Clothed with Power [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. And I picked him up on Thursday night from the hotel, and we're driving to church to come have a night to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit who is going to be in our midst.

And somebody pulls around zigzagging on the highway going about 90 miles an hour and almost clipped the front of my car. And I was feeling a whole lot of things, but none of them with love. It's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Higher Power as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout our entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org.

Or call 877-544-4860, 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Okay, are you ready for some good news? Every good gift, every great challenge of the Christian life, all of it is to be lived by also the gift of God's own power. Everything that he's invited you into, every blessing and every challenge, he provides the power for it. I want to talk to you about higher power, a phrase that AA made popular, but really describes the sense of power from on high.

And we're going to start today and we're going to go all the way through the Christmas season talking about the Spirit-filled life and what it means to live empowered by the Holy Spirit. You know, the, the little chill and the air and Anne and I got talking about the inevitable coming of winter and somehow our conversation turned to the inevitable power outages. This seemed like in our neighborhood, we've had more than our fair share recently, you know, and isn't it funny, like when you know, there's some power outages that you just all of a sudden, you're just like, first thing on your mind is, do I have power? You pull into your neighborhood and you're looking at, are the stop lights working? Are the street lights working?

And then you come up and you start looking at the other houses around yours and pull in the neighborhood. Do we got power? You got power. And I remember last year, one time we came pulling into the neighborhood and we saw that the other houses seem to have lights on. I was like, yes, we got power. And we got to the house and we didn't have power. And I realized it's because my neighbors got generators.

More and more people are getting them. My wife, she said, and then we talked about it. She says, I want to get a generator. You know, they range from, you know, and get simple ones that can run like a refrigerator to get these whole house systems. I mean, you've got some of those posh whole house systems that seamlessly just turn on as soon as the power goes out.

I got some friends that got those nice ones. And so when people are experiencing outages, they're just walking around smugly, you know, I was like, I told one of my friends recently when the power was out and he has one of those systems, I said, you were just hoping the power would go out, weren't you? Just so you could have yours automatically cut on and watch a movie on your 70 inch screen and open the freezer as many times as you want to get out snacks during the power outages. We got to talk about the generator, you know, and the idea of a generator is something that is, the idea is it's generating power, but see it's not. In fact, you got to take gas or whatever, natural gas and put it into the generator and then it produces electricity. It's not generating power.

It is translating power into a different stream of power. And so what, where did the, where does it come from? Well, if you put gas in it, where'd that come from? Fossil fuel, where'd that come from? The sun. I mean, I understand physics, but basically all this energy came from the sun. Where did the sun get its energy? So what we believe is that in the beginning there was a divine creator who is himself generating of his own being power who said, let there be light.

That's what I believe. And that then suddenly light 106, 86,000 miles a second starts penetrating the darkness as the spirit of God is brooding over the chaos of the deep and bringing order where there was disorder that there is a power source to the cosmos, but no science could ever figure it out. And we believe God is that source of power. And when you start thinking about the power of God and reading the scriptures, you will see that everywhere in the scripture, the promise is that you will have power from God.

Let's start today. As we get into this series in Luke chapter 24, where the disciples are overjoyed that Jesus has appeared to them after the resurrection, but they are having a hard time believing. He allows them to touch him and then he makes this incredible promise to them.

So it's Luke 24 verse 40. And when he'd said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it almost a little humor from Jesus there.

Like, you know, I just want to show you how real I am. Let me have a piece of fish from the fishermen. And then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things and behold, I'm sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. So we're going to focus in on that verse. I'm sending the promise of my father.

Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Think about this. The disciples had been with Jesus for three years, almost 24 seven.

And you just got to, you got to wrap your mind around this. They had been literally physically with the savior of the world, with God in the flesh for three years. They witnessed all of his miracles. Everybody that he healed, every demon he cast out, saw him raise the dead.

They watched miracles when crowds that were hungry had no food and suddenly there was food. They watched him walk on water. They heard him calm hurricane force winds by a word. They heard every one of his teachings, precious teachings, infinite wisdom pouring from his mouth. They saw how he handled adversity. And then they had seen the fulfillment of scripture that he would be crucified. And now he was in their midst raised from the dead. He he was there. They said, here, touch me.

