I Will Save the Spiritually Numb Generation (Mt. 11:1-19)
Let us bless one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” May the unprecedented blessing of the throne of heaven be upon you today. If you receive answers from God, there’s nothing else you have to say. But if you don’t receive answers, then you have to make a lot of excuses, “This is a problem and that is a problem,” but if you receive the answers from heaven, then honestly, everything is finished.
There are people who receive answers and there are people who are resentful. What is the standard? The standard is how they know and how they enjoy Jesus Christ and the gospel. In today’s Bible scripture, Matthew 11, it expresses the state of the people back in the days of Jesus–the Israelites, the Pharisees, the people, and everything. The culture may be different now than it was back then, but the way we acknowledge Jesus Christ spiritually is the same. Jesus Christ says, “I am the way and the truth,” and what is the difference between the way people looked at the Truth 2000 years ago versus today? Then we will be able to know how far along spiritually this age has come.
1. John’s the Baptist’s interest
1) Prison – John the Baptist (Mt. 11:2)
Today, we see a person named John the Baptist. During the time of John the Baptist, King Herod took his brother’s wife as his own. Because of that, John the Baptist rebuked King Herod because that was wrong. But because John the Baptist spoke out against the king, he was imprisoned.
(1) Heard about the ministry of Jesus (Mt. 11:2)
While John the Baptist was in prison, Jesus is going around the towns of Galilee, in v. 1 he is teaching, He is healing diseases, and He is casting out demons from demon-possessed people. John the Baptist heard of this news while he was in prison. From John the Baptist’s perspective, he knew he’d baptized Jesus Christ as the Messiah, but the work He was doing was not the work John the Baptist was expecting Him to do, so John the Baptist was beginning to doubt.
(2) Sent his disciples to Jesus (Mt. 11:2)
(3) Are you Christ? (Mt. 11:3)
So, John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the One we are expecting to come, or are we expecting someone else?” So, John the Baptist is spoken about also in Matthew 11:13, “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,” and it was all pointing to Jesus Christ. That is in Luke 24:44. John the Baptist’s final ministry was to point his finger at Jesus and say, “He is the Christ,” that is the reason he was born on earth. But when he sees that Jesus is evangelizing, He is eating with tax collectors and prostitutes and is healing diseased people, he wondered, “Is He really the Christ?”
2) The ministry of John the Baptist related to the Messiah
(1) Baptize with water for repentance (Mt. 3:11)
(2) Christ – Baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11)
(3) Law – The righteous: Salvation, Sinner – Judgment
Jesus really is the Christ, and John the Baptist should have believed that, but why was he not convinced? From Matthew 3:1-12, it says John the Baptist was looking forward to a Messiah who would destroy the wicked and save the righteous. When the Christ came to earth, He was supposed to judge all the unbelievers, all the sinners, all the Romans, but instead He was just going around wandering and healing people. And this Christ is supposed to liberate all the righteous people who were imprisoned, but instead, He’s just outside, playing. John the Baptist says, “I give the baptism of repentance and water, but when the Christ comes, He will bring the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire,” which is talking about the fire of judgment, but it seems Jesus isn’t doing that. That’s John the Baptist’s limitation.
It’s the same today, if the churches do not know what work Christ is doing, they become just like John the Baptist. Not believing in Jesus Christ is already a judgment. Once you believe in Jesus Christ, you have been set free from death into life. However, the Jewish people, including John the Baptist, thought that the works of Christ had to be some tremendous work of judgment, or some tremendous visible work. But Jesus Christ is going, looking for all the poor people and giving the gospel to them, and that’s the ministry He came to do. However, John the Baptist and the Jewish people were imagining another image of the Messiah to come; they expected some great miracle to happen.
1 Corinthians said the Jewish people wanted miracles and the Greeks wanted wisdom, but for us, our greatest knowledge is Jesus Christ Who was crucified on the cross. When we see the work Jesus Christ is doing in the world, we need to say, “Yes, this is right,” for our walk of faith to become normal.
