In episode 191 of the "No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe" podcast, Greg Ryan explores the fourth stop on his "Mountain of God" framework, titled "Imitating Christ." He begins by diagnosing a "power shortage" in the contemporary church, arguing that many believers lack the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the fire of God. Using Ezekiel 2:6, Isaiah 55:7, and especially John 14:12, Ryan asserts that believers are called to imitate Jesus’ life—preaching, teaching, and healing—and that the works of Christ can be replicated and even surpassed through the indwelling Holy Spirit. He critiques the popular "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD) mindset, urging listeners to focus on what Jesus actually did rather than speculating about his hypothetical actions. Greg ties the doctrine of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to the believer’s identity as a new creation, referencing Matthew 3:17 and the declaration that each saved person is a beloved son or daughter of God. He encourages regular immersion in the Gospels, personal relationship with Christ, repentance, and reliance on the Holy Spirit to accomplish greater works, including the Great Commission. The episode concludes with a prayer of gratitude and a call to continue studying the Scriptures.
Welcome to episode 191.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 191. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I am getting into a different, or going to a different stop on my mountain, and I know that some of you are probably fired up about the fact that we're not going to have to be endued with power, or at least learn about being endued with power. We're to always be endued with power. We're to be plugged into the power source, and And I don't wanna go back to that stop on the mountain, but you're forcing me to. Just kidding, we are moving on. Actually, we're gonna take a step back because I wanted to talk about endued with power because I think that that is our biggest challenge in the church right now. I think if you were Satan, that's the one thing you would not want to have to face every day is a church filled with believers who are baptized in the Holy Spirit and full of fire and the glory of God. You just wouldn't wanna face that, so you're gonna do everything in your power to diminish that, to extinguish that flame or that fire, to discourage, to despair, all of those D words. But I wanna go back one step, and it's the step 4 on the mountain. And if this is your first time here, welcome aboard, and I have created a simple picture of the mountain of God, and it's the journey from point A to point B, And I'll put a link to the map to where you can download the map. It's a free little map. And it's not a be-all end-all, but I just find it a lot easier to get my thoughts around different truths when I put 'em at maybe a different stop on the mountain. And that's kind of my whole, and I like the word modus operandi, of creating this mountain is so that I have a physical representation of this journey you and I are walking through life, the Christian walk, if you will. And so this next stop is called imitating Christ, and this was stop 4 on my mountain. I wanted to go deeper into the endued with power, and I've already told you because I think that that's— there's a big power shortage in the church, and I kind of wanted to just address the big elephant in the room. And a scripture that I use a lot when I go to teaching, I don't think I've ever told you this, but it's in Ezekiel 2:6. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house. You shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you: do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I give you. And so that scripture kind of guides me along, and when I have a thought in my head, and we've talked about this multiple times, but when I get a thought in my head, then I've got, I've got an obligation or a sense of urgency to teach it to you. And when I saw this power of God, where it's kind of ignored or it's taught against, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit's a better way to say that, I just take it full force straight on. And instead of talking around it, I just go right to it. And maybe you're here because you're drawn to that, and you may not agree with everything, but at least I talk about things that maybe other people don't want to talk about, and I think that's an important topic. But I want to move on to imitating Christ, that we are called to be imitators of Christ, that we are to walk in his footsteps. But in order to do that, I, I remember the book that was written by Charles Sheldon called In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? And that's where you got the WWJD, those bracelets, or the question people were asking. That was where that question originated was this book. And I don't wanna go into that book, but I just wanna kinda tweak it because I think it's more important. When you start asking what would Jesus do, then you've gotta kinda get into your mind and kinda try to figure out how God thinks. And the Bible is clear. That God's thoughts are not like our thoughts. And for that, we need to go to Isaiah, and we're gonna start in 55:7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And because I'm somewhat of a simpleton and I don't want to have to think too hard, it makes my brain hurt. And if you've been on this podcast, you know I don't get into a lot of deep thinking. But I do want you to think about— and there's that word, think— as I was praying and meditating on this stop on the mountain, I, I thought, you know, what did Jesus do? Wouldn't that be a better question to ask ourselves? What did Jesus do? Instead of kind of trying to figure out what he would have done had he been there, why don't we just look at what Jesus did and study the life of Jesus and just dig into the Bible and to see how Jesus lived his life. And with that in mind, that is where John 14:12— I mean, it opened up so many different paths for me in my life. And I've got to read it again, and it's John 14:12. