From the Stream of Death into Life (John 1:1-12)

Today we read in John 1 about life, so we’ll be talking about life today.  So, what four great civilizations were destroyed? I’m asking a question. Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China. Egypt has the Nile River, Mesopotamia has Euphrates, India has the Indus River, and China has the Yellow River. 

Why?  For farming, trade, and animals need the river, and trees.  Then the animals are able to eat the trees.  So, around rivers, trees grow and animals live around them and they can farm and also facilitate transportation, so the greatest civilizations arose around rivers.  As time passed, when the nations wanted to trade with each other, they had to pass through water, like oceans and rivers.

Why is the river so important?  It’s so simple, it’s because people live around the rivers, but they don’t live on the ocean.  People don’t live in the ocean, the rivers separate the land, and that’s where people live.  So, that’s why people go along these rivers and that’s how trade is facilitated.  People started advancing around these rivers.

The Nile River in Egypt goes from central Africa and flows through Egypt, and as it flows downstream, it takes soil with it, and sediment builds upon the riverbanks and form small islands, then what kind of lands do these become? The land becomes very nutritious with many nutrients in the soil, and that’s where Egyptians grew crops and farmed.

If the Nile River was blocked, they couldn’t grow anything or farm, and at this time, they worshiped the Nile as a god, because if the Nile was stopped, they would die.  So, they pray, “Please let me farm and grow crops,” so they worshiped idols again because they needed water to grow their crops.  Because they need the sun, they also worshiped the sun god.  Because they needed a lot of workers to work the land, they prayed to a fertility god. 

Because they don’t have God, they worshiped these other gods and became one of the world’s strongest nations. What countries are in present-day Mesopotamia?  Don’t look it up on Google, say it from your knowledge. Iran was Persia, and Syria is from the Assyrians.  The Babylonians even built cities on islands and were powerful.  India was also powerful.

Where do these numbers come from?  The person who founded Motorola was actually from India.  A lot of people in IT are Indian.  Indian people are very hardworking and diligent and have advanced far, they are most advanced in the internet and IT.  So, we need to advance our knowledge and our skills. 

China, if you look at Shanghai, there’s a very large river, and because of that river, boats can come in and they’re able to grow crops. Where did paper originate from?  We’re talking about China, I’ve told you all the answers already so even if you’re not smart, you should be quick with this.  Where did guns come from? Even in South and Central America, there are many civilizations like the Aztecs, but we’ll focus on these.

People lived around rivers and were able to buy things, trade, and grow crops, they could grow animals and eat beef and chicken.  So the reason why I’ve said this is to explain something else, what’s the most important thing for our bodies?  Our bodies have life. And we need blood which has oxygen and nutrients.  If our blood gets clogged, we die.  The Bible said Jesus shed His blood and water from His body, so he died.

Why do we eat?  So we get nutrients. Why do we breathe? We breathe in through our nose and the oxygen is distributed throughout our bodies through our arteries.  So, where is the waste excreted?  Things like carbon dioxide. Arteries distribute oxygen, so what’s responsible for taking out the waste?  Veins. Not vain, vein.  The artery is responsible for taking in the oxygen so it can be distributed, then as we move around, it excretes waste and is taken out through the lungs.  That’s why you need to breathe deeply to take in lots of oxygen. 

Why do we tell you to flex your lower abdomen?  Your stomach is kind of in the middle, but you have to tighten your lower abdomen.  Do it right now, breathe in slowly while tightening your abdomen.  If there are people not following, I’ll call you out.  Breathe in slowly and deeply, and hold it, then exhale slowly through your mouth.  What happens to your stomach? Your stomach goes down.  Breathe so that your stomach goes out and in, why? 

Our bodies have lungs and a stomach or belly, and intestines and the lower abdomen and diaphragm.  It’s this barrier between the lungs and your stomach.  When you tighten your lower abdomen, your diaphragm goes down, and because it goes down, your lungs expand and the air can come in, so that’s why we tell you to tighten your lower abdomen because this diaphragm is blocking the lungs so the lungs can’t expand.  As you tighten your lower abdomen, the diaphragm goes down so you can expand your lungs even more.

Why do you hold your breath? So the oxygen can be distributed through the blood. If you just blow it out, the oxygen can’t reach the blood. When you exhale, all the carbon dioxide will be exhaled through your mouth, so we’re making our vital organs very strong.  Deacon Ted, concentrate on this. This will strengthen your body, and one day, you will see, your arteries won’t break.

A stroke means blood isn’t properly going to your brain.  Sometimes there’s a blockage in an artery or vein.  So, the nutrients and oxygen are supposed to reach the brain but they can’t. There’s a blockage, so it’s like freeway traffic where cars not being able to go around it.  We’ll take a quiz, you have to get 3/5 to pass.  We’ll put this diagram and quiz you on the four civilizations.

You’ve memorized all this?  Memorize it quickly.  If you’re not smart, take a picture, I’m just going to erase it and there’s no after-school.  You can still kind of see it, but I’ll write over it.  Life is the physical body, but it’s not the focus.  We are spiritual beings, so we have spiritual life, but what’s the Greek word?  We’re talking about the spiritual life.  Bio is the physical body, but Zoe is the spiritual body.  We need to take care of our physical bodies so we’re healthy.

Some people don’t take care of their bodies so they’re unhealthy, but there’s also this eternal life.  We also need to take care of our spiritual body so our spirits are healthy. Let’s say Zoe is spiritual life, Because of sin, Satan, and separation, unbelievers are dead. Even though they’re physically alive, they’re spiritually dead.  They don’t know anything about God. 

