My CVDIP (Isaiah 43:1-7)

Good evening remnants, I hope you’re excited to be here because when God’s word is proclaimed, God’s word will work in your lives. This isn’t something I’m making up but it is God’s word. Before we begin, let’s do some deep breathing together. And if you’re sitting in the back, maybe you can come up a little closer so the Word of God can hit you harder. 

The first thing you want to do is actually breathe out, and as you’re breathing out, pretend you’re breathing out all your thoughts of disbelief. And you want to actually bend over and compress your stomach because your lungs are like a sponge. And as you compress your lungs that’s when you really can get out the old air. Let’s breathe out first, pretend you’re breathing out all of your thoughts of unbelief, let’s breathe in, sit up straight, and confess Jesus is the Christ. Push the air down into your stomachs, shake your shoulders, breathe out and break down the forces of darkness. Breathe in, pray “God may your kingdom be established”, shake your shoulders, push the air into your stomach and pray fill me with the Holy Spirit. Let’s breathe out, break down all the evil spirits in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Why did we do this? There’s something you must know. What was the scripture we just read. It’s from the pulpit message as well, John 20:31, “But these are written so you may know that Jesus is the Christ. By believing you may have life in his name.” Do you guys feel like you’re alive? Carlos, when do you feel like you’re most alive? When you get some money? When you’re on your scooter? When do you feel that you’re most alive? There’s a life God wants to give to you. This is the work that God is doing.

In the recent past, we’ve talked about Isaiah 60:22. This is one of the important verses when we went to Portland to do Karen mission. And the last verse here is important. It says that the least of you will become the mighty nations, and importantly, it says “I, the Lord, will do it swiftly in its time.” So if you’re feeling like “Why isn’t God doing something?” We heard tha answer from the healing message as well. “I the Lord will do it swiftly in its time.” All we have to do is pray to know God’s time. What if I’m not praying for that? Then I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. 

That’s why in Proverbs 27:1, it says “Don’t boast  about tomorrow, because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.” If you’re really catching on to the way of salvation, you’ll know that this is the end of the way of salvation. But you don’t want to wait until tomorrow for Jesus Christ. 

But this isn’t something that’s supposed to make you afraid. This is a new life that God really wants to give you. There’s a new way of living. It’s the way of living, where I have Jesus Christ within me. And that’s when all of my problems are solved. This is God’s promise for you. Philippians 1:6, “He who began His good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Being confident of this, we already know the way of salvation. All the remnants have given  the message, we have them on our YouTube channel. But this Word will become realized as God is working. May you really be confident of this. Be confident that God is giving you faith, be confident in God’s grace. And when that happens, everything will be different and new. But to know what is new you have to know where you are now.

When I talk to the Remnants, they always talk about things like a nonbeliever. Specifically they are talking about trying to make money, how to be successful. I was guilty of this too. Back when I actually used Facebook, I would want to see how many different people liked the things I would post. Usually there’s only one or two people, I’d be kind of upset because I would take so much time to write something beautiful but only two people like it. 

But there was this one time I wrote this really nice poem. It was actually a Shakespearian sonnet,  and I got seven likes, and I was like “Yes, this is success!” My phone was going crazy with the seven notifications, “I made it.” And then what happened? The next Poem I wrote I only got one like again, I was so sad. Why was I living like that? In Ephesians 2:1, it says “but you were dead in your sins and transgressions.” I’m dead, there’s nothing I can do. Even if I make a lot of money I’m still dead. Even with a million followers, I’m still dead. Why do I care about those things? Because I don’t know any better, I’m dead. 

In verse 2, it says “the ways in which you used to live following the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ” I have no choice but to follow the world, and this world is telling me that I have to make money, I’m only good if people like who I am. And I have to change myself so people like me, this world is so self centered, and I really hope you guys can see that. People are dead, they are following the ways of the world, they are greedy. They are trying to satisfy the lust of the flesh. 

