Power from God

(Acts 1:8 NIV)  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

These are the words of Jesus himself just before he departed this earth with the promise that he would return.  Taken alone, I feel many have misunderstood these very words.  They have to be taken in context with all Jesus said on that mount just before he departed.

(Acts 1:4-7 NIV)  On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. {5} For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." {6} So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" {7} He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

Notice there are two separate times here. First, while dinning he commanded them to stay in Jerusalem to wait for the gift.  This was to be a spiritual baptism of holy spirit, or the manifest presence of God through Jesus in a believer.  This is also what John was talking about in (Mat 3:11 NKJV)  "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

This is what I want to talk about for the next several weeks if I may.  I know this is a touchy subject, for many reasons today. I grew up in Pentecost and seen so much abuse in this area, no wonder so many run from the ideal of gifted power with God.  Yet, that does not make the Word of God null and void.

The next event is just before Jesus is taken up, his followers were asking about the kingdom that Jesus was to fulfill. Notice Jesus’ reply. He did not rebuke them but simply told them that it was yet to come and only the Father knows when.  Then He followed up with what he had commanded them to do and that was to wait for the gift. Except this time he told them it was a power to bear witness to the coming kingdom of God.  It was not the entrance of the kingdom but a power to live and testify for and of its coming.  A power to live in faith like Jesus because is was the same power that was in him.

(Acts 10:38 NIV)  how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

The context of which Jesus was talking about in Acts 1.8 is the kingdom of God. I will attempt to go through the scriptures with you and show you that every true believer does have the gift and should be allowing this power to guide them in this world.  That we do, even in this day and age if not more so need to see a demonstrated manifest presence of God’s spirit and power to present a truthful message of God’s coming kingdom.

Today’s churches have wondered so far from the true message Jesus gave the church, that it is hardly recognizable.  When one misunderstands who God is and His son Jesus, they will most likely misunderstand the rest.  Today, so many believers run from the power God has given the church.  They deny that it is for today’s church.  They have seen it misused for men’s gain, and then reject it in any form entirely.  Manifestations of God’s spirit and gift are shifted to the past and to only a select group.  Churches are filled with people who are misinformed, spiritually defeated, with the true message of faith, hope, and the coming kingdom is lost.  They have replaced the good news message with a feel good positive thinking. They say kingdom has already come in spirit and preach a type of grace and everlasting life in heaven that cannot be found in scripture without twisting the passages.

I do not want you to feel like I am here to tear down everybody, but try to present scripture and some thought on what I see them say.  Jesus did promise that we would be guided by this gift called holy spirit.  We should not run from it but embrace it for all its worth.  I feel it is the very force that gives us the strength to endure and keep our faith in God’s promises.  Jesus himself could not have done what he did without it, and did not start his ministry until he had it. Read again Acts 10.38 and see it was the gift of holy spirit that Jesus had that empowered him to an obedient life and victory.

So with that said lets start with Jesus and what He did and his commands.  Jesus came on the scene after his childhood to be baptized by John. (Mat 3:16-17 NIV)  As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. {17} And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."(Mat 4:1 NIV)  Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  We see here what is confirmed by Peter in Acts 10.38, Jesus is not only baptized in water but also the spirit.  It is this same gift that drove him into the wilderness to face life’s temptations that we all face. 

Notice, for Jesus it was manifested like a dove, it did not say it was a dove.  Look at Acts 2.3 and you will see that the writer never said it was tongues of fire it just seemed like it, so it was the way the writer described what everyone who witnessed the event saw it as, so this is the same case with Jesus.  It was not a dove but it was a way of describing what they saw.  For Jesus this was a spiritual baptism, so he could be a witness for God’s message of the coming kingdom, and to fulfill his given purpose on this earth, with power.

Jesus, right away after he came out of the desert began preaching the kingdom message with signs following.  It was some time later and only to his disciples that he began to reveal his death and resurrection. Was Jesus the only one who was given this power?  No. He passed it on to his disciples even before there was the out pouring in Acts 2.  I do not feel they were baptized in spirit yet, but enjoyed the overflow from Jesus, just like many in the Old Testament who got around the manifest presence of God. (Num 11.25, I Sam 10.10, I Sam 19.20)  

(Mat 10:1 NIV)  He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

(Luke 10:19 NIV)  I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Was this just for those at that time as so many teach today?  Is the day of such manifestations no longer necessary?  Just because we have the Bible do we no longer need signs, as some well known teachers teach today?  Was Jesus’ promise of power and spiritual guidance just to the twelve?  Should we throw out certain parts because we have a higher level of knowledge?  Why do we run from tongues?  Why do we run from signs and wonders? Just because we have false teachers and misuses do we give up on it entirely?  By what I see in this day and age, I feel we need the demonstration of the real more than ever.  This is not a time to clam up and be silent, but to step up and be counted, filled with holy spirit with demonstrations of a spirit filled life.

Let’s look and some more of Jesus’ own words to the believer. (Mark 16:15-18 NIV)  He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. {16} Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. {17} And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; {18} they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Jesus is not making this an exclusive event to a certain small group or a certain time.  The signs were to accompany the believer as they share the good news message.  Notice tongues are a part of this and we will talk more on this later. Now just because the snakes and poison is mentioned here does not give us permission to tempt God in such ways. It is just telling us in times when we need it, God will protect us.  If I am ever in a place where somebody starts getting snakes out I will be the first to leave, even if I have to make a door where there is none.  I am not going to tempt God.

The point here is that this is given to all believers.  It has been over time and religious teachings that this scripture has been reduced to have no meaning in today’s churches.  We have reduced salvation to a simple repeating of a prayer; dip them in water, now they are bound for heaven.  Then we make the maintaining of that salvation tied to their attendance to a church and faithfulness to the churches teachings.  The person in the pew has no power, the person in the pulpit denies the power, and affirms everyone is OK because they are saved.  Saved from what is my question? They are still struggling, have no true joy, no true hope, and no understanding of God.  (Oops, need to get off my soap box and back to teaching)  We need to get back to simply following Jesus and what he said and obey him.

With my background in Pentecost I have seen a lot of misuse. It has been the years of study and transition in my life, with a love for God and the truth that I will attempt to hopefully share some insight on this subject.  I will not tell anyone that they have to act a certain way to prove they are full of God’s spirit.  I have come to believe what many Pentecostal and Charismatic groups call spiritual manifestations is not truly what Jesus or his disciples taught.  This is what we will look at and see what they did say about being filled with spirit and power.

God does want His children to live a life of victory, being able ministers of the gospel in power and demonstration.  That we all be filled with the hope that His gospel gives.  That hope is in the coming kingdom at the resurrection of the believer. Until then we are to be ministers of His truth and goodness with power and signs following, living an overcoming life no matter what circumstances life finds us in.

 (Rom 15:13 NIV)  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I will share more in the coming weeks, please fill free to give me some feed back.