The Balance between Revelation and Study (Part 2) | Ep. 180

What if the wilderness you’re trying to avoid is the very place God plans to make you exactly what He's called you to be? We reflect on a practical, yet deeper look at walking in the Spirit, not as a rare retreat but as a moment by moment way of life. The thread runs through loss, intercession, and an unmistakable peace, showing how encounters with God shift faith from borrowed belief to living conviction.

Across the conversation, we contrast head knowledge with heart intimacy and explore how they belong together. You’ll hear how “Arabia” happens in the middle of bills, jobs, and grief, and how maturity is measured by mercy as much as mastery. We break down a simple learning pyramid to explain why teaching others locks truth into your bones, then get concrete with study tactics you can use today: make your own concordance as the Spirit connects verses, outline books to see the big picture, capture jump-out verses for meditation, and adopt study methods that fit your wiring. A clear Scripture chain ties Word, flesh, and fullness to confess Jesus as God manifested in the flesh, illustrating how doctrine can deepen worship instead of replacing it.

We also press into a vital balance: the kingdom of God does not arrive in words only but in power. Study feeds accuracy; presence fuels authority. Stories of prayer, guidance, and gentle correction reveal how anointing rests on obedience and how clarity grows with every returned trip to His Heart. If you’ve felt stuck between information and transformation, this is your nudge to seek the things above, own the Word for yourself, and then share it until it sings.

Chapters

• 0:00 Vision Of Blood And The Heart
• 0:26 Walking In The Spirit Defined
• 1:39 Set Your Affection On Things Above
• 2:42 Arabia: Wilderness In Everyday Life
• 4:21 An Intercession And A Peace Beyond Words
• 6:00 Seeing Through A Glass Less Dim
• 7:10 Mercy, Maturity, And A Living Standard
• 9:13 Study To Own The Word
• 11:05 Learning Pyramid: Why Teaching Sticks
• 13:20 Make It Yours: From Acts To Conviction
• 15:20 Six Practical Study Suggestions
• 17:20 Build Your Own Concordance
• 20:24 Outlines, Jump-Out Verses, Methods
• 22:42 Word Plus Presence: Power Not Words Only
• 24:20 Led By The Spirit And Final Blessing

Transcript

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much-needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Walking in the Spirit. That is the new law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That is it. That is walking with Him, talking with Him, communing with Him on a day-to-day basis, and not just day-to-day. I'm talking moment to moment. Moment to moment. This is what it means to not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. This is what it means to be not carnally minded, but spiritually minded. And this is why Paul, again, teaching this, encourages us in Colossians 3: if you are risen with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on the things above, not on the things on earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And so to walk in the Spirit is to be a consumed with Christ in his will. Be consumed with his will in Christ. So now I come back to this reflective thought, rhetorical question for you about Arabia. Have you had your Arabia? When you have your Arabia, this song resonates, and you identify so much with it. Not because it's a nice song, but because in your heart that's it. Oh, the joy we share as we tarry there. None other has ever known. Some people don't like that song because it's sort of country western, whatever. And I'm not into country western, but I love that song. Because it resonates in my spirit. Yes, I walk with him. Yes, I talk with him. And here's the big deal: I hear him. I hear him. He talks with me, he walks with me, he leads me, and he guides me if I just would just shut it and listen. I've had my Arabian experience. And it was in the midst of the affairs of my life. It wasn't like I got shipped off to some deserted island and become a monk for a couple years. Arabia, the wilderness, was in the midst of my life. And it probably started when my mom died. 20 years old. That's when my Arabian experience started. I didn't know him then. I was not born again at that time, although I thought I was. And faith, uh, I've been to Christian schools all my life, and I knew the scriptures, and I knew that He died, He was buried, and He rose again, and I knew all that, but I didn't know him. And it's in the wilderness that I come to know him. I experienced at that time personally the reality of Jesus Christ. That yes, he does live. Yes, he is alive, yes, he was raised from the dead. And it wasn't just because I agreed with something that was written in a book. I still remember the time as I was in this wilderness and getting to know him and coming to that born-again experience where I had at this moment received the spirit. I was working with um an older lady in my office, she was my boss, and her husband was having some heart complications. And the husband had to go to the hospital, and he was having a heart attack. And I remember leaving work, and I remember getting down on my knees in my bedroom when I got home, and I just began to intercede for him like I've never interceded and prayed for anybody before. And I was bawling and I was crying and I