Don’t Be Anxious – Let the Spirit Control Your Thoughts (Philippians 4:6-7)
Why are your thoughts and hearts diseased? Because you don’t give it to the Lord, so your hearts are diseased and depressed. You can’t be victorious in life that way. You need to give your heart and thoughts to the Lord.
Rejoicing in God always is a command, finding the answer within the problem. But a legalistic person will say, “Oh, what did I do wrong?” But not so with you, rejoice always in the Lord because through the Lord, you have been liberated from hell, sin, and Satan, and you are now with the Lord. You must prepare this content well while as a student to have a life of joy. Rejoice in the Lord. If you look for joy outside the Lord, you won’t find any, that’s why the gospel we’ve been given is so tremendous. We have things to rejoice about.
Are the schools going to reopen in April? Almost, right? Schools are reopening with some conditions, maybe once or twice a week, but no matter what, be with the Lord. Before studying, you must have this. You must have this to lead Egypt like Joseph. If you’re not rejoicing, it means life is hard, then how will you lead? You’re going to study diligently while life is hard, then how will you lead? You have to have this content well while studying in school, you have to keep practicing this, “Because I’m in the Lord and the Lord is the Master of my life. I don’t plan my own life; the Lord has planned my life already, and God has made a plan to do world evangelization.”
Joseph held onto this, and it seems we’re doing it, but God is leading us according to God’s plan. This is what it means to see in advance, that world evangelization is taking place, because God has already given you the covenant. “I have to do world evangelization!” That’s hard, but God promised it would take place. The remnants saw in advance. If you study without seeing this, you see something else. Therefore, rejoice in the Lord.
Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Do not be anxious about life because I am in the Lord and the Lord is with me. I died on the cross and the Lord lives inside me. But you’re going to run into things that make you anxious because you’re still alive with your physical body, and every time that happens, you have to pray quickly, to give it all to the Lord. Praying doesn’t mean you’re pushing your own will; you give it to the Lord. This is what it means to enjoy the gospel because the Lord lives within me and I’m dead on the cross, so I give it all to Him. That’s how the Lord leads my life.
Do not be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition. I hope even now, you are praying. If you’re anxious about something, give it to the Lord in prayer, then imagine how thankful you will be. “With thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” You have your requests, don’t you? And they will take place according to God’s covenant. Making disciples of all nations will take place, and therefore, you study for this purpose. You have to do that through prayer.
You pray, “God, please use my studies to make disciples of all nations,” meaning you are pulling the answers in advance, and then you’re thankful in advance because it will take place. “God, please use me for temple construction to make disciples of all nations,” because that will take place. Being unable to do this, everything is difficult, studying is hard, and even coming to church is hard. But if I enjoy it, everything turns into thanksgiving. You have to practice this well while you’re still in school.
Either way it’s not something you do; the Lord does it with His strength, and this is how you can become a leader to save America. You can’t be a leader by your own strength, that’s foolish. If you can’t be a leader because your life isn’t joyful, that’s sad, but being with the Lord in prayer. Are you in pain? Quickly give it to the Lord so that God will move your life. Are you constantly seized by your thoughts? Give it to the Lord. Present your requests to God, give your thoughts in prayer. Even now, and yesterday, I’ve been sleepy because of jet lag. But sleepiness is one thing, but giving a message is something else; it doesn’t matter.
Philippians 4:8. Why are your thoughts and hearts diseased? Because you don’t give it to the Lord, so your hearts are diseased and depressed. You can’t be victorious in life that way. You need to give your heart and thoughts to the Lord. Then, when the Spirit of God moves my thoughts and heart, I will become the main figure of Egypt like Joseph was. What does the world teach you? To strengthen your heart and minds, but even then, you cannot overcome Satan. That is the method of Satan, actually, so you must enjoy this first. Give it all to the Lord, so that your thoughts and heart are filled with the Spirit of God.
