Becoming a True DISCIPLE of Jesus - Part 2

Join Bro. Ernie as he continues this dive into "True Discipleship" part 2.  What if belief is the beginning, not the finish line? We dig into Jesus’ final instructions and follow the thread through Acts to recover a discipleship pattern that actually forms people: repentance, water baptism in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and the empowering gift of the Holy Spirit. No shortcuts, no cultural hand-me-downs—just the gospel that builds an Acts-shaped church.

We start by laying the fourfold foundation from Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20, showing how “teach, baptize, obey, and receive power” fits together. Then we watch Peter and Paul put it into practice: Acts 2:38’s call to repent and be baptized in Jesus’ name, Acts 22:16’s charge to wash away sins in baptism, Romans 6’s burial and newness of life, and Colossians 2’s Spirit-led circumcision of the heart. Along the way, we confront the gap between professed belief and obedient allegiance, exposing why a hand-raised moment without follow-through leaves lives unchanged and churches unformed.

From doctrine to practice, we frame discipleship as apprenticeship. Jesus trains the Twelve and the Seventy, sending them with authority and vulnerability to preach the kingdom, heal the sick, and learn dependence in the field. He redirects joy from power displays to the promise that our names are written in heaven, and he calls us to count the cost in Luke 14, placing him above every other claim on our loyalty. Expect a clear path forward: feed on Scripture, test teachings by context, move from milk to solid food, and let the Spirit lead a life of everyday obedience.

Ready to trade cultural Christianity for a life shaped by the gospel of Acts? Follow and share the show, then message us with the passage that challenged you most. If this conversation sharpened your faith, subscribe, leave a review, and send it to someone taking their first steps toward apprenticeship with Jesus. (*Recorded on 10.1.2025)

Ways to Give at www.m3mi.org...Thank you for your seed!  :)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:58

But what we're talking about today is we're doing um our second part to discipleship, and so we want to welcome you here. If you haven't listened to part one, go and listen to part one and uh then come back to this, but uh a fascinating study that we're doing on this. We're talking about becoming the Acts Church. We've been doing the simple presentation on the book of Acts, and um, Brother Ernie said, I really just want to do um just to uh just stop for a moment and just really dig into discipleship. And of course we're all about it as we're simple discipleship. And so we welcomed him to come and do this, and we're so thankful for you to be here with us, Brother Ernie. So go ahead and start the video. And I just want to remind you guys, if you're listening, um, we also had the video, Brother Ernie. If you want to watch it instead, you can go to our YouTube channel at Simple Discipleship Unfiltered and also on your favorite podcast platform. So um I'm gonna turn it over to you, Brother Ernie. Tell us what we kind of talked about a little bit um in part one and take us on into part two.

