Guidance of the Holy Spirit for Those Who are Liberated from Darkness (Jn. 9:35-41)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” May the words of your confession be fulfilled in your life. The title of today’s message is, “Guidance of the Holy Spirit for Those Who are Liberated from Darkness.” As we live our walk of faith, we need to know what the darkness is in order to know the meaning of the light. The worldly darkness, we can know by just a lack of light; it’s at night and we’re not able to see, but there’s a darkness that the Bible tells us about. You need to understand the darkness the Bible tells us about in order for the meaning of the light to come into your spirit.
The characteristic of being in darkness is, you don’t know you’re in darkness. If you are born into pitch-black darkness, then you think the entire world is darkness. You think this is just what life is. But one day, when the night becomes day, you are able to see the world. Our walk of faith is receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the spiritual light. If you’re not able to understand the meaning of these words, then it means we are walking in darkness. If you’re in darkness, then you’re not able to understand the things of your past, present, or your future because you are in darkness. Even if you go to church, because you are in darkness and there is no light, it is dark. So, we live our entire lives as spiritually blind people.
We have the knowledge of Jesus Christ through the text; however, our spiritual eyes to see Jesus are closed, and because of that, our reality is not aligned with God’s Word. That’s why we are always so conflicted. Today, I hope you will be liberated from that. Some of you might think, “Oh, I’m not like that,” and I hope you will be liberated as well. It is possible that people who think, “Oh, I’m not like that,” are also in darkness, and in today’s scripture, the Pharisees were a part of that group.
1. Incident where the blind can see
1) Went to the Pharisees
(1) Asked him how he received his sight (Jn. 9:15)
Last week, we received the Word about the man who was born blind and was able to see because of Jesus. If somebody has a disease or illness and is cured of that illness, it must be proven or confirmed by the priest, and so, the man who was born blind goes to the priest and the priest asks, “How did you come to see?” The man said, “Jesus allowed me to see,” but the way the Pharisees see things is different.
(2) Sinners who did not keep the Sabbath (Jn. 9:16,24)
If someone is better than they were before, then that should be our main focus, but the way the Pharisees saw it was they were centered on, “Why did this happen on the Sabbath? This man named Jesus had come to Israel and is making an uproar out of the Israelite religion, so we must kill him,” because they believed that this man, Jesus, was destroying the whole Jewish church. They have no interest in renewing or correcting themselves, they are just trying to kill Jesus for trying to destroy the Jewish church.
On the Sabbath, nobody is supposed to work, but Jesus did the work of healing someone. The Jewish people did not even know the meaning of the Sabbath. The intention of the Sabbath was that people would receive true rest from the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ. There are people who have lived their walk of faith for a very long time, but they interpret the Bible however they desire. Heretics will also read the Bible however they want to, and that’s exactly what they see. If you read the Bible based on what you want to see, then that is all you will see. We must see things the way the Lord sees them. If we see something different than what the Lord sees, then we will be just like the Pharisees; we will be opposing the church and the gospel, but these people thought they were doing the right thing.
(3) What do you have to say about Jesus? – Prophet (Jn. 9:17)
Then the Pharisees asked this man, “Who do you think Jesus is, then?” and the man replied, “He is a Prophet.” During the time of this Bible scripture, God had not given His Word to the Israelites for over 400 years since the book of Malachi, but this man is confessing that Jesus Christ was sent to us by God, and so the Pharisees got even more angry because they are not receiving the answer they expected; it was the opposite. Parents will get mad at their children if the children don’t do what the parents want. We get mad at Jesus when Jesus doesn’t do what we want. You all get mad when things don’t go the way that you want, but that is unnecessary anger. We must get angry at the things that anger Jesus. Our heart must be broken as we look at the people in the field who are dying without the gospel. If your heart is broken because of a mistake that you made, then that is a different kind of heartbreak.