In Genesis 41:38, the Pharaoh said about Joseph, “Who can we find who is filled with the Spirit of God?” It means that Joseph’s heart and thoughts were filled with the spirit of God, and with your studies, prepare this. Because you’re not able to do this, but you study hard and get married and buy a house, you’re diseased in your heart, unable to control your life. Seized by Satan, you cannot control yourself; it doesn’t matter even if you go to church. There is a big difference between going to church and having the spirit of God controlling my heart and thoughts.
The young adult who killed 8 people in Atlanta is a pastor’s kid, and this is huge, what is this talking about? It means it doesn’t matter if you go to church or if you’re the pastor’s son or daughter; it doesn’t matter if your family was a believer for many generations. Your thoughts and hearts must be controlled by Christ; otherwise, it is controlled by something else. He suffered tremendously to kill so many people, but do those thoughts and emotions come from that person? No, that person doesn’t want to do that, but the devil is alive, making these things happen to people who go to church, even to pastors. That’s why they commit suicide, and it’s not enough to medicate.
People succeed all the time, but it doesn’t matter. A pastor said that a professor at UCLA was fired from the school because he had a mental illness and could no longer teach. When you go into this professor’s house, all of his house is covered in garbage, from the first floor to the second. He’s a professor at UCLA but that has nothing to do with anything. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professor; your heart and thoughts are seized. The world tells you to be a professor, but God says you must throw your hearts and thoughts to the Lord. It’s better to give everything to the Lord, really give your hearts and thoughts to the Lord.
When you have concentration at that time, you’ll have the filling of the Holy Spirit, so that’s summit time. Why is summit time not taking place? Because your thoughts and heart are filled with your own thoughts. You try to endure and concentrate, but you cannot. You have to empty yourself of everything and fill yourself with the Lord. That’s our walk of faith. Legalistic people can never do this, it’s all about “me,” “I did something, I have to do something,” and their thoughts and heart are filled with themselves instead of the Word of God, so they’re seized.
That’s why the Jewish people failed. Even as they go to church, they are seized, enslaved by the devil, and have spiritual problems. You can’t overcome that. The more physically advanced America becomes, you can realize that their spiritual problems are deeper. God has called you as the remnants of the superpower nation of America, so right now, Bible study isn’t the issue. Every church studies the Bible. Going to the American churches, they educate their children in the Bible since they’re young, but what happens if the only thing that you’re blocking is the peace of God, controlling that child’s thoughts and heart? You cannot overcome the forces of darkness from the devil, so they’re seized as they go to church, having to do what they’re told.
Depression doesn’t come because I want it to come, but it controls me. It’s the same with bipolar, but many people suffer like this without expressing it. Just because someone doesn’t receive medication from a mental hospital does not mean they are not mental patients. They may personally say they are not mental patients, but this is what happens when they are not seized by the Spirit of God.
Paul says about himself in prison, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Why? Because you’re in the Lord; your thoughts and heart must be in the Lord through the words of Christ. You give everything to the Lord so that the Spirit of the Lord controls and moves you in the direction of world evangelization. Your studies are world evangelization. Even if you receive salvation, if you’re in the wrong direction, you’re still wrong. The Jewish people couldn’t do world evangelization because they only knew about themselves; they didn’t care whether the Gentiles died or not, that was their state.
Because you’re in the Lord; your thoughts and heart must be in the Lord through the words of Christ.
But if you realize the gospel, you recognize that this is God’s grace and because you’re revived, you save others. Therefore, if it is not the gospel, you cannot do world evangelization, but you’ll force yourself to do it because the church tells you to. Your direction is elsewhere, focused on yourself and the direction you want your life to go. That is a legalistic person.
The law is God’s Word, the law is used to reveal sin, so that you can hold onto the gospel. The law is used to kill people; the gospel is used to save people. World evangelization is the direction of the gospel, but going into a different direction, you fall into disasters. “Oh, I hate being at this church, I feel like I have to do world evangelization,” that’s not the church, that’s the word from the Bible. The plan of God is to bear the cross to save people. He only had to bear the cross once, not twice, but now He is within us and will carry out the ministry of salvation through us.
