what they needed was power to overcome all of that and overcome all of that simultaneously. And then suddenly there was a sound. Verse two Suddenly there was a sound.
Speaker 1:Now, a lot of people who study this kind of thing that the rushing mighty wind sounded like a sound. Now, a lot of people who study this kind of thing that the rushing mighty wind sounded like a tornado. Now I honestly I don't know, I can't subscribe to that. But it does sort of make sense and I've been in a tornado and I've been in hurricanes and until you've been through them, that is a rushing mighty wind, all right so, but it seems to come from everywhere and nowhere altogether, because it says it came from heaven, not from the sky. It came from heaven. And you know they say that stillness fills the room. You know, every time you get a tornado there was right before it is like a eerie sort of call kind of hard to describe if you haven't been in it like an expected thing that is going to happen. Um, and nearer and nearer. You know this thing start kind of hearing it. This is, this is wind, that kind of here, faintly at first, and then it just comes on top of you and it has to be scary because it was inside the room. It's not like they had a window open. The bible doesn't say it came in through the windows and and knocked around.
Speaker 1:The Bible is always very descriptive about things that happened, especially monumental things like that. It said a rushing mighty wind came from heaven into their home and they didn't mention about anything getting knocked out or blown away. Now ask yourself this, because sometimes I ask myself silly questions and ask yourself this what in the world would those apostles have felt? What kind of feelings would you have? Not knowing what this was, and then suddenly being gripped with the power of God, god himself, the Holy Ghost, inside of you, in the room with you, being able to communicate with you. And then, right after that, they started hearing other people speaking in languages that they never spoke in before. Now the Bible talks about it in two different ways. In this particular way, it came as if earthly language, because you'll read down through Scripture.
Speaker 1:I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I don't want to get ahead of myself, and it's kind of exciting to talk about. Imagine how that feeling gripped them and they began to speak in tongues, not knowing what they were saying or why they were saying, but somewhere, feeling that they were worshiping, somewhere in their heart, somewhere in their spirit, in their insides, down in places you can't even describe. They were absolutely worshipping God and every fragment that was in the room and there was a fire that came and sat on each of them and it looked like tongues of fire, and meanwhile everyone's looking at the fire that's sitting on top of you and not burning. Wait a minute. Where did we see this before? We saw this in the burning bush, where the fire was there and the bush was not consumed. The fire came down and set upon each of these fossils and did not burn them, and so I kind of liken it to.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to explain how I felt when I got it. I almost didn't realize I had it when I first got it, because I had no idea what was actually happening, and that's when you know you have. I know that sounds sort of cryptic. So meanwhile I have to go back to my experience, without knowing that this was the biblical experience at the time. Remember, these apostles had no idea. There was nobody that came along and told them hey, you got the Holy Ghost. Not one person told them anything because there was no one to preach it. Right, no one's there to preach. You need the Holy Ghost. There's no one there to preach. I got to speak in tongues. There's nobody there saying, hey, speak in tongues. How come I tie my tie in my red Hyundai? No one.
Speaker 1:But each of them knew immediately after what happened was that they would have been endued with power from on high, and that power caused them to do this. I think one of the worst injustices we have is I hear somebody say here's this Holy Ghost, tongue-speaking class, and just something inside just sort of curls and revulsion, and that's the only way to really explain it. But because that's not how it is, don't say, hey, someone's praying through and someone's praying and reaching out to God and reaching out with all their heart and say, hey, stop talking English and just speaking tongues. No, no, no, no, no, no. You have to yield to that. All these people were yielded to that and when that happens when God wants it to happen, not when you want it to happen I think it took me about 4 days and I've seen people walk in to the presence of God and just get totally like bam. It took you four days, so, but the effect is immediate.
Speaker 1:Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ takes on an entirely new meaning at the time, because now you want to know everything Jesus said, not just a few things, the things that you didn't like, but now you really like them and you want more of them and it's like something you can't live without Almost hate, to use such a carnal term, but more like an addiction. You've got to know more Jesus, you've got to know more God, and then that Holy Ghost gives you the power to do all of it, things that you didn't think you could overcome. Your flesh, the way you speak. The Holy Ghost can change all of that, and it does change all of it. And understanding what that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ means in this context is what's key.
