Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 846 | Jase Is Up to His Old Tricks in Willie’s Pond & Jesus Saves You — Not Baptism

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Jase manages to sneak away from Willie’s pond with a monster catch that quickly becomes dinner, and Phil comes in hot with a top 10 list about the book of Acts. Al, Jase, and Zach respond with a nuanced discussion of water baptism and examine what the arguments about baptism get wrong. The guys agree that it's Jesus who saves you, not the water. In this episode: Acts 2, verses 14-41 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. We're jockeying for who's kicking off the podcast today. Jay, you won the kickoff the podcast Cold Open Award, so you get to start. Dad's got a hot take for later, but, and by the way, let me just mention ahead of time before we get started. I'm having some work done here on the Southern Lair, so if you hear any sawing or hammering, don't, don't, don't, Don't worry about me. I'm okay. I'm fine here.

It's just some workers outside. So I want to let you know that right off the bat. All right. Well, good. Well, I guess that means you actually let off the podcast. I guess I did. Well, the last two podcasts was just sheer Bible study, which is great. But every once in a while, things happen in life that we like to share.

And, you know, you try to relate them to what we're doing here. and I've had this saga going on for years because all of my brothers live on the same road and there's a gate. And even though Al spends most of his time at his southern layer, he has a house on the road. Just outside the gate, by the way. I'm not quite inside the gate. I'm just outside the gate. We're in town, and my brother Willie put a pond in the middle of this neighborhood, which is a family neighborhood, literally. Well, that one act for us being wilderness people and living off the land, has caused some adventure and excitement and reconnaissance missions.

because I would rather visit God's grocery store, and what I mean by that, is the wilderness and the waters, to obtain my supper. And so what happened was one day Willie went down to his pond and he didn't catch any fish. So instead of saying, you know, I need to fish harder or I maybe need to try a different bait,

he looked over across the street and saw my house and said, that doggone jace has caught all my fish. That's kind of what started the little love spat here. And none of this is serious because he's like, yeah, you can catch my fish, but leave me some money the next time I want to restock it. That was kind of how this goes. So when this was brought to my attention, I said, Willie, I didn't catch all your fish.

You're not going to catch all these fish out of here. it's impossible. I was a commercial fisherman for years, and fish or fish, God put something in them, the chase going back to Genesis 9, where you're just not going to catch them all. They're in there.

So he drains the pond, but he didn't drain it all the way because he said, no, I got to restock it. He didn't believe me that they were still in there. So he restocks it. So this happened a couple years ago.

And then he said, don't go out here and catch the fish now because I stocked it, and they're all too small for table fare. So that's kind of the narrative where we're at. I've shared this before. So yesterday I had a hankering for some fish. So I went out there, and it's been enough time now

to where they should be just big enough to catch. So I go down there. I don't catch any right at first, and I flip my little jig over in a little narrow spot amongst some grass and all of a sudden I see my lion take off. It was taken off so rapidly that I thought, well, it must be a bass. Because most of the bass still made it, according to Willie. And so when I set the hook, I mean, it started pulling the drag.

It was a fight. I'm like, yeah, it's definitely a bass. And all of a sudden, the surface of the water breaks. and I see this giant cropy too big to be one of these that he's recently stocked. And I'm saying within, you know, a year or so, this thing was a giant. And if you're having trouble believing me, I took a picture of it that we can now insert. And what's crazy is the only fish I caught, but it was big enough that it could actually feed a party. of one, which would be me because I'm a bachelor right now, Missy's in Nashville.

You're like, you hate, the whole meal was one fish. Yep. Monster. I'm going to guess at two and a half pounds. And so I had some, I decided to blacken it on my little griddle. I put some green beans and butter, put the black pepper on the green beans. And I put the black pepper on the green beans. and I put a little olive oil, and that was my supper last night. But it told me something. Now, if I told you this story, because the practical application I want to make is it was the belief that no croppy could have survived the draining of this. So you got to think, there's one or two things that happen. Either somebody's wrong here that we didn't catch all the fish, or it was a miracle.

How did I catch this fish? How did it survive? It was no miracles. You never get them all out there. It's not a miracle, you're right. Based on we've been studying, this was my thought.

I thought, I need to take a picture of this because if I don't, people won't believe me. Because there's doubt here. I have one party saying there's no more fish out there from the original stocking. That comes from people, amateurs, not knowing much about fish. Yeah.

