Those Who See and Enter Into God’s Kingdom (Jn. 3:1-15)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” May this be the worship that has the unprecedented and never-repeated blessings. If you have victory in worship every week, then the Word of God will be fulfilled in your life because the Word of God will be fulfilled in your life, which will be led by God. Otherwise, you have to live your own life. Then, instead of yourself being able to change, it will become harder, and that was Nicodemus in today’s passage.
1. Nicodemus and Jesus
1) A member of the Jewish ruling council
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and he was a political leader. He was one of the seventy political leaders of Israel. During these times in Israel, the political and religious aspects of the government were united, so whoever had the stronger position in the church also had the most powerful position in the country. Nicodemus lived his walk of faith his entire life and he was successful.
(1) Came to Jesus at night (Jn. 3:2)
But he goes to find Jesus at night, why did he go to find Jesus? Because he saw that Jesus Christ had turned the water into wine and made an uproar in the Temple, he knew that Jesus had something to Him. If somebody is satisfied with their walk of faith, there is no need for them to find Jesus. For example, even though Nicodemus was so successful, there was something inside of him that he could not resolve. Nicodemus went to find Jesus Christ in the middle of the night because he had his own position and status to worry about, and he didn’t want to be ashamed to ask someone else questions.
There are people like that inside the church. There are people in this world and inside the church who live by their own diligence and for their own righteousness and cleanness. Even people in the world can be more just than the people who go to church, and there are many people who live their lives trying to find more meaning. Even though they live their lives so diligently, there’s something they cannot resolve. We call that the “spiritual problem.”
What is the spiritual problem? It means we are not able to have the normal relationship where we can communicate spiritually with God. We are in a state where our communication with God is blocked; instead, we are moved by Satan. We are in a state of sin where we cannot go to God. We are in a state where we are holding onto our own lives. By our own efforts and diligence, we study and succeed. The common characteristic of all of these people is that they have a very deep, internal problem. Other people are under the misconception that this person is fine because of their personality or their great success. The fact that there are many expensive drugs being sold in America means there are many wealthy people who are buying drugs. So, these successful people will try to solve their internal problems in secret and in hiding by taking drugs. They try to solve their internal suffering in many different ways while in hiding. This is within nonbelievers as well as within people who have lived a long walk of faith in the church. Even though this person has so much success and knowledge, they are not able to solve their own personal problems. Even though they go to church so diligently, they give their offerings, they evangelize and do missions, they cannot resolve something, and the Lord knows people like that.
(2) A teacher who has come from God (Jn. 3:2)
(3) With God – Perform signs (Jn. 3:2)
2) Jesus
(1) Many people – Saw the signs and believed Jesus (Jn. 2:23)
In the last few verses of John 2, the people are following Jesus because they saw His signs, and Jesus called them out for only following the signs. The people do not believe and follow Jesus because they know that He is the Messiah; they only follow Jesus because they saw His miracles and signs. But all of these people have a spiritual state that is only following Jesus because, “He seems more powerful than me.”
(2) Knew all people and what was in each person (Jn. 2:24-25)
The spiritual state of that person is still centered on themselves. The Lord knows this, and today, Nicodemus goes to Jesus and calls Him, “Rabbi,” and that is a sign of great respect because Nicodemus is older than Jesus. Nicodemus says these words, “For no one could perform those signs you are doing unless God was with Him.”
(3) Born again – Can see the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3)
Jesus knows exactly what is going on deep inside of Nicodemus’s spiritual state, so he gives these words that make no sense: “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Do you think Nicodemus would be able to understand? Of course not, he is not able to understand these words, he says, “How can someone be born again when they are old? Can I go back into my mother’s womb?” If you come to church but you’re not able to understand the Word God is trying to tell you specifically, your problems cannot be resolved. Especially if you’ve gone to church for a long time, listen very carefully. Because you’ve lived your walk of faith for so long with something other than only the gospel, it will actually be a hindrance for you. You have so much of your own diligence. There are people just like Nicodemus: you’ve memorized the Bible, you act like you’re praying so well, you evangelize so well, you serve the church so diligently, but there is some problem you cannot resolve no matter what. He’s trying to go to the Lord to receive an answer to this question, but he goes in the middle of the night because he is embarrassed.
The Lord knows this state and says, “You must be reborn,” in other words, “You need to change.” If somebody has been a believer for many generations and many years, they may be offended to hear this. “I’ve lived a walk of faith for so long,” but the state with which you’ve lived your walk of faith was physical. You did all of that with your own hard work and diligence, not by the work of the Holy Spirit. Because you tried a little harder than everyone else, you may have succeeded more, you may have studied better, and everyone else might think you’re living your walk of faith more well.
