The Pathway to Power

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth, simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. The title of the series, That Old Time Religion. That Old Time Religion. Now the reason I want to call it that old time religion is that we need to take a look back that we might really face the future.

It's very important that we do this today because it is the old time religion that needs to be the new time religion. I heard that Billy Graham had come to a particular city some time again. A few years ago for a revival crusade and there was a preacher who didn't want him to come. The preacher was kind of liberal and he said, we don't want that man here in our city. Why he will set evangelism back 50 years. When Billy Graham heard that he said, well I didn't want to set evangelism back 50 years. I wanted to set it back 2,000 years. Amen.

And that's what we need to do is to get back to the basics. I'm told that Vince Lombardi didn't like to lose a football game. On a particular occasion they had lost a game and it was a game that he didn't want to lose, didn't think they should have lost and lost because of some foolish mistakes. He said very little on the bus, away from the stadium, very little on the airplane back. But the next day at practice when they assembled on the field, he reached into a canvas bag, had all of the team assembled, reached into a canvas bag and held up a football and said, gentlemen, this is a football. And he started with the basics. And that's what I want us to do.

I want us just to get back to the basics. I'm impressed as I read the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the story of success. It is the story of a church triumphant. Really, it is the story of a small group of unlettered, cultured people with meager resources, very little money, no prestige, no colleges, no seminaries, no radio, television, printing presses or magnificent buildings.

A small little group of people who went out to tell the story of a publicly executed Jew. They went out against great obstacles, the imperial might of Rome, the intellectual sophistication of Greece, the religious bigotry of that day. And they turned that world inside out and upside down for Jesus Christ. They did so much with so little.

We do so little with so much. Now, I believe we need to go back and see what they did and how they did it. And for that reason, we're going to be studying the book of Acts, which is the story of a church on fire with evangelism and growth. And I believe it can become our pattern for today. And I want God to burn the message into your heart. Now, today, for this particular message, I'm going to be speaking to you on the pathway to power. And we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 1, the first nine verses.

Are you ready? The former treatise, have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach? Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, Ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And when they, therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.

But ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. Now, look again in verse one. The former treatise have I made unto thee, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and to teach?

Now, what was the former treatise? It was the gospel of Luke, because you see, the author of the book of Acts is the author of the gospel of Luke. Dr. Luke, who was a medical doctor, wrote the gospel of Luke, and then he wrote this book of Acts. And you know, that's a blessing to me, to see a medical doctor not ashamed of Jesus. We have a great host of medical doctors in our church who are not ashamed of Jesus, who believe the word of God. It tells me you don't have to check your brains at the door when you give your heart to Jesus Christ.

I thank God for Dr. Luke, who was a great physician, and also he was a noted historian, and he had written the former treatise, which was the gospel of Luke, and now he's written this wonderful book of Acts, to tell us what happened there in those primitive years of the church, and what ought to be the pattern for us who live here in this day and in this age. And I pray God, the Holy Spirit, will help me to indelibly impress upon your hearts and minds three vital truths out of the verses that I have read to you today. Three things that I want to impregnate your conscience with, three things that I want to cause to reverberate through your soul, to be etched upon your very being, that you will never get them out of your heart and life all the year long, that will help you to live victoriously, and to have power with God, and power with men. Three wonderful, wonderful truths. Truth number one, I want you, now I'm talking to Christians, I want you to recognize the presence of Jesus in your life. Recognize the presence of Jesus in your life. Well, you say that's so simple, what's earthshaking about that? Oh, friend, listen, that is more than just a phrase, that is one of the most vital, dynamic, electrifying, earthshaking thoughts that I can ever give to you. Now notice how this starts. The former treatise have I written unto thee, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began.

To do and to teach. Now notice, the idea is not that Jesus is finished, he is still doing and he is still teaching. Well, you say, but the Bible says he was taken up into heaven, that's right.

But he's still acting, he is still working, he is still teaching. You see, in the gospels, he was here in his physical body. In the book of Acts, he is here in his mystical body. Now, in the Bible that I have, it says across the top, the acts of the apostles.