Speaker 1:Now let's get back to what happened when these guys believed and girls believed on the Lord Jesus Christ Because there were men and women there. So now you got a whole crowd of people Because, I mean, obviously somebody ran out here and said hey, man, something's happening over here. These people are all babbling and stuff in the street and upside down and slobbering and stuff, and some of them are rolling around on the floor and something's crazy, a lot of stuff going on. And and you know why I can kind of say this happened. It's because the first time when the crowd showed up, they said oh man, these people are drunk. Read it right there. Oh, these people are drunk, man, they got all that new wine in them. And then Peter, this same Peter who had been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1:Now, if anyone else had stood up at this point and started talking to the crowd, they would have been out of order. Order is very important in the kingdom of God and it's very important in the church, and I know I don't want to get off on that. I've got some termines coming up about that. I don't want to get into that right now, but order is very important. Anyone else that has stood up and delivered this message, they would have been out of order. So the Holy Ghost had Peter stand up, because it was the Holy Ghost that gave Peter the keys to heaven. Remember in Matthew 16, 18? Oh, y'all, but that was Jesus. No, no, no. Jesus and the Holy Ghost are the same thing. So please understand that and we'll talk more about that, because I got some more on this question in the email. I just want to get through this one first.
Speaker 1:So it was Peter that stood up, and he stood up because people were saying other people who were not laughing were saying, hey, man, these guys are speaking in in different languages. Oh, some of them speak in french and some of them speak in russian, and some of them roman, italian, latin and some of you speaking all these different languages. And the other one came along and was like ah, they're just drunk. So Peter stood up and said hey, man, this ain't about being drunk, because it's only 9 o'clock in the morning. Now, this is kind of how you know, peter was not a modern day saint. I've seen drunk people at 9 in the morning. He said it's the third hour of the day. Let me just say, before we get into that, I want to clarify this. It was 9 o'clock in the morning Because the Jewish day ran from 6 am to 6 pm. Anyone who didn't know that please understand. That's why Peter said it's the third hour of the day and we knew it was 9 am, not 3 am, but it was 9 am in the morning.
Speaker 1:They had been in this place for days and days and days and days and days and oh and when, that day was fully come at 6 am. The day of Pentecost was fully come at 6 am. That's when this happened. That's out of the book of James. It happened at 6 am. Bible doesn't say that it happened at 6 am, but it was that Holy Ghost thing that happened.
Speaker 1:Everybody fell out and started speaking in tongues. We had the time to gather the crowd and maybe it could have happened. It took about three hours. They were all speaking in tongues. The Spirit gave the utterance and this actually began the age of the church. This is where the church was actually born, right here, even on the Lord's Day, and among the spectators there were people who actually had a hand in the crucifixion of Jesus. So there was priests there, rabbis, people who were everybody's going to want to come and investigate these things, especially if you're trying to tell them hey, man, I don't want to talk to God or something. You're going to have tribes and rabbis come around because they're looking for that ex-perish. Wait, are these Jesus followers doing this? Oh, yeah, let's go and get them too. So you know they had to come and make sure.
Speaker 1:Now Peter stood up and said man, these people ain't full of wine, these people are not drunk, but this is what was spoken of by prophet Joel. And he went on to tell them that this prophecy was being fulfilled, that you were going to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance. And then he even went on to say you evil people actually went and crucified the Lord and Savior. You don't even realize. You crucified the Lord and Savior and a couple of people who were there finally got a conviction. They finally started getting a conviction and they ended up believing in the Lord. Oh, but JJ, it doesn't say that they finally started getting a conviction and they ended up believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, but JJ. It doesn't say that. No, it doesn't say they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:They said they were pricked in their hearts. Why would they be pricked in their hearts if they didn't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's right, because they actually did so. When they actually believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, they finally started believing that they had done this thing. Now forget the fact that it was the will of God for this to happen. This is one of the great things of the Bible. They were convicted because they thought they had done it of themselves and even though this is the will of God for this to have happened, this thing convicted them because they felt bad about doing it. They realized they had actually crucified a genocid person, not knowing that they had actually hung the Lord of Glory on the cross. And so now they're breaking their heart.
Speaker 1:They say, men and brethren, what shall we do? How do we fix this? How do I? I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but what do I do? How do I? How do I show God that, that that I'm sorry about what I've done? How do I? How do I be like this? How, what do I do with my soul now?
