Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Billy McCool
October 27, 2021 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: Philippians 4:4, Luke 3:2-22, Matthew 3:3-4, Acts 1:3-8, Acts 2:36-38, Acts 8:12-16, Acts 10:45-48, Acts 19:1-5, Romans 10:9-14

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/billy-mccool--wednesday-night-bible-study-113
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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praise the lord everyone we greet you tonight in that wonderful all-powerful all-precious name of jesus how great it is to be in his house tonight and it's good to see each one of you here those of you who have been on vacation we welcome you back home and uh good to see you brother dean wilson has been sick and glad he's better and glad to see brother dean sister brendan tonight and glad to have the newlyweds back brother david and sister carolyn and they just told me today that they have bought an apartment eight tenths of a mile from the church and she told a heart doctor they bought a place eight tenths of a mile from the doctor said you're gonna be walking to church well he and i told them if they lived eight tenths of a mile they'll be late for every service yeah the closer you live seem like that's it's it's harder to get there but anyway it's it's so good to be in the house of the lord tonight to see each one of you i called pastor told him that i may be just a little bit late tonight and when i got here i asked him he didn't know the definition of faith and he said well i think i do what i said it's a uh 85 year old man looking for a hearing aid in walmart parking lot after dark but he didn't have enough faith to find it but anyway i've got one so i can hear at least half as good as i did but anyway it's it's good to be in the house of the lord and it's good to keep a good positive happy attitude don't you agree to that it's the the above all things the bible said in philippians above i said rejoice rejoice in the lord and again i say rejoice so we don't have to go around groping and grouping and sad we need to be a happy bunch of people we used to sing a song about we are happy people yes we are we are happy people yes we are all day long we sing this song jesus rights are every wrong we are happy people yes we are i uh before we get into our message we're going to pray and i'm going to ask you to help us pray sister brian she's in poor health and of course she's already passed that 90 mark and seemed like all of us are getting a little older every day and but well let's pray for sister brian tonight she is in poor health and got some challenges unless uh let's just stand to our feet and we're going to pray for the message and also pray for sister brian i know we've already prayed for a request but we'll do it again father we thank you tonight for the privilege of being in the house of god we thank you lord for your people that love the word of the lord lord i pray that you'll touch sister brian's body tonight god you know she's lived for you all these many many years and lord at this time we need your help we ask her to be with her strengthen her and let the healing hand of god be upon her and all the other requests has come our way we pray for each and every one of them father i pray that you will anoint the lips of clay with the spirit of god give that which you would have spoken in this service tonight in jesus name we pray amen and you may be seated we have a great lesson tonight we're we've changed the format as you can already tell we're doing our teaching on the sunday school lesson on wednesday night and uh some sometimes we depart from that when we have something that we feel that god's laying on our heart but uh this uh series of lessons are entitled a voice in the wilderness and it has taken us from the birth of john the baptist the birth of the baby jesus his of dedication and tonight is the title is a part of god's plan a part of god's plan and we will be reading from the third chapter of luke and a focus thought i want to be part of god's plan can you say that for yourself tonight do you want to be a part of god's plan i do i want to be a part of god's plan and the only way i can be a part of god's plan is i conform to his plan i don't ask him to change his plan for me i've had a lot of questions asked through the years about this or that and the other and um a lot of folks won't but if this one now if you get to heaven and and you you get there and joseph stalin and adolf hitler's there uh i i don't plan to put it in for a transfer i'm not insinuating they're going to be there but what i'm saying is i'm being a little bit extreme god's going to do what he's going to do but he's going to stick with his plan god is going to stick with his plan and and when i read it why not do it like the bible says to do it obey what the plan says the focus verses is luke 3 3 and 4 and he came unto all the country about jordan we're talking about john the baptist preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins as it is written in the book of the words of isaiah the prophet saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the lord make his path straight then we're going to go down to a verse two and uh we're skipping over uh uh the first verse first chapter first verse i'm starting in the middle of verse two the word of god came unto john the son of zacharias in the wilderness now it's already the angel had already told uh zacharias and elizabeth that that uh god's going to be give them a son he's going to cuddle his name john and he's going to be a forerunner of the messiah this is a great than uh something that the jews had had anticipated for centuries all of them looked forward to the day of the coming of the messiah and now then when zacharias and they they found out they were going to have this baby what an honor it was and at the uh just six months uh difference in their age jesus was going to be born and it was going to be a great event the word of the lord came unto john