The Holy Spirit: Empowering the Believer

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Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, September 8th. The series on the power of the Holy Spirit continues to help you get a better understanding of how His presence empowers believers to do all things well.

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If you’ll recall, the Bible says that when you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the Holy Spirit came into your life to dwell. Why did He come in there to dwell? He came in there in order to express and release the power through you and me necessary to live the life that God has called us to live, necessary to do the work that God has called us to do, so that everything He does in our life is an expression of His supernatural power. Amen. And since this is a supernatural life that God’s called us to live, and it is a supernatural Lord whom we serve, and a supernatural enemy whom we face, God has given to us a supernatural power in order to face, to live, and to do the things He’s called us to do. And so, as Luke begins writing the book of Acts, he says, “…the first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach…” Until the day when he was taken up after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. And gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said, You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And so when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you’re restoring the kingdom to Israel? This was always on their mind. He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but… Has it ever occurred to you that that one promise in Acts chapter 1, verse 8… The promise of Holy Spirit power is just as available to you as it was to those apostles, those followers of Jesus Christ in the day in which He made the promise and the day in which the Holy Spirit came in Pentecost. You see, every single believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit for a very specific reason. And therefore, if the Holy Spirit is indwelling us, and he says, when the Holy Spirit comes, you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, that same Holy Spirit power is available to every one of us. Now, the question is, what do we mean by the power of the Holy Spirit, or what did Jesus mean when he talked about power coming upon them? There are two words in the New Testament for power. One of them is translated power, and it also means authority. And that is the word that Jesus uses, if you recall, in Matthew chapter 28, when he gave the Great Commission. And in some translations, it says, “…all power is given unto me.” It is the word which means authority. And when he said, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. Jesus, who has all authority, has the authority and the right and the power to give anything to anyone. And so he said to them, all authority has been given to me. Then he said, go. And his promise was, as you go, I’ll be with you all the way, even at the end of this age. Because he knew the Holy Spirit was coming at Pentecost. And when the Holy Spirit came, he would indwell the believer. And indwelling the believer would be the potential of supernatural power. The other word for power is the word used here in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, from which we get our word dynamite, dynamis. And these two words… in essence simply mean capability, vitality, an energy, a strength that is above and beyond that which is human. That is, when we talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, we’re talking about supernatural power. We’re talking about power and capacity and energy and vitality, that which God releases in us for us or releases through us that cannot be explained any other way. And that is that God is willing, whatever He calls us to do, to energize us and to equip us and to enable us and to strengthen us to do whatever it might be. If it requires a supernatural power, God is going to provide it. If it is supernatural wisdom, a supernatural strength, a supernatural knowledge, whatever it might be, God will do in your life and mine, whatever He promised. And He says, you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. But I want you to remember something. When God works, He works through individuals. And that’s why the Holy Spirit is indwelling you today for the simple reason that God wants to work through you to accomplish whatever He has for you to accomplish or whatever He wants to accomplish in someone else’s life. But where there is no power, what happens? A person can walk in a church building and walk away absolutely spiritually dead because that’s the way they came in. But you and I should be walking in the Spirit, full of the Spirit. living in the Spirit, believing what God says, that when you and I stand to sing these songs, these hymns and these songs of praise, that something would begin to happen in this place, that a person standing here who’s just as lost as they can be would suddenly have this overwhelming sense of desire to want the joy and to want what God has given to each one of us. What is that? That is the power of the Spirit of God, convicting and revealing and showing and unveiling to them person. And that’s why sometime when you share your faith with somebody and you think, oh Lord, I did such a terrible job. I did such a sorry job. And you walk away and the person gives their life to Christ. It was your simple attempt to be obedient to God and the power of the Holy Spirit that he works. The New Testament church could not be explained. You still can’t explain it. How could a group of 12 men, 120, 3,000, begin to multiply and to multiply and to be