Living in the Spirit--II

This Sunday we'll move to the second message in our Living in the Spirit series.  The message comes from Acts 1:4-11 where Jesus' promises that the disciples will be baptized with the Holy Spirit soon, challenges them to wait for that empowering, and then tells them they will be His WITNESSES locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.  Jesus was adamant that the disciples not DO anything until they had received POWER.  The power in our lives comes from the Holy Spirit.  It did in Jesus' day and it does now--because this is still Jesus' day!  When the Holy Spirit baptizes us, we have the assurance of Jesus' presence, and the courage to be His witnesses even in challenging circumstances. 

Today as part of the National Day of Prayer, several of us were prayer walking in the Saxonburg municipal building.  Three workers were at their desks when we walked inside.  One of them asked, "May I help you?"  I answered, "It's the national day of prayer and we're here to see if you have any prayer needs that we could offer to the Lord."  One woman answered, "I'm not sure you're allowed to do that here."  I started to say, "I'm sure it will (and was going to say be okay), when another woman came around the corner and said, "I have a good friend who is undergoing surgery next Wednesday, could you pray for her?" The first woman said, "We have a lot of work to do here, maybe you could pray that we would do it right?"  I said, "We'd be glad to," and prayed with them.

I offer that interaction to illustrate what happens when Holy Spirit gives us courage to minister, sometimes despite initial objection. As a result those three folks know that God's people care about their work and their needs.  I hope you'll join us on Sunday as we investigate more of how God works in and through us by the Holy Spirit!