Follow God’s Word to Give the Answer to Life (Acts 13:22)
We were created in God’s image, to be with God. God created animals with their own nature, but they are not created in God’s image. Human beings are only blessed if they are with God, aligned with God. Otherwise, every blessing turns into a curse.
Remnants, it doesn’t matter what situation you’re in; it’s okay whether you’re good at studying or not. You have to know what those words mean to understand what “image of God” means, but if you don’t understand, it doesn’t matter if you’re good or bad, you don’t understand God’s Word. Our lives aren’t determined based on those things, on my capabilities or my parents’ capabilities. God’s will is fulfilled when you are aligned with God, and fulfilling God’s will is what we call true success.
Any success apart from God’s will is like that if King Saul. It seemed like he was successful but he ended his life in suicide, so you must not be trapped in false success, because adults are leading you towards fake success, the teachers lead you towards fake success. Their words sound right but they’re wrong; our lives are determined based on God’s will.
So why did Jesus Christ come to earth? We were separated from God, and Jesus came to earth to unify us again. So, why did Jesus Christ have to die on the cross?
All the problems within me cannot be solved by my diligence. That’s why Cain killed his younger brother, why? His internal problems weren’t resolved. It doesn’t matter what you try to do on this earth, you can’t do anything about spiritual problems. That’s why Jesus Christ had to die on the cross for my sins and come into me as life after resurrecting, and if He doesn’t hold my heart, I will go in the opposite direction of God.
What’s the beginning of the path that is opposite from God? You think you can live on your own, and it sounds good, but it’s dangerous. I lived my entire life as an unbeliever with these words, and it’s great to be independent, that’s how people without God had to live, because they don’t have God anyways, they have to rely on themselves and no one else. They have to gather their own strength, then ultimately it doesn’t work out.
The problems inside of me, the problems of my heart and spirit cannot be solved. If you try to volunteer or do good works to solve your problem, it still won’t work; it won’t work even if you’re first place in your class or make a lot of money; not even success can solve that problem. Nothing can solve this problem. Christ has to come into me, in other words, He must be with me.
Only when the power of God comes upon my heart will my heart be able to be adjusted to align with Him. Then, don’t misunderstand that the problems of America have to do with education. American colleges are great. If you live in America, your level must be high, it’s hard unless you’re at the top of your class, because the choices are limited. In Korea, you have to do everything well. If you ask any of these kids, they don’t know it and wouldn’t be able to go to college, but in Korea, you wouldn’t get into college. But these kids just have to do one thing well. That’s how good America is from a physical standpoint.
These kids benefit from America because even if they have one thing, they can specialize. There was a young adult who graduated from UC Berkeley a few years ago. At her skill level, you wouldn’t be able to go into any college, but it’s evidence that America is great. But in Korea, you can only get by if you do everything well.
One strong thing about Korea is that there is a gathering of people who are good at everything. In America, you only have to do one thing well, and it’s way better for students, then, because the country has that luxury. But in Korea, you have to do everything well. So, when the kids are in middle school and high school, they have to learn martial arts and physics and math, and they have to do it quickly.
In Korea, they study medicine while in elementary school. Then, who do you think is going to win? Their elementary school students study medicine. Do you think you could compete? It doesn’t matter how good the American education is, they cannot compete. That’s Korea. Even before going to middle school, they’ve already finished everything.
If you go to Korea, you’d have a hard time. You wouldn’t be able to make it. Right now, it’s way worse. If they’re elementary students getting into medical school, even when I was in school, many of the kids already knew the high school curriculum even before getting into high school. I went into high school thinking I would learn the material in high school, but the kids already took academy classes so I couldn’t compete.
So, Korea has a lot of knowledge and it’s well-rounded, and when a bunch of these people gather together, they have a lot of intellectual power, but they die quickly without strength, and that’s why the nation of Korea flourishes but mentally it is collapsing. Right now, Korea wants to be the fifth country in the G7 cohort, and Japan is trying to block them. They only have 50 million citizens. America has 300 million. How could they compete? Americans are not only maintaining America with Americans but with people all over the world.
Koreans don’t gather people from other nations, but they gather people who studied medicine while in elementary school. Among the OECD countries, they’re the country with the highest suicide rate. You wouldn’t be able to go to college and write essays. But it means America is so strong, you don’t have to do that. In Korea, if you graduate from a great school, you don’t get as much respect. If you graduate from an Ivy League, you might end up in Koreatown and teach English. But in Korea, it is not like that because only a few people can compete all the way and make it through.
