How Do You Know Christ? (Mt. 22:41-46)

Let us bless and greet one another, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.  May today’s answer be unprecedented and never repeated.  God can do that.  We have our limitations but God is infinitely powerful.  

1. Jesus’s question

  1) Pharisees gathered together (Mt. 22:41)

    (1) Question about what you think about Christ (Mt. 22:42)

In the Bible scripture we just read, Jesus Christ is about to go die on the cross, and the Pharisees have been asking Jesus questions, but this time, Jesus is turning the tables and asking them a question.  Today’s message might come across to some as just knowledge, but it might also come to some as the answer to life. The basis of that is, if you have the spirit of a Pharisee, then the spiritual words cannot go into you.  But through Jesus Christ, if you receive the spiritual words today, then the Holy Spirit inside of you will reveal it to you. 

In Mt. 16:16, Jesus Christ asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” and today, He asked the question, “What do you think about the Messiah,” or “the Christ?” Jesus is curious, but He’s not asking the question because He doesn’t know the answer; He already knows the answer.  The Jewish people know about Christ very well.

    (2) Whose son is he? (Mt. 22:42)

    (3) Son of David (Mt. 22:42)

Then, Jesus asks the second question, “Whose son is the Messiah?” These people answer very quickly, “He is the Son of David,” because ever since these Pharisees were young, they were living with the words of scripture, and the Jewish people, ever since they are very young, they are teaching, learning, and memorizing the scriptures. These are the people who know very well that the Messiah will come. 

  2) Promise of Messiah

    (1) Offspring of woman (Gen. 3:15)

In the Old Testament, it talks so much about the Messiah Who is to come, and the very first promise is in Genesis 3, the original gospel, and the Jewish people know this as well: the offspring of the woman would come and crush the head of Satan.  The “offspring of woman” is not talking about somebody who is born between a man and a woman, but is born only of the Holy Spirit, using the body of a virgin woman.  

How can a physical person crush the head of Satan or the authority of Satan? Humans cannot do that. No matter what atomic missile we use, we cannot overcome the invisible power and authority of Satan.  It must be God.  The serpent will strike the heel of the offspring of the woman, and that is Jesus dying on the cross.  Jesus Christ dying on the cross is only to the extent of being struck on the heel.  Because Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead, dying on the cross for him was no bigger deal than being hit on the heel.

    (2) Scepter of Judah – King (Gen. 49:10)

Gen. 49:10 says that, through the tribe of Judah, your descendants will become the rulers.

    (3) Descendant of David – King (Jer. 23:5)

In Jer. 23:5, it says that in the house of David will be a king.  The Jewish people know about the Bible so well.  

  3) Jewish perspective of Messiah

    (1) King – Ruler

They knew so incredibly well that there would be one person born as a descendant of David who would save all the Israelites as the Messiah.   What King David did during his reign was, he completely united all 12 tribes of Israel and defended them against their enemies.  The Jewish people are expecting another person like that to come as a descendant of David so they could fight against the Roman colonization.  

    (2) Judge – Sinners

    (3) All people submit

The way they thought of the Messiah was somebody who would come and punish all of the sinners and only bless the people who followed the law of God, like the Pharisees and Jews. They were looking forward to that so much.  “Once this Messiah comes, everything will be finished,” was it just the Jewish people?  Do you think that nonbelievers don’t wait for their messiahs as well?  Everybody waits for their messiahs.  They say, “As long as I meet a very nice man, everything will be done.”  “If I could just meet a very nice girl, my life would be finished.” “Once I graduate from this college, my life will be done.”  “If I can get this business deal, then my life will be done.”  Everybody is waiting for their own form of a messiah, but is that the Messiah the Bible tells us about?  The Jewish people only knew about half of the Messiah. 