You guys know greed? I am never satisfied, I always need something else, I don’t have peace in my heart, and I can’t sit still. When I look at my phone and there’s no notifications, I’m freaking out, because there is greed in my heart. I need people to like me. I’m feeling lonely. You might think loneliness wouldn’t happen to someone like me. I grew up in a huge family, I have two brothers and one sister. My parents always hung out with us, we went on so many vacations. I had so many friends. And I had different relationships. So you might think “This person had so many people to hang out with. Why were they lonely?” Remnants I hope you realize loneliness is something that cannot be solved through another person. There was an emptiness inside my heart that I wanted someone else to fill, but that’s just my darkness and greed. It’s actually a spiritual problem. And nobody in the world can fix that. 

Do you know how deeply these things are entrained in our culture? Do you guys know about career development or career plans? They ask you to answer three questions. The first thing is “what I enjoy.” There’s something I like doing and I need to find out what that is. That’s the first thing. Then they ask you “What is it that you’re good at?” In other words, it’s your talents. And the last one is “What makes money?” If no one pays you for what you enjoy doing, then there’s no point. Are you guys familiar with this kind of picture? It’s called a venn diagram. The important thing is this part in the center, this is what people call their career. It’s a mixture of these three things. 

You have to find out what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and what makes money. And magically, that’s your career, it will come out of that. Have any of you tried this? It sounds good in theory, right? Has anyone heard about this or done this? What happens when you do this? There’s nothing here. You have to lie to yourself to make up something that goes here. This entire thing is a huge lie, but where does it come from? It’s what I enjoy, this is Genesis 3. What makes money is Genesis 6. What I’m good at, that’s how I become famous, Genesis 11. This is how deeply the ways of the world are integrated into our hearts. This is how seriously it’s been out into our culture. And if you keep trying to think like this, it’s a trap. Jesus Christ himself was tempted in the same way. Because he overcame those temptations, you can also overcome with the word. I pray the remnants will not think about these things but what God desires. 

Why do I think about money? Because I think money will fill the emptiness in my heart. Why do I think about success? Because I think the more people like me the less the emptiness in my heart. Why do I think about what I enjoy? Because I just want to be happy. But none of this can come without God. Remnants, this is a trap, but now that you know it’s a trap, you’ll see where it comes from. It’s the ways of the world, it’s Satan who’s telling you to focus on these things. You can’t break free from it, why not? Because you’re dead. The problem is you think you’re alive. You think you can make money. You think you can get a lot of tiktok followers. You think you can find your own enjoyment out in the world. It’s true for a little bit, but at some point, this will come out and catch you. 

Who are you instead? These are the states of nonbeliever. Who are you instead? You are a child of God, John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” There’s a tremendous blessing God wants to give to you. No matter how much money you have, you can’t be a child of God. No matter how much people like your tikok videos, you can’t become a child of God. You’re not just a child of God but the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and the Holy Spirit dwells within you? Don’t you know? You are already God’s temple, and God’s spirit dwells within you. That’s why we pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. You are already filled with the spirit, you just don’t remember. God promised to give it to you, you ask for it and he will do it. That’s John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.” This only works if you know that this is a trap. If you don’t think this is a trap, then you’ll continue to follow Satan and I’ll wait for that time schedule. But if you recognize that this doesn’t work, that’s when this comes alive. This is how you can be freed by only Jesus Christ. 

When I’m stuck in the states of nonbeliever, in addition to these problems, I’ll also have physical problems. But it’s not just the physical problem, it comes from the fundamental, spiritual problem. That’s why when Phillip went to the region of Samaria to cast out evil spirits, the evil spirit came out in great shrieks and people were healed and there was great joy in that city. It’s not just the physical problem you have, it’s not just about solving the problems of the world. There’s a spiritual world that you don’t know about. There are angels. These angels are protecting you. These angels go out and carry out the work of God through His word. When you feel like you’re being attacked by Satan, you just ask God to send his heavenly angels to protect you. 

You also have authority to trample over snakes and scorpions and have power over your enemies, nothing will harm you. Remnants, when do you fight the spiritual battle? When is the spiritual battle hardest to win? I’m going to be honest with you, for me it’s when I wake up in the morning. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning, you know what it is? It’s going on my phone. I’m just kidding, I actually just want to go back to sleep. I don’t care what time it is, it can be 9 am and I’m like “I just want to go back to sleep.” This is what I want to do, it’s how deeply it’s ingrained in me. How do I overcome that? It’s not about what I want, but I’m stuck. I have no choice, I’m dead.