the son of zacharias in the wilderness and he came into all the country about jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins now john fulfilled a part of god's plan preparing for the dispensation of grace up until then the law of the prophets wasn't until john the bible said the law and the prophets was until john but now transition is taking place and john came preaching in the wilderness and he was saying prepare you the way of the lord and make his paths straight and he came preaching repentance and for the and for the remission of sins god demands repentance from sin from everybody i don't care how how great you are how small or how great everyone we are born into this world with the adamic nature and you must be born again the saying goes and i i don't know who said this first but anyway if you're born once you'll die twice if you're born twice you're going to die once and that means that uh the uh will not be the power of the the second regular resurrection over whom the second death has no part so if you born again you're not going to die the the second death which is the death of the sinner and it and he came into all the country round about jordan verse 4 as it is written in the book of the words of isaiah the prophet saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the lord make his path straight now i want us to look at matthew chapter 3 verses 3 and 4. and i'd like for to explore a little bit more about john the baptist matthew puts it this way for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness preparing you the way of the lord and make his path straight now this is referring to a an ancient day when a great king or a great leader was going to enter into a city they a head invoice that they prepared had everybody ready it was like uh if the if the uh some the the governor or the president somebody's gonna come and they're gonna be they i remember when uh i believe it was president reagan that uh was uh landed out out here at the airport and uh i remember brother neal hill was one of the security guards and we were all out there and the helicopter came and we were just lined up waiting to see somebody of great importance well this is alluding to this somebody extremely important is going to come and john the baptist is the one that's going ahead and he's telling hey i'm not the one you're looking for but there's one that's coming get ready for him prepare his way somebody extremely important is about to make his entrance into this world i want you know there's never been one before him and there's never been one after him to compare with the messiah the savior the one that came to live to die for us and to redeem us or should give him a handclap [Music] there was the one crying into the wilderness preparing the way the lord for this is he was spoken of the prophet isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepared the way the lord make his path straight and the same john had his raiment of camel's hair a leather girden girdle about his loins and his meat was locust and wild honey now there's a reason for this telling his diet and his manner of dress all throughout the old testament the the men of god i'm not talking about the kings and all of that but generally the men of god they did not dress extravagantly they did not keep up with the styles and the fashion they lived a very modest life and they ate a modest diet and they were totally dedicated to the ministry of prophecy and preaching the word of god now notice about john he came preaching in the wilderness he wasn't living in the the holiday inn or a high-rise a beautiful apartment but he was living in the wilderness and and the bible said that he he he was his raven was camel's hair and a little research on that told me that that was a very rough and coarse garment that uh the the normal person wouldn't they wore something a little softer or a little more elegant a little more acceptable but he wore a a camel's skin camel's hair garment and uh a leather girdle about his loins and his meat was locust and wild honey now it appears that he secluded himself in the wilderness he he wasn't on main street uh preaching on the soapbox he wasn't on television he wasn't but he was in the wilderness and and it it appears that he didn't have a a grocery bill but he lived day to day hunting down uh hunting honey and hollow trees and and getting locusts the best way he could and maybe he found a way to douse those locusts and and honey and but his food was locust and while now i'm telling you that to tell you this if you're going to preach the gospel you've got to be willing to live of the gospel now the bible said that the labor is worth of his horror and there's nothing wrong with a man of god being paid being taken care of on the same level as a congregation but uh the the the levitical priests uh they they had the the tithe was set aside for their existence but they were not extravagant living people the men of god today and you heard me the other day i talked about uh sister mccool said honey die i i like to get up quite early and shave and she wrote a little thing to i've still got on the part of my wallpaper my laptop that that she said i like the way you comb your hair and i like them so that i think about that every morning before i go in i i try to see if i wanted is she gonna like it this morning is this all right you know how to take it takes a while and got hair like mine to make it look very well alone but she said don't do all i said come on sit down let's have a cup of coffee don't call me herron said and i had my shirt tail hanging out i said you know what the folks will mistake me for telling me television preacher the way i'm dressed right now but my point is the the the man of god he don't try to dress just for the style now we're not preaching a a a clothesline message and don't mistake my point my point is whether you're in blue jeans or you're in in a fine suit of clothes your number one object is to reach souls to to see souls saved from sin the man of