In the mechanical realm, power is essential—nothing works without it. I often recall a mid-August afternoon in 2003 when the lights went out across New York City. That historic blackout affected 50 million people across the Northeast and created quite an interruption for our family. At the time, we were living in the city serving in Jewish missions, and my wife was only weeks away from delivering our second child. When the power finally returned after 24 hours, the entire city seemed to exhale with a collective sigh of relief.

Just as power is a necessity in the physical world, we require spiritual power to effectively witness for Jesus. Without the strength and guidance provided through the Holy Spirit, our efforts in ministry cannot reach their full potential.

We may be tempted to believe the power to witness comes from the “how to.” And while the “how to” is important, without the power source itself, we’ll be like a machine that happens to be unplugged! Certainly the machine called New York City is impotent when unplugged. But when plugged in, New York City is remarkable. In our witness, unless we’re plugged into our spiritual power source, we’ll be ineffective. But when plugged into to that power source, we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13), including the work of evangelism.

For the Christian, our power source is none other than the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to His disciples just before ascending into heaven: 

“But 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).

When the Holy Spirit fell upon and filled the disciples at Pentecost in Acts 2, He was described this way: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). This was not a weather phenomenon, rather a supernatural event.

Once the Spirit fell upon the disciples, they proclaimed the gospel and the church grew, even in  the face of stern challenges. Our first-century brethren’s demonstration of faith and of the Spirit’s power were astounding, inspiring, and instructive. 

Crossing Lines and Building Bridges

Those first believers crossed established religious lines for the sake of the gospel. In Acts 2–4 there was teaching, preaching, and healing happening in Jesus’ name. The only problem was the Jewish religious establishment. Religious leaders had resisted, rejected, and ultimately persecuted Jesus to the point of death. They carried that hatred to the disciples and the early church. It was Jesus’ followers who were emphatically crossing the lines of appropriate religious decorum—doing all of it in His name and in His power, all the while the church was growing like wildfire! 

Today, we’re told by the politically-correct (PC) crowd that religion is fine, as long as it’s private. “Don’t make waves,” they say.  “Don’t speak. Don’t proselytize.” Warnings not to cross these PC-constructed lines include pressure from various political and social groups who desire to make the expression of our faith strictly private. If it’s private, the establishment tells us, it’s okay. But once you go public, you’ve crossed the line.

In addition, the first-Century Church crossed cultural bridges. When Jesus told the disciples they’d be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), “Jerusalem and Judea” would be right up their alley, while the words “Samaria” and “to the ends of the earth” would perhaps have evoked thoughts of the uncomfortable and unknown. 

Jesus had given them a glimpse of cross-cultural ministry when He ministered to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Here, the disciples got a preview of ministering outside their comfort zone. 

Following Pentecost, in Acts 10, the Lord called Peter to preach the gospel to Cornelius—a Gentile—and his entire household. In the first century, the Jewish people generally hated  Gentiles (non-Jewish people). Some Jewish people had nothing to do with Gentiles, and were not open to hosting or being hosted. In fact, dirt from a Gentile country was considered defiled to certain religious Jewish people, and some would shake it off their sandals before entering Israel. 

In this context, Peter is called to not only enter the home of Cornelius, but eat food that wasn’t kosher and share the good news about the Jewish Messiah. That required faith and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Part of our call as Jesus-followers today is to cross cultural bridges, bringing the truth and grace of God to places and to people different than we are. 

Today, we don’t need to leave our country to cross cultural bridges. America’s ever-increasing diversity means the Lord may call us to reach out to Muslims, atheists, LGBT, new-agers the irreligious and others different than us – right here at home. 

And though our world screams of political correctness, divisiveness, and built-in barriers, the Lord commands us to, cross the line, smashing barriers in order to build bridges to reach those precious souls in need of salvation. 

We must fight the good fight of faith against built-in polarization for the sake of the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18–19), which God has entrusted to us. 

And how will we cross lines and build bridges in His power? Faith. 

The Holy Spirit dwells in us and is ready to empower us. Yet, we are called to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) and “be filled by the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). This means we surrender to the Lord in faith, being obedient to His Word and following where He leads.

Without His power, we will be spiritually impotent. Apart from the Holy Spirit guiding, leading, and empowering us, our ability to witness will be hamstrung. No power, no effectiveness. No power, no fruit. Remember, Jesus said in John 15:5, “Without Me you can do nothing.” While the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”  

Additionally, the Holy Spirit specifically empowers our witness in these two ways: 

The Holy Spirit helps us know what to say. In Luke 12:12 Jesus was teaching the disciples to not fret about what they might say when undergoing persecution, telling them “the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”  While in our witnessing efforts we want to “always be ready” to share when God provides opportunities, we need to also trust in the power of the Spirit to know when and what to share.

The Holy Spirit gives us boldness. After Peter and John had healed a lame man in Acts 3, they were arrested by the Jewish religious leadership (the Sanhedrin) and asked by what power or name they had done it. Peter, “being filled with the Holy Spirit,” then witnessed to them, saying in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Upon their release they went and prayed with other believers, asking God to give them boldness to speak His word.  “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).

The same fearful and cowardly Peter who denied the Lord three times on the night of Jesus’ arrest is now a powerful, bold witness for the Lord following Pentecost. 

The disciples were of no great pedigree. Jesus didn’t choose the best and brightest, those with the gift of evangelism, to be His witnesses. Rather their gifting was in the power and presence of God. In fact, the Sanhedrin “perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

And therein lies the key for us as we strive to be powerful witnesses – Spend time with the Lord. Spend time in His Word, spend time in prayer. Ask Him to empower your witness.  Remember, a powerful witness is a ‘plugged-in’ witness.

I can tell you that I desperately need the Holy Spirit in my personal witness to others. I need Him to fill me, to empower me, to help me know what to say, and to give me courage. How about you?

Ask Him move mightily in and through all you do in your witness. And ask the Lord to move mightily in the heart of the one to whom you’re witnessing. For it is the Lord who is your power to witness.