2) Did not believe that he was blind and received his sight (Jn. 9:18)
In Jn. 9:18, the Pharisees did not want to believe that this blind man was healed, so people will always listen to what they want to hear and see what they want to see. We must be able to hear what the Lord desires. What’s the reason your walk of faith is not working out and your life is not receiving answers? It’s because you only listen to what you want to hear. Let’s say you’re running a business and today, you want to hear the Word of God that tells you that you will be successful, then you are still your own god. You are being your own god and you are trying to control God, and who do you think is the one doing that? That’s not the work of people. There is exactly one entity that does this work, it is the devil, but this individual is not aware that they are seized by the devil. They simply think, “These are my thoughts,” but these are thoughts that are seized by darkness. As long as we are not set free from that, this person is dragged by darkness. Parents will only see their children the way they want to see them, and that’s not real love, but they use their love as an excuse to only see their child the way they want to see them. People try to interpret their past however they want. However, if you look at everything from the perspective of the Truth of the Light of Jesus Christ, then you will understand your past, your present, and your future.
(1) Asked his parents (Jn.9:19)
Because the Jewish people did not want to believe this blind man was healed, they brought in his parents. But these parents had already seen their son healed by Jesus and began to believe in Jesus. Back then, if you believed in Jesus Christ, then you had to be exiled.
(2) Afraid of being put out of the synagogue – Ask our son (Jn. 9:21-23)
They had to get excommunicated or exiled from the community, and as a result, they were so afraid of being excommunicated that they said, “Don’t ask us, ask our son.” So, the Pharisees went and asked the son again. Don’t you think that this is an incorrect life? These people are living their entire lives until the very end, just trying to get what they want and they keep on forcing other people to tell them what they want to hear. “Do you love me?” That’s what people want to hear. What happens if they don’t say those words? If they don’t say those words, “I don’t get to hear what I want to hear, so life is not fun.” I hope you will come out of that state. I should want to listen to the words the Lord is telling me, and we must relay to other people the words that God desires. But instead, I say whatever I want to say, and that’s why I’m living a life that doesn’t really have God, but despite that, we say we believe in Jesus, so of course, your walk of faith will not work out.
(3) Told the son that Jesus is a sinner – Give glory to God (Jn. 9:24)
3) Hears what they want to hear (Jn. 9:27)
(1) Do you want to become his disciples too? (Jn. 9:27)
The Pharisees ask the blind man one more time, and the blind man says, “I’ve already told you, and you’re asking me again. Do you want to become Jesus’ disciples, too?”
(2) Disciples of Moses (Jn. 9:28)
Then the Pharisees hurled insults at him, saying, “We are disciples of Moses.” Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, so these Pharisees and Jewish people are very proud of their lineage; they are saying, “We received the Ten Commandments from God through Moses,” but there is a reason why God gave us the Law. The goal of God giving us the Law is that, by looking at the standard of the Law, we may realize that we are all sinners. Because I’m a sinner, I must be forgiven, and in order to get that grace, I must go before Jesus Christ. That was the whole purpose of the law, but the Pharisees thought, “I kept the law, I kept it with my actions; therefore, I have no sin, I am righteous.” If there is no law, then there is no existence for themselves, but because they keep the law with their actions, they receive so much respect and adoration from people, and that’s why they teach other people the law, and that’s the reason they succeed, so for the Pharisees, their entire life is destroyed. But Jesus was coming and destroying that, and that’s why they wanted to kill Jesus.
The reason God gave us the Law was to show us that we are sinners; does that mean that if we didn’t have the law, we would not be sinners? No, everyone who is born has original sin and is born a sinner. The reason why God gave us the Law was so that we would realize that we are sinners, and because we are sinners, we commit acts of sin, and you think that you’re righteous because you’ve kept the actions of the law? That’s how people will reject the grace of Jesus Christ.
