Spirit Power

Today we hear a lot about being politically correct.

Question:  Can Christians be politically correct and still be faithful to the Truth?

I think not, being politically correct is a violation of truth.

For instance the statement – "everything is relevant, there is no truth," is not biblical.  Some people teach that whatever you think is true, is true for you and whatever I think is true, is true for me.  So whatever you believe is true I have to agree with it even if I know it isn’t true.  If I don’t agree with you I will offend you and be a bigot.  If you say that abortion, homosexuality, porn and adultery, the list goes on and on, are fine I have to agree with it or I am close-minded, homophobic and a bigot.  Not so, there is Truth and it has to be proclaimed.  These tactics are being used to shut Christians up and in many cases it seems to be working.  If we are politically correct we will only speak the words of man and not the true words of God.

Listen to Jesus' words, “I am the way the truth and the life no man can come to the Father except through me!”  Check out John 14:6.  He also said of the Holy Spirit, “When the Spirit of truth comes He will guide you into all truth.  He will not be presenting His own ideas He will be telling you what He has heard.  He will tell you about the future.  He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever He receives from me!”  Check out John 16:13,14.

Christian believers have to speak the truth in love and trust the Lord to do the penetrating of the mind and to bring forth fruit.

When I was a young boy many of the things you hear about today were not talked about openly.  It’s not like these things didn’t take place but if someone heard about these things taking place in a family it would be hushed up, hidden so to speak.  Family members would have been ashamed and embarrassed to even mention such things about their families.  They would have been considered skeletons in the closet, locked up tight.  Today it seems the closets are empty of skeletons and anything goes.  

Here is the problem I see and it has been going on for awhile now, the closets seem to be filling up with believers that are afraid to witness and stand up for the Truth.  Many believers are retreating into their closets, so to speak, hiding behind closed doors.  In saying this I am not trying to say I am a super saint, far from it.  I experience some of the same fears that many others believers have.  I am condemning no one, my purpose is to encourage you.  Peter had this same problem at times and so did the other disciples.

Remember just before Jesus was going to be crucified, how Peter and all the other disciples said that they would die with Him.  In Mathew 26:35 it says, “But Peter declared even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.  And all the other disciples said the same.”  If you know anything about the crucifixion you know that Peter denied the Lord and all His disciples did also by running away.

Idle words have a way of catching up with you. 

What was their problem, didn’t they believe that Jesus was the Messiah the Son of God?  It says in Mathew 16:15-17 Jesus speaking, “But what about you, he asked, who do you say I am?  Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ the Son of the living God!’  Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in Heaven.”  Then in verse 20 it says, “Then he warned His disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.”  If they all believed that Jesus was the Son of God, what was their problem?

They needed something they didn’t have at that time.  They needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Isn’t that what John the Baptist said Jesus would do?  He said John speaking, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come one who is more powerful than I whose sandals I am not fit to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Check it out in Matthew 3:11 in the N.I.V. Bible.

Jesus said this in Acts 1: verses 4,5, “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit!” He also said in verse 8, “But 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.”  Tarry they did and what Jesus said would take place happened.  Praise the Lord.  I know many people will say that when we are born again Jesus comes in, in the form of the Holy Spirit and that is true.  The Bible says that our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

This seems to be a different experience.  Jesus said you will receive power when Holy Spirit comes on you, plus they spoke in other tongues.  I believe each of us needs this today so that we will have the same empowerment to witness.  I know not everyone will agree with this but I am not writing this to argue with anyone.  Let’s just agree to disagree and still love one another, that will glorify God.

Peter seemed to be a different person after he was baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Instead of retreating and running scared in the mist of persecution he stood his ground.  His first sermon could have cost him heavy persecution, maybe even stoning, but with the Holy Spirit’s power Peter stood his ground even reminding the people that they had killed Jesus, their Messiah, and about 3,000 people were added to the church, check out Acts chapter 2.  

In Acts chapter 3 Peter and John heal a crippled beggar through the power of Jesus, which was truly a miracle.  Then Peter went into the Temple and preached another sermon and told the people that they had killed the author of life telling them that they did it in ignorance and many were added to the church, the total altogether was about 5,000 men, plus woman and children.

They were arrested and put in jail still they had no fear, in fact they were very bold.  In Acts 4:11–13 it says, “Jesus is the one referred to in the scriptures where it says the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.  There is salvation in no one else, there is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.  The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John for they could see that they were ordinary men who had had no special training, they also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”  

Acts 4:16-22 says, “What should we do to these men, they asked each other, we can’t deny they have done a miraculous sign and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it, but perhaps we can stop them from spreading their propaganda.  We’ll warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.  So they called the apostles back in and told them to never, never again speak about Jesus.  But Peter and John replied, ‘Do you think God wants us to obey Him?  We cannot stop telling about the wonderful things we have seen and heard.’  The council then threatened them further but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot, for everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign, for the healing of a man that had been lame for more than 40 years.”

So, if you compare Peter’s life before he was baptized in the Holy Spirit when he seemed to be wishy washy and scared, to what he was like after he was baptized in the Holy Spirit filled with power and being very bold, I think you can figure out what made the difference, it was the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  So if you think you need more power, you need to pray and ask the Lord to baptize you with His precious Holy Spirit so that you can be bold witnesses for Him.  What he had done for Peter and the rest of the disciples He can do for you. 

God bless you have a great day!

P.S.  Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!