So my point is, so my point is, since I had the pitch, I have an image of the fish. And that's what Jesus is when it comes to God. He's the image. So we read it. This Bible becomes a picture when you read it. But you say, well, when Jesus was here, why would they believe him? I'm sure they were doubted. They were doubting him.

And a lot did because of what the belief system that came along with how they were raised in God's original plan. And so then it would be one thing for me to convince Willie that there's still fish out there because I have a picture. But if I was going to try to convince somebody that I made all the fish and I become one of the fish to save all the fish, well, then I think that would be such a crazy idea that maybe having the miraculous powers would be a good thing to sell that idea. Because basically when Jesus became a man, God becoming a man is so unbelievable because there's people literally literally. looking at him saying, I don't believe you. And he does miracles. So I just think, based on our prior discussion, I'm linking something that happened with kind of how we're approaching the Bible. So I thought I would share that. Well, so have you shown Willie? Did you send him a copy of

the picture yet? No, because there I'm in a tough spot. If I send him the picture, he knows your picture. He will now, because he never saw him and I knew. I went down there about dark. And even though I'm right, I don't want to share with him that I'm right because then I got to deal with how come you're down there fishing again. So I'm in a tough spot. I can share it because he's probably not listening to this. But be sure if you see him, you see Willie, and you're listening to the sound of my voice.

I would say if we had to cut this little story off right now, it would be a plus. The subdivision boys fighting over whether there's any fish left or enough. I don't know. You run out of something to do with something. I wanted to tell a cool story, and y'all get to see a picture of the beast that I caught yesterday. What a beautiful fish. And if you want to know how to cook it, you go watch Jason's first cooking episode, which was cropper, right?

It was a croppy. Well, let's see now if we dive into this since it's a podcast, and I don't know how. Yeah, I don't know how. What's your take on? it fell. My take on it, you know, is a lot of people see y'all catch the fish from time at time. But fishing, you know, here today, gone tomorrow.

But Jesus loves fish. I like that. I've got 10 things right here that the Book of Acts should be famous for. 10. All right. 10 things. We got making news. 10 things the book of Acts should be famous.

We heard the not so. We heard Jason take. so cold, but pretty cold. Beginning in Acts chapter 2, when the people heard this, heard, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. When the people heard it, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the other parts,

was what shall we do? Now that we found out that Jesus died for us, was buried and raised from the dead. Peter replied, repent, this is the first. time this is mentioned in the book of Acts. Peter replied, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins will be forgiven. It's a big deal. And you will receive, on top of that, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promises for you, your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord God will call. With many other words, he warned them. Peter, he pleaded

with him. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Look out, those who accepted and I didn't count this as one, I counted two, I just counted as one about what's the book of Acts all about.

Peter replied, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. That's the first story about what the book of Acts is going to be about.

Acts 2.38 is what I read from. The next baptism spree starts in Acts 8, verse 12 and 13. After that, Acts 8, 36 and 38. After that, Acts 9, 18, and 19. The fifth one, Acts chapter 10, 47, 47, 4,000. 7, 48, 6, Acts 1324, John, and baptism, 7, the book of Acts 16, 15, Lydia, 8, Acts 1632, the jailer and all his family. It's one group after the other, reaching in, above, up, down on any way you can to get Jesus died, was being raised from the dead.

Acts 1632, Jader and his family. Verse 33, same thing. Acts 18, 8. Which one is that? It's in the rack. Acts 1825 for nine times. 9 3, verse 4. The 10th time it's mentioned,

the Apostle Paul talking about his conversion. He mentioned it twice. This is the second. time. Acts 22, 16. Paul again. From one end to the other, faith in the death, burial, and resurrection Jesus and baptism in water. That's what the book of Acts is from start to finish. There's 10 occasions where people are told to put their faith in Jesus and be baptized in water. Ten? Now what? Okay. but 10, and that's what the book of Acts is about from start to finish. Hot take.

I can't argue that, Dad. Yeah, I think a lot of people probably are, I've just noticed that people typically respond out of fear and like an overreaction. And I think maybe people not emphasizing water baptism enough is sometimes it's in a reaction to say, and it's not the water that saves you. You're saved by Jesus, and the water is, is a, Roman 6 is pretty clear about it. It's a, this water is a symbol of, it's, you're, you're dying with Christ, you're being buried with Christ and raised with Christ, and that water is a symbol of a grave that you're going down into and you're coming back out of. I think that there's a comeback.