was interceding for his life. I was just interceding and crying through my sobs and my tears, and they were drenching down into the carpet, and then all of a sudden, I have heard your voice. And I stopped crying, and I knew right there in that moment I didn't need to pray anymore. A peace like I've never known just came on me. I just stopped crying. I remember getting up, drying my tears, and going and cooking something. I I didn't need to I didn't need to pray anymore. And he lived. The man lived. I don't know where they're at right now, but I know that he lived, and I know that my God was real. That's just one of my wilderness experiences. I know my God was real. You know, it says that we see through a glass dimly. Well, we see really, really dimly in the beginning of our faith, and then all of a sudden, he sort of just peels away some of that fog and he peers away some of that out-of-focusness, and it becomes more and more focused. But as you walk with him, that's the way it should be. I can only share that with you, but I can't teach you how to do it. But it's experience, you must have. You should become more and more clear in him as you walk with him. I'd be a fool to turn back now. That brings up another song. Because I know he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all my fear is gone. Because I know, I know, I know he holds the future, and life is the living because he lives, and I know that for myself, that song resonates within me because I've experienced his reality for myself, so I can sing that song passionately and with conviction, not just because it's a song that sounds good, has a great melody in all. It was in this time of my wilderness, it lasted several years. Four to five, maybe three, three to five, something like that. But in this time, he gradually established the word that I had already memorized from all the years of my Christian school upbringing. He established it in my heart. He gradually increased my understanding in his word over the years. He helped me to discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And he allowed me to learn what it is to be used with his gifts in order to benefit others. All within that wilderness period. And I haven't learned it all fully, but I remember distinctly, man, I was in the midst of people that were walking in the spirit and speaking forth words of knowledge and words of mism and words of prophecy and laying hands for faith and seeing miracles, and and then I began to walk in that. And I remember for the first time I ever truly uh interpreted tongues. Someone was speaking in tongues in the in the church, and it's like, and it's not happened always like this, but it's like the words just started going across my mind like a billboard. And as soon as he was done, I knew what to say, and I just said it. And that's what happens in the wilderness. You begin to learn what it is to walk in the spirit and learn to discern his voice. But a lot of us are not willing to go through the wilderness. We want all the, I want my bed tonight, you know, I want my nice car, I want my nice clothes, I want my food, I want it to be good. I mean, we want all of these other things, but we don't really want him. And so we falter a lot. I know Bishop Harris has had his Arabia experience. And if Miss Althea was here, I'm sure she would say, Well, it's not like he disappeared from me for three or four years and I didn't know where he was, and then he came back. No, his Arabia was in the midst of his life and his circumstances, and he was having kids, and he was ministering as a chaplain here, and he was speaking to this person, he was speaking to people that were 20 years older than him, and he had his Arabia experience where God was honing his skills, refining his skills, and sharpening his skills in the ministry. And it wasn't just of teaching, he raised his level of understanding. It wasn't just he was getting knowledge, he was getting wisdom with that knowledge. And it wasn't that he was all about gotta repent, gotta repent, gotta rep. No, he learned to be full of mercy. I don't know if there's anybody in here that has not experienced the mercy that God has shown through Bishop Harris. Because a lot of times he could just come with the word of slice and dice and be done with you. But he's not like that. That's not who I've come to know as Julian's father. He he ministers the word, he confronts, but he always does it with grace and truth. Now, whether he was like that 30 years ago, I don't know, but that's not the way he is today. And usually you're not the way you were today, the way you were 30 years ago. Usually you've changed, you've grown, you've matured. And that's right, 30 years ago, he was not the same man that he is today. He had not had the wisdom, he had not had the experience, or the know-how what he knows today. I mean, and some of you have actually been his student in class. Take, for instance, his adeptness at teaching, just teaching, at answering questions. How many of you really believe here that you could probably stump him with a question? And just like, oh, da, I don't know. He didn't know, he's got an answer. If he doesn't have an answer, he'll say, I don't know. But for the most part, he has an answer for just about any lame-brained, dumb, idiotic question you have, or really, really challenging question. He's got an answer. But that