Plays On Word Radio
An in-depth look at the Word of God, the Plays On Word community, and the Plays - with original music - we perform, that are based on the Word of God. New episodes drop Fridays at 7AM EST! To find out how Plays On Word Theater can perform 'LIVE on YOUR STAGE' and to support this missionary & podcast visit: https://playsonword.org/
Plays On Word Radio
Ep 85: The Importance of Verifying Faith - Lessons from the Bereans and Transformation of Peter
"Why is personal engagement with Scripture crucial in your faith journey?
This episode emphasizes the importance of independently scrutinizing biblical teachings, the disciples' unwavering faith, Peter's transformation, the nature of free will, and Satan's tactics."
How do you verify what you believe, and why does it matter? Tune into this Plays on Word Radio episode where we promise you’ll learn the importance of scrutinizing biblical teachings independently, just like the noble Bereans. We’ll journey through the unwavering faith of the disciples who stood firm even in the face of death, emphasizing the significance of your personal engagement with the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. It’s not just a story; it’s your journey.
Witness the incredible transformation of Peter, who went from denying Jesus to boldly proclaiming his faith before thousands just 50 days later. This remarkable change highlights Jesus’ enduring impact on individuals throughout history and underscores the authenticity of the apostles’ testimonies. We also discuss the concept of free will, God’s perfect creation, and the significance of the Genesis account, demonstrating the genuine, unforced nature of love and choice in our relationship with God.
Explore the timeless tactics of Satan, starting from the story of Adam and Eve, and understand how he twists God’s words to sow doubt. We discuss God’s provision for man’s sin and how it foreshadows Christ’s sacrifice. Delve into the theological perspective on the fall of Satan, examining his pride and jealousy towards humanity. This episode is packed with rich insights and encouraging messages to strengthen your faith journey. Don’t forget to follow us on your preferred platform and share this enlightening discussion to spread the Gospel effectively!
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Lord you know. Hey guys, you are now listening to Plays on Word.
Speaker 2:Radio, it's the best. Nobody is going to die for it. I'm telling you right now, there are people that die for lies all the time, but nobody is going to die for something they know is a lie. And at some point the disciples one of them dudes would have been like hey man, yo man, we made that up, man, I just came here for coffee. Next thing, you know, you know what's happening here, don't kill me. But every one of them is like no, my life is worth nothing, dude, you got nothing on me. You can take my life, it doesn't matter, because I'm coming back, because he came back, I saw him. Jesus, you're the only name. You're the only name, you're the only name. You're the only name.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen, amen. Welcome to all of you to Plays on Word Radio. Thank you very much, katie Kenney and Mr Josh Taylor. Welcome to all of you. Yeah, we are moving right along. You guys enjoyed last week right, and a week before and all the other episodes before that, yeah, yeah, well, we have something in store for you today.
Speaker 2:But before we get into that, I want to encourage you guys to uh to follow this program. If you are listening, like on the, if you get like the buzzsprout link, uh, you can listen on Podcasts and if you click the follow button, it'll automatically come to you. So I don't have to shoot you a text those of you that I text all the time, it'll just come up. You can subscribe to it that way. Or Spotify or Amazon Music, all of them. You just follow iHeartRadio. You can follow the program and it'll automatically populate for you. It'll automatically come up. And if you listen on YouTube, do me a favor and smash the thumbs up and ring the bell. You can do that for me, really appreciate it. The other thing that you can do for me I would really appreciate is right now, I want you to think about four different people, right, whoever the Lord brought to your mind Four different people, and I want you to forward this program to them. Just send it to four. Please feel free to send this out to others. Send this program to four people or more that you can think of that you would want to share the gospel, the good message, the message of the good news with, and that will. We will all be doing our part. This is more than just entertainment, okay, so I want you to do that for me. I want you to follow the program. If you listen on YouTube, then hit the thumbs up, smash the bell, smash the thumbs up, ring the bell and subscribe and send it out, and then shoot me a text Let me know you sent it out, all right. Well, today we have a very cool special message. This is going to be the gospel, so, believe me, you're going to want to listen to this. This was from a message from the church that I am overseeing, and this is a message that we delivered at Calvary, southport, and I want you to check this out and I know you're going to be blessed. So I'm just going to stop talking now and then I'm going to continue talking.
