WHEN GOD S SPIRIT MOVES Power Source (2)! 1 TITLE: Power Source MAIN SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor 12:7 BIG IDEA: God has sent us His Spirit to empower us to do the things He has called us to do, to be the people He has called us to be. BRIEF OUTLINE I.) INTRODUCTION II.) THE POWERFUL EARLY CHURCH A. CANNOT EXPLAIN EARLY CHURCH MOVEMENT WITHOUT POWER B. JESUS TOLD DISCIPLES TO WAIT FOR POWER C. JESUS WANTS US TO WAIT FOR POWER III.) THE POWERFUL HISTORIC CHURCH A. JESUS PROMISED DUNAMIS POWER B. DUNAMIS POWER REVIVED THE CHURCH IV.) THE POWERFUL CONTEMPORARY CHURCH A. TO EACH ONE SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS IS GIVEN B. THE SPIRIT WANTS TO MANIFEST HIMSELF THIS DAY V.) CONCLUSION -------------------------------- 2) INTRODUCTION Open with the example of the 2003 Northeast Blackout, particularly the amazing site of all of New York without power. Or consider using a personal example of power loss, maybe due to a storm. Take away power and you have nothing. That s the way life is too. With all of the challenges we face and with mountains we have to get over, it s impossible to live without power. That s the great thing about God. He promises us power so that we can live and be what He wants us to be. God has sent us His Spirit to empower us to do the things He has called us to do, to be the people He has called us to be. 3) THE POWERFUL EARLY CHURCH Someone said if you can explain the Christian church, something s wrong because that s not how God intended His people to live.
WHEN GOD S SPIRIT MOVES Power Source (2)! 2 What does that mean? It goes back to the early church in Acts where the Holy Spirit is mentioned. Jesus had risen from the dead and we read in Acts 1 that He spent time with the apostles for 40 days. He talked about the Kingdom of God and made a series of statements that directed them. Jesus made clear in these last few days of his life on earth that it wasn t for them to know the times and seasons that the Father has kept. We should remember this. Our job is not to figure out prophetic issues, but focus on witnessing and living through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said they should wait until they received the power of the Holy Spirit and then to go and be witnesses. Power was part of their ministry. In Acts 2 the Spirit came and for the rest of the book the church multiplied and you couldn't explain what was happening. There were people like Peter and Philip and Stephen doing incredible things for God and you can t explain those things without the power of the Holy Spirit. Tax collectors, fishermen, and political zealots who had no formal training in seminary were suddenly ministering and the church was growing and the gospel was spreading. Only one explanation for this: the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the disciples power and they were experiencing it in full measure. Now interestingly when Jesus arose from the dead and revealed Himself to them, He told them to wait in Jerusalem, which seemed like a problem. Let s think about that for a moment. Jesus arose from the dead and the disciples now new that their Savior had not just died on the cross but also arose from the dead. They saw him. And as He talked with them they now understood the sacrifice on the cross and its meaning for the forgiveness and remission of sins. They understood the message of the good news of Jesus Christ After seeing this and hearing this and understanding this, you d think they d rent a stadium or go door to door to spread this message! But Jesus tells them not to go anywhere. He said, You know the message but you re not ready yet. Wait in Jerusalem until you re given supernatural power from heaven beyond yourself.
WHEN GOD S SPIRIT MOVES Power Source (2)! 3 After waiting suddenly something came from heaven a sound and rushing wind. What we need to remember and focus on is that this came from heaven, from God. It was supernatural. Listen to this moment in the early church. Read Acts 2:1-4. And that s how they went into the world and turned the world upside down for Jesus Christ. Jesus could have chosen 12 Rabbi s for his mission. At least they would have been great orators and experts in the Scripture. But he didn t. He picked fishermen and other ordinary people. He picked people who were weak in their natural talent. Why? Because then they d have to depend on the promise He made to them. They could never do the job without the power of the Holy Spirit and that s the great need of today, too. It s as if Jesus was looking down through time and saying: Even though you have the right message you re going to face all kinds of opposition and get into all kinds of persecution. The enemy is going to come against you with an array of weapons. And you ll never be what I want you to be without my power. You have my message and now you need my power. Isn t that our greatest need today? Do we need more translations of the Bible, more songs, better sound systems and better lighting? Do we need to serve better coffee before the service. Is that what the needs are? The world is lying in darkness and getting wickeder. People need the gospel and need to be changed and so often we re just rearranging the furniture when what we really need is something coming from heaven. That s the great need today. We need the kind of power that doesn t come from getting the right translation or songs or sound system. The Church of Jesus Christ needs the only kind of power that the Holy Spirit give us. Jesus promised power. And the question is Are we living with the blessing of God s power in our lives and in our churches? 4) THE POWERFUL HISTORIC CHURCH Jesus made the promise of power for the disciples of dunamis. In the greek dunamis is the word for power. It s where we get the word for dynamite.
