"A Simple Presentation into The Book of ACTS" - Chapter #10, Part 1 - Bro. John "Ernie" Perez

We continue our "class" led by Bro. Ernie Perez!  Get your notebooks, pens and the Word ready!

Heaven doesn’t ignore a hungry heart and Acts 10 proves it. We sit around the table and walk through Acts chapter 10 part one, starting with Cornelius, a Roman centurion in Caesarea whose prayers and generous giving rise “as a memorial before God.” That single line challenges how we think about prayer, faithfulness, and what God notices when nobody is clapping for it.

From there, we dig into why the angel tells Cornelius to send for Peter instead of preaching the gospel directly. It turns into a blunt, freeing reminder: God gives human beings the privilege of carrying the message of repentance, forgiveness, and salvation in Jesus Christ. We also share a personal obedience story about signing orders to Vietnam and how God used that step to provide the right spiritual influence and teach what it means to truly hear from God through Scripture and prayer.

Then we shift to Peter on the rooftop in Joppa, hungry and waiting on lunch, when God interrupts with a trance and a sheet lowered from heaven. Peter’s response “Not so, Lord” is honest, funny, and way too familiar, and the correction lands hard: “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” We connect that moment to discipleship, repentance, integrity, and the mercy of God that cleanses and keeps shaping us even after we mess up. We also tease a future conversation sparked by questions about salvation and what “once saved, always saved” really means.

Listen on your favorite podcast platform, watch the video on YouTube, and then share it with someone who needs hope and a nudge toward obedience. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what part of Acts 10 challenged you most.

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

Transcript

Welcome And Weekend Check In

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Hey, welcome to Simple Sumple Ship and Filter. I'm your hostess I am. So good to have you joining us today. We're around the table again. It's Monday. Again, we were learning with us. It's Monday. Yeah. We're all trying to wake it up. We all did overdid it. Some of us weren't feeling good. And it just, you know, we just did ourselves, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

God is still good.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

He's amazing, you know, and and we had such a good Bible study lesson yesterday, and then we had some good word and after that. And it's just a it was just a good, good weekend, just really busy. That's awesome. Went to uh extraordinary women conference out and they moved it to uh Garland now. So we we got to see uh Shonda Pierce and we saw Tim Tebow and we saw you know just various ones out there. But we love to work with Compassion International. We all have kids with them, and so we love to do that. But anyway, it wears you out, you know. You know, you I love to volunteer, but I but it just will wear you out. So we had a great time. Did y'all have a good weekend? I know mama, you were not feeling all your oats and stuff. How you feeling today? I'm just tired. Just tired, yeah. And she still cooked for us. She she doesn't feel good yet, she still cooked for us. Thank you, Mama. We love you so much.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

We did have good devotion yesterday, just the same. God was there just the same.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Just the same.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

I think one of the things that we must remember is that our feelings don't push God around.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

But he cares about it.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yes, but we don't care about them. He cares about how we feel, but we can't push him around.

unknown 2:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

And might as well not get frustrated with him because it won't help. Of course, nobody here's ever been frustrated with God.

Setting Up Acts Chapter 10

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Yeah, yeah. We ain't got to tell all the business, you know. But anyway, we're all here. We've got Brother Ernie here to my left. Yes, good morning. Mama's here. Good morning, mama. We've got Sister Ann. Good morning, Audia. Good morning, and Sister Joyce and Sister Sandy back there. Good morning. In classes now in the session. We're going into a simple presentation of the book of Acts, chapter 10. Yes. Part one. And you know what? I'm still reeling from John last week. I've been sending that to everybody and their dog that'll listen to it because it was just so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Well, thank you, Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

And man, I just told everybody, please go put it on your page and just share that. But anyway, I'm excited. We're moving into chapter 10 here. And I just pray, Holy Spirit, just come and just fall upon this place.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yes, Lord.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Amen. All right, brother. I think go right ahead.

