You will receive POWER

Modern Christianity is powerless. It is a powerless against sin. Christians say they cannot stop sinning. It is powerless against satan; it is powerless against temptation, it is conformed to the world. The reason why Christians believers are powerless is because they do not have the Holy Spirit.

We need the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome. Eternal life is for those who overcome. Jesus Christ promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples and to all those who would seek Him and who would follow Him. The disciples of Jesus Christ were scattered when He was taken captive to be crucified by the Romans and the instigation of the Jews. Even Peter, who swore that he would never deny Jesus, denied him three times. The disciples did not have the power to be witnesses. They did not have the power to be faithful to Jesus and we see that after Jesus was resurrected before He ascended to heaven,He gathered the 12 and He commanded them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit that was promised.

We read in Acts chapter 1 verse 4: Gathering them together He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised, "which" He said, "you heard from Me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." We

read in verse 8: "but you will 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." The Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost.

We read in Acts chapter 2 verse 1:"When the day of Pentecost that come they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a noises like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, and there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance."

We read in verse 5: "Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven, And when the sound occurred, the crowd came together and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying:"Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each here them in our own language, to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - we hear them in our own tongues speak of the mighty deeds of God.

And they all continued an amazement and perplexity saying to one another, "What does this mean." But others were mocking and saying, They are full of sweet wine."

When the Holy Spirit came on these disciples,men from Galilee, the Holy Spirit gave them utterance, they spoke of the great deeds of God in languages that they had never heard before and therefore the people were amazed. How is this possible?

And Peter explained to them. Verse 14: "but Peter taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice and declared to them: "Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men not are drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on My bond slaves both men and women I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they saw prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved."

Peter spoke some more words to them and we read in verse 37: "Now when they heard this they were pierced to the heart and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles:"Brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them:"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying: "Be saved from this perverse generation!" So then those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about 3,000 souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and two prayer." These men, these disciples of Jesus Christ, the ones who ran away who denied Him, who were scattered like sheep without a shepherd when they lost their Master, their Shepherd He was taken up into heaven, they were all on there own, but He had promised them a Comforter to be with them. He promised them the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit that was that was given on the day of Pentecost filled them with power and with boldness. The same Peter who ran away when a little girl asked him whether he was of Jesus, the same man was full of the power of the Holy Spirit and with boldness he explained to these people what had happened, that the Holy Spirit of God had been given that that which the prophet Joel had prophesied about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that that had taken place and that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh on all those who call in the name of the Lord, not just on some. And on that same day those who believed, who repented and who were baptized in water, received that same Holy Spirit power, they also spoke in tongues. When we read the rest of the book of Acts and the New Testament we see that wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached and people accepted Him,repented and were baptized, they yearned for, they sought after and they received this glorious Holy Spirit. They were endowed with power from above. They were witnesses for Jesus. His apostles went on to die for Him and many of those who accepted Jesus were persecuted, they were killed for the name of Jesus but they had the power to continue; they had the power, even under persecution to witness for Jesus, to stand for Jesus, they had the power. Why? Because they had the Holy Spirit.

Today we have a lot of professing Christians with Bible knowledge and wisdom of their own but they don't have the power of the Holy Spirit; they cannot stop sinning, they cannot stand against the wiles of the devil. They are conformed to the world, but they don't have power. It is because they never received the Holy Spirit; they don't have the power of God in them. If we do not have the power of the Holy Spirit we cannot be witnesses for Jesus; we cannot stand for Him. We need that power of the Holy Spirit in us and we need to be filled with the Spirit; we need to have His Spirit flowing through us, streams of living water so that we can bring life to this world, be light in darkness.

Most professing Christians are darkness; they are just like the world. They go after the things of the world. They are just deceived and they think they have salvation, but they're not overcomers. We have to overcome evil, we have to overcome ourselves, we have to deny our self and go after Jesus Christ. We need the POWER of the Holy Spirit. It is not an optional extra; it is a requirement. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot follow Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth and tell us things to come, the Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus Christ to us, will reveal His will to us. We cannot bear fruit if we do not remain in Christ. You cannot be in Christ if the Spirit of Christ is not in you and if you do not follow the guidance of the Spirit of Christ. Then you're on your own, you're running after your mind and you cannot please God. And every branch in Christ that does not bear fruit will get cut off and burned. You need the power of the Holy Spirit, you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

All those who receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit have the ability to speak in tongues; they speak mysteries to God and the Spirit of God flows through them, the power of God works through them because they are filled with the Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God resides in them. If you have not received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the ability the supernatural ability to speak in tongues at any time, you have not received the Holy Spirit.

Dear friend, it was promised to everybody, to all those who believe. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh, all those who believe and who accept Him, nobody excluded, only those who believe and accept Him The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit.

Those who do not believe and obey Jesus Christ cannot receive the Holy Spirit and they do not belong to Him. If we do not have the Spirit of Christ we do not belong to Him; we are not His children and we are part of His kingdom.

Have you received the Holy Spirit? Is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you and are you being led by the Spirit of God. Those who are being led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God. Do you have His Spirit? Is He dwelling in you and are you following Him? Are you truly a child of God? Do you have the power to overcome, the power to resist the devil, the power to endure with Jesus until the end and not deny Him? You need that power or else you will not make it into the kingdom of God? Only those who endure with Jesus Christ until the very end, only they will be saved.

May Jesus bless you.