The Fruits of Imprint, Root, and Nature (Mt. 13:1-23)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” The title of today’s message is, “The Fruits of Imprint, Root, and Nature.” Jesus Christ is continuously explaining about the Kingdom of God in these passages. If you come to believe in Jesus Christ, then you live under God’s reign and control. That is why Jesus is giving us the Word about, what is the Kingdom of God through the Parable of the Sower.
1. God’s kingdom
We cannot see the Kingdom of God with our eyes. We can see the kingdom of the world well with our eyes, so if you study well and have a lot of experience, then you can know this world well. However, from the moment you believe in Jesus Christ, you must know about the Kingdom of God well. What exactly is the Kingdom of God like? What is the land like where God is reigning and controlling?
1) Jesus’s brothers, sisters, mother
(1) Not a familial relationship by blood (Mt. 12:48)
In the last few verses of Matthew 12, Jesus Christ is speaking, and someone says, “Your mother and brother are waiting to speak with you,” then Jesus replies to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?”
(2) Whoever does the will of my Father (Mt. 12:50)
Then He says, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother.” In the physical world, you are family if you are blood-related, and that is how the family unit is created. It is centered on the physical, but that is not what the Kingdom of God is about. In the Kingdom of God, our family relationships are restored through the blood of Jesus Christ.
(3) Believe in the Son – Receive eternal life (Jn. 6:40)
Then, what exactly is “Doing the will of the Father”? John 6:40 says, “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.” One of Jesus Christ’s biological brothers does not believe that He is the Messiah. Later on, he does believe that. However, the church is the family that is created within the blood of Jesus Christ, and that is the Kingdom of God, so if you know the church well, then it means you know the Kingdom of God well.
2) Speak in a parable
Jesus Christ is explaining the Kingdom of God through parables. Usually when we give examples, we use that story in order to explain it more easily, however, Jesus Christ and God are using these parables so that certain people cannot understand. So, in some sense, it might be that a sermon is not meant to be easily understood, because if someone shouldn’t understand, then they shouldn’t understand. But the people who should understand are bound to understand, regardless of the message.
(1) Though seeing, they do not see (Mt. 13:13)
(2) Though hearing, they do not understand (Mt. 13:13)
(3) Cannot understand (Mt. 13:13)
In Mt. 13:13, Jesus Christ says He speaks to those in parables so that, “Though seeing, they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand,” and this was actually prophesied in Isaiah 6, because if they hear God’s Word and understand, then they will turn around and receive healing, so God prevented them from understanding. The Bible says the hearts of the Israelites had become hardened.
3) Disciples
(1) Your eyes see and ears hear (Mt. 13:16)
(2) Blessed (Mt. 13:16)
However, regarding the disciples, Jesus says in Mt. 13:16, “blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” So the true blessing is being able to understand God’s Word, but the world tells us that a blessing is having a lot of things that we can see, then what happens? 2 Tim. 3 says we will continuously suffer. If somebody loves themselves and money and pleasure more than they love God, then they will face great suffering. Yes, of course, we should love ourselves, but the problem is that we love ourselves more than we love God.
God is His Word, we love our thoughts more than we love God’s Word. We think our emotions are more precious than God’s Word. We think that our experiences and the things we have learned are more important than God’s Word. Isn’t that today’s America? We elevate ourselves more than we elevate God’s Word, and it doesn’t matter what God says to me; if I don’t agree with it, it’s not right; if I don’t like it, then I don’t like it.
What do you think is going to happen to them? When they face depression, that depression will overcome them, and when they have panic attacks, that will completely overtake them. If anybody says some words to them, that will overtake that person. If they face a dangerous situation, then that situation will overcome them. Why is that? It’s because they loved those things more than they loved God’s Word. If you look at people who have depression, they love their own emotions too much. When they get depression, they hold onto it, and the reason is because in their everyday lives, they love themselves too much.
