THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Proclamation:

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house … All of them were filled with The Holy Spirit …” Acts 2:1-4 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by Luke, the physician and frequent traveling companion of the Apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Luke recorded the events which transpired on the day that the disciples received The Holy Spirit of God.

Application:

Some people believe that only the eleven apostles received power after The Holy Ghost came upon them.  However, The Bible says that in that upper room there were about 120 people (Acts 1:10-15) and they were all filled with The Holy Spirit of God. (Acts 2:3-4)  This power is not just for preachers but it is available to all believers.  After Peter preached his first sermon he said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ..." and about 3000 people gladly received his word and became disciples (students) of Christ. (Acts 2:38 and 41)  That number grew into a multitude.  Stephen, the first deacon, was full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, before the apostles laid their hands upon him and prayed for him. (Acts 6:3-8)  As Christians and believers in Jesus Christ, we have The Holy Ghost within us.  Our problem is we have a choice in what we do and say, and we do not let The Holy Spirit have control of our lives.  We want to be in charge.  My favorite example of this is to use a bus as an example. On the bus that is our life, we want The Holy Spirit to be a back seat passenger on the bus that we are driving, instead of us letting The Holy Spirit take charge and drive the bus.  We have the potential to do great things for The Lord.  We have the power of The Holy Spirit of God available to us, to help us to be a help to others.  We have the power within us, the question is what are we doing with it and what are we going to do with it?