The Spirit: "The Gift" vs "the gifts" (Part 1) | Ep. 124

This episode is an introduction to the vital importance of the Holy Spirit as the Gift and the fulfillment of prophecies of old concerning the new covenant, using the backdrop of my relationship with my friend from 7th grade onward and the varying experiences we shared. Over the years we were like iron sharpening iron as we tried to figure out this faithwalk with Jesus. 

Central to the episode's theme is the exploration of the Holy Spirit and its role in the lives of believers. The discussion traverses the scriptural depictions of spiritual rebirth, the transformative gift of the Holy Spirit, and the living waters that signify the indwelling presence of Jesus, our God. By examining Jesus' conversations with figures like Nicodemus and his teachings about the Comforter, the episode illuminates the complex spiritual concepts that lie at the heart of Christian faith as we pursue the answer to this critical question: "How did the first-century Christians know that someone received the gift of the Holy Spirit?"

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. Greetings everyone and blessings in the name of Jesus. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Our Father's Heart. This is one of those special episodes that I will be speaking directly to you. You will not be listening to an old prior teaching that I gave at some time in the past, but something that the Lord kind of impressed upon my heart and I had this bug of wanting to share and talk about this topic. This may be a two-parter I'm not quite sure, but I'm just going to roll with it right now and however long it is, that's how long it will be, and I'll end up editing it and doing whatever I need to do to kind of present it all out to you. I just hope that whatever I do share will be received in the humble heart that I'm trying to give it in, because the topic is going to be on the Spirit and the gift of the Holy Spirit versus the gifts of the Spirit. But before I get into that topic I just felt impressed of the Lord because it impacted me, a relationship that I had in the past. So friendship probably I would say my best friend if I ever had one doesn't have many friends in my life, not that I was anti-social or anything like that. I'm that type of person that just has a small group of friends. If I have friends, it's just a small group, handful. I'm not that other personality type that just everyone is a friend. That's just not me and anybody that knows me knows that's the case. But in my past I did have a friend that I pretty much considered my best friend. I met him in seventh grade. I had left a previous Christian school that for me at the time was kind of a nightmare. I just had bad experiences there and told my mom you got to get me out of here, I want to go somewhere else. Obviously I didn't say it that way, but she knew that I was really struggling and just didn't like the atmosphere of that school. So I went to another school, mcs in Miami and there I met this particular individual. We didn't strike it off at first sight or anything like that. But I started a friendship with him that lasted from seventh grade to well I want to get to that later so it lasted all of my high school, all the way into college.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:46

When we got married, we played football together for the middle school JV varsity team. We played basketball together for the middle school JV and I have to stop there because he didn't play basketball as a varsity player. He tried, but no, it kind of stopped for him. But he definitely was a mad football player. For his size, for his weight, he was exceptional. Let's just put it that way. He was exceptional for his size and weight.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:34

He played football with a reckless abandon is what we called it back then. I don't know if they use that kind of terminology today in football, but reckless abandon. He would just go out there and he put his body on the line and eventually, over time, it actually took a toll on his body and I think he damaged his spine, his back. So he was out of it for a while. But then he came back and played and I was kind of questioning that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 5:04

But that was the type of guy that he was and I spent time at his house with his family stayed over his house, kind of spent like a Friday, saturday there or something, and him and his family were religious, they were in the faith, they were Baptist, at least from what I can remember. So you're talking about me trying to recall details that were 30 years ago, so bear with me if I get any of these details wrong, but these details aren't really the important thing. But he did have a religious upbringing spiritual upbringing, and I believe it was the Baptist faith and sometimes I spent time at his house and in the middle of the night, unbeknownst to his parents, we would sneak out of the house and visit abandoned buildings in Fountain Blue and it was interesting there were no lights, there was no electricity in the building and we went all the way up the stairs with flashlights and going onto the roof. We were on the roof in the middle of the night and we were trespassing and all of that stuff. But yeah, that's kind of what we did and we had a lot of fun together, enjoying time together, him and his brothers playing basketball, playing football.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:39

I know his house was kind of centered off a lake and I can't remember what we did there, but I just had good memories of spending time with him. It wasn't like a lot, it wasn't every weekend, but he was just a friend that I developed over time over my high school years and we graduated together, obviously, and I think after graduation he entered the armed forces and he got into the army and I remember him having to sign a contract for three years, no-transcript. He needed a way to pay for college. I don't think his parents could have done that for him and his two other brothers behind him. So, um, I think that was a way that, uh, he was going to be able to afford going to college because they were gonna. You know, after he did his three years he was going to be able to have his college paid for. So he went to college. He got ripped. I remember that he was very ripped. When I saw him again I was like whoa, what happened to you? Um, but he was very lean, very I mean just cut and Interesting for him, because he wasn't like that in high school, but he was. He was definitely a A major football player, even not having that uh bit about him. Um, but over those years we we got close, um, we challenged each other on on things and beliefs and, um, I remember he came back, I think, from the armed forces, um, and if you have listened to any of previous testimonies in our podcast, you know that in 1994, when I was 20 years old, my mom passed away of a sudden heart attack and he didn't know that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:37

