LORD, WHAT WILT
THOU HAVE ME TO DO?
Rev. William Soto Santiago, Ph.D.
Sunday, August 5th, 2012
Bogota, Colombia
ery good morning or good afternoon, it is for me a great privilege to be with you on this occasion, to share with you a few moments of fellowship around the Word of God and His Program for this end time, for which we read in the book of Acts, chapter 9, verses 1 to 9, where we see Paul’s conversion to Christ, that encounter Paul had with Christ. it says:
“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul
, why persecutest thou me?
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him
, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink
.”
May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand It.
Our theme is: “LORD, WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?”
That’s the question that everyone does when he comes to this planet Earth, even as a child the person wonders about why he is here on this Earth and what God wants him to do here on Earth.
It is important to know that we are visiting this planet Earth by and for a divine purpose. Everyone asks: “Where did I come from? Why am I here and where I’m going to after my physical body dies?” Because everyone is more concerned about where he is going to, than where he is today, for everyone says,” I’m on Earth, on planet Earth,” but when they ask themselves the question: “But when my physical body dies, where do I have to go?”
There are two places where people which die physically go, and the person must go to one of those places. Each person has free moral agency, and therefore he should know where he wants to go to, and what must he do to go to the place he wants to go.
The Apostle Paul, named first Saul of Tarsus, was a religious man, a believer in the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and he was such a firm a believer in his faith, who went as far as persecuting the believers in Christ thinking he was doing a service to God, and going in search of all believers in Christ who would be in Damascus with letters of the high priest to take them prisoner and bring them to Jerusalem to be judged, he met Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Covenant , which had appeared to Moses in a Pillar of Fire and had sent him to deliver the Hebrew people in Egypt.
Now, Saul of Tarsus, a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and who knew very well the history of the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, he met the same Pillar of Fire that Moses met.
When the Angel of the Covenant, which is Christ in His angelic body, whom was, is and will be God, when He spoke to Moses, Moses tells Him: “Here I am” and when Saul of Tarsus met the same Pillar of Fire that speaks to him, the Angel of the Covenant, Christ, Saul of Tarsus asks Him, he asks: “Lord …” He knew He was the Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, the Angel of the Covenant, he asks: “Who are you?” the Angel of the Covenant answers, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
There are many religious and religious leaders who by desiring to serve God will go to extremes and will even persecute those who do not think like them, thinking they are doing a service to God; so was Saul of Tarsus. And now, these people like Saul of Tarsus are found, pursuing the very God, Christ Himself, whom they confess as their Saviour and whom they say they serve.
Saul, hearing that it was Jesus, he realizes that he was persecuting the Messiah, Jesus Christ, when he was persecuting the Christians, and now Saul of Tarsus says to Him: “Lord,” he recognized Him as the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as his Lord, and says to Him: “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?” The Lord says to him, Jesus says: “Arise and go into the city (in other words, into the city of Damascus) and you will be told what to do. “
It is important to know what God wants you to do. Let’s see what Saul of Tarsus was told, it was revealed to him that God had a great blessing for him. But let’s see in chapter 22 of the book of Acts, what the person has to do to start in the Kingdom of God, Chapter 22 of the Book of Acts, this is Paul speaking, testifying that experience with the Lord, and testifying before Jewish people, and Paul says, chapter 22, verses 1 and onwards, says:
Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
I am verily a man which am a Jew
(he identifies himself as a Jew), born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
“Lord, what will Thou have me to do?” To arise, and to be baptized in water calling on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is how one begins in the Gospel of Christ: hearing the Voice of Christ, the Gospel of Christ, being baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Christ baptizes him with Holy Spirit, the person has attained salvation and eternal Life, because he has been forgiven, his sins have been cleansed by the Blood of Christ and then was baptized by the Holy Spirit and the new birth was produced in the person, he has been born in the Kingdom of Christ.
Remember the words of Christ to Nicodemus in chapter 3 of John, who said: “Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of Water and the Spirit he can not enter the kingdom of God.” Everyone wants to enter the Kingdom of God, for which it is required for the person to hear the Voice of Christ, He said: “My sheep hear my Voice and they follow me, and I know them and I give them eternal Life.”
Therefore, it is important that at hearing the Voice of Christ which is the Gospel of Christ, the person believes, receives Him as Savior, and be baptized in water in His Name, and Christ baptizes him in Holy Spirit and thus he obtains the new birth, and is born as a spiritual baby in the Kingdom of Christ our Savior and thus obtains eternal Life; for there is no other Name under Heaven whereby we must be saved, only one Name for salvation, and that is: Lord Jesus Christ, He is our only and sufficient Savior.
Therefore, Paul received the knowledge of what God wanted him to do, and it was revealed to him through Ananias, a prophet of Christianity, who lived there in Damascus.
