THROUGH THE POWER

“I can do it by myself!” My wife and I were in a pastor’s home many years ago when we heard their two-year-old daughter declare this to her mother who was attempting to pour orange juice into her glass. The little girl grabbed the carton and pulled it from her mother’s hands, saying emphatically, “I can do it by myself!” Underestimating the enormity of the task for her small hands, she inadvertently slung the juice all over the kitchen. What a mess!

When it comes to reconciling the world to Christ, we, too, will make a mess of things if we underestimate the enormity of the task and take matters into our own hands. We have been well-advised by the writer of Proverbs not to lean on our own understanding (3:5, 6).

Jesus left no room for misunderstanding when he said, “For without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

All around the world, the church is sharpening its focus on the ministry of reconciliation. I see it in our writings, hear it in conversations, and note that it is being lifted up as the theme of conferences and conventions. “Reconciling the World to Christ” is the church’s priority, our chief concern, our “One Thing.” We must never assume that we can accomplish this enormous task through our own pursuits of higher education, strategic planning, or human effort. Our only hope for reconciling the world to Christ is THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

As a prelude to His earthly ministry, Luke’s gospel records that the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Jesus when he was baptized by John. Then being filled with the Holy Spirit, He returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he was tempted for forty days by the devil. Afterward, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. Soon afterward, He went to Nazareth, entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because He has anointed me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
(Luke 4:18-19)

Then Jesus closed the book and said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The early church believers could do no less. As a prelude to their engagement in the ministry of reconciliation, they were commanded to remain in Jerusalem to await the baptism of the Holy Spirit which would empower them to be witnesses of Jesus to the end of the earth. One-hundred twenty were gathered in an upper room when there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind that filled the whole house. Cloven tongues like as of fire sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Today there are more than 644,000,000 Pentecostals/Charismatics who have experienced this same outpouring. We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to give witness to Christ so that the world might be reconciled.

Not only does the Holy Spirit empower our witness, his role in the salvation of a soul is paramount. Without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the sinner would never know the gift of eternal life. Conviction, godly sorrow, repentance, regeneration, and newness of life come only through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The good news is that the Holy Spirit is at work in the world today. A fresh wind is blowing across many college campuses. A fresh fire is igniting. A fresh outpouring is happening as new wine is being poured into new wineskins. 

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). We have been given no other means to reconcile the world to Christ, only THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.