When their situation becomes difficult or they face financial hardship, they hold onto that 100%. Instead of holding onto God’s Word, they hold onto that circumstance. Right now in America, all the education and all the systems prioritize human rights and individualism. Though they are important, they prioritize them above God’s Word, so the mass shootings will continue to happen more and more. These are not words of a threat or a curse, but they are words that are rational, based on truth. Because people love themselves so much, they don’t know how to control their anger. They say, “My parents have scarred me.” Why do you think they were scarred? It is because they love their own emotions too much, then you’re bound to be scarred, but that’s America today.
What do you think is going to happen to our future generations? They’re going to live in tremendous suffering. That is why the education for the future is to strengthen them with the correct Word while they are young. You should not hold onto the circumstances you face, you should not hold onto the thoughts coming into your head. You should not hold onto the very objective situation that you are in. You must hold onto God. That’s what we are saying, but we live our walk of faith for a long time and we’re still not able to do this. It is because we are still too much centered on ourselves, and I hope everybody without exception will come out of that, because that’s what God’s Kingdom is. We need to hold onto the way God reigns over and subdues us, and that is why listening to the correct words of God is the blessing.
(3) The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you (Mt. 13:11)
In today’s scripture, Mt. 13:11, Jesus replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God have been given to you.” Understanding God’s Word is the blessing, but you think so lightly of this, then your thoughts are stronger and one day you will be seized by your thoughts, and that is how you will fall. That’s how we get mental illnesses. Usually, it’s the nicer people, it’s people who are too kind, and they are held onto by their kind thoughts. If anything, someone should be a little bit rotten, then they can hold onto the Word of God firmly and then they can overcome their circumstance, because the Word of God has power. That is the method God has given to us to live in this age.
Even though I’m a pastor, it took me a long time to realize this. Satan enters into us so subtly, and lately, I’m not deceived. I’m not deceived by my emotions. Why would I be deceived by my emotions? I need to hold onto God’s Word. Why should I be deceived by the situation in America? I have to hold onto God’s Word. Why should I waver back and forth because of that person’s words? I need to follow God’s Word. Lately, I’m relatively less deceived. Earlier, I was relatively more deceived. Because I would get deceived by my emotions, I would get angry, but that was the work of the devil.
2. Parable of the sower
In today’s scripture, Jesus Christ is giving us the Parable of the Sower, and He explains four different fields. These are the fields of our heart. God’s Kingdom is neither here nor there; it is within you. Depending on what the field of our heart is like, it will bear fruit.
1) The one who scatters the seed
When the seeds are sown, it means the Word of God is given to us, and the Bible tells us of the one who hears and understands this Word, these are the people who will bear fruit, 100, 60, or 30 times. However, if the person receives God’s Word but they don’t understand it, they bear no fruits.
Then today, when you are receiving God’s Word, it is important what state your heart is in, but there is a secret mystery in today’s passage. We can never, ever understand God’s Word rationally. That is why Jesus told us to worship in Spirit and in Truth. This means we must rely on the Holy Spirit, so that the Word of Truth comes upon me. That is the key to worship. There are many words that are spoken during the sermon, but I hope you will worship in spirit and in truth.
What is the work of the Holy Spirit? John 16:24 says the Holy Spirit allows us to understand and remember the words of Christ, so even if you’re uneducated in the world, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter even if you have power in the world, why? Because the Holy Spirit inside of you will allow you to realize the words of Christ, then what is it that we must do? We must lean our ear towards that Holy Spirit. We need to lean our ear to listen to the words that the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us through Matthew 13. That’s why in today’s scripture, it says, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Everyone has ears, who doesn’t have ears here? But, “The ones who have ears to hear, let them hear.”
God’s Word of blessing is being poured upon us, but the people in the first three fields cannot bear fruit, but there is nobody who has fruits immediately. We need to go through those first three fields first. People don’t immediately understand God’s Word. They are bound to experience those first three fields first.