persecuted and multiplied and keep on multiplying and the stronger the persecution, the more they multiplied until finally… The very power that attempted to destroy them one day recognized them. That is the power of the Spirit of God. Where is the power of the Holy Spirit? Is it that we have become so needless that we no longer have to ask God to demonstrate His power no more because we have what we need when we want it and everything is instant and we can get it? And we only cry out to God in those moments of desperation. But where is the evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in our life day by day, moment by moment? And in your business and in your witness and your sharing of your faith and the preaching of the gospel and singing of the word of God? Is there a cry for the power of God to be released? Or are we satisfied? Where is the power of God? The power of God lifts and releases and liberates and frees and heals and saves and forgives. And yet we live in a society where the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church is very, very frighteningly weak. Which comes to ask the question, if it’s true in the church, then where does that end up? It means it ends up weak in the pulpit, weak in the pew. Because you and I make up this part of the body of Christ and all the other people all around the world who name the name of Jesus Christ make up the body of Christ. We’re all filled with the same Holy Spirit. But in many places, God is doing great things. In some places, it is as if God can do almost nothing because they’ve shut him out. No longer preach the gospel. No longer open the Word of God. And just practice church. And listen, the less power of the Spirit you have, the more ritual you’ve got to go through to appear to be religious. And the more of the power of the Holy Spirit that’s in the life of that person, the life of that fellowship, the less ritual you have to have because somehow you’re satisfied with Jesus. Where is the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit? So let me ask you a question. What’s going on in your life that even requires any supernatural power? You see, why should the Holy Spirit release divine energy and strength? Why should He release a vitality within you and through you? And why should He make your words be like hammer blows and like swords, piercing like fire burning? And why should they be like the bomb soothing? If… You’re not going to share your faith. If you’re not going to tell anybody how to be saved. If you’re not concerned about people you work with and live with. If there is no real sense of commission and real sense of commitment. We live in a commitless generation. Many people are willing to do many things but commit to do anything for God, not much. And friend, that’s part of the reason we have so little demonstration of the power of God, because why should God release His power when nobody much intends to do a whole lot? There’s a real poverty of spiritual power. And every once in a while we hear something going on, we think, praise the Lord, hallelujah. But friend, listen, the exception should be the norm. The exception should be that nothing’s going on somewhere. We all have the same word of God and the same Holy Spirit and the same God, the same Christ, the same forgiveness, the same message in the Bible. And the same promise, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. But there’s a real poverty of spiritual power. Now, why would you suppose that would be true? Well, there are probably lots of reasons. that it’s true, but one of the primary reasons is we don’t feel the need. The reason we don’t feel the need is because we’re not attempting anything we can’t do. And you see, sometimes we bring the business world into the church and say, well, here’s how you run the church now. The way you run the church is whatever you had last year, add 10% to that or 20% to 30%. And so we just look at last year’s record and we just add to it and say we want to. We don’t ask the question oftentimes, not what did we do and what can we do, but what does God, listen, what does God want to do? What’s God’s plan? What’s God’s goal? What’s he up to? What could he do? What would he do if we would say, Lord, what do you want to do? Not what we want to do. So we plan oftentimes our programs and our plans and depend upon denominations to do things that God intends for His people to depend absolutely and totally upon Him. But you see, if we’re needless, it is an indication of pride which is devastating to the body of Christ. And we end up being like one of those seven churches in Asia Minor that didn’t really need a whole lot until Jesus said, you think you don’t, but you do. Now, one of the reasons, I think, is that some people are ignorant. They don’t even know anything about the Holy Spirit. They’ve never been taught. They don’t have any idea that He’s living on the inside of them. They don’t know anything about the power of the Holy Spirit. Or they think the power of the Holy Spirit is limited to preachers or missionaries or people who, in quote, work for God and do not realize that that is not the case. You want me to tell you what I believe the primary reason is? Purity of heart is absolutely inseparable from the power of the Holy Spirit. And the power of the Holy Spirit is inseparable from the purity of heart. And where there’s no purity of heart, there is no power of the Holy Spirit. We tolerate sin… And we tolerate pockets of rebellion and disobedience in our life. And we explain them away and we camouflage them and we talk them up pretty good. And we explain all the way and say, well, you know, that’s the way they think. That’s the way he thinks. That’s the way she thinks. And