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The Holy Spirit works
within God's Word of the Promise
<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 ends of the earth.'"
Is the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit
a gift from God or is it given due
to efforts on one's own behalf?
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It is a gift given
to the person who receives
the forgiveness of his sins, and contains
the meaning of the fulfillment
of God's promise.
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Once I had the experience of receiving
flames of something like the Holy Spirit through prayer. But these
flames didn't last long, and soon died out in the face of accumulated
sin. However, now I want to show you the truth about the Holy Spirit,
which will dwell in us for eternity, not through the false Spirit
easily extinguished by sin, but through the true gospel. The Holy
Spirit I will now introduce to you through this message is not something
that you can receive through prayers, but only through faith in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
| [1] The Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of the born-again,
who have been forgiven for all their sins by believing
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Once He comes
into a saint, He resides in him forever, and never leaves
him as long as he believes in the gospel. He gives conviction
to the saints, leads them to know God's will in the Bible,
strengthens them to overcome the temptations and difficulties
inherent in this world, and lets them bear the fruits
of the Spirit in abundance. God glorifies the body of
the saint as the temple of God through the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39, John 14:16, 16:8-10,
1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, Galatians 5:22-23). |
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I want to lead you to receive 1the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit through this book. You will realize
that the Holy Sprit inspires the message I'm delivering to you.
It's God's absolute desire for us to receive the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit at this time. You can learn about the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit and receive it through this one book. If this book
is not enough for you, I advise you to read the two books published
by me previously. You will have received perfect faith before God
through these books.
Many Christians are trying to receive
the Holy Spirit as if He descended on Jesus' disciples on the Day
of the Pentecost. Some people have earned great sums of money by
exploiting this method. They pretend that the Holy Spirit is something
that can be obtained through human effort. They want to have visions,
perform miracles, hear Jesus' own voice, speak in tongues, heal
diseases and cast out demons. However, they have sin in their hearts,
and are under the influence of evil spirits (Ephesians 2:1-2). Even
now many people continue to live without knowing that they are under
the power of evil spirits. That is why Satan lures and deceives
people using all kinds of methods such as wonders and miracles that
are really just illusions.
Jesus ordered His disciples "not
to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father"(Acts
1:4). The receiving of the Holy Spirit revealed in Acts is not
through "experience," "devotion" or "prayers
of repentance," but through "waiting for God's promise"
to give the Holy Spirit to them. What we should learn from this
passage is that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit doesn't happen
through the desperate prayers of men. It is God's gift, which can
only be obtained through complete faith in the beautiful gospel
of the water and the Spirit, which the Father God and Jesus Christ
gave to mankind. The true indwelling of the Holy Spirit happens
through faith in the gospel that Jesus Christ gave us. God gave
us truth of the water and the Spirit so that we could receive the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 John 3:3-5).
The phrase "the Promise of the
Holy Spirit" appears many times in the New Testament. Peter
says in his sermon (Acts 2:38-39) on the baptism of the Holy Spirit
on the Day of Pentecost, "It is God's promise to give the Holy
Spirit to those who receive the forgiveness of sins as a result
of believing in the beautiful gospel."
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
is a gift given to those who receive the forgiveness of their sins,
and contains the meaning of the fulfillment of God's promise. The
Holy Spirit in the New Testament is not something that can be obtained
through the compromise between God and men, but is a promised gift
from God. Therefore, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as revealed
in Acts, is not something that can be obtained through prayer (Acts
8:19-20).
The Holy Spirit comes upon only those
who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that Jesus
gave us. Jesus promised His disciples to send the Holy Spirit so
that they could have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. "For
John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5). So His
disciples waited for the fulfillment of God's promise.
By looking at the beliefs of those
in the Bible who received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we
realize that it happened not through their efforts but by the will
of God. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit that came upon the disciples
in Acts did not happen on the basis of human endeavor or spiritual
achievement.
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon
His disciples, as it was written in Acts, soon came true. It was
just as Jesus had said, "not many days from now." This
was the first blessing at the time of the early church. By looking
at the Scriptures, we can see that God's promise was not fulfilled
through fasting, prayers or self-sacrifice, but through faith in
Jesus. After Jesus' Ascension, believers received the forgiveness
of sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the same time.
The Holy Spirit came on Jesus'
disciples suddenly from Heaven!