3) Jesus’s response
(1) Proclaim Gospel to the blind, the lame, those who have leprosy, the deaf, the dead, the poor (Mt.
11:5)
In Matthew 11:5, Jesus says, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,” and this is the work that happens when people who are sinners receive salvation. If the people who are demon-possessed are set free from demons, that is the work that Christ does, that is the ministry of Christ. But John the Baptist, the Jewish people, and the churches in today’s world are expecting some visible miracle. They only think that Christ is alive and working if some sort of visible miracle is working in their business. The way we look at the Messiah, the Christ, is our spiritual state.
(2) Freed from Sin and Satan – Jesus’s salvation ministry
The spiritual state 2000 years ago and today is the same. Christ has come, but He is not that appealing. The Holy Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit is inside of us, but we’re not that excited and it’s not that appealing. Heaven itself is inside of me, but that doesn’t make my heart race. What makes my heart race? “If I have great success in my job,” but why is that not happening? “If someone is poor before Jesus Christ, then they should become rich afterwards,” why is that not happening? “Isn’t the result of believing in the Messiah, improving my grades that were not good before?” That’s how they believed and followed Jesus.
But there’s a word that Jesus says, He says, “The patients need the doctors, and the sinners need a Savior,” but because the Jewish people thought they were obeying the law and that they were righteous, they were looking for someone else. It doesn’t matter how hard they try to obey the law, they weren’t able to, anyways, but they didn’t acknowledge that everyone was born with Original Sin, so they thought they did not need Christ. But because we don’t know Original Sin, we fall into the logic that we learned in the world, which is the scientific cause and effect relationship.
The way that our brain is wired is if there’s some kind of effect, we look for a cause, and we look for that cause based on physical actions. “Because you did this, this is the result.” So, if I don’t have some good, visible result, I keep looking at my actions, wondering if I did something wrong. But that is the logic the Jewish people and the Pharisees had, even as they held onto the Scripture. They all gave their tithe, they gave the sacrifices, they read the Bible, they prayed, and all their actions were correct, and therefore, they thought they were sinless.
So, they set all the standards of the cause of their actions when they looked at the result. That’s what we call religion or a religious life. “I did a lot of prayers and I expect a result. I gave a lot of devotion and sacrifice, so I expect some kind of blessing in return,” that’s why Jesus Christ has come, but He’s not that appealing to us. It’s the exact same in today’s church. I’m not saying every church or everyone is like that, but if that’s how you understand Christ, then He doesn’t feel like that great of a blessing.
Where must we find our cause? We must find our cause not in our actions, but in our spiritual state. Why is this result in my life? It’s because of my spiritual state. Why do I have this result? Because my heart is always full of resentment, complaining, judgment, and negativity. Why are we addicted to substances? Because my brain is programmed to think that drugs make me the happiest in the world, so that’s why these actions follow. Why do we have to believe Jesus is the Christ? Because every human being is born with Original Sin, we cannot solve our own spiritual state. The invisible, spiritual problem where I’m seized by Satan, living under the background of hell, cannot be solved without the Christ.
Look at the Pharisees, they thought they were doing the correct, good things. They were saying, “Why aren’t you serving us?” If you are truly the Messiah, then you should come to the righteous and bless us and judge the sinners, but why are you playing with the sinners instead. What do you think churchgoers today would think? “ Do they really need Christ?” We shouldn’t say “Christ” because that’s what we’ve been taught to say. You need to discover the reason and the rightfulness of why we need Christ. But the people who have truly discovered that reason will know that Christ is the blessing of all blessings. That is the person who can do the missions and evangelism of explaining the reason we need Christ to others.