Speaker 2:One of the distinctives of what we do is that we usually teach verse by verse through the Bible. And the cool thing is, you don't have to take my word for it. In fact, you guys would be considered Bereans if you don't take my word for it, paul, if you don't take my word for it, paul told the Bereans when he preached the gospel to the Bereans, they were like no, we're going to check first, we're going to no, oh, all right, you're all right, okay, all right, okay, yeah, you're right. But yet Paul says the Bereans were more noble. They were considered more noble because they didn't just take because some dude said, this is what happened. They went and checked for themselves and that is the best way to grow as a believer.
Speaker 2:And we were in Albania. I preached a message at this church there and I asked them. I said what would happen if I, just for a day, if I just ate for you guys, even just a day, like ate, instead of you guys eating, I ate your meal. I'd probably weigh 500 pounds and you would be malnourished, you'd be like man, stomach would be growling and you'd end up getting angry, hangry, hungry and angry at me. Yeah, hangry, hungry and angry Bad combination. And the point is that I can dish up stuff, but you have to eat for yourself. You got to get the word of God for you. When you give God a chance to speak through the word he shouts, through the word, he will speak right to your heart. I mean directly to you as opposed to you know, christian music is cool, christian music is good, listening to pastors is good, but there's nothing like it's not the same as getting this food. The other stuff is like condiments, it's like some oregano or salt or something on the food. But to get to be nourished properly, spiritually, you got to get into this and that's why we emphasize the teaching of the word from Genesis to Revelation. And if you guys stick around, we will be able to say, yeah, we've gone through the entire word of God and we'll be able to stand before God and be like Lord.
Speaker 2:I read your text messages and you think about. I say this a lot, but you think about if somebody texted you 66 text messages. You know right, there's 66 text messages and you see them in the supermarket. You're in the produce aisle and you're sitting there in the produce aisle and all of a sudden, oh man, they're going to ask me did I read the messages. Right Me, I know how I am. I would ease my way to like the cereal aisle or something. I'd be like I would be trying to get out of it. I'd get on the opposite side of the supermarket.
Speaker 2:And why? Because I didn't read the messages. I didn't read the messages that they sent me, and so God has sent us 66 text messages and we don't want to stand before him. And he's going did you actually read my text? Man before him, and he's going did you actually read my text? Man? My wife says this to me all the time because I thought I was doing a good thing by prioritizing her on my iPhone. So I put her text up top on my iPhone. But what happens is I end up missing like a bunch of her texts. So she's like did you read my text? You don't even read my text. Why are you prioritizing me? Because you're missing my texts. You know, and you don't want to. You don't want to miss God's messages because he speaks loud and clear and the crazy thing is that they're love letters to us as a group and individually. But if you have your Bible, we're going to Luke 24,. I'll read it to you. This is Luke, chapter 24, and I'm only going to read a section, starting in verse one.
Speaker 2:But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb taking spices they had prepared and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. When they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen, and I just want to stop there for a second. He has risen. They went on the first day.
Speaker 2:That's the question why? What is this all about? Some dude died in 2000. What does that have to do with anything? What is the point? Why is this even a big day?
Speaker 2:First of all, if you look at the resurrection of Christ, it is out of every document. The resurrection of Christ and the gospospels is the from anything from antiquity. It dwarfs as far as evidence for the resurrection of Christ. And you could just look at a few things. Was he killed? A non-Christian historian, josephus, even writes Jesus was killed. He was absolutely.
