The Jerusalem church blossoms
38. Then Peter said to them,
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39. For the promise is to you and to
your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will
call."
40. And
with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved
from this perverse generation."
41. Then
those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three
thousand souls were added to them.
42. And they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking
of bread, and in prayers.
43. Then
fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the
apostles.
44. Now all
who believed were together, and had all things in common,
45. and sold
their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had
need.
46. So
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
47. praising
God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily those who were being saved.
The astounding part, that the reader of Acts must consider, is that the latter part of the statement, is God’s promise to “all who are afar off.” His promise crosses every border and stretches across the globe, restricting no area nor any people. It is a universal call. The first apostles were commissioned to go into all the world, preach and open the door of the gospel to the world’s population. This was the call to all people, “as many as the Lord our God will call." The apostle John continues with the call at the end of the New Testament canon: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Rv.22:17).
Thursday, August 28, 2025 | 0 Comments
The First Apostolic Sermon
Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR
DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,
YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.
MY SPIRIT IN THOSE DAYS; AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY.
19. I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN HEAVEN ABOVE AND SIGNS IN THE EARTH
BENEATH: BLOOD AND FIRE AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.
20. THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO
BLOOD, BEFORE THE COMING OF THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE
LORD.
21. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF
THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.'
22. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you
by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you
yourselves also know—
23. Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
24. whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that He should be held by it.
25. For David says concerning Him: 'I FORESAW THE LORD ALWAYS BEFORE MY
FACE, FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, THAT I MAY NOT BE SHAKEN.
26. THEREFORE MY HEART REJOICED, AND MY TONGUE WAS GLAD;
MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL REST IN HOPE.
27. FOR YOU WILL NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HADES, NOR WILL YOU ALLOW
YOUR HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION.
28. YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE
ME FULL OF JOY IN YOUR PRESENCE.'
29. "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both
dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit
on his throne,
31. he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was
not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
33. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father
the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
34. "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'THE LORD SAID
TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
35. TILL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES YOUR FOOTSTOOL." '
36. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
38. Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
39. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as
the Lord our God will call."
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 | 0 Comments
The Dav of Pentecost
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit
1. When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
6. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
7. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
8. And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
9. Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10. Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11. Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
12. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
13. Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
The expression, “When the day of Pentecost was fully come,” described the counting of 50 days from the Feast of Firstfruits, marking the fact that the required 50th day had arrived since Firstfruits. I will attempt to show the entire law, concerning this Old Testament feast day, as a background to our present study of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost (Gr. Fiftieth) was the Greek term, for which the Hebrews called the Feast of Weeks. The purpose of the feast was a joyful celebration for the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
You may study the sequence of events leading up to Pentecost in Leviticus 23:5-16. Passover took place on the 14th of the first Jewish month, The day after Passover, the 15, was the Feast of Unleavened Bread and on the following day, the 16th of the month began the counting of seven weeks, or 49 days, and the following day after the seventh week, the 50th day, was the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.
Several times, the Old Testament mentions that every Jewish male must be present in Jerusalem three times a year… “All your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles” (Dt. 16:16). According to our calendar, these feasts occurred in March, May and September.
Saturday, August 09, 2025 | 0 Comments
Acts 1:6-26
The ascension and promise of His return
6. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to
Israel?"
7. And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has
put in His own authority.
8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth."
9. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken
up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel,
11. who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into
heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so
come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
Thursday, June 19, 2025 | 0 Comments
Acts 1:1-5
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KJV 1611 |
Infallible proofs of the resurrection
2. until the day in which
He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the
apostles whom He had chosen,
3. to whom He also
presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being
seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God.
4. And being assembled
together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but
to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which,"
He said, "you have heard from Me;
5. for John truly baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from
now."
