How to Receive the Holy Spirit
2012.3.11 Sunday morning service sermon
Bible: Luke 11:10-13
Title: How to receive the Holy Spirit
Luke 11:10-13 ‘10. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11. Which of you is a father, whose son asks for a fish and gives him a snake instead of a fish?
12. If you ask for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? 13. If you are evil, but know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” - Amen.
Christianity is not a place for character education for education.
Christianity is not a welfare social service organization.
It is a place where you can receive the truth, be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and receive eternal life and God's grace.
1. To be saved, you must receive the Holy Spirit
A personal person is a social requirement, but it is not the way of life that achieves ultimate salvation and solves death. Only by receiving the Holy Spirit is salvation complete.
John 3:5 "Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
1 Corinthians 12:3 “Therefore I tell you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God can say that Jesus is accursed, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:9 “...if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”
Believing in Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit are simultaneous works.
Romans 8:1-2 ‘1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
2. How to receive the Holy Spirit
In Acts 8:18-19, a man named Simon saw that he received the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands of the apostles and tried to buy the power with money. The Holy Spirit is not bought or sold, but is God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity One Body.
1) The Holy Spirit comes upon us when we hear the word of truth
Acts 10:44 “As Peter was speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came upon all who heard the word.”
2) He comes to those who repent.
Acts 2:38 “Peter said to him, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
3) The Holy Spirit comes upon those who obey
Acts 5:32 “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey him.”
1 Samuel 15:22 “…obedience is better than sacrifice…”
4) He comes to those who pray
Luke 11:13 “…will not your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Proverbs 8:17 “…he who seeks me earnestly will find me.”
If you go to church for a long time, you can gain common sense about the religion of the church, but unless you experience the influence of the Holy Spirit, you cannot have a spiritual conversation.
1 Corinthians 2:11 “Who knows the things of a man except the spirit that is within him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
Even if you have an intellect, you do not have a spiritual conversation. Even if you are ignorant of the world, you must become a person who can have spiritual conversations. When you go to heaven, only those who have received the Holy Spirit can have conversations. In fact, it was written in the Bible by the Holy Spirit, and when we receive the Holy Spirit, we enter into the truth (John 16:13). Therefore, it is necessary to be filled with the Holy Spirit as much as we believe in Jesus to become a normal faith.