Arriola declares prayer, Holy Spirit are power to save during chapel message

Prayer and the Holy Spirit are the power to move and save, preached Julio Arriola, director of the SEND Network with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, during his Nov. 17 chapel message at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College. 

Matt Queen, associate dean of the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, professor of evangelism, and the L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism (“Chair of Fire”), introduced Arriola by saying, “This is a man that is filled with the Spirit of God and he’s going to preach the Word to us.”

Arriola expressed gratefulness for the opportunity to preach in chapel and said it was an “honor to be at his alma mater,” where he, his wife, and his wife’s grandparents graduated. His wife’s grandparents went on to have a long ministry as missionaries and church planters in Mexico.  

Arriola and his family have made several moves throughout the years that took them to various places and landed back in Texas again this past June. He described the scorching heat and explained that he chose a company to put solar panels on his roof and was glad to have lower electricity bills all summer. His brother-in-law, Joshua, also put solar panels on his house but used a different company. However, several months passed and Joshua’s home still did not have power from the solar panels. They finally discovered the panels were not connected to the power source. 

“The solar panels were the same size and the same kind, but they were not connected,” Arriola observed.

He paralleled the power of the sun to the power of the Son, Jesus Christ.

“We have all that we need to experience the Son’s power in our lives, our families and in our churches,” said Arriola. “The reason that we go through powerless seasons in our lives is because we rely on the systems, strategies, technology and we go through the motions and forget that in order for us to experience the powerful, comparable, immeasurable, irresistible, unstoppable power of God, we need to be connected to the source – which is Jesus.”

Using Acts 1:8 as his main text, Arriola explained that “the power of God through the Holy Spirit is evident throughout the Old and New Testament. Jesus promised that the same power that moved in creation, the same power that brought Jesus back from death to life is available to His church. 

“The Spirit of God now dwells in us, lives within, us and we have all we need to experience the power of God in us,” Arriola exclaimed. Arriola asked the assembly, “Why is it, that we don’t” experience His power? 

First, Arriola encouraged the assembly to become men and women of prayer. “That power in the early church is the same power we have available today in our lives, in our church, and also the same purpose of that power exists today,” he said. He challenged the audience to “get out of their comfort zones” and “be witnesses of the mighty saving grace of Jesus to a world that is lost and condemned to hell.” He reminded the assembly that “the wages of sin is still death, eternal separation from God – the author of life. Jesus has come to give us eternal life.”

Second, “a church that isn’t connected to the power source cannot remain the same. A church that is experiencing the power of the presence of God within them will be moved to compassion for the lostness that exists around them,” Arriola said. He urged the assembly to desire the “power to go.” He noted approximately 20 million people in Texas—two-thirds of the population—are spiritually lost.  

He referenced Luke 10:2, and Jesus’s words that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, and “praised the Lord for the students that are here answering God’s call.”

Arriola told the seminary community they will know they are “connected to the power source” and “experience God’s power in His presence if they are moved to action,” which will lead them to “go,” “send,” and “share the Gospel.” 

Of utmost importance, Arriola said, “revival in our church will happen when we fast, when we pray, and when we go.” 

“Winning the battle wearing the full armor of God,” as described in Ephesians 6:10-20, “is only possible, when we pray in the Spirit and when we pray in His presence. We cannot win the spiritual battles without prayer even if are wearing the full armor, because the armor is powered when we pray in the Spirit,” he said. 

Arriola proclaimed that “we desperately need to pray and fast seeking God’s presence. What sets us apart is the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us and that we can live lives full of the power of God. When the church prays and fasts like they did in Acts 13, the church will experience power and that power moves the church into action.”

Arriola has been director of the SEND Network with the Southern Baptist Texas Convention since 2021. Before that, he was the executive director of Hispanic relations and mobilization with the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in religion from Liberty University, a Master of Theological Studies from Southwestern Seminary, and is pursuing doctoral studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Arriola’s entire sermon can be viewed here.

Chapel is held every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10 a.m. (CT) in MacGorman Chapel on the campus of Southwestern Seminary and TBC. Chapel may be viewed live at swbts.live.