Wes: 00:00

Five times in the book of Acts, the people are called the people of the way.

Music: 00:05

By my holy name will humble themselves and seek my face. They pray, if they pray, if they pray and seek my face, I will hear. I will

Wes: 00:26

Returning first to Isaiah chapter 40 verses three through five.

Esther: 00:31

The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hills shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken of.

Wes: 01:08

This is a prophetic word from Isaiah talking about the way of the Lord. It's going to be a beautiful way. The Lord himself is going to make a straight way for us and help us where there's mountains that have to be climbed. He will lower the mountains and in the deep valleys, he will raise them up. He is with his people as they walk his way.

Wes: 01:42

So this was a prophetic word from Isaiah. Now we're gonna turn to Malachi to hear a prophetic word from him. Turning to Malachi chapter three verses one through three.

Esther: 01:57

Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?

Esther: 02:28

For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Wes: 02:54

Amen. Now, God's talking about this path that is the way of the Lord and in the process of the path that we are going to be refined like silver and gold. Now, if you've ever seen a goldsmith work or a silversmith, they they put intense heat underneath the metal. And when it reaches a certain temperature, it liquefies. And when that metal becomes liquid, all of the impurities come up to the top.

Wes: 03:40

And the master goldsmith can take his ladle and wipe off these impurities. And this is what God will do with us as we're walking through this life. He calls it a desert. We look at the world. It's a dangerous place.

Wes: 04:01

When I was a young boy and Boy Scouts, we went to Philmont's Scout Ranch and we were out into the desert area and they taught us how to survive, how to even put down a rattlesnake. You have to catch them with a forked branch and then chop them, chop the head off with a bowie knife. So I never did tell my dear mother about that episode with the rattlesnake. But my wife and I passed her for a while in the inner city. We were involved right in the middle of a ghetto and you could hear gunshots go off and people would die a block or two away.

Wes: 04:49

So, we live in a dangerous world today. But as we walk on the path with God, he puts his angels about us. He he said, I will put angels about those that love me and serve me. It's a path where God accompanies us and he he refines us. We're the people that have faith in Christ today are the sons, are the recipients.

Wes: 05:19

We're the Bible says in Romans 11 that we're we're grafted into Israel. We're the fullness of the expression of God, Jesus said He didn't come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill the law and He fulfilled it in spiritual ways. We'll go into that more deeply. But let's go on to Malachi chapter four for another proclamation by this prophet.

Wes: 05:50

Malachi chapter four, it's the next chapter over, verses five and six.

Esther: 05:56

Behold, I will send you Elijah.

Wes: 05:59

Wherever the Bible says, behold, it's usually in capital letters and it means the presence of God is there. So as we read this word, God is present in His word. Jesus said, my words are spirit and they are life. And not just for an abundant life in this world, but to take us into eternal life with him.

Esther: 06:29

Behold, I will send you Elijah.

Wes: 06:32

I will send you Elijah.

Esther: 06:35

The prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord.

Wes: 06:41

That's the day that he's gonna come back in judgment. And, folks, we need to be ready. We need to be purified. Like he said, he he he's gonna purify these sons of Levi. He's he's gonna purify them like gold and silver.

Wes: 06:57

He wants us to be purified of any sins that we have. And that's what the role of repentance is. And in Hebrew, it's called teshuvah. Teshuvah is the way. It's the way that Jesus expressed.

Wes: 07:13

He said, except you teshuvah, you'll likewise perish. He said, Teshuvah for the kingdom of God is at hand. So all of the prophets proclaimed this way, this the way of Teshuvah. And we're gonna read where he affirmed those prophets.

Esther: 07:34

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children.

Wes: 07:39

And he's gonna turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children. How many families are disrupted from the evilness in this world and parents that don't care about their children and children wanna be disassociated from their parents. And I won't name a name but currently a child of a former president wanted to be disassociated with her father. And what a horrible thing to lay upon a father. But this word is saying that in this path of teshuvah, that's gonna bring families together.

Wes: 08:19

It's gonna bring children, daughters and sons with their mothers and fathers and and their hearts are gonna bind together in love.