"When the Day of Pentecost
had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place"
(Acts 2:1). Jesus' disciples
gathered together as they waited for the fulfillment of God's promise
to send them the Holy Spirit. And Holy Spirit finally came upon
them.
"And suddenly there came a
sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the
whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them
divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:2-4).
The Holy Spirit came on them "suddenly
from Heaven." Here the word "suddenly" means that
it was done not through human will. In addition, the phrase "from
Heaven" explains where the Holy Spirit came from, and also
counters the idea that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can be
obtained through human will or effort. The phrase "from Heaven"
shows that saying the Holy Spirit could be obtained through prayers
is a fraudulent claim.
In other words, saying that the Holy
Spirit came suddenly from Heaven means that the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit does not happen through earthly means, such as speaking
in tongues or self-sacrifice. Jesus' disciples at first spoke in
tongues to preach the beautiful gospel to the people from every
nation. The reason for this was to allow them to preach the gospel
to foreign language speaking Jews in their own language through
the help of the Holy Spirit. People from every nation heard the
speaking tongues of the disciples in their own language, even though
most of the disciples were from Galilee.
"Then there appeared to them
divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:3-4).
Here we should pay special attention to the phrase, the Holy Spirit
"sat upon each of them." The disciples, waiting for the
coming of the Holy Spirit in one place, already believed in the
gospel of being born again of water and the Spirit.
Many Christians nowadays misunderstand
this part of the passage, believing that the coming of the Holy
Spirit occurs with a sound like the blowing of the wind while they
are praying. However, this is a misunderstanding about the Holy
Spirit that arises from ignorance and confusion. Does the Holy Spirit
make such sounds when He comes upon people? No, He doesn't.
What people hear with their ears are
sounds that Satan makes when he devours people's souls. He makes
these sounds when he works with illusions, mimic voices and false
miracles in efforts to plunge people into confusion by pretending
to be the Holy Spirit. People mistake these things for evidence
of the coming of the Holy Spirit. People also think that the Holy
Spirit comes with a "Suihhh~" sound like that of mighty
wind. They are being deluded by demons. The coming of the Holy Spirit
as recorded in Acts was achieved only through faith in the beautiful
gospel.
Peter's faith (1 Peter 3:21)
was perfect enough to allow him to receive the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit
By embossing the incidents of first
Pentecost in Acts 2, God wants to emphasize the truth that the Holy
Spirit came on them because they already believed in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. But people usually think of "Pentecost"
as the time when the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven with some
supernatural signs and tumultuous clamor.
That is why nowadays in revival meetings,
it is believed that one can receive the Holy Spirit through frenetic
prayers, fasting, or the laying on of hands. Phenomena such as demon
possession, falling unconscious, falling into a trance for several
days, or shivering uncontrollably are not works of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is rational being
and doesn't disregard man's personality. He does not behave insolently
toward man because He is Person God who possesses intelligence,
emotion and will. He comes on people only when they believe in the
words of the gospel of the water and the Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Peter testified that the Holy Spirit
had come upon the disciples as the prediction of the prophet Joel.
It was the fulfillment of God's promise, which said that the Holy
Spirit would fall on those who receive the remission of their sins.
In other words, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is given to those
who believe in the truth that Jesus was baptized by John and crucified
in order to save all mankind from their sins. Peter's sermon, along
with Joel's prophecy, shows us that we need to know why Jesus was
baptized and why we have to believe in it. Knowing this truth leads
Christians to receive the Holy Spirit.
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Do you believe in the beautiful gospel
that Peter testifies to? (1 Peter 3:21) Or do you still have useless
and superstitious beliefs irrelevant to the beautiful gospel? Do
you try to receive the Holy Spirit through your own doing regardless
of God's plans? Even if someone believes in God and offers prayers
of repentance in hope of washing away their sins, there is no other
way to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit other than by believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Are you still waiting for the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit, despite having no knowledge of the gospel of
the water and the Spirit? Do you know the true meaning of the baptism
of Jesus and His blood on the Cross, which causes the Holy Spirit
to dwell in your heart? You should know that the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit is possible only when you believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. The true indwelling of the Holy Spirit can
be allowed only to those who believe in the beautiful gospel of
the water and the Spirit. We thank God for giving us His gospel
of the water and the Spirit, which lets us receive the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit.
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