How to Open a Door Without an Agent (Acts 17:1-9)
It’s so hot today I can’t wear a suit. So the title of today’s message is how to open a door without an agent, and it is opening a door in a field with disciples. So the verse is going to be from Acts 17:1-9.
When we enter into a field with disciples we call it a golden fish pond. We have to go into a place where there’s a lot of people gathered. We shouldn’t enter into a field with no one but enter into a field where it’s a golden fish pond, and we have to meet the prepared disciples from God.
There’s a law school right next to our church, what is God’s plan in that? It is obviously to evangelize. If other things come to your mind then you aren’t aligned with God. In God’s perspective, the reason why this church is established right next to the school is to evangelize and save the school.
In order to do that, the most important thing is the gathering of disciples. Through this gathering, God will open up the doors. The key to whether God will open or close these doors is whether there are disciples in our surroundings. That’s why we continue to have this gathering of disciples.
The key to do work is the disciples. Who are the disciples? Everyone is a disciple. In other words, everyone has a respective roles they have to do for evangelism. I’m Acts 1:12-14 it states 120 people gathered. Acts 2:1-47, God worked through his spirit. Acts 9:1-43, empathizes how important it is for each and every one to discover their role. Everyone has a different role they have to do in order to evangelize. You must help discover this role and discover it for yourself as well. And even you sitting here right now you must think about what kind of role you have for evangelism, what you do for evangelism. And what role should I do to enter this empty field?
Second point, the church lay leaders are the disciples. If possible it’s best to raise up the church lay leaders, and that’s a method to save the field. Acts 6:1-7, they raised the church members as the church lay leaders, that’s discovering their role for the sake of world evangelism. Seeking the role you must do for the church is the answer God has to those aligned with him. Every person has a designated role that they are to do at church. Saying you don’t have any role means you lost hold of that role. Going in that direction do evangelism you must think what role you have for evangelism. Acts 6:1-7 tells us the many roles in the church, and that’s for the sake of evangelism. These are the people that staked their lives. There’s no other reason to stake your life, it’s for evangelism.
Because of this one lay lesser Phillip, God opens the doors to Samaria. It’s because of the apostles but because of the lay leaders Phillip that God opened the doors to Samaria. And they meet Nesse. That is the lay leader. And because of the lay leaders Ananias, they meet an apostle, lay leader Paul. It is in every field they are raising the light of Christ, they are going in as watchmen raising up disciples as lights to every region. Revealing the answer in every field and region is shining the light.
There are also disciples in the region, in Acts there’s a disciple named Lydia in Philippi. God has definitely prepared a disciple in the region. Whether you’re doing evangelism and evangelism camp, if you’re not able to see the prepared disciple in the region, then you’ll be entering into disbelief and you’ll do the work of disbelief. So before camp it’s important to enter into the region with the message. If you enter without the message you’ll have a thought of “is this possible?” And those people must step aside because the work of saving lives will be stopped because of them. So they just have a separate meeting of people who have received the message.
In the region of Thessalonica, there’s a person named Jason, and these are the people of have been prepared in the region. They prepared a team to enter into this unknown region, and there’s prepared disciples. They entered into the region of Corinth and they met a disciple named Pricilla. How did they meet her? It’s through God. Not knowing this, people keep seeking away, but there’s only God’s method. The problem is if God doesn’t connect you with the person, you are in a state where you cannot connect. This means you don’t have the covenant in this or it’s not your time schedule. Having the covenant means you’ll keep meeting the prepared disciple in your field. Talking about the covenant, there are people who hold onto the physical content of the covenant, and for those people it’ll take a long time. They aren’t looking just at the Bible but they are looking at the Bible with an old standing of religion. And those people’s covenant is the physical things. And their spiritual state is in a state where they are captured by Satan. That’s the message I gave to you this week, Matthew 4.
And in the region of Ephesus, they were raised of disciples that conquered Asia. There are roles the disciples within the church do for evangelism and missions. What is the region to raise many lay leaders? It’s to save the field. And within the field there are also hidden disciples of the region. There are definitely hidden disciples within the law school. God will open the doors when the disciple has been prepared. Meaning a disciple to stake their life on the covenant. God will only work when they have faith in the covenant. So you can see that this gathering is the most important thing in the church.
Introduction, what must we prepare in advance? What must we have to enter into the field no one knows about? Acts 13 talks about the people who are led by the spirit. It is said to raise up the person to be led and guided by the spirit. Then what must we do in the field to be led by the spirit. God will move, the person that is led by God is important. Acts 16 states that Paul prayed and went, meaning in order to receive the filing of the Holy Spirit. The person that’s not led by the spirit can not have these meetings.
