Healing and Spreading the Gospel through the Work of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-16)
Let us bless one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I hope that the unlimited love of God is upon you today. The title of today’s message is, “Healing and Spreading the Gospel through the Work of the Holy Spirit.” There is a common characteristic of the people who are seized by the Word of God, it is that they are seized by worship. To be seized by worship means I am letting down my life before God, and that means God will take hold of our lives with the Word, and if the Word comes upon us, then healing will take place, and when we hold onto the Word and pray, God begins the answers. As evidence of receiving this, we stand as witnesses before the world. This must become our “only.”
1. Early Church
For the Early Church today, why is it that the working of the Holy Spirit was upon them? God had no interest in the Jerusalem Temple. It didn’t matter that there were renowned people or an amazing building. Where was God’s interest? It was only on the individuals and the church who held onto the covenant of “only Christ.” Am I saying that all religions are bad and only Jesus Christ is good? No. It is that, the only way to restore and liberate humans is only through Jesus Christ, and the church that was made of this “only” was the Early Church, because this is not something you can solve with your personality, your characteristics, or your money, because the problem of mankind began with a spiritual problem, because mankind was uniquely created to have spirits, and all the things that are occurring right now are because our spirits have been hurt. How amazing was mankind created to be? We were created to reside spiritually with God. But, there’s a problem with the relationship between me and God, and that is the beginning of all problems.
Today, the Early Church is trying to give the gospel of Christ, but the Jerusalem Temple is trying to block it. However, the gospel cannot be blocked because it is something that God is working upon directly, no one can block it. Why is it that our lives keep running into stumbling blocks? Why is it that our inner problems and mental problems are blocking us? Why is it that we cannot do what we want to do because of our physical limitations? Because this is absolutely something that God wants, but why? There is something that is a problem with us. God is not working on us, because if God is working, there is no one who can block it. God is calling us His children, but why is it that we are blocked? That’s what we have to figure out today, because without resolving this, the working of the Holy Spirit will not take place. Within the family, you have to resolve this in order for the work of God to take place.
For the Early Church, did it matter what kind of disasters or crises they met? They held onto the prayer topic of world evangelization. The majority of people, when they meet a crisis, they will pray to resolve the crisis. No, this is a gospel that cannot be blocked by the crisis, so, you have to hold onto the only, unique thing, because it’s something that our weaknesses cannot even block. “I can’t do it because of my powerlessness”? No, God is just not doing it, because if the proper individual and the church has the proper gospel of God, He is bound to work.
1) Offering
(1) No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own (Acts 4:32)
When the Early Church came together and received this blessing, they laid down their own things and were able to put their material possessions together for the Church. When a person receives grace, the whole idea of “my things” is no longer there. Why do people keep fighting? It is because they are fighting over “my things.” Why is it so difficult? It is because I try to emphasize “my things,” because if these things don’t work out, I feel down and begin to get scarred. People try to hold onto “my family” or “our things,” but they crumble because all of those things do not come from God, because if we receive the things from God, if we receive His grace, the concept of “my things” will break down and everything will change towards the things of God, because, even my life is not mine, my material possessions are not mine, my wisdom is not mine. All of these things are things to be used for God, and this is the common characteristic of the people who receive grace, but there are churches and individuals who are not like this. How do we look at the spiritual state?
(2) Sold their land and houses as offering (Acts 4:34)
(3) Barnabas – Sold his field as offering (Acts 4:36-37)
Today we look at Ananias and Sapphira. Before, there was an individual named Barnabas who sold all of his material possessions, and if you receive grace, that is something you can do because God is letting that happen. The people who hold onto “my things,” they say, “How can you possibly do that?” But for the people who believe all material things come from God, it doesn’t matter to them. Those are the thoughts of people who have received grace, and realistically, that’s how it goes. So, your whole life, am I going to hold onto “my things” or hold onto the things of God?
2) Ananias and Sapphira
(1) Sold a piece of property (Acts 5:1)
(2) Kept back part of the money (Acts 5:2)
Even Ananias and Sapphira, they actually sold their land and gave it to the Church, but when you look at the Bible verse today, it says they kept back a part of their money, but what does God say about this?
(3) Husband and wife both knew about it (Acts 5:3)
We see that Ananias and Sapphira were together as a couple, and that’s why when you fail, you fail together. The family entirely fails together.
3) Spiritual state
What was their spiritual state? When you look at their spiritual state, they appeared to be part of the leadership of the church.
