The Empowering of the Holy Spirit

“You don’t have to be perfect to share the love of Christ with someone. But you do have to be pursuing a right relationship with God. If you are not, your witnessing will be ineffective.”

SCOTT HINKLE

Kirk Cameron’s Comment

Where is the source of power, boldness, and courage to witness that filled Peter, Paul, and the early church? I have only tapped the beginning of the power of the Holy Spirit who longs to fill each believer to overflowing.

Questions & Objections

Lesson

Jesus told His disciples that when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they would receive “power,” and the result would be that they would be His witnesses. These are His words:

But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Notice that they were not told they would be Jehovah’s witnesses. If we have received the Holy Spirit, we will be witnesses of Jesus Christ. We speak of him, think of Him, love Him, and want to obey His words because He is our Lord. Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would speak of Him:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me (John 15:26).

Therefore, someone who has received the Holy Spirit should be “Christ-centered.” In fact, the Bible has a sober warning for us if we are not: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha [accursed]” (1 Corinthians 16:22).

After Jesus returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, just as He said He would. God kept His promise to rescue humanity from death—Pentecost was the giving of the life of the Spirit to humanity. The Messiah had suffered and died, and His body was placed in the grave. Three days later, in the deathly coldness of the darkened tomb, a faint sound was heard. It was the sound of a human heartbeat within the frigid and lifeless corpse of Jesus of Nazareth. That one tiny sound brought with it implications that resounded in thunder throughout the universe. The Father had accepted the Son’s sacrifice. Death had lost its sting! Jesus Christ burst from the grave holding the keys to death and hell. All that was necessary now was for the disciples to take the message of eternal life to those who were sitting in the shadow of death.

However, there was a problem. The chosen disciples were frozen with fear. Despite three years of intense training, they ran in the face of danger. They had been given the keys of the kingdom, but they hid behind locked doors. They needed power from on high.

When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (see Acts 2), the immediate result was that the fearful disciples became fearless. They were empowered to be witnesses. They didn’t remain inside and have a time of worship. Nor did they stay for a time of fellowship, or carpet the room and invite the world in. They went out. The gas was in the tank, the spark had ignited the flame, the power was there, so they put their foot down and headed in the direction of the unsaved. In James 3:6 we are told that the tongue is set on fire by hell. At Pentecost, God gave man a new tongue—set on fire by heaven.

It is evident in contemporary Christendom that many who profess to have the power of the Holy Spirit have not had the same experience as the disciples. They shake and quiver, rattle and roll ... but they are still hiding inside. As Bill Bright found, only two percent of believers in America regularly share their faith in Christ with others. How could anyone who claims to possess the power to witness not be a witness of Christ?

If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit living in you, but are you filled with the Spirit? Are you filled to overflowing? Are you like the fearful disciples before Pentecost, or are you like the faith-filled disciples after that day? Are you warning sinners about the wrath that is to come, which is the only thing that will matter on Judgment Day? Evangelistic zeal is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power. If fear is prevalent when it comes to sharing your faith, then perhaps you need to be filled with the Spirit, something you and I are commanded to be (see Ephesians 5:18).

How do you do that? In order to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit, you must be emptied of self. It’s said that we don’t need more of the Holy Spirit, but He needs more of us. Get on your knees in a quiet place and invite the Spirit to reveal any hidden sins to you. Confess all known sin and submit your entire being—your mind, emotions, and will—to God. Give Him complete control of your daily life. Seek His face, until you are so filled with the Holy Spirit that your love for Jesus will overflow to others as you go out into the world with the gospel of salvation.

Let these words of Bill Bright encourage you to be a bold, obedient witness for Christ:

When you represent the Lord Jesus Christ as His disciple, you can be assured that you are representing the One who possesses all power, wisdom, and authority. You have everything when you have Him. Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). You have the promise, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). And you are assured that even the gates of hell will not prevail against you (Matthew 16:18).

Feathers for Arrows

In the epic movie Ben Hur, Judah was a galley slave. He had been unjustly doomed and sent to die as a slave of Rome. However, because he reminded the new commander of his son who had been killed in battle, the commander took pity on him.

As they headed into a battle, the commander gave instructions that a chain was not to be threaded through Ben Hur’s ankle ring. The practice of securing the slaves to the ship ensured there would be a commitment to rowing during the battle, because if the ship went down, so did they.

During the ferocious encounter, the ship was rammed and began to sink. The slaves cried out in panic and tried to rip the chain from their ankle rings, cutting into their bloodied flesh.

The unchained Ben Hur was the only slave who could leave the ship. However, instead of saving himself, he overpowered the guard who held the keys, and released the condemned and helpless prisoners.

There was only One who was free from the chains of sin and death—Jesus. But instead of saving Himself, he went for the one with the keys, and said, “I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18).

Through His death and resurrection, He removed the chains of sin and death from the human race. Now all we need to do is tell the lost to get up and save themselves from the sinking ship.

Questions

1. Why did God give His Holy Spirit to the Church?
2. What did the disciples do when they received the Spirit?
3. What did Bill Bright say about the contemporary church?
4. Why do you think so many don’t share their faith?
5. How can you be “filled” with the Spirit?

Answers to these review questions are provided in the back of the printed book / source PDF.

Memory Verse

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you.”

John 14:26

Last Words

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618), sentenced to death by James I, said to the executioner: “Show me the axe. Show me the axe. This gives me no fear. It is a sharp medicine to cure me of all my diseases.”

Sir Walter Raleigh