Luke
wrote both of his books to an acquaintance, whom he addressed, in his
introduction to the Gospel of Luke, as the most excellent or most
noble Theophilus. Because the name
means, Friend of God, some think that Luke used the name symbolically to
address the reader of his books. However, the common believer is never given
such a highly dignified title as most excellent, so I am sure that Theophilus
was a member of the nobility, a high Roman or Greek official. Both Felix and
Festus were addressed identically. Theophilus had been
converted and Luke wrote his accounts to him, personally, to establish him in
the faith.
Sunday, June 01, 2025 | 0 Comments
An Introduction to Acts
Today, we begin a study, which is of utmost importance to every true Christian in the 21st Century. It is an expositive consideration of the book of Acts. I say it is of supreme importance, especially in these days, because the church is living in an age, prophesied by the apostle Paul, when he wrote the second letter to his son, in the faith, Timothy: “Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves… having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (2 T. 3:1, 2, 5).
First
of all, I want to point to the word power, reading from the Amplified
New Testament: “For [although] they hold a form of piety (true
religion), they deny and reject and
are strangers to the power of it.” The word power, of course,
is the same word we read in Acts 1:8… “You shall receive power…” The
Greek dictionary, Strong’s, defines it: Dunamis… gr. Force (literally or
figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle
itself): ability, abundance, meaning, might… and Strong’s continues with a
full page of definitions, due to the common usage of the word.
Monday, May 19, 2025 | 0 Comments
More about Dals Ed, Sweden
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Jose speaks in the chapel at the inaugural service |
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Hotel and Bible School, "The Great Commission" |
Thursday, April 03, 2025 | 0 Comments
March 3 - 7 in Sweden
I left for a trip to arrive in Dals-Ed, Suecia on March 1. I arrived first in Barcelona and the girls had prepared a terrific lunch. My friends, Mateo and Irina, Dani, Sofi and the twins, were also invited and Olga, who I´ve known for many years, was the cook. I spent a good part of the afternoon, answering questions and then returned to Ripollet for a meeting with couples. (Jose and Ana had been on a trip and returned to attend part of the meeting.) The following day, I spoke at the regular Sunday meeting, and later that afternoon, after a meal with Ćngel, Rebeca and their children, I was taken to the airport.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 | 0 Comments
The Capernaum Paralytic
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Shelley and Dan |
The Capernaum Paralytic (Mark 2:1-12)
And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
Jesus has moved from Nazareth to Capernaum and after being there a short time, it was reported that He was at home. Many people gathered and in Luke’s account in chapter 5, verse 17, you find that the scribes are coming from every village in Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. Quite a crowd gathered and there was no room, even at the door to get in.
Saturday, February 22, 2025 | 0 Comments
Jesus’ family tree
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Rachel and Mike |
I have promised earlier that I would try to write and publish some sermons by our two sons, who are pastors. Dan is pastor of Swanton Christian Church, in Swanton, Vermont and Mike is pastor of Church of Hope in Elk River, Minnesota. I need to print a sermon by Dan, actually preached to Mike´s church from Mike and Rachel´s home during the first days of Covid. Dan talks about Jesus’ ministry in Capernaum, Galilee, especially of the salvation and healing of a paralytic, who was let down through the roof in his bed.
Today, I am posting an
outstanding message by Mike, given in 2021, about the four women in the
genealogy of Christ. It was of great encouragement to me, and I think you will
also find it to be something, which will feed your soul.
Jesus´ Family Tree (Matthew 1:3, 5-6)
Mike Brueckner, Christmas 2021
The prophet Isaiah said that God´s
thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. In fact, he says,
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, that’s how much higher His ways
and His thoughts are beyond us. In 1 Corinthians 1, it teaches that God uses
the things that the world would consider foolish, or not usable, and uses those
things, so that He may be glorified.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025 | 0 Comments
Charles Finney Autobiography 6
This article contains accounts
of Christians, who have found the highest level of communion in their
relationship with their Lord. In so doing, they have discovered the meaning of
the creation of man, made in the image and likeness of God. It is something
that causes bewilderment in the mind of an unbeliever, even if he happens to be
the husband of a believing woman, as we will see in the first account below. It
is followed by the story of another woman, who finds the high calling of an
intimate relationship with God, which becomes the greatest thing in her life…
more than life itself. Next, we will see an elder in a church, grown cold,
although occupied in playing a leading part in religion. He is revitalized in a
moment, by one touch of God upon his life. We will see how the overwhelming power
of the truth, frees and transforms someone, who had been deceived by error that
had been falsely presented to him as Christianity. Finally, before turning to Finney’s own story,
we will see a beloved believer, traveling through the valley of the shadow of
death, but no valley or shadow appears, only the hope of joining the triumphant
saints in glory.
