Call to Commitment

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. 

 I believe that it is necessary to repeat and reemphasize, the fact that Peter declared that the promise of God was universal, concerning the Holy Spirit. What had happened on the day of Pentecost was not only for Peter’s audience of Jews and proselytes from many different areas of the known world. When he said that it was for their children, he must have been referring to the following generation, many of whom stayed behind and did not make the long journey from their homes in different lands to Jerusalem. 

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). 

The promise is sure to you and I and there is no exception, if we have heard the invitation. We have accepted it, because we are thirsty, longing for the water of life. Wherever and whoever you are, if the gospel has come to your spot on earth and you have repented, believed and have surrendered your life to the Lord, the promise is for you. As God breathed life into Adam, the first creation, and Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on His disciples, He has breathed new life into you. By the Holy Spirit, you are baptized into the body of Christ. Now, it is for you to receive this dimension of the promise that Jesus poured out on the day of Pentecost (v. 39).

 I read a letter to those, who joined us in the class of 1 Corinthians and I want to read it to all, who are joining us in the study of Acts. The letter was written by a young lady, who thought that the promise of God was not for her. I’m going to show you how He moved in compassion to reach her, as He will reach you, as well…

 I had known her for a good, many years from meetings in her church and in youth camps in Romania. She was a Christian girl, very pleasant with a wonderful sense of humor. On the other hand, she was thin and sickly, having to be very careful about her diet. She was also plagued with fears that tended to cloud her life and keep her from enjoying the tremendous blessings of the gospel.

 She married, to a young man, who is a friend and also brother of a missionary. They honored me by asking me to speak at their wedding, but to my great embarrassment, I forgot to bring my passport to the airport and consequently, was denied my flight to Romania. Someone else took my place at the wedding. The husband, then, got a job as an engineer in London, but I would see them on rare occasions at a family camp, when they came to visit Romania. They have two sons.

 While living in London, the wife and mother became sick and went through surgery. It was after the surgery that she had several brushes with death and had to be revived. The husband was told by the doctors, that he should not expect that she would live long. I think, that she would agree that, due to her melancholy disposition, she was not ready to face death, to say the least.

 At this point, we will begin to read her letter and learn of a continued illness and her deep, spiritual needs, and then… we will see how the Lord intervened and turned her life right side-up. I bring this letter before you, to show you the joy, the power and blessing that there is in the promise of the Father, given clearly in His word and how it is available to all His children…

Hi Brother Lowell!!

 Wow! It has been ages since we last spoke, but it doesn’t seem so distant to me, as I follow your blog. I have been reading and re-reading some of your articles, especially on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the First Corinthians study.

 We live in Hong Kong now since February, 2019. While I was in London, at one dark moment in my life, I realized that, if we continued to stay there and go to the same church, my children would not believe. They will just not see God’s power. I thought that Luca and Patrick might get an intellectual understanding, but will not know God’s power and His reality.

 After I came across a testimony of something God had done in Hong Kong, something happened in me, and I had a burning desire to go to Hong Kong. Samuel, my husband was, of course, unimpressed and, because I kept at it for so long, he got upset with me. I just prayed one of the few genuine prayers that I prayed during that period of my life (I usually could not really pray). I said, "God, if it is your will for us to go to Hong Kong, make it happen that Samuel’s work will send him there. In Jesus’ name. Amen."

 Then I forgot about my prayer. I had a very dark year to a year and a half in London, It was dark spiritually, just living superficially, and towards the end of 2018, I started reading 1 Corinthians. I do not know, nor remember how, but suddenly chapter 12 and 14 seemed so clear to me. I looked around, and did not see the contents of those chapters in my church and I earnestly desired them. However, I was told by my friend, the pastor’s wife, not to seek the extraordinary.

 Needless to say, I found out too late, why my spiritual life almost died. I did not realize that the church we went to was very fatalistic and cessationist!! There was turmoil within me and, even though I was reading my Bible at that time, after a sermon by a guest pastor at the church, I was so distressed that I went home and closed my Bible without picking it up for months. I had discussed his sermon with him, which was very deterministic and cessationist. (I looked to him, and still do, as a godly man. It is not he himself that I blame, but the teaching. I recognize also that I carry the blame for my spiritual condition.)  A depression came over me, especially after the death of my friend, the pastor’s wife.

