When You Enjoy Jesus’ Christ Death and Resurrection You’re Able to Change (Acts 1:14)
Today’s main scripture is about where the Early church was concentrating? People are bound to concentrate on what’s most valuable. And if that valuable thing is not God and God’s word that is an idol. It doesn’t matter how great the idolatry of democracy is if you like it more than God’s word your life will go towards this direction. And even though money is something we need in our life, if you value money more than you value God’s covenant, money will seize your life. Yes, we must succeed, however, if you value success more than the work God gives you, you’ll be dragged around.
And in today’s passage what did the members of the early church concentrate on? They all joined together constantly in one heart to pray, what were they praying for? We talked about this early but prayer is something that is used by all religions as well as transcendental meditation. But the prayer that is talked about in the Bible and the prayer the members of the early church held onto, before they prayed there is the word of God. And if you pray holding onto the promise of Jesus Christ, then you may as well already have received the answer. The timing of when it’s revealed is according to God. We have to concentrate on things that are bound to take place. If you’re starving yourself and going into concentration prayer over something that’s not working out thinking it’ll move God’s emotions, it will not.
For the members of the early church it was illegal to gather. Because you see what’s going on in Afghanistan and just like the Muslim people are controlling Afghanistan the Jewish people and Israelites were taking over that land. And the Taliban is saying that they’re going to rule over their nation with he words of Muslim belief.
So the women are not allowed to work and they’re not allowed to receive education. The reason is is they think they’re following the law of Muslim. They are saying that if anybody is trying to intercede with them they will kill them. They’re saying the western culture goes against Muslim culture so they will fight off any interference. For those people they think this is the truth and righteousness. So if a Christian goes into Afghanistan they will be killed.
It’s the same as the Jewish people in the times of the Bible. The people who believed in Jesus Christ was crucified still exist and if they reveal themselves they will be executed. The fact that they gathered together would be impossible if they didn’t have the assurance. Just like when people seem they have good faith and don’t have substance. It’s not something you can just speak with bravery, so they don’t say that you have faith. If you expose it outwardly you are truly believing in the word that God has given you.
Those people are praying holding onto the word according to what will happen in the future that will take place so even if they face crisis they will not shake. God has already prepared the blessings and acts for us but where am I? That’s important. God has prepared the answers like in the book of Acts for the church but what’s important where are you?
Depending on what you were concentrating on right now the images you will face be different in your future.If you don’t hold on to what God to say is the worlds difficult, that’s why everyone says life is hard and if you labor you have to rest one day. But your life isn’t true the rest because you don’t rest. The culture of Labor Day is that everyone takes an airplane somewhere else even if they don’t have money. It’s fascinating. I’m sure this person doesn’t have money but they say they will leave somewhere on Friday. I’m wondering where are they going?
But because that’s the culture, and they have kids, they have to take their kids into their culture. But just because you take a 2-3 days vacation, doesn’t mean you’re rested, it means that you’re just forgetting your problems just for a little bit. Because relentlessly the problems remain, you have to meet this person again, and you have to face this problem again. And as soon as you get back from your 3 day vacation, your environment will be the exact same. It’s because we’re concentrating on the incorrect things, and because you’re concentrating on the incorrect things, our life keeps going to the incorrect way.God is moving this world, you have to concentrate on the work God says he’ll do. That was the early church. So the Jewish people have crucified Jesus Christ and they’re thinking “If we just kill off the remaining disciples of Jesus everything will be finished.” Thousands of people met Jesus Christ, but among 120 of them actually received something inside of them.
Before that point, many people were following, saying “Jesus, Jesus,” but when they faced a crisis, you could really see the truth. Whenever Jesus did miracles like feeding the 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, there were thousands of people following them, but where did they all go? How did they know Jesus Christ and how did they go to church? They made a judgment that, “If I believe in this person, then I’m going to receive some blessings, so I’m going to invest my time and faith in Him.” At that time, there were people who were sick and received healing, but after that, they left Jesus. Or other people followed Jesus, and then when he died on the cross they saw that and turned back to their old life. But even among the people who left back to their old life, there are people that the Lord went to find. That was the 12 disciples as well as the 70 workers, and it totaled to about 120 people.
