1. I would like to draw your attention to Luke 24:49 and the words, "until ye be endued with power from on high."
2. As we read the newspapers, or perhaps watch the news programs, we see that the world is getting increasingly more and more wicked.
3. For example, there was an article informing us that Mayor Guiliani wants to give marriage benefits to perverts. Other articles tell us of eight-year-old boys raping eight-year-old girls up in the Bronx, teen gang violence, pornography, drugs, and all sorts of horrible wickedness.
4. Most of you work with unsaved people and are in daily contact with them and know how they conduct their lives without ever giving any consideration to the things of God.
5. It does not take a genius to figure out that the world is in bad shape. The need to evangelize is great.
6. Right now, someone in Nassau County is dying and going to hell. All over the NYC area, right now, people are slipping into the horrible fires of hell.
7. After we have recognized the tremendous need, we need to ask ourselves – are we part of the solution, or part of the problem?
8. Many Christians would declare that they have a burden to reach the lost but they feel helpless and powerless to do anything about it.
9. Therefore, all would agree: power is needed. And that power is "the power from on high" promised by our Lord before He ascended into heaven.
10. "A man may as soon hope to beat back the tide with a pitch-fork as to overcome the works of darkness without the power of the Holy Ghost" (Handfuls on Purpose).
11. Therefore, my first point today is:

1. THE POWER IS NEEDED

1. A man may be highly talented, well trained, and widely experienced, but without the Holy Spirit he is powerless.
2. On the other hand, a man may be uneducated and inexperienced, yet if he is filled with the Holy Spirit, God will use him in a mighty way.
3. Let me give some reasons why we need the Holy Spirit to help us get the Gospel out:

1. As to their memories: the apostles did not have King James Bibles with them. The many things our Lord taught them had to be recalled and written down under the same divine inspiration that had produced the O.T. They would need the Holy Spirit for that.
2. Today, we have the complete Bible, but still need the Holy Spirit to help us remember certain Scriptures. Sometimes we may get a chance to witness and do not have access to a Bible.
3. Not only do we need the Holy Spirit to help us with our memories, but also with our message. The apostles did not preach words of worldly wisdom, but words supplied by the Holy Spirit. Likewise, we need the Holy Spirit’s help in proclaiming the Gospel.
4. Not only do we need the Holy Spirit’s help with our memories and with our message, but also as to our movements. Where to go? When to go? Who should go?
5. We need the Holy Spirit’s help in preaching with power. All the zeal and dedication and preaching skills in the world cannot save a soul – it takes the Holy Spirit to do that.
6. We need the Holy Spirit to encourage us. That is why He is called "the Comforter." It can get very discouraging serving the Lord in this wicked world. We must expect opposition from the outside. But when opposition comes from within the church, that is discouraging!

4. So, it is plain to see that power is needed. And just as we receive life by receiving Christ, we receive power by receiving the holy Spirit.
5. Salvation is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ; power is in the person of the Holy Spirit.
6. The power is needed, and thank God the power is promised. God, our heavenly Father, gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him (Luke 11:13; John 14:16).

2. THE POWER IS PROMISED (ACTS 1:4,5)

1. Jesus said to His disciples: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me…" (Acts 1:8).
2. A witness is somebody who sincerely tells what he has seen and heard (cf. Acts 4:19,20).
3. "Witness" is a key word in the book of Acts, and is used 29 times either as a verb or a noun. As Christians we are not judges; we are witnesses.
4. We are not judges sent out to condemn the world. Those without Christ are already condemned (John 3:18). We are not judges, we are witnesses.
5. We are not lawyers; we are not called to argue the case before unconverted men. That is the Holy Spirit’s job. We are witnesses, and a witness simply tells what he has seen and heard.
6. Witnesses point lost sinners to Christ and tell them how to be saved. When a witness is on the witness stand, the judge and jury is not interested in their ideas or opinions – they just want to hear the facts.
7. Here are the facts: Christ died for our sins, and rose from the dead.
8. One preacher put it this way: "Witnessing is not something that we do for the Lord; it is something that He does through us, if we are filled with the Holy Spirit" (Wiersbe).
9. How could this small band of disciples be such effective witnesses that the Bible says they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6)? God provided the power! They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
10. Our English word martyr comes from the same Greek word translated "witness," and many of God’s people have sealed their witness by being put to death for their faith in Christ.
11. Last week at FBC, I was reading Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, and in this particular edition it stated that the reason Luther and a few others were included was because they were using the word "martyr" in its original sense – witness.
12. Most here are probably familiar with Pro.11:30 – "He that winneth souls is wise." But how about Pro.14:25? "A true witness delivereth souls." Are you a true witness?
13. Before moving on, let me remind you that every true child of God receives the Holy Spirit at conversion. But it is something altogether different to be endued with power from on high.

3. THE POWER IS USED (ACTS 1:8)

1. Acts 1:8 is a good general outline for the book of Acts:

• From Jerusalem (chapters 1-7)
• To Judea and Samaria (chap.8,9)
• And then to the Gentile regions – "unto the uttermost part of the earth" (chapters 10-28).

2. Soulwinning churches send the Gospel light out to the uttermost part of the earth by supporting missionaries. I think it is terrible that our Faith Promise has not gone up in three years!
3. Someone told me awhile back that God was using His broom to sweep out the church. Well, I think He might start have to using His bulldozer next!
4. Dr. Oswald Smith used to say, "The light that shines the farthest will shine the brightest at home." His church in Toronto, Canada used to give away something like a million dollars a year to missions. How? Because they were a soulwinning church with a burden for the lost.
5. Notice the words, "at that time" in Acts 8:1. A new era was beginning. Stephen’s death seemed to trigger a widespread assault against the church. Christians "were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria" (Acts 8:1).
6. God told them to go into Judea and Samaria, but they were reluctant to do so. So He allowed persecution and then they did what they were supposed to do all along (8:4). God used a bulldozer!

CONCLUSION:

The Great Commission (Matt.28:19,20) involves three things:

1. Personnel – the local church, not a "para-church" organization, etc.
2. Plan – worldwide evangelism starting in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8). The application today for us would be to start in Elmont.
3. Power – the power behind the Great Commission is the person of the Holy Spirit. We need God’s power to do God’s work God’s way.