Transcription
Christianity.
We are live at Radical Christianity. I am Trina Olsen.
We have Tina Hoover of Radical Christianity. We have Brad Weidman. Brad Weidman with YWAM Denali. Doug Weidman with At Ministry. Jeff Hoover with Radical Christianity. Michelle Widman with At the Table Ministries.
Lord.
Okay.
All right. Who wants to read?
All right. Which one we doing?
12. I'll read verse 12. Okay. 12 through 14.
All right. Oh, my big words in there. All right. I'm reading from the Passion Translation.
Disciples left the Mount of Olives and returned to Jerusalem, which was less than a mile away. Arriving there, they went into a large second room to pray. Those present were Peter, John, Jacob, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, uh Matthew, Jacob, Simon, Judas, and a number of women including uh Jesus's mother. His brother was there as well. All them were united in prayer, gripped with one passion, interceding day and night.
During this time, Peter stood up among the 120 believers who were gathered and said, "Fellow believers, the scripture David prophesied by the Holy Spirit concerning Judas has been fulfilled." Judas betrayed Lord Jesus and led the mob to a garden to arrest him. He was one of us and he was chosen to be apostle just as we were. We earned a wage. He earned a wage of his sins for he fell head first and his belly split open spilling his intestines to the ground. Everyone in Jerusalem knows what happened to him. That's why the field where he died is called something in Aramaic called the bloody field. For it is written in the Psalms, "Let his house be deserted and become a wasteland. No one will live there and and also let another take his ministry."
So continue on or...
No, I think you're good. That that should be good there.
That stuck right there for a little bit.
Yeah, cuz there's some juicy stuff in there.
Yeah, [laughter] yeah, you know, they joined together constantly in prayer along with the women. Hello, women have a part in this.
That's right.
Amen.
Amen. This is a new covenant that's about ready to be poured out.
Amen.
And it's not about gender. It's not about race. It's not about color. It's not about um, you know, if you're an atheist or not an atheist. Yeah. You know, God's about ready to to shine his light on all.
Yeah. He created all of us regardless of what who you think you are or what you think you're supposed to be doing. He created you.
And if you don't believe that, then that's okay. He still loves you and he wants to have a relationship with you.
You can't see Michelle in the video.
That's okay.
It's okay.
Want me to turn you a little bit?
I can get it.
Oh, you can get it easier. [laughter] [clears throat]
Yeah. You know, so why why was it Peter that stood up? What was significant about Peter? You know, there's a there's 10 other disciples, you know, they all had walked with Jesus. They all talked with Jesus. They all in in John 20, they were all breathed on by Jesus and he said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Does anyone really ever, you know, I I'm like I want to be like the kid that asks, "Why do zebras have stripes?" You know, a zebra has stripes so that when they're in a group and they're running in a herd, the the predator can't find where the beginning and the end is. And so it has trouble finding where the last one is because it's a blur, you know, and it looks like this huge like I am going to leave instead of go get lunch, you know, and uh but why why Peter?
We once um had someone that was living here with us. And so the question because this is how we got at the table ministry. We just um sat around the table and asked like these kind of questions. So the question is,
Does...
Adam and Eve have a belly button?
It doesn't really matter, but it's kind of fun, right? And...
In Christianity, it is fun. It's like, huh?
Is that how you breathe? Yeah. Well, that's how your...
Belly [laughter] button mind.
We're the only two people ever in mankind that probably don't have belly buttons.
They didn't need one.
They didn't need one. That's right. They were connected to the father.
That's right. [laughter] Amen.
So, sorry that was a little on topic, but just talking about the fun as a kid.
I could be too.
Just asking questions.
Yeah. You know, and I just I I wanna I wanna like God, what are you saying to me as I'm reading it? Like that's just something that jumps out at me. Why Peter? You know, why not the other 10?
