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ACTS 1:8

by Jerry Smith  
3/26/2017 / Christian Living


Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me..." (KJV). 

We know the verse. We have heard the verse. We can recite the verse. But, what can be gleaned when we examine this verse. . .

(1) "ye shall receive power"

2 Timothy 1:7,"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (KJV). 

The power [dynamis] (strength, ability) comes from God (Luke 24:49), not from within us ("...for without me [Jesus] ye can do nothing", John 15:5).

(2) "after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you"

When does this "power" arrive? After the Holy Ghost comes upon them.

Having the Holy Spirit residing within us is how we know that one is a child of God (Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 3:16, Galatians 4:6).

We become children of God by becoming born again into the family of God (John 3:6) by faith in Christ [meaning: Who He is (God in the flesh John 1:1-3, 14) and what He did (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 3:18)].

Only then do we receive this "power" (John 1:12).

First and foremost, having been born again, one has the Spirit of God dwelling within. The next part of this verse can now be acted upon...

(3) "and ye shall be witnesses unto me"

We can simply see Peter's example in Acts 2:14-36 for what this means. Peter was there, and he stood to speak after the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in the upper room (Acts 2:4).

Peter spoke of his personal eyewitness encounter with the Son of God:

1. He shared the Word of God (vv. 16-21); compare with Romans 10:17, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God").

2. Through the Word, pointed them to Christ (vv. 22-36)

- The guilt of the people (v23)
- His death (v23)
- His resurrection (v24)
- Peter's personal encounter with Christ (v32)

What can we glean from this very brief examination of this popular verse?

1. We have no spiritual strength of our own:

If you are trying to operate in your own power, it is useless (John 6:63). The only power we can have is from above, through the Holy Spirit

2. You cannot have the Spirit of God if you are not first a child of God by faith in Christ - we must be born again, if we are going to witness.

3. Only after being born again, can one proceed to the next part of the verse - witness.

A witness is one who has witnessed something. To be a witness of Christ means that you have had a personal saving encounter with Him, in spirit and in truth, as revealed about Him in the Holy Scriptures: You have embraced Christ in response to the Gospel.

4. Witnessing means telling people about sin, and pointing people to Christ, from His Word, incorporating your own personal encounter with others.

-It does NOT mean telling people about how much FUN you have in church
-It does NOT mean telling them ABOUT your church
-It does NOT mean telling people about MORALS
-It does NOT mean sharing a list of DOs and DON'Ts

Jerry is a bi-vocational, helping pastor-teacher, Christian life coach, TESOL trainer & manager, author, and freelance writer, with degrees in Christian education, teaching-English, business, theology, and divinity, currently residing in the Philippines. His interests include practical theology.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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