(3) One who is from God – Jesus (Jn. 9:33)
Then, when the Pharisees ask this man, “Who is Jesus?” he says, “This man was sent to us by God, and there’s nobody who can open the eyes of the blind man if He is not the Messiah.” Because one of the ministries of the Messiah is opening the eyes of the blind, so the Jewish church excommunicated him. Do you know what happens if you’re excommunicated? Your children cannot go to school. You’re not able to get a credit card or anything opened in the bank, and you’re not able to buy a house; you just have to live on the streets, or you have to live in a tent in the mountains. There’s no social security or any benefits; you can’t go to the hospital, either. “Excommunication” means you are completely cut off from society. They’re not able to receive the benefits of being in the Jewish community or church, and that’s what actually happened to the early church. They accepted this faith, believed in Jesus, and followed Him, but what are the Christians today going to church for? They go to gain, and if they don’t get what they want, what do they do? They throw Jesus away. Those are not the same Christians; those are the wrong Christians.
(4) Thrown out (Jn. 9:34)
We must discover the value of Jesus as being greater than even the cost of being excommunicated. That is how valuable the gospel is, but we are losing hold of the value of the gospel. If things don’t go the way that I want, then I get tested. Do you know what the fundamental standard of legalistic people are? It’s “Me,” I kept the Word, the Word of God itself is on the side, the center is “me,” I use the Law of God as a tool to exalt myself. It’s exactly the same state as Gen. 3 where Satan seizes humans by telling them, “You can be like God.”
Your walk of faith should set us free from “Myself.” Things should not go with, “I want,” but our walk of faith is things going the way God wants. Our walk of faith is not about my benefit or my loss, it is about God’s will being fulfilled. Then why do we stay within “me-centeredness”? John 8:44 says that we desire to follow our father, the devil’s desires. “I don’t want to follow the will of the Lord; I want to follow whatever I want,” that’s what it means to be seized by the devil. Being seized by the devil doesn’t mean you have to be some shaman or have to have this visible reaction from it, just doing whatever you want to do is being seized, because that’s the work that the devil does; he makes everyone think that they are god.
2. Jesus found the blind
1) Jesus heard that they had thrown him out (Jn. 9:35)
This young adult who was blind and now can see was excommunicated, and Jesus heard about that. Our Lord knows all of our circumstances. God knows everything, He knows when we are treated unfairly and everything we go through, because He is the One Who made me. And He is the One Who moves every situation, He is the One Who knows when we stand up and when we lie down, so there’s no reason for you to pretend like you’re not listening, because God already knows.
(1) Do you believe in the Son of Man? (Jn. 9:35)
In Jn. 9:35, Jesus heard that they had thrown the blind man out, and He asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” And the “Son of Man” means, “The Messiah.”
(2) Can believe – I am the Son of Man (Jn. 9:36-37)
In Jn. 9:36, the man responded, “Who is He, so that I may believe in Him?” This blind man never saw Jesus because when he was still blind, that is when Jesus found Him and healed his eyes, and after he was able to see, he never saw Jesus. So, in our scripture today, Jesus hears that this man was excommunicated and goes to find him, but this man who was born blind never saw Jesus. So, Jesus responds to him, “The One with Whom you are speaking is he.”
(3) Worshiped (Jn. 9:38)
And he worshiped Him, he bowed down to Jesus. “Worship” is serving our master. Today, we are sitting here with a heart that says, “Lord, I am your servant; give me your Word.” But instead, more so than wanting to hear the Word of our Lord, we say, “Tell me what I want to hear.” Be aware of this, you must be able to hear what the Lord, your Master, is saying. That is how you acknowledge the sovereignty of our Lord. Even though we come to worship, people are falling in worship because they don’t want to hear. They relentlessly live, stuck in their own thoughts. Then, who do you think they’re actually worshiping? In Matthew 4, Satan goes to Jesus and says, “I will give you all the glory of the world; just worship me.” Satan uses greed to give us all the things of the world, all the success, all the glory, all the fame, if you just worship him instead. I hope you will be able to worship in your business field. When I say “worship,” I’m not talking about just the form of worship, where you just have to take a Bible to your job like the Pharisees. Today, we don’t say, “There’s a pastor giving the message, there is a choir that is singing and I’m sitting here,” that is not worship; that is just me being inside of the form of worship.