You know, why Judas? You know, and and and so Judas walked with them. He talked with them. He ate with them. He spent time with them. He was in charge of the money, you know. Was there something in Judas that he wasn't willing to let go of? You know what is in our heart that we're not willing to let go of? You know it. When the fire falls and when struggles come, that's when you find who your Lord is because you'll call on the Lord or you'll call on your pain. One or the other. You know, you'll find you'll find that thing that you've been um honoring and and and your your idol in your life when when the struggles come. But in the midst of this, like Judas, he was the same. So, what separates Peter from all the rest of them? What separates Judas from all the rest of them? You know, they all have the same opportunities. We all have the same opportunities. Are we going to, you know, Jesus was saying that um, you know, struggles are going to come? You know, you're going to have sorrows, but what are you going to do about it? Are you going to let the glory shine? Are you going to allow Jesus to rise up inside of you and shine brightly? You know,
I think it's I think it's Jesus always knew the yes in Peter's heart.
Yeah. You know, from the time that Jesus called him and you know, the determination and I believe, you know, Peter was the one he's like always the one I believe he was the one that always asked the questions.
He's not afraid to ask the questions, you know, like what's going to happen to him.
When Mary when the ladies came back and Peter was one that ran into the...
Yes. He was curious. Curious. Yeah. Very curious. Everybody else stopped. He ran right in.
Yeah.
Peter's the one that put on the outer garment and jumped into the water to go get Jesus.
He's the one that walked on water.
He was the one that walked on water. He's You know, I believe the other disciples like, "Go ahead." [laughter]
You go first.
He's It's a ghost. It's a ghost.
Yeah. Yeah. What happened in the midst of that? You know, I believe Jesus seen the leadership that was inside of him.
You know, when he was walking on the water and he took his eyes off of Jesus, he started to sink.
So, he he was experiencing what it was like when he took his eyes off of Jesus. You know, that's what our journey is all about is we're going to fall, but when we fall, what do we do with it? Do we get up and and dust ourselves off and run? You know, do we help our friends, you know, like come on, come on, you got to get out of this pit you're in,
you know, and throw them out, you know? [clears throat] And...
Yeah.
So, you know, I believe that's reason why Peter was probably one of the first ones that spoke up in 120 because Jesus knew that he's not afraid, you know, to speak out. Um, even when Jesus questioned him who will and John feed my sheep.
Yeah. 21 John.
Yeah.
Jesus is speaking encouragement into him to empower him because Peter was going to you know from putting your feet in your mouth to leading the people.
And you know I see that in my past. You know, how God how the enemy stole my voice because the enemy cuz I was destined to be a leader and how he the enemy tried to steal my voice, but God put in placement through my whole life of roles of leadership to where I'm right now. So, I'm not afraid to use my voice now.
There's times I am.
Yeah. Yeah.
But I got to step out of that fear and step into the faith of what I'm called to do.
Because the enemy don't mind if I go to church, but he minds when I open up my mouth to speak about Jesus to share other people to help find the goal, to find the worth that they have inside of them to show them that they are worthy and lift them up and push them up above me to launch them into their destiny. And I believe that's what Peter did because as he stood up, he was encouraging the people.
I like what you said there, Jeff, about um like it doesn't the enemy is not afraid when we're going to church because there hasn't really in the cultivated culture of religion, there hasn't been much happening in churches for a long time. So, it's just like a happy playground really for the enemy is how I kind of see it because we we've lost sight. I mean, I even think about historically um even back in the 70s like it was part of your your family tradition to go to church. And um my husband and I were talking to someone last week and they're like, you know, the a next generation, they're not in church. it's not going to go. But that was part of their lifestyle back then. Not that they really understood the depth of scripture. But they all were going and we we have this time where people are just there sitting. And I think about scripture when it talks about the whitewashed tombs and it's like oh and the and it's narrow and and you can add on to all those things that scripture comes that says but um yeah...
Let the dog out again.
