The Mystery of the Church and the Kingdom | Ep. 127

Our deepest roots are not tethered to this earth but to the Kingdom of God. The role of the Church is the physical manifestation of the eternal Kingdom. We're peeling back the layers to reveal the core function of the Church in our lives and the world, emphasizing its nature as a vessel to spread the gospel rather than being a final destination.
 
The discussion takes a turn towards authenticity in faith, focusing on the need for belief anchored in the scriptures. We traverse through time, from the Old Testament to the days of Pentecost, revealing the transformational impact of the Holy Ghost and the defining virtues of God's children. We don't just discuss these truths; we connect with them, challenging ourselves to embody Christ's love and mission in the world.
 
We wrap up with a dive into the unveiled mysteries of God's kingdom, the unification of Jews and Gentiles in Christ, and the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The episode culminates in exploring the tangible ways Jesus Christ has manifested Himself throughout history, as seen in Acts, and how His Spirit binds us all to His purpose. 

As we hold up a mirror to the image of Jesus Christ, we inspire our listeners to reflect that same image in their daily lives. It's a call to action to embody His presence on earth, through the Church, and in our daily walk.

Chapters

• 0:03 Church and Kingdom Distinction
• 17:06 Believe on Me as Scriptures Say
• 27:11 Encounters With Jesus
• 38:42 Mysteries of God Revealed Through Scriptures
• 45:03 The Mystery of Christ and Church
• 58:07 Image of God in Jesus Christ

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 Well. Greetings in the name of Jesus. As always, I count it a privilege and an honor to be before you, that you would lend me your ears and that God has given me the opportunity to share with you something on my heart recently, and I pray that you are blessed by it. I kind of feel like I understand where my sister Annunciada is coming from, because a lot of times my kids always ask me Mr Ruiz, where are you from? I'm like, I'm an American, but I kind of hesitate at that, because they really want to know where my ancestry is from. And I said, well, but where are you from? You got some Spanish in you. And you're like well, yeah, I do, and how do you define where you're from? And they said, well, where were you born? Okay, I was born in New York, but where were your parents born? Well, my mom was born in New Jersey and my dad was born in New York. So doesn't that make us Americans like you? But where's your ancestry from? Where's your grandma from? Okay, okay, they're from Puerto Rico. So then they find out that and then I take the time to say but Puerto Ricans, they're from Africa and they're the Native American Tainos that were there. And then they got the Spaniards that were there, and so we branch it out and we take it all the way back to Noah and Ham Shem and Japheth, and then we take bring'em back all the way to Adam, you know. So I always take that time and I kind of feel you know how you feel I really don't care where I'm from. I'm just a pilgrim, I'm just a sojourner passing through this land, because my heavenly home is a kingdom and the kingdom is not of this world yet. Amen, amen. So I understand where you're coming from and that's kind of where I'm going towards.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 2:18

There was a kind of conference call for the elders. Bishop invited many of you to get on the phone and be a part of a conference call with pastors from gosh now I forget where Tennessee, oklahoma, tennessee, georgia and anywhere else. Anyone who joined in. I'm not sure at all who joined in, but we were speaking of, or it was being shared, concerning the kingdom of God and what is the kingdom? And a particular pastor asked twice and I guess because the first time I guess he felt like the question really wasn't answered. But his question was kind of what is the distinction, what is the difference between the church and the kingdom of God, and how can we, you know, help the saints understand what that difference is? And you know, bishop said you know, I'm going to be gone this week and we need somebody to minister. So do you have anything? I don't know, but the Lord always gives me something, so I'll be ready. And as I was talking to him, I realized that that question, which is what I wanted to talk about in the conference call that I didn't get to, is basically what I want to share with you all today.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:29

So, and I guess the title of it is the mystery of the church and the kingdom. And it is a mystery. It's what I mean when Bishop talks about. You know, all the mysteries of God. I forget how many numbers there were.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:44

We'll get into the mysteries at the end, but I really just want to focus on the mystery of the church and the kingdom. And if we had to compare and contrast them. When the table and I wrote church over here and I wrote kingdom over here, I would probably list under the church and the kingdom is that the church is visible but the kingdom is invisible. And I would lead down this path to help us understand that the kingdom and we got this in the phone call is eternal because it says that he will reign in a kingdom that shall never end, it shall never cease. So it's eternal, but the church is something that is temporary. The kingdom is something that is concealed, but the church is something that is revealed. It is revealing the kingdom. The kingdom over here is spiritual, but the church is something that is tangible, it's more material, it's more physical. The kingdom over here is the type, the substance, whereas you have the church, which is the shadow of the substance, and we'll get to why I'm contrasting them in such a way. And the kingdom is a mystery, but the church is something that should be known. And so, with that kind of comparing and contrasting, I get to this saying that they've been saying in Christian circles is that the old covenant is the new covenant concealed and the new covenant is the old covenant revealed. And with that idea. I just get to the thesis of it all the church.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 5:26

