Acts 1:8 "All Power"

thank you for joining us for steadfast hope i'm steve lawson joined by kent stainback we're coming to you from herb's house the iconic herb's house and today for our devotion we're in acts chapter 1 verse 8. we've been thinking about the great commission and we want to look at the great commission in the book of acts it's acts chapter 1 verse 8. the title of this devotion is all power because that's exactly kent which you and i need to carry out the great commission so i want to begin by reading this this verse it's a verse with which you're probably familiar but i want to read it jesus is the speaker he is addressing his disciples immediately before ascending back to heaven to the right hand of god the father he is about to leave the disciples but he leaves them with this promise that really he will not leave them as orphans he will leave them with what they need it's really who they need it's the holy spirit so in verse 8 we read acts 1 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 even to the remotest part of the earth so this is a glorious promise kent it's also more than a promise it's a command and it's actually repeated in acts chapter 13 as a command and so the promised part is you will receive power the command part is you shall be my witnesses and so in order to have the power we have to live in obedience to this command and so maybe let's start with the command he says you shall be my witnesses that's not a prophecy that that is a command that you and i must bear bear testimony of jesus christ of his sinless life and substitutionary death to others we need to be talking about christ and spreading the message about the saving work and the saving mission of jesus christ and we are to do it it says in jerusalem that's right where they were so in other words you start where you are and then move the fence posts out you should start with your family you should start with your your immediate circle of friends you should move out to your neighborhood your workplace your school and then move out it says and in all judea and samaria that is the larger region and then he adds and even to the remotest part of the earth and there will be those individuals whom god will call to leave their jerusalem and to be what we would call a missionary and go to faraway lands with the gospel but if we will step out by faith and be a witness for jesus christ as he commands us to be the first part of this verse will be true he says you will receive power and this power is supernatural power that is far beyond our natural power it is all sufficient power that is far greater than any weakness or any depletion that you and i would ever have it is an indwelling power at the very inner our innermost being it's not superficial and just laying on the outward facade of our life but it's in the very epicenter of our soul in our heart working from the inside out it is power that is always available to us 24 hours a day seven days a week no matter what the circumstance or the situation is and this power is mediated to us this says when the holy spirit has come upon you and in this instance it looked ahead to the day of pentecost that would see the the the mighty ministry of the holy spirit in the apostles and the 120 believers that were in the upper room that prayed and this promise has now come down through the centuries to you and me and the holy spirit has come upon us and dwells within us and the holy spirit the third person of the trinity is now indwelling us uh what know you not that your body is the temple of the holy spirit of god first corinthians 6 19 and so our body is the temple for the holy spirit and the holy spirit is fully god and possesses omnipotence and he makes his power available to you and me as we witness for the lord jesus christ and we have the greatest experience of this power as we step out by faith and try to carry out the great commission so kent this is a a great verse i need this in my life i need this power in my life and it really begins with recognizing this promise and this command that the lord gives to us steve what a great verse i need to i i guess a couple of questions that our audience may be wondering um are there different doses of the of the power of the holy spirit and we've talked about this a lot and i know i'm hoping we only have a few minutes here but can you explain uh the holy spirit and when we get the holy spirit in the amount of the holy spirit and just take a couple of minutes on that and then yeah yeah when when we become a christian the holy spirit comes to live inside of us and we receive all that the holy spirit is we don't receive a quarter of the holy spirit and then in three years another quarter and then in five years a third quarter no it's all the holy spirit he he is omnipresent we we couldn't have part of the holy spirit another part of the holy spirit be someplace else because he's omnipresent and his fullness dwells within us and so as we live the christian life we must be filled with the word of god we must be confessing our sin and we must be yielded to the lordship of jesus christ we must be a living and holy sacrifice placed on the altar and as we do there is a release of the power of the holy spirit but all of that power is really bound up in us if you will in the person of the holy spirit yes there are times when i'm walking in greater power but it's not because i got more of the holy spirit as i've said before in reality it's because the holy spirit received more of us i was more yielded i was more consciously aware of my need for the spirit i was more in the word of god i was walking in more personal holiness and so there's a greater release of that power in me and there are times when i need that power more than even at other times and and so yes there can be a greater experience of that power but it's not because i have received a greater portion of the holy spirit i received all of the holy spirit the moment i was converted and brought into the kingdom of god right right so steve again a part b to that question yes so as as we're witnessing to the lord give us a a picture of of of a man that's really been walking closer in the spirit yeah and then a man who is a saved person but hasn't been how would that look he wouldn't be as effective would he no no if you're walking in the power of the holy spirit first of all the lord is is has his hand upon you in such a strong way that he's leading and guiding you to intersect with people because you're ready to witness you're ready and someone who's just walking in the flesh the lord's leadership in that life you're not really ready to be used by the lord and so he's not going to be putting you into a strategic of situations that's correct and so as you're walking in the spirit it just seems like things begin to fall into place in order to witness people to people and it's because you have made yourself ready by your yieldness to the lordship of christ and being filled with the word of of god also as you find yourself in those situations you're more burdened for that person to talk to them you're more compassionate you're more desirous of god's best for their life if you're walking in the flesh you're almost wanting to avoid certain people in in witnessing to them and when you're filled with the spirit it just seems like the word of god is just coming to the forefront of your mind versus you maybe you haven't even thought about in a in in a while and they just are on the tip of your tongue and you know what to say and how to say it and god gives you a a good response to their questions that's just all god at work in you and at other times if you're walking in the flesh i mean it's kind of like you're just fumbling the ball yeah and and you're not as sharp and you're not as focused and the word of god is not as on the forefront of your mind and and so therefore you're not being used as effectively as when you're filled with the holy spirit so steve we really want to pray to be filled with the holy spirit don't we absolutely i mean it is one of the most significant keys in living the christian life and in fact i don't know that we can find something that to rise to a higher level of importance um really the holy spirit in the believer is mediating the fullness of christ himself to us as though the risen glorified christ were actually in us in a sense he is but he is by his spirit that's awesome so thank you for joining us for this study i i know that i've needed to rehearse these truths again in my mind and to think about their application in my life i i hope that that's the effect in your life that you're mindful of how much you need to be filled with the holy spirit every moment of every day as you live the christian life let me just remind you with this the christian life is not hard it's impossible it can only be lived by the power that he provides well god bless you thank you for joining us today on steadfast hope cannot wait to be with you again for our next study god bless you

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Length: 12min 8sec (728 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 01 2021