Everything Follows the Disciples Who Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (Acts 2:17-18)
We will share the grace of God today with Acts 2:17-18. The Bible verse we just read was a repetition of the prophecy that was given through Prophet Joel. He is simply saying that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we will see the future. Who are the people who did this? These are the people who knew and properly believed who Jesus, the Christ, is.
What is the meaning of, “Jesus is the Christ”? The spiritual things of mankind can never be solved by humans, only Christ can solve them. The spiritual problems of the curses of our sin, Satan, and hell can never be solved by mankind, and those problems are continuing even right now. For the problems people have right now, there is a problem even before the problems we see, and they reside with the spiritual problems we just said. That is why we call these the source of problems, or the fundamental spiritual problems.
All the other problems that appear after that are just a consequence of these, and it doesn’t matter how much you try to solve the consequential or the resulting problems if you don’t know the source of the problems. Even if we have scientific advancements, these fundamental problems cannot be solved by mankind, so they will continue to repeat. The solution to that problem is Christ.
These are the people who knew that. In other words, He has finished all our problems of our past, present, and future on the cross. What does that mean? It means the Lord has solved all the spiritual, fundamental problems that humans cannot solve on their own. All the problems of our past, present, and future are spiritual problems, and the problems of our past are because of spiritual problems. The problems of our present are spiritual problems, and the problems of our future are the spiritual problems, and those are the problems that have been finished on the cross.
The people who knew this gathered, and that’s what it means for all problems to be finished. However, it is possible that we may face many problems in our lives, both visible and invisible. But those problems have all been finished, so now we are confirming how God has been guiding us forward into that. The people who knew this gathered in Mark’s upper room in today’s verse, and for them, a problem was not a problem, why? Because all problems have been finished; they were holding onto this covenant as they waited.
The areas where they were blocked were areas where God must work upon them, being with them. The fact that the Lord has finished the gospel means He has already completed world evangelization, and now God is with us. For the people who have not concluded in this, their words and actions will all be different. The biblical evidence of this is that He said He chose us from before the creation of the world. This is not only talking about me, but it means God has already prepared the people who are bound to receive salvation in the future. That is within Jesus Christ.
You must conclude in this in order for your walk of faith to begin from that point. If you don’t reach your conclusion, you must wait until you do. If you keep doing things before you reach this conclusion, it will be difficult. You work and try so diligently, but all of that is something else. You and I are sitting here, but we are only sitting here to confirm how Jesus Christ has finished all our problems, He is guiding us towards world evangelization. That is the mission God gave of the kingdom of God to the disciples on the Mount of Olives.
The Kingdom of God is talking about the area where Jesus Christ is reigning over, and we must continue to receive the reigning and the ruling of Jesus Christ within us as the Kingdom of God. Not only upon me, but the kingdom of God will come upon those who are destined to receive salvation. That’s what it means for Jesus Christ to be our LORD and Savior and He is the King of the Kingdom of God. In other words, Jesus Christ is my Master or Lord. Receiving His reign and His ruling is what it means to be in the Kingdom of God. I am constantly within that Kingdom of God.
You and I are living in the kingdom of the world, but you and I are actually living in the Kingdom of God. The prince of the kingdom of the world gives us many physical things and drags us in that direction, but that is not the Kingdom of God. He has finished everything, He has given us all of the blessings and He is within us as my King and my Lord, after giving us the mission of testifying this.
What does it mean that He is now our Master? It means my life now belongs to Him. If we make our own plans in life and we ask God to help us, God is not our Master; I am being my own master. When we pray because we are so anxious and worried, we are actually being the gods of our own lives. It means that all of my time, all of my energy, all of my life in the past, present, and future, belongs to the Lord, so success is not our vision, our vision is not making a lot of money; our vision is not going into an Ivy League school. That might be the case for the people of the world, but that is not the vision of the Kingdom of God. The vision of the Kingdom of God is where Christ is reigning and ruling.
