The Power Of The Holy Spirit Series

A few years ago, the power went out on the north side of town. I first noticed it when I saw that the traffic lights weren’t working but I didn’t think much about it until I tried to stop into CVS to pick up some batteries. One of the clerks met me at the door and explained: “I’m sorry we have no electricity. So, we can’t sell you anything.” And I thought… that’s odd! Yeah, all the electricity was out on that side of town, but I just took it for granted that I could walk into that store – even in the middle of a power outage – and get whatever I wanted. But I was wrong! They had no electricity and so they had no power. Without that power, their machines wouldn’t work. They couldn’t run their computers; They couldn’t open their cash registers. They couldn’t log their sales. They were literally shut down because they had NO POWER. It was only when that clerk told me they couldn’t sell me anything that I realized how important that power was for their store. Electricity empowered them to do what they were meant to do.

Now, in today’s text we are in Acts 1:8, and this is the last thing Jesus said before He ascended into heaven: “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Here’s a question: Why was the POWER of Holy Spirit given to Jesus followers? What was the Holy Spirit supposed to accomplish according to this verse? It says – the Holy Spirit was given so that followers of Jesus could have power to be HIS WITNESSES! In other words – without the power of the Holy Spirit… the church couldn’t have done what they were meant to do! Just like CVS, God’s church would have been shut down. The Church would have been powerless.

Now, what is the name of the Bible book we just read from? It’s called the BOOK OF … (Acts). But actually, Acts has at least 2 other names people use to refer to it. One is “The Acts of the Apostles” because the Apostles did so much establishing the church. The other name folks use is “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”. But why call it that? Because without the Spirit, the church would have been powerless. It was the POWER of the Holy Spirit that gave Christians the ability to WITNESS in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the world.

On the internet, I found a site where someone had compiled a list of all the places in ACTS … where God’s Spirit was involved in empowering and guiding and prompting Christians to do what they did. (https://conwaychristianresources.com/2021/05/blog/the-role-of-the-holy-spirit-in-the-book-of-acts/). I’ve selected 5 of these passages to explain what I saw:

1. (The Apostles) were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.” Acts 2:2-6

The Spirit FILLED the Apostles. The Spirit filled these Apostles with His fire and His presence made it so that got they got the attention of the crowd which led about 3000 to be baptized into Christ. What did the Spirit DO when He filled the Apostles? He made it so that they could speak in languages they’d never learned… but those languages were understandable by the crowds gathered in Jerusalem.

2. There was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." Acts 8:27-29

The SPIRIT prompted Philip to go witness to an Ethiopian Official. Essentially, the Spirit said “See that guy over there? Go talk to Him about Jesus.”

3. While (the leaders at Antioch) were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Acts 13:2

We talked about this last week. There were 6 leaders in the church at Antioch who were fasting - probably fasting to ask God’s guidance on what they should do for the church: “WHAT CAN WE DO FOR YOU GOD” and the Spirit asked them to set Barnabas and Saul/Paul apart for missionary work. This resulted in the church spreading like wildfire across the Roman empire.