It means that most people have turned their back, but God gives grace to some people until the very end. Even the disciple Peter turned around and said, “I don’t know Jesus,” then how is it that he can turn back around and follow Jesus again? Jesus went to him and gave him grace again, it’s not because Peter had some amazing faith, “I’ll follow Jesus until the end,” that’s a lie. “I know this once and I’ll go to the end,” that’s a lie. It’s only possible if the Lord finds us and gives us grace again, but they had one thing: they knew Jesus was the Messiah, and that’s why they followed Him.
If they didn’t believe that Jesus is the messiah they would have remained a Jew but without a doubt, they knew He was the Christ. They all had the heart and desire to follow Jesus with their life, but they didn’t have grace and strength to do so. Only after they met the resurrected Jesus did they change, then that word “resurrection” is so important. They saw the death of Jesus but didn’t change, if anything, they lost more of their faith, but they directly met and experienced Jesus’ resurrection.
Kids change when they experience that resurrection. Before that point, they just hear that Jesus is the Christ, and they believe because they hear it, but what does this word “resurrection” mean? It means they’ve been moved from death into life, it means they’ve overcome death and the authority of death, and the death on the cross means all my sins have been forgiven.
If there’s no resurrection, your faith is futile. People talk about Jesus’ death on the cross, but because they don’t have the resurrection, they’re plowed over by the world. Everybody saw Jesus Christ die, the disciples saw Jesus’ death and they ran away to Emmaus, it’s not that they didn’t believe, and even if they heard the Word that Jesus resurrected, they don’t believed because they haven’t experienced, but then Jesus Christ walked right next to them and explained what the books of the law and the prophets were saying about Jesus, and their hearts were on fire, so that’s when they changed.
But we’re not like that. We know Jesus Christ, but how must we know Him? We must know Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection, only when the meaning of that death on the cross and resurrection come into me can I change. If you just know this as doctrine, it remains as knowledge and you can’t experience that. I’m not saying you’re experiencing some bodily experience of Jesus’ resurrection, we experience it with faith.
People say, “I saw the face of Jesus Christ while praying,” how do you know that’s His face? When I went to a seminary, there was a portrait of Jesus and they made him African American and this is the “Jesus” Whom Africans see. Caucasians drew JEsus Christ as a white man with blond hair and blue eyes, but if you go to Asia, they will draw Jesus similar to me, with slant eyes, but that’s not what’s important. That’s not Jesus; that’s just a drawing. They say they saw Jesus, but how would they know? “Oh, His eyes were shining so brightly,” but Jesus is invisible. What am I saying? I’m saying you have to experience through the Word and faith.
I’m talking about how you believe and understand the meaning of the death on the cross and the resurrection and experiencing all this through faith. Resurrection means you’ve changed from death to life. I was a sinner and I died on the cross with my Lord Jesus, and now Jesus lives as the life within me, you change when you experience this.
That’s what the people of the Early Church who were so full of fear were able to change once they met the resurrected lord. It’s not that they experienced some special training, “Deacon, is there some sort of special method?” There isn’t. “How is it that this person has changed so much? Is it because of some sort of special Bible study?” It’s not.
One day, they were able to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, resurrected and is with me as Life. “Pastor, I do believe, why am I not changing?” If life is within you, it also means you’re dead. Let’s say you know the life of Jesus but you’re still alive, and that’s why your pride gets hurt. If someone tries to offend me, it feels like I’m going to die, and if someone tries to steal something away from me, I can’t let that go. Even if you haven’t failed yet, if you feel like you’re going to face failure, you’re going to lose sleep. That’s not having experienced the resurrection.
You know the resurrection; you haven’t experienced it. Every day, I die at the cross of Jesus Christ and experience new life every day. That was Paul’s confession. Paul was saying, “That’s not me, I have been crucified on the cross with Christ but I’m still alive, the physical life I live is with Jesus Christ within me through faith, and now, there’s no reason to be proud because God is my pride, and now there is no need to fight against my enemies because God is my shield.” That’s the characteristic of someone who has experienced and enjoyed the resurrection.
