You Need The Holy Ghost, Not A Performance

Transcript

Welcome, Sponsors, And Listener Questions

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, JJ. It's so good to have each and every one of you here. Thank you all for taking a moment to listen to this podcast. There's so many podcasts out there, you could be listening to any of them, but you've taken a moment uh to listen to this one, and I really do appreciate it. Thank you all to my sponsors, true bars lyricists with the intro and outro, exquisite creations, and to Iron Gate Ministries. Uh that's a new venture we've launched. Uh, so you will see if you follow the podcast on like YouTube, uh, you'll see like visual sermons and stuff like that. But uh, I'm just waiting to see what else God has put in store for us. Uh, I do appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you all so much. Um, one other thing before we get started, uh, if you have any questions or comments, you can either leave them on the YouTube page or you can email me, especially questions. Especially questions, because a lot of people prefer to have their questions private. Um, and that's fine. And what I do is I just answer the questions, but if it's a long, drawn out sort of an answer, um, I will I can use them here on this podcast on this show. If you do want your name to be acknowledged on the question, just put your name in the subject line, in the subject line, that way I know to say, hey, Jim, this question is this is your question, and I'm answering it. If not, I'm going to naturally assume that um that you would prefer to remain anonymous, and that's just fine because I I even though a lot of people have questions about the Bible, uh, about the word of God, it's they prefer they sort of take it, you know, like a personal private matter, and that's absolutely okay. It is absolutely okay. As a matter of fact, my first time uh in the church, I got born again, and I had a question. And I've seen this same question several times come across this uh in this podcast, so it it just sort of confirms a lot of people do have questions, and today we are going to answer a question. Um, and like most biblical questions, it uh it seems like a simple answer, but it's not. And this is why I decided we're gonna use this question for today's episode. The question is, do I have to speak in tongues to be saved? Do I have

Do Tongues Determine Salvation

SPEAKER_00 2:35

to speak in tongues? Basically, that's what's the entire question. Do I have to speak in tongues? Now, let's um let's have something here. We have to go over the one of the rules of the podcast. The rule of the podcast is when we get go over a scripture, you want to read a verse or two above or a verse or two below, or preferably the whole chapter because context is key. With that in mind, with that in mind, and I'm going to get right into it because while this may seem like a very simple yes or no answer, it is absolutely not a yes or no answer. And I'll explain what I mean. The simple answer is yes, speaking in tongues is necessary. But the problem is that when you say speaking in tongues is necessary, people get the wrong idea and start chasing tongues and start making up tongues. And this leads to kind of a weird weird scenario, and where they think they're speaking in tongues, but they're really just uttering gibberish. And you and once you get the Holy Ghost, you can kind of tell when someone is kind of gibberishing. So let's go back and really dig into the why the yes is the correct answer. So, first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna take the words of Jesus, um, and we're gonna go to John 3 and 3 and 3 and 5. Now, just the the uh scenario of this situation was when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, and Nicodemus was basically trying to ask a question of Jesus