What is the goal for which you study and work? Making a lot of money is not your goal. My goal is not to believe in Jesus Christ so I can become powerful. Our goal is for the Kingdom of God to be established so that many lives may be saved. That person has the correct priority, so the words, “may all go well just as your spirit goes along well,” will be fulfilled. If you are continuously having these continuous struggles in your walk of faith, may you have the grace to change your priorities quickly. If you continue to say these words that do not have the correct priorities, then your ministries will continue to have the wrong priorities, and the spirit inside of you as well as Satan know this.
The fact we are living our walk of faith means we must believe Jesus Christ is truly our Lord and Savior, living within us, and He has solved all our problems. Then, who owns everything you have? It all belongs to the Lord. The moment you think these things belong to you, you are changing the master. From that point on, Satan becomes your master and you will be a slave to Satan. The reaction of the people who confessed Jesus Christ is their Lord means they can give everything to the Lord whenever He desires it.
With this kind of logic, we can never have any excuses. If you say, “I don’t have time,” you say that because you think time belongs to you. If you say, “I do not have the ability,” it is because you think the ability belongs to you. That person is in a state where their lord has not been changed. From that point on, when the Lord of their life is changed, then God will begin to work as He did in Acts 2.
If God tells us to do something but we say, “I’m not able to,” it means we lack the time and ability, and it means we are our own Lord. In the New Testament, there was a rich, young ruler who came to Jesus and asked Him how to receive salvation. In other words, he said he kept all of the law and was pretty much born into the faith. Jesus Christ says, “Give all of your possessions to the poor and follow Me,” what does this mean? It means even though he kept all the law, the master of his life was himself, and because his life belonged to him, he couldn’t go to the Lord.
If God tells you to give up everything you own, then being able to give up everything you own and following Him means that Christ is your Lord. Those possessions did not belong to that young man; the Lord Who is the Lord has simply entrusted it to us temporarily, but if you start to argue that the things God entrusted to you belong to you, then God is no longer your Master and that is not the Kingdom of God.
If you need to do this because the church needs it, then you simply do it. This is not talking about some kind of forcing. If the Lord says He is going to do something, it doesn’t belong to me to begin with, so I simply do it. The Kingdom of God is established upon that person. At that point will the demons, Satan, and the forces of darkness flee. Before that point, those things will never change. It might seem they are leaving, but because I’m still my own master, they may come back.
When will they be afraid and flee? When I no longer have my things, when it is all God’s. Only at that point will Satan flee and the Kingdom of God be established. That is what we call a disciple. A disciple does not have any excuses. This doesn’t mean we’re being mind-controlled to follow in a certain direction; it’s only possible because we believe that the Lord is our Lord.
For the members of the Early Church, if they testified of the gospel, they would die, but what made this possible for them? Because they truly believed that Jesus Christ was their Lord, their life was not their own, that’s the reason why they were able to gather in Mark’s upper room. Jesus is Christ and He is our Lord. Christ has finished all the spiritual problems that mankind could never solve, and He is now our Lord. He Himself is the son of the living God; He is God Himself. The people who live with that faith are the disciples.
Your children must become disciples. I’m not talking about the word, “disciple,” but they need to be the person who has this faith. The promise in the Bible is that God will give us blessings and grace for 1000 generations. It was already promised in the Old Testament. Do you know how long a 1000 generations is? What number generation are you in your family line? You wouldn’t even be the 100th. From the beginning of the Korean Dynasty, that would be about 2000 years, so it wouldn’t even reach 70 to 80 generations. If you want to take it from 70-80 generations to the 700th or 800th generation, you have to multiply by 10, and even then, it wouldn’t be 1000 generations. That means Jesus Christ will bless the future generations until Jesus Christ’s second coming.
