Power To Testify

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

8 But 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.”

Acts 1:8 (Passion Translation)

8 But I promise you this—the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be filled with power. And you will be my messengers to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces—even to the remotest places on earth!”

Acts 1:8 (NLT)

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Power To Testify

It Happened AT Pentecost

“The quickest way for God to get you where he wants you is for him to be able to use you where he has you.” – Dr. Tony Evans

The key word and God’s general idea Luke’s gospel is witness.

Witness – Testify; bear witness.

Background:

Lexham Survey of Theology (The Spirit’s Indwelling)

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is one of the gifts of salvation by which God’s very presence, in the person of the Spirit, indwells the church corporately and Christians individually, drawing them into the life of the triune God. As Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure from earth, he reassured them with the promise that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be with them and within them (John 14:17). Through the Spirit’s indwelling, the Father and the Son would also “make our home within them” (John 14:23). Just in case this is lost upon some of you this morning. I need to tell you that this is not just head-swimming to us. There is no argument in scripture about our God being so mysterious. The Bible teaches us in I Timothy 3:16 “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

The KJV says, “and without controversy...” in other words, there is no argument and we all agree that the mystery of godliness is kinda headswimming to our human reasoning.

The greatest gift Christ could offer was not just the promise of spiritual gifts or spiritual fruit but the promise of the very person of the Spirit within them. This promise was demonstrably fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2), when the Spirit publicly fell upon God’s people and supernaturally endowed the proclamation of the gospel to the nations. The Spirit’s indwelling (and through the Spirit, the indwelling of the full Godhead) bespeaks the reconciled intimacy that has occurred between God and humanity.

The New Testament records the radical shift: God’s people no longer need to visit the temple in order to encounter his presence or stand in the sacred realm of the Spirit. Rather, they themselves have become God’s holy dwelling place. Through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, God has come so near to his children that his very Spirit shares in their life, draws them into worship (Eph 5:18), and makes them partakers in the divine triune life. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of salvation to those whom he indwells. The indwelling of the Spirit is both corporate and individual; Christ’s church is his temple, as are individual Christians. In regeneration, the Spirit gives new life to the believer, birthing a new creation. In sanctification, God the Spirit transforms Christians into the image and likeness of Christ by developing within them the fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit also imparts divine power to his church through spiritual gifts and supernatural endowment. This power is given for the furtherance of God’s salvific mission of grace in the world. Finally, the indwelling Spirit is a “guarantee” or “pledge” of the fullness of salvation to be experienced at the final glorification of Christian believers (Eph 1:13–14).

Christians from different faith traditions understand the indwelling of the Spirit in various ways, making it one of the more controversial doctrines of the Christian faith.

Eastern churches largely speak of salvation as a process of “deification” (theosis) in which believers partake in the divine life through the indwelling of the Spirit.

Charismatic believers often speak of multiple fillings of the Spirit throughout various seasons of one’s life, primarily for the sake of holiness and divine empowerment.

Some Pentecostals assume a distinction between the indwelling of the Spirit at conversion and the baptism of the Spirit accompanied by glossolalia and other supernatural gifts.

Non-Pentecostal Western Protestant churches often assume that the indwelling of the Spirit occurs once, at the moment of regeneration, without any need for a separate baptism or filling.

Still other Christians, many Wesleyan, hold to the doctrine of entire sanctification, in which the Spirit may at some point in the life of a believer perform a supernatural work of grace that produces entire holiness in the person and the full destruction of sin’s hold.

Despite these varying theological positions, all believers can agree that the gift of the person of the Spirit within the life of the church is unquestionably the greatest reassurance Christ could offer to a world that would no longer know his embodied presence.

Some denominations believe that you do not possess the Holy Spirit until you speak with other tongues. I’ve grown to believe differently. The key to this discovery is word study. What does possess actually mean? It means, to have it as a gift living inside of you. This is where we get our word Indwelling!

Remember when the Holy Spirit comes, you now have:

1.) God, The Father

2.) God, The Son in the person of Jesus Christ

3.) God, The Holy Spirit

These are the same ONE God, who now lives on the inside of you and I when believe on Jesus, accept Him as our Lord and Savior, Confess with our mouths and are saved. This is called, regeneration.

Here’s books chapter and verse.