Look at the world today, is the gospel being relayed to our fields? Why is it not? It’s because we misunderstand the gospel. We misunderstand it based on our actions of the law. The gospel has brought the kingdom of God into us, but we’re not that excited about it. God Himself is living inside of me as the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t make my heart race. Why is that? Because you don’t know the original state of your spiritual state, you’re only focused on your physical actions, and you don’t need the Christ because you can do things on your own.
(3) Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me (Mt. 11:6)
When John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus, He responded with v. 5, and in Matt. 11:6, He says, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me,” already John the Baptist sees the work Jesus is doing, and has already stumbled. What does that mean? It means he does not know the work Christ is doing right now. The only way we will not stumble and we’ll be blessed by Jesus Christ is if we agree that the work He is doing, of evangelizing and healing diseases is correct.
Then, after John the Baptist leaves, He goes and teaches the masses, “John the Baptist is the greatest the world has seen until now.” Who is the greatest among the Jews? Isn’t it Abraham or David? But why does Jesus Christ say, “There is no one greater than John the Baptist”? It is because John the Baptist first really saw Jesus. Even the disciples kept thinking about the greatest in the world in a physical sense, asking, “Who is the greatest among us?” The reason John the Baptist is the greatest on earth is because he has personally seen Jesus. The standard of everything in all of God’s Word is pointing towards Jesus. The standard of your business and your studies must also be Jesus Christ for you to be aligned with God. If your standard is not on Jesus Christ, you are not aligned with God. If you look at the physical things you cannot see and judge whether you’re doing well or not, that is the wrong standard. It’s not about what you can see with your eyes; you must see everything with the standard of Christ, that is the Truth.
If Christ is upon your business, then you are doing well. If your business is for Christ, then you’re doing well. But Christ is not in your business; it’s only you. “How well am I doing? How poorly am I doing?” That’s the work that people in the world do. David had nothing and was chased to death by King Saul, however, in Psalm 23:1, David confesses, “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” He was lacking everything, why did he say that? He had nothing, he was running away, but why was he lacking nothing? Because his standard was that, “Christ is with me,” he lacked nothing. “I have learned to be content in poverty and in wealth, the standard is that Christ is with me, so nothing else matters.” Is that Christ being acknowledged, enjoyed, and relayed in my life as that Christ? That’s the only way you will agree with the work that Jesus Christ did, which is playing with all the sinners. That is unappealing to us, so we know the word, “Christ,” but we are going in the wrong direction.
Don’t worry too much about your business. Don’t stress out too much about your studies, we can just do that. But why do we invest too much into those things? Why is it that we’re not interested in the Christ Who is with us, and we’re interested in those things instead? That’s why the darkness comes into us. Christ Who is the Truth is with me and with my business, but if you don’t see this, you’ll be covered in darkness. It’s the same thing for students and their studies; you can be good at studying or bad, that’s just the words of people. The studies where Christ is with you, the studies that are for Christ. That is what the Lord looks at. May you escape from yourself.
2. Heaven- God’s Kingdom
Then in Matthew 11:12, He talks about the Kingdom of heaven, “The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” What is the Kingdom of God? In Matthew 3:1, John the Baptist, says when Jesus Christ came, that “The Kingdom of Heaven is near.” The One Who is seated at the throne of heaven has come to earth in a physical form, and that is the Kingdom of God. Because the Kingdom of God has come here, God’s authority is reigning, the kingdom of Satan is broken down, diseases are healed, and sinners are saved.
1) Kingdom of the world
(1) Me centered Kingdom (Gen. 3)
(2) Physical centered world (Gen. 6)
(3) Goal of success through human effort (Gen. 11)
We are talking about God’s Kingdom today, but there are actually three different kingdoms. We are living in the kingdom of the world, which includes America, where we are living. What do you think the kingdom of the world is centered on? They are living their lives centered on themselves, isn’t that right? We live everything, centered on ourselves. “I’m thankful for this person because they’re good to me, and if that person is mean to me or curses me, I don’t like that,” because everyone is centered on themselves. We study and work so we can gain more physical power for ourselves, and we gather all of our power together and race towards our goal of success. That’s the process that moves every land of the earth that is visible, like America and every nation. Inside of that kingdom, we’re always arguing, “Who is better, you or me?”
