The Acts of the Disciples Part 9: Your Role in the Church Matters
What is the role of an ordinary Christian in the church? The answer is simple: you have a God-given role to play, and the church needs you to fulfill it.
The story of the early church was never just about Peter, Paul, or the other apostles. It was also about the thousands of unnamed believers who prayed, served, gave, witnessed, encouraged, and carried the gospel into places the apostles could never reach.
But throughout the Book of Acts, we see another experience every believer should pursue: the baptism of the Holy Spirit: the empowering presence of God that equips us to live boldly, serve faithfully, and fulfill the assignment God has placed on our lives.
You Don't Have to Have a Title to Have a Calling
When we read the Book of Acts, it's easy to focus on the names we recognize.
Peter preached and thousands responded. Paul traveled from city to city preaching the gospel. The apostles performed miracles and helped establish churches throughout the ancient world.
But what about everyone else?
Acts begins with 120 believers gathered together. Then 3,000 people were added to the church. Soon the number grew again. Behind those numbers were real people with real stories, people whose names may never have been recorded in Scripture but whose obedience helped carry the gospel forward.
They didn't all have microphones.
They didn't all stand on platforms.
They didn't all have ministry titles.
But they were disciples.
And disciples mattered.
That truth is still important today.
You don't have to be a pastor, preacher, evangelist, or worship leader for your life to make a difference in God's kingdom. You don't need a title beside your name before God can use you.
Your workplace can be a mission field.
Your neighborhood can be a mission field.
Your family can be a mission field.
Your conversations can become opportunities to represent Jesus.
Your gifts, your experiences, your relationships, and even the ordinary responsibilities of your life can become tools in God's hands.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit: Power for the Assignment
This is where the message becomes deeply personal.
Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses…”
Jesus didn't tell them to rush out and start working in their own strength.
He told them to wait.
There was something they needed first.
Power.
When Pentecost came, Acts 2 tells us that the disciples were together when the Holy Spirit came upon them. They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire resting on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Notice the language:
Each of them.
Not just Peter.
Not just the apostles.
Not just the people with leadership positions.
The Holy Spirit came upon the whole gathering.
Pastor Sawyer made an important distinction: when someone is born again, the Holy Spirit comes to live within that believer. Salvation itself is the work of the Holy Spirit.
But he also described the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a subsequent experience available to every Christian, a clothing with power, anointing, and enablement for the work God has called us to do.
This isn't a spiritual status symbol.
It's not about being better than another Christian.
It's not about proving that you're more spiritual.
It's about recognizing that we need God's power to accomplish God's assignment.
The Holy Spirit Isn't Just for Church Leaders
The power of the Holy Spirit was never intended for a spiritual elite.
The Holy Spirit empowers disciples.
The work of the Holy Spirit and the building of the church are not limited to apostles, pastors, evangelists, or teachers. They are for disciples, ordinary people who have surrendered their lives to Jesus.
That's important because it means the Christian life isn't supposed to be passive.
We aren't simply spectators watching a few gifted people do ministry while the rest of us sit in the audience.
We are the church.
And the church is meant to represent Jesus wherever we go.
The Holy Spirit gives believers the courage, wisdom, gifts, and power necessary to do what God has called us to do.
As Scripture says:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.” , Acts 1:8
The power comes from God.
The assignment belongs to us.
God Has Something for You to Do
Sometimes we talk ourselves out of God's purpose because we think our contribution is too small.
We look at someone else's calling and think, I could never do that.
But God isn't asking you to be someone else.
He's asking you to be faithful with what He has placed in you.
Maybe your calling looks like teaching.
Maybe it's encouraging people.
Maybe it's serving behind the scenes.
Maybe it's caring for children.
Maybe it's leading.
Maybe it's giving.
Maybe it's praying.
Maybe it's reaching people in your workplace who would never walk into a church on their own.
Maybe it's simply being the person who consistently shows up when someone else needs help.
The question isn't, "Why wasn't I given someone else's assignment?"
The better question is:
"God, what have You placed in me, and how can I use it for You?"
That is the heart of discipleship.
“I Was Saved, But I Wanted More”
I don't teach this as something theoretical.
I've experienced it in my own life.