If you’re doing well in America, that’s not really doing well; Koreans would laugh at you. All the Koreans know that America doesn’t have any skills, but the nation gets along well. That’s how they live, then do they have mental problems? They have no choice, so even if they aren’t good at anything, everybody is good. However, you don’t have to be like that because God is with you.
Do not misunderstand, I’m not saying if you have Jesus Christ, you don’t have to study. If you have a midterm, you have to take it. That’s basic, but just treat it like a basic thing. But if God is with you, even as you study, your internal problems are solved. The problems of your heart and spirit will be resolved.
Why do people do drugs? They haven’t solved their heart and spiritual problems. People get addicted when their heart and spirit have no strength. Why do you think people are not able to maintain happy relationships with each other? It shouldn’t matter what others say at all, but I’m influenced. What would I do with this problem? Is it enough to graduate from an Ivy League? It should be irrelevant to me, my heart and spirit are unaffected.
How can you enjoy this blessing? When the Lord comes into and holds onto my heart, this is possible, then God uses such people. God won’t use people who are smart or dumb; He uses those who have a heart aligned with His. King Saul was tall, he had charisma and leadership and power and people liked him, so they raised him as king, but the way God sees him and the way people see him are different.
Ultimately Saul thought he was doing something for God, but his method was incorrect. It was not a God-given method; he listened to people’s methods, so God wouldn’t use Saul anymore. You have to find God’s way. Ultimately, Saul failed in worship. Samuel was supposed to give worship, but he was late so King Saul gave the sacrifice himself. For us, it seems fine because Samuel was late so Saul helped out, but those are human efforts. God’s method is that we must forgive the sins through the priestly sacrifice, but King Saul gave the burnt sacrifice by himself.
Do you think you can solve this without a priest? They lost their battle 100%. It’s like saying you will win a battle or live this week without God’s grace. There’s nothing more rude in God’s eyes, God says, “I will not use you anymore.” God told King Saul not to bring anything back from the war, but King Saul brought the greatest animals for sacrifice.
Stop looking for humanistic things. You cannot communicate with God through humanistic means, but churches are humanistic, “How could a person be like that?” People are naturally like that. How could a king kill his brother? How could someone lie like that? They only think about their own benefit and kill those around them, because they don’t have the strength to truly succeed, but God’s success isn’t like that. You can succeed after helping everybody else, that’s God’s method.
God’s method is not cheap or unfair, but all of you live your lives cheaply, unfairly. If someone asked you to see a test, you’d show them. If someone else didn’t do their homework, you let them borrow yours. If you study like that, don’t. If you’re just going to hide your answers, but it doesn’t matter if you do or not. King Saul was trying to kill David, that’s his own father-in-law, because King Saul was afraid that David would become king.
Look at King Saul, he’s a complete coward who has to compete with his son-in-law, so even prior to committing suicide, he was trapped in this state. Who cares if you’re king, if you succeed? If anything, such people should be farming. We all have pride, so that’s why we all need Christ. No need to judge anyone, that’s what I wanted to say today. Don’t judge, everybody needs Christ, that’s why we need Christ.
David had strength in his heart because God’s promise was in his heart. Even though COVID keeps coming, it’s okay because we’re aligned with God and we know what God is going to do. That’s true success. Everybody in the world is holding onto fake success and say they’re okay, but they’re really not okay. Once God gives me His Word, I move according to that Word.
People who are legalistic will say, “We have to keep God’s Word,” and it’s a little degraded. That’s the Old Testament. But with your own diligence and efforts from the Old Testament, you cannot change your heart. You need to receive the grace of God’s Word in your heart so you have the grace to follow. That’s worship, so how important is worship?
When Cain failed in worship, he killed his younger brother whom he didn’t want to kill. My daughter dances whenever she has free time. I watch it because I like it, because either way, she has to stretch. When she takes a break, she turns on the music and dances. But when you go onto her computer, there’s no games, so it’s funny to watch her dance. That’s not our DNA, because our DNA doesn’t have dancer DNA. My older brother has dancing DNA, he likes drinking and dancing, and I think she got it from him.
