Cleansed by the Blood, Empowered and Led by the Spirit, Living and Declaring God’s Truth.

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Text:  Acts 2:1-13

Acts 2:7

And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

(ESV)

As the world and the United States begin to come back from the shutdown brought on by the coronavirus, the church has an opportunity to do what the Church in the Book of Acts was able to do, turn its world upside down (Acts 17:6).  Sadly, the Church today is not turning its world upside down and, in many instances, tries to appear like the world as a means of being hip and attracting new members.  Many churches and ministries do not even preach about sin anymore because they may offend someone.  (1)  The biblical truth is that the Gospel message is designed to offend people as it brings them face-to-face with sin in their lives and their need for the blood of Christ to cleanse and forgive them of their sin (Ephesians 2:13; Hebrews 9:14; Romans 3:23).   The Church is also powerless as it ministers with hip programs that make the church appear busy with ministry, but does not wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit as Jesus commanded His Disciples to do before His ascension (Acts 1:4).  The Church as a catalyst for revival is a four-layered process involving repentance, empowerment, Spirit-led ministry, and truth or resting in the Lord.

1)      Repentance (Mark 1:4) – Before the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus (Isaiah 40:3; Mark 1:2-3).  That path was a path of repentance.  The word repentance used in Mark 1:4 is mentanoia meaning a change of mind and a change in the inner man.  Revival will begin in our land as God’s people have a change of mind to commit to God’s will and not their self-interests.  The only way this can occur is for a change in the inner man something only possible as we accept Jesus as our savior and allow the Holy Spirit to change our lives through the study and meditation on God’s Word. 

2)      Empowerment (Acts 1:8) – Christ commanded the disciples, just before his ascension, to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4).  Jesus went on to teach the disciples that when they received the Holy Spirit they would receive power to be witnesses of the resurrected Lord beginning in Jerusalem then into Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  Since that time, the Gospel has spread to almost every part on earth but in many Churches today, the preaching lacks power.  Jesus told the woman at the well that true worshippers worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).  The preaching of the Word of God is part of worship and must come from a foundation of truth but to be effective, the preacher must seek the empowerment of the Holy Spirit as he or she ministers to have effectiveness.  The Church has an abundance of truth available but lacks power. 

3)      Spirit-led ministry (Galatians 5:18; Romans 8:14) – Galatians 5:18 teaches that the people led by the Spirit are not under the law.  However, spirit-led ministry is not spiritual anarchy devoid of law, but ministry presented by one who is a son of God (Romans 8:14).  One led by the Spirit of God is not interested in their self-interests but one sensitive to What God wants them to do.  A minister friend of mine shared a story with me last week about an old-time evangelist he knew as a young man who was conducting a service.  Just before the preacher was to come to the pulpit to speak, a singer sang a very moving song.  As the preacher approached the pulpit,  he asked the singer to sing the song again.  The preacher ended up asking the singer to sing the song several times and after the last time noticed the alter at the front of the church was full of people praying and that no one was left in their seats.  After everyone finished praying and returned to their seats to hear the message, the preacher came up to the pulpit and dismissed everyone. Telling them to come back the next night.  This preacher knew that the Holy Spirit was leading the service at that point and that there was nothing more he could add.  The Holy Spirit is not a force or ghost but is God and when He moves, we must get out of the way and allow Him to lead.

4)      Truth (John 4:24, 8:32) – Truth is the component that brings stability to the ministry.  A ministry based solely on Spirit is a ministry designed to make people feel good as their spirits are lifted but once the euphoria of the emotions and good feeling runs out, one is left empty seeking more.  We are to seek God as a deer pants for water (Psalm 42:1) but the context of Psalm 42 is one seeking intimacy with God while downcast in his soul (Psalm 42:5) and not one seeking some emotional high or good feeling.  Seeking God for an emotional high or good feeling is comparable to using God as a drug to make us feel good.  We must not seek God for good feelings of euphoria but instead seek an intimate relationship with God through study and meditation on the truth contained in the Word of God. 

Let us take a moment and have everyone consider the components of a campfire.  The fire begins with piling up some wood, adding some smaller scraps of wood or kindling, adding some lighter fluid as a catalyst to help the fire get started, and a spark or match to ignite the fire.  The pile of wood is the truth or foundation that will keep the fire burning.  The kindling is the leadership of the Spirit which ignites the truth of the pile of wood.  The lighter fluid represents the empowerment of the Holy Spirit what will bring direct heat to the kindling and ignite the truth with repentance the spark that begins the process.  For revival to come to our land, the Church must repent, allow the Holy Spirit to empower every area of their lives, allow themselves to be led by the Spirit of God, and declare God’s truth whenever the Holy Spirit opens the door to do so.  My prayer is that as the world begins to open up after shutting down for covid19, the church will repent, receive the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and go and declare and live the truth of God’s truth in their lives.  May God bless everyone reading this post. 

1. Idleman, Shane. Joel Osteen: Preach God's Truth; Don't Avoid Sin, Repentance. www.christianpost.com. [Online] The Christian Post, May 29, 2016. [Cited: March 30, 2017.] http://www.christianpost.com/news/joel-osteen-truth-sin-repentance-160365/.