Into the Stream of Life from Religion (Gal. 1:11-24)
Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. I believe that this is the confession that breaks down the curses and disasters. And I believe the confession you just made has the working from the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God. Your life will change depending on what words you speak. The words of Christ are the words of life that save. Even if you say it without knowing, Satan is trembling. Even if you say it without knowing, you’re escaping from your fate. The title of today’s message is, “Into the Stream of Life from Religion.”
1. From Religion into Life
1) Judaism (Gal. 1:13)
Through Galatians 1, we hear Paul’s testimony of how he received the gospel. Paul had spread the gospel to the region of Galatia, which was a combination of multiple churches, and two years later from the temple of Jerusalem came in and said, “You need the gospel, but you also need the laws of and circumcision of the Jewish religion,” and they were confusing the churches. When they said, “We only receive salvation through faith and the gospel,” that doesn’t burn within their hearts. Ever since they were young, they had to do so many things, so when we are told to do something that’s more relatable.
Who was Paul? He was someone born in the present-day region of Turkey to his parents. Ever since he was young, he was interested in the law and the Bible, so they sent him to study abroad at the age of 12, and then he received training from the greatest educator at that time, Gamaliel. Paul was in the midst of all the success and fame of the Jewish church.
(1) Persecuted the Church (Gal. 1:13)
How is it that this person ended up persecuting the church? How was it that he was holding onto the Bible but he tried to kill those who believed in Christ? If anything, if Paul were completely ignorant of the Bible then he wouldn’t have done that, but the people that have gone to church for a long time, know the Bible a lot and have a long walk of faith will sometimes block the gospel if they don’t know what’s important.
(2) Zealous for the traditions (Gal. 1:14)
Why were these things bound to happen? In Galatians 1:14, Paul said, “I was advancing in Judaism beyond any of my own age,” so his faith is based on his diligence and how fervently he believed, relative to his peers. So, what was the form and the doctrine that was set by this senate? God gave them the Ten Commandments, but they didn’t even know the reason for the Ten Commandments so they put on a thousand of more commandments on top of it and said, “The more diligently you keep these laws, the more faith you have.”
(3) Thoroughly trained in the law (Ac. 22:3)
In Acts 22:3, Paul confesses he was A Jew, born in Tarsus and he was under the greatest Jewish training. What was he saying? The thing God gave us is the gospel, which is life, but he put that in the backburner and he was trusting in his long lineage of Jewish faith and he was holding onto the skeleton of the law. God gave us life, and when we talk about life, physically speaking, it’s in our blood. There is life in our blood. If you don’t have blood, then you’re dead. Through the blood, we get oxygen and all the nutrients are transported throughout our body.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He poured out blood and water, that blood is talking about physical life. Humans don’t just have physical life, they have spiritual life as well, and this is the difference between humans and animals. The spiritual life is within Jesus Christ. It means that Saul was a believer for such a long time, but he was believing while losing hold of the main figure of Life, Who is Jesus Christ.
2) Damascus
(1) Met Jesus (Ac. 9:3-5, Gal. 1:12)
One day, while Saul was on the way to Damascus to persecute and execute Christians, he met Jesus. A light from heaven came down, and a voice said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” and “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Therefore, meeting Jesus is not based on our efforts and diligence. One day, by God’s grace, He found us. Religion is trying with our diligence, our actions, and our traditions to get closer to God. All religions have effort and diligence. There are these actions that show our diligence, prayers that show our diligence.
There’s something we have to memorize with this content. Because we have a list of actions that we think will help save us from our problems, circumstances, and crises, that’s what we call “religion,” but in the gospel, Jesus Christ finds us. In John 20:32 Jesus Christ said the reason he gave us Jesus is to have eternal life. If we already have a physical life why do we need Jesus? Our spirit must have life in order for us to be alive before God, and from that point on, we can have communion with God. From that point on, I’m spiritually alive so I receive God’s Word, plan, and blessings.