(1) Along the path – Eaten by the birds (Mt. 13:4)
The first field is where the seed is sown, but it doesn’t fall into a field; it falls onto the path where people are walking.
(2) Satan snatches away what is sown in their hearts (Mt. 13:19)
In Mt. 13:19, it says, anyone who hears the message of the Kingdom but does not understand it, they will be like this: the evil one, the devil will come to snatch that Word away from them.
(3) Path – Paths made by man (Me-centered heart)
So, what is this path? It is the path where people are walking, it is the path that is made for everybody’s convenience. If I receive the Word of God in my state that I have created, centered on me, for my physical convenience or my humanism, then the Word of God cannot come in, because the Word of God does not align with my logic and my rationality, so the Word of God just balances out. But that is the system that is centered on humans that Satan has created within each of us. Satan has made a system within us, and that’s the system of Gen. 3:5, “You can be like God,” this is the path that every person has made, and when we receive the Word of God like this, it doesn’t go in, “because it doesn’t align with me,” I cannot understand that, so the Word of God cannot go in.
2) Rocky places with shallow soil (Mt. 13:5)
(1) Sprang up quickly – Receives with joy (Mt. 13:5, 20)
(2) When the sun came up, the plants were scorched and withered because they had no root (Mt. 13:6)
(3) Trouble comes because of the word, fall away by persecution (Mt. 13:21)
In the second field, it is the rocky ground where the seed is sown but it cannot lay down its roots. So they do receive the Word of God with joy at first, but because there are rocks underneath it, it cannot lay down deep roots, so when the sun comes out, it is scorched. Even when they face a little bit of difficulty, they completely collapse, why is that? These rocks are very hard.
(4) Divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4)
2 Cor. 10:4 says there is a stronghold within us, Satan has placed a very strong fortress within us. That could be our idols, it can be the idol of our ideologies, and our thoughts that are even higher than God. There are some people who forget about God whenever politics comes up, they just fight against politics, so this means that these thoughts are higher than God to them. Because of these things, they do receive God’s Word and grace, but they are not able to root deeply into them.
In America, we are planted with the ideology of individualism ever since we’re in elementary school, and what does that turn into later? The parents have raised their own kids, but these kids will turn on you. It’s not because they’re bad, it’s because this American ideology has been imprinted into them ever since elementary school. Just like if you go to a communist country, they will plant communist ideology into this child since they were young. Do you think America doesn’t do that? They do that ever since the children are young, but we have no suspicion about this, and we receive American education 100%. If we’re a superpower nation, it means there is an ideology we have. People do not become a superpower nation just because they have a high GDP. There is a core or central ideology that navigates this country.
Just like in China and Russia, there is a core ideology that moves them, and they plant this into children ever since they were young, so later on, they will grow exactly according to what was planted in them. What does America plant in their kids? Individualism, and that’s why if my parents are a burden to me, I don’t care about my parents; it’s just me. If someone doesn’t align with me, I don’t need a pastor, I don’t need a God. Even if I get married to someone, if they don’t align with me, then I don’t need them. When they get a job but the company doesn’t align with them, then they turn that down, and the reason why these results and actions are showing up is because that was planted in them since they were young. Because we’ve planted individualism into each individual, there is a lot of freedom, right? But what is deeply rooted inside of them? They turn away from anything that does not fit with them.
When we compare that with the Word of God, they need to be able to give up on themselves, but they’ll never be able to give up on themselves, they cut out the Word of God instead. I’ve seen that so much doing ministry. People do receive grace, and they even devote and serve the church, but ultimately if they do not change the strongholds deep inside of them, that will destroy them. That’s why there are so many mental illnesses in America. People don’t do drugs because they want to, but they have no other choice. People are not able to make a decent family because “Everyone around me does not get along with me.” Unless you change this very firm ideology, this stronghold within you, you cannot live. That is why we need to lay the Word of God within these children when they are young. When I first came to America, I couldn’t see this right away, but as time continued to pass, I began to realize: whether it’s an adult or a child, why are there continuously repeating situations.
