Acts 1:8 "Empowered by the Spirit"

you have tuned in to steadfast hope thank you for joining us i'm steve lawson joined by kent steinbach we're coming to you from the iconic herb's house in dallas texas you may wonder what is herb's house well it's herb's house it's it's a coffee shop uh herb is the proprietor he's sitting with me and it's our joy to come to you we are for our devotion today we are in acts chapter 1 verse 8. so i want you if you can to be turning to acts 1 verse 8 the title of this devotion is empowered by the spirit this is so needed in our lives and let me begin by reading the verse jesus is the speaker this is before his ascension back to heaven following his resurrection jesus said to his disciples 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 kent as these disciples are being sent out they're being sent into a hostile world they're not in the buckle of the bible belt they are in the deep end of the pool this is going to be over their head the roman empire is dominant agnosticism atheism pagan religion apostate judaism it's just all out there and christianity is just a few little specks here and there of people who were converted under the ministry of jesus basically and so how are the disciples going to reach the world for christ and with the gospel and in a real sense that's the challenge you and i face because our world is becoming darker by the moment and how are we going to carry out the work of god with all of the agnosticism and atheism and really hostility towards christianity that's out there well we need what jesus says here we need the power of the holy spirit so notice what jesus says in acts 1 verse 8 he says you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you this word power in the original language comes into the english language is dynamite it's the greek word dunamis and we're not talking about just a little power i mean we are talking about earth shaking power explosive power that's far greater than than any resistance we we would ever face and he says you will receive power which is strength and might to carry out god's will for our lives he says when the holy spirit has come upon you can't we could put it this way the holy spirit is the ultimate power broker i mean he is the one who releases the the power of god in us to resist temptation to put to death the deeds of the flesh to love people who are difficult to love to have courage and boldness and witnessing to serve others to assume a posture of humility all of this it is the spirit of god who lives within us is releasing this power that's far greater than anything we will face and the forces of darkness all around us and i think of first john 4 verse 4 in which john writes greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world and so god and the devil are not two superpowers of equal power and there is this tug of war going on god is the almighty and he indwells us and so we have sufficient resources available to us in the person of the holy spirit and he says here he tells us how we're to use this power kent he says you shall be my witnesses which means to bear testimony for christ and to speak to others about christ and it was so dangerous kent that this word for witness do you see it it actually comes into the english language as martyr martus in the greek and it was almost synonymous in the first century that if you're a witness for christ you're probably going to end up being a martyr for christ and it was true for 11 out of the 12 of the disciples and so there was a high price for them to pay and we're kind of back to square zero on that in the day in which we live and and we're not all the way there but we're getting closer and so he says you shall be my bold courageous loving but heroic witnesses and notice where he's where this is to start he says both in jerusalem well time out that's where they crucified jesus that's where the greatest resistance from apostate judaism was and jesus is saying to them you'll have the power you need to be a witness for me in the darkest most difficult places to speak up for me you'll you're you will be empowered to do that that should encourage us because some of our listeners live in have difficult jobs in difficult offices have difficult parents difficult in-laws difficult neighbors the holy spirit's greater and he will empower us and then he says and in all judea and samaria well that's just more the same those were difficult places and then he says even to the remotest part of the earth on that day that was rome where the headquarters of the roman empire was so the holy spirit here we see really the sufficiency of the holy spirit to empower us to be a witness for christ so ken i went a little bit longer but i you and i need to talk about this that's great so steve as we see this and the holy spirit uh indwelt these apostles disciples this is the same holy spirit you could clarify that indwells us the same power absolutely there is no diminishing of the fullness of the spirit that was in them there's no diminishing of his presence in us right because again you don't get it we did we do we do not have a lesser holy spirit the holy spirit is the holy spirit and he is omnipresent so wherever he is he is there in the fullness of all that he is he doesn't leave half of himself in heaven he he shows up in the fullness of all that he is now there are some places and in some believers where he manifests that power to a greater measure but nevertheless the fullness of the spirit is wherever the holy spirit is and the holy spirit is omnipresent right so steve i think the second question that comes to mind that i think a lot of our viewers are thinking um like all things god gives us many times they're twisted the truth is twisted yeah and i think uh here with the holy spirit the truth is often twisted and misunderstood yeah and i think one of the questions is how do we know when the holy it's the holy spirit in our lives or in someone else's life and not just their own spirit or their own desires yeah can't you just ask the unanswerable question yeah no we can know and it's not as easy as what i'm about to say everything has to square with scripture right and if you are doing something or saying something or reacting in a way that it doesn't square with scripture you can know that is not the holy spirit that is your flesh that is the world that is the devil but that's not the holy spirit because everything that the holy spirit does lines up with the holy scripture right of which he is of which he is the author so the plum line right by which everything is measured is what does the bible say now i realize that's a simple answer but it's a true and profound answer and so that necessitates that we know what's in the bible and if you don't know much of the bible you're going to have trouble sorting out was that me was that my flesh you're gonna have trouble so is that one of our problems in steve is it we really don't know the bible as we should and many of us we're deceived because we think the bible teaches this or we think this yeah yeah and it's not true there are so many well-intended people who attend churches where the word is not really preeminent and is not really taught it's it's just a very light treatment of scripture that doesn't really expound it and expose it and open it up and so therefore the people who said under that kind of of a ministry are going to be very limited in their discernment uh of whether or not as i respond to things in life is is that is this really god at work in my life so how does that play out in their life yeah well if they're also without the sanctifying power of the holy spirit and so they're really like a boat that's been untied from the dock they're going to be drifting but with the current of this world and being conformed to the mindset of this world even if they don't realize it they're like the frog and the kettle i mean they are just progressively adopting a secular mindset because they don't have the anchor point the cornerstone the word of god by which they can attach themselves to so kent once again thank you for your questions and for the ability to be able to talk about this in a more practical way i want to say thank you for joining us for steadfast hope this is intended to be a devotion and if you want more teaching in the word i would encourage you to go to the bible study that's on our app with one passion because we've been going verse by verse through romans and you talk about getting sound doctrine we have spelled it out there so that would be a good resource for you to have blessings to you in christ be in his word thank you

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Length: 11min 26sec (686 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021