What happens if you believe in Jesus Christ but you haven’t experienced it? You have to fight and not be at a loss. If someone touches my pride just a little bit, I lose sleep over it, and some people hold grudges for life. It’s because I haven’t exchanged my position with the Lord, I believe in Jesus Christ but I haven’t changed that within me.
David said, “The LORD is my Shepherd,” in his circumstance, he had no way to live. Then, does that mean we have to receive special training to survive? He simply switched positions between him and the LORD and said, “the LORD is my Shepherd.” I’m not saying that you lived by yourself all your life and during times of a crisis, you changed, you live your life changed all your life, and that’s revealed when you face a crisis. In other words, it’s someone who believes in and enjoys the living Lord. It is not simply about enjoying Jesus Christ who is dead and resurrected, but the Lord who is living now.
The fact that the members of the Early Church were able to gather with their faith, regardless of people that were trying to kill them for their faith, what do you think they had? It’s impossible for this to take place unless they experienced the resurrection, because if a person is alive, they’re afraid of death. Hebrews 2 says the devil controls everyone, enslaving them to their fear of death, and no one can overcome that.
Even if something goes a little astray, we cannot flee; even if we suffer a little bit of a loss, we cannot stay still, but if someone is threatening to kill you, who would go out before that? They didn’t receive special training, even if you receive special training, you would only be good for that day. It’s not something that could happen today, but it’s important because these things are impossible today.
Jesus Christ he does in the cross and is living with me right more through the Holy Spirit. If you keep raising yourself up, you keep getting damaged. The devil knows this and attacks you totally. There’s no “my thoughts,” why do you have your thoughts? The Lord is living in you, why do you have your thoughts?
If you have your own thoughts, it’s impossible to go to Mark’s Upper Room. All of these people had children, and they had to think about their children’s future too. These people didn’t gather because they were lacking IQ, these people didn’t gather because they had nothing left to lose. Everyone’s afraid of death, but the only thing that can overcome that is experiencing the resurrection, because even death isn’t dying.
People are so afraid to die, people are so afraid to fail, then simply fail. All you have to do is fail, but the devil makes you think, “This is going to be the end,” and the people who overcame that fear gathered in Mark’s upper room. Even if I fail, it’s okay because it’s not death, I’m living an eternal life. Everyone has to die once, and unless people have this level of faith, it’s impossible for them to gather.
What do you think these people were praying for? There was no prayer for themselves at this time, “Oh, please make the environment a little better,” the fact that they went into a fight facing death, they don’t care if they die. “My life and my death are in the Lord’s hands,” and because we have the eternal, resurrected life, we overcome death. That is how you can have true success in America. People have fake success and will succeed by themselves then fall by themselves. True success is the name of Jesus Christ being glorified and testified through the work I do because everything else is in the Lord’s hands.
People like this gathered together and prayed for one thing, they only had one prayer topic: When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be witnesses until the ends of the earth. “Oh, if I don’t know the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection, I can never overcome the death,curses, and disasters of the world. It doesn’t matter what kind of elite education I receive, I can never overcome the fear of death,” so actually, the more elite kind of education you receive, the more you’re bind to receive mental problems because the elite education cannot overcome fear.
If anything, the more you succeed the more you’re afraid, and the reason America has the highest number of mental patient is because the more they will have mental problems. Nothing can solve that other than the gospel being accurately relayed and believed in. They prayed to be witnesses of that gospel, and everything is contained within that. Your money, your talent, and specialization is contained within this. Your marriage is contained within this. God saves through the proclamation of the gospel. Your health is inside of this, so the Early Church prayed for this one thing in concentration: only the gospel.
It’s the prayer that testifies of this, everything else doesn’t matter because moment by moment, God guides you with His Word, and they went all the way to Rome. Rome was an empire that was so far developed that, even now, many laws are based on Roman law, and that’s something no human could change with their method. The death on the cross and the resurrection must come into me through faith, and it’s only possible when it changes into my death and resurrection.