2. Jesus’s question

  1) David – Speaking by the Spirit (Mt. 22:43)

    (1) Calls him ‘Lord’ (Mt. 22:43)

When the Pharisees answered, “The Messiah is the son of David,” Jesus replied to them, “How is it, then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls Him ‘Lord’?”  If the Messiah will come as a far down descendant of David, how could David call this Messiah the “Lord”?  David was not knowing the Messiah by rationality but by the working of the Holy Spirit. We cannot believe in the Bible. There are certain things in the Bible we can understand physically and rationally, but we will never be able to understand the spiritual things.  Many people read the Bible but only understand the physical things but ignore the spiritual things they do not understand. The reason is because the Bible is written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand the Word that God desires. Without the working of the Holy Spirit, we think rationally. Because there are things we have studied, our logic is put into practice, and that’s how we understand, but that person does not understand the spiritual things so they will be overtaken by spiritual problems.  

The characteristic of these people is that they have a problem, but they do not know the cause or the source.  No matter how much they try to understand with the knowledge they’ve learned, they cannot understand. That is a spiritual problem. We can only understand the spiritual things when the Holy Spirit moves us.  Joseph was taken as a slave to Egypt when he was 17 years old, and in Gen. 41:38, Pharaoh looked at Joseph and said, “Who can we find who is filled with the Spirit of God like this man?”  At David’s young age, the Holy Spirit filled him.  Saul only knew the scripture and about Jesus Christ by the text and by logic very well, but one day while Saul was going to Damascus, he knelt before Jesus Christ. 

If we go to church without knowing the spiritual things, we are bound to have spiritual problems.  Every human has a spirit, mind, and body, and for the physical things, we experience and learn them in school, but we’re not able to learn the spiritual things, and so we have spiritual problems but we don’t know where this is from. That is why, in today’s worship, if you’re just trying to understand this with your knowledge, this will not be an answer to your problems and you won’t know why. 

May you worship in Spirit and in Truth.  The work of the Holy Spirit must take place for you to understand God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit relays to us even the deepest things of God. We are spiritual beings.  Yes, we need to know the world physically and with our knowledge, but we are spiritual.  No matter how intelligent I am, I cannot understand spiritual things. The Holy Spirit must move us.  In the book of John, there was a very elite Pharisee named Nicodemus who came to find Jesus, and he asked, “How can I gain eternal life?” Jesus said, “You must be born again,” but the level of Nicodemus’ understanding is, “How can I be born again? Should I go back into my mother’s stomach?  Then Jesus responds, “Do you know where the wind is blowing from? You don’t know, but that is what the Holy Spirit’s work is like.”  

Do you know why you pray?  Because the works of the Holy Spirit take place invisible to the eyes.  People who live their walk of faith with only their brain have a spiritual problem without a doubt, because they do not acknowledge the spiritual world.  Satan is invisibly working with evil spirits in this world, but if you do not acknowledge the spiritual things, how could you acknowledge that?  

The Pharisees know about the scriptures with their knowledge so well.  Jesus Christ was saying, “How could David call somebody who would be born many generations after him, his great-great-great-great-great-grandson, his ‘Lord,’ unless he was moved by the Holy Spirit?” Then, no one could say a word.  We must be able to reply.  The fact they were not able to reply means they only know of Jesus physically.  If you live your walk of faith physically, that’s going to be a big problem.  “Oh, I know Jesus Christ, I know that He died on the cross, I know that He resurrected, and if I believe in Jesus, I’ll gain physical strength and big things will happen,” that’s a big problem.  You need to know Christ very well, spiritually.  

    (2) The Lord says to my lord (Ps. 110:1)

    (3) Your enemies, A footstool for your feet, At my right hand (Ps. 110:1)

Already in Psalm 110:1, David is filled with the Holy Spirit and says, “The Lord says to my lord.”  So, when they were interpreting the Bible, they’re not able to use the word, “Jehovah,” so they use the word, “LORD.”  Essentially this is saying, “The LORD says to my lord,” or, “Christ says to my lord,” this makes no sense, but he says, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”  This is talking about the cross.  Through Jesus Christ dying on the cross and resurrecting, he tramples the enemies of Satan under his foot, and even right now, He is seated at the right hand of the throne of heaven and is stepping on the throne of his enemy.  When Jesus Christ comes back again, all of Satan and his evil spirits will go into hell.  This is what David confessed in Psalm 110 years before Jesus Christ was born; David was confessing that  Jesus Christ is my Lord.  