didn't happen overnight either. Where has it been teaching for the last 25 years? In the public school system. Dealing with a bunch of kids and their lame brain questions, but he's learned to develop an answer for all of those questions. He's learned to turn it around and ask them so that they can draw them out a logical conclusion. This has been developed over years and years and years, and I think a problem with some of us here is we're always trying to compare ourselves and live up to high expectations. And he didn't, he wasn't born that way, guys. This developed, and you have to understand that you're developing in the Lord. You need to give yourself time, and it's not about not measuring up to his stature, it's measuring up to the stature of Christ. Because he's the standard. There are standards in many churches: hair, hats, dresses, clothes, watches, no watches, ties, beards. The standard is Jesus Christ. He's the standard. Study to show thyself approved. A brother here recently told me that he just understood for years and years and years, and all of a sudden I immediately told him, that's because you haven't studied it for yourself. And if anybody here says the same thing, and you've been under this ministry for several years, and you say that finally I got what he was saying, it's probably most likely because you have not studied the information for yourself. You've just heard it here, but it's never gotten into you because you've never really studied it to see the veracity of that word. Is it true? And so I have to share with you about teaching my kids. I I grew up celebrating Christmas, I grew up uh having participated in Easter and even in Halloween. And I came into a ministry that they taught about Christmas, that's Catholic and all the other things and she feels, and I sort of just went along with it, really. It was no big deal to me. My mama died, it wasn't like I was missing celebrating Christmas, no one was celebrating for me. I wasn't celebrating for this. It was like no big deal, whether I celebrate or not. Okay, fine. I don't care. And then as I grew and and and then I met my wife, and she's firmly convicted about Christmas. Whatever, okay, so we don't celebrate Christmas. I don't care. And it just last year, I think, I actually researched Christmas for myself. I had read what other people said, I had read about the things on the internet and things that were shared in Salt Magazine, and okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when I when I got to study with my kids, looking in the scriptures, looking in the in the encyclopedia, looking at research, real credible research from history.com and scholars there, I was firmly convinced. I mean, I personally was just simply firmly convinced that that's not something I want to be a part of. Period. And then recently we just did Easter. And Easter was great because we came up with an outline, sort of like a five-point outline. I think we studied it on a Sunday after church. The very next day, that outline had been posted on Facebook, and I remembered the outline because I just studied it. I mean, I sort of put it together, we sort of organized all the information that we got, and I got to share with a Southern Baptist colleague about Easter and about Christmas and about the gospel of the kingdom. I would not have been able to do that if I had not studied it for myself. And then sharing it just gave me even more confidence that wow, I did learn something and I could share with others. So, practically speaking, why is it so important that you figure out a way to somehow share what you've learned? I want to show you that on a little whiteboard here. Y'all see this again? Yeah. Now, this is something I learned as an educator. I'm sure Bishop Harris has seen this because he's also a former educator. But right here at the top, it's a big triangle. We learn five percent of what is lectured to us. That's it. Five studies have shown we learn five percent of what is lectured to us. Next level down. Sorry? Yeah, but I I wanted to be around here on this side because I'm writing. He ain't moving. Ain't moving. We learn 10% on this level, whatever we read. Sorry. That's it. If you read it, you'll probably learn 10% of what's in there. The next level is 50. Nope, 20%. Audio visual. No, I'm good. Audio visual. If you hear it and you see it, you remember about 20% of it. A combination of the two. Anybody ever seen this? No? Okay. Some of you that go in college probably have seen this. The next one is 30%. If you if there's a demonstration of some kind about whatever it is that they're teaching, you'll probably remember 30% of it. You remember about 50% if you're involved in a discussion about it. 50% of the material you'll remember if you were participating in a discussion, not just listening, but questioning and answering and being all involved, you remember about 50% of it. 75% if you practice doing it. Anyone know what the most percent is? Well, yeah, no, no, no, yeah. Okay, I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that. Here we have 90%. This is the biggest one. This is the one that if you do this, you'll probably know 90%, you'll learn, have learned and retained and remembered 90% of what was taught. Anyone know what you have to do? Teaching. Teaching others. This is why it's so important that you not just sit there listening and taking notes.

