Living In the Power Zone
(Acts 1:7-9)
Intro:
A. Jesus knew that his time with his disciples would soon be over in the physical world. He knew that they need to have some teaching and understanding of what was about to happen. It was confusing at best for these men. They wanted to know where he was going and if they could come. Jesus simply told them he was going home; home to the father. Thomas needed to be reminded that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life. It was all the right words, but the disciples still struggled.
B. Philip said, "Show us the Father." Philip need reminding that seeing Jesus was seeing the Father. They are so intertwined that when you see one you see the other. The father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the father.
C. Jesus knew that was not enough. These men needed more. So he told them to show their love for him by obeying what he had commanded. As they go through their life, they would not go alone. Jesus had asked the Father to give another counselor, a third part of this intertwined God, the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit will come from God and will teach, remind them, and help them to have peace.
D. The fact of the matter is, that the Holy Spirit was waiting to come. He would not come until Jesus had first gone back to the Father. This Spirit of God would be able to convict the hearts of men due to their sin. This Spirit of God would walk along side them as though Jesus was still with them. God would dwell in man, not just as a man. It would all happen in a short while.
E. In a short while was true. That night Jesus was betrayed by one of his own, given over to sinful man and murdered on the cross. While all that was happening Jesus would bear the guilt of all sin in his body on the tree and be forsaken by his father for a moment of real pain. But we know the rest of the story. We know how God rolled away the stone from the grave where Jesus lay. We know how Jesus came to life and ministered for another 40 days to his disciples. But then it was time for this physical body of his to change.
F. Luke tells us at the beginning of Acts that Jesus again reminded his disciples about the promise. John baptized with water, but these men were about to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
G. When? They always wanted to know everything. I am so much like these men that it hurts to see my weak faith. God, is this the time when you are coming to restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus, with the hurricanes, the terrorism, the tsunami; is this the time you are going to come back and claim your own? What we are told is that Jesus says that as for times or dates it is none of our business, they belong to God, but we will receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
H. It was the day of Pentecost. A day when the disciples were together and about 120 people were gathered in an upper room. There came a sound like a violent wind. Then came what looked like a clove of fire that sat upon them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. These disciples were able to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. These same men who just days before were scared and locking themselves into a room now went out to the people and began to boldly preach that Jesus is the Christ.
I. The Power Zone
A. That day the church was born of the Spirit. Just as Joel had prophesied God poured out his Spirit on all people. The power of the Spirit is a gift from God to all who have been baptized into Christ while their sins are taken away and a new start begins. When sin moves out, God moves in. When that takes place I am living in the power zone.
B. What does it mean to be living in the power zone? It means God gets to use me as he see fit instead me trying to do everything myself. When Paul writes to the churches in Galatia he tells them to live by the Spirit and they will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. When I am living in the power zone God is allowed to produce in me what he desires: love, joy, peace, and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. Paul says, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
C. Are you living in that power zone? Is God producing the fruit of the Spirit in your life? It is time that the church today examines itself according to the fruit of God and not according to the thoughts or feelings of man. Brothers we live in power, because God is power. We live in ability, because God is able. We live in production because of the fruit of the Spirit is being produced in the people of God every day. Lives are changed when God goes to work. My life is changed when I live in the power zone.
II. The Drunk Zone
A. I am not drunk enough. Listen to me. Before you jump the pew either with delight or hatred, listen to God. Turn with me to Eph. 5:15-21. Paul tells us to not be drunk on wine because that type of life only leads to many evils, but instead be filled with Spirit. When a person is drunk they are filled to excess with alcohol. God is calling me to be filled to overflowing the Spirit. Examine yourself and see if you are filled with the Spirit of God or you just want enough of God in your life to feel the buzz Christianity.
B. It is not good enough to have a little of the Spirit of God in me, I need to be filled with Spirit. It when I am filled with the Spirit that I being to speak out about God. It when I am filled with the Spirit that my heart is filled with music of God. It is when I am filled with the Spirit that I am giving thanks to God in the name of Jesus. It is when I am filled the Spirit that I am submitting to you out of reverence to God.
C. The churches in Galatia struggled with allowing the Spirit of God to work in them. Paul realized how these Christians were getting to the point of denying the power of the Spirit in their lives. Listen to the questions he asks them – Gal. 3:1-5. Those are some deep questions.
D. Paul tells the Christians in Thessalonica not to put out the Spirit’s fire. To the Christians in Ephesus he tells them not to grieve the Spirit. Understand that God wants to fill you up with him and when that happens change takes place. I believe, like Jesus told his disciples, when we are filled with the Spirit we will have a peace that world does not have.
Conclusion:
A. To live in the Spirit will bring about a change in us just like it did with the disciples of Jesus. In the recent tsunami an American couple were on an island when the disaster hit. The couple were walking along the beach when they heard people screaming and saw tourists jumping off boats. At first they thought it was a terrorist attack and so they jumped a fence and hid in a hotel storage room. Moments later they heard a rumbling explosion and their hiding place collapsed. They were pulled underwater and swept 150 yards out to sea. Screaming, they a boat rescued them. The husband stated, "There are going to be changes in our life from now on."
B. You and I have not been through that terrifying experience. But some of us may have gone through other life changing events and when we do we make the same statement, "There are going to be changes in our life from now on."
C. I pray that your changes begin by living in the power zone and being filled with the Spirit of God. He wants to work in and through you, but you make the call.
D. If you are ready to let God in, and we can be a part of that spiritual decision, I ask you to please come as we stand and sing.
