You Will Receive Power
Author: Josué Mora PeñaI would like to talk about receiving that power of the Holy Spirit. I have heard a few sermons about this promise Christ gave to His disciples just before He ascended into heaven. But, what kind of power did Jesus have in mind when He assured them they would receive?
After being in the Upper Room ten days praying and fasting, waiting to be filled with the Holy Spirit, He came in a powerful manner. They received the power Jesus had told them a few days before. Peter stood up and began to talk to the people. Now you remember that Peter was the one who denied Jesus three times but now this was another Peter. He had been filled with power from above. The old Peter no longer existed. This was another person filled with power to stand before a great crowd and even accused them of killing the very Son of God. We read in Acts 2:23, "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death) (NASB).
Before the disciples received this power, they were afraid
afraid of the religious leaders, afraid of the Romans, afraid of the Jews. The disciples were just beginning a new sect, as they were called (Acts 24.5 and 28.22) and the Jews were the main opponents. They rejected Christ. They crucified Him on a hill called Golgotha but now the new believers were invested with power. They were not afraid anymore. They spoke boldly about Jesus resurrection and His coming again. They spoke about the love of God. They preached about repentance and people repented and became saved. They left the old life of sin and became followers of Jesus.
The power Jesus disciples received is the same power that the Holy Spirit has even todaypower to save, to heal, to testify, to live the Christian life, to live victoriously for Jesus. You and I have that same power if we have experienced the new birth in the Spirit. If you have been born again, you have the Holy Spirit. Thats the only way to become a born-again person, through the Holy Spirit. Youre supposed to have that same power the disciples had but do we really have power to witness to other people about Christ. Its easier to invite people to come to church or to watch a certain sports game on television than to invite them to repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
One thing is to have power to do something, to be capable to accomplish things; quite another thing is to have the desire to use that power. A Christian full of the Holy Spirit will have that desire to help others in their Christian life; to testify to the lost; to help those who have left the way to heaven and are following the way to hell. Thats why we all need to make sure that we are filled with the Holy Ghost, not just that He lives in us. He can dwell in us as our resident but not as our President; He can live with us as our Guest but without having ownership of our lives; He lives with us, yes, but we limit His power by not letting Him fill us with His presence. There is one baptism but many infillings. Jesus Himself was " . . . full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness." (John 4:1).
We need to sing to God to "Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more; fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole." (Words and music by Richard Blanchard). Have you asked God to do just that? To fill you every day with the Third Person of the Holy Trinity? Have you been reading and studying your Bible every day? Have you been praying to God to fill you and use you? Every Christian should pray to God to fill them with that Power (the Holy Ghost).
The 120 who were filled with and received the power of the Holy Spirit were ordinary people just like you and I. They were common people doing their daily chores, like you and I, but after they were invested with the power of the Holy Spirit and after they had the experience of Pentecost, they continued being ordinary people but with an extraordinary power. You and I are not supermen and we dont have to be. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than all the powers combined in the whole world.
We call the experience the 120 had, "Pentecost" because they received that power 50 days after Jesus resurrected from the dead. Even though we do have the Holy Spirit since the moment we believed, according to Ephesians 1:13 which says, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise." In 4:30 of the same Letter of Paul we read, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption," many Christians live a defeated life. Have you been asking God to fill you with that precious, glorious, Holy Spirit?
We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to have the power to witness, to pray, to live the Christian life to its fullness, to live a holy life. Three things we ought to do: Pray, read the Bible every day and ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. Our lives will be different, powerful, testifying of the power of the Resurrection, being a blessing to our family, our community, to every one around us. We will become real disciples of Jesus Christ.
josue.mora@iglesiabautista.org
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And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 