god if he's driving a cadillac or if he's driving a model a whatever god has afforded him to the purpose is that he can reach so john the baptist was dedicated solely to prepare the way of the lord if he had to eat wild honey and locust whatever it took he was totally dedicated for the cause and let me tell you something god has still got a church family today they may be blessed well they may be able to dress well they may be able to drive a nice car they may live in a nice home but their number one goal is souls that's what it's all about so you get my point and that back to our lesson every valley shall be filled every mountain hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways shall be made smooth now this is not literally talking about uh excavating the the the terrain and filling up the valleys but what is putting it in a in a shortened manner everybody's going to come to god on the same level there's not going to be mountains there's not going to be valleys he's going to fill up the valley he's going to bring them and all of us face god on the same level i don't care if you're a multi-millionaire or if you are penniless and living under a viaduct you've got to everybody has to come the same way by repenting of their sins and realizing they're lost without a savior i don't care if if you're as rich as the father that owns the uh facebook and all the rest of this business he's got to come the same way as the fellow that's living under the buy dog he's got to repent of his sins and turn his life over to the lord if he's going to make it to the glory world do you believe it saved man amen every valley shall be filled every mountain the hill shall be brought low the crooked shall be made straight rough ways shall be made smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of god all he refers to mankind as all flesh now we've had important people of course we every service we have important people you are important but i remember we had the the mayor one time i don't remember the occasion but he uh visited our service and of course out of respect for his office he sat down in the seat beside me on the pulpit and i asked him to speak and he he said this is the only church i've ever been in that i couldn't keep my right foot still well i thought that was quite a a compliment and we showed him honor the bible said to give honor to him honor is due but when it comes to his salvation we i will respect his office but when it comes to his salvation there is no special plan for him over any one of you here tonight he's got to come the very same way nicodemus was a was a ruler of the jews he he was a high up in the religious world and he came to jesus by night and began to he wanted a private audience but the first thing jesus said to him is you must be born again and nicodemus said now how can this be seen i'm i'm old man can i enter the second time until my mother's a woman to be born and jesus said you mean you're ruler of the jews and you don't understand what it means to be born again he said except a man be born of water and now the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven let me tell you something nicodemus judas zacchaeus simon peter solomon whoever you are of the day we're living in we've all got to come the same way every valley shall be filled every mountain hill shall be brought lower than all flesh all flesh shall see the salvation of god [Music] i heard a little story one time supposed to been true this fellow was a preacher and a young fellow started preaching i wanted some pointers he said i am so nervous he said i get stage fright when i get up in front of an audience how do you overcome that he said well when i first started preaching he said i used to go out in the garden and preach the cabbage heads and i pretended the cabbage heads were people and i wasn't nervous and so now that i'm preaching so i pretend that the people are cabbages well whichever way you want to make it uh where my point is we're all going to face god the same way uh god don't have any favorites uh he has no respect of persons then said he to the multitude they came forth to be baptized of him now you listen to old john here he comes uh dressed in his camel's hair and leather girdle about him and and uh a little honey drink and down his beard and have grasshopper in his pocket and and they came to get baptized of him excuse my dramatization of my language if you would please you understand that's a little bit characterizing and so forth then said he to the multitude that came to be baptized to him oh come right oh look who's looking look who's coming no he's the old generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come that's about as derogatory you call folks a bunch of snakes that showed that he was not trying to win friends and influence people he hadn't read dale carnegie's book and he he he didn't know how to to make friends and influence people he said oh you generation of vipers now we don't use language like that i try not to sometimes we get carried away and we we get a little bit bold with what we say and we often remind ourselves the bible said the preachers sought acceptable words but what what my point is we've got to realize that we're not so special that god has hammered out something special a special way for me that i don't have to obey what everybody else has to obey it no matter who we are and john's an old generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves we have abraham to our father for i send you that god is able of these stones to raise up children unto abraham now he wasn't meaning to bring fruits vegetables or lambs or goats as a sacrifice but he said bring forth therefore fruit the fruits he's talking about is the proper attitude of who you are and what you need that's the fruit she's looking for now you've heard me quote this quite a few times the bible spoke of of the calves of our lips you don't offer up a goat or a calf but our praises to him are total submission our total obedience to him bring forth fruit