Be Aligned with God Wherever I Go, Then I’ll Have Victory in Worship in the Field (Acts 1:1-8)

Let us share the content regarding Acts 1:1-8.  While we live on this earth, we will always have temptations regarding “ourselves.”  Because this world itself is moving centered on “me,” apart from God, and “my things.”  It is that we think that our material possessions belong to us, because that’s the way the world is moving.  And, my work and success are counted as my work.  This is how unbelievers live now.  We live our lives receiving that influence.  

If we receive salvation, it means we’ve been liberated from that.  It is no longer the old “me” that had no choice but to receive curses and disaster, separation from God but it is the new “me” that is saved by Jesus Christ.  Therefore, praying is not about asserting our own desires, but it is about going before God.  If that doesn’t take place, we are always going to be stuck on “me,” and “my thoughts,” and the result is that we’ll live similar lives to unbelievers.  We must quickly escape from that.

This means our roots and nature must escape, that it’s not me, but God.  Not my problem, but what is God saying about this?  It is not my money, but how will I use God’s money for God’s purpose? If these things within you are healed, then the things of God will come to you.  Otherwise you’ll die after an entire life being tied up by material possessions, saying, “mine, mine.”  That was the way the Isratelies died after 40 years in the wilderness, complaining about material things.

I’ve already been crucified on the cross, but I always think about me and my things.  But it’s not mine, then what are my things? The materials I utilize for the Lord are mine, and those will be returned to me as my heavenly reward.  Even if you give a small cup of cold water to a child, it comes back to you as a reward.  We drink water all day, every day, because I’m thirsty, but all the water I drink for myself is nothing.  But let’s say I devote a cup of water to a small child, then that reward will come to me as an answer.  If you devote your material possessions in the name of a prophet, then the blessing of the prophet will be upon you.  

But because you think that’s your belongings, you only run the errands of the devil and die after being trapped by Satan. For a disciple who devotes to a disciple in the name of the disciple, they receive the blessing of a disciple.  Before you take part in financial activities, you need to understand how God defines finances.  But because you do not have the proper definition of God’s finances, you’re confused.  

But because you don’t truly understand the Gospel, you can recognize and understand Jesus Christ, but because you’re not dead on the cross, you only think about your thoughts, your assertions, and your greed.  God’s Word is so perfect that we do not need to assert anything on our own.  In schools, they call on you and you tell your opinion, but that’s not what we do. We say our opinions when we make sales, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.  It’s about where the central focus of our lives are.  The Lord lives within you, and that is the new “you.” 

This is where we first run into conflicts. “I have my own thoughts, though!” Of course, everybody does, and if you gather 100 people, maybe some of them may have similar thoughts, but 60-70% of them will have different thoughts. The way of the world is to gather all these diverse thoughts to gain material possessions and to establish themselves, so this is why there is physical development.  Especially for big conglomerates, they have a lot of money to bring in researchers from abroad to gather their intellect. For smaller companies, they don’t have enough money to invest in research in development, this is correct, but this is not what the kingdom of God is all about.  

The kingdom of God doesn’t need your thoughts. why? Because God’s Word is the standard, so that’s why, if you’re not certain in the Word of God, don’t do it.  Why would you do something that you shouldn’t do?  You wait until the Word is certain.  Because, if God doesn’t tell you to start but you start because of your own impatience, you’re going back to your old state of curses and disasters.

Therefore, the only way to save yourself is the Words of Jesus Christ. In all curstamcnses, make the Word of God your standard.  But because you’re so impatient, you say, “I can’t wait for the Word,” and you do things according to your nature. You shouldn’t do that; the Lord is our standard.  You have to wait until you’re sure in the Word.  But you overstep that, and that’s what we call sin, the work of Satan.  Just people being demon-possessed isn’t the work of Satan.  It is not only the work of Satan, if someone is a demon-possessed shaman.  

