THE PROMISE (1:8)<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.\u201d (Acts 1:8)<\/p>\n
When General Marshall became Chief-of-Staff to the US Army on the first day of World War Two, it consisted of only 174,000 poorly equipped soldiers. Five years later, he had turned it into the greatest army the world had ever seen, a mighty force of over eight million men which defeated the empires of Germany and Japan. Winston Churchill hailed Marshall as the \u201corganiser of victory,\u201d and declared that he had paved the way to triumph through his consummate brilliance as a strategist and trainer of men.<\/p>\n
Luke wants to get one thing straight, right at the start of the book of Acts: the success of the Early Church was not down to any first-century equivalent of General Marshall. Their leader, Peter, took twelve years to realise he was even meant to take the Gospel to the Gentiles at all. When he did, he still needed to be rebuked to his face over his methods, \u201cbecause he was clearly in the wrong.\u201d Paul, who rebuked him, was himself so lacking in the skills possessed by General Marshall that his critics in the church at Corinth complained that \u201che is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.\u201d We are so used to viewing the early apostles as superstars on a pedestal that we can easily forget that they were pitifully inadequate for the task which they were given. Jesus told them not even to try to fulfil his Great Commission until they had first received \u201cthe promise of the Father.\u201d Only that promise could turn this little band of zeroes into Christ\u2019s world-conquering heroes.<\/p>\n
Not just a promise. The promise. The Old Testament contains eight thousand promises from God \u2013 one promise for every three verses \u2013 yet three times Luke tells us that one promise so encapsulates all the others that it can simply be called \u201cthe promise of the Father.\u201d It was the promise which Jesus said would result in believers being \u201cclothed with power from on high.\u201d It was the promise which was so indispensable that they must wait in Jerusalem and not try to start without it. It was the promise that God would baptise his People with his Holy Spirit \u2013 that he would come and live inside of them and carry them to victory through his own indwelling power.<\/p>\n
The hundred and twenty disciples knew what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They knew the story of Samson, who fought an entire Philistine army on his own when \u201cthe Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power.\u201d He was an ordinary man, but when he was filled with the Holy Spirit he was more than a match for a thousand of his enemies. They also knew the prophecies of Isaiah, that when God\u2019s New Covenant People were filled with the Holy Spirit then \u201cthe least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation.\u201d They knew the book of Ezekiel, where the breath of the Holy Spirit turned a valley of old bones into a mighty army. They also knew the prophecy of John the Baptist that \u201cI baptise you with water for repentance. But after me \u2026 [Jesus] will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.\u201d The hundred and twenty had very little going for them in terms of natural gifting, but at least they had one thing in their favour: they knew the value of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and they waited and prayed until it was given.<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit would enable them to be Christ\u2019s witnesses. Not just do his witnessing, but be his witnesses. He would transform their lifestyles from the inside out, so that they would bear the fruit of the Spirit. He would fill their hearts with love for one another, so that Paul could tell a church that he loved every single one of them because he was filled \u201cwith the affection of Christ Jesus.\u201d The Christians would be so transformed by their baptism in the Spirit that their Gospel-message would become irresistibly attractive to the unsaved world.<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit would turn them into Christ\u2019s fearless witnesses. This persecuted religious sect, led by a man who had denied Jesus three times in the face of hostile questioning, would bear bold and fiery witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Saviour. They would not be head-down, hope-they-don\u2019t-notice Christians who practised their religion in private and kept it to themselves in public. They would be bold and unstoppable, as Michael Green comments in his excellent book, \u2018Evangelism in the Early Church\u2019: \u201cNeither the strategy nor the tactics of the first Christians were particularly remarkable. What was remarkable was their conviction, their passion, and their determination to act as Christ\u2019s embassy to a rebel world whatever the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
They would not simply be witnesses, but witnesses with power. Like any good witness in court, they would come armed with a wealth of supporting evidence. \u2018Exhibit A\u2019 would be their spiritual gifts, such as prophecy, tongues and words of knowledge. \u2018Exhibit B\u2019 would be their ability to heal the sick and drive out demons. \u2018Exhibit C\u2019 would be their authority to issue blessings and curses through the power of Jesus\u2019 name. By the time these powerful witnesses had finished their testimony, they would be so feared and respected that large crowds of non-Christian onlookers would repent, be saved and join them in their mission.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, this begins to make sense of the phenomenal success of early Christianity in the absence of any first-century General Marshall. They didn\u2019t need one because they were baptised with God\u2019s Holy Spirit, and their success was simply the result of him coming to dwell inside them. When God filled Samson with his Holy Spirit, he conquered a mighty army; when God filled the Early Church with his Holy Spirit, they conquered the world.<\/p>\n