He Found out later and he was when he found out, because I think he he came to my house and he just came to visit me and at any time that he had come to my house before you know he'd meet my mom or or you know he'd say hi to her and whatever and whatnot, just like if I would went and visited his house, I would say hi to his parents and stuff like that. But one day he came to my house to visit me and he had no idea that my mom had already passed away and he was just, he was stunned, he was just silenced, he didn't know how to respond or react and then he ended up feeling bad that he didn't know, that he kind of wasn't kind of there for me To some extent and I never Thought about, you know, blaming him or holding it against him. I don't even remember why we weren't in contact at the time. I think he was just away and he was, you know, doing his own thing with the armed forces and, I don't know, getting an education, maybe going to school. I really don't remember the details. Well, when he found out, he was just stunned and he responded by Trying to spend more time with me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:51

Um, I remember he started bible studies with me. We, we, you know, we got together. He invited some of his friends, I guess. I guess he was trying to do, or he was in part of a campus ministry at his school. Uh, I forgot what his school was. I know I was going to fi you, but you know we would meet at our house and we invited a small group of friends and, and I remember, I think we met at a campus ministry at fi you as well. And you know, over the years we had philosophical discussions, religious discussions, spiritual discussions, biblical discussions, and and and over time we, as best we could, with our ignorant knowledge at the time, thinking we knew a lot, you know, and I'm here nearly a half a century old and realizing how little I knew, how little I really knew Back at the time, but we would have these, you know, engaging conversations and and Things about, you know, biblical perspectives and this and that, and you know, over time we just were like iron, sharpening iron with the word, you know, with our life, with our experiences and things like that. And, uh, I respected him and and, you know, loved him for the friend that he was to me and I believe he, he was, uh, the same way with me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 11:11

Um, but eventually, you know, we continued to live our lives and I, uh, what was that? Okay, so I said 94, my mom died. I think he found out, maybe within a year, a two from that, um, so that was about, you know, 96, and then I met my wife in 97 and we got married in 98. So All through that time, um, we, we, we were meeting and having those, um, you know, kind of Bible studies. Well, not all throughout the time, it was just a section, I think it was within the first year, uh, after my mom died, we were doing that, but we kept in touch after that and I guess I I say all that to say that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:03

Um, you know, I got married before him and he was the best man at my wedding. Um, I was not the best man in his wedding, um, I think it was his brothers or something, I don't remember Um, but he got married after me. It is the point to try to just uh, give you an idea of of our relationships and how it panned out. Um, so I was married before him. Um, he was the best man at white wedding. He got married later and then he I don't know how he ended up getting a job or or being a pastor for a local Baptist church school, and I remember going there To his ordination ceremony.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:48

His dad was there very proud for him, and mom and the brothers were there and, and while I was there, I remember the lord spoke to me. He spoke to me specific words to share with my friend, and I'm not going to repeat all of it, um, because I can't. I don't remember everything. I just know he was speaking to me a lot and there were certain things that that were really Flashed an impression in my spirit that I never forgot and I even wrote it in in my website, um, because I was using it to talk about something. But you know one of the words that he told me, um, and he wanted me to share it with my friend, the lord said Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Well, that's from the scriptures. And you know, I was kind of meditating on the while I was there during the ceremony and then I heard beware of the theology of this age. That's interesting and a lot to take in, because I've never been in seminary school and To my knowledge, neither was he ever in seminary school. But that's the word that I received and I shared it with him afterward and the ordination ceremony. I never knew quite exactly why, but that, that, that that word that the Lord spoke to me, never Left my, my recollection like that, that's just something that was like imprinted In me. And it wasn't just for him. I believe the Lord was speaking, it also to me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:27

Um, but something happened, uh, after he was ordained and he ended up getting divorced and he ended up not being a pastor anymore, and I never understood why, and he never quite came out and shared what happened. I had thoughts and speculations, um, but it wasn't a a. I think it was a bitter divorce, um, they didn't have kids, um, but I think there was infidelity. I think that's what it was. I think he may have mentioned that and he took full responsibility, um, but he never told me the details and so he remained unmarried, uh, for several years and that was heartbreaking because, like I said, we we grew up kind of together from the beginning. We grew up kind of together from seventh grade, all the way through college. He was the best man at my wedding and I married. I Almost immediately had children because we had our, our first daughter, within a year of our marriage and my friend is divorced. Um, and that was hard.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 15:50