Worship is really giving worship. “My Lord and Master, please give me Your Word; I will move according to Your Word,” that’s worship. Why is worship not taking place in your personal field? Worship does not take place because you are seized by darkness. You are seized by the darkness of wanting to fulfill your own greed, there’s no “lord” there. You leave your Lord at the church, and when you’re in your field, the only thing that remains is your greed, your ambition, and your goal. Spiritually, you’re actually worshiping Satan, so of course, there can not be the peace of God’s Kingdom there. That’s why everyone says it’s so hard, they’re having such a hard time without realizing why it’s so hard; they are seized by darkness at this moment but they are unaware of it. So, this person is seized by their spiritual darkness and greed, and they say, “It’s so hard.” I hope you will worship in your academic field and your professional field. When people hear they need to worship, they turn on praise songs and they have their Bible; I’m not talking about the form of worship, I’m saying in that field, serve the Lord, say, “May You give me Your Word, and may your Word be fulfilled in this field. Lord, give me Your Word. Master, I will do in my business exactly Your Word. Lord, become my shepherd and guide my business.” That’s worship. Why does your family collapse? Because worship is not taking place. The parents are full of their own greed and they oppress their children with it, but that greed is how we will be trapped by Satan. You desire to carry out the desires of your father the devil, that’s why your family is trapped in darkness and falls.
May we all gather together in true worship and restore it. Even the people who are falling asleep, may you restore worship. If you fall asleep, you think it might be to your benefit, but you will keep getting seized by darkness. You’re not falling asleep because you want to, it’s because you’re seized by darkness. Yes, it is true that we might be tired today because we didn’t get enough sleep, but actually, if you’re seized by darkness, then you will succumb to that without realizing it. You say, “Pastor, it’s really hard to come to worship,” this person is not aware that they are seized by darkness. Yes, it is exhausting, yes, you are busy. “I’m so busy because of my business,” that is a fact, but you don’t know the fact that you are seized by darkness. We are called to worship but you are not able to worship? “Oh Pastor, during the week I’m so busy I can’t come to church,” then ask that person if they’re able to worship in their business field. They are afflicted in their professional field, then of course, they are not able to come to worship during the week. They are so seized by darkness, dragged around all day; how could they come to worship?
If something is not working out for you, you need to know the reason why, but you’re not aware of the reason why. If your children are not growing up the way you want them to, you need to know the reason why, but you’re not aware of that. You’ve educated them like the Pharisees. What is the education of the Pharisees? You hold onto the law and say, “Live like this, you live like this. If you can’t live like this, why not?” You’ve never given them Christ, you keep on giving them the law and say, “Make your actions good,” and there are some people who follow along, and that’s a good kid, but for most people, it’s hard for them. Then, what do the parents do? Because things aren’t going the way they want, they get angry. Then, when the kids grow up, they don’t want to stay home, because you’ve trapped them and oppressed them with the law; of course they’d want to escape. So then is your walk of faith to just drag them towards Jesus? That is one portion, but it doesn’t work with our strength. The education of legalistic people will say, “Pay attention and fix your actions,” so if things don’t work out with our strength, we throw a temper tantrum, and then we try to teach our kids by threatening them, “If you don’t get your act together, you’re not gonna survive in the world.” Is that how you were raised? If that’s how you were raised, then that’s why you’re raising your children like that.
There was never a time when you told the kids why they need Jesus Christ. Your children only hear about Jesus when they go to church or when it’s time to eat; they’ve never heard about why they need Jesus Christ in their everyday life. That’s why we need Jesus. If I could keep all the laws by myself, there’d be no reason for Jesus to come. But that’s why we must pray in the name of Jesus. If you just plant this gospel inside of them once, then they will be imprinted, but we’ve never given that to them. Yes, we do drag our children to church, but the gospel has never been given to them inside of the family. Then, our children have only been disciplined with the gospel; they’ve never really heard the gospel. And then later on, parents will say, “Our children went to church so much, why is this the best they can do?” They’ve never heard the real, true gospel inside. When they come to church, they’re listening to messages, but when they’re with their families, they face real-life citations in life, and that’s when they need to receive the gospel, but instead, they receive something else. So they don’t know the real gospel at all. They know the term, “Gospel,” but they do not know the power of the gospel. There’s no room in their family for Jesus, they just have a little flag that says, “Only Jesus,” but in reality, it is not “only Jesus” in my life. Then, the result will be based on what you put in.
