Empowered

“ ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” —2 Corinthians 3:17

“ ³ After his suffering he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” —Acts 1:3-5

“ ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” —Acts 1:8

(1.) The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live into the fullness of God

“ ⁴⁸ You were witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” —Luke 24:48-49

“ ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.” —Galatians 5:22-23

“ ⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” —Acts 2:42

“ ¹ On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. ² Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. ³ And Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” —Acts 8:1-3

“ ⁴ Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. ⁵ Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. ⁶ When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. ⁷ With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in the city.” —Acts 8:4-8

“ ¹¹ And if the spirt of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” —Romans 8:11

(2.) The Holy Spirit gives us the power to be a witness

“ ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…” —1 John 1:3

“ ²⁰ At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. ²¹ All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’ ²² Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.” —Acts 9:20-22

“ ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old life has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” —2 Corinthians 5:17-20

“ ¹⁶ I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” —Romans 1:16