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What Jesus Began · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey friend, welcome back to Bible Tract Echoes.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mike and McCree, your host.
• 0:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for joining me today.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am so privileged to spend these brief moments with you.
• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I haven't so enjoyed this series that we've been in this week over the past a couple of days and we're walking with you through the early verses or really the first verse of the book.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: of Acts.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Over the last three days, we've talked about what it means to be prepared, prayed up, present, and purposeed specifically so that we can finish the work God has called us to do.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've been challenged to pick up the mantle to Christ handed his church and his followers and to step forward with the same resolve and faith that marked those early disciples.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Did they have their failures?
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Did they have their mistakes?
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Their moments of faithlessness?
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, but there's still a job to be done.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as feeble as UNI might be,
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: God has not called us to quit.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's called us to continue.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: So today, we're going to zoom out a little bit.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to step back from Acts for a moment, the book of Acts, and return to the beginning or rather what Luke would more refer to as the beginning of the beginning, because the Bible tells us that everything we do today,
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: as believers, is rooted in something Jesus Himself began.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let me read our text verse 4 today, in this week, Acts chapter 1 and verse 1.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says this, the former treaties have I made Otheophilus.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now Luke, the follower of Christ that he was, the companion of Paul that he was, he tells us under the leading of the Holy Ghost, about what he wrote, here in Acts 11, he's referring back to what he wrote in the Gospel.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Luke, he's telling us that that was only the beginning, the starting point.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: of let's say a divine chain reaction, a domino effect that continues all the way to where you and I are today.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's our theme.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: The job's not finished, but it's because Jesus' work has only just begun.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: The domino effect that we're talking about began long before Bethlehem.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: As many listeners reflect this week on Christ's coming, it's important to remember something very basic, but very profound.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christmas was not the beginning of Jesus.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was the beginning of his earthly incarnation, but not the beginning of his existence.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Listen, as I read John chapter one,
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: The same was in the beginning with God.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, before Bethlehem, before shepherds, before angels, ever said and sang glory to God,
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus was already there, co-eturnal with a father, creator of all things, the living word.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when he stepped into time, when the eternal son wrapped himself in human flesh, something began, a domino effect was tipped, was started.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: that hasn't stopped for well over 2,000 years.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: The incarnation was not just this isolated holiday moment.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus didn't come so for for capitalistic concerns, okay?
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was a launching point of a plan that stretches from eternity past well into eternity future.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what did Jesus begin?
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: What did he
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Luke tells us that his gospel was a record of what Jesus began, not what he finished.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let me remind you of some of those beginnings, because Luke's gospel is filled with some.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's say first steps.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know how cool it is when you see a baby stand up for the first time and be getting that toddler stage?
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm not trying to overly humanize Jesus Christ, but think about this.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He began life in a manger, but he continued by living a sin in the life.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: He began his ministry in Galilee, but he continued all the way to Calvary.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: He began with 12 ordinary men, but he continued by commissioning the entire church, the whole church.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: He began by healing physical bodies, but he continued by healing sinful hearts.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He began his journey to the cross, but he continued with an empty tomb.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And after his resurrection, he continued by appearing, teaching and preparing his disciples, for what would follow.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's really what we find in the book of Acts chapter 1.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus didn't come to earth to provide a nice story that we can share in December.
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He came to begin a mission.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then he handed that mission to us.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: But realize the beginning didn't end with the ascension.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Acts 1 does not open with the conclusion so much as it opens with a continuation.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Some people look at Acts 1 as this moment when Jesus really steps off the stage.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's not what Luke through the leadership of God through the Holy Ghost is saying.
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's really saying the opposite.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Acts is not the end of the beginning.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible tells us in the book of Philippians chapter 1, verse 6, being confident of this very thing that he, which has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: What Jesus began in a stable, or in a synagogue in the azureth?