What is the core ideology? It was this, that’s America today. When President Biden was sworn into presidency, he placed his hand on a Bible, then he said, “I pray in the name of all gods,” and then he said, “Amen and a-women.” What are they doing? That is the ideology of America. “We respect all religions.” The men in “amen” is not referring to men at all, but they are so foolish, so they say, “Amen and a-women.” They are saying, “Men and women need to be equal, and that sounds good, but they are changing the absolute Word of God. That is the present reality of America today, it was shown through president Biden’s oath. If you say, “only Jesus Christ, people will curse you out, and it’s going to be even harder for your future generations because the entire environment is making people not able to say “Jesus Christ” because every religion around them will attack them.
In that kind of environment, do you think your children will survive if they just haphazardly go back and forth from church? They cannot; they might receive God’s grace, but this Word of God cannot deeply root into them, because there is a strong foothold that is within them, very deeply. There is an ideology that is moving America. We look at these different freedoms, and there are a lot of individual freedoms, but that’s not the case. There is an ideology that is moving everything, and without that, the superpower nation cannot function.
That’s why all the leaders around the world gather in America because they protect individual rights and freedoms, but they make it so that the Word of God is not only the Word of God. So even though America has everything, they are continuously being destroyed. You need to know this as you educate your kids. Then how can you educate your kids? It’s not enough to just bring them to church once a week; you need to give them the Word of God every single day. When they go to school, the American teachers are using those ideologies and planting them into the kids. You guys have all experienced this, when they go to school, they’re not only learning the subjects, but they start saying weirdly American ideologies to their parents. That is the strength that pulls this country, but that is the reason why everybody gathers here, and the devil is using that. That’s the reason why the roots are not able to go deep. There are a lot of churches. There are a lot of Christians as well, and they’re supposed to bear fruits and root down deeply, but why are they not able to do that?
3) Thorns
(1) Thorns choked the plants (Mt. 13:7)
(2) Worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth chokes the word (Mt. 13:22)
(3) Scars, fears
The third field is the field of thorns. The seed falls in thorns, then it is going to grow a plant, but the thorns are overtaking this plant, and because the thorns are overtaking it, the fruit cannot grow. So, the first three fields we’re going through, everybody goes through them: our scars, the scars completely overtake us. So, even though the Word is given to us, because of our scars, we cannot be rooted and we push the Word away. These scars are connected to anger. Anger is connected to violence and murder. That is why there are shootings. These things don’t happen for no reason, then what must you and I do today? What must we do in order to become a good and fertile ground? If we understand and receive God’s Word, then we are a good and fertile ground.
3. Soil that bears fruit
1) Good soil
(1) Hears and understands the word (Mt. 13:23)
(2) Produces a crop – 30, 60, 100 times (Mt. 13:23)
Then we will bear fruits 30, 60, 100 times. This doesn’t literally mean these numbers. “100” back then was a very large number, so it just meant infinity back then. It doesn’t matter what you try with your own brain; you cannot understand God’s Word because the Word in the Bible was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and even understanding and receiving God’s Word is only possible by the Holy Spirit, then what is it that you must do?
(3) Working of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:26)
You must rely on that Holy Spirit, you must concentrate on that, that is the only thing you must do, everything else comes upon us. When it comes upon us, then it lays roots and then we have fruit. Then how is Satan going to block that? Satan is going to make it so that you cannot rely on the Holy Spirit to give you God’s Word, he is going to make you impatient. Yes, I have to listen, but I don’t really hear it, and even if I hear something, I only hear what I want to hear, I don’t hear what God wants me to hear. Whatever I hear, that’s from my knowledge. But the Word of God that the Holy Spirit reveals to me must be within me. That’s why you need to concentrate on that. That’s why you should come to worship early.