Recap: Saul, Dorcas, Peter’s Circuit

Meeting Cornelius And His Vision

SPEAKER_01 3:32

All right. So we will read today the first 16 verses of Acts chapter 10. Then we'll do a little recap from our last lesson, and then we'll begin again this lesson. All right, I'm reading from the King James Version. So if you're reading that, it'll read exactly the same. If you're reading from another version, we're just glad you have a Bible. Here we go. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house. He gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision, evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him, saying, Cornelius, and when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry, and would have eaten while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven open, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four footed beasts of earth, and wild beast, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, and there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time. What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice, and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Now before we go back and talk about those scriptures, just a quick review of our last lesson. The newly converted Saul of Tarsus has left Jerusalem at the request of the brethren in Jerusalem. They sent him to his hometown, Tarsus, in the Roman province of Cilicia. This part of the Roman Empire at that time was considered part of Asia Minor. Now I believe it's Turkey. Saul was sent there in order that he might be safe from Jewish assassins. Everywhere that fellow preached, it was either riot or revival. We found out that the apostle, Peter, was sort of an itinerant preacher or missionary, primarily to the Jews. We don't see him preaching to anyone else except the Samaritans in Acts chapter 8. Now, Peter on his circuit was in Lida, having great evangelistic success there after the healing of a man named Aeneas who had been sick for many years in bedridden. Now, while he was in Lida, a very notable disciple by the name of Tabitha in Aramic, but Dorcas in Greek, and that name means gazelle, she had become quite ill and died. She demonstrated in her life the gift of giving, using all her skills and talents to the utmost. Her death, her death, oh, there were many disciples mourning her passing, and everyone was standing around showing the coats and the tunics that she had made and given away. And her death was evidently a huge loss for the church in Joppa. I know we we don't like to think that you know there are celebrities in church, and we ought not make anyone a celebrity. But what happens sometimes is a person's ministry is so demonstrated that the church just takes note of them. Dorcas had such a ministry, and it's interesting to me. It didn't say that she was a great teacher, didn't say that she worked a lot of miracles, but evidently her giving was holy ghost anointed. And at just the right time, she gave just the right coat, shirt, tunic to whoever needed it. And so her reputation was such that it was a great testimony for Christ. And when she died, the church in Joppa felt the loss. Now, hearing that Peter was in Lidah, they in Joppa, which is about three hour, four-hour walk from Lida, the disciples in Joppa, understanding Peter was there, sent for him. Let's get him here. Let's get him to pray for Tabitha as soon as possible. So he arrives in Joppa. Tabitha or Dorcas is laid out, prepared for burial. Peter empties the room and takes the damsel by the hand, then calls her name Tabitha. She comes back to life. And she was familiar enough with Peter personally, I guess he made this route, we don't know how many times, that when she opened her eyes, she recognized him on sight. And as a result of this miracle, many believed in the Lord. Something we should remember. If you get a miracle in your body, and many of you here probably have, or many of you listening, or you will have. I guess in today's industry, that's like the person who preserves animal bodies. You know, you kill a lion, he preserves taxidermist. He preserves the head or mounts the body, etc. Now, we read from Acts chapter 10, the first 16 verses. We're going to cover them again. And I'm going to read first verses 1 through 3. I like Luke's writing very much. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave alms to the people, much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision, evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius. All right. So here we are. While Peter is in Caesarea, and I'm sorry, in Joppa, and an Italian soldier. Yeah. There was a certain man in Caesarea. And that's Cornelius. Now, this centurion, he's a soldier in the Roman army, and he is an Italian. And Cornelius, being a devout man there in Caesarea, he has a genuine fear of the Lord in his heart. The way Luke writes, as do all in his house. Because Luke writes about this man like he does, it makes me think Cornelius was either a proselyte to the Jewish faith or working towards becoming a proselyte to the Jewish faith. He was a man who evidently the Jews felt was a devout man. That's the way Luke writes about him. And he gave large offerings, and he didn't say to the synagogue, he said to the people. And he is seeking to know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So much so that the Jews call him a devout man. Not only does he give these large offerings, but he is a man to be known of much prayer. He was known to be of much prayer all the time. Now Luke writes that Cornelius had a vision of an angel. This a Gentile, this is not another Jew. He had a vision of an angel. It was around three in the afternoon. The scripture says the ninth hour. And he saw an angel and heard the angel call his name. Now what do you think? Went through his mind when he recognized this is an angel. When the angel said his name, it was like, yes, sir, here I am, you know. Verse four. I'm going to read verse four now. Give me just a moment, and we'll read. And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? I guess he was afraid. He knew he was looking at an angel. And whether he thought it was an angel or the apparition of a spirit from God, how he would say it, Luke wrote it was an angel. And his first thing to do is ask him, What do you want from me? And then the angel says to him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. The fear of the Lord came over him. Cornelius is all he can do to keep his wits. I don't exactly know what he thought about who he was talking to, but his choice of words led me to believe he wasn't taking any chances because he asked, What is it, Lord? He's ready to do something, anything. Just tell me. Listen to the angels reply. Your prayers and your offerings have come up in heaven for a memorial. I thought about the Lincoln Memorial, because we had recently been there. I thought about the Vietnam Memorial, the Washington Memorial. Well, we're talking about heaven, so those things would be insignificant to me in size. And the angel says, your prayers and your offerings are stacked like cord wood in heaven until they're bigger than any memorial that we've ever thought about. When it says he was a devout man given to prayer. I can't figure in my mind who prays like that. Maybe Vesta Mangan. Her prayers might be if you if you can't find Vesta Mangan on on YouTube, you're missing out on an anointed servant of the Lord. Amen. She walk into a room full of preachers and have them all repenting, crying in the floor, God help me. She's a hundred years old now. And she prayed Mama through to the Holy Ghost back in 1964.