Either way, God is “with.” Whether you dance, whatever you do, God is with you, and that’s the most important thing. If you can’t do that, nothing else will work. If you don’t have that but you have something else, it won’t work out. I look at all my friends, and as I lived 56, 57 years of my life, I have all kinds of friends around me, those who succeeded or not, but none are that great. They seem great, but I know them all; they cannot solve their internal problems.
The only way to solve that problem is when the Lord comes into us and puts God’s Word into our thoughts and heart. Whenever I look at their text messages, they have good words but it’s no answer. “Let’s work hard today and go with our friends,” they say like they know, but they don’t have the answer. But if I give them the answer, they say, “Oh, you’re a Christian,” so I just keep my mouth shut.
This is the evidence I have as I look at my unbeliever friends. Who has the answer? The fact that we have the answer on how we must live in the future and how to be freed from past problems and how to live today. If someone has the answer, it doesn’t matter what problems they face. We are only afraid because we don’t have the answer. It’s okay to go to a good school, but if you think your life is over, it’s because you don’t have the answer.
It doesn’t matter if it is this or that; what’s most important is the answer. David Lee wants to go to West Point. I said, “If you want to go, you have to get two signatures from congressmen. Are you a soldier? If you’re going into the military because your mom tells you to, then you’re going to die. I know because I was in the military. If you’re not a soldier but you force yourself to go, you’ll be miserable. Go because you’re within worship and prayer and God gives you this answer.”
To go to West Point, he’s moved to a different school to study harder. Maybe it’s because she hasn’t been to America for a very long time, but all the smart people go to the good school systems. Now, the education and admissions process has changed so much that even if you’re in the best schools, you might not be able to get into the top colleges. There is a top high school in Cerritos and everyone struggles even to get into UCLA.
I told him to go to a dumb school and be #1 because he’s smart. Students without motivation need to be taken to better schools, but I said, “You are the only one who knows if you can be a soldier for the rest of your life. This is not something your mom wants, she just likes the uniform.” Someone from another church went to West Point, but his goal is golfing. Then what will he do? Just properly give worship.
God put the talent inside of you, and if you remain within worship, God will give that to you. Students who know the Word of God will know what they must do even before going to college. Sharon wants to be a teacher, not just any teacher, but she’s a teacher who is able to move the kids so well and relay the blessings of God to the children. That’s no ordinary teacher, but it’s someone raised to glorify God, then everything is prepared for her, and because she knows God’s plan, she’s bound to pray for the school. This is what God does for each individual.
There’s a senior deaconess who forced her child to study law, but the child now doesn’t like law, so the child is now working the register at the family business. The lady was an old-style Korean lady, and it’s been a decade since I left Korea, but so much has changed; even still, they cannot chase after America. Korea’s pie is so small and because renowned people are trying to come in, it’s overpopulated. But anyone can come to America, but you don’t sense this, right?
America has physical blessings. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know your major, you can still survive, so it doesn’t matter if you’re good or bad, but in bad countries, only the 1% can survive. That’s not America. Even if you go into the 50th percentile or even if you’re at the very bottom, you’re okay, and this is how much America has developed so we can accept many different people in many areas.
Korea has no social work. She wants to do social work. Even if you do social work, that’s good, but in Korea, they have no social work position. In Korea, you don’t even have the option of studying that. Here, there are so many places to study particular subjects. If anything, I went to evangelize on a college campus and there’s even a major for makeup and manicures. So, you study that and do your job, everyone eats and survives. Korea doesn’t have majors like that; it’s hard, and that’s just one example.
In Korea, not everyone can become a CPA. Pastor Jim couldn’t make it as a CPA in Korea, but he easily became one here because it’s easier here than in Korea. That’s indicative of whether a nation is powerful or not. You are in this great background, but there’s one thing God desires. How do you do that? Be able to follow according to the Word God gives you, that’s the person God uses.
What happens if God uses you? Then you’ll really succeed. David, Daniel, Esther. Physically speaking, the members of the Early Church seemed like they were in last place, but they were successful. You must be like this. Then, every single day, take the Word God gives you this week and put it into your heart. What do you think the devil will do? He will stop you from doing just this. Satan will make it so that you can study and do everything else well, but he will finish you so that you can’t do this. Even if you study and do everything well, you can’t do this, but you can because you’re the remnant God uses.
