The One on Whom the Holy Spirit Powerfully Works (Acts 8:25-28)
The title of today’s message is, “The one on whom the Holy Spirit powerfully works.” The Holy Spirit is with anyone who believes in Christ, and He works upon them. The reason is because the Lord sent us His Holy Spirit after He ascended into heaven, however, it’s a little bit different for those who proclaim the gospel.
In other words, the filling and working of the Holy Spirit is a little different. It means that there is someone upon whom the power of God resides. For such people, it’s irrelevant if they lack their own power because they are the ones who will relay the gospel of Christ. The Holy Spirit is with and works upon those who are not like this as well, however, they’re a little bit different.
Today, we must be able to understand the filling of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8, Jesus Christ told them about the mission of God’s kingdom for 40 days on the Mount of Olives, and they held onto that and prayed.
Jesus Christ – Those Who Have Seen (Witnesses) Experience
In other words, these are people who have seen the fact that Jesus is the Christ, he died on the cross and resurrected. In other words, they are witnesses. There are people who are witnesses and people who are not witnesses, because even back then, there were people who believed in Jesus Christ, and among them, there were those who saw the resurrection and those who did not. In other words, there are those who experienced the gospel. The fact that you’ve experienced the gospel means all your problems are finished; you must experience that.
God’s Kingdom – Mission (Word)
The Lord gathered them to Mount of Olives, and gave each and every one of them a mission.
Prayer – Holy Spirit
And then they held onto this word of the kingdom of God, and went into Mark’s Upper Room, and prayed. So today’s message is, upon whom does the filling of the Holy Spirit go? It’s the people who have walked this path, God promised to give you the filling of the holy spirit when you pray, holding onto His mission. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit is with you, and He will work once in a while as well, but this is a different story. God will bring the filling of the Holy Spirit upon the one who holds onto the mission of God’s Word and His Kingdom
1. Understanding the fullness of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)
Then how do we understand the filling of the Holy Spirit? You have to understand the quantity.
(1) Understanding in Quantity
It is abundant, so there is a quantity to it. It’s talking about the filling of my thoughts, heart, spirit, and everything. Here, I don’t need any of my own thoughts. If you have something else as well, it means you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit. If someone is holding onto God’s mission and praying, there’s no reason for them to hold onto anything else. The gospel has finished all problems. Now that I hold onto the mission of proclaiming this gospel, I cannot hold onto anything else. Then, God will work to fill this kind of person. It’s this kind of filling.
This is because you are filled with the Holy Spirit and God is giving you great help. I believe that even if we have the incorrect imprint, root, nature, if someone is holding onto the accurate covenant of God and praying, God will fill them with the Holy Spirit. Then
(2) Understanding in Quality – Gospel
Then how will we understand the quality? The Holy spirit is the spirit of Christ, and the Holy Spirit actually works, invisibly, and He works, filling me. Then, what does that mean in terms of the quality? It’s someone who is completely filled with the gospel because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, it’s difficult for someone who has not experienced this gospel to be filled with the Holy Spirit. For me, all I need is to be filled with the gospel. Someone like this understands prayer easily because they don’t need anything else.
If I think I need something else, it means there’s something else in my head. That’s the difference between someone who has received the filling of the holy spirit and someone who has not. If the filling of the holy spirit comes upon you, everything else follows you. The reason you’re not being filled with the Holy Spirit is because you’re holding onto something else as well, it means you’re not satisfied with the gospel. In other words, it means you have not understood this biblical gospel. Even though all problems are finished, this is where problems begin.
For such people, problems will be problems because they haven’t understood the gospel, but people who have understood and experienced this gospel, a problem will not be a problem for them, because I’ve died on the cross and the Lord lives within me, then of course nothing will be a problem for me, that’s why he has finished all problems. If you’re really facing a problem, there’s an answer within it because there’s no such thing as a problem for the Lord. If the Lord permits a problem, He permits it with an answer.
