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What
does it mean to receive power from the Holy Spirit? In the first
chapter of Acts we see Jesus preparing His followers for the arrival of
the Holy Spirit, then in chapter 2 He arrives with a bang! How similar
should our experience of the Spirit be to what the first followers of
Christ experienced on the day of Pentecost? We see through Acts 2 a
pattern of the Spirit's work which is repeated throughout the book of
Acts. To understand it, we need to remember what Jesus said in Acts 1:4 -
that the Spirit would come just as Jesus taught. To understand the work
of the Spirit we must remember all that Jesus said about Him. A great place to start is to look at John 14 to 17 which records the instructions Jesus gives His disciples and His prayer to His Father - all of which give great guidance about the work of the Spirit.
We discover that this work can be summarised like this: The Spirit works to draw people closer to God in Christ and to all those who are in Christ. He works through us to help others in that same direction also.
Sometimes we get too distracted on the means the Spirit uses rather than the purpose of His work. We need to diligently apply 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 which urges us to not quench the Spirit but to test everything and hold on to the good. We must not become overly prescriptive about what God does and does not do beyond what He clearly says in His Word.
We discover that this work can be summarised like this: The Spirit works to draw people closer to God in Christ and to all those who are in Christ. He works through us to help others in that same direction also.
Sometimes we get too distracted on the means the Spirit uses rather than the purpose of His work. We need to diligently apply 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 which urges us to not quench the Spirit but to test everything and hold on to the good. We must not become overly prescriptive about what God does and does not do beyond what He clearly says in His Word.
