Stephanie’s Navajo Missions Report and Faith in Only Jesus Christ (Romans 10:16-17)
I was so blessed to go to Navajo, the Lord moved and every morning and afternoon, we were preaching and teaching the way of salvation to the children there. It was a beautiful experience and every night, the pastor would come and preach a sermon. The Holy Spirit really moved while we were there with the community that came out, the children who came to attend.
There were a couple things that happened. When the children first initially came, I overheard the children during forum that they said, “We don’t believe in your God, we don’t want your God.” Tiffany told them, “God can do anything, God can solve all your problems.” I sat down nearby as I was led, and as Tiffany continued to pour out the Word and the message, there was a big disconnect, so I asked the question.
“What problem is too big for God for you?” There were three sisters there, and although I addressed one, one whose heart was very heavy, I could feel that, and I talked to her indirectly, but when I asked that question, she began to cry, really cry. Because I was looking at the one sister who said, “We just don’t believe.”
We interceded in prayer. Even though I felt like I didn’t want to share my background, I knew this was God’s will, so I began to be obedient to God. In this moment, the young ladies opened up. The Lord showed me that there was some very close, intimate issues with family, and that’s why I gave my testimony of where God brought me from through my family.
Afterward, the young ladies opened up and now they have questions, now they’re talking, now they’re open. I split off from Tiffany at the request of the children, and one thing they shared was very heavy, but I didn’t take it upon myself. I immediately gave it to God. She needed to tell me for the sake of her healing. God was getting ready to deliver her and heal her, so she was crying and pouring out her testimony. The Lord was delivering and healing her from her pains and wounds.
I began to tell her the one way of Jesus, the way of salvation, the way I was taught here. I told her Jesus was the only way, and the reason she was oppressed was not because of anything from herself or her community, but that Satan has is the cause of sin and separation from God. Because of that, he gets in and uses different members to afflict her and oppress her, to make her feel as such, but I told her, “Don’t look at people or the problem; trust God, only Jesus can deliver you from this, only Jesus can close the gap. Once you have Jesus on the inside, it closes the gap to God and you can ask God for anything; God is always with you.”
I led her into the acceptance prayer and she received Christ. She then found her sisters and said she was free and very happy. The experience was a great experience. During this time, the things the young ladies spoke to me and to Tiffany about, the pastor had no idea, but every sermon, he was talking directly about these issues. Neither I nor Tiffany spoke to him, so we knew it was the Holy Spirit. He touched on the parents, the generational curses, and only Jesus, Jesus is the only way.
Another thing that came to us was, it’s so big, how do we defeat or solve these problems? We told them to give it to Jesus, and the pastor gave us the message the very next night, Matthew 4:16, these aren’t real problems but Satan attacks us through these temptations, the physical things you think you need, etc. He gave an example of how Jesus defeated Satan through the Word of God, and this was so enlightening that what the young ladies shared with us was what the pastor would teach about. “This is the reason and this is how it is defeated by the Word of God.”
They had great hospitality, they treated us very nicely and kindly, the food was good, but the Holy Spirit showed up and really moved. When we left, two of the young ladies received Christ. One was 4 or 5 years old, and the other was a 22-year old. The 22-year old would like to learn the gospel and the way of salvation. I could tell she was completely free, when she returned the next day, she wasn’t in the corner, but she was riding horses and enjoying her life. She wrote to her family, “I’ve been set free, these people here are real Christians. I believe God will help me.”
As Tiffany and I were talking to the young ladies and they disclosed things to us, I talked about the three people in the Bible who were thrown into the fire by King Nebuchadnezzar. God delivered them in the midst of the fire. This gave them hope that, even if you are not immediately removed, or something isn’t changed, God can change your situation and circumstance around you.
I’m so thankful to God for this church and for this experience. I’m so thankful for Tiffany to intercede in that gap. I couldn’t do it without the Holy Spirit and she prayed through the Holy Spirit as I was speaking. He allowed me to speak and the pastor to preach, so we were all in one accord with the Holy Spirit. Later on, through forum, we discovered a couple things. The pastor’s wife was working with some kids, and I asked, “Do you want to accept Jesus?” A little girl said, “No!” and turned her back. But another said, “Yes, and I know a lot about Jesus. He will save me and send angels to protect me.”
I led her to the acceptance prayer. Later that night, they shared they experienced some things and asked our kids to see if they experienced other things. They do this to either ask for help or to convert, so the kids were strong and had the Word in them. They said they didn’t believe these kids, but God moved very powerfully in just three days, God showed up and the Holy Spirit was there, every preaching and teaching, every Way of Salvation.