Yesterday I was about to go to the Mexico Tecate mission camp, and I was checking my passport and it had expired, and I could’ve looked at the date earlier, too, and if I were the old me, I would’ve blamed my wife, “You couldn’t even pay attention to this and make sure that the expiration date hasn’t past. If I treated you like my secretary, you’d get fired.” Because imagine this, let’s say there’s a huge business trip where you have to meet with a client, and the secretary comes in and says, “Your passport is expired”? Then they would get fired, but I can’t fire my wife. Then I wondered, “Why did God allow this to happen? We could’ve seen this earlier but why now?” If I were to go to Tecate, Mexico, my wife was going to go with me, then my daughter would be home alone, and she would’ve done whatever she wanted. So, I told her, “Be safe and do this, this, and this,” and my daughter said, “I can’t do that,” and that’s the cause. So, we rescheduled the Mexico trip. I told my daughter, “I have given you the same disciple and education for multiple years, so change your attitude,” but I know she can’t change her attitude. The extent of my education is just letting her know that this is not right, but if you tell them, “Change this with your strength,” that’s legalism, so I told her, “You can’t change it, can you?” She said, “I can’t,” and I told her, “That’s why we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, then God’s power will come upon you.” It seems like this isn’t that big of a deal, but it makes a tremendous difference in your family.
When children listen to the gospel, they don’t really understand it, they just try to get the knowledge, and you need to give them the gospel as you live your life. You need to tell them, “Because you are weak and lacking, you need to pray in the name of Jesus Christ and God will give you power,” then that is really how that child hears the gospel. Even if they hear about Jesus Christ everyday inside of the church, what happens if they’ve never experienced it themselves? In your professional field, you are weak and lacking; that’s why you need the power of God upon you. If you receive the legalistic education, then you have to figure it out until the very end by yourself, and if you can’t handle it, then that’s embarrassing. That’s not the gospel; the gospel is not in you. Paul confessed, “When I am weak, then I am the strongest,” that is the gospel, I boast in my weakness.
Are you mentally suffering? That’s the reason to hold onto Christ. “I have to do this and figure that out, what do you mean, ‘the gospel’?” That’s a legalistic person. I hope you will hold onto the gospel, may we discover the reason why we need the gospel. Satan, the prince of this world, is blinding the hearts of unbelievers so they may not see the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan makes us hold onto the law so that we cannot hold onto the gospel. The members of the church, it’s not as if you’re not able to proclaim the gospel in the field, but you are in a state that doesn’t allow you to. Because you’re not able to apply the gospel to your own self, of course you cannot relay the gospel to anybody else. You are centered on yourself, seized by legalism, thinking that you have to do everything on your own, then how can you give the gospel to anybody else? That’s the reason why American churches are closing down, because people are losing the gospel. It’s not that they don’t know Jesus, but they don’t need Jesus in their everyday life, because “I do everything myself, and because this isn’t working out, I say, “This is so hard,” and if it doesn’t work out, I get a scar from that. So it’s just like Adam and Eve, even though they both committed the sin themselves, they blamed, “Oh, it was the woman,” or, “Oh, it was the snake.” This is how far we’ve gone from worship.
May true worship and true service be established in our lives, then do you know what happens? If God’s Kingdom is established first, then everything else will be given to you as well. But if you are racing into your business to try to get everything on your own because of your greed, then Satan works. May the Kingdom of God and the sovereignty of our Lord Christ be established in your business and your family. May you have that blessing.
2) Jesus who came to judge (Jn. 9:39)
In Jn. 9:39, Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world.” “I thought Jesus was here to save; why is He here to judge?” Why is that?