Who let the dog out? [laughter]
Peter is actually I think one of the greatest examples of before he got truly born again.
Oh yeah. Like because you look at that encounter before Jesus was gone to the cross and everybody says how like Peter was just a mess up all the time and he wasn't. He was doing what he knew to do in the flesh and he was going to defend Christ to the death. But he meant to do it with a sword in his hand and Christ said, "Nope, this ain't how we're doing it." And he just could not get that through his head what he meant.
Holy Spirit comes and we're going to see a whole brand new Peter come out.
Yes. Definitely.
It's a total change of person.
Yeah.
From die by live by the sword, die by the sword to live in Christ, die with Christ. They're they're two way different things. And it's so powerful to think about like...
He transformed, we transformed. And it's a constant growing in knowledge. So in all you're getting get understanding. [laughter]
And as the ask go and as Peter stands up each time in acts he gets bolder and bolder.
Amen.
Yeah.
Amen. Yeah. Because God reveals himself more and more more and more the more you dive in. Each time you know each time I read a different the same chapters over and over I get new fresh revelation each time. It never gets old. Amen.
Yeah. You know, and when you look at Peter's life, you know, any one of us can fit into his life, you know, um I probably cut off a couple ears, you know, spiritual ears, not physical ears, you know, and Jesus probably had to sew back on, you know, he had to put them back on, you know. Um he he was a fisherman. He was a regular person just like you and I, you know. He wasn't a special person. He didn't go to theology school. He was an average person that God wanted to show that he can show up and show off in in a simple person. And he's he's the one of the first people that stands up as a leader without, you know, a biblical degree. And and I'm not I'm not saying it's not important to have a degree because if God's calling you to go and get one, you go and get one. Yeah. He's I I just I love Peter, you know. He was He's full of zeal.
He was just an ordinary person.
He had no special qualifications, but God used him mightily and powerfully.
Yeah.
On his church, you know, Jesus said, he says, "On this church, in this rock, I will build my church."
Yep. Amen.
Yeah. Yeah. And the gates of hell will not prevail. like he had and he said, you know, you didn't come up with that, but the father gave you that information. You know, this is awesome. Um, the Pharisees didn't hear from God like Peter did.
The Pharisees of all Pharisees didn't hear the Lord. And I think that's why they were struggling so much because Jesus was hearing God. He was being led by the Holy Spirit. He was he said if you seen me you seen the father. So what if as we get baptized in the holy spirit and we start to be led by the holy spirit that we really really represent Christ you know and I'm not saying that I'm going to look like the father but what if I do reflect my daddy you know and what if I want to grab a hold of his leg and not let go of him and I want to go everywhere he goes. I I I prayed a prayer several years ago and I literally asked God, I said, "I don't want to live one day not knowing what your presence is like. I I don't want to live one day." And I went on a journey where I had to experience some really tough stuff. But I had I mean I have so many major miracles and signs and wonders from that moment because I had to rely on God to show up and show off on a missions trip that I went on.
He's he's amazing.
Yeah.
Amen.
That row is pretty quiet. Sorry.
Your turn. I already put mine in it. Fin [laughter] and Doug's [clears throat] turn.
You want to read the next part? [laughter]
You guys have anything?
You got something?
Uh, I was just going to say to...
Yeah.
To go all the way back to like Peter and Judas. And to me, what I think is they they actually portray what's inside all of us. And it's...
What I mean by that is...
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were in perfect love. And the reason we knew they were loving the Lord or to prove that they loved the Lord was they had one thing that the Lord said, "Hey, you can have everything else just this one thing." And the reason that is part of the reason that is is because love without free will isn't love. It's it's actually abuse. It's manipulation because love always comes with free will. Love always comes with a choice. Love is it's an action word. It's not just a feeling or emotion or like the even Jesus says there's no greater love than to what? Lay down your life for another. And that doesn't even have to be a like right that moment you're taking a bullet for someone. That could be I'm literally laying down my whole life for another person. Not that I'm married, but we see that reflected in marriage as well. It's just I like the Apostle Paul talks about in Ephesians. Men, love your wives as what Jesus loved the church, laying down his life for her. It's it's the same version verbiage. It's the same idea of...