The very last message, every student was paying good attention to the teacher and every student had something to share in forum. So the Holy Spirit worked in the remnants daily, so I’m very happy and thankful to the Lord for me being able to go, but the way He moved in the Navajo children, we believe we planted very good seeds in the children. They will seek out Christ and know the Way of Salvation.
We also did have fun, we hopped on horses, we used porta-potties, and the kids did great with dancing and praise. It was an amazing time and I’m very thankful.
Thank you.
Romans 10:16-17. Today’s Bible verse, it talks about where faith comes from. Before we have faith, we focus on our own efforts and diligence, and even within the church, instead of focusing on our faith, we try to focus our efforts and think that we receive answers through our diligence. The characteristic of those answers is that, one day they will disappear, but the answers we receive through God’s Word will remain. As we lie our lives, the only thingsthat remain are answers we receive from God’s Word.
John 1:1 says God is the Word, and God works through the Holy Spirit through worship. So,w hat kind of Word am I listening to? There are many words, but what kind of Word am I listening to? Jesu sis Jeuss, but what kind of Jesus am I talking about? When you correctly hear the words of Jesus Christ, you wil have faith. Through that faith, you will have freedom. You might have some worires about your studies, but it’s not that you’re worried about your studies. It’s that you don’t have the word regarding your studies. It’s not about doing well in yyour studies, but you don’t have the Word of God regarding your studies so we’re captured by our studies.
People who are diligent can diligently study, and they can fulfill things, too. Although there’s nothing bad about that, it has nothing to do with your faith. That’s why these things end up becoming a burden to us, and instead, we reveal our own righteousness. If another person doesn’t have the same amount of skill, we look down at them. If we see someone else with skills, we become competitive. Even though we listen to the Word, because we don’t have faith, that’s why it’s not able to be applied to our lives.
H + H + O -> H2O Water
C + O + O -> CO2
Did you learn chemistry in school? Raise your hand if you haven’t learned it yet. Did you all learn it? Do you know about combining? You combine these elements to make water. CO2 isn’t good, but plants need CO2, so it’s great, right? If these elements are separated, there’s no use. They just work according to their elements, but once you combine them, they form a new compound and become useful.
Word of God + Faith = Working
+ Effort = own work, justice, boasting
Effort is what we make on our own, and when we combine this with the Word of God, it’s our righteousness, then we are boastful towards other people, but if the correct Word of God combines with our faith, then God will work. Then, what kind of Word of God are we talking about?
Old Testament + New Testament = 66 Books of the Bible
Jesus = Christ
What is all of this talking about? Jesus is the Christ. The Bible talks about this. There’s other contents within the Bible, but that’s not important. They’re necessary but not the most important, but this Word of Jesus Christ is the most important. You listen to the Word of God, but when you listen to the reason for Jesus Christ, that combines with our faith and that will be revealed. Other words are written other than Jesus Christ, it talks about Abraham being 70 years old, it also talks about Sarah being barren. It talks about manna being sent from the heavens, and how could that be? It also talks about the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. It also talks about the width of the walls of Jericho.
A Korean military man went to investigate the walls of Jericho, so he’s a military man and invested in wars and battles, so he went to do some research. He just investigated thinking, “How could this wall fall?” It just shook and fell but those things aren’t important.
Honor your father and mother, don’t steal, and don’t serve idols. There are words like this, but if you lose hold of the important content, your life becomes very strange. I am the Jehovah Who has liberated you from Egypt. You must believe in Jehovah. Put your effort into not doing idol worship, to not steal from other people, because you can trust in God. The Bible says to keep the Sabbath, but don’t put your effort, just have faith in God. Because you believe in God, you come to worship but you don’t believe in Him so you have to put in your own efforts and go to the Sabbath.
Don’t covet your neighbor’s things. Why would you do that? When you believe in God and Jesus Christ, all of these things follow. But because you don’t have this faith, you think you have to fulfill the law with your own efforts. That’s why, when your parents tell you to do something, you fight back because you don’t want to follow, but the Word of God tells us to not do it, we endure and try not to do it. That’s why the result of those who have faith are very different from those who are diligent.
Before you have faith, someone tells you to do it, so you just do it as someone without faith. When you believe in Jesus Christ, you don’t have to do those things, you don’t need to be greedy; there’s no reason. Col. 3:5 says greed is idol worship, and our future is in Christ, so we worship and hold onto the Word and believe it and live.