Likewise in Acts 19, it is also talking about prayer. So before receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit, what must these people hold onto? It is definitely the conclusion and ending of the gospel, that Jesus Christ is the solution to all problems, if the person doesn’t hold onto this then they’ll be shaken by their own problems and they can’t go into the field. They will be caught up by economical problems and health problems but the one who is able to overcome the problem has the answer of Christ. Being shaken by their personal problems means they don’t have the answer. And it’s the person that knows what God desires. Not my own dream, not my personal gain but rather what is it that God desires from them and the ones who move according to what God desires. And these people are what consists of the tens that are led by and filled with the spirit. And these people who go into their field will meet disciples. These students who enter into their school will meet disciples. What’s important is who these people are.
And so Acts 17, they held camp and the location was in the synagogue. The synagogue was a place for discussion. And so the empty field we can go into is the golden fish pond where many people are gathered. At that time we have to establish a time. Not just continuously for an unlimited amount of time but a set time. Let’s say for example a month is required for the freshman to enter into this law school, we will set aside a time.
Then what is the content? It’s definitely proclaiming Jesus Christ. There’s no other content. Why is Jesus the Christ, why is Jesus Christ necessary for you? You must go holding onto this but there are people who don’t know what to do there, these people must step aside. There are some people who cannot come up and do the way of salvation, these people must also step aside. They can enter when it’s their time schedule, but not now. If business people cannot do the way of salvation in their business system then they’ll continue to falter. Being unable to relay the way of salvation means it’s not yet their time schedule and needs more time. I’m not saying just reading the way of salvation but proclaiming why Jesus Christ is the answer to this person’s problems. But when we look at their reaction, it’s the Gentiles with knowledge.
And the completion of this camp is when the person with a mission like Jason arises. That is the completion of camp. And so you enter into the entity field with a team and you have the location, time, the content and the completion of the camp is when the one who can save the region arises.
We continued to do camp with a place called Karen. And I continued to talk about the camp with Karen with the assistant pastor. I told her, “you must raise up the disciples to continue the Karen missions,” you must understand this in order for works to arise. And so not among the youth but among the young adults, there’s a person set apart to do this. So I told her to connect the young adults with the respected people. And so they continued to do regional church once a week, and this summer that’s how we were able to do camp in Karen. This has already been established before we entered. We entered in already given training to the young adults. It doesn’t matter this or that because the most important thing is that there is a disciple raised up just like Jason to save that region. I’m saying that within the field of the business you must raise and seek the business disciple. The business people should enter into the place where there’s nobody to seek the business disciples. Then you have to raise up the disciple to do this work together. And with that business you go into the 70 regions to do camp. It’s the same for everything. Because no one can say no to business. If this is difficult for you that means you lost hold of the covenant, then you aren’t aligned with God. Inside of the business field you must enter into the place where there’s no competition and nobody wants to go and that’s where you raise up the business disciples. When that person is raised up then you’ll be able to do business together and go forth. That’s what you must continue to do.
Then what message should we spread? The most important thing is the content. We have to know the basic scripture. If the business people don’t have this content then their business won’t work out very well. It’ll be just to their extent, their strength and their limitation. Because you aren’t prepared, and you can meet God.
The most important thing is Genesis 1:27, you were created in the image of God, in other words you are created to be with God. So you must meet God. Regardless of what Satan says you are created in God’s image and you must be with God. Genesis 3:1-5, because of Satan’s temptation we left God. So the land was cursed. No matter how much labor on earth there’s no benefit. John 8:44 states how we are completely trapped by Satan. No matter what we do, we are possessions of Satan. And so in Romans 5:8, while we were still sinners Jesus died on the cross for us and confessed his love for us. It’s while we were still sinners, when we didn’t know. God sent Christ and gave evidence of his love for us. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short against the glory of God, in other words everyone was separated from God, so they can’t glorify God. John 5:24 says whoever hears my words and believes in them will come out of God and go into light. When you believe, you will be moved to eternal life.
