Into Only Prayer for God’s Mission (Acts 1:12-26)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Today we are giving the Easter service worship to God, combined with the youth ministry. So today is Easter Sunday, and “Easter” means that Jesus Christ died on the cross and resurrected back to life, and the fact that He is back to life means that He is with me, with all of us, and with all things. You have to understand what that means to understand the meaning of the resurrection.
1. Mount of Olives (Acts 1:12)
In today’s scripture, after Jesus Christ resurrected, He gathered His disciples at the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is about 1 kilometer away from Jerusalem, and on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave His disciples a mission for about 40 days, but before we receive the mission from God, what does Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection have to do with me? This must be related to you in order for you to see the effectiveness of believing in Jesus. Every human being is born with Original Sin, separated from God, because this “Original Sin” is not talking about any action; it’s talking about us not believing in God. As a result of that Original Sin, our Spirit is already dead and our physical body will also die. So, our spirit is seized by Satan as a result. That is the fundamental problem of all of mankind, and a human being cannot solve their own fundamental problem.
1) The resurrected Jesus Christ
God Himself Who has no sin must come to earth as a human and die on the cross for the price of my sin, meaning, all of the curses and disasters I deserve must be transferred to Jesus Christ, and without a doubt, He must overcome the authority of Satan. He must resurrect from death to life and be with me in order for me to be a child of God now. You must understand these words very well. If you pass by these words without thinking deeply about it, you’ll go to church and believe in Jesus but it will be meaningless to you. You’re only going to use the name of Jesus to solve your physical problems.
The fundamental problem we’re talking about reveals itself through each family line, because I am not just “myself,” I am somebody born within my family line’s spiritual background, so the spiritual problems of my family line come unto me, too. The spiritual problem looks different for every different family line. For some people, it looks like mental illness; for some people, it looks like sexual immorality; for some people, it’s a physical disease; for other people, it could be powerlessness. So, these are the different, various ways that spiritual problems are revealed, but why do these problems happen? It’s because we are separated from God and seized by Satan; we have no other choice. As we grow up, under our parents’ influence, we receive scars and these scars also have no choice but to happen. Eph. 4:26 says that Satan uses that scar to dwell in, and he continues to control that person using that scar. People think that if they make a lot of money or try something diligently, they can overcome their scars. Because they feel miserable and so painful inside, they try to solve it with money, they try to change themselves with success, but the spiritual problems inside of you cannot be solved by the visible, physical things.
“Because I had so much pain and suffering in my family, I’m going to create my own family that will be different,” but that’s the wrong kind of vision. They’ve actually misdiagnosed the problem. Believing in Jesus Christ is the answer to the accurate problem. You may have a repetitive problem in your life, for example, anger or some other repetitive problem, that Satan will use to control your life, again and again. You cannot solve that by moving to a different location; you cannot change that by simply changing people; you cannot change this by going to a different nation. This is a problem that has come upon me, generation after generation, in my family line.
That problem is actually from the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem cannot be solved by any other person. God Himself must come to earth as a human, die on the cross for my sins, and live with me after resurrecting, to solve this problem. He has finished all problems, then. However, inside of me, I’ve prioritized the things of the world more than I have prioritized the things of God’s Kingdom, so even though Satan’s authority has been destroyed, Satan deceives us with what has been imprinted, rooted, and natured inside of us. In other words, we prioritize our own thoughts above God’s Word, and I prioritize what I want more than what God wants. If I have something that I want, it also means I will have emotions such as sadness or depression or anger, if I don’t get what I want. So, why do people get depressed, why do people get so discouraged about life, why is life not worth living? Because things are not going the way I want them to. Why are you in America? You’re living here to live the life that you want, but that’s Original Sin. That is the beginning of all problems. People use what they want and gain it for their own success and their strength. So, Satan actually drags them around with this word, “success.” But you and I must go beyond success and receive the vision of world evangelization. Otherwise, we get mental illnesses.