2) Satan’s Kingdom
(1) Authority of the kingdom of the air (Eph. 2:2)
(2) Evil spirits (Eph. 6:12)
Eph. 2:2 talks about the one who is the ruler of the kingdom of the air and Eph 6:12 talks about evil spirits. There is this dark world of Satan’s Kingdom. It doesn’t matter how well I try to live on earth, or how much I try to succeed, I cannot overcome the ruler of the kingdom of the air, Satan, and the demons. The reason why America is physically the strongest nation, but has the greatest suffering is because they do not know about the kingdom of Satan. They’re very knowledgeable about the kingdom of the world, because they’re number one about doing things in the kingdom of the earth, but they are ignorant of the kingdom of the air, the kingdom of Satan. That’s why they’re in suffering.
(3) Physical greed – Wrath (Eph. 2:3)
How does the Kingdom of Satan come into this kingdom of the earth? Eph. 2:3 says Satan moves people so we live, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, following our desires and thoughts. He makes it so that we are, by nature, objects of wrath. Can we overcome that Satan? We are bound to live according to our nature, we are bound to live based on what our thoughts and heart think is the greatest. Why do you study so diligently? You study because the result of studying diligently, and that’s what you want. Why do you work so hard at your business and pull all-nighters? You do that work because you’ll have the result that will follow, but you don’t know what comes after that. That’s why people succeed and they’re still empty. That feeling of success is momentary.
When you get elevated to a very high position and everybody respects you and acknowledges you, that’s no ordinary feeling, and at that time, our brain releases all this dopamine, and we find the meaning and joy of our life there. The parents will feel this same amount of dopamine when their children succeed, but does that level maintain after the success? That’s why people do drugs. People do not do drugs when they’re so happy. Do you drink alcohol when you are feeling so good? Do you say, “I’m so happy lately, let’s drink!” Do people say, “My life is so good right now, let’s go to Las Vegas!” No. They are thirsty and desperate for something. Mentally, that might be depression, panic attacks, bipolar disorder, or some sort of obsession. That’s when people do drugs.
Then, what happens in your brain? It releases the maximum amount of dopamine in our brain, and that is the level of happiness we’ve never experienced since we were born, but when the high wears off, we have to go back to our afflicted state. The nature of mankind wants to regain and maintain that highest level of joy, so they have no choice but to do that drug again. But as they continue to use that substance, the dopamine level that is being released is not the same as the firs time; it keeps decreasing with usage, and that’s why people have to increase their usage of substances to try to gain that first level of joy. Later on, your brain just loses the ability to release dopamine, then what’s going to happen? They’ve tasted the joy the first time they did drugs, and no matter what they do, they can’t receive that feeling again. Then they are completely seized by Satan.
We talked about drugs, so you think it’s irrelevant to you? Think about alcohol. Let’s say someone is very blank-faced their whole life, but then they drink alcohol. They start laughing because of the chemicals released in their brain. But then, when they get over their drunkenness, they have to live today again, and they have to drink alcohol again to taste that joy. That’s how people get addicted. If kids are not able to get their hands on substances, they get addicted to video games. What am I talking about? I’m saying humans are bound to move, following the cravings of their greed. Satan puts something else in there that is not the gospel so we chase after something else. If someone was very successful in the past and they believe in Jesus Christ now, but they’re not very happy today, they dream of the ecstasy that they experienced in the past. That means believing in Jesus Christ is not that appealing to them yet.
What am I trying to tell you right now? If Jesus Christ does not make you feel more joy than when you do drugs, then you have to keep on going into the flow that is not Jesus. By nature, humans follow after their greed, which is whatever we want. People who have strong mental strength will endure their suffering and difficulties, because they learned, “I shouldn’t do drugs,” but those people will obsess about something else instead. They are continuously obsessed about something else that is wrong. They keep on getting obsessed with something that is not as visible to the eyes.
