THE WORK of THE LORD in INDIA

The Book of Acts ……

Saints, as Executor of Christ’s will, the Holy Spirit determines the course of missions. Twelve times in the book of Acts it seemed the witness might have been confined and that the disciples might have been satisfied with gains already made. But each time the Holy Spirit thrust them farther into the fields.

Acts 1:8 outlines the Spirit’s plan for the Church’s mission movement: Jerusalem (Acts 2:1 to 8:4); Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:5 to 12:25); and the remainder of the world (Acts 13:2 to 28:31). When persecution came, the disciples prayed, and “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Later the persecution became an instrument of the Spirit so that “they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). Philip went to the outcast Samaritans and, strangely enough, in the midst of a great spiritual ingathering in Samaria, the Spirit told Philip to go the desert and to witness to one man. How often the guidance of the Spirit conflicts with the conventional wisdom of man! Nevertheless, Philip obediently followed the Spirit’s guidance and witnessed to an important Ethiopian official, who took the gospel back to his native land (Acts 8:26-39).

It appeared that the witness might be confined to the Jews and Jewish proselytes until the Spirit got Peter’s attention with a vision and sent him to witness to Cornelius (Acts 10). The Spirit had more difficulty getting Peter ready to go than He had with Cornelius, who was eagerly waiting to hear! Often this is the case because we fail to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Another breakthrough in the salvation of the Gentiles occurred when Greeks in Antioch were saved (Acts 11:20-23). One year later the Holy Spirit separated Barnabas and Paul from the Antioch Church to send them a step farther into the world with the gospel (Acts 13). When Paul and his friends returned with the good news that the Gentiles had turned to God, it seemed that the Jewish element in the Jerusalem Church might shackle the witness by demanding that Gentiles first become Jews. Once again the Holy Spirit intervened, and the apostles wrote to the Gentile churches: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.” (Acts 15:28)

Paul and his co-laborers experienced the direct guidance of the Spirit to go to Philippi, but it came one step at a time. First the Holy Spirit had to forbid them to speak the word in Asia (Acts 16:6). Then He did not allow them to go to Bithynia (Acts 16:7). Since he had been forbidden to go left or right, Paul assumed he should go straight ahead. But when he reached the Mediterranean Sea at Troas, he had received no further instructions. That night Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, “…‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ ” (Acts 16:9), and they realized God was leading them in that direction (Acts 16:10).

Only the Spirit of God is qualified to determine the place of service for His people. We are so limited in our understanding that we cannot predict the next move of the Spirit. Paul could not have understood all the experiences the Spirit took him through to lead him to Rome, but who questions that it was God’s will? More than once the situation appeared foolish to Paul, but he never lost sight of his mission to the Gentiles or his faith in the leadership of the Spirit (Acts 26:16-20).

God reveals our mission to the nations through the Bible, but the time and place for carrying it out are to be revealed by the Holy Spirit as He chooses. One fact is certain – Christians are to witness wherever the Holy Spirit has placed them until He directs them to another place. If a Christian is not being a missionary where he is, he need not expect to be led somewhere else to be a missionary. The Holy Spirit usually guides His people nearby before sending them on a distant mission.

But do not misunderstand. The Holy Spirit does not classify missionary work in one locale as better than in another locale. Anyone who thinks foreign missions is better than home missions has failed to realize that the Holy Spirit has charge of world missions. A person saved in one country is no more or no less valuable than one saved in another country. Perhaps as people of God, we need to spend time fasting and praying to listen to the Spirit’s guidance as the Christians in Antioch did (Acts 13:2-3).

As the Holy Spirit has ordained, we are traveling to India in the month of October. A team of 5 Christian brothers are traveling to Manipur, Calcutta, New Delhi, Agra, and Chattisgarh. We will be covering 5 different states, visiting all of our churches and ministering to the pastors and flocks there, and then coming back to the home base in Pune for a Pastors Conference, where we are expecting 80 pastors to join us for a wonderful time of teaching and fellowship. So please keep Pastor Larry Galletti from Elmira, Pastor Ray, Vince Santacesaria, Stephen Morse and myself in your prayers as we obey the Spirit’s call to continue living out the book of Acts in taking the gospel to India.