Hold onto the Word and have a Time of Concentration (Acts 1:4)
Let us read Acts 1:14 together.
“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
We’re going to use this verse, Acts 1:14, to focus on the word, “concentration.” The people who gathered in Mark’s Upper Room in Acts 1 were people who concentrated on correct things. They did not talk about or advertise the abilities of man, but 1 Corinthians 1 says that the wisdom of humans is less than the wisdom of God, and it also tells us that we think the power of the world is great, but the power of God is so much greater.
The power of the people who gathered in Acts 1 from a worldly perspective was not that great. Therefore, these are the people who concentrated upon the covenant of God. As they were concentrating on the promise of God, the world began to change.
The Jewish people in the Jerusalem temple had a lot more worldly power, however, these people concentrated upon the law. As a result, those people entered into curses and disasters. Though it is the Word of God, we need to be able to concentrate on the word that God desires, then God will work.
At this time, there are many churches and people living in America, but a person and their family will change if they concentrate and even now, this physical world we live in is being influenced by the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Because this world is being influenced by the kingdom of satan, people are focused on themselves. Through their own abilities and center, they’re able to succeed and accomplish many things. However, if people concentrate upon their own selves, their thoughts and ideologies and power, then they will fall into curses and disasters as Satan works upon them.
Why is it that there are so many talented individuals who have gathered in America, and yet despite that, they are facing so many curses and disasters? It’s because they are concentrating on something else. If they are concentrating upon people or upon academics or the ideologies of people, they will fail without a doubt. The ability of mankind may seem great; however you will realize that this world is being controlled by spiritual problems.
The Bible tells us that the church is the place that restores the will of God. Tonight, you and I have gathered, but where are you gathering, and what will you concentrate on? A person’s future will change depending on whether they gather to receive grace themselves or if they go into the Word that God desires. Of course we have to receive grace, but we’re not able to judge whether the grace we feel is correct or not. If you just look from the standard of, “The pastor talked about a passage I liked today,” that’s a difficult standard. “Today, I was very comforted.” Then that’s a very difficult person.
Of course we receive comfort as well, but if you’re always focused on, “I received comfort today,” you’re always self-centered, then one day that person doesn’t receive comfort from the message, they’ll not think that the message is good. The more a person is self-centered, the more they will receive curses and disasters.
These people that concentrated in Acts 1 were the ones who concentrated on the covenant of Christ and received that answer. The fact that they receive Christ as an answer means that these are the people who understood, by God’s grace, that the problems of this world are Sin, Satan, and Hell, and the only way to escape from that is Jesus Christ. So even if these people were very lowly, to God they were very precious because they knew the answer.
Whereas the people in the Jerusalem Temple taught the scriptures in the Old Testament and they accomplished great success, but they didn’t teach the answers that are in God’s word. The characteristic of people who haven’t received such answers is that they are alway asserting themselves but they themselves are not aware of this, they themselves don’t realize that they are holding onto themselves. The evidence that comes is that their expressions are always centered on themselves. Their standards are so strong, they think they’re correct, and that’s why they either start enforcing themselves or they bump into other people, and if they’re too strong, they will either oppress other people or they themselves will be mentally afflicted. Being too strong is holding onto God’s Word and saying they’re right, that’s a legalistic person, and people who grow up under legalism will lose their minds because they will not be able to overcome the law themselves.
There are some average people, but if you look, some families are very strong in legalism and their children absolutely lose their minds, and they lose their minds in various ways, why? It seems like they’re concentrating on God’s word but it is actually themselves; it is the Christ. That means they do not know hell, disasters, and Satan. If they did know that, they would say, “only Christ,” because the thing called “me” is dead on the cross. Why do you keep coming out, why do you hold onto your thoughts and experiences? You don’t need any of that, those things cannot overcome Satan, hell, or disaster.
Only Christ, it is finished. The people who have that answer saw the resurrected Jesus Christ Who told them to go and make disciples of all nations, so they gathered and prayed upon that. At this time, what is God’s plan? It is to make disciples? of all nations. The message that God gave to Abraham is the same message given to us, but in Abrahm’s time schedule, it was the time schedule to go to Canaan. In Abraham’s time schedule, it was to bear a child, a fruit or seed that would bless all people. For Joseph, the work he had to do in his time schedule was to go to Egypt to save the people of all nations. In the age of Moses, Moses had to lead the Exodus so that the name of God could be exalted in all nations.
