Do Not Be Afraid; Acknowledge (Witness) (Mt. 10:24-33)
Let us bless one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” The title of today’s message is, “Do not be Afraid; Acknowledge (Witness).” The thing that is scariest in the world is not people; it is fear. It doesn’t matter how much special training you receive; if you are afraid, you cannot do anything. As you live in this world, is there nothing to be afraid of? The Lord Who created all of creation told us to not be afraid. How are people struggling to overcome their fear? They think, “If I save up a lot of possessions, I can overcome my fear.” Or they think, “If I have enough strength, I can overcome fear.” Even so, the fear will be in you. Other people may look at you and not think like that, but inside, you have fear. That’s normal.
This fear is the beginning of all problems. As soon as Adam and Eve were separated from God, they were afraid. All of our failures begin from fear. The failure did not come first; one day, I was afraid of something in life, and then the failure happened after. How can we overcome this fear? Overcoming fear is not the issue; how will I live my life the way God desires?
1. Do not be afraid; Proclaim
1) Jesus Christ – Teacher, Master
Today, the Lord calls His disciples and then He sends them out into the field, and that field is the place in our lives where we are living. That field includes the schools where our students are studying and the places where we are working, and the Lord told us to go into the world. If you have a mental illness, you will be afraid of the world and you will try to go against the world and you will try to avoid it and stay in your home, or you will go into the mountains to gain your own spirituality, why? It’s because of fear. They say this and that about cutting their hair, but it’s because of fear. Studying is not a problem, the work you are doing is not a very big problem. There is some kind of fear that comes to me because of the work, there’s a fear that comes to me because of people. May you have the grace to overcome that grace today and live your life in the direction God desires.
In today’s scripture, it says that the student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. The verse before that says, “It doesn’t matter how great the student is, they cannot be above their teacher, and the servant can only be as good as the master, he cannot be greater than their master. So if there’s an owner of the house, the people who are working beneath that master in that house cannot be above their master.
(1) Jesus – Beelzebul (Mt. 10:25)
Why do you think he is saying these words today? Jesus Christ has come to earth and is telling the world and the Israelites that they are wrong, He is saying the things the Pharisees are doing are going against God. If the Lord came to the earth and said they were doing the right thing, then He would not have been persecuted, but He said that they were wrong. Then, Satan who is controlling the world, will not just leave that person alone, he desires to close that person’s mouth.
(2) Drives out demons – Prince of demons (Mt. 9:34)
(3) Members of his household – Disciples (Mt. 10:25)
That’s why when Jesus Christ cast out the demons, the Pharisees criticized Him behind His back, saying He is casting out demons by the power of the prince of demons, Beelzebub. And when Jesus Christ says, “A student cannot be above their teacher,” it means that we are going to receive the same kind of persecution. If you’re not receiving persecution, it means either you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, or you do believe in Jesus Christ, but you are not living your life, following God. This persecution is talking about the misunderstandings, the lies, and the fear that many people have when somebody is living for Christ.
2) Persecution, Misunderstandings, Lies
(1) Experienced with Jesus
(2) Do not be afraid (Mt. 10:26)
(3) What is concealed – Disclosed (Mt. 10:26)
Do not be afraid of things like that, why? Because what is concealed is bound to be revealed. It doesn’t matter how much people try to block you with the things that are untrue; God will reveal that, so do not be afraid of people’s words because ultimately, the Lord will reveal the Truth.
Colossians 1:16 says Christ created the universe, “For by him, all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him.” Angels, the evil spirits, the leaders and authorities of this world were all raised up by God. It doesn’t matter what we say about the state of things; it is all raised up by God. God raised them up and they exist for Christ. Even the fact that you are sitting here today, it is for Christ. Your job, your studies, it is for the Christ.
But there are a lot of people who go to church at a young age without learning this. There are many people who have learned to believe in Jesus Christ for themselves. That was never written in the Bible, and that is what you call a “religion.” Even the Buddhist people are doing their rituals and practices for themselves. All religions are begging for themselves, and there are many people like that inside of the church.
I am not first, but everything has been created for the Lord. Then, I’m living my life, my materials, my time, and all of my life for the Lord. Fundamentally, I must be aligned with God in that aspect. But the reason why the walk of faith seems like it’s working but it’s not is because this is not aligned. I received a call from a pastor in Utah, and it’s snowing a lot there, and because of that, one of his tires had a tear in it, and when he replaced his tire, there was a noise coming from his car. I told him, “I’m not very certain about cars, but when you change a tire, you have to change both the tires.” He said, “Oh, is that true?” And it’s because if you don’t change both sides of the tires, they will be leaning to one side.
