What We Believe

Rather than making a theological statement, I would like to tell you how "what we believe" changed my life. And I have a feeling that someone reading this right now may just be looking for a ray of hope that can lead them to a life changing event.

My Testimony
By Anthony Warner

I was raised in a main-line Christian denomination. When my older brother and sister were in their late teens and early 20's, they began to look for a deeper spiritual relationship with God--more than what we found in our church's traditional and formal services. After seeing the lack of integrity in some of the leaders and noting the lack of life-changing power in that church, they began looking for a lively church that emphasized a more meaningful and purposeful walk with God.

Among other churches, they visited a service at a Pentecostal church. My brother came back from that first service and proclaimed convincingly to me, his 13-year-old little brother, "I have found the true church!" One could argue that an 18-year-old's opinion may not be on par with a trained theologian, but seeing the excitement in his eyes was good enough to convince me to go with him to the next service.

Worship

The first thing that I noticed about that church was their worship-it had the kind of life-giving power that we were looking for. Later I found how biblical this was:

Lifting up the hands:
Psalms 134:2
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.

Clapping the hands:
Psalms 47:1
O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

Praying together out loud:
Acts 4:24
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

Worshipping with musical instruments:
Psalms 150:3-5
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

Singing together:
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

The Preaching

The next thing I noticed that surprised me was that the pastor used a Bible in his preaching. And almost everyone in the congregation had Bibles and were following along with the preacher during the preaching. I couldn't remember ever seeing a Bible in my old church. I was impressed that God's Book was being used as the source for teaching and preaching.

On one of the first nights that I visited this church, the pastor preached, that as sinners, if we wanted the holy God to live in us, we needed to repent of (turn away from) our sins. He also told how that Jesus promised to wash away our sins in a process that the Bible called remission. He quoted some verses that referred to remission of sins coming through the name of Jesus Christ. Then he gave several examples from the Bible where people were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then he read one verse that tied remission and baptism together; remission of sins and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ occurred at the same time. I felt that God was speaking to me and even convicting me about the next step I needed to take so I went home and began to search the Bible.

The Revelation

Very soon after that first visit, I was studying the Bible that the Sunday School teacher gave me. I asked God for direction. I felt strongly urged to look at the first book that followed the four gospels. I wasn't sure what book that was but I felt convinced in my heart that because the gospels told the story of the life of Jesus Christ, that the very next book following the life of Jesus would tell the story of how Jesus' words were obeyed in the first church. Then by following the example of the first church, perhaps I could know what Jesus intended His true followers to do.

I flipped through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And there it was--the book of Acts. "The Acts of the Apostles." This started my heart racing. That is just what I was wanting to learn--the actions in the first church! As I began reading, I had a sort of "divine encounter." Although I didn't literally see or hear it, I felt as though a light shined down from heaven and God spoke to my heart. I saw a verse early in Acts that tied together what the preacher had been speaking about and what I had been feeling in my heart. I read the following verse that hit me like a revelation from God. Then I realized that this was the very verse that the pastor had read in church.

Acts 2:38
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The Experience

It had been there all the time but that day I saw it through a different light. I needed to repent of my sins and then those sins needed to be washed away by the blood of Jesus through baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. I had been sprinkled in baptism as a baby using a different baptismal formula but I had never been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. I told my best friend about my studies and of the revelation that I had found. I told him that as far as I could tell, he and I were both going to hell because we had not obeyed the Bible. I told him that as soon as I could, I was going to get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

The very next church service that I went to, I told the pastor that I wanted to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. He was glad to do so that night. And very shortly after that, my best friend also came and was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

And then in a few weeks I was to see the last part of that Acts 2:38 verse fulfilled. After the pastor finished preaching his message one night, the friend that invited my brother to the church was sitting next to me and he asked me if I wanted to go pray to receive the Holy Ghost. I agreed. I am not sure how long I knelt at the altar but after a while, I was lying on the floor on my back with my hands raised in the air and I felt something like a river flowing out of my body. The joy of God was flooding all over me and in me and through me. I also heard myself speaking fluently in a language that I had never learned. Later I found several examples in the Bible that described this experience as receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. One such verse is:

Acts 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

I felt terrific! I knew this was very real and not a staged evangelistic drama. The very next morning, I still felt the very strong power of God dwelling in me. It was phenomenal. I was really a changed person. The Spirit of God (the Holy Ghost) was now living inside of me and making a new person of me.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

As the days and weeks went on, I began to understand that having the Holy Ghost was having Jesus living inside of me. It was like a partnership. God began a relationship with me that continues to this day. And through that process, God's Spirit leads me away from some things and leads me to other things. I haven't always obeyed God as I should, but I have constantly felt Him leading me. This growing up in God is a process called "perfecting holiness."

2 Corinthians 7:1
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Once my sins were taken care of through repentance and being washed away by the blood of Jesus through baptism in His name, I was filled with the Holy Ghost. And it is the Holy Ghost who works in me on a daily basis to lead me to walk a holy and godly life.

Don't be afraid of my use of the use of "revelation" in my testimony. What I experienced was not an isolated encounter. In fact, if you are wanting to find a church where people are experiencing this same kind of life-changing salvation experience, visit the UPCI website and you will be able to type in a city name to find such a church in your area. God is still changing lives all over the world and filling many with the Holy Ghost on a daily basis! Maybe you will be the next one.