Join Bob George in this enlightening episode where he delves into the complexities of the Christian faith, exploring the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. Discover the significance of Pentecost and how it marked a new beginning for Jesus’ apostles, empowering them to spread His message worldwide. Bob emphasizes that the New Covenant began with this divine empowerment, granting believers the ability to truly understand and live in the teachings of Christ.
00:27:13 Conclusion: Faith and Fellowship in Christ
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.
SPEAKER 03 :
You can’t live the Christian life. It’s impossible to live the Christian life. It’s impossible to do. You can’t, but he did. And so the reason that we can hold up our hands is because we were trying to live the Christian life in the energy of our flesh because I’m a believer. Well, you see, the apostles were believers at this time, but were they born again at this time? Because in order to be born again, you had to be born again of what? The Spirit. And that didn’t happen to them until the day of Pentecost. And so even though they had traveled with Jesus, heard all of the teachings of Jesus, saw the kindness of Jesus, saw the goodness of Jesus, they didn’t have what it took to be like Jesus. In other words, to think like him, to have our minds renewed like him. You didn’t have the power to do so. And so he says that he led them out to a vicinity in Bethany, lifted up his hands and blessed them. And he said while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple praising God. Waiting on what? the Holy Spirit of God. Now folks, many times we have denominations, and I’m not being critical of denominations, I’m just saying we have denominations that are scared to death to talk about the Holy Spirit. Sounds too mystical. There are some people that just don’t believe in that. There are teachers on radio who A good friend of mine that doesn’t believe you’re indwelled by the Spirit. That what it means to have the Spirit lives in you is like your wife going on a trip and say, I’ll be with you in spirit. And yet, he’s supposed to be an authority on the Bible. So the issue is that we have to realize that according to the Scripture, there was no power in the Old Testament. There was no power for us in the Gospels. And the new covenant did not go into effect until what? The end of the Gospels. Jesus didn’t teach under the new covenant. It wasn’t there yet. A covenant is a will. Are we together? A will. And when does your will go into effect? The day you die. So obviously the Gospels aren’t in New Testament because he hadn’t died yet. So in essence, when did the New Testament begin? In Matthew or the book of Acts? In the book of Acts. How come he didn’t like it? No it wasn’t there yet. He proclaimed the new. And Paul explained the new. But it didn’t go into effect. Until the day that the spirit of God. Came to indwell us. Giving us the ability. To understand the meaning. Of what the new covenant is all about. So it gives you the power to do so. Can you see how this whole plan is unfolded? And is unfolding? Okay now. We want to pick up now in the first chapter of the book of Acts. This is written by the same author as Luke, and that’s Dr. Luke, was a follower of Christ Jesus who wrote the gospel of Luke and now wrote the book of Acts, a historical account of what took place in the early Christian church. He starts off by saying, in my former book, Theophilus… So he basically was directing this to a man. I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until… Now when you have an until, you have a before and after. In my old book, I wrote about what he did and taught until the day he was taken up into heaven. We just read about that. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen… And after his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proof that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days. After his resurrection, he appeared to his apostles at various times over a 40-day period and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion while he was eating with them. Who’s the them? The apostles. He gave them. Who’s the them? The apostles. It isn’t a whole house full of people. It’s the men that he was entrusting to get the gospel out. Do you realize that when Jesus left this earth that he was saying of 12 guys… That one of them had denied him three times. The other didn’t believe in him. I mean, you talk about a mess of scoundrels. That’s who he left this thing with and said, I’m going to use you guys to go out and to spread this message all over the world. And those 12 started this whole movement that you and I are in today of coming to Christ by faith. And so he appeared to them over a period of time, and on one occasion when he was eating with them, he gave them this command, Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but… Now, when you have a but, what’s it mean? I’m not talking about physical. I’m talking about when you have a contrasting of buts. What are you dealing with here? John baptized with water, but what does that mean? A contrast, right? There’s a before and after. So John baptized with water, but something new is going to take place here. But in a few days you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So he’s saying a contrast. John was dunking people in water. In a few days, the Spirit of God is going to baptize you into the body of Christ. Now, what is baptism? Outside baptism, it was the dyeing of cloth. They use that term. You put a cloth in red dye, it comes out a red cloth. It’s submerging yourself into something. And so John the Baptist’s baptism was a cleansing baptism. There’s nothing new about baptism in Jewish circles. They had ceremonial baths all over the place. And that was just an outward ceremonial washing or cleansing that took place. And John the Baptist was the first one, obviously, to say, come and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Not a bull or a goat, but come and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. He’s the one that’s going to take away your sins. and be identified with jesus but he said the one coming after him christ jesus the one is pointing to is gonna baptize you with the spirit gonna place you into a permanent identification with christ jesus and folks quite frankly when you and i come to christ you come to Christ, the Spirit of God comes to live within you at that particular moment in time, doesn’t it? And that’s why the Bible says if the Spirit of God doesn’t live in you, you don’t belong to Him. Again, you’re