To answer the question what is the distinction? What is the difference between the church and the kingdom? Is that the church is to be the mode, the church is to be the conduit. The church is to be the vehicle whereby which the kingdom of God is manifested in the earth. And I want to examine that because that's very important to understand, because some people put the church above the kingdom. Everything is about the church, everything is about the activities going on in the church and the building, and it's not, it's always been the gospel of the kingdom, not the church, but the gospel of the kingdom was preached through the church. So let's consider that, god.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:12

If you look at all the Old Testament testimonies that's what I call them they're not stories. They are testimonies of real people who lived before a living God and they manifested Himself. They manifested God, they manifested his word, they manifested his will on the earth, they manifested his ways in the earth, they manifested his works in the earth. And God has always done that. He has always manifested himself on the earth through man, on behalf of man, many times, always for his namesake, in other words, always for his glory. It has always been about manifesting himself to man, who's been separated from him because of sin, so that they would get to know him again. So throughout the Old Covenant, we have on record testimony after testimony of everything that I just expressed right there. You came in, miss Annunciata, and said that we're all ambassadors, and that's absolutely right, because all the testimonies of the saints in the Old Covenant was that they were ambassadors of a king that the earth knew not of.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:30

Moses was an ambassador of God. He was sent by God before the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, and he demanded of him to let his people not his people, Moses people, even though they were his people. But he demanded that he let His people go, because they're being called to go into the wilderness and worship the Lord, their God. And Pharaoh didn't listen. We all know the testimonies. I'm not going to go into detail. It's just about the idea of He is always used man as a conduit to manifest Himself and His kingdom, His will, His work, His ways in the earth. And so we know that he didn't listen. We know that then God, through Moses, sent 10 plagues that affected the household of Pharaoh and the house of Egypt, all the children of God. But it was God through Moses, manifesting His power, in other words His works and His ways, to those who would willfully choose to rebel against God's will. He's manifesting Himself not only to his people but also to all the earth. Moses was used of God to disseminate.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:41

After they went through the exodus, they got out of Egypt, what was Moses? He was then ministering God's word and God's ways to the children of Israel when they entered into the wilderness. And I say that he was ministering God's will and His word to the church in the wilderness. It says, and we would have never known this had this not been said by one of God's apostles, one of his disciples, who said in Acts 7:38, anybody remember what happened in Acts chapter seven? Who is the main character in Acts chapter seven? Who was ministering and preaching the word of God to all of his fellow brethren? And he gave a historical history from Adam all the way to the present day. Anybody remember what I'm talking about? Stephen. Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, full of faith, full of the power of God, began to minister to his brethren the whole history of the church in the wilderness. And he says in Acts 7:38, speaking of Moses. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness. You see that church was never said to be the church.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:51

In the old covenant that word wasn't used. It was the children of Israel, it was the people of God. But if you understand the word church through the Greek Ecclesia, they were the called out ones. The nation of Israel was called out from amongst all the nations through Abraham, and then he gave the promise to Abraham and his seed, and not just his descendants. But that seed was Jesus Christ. We come to find out later through revelation of his apostles and prophets in the new covenant. But the church has always been in existence. It has not been fully understood. So the nation of Israel was the church in the old covenant. They were chosen of God to exhibit and manifest His word, His will, His ways and His works amongst all the nations. That is what their destiny was, until they fell in unbelief.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 10:50

Now David wrote in the Psalms, and what David wrote in the Psalms revealed in part the very thoughts of a Man who would come after him, a Man that would be his Seed, and we knew Him as the Man Jesus Christ. He was the Messiah, He was the one that would die for the sins of the whole world, yet it was kept concealed in the old covenant until it was revealed in the new covenant through the manifestation of God coming in the flesh. You see, Jesus was the type, He was the substance of what all the prophets of the Old Testament were revealing, in part because even they looked into the scriptures and didn't quite understand. What are we talking about here? We're prophesying. What are we trying to get at? We read that in 1 Peter how the Spirit of Christ was on the prophets of Old as they were looking into and trying to understand what was being spoken of, this Messiah, this Christ who was born of a virgin, who was the Prince of Peace, who was the Wonderful Counselor, who was the Eternal Father, what they were looking into, this trying to understand. Now, the prophets of God not only embodied the nation of Israel, whom they represented before God, but they were also expressions of God's Word. They were expressions of God's will, of His ways, and they exhibited God's work in the earth. You could just name any prophet Elijah, Elisha, David, Samuel, always manifesting the kingdom of God in the earth. And they might not have understood that that's what they were doing, but then.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:43

