Empowered By The Spirit Series

Empowered by the Spirit

Series: ROOTS (Acts)

Brad Bailey – September 25, 2011

Intro :

Today we are continuing in our series entitled “ROOTS” which is calling us to recapture the life and ministry of Jesus in us. We are seeking to hear through the Book of Acts… how Jesus continued his ministry through those who followed. It’s an opportunity to recapture the very core of the calling that is on our lives.

Last week we began engaging the profound transition…the reality that Jesus has given us his mission and ministry. He said to those who received his life in them… that they were now to continue to serve the kingdom of God… His reign and rule. Any Plan B? No.

Overwhelming? Yes…and that leads us forward as we focus on how he has not only given us his mission… but his source of power.

This is SO VITAL. Imagine someone giving you a really prominent job they had developed and succeeded at… and you took off in now doing it yourself… and then reached a point of frustration in which you realized they had given you the job but not the resources that they had relied upon. That is how many of us have sought to follow Jesus… we try to seek his life without drawing from the same resources. We try to take up his mission without his mode.

He knows how significant the resources are… and that is something he wants to say to help each of us hear afresh today.

Acts 1:4-5, 8

....while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." …you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

baptized in water… now in Spirit.

Baptism = immersion… that is what now unfolds.

Acts 1:12-14 (NIV)

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying… 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Acts 2:1-19a (NIV)

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below.

Profound moment… we could say the alternative to ‘all hell broke loose’ happened… all heaven seemed to break loose.’ It’s a moment which reaches back to what God had planned and promised… and which reaches forward… right into our midst this morning.