unknown 19:03

That's awesome.

A Personal Story About Angels

Why Angels Send Us To Preach

SPEAKER_01 19:05

So whenever I see anything about her, I just have to give the Lord praise. Because all those years, you know, we had this saying back then, when I got uh just before I went to Vietnam, we had this saying, keep on trucking. It meant no matter what, you were just gonna keep going. That's her. She has just, I know that's not part of the lesson, but when I when I'm reading about this man whose prayers are stacked up in heaven, his offerings and his prayers have so impressed heaven that a memorial in eternity has been erected in his honor. And I don't know that we'll really see a, you know, a statue or a memory, but it's wanting us to understand how much Him's prayers have impacted God. You read in the book of James, the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. If anything, let this be an inspiration to us. Would you like an angel to tell you your prayers and the offerings that you've been given are stacked up like that in heaven? Now I'm gonna pause here and tell you something. Early in my my walk with Christ, I'd heard so much talk about angels. I got back to the Barretz one night, and I was praying myself to sleep, laying in the bunk, and then I said, God, I've heard all this talk about angels. I would love to see an angel, Lord. I mean, I you know, who am I? But I I would love to see an angel. And then I was ready to nod off and go to sleep. Any of you slept with siblings? If you fall asleep first, you're almost asleep and they set on the bed, you know, you're even turned to the ball, but you feel the bed sagging. There's nobody in that room with me, and my bunk sagged. It was an old-style army bunk, so it didn't have the stiff rails. It just was springs all the way across, and then the the mattress on top of it, and that that bed sunk behind me. And I was so scared I wouldn't turn around and look. I didn't have done that. I still don't know who God sent. But this is what happened to Cornelius. He was a devout man, a gentile, seeking to know the God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob. And God was so impressed with the prayers and the faith of this Gentile who I think at least wanted to be a proselyte because he was so well known among the Jews. Here he gets this message from the angel. Verse 7. Oh, I'm sorry, verse 5. The angel continues speaking. Now send men to Joppa and call for a man named Simon. It says by the surname, we call it maybe a nickname, another name he was known by. Jesus had given him that name, Peter. And he will tell you what you need to do. And send to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter. In verse 6, he lodges with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. So get this. This is not the first time God has given out the name and address of somebody. When he sent Ananias to go find Saul of Tarsus, he told him exactly where he was, and that Paul had seen in a vision a man whose name was Ananias coming to lay hands on him that he would receive his sight. Here this man is praying. God sends him an angel, and he asked the angel, What do you want me to do? The angel says, You send for this man who's in Joppa. Now he's in Caesarea. You send for this man in Joppa. Then he tells him, This man's going to tell you what you need to do. Notice the angel didn't try to preach the gospel. That responsibility has been blessed for men to carry. Isn't that something?

SPEAKER_00 24:28

We carry a message that angels don't get to speak. The angel said, You go find Peter.