Now that Jesus Christ has come upon this earth, we need to personally go and make disciples of all nations. That’s the Covenant of God. The people who held onto the covenant of God, the covenant of Christ, and world evangelization, they were the ones who concentrated in Acts 1, in Mark’s Upper Room. It must be this to say that you biblically restore the Early Church.
Even now, God is working upon the people who have held onto this Covenant. Why do I not receive answers, why do I keep collapsing? It is because I am too strong in myself. If Christ is truly everything, I need to hold onto the covenant of Christ through God’s word. Why do divisions and conflicts keep happening? It is because I lose hold of God’s Covenant and assert my own thoughts. Satan looks for people like that, and that’s why people like that have children with the same spiritual problems.
QUickly restore the Covenant, only Christ. These are the people who have meetings to save the 237 nations and will do world evangelization. Who cares if you’re good at studying or good at your business? Even unbelievers can do that, that’s not a blessing. Do you think that what unbelievers do is a blessing? Do you think the work they’re doing so that they can go to hell is a blessing? If they’re really doing something great, is that a blessing? There is a different blessing of God.
For people who are centered on Christ, they will receive the blessing of answers that are prepared for them. Blessings of meetings. Before arguing about whether you’re good at your business or not, you have to have the word of God come upon you. The common characteristic of people who fail in their walk of faith is that they’re centered on themselves, doing things with their own effort to fulfill their goal. Withouta doubt they will fail. Why without a doubt? Because they’re self-centered. There’s no reason for me to maintain an existence for all eternity on earth. Only Christ is the name that will be maintained for all eternity. Only the covenant of Christ will never fail and it will be maintained for all eternity.
That is why the grass withers, flowers will fade, and even the glorious powers of the world may seem so great, they will all fall. However, because Christ, the Covenant of Christ, is ternal, it will never fail, and the one who holds onto the Covenant of Christ their words will never fail, and upon the people who concentrate upon this, the Holy Spirit will work.
The reason the members who gathered and concentrated in Mark’s Upper Room and overturned Rome was not because they were well educated scientists and graduates of ivy leagues, but they held to the covenant and experienced the power of God. Where do you concentrate most of your day? If you concentrate on yourself, then you’re going to fall into obsession. If you’re self-centered, it’s obvious, you’ll be focused on money and success, and that’s why you’re focused on money. That’s why you become obsessed with people. In order to be successful, you need to have powerful people around you, so you become obsessed by people, and ultimately you become enslaved by Satan. The further you go into this, it becomes an addiction, and you become addicted to work. You cannot escape, why? Because you’re holding onto yourself which is unnecessary. You’re falling into the trap of Satan, deceived into thinking you can be like God. However, I have been crucified on the cross with Christ and now Christ lives within me. Now it is no longer about my plans, but I’m seeing my plans from the Word of God.
Our church must follow God’s Word. It doesn’t matter whether you think, “We should do this or that,” That’s Genesis 11, where you think what you should do. No matter how much we try to gather the efforts and powers of mankind, that is only Satan, disasters, and curses. The correct church is the church that is able to concentrate upon the correct covenant of Christ, in the church and in the field, then the Holy Spirit will work. Because the work of the HolySpirit comes upon you, you’ll receive answers that you didn’t even know were there. The blessings of meeting with people who are able; to fulfill the covenant of 237.
Those people won’t betray you because these are not people who move according to material possessions. If somebody is centered on themselves and material things, they will be attached to people who are focused on those things, so the result that always occurs is that if there is a slight disadvantage, they will betray you and turn their back on you. You ask the question, “Why Is America like this? “ it’s because everyone is living centered on themselves, and you get attached to people who are similar to you. Because these acts keep happening, that’s the result of the society. What does God require? Being centered only Christ, on world evangelization, and the Holy Spirit works on the ones who gather on only covenant. That is the church, this is what needs to happen in your family for your family to be restored, and you need to do this in your field in order for God to work upon your field and for a to be church established in your field.