That all leads up to all the old covenant testimonies, all the people that we read, of Hosea and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, all the way to Malachi. They lead us up to the Man. This Man's name was Jesus. He was known as the Son of man and the Son of God. But think about what he came and represented on the earth. What was his purpose on the earth?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 13:08

It says in 1 John 3,5,. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins. He had a purpose on the earth. It says, furthermore, in 1 John 3:8, He that committeth sin is of the devil, but the devil sinneth from the beginning, for this purpose of the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. He came here with very specific purposes.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 13:44

Now we don't just know him as the Man Jesus Christ. He was that and much more, for it was revealed to us by the apostle Paul, who said in 1 Timothy 3:16, writing to his spiritual son listen, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. And as we just sung that today, God was manifest in the flesh. God was revealed in the flesh. The Man Jesus Christ was also a vehicle, a conduit, a mode whereby which God was manifesting Himself Himself in the earth. It says in 1 John 5:7

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:30

For there are three that bear record in heaven the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one the man Jesus Christ fully embodied that invisible God of Israel. He didn't send a son that was separate and apart from him. He became the son, the only begotten son, the only one that was born of man yet still held his identity as God, because it didn't say another God come in the flesh. God was manifested in the flesh. And then God said that in order for anybody to come to me, he must come through my son, in other words my manifestation in the flesh.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 15:31

Because it says in Hebrews that in the last days he has spoken to us by his what, his Son, and he appointed his Son to be heir of all things. By whom? Also all the world. He made all the world who being the brightness of his glory. And it says the Son, the Man Jesus Christ, was the express image of his person, not persons, but person singular. It says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that He is the image of God. It says in Colossians 1:15 who is the image of the invisible God. Jesus Christ was the very image, the express image of God and no one else.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:24

So when Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me, he was saying that if you think that you can come to the Father without me, you are sorely mistaken and you will never find the Father because the Father and I are one. You can't bypass the son and think you can get to the father. There are 35,000 Christian denominations and sects in the world today and all of them have a different way of getting to the Father. All of them have a different way of obeying the gospel.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 17:06

But Jesus said himself he must believe on me, as the scriptures have said. You can't believe on me, as Buddha said, as the Hindu said, as the Catholic church said, as the name any Protestant denomination out there. No, you are not to believe on me, as a denomination or organization has said. You must believe on me, as the scriptures have said. And it's so important that you get into the scriptures so that He can reveal to you how He must be believed, how He must be obeyed, how you must come into covenant with Him, because there are a lot of sincere pastors out there that are more popular than me worldwide and they have a different gospel than what the apostles preached. Yet I know that the apostles spent three and a half years with Jesus. I know that the apostles spent 40 days with Jesus being taught and ministered, preached to the things concerning the kingdom of God. I don't know about these other pastors, because what they're preaching is something different than what I read in the scriptures. And Jesus Himself said I must believe on him, as the scriptures have said, and I could just name a whole litany, but I won't. It's not necessary. The point for you is that you must believe on him, as the scriptures have said.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 18:41

Jesus also said to Philip have I been with you so long that you have not known me? Philip, he that has seen me has seen the Father. Stop looking for somebody else. How, say is that then? She was the Father. Believe, is that Not that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? And here we're going back to the purpose of the manifestation of the Son of God. Yes, he came to take away our sins. Yes, he came to destroy the works of the devil.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:17

But listen to what Jesus said of himself. He said the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works he is doing through Jesus, what he was doing through Moses, what he was doing through David, what he was doing through any other Old Testament saint. He was revealing Himself, His word, His will, His ways, His works in the earth through man. But in the case of the Man, Jesus Christ, it says that he was given the Spirit without measure. He gave the Spirit and he poured it upon, but he gave the Man, Jesus Christ, the Spirit without measure. Big difference there. And in the end Jesus did come and say I and my Father are one and there's no mistaking what he meant, because the Jews of his day who witnessed him saying that said you are committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. You are saying that you are God, you are the Father, and we're going to get ready to stone you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 20:24

So if anybody understood what Jesus said, it's not any of us who weren't there, it's the Jews that were there. They understood that he wasn't saying he was some other God. They were saying that you make it thyself God. Who are you to say that? There's no mistaking what Jesus said? And he didn't go and correct them, did he? He said no, no, no, no, no. That's not what I meant. He didn't change his words. He didn't change their interpretation of what they thought he said he let it go. That he said he let it be, which means they weren't wrong in what they thought of him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 20:59