(1) Blind will see (Jn. 9:39)
Because people thought that the man who was born blind was a sinner and the Pharisees who were able to see with their physical eyes were righteous, Jesus had to come and say, “No, that’s not right,” and give the correct judgment. “So that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind.” Those who can’t see know they are weak, so they seek Jesus.
(2) Those who see will become blind (Jn. 9:39)
But those who can see, they think that they’re normal so they don’t need a doctor, they don’t need Jesus, so the people who think they don’t need Jesus, they are truly the blind ones. Their spiritual eyes are blinded and the light of the gospel does not go into them, but they think that they’re normal. People go to church and they think that they’re normal, they think that they don’t have sin; they think, “I can do this,” that’s why they don’t go to Jesus. If you’re able to pray, it means that you acknowledge your weakness. Prayer is asking for the Lord to work upon you with His absolute sovereignty. If you’re not able to pray, it means, “I want to live my life however I want to live my life,” Then there’s no reason to pray. In reality, that is the state that is seized by demons and darkness. We need Christ. That was the Pharisees, they lived with that spiritual state.
(3) You can see and your guilt remains (Jn. 9:41)
In the last verse, Jesus says, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now that you say, ‘We can see,’ your guilt remains.” So our weakness actually becomes a channel for us to go to God. Do you have a problem with your children or your family? That becomes a channel for you to go to Christ. However, if you think you’re normal or fine, then they will never go to Christ and never receive God’s grace, because they think that they can do this. The Lord is saying, “Try on your own,” but that is a blind man. Their physical eyes may be opened, but they’re not able to see. Why did God allow us to have handicaps or weaknesses? God has opened up a channel for us to go to Christ. Are you continuously and repeatedly failing? That’s the rightful thing to happen; because you have the perfect condition set for failure, that is the obvious and natural result.
If you have a disease now, it’s because you had this condition set to leave you no other choice, so you must not try to change the result; you need to change the preexisting condition. If you have a disease, you have to realize, “Oh, I had a spiritual disease that left me no other choice.” If you have depression, then you had a spiritual state that led to that condition. If I have an addiction, then it’s not because of something or someone; I had an internal condition set that left me no other choice. And as long as your internal conditions are not changed to be set on Christ alone, you can never be set free. That is the result of living your entire life living like a Pharisee, centered on yourself, seized by darkness.
3) Jews who rely on the law (Rom. 2:17)
What does it say about the Jews who rely on the law? For these Pharisees, they relied on the Law, and that was their way of making a living, and they boasted about God with their Law, but Jesus is saying that they are all fake.
(1) Guide for the blind (Rom. 2:19)
Jesus is saying that, “You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, but you are actually the blind leading the blind.” But the Pharisees thought they were the light, and Jesus is saying, “You’re blind; how can you even lead the blind?” If the parents are seized by legalism, it is like the blind leading the blind, and when your children grow up and run a business, then it is the people of darkness leading more people of darkness. People are suffering, but the characteristic of being in darkness is you don’t know the reason why you are suffering.
(2) Light for those in the dark (Rom.2:19)
(3) You have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth (Rom. 2:20)
In Rom. 2:20, it says, “You have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, but you are an instructor of the foolish and a teacher of infants.” What is he saying here? It means that people think they are living their walk of faith just fine, but God is saying, “You’re blind,” in other words, you keep living a walk of faith where you think you don’t need Christ. Why do you not need Christ? Because you think you can do this, you think that you’re an okay person. So, only when you are about to eat food or when something is happening in your life, you’ll call on Jesus Christ, but not in your everyday life.
3. Those who receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit
1 Cor. 1:19 says that “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.” So if by the work of the Holy Spirit, the blind man has been healed, then he must be continuously led by the Holy Spirit into the light. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit and the desires of the flesh are the opposite of each other, and if you receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you are no longer under the law. If you receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then your main center becomes Christ, then God becomes your Lord. On the other hand, if you chase after the desires of your flesh, you are the master of your life, but it turns out it’s actually the devil who is the master of my life, that is the state of darkness. So, if your spiritual eyes have been opened, you must continuously be led into the light. In order to do that, you must have the correct beginning.