Well, that was put in there by the publisher, that's not a part of the inspired text. This is not the acts of the apostles. It's not really even specifically the acts of the Holy Spirit. What you have in the book of Acts is the acts of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what Luke is saying is this, in the gospel of Luke, I showed you all that Jesus started to do, in the book of Acts, I'm showing you all that Jesus continues to do. Now, folks, Jesus is still alive and active, he just has a different body. Where is the presence of Jesus?

In us. You see, he doesn't want us to do anything for him today. When will we ever learn this? That he wants to do something through us. The Bible says it is Christ in us, which is our hope of glory.

Jesus Christ is alive and he lives in us. Now, you know, when I was a young Christian, I started out to do something for the Lord. And it was a great day in my life when I discovered God didn't want me to do anything for him.

As a matter of fact, I couldn't do anything for him. Well, you say, that's confusing. I thought you were supposed to serve the Lord.

Well, I'm using technical language. The Christian life is not difficult. The Christian life is totally impossible.

Impossible. There's not anybody here who can live the Christian life. Not one can live the Christian life. There's only one person who ever lived the Christian life. His name is Jesus. And there's only one person who can live the Christian life. And his name is Jesus. And if the Christian life is lived where you live, it'll be Jesus in you, living that Christian life.

You understand what I'm talking about? It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He's the only one who can live the Christian life.

Somehow we get the idea that we can live it. Now, we all know that we're not saved by our own works. We all know that salvation is a miracle. The new birth is a miracle. And we know that our Christian life commences with a miracle. And we know it's going to conclude with a miracle, our translation, when we're caught up to meet our Lord in the air, at least our earthly Christian life. But I want to tell you, dear friend, not only does it commence with a miracle and not only does it conclude with a miracle, but it is to continue with a miracle. You see, there to be three miracles.

The very life that I live is to be a miracle life. It is to be Christ in me. The apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. Well, what can a dead man do?

Nothing. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. But Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Christ in us. There was a preacher in Kentucky used to keep on his desk an old tattered leather glove. And each Sunday before he'd go out to preach, he took that old glove off the desk and would slip his hand into the glove and flex it several times. Take the glove off and put it on his desk and go back out and preach.

Someone said, why do you do that? He said to remind me of this vital lesson that that glove is absolutely impotent and powerless until my hand is slipped into it. And then I say, oh God, as my hand has activated this glove, I want you, Lord Jesus, to activate my life. And I want you, Lord, to enter into me and inhabit my humanity and live your life through me. And by the way, that's not a bad illustration because in the Old Testament, the book of Judges, the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord wore Gideon like a suit of clothes. The Bible says the Lord clothed himself with Gideon. How would you like for God to wear you like a suit of clothes? And just as you carry around your suit of clothes for the Lord just to carry around your humanity and that the Lord would just inhabit your humanity. You see, the reason that this early church did what they did with such power is that it really wasn't them doing it.

It was Jesus doing it. You say, well, I'm not adequate. Well, I'm glad you've learned it. But he is adequate.

Somebody has coined these words. Lord, I can't. You never said I could. But you can't.

And you always said you would. You see, the great ability that you need is availability. Bringing the world to Christ is not your responsibility.

It is your response to his ability. You see, we have a mission impossible. How are we going to fulfill that mission? I heard of some cows who were out grazing and a milk truck went past and they looked up and there was advertisement on the side of the big milk tanker.

It gave the name of the dairy and then it said our milk is grade A sanitized, pasteurized, homogenized, vitamin enriched from contented cows. One cow said to the other one, it makes you feel inadequate, doesn't it? Well, friend, when I look at the great commission, what our Lord has told us to do, how inadequate we feel. But listen, Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church. Jesus didn't say we would build his church. He said he would build his church.

Now notice what Dr. Luke is saying. He said, I wrote the gospel of Luke. That's what Jesus began to do. I'm writing the book of Acts. That's what Jesus is going to continue to do.