Nowadays, a lot of youth kids are taking drugs, and the dealers are lacing them with fentanyl. Listen carefully, because if you don’t listen carefully, it can be fatal. These dealers will lace their marijuana with fentanyl. They are lacing the marijuana and other drugs with fentanyl to go against Trump’s orders to fight against drugs, then your bone and skeletal structure will lose its uprightness and you’ll be walking around like a zombie with a crooked back. Your legs will swell up. Nowadays you see a lot of people with very swollen appendages, and sometimes it gets so bad that it ruptures, bleeds, or gets infected. People don’t have a lot of money and they are trying these drugs to try and feel better, but then they suffer from fentanyl. This is the way to kill the kids in America today, and no matter how much we try to block it, we cannot, because in order to get over the suffering and the pain of life, people will buy anything and try anything. That’s why there are hundreds or thousands of kids who are dying of drug overdose. This has become normalized in American life. If your child goes to one party and drinks a spiked beverage, they could be gone.
This is how dangerous a world we’re living in, and no matter how much you try to educate them, it’s not going to work because people are having such a hard time, they have no choice but to do these drugs, they’re dragged by Satan, then there’s only one solution. The only solution to that is being addicted to Christ. What does it mean to be addicted to Christ? It means, I can’t do it without Christ. Without that state, we can never come to life, we can never save others. For adults, they kill their kids trying to make money. They’ll do whatever it takes to make money, but they won’t do that for their kids, but the children are receiving negative influences from their friends. So just because you’re okay doesn’t mean your kids are okay. Why must we proclaim the gospel? Because your children get hurt. It’s one moment. These kids do not have any knowledge or experience, so they get swept up by the environment. So the only solution is to become addicted to Christ.
(1) Christ Who finished it all (Jn. 19:30)
Through today’s Easter worship, we need to realize that Christ finished everything on the cross, and is with me, with us, and with all things as life. Without a doubt, He has finished everything on the cross; however, what’s inside of me? More so than the words of God, I prioritize the work of the world above. It’s not as if I don’t know God’s Word, and it’s not as if I can’t do anything in the world; the problem is the wrong order of priorities. In other words, we’re putting our clothes on inside out. That’s why many people live their walk of faith, and they don’t receive answers. They don’t even know why they have to live their walk of faith; they just have been rooted, imprinted, and natured in their parent’s background. The church tells me that if I believe in Jesus, everything should be finished, but it’s not because I have the wrong priorities imprinted in me. The words of Christ must become our number one priority, but instead, we prioritize my thoughts, my emotions, and other peoples’ words; that’s why we’re not able to enjoy the effectiveness or the answer that everything is finished. You can’t even be alone, can you? You can’t be alone, that’s why you’re sending images and texts to people, because you’re not able to enjoy being with God. That’s why you have to be on the phone with people and meet up with people; you try everything you can.
But when you’re all alone, you need to live a life that is with God very well. There is not a single person on this earth who can help you, so don’t misunderstand that. You think that your parents will help you, but there’s a limitation. You think if you meet a capable husband, that they will help you, but they have a limitation; there’s no answer other than Christ alone, and that Christ is my Lord. When you hold onto Christ, all of the scars of your spiritual background become a platform for you; then you’ll be thankful for them. If you’re not thankful for your parents, I’m sorry, but you’re still bound by your past. If you’re still holding onto your past, it means you’re not holding onto Christ. You’ll realize that, because of this family line and this spiritual problem and background, I was able to realize the gospel and go into Only Christ, now I’m thankful for my parents. If you’re not at that point, then you are still bound by your past.
(2) New creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
Through today’s Easter worship, what is the standard of believing in Christ? It means you’re set free from your past. “Pastor, but I have this scar, how can I escape? There is something that controls me beyond my knowledge; how can I control that?” You have to hold onto Christ, it’s actually quite simple. You hold onto Christ as your Lord, then what does it mean to hold onto Christ as your Lord? It means you hold onto the Word that God gives you. Every week, God gives you His Word and you hold onto that as your covenant. Instead of looking at your circumstance and trying to calculate it on your own, you look at His Word. If you get afflicted by depression, instead of being bound by your depression, you hold onto the words of Christ, but if you get overcome with depression, it’s hard to hold onto the words of Christ, isn’t it? Is your depression stronger than Christ? It’s not. The problem is my faith. If I hold onto Christ, then my problems like depression or bipolar disorder will no longer be a problem. But because I don’t believe in that, I still am afflicted by mental illness.
