"Power For Life"
Acts 1:8
But 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.
Intro:
Jesus said those who receive the Holy Spirit, receive power. Power for living, power to witness, power to pray, and power to perform miracles. What it amounts to is power to be like Jesus in this world. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. (1 Jn. 4:16-17) Power to live like He would have us live. Power to emulate Him with our lives. Power to do the things He did - and greater. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (Jn. 14:12) How can we do the miracles Jesus did? With the help of the same Holy Spirit by which Jesus performed them. With our immersion into the Holy Spirit’s influence comes an opportunity to be clothed in power from above.
Power ... To Live for Jesus
So many people struggle in their Christian walk. Part of them want to live a consistent Christian life and live godly in Christ but another part of them keeps them from being successful in doing so. It is the classic struggle of Romans 7, 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. . . . 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. . . . 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Ro. 7:15, 18-19, 21-25a)
Thank the Lord for not having Paul stop writing with, 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? He doesn’t leave us without the hope of victory in life with Jesus. He concluded by saying, 25 Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord!.
In another place Paul compares the Christian life to walking with the Spirit. He says, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Gal. 5:25)
In another place he presents the Spirit as the Sanctifier and the alternative to succumbing to the sins which weigh down so many. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 5:18) It is the power of the Holy Spirit which enables believers to turn from the sins that hinder them and live in spiritual victory. Wednesday night we heard Maria Khaleel say,
"You can make it to heaven without the baptism in the Spirit. We need the baptism in the Spirit to live here on earth until we get to heaven." (Maria Khaleel, Pembroke Pines, FL, Power for Purpose, DVD, 2003)
I like the truth our General Superintendent, Brother Trask, underscored in the video, Power for Purpose. He said,
"The purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is to endue a person with power to BE a witness, not just to say, to live the Christian life.
We are to witness with our lives, by what we are and who we are, as well as what we say.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit gives us power to live for Jesus.
Power ... To Witness
... you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses...
One of the things Jesus told us the Spirit would do is to empower us to share our faith. To boldly proclaim the truth. Think of Peter’s transformation at Pentecost. He went from being scared by a school girls’ question to pointing his finger in the face of 3,000 Jews and telling them about Jesus. This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. 24 But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. (A 2:23-4)
Many years later the same apostle would write admonishing every believer to be ready to share their faith with those who asked why they believe what they believe. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,... (1 Pe. 3:15)
In 1914 there were two General Councils of the Assemblies of God. The Assemblies of God was formed at the first one, held in April in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The second was held in November at Stone Church in Chicago, Illinois. At that second Council the members voted unanimously to adopt a resolution which read,
"We commit ourselves and the movement to Him (Jesus) for the greatest evangelism the world has ever seen."
Randy Hurst, one of the ministers on the Commission on Evangelism, pointed out that 95 % of the SUV’s produced never leave the road. They are designed for a purpose for which they are rarely, if ever used. A believer who has experienced that power and is not sharing Jesus is like a 4-wheel drive vehicle that is never taken off the road. They have power for a purpose they are not utilizing. (Power for Purpose)
The baptism in the Holy Spirit gives us the power to be witnesses for the Lord. The Great Commission tells us to make disciples of all nations ... teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Mt. 28:20) That is why Jesus instructs us to receive the Spirit.
Power ... To Pray
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. (Ro. 8:26)
...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (Jam. 5:17b)
Many Christians struggle in their prayer-life. They find it really difficult spending any quality time praying. They’ve prayed their whole prayer within the first few minutes and feel defeated and miserable for not being able to pray longer. They don’t know what else to say. Others feel defeated because they don’t feel as though their prayers are effective. They aren’t sure they see results to their prayers. They question if they have ever gotten a direct answer to prayer.
Yet that isn’t the picture anyone gets when they read the Bible’s description of a believer’s prayer life. So since this person’s experience doesn’t measure up they feel inferior and disheartened. They feel threatened by prayer services. They think they are doomed to a life of inadequate prayers.
The good news is that the Spirit helps us pray when we don’t know how.
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. . . . 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, ... (1 Cor. 14:2, 4a)
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. (1 Cor. 14:14-15)
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. (Jude 20)
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph. 6:18)
Power ... To Have Signs Follow
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. (Mk. 16:17-18)
The power to have signs follow us is really the power to believe, power to have faith. These signs follow simple believers in the ordinary course of their lives as they respond in faith to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. This is not super-Christianity we’re talking about. This is normal New Testament Christianity lived in the power of the Spirit. Paul told the Corinthians, My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Cor. 2:4-5) Later he wrote, For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Cor. 4:20)
It is wrong to suppose that only special, elite, high-profile Christians can do the things we read in the Bible. The truth is the least experienced, the most unpolished and unprofessional Christians see the miracles Jesus promised because of pure faith in the Word of God. The Bible says it, and they are smart enough to believe it and act on it. They pray for miracles and get results because they don’t know any better!
Peter was a fisherman. Matthew was a tax collector. Paul was a Pharisee. Frank Bartleman was a reporter/columnist. William Seymour was a holiness preacher with little education. Smith Wigglesworth was a plumber. Lillian Trasher had no training or preparation that would qualify her for the ministry. Dan Betzer was a TV news man. Dave Williams was an engineer. Andy Reid was an engineer who had never even taught a Sunday School class. Yet for all their "inability" these men and women have been mightily used of God and have seen innumerable miracles in their ministries.
The baptism in Holy Spirit certainly effects us in church, but that’s not why He gave us the baptism. ... It’s for us to live every day. (Ray Berryhill, Chicago, Ill., Power for Purpose) Much of the Holy Spirit’s activity we read about in the New Testament takes place outside of church. They took this experience home with them. (Tim Enloe, Power for Purpose)
Close:
To open your life to the Spirit of God is open your life to power. The baptism in the Spirit is no guarantee that we will be like Jesus, or that we will utilize the Spirit’s power. It is only a guarantee that He will make that similarity possible and that power available. The option to conform to Christ-likeness, or to operate in the gifts or not, is always up to us. But those are options made increasingly available to us through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
Receive the gift of the Father. In simple, child-like faith take the Gift He offers - His own Spirit. Believe this Gift is available. That He is meant for you. That God desires His power flow through you empowering you, equipping you, enabling you.
Desire the best Gifts. Diligently seek to be filled with His Spirit. Pray for this Spirit baptism - until you’ve received it. Remain open to letting God use you in incredible things.