So, first enjoy salvation in Christ, then nothing will be a problem. Even the adults may seem to be a problem, they may do weird things, but pray to save them. The Lord is inside them and has to move them, not your words, so you pray for that. Then even though you are a remnant, you can save the adults. That was Joseph. He saved his older brothers, he saved his father. If you have the gospel, then people will be saved. It doesn’t matter what your age is. They just experienced the world more, but if anything, they’re filled with other things.
If the church seems lacking, pray for it. Do you see a problem? Work so that it doesn’t become a problem. Everything becomes a prayer topic, but without that, everything is a subject of criticism, about being people up. That is the forerunner of Satan. However, you have received the gospel that saves, and I hope you will enjoy it. No matter what anyone says, God will move them.
Will the gospel overcome, or will the law overcome? God gave us the gospel so we can enjoy and proclaim the gospel. That’s what you call a remnant. That’s the one who saves the church, the one who is needed in the world. The world doesn’t have the answers; success is not the answer. There are a lot of people who are in the top percentile of the world. The top percent of successful people have always existed in the past into the future, but we need successful people who can save others and save the church. That is the content you must prepare as you go to school.
If you don’t prepare this, you can succeed all you want, but you will still collapse; your thoughts and heart will be diseased. I was also like that, diseased. I can’t see anything correctly; I’m pitiful and look at the law first. I never saw someone’s strengths; I only saw their weaknesses. That’s evidence you’re diseased, it’s so negative. There is light in the world but you only see the dark; even when you sing songs, you only sing dark songs. Expressing this in colors, you only see black and blue; you don’t see white or the other colors. Even their masks are that color.
I don’t like the color black because I’m someone who lived in darkness. The sky was bright, but because I was depressed, the sky seemed dark. It doesn’t matter, everything seems depressed as my heart and thoughts were diseased, so God says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” If you believe in the gospel, you should always be brighter, not more depressed and melancholy. You shouldn’t want to stay by yourself, alone, because God wants you to do world evangelization in the world.
You’re not even an ascetic monk, you have to go to all nations and have relationships to make disciples and proclaim the gospel, brightly with joy, but you don’t enjoy the great things you’ve been given. If you don’t enjoy this, you’ve been given something else, and the other things you try to enjoy are the methods and ways of the world. You think there’s some kind of secret in the world, it’s the cross. The cross itself should be joy to us, because it is through the cross that you can give your entire life to the Lord. Don’t you think that’s way better? It means you’re giving your thoughts and heart completely to the Lord.
As you listen, everything will change, the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and we are those people. You have to be the remnants who enjoy the gospel the most, and you must prepare for this very well to become a spiritual doctor for many people because many people are diseased. In college, most people are diseased and can’t even carry on a conversation, so you have to do your personal healing first so that you can heal the 237 nations in America. Then, when you’re completely held by the Lord, you become the summit, meaning you sit in the seat of the Lord and go into the line of work where God is working, towards 237.
So, you need to prepare your studies that go out into the 237 nations, to save the 5000 unreached people groups because that will take place, so prepare for this in advance. I told Joyce to learn Spanish, but I’m puzzled that she hasn’t, because when I looked at her eyes, the message hadn’t gone into her at that time, but it seems that it has now. She was already doing it before the message, so in that way, she is prepared.
If you live in California, more than half are Hispanic, and you must save these people. There are so many Hispanic people who cannot speak English. These are the studies that prepare for 237. You can speak Spanish, Korean, and English, that’s all you need. With just that, you can save many people in Korea. Rejoice in the Lord. You can cure people by giving them shots, but you must give them something else. You can heal them by surgeries, but you must also give another medication. This is the reason why God is with you forever, and that’s what you must prepare.
Do you understand what I’m saying? In everything, whether you’re studying this or if you can’t study and you run a business, it’s the same. You must prepare and study to save other people. If you’re not able to save yourself and others, then all your studies are just used to eat and survive, but you’re dying inside. There’s no medication for that. So remnants, while you’re young, put this into practice. Summit time isn’t much, but it is concentrating your hearts and thoughts on God’s Word because your heart and thoughts aren’t aligned with God’s Word. You must be rooted in it.