That's exactly what he was saying and that leads us to him being crucified, him being buried and him being risen again, and by his death, burial and resurrection and the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. We have now the new covenant and we live in this new covenant, and it's said at the end of Mark that there was a great, what we call the Great Commission, and it is to be fulfilled by the saints of the Most High God. It is to be fulfilled by the children of God, the sons of God, because he has not changed. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, and he is still revealing Himself, His word, His will, His ways, His works, through man, but specifically through the church. The church of the new covenant are the called out ones today. They are the saints of the Most High God, they are the children of God. They are the sons of God, the sons of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:16

So when he said to them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe In my name. They shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any dead thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. It isn't Jesus doing it anymore.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:48

When he poured out the gift of God, the blessing of Abraham, the promise of the Father upon his people, he expected them to go out under the earth and do it. And this is what I want to encourage us in, this is what I want to remind us that we have a purpose in the earth, and it may not be to take away the sins of the world, because that's already been done, but we have a purpose, and don't go around this life thinking, well, what am I supposed to do? He says it very clearly. He said in Luke 24: 47 and 48 that repentance and remission of sins must be preached in his name among all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things and we know that that's what happened. We know that the Pentecostal experience, on the day of Pentecost, was poured out where, in Jerusalem, and we know that they can begin preaching the gospel, they begin to fulfill the Great Commission from Jerusalem to Samaria. And they went from Samaria to Judea and they went from Judea into all the parts of the earth preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 24:14

That was preached on the day of Pentecost, where Peter stood up, having already been filled with the Holy Ghost, and he began to preach of Jesus. He began to preach of who he was. He was the anointed of God, he was the promised Messiah, he was healing the sick, he was raising the dead and he was crucified for our sins. And he was asked on the day of Pentecost by those that listened. Oh my God, what shall we do, Peter? Listen to those words, go to Acts 2"37. You need to. We're gonna hit on this again. They asked him, peter, man and brethren, what shall we do? How do we fix the fact that we crucified the Messiah, the one who had been promised to us on all the ages that have been prophesied through prophet after prophet? How do we fix this? He's already dead and buried.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:16

But Peter said no, no, no, he's risen again and he answered them clearly and said you must repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins would be forgiven and you shall receive the Holy Ghost, but not only you. It says the promise is unto you and to your children and any who are afar off who will call upon the name of the Lord. But Jesus said you must believe on me, as the Scriptures have said, because we know that there are many all over the world supposedly calling upon the name of the Lord, but they don't come to him, as the Scriptures have said. So we need to remember that. But Romans 8: 14, that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. I'm qualifying who this church is by mentioning all of this to you, because they are the saints of the Most High God. They are called the children of God. They are the sons of God. But Paul said, who is an apostle of Jesus Christ, They that are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. That's the condition, because there's many people out there that say oh, I'm Christian, I'm Christian, I'm Christian, so many Christians in my school, so many Christians all around us, and yet many of them, by their actions, by their beliefs, you know they are not led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God does not lead us into heresy. The Spirit of God does not lead us to believe in lies. The Spirit of God does not lead us to have actions that are contrary to his Word. So you know, there's something off. You hear me Now I wanna just highlight this to you. But I wanna say this because I don't want you to think that I'm putting God in a box.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:11

I know some of us here have heard of testimonies and I won't quibble with the testimonies. But we've heard of testimonies where God revealed Himself to some man and told him what he needed to do to be saved, and that person had this direct experience, kind of like Paul did on the Damascus Road where he was revealed. You know Jesus revealed Himself to him. And we hear how people in this Third World country you know they saw Jesus and Jesus told them to do this and do that. I'm not gonna argue that, but I will say this there are two really good examples in the New Covenant, two recorded testimonies of Jesus revealing himself to people.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:55

Paul, who was Saul, was the first one. Y'all know Saul. He was persecuting the church, he was putting them in jail, he was ripping them from their families, he was separating families apart because they all believed in Jesus Christ being the chosen one, the Messiah, the anointed one, and he was persecuting them. And he was on the Damascus Road and he was traveling there and then, all of a sudden, he saw this blinding light and he knew immediately that it was the Lord, acts, chapter nine. He knew immediately because he said, Lord, he knew who he had just run into. It says in Acts nine six, and he trembled, astonished, and he said Lord, listen to the question what wilt thou have me to do? There it is again.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:44

