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Grace Bible Church

4000 E. Collins Rd.   P.O. Box #3762   Gillette, WY  82717   (307) 686-1516

 

- Preaching the Living WORD through the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4;:2 -

 

 

 

 

“EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT

TO BE HIS WITNESSES - 2”

(2013 GBC THEME REVIEW)

 (Acts 1:8) (1/20/13)

Grace Bible Church, Gillette, Wyoming

Pastor Daryl Hilbert

 

I.     THE CHURCH’S EMPOWERMENT

 

A.    It is Divine Empowerment

B.    It is Salvation Empowerment

C.    It is Evangelistic Empowerment

D.    It is Sanctifying Empowerment

 

1.     The Holy Spirit imparts life and power to the believer that enables him to live the Christian life and serve the Lord. Without the Holy Spirit and His power, the unsaved man is not able to understand spiritual truths nor serve the Lord (1Co 2:14; Ro 8:7-8).

2.     With the Holy Spirit, the believer is empowered to:

a)    Live the Christian life (2Pe 1:3)

b)    Possess power, love, and discipline  (2Ti 1:7)

c)     Change with power (Ep 1:19; 3:20)

d)    Live in the power of the resurrection (Php 3:10)

e)     Serve with power (Col 1:28-29)

f)     Overcome weaknesses (2Co 12:9)

g)     Be strengthened with power (Ep 3:16)

h)    Never be separated from God (Ro 8:38-39).

 

II.    THE CHURCH’S INDWELLING

 

A.    The Promise of Indwelling

 

1.       The Holy Spirit in the OT

 

a)    In the beginning, the Holy Spirit is viewed as part of the creation process of the earth (Ge 1:2), a work depicting Him as God (Ac 5:3-4 cp. Is 40:12-14).

b)    The foundational divine work of inspiration is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Inspiration is the divine process whereby God moves and superintends the writer (apostle, prophet) to communicate God’s exact words, i.e. Scripture (Ac 1:16; 4:25; 28:25-26 cp. Is 6:9-10 cf. 1Ti 3:16-17; 2Pe 1:20-21). This is the same process for the writing of the OT as well as the NT.

c)     The Holy Spirit would enable and empower specific individuals to accomplish specific tasks such as craftsmanship on the Tabernacle (Ex 31:2-6), judge and rule (Jdg 3:10), strength and battle (Jdg 14:6), prophesy (1Sa 10:6), or write (Ps 45:1; 2Sa 23:2) etc.

 

2.       The Holy Spirit and Indwelling

 

a)    Obviously, the Holy Spirit would “come upon” (indwell) individuals for certain tasks, but His indwelling was temporary. The Spirit would cease indwelling an individual due in part to a completed task (Ex 38:22) or sin (1Sa 16:14; Ps 51:11).

b)    Even though the Holy Spirit was present in the OT, the very fact that Christ promised the coming of the Holy Spirit argues that the Holy Spirit would come for a special ministry to the church (Ac 1:4 cp. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). It also included a special indwelling (permanently - Jn 14:16; 2Co 1:22; Ep 4:30), which was accompanied by a special empowerment (Ac 1:8).