Acts Bible Study Chapter 5: I remember the day when the Lord challenged me to serve Him. I was 15, on holiday on the South Coast of England, walking on the sea-front with some young Christians and I couldn’t enter into the fun that they were having because God was speaking to me – and the devil was speaking to me. The devil was saying, ‘Don’t listen, it’s OK, things are fine. You’re doing well – you got saved when you were 8, and you got baptised in water when you were 12, you started preaching at 13, that’s enough,’ and God was saying, ‘I want more.’ God was not calling me to be a preacher or an evangelist at that time, God was asking me to give my whole life to Him. Simply to give everything to Him.
Salvation in the Name of Jesus
Acts Bible Study Chapter 4: ‘Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”’
All things are possible with Jesus
For four days, we witnessed the mighty Power of God, not only in conversions, but also in mighty miracles of healing. Night after night, during that evangelism in Bulgaria, 1990, crutches were thrown onto the platform as people were delivered and walked out free. The blind, the deaf, the sick – all were healed. Revival swept from there – we travelled by road in broken down communist cars from church to church to church – the Power of God was falling – no time seemingly to eat, sleep or even drink a cup of tea! For two years the Holy Spirit moved across the whole of Bulgaria! Eighty new churches were opened as a direct result of that evangelism!
The healing power of Jesus
Go in peace and just believe
I believe in prayer and in a God of miracles. Many years ago whilst driving to a preaching engagement some of my staff were with me in the car, and we were praying. I said to God, ‘I’m tired of talking about the miracle of my cancer and the miracle of my release from prison, I want a new miracle, a bigger one, NOW!’ Then I realised what I had said – and my staff remember – I cried out to God, ‘Oh God, hold me by the hand whilst I go through the suffering that will bring the miracle.’
The promise of the Holy Spirit
Acts 1 Bible Study: The Acts of the Apostles is the story of a transformed Church, a Church motivated, with a purpose, on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit! The Word of God says Jesus will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire! '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' (Acts 1.8, NKJV).
Led by the Lord
From childhood, I wanted every day and every part of my life to be under the direction and control of the Holy Spirit. Now when I look back over 70 years of ministry I know with absolute certainty that there has been both purpose and direction in my life. God has been in control of all my days and all my experiences. Everything that has happened in my life was foreknown in His plan.
The Power of Prayer
James Bible Study Chapter 5: the epistle of James encourages believers to pray in times of trouble and to pray for one another; he highlights the effectiveness of fervent and righteous prayers. We must learn how to talk to God until our praying will move every mountain, every obstruction, everything that stands between us and the fulfilment of God’s promises.
Submit yourselves to God
James Bible Study Chapter 4: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.