The Gate for the Sheep and the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ (John 10:1-18)

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God

The Gate for the Sheep and the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ (John 10:1-18)

Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. I pray that the great blessing of the Word of God will come upon all of the families that are worshipping in their homes, in the church, and outside on the roof. The title for today’s sermon is, “The Gate for the Sheep and the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.” The Good Shepherd is always referring to Jesus Christ.

Why did we talk about this message today? Jesus Christ had just healed a man who was born blind, and the Pharisees, the Jews, and the teachers of the law began to attack Jesus Christ for working on the Sabbath. Jesus responds in John 9:39, “The blind will see, and those who can see will become blind.” Then, there was an interaction with the Jewish people who said, “I can see now; does that mean I am blind?” This is what Jesus Christ is saying in response to the Pharisees and Sadducees who responded that way.

  1. The Sheep and the Shepherd
    We are talking about the sheep and the shepherd. The sheep refers to the congregation.

1) Characteristics of the Sheep
In Isaiah 53:6, there was a prophecy that foretells Jesus Christ’s death, and it says, “We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way,” that’s what sheep are like. In reality, sheep cannot see very well, and because they cannot see very well, they just wander in whatever way they want. There are times when they even fall into a ditch and break their leg, or a sheep will not see a cliff that is right in front of them and fall off and die. That’s the characteristics of a sheep.

2) The Voice of the Shepherd
In other words, because sheep are weak, they absolutely need a shepherd, and the believers are like sheep. If I think that I’m a sheep, I’ll look for my shepherd, right? But the world tells you to live like a lion. That’s not right. When God first created mankind, He created us in His image so that we can only survive if we listen to Him and follow after God. In other words, we were created as a being who could not take a single correct step unless we are following God, Jesus Christ. Only when we follow after God do we receive the blessing of ruling over, subduing, and conquering over the world.

The world tells you to live like a lion, but we were created so that we could not take a single correct step unless we are following God.

Because we are all like sheep, we need a shepherd, but if you say, “I don’t need a shepherd,” you’ll one day be devoured by a wolf. Once your spirit is devoured by a wolf, you will have unspeakable suffering in your life. The characteristic of sheep, if you look at John 10:3, is that they will listen to the shepherd.

In real life, when a shepherd calls his sheep by name, the sheep will actually respond, that’s the characteristic of the sheep. That means he knows and assigns a name to each and every sheep, and when he calls, they respond accordingly. That is the only positive aspect of sheep. Everything else, even their personality is wrong.

Sheep just do whatever they want, and that’s us. If we don’t have Jesus, we live for whatever we want, as if we were lions. We shake our manes as if we could make something of ourselves, and one day, our spirit is consumed by the wolves. Because our spirits are consumed by the wolves, we fall into addiction, we commit suicide. Our spirit is devoured and we are being dragged around, and we can’t do whatever we want. That’s why we are all wandering and struggling.

Our spirit is invisible, and it’s being devoured and dragged around by the devil, but we cannot see that, and we cannot escape, why? It is because you think you are a lion. When God first created us, He did not create us as lions, but He created us as a being that needs to be guided and to follow after God, but the education of America tells you to become the lion. America says, “You create your own plans.” That might be true for the physical things, yes, but spiritually, you’re being devoured and destroyed. That’s how the devil is working in American culture.

In John 10:3, Jesus says that He calls His sheep by name, and they listen to His voice and follow Him, and they must follow the Shepherd, why? Because if they don’t, then the wolves will come and devour them immediately. It might be possible that a sheep can wander on its own and find a pasture of green grass for itself, but the wolves will come and devour it. That’s why we absolutely need a shepherd. Without a doubt, we need to hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow.

3) The Shepherd
Who is that Shepherd? It’s talking about Jesus Christ.