Obedience Story From Vietnam Days

SPEAKER_01 24:42

He's going to tell you what you ought to do. So for all that you have done that's wonderful and beautiful, that is a memorial up in heaven, there is something you ought to do that hasn't come to pass yet. See, everybody in this life would say, Oh, he's a good man, he's all right. Just leave him be. If that's so, why did God send him an angel and tell the angel, you tell that boy, he in order for him to do what he ought to do, he needs to talk with Peter. This is the message of the Lord. If people are going to be saved, human beings are going to bring them the gospel. Now, I mean, I'm not saying they don't have dreams and visions, but we are tasked, more than tasked, given the privilege we have this treasure, this message of reconciliation, Paul told the Corinthian church. In earthen vessels, this treasure is ours. And this is heavenly treasure. This is not the kind that rusts or rots away. The testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy, and it is the treasure of eternity. And Peter is going to tell you what look at the word there. Let's look in the scripture, verse 6. The last part of the scripture regarding Peter, he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. So for all that Cornelius had done, he hadn't yet stumbled upon what he ought to do. But the good Lord wouldn't leave him searching. God has invested more in our salvation than we ever will. Verse 7, and when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. He had the name and address to give him. Simon, a tanner, lives by the seaside. That's where you'll find this man, Peter. Simon the taxidermist, how many taxidermists living by the seaside? How many named Simon? You see how pointed God is getting? If God sends you someplace, go. I had a choice. Right after I was delivered. I knew I was in a lot of trouble and found out I was being processed for a court martial. And with the possibility, if convicted, a bad conduct discharge. I didn't know if that meant Leavenworth or just kicked out. But I didn't find that out until after I'd become a Christian, that that's how serious it was. The commander called me in his office and I went in. His name was Colonel Thompson. He looked at me and he said, Airman, I've been told you've turned over a new leaf. Listen, I was guilty of everything they were charging me with. So I looked at him and I, you know, I was baptizing the Holy Ghost because no smart Alec answers came out. I looked at him and said, sir, all I can tell you is I'm trying. He continues talking to me, and after a bit he says, if we go through with this court martial, I will not be able to retire on time. He says, so what I'm going to do, he pushed over document to me and he said, if you sign these orders, because they couldn't make me go to Vietnam, if you sign these orders, accept these orders to go to Vietnam, I will expunge your record. And in my mind, I'm not kidding you, in my mind was that smart mouth. And I heard it. And it said, Oh, I've always wanted to go to Vietnam. But it didn't come out. Because the Holy Ghost will do more than teach you how to speak in tongues. If we'll listen to the Spirit of God, He'll lead us, He'll guide us, He'll keep us from getting athletes' tonsils. He'll help us. We just have to yield. So I reached over and I signed the dotted line. And because I did, when I got to Vietnam, I could have denied it. I could have said, no, God's doing with me, I'm not going to Vietnam. Whatever happens, you know. I but I didn't. I signed it. And I don't know how, but I knew it was the thing God wanted me to do. I got to Vietnam and I met my mentor. And when I shook hands with him, electricity went up and down my arm. And we walked away. And I and I said to the guy who was introducing me, I said, Who is that guy? Oh, that's Sergeant Hartman. I just introduced you. I said, no, no, no. Who is he? He said, Sergeant Hartman. I told you he's Sergeant Hartman. I said, no, you're not telling me what I'm asking you. He stops, he looks at me and says, I guess he's the unofficial, uh, unofficial detachment chaplain. Everybody looks at him like that. I said, that's what I wanted to know. I went back over to him. I said, Hartman, I know you've received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He pointed at me, he said, and I know you're speaking in tongues. When you shook my hand, God showed me, and I had electricity going up and down my arm. What if I hadn't signed the papers when God prompted me to? That man is still what kind of an influence in my life, mama. Oh my goodness. His prayers. The greatest thing he taught me is you can hear from God. He used to make me mad. When I asked him a question, have you prayed about it? Yeah, yeah. Have you heard anything? No, no. That's why I'm asking you. Oh, well, what did you find in the scripture? I said, I didn't find anything. That's why I'm asking you. He said, Well, keep looking in the scripture. Keep praying. God will show you. I got so mad at him one day. I I didn't cuss, but I was close. And I said, Why won't you tell me? Why won't you help me? Why won't you show me these things? And he said, the same God who convinced you you needed to repent, that you could receive the Holy Ghost. He's not through leading you. Now that's not to say he didn't open the scripture and talk to me about it from time to time.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

But he was so sure God would speak to me.

