Built by Power(2)

Acts 1:8 NASB 2020

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

The Church, in scripture, up to this point, has 1 out of 3 things, a relational foundation with instructions. It has the teachings or the doctrine of Jesus, it knows whether by direct account or 2nd hand information, the authority by which he spoke, the miracles he has performed and even the feats he’s won unto the cross. Up to this point the church has Jesus and Jesus only. The church is not yet complete though. It has been established but it is not yet built.

He did not come to make it all about him, yet he knows that it cannot built without him.

Our salvation and connection with God starts with Christ but it’s not all about Christ

Jesus Makes us one with God and cleans us with his blood but he was on an assignment from the Father

The assignment was to reunite us with him so he could work through us

Yet God will not use us if all we want is Jesus

don’t be satisfied with salvation alone

Vicki Winans made a song in 1997 entitled “Long as I got King” Jesus, where she states that as long as she had Jesus she didn’t need anybody else, not a mother, father, sister, brother, doctor, lawyer, nor a preacher, nor teacher. While the music is enjoyable and the lyrics are catchy, I don’t think this is what Jesus had in mind.

Jesus made himself the foundation of rock for us that we would be able to handle the storms! Yet he still had the mind of a builder. He established a church. A place where God would dwell, and place where God’s power would be seen and experienced. Jesus knew what his father desired and in doing so established a people, a place, breathing, living thriving edifice where God would be present. He stated with his own disciples, Peter’s revelation of Jesus as the Christ was the rock in which he would build his church. Yet he knew that revelation was not enough for the next phase of building.

The church had a foundation but it needed, walls, and a blueprint for structure and power.

What is Power?

According to Webster it is

The ability to act or produce an effect

A possession of control authority or influence

Physical Might

According to the Greek study Jesus said we would receive Dunamis, which translated from Greek to English reads as power, Dunamis means

physical power, force, ability, energy

powerful deeds, marvelous works

So Jesus was saying that the church needed to be able to

act when necessary

produce needed changes

have authority and influence

be mighty

to be a force

have skills

be energetic

perform marvelous deeds

The church had to standout in the Earth because the church through Jesus had to be more than a nice people with high morals! Why? Because the world will not change form high morals and being nice alone. The church has to have power otherwise it’s just a group of people shouting to no end and gathering with no purpose. A church without power is really just a cult. A church with no power is an uninhabitable home.

Uninhabitable Home

Look at your house, look at all of the furniture, the appliances, the kitchen sets, couches chairs, beds, etc. It’s home, whether it’s got everything in it you want or not you got your house and it has your stuff, it’s home! Now imagine your home with all of its effects, but with no power. When you hit the switches, the lights don’t come on, when you cut on the A/c it doesn’t cool the house when you activate the heat it doesn’t warm the house, when hit the TV remote the picture doesn’t show. The state prohibits deems homes without power uninhabitable. Why? They declare it to not have sufficient access to a power source. On the contrary your home could also be uninhabitable if you have a power source, and no power supplies!

The Source is the origin of incoming energy. The supply is the intermediate tool that takes the raw energy and distributes power accordingly so there isn’t a power surge which is when too much power moves unchecked. Power supplies regulate power for a smoother outcome.

So if you want to be a suitable home or dwelling place for God you will need his power, and if you want to have the right amount of power for all the necessary functions that God wishes to display in your life you need the Holy Ghost!

Look at the text 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 Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

But you shall receive power WHEN the Holy Ghost is come upon you

There is no

Might

force

skills

authority

influence

energy

marvelous deeds

And you shall be MY WITNESSES

If you don’t want to be Christ’s- no power

If you don’t want to witness- no power

If you don’t want to obey his words- no power

If you don’t want to go out- no POWER

Acts 2:1–4 (KJV 1900)

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Holy Ghost is needed to (Preach the Text)

Preach the Gospel (build the body)

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

Work the Gifts (edify the body)

1 Corinthians 12:8–13 “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

Show God’s power (MSW)

Miracles like

Paul & Silas being freed from Prison

Peter healing the man with a withered hand

The Lion not eating Daniel

work the congregation

No power No Miracles

We have to be a house founded on Christ, tapped into the Power of God by the Working of the Holy Spirit, we have to be built on POWER!