If the life we’re living is not aligned with Christ, our lives will continue to squeak and make noises. The Creator God has created you and me and everything we are doing on this earth; we are all created for the Christ, but if I’m leaning on living for myself, I’m not aligned with God. So that’s the first thing you must align. As you come to church, this is your first beginning. You must begin with this in order for your walk of faith to begin from there. But if that is not where you are beginning, and you are studying, working, and succeeding and having children for yourself, then you are not aligned with God, that is not aligned with the principle of creation.
It doesn’t matter how diligently you work in that kind of state, the more diligently you work, the more your life will be askew. So, even though you have many things to be afraid of, do not be afraid, because as time passes, God will reveal it all. If you’re perhaps being criticized by others because of your own lacking or mistakes, then you have to quickly change yourself. If you go into your company and you’re not doing a very good job, and that’s why you’re being criticized, you have to change yourself. If your shift starts at 9am and you always go in at 9:05 and your shift ends at 5pm but you’re getting ready to leave at 4pm, and then you talk about Jesus Christ, then that’s not going to work. You have to quickly change yourself before God, first. If your shift starts at 9am, you should be in at 8. If it ends at 5pm, then you should keep on working if it is necessary, but that’s not taking place. You have no choice but to think the way you do because you’re living for yourself and for your own body.
We are living and working in this world for the Christ, and that is where people will start to persecute you. Because everybody is living for their own benefit, if you start to serve other people, they will start to look at you saying, “Oh, you think you’re that great?” This is the kind of person who needs to become the president or the leader in order for Christ to use them, and they need to think that way from since they are young.
3) Made known
(1) Speak in the daylight (Mt. 10:27)
(2) Proclaim from the roofs (Mt. 10:27)
(3) Let your light shine before others (Mt. 5:14-15)
Then He says, to say whatever He tells you in the darkness, and to say it in the daylight, and proclaim this from the roofs. When we hear these words, we’re very afraid. “What happens if I’m embarrassed? What happens if people think I’m crazy? What if people criticize me?” Those things will come, but do not feel like that, because as time passes, the Lord will take care of this, so just speak. “Do I have to be the one to do this?
The Lord sent you there to do that. “I’ll work really hard and give my tithe; can I please just not do this?” God has attached all these people around you, then are you just going to let them go to hell? Your fear is understandable, but the Word we are receiving today overcomes our fear because one day, God will reveal the lies, the misunderstandings, and the persecution you get, so just speak.
God tells us to not be afraid of our own lives. People are afraid to die. The first thing people are afraid of is people misunderstand their words or their position or power or their life, and the second thing they are afraid of is death. People will threaten you. People will threaten you, there is only one person in a prison who is not afraid, who is that? Do you think that’s the captain of the guard or one of the guards? Who is not afraid? The people who are sentenced to the death penalty have no fear, so there is nobody who can win in a fight against someone who is sentenced with the death penalty. It doesn’t matter even if there’s a UFC fighter, he cannot win against someone who is sentenced to death, why is that? Because the UFC fighter fights and learned how to fight in order to live. But the person with the death penalty is already sentenced to death, so they are fighting to die. How important is our life?
2. Be afraid of God
1) Do not fear life
(1) One who kills the body but cannot kill the soul (Mt.10:28)
(2) Don’t be afraid of your physical life
(3) Satan – Works through fear (Heb. 2:14-15)
How important is our life? However, the Bible tells us in Heb. 2:14-15 that Satan controls our entire life with the fear of death, then, how can we get rid of this fear? Even if you’re sitting here with cancer, the cancer itself is not the problem; fear is the problem. If your business is failing, the failure is not the problem; your fear is the problem. Even nonbeliever military personnel will say the enemy is not the problem, the fear inside of me is the greatest fear. So, what should we really be afraid of?
2) Be afraid
(1) One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Mt. 10:28)
He says, “Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” But instead of being afraid of what we should actually fear, we are shaking in fear for something that is unnecessary. Gangsters and people like that pretend to be very strong on the outside in order to overcome the fear inside. So they may be very big in stature but inside, they are like children. There are people who are actually strong, there is something fearful approaching them, but they’re unaffected by it. That’s the truly strong one. If the gangsters threaten you with danger, then you will be afraid, but if you’re just feeling fine, that fear will be broken.
If there’s someone with a gun and there’s a young child looking at the gun, batting his eyes, unafraid, you cannot shoot the gun. There are some people who get shot because of their fear. If you can fear God, you will not be afraid of the world. Fearing God doesn’t mean to be afraid of God; it means you must stand before God. But the reason you’re so afraid of people is because you stand before people and you’re always worried about your own reputation, glory, honor, and pride. That’s why you’re afraid of them.
