For some:
• There are favorite BOOKS of the Bible that they turn to regularly for devotional support
• There are some favorite BIBLE PASSAGES that they turn to for daily living, to solve certain problems in their life
• There are particular VERSES OF SCRIPTURE they go to for help
Acts 1:8 is one of those favorite verses of scripture we enjoy reading over and over again. Why? Because it is a promise made to the Believers.
What makes this verse of Scripture so important, is that it tells us that once we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are endued with power to live the Christian life.
Since the beginning of time, men have recognize their need for the various kinds of power that are available to them, such as:
• Steam Power to drive the old large locomotives
• Atomic Power to bring Japan to defeat in Hiroshima
• Nuclear Power that is yet to be used in devastation in fighting other wars
• Electric power that we use each and every day
There are all kinds of powers that are available to man.
But there is one more power that is greater than all other kinds of powers put together, and that is the POWER OF GOD.
In this precious verse of Scripture, God has promised to fill us with the POWER of the Holy Spirit, which will enable us to do whatever God has chosen for us to do.
We need to understand this about power:
• It can be harnessed in many ways to limit it
• It can be released to totally let it do its own agenda
God does not want the power of the Holy Spirit to be harnessed, but to be free to work in our life.
For example, the power of electricity is similar to the Holy Spirit, it is awesome, it can be used:
• To destroy life - this is done in many states that practice electrocution as a form of the death penalty
• To bring life - This is done by the medical profession on a person who has died and is brought back to life
We all have died in the trespasses of sin, but God by His Holy Ghost Power has brought life to those of us who are Believers.
HOW DOES THAT POWER MANIFEST ITSELF?
aLet’s look at how it is to be used. It manifests itself in our life in many ways, such as we are given -
I. POWER TO LIVE
As Christians witness to the lost world, sometimes we will hear them say, “I would like to accept the Lord Jesus in my life, but I cannot live it!”
They are absolutely correct! This is why the Lord has given us the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we can live the Christian life.
Once we have been endued with the power of God, we can say with the Apostle Paul, in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
To live the Christian life, it takes the POWER OF GOD IN OUR LIFE. God knew this, and this is why God sent the Holy Spirit, to endue us with HIS POWER to face anything that we have to face!
Illus: God’s power is like electric power in that:
• It travels down the electric lines as high voltage to our homes
• It is then dropped down in voltage to enter our houses, usually to 220 volts
Still there is more POWER than we ever use. Sometimes we only use a little for the refrigerator and water heater. Then at night we turn on the lights and use a little more, but the supply is always sufficient.
Through the centuries of time, God’s people have had to draw from the power of God for the many things they had to face. And here is the good news! Not one time has any Christian been led to believe it was sufficient when it was not.
Regardless of what the saints of God have had to face, God’s power was available to them.
Illus: For example, consider the early church Christians:
• Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound
• Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead
• Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his
tremendous preaching to the lost
• John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil, during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines of the prison island of Patmos. He wrote the prophetic book of Revelation on Patmos
• Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross, according to church tradition, because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died
• James the Just, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple, when he refused to deny his faith in Christ When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club
• James the Great, the son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade, when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem
• Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, was a missionary to Asia. He was martyred for his preaching in Armenia, when he was flayed to death by a whip.
• Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece, after being whipped severely by 7 soldiers. They tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that when he was led to the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words : "I have long desired and expected this happy hour.”
• Thomas was stabbed with a spear, in India, during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent
• Jude, the brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows, when he refused to deny his faith in Christ
• Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded
• Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, was stoned to death at Salonica
• Paul was tortured and then beheaded, by the evil Emperor Nero, at Rome in AD 67. He endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire.
These great apostles had faced martyrdom without denying their faith in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They could not have faced what they had to face without the power of God in their lives.
One of the convincing evidences of the resurrection, is that these men would not have died the kind of deaths they died if they had not really seen the RISEN SAVIOR. And if they did not have the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they would not have been able to die such deaths.
They believed in Him with all their hearts, and God gave them power to live the Christian life. When I think of the POWER of GOD, I think of an UNLIMITED SUPPLY! God has more power than we could ever use.
We have the POWER TO LIVE the Christian life and we have the ...
II. POWER TO LOVE
It takes the POWER OF GOD in our lives to have the POWER TO LOVE.
We live in a WORLD OF HATE.
• We can see the hate in men’s hearts, when the terrorists attacked the Trade Centers and the Pentagon on 9/11.
• We can see the hate in the heart of man during the month of October 2002, when a sniper was hiding and killing children, men and women at random.
They brought the experts on television and said, “What would make a person do such a thing?” Some said:
• We are told by the experts that the reason that these evil people do what they do, is because they were raised wrong.
Listen, a lot of folks were raised in bad homes, but they do not go around killing people.
• We are told by the experts that the reason that these evil people do what they do, is because they were neglected by parents and rejected by society.
Again, I remind you that a lot of folks have been neglected by their parents and rejected by society, but they do not go around killing innocent people.
• We are told by the experts that it has to do with poverty, and now they are taking it out on society.