Everybody who goes to church understands the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and doctrine, and every child knows the story, but that has nothing to do with me. One day, according to God’s time schedule and grace, if the kids realize and experience this, there’s no stopping them. That was Joseph, he went into Egypt as a slave but it didn’t matter at all to him, because the Spirit of the LORD was with him, and his life was no longer his own. “My plan is to reveal the glory of God to Egypt and the entire world. It’s okay whether I’m a slave or governor, it doesn’t matter at all, because the LORD is within me, using me, and the greatest joy I have is enjoying the LORD, and the greatest goal of my life is testifying of the gospel.’ That’s why it’s possible with just one person.
God did it with one person, that one person saved his entire family, his brothers and father. People who wanted to immigrate so much received citizenship because of Joseph. Not anyone could just go into Egypt, even physically speaking, they were saved because of Joseph, and Joseph never struggled to succeed, it was given to him by God.
It’s the same for Daniel and Moses, Moses wasn’t saved by his education. In fact, the best result of his education was to kill people. He learned justice, whether this is Wright or wrong in the standard of the world, he said, “Why are you a slave and accidentally killing someone?“ so the education of the world isn’t enough.
In Exodus 3:18, Moses realized the meaning of the blood sacrifice, what is worship, what is salvation. He received grace to realize why Egypt was enslaving Israel for 400 years. He realized that when he was 80 years old, 40 years in the palace and 40 years in the wilderness, he had no answer; there’s no answer in life. He had no answer in spite of all the success he had for 40 years. You come to America and learned the education? No answer, and one day, you’re kicking the can wondering, “Why is life like this?” It’s because you don’t know one thing, but that one thing isn’t just one thing.
It’s the one thing the Lord is concentrating everything on. Why were the Israelites enslaved in Egypt? They only escaped when they applied the blood. People can never be freed from “myself” unless they experience the blood of Jesus Christ in the cross and the resurrection. Tell someone to come to me if they are freed from themselves. Today, you are living with your thoughts and emotions, and today, your reality is the life you live today, so no one can overcome themselves. You reject that “self” because you know the true way, and that’s the only way to overcome yourself.
Moses experienced the grace of God when he was 80. From the perspective of the world, he’s an 80 year old man with nothing but a staff; do you think anything would work out? Sure, all he had was a staff, but God gave his power to that staff, why? Because Moses didn’t gain that strength through education. Moses wasn’t raised because of his leadership abilities; everyone opposed him. The only thing he had was he knew the way to get into the palace. There’s no one else who lived in the palace but Moses.
He didn’t know his direction in the time in the wilderness, either, but God says, “I will be your power.” Why is God Moses’ power? It’s because Moses was in the covenant, the promise of God, to go into the land of Canaan that God would fulfill. God’s power follows the people who hold onto the promise of God as they live on this earth. God’s power follows them, God’s power must follow you in order for you to overcome America. There’s always people above you in every hierarchy, there’s no end to this. You look at this world, even if someone is a renowned athlete, if someone younger comes up they will be knocked down. One day, GE was doing well, but LG and Samsung overtook them. There’s no end here, that’s the world. Only God is finished; everything else is changing, so you shouldn’t hold onto useless things and make them your standard.
There’s a plan that God desires, that’s something God fulfills without ever changing, with His power, holding onto His promise. “Go and make disciples of all nations.” How can we do that? The One who has all authority and power from heaven and on earth is with you always, all you have to do is align your job to that. “I have to align my studies with His Word.”
I’m not telling you to align it even if you don’t want to but forcing it just holding onto it with your heart. “It’s hard for me to hold onto it, though, because there’s such a big difference between me and the Word of God,” so we shorten that gap through prayer. If you make a lot of money in your business, it’s hard to give tithe. If you only make a thousand dollars, it’s easy to give a hundred dollars, but people who make $100,000 every month, it’s impossible for them to tithe every month unless they have faith.
THey heard the Word of God, but they’re conflicted. If you don’t have faith and you force yourself to do it, you’re going to get tested. Let’s say your receive the Word of God, but it’s so distant from me, but God is the One who fulfills the Word, so you pray for it, and as you pray for it, God gives you grace. “But pastor, I do other things than just tithing,” either way, if the Word comes into your heart, God will change your life to align with His Word. Then, you’ll see the evidence that God works upon your finances as well.
