10-08-23-ENG.

"For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power. "

2 Timothy 1:7 
HOLY GHOST POWER

Read It: Acts 4:13; 5:27-32, 40-42
A third truth I want to show you about the Holy Spirit's power is that He is creating a powerful people. Before the Spirit's coming on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus' disciples were a weak group of people. They were like timid Timothy. Peter denied the Lord. Others ran away because they feared the Jewish leaders who were after Jesus. But when the Holy Spirit came to live within them permanently, something drastic happened to their personalities. They became powerful proclaimers of the Word. Understand, this didn't happen because their environment improved. In fact, the disciples were in far more danger in Acts 4-5 than they ever were during Jesus' ministry. They also did not get this power by taking a Dale Carnegie course or learning the power of positive thinking. What they got was Holy Ghost power. Listen to me. The power of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with the degrees on your wall. You can have all the degrees and be a defeated Christian. But if you have been with Jesus, others are going to know it. We spend all this time trying to fix ourselves. We go to our therapist to find out who we were, who we are, and who we want to be. 

But the Bible says that when the Spirit took over these people, there was a personality sonality change. All of a sudden these spaghetti Christians stood tall. The Holy Spirit can change a person from scared to confident, from intimidated dated to dedicated. If we aren't experiencing the Holy Spirit's power, we are going to be spiritual wimps running around from conference to conference ference looking for the newest secret, hoping the next program will do for us what only the Holy Spirit can do. Sometimes people come for counseling and say, "I don't know what's wrong with me!" I know what's wrong. The Holy Spirit is not in control of that life yet. Because if He ever takes over, people will do things they cannot normally do and say things they cannot normally say. The Spirit is bigger than your attempts to fix yourself. He brings about a real change. Anybody who can change your personality is powerful! Think About It If you have been with Jesus, it's going to become evident that something powerful is at work in you.