  1. Jesus Christ
    In John 10:7, Jesus Christ says, “I am the gate for the sheep,” what does that mean?

1) The Gate for the Sheep
When the night comes and it gets dark, the shepherd will build a fence so that the sheep will be gathered in one place and that the wolves will not be able to come in to attack, and they have a door at the entrance, that’s the gate. Then the shepherd does not sleep all night, he just watches over the sheep, so the shepherd is a gate for the sheep, and the shepherd also goes through the gate for the sheep. That means that Jesus Christ who watches over us will protect us and is also our gate.

If the shepherd himself is guarding over the gate all the time, then he himself is the gate, and you have to go through him. In the Bible passage, everyone who does not go through the gate is a robber and a thief. In John 10:9, Jesus says, “I am the gate, whoever comes through Me will be saved.” We can only receive salvation by going through Jesus Christ.

There is no possible way for you to escape from disasters, Satan, and hell without Jesus Christ. Every other religion is very good, however, you cannot solve the problem of sin, Satan, and hell with other religions. I’m not trying to say something about Christianity; religions are good, however, if you do not have Jesus Christ, you cannot solve the problems of hell, Satan, and sin.

There is no possible way for you to escape from disasters, Satan, and hell without Jesus Christ.

Some people say, “How can you be a person and say something so stern?” But I’m not talking personally; I’m talking spiritually. They are saying, “How can you be so stern and elitist?” But that’s not how it is. I’m saying there is no way to solve those problems except through Jesus Christ.

Jesus continues in John 10:9 that they will go out and find pasture. They go in and out of the pen, and they eat from green pastures. Every single morning, without a doubt, you have to go through the gate of Jesus Christ because anyone who comes outside of Jesus Christ is a robber and a thief, and they are only there to destroy your spirit. The very first thing you must do when you wake up in the morning is to go through the gate of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus Christ is second and your diligence is first, that will absolutely destroy your spirit. If your work takes precedence over Jesus Christ, then your work will be the source of your destruction. Therefore, every time you leave your pen, you need to go through the door that is Jesus Christ, and without a doubt, after you end the day and you go back into the pen, you have to finish it with Jesus Christ. That’s why the Bible tells us to give our sacrifices in the morning and at night.

As soon as you wake up in the morning, begin your day with Jesus Christ. Without a doubt, you have to confirm this. Then what happens? If you go through any other door, then the devil will never leave you alone. America has so many doors of temptation. There’s the New Age gate, “Wow, you can be God, what kind of god do you need? This is how you can be happy, this is the door to happiness that will heal you.” There are so many temptations, and that’s why there are so many mental patients and addicts, because we think that success is the gate we need to go through, and we begin like that and become destroyed.

Everyone in the world is going through that gate, but no one is going through the gate of Jesus Christ. They climb over the fence, looking for the glamorous things of America. We think that the door to life is the power of America and we look towards that. People avoid going through the one gate. When they wake up in the morning, let’s say they listen to music first, or when they wake up in the morning, they think about eating first, or when they wake up in the morning, they look at their phone first. Those are all different doors, because anything that comes outside of Jesus Christ is a thief and that will destroy us.

We must always go through the gate. If your business comes first, you will die. If your work comes first, then that’s the way to death. If your studies come first, that’s dying. Because we are Jesus Christ’s sheep, we have to go through the gate of Jesus Christ. But the culture emphasizes things other than Jesus Christ so much, and that’s how they became a superpower nation. They accept every religion and they give you all the good things, but they destroy your spirit so that you don’t go through the only gate of Jesus Christ.

Even if you come to church, it’s difficult to hear the words of Jesus Christ because it seems so meek, and people don’t want to hear things like that. However, sheep will love hearing that; goats hate that. Goats want to emphasize leadership, success, and how to be successful in the fourth industrial revolution. They hate Jesus. But the sheep will listen to the words of Jesus and begin their day with Jesus, then all the rest of their day, whatever they do, they listen to and follow the words of Jesus.

In the field, they follow after the words of Jesus Christ, and later on, we’re going to talk about David, and David was like that. David actually wasn’t a great person, but because his Shepherd was great, he became great. But if we talk about David’s leadership, personality, David’s intelligence and handsomeness, those are all foolish things. David is a sheep. David needs a Shepherd.

