Empowered to Serve: The Transforming Power of the Holy Spirit
By Otis T. McMillan
What is the role of the Holy Spirit in personal evangelism? We know that God’s Spirit is at work in us as believers. The Holy Spirit renews us, regenerates us, trains us, teaches us, and transforms us. All of these things transform us as believers into effective witnesses for God. This month’s article is an excerpt from the book, “Empowered to Serve.”
This message on the Holy Spirit and Evangelism is not intended to be dogmatic. This is a simple, down to earth presentation of the Holy Spirit, his person, his purpose and ministry to fulfill the mandate of Jesus Christ. My desire is to remind readers of our great need of the Holy Spirit’s power and presence to carry out the assignment of the Church. In many circles, battles are constantly raging on the subject of the Holy Spirit. Our arch enemy, Satan, knows that a church fully empowered by the Holy Spirit is invincible. With Regards to the Holy Spirit, Satan has sought to confuse us, divide us and create havoc in the Church world. Opinions on this subject will possibly vary between Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Roman Catholics and other denominations. The common enemy and source of confusion is Satan. Our greatest need maybe a clear understanding of the Holy Spirit’s power and its availability to the Church. I encourage you to open your minds and hearts, seeking to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. May God richly bless you in your endeavors to follow Jesus Christ!
A story is told of a lady that went to a jeweler to have her watch repaired. He disappeared to the back and soon returned with it running perfectly. Surprised, she asked. “How he could fix it so quickly?” He replied, “It only needed a new battery.” She responded, “Battery! Battery! Nobody said anything about a battery. I’ve been winding it every morning for five years!"
A lot of churches spent their time and energy winding up programs, developing strategies and burning themselves out trying to do that which only the Spirit of God can do. Many fail to realize the tremendous inner power of God available through the Holy Spirit that can enable the Church to fulfill every God-given assignment. His power was made available to us on the day of Pentecost. Our Heavenly Father wants the Church to complete His Work by His mighty power and not by our ingenuity. The Church was born at Pentecost; consequently Pentecost has become a sacred holiday on the Christian calendar. Pentecost has always been a special day on the Jewish calendar which celebrated the harvest of grain. It was one of the three official feasts that called Jewish men to worship at the temple three times a year. While the Jews celebrated a harvest of grain, the Christian Church celebrates Pentecost as a great harvest of the Spirit. It is because of the Pentecostal outpouring that we reap a harvest of power to be effective witnesses; the capacity to be renewed and transformed personally, and experience life in God’s presence. Because of Pentecost, power is abundantly available to us that believe. We, the church of Jesus Christ are a Pentecostal Church. We were born of the Spirit, identify with the Spirit and seek after the fullness of the Spirit just as they did at the first Pentecost.
As faithful witnesses, we cannot afford to stop seeking to be filled with His power. The church of Jesus Christ must be filled with the Spirit in order to be transformed and to be God’s transforming agent. As His children, we must embrace His immediate presence in the power of the Holy Spirit. Today’s Christian church needs the Pentecostal power once again! Only the Holy Spirit’s power can equip us to witness effectively. Read these verses from the book of Acts.
Acts 1:4 “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”
Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
The disciples were focusing on Christ’s future kingdom rather than on their responsibility to occupy enemy territory and represent His kingdom until His return. So Jesus tells them to wait until they are prepared to be witnesses throughout the world. When the people of God commit to being His disciples, the Holy Spirit empowers them to be God’s witnesses. We don’t receive power because we participate in good church programs or give money to the church or belong to a big beautiful church. We receive power because the Holy Spirit becomes active in our lives. The Holy Spirit empowers us to actualize God’s word in our lives, and to be His disciples through our personal witness in the world.