Peter’s Trance And The Sheet

SPEAKER_01 33:15

And I can't tell you. I'm not bragging. I can't tell you how many times I've heard his voice. I've had dreams from heaven, visions from heaven that answered questions for me. But I know God put that man in my life so that I would learn to lean on God. He could have said, I got everything you need. So many times. If you're going into ministry, don't get the idea you have everything somebody else needs. Only Jesus has everything they need. We help all we can, but we've got to have an open spirit. So when God says, I'm showing them this, leave it alone. I'm in this work. Leave it alone. We have got to be in tune with the Spirit of God and understand there is something about the bride and the groom that nobody else can come between. There are times when it just needs to be you and Jesus. It just has to be. Now, Cornelius, all that was going through his mind after this conversation with the angels, this must have been emotionally off the charts. Then boom, the angel disappears. Beat me up, Scotty. Kind of like Philip, you know, disappearing in front of the Ethiopian eunuch. He's gone. But Cornelius is on it right away. Oh Lord, give me that spirit to be on it right away. He gets two of his servants and then a devout soldier who is among his servants, who is waiting on him continually. This man has bucks, he's a centurion, he's got money, he's got a house full of servants. We don't know how much family's living with him. And he gets some of the most loyal ones. This language speaks to me of men of extreme loyalty. He doesn't just entrust it to anybody. He picks them and he explains to them all about the vision and the instructions of the angel. I wonder how many times he looked at him and said, I'm not crazy. What level of trust does Cornelius have in these men? Are we able to trust one another like that? Yeah, it is going to be a sad thing to say, but there's just a few men in my life that I've trusted like that. So maybe that means I need to be a better disciple myself so that we can learn to trust one another like that. Verse 9. On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, right around noon. And he became very hungry and would have eaten. But while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. So, Luke's narration again, and put it in my words this time, right? The next day these guys are coming near the city of Joppa. It's about 30 or 40 miles there. So if they went by horseback, they were pushing those horses. And if they went by sea down the coast, they got a fast ship. Those horses were foamed up. I'm gonna tell you. He was moving at breakneck speed. He went down the sea coast of the Mediterranean Sea, a two-day journey. They made it in a day. It was around 12 noon that day. So don't know what time they left the day before, maybe early in the morning. Peter had gone up to the roof. He was waiting to eat some lunch. They were fixing lunch. While he is waiting, he fell into a trance. Let's look at it again. Verse 9. On the morrow as they went on their journey and drew night unto the city, Peter went up on the housetop about to pray about the sixth hour and became hungry. So his stomach was growling, but he's sensitive enough to God that he can go into a trance right at that time. How yielded are we in our everyday life to the Lord? He saw heaven open. Mama, I'm thinking about Manuel. When Manuel Belinders was dying, his wife Mary was sitting next to him. He was dying at home in the bed. She was holding his hand and he started heaven open before him, and he started talking about what he was seeing. And Mary says to me, Brother Ernie, what he was saying was so beautiful, I forgot he was dying. And I said to him, Dad, take me with you. And then she said, his last words that he ever said, I see holiness. Someday I'm gonna see that. A sight so beautiful. All you can say is this must be holiness. So Peter was caught up in this trance. He's not the only person since then who's seen visions and dreams. Manuel Melindris had a powerful vision. And he saw as a sheet come down from heaven like it was tied up in the four corners of it. Evidently it was very large. And he comes down before him and it opens up. And he sees all different kinds of wild animals and birds and creeping things. And I have to tell you, almost every time I read this, I wonder, what on earth were the creeping things?

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Shrimp.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Shrimp shrimp. Shrimp shrimp crab. These people from Louisiana. He saw shrimp, crab, crawdad. I should have known that. My mother was a goodot. And he saw these things. Now it's a a lot to process for him. Verse 13. And there came a voice to him. Rise, Peter, kill and eat.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

Really?