The first time he did it in his physical body. Now he's going to do it in his mystical body. Oh, friend, if you could just understand that it is Christ in you, he wants to do this in you.

What a difference it's going to make. Turn, if you will, to Acts chapter five for a moment and begin in about verse 12 and let me show you something here. It says, there's no man joined himself to them, but the people magnified them. Now watch verse 14. And believers were more added to the church, multitudes of men and women. A landslide of souls being saved. Go back to verse 12 and by the hands of the apostles.

Look at that little word by. It may be accurately translated through the hands of the apostles. In other words, it is not what the apostles were doing. It is what the Lord was doing through their hands. How would you like for Jesus to work through your hands, to speak through your lips, to think through your mind, to love with your heart. Jesus Christ now has your body as his body and he lives in you.

Oh, if we could only understand this. You see, when we try to live the Christian life without Christ in us living that Christian life, no wonder we fail. God doesn't want you to try. It's time that you stop trying. And started trusting. Said, Lord, I can't.

So I quit trying. But now, Lord, you can and I'm going to let you. Now, I'm not a golfer, but suppose now I decided, well, I'm going to be a golfer. I've been converted to golf and I'm going to be a golfer.

And since I've been converted to golf, I've got to get a model. So I said, well, let's see. Who will I take? Jack Nicklaus?

All right. He's about my age, I guess. I'll take Jack Nicklaus. I'll let him be my model. Oh, I'm going to read books about Jack Nicklaus. And I'm going to see how he plays.

So I'm just going to go out there and play like Jack Nicklaus. Do you think I could? Of course not. Of course not. I'd be ludicrous.

I tried to play the game one time, looked like I was killing snakes. If there's some way that I could get Jack Nicklaus into me, some Jack Nicklaus pill that I could swallow and his life would be reproduced in me. And then I'd get out there and tee up and that thing takes off there hundreds of yards straight down the fairway. That wouldn't be me, that would be Jack and me doing that you see. Now friend, if you do anything that is spiritual and lasting and worthwhile, it's not you, it's Jesus in you. And Jesus needs to get the praise and the glory. The former treatise of I made unto the old Theophilus of all that Jesus began to do and to teach.

But the idea is that He's not quit doing it now. There He was in the Gospels in His physical body. And now He has a mystical body. Won't it be wonderful to see what Jesus does in your life? Alright, number one, if you want to be dramatically transformed, recognize, recognize, recognize His presence in you. Number two, receive His promise to you.

Now He's made a promise. Begin now in verse four and look at it. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith He, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with a holy ghost.

Not many days hence. And when they therefore were come together, they asked of Him saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father put in His own power, but ye shall receive power.

Now remember the keynote of our message today is how to have power, the pathway to power. And ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now Jesus had made a promise.

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, verse 49, He said, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry ye in Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Now Jesus said, Don't go out and try to do anything until you're endued with power.

Now friend, not only is it foolish, but it is wicked. It is wicked to try to do God's work without God's power. Now you can receive the promise of the Father. And the promise of the Father is spiritual power through the Holy Ghost. And Jesus said, Behold, I send the promise of the Holy Spirit to get that work done.

Now we don't have to tarry anymore, because the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an accomplished fact. Nowhere in the Bible today is a Christian ever commanded to be baptized with the Holy Ghost. But we're all commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And Ephesians 5, verse 18 says, Be filled with the Spirit of God. And when we're filled with the Spirit of God, we're filled with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of power and the Holy Spirit of God is Christ in the Christian. You say, Well, Brother Rogers, you said that Christ is in me. And now you say that I need the Holy Spirit. Do I need Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

The answer is yes. Let me give you a good definition of the Holy Spirit. Christ in the Christian.

Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you, when he was talking about the Holy Spirit. You see, we don't worship three gods. We worship one God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit in my heart, in my bosom, is Jesus in me.

That's the promise of the Father. And I receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon me. And why do I need that power?

