The word empower means to give authority to, to authorize, or to allow. So you can say that God allows, authorizes, or gives us the authority to live a Christ like life.
Good morning, I’m Pastor Benny Anthony, and the title of this talk is “God Empowers You.”
In the God Designed You talk we learned that God made us, pursues us, and offers us a personal relationship of love. This is called Prevenient grace.
In the God Loves You talk we heard that God gives us faith to say yes to that relationship with God and to live anew as the beloved children of God. This is called Justifying grace.
In this talk we’ll learn that God gives us power to live and grow in that relationship for the rest of our lives. We call this Sanctifying grace.
The good news is that the Holy Spirit empowers us to reach the goal for which we were made.
The Holy Spirit is God’s presence and power in our lives. The Holy Spirit empowers us to die and rise with Christ again and again. The Holy Spirit empowers us to fly with Christ in the service of love and continually grow in His likeness. When we decide to live a Christ like life, God is there with us. When we step out in faith to follow Jesus, God gives us power from within to do so.
The big question for us is how does the Holy Spirit empower us? First of all the Holy Spirit pardons us. We can’t win God’s love by changing our ways. Rather, we change because god loves us and is always giving us a chance to make a fresh start in life. God’s Spirit “witnesses to our spirits” within our hearts that we are God’s beloved children. Romans 8:15-17 tells us that we are accepted by God just as we are.
The Holy Spirit perfects us. Christian perfection is becoming complete in Christ’s love for God and neighbor. When we are open to the Holy Spirit, we are rooted and grounded in Christ’s love so it may increase in us.
As we keep our minds and hearts focused on Christ, the Spirit will make us aware of attitudes and actions that need to be pruned away in order to make room for new fruit.
Conversion is not a one time experience. It is a lifelong process of dying to what is evil and false (the sin in us) and rising to what is good and true (Christ in us). The Holy Spirit is the power that is behind that change.
The fruit of the Spirit grows within us and blesses others through us.
The Holy Spirit gives us peace. The peace of God is not something other people can give us. It comes from being right with God. Jesus gives us His peace, a peace that lasts.
We are a long way from being perfect in love, but the Spirit gives us peace in knowing that we are on the way.
Our peace is not in thinking we are better that anybody else, but it is in knowing that our life is fuller because of our relationship with God.
The peace of God in us frees us from needing to prove ourselves or being big shots (you know that “holier than you are” attitude).
Because we have peace within ourselves, we can live in ways that make for peace. God enables us to let of our pride, prejudices, and hatreds that destroy peace.
The Holy Spirit gives us power. The Holy Spirit empowers us to accept those who are hardest to accept or those who are different from us. Christ died as much for them as He did for us. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to forgive people who hurt us.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to love our enemies. The Spirit empowered Jesus to forgive and pray for those who killed Him. The Spirit empowers us to live as Christians even when it hardest to do so.
The Holy Spirit gives us power to do what is right. God’s help is available to avoid gossip, avoid hurtful behaviors, and to act on good intentions.
The Holy Spirit gives us purpose. God calls us to a ministry that is bigger than any of us. None of us can do Christ’s work by ourselves. The Holy Spirit equips us with gifts for ministry. Though you may feel you have little to offer, the Spirit gives each of us a gift. Sometimes other people see our gift best. What gifts do you see in the others at your table?
The Holy Spirit equips us to be the church in the world, to be the body of Christ to the world around us; that is where we seek to know our gifts and share them freely to help others. You’ll hear more about the church in another talk.
How do we cooperate with the Holy Spirit? We make ourselves available to god. God’s empowerment for ministry and maturity begins by making ourselves available to the Holy Spirit. To say, “Here I am, Lord, send me.” We must connect with Christ. Now how do we do that?
First we abide in Christ – through prayer and worship, we open to God; we abide in God’s loving presence and remain connected with Christ. We give our hearts to God and grown in the heart of Christ.
Secondly, God’s word abides in us – through the study of the Scriptures. Christ’s word abides or lives in us. God’s word is our lens for seeing our way and recognizing God’s will. In study we give our minds to Christ and grow in the mind of Christ.
Thirdly, we bear much fruit for God’s glory – through Christian action or service our relationship with God bears fruit. God empowers us to want to do good deeds which feed hungry souls and serve a spiritually starved world. In Christian service we give our hands to God and grown in the work of Christ.
Fourth, we support one another – this is through the community and small groups. We are not alone. We are many branches on the vine, giving strength to one another, coming alive together in Christ, learning to count ourselves as no better than others and having in us the mind that was in Christ Jesus, helping one another stay rooted and grounded in God’s love. You’ll hear more about this in the Next Steps Talk.
I want to ask you a question. Have you made yourself available to the Holy Spirit in your journey of Christian maturity and ministry? How have the practices discussed in this talk helped you to persevere and mature in your walk with Christ?
For three days you have been asking God to empower you before each talk. Do you really want that for which you pray? God does, and God wants to give you the Holy Spirit so you can be changed and fly with Christ to “renew the face of the earth.”
Jesus loves you and so do I…Fly with Christ.