Repentance And Remission In Luke 24

Acts 2:38 And Baptism’s Purpose

Paul’s Testimony And Ananias’ Charge

Interpreting Scripture By Context

John 20 And Authority To Remit Sins

Colossians 2 And Spiritual Circumcision

Romans 6 And Newness Of Life

Counting The Cost Of Discipleship

Training The Twelve And The Seventy

Power, Persecution, And True Joy

Scattered Church, Spreading Gospel

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Okay, well, we actually covered quite a bit of ground with part one and the pattern for discipleship, and um we we read some scriptures to start with. We read uh Matthew 28, 18 through 20, we read Mark 16, 15 through 18, then we read Luke 24, 44 through 39, and we read from John chapter 20, verses 19 through 23. And the reason for that was these are all uh things that Jesus said to his disciples after he was resurrected, and he was turning everything over to them to answer their calling, and these were like his final instructions. And so we looked at all of those in our first lesson on the pattern for discipleship, and we asked ourselves the question, what were the commonalities of these scriptures? Remember, these are a part of Jesus' last words. No doubt it's not everything he said, but the part that uh these disciples remembered most clearly, and for Luke, you know, the most dominant things in his research that he found. So we looked at all those scriptures, Jesus' last words, and um we came up with some commonalities. This is what he told his disciples to teach, to preach. They were going to the world, teach and preach. Teach people what is the gospel, preach to them what is the gospel, but teach them how to live the life that Jesus wants them to live. So it wasn't just let's go have uh a crusade and everybody raise your hand and and uh say I believe, it was teach them to observe all the things whatsoever I have commanded you. That was a part of the instructions for the disciples, the final uh instructions uh to baptize. Um and when we got to Luke 24, we wondered, well, where does baptism come in in those statements? So let's go back over that in Luke chapter 24, because it's easy to see in Mark and in Matthew, and but where is it in John or in Luke? I'm sorry, Luke 24. When you're there, I'll start reading at verse 44, and he, he being Jesus, said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scripture. So they were understanding now everything he said, like they never had before. And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. Don't do anything with the information I have given you until you have received power from on high. He is going to word it in the book of Acts as the promise, the promise of the Father. Now, here when we look at verse 47, they were to preach repentance and remission of sins. So if we'll look at a couple of scriptures that you're probably very familiar with, in Acts chapter 2, uh, verse 38, Peter said unto the people, when they ask him, What do we do now that we believe you're preaching about Jesus, everything you've taught us about the prophets and the Psalms, what do we do with that information? Verse 38, then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, not because your sins have been remitted, but in order to obtain remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. When we compare that with Luke 24, we see in verse 47, Jesus commanded them to preach both repentance and remission of sins in his name. Whose name? In the name of Jesus. Now, there is commonly taught that water baptism isn't for the remission of sins. But I think we should clarify that this morning. If you'll go to Acts chapter 22, you'll see, you read the scripture here in the scenario, you see Paul is testifying about his salvation, that uh his experience coming to Christ, turning over his life to Jesus, receiving his calling, etc. Now he says this. In verse 12, he says, And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. So he laid hands on him and he received his sight. According to Acts I his testimony, he received the Holy Ghost. Here he's testifying, or Luke's testimony, and here he's testifying, and he says, At that same hour I looked upon him. So his eyes were opened, his blindness was cured. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one. So Ananias realized Jesus appeared to him in a vision, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. Ananias says, I know you talked with Jesus. The Lord made it clear to me. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast heard. You got to go testify, you got to go teach and preach. And look at what Ananias said to him in verse 16. And now, why tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. What's that name? Jesus. So if repentance removed his sins, then Ananias didn't know what he was talking about when he said, wash away your sins in the name of the Lord with baptism. But it works perfectly in sync with Acts 2.38, to be baptized for the remission of your sins. So they were to go and teach faith, repentance, water baptism, infilling of the Holy Ghost. They were sent out the world to the world to do that all in the name of Jesus. This was a part of their discipleship training under the ministry of Jesus. If it wasn't, then why did both Peter and Ananias say that this is what you need to do? See, the Bible has to make sense. If the scripture is not making sense, if it's contradicting itself, we then have to look at our method of interpretation. That's why I say to you all so much, you should learn the common rules for Bible study. And one of the ones