Testify the Power of God’s Word (1 Peter 3:14-22)
Today’s title is, “Testify the Power of God’s Word.” You may know a person from their physical attributes, but once you hear their words, that’s how you know their inner state, and if you want to know more about a child, you just have to observe their parents. So the words contain all of the person’s personalities, so it contains everything. So if parents say the words of the world more, their children will likely be centered on the world as well.
The word also has power, whenever we get tested, we get tested because of the words. Children will bear fruit when the parents relay the Word of God to the children. that’s why the word has a lot of strength and defines a person. Politicians become tested because of their words and can even succeed because of their words. We can save a person or kill a person with our words, but for those who speak words without any meaning, they live a meaningless life.
For people who always speak lies, it’s because they’ve always lived and heard these lies, and so they’re just expressing how they’ve lived through their words. So many things are contained within their words, it may be rewards or prizes, a person’s personality, and then also their integrity, so you can see a person’s personality, emotions, character, and will. But how can you tell if you’re following God’s word correctly or not? How do I know if I’m believing in God correctly or not? You can tell by how the person receives the Word of God and believes in it.
But there are some people who listen to the word but aren’t listening to it; they listen to something else and go forth. So, what will the end result be? They will live a life that is not related to God’s word and power. But there are some people who receive the word and testify this word to the people around them. What will their life be like? There’s nothing to say about that.
Only the people without God always talks about the strength and weaknesses they have. Because they don’t have God, they have no choice but to say, “I don’t have this or that, my parents are like this or that.” If I really believe in God, then am I in God’s Word? The evidence that I am in God’s Word means that I relay God’s Word to other people, isn’t that so? Whatever comes into you comes out. If I am empty, I have no choice but to say empty words. If something incorrect is within me, then I have no choice but to say incorrect words. If I’m confused then that person has no choice but to say confused words. If that person is scarred they have no choice but to say their scarred words.
I’m John 1:1, it says the Word is God, so someone said, “Oh, I saw God,” but you can’t believe them because God is spirit. And so the word became flesh and Jesus Christ came to the world in the flesh, and that’s John 1:14. Evangelism means you relay the power and work of God. Because I don’t have God’s word, I can’t relay this to others. For those who always have the word of God through prayer, it’s so easy for them to always relay the word. So for those who have a lot of curse words within them have no choice but to always curse; people who are always anxious inside they have no choice but to say anxious words. So what is that person talking about? That’s very important, so you can think and say that this is everything in their lives.
The Israelites sent the 12 spies to evaluate the land, but 10 spies said the incorrect words. They didn’t just lie but they didn’t have the words of truth within them, so they just listened to the words of the world and followed along. But the other two people were the people who always had the word within them. When they evangelized the land they said what they saw, and this actually goes within the Word movement of going into the land of Canaan.
So before we evangelize and hold onto this gospel, what kind of Word am I holding onto?
1. What we must realize first
There’s something we must realize first.
(1)The counselor, the Holy Spirit, is with us. Because we do not know this, our Christian life doesn’t seem to work, we live religiously, get easily tired, and evangelism becomes extremely difficult (1Co 3:16, 12:3, Jn 14:16, 26, 1Jn 2:20-27, Ac 13:1-14, 16:10-14, 8:25-26).
The Counselor, the Holy Spirit is with us. The Holy Spirit is our counselor. He is constantly protecting us, giving his grace and guiding us. So the spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, is always with us, and for those who are always enjoying this, they are able to say these words. If you can’t enjoy this you have no choice but to say anxious words. They talk about money and people because they can’t enjoy this, so they have no choice but to rely on people.
People who rely on the Holy Spirit have everything because Jesus Christ guides us and protects us. if you don’t know this, you have to choice but to live a religious life, so their life becomes very difficult. They have to say their own words because they rely on themselves.
1 Corinthians 3:16 – Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit has made us into His Temple, and so the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God the Father.
John 14:6 Eternity
In John 14:6 God says he will be with us eternally, whatever happens the Holy Spirit is always with us. He is always guiding us in whatever circumstance we are in.
John 14:26,
The Holy Spirit that is sent in my name. The Holy Spirit is sent in the name of Jesus Christ and will teach and remind you of everything. But because we don’t believe in this, we listen to people’s words. If we have salvation the Holy Spirit, the triune God is with us.