Speaker 1:And Peter said one simple line. He did not come back and say believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because you have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to get the conviction. You have to believe that Jesus is Jesus in order to get the conviction. So believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as it is standing alone is an incomplete doctrine. So he said repent. Now everybody likes to throw that word out, repent, and I already got a couple of questions on what does absolute repentance mean? So I'm not going to cover it here. I'm going to cover it in the next one Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ that you already now believe in.
Speaker 1:You already now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, so you're going to be baptized in his name, to get his name put on you because you already believe. So believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're still doing this action to show that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know sort of circular and confusing right, trust me, not as confusing as it sounds. But once you have done that, because this is what God has required once you have done that, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And here's the thing. It's a promise. It's a promise. It's not well, if you do it wrong, you do it right. Maybe, maybe God will give it to you down by and by no, no, no, it's a promise. It's a promise to you and your kids, people who you haven't even met yet. As many people as God calls to this moment, right here in this life, in this moment of conviction, in this moment of heartbreak. As many people as God calls to this point. That promise is unto you. As many people as God calls to this point. That promise is unto you. And guess what? 3,000 of them, right there that day, got baptized in Jesus' name and got healed. 3,000. 3,000. So now the church went from 11 to actually 12. Because they already decided who they were going to replace Judas with. They went from 12 to 120 and now to 3,120. And that's believing in the Lord.
Speaker 1:Please understand, I know sometimes, especially in some of these movies, it kind of comes off as a doctrinal superiority maybe, but it's really nothing more than an incomplete time. It's like trying to learn the alphabet, but missing L, m and O, p, q, r, n. You just jump from K to T and you kind of feel something Because you see Jesus there and God created the earth, and you believe all this stuff, but nothing else happens Until you struggle to make it happen. And that's not the big gospel. The gospel is you're going to get power Once you're fully on the Lord's right. You have to know how to do it. Yes, you do. That's why Jesus told Peter in that room that when they received power, their power was to go out and witness to everyone out there that they could find. So with that we're going to wrap this up, because I can go on and on and on. Next thing, you know this episode will be three hours long, but here's the thing. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. It's very important.
Speaker 1:I don't want anyone to understand. I don't want anyone to misunderstand. I don't want anyone to misunderstand me here. The bible is very succinct on what it means in certain terms. Yes, faith on the lord Jesus Christ is a thing. However, it is not the complete doctrine. Praying the sinner's prayer is not in the Bible. I'm sorry about that. Right hands of fellowship is okay to join the congregation, but it's not joining the church. I know, I know, I know that's what grandma taught.
Speaker 1:I was the same way until 1993. Sorry 1994. I was the same way until 1993 Sorry 1994. I was the exact same way. I accepted the Lord as my personal Savior and this, that and the third, but there was just some things I couldn't get rid of. And all of a sudden I met an apostolic person and he told me what that really meant repent of my sins and be baptized in Jesus name. And the next thing I know I'm speaking in tongues and the things that I couldn't repent of my sins and be baptized in Jesus' name. The next thing I know I'm speaking in tongues and the things that I couldn't get over, things I couldn't get around, things I couldn't get away from was gone and things once I backfled because I did backslide for a while, because I called myself a God put everything on the table. Let Well, everything on the table. Let's keep everything on the table. When I backslid for a while, calling myself a man of God, god did lift his spirit from me and those things that I had a problem with before came back with a vengeance. And here's I'm going to end with Avengers and I'm going to end with this.
Speaker 1:Once you get told to hold on to it, please hold on to it. For some reason it's kind of hard to explain, but getting it the second time doesn't quite feel like it. I don't know why. There's some people who will say that well, you know what, that's another topic. But just make sure, when you get the Holy Spirit, when you get it, speak in another tongue as the Spirit is uttering, not as somebody telling you how to do it, not as you get tired of praying.
Speaker 1:So you say some lonely things as the spirit is uttered. Then that power that you will receive and here's a good way of knowing the next day will be the brightest and sunniest day you'll ever see. I don't care if it's cloudy, snowing, whatever. That'll be the brightest, most sensory, filled day you'll ever see. That's how it was for me and other people I talked to. It's like you're like you're smiling like an idiot your whole day, but that's what it is right now. If you have any questions or comments, go ahead. Feel free to either add them to the videos down below, check out the other videos. It'd be up on walk with me, email, even even ask questions on the video. That's fine. I check them every now and again, but I love each and every one of you. Hopefully you soon see y'all in the next.