If you’re facing conflicts with other people, you have to change yourself, there’s no need to ask the other person to change; you have to change yourself. “Oh, the Word of God from the pulpit and I don’t align,” then you have to change yourself, you shouldn’t ask the word of God to change. “When I go into the field, the evangelism movement doesn’t take place,” then you have to change yourself, not the field.
If you’re facing a crisis, have you ever seen anything that is a crisis to God? If I’ve experienced the gospel, then nothing will be a problem or crisis within me because I’m gone, I’m dead, and the Lord lives within me. But because people say it’s a problem, it’s an opportunity for that person. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means being filled with this kind of gospel.
If you have not experienced and are not complete with the gospel, that’s not the filling of the Holy Spirit. Then instead it’s possible you’re filled with your own ideologies. They’re chock full of ideologies like democracy, that’s not the filling of the Holy Spirit. Some people are filled with legalism, that person cannot receive the filling of the Holy Spirit because we have to be filled with the gospel. If you’re filled with the law, then instead of the Holy Spirit working upon you, Satan will work upon you, so I hope you will have this definite understanding of the Holy Spirit.
2. When you understand the passages in Mt. 28:20, Mk. 16:20, Ac. 1:8, and 2:13,
Your Christian life will be easy, graceful, powerful, and worthy when you understand the ways the Holy Spirit helps you. If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, it means the Holy Spirit fills you with power. It’s talking about God’s help and God’s power. It doesn’t matter if I’m weak, so for an evangelist, it doesn’t matter if they have abilities or not because God works upon them with the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you say, “I’m too young” or “I’m too old,” it’s because you don’t know, if you say, “Oh I’m diseased, or I’m not” it’s because you don’t know. Whether you have a disease or not, when you proclaim the gospel, then God works upon you in power to do so. It doesn’t matter whether your disease gets better or not because sthe standard is the work of the Holy Spirit.
THen without a doubt, evangelism takes place, but we keep looking at everything from the standard of, “Am I going to get better or not?” It doesn’t work like that, whether this problem stays or leaves, it doesn’t matter because if you’re filled with the gospel and the Holy Spirit, then the works of evangelism takes place, and no matter what comes to you, it’s not a problem. If God needs you to get better, you’ll get better. If he doesn’t need you to get better, then he won’t do that, it doesn’t matter.
Whether demons are working or not, it doesn’t matter for me, because when you’re filled with the Holy Spirit and the gospel, the works of evangelism take place and the forces of darkness are broken. It means there’s no reason for you to focus on your problems, focus on the filling of the gospel and the Holy Spirit which is the answer, by the characteristic of people for whom things aren’t working out is they concentrate on problems, they always concentrate on problems saying, “I prayed about it and it’s still not getting better.”
Instead of focusing on the gospel, they focus on the problem. That problem is in God’s hands, it’s not mine, I’m already dead. Whether I have depression or not, it’s not mine. I’m dead on the cross. The only thing that is mine is the state of the filling of the holy spirit within me. Then, even if you ask the depression to stay, it cannot. Even if you ask the children to stop their evil habits, they cannot stop, and after time passes, God takes care of it on it’s own. The only thing for me to concentrate on is the filling of the Holy Spirit.
When you begin your day, you must begin by holding onto the gospel and starting with that. It’s not focusing on your work. Your work has to come as an answer within the filling of the holy spirit and the gospel, but if you’re trying to concentrate on your work itself, you’re not going to be able to do much with an IQ of 150. With that, you cannot overcome the darkness. That’s why, for the remnants when you wake up in the morning, focus on the gospel and the filling of the holy spirit.
Matthew 28:20
When you wake up in the morning, something else comes to you. The Lord says, “I am with you always, until the very end of the age,” not only is He with me, but the One Who has all authority in heaven and on earth is with me.
Mark 16:20
The One Who is seated at the throne is with me. God is with us. God is with the one who testifies of the gospel. God is with the One Who finds disciples. If God is with you, it means you need nothing of yourself, you don’t need your own power. We look at the things of earth with the things of heaven. But if you keep looking at heaven with the things of earth, you cannot be aligned with God’s Word. “God, when will you bless my business?” You’re only looking at the heavens while you hold onto the things of the earth, then of course, that’s not going to align with God’s principles. We need to look at the things of earth with the things of heaven.
