The Power Of God

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