Faith (Heb. 11:1-3)
The most important thing we have on this earth is faith because everyone, as long as they live on earth, believes in something. Once we die, we’re either going to be in heaven or hell, so we don’t need faith after we die; as long as we’re on earth, we believe in something.
Me | God
People believe in one of two things. It takes two forms, or two categories. They believe in themselves or they believe in God. Most people in the world tell them to believe in themselves, right? They say, “In life, you know, you can’t control anything else, you just have to make sure you’re happy and take care of yourself.” That’s what everyone does. They try to make themselves happy. And I’m going to list off some things that I used to think would make me happy. Let me know if I missed anything, okay?
I used to have friends who had a lot more things than I did. I used to think, if I were richer or if my parents had more money, I’d be happier. I couldn’t buy the same things and that’s the reason I felt so lonely. I also used to think, especially in high school, that if I looked more attractive, then I would be happier, so I did the most. I’m not going to go into detail about that because it’s embarrassing, but just know that I don’t judge any of you guys because I’ve been through it all.
Whatever you guys are trying to do, don’t worry about it, tell me about it and I’ll let you know what the end result will be. I’m not going to tell you the same things your parents told you because I know what my parents told me didn’t help me. A lot of people say that if they have love, they’ll be happy, whether it’s love in the family, love from a boyfriend or girlfriend, or love from friends.
Some people think, “Maybe if I were smarter, my parents would like me more and wouldn’t be so disappointed in me.” Is there anything else you think I should add to this list that maybe I’m forgetting, something that would make your life happier? Maybe not for yourselves but for your friends, they think they need drugs or sex to be happy, it could be anything.
Just knowing this, this is what the world tells you that you need to be happy, but the world doesn’t tell you about the entity called Satan. Satan doesn’t exist, and if you talk about Satan outside in the world, people will think you are weird, but Satan absolutely exists everywhere, he has existed since Genesis 3 and will continue to exist, and there’s something Satan will continue to do.
He makes us not believe in God; he takes away our faith in God and makes us believe in ourselves instead, so now, Satan makes us believe all of these other things will make us happy instead of God. So you have to realize that, yes, these things may make you happy for a moment, but it’s actually the sin that Satan puts into our brain that makes us unhappy.
Then, no matter how many of these things you have, it’s not going to change the fact that you’re separated from God. Let’s say we get a lot of money and your parents win the lottery and you become millionaires overnight. At first you may be happy and you’ll buy a new phone or car or buy a new house and move to a better place. You’ll buy all the new clothes you want, you’ll be so classy. But the problem is that Satan exists and Satan puts thoughts into our heads that do not believe in God.
Then, because we don’t believe in God, we believe in “me” and uh oh, you’re rich and happy but you see someone richer than you, and they’re buying cooler things than you and go to cooler vacation spots and have more friends than you because they’re always going out. Then you have to keep spending money to keep up with them until you’re left with nothing. So honestly, the most wealthy people don’t feel wealthy but they feel poor because they’re always comparing themselves to others around them.
It’s the same thing with beautiful people. Do you know that beautiful people have the worst self-esteem issues? Because everyone around them is more beautiful than they. “I have to lose weight, I have to get surgery, I have to get taller,” so you can have all the looks, but because Satan is putting all these thoughts in your head and you’re separated from God, it still leads to nothing.
In fact, more than nothing, it leads to bad things: jealousy and insecurity. What about love? People think if they fall in love or if people love them, they’ll be happy, but because Satan, sin, and separation are still the only problems, even love will turn into very suspicious love, “What if he cheats on me? What if she likes him more than she likes me?” Then you see tik toks about how people fall out of love with each other or watching people cheat on each other on their best friends. It’s not that people are bad people, but Satan puts these thoughts in our heads and we’re separated from God, and we only think about “me, me, me” and we’re never satisfied because we’re separated from God.