Speaker 2:He was definitely killed because he was put on the cross by the Romans. And if the Romans messed up, if they were supposed to crucify somebody and they didn't, they got off the cross. Them and their whole families potentially would be killed. That's a historical fact because it's happened. When these guys are charged to execute somebody and that person gets off, we have precedent for that in the book of Acts. They talk about it in the book of Acts where, when Peter got out of prison, those guards got killed.
Speaker 2:So Jesus was definitely killed. There's no question about it. In fact, the word excruciating comes from crucifixion. The root of it, excruciating, comes from crucifixion. The Romans perfected the art of killing people. They didn't invent crucifixion, but they perfected it and they made it so that you would be on the cross as long as possible without dying, so that you would really pay and suffer. So he definitely died. That's really not. That's not a question. That's not a problem for a lot of people. Everybody dies. Everybody that's ever lived has died.
Speaker 2:The problem is the empty tomb. What happened on Sunday morning? That's where the problem is. And the tomb was definitely empty. If they could have produced his body, they would have shut this whole thing down 2,000 years ago, shut it down, there would be no Christianity. All they have to do is produce a body and be like this is the dude you're worshiping Some people. There was a theory.
Speaker 2:The Jesus seminar came out with a theory that Jesus really didn't die on the cross. He just caught a massive beat down. You know, he lost pints of blood and he caught the beat down of all time, but somehow he survived the crucifixion. Somehow he survived, in spite of what I just told you about the Romans being experts perfecting the art of crucifixion. Somehow Jesus survived it. That strains any type of credibility. So the tomb was empty. That was a problem.
Speaker 2:The people that put him on the cross tried to say well, the disciples came and stole the body. Okay, all right, I guess that's an option. It doesn't really square with reality. The disciple doesn't square with what these disciples shared, and I'll share in a second one of the main reasons why he made appearances, though. So after Sunday morning, he's back to life.
Speaker 2:The stone is rolled out the way, and then he appears to people, and he didn't just appear to the women. He appeared to the women first which, yeah, mary Magdalene and then to the other women. You know, he appeared to them and the fact that he appeared to women. It also points to squash a lot of the arguments that people try to make against Christianity for putting women down or anything, because, over and over, christianity elevates women rather than relegates them. You know, if you were going to write some kind of crazy story, you wouldn't have the women in that culture, you wouldn't have the women be the ones to first see him.
Speaker 2:He made appearances to Paul, he made appearances to Peter, he made appearances to over 500 people on a hill at the same time, and Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 15. He says basically what he's saying is Jesus appeared right 1 Corinthians 15, he's like appeared to 500 people on the hill, some of whom are still alive, basically saying go ask them. He was saying that to the Corinthians Go ask them. Some of them are still alive. He appeared to 500. I tell you what we could all be hallucinating. There's no such thing as a group hallucination, though, like we could take something and you know, some funny gummies or something and we could be seeing things, but there's no such thing as a group hallucination. Yeah, it's not happening. That's not happening, it's ridiculous. Yet 500 of these witnesses saw him.
Speaker 2:Then you look at, what I was going to tell you about before is the transformation of the disciples, these guys, they went to the transformation of the disciples, these guys, they went to the gnarliest deaths. They, like every one of them, went face straight up, face death. And basically what they were saying was yo, you can kill me, man, you can kill me. I know what I saw. I touched him. He ate right in front of me. You can count, nobody's going to die for something they know is a lie. Nobody is going to die for. I'm telling you right now, there are people that die for lies all the time, but nobody's going to die for something they know is a lie. And at some point the disciples one of them, dudes would have been like hey man, yo, man, we made that up, man, I just came here for the coffee. Next thing, you know, you know what's happening here, don't kill me. But every one of them's like no, my life is worth nothing, dude, you got nothing on me, you can take my life, it doesn't matter, because I'm coming back, because he came back, I saw him. When you have that type of confidence, a crucified life in the sense of us being crucified with Christ in our hearts. And these guys, they were crucified with Christ in their mind. They were like yo, you can kill me, the transformation of the disciples, the guys.