When you look at it like this, what is the culture of America? What do they talk a lot about? They don’t talk a lot about Christ; they talk centered on people, and that’s the culture of Genesis 3. Sure, America may have been founded by people who started a few churches here, but that’s not the case today. Right now, all the religions are flocking to America, muslsims, hinduism, and all these other religions. Even the churchgoers, the chirsitan who hold onto the Bible, are mixing their beliefs for example, mormons, God the Mother beliefs, and all these other beliefs. So, America may be a gathering of many talented and gifted individuals, but the disasters keep crowding in, and these disasters are connected to the 237 nations.
If you’re living in America and you don’t understand the covenant of the 237 nations, it means you don’t understand the world, you live centered on yourself, and you’re going to collapse. Why did God create the superpower nations? So that they could influence the entire world. If you’re living in America without the covenant of world evangelization of 237 nations, you’re not aligned with God,and that’s why you live in America and are suffering, why? Because you’re not aligned with God. You need to be connected with God,and that’s why the blessing of the Throne of heaven comes upon you. If you’re not connected with God, disasters and Satan will continue to work upon you, so we cannot be deceived by these principles and lies.
That’s why you need to have a time of concentration every single day. What do you concentrate on? Not concentrating upon the things of yourself; there is no, “you,” but the things of Chrst. The word of Christ and world evangelization. As you concentrate on this, God promised you that the working of the Holy Spirit will come upon you. When you receive the power of the Holy Spirit, you become a witness for world evangelization. This is the common characteristic no matter what you’re doing, but if you lose hold of this, you’re just like the Jewish people who went to the Jerusalem Temple, lost hold of the Covenant, and failed.
That’s why even the big churches collapse, they only collapse because they have the things within them and that will make them collapse they don’t have what it takes to block that. “Oh, that church is huge and great,” but just because it’s big right now doesn’t mean it’s actually big, because the people who gather in that church are all focused on themselves, material things, and success, they only follow because they see those things, and one day, they will collapse. As long as you’re not holding onto the covenant of Christ and God’s greatest desire of world evangelism you will fail. Abraham was aligned with God in this, and that’s why God blessed Abraham. Joseph was aligned with God in this, and that’s why God blessed Joseph. Moses was aligned with this, and that’s why God blessed Moses. God even blessed the gentile prophet who helped Moses, why? Because these people were aligned with God’s direction.
I hope you will run a business aligned with the direction of God, I hope you will study the things that are aligned with the direction of God. If you work diligently there’s no meaning in that. “I tried my best,” those words sound good, but they mean nothing to God. We do not need your diligence; God doesn’t need your best. He needs your diligence and best effort when you’re aligned with God, so God will work upon it. Only when the members of the church congregation are aligned with God in this way will God work upon them to change the entire world.
Then if God needs your success, He can create success just as he makes the superpower nations rise or fall. If God wants church revival, He makes it happen. Who are we to set a number and challenge towards church revival? Are we some sort of religion? “I’ve done this and this is what I’ve done,” are we just putting on show? Whatever you’re doing is bound to fall. Only the works that happen within God’s direction, time schedule, God’s will, and God’s working are the ones that will be eternal, but if you keep trying to calculate, using yourself and your brain, you will only collapse.
Only the works that happened within God’s desire, God’s direction, and God’s time schedule are the ones that will have continuation. That’s not the slow way, that’s the fastest way because God can make something happen in a moment that you would have to do for a hundred years. No matter how hard you work if it falls why would you do it at all? So, the time of concentration you need to have every day is a time where you have to have this sincere and sense of consciousness with God.
If you don’t believe in this, why would you concentrate on God? Of course, it’s better for you to concentrate on your thoughts, then. If you don’t believe in this, you’ll concentrate on your thoughts,and that’s why you concentrate on your worries, wy? Because you’re centered on yourself. The only result is going to be mental illnesses, stress, and nervous issues. These are not the things God has given to us.
You just have to know that every problem is caused by you, it is simply that we’re not aware of it. We are just stuck in our own frames and saset upon other people, “You need to do it this way, but they don’t accept it because they’re stuck in their own frame” And that’s why you keep on colliding with people. This is something that intellectuals especially fall into, because people always acknowledge that you’re always right. Physically that may be correct, but spiritually, that is not the case. You are not the truth, so anything it’s not the truth is bound to be wrong. Physically you might be correct but spiritually that is not the case. That is why you need to assert tonly the spiritual truth. We don’t need your own opinions and conclusions. All we need to do is follow after God’s word.