uh worthy of repentance and said don't don't come here telling me that abraham's your father you've got some special pedigree because you're a jew and abraham is your father and so therefore you're something special no he said you see being stoned he said god's able to raise up all these stones children of abraham he don't one time god told moses that he could just wipe them out and start over and knew without them and god could do it if he wanted to and so now then john the baptist said god is not going to pay attention to you just because your great great great great great granddaddy was abraham let me tell you something just because billy mccool is the father of mark mccool and uh the grandfather of ashley whitley and the great grandfather of easton and eleanor just because that don't give any special privilege they got to come the same way i've got do you understand what i'm saying we we're all on the same level no no mountains and no and no valleys and now also he said the axe is laid through unto the root of the tree boy oh john needed a little less of of how to win friends and friends and people and now also the axe is laid at the root of the trees every tree therefore is bringing forth good fruit is shewn down and casting the fire he didn't leave much room for wiggles did he no wiggle room and they actually either you you produce or perish that's about as simple as you could put it sister mccool's father brother rose cook he he i he wasn't as tall as myself uh a little bit uh a little bit chubby but he had a voice to carry your death especially if you're going to ask for his daughter and and he had a way of saying things and and when i i never forget i said at the table so brother cook um can i marry your daughter he said that'd be like a grasshopper a cricket getting married well i knew he had to be joking there but he had a way of looking at the audience and said bless god you can believe it and i said it's immaterial to me whether you believe it or not it's true that's the way he had to say it well john said the axe is led through the tree every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is going to be cut down cast in the fire and the people ask him saying what shall we do then and he answered and said to them he did have two coats let him impart to him they have none and he that hath meet let him do likewise he said you folks are so well off and you won't give a dime to the poor you won't have a share your life share your concern with those that don't have what you have then came also the publicans to be baptized and said unto him master what shall we do now republicans were tax collectors and he said to them exact no more than that which has appointed you they were allowed a certain percentage of the taxes they collected but they were notorious for exacting more than what they deserved they were taking out more than money than what they agreed on and john said don't take more than what you're supposed to take and the soldiers likewise demanded of him notice each one was asking on their own level what they needed to do now this was before the holy ghost dispensation and and they're wanting to know about their particular category and what are you going to say about me in my category well the soldiers now they asked and demanded of him saying and what shall we do and he said unto them do violence to no man that's something to say to a soldier do violence to no man neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages you notice what he's doing he's bringing the mountains down and filling the valleys up he's taking the crooked paths and making him straight he's putting everybody on the same level and as the people were in expectation and all men used in their hearts of john whether he were the christ or not john answered saying unto them all i indeed baptize you with water but one mightier than i cometh the latches of whose shoes i'm not worthy to unloose he shall baptize you with the holy ghost and with fire there's one coming after me i'm not him i'm just here preparing the way and i'm not worthy to loosen his shoes and said he's going to baptize you with the holy ghost and fire and we're going to deal with that shortly whose fam is in his hand and he shall thoroughly purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his garner and the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable as this alluding to uh the way that i i've told you the store brother uh robert prairie told my fellow lived up the road from him so that they they they raised what they called blue peas and the blue peas and and he one day brother of pear was had a room full of peace he was sheldon the peace shelling the peas and and neighbors said let me show you how to do that and so come up the road to my house and went to his house and he had a room just full of peas that had been uh harvested and and the left to dry they they were dried peas but they were still in the shell and he took a sack and stuffed that sack with those dried peas and he tied a rope around the neck of that and went and hung it in a tree and let it hang down and then he took a a a sap on if you don't know what a sapling is it's a small pole from coming from a small tree and he just beat that sack everywhere he could beat it and beat it and beat it and then after he beat it real good he took it back in and and emptied it into a big tub and it took one of these apparatuses that the blacksmith used to use your creek and it blew uh air into the colds to make the cold red hot and he began to and shells began to fly everywhere and dust began to fly by but it said when the had settled there was nothing left in that tub but just the peas the shells and the dust was all gum and his point was in in in our relationship with god sometimes we have to take a good beating pastor anthony preached the other some weeks ago about press for the purpose the the way olives are pressed to get the oil out it's a painful process but that's grapes have to be pressed for it to become grape juice and now that