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do because I go to my Father. And when you start thinking about what did Jesus do, this scripture demands that you have that answer. What did he do? The works that I do He will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. Jesus has gone to the Father. He is at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He's making intercession for you and I right now. But we have in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have what Jesus did here on earth. And if we take what Jesus did And we then hold it up to John 14:12 that says, he who believes in me, now this is only if you're a Christian, these works that Jesus did, you can do also. If you're not a Christian, you might can exercise a little bit of faith, but then you kind of get into Matthew 7:22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!'" You want to make sure that you know Jesus and that Jesus knows you. You have to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are going to get involved with that, but we've talked about this on multiple occasions. But the Jesus pattern was preaching, teaching, and healing. And this is the preaching part. You have got to be in the body of Christ. You have to repent. You have to tell God, I am sorry, I've messed up, and then accept what his Son did for you on the cross. What Jesus did for you is he died and rose again so that we would never have to die again. But you have to accept that by faith. That's one thing he did, but when he was on the cross and the three most powerful words that were ever spoken, I believe, is "It is finished." Jesus put a period or an exclamation mark at the cross, and he said his work is done. And so he was able to die then, and once his death came and they buried him in the grave, then three days later That's the resurrection, and it is so powerful. What did Jesus do? He lived a perfect life, he died a death, and he rose again on the third day. He will never die again, and we need to take comfort in the fact that Jesus will never die again, and he is the first fruits, the first resurrection. And if he has resurrected from the dead, If Jesus did it, we're going to do it. And if people can believe the fact that if their loved ones have died and will raise again on the resurrection or when Jesus returns, why can't followers of Christ believe that all these works we will do and greater works will we do because Jesus went to be with the Father? That to me is key. To figuring out what we should do or what we can do. Now, if Jesus didn't do it, if we don't see a picture of God while he was here on earth walking and talking to people, if we don't see Jesus doing it, then I don't believe that we can do it in the spirit realm or by faith. Now, we might can do something that Jesus didn't do. I can lie. I can do something that Jesus didn't do. I mean, I, I sinned. Jesus couldn't— did not sin. We don't want to do things that Jesus didn't do. We want to figure out what Jesus did and we want to start imitating him. And again, remember, this Christian walk is not about perfection. This is about imitation or reflection or correction. You know, if we get— if we keep our eyes on Jesus, we keep our eyes on the mark, the goal of well done, my good and faithful servant. That's the end goal. But I want to remind you of the beginning word from God when Jesus was baptized by John, and we'll find that in Matthew 3:17, and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. When we came to Christ and we became a new creation, our spirit man is just like Jesus. And when we— the whole reason Heaven celebrates. You may have heard that, that all the angels in heaven celebrate when a lost soul comes to the Lord. When we accept Jesus Christ, I believe Father God says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." God speaks that over you. He speaks that over me. And one of the reasons I said that we are a saint of God and not a sinner saved by grace is because we have been changed and God has spoken over us. And said, this is my son, or this is my daughter, in whom I am well pleased. We just need to see what Jesus did, how he went through this life. And I think if we look at the gospels through the eyes of John 14:12— and I'm probably going to read that every time while I'm teaching this Stop on the Mountain, but John 14:12 is such a powerful scripture and such a powerful verse that if you start getting that on the inside of you and you start seeing yourself Being able to do everything that Jesus— and look, you and I are not God. We are— this is not me trying to say, hey, we got to be like Jesus, we got to be God. No, we don't have to be godlike, but we have the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead living on the inside of us. Jesus said it was to— it was to our advantage if he went away. Jesus has gone away. He sent the Holy Spirit, and now with you and I working in connection with the Holy Spirit, we can get some mighty things done. Even greater works we can get done. And maybe the greater works— and I have pondered this, and I don't know that I've got a great answer for it— but maybe the greater works are that there are multiple millions of us walking around doing works where only Jesus was here. And so it was just him and maybe his 12 or 70 or 12 disciples. But now there are multiple millions maybe of people that can be out there doing works. And maybe that's greater works. Maybe it's the salvation, because the salvation hadn't come because he hadn't died yet on the cross. So maybe the greater works will be we help people into the body of Christ and the Great Commission. I don't know. I, I'm not going to talk about that because then that kind of makes my brain hurt again. We got to start meditating. We got to start figuring this thing out. But I I think it's easy to see what Jesus did as we read the gospels, and I have read through John and Matthew and Mark again. I am starting Luke, and I'm reading it. I read the gospels multiple times a year, but this is key. When we start looking at what did Jesus do, we need to see with our own eyes in the word of God the truth, and it's gonna set us free. Well, that's enough right now. I just looked up at the clock and I am going long again. I'm sorry. God, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you, Jesus, for coming and walking on this earth and giving us an example. And God, I thank you that you sent your son to die for us. And Holy Spirit, we thank you that you're here. We're just very thankful, Lord, that you did everything that you've done. And we pray in Jesus' name that you would just help lead and guide and direct us into your word. And into your truth. Lord, we thank you, we love you. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