(3) Lord of life is with me (Gal. 2:20)
In every aspect of my life, Christ is my Lord, then no matter what, all of creation will bow down before Christ. Do you believe in that, though? The real problem is that you don’t believe. You already have the answer, but you don’t believe it. The problem is your lack of faith but if you try to solve it with any other method, it won’t work. You need to focus all of your life’s energy and time on receiving faith. The Bible says we receive faith by hearing the words of the Bible. When you believe in the fact that Christ finished the problems of your past, present, and future, then that blessing becomes yours. Even if everything is already prepared for us, if we don’t believe in that, then we choose a different path. The resurrected Lord approached His disciples and gave them His mission, and God’s mission for us personally is to save people who have experienced a similar past like us, by holding onto the gospel and escaping from our past.
2) Work of God’s Kingdom
(1) Word concentration for 40 days
(2) Work of the kingdom of the world – Imprints change
(3) Work of God’s Kingdom – Mission
Our second mission is, what mission will we hold onto as we move in the church? In the church, we don’t do anything else. We’re not gathering here for our own satisfaction. The church is a place that saves nonbelievers. Then, in order to save nonbelievers, what mission must I move with within the church? God’s mission is to save people of all ethnicities. In order to save people of all nations, what mission must I move with within the church? People who have mental, physical, and spiritual illnesses gather in the church, and there’s no way to cast that out of them, except through prayer. My mission is to pray for that person’s healing. For people who have retired, you’ve already left the work field, so now, your only occupation is to pray for the church prayer topics, and the people who gather at church. People keep on holding onto their Genesis 3 thoughts that are separated from God. People think, “Now that I’m retired, I don’t have to do anything,” but that’s the work of the devil. In the Kingdom of God there is no retirement, because I serve the church until I die, and until the day that I die, the problems of my past will still haunt me, and as long as I’m alive, I will live in some region on this earth. So, you need to hold onto the mission of how you can serve and help the next generations that are gathering in the church.
Our third mission to hold onto is how to see the field. As you live your walk of faith, you understand and believe the gospel, but the reason you keep stumbling is that you lack a mission. If you lack a mission, it means you have no meaning in life. From God’s perspective, your life is meaningless, so, then, we try to find meaning in our lives by holding onto our own dream, instead of God’s dream. That’s how people live their entire lives with a useless, vain dream. Everything that is not from God is useless. All of it is like grass and flowers; it withers and then disappears, but the mission God gives. When you hold onto that and begin to pray, it’s not just prayer. Without a doubt, you have a goal. You’re praying with a goal that will receive answers. There are many people who struggle to pray; they use the name of Jesus Christ to accomplish what they want in life. Evil spirits will not flee from that because the devil gives you those thoughts. But when you pray holding onto the mission that God, that Jesus Christ gives you, then He works with power.
What is the mission God is giving to you? The mission that will be fulfilled no matter what. It’s not something I’ve accomplished, but it’s something that comes upon me. That’s why it says in today’s scripture, that they devoted together constantly to prayer. Those people keep remaining in answers, and that person will continuously influence the next generations. Otherwise, you can’t escape from being centered on ourselves like Genesis 3. That will be fine if we are God, but we are creations. Our IQ is limited; our body is limited, our time is limited; we cannot transcend time and space, that’s why we need the power of Christ, the power of God. When you know this, you are maturing in life. No matter how old we are, there are some people who are still immature, they still think they can accomplish something. Physically, yes, maybe, but you cannot change the fate of your life. You cannot block the works of Satan. You cannot block the curses and disasters that result from Satan’s works, and if you know this spiritual fact, you have no choice but to be humble. We’re not pretending to be humble so we look better to other people, but your life becomes truly humble before Christ. I bless you that through today’s Easter worship, that you will have God’s grace to restore the three missions from God.
3) Promise (Acts 1:4)
(1) Wait
(2) Baptized with the Holy Spirit
(3) Power, witness (Acts 1:8)
That’s why Jesus told His disciples to wait, “Wait for what my Father has promised you.” We do not act first, the beginning is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. People who are fast to act, they can make money better than others sometimes, but they will live their life irrelevant to God and stumble by their own limitations. It’s because they don’t have God’s mission. People who have God’s mission begin with prayer, because you’re praying, already knowing you’ll receive answers. If you don’t have any answers to prayer, then you’ve lived the wrong life because it means you’re still dreaming useless dreams.