something he said he's going and then he's got a fan in his hand and and he's gonna gonna blow you know we don't many of us don't have much of a fan to blow the shells away oh we've got his vacuum cleaner suck them in we don't know how to and if we can't stand to lose anybody oh and it does hurt i don't mind telling you it hurts i i've never been one that enjoyed losing anybody and uh but but sometimes they are going to be the folks that'll walk away the man that casts the net in the sea every kind of fish comes in that net but he takes us the good and throws the rest back and when the when he comes he's got a fan in his hand and and everything that don't have weight it's it's it's going to be blown away it always is a very disturbing thing to see folks that don't have enough uh weight and depth in the word of god to see them jesus when they lost five thousand turned to his disciples and said well you also go away and then peter said lord to whom shall we go you alone have the words of eternal life uh the bible one scripture one of the saddest verses the scripture of the bible his brethren did not believe on him and that's a sad thing indeed all right now the ones coming after him he's got a family's gonna he's to thoroughly purge his floor and and then he's going to burn the chap with unquenchable fire now then in acts chapter 1 we're going from verse 17 whose fan is in his hand he'll thoroughly purge his floor and gather the wheat into his garners but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable acts 1 3-9 to whom also he showed himself he's talking about jesus dr luke is writing this to whom also he just said i talked about jesus as children himself uh with in well it's this is the verse and to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs dr luke says this by infallible proofs being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god and being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which saith thee ye have heard of me and i already said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he believeth not shall be damned he'd always told him to go therefore and teach all nations but now then he said wait don't you leave jerusalem just yet you're not ready to go yet do not depart from jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which saith he ye have heard of me and i never preached on this verse that i don't remember i was sitting in the barber chair and brother brother bill romine's baptist preacher he came over and i had the cloth around my neck and he said preacher i want to give you a thought i'll give you a text he said you can preach it better than we folks can and that's what in the world bill and back that time american express was advertising they had a slogan don't leave home without it don't leave home without your american express card and that that was a saying we went real big there don't leave home without it and they were talking about don't leave home without your american express card and he said this you could preach this he said don't leave home without it and i didn't know what he was talking about i said brother bill what do you mean he said jesus told the disciples to not leave jerusalem until they got the holy ghost and he was telling them jerusalem was like the home church that was home and jesus was telling them don't leave home without it and i said brother yes sir i am i am going to preach that and i have many times then then he said but wait for the promise of the father which saith he ye have heard of me for john truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence when they therefore were come together they asked him saying lord will thou this time restore again the kingdom of israel and he said unto them it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father put in his own power but ye shall receive power after that the holy ghost glory hallelujah why can't the world see this why can't you heard me tell the story of the the i guess he's passed on now through the bible i forget the preacher's name now but but anyway uh somebody had had written him a letter a lady and asked him if he had the baptism of the holy ghost and he said my dear sister he said many many years ago i accepted the lord jesus christ as my personal savior and since when i received him as my personal savior i got the whole ball of wax i don't mean to be cute and smart eloquent but he may have got the whole ball of wax but unless he got the holy ghost like jesus said and he said don't you leave it home without john baptize you with water but you're going to be baptized with the holy ghost no man they didn't have it yet and he said don't leave until you get it somebody give the lord a handcuff would you please [Applause] are you still doing all right are you still with me but ye shall receive power after the holy ghost come upon you and you'll be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and all judea and samaria and others parts of the earth back to our lesson verse 18 and many other things in his exhortation preached he under the people but herod the tetrarch being approved by him for herodotus his brother philip's wife for and for all the evils which herod had done added yet this above all he shut up john in prison and when he set up john in prison he was just waiting for the opportunity to to take his head up because he told uh herod that it wasn't legal for him to have his brother's wife now when all the people were baptized it came to pass that jesus also being baptized and praying the heavens was opened and the holy ghost was sent in the bodily shape like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven which said thou art my beloved son in thee i am well pleased this is the only bodily form we've ever seen in the scripture ascribed to the holy ghost but we know the holy ghost is not a bird that was a form of the holy ghost appeared in lighting on jesus and the voice said this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased and then jesus was baptized not because of his sins