Jesus doesn’t say His disciples will receive power to do witnessing; He says they will receive power to be witnesses. When the Holy Spirit empowers the church, God’s people become God’s representatives in the world by word, deed and signs. You can observe from these verses that God dare not ask His people to do His work without giving them the ability to do it. This is why they were asked to wait in Jerusalem until power from on high descended upon them. Apart from the Holy Spirit, no one can do the work of ministry as God wants them to. With the Holy Spirit, we can make a difference. Apostle Paul said, in writing to the Church at Corinth, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Cor. 2:4, 5) Without the power of the Holy Spirit, the message of the Gospel rests in man’s wisdom and the church would have only a form of godliness without the power.
The human body is a most remarkable machine. It can maintain a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees no matter what the weather is outside. Whether a man is at the Arctic Circle or the Equator, his body temperature is about the same. There is an inner mechanism that makes the difference. The Holy Spirit is that inner mechanism that empowers Christians for personal transformation and equips them to make an influential difference in this world.
Acts 2:1-4 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Fire is the symbol of transformation! Fire changes whatever it touches. The fire of the Holy Spirit took a group of ordinary fisherman, former prostitutes, ex-religious leaders, tax collectors, various family members of Jesus and the other disciples transforming them into a united, spirit-filled group of messengers called the Church. Prior to Pentecost, the disciples were terrified. Their faith was weak, and they did not fully understand God’s plan. Following Pentecost, they were totally transformed. They were full of faith, power and unity as never before. It took the fire of God’s Spirit to weld them into one united force that confronted the Roman government, the Jewish religion and society, the pagan religions of the world and won the victory. It took the fire of God’s Spirit to do this.
A story is told of a blacksmith who had two pieces of iron which he wished to weld into one. He took them just as they were, all cold and hard, and put them on the anvil, and began to hammer with all his might, but they were still two pieces, and they would not unite. At last he remembered what he should never have forgotten. He thrust both of them into the fire, took them out red-hot, laid one on the other, and by one or two blows of the hammer they soon became one.
The only thing that can build God’s Church today is God’s Spirit. No program has ever successfully gathered so many people from various backgrounds, dramatically transformed their lives, and turned them into a united Church that can actually accomplish the purpose of God except by the Holy Spirit. It takes God’s Spirit to do that. The Church was birthed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Society will only be transformed by a Church that has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture assurance us that first power the Church receives is the power for personal transformation. John 1:12 reads, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
We need the Holy Spirit’s power active so men might experience the immediate presence of God. At Pentecost, people in Jerusalem experienced the presence of God. Read Acts 2:6-8 “Now when this was noised abroad, the multitudes came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. They were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”
This Pentecostal manifestation was seen and experienced by all present. The consuming fire of the God of the Old Testament showed up. They knew God to be a God who answers by fire. They were familiar with Moses’ burning bush, and the fire that consumed the altar sacrifice. They probably remembered the story of King Solomon dedicating the temple. When Solomon finished praying that day, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. This supernatural fire from the presence of God falling on the sacrifice was proof of God’s acceptance of the service. The Apostle Paul writing the Corinthians said, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20
At Pentecost, the individual believers witnessed “tongues of fire” sitting on them. It was a supernatural fire from heaven. Once again God sent His own fire to demonstrate that from now on He would accept the "temple," the individual believing human heart as His dwelling place. We, believers are the "temple" of the Holy Spirit. The Church is now the dwelling place of God’s Holy Spirit.
John 14:16, 17 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
I thank God for the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life and the unique living relationship He brings. Yet I realize that unless I build upon and maintain that relationship, it can easily become cool, inactive or even come to a screeching halt. One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" (Luke 24:49) they find themselves out of gas, trying to do God’s work without God’s power.
In Leviticus 6:12, instructions were given to the priest that the fire that fell from God should never be permitted to go out. It was to be attended constantly around the clock so it would never go out. Thus we must attend the fire of the Spirit of God in our lives, and never allow it to go out! The Bible says, “Quench not the Spirit.” Do not put out the Spirit’s fire. Believers should attend the means of grace, walk in the Spirit and flow in His gifts, cherishing his presence and constantly stir up the fire He has placed within them. The only way we are going to make a difference in this world in these last days is by the Spirit of God. “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6)
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