As kids, we thought Halloween was the greatest. It was something we waited all fall for. We would think about having the best costumes for the night and more importantly, we wanted the candy! I even remember one year, my parents let us build a haunted house on our porch...just for clarity...it wasn't that great.
It's the time of year all the horror flicks come out as well. That's because people like the startle factor as well. I write all that to say, Halloween seems to be the focus from the beginning of the month to the end.
As we began the month, I wanted our church to focus on something better than just halloween. I wanted us to understand that there are real supernatural things happening in the world. Not all the things we consider good clean fun are that. Some things are around our lives to diminish what is real. To get people numb to the real supernatural that exists.
In particular, I believe that the enemy wants us to see these "scary" stories in the lense of the unreal or fantastic so that we consider the things of God in the same way.
The bible is filled with the supernatural and God defined moments that are for today's church and for today's Christian. But if we view everything through the lens of fake, we will see them the same way.
John 10:10 (ESV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
The main goal of the enemy is to kill, steal and to destroy. He wants to diminish anything good that God wants to put in your life.
But over the course of this series, I wanted us to focus differently. I wanted to take this month to look at the real power that God has for your life that will change you. This power and source for your life can change your life and empower your walk with the Lord. Each week in this series, we have looked at a passage of scripture and seen the Holy Ghost at work within each of them…that’s why we are calling this series, “Ghost Stories”.
The book of Acts has a heading in most bibles that says "The Acts of the Apostles". The better title for the book would be "The Acts of the Holy Spirit." That's because these guys would never have accomplished and seen these amazing things happen without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. He is the source for what happened around their lives.
John 14:12 (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:16-17 (ESV) 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.
Jesus set the stage for first Ghost Story. He says, those who believe in Him (the saved and redeemed because we repent and believe) will do the works that Jesus did, and greater works! That’s a big statement! But how could that be? Jesus carried the power of God with Him everywhere He went.
Jesus is foretelling that He will be crucified and would be gone from them, but that he would send another. V.26 tells us that "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.”
This helper is the Holy Ghost. It is the third in the trinity of God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. From the very beginning, the Holy Ghost has been in existence. But now, this relationship with humanity would change. Jesus is saying, the Holy Ghost would now come and be with us and in us to empower and help us.
Genesis 1:2 tells us that he was there at the beginning just as God the father and God the Son were there. He was hovering over creation. Throughout the bible, prior to this, we can see instances when the spirit would descend on people for moments. But Jesus is telling us (and his followers then) that this relationship would change.
Jesus wanted us to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. It’s not some make believe thing. If you believe that Jesus existed and lived as the Son of God, you have to believe that the Holy Ghost is real as well. Because Jesus told us that he would send him to be in his absence.
The problem is that many Christians live a spirit-less life. God wants you to have access to a helper in your life. He wants you to be spirit-filled and spirit-empowered. At The Assembly, we have talked a lot about the difference between religion and relationship with God. You can’t have a full relationship with God without the Holy Ghost in your life.
Can you be saved without it? Yes. Your salvation is based on repentance and belief…but an empowered life is totally dependent on an infilling and acceptance of the Holy Spirit in your life.
It has been called a baptism…which means immersion. So looks at the continuance of this discussion with Jesus in the book of Acts. What I mean by that, is that Jesus is getting ready to leave them and he is reminding them something better is on the horizon.
Acts 1:4-11 (ESV) 4 And while staying[a] with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 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.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
This comes from the time after the resurrection of Jesus. He is been with his followers for 40 days. During that time, he has been reaffirming the truth of the Kingdom of God and is preparing them for a time without him. In this midst of this, Jesus drops this last instruction. Go and wait…
Wait for what? The promise…the thing He said He was going to send to them. A helper, a counselor, an intercessor, a power source. He says this is different from the water baptism that they have experienced, but now would be an immersion of the Holy Spirit. A moment that they would be taken under. They would infilled with POWER.
Every great story has a good set up, and Jesus is setting up his followers for something truly amazing that could be theirs. We know that in the old testament, it was the spirit of God that gave Joshua military power, gave Joseph the wisdom and knowledge to lead, he gave words to the prophets for the people of God. It was always there in moments…but now it would be available to all people all the time.
This immersion has purpose in your life. It is not just something to be sought after, but something to be lived in. This power that God has given to the church would be to become witnesses. I would submit to you today, that the greatest force for evangelism should be the pentecostal church. The word pentecost actually is a term that was used to celebrate the harvest.
Jesus sent us this helper to be able to reach people like never before. When the Holy Ghost comes upon your life, it should lead to POWER in your life. The word for power in this instance actually was “DUNAMIS”. It is the word that we get our word Dynamite from. Jesus is telling his disciples, you are not just going to get a touchy feely experience, but you will receive explosive power for the task ahead of you.
Too many Christians have neglected this gift that is given for us. We don’t get this power in our lives, and wonder why we are ineffective.
A few weeks back, a group of men showed up to work on a Saturday morning. We were going to fill in a couple of old koi ponds. We got all the rock moved fairly quickly by hand. We were going to move a small hill of dirt to fill the rest of the hole, but quickly figured out that it would be a lot harder than any of us could imagine. It would slow and tedious. . We had equipment (shovels, hoes, picks) to do the task, just not the equipment to do it effectively.
The same is true for many Christians…we have access to something that will further the kingdom quicker, but we never use it.
Think about these early Christians. They had been with Jesus. They were with Him as he ascended into heaven. They had first hand knowledge of who He was and could tell the stories of grace better than anyone. But Jesus knew they would need more. Because in the short days after the crucifixion, they were already falling away from their faith.