John 1:12, yet to all who believe him to receive his name he gave the right to become children of God. Romans 10:9-10 it is through listening to the message of God that they will have faith. So yoyr heart must have this faith. Then you can become a child of God. Without listening to the word of God, it won’t work out. That’s why God is sending out his evangelist in the field. People are saying otherwise but God is saying that it’s the greatest blessing. The remnants who lose hold of evangelism and mission won’t be able to receive God’s wisdom. Proverbs 27:1 days do not boast about tomorrow, think and focus on today. You are God’s child right now. 1 Corinthians 3:16 states the moment you believe, God’s spirit resides in you. And this is when you have to talk about spiritual problems. Each time you continue to meet the disciples of the field that’s when you mention the spiritual problems. You mustn’t talk about the spiritual problems the first time you meet. You have to talk about how they aren’t in state where you are separated from God, how can you meet God. Because they are trapped by Satan, that’s why they need Jesus Christ. And the second or third time you meet with them, you must touch their spiritual problems. Even in the church because they don’t talk about spiritual problems, they continue to have spiritual problems and are shaken. That’s why you must nurture them so they can know the spiritual problem and come out of it. And we have the status and authority of the child of God. And we have the authority of the name of Jesus Christ. Having the authority means you must use the authority.
And also prayer, it’s regarding the seven blessings. Don’t pray about unnecessary and useless things but rather about the seven blessings that come from God. And also for you guys, don’t pray about the useless things but pray regarding the seven blessings. God said he will be with you, why do you keep doing useless things? When you pray the spirit will work upon you, but why do you pray about useless things? Afterwards you must teach them how to do their walk of faith. To apply faith into their lives. You must teach them how to hold onto the word. Because God is the word, when they hold onto the word they are holding onto everything. Losing hold of the word means losing hold of everything. That’s why we must go into the field and meet people and teach this to them, so that they can participate in the upper room meeting that’s within the field. Doing evangelism without this, the person is the same but it is different regarding God’s plan.
For Rise Kohyang middle school, we have the Saturday school where we can nurture them close by. And when you come to the church during the Saturdays there are messengers and teachers. And it’s not that there’s nobody there but four of our remnants are there. We have the ongoing camp where the remembers bring their friends along and we relay the gospel to them and we do the training and nurturing on saturdays. This is so important that God will grant you health and your loneliness will go away because God finds this absolutely important. You just have to do what you can do.
It’s written in the Bible, that God has given you this talent but the one that squanders away their talent will have it taken away. That’s what we call the sin of laziness, not doing what God wants you to do. God is saying he’ll take that away. Don’t just stay still, the reason God has given you this talent is for you to use it. “I have given you this talent so you can go into the field and save people, and that’s the reason why you continue to live. Why are you just staying still, falling into your own sun and weaknesses?” You no longer have any reason to live so God will call you up to heaven.
There are roles each member has. And we must teach the disciples prayer and it’s regarding the seven blessings. Then will you receive answers? The answers will definitely come. We have to teach about prayers that receive answers, but we keep doing prayers that don’t receive answers. There are so many people like this. Go into the field and see how many people are there like this. There are even people that don’t know how to pray, and there are people in the church who don’t know what to pray about. You just have to pray regarding the blessings given to you. Enjoy that and you will receive answers.
What happens when we receive answers. You relay that to other people. That’s evangelism. When you recover answers you definitely share that answer. If evangelism doesn’t take place that means you didn’t receive answers, if you don’t receive an answer that means prayer isn’t taking place. If prayer isn’t taking place then that means you don’t know the answer of the word. That means eventually you are living a religious lifestyle. This can be a very important message. We can always just pass it by, but you mustn’t do that but rather find out where you are.
During the week you have the word, not the words you received in the past but the word you are holding onto currently. The word God has given to me. That person will have prayer and answers take place, this person can accurately raise up and nurture the new comers.
You must also teach them that worship is important. If you cannot give proper worship then you can’t relay the proper message.
Conflicts and worries will come about so you can find the conclusion and solve it within the word. It is through the word that person can receive all the answers. Now I have told you about how you have to be the one to be the remnant to raise up disciples to enter into the entity golden fish pond, and I relay to you about how to raise and nurture the disciples in your field. This is something everyone must do, even more so for the business people. And camp is the way you can influence the 70 region through business. So there’s a team you must meet. And that’s why we must continue to do disciple training. But there are some people who just receive grace just coming to church, we need these people as well. That’s how they can clean the church, make food. You have to clean the church for people to come give worship, if everything is seen in the viewpoint of evangelism then there are so many things people can do in the church. God has raised up especially the lay leaders to be the ones to exert influence over the region. And that’s why as the watchmen who prays, you raise up the platforms to shine the light. There are definitely disciples prepared in the region. And that’s why in order to raise up these disciples, you have to set up a team and the time. And when you do business if there’s no team you can evangelize with then you must first establish that. You do business but there’s no one who can alongside God, you have not had a successful business. That’s why inside the business you have to have the team to exert influence to the 70 regions and God will set that up. And remnants can also enter.