  2) Jesus’s question

    (1) How can Christ be David’s son? (Mt. 22:45)

    (2) No one could say a word (Mt. 22:46)

    (3) Physically know Christ

So the Pharisees who only know “Christ” physically cannot understand. If you just understand today’s sermon as a Bible story, it’s going to be a big problem. If you live your walk of faith like that, you’re going to say, “I already know this,” and people who don’t live their walk of faith as well will say, “I’ve never heard this before,” but both of them are in the same situation. If you understand this as just knowledge, it’s going to be a big problem. This must come into me as a message.  How do I know Christ?  That’s where the Lord is interested, and that is what the Lord  is asking today as well, “What do you think of ‘Christ’?”  Everyone talks about and explains about Christ, but they do it based on how they interpret it, based on their desires, but what does the Bible say about Christ?

  3) Christ in the Bible

    (1) As to his earthly life, a descendant of David (Rom. 1:3)

    (2) Through the Spirit of holiness resurrected from the dead (Rom. 1:4)

    (3) The Son of God in power (Rom. 1:4)

Romans 1:3 says, “as to his human nature, he was a descendant of David,” so the words of the Pharisees were correct because physically speaking, he was a descendant of David, but Romans 1:4 it says, “Through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God.” The “Spirit of holiness” means, “The Holy Spirit,” not an evil, dirty, or impure spirit, but the Holy Spirit. This is all talking about the invisible, spiritual world.  This “Holy Spirit” brought Him from death and resurrected Him to life.  He came as the physical descendant of David but He died on the cross, and as evidence that He is God, the Holy Spirit resurrected Him to life.  By that power, He is regarded as the Son of God.  

3. Jesus Christ

How do you think about Christ?  That will determine your future. If you go outside of the words of truth, it doesn’t matter how much you struggle; it’s not going to work, because if you’re ignorant spiritually, you’re going to be taken over.  There are some people who will never receive Jesus Christ no matter how much you tell them about it. 2 Cor. 4:4 says that the god of this age has blinded the hearts of nonbelievers so that the light of the gospel cannot go into them. They go to church but the “Christ” does not go into them.  Physically they speak so well, but spiritually, they are blind.  That’s why they have spiritual problems.  They have no idea why they are facing spiritual problems even though they go to church diligently.  Those are people who know Christ physically, only with the outer appearance, and it doesn’t matter how many generations of your family believes like this; it’s all useless. 

You need to know and believe correctly; you need to know correctly, both spiritually and physically. Why is Jesus the image of God?  Why were we created in the image of God?  We are the image of God because we have a spirit and a body, but everything we’ve studied in school, it was only learning the physical.  We think if we learn and take care of everything physically, things will work out, but spiritually we are ignorant, and that’s why we’re taken over, but these people will never pray because they don’t know the spirit.  The people who know the spiritual world will pray.  They know that when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit works and evil spirits flee. It’s not that they are not praying, but they are not able to pray because they are spiritually oppressed.  

If you lack spiritual strength, the devil will oppress you spiritually and that’s going to be revealed through mental and spiritual problems.  In Maine, there was a mass shooting because somebody had heard they were going to be laid off, or that something was happening with their company, and they used to be trained in the military, so they killed so many people by shooting with this accurate shooting training.  Satan is waiting for that moment and takes over that individual.  They don’t feel good, “You’re going to fire me?” That’s when Satan takes over.  When Satan takes over, these kinds of incidents happen, so if churches do not have this spiritual knowledge, they cannot save the world. 

