Antioch Church: Overcoming Everything by the Gospel to do World Evangelization (Acts 11:19-21)
When you look at Acts 11, it’s talking about the background of how the Antioch Church was built. This isn’t something that just arises; this was an incident that took place according to God’s time schedule. In the Old Testament, God has been constantly talking about Jesus Christ who is to come, die and resurrect, and that has been fulfilled, and that’s the incident of the cross. This is not just something that happened the next day, but God has been constantly planning this through the Old Testament and He fulfilled it, so when He came and died on the cross, He said, “It is finished,” that all things that are problems to me are finished, so it is the absolute gospel, the complete gospel. A half-gospel means that only half of the problems have been solved.
If you!ee confused then the gospel is confused to you, if you!re saying no then that is the incorrect gospel, Jesus Christ completely ended all my problems of my past, present, and future on the cross. He has completely solved all problems on the cross, resurrected, and is with me. He promises them to now go and make disciples of all nations, and this is the covenant God gave to Abraham in the beginning, “You will be a source of blessings,” and, “Through you, all nations will be blessed.” And that is the incident that was fulfilled.
Jesus comes back and says to us again, “Because you are a source of blessings, through you, all nations will be blessed.” He did not ask us to do hard labor but has given us the blessing to save others and, “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me,” and, “I am with you always.” And we have this kind of blessing, God will be with us for all eternity, what greater blessing is three then that? The authority of heaven and earth, the authority to move the armies of angels; the authority to break down the forces of Satan. He is with me and He will be with us until the very end.
“Go and make disciples of all nations,” because there are people who are prepared. If you give a disciple the absolute gospel, they will have an absolute reaction. Your problems have been finished in the cross, what is your problem? Your problem is Satan, sin, separation from God. “But I have an illness.” This was a problem before you had your illness. This person only knows about their cancer, but there was a problem that came before their cancer there was a failure before your failure. You’re in a state of death, you are spiritually disconnected from God, so you have to save that first.
Without doing that, problems will continue in your life. Because it’s not the fundamental problem of your life, you constantly have problems. Living is a problem, dying is a problem, then after you die, you’re in hell. If your fundamental problem isn’t solved, these problems will continue. You have to solve that problem first, you have to meet God and have the life of God within you.
“Oh, but my business failed,” that’s not the real problem. There was a different problem that came before that. You must come alive, spiritually. When you come alive, then you can study and work. “Oh, but I believe in Jesus.” You believe in Him, but you are the center of your life and that is the fundamental problem of all problems. You must solve that problem first. Your life crumbling down isn’t a problem; there’s a problem before that, and you must restore that first.
“I will be with you always, until the very end of the age.” It’s not just that we have eternal life, but while we’re living here on this earth, God has blessed us by giving us the blessing to go out and make disciples whom God has prepared. Religious people will say, “How could we raise disciples?” God isn’t saying to make disciples, God is saying to us, “I will be with you, and through you, I will make disciples,” so embrace this in your heart.
God has promised us what is to come in the future. So, don’t say anything else. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” so you can evangelize. Work is hard? God will give you the strength to do the work. God will give you the evidence, people, his time schedule, and that is being in the blessing of everything being fulfilled. He has already prepared heaven and everything on earth as we live.
During this time, Mark’s Upper Room began, and these people held onto the promise and prayed, and according to that promise, God gave them the Holy Spirit and doors of evangelism began to open. “When do we study? When do we run our business?” Until all of this is one, because for God’s promise, everything is included. “When do I evangelize or work?” That person doesn’t understand the covenant; it means that person is confused, not holding to the covenant.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” Through your talents and the people you meet, God will do His work through you. God will help you into the very ends of the earth. And as God promised, the doors of evangelism continued to open. During that time, Stephen was martyred. The Jewish people saw Christianity as a heresy, so if you proclaimed the gospel, you would die. According to this law, Stephen was martyred. “If I’m supposed to preach the gospel, I need to stay alive; how could I die?” Is the goal of your life to simply live, or is your goal in life to proclaim the gospel? Is your goal in life is to have the blessings of your business or the blessings of evangelism? It’s the same thing. Is it a blessing of your health, or is it the blessing of evangelism?