Speaker 2:You look at Peter. He was basically punked by a little servant girl who came up to him and she was like yo, you're with him, aren't you? You're one of those Galileans? He was like I don't know the man and he did it three times. He said I don't know the man. Three times he denied him. Jesus told him he was going to deny him. He denied him three times and ran off and wept bitterly after it happened. He wept and cried and he was so hurt and upset in part because he let the Lord down and just a whole mix of emotions going on.
Speaker 2:But if you look at him, 50 days later, he's standing up basically in the same place in front of 3,000 people saying, yo, this Jesus, that you guys, he was bold, he had a boldness and he had power and strength to speak and confidence. And you can only get that kind of you're not getting that type of confidence from a lie or something you cooked up If they got together and like, well, we need to make some kind of story up? No, it's not happening. It doesn't. It's ridiculous, it makes no sense. No, there's no reason for Peter to go out there, put his life on the line, or these disciples to put their lives on the line.
Speaker 2:But you look, from then to now, this same Jesus encounters people, changes their lives, invades their hearts. Even though we haven't seen him At least I haven't, I don't know, maybe you guys might have eaten them gummies, I don't know, but I haven't. I haven't. No, I haven't seen him or heard an audible voice yet I know him intimately. He speaks to my heart and I'm looking forward to the day when I do see him face to face. That day's coming.
Speaker 2:And he, this same Jesus, has transformed lives from the first century. He transformed those guys, those disciples, and he has been transforming people's lives, invading their lives and saving people's souls and changing their eternity for good. Since then to this present day, he has been doing that. And you look at the people that give their lives. Even today, there have been more people killed for the name of Christ in the last hundred years or the last century than there have been all the other centuries combined. Up to that point, there have been more people martyred for the name of Christ, and every one of them's like yeah, you're going to have to kill me, man, you're going to have, you can kill me. I'm not cool with it, but you can kill me, because I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that I will stand with him. We're coming back, see.
Speaker 2:The first question I asked was why? What is this all about? What was the whole point of this? Why did Jesus have to come? Because God, before he even said let there be light in the mind of God, jesus was the lamb that was going to take away the sin of the world. God made everything perfect. God doesn't make mistakes, so everything he makes is perfect, right. So he's like the ultimate designer. He is the standard of perfection, holiness, righteousness and perfection.
Speaker 2:The problem is if he's going to give us any kind of choice which, in his perfection, he deemed right to give us an opportunity to choose or to reject him. The same way, no parent is going to hold a gun to their kid and say tell me, you love me. If the kid says I love you, is it real? No, that's coercion. You're being forced to say I love you. God doesn't want us to come to him, because he commands us to come to him. And there must be an option, freedom. There must be some kind of freedom given for love to be legit and true and real. So when a child comes to you and says, mommy, daddy, I love you, I really love you, that's real, that wasn't forced, that's real love. So let's apply that to God. When he created everything, he created everything perfect, yet he created the potential to reject him.
Speaker 2:And in Genesis I'll read it, you don't have to go there In Genesis 2, you go back to the very, very beginning Genesis 2. In verse 15 and 16 he says God put, talking about Adam, adam the first man, first dude, god put the man in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it verse 16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying you surely may eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. That's the Bible that Adam had. That's the word of God that Adam had. That's what God spoke to Adam. I mean, he's no doubt he probably spoke other things, but as far as what we have recorded, the word of God, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden. Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day you eat of it you're going to die. Don't do that. And what does Adam do in Genesis 3? His wife goes, eve goes and eats of the tree. And it was a rebellion. Adam knew what he was doing. He knew what he was doing. Eve was deceived but Adam knew he was right there when the whole thing went down.
Speaker 2:And people like to mock this whole story. Oh, the Genesis story, that's myth, fable, whatever, whatever. No, this is legit. This is real. Why is it real? Because Jesus spoke of it as being real. I'll get to why. Jesus validates everything.