Why is Jesus the Christ? It is only Jesus Christ, we talked about this today. This is important. You can just talk about Jesus Christ, but only Jesus Christ, that’s a different story. Satan makes us talk about only Jesus Christ but he makes us with “only,” and Satan makes us attach things to Jesus Christ, then what happens? Then we cannot overcome the forces of darkness and Satan. When can we overcome Satan, curses, and disasters? When it is only Jesus Christ. Remnants may think, “I still believe in Jesus Christ,” but no, it’s “only.” You may face a problem, but within only Jesus Christ, you will find the answer.
If you have Jesus Christ and something else, you’ll try to solve the problem with something else. If something else solves that problem, you’ll try to solve another problem on your own again. These are religious people who say they are Christians, but the Biblical Christians are not like this. They understand Christ incorrectly and try to relay this kind of Christ, so God doesn’t attach people with them. God attaches people to those who have only Jesus Christ. There’s no other way. That’s why our walk of faith is so simple.
What problem does the Bible talk about? It is a spiritual problem. When you know this problem, you come to the answer of Jesus Christ in all your problems in your family, church, and school. What is this spiritual problem? It is something mankind cannot solve, you can never solve it with + something else. You can only solve this with Jesus Christ.
What is mankind’s problem? It is a spiritual problem, a problem of the spiritual state for believers. We talk about these three problems, and we say it applies to unbelievers, but actually it applies to believers as well. Christ solved these problems, and holding onto only Christ, these problems disappear. Unbelievers are controlled by Satan.
Satan, Sin, Separation
They are following after Satan’s strategy of “me.” They go within the state of not believing in God; they live for themselves and believe in “us,” so their spiritual state is separated from God. These are the states of the unbeliever. I have been liberated from these problems through Jesus Christ, but why can I not overcome the world? Why is my state like this, why do I continue to face problems?
Where do these problems come from? The reason a problem is a problem is because I’m within this state. Within the problem, I’m not able to believe God is in this problem as well, so I’m in a state of sin. Satan grabs hold of me and deceives me. As a result, I’m in a state, separated from God. So, because I’m continuously within this state, physical problems continue to arise. It seems like a physical problem, but when I have the answer in Christ, it is no longer a problem.
Without this, even though there is or isn’t a problem, there may be a problem, I continue to have depression. There’s nothing to fear in my life, but I’m in this state so I have a fundamental fear. How can I solve that fundamental fear? Today is good in it of itself, but I’m worried about tomorrow, as I don’t believe in God, so I worry about tomorrow. Even though the break hasn’t ended, I’m worried about what will happen after the break ends. This happens even as we believe in Jesus Christ.
When I don’t believe in Jesus Christ, I continue to face this fear . When I was an unbeliever, I used to be afraid of what would happen after my breaks would end, so it seemed I was preparing for the future, but I was causing more problems. Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, just end it with today,” but I wondered what that meant. Tomorrow will come, so I have to worry about it.
Unbelievers prepare 10-20 years in the future from today, and they use diligence and efforts. If they can’t do that, they try to receive power from another God and prepare for the future because that’s the state of not being with God. Even for people who go to church, they can be within this state. They’re in a blank, empty state, and that’s Satan’s strategy. They think they have no problems and they’re okay, but that’s Satan’s strategy.
This spiritual state will continue to arise even until Jesus’ second coming. That’s why the problems we see are actually not problems. When we’re within Christ, we can see the answer and God’s will within that problem. The reason why we shake in the face of problems is that we have our previous and past state, so we can’t just write out the name of Christ.
Genesis 3:15
He came as the offspring of the woman to crush the head of Satan. We’ve already been liberated from this through Jesus Christ, but later on, when we’re in a state that isn’t with Christ, we’re captured by Satan, deceived by Satan, and led towards disasters. That’s why we go into spiritual problems. This doesn’t happen because we don’t go to church. We must have this nature of Christ, but when we face a problem, we try to solve it with our own methods, and we face evil spirits instead. Even if there are no problems, we’re still afraid in the quiet, because we think a problem will come, we’re in a spiritual state separated from God.
Even as Adam and Eve were separated from God, they were in fear, and Cain’s descendants tried to solve their problems through music. People are in a state of fear and try to solve it with music. In America, they try to overcome fear by being your own God, and that’s why so many people are fans of BTS. When Cain was separated from God, they ended up building a fortress with a wall because they were afraid, so they built all these weapons. Because they were afraid, they had to prepare for war, but wars do not end. The moment we’re separated from God, it doesn’t end, so we have God.