A pastor is not a shepherd; a pastor is a sheep, too. The pastor is not the Shepherd Himself, but his position is to relay the words of the Shepherd, so you should not listen to the words of the pastor, you should listen to the voice of Jesus Christ that comes through the pastor. A lot of people get destroyed because they listen to the pastor, and they are destroyed because they listen to the words of the people. The sheep do not need to listen to the voice of other sheep, they only need to listen to the Shepherd, then, He will lead you to the place where you can rest and eat a lot of grass and drink a lot of water, and He will also protect you from the wolves.

2) Satan
But in America, there are so many green pastures we can eat from without a shepherd. Even without Jesus Christ, there are so many rivers of water to drink from, and that’s America. People see that and that’s why they immigrate here, but the devil is waiting. Anybody who does not go through the gate of Jesus Christ will become food for the devil.

Even if you get the most elite education, you will be completely mentally destroyed. Even after you become successful, you’ll go insane. You might be able to get all the material possessions that you want, however, your spirit is completely corrupt. Why? You are destroyed because you are food for the devil when you go through another gate.

Even though they go to church, they go through another gate, then absolutely, their spirits will be robbed. 1 Peter 5:7 says that the devil is waiting like a roaring lion, looking to devour us. This neighborhood of America is a very confusing place because it is a place where you can eat all of the green pastures and drink all the water and have physical wealth even without going through the gate of Jesus Christ. But even as you do that, your spirit will be destroyed and ripped apart.

They might think this is the gate for happiness, but it’s actually the gate for suffering. The history of the Israelites was just a repetition of this deception. They thought the glamour of the fanciful life of Babylon was the gate they had to go through, and they went into the gate of idolatry. At first, it seemed so great, but later on, they were colonized and taken captive.

The life of the Israelites, enslaved by Egypt for 400 years, their lives were never going through the Gate. They educated their children so diligently, they bought a house and all these things and lived such good lives, but one day, they were enslaved. When did they escape? They only escaped slavery when they put the blood of the lamb on their doorpost. Absolutely, you need to go through the door of Jesus Christ, then your spirit is liberated.

But the devil will continue to trick you, “You can study well without Jesus, you can have a successful business without Jesus, and the superpower nation of America is a wonderful place with all these distractions,” and they are all right. Even if you don’t follow the shepherd, a sheep can stumble upon green pastures themselves. If anything, he may find pastures that are even better, but why is that wrong? Because as time passes, a wolf will come and devour you, and that is why he destroys our spirit, and that is why we fail even after succeeding. That’s why we have mental problems. That’s why we suffer, because we can’t escape from addiction and obsession.

Poor people become so passionate about financial blessings that, they believe that if they believe in Jesus Christ, they’ll become wealthy. It is true, God will make you wealthy for the sake of world evangelization, but the important thing is that your spirit must be strengthened. David said, “God will restore my spirit,” and David’s interest was always there, because his spirit is only strengthened when he follows the Shepherd, but you’re under a misconception. You study diligently without Jesus Christ, and that’s why you collapse spiritually. Because you are destroyed spiritually, you’re suffering, and that’s why your life is suffering. Do not [fall under] another misconception.

Begin every single day with the words of Jesus Christ. “I am a saved child of God.” Hold onto Jesus Christ who has solved every problem, and in the life you have ahead of you, you will follow the voice of Jesus Christ. When you come back at the end of the day, you need to end it with the words of Jesus Christ.

Satan is a thief and a robber, and in John 10:10, he destroys and kills us. We think we’re doing really great on our own, but one day, we become very crazy or one day, we have nothing left. Even the things you’ve accomplished for yourself? What’s the point? You’re in suffering. That’s you being deceived by the devil of America; you’ve been deceived by the culture of America, you’ve been enslaved and dragged by the fanciful things that aren’t Jesus Christ.