If churches do not have spiritual knowledge, they cannot save your family line.  No matter what we try to do to develop physically and academically, and America is so advanced, but spiritually, we’re at nothing. They have so many Bible studies plowing into the language to try to understand the text more, but spiritually, they have nothing. Because they are spiritually weak, they are more and more oppressed.  If somebody is so oppressed, they will become powerless.  Somebody might have strength, but they’ll lose all their strength, why? Because they go to church but they don’t know Christ well. You need to know Christ correctly, both physically and spiritually.  We need to know the physical things of this world well, but we must also know the spiritual background. 

Think about this carefully, how do I know of Christ? Is it possible that you think that, by believing in Jesus Christ, you’ll gain some kind of result and you’re imagining that?  “Because I believe in Jesus Christ, I will get some kind of result,” are you imagining something like that for yourself? Then that is a wrong faith.  You need to believe according to the Bible, then the answers will be biblical as well, because the physical things and the spiritual things go together.  That is why we must live physically and spiritually.  Of course, the spirit is the first priority. If you have spiritual strength, then nothing matters.  

  1) At the right hand of the throne

    (1) Within me – With, Master (1Cor. 3:16, Gal. 2:20)

This resurrected Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the throne of heaven.  Jesus Christ died and then He resurrected, and then He is seated at the right hand of the throne of heaven and He is with me, inside of me.  But if you don’t know Jesus Christ well, you don’t know the fact that He is inside of you.  You keep looking at things physically, “Are my studies going well? Is my business going well?” But you don’t know the fact that Jesus is inside of you now; it is because you know Jesus incorrectly. You need to know Him correctly, physically and spiritually.

On the cross, He finished all of my problems, He resurrected and is living inside of me as my Lord. “There is nothing that can be a problem for me anymore,” that’s the confession that comes out if you know Jesus Christ correctly. If the input is incorrect, then the output will also be wrong. The entire Bible is telling us about Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is God Himself. If you know that incorrectly, you will have the incorrect result. If you know and believe in Christ correctly, you are bound to receive the correct answers. 

    (2) Power of the throne – With (Mt. 28:18, Ac. 1:8)

He has the power of creation and is with me, the One Who can create something out of nothing is with me. This is not some faraway tale in the Bible, but He is actually resurrected and is with Me as my Lord.  Why do you not believe that? It is because you believe in Christ incorrectly; it is because you believe in Christ physically. You need to believe in Him correctly, physically and spiritually. Yes, we need to study the world well, but we need to know the world spiritually as well. He is with me with all authority in heaven and on earth.  If He has all authority in heaven and on earth, that means nothing can block Him, isn’t that right? There is nothing that can block Him.

    (3) Background of the throne – Citizenship (Phil. 3:20)

Now, Phil. 3:20 says that our citizenship is not of earth, but it is of heaven.  If we don’t acknowledge the spiritual things, we are always so stuck in the physical land of America, “my success,” making money and eating food, and then people say, “Once I die, I’ll go to heaven,” but they aren’t even sure of that because they haven’t even seen heaven, and that’s what happens when you don’t acknowledge the spiritual world.

There are some pastors who say that hell doesn’t exist.  You need to be very careful, you shouldn’t just listen to any message online on YouTube.  There are pastors who say that, “There is no God Who would send us to hell.”  That is somebody who never went to a proper seminary school, or if they did, they are possessed by an evil spirit.  Yes, God is a God of love, but He is a God Who does not forgive sin.  Without a doubt, He lays His judgment, but He is also a God Who saves us. You need to know all of God, not just one side. They are just imagining their own god based on their knowledge and experiences.  That is not a god at all, but they are worshiping an idol, evil spirits, and Satan.  

