The Holy Spirit Empowers Us

REAL CHANGE // TRADEMARK CHURCH

THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERS US

Jesus had quite a lot to say about the importance of the Holy Spirit in everyday life, giving clear instructions to the disciples in John 16. We’ll paraphrase the verses here, but we invite you to study this chapter in the Word more in-depth on your own. Check out what Jesus essentially said:

“I have to go away, but I’m sending the Holy Spirit. Don’t worry! He is good for you. If I don’t go, The Advocate won’t be able to come to you. And when he comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me, because it is from Me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” (John 16:7–14, NIV paraphrased)

Remember yesterday we mentioned that Jesus only said what he heard the Father saying. In this passage, Jesus is telling the disciples that the baton is being passed from Jesus to the Holy Spirit. One of his last instructions to his disciples before he ascended to heaven can be found in Luke 24:49:

“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus said this after his resurrection. To be clear, his disciples believed in him as Messiah by this point. They knew this in their hearts, and they were some of the privileged few who were able to touch his hands and feet and speak to him face- to-face. Yet it is easy to see how important it was to Jesus to give clear direction to the disciples, so that they didn’t run off trying to save—(more likely destroy!)—the world in their own strength. If that had happened, we would have seen all sorts of chaos in the book of Acts. I am convinced that there would have been a ton more ears chopped off than just the one we know about at the Mt. of Olives before the Crucifixion. (Bless Peter’s heart; he meant well, right?).

So, why was it so important to Jesus that they wait? Because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to equip the believers with power and authority to be effective in fulfilling the Great Commission, to be supernaturally empowered to build the Kingdom of God on this earth. We then see Jesus deliver on his promise to his disciples in John 20:22 when he walks through a wall and breathes on them, saying “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Are you surprised now that Jesus breathed on them? Do you recognize what is happening here? The apostles believed, and they received the Holy Spirit in them for them.

Very soon after that, Jesus promises in Acts 1:5 to these same apostles that they will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Let’s be clear! He had already breathed on them, and now He’s promising to them a second, separate encounter: “...in a few days
you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5b). He then made the promise more clear in Acts 1:8, “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.” He gives them a reason to wait. This wasn’t about salvation but a supernatural boldness that we could never have in our own strength.

Then he ascended. He left town. He left the earth. And the disciples are left for the rest of that chapter fumbling around, wondering what to do next. So what they decided to do was to pick another apostle to replace Judas, (but at least they prayed about it first!).

When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost in Acts 2, the power displayed in the moment created quite a stir! The Day of Pentecost was a unique day that mirrored a certain day described in the Old Testament when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Book of the Law written on tablets of stone. If you recall, the people had already rebelled against God, a cloud descended with loud noise and fire, and 3,000 people died because of their rebellion. In the same way, on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit also descended with loud sound and fire, only this time God wrote his law on our hearts, and 3,000 people were saved. It’s pretty cool how God reached back in history and symbolically redeemed a sad story, isn’t it?

After Pentecost, from that point forward, we then witness the apostles now preaching boldly! All the disciples who were in hiding are now empowered, preaching and baptizing people everywhere, and subsequently becoming martyrs for Christ. Jesus wanted his disciples to wait, because he knew that in order for them to make a difference and bring his light to the world, they would need something

supernatural, something beyond their understanding to empower them, to be on them. And we need this same power of the Holy Spirit on us to pull off this same commission.

The problem with a lot of teaching on the Holy Spirit is that it has—more often than not—come across as, “I’ve got something you don’t have.” The root of that attitude is pride. When you get more of God in your life, and then you respond in pride to others, you don’t have more of God in your life! In fact, pride has done a great job of bringing disunity to the Body of Christ.

When you get more of God in your life, the opposite happens. You are empowered to pray more, to serve more, to humble yourself more, to love more sacrificially. You can say it this way: Being filled with the Holy Spirit does not make me better than you; it makes me better than me.