Speaker 2:But the point being, as far as in Genesis 3, critics, they like to say oh, you know, and it's never called an apple in Genesis, it's just a fruit. But the point is eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. If you drill down into that, that word knowledge is the same exact word that's used for Adam when he slept with Eve. He knew his wife. It's an intimacy it's about. It's not a sexual thing, it's an intimacy of knowing at a level of becoming one with. Now put that in with knowing good.
Speaker 2:And now here's the problem. And evil that's the problem. It's not some fruit, and you know they want to make. Oh, they ate a fruit. So, god, here's the problem. And evil that's the problem. It's not some fruit and they want to make. Oh, they ate a fruit. So God's mad. No, because you don't eat of the tree, of the fruit, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I'm not worried about the good, but the evil is the problem. And we see the repercussions of that choice vibrating throughout every society on the planet, and it has been for millennia, because you can see humans do incredible good, but we see some of the nastiest evil, unimaginable evil that a human being will do to another human being, and it goes back to that. It all goes back to that, because we are intimate with the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. We have become one with evil and one with good. So there's a problem.
Speaker 2:As soon as Adam and Eve sinned and messed up, they took the choice and said ah, you know, I want to do it my way. Because if you look at what Satan said to the woman, the first thing, satan says the first thing a certain servant says. The first thing he says is did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree? Wait a minute, if I go back and look at what God said, god said you are free to eat of every tree. What did Satan say? Did God say you can't eat? God never said you can't eat. God said you are free to eat. He said just do not eat of the tree. But Adam and Eve were still free to eat of that tree. God could have barred them from doing that, but they were truly free.
Speaker 2:And here Satan comes in and twists the word of God, throws in a word and twists it. He's been doing the same thing since. Did God actually say Questioning the word of God? Is this actually the word of God? No, that's a myth, man. That's some old stuff. It's all corrupted, it's been passed down and you can't trust that. Did God really say it's the same thing, it's the same line.
Speaker 2:And the woman said to the serpent we can eat from the trees of the garden. God said you shall not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden, nor shall you touch it lest you die. She's adding words to what he said. He didn't say that. Then the serpent says this is the key, right here. This is where he shifts it into high gear to what we see today. Serpent said to Eve you will not surely die. Straight up contradicting, so first questioning the word of God. Let's question it. Is it really the word of God, did God say, and then straight up contradicting it You're not gonna die, you won't die. God said in the day you eat of it. You're gonna die, you won't die. God knows when you eat of it. Your eyes will be open and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. So now he's playing on pride. You'll be like him, you can be a God. You can be like God. Pride, that's the root of every problem. It comes down to pride, whether or not we're going to obey God or not. But I'm going to fast forward.
Speaker 2:They dropped the ball. They ate of the fruit. They did what they weren't supposed to do. Adam and Eve then realized oh boy, we messed up here. We made a mistake, and they went and grabbed fig leaves. You guys, do you have fig trees down here in North Carolina? Yeah, it's up in New Jersey, they have fig trees, I know that. But I guess they have everything. Here they have alligators, they got everything.
Speaker 2:So they went and they grabbed fig leaves and they sewed fig leaves together and tried to cover their nakedness. This is another thing that people like to try to mock Christianity. Oh, what's the big deal about being naked? It's not about walking around without, it's a need for covering. That's the thing.
Speaker 2:Now, adam and Eve need a covering because they have sinned and they recognized it. And what did they do? They tried to cover up their problem. They tried to cover themselves up, and man can never, ever. Man cannot cover up his sin, no matter what man does. We started out with a white robe and it's like we spilled grape juice all over it. No matter what you do, you can't get the stain out. It's never going to be 100% perfect. And Adam and Eve, they were trying to. That's a picture of religion. Religion says okay, if I do this, if I do this, I can get right with God. If I do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Christianity says no, god has done what needs to be done. And I'll give you the example. I'll show you how. Adam and Eve, they tried to make fig leaves. Fig leaves cannot cover, they don't work, they're going to fall apart. It's not going to work.