3) Water and Spirit – Enter the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:5)
(1) Repentance – Baptized in Jesus’s name to receive the Holy Spirit (Ac. 2:38, 8:12, 16, 10:43-44, 47-48)
But Jesus Christ answers, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and of the Spirit.” That means this cannot be done with our hard work; it cannot be done with our own cleanness; it cannot be done with anything that comes from “me.” Jesus Christ says, “You need to be born of water and of the Spirit,” and if you look in the book of Acts, there are always two baptisms that are mentioned together, the water baptism and repentance. If you are submerged underwater, it represents your death, and being lifted from the water talks about resurrection. So, after you believe in Jesus Christ, you go through the water baptism as a symbol of your death and rebirth, and the Holy Spirit goes into you. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of the Father God. This means that the Holy Spirit knows both Jesus Christ and God the Father extremely well. That Holy Spirit must be inside of me.
(2) Jesus’s name – From the authority of darkness to the kingdom of God (Col. 1:13)
Col. 1:13 says that “We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” This means that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross will come out of the dominion of darkness. Even though Nicodemus had gone to church for such a long time, he was still stuck in the dominion of darkness, so he is still suffering in pain because of his spiritual problems and scars.
(3) Flesh gives birth to flesh, Spirit gives birth to spirit (Jn. 3:6)
Flesh gives birth to flesh, it cannot give birth to the Spirit. You must be reborn through the Holy Spirit. What do you think about this? Do you think that you have been reborn by the Holy Spirit? Most of you may answer, “Yes,” then, have you seen the Kingdom of God? The Bible tells us that you will surely see God’s Kingdom. How can we see God’s Kingdom if it is invisible? That is what Jesus is telling us today. If you have been set free from the kingdom of darkness and you are now in the Kingdom of God, then you have seen the Kingdom of God, and you will be able to see that the Holy Spirit that is invisible to the eye is leading you forward. But Nicodemus could not do that. He was somebody who only served the church with his own diligence. He was somebody who succeeded in the world with his own diligence, so he was facing his own limitations. He was somebody who could never change himself through the Holy Spirit, in other words, he was somebody who could never really pray.
In order for the Holy Spirit to move you, you must entrust everything to Him. Because he learned the Bible scriptures from a very young age, he knows them so well and he does everything a Christian can do inside the church so earnestly, but no matter what, he is not changing himself by the Holy Spirit. In Phil. 3, the members of the church were serving by their diligence so much that the Apostle Paul said, “You must serve with the Holy Spirit.” He said, “Everything I’ve accomplished by my own hard work, I consider rubbish now because Christ is the greatest knowledge.” You need to understand these words to come out of your scars, that is how you will come out of your spiritual problems. If you’ve lived your church life for a long time but you still don’t know this, it will be very difficult.
Who doesn’t understand the word, “Holy Spirit”? But have you really seen the Kingdom of God? Have you seen the Holy Spirit actually leading you? Have you seen the Holy Spirit working upon you through the Word of Christ? That’s what’s not taking place. Even though you come to worship, the Word of God is not going into you because you’re holding firmly on your own thoughts; then God will continue to wait. God wants to work with His Holy Spirit, but He is not able to, because you’re holding onto your thoughts so firmly, and you try to move the Word of God with your thoughts.
2. Born again
1) Born of the Spirit (Jn. 3:8)
The Lord knows your state and says, “You must be reborn.” The Lord says, “You must change the root that is deep inside of you. To us, He is saying, “You may have received salvation by God’s grace, but you have not yet been changed by God,” because relentlessly, you are living your walk of faith, centered on yourself. “If this person is a benefit to me, I like them; if they hurt me, then I hate them.” You are still centered on yourself. If this message moves me, then it’s a good sermon, and if it does not move me, then it’s a bad sermon,” you’re still centered on yourself. You’re not able to understand the Word that the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you, so you’ve never seen the Kingdom of God. That is the Word that Jesus Christ gave to Nicodemus, and I’ve seen many people who’ve lived their walk of faith like that for a long time, and ultimately, they just give up.