And so the hundred and twenty gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem, and they prayed and waited. They waited because Jesus told them to. They waited because they knew there was no point in starting until the Holy Spirit came. They waited because they had grasped the secret of God\u2019s promise of indwelling power.<\/p>\n
We, on the other hand, would rather not wait. We would rather look to a Christian celebrity or the latest Christian paperback as a catch-all solution for the problems that we face. Some churches have split over the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Others have accepted that they need it, but crowded it out under mountains of liturgy, activity, busyness and distraction. The call to be baptised in the Holy Spirit is a call to die to our own strength and wait. It\u2019s very easy, but also very difficult.<\/p>\n
Without the Holy Spirit, we can be busy for God but we cannot be successful. He has given us his plan, and he refuses to fulfil it any other way. The Church has only ever marched to victory through God filling her ordinary foot-soldiers with his own extraordinary Holy Spirit. She has always floundered when she neglected this call. Jesus still makes this promise \u2013 the promise \u2013 to us today: \u201cYou will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses \u2026 to the ends of the earth.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today we conclude this series of guest posts from Phil Moore\u2019s excellent new series of Straight to the Heart books. They will be available at Together On a Mission which begins tomorrow. We conclude in Acts with a precious promise of power for ministry: THE PROMISE (1:8) \u201cBut you will receive power when the Holy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[541,562],"class_list":["post-9124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","tag-books","tag-prophecy"],"yoast_head":"\n
GUEST POST - Power for Mission<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today we conclude this series of guest posts from Phil Moore's excellent new series of Straight to the Heart books. They will be available at Together On\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GUEST POST - Power for Mission\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today we conclude this series of guest posts from Phil Moore's excellent new series of Straight to the Heart books. They will be available at Together On\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-05T17:18:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-28T16:37:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adrianwarnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/\",\"name\":\"GUEST POST - Power for Mission\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-05T17:18:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-28T16:37:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\"},\"description\":\"Today we conclude this series of guest posts from Phil Moore's excellent new series of Straight to the Heart books. They will be available at Together On\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GUEST POST – Power for Mission\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"description\":\"Patheos Evangelical\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adrian Warnock\"},\"description\":\"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GUEST POST - Power for Mission","description":"Today we conclude this series of guest posts from Phil Moore's excellent new series of Straight to the Heart books. They will be available at Together On","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GUEST POST - Power for Mission","og_description":"Today we conclude this series of guest posts from Phil Moore's excellent new series of Straight to the Heart books. They will be available at Together On","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/","og_site_name":"Adrian Warnock","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","article_published_time":"2010-07-05T17:18:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-01-28T16:37:02+00:00","author":"Adrian Warnock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adrianwarnock","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adrian Warnock","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/","name":"GUEST POST - Power for Mission","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-07-05T17:18:11+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-28T16:37:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa"},"description":"Today we conclude this series of guest posts from Phil Moore's excellent new series of Straight to the Heart books. They will be available at Together On","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2010\/07\/guest-post-power-for-mission\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GUEST POST – Power for Mission"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/","name":"Adrian Warnock","description":"Patheos Evangelical","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa","name":"Adrian Warnock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Adrian Warnock"},"description":"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}