Authentic Mission will be empowered by the Holy Spirit

A person can be Incarnational but not be empowered by the Holy Spirit. So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.( Zech 4.6)

So it is with the mission of God . At Jesus’ baptism before his ministry started Marks writes that :

'And immediately, coming up from[a] the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove'.(1.10)
Later Jesus was to declare that the Spirit of the Lord God was upon him because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor’ (Lk. 4.18-19) When he was full of the Holy Spirit Luke records that he was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil then he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.

During his ministry he told the people that ‘But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.(Matt 12.28)
It has been said thst 99% of the work of the Church would carry on without the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Do you think that is true? How much do we do in the Church which is not Spirit empowered. Need it be so? Of course not. After Jesus’ resurrection he told his disciples to Luke 24:49 )
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
IN Acts 1.4-5 Jesus says to them:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Should we have the Baptism of the Spirit or be Spirit Filled. It is better to be filled with the Spirit today than Baptised in the Spirit Last week or last Year or Last decade. I believe what is important is that we are continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
· In the Lords prayer which is very much a missionary prayer Jesus tells us to pray that his will would be done and his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
· To pray this is essentially to pray for His rule and reign in our own lives, in the Church and in the world. This can not be done without expecting the Holy Spirit to fill us to the uttermost. Again Jesus told us to drink of him that out of our bellies would flow rivers of living water. In some early versions of the Lord's prayer it read ' Thy Spirit come' as opposed to 'Thy Kingdom come'. Yet if the Kingdom is the reign of God they would still mean the same thing.
· It must become a daily prayer.
· D.L. Moody who was asked why he always asked God to fill him with the Holy Spirit. He said because he leaked. We all leak.
· We can’t be satisfied with experiencing the Holy Spirit ten years ago, or five or one. We need to hunger and thirst for God today.
· Corporately and individually we need the power of the Holy Spirit to reach the world. William Booth another evangelist whose passion was to reach the world wrote this amazing hymn.
SEND THE FIRE
O God of burning, cleansing flame, Send the fire
Your blood - bought gift today we claim, Send the fire today
God of Elijah, hear our cry, Send the fire
And make us fit to live or die, send the fire today
To burn up every trace of sin, to bring the light and glory in
The revolution now begins, Send the fire today
It's fire we want, for fire we plead, Send the fire
The fire will meet our every need, Send the fire today
Give us strength to always do what's right,
And grace to conquer in the fight
for power to walk this world in white, Send the fire today
Look down and see this waiting host
And send the promised Holy Ghost
We need another Pentecost, Send the fire today
To make our weak hearts strong and brave, Send the fire
To live a dying world to save, Send the fire
Lord, we're here tonight and we're on Your alter, Send the fire
We give our lives to You today, Send the fire
Send the fire today!