God will bring about incidences to fulfill the covenant. But although we wish we wouldn’t die, through the death of Stephen, people can see then how are you going to see this incident? Will I see it from my perspective, or with the perspective of the gospel? If a non-believer has cancer, God is telling you to believe in Jesus , but God’s plan for you is to believe in Jesus. So, being healed or not comes after believing in Jesus. Before cancer, you must solve the problems that existed prior to that. If a believer has cancer, what can you do?
You’re completely placing your life and death in God’s hands. Do you just put it into God’s hands? I’m completely putting my life in his hands and devote my whole, entire life to evangelism. It’s not about blankly looking across the sky saying, “I’m putting my life in God’s hands,” I put my life completely in the hands of God and doing the work of evangelism that God has placed in my hands as I look towards the Triune God, holding onto the covenant in prayer, and “I will go to You, Lord, as I’m doing world evangelization.” Then that’s it.
You have to have a reason for God to let you survive, but when you die, there’s heaven, right? God will do it Himself. What’s important is, how do you see your situation? Are you seeing from the perspective of religion, or do you see it from God’s perspective? But you’re constantly saying, “God please heal me, heal me,” but God isn’t someone to run your errands. If God has allowed you to get cancer, then God has a plan, perhaps, “You will now come to heaven soon,” or a second plan that God has given, and through the cancer, you’ll be looking towards me and devote your life to world evangelization and for Me.” You have to relay this, so they lived their lives completely captivated by cancer; they have cancer in their bodies and only hear the words about cancer, but this is your chance to meet God. For those believers who have cancer, this is the opportunity to completely devote your life for Jesus Christ, and God’s kingdom.
So, did Stephen have to be martyred? God could stop his death, but why did God allow him to be martyred? Through this incident of martyrdom, the Jewish people were supposed to gain full control over the Christians, but they were scattered and ran away to different places. It says in verse 19, spreading the word only among Jews, they have been scattered by the persecution yet they are not scattering, so through this incident it makes people scatter. What is the goal of this scattering?
“Some of them, however, met disciples and spoke to the Greeks telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 11:20) In other words, the core of this incident was to fulfill the Word Movement. It is the incident where the gospel is being relayed to the Greeks, the Gentiles. When God gives us an incident, He definitely has a plan even before we ask. It could be our cancer or anything else in our lives that may erupt. And you can see that every incident God gives us we can evangelize. And that is the incident of Stephen’s martyrdom. Until now, they couldn’t preach the gospel to the Greeks, but knowing this, God brings about this incident.
Antioch is actually just one region in that area, it’s a city where many people go in and out; it’s a very diverse place, so the gospel is so perfect there. It’s not just Jews in that city, but it’s also other Gentiles. God’s time schedule is for the gospel to be proclaimed to the Gentiles, so God allows this through this incident, and for those who were scattered, wherever they go, they go save people, so this incident of Stephen isn’t a matter to cry about. The incidences of your life are not sad incidences. When you see this with the eyes of the covenant, you’ll see this is an incident for God’s plan.
Does any one of you have this? This is a sign for you to restore and to go into the covenant. We’ve had the coronavirus pandemic; God’s interest isn’t in anything else. For unbelievers, it’s a curse, but for believers, it’s an opportunity for the gospel to be spread all throughout the world. So, I got a call from Africa, and I was able to hear them so clearly, and they said it’s their third wave of the coronavirus, and they are able to do everything through zoom, and they’re saying the Africans have zoom, so they are working behind the scenes to make this happen. Without this, how could we go to Kenya? Understanding this, God allowed the third wave of the coronavirus to take over Africa. So, even in Korea, I realize that through zoom, we can even have discipleship training. So, the incidences of Stephen or the coronavirus pandemic may seem sad, but we must see it as a blessing because through this God allows the Gospel to be shared all throughout the nations.
In Acts 11:21, it says the Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number people believed and returned to them. The Lord’s hand was with them. If the Lord’s hand is with you, then it’s over. If our lives are centered on the path for evangelism, He will be with us until the end of the age. If we remain inside the blessing of evangelism then we won’t have to worry about anything. Because we’re not inside the plan of the covenant, of course everything we go through looks scary, so we’re in fear and anxiety, but if you’re rooted in the covenant, you’re not deceived. Not being rooted in the covenant, you’re so deceived because you don’t see it according to the gospel, but you see it according to your old self.