When I went to evangelize in the field, I target college students and Americans. There are a lot of churchgoers, and when I ask if they believe in Jesus, they say, “Yeah,” but I ask, “Is Jesus Christ the only way?” they say, “No, other religions have a way, too.” Then when I ask them, “Why do you believe in Jesus Christ?” They just say, “I just happened to believe in Jesus, but you can receive salvation other ways as well.” This isn’t just one or two people, but every single field I went to, I targeted Caucasian American people specifically, and this is their response. Later on, their spirit will be destroyed.

It is possible that you only ended up in church because of the environment you’re in, but only Jesus Christ is the way, and if you go into the Gate through some other way, if you go in any other Gate that is not Jesus Christ, you will die, just like an immigrant who is coming in illegally. If you’re trying to study, you need to go into the gate of Jesus Christ first. You’re only going crazy because you’re going into a gate that is not Christ.

It’s the same with making money, you keep trying to go in through another gate, but that’s foul play, that’s a way to get ensnared by the devil. That is our walk of faith, we must go through Christ, only listening to and following the words of Christ. Anything else is foul play.

That is why the church is the place to talk about the words of Jesus Christ. The more time passes, the world will tell you other things, and the more other things they talk about, the more they will be enslaved by Satan, then what is the church doing? If the church is talking about a lot of other things, then a lot of people will gather because the church is just repeating the words of the world. If the church copies the content of the bestselling books, the congregation members will like it, but if you talk about Jesus Christ, they’ll get tired of it. They’ll say, “You have to talk about a variety of things, why are you only talking about one thing?”

There is nothing other than the words of Jesus. You have to go in through the Gate of Christ. Even if you want to become the greatest soldier of all time like David, you have to go through the Gate of Christ, following the Shepherd. If you want to become a renowned politician, then absolutely, you have to go in through the Gate of Christ, following the Shepherd. If you want to become the greatest doctor, you have to be like Luke who only followed Jesus. If you want to become the greatest businesspeople like Priscilla and Aquila, you need to stake your life and follow only Jesus. Everything else is illegal; that is in the Bible, because God says it’s illegal. The books of the devil might emphasize the leaders of the world, but the Bible will never talk about them.

3) The Good Shepherd
Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd,” and only the Good Shepherd will lay down His life for the sheep. In John 10:10, He says, “I have come so that the sheep may have life.” Only Jesus may die for us, and that is how we can have life, and not just that, but have life to the full. When you receive salvation, you gain life, but you need to go through the gate of Jesus Christ and you need to follow the Gate of the Good Shepherd to have a full life. That is how you will not be swept into the culture of the superpower nation of America, a culture of slavery, curses, and disasters.

When you receive salvation, you gain life, but you need to go through the Gate of Jesus Christ and follow the Gate of the Good Shepherd to have a full life.

4) Hired Hand
In John 10:14, Jesus says, “I know My sheep, and My sheep know me.” To the Pharisees, Jesus is saying, “If the Shepherd is coming to you, and you don’t recognize the Shepherd’s voice, then you are not sheep.” In John 10:12, Jesus is talking about a hired hand who is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own because he is not the shepherd, then when a wolf comes, he will run away. He uses a term, “hired hand,” which might be misused in the church. A pastor is not a shepherd; a pastor is a sheep, and we need to listen to the voice of the Shepherd. Who is the hired hand in this verse? He is talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees.

In reality, in the past, if there were too many sheep for one family to take care of, they couldn’t take care of all of them. So, they would pay someone with money so they could help take care of the sheep. So, they would have a common area where all the sheep in the whole village can be, and they would hire someone to watch over it. They buy the hired help because the shepherd cannot do it by themselves.

If one wolf comes, then the hired hand might be able to fight against that wolf, but if a pack of two or more wolves come, then the hired hand cannot handle it, so he’ll run away and abandon the sheep. However, the people of the village can’t say anything about it because that was the original contract. That’s what we call a hired hand, they receive money to watch over them. However, because the sheep don’t belong to them, if they face a danger, the hired hands will run away.