Then the Holy Spirit will fill you and realistically control you. Nothing else heals; I’m a witness of this. Only God’s Word, the gospel, will heal people, and that’s why Mark 16 tells us to relay this to all nations. For those who believe in this gospel, they will have these signs: casting out demons and healing sicknesses. For those who believe in the gospel, whose imprints, root, and nature are in the gospel. The imprint, root, and nature is talking about the depth to which you have faith in the gospel, then naturally, you will have healing. Even your unknown diseases will be healed.
If you’re poor, your family line has been formed this way. If your family has mental problems, it is because your entire family line is formed with conditions that results in mental problems. The problems of our lives didn’t come from out of nowhere; they are continuous problems. We reject God over and over, and then we face a problem we cannot overcome on our own. The problem isn’t why this is happening all of a sudden, but it is a manifestation of a problem that repeats without God.
Think about God in regards to your family. Being in your 20s, you don’t have many experiences. You don’t have much outside your studies in school; that’s not knowledge. Simply put, even if you graduate from elementary school, you must study people who have realistically succeeded and how to survive to escape from the spiritual problems of your family. This doesn’t happen out of nowhere; these problems continue for a long time and you cannot escape. Make it so that the Word and the spirit of God controls your spirit, heart, and thoughts, pertaining to this.
I’m sure you don’t understand very well. If you have a big problem in your family, you can see it with your eyes, but there are problems within you that you aren’t even aware of, and members of the family don’t even know. If they knew, they would have escaped, but this continues repeatedly, and this is the result that manifests. Can you escape from this by studying physics? Can you know this by studying biology? Is this something you can learn by studying politics? Those are the studies you can see with your eyes. But you have to know this.
Without knowing this, you will be swept up in the flow of darkness in your family without even realizing it, so you must rejoice in the Lord. You need to give your thoughts and heart to the Lord so that the peace of God may guard your hearts and thoughts. Pray, not to get what you want, but to give it all to the Lord. It’s better for you to give your entire life to God; there’s nothing to negotiate or analyze, just give it all. “What about this, what about that?” Just give it all to God completely to be a witness of world evangelization.
If you don’t give it up to God, but you hold onto your own thoughts, then the masterpiece of your life will be a repetition of your family line. I went to Korea with a few friends, and the more I go to Korea, the more I remembered my suffering as a nonbeliever. When I met with them in Korea, I was glad to see them, but looking back, there was a lot of suffering while I was I Korea. If I want to express how I live my life as a nonbeliever, it’s like being in a burning building without knowing the exit, and I’m suffering and dying. Something was difficult, and I tried so diligently, but nothing worked out, then I have to meet the Lord.
This is how I expressed it, you guys are so spoiled because ever since you were young, you held onto your mom’s hand and she brought you to church. “Is the Word of God right or not? Is God real?” You’re just spoiled and afflicted by the devil. But you must live decades in the bone dry lane that is full of Satan and darkness to realize this. What happens if there is no oasis in the desert? Because you cannot find an oasis, you are constantly thirsty, but it’s the same for us, we have found the oasis, but what of those who haven’t? They are dying of thirst. This is the spiritual expression.
We must be thankful. If you don’t have this, then go into the field. Look at how the people your age are suffering, they won’t express it openly because they have pride. The kids won’t say anything about their parents because they’re ashamed, but if you get close to them, they will talk about their family and themselves, then you will realize what the gospel is. The kids are going to school, doing this or that, but they don’t have joy. What joy is there? The momentary things? If your thoughts and hearts are seized by the spirit of God, you should be happy. If you face a problem, the bigger the problem, then the bigger the answer God has.
If the spirit of God is within me but I’m so distant from it, wandering, this is a religious person like the Jews and legalistic people. But God is with you, so your thoughts and heart must be with the Lord, then you’ll see the answer in all problems. If you don’t even understand what this means, it’s a headache; if you try to understand with your brains, it’s a headache. If you face a problem and your thoughts and heart come from God, you can see the answer like Joseph, David, and Daniel.
Adults didn’t know the answer, so they were dragged to Babylon. They served idols without knowing the answers, and the result of idolatry was being taken captive to Babylon. If you serve idols, you will be taken captive by idols, chasing after success, being dragged around. Success should come to you; you should not follow success. Without understanding this, your life will be a headache. Look at Joseph, he did not want to be a governor, he was staying still, but God gave the answer.