(1) Barnabas’ competitiveness
There was a guy named Barnabas who had sold his possessions so he could help the Apostle Paul, and it seems that when Ananias and Sapphira saw it, they seemed kind of tested by that. They thought, “He did it; why can’t we do it?” Offering is something you should give out of a glad heart, and not out of competition. God is not emphasizing it because God doesn’t have money. Offering is a channel for your economic blessings. The people who do it will know. They will experience that God will continuously work. Isn’t that correct? Otherwise, God is someone who takes away and steals, but that is something that the devil does. When I say that the knowledge that I gather is going to be used for world evangelization, that is when God will continuously pour the resources. But otherwise, you keep trying to study or work to get your own things, and that’s why your brain isn’t even good and things aren’t working out. But if you receive this kind of grace, then you realize that everything is God’s.
(2) Jealousy
This jealousy is very important. The competition is important because they look at a leader and say, “Oh, he sold land, so what if his popularity soars?” then you have to curb his competitiveness. They have this pride or arrogance, saying, “My leadership level is up to this point, shouldn’t I do at least this much?” But there are people who have died in the Bible because of the competition that the devil puts into them. That’s actually King Saul. After David overcame Goliath, the people were really praising him and wanting him to be the king for eternity, but King Saul had this competition inside of him. The Bible describes that as the devil entering into him. Even though you are an elite, even though you are a leader, can the demons enter you? Yes, they can, because the demons don’t just enter into shamans and fortune-tellers, but they will also enter into elites, and because King Saul was possessed by demons, he did crazy things and he wasn’t able to control his own mind. He tried to kill David, and then tried to apologize, and then tried to kill him again; he kept going back and forth. That’s the state of your heart and mind becoming divided. When a child undergoes some sort of shock or trauma, they’re not able to study and they want to be able to study, however, their minds keep going back to the shock or trauma. It becomes an obsession, and you become obsessed over things that are incorrect. Then, as time passes, the mental illness becomes worse, and it becomes an addiction; that’s what you call “scars.” Because you keep emphasizing, “me, me,” that’s how you receive scars.
So, for the future generations, I hope you are able to listen well, to train and prepare well, because when you go out into the real world, there is no one who is going to be for you, and at that time, you will be shocked, “How could the world be like this? This is how I must live too then.” It doesn’t matter if you have grace or not. At that time, you are going into the jungle, and the strongest will survive, and when you go back out into the world, you go back out into the jungle. This is the system of the world. You have to come out of it. The grace to come out of it must come upon you, so you must understand the gospel well because God recorded the entirety of the Bible while being centered on the gospel. The problem of mankind cannot be resolved unless it is the gospel. You cannot solve it with money. The more you are given money, the more you will fail. King Saul, the more he was in the place of a king, the more he failed.
(3) Desire for honor and recognition
My name, my honor, my strength, that’s not what it’s about. Why? Because all of these things have been given to you by God. The brain that lets you study well and the talent to do so, that’s given to you by God; however, we begin to misunderstand. You begin to misunderstand, “But I’m depressed,” but that actually changes my thoughts, that changes my mind, and that determines the fate of my life, and in my entire life, there is no God. In other portions of my life, there may be God, but in this one aspect of my life, I refuse to acknowledge God, and that’s why the Bible says we are doing vague things, it says people are filled with resentment, but why? There are reasons to be resentful, and even if there is no reason to be angry, we are. Why? Because a person who has left God has no choice but to be angry. If we are with God, that anger is bound to disappear. When a child is separated from their mom, they are bound to be anxious. They have to be within the arms of the mother in order for the child to feel safe. No matter how strong or reputable we are, like a president or a king, we must meet God. For the elite, the more they succeed, the more they say it is by their own power, so they do not need God. But within that, they have anger, mental illness, spiritual illness, and they are just covering it up. One day, the things you see are the things that happen on the news. They are all gathering in groups and doing different things, but all of those things will eventually be revealed. So, for the future generations, I really hope that you know what the world is properly, and know who Christ is properly.
2. Ananias and Sapphira
1) Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit
It says today that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means you are filled with the Spirit of God. What happens when this happens? He was able to see the state of Ananias’ heart, he was able to see what others were not able to see, he was able to do what others were not able to do. That is the characteristic of the one who is filled with the Spirit of God. When Joseph was filled by the Spirit of God, he was able to see what others could not. This is what enables us to go beyond the level of the Ivy League, why? Because Joseph was able to see what the elites and the Ivy League of Egypt were not able to. There was nobody who was able to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh. There was no one who was able to analyze and lead the economic situation of Egypt. That blessing was upon Joseph. The filling of the Holy Spirit means you are filled with the Spirit of God.