There are some people listening here who have been Christian believers for multiple generations, or it’s possible you may say, “I’ve done this and that for the church,” but that cannot be the main issue. Through Jesus Christ, do I have life? If you have life, then your spirit has come to life. If you have life, then you overcome death. Do you have a problem? If someone says they’re going to die, they have no life. But someone who has life has overcome death.
Why do you say you’re going to die if you face a problem? It’s evidence that you don’t have life; if you have life, you overcome death, you overcome problems, why? Because you have life within. If there’s grass alive, no matter where you put it, it will grow. Last week, we expressed this as the gospel that is sufficient. Inside of this life is everything. I believe that’s why God is with us even now with this relationship of life.
(2) Darkness, Authority of Satan, Sin – Liberated (Ac. 26:18)
In Acts 26:18, the author expresses salvation as coming from darkness into light. If you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re in darkness; if you do believe in Jesus, you escape into the light. From that point on, the light of life is shining so you see things you didn’t see before. The things you didn’t see as valuable in the past are now seen as very valuable, and you start to see how valuable of an individual you are.
He also says we are set free from the power of Satan to God. When they were in the Jewish church not believing in Jesus Christ, they were seized by Satan’s authority, “So that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified.” Even as they remained in the church, they offered so many blood sacrifices but they could not atone for sins, because we cannot atone for sins with our actions. We’re regarded righteous by faith. Even if we give a blood sacrifice, it’s by faith we are righteous. Today, at this seat because we believe in Jesus Christ, we are righteous and life is within me. As evidence that we have life within me, God is alive and he delivers us the word. That’s the Word that saves me. That’s life.
For such a person, a problem isn’t a problem. For people who are trapped in religious legalism, everything is a problem, who’s right and who’s wrong, but not for the one who has light, and Satan is afraid of those who have this light and this life. John 1:4 says that within Jesus Christ is life, and He is the light.
(3) Made as God’s heir (Ac. 26:18, Gal. 4:7)
In Acts 26:18, as we become children of God, we receive God’s inheritance. There’s an inheritance God has given to us. There’s something we receive when we believe in Jesus Christ: it is the Kingdom of God. That means that within the Kingdom of God, I’m protected, I’m mature and I receive all my blessings. The world we live in is physical, so we’re protected by physical laws, but our spirit is protected by the Kingdom of God.
For the people who are trying to live a religious life with their legalistic behaviors, I hope you will enjoy the spiritual blessings of Jesus Christ’s life. Even with the laws, there’s the upper laws and the lower laws. And it doesn’t matter what the local laws say, they cannot do anything against the federal law and we have the law of the land, and we must keep that law. But even above that law, there is an invisible, higher law of God.
There are many blessings in this world, but there are also the spiritual blessings that are invisible. If you’re Christian, you go church and you worship, it means you enjoy and follow the higher law of God. So, the lesser laws are bound to follow that greater law. As you go to church, you must be able to distinguish that order.
God has given us the greatest level of blessings, but if we keep demanding God to give us lesser blessings, that will stress us out. Paul made this confession, everything he thought again in the past, he now considered rubbish. He was holding onto elementary things, and the reason why he reads those is rubbish is so that he can gain Christ. Christ is the greatest knowledge, within Christ he has everything, and everything in creation is Christ’s and all creation is for Christ.
If you’re a religious person, you don’t know this. What’s the characteristic standard of a religious person? It’s “me,” I keep the laws in the church. I have to keep the long standing laws of the Jewish church. The only thing that remains is my diligence, and we look at these people and think they have faith. But the people who receive life by God’s grace are different. If you have this faith, then you come to life, your spirit comes to life.
When you receive spiritual strength, your mind comes to life. When you receive spiritual strength, one day, your depression goes away, whether you take medication or not, it doesn’t matter. When you go to the hospital, they may be able to cut out some diseases, but they just cut it out, so when time passes, you’ll just get it again.