3) God’s Kingdom- Heaven
(1) Come out of the authority of sin, Satan, hell (Mt. 11:12)
Until you have experienced the true joy of Jesus Christ inside of you, the Kingdom of God inside of you, you have no choice but to chase after your greed and desires. God Himself is peace and you have to experience that peace. You guys look for the best-tasting restaurants, don’t you? I went to a restaurant in Beijing, and they have the best Peking duck. The ones here are fake. They gave me a number when I went there, and it was the number of customers they’ve had since the Qing dynasty. Because they’ve been serving this dish for hundreds of years, they know exactly what age the duck is most delicious, and they know exactly how thick to cut the slices, and so, now I can never have any other Peking duck; I have to go to that restaurant, why? Because that’s gone into my brain. I don’t go anywhere else. That’s what humans are like. Once you get a taste for this gospel, nothing else seems delicious, that’s how you break your addiction. That is how you break your bad habits, your bad obsessions and division.
(2) Authority of darkness – To Christ’s Kingdom (Col. 1:13)
(3) Kingdom where power and blessing of the throne is established
That kingdom of God has been established, the One Who is seated at the throne of heaven is within me as the Holy Spirit, and the Kingdom of God is within me. The blessing of the throne of heaven is within me now, but we don’t see that, so that’s why you receive it through faith, that’s why you must receive God’s grace. If you see it, that’s not faith; that’s just science, but you need to have faith that believes in what you cannot see as if you can. It is the Kingdom of God. You know the Kingdom of God you will go to after you die, right? There is no suffering or pain there, there is only happiness. You need to experience that Kingdom of God here on earth.
3. This generation – Field
1) Wedding, funeral
(1) Played the pipe (Kingdom of heaven is near) – Did not dance (Mt. 11:17)
Then Jesus Christ gives a parable to the Israelites who cannot understand. Back in those days, when children played, they played mimicking weddings, celebrations, and funerals. You may not know this, but when I was young, we didn’t have anything to play with, so the only thing we did was play house, the girls would be the moms and the guys would be the dads, and they would just stumble around and be drunk because that’s the only thing they saw, and the girls would just pretend to be their mom, and they’d say, “Oh, why did you turn the table over?” Kids don’t lie, but that’s all we had to play with. 2000 years ago, the kids would play in the marketplace because that’s where people gathered, and the only thing they could do to play was pretend it’s a wedding or a funeral. Today, Jesus Christ is using that as a parable, so that the people who will never understand will understand, and the people who do understand will understand.
(2) Sang a dirge (Sinner) – Did not mourn (Mt. 11:17)
(3) Jesus – Glutton and drunkard, friend of sinners (Mt. 11:19)
Then he says, “We played the flute for you,” which is when there’s a wedding, and the guests are celebrating and they are so happy that they play the flute, “but you did not dance.” Jesus Christ Who is the Groom has come to His Bride, and they are drinking wine and celebrating, and have so much joy, but the Israelites saw that and they were not joyful; they did not like it. Those people were dreaming of another kingdom. If you guys are truly dreaming of and you are tasting the Kingdom of God that Jesus Christ is talking about, there’s nothing else you need.
Look at the believers today, do they really like the Kingdom of God like that? Or, are we dreaming about another kingdom? If we are dreaming of another kingdom than the Kingdom of God, then we will go in a way that is not aligned with God. People are born in America or they emigrate to America, or they study abroad here, but everyone is dreaming of their kind of America. What is that land? That is what the Lord is breaking apart. But you guys are struggling so hard not to have your dream broken. We are emigrating to America and dreaming of a land where our children can be successful, but we are trying to endure not having that kingdom broken. Ultimately, when all of that is broken down, we give up and that’s the beginning for you to taste God’s Kingdom. But you need to receive this through God’s Word, by God’s grace.