WHEN GOD S SPIRIT MOVES Power Source (2)! 4 Dunamis means ability, might, and efficiency not coming from us not coming from our human abilities and talents but coming from God. When the church doesn t operate with a flow of this power things can get barren. Jesus promised this power, but sometimes we don t live in it. Throughout church history we ve seen periods where the historic church failed to live in the dunamis power the Jesus promised. We see there were high periods of God blessing the church and then things subsided there were times when there was little activity of God s presence and spirit. And then what happened? There would be faithful people who couldn t take it anymore. Who were sick and tired of being sick and tired spiritual. They were sick and tired of dull and predictable services with no prayers and no hunger after God s Word. What they knew they needed was a revival of this dunamis power. Revival has a wonderful history going back through the centuries. A revival is when people get so tired of what is as they read God s Word they know there is something better. They ask for God to part the heavens and come down. People confess sins and ask him to move among them. They want God s name to be glorified but they see that his name isn t being glorified even in their local church or family. Its a fact that that kind of humbling and praying and confessing has preceded every kind of spiritual awakening. The Great Awakening and The Second Great Awakening in America. The Welsh revival in wales started this way. People were singing and praying and people were getting saved. Why? Something was coming from heaven and God was reviving his church. And now wonderful things were happening through the power of the Holy Sprit. This type of revival was not possible without God s dunamis power. 5) THE POWERFUL CONTEMPORARY CHURCH Read 1 Cor 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Listen to that again. Read that again.
WHEN GOD S SPIRIT MOVES Power Source (2)! 5 Now to each one in the church not the pastors only or leadership but each member of the Body of Christ. To everyone is given the manifestation of the Spirit. What does that mean? It means the Spirit is living in every believer and wants to manifest himself and glorify Christ and help someone grow-up as a Christian or find Christ as their savior. It means that the Spirit is living in every one of you and wants to manifest himself in our church today. He wants to glorify Christ through you this day. He wants to help someone grow-up as a Christian or find a savior through us. Each person is to be expecting this. Each of us should expect some manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good. Something practical to build up the church. Since the church is a spiritual organisms it can only be built up by Spiritual manifestation or gifting. Not by might or power, as the Old Testament tells us. But by my Spirit, God says. How many of us are asking the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself and believe that He will? How many of us are actively, daily relying on our own might and power rather than the Holy Spirits gifts? Often we think about these powerful manifestations only impacting the early church or the historic church. That s not true. The Holy Spirit is alive and wants to work powerfully in the contemporary church, too. He wants to work powerfully in our church and through us all this day. 6) CONCLUSION There s the false idea going around that everything that s new and that brings change is for the good. That s not true. Sometimes when we change we re moving in the wrong direction. We head into the territory of novelty and fads. And those fads don t have the power and edification that the Bible says can only come from the preaching of God s Word, lifting up of name of Christ, and honoring the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
WHEN GOD S SPIRIT MOVES Power Source (2)! 6 Isn t it time to do some soul-searching and really ask ourselves Is my life characterized by the power of God being manifested in my life so that people will know God is not dead but alive? That can only be done by the Holy Spirit. Isn t it time for us as a church to humble ourselves and say God you must have something better for us than what we re doing. And if we stop and shut down everything and begin to call on God, do you think that God will turn away from us? That He will not answer us? No if we humble ourselves and call on Him and confess our lack of ability to do the job, the Holy Spirit will come in new waves, and the power of the Holy Spirit will make Jesus real to all kinds of people in the places that we live. The early church and the historic church was alive and active because of the Holy Spirit. And we need to believe that the Holy Spirit is present for us today, too. We can only receive according to our faith. If we don t believe, we won t pray, and when we don t ask, we won t receive the blessings God has for us. If we want to see God work in extraordinary ways, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to come down on us and then follow His promptings. And that s our pray this day: Come down on us, Holy Spirit, for we are truly helpless without you.