2. Jerusalem
1) Sabbath (Acts 1:12)
(1) Mark’s upper room (Acts 1:13)
(2) 120 people (Acts 1:15)
(3) Saw the resurrection – 500 people (1 Cor. 15:6)
2) Only prayer (Acts 1:14)
(1) With one heart
(2) God-given mission
(3) Until God’s power comes
When God’s power comes upon you from the throne of heaven, there’s nothing on earth that can block it, because you’re receiving the power of the throne of heaven, so, why are you so conflicted by your studies? Why are you so afflicted by your job? Why are you so afflicted by your past problems? It’s because you’re staying at your own level. You must receive God’s grace to deny that. And you must pray for God’s power to come upon you by His grace. You pray so that God’s power and spirit completely takes hold of your spirit, mind, and body. But even as I tell you this, some people still cannot hear me. That means you’re still holding onto your mental problems and you don’t come over to Christ. That’s the spiritual problem that can only be solved through worship when God’s grace comes upon you, 100%. By your experience, you can never escape. Only when you understand what the cross of Christ means, what prayer is, what your mission is, then God’s power follows you. Why are people so discouraged with their lives? “You have no money, you’re too old, you’re not successful enough,” and the reason you’re so discouraged is because you cannot receive the power from heaven.
3) Work of God’s Kingdom – Mission
(1) Prayer – First (Mt. 6:33)
(2) Through God’s wisdom, power
(3) Through the ones who pray
We do not receive God’s power so we can do the worldly work; we receive the power to do God’s work. Then, you’ll receive answers like Joseph. He was sold as a slave when he was 17, but it didn’t matter because he was holding onto a mission from God that no one else could see. There was a plan that was made between God and Joseph, and there was only that one person, Joseph, who would fulfill God’s plan in Egypt, so from the perspective of the world, Joseph was a slave, but he was not. Later on, the Pharaoh of Egypt gives all authority to Joseph. These are the blessings that are already here in America, but we’re kicking them away. God has prepared these blessings for us already and is guiding us towards them. So, even right at this time, you should be praying. Why are you not able to? Because you think you can live with your own strength. That’s disbelief. I’m not telling you to pray a lot, I’m saying you must discover the reason why you must pray. For people who are holding onto God’s mission, they go all into that mission, 24 hours. Isn’t that right? American soldiers go all into the battle, 24 hours. A doctor is 24 hours about healing patients and saving people, whether they are sleeping or awake.
For students, you should study to fulfill God’s mission. There are a lot of kids who are just good at studying, but their academics can not save them from spiritual problems, but if there is a student who is studying holding onto God’s mission, then God’s power will follow them always. Some people might ask, “Pastor, ask, how many people are actually like that?” Then, the person asking that is already a failure. If this is written in the Bible as evidence and there is even one person, then we need to follow that. But people who ask questions like that, stand on the side of failure and just make excuses for life. Our standard is the Bible, and Daniel is an example of this, and so no matter what he faces in the world, it doesn’t matter. God gave tremendous grace and wisdom to Daniel and his three friends. They said, “It’s okay, we’d rather die than bow down to an idol.” That’s not stubbornness, that’s faith, and God began to work upon that faith. So, Christ has finished everything and He’s already given you a mission.
Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” Jesus never asked about how much power Peter had, because Jesus Christ finished everything and prepared everything. “Do you love Me?” In other words, “Can you look to and follow only Me?” This is when we entrust our lives to God, that is when the forces of darkness that are working on your family line will be broken down. You have to throw your life at something. Are you going to throw your life at men? Will you throw your life at success? What will success be for you? Success cannot change whatever’s inside of you. Satan is tempting, luring you into the beautiful lies of the world, and everyone is gathering, flocking towards that light of lies. But the disciples followed the Word of Christ. The disciples will change their family line, change their church, and change their region. Christ has called you as His disciples. The characteristic of a disciple is that they deny themselves and follow Jesus; that’s why the words Jesus gives to you must become your thoughts. I’m a disciple of Christ, I’m a remnant who will save the world. When these words of Christ become aligned with your thoughts, your life will bear fruit. But if something else controls your thoughts instead, then the works of the Word will not take place.