How do you know God?  You must know and believe in God as the One promised in the Bible.  I can see that many people are imagining their own god.  That’s just a figment of your imagination; that is not God.  On the cross, He has finished our fundamental, unsolvable problem, and the spiritual problems, then He resurrected and is with me now as my Lord. This world has physical knowledge but it lacks spiritual knowledge.  America is so intellectual and is physically smart and strong, but it is being destroyed because of a lack of spiritual knowledge.  There are people who are falling into addiction, into alcohol and substances, but the alcohol and substances themselves are not the issue; the people’s spiritual ignorance is the issue. How could alcohol itself be the issue?

If you drink grape juice, it could be even good for you, and drugs could be used to numb for surgeries, but if somebody has a spiritual problem, they cannot make the correct judgments.  They might already know this thing is bad, but because they have this spiritual problem, people know that killing and shooting 50-60 people is wrong, but they cannot stop themselves from shooting, and if you look at their brain, there is, without a doubt, a problem.  When our spirit has a problem, it changes our mental capabilities so it cannot function correctly and it turns into a spiritual problem.  So, while you’re here in church and worshiping, I hope you will know Jesus Christ accurately, both physically and spiritually, to receive those blessings. Satan, who is controlling all of this world spiritually, is invisible. He is invisible and spiritual. If you don’t know Christ both physically and spiritually, you cannot overcome Satan.  What happens if Satan crawls into your business?  You think you want to try competing with your brainpower?  If there is an evil spirit inside of the person, working on them, you cannot stop them, and of course, the devil will not just stay still.  Satan continuously works, but we do not know the spiritual things when we go to church, then we will only ask for physical blessings. Yes, we need those, too, but we need spiritual strength.  Physically we are on this earth, but spiritually we belong to heaven. 

  2) On this earth

    (1) Kingdom – On this earth, First (Mt. 6:10, Mt. 6:33)

Mt. 6:10 says to pray for God’s Kingdom to be established on earth.  This is undoubtedly the prayer Jesus taught us.  If you know this meaning and pray like this, you will receive the answer of God’s Kingdom being established on the earth.  But if you don’t know the spiritual things, you will always pray for the physical things, “Give me this or that,” and you’re not able to pray for the spiritual things because you’re blind to the spiritual things.  

    (2) Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Mt. 6:10, Jn. 6:40)

The Lord specifically told us to pray for God’s Kingdom to be established on earth as it is in heaven. If we’re not able to understand those words, then Satan overtakes our personal selves and our family line, but we’re not able to see it.  Satan will work through these scars that we have, and when Satan does that, we will have results that are thousands and tens of thousands of times greater.  The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is working inside of me, but the depression is taking over me? The real issue is not depression; my mind is being seized and I don’t have the spiritual strength to overcome that. People’s emotions may be happy or sad, and if people come back from fighting in a war, they might have very extreme trauma or fear. I’m not looking down on them, but if somebody has spiritual strength, they can overcome those things, but if they lack spiritual strength and then they face that kind of a situation, they will be seized by it.

We must have spiritual healing.  Yes, we need to do the physical things we need as well, but without the spiritual things, we can’t do anything. The people who know this will pray, they pray the spiritual prayer for God’s Kingdom to be established in me.  That means for the Triune God to reign over me.  Is it better for you to reign over your own life or for God to reign over your life? Of course, God must reign over me.  Yes, we must pray for the Kingdom of God to be established in me so that the Triune God controls my heart, mind, thoughts, spirit, and body. “If I pray, will I get something out of it?” Demons will flee and God’s Kingdom will be established, and Jesus told us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Stop trying to live by your own will because God’s will is already set in heaven, and God’s will does not change.  If President Biden declares war, then the war happens; it does not change.   Even powerful people in the world, when they make a resolution, they can start a war, that is something powerful people in authority can do.  If God’s will is determined in heaven, then the only thing on earth is the fulfillment of that plan, then pray for the thing that will be fulfilled.  Stop continuously holding onto your problem and praying about that, but pray for the thing that will be fulfilled by God.  

