Spirit-Empowered Witnessing
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: John 15:26, 27; Acts 2:41, 42; Acts 8:4; Heb. 4:12; Acts 17:33, 34; Acts 18:8.
Memory Text: “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31, NKJV).
When Jesus commanded the early believers to “ ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel,’ ” it must have seemed like an impossible mission (Mark 16:15, NKJV). How could they ever accomplish such a huge challenge? Their numbers were so small. Their resources were limited. They were a largely uneducated band of ordinary believers. But they had an extraordinary God who would empower them for their extraordinary mission.
But Jesus declared, “ ‘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’ ” (Acts 1:8, NKJV). The empowering of the Holy Spirit would enable the believers to share the message of the Cross with life-changing, world-changing power. The Holy Spirit made their witness effective. In a few short decades, the gospel impacted the entire world. Acts declares that these early believers “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6, NKJV). The apostle Paul adds that the gospel was “preached to every creature under heaven” (Col. 1:23, NKJV). In this week’s lesson, we will especially focus on the role of the Holy Spirit in empowering our witness for Christ.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 1.
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