Title: He said, Receive / John 20:22
Content: Take it
Sermon Date: 2000.5.21
Bible Verse: John 20:22
May 24 is the 262th anniversary of Pastor J. Wesley's conversion, and May 28 is Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit came upon Mark's upper room.
The resurrected Lord came to the place where the disciples were gathered before ascension to heaven and said, “Peace be with you.” When the disciples saw the Lord, they rejoiced, and the Lord said again, “Peace be with you,” and “The Father has sent me. Likewise, I am sending you.” He breathed out and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The resurrected Jesus prayed for the blessing of peace to his disciples because the disciples did not know that Jesus was resurrected and thought only of his death on the cross and were in a state of anxiety and fear. It is meant to start a new history. This is because God breathed life into Adam's nostrils to become a living spirit, a moving man (Genesis 2). (Ezekiel 37) is in the same context.
First: Give, receive / love
Before receiving the Holy Spirit, the disciples could not properly carry out the mission the Lord had entrusted to them because they had left the Lord alone. However, the resurrected Lord gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples to prevent their spiritual and physical failure, and they received it. For those who have received the Holy Spirit, there can be no failure in the life of the flesh or the life of the spirit. The reason is that the Holy Spirit who indwells us to overcome, to make it work, and to make it come true.
Jesus tells us to give and receive the Holy Spirit is love to make our lives a blessing. So, “Receive the Holy Spirit” is the same as saying “Receive my love.”
A high school student murdered a high school student in Japan recently, and the reason for the crime was “I wanted to try a murder experience.” How absurd and terrifying is that? It is an experience that human beings must have, and the best experience is receiving the Holy Spirit, and it is the experience of power that is achieved in me by receiving the Holy Spirit.
“If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit given by Jesus Christ. Therefore, in a strict sense, a Christian is one who has received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, they do not receive the Holy Spirit
One is a churchgoer, not a Christian.
Last week I went to Ganghwael as a pastor for the Clergy on the Mount, and I had a dream before the morning worship service on Tuesday. War broke out, and in the midst of terrifying fire, there was nowhere to escape and no place to live. Meanwhile, I was reading the Bible. But, somewhere, one side says, “If you stay there, you die, go away.” The other side says, “Do not look for a way to live to live, but let your life be in the word even if you die. The way for us to prosper and live is to receive the Holy Spirit according to the word “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
If you repent, you will receive the Holy Spirit, if you welcome it, you can receive it, and if you claim it, it works. The life of faith is the work of the Holy Spirit. Without the inspiration and work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot acknowledge Jesus as “Lord” and live by faith. So, the most important thing for Christians is to receive the Holy Spirit.
Second: Give, Take / Mission
“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (verse 21). As Jesus breathed out, his disciples received the Holy Spirit and the purpose of sending him out into the world was to make disciples of all nations, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. to baptize with (Matthew 28:19)
The Greek word for ‘baptize’ is ‘baptizo’, which means ‘to lock’ or ‘to wash’.
The Greek word for ‘make it’ is ‘made thysade’, which means ‘to teach and train’, and it means to let people know the gospel and reach the full stature of Christ.
It is because of the loss of the Holy Spirit that Christians today forget their mission to evangelize and receive baptism and lose the authority to make disciples through education and training. Christians must receive the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill the mission entrusted to them.
Among the advantages of modern civilization, fax is a tool that connects with each other by immediately delivering the text written here, even if it is located tens of thousands of miles away. The Holy Spirit is the one who immediately delivers our prayers, words, and actions to God, and the gospel is spread to remote parts of the world through those who receive the Holy Spirit.
Appenseller and Underwood who preached the gospel to our nation, Philip who preached in Samaria, Paul the Apostle who evangelized the Gentiles, and Peter who repented and baptized 3,000 people per sermon. These were all people who received the Holy Spirit and were filled with the Holy Spirit.
There was an old shepherd in Texas, USA. He owned a lot of land, but there was no grass and he barely raised a few sheep, so he was poor. But an oil company explored his land, and it turned out to be a large oil field. Although he possessed great wealth, he did not know that fact and had to live in poverty for the most part of his life.
We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit, and it is a promise that we are allowed to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). Knowing this fact and receiving the Holy Spirit, my field of life is the same as before, but my life will be able to enjoy the blessings that I have never enjoyed before. A person who is filled with the Holy Spirit can become a person who can do great and difficult things as a great rich person in faith, an evangelist who evangelizes all people to receive baptism, and a competent nurturer who nurtures numerous disciples. Incompetent and helpless Christians, cold-hearted people of faith, these are all people who have not received the Holy Spirit and do not have the fire of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. “Before, preaching seemed to shoot arrows. He only had strength in his arms, and the speed of the arrow was slow and weak. However, the sermon after receiving the Holy Spirit is like shooting a gun. The concentrated power of gunpowder exploded, and only the power of one finger was sufficient to fire and fire, and the bullet was fast, powerful, and strong." It is a confession of change, and when the Holy Spirit works in me, my life becomes strong and complete.
Third: keep it, we will be together
“Teach them to obey all that I have commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).
The Greek word 'didascontes' for 'teach' is a present participle, meaning to continue teaching. Teaching is, therefore, one of the great missions of Christianity, the Church, and the necessity and continuity of Christian education. But teaching is not the end of the church's mission, but it must preserve what has been taught and nurture it so that it can be put into practice in life, that is, it must be kept. However, teaching them to keep them is not always easy.
That is why the Apostle Paul said that there are ten thousand teachers in Christ, but there are not many fathers (1 Corinthians 4:15). It is more difficult to teach than to raise children.”
It is true that teaching and keeping them is difficult and difficult. But Jesus promised, "I am with you always, even to the end of the world." In other words, it is not that you teach me to keep it, but I will teach it to keep it. If you work hard to teach and keep it, I will make you who I am.
When the person who has received the Holy Spirit is working, the Holy Spirit is with them, acting like rain when it is dry, making it hot when it is cold, making it bright when it is dark, giving you living water when it is thirsty, refreshing it like the wind when it is hot, He nourishes and enriches us when we are growing up, gives us refreshment when we fall down in frustration, and helps us to live from passive faith to active faith.
God the Father has chosen us, God the Son died for us, and God the Holy Spirit is sovereignly working in us. The Holy Spirit is the builder of the bridge between the power of God and the incompetence of man. The gift of God's supreme love for us is not wealth, knowledge, or institutions, but God Himself and the Holy Spirit being with us.
Beloved saints! Paracletus, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is with us. The Christian's mission is to act. The Holy Spirit, the Counselor, is with us so that we can carry out and fulfill the mission given to us. Christians must receive the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit to become a medium that conveys God's amazing love for humans.