What does it mean for you to enjoy life? It means you’re healing the most central, fundamental point of humans. As you enjoy this, one day it goes away: your family problems go away. It changes so it doesn’t matter if it’s there or not. Even if the coronavirus pandemic exists, if I’m healthy, it doesn’t matter. Even if someone has a cold, if they’re healthy they are not bothered by itt, but if someone is not healthy, they’re afraid. It’s the same. If you have life, then you transcend everything. God has given us this blessing of life.
3) Ananias
(1) Region of Damascus – Disciple (Ac. 9:10)
This young adult Saul meets Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, and he completely kneels before God. This region of Damascus is where Ananias lived, and he enjoyed and testified of the gospel. He prays for this, you need to know this to live your business life and your social life. Think about this, Paul was a government official of the Jewish Church and he was spending his life persecuting christians and he got stopped in Damascus. Inside of that region of Damascus lived a disciple Ananias who enjoys and relay the gospel praying every day. That’s where the work of God that completely brought Paul to his knees took place. As Ananias was praying God came to him and said, “Deliver these words to Saul.”
These are the works that are happening even now, but if you don’t know about life, then you will just be working diligently like Saul did, but there’s a house in that region that is praying for the life movement. God sees that and he broke down Saul. From our perspective, it seems we have to work hard to make a good family, but God is actually making everything happen according to the life movement. May your family and your business be a location of blessing, just like Ananaias’ house.
Then one day, at your business place or region, God will bring a disciple who must receive life, to their knees. We have this blessing. But if you don’t know this, then you’re just living a religious life, then God cannot attach anyone to you because you just work very hard to make a living for yourself. I said this earlier but this is the lower level law where it’s basic of living, then you live irrelevant to the higher law of God, which is life.
(2) Relayed the mission (Ac. 9:15, Gal. 1:16)
God delivers the mission to Saul through Ananias, “You are a chosen instrument to deliver the gospel to Gentiles, to Jews, Gentiles, and their kings.” We receive the mission for the rest of my region through the messenger of God. No matter whom you meet, that is a blessing moved by God. If someone is going to be swindled, they’ll meet a conman. It’s not because you’ve met this person, but you were not enjoying the true life; you were stuck in religion, so it wasn’t asligned with God.
Why did I meet this person and fall into drugs? Why did I meet this person and start doing this? It was my spiritual state that had no choice but to meet that person. It’s not because you moved to America, but you were in a spiritual state where this was bound to happen. It’s not because you should have never married and moved in with this person, it was the spiritual state you always had. If you have life, then you start to save. God will bring about the works of life.
Ananias was just a common church person, he was a deacon and he was enjoying that life and praying to relay that life and God brings the greatest apostle, Paul. That’s the region why you’re living in your region you are now, that’s the reason why you’re working at your job. God will begin to work, centered on this life movement.
2. Root of life
1) Time of only
(1) Arabia – 3 years (Gal. 1:17)
Saul met Jesus Christ. He received his lifelong mission, but he didn’t go right away to evangelize, but he had three years where he reinterpreted all of the laws he knew, centered on Christ instead. Arabia is a region between the red sea and persia, it is a large wilderness, and the reason why he went there is to concentrate on only God. He is reinterpreting everything he knew and experienced in the past, to be centered on the life of Jesus Christ.
(2) Moses – 40 years
Moses did this for 40 years.
(3) David – 10 years
David did this for 10 years. During 10 years, he was chased to death by King Saul, but he was enjoying the time of only concentrating on God. All the logic and strength of people, everything you’ve learned has nothing to do with the time of “only” with God. If you’re a large vessel, God will make this time of “only” long for you. For a small vessel, He will make this time short.
Some scholars say Paul did this for 10 years. When you meet Jesus Christ, you should be able to reinterpret everything in your past. When you meet Jesus Christ, you should be able to understand and interpret everything you’ve learned in the past, your parents’ spiritual state and the things they’ve taught you. “Why am I here at this church right now and what must I do in the future?” All of this should be reinterpreted, why? Because Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, Jesus Christ is the Truth.