When I was born again, the Holy Spirit came to live in me. Every born-again Christian has the Holy Spirit living in them, not a little bit of Him, but all of Him.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit. We receive Christ, the Holy Spirit moves into our lives, and we are made spiritually alive.
But I discovered that there was a further experience available to me: the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
I had only been saved for about two weeks when I was in a prayer meeting with some brothers. They asked me, "Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?"
I didn't know everything about it, but I knew one thing:
If there was more of God available to me, I wanted it.
I was thankful that I was saved. My life had changed. I knew I was going to heaven.
But when I learned that there was an anointing, an empowerment, an enablement of the Holy Spirit available to me, I wanted that too.
So I asked.
And what happened?
I spoke in tongues, just like the New Testament describes.
I didn't lose my intelligence. I didn't lose my mind. I didn't suddenly get bad theology.
I simply received what Jesus had promised.
And that's why I want to make something very clear: the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a badge of spiritual honor.
It's not about being better than someone else.
It's not about proving that you're more spiritual.
It's about recognizing that I need God's power in my life.
"God, If It's You, I Want It"
My father experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit too, and his story has always meant a lot to me.
My grandmother was one of the early pioneers in the Holy Spirit movement. My dad grew up around that, and honestly, he thought my grandmother had lost her mind.
He wanted nothing to do with it.
But after my dad was saved, he found himself in a church prayer meeting. In those days, men and women often prayed in separate rooms. My dad was in a prayer room with a few other men.
He wasn't sure what to think about all of this.
So he simply prayed:
"God, if it's You, I want it."
He kept praying that.
"God, if it's You, I want it."
As he prayed, one man after another began to pray in tongues. My dad kept praying.
"God, if it's You, I want it."
Eventually, he thought he was the last person in the room who hadn't received.
And then he heard somebody else begin praying in tongues.
He looked around.
And then he realized:
It was him.
God had taken him up on his prayer.
"God, if it's You, I want it."
I love that story because that's really the heart of what I'm trying to communicate.
This isn't something we earn.
It's not something we manipulate.
It's not something we use to compare ourselves with somebody else.
It's simply coming before God with an open heart and saying, "God, I want everything You have for me."
Don't Settle for Counterfeit Power
The world offers plenty of substitutes for what only God can provide.
We chase recognition.
We chase success.
We chase approval.
We look for temporary fixes for things that only the presence of God can truly address.
But the Holy Spirit offers something real.
He gives us genuine joy, courage, conviction, strength, and purpose.
That's why this is challenge to not simply acknowledge the Holy Spirit but to embrace His work in our lives.
We need to stay sensitive to His voice.
We need to spend time in God's Word.
We need to pray.
We need to worship.
We need to remain connected to other believers.
And we need to continually stir up the gifts God has placed within us.
Paul told Timothy:
“Fan into flame the gift of God.” , 2 Timothy 1:6
The fire needs to be tended.
Faith needs to be exercised.
Gifts need to be used.
And disciples need to stay engaged.
We Are Called to Be a Standard
Isaiah 59:19 gives us a powerful picture:
“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.”
The church is called to be that kind of standard.
Not a standard of superiority.
Not a standard of political identity.
Not a standard of division.
But a standard of hope, truth, love, righteousness, and the transforming power of Jesus.
When darkness increases, the church shouldn't disappear.
When confusion increases, the church should bring truth.
When people are hurting, the church should bring compassion.
When people are searching for hope, the church should point them to Jesus.
That's what it means to live as a disciple.
You Are Part of the Story
The Acts of the Disciples reminds us that God's kingdom has always advanced through people who were willing to say yes.
Some were famous.
Many were never named.
Some preached to crowds.
Others ministered to one person at a time.
Some were recognized.
Others served in obscurity.
But every one of them mattered.
And so do you.
You are not merely a church attendee.
You are not simply another face in the crowd.
You are a disciple of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit and placed in this generation for a purpose.
So find your place.
Use your gifts.
Serve someone.
Encourage someone.
Pray for someone.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Step outside your comfort zone.
And when you don't know exactly what to do, start with the simple prayer:
"God, use me."
Because the story of Acts isn't finished.
God is still building His church.
The Holy Spirit is still empowering His people.
And ordinary disciples are still capable of doing extraordinary things.
Your role in the church matters. Your obedience matters. Your faithfulness matters. And your life can become part of what God is doing in this generation.
Comments