(2) Lord who is sovereign of our life
This worship today, do it before God. People like that are not afraid of the world, but you think lightly of worship, don’t you? Instead, you think very importantly or reverently about the things of the earth, don’t you? It doesn’t matter how much that person is smiling on the outside, but inside, they are anxious and that anxiety gets relayed to other people. Even in your anxiety, you talk about Jesus, then the other people will know. Even the cat inside the house will only come up on the couch when the master gives them the OK. That means the cat knows, then of course, the humans will know even if you’re staying still.
Worship is standing before God, then God will give you grace, that is where your life is determined. But if you determine your life before people, the whole universe is in God’s hands and God decides when my life ends. If God stops your breathing tonight, you’ve got to go. It doesn’t matter how well I plan my future; if the Lord says that’s enough, then I have to go. He is the One Who can control our life.
(3) Judge
He is our Judge; we must stand before the judge. If you stand before God like this, then you will not be afraid of people, and that will spread influence to others. If you’re trembling in fear but you’re talking about Jesus Christ, people will tell you to just take care of yourself. The peace that you receive from being with God needs to be relayed to others.
3) Do not be afraid of situation, environment, self
(1) All things are allowed by God (Mt. 10:29)
Do not be afraid of your situation, your environment, or even yourself, why? Because even two sparrows are sold for a penny, which is a sixteenth of a day’s wage, and even that small wage does not happen unless God allows that to happen. Then, especially the work that is happening in your life will never happen unless God allows it. Stand before that God. For these people, they will not be afraid of whatever happens in the world.
There will be times when we have to go through the valley of the shadow of death, but the one who acknowledges, “The Shepherd is with me,” has no reason to fear. If someone has fear, they will speak words of fear. How do you know, even though they package themselves? They say, “I’m just thinking about the future,” but in reality, it’s just their anxiety. “I’m just telling you this because I care about you,” but those words do not save them because they come from your fear. In reality, you’re just packaging your own fear. If you really have strength within God, then you will relay God’s Word to them. You will relay God’s Word to the people who are in fear in order to save them.
(2) Knows everything about me – Hairs are numbered (Mt. 10:30)
In Mt. 10:30, He says, He even knows how many hairs are on your head. There is nobody in this world who can count how many strands of hair you have. Even if you try to start counting, you’ll get confused and have to start over. Maybe if you don’t have much hair, you can count it, or if you have no hair at all, but I’m talking about people with hair. Even a hairstylist cannot count it, but the Lord can. What does that mean? It means he knows the deepest part of you. The Lord knows what your true emotions are. The things that are deep inside of you change with God’s Word.
If you’re so entrenched within yourself, you’ll have fear the rest of your life. The beginning of all problems, the beginning of all fear is that you’re the center of your own life. That is the beginning of all problems. Satan changes the center of our life with Gen. 3:5. My thoughts are everything. In Gen. 6, “I’ll do whatever I want to do. It’s not about what God wants, but I do what I want. Instead of succeeding for God, I just have to succeed for myself,” then that person will continuously collapse. I do not have the ability to manage or maintain that myself, that is why you must quickly change it to God, so that the Triune God will be established in the deepest part of you. I hope you will have that time every day.
I can say that again and again because I’m somebody who did not live like that. As I lived my life as a nonbeliever, I was the standard of my own life. My values were everything to me in life, and I didn’t listen to anybody else’s words. It didn’t matter what anybody else said; I lived my life. I didn’t even talk to religious people because inside of my ideologies, I thought religious people were weak. But even so, I was not able to be happy in life, and later on, I was even afraid to cross the street in case I would get run over by a car and die. As I lay in bed, there was a figure of a face that kept getting bigger and smaller, bigger and smaller, and it got to the point where I had to drink alcohol every day. Your hard work and diligence? I think I’ve tried all of that, and I believe I’ve lived a more upright life than anyone else. It doesn’t work in life.
After I met Christ, I didn’t change right away. After I believed in Jesus Christ, in the deepest parts of me, I was still seized by my own accomplishments and success. Even though I was listening to God’s Word, I was connecting it all to my own things. We all need that process, but one day, that will begin to change, then I was liberated, liberated from myself. That grace must go very deep within you. Your spiritual problems go away. I could not be alone because of my fear, so when I was a bachelor, I had to meet with friends every single day and go drinking until I fell asleep.