Ephesians 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

The latter part of this verse is what I am trying to help you to understand. The Holy Spirit, upon regeneration, seals your salvation. Now this, is why we have confidence in Him, that we cannot lose our salvation. We don’t seal our salvation, The Holy Spirit, He seals it until the day Jesus Christ returns.

So the first thing the Holy Spirit comes to do, is Seal our salvation.

Now watch this.

Acts 2:1-4 “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Here’s what I believe the Lord has been showing me for years in this text. I believe, the Lord has been opening up to me the difference in verse 3 and verse 4.

Here’s the distinction between the two.

In verse 3 the Bible says “The Holy Spirit filled the entire house…and it rested ON them.”

In verse 4 it says:

“And they were all FILLED WITH the Holy Spirit...”

So looking at these four verses carefully and investigating them properly, I see a description of the Holy Spirit resting on them first and then filling them WITH the Holy Spirit second.

This is possibly why before an individual actually is filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to speak in tongues. There is nearly ALWAYS a huge wave of excitement and enthusiasm that comes into the room before it happens. Why? It is a sign to every believer that the Holy Spirit has arrived and is filling the room. I believe He does it, to help us be with one accord and increase our expectation.

Whether we believe it or not. Enthusiasm increases unity and unity increases expectation.

There’s something that happens:

when we ALL get together.

When we ALL get excited.

When we ALL began to praise.

When we ALL began to worship.

When we ALL began to Pray.

We become an unshakeable force of supernatural power together, that Satan can’t penetrate and the seeker receives what they are seeking for. Which is The Holy Ghost!!!

2:1–4 The day of Pentecost, which occurred fifty days after Passover, was a Jewish holiday marking the time of the wheat harvest and also commemorating the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. In the Old Testament, it is called “the Festival of Weeks” (Exod 34:22; Deut 16:10). Jews would travel to Jerusalem for Pentecost or else stay there after Passover to await it.

On Pentecost the apostles were all together when they heard what sounded like a violent rushing wind … from heaven that filled the whole house (2:1–2). Here again, then, an important emphasis is made connecting unity and obedience in order to experience the presence, power, and influence of the work of the Holy Spirit. The wind was invisible, but its work wouldn’t be (see John 3:8). Those present saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them (2:3). These were an indication that the Holy Spirit had come to dwell within them. As a result, they were enabled by the Spirit to begin speaking in different tongues.

2:5–11 Many Jews had come from every nation to Jerusalem for Pentecost (2:5). When they heard the apostles speaking, they were both confused and amazed, because each person heard them speaking in his own language (2:6–7). Though the apostles were Galileans, each of these Jews and converts to Judaism who had come from throughout the Roman Empire heard them speaking in his own native language and declaring the magnificent acts of God in [their] own tongues (2:7–11). According to 1 Corinthians 14:20–22, tongues were a sign to the Jews of God’s power and his willingness to overcome the effects of their dispersion.

Thus, the “tongues” (2:4, 11) in which the apostles were enabled to speak were the various native “languages” (2:6, 8) of the visitors to Jerusalem (not some unintelligible heavenly language). This was the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses to the world (1:8).

Now watch this. This is what other tongues mean. Now let me show you the difference in unknown tongues.

I Corinthians 14:18

English Standard Version (Chapter 14)

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

I Corinthians 14:27-33

Orderly Worship

26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.

28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.

29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.

31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged,

32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

This is what is called: speaking in unknown tongues. This is a language that is not understood by everyone, but rather to God only. If done in a service, Paul said, keep it orderly. It’s not that we can’t speak in tongues out loud, but, if we are trying to give a message, then we need an interpreter or Paul says, shut up.

This is also known as the Gift of Tongues. Not the gift of the Holy Spirit where we speak with other tongues. The saints can speak in tongues together. However; for the unbelievers on Pentecost, they had to be given the enablement to speak with other tongues so that those who needed to be saved, baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit, could understand the message that God was using the 120 to speak.

I think the issue is: we feel as if we have to choose between speaking in other tongues and speaking in unknown tongues. I believe we can have both. I believe we DO have both. Why? One is to be a witness or to testify to those who need to hear the message of God through our testimony. The other is, speaking to God Himself. If there be a message needed for the crowd, God will gift someone with the interpretation of the message so that what it NOT made clear in unknown tongues, can be made perfectly, crystal clear in our native language through the gift of interpretation of tongues.

The beauty about them all is, The Holy Spirit enables the tongues.