I think a lot of people, I mean, there's a lot of movements now that people are baptizing people and, in water, you know, which, you know, I see it kind of a, a comeback. We, we've baptized quite a few people at our church in the last year, and it's been really special to see that moment, you know, of, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a symbol of a, of, of, of, of, of, of what's going on in, and, and, and, in someone's life that they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, the old man's going down, which is that, I mean, that really is the case here in act two is, you know, they're, but, but what are they responding to an act too? It's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, the sermon. The sermon, is the gospel of Christ, and then baptism is the response to that. And I think that, I think that's a key point to understand that you're actually responding

to the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus when you are baptized in water. And we didn't mention this as much when we were going through it. But, you know, it really is, I mean, John's purpose from everything I can gather in why he was baptizing people, John the Baptist, I'm talking about, before. Jesus got here was to introduce this new thing to Israel. I mean, because we never read about in the Old Testament. I mean, you had the, I guess, the closest thing, maybe the basin of water when you went into the, you know, the temple for the, you know, ritual cleansing stuff. But there was no water baptism of people. And then all of a sudden, John comes on the scene and says he's pointing toward

Jesus. And he starts baptizing people for repentance to change. You know, something's coming. Listen, the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, Acts 22, 12, a man named Anonis came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, Brother Saul, receive your sight. At that very moment, I was able to see him. He was blinded it on the road to Damascus. He looked around, he can see. Now, listen to this.

I mean, you know good and well. he's a pretty confused man because he's blind I mean you know God's working on him an an eye said the God of our father has chosen you to know his will and to see

the righteous one and to hear words from his mouth you're going to be a close protese of Jesus Christ you'll be his witness to all men you're fixing to write the New Testament nearly of what you've seen and heard Now listen to the way this is worded.

Now, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name. You fix the right books, write letters about him. If I read that, I would say, yeah, better get on board there. He's not asking for the moon. He's just saying, you're in a situation where you now can see. Is it life getting better? Well, yeah.

What do you wait for? Get up and be baptized and wash your sins away. The blood of Jesus on a cross is going to remove his sin, but that guy wrote most of the New Testament, and he never slacks off. I'm just giving you acts. You read the rest of the Bible from Acts on. Matthew, Luke, and John, Jesus is there.

He's the one that said go make disciples and baptize them. That's the marching orders. somewhere in there we got the idea that we don't have to be baptized. Yeah, and Acts 1, Jesus, there's a scene here about this, I say Jesus, about this new baptism. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart Jerusalem. This is Acts 1,4, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard for me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Spirit, not many days from now. So I think that the water, I think what people push back on,

I think we have to clarify is that the water baptism is a symbol of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that's going to happen very, very soon after that, that, the opening of Acts, it's going to, when Jesus or when Peter preaches the gospel and basically telling them that Jesus, the one they killed was the Messiah, the one they've been waiting on. I'm just saying, everything, is taken care of. It's a serious thing, and people are to be commended that when they come and say, I was a little baby and they said I was baptized. I said, how old were you? She said, well, I'm not sure, but I think they said about two months. I said, had the sins pile up on you in that two months, has your sins just pile up on you and that you can do about it? She said, that's what I'm talking about.

I have a problem with me trying to go back when I was a infant. I said, you weren't full of sins. God didn't throw children in the fires of hell. You were a young little baby. You didn't know. I said, have the sins piled up now since that two months? Now that you're 50 years old, she said, you are pointing out my problem here. Most people, Dad, I mean a big chunk of people believe you were born in sin, like original

sin, the idea. And so that's where that idea comes from. But, of course, we don't think the scriptures teach that at all. So, you know, that's how we view it differently. I do think Zach is right. The transfer happens right here in Acts 1 and 2 from the baptism that John instituted, which was to get them ready. And then the baptism into Jesus, which the Holy Spirit was the game changer.