Let’s say you get A’s and your parents are so proud and you go to a good college and your parents say, “We love you,” but what will you do in college? You’re surrounded by people smarter than you. This is the pattern of life, you’ll feel like you’re never enough because you’re surrounded by people saying you’re never enough, but that’s because you don’t listen to God’s Word, but you listen to Satan’s word that says you’re not enough.
Going down this path, you spread death to yourself and others, because if you’re insecure about yourself, you’ll fight with your boyfriend or girlfriend. If you’re unhappy with yourself, you’ll lash out at your parents and friends. It’s not because they’re bad people, it’s because Satan is controlling everyone with sin, as long as they’re separated from God. Then this is the only problem we need to solve first.
That’s why the answer is the True King Who needs to crush Satan’s head. Jesus Christ did that ,He’s the only One in the universe Who could ever crush Satan’s head. He did it, He descended into hell and came back up. That means He overcame Satan’s power. We need the True Priest Who makes the final sacrifice to forgive all our sins, and that’s what Jesus Christ did. He died for our sins and forgave your sins, so all your life, you may still have thoughts, “I need this more than God to be happy.” But that’s okay, because Jesus Christ already forgave your sins.
When you make a mistake, maybe the adults in your life will try to shame you, “Why did you do that?” But what does Jesus Christ say? He already forgave you so thank Him. He loves you and is with you, even with all the mistakes you make. Then, instead there’s no reason to ever feel bad. Every time you feel bad, you should thank Jesus Christ because it is finished. He died for that problem because every problem starts from being separated from God.
As long as we’re separated from God, it doesn’t matter how many people love us or how smart or rich we are. As long as we’re separated from God, it will never be enough, and if we don’t feel like we’re enough, we might as well die. That’s why we need the prophet to be that One Way to be with God. There’s only one True Prophet Who did that, that’s Jesus Christ.
His name is Jesus and the work He did is the work of the Christ. The King, Priest, and Prophet are the roles done by the Christ Who finished all problems of mankind, now all we have to do is believe in that. Everyone hears about Jesus the Christ. He was a man, a human being like you and me. Do you believe that that man died on the cross to save you from all the problems in the world? It’s kind of hard to believe, right? But that’s what we do with our lives.
We believe Jesus Christ, born 2000 years ago, died to save us. So now instead of death, we have life. Now, no matter what we do, we have eternal life and we can celebrate. Literally, all we have to do is believe, and that’s what pleases God because God wants to save the whole world. God wants to give the world life through Jesus Christ.
So if you have Jesus Christ, you have life and peace no matter what. Now, let me ask you this question. Let’s say there are two people who are really rich. One person only thinks about themselves, and the other is at peace and enjoys life. Who is the cooler person? It doesn’t matter how much money you have; if you only think about yourself, no one will like you and people only care about you for your money, but if you really enjoy the life of Jesus Christ and you use your money to help and save other people, you will be the most loved and precious person in the world.
Without Jesus Christ, if you’re good looking, you might become a model, but you might be insecure, with eating disorders, and you’re worried people only like you because of your good looks. Who cares how good looking you are if you’re always so lonely? But if you have Jesus Christ, then your looks will be used to save people. It doesn’t matter whether you get your ears pierced or hair dyed. If you use it because you think it will make you happy, it will lead to death, the death of your heart and of your hair. But if you do this to save others through Jesus Christ, then you can say, “I like your hair, you dye it too?” Then you can talk about it and share the gospel later.
Maybe you think, “I’m a Christian, so I shouldn’t do this or that,” but Jesus Christ says, “If you believe in Jesus, no matter what you do, you have life.” Enjoy that. On Thursday, I went ice skating with some friends and I made sure to go to regional church first, but afterwards I went to hang out with my friends. While waiting, I was chatting with someone and they told me that they see things, that they’re really scared all the time. They see things when they sleep and see people following them, and it’s really scary for them, so I said, “I believe you, I know what’s going on, and I know the answer. I told him, “Let’s meet together and I’ll explain everything to you.” He said, “Thank you.” Having friends and being in love isn’t bad, but if you use that to save lives, that’s so much better, right?