Because they’ve lived their life centered on themselves, “If this walk of faith does not benefit me, then I quit.” Because they loved themselves and their own emotions more than they loved the Lord, the devil will seize them. If you have a scar, those words are correct, but before you received the scar, it’s because you loved yourself too much, and you’re holding on firmly to the emotions you got when you received your scar because you love yourself too much. The devil knows that, so he is holding onto that feeling with you, so everything you say is blaming someone else. “It’s because of my parents, it’s because of that church,” they’ll never escape from that because, what spiritual state are they in? That is not a spiritual state that has been moved by the Holy Spirit. They might live their walk of faith, but relentlessly, they are centered on themselves. These words are so simple, but if you’re holding onto a different form of your walk of faith, you may not understand.
(1) Hear its sounds but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going (Jn. 3:8)
So Jesus says, “Somebody who is born again by the Spirit is like the wind, that blows wherever it pleases. You can hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” The Holy Spirit is working and It is surely fulfilling God’s Word, but we cannot see It. Unhealthy mysticism is continuously trying to experience the working of the Holy Spirit with your physical body. On the other hand, there are people who are legalistic that, instead of acknowledging the work of the Holy Spirit, they try to keep the Word of God’s law with their actions. Then a third group is a people who are humanistic, they completely ignore the Word of God and they try to succeed in the world using methods of mankind. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit of God dwells within you. Then, if the Kingdom of God is established, it means you must entrust your life to the Holy Spirit for Him to work. “If you’re holding onto your scars, it will continue to hurt you; you must entrust it to the Lord,” that’s what He is saying today. We must entrust our lives, that is how we can pray. If you hold onto all the thoughts you get, then you will be dragged around by your thoughts. Maybe it would be okay if those thoughts were good, but you will be especially dragged around by your bad thoughts. Those are thoughts that come from you being your own god and you making your own judgments.
You must be centered on the Word. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they ate it because the Word of God was not absolute to them. There is the ideology of individualism in America, and that is what breaks down the absoluteness of God’s Word. The ideology of America makes everyone centered on themselves, “Do I like it or do I not like it? Is this comfortable for me or is it not?” We’re always centered on ourselves, and that is why America is the way it is. The reason people are taking these guns and killing dozens of people is because they cannot control their explosive anger. It can come out through physical violence, but we can also kill other people through our words, and it comes from our explosive anger. Somebody who is able to control their anger a little bit will relieve their anger another way, why is that? It’s not because of a lack of churches, it’s not a lack of seminaries; they go to church but they are not able to escape from themselves. Just like Jesus Christ is telling Nicodemus, “You must change from being centered on yourself, the world, and Satan, to being centered on God’s Word, the Kingdom of God, and Jesus Christ, then you will see God guiding you in every single way.”
I’m a pastor but in order to be a pastor, all you have to do is go to a seminary, study, and graduate. Then, I can teach the Word, just like Nicodemus. A pastor can teach the Word of the Bible as much as they want, but if they’re centered on themselves more than the Kingdom of God, just like Nicodemus, they will not be able to solve their own personal problems. We must be able to speak as a witness that our scars and our situations have been solved. We must know and experience where the suffering of mankind comes from and stand as a witness of how to escape from that suffering. That’s the answer Jesus was giving to Nicodemus, but he is not able to understand. Even though we go to church, we cannot understand. If we hear about the physical things, we understand so well, but when we hear about the spiritual things, we are blank-minded.
(2) Speak of what we know, Testify to what we have seen (Jn. 3:11, Jn. 14:7)
But Jesus Christ says, “We speak of what we know and we testify of what we have seen.” Jesus Christ has seen the Father God and He was with Him, and that is what Jesus Christ is speaking about. For us, we must know and speak of the things we’ve seen, of the Holy Spirit being with us, guiding us, and working through us. We are not teaching the knowledge of the Bible. The Pharisees, including Nicodemus, were too entrenched in that. But they are in this spiritual state where even though they go to church, they cannot receive the answer and they go back.
(3) When the spirit of truth comes, Jesus – In the Father, Us – In Jesus, Jesus – In us (Jn. 14:20)
Why did Jesus Christ say, “What we know,” and “What we see”? Later on, in John 14:20, Jesus Christ will say that, “On that day,” when He sends us the Holy Spirit, “You will realize that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you.”
2) Born of the Spirit
(1) Holy Spirit – All that belongs to the Father is Jesus’s, All that belongs to Jesus is made known to you
(Jn. 16:15)
So, once the Holy Spirit goes into you, then John 16:15 says, “All that belongs to the Father is mine, and that’s why I said, ‘The Holy Spirit will receive from me what He will make known to you.’” 1 Cor. 2:12 says that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit Who is from God, and He teaches you what God has really given us.