Acts 1:8
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you
Acts 2:13
The Holy Spirit worked upon the people who gathered, holding onto this covenant. When the Holy Spirit worked, people experienced fthis for the first time, so people thought they were drunk. It means that something that wasn’t originally in this person’s head has gone in. How will you overcome America? The older you get, the harder it is to change; you need the filling of the holy spirit.
Acts 8:4-8
Philip went to Samaria to evangelize by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Continuously, God’s power follows the one who holds onto the covenant and evangelizes. Evangelism is the greatest blessing but the devil has changed it so that evangelism is the thing we cannot do the most. The devil has ingrained this so much in our thoughts so that even if we want to do this, we cannot; it doesn’t take place.
Then, we recognize evangelism as something that is most difficult, why? It’s because this person has not yet experienced what this gospel is. God and God’s power is with the one who testifies of this gospel and this covenant, but they have not yet experienced this. From the very beginning, you need to imprint this very certain idea of evangelism into new believers.
For me, as soon as I believed, my pastor told me to interpret and evangelize. Because the Pastor couldn’t speak English, and I couldn’t, either, but at least I could stammer my way through, that would lead to evangelism. From my perspective, there’s nothing easier than evangelism. For me, it seemed like that because God attached prepared people to me. That doesn’t mean you understand everything about evangelism, but when you think about it, you should recognize that it’s an easy thing, and you have to relay this clearly to the new believers. Evangelism is the greatest blessing, evangelism is not something I do by doing something, but even before inevnagekize, the blessing of God is with me, because God says He will be with the evangelist in power.
God’s power was with Philip. THen, what can be a problem for you in America? Why would man’s powerlessness be a problem? God’s power is with me, it’s because you’ve not yet opened your eyes to evangelism.
3.The one on whom the Holy Spirit powerfully works
(1)The one who has the conviction of salvation
i.The one who knows the value of salvation
They have experienced the true gospel and the value of salvation. This is everything; everything is finished. God’s Holy Spirit works with power upon those who know the value.
ii.The one who knows the power of Jesus Christ
He breaks down Satan and breaks down disasters.
iii.The one who discovers Jesus throughout the entire Bible
Upon the one who discovers Jesus Christ throughout all 66 books of the Bible. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, there are so many words, however, God said everything centered on the most important Jesus Christ and the one who discovers this. There are things other than Jesus Christ written in the Bible, for example, ways of the law and there are many other words, but that’s not important. If someone is holding onto something that is less important, then they cannot be used for important things. That’s why someone who discovered Jesus Christ through the entire Bible, not someone who just knows it. You must discover Genesis 3:15, the offspring of the woman who would bless the root of Satan.
Genesis 6:13, you must discover the ark. Genesis 12, you must discover when God called Abraham out. These are the things in the Bible. There are many things about Jesus Christ in the Bible. In Genesis 22, God prepared the lamb when he tested Abram by telling him to sacrifice Isaac. But before that, God promised that your seed would take over the gates of the enemy. So, the entire Bible is a sequence of God’s Word, fulfilling Christ. In Exodus 3:18, the blood of the Passover Lamb. Inside the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies. Obviously the entire Bible is talking about Christ, and as you look at the entire Bible, you have to discover Christ.
Deuteronomy, Joshua, so that’s the Pentateuch of the entire Old Testament, and even after theta continuously discovering Christ. Two weeks ago, we learned about the city of refuge, and then you have to apply the blood onto the altar. These are all things that when you discover Christ darkness breaks down, and yes, it’s first Bible study and knowledge, but you discover this by the Holy Spirit.
