The Power of the Spirit of God

This Sunday we started a new series on the book of Acts.  I am personally excited by the series, not just because of the fact that I am preaching it, but that I am learning from it.  One of the first things that is promised to the disciples is this: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. . ." (Acts 1:8, NASB)  I have always known that the book of Acts is about the transitional time between Jesus ascension and the start of the church.  I have always known that the beginning is the reception of the Spirit of God.  What struck me as I studied this particular time is that the promise that is made is not the promise of the Spirit.  The promise of the Spirit happened earlier in the gospels.  Here the coming of the Spirit is not promised, it is assumed.  It is a "when the Spirit has come."  In other words, the Spirit coming is going to happen - what you need to look for when it happens is that you will gain something that the Spirit is going to bring.

Interestingly enough, what this text says the Spirit will bring is precisely what most of us are missing in our walk with God.  The word is a simple, 5 letter word - POWER.  Christ promises that the disciples will have power when the Spirit comes.  This power will go out and transform the world as they knew it for Christ.  This power will give them boldness even in the face of death.  This power that they would have came from the Spirit of God.  We have that same Spirit.  We have the same Christ.  We have the same salvation, resurrection, mediator, High Priest.  We have the same promise of God's presence, the same assurances, the same Father, Son and Spirit.  We have the same power.  The difficulty is that we chose to live in this world as though every thing around us is stronger than we are.  The homosexual agenda will not overcome the Word of God.  The political environment will not conquer the Spirit of God.  The difficulties we face cannot overcome the Love of God.  We are overcomers.  We have power. 

Perhaps we should start to live like we are powerful!