When God created man, He created them to be with him to have this relationship with him through prayer.  We were created unlike animals to have this relationship with God in Christ, and because we have this spiritual communication with life, we have blessings.  We are fruitful and multiply.

Life is distributed according to the blood. When we’re with God through this life, we can receive these blessings, we’re fruitful and multiply, and we rule over, Genesis 1:28.

We are dead because of sin of disobeying God.  We face death and have no choice but to lose these blessings which are taken away from us.  Because these blessings were taken away from us, mankind tries to receive these blessings with their own efforts and diligence, and that’s the incident of the Tower of Babel.  Mankind raised their efforts with their own strength and fell in the end. In Genesis 3, mankind tried to be like God, but they lost hold of life and fell into sin, curses, and disasters.  That’s why they can’t even serve or come out of this through the Word.

When you can’t enjoy this life within your own lives properly, you’ll have no choice but to fall into the curses and disasters of this world, but where is this life?  John 1:4 says life is within Jesus, and Jesus must be within us for us to have life. Even if mankind does all these religious acts and traditions, they cannot receive life.  Because we received life, we’re liberated from death and it turns into life.

The life is also the light. The darkness turns to light, and we’re able to see things now that we couldn’t see before. Before, I couldn’t believe in God, but now I believe in Him.  At this point, I thought the physical blessings were everything, but now I see the grand spiritual blessings, and that’s when the light comes.

When it’s super dark, can you move around? God gave us all these blessings, but our eyes are blinded so we cannot enjoy it.  But when this spiritual light is shone, I’m able to see the spiritual blessings, so I have this life through faith.  You can’t confirm spiritual things with science, but right now, people are giving evidence to meditation through science, so they’re able to research this and show the effectiveness. That’s why meditation and meditation science are extremely popular in hospitals. 

What is meditation without life? They focus on something, on what? They can’t see it, but they’re focused on spiritual things. Because mankind is a spiritual being, they have no choice but to focus on spiritual things, so that’s why they receive healing, but later on, they’re spiritually seized. If people do drugs once or twice, it has no effect, but after a few times, some people can’t live without it.  At first, people do meditation a few times and receive healing, but others cannot live without this. That’s the state where they’re already seized. 

Satan presents it in such a fabulous way, but later on, he seizes them.  Satan isn’t working in America as he works in other nations, he does it very subtly.  He does it through science.  They apply this to the medical field.  Steve Jobs used transcendental meditation to do his business, so it’s in the businesses, and now they’re receiving money by releasing this in movies and musical entertainment. Also politics and the powerful leaders, so many terrible things have happened in Ukraine.

In the 1900s, there was the Korean war, and it’s similar to what’s happening in Ukraine now.  Parents are dying to bombings, hundreds of thousands are fleeing to Poland and have nothing to eat, so the UN is helping them. It’s the same as the Korean War long ago, Assistant Pastor Lim escaped to the South. You can’t be like her, we can’t understand this fully but we try to.  They are the generation that explored.  She takes care of her grandchildren well, but people complain about that. It’s because there was no food thee, so people can’t fit in the trains, so some of the people had to go on the tops of the train roofs and then come down.

Assistant Pastor Lim was young at the time, so I’m sure her mother fed her all the food, and because she had that kind of experience, she does it to her. She came to America, and ever since then, she’s heard that they’re protected by the military. So it’s not a simple thing when she says, “Don’t go into the security, “My children cannot go to the military,” so she came to America.  This is the flow though which god worked through His family.  Go d was leading them through the age, in order to do the life movement.  That’s what is happening in Ukraine right now.

It takes tens of years to recover, but when Satan says to pull the trigger, it gets shot down.  World War I happened coincidentally and in a frenzy because of adults with issues.  These people form religions to serve Satan. These things happen without fail, so through something that seems trivial in America, like transcendental meditation, Satan is seizing the entire world.  You need to know this so you’re able to save the people from within this.

People who work day-to-day.  You’re not going to your job to eat and live well, but it’s to do this life movement.  No matter how many people succeed like in Genesis 11 or the Tower of Babel, their spirits are dead.  No matter how many people try to form unity?  The individual doesn’t have Jesus Christ and will have no choice but to get in trouble. Then the entire society and family will cover.  God has given us life through grace. We need to use it within us. We have money and don’t use it? You use it when you don’t have money. We have a lot of scars.  Only the life of Christ can solve this, enjoy and possess the life of Christ.

Then my everyday problems aren’t problems, when you’re filled with the power and life of Christ, nothing is a problem. If you’re eating and breathing healthily, then it’s not a problem, but if you eat and breathe incorrectly, it becomes a problem. The four civilizations grew out of rivers. If the river dries up, the trees and animals will die, so we all originate from the river, and you can enjoy this spiritual life. Now is that time.  You can’t see it, because it’s spiritual, but God works within us through the Holy Spirit. 

If you add deep breathing, you will receive power. I hope Deacon Ted will breathe in slowly, hold it, and exhale slowly.  When you do that, your blood vessels will be healthier.  These spiritual blessings and powers are promised to you so you can save the world.  There are so many problems in the world, but God gives the way to overcome it.  I pray we will become the people who enjoy and relay the spiritual and physical life.

We’ll have a quiz next week. 

Prayer

God, we thank You. Please bless the remnants, may we be the remnants who enjoy and are filled with and relay the life.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.