Born Again Of Water And Spirit

SPEAKER_00 4:15

without asking the question, and that generally tends to end up not going very well because Jesus already knew the question that he was trying to answer. So, before Jesus, I mean before Nicodemus even got into the question, Jesus just cut him off and answered the question. And John 3 and 3 said, Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So the whole idea of getting to heaven is being born again. Okay, not being born, not speaking in tongues, but being born again. Please stay with me for the answer. Gotta stay all the way through because I know I just it's seemingly like I just contradicted myself, but you gotta stay through to the end. So um Nicodemus came back with how does a man get born again? Because it doesn't make any sense. And Jesus said, Except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God, and there's the key right there being born of the spirit. So, how does one become born of the spirit? Well, first off, we got to even talk about what how it was even talked about in the Bible be about what being born of the spirit is, and in the Bible, in I am in Joel 2 and 28, in it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. There's that again, being born of the spirit. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. So you say, Oh, okay, so that's going to be a a sign of the flesh being of the spirit being poured out. Now, then when you go to the other um reference, then that's gonna be in Isaiah 28, 11. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to his people. So this is still in the old testament prophesying about what's gonna happen when people get the Holy Ghost or get born of the Spirit, and just as an aside, being born of the water means being baptized in Jesus' name, and we're gonna get there, but I just don't want to get ahead of myself because this is important. So that being said, that being said, Jesus then spoke to Peter, and he when he told Peter um exactly what he was doing and what was going to happen, he told Peter that in Matthew 16 and 18, and I say unto thee that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against me. And I will give to you, giving the keys, giving this to Peter, I give to you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What shall ever shall you bind in earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose shall be loosed in heaven. Now, why did uh Jesus do that? Because he knew that Peter was going to be a no-nonsense type of guy. And we see all through the scriptures that Peter was really a no-nonsense type of guy, and he wasn't as old as we would like to think. You know, we've seen we've seen in movies where they kind of depict Peter as like this 40-year-old guy. And no, I I'm starting to believe that Peter had to be somewhere in his late teens, and we'll talk about that maybe on a different podcast, but I'm starting to believe that Peter had to be somewhere around maybe 15-16 years old. So this is a huge um huge bit of responsibility to lay on a kid, but Jesus knew Peter's heart. So when Peter, um Peter got those keys, and it took a while for Peter to really sort of get into uh what having those keys meant. Peter all of a sudden, and this happened in the day of Pentecost, and this was the everything finally came full circle. And if you read the book of Pentecost, and it starts off with they were all in one place of one accord, and suddenly there became from a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and it fell upon

Pentecost And The Acts 2:38 Pattern

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the house, uh fell upon the house where they were sitting. This is actually Acts chapter 2, and there appeared unto them clothing tongues as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them the utterance. Now, here's where we first start seeing that someone actually spoke in other tongues, and this is in the New Testament. Before then, they didn't, they were prophesied about it, um, but they didn't really do that, especially on a wide, you know, a large scale basis, a widespread basis. You know what I'm saying? So it was more like uh Jesus was giving Peter an opportunity to fully come into the truth that he was actually going to give to Peter. So this Peter's standing there, and then he went into about a 34-minute, 34-verse sermon. It wasn't very short, it wasn't very long at all. But basically, because everybody started mocking them, these people and saying, hey, they're drunk, and they're just