Someone who is able to continue the evangelism movement in the field just like a pastor is someone who can discover the flow of Christ in the Bible. As you ride the stream of the pulpit message, yo uwill doser this as well, because what your region needs is Christ. The only thing that’s different is the culture and the time schedule. If the time schedule is different, then it looks completely different. And every region has its time schedule, and the channel through which Satan works is different. Fundamentally they are the same but their culture is different, then the report is proclaimed from the pulpit that is fitting for that region. The time schedule of Antioch Mission Church and the Early Church are different, but those who understand this can do world evangelization.
iv.The one who knows the reason for evangelism
Let’s say I have a covenant for evangelism, that means this person is the one. Even before you act, you have to have evangelism, and that’s how God is with this person. Am I really someone who evangelizes? You know yourself better. So the reason evangelism is not taking place is because I don’t have that reason. If you do not possess that reason to evangelize, then you’ll never walk the path of an evangelist. If I’m holding onto something else, how will I go toward evangelism?
If I possess worldly success, how could I evangelize? Maybe I can do it occasionally when I muster up my strength, but God doesn’t work upon this. THe one Who possesses evangelism is the one who is constantly doing evangelism. So we have a lot of misconceptions of evangelism. “If I evangelized like this,” then it’s oppressive, but they only consider you to be oppressive because of the song. If I’m dead, there’s no reason for me to feel oppressed. But if someone holds onto the gospel, the more we talk about evangelism, the more they’ll like it. We have to understand this.
v.The one who knows the end times of the world: History, the end times, judgment, new kingdom
We have an end to our lives. Our lives end when our mission for evangelism ends and we go to heaven. Especially the older you get, the more certain you have to be within your mission for evangelism. If you’re not certain of that mission, your end will not be good, because you are old, you lack power, then you have to live in a state of powerlessness. But if someone is held and they have to mission then God works upon them in power.
That’s exactly like the words of the Bible. The One Who has all authority in heaven and on earth is with you forever, “Oh, I’m older now so I should rest more,” it means you’ll live your life according to your level. It’s the same as throwing away the blessing of evangelism, and because you’re old and powerless, you have to keep living in that way. Even if you’re a remnant, If you experience this possession of the gospel and evangelism, God will work upon you with power.
Even as you live in America, you have to know there is an end of the world as well. If you don’t know this, then your eyes are going to be sealed to America, and you won’t be able to evangelize. All of this is bound to be destroyed by the forces of darkness. And ultimately God’s kingdom must be be established. The one who knows the end times surely. That’s how you will not be swayed by the words of success from the world. The Roman empire was so strong and the Early Church was so small, they knew they would get destroyed. But Rome had no choice but to be destroyed because they were seized by Satan, and that’s where you testify of the eternal kingdom of God.
If someone doesn’t know this end, then they are going to be so swayed by people who look more successful in the World, because then you both don’t know. When Jesus comes back to earth we will have a judgment and we will go into the new eternal kingdom, so you have to see yourself as the one who is evangelizing today within the span of eternity. That’s how you’re seeing yourselves and today accurately.
(2)The one who experiences (walks with) the living Jesus daily (Mt 16:16)
i.The abiding of the Holy Spirit (acknowledgment, trust)
ii.Christ is his master (Gal 2:20)
The second is the one who experiences walking with the living Jesus Christ daily.
3) Mission
(3)The commitment worker
i. Establishing the world church
ii.Overcoming the power of darkness
The third, is upon this committed worker, in other words, the one who has a mission. The mission that God has given to us through Christ. Everyone in this world has some kind of mission. For some people, even if you have a job, that becomes your mission, but the mission the Lord gave you is not that; it’s talking about your spiritual mission. The world moves because everyone has a mission. Even through people who worship idols, they have a mission given to them by God, they all have their mission, they go to their job, they teach in schools. They have their entrepreneurship, they make shoes, and all of them have their mission and that’s how the world spins. But we are talking about the mission the Lord is talking about. Upon that committed worker, God has no choice but to work upon them with power. Does our church have the mission the Lord gave us? Do I have the mission God gave me? Without that, we have to live our lives unemployed, where you’re just wandering around wasting time. You have to have a mission.
iii.Possessing the key to the kingdom of heaven
The Holy Spirit works upon those who know the blessing of salvation. Jesus said “I will raise my church” and he says the gates of Hades will not be overcome. And he says “you will possess the keys of heaven” which means answers to prayer.
