Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
Luke 4:14
Jesus is the Man Who demonstrates to you and to me how we should live our lives, for His was a life that was attentive to the Holy Spirit and willingly obeyed God’s Word – a life that prayed in the power of the Spirit and a life that in thought, word, and deed did only those things He heard from God, as led by the Spirit to the honour of the Father. Whatsoever the Lord Jesus said and did was done to the praise and glory of God.
And so empowered, filled, led, and supported by the Holy Spirit, we discover Jesus to be the only Man Who, from the beginning to the end of His life, freely chose to walk in spirit and truth and freely chose to fully submit to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the only Man Who ever lived His life in total dependence upon His heavenly Father – demonstrating to us how God desires all men to live.
by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
Romans 15:19, NIV:
In the previous verse, Paul wrote about what Christ had accomplished through him to bring non-Jewish peoples to obedience to God. Christ had done this by word and deed. Now Paul adds to that explanation. Christ did this work by the power of signs and wonders and by the power of the Spirit of God.
Paul is continuing to show that he cannot take the credit for the transformation that has begun among the Gentile people through faith in Christ. God used supernatural miracles to convince Paul’s listeners that his words and deeds were genuinely of heaven. These miracles included evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power, especially when groups of people believed in Christ and received the Spirit.
Paul understood that none of the results of his ministry were his doing, but also that he was the one who showed up with the message of God’s grace for the Gentiles. That is still the case with ministry today. Believers obey God by showing up to serve in whatever way He has made available, and then He provides the power to do the work. He sends. We go. He accomplishes His purpose through us.
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
This verse serves as a synopsis of the book of Acts. In chapter 2, the 120 or so (Acts 1:15) Jesus-followers will receive the Holy Spirit and be empowered by Him to perform signs and miracles. In chapters 2 through 7, more and more people in Jerusalem will come to know Jesus as their promised Messiah. That message will spread to Judea and Samaria in chapters 8 through 12. The rest of the book is mostly about Paul’s work outside of the Jewish homeland, in modern-day Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece.
Jesus’ work was to establish the means by which God’s people could be saved through His death on the cross and His resurrection. The Holy Spirit’s work is to spread the message that salvation is found in Jesus. As people accept Jesus, they join together in local groups—churches—which are part of the universal church of all believers. Jesus’ work is finished (John 19:30); He must leave for the Holy Spirit to empower God’s followers (Luke 24:49) and continue God’s plan for the world (John 16:7–15). The Holy Spirit will come on Pentecost, about nine days later (Acts 2:1–4).