Um, I knew he was working for private schools. He was either teaching or working for their networking, a kind of IT, setting up their computer system network, because he was heavily involved in that. I think he got his degree in engineering, maybe, yeah, engineering, he like building computers and he got into networks. But eventually, several years later after that, he got married and he was very, very happily married I mean just really really grateful happily married. We met his wife, beautiful wife. They seem to have a beautiful relationship and it was really gratifying to see where he came from and where he was now with his wife.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:50

And then cancer struck. He was stricken with cancer and when he I can't remember how he shared it. He shared it in a very I can't remember the details, I don't know if it was in an email or he sent us a text and I was just no, oh, no, no, no. And I obviously responded by contacting him, talking with him, trying to in a sense be there for him. But I knew he had his wife there and I lived in one part of Miami. He lived in another part of Miami, kind of far from each other. I think he was in maybe Broward County and I was in Miami-Dade County. Obviously they were neighboring counties but it was still hard and especially if you know anything about Miami, with traffic and all that stuff, it was just hard to go from South Miami to Broward. But anyways, we kept in contact by phone or whatnot or stuff like that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 18:07

Now this happened while we were in Georgia, that he was stricken with cancer. So I say all that to just kind of give you an understanding. I wasn't in Miami at the time, but when I was in Miami we did meet his wife and everything was great and he was flourishing. He didn't have kids with her. But we ended up moving to Georgia and then cancer struck and so from Georgia I was trying to contact him and I was concerned about him and he was telling me about the chemotherapy that he had to go through and what they were doing, and so I was praying for him on the phone and keeping in contact with him from a distance.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 18:53

And then the Lord prompted me I guess would be an appropriate word to because he was going through the chemotherapy and it seems like everything was going well, but I think I can't remember the details. But I think it relapsed and it got to that point where it's like they've tried every resource to address the situation, and so I felt prompted of the Lord to talk to him more directly, I guess I would say about basically his salvation. And I understand he came from a Baptist background and his wife quote unquote was a Christian or is a Christian, I'm not here to judge either way. I just wanted to be sure that he was in the faith and that he had obeyed the gospel according to the scriptures. So I got into a conversation with him and we started discussing certain elements in a more direct manner, because I think we both understood that his time was not just about the Bible, but we understood that his time may be tick-tocking away and I just felt like I couldn't stay silent and just not address it, because if I addressed it and we found out that, yes, everything is, every T is crossed and every I is dotted. Well then, praise God, praise God, hallelujah. But I didn't know, I didn't know. So I talked to him about it and then started getting into a conversation about his baptism, his in water. I'm talking about baptism in water, and we also spoke about baptism in the spirit. And I felt like Paul as I was talking to him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:16

If you remember the scriptures, Paul was talking in chapter 19 in Acts, to apparent disciples I mean, they appeared to be disciples, but I guess they were only talking about John's baptism and the things that John the Baptist preached and taught. And Paul at some point just stopped and said wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. When you first believed, did you receive the spirit? And they said, what? We don't know what you're talking about. So wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You don't know what I'm talking about. What are you talking about? You know kind of like that. I'm just kind of paraphrasing. You can read it yourself Acts, chapter 19,. The first six verses, I believe. And then he says, well, when you believe, what were you baptized in? And then they said, well, we were baptized into John's baptism. And Paul was like, oh, and then he basically shared with them the more perfect way, just like Aquila and Priscilla did, who followed Paul's preaching and teaching, and they did the same thing with Apollos in Acts, chapter 18. And it was literally the previous chapter where Aquila and Priscilla did this. And then it follows up with Paul, you know, doing the same thing, helping people get to the more perfect way.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:40

And so I felt like I was trying to do that with my friend, because I did not. I didn't want my friend to be lost because he may have thought things in error. So, as I said, I was trying to address that and we got into baptism, in the spirit, and in both baptism water and the spirit. And I got to a point where, in our discussions which I can't tell you all in detail cause I don't remember, but I did write some things down because that's how we were corresponding. Sometimes it was by email, sometimes it was by text, sometimes it was by phone, but I eventually wrote him a letter after some of our conversations and I put forth a question to him, and this is where the teaching that I'm sharing with you now.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 23:35