that that you should stick with so much is the rule of context. That means understand why the letter was written, who it was written to, and what are the problems being addressed in it, and for what purpose is all this communication, and then what came before the scripture, what comes after the scripture. This is why I tell you, go back and read Acts chapter 22. Go back and read the book of Acts, so you can tie these together like a thread from chapter 1 to chapter 28, so that you can see it goes together like a tapestry, so that everything fits and the message remains constant. And we're not doubting belief, we're not discrediting belief. How many of you remember that Jesus said to the disciples in John chapter 14, I believe it is? I don't have this one in my notes. If you love me, keep my commandments. So why would we say, I love you, Jesus, and then not obey his written word? If I told my wife, I love you, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with you, but I'm gonna have six or seven girlfriends, y'all would be listening to my eulogy. Mama's not gonna play that. Okay? Why do we expect Jesus to do it? I'm gonna say, Jesus, I'm committed to you for my life, but at the same time, I'm gonna worship all these other worldly concepts. Because anything that you elevate to such a level that it becomes critical in your life and it starts dealing with your moods, it depresses you, it disturbs your peace, it takes away from your relationship with God or with your family. That's an idol. It didn't have to be an idol, we made it an idol. But we shouldn't tolerate it. Are we good with that? So the disciples then were to be committed to following Jesus and doing the things he said to do. Now, another little note that water baptism does include the remission of sins, and that repentance doesn't. Let's turn to a scripture we looked at last week, John chapter 20, verses 19 through 23. We know Matthew and Mark covered this clearly, but Luke, if you don't understand how Luke wrote his gospel and the book of Acts and how they go together, you'll miss that Luke 24 is speaking about water baptism. Because you're having an incomplete picture of Luke's writings. If you look at the Gospel of St. John, chapter 20, we're going to read verses 19 through 23. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. That was a shock. He just appeared in the midst, kind of like beam me down in here, Scotty. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. He proved to them, see it's me. I'm the one that was crucified, now I'm raised from the dead. Verse 21. Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, so send I you. We talked about how Jesus was sent. We went over this. We and I'll get back to it and and go over a little bit more. But he's saying, I'm sending you with the same mission that I was sent with. As the Father has sent me, so send I you. He sought to replicate himself in the disciples. This thing where you can raise your hand, close your eyes, and say, I believe, and then claim that you are a disciple, and then you go out and live any way you want to live. You continue in wallowing in your sins. Hey, we all gotta repent all the time because we don't get it right every minute. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about your life never turns toward Christ to go and grow in that direction. It's a cultural Christianity that has swept the world. My grandma was a Christian, my grandpa was a Christian, my uncle was a Christian, therefore I'm a Christian. No, I don't read the Bible, no, I don't pray. No, I don't have a moment where I can say I repent. No, I don't have a time where I can say I lean on God and Him to give me understanding, but I'm a Christian. That's misappropriation of the word. To be a Christian means to be his disciple, to be like Christ. Now, he goes on here and says, verse 22, and when he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, which I talked to you about. That is a prophetic statement, because the actual baptism of the Holy Ghost doesn't take place till Acts chapter 2. Verse 23, Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Since when do men have the ability to remit sins? And do we have an example of that anywhere? We do in the book of Acts. We have two statements right off that water baptism is for expressly the remission of sins in Acts chapter 2, 38, and in Acts chapter 22, verse 16. It was for the removal of sins. Did Paul ever teach that himself? Let me give you a scripture that we didn't talk about last week. Let's look in the book of Colossians, chapter 2. So Paul's letter to the Colossians, people who are already saved, life not perfected, so they get this letter of encouragement, instruction. And here Paul is writing, verse 8 of chapter 2, he says, Beware lest any man spoil you, that is, capture you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, in other words, everything you need to know and understand about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is in Christ. You don't have to go any place else because the fullness, a full and complete revelation of the God who fills all time and space is in Christ. Verse 10, and ye are complete in him, that is in Christ, which is the head of all principality and power. What did he say in Matthew 28? All power in heaven and earth is given unto me. In whom also this is important, in whom also ye are circumcised, with the circumcision made without hands. Oh, so this was not a physical operation. This was in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh. We got rid