Now he's available to all. So that's why it's there. And Dad pointed out 10 examples of exactly what happens every time the gospel does a wonderful job of spreading it across the spectrum where we can see how this thing evolved and how the gospel saved all the way down to their faith. You're dying to sin and we're going to bear you. And I think it's a beautiful thing. And people who don't jump up and down that it's there.

in my opinion. I agree. The place I was at down here Sunday, this South Coast church, they had a baptismal thing set up out in their foyer, which is really cool. And so we were doing books. All of these is a sudden these people lined up and they start baptizing people and they're cheering and hooping and hollering just like we do. So it's happening, Dad. I mean, it's, you know, people all around the, as Zach said, all around the world, water baptism is there. I'm just saying what comes forth from our lips based on 10 different stories about how they were baptized and through their faith in the blood of Jesus and his resurrection. I just think people need to be reminded of that. And if you don't ever get that and you're coming up, you're missing a wonderful thing and a dangerous thing.

I'm saying, come on. I'll be like them other ones, you know, back in the air. I'm like, y'all need to move on this. Yep, absolutely. Well, the problem is, I think, when you, if you start discussing baptism, you know, I kept thinking about when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, evidently they had had these same types of discussions. They have. And so people started arguing about baptism, and it's kind of like you have the cart before the horse.

Yep. I mean, the book of Acts is about the declaration. of what Jesus did, who he is. He's at the right hand of God. He pours out his spirit. The kingdom has given birth on earth because spirit-filled people. They go around and they speak Jesus first,

which is what happened here. And then when they said, what do we do? You know, it's a response to it. So I believe, you know, when Paul said in Corinthians, he's like, Christ didn't send me to baptize. but to preach the gospel. So it's a difficult thing when you try to take it separate and apart and say, well, let me just read you the verses.

Just go do it. Because I think it comes from a heart that's cut based on hearing who Jesus is. And then they can read the verses with that in mind. And Zach was right to bring up all the arguments about it because I think people don't want to stress baptism because they're like, well, Jesus is who saves you. You know, Zach said that, which is our immediate response. True. Of course.

Well, that of course is I think, because you can read the verses. If you're just talking about baptism on why you should do it, without a person's heart being pricked based on the gospel, it's going to be a difficult thing. You could have 150 of them in there. That's correct. So I think it is right. We're out to preach Jesus, but it is worthy of no. you read the book of Acts, it does seem to follow the same pattern.

These people were immediately. I think there's something to be said about. They weren't waiting around. You know, it was that the one you read or referred to in Acts 8, you know, they were just out in the desert. The guy's reading Isaiah, the eunuch, and he, he never heard of Jesus. And Philip said, you know, with that scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And the next thing they saw was some water. so you know it wasn't a spiritual thing or it wasn't something that they were going to wait

and have some kind of collective group to say oh yeah this this ought to be a good thing to do i mean he just said why should not be baptized he said stop the chair but it's still about jesus this whole thing is about jesus and you know you see that where we're going to get to an axe chapter three you're getting so close that to die and be buried and to be raised from the dead. That's a big event. I don't know how you get around to baptizing somebody unless you told them that. I mean, you've already told them. Jesus died was buried and raised from the dead and you stay there for a while. Your sins are forgiven. You can receive God's spirit here. We're waiting on you. Now, I didn't put all these rules into action.

just read the book of Acts and looked at it from one end to the other. And they made sure that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was preached and they obeyed. Yeah. Yeah, I think where I've seen that abused, though, the baptism at least is that, yeah, I grew up in a lot of churches that, I mean, baptism was the thing. I mean, that was even it superseded the gospel, water baptism. And I remember a question that you would ask if someone, is he a Christian? And the answer will be, well, he's been baptized as if that was the litmus test. And I think what Jesus called us to, certainly baptism is, like, there's no option for someone who wants to follow Jesus. Like, there's no, like, option.

Yeah, I'm not going to do, I'm not going to be baptized in water. That's not an option. But at the same time, the emphasis that Jesus gives in the Great Commission is, is, to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so I think, like with the Lord's Supper is another kind of parallel example to this. Some believe that the Lord's Supper, that the Eucharist or the communion, whatever your church calls it, some believe that it actually turns into the literal body of Christ

and the literal blood of Christ when they take it. It's called transubstantiation. We don't believe that. we believe that these are symbols. These elements are symbols. They're not the real thing, but they're symbols of the real thing. Then when we partaken them, it's a reminder, it's a participation in. It's a lot of things.

But it's not the actual blood of Christ or the actual flesh of Christ. Now, that would be debated by, if you're listening to this and you're Catholic, you probably would disagree with me. But I would extrapolate the same kind of argument to baptism, too. You just have to remember that the, because of John, I mean, in Acts 1, it's pretty clear that John baptized the water, Jesus is baptizing with the Holy Spirit. And so the emphasis of baptism is that it is a connection. It is, it is a dying to self.