unknown: 18:57

Thank you, sir.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:00

You need to do something with it. And the highest level of learning is that you teach someone, share it with someone else. Because in the midst of your teaching others, you are showing that you do know the material. Because when you're a teacher, you practically own the subject matter. It's about owning ownership. It really is about ownership. And you know what? Bishop Harris uh alluded to this earlier today. Our goal is not to become a carbon copy of Bishop Harris, not about his ways, not about his style, not about his delivery, and nor anyone else in this group for that matter. We're not here to be a carbon copy of anybody here. But there are some techniques, there are some strategies that you should be able to garner and glean from those that teach here. And you incorporate it so that you own it yourself. When I first came to visit Bishop Clarence here, Lydia was six months, four months. And as Bishop Harris does, gracefully challenged me on my faith and my beliefs and how to be born again and showed me salvation the Bible way. And I said, Bishop Harris, I can't argue with you. I mean, you're showing me the word, but I've never seen it in this light. I need to go study it. And I remember leaving, driving back, and that's exactly what I did. Not that I never looked through salvation the Bible way, but most of salvation the Bible way, not was only the Old Testament, but the convicting part of it was the New Testament. And salvation in the Bible way is all through Acts. So I put his stuff away and I just said, I'm gonna read Acts and see for myself what is the gospel, what are people preaching, how are they responding? Let me just read it for myself so I'm not biased when anybody's and I read through it and read through it and read through it and read through it. I was like, I agree. I I I there's nothing for me to say against it. It's right there, it's plain. I've not read it that way, but now I see that this is what they said, this is what was experienced, and it wasn't just once, it wasn't just twice, it wasn't just three times, it was at least significantly four times with other little parts with not as much detail. I mean, the argument was solid, and so I embraced it. That's when I embraced the apostolic faith. When I met him ten years ago when we came up here, how old are you, Lydia? Nine. Nine years ago. Nine years ago is when I embraced the apostolic faith. Had I received the gift of the Holy Spirit before that? Yeah, I did. And he was leading me on the rabbit because he led me right to him. Matter of fact, he came and ministered in our church that was a charismatic church that did not believe in baptism in Jesus' name and all of the other stuff that we now hold to as abiding in the in the doctrine of the apostles, and he came and stirred up a hornet's nest. But you know what? Even in that church, I ended up baptizing people in Jesus' name with the permission of the pastor that was there, who then reneged on it and talked about three different baptisms, but I'm not gonna go into that. So I go with Bishop Harris to Guadalupe, and they allow me to minister there one day. And I have studied for myself through that walk through Acts, that's what I call it, and I've read on his material so much that I basically was able to minister about the blood, the water, and the spirit from Adam to Noah to the tabernacle to John the Baptist to Jesus to the apostles, and it just came and I knew it. I just knew it. And I never shared that like that with anyone. But when I did that, I had all this confidence. I know this stuff. There's a lot in me more than I think, but is there. But it didn't just get there. It wasn't like through osmosis, I got near the Bible and it, you know, it got there. I had to study. Study, study, get in it, work on it, own it. I had to have it from myself. I wasn't parroting what he had taught. I was getting it from the word, and because the word had taught me, now I can preach the same thing, and it's very similar. My approach is different. I might come at a different angle, but we're still using the same scriptures. That's because we got it from the word. We got it from the living word. And so, in a practical sense, we meditate and study the word to discipline ourselves. And the result of this study and this meditation of the word is so that we can do it. Remember, we meditate on his law day and night. We don't allow his law to depart from our mouth that we may observe and do it. Don't just be a hearer, be a doer. And then in that doing of the word, you then start to show yourselves approved when we study and share it with others. You've got to share this word with others. That's how you start practicing to rightly divide the word. And so I just want to give you some practical suggestions. They have been given before, and