but because he said that when john actually balked at baptizing jesus she said i need to be baptized of you but jesus said it behooves that all things be fulfilled i'm coming out to for i preached something and i'm going to obey it so he was baptized by john not because he had sinned but as an example to what we must do and remember the bible said that the the the pharisees they condemned themselves not being baptized by john so in that particular day john's baptism was essential now let's make the plan plain in the few minutes we have left i'm going to give you the the plan and in scriptural terms and it's very plain jesus had told them in acts 1 1-8 and you shall receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you john baptized with water you'll be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence well not many days hints in the second chapter of acts uh and the 36th verse said that assembled in jerusalem 120 and they were assembled in the upper room and they were praying and suddenly there was a son from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and to fill all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire and it set upon each of them and they were all filled with the holy ghost and spake with tongues as the spirit gave them utterance now verse the people out of the streets they're having a drunken party up there but peter said these men are not drunken as you suppose and verse 36 of acts 2 therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly that god hath made that same jesus whom you've crucified both lord and christ now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said to peter and the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do now we're going to give you the plan of salvation and a few words in in just a few minutes time uh peter said let all the house of israel that's the jews no surely that god has made that same jesus whom you have crucified both lord and christ now remember on the road to damascus paul was knocked down and he said lord who art thou and the lord answered him and said i am jesus lord who art thou and the lord told him who he was and and our brothers asked me this one time he said if we could look into heaven today and if you ask jesus if you go to heaven ask jesus who he was what would he say lord who are you well the lord spoke back to saul of tarsus and said i am jesus so we know who the lord is the bible said there's lords of many and god's many but to us there's one lord jesus christ now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said to peter the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do simple question then peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost what did jesus say john baptized with water but you're going to be baptized for the holy ghost not many days hence john said there's one coming after me mighty that i i'll baptize you with water but there's one coming after that's gonna baptize you with the holy ghost if i i i i don't i don't finish a sentence i get so excited preaching i hope you can finish the sentences that i've i quit in the middle of it because i'm so excited but it's coming to pass acts 8 12-16 philip had been sent by the holy ghost down to samara and when they believed philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of god and the name of jesus christ they were baptized both men and women then simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he continued with philip and wandered beholding the miracles and signs which were done now when the apostles which were at jerusalem now listen to this careful i've preached this many times but we need this really drilled in us so that we can understand what we're coming from because peter said repent one thing be baptized and you shall receive the holy ghost now keep those three elements in mind now one the apostles which were at jerusalem heard that samaria had received the word of god that said unto them peter and john who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the holy ghost for as yet he had fallen for none only they just received the whole ball of wax nice dr j burnham mcgee ever thought of his name for as yet he was falling for none of them they had been baptized but as of yet now peter said repent he that believeth and is baptized so evidently they were believers because they were baptized for as yet he was full upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus now do you get the the simple plan i'm preaching tonight okay now let's go to acts 10. now remember when the uh philip mcdonald preached to samaria they believed him and they were baptized in water and when the apostles at jerusalem heard that they had received the word of god but had not received the holy ghost they sent unto them peter and john who when they will come down prayed for them that they might receive the holy ghost when you repent of your sins and you get in that baptism you're baptizing jesus said don't stop until you get the holy ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues hallelujah okay we're we're headed to the finish line we've we've gone from acts 2 to acts 8. now we're going to acts 10 acts 10 45 and they have the circumcision that means the jews which believe were astonished they were at their household cornelius a gentile that peter had got the vision might go through all of that again but they sent god peter to come down to pray for them and preach to them and they have the circumcision which believe were astonished as many as came with peter because on the gentiles also was poured out the gift of the holy ghost for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify god now what does that sound like to you does that sound like that that was the evidence of the holy ghost how much plainer can it be they hurt the poor that they give of the holy ghost for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify god okay the holy ghost fell on them while peter yes spake well preacher they hadn't been baptized no they hadn't and then answered