Likewise when the person hears the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, he is hearing that which the Lord wants him to do according to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, He wants the person to believe, and receive Christ as Savior, being baptized in water in His Name, confessing his sins to Christ, Christ cleanses him with His precious Blood and baptizes him with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produces the new birth in the person, thus he has entered into the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ, and has become part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is how the person obtains the greatest blessing a person can receive on this planet Earth, and it is the salvation and eternal Life of his soul, “what will a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” Christ asks in Matthew, chapter 16, verse 26 to 28. It is of no value for a person to live on this Earth, to become a very rich person, and to lose his soul.
Remember that the human being is a living soul. The human being is a living soul, and lives in a spiritual body called spirit, and a physical body of flesh from this earthly dimension, but truly the person is a living soul. That is why Christ asked: “what will a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses…” It does not say, He doesn’t ask: “And loses his physical body,” because everyone loses the physical body at a certain point of time, at a certain age; but for believers in Christ He will give them a new, eternal, immortal, incorruptible, young, glorified body, equal to Jesus Christ’s glorified body. Therefore, the loss of the body is no problem; He will give us another body.
Also the spiritual body is a spiritual house, a spiritual body, like the physical body but from another dimension. But He gives us the Holy Spirit and consequently by producing the new birth in the person, the person has a spiritual body of the dimension of God’s Angels, a spiritual body belonging to the sixth dimension, to Paradise. But the soul … He cannot give you another soul; the soul is that which receives salvation, and will receive a new, eternal, immortal, incorruptible and glorified body, as the glorified body of Jesus Christ in the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the transformation of us who are alive; and all this is for the Coming of the Lord in the Last Day.
Therefore, it is important that every person understands the reason why one lives on this Earth, and that question that everyone has, as Saul of Tarsus had: “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?” One can understand (Christ’s answer), and do the same as Saul of Tarsus did: arising, and being baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, calling on, being called upon him, the Name of Christ.
And then he would have an important ministry among the Gentiles, he would be Christ’s witness in Jerusalem, Judea, and among the Gentiles also. See, Peter in First Peter, chapter 1, verse 2 says:
“Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ
.”
We have been chosen by God since before the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obey, obey the Gospel of Christ, which means obeying the will of Christ, to be sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus Christ and to be cleansed from all sin, and thus receive the blessing of salvation and eternal Life for our soul, which is what we are: a living soul; and this is how we ensure our eternal future with the only One who can ensure the future: Jesus Christ our Savior.
“What wilt Thou have me to do?” Ask Saul of Tarsus to Jesus Christ. And now, the same question you have, has the same answer of Christ which was given through Ananias, a prophet of Christianity who lived in Damascus, “And now why tarriest thou?”
For those who have not yet received Christ: Why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized calling on His Name, that is, that these are the first steps for anyone that is written in Heaven in the Lamb’s Book of Life, in order to obtain reconciliation with God and be restored to eternal Life. See here what Paul tells us in Romans, chapter 5, verse 6 to 11:
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
It is through Christ and His Sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary that we have been reconciled to God, everyone who has received Him as his only and sufficient Savior, because the question we had in our soul: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? “we understood it, we asked it to Christ, and He made known to us through His Word, His Gospel, what we had to do: we must receive Him as Savior, being baptized in water in His Name, and He will give us the Spirit Holy and will produce the new birth in us.
We understood all that and so we were baptized in water in His Name and He reconciled us to God, and now we are in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ our Savior, because that’s the way to enter the Kingdom of Christ which is eternal and is in the spiritual realm, and some day it will also be in the physical realm in the Kingdom of Messiah, which is very near, and then for all eternity, where I will be, and who else? Each of you also.
If there is someone who has not yet received Christ as Savior and ha wondered, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? You have heard what the Lord wants you to do. The faith of Christ has been born in your soul, you are believing in Christ, and now you have the opportunity to bear public witness of your faith in Christ by receiving Him as only and sufficient Savior, for which those here present and those in other nations may come forward to receive Christ as only and sufficient Savior, if you have not received Him as Savior yet, and we will be praying for you.
Jesus Christ has many people in the city of Bogotá, in all cities and places of the Republic of Colombia and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and in all nations, and is calling them in this end time.
Christ the Good Shepherd is calling His sheep, those of whom He says: “My sheep hear my Voice and they follow me, and I know and I give them eternal Life.” It is to receive eternal Life that we receive Jesus Christ as our only and sufficient Savior, because He is life and He is the One who gives us eternal Life from God.
First John, chapter 5, verses 10 to 13, says: “God has given us eternal Life, and this life is in His Son (in other words, in Jesus Christ): He that hath the Son ( that is, he that has Jesus Christ, because he has received Him as Savior) has life (in other words, has eternal Life). He that hath not the Son (Jesus Christ, because he has not received Him as Savior, it says), has no life,” that is, has no eternal Life, the life he has is a temporary life and is going to end and he doesn’t even know when he will end his earthly life, and the good news is: God has given us eternal Life, and this life is where? In His Son Jesus Christ; He Himself said: “I am the way, the truth and the life, and nobody comes to the Father but by me.” (John, chapter 14, verse 6).