making up words, and there's something's wrong with them, they're crazy. And Peter said, No, these this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel, what we just read it, uh read about 2 and 28 of it. And then he said, But you guys crucified the guy that Joel was prophesying about, and everybody got convicted. And when they got convicted, they said, Well, what do we do? Now, here's where the the most important, the most important thing that was said in the New Testament, well, outside of the gospel. This was the most important thing that was ever said in the New Testament between the book of Acts and the Book of Revelation. And I say this because this is the key to uh being born of the water and of the spirit. This is actually that being explained because Jesus had told Peter to say. Acts 2 and 38. Peter said unto them, Repent. Here's where you are dying out to your previous sins, you're dying out to your old you. He baptized you, he baptized each and every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins can be washed away, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So you have a death bit there, you have a burial and baptism, and you have resurrection, then receiving the Holy Ghost. Now, each and every time, each and every time that they followed that formula. Now, it didn't necessarily have to be in that order, because there's a situation in in Acts where Peter came across people who had already repented, but didn't even know that didn't know that there was such a thing as the Holy Ghost. Uh, this was in Acts chapter 10. Uh, and we're gonna start about uh 44 because Peter's preaching yet again, and while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the word, and they of the circumcision, which means those of their that were Jews, which believed were astonished, which the people who were actually Christians already, who were Jews but are not Christian, were surprised. Why? Because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, how did they know that they had the Holy Ghost? Because it's a spiritual thing, you can't really see it. Let's be honest, you can't really see it. It's not like painting a red dot on your forehead on your ear or something. Um, but it the next verse was the telltale sign that they had the Holy Ghost. Acts chapter 10, verse 46. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Now, here's why I said it doesn't have to be a necessarily order, because the very next verse shows that it happened, quote unquote, out of order. It happened, they didn't repent first and then get baptized and then get the Holy Ghost. It can happen in any order that God sees fit. So Peter said, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we had? In other words, they had the same experience as we did back in Acts chapter 2. So they got baptized in Jesus' name, and then in Acts 19 and 2, they had basically the same problem. Well, not problem, but that's more like the same situation. And it came to pass, and this is 19 and 1, we're starting at, and it came to pass while Apostles was at Corinthians at Corinth, all having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. Well, certain disciples means disciples of Jesus Christ. He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said, We don't even know anything about a Holy Ghost. So 19 and 3 says, Well, how are you baptized? Now they they had already believed all the words of Jesus Christ, they had already gathered together in a church-like setting, and they were baptized unto John's baptism, and they said so in verse 3. And he said, uh sorry, in verse 3. And he said unto them, How then were you baptized? They said unto John's baptism. And then Peter explains the difference between John's baptism and the Jesus' baptism, which sort of tells us that there's a right and a wrong way to be baptized. Let's read this very carefully. Then said Paul, right, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance. So they had already repented, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. And then when they heard that, then by they they mean the disciples, they had heard that they were baptized in Jesus' name, in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and how did they know? Because they spake in tongues and prophesied. So these are like like 12 guys. Now, I here's the thing, and here's why the answer is sometimes the simple answer is sometimes wrong. Because you need the Holy Ghost to get to heaven. That's there's no way around that. I mean, I I know