And so forum is also very important, you have to know the tremendous plan God has prepared for you and go forth. Because we are God’s children we are people who follow God’s plan. The plan we have is from our me centeredness. It’s very important to know God’s perfect plan and follow after it. And God will reveal his plan through the word. And so when you receive the word you must transcribe that word into your life through prayer and you must go towards the direction of evangelism. And so you must have the forum of prayer and evangelism regarding the word you received from God.
Secondly, you must push the people in order for them to understand the gospel. You must understand that understanding the gospel isn’t just about the true King, Priest, Prophet, that’s something everyone can know. I’m not talking about that. But when I make a decision, and I make this decision purely on the gospel? Most of the time when we make a decision we do it according to our thoughts, that’s not entirely the gospel, and we make decisions depending on whether it benefits you or not, and that’s not focused on the gospel.
When we make a decision, the gospel, is the gospel the priority? That’s how you must explain the gospel to new believers. And when the problem comes, make that decision inside the gospel. Think about it, what’s the gospel you know? If you think the gospel is the three roles and that’s it, then when you have to make a decision according to the gospel in life what will you do? The decision based on the gospel will give you life long answers. That’s how important it is. No matter how much you live your walk of faith, if your decision isn’t based on the gospel, it won’t work out. When you make decisions based on your pride and self esteem, that’s not it. But the person who made the decision based on their pride will claim that they know the gospel. When you ask them if they enjoy the gospel, they will say yes because they do enjoy it once in a while but that’s not it. This is what you must relay to the new believers. It’s a very short judgement but it can give you a hundred year answers.
Then why must we receive training? Some people may say, “this isn’t the time for training, we must go out and evangelize” but are we receiving training to be sure we don’t know? Why do we continue to repeat the content we know? It’s to change our nature. Because we haven’t changed our nature yet. Do you know how scary our nature is? You know everything however your nature is within that genesis 3. And so even though it’s a content we know, God said to imprint these words on your hands and brain. And it’s because our nature is very scary. We have to keep receiving training to change our nature.
And for the gospel message training, do you think pastors don’t know the content? From 138, and 393 do you think pastors don’t know the content of this? It’s not that but it’s to change our nature. The nature of the gospel, evangelism, prayer, and mission has not been set. But people who don’t know this think they know everything, that means their nature isn’t set. And so the longer they attend church, the stronger their legalistic nature is. And for people who believed in different religions before coming here, they are more stuck in the nature of being trapped by evil spirits. They Are being afflicted and pressed by their spiritual problems. It’s not that they don’t know though they hear about it, but it’s their nature. So it’s after imprint and root that nature changes. So the continuous training we receive is to change this nature.
And our direction must also be aimed for the gospel. We are in this church and there’s a law school next to us, the direction of the gospel so to evangelize to the law school. There are people to be saved in the law school but the church keeps doing other things, that’s not the direction of the gospel. In the business field God has placed people there to receive the gospel, don’t you guys think it like that? If you don’t think like that then you aren’t really believing in God. Did God accidentally put you in the business and put people next to you to receive the gospel? Then that person doesn’t believe in God. And so the reason God has placed it in that field and placed people alongside you to receive the gospel is one of two things: either to share the gospel through you or through that person. That must become your direction. But what happens if you don’t hold onto the direction of the gospel but the direction of physical things? Then you’ll be entrapped and ensnared by Satan. So all directions must be gospel directions. And temple construction is also within the direction of the gospel. The temple is for 237 healing mission.
So you must know the true answer. Why do you hold onto the fake answers non believers also hold onto? You must hs onto the true answer. Even if nothing may arise, the fact that God is with me is the answer. What happens if you don’t have anything physically? Is that not an answer? God himself must be an answer, something that comes from God shouldn’t be an answer. Don’t just be part of the crowd but instead become the disciple of Christ. If you know the answer that is to come then you’ll know the future. Because you are all disciples, I expect you to know and enjoy the true answer. Do not enjoy the things of Christ but enjoy Christ himself. That’s the true answer so you’ll know the answers that are to come. That’s what it means to come back from religion to the gospel. That’s how everything we do is for the gospel. I expect you to enjoy the this blessing.
Prayer
Dear father God, thank you, thank you for guiding us to build the camp in the region where no one is and leading us. Will you establish the camp that raises the 70 disciples and the 70 regions. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.