Secrets of Leaders Who Exhibit Power on the Mental, Moral, and Spiritual Levels - This is So Needed

Believers, and unbelievers, know, or they takeThere are people out there who think that to
note, that something happened between Actsfollow Jesus Christ results in a cramped and
Chapter 1 and half way through Acts Chapter 2.limited and weak insipid life.
It was this that empowered that fellowship. ItWe read of a humble Peter and John striding up
was this that galvanised the church. It was thisto that crippled man and offering what they had:
experience which lasted and which continues tothe power of God to heal. Now, there is an
last today.illustration of humble but effective leadership.
Have you enjoyed that experience of the HolyWe read of that man Peter who had been so
Spirit and does the power of the Holy Spiritreligious, daring, yes daring, to follow the Holy
inspire and motivate you in everything you do?Spirit and venture into the home of Cornelius and
This happened to men who were taking time towithin a couple of hours they are fellowshipping as
wait upon God and listen to God. There will neverbrothers in Christ.
be a Pentecost without that.We read of that legalistically pure man Paul, being
Consider Peter or Paul or Cornelius, or however itwilling to be thrown into that Philippian jail, if that is
happened to you. Know what happened historicallywhat it meant to follow Christ, and if that is what
and spiritually speaking to Peter and Paul andwas needed to rescue that jailor and his family
Cornelius and the others. It is a highly valuablefrom their sin. Here we have an example of
study and such wise investment pays dividendssacrificial but willing leadership.
big dividends. I know that from personalIt is power on the mental level too. Just look at
experience.the Bible. It is throbbing with life and vitality and
It was in March 1969 that enjoyed that anointingtruth and light. No other book in the world comes
of the Holy Spirit by the risen and living andnear it.
ascended Lord Jesus Christ, and let me reassureThink of the power of God on the moral level.
you that it lasts. It has lasted!Many of these believers spent half their life
These were Christ surrendered disciples. Theymotivated and devoured by devastating passions,
would do anything and go anywhere, at Christ'sespecially in Corinth. But, do not forget men like
command. We see that throughout the book ofMatthew and Zacchaeus, or John who was one of
Acts.the sons of thunder! These ordinary lives suddenly
Pentecost, and this fellowship of the Holy Spirit,were lifted up to the plaine of spiritual leaders.
comes after a man surrenders to Christ and notHow could such a man change so much? It was
before. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a commandingnot I but Christ in me through the power and
King who demands to be obeyed.presence of the Holy Spirit.
The heart of their experience was not the rushingWhat mighty and powerful apostolic missionaries
wind, nor the flames descending upon each head,these men of Pentecost were. Wherever they
nor the overflowing praise in languages they hadwent lives were changed and souls rescued. O,
never learned, important though all these were,how our world is in desperate need of such
the heart of their experience was the power ofspiritual leadership today.
God.There is not a trace of narrowness or pettiness
It was a power that shook them and they wentor selfishness or feeling they were being limited in
out to shake the earth and turn the world upsideany way in any of them.
down.They were released and radiant and this was
The secret of this depth of fellowship is when wecontagious. This was not religion. This was life and
seek God with all our heart and soul, and if weabundant life!
are prepared to pay the price, and there is aWhen the world looked at them the only thing
price.they could say was that they had been with
When you see these men after Pentecost theyJesus. And some said, you have found the secret.
bare no resemblance to what they were beforeHelp us to find it too.
Pentecost.