Are you suffering?  I’m sure you’re suffering because there’s something causing that suffering, but just because there’s something causing suffering doesn’t mean that everybody suffers. If you’re healthy, then even if you face something that causes suffering, you’ll be okay, but if somebody is already weak and they face something that causes suffering, then they will be suffering multiple times.  People who have spiritual strength can spiritually overcome because they entrust it to God.  

Are there people who are causing you to suffer?  Then, instead of holding onto them, wondering, “What am I going to do about this person?” just entrust them to God.  Instead of holding onto the fact that, “Oh, they say everything so backhandedly; why are they so rude to me?” instead of holding onto that thought for two months, why don’t you give it to God?  If you give it to God, then God will reign and God’s Kingdom is established there.  Then, everything will be cleared up very cleanly. That is how we live in this world physically for the spiritual things, and at the beginning of that, the color of your faith will change depending on how you know Jesus Christ physically and spiritually as well.  

Something is physically a problem, but if you have spiritual strength, it will not be a problem.  If you know this and believe it, you cannot have replaced it with thousands or billions of dollars.  If your spousal relationship is not that good, then entrust it to God, then it will be taken care of.  But if you’re trying to change that other person, then you are actually trying to establish your own kingdom, which is actually the kingdom of Satan; you must entrust it to God for God’s Kingdom to be established, for God’s Kingdom to be fulfilled. Then what is God’s will?  

John 6:40 says that the Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.” Our life must be led by God’s will.  Living by God’s will means we have a life that gives eternal life.  My business being run by God’s will means that my business is used to give people the answer and eternal life.  But instead of going by God’s will, you keep trying to follow your own will, so things are not working out.  We call that “unbelief.”  You need to believe in and follow the works of God that will take place, but instead, you follow your own will, and that is the works of disbelief and Satan, that’s what we call the fundamental problem, that is the problem of disbelief. There is no medicine for that; there is no medicine other than faith in Jesus. You need to know Jesus Christ correctly for you to have the correct faith. 

    (3) Cannot serve both God and money (Mt. 6:24)

Mt. 6:24 says, “Nobody can serve two masters; it is either God or money.”  But people keep misunderstanding Christ, so they say they believe in Jesus, but they keep following money, and they don’t even know what money is, but their heart is drawn in that direction.  People think that money is like God, so their heart goes in that direction.  Because they are so spiritually ignorant, they keep going in a physical direction.  Money is just a symbol of currency.  If you exchange that currency for something, you can buy things, so you’re not interested in the money; you’re interested in the things it can buy.  That’s what money represents.  How did those materials move?  God created everything and is moving all creation, so these materials are being used by God’s will.  My studies and my talents will be used for the spiritual will of God, but if I don’t know the spiritual things, and only focus on the physical things, I will be confused.

 3) Moved by and works of the Holy Spirit

    (1) Confession of Christ (Mt. 16:16-17)

So, you need to just do one thing correctly.  You need to accurately believe in Christ correctly.  The entire Bible is talking about Christ. “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father,” and in the name of Jesus Christ, the curses, disasters, and forces of Satan are broken down.  Once the gospel of Jesus Christ has been testified to all people, then the end will come.  In every standard, is Christ being revealed?  Even your knowledge is used physically to reveal Christ.  But the goal is to reveal Christ, that is how God’s Kingdom is established. 

We have received this tremendous blessing. If somebody knows they are being moved by the Holy Spirit and the works of the Holy Spirit, they are bound to pray because the Holy Spirit works, transcending time and space.  If you pray in the name of Jesus Christ, then the works of the throne of heaven take place.  You are sitting here right now, but if you hold onto the Word of God and pray, then the works take place in your business field.  The spiritual works take place in your business fields first.  

When I say “Works will take place in your business field,” a lot of people automatically think, “Oh, then am I going to do really well this week?” They think of things physically even though they believe in Jesus.  That’s the reason the Pharisees failed, even though they held onto the scriptures and the words of Christ, because they didn’t know Christ.  “Why is it that our lives are continuously being destroyed even though we go to church so much, we’ve read the Bible, we’ve done everything?” It’s because you don’t know Jesus Christ accurately and spiritually. 