Watch me eat a piece of fish. It's really it is I. They were they were in the presence of the resurrected Lord Jesus. Three years with them, seen all the miracles, heard all the teaching and witnessed firsthand the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And they're with him.

And they are now chomping at the bit to go tell the world about this. And he said, don't don't try to do any of the Christian life until you are clothed with power. If there was anybody who had ever been qualified to begin Christian ministry, it was those disciples, right? I mean, I went to seminary for three years, and I'm tell you, it didn't feel like I was on a walk with Jesus for three years while I was there. I mean, there were days I'm like, what are we even talking about here? You know, higher criticism and this and that.

And, you know, and all the social issues. I mean, I was just like and they had been with him and they had seen it all. They even had moments where Jesus had shared his authority with them and they'd already tasted what it was like. And he said, wait in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high. Do not try to do any of the Christian life by your own power, even though you've been with me for three steady years. Wow.

That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife and lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace.

You'll learn a simple, graceful process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith filled vision for the future to help you grow.

When you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. If you read the Bible just plainly and you see the description of the Christian life and you see what we're called to in the Christian life, then it makes sense to you.

Just knowing and believing that Jesus is who he said he is, that not enough because we can't do the stuff in the Bible. I was thinking about how much I like basketball and, you know, my Carolina Tar Heels, they got a win yesterday in football, but after three losses, my thoughts are already on basketball. And I love basketball. When I was a kid, I loved basketball. I love to watch the basketball.

I like to go play basketball at the neighborhood, at the driveway next door at the Ryan's, they had a basketball goal, everybody hanging out there. I was a pretty good little guy at playing horse and I could dribble and ball handle pretty well. And I love basketball. I'd like to have gone and been a basketball player at the University of North Carolina. That was my, I would love basketball, but I focused instead on tennis and soccer because, uh, I, I was not rising to the vertical stature that is conducive to playing basketball. Imagine if I were to, uh, had the chance to go play NBA basketball and the coach pulled me over and said, all right, Alan, so you're an NBA player, right?

Yeah, that's what I am. I'm an NBA player. All right, Alan, now here's what I want you to do. I want you to first go out there and, uh, I want you to, to, to, to just leap from around the foul line and then fly through the air and dunk the basketball. You know, maybe Allah, uh, Michael Jordan, uh, we got that picture that this is one of my favorite picture all time. If we got, uh, fly through the air, you got that slide, fly through the air and dunk the basketball or, uh, the real, the real mystery of all time. Anybody remember spud Webb played for NC state.

He's five foot seven and in 1986 he won the NBA slam dunk contest five foot seven. I tower over spud Webb and, uh, but I imagine the coaches pulled me over and he's like, Alan, uh, uh, go out there and dunk the basketball. I'm like, well, uh, and then he says, he says, and here's what you also need to be able to do. You need to be able to rise up high, maybe get your elbow above the rim to block some of the shots that are coming in. And, uh, I'm like, okay. And I want you to be able to sprint full speed, stop at the three point line, pull up about two feet in the air, hover there for a moment.

And then with a flick of your wrist, I want you to start making some three points. I'm like, what, what, what would I do if the coach told me that that's what an NBA player does and I go out there and at first I'd just be anxious. I'd be like, what are you expecting of me? I can't do that. And if I tried it for a little while, you know what would happen? I would go, this, this isn't for me.

And I would go sit in the bleachers and wait until a few elite athletes in the world who can do it would go out there and I would cheer for them. Have you stopped any time recently to think about what the Christian life is described as being like and what Jesus told us we're going to do? Like Matthew 5 43, you've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say, do you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? What? We had a special guest here last week. A lot of you got to hear him, Sam storms. And, uh, we had some special meetings on Thursday and Friday night.

Many were special. We, we prayed for hundreds of people to be freshly empowered by the Holy Spirit. And, um, if you've not been here, we want to pray for you. We want to pray for you today. We're just going to continue to pray for the impartation of the Holy Spirit.