I need that power to enlighten me. I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to say. But he does. Jesus said he'll guide you. But not only do I need him to enlighten me, dear friend, I need him to enable me. Because as I've said before, I can't. He never said I could. But not only will he enlighten me, it's not enough to know the will of God.

You think if you knew the will of God, your problems would be over? You've got to do it. Well, how are you going to do it? Well, it's going to be him doing it in you.

You can't do it. He has to enlighten you, then he has to enable you. And then he has to encourage you.

Because you see, as a matter of fact, the word comforter, the name for the Holy Spirit, is called an encourager, one who's called alongside of me, a paraclete, which means somebody who just gives us strength, encouragement to get the job done. These Christians were going to face persecution. It's not an easy road. There were going to be heartaches and tears. Some of them were going to be physically threatened.

Some of them were going to be killed. But they had the power to live for Christ and die for Christ because the Holy Spirit of God had come upon them. Now, we're going to be talking more and more in these studies about who the Holy Spirit of God is and how the Holy Spirit of God empowers them. The Bible says, With great power gave the apostles witness of the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. One great preacher, Dr. A.C. Dixon, said, When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do. When we rely upon education, we get what education can do. When we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. But when we rely upon the Holy Spirit, we get what God can do. The Bible says in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me. What is his program through you? To witness?

To share the love of Jesus? You said, Well, I thought he was going to do it. Yes, he's going to do it. But he's going to do it through you.

And if you don't allow him to do it, it will not be done. We are to be witnesses. Jesus didn't call us to be lawyers. A lot of you say, Well, you know, I just can't witness. Of course you can.

Of course you can. Suppose you saw an accident, and they brought you into the courtroom, and they said, Tell us what you saw. They said, Well, you know, I just can't do that. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not trained. I've never been in a courtroom before.

Look, just the facts, man. Just tell us what you saw and what you heard. A witness is not a lawyer.

A lawyer argues a case. A witness tells what he has seen and heard. Now, if Jesus Christ has done anything for you, then you're to witness to it.

You're to tell about it. You are to share the love of Jesus. Anybody who is saved can witness. Don't tell me you can't witness. If you can't witness, I doubt that you're saved. Can't you tell how you got saved? Can't you tell what happened to you?

Perhaps you haven't seen anything. Perhaps you haven't heard anything, and that's the reason you can't be a witness. But listen, when you make yourself available to His program through you, and remember again, I want to tell you the greatest ability is availability. Just simply saying, Lord Jesus, you inhabit my humanity. Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit of God, you have given me power, and now I am going to be a witness for you to share the saving love of Jesus. Did you know that the word witness and the word martyr are the same word in the Greek language?

Did you know that? Same word. And what is a martyr? A martyr is somebody who has been killed for the name of Christ, the cause of Christ. More people have died for Jesus Christ in the last 30 years than from Pentecost up until the last 30 years. More people have died for Jesus Christ in the last 30 years than all the history of the Christian church prior to that time.

I don't know whether you'll be so honored or not, but I know this, friend, that the word martyr and the word witness are linked together. And you don't have to die physically to die to your pride. You don't have to die physically to die to your ambition.

You don't have to die physically to die to your ego and say, Lord Jesus, I want to be obedient to you. I want to be a witness, and I want to start in my Jerusalem. Now, it doesn't end in Jerusalem, but it starts in Jerusalem.

No leapfrog here. A man came to a foreign mission board and said, I want to be a missionary. They interviewed him and they said, what are you doing for Jesus here? He said, not much of anything. They said, well, please, for God's sake, don't go overseas and do it. Amen.

Don't export it. No, we began in Jerusalem and go to Judea and then to the uttermost parts, the outer regions for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But dear friend, listen, when I am available to His program in me, and that is sharing Jesus Christ, tell somebody about Jesus.

Oh, there's somebody. There's somebody that you can bring to Jesus. Now, the disciples wanted to talk about Bible prophecy. They said, Lord, is this the time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus said, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father had put in His own power, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me. They wanted to talk about prophecy. He wanted to talk about proclamation. It's time that some of us got our heads out of the clouds of prophecy and got our feet on the sidewalks of soul wedding.

