Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses (one who tells what he has seen or heard or knows – comes from the same root word as our word for martyr – one who bears witness by his death) to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

• You Will Receive Power.

• Ability
• Might

• From the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity.

• He is person – not a “thing,” not an “it.”

• He acts like a person.

• He dwells in believers (John 14:17)
• He teaches and causes us to remember (John 14:26)                     
• He testifies (John 15:26)
• He guides into truth, He hears, He speaks, He shows (John 16:13)
• He spoke to Philip (Acts 8:29)
• He calls to the ministry (Acts 13:2)
• He forbids certain actions (Acts 16:6,7)
• He intercedes, etc.  (Romans 8:26)

• He possesses qualities of personality.

• He has a will (1 Corinthians 12:11)
• He thinks (Romans 8:27)
• He has knowledge (1 Corinthians 2:10,11)
• He loves (Romans 15:30)

• He can be treated like a person.

• He can be lied to (Acts 5:3)
• He can be resisted (Acts 7:51)
• He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30)
• He can be outraged (Hebrews 10:29)
• He can be spoken against (Matthew 12:31)

• He is God.

• He possesses divine qualities.

• All knowing (1 Corinthians 2:10,11)
• Present everywhere at one time (Psalm 139:7)
• All powerful (Zechariah 4:6)
• He is Truth (1 John 5:6)
• He is the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2) as God is the living God.
• He is the Spirit of love (2 Timothy 1:7) as God is love.

• He bears divine names.

• Spirit of truth (John 14:17)
• Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11)

• He is associated on the same level as the Father and the Son.

• To be baptized in the name of all three (Matthew. 28:19)
• Blessing is given by all three (2 Corinthians 13:14)
• All three live in the Christian (1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 3:16)

• For the Purpose of Being a Witness.

John 15:26 – But when the Helper (the Comforter, the Advocate) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

John 16:13-14 – when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…He will glorify Me…

Acts 5:32; Acts 6:10; 1 Corinthians 2:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:5

• A witness is someone who KNOWS SOMETHING.

2 Timothy 2:15 – Be diligent (exert oneself, make every effort, be zealous, strain every nerve – the word includes thinking and acting, planning and producing.  It see a need and does something about it) to present yourself approved to God, a worker (one who makes forth effort, who toils) who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.      

1 Peter 3:15 – But sanctify (set apart) the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

Power of Holy Spirit is given for our ability “to know.”

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 -“. . . Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given (unconditionally given) to us by God. . . but which the Holy Spirit teaches. . . But the natural (physical – living in the domain of the five senses) man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually (with the aid of the Holy Spirit) discerned.

• A Witness is someone who IS SOMETHING.

1 Peter 2:11-15 – Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners (“to dwell beside” – an alien, one who lives in a land without the rights of citizenship) . . . having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. . .for this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Matthew 5:16 – Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Luke 6:46 – Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do the things which I say?

Matthew 7:21-23; Philippians 2:14-15; James 1:22-25

Power of Holy Spirit is given for our ability “to be” righteous.

Galatians 5:16 – Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts (strong desires, intense craving) of the flesh. 

Romans 8: 13 – for if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Galatians 5:22-23; John 14:15-17; John 14:26

• A witness is one who TELLS SOMETHING

Matthew 28:18-20 – And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen

Mark 16:15 – And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature

Luke 24: 46-49 – Preach (tell abroad, publish, publicly proclaim, call out with a clear voice.  The herald is to give a public announcement of an official message and to issue whatever demands the message entails.  The Christian herald is to proclaim the message of salvation through Jesus Christ and issue a summons to repent and receive forgiveness of sins.)

Acts 2:14 – Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said.

Acts 4:4 – many of those who heard the word believed.

Power of the Holy Spirit is given for our ability “to proclaim.”

Acts 4:31 – . . . they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness (outspokenness, unreserved utterance, frankness, opposite of timidity or fear). 

The example of the disciples shows us the power of the Holy Spirit to give us the boldness to speak.  Before the day of Pentecost, the disciples ran and hid.  After the day of Pentecost, they were bold, unafraid and proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ to all who would listen. 

• A Witness of Jesus Christ. – Not of our denomination, not of our local church, not of our pastor, not of our programs, not of our personal ideas and beliefs – but OF JESUS CHRIST!!!

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 – And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. ² For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified

• For the Purpose of Being a Witness to the Whole World.

• Jerusalem (local)

• Your family
• Your town

• Your co-workers
• Your close friends

• Judea (national)

• Your extended family
  • Your state – your country
  • Your grocery clerk, gas station attendant
  • Your acquaintances

• Samaria (cross-cultural)

• Race, national differences
• Economical differences
• Social differences

• End of the earth (international)

• Mexico
• Israel
• Brazil
• Zambia
• ?????