Text: Acts 1:8
Further Reading: Romans 1:14-17
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.”
Acts 1:8 NKJV
MESSAGE
The gospel of Jesus Christ carries tremendous power and authority. It is by no means weak or incapable of changing lives. Paul the Apostle while describing the gospel said it is God’s power to change and save lives (Romans 1:16). This shows that the gospel has enough potency to transform an unworthy sinner into a Saint and to keep such fellow in the love of Christ.
To say the truth, God has no other method of saving men of all nations, languages, and ethnicity other than the Gospel. In Mattew 28:19-20, Jesus said that every one of the disciples should go into the world to make disciples of all nations. What Jesus was simply saying is that we must go into the world to tell the world about Him and teach them to be followers of His.
But this can not be possible in any case by human ability or effort. We know that all power in the heavens and earth has been given to Christ (Matthew 28:18). However, the disciple of Christ must also possess the power to effectively dispense the gospel judging by the fact that powers of darkness will not want to let go of their victims.
Jesus then told us that there is power available. That is the power we found in our text of the day. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that allows one to be a faithful witness. Since the believer needs boldness to share his faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit supplies that boldness and then enforces the truth of the living word of God on the earth of those who hear it.
Notice what the Bible says of the word of God when we preach it:
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 NKJV
No one can dispute the power of the gospel when a man preaches the word of God. If you think the gospel is not effective or powerful, the first thing you must check is if what is preached is the word of God or the fables of men.
The first place where the gospel’s power lies are in the word of God. This brings us to the subject of meditation and reflection: Do you preach the word of God or tell stories as many people do today? Check and you will discover where the fault is.
REFLECTION
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
1 Corinthians 1:17 NKJV
The gospel can not be preached using the wisdom of men or empty human philosophies but by the power of God’s word.
PRAYER
Father, please restore the church to the preaching of the undiluted word of God.