It's a being buried with Christ. It's being raised with him, Roman 6th. It's to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I just think we have to emphasize that the water portion of that is not what saves you. The water is a symbol. It's just like the Lord's Supper is a symbol. It's not the real thing. It's a symbol of what was happening to us.

And the reason why I would echo what's said in Peter, he says it's not, it's not the removal of dirt from the flesh. I mean, it's not a bath. It's nothing magical in the water. He says it's not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but what it is, it's a pledge of a good conscience towards God that saves you by the resurrection. And what that means is, is that I can't come to God with a clean conscience because I'm guilty. but when I die with Christ, when I'm buried with him, and then when I'm raised with him, now I can go before the Father with a clean conscience, not because of what I've done, but because of the finished work of Christ.

And the baptism of the Holy Spirit is my credibility when I go into that. It's the Holy Spirit as a seal guaranteeing my inheritance. We know that the only way you could know, you're told. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless that we should no longer be slaves to sin. That's the problem, sin. But Jesus removed our sin with his blood. Because anyone who has died, this is right after, go, go be baptized.

Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. It's your faith in the blood of Jesus that was shed. You make that plain to them. I agree. And, I mean, I think people do emphasize it. And maybe more now, maybe because we're talking about that in that vein. I do want to clarify, Zach is right. We don't believe there's anything redemptive about water.

Because sometimes when you lay this out, people say, well, you believe in water regeneration. No, we don't. We believe in regeneration and redemption. by Jesus. So there's nothing magical about the pool of water, but it's there for a reason. Yeah, they didn't believe in water generation. Of course not. No. That came about later. I don't know where it came from, but we don't believe that. And the Bible doesn't teach that. So just to clarify, I want to make sure people know that. So, well, I'll reiterate. My point is you preach Jesus. and when people want to respond, you can go to the passages and explain it.

You know, from chapter 3 to chapter 8, the sermons were still going on. Baptism has never mentioned. And you said, what were they preaching? They were preaching Jesus. That's right. So it doesn't matter if someone, it's not about setting up a roadblock and, you know, having troughs and baptizing people. without them understanding what saves them. Right behind me, I've written down an error coming out of heaven.

You know, God became flesh. There's a cross. Jesus shed the blood out there, was raised from the dead. I got the gospel right in back of me that saves them, but I'm just preparing them. And for some reason, they move on it. And if you look around, not a whole lot of movement going on that I can. can see around that death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. The gospel is not preached as

vibrantly as it should be, I believe. And you want to go where to look. You go to what you're talking about the 10 things and that all is around the same thing. Well, God don't want you to miss that. Jay's to your point. And this is not in the Bible because it happened in 300. but in 300 AD when Constantine, who was the emperor of Rome, became a Christian, history says that he immediately baptized the entire Roman army. And it wasn't a choice. It was like a command from the emperor. So that shows you sort of the idea of what baptism really is not about.

And that you could take a group of people just in the, yeah. But he made an attempt. He did. I mean, he probably had the right thing in mind. what he didn't understand is a baptism in a pool of water is a submissive act of me and a sword standing over he said oh you're going to do this well yeah i mean you get a command this is what you're going to do so that's kind of that line you that balanced line we're talking about that you don't want to cross over well i think just when you take it out of the context it's a silly

looking thing so i do believe a lot of religions are like you're going to go be dunked under some water and so it's just one of the you know I think people from a theological standpoint they look at something like baptism and they're like you know what's what's happening here when the Bible can't shake them what are you waiting for

well but that's what the only thing I'm pushing back on your narrative is because I tried you know I've also read the verses in Acts and seen that pattern you know let 10 11 times. But I've read those verses to people when an argument about baptism came up. And most of the times the arguments about baptism are all wrapped around hypothetical situations.

Which is, in my opinion, the wrong way to have a discussion on any subject, much less baptism. You know, what if I was, you know, going to the water and what if it didn't happen? or they say, you know, what about the thief on the cross? And they push back and said, well, Jesus hadn't died and been buried and raised yet. What about all the people of the Old Testament? You know, and then the next argument is, are you saying there's something you can do? You can't do anything.

Jesus saves you 100% completely. It's not based on your performance. So I think you've got to realize what saves a person and who saves a person. And it's Jesus 100%. but in God's plan, he brings up this idea that you can reenact this. You can humble yourself, like you said, Al, which would be the opposite of you performing in some way. You're basically giving up. Big time.