Love is a choice. And I think with Judas and Peter, what we see is the the role of that the knowledge of good and evil, the role of that there is always going to be two trees in our life. There's always going to be two trees in our heart. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which shows us that we don't love God, and then the tree of life, which shows us that we do love God. And I think really when you look at all the disciples, they each had their own little bit of a crux to them. They each had that tree that was in them. For Judas, it was finances. Uh I I always I jokingly say it sometimes but also in a serious tone of when people talk about stewarding finances and stewarding things and ste and we can sometimes make that a idol in of itself because even Judas or even Jesus gave Judas the responsibility of the finances fully knowing that he had the capability of doing what he ended up doing.
Yeah. Yeah. But he had the opportunity. he had the opportunity. And that and that's the thing. Same thing with Peter. Like you look at the verbiage of what Peter says and does throughout his journey with Jesus. He goes from this boss mentality of ruling people in a sense of only looking out for himself. And you see that slowly transform and be remade into a shepherd of people.
Him saying in John 21, feed my sheep. Yes. Tend to my lambs. Feed my lambs. It's a complete, it's still right along that path of Peter, who are you going to love? Do you love me? Then tend to don't rule over, don't control, tend to, feed, care for my sheep. Right? And the same thing with Judas. He gave Judas this opportunity to overcome that which Satan would use to bring him down. And even in his failing, you see this with Peter too. Again, it's this like in my mind, it's this like mirror image. It's this parallel of what happened in Genesis to what's happening now with the new covenant that Christ is going to be making. Will you choose me or will you choose yourself? Will you choose death? And what you see is Peter ultimately choosing the Lord. Judas had the same opportunity to go back to Christ and seek forgiveness. Yeah.
Had the same opportunity to like in my head like I just think about the reason why Jesus kissed him wasn't to sear him with guilt and shame. It was him to for Jesus showing him compassion and love of I love you so much. I don't want to lose you. You always have a place here with me. You always have a road to me. But Judas choosing the second tree, choosing death, choosing what he chose went down a path that [snorts] ultimately ended in his demise to the point where he he was his land was considered cursed. But it didn't have to go that way. And that's not to be like, okay, so like you can just sin and do whatever you want and Jesus is going. Yes, Jesus will be forgive you, but it's not this hyper mercy mentality. It doesn't mean there won't be a cost to what you do.
Yeah, that's right.
But what it is is Jesus always makes a path for you to go to him and to stay with him. And it's usually when we're doing things in our own strength and our own knowledge and our own understanding that we go back to fishing instead of being the [clears throat] shepherd that we're called to be. We go back to the cruxes of our life and let shame and guilt shackle us once again instead of letting Christ rule and reign in our life and bringing others into freedom.
Yeah.
It's good.
Oh yeah. I I was thinking the same thing but such a smaller [laughter] portion of I was just thinking of the motive of the heart but that's such a deeper place to head with it because I was thinking like inherently we know I knew my struggles before Christ like nobody else knew them. Me and God knew them. I didn't even know God yet but he knew all the things I had all the struggles I was having. And then but God like that peace that comes in just from knowing him. Um it just such a contrast because you got Peter who denies Christ. Judas turned him in and like you say that choice remain like that choice was there.
It never left.
What are you going to choose? I mean, we have this free gift. Jesus Christ in came in the flesh paid this price for us. He asks one thing. Lay down your life for me except me.
That's all we have to do. It's so simple.
Yet...
It is.
We make it so difficult. We tried to earn and work for and none of those things are going to cut it at the end. It's a heart thing. Are you mine or are you not?
Yeah. And again, I love that because it's just another step in being able to say like what do you want to choose? What what do moving forward? We're getting ready to go into 2026.
