Spiritual Life

1. Be Filled with the Holy Spirit 3
WORSHIP
Suggested Worship Songs:
Great God, Your Love is Beautiful, Shout to the Lord, From the Inside Out, How Great is Our God
WELCOME
Have you? Last year, how many people have you shared the gospel to?
WORD
Acts 1:8
“…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Acts 1:8 records the last commandment of Jesus to
His disciples before He was taken up to heaven. He
will surely come back for us. But while waiting for
His return, He commanded us to be His witnesses.
To be a witness is to attest to a fact and furnish
evidence based on personal experience and
knowledge of the event. The Greek word for
‘witness’ also means ‘martyr’. This tells us that
witnesses are to be faithful to the truth even to the
point of death.
When you witness for Christ, you tell about your
personal experience with Jesus. Because it is
something true in your own life, nobody can
actually argue with it. But you need power as well
as a clear purpose to do that. Remember, the power
of the Holy Spirit enables you to get out of your
comfort zone to do God’s will in your life. But it is
never meant for the sake of exhibition.
Filled and Empowered
You will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to
experience the following as you witness for Jesus:
Boldness (Acts 4:31). You can readily speak the
Word of God when you are Spirit-filled. If the love
of money fills you, you will talk about money all the
time. But if it is your love for Jesus that fills you,
unstoppably you will speak about Him to others.
Wisdom (Acts 6:10). With a prayerful heart, you
will have the wisdom and knowledge how to
witness, in the same way that Stephen was filled
with the Holy Spirit and knew the way to witness
for Christ.
Faith (Acts 11:24). When you witness for Jesus in
the power of the Holy Spirit, you become more
effective. It doesn’t mean though that every time
you share the gospel, people will believe, but that
the power of the Holy Spirit keeps you faithful.
Joy (Acts 13: 52). The early Christians were
persecuted but they were continually filled with joy
and the Holy Spirit. Joy is one of the evidences of
the Spirit-filled life. You become predictably joyful
in the Lord, whatever the circumstances. If you are
always griping and complaining, then you may
rather not talk about the Lord, for your words will
only be disgraceful.
Empowered to Witness
You need the power of the Holy Spirit to be a
witness in your relationships especially at home
and in the workplace (Ephesians 5:22-6:9). In all
the relationships mentioned in the passage, the
common denominator is doing everything in the
Lord. Without the power from the Holy Spirit, it is
hard to obey God’s will in our relationships.
The Spirit of God will transform us into the likeness
of Christ from glory to glory. To be like Jesus means
more than character transformation. It is also to
like what Jesus likes, and hate what Jesus hates. His
mission becomes your mission and His passion
your passion. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
Your passion then is to help people come to Jesus.
The more you are like Christ, the more you like to
do what He wants you to do. Matthew 28:18-20
tells us that to really be a disciple of Jesus, you have
to disciple others as well.
Why do we need the Holy Spirit
When you become a child of God, the Holy Spirit
opens the veil of your blindness and changes your
worldly perspective. That new perspective will
change your values, and then your values will
February 02, 2015
Vol. 15, No. 5

2. WORD(cont’d)
change your priorities which will also change your
behavior.
You behave based on your priorities. Wrong
behavior is the result of wrong priorities which
comes from wrong values originating from a wrong
perspective. So don’t waste your time focusing on
changing a person’s behavior. Behavior naturally
follows a chain which is rooted back from a
person’s perspective. Instead, go back to the belief
system of the person. When perspective is changed
by the Holy Spirit, the rest will follow.
Changes in life begin in one’s perspective anchored
on the work of the Holy Spirit.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit, however does not
mean you will not encounter problems (Acts 5:17-
18). If you are put in jail and persecuted for the
gospel, will you give up doing it again or will you
continue? When you are filled with the Spirit of
God, you will have the power to do God’s will
regardless of consequences because you know that
you are serving God not men (Acts 5: 29).
If you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Master,
serving Him becomes a delight not a duty, and to
suffer for Him is not a loss but a privilege and
honor. You can rest in the confidence that the Holy
Spirit will give you the power you need to be a
witness for Jesus.
Discussion Questions:
(Leaders: Please choose questions that are appropriate to the level of spiritual maturity of your members)
1. I Witness. What is the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit according to Acts 1:8? Do people see this
evidence in your life? Why or why not?
2. Duty or Delight. Why you do what you do for the Lord? How does it affect your behavior?
3. Every Disciple Disciples. Why do you disciple others? Why aren’t you? Based on a Godly perspective about
disciple-making, what will you do or not do this year?
WORKS
His Passion is Mine
You make time according to what is important to
you. For example, if you do not believe in the
leadership training, it will not be your priority,
therefore you will not make time to attend.
If Dgroup meeting is not important to you, it is just
okay for you to miss it in your calendar, or to set
another appointment on the same schedule.
Examine your priorities today. Go back to the roots
of what you believe in this diagram:
Weekly Prayer Points
I. Thanksgiving
• Worship God for who He is, what He has
done, and what He will do in our lives
II. Country and the World
• Upright and moral governance of Public
Servants and a God-centered Philippines
• Repentance and Salvation
III. Church
• That CCF Members would honor and love God
and make disciples
• Elders, Pastors, Leaders, and Families
• Ministries and Churches worldwide
IV. CCF Facilities
• New Worship and Training Center
• Prayer Mountain
V. Personal Concerns
• Deeper intimate relationship with God
• Righteous living
• Salvation of family and friends