I think there are many women like that as well. They cannot be alone, so they always have to be doing something like talking on the phone, or someone might always need to drink alcohol in order to be okay, why is that? It’s the result of living as your own god, and no medication can solve that. It doesn’t matter how cleanly you live your life, you cannot … When can this be solved? You have to surrender before God, “Lord, You are the Master of my life.” When you say, “Please use my life however You like,” then you will begin to change.
Before that point, you will always have this calculation deep inside of you and things don’t work out according to your calculations. The Lord has created and is moving all of creation. Things do not work out according to your calculations, so I was half-dead before I came to life. I will tell you again–I didn’t come to believe in Jesus Christ because I wasn’t diligent or because my body was weak or because I was weak; I was beaten half to death.
When I was so filled with fear, there was nothing I could do about it; I just pretended to be strong, and my words came out so forcefully as well because of the fear inside of me. If you weren’t afraid, you wouldn’t pretend to be strong; you would speak normally, but these things began to be healed. May none of you live a life like mine. This fear of death actually takes you towards death. God is counting everything. God is accounting for everything.
(3) Do not be afraid (Mt. 10:31)
God will always be with you, so only stand before God. Nothing else should bring you fear. Are you afraid of success? Are you afraid of American society? God made all of that, even this person is controlled by God. That kind of Daniel went in to be a government official in Babylon. When Joseph was 17 years old, he was taken into Egypt as a slave and then became a governor. We must fear God. Stand before God. Standing before God is the way for you to save your future generations and the way for you to overcome your own fear.
3. Acknowledge before others
1) Acknowledge/Disown me
In conclusion, do not be afraid, but acknowledge and witness Christ before people, but most Christians are afraid to do that. Why is that? It’s because they don’t fear God, they don’t stand before God. Moses was afraid, God told him to speak before Pharaoh and he was afraid. When did that go away? “I will be with you,” those words have to go into you in order for you to surrender.
There are some people who almost seem to be jinxed with fear, repetitively falling. If you reach the seat of success, that will happen to you. People who are in Major League Baseball, they have superstitions because they always have to compete, and they use all these different methods to try to overcome these jinxes, why is that? Because if they lose in the competition, they have to go down to the minor leagues. If they go into the minor leagues and they lose all their fame and money, so they stake their life to stay in the Major Leagues. Even the competition, regardless of the season, they’re always running, so they have no choice but to be afraid and superstitious.
That’s why people go into meditation, that’s why people wear talismans or charms, or they control what kind of underwear they use. There is someone who happened to coincidentally see the number seven, and they won that competition that day, so whenever they compete, they try to look for the number seven to win. Or one time, someone wore a certain uniform and they won, so they keep wearing the same uniform; they’re seized by that. That is how people are seized. People are seized by the success of their business or money. We need to overcome money in order to do the work of God, but instead, you are a slave to money and you’re dragged to wherever the money goes. That’s what you call a slave. That’s what you call a slave. People are not people, they are slaves to money. That’s normal. Why is that?
(1) Jesus will acknowledge me before God the Father (Mt. 10:32)
(2) Jesus will disown me before God the Father (Mt. 10:33)
(3) Peter – Disown 3 times (Mt. 26:69-75)
Even the closest disciple of Jesus, Simon Peter, disowned Him three times. So, whatever is happening to you is normal. Even Simon Peter who saw Jesus’ face personally and received His message directly, rejected and cursed Jesus three times. Then in Acts 4, he stood before the court and if he testified of Jesus, he would be put to death, and he testified of Jesus, then what do you think is the standard that makes the difference between the two times?
2) Cross – Mount Calvary
That is the cross. Before Jesus Christ died, he rejected Jesus three times. After Jesus Christ was crucified, Simon Peter experienced that and received the filling of the Holy Spirit, and that’s when he testified. How can you guys overcome your own fear? If you’re avoiding criticism, it’s because of your fear. If you’re afraid of the words of other people, it is because of your fear. If you believe in Jesus Christ and you’re a student of that teacher, then that means you will walk the same path as Jesus. Because if you really believe in Jesus Christ, the devil will attack you the same way through people.
(1) It is finished (Jn. 19:30)
(2) Me – Death (Gen. 3,6,11)
How will you overcome that? You have to die on the cross. Jesus Christ died on the cross and I have to be united with Him on the cross. If you’re not united with Jesus on the cross, you can never overcome your fear. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve gone to church or how many generations of believers there are; even the disciples themselves cannot overcome their fear unless you actually go through the cross yourself.