1 John 2:22-27
So in 1 John 2:22-27 but especially 1 John 2:27, “God is teaching us everything,” it doesn’t mean we don’t need people, but we shouldn’t rely on people, because the Holy Spirit is teaching us all things. So, we interact with people to confirm this, but because we don’t know this, we are not able to relay it to other people.
1 Corinthians 12:3
In 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No one can say ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit,” so you can’t confess Jesus is Lord, except by the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit. So I’m not just saying Jesus Christ is Lord but I have confessed this.
Acts 13:1-4 Missions
And in Acts 13:1-4 they do missions through the holy spirit. They follow the Holy Spirit’s words, raise people, and go to the region the Spirit directed them. So people,who have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is always teaching them. So before we testify the power of God’s Word, we need to know this first.
Acts 16:10-14
In Ac 16:10-14, before they were about to go to Macedonia, the doors of evangelism were actually blocked. At that moment, the Holy Spirit guides them to go to Macedonia instead. These people are able to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:25-26
In Acts 8:25-26, Phillip met the eunuch through the Holy Spirit. All of the meeting are guided by God. Especially for those who receive the answers, they’re bound to meet other people who need the answers. Why is this important? If you think about the field while listening to this, you’ll receive the answer. The field does not know about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but they ask, “Who is God?” You might not know anything else, but the Holy Spirit is doing this even now, and for those who are within this. Then what must we do?
2) We must meet God.
This is important for new believers to meet God. We need to experience and meet God. How do we meet God? Thought Jesus Christ. Because without Jesus Christ you can never meet God.
(3)We must have the experience of meeting Jesus (Ac 9:1-3, 27:24-25). We can meet God through Jesus Christ. God is spirit, so He meets us through the Holy Spirit. This is the essence of the principle of the Trinity.
Acts 9:1-3
In Acts 9:1-3, Paul meets Jesus Christ, he meets him through the Word. Why is this important? If you think about the field while you listen to this, you’ll receive the answer. The field doesn’t know about God, and Jesus Christ, they ask, “Who is God?” You need to be able to correctly relay this. It’s the same in Acts 8:25-26, God sent His messenger to speak His Words, so you always need to continuously have this experience of meeting Jesus because when you believe in Jesus, you meet God, and you can always meet Him by being within the words of Jesus Christ. This is when you can understand the Triune God.
God is working even now, fulfilling His Word. But because we are within ourselves, we have no concern or interest in that. Satan makes it so that we are continuously focused on ourselves. God is continuously fulfilling His Word, but Satan is blocking it so I’m focused on myself and other people, and so I become only focused on the things that appear before my eyes. Behind the physical attribute there’s a spiritual reality but Satan makes it so that we cannot see this. Try working and studying without this mystery, then there is no God.
Because you just work diligently, one day your spiritual state is really low. Why is that? It’s because I was only focused on the physical things and not the spiritual things behind it, and Satan is working like this even now. Satan makes it so that you race towards success which is true he makes us lose the spiritual things. But when I continue to go along this path, one day I’ll think, “Is God actually there?” But when I come to church I become shocked and once again, “Oh, I’ve been living within that,” but then there are some people who come to church and are still in that state, they just listen to the words as if it’s a joke. They see it as a joke and see it is not related to them because they’ve worked so hard and diligently throughout their lives without God’s word. That’s how people are like. But even now God is doing the work of salvation, we need to be focused on what God is doing right now.
But satan makes it so that we’re not focused on that, but we’re focused only on the things related to me. Then it becomes difficult because, I haven’t even lied or done anything bad, but I can’t believe in God. I haven’t done anything else. But God is working even right now but I become distant from this. Even now, the Holy Spirit is working and answering our prayers. The Triune God is working even now, but I’m distant from this. Why am I distant? It’s because I have my own work, even when I’m eating and playing, that’s also work, and even when I’m eating and playing, I should be aligned with God’s direction, but I’m distant from that. When kids study, they do it very diligently and have a hard time with it, but they feel as if they’re living to their best. But they are not aligned with the Word of God, and later on, what happens? They become distant from the Word of God and cannot receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And this is what it means to become a slave of Satan.
2. How do we meet God?
Number two, how do we meet God? We already met God, why do we have to meet God again? Why am I separated from God? If I’m already with God, I must continuously be with God, but why am I separated from Him? I’m not saying anything about that, but if I already met God I have to meet Him every day, continuously.
