When Thou art converted - By Wayne Weaver

Every godly church that has the power of the Holy Spirit should draw in needy people, because the needy have always been strangely attracted to God's power. They want a place where they can be delivered, healed, and forgiven. They want to be born again and find new life.

In Acts we read, "And many were added to the church daily, such as should be saved." It doesn't say the churches were already full of saved people, but "many were added to the church." They came in need of a Savior. Every church where Jesus is will minister to the downcast, the sick, and the sinners.

The response of sinners will vary. Some will walk away and say, "Go away, Jesus. You are too holy. You can't help me." Others will say, "Come, Lord Jesus, and change me. Unchain me and change me."

When Jesus moves in, He gives the needy whatever they need if they let him. One reason people don't prosper both in their spiritual lives and in their material lives is because they have their nets down on the wrong side of the boat. They are fishing on their own and not allowing Jesus to give them direction.

It is God's will that His children prosper. I am not preaching a prosperity gospel. I believe that Jesus, at times, wants to take us through trials to cleanse and purify us. I know much more about trials than I do about blessings. But we must not overlook God's provision He wants to prosper His children lest they become weary and the joy of Christ leaves them.

The trouble starts when we trust in God's blessings and not in God Himself. Some of us, after seeing the great catch of fish, would be eager to pursue fishing. "Look at this. I have never seen a catch like this in my life. Now I am prosperous." We would buy more boats and go for it. But the disciples forsook their boats and went with Jesus. They trusted in Jesus Himself.

When we quit talking about blessings and focus on Jesus Himself, on his demands for purity and discipleship, we will lose a lot of friends. In fact, men's hatred will be an indication that we have forsaken the old life and are following Christ: "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you ... leap for joy. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you, for so did they of those that were inspired by Satan." We tend to sit on these verses. We don't understand them. "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you." That's not a popular message, but Jesus said it. Men never have spoken well of the true prophets.

We have a tendency to respect and appreciate those who say our souls will go to Heaven. Some make the message even more attractive and say all of us will go to Heaven. "It's all right if we're sinning we all have problems. God doesn't demand perfection. He doesn't expect us to be holy." I could tell you that and cheerfully send you all to Heaven in my own name. But one day I would have a rude awakening. Knowing I will have to stand before Christ, I warn others about the life to come and tell them to turn from wickedness.

That's the task the Apostle Peter was called to. He was the key disciple in the story of the fish, and through his life we can learn much about what it means to follow Christ. Jesus told Peter, "I would have you be a fisher. I want you to fish for men, not for fish but for men." Was Peter a successful men fisher? Not for a long time. He tried and tried but failed. He tried and failed so often that we talk about him today as the man who tried and failed. Right? And yet he was a disciple, one of the twelve.

Peter was impressed with Jesus' power to deliver people from demon possession. One day, walking up to the tombs, Jesus met two men. They were naked, for no one could keep clothes on them. No one could even keep chains on them they could snap them through demonic power. The evil men looked at Jesus and said, "What have you to do with us?" These men probably had never seen Jesus, but his power was so radiant that even the devils trembled.

The Bible asks all of us to live in that same radiant power. We are to be so full of the Holy Spirit that even Satan will become a little uncomfortable. A lot of church-going people are no threat to the enemy. They are on his side. They sit with sin in their lives and refuse to repent and live pure, holy lives. When we stand before God, the game playing in the Christian life will be over. No more tolerating sin, rejecting the Holy Ghost, speaking evil of the Holy Spirit, or looking at Jesus as irrelevant, a man in the past. When we see Jesus as a living person, the King of Kings, all our light talk will evaporate. He will speak, and we will listen.

That day is coming. Every soul must stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. We can take your bodies when you die, put them in a furnace and cremate them, and sprinkle the ashes over the Dead Sea, where there is no life. But when the trumpet sounds we will go up to meet Jesus.

Too many of us are blinded by the god of this world and take lightly the truths of living holy and godly in Christ Jesus. "Well, maybe a little bit of holiness," we think. "Maybe I'll read my Bible and pray just a bit." We have no real walk with God, no vibrant relationship with Jesus, no power in the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile we keep thinking how nice it would be to be pure in heart and have the peace of God reigning and ruling in our lives. We keep thinking that tomorrow we'll make the effort. Tomorrow comes. And the day after. And we keep waiting until eternity comes.

How many of us believe the old-fashioned gospel? That is a very uncomfortable gospel. We admire the men of the past and the great revivals that saw thousands of people giving their lives and hearts to Christ. We fill our libraries with histories and biographies to find out the secrets of the men of old. Yet when we sit under genuine old-fashioned gospel preaching, we become uncomfortable. One of the most interesting sermons I could preach would be how it used to be. One of the most uncomfortable would be how it should be today.

I will not make any apologies to call a sinner a sinner. I wish somebody had come to me when I was messed up and told me I was a sinner on my way to hell. I attended a lot of revival meetings at my wife's request, and I remember only one in which I said, "There is a man who knows what he is talking about. There is a man who has Jesus in his life for real." I tell you this sadly and soberly.