(2) Received the spirit of God so that we may understand what God has freely given us (1Cor. 2:12)
(3) Evangelism – Demonstration of the Spirit’s power (1Cor. 2:4)
1 Cor. 2:4 also says that evangelism is not done with our wise and persuasive words, but only as a demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power. So, there’s nothing that is easier than evangelizing. If evangelizing is difficult for you, it means you are physical because the person of the Spirit will enjoy their walk of faith more and more as time goes, why is that? Because the person of the Spirit will entrust everything to God. But the person of the flesh will not entrust everything to God; they will bear their own burden, so the more time passes, the harder it is.
3) Person without the Spirit (1Cor. 2:14)
(1) Jew – Signs, Greek – Wisdom (1Cor. 1:22)
It says that the Jews seek signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, because the Jewish people only believed in God when He showed Himself with power and signs. But for nonbelievers, they are always seeking wisdom. Look at the books that are best sold in bookstores, “How can I succeed? How can I make more money? How can I study better? How can I heal my body more quickly?” They spend all their money to gain as much wisdom as they can. “How can I have better human relationships? How can I be more youthful?” So, nonbelievers will seek wisdom. That is evidence that they belong to the flesh. For us, we know that inside of Jesus Christ is hidden all the wisdom and knowledge of God, and we know that receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit is the wisdom and the power of God.
The person who knows this will study and work by the power of prayer. If you’re not able to pray, it means you are doing all of your work physically, then without a doubt, you will face your limitations because we are not unlimited. We cannot know the past, present, and future at once. Our knowledge and our wisdom and power are limited, but God’s wisdom and power are infinite. If you live your walk of faith in the church, then people will understand what this means, but they’ve never actually seen and experienced the wisdom and power of God. Those people must become people of the Spirit to experience it. What is the evidence right now that you are a person of the Spirit? You will listen to the Word of God while you are praying, but most people are just sitting here, listening like it’s a lecture. Then, when you go back into the field, you will live with no prayer, with your own diligence, just like you did before. And because you’re trying to work with your wisdom and your power, of course, you will be limited. However, if you study and work with prayer, it means you will receive the Lord’s wisdom and power.
(2) Received the spirit of the world (1Cor. 2:12)
1 Cor. 2:12 says that these people have received the spirit of the world, instead of the Holy Spirit. And so, all they do is live for the things of the earth, what they need to eat, drink, sleep, because that is how the devil drags everybody. However, somebody who is led by the Holy Spirit will seek different things, they want to reveal their Lord, that is the person who prays. In the past, I used to be so amazed by the words, “Pray without ceasing,” I thought this was too much. I wanted to skip that Bible verse altogether, because how could I talk about that Bible verse if I myself didn’t understand it? “Be thankful in all circumstances,” that I understood a little bit, but “Pray without ceasing”? That’s too hard. But one day, I understood what those words meant. I was able to understand God’s meaning because He worked upon me, it means to give everything to God without resting. And then I realized that and thought, “Okay,” even right now, as I give this message, I can give this to God, but you cannot tell the difference because you cannot see the Kingdom of God. If you look at the physical kingdom, somebody can just talk a lot and people will say, “Oh wow, okay,” but for you guys, try listening to the Word while you are praying, because God told you to pray without ceasing.
That means, without ceasing, entrust everything to the Holy Spirit to work. Whatever you have right now, quickly, let it down before the Lord. Instead of holding onto the spiritual problem that you can’t resolve on your own anyway, quickly let go of it. No matter how much you try to calculate with your own brain, you’re trying to judge what is right or what is wrong, so all of your calculations are controlled by the devil. But, if you just entrust it to the Lord, then you will see God’s calculations. You must be able to see this and experience this, instead of continuing to go to church at your level. Stop shaking and trembling, thinking that what you have is everything; that’s the reason you shake and tremble when you face a problem. Because you are living by the flesh, when you face a problem, it feels so difficult, but a person of the Spirit will pray, and they will find God’s way of answers and blessings. That is a person of the Spirit, and Jesus is telling Nicodemus to be somebody like that.
Every time there was a superpower nation, Satan worked upon that nation with idols and ideologies, and Satan is working upon America in the same way. From my perspective, I can see Satan working extremely strongly in America with individualism and me-centeredness, and because this is how these people are maturing, they are overflowing with mental and spiritual problems. They can only receive God’s Word if they understand it. How can we understand God’s spiritual Word with our rationality? It’s the same thing as thinking the Word of God is the word of a famous philosopher. Then, even if you can do everything else, you will still not be able to solve the spiritual problem inside of you. Then, no matter what methods of the world you use to try to solve those spiritual problems, you won’t be able to.