Esther: 08:29

And the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Wes: 08:37

He does not want families to be divided. And when people divide in their family and they disown their children or the children disown their parents, they they enter into a curse because God's first plan was for the family to be together. Okay. So you're from a broken family. That doesn't mean that you can't turn around and and serve God.

Wes: 09:03

And perhaps you're turning into the path of teshuvah is is is going to bring love and comfort to your family. And you can reach out even though a family is broken and you can reach out to those that have suffered from the brokenness. I'm telling you folks, this path of Teshuvah is a wonderful path. It's a beautiful path. People look at repentance and think, oh, this is this is not a good thing.

Wes: 09:35

I have to confess my sins. No. It's a good thing because we deal with these sins and we become free from them. Jesus said, I come to set the captives free. And there's a beauty in freedom.

Wes: 09:49

If you've been enslaved to something and then you get set free, it's a beautiful thing. Okay, we're gonna turn to Acts chapter 18 verse 24 and we see that Jesus affirms the fact of Elijah the coming of Elijah. Now, the coming of Elijah is really the coming of John the Baptist. He was the he was the one that came and set forth that straight path. What was the path?

Wes: 10:26

The path of repentance. He baptized people into repentance. And he even baptized Jesus into repentance. Now, Jesus had no sin. So why did he have to be baptized?

Wes: 10:44

Because teshuvah is a journey. And Jesus had a journey that was God driven. He had to go to the cross. He had to suffer humiliation. He had to be crucified and shed that precious blood.

Wes: 11:03

There's no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. And when the temple was in operation, they had animals that shed their blood for the sins of people for a year. But his blood is forever. His sacrifice is forever available to every individual. And so let's read what Jesus said.

Wes: 11:29

We're turning to Acts chapter 18 verses 24 through 28.

Esther: 11:35

And a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus.

Wes: 11:45

We know that he's eloquent and he's mighty in the scriptures.

Esther: 11:50

This man was instructed in the way of the Lord.

Wes: 11:53

He was instructed in the way of the Lord.

Esther: 11:55

And being fervent in the spirit

Wes: 11:58

Fervent in the spirit.

Esther: 12:00

He spake and taught diligently

Wes: 12:03

He taught diligently

Esther: 12:04

the things of the Lord

Wes: 12:06

The things of the Lord.

Esther: 12:08

Knowing only the baptism of John

Wes: 12:11

Only the baptism of John.

Esther: 12:13

And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him onto them and expounded onto him the way of God more perfectly.

Wes: 12:28

They expounded onto him the way of God more perfectly. And that's our subject here today is to determine what is the way. Not only what is the way, but what is the way more perfectly. Because some people know about the way, but they do not know about the way more perfectly.

Esther: 12:54

And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him who, when he was calm, helped them much which had believed through grace.

Wes: 13:09

He helped those that had needed help. They needed the grace of God and they received help and he was able to help minister to them.

Esther: 13:19

For he mightily convinced the Jews.

Wes: 13:22

He mightily convinced the Jews.

Esther: 13:25

And that publicly showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

Wes: 13:32

He was able to convince them. He was eloquent. And the thing that he convinced them with was that Jesus was the Christ. Christ is oftentimes used as the name of Jesus, but his name is Jesus. In Hebrew, it's Yeshua.

Wes: 13:55

Christ means the anointed one. And in Hebrew, it's Yeshua, the Messiah. And the Messiah was known as an anointed one. He would come with the spirit of God preaching truth. The way more perfectly is a way that understands that Jesus is the Christ.

Wes: 14:24

Now, we look in the scriptures when Jesus took his apostles to Caesarea Philippi at the base of Mount Hermon and he asked them, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Son, say you're Elijah or John the Baptist or one of the prophets. And he said, Who do you say that I am? And Peter jumped up and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. He was both the son of man and he was the son of God.

Wes: 15:00

And his divinity was the spirit of God that was in him. That same spirit that was in him can be in you and me. He said, if you love me and you obey me, I will be with you and I will dwell in you. And that's the power of God. That's the resurrection power that can take us and transform us into his image.

Wes: 15:27

And ultimately, apostle Paul said, if the spirit that was in Christ is in you, it will raise up our mortal bodies. After we die, there will be a resurrection. And those that die in Christ will be caught up with him in the heavens and will be with him for eternity. That's a promise for us. And God bless you.