At one revival meeting so many jokes were told that the audience laughed and laughed. I was there as a very lost sinner, but at the altar call I thought, "There's no way in the world I will walk up there. That man can't help me." How could he expect to make people laugh ignoring their sins and the judgment to come and then at the end say, "Now come on up here and get right with God"?

Altar calls are serious business. People in real need want serious attention. I wonder how many of you would be offended if I had an altar call and said, "Friends, I would like all the sick to come forward all of you who are lepers, who are blind, who are afflicted, who have cancer. I want to pray for you. Jesus is here to heal."

That is the Jesus of the Bible. People said he must be an outcast. His power must be from an evil spirit. People today say the same thing. When we ask that Jesus to come and heal somebody, many say it's the devil. But healing is from the Lord.

It's time for us to change. We must realize our blindness. Jesus was the healer. He cured diseases and also healed the brokenhearted. He set the captives free. He was anointed for this work. But many of us would get offended if we did the same today. Just imagine what the community would say. "Wayne Weaver is a faith healer." We would hear about it for the rest of our lives. Yet I am not a faith healer. I just love Jesus, and He has used me in many ways, even in healing.

You might be offended, but Jesus said, "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." Blessed is the man who won't be offended when someone gets healed or delivered. According to this scripture, we have a lot of people who are not blessed. Blessed is the man who is not offended in Jesus. If He chooses to take you through a trial, do you become offended? When He chastens you to purify you, do you get offended at him? Do you say, "I'd like to give up? I'm tired of this Christian life. Forget it!"

"Blessed is the man who does not get offended in Me." These are the words of Jesus.

Consider some of the other things Jesus did. The world today would say Mary Magdalene had some kind of mental problem, perhaps a chemical imbalance in her brain. But when Jesus cast seven devils out of her, her chemical imbalance vanished. Her brain was suddenly balanced. The same can happen today. Blessed still is the man who is not offended in Jesus.

Jesus did many other kinds of miracles. Today, if the world saw a multitude of hungry people, it would say, "You are so unorganized. You Christian people, you Jesus people, are the most unorganized people around. You lack education, common sense, and everything else. Look at these 5,000 people without food, a tent, or any other provision." Jesus just said, "No problem. Bring what bread and fish we have and feed the people. You've seen me do this before." As they started breaking the loaves, the bread grew faster than they could break it. In the end there were twelve baskets left. Blessed is the man who is not offended in Jesus.

When Jesus sent out His 70 disciples, He gave them power over enemies, over scorpions, over demons, and over disease. He totally empowered them. That is what He wants to do with us. He wants to empower us with His power, His grace, His love, His understanding, His compassion, His purity, and His stability. Amen!

There are people today claiming power to cast out a devil, but they don't have power to live pure lives. When people truly have the power of God, however, they will live pure and holy lives and follow the full teaching of Jesus. We see a counterfeit gospel that emphasizes the big display, but the real gospel begins with the sinner getting set free from his sin and cleansed from his filthiness, purified and made holy. That is the gospel.

Peter was easily impressed with the big display. As he was breaking bread, he got excited at the miracle taking place. He was quick to go up and quick to go down. When things were right and good he was all for discipleship. When things took a turn, he went down in a hurry. When Jesus went into the grave, Peter said, "Let's go fishing." He was ready to give up.

But Luke 2:32 says something interesting about Peter, from which I've drawn the title of this sermon, "When Thou Art Converted." Even though Peter accomplished a great deal he healed people, he cast out demons, he helped feed the 5,000, he even got out of the boat and started walking on the water Jesus looked at him in Luke 2 and said, "Peter, when thou art converted, strengthen my brethren." Peter did all those things and still wasn't converted?

Let me tell you about my own conversion. I was born in the backfields in an Amish home. My dad was pushed out of the Old Order Amish Church because he preached salvation the need to be born again. I remember, as a little boy, sitting on the bench in the Amish Church and hearing my dad say, "Ye must be born again." Some of the people just couldn't take that. It brought him tremendous persecution. When they told him he had to leave, my dad almost had heart failure.

I once heard my dad crying and praying in the middle of the night out in the chicken house. He was praying for his children. One of his prayers was, "Oh God, please allow my sons to be preachers." One time I was holding revival meetings and wrote my dad a letter about some of the victories going on. I said, "When I think of these victories I think of hearing you crying out in prayer in the middle of the night back in the chicken house when we lived near Mt. Hope. Your prayers are being answered." That letter touched his heart. He showed it to the rest of my brothers and sisters. I do have a special dad.

One afternoon, as my cousin and I pitched manure from a bullpen, he stopped, looked at me, and said, "Wayne, you know that to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And sin will not go to Heaven." He had been born again just a few months before. His words went into my heart and cut like a knife. They made me nervous.

That night in bed I rolled and rolled around. "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him is sin. To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him is sin. And sin will go to hell." I started crying and said, "I don't know. What can I do? I don't know what to do about it." I went downstairs and knocked on my dad's bedroom door. He told me to come in. I cried and told him I was lost and going to hell. "I'm living in sin. I don't know what to do about it." That was on Memorial Day of 1969.

