THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“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.”

Acts 1:8

Buried within the theme scripture for our Crown of Thorns Project lies a deeper teaching about the Holy Spirit, which extends beyond and propels World Evangelism. As a person comes out of the waters of baptism the soul is forgiven. The blood of Jesus washes away all of the sins and the Holy Spirit RUSHES into the soul and begins directing and affecting the life of a true believer. Since the time of Jesus walking the face of the earth words have yet to be written which can adequately describe the power afforded to believers through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because it’s a owner beyond our comprehension.

The Lord tries to help us by encouraging us to use this power by encouraging us in 2 Timothy 1:6-7, “… to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you…For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self- discipline.” He does this because His goal for us is to “have life, and have it to the full” John 10:10

The biggest hindrance to disciples of Jesus living “life to the full” (John 10:10) is that because we fail to understand what’s really living inside us. Since we don’t realize how powerful God makes us, we don’t use that power. instead we trap ourselves in Spiritual graves by engaging in “…acts that lead to death” Hebrews 6:1, and then we choose to live in spiritual death when we are afforded the ability to live the best lives on earth. In our failure to heed the Lords warning we sin and fail to confess and/or repent not understand the importance of his call when he says, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…Avoid every kind of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22. When we fail to fan into flame the Holy Spirit and instead make decisions that quench the spirit with insecurity, cowardice, bitterness, “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” Galatians 5:19-21. Decisions to engage in these sins literally steal the power from our lives. The longer we stay in a state of “quenching the spirit” with our sin we begin to fall into other sins. People falling in this way become, “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.” 2 Timothy 3:2-5. God calls this “terrible times” as we reject “life to the full” and actually begin to “crave the grave” and accept living in spiritual death – “asleep in the church” (1 Corinthians 11:30).

I hope in today’s service you are inspired to see the Power that is available to us in your life. The Power to overcome, to choose to be angry or not, to choose to not be bitter and resentful, and the power to not be hurt by other people’s actions and words. When you grasp the power afforded to you as a believer the words of one of my favorites song, “Jesus Got the Power” will begin to mean more and more to you, “Can’t no grave hold my body down…. Jesus got the power over death, Hell and the grave” So, what about you? What can you do with your life? What options do you have?

You have the POWER to do anything with your life. What will it be? I pray that today you are inspired to use The Power of the Holy Spirit to be a “Fisher of Man” who takes the Word of God to every living creature under heaven. Let’s have a blowout Sunday Service!

Ron Harding