In Matthew 4, Satan works to tempt Jesus Christ who fasted for 40 days, so he was hungry, so he tempts us with things to eat.  It is true that Jesus’ feelings and thoughts were very hungry but that is not how we must live. We need to  hold onto God’s Word, and only at that time will the devil flee. If you understand Satan and the spiritual things very narrowly, it’s a headache. If you think that it’s irrelevant to you, it’s a headache.  To see demon-possessed people, you can see them in shamans and fortune tellers, but many college professors are also demon-possessed.  

They have their own ideologies, they use logic and theories to not follow God. That’s the work and possession of the devil. But because we don’t see spiritual things, we’re taken in by that.  So in Genesis 3, it wasn’t some dirty demon that went into Adam and Eve. Adam wasn’t possessed by a demon-like fortune teller.  How did Satan work upon them?  Satan’s work is simply, “Do not believe in God’s Word, but you become God yourself,” and Satan works the same way today. 

“You become the standard,” that was Satan’s work, but you don’t see that as Satan’s work, do you? “I just happen to have a hasty personality,” but that’s not what’s going on.  Even though someone may have a lazier or hastier personality, that’s the difference between a lion and a bear, but the standard is the same.  The standard must be that the time schedule I move in is God’s Word.  That’s the new “me,” the “me” that has received salvation.  But because this image of “me” who is unsaved isn’t appearing, I’m going back to the old image that is destroyed and cursed. This is why you must stake your life on the Word of God.  

This means you must concentrate on the Word that God is saying through the message and through the worship, into the words of the pastor.  People who are able to do this when they go into the business field can hear the voice of God.  For example, you guys may look at me, and I can only give examples for myself, but if you look at me physically, you might not like how my tie doesn’t match with my suit. Even to that extent, it’s fine, but if you think, “He’s at a lower level than me,” you may be correct, but that is the work of Satan that makes you misunderstand, thinking that’s not the Word of God being relayed

That’s the work of Satan and you’re being dragged into it. The Word of God is not about it being my standard.  But your standard is based on, “This person has a lower level than me, I don’t like the vocabulary they’re using,” or on the other hand,  “Oh, Rev. Ryu is at such a higher level; I have to respect him”? even that is problematic because their standard isn’t the Word of God.  If this doesn’t take place and you go out into the field, you’ll be dragged around by the level and environment of the field.  If you meet someone who is a higher level then you are, you will follow after them and lose hold of the Word of God.  

Worship is the standard of your life.  If you’re able to worship in life, it means you will be able to do anything in the field. The Word of God, invisible to our eyes, must be established upon us for God to work upon me.  When God called us to worship, He called us to give us His Word and His grace, but there is something that blocks that.  If Jesus Christ had been taken in by Satan’s temptation when was hungry, He wouldn’t have received God’s Word.  It was without a doubt true that He was hungry, but you can’t be taken in by that.

Everyone has different levels in the church, and you might possibly think, “Do I really have to talk to someone like that?” Or if someone has a high level, you may like them because you have a lot to learn from them, but that is what unbelievers, those who do not have the Word of God, do.  We do not live like that. Our standard is the Word of God, therefore if you’re able to hear the Word of God during worship, then without a doubt, you will be victorious in the world.

I’ll give you evidence, when you give worship where is God? It’s just a bunch of people gathered together and the pastor standing up here, giving the Word of God. You don’t see God here, but let’s say I give an emotionally moving sermon, and everyone is overwhelmed with emotion, then when you go back home, do you still have that emotion? That’s why emotion is not the standard.  When you receive the Word, emotions may follow, but that’s not the standard. You must be able to distinguish this during worship to be able to distinguish this in the field and in the world.

You’ll be able to distinguish this when problems come. If you’re not able to have victory in worship then if somebody says something to you you’ll get caught in their words.  Because you’ve lost hold of the Word and the voice of God within their words, why? Because you weren’t able to discern this during worship, so there’s some kind of disconnect with your relationship with God, and when you go back home, of course there’s a disconnect there as well, because when you go back home it is not me, but you are living with another person, you have to align yourself with that person, and that person must align themselves to me.  What happens if that doesn’t happen? There’s conflict, and because of that, you can’t live together; it’s more comfortable to live alone.