 Shortly before that occurred, my husband came home from work and told me that his boss needed someone to go to Hong Kong to start a new team. He thought of me and the discussions we had previously had about Hong Kong. Fast forwarding through that period, unexpectedly everything went very smoothly in making this big move, in spite of my depression. The boss was so happy that my husband was willing to go and, after we accepted, I remembered my prayer, which I had totally forgotten. I just knew that God had sent us here and my longing and desire was to see His power. I hoped that finally I would get what I was looking for, not a faith on the surface, but to experience the God, Who is the same yesterday, today and forever! We started going to a small, international church, where I met a very godly, Indian family. They have become my friends.

 After a while, out of nowhere, I got a bad pain in my back and abdomen that did not go away. After tests, the doctors told me that I needed surgery and that it would be difficult, due to my many previous abdominal surgeries. Of course, I accepted my fate, but I was afraid of death.  It was again a very dark time and I told a few women here in church about my condition. The Indian lady was different from all the others. She immediately asked, if she could pray for me and after church, she took my hand and prayed. She asked that the tumor would just disappear - no mention of surgery. I was a bit upset with her, because, I thought, she did not understand that I needed surgery for the situation. After she prayed the second time, I think, the pain went away… although my mental pain persisted.

 Every time I talked to my friend and mentioned surgery, she said they were praying that there would be no need for surgery. And now, after seeing four doctors in two different hospitals in the space of 3-4 weeks, having taken the “CT” that diagnosed my problem, and after doing a scan, nothing was there. Consequently, they sent me for an “MRI” and again, nothing could be found anymore! When I asked the doctor if the tumor could have gone away by itself, he told me, “No, it was too big!” He did not have anything else to say and neither did I.

 It made me realize that God still sees me… He really sees me!! Something strange happened next. I directly asked my friend, if she prays in tongues (I do not know why I did that, as tongues was not of interest to me. I think, it just came out of curiosity). She was a bit shocked at my direct question, but she answered, “Yes.” She began to share some things about the gifts of the Spirit, about tongues, along with prayer and faith. She told me that when she prayed for my healing, she did not feel anything special, only she knew that God is willing to heal. It was a new thought for me, as I had come to believe that His will is only suffering and that healing is not in His will, so I did not even expect it.

 I disagreed with her on many things, one being the belief that I just explained, a fatalistic acceptance of all circumstances. I thought that this was the only true doctrine and it was ‘meat’ instead of only milk that some Christians were drinking. I thought that churches, outside of those that I went to, did not have pure doctrine and are liberals, or perhaps they had a prosperity gospel.

 She did challenge me, but it was in a very gentle way, and told me she also grew up with the same mentality that I had. However, living in Dubai, a Muslim country, their church was like a New Testament one. They saw prayers answered and experienced the power of God, and it was not only manifested in healings. In Arab countries, Christians have only God to turn to with their big problems.

 I still argued with her, but could not deny that she was far godlier than I, and her family also was very godly, as well as kind, loving, helpful and caring. They had faith in God and were honest and sincere. If she said that she would pray for me, I could count on it, because that is what she would do. It was so unlike me... I had a ‘sound, clean, true’ doctrine, so I thought, but I did not have the true biblical picture. She lived in faith, and God was with her.

 I wanted that. I felt my world crumbling, because things that I thought were sure and safe for years and years, actually were not true. Subconsciously, I had believed for many years that God wanted me to be miserable and that we must accept all, for all has been predetermined. Therefore, instead of running to God, I was running from Him. I was taught that He does everything, even the work of the evil one. Now, I’m so shocked at this teaching that I can’t mention it anymore. Resigning everything to fate, is what I transformed into accepting God’s will, just because it happened. It was not that I knew from God specifically, what His will was in my case, as Paul did (2 Cor.12:7-9). 

 I also believed for many years that the gifts and the baptism of the Holy Spirit were only for the godly Christians, like missionaries, but not for me. They could never happen to me, because I’m not special. I did not believe you, Lowell, or understand, when you once told me I should pray for the Baptism of the Spirit at Lepșa (where there is a Romanian campgrounds). I had no faith that it could happen, as I thought, it was not for me, because I’m not a special Christian, like the ones I looked up to.