These guys really were:
Quitters
Didn’t understand bigger spiritual things
They didn’t get things right
They weren’t even that religious
The power of God would transform this ragtag group into the church we are today. If the Holy Ghost had not come upon them, they would have never lasted to see this happen. It transformed them from a group of scared quitters, into the men and women that shared this message to go around the world. They got access to what Jesus was telling them and it changed everything!
What do we learn from what happened that day? What is it that we can take away from it for our lives today?
The first thing the Holy Spirit is for you TODAY to give you power to share Christ boldly!
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.”
The first thing that you and I need to understand that the power of the Holy Spirit is not just to get you to speak in tongues or run and shout through a church. It is a power to become a witness of Christ. It didn’t stop just with the Apostles or the early followers.
There is a movement today to discount the infilling of the Holy Spirit as something that was only for the apostles. But Jesus said it was for our lives as well. He would be here until Jesus returned.
The Apostle Paul was not part of this first moment with the rest of the disciples, but yet, he even declared that the Holy Ghost was there to empower him.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (ESV) 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men[a] but in the power of God.
It is the Holy Spirit within you that gives you and I power and the ability to communicate the message of Christ in a life-tranforming way. He sees past the outer things knows exactly how to touch the heart of someone who needs salvation. We don’t save anyone or even lead anyone to faith. Our job is be witnesses to who Jesus is and allow the Holy Spirit to work through our lives.
The disciples had shared the message of Jesus before his death, but after the infilling of the Hly Ghost, they were different. They would see city wide moves of God because of the Holy Ghost in their lives.
Jesus gave us the power of the Holy Spirit not to have revival services, but to be witnesses of the gospel of Christ. He gives us power to share this message of hope without reservation. He, the holy ghost declares through us the greatness of God.
The bible says that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and it is the same power that lives within us.
The second thing that we receive from the Holy Ghost is POWER IN WEAKNESS
Jesus told them to wait for this power before they did anything else. Why? Because He knew these people. He had seen what they did after the crucifixion. Get this, even after the resurrection, some went back to fishing again. The Holy Spirit in their lives would transform them into bold declarers of the kingdom of God.
He would empower them in their weaknesses. You and I have weaknesses that if we try to overcome them on our own, we will continue to fail. There are some temptations that will get you more than others, because you have a weakness in areas. For some of you, those could be pride or prejudices, for others it could be vanity or even desire.
The apostle Paul recognized that his weaknesses needed help and so did we. We are not perfect nor do we carry this message always in an effective way.
Romans 8:26 (ESV) Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
There are Christians who will say that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is not for them. Or that it is not for today…but Jesus knew we needed this. Why would we turn away a gift of God that helps us in our weaknesses?
There will be times that you don’t have the words for what you need from God, and it is the Holy Ghost that helps you in those moments and goes to work for you in His power.
The Holy Ghost becomes our power in our weaknesses. In our frailty he becomes our strength. It’s because He understands what you really need in those moments. Even when you don’t get it, he does. The spirit is interceding, that means he is before the throne of God calling out for you.
He also gives us strength when we don’t know how to go on. He can empower you through the supernatural to do things that you would never have done on your own.
There are dynamics of this ministry in your life that are very public, but also, there are some that just happen in you. There is empowerment and faith that God is able to meet your need with POWER.
Your Relationships, he can empower
Your kids, he can empower
Your sin, he can give power and strength to overcome
But a lot of the time, we are trying to move a big pile of hardened dirt the hard way. And what happens is that we give up before we get to the end.
The third thing you need to know is that the Holy Ghost will give you POWER to have hope in a hopeless world
We like to think that we have hope in our lives. And we know that just a little hope in any situation can keep you going.
Romans 15:13 (ESV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
When we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit we get that glimmer of hope that we need to get through the next moment of our lives. Your hope is always limited to what you put your hope in. Romans teaches us that hope should be in the power of the Holy Spirit. If your hope is anything else, you hope will be limited.
The last thing is that the Holy Ghost will give power to experience the fullness of God
Your spiritual walk is about more than just getting to heaven. You were created to experience God in this life as well. It’s about more than being forgiven. We have been given a power to experience all that heaven has for us today.
I was taught as a kid that the Holy Spirit guarded our lives and gave us an ability to withstand. These things are true. I believe it is the Holy Spirit that keeps your life from being consumed by evil things. This fullness of God in your life, is an overflow.
But too many Christians are living in a place where we look no different from the world. And we’ll see in this series, how the moment that they received this promise, starting in Acts 2, there was an outward evidence that they were different. The infilling and baptism would not be contained.
But when I see children of God who are struggling with things like hurt, addiction, brokenness, no fruit in their lives, no victory around them, I know its because they have not tapped into the resource for their lives. They are missing out on all that God has for them.
There is so much more to Christianity than just living right or doing good things. There is a reality of God presence in your life. He brings peace in difficult situations. He gives us power to do more. He does radical reconstruction of who we are that will lead to real fruit that others can see and will notice.
You can have access to this power in your life. But it is a choice. And this choice goes beyond salvation. You must invite him into your life to fill you, strengthen you, to comfort you, to guide you, to counsel you, to intercede for you.
He does all this as he empowers your life to live in a way that you can’t on your own. The disciples discovered this and it changed the world. What would happen if a church discovered this and lived in our community…we could change our city, our region, our state. It’s like receiving a backhoe or bulldozer to move stuff that you simply can’t do on your own.
Will you let him do it?
PJ