A Power Grab Series

Unlocked

Pt. 1 - A Power Grab

I. Introduction

It may be truth. It may simply be legend, but either way it is a story worth retelling. I have told it to you before but stay with me.

Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist, issued a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free in short order. He always kept his promise, but one time something went wrong. Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. From his belt he took a piece of metal, strong and flexible that had always worked. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now, he was bathed in sweat, exhausted and frustrated, but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all!

I tell you this story to drive home this point . . . an unlocked door is just as strong and restrictive as a locked door if you don’t know that the door is unlocked. That is why it is essential over the next few weeks to examine closely an aspect of our spiritual life that has been unlocked. If we don't know that this door has been opened for us, then we will continue to live with lack that we were never supposed to experience. We, too, could wind up exhausted and frustrated trapped in a less than life when the door to more than is already unlocked.

Jesus, Himself, addresses this lack in the lives of the disciples and then declares that a door has been swung wide open for access. I think it is important for us to walk through the unlocked door Jesus provides.

Text: Acts 1:3-8 (GNT)

For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. They saw him, and he talked with them about the Kingdom of God. And when they came together, he gave them this order: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised. John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?” Jesus said to them, “The times and occasions are set by my Father's own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be. But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Just a reminder that many of you, like me, who learned this passage learned it out of the KJV and verse 8 said "you will receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you."

I know you have heard it because I too have preached that the Holy Spirit comes so that we will have power for witnessing. This is true. I would conclude that we are under utilizing the power for this task because most of us still operate in timidity or ignore our responsibility in this area. The power that has been unlocked for us certainly sends us! However, I wonder if the fact that we don't access the power in this area, is also an indication that there are other areas of this promise and gift that are equally untapped and underutilized?

I don't want to ignore the sending power available to us, but I want to more closely examine these other areas. But I want to first stop and look at the essential unlocked resource that the Holy Spirit brings to bear for us.

I want to draw your attention to the Holy Spirit because I am convinced that the bottom-line, brass-tacks truth that we have missed is that the Holy Spirit has been given to us to unlock power!

I remind you that the disciples had spent large quantities of time with Jesus. They had witnessed firsthand the many miracles. They tasted the authority that He had given them when they were sent out on evangelistic forays. And yet, Jesus instructs them to wait on the Holy Spirit. These hiding, afraid, timid, doubting disciples are transformed from not only unlikely and unwilling candidates but become men who turn the world upside down after waiting on and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. We rightly elevate the need to have Jesus in our life. This truth will never change. Without Christ you cannot be saved! But if Jesus emphasized the power of the Holy Spirit, then shouldn't we also elevate the need to have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Jesus makes it clear that the power of the Holy Spirit was worth waiting on. He makes it clear that the Holy Spirit was worth working in. He makes it clear that the Holy Spirit was necessary in order to fulfill the call of God on their lives. We sing that Jesus is enough, but what if Jesus is telling us that He is enough for our eternal soul, but when you connect the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit with the indwelling of Jesus you then have unstoppable and undeniable power not just to be saved, but also to live!