I think it just sort of goes over people's head and below their knees, but I want you to write these down. Six practical suggestions that I think might help you because study doesn't come naturally to all of us. I understand that. Some of us are more adept at studying because of our upbringing, and we just oh, I mean, anything that we could read, we just grappled it all up. And I wasn't a reader when I was young. I got to reading much, much later. I didn't like reading at all. But now I really do enjoy reading. First one make your own concordance. Now we buy a lot of fancy Bibles, and in these concordance, and it gives us all the scriptures that are related to such and such theme and whatnot, and oh, those are all good. There's nothing wrong with that. That's actually a very good thing. It'll help those of us that are not really studyers be able to navigate our way through the word when we don't really know it from beginning to end, and we don't really have the whole picture. Those concordators are great. But what is even better is when the Lord starts connecting scriptures for you from the old to the new and how this supplies with that, and you start writing this scripture over here connects with that one that I read just a few days ago when I was in the old covenant. And see, when I in my wilderness experience then, I began to just read the word three in the old, two in the new, or the other way around, three in the old, and that that's when I started just getting a good feel for what this whole big picture is. And I started writing little connections here and there. And he's mentioned that many times. I'm not sure if we do it, I'm not sure if we do it uh always, but we should. I mean, there are many times where you're in the midst of someone teaching the word, and then you just sort of get lost in what that person is teaching, not in not to any disrespect to them, but God starts showing you something that you were reading previously, the day before, the week before, and you start, oh, and you start writing stuff down, and then you go back to what you had read previously, and you start connecting dots while the person's teaching. And and by the end of the teaching, you don't even know what he said, but God was teaching you. And that's what's most important. It says the anointing will teach you some things. No, it'll teach you all things, it'll teach you how to be a wife, teach you how to be a husband, it'll teach you how to submit to people that are not treating you right, that are short-changing you. It'll teach you how to be friends, it'll teach you how to choose your friends, it'll teach you how to get from one place to the other. I mean, it'll teach you all things. So I want to give you an example of that. And I keep using my kids because my kids are really helping me, I guess, to develop being an even better teacher. So one of these days we were studying the word, and one of them asked me some question about uh Jesus being the father and the son, and I was like, all right, something just came to my mind. I said, let's go, everybody, let's do this together. Everybody go to 1 John 5 7. And this was the little concordance that I made, but I'm gonna do it with you, and maybe you want to write this down for yourself because it may apply to you. 1 John 5 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Hmm. So I told the kids, Did you see the Son there? And they were like, No. I said, What does it say? The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. I said, Oh, really? I said, you know what? I just remembered another scripture that talks about the word. Let's go to John. So we left first John, and then we went to John. And John 1 1 says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the same was in the beginning with God. Hmm. Did it say anything about a son there? And they were like, No. So I said, Hmm. Well, let's go down to verse 14. What does verse 14 say? It says, And the word was made flesh. Hmm. So the father, the word, and the spirit, these three agree in one. And the same author of 1 John is the same author of John. And he said, In the beginning was the word, and the word was made flesh, and the word was God, and the word is God, and then that word was made flesh. Well, who was that flesh? Jesus Christ. I say, Yeah. Hmm. So the word was made flesh, and we now know him as Jesus Christ. Okay, I remember another scripture. Go to 1 Timothy 3.16. So then we turn a few pages and go to 1 Timothy 3.16, and it says, Great is the mystery of godliness. Can y'all finish that? Sing it. Okay, but let's stop right there. Let's stop there. Because that was the point of the whole message. 