Acts 21 A Spirit-Filled Church Led by the Holy Spirit

When you open your Bible to the Book of Acts, the title likely reads, The Acts of the Apostles. While the apostles certainly played a vital role, I am convinced Acts tells a much bigger story.

From the opening pages, the book pulses with the life, power, guidance, and activity of Precious Holy Spirit. He is the One empowering ordinary men and women to do extraordinary things. He directs, speaks, comforts, warns, fills, sends, and works miracles through believers who are yielded to Him.

The same Holy Spirit who hovered over the waters at Creation now hovers over the Church, bringing life, power, and purpose to God's people. Acts is not simply a record of what happened long ago; it is a living testimony of what happens when people partner with the Spirit of God.

As we journey through Acts, let's resist the temptation to place these stories in a museum of church history. The Holy Spirit has not changed. God's plan for His Church has not changed. The invitation remains the same: to live Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, and Spirit-empowered lives that continue the ministry of Jesus in the earth.

Acts is vibrating with the life and power of Precious Holy Spirit which resulted in the Acts of Precious Holy Spirit! Again and again, we see His gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation. Gifts that must be plugged into His Presence and power to operate.  We see that the glorious activities of the Holy Spirit were a normal, active and essential overflow of the Spirit-filled church. We see His power, guidance and influence woven into the very fabric of how the early church operated as they fulfilled the great commission of Jesus.

We see Holy Spirit throughout Scripture, but the first time we see Him is at Creation.

Gen 1: 2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The KJV says "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The Topical Lexicon  rachaph "  רָחַף appears three times in the Old Testament, each occurrence portraying divine activity that is both protective and powerful. Whether describing the Spirit at creation, the faithful care of the covenant God, or the overwhelming impact of prophetic revelation, the verb underscores God's nearness in decisive moments."

We see Precious Holy Spirit brooding over the believers that make up the church, teaching them, guiding them and empowering them.

Because Holy Spirit hasn't changed and God's plan for the church hasn't changed, we shouldn't try to function without His active influence, power and guidance.

Galatians 3:3 Berean Standard Bible