peter can any man forbid water that they should not be baptized which have received the holy ghost as well as we and he commanded them didn't suggest but he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the lord then prayed they him to tear a certain day now now watch this carefully the two examples we've just given you samara received the word and was baptized but didn't get the holy ghost but they had to get it the household kinesis believed spoke in tongues got the holy ghost while peter was yet preaching and peter turned around to six jews he had with him and he said can any man forbid water that they should not be baptized which ever see the holy ghost as well as we that god just like we did it's the reverse of acts 8. they got the holy ghost before they were baptized and the bible said and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the lord then prayed they him to tarry certain days [Music] now we're going from acts 10 to acts 19. acts 19 starting at verse 1 and it came to pass that while apollos was at corinth paul having passed through the upper coast came to ephesus and finding certain disciples he said unto them have you received the holy ghost since you believed and that said unto him we have not so much has heard whether there be any holy ghost and he said unto them unto what then were ye baptized and they said unto john's baptism now wait a minute you mean john baptized you and you hadn't heard about the holy ghost remember what john told them he said i indeed baptize you with water but there's one coming after me he's going to baptize you with the holy ghost and fire then said paul john barely baptized with the baptism of the repentance second of the people that should believe on him which shall come after him that is on christ jesus when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus hallelujah is that not plain is that not plain now i'm going to wind up with the old familiar roman road there's a denomination they call it the roman road this is the way you get to heaven you take the roman road romans 10 to 9 if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord jesus and shall believe in thine heart that god hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved i've heard the preacher preach he they said plus nothing said you don't baptize this just just believe it if you believe in the lord jesus christ confess with your mouth the lord jesus i believe in your heart that god raised you from the dead thou shalt be saved now if you stop there you're not finished with the roman road there's more to the roman road for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation for the scripture saith whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed for there is no difference between the jew and the greek for the same lord over all is rich unto all the call upon him now here's part of the roman road for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved paul the lord said who art thou lord verse 14 says how then shall they call on him and whom they've not believed and how shall they believe now the roman rule they always stop before they get to this verse right here and how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher would you stand your feet with us please gloria are you part of that plan are you part of that plan john's disciples they had heard about it but they didn't they didn't understand it paul said well john baptized for the baptismal repentance saying of the people to believe in them we should come after us and watch this on christ jesus when they heard this they were now we've had three examples and if if the modern church world and what difference does it make uh are we trying to uh uh we gain anything financially whatever why not do it the way the bible says to do it if that hasn't been plain and when i preached to you tonight and we're part of that plan that's that's what a lesson said part of that plan we are part of that plan if you're in the samaritan group if you're in the the uh gentile group uh where uh uh this the the the the gentile general there's over a hundred uh soldiers and when he baptized when he uh was told by the the angel to sin down and get peter to preach to him cornelius was his name are you in that group are you in the group of john's disciples whichever one it all culminates in one thing when you get back you can put encapsulated into acts 2 38 when they said man and brethren what shall we do peter said repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ foreign and you shall receive father we thank you tonight for the blessed word of god we thank you lord for the plan of salvation and lord it is so easy to understand it's so easy to obey and you look at all of us no none of us is above the other none of us are special above the our brethren we all come the same way so simple to repent of our sins and then get in that water and baptize in the name of the man that cruz was crucified for us and then you said we would receive the holy ghost and we thank you for that father i pray that you dismiss us from this place but not from your presence bring us back at our next appointed time in jesus name amen let me say this before you leave sunday is the last sunday in the month of october october is pastors appreciation month and the pastor has asked for nothing for himself but there are many improvements that's taking place and our lord willing we're going to have video or slides or show on the screen sunday sunday night the you you no i hadn't gone around in a long time to see all the things that has been taking place but it's so great and so beautiful and we'll be showing you many things there pastor mark mccool and the pastoral staff they're not neglecting the old building the old church they're keeping it up improving it and we're doing doing more to this place all the time because we're reaching for the loss so be your sunday and let the lord tell you what he wants you to give for this special pastor's appreciation you're dismissed in jesus name say cancer be friendly