1 Timothy 3.16 says, uh, without current traversion, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifested in the flesh. I said, Well, wait a second, wait a second. Didn't we just read that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God, and now it says God was manifested in the flesh. And over back in John 1.14, it says the word was made flesh. So doesn't the word made flesh and God manifest in the flesh mean the same thing? Yeah. Because he was God, he wasn't some other God that was sinned, he was God. Trying to make it you know, break it down real simple. And then we went to 2 Corinthians 5.19. And so we turn back a few pages and go to 2 Corinthians 5.19, and it says, to wit. What does that mean? Anybody know? To wit, and so something like that. It's just a weird English thing. To wit. Okay, and God was in Christ. So I said, wait a second, children. God was manifested in the flesh, the word was made flesh, and we know him as Jesus Christ. And who was in Jesus Christ the whole time doing all of those things? God. Oh, and then I remembered I talked to them about, I said, Are you your body? They said yes. And I said, No, you're not. You're not your body. I said, That's that is an expression of who you really are. I said, Because who you really are is a spirit. I said, Is your spirit visible? No. Oh, okay. The spirit's invisible, right? Well, didn't it say God was a spirit? Doesn't it say God is an invisible spirit? Well, God, an invisible spirit, and you are an invisible spirit made in his image, are now expressed in your body. But if your body dies, do you die? No, your spirit lives and goes on to be with the Lord. I said, That's who you really are. Well, who God really is is a spirit and he's invisible, but he just manifested in the flesh. Why? For the purpose of redeeming you from your sins. But it was always God. And so I bring about all of these. And after I did this study with him, I didn't have this concordance. I said, I gotta make this concordance because this is good. You know, we're relating this and to that one, and we're connecting all the dots, and we get to see a picture that Jesus Christ is none other than God manifested in the flesh. And then we sort of seal the deal. Then we went to Colossians. I went there very briefly. Colossians 1 19. And it said, For it pleased the Father that in him, in who? Jesus Christ. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead. Well, for it pleased the Father that in him should dwell all the fullness, dwell. And then we go to Colossians 2 9, which is the very next chapter. And it says, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He says, so for me, all of those little connected doubts sort of sealed the deal. Who is Jesus? He's God. However, you want to say it, God was in Christ, God was dwelt in the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So it wasn't Jesus in the Godhead, the God was in Jesus. And so Jesus is God. And so we made those little connections. And then I have this in my Bible, which you might want to have in your Bible in case you ever want to share with somebody. But those are some nice scriptures that sort of just link it all together for you. Especially for people that don't read the Bible. And so my second suggestion to you is to make an outline. If you're going to study a book in the Bible, make an outline. I'm sure some of you have done this in school, and if you don't know how to do it and make an outline, somebody here will help you figure out how to make an outline. But make an outline of what you read. Start off with Roman numeral one. This is what this chapter is about. And these are the little subdivision topics that they talked about. That way you don't have to go back and read the whole book. You go back to your outline. Oh, yeah, that's right. I remember. Oh, I remember. Okay, I remember that. That is gonna help your brain remember things because if all you do is read it, how much percent are you gonna remember? Ten. If you hear it lecture, five. If you read it, it's only ten. That's not a lot. So you gotta get involved with this. And then a lot of times, third, third suggestion, a lot of times you start reading the scripture and bam, you get that jump out verse. You don't even know why. It just sort of smacks you, and like, whoa, what was that? What did he just write it down? Sort of like when you get a dream and and and you're suggested to write it down, write those verses that just jump out at you and then meditate on them. Put it on a little index card, put it in a little journal and date it, and then figure out why the Lord made that verse jump out at you. And again, don't think of everybody else around you that it applies to. Figure out why he jumped it out at you. Because he's talking to you. You. Number four, suggestion. Ask others, how do you study? What exactly do you do? When do you do it? How long do you do it? Is it in the morning? Is it at night? You know, and that's gonna be different for everybody. Listen, there are thousands and thousands of authors in this world, and they don't all write a book the same way. Some