For the people who came late, you feel a little guilty now. I’m not picking on people whether they come early or not, but I’m saying, even if you came late, come while you are filled with the Holy Spirit. In other words, you really need to lean in and hear, “What is the Word God wants to give me today?” Then I have to receive, “What is the Word that God wants to give the church members today?” If I’m just studying the Bible and telling you about it, there’s no meaning to that, that’s just something you can find in a scholarly book. I need to receive the Word God wants to give, through the main scripture, according to His time schedule, and give it to you. Then, you must ask God to give you the Word that He desires for you. But what happens if you go to church for a long time? “Oh, I already know this parable very well, there are four fields, right?” That is someone who relies on their knowledge. That’s not worship. You must worship in Spirit and in Truth.
Jesus never told us to worship with our brains. You need to concentrate within the Holy Spirit within you so He can remind you and teach you what the Words of Christ mean. Then, without a doubt, the truth, the Word of God’s truth will go into you. Heb. 4:12 says the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces, even penetrating the joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. The Word of God is God, and God is invisible. The way that God moves is the way the Word of God moves. When the Word of God reigns upon me, that is the Kingdom of God upon me, and whatever direction the Word moves is the direction of your business, because wherever God moves, everything must follow. If the Word of God isn’t moving, then why would things follow? They wouldn’t, that’s how the devil deceives us. Wherever the Word of God is moving, everything else follows, and that is how you should run your business as well. But without this, you say you’ll just try your best? That’s not going to work.
Whatever direction God is moving, your business must go in that direction, and that’s how you should study as well. It’s not enough just to study well because so many people study well. Do you think it’s going to be enough to just study well? Every country has the top 1%, and that means in the 237 nations, there are 237 nations of 1%? Then it’s not enough to study well. In the direction and Word of God, the kids need to receive the answer of their talent and specialization. But if they study without this, then they are studying irrelevant to God’s Word. Then what will happen to them? It’s obvious what is going to happen. So, it’s very simple. You just have to realize that today’s worship is everything because the Word of God is everything, and what you must do is to rely on the Holy Spirit, then you must pray, “God, what is the Word that You desire for me? God, allow me to know that.” Even right now, you should be praying like that. It’s not starting tomorrow, it must be today. Right now, allow the Holy Spirit to help me realize. Then, the person who is able to do this receives the answer of God’s Word, even in their business field.
Psalm 1 says these are the ones who are blessed. The one person who was able to do this went into Egypt with nothing, but he became the governor and was able to save everything, that was Joseph. The Bible never said Joseph was exceptionally smart. He relied only on the Holy Spirit, and that was Gen. 41:38, and it’s the same today. God allows you to know everything. God is the One Who makes these precious blessings of meeting in an instant, and God already knows what you would be good at, God knows the future and He is working with His Holy Spirit, but Satan is going to block you so that you don’t have a time to concentrate on this. What the normal situation is, is that one day, when you’re giving worship, your mental state is healed. It’s not just worship, it’s a time for you to concentrate spiritually, then without you even realizing it, the things within your spirit are healed. If you see me, can’t you feel that? I went to Korea and everybody said, “Your face looks so different,” and I told them, ‘The one thing I’m doing is deep breathing prayer.”
All my friends are nonbelievers, and my friends say, “Pastor, please give us the Word. I said, ‘There’s something called deep breathing prayer, so I taught them how to have deep breathing with their diaphragm. And spiritually praying.” They said, “This really clears my mind.” So there is something God gives to every person. I have my routine, there is a prayer I pray when I wake up in the morning, and this is something I’ve been praying for decades. It is to pray to receive spiritual strength. I have no strength of my own, I had already come to the conclusion at the age of 29 that I can’t do anything. The reason I couldn’t do anything is because I saw my friend die and I couldn’t do anything to stop it, so I just completely surrendered.