(3) Heavenly things – Cannot believe (Jn. 3:12)
So then Jesus says, “If you don’t understand the things of the earth, then how will you believe when I speak of heavenly things?” So, Jesus told him the method as well.
3. One who enjoys the kingdom of God
1) Jesus – One who came from heaven, Lifted up (Jn. 3:13)
(1) Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness (Jn. 3:14, Num. 21:8)
Jesus Christ knew that Nicodemus knew the words of the Old Testament scripture so well, so He uses the word from Numbers, about when all the Israelites fell into disbelief, so God sent venomous snakes to bite them, and Moses made a staff with a snake lifted up on it, and everyone who looked on that snake would be saved.
(2) The Son of Man must be lifted up (Jn. 3:14, 19:30)
“Just like that, I, the Son of Man, must be crucified upon the cross, and anyone who believes in that will have eternal life,” they will have eternal life in Him, that is the Kingdom of God. So, Jesus is even telling Nicodemus what will happen in the future. Do you think Nicodemus understood His Words? In John 7 when the Pharisees were attacking Jesus, Nicodemus actually defended Jesus, and when Jesus Christ was crucified, Joseph of Arimathea gives His tomb location and Nicodemus actually brings very expensive perfumes with which to embalm Jesus. The money is not the issue here, but Nicodemus is one of the 70 political leaders of Israel, and he is coming out to them saying, “I am a believer of Jesus.” This means that Nicodemus is saying, “I will let go of my political leadership,” in other words, he could go to prison for that. It may seem that Nicodemus does not understand today’s scripture, but that is how someone can change when the Holy Spirit works upon them.
(3) One who believes – Receive eternal life (Jn. 3:15)
Everything I’ve said today may apply to you, but even if it does, you can change if God works upon you. That is why you’re in worship today as well. There are people who have already been changed and people who will be changed in the future. But I’m telling you very surely that your spiritual problems and your scars can never be healed by yourself. All of your therapy and counseling you’ve received are just words of people, and that is just you receiving the methods of mankind. You must change yourself, how? Buddhists try to let go of their own greed, that is how they change themselves. America has so many mental and spiritual problems that they try to empty and change themselves through transcendental meditation. They will never, ever be able to change. Jesus Christ must come into us.
You may think, “Jesus is already inside of me,” it means that you need to live with the prayer of faith that entrusts everything of your life so that He may reign over you, then you will be able to see and experience God’s Kingdom.
2) Kingdom of God
You will be able to taste the Kingdom of God, which is joy, peace, and righteousness. Do you know what happens when the Holy Spirit works? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, so it always works with the Word. Heb. 4:12 says, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Everyone can memorize these words if you go to church for a long time, but that’s not what it takes. When the Holy Spirit works, it will always surely work with the Word of God, and that Word of God will reveal all of the incorrect and diseased thoughts and the deep attitudes of our hearts, and it will restore it because the Word is God and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit works with power but It comes upon us through the Word, so if people say, “I received a spirit,” or, “The spirit is working upon me,” there are many people like that who are very strange. How can they decide if the work of that spirit is an evil spirit or the Holy Spirit?
(1) Power of the Holy Spirit – Chase out demons – God’s kingdom (Mt. 12:28)
It says in Mt. 12:28 that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, the demons will be cast out and the Kingdom of God will be established.
(2) First seek his righteousness and kingdom (Mt. 6:33)
“First seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.” It means, “Study while you are praying first. Do your business while you pray first. Listen to this message while you are praying.” If you listen to the message but you are not praying, then you will be a Pharisee. If you try to gain more knowledge of the Bible without the work of the Holy Spirit, you will become a legalistic person because you know all the biblical knowledge with your own knowledge instead of the grace and work of the Holy Spirit, you will become a legalistic person who judges other people. Then later on, you’ll say, “I know God’s Word,” and if the pastor tries to tell you something, you’ll say, “I already know that,” but the Word the Holy Spirit gives to you will change you. In America, where the churches are closing down, you must stand as this witness; there’s no other way. If I think I can be righteous on my own, I’ll be just like those churches, closing down.
