You Shall Be Witnesses!

It doesn’t matter how “good” you think you are, how much time you invest in your community, or how much money you give to charity, you’re not getting into to heaven unless you are born again!  Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3 that unless a man is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Acts 2:37-38

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Following Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, they believed his words, that God had made Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ, they believed and were convicted, and asked: What must we do? Peter gives them a very clear answer: Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus, and receive the Holy Ghost.

Many Christians begin the process, but never complete it. They live powerless lives, constantly struggling with the same weak and defeated existence. Never overcoming their temptations, they constantly struggle with the same sins, year in, and year out. Their life is weakened by sin, and their witness for Christ, well it is non-existent. Because they never seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Jesus believed the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to be so important that he commanded his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received it. (Acts 1:8)

Acts 2:1

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Why is this Holy Ghost so important?  Because the Holy Ghost is the power of God, filling the human vessel with the very presence of the indwelling Spirit of Jesus, allowing us to live lives that reflect His image (Romans 8:29). The only way we can become His witnesses, and advance the Kingdom of God, in through that indwelling presence.  The Holy Ghost is God’s supernatural way of equipping us to fulfill the great commission and to carry on the ministry of Jesus.

What was the ministry of Jesus?  “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.  He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the captive free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’” (Luke 4:14-19)

Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, to comfort the sick, to reach out to those in need, establish the Kingdom of God and to destroy the works of Satan.

I John 3:8 – “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Jesus ministry has never changed and we have been commissioned and anointed to continue his ministry in the earth.  If you read the book of Acts you will discover that is an account of the NT church in her infancy, it is the record of how the Holy Ghost operates through yielded vessels.  The book of Acts is the pattern for the church.

Mark 16:17-18 - And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost are the defining characteristics of the NT church. To put it more simply, the Church acted just like Jesus; they healed the sick, they cast out devils, and they performed signs and wonders. How?  Through the Power of the Holy Spirit!

There are a lot of things that are lacking in our lives today, but of all the things that we need, it is a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit!  We need an invasion of the Holy Ghost!  We need God to storm our services, we need a divine interruption to “our” agendas, and we need the Holy Ghost to show up like He did on the day of Pentecost and fill God’s people with power from above, power to be His witnesses!  We need a sudden, undeniable, supernatural stirring of the Holy Ghost! 

We need to pray like they did in acts 4:29-31, “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.  And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

Come on Lord, stir us up!  We need an invasion of your Holy Ghost today!  Something that originates from heaven, something that will shake us up, something that will wake us up, something that will stir us up, and set us on fire! 

We need a divine interruption!

You can be saved right now, you can be set free right now, you can be healed right now, you can be delivered right now, and you can get your miracle, or your breakthrough right now!  Everything you need is a breath of God away, but it can only come to you through the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost.

I started with Paul’s words to Timothy, but he might as well been speaking to us.  If there’s one thing we’re missing in many of our lives today, it is the vitality, the life, the fire, the power and the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

We can look at the world, we can try and blame the government, we can claim religious persecution or the atmosphere of our society, but the truth is that we have no one to blame but ourselves.  We are the keepers of our flame.  Every person is responsible to stir up the gift, the flame that is in them and it is our job to keep the fire burning.  We have to stir up the gift!

There is an anointing in you, a fire in you, it may be low, and it may seem like just a flicker, you may think it has gone out, but if you’ll begin to stir the embers a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit will begin to blow again and the fire will burn.

We can’t afford to let the fire go out, it’s too close to midnight, too close to the end and the bridegroom is drawing closer.  There are people who are falling asleep all around us, still singing the same songs, still saying amen and hallelujah, but the fire has gone out!  It’s time for us to stir up the gift that is in us, time to wake up our calling, time to wake up our destiny, to stir up that anointing and wake up that fire!

I’ve worked on some pretty high-performance engines in my secular job, some that give you goose bumps just listening to the sound of them roar and you can tell that their power is intimidating to every other car on the road, but one thing is true about every one of them; if the battery is dead, you’re dead in the water.

It doesn’t matter how much destiny is in you, or how many gifts or callings are in you, unless they are activated by the Holy Spirit, they’re dead.

I doesn’t matter how many God given dreams you have, or how many prophecies you have been spoken over your life, they are not going to come to fruition without the stirring of the Holy Ghost.  When we allow the fire to be stirred in us, we can activate the flame in others and then we become a threat to hell.