Remembering the Apsotles' Doctrine - Part 3

So, I missed a few weeks.  But here we go with some more Apostolic stuff!  What we believe!

Luke 24:46-49 (NKJV)
46 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And you are witnesses of these things.
49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

Jesus said this to His followers right before He went up into Heaven. When He was speaking of the Promise of the Father (vs. 49), He was referring to the Joel’s prophesy. He was reminding them of the prophecy.

Acts 1:1-8 (NKJV)
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The Promise is the New Birth!!

This is where the story of the Upper Room comes in and the very first experience of the New Birth:

Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV)
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

People who were witnessing what happened began to get really curious. They knew that something awesome had just happened. Some mocked, but others were sincerely curious.

Acts 2:14-17 (NKJV)
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,

That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.  This is for us today!!

Peter then began to explain to them about the crucifixion and how Jesus did all of that in order for us to be saved and have eternal life.

Acts 2:37-39 (NKJV)
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
38 Then Peter said to them,"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

We must understand what the Apostolic message is in order to be Apostolic.  If you don't understand it, I encourage you today to get into The Word and let in sink way deep into your heart. 

The enemy will try to confuse you with wrong beliefs.
I was so grieved the other day.  My daughter, Jordan, does homeschool and it is a DVD program.  It is Christian-based.  In her bible lesson that day the teacher began to talk about salvation; The New Birth.  My wife was very curious how this was going to turn out, but at the same time she was excited about them talking about this.  The teacher begin to quote John 3:5.  She talked about Jesus talking to Nicodemus about how to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
So my wife was like, "alright, this should be good." 
 
The teacher told the children, "you must be born again to get to heaven."  Ok, so far so good. But...she totally ignored the fact that we must be born again of the "water" and of the "Spirit".  She told the students that all they had to do was except Jesus as your Savior and you are saved.
 
She missed the whole point.  I long for this world to see the TRUTH!  The only way for them to see it, is by US!  We have to share the revelation of water and Spirit with them. 
 
Go share the New Birth (the real way) with someboday today!!