A Panhandle Pastor's Thoughts: Receive God’s Power

⁴⁹I will send you what my Father has promised, but you must stay in Jerusalem until you have received that power from heaven.” Luke 24:49

Evening from the Panhandle, and welcome. In my early days as a Christian I didn’t hear to much about the Holy Spirit. I think the denomination that I’m apart of was worried about labels or something. So It really wasn’t until I got into seminary that I started to learn about the third part of the Holy Trinity. Up until then I looked on Him as an “it” and just a helper to God the Father and God the Son (Christ Jesus). But He is so much more. So come on in, sit a spell and let’s do some Bible surfing.

God knew our frailty, that our hearts are desperately wicked. He therefore made kingly provision so rich, so sufficient, so exceedingly abundant, that as we study it we feel we have tapped a mine of wealth too deep to fathom. God’s greatest provision is the gift of His own Being in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Here are some of the things the Holy Spirit does for us:

1. He Begets Us into the Family of God (John 3:6).

2. He Seals or Marks Us as God’s (Eph. 1:13).

3. He Dwells in Us (1 Cor. 3:16).

4. He Unites Us to Christ (1 Cor. 12:13, 27).

5. He Changes Us into the Likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).

6. He Helps Us in Prayer (Rom. 8:26).

7. He Comforts (John 14:16).

8. He Guides (Rom. 8:14).

9. He Strengthens Us with Power (Eph. 3:16).

10. He Is the Source of Fruitfulness (John 7:38, 39).¹

The apostles are the first witnesses, but through the power of God the Holy Spirit, all believers are are witnesses for Christ Jesus. God poured out His Spirit upon us at Pentecost. That Spirit is a present power in our lives. We are being healed, transformed, liberated, and sent on missions because of the supernatural God living in and among us in the person of God the Holy Spirit. If you need further proof positive, you just have to look at the hosts of creative, bold, caring people throughout history whose only motivating force was the risen Christ in their midst.²

This power from on high was the promise of the Father, the great promise of the New Testament, as the promise of the coming of Christ was of the Old Testament. And, if it is the promise of the Father, we may be sure that the promise is secure and the thing promised priceless. Christ Jesus would not leave His disciples until the time was at hand for the fulfilling of this promise. It was just ten days after the ascension of Christ Jesus that there came the descent of the Spirit. Christ Jesus’ apostles were to stay in Jerusalem until the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them.

How could a group of common people ever hope to fulfill the great commission? God promised to provide the power (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8), and He did. On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the church and empowered them to preach the Word (Acts 2). After Pentecost, the Spirit continued to fill them with great power (see Acts 4:33).

Witnessing is not something that we do for the Lord; it is something that He does through us, if we are filled with the Holy Spirit. There is a great difference between a “sales talk” and a Spirit-empowered witness. “People do not come to Christ at the end of an argument,” said Vance Havner. “Simon Peter came to Jesus because Andrew went after him with a testimony.” We go forth in the authority of Christ Jesus’ name, in the power of Holy Spirit, heralding God the Father’s Gospel of grace.³

Thanks for hanging out with me, I pray that this has help you see the God the Holy Spirit for who He is. And I pray our Lord and Saviour be with you and yours.