Plug In

After Jesus arose from the grave, there was a period of forty days in which He revealed Himself to His disciples.  He gives them a promise that they will not have to walk this life alone and that He would send the Holy Spirit to come and dwell on the inside of them. 

Acts 1:8

 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.” 

Jesus foretells of a power that they will receive when the Holy Spirit has come upon them.

This power was not the limited power of the enemy, but the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit.  Meaning that the fullness of God that came to dwell in Jesus, is now promised to be given to His disciples when the Holy Spirit would come upon them.

• Did you catch that? The fullness of God’s creative, incomparative power was promised to come and live on the inside of human beings.

We see it again in the synoptic gospels

Luke 9:1-2

¹ And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

It wasn’t a watered-down version of God’s power, but the fulness of His power living on the inside of flesh and blood.

Again, Jesus tells His disciples:

John 14:12-17 (ESV)

¹² “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.   ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.  ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 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.

We can clearly see that it was not a lesser power that was given to the disciples as Jesus says that they will do the same works that Jesus did and greater.  But it was the same power in which Jesus raised Himself from the dead was also living on the inside of His disciples. 

• Has this power only been given to the original 12 disciples?
• Is this power available to everyone?
• In other words, what are the stipulations to receiving and using this power?
• Vs 12, whoever believes in me,
• Vs 13 whoever ask in my name,
• Vs 15 whoever loves Him and
• Whoever keeps His commandments

Then He will do it.

This is an important fact.  The power would not be their own, but would be given to them by the Holy Spirit.  It is Jesus’s power working through us.

Now that we have established that His power is given to those who believe, ask, love and obey Him, what is this power to be used for? On this question is where we will spend the rest of our time this morning.  For our purpose today, I have narrowed it down to 4 things though the list could be unending.

We need the power of God in our lives to:

• Annihilate Sin

Ephesians 2:1-6 (ESV)

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 

In other words, it is not in our nature to do good nor is it in our nature to please God.  We have a sinful nature that opposes God.  Our flesh longs daily to do that which is against God.

That is why we need the power of God to dwell in us to annihilate those sinful desires. You cannot overcome it on your own strength.  You need to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s continue reading in Ephesians.

⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and He has raised us up with him and He has seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

In verse 6 it says that we were raised up with him and that He has seated us with Him in heavenly places.

Just as Christ was physically put to death, we too must die to our selfishness, and our sinful ways.  Because we have been raised to newness of life through Christ Jesus our Lord we have the power through Christ Jesus to Annihilate sin.

Therefore, sin does not have power over you anymore, instead you have the power and authority to overcome sin.

The next reason we need the power of God living on the inside of us is

• Build Godly Character (the power to become better parents and spouses)

We read scriptures like

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. Just a reminder Christ gave His life for the church.  Complete selflessness.

Or a scripture like

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Instead of loving our enemies we plan to defeat our enemies.  We feel like we could never get to the point of forgiving them much less praying for them. 

Again, therefore we need the power of Christ Jesus working on the inside of us.  What is impossible with man, God can make a way.  With His Power, you will not only find the strength you need to forgive that person, but His power will also free you from bitterness.

The third reason we need the power of God in our lives is to

• Communicate the Gospel (To be bold and courageous)

Looking back at Acts 1:8 Acts 1:8

 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.” 

It takes the Power of God working in us to communicate the Gospel effectively.

First, we need His power to give us the boldness to proclaim, then we need His power to direct our conversation.  (share testimony of a time when the Holy Spirit gave you boldness)

When communicating the gospel, be sure that someone will try to discredit your beliefs.  You need the Power of the Holy Spirit to lead you and to speak through you.

 If you try to go out on your own strength, it could end badly.  But if you go in the power of the Holy Spirit, He will give you the right words to say, recall the right scriptures to quote, and He will help you say it in a way so that they can receive it.

We see in this verse in Acts that His power is available to us to become witnesses. 

Though the original disciples died, the mission of Christ goes on.  The authority & power that Jesus gave His disciples has been passed on to each of us so that we can accomplish His mission. 

Jesus is still about saving the lost. He will use you, and He will empower you with the Holy Spirit to be His witness.

Demonstrate God’s power in the earth today.

Let’s look back at Luke 9:1-2

Luke 9:1-2

¹ And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

Besides needing His power to be a witness, we need God’s power working in us so that others could experience His power as well.

I like the fact that Jesus sends out His disciples with

• Power and authority over demons
• Power and authority over diseases
• Power and authority to proclaim
• Power and authority to heal

These reasons are to be done for the benefit of someone else. 

The only reason you would cast out a devil is so that person could be set free and know the power of God. 

The reason you would use His power to drive out disease is again so that person could be made whole and come to know the Healing power of Jesus

It should not be used for self-exaltation, as by your power this person was made whole. 

No, but His power should be used to demonstrate to others that our God is all powerful and that He is alive on the inside of us.

To Recap His Power is given to those who

• Believes in Him,
• Whoever ask in my name
• Whoever loves Him
• Whoever keeps His commandments

We use this power to

• Annihilate Sin
• Build Godly Character
• Communicate the Gospel
• Demonstrate God’s power

(object lesson demonstrating our dependence upon His power)