Don’t be deceived at all; God will definitely fulfill the covenant. You will never be deceived. The foolish ones will be deceived, they are foolish because God works according to His covenant, why? Because I’m a child of God Whom God has bought with His blood, so now I’m no longer able to go back to my old self to live as my old self. That itself is unlawful. God has bought me with His blood, and me going back to my old self is breaking the law, Satan tries to break the law, and so you’ll be captivated by Satan. You must not be deceived by yourself.
You must not be deceived by the things within you that aren’t the covenant. When you go out into the world, there will be incidences that shake you, and if you’re not rooted, you will be shaken. That’s when you must stop everything and look towards the Lord of the covenant, and God will give you an answer. When the Apostle Paul, was in the storm he received an answer, it’s always the same answer: “Do not fear; there is a covenant I will fulfill through you.” The storm was actually there, it wasn’t just made up, but it was realistically there, but even if a storm comes, it’s okay, “because you must stand trial before Caesar.” God’s covenant for him was that.
Tomorrow is the children’s spirituality camp. Why do we have this? To relay the covenant and raise disciples. God will move according to this covenant, and by participating in this, I am in the Lord’s hands. Even if I’m not participating but I’m in prayer with them, then I’m also in the Lord’s hand. Looking from that perspective, it is correct, look at Abraham, God gave him the covenant, “Go into the land I made for you, so that through you, many people will be blessed,” but he himself was confused. They went into the wilderness, but there was nothing there for him, so he went into Egypt. He was being deceived by himself if God is saying it’s in the land of Canaan, it is there, you have to go there, so ultimately we have to go back to the land of Canaan, but it’s just that the time is longer.
Because he’s older, he’s not able to keep his sheep, so he brings his nephew Lot, thinking he’ll starve and die while God has prepared for him, then there was an argument between them, and this is how Abraham deciphers the situation well. “In this moment I’m going to haveGod’s covenant here”, then he tells Lot, “Pick a land, and I will not go with you.” Isn’t that so cold? He’s Lot’s uncle, and they have to live as a family but because he’s living with someone who doesn’t have the covenant, there’s always destruction. He felt bad because Lot didn’t have a father but there were other things there were things that frustrated him but now, “I’ve made my decision. I’m going to choose only the covenant.” The moment he made the decision to choose the covenant, God gave him the answer of the covenant
“Look towards the tree and the land, wherever you set your feet, I will give to you,” and even to this day, God is leading people to the covenant. “Go make disciples of all nations.” Even today, through our church, God is fulfilling this time schedule. In this time schedule, everything, our whole lives are contained within this. If you have nothing to do with this, you have nothing to do with God’s covenant.
Some people have this really gargantuan covenant because they have so much greed, they hold the covenant as if they’re the only ones to do world evangelization. If you’re the only one doing evangelism, then what about us? Then we have no need to be here, so they think that’s going to happen to them, and that’s why God gives the covenant to the church and you’re here. God has given you the covenant so you will be filled with the covenant. So, not being centered on the church means you’re actually apart from God, and because you’re apart from what God plans, you’re drawing your own picture, and when God sees it, it has nothing to do with Him. God raises the church, calls the people into the church, gives each person the covenant so everyone is in together as one team.
If something happens in the church, it’s everyone’s blessing. If there’s something in the church, everyone participates because we are one body, we are the body of Christ; we are His body. We are concentrating according to the announcements of the church. So, beyond Jerusalem isn’t about building the Antioch Church. This is the sign to raise a church and build this Gospelization to take place and be proclaimed. If you see this, you’ll begin to see a lot of things, and this must be your imprint, root, and nature.
So, the covenant of world evangelization has God’s path and time schedule. Right now we have zoom, so the gospel is spreading like a wildfire. Prior to COVID, we had Zoom and Skype, but we didn’t think about using Zoom to talk to other people, likewise, the people of the Early Church, they didn’t have the thought to proclaim this to the Gentiles, so that’s why God brings about this incident. God brought about the incident of the coronavirus and He connects us through zoom. Now, we have this network, despite how far apart we are from each other. In the past, we’d had the technology to connect this way, but we hadn’t thought about that, but these unbeliever business people thought in advance. They were already having meetings with people from other nations, but because of the pandemic, our church is now doing everything through Zoom. Even trainings and retreats cannot be conducted in person, so we’re doing it all through Zoom.
