You Shall Receive Power!

Here is a scripture that introduces the Church and it's Power to the world: "but you shall 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 even to the remotest part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

As we have learned over the years, the disciples continually "miss" the point of the message of Christ. Before the above verse Jesus is telling them that as John baptized with water, He would be sending the Holy Spirit to baptize them for their mission. And of course, their thoughts on this idea were that He (Jesus) was at the point where He would be "restoring His kingdom to Israel" (vs. 5,6). Seems they were still looking to Jesus as an "earthly' king.

On this day, Jesus was enabling His disciples to evangelize the entire world and their power would be the Holy Spirit. This would be a miracle working type of power given to them which would result in the conviction of sin, repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What I've learned over the years it that the real power of the church (the people of God) is not found in 21st Century buildings or Post-Modern methods of preaching and teaching. It's not in the wealth of the church or how they planned to use it. It isn't about the popularity of the church. In fact, the church at Laodicea was the first bragging church. They said they were rich and God said they were poor. They claimed to be wealthy and God said they were wretched. They said they had no need for anything and God said they needed everything. They claimed to be "busy in the church" and God called the "miserable. They had a vision and God said they were blind to any vision. They were clothed in fine garments and God saw them as naked. They claimed to be satisfied and God said they made Him sick.

God said if you want to be recognized as a Holy Spirit empowered church the evidences are obvious:

• Evangelizing and sharing with the lost
• Reproducing souls into the family of God
• Changing people's lives through the gift of the Holy Spirit
• And turning the world upside down for the gospel of Christ.

Are you looking for a place to serve for God's glory? Go and find a church that is truly led by the Holy Spirit. There you will find both peace and ministry. The power that filled those disciples in the upper room that day is the power that you have available to you. You just need to reach down and take hold of it. And once you have, USE IT!

Dave