The disciples of the Early Church dreamed about a different Kingdom of God. They were following Jesus thinking, “If we believe in the Christ, the Romans would be destroyed, and Israel will be restored to its former glory with all of the power of the age of King David.” What kind of kingdom are you dreaming about? There’s a certain song called, “The White House on the Hill,” and in that dream, the lyrics are talking about playing in the yard, and they’re dreaming about a white house on a hill. But there was a North Korean refugee who escaped, and when he was singing that song, it sounded different because he was in North Korea and he was dreaming of another kingdom and he was singing that song. I was listening to that song, thinking, “Oh, but that land doesn’t exist. If you want a place where you can play around with no suffering, you have to go to the Kingdom of Heaven.” This person was an elite, and he escaped from North Korea, dreaming of this land.
What kind of Kingdom are you and I dreaming about today? Are you dreaming about the Kingdom of Christ that Jesus spoke about? Or are you dreaming about the land of justice that will destroy all the wicked and unjust people? Or are you dreaming about the kingdom where, because I believe in Jesus Christ, I have all the power and only good things happen to me? If that is the case, you have misunderstood Jesus. You may have received salvation by God’s grace, but you are dreaming the incorrect dream. Even right now, Jesus Christ is inside of us, He is reigning over us, controlling us, and establishing God’s Kingdom within us. That is not something you just need to do or believe, mechanically or as doctrine. You need to really experience and taste that. Then, all your problems will no longer seem like a problem to you. If you’ve tasted the greatest joy in the world, you won’t even think about other things. That’s the same with people, if you have the best of something, you don’t even want to try the other things. If you’re driving the best car, you won’t even want to drive any other car. You can only taste that Kingdom of God by faith. Even right now, the Lord is with us. There’s a work of the Lord in your job or business. We must dream of that. We need to dream the dream that establishes God’s Kingdom in the 237 nations of the world. Then, you will go into the path of the Biblical answers.
2) Field
(1) Righteousness of people (Law, morals and ethics) – Captive of Satan
(2) Power/powerlessness of people – Slave of Satan
(3) Field that needs only Christ
Everything else, it doesn’t matter what you do like the Pharisees, it doesn’t matter how much you read the Bible, follow the laws, or memorize the doctrines, that is an incorrect path. The nonbelievers think hey don’t need the gospel because they are morally or ethically upright, or one of my friends said, “I don’t need the gospel because I don’t have any problems in life,” and there are some people who are powerless, so they say, “I don’t have any hope in life, so I’m going to live however I want without the gospel.” If you correctly know the reason why Jesus Christ came to earth, and you are correctly able to see the work of God, then you will know what the Lord is doing on this earth today. In the field of America, there have been over 100 shootings just within the three months of this year. Nowadays because there is so much mental illness, people are carrying around knives and killing people, but we’re not that interested in that, are we? But that is where the Lord is interested in. But if we are not interested in that and we’re interested in something else, where do you think those accidents will go? In the Bible, those disasters went to the Jewish people. When they lost the taste of the gospel and they chased after the world instead, the disasters of the world came upon the Jewish people. That’s the reason they Israelites were dragged off as captives of war to Babylon.
It’s not that you’re not able to evangelize, but it’s that you’re in a spiritual state that is not able to relay the gospel. I’m not saying every Christian or church goer is like this, but I’m saying, most people are dreaming of another kingdom. We must dream of the Kingdom of God where the curses of our sin and Satan are broken down, and we are set free from the background of hell, in ourselves and in our business, but we are dreaming of another kingdom instead. I hope you will find the cause of everything in the spiritual. People look at the result and find the cause. I hope you will look at the result and find all the cause in the spiritual, then all the beginning will be with Christ. All of your results will go in the direction of spreading the kingdom of Christ. In between that, God’s Kingdom comes upon you and you will receive power. I must really enjoy that.