But I felt like I needed to share that background testimony as to where this came from. So the question I put forward to my friend. I said how did the first century Christians know that someone received the Holy Ghost? Because in my conversations with my friend he had answers that were honestly just unbiblical. They were answers that you would get from people that well, that believe that they're in the faith, and then you realize there's something off. And so, like I said, I felt like pause, like wait, wait, wait. There's something off. What are you you know? And then he starts asking the question. So I put forth that question to him and the answer that he gave me was boldness in sharing the gospel. That was his answer and I was like it sounds nice, but that's not in the scriptures that they knew that a person had received the Holy Ghost because they were bold in sharing the gospel. So I then wrote him a response and that's kind of what I want to share with you today as part of this teaching, because I could answer this biblically with just a few or even just a couple of verses of scriptures.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:01

But I believe it's worthwhile to spend a little bit of time laying the groundwork and foundation to understand why is this such a critically important question to answer. So I said. Let's begin by acknowledging that receiving the Holy Ghost by the first century church and the New Covenant church was a fulfillment of prophecy. And then I want to quote mostly old but also New Covenant verses of scripture in order to lay that foundation and to make dots where we can connect them. So I began to share with him Isaiah 28: 11 and 12.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:46

It says for, with stammering lips and another tongue, He, meaning the Lord, will speak to this people, to whom he said this is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing. Yet they would not hear. And I told my friend. I said okay, so we're going to take that scripture and now we're going to go to the New Testament, in Hebrews 4, 1 through 7. It says therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to come short of it. For indeed, the gospel which preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard, it did not profit them. Why? Because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as he said. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works, and again in this place, they shall not enter my rest. So since, therefore, it remains that some must enter it and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again he designates a certain day, saying in David today, after such a long time, as it has been said today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. So I'm combining these two scriptures for my friend and I'm bringing about other scriptures to help him see the connection of how do we get this answer about:

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:38

How did the first century Christians know that someone received the Holy Ghost? So it says in Acts 3:19, repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. So there's that word refreshing again, which was talked about in Hebrews. That refreshing word was talked about in Isaiah. There's a refreshing that comes from the presence of the Lord. And then I reminded my friend that in Exodus 3314, he said to Moses, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. So my assertion to my friend was that the rest that was spoken of here is tied up to the presence of the Lord or the spirit of the Lord. And the Lord spoke to his people prophetically and told them that he would establish a new covenant with them. And I brought up scriptures like Jeremiah 24, verse seven. Then I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:59

But he doesn't stop there. If you keep reading what Jeremiah was prophesying and the Lord was ministering through him. He then says in Jeremiah 31, verse 31 through 33, Jeremiah says behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And it doesn't end there. He says in Jeremiah 32, verse 38 through 40, they shall be my people and I will be their God. Then I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever. For the good of them and their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:18

All of these scriptures that I just read are the Lord describing and prophesying that he is going to establish a new covenant with them, and all of these aspects about replacing a heart and turning a heart and putting his law in their minds and writing in their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be my people. This was all prophesied in Jeremiah, but it was also prophesied in Ezekiel, and Ezekiel says it in this way in chapter 36, verse 26 through 28, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people and I will be your God. So God is prophesying through Ezekiel, in almost the same language, the same description, words about this heart being replaced and his spirit and writing his laws on our hearts and causing us to walk in his statutes and keep his judgments and do them. And then I brought in also Joel, 2, 28 through 29, where God prophesied through Joel and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on my men's servants and on my maid's servants I will pour out my spirit in those days. So I read all of these scriptures, I shared all of these scriptures with him and I said all of these scriptures are stated actually merely to acknowledge the fact that God was going to do a new thing. He was establishing a new covenant with his people and it specifically had to do with a work of his Spirit in man.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 32:29

Now, during the days of his flesh meaning, Jesus, as he neared the end of his ministry and his life, began to speak. He began to speak a great deal about the Holy Spirit, especially in the Gospel of John. He began seeding this idea when he spoke to Nicodemus by night and said to him in John, chapter 3, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And in John, chapter 3, Nicodemus replies in verse 4 and says Wait, how can a man be born when he is old? How can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And so Jesus responds Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that. I said to you you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So everyone is born of the spirit.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:33

