Empowered for a Purpose

This powerful message takes us back to the birth of the church in Acts 2, where Peter explains the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the culmination of God's entire redemptive plan. We discover that everything from creation, through the fall, to the cross, was orchestrated so that God could not just save us from sin, but actually come to live inside us. The sermon challenges us to see that salvation is more than just asking Jesus into our hearts—it's about the old self dying and a completely new person being born into God's kingdom. We're reminded that Jesus didn't operate on earth as God, but as a man filled with the Holy Spirit, setting the pattern for how we're meant to live. The Holy Spirit isn't given in portions or measures; all of Him dwells in all of us who believe. This means there's no sin we can't overcome, no prayer too difficult to pray, and no person we should fear witnessing to. The message confronts our American tendency to get so consumed with worldly pursuits that we never truly experience kingdom life. We're called to recognize that we've been clothed with power, given the mind of Christ, and equipped with everything needed to demonstrate God's love and power to a hurting world. The only thing wrong with the world is that people need Jesus—and we've been anointed to bring Him to them.