Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believed? Acts 19:1-7, NIV While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Introduction Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believed?” which was the question of the Apostle Paul. About 94 years ago in 1906 an historic Pentecostal revival meeting took place in Azusa Street, Los Angeles. It was led by William J. Seymour, an African American preacher of a shabby church. Leaving aside large scale churches of white people who were usually well educated, the Holy Spirit was poured upon an African American pastor who was held in contempt. The Holy Spirit Movement rapidly spread like fire in the 20th century. Today nobody can ignore, but only testify to the impact of that movement. That dramatic revival points us back to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost 2000 years ago. Since the Holy Spirit came upon the people, they preached the Good News in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Through this Holy Spirit, God founded the early church. In the 20th century, God poured His Spirit upon churches again in order to let them grow and be prepared for the coming of Jesus who will lead them into heaven. Today the world has its last hope in the Holy Spirit Movement. In the Scripture the Apostle Paul asked “Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believed?” The Holy Spirit came to us to accomplish God’s word. If we do not acknowledge who the Holy Spirit is, we can not realize the work of God among us. 1. The Holy Spirit who is triune God First, who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a member of triune God. God is one, but in Him there is the Trinity. The Trinity consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is mystery beyond our human experience. The Father God, the Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. Matthew 28:19 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Genesis 1:1-2?says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It was God the Father, the Creator of universe. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” As God created the heavens and earth, the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters. And Jesus Christ was working as the word of God. The period of the New Testament was an age of the Son. Acts 10:38 says, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” It was Jesus who was at work, but behind all his doing God was with him empowering him through the Holy Spirit. Since the Pentecost, it has been an age of the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters! In what age do you live? We are the generation who came after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We are in the era of the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit works on the frontline while Jesus Christ and God work behind the Spirit. The Spirit teaches us about the Father and the Son. Without the Holy Spirit nobody can know the Father or the Son. We are living in the era of the Holy Spirit who is a member of triune God. Would you please repeat after me? We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is here. Therefore if we acknowledge Him, welcome Him, receive Him, and rely on Him having fellowship with Him, He will let us know about the Father God and Jesus. And through Him we receive the grace of God and the love of Jesus. We need to spiritually interact with the Holy Spirit. There is God’s grace for us, but only through the Holy Spirit we can experience that grace. Without His work, we cannot realize the love of Jesus. In this era of the Holy Spirit our church has grown. Yoido Full Gospel church has experienced His working power. The explosive church growth was a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. We only have acknowledged, welcomed, and relied on Him. It was not the work of human power or our ability. John 15:26?says, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” After Jesus died, was resurrected and ascended to heaven; the Holy Spirit came to us to be with us. We are living in the incredible era of the Holy Spirit who witnesses of the Father and the Son. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot know who the Father God and the Son Jesus really are. Only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit can we be filled with the presence of God the Father and His Son Jesus. I have been a minister for more than 50 years and always prayed like this. “Fill me, oh Holy Spirit! Come to me like wind and living water and fill me up.” And whenever I come up to pulpit I would pray, “Let’s go Holy Spirit!” Since the Pentecost the Holy Spirit works on the frontline while Jesus Christ and God work behind the Spirit. You would ask yourselves why our church, why we, don’t drive out demons. In the early church the sick got well and cripples walked. But why do we not witness the miraculous healing power of God anymore? It is because we do not ask the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit Jesus will be revealed. But if we do not acknowledge and welcome nor receive and rely on him, how could we suppose to expect his working power among us? We are told that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. But why can’t we see the work of the same Jesus today? It is because the work of the Holy Spirit hasn’t been activated. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can accomplish God’s work. 2. Being born-again and baptism with the Holy Spirit Second, we need to discern between being born-again and baptism with the Holy Spirit In Scripture we read the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. He was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and asked him a question. He knew Jesus was special. He heard Jesus drove out demons and healed the sick. Miracles and wonders were performed by him. Nicodemus could not understand how Jesus did all those miraculous signs. How can it be? He came and asked the Lord how. John 3:3-6 says, “In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ It sounds hard to understand. Nicodemus asked him, “How can a man be born again?” And the Lord answered, “He should be born of water and the Spirit.” Nicodemus became more perplexed. ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!’ He would have thought, “I am already a gray-headed old man. How can I enter into my mother’s womb to be born? How can I be reborn?” At that moment Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.’ ” Brothers and Sisters! We all should be born again. To be born again means to be transformed into the image of Christ. It is only possible by the faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and was resurrected for us. Through the power of the resurrection we can be transformed into a new person. Not by our own efforts and methods of this world can we become born again. The experience of being born again can be realized only between God and me. Neither by your power nor strength can you be saved. But by believing in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to you and makes you born again. He forms you into a new person. It is impossible by your own power. It is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit when you believe in Jesus. Therefore the work of the Holy Spirit is extremely important to our salvation. The Holy Spirit comes to you filling you with Jesus’ life of resurrection. Into your body enters the life of the Holy Spirit in order to let you get the holy life. What is born in the Holy Spirit is spiritual. Once you were flesh, but since the Holy Spirit is in you he is changing you into a spirit and you become a spiritual person. There is one more process. A spiritual person should receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded his disciples not to leave Jerusalem but wait for the Holy Spirit who would be sent by him. Jesus said, “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Everyone who believes in Jesus, who calls him Lord, should be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1-4?says, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” As one of the signs of the baptism of the Holy Spirit people speak in tongues. Would those of you who speak in tongues raise your hands, please? Wow! Wonderful! People who receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit can speak in tongues. We cannot make it up. Scripture tells us “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26) Sometimes, even among Christians, there are people who ask, “Why do we need to speak in tongues?” But there are times when we need to speak in tongues. When we pray in tongues, God prays for us directly. I have benefited from praying in tongues and appreciated it. And then when we are in the fullness of the Holy Spirit we will begin to bear spiritual fruits. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7?tells us, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” When the Holy Spirit comes to you, he will not just stay in you. Through you, He will be revealed. There are gifts of revelation. Please repeat after me. They are the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, and distinguishing between spirits. Among you there are people who are full of the Holy Spirit who have received one of those gifts of revelation. If you are granted with the message of wisdom, you can find solutions to difficult problems. It is not human wisdom, which can be taught in school, but heavenly wisdom which God grants you in a wonderful way to solve the problems. God shows you through the message of knowledge what is concealed. With the gift of the message of knowledge, you know what to do because God shows you the way. And the gift of distinguishing between spirits will enable you to discern between works by the Holy Spirit and by demons. You may know whether a person is demon possessed or not. You would even know the name of a demon which you are confronting. When the gifts of revelation is upon our church today, through the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, and distinguishing between spirits; the spiritual world will be known to us and wonderful works will take place. 1 Corinthians 12:11?says, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” Therefore we are asking the same Spirit for the gifts like the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge; by means of the same Spirit for gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in different kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10). God answers to the one who asks. If you are not asking, He will not give you anything. We must ask him. If you want to receive special gifts from God, ask Him; “God, please give me the message of wisdom. I need the message of knowledge. I need to distinguish between spirits. Please give me these gifts.” God will grant you the gifts and then take it away. Sometimes it is not always with you. If you need it later, you could ask for it again. Otherwise you would say, “Ah! God gave me this wisdom. I became a genius.” No, the wisdom you received was given when you needed it. There are special moments when you need God’s knowledge. And distinguishing between spirits is also given to you when it is necessary. Now we know there are nine gifts of God and in our everyday life we can ask God to have a powerful life of faith through it. And there are fruits of the Holy Spirit. Let’s see what Scripture says about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23?says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” The