(3) Me – Jesus life, power (Gal. 2:20)
Jesus Christ received all the curses of my sin, Satan, and the background of hell on the cross, that means, the “me” that is living for myself has been crucified with Christ on the cross. Now, I no longer live, but the “me” that is living is the Christ that has resurrected with life and in power. Only the one who has gone through that cross can overcome the world just as the Christ has. But if you don’t understand the gospel, you may say, “I don’t want to die,” then you can become a Buddhist; you can go back to Catholicism, because for those people, they say, “I do this,” but for Christians, we are crucified on the cross with Christ.
The “me” that has no choice but to live for myself has been crucified on the cross with Christ, and now Christ lives within me in life and with power, and that is the “me” that overcomes and saves this world. That Kingdom of the Christ must be established in my thoughts, my emotions, and my soul. I’m receiving its control. I am not controlling myself but Christ controls me.
3) Kingdom of God – Mount of Olives
(1) Within me – Filling of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 1:8)
How does He control you? He completely controls me through the Holy Spirit. If you become drunk,then you’re not in your right state of mind. If you’re filled with alcohol, then you don’t have your own thoughts or emotions regulated; you don’t even have fear, you just go into the direction the alcohol takes you. However, if the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, controls my thoughts, my heart, and my spirit, then I will go regardless of myself. How does He rule over me? You have to let go of your own things. If there’s a bottle of coca cola that is filled with coke, it doesn’t matter how much water you put into it, it will not be water, it’s going to be a mixture of coke and water.
In Buddhism, they keep trying to purify and empty themselves, but that’s impossible. Later on, seven demons worse than the first will come into you. For us, we don’t do that, by faith, I acknowledge that I’m nothing and I died on the cross. Paul says, “I have found the greatest value, and everything else, I consider as rubbish.” He received the greatest education, the greatest authority, and the greatest discipline, but all of that was useless. “Through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, completely reign over me,” and that’s when your depression will be healed, and that’s when your fear will go away; that’s when the spiritual problems that have come into you by your family line and by Original Sin will be resolved.
You can do this even now by faith. “May the Spirit of the Triune God, which is invisible to the eyes, completely fill and control me.” There is one thing you must do as well, you must pray for the Kingdom of God to be established in your field. Your field is completely seized by Satan, he is seizing that field through people, then the Kingdom of God must first be established there and the kingdom of Satan must be broken down; otherwise, Satan will attack you from behind with the people closest to you. How can someone be like that? The devil will do that to you through that person. That is why when you pray, pray for the Kingdom of God to first be established upon your studies, your job, and everyone that you meet in order for Satan’s Kingdom to be broken down.
If you don’t believe in that, you are not acknowledging God in this world, you are not acknowledging the demons and evil spirits in this world, then what are you acknowledging? It is only yourself, but if you do acknowledge this, you will receive answers. Answers do not come according to what I want, but God gives me what He truly desires. Even if you don’t pray, “Give me this or give me that,” when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, your thoughts will align with God, then you will lose all your prayer topics. No need for you to say, “Do this with my business!” If God’s kingdom is established for your business, God will take care of it Himself, and the evidence of His works will come to you as His answers.
Temple construction? You just have to receive an answer for it, but the person who is weak and fearful has a lot to say. There is nothing to say if you received the answers, and it doesn’t matter how many weak people say words of weakness, irrelevant to God. If you want to receive blessings for your business but you’re distant from Temple Construction, those words do not make sense. God will give you what God has prepared, your entire life is in God’s hands.
(2) My field – Working of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 12:28-29)
(3) Witness that saves (Ac. 1:8)
Then, if you receive answers, then your church will be saved, your family will be saved, and your job field will be saved. But instead, you keep trying to compete with your own mind, you keep trying to win over others or use your strength, and that’s why everyone is dying.
Conclusion
1. Time of concentration – 40 days, 10 days, every week, every day, 24
In conclusion today, have a time to concentrate on God every single day, it could be five minutes. You can just concentrate five minutes a day, because when God works one time, that can be the answer of 1000 years.
2. Power – Answer of the summit
3. Witness that saves people
Read through the Word God has given to you through this message, and pray for the Spirit of God to completely control you. You can do this a few times and say, “Pastor Park, nothing happened to me,” but you have to wait some time to see the answers. These kids read through the Word and they don’t really feel moved by it, but keep on doing it. There’s the word from the Sunday message that really hits your heart, then write it down and look at it every day. May the Holy Spirit of Christ, may the God Who is this Word, fill me and completely control me. May God work upon my business, my studies, and everyone that I meet, then you will receive answers, then you become a witness who saves. May you and I have victory throughout the week.
Message Prayer
Let us pray together holding onto the Word we have received. May the Spirit of the Triune God Who gives me the Word fill me completely at this time. May the Kingdom of God be established in the field I must go to this week, and may we stand as the witnesses who will save this world. Let us pray.