No matter what you do, always enjoy the peace of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t just end with that, there’s even more blessings. As you enjoy Christ, God gives you His Word. God’s Word guides you through the pulpit message as well as through the special trainings like tomorrow’s Remnant Day, so the Word of God is so important because it guides you through your life. It shows you your talent and the people in your field for whom you should pray. As you keep following God’s Word, life works out easily. It tells you what to do at school and at your job, too. This is something unbelievers don’t have. They’re always so confused but I know exactly what to do because God’s Word tells me in advance.
With the Word of God, God gives me the blessing to rule over and subdue in everything I do. If I don’t receive God’s Word to rule over everything, then everything in my life will rule over me. These two lives are opposite, and the only difference is, do you believe in God or do you believe in yourself? If you believe in yourself, then you already know what will happen. If you believe in God, you will end up praying because if you believe in yourself, you don’t have to pray; you can just think, and the day will just go by whether you pray or not. The difference is, are you going to live that day very depressed and dark on your phone, or are you going to live that day enjoying life and celebrating Jesus Christ on your phone?
You can be on your phone all day, either way, but if you’re enjoying Jesus Christ, everything you see on the phone can be used to evangelize someone else. If you’re on your phone for yourself, then everything you see will only make you insecure and depressed. So, no matter what you’re doing, I hope you will do it in prayer. No longer pray about, “God help me stop doing this, why do I keep doing this? Give me strength.” That’s again, depending on yourself. Who cares if you’re doing that. Have faith in God instead.
“God, thank You so that even though I make this mistake, You are the One Who will give me the strength to change. God, thank You. I’m in this problem and don’t know what to do, but You will give me the wisdom to get through it. Help me to remember Your Word which is eternal and unchanging, to save people.” This is the ultimate wisdom and ultimate strength. Through this, you can spread the joy of life to others no matter what happens. The Holy Spirit gives you the power to fulfill God’s Word; that power is not with you.
I talk about this every time I come up here because I learned that lesson the hard way; I’m still learning it. I always think I can do something, but I can’t do anything; I can’t even get out of bed by myself and I cannot stop thinking hateful thoughts by myself. All I can do is remain within the covenant of Jesus Christ who set me free from Satan, sin, and separation. All I can do is remain within worship at church and the conferences, staking my life on the trainings. Enjoy prayer. Whether I change or not is up to God, don’t worry about that. As you remain within the covenant of the Triune God, He will change what must be changed and He will show you what you need to know.
We ourselves and our parents are going to get impatient. “Why are you still like this? You’ve been to church for so long,” it doesn’t matter, even if your parents give up on you, do not give up on God. Even as you fall into idolatry and mistakes, stay within worship and prayer. The minute you are no longer worshiping and receiving God’s Word, you actually have no hope. We need God’s Word to heal us. We need God’s Word to change us. That’s what prayer is. You’re taking the Word of God and you’re bringing it into your life.
The last thing I want to talk about is how to enjoy prayer. In your day, in the morning before you talk to your parents or talk to anyone at school, that’s your time to remember God’s covenant. That covenant can be the covenant you receive from the pulpit message. Something short and simple you can hold onto throughout the day. Or, it can be the covenant of just Christ being, “God, I know I’m here and I need Christ to be here.”
No matter what, whether it’s from the basic gospel message or the pulpit message, you must remember the basic gospel of Christ in you, and enjoy that so that you can start your day with life instead of death. Then during the day, no matter what happens, connect it back to God’s plan for saving people. For example, I got lost, like every other day. I got lost on my way to church today. I’ve been driving to church for so long, but that’s not the point. When I used to get lost, I would get so mad at myself and mad at the GPS as well. I was so frustrated with myself, I even used the “R” word on myself, and I began to wonder if I was mentally challenged because it doesn’t seem normal; I’ve been driving this road for years, but this week, my thinking started to change.
