1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[ For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
BIG IDEA: The Holy Spirit meets believers with power and process.
PROCESS
Patient consistency is sometimes the path to personal breakthrough.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
POWER
The power of the Holy Spirit sometimes trumps process.
(Acts 4:8, 13 ESV) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to them, “Rulers of the people and elders”…Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.”
(Acts 4:31 ESV) And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
(Acts 6:5, 8, 10) Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit… performed great wonders and signs among the people…and they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
(Acts 7:55 NASB) But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
(Acts 11:24) [Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
(Acts 13:9) Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said . . .
PROCESS AND POWER
Following Jesus requires attention to process and an expectation of powerful intervention.
(2 Timothy 1:7 NLT) For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
(Luke 24:49) “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”