In order to receive eternal Life, one must come to the Feet of Jesus Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We all want to come to God, we all want to be reconciled to God, we all want to live forever, and there is a way established by God: through Jesus Christ our Savior.
We all want to live forever, and the question is: “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?” To live forever He wants you to receive Him as only and sufficient Savior and be baptized in water in His Name.
The jailer at Philippi, where Saul and Silas were in prison, asked Paul, Paul and Silas: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul says to him: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy household.” And that very same night he was baptized, him and his family. To receive Christ as Savior, it does not mean to join into a religion; it is to receive eternal Life from God through Christ, is to receive, therefore, reconciliation with God.
There are still more people coming because God has many people in this city of Bogotá, Colombia, and throughout the Republic of Colombia, and in the other nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, and in all other nations, and is calling them in this end time. In the book of Acts, chapter 2, and also in the book of Acts, chapter 13, verse 48, says:
“… And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
Your names are written in Heaven in the Book of Life, and therefore you have been ordained unto eternal Life, you have been ordained to hear the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, for the faith of Christ to be born in your soul, and to believe in Christ, receive Him as your Savior, by being baptized in water in His Name, and Christ to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produce in you the new birth, and thus to enter the Kingdom of Christ and therefore enter into eternal Life.
It is eternal Life which Christ gives to those who receive Him as only and sufficient Savior, and that’s how people are also identified as the sheep that the Father gave Christ to seek and give them eternal Life. He said: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.” That’s in Luke and Matthew, He came to seek and to save who? Me, and who else? Each one of you also.
That’s why He has brought you to hear the preaching of the Gospel of Christ on this occasion. The quote I gave you, is in Matthew, chapter 18, verse 11 onwards, and also in Luke … Luke tells us about this very same thing when He says He came for His sheep, and in John, chapter 10. Let’s read Matthew, chapter 18, verse 11 onwards, where you and I are identified:
“For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”
It is not the will of our heavenly Father that one of you should perish. The will of our heavenly Father is that we should be saved, for which God made a plan of salvation and eternal Life through Christ our Savior; that is what He came to earth for; to lay down His life for us on the Cross of Calvary and pay the price of redemption, which was to give His life in Atonement for all of us.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
And that is what our soul desires: eternal Life. We’re about to pray for people who have come to the Feet of Christ. We will stand on our feet to pray, people in other nations have also been coming to the Feet of Christ, and those who had received Christ as Savior, everybody standing, who are present and those in other nations, so to pray for those who have come to the Feet of Christ our Savior, right now.
Children ten years of age and older can also come to the Feet of Christ our Savior. Remember He said: “Suffer the little children to come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Now, with our hands raised up to Christ, to Heaven, and our eyes closed, we will pray for all who have come to the Feet of Christ our Savior:
Heavenly Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I come to You, I come to You with all these people who are receiving Christ as only Saviour on this occasion. I pray You receive them in Your Kingdom and give them eternal Life. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Now, repeat after me this prayer all who have come to the Feet of Christ right now:
Lord Jesus Christ, I heard the preaching of You Gospel and Your faith was born in my soul, in my heart. I believe in Your first Coming and I believe in Your Name as the only Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, I believe in Your death on the Cross of Calvary as the only Sacrifice of Atonement for our sins.
I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I need a Savior, Lord, I bear public witness of my faith in You and receive You as my only and sufficient Savior I beg You to forgive my sins and cleanse me with Your Blood from all sin, and baptize me with the Holy Ghost and Fire after I am baptized in water in Your Name and produce in me the new birth.
I want to be born again, I want to be born in Your Kingdom, Lord save me, I pray in Your eternal and glorious Name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.
.And with our hands raised up to Christ, to Heaven, we all say: !The Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all sin! !The Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all sin! !The Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all sin! Amen. Christ said:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature:
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
You will say to me: “I heard the Gospel of Christ, I believed, and now I want to be baptized in water as soon as possible. When can I be baptized?” It is the question from the depths of your heart. You may well be baptized, and may Christ baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produce in you the new birth, and we will continue to see each other for all eternity in the glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Water baptism does not take away sins, it is the Blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin, but water baptism is a commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Himself was baptized by John the Baptist, and if Christ was baptized, the more we have need to be baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In water baptism a person is identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. When a person receives Christ as Savior, he dies to the world, and when the minister immerses him in the baptismal waters, typologically he is being buried, and when he rises him from the waters of baptism, he is being resurrected to a new life: unto the eternal Life with Christ in His eternal Kingdom.
There we have the meaning of water baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, you can be baptized and may Christ baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produce in you the new birth, and as I said, we will continue to see each other for all eternity in the glorious Kingdom of Christ our Savior.
May you continue spending a happy afternoon, filled with the blessings of Christ our Savior. I leave with you the Rev. Sarria, Alejandro Sarria, with you, to let you know how to be baptized, and in every nation, in every country and every place, I leave you with the minister concerned to do in the same way.
May God bless and keep you all.
“LORD, WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?”