If you keep looking at that, then you’ll be able to experience and know what offering is about, but if you don’t have the faith and you’re asked to do it, the reason I’m telling you to pray, it’s because the word the pastor is telling you is correct and if it is far from you, you pray. If you want to get closer to the Word, you need God’s grace, then if you have faith, it becomes easy and if it becomes easy, and if it becomes easy, the Word fulfillment is revealed in my life as answers.
Moses and everyone was like this. He received that grace after 80 years, and at 80 years old, I’m sure he thought, “I’m just going to live like this and die,” but God gives him 40 more years of power, and we can’t even see Moses’ death, because if Moses did exist, then everyone would follow him around like a fan so so without any sign, God took him away. There are some people who travel all the way to Europe to see an idol. There was someone who asked me to pray because they wanted to get a larger portion of inheritance from their parents, but once they got their money, they went to Europe to see some idols, so that’s not good. People spend their money based on what they like, because something gave them grace or it touched their emotions, but it’s the Word.
You need to know God’s Word, then everything becomes a prayer topic and everyone becomes a target of world evangelization, and that’s what the Early Church did. There are a lot of words in the Bible ,but what are those words talking about? The Old Testament is talking about the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Why do I need Jesus Christ? Because we can’t follow the words of the law, we need the priest to sacrifice because of our sins. If the word of the law wasn’t given to us, we don’t know what a sin is. If there’s no standard, then I don’t know if I’m sinning, I won’t know what God’s will is.
In order for Christ to become Christ to you, you need to know what word God’s giving to you is. In the New Testament, Chris has come and now He is with us through the Holy Spirit, and the book of Acts testifies of the work pertaining to the Kingdom of God, and the one who wins is the one who concentrates on only this one thing, and the Early Church was able to continuously concentrate on that one thing because their eyes were opened to see that everything is contained in that one.
But the reason why other churches failed is because they still received Jesus Christ but their sight was divided among many other things, so as much as people’s attentions are divided, the more their powers are weakened. They have a lot of prayer topics, but a lot of them are unnecessary. It’s easy for them to do one thing, but if you have to study,come to church, you have to eat and you have to date, it’s so difficult, but if you’re told to do one thing, it would be easy.
The life of Jesus Christ, testifying Jesus Christ, if it’s just Jesus Christ then it’s easy, if the reason you eat and study and date people is for world evangelism, then it’s easy, but it’s complicated because you don’t have that. The Early Church didn’t become like they did because they studied the Bible a lot. Yes, we do have to study the Bible, but we have to experience who Jesus Christ is and his death and resurrection.
We have never seen Jesus, but we believe in Jesus through God’s grace, and from that point on, it’s no longer me, but Christ in me. Not my plans, but Jesus’ plans are my plans. It’s not my power, so it doesn’t matter if I have power or not, because Jesus’ power is mine. It’s not me, I’m God’s child.
God is my power and pride, a fortress and my shield and changing my position with God, that is what it means to experience this. Have this always while you live, and of course, you have to relay this to people who don’t know this. As you do that, the power of God’s throne follows you. But there are some people upon whom God’s power will not come. God’s power avoids those who are not living according to God’s will.
May we become figures like this, the Lord is alive right now and He is fulfilling His word and plan right now. The Lord I know has a plan to save the 237 nations, America, and the 5000 unreached people, and the Lord has prepared the Temple Construction to do that work. It seems like we’re doing that, but don’t misunderstand, we’re doing this because the Lord gives us the blessings and the grace, but what’s first is my faith. That’s why, first seek His Kingdom and His righteousness. May we be people of blessings.
Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word God gave us today. God, we pray that the death and resurrection, and plan of Jesus Christ may become my death, resurrection, and plan. Let us pray.
Second prayer, next Monday and Tuesday, there will be the North America Businessperson’s Evangelism Conference. Let us also pray for the Sunday pulpit message, “God, please give us the Word You desire.” It shouldn’t just end with me receiving it, but may it be the Word that must be relayed. Let us pray.
Our third prayer topic. Let us pray for our missions. Let us pray for God to open the doors of 237 nations through Utah, Karen, Mongolia, Navajo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, as well as the multiethnic people in this church, including the Jewish people, and South America.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God who desire to know, enjoy, and testify of Jesus Christ, upon their businesses and their studies, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.