What is the condition for that? The individual and the family who truly believed Jesus Christ as their Lord. That person will be blessed whether they come or go or fall down, because the Lord is not themselves, it is the Lord. That person will be blessed whether they’re at a loss or at an advantage because their Lord is Jesus. Such a person doesn’t need any excuses, and that person will never say they can’t do something, because the Lord will do it with the Lord’s power. Those are the people who gathered in Mark’s upper room.
So, they seemed like nothing and they had no power of the Lord but actually it was a gathering of tremendously powerful people. It was actually an organization of 120 people that not even the Roman empire could block, because it was a group upon which the Lord worked. Not even the Jewish church could block that, because the LORD was their Lord. Their weakness was not a weakness; it became a channel for God to work. That kind of church and that kind of family. That is the standard, that is what we call the disciple.
There is no other standard for a disciple. A disciple is someone who makes this standard everything the Lord, the root of everything the Lord, and the way that they live, everything for the Lord. that person will never fall; it’s impossible, right? If you’re studying with the wisdom that comes from the Lord, that is a disciple. It doesn’t matter if you’re good at studying or not, because everything comes from the Lord. The vision of my life is given to me by the Lord. that is what it means when the holy spirit comes upon us, in other words, when the Lord comes upon us, we will see the future, then we are going forward, already knowing the future.
So, we have already finished 50% of our lives before we go. What is the rest of the 50%? God has already finished the past and present, and what follows, and we are going forward already knowing the vision of what will happen in the future, and we are going there with the Lord as our Lord, then the Lord has no choice but to work upon us with the Holy Spirit.
If there are two people like this, it becomes a nuclear bomb. If there’s one person like this in your family line, it becomes like a nuclear bomb. I don’t know what the standard of the disciple is that you have in your brain, but if it is not this, you have no strength. The disciple is one who lives every part of their life only for Christ. The problem of the church is that we talk about the Christ but He is not everything to them. Because Christ is not everything to them, even as they talk about Jesus Christ, evangelism is not taking place.
In conclusion, there’s nothing that will be a problem because of me, because He has already finished all of our problems, there is nothing that is a problem because of me. The only problem is that I don’t believe in that. The real problem is that I don’t serve Him as my Lord. But if I do, then God is always working and I can see that. If we have even one member of the church like that, then without a doubt, this will be relayed. But because this is not taking place but we keep talking about Christ, the churches are closing down, and that is why the works of God cannot be revealed in the field, why? Because Jesus Christ is not our Lord. Jesus must be the Christ in the field, that is the disciple we are talking about. Even if there’s one person like that in the field or in the family, that is a tremendous strength.
There is no other standard you must have. There are a lot of different standards in the world, but the Lord has given this as the standard for all the believers. That is why He is with me through the Holy Spirit and with us. Then, the unity and gathering of the people who have this is a tremendously powerful gathering. There are some situations where people use all of the strength in the world so they try to gain strength from the church. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but world evangelization will be hard because they lose all their strength in the world. World evangelization will be hard. The members of the church may still be maintained like that because when they come to the church they receive strength, but because they don’t know the mystery of gaining strength in the field, they keep losing their strength when they come to church.
What do you think is their standard? That’s what I’m talking about. The Lord must be your Lord, world evangelization is already finished. The 70 disciples and 70 regions have already been prepared by the Lord because the Lord does it, and all we need is one person who truly believes in this and holds onto this in prayer. It is true there is no way we can do this, but the problem is that we stop there. That’s what we call Gen. 3. I have already been liberated from that, I have been saved from that, and now the One Who is doing the 70 regions and 70 disciples movement is with me as my Lord. We need the people who have this vision and go into the field.
There are many people who go to church to worship, and these people may have received salvation, but they cannot change their field. Because as long as you don’t believe the Lord is the One changing the field, the works do not take place. The vision the Lord has given to us on a large scale is the 237 nations, the smaller scale is 70 regions and 70 disciples the Lord gives to me. I believe in the things the Lord has given to me. For the people who go out into the field holding onto this, God has no choice but to work and give you strength, so they will never lose strength.