What about in society? You don’t want to put up with people anymore because you don’t want to align with them.  You think, “I didn’t live my life to be like this,” but if you’re victorious in worship, everyone is insecure and incomplete, but you may be able to align yourselves to them. If you receive God’s grace and God’s Word, then you will be able to align yourself to them. But because you’re so self-centered, you expect everyone to align to you, and that’s why during worship, you say, “Give me grace and touch my emotions,” and if you don’t start crying you say, “I didn’t receive grace.” If you receive comfort from God’s Word, you think you received grace, but if you didn’t receive comfort, then you think God’s word isn’t there, it’s possible to be like that.

However, if you live your social life like that, your human relationships will keep breaking, and your family relationships will keep breaking.  Even my parents cannot align with me 100%, it’s the same during worship. I must align myself with God, and because of that, I stake my life on worship to receive God’s Word.  But you misunderstand, thinking you have to have some renowned or esteemed pastor and you’ll open your heart to them because you think it’ll benefit you.

I’m sorry but your walk of faith won’t take place, why? Because if you have a renowned pastor, you’ll think that pastor is naturally renowned, but you’ll open your heart to them. Do you think God only gives his word to these renowned pastors? You don’t actually believe in God, then. You think it’s the work of God if people have all these human qualifications, and that’s the content of today’s Bible passage.

The disciples are doing the world evangelization movement, then they say, “When will the Kingdom be restored to Israel physically?” Even though Jesus gives them the word, they can’t understand. They think the work of God is when the form they see before their eyes are changing, but if that doesn’t take place then they think that it’s not an answer, this is their misunderstanding, and this is what happens when you worship self-centeredly. It is not my work; it is God’s work.

We have jobs and do other things, but if you think that is your work, you will be pressured and oppressed by Satan. This work is something God gave us for God’s work. God gave us our jobs and studies to do world evangelization of the 237 nations, then why are you so worried?  You worry because you think it is your things and your work.  If it is true that this is God’s things and God’s work, then you’ll pray. 

This is why in our walk of faith, if one thing doesn’t take place, then every other aspect of my life will go askew.  It doesn’t matter how much you worry, will you see God’s will? The deeper you worry and contemplate, the more you’ll see your nature of Genesis 3 come out inside of you and the more you do that, the more you’ll be oppressed by your heavy burdens, and that’s why the deeper you think the more you’re filled with worries and anxieties. If it is not you, but it is God who dwells within you, you will pray to that God, and if you pray, you will rightfully do the Work ofGod with those things.

There’s no reason to be greedy over material things because they’re not yours.  Because it is God’s things and God’s work, God is giving you God’s things for God’s work. If you are doing a lot of things for God, God will give you a lot of things because it’s not yours; your heart is only complicated because you think it’s yours.  Your offering is the standard of your finances.  Are you serving money? The world is all about money, and when you live your walk of faith, your offering is your money, isn’t it?  That’s my standard.  

You like evangelism and the grace you receive, but that person’s walk of faith has the goal of money.  Until that is uprooted out of them, God will wait.  I’m not telling you to give offering, but don’t you think that’s rightful? God gave it to you, then use it for God’s kingdom, then what is there to cry about and complain regarding money?  If God gave you money to do God’s work, then you just don’t do it. Just because you don’t have something, does that mean you don’t do God’s Work? God will give it to you.

If you truly believe that the temple construction is the covenant to do the 237 healing summit, then God will give it to you. Instead, you think of temple construction as a way for you to receive blessings.  But because you’re trying to receive some kind of money by holding onto temple construction, then of course Satan will deceive you in the middle.  237 is not a method used to revive the church.  But you only think of missions and evangelism as a method or tool for church revival, so that’s how Satan destroys you. 237 and world evangelization is God’s will, but you exchange God’s will for yourself, and that’s why you’re crumbling. You’re used a lot and then you’re destroyed.  