3. Prayer
1) Working of the Holy Spirit
(1) Spoken to Peter (Acts 1:15)
(2) Chose a new worker to replace Judas – Word fulfillment (Acts 1:20)
(3) Word fulfillment took place
So, in today’s scripture, 120 people are gathered in the upper room to pray, and God gives the word to Peter through the Holy Spirit. So when you are praying, you will be reminded of the Word. “Oh, Judas betrayed Jesus and committed suicide, so now we must choose someone to replace him.” That is the thought he received in prayer, but that was already prophesied in Psalms. The book of Psalms in the Old Testament already prophesied somebody would betray Jesus and you must replace him with someone, the correct Christians are abound to live a life that fulfills the Word. God fulfilled His Word through them. But we need workers in order to save the church and to do the three missions in the church to save unbelievers, heal people, and save all nations.
2) Apostles, workers’ standard
(1) People who were always with us (Acts 1:22)
What is the characteristic of these workers? Acts 1:22, “Someone who has always been with us.” It means someone who is always following the stream of the Word from the church, someone who was always there when Jesus was giving His sermons. That is the apostle and the standard of a worker. Because if they’re not present for the sermons, they speak according to their thoughts.
(2) People who will testify for Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1:22)
In Acts 1:22, the second characteristic is someone who can become a witness of Jesus’ resurrection. In other words, the standard of a worker is somebody who lives by the life of Christ.
(3) People who will serve and perform duties (Acts 1:25)
Third, is the one who has received a mission from Christ. If someone doesn’t have a mission from Christ, they’ll live their whole life for their own dream, and one day, they will fall, because anything that is not God’s Word will collapse. So, do not do what is going to collapse, but from the very beginning, put your life all in to God’s mission.
3) Workers in the church
(1) One who is in the stream of the Word
(2) One who lives with the life of the resurrection
(3) One who has received the mission
(4) One who is in the stream of prayer
And the person who remains in the stream of prayer to accomplish that mission. If you don’t have this yet and you keep meeting people, you’ll receive a different influence, so the standard for every person is they must be in this stream. With this, they must change the stream of the world. When you go to your job, you must change this stream. It doesn’t matter how diligently you come to church, you cannot change the flow of the world. If you’re not able to change to the flow of the Word, it means you’re being influenced by the world. However, for people who remain in the stream I just told you, they will go into the world and change the flow there.
Conclusion
1. Church’s mission
2. My mission
In conclusion, your own individual, personal mission. Your personal mission is to escape from your past spiritual problems and scars, and use that as a platform to save and heal other people who have experienced something similar.
You can only escape from that through faith in Christ. Even right now, people who have mental illness keep holding onto their problem, instead of holding onto Christ, Who is living right now. And even now, people are obsessed with their financial problems, instead of holding onto Christ. So even if they have Christ, they’re not holding onto Him, they keep on holding onto themselves. Your individual mission is to escape from that, because then, without a doubt, you will meet other people with a similar past or background as you, and save them. That’s why you will be thankful for your past.
Your second mission is your church mission. If you just go to church back and forth, no answers. What mission must I accomplish in the church? How will I save nonbelievers and people of all nations? Or, how can I devote myself to prayer to heal them? Or, I will hold onto my mission to raise the next generations. In order for those three things to take place inside of the church, what mission or service will I devote? When you pray for that, God’s power comes upon you.
The third mission is your field, your school, your job. When you pray to save that field, God will work upon you with the Holy Spirit. When you pray holding onto that mission, God works upon you with the power of the throne of heaven. Then you will receive the answer of 300% in your work and your studies.
3. Only prayer
The first 100% you will receive is the specialization or expertise in your field. Second, that will connect to the specialization to save other people in your field. And then, the third is, these works keep on happening in the future. David, Joseph, Daniel, all of the people who were used in the Bible, received the answer of 300% specialization, whatever they were doing. I bless you in the name of jesus christ that you may enjoy these blessings.
Message Prayer
Let us begin praying holding onto the Word we’ve received today as our covenant.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We give praise to the Lord Who has finished everything on the cross, and is with me, with us, and with all things now. Allow us to hold onto Your mission for our individual lives, the church, and the field. Allow us to become witnesses to the ends of the earth, by the power of God.
We have returned Your materials as offering. Everywhere it is used, may people be saved, and we pray You will give the blessing of the economy of light upon the hands that have given the offering. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of the kingdom of God, the people of all nations, and the future generation who desire to go into only prayer for the mission to save themselves, the church, their family, and their region, be upon all their studies and their fields, be with them now until forevermore and always, amen.