The people that listened to Peter said what shall we do? We have to do something. Saul, when the revelation of Jesus came to him. His immediate question was Lord, what will I do? And I'm showing you a pattern here, because this is, as the scriptures have said, not about this popular preacher. And the Lord said unto him arise, go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do Now. I asked the question because I'm very, I guess, analytical that way. Why didn't Jesus just tell him? Why did he tell him to arise, go into the city and it will be told to you what you must do? Why didn't He just tell him? I just wanna drop that seed in your thoughts. I want you to think about that. Why didn't Jesus tell him Himself? But we know, if you've read the record in the testimony, that Jesus called on , who was a nobody it's the first time we ever heard of this guy, but he's a disciple of the Lord and we know that said whoa, wait a second, that's the guy that's been. You know he's been butchering your people. What are you talking about? You, Paul, Saul, excuse me if it wasn't even changed to Paul. It was Saul, are you sure? Yes, I want you to go because he's gonna be a testimony from me before the nations. Okay, Ananias just obeyed.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:11

Now watch what Ananias did. When Ananias got there, well before that, this is exactly what the Lord told him to do. And the Lord said into him in Acts, chapter nine, verse 11, a rise, go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. Consider what he was going there to do. Looks like Jesus wanted Paul or Saul to receive his sight again. But go to verse 17 and 18. This is Ananias doing what Jesus said. Ananias went in his way and entered into his house and, putting his hands on him, said Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way that thou came and sent me, that thou mightst receive thy sight and what? Be filled with the Holy Ghost. Yes, Jesus sent a man to not just give Saul his sight but to lay hands on him that he might receive the Holy Ghost. That's critical because we must believe on him and we must come to him

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 31:31

as the Scriptures hath said and there are some out there that believe that receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost was only for the first century. It was. It means if you receive the Holy Ghost, it's of the devil. Today you speak in tongues, you pray in the Spirit. That's of the devil. But I'm sorry, I ignore whatever anyone else says. If I find something contrary in the Scriptures and I find something contrary in the Scriptures. Because Acts, chapter two, on the day of Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit Himself gave utterance.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 32:05

I see Paul, who wrote two thirds of the new covenant, had to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He had to be filled with the Spirit in order to receive his sight again. And it says and immediately they fell from his eyes as it had been scaled, and he received sight forthwith and arose and, and, and, and what, and was baptized. Now, if you listen to the recorded testimony of Paul giving the testimony of his conversion, of his born again experience, it says that he was washed in the waters of baptism in Jesus' name. So I see the pattern again. Not even Paul was exempt from repenting, which he had already done because he had seen Jesus. He said Lord, what will I do? That's repentance. Guys, tell me what I should do and I'll do it. That's repentance. I'm changing my mind, I'm changing my heart. I know you are now and now tell me what to do. So Paul got baptized in the name of Jesus. Paul was filled with the Holy Ghost because that's exactly what Ananias was sent to do, give him a sight and that he may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:17

So that comes up to another man, Cornelius. He was a Gentile, he was of the Roman army and it says that he had a relationship with God before he was born again, cause he was praying, he was given alms, somehow the God of Israel had reached him and he had a great testimony amongst the people around him, amongst his family and amongst his neighbor. But there was one day that this man saw a vision he was about the ninth hour of the day and the angel of God coming into him, saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him he was afraid and he said what is it, lord? And he said unto him thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before God. That means you got God's attention. And he said and now listen, and now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodges with one Simon, a tanner whose house is by the seaside. Look at the words. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Whoa, Cornelius has got something to do. Yeah, you got God's attention. Yeah, you've got a good testimony among the people. But when an angel comes to you and tell you I want you to go get a guy named Peter, he's gonna tell you what to do, then that means there's something you still need to do. And we know what happened in this testimony. Peter had a vision about not eating meat and not calling it unclean and calling clean and unclean. And I don't want you to go to this house. There's people down here that are gonna take you to some man's house. So he went into Peter's.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:08

Peter went into Cornelius. His house was a Gentile and Jews don't do that. That was a revolutionary thinking. But when God's got your attention and you begin to be led of the spirit of God, you start breaking old paradigms, because God has done a new thing. The Gentiles are coming in. You may not have received it in the old covenant, but it has always been my plan, sayeth the Lord. And he got there on verse 33, and immediately, therefore, I send thee and thou has well done that. Thou are come.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:42

This is Cornelius talking to Peter. When he gets to his house, he says now, therefore, we are all present here, all my family, all our neighbors. We're here because we're listening to you. You've got something to tell us. He says to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. He recognized from the vision that he's supposed to call Peter to tell him what he must do. And he recognized that whatever Peter was gonna tell him was commanded of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:12

