Main Thought
God wants to give us power! God’s power does different things in us and through us. First, God gives us power to live holy lives before Him. He transforms our desires, our actions, and our habits. Transformed habits - in our thinking and behavior - eventually transform our lives. We’re also empowered to be witnesses for God. Witnesses tell people about what they’ve experienced in God. But we don’t stop at witnessing. We also receive God’s power to continue the work of discipleship, helping others follow Jesus. We walk with people until their lives are transformed too.
Main Passages
“And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, 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.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””
- Acts 1:4-8 ESV
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.””
- Matthew 3:11-12 ESV
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
- Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
Discussion Questions
Have you ever experienced God’s power to live a holy, transformed life? If so, how?
Think about Acts 1:4-8. What do you think it means to “wait” on God? Are you doing that consistently?
God empowers us to live transformed, holy lives for Him; to be witnesses for Him; and to make disciples for Him. Where do you need God’s power to help you most in this season?