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: What he began on a hillside with 12 disciples and began on a cross, or began in a barotum, he has continued in the lives of his people.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he intends to continue it and perform it to carry it through until he returns.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about that domino effect in the early church.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: One baby in Bethlehem.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I realize we're talking about a Christ child here, but one baby in Bethlehem led to one perfect life, which led to one sacrifice for sin, which led to one of you too.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Which led to one group of disciples, who are immediately waiting for the spirit, which led to one sermon at Pentecost, which led to thousands being saved, which led to the gospel spreading wildfire across the Roman Empire, and here we are.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: too many later, still feeling the reverberations of what Jesus began.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't stop a god once to do regardless.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you can't stop a domino chain that God has set up every piece precisely
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't hold a mission, a mission that Christ himself inaugurated.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't silence a message powered by the Holy Ghost.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you realize, here at BTI, the ministry that I have a privilege of directing that I have the
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: The grand pleasure of leading.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've spent over 80 years watching God and move.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: One down when I'm in a time, from one track handed out a gas station to one soul reached on a street corner to one missionary that supplied tracks that reaches people in a remote village on the other side of the world.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we're gonna say, we don't make the power.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: All we do is pass on the message that began with Christ.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to challenge you about your part in this chain.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let me ask you, the job that Jesus began, the job, the apostles continued.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: The job that has reached every generation since this job that's not finished yet, where will it go from here because of you?
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you prepared for your part?
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you prepared and prayed up?
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: So God can use you?
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you present where He has planted you?
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you purpose enough that you will not quit?
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: The domino effect continues but God desires to place you in that line.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: your obedience influences your children, your grandchildren, your testimony influences your coworkers, your prayer life influences your church, your witnessing, for Christ influences eternity.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're not just watching the chain, realize this, this is not a spectator sport, you are part of it.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Friend, perhaps you're listening today and you have never stepped into this story.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Personally, you know the name of Jesus, but you've never trusted him.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you what he began for you.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: He began a life on this earth, so he could begin a sacrifice on a cross.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So he could begin salvation in your heart the very moment you believe.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Romans 10 verse 9 says, that of thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: and shout, believe in that heart that God had raised him from the dead, that shout be saved.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: The job of paying for your sin, that job is finished.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not a job that's not done yet, that one's finished, Jesus said, it is finished.
• 9:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Salvation has been paid for, he turned him heaven has been paid for in full, it what Jesus' sacrifice of his death, burial and resurrection, that was not a down payment, that was paid in full.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the job of growing, forgiving, restoring and using you, that job begins the moment you trust in Him.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you've ever done so, you can call out to Him today.
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Savior who started at all stands ready to begin a new work in your life.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had someone to ask me not long ago, what's the difference between believing in Jesus and believing on Jesus?
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's how I'd say it.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you believe in Jesus, you may have what we call a head knowledge.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You understand that he exists.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You believe that, yeah, Christmas is more than just about commercialization, that there's something to this idea of there being this eternal God that sent His Son and He died on the cross.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I can wrap my head around that.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it's the difference between believing in a chair.
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: and sitting on a chair.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can believe in Jesus, but you've got to place your faith and trust on him.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can look at a chair and say, yeah, I believe I see that chair.
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's made out of wood, I can see it looks comfortable, all that's great, but it would be odd for you if I never could trust that chair enough, even though looks sturdy, looks well made.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I can never trust enough to actually settle myself onto it and say, I trust on this chair.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I believe there's a lot of folks have a head knowledge of Christ.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: They know about him, they've heard of him, but they never believed on him.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe that's where you are today.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you are, I'd love to hear from you.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you have a question.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you'd like to settle that question of your eternity.
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can text me today at 309.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: 3, 1, 6, 7, 2, 4, 0.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll give you that number again.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: The announcer at the conclusion of the broadcast will be on with
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: all sorts of other ways you can contact us, but you can text me directly at 3-0-9-3-1-6-7-2-4-0.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tomorrow, Lord willing, on the broadcast, we are going to continue this thought, because while today we've talked about what Jesus began.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Friday tomorrow, I'd like to remind you that Christmas, the incarnation, Jesus, coming to earth, that wasn't the end of the story.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's much more to come.
• 12:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, I say to them, thank you so much for listening to Vile Trek.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: If this broadcast encouraged you today, it was helping any way we'd love to hear from you.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can visit BibleTracksink.org, get some free gospel
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: this ministry.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, I'm Michael McCray, reminding you, yes, the job is not done because Jesus is still working, having great day for His glory.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: God bless.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Visit us online at BibleTracksInk.org that's BibleTracksInk.org or follow us on social media to learn how you can partner with this ministry.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.