(1) Satan filled their hearts (Acts 5:3)
Then what is the word that Peter said to him? “How is it that Satan has filled your hearts?” Is it possible that someone who believes in Jesus Christ can be filled with Satan in their heart? Because in Acts 2, these were the people who had actually received the filling of the Holy Spirit, but is it possible that Satan is able to fill their hearts and minds? In the Bible, it says that yes, Satan did fill their hearts. So today, I hope you are really able to open your eyes. It is not just the fortune-tellers upon whom the demons are working, but it is also the believers, the ones who had once received the filling of the Holy Spirit, that Satan is working upon.
(2) Lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3)
It says, “You deceived the Holy Spirit,” but this is something Peter was able to see. How was it that with Peter’s knowledge, he was able to see this? At this time, he was only thirty-something years old, he only had so much life experience, so, how could he have possibly known? When young Joseph was filled by the Holy Spirit, he was able to see what all the leaders were not able to see, and that’s how we are able to lead the world. The studies of the world will only let you follow the world, meaning they will only let you become a slave to the world. For us, we must learn the things of the world; however, we must become the ones who lead the world by the filling of the Holy Spirit.
(3) Kept back some of the money received for the land (Acts 5:3)
So, Ananias and Sapphira tried to sell their land but withheld some of the offering. Do you think God will idly stand by? God is not trying to make an issue of whether they paid offering or not, God has no interest in whether you give offering or not. It’s that, if you do give offering, to the extent that you do, you will receive economic blessings because even God has this fundamental principle. God has a principle that, if you give to others, then God will fill your vessel. If the church works to do world evangelization, then God is going to work such that the church is filled, but why is it that God makes an issue of this today? God is saying, “Why are you lying, because before God and before all people, you said that you would give this much offering, but when it came time to do it, you withheld some of it, so why is it that you are trying to lie to God?”
This spiritual state of lying to God, that’s what we call being filled by Satan. Because, you could have not sold the land, or you could have sold the land and kept the money, but why did you say you were going to give offering and then hide it? There are people who are good at lying, right? There are people who lie very easily, even as they do ministry, and people think that others don’t know, but the Bible gives the answer of why we are deceiving God. It’s not that you are just left alone, but the demons will plow into you. Through Ananias and Sapphira, God opened up the viewpoint of what’s in the church. It’s not that they lied before people, but they are actually lying before God, but for us, we must stand before God. It doesn’t matter how much we please other people, but God will know what our central focus is on.
2) Mind/heart
(1) Realistic, rational, and logical thoughts
It says in Heb. 4:12, that God’s Word penetrates into bone and marrow, it really divides the heart and the mind. So, with what does Satan deceive us? He doesn’t deceive us with incorrect things. He deceives us with the correct things, the logical things, the rational things. So, when Ananias and Sapphira resolved before God, it seemed like they could sell their possessions, but then the reality of “How do we survive without this money?” struck. You need to know how Satan enters into you, because it is possible that the individual or the church may be filled with Satan.
(2) Depression, jealousy, anger, exaggeration, lies, ambition, greed
Let’s say a person is depressed, and they say, “I’m usually a depressed person.” No, people are not created to be depressed. We were not created to be depressed, but it is that when something happens, we have feelings of depression coming out of us. But Satan will use this idea of depression and say, “You are a depressed person,” and seize you with it, and you will think to yourself, “I am a depressed person.” You have to fight that. If you have a depressed thought, you have to say, “No. Jesus Christ has already finished this on the cross.” If Satan comes and works upon you, that’s when you become a slave to depression.
Jealousy. Satan will plow into you using that. There are people who have a lot of anger. This is not the way you are, it’s that the spirit of anger is inside of you. People think, “Oh, I’m just temperamental,” or, “I just have this blood type,” or, “I’m just an angry person,” that’s all a lie. In Eph. 4:24, it says, yes, you may become angry, but do not let the sun set on your wrath. What happens if you let it keep going? Satan will enter you, and then he’s going to attach a thought to you, “I’m normally an angry person,” but no, it is because you are filled with demons and with that, they are moving you. There are people who keep trying to emphasize themselves. Then, there are people who keep trying to exaggerate things about themselves, Satan will also use that. Then, there are people who lie very well; it says that Satan is the father of lies. Once you lie, it feels good because other people are deceived, why? Because that person is afraid to stand before the truth, why? Because of their pride, because they don’t want their real image to be brought out. That’s why politicians lie, too. Then, it’s not just a lie, it’s that Satan goes into that, and that person will just continue to lie. And the person who really denies the Word of God has their own motives, they say that they’re living for world evangelization, but actually, it is for their own motive that they are living. Satan will enter into that. Right now, through Ananias and Sapphira, God is trying to open our eyes to the spiritual state of people inside the church.
