HOLY SPIRIT POWER LIKE A POWERFUL MUSCLE CAR!

 

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19.

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. I’ve decided to forego, because of lack of interest, my “Evangelism Questions” series I was going to do. I laugh with my wife at my usually “un-viral videos" . . . but the Evangelism Questions series were especially un-viral. I do look at the number of views of each of my videos, but I don’t think I’m obsessed about it . . . at least not yet! (Note: I’m only joking. I realize that videos about soulwinning isn’t on the radar of most people as “must-see TV”.)
     I’m going to aim my focus again on power for evangelism. Today’s title is “Holy Spirit Power Like a Powerful Muscle Car!” During research for my recent website posts I found out that the word “power” is mentioned 385 times in the Bible, and 121 times in the New Testament alone I am astonished that not more attention is given to the topic of Holy Spirit power for evangelism.
     There has been over my forty-four years of Christianity a lot of talk about “the power of prayer”, “the power of happiness”, and even “the power to get wealth”. There are many books about the Holy Spirit. But I have never seen a focused sermon, book, or video about Holy Spirit power for evangelism. I’m not saying they don’t exist. I’m just saying that in my over forty years of Christianity I haven’t seen any.
     I looked today and John Wimber in the mid 1980’s wrote a book entitled “Power Evangelism”. It was about the signs and wonders that accompanied the apostles in the Book of Acts, and how we can today engage the Holy Spirit to gain that same power, accompanied by signs and wonders that will lead to evangelizing others. I don’t want to minimize signs and wonders that will likely accompany the power of the Holy Spirit. But I first want to focus on some of the basics, and the first one is to understand and embrace that the power is real.
     I want to focus more on why Jesus and His apostles so many times used the term power associated with the Holy Spirit. And why they repeatedly stressed so many times in their speech and writings the power that lives inside each believer. Also, the fact that we rarely talk about that power, rarely feel that power, and rarely acknowledge that the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives even exists. Most of us, myself included, don’t feel very powerful in our Christian lives.
     A lot of preachers and teachers get up in front of their congregations and speak their message loudly and forcefully. They try to exude confidence that what they say is very powerful, and worth hearing. I can understand where they're coming from. After all, in these videos I'm trying to use confidence, and share with a degree of power words that are worth hearing. But I’m not talking about forceful and convincing messages, and even videos. I pray that God will take care of that in each of us at the appropriate times.
     I’m talking more about an inner strength that the Holy Spirit gives, that most times has a quiet power about it. It’s the kind of power that hums quietly like the powerful engine of a muscle car, that can come to life at any time when the driver pushes the accelerator pedal. It allows the driver to get to the destination with a slow steady pace, or a powerful fast pace, depending on the need at the time.
     I’m asserting that you and I as Christians are just like that powerful muscle car. Our engine was overhauled by God when we came to Christ. Before Christ we were like a 1970 Ford Mustang with a V-6 engine. I’m using that example because a 1970 candy apple red Mustang was my dream car that I desperately wanted at the age of eighteen. It was a plain Mustang with very little real power, but it was very nice looking. My Dad, however, had to sign for me to get a loan for the car, and he quickly put an end to my dream. He wanted me, at my young age, to get a bigger, safer car, which I ended up doing.

     But if I took that beautiful candy apple red Mustang and had it overhauled with a 428 cubic inch Cobra Jet engine, adjusted the suspension and some other parts of the car, it would have turned into a true muscle car, much like a 1970 Ford Mach 1.

     This is like us after we are overhauled by God. We turn from a plain 1970 candy apple red Mustang, which looks nice on the outside, but has very little real power . . . to a 1970 Ford Mach 1 muscle car. We just need to learn how to harness that raw power to reach the destinations God has for us. One of those destinations He wants us to go to is to a place of telling others about Jesus.

See you next time,
Arlen