What does that have to do with me? If somebody is dying, I have no control over that. There was someone I was in the military with, and he was in charge of a troop, and when he was in charge, there were accidents that were external, but he couldn’t control them no matter how hard he tried. So he said he acknowledges the existence of God. He said, “You’re very afflicted.” He said he respects religion, and his wife is Catholic so he goes to a Catholic church. Even if you have a normal conscience, you’re bound to acknowledge God. People can succeed, we can do something with our own strength, but there are things we cannot do. We cannot control our hearts, we cannot control our emotions, but that inner software, that’s me. Whether you use humanism or whatever method you use, you cannot succeed, but you cannot control the inner “you,” you cannot control your suicidal thoughts. You cannot control this anger that comes up. You cannot control this feeling of depression or gloom. You cannot control this desire to fight, so you have to just surrender, “God must reign over me,” that is God’s Kingdom. “God, please reign over my heart, my thoughts, my emotions.” You need to quickly graduate beyond yourself. The more you hold onto your own ignorance, the more you will get hurt.
What is the extent of our abilities? Whenever we face a problem, we think so deeply about it, but the more you do that, the more you are connected with Satan. You need to quickly let go of that. Quickly let go of your thoughts and discover God’s plan and answer, then nothing will be a problem with you. You need to make it so that the problems in your life are not a problem at all; otherwise, what is life like? If you look at the people in the Bible, problems are not problems to them. Joseph’s older brothers tried to kill him, but that wasn’t a problem for him. King Saul was chasing David to kill him, but that wasn’t a problem to David.
All those people changed their circumstances to blessings. How do you do that? You just have to entrust it to God. It’s simple isn’t it? There is no other method. God is a God of blessings, He even changes problems into blessings, God changes crises into opportunities, God changes your depression into an opportunity for blessings. That is God. That is what you must learn and be really familiar with, be imprinted, rooted, and natured in that. So everybody who comes to you, you should save them. If you’re going to run a business, then people need to come to you, and if you want to make a sale, then customers need to come to you. If you’re in a company, then the people at the top and the people below you must come together. How can we do that? You need to save them, you need to change the problems in your company to a blessing. Who can do that? Only God can do that. That was Joseph.
God blessed the household of Potiphar, then there’s no other strategy because everywhere you go, God works. It seemed like he was going to die but he didn’t. Why? Because God was holding onto him. These are the blessings that you have to be able to have, enjoy, and relay. Then, there is nothing to be afraid of. You’re only afraid because you’re holding onto it. You just give your life entirely to God, but you just need to ask for God to reign over you, and that is the blessing we have.
2) Jesus’s word of promise
(1) Cross – It is finished (Jn. 19:30) – Imprint
Then, what is the Word that must be planted in my heart? Jn. 19:30, Christ said, “It is finished.” You shouldn’t just follow after that, you think you can just repeat the words, “It is finished,” but it’s not enough. The words, “It is finished,” seem so nice, “All problems are finished,” It seems so good, but then, when you face a problem, you’re afraid, that means you don’t really know what these words mean.
(2) Kingdom of God – Mission (Ac. 1:3) – Root
What does it mean that it’s finished? It means we are now people of God’s Kingdom and we must be ruled over by His Kingdom. But if you say, “It is finished,” but you do whatever you want and you don’t receive the reign of God’s Kingdom, then you are kicking away the blessings. Now that you’re a child of God, now that you are people of God’s Kingdom, you must entrust your life so that He may reign over it. Then you will change to the extent of God’s level. How great of a blessing is that? Then what kind of blessings will you receive? You will change into a person who is completely not you, you are a new creation. You’ll be completely different from the DNA flowing down your family line. You will completely change the longstanding DNA that has been flowing through America. All the things that have flown in your individual past, you will change that. How? God just has to reign over you. We have that DNA, and I hope you will enjoy that blessing every day because through Christ, you are now a child of God. The One Who is seated at the throne of heaven is within me as the Holy Spirit, and I hope you will allow the Holy Spirit to work instead of just making Him sit still.
