Activate Series (Part 1)

Title: Activate - How Am I Activated?
Text: Various Scriptures

Introduction.
Every single Christian has been activated. We have been activated through the transforming power of God and His Spirit to live a new life abiding in his abundant promise of grace, mercy, and love. We have all been called to go make disciples and preach the gospel everyday, being empowered and anointed by the Holy Spirit.

There are things in life that have specific properties or functions that cause stuff to activate. We all can think of things we have to do by ourselves to make things activate. We have to turn on, set off, convert, take care of, and create spontaneous materials. However, for something to activate, there must be a catalyst. The catalyst is what creates the activation.

1. Cell Phone – You have to have someone from the network activate your phone.
2. Baking Soda and Vinegar – You have to mix the right ingredients and you will have two different properties activate into a foaming chemical reaction (remember those science projects!).
3. Concrete – You have to let the cement cure in a process called hydration so the cement will settle. The American Heritage Dictionary says Activate means, “To put in motion; to cause function or act. To make things active or more active.”

This is precisely what God desires to do to all men; activate them into a saving and sanctifying relationship with the Son of God, Jesus Christ. We are going to discussed how we are activated. But if we are going to discuss how were activated, then that means we need to know who activates us, and how do we get activated. Then once were activated, what we can do.

We are going to study three important things:
I. The Activator
II. The Activation
III. The Activated

I. The Activator.
The Activator is God, the Triune God. Only through Him can we be changed and transformed by his grace, through faith in Christ. It is through the power of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit that can regenerate, reconcile, and redeem a lost soul. That is the power that God fully contains and was able to conquer the grave. It is a supernatural occurrence by God and through God alone. I love this decree by the psalmist. Psalm 62:11 declares, “THE POWER BELONGS TO GOD!”

Each person of the Trinity is gives life:
A. God the Father. “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life.” (1 John 5:11)

B. God the Son. "As you have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.” (John 17:2) “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

C. God the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4)

The power of the Trinity raising Christ from the dead:
A. God the Father “And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.” (1 Corinthians 6:14)

B. God the Son. Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)

C. God the Holy Spirit. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)

II. The Activation.
The word of God is absolutely definitive on how to be saved. The Bible says you MUST be born again. Jesus speaking to Nicodemus and says “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.” (John 3:3,7)

The Salvation Formula for Activation: Believe + Receive = Become “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12)

A. Believe. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” (John 6:47) “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

B. Receive. “And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11) “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

C. Become. “Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” (Romans 6:22) “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

III. The Activated.
The believer who has placed their faith in Christ is now activated to be empowered and anointed. After they place their faith in Christ, they can now be used in a mighty way through the power of the Holy Spirit. Hey guys and gals, this is us right now. We are these believers who have been activated. Going over all of this doctrine about how we are activated is important so we know what God has done, is doing, and plans on accomplishing.

A. Empowering. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

B. Anointed. “The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel…” (Luke 4:18)

Wrapping Up.
God is the Activator, who is the Giver of all life and of all power unto salvation. The Lord is the only one who can do such a supernatural thing.

God generates Activation, only by being born again through faith in Christ. It is only possible to activate through the sovereign grace God provides to save and adopt you into the family of God.

Therefore, we are the Activated. He enables us with the Holy Spirit as a child of God and allows us to serve and live life with God’s presence, power, and provision everywhere we go. We need to live that type of life, so wherever we go the active word is flowing in and out of our conduct and character.

There is a song called “Activate” by Stellar Kart that really explains the whole purpose to activate:

"Here's the plan,
I think i got it made,
Life is easy,
When you're sitting in the shade,
Not too hot not too cold,
Now i'm nervous,
And i've come undone,
My head is spinning like the earth,
Around the sun,
I feel you drawing me away,
From my complacency,
I think i'm ready to go,
Don't stop 'til everybody knows,
This is the purpose of my life,
This is, the reason i'm alive,
Don't have time to wait,
Activate, activate,
There's a world out there in need,
Now is the time for you and me,
Before it gets too late,
Activate, activate,
Make a move,
'cause talk is really cheap,
You'll never start a revolution,
In your sleep,
Showing love to everyone is what,
It's all about,
One by one everyone activate.”

Getting ready for H.S. Camp makes me more aware of how God has activated us to be powerful tools in helping Him build His kingdom one person at a time.