(1)Prayer
i. Acceptance
ii. Reliance
iii. Conversation
iv. Confession
v. Submission
I meet Him through prayer. We accept God through our prayers, because within prayer is also God’s Word,
2) Rely
And so I completely rely on God, that’s how we meet God, because I’m completely relying on Him and I continuously converse with Him. It’s a prayer of conversing with God. I converse and meet God through my prayers. But if I’m not doing this, I’m continuously focused on myself. Then even if I’m a saved child of God, I’m distant from God.
3) Confession
And the confession, so we give our confession our faith and confess towards God, and we completely surrender and submit to God. That is how I meet God, I just completely lay down my life before Him, “I raise my hands and surrender my life to You,” And through this prayer I continuously meet God.
(2)God’s word
i. It is the avenue by which God reveals Himself (Isa 55:11, Heb 4:12).
Number two, I meet God through God’s Word. What is God’s word? It is the avenue through which God reveals Himself. Isaiah 55:11. “My Word that goes out from My mouth will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” So God gives His word through His messenger, and God gives His Word through the pulpit message. In Hebrews 4:12 “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates, dividing even soul and spirit, joints and marrow.” and so God is continuously revealing Himself every day and every moment through His Word.
ii. God reveals Himself every day and every moment.
iii. God gives His word to His servants (Ac 2:42)
And so the person who is within the Word of God and goes out and relays this. And in Acts 2:42, God continuously gives His Word through this servant. Am I within the flow of this Word of God or not? You just have to be in the flow of God’s Word. So don’t try to study as if you’re in school trying to study your classes in theory, but if you continuously enjoy this, your spirit can fly. Because the Word is God, the word is power, the word is healing, the word is God. Even if I’m just within the word, everything will be healed and restored.
So you just need to hold onto just one Word throughout the week. But you’re not able to do this because you’re so filled with your own thoughts, and that means you’re very far and distant from the Word of God. So you need to continuously forum with your children. How will you know if your children are listening to the Word or not? Even if they’re not listening to the Word, you need to make them listen through your forum. But you say all sorts of words to your child but you don’t relay the Word of God to your child.
Why? Because you don’t have any confidence or assurance. So you are unable to say these words, “If I say this, will they really change?” It’s because I don’t have any assurance. If it’s an answer from God’s Word to me, then I will surely relay it, for example, if you won the lottery, you’d surely tell your child, but you wouldn’t say, “I think they might get angry so I won’t tell them.” If you have good news, you’ll relay it to other people. “How will I say this to the other person? Will they leave me out or get mad at me?” You can’t say this because you don’t have the good news.
If you continuously have the Word, it becomes more deeply rooted within you and becomes more related to your life, so you can relay it to other people. What happens if you’re not able to do this? You don’t say God’s Word, but you say your words. Your words aren’t God’s Word, so your child has no choice but to live up to that standard. It’s so obvious to talk about what you ate and play, you may ask, “How are you doing?” But it’s so obvious, “You need to study hard,” that’s so obvious. “Are you doing your work well?” That answer is so obvious. “Have you been promoted? Are you studying well?” The answers are so obvious but you’re only saying these words so your child’s spirit is dying. Those words are also necessary but you have to say the words that save. Why can’t I say those words? It’s because I’m not aligned. I’m trying to revive someone else, and it’s so difficult.
3. How do we testify of Jesus?
(1)Ac 2:27-30
Let’s look at Acts 2:28, “You have made known to me the paths of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence,” so how do you see this/ Through the Word because the Word is life. Because God continuously gives me His Word, I will be able to continuously see this path, and it’s because God is continuously revealing this through His light. There’s nothing to ask because God is continuously giving His Word.
If you’re a normal believer then whenever you come to give worship and you receive the accurate Word, you will always receive answers through every worship. There was a Darakbang meeting I had with a couple, and they said, “All the words you say during the Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday worship are applicable to us, and this is the first time we have ever experienced this.” It hasn’t been too long since they started listening to this word, it’s only been about a year, so I think it’s because they’re in a specific situation that made them look towards the Word. So, because they’re in a situation where they must decide something, they’re continuously receiving the Word and seeing how God is guiding them, so that’s how they’re able to experience and enjoy this Word.