Why does the Lord say this? If you look in Matthew 23:13, what did Jesus Christ say to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law? He said that these are the hired hands who are only using the sheep to gain their own money, reputation, and prestige to live. Many people respected the Pharisees, but these people are not interested in the interests of the Shepherd; they are only interested in money.

In Matthew 23:13, He says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who try to enter.” In Matthew 23:6, He says, “You will host grand parties and banquets simply because you enjoy being elevated,” they enjoy being placed in places of honor and banquets. That’s a hired hand.

Jesus Christ, the Shepherd Himself, has come, and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law should listen to the Shepherd’s voice. However, they are not only not listening, but they are blocking the other sheep from following the Shepherd’s voice, and they are gathering all the sheep so they can receive all the glory, the power, the attention and honor.

The churches might become like that. If a church becomes big, they have a lot of power, and they will even gain a lot of respect from other people. It’s possible that they may change like the Pharisees, they’re going to use the people and power to exert their own authority. Or, they won’t receive any acknowledgment in the world, so they try to receive acknowledgment in the church. It’s possible that churches might become like that.

The Pharisees and Sadducees emphasized this literally, but anybody who does not emphasize Jesus Christ and does not go into the gate of Jesus Christ every day might become like that.

  1. Those Who Follow the Good Shepherd
    The representative of the one who followed after the Shepherd was David.

1) David
For decades, David was running for his life from King Saul and he confessed at that time that the LORD is my Shepherd. The fact that the LORD is His Shepherd means that he was representing himself as a sheep. The reason your walk of faith is not taking place is because you think of yourself as a wolf, or maybe at worst, a dog, or women might think they’re a more beautiful animal, but that’s a misconception. You’re not following like a sheep, and that’s the reason you’re not following the Shepherd because you don’t even know your own identity, you don’t look for the Shepherd. But David knew himself, he knew, “I am a sheep,” and the only thing a sheep needs is a Shepherd.

That is why he was able to say, “If I simply follow my Shepherd, I lack nothing.” That is why, in the Old Testament, David considered himself as the sheep and Jesus Christ as his Shepherd and followed after Him. With Jesus Christ alone, everything is finished because He is my Shepherd.

There are many people who have not finished their life with the gospel, and no matter what you try to do, it will not be finished. Until the point you know that you’re not a shepherd, your life will not reach its conclusion. You keep trying to be like Goliath, you keep trying to be like King Saul, but we are sheep, and God is guiding us for His own name’s sake. The LORD is not guiding us for our sake, but the LORD is guiding us for His name’s sake.

But we’re under a misconception, what sheep would live for his own glory? If the Shepherd calls, he just follows. The reason why David does not fear even though he walks through the valley of the shadow of death is because the Shepherd is with him. During the pandemic, there are many people whose businesses are collapsing and their future seems uncertain, it seems like the valley of the shadow of death. Even so, why are you not afraid? It is because the LORD is your Shepherd and He is with you. I only need to follow Jesus Christ who is my Good Shepherd, then, nothing is a problem to Jesus.

This all seems like a problem to us, but it is not a problem to Jesus. When we face danger and crises, we don’t see the way out, but Jesus does. All we have to do is be with Him and follow Him. Then what happens? He will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies and your cup will overflow. God will watch over you, in the face of the devil who is trying to attack us.

Why would I shake in front of the devil? It is because you don’t know who you are, and you don’t know who Jesus is, and it’s because you’re in a misconception regarding yourself, and that’s why you have panic attacks. Even if you have panic attacks, you are a sheep and all you need is a Shepherd, because the Shepherd has already planned everything in our lives for us. The Shepherd has all of our talents and knows what we’re good at, He knows what work He needs to give to us, but that’s the only thing you don’t want to see. You keep trying to believe in your own thoughts. Because you are following your own intellect, all the physical things of the world seem so powerful, but your spirit is dying.