My dad led me to the Lord. He told me how to become born again. "You have to lay everything down and confess your sins." This is what he preached; yet I don't believe he had the opportunity to lead anyone truly to Christ until that night. When I got up I was different. Something had happened. The next day could have been stormy but for me the sun was shining. Like the song goes, "O it's different. Yes, it's different now."

Well, I started my devotional life, reading the Bible and praying. But my life went up and down victory one day; defeat the next, just like Peter. Up. Down. Up. Down. One day, "Oh God, I want to live for you." And the next day I fell again.

Something else was going on. At the age of 15, the year I was born again, God showed me the girl who was going to be my wife. I knew that I wanted God's will, so I prayed and prayed about it. My brother said, "You'll never be good enough for her. You'll never get that girl." I had to give her up many, many times because it looked totally impossible. But I left it in God's hands, and we are married now. I bless God for that.

I still believe, for you who are not married, that waiting on God is the only way to find a partner. Let God show you the partner. No need to go out there with your fishing line and start fishing. Go and ask God He will show you.

Keep relying on God after the marriage as well. After we got married, things didn't go well. Our relationship began tearing apart and we both gave up. It's only because of Jesus that we are married today. He brought us back together.

Here's how it happened. I had been in California, Arizona, all around. I had sinned as much as I could sin; there was nothing else to satisfy me. I remember at one point, in a jet plane, I went into the corner and knelt down. I said, "Jesus, you know if I die I will go to hell. Please forgive me for all my sins." When I got up, I knew nothing had changed, but I felt I had a little fire insurance. Deep down I still had a hardened heart.

Some of you are the same way. You get on your knees from day to day, yet you continue to sin and fall. You get off your knees and you know you haven't changed. You still have a hardened heart, just as Romans 2 says.

I came home from that trip and decided to look at the old water holes I used to play in. I saw one of my old buddies. Afterward I had the same old rotten feeling. The same old defeat. The same old nothing. The same void. Well, a revival meeting was going on down the road. I went and could tell that the preacher lived what he believed. I had always tried to live the way I believed but never could. I was like Peter, who also couldn't live what he believed. Right after Jesus said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren," Peter said, "Jesus, I am ready to go. Where you die I will die. I will go with you wherever you go." But we know Peter couldn't do what he said.

How many of you have said the same thing? You've gotten down on your knees and said, "Jesus, I will do whatever you ask me to do. Jesus, I won't do this tomorrow. I will not look at pornography. I will not listen to rock music. I will get rid of this and this and this." But you are still in the same mess. You are still doing the same sins.

After the revival I went home. On the way, as I felt God's conviction descending on me, I grew afraid that Jesus would come back before I could repent. I started running. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to tell my wife I was sorry. I ran faster. There are some of you who need to run. You need to leave where you are and go attend to your sin problem.

My wife was sitting in the rocking chair. I told her everything. I confessed and said, "I am going to give up. There is nothing in this world that can save me anymore. Nothing. I am giving up on myself. I don't care who hears it." Some people thought I was doing quite well spiritually. Others knew my sin. I thought, "I've asked the Lord so many times for forgiveness I know He is weary. Now I am going to give up." I was giving up all my pretense. I didn't care what the cost.

My wife simply, freely, and fully forgave me. She had been a spitfire. She had not loved me much because I was not a lovable person. But God broke through to her at the same time. God changed both of us. I said, "I want to go all the way. I don't care what it takes."

About three days later I realized I had to go down the hill and confess to the preacher I hated so much. He was the only preacher who brought conviction on my life. I knew he had seen things wrong with me. When I got there someone was talking with him. I remember the moment clearly. The stars were out, the moon was shining, and the night was quite bright. I just thought, "Well, if this other man is here it's a sign that the Lord has forgiven me. I don't have to go this far." Somehow the Lord, in His mercy and grace, told me, "No, you need to stand here and wait for the preacher."

Around midnight he finished and came out. I never cried on an old man's bosom like I cried on this man's long white beard. I asked him to forgive me. He was a godly man with the anointing of God on his life. That night I was restored and went back to the church.

Why am I giving you such detail? Because I think every step was necessary in my conversion experience. I noticed after that night I started receiving a tremendous urge to read the Bible. Something drew me to the Bible and I began seeing things I had never seen before. I was receiving tremendous strength. I decided to take about 30 days, or whatever it took, to start fasting and praying and seeking God. This too was something new. I don't think I ever fasted in my life, except sometimes on Sunday morning as was commanded in the tradition of the church. Also I went and confessed to my church what I had been involved in.

During my fast the Bible started speaking to me. I marveled how the Holy Ghost led me. He started me in Matthew chapter 1. I read until I came to where Jesus told Peter, "When thou art converted." I thought, "If Peter needed to be converted after all the Christian life he had lived, then I need to be converted too." I fell on my knees in my little room and asked the Lord for true conversion, like Peter's. And Jesus gave it to me, a baptism of His Holy Spirit. I was changed like Peter was changed.

What about you? Are you converted?