There was one remnant who asked me, “Was Jesus Christ born in B.C. or A.D.?” The time Jesus Christ was born was B.C., that was not just decided by Christians, but scholars all around the world determine the scale of the time of the world is based on Jesus Christ. So it’s not that Jesus Christ was born in B.C. or A.D., but it’s that B.C. and A.D. are based on Jesus’ birth. Even unbelievers in the world speak like this. When the life of Jesus Christ comes into me, we’re able to know the past and the future.
But there are people who don’t know Jesus Christ and they still hold onto the success of their past that means they’re losing hold of the Jesus of “now,” and if they lose hold of Christ they live holding onto the scars of the past. There’s a reason, a plan of God, where He gave you everything in your past. I was born in a family line with multiple generations of unbelievers and came to meet Jesus, and now I can understand all the situations I experienced in my past and my family, and I realized, “God allowed me to experience my past so I can do this now.” I know what’s going to happen in the future because God is guiding me as a pastor for missions and evangelism.
If you know Jesus Christ, then you’ll come to know the past, present, and future. There’s no need for you to go to a fortune teller. There are Christians that go and get their fortunes read, why? If you know Jesus Christ, you know your past, present, and future. What are you going to do in the future? It’s all in the Bible. The reason you cannot see this is because you don’t see christ. When this life comes into me, the darkness is revealed and I can see. But Satan keeps deceiving us with lies, he keeps attaching other things on top of Christ. They say, “Yeah, you need Christ but you also need this.” It’s evidence they’re centered on the physical things.
For the spiritual things, there’s nothing more to attach. Once the life of Jesus Christ comes into our spirit, that’s it, and God works upon the physical things for the spiritual things. Why did God make me study like this in the past, why did God make me go through this circumstance in the past? That existed for my present and my future. Today, if you and I are within the life of Jesus Christ, then that is our future. We keep drawing another image of life, but that image came from somewhere else. Your content and spiritual state right now will determine your future. You keep trying to do things physically, but the physical things move for the spiritual things.
(3) Filled with the Holy Spirit (Ac. 9:17)
It seems like this is something we can do on our own, but it can only happen if we are filled with the Spirit of God. The blessings and power of the throne of heaven have to come upon us in order for us to do this work. The filling of the Holy Spirit means we are filled with the spirit of Jesus Christ. In other words, filled with the power of God. That’s how I overcome myself, we overcome the power of America. Other people say it’s so hard but we transcend that difficulty. Other people say they fall, but we overcome, why? Because we’re filled with the Spirit of God.
Joseph went to Egypt as a slave but in Genesis 41:38, Pharoah said, “Who can we find filled with the spirit of God like this man?” The Early Church was a gathering of people who had no education or possessions, but they evangelized all through Rome. It is not by the power of humans, but by the power and the working of the Holy Spirit. That’s the only way for you to overcome America. With your hard work, the longer you live, the more you’ll be enslaved to America; you’ll be a slave to money, a slave to work, a slave to people. That’s why you’re going to worry and stress, that’s why you get cancer, why? If you simply have the mission of having and enjoying the life of Jesus Christ, God is bound to bless you with a mission, and fill you with the Holy Spirit for that mission. He declared that mission perfectly through Ananias.
2) Grace (Gal. 1:15)
(1) From mother’s womb
(2) Set me apart
(3) Called by His grace
After he realized this Paul confessed God sent me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace. Later when Paul realizes he confesses that He chose me from a long ages past. When we receive God’s grace, we know the spiritual world. I was chosen from when I was in my mother’s womb. Then he was able to realize at age of 12, “God moved the hearts of my mother and father so that I could study under Gamaliel, so that I could be a teacher of the law no longer, but a teacher of the gospel.” Later on, in Ephesians, Paul confesses God chose him from a long ages past, God had already chosen me before humans were even created. He discovers these things by God’s grace. So we’re living with a physical body but we’re actually at a much higher level.