In Psalm 23:6, David confesses, “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” There was not a single time when David had a great personality or when it says that David was a great person. There are so many people who talk about good things in the Bible, “David was always humble, David was always a great leader, David always had a kind heart,” but actually, that’s not what the Bible says. Even when his father, Jesse, saw David, he did not bring David out in the lineup when Samuel came looking for the next king of Israel because David did not meet the physical standards of a king, so imagine how everybody looked down on David. When David went into the battlefield with Goliath, his older brothers condemned him, saying, “You are always so conceited.”

From a physical standpoint, David was always looked down on, but David’s confession is, “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” and that’s the temple. David is with the Ark of the Covenant. “I will be with the LORD, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD where the LORD is present forever.”

When the Ark of the Covenant was returned to the kingdom, David was so overjoyed that he started dancing and his pants fell down, and his wife who was King Saul’s daughter said, “That’s so humiliating, what are you doing as a king?” It was such a short sentence she said, but God cursed her for that, and she became barren for the rest of her life. Even if a woman is the wife of the king, if she doesn’t have any kids, that’s the end of a woman’s life, especially if you’re the king’s wife, because you’re supposed to carry the next heir to the throne, but she was talking to David about the propriety of a king.

From the viewpoint of people, what she said wasn’t wrong, because a king should have some standard of decorum, but that really made God upset. You should stop talking about humanistic things, you will die that way. You must transcend humanistic things in front of God through Jesus. Later, David has a mistake with Bathsheba, and she bears Solomon as her son. Because the daughter of King Saul said that one small word, her life was finished. It’s just like saying, “Jesus, what about Jesus? The Temple? What about the Temple? We need to survive, we need to work and survive. What’s so important about worship?” That person’s life is finished. What is finished? That person’s spirit is finished.

Even if a person gets into a fight with someone else before coming into worship, they cannot receive any grace. Even if they hear God’s Word, they cannot, because their spirits collapse, and that’s how sensitive our spirits are. If our spirits are not aligned with God, we cannot receive grace. The reason you stake your life on worship is because it is everything. You need to live the rest of your life following His voice because you are the sheep and He is the Shepherd.

If I were not a sheep, I would not have to listen to the voice of the Shepherd, but I can do whatever I want, and I would think that the way to live is to live according to my thoughts, what I think is right, what I’ve been taught.

2) The Mission of Jesus Christ
In John 10:16, Jesus Christ says, “I have other sheep who are not of this pen, I must bring them also.” This is talking about the nonbelievers who will receive salvation and the guidance of the Lord. “They too will listen to my voice and they shall be one flock with one Shepherd,” that’s talking about the Holy Spirit. After Jesus Christ fulfilled the resurrection, He back went up to heaven and the Holy Spirit is guiding all of His flock as one Shepherd.

3) The Request of Jesus Christ
In John 21, there is a request that Jesus makes of Peter. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, everyone ran away, why? They ran away because they no longer saw their shepherd. From the beginning, sheep characteristically wander their own way, so they have never once thought about the Lord. That’s the characteristic of sheep, they need the shepherd there, and then Jesus Christ resurrected in three days and asked Peter, “Do you love me?” That’s it, it is finished.

The sum of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament is, “Love God and love people.” Before you try to do anything, do you love God? If you love God, then you listen to and follow His voice, then that’s it, it is finished. However, if you don’t love God, then you’ll follow something else and that’s wrong, then God will not be able to give you anything. The condition is, do you love Christ, or do you love something else first? The Lord knows.

Before you try to do anything, do you love God? If you love God, then you listen to and follow His voice, then that’s it, it is finished.

“Then, feed my lambs.” Peter is not the Shepherd, he is simply playing the role of the pastor, but he himself needs to be led by the Lord, too. That’s why another ideology cannot come into the church. The moment anything other than Jesus Christ is emphasized in the churches, that is foul play. If you emphasize personality more than you emphasize Jesus Christ, that’s cheating. If you emphasize anything other than Jesus Christ, that is not the church. That will only destroy spirits.

