Acts 2:1–47

Family Bible Study
University Relations, Samford University; Southwestern Seminary graduate

You Have the Power
Acts 2:1–47
What does it take for a life to be transformed? What are the experiences that change a cowardly, betraying life into a bold, courageous witness? Peter denied he even knew Jesus before the crucifixion, but a few short days later, he was standing in the temple of Jerusalem witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, the persecutor of the church in Acts 8 and 9, has an experience that forever redirects and changes his life. When he lists the many sufferings he endured for the Lord — beatings by the Romans and the Jews, imprisonments, stoning and left for dead, shipwrecked at sea, constant harassment by enemies and detractors of the faith (2 Cor. 11:21–29) — what are we to understand kept him at the calling to witness to his faith in Christ? A lesser person would have crumbled under the pressure and abuse. What is it that holds the power to transform a life from unreliable weakness to one of trustworthy strength?

In Luke’s record of the Pentecost in Acts 2, two truths stand out as the sources of transformation in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. These two truths were first events the disciples experienced with God; the events then became living truths. The first was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The disciples had come to accept the death and resurrection of Jesus as fact and truth. Their lives could never be the same after having personally experienced the One who had lived, died and lived again. This event opened the door of possibility for any person’s life to change once he or she met Jesus.

The second event the disciples experienced happened that first post-resurrection Pentecost morning. With signs and wonders, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples to pour God’s power upon their lives. They were transformed by this power to go forth with the message of Jesus Christ. Prior to His ascension, Jesus told the disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the remotest part of the world (Acts 1:8).
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they went forth proclaiming the faith in ways that brought down barriers that had existed between races, genders and classes. Truly something transformative happened in these disciples’ lives.

But how is this experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God to be understood for a Christian’s everyday life of service and witness for Christ? What is it about this death and resurrection of Christ and Pentecost experiences that today’s Christian can call upon to empower his life for witness? Is being filled with the Spirit like pulling into a gas station to be filled with fuel for further travel? Or does the Spirit-empowered life have more to do with this personal relationship with God a believer comes to know in Christ? In this relationship, we as persons give ourselves over to God in Christ, in the Spirit, and we become one, united, in unison with God. Southern Baptist theologian William Hendricks would call this experience of being Spirit-filled “personality enhancement.” God takes us with all our unique strengths and weaknesses, gifts and talents, triumphs and tragedies and empowers us to live, serve and witness to the risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is all about a relationship that has so transformed our lives that it transcends all other loyalties in our lives. We will be true and faithful to Jesus Christ in every situation and never think of betraying Him in any circumstance.

When a Christian knows the Lord in this manner, he or she is free to share their experience in Christ and the truth of that relationship and to leave the results to the Lord. We can trust God to win people to salvation in Christ as we are faithful to witness to what we know of God in Christ. Paul reminds us that we are to be faithful to plant the seed of the gospel in people’s lives, let others be used to water that truth and we can trust that God will make it grow (1 Cor. 3:6). The power to be witnesses for God comes from the personal relationship we enjoy and cultivate with Christ, growing closer in the bonds of love, affection and service with our Lord. The more we are loyal to Him through whatever comes our way in life, the more the resurrected Lord stands with us and empowers us to witness for Him.