See, Nicodemus didn't have the slightest idea what Jesus was talking about, because Jesus was speaking spiritually. Nicodemus was hearing what he was saying and he was interpreting and understanding everything carnally. And I can't blame him, to be honest with you. But does not the scriptures tell us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, that the carnal man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned? So I told my friend as you read the Gospel of John, you will notice that the main emphasis and thrust that seems to crescendo as you progress through the chapters is Jesus teaching on what he Himself referred to as the gift of God, or living water. He said in John, chapter 4:10, ministering to the Samaritan woman living water. But it's also known as the promise of the Father. That's from Luke 24.49. It's also known as the blessing of Abraham in Acts 1:4. And Acts 1:4 was using that term, the blessing of Abraham, because that came from Genesis 28.4. And it also was repeated in Galatians 3.14. Jesus said if anyone would drink of the water that Jesus gives, he will never thirst. But the water that Jesus gives will give in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life. And I said to my friend listen.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:12

Jesus continues to elaborate on the meaning and the significance of the gift of God in chapter 7, because he then states the following he says on the last day of the great feasts, Jesus stood up and he cried out and he said if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And then it says what he was really talking about. So John, who's writing the Gospel of John, sharing in the record and the testimony of Jesus, then explains what did Jesus mean when he said that? And he stood up on the feast? And John writes but this he spake concerning the Spirit whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given. And then John says why? Because Jesus was not yet glorified. You see here the record in the scriptures declares to us that the gift of God that he was speaking to the Samaritan woman about, that he made akin to the living water, was actually referring to the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God that had not been given, the Spirit of God that had not been poured out, as spoken in the Old Covenant Testament, scriptures that I just declared to you, but why? Because he had yet to be glorified and I needed to make that note. And I make this note even now that it's very important to point out that in order for you to have these living waters flowing out of your heart, you must believe on Jesus, as the scriptures have stated. That's incredibly important. Now, Jesus doesn't end there. This is what I was trying to relay to my friend.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:02

If you continue to go through the scriptures in John, because he resumes this teaching to his disciples on the Spirit, and he uses the term the Comforter, aka also known as the Spirit of Truth, in John, chapter 14. He says in verse 15 through 18, if you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. So the Father is going to send another helper that he also refers to as the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Truth the world cannot receive. So the world would never receive the Spirit of Truth. The world would never receive the helper that is going to be sent by the Father, because they cannot receive him, because they neither see him nor they know him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:48

But you, meaning the disciples. You know him why? Because he dwells with you and will be in you. Jesus was actually referring to himself, but you know him because they knew Jesus. He dwells with you because Jesus is dwelling with you and will be in you. He's speaking prophetically because there's something that's going to happen that he was trying to get them to understand. And then He says I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. So he starts out by saying that the Father is going to send another helper, who's also known as the Spirit of Truth, that the world cannot receive. But you know him. He dwells with you and will be in you. And then Jesus says I will come to you. So he's identifying himself as the Comforter, because he says I will come to you, when the previous verses were saying well, no, there's another helper that's going to come to you. It's the Spirit of Truth. That's who's going to come to you. And then he says I'm going to come to you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 39:04

The Comforter is the Holy Spirit, or other translations will say the Holy Ghost. And this Holy Spirit, holy Ghost, is sent by the Father, but it's attributed and it's connected to the prophetic scriptures of old concerning the promise of his presence, his Spirit being poured into his people like living water, he would dwell in them. And he doesn't stop there. Like I said, he continues to talk about this topic in John 15, verse 26 through 27. He says when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify me and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. So when the Comforter comes, we shall be able to bear witness.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 40:02

This is important to note because he used the same verbiage later with his disciples when he ascended into heaven and he stated to them in Acts, chapter 1, 8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses. Here's that word witness, bear witness. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. But the disciples will not be able to be witnesses until they receive the Holy Spirit. So all of this I stated to lay the groundwork that the new covenant cannot be established without the fulfillment of the promise of the Father, the gift of God, the blessing of Abraham, the pouring out of his spirit, the receiving of the Holy Ghost, and it is the new covenant that we are in today, in these last days.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:12

So, because of all of this that I just shared with him, I just shared with y'all, the question I have set forth becomes vitally important to answer. My original question was how did the first century Christians know that someone received the gift of the Holy Ghost? Well, based upon all of these scriptures that I've just shared, it's really really important to know and to have an answer for this. And so I told my friend, I reiterated again how did the first century Christians know that someone received the Holy Ghost? And I challenged him and I said to answer this question, you need to take a walk through Acts, because in Acts it tells us first-century how Christians identified and knew that someone received the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. If we can ascertain that, then we will do well to follow their example and their expectation today. That should be our expectation today. Whatever they followed back then should be our expectation today, because nothing in that respect has changed. And so I said to him, I said are you open and willing to allow the scriptures in Acts to answer this question? Are you willing to accept it if it flies in the face of everything you've been taught? Are you willing to forsake tradition for truth? This concludes this part of the teaching. Tune back in next week to hear the conclusion of the matter.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 42:57

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