Sermon Central
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Discovering Empowered Life Series
Contributed by Brad Bailey on Jul 22, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: One part of us acts as if God works FOR us…. And of course we can get a bit frustrated that He’s not showing up to work.
Does God want to work with you?
How we answer that question likely reflects a lot of how we live our lives.
Our actual response can reflect two unfortunate tendencies:
• One part of us acts as if God works FOR us…. And of course we can get a bit frustrated
that He’s not showing up to work.
• The other part of us… really doubts God wants to work with us… we might hope that
sometime… in some way He might work with us… but it’s something we really don’t sense
on a constant basis. We simply can’t do the stuff Jesus did.
> As we continue our series entitled The Call… we discover calling of God answer that
question with a profound and positive YES.
The call of Jesus comes with an announcement that changed everyone in the story… everyone
who gets involved with Jesus: With prophetic power he declared God is on the move… the true
sovereign behind all creation is good – just and merciful – and is ushering in a new era which is
confronting the powers that lay claim to … as he comes to set people free. He is leading it…
but He says that as His physical presence departs… He’s prepared to empower
us to carry on.
Acts 1:4-8 (GW)
”
Once, while he was meeting with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait
there for what the Father had promised. Jesus said to them, “I’ve told you what the Father
promises: John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.” So when the apostles came together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you’re
going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus told them, “You don’t need to know about times
or periods that the Father has determined by his own authority. But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in
Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Yes… something big is at hand… but it’s a process. (You’re not on the planning committee…
but on the welcoming committee.) Last week… discovering missional life… that God infuses
our lives with His mission.
> The Call of God not only infuses life with mission… but also with power.
Critical power… as noted by Christ’s ordering them to ‘wait’… wait until they are
empowered… ‘then’ you will be my witnesses… be able to fulfill this great mission.
The impartation of the Holy Spirit is a critical part of God’s restoring plan.
God had spoken through the prophets about this moment…
Joel 2:28-30 (NIV)
“… afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both
men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth…”
Ezekiel 36: 27 (MSG)
”
I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands.”
This helps us hear the significance of how Jesus introduced his ministry on earth. He
quotes from one of the prophets…
Luke 4:18-19 (NIV)
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
> In identifying the work of the Holy Spirit… Jesus is declaring that the new
work of God is at hand.
Matthew 12:28 (NIV)
”… if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
We are in nothing less than the age God had planned for… when His Spirit
would be poured out.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
1. The third ‘person’ or personal dimension of one eternal God… equal to
the Father and Son.
The Holy Spirit is a person. This may sound familiar… as we often speak as Jesus did of ‘the
father, Son, and Holy Spirit’… but it can still be missed an age that has fashioned so many
ideas about impersonal spiritual power…. and cosmic forces. The Holy Spirit relates to us
with the personal dimension of God.
Not an impersonal power or force… not something you have… but someone
who interacts with us.
He thinks (Acts 15:28), speaks (John 16:13), leads (Romans 8:14), and grieves
2. Most notably associated with the manifest presence and power of
God…released as the now indwelling and empowering presence.
