Jesus gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem…”
• They need to wait. No time frame was given but they were called to wait.
• Apparently this is really important. They need to receive the gift the Father has promised – the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• They are not to leave the city until they received it.
(1) It’s not about a Ritual but Real
It is clear from Jesus’ words that they will not be effective without this.
• This is an essential. You cannot be an effective if you are not operating in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• “For John baptized with water” (v.5) – that’s the ritual, that is a sign of your commitment to live a righteous life, but that cannot change you.
• “…but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” – That’s the real thing, that’s the power for a new life.
• It is not a ritual or not just a symbolic event, but real. We are confronted with a Person whom we can relate to.
When the Holy Spirit came eventually, the disciples were transformed.
• Earlier the Lord says, in John 14:16-18 He is “the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
• The world cannot see Him or knows Him but we do, “for He lives WITH you and will be IN you.” Only believers will be able to experience Him.
And it is through Him that we see Christ, hear Christ and experience Christ.
• The Lord says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
• HOW? Through the Holy Spirit, who now dwells IN us and WITH us.
• It is by means of the Spirit that Jesus’ life is made available to us.
The human body is a most remarkable machine. It can maintain a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees no matter what the weather is outside. Whether a man is at the Arctic Circle or the equator, his body temperature is about the same. There is an inner mechanism that makes the difference.
For the Christian the Holy Spirit is that inner mechanism. When the surrounding is cold, He comforts us and gives us warmth. When the circumstance is hot and intense, He grants us peace and calmness of heart.
(2) It’s not about a Program but a Power
Jesus says in verse 8, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”
• It is not about a program but a power that is at work today.
These disciples said to him, "Lord, are you going to at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
• They were thinking in terms of timetables, schedules and programs. What are you going to do? When is this all going to happen? How is it going to happen?
• Jesus said, "That is not for you to know – the timing, the schedule, the program – these are not for you to know. That’s all in the Father’s authority.
Your task is to be the manifestation of power, not the knowledge of a program. The Father will take care of that.
• You just need to exercise the power that is given to you, and the Father will put it all together and work it all out just right.
• We need not be too concerned about the timetable, the strategy, the methodology of God’s work. The times and the seasons are in His hands, and not for us to know.
• But, said Jesus, though I am not going to let you know the program, I will give you power. "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
Now what kind of power?
It is the power to witness, the power to proclaim the Gospel and see lives changed.
• In a sense then, it is not necessarily spectacular; it can be taking place and yet unknown to us, in the hearts of people who are struggling in sin or pain.
• It can be a kind of power that never makes any sound, or any demonstration.
When we think of power, we often think of things that make loud noises – explosion, pounding, firing, hammering, or something.
• But when the power of the Spirit works, it can be absolutely quiet and unseen.
• Although quiet, it is irresistible. Even the devil cannot resist it. When He touches the heart of a repentant sinner.
• There is no way to oppose it, no way to overthrow it, no way to stop it. Every obstacle thrown in its path can be turned into an opportunity to advance His will.
• We see that in the Gospels, in Acts and in church history. We see that today in the lives of people we know.
The Holy Spirit changes lives from within and not from without.
• It does not start on the outside, with the environment, or the circumstances, or the external situation.
• It starts within, within the 4 walls of an upper room, and then works out, changing the world ultimately.
We need Him. It is about His power, not some kind of program.
John Ortberg shared this in The Life You Always Wanted (p.55-56):
It’s like a motorboat and a sailboat. A person can operate a motorboat without assistance given the right equipment and effort. Operating a sailboat is different - it is dependent on the wind. The operator of a sailboat does whatever enables him to catch the wind.
Spiritual transformation is like this: "... we can open ourselves to spiritual transformation through certain practices, but we cannot engineer it. We can take no credit for it."
He will enable you and carry you through.
Tony Evans says:
One day I was in an airport rushing to catch a plane. I was sweating and puffing when I looked to my right and saw a man walking half as fast as I was, but going faster. He was walking on a moving travellator.
When we walk in the Spirit, he comes underneath us and bears us along. We’re still walking, but we walk dependent on him.
(3) It’s not about Propaganda but Witnessing
And then Jesus says, the world will be changed, not by propaganda but by witnessing.
• You shall not be “My witnesses”, He said. Christians are not like salesmen going out to peddle a product, nor are we recruiters, going around trying to get people to join our religious club.
• When a church becomes more like a club, canvassing for funds and membership, it loses its power.
We are called to be witnesses.
• A witness – means it has more to do with you, than with an “organisation”.
• There is a personal slant to it. Jesus says, "You are to talk about me, because you have experienced me. What you will talk about will be what you’ve seen, heard and experienced. Tell them what I have done for you."
• That is always what a witness talks about.
• "You won’t be talking about yourselves," he says, "you will be talking about me."
The mark of the false church is that it loves to talk about itself. A carnal Christian is one who usually brags only about himself. He has eyes focused on himself.
• The early Christians in Acts never witnessed about the church at all. They witnessed for Christ. Peter preached all about Christ. Paul talked about Jesus.
• If you are preoccupied with Christ, it is a sign of revival.
The promise of the Father is not restricted in any way.
• It will begin in Jerusalem and Samaria and go to the uttermost parts of the earth.
• It is prophetic. The Lord says “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”
• God sees the end from the beginning. He said that at a time when there were no cars and no planes.
But 2000 years later, we are closer to that goal than ever before.
• It will include all places, and all times and ages, all classes, all races, both sexes, slaves or free, it makes no difference.
As a young man, Oswald Chambers, who wrote the materials that became ‘My Utmost for His Highest’, battled a persistent sense of barrenness in his Christian life. He finally wrote: I was getting desperate. I knew no one who had what I wanted; in fact I did not know what I did want. But I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the thing was a fraud.
At a little meeting in Dunoon, a well-known lady was asked to take the time after the meeting. She did not speak but set us to prayer, and then sang, “Touch me again, Lord.” I felt nothing, but I knew emphatically my time had come. I rose to my feet. Then and there I claimed the gift of the Holy Spirit based on Luke 11:13.
I had no vision of heaven or of angels; I had nothing. I was as dry and empty as ever, no power or realization of God, no witness of the Holy Spirit.
Then I was asked to speak to a meeting and forty souls came out to the front! I came to realize that God intended me, having asked, to simply take it by faith, and that power would be there. I might see it only by the backward look, but I was to reckon on the fact that God would be with me.
From that point on, Oswald Chambers ministered with extraordinary power. His words and writings touched people around the world, especially when he taught, as he frequently did, from his favourite verse, Luke 11:13.
And when Oswald died in Egypt during World War I, at the age of 43, an old Australian soldier whom he had led to Christ had a Bible carved in stone for his grave. Its pages were tuned to Luke 11:13. Contributed by: A. Todd Coget
Luke 11:13 “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
PRAYER:
Our Father, we thank you for this insight into the Person, Power and Ways of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we thank you for Your work in our lives. We’ve come to understand Christ because of You. You are at work today, as You have been doing for the last 20 centuries, bring men to Christ.
Forgive us for the blindness of not seeing You at work many times, and the failure to trust You. Strengthen our faith in You Lord. Let us trust the prompting and working of Your Spirit in our lives today. We thank you for the Power that is at work today. In Jesus’ name we ask, AMEN.
