Empowerment
Empowerment
Sunday, February 8th, 2026
Pastor Antonio Barboza
The time has come to leave the upper room. Jesus ministered to His disciples in the upper room. There came a time when the disciples had to graduate from the upper room and become apostles to go out and minister. In the second chapter of Acts, the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended, was a day of graduation for the apostles. If you’re saved, you’ve been called to ministry. God has sent us here to be ministers of reconciliation. Our mission is to reconcile the world back to Him. The time has come for the church to transition from preparation to entering a new phase of responsibility and empowerment.
The origin of the word “graduation” comes from the Latin word “gradus,” which means “step.” To move forward with God, you must be willing to take a step of faith. Another word for graduation is commencement. The term refers to the beginning of a graduate’s career. For three and a half years, Jesus taught His disciples. He was crucified, and then He returned from the grave for forty days. Before He ascended back to heaven, He told His disciples to wait on the power of the Holy Spirit. That period of discipleship was preparation for them to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and graduate to apostleship so they could begin ministry. The hardest thing to do in this life is to live righteously, which is why we require empowerment from the Holy Spirit, especially through times of persecution.
Acts 1:4-8
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.”
There are two things the Holy Spirit will do.
#1. Empower you: Renewing you from within, bringing you peace, strengthening you, and helping you to navigate through this Christian life.
#2. The anointing: Helps you to be a witness to the Lord.
Eight things to be empowered:
#1 - Prayer
The most powerful and impactful thing you can do to transform your life is to pray. When you pray, you are praying to someone you cannot see who at times does not respond. You can’t be certain in the moment if He heard you or when the answer will come, yet you are doing so in faith. Prayer is the greatest thing you can do to develop your faith.
II Chronicles 7:14
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
#2 - The Sacrifice of Obedience
Dying to the flesh for the glory of God. Laying down the wants for His love.
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
#3 - The Word
It transforms your mind, and you begin to see the world from a different perspective.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
#4 - Witnessing Souls
Share your faith and your testimony. Demonstrate love and your walk with Christ.
#5 - Have a God Purpose
Engage in an activity in your life that requires sacrifice on your part but does not require any sacrifice from God. Something that is just for God that you get nothing out of.
II Samuel 24:24
Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
#6 - Repentance and Confession
Spend time before the Lord repenting and confessing every day. No one has had a perfect day without sin. Repenting humbles you. The greatest enemy to your walk is pride.
I John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
#7 - Assemble in Fellowship
Being around like-minded believers strengthens you.
Hebrews 10:25
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
#8 - Forgiveness
Without it you are a prisoner of bitterness.
To be empowered, we all need a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit so that we can empower and minister to grow God’s kingdom.
Sunday, February 8th, 2026
Pastor Antonio Barboza
The time has come to leave the upper room. Jesus ministered to His disciples in the upper room. There came a time when the disciples had to graduate from the upper room and become apostles to go out and minister. In the second chapter of Acts, the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended, was a day of graduation for the apostles. If you’re saved, you’ve been called to ministry. God has sent us here to be ministers of reconciliation. Our mission is to reconcile the world back to Him. The time has come for the church to transition from preparation to entering a new phase of responsibility and empowerment.
The origin of the word “graduation” comes from the Latin word “gradus,” which means “step.” To move forward with God, you must be willing to take a step of faith. Another word for graduation is commencement. The term refers to the beginning of a graduate’s career. For three and a half years, Jesus taught His disciples. He was crucified, and then He returned from the grave for forty days. Before He ascended back to heaven, He told His disciples to wait on the power of the Holy Spirit. That period of discipleship was preparation for them to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and graduate to apostleship so they could begin ministry. The hardest thing to do in this life is to live righteously, which is why we require empowerment from the Holy Spirit, especially through times of persecution.
Acts 1:4-8
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.”
There are two things the Holy Spirit will do.
#1. Empower you: Renewing you from within, bringing you peace, strengthening you, and helping you to navigate through this Christian life.
#2. The anointing: Helps you to be a witness to the Lord.
Eight things to be empowered:
#1 - Prayer
The most powerful and impactful thing you can do to transform your life is to pray. When you pray, you are praying to someone you cannot see who at times does not respond. You can’t be certain in the moment if He heard you or when the answer will come, yet you are doing so in faith. Prayer is the greatest thing you can do to develop your faith.
II Chronicles 7:14
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
#2 - The Sacrifice of Obedience
Dying to the flesh for the glory of God. Laying down the wants for His love.
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
#3 - The Word
It transforms your mind, and you begin to see the world from a different perspective.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
#4 - Witnessing Souls
Share your faith and your testimony. Demonstrate love and your walk with Christ.
#5 - Have a God Purpose
Engage in an activity in your life that requires sacrifice on your part but does not require any sacrifice from God. Something that is just for God that you get nothing out of.
II Samuel 24:24
Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
#6 - Repentance and Confession
Spend time before the Lord repenting and confessing every day. No one has had a perfect day without sin. Repenting humbles you. The greatest enemy to your walk is pride.
I John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
#7 - Assemble in Fellowship
Being around like-minded believers strengthens you.
Hebrews 10:25
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
#8 - Forgiveness
Without it you are a prisoner of bitterness.
To be empowered, we all need a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit so that we can empower and minister to grow God’s kingdom.
Recent
Archive
2026
2025
July
November
Categories
no categories
No Comments