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FULLY CHARGED, WEEK#2, The Source of the Power
Last Sunday, we started a new series that I am calling “Fully Charged”. The goal of this series is to show how we can live a life that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. I believe that it is the will of God for each of us.
But as I said last week, that doesn’t mean that every Christian will live that way. The reason that some do not, is not because they don’t want it, but simply they don’t understand the plan of God for their lives or there is fear attached to it.
1 Corinthians 12:1 (ESV) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
The first key takeaways we learned in this series is that you and I have been given a big mission to live out in our lives, and to get it done, we need help. God gave us some help and with it came some benefits! So when you and I are fully charged we will get:
Power to be a witnesses (Acts 1:8)
Gives you a boldness to be a witness (Acts 4:8-13)
Lead you to people whose hearts are open to the gospel (Acts 8:26-39)
Will help you choose the right words and thoughts to use (Luke 12:11-12)
He do the work ahead of you so you confidently share (John 16:8)
The purpose of the empowerment of the Spirit is both inward and should show in an outward expression. Inwardly He is working on our salvation and our sanctification. Salvation is instant. Sanctification is instant and ongoing. We will be changing daily as time goes on.
But the other side of this change that happens in us is in an outward way. This empowerment helps us reach others with this message of Jesus.
A Christian that is fully charged has power, but it comes a source.
Acts 1:8 (ESV) 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.”
Again, last week we learned that we will receive POWER…it’s like getting our spiritual life plugged into the outlet. We allow the energy to flow into us and to transform us into something new.
But what is that source of power?
Acts 1:8 tells us that the source of power in our lives comes from the HOLY SPIRIT! We will receive this power to be witnesses when He has come upon us.
As we continue today, I want to look at WHO is the Holy Spirit…Notice something that I said there is very important. I didn’t say WHAT is the Holy Spirit…but WHO.
Language is important when you study anything. The words that we use have real meaning. Many times as people talk about the Holy Spirit, it becomes a topic of WHAT it is, rather than WHO it is.
As people, we struggle with the idea of the unseen at times. A term like spirit or ghost really starts to tweak our minds. But the truth is, its only in spiritual matters that we tend to have problems with the unseen. Let me prove it to you.
Today, if we want to plug in our phones to charge them, we think nothing about plugging into an outlet on a wall. We trust that when we do it, that energy is going to flow from some far off place to our devices. We can’t see the power, only the receptacle that it flows through.
The same is true in our spiritual lives. We can’t see the Holy Spirit with our natural eyes. To be more clear, I have never seen God or Jesus either, but I trust that they are all there working for me and through me. Why? Because I have seen the effects of them in my life and around my life.
The Holy Spirit has been there since the beginning of creation. It wasn’t something that was only brought up after Jesus arrived. In all truth, the Old Testament is filled with moments that the Holy Spirit showed up on the scene. He wasn’t something that was created only for this post resurrection church. The difference is who has access to the Holy Spirit!
The church as we know it today, whether it is ever said or acknowledged is all about the Holy Spirit. The church and Christianity is a Spirit-led and spirit-empowered movement. How do we know that?
How many of us agree that Jesus is the head of the church? The bible teaches us that without Jesus there is no church. But without the Holy Spirit there is no Jesus.
Matthew 1:18 (ESV) Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from (who) the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit that was responsible for the conception of Christ.
It is the Holy Spirit that descended upon Him and anointed Him at Baptism.
It is the Holy Spirit that empowered his ministry (Luke 4)
It is the Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. (Romans 8:11)
Lets go one step further. Without the Holy Spirit, there would be no creation itself.
Genesis 1:2-3 (ESV) 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Who is the Holy Spirit? The bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit is God. We know Him to be part of the TRINITY. The word trinity never shows up in the Bible. It is a theological term that describes the nature of God.
TRI= THREE PARTS TRINITY=3:1 UNIFIED
You can’t divorce any part of who God is from the other.
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
We don’t serve 3 different Gods. We serve one God who reveals himself in 3 distinct forms. The forms help us understand who the ONE GOD is.
Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV) Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one
Ephesians 4:4-6 (ESV) 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Now I know this can be confusing to us. But you have to understand that these aspects of God that we have encounters with, show us the nature of the one God. But each aspect of God is equal. Meaning that they are the same in substance, power and in glory.
This is important for us to come to grips with before we can even get into what it looks like to have Holy Spirit empowerment in your life. You and I must know that God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are non-negotiable. You cannot accept one as being authentic and not the others.
Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit not as an it, but as a person. The Holy Spirit is not a feeling or an emotional response. Let’s look at how Jesus described the Holy Spirit…
John 14:15-17 (ESV) 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
V.26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Jesus is prophesying that the Holy Spirit would be available to us. He would be helper that would teach us things we don’t know and would also help us recall those things we have learned when we needed them.
The Holy Spirit is God’s personal spirit!
Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7) | Spirit of God (Genesis 1:2) | Spirit of the Lord (Judges 3:10) |
Good Spirit (Nehemiah 9:20) | Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:17) | My Spirit (Joel 2:28) |
The Lords Spirit (Micah 2:7) | Spirit of Truth (John 15:26) | Life Giving Spirit (Roman 8:2) |
God’s Spirit (Romans 8:15) | One and Only Spirit (1 Cor 12:11) | His Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:5) |
Spirit of His Son (Gal 4:6) | Spirit that makes you holy (2 Thess 2:13) |
I give you all these phrases because it is important for us as Christians to not be ignorant when it comes to the Holy Spirit.
If we connect to Him only as an emotional moment in your spiritual walk, then you will miss the greater importance of who He really is. And eventually the emotional will fade, and so will your dependence on Him as your helper.
1 Corinthians 2:10 (ESV) these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
As a church and as Christians, we have a choice. We can be those that believe in this aspect that God has given us for power only in a theological stance, meaning we believe because of how He is described in the word. Or we can be those that go the extra step and tap into the reason He was given to us!
The Holy Spirit is the source of the power that you and I need to be fully charged for God. When we see a church and people that are truly spirit empowered and spirit filled, we should identify that we see people that are the holders and place of the power of God. He is the source, but we are the receptacles that he uses.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
As the place where the Spirit of God resides, that temple…we become spirit0empowered (new energy source) and because of that, the church becomes a place of:
Connection (fellowship)
Growth (Discipleship)
Going (Evangelize, disciple, on mission)
Serve (gifts of the Holy Spirit go into action)
Worship (Prayer life, praise, singing, teaching)
If our church is to continue to be healthy and reach the goals and calling that God has for us, we need to be people who walk in spirit empowerment because we are connected to the source of the Power…The Holy Spirit!
Jesus declared that He came so that we might have life and have it in more abundance. He was talking about our spirit and soul. This abundant life starts with salvation, but it opens the door for you to interact with the Spirit of God and to be immersed in His power.
This spirit of God in action in us and in the church was the original model. It was God’s plan from the beginning. It’s time that we quit living uninformed in our spiritual walk and begin to seek the giver of the gift once again. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us once again.
When we do, the battery of our spiritual life will be completely filled and as the Bible declares in 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.
Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God and God is the source of all that we have in this life. He enables us to do all things and know what we need. He teaches us and brings to remembrance what we have been taught. He is available to all who call Jesus the Lord of their lives.
Are you connected to the Source of the Power?
Next week, we will begin looking at what happened when the baptism fell in Acts 2. We will see that what happened then, is still available today.