people write a book with the end in mind, they know what the ending is, and then they start writing it backwards. Kind of funky, but kind of makes sense. And then other people just write it forward, and wherever the story takes them, they end up with the end. And some people write, they just have an idea and it ends up being a chapter in the middle of the story, and then they start putting blocks of other chapters to fill in the whole story. Every author has a different way of writing, and so when authors, you know, what up-and-coming authors ask, you know, a famous author, how do you write? I said, it doesn't matter. This is the way I do it, but it doesn't work for everybody. So your study, my way might not be your way, it might not work for you. Figure out other people's ways of studying and then try it, and then whatever works, incorporate it into how you study. Number five, the key is to make the study your own. The key is to make the study your own. I did that when Bishop Harris showed me about this apostolic doctrine. I did that, and when I started reading Acts, it's even on my website, I call it a walk through Acts. And it's like six web pages of me just going through the walk through Acts and seeing, okay, well, when was the gospel preached and what did they say, and how did they say it? And and it became mine. That's why I know where everything is. Acts 2. Yeah, I know what's in there. Acts 8, I know what's in there. Acts 9, I know what's in there, Acts 10, I know what's in there, Acts 19, I know what's in there. I know where everything fell in because I studied it myself. And I didn't just read it, I then wrote it, and then I made a study for myself. Now I own that material. The source is the Lord, but now I own it. I I could just wheel it and deal it, and it's not a problem. But the key again is to find out where works best for you, and so I want to balance this whole message, and I'm sorry I took this long. I want to balance this whole message by saying this if all we do is study, study, study, and we neglect spending time, quiet time with the Lord, we become more and more deceived because as teachers, we kind of believe, well, everything's going fine in my faith walk. Every time I get into the word, God is speaking to me, and God, I'm hearing God, and we get these revelations and we get these newfound understandings, and we're able to share them with others, and that's all great and dandy. But you know what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4 20, and Bishop Harris just alluded to this right before we started. He said, For the kingdom of God comes in power, not in words. If all you do is study, all you're gonna do is get words. You need to spend time with the Lord because it is the anointing on your life that will allow you to minister the word effectively so that he comes in right behind you and says, Whoosh! Let's give him all the miracles and wonders because he preached my word, he will follow you with signs and wonders as you preach his word. So you do have to study, don't get me wrong, but you gotta spend time with him. He's gotta refine that for you, he's gotta show you how to use it. How does it apply to you? How do you minister to others that are struggling in that area? Paul walked in a great and mighty anointing, not because of the word he knew, and he knew it, he knew the law. He had to have if he was a Pharisee, he knew the law, but he was so effective in his ministry because he had a profound revelation of Jesus Christ. It all comes back to that, that spiritual. That was a spiritual experience that founded and established him in his ministry in the kingdom. The Arabi experience developed his intimacy with God as he led him in the direction that he would go and he would have dreams. Where do I go, Lord? Where do I go? I can't go there, I can't go there, don't go there. Oh, there, that's where I go. He was led by the Lord in all that he did. And this resulted in the power and the anointing that rested on his life. And all of the first century church did not accomplish what they did by what they knew, but by whom they knew. It was who they knew that had them accomplish those great and mighty deeds that they did in the first century church, and whom they knew followed them with signs and wonders as they walked in the Spirit, which is now the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you were blessed and appreciate listening to this podcast and you would like to support us in our efforts, consider lifting us up in prayer first. Then remember these four social media buzzwords share, like, subscribe, or follow. Share this podcast link with someone else by text, email, or word of mouth in the hopes that they might. Be uplifted as you were. Like by leaving a positive rating or review with whomever you listen to our podcast with. 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