4.The layman Phillip who was used by God
Today’s fourth point iis the layperson who was used by God. He represents the 70 works in the Bible. Who was used by God? The Bible says that God used Philip. If God says He will use you, everything is done. Why was it Phillip? You can find this answer in the Bible. “Raise up 70 elders. Raise up 70 leaders who are filled with faith, and wisdom” then of course they will be filled with the gospel. These are the people God uses. In other words, are you someone who is filled with God?
Even though he was a layperson, God used him in the field and then relays the evangelism movement through him. Who opens the door to evangelism? Phillip did not open that. God did it through Phillip, God prepares the door and opens it.
In Acts 2, it was the day God worked and the Holy Spirit worked to open the doors of evangelism. If evangelism isn’t taking place for you, it means you are someone who doesn’t. That’s why God is not opening the doors. Do you think God is in the wrong or you?
Even if I evangelism it doesn’t work. Are you saying God is wrong? I am wrong. I have to change myself. To be quickly filled with the gospel. “I’m not the gospel,” and God knows that person so well, he does not attach people to them. You can still explain the way of salvation, but nothing else takes place after that because you keep putting other things in.
We have to give people the complete gospel that has finished everything, but we keep on giving them mixed gospel. That’s why God is blocking the working of the Holy Spirit. If I have and enjoy this gospel myself, then God will open the doors.
So honestly speaking, if a church is not able to evangelize, that’s a big problem. That’s a tremendous problem, because it means God is not working, in other words, it means they don’t have the gospel. Even though there’s a gathering of thousands of people who have salvation, they don’t have the gospel. If they don’t have the gospel, it means they don’t possess evangelism. In other words, it means the correct working of the Holy Spirit does not take place. It’s because it’s mixed with so many other things. And honestly speaking, this content is urgent. This is urgent.
(1)One who used him (Ac 8:25-26)?
Then, how can we approach this? There’s nothing other than the Word. There’s nothing other than the word. God is the one who uses people, God is the one who opens the doors of evangelism, and God gives them the Word so that this Word may be proclaimed. So all of the times God raised Phillip and sent him out to evangelize, he was doing it to testify of God’s Word. We cannot say anything else. If God has opened up all the doors of evangelism for us, we shouldn’t go on and say nonsense. We must approach with God’s Word. Who prepared the heart of the ones he is evangelizing too? Gid prepared it.
(2)Who opened the door to evangelism?
Acts 16, it says God opened Lydia’s heart. So again, why does evangelism take place? It means God is not doing it, “Then why is God not doing anything for me?” Why do you think God is not using you? It’s because you don’t have the filling of this complete gospel, note this mission. This is a very serious problem, but the problem is that we don’t recognize how serious the problem is. This is the real critical issue but this person sees their problems they face in their everyday life as the more critical issue. They don’t see the actual problem but their trembling and skating over things that are trivial.
(3)How did he approach the man (Ac 8:30)?
(4)Who prepared the heart of the man who received evangelism?
(5)What if Phillip had disobeyed God? Are we disobeying God right now?
Raphp, Joseph
What would have happened if Phillip disobeyed God? The Holy Spirit definitely gave His Word to Phillip to go here, but if he said, “I’m a little busy today so I can’t go,” in their words, there’s something you value more greater than evangelism. It means something is more urgent than evangelism. So if you open up a Bible study or a Darakbang, you shouldn’t stop, it should be continued. Don’t skip the meeting because there’s no greater blessing than that. But if a minister doesn’t have thiat, they cannot go on, trust enough. It means we have plans that are greater than evangelism. There is a funeral and the disciples are asking Jesus Christ, “What should we do about this?” And Jesus Christ said “Let the dead bury the dead. And you guys, follow me.”