Even though you live in a wonderful place, you are still living in suffering. Where is better to live than in America? But it’s still not good to live here, you’re still in suffering. Everyone is struggling to come to America, what better land is there? And yet, everybody is suffering, the drug addicted patients are arising all the more, and the elites are living completely oppressed by mental illnesses, unseen to the eyes. The reason why this is happening is because they’re not going through the gate of Jesus Christ.

Even though they go to the church, they love something else. They do Bible study, but they study the Bible without Jesus Christ as the main point. Then, our spirit will not come to life. If a person’s spirit is collapsed, what do you think will happen? Why does it matter if you have money? If your spirit is dead, can your money revive you? You clutch onto money and success, thinking it’s the gate to happiness, but ultimately you’re destroyed.

That’s the reason why Jesus Christ came to the members of the Early Church and gave them the words of the Kingdom of God. God pulled out all the people who were lost in the temptations of the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. Then, He promised the power and the filling of the Holy Spirit so that you can do that work.

You don’t need any other strength; you need the strength of God. We do not need our own strength; we need the strength of the Shepherd who is guiding us. We keep trying to stack up our own strength, we are simply being used according to the talents the Lord has given to us; we’re not trying to gain more power. Our spirit is strengthened and restored so that we may do the work that God desires for us; we’re not trying to gain our own strength, but you think you need some other strength, so that’s why you follow and get lost in other things.

Only when the Holy Spirit comes upon you will you receive power and become His witnesses until the ends of the earth. You need the power of the filling of God, Jesus Christ. America doesn’t need any other power, you should not be deceived by that. We do not need the power of a Harvard graduate. If someone graduates from Harvard, sure, that might be great physically, but that cannot save us spiritually. You will hold onto your college degree, then your spirit will be destroyed. You think that’s the way, you think that’s the gate through which you will live, then you get into a state where you have no choice but to touch drugs every day.

There’s a park in front of my house, and there’s a Korean man who is about 60 years old, and he wears shoes that are a little bit bigger than his feet, and he always wears suit pants, tennis shoes, and a yellow hat, and he always has one bag, and he always takes the bus and comes back. As I exercise around the neighborhood, I always see him sleeping in some stairways, and sometimes he would wake up from that and talk about the Word of God to himself.

I think that when this man first came to America, he didn’t come to America to live like this. I know that he’s a believer, but I wonder how he turned out like this. I pray for him as I pass by him on the street. Every day, he lays down on the bench and reads the Korean newspaper, and I think he takes the bus to a place where he can get food, and then he comes back, and his body is so weak. One day, I went walking with a pastor I know, and I think the man on the bench knew this pastor.

Why do you think a man would come to America and turn out like this? Sleeping on a bench is not the problem I’m pointing out. As a believer, you need to receive spiritual strength and follow the Lord, but why did he come to America to live like this? I’m not sure if he goes to church or not, but he definitely went in through another gate. If you go in through another gate, then when you get older, you’ll lose your physical strength and you will just collapse.

People who have money may be able to maintain their physical power with their money, but their spirit will collapse. That’s the reason why in 1 Peter 2:9, we have been called as the chosen people, the royal priesthood to declare the wonderful praises of God.

Conclusion

  1. The Sheep Need the Good Shepherd
    I believe that no matter how great or fanciful something may look, you have to go into the gate of Jesus Christ and follow the Good Shepherd in order for you to be used and to be victorious like David, Daniel, and Joseph.
  2. The Good Shepherd Protects and Leads the Sheep
    There is no gate other than Jesus, and we must follow only the voice of Jesus, why? Because I am a sheep. I need nothing other than the Shepherd; I don’t even need money, I don’t need my studies, I need the Shepherd. I don’t need my business, I need the Shepherd.
  3. Life of the Holy Spirit, Guiding Me and Saving Sheep within Me.
    I believe that within that, the Lord is guiding us.
    May you and I be victorious this week. Let us pray together holding onto the Word God gave us.

 

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