Power to the People: The Power of the Holy Spirit
We’re continuing on in our Power to the People August series! In part 3, Founding Senior Pastor Jeff Jones delivers an enlightening word that explores what Jesus says about believers accessing and possessing the power of the Lord and how we can partner with the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives.
Get this: When Jesus becomes the Lord of our lives, we have access to all the power we’ll ever need in life. This is amazing news! But what does power mean here? What is the Holy Spirit’s role in this scenario? Pastor Jeff helps us better understand the answers to these questions throughout his message, The Power of the Holy Spirit.
Many of us understand that there’s power in what we believe. Afterall, if you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can’t, you can’t. But the power of belief isn’t what we’re talking about today.
There’s power in convictions; convictions give us the strength to overcome temptations. There’s power in laws that govern us; it’s why we pay our taxes and experience physical consequences when we break laws. But neither of these are the types of power we’re talking about, either.
So then, what kind of power is it that God wants us to have in our lives? While beliefs, convictions, and laws are all important aspects of our lives and valid points of power, the ultimate power to the people Jesus wants us to understand and receive comes from the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a look at what Scripture has to say on this:
Acts 1:8 (NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
In this verse, the “power” comes from the Greek word, dunamis, which is where we derive the word “dynomite”. When we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, dynamic power, supernatural power, comes into our lives. Keep in mind, we don’t have access to this power until we have access to the Holy Spirit. We don’t have access to the Holy Spirit until we invite Jesus to come into our lives.
In The Power of the Holy Spirit, Pastor Jeff’s goal for us is to build our faith and help us understand the reality that the power that God wants for us is available to every single one of us! We can step out in confidence because we don’t have to go through life powerless–God has always had a plan to empower us with His power and work with us through partnership.
Take another look at Acts 1:8 above. It says, “you shall be witnesses,” but what is a witness exactly? A witness can literally be someone who sees something. You see it and then you describe what you saw–that’s a witness. But a witness is also someone who does what they saw done. Jesus intended for us to be both types of witnesses when He told us about receiving the power of the Holy Spirit! We are to tell about what Jesus has done and also go out into the world and share what we’ve experienced.
When we make a decision to make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we take on a responsibility to be a witness, mentally of who Jesus is, but also what He can do in someone’s life. We’re to demonstrate what He can do and the power that He has. Amen!
Discussion:
Describe in your own words what it means to be a witness.
Share a time when someone else has witnessed to you and a time when you have witnessed to someone else.
How did someone else witnessing to you change your outlook or behavior?
There is Power in the Person of the Holy Spirit
Oftentimes, we struggle to understand the realities of the Holy Spirit’s being. We struggle with ambiguity and maybe even picture Tinkerbelle’s fairy dust. But the truth is, the Holy Spirit is a literal being, the third person of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit who has active, living, moving power here on the earth. In The Power of the Holy Spirit, we’re discovering who the Holy Spirit is, where He is, and what He can do in and through us.
John 14:16-17 (NKJV) 16And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
Like this verse tells us, we are more than just flesh and blood; we’re sprit beings! God, in His divine plan, sent His Son in human form to die for our sins and shed human blood. And He empowered us with the Holy Spirit who Jesus said would come in and dwell in us and bring His power with Him. All of Heaven’s power is behind us when we accept Jesus as Lord! We are representatives of Heaven, walking around on earth.
Let’s take a look at the bolded words in the verse above: another Helper. When we think of the word “another,” we initially think “alternate.” As in, there’s traffic on this route, let’s take another (or alternate) way to get to where we’re going. Jesus is using the word “another” to mean “one of the very same kind.” About 13 minutes into his message, Pastor Jeff shares a comical analogy that perfectly illustrates Jesus’ description of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples and us that when He would ascended to heaven, He would give us another just like Him. Praise the Lord!
Now let’s break down the word “Helper” from John 14:16. The Greek word for Helper is “paraclete”. Para means “near” or “very close”, as in your parathyroid is a small gland near your thyroid. Jesus is telling us He is going to send another, who is just the same as Him, to be near us. The next part of the Greek word, “clete,” means to “come alongside”. Jesus is telling us that He is going to send the another, who is just like Him, to come alongside us and very closely.