And allowing someone else in an act of humility, which I think it should be taught in the way Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God. Because that's what, really what Acts is about is Jesus being exalted. and the Holy Spirit being poured out, and then Jesus being declared through Spirit-filled people. And that's what it's about. The people that responded, since Jesus is at the right hand of God, well, how else can you respond? Luke just spent his whole book talking about the kingdom not looking like

what a worldly kingdom looks like. And the seed along that was humility, brokenness, those who had been oppressed, all of this to allow a humble spirit. They hear Jesus, and they basically give up. You know, Jesus himself said, carry your cross and follow me. Deny yourself. To prove your point, the one thing I've noticed, the gospel is preached when people respond to it by faith, the death of Jesus, they say, the blood, remove.

moved all my sin. I said, all you're saying. When you present that to someone, I have noticed that the thing I see the most, what I see the most coming from people who come from all over the world, right where we are by the side of the road, what they live for is the beginning, tears. tears is what comes with their conversion tears and i don't try to make them cry but but the human race are shedding tears on their way to that pool of water and we're in the pool of water pointing them to jesus well i hope they're having tears because of what jesus did and that's my point is It moves you. All your sins are removed.

It humbles you. It's the spirit of God. Yeah. So people, I don't argue about baptism anymore or with anyone. You know, I share Jesus, and if people love Jesus, I figure at some point they'll look at baptism as an opportunity instead of something to be argued about on whether you have to or you start getting into these hypothetical situations. And it's evident. And you pointed out rightfully. So, you know, 10 different occasions, it seems to follow the same response.

But you don't want to get so caught up in that. You're missing on who they're responding to. Yeah. Because the acts is about Jesus as well as all the rest of the Bible. I mean, we're fixed to go through chapter three, and all of a sudden, in chapter three and four, you see all these prophecies, all these prophets of old, and he says the same thing. This was all about Jesus. This is what got us to this point.

And so, you know, that part is written down where they can look at the text. It's written down. And I just point around to point down there. They see the cross. They see the tomb. They see the empty tomb. They see the greatness of what he's done for. It's the gospel.

Preach the death of Jesus, his burial, his resurrection. And you can come down and be. part of that. Yeah, I've always wanted to push back against what Jason. What you're talking about, I agree. It's like, you want to push back against anything that would turn in, turn our response to Jesus's invitation to enter into his kingdom. Anything that would like turn that into, like, almost like a password that we say to get in. You know, I mean, like, baptism's not a password or some kind of ritual password that we got to do to get in. Or even like, you know, I've heard some people say, ask Jesus into your heart. And like, the truth is like, like, You don't ask Jesus into your heart. Your heart can't contain the fullness of the kingdom of God and the king. I mean, he invites us in. So it's actually the other way around. Jesus is inviting us in.

And then we're responding to that. But I think keeping Christ as preeminent, keeping Christ as the centerpiece of all of this is the point. And what our temptation is as humans is we want to say, well, give it to me in the formula. Give it to me. What can I do? I can check it off and know that I've done the thing I've got to do to get into this.

And I think we're missing the bigger point. And I think that's why when you look at what Phil had read earlier in Acts 19, after he asked these people about the baptism they received and they were like John's baptism. And he said, well, yeah, that was a baptism of repentance. That's the one that was talked about in Acts 1. John came to baptize with water. But in a few days, you're going to be baptized in the spirit. And on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. And so there is this connection between the Holy Spirit coming in and moving. And then I don't think it's an accident that in verse 8, what does Paul do immediately after this happen? What does he preach? It says here that he entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. And so I think that what we have to remember in all of this is that we have received an invitation to come into the kingdom of God. And baptism is our dying to self being connected with the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

That's what we get into the kingdom through a substitute, through a substitute payment. And our baptism is what it's doing is it's recognizing that. connecting us to what Christ finished on the cross so that we can't enter into the kingdom of God and then to receive life in the kingdom. That's a good wrap up. We're out of time. Jace, that was the hot take that became a podcast. That's what we call that.

But it was good because that's exactly where we've been in Acts 1 and 2. So it was a pretty good description of what happened there. So next time on the podcast we'll get to Acts 3 and look at this situation. of, I call it Jesus 2.0 with the disciples and the temples. So we'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube

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