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…14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. 15 At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together… Acts 1:8, 14-15a
Jesus always has a plan. He is God and knows everything, so He can create a good, comprehensive, successful plan. No one ever born can plan as well as Jesus, it is not even close. So, how does Jesus want to change the world and spread His gospel to all people? He created the local church!
Jesus always knew He would use the local church to do this, even in the book of Genesis. But, in Acts we see it happen right before our eyes. That is just what is happening here, we see the local church getting started.
In Acts 1:15 we see how many people were involved in the first one. One hundred and twenty. It can be bigger or smaller, it does not say it has to be this size. But it does say it can’t just be me. The church must have people!
In Acts 1:14 we see they were praying. In other places it tells what else they did, it is not just prayer. But it does say they were “…all with one mind…”. Not just me, ALL. The church must have people!
Then, going back to Acts 1:8, we see what and why Jesus was doing this. He was telling His people, that’s us, to go out and change the world with the gospel. How? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is speaking to His people, who are gathered, and telling them they are about to receive power. Luke 24:49 calls is “power from on high”. And that is exactly what this is, extraordinary power from heaven. What is this power to be used for?
It is power to be His witnesses. To bring His word to all people. None of us can do that, but when the power of the Holy Spirit comes on the local church, we all can. But not by ourselves. Yes, we can pray by ourselves, hear God by ourselves, receive the Holy Spirit by ourselves. There are a lot of things we as individuals must do. But the power to change the world-that comes from the Holy Spirit working through the local church. Just like is says in Acts!
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