Because we don’t have the answer of Christ, we try to solve it, and as much as the musicians are under Satan, they have greater hits, because they make music within a deep spiritual state. This music is being relayed to other people. In other words, that’s how people are able to advance in science as well. That’s why people who believe in Christ won’t have to make weapons or music or fortresses because they believe in Christ, so David confesses, “The LORD is my fortress.” Of course he built his own fortress but the fortress people make are not complete. That’s why when you study and try to build up your own name, it’s not complete.
Only Christ is complete. When you always have Christ, you always have the answer to any problem so you have no fear; you have freedom to do this or that. Always. I was talking to a new believer who accepted Jesus Christ recently, and that person said, “I’m okay on Monday and Tuesday after listening to your sermon, but after that, I become strange, why is that?” I said, “It’s a spiritual thing.” We only remember definitions to the extent we’ve memorized it, but the Word of God isn’t just a book, or just words, it’s a spiritual thing. It works according to how God works. When that’s my method, it comes to life.
Even for those who relay the Word, if they’re not filled with the Word, their lives are dry, but when you relay the grace you’ve received from God, it gives life to other people. At first because we don’t understand, we try to understand with our heads. So, we try to relay the things we understand, but the other person doesn’t understand because God’s Holy Spirit has to work. I must have the Word, therefore, through which the Holy Spirit works. Those are the words living and active. Are people wandering because they don’t have the Bible in front of them? They have the Bible. Do they wander because they don’t have church or listen to sermons? No, it’s because they don’t have the words of Christ that give life.
“Why do we have to listen to the Word continuously? We can listen once.” We must continuously have the word of life. The moment this combines with faith, then God will work. That’s what it means to have faith coming from hearing. But without this word, you hold onto your thoughts, then what happens? So, on Monday, you go out to your field and you experience things in your field, thoughts that come to your head, then it will kill you. Then how must we live? We need to change all the things we see into prayer, change all the things we hear into prayer, and that’s what we mean, “Only Christ.” If this doesn’t happen, the things we see in the fields and what people say.
If you leave your thoughts alone, they capture your head. Change those thoughts into prayer. If you change thoughts that come from other people, you pray for those people. If you have thoughts and worries, we call this 24 hours. That’s why we emphasize the morning as we begin our day. We see things as soon as we open our eyes, and they go into our thoughts. You need to change it to prayer so these thoughts will not capture you.
Some people listen to a lot of music because they like it. But the spiritual state of the musician who made the music will ultimately seize me. The life of Christ must be filled within me, but the musician’s words seize me instead. When I go to school, “I don’t like that person,” that thought seizes you. These things happen all the time. That’s when Christ disappears.
So, we need to change everything to prayer so that Christ is Christ in our life, and such a person conquers the field. The reason why Joseph was not deceived by his thoughts or circumstances was because he had this, and he wasn’t deceived by pride as a Prime Minister was because he was within this. If you’re not within Christ, it doesn’t matter and you’ll be seized. That’s why the beginning is to listen so you can have faith. Not just Christ, but only Christ. Only Christ, 24 hours, you don’t need anything else.
Am I telling you not to study? No, but if I’m within this, it will happen. It’s something you need, so God will give you the strength to do it. Don’t run away from studies you don’t want to do, but listen now. “During break, there’s nothing I need to do, I don’t need to study,” but instead, listen to God’s Word. We have this nature of being a slave, so if we’re not told to do something, we don’t do it. Some remnants are like this, so parents send their children to academies so they won’t be like that. So if you’re within Christ, it’s okay even if you sleep all day. God will change you so you don’t need to sleep all the time, but God will make it so you’re not like that. That’s “only Christ,” we’re sufficient with this. Such people will be able to change their field, because it is not “me,” but we are within Christ.
We may have all these thoughts on Sunday, change them into prayer, because the more you sit, the more you will lose strength. People who have legalistic nature will be able to endure it, but when they go home, they lose all strength. That’s why when we’re able to focus on this Word, as time goes on, we have the ability to concentrate on our studies. You can only study when your heart and mind are in one place. When you give correct worship, your studies will follow, then your intelligence will increase, because you will gain the ability to concentrate. I pray you may believe this will begin as you believe.
Prayer
God, we thank You. May You work upon the remnants to have faith in the correct gospel. Help them to be within the faith of 24 hours.