This is normal, it’s normal for God to guide us with His Word. But for most people, they don’t have any problems and don’t know if they’re receiving the Word or not. They just think, “The words you say every week are just the same,” but for those people, it’s because they don’t have an evangelism field. When a huge incident occurs, that’s when they want to focus completely on the Word, then what happens? They’ll continuously face problems, because they only focus on the Word when they face a problem.
What happens when your walk of faith is like that? It might be like that, but if the frame of your walk of faith is like this, what’s going to happen? Imagine if they had an evangelism field where they had to relay this Word to this person, and because of that person, God will continuously give me His Word in order to fulfill that Word. So, for new believers, they’re continuously being rooted and imprinted in the Word for now, but this Word isn’t just remaining within me, because that Word is actually sending me out into the field to relay this.
Where is that field? It’s the field God has prepared, and God has no choice but to continuously give me His Word, and for those people, they will continuously taste the fulfillment of this Word. My relationship with God is important, but when there’s no problem, you just think, “Oh, that’s just the Word I know,” but when there’s a deep problem, I’ll go to God, and in that situation, God gives the Word, and God has to continuously give this person problems and circumstances because God’s love is to give them problems such that they continuously follow the Word.
This kind of walk of faith is just surviving on their own. If you relay this Word in this state to a new believer, the new believer will turn out the same way, so from the very beginning, you have to explain about the fulfillment of the Word and evangelism because the Holy Spirit is within them, and they will surely understand.
Individuals think, “Will that really happen?” based on their experiences and walk of faith. I was like that from the very beginning, ever since I met Jesus Christ, because the person who relayed it to me was just like that, too. You may think new believers can’t do that, but they react to whatever you give them. But for regular believers, they think, “I don’t think i’ts possible,” but if you actually give them the word of evangelism, the new believers can turn out that way too.
How can that happen? It’s because the triune God has to do the work of salvation and teach them, because God has to teach them the fulfillment of God’s Word and you need to teach them how the Holy Spirit is guiding and answering us correctly. This is correctly relaying the teaching about God, but you say, “Evangelism is hard,” and that’s the same as putting God second. “Oh will the new believer actually reactive answers to prayer?” That means you’re putting the Triune God to the side.
You’re just saying, “Oh you just need to know God the Father and receive the Word,” so God the Son and God the Holy Spirit aren’t even there, and so you can’t explain to them in the same way as you lived your walk of faith. You need to correctly explain to them who God is, then the new believers will receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I actually thought evangelism was the easiest thing. Doing sales was difficult but evangelism … was the easiest things. I have to reveal my own characteristics for doing sales, but evangelism just happens. And so as a new believer I thought evangelism is the easiest thing. Whenever I took someone with me, they also had the acceptance movement arise. I was a new believer and I had nothing but I continuously evangelized because that’s what I thought you were supposed to do, and that’s what the missionary taught me.
So I never understood when people say evangelism is hard and later on, I found out there’s a different type of evangelism, there’s team ministry, and then after I received the Team training, I realized there was the blessing of meeting and this kind of evangelism, so this missionary never taught me that evangelism was hard; he or she said it was very easy. I never thought evangelism was hard, but I actually thought it was easy, but when I went into college ministry, none of them did evangelism. Whenever I spoke about evangelism, the assistant pastor and the president of that group were just oppressed.
And so in the Philippines on January 1, there was a beach place we could go and we went on a retreat there. We went together on a bus and while we were going I began to evangelize . So the president of the young adult group was an assistant pastor from abroad. At first the assistant pastor said, “It’s just always like that,” and so he said, “As time goes on you’ll change” but then when we came back from the bus, I continued to evangelize and people were accepting and it became an uproar.
But the kids were oppressed, and so there was a rumor that I was going around, evangelizing. Later on, I found out everyone in the church was oppressed when we talked about evangelism, “I can do it but,” There was an assistant pastor from a baptist church doing evangelism alone on a mountain, and when we were preparing to go I noticed how there were some adults who came along, and so he brought me along and said, “Let’s evangelize.” When we evangelized there were acceptances taking place and this is something the assistant pastor had never seen.
I couldn’t even speak English so I spoke loudly and slowly, and later on, the assistant pastor said, “I spoke loudly like you, and people began to notice me.” He studied theology in Korea and came to the Philippine Baptist church, and he didn’t go to a Korean church in the Philippines, but he went to a Filipino church in the Philippines. And because he heard a rumor that I was going around evangelizing, he was curious to take me into the evangelism field. I had nothing else; I just spoke with the assurance that I had. What does a new believer have? I had nothing other than that, but because I spoke with assurance, they had no choice but to accept.