More people are now listening to the gospel, even people on the other side of the world are listening to the gospel. We’re not saying we don’t need the church anymore; we must have a location, and that’s why God raised the church. But for the gospel to be spread with speed, God has created Zoom. Our students have been doing school through Zoom for the past year, and people are considering this for future learning. It’s not that you and really, you save a lot more money, there’s no reason for you to pay dorm fees. Some paperwork and exams must be submitted in person, but really, you don’t have to go anymore. But for business people they do it through Zoom. You’re saving so much time, you save yourself from the stress of traffic and commuting. What does this mean? God is now creating an environment where the gospel is being spread quickly, and this is a sign that this is growing very quickly.
In Germany, they had the printing press, so as a result, the Bible was spread. Even back then, it was like that; it’s the same thing now, as in the future. The reason why God gives us advancements in technology and science is so that these tools can be used to proclaim the gospel. God will use your studies, your work, in everything you are doing, to proclaim the gospel. That is why God has given us equally a talent and skill whether it’s a believer or unbeliever, if it’s a person God has given them that skill.
Even unbelievers have skills from God, so they are able to create these nations, but they aren’t using that for God; they use it for sin, they use it for themselves. But for us, we use it as instruments of righteousness, that all this may be used for missions and evangelism, then you will know very well what you must do. You will come to understand very quickly why those incidents took place in your life.
Everyone has different situations and you could be discouraged, and that’s probably more, because if there is a good thing then you’ll probably move on, but even the good things is an incident, when Daniel becoming Prime Minister must have been difficult, but he held onto the covenant. He was going to proclaim the gospel to all places of Babylon and that’s why he didn’t bow down to the idols because he saw it as a great opportunity to proclaim the gospel, “And if I must die, I will die. If I must fail, I will fail.” Not just for himself, but for the covenant, and through these situations, he proclaims the gospel and that’s it.
There’s no need to interpret anything else. God is the God of covenant Genesis 3:15, God continues to fulfill the covenant and that’s why God continues to create the church to fulfill His work that is why everyone has a different role. We have been called as pastors, elders, deacons, senior deaconesses, and I am placing my life in that position in doing the work of world evangelization, then what happens? Because the blessings are in the covenant, all these blessings come to me without me knowing, because the church is a church to save this world. If a church is a church that is not for the covenant, every time they have a problem, they will fall due to the problem. But if this church is for the covenant and I am in the covenant, the more I am in here, the more I am receiving the blessings of eternity and these were the positions of those in the Early Church.
Your position can’t just be considered like anything else. You’re not just a pastor; God placed you there. If you’re the pastor, you’d do whatever you want, but God allowed that. So, as I am utilized for world evangelization, I’ll do this, and it will take place. God will give talents to that person all the more. But for those who aren’t doing this, God will take their talent so it’s useless for them and constantly will give these talents to those who are holding onto and working according to the covenant, this doesn’t change because God fulfills His covenant according to His time schedule.
And through this, this, Paul goes back to the Antioch Church, and God begins to raise this messenger according to His time schedule who will proclaim this gospel to the Gentiles. Multiethnic missions means you must preach the gospel to them. It’s not a watered-down gospel, it’s the absolute gospel. If you ask, “Is it finished?” That’s a confusing gospel. Past, present, future, those problems are ended on the cross. But if you say, “He only solved half the problems,” it’s very dangerous for that person. Absolutely, there is a prepared disciple to hear the gospel, and the disciple is the one who has this absolute reaction when you give them this absolute gospel.
A fake gospel is when you give it to them and they kind of walk away from it, that’s nothing. But how will you continue to nurture that disciple? We have Zoom, so despite the distance, you can still talk to them. We have Spanish, English, Chinese so that others can hear, and I will be utilizing that Word for me to be utilized in the covenant, and my eyes are opened to that. It’s not just this, but you have to proclaim the gospel to many people, but God will reveal the absolute disciples whom God has prepared. God has no choice but to give us all the great things for this evangelism movement.
