After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep core drillers to save humanity.
I love that! And the reason I love it is that it sounds a lot like the church Jesus started. I would summarize His idea for the church in this way…
After revealing that humanity was utterly and hopelessly lost to sin and doomed forever, Jesus recruited a misfit team of fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots to save humanity.
In other words, after Jesus died for sin and rose again from the grave, He commissioned a ragtag bunch of guys to go change the world by carrying the message of the gospel to every creature on earth. Just as the professionally trained astronauts in Armageddon scoffed at the idea that a bunch of oil drillers could save the world, so we would probably evaluate Jesus’ plan as a little on the insane side.
Here’s what we miss though. Jesus didn’t just select these men, train them, and then commission them. He did one more HUGE thing that made all the difference. He endowed them with immeasurable power through the Holy Spirit.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8 (NIV)
The odds would be a million-to-one against the success of the mission Jesus gave His disciples were it not for this one detail: The awesome, almighty Creator of all things, the sovereign ruler of the universe has Himself taken up residence in them and is empowering them to fulfill this otherwise impossible calling. And because God, the great equation-changer, has been willing to empower the church ever since, the world is different and millions have been saved.
The Holy Spirit is already here working, already indwelling the life of every believer in Jesus. We simply need to accept and access the power He offers to us on a moment-by-moment basis.