Discipleship, Repentance, And Integrity

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Personally, I believe it was the voice of God. It might have been the voice of an angel. It wouldn't matter. He was still on assignment from God. Verse 14, though, we got to zero in on this. But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spoke unto him again the second time, what God has cleansed, call not thou common. Can you believe this? God prepares lunch for the apostle Peter. And Peter turns his nose up at the meal. Listen to Pete. Not so, Lord. I have never eaten anything like these unclean things in all my life. Then the voice spoke again and said, What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common. Now look, he fixed him lunch. He set it down. He said, Son, get up, kill, cook, eat. Peter said, I ain't gonna do it. God prepared it. Peter said, I ain't gonna do it. Some of that stuff's unclean, Lord. Lord, do you know who you're talking to? Yeah, yeah. Lord, do you know who you're talking to? And have you seen the menu? You know I can't eat this stuff. This ain't kosher. Now, to top it off, this happens three times. Verse 16. This was done thrice, and the vessel was received up again into heaven. So three times he sees the sheet come down, open up, sees all these things in there. God says, This is your lunch. Pick what you want, eat it. Peter said, No, I ain't eating that. This is the Lord. Talk about knucklehead. You will find that none of the apostles claim themselves to live the perfect, era free life. We ought not to require that of one another. Which one of you can look in the mirror and say, I see a mistake proof person right there?

unknown 43:58

Not me.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Never made an error. Try telling that to Jesus. You know me, Lord. I ain't I'm you know, I I don't I don't play that. Really? Really? I'm so glad that the people in the Bible that we consider heroes were real people with real weaknesses and real failures who had to really repent and start over again, like the apostle Paul who said to the Corinthian church, I died daily, every day I'm in repentance. When he when he writes in Romans 5, 6 and 7, confessing about himself and the battle that he faces, yet he is still so successful in the kingdom of God. Do not think that God is not aware of your weaknesses. Would you ask a man to carry your treasure if you knew he would try to pimp out his wife two or three times just to save his own neck? Would you say, I choose you? God picked Abraham over and above his weaknesses. He wasn't afraid of his weaknesses because he knew what he could build in the man. God is building in you. You must not forget. Your testimony is built. You can convert in an instant, but it takes a lifetime to become a Christian. Being a disciple is a full-time job. You know, I'm I'm going back to Luke 17 here. Just write this down, it ain't in your notes. But Jesus looks at the multitude and says to them, just off the cuff. By the way, if you don't love me more than you love your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your best friend. If you don't love me above all your life, you cannot be my disciple. That's because he knew what was in the hearts of the crowd. There were people in the crowd thinking, well, I wish I was one of them disciples. I'd have been seeing demons come out. I'd have been part, I'd have been, or if I could just follow Jesus and He knew it. He said, You can't be my disciple because you won't put me first. Do you put him first? Don't we we ought not we ought not aspire to being disciples if we are not gonna put him first because it won't work. He calls us in mercy, he calls us in love and in compassion, but he knows the strength for the journey is bound up in being filled with his spirit, obedient to his word, and never giving up. The righteous man falls seven times, but the Lord preserves him. Why? Because he keeps giving up if you can be sensitive to the Spirit of God and walk in repentance. One of the reasons I love my father-in-law so much, if he goofed up and I saw him do it, he could turn around in 30 seconds and look at you and say, I'm sorry. And he was serious. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? I promise you, I'd I'll repent to the Lord. Just like I thought, Lord, I'd like to have that kind of integrity. I'd like to have that. Integrity is not to be error-free. Integrity is judged in what do you do with your mistakes when you find them? Because to be error-free is a lie. That's only Jesus. I guess I need to quit.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Woo! Yeah, so go ahead and say goodbye to the people over there.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

Goodbye, y'all. Thank thank you for your time. I was a little scatterbrained today, but I hope you you got everything that you needed in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Yeah, so man, that's such a great word because you know, we it with it just being resurrection season, we're celebrating that, you know, we set aside to celebrate, even though we should celebrate it every single day.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

One of the girls, you know, we I had talked to you about, we want to talk about once saved, always saved. But one of the girls at the at the Jesus House uh Sunday school, yeah. She uh she said, Well, you know, I just I keep making mistakes and I keep doing this, keep doing that. So understand when Jesus went to the cross, he didn't just die for you, he died as you because he already factored in what you were gonna screw up on. So your stupid has already been factored in.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

Yes. But when you think of people like Abraham and the mistakes he made, and then Isaac follows suit. Yeah, and then Jacob, who was going to receive the birthright anyway, but he decides I need to finagle and get it for myself.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

Yeah, his but you know his mama had a pleasure. Oh, yes, yeah, because she's the one that received the that heard the prophecy.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

They didn't trust God that God could make his word come true, but they found their places of repentance and the will of God. You know, you look at Samson, yeah, David, look at all these people. Yeah. And and look what God did anyway. In spite of. So it it boils down to who was it, the the Sons of Thunder that said, Jesus, shall we call down fire and lightning on these people? We'll cook them. They'll be the next donkey in the donkey barbecue. Jesus said, You don't even know what spirit you're up. And he didn't get rid of them. No, no.