 This is where your articles enter into the picture. I started to read them again and I started to read some things from “What our Hands Have Handled". I realized that you were saying that everything is NOT to be resigned to fate, but that we are to go to war in prayer and trust in God. This is not what I was taught about prayer. My pastor told me some things that left me speechless. I re-read your blog, talked to my friend, and I realized I had been afraid to ask God for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit for fear that I would get a demon. All that I heard about speaking in tongues and the gifts was that it can come from the evil one, and you might get an evil spirit.

 My Indian friend showed me the verse that says, "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Lk.11:13) I also read a booklet from D. L. Moody’s friend, Torrey, who quoted the same verse. So I saw that God would not give me a demon, if I ask HIM for the Holy Spirit.

 My problem was that for years I could not really pray. I did some things that looked like prayer, but I could hardly call them real prayers. With few exceptions, I was daydreaming on my knees, feeling very sleepy and letting my mind go to other things. I could NOT fix this problem and for a long time my prayer had been, “God, just help me to pray!”

 Now, I asked my friend to pray for me that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and she prayed for me. I felt no emotion, not like I did, when I was a young Christian, but now there was a small state of calm in my heart. Before this, I had been very upset with Sammy for a very long time and I could not rid myself of this attitude. I knew that this was not right, but I could not correct it, so I couldn’t pray, having this state of mind. After my friend prayed, I felt a small quiet down deep inside me. I could barely perceive it, but the anger was there no more… just a calm peace and nothing else!

 I expected something else. I think maybe I still do, but at any rate, I went home and that evening I was alone in my kitchen. Again, I asked God to help me pray. I read again that portion, in which He said that He will give to those who ask (read the entire portion, Luke 11:9-13), and faith came over me. I understood the verse and I believed. I asked God to help me to pray, and then I said a word in a language that was not Romanian or English. Suddenly, like a fountain, came a complete language that I did not know and I prayed in shock and with many tears.  There was always so much that I wanted to say in prayer, but only then I could do that. After that my prayer life has been changed... transformed! I can pray in tongues and also in languages that I know, (Romanian and English) and there is a boldness in prayer that I did not have before.

 I believe that I was guided by God to talk to two friends and my sister, because I see it produced fruit in their lives, and they shared with me that it helped them. I never helped people before, but always needed people to help me and carry me.

 It has been an intense journey and still is. I followed your study on 1 Corinthians, but before I read about the gift of tongues, I received the gift. I waited anxiously to see what you had to say about it, as it was so new and sometimes I am unsure concerning what the Bible teaches. I read many times the study on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as I did not understand many things, but now I do understand much more!

 I know there is more to know about God. I am aware that I can get spiritually lazy and I still am shocked about how the castle that I had built and thought was true and strong, has crumbled to pieces. That is why, I do not take what any man says, as I did before. It is a new and strange place for me to be.

 I’m sorry, it is past midnight in Hong Kong and this is a huge and chaotic email,  but I had to send it, now or never! Thank you for so much help you have given me in key moments of my life and for your example, friendship and caring!

 Many blessings,

 Eliza

There is a certain “Jewishness” very evident among this first generation of Christians. Truly, they were all Jews or proselytes and we see their continuance in some Jewish customs. We see them meeting together in their temple and, we will see in later chapters, other traditions continued. Changes will come, as the Gentile church becomes more and more prominent.

It must have been an extended time, in which these, from all over the world were taught and nurtured by the apostles. But eventually, they had to return to their native homes and my questions is – What became of them when they again lived among the nations? I ask you to think about the Ethiopian eunuch when he returned to Africa. The apostles Peter and John said, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Ac. 4:20).

Is this true of all those, who see and hear the reality of the gospel? These people became witnesses, where they lived. You have probably observed, as I have, that truly born-again people cannot be silenced. I know of two cases in Mexico, one a man, with whom we shared the gospel once, when we gave him a ride during a rainstorm. He went to his home and two other neighboring villages, and started three churches. The other did the same, after reading, and believing, a gospel tract. I believe that indigenous churches were planted, including in Rome wherever these people lived, who experienced the fulfillment of Pentecost,. In the plan of God, that was the very purpose for which the command was given, that every Jew should come to Jerusalem to observe the feasts. It all culminated in them witnessing the death and resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.