Chasing success, evangelism will be difficult. You must go beyond success to give the answer to America. The White House is filled with successful people. Every single school is filled with successful people, but even so, it doesn’t work. Go beyond that and be the one to give the answer. That is a remnant. Prepare this while you are studying. If you’re good at studying, that’s great; if you’re not good at studying, that’s fine, but your life should be happy and joyful. If you face a problem, then your life should see the answer within that problem. But you must know the answer to give the answer, but to give the answer from the gospel, you must study the gospel.
You must prepare this, then without a doubt, God will raise you to the seat of the summit. Then God will make it so that others will see you later on and know that God is alive. I’m not telling you to not study; you have to study, but there is something even more important. That’s what I’m saying. If you’re good at studying, don’t force yourself to not study, but you must do things according to your talent, so that this gospel, the spirit of God, seizes your thoughts and heart.
Don’t be greedy, just apply this to one thing. If you have a problem or worry, give it all to God and see how God moves your heart and thoughts. But if you don’t apply this at all, and you’re swimming in the Word of God, it won’t work. The Jews memorized the whole scripture since they were young, they memorize it and the songs for their Bar Mitzvah, so they have to be smart and exercise their brain. But it doesn’t matter if you memorize everything; your heart and thoughts must be seized by God and God’s Word, then the peace of God will hold onto your thoughts and heart.
You can’t just do this by doing nothing. During worship, don’t think useless thoughts but hold onto the Word that God gives you. Pray. You are so greedy, during the week, don’t try to digest so much of the Word, but hold surely to one thing. That’s how you can confirm whether this is right or not. You listen so well but you’re not able to apply anything, so just surely hold onto one thing. Even if you confirm one thing every week, imagine what you can do. Because you’re so greedy, you try to hold onto everything and lose hold of everything. For this week, just hold onto one thing, and in one year, that’s how many? 52 things, then imagine how much your faith will grow? Confirm one thing over and over all week.
It doesn’t matter if you start and stop, but keep doing it, do you understand? This is what it means to put it into practice, keep looking at the Word, and today, do this one thing. Then, because you hold onto that thing for the rest of the week, you will know. But you listen to so many messages and have to forum about so many things, but in reality, you have nothing. You don’t know how to apply these things during the week. It’s fine if you listen to many messages, but hold onto one thing and carry it with you throughout the week to confirm.
Even if you hold onto one thing because of the Word of God, your whole life is contained within that one thing. Today, you received the Sunday message, then from that message, hold onto one thing and carry it out the rest of the week. Try it out, then without a doubt, next week you’ll be able to forum. Why can you not forum? You forum about the words you heard, not confirmed, because you haven’t confirmed anything. You have nothing to apply or forum about.
Joseph didn’t listen to many different messages, but he held onto God Himself, and then the Word of God came from that, so don’t live your walk of faith backwards. “The Lord within me,” give it all to Him, and holding onto the one Word God has given me today, think about it all the rest of this week. You hold onto that Word with your thoughts and heart. When you face a problem, or study, you hold onto that one Word. Don’t do many different things; you can’t go deeply that way. It’s not bad, but if you try this out, you will be able to confirm, do you understand?
Even if one person gets it, they will be able to see the difference when they forum next week, and even though they are young, they can teach the older teachers. You have to realistically hold onto God’s Word, and go into the week, every single day, with this as your covenant, then you can see many different things. But even if it doesn’t, it’s okay; you’re not trying to get something, but you go with the Word of God. Then who will overcome in the end? That person will win. May you be victorious like this. When you forum, share the one word that remains within your heart.
Prayer
Father God, we thank You. Allow the remnants to rejoice in the lord always and to take all their request to god in prayer with petition and thanksgiving, and may the peace of God guard their hearts and minds in all things. May you heal their thoughts and heat, and control the thoughts and heart with the filling of the Holy Spirit. Please raise them as the witnesses and remnants to save the 237 nations. May they be the main figures to do temple construction. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray, amen.