Amen? To tell others. Now, listen, friend, you don't know.

You do not know. You cannot dream what potentiality there may be in your witness. I shared some time ago one of the most amazing stories I want to share again with you. There was a man named Mr. Kimball who went into a shoe clerk to witness to that shoe clerk. The shoe clerk was back there in the boxes, in the stacks. This man, Mr. Kimball, was a Sunday school teacher.

This 19-year-old boy was in his class. Mr. Kimball laid a trembling hand on the shoulder of that shoe clerk and told him about Jesus. The shoe clerk received Christ into his heart. He was saved.

Do you know that shoe clerk's name? Dwight L. Moody. Now, the young people may not know about Dwight L. Moody, and some of you older people may not, but he was one of the greatest evangelists that God ever, ever put on this green earth. He started out in Chicago just teaching boys and girls in Sunday school and winning a lot of them to Christ. He became a speaker. He was a layman, really never ordained, but he was so powerful preaching the Gospel that he was invited over to England to preach. And there in England he preached in the church of F. B. Meyer, a very erudite and cultured Englishman.

Moody murdered the king's English. And F. B. Meyer was ashamed that he invited this unclean kuth, uncultured American. But yet the fire of God fell on that service. And F. B. Meyer said later he was having tea with one of the ladies in the church, and he said, And how is it with you today, madam? She said, Wonderful, Dr. Meyer. Said, Since Moody has been here, I've won every girl in my class to Jesus Christ. Meyer said, I learned something that day about the language of the human soul.

It transformed my life. Dwight L. Moody touched his life. F. B. Meyer came to the United States, and he was preaching in a college.

The students were out there. And F. B. Meyer was talking about surrender, and this is what he said. He said to those students, If you're not willing to give everything to Jesus Christ, will you at least tell him that you're willing to be made willing? And a student out there was named Wilbur Chapman. Wilbur Chapman said, Oh, God, that's me.

I haven't been willing. Chapman was ready to quit. He was about to get out of school. But he said, God, I'm willing to be made willing. And God took him at that starting place, made him willing, and Wilbur Chapman became a great evangelist.

But wait a minute. Wilbur Chapman in his later years of evangelism needed a helper. So he found a young YMCA clerk, an ex-professional baseball player whose name was Billy Sunday. And Chapman said to Billy Sunday, Would you come help me do the counseling, set up the tent, do these other things?

Billy Sunday said, I will. And Billy Sunday, many of you have heard of Billy Sunday, world famous like Dwight L. Moody. Billy Sunday began to help Wilbur Chapman.

When Chapman finally retired from evangelism, or was too feeble to carry on, Billy Sunday took over and had a worldwide ministry, and millions of people were impacted by Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday went to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1924 and held a revival crusade in Charlotte, North Carolina. And there was such a mighty moving of God's power in Charlotte, North Carolina that a prayer meeting got started and continued right on through till the Depression. And those men were praying and said, Oh God, send another revival to Charlotte that will shake Charlotte and shake the world. As a result, Mordecai Ham came to Charlotte, North Carolina for another crusade. And in that crusade when Mordecai Ham was preaching, a young, tall, lanky 16 year old farm lad came forward and gave his heart to Jesus Christ. His name was Billy Sunday. Billy Graham, who's preached to kings and princes around the world, national television by satellite and so forth, the impact.

But how did all of that start? Trace it on back to a Sunday school teacher who got serious about soul winning and told a shoe clerk about Jesus. You don't know, you don't know what you may do when you bring a soul to Jesus Christ. Recognize his presence in you. Receive his promise to you and respond to his program through you. Let's pray. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would make me a greater soul winner this year. Lord, help me to recognize that in the truest sense, you are the one. Who draws those people to yourself as you inhabit my humanity and display your deity in Jesus name. Amen. 1-800-844-5683. Thank you.