God wants you. Jesus wants you.
He does.
Regardless of where you are, you can't earn it. You can't do it. Be good enough for it.
But he still died for you. Do you want to take the step and say yes to him? Do you want to take the step and receive the Holy Spirit? It's free.
It is the one thing in life that is free. And you don't have to look a certain way. You don't have to know scripture. You don't there's no formula to it. When he approached uh Peter and Andrew at the Sea of Galilee, he just said, "Come follow me." He didn't say you there are special requirements. He just said follow me and they dropped their nets and they followed him. He's saying to you tonight where or today wherever you're listening from he's calling you. He's saying come come to me. Don't try to clean yourself up. Don't try to get it right. I'll help you through that whole process.
But don't leave it at the table. Don't leave it right here for yourself. um a another day. Like don't think like you've got to go. I had someone say the other week like, "Well, I just need to get some things in order." You don't need to get anything in order. He wants you just as you are. Just as you are.
Y...
If you're not sure, it's okay. He knows you're not sure, but he still wants you. There's not enough. You can't have enough junk. Jesus wants you and your junk. Just say yes to him.
Yep.
And let him clean you up. And if you need help, we have Radical Christianity here. We have At the Table Ministries here. We will help guide you through these feeds. You can just send us a message um on YouTube, on Facebook, um on Tik Tok, wherever. Send us a message. We'll get in contact with you. We'll message you back. We'll send you a Bible. We'll help you walk through this process because he wants you.
Yes. He wants you.
He wants you.
You. You.
You. You. You.
The best decision you'll ever make.
You know, you know it it this like with Judas, Jesus washed his feet at the last supper.
Yeah.
Just like he did. He took off his garment and washed his feet. And you know, and he honored Judas even though Judas was was planning to do something else. And I believe he was giving Judas an opportunity. He was dusting off his feet. He was dusting off the of everything that he had walked through.
Yeah.
You know, and it goes back to Genesis 2. I think it's two or four. And it's um Cain and Abel. and and Cain Jesus or the Lord goes to Cain and he says, "Wh are you angry?" He said, "Don't you think that if you give me an offering worthy that I won't receive it?" And and in that he said, and I love this part. He said, "The enemy is laying at your door, at your foot, but you have power over him."
Amen.
And and I feel like that, you know, in this it comes back to play Judas had power over the enemy, but he chose not to to walk in that.
That's right. It's just like what Brad said. Yeah.
You know, just because he's the one that that ultimately sent Jesus to the cross, we all did, you know, we're all a part of this.
And so, we all have an opportunity to receive Christ and it's an opportunity to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and watch such a glorious journey just evolve. Yeah.
All right, let's finish it up. Verse 21. Acts one, verse 21. Does someone want to read?
Yes. You want to do that? All right, we're going 21.
Verse 21.
All right, let's see. Um, therefore, it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us [snorts] and his resurrection. So they pro pro me...
Proposed.
So they proposed two men Joseph called Baro Barabus.
Sure.
Also known as justice and Mias. Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two men you have chosen to take over the apostolic ministry which Judas left to go where he belongs." [laughter]
Then they cast lots and the lots fell to Mias. So, he was added to the 11 apostles.
Woo.
Yeah. This is...
Now, that might not seem like a lot, but let me tell you, the Lord was all over me on this.
Really?
Yeah. Well, I just think about what we're set up what we're set up as in in churches and do we have this kind of setup for praying about something and to like our boards or eldership? And I mean, I know the boards are more helping with finances. Eldership is more about the spiritual um direction, but I just love that, you know, up right above 21 verse 21. May another take his place of leadership and then it it's like us, the six of us sitting here like we need more people. You're going to pray about it. Then they prayed. There's nothing fancy here. Lord, you know everyone's heart. Verse 24, you know everyone's heart.
Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over the apostolic ministry. Do we take the time to truly pray about these things or we're just like, "Oh, we got to fill the seat. Let's get the next best person we think instead of praying into it." Then they cast lots and I and um Doug and I were talking about this like what is lot what does that mean cast lots? I mean I know what it means but for our viewers out there what does that mean to cast lots? And Doug was explaining that to me because I really didn't know at the moment. Somebody wants to explain casting lots because today in the culture we vote on things. Maybe some church some places don't vote. They just like, "Hey, yeah, let's fill the spot." And there's someone filling the spot and you have no idea spiritually what that person is about.
And also like with casting lots, it was all God.
Yeah.
Like God let the whether it was dice or whatever it was, rocks fall where Yeah. Let the rocks fall where they belong, you know.
And in voting [clears throat] it's man, you know. Yes, the Holy Spirit can do it, but there's a lot of...
Favoritism.
Yes, it can be favoritism. Why are you voting? You know, um, you know, are they your best friend? You know, but do we realize that these men were chosen because they were from the beginning to the end of this entire walk.
They didn't just choose someone from out there that, you know, might do a better job. They chose someone that was part of that's been a part of it. Yeah.
Are are we doing that in our churches and our businesses and our ministries? Are we...
Yeah. I I don't know. I mean, I know of experiences. as I know what people have talked about to me about and I've I've seen different things and I would say at least in my experience and in my opinion of what's been spoken to me no we're not doing that because of the way that things are set up um people make decisions and if if the upper leadership doesn't like that decision and look I'm I'm sorry if I'm offending you but I'm not Sorry if I'm offending you because we want to directly talk about scripture and what scripture talks about. And if you have upper leadership who then decides, well, these people were, let's say, suggested, but you choose someone else because you want it to go your way, then that's the wrong way. That's not what God um has intended it to be.
Yeah. You know, and as we go through the book of Acts, you're going to find, you know, when they chose the seven to replace the um apostles because the I just love this. The apostle says it's not right for us to to set aside our diligence to go and serve the the gospel to serve tables.
Yeah.
You know, um, we're putting we're putting God at the bottom of the list and we need to start putting God at the top. the men that they chose even for that the seven that they chose they were walking in signs, wonders, miracles, they had wisdom of God.
Yeah.
You know, they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Are we showing those evidence? You know, that's a really, you know, I really want to see a lot of ministries and a lot of businesses that are run by Christians to to start walking in these examples. And and I think that's when we're going to super excel. And one of the evidences is not how deep your financial pocket is. That is not spiritual evidence.
No.
Anything else?
I was just thinking about the uh the placement of the them deciding who who's going to come in to the be the 12th. And it was a pretty hasty decision. obviously um because you don't really hear much about that apostle. You do hear about Paul, God's choice. And it just made me think like how many other Paul's of us are there? Each one of us can be a Paul. It's just spending time with Jesus that sets you apart.
Um...
But the the crazy thing with Paul is he he was still a Pharisee of all Pharisees, right? Right.
So, he was on the outside looking in and he was about ready to get knocked off his eyeb [laughter] knocked off his...
Eye. Donkey [laughter] had a visual. [laughter]
Yeah. What that spoke to me is, you know, how long they had to know them from Jesus' baptism to his ascension.
And uh this way they got to know their heart and give an example of like Simon the sorcerer how quickly he grew but his heart was not in the right place because he tried to buy the Holy Spirit.
Yes. You know, it kind of narrow the people down so you know where if their heart is in the right position.
And how many times we choose people just because they look good, they do the say the right things, but their heart's not correct.
Yep.
And do you want that person to be on your ministry team that their heart's not in the right place?
You know, this gave them time to find to make sure that their heart was in the right place.
Amen. Yeah. Because one person can tear down the ministry pretty quickly.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, kind of along with that, one one of the things that we do um with Youth with a Mission is we have a a disciplehip training school. And so you get to spend six months with people and you get to learn them pretty well.