And we know that on that day Peter didn't even get to finish preaching, the spirit of God fell on his whole household and they all began to speak in tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. And the Jews who had followed Peter there, wondering what is Peter doing, recognized that they had received the Holy Ghost, just like they did at the beginning. And we read that in Acts, chapter 10. And then it says there that Peter didn't stop when they received the Catholic Holy Spirit. Who am I that I should forbid water? And he then baptized them in the name of Jesus. Why? Because it's said from the very beginning you must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. And so that household was now saved and that household represented the Gentile community. So now Peter has been ministering to the Jews in Jerusalem. He'd been ministering to the Jews in Samaria and now he comes to a Centurion and now the Gentiles are coming in.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:15

But if anybody had a revelation of the Old Covenant, you would have realized that that was always God's plan. And so I wanna speak to you about mysteries, because it has been a mystery. It is something that has been concealed and hidden in the mind of God, and it has been revealed in parts by his prophets throughout all the Old Covenant. It has always been his plan to save all the earth. Do we realize that all mankind is his creation? He is not a God that shows partiality and shows partiality over one, over the other. He did choose a nation, but that nation, if they have fulfilled their destiny, would have been preaching the gospel throughout all the earth. Why? So that he can redeem mankind unto himself, b ut that could not have been done until the man, Jesus Christ, did his work, took away the sins of the world so that he could reconcile man to God, and that's another purpose that I didn't bring out the scripture, but it says that the man, Jesus, reconciled the world unto himself. God reconciled the world unto himself through the sacrifice of the man, Jesus Christ. Now this mystery has been there. It's I call it the mystery of the oneness of the Jews and the Gentiles. It has always been there.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 38:42

In Luke 8, 10,. If you are a saint of the most high God, if you are a child of God, if you are a son of God, jesus said to you it is unto you that it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to the others I speak in parables that they see, might not see and that, hearing, they might not understand. The mysteries of God are to be revealed to his church. The church are the saints of God, the church are the people of God, the children of God, the sons of God. It says in Romans 16, starting in verse 25,. Now to him that is of power to establish you. According to my gospel, this is Paul writing to the Roman converts, through his preaching in the Roman regions and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 39:37

According to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began. Since the world began, it has always been in the mind of God something concealed and hidden from all of mankind. But now it is made manifest. How? By the scriptures of the prophets, in other words, through the Old Covenant prophets, through the things that they had written and we had written in our scrolls. It has been revealed there, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of the faith, and he says to God only wise, be glory through whom? Through Jesus Christ? Romans 16, 25.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 40:21

But let's speak more of this wisdom that was in a mystery, in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 7. Paul says again we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, the things that are concealed. We are now declaring it forth, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. See, there's something, there's been a plan, there's been something that God has been always thinking about, from before the foundation of the world. No one's known about it but him, and all throughout our time we have been giving a progressive, repetitious revelation that brings us to the point where we realize that it has always been in the mind of God that the Jews and Gentiles were to be one in him, which none of the princes of this world knew. There's a mystery that none of the princes of this world knew, because if they had known it, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory. That was the mystery of Christ himself.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:23

Who is the Christ? Who is the Messiah? It says, but as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard either. Entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him, the saints of the most high God, the children of God, the sons of God are led by the spirit of God and they love him. They are the ones that love him. But God hath revealed these mysteries. It says unto us by what? By his spirit, which is why I gave you those three recorded testimonies of people receiving the spirit of God, because it is absolutely crucial, it is absolutely necessary that you receive the spirit of the living God. That has been another mystery that has been prophesied through the prophets of old. They called it the blessing of Abraham, they called it the gift of God, they called it a promise of the Father, and it was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost and it continues to be fulfilled for those who obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who obey the gospel of the kingdom.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 42:34

He starts talking about another mystery in 1 Corinthians 15. Behold, I shoe you a mystery that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in the moment and the twinkling of an eye. From verse 51 to 54. He begins to speak about the mystery of the resurrection. And he says emphatically there is going to be a resurrection and it's going to play out like this there's a trump that's going to sound and it's going to be the last trump, and at the last trump, first the dead shall rise into incorruptibility. They will put off mortality and put on immortality, it says. After them, then those that are awake, those that are alive, shall also be caught up together with him. And they shall meet them together, both the dead in Christ and both that are alive in Christ, and they shall also be one with him. Because, it says, when he comes, they shall see him and be just as he is, just as he is.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 43:37