It was wonderful. And Sam is so godly. I mean, if he's got any vices, I don't know what it is except maybe too much love for Oklahoma football, but, uh, he's just, you know, Sam's a biblical scholar. And I picked him up on Thursday night from the hotel and we're driving to church to come have a night to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, who's, who's going to be in our midst. And, and somebody pulls around zigzagging on the highway going about 90 miles an hour and almost clipped the front of my car.

And I was feeling a whole lot of things, but none of them would love. I turned to Sam. I said, Sam, can I at least hope that they get a ticket for that?

He said, yeah, I think that's godly enough. And, uh, love your enemies. Pray for those that persecute you. What, what about Matthew 18?

It gets even stronger. Peter said, how often when my brother sinned against me and I forgive him as many as seven times. Jesus said, no, seven, not seven, 77 times. Forgive. Keep on forgiving. Forgive again. The people that have hurt you the most forgive them.

What? Matthew 18, it gets even, I mean, Matthew five gets even stronger. Jesus says, blessed, blessed, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your words, great in heaven. They person when people are picking on you, when people are, are, are persecuting you, when you're getting denied your privileges because of the gospel. Hallelujah. Rejoice.

What? Jesus said in Matthew 10, proclaim as you go saying the kingdom of heaven's at hand, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons, heal the sick. And if that's not scary enough, Jesus just said it plainly in John 14, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do because I'm going to the father. If that's what it means to be a Christian, I think a lot of us feel like it's the coaches that go, go out there, jump from the free throw line and slam dunk the basketball.

And we find ourselves going, I can't do any of that. So we sit in the bleachers and we wait and clap and cheer for the few people that we think can, as if they're some spiritual elite. And what we're learning today and in coming weeks is they're not any spiritual elite.

You are the heirs and co-heirs of Christ. And this power of the Holy Spirit is for every single believer. What I'm saying is not one shred of New Testament Christianity makes sense except for the power of the most high God energizing and equipping people to do the otherwise impossible. I'm not just talking about the supernatural healings and amazing miracle stories.

I'm just talking about daily living, having joy in a depressed world, having hope and a discouraged environment, having peace when your circumstances present no reason to have peace. All of the Christian life is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit. And so it's interesting to me that people could think that Jesus is a good teacher and yet not divine. Ligonier Ministries last year did a survey of 3,000 people and 52% of those polled said they believe that Jesus is a good teacher but not divine. But if you're a teacher who tells his students that they're to rejoice when they're persecuted, love their enemies, heal the sick and cleanse lepers and yet it's impossible to do, how did that be a good teacher?

Did that make any sense? So there's only one way that the Christian gospel makes sense and that is the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Father's promise. Let's just sort of dissect this key verse here at verse 49, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you.

Look at that there. The promise of my Father. See in the Old Testament there were prophets who would speak forth by revelation, by the power of God, they'd have revelation of God's own heart and own thoughts and own words and would speak that. And there were priests who by the power of God were reckoned as holy so that they could be mediators between God and humanity and they would handle the holy things. And then there were kings and they also were anointed, anointed to govern and anointed to fight on behalf of the people and to administrate with skill. And so everyone knew we got prophets and priests and kings and they're special and they're set apart.

But God had made this promise that what you see glimpses of in episodes and in temporary anointing that come upon these very special leaders, he's saying this is my plan for all of my people to live in this sort of power. Alan Wright, our good news message clothed with power from the series Higher Power. I encourage you to stay with us.

Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing a parting good news thought for all of us today in just a moment. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife Ann lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful, transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Back now with Pastor Alan and the beginning of the series, Higher Power. And is there something about that word power?

Maybe some of us shy away from it and say, well, that's not for me. I'm not a leader. I don't need power. What would you say as we introduce this series, Pastor Alan? There's not one shred of the Christian life that God intended for human beings to live by merely human power. And there's not one shred of the Christian life that God has called us to live that can be lived by human power. If you think of, Daniel, all of the things that we read about in the Bible and then we see that we're called to be doing, whether it is as simple as love your neighbor and love your enemy, or if it is to speak to a mountain that it would be thrown into the sea, whatever it might be, even the things that seem smaller, we can't do that by our own power. But all of this God means for us to do by the power of his own spirit who is within us.

So we as Christians, every one of us are clothed with power and we can learn more about walking in that power. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.