of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. But his circumcision is not physical. We just learned it spiritual. When did it happen? Verse 12 says, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, not the operation of a man, physical circumcision, the operation of God. It is done in the Spirit. How? When we submit to God, when we have the faith to obey God, and we have faith in the name of Jesus and faith in the word of God, then water baptism effects for us the removal of the body of sins. It's taught again in the book of Romans. In Romans chapter 6, not the same exact words, but the same concept. You look at Romans chapter 6, when Paul is teaching the Roman church about what happened when they were baptized. Like the Colossian church, this is a book written to believers. Those who are already born again. Look what he says in verse 3. Romans 6 and 3. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. That's a miracle. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death. We are buried with him. That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. When we come out of that water, we're supposed to be different. What if we have not been planted? How will we then be in the likeness of the resurrection? So I'm not trying to take away hope from people who have saved, I repent and I'm following Jesus. That's great. That's the beginning of a great life. But you want to follow God everywhere He leads you, don't you? I mean, I said to my wife, I do. That was great. That was a beginning. But there's a life I have to live with her. Every day. And if I don't live that life, what does that say about the commitment? And if we don't obey Scripture, what does that say about our commitment to Christ? We're it we don't understand it, we can't live it out. It's it's a it's a tragedy, it's in ignorance. But Jesus said, if the blind lead the blind, both of them will fall into the ditch. So this is true, but this is also a little hard. But Jesus said, You think I came to bring peace? I came to bring a sword. What do you mean? If you line up with Jesus, the world will be against you. Satan will be against you. It's not that Jesus doesn't love you, it's not that Jesus doesn't want to redeem you. In his omniscience, he knows that when you commit to him, the enemy has declared war on you. So being a disciple is not something where we say, I believe, now I'm a disciple. Especially if we're not sure what we're believing in. This is a problem. This is another gospel. What did Paul say to the Galatian church? Don't receive another gospel. I marvel that some of you are already so removed from the gospel that you learned to another gospel, which is not a gospel. Why? Because it doesn't create disciples. If it doesn't create disciples, it's not the gospel. Now, if I sound harsh, I can't apologize for this. This is the word of God. It's not my idea. So, remission of sins, we see that what John said, whosoever sins he remit. When did Peter remit sins? When he baptized people. When did Ananias cause a remission of sins? When he baptized people. The reason I will not baptize someone that I know is unrepentant is because I'm putting the name of Jesus on their life. I've been commissioned to do it. It's a command to do it. Once in my ministry, a man was baptized upon my testimony. My pastor baptized him. And when he did, I was sick at heart. And when he came up out of the water, Pastor looked bad. He looked like a ghost. He wasn't rejoicing. Because the man was not truly repentant or committed to Christ. And we went and put the name of Jesus on him. Because we were commissioned to do this, to preach the gospel, to teach people all about Jesus and to observe all things whatsoever he has commanded, including repentance and committing ourselves to Christ. And I would say to you, if you're considering, you know, do I need to get water baptized? I never have been. Yes, you do. Go back and read the scriptures. You don't have to take my word for it. Get out your Bible, get a reference Bible, like a Thomson Chain reference or um I don't, I don't know, encyclopedia reference and trace down all the scriptures about the necessity of water baptism for yourself. I'm not asking you to say, oh, Brother Ernie knows everything, because he don't. Because if you don't choose these things for yourself, you're not his disciple. It's a decision you make. Now let's look at Matthew chapter ten for a moment. All right. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases. Now these are the name of the twelve apostles. They're listed. Verse 5 These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but rather go to the lost sheep of Israel. As ye go preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. What was Jesus' signal in Acts chapter 4 when he said the kingdom of heaven is at hand? Repent. So they're preaching the same concept. So Matthew don't have to write repent six thousand times. It's in the concept of the going. Go ye and preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye have received, freely give. Look. This is training for them. They're not yet going out into all the world. They're going first to Israel. They got their bicycle with training wheels on it. Okay? This is you remember I talked to you about a disciple is like being an apprentice. When you're an apprentice to a machinist, my experience, first several days you just hang out with him. Then several more days you're paying attention. Now he's teaching you. You watch what I do, you see what I do, then so long you spend with him doing that, then he says, Okay, you do it, I'll do it with you. And then he turns you loose and he says, You do it by yourself. That's discipleship. Here it's being practiced in the lives of the disciples. Look at Luke chapter 9. Discipleship means so much more than just a verbal confession. If your heart and will is not given to Christ, you're not his disciple. Ouch! Forgive me for saying that so harsh, but do you want to be his disciple? Me too. That means I got to strive for these things. Why do I strive? Is it because my works are saving me? No, it's because I believe what the word of God tells me. Therefore, I reach for the brass ring that the word of God says is before me. It says I can have it. All right, Luke chapter 9. Here is repeating the same story. Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them. Power and authority over the devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Just just stay with me. Chapter 10. After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also. So first he sent out the twelve, now he's sending out seventy, sending them out two by two before his face into every city and place whither he himself would come. Therefore he said unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore that the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Go your ways. Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Why would you do that to us? So that we could learn that Jesus is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. Carry neither purse nor script nor shoes, and salute no man by the way. And whatsoever house ye enter, first say, peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same manner remain, eating and drinking such things as they give. For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. You're going to go to the city, and God's going to give you a place to locate, and there is going to feed you. And from there you're going to preach the gospel. And whatsoever city you enter into and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you, heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, What? The kingdom of God is nigh unto you. When Jesus was preaching, the kingdom of God is upon you, what was he commanding? Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is upon you. Now look at verse ten. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your way out into the streets the same day, and say, Even the very dust of your city which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you, notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come unto you. Then he goes on to say how terrible judgment will be for them. So when you witness to someone, it's for two reasons. One is so that they can come to salvation. The other one is so that on the judgment day when they haven't surrendered to God, there will be a testimony that says, I came to you, I sent my disciples to love you, to preach the word to you. You rejected my word, you rejected my covenant, you chose something else. It's a scary thought sometimes to me that people I testify to, I might be leaving a witness to them for a reason other than what I wanted. So read all of Luke 9 and read Luke 10 1 through 20. Study that afterwards. And I stopped at Luke 10, 20 because Jesus wants to drive home a point to the disciples. Because the 70 in verse 17 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. In other words, we went out and did what you said. We cast out demons, even. We prayed for people. Hey, look, and he said unto them, Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven. But the book of Revelation says it ain't happened yet. It ain't happened until Jesus dies and is caught up. But Jesus said, I already seen it, because he can see history, past, present, and future. He knows it. It's all the same to him. Now, behold, Jesus said, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. So this is not just physical. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. But he's telling them you're going to be persecuted. Yeah, but nothing will come between you and his will. Nothing will stop that. Notwithstanding, in this, rejoice not that spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Whatever else we may experience on earth is not to be compared with what is written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, Acts chapter 8. I'm gonna read just a little bit there. Starting with the first verse, I'm only gonna read a few verses. Acts 8, 1 through 4. And Saul was consenting unto his death, Stephen's death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. Jesus said, they're gonna treat you just like they treated me. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And as for Saul, I'm sorry, verse 2, and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hauling men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. They had settled in Jerusalem, they had this community, it was a socialist haven for the Christians. But it was only that way so that they could be trained. And then they went everywhere and spread the gospel. The disciples, along with any stragglers, we read last week in Matthew chapter 5. You need to read all of that. How many times did Jesus teach this? There were stragglers, but there were mostly the disciples. They were astounded. What? They were astounded how Jesus was molding his disciples with the kind of integrity they were to demonstrate as disciples. Remember, it started out with you follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Finally, Luke 14. I'm gonna read verses 25 through 33. Do I have time?