I’m here to tell you, those little pockets of rebellion destroy the possibility of God demonstrating his power in our life. And sometimes it appears in our mind to be a little thing over here that God surely wouldn’t be all that interested in. He wouldn’t deprive His power in my life for just one simple thing. Yes, He will. Because you see, God knows the nature of power. And He knows what happens. And so therefore, they’re inseparable. But I want to ask you again. What’s going on in your life that even requires… A demonstration of the power of God. I can tell you one thing, just living the Christian life. Because you remember we’ve said in every message, He sent the Holy Spirit because His coming is essential to the life that we’re to live and essential to the work God has called us to do. So ask yourself this question, Lord, is there a real poverty of spiritual power in my life? Am I working on human strength and human energy? Am I going on my own knowledge and understanding and experience and past? Or am I trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of me? Am I fearful, God, of walking into this situation without you? Or am I willing to go in confidence in my own strength and energy? You see, sometimes the most talented, gifted people are the most difficult to ever learn to trust God. You know why? Because they feel so self-confident because of maybe their education or their gifts and talents and abilities. And so what would cause some of us to cry out to God and to depend upon Him? They just walk in. no dependence upon God, and sometimes are very impressive. The only difference is this. If you look down the road at the consequences of that kind of living, there’s no fruit. Oh, it gets puffed up in the beginning, but there’s no consequential fruit down the road. So what we have to ask is this. God, do you need to send something into my life that may not be too pleasant? For me to understand what it means to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and to have to cry out to you on my knees, oh my God, if you don’t, I can’t. And you see, sometimes that’s what it takes to keep us from drifting, for something to anchor us as we drift toward the falls. Well, listen to these promises of the Spirit because the promises to all of us and we read it in the eighth verse here. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost, the remotest parts of the earth. He says that’s where I’m sending you and this is how I’m equipping you. I’m sending you in the power of the Holy Spirit. He says in Luke 24 when he sent them out to preach and he said repentance. And forgiveness of sin is to be preached, he says in verse 48 of Luke 24. You are witnesses of these things, the things that he had said to them, what he had done. And then look in verse 49. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you. But you are to stay, sit down, wait in the city of Jerusalem, that is, until you’re clothed with power from on high. He said, you’re not ready until you’re clothed with power from on high. So the promise is there. And he said to them, what I’m going to ask you to do, you’re not capable of doing. But I’m going to send you the Holy Spirit and he will empower you to do it. But don’t go out there and get started until you have experienced the Holy Spirit. Now, at Pentecost he came, baptized him in the body of Christ, indwells every single believer. So somebody says, well, I’m still waiting. You don’t have to wait. If you’ve been saved by the grace of God, there’s no waiting to be done. The Spirit of God came in and sealed you and resides within you as a believer. And is ready, willing, capable of releasing through you and me the supernatural divine energy. Listen, not only within us to accomplish and to achieve, but through us in the lives of other people whom God wants to influence because of your life. And you see, oftentimes we are fearful of doing what God has called us to do. And it’s real simple. We are fearful because we project in our mind ourselves into that situation on the basis of what we feel like we’re capable of doing. We say, oh, Lord, there’s no way I can do that. And you see, we’re not to look at it from our perspective. We’re to see it from God’s perspective. God’s perspective is this. I told you before I left, I will send you the Holy Spirit. I have sent Him into your life. Now you have within you all the power you will ever need, all the energy that you’ll ever need to do whatever I call you to do. You see, we don’t get any more of the Holy Spirit than we already have. It’s a matter of getting involved in what God has called us to do so that God can release and demonstrate that power in our life. And God is so willing. He’s willing to release His power within you as a believer in your office where you work, in your home where you live, among your friends as you socialize. The power of God should be the normal… Listen, when He says, out of our innermost beings shall flow rivers of living water, that should be the norm for us, not the exception. And yet… If I’m not willing to attempt anything for God that’s beyond my human capacity or capability, why should God release any power, any energy, any divine power? He’s not going to. And as I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again and again and again, as you read these scriptures, and we could go through all of them again, every single time we see the Holy Spirit coming, the Holy Spirit demonstrating anything, it always has to do with serving God. It always has to do with getting the gospel out.

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Thank you for listening to The Holy Spirit, Empowering the Believer. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.