“Okay, nothing happens without God’s approval, right? Then why did God let me get lost? Why did God make me take this wrong turn? The answer is obvious, isn’t it? God wants to save people and the people are lost in these problems, and I know the solution is Jesus Christ, so as I was driving through this very dark neighborhood, I was praying for Jesus Christ to save the people in the neighborhood. I was breaking down the forces of darkness and praying for the life movement and disciple movement to take place. I don’t’ know what’s taking place but I believe in God.
When you meet someone, instead of saying, “Gosh, why do I have to talk to this person?” or, “Yes, this is my favorite person,” ask God, “What do You want me to see in this person?” The person who told me that they see spirits and ghosts, I thought they were just a funny person. Before I had that conversation to that person, I had no intention of evangelizing, but now, when I see him in my field, I didn’t know he was struggling with such spiritual problems. It changes how I see all my coworkers.
Their parents are buddhist and when they told their mom about seeing evil spirits, the mom went to the buddhist temple to pray for them. You know what that means, the person is possessed with evil spirits and works next to me, but on the outside, he just looks like a really funny guy who works out a lot. What about your coworkers or friends? How are you praying for them whenever you talk to them? Are you seeing them spiritually and realize they need to be saved?
I’m still learning this as well by God’s grace and that’s why I’m sharing it with you, and at night, there’s a lot of things that happen throughout the day. If you take what you heard that day and you just sleep on it, then it’s going to get programmed into your brain and will become your baseline the next day. Then day by day, what happens if you’re only looking at physical things? Day by day, we become more and more physical and the impact will be delayed. You think you’re okay at first, but after time, “Oh wow, I feel like trash.”
So every night before you sleep, take the things you’ve watched and heard and apply God’s Word to it. For example, today I saw a video of a female singer and it made me cry a lot. “We’re all right, we’ll smile through the darkest nights,” and it made me cry so much. More than saying it was a good and emotional song, I didn’t want that to give me grace and be my spiritual influence, so I want to take the artist’s spiritual influence and change it to God’s spiritual influence.
I prayed to God. “God, why does this video move me so much?” God showed me that everyone is having such a hard time, that all the people in the world are so close to the edge, especially the kids. They’re so close to the edge that they have to be on the phones to not be crying all the time. They have to be on the phones to block out their anxiety. Parents blame the phones but taking away the phones can make it worse. Whether they have phones or not, the problem is spiritual.
At night, take everything you’ve physically heard and seen and ask God, “What does it mean, spiritually?” and finally, what was the answer God gave you about this from the Sunday message? If you don’t take that time to connect what you saw today back to the pulpit message, God gives you answers but you don’t notice. So in this situation, nothing has changed. I still have my problems and I’m still constantly disappointing myself, but I have faith that even if I don’t change, it will be used to save people and I have faith that if I change, it is by God’s power to save people.
Whether I change or not, I pray we’ll all have God’s grace to focus on saving people. The only other alternative is death. The only thing left for us to do is to remain within God’s Word and prayer. It doesn’t matter how you feel or what you’re going through; pray for strength to come to church and be where God’s Word is. In college, I used to come to church and actively try to fall asleep to make Pastor Park mad. I sat in the middle, too. I would think about my boyfriend and fall asleep, but it worked. Look at me now, I’m his biggest fan.
If you’re a teacher and the kids are falling asleep, it’s okay. Do you believe in God or do you believe in your teaching skills? If you are a student and you can’t stop falling asleep, it’s okay. Remain within God’s Word because He is the only One you can trust. The more you pray, the better it is for you; it’s honestly a blessing for you because God is doing the same thing. Prayer enables you to see and enjoy it.
That’s all, let’s pray.
Prayer
Heavenly Father God, thank You so much. You’ve finished all problems and are with us no matter what. You tell us the future and reveal things to us that no one else knows. Please give the grace of remaining in God’s Word to all the members of our church. There are many people in our church who don’t have the spiritual strength to worship right now. Please give them God’s grace so they may worship You. Please give us faith to pray for them. Raise up our church to do the world evangelization movement. Allow us to see God working in all our relationships, money, accomplishments. And in everything, allow us to believe in only the Triune God and not in ourselves. We love You so much and thank You. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.