In Genesis 6, all the people were wasting their time getting married, getting dressed, and they all died in the flood. All the other things, you can do things haphazardly, but the ark, evangelism you have to do it properly. But for the people whose eyes are not opened to see this, they think unnecessary things are valuable. It means they don’t have the value of evangelism.
This year, God is raising up the 70 works of this field according to his time schedule. What is the standard? It’s exactly the content today. Someone like Philip. So, there aren’t even a lot of pastors who are worse than Philip. Because that’s someone the holy spirit does not work on. In other words, it’s someone who doesn’t have evangelism. They have their personal dreams about church revival through evangelism. But they don’t really care about evangelism itself. Then they have no choice but to pump out other contents.
They keep putting up words like Genesis 3:6-11, then even the people are more bound to Genesis 3, 6, 11. Their life ends always circling around me, me, me, my problems, my family. But all problems are finished. May you believe this and with the blessing of the filling of the Holy Spirit and Gid being with you, go out and evangelize.
5.Phillip’s characteristics
(1)Knowledge of the scripture
(2)Boldness
(3)Obedience
(4)Sensitivity to the guidance of the Holy Spirit
(5)Readiness
(6)Enthusiasm
As you look at Phillip, you should look at yourself. If Phillip and I are very different, I have to change myself because Philp is following God’s Word. That’s the standard of someone who receives the working of the holy spirit , that’s the standard of the 70 workers. Then I have to be aligned with him, if I’m not, I have to change myself.
5.Obstacles for Evangelism
(1)Lack of preparation
(2)Fear of people
(3)Fear of failure (results)
If you say, “I’m not the Bible, I’m me,” then it means you’re not aligned with God, there are people like that. The people who are aligned will receive the biblical answers without a doubt.
There was a characteristic that Phillip had. He had knowledge of the scriptures, in other words he knew the content of the gospel. It doesn’t matter how much BIble study you do, if the gospel doesn’t go in correctly, it’s all useless. You know why? You cannot overcome the darkness, it cannot overcome Satan. So if someone listens to so many messages and someone does BIble study so much, but they hold onto something outside the gospel then it cannot overcome the darkness. What is evangelism? That, too, is the gospel. That too is holding onto the gospel.
Me holding onto the gospel personally, is not the only form of gospel, the gospel going out through me is holding onto the gospel, too. That line of people who have received the gospel and proclaim the gospel to others will continue until Revelation. So, don’t lose hold of evangelism, meaning, don’t lose hold of the gospel. But, for the ones who are within this, they will receive the same blessings as Phillip for God will be with you with the power of the Holy Spirit, and just as to Abram, no one will be able to overcome you.
There’s no need to talk about the obstacles in evangelism, because if you receive the filling of the holy spirit, you don’t need people. If you have the gospel, then what would you possibly be lacking? There’s no fear about whether things are taking place or not, but in God’s time schedule, it takes place.
Conclusion
Colossians 3:2 says to look to the things above. Evangelists do not look at the things of the earth; they look at the things above. If you’ve received the gospel then now look for the things above. You need to find yourself, who you are, status and authority, from the things above. Instead of looking at the things of the earth, look at God’s kingdom of heaven. And always hold onto the evangelism schedule. That means your personal evangelism. There’s nothing more important than that. For that person, God promised to be with you in power.
So, as soon as you wake up in the morning, be within the Word, prayer, and evangelism. It’s easy for people who do this every day, but if you don’t have God’s Word, you are seized by your thoughts. If you have to use your own brain. Then instead of evangelism, you have to devote yourself to fulfilling your own work, “But this Christian is still a Christian…” God has given us a day, every day. Every day, God gives us the Word and the gospel. The person who can change everything into prayer, every day. The person who has the schedule of evangelism every day, because that’s what naturally happens to someone with God. We do our personal evangelization and one day, we say we should do this together. May you be the one upon whom the Holy Spirit powerfully works.
Prayer
Father God, we thank You. Allow us to be the ones who possess the gospel and may we be the ones upon whom the Holy Spirit powerfully works. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.