Our greed. Christ is not enough. We keep saying, “But this,” and “but that,” and we ask for more material possessions, or we ask to be better than others. That’s how the demons get into you. This is the special characteristic of mankind, created to be spiritual beings. So, whether you are before organizations or before other people, everything happens according to your spiritual state. Especially the scars you’ve received in your life, you have to receive healing from them because those are the scars that appear without God. If you believe in God, the scars will start to come, but then they will run away. Especially for children, they receive a lot of scars from their parents. Parents think they’re just living in a normal way, but to their children, it becomes this unresolvable scar.
(3) Seized by Satan (Gen. 3:6; Joshua 7:19-21; Jn. 13:2, 27)
Then, I talked about what happens after that, right? There’s an act of division. If you have something shocking happen to you, you can’t concentrate on your studies, and you become obsessed by something and become seized by something. That’s when the demons enter, because through that scar or through that shock, the demons are moving to control you. Where does this take place? It happens within the family and within the schools. For example, what happens when someone immigrates to America and becomes beat up and looked down upon? In Korea, for example, you could go to the military and undergo something like that, but because mankind are spiritual beings, Satan will take that channel and use it, and Satan will continue to use that scar to drag you. However, how will the individual interpret it? They might think, “Oh, my life is like this because of my parents,” but it’s not that you came to America because of your parents. That’s just the reality of what happens when you don’t have God. That’s why you have to restore the words of Christ because with prosperity-based faith or mysticism, you cannot be healed, unless you know the spiritual state and have the answer of “only,” it won’t work.
3) God’s judgment
(1) Ananias fell down and breathed his last (Acts 5:5)
It says that Ananias breathed his last. Mankind came from the dirt, and when we die, we go back to the dirt. Our spirit was given to us by God, so God will take it. That is why God called Ananias. That’s what we call, “death.” No one knows when they will die. If God calls you tonight, then that’s it. Even if you’re a child, there’s a time when God will take you. But it’s not that the child has died, it is that God has taken them. The one who has control of our life is God. “Oh, it’s because I eat well or because I exercise well,” no, it’s when God says you will die, you will just die healthily. Just because you have cancer, will you die? No, it’s when God calls you. That’s when you will go. Even if you have an illness, you just have this mission of world evangelization and go with that.
(2) Great fear seized the people (Acts 5:5)
But through this incident, it says that great fear seized the people. People do not fear God, and they say that God does not exist, so when the Early Church saw an incident like this, all the people inside of the church and outside of the church began to fear. When the Jewish people were trying to persecute the Early Church for giving the gospel and people started dying, they realized the person to fear was not the church but God. Then, people started to go towards Solomon’s Colonnade, meaning that people were beginning to come, and they were starting to say, “The God you believe is the True God.”
(3) Sapphira – Tested the Spirit of the Lord, died (Acts 5:9-10)
3. Early Church
1) Work of being filled with the Holy Spirit
(1) Spirit of lies departed
So, what happens? When the spirit of lies is bound, the gospel is able to really be proclaimed. Within the family, if the forces of darkness are bound, then the Holy Spirit is going to work upon them tremendously. Let’s say, for example, a couple is seized by the spirit of lies. Then, what is going to happen to the entire family? So, we’re trying to explain the spiritual state right now.
(2) Great fear came upon the whole church and all who heard (Acts 5:11)
(3) Through the apostles, more believers than ever were added (Acts:12-14)
Through the apostles, there were many more people who began to believe.
2) God
(1) God of love, forgiveness, and grace
(2) God of justice, God of judgment
God is a God of forgiveness and grace, that’s the only thing we need to know. People don’t know the God of judgment, so they say, “How could God be like this? I thought the Christian God was a God of forgiveness,” yes, 50% He is like that, but 50%, He is the God of judgment. He is the One Who really resolves our sin, but because people don’t really know about this, they just do whatever they want. So, the Early Church had the work of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We must stand before God. Whether we conduct business or education in the real world, I must think, “Why am I doing this?” before God. “Oh, when I tried to deceive other people or lie, it might work at first,” and you might see physical benefits at first, but you are filled with demons. The things the demon does is give you physical things while stealing away all the spiritual things. Why is it that kids study and receive stress and suffering? It is because that studying is irrelevant to God, it is because the goal of their studies is “myself,” it is because the goal of their lives is “myself.” “Oh, but I’m a Christian and I believe in God,” but what about your studies and your work? How are those related to God? That’s what we’re talking about, because even those must be used for God’s glory.