In Mt. 16:16, Simon Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and Jesus responded, “My Father in heaven has revealed this to you.”  

    (2) Disciples of all nations, Healing, Future Generation (Mt. 28, Mk. 16, Jn. 21)

How can you and I make disciples of all nations? That’s just something written in the Bible. If somebody says they can make disciples of all nations, they are just full of hot air; you can’t even pay for their plane tickets, you can’t even take a vacation for three days; how are you going to go to all nations?  But if somebody knows the spiritual things, they can do this while sitting down. If I am in a situation where I cannot leave, God will bring them to me, that’s how it is going to happen; how are you going to chase everybody?  The President has to be able to rule the country from the White House; he cannot go to all the states. He must be able to just say his word, “In California, do this,” isn’t that right?  The Spirit of God is inside of us, and when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit, transcending time and space, works in that field. 

These are things that happen and occur to people who know Jesus Christ correctly, physically and spiritually, and when that kind of person relays the gospel, people get healed. Because that person knows the spiritual things, they are able to relay the spiritual things, and when the spiritual things go inside, the spirit is healed, which heals the mind and the body as well. I gave a short testimony last week.  I asked my daughter what she’s doing, and she says, “Oh, I’m thinking,” and I wonder, “How can she be so much like me?” because even though we think so deeply, it’s always about, “me, me, me,” Gen. 3.  I said, “Instead of thinking so much, why don’t you pray about the word you’ve received this week?” She told me, “Get out of my room, I don’t care.”  I said, “May the Holy Spirit work upon this kid with a terrible personality,” but what I’m saying is, our DNA makes it so that we can’t stop thinking, we cannot stay still. That’s our DNA.  If she doesn’t have the spiritual things, she has no choice but to have mental problems.  

Philosophers think so deeply, but that’s only going to give mental problems.  If you think very deeply, you’re just going to have a deep mental illness. Even when you look at the leaves changing in the fall, you get depression because you think so deeply.  If somebody is very busy with hard, physical labor all day long, they have no chance to get depression because they don’t have time. The people who get depression are those who don’t have a lot of physical things to do, and because they don’t have a lot of physical things to do, they think unnecessary thoughts. While they’re watching movies, they think unnecessary thoughts, so they’re not utilizing their body very much, but they have mental problems instead.  

I’m explaining all these things because I’m talking about myself.  For me, I have to worry about things that haven’t even happened yet.  That’s the DNA that I have.  So, I have no leisure to mentally rest.  Because I’m constantly using my brain, I’m losing energy.  Then I have to solve this problem and solve the problem that comes after that problem, but if I lose strength, I get stressed.  One day, after I realized spiritual things, I began to pray every morning for the Triune God to fill me and guide me throughout the day, invisibly.  Then, I received this invisible strength.  You cannot observe this scientifically, it cannot come out in an MRI, but it is reality without a doubt.  We are spiritual beings, and when we start to get spiritual strength, we can overcome our weaknesses. We call that “healing,” and then people become confident.  Not a confidence based on nothing, but a confidence because God is with you, and you know that.  You begin to have faith, “If I hold onto the Word God gave me and pray, He will fulfill it,” and because you do pray, you receive answers because you pray according to God’s promise.  There are people who live like that, knowing and enjoying the spiritual things, and there are people who only look at the physical things, praying, “Why doesn’t God work on my business?” and rejecting the spirit.

The field in your world is controlled by Satan, and Satan is working invisibly. If you don’t know that, you go in fearlessly, you go in thinking it’s going to be easy, or you go in with no security, thinking it’s going to be so difficult. They’re both wrong; God’s work must take place first.  God’s work must take place, and then you go in.  We must solve the problem spiritually first, and then after that, we go.  You need to know both the physical and the spiritual side. The knowledge of the world is only physical, and it’s not even complete because we’ll always learn more and discover more.  But there are people who even go to church but don’t know the spiritual reality.  When you pray, God works transcending time and space, but you don’t acknowledge that or believe it.  Then, that person will receive a spiritual problem without a doubt.  