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Yeah, just a couple of minutes.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

All right. Luke chapter 14, verses 25 through 33. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned, Jesus, and said to the great multitudes, If any man come after me and hate not his father, his mother, his wife, and children, brethren and sisters, yea, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. He read the minds of the crowd and knew they were saying, Wish I could be one of Jesus' disciples. But if he wasn't teaching, go hold your family, hate your family, he was teaching, you gotta make me the priority. If he is not the priority, we cannot be his disciples. He ends the reading when you get through verse 33. He ends it the same way. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. I want to be his disciple. I don't ever want him to say to me, You cannot be my disciple. He said it to multitudes. Why? Because they loved the loaves and the fishes, they loved the healing, but they were not about to commit their lives to living the life that Jesus was calling them to. So discipleship is all about building the life that Jesus calls us to. So I I I thank you for that. I thank you for your time.

Hosts Reflect On Commitment

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Wow, what an amazing study on that. I mean, that really kind of gives us the the I don't know, it's kind of energizing when you kind of get the game plan, you know. I mean, you know, we know that we know that we're we're we're we've got a purpose and God's called us and we're and here we start out, you know. Um, but then when you see that there's a there is a game plan, God is working out a purpose, he's using us. Um, but don't you want to know the position before you go out on the field? You go out to be a wide receiver and you're and you're and but you're a running back, it's a lot different than you know, I'm saying someone to use football analogy because I love it. But um, but you know, you know you wouldn't be equipped if you if you just went out there and okay, I can be anybody can be a receiver. Well, no, you can't, you know, the safety will love you, and because he's gonna he's gonna pick you off. But but the point is if we don't have our instructions, if we don't see in the word the importance of not just like you say, because this is one of my pet peeves of people just raising their hand and saying, I receive Jesus, uh, without understanding the follow-through that goes along with that. I mean, there's the commitment. This is we we often forget that we're the bride of Christ and that we're in an engagement with someone, you know. Yes we're committed to him, and but we live our lives, we fornicate on the Lord. I mean, we do.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

I mean That's why the Old Testament is full of God saying that Israel was an adulteress.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

He called her a whore.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Because she went into so much idolatrous worship. And you know that this is um this was a heartbreaker for me. Yeah. I was in Vietnam when I first began to understand um the value of the repentance that I I was involved in repentance. Fortunately, I had some people who talked to me about that. But at first I was given that, you know, believe on the Lord thing. And you believe, you're safe. But there were some people who sat me down and said, if you really believe, this is how you live. And they were giving me guidance in that. And then I learned about the fact that, hey, I'm practicing repentance. I didn't even know it was in the Bible yet. Yeah. But and that's why I love God so much. If you think you've heard from heaven and you don't find it in scripture, you need to check yourself. Yeah. But I I was learning that. I learned about water baptism, and I got angry with God. And I said, God, I had so many people do the thing, you know, I believe. And then I said, Oh, that's it. You're you're saved, you're on your way. And then well, look, it is necessary to believe, but that's not the born-again experience. That's our first experience with God, and it's wonderful and valuable, but it's not an end in itself.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

And there's so many churches that do that. Yeah, it's like, oh, I mean, I have not been to one yet that does not do that.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

And you know what it is? None of us are just so perfect. We're all subject to misinterpret things. There are things in this Bible we just haven't learned yet. I got so angry at God, I said, Lord, I didn't teach these people repentance. I didn't teach these people about water baptism in the name of Jesus or all about receiving the Holy Ghost. And I know it all now. And I was angry.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Yeah.

Belief, Process, And Obedience

SPEAKER_00 43:03

I said, why aren't you teaching them this? And I was praying out loud, and I'm sure that people around me thought I was a half-wit. But I was so moved. I was just praying out loud. And and and the troops walking around me, and by that time, I guess they had decided, ah, drugs did it to him, you know. But God spoke back to me, and I don't think they heard that, but I did. And he asked me a question that's resonated with me ever since. What makes you think I'm not?

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

So you see, I have confidence, all these people that go to all these other churches, when they open up the Bible, God is reaching for them.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

When they pray, God in love and mercy and grace is reaching for them. But what we have to do is open our ears to hear. And and follow through. Jesus didn't call us so we could say, gee, I'm loved. He called us to be his disciples. Yeah. And and and the disciples, we are for lack of a better term, and I wasn't the first person to use this, I read it in a book. The better translation from the Hebrew culture to ours is really apprentice.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

He is and you and you see it the way he handles the disciples and trending them out, sending them out on training missions. And then when he leaves, he says, It's your ball now. Go into all the world and do it.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

I think that that's so many young Christians, baby Christians, don't understand that they need to do that.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

And they skip that step. And I think that once they have accepted the Lord as their savior without baptism, they think they're good.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

But then if they were to go through an apprenticeship and a Bible study learning all the time, you can't obey a law that no one has ever told you exists.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 45:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Right. Sometimes we miss the mark, and that people say, Well, I'm saved. But have you ever sat down with someone and studied what it means to be saved? Yeah, did you mean getting wet?