The Triune God works with His Word and the Holy Spirit, these works that have to happen to us. When I got coronavirus, it was spiritually great. Even now, my immune system isn’t quite fully reestablished, so it’s difficult for me to come to Early Morning service, and the reason is because, not that i’m contagious; i’m no longer contagious to other people, but if my immune system isn’t fully restored, I may get another disease or illness. I still have some body aches, so normally people advise me not to roam around at night, but because I have to give this message, I want to give it to you strongly.
When you’re physically weak, the first thing I saw was, “Wow, I’m holding onto myself too much.” because I came to the acknowledge that I don’t need any of those things, I had no choice but to spiritually concentrate on God. I held onto so many useless things. When I was healthy, I was moving around with my healthy body so I couldn’t discover these problem points very well. However, unbeknownst to me, I was carrying around these heavy burdens by myself, but I was living life unconscious of those things because I had a healthy body but when I was laying in bed with all this pain, I realized I was worried about so many useless things. I couldn’t fix any of that by worrying, but i only realized that when I was lying in bed unable to do anything. At that time, I came to the conclusion that, “Wow, this is only something that if God works upon them,” so at that time, my prayers flowed out of me. I was in a state where I couldn’t do anything but pray when I believed that prayers transcend time and space, but I should have done that when I wasn’t sick.
It was a time of spiritual blessing that God allowed for me to get the coronavirus. The reactions are pretty obvious. Some said, “I’m glad he got the coronavirus because he’s lived like that,” and some people said, “Good riddance, I’m glad he got sick because he wasn’t being careful like I told him to,” and I’m sure there’s another group of people who didn’t care if I got coronavirus or not, and some people said, “This is such a problem,” and, “I don’t care, why should I be concerned about if they are concerned or not. I concentrate on only prayer,” so I became cold-hearted.
In reality, it’s not that I’m cold-hearted, but there was an area that I need to be thinking about but instead I was thinking about other people, too. I was overthinking things and overstepping my lanes, my everything was to concentrate on only Christ, on only the work of God, and prayer. No matter what anyone else says, that’s their state and has nothing to do with me, so spiritually it was very good because all these unnecessary things were being cut out; all I had to do was one thing.
When a person becomes very simple spiritually, it is great, and that’s why you need a time of concentration. Concentrating because your body is sick isn’t bad, but you should have time to concentrate every day. It means you need to have a time where you’re letting go of yourself because you don’t need yourself. You worrying about your business doesn’t help at all. Those words simply come out because you’re centered on yourself, but it doesn’t help at all. It is very precious to have a time where you lay down all your concerns and concentrate only upon the covenant.
I hope you will stop worrying about what people say about you, because it’s not the truth; it is nothing. Even if you do listen to them, I hope you will keep it as a reference, but focus on God’s Word. If you focus on people’s words, you’ll lose hold of the Covenant. They don’t speak the truth. If that person speaks with the Word of God, then the Holy Spirit will work. Not much to say, there’s no persuading to have to just hold to the covenant and look towards God. Every time you have this time, according to God’s time schedule, God works.
God is working in your work, everything you are doing, according to His time schedule and the 237 nations. For the students, God will work upon your studies now and work in the future for covenant and that’s why it’s something that God does. If you lose hold of the Covenant, imagine how hard it will be. Then all the spiritual diseases will come to you. We simply don’t talk about it, but when a person lies spiritually they become empty, and first they are filled with all these worries and concerns. Immediately, if you’re not able to confirm that Christ is with you, then just as in the Sunday message, you’ll have immediate spiritual concerns. For people who live their entire lives in worries, they can’t understand what I’m saying because their thoughts are elsewhere.
My daughter is in middle school and she’s studying, so if I close the front door, she’ll come out and ask, “Where’s mom?” She doesn’t care if I’m home or not, she doesn’t even ask, but if she comes out and doesn’t see her mom, she will ask, “Where’s mom?” But her mom is always with her. She doesn’t care if her dad is there at night because she is used to not seeing him except in the morning and night because of the coronavirus, but she is always used to being with her mom, because her mom has to feed her her mom has to do everything with her.