God doesn’t use successful people; God uses those aligned with His heart. What’s important is whether I’m aligned with what God gave me. Why do you freak out when you face problems? It’s a problem because it’s a problem to you, but if God’s Word comes into me, then it’s not a problem, so the problem, myself, and God must be aligned, but we don’t do that. From the very beginning, you’re focused on the physical things you have to do, so you cannot escape your physical problems, even if you have the skills.
It doesn’t matter how hard you live your life. If you get trapped in a snare, then you cannot break yourself free. If your thoughts and heart are trapped by Satan’s lies, you cannot free yourself. It doesn’t matter even if you’re a lion; if it’s trapped, it cannot escape. First you must have the strength to escape. You must have the strength to overcome all things by meditating on God’s Word every morning, and pray when you go to school.
When I gave my daughter a ride from school, I asked how many times she prayed, and she said 3-4 times, and I give her a reward when she prays 4 times. I said, “Pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit will work to save the students and teachers.” People focused on physical things don’t know the importance of the Spirit. When God begins to work, nothing can stop Him, but the devil will block you from knowing this blessing entirely.
Even if you’re a young remnant, God is with you all the same. There’s no big or small work of the Holy Spirit, God’s work is the same. God works exactly the same way because that individual in that region is important. Even if you’re a really small child, God must guard your heart. Without a doubt, that school is being controlled by the forces of darkness, so the Holy Spirit must work for that school to be transformed into a blessing.
We have such a simple blessing but Satan does everything in his power to block this. Remnants, I hope as soon as the classes start or end, I hope you will pray. Without a doubt, God will work because there’s someone destined to receive salvation in your field, and your teachers have been destined to receive salvation through your prayers, as well. Who is important in God’s eyes? Does God think the teachers are important or the praying student is important? God thinks the praying student is more important because God establishes the kingdom through the student.
Experience this while as a remnant, while you’re studying, this is how God gives us the blessing of prayer that transcends time and space, then the spiritual light will shine, and the darkness will flee from the school. Teachers cannot do that, but if they can, it’s a blessing, but most people don’t; most people just go back and forth from school and teach. Though they go back and forth from church, their eyes are blind to see what God is doing spiritually.
Joseph went in as a slave, what strength did he have to change anything? He started praying, and what’s the evidence? In Genesis 41:38, Pharoah confessed, ‘Who can we find who is filled with the Spirit of God like this man?” The unbeliever saw this. How can you see the Holy Spirit work? Pharaoh saw the evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit. Without a doubt, the invisible work will manifest physically. The weakest slave had this work. Because of Joseph, Potiphar’s household changed, but what does the world say? “If you’re a slave, your life is over; you can’t do anything right,” they cripple you.
You have incredible strength but they teach that you can’t do anything. Who says that? The world, your parents. They take someone like Joseph and makes them powerless. “God called you as Joseph but they say you are not Joseph,” and that’s how they educate the family, and that’s why it’s relayed to the children. It doesn’t matter. It’s normal for boyfriends and girlfriends to break up. You shouldn’t go forever with these people, you need to find really good people. Why do you hold onto fake things?
My daughter went to a different middle school, and I said, “Even if you go to a different school, God has prepared different things for you. Don’t hold onto the past, but there are new friends God has prepared for you.” There, she made new friends. “When you go to high school or college, you’ll meet new friends and one day you’ll marry someone.” Everything that’s passed has already passed, but you let them pass to hold onto what you have. “It should have been this man,” but there’s someone greater God has prepared.
Do this every single day. Whatever notes you take from Sunday, underline it and read it every day. If you can’t do that, then write it down on your phone and use it as your lock screen so that’s the first thing you see when you turn on your phone, and you pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit to work upon you. May the working of the Holy Spirit take place upon my studies and job. Nobody can beat the person who does this every day, in other words, no one can beat the work of God. Wait and see.
I see it, the Bible tells us this. This time is very important. When you go out, I hope you will live a happy life, understanding this is how God will guide me with His Word. Believe in faith, and may you pray for the works of faith to save your jobs and field. The remnant will receive the blessing of containing that field. People who pray for the 237 nations will receive the blessing that contains the 237 nations. You can enjoy that blessing through prayer. May you enjoy this blessing.
Prayer God, we thank You. Bless the remnants. We pray You will guide us to give them strength in the roles you’ve given them. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.