1) Cross – It is finished (Jn. 19:30)
What kind of starting point does Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection have in my life? If that light does not go into you, then you will always remain your own master. Jesus Christ finished everything on the cross, all of the curses, disasters, and problems that come as a result of me being the center focus of my life and the devil is broken and finished.
(1) Lord of resurrection- With (Gal. 2:20)
Then, Jesus Christ resurrected and is living within me as the Lord of my life, that fact must come into you. If that Truth does not go into you, then no matter how much you try to change yourself, you can’t, then you have to live, bearing your own heavy burdens, and you have to live, carrying all the heavy burdens in life. That old “me” died on the cross, and now, Christ lives within me as my Lord, and I need to entrust everything to my Lord, but instead, I keep it.
When I was driving my daughter back from the evangelism school yesterday, I asked her, “Do you remember what I told you yesterday?” “Yes.” “You know you can’t do this on your own, right?” “Yes, I know.” Moment by moment, pray in the name of Jesus Christ for God’s power to be upon you,” She might feel that, because of her weakness, she can’t exist in this world, but when she experiences the power of God through praying in the name of Jesus Christ, then her weakness actually turns into the power of God. But what happens if I educate her in a legalistic way, saying, “This is the best you can do? You can’t be any better than this? Why don’t you try a little more?” Then those are actually words that kill her. It may seem like a small difference, but it’s the difference between heaven and earth. Same thing with your family, your husband or wife, you keep on trying to fix your husband or wife, but it’s not going to work. So, we have to keep saying, “Please, hold onto the gospel,” next to them. You have to say, “I can’t do this; you can’t do this, either.” Because we can’t do this, we need to pray in the name of Jesus Christ for God’s power and grace to come upon us, and moment by moment, we need to pray for Christ to become the Lord of our business fields.
But why are you, instead of praying, being seized by the devil and insisting on having a hard time? People say, “Oh, isn’t it embarrassing to pray all the time? I have to take care of what I have to take care of,” that’s the devil’s words. 24 hours, Christ must be my Master, and Christ must work upon me, 24 hours a day, and we must run our business being seized by Jesus Christ, 24 hours a day. And if my business fails, the Lord did that, and if my business is exalted, the Lord did that as well. Either way, the Lord is doing it for the Lord’s glory. May that field be restored. Then, you have no responsibility for your own life.
(2) God’s kingdom – Mission (Ac. 1:3)
When the resurrected Lord becomes your Lord, then you look at the field and realize, “Wow, everybody around me needs the gospel, they are dying.” Even if people are coming to church, they don’t have the gospel;they are seized by legalism. “Wow, my mission in life must be to shine the light of Christ so they receive this gospel.” Even though I came to America with the dream of the American Dream, it must be changed to the dream of establishing God’s Kingdom. Living the American Dream is just physical, so even if you have it, it’s not even eternal. Live for the Kingdom of God that is eternal. Our mission is to establish the Kingdom of God that influences every person within the sovereignty of Christ. All of your motives for living here or being born here, may you change that into the mission of establishing God’s Kingdom.
(3) Filling of the Holy Spirit – Power – Witness to the ends of the earth (Ac. 1:8)
2) Guidance of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16)
(1) Not the greed of the flesh or under the law (Gal. 5:16,18)
The children of Israel were born in Egypt for 3 or 4 generations, and they faced those curses and disasters, and the reason was because they were not able to receive the mission of why they were in Egypt from their parents. They were only able to escape and establish God’s Kingdom when they applied the blood of the Lamb. If you don’t relay this to your next generation, then you are just feeding them the rotten dream of the American life that is going to spoil anyway. Democracy is something we need temporarily, but if you hold onto that, you will die. Especially individualism, if you make people hold onto that, it will lead to disaster. Especially capitalism, if you hold onto your ideology centered on money, then you will be trapped in darkness. You have to choose, will you choose God or will you choose money? You need to hold onto Jesus Christ so that money follows you for the work of God to be fulfilled, but the moment you hold onto money, you will be seized by darkness. That’s why this capitalist ideal, centered on money, yes, you need money, but the moment you hold onto it, you are bound by it. We cannot do this with our own strength, so only when the Holy Spirit comes upon you will you receive power and be a witness until the ends of the earth.