Why am I saying this? I’m not saying this to talk about moms. I’m saying that we’ll only have spiritual peace and security when we’re able to confirm every moment that God is with us. We absolutely need to have time to designate and concentrate in summit time to confirm this. The people who become the spiritual summit will have their work being used by God. This doesn’t matter whether their job is good or bad, there is no good or bad job, God gave you that job. Only at that point will the work you’re doing be used by God’s hands to save people and to change the culture. The sovereign condition of being used by God means that the Holy Spirit works upon your work.
The people who have this will have the time of concentration every single day, but some people will never hear these words no matter how much I say it. They just think physically, “all I need it for my business to do well,” but that’s a person who isn’t interested in the covenant. What do you think will happen in the future? They will face the disasters of Genesis 3, 6, and 11. Just because this was not happening, even though they have received salvation, those disasters will come, they will be taken as captives to babylon. Wow it will come in the future. Even without even recognizing it myself, I’ll be dragged into mental illness, trapped by mental problems, and seized by fear even without knowing it. Why?
Because you think your sovereign condition is you, you hold onto yourself as you live, but it turns out that Satan is behind the scenes, making you do that. The voice of Satan is constantly working behind you saying Genesis 3,:4-5, “if you eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will be like God; live a life centered on yourself.” What repentance are you talking about? Only when that fundamental state changes will you have repentance. You just only talk about this ethical repentance like North Koreans who just confess their wrongdoings, but if you focus on yourself as your own god, what repentance orgace are you talking about? You’re constantly centered on yourself; what kind of comfort or grace are you talking about? You have to receive the real grace, the true grace of understanding Christ and confirming your spiritual state through Christ every day.
The thing we must constantly be doing is, unbeknownst to you, your imprint, root, nature are too deep. In my perspective, I think God allowed me to give me coronavirus because my imprint, root, nature are so deep, God had to give me the coronavirus to change me. “If I left you alone, you’ll keep going down the wrong path, “ so God stopped me with the coronavirus and God is controlling that because there is a work that He will do in the future, meaning there’s something God is doing. Always, without a doubt, before God works anything, He makes you confirm the Word, the covenant, and makes you receive the filling of the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit can do His work.
You should just think that I received the coronavirus on your behalf and you can pray every day. The expression may be questionable, but I’m speaking as a witness. So, stop boasting around, centered on yourself. Only according to God’s covenant and will, have humility and sincerity before God in concentration. That time must be happy for you. If you’re forcing yourself to do it, it’s better than not doing anything at all. Because you’re so self-centered, you think, “Let me do this,” it’s better than not doing anything at all, but if you truly end up doing this, it will truly be healthy, happy, and joyful, but because you’re letting go of yourself, of course you’re happy; if you hold onto yourself, it’s burdensome and heavy. You’re letting go of all the burdens you have, you’re looking only to Jesus Christ, so imagine how happy you’ll be.
If you’re able to truly believe that the Triune God is with you and the blessing of the Throne of heaven is upon you, you will change spiritually. Before this point, you thought, “I have to look at this person spiritually,” but before you can even do that, you look at them naturally. You’re not trying to look at someone spiritually, but when God comes upon you, you’ll naturally look at people spiritually, just like you’re watching TV. Because you yourself are confirming always that you’ve been liberated from the three disastrous fields through Jesus Christ, can confirm in everything you look at and that’s why, rightfully, God’s mission is to establish the kingdom of God in that field. If you’re enjoying the spiritual blessing yourself, of course, rightfully you will relay this to others.
It is not about your work first; the work you’re doing is not your priority. If you’re enjoying this , the first thing you relay spiritual things, then the job you’re doing, you just do it and God will work according to His need for your job. Therefore, you need to first have this spiritual thing set to receive the skill summit and the cultural summit that saves people.
Tonight, if you have this time of concentration where you look upon God, it’s not about having a lot of time, but if you’re looking unto God, imagine how happy He will be. I hope that tonight will be that night of prayer for you. Let us hold onto the Word God has given to us and have a time of concentration towards God where your heart is pointed towards Him.