American society today is a result of mental and spiritual problems.  You need to change that.  You cannot do that, it is possible by only the accurate Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Inside of that standard, God has prepared everything.  God gives you the wisdom to do that work, because we cannot do it with our own wisdom. God gives us the money to do that, because we need to use money.  God gives us physical health as well because we need the health to go out and do this, and if we need people to do this, then God will attach the people to us as well.  For Christ.

The people who know the spiritual reality will save their spirit first, as soon as they wake up in the morning, whether it’s the early morning or just the morning. And the people who know this will hold onto God’s Word and pray.  And when the spiritual life comes to life, then we can take care of the physical life, like what we eat. Then we need to have the temple construction to have this work, the temple may be a physical building, but the spiritual works are inside. It is the physical temple construction that has the spiritual content of saving the 237 nations, doing the work of healing, and raising the future generations to the summit. Yes, it is true that we gather our physical strength, but that’s not enough. 

    (3) Temple construction (Hag. 2:5-9, Zech. 4:6)

In Hag. 2:5-9, God says that “In order to build the temple, I must move all of the powers of heaven and earth.” In Zach. 4:6, God says, “It is impossible for the temple of Zerubbabel to be raised up, unless it is by the power of His spirit.” That is why I hope you will pray. Because God’s spirit must work, and it works invisibly. That is how, physically, we give our offering and do these things. 

Conclusion

1. Spiritual life – Word, Prayer

So depending on how you know Christ, your walk of faith will change. Everyday, I hope you will have the spiritual breathing with the Word of God in prayer, to save your spiritual life, then one day your stubborn problems will go away, because those are things that happen because you lack spiritual strength. You’ll be able to see your future. With your own mind, you cannot see the future, but when God’s spirit works, you will see the future, you know what you must do, so you go, knowing in advance. 

2. Physical life – Breathing, Food

And the physical life is within food, and deep breathing, which is prayer. The Bible says that the physical life is in our blood, because through our blood veins we transport nutrients and oxygen. We cannot miss even one of those, and that is why we eat healthy food and breathe deeply. That is the physical life. The spiritual life is spiritually breathing with God, through His Word and prayer. Then, we will receive spiritual strength. We don’t see the air, but without air, we will physically die. God is also invisible, our spirit is invisible, but we breathe, with that God, with the Word and prayer. Then you will be healthy. 

3. 24 Prayer, 25 Answers, Eternal masterpiece

The reason why Jesus Christ came to earth as God and as a human is because we have both a physical body and a spirit. That is what makes humans different from animals. We have both the physical and the spiritual and we need to have strength in both. And when you begin to pray for that, you will start to have answers, and when you begin to have answers, you will be able to save people.

Message Prayer

Throughout this week, may you know and believe in Jesus Christ correctly, both physically and spiritually, to save yourself and the field.  When we pray holding onto the Word God has given to us, the Holy Spirit works.  Let us pray.

Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing

God, we thank You. We thank You.  Thank You for giving us the grace to know and believe in Christ accurately. We believe You will work upon us so we will have the grace to believe in Christ, physically and accurately and to stand as a witness to save the field.  We return Your material blessings as offering. We pray everywhere this offering is used, the spiritually dead will be saved.  We pray that You will answer the offering with the economy of light so the fields where it is used will be saved.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. 

Announcements

1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer

2. 10/31 (Tues.) Holy Wind day

3. Fall Synod – Location: Antioch Mission Church, 11/13 (Mon.).

4. RCA 3rd week of November.

5. Communion, baptism – 11/26 (Sunday)

6. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissonchurch

Benediction

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to know, believe, and enjoy and relay the accurate Christ, upon their businesses, academics, and all of their ministries, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.