In conclusion, until you really hold to the covenant, you will always lose strength in the world because the Lord has already given you the way to receive strength in the world. That is why the members of the church gathered in the temple courts and also their families, meaning their homes became a church. So, exactly as they held onto the covenant, the culture of the field will change and the life saving movement took place. This took place exactly in the same way in Macedonia. This continued to take place through Acts all the way to Rome.
In this region, there are people who have been prepared as disciples to hear this message, so we need to give the correct Word in order for the disciples to give the correct reaction. The Word of God is the Word of God, but we don’t have Christ, and without a doubt, Jesus is the Christ, but He is not our Lord. The one who knows that is the devil, and you yourselves know this. This is why disciples are not arising. The Lord has prepared the blessings to give you to influence the 70 regions and the 70 disciples but it’s not being relayed, then the only way for you to live is to get compensation for your diligence. Even unbelievers live like that, but we’re under the misconception that that is the standard for our faith. When you relay this as the model and the standard to the future generations, they have never seen or heard the biblical model. You only care about your kids succeeding, but even non- believers do that. Success is not our goal; making a lot of money is not our goal. Our goal and vision and mission is for God’s Kingdom and God’s mission to be fulfilled. When that takes place, then you will have personal joy and your heavy burdens will be lifted. You don’t get happiness from this, when you follow after the Lord, happiness will naturally follow; you are no trying to chase after happiness.
You need to confirm yourself through the words of the Bible, that’s what we call “repentance.” If you don’t know the Bible, how can you repent? If you don’t know the standard, how can you repent? Repenting means you turn back around, you need to know the standard to know how to turn around. But because you don’t know the true standard, you only talk about the physical things you’ve done right or wrong and the only thing that will result is self-degradation. You need to first turn around from the fact that you have not properly believed in and held onto the Word of God.
“Without a doubt, Christ is truly my Lord,” but I don’t believe in that. That is the first thing you must turn around. If you don’t turn this around, you can shout, “Jesus is the Christ” for a hundred days, but he is still not your Lord. Without a doubt, Jesus Christ has already finished my problems of the past, present, and future, but until you believe in that, you can shout it as much as you want, until then and the works will not begin in your personal life. Why does that not happen? It is because you have something rightful inside of you that has no choice but for it not to happen, that is what you must restore.
Do I truly believe in Christ as my Lord? Has Christ truly finished my spiritual problems of my past, present, and future? Has the Lord really completed world evangelization and called me to this church? When this is accurately confirmed within you, the covenant will be fulfilled. But when this word is not your word, then it is simply a point of reference, but once this word becomes your covenant, then the Word of God will be fulfilled. Then, you will see the answers of God fulfilling His Word.
I think there are a lot of people who listen to a lot of God’s word, but they’re confused. I’m sure there are a lot of people who say, “I’m holding onto God’s word but why am I still like this?” it is because you haven’t held onto it surely, it is because you hold onto it vaguely and ambiguously and simply pass over it. First, confirm, looking at your own problems, “Is Christ truly my Lord?” Don’t just pass over it haphazardly saying, “Jesus is the Christ,” but is Christ truly your Lord? If he is your Lord then the Word is bound to be fulfilled, but He is not the Lord for most people.
In your mind, you’re thinking that Jesus is the Lord but it is not really taking place. The Word of God does not lie. If the Word of God could be a lie, it is already not God. So, is the Word God gives us every week truly the covenant of the word? You need to continuously and repetitively bring this before the Lord and take it into the field. Yes, it is important to listen to a lot of messages, however, the work will begin when you accurately and actually hold onto the word of God in your faith. Only when your walk of faith takes place, week after week in faith in the covenant, will that take place.