not saved by going to church. You’re not saved by being a good person. You’re saved when you recognize that you’re dead and you need life and you come to Jesus for life. that’s when you’re born again so the spirit now comes to live in you and then the spirit places or baptizes you into the body of christ so ellen you’re you have the spirit of god living in you and you have the spirit of god living in you and you have the spirit of god living in you and everybody in here that’s born again has the spirit of god living in them so who do we belong to to him and to who else Each other. We’re all called brothers and sisters. And probably you get along better than you do with your real brothers and sisters sometimes. But you’re brothers and sisters. Why? You’ve been placed into his body. And it says, although the body, just like your physical body, has many parts… It’s only one body. My body here has many parts. It has arms and legs and fingers and toes and all kinds of things just like yours. And yet all those parts have different functions, don’t they? And what is the purpose of its function? To serve the body. To serve the body. And so that’s what it means to be baptized by the Spirit is the Spirit is going to come permanently to indwell you And then he’s going to place you into the body of Christ, and you’re going to be the body of Christ. Now, didn’t that what Jesus said? It’s good for you that I go away, for when I do, I’m going to send my spirit to live in you, and you’re going to be my body. 2,000 years ago, if you were to look for the body of Christ, you’d have had to go back to Jerusalem and find Jesus of Nazareth. There you’d have found his body, and that’s the body of Christ. But he said, I’m going away. How’s this message going to get spread if you go away? Well, very simply, I’m going to send my spirit to come and live in you and you and you and you and you, and you’re going to be my body. So all over the world, they go to Korea, you go to Africa, you can go to Jerusalem, you can go here, you can go any place in the world and find born-again people. And when you do, you find a communication of spirit with each other. Brothers and sisters, a love for one another. Does that make a difference what color you are, what creed you are? There’s a love for one another. That is supernatural. And so that’s what God said he would do for us. And he said, don’t leave Jerusalem because that had not happened ever in the world before that day of Pentecost, guys. In the Old Testament… the Spirit of God would come upon people as it did for divine service. You remember that in the Old Testament. And then it would leave. And that’s why in, I think, the 22nd Psalm, David prays, Lord, don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Well, would you pray that today, knowing what you know? What did God tell us about the Holy Spirit that lives in you? It’s with you forever. Never, ever leave you, forsake you. So if I was praying as a born-again Christian today, please don’t take your spirit from me. I’d just say, well, you haven’t exercised faith yet because if you have the spirit living in you, he’s there forever, whether you like it or not. Say, well, can’t you walk away from God? No, he walks with you. Walks with you. Well, I want to draw closer to God. How are you going to draw closer to God when he lives in you? So all that talk is nonsense. So the whole issue is, has that event taken place in your life? There’s the whole issue. Not how good I’ve been or how bad I’ve been, but did you recognize how dead you’ve been? And recognize that as a dead person I need life, and there’s only one source of life available to me, and that’s Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
So this is where all of this started. So John baptized with water. So in a few days, you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So they, and there’s the apostles, they met together, and they, the apostles, asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel? Still didn’t understand that this was only the suffering Messiah at that time. The reigning Messiah is coming later. You see, the reigning Messiah is going to be the one that comes back at the end times and ushers in his thousand-year millennial reign. That’s not here yet. But they didn’t know that, but they were still asking a question. So he said to them, well, it’s not for you to know the times and dates. The father is set by his own authority. He kind of, he doesn’t poo-poo the question. He just says, it isn’t for you to know. It’s just plain not for you to know. People ask me on the radio that, and I just say, it’s just not important. What’s important is how you live in your life today. That’s what’s important. You’re walking by faith in Christ, not what’s going to happen in the future and end times stuff. End times stuff is end times stuff. I tell people at my age, I’m in end times. And so it says to him, it’s not for you to know the times or dates the Father has sent by His own authority, but… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and in essence ultimately to the ends of the earth. And then he was taken up before their very eyes and the cloud hid him from their sight and they were looking intently into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white beside them said, Men of Galilee, Why do you stand here looking up in the sky? Guys, can you imagine that event? Of standing there and the final words of Jesus to you, and all of a sudden see Him just disappear into the sky. And you’re standing there looking at Him, and He says, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus… this one that you just saw and was with, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go to earth, go to heaven. He is coming back the same way he went up. So guess where he’s coming back to? Washington, D.C.? I don’t think so. Israel. Israel. That’s why today Israel is the focal point of the entire world. All this war that we have is over this tiny little nation called Israel. How did God preserve these people? Back in those days there were Amorites, Zebutites, all those tights were back there. Have any of you ever known a Zebutite or an Amorite? Have anybody ever knew one of those? but you can spot a Jew on every street corner in the country. How did he preserve them? Why did he preserve them? Why are they all over the place? I quite frankly believe that the reason that the Jewish people are so set in financial acumen and are in points of financial benefits is Is that is totally God given to preserve them. Because they’re not going to preserve a country. Unless they got finances. And that’s why they are successful as they are. In many cases. Financially. But they’re here. And they’re there. And when Jesus comes back. He’s coming to their country. As he left. I’m coming back. Same place. He’s going to park his self there. Now. After that, they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives. That’s where Jesus left them, and that’s where he’s coming back. He’s going to plant his feet right there. It’s an event that’s going to occur. It was a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. And when they arrived, they went upstairs to a room where they were staying. So evidently the 12 disciples, or by then the 11, were staying there. in some room, some place, and those present, and he names who they are. Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. And they all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Now in those days, we’re told, that Peter stood up among the believers, a group numbering about 120, and said, Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David, considering Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus, and he was one of our numbers and shared in this ministry. He’s got to be replaced. In other words, Peter was saying, God gave us 12 apostles, and now we only have 11, so we need to have another one. With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field where he fell headlong. His body burst open and all of his intestines spilled out. And everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field their language in Aramaic, the field of blood. It’s called that to this day, to this very day. For said Peter, it is written in the book of Psalms, may his place be deserted forever. And let there be no one to dwell in it. May another take his place of leadership. Now therefore, we’re told, it was necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord was with us and went out among us. That was one of the criterias for being an apostle. Are we familiar with what apostles are? That was a man that had been with Jesus, just like it said, from the beginning, from John’s baptism of Jesus. Now, once again, guys, so that we get this clear, why did John the Baptist baptize Jesus? What did Jesus say? Okay, I’ll tell you. John the Baptist said, the one who sent me to baptize told me. that the one on whom you see the dove descend, that’s the Messiah. So God sent John the Baptist to baptize people, this ceremonial washing, and identify people with that washing as being identified with Jesus, the one who took away your sins. But Jesus was baptized by John, as John said, in order to identify him to Israel. So you can kind of imagine, guys, the exciting ministry that John the Baptist had. Every time he dunked somebody in water, is this the one? And you also understand why he said when the old self-righteous Pharisees would stand out there watching, you guys may as well go home, you bunch of white wall sepulchers. For sure, you’re not the Messiah. But he knew that every time he baptized someone, that could have been the one that God identified. But that’s how he identified. And so it said it was necessary for one of those men to be with us the whole time, beginning with John’s baptism to the time Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must be a witness with us of his resurrection. So they proposed two men, Joseph, called Barsabbas, known as Justice, and Matthias. And they prayed, Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs. And then they did something real biblical. They cast lots. The lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the 11. Now, guys, do you suppose that’s the way God chooses people, is let’s cast lots? But that’s about as good as we can come up with. Now, do you ever hear of this guy again? Any place in the scripture? No. Who do you hear about? The Apostle Paul. So God was saying, guys, you don’t choose an apostle by casting lots. I’ll choose the apostles just like I chose you. And it was the Apostle Paul that was chosen. Now, when the days of Pentecost and guys, by then you’re talking about all of these early meetings is the first 40 days. And now the day of Pentecost is 10 days after the 40. And so Pentecost is the word for five or 50. And that was 50 days after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus, that this event was going to take place. where God is going to come and permanently indwelt his body, indwell us. And now we’ve got those ten days later. And so it tells us the day of Pentecost came, and they were all together in one place. Now, guys, go right back up for a minute with me to verse 26. They cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, and so he was added to the eleven. Eleven men. Now when the day of Pentecost comes, they, so who is the they? Now the twelve men. It’s not a room full of people. It’s not like you see in the pictures of all these people in this upper room with things over their head. Twelve men. They were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound like a blowing of violence wind came from heaven and filled the house where they, who’s the they? The men were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire separated and came to rest on each of who? Them. Them. All of them, the men, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. Now, guys, we’re told that there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. It was a celebration where the Jews came from all over. They were scattered everywhere. And they took upon the language of wherever they grew up. They were still a Jew, but they didn’t speak Hebrew anymore. They spoke like Chinese or whatever else it might be. And look at what it says here. They heard the sound. The crowd came together bewildered because each one heard them speaking in their own language. Now, utterly amazed, they ask, are not all of these men who are speaking Galileans? Now, I wonder why they said that. What kind of a part of the country was Galilean? Was that an intellectual center or was that an agricultural center? It was an agricultural center. That was a place where farmers were. That was a place you probably kind of made fun of. Oh, those are those farm farmers. Kind of like being an Aggie. Not all of these people are not Galileans. Then how is it that each of us hear them in his own language? Parthians, Medites, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Pygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Christians, Arabs. We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own language.
SPEAKER 01 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
