You have the Power

Acts 1:6-9

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 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.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

This has been a difficult one for me. The scripture I just read has been on my heart for a while now. I was comfortable that it was my next preach. I was honestly confident that I had a good understanding of it. But about two weeks ago, I had a dream. And in the dream, I began repeating a line of foreign words. When I woke up, it was still strong on my mind. You know, some dreams we like what is going on in this brain, but this time I felt strongly that the weird words in my mind were a language. So I got up, typed it into Google Translate, and sure enough, it was a language. Bengali… spoken in Bangladesh. And the words I typed in translated to ‘The Man is Ahead of you’. Straight away, I knew this was a word from God because over 20 years ago, I had a prophetic word spoken over me from Joshua 1:9 ..for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

And then I sit down to do my time with the Lord and the day's reading for that morning,

“The LORD himself goes before you; he will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you".

So now I am like, ok, God, I know you’re speaking to me. Is this a personal matter, or is this what you would like me to preach on? But you see, I am a bit slow because I am praying on this, should I preach on the Holy Spirit or the word you gave me, and I'm stuck now because I don't want to waste my time seeking His direction for fresh manna. Anyway, one day I come home from work and Tracey is watching a YouTube video on the Holy Spirit… revelation!

And so here’s what happened: the holy Spirit was teaching me how to teach on the Holy Spirit correctly.

Can I be raw? Had the Holy Spirit not spoken to me, I would be preaching on The fire of God, Signs and wonders and miracles, etc. And, of course, that stuff is genuinely good, and we need it, but there is a context to it that we will discuss later.

The Holy Spirit is such a vital part of Christian living.

Here is the thing. We can identify with Jesus. He was God and man. So we relate to the man. We can relate to God because we recognise that there must be a higher being that has created this universe and everything in it. But the Holy Spirit. I think the Holy Spirit baffles so many of us. So many of us struggle to connect. Struggle to relate.

The Holy Spirit is not an it. He is not matter. He’s not a force. He is a person.

If you read in the dictionary what a person is. It tells you a person is a ‘ being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness,” Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as ‘He’. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” (John 14:16)

The Holy Spirit can be grieved by our human actions, such as sin, as described in Ephesians 4:30.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit can be troubled by our actions. Psalms 78:41

Again and again, they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.

But still, we may ask, Is He really in me? Would he really choose to live in this sinner's temple? If He does, why can't I feel Him? How can I know He is with and in me?

You see, not only can the Holy Spirit be a complete enigma to us, but it’s also possible to know enough about the Holy Spirit, what He does, etc. You can have a good knowledge of Him, but never encounter Him.

If the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the church today, 95 per cent of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 per cent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference. This is the tragedy and woe of the hour--that we neglect the most important One who could be in our midst--the Holy Spirit of God. Then, to make up for His absence, we have to do something to keep up our own spirits. Aw Tozer : Charles Spurgeon said, “Without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. We are as ships without the wind, branches without sap, and like coals without fire, we are useless.”

Jesus came to reveal the heart of God, to defeat sin and death and to redeem us back to God. The Holy Spirit was sent to us so that every human being could have access to the living God and be changed by Him.

Jesus is not going to be offended if you talk to the Holy Spirit. He sent Him to you.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26

Yes, we pray in the name of Jesus. Yes, Jesus died on the cross so we could all be set free. He is so worthy of our praise, but there is no disunity in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. They are one.

When you read the word of God, that's God speaking to you. When you pray, that's you speaking to God - that's communication. But the Holy Spirit was sent to be within you. That's presence - that's relationship.

This is the power that Jesus is speaking about here: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Yes, miracles are part of it — and we will get into that later, but the primary role of the power of the Holy Spirit is to transform lives, to present the bride blemish-free and stain-free and to grow the kingdom of God!

This morning's message is titled. “You have the Power!”

And I want to give you four keys to engage the power of the Holy Spirit.

1. The power to change

The sinful nature is a powerful force. When it comes to the sinful nature vs the Holy Spirit, Ken Legg, a Gold Coast pastor, calls it a civil war in the body. The only power that can oppose the force of the sinful nature is the Power of the Holy Spirit! Let’s be real, most people by the age of 20 have only ever known their sinful nature. They understand its needs, its demands, its selfish wants and desires. They have invested all their time nurturing their sinful nature.

But Galatians 5:16 says

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.

So how do we walk by the Spirit? How do we stop the pull of the sinful nature within us? Switch on the power! Turn on the power!

You do it by investing more time in the Spirit of God than in the sinful nature. You walk by the spirit, by being led by the spirit. You are led by the spirit by surrendering to the spirit. Get out of the driver's seat and let the Holy Spirit take your place. Become a passenger and let Him take the steering wheel. That's when the power to change is switched on.

Mobile Illustration

You see, the very key to powerful Christian living is wrapped up in the very thing we don't want to do. Deny our flesh! Let me tell you.. If you cannot identify a change in your life, year after year. And you are still plagued by the revolving door of sin, it’s very possible that you have not switched on the power of the Holy Spirit because you simply have not surrendered to Him yet!

Because it is only through surrender that change comes. It is only through surrender that the Fruit of the Spirit may be revealed in your life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Gal 5:22

Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. The sap that runs through and from the vine is the Holy Spirit that enters the branch and produces fruit that feeds others spiritually!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding - https://youtu.be/ZrXGnwhZ58c

In the end, God wants us all to be just fruit!

God is dedicated to developing character within us. He doesn't just want us to be saved but also have character and qualities that reflect the image of God! He is determined to return to a white and blemish-free bride, pruned, surrendered and washed clean!

Jesus said, “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.”  If you look at the meaning of the word “witness”, it’s a person who has knowledge of an event or has observed an incident and can testify about it under oath.

To be an expert witness for Christ, you have to look and be like the one you are trying to testify about. In other words, the evidence of who Jesus is must be revealed in your own life.

To look like Jesus, you have to submit to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. The Power to Act!

Here is a secret to a powerful ministry in God.

Listen to what Jesus Says in Acts 1:4

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. Acts 1:4

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matt 28:19-20

If you want a powerful, bold ministry serving God, you have to follow the command to both Wait and Go!

You see, one thing we do is we get so excited about getting started, we don’t wait. We just rush out. And we wonder why there is no power in our ministry. One of the teachings in the Foundations Class uses a clip from Dr Miles Munroe, who put it this way..

Jesus vs us

Wait on the Holy Spirit. Wait for the power to come. The other thing we do is we wait, but don’t go!

AW Tozer said, “You have no business asking for the Holy Spirit if you have no intention on serving the Lord!”

So many of us do not go because we have justified to ourselves that we don’t have the personality type to be bold and go. Don’t let that stop you. You need power. The Holy Spirit is not going to rob you of your personality. He created you unique, like you are. Boldness comes to everyone who is led by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said. Do not worry about what to say..

But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say,

The Holy Spirit will speak on your behalf. Submission and trust!

And like I said. It's pointless being bold if your life doesn't reflect what you are saying about Jesus!

And remember that when you are led by the Holy Spirit, He will set up an encounter with someone to whom He is also speaking.

C.S. Lewis told about a college student who wrote to him. The young man was an atheist. And he was very concerned, because he had made friends with some Christian students. They were enthusiastically witnessing to him about Jesus, and it had shaken up the young man's thinking. He was going through some great struggles about Christianity, and he wanted to know, "What did Dr. Lewis think?"

C. S. Lewis wrote back, "I think you are already in the meshes of the net. The Holy Spirit is after you. I doubt you will get away."

3. The power to overcome

4. The power to guide us