For our remnants, they’re very young and in the process of growing, but this must be absolute for our adults. Our church has confirmed a missionary in Kenya. There is this one pastor who did Remnant Ministry very well, and so he could just be in Korea and do his ministry there, but he went to Kenya many years ago. He also came to LA to do children’s ministry, and this was always in his heart, “He needs to join us,” but Kenya is very far, so there’s missionaries locally like in Navajo, but he’s all the way in Kenya. So, because we have Ethiopia and South America, the time schedule has come for Kenya.
There’s a famous church, Chungjoo Antioch Church, and I’m not sure if it’s still there today, but if you look at the army base, there’s a big tin can like structure, and that was the church. So, the pastors there weren’t faithful to the word of God, but this person was very different. For him, 70% of all his funds go into missions. So, he’s already made this decision so that 70% of everything will go into missions. They made a program called “Paul’s mission,” and through that, they sent many missionaries out into the world. So, because the roof is made of tin, when it rains, it sounds like bullets being fired, but God saw his heart. I was someone who received the Gospel through one of the missionaries who were commissioned out so I know him very well. So, many missionaries have influenced me.
As we are doing world evangelization, we’re not just doing it with our lips; we have to realistically do this. We have to realistically be in prayer and do this work together. The people over there are just people; definitely, although, we have to support them spiritually, we also have to support them physically. If we only had spirit, we would just pray, but because we’re also physical, we must give them physical assistance as well. I’m not sure if this is what God has prepared, but don’t you think that we have to live our lives evangelizing and go to heaven? If we fail, we must fail because of this, but the Word of God never says we will fail. He says, “I am with you always, until the very end of the age.” “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me,”
I believe we are becoming that blessed church. If you think, “I’ve done nothing for this church,” just pray. “I have no strength,” but you can pray, so come to Early Morning service and pray. No reason to walk around; just pray, because there’s always an answer to covenantal prayer. Your prayer for the multiethnic missions, for your future generation, for your church, all of that is an answer. May you enjoy this blessing tonight.
Prayer
Father God, allow us to be within the mission of the 237 nations. Help us so that our spiritual and physical bodies may remain within that mission. Physical meaning, our physical bodies for that reason, our prayer for that reason. Let us pray. So, tomorrow is the children’s spirituality camp and we have Nomin and her family and her children, along with Senior Deaconess Tai with some Hispanic kids as well as the children from Karen and Yakima. Let us pray for the disciples to be raised. …
The headquarter message has been talking about the 237 nations and the 5,000 unreached nations, and I’m excited to see how the church is within the time schedule for these missions. May you truly be prepared and see according to God’s time schedule. Let us also pray for the Sunday pulpit message. While God fulfills His plan, He is giving us His Word every week. Let us pray that the Word of God that God desires to give us will be relayed.
There are missions regions we are all praying for. We are just praying for Utah, and if it’s a growing church, then we will have this port for that. For the Navajo missions, we are not giving them anything physically, but we are just praying for them. For central America, we are praying for the missions and also providing physical assistance, and we have one young adult in Ethiopia who is doing missions work there. Right now, we are supporting them physically and through prayer. In Karen, there are communities in which they encourage one another.
So, there are people who actually need a lot of nurturing and training, so perhaps through RU or the RUTC, we are going to raise them and give them training. There was the Myanmar genocide, and they fled from this. Before, they were called Burma, and these tribes always fight, and the Karen people are from there. There’s also Myanmar. Armenia is also constantly fighting with the neighboring countries. The Karen people have come to America, seeking refuge, and their background is Buddhism. The reason I’m telling you this is so you can acknowledge the spiritual background, and acknowledge that so you can pray. So, we have one missionary pastor who is doing remnant ministry with African children, because you must change their roots first. As time continues on, works arise. The reason why I’m saying this is so you can really, accurately pray. Let us pray for our Sunday message and for missions.
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, the indwelling, guidance, communion, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, upon the heads of the people, upon the heads of the remnants and the multiethnic people, upon the spirituality camp taking place tomorrow, upon all the church members who are sick, be both now and forevermore, amen.