For forty days Jesus presented Himself alive after He had arisen from the grave. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father. Then He said, “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
During the time that they witnessed Jesus’ ministry, they had grown to depend upon Him when they faced difficulties and trials of their faith. Several times they saw Him do miracles, signs and wonders. When they got in over their heads, Jesus was always able to rescue them. On one of those occasions, Jesus said, “Let’s get in a boat and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.” When they got in, Jesus withdrew to the stern of the boat, laid down and went to sleep on a pillow. Very shortly a great windstorm arose and the waves began beating into the boat. They were convinced they were going to drown. Jesus’ words should have given them faith and courage to face the storm. You need to know that God has given you the tools to conquer your trial. His word is a weapon against the enemy.
The Lord never gives you an assignment that He does not give you the ability to conquer. Sometimes it is not in an act but perseverance in an act. It is in repetition of the things He called us into. When the Lord told them to get into the boat, He knew they were equipped to face the storm. When fear gripped them, Jesus answered their prayer and set them back on track to cross the sea. His word for you will carry you through.
God has given you a word to get you to your destiny, and His word is not just to sustain you as you barely make it through, but it is to cause you to thrive in every season. God’s design is for you to conquer the mountains of difficulties that are before you with faith in His promise and word that has been spoken to you.
When Jesus promised another Comforter, He was sending the Holy Spirit to equip and empower them to live in His resurrection life.
Within five short chapters in the Book of Acts, the church became a dynamic force in the region and world.
Great supernatural events were happening and many things began challenging their faith. It is amazing to behold the ways that Jesus Christ was being glorified and exalted through the newly formed church. The ever growing and expanding body of believers was super charged with the Holy Spirit who was working, active and alive in them.
In the recent past, Jesus had been with them and they had watched and listened to Him.
Then for forty days they had witnessed His resurrection and then His glorious ascension. After they had stayed in Jerusalem ten days, the Holy Spirit fell on them.
It was now time for them to walk in the freedom and liberty that Christ had given them.
How could they sustain this new freedom they experienced?
They had a new life that was directed and sustained by the Holy Spirit.
The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead was dwelling in them and their testimony was charged with new life and power. This was a new kind of life and power that made it possible for them to do the same kind of works that they had seen Jesus do. They had previously been incapable of sustaining the witness and testimony of Christ. At times they were sent out with power to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons. Then they would experience such great challenges that fear would grip them and they would not have enough faith. Jesus would send them out and they would do what He said. Then they would come back and need additional instruction and help to continue. These were not inapt or ignorant men. Jesus had called businessmen and leaders in their communities. They were doctors, tax collectors, teachers, businessmen. They were able to carry on the natural business of their lives but they needed His consistent, hands on, instruction and support.
Jesus said that is going to change.
“I am going to give you another Comforter Who will be with you all of the time.” They would have a new life that was directed by the Holy Spirit.
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.
Just ten short days after Jesus ascended back to the Father, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them in power. The resurrection life that quickened Christ and raised Him from the dead was now poured out and abiding within them.
Galatians 5:5 NLT But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive everything promised to us who are right with God through faith.
They had received power from heaven.
Their lives were immediately and dramatically changed. The power they had seen working in Jesus Christ was now working within them. Supernatural events were occurring and communities of sick people were being healed. Lives were being changed as Jesus was being preached. Thousands of people were being saved, filled with the Holy Spirit and added to the church. They were living by the Spirit and they eagerly wanted everything that was promised and available.
The power they had received was power for a purpose.
They were a purpose driven church.
They knew that they were set aside to serve one another in love. They did not exist just to come to church meetings. They came to church meetings to be strengthened so they could go out to minister and serve one another in love. The blessing of their corporate worship was never intended to be an end within itself.
Jesus had told them after they were empowered with the Spirit, they were to go out into all of the world and be His witnesses.
I want to pick out a few phrases from Galatians 5.
Galatians 5:16 I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
Live according to your new life in the Spirit
What does that mean? The Spirit controlled and empowered life is not just an emotional thing. There is more to this than speaking in tongues and spiritual worship. God has ordained worship, praise, and supernatural gifts of the Spirit. Those are necessary but they are not the primary emphasis for the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was sent to enable the Church to live a new life in the Spirit. That Holy Spirit empowered new life will be a living testimony of the resurrected and reigning Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:17 The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires.
The Spirit gives us desires that are opposite…
The Spirit gives us desires that are opposite than what our old life would give.
Practically, what does this mean?
The Spirit gives us the ability to stand up when we want to sit down. The Spirit gives us boldness to speak up when we want to shut up. The Spirit gives us the ability to reach out when we want to hide and isolate.
The Holy Spirit was sent to radically change the way we deal with everything that happens in the world.
When we are Spirit led, we will be proactive in ministry to the needs of those around us. We will walk in the same power and do the same works that Jesus experienced.
Galatians 5:18 But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
You are directed by the Holy Spirit…
What does it mean to be directed by the Holy Spirit?
Spirit led and empowered people are mindful of the things that are going on around them. When the Holy Spirit comes, He gives gifts and power that enables us to do what He wants done. The Holy Spirit directed life causes the Church to step out of the normal routine. We will become living examples of Christ at home and in the community.
How are we going to do this?
Galatians 5:22 NLT But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us…
Look past looking at the words that have defined the fruit of the Spirit, and see the purpose behind what He is doing.
The Holy Spirit controlled life is fully engaged in demonstrating a new life and character to the world. Watch the early church at work. They ministered to the sick, hurting, and dying where they were. They were full and guided by the Holy Spirit. This is what the Holy Spirit controlled life will be like today. It is possible that we will take up the Lord’s ministry and life.
Isaiah 61:1-2 Living Bible The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives, and to open the eyes of the blind. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of God’s favor to them has come…
What we have received we freely give.
Galatians 5:25 NLT If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
God wants to use you in every part and activity of your life. He wants to use what you have been given. The Holy Spirit will use you in the same ways that He anointed Christ and ministered to the world.
The fruit of the Spirit is not just something we have, it is something we do.
It is the power of the resurrected Christ working in you. It is the attitude of Christ demonstrated to unworthy people. It is the mercy of God freely given to unlovely people. It is random acts of kindness freely given to the hurting and destitute.
It is Christ in you being demonstrated to the world.
This is why the Holy Spirit is given to you. This is dispensing the power and life of the risen Christ to others. God the Holy Spirit wants to take what you have been given and use it wherever you are. God will start asking you to do something you have never done before.
One of the greatest challenges every believer has is to walk by faith and by the Spirit.
You will never know how much God will bless you until you start moving with the Spirit’s desires. God’s goal is to make us into the best representative and living testimony of Jesus we could possibly be.