(3) Greed for me, flesh (Idol) – Destruction (Gal. 5:16-24)
But if you rely on the Holy Spirit, then your idols and your greed will be broken down. So, people who are able to pray while they go out into the world will not be shaken when they face many problems. But if you’re not able to pray, then the world itself is so hard, because the world is hard. It’s hard to make money, it’s hard to have human relationships, but if you’re not able to pray, it means you’re going to do all of that with your own strength, then God just has to stay still. The Kingdom of God is established inside of you so that God can work, but you’re holding onto yourself, so that’s why God just waits. When does God work? God turns the water into wine when He becomes your Lord.
All of your scars and your trauma from the past, the PTSD from the war you participated in, can never go away with your own mental strength. It’s a spiritual thing, it cannot be healed through medication. Not everybody gets mental traumas from going to war. It goes into you because you are living physically. Their best friend is now dead. “My friend is dead, and I’m traumatized by that. That was my friend, that was my peer, that was my child,” they cannot escape from that because, “It’s mine, it’s me,” that cannot be healed with medication. No matter who comforts them, it’s not going to work. They must change who their god is.
Life and death are in God’s hands. We must acknowledge that God. That is not “my friend,” that is not “my child,” but God worked. Until your Lord changes, you cannot come out of your trauma. “Why did I come all the way to America to suffer like this?” If you’re always worrying, “Me, me,” you cannot come out. God’s Kingdom. Why did God allow me to live here?” Then the Holy Spirit will work. “Why did God allow me to be destroyed and fail?” Until you start to change your thoughts to wonder what God is doing, you’ll always be stuck in, “Why is this happening to me? Why am I suffering like this?” and you will be bound by Satan. Same thing for those who succeed. You think you succeeded on your own, there is no God for you. There is a reason God has allowed this to happen. Looking at what God is doing is called the “Kingdom of God,” seeing and experiencing it, then nothing will be a problem for you, even if you face a crisis in the future, it doesn’t matter because nothing is a crisis to God. God can even work upon your deepest spiritual problems, but the issue is, you don’t lay it down and open it before Him. You’re holding onto it yourself, you’re holding onto your own problems, and the Lord says, “Try your best,” that’s what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, “You can try all you want, but unless you change, it’s not going to work.”
Do you have problems with your children? You need to entrust that to the Lord, and the evidence that you are giving it to the Lord is you pray. Anytime you are filled with anxiety, you pray. Then the Lord works again, He works invisible to the eyes. In God’s time schedule, you will see the evidence with your eyes; that’s what you call the Kingdom of God. You really have to enjoy this blessing.
3) Concentration
(1) Word + Prayer – 10 days (Ac. 1:14)
That’s why the members of the Early Church held onto the Word of God and entered into prayer, and when you pray with everything that’s happened in your life, God’s Word will be established in you.
(2) Every week (Ac. 2:42), Every day (Ac. 2:46-47)
Every day, every week, always, there is no other way for you to endure all of Satan’s works and deceptions and the things in the future. The Lord is inside of you, and the Lord desires to be the Lord and Master of your job and business. The more you use your own brain and humanism, the harder it will be, and not only will it be hard, it will completely collapse.
(3) Always – All thoughts, situations, incidents, problems – Entrust to Jesus (Mt. 11:28, 2Cor. 10:5, 1Thess. 5:17)
That is why I hope you will change through prayer, who is the Lord Who is controlling you?
Conclusion
1. Witness that saves, has power and evidence (Ac. 1:8)
2. Witness that saves the family, business, region
May it be only the Holy Spirit, then God will work upon me with power, I will receive the evidence and be His witnesses until the ends of the earth, and I will stand as a witness of the Kingdom of God to myself, my family, my business, my region.
3. Witness that saves all nations, peoples, to the end of the earth
This blessing will continue to arise to all the nations, all the tribes, to the ends of the earth. May you enjoy these blessings.
Message Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We thank You for giving Your grace so we will not be people of flesh, but people of the Spirit. May the Kingdom of God be established within me and my field, 24 hours a day. We have returned Your material blessings as offering. We believe You will work with the power of the economy of light that can do world evangelization upon all the hands that have given the offering for the church, temple construction, missions, the future generations, Sunday worship, and miscellaneous items. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer
2. Native American Navajo camp is on 6/23(Mon.)-27(Thurs.)
3. Florida camp (Anticipating end of July, beginning of August)
4. Regional Summer camp (Children’s) in June, July.
5. College Retreat: New Jersey, 6/26-27
6. Attending the US Synod, 6/3 (Mon.) – 6/6 (Thurs.).
7. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, filling, and working, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of the witnesses who have experienced and seen the Kingdom of God through only Jesus Christ, only the Kingdom of God, and only the Holy Spirit, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.