River of Life Community Church
Sunday, May 24, 2026

      • Acts 1:4NKJV

      • John 15:5NKJV

      • Acts 1:14NKJV

      • Isaiah 40:31NKJV

      • Acts 2:1–4NKJV

      • Acts 1:8NKJV

      • Zechariah 4:6NKJV

  • Called, Connected, and Empowered

    Church, I want to begin with a question:
    Have you ever been completely exhausted doing something you believed God had called you to do?
    Maybe it was serving in ministry. Maybe raising children. Maybe caring for aging parents. Maybe leading worship. Maybe trying to witness to others. Maybe simply trying to live faithfully.
    You prayed. You worked. You pushed. You tried harder.
    But instead of joy there was fatigue. Instead of peace there was frustration. Instead of fruit there was discouragement.
    And somewhere inside, a question formed:
    “If God called me to this… why does it feel impossible?”
    I think many of us quietly live with that tension.
    We love God. We desire to obey. But we begin trying to accomplish spiritual things through natural strength.
    And the book of Acts opens with a surprising truth:
    Jesus never intended His disciples to complete His mission in their own strength.
    Before He sent them—
    He told them to wait.
    Not because they were unprepared. Not because they lacked passion. But because they lacked power.
    Today I want us to see this truth:
    Without relationship with Christ and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we will never fully accomplish what God has called us to accomplish. Human strength eventually produces exhausting failure, but God’s presence produces enduring fruit.

    1. Relationship With Christ Comes Before Assignment

    Acts 1:4 NASB95
    Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;
    Think about this moment.
    Jesus had risen.
    The disciples had witnessed miracles.
    They had walked with Him for years.
    If anyone seemed qualified to begin ministry immediately—it was them.
    Yet Jesus says:
    Wait.
    That should surprise us.
    Because if anyone could have succeeded through experience—
    it would have been these men.
    But Jesus knew something.
    The kingdom of God cannot be advanced by human effort.
    God never intended Christianity to become:
    a better self-help system,
    a stronger moral effort,
    or disciplined religious performance.
    Christianity is life flowing from relationship.
    Jesus taught this long before Acts.
    John 15:5 NASB95
    “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
    Notice Jesus did not say:
    Without Me you can do less.
    Without Me you can struggle.
    Without Me things become harder.
    He said:
    Without Me you can do nothing.
    That is uncomfortable.
    Because we like independence.
    We like measurable effort.
    We like being able to say: “I did this.”
    But Jesus says:
    Fruit comes from abiding.
    Illustration: Imagine plugging a lamp into itself.
    The lamp may be beautiful. The bulb may be new.
    But without connection to power—
    nothing happens.
    Many believers become exhausted because they are trying to draw spiritual life from themselves.
    God never designed us to be the source.
    Church…
    You can attend every service. Read every book. Serve every committee.
    But if relationship with Christ becomes shallow—
    everything else eventually becomes exhausting.

    2. Waiting Is Not Inactivity - It Is Dependence

    Acts 1:14 NASB95
    These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
    The disciples obeyed.
    But notice what waiting looked like.
    Prayer.
    Unity.
    Expectation.
    Seeking.
    Waiting is difficult because it feels unproductive.
    But waiting in scripture is not doing nothing.
    Waiting means:
    “I refuse to move ahead of God.”
    How many times do we do the opposite?
    We become anxious.
    We feel pressure.
    We rush.
    Then ask God to bless what we already started.
    But these disciples remained together seeking God.
    Because they understood:
    Promise requires dependence.
    Isaiah 40:31 NASB95
    Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
    Renew.
    Not manufacture.
    Renew.
    God supplies what we cannot create.
    Refection: What have you been trying to accomplish in your own strength?
    Serving?
    Healing relationships?
    Growing spiritually?
    Fighting temptation?
    Trying harder may not be the answer.
    Perhaps God is inviting you to wait.
    Not quit.
    Wait.
    Seek.
    Receive.

    3. The Holy Spirit Empowers What God Calls

    Acts 2:1–4 NASB95
    When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
    Everything changes here.
    Same disciples.
    Same personalities.
    Same backgrounds.
    But now—
    different power.
    Peter is transformed.
    Days earlier he denied Christ.
    Now he preaches publicly.
    What happened?
    The Holy Spirit.
    This is important:
    The Holy Spirit did not make Peter smarter.
    He empowered Peter.
    Acts 1:8 NASB95
    but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
    Power.
    Not confidence.
    Not charisma.
    Power.
    God’s ability operating through surrendered people.
    Some believers think:
    “If I just become stronger spiritually…”
    But scripture teaches:
    You become stronger by surrender.
    You become fruitful through dependence.
    You become effective through abiding.
    Illustration: Think about trying to row across a lake.
    You can eventually move.
    But you become exhausted.
    Now imagine raising a sail.
    The wind carries what your arms could never sustain.
    The Holy Spirit is not a small boost to our effort.
    He is the power behind the movement.

    4. Human Strength Exhausts - Gods Presence Sustains

    Church, many of us know what spiritual exhaustion feels like.
    You keep trying.
    You keep giving.
    You keep carrying.
    But inwardly—
    you feel empty.
    Listen carefully.
    Exhaustion is not always from doing too much.
    Sometimes exhaustion comes from trying to carry what only God was meant to carry.
    Zechariah 4:6 NASB95
    Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.
    God’s kingdom advances differently.
    Not through striving.
    Not through pressure.
    Not through performance.
    But through His Spirit.
    The disciples changed the world—
    not because they were extraordinary.
    But because ordinary people became completely dependent on God.
    Closing:
    Jesus never told His disciples:
    Go change the world immediately.
    He said:
    Wait.
    Receive.
    Then go.
    Relationship first.
    Empowerment second.
    Mission third.
    Maybe today God is not asking you to do more.
    Maybe He is asking you to come closer.
    Maybe He is saying:
    Stop striving.
    Abide.
    Stop carrying.
    Receive.
    Stop depending on yourself.
    Wait for My promise.
    Invitation:
    Ask:
    Where have you become exhausted?
    Where have you been serving without abiding?
    Where have you been trying to force what God wants to empower?
    Invite the church to pray:
    “Jesus, I confess that I have depended on myself more than You. Draw me back into relationship with You. Fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit. Teach me to wait, trust, and walk in the power You provide. Let my life bear fruit that only comes through You. Amen.”
River of Life Community Church
rolccmn1@gmail.com
763-321-6509
http://www.rolcc.info/live/
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