// Session 09 · Matt Chewning · Intentional in Sharing the Gospel
Power for
Mission
Jesus did not leave us with a task and walk away. He left us with a promise: you will receive power. The question is whether we are positioned to receive it — and what we do when we are.
// Main Point · Acts 1:1–8
To have power for mission,
you must be full of the Holy Spirit.
This is not a motivational statement — it is a description of how mission actually works. The disciples were not sent out on willpower, strategy, or personality. They were sent out on power from above. The same is true for us. You cannot give what you do not have, and you cannot sustain a witness on empty.
Acts 1 is the hinge between the Gospels and the mission. Jesus is ascending. The disciples are standing there asking about the kingdom of Israel. And Jesus redirects them: the timeline is not yours to know — but the power is yours to receive.
From Follow
to Go
Jesus does not issue the Great Commission as a surprise — it is the fulfillment of everything He invited the disciples into from the beginning. When He first called them on the shore of Galilee, the call was "follow me." The destination of that following was always "go."
You cannot understand Acts 1 without reading it in the arc that starts at Matthew 4. The invitation to follow was always an invitation to be sent. The commission is not a new assignment — it is the arrival at the destination that "follow me" was always heading toward.
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew 4:19 · ESV
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Matthew 28:19 · ESV
// Matthew 4:18–22
The First Call
Jesus calls fishermen from their nets. "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left everything and followed. The mission begins with an invitation to follow — not to go yet, but to come.
// Matthew 28:16–20
The Great Commission
After the resurrection, Jesus issues the commission: all authority belongs to Him, so go — make disciples, baptize, teach. The call has evolved from "follow" to "go." And the promise: "I am with you always, to the end of the age."
// John 20:19–22
Sent and Breathed On
Doors locked. Disciples afraid. Jesus appears and speaks peace — then sends them. "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And He breathed on them: "Receive the Holy Spirit." The sending comes with the Spirit.
// Acts 1:1–8
Wait, Then Go
Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. Not yet — but soon. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses." The sequence is clear: Spirit first, witness second.
// The Central Verse · Acts 1:8
You Will Be
My Witnesses
Acts 1:8 is not just a command — it is a map. Jesus defines both the power source and the geographic scope of the mission in a single sentence. The witness starts where you are and expands outward to the end of the earth. No stage is skipped. No circle is optional.
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Jerusalem
Your immediate context. Your home, neighborhood, workplace, campus. The mission begins where you live. Witness starts local — with the people already in your life.
Judea
The surrounding region. Your city, your county, the communities around you. The gospel does not stay in one neighborhood — it moves through networks and regions.
Samaria
The cross-cultural, uncomfortable reach. Samaria was the place Jews avoided. Witness includes going to people unlike you — across cultural, social, and relational barriers.
Ends of the Earth
The global mission. Every tribe, tongue, and nation. The witness does not stop at comfortable borders. It reaches until everyone has heard — wherever that takes us.
// Ephesians 5:17–19 · The Ongoing Command
Be Filled
with the Spirit
Acts 1:8 promises power when the Spirit comes. But Ephesians 5 gives us the ongoing imperative — not just a one-time filling, but a continuous posture of being filled. The Greek verb is present continuous: keep being filled. This is not a past event to remember. It is a present practice to maintain.
// Ephesians 5:17–19 · ESV
"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart."
Paul places two things side by side: being drunk with wine versus being filled with the Spirit. Both involve a kind of surrender of control — but to very different things. One clouds. One clarifies. One diminishes. One empowers. The call is clear: surrender control to the Spirit, not to substances.
// Debauchery
Surrendering to something that takes over from the outside in. Control handed to a substance. The result is clouded judgment, diminished capacity, and a life pulled away from mission.
// Filled with the Spirit
Surrendering to Someone who works from the inside out. Control yielded to the Spirit. The result is clarity, power, and a life increasingly aligned with the mission of God.
// Practical // How to Live as a Witness
What Witness
Looks Like
A witness does not need a perfect argument or a ministry platform. A witness is simply someone who tells what they have seen and experienced. Here is how to position yourself for that kind of life.
01
Stay Full
You cannot give what you do not have. The most important thing you can do for your witness is stay filled. Word, Spirit, prayer, community — these are how you stay full. An empty lamp does not give light, no matter how good the lampshade looks.
02
Start in Jerusalem
Acts 1:8 starts local. Do not bypass the people already in your life to find some abstract mission field. Your coworkers, your roommates, your family, your neighbors — these are your Jerusalem. Start there. Be faithful there before God expands the circle.
03
Tell What You Have Seen
A witness testifies to what is true from their own experience. You do not need to win a theological debate — you need to tell your story. What has Jesus done in your life? What changed? That testimony is your most unassailable evidence.
04
Pray Before You Go
The disciples were told to wait before they went. Waiting was not inactivity — it was preparation. Before every conversation, every relationship, every opportunity — ask the Spirit to go before you. The witness that lasts is the one that begins in prayer.
05
Cross the Uncomfortable Line
Samaria was the uncomfortable reach. For you it might be a conversation you have been avoiding, a person you have written off, or a culture different from your own. The gospel crosses barriers — and so must the people who carry it.