The amazing work of God in the hearts of human beings
Sunday, February 16, 2025 | 0 Comments
Charles Finney Autobiography 5
General revival characteristics, godly fear, and one
exemplary meeting
Saturday, February 08, 2025 | 0 Comments
Charles Finney Autobiography 4
When you read Finney’s autobiography, you will notice many instances in which he refers to a “spirit of prayer”. When questioned concerning methods used in revival, his response was, “Our method is prayer.” This was evidently true, to the point that I want to devote a good amount of space in these chapters to the power of prayer. Already, I have earlier pointed to this truth. I don’t remember the person who remarked that, whenever God’s purpose is to do a special work at any point in history, He first moves His people to pray. Prayer itself, then, is an initial work of the Spirit of God and comments are made that sometimes hundreds and thousands of people are in prayer in a certain geographical area, without having contact with one another. The call to prayer was supernatural.
I also want to point out the
fact, that in revivals, the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are in
constant operation. There were supernatural words of wisdom and knowledge, as
well as prophecy. Certainly, the gift of miraculous faith was frequently
manifested. Therefore, I am giving the reader several cases that demonstrate
this truth. I suppose, that there are different opinions regarding these
operations and what gift specifically is demonstrated in various cases, but
that is not my primary concern. My concern is to point to the fact that when
the Spirit of God is moving, these gifts continue to occur in the church and
through its members in the 19th Century, resulting from a
post-conversion baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The Lord taught me in those early days of my Christian
experience, many very important truths in regard to the Spirit of prayer. Not long after I was converted, a lady with whom I had
boarded, was taken very sick. She was not a Christian, but her husband was
a professor of religion. He came into our office one evening, being a brother
of Esquire Wright, and said to me, "My wife cannot live through the
night." This seemed to plant an arrow, as it were, in my heart… the nature
of which I could not at all understand, but with it came an intense desire to
pray for that woman.
Saturday, January 25, 2025 | 0 Comments
Charles Finney Autobiography 3
No one can read Charles Finney’s autobiography and doubt that his word pierced the hearts of those, to whom he spoke. It occurred in private conversation and it occurred when he preached. Finney attributed this power to his baptism in the Holy Spirit. Following my thoughts, is an example of him speaking to his employer and the interesting conversion of the man, which contains a bit of humor.
In this chapter, I wanted to insert
a couple accounts of the power of revival praying. There is a touch of humor,
as well, in the first account about the prayer of old Deacon Montague. But it
was also a demonstration of spiritual power, which stirred everyone present, as
well as the entire community. Montague was an old man, but the story that
follows concerns young people in prayer. I have learned that nothing satisfies
youth more that the reality of the movings of God. We also should observe that
the Lord uses young people, just as he uses the older ones. In fact, the Bible
teaches that He often called adolescents into His purposes and used them mightily.
Finney’s employer, Esquire Wright
This morning, of which I have spoken, I went down into the office and there I was having the renewal of these mighty waves of love and salvation flowing over me when Esq. Wright came into the office, where I studied law. I said a few words to him on the subject of his salvation--I do not recollect what. He looked at me with astonishment but made no reply whatever that I recollect. He dropped his head, and after standing a few minutes left the office. I thought no more of it then, but afterwards found that the remark I made pierced him like a sword, and he did not recover from it till he was converted.
Monday, January 06, 2025 | 0 Comments