Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

This morning, I want to take a quick look back at what we have learned concerning the Holy Spirit over the last few weeks.

1. Jesus is the good shepherd who has life in Himself, but it is the Spirit who gives life. John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
2. The sheep know his voice and follow through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
3. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is first an inward ministry. John 14:16–17 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
4. To live by the Spirit, we must set our minds on spiritual things. Romans 8:5–6 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

The inward ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives leads us through a process of sanctification that is seen and felt through righteous living. The effect of the inward work is also intended to have an outward effect.

There is a kingdom mandate that has been given to all believers by Jesus. The act of salvation is an indescribable gift, but it is not the end of our walk. Every believer has been called by God to advance His kingdom purpose in the earth.

The kingdom mandate given to all believers by Jesus Christ is what is known as the great commission. The great commission is recorded in two places in the gospels. Matthew 28:18-20. Mark 16:14-20.

Why go?
• We are commanded to. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. When we say yes to Him, we come under that authority.

What are we commanded to do?
• Preach the gospel, make disciples, baptize, and teach people to observe all that He has commanded.

How are we to go?
• In the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to cast out demons, speak with new tongues, and lay hands on the sick.

Mark 16:20 “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”

A few important elements to see in this verse:
1. They went in obedience to the command of God. There was an outward work that accompanied their belief in Jesus. It wasn’t profession only.
2. The Lord worked with them through accompanying signs and wonders. There was an outflow of power. The word power here is the greek word dynamis, which is characterized by supernatural power that exerts influence over natural reality.

So, as the disciples followed the command of Jesus to preach, teach, baptize, and make disciples he accompanied them with the demonstration of power. For what purpose? To confirm the word.

The power of God demonstrated gives testimony to the validity of the word of God. The word confirming means to verify or confirm the truth of. The intent of the demonstration of power is to confirm that the word is true.

This is what I will refer to as the outward ministry of the Holy Spirit. Each believer in Christ needs the baptism of power to be effective in assignment. I believe that this is a different experience than the receiving of the spirit at the point of salvation.

When surrender our lives to Christ, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Yet we see instruction in the book of Acts 1:4-8 for the disciples to wait until they were endued with power from on high.

What this points to is the reality that our ability to be effective with our assignment is directly connected to our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:4-8 that they needed to wait.

The purpose of power was to be filled to continue the work of Christ kingdom advancement.

Reaching the world will require the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We will not reason or instruct people into the kingdom of God. The kingdom must be preached, taught, modeled, and confirmed with power. There must be personal encounter. Hearing, seeing, doing, and experiencing.

It can certainly feel a bit overwhelming to become aware of the magnitude of the assignment we have been given, but we can be at rest knowing that we don’t go alone.

It is not by our own strength or capacity that the kingdom will advance. It is the Lord who will be at work both in us and through us. I believe that we owe the world an encounter with Jesus.

To give people an authentic encounter first we need to be near to Jesus. We need to be a people of personal encounter. Then we need to follow Jesus direction to the disciples. Wait to be endued with power from on high, but understand this is not an idle waiting. It a period that is marked by preparation, presence, and prayer.

We will struggle to advance the kingdom and impact others if we don’t make the decision to go all in. We must wholly surrender to Jesus. We must live the life of a disciple.

If we carry the mentality that attempts to fit a little bit of God into our busy schedule we will likely never see power.

Power demonstrated is an overflow of time spent with Him. Over the next few weeks we are going to dive into the word to gain understanding of how God moves through us with power.