I hope and pray and bless you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, that when you wake up in the morning confess Jesus is the Christ and be blessed. And pray for the heavenly angels to protect you, and you cast out all of the evil spirits in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. That’s how you prepare your body to be in a state to worship. This is a spiritual battle. Of course it’s not just in the morning. Maybe when you’re trying to sleep too. Honestly these evil spirits are attacking all the time. But that’s not a problem, it’s a constant reminder that I always need Jeus Christ. And when I recognize that I have only Jesus Christ, Christ fills me with that peace. I don’t need anything else. I’m already enjoying. I already have true peace and rest. Then as you go to sleep you’ll be recharged. So when you wake up in the morning, you can fight and have that spiritual victory again. 

This is a blessing. Meaning that you can’t get it on your own, this is what God wants to give to you. Because you are such precious Remnants, who are going to do world evangelism. That’s why God needs to give you this power. God has promised to give you this power. Just need to accept it, it’s a gift.

When we overcome this, we can overcome everything, even death. Some of you guys know that we had our grandfather’s funeral last week. Because he accepted Jesus Christ, I know that he’s in heaven. He can also understand English now, so I can tell him all the things I want to tell him in English. But before he died, when he was going into the hospital, he actually died of heart failure. He was very old, he was 87. And so there was a bacterial infection in his lungs, so they needed to incubate him. In other words, stick a tune into his lungs that would take out all the liquid. So the hospital kept him alive for about a week and a half with the tube in there. The crazy thing about having a tube inside your lungs is that you can’t really speak. And it was very painful for him. But right before he went in to have that procedure, my mom asked a question, “Do you know what Immanuel means, do you remember?” And at that point he was so tired, he shook his head no. And my mom said “Immanuel” in Cantonese, and he repeated very slowly “Immanuel.” And then my mom said “it’s God is with us” and he repeated that slowly, “God is with us.” And I’d like to believe that those were the last words that came out of his mouth. So he passed away very peacefully, because he held onto only Christ and the blessing of Immanuel. His entire life was a testament to this. 

It was just September 2018, so almost four years ago. He was living under the fear of death. He was thinking “What’s the point of my life? I’m so old, I can’t do anything.” He was frustrated and at his limitations. Remnants, do you get frustrated? What are your biggest problems right now? “Oh I’m late to school.” “I forgot to do homework.” The problems that you have aren’t actually that big because you are remnants growing up. But as you get older your problems get bigger. They are going to be problems that nobody else can solve for you. There’s this tremendous problem of death, and it’s weird to think about it right? Death seems like something that’s going to happen later. But at the same time there’s no reason to worry about it when you enjoy this blessing. 

It says in Philippians 3:20 that our citizenship is in heaven. Because I belong to heaven, I have everything I need. Because my citizenship is in heaven, I can overcome everything. This is what my grandpa realized, and I hope you guys realize this as well. You can’t go to heaven by having a lot of money, or by finding what it is you enjoy in life. My grandfather’s passion was helping people. He was so smart he could fix anything. If he went to this church, he would fix the leaky roof. He would fix all the leaks that are in the bathrooms. He would fix the door so it would stop slamming. He would fix everything because he can do it. It was his passion, he was good at it too. But just because he did all that in the church would that get him to heaven? He did all these things for the church that I grew up in, even to the age of 80. But even when he was old, he still wasn’t sure about his salvation. After he received the accurate gospel message, everything changed. He had that true peace in his heart. May you also enjoy that blessing and because he enjoyed the blessing, it broke down the darkness in our family line. 

It says there’s curses down to the third and fourth generation for those who serve idols. And the more that there’s idol worship in my family. In other words, the more that there is going to be greed and darkness. And even now there’s this darkness that hovers over parts of my family because they haven’t accepted Jesus Christ. But one thing that happens as we get older is that we’ll reach our limitations. Limitations may lead me to depression, hopelessness. Remnants when you face that in your life, the dark hopelessness and depression, may you turn to only Christ. When that happens, I will say hallelujah a million times because God’s promised words are being fulfilled. Don’t be afraid of the darkness, Christ has already overcome everything. That’s how you can cross over to the states of nonbeliever to the states of blessings. That’s the meaning of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified in Christ. It is no longer who I live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I live, I live for the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