In Ephesians 1, 9 through 14, paul, again, he wrote most of the new covenants. Not surprising, it says. He said, having made known unto us the mystery of his will. You see, god is expressing, he is manifesting in the earth, through who? The church, through his sons, through his children, through the saints, the mystery of his will. What is your purpose? And it is according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. See, there's a purpose for each and every person that is in Christ, and it will be revealed to you, and it has already that in the dispensation. Now he's speaking of what was the mystery of God's will that in the dispensation or the age in the fullness of time, he was gonna gather together one in all things in Christ, both that which is in heaven and that which is in the earth. Even in him there's a oneness that God is going to bring about. It has been his very purpose from before time began, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we, we, the church, we, the saints of God, should be to the praise of his glory.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:03

Who first trusted in Christ? That word trusted is really that biblical term of one who has believed and obeyed, believed and obeyed. Today it's all about believe, believe, believe. But the biblical definition is always believe and obeyed. You have the hall of faith of Hebrews 11 that names, testimony after testimony after testimony, of saints who believed and obeyed, believed and obeyed. Abraham was the perfect example of one who believed and obeyed.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:34

It says in James that did not his works justify his faith. In other words, did not his obedience justify his faith? Yes, it absolutely did, because they go hand in hand True faith, biblical faith, goes hand in hand with obedience. It is not a work, because if God had not told me what I must do, I would have never done it. I did not know, I was ignorant. But when God tells you to do something, it is required of you to do it. To think anything else is to be ignorant of the scriptures. He has always required obedience, from the very garden of Eden. He required obedience and we saw what happened when we didn't obey we got kicked out and our lives were completely separated from God. And then it says in verse 13, just to reiterate this idea, that in whom we also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, that gospel of the kingdom in whom, also after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now I just gave three examples of how they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. They began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave the mutterings. Acts, chapter two. Acts, chapter eight. Acts, chapter 10. I can go on to Acts, chapter 19, where Paul met those apparent disciples who were they disciples of John the Baptist? Yet they knew nothing of the Holy Ghost and they knew nothing of being baptized in Jesus' name. So Paul took the opportunity to lay hands on them. They received the Holy Ghost, they spoke in tongues as well, and then he baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 47:17

The blood, the water and the spirit has been throughout the Old Covenant. We can talk of in the Garden of Eden, where the blood, water and spirit was. We can talk about it in the Mosaic Tabernacle. We can talk about it where Noah was. We can talk about it after the Mosaic Tabernacle. We can talk about it when John the Baptist was preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The blood, the water, spirit has always been there. The blood meaning repentance, the water being baptized in cleanse in Jesus' name by his blood, and then the spirit is just receiving his spirit.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 47:50

The anointing. If you were in the Mosaic Tabernacle, you had to go through the brazen altar of sacrifice there's where all the blood was and then after that it says that if the Levites don't wash their hands in the brazen labor of water, they will surely die. You could not bypass the water either, and if you were the high priest and you thought that you can go through the blood and the water and then you could just walk on into the Holy of Holies, you would have been stricken dead because you then had to be anointed with oil. You have to blood, the water and the spirit. And it's always been there To those that have an open heart to the truth, that have an open heart to the Lord. So when they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, that was the earnest of their inheritance, that was their guarantee that they would be redeemed, because they had been purchased by the blood of the Lamb.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 48:50

And we can go into Ephesians three, where Paul is speaking about. When he read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages it wasn't known unto the sons of men, but it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by what, the spirit. And it says that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ, by the gospel, the oneness of the Jews and the Gentiles. But then Paul, two chapters later, brings an even greater mystery and a revelation. He begins to speak of the marriage, he begins to speak of the relationship between husbands and wives and he starts off by saying wives, submit yourselves to your husband, as if, unto the Lord, he says to the husband, you are the head of the wife, but watch what he's making. It analogous to, he's saying even as Christ is the head of the church, he's using the relationship where man has been partaking of over the last thousands of years and using that to paint a picture of what God's will was from the very beginning.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:05

Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body, he says. Therefore, the church is subject unto the Christ, because church is just the body, the torso, the members, the limbs. But my hands are doing what they're doing right now because my head is telling you to do it, otherwise it won't do. The body can't live without the head. But God being the head, god being all in all, he can do whatever he wants. He can exist with or without the church, and he did.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:43

But he continues, he says husbands, love your wives, how, even as Christ has also loved the church. And then he begins to talk about how he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of the water, by the word that might he present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without blemish. We're reading Ephesians 5, 22 to 32. For no man ever hated his own flesh. People nourished it, he cherished it, he took care of himself, even as the Lord takes care of himself. I take care of my body, you. I take care of all of you, because I love you. We are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones, and for this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and he join unto his wife and the two shall be one flesh. But if all you think he's talking about is some marriage counseling, read the next verse.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 51:46