When God talks about our relationship with Him, He gets very clear on what He wants to see in our lives. These verses clearly show that what God wants to see in our lives is His power at work in us. Amen!
Psalm 118:6 (NKJV) The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
John 14:26-27 (NKJV) 26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Here we see what exactly the Holy Spirit does in our lives–He teaches us all things and brings us knowledge and knowing of what to do with what we have and how to do it! The Holy Spirit brings peace and power together in a symbiotic relationship. In a world of chaos and turmoil, we can walk through life in peace because of the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Discussion:
How do you differentiate between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in your own life?
How is your relationship with the Holy Spirit different than the other members of the trinity?
Describe a time when you sensed the power of the Holy Spirit within yourself.
Helping Jesus, Helping Us
John 16:7 (NKJV) 7Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
Jesus tells us that His death on the cross and resurrection to Heaven was to our advantage, as in we would now be better off than we were before. He’s saying that from this point on, the power of God is no longer limited to one physical person (Jesus); the power of the Lord is now available to all of us who believe through the Holy Spirit. The power now moves from physical to spiritual. When Jesus said in Hebrews 13 that He would never leave us nor forsake us, He was talking about the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives being near us always. Praise the Lord!
Acts 10:38 (NKJV) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
It’s important to realize here that Jesus’ power didn’t come from Himself; He was empowered by God the Father with the Holy Spirit who was called alongside of Him. This truth applies to all of us; we have the strength to do good and heal people because we have the Holy Spirit in us just as Jesus did! This changes how we live our lives!
John 5:30 (NKJV) I can of Myself do nothing…
Jesus needed the power of the Holy Spirit to do everything that He ever did…and we do, too! We are part of the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit has been given to those of us who believe. Praise God! Let’s take a look at what Paul prayed for the Church of Corinth; he could say this same prayer over VFC because we are all part of the same body of Christ.
2 Corinthians 13:14 (NKJV) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The grace of the Lord–This is God’s gift to us, His grace has been extended to all of us. By grace we’re saved through faith, not of ourselves. All of us can receive God’s grace and He has desired for us to do exactly that!
The love of God–We love God because He first loved us. (If you haven’t yet watched Pastor Beth’s message on the power of love, be sure to watch it here!). For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son…God loves us fervently!
The communion of the Holy Spirit–The Greek word for communion means “intimacy” or “close contact” or “partnership”. The Holy Spirit is in partnership with us directly.
Everything God has done is for all of us to experience. In the same way, receiving God’s power through the Holy Spirit is intended and desired for all of us!
Discussion:
How have you experienced “partnership” with the Holy Spirit directly in your life?
What have you done with the help of the Holy Spirit that you would not have been able to do on your own?
Plug into the Power Source
Is it too good to be true? Is it possible that God’s plan for us really is to receive His power in partnership with Him? Let’s see what the Word says!
Romans 8:11 (NKJV) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
We’re reminded in Romans that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the very same power that dwells in us. If we want to live a life full of power, we have to plug into the source! We have to plug into the person–not a belief system, not a conviction, not a law, a person. The third person in the Trinity…the Holy Spirit!
When we accept Jesus as the Lord of our lives, the Holy Spirit is now in us, connected to us, an active and present part of our lives. He is a major part of this lifestyle that God desires for us to live. This revelation of The Power of the Holy Spirit should change how we live!
John 14:12 (NKJV) 12“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
What does this verse mean for us? It means that we have access to the same spirit, the same power, and the same results as does Jesus Christ! It’s true, Jesus is one of a kind and no one will ever do greater works than Him. But collectively, every believer on the earth received the power of the Lord of Glory when it was released during His death and resurrection!
Luke 24:46-49 (NKJV) 46Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And you are witnesses of these things. 49Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Jesus tells us that He sent the Holy Spirit to us, to empower us to be His witnesses, both to give testimony and to be an example of who He is and what He can do. In The Power of the Holy Spirit, Pastor Jeff shares a moving personal story that highlights the experience of receiving God’s power that every single believer has access to. Listen to his message and be encouraged today! The power of the Holy Spirit is in us. Praise the Lord!
Prayer:
Father, as we turn to your Word, we ask that you help us to clearly see your plan and purpose for the Holy Spirit in our lives. Lord, we ask that you bring us revelation and truth and understanding so that we may live our lives in the power that you have made available for all of us. We ask this in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