That’s what it means for you to be a new creation. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” If anyone is in Christ. Remnants I don’t care if you make a lot of money. That’s all you talk about but I don’t care. Remnants, I don’t care how many followers you have. I care enough because I care about you guys but I don’t actually care. But God will use all of those things, everything for evangelism. This needs to be completely transformed. How will it be transformed? There’s Romans 8:28, “and we know that in all things, God works for the good of us who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” You may have been caught in Satan’s traps in the past, or gone down the path that makes you a lot of money, or you find something you’re good at, or you may even enjoy your job. Maybe you’re one of those lucky people who have where this is not empty. That’s not a bad thing either, but it doesn’t really matter, you need to enjoy what God has given to you. And you’ll see that whether or not you have this there’s something completely separate God wants you to enjoy. When you have the covenant then everything is finished. Carlos what’s the covenant? What’s Matthew 16:16? It’s that Jesus is the Christ, this is the covenant, Christ is the solution to all problems. When this comes to me as my sure covenant then I don’t need anything else.

 This is what Acts 1:1 is about. When I have this covenant, then my sure covenant will come. I was participating in a global leadership summit at work, and it’s funny because a lot of the things we talk about being leaders is what the global leadership is talking about. The theme for this leadership summit was voice your Vision. And they were teaching you that you need a vision for life, that’s how you will influence people, and do good for people, that’s how you can change the world, you just have to voice your vision. I’m not saying the vision is bad, but if I come up with my own vision that’s over here. And if Satan is the one leading me, he’s going to use it for destruction. 

I met a lot of good speakers, they will give you the tools so you can manipulate people, they will teach you how to emotionally control people and to be successful. Do you care about those things? Would you sign up for something like that? It’s hosted by a church. Many of the speakers were actually pastors. And in the middle of this conference, there was one pastor who was leading people to transcendental meditation. They had their own vision and were teaching people to carry out their vision in this world. Isn’t that kind of scary? This is what American Christianity is built on. It starts with a vision without the covenant. And what happens is that Satan can twist whatever masterpiece that God wants to give you, and turn it into something disastrous. In the meantime, what you care about is tiktok followers. All you care about is making money. These small, little things. There’s something huge and tremendous that God wants to give to you. 

Very briefly, I’ll share my vision with you guys. Pastor Park actually asked me to connect with the Africa missionaries. And the huge burden I have in my heart is how we can build a virtual, contact-free church that Africans would like to be a part of. I mean, think about it. If we’re having difficulty having people down the street connect with the church, how can we get people from Africa to connect to the church? How do you develop an online or virtual community? I don’t even know if this is going to make any money. I’m definitely not good at it. I don’t really enjoy texting on my phone. This vision has nothing to do with any of these things, but this is what came out of the message, meaning this is God’s absolute plan. Because there’s people in Africa who are dying, they don’t have this Gospel. And the only way for them to hear it is through the church. So that’s why we have to, that’s why I have no choice but to pray and receive these answers. And through that, God is going to work. 

And that’s how it becomes my dream. And I’m very thankful for the disciples God has allowed me to meet. There’s Charles; Yonas; Missionary Kim, whom we’re also supporting; and also their disciples as well. There are a few other disciples I let behind in Ethiopia. And everytime I hear what they’re doing, it fills my heart with joy. There’s one prayer topic that I have. “What else is it that they need? God, open my eyes so I can see what it is that they need. Help me to create that platform so they can receive this gospel and carry it out to this field.” As I do that, the image becomes more and more clear. The reason why I shared it with you is Acts 1:14, so we can enjoy it in prayer. And eventually, it’ll be put into practice as our masterpiece. And this will save the 237 nations. Remnants, what vision do you have? I don’t care if you find out what makes a lot of money for you. I don’t care if you discover something that gets you a lot of tiktok followers. I want you to enjoy the separate covenant God has prepared for you. May you enjoy your vision, which may be different from anything that you know anything about. But this is what God desires for you, and you will know that this is the Word being fulfilled in your life. May you enjoy God’s Word being fulfilled in your lives. 

Let us pray. Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Thank you for solving all of our problems. We thank you for raising up the Remnants. May you bless us and always be with us through Immanuel. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.