SPEAKER_03 45:50

Yeah.

The Potter’s House And Growth

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Yeah, you know, and you know, you you have people say that baptism can't save you. You know, I saw some things on Facebook. Baptism can't save you. And I and I my question is, what did the apostle Peter mean then when he said, just like the water saved Noah, water baptism now also saves you? That is an integral part of the experience of salvation. And the mistake is, to me, the biggest mistake is we look at salvation as an event instead of an experience. Because Jesus said, He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved. What you begin with belief is a good thing, especially if your belief in Jesus Christ is solid. But what you need to do then is get past saying, I believe. Right? The guy comes up to home plate, he doesn't want to strike out. He wants to make it all the way around the bases and finally home. He might hit a home run, he might have to get to first, somebody knock him to second, steal third, and in a balk get him home plate. But it was a process for him to get there. Walking with Christ is a continual process of us being shaped and molded, and it's it's taught so many ways in the scripture when Jeremiah is taught, go down to the potter's house and watch the potter. Cannot God do with Israel as you see the potter do with the clay? The difference is we have to submit to the potter.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Yeah.

unknown 47:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

So it it it's filled with, it's a process of growth. Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. We will go on unto perfection if we understand these things. It's filled with the process and the commitment being lived out. Not a commitment merely spoken, right? A commitment lived out. And I'm I know sometimes it people say, what difference does it make to be baptized in the name of Jesus or not? Open up the word of God. You don't have to take my word for it. Open up the word of God and see how they taught water baptism beyond the gospels. Because that's when the disciples were fulfilling their commands. They either knew how to do it or they did it. And if they didn't do it right, that means the gospels in the book of Acts are not in harmony. That yes can't be.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

Right, right. All right, well, we can go on and on and on.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Oh, I'm excited because God's word is good, not because I'm smart, believe me.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

It is exciting, is exciting, and and and we just thank you so much for coming and teaching us. And it's the simplicity of the gospel, but it has to be preached, and and you have to read it and you have to receive it and you have to uh get it inside of you, you know, to make it a part of who you are. You know, I just I agree with Sister Ann and Sister Audia, you know, that there's just more to this process than just the believing. You know, we've we've said that all along.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

So I don't want to throw kudos at you, but that's just the way I feel. I feel like I am in an apprenticeship under both of you.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

Yeah. Well, I mean, it's the Holy Spirit, right? That's who we that's the teacher.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Amen.

Why The Name Of Jesus Matters

SPEAKER_01 49:26

That's the teacher. And so anyway, thank y'all for being around the table. Thank you, Brother Arnie. Thank you, Sister Ansie, thank you, Sister Audien. And and and uh we've appreciated everybody being here and hope you enjoyed the series. Again, if you didn't listen to part one, go do that and then come back to part two. But I would encourage you to go home, listen to them again, and hit that pause and look up the scripture, highlight the scripture, get the scripture and the word inside of you. You know, um, after a little while, bottle feeding no longer works, you know. That's right. And uh you've got to actually get this inside of you. And the way to do that is to concentrate and get into God's word, open it up, write out these scriptures, highlight them, make them a part of your of your memory, but get them down in your heart because when the time comes, you're gonna need something to draw from, right? So um, so anyway, thank you all, and we're gonna go leave with our message to go.

SPEAKER_00 50:19

Show some love, love, show some love, show some compassion, give mercy, and go be Jesus to stay. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 50:29

Hey STU family. If you have enjoyed this podcast today, would you please like, follow, and share our podcast link? We would love to hear your feedback and your podcast topic suggestions. So do you have to simply go to our website at www.m3m54G? Thank you for seeing this.