IT HAS BEEN SAID that there are many ways to discuss the doctrines of Christianity, but when it comes to living the Christian life, each man has only one story to tell. As I share a part of my story, I profoundly realize that the ultimate verification of Christianity is changed lives. When I began to learn what it means to have a living encounter with the risen Christ and to yield and be led by the Spirit of God, the Lord confirmed my faith in so many ways.

I praise God that Jesus has blessed my life and therefore has changed my ministry from a dead formality to a living reality. The heart of Christianity is not an opinion about God such as philosophy might reach as a conclusion of its arguments, but is a personal relationship with God.

On a beautiful, crisp winter day my wife and I were driving toward Pat and Shirley Boone’s house in Beverly Hills, California. I had heard about Pat and Shirley giving their testimonies at a David Wilkerson Rally at Melodyland Theatre in Anaheim, California. There were also rumors circulating concerning Shirley having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I had called Pat to set up an appointment to talk to them concerning this situation, and had filled my briefcase with debate books to set them straight if indeed the rumors proved to be true.

Many thoughts and memories passed through my mind as I maneuvered through the Los Angeles freeway traffic. For twelve years I had preached for congregations of the Church of Christ and for the past four years I had been the minister of one of the denomination’s largest in the west, the Northside Church of Christ in Santa Ann, Californja. My elders considered me a successful preacher, but I was not satisfied. There was something missing in my life and this void caused me to feel empty and unfulfilled. I had seen some of my closest friends in the ministry not only leave their pulpits, but two of them left Jesus Christ and forfeited their original faith.

The New Testament, I realized, not only tells of very human, ordinary people making mistakes, running into difficulties, having to be reprimanded, but also of their assurance that God had allowed them to be His children, citizens of heaven and tasters of the powers of the world to come. The book overflows with words of joy, power, peace and love. How can this be? The answer is by the power of the Holy Spirit who is promised to every Christian disciple (John 14 :11-19). What has happened to this joy, power, peace and love? What has happened to the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are promised in the Bible? I had to frankly admit that they are not seen much in the institutional church; I did not see these things in my own ministry. For most of us, religion is a plodding thing, resting on the grim determination of man rather than on the power of God. Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Christ did not promise a life without troubles, but He did say that our hearts would rejoice and that no man could take away our joy.

I recalled having talked with several in our congregation who claimed to have found this joy, power, overwhelming love and peace, and thanked God for the transformation in their lives, but I was still unwilling to yield myself to Him. It was easier for me to chalk up their experiences to psychological phenomenon. I had been taught all of my life that the power which existed in New Testament times was not for today, so it was difficult for me to fully accept the testimonies of those who came to me. It was not that God had not worked in my life and in the life of my family, but it was so difficult for me to give Him the full credit for what was happening. I remembered the time several years ago when my wife Joyce had been burned in a kitchen accident. She had second and third degree burns on her arm and leg. The doctors said that she would be scarred severely and there would be little chance of her arm or leg healing completely. The Lord intervened and healed her in such a marvelous way, but still I was unwilling to give Him all the praise. Another incident occurred about two years ago when Joyce lost our unborn child. While at home one morning, she went into shock because she had lost so much blood. We rushed her to the hospital and she underwent an emergency operation. Again the Lord was there to heal and to work in a powerful way. She later wrote the following statement that I read from the pulpit and published in our church bulletin.

"This morning I am with you in spirit. My soul is so filled with the presence of Jesus, and that He is real and has worked a mighty miracle in my life. What can I say? In Psalms 46 :1, 2, 10 I read, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;… Be still, and know that I am God. . .‘ Tuesday when my body was very, very still, God entered with all of His power. He gave me life. He loved me and He rocked my soul in His arms. Our loss was great, but the vacuum has been filled with Jesus. I must say that I know now that we cannot plan our lives beyond the next minute. We must love our children now, and love our husbands now, and praise Jesus for all the blessings we have. I now give thanks and praise unto God for being my schoolmaster."

Even after this experience, I refused to totally and unequivocally give my life to Jesus.

My thoughts were interrupted as we reached our destination. Pat and Shirley Boone, my wife and I along with another gospel preacher met in the den that beautiful winter day. As I sat down in a large, comfortable chair, Shirley began her testimony. As she spoke, I began to weep for one of the very few times in my life. The Lord convicted me of some wonderful truths that day and I never opened my loaded briefcase.

I began then to realize that what was missing in my life was precisely the power of the Holy Spirit. We talk about Him and even say that He indwells us, but we do not really know Him nor recognize His work in us. We do not always credit the joyful transformation in the lives of others to the power of God, the presence of His Holy Spirit. I had refused to completely yield to God and be filled as the Bible says. One of the scriptures that hit home that day was Galatians 3:2, "This only would I learn of you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" There is a difference between having the Spirit and receiving the Spirit of God. As Paul asked the Ephesians in Acts 19:2, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" These and other scriptures began to haunt me.

the Bible - to prove doctrinal points or to get sermon material - but now I began to read the Word with abandon. Bible study should never be pursued merely for the sake of learning facts, but rather for confronting God, of hearing God speak and of learning His will. There are many who read the written Word and who never experience the Living Word. Christ told the Jewish leaders in Matthew 22:29, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." These men had read and memorized large portions of the Scriptures, but they had ignored over Three hundred prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

The week after having the long and beautiful day with Pat and Shirley, I attended a Bible study conducted in a private home in Huntington Beach, California. About fifty were present that evening, representing all age groups. After a two and a half hour study of the first two chapters of John, some of the young people gave their testimonies. What a joy it was to hear from these living miracles! Yes, lives were transformed as they had been in the first century. Young people enslaved by the Satanic chains of dope, changed by the power of Jesus Christ. My study of God’s Word was being confirmed by twentieth century miracles. It was now time for me to step out on faith and meet Jesus Christ as my Baptizer (Acts 1:4-8).

About midnight, after a long prayer service and Bible study, I asked the Lord to baptize me in the Holy Spirit. I wanted Jesus not only to be the Lord of my life, but to fill me gloriously with the Spirit. He did. It was like an anointing with liquid fire from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. From that moment on, my job as a preacher changed into a living ministry for Jesus Christ. No longer was my life empty or unfulfilled. I experienced a love that is beyond description. Barriers were broken down that existed between close members of my family and friends.

Now I wanted everything God had to give. Everything, that is, but the gift of praising Him in tongues. I still was not convinced that God would work in this dimension today. I had a difficult time saying "Praise the Lord" in English much less in tongues. My major hang-up in accepting tongues was I Corinthians 13:10. As I began to read the entire context of the passage and also read passages in Acts concerning tongues, I realized that the "perfect" mentioned in I Corinthians 13:10 was not the completion of the New Testament. In fact, the Greek scholar Thayer states concerning this verse that the word perfect means "the perfect state of all things ushered in by the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." After five days of fasting and praying, I asked the Lord for this new dimension of praise to Him. He then blessed me with a prayer language and I praised Him in my new tongue for an hour and a half!

As in the first century, today’s man can have an encounter with a living, risen Christ, and partake of the very Spirit of God in all of His fulness and with all of His attendant blessings.