[lead dropcap="yes"]What if we only believed? What if this faith journey was all about having a personal experience of who Jesus is and nothing was required of us afterwards? [/lead]Our faith walk requires striking a delicate balance between our devotion and action – what we believe and what we do. This, is the story behind the Acts of the Apostles. Following our collection of talks on who Jesus is from the Gospel of John, Pastor DawnCheré Wilkerson kicks off a new series from the book of Acts in a message titled “Of the Spirit.” Acts documents the disciples’ lives from the resurrection of Jesus. It showed how Jesus appeared to them for forty days after his resurrection, spoke to them about the kingdom of God and commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Reading from Acts 1, Pastor DC showed us the necessity of the Spirit with three things the Spirit has been gifted to do in our lives.
THE SPIRIT EMPOWERS
How did ordinary fishermen become pillars of the church? Or a zealot scholar like Paul, who hated and ordered the killings of Christians become a chief apostle who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament and carried the gospel around the world? Or Mary Magdalene, who was tortured by seven demons become the first eye witness to Jesus' resurrection and a witness to others? It’s because the Spirit empowered them. Jesus promised that we will receive the power to witness to the ends of the earth.Being a witness is not only the highlights of a minister on stage proclaiming the message of Jesus but each of us telling our story of what God has done in our lives. Each and every of us are part of the greatest story ever told! God cares just as much for all our conversations where we share our stories to a co-worker over lunch or our next-door neighbor.
“The power that transformed you initially, is the same power that sustains you constantly.” - DawnCheré Wilkerson.
THE SPIRIT REVEALS
The Holy Spirit is a person and he makes the revelation of who Jesus is come alive in us as we strive to stay in relationship with him. Revelation is illumination in your heart. Think of revelation as an “Aha” moment – when something finally clicks because you get a fresh perspective to the information that was already there. This is what the Spirit does for us when he reveals Jesus to us in a new way no matter the troubling times we face in different seasons of life.
THE SPIRIT UNIFIES
Before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed in John 17: 21 for all believers to be one just as he and the Father are one. But how could people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and languages be one? Through the power of the spirit in us to love each other. God is love and we are commanded to put on love, above all else. Some people might not speak the same language as we do but they will understand the language of love in action.
As we go about our everyday lives, let’s make it our mission to deepen our relationship with the Holy Spirit so he can reveal Jesus to us in a fresh way and empower us to love people we come in contact with as God loves them.
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