(2) Requirement of the law fully met in us (Rom. 8:4)
(3) Fulfillment of the law – Love others (Rom. 13:8,10)
Your strength can barely survive and make a living; you can’t save anyone with that. The power of Creation must be upon me to do world evangelization. I hope you’ll pray for that. Pray so that God’s power of creation may be upon me and my business so it may be used to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. You need to believe in Jesus Christ, but instead, you keep trying to believe in yourself, so that’s why you’re not able to pray, and all you’re able to do is sigh and be discouraged. If you’re going to church, then that means you came to believe in Jesus Christ, right? But everybody only believes in themselves, and that’s why they’re discouraged and have no more hope. Because they believe in themselves, they are overwhelmed with mental problems. May the Spirit of Creation, the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, completely fill me and work upon me with power, when? We need this 24 hours a day. Even when you’re playing and having fun, you need to have this, that is how you’ll be a witness by the power of the Holy Spirit, even when you’re having fun. Then, you will receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the law will be fulfilled. The completion of the Law is loving your neighbors. Why do you run a business? It is so you can save people. Why do students study? It is so that they can love their neighbors. But instead of loving their neighbors, they are only filled with love for themselves, that’s why people suffer.
3) Antioch church
(1) Gentile missions, healing, future generation – Work that Holy Spirit makes us do (Ac. 13:2,12, 17:1)
The Antioch church was the first church that did missions to the Gentiles. The Jerusalem Temple could not be used by God because they were only focused on the laws of the Jews. It doesn’t matter if you receive the gospel, you need to obey the Sabbath and be circumcised.
(2) Barnabas, Paul – Raise up (Ac. 13:2)
That’s why God said, “Set Paul and Barnabas aside for me to do the work that I have given to them.” That’s what you need to do, you must not do the work you want to do; you must do the work that the Holy Spirit has given you. The reason your life is not working out is because you are living irrelevant to the work God gave you. Missions to the Gentile Nations. Go to them and heal them. Heal the people you meet in your professional field. Everybody in your business field may dress well and look fine but they are completely dead and their families are dying. People are putting on makeup, have nice clothes, and they’re running their businesses, but inside they’re all dying. People try to look the best they can; they even get plastic surgery, but that’s not enough. Run your business in order to save those people.
(3) Place that the Holy Spirit sends you to (Ac. 13:4)
God has already prepared a location as well. That’s the region where you are living and working now.
Conclusion
1. Within me – Bartizan of Covenant (Receive strength of prayer)
2. Guidance of Holy Spirit – Go on the Journey
3. Region – Raise Guideposts, absolute disciples
4. Temple – Courtyard of the Gentiles, healing, future generation
In conclusion, God’s covenant of the bartizan must be within me. It must not be your own ideologies. You cannot put something else inside of you just so that you can try to overcome your scars. If you have the American Dream inside of you, you have to change that to God’s dream. Every time you pray, ask for God to give you power. May every step you take along this journey receive the power of God to save people.
Message Prayer
Let us pray together holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We have returned your materials as offering. Everywhere this offering is used, may lives be saved. We pray that You will bless this offering so it may be used to bring the people who are lost in legalism into the light of the gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray you will bless these two newcomers so they may remain within the light of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. May You bless their footprints so that they bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit and establish the Kingdom of God. 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. Mexico Tecate Camp, Nov.
3. Florida Camp/Hollywood Camp – Temple
4. 10/31 (Thurs.) Holy Wind Camp
5. 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, guidance, and working, fellowship, and filling of the Holy Spirit, be upon the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to hold onto only the gospel, live only for the Kingdom of God, by the power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.