Plug into the Power
By Pastor Jim May
(This sermon references a video that was purchased from Sermonspice.com that depicts a young man using a chainsaw without starting it.)
Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Just like the chainsaw in the video, we need to have power applied before we can really be what God wants us to be.
The fact is that most people don’t use the power at their disposal because using that power requires getting “turned on” to God in a way that they aren’t willing to do.
Anyone can look good when we wrap ourselves in a false front that hides what we truly are. The chainsaw came wrapped neatly, with a little red bow on top. You could see that it was a chainsaw just from the shape of the package, but you couldn’t see the real thing, only the package.
That’s the way it is with people. We wrap our real feelings deep inside a covering of protection because we don’t want people to see the real us. Why do we do that? It’s because many of us don’t want our friends to know what we really think. We don’t want them to know the “real us”, or they just may not want to be friends with us at all.
Have you ever wanted to tell a friend what you really thought of their outfit, or what you really thought of their attitude and manners? Most of the time we hold back from being totally honest because we don’t want to hurt their feelings and lose their friendship.
Most people don’t really want to hear the truth anyway. They would rather hear flattering words and get a pat on the back. If you want to lose a friend, just open your mouth and tell them exactly how you feel. They won’t be around long.
Counselors often have to spend hours with disturbed people to get to the real person on the inside. They go through a process of “unwrapping” their layers of protection, one-by-one, until the real true thoughts and the true personality comes out.
We hide our hurts under a fake smile. We tell the world that everything is fine when, in reality, life seems to be really hard sometimes.
This same kind of scenario is in the church too. People come to church, acting as though they are right with God, putting on a front, putting on their “Christian Face”, when under that front, they are spiritually lacking. There is no power of the Holy Spirit in their lives because they won’t allow Him to control or guide their lives.
A lot of young people go to church, act like Christians, but they haven’t done one thing all week to become more like Christ. They haven’t read the Bible at all. They have spent hours and hours in front of the TV, at the ball games, or playing on the X-Box or some other computer game, but they haven’t spent one minute in prayer, seeking the power of God in their lives.
Week after week some of us walk into the church, but we aren’t any more powered by the Holy Ghost today than we were last week, or last month, or even last year. Why is that so?
It’s because we simply haven’t plugged into Jesus. We pass by him every once in while, but we never take the time or make the real commitment to get plugged in.
If you take the plug that powers your computer game and just pass it by the outlet once a while, I don’t think that game will work for long. If you pass the plug by the outlet and just let it hang on the edge of the outlet, you might accidentally get a spark every once in while when it makes contact, but most of the time, there’s no power coming through the line.
The fact is, unless you take the time to get really committed and plugged in you will never be powered by the Holy Spirit.
Plugging in that power cord on your computer game takes just a little more effort than passing by the outlet. It takes your attention and focusing on what you’re doing so you can get the plug in the right place, apply the right amount of pressure (you don’t use a hammer to drive the plug in), and make sure that the plug in turned in the right direction.
You can’t just show up at church, walk by your Bible once in while, sit through a worship service, and walk by the altar once a week and expect to be powered by the Holy Ghost. That power doesn’t come by osmosis. It doesn’t reach out and grab you like a magnet. You have to get close and work at it before that power will be in your life.
Young people can only be truly powered by the Holy Ghost after they have hidden God’s Word in their hearts through time spent in reading and studying the Word of God. You can only be powered by the Holy Ghost after you learn to get into the service and truly learn to worship the Lord with all your heart. You can only be powered by the Holy Ghost if you are willing to lay yourself upon the altar daily and give your whole heart and life to Jesus Christ.
How many of you would like to buy an old version of a computer game that turns on but can’t play of the newer games? We all want the best don’t we? Well, what makes us think that God will settle for any less than our best? He doesn’t give His power to people who refuse to worship Him. He doesn’t empower those who refuse to work for Him. He doesn’t anoint those who won’t seek after Him.
God loves all of us, but His righteousness, justice and holiness won’t allow us to be used until our heart and attitudes are right.
There was an example of some young men who tried to use the power of the Holy Ghost in the wrong way, and it caused them to fall into some real trouble.
Acts 19:14-16, “And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
These seven young men found out the hard way that it takes more than just passing by the church to have the power of the Holy Ghost in operation in their lives. It nearly cost them their lives.
Do you find it hard to pray? Do you find it hard to study the Bible? Do you find it boring to come to church? Let me tell you why – it’s because you aren’t really plugged in to Jesus.
We find time to do anything else we want to in life, but we never have time for God. It’s no surprise then that we don’t have the power.
When the young man tried to cut the log with that chainsaw without turning on the power, it was really hard. He tried to use it as an axe. He tried to use it like a normal saw, pulling it back and forth. He tried to shave with it. He tried to use it to trim the dog’s fur. He tried everything, but nothing would work right. He wore himself out and accomplished nothing.
He was excited to get it. He danced for joy at the thought of a new saw. He could picture great things happening because of his new possession. But the dream soon died when he didn’t use it right.
That’s the way it is with your salvation too. It’s exciting to get saved. It’s exciting to have your sins washed away. At first you picture all sorts of wonderful things in your mind. You want to go out and win the world for Jesus. Then if you get filled with the Holy Ghost, you are really fired up. But if you don’t stay plugged in, if you don’t keep that fire burning, the excitement soon dies away and you fall back into your same old routine again.
If you have given your heart to Jesus, that’s wonderful. If you have received the baptism in the Holy Ghost, that’s great! But where are you right now?
Some of you haven’t received that baptism yet. Why aren’t you seeking for it? God wants you to be filled with power. He wants you to “run” for him. He wants you to do great things for the Kingdom of God. But you can’t do much of anything without the power on, so get plugged in.
You might have trouble talking to other people about Jesus. You probably don’t know what to say, or how to begin. You are probably afraid of failure. Let me tell you that if you have the power of the Holy Spirit in you, God will take care of those things.
What a difference it made when the young lady came out and got that chainsaw “fired up”! Look at the work it could accomplish when it was powered. She could accomplish more in 1 minute with it running than he could have done in a week with no power.
That’s the way it is in serving the Lord too. Without the power of the Holy Ghost in your life, you will have to work a lot harder and still not accomplish much. But when you get full of the Holy Ghost and fire, and it begins to empower you for service, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish for God, because now it’s God who is really doing the work through you.
Are you plugged in? Are you turned on for Jesus? Are you fired up about serving the Lord? Are you ready for the work that God has set before you?
Right now – tonight – you can get plugged in and turned on for God. Seek after that power of the Holy Ghost. Learn God’s Word. Spend time in prayer and worship.
You will see a real difference in your life when you are powered by the Holy Ghost!
