Greetings, Beloved of the Lord, and may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit as you seek to live your life for Him.  I gave everyone a little homework assignment last week which was to read at least one of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, focusing on the behavior and actions of the disciples, and then read the Book of Acts to see how all of that changed once the Holy Spirit came to indwell their lives.  I hope some of you took the challenge, because if you did I believe some things were revealed to you about what the Spirit-filled life is all about.  

As believers we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 5:18.  If you look at Acts Chapter 2, you will find that those gathered together in the upper room were filled with the Holy Spirit and they were never the same again.  This was the beginnings of the "Church."  All through the Book of Acts you can read the accounts of how the Father used ordinary people, filled with the Spirit, to do extra-ordinary things and I believe He yearns to do the same today.  But I feel, in many ways, we have missed it. That is one of the reasons I have felt led to do a series of messages on the Holy Spirit. 

If you were here last week, you are aware of what all you have been given when you received the Holy Spirit.  Most professing Christians don't understand what living the Spirit-filled life is all about.  Simply put, it means living your life consistently under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  Most people aren't even aware the Holy Spirit indwells their being.  I think, in many ways, we have made a mockery of being filled with the Holy Spirit.  When you read the Book of Acts, you see the followers of Christ not only doing miracles, but really being the witnesses Christ said they would be once they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  That is what He wants you and me to be - His witnesses.  

As you read the Book of Acts, you can see the appointments God set and how spirit-filled men and women were used mightily to bring others into a relationship with Christ, as well as doing some miracles along the way.  I praise God for the people he ordained to cross paths with me and share His love with me resulting in my salvation.  In the Book of Acts it says that people were being added to the church daily, which means those 120 people came down from the upper room they had gathered in and were used mightily to touch others with the kingdom of God .  The call is the same for you and me, Beloved.  Are you up for it?  Are you bold enough to ask the Lord to fill you with the Holy Spirit so you have the power to be the witness He has called you to be? 
 
May we be His Witnesses Beloved
In Christ
Jim Norwood