(3) Early Church – Feared God, did not fear the world, preached the gospel
My skills, they’ve been given to you by God. I have to use it for God’s glory to proclaim the gospel, then that means that my work will go alongside prayer. But because we don’t understand prayer, we only pray when something goes wrong or we pray for something special, but what kind of seat is this? It is the seat of the working of the Holy Spirit, just as it was for the Mark’s Upper Room Church, and finding the meaning of this is prayer. Prayer is not something I can do so I can gain something that I want. Prayer is, “Why am I studying?” and finding the meaning to that question. Prayer is finding the meaning to the question of, “Why am I working?” So you have to confirm the answer God is giving to you. It is not that God answers because I’m doing something well, but He is just guiding His children along, and through prayer, it is my job to find that. When there is a problem, incident, or crisis, we have to find the opportunity for God’s blessing. But if we center our walk of faith based on legalism, we’re going to spend the rest of our lives thinking, “Did I do wrong or did you do wrong?” and that’s why we have no choice but to have division, opposition, and conflicts when Satan works.
3) Work of God
(1) The sick (Acts 5:15-16)
(2) Those afflicted with unclean spirits were healed (Acts 5:16)
(3) Answers to prayer (Acts 4:29-30)
Today, we see that the people who were sick received healing. When the forces of darkness are bound and the Kingdom of God is upon that place, healing takes place and the demons are driven out. That’s the content of Acts 4:22-24 really coming to life.
Conclusion
1. Mind/heart – God’s bartizan
In conclusion, what is it that we must place in our mind and heart? God’s covenant must become our bartizan. All beginnings must begin with Christ, it doesn’t matter how much you use humanism; it will crumble. No matter how much you lie or deceive other people, that will crumble because it is a life that you built on sand—it will crumble because God has to work. That has to become the bartizan of my life and that must be what’s inside my heart. Because, otherwise, you’re going to continuously deceive other people and Satan’s bartizan will be in your heart.
2. Power of prayer – God’s journey
You just have to wait for God to work, because unless God works, everything I do of my own accord will crumble. This is something I was able to confirm through the Bible and through my own life. I’d lived for all of these useless things. I’m not trying to say to not live diligently; I’m saying, if it is God’s will, you must stake your life on it. It is not diligence; you must stake your life, but if it is not the will of God, and we pour out all our lives into it, it’s going to crumble in the end. That’s why it must be the strength of prayer, because prayer is not to fulfill our own motives. I pray to fulfill the work of God and I confirm the work of God.
3. Preaching the gospel, disciples – God’s milestone
The filling of the Holy Spirit. Why is it that it was given to us? Because the gospel must be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. Why is it that the church is given the filling of the Holy Spirit? Because the church has given the gospel to save the church, this region, America, and the entire world. That is why it must be world evangelization, and the disciples who must do it must arise. It has nothing to do with the numbers, because if you, one person, can reach this, then the results will be extraordinary. God is guiding us within this timeline. So, this week, I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ that the healing and the spreading of the gospel can take place through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Message Prayer
When we pray, holding onto the Word we have received during worship, God will answer. If you wait, you’ll be able to confirm. And the future generations must listen well, because the things you were given during this worship, hold onto it and God is going to answer. Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. Thank You for saving us who were dead through the cross, and allow us to enjoy the identity and authority as children of God. If there is anything inside of us that is not of You, may You allow us to abandon it and hold onto only the things of Christ. May all of our future plans and visions be aligned with God so they may be used as tools for God. If there is anyone here who is suffering under scars, will You allow them the opportunity to enjoy this blessing so that they may be healed through the answer of only Christ and stand as a witness.
The material possessions You gave, we are giving back as offering. Everywhere it is used, we believe spirits will come to life and the gospel-proclaiming church will be given to us. May this offering be used to raise the future generations and raise the disciples who will continue to do the work of world evangelization. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ who has blessed all of the material possessions and all of our lives, amen.
Closing Prayer and Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon the people of God, the multiethnics, and the remnants and all of the people who want to do only Christ, only God’s Kingdom, and only the filling of the Holy Spirit, do the work of world evangelization upon all the of the procedures of purchasing the church, be with them now and forevermore always, amen.
Let’s work on everything with the filling of the Holy Spirit!