3) With (Gal. 1:18)
(1) Went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas
(2) Stayed for 15 days
(3) Saw James
So, when you’re appointed as an Apostle, you have to go and report yourself immediately, but instead of reporting to anyone, he went to Arabia for 15 days and after that he went to Jerusalem to get appointed with Cephus and stayed there for 15 days, and there, he met the Apostle James. Peter, James, and John were the main disciples out of the 12. Why do we have to do this? Because we have to do this life movement together, otherwise I could proclaim the gospel by myself, but in the end,I will face many obstacles and one day, the Apostles block. Everything that’s happening in Galatians right now is because people are questioning the validity of Paul’s apostleship. The reason why we have a denomination is so pastors may be appointed. When you talk about the church, you don’t just do whatever you’re doing in the ministers by yourself but you talk about it with other members of the church and go together, otherwise one day you will be blocked.
It’s the same with your professional life, it doesn’t matter how well you work on your own if it’s not aligned with the direction of the company, then the more you go in that way, the more you cannot go into the company. Because I’m not perfect and because Paul isn’t perfect, we have to be included in the group of apostles.
3. Into the stream of life
1) Region of Syria and Cilicia (Gal. 1:21)
(1) Man who formerly persecuted us (Gal. 1:23)
In Gal. 1:21, he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
(2) Faith he once tried to destroy (Gal. 1:23)
In Gal. 1:23, “They only heard the report: “the man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” The faith he is preaching is that salvation is only found in Jesus Christ. The Jewish leaders disagreed with this, “We don’t only need the gospel, we need the laws, we need to be circumcised, and we need to keep the tradition that was past on for thousands of generations,” that’s why they tried to kill the Christians, but now Paul has completely changed. “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the same faith as us.”
(3) Faith in Christ – Righteous (Gal. 2:16)
It would be the same thing as right now, the president of Russia saying “I’m sorry, I’ll believe in Jesus now.” Simply put, let’s say there’s a gang and the head honcho is completely changed, so everyone is shaken up. That faith is in Galatians 2:16, that we can only be righteous through faith in only Jesus Christ and the cross.
What is faith? Some people say, “Believe in anything,”They keep repeating whatever they want and say, “I have faith in this,” or sometimes they use their faith to say, “I believe God will give me whatever I want.” Every religion has that. But that’s not faith. What is the faith the Bible tells you about?
(4) Death, resurrection of the cross – United (Gal. 2:20)
It is a faith in the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us and resurrected. The fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross means I have died on the cross with Him. When Jesus Christ resurrected, I was resurrected with Him in the resurrection. Now, it’s talking about the faith where I live with the life of Jesus Christ in me.
But when we face a problem, we should die, and yet instead, we come to life and become an enemy of the cross and return back to our religious life. You’re supposed to be dead on the cross with the Lord, why are you trembling in fear before your problems? I’m dead in this problem and now Jesus Christ is going to lead me to life through this problem. If you don’t know this, then you may have faith inside the church building, but inside of the problems, crises, and circumstances of the world, you’re bound to fall, and the devil doesn’t bat an eye except for the light of Jesus Christ on the cross.
In Ephesians, it says Satan is right now controlling the hearts of leaders like Putin, and even right now when Satan goes into the president of a North Korean dictator, he shoots missiles. The devil is holding onto them. Satan controls all the leaders and those in authority. There are forces of darkness. The spirits of darkness, like in gangsters. All the dark alleys where there are murders, kidnappings, rapes, are all the works of Satan. All the religious leaders are also fully controlled by Satan.
There’s no way to ever overcome without the life of Christ. Right now, in America, there are a lot of organizations doing transcendental meditation. There are medical facilities even at Harvard that are treating transcendental meditation. These are things happening today.When we see healing happen, we flock to it, in other words, if you go to a shaman and receive healing, everyone will gather there. Everyone gathers for work, bu tif that doesn’t have life, it’s not a good thing.