In Acts 1, we saw a gathering of people who had been changed.  In other words, if you’re connected with God, you’re aligned with God. God never speaks of physical standards or whether your personality is good or bad or whatever your face is handsome or not, the Lord has never once asked whether you’re good at studying or not. He asked, “Are you aligned with Me?” That’s what He asked, why? Because the Lord already has all the strength and power. If people who do not have God want to survive in the world, they must talk about who is at a higher level, who has more and who has less, but God never asked that.  The people who gathered in the early church were at a low level in the world because God doesn’t care about that.

God’s only care is whether you’re aligned with God or not. In other words, are you connected with God?  You need to connect with people; even if you fail with someone else, you’re connected in your failure. In order for North and South Korea to be unified, it means they must be connected.  If you’re living in heaven and you’re disconnected from God, how do you think you’ll exist in heaven?  If you’re living in America but you’re not aligned and connected with God, how do you think you’ll live?  The members of the early church just had one thing; they were connected with God.

What did they connect with?  The Triune God was connected with the members of the Early Church who were at a low level with no money.  God is looking for people in America who are connected with Him.  You need to be connected to the Triune God with Christ.  Christ finished all problems on the cross, but if that isn’t connecting with you, you’re not connecting with God.  

Even now, Christ is doing the work through me of solving the three curses, and that must be connected with you.  That is why if Christ doesn’t enter into America, they cannot escape from curses, disasters, and darkness.  Christ does the work and ministry of salvation even now. This must be connected.  By saying that evangelism and missions are optional, that’s not how you can be connected with God; that’s something that someone who receives grace can do, but that person doesn’t know God.

Christ is still doing that work now, through whom? Through me, and that’s how we’re connected. But without this connection, your field will be complicated. God has prepared this answer in your field and guides us forward, but if that answer is not connecting with you then you’re not connected with God.  God gives us His correct Word.  Then I have to hold onto the correct Word.  The Israelites held onto the Word of God but lost hold of the fundamental thing of God’s Word.  They held onto the law but lost hold of the paths to take that back to the gospel.

You need to be connected with the words of the gospel, even now, God is giving you His Word. Not yesterday’s word, but today’s word, because you’re living and breathing right now; you must be aligned with that Word of God.  When you go out into the field, you need to be connected with the Word God has given to your field. If you stay still, will the Word of God find you?  God comes and finds you during the time of worship and the quiet time of prayer.  Or, you take the Word you received and you take it into the field and communicate with God through that Word.

There are some people who take the Word from their pulpit into that field, but if that doesn’t take place, there are others who receive the Word of God from their field.  But if this is not taking place in your field, you will say, “It’s hard, it doesn’t make sense, it’s complicated,” because the Word of God isn’t being established in your field, and because you’re not aligned with God, but you’re aligned with the field, then all you can say is that your life is hard. Because the economy is struggling, you say life is hard, because you’re not connected with God’s word there. 

The power of the Holy Spirit, the strength that God gives, must come upon you. God promised you the blessing of the spiritual summit to do world evangelization, but if you just know it and aren’t aligned with it, you crumble in the field.  This Triune God was connected and aligned to the members of the Early Church.  This is not something that takes place with the diligence you use to get into Harvard. This is not something that connects with your diligence of waking early in the morning. This isn’t something that gets connected with diligence of closing shop late and going home at midnight. This isn’t something that gets connected because of your good works of being nice to people. It is only connected by faith, and that’s why diligence doesn’t cut it.  Even your actions won’t do it.  No matter how much you try and struggle, it will not take place.

When they were building the Temple of Zerubbabel, there were so many obstacles.  Because the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon for 70 years, people from Assyria had settled in the land, so the Assyrians asked to participate in Temple Construction as well.  But these people didn’t even know the meaning of temple construction, so all they did was disturb and create obstacles.  Later on, God gives His Word to Haggai.  What did He say?

“It is not your power and strength; it is not the work of man. It seems there are a lot of disturbances, but it is not something that happens through man’s power. It is God’s power and God’s strength,” that must be aligned in order for things to take place.