This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the church. He just used the relationship to give you a revelation that there is to be a oneness between Christ and his church, oneness, just as he said I and the father are one. Did he not pray in John chapter 17 that they may all be one, even as I and the father are one? Yes, he did. You want to know your purpose. Your purpose is to be one in him, individually and corporately. We are to be one in Christ.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:32

So that leads us to the mystery of the oneness of Christ and the church, because the mystery of the oneness of the Jews and the Gentiles is a picture of the mystery of Christ and the church becoming one. There is to be no separation, there is to be no division. It says in Colossians 1.26,. Even the mystery, which had been hid from ages and from generations, but now in the new covenant, is made manifest to the saints, to whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. What is the mystery? Christ is in you the hope of glory.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 53:12

Remember when Jesus said I speak the words, but they're not of myself, it's who in me, it's the father in me. Well, jesus was the manifestation of the father in the earth and he poured out not another spirit, he poured out his own spirit and that spirit is dwelling in you If you've received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, if you've been filled with the spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongue. He's in you. The mystery is that Christ is in you, the hope of glory. He says in Colossians 2, I want your hearts to be comforted, I want them to be knit together in love, because all the riches, the full assurance of the understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, the father and Christ, and in the mystery of God, the father and Christ is hidden, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge To understand when it said in 1 John 5, 7, that there are three that bear record in heaven the father, the word and the Holy Spirit. And these three are what are one, in that you have access to all the mysteries of God because you're going right through Jesus. He is the father, he is the word. If you read John 1, 1, 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, and the word was made, manifested in the flesh and we saw him be held. His glory, the glory is the only begotten of the father. Who was he talking about? Jesus, the father, the word and the Holy Spirit are Jesus. They are one.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 55:04

So when Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, no man cometh unto the father but by me, that's exactly what he meant, and he meant and other than that. So I say to you, to church, in remembrance you, you, the church, you are to be the mode, you are to be the conduit, you are the vehicle by which Jesus, the father, the word, the Holy Spirit is manifesting himself. You, it's through you. You want purpose. Your purpose is to manifest Jesus in the earth. You are to manifest him. You are to manifest his word. You are to manifest his ways. You are to manifest his will. You are to manifest the works of God in the earth. Amen, have this mind in you, because this is the mind that was also in Christ Jesus. Yes, yes, you remember he said that. Have this mind in you. This mind was also in Christ Jesus. I am here solely to fulfill the purposes of God. I am here to manifest and express my father to all that I come in contact with, whether I'm coaching on the soccer field, whether I'm teaching in the classroom, whether I'm driving around Athens, whether I'm driving or I don't know, flying over to Arizona and coming back. Whoever you're meeting Person right next to you on an airplane, your friends at school, your neighbors you are the one to manifest because again let me go back to the examples Did Jesus preach the gospel to Paul?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 56:52

Did Jesus preach the gospel to Cornelius? Not, unless you realize, he preached it through Peter and in his eyes. You are the one to do that, I am the one to do that. I don't say you, just because you I'm saying all of us the church is the one that is to do that. That's why we hear that song about the body of Christ and having hands and having eyes.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 57:14

And why are we seeing that? Because the church hasn't realized its purpose. It's almost as if we're waiting on God. We're waiting on God. Would you please do that? Would you please? No, god is waiting on you. I'm gonna do it through you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 57:28

When you went out there and preached my gospel, it says, I followed it with signs and wonders confirming the word that was preached. Jesus is not gonna come out of nowhere, out of the thin air, and start preaching the gospel. He's waiting on you to do that. You're his mouthpiece in the earth, and when people see you, they should see whom? Jesus? Because if you have the desire to be at one with Christ, when people see you, even though you don't look like me, they should see Jesus, because it's the attributes of God that we are manifesting forth.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 58:07

Remember, it says in the scriptures, because I need to believe on him, as the scriptures. It says that he is invisible, so how's he supposed to look like anything? See, we were made in the image of God. It says Adam and Eve were made in the image of God, but God is invisible. So how can we be made in the image of God?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 58:33

Think of the man Jesus Christ. The man Jesus Christ is the image that we are made and patterned after. He's the what we call the prototype on the assembly line. He is the first of the first born, the first of those that were, in other words, born again, if you will, because he was resurrected and we follow in his steps. We follow in his suit, in his suit, amen, amen, right. So remember that as we go about in our daily lives and business what our purpose is, we are to manifest the kingdom of God in the earth as the church.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 59:13

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