Some of the greatest people in our society were raised in poverty, and they do not go around killing innocent people.
The reason these evil people are filled with hate, and want to kill innocent people, is because Satan has filled their hearts with HATE!
We live in a world that is filled with hate!
• Political parties literally hate other political parties
• Sports teams literally hate other sports teams
• Children hate their parents
• Students hate their teachers
• Races hate other races
• Religious groups (Islam) literally hate other religious groups
There is so much hate in the world today, there are people who are getting rich by going around promoting hate in the speeches they make.
BUT HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS! The darker a place may be, the greater a light shines!
Illus: We remember the old fable about the Keeper of the Light House, where he takes a small candle and lights it, then walks up the staircase to the top. The candle asks, “What are you going to do with me?” and the keeper says, “I am going to light up the harbor.” The little candle says, “My light is not big enough to do that.” and the keeper says, “Just keep shinning and leave the rest to me.” When they arrived at the top, there were very large candles and mirrors to reflect the light. The keeper took the small candle and lit the larger candles, and the light was reflected out into the harbor.
In this dark sinful world, Christians have a wonderful opportunity to let their light shine for the Lord. But it is going to take the Power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to demonstrate the POWER OF DIVINE LOVE.
This POWER TO LOVE should manifest itself in TWO ways, such as:
A. TO LOVE GOD
Look at 2 Thess. 3:5, "And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ."
Notice, Paul talks about us DIRECTING OUR HEARTS INTO THE LOVE OF GOD. Now if we can direct our hearts into the love of God, we have to accept the fact that we can direct our hearts into other places.
WHERE ARE SOME OF THE OTHER PLACES WE CAN DIRECT OUR LOVE INTO?
The Bible makes it clear, we can direct our hearts into loving the things of this world.
Because this is something we can do, look at 1 John 2:15, we read, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Look at the word “World”, this is the word “Kosmos”, which mean orderly arrangement; decoration; or adorning.
Illus: During Christmas time, many will take a plain cedar tree, drag it into their homes, and begin to orderly arrange decorations on that tree. Then after some time, that plain tree becomes something that will cause us to walk by and say, “Wow! What a beautiful tree!”
The devil has adorned the world in which we live in such a way as to get our attention.
Some Christians attention has been so captured by it, that they now ADORE THE THINGS OF THE WORLD, instead of ADORING THE GOD WHO CREATED THEM.
• They have time for their family reunions, but they do not have time for the family of God.
• They have money to buy everything the world offers them, but they do not have any money for the things of God.
• They have time to go camping on the Lord’s day, but they do not have time to camp at the feet of Jesus.
• They have time to read the newspaper, but they do not have time to read God’s Word.
• They have time to talk to people about sports, politics, movies and food, but they do not have time to talk to them about the gospel.
• They have time to watch television, but they do not have time to watch for the coming of Christ.
• They do not have time to attend an old fashion church that preaches the Word of God, but they have time to attend a liberal church that might entertain them for an hour.
Many who profess to be Christians have left their first love, and have fallen in love with the world. It is certainly possible for us if we do not have the POWER OF GOD working in our life.
God says to CHRISTIANS - “LOVE NOT THE WORLD!”
Why? Because this is something that can happen to Christians.
Look at Jude 1:21, it says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
Illus: Have you ever seen a couple who were madly in love with each other? Then after they got married, he started going his way and she started going her way. And as the time went on, that loving couple got further and further from each other.
WHAT HAPPENED? They allowed other things to enter their lives, and take the place of the one they vowed to love until death.
We need the POWER OF GOD to have the POWER OF LOVE FOR GOD IN OUR LIVES.
Also, we need this same power -
B. TO LOVE OTHERS
Look at 1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
The Bible says that one of the sure signs that a person has come to know Christ as their Savior, will be their LOVE FOR THE BRETHREN.
One of the sure signs a person does not know the Lord as their Savior, is that they are filled with HATE for the brethren.
Some might be saying, “Preacher, I know people in the church that hate certain Christians.”
Yes, this is true, so do I. But according to the Word of God this tells me they have never been saved. They might have:
• Made a profession of salvation
• Been baptized
• Attended church regularly
But still the Word of God states that such a person has never past from death unto life.
Look at the last part of that verse, “…He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
They say they are saved, but the question is, WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE? Are you going to believe them or God?
The power that God endues us with is a power to LOVE THE BRETHREN. We may not agree with them, but we LOVE THEM!
Conclusion:
God has loved us with such a great love, that we can not help but be touched by His love.
Illus: A few years ago, a man in Dayton, Ohio, found a unique way to propose to his girlfriend. He hired an airplane to fly over the city, towing a banner that read, "Judy, I love you. Will you marry me?" Judy accepted his proposal by asking, "How can you say ‘No’ to that?"
We look at God's love for us, especially as it is expressed in Christ and His cross, and ask, "How can you say No to a love like that?" (Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
Christians, today more then ever before, need the POWER OF GOD in their lives. We are no match for Satan in our own strength. But with His power, we can DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS US.
Once we have His power we will have-
I. POWER TO LIVE
II. POWER TO LOVE