Real Holy Ghost Signs Versus Imitation

SPEAKER_00 15:20

what some of us were taught, I know what I was taught. I was I was basically, you know, hey, just accept the Lord as your personal savior, uh, pray the sinner's prayer, um, you know, take take this, do this formula every so often if you sin, and and and believe it or not, these things, while not being completely wrong, they are incomplete, and being incomplete is a very dangerous situation when it comes to God. So I'm saying the Bible is saying that when you get the Holy Ghost, you will speak in tongues, but people can speak with tongues and not have the Holy Ghost. I mean, uh, I don't want to say that it's well, you say not, you know what? Sometimes you'll have to, you have to just be blunt about it. Like, this isn't some hoke my side tie my tie, bye-bye. This is a real plugging into the Holy Spirit, the spiritual realm, the godly realm, that sort of seems um scary to people who have never done it before. And it may seem strange, it may, it may even feel off-putting to you, and and that's okay until the first time it really happens to you. And I'll I'll never forget the first night I got the Holy Ghost, then that was oh my gosh, that was gotta be at least 30 30 years ago. That when I I first was praying, and I was praying specifically for the Holy Ghost, but I really wanted the Holy Ghost, and I got to a point where I couldn't really speak the way I wanted to, and there was it's it's kind of weird to say that I I didn't remember when I first spake with them, I don't remember that part. It's sort of everything sort of white it out, but after that, after that initial baptism, you can, but it's it's more along the lines of kind of plugging in, and I mean that really plugging in. Imagine almost like sticking your finger in the logic stock. No, it it you will feel it, you will absolutely feel it. And once you get the Holy Ghost, you can kind of tell when people are just faking, which is a very sad thing, and this is why I don't just I didn't just email you back and say, Yeah, you do need to you need to speak in tongues to be saved. Because you speaking in tongues doesn't save you, having the Holy Ghost saves you, and the speaking in tongues is the symptom of having the Holy Ghost, and believe it or not, the that's just the first symptom of having the Holy Ghost, because you have so many symptoms that come after that. Um, the desire for holiness and the desire for to be in the presence of God and the desire to just live right, you know, and that that's that's really an oversimplification of it because of the show. But when you get the Holy Ghost, your life does change, even yeah, and I've seen people who have gotten the Holy Ghost and backslide, I backed it, and I'm just being honest with you guys. I backed it for about I don't know, about 10 years, maybe, yeah, probably about 10 years, but there was always something in there, there was always something in in my spirit, in my heart, that was drawing me back to God, but wouldn't let me settle for incomplete salvation, wouldn't let me just go along to get along. There's always something there that just sort of pulling me to a deeper, deeper relationship. So, and I say, and I used to be really harsh on some of the other salvation doctrines that we've heard, some of them I've already gone over. Used to be real harsh towards them, but then I'm realizing that you know, people just going by what they're taught, and even those formulas can be a stepping stone to a deeper relationship with God, and the only way to do that is by going by the Bible. And the Bible says, how do they know without a preacher? And how does a preacher get sent? You know what I'm saying? So um it's one of those things that we have to make sure that we are uh we keep an open spirit. I'm not gonna say open mind because being saved is not about what you know, it's about what you are what you love. That's you know what? That's that was the best thing ever. It's about what you love. Do you love God or do you love church? That's a completely different aspect. I was sitting in a particular situation some time ago in the recent past where it seemed like everything was all ritualistic and it was all a big show, and and it was, and and you could tell that people were feeling God, they were feeling God, but not actually in touch with God, and that's a very sad situation. Um, because I remember my very first touch of God actually came in high school. Um, and I came home and I said, Oh my god, ma, I I think I felt God tonight. And I was like, I was singing with the gospel choir, and I felt the touch of God, and I but then that touch wears off. It's kind of like putting on cologne. You know, you smell good for a while, and everybody says, Oh, you smell good, and they give you all kinds of nice compliments, but then unless you keep reapplying the cologne, you go back to smelling the way you were smelling already before you put the cologne on. That's exactly what happened to my behavior. I went back to being the same person I was, and then I finally got the Holy Ghost, I finally got it inside of me rather than a coding of it, and my life changed, I changed. And one of the first things I noticed, and I'll just share this with you guys um before we end, is that the first thing I noticed was that I didn't curse, and I'm talking about somebody who used to have a mouth like a sailor, and I was in the army, and so we we invented curse words, we've been invented curse word parties, so just the and not only that, the way you talk to people, the way you interact with people just changes, and that was the very first thing I noticed, and then you know, I wanted to make sure that this was really what it was, so I kind of doubted it, and I think everybody who gets it, I don't know if they're gonna be honest. With themselves at the moment. But when you first get it, you kind of doubt that you got it. Because there's been so many, you probably run across so many fakes, uh, you run across so many incomplete salvations. Um, you probably had a touch of God before, like I did. But then when you when you finally realize that now this thing is permanent, this thing is real, this thing is inside of you, it's a whole different ball of wax. So, yes, um, speaking in tongues is a symptom of being of having the Holy Ghost, and you need the Holy Ghost to be saved. So, a severe oversimplification of the answer uh would be yes, you need to speak in tongues in order to be saved. But I I I caution you, I caution you against tongue chasing because it it is it is a very prevalent thing in quote-unquote Christian community where we tongue chase. People speak and and they let the you know they do their thing with their tongues and make up syllables, but you can tell that their lives are different, their their minds aren't different, their hearts aren't different, and um certain things happen. So, yes, seek the Holy Ghost, pray for the Holy Ghost, uh repent of your sins, get baptized in Jesus' name, and get the Holy Ghost, and then you will speak in tongues, and the tongues will be genuine. So I hope this helped. I hope if you have any further follow-up questions, uh make sure you email me. Uh, anybody else listening to this, have any other follow-up questions, be sure to email me. Trust me, I love questions. I will put whatever show we have on uh hold and answer questions. I love answering questions. Uh, if you have any other questions,

How To Seek God And Follow Up

SPEAKER_00 23:47

uh walkwithme bible study gmail.com, walkwithme bible study at gmail.com. I gotta get out of here. I love each and every one of you, and I hope I hope you tell someone else that you see today that God loves them because he does. He literally came down and died for us so that we can experience this little slice of heaven while on earth. Alright, God bless you all. Talk to you soon.