Jesus Christ has finished the spiritual and fundamental problems that we could never solve. The spiritual and fundamental problems can never be solved by mankind, and they are continually occurring, so we need Christ, and that is why every single problem of your past, present, and future are all from this problem. Even the problem of your job is that problem; the problem of your present and future is that problem, and when you believe Christ has finished those problem, nothing will be a problem for you. The problems you see with your eyes are simply problems that are visible, but the Lord will guide you.
The second point is that the Kingdom of God must be upon me, and is He truly my Lord? You need to quickly organize, do my things belong to me, or do they belong to the Lord? “Oh, my child belongs to this, and this belongs to that person,” that means you haven’t organized it yet. If God tells you to do something and you say you can’t do it, then the Lord is not God; it is you. But if you say, “I will do it,” it is because the Lord is your Lord. That is the disciple. That is when God’s Kingdom, the kingdom of Christ, is reigning over us, then the power of Christ is bound to come upon us, and He is bound to work upon with the Lord of God and power.
I hope you will confirm this. Is world evangelization truly completed? Or is it something we need to gather our strength to do? May you organize this first, if you’re not able to organize and conclude in that, then y it always have to think, “Let’s do something with our strength.” Then, do you think Jesus is the Lord? Jesus is the Lord of world evangelization and He is the One Who does it. God does world evangelization through the people who have the Kingdom of Christ established within them. Because Jesus is not our Lord, we keep saying words like, “I’ll do it,” or, “I won’t,” or, “It’s taking place,” or, “It’s not.”
So we are talking earlier about the field and the field is important, the platform in the field. We gather in the church like this but this isn’t the field, this is the place where we receive God’s Word And receive strength. You need to make the platform in the field of your life. That Means you need to have the content where God can send you and the location where God can send the people. You guys are going to the field, but you’re just going there? That’s not the platform. There must be a platform and a watchtower where you are holding onto and praying for God to send the 70 disciples and 70 regions to you, so that when those people come to you, you can be a spiritual antenna to relay the word and save them, these are the three things that are needed in your field.
Your life does not belong to you. Even in your field, your life must belong to the Lord. God desires to raise up the field church that He desires, Then, whether you’re in your church or in the field Jesus is the Christ, Kingdom of God is bound to be continually fulfilled. May you enjoy this blessing.
Prayer
Let us pray together holding to the Word we have received. Is Jesus truly the Christ? Is He my Lord? Is world evangelization, 70 disciples in 70 regions, truly my vision? If it is not, then we need to pray for God to give the grace of God to change. Let us pray.
You shouldn’t get arrogant or bloated even a little bit. If you’re filled with even a little bit of hot air, you cannot do world evangelization. The Word of God is accurate. You need to take the accurate thing and accurately believe in it in order for the work to take place. If you have a little bit of hot air or gloating in it, it will not take place. If you say, “I already know this,” the work will not take place. It is when you believe in this.
Let us pray together for the field. The covenant God has given us this year is the 70 disciples, 70 regions, 70 nations, and 70 tribes hidden in our fields, and it’s not only going to be this year, but every year until this is fulfilled, because we need to enjoy this blessing. Let us pray for the field.
The Youth Evangelism Closing Worship is at Step with Christ Church next week so pray for the evangelism school for youth and young adults, and the reason we do that is for the disciples to arise. That is how we have a future. That is how the devotion we give has value. Everything else may not be a bad thing, but the churches will continue to close their doors, because without the disciples arising, we cannot save the future churches, so the ministry we are doing has meaning. Let us pray for the business and industry message tomorrow, and for the Sunday message.
On the 24th, Christmas Eve, we will have the event so please invite a lot of people so we can evangelize to a lot of unbelievers. We also have the winter retreat where pastor Lee from Philadelphia are coming and I’ll be going to Washington DC to give the message so please pray a lot for these. Let us pray.
Finally, let us pray for the missions fields. Let us continue to pray for Utah, Navajo, El Salvador, Latin America, as well as Africa–Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania–as well as Mongolia and Karen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of all the people of God who desire to hold to the covenant that Jesus Christ is the Lord and God, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.