Once I had the experience of receiving flames of something like the Holy Spirit through prayer. But these flames didn’t last long, and soon died out in the face of accumulated sin. However, now I want to show you the truth about the Holy Spirit, which will dwell in us for eternity, not through the false Spirit easily extinguished by sin, but through the true gospel. The Holy Spirit I will now introduce to you through this message is not something that you can receive through prayers, but only through faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

Based on the main passage, I want to deliver a message on whether “one can receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through his own effort.” The Apostles at the time of the early church received power from God and were sent to various places by Him. There are several supernatural events in Acts, one of them being the Holy Spirit’s descent upon believers when the Apostles laid their hands on their heads. The Bible says, “When the apostles laid hands on those who had not received the Holy Spirit yet even though they believed in Jesus, they received the Holy Spirit.”

What kind of gospel did Paul preach? He preached the gospel of Jesus’ baptism and His blood. Acts 19:1-2 says, “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’” However, these people believed in Jesus while leaving out the meaning of Jesus’ baptism. They didn’t know the beautiful gospel that leads to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul’s question, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” was a very unfamiliar question to some disciples at Ephesus. Other people would have asked them, “Did you believe in Jesus?” But Paul asked the question in this extraordinary way so that they could receive the Holy Spirit by renewing their faith in the beautiful gospel. Paul’s ministry was to preach the beautiful gospel of Jesus’ baptism and His blood. Paul, Peter and John also testified to Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist.

Looking at the disciples of Jesus Christ, the extent of their faith when they had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was clearly different from their faith when they did not. Their flesh did not look any different, but after receiving the Holy Spirit, their lives were totally changed by the light of Jesus Christ.

If you want to have fellowship with the Holy Spirit, firstly, you must know that even a little sin in front of the Lord makes such a fellowship impossible. You might think, ‘How can a man have not even a bit of sin in front of the Lord?’ But if you truly wish for fellowship with the Lord then there should be no darkness in your heart. Therefore, in order to have fellowship with the Lord, you need to know that you must believe in the gospel of redemption and cleanse yourselves of all sins.

In the passages above, there are five wise virgins and five foolish virgins. The five foolish ones ask the five wise ones to share some of their oil. But the wise told the foolish ones, “No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.” So, while the foolish ones went out to buy oil, the five wise virgins who had oil with their lamps went into the wedding ceremony. How then can we prepare oil for the Lord? The only thing we need do is to wait for Him with the forgiveness of sins in our hearts.

In order to receive the Holy Spirit, we need to have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Our Lord is named Wonderful, Counselor, and Mighty God. Our Lord referred to Himself as the pathway to Heaven. Jesus Christ presented everybody with the gift of the beautiful gospel.

The living water of the Holy Spirit flows out of the hearts of those who believe in the beautiful gospel. John 7:38 says, “He who believes in Me, as Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” This means that there is true salvation and the remission of sins for those who believe in the beautiful gospel that God gave us.