Power to Witness

Last week we have seen that the Holy Spirit is not a dictator. He will not do for us – or through us – more than we allow Him to. There are three main areas to which we may apply this principle:

1. The life of the individual believer.
2. The worship and service of a congregation as a whole.
3. The ministry of a preacher of the gospel.

In the coming weeks we shall consider the first of these areas. What main results is the baptism in the Holy Spirit intended to produce in the life of each individual Christian? We shall look at eight specific results.

Christ Himself points to the first of these results in two passages where He gives final words of direction to His disciples before His ascension into heaven.

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

In these passages Jesus gives His outline plan for the spread of the gospel in the present age. It is extremely simple. It contains three successive stages.

1. Each believer is to be personally empowered by the Holy Spirit.
2. Each believer, thus empowered by the Spirit, is to win others to Christ by his personal testimony.
3. These others (that are won) are in their turn to be empowered by the Spirit to win yet others.

In this way the testimony of Christ is to be extended outward from Jerusalem in ever-widening circles of power until it has reached the end of the earth; that is, until it has reached all nations and every creature.

This plan is both simple and practical. Whenever it is applied, it will always work. It would make possible the evangelisation of the entire world in any century in which the Church would put the plan to work. There is no other alternative plan which can accomplish the same result.

In these passages the key word is power. The Greek word is dunamis, from which we get such English words as “dynamo,” “dynamic,” “dynamite.” The impression produced by these English derivative words is essentially that of a forceful, explosive impact.