Is it just temple construction? We ourselves are the temple, and our gathering unity is a temple, when we go into the field, we ourselves are the temple. Are we going to live through our own strength? We cannot. It is only by God’s power, that is the only way to establish our own temple and skill properly.  The one who is connected with that Triune God, just like all the seven remnants.  When David was a young shepherd boy, he was connected with that God. People look at the outer appearance, but God looks at the heart.

People look at outer appearance. If you look like a hobo in front of your husband, he won’t like that; people don’t look at the heart, they look at the outer appearance. “I’m sure God will know,” sure, God may know but people will not know. Because God is the only one who’ll know. This is why we align ourselves with the Word, because the only reason we align ourselves with people is to proclaim God’s Gospel to those people.

If we are too low level for people, we are marring the gospel. There is freedom in the gospel; however, in order to proclaim the gospel, we align ourselves to the standards of people.  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have different roles and are different persons, but they are one God, and that is Oneness, that is love.  If they fight because they think one is better than the other, then they will split apart they are all different, but they do their ministry in oneness.

Within Christ, the Triune God is always working together, and we are also one with that, we must be aligned with that in order for the direction of my life to be correct. Satan tells us to not do that.  We’ve heard about Satan, but for those who don’t understand Satan, I said this in the previous sermon, but it’s not just the dirty demons that go into shamans and fortune tellers.  Satan tells us to not be aligned with God; Satan isn’t just working over there, but Satan is working here.  Yet, if you think that only that dirty demon is Satan, you’ll be deceived.

In Matthew 4, Satan tempted Jesus Christ with physical things, with His reputation and fame, and His authority. That’s why you need to change “me,” “my things,” and “my work,” because if you don’t, Satan will continue to work. You may acknowledge Satan but you don’t acknowledge how Satan takes you. Because you only think that Satan works in the dirty and obvious works, but Satan works in the church as well.  This is the way Satan works. 

Therefore, only the Triune God can be our standard, and the start of that is worship. You may go abroad to work or study and have your Sundays abroad.  Then without a doubt you have to go to the church closest to you and give worship. That’s the standard of life. You don’t know who that pastor may be, but God is giving you His Word.  That must be connected.  If you stand before people, you cannot receive God’s Word.  

If you stand before people thinking, “This pastor is more renown,” or “That person is less capable,” God’s Word won’t come into you, and when you face a problem, you’ll think God isn’t there because you live your walk of faith in front of people, and the things you see with your eyes all the time. However, the people who are able to hear God’s Word and God’s voice no matter who is worshiping with them or who is giving the sermon, they are able to hear God’s voice and receive answers through the Word in their problems and circumstances too.  That is worship.

If you lose hold of worship, you lose hold of everything. The standard and posture of your faith is worship, and God explained this in Leviticus.  After the Exodus, all they had to do was build the Tabernacle and worship God, and because they failed at this, they became captives and colonized by the world. This tabernacle turns into the temple; now we ourselves are the temple and in the unity of the church, and there are the temples that will be saved in your fields.  This is how you can teach the correct standard and things to the new believers in your fields, and the remnants can teach the correct things to other remnants.  So, I hope that you and I will be able to live a walk of faith that is collected and aligned with the Triune God just as the members of the Early Church were, then your prayers will be so simple. 

Your prayers should be happy. Your prayers are uncomfortable when they’re not aligned, because you keep playing like a Buddhist, asking God to align with you, so your life is difficult. If you align yourself with God, then prayer is easy, and that begins with worship.  After worship ends, when you go back home, you must be aligned with God. That is worship and prayer. When you go into the field and the world, you must be aligned there as well, so that is why you have the field worship, living worship, and prayer.  This is what we call 24 hours.

Then without a doubt, you’ll receive the answer of God working 25 hours. The reason why we call it 25 hours is because we only have 24 hours on this earth. There’s no such thing as a 25 hour day on this earth. It is an answer that only God can give, and that’s the answer of 25 hours for the sake of eternity, the salvation of souls.  Only the salvation of souls to save the 237 nations will last eternally, and may this blessing begin during your worship.

Let us pray together holding onto the Word God has given us.