Speaker 2:But in verse 20 of Genesis 3, it says 21, the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them. This must have completely blown Adam's mind because up to that point nothing died. I mean there wasn't killing. Like we've got a different point of reference. We grow up. We see blood all the time here. God takes an innocent animal, brings an innocent animal to Adam and Eve Actually, let me rewind the tape a little bit Right when they sinned.
Speaker 2:As soon as Adam and Eve sinned and brought sin into the human condition and this problem and became sinners like everyone else, like all of us. As soon as it happened, it says God was walking in the cool of the day. And God said Adam, where are you? Anytime God asks you a question, he already knows the answer. He's the best lawyer. There is no lawyer is going to ask you a question. He doesn't already know the answer in court, right? He's the best lawyer. There is no lawyer is going to ask you a question. He doesn't already know the answer in court, right? Well, god asks Adam not for God's knowledge. God doesn't need to know where he is. Adam, where are you? That's a heavy question. Where are you? And what was Adam doing? He was hiding from God. That's the first reaction we have when we sin and really know. It's not natural for us to run to God when we make mistakes. It's not natural. It's oh man, I got to hide, I got to try to cover this up, but yet God came seeking Adam.
Speaker 2:And then, after God says in Genesis 15, 315, genesis chapter 315, he makes the first promise of a gospel. He said the seed of a woman is going to come and the serpent's going to bruise his heel, but he's going to basically crush the head of the serpent. And from that seed, right there in Genesis 315, it's what we call the first gospel promise. It's the proto-evangelium in the Greek. It is the very first promise of a gospel and the entire Bible, from that seed, starts opening up. This seed of the woman, who? What Seed of the woman? The dude is the one with the seed, traditionally, and so that right there says points to the virgin birth of Christ. It's going to be something special. The seed of the woman, the woman's going to have a son, wait what? So the seed of the woman is going to come and the entire Bible starts opening up from this point on.
Speaker 2:As soon as sin showed up, god showed up with the plan and he gives this plan the seed of the woman. And then, after he gives that, he takes an innocent animal and brings it right before Adam and Eve and he kills it, sheds. The first bloodshed is by the hands of God. He pulls the skins off and makes coverings for them. That's a picture of the gospel right there. Adam and Eve could not even cover their. They couldn't cover themselves, but God could. God is the one who provided the covering for them. He provided the animals, showed them how to do it.
Speaker 2:Now you fast forward through the book. The book starts opening up about redemption and this plan. This scarlet thread moves throughout the entire scripture about this one that's coming and God providing a way through, because he doesn't want us to suffer his judgment. The judgment was designed for the angels that rebelled against him. They have no out, they're locked into their positions, but us, the pinnacle of creation, he wants us to have fellowship and he even made a way where there was no way.
Speaker 2:And that's actually another thing. Let me back up. People try to, I personally. It doesn't say when Satan fell, or nothing like that. But if you think about it, god's sitting there, he's making everything right and he makes all this stuff. And then you know he makes you, you're an angel, he makes you an angel and you're like man, this is all right, I'm. You know, we're something special. Maybe you're even in charge of the worship and then all of a sudden, you see God spending like bending down with, making mud. What is he doing? And he's makes this mud and he breathes into the mud. The mud starts moving in the mud. He starts spending time with the, with the, with the mud. That's Adam. He makes Adam.
Speaker 2:If you're an angel, you're a higher functioning being. You're like I mean, that's how I believe, that's how they, that's how pride was found in them. They were jealous, they were upset Some of them, and they had a ringleader. Their ringleader was probably the one that was the worship leader before Adam showed up on the scene. And there's pride like, well, yeah, you know, I don't mind being right here with God leading worship for God, and everything like that. Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, I'm not number one, number two anymore. I'm not what. Preach it. What is this? Satan has had it out for mankind ever since Yep. Ever since Amen, amen, amen. Well, that is, unfortunately, that is all the time that we have, so until next week, when we continue this, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
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