If somebody is always thinking about music, it is because they love music. If someone really likes alcohol, then even as they’re working, they’re thinking about alcohol. If you really love someone, then even as you’re working, you’re always thinking about that other person. We must truly love Christ and the Kingdom of God. Once that becomes our cause, all of the answers are bound to follow. That heart must change into prayer, but because we don’t really have a taste of the gospel, we are forced to pray like the Jewish people and like the religious people.
3) Ambassador of Christ who saves (1 Pt. 2:9)
(1) With the Triune God
Right at this moment, the Triune God is with all of us. Inside the reign of the Kingdom, everything else will follow. I hope you will concentrate on that, then the Lord will guide you knowingly. I hope your vision will be the Kingdom of God being established all throughout the world. If you’re holding onto that correct prayer topic, then you will receive the correct answers.
(2) Power of the throne – Me, field (Ac. 1:8)
As we are reading in this Bible passage, the spiritual state back then and today are the exact same, and if Christ does not really hit our hearts, the result will be the same. Already, by Jesus Christ, the Lord is with us, I hope you will pray for the Kingdom of that Christ to be upon you with power. We don’t accomplish that by doing something, it is only by faith. So the cause is faith, and the result will be the answers that follow. But first, it is within you. One day, your scars will disappear. One day, you were addicted, but you won’t want to do those things anymore. All the things you used to emphasize in conversation will lose their strength. That’s what happens when you truly enjoy. That is why the Kingdom of God is the greatest blessing, but the Jewish people did not know that. I hope you will pray for the kingdom of God to be upon your fields.
In a war, when you win a battle, you plant your flag of victory in that territory, then you can bring all your resources there. You must first plant the flag of God’s Kingdom, because if God’s Kingdom is not there, Satan will steal all your thoughts, your mind, your heart, your spirit. For students, while you are studying, pray for God’s Kingdom to be established. We need to study like that ever since we are young. That is how, after we succeed, it will not be stolen away, and God will use that success to establish His Kingdom. It’s the same thing for people who are working.
(3) Save me (Past, present, future), church, field
Then all your past, present, and future will come to life. Everybody has scars. When you’re high on drugs, you don’t feel that scar, but you feel happiness. In Korea, they’ve gotten rid of gold medals because they do very intense training where they’re beaten up by their coaches, and these children are abused, so if they don’t get the gold medal, they’re completely scarred by that. But if you do get the gold medal, then you’ll say, ”I got this gold medal because of all my training,” so it’s no longer a scar. They’re still going through the same thing, but why does it become a scar and resentment? Why does that same situation become a blessing? It’s that gold medal.
Conclusion
1. Me and the field related to me (Ac. 1:8)
Once you enjoy a taste of that gospel, a taste of the Kingdom of God, then you will regard that as a blessing. Nothing else will change your scars. Those things can only change with the greatest taste, that’s what you can boast of. Boast in Christ, everywhere you go, “Have you tasted this? It’s nice.” That comes to you as the greatest knowledge.
2. Only prayer (Ac. 1:14)
Enjoying that Kingdom is prayer, and your business and studies will apply that kingdom to the world. That’s the blessing we’re talking about.
3. Working of Holy Spirit – Door of evangelism, business, academics (Ac. 2:9-11)
May you be the witness who enjoys this kingdom and has no choice but to testify to others.
Message Prayer
Let us hold onto the Word we received today and pray together. The word that really hit your heart, that is God coming upon you, that is His promise. Let us pray for us to go this week, holding onto this promise.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Prayer
God, we thank You. We return Your materials as offering. We pray that You will bless this offering so that wherever it is used, the dying souls will be saved and the Kingdom will be established. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray that You will bless Isabelle and her family so she may be the witness to enjoy the greatest blessing of the gospel and the kingdom of God and spread this to others. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the unending love of our Father God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the future generations who desire to save this spiritually numb generation with only Jesus Christ, only the Kingdom of God, and only the Holy Spirit, be from now until forevermore always, amen.