Sand Mountain Sermonette 57
Acts 1:8
Sparkless Christianity
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8
When I was living in Albertville, Alabama, my parents helped me to purchase a used 1973 Nova SS Hatchback which I owned for many years. Later, in 2001, I owned a 1963 Chevrolet Impala-all original. I remember the day I purchased it from someone who attended the church I was pastoring at that time. She told me she had purchased it from another individual who had had it setting up on blocks in their garage for some time. She also told me that after she purchased the Impala and brought it home, it was difficult to crank and to keep running once it was cranked. So, she took it to a man who lived in our city who owned and worked on classic automobiles. She said he had kept the car for a while with little success of solving the problem until one day he asked his son to go down to the local parts place and pick up a box of AC Delco Spark plugs, and the rest was history. Once these factory plugs were installed, the car cranked and ran like days of old; the same plugs I inherited when I purchased the car!
The early Christian believers needed power to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus within the violent and oppressive Roman world of the first century in which they lived. In the Book of Acts, Luke tells us that, before His return to heaven via His Ascension, Jesus told men and women who had assembled in a room in Jerusalem, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” This original word translated ‘power” is the same word from which we get our English word, “dynamite!” It also entails power whose origin is from God and God alone with no trace of human design or effort as its source!
Often, we intend to be witnesses for Christ to a lost and dying world around us, but we never get around to doing that very thing or we just decide that’s the task of the preacher or the overseas missionary. But my friend, the Bible says all Christians are to be witnesses for the Lord and you and I who are “in Christ” can be witnesses of the gospel for the Holy Spirit lives within us effectively overseeing our intellect, emotions, and will as we yield to the Spirit’s control. The Bible says that after ten days of prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit came upon that group of Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem and by that same power they “[were Jesus’] witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
So, are you a Christian who gets ready for church each Sunday and attends regularly, but you can’t figure out why there is no “spiritual spark” in your life for sharing the gospel with others? Perhaps, you have positioned your life upon blocks in the garage and are not really going anywhere in your relationship with Christ and your witness for His Son to others around you. If this is your case, I have good news for you! Christian, invite the Holy Spirit to revive you with His “dynamite” power of love, passion, and compassion to tell others of Jesus who lived, died, and rose from the dead them! To share Christ is to grow personally in your relationship with Him! Be courageous!
Pastor Louie