EMPOWERED

Our anchor Scripture for 2026 is both a promise and a plan.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses...”
Acts 1:8

This is power with purpose. The purpose is to witness. To carry the presence, truth, and hope of Jesus into every space we inhabit. To tell the story His story. To live as bold, credible ambassadors of the gospel in a watching world. But notice the sequence: first power, then witness. Jesus doesn’t say “go immediately.” He says, “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

Why? Because witness is not self-generated. It flows from the life of the Spirit within us. A life formed in hidden places before it ever becomes visible in, and to, the world.

The early disciples did not move from Jesus’ resurrection to local and global mission overnight. Previously, they had been apprenticed in they way, and by, Jesus. They were strengthened in secret to be strong in His story. They had learned to rest, to pray, too fast and feast, to listen, to dwell in the Scriptures, to receive grace around a shared table, strengthening for what was to come at Pentecost. These weren’t spiritual accessories. They were the foundations of their authority, clarity, and power. And from Pentecost onwards, the power they received was sustained by the practices Jesus had already formed in them.

This series Empowered, invites Hope Presbyterian into that same journey. It is not about doing more, trying harder, or performing better. It is about allowing the Holy Spirit to form, and strengthen within us the life of Christ, so that when the moment comes to speak, to act, to move, to stand, to love, what overflows is not effort, but Christ’s grace.

Empowerment is not just the lightning-bolt moment or event. That moment matters and it is to be a catalyst of moving Gods people out and into action. However, it must be sustained by the daily, often hidden, strengthening in Christ. This is what fuels a long obedience in the same direction. This is how we endure with boldness, compassion, resilience, and credibility in a culture of spiritual exhaustion and hurried faith.

In Acts 4:13, when the religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and realised, they were untrained, ordinary men, they were astonished “and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

That is our aim. To be with Him. To be strengthened and formed by Him. To be filled with the Spirit, not just for the mountain-top moment, but for the long walk of witness in the everyday.

From hidden formation to public faith. From quiet trust to courageous obedience. From invisible roots to visible fruit. This is not performance. This is Jesus made visible. This is empowerment that endures.