(3) Only the filling of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 1:8) – Nature
There’s a difference between having money and spending money. If you just have money, that’s not really yours. That money is yours when you spend it. If the Holy Spirit is within you, what’s the point of that? The Holy Spirit needs to work within you. The Holy Spirit must work within my weak heart. The Holy Spirit must work upon this anger in my heart. The Holy Spirit must work in my state if I’m unsure about my future. That is what we need to pray for. You should do that right now. Right now, may the Holy Spirit fill me and reign over me,” then what is going to happen? You’ll receive the answer of God’s reigning. As we keep on doing this, one day, it will be changed, your environment changes, that is the power of God.
I hope you will enjoy this every single day as soon as you wake up. That’s what I’ve been doing for decades. It doesn’t matter if you are in Korea or in America, because God is the same God. God is the same God before COVID and after COVID. God is the same God before you get married and after you get married because the God Who is working within you is the same. I’m not believing in my wife; I’m believing in God, it is the same God I believed in when I was a bachelor. The more you believe in your wife, the worse it will be. I realized that later on, it would have been better if I’d realized this from the beginning through God’s Word, so I just made a conclusion to not trust in my wife, and I made a resolution to not do what I wanted. “I will allow God to do His work,” because if I’m trying to do something with my skills, I cannot change the flow of my family line, so I just allow God to work. The only way for God to work is for you to pray for the Holy Spirit to work.
Once the Kingdom of God is within you, I hope you will pray to establish the Kingdom of God in your fields. Money is not first; God’s Kingdom is first, so you need to love the Kingdom of God. Then money naturally follows. Money follows as much as you need it. If God is moving, then even money must follow. If God is moving, then even success must follow. How is it that you are chasing after success and then asking God to follow you? That makes no sense. I hope you will change that nature, starting now. So, whenever you come to worship, pray. “God, reign over me.” Pray, “God, reign over me and work upon my field of academics and business.” Try it, when you try it, then the evidence of God’s work will be revealed to you in God’s time schedule, and one day, your environment slowly changes. We have this blessing, why would you not enjoy it? It’s not something you can do with your own ability.
3) Only prayer
(1) With one heart (Ac. 1:14)
The members of the Early Church participated in this prayer. Because they were enjoying this blessing in God’s time schedule, the doors of evangelism and business opened at the same time. When God opens the doors, then your business will follow as well, and God does that. We cannot match that no matter how much we use our power. When God works, He opens up all doors.
(2) Within me – Works of the filling of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 2:1-4)
(3) Field – Working of the Holy Spirit – 3,000 Acceptances (Ac. 2:41)
(4) 237 nations – Transcend time and space (Ac. 13,16,19)
As they enjoyed this blessing, they had the fruits of 3,000 new believers. I hope you will pray for one of the 237 nations of the world and keep them in your heart. Don’t base your prayer on, “Oh, one of my friends lives in that nation, so I’ll pray for that.” “What is the nation that God has prepared for me?” Then, God is bound to work. My business is for this nation,” then God is bound to work upon your business. You shouldn’t use humanism. It must be what God has given you, so that God can do it. I believe that is the blessing that we must enjoy. As much as this Word is imprinted, rooted, and natured within me, we are bound to bear those fruits.
Conclusion
1. Only Christ
2. Only Kingdom of God
3. Only the Holy Spirit
4. Uniqueness (Answer), Re-creation (Disciple)
Message Prayer
May you enjoy this blessing every day and testify of it. Whatever Word the Holy Spirit has given you today, that is the Word that will be answered, and that is the promise God has given to you to fulfill. Let us pray holding onto that.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Prayer
God, we thank You. We return your material blessings as offering. We believe that you will answer with the economy of light for temple construction, the future generation, and the church. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray that You will allow these two individuals to have faith that will bear fruits, 30, 60, and 100 times. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
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, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to establish God’s Kingdom with only Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God, and the working of the Holy Spirit, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.