The Power of the Church

“Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”  Acts 1:4-8
                       
As long as the early New Testament church was persecuted and not accepted by the government or the leading religion of the time; she experienced a dynamic, supernatural expression of the power of God. Lives were drastically changed and people were drawn and compelled to follow Christ as they became aware of the powerful conviction of their sin and the full forgiveness available in the shed blood of the Savior, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

The book of Acts is one of the most exciting, action-filled books in the whole Bible. The record of the early church leaves us with a hunger to know the power of God in our churches today - and causes us to wonder why our experience is not the same as that of those first-century believers. In fact, due to the availability of some of the greatest teaching and preaching the church has ever known - why are many church fellowships devoid of any evident power of God?

A possible answer to that question can be found in the answer to another question - “What is the focus of your church?” Is the focus squarely set upon meeting God on His grounds and conforming your lives to His revealed Word - or is there a move to attempt to conform your view of God to fit an empty godless lifestyle?

The church that compromises truth today will compromise morals tomorrow.