scripture is talking about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. These fruits don’t come from our efforts but from the grace of God. God will change the one who used to have no love into a person who bears the fruit of love. A gloomy heart will turn into a joyful heart. The one who has trembled in fear will have peace in his heart. God will give enduring patience to the one who is lacking in patience. He will put a heart of compassion into the heart of the one who used to have no pity. He will change an evil mind into a good mind. He will change a betraying heart into a faithful heart. He will grant us a soft and self-controlled heart. All we need to do is ask God for these fruits. Especially while we are living in this world, we should pray fervently to God in order to bear fruits of love, joy and peace. What else would we desire if our hearts were bearing fruits of love, enjoying fullness of joy and peace? In that condition, a heart of patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control will naturally follow us. Among the spiritual fruits, above all, we need the fruits of love, joy and peace. Between husbands and wives there must be love, joy and peace. Otherwise there will be enmity between them. Even if they had wealth and honor, rank and fame; they will hate each other if they do not know what true happiness looks like. We need to ask God to grant us love, joy and peace as gifts of the Holy Spirit. John 15:8?says, “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” It is good for both of us. It is good for us and good for God as well. As we bear fruits, God will be glorified. Not only God and I, but also my spouse, children and parents will be happy with us. As long as we live, we should pray to God to help us bear fruits of love, joy and peace all the time. 3. The work of the Holy Spirit And we need to know general works of the Holy Spirit. Let us read together John 16:7-13. “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.’ ” “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2) When the Holy Spirit comes, he will set us free from the law of sin and death and we will live a righteous life through him. The Holy Spirit will show us the reality of sin and let us realize the righteousness of God. He will remind us that we are righteous because Jesus bore all the burdens of our sins, entered into a tomb and paid the penalty for our sins and was resurrected from the dead. This is exciting news! Christ washed away all our dark sins and we became blameless because of his resurrection. We are righteous in Him. “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7). You are special people. You are heirs of the kingdom of heaven. You have inherited a heavenly kingdom from God. The Spirit of Jesus is telling us, “You are righteous. You are just.” He is telling us that we became righteous through Christ. Satan, the king of this world has been condemned already! He tempted Adam and Eve and captured the whole world, but Jesus came to this world and condemned him as he carried all our sins. The Holy Spirit convicts the world in regard to sins, righteousness and judgment because Jesus has suffered in order to destroy the power of Satan. Hebrews 2:14?says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil … ” 1 John 3:8?says, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.” The Lord has condemned Satan. He has destroyed the work of demons. When Jesus comes into you, Satan will flee away. Even if he came, he will flee away in every direction. He has lost his power over us. With his subordinates, Satan is doing his job: they are seeking to steal from, kill and destroy us. But now to us who serve Jesus there is the Holy Spirit, our Counselor. Conclusion The heavenly Counselor, the Holy Spirit came to you. Now he is helping you with his righteous grace and power. We are not alone. The Holy Spirit helps us believe, is with us in life and death. As long as we live, he is with us and when we die he will be with us holding our hands. We have nothing to be afraid of. You became heirs of God following the image of Christ. How glorious you are! God loves you. He receives glory through each one of you. Therefore you will wake up and go to bed with the Holy Spirit, your Counselor, by your side. In Jesus’ name I urge you to live a life of faith through the Holy Spirit doing everything well with your body and soul and having a fulfilled life until you enter into the kingdom of God. It is not about a religion, a shriveled, grimy thing; covered with dust. We are living a vital life of faith with the Holy Spirit. We are alive having faith in Jesus. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will never change. How do we know it? Because the Holy Spirit is with us we know it. Say, “Amen” when you acknowledge the Holy Spirit. Say, “Amen” when you welcome Him. Say, “Amen” when you receive Him. Say, “Amen” when you rely on Him. In the Holy Spirit we find the love of the Father God, the grace of the Son Jesus. In Him there are the miracles of the triune God. Let us pray together! Father God! Our living God! Thank you for allowing us to live in the era of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Father. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the love of our Father is entering into us and the grace of Jesus is working among us right now. Let there be the intercession of the Holy Spirit in our church. Let all the church members have fellowship with Him so that they may have a living faith instead of a dead faith. Let us see your living work among us. In regard to sins and righteousness and judgment, make us realize the meaning of the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.