Basic HTML Version
resources-the dormant powers
within
your mind. Modern religions
are springing up calling that sleep–
ing, dormant, latent
part
of your
mind "Goo"! But the Holy Spirit is
something you have
not had-some–
thing you must RECEIVE from Goo!
Something infinitely greater and
more POWERFUL than any powers
within
you-something from the
great God who
created
vou-who
created the entire vast universe and
all that exists!
lt
is the essence-the very
/ife–
the NATURE of God. But it also is
something from God, which He
gives
you
from
Himself, which is actually
a
part
of Himself-and which IM–
PARTS POWER!
Do you know
what
that power
is?
Has
that
POWER come into you, so
that you can
wield
it?
You, as a professing Christian,
may have come to realize, to see, to
comprehend, many of these things–
to have accepted them- but is this
POWER actually being manifested in
your
life? Are you
sure
you know
WHAT that power
is?
What ls This
~trange
Power?
First, let me tell you what this power
is NOT.
lt
is
not
an emotion physically
worked up through the senses.
It
is
not
something that
you
can generate,
or work up, yourself.
1t
is
not
falling over backward
"under
the power." lt is
not
being
robbed
of all power, as sorne people
who have accepted the counterfe it
emotional
religion are, while
"under
the power."
lt
is
not
something that makes
people shout, shriek, jerk, laugh in–
sanely ¡lnd uncontrollably, or go
through ridiculous and childish an–
tics in a meeting where the preacher
generales
a fake, fal se "power" anda
counterfeit spirit by constantly call–
ing for loud emotional responses of
"Hallelujah!" " Praise the Lord!"
"Amen!" etc., in response to his oft–
repeated: "All who believe it say
'AMEN'!" etc., etc.
To know what it truly is, look into
your Bible!
Jesus is our example, and we find
this POWER first of all in His life.
It
was nothing physically inherent
The
PLAIN
TRUTH
September 1979
within Him. He said: "1 can of
mine
own self
do NOTHING" (John 5:30).
But, He said, "the Father that
dwel–
leth in me,
he doeth the works" (John
14:10).
The Father dwelt IN Jesus by the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit im–
pa r ted POWER. What WAS that
power?
The inspired Peter, bringing salva–
tion to the Gentiles for the first time,
explained: "God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
with POWER: who went about
doing
good. and hea/ing
ali that were op–
pressed of the devil; for
God was with
him"
{Acts 10:38).
Notice, that POWER
in
Jesus did
none of those things that are done
today by the very ones who most
loudly profess to have the power of
the Holy Spirit. He used that power,
going about quietly, unobtrusively,
not shouting, bragging, falling help–
less "under the power," or any of
those "wi1dfire" things- but DOING!
Yes, His was a life of OOING-but
doing
what?
Doing GOOo! Serving,
helping, OTHER PEOPLE! There was
divine
power-with it He performed
MIRACLES-He HEALEO aiJ that were
sick-He cast out demons, and had
discernment to
know
when a person
was demon-possessed.
His was the POWER of the Creator
Goo! The
very same
POWER that
produced all creation- when "He
spake"! God is a
miracle-working
God!
With that POWER, which carne
from the Father, and was
in
Jesus,
He stilled the storm, He turned water
into wine, He fed five thousand with
only five loaves and two fisbes!
The Power of the True Church!
Now notice that POWER in the origi–
nal Church, before the apostasy set
in, and before the degeneracy of our
da
y.
Soon after being filled with that
power from God, Peter and John
went up together into the temple at
Jerusalem, at the 3:00 p.m. hour of
prayer. They entered through the
gatecalled "Beautiful." At thegatea
beggar, crippled from birth, asked
for money.
"Look on us," said Peter. "Silver
and gold have l none; but
such as 1
have
give
I
thee: In the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth rise up and
walk"!
Grasping the beggar's right hand
in perfect faith, Peter lifted him
sharply to his feet. The beggar was
healed instantly. He
/eaped
up, and
then walked with Peter and John into
the temple, leaping as he went,
shouting out praises to God (Acts
3: 1-8).
Jesus, powerless of His own
hu–
man selj,
was filled with the divine
POWER of the Creator. The very su–
pernatural power of God did the
WORK OF Goo through His human
BOOY. Jesus said, "The works that
1
do in the Father's name, they bear
witness of me" (John 10:25) . And
again,
"If
1
do
not
the works of my
Father, believe me not. But if
1
do ... believe the works:
that ye may
know,
and believe, that the Father is
in me, and
1
in him" (John 10:37-
38).
Today that
same
Spirit- that
SAME SUPERNATURAL
power- uti–
lizes the
collective body
of the true
Church of God as God's human in–
strumentality, through which God
accomplishes HIS WoRK here on
earth. In that way the true CHURCH
is also tbe BODY OF CHRIST
(1
Cor.
12:27).
And Jesus said: "Verily, verily, 1
say unto you, He that believeth on
me, the works that 1 do
sha/1 he do
also;
and greater works than these
shall he do ... " (John 14:12).
That same POWER of God was in
Peter and John.
It
did the WORK OF
Goo in proclaiming Christ's gospel.
God' s Power in Actlon!
The miraculous healing of the beggar
aroused the antagonism of the priests
and Sadducees until they seized Pe–
ter and John and threw them into
prison for the night. The next day,
these religious leaders threatened
them, commanded them not to speak
at all nor teach in the name of Jesus,
and let them go.
Then these
true
Christians went
immediately to their own group of
believers. And here is a point 1 want
you to get. They were human. They
had none of t·his power inherent with–
in themselves. They, themselves,
were not the
source
of this dynamic
power. lt had come from God.
27