What is transcendental meditation? Humans are spiritual beings, so if we concentrate on something, then the spirit moves and one day, Satan enters. At first, he deceives us into thinking we’re getting better and he seizes us. Satan doesn’t work in America like he works in Eastern countries. Satan works in America very subtly, he doesn’t work with great temples of religion, that’s what he does in Asian countries, but in America, he controls people with a very different image and later, they can’t escape from the thoughts in their heart.
Mental division, addiction and obsession, they cannot escape. Even right now, when Satan seizes our mind, we cannot concentrate on Christ. If we keep getting impulsive thoughts, we think they’re our thoughts but they’re not. That’s why we fight and hate people and say, “It’s always their fault.” Satan puts those thoughts into your head. He puts illusions in your head so you fight and divide.
If you don’t have this life, you’ll fight even in church. Why are there so many mental patients in America? Why are there so many shootings, and why are there so many drug deals? We have scientific advancements and we have the greatest colleges, but why is it that we have more and more mental illnesses, why is it that even psychologists that’s trying to heal mental illnesses get mental illnesses themselves? It’s not possible with human academics. We must receive the life of Jesus Christ in order for us to become normal beings. This problem is so unsolvable by us that God Himself had to die on the cross, and we can only come to life with the work of Jesus Christ resurrecting on the third day.
This cannot be solved by education, this cannot be solved by the religion of man. Christ, Who is God Himself, must come to us as life and guide us. May you enjoy this life even now, how? May you enjoy faith. “But I can’t believe it,” then you just pray for faith. This worship is the ultimate determining factor of future success.
You guys are so seized by physical things, “Am I doing well in my business or studies?” but one day you’ll have a mental problem so you can’t do it. one day you succeed, but you can’t even feed yourself because your spirit is so destroyed. You make so much money but you can’t even move, that’s how your life becomes. Why? It’s because you see the life of Jesus Christ as valueless.
We are the ones who have the life of Christ and we enjoy that through faith. Even today, the words of God’s life in us, I hope you will pray about it. God is alive, where is he? With me, I’m no longer the master, God is my Master, and there’s a plan of God in everyone I meet. Today you and I are meeting together;this is a meeting controlled by God. Why do you think he gave us this meeting? because God has a plan and I hope you will find that plan. You’ll meet people starting from monday. There’s a meeting in the plan of God, holding onto that plan is the way to hold onto the plan and the Word of Christ. Let’s say you have this faith in the church, but as soon as you meet someone in the field, you meet them for your personal gain or advantage or success, there’s no Christ there. That’s what happens when you depart from the essence of life. You need to have, enjoy, and take this life into the world. Then you will see God moving, first you will come to life. When you face a problem, it’s not a problem, why? Because the Lord is inside of you, giving you the answers to that problem.
If God continues to show you His plan for these problems, why would it be a problem to you? If the kids go in to take the tes, but they already know the answers, it wouldn’t be a problem. Christ gives you the answer no matter what problem you’re in. That Christ is within me as life. Think of a very strong river. There’s fish in there, the animals come to drink from it, and even the trees around there live from the water in the soil. That’s why all cultures began around rivers, and all the great force civilization started around great rivers. It’s like this with the land, but we’re spiritual beings. In the spiritual world, God is moving everything centered on the one who has the life of Christ, centered on Jerusalem, centered on Europe, and centered on America, centered on Asia and back to Jerusalem. There’s a stream of the life of Christ. Today, the reason you and I are living is so we can go into the stream of life.
2) Antioch church
(1) Met Barnabas (Ac. 11:25-26)
Later, Apostle Paul meets Barnabas and comes into the Antioch Church. Where is our footstool always? It is the church, the church is the Body of Christ. If we don’t see Christ, we’re all Christ, because when we serve an evangelist or a child, you are serving Christ. That’s what the Bible says. If you’re a member of the body of the Church, should you criticize another member of the church? You’re criticizing Christ and the criticism will come back to you. You need to know the church well. If you say you know Christ if you don’t know the church, you don’t know Christ. All the peoples eaten here are the body of Christ.