SPEAKER_02 49:58

Like, calm down.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

He looked at Judas and said, Friend, yeah, why have you come? He let Judas dip his biscuit in a gravy bowl. See, that's okay for me and mama, but you and me ain't doing that. We can't say we ain't double-dipping. We're gonna say nothing about kiss. This this this is how yes. This is how the forgiveness of God and the mercy of God works. Yeah. If we confess our sins, He is faithful. And that's the promise made to the disciples. That wasn't made to the world. Yeah, the world needs to come to God in repentance. The Christian, in order to continue in repentance, must confess their sins.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Yeah, yeah. And we're gonna get into that on the anniversary. You know, we're our our anniversary is coming up on the 29th, and we're doing a big uh uh live. We're gonna do a live podcast on the 29th. So everybody got to put makeup on.

SPEAKER_01 50:58

You got a mouse in your pocket?

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

Who is we? I ain't putting on no makeup.

SPEAKER_02 51:03

I'll put a little powder.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

No, no, I'm not doing no powder. I I'll just have to be shiny.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

So yeah, we're excited about that. But anyway, we you know, we're we're gonna get into that, but but man, the word is good, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Isn't that something? Yeah, the believer is told if you confess your sins, yeah, he's faithful and just to not just to forgive you, but to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Yeah, and Paul told the Ephesian church, he'll wash you with the water of the word. The word has cleansing properties. Why? Because we need them.

unknown 51:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

You know, I'm gonna have a conversation with you about not today, but I want us to talk about in the future about when you get saved, because there was a conversation that happened at the uh conferences over the weekend about when you get saved. Does your spirit get saved, or does your spirit and soul get saved, or or or does just part of it get saved, or whatever? That was a conversation? That was a conversation at the table at the conference. So let's come in. We're not gonna talk about it now, but I want you to to think about that, you know. Yes so that we can so we can discuss.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

So do we get one quarter saved?

SPEAKER_02 52:24

Or is it just half, you know, little cleans, or yeah. So let's uh let's discuss that in the future podcast. He threw his glasses down, so you know that means that we can't, you you know, we're gonna be. I know, I know, but Audie and I were me and Ann and Audia were there when they were talking about it. So anyway.

SPEAKER_01 52:45

Did you all contribute any comments?

SPEAKER_02 52:47

Uh you know, it's just you know, there's one, there's sometimes you just be quiet.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

Sometimes the Holy Ghost will help you not to get athletes' tonsils.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

He will because you're just like that.

SPEAKER_01 52:58

Athlete tonsils. You just haven't put your foot in your mouth as much as I put my foot in my mouth. So thank the Lord for that.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

Well, look, we we want to thank everybody for listening. Go like, share, follow. If you want to watch the video, it's on our YouTube channel, Simple Sciploship Unfiltered. And and please post this, you know, go and like all of your audio, your podcast platforms. There's, you know, you can go on Spotify, Rheart Radio, you can go on Amazon, Google, you can do Podbeam, anything you can think of. We are out there on it. Um if you have one that we're not, please let us know. We'll get on there, you know, because we have access to everything. And if you want to watch the video, like I said, go to the YouTube and watch the Simple Discipleship Unfilter. You get to see for the Ernie's mug on there.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

At least you got it right, that time.

SPEAKER_02 53:49

So anyway, we're gonna close today and and we're gonna end with our slogan already, girls.

SPEAKER_01 53:55

All right, we're gonna go show some love, show some compassion, give mercy and go be Jesus today.

SPEAKER_02 54:08

Hey SDU family. If you have enjoyed this podcast today, would you please like, follow, and share our podcast link? And we would love to hear your feedback and your podcast topic suggestions. To do that, simply go to our website at www.m3mi.org, scroll to the more tab, and select contact us. Also, if STU has been a blessing to you, you can also go to our website and select sew a seed. There are several ways that you can give, whether it's Zelda, Vin Mod Cash App, or if there's an address to send a check from the Twitter. All your gifts are tax-deductible, and we thank you so much for sewing your seed with us. I want you to remember this. This person once said that a person has given you their time, they've given you their most precious gift because they can never ever get it back. Thank you for sharing this day with me. We love you, we'll see you soon.