So, the acceptance movement arose among the study abroad students, and we became one huge group. Did I have the Word? No, I didn’t, there was just one tape I heard from Korea and continuously listened to that, so with the Gospel Letter, I relayed the word I heard. That’s when work started taking place. And so later on, students from seminaries and others trainings eventually started to creep in.
Because they’ve been in training for so long, they are good with their words. There was someone from a Korean seminary. At that time I didn’t know any of the roles in the church, but he was an assistant pastor, and I told him to be quiet, and someone said, “But he’s an assistant pastor,” Even though their outer form is different, they are all non-believers on the inside. But when the Bible studies started to arise, everyone started to gather.
Now that I think about it, why did guys gather? And later on a young adult from Pastor Heo’s church told me, “How could you relay the Word with so much assurance?” I had so much assurance because I was saved from a non-believing family and I believed in Jesus Christ. and so all these other people believe in Jesus Christ, and they didn’t have assurance but they were just following along.
And so later on I started relaying the words I kept continuously receiving, the words from the pulpit, and so all of the young adults were already Christians, they all believed and I was the oldest person and this is how works arose at that time. The works aren’t the problem, I’m just saying it’s very important how evangelism is rooted in a person.
When I went to Korea, evangelism didn’t take place because I wasn’t in an environment where evangelism could take place. Even within that, it was God’s time schedule and training so just going on and evangelizing was just not just evangelism, because God was pushing me towards training at that time. There was this person I met in Korea who was related to someone, and I relayed the Word to him and he accepted, and another word was relayed. There were these other two young adults, one became an elder and another became a pastor. These are the people I first evangelized to when I was a new believer. I don’t know about the other people; these are the people I was able to confirm.
I hadn’t believed in Jesus for even a year, it was just a couple months, it wasn’t even that I had received the word for two to three years. So evangelism is something God does. You need to break your frame. God is doing evangelism even now. But people are not able to receive this in the sermons, and that’s why they’re so weak in it. What do they need to listen to? The word. And if they’re closer to the Word of God they know about the Pentecost, but it’s only about these two things, and that’s not correct, because the gospel without evangelism has no choice but to turn in the religion.
They know the Word so well but it’s interchangeable with the law but the more they know the gospel they have no choice but to evangelize. But for other people are more geared towards prayer, towards mysticism, but if you know the actual work and guidance of prayer, then you know God’s work. People live the walk of life without this standard and they don’t even know themsleves, but they think, “I’m doing so well but why am I like this?” And so from the very beginning it’s like that. I’m sayin this to tell you to correctly relay the word to new believers “oh I think they will be oppressed if I say this,” but that’s just your thoughts; I wasn’t like that, disciples don’t get oppressed. You need to find disciples who get nurtured, and of course God’s time schedule may be different where they become disciples later on, but regardless, you don’t know that, so you must relay the word.
1 Peter 3:15
It says “always be prayed to give an answer to everyone who asks you” always prepare yourself with the word. God gave me the Word, that means there’s someone who must receive this word, so if I receive the Word on Sunday, then God has prepared a person who is bound to receive that word. If I receive the Word, then God will attach someone who needs that word. You must always have the Word, then you must always be within the flow of the Word, evangelism and prayer.
Then do you not work or study? No. You do this with Spiritual things. Word, prayer and evangelism are spiritual things so you just do it within your studies. They’re spiritual, “oh I can’t do it because of work” no that’s not true, but the things are spiritual. Hold onto the spiritual things and do your work. As you work, you’re within the flow of prayer. And have the posture and focused direction of evangelism within your work, it has nothing to do with your work, but Satan makes it so you can’t do this. You aren’t within these 3 flows but you are within the flow of Genesis 3, 6, and 11. That’s why you conclude saying “oh this is difficult,” you received the Word from Sunday but it’s so distant from you. It’s so hard to meet people, “I want to quit my work” that’s normal. Because you are not within what God is doing, you just want to quit everything, and so let’s be the people who testify the power of God’s Word.
Prayer
God we thank You. Through healing evangelism school may we be within the word, prayer and evangelism and relay this to others. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.