Are you well-educated? ThenI hope you will use your education to help those who are less educated. Do you make a lot of money? I hope you’ll use that for the body of Christ that doesn’t have money. Are you healthy? I hope you’ll use your health for the church, the body of Christ. Are you smart? May you use your intelligence for the body of Christ which is the church.
Did you fail in your past? I hope you will teach your failures to the future generations so they won’t repeat it. Did you succeed? I hope you will teach the know-how for success to the future generations. Where is the church? The church is the salt and the light of the world. A church that doesn’t have the gospel is irrelevant, but if a church does have the gospel, they are the salt and light of the world, and your devotion to the church is the world evangelism to save.
(2) Church – Raise disciples (Ac. 11:26)
In Acts 11:26, Paul and Barnabas preach the gospel, and within a year, the first Christians at Antioch arose. What’s the criteria for a Christian? You know specialists in baseball or basketball. What makes a professional basketball player? Every time they talk, they talk about basketball. What is a musician? They love music, they interpret everything as music, and within that is money and success. Professional athletes have their success and money in sports, but if someone is constantly getting distracted by other thoughts, that’s not a professional athlete.
Christians love Christ, Christ should be everything, and they interpret everything through life and they testify of life. That’s what you call a Christian. There are those who go to church and they’re Christian, the ones who end everything with life. We study with life, we work with life, we believe all the unsolvable problems in the past are solved with life, and we solve the future with life. That is a Christian.
(3) Formed teams within the church (Ac. 13:1)
The members of the Early Church at Antioch were called Christians. It’s not that they kept chanting, “Christ, Christ,’ But They liked it so much and had no choice but to speak of it. They weren’t poking and prodding people to get evangelism training. We may need that but it wasn’t like that for them. From the Old Testament to the New Testament,everything was Chrst. When they looked at the story of Israel to the history of today, it’s all centered on Christ and what Christ is doing right now. That’s a Christians, we have that blessing.
If you disagree, then I hope you will pray so you may understand. Your business is also for the life of Christ, otherwise it will be hard. We’re holding onto our difficulties but our IQ is less than 200, how hard is that? We don’t know our future, we don’t know when we will fall, we don’t know when God will call us today. What can we guarantee? The life of Christ, this life doesn’t just stay, it moves. This life moves through Paul, to the Israelites, to the kings, and to the Gentiles.
So the most important thing is only life, that’s the light, and Satan trembles only before that. Satan doesn’t care about your success, Satan laughs at the college your kids went to. He brings kids to that college and destroys them. Satan will bring success to your business and destroy them. Satan makes people politicians and destroys them. Only life, only the light of Christ. Before this, I believe curses and Satan are destroyed, and being filled with Christ, that’s the church.
3) To the regions, world
(1) Proclaim the life of Christ
(2) Raise the disciples of Christ
(3) Raise the church of Christ
Conclusion
1. From religion to life
2. Root in life
3. Within the stream of proclaiming life
May you enjoy and testify of this joy throughout the week and have joy because of it.
Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Prayer
God, we thank You. We thank You for giving us the life of Jesus Christ instead of religion. We thank You for allowing us to see everything only through the gospel. Thank You for allowing us to live for life. We return our material blessings as offering to save lives, for the offering to do the Temple Construction to save the 237 nations, as the offering to save the future generations and missions and the offering to save the church. We pray that you will shine the blessing of the economy of light upon these hands. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray that the life of Jesus Christ will be upon the newcomers and they may have the blessing of testifying and enjoying the life of Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all of the people of God, who desire to enjoy and testify of this gospel and life of Christ, be upon their jobs, ministries, and their academics, be with us now and till forevermore always. Amen.