My Interest and Jesus’s Interest (Mt. 20:17-28)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” May we receive the grace of Christ becoming the Lord of everything. Ultimately our walk of faith is for ourselves, but how is it actually for us? If we prioritize the Lord, then that is actually for us; then, we must know what is for the Lord. God created us in His image, meaning that God created us to reveal Himself through us, and I believe that is the life of greatest success and joy.
But even right now, Satan is working to make us live as if we are God. Instead of God’s Word, my thoughts; instead of God’s plan, it’s my plan; instead of God’s benefit, it’s for my benefit. Even right now, Satan is invisibly planting these thoughts in us. It may seem like that is coming out of me, but it is actually Satan invisibly planting it in me, and no matter how much I try to change myself, I cannot, but the way to actually change is simple. It becomes simple when the things of God become planted in me.
If there are any of you who are suffering from mental afflictions, it is simple if you plant the things of God in you. For people who have physical sufferings, there is a cause. These sufferings do not come with no source, but if you use that physical suffering to receive the spiritual blessings, then it actually becomes a spiritual blessing.
In the beginning of Matthew 20, it talks about how the wages of the person who worked from the morning and the wages of the person who worked starting from the afternoon are the same, but if you keep thinking about the Kingdom of God as the work you do, you’ll complain, “Why am I getting paid the same amount as the person who joined later?” We are only doing God’s work with God’s grace and blessing, then there is no reason for us to complain. If somebody comes in later, then they enjoy God’s Kingdom then; if I come earlier, then I enjoy God’s Kingdom then; it is equal.
1. Jesus was going up to Jerusalem
After Jesus Christ tells this to His disciples, He starts heading towards Jerusalem, and when He goes to Jerusalem, He takes His 12 disciples with Him. Jesus Christ is not doing His work Himself, but He is always training up the disciples who will do God’s work with Him. The way that He is going is the way to Jerusalem to die, and even though the disciples are walking with Him, they are dreaming of something else.
1) Told the disciples in advance (Mt. 20:18)
(1) Mocked – Mental suffering, Flogged – Physical suffering
In Mt. 20:18, Jesus tells them of the things that will happen in the future, very specifically and in full-force: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death,” this is the work for which the Lord has come to earth. Yes, He was doing the works of healing and the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, but that was not His main point; that was only the introduction. We should not stake our life on the introduction; there is a main point, and we should not be used for the introduction; we should be used for the main content.
(2) Death on the cross – Eternal problem (Mt. 20:19)
The main point for which Jesus Christ came to earth was to go to Jerusalem, where the kings and the rulers are, to die on the cross at Golgotha. “They will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified. On the third day, He will be raised to life.” The fact that He was mocked on the cross means He has received all of the mental suffering, a blow to the pride. The fact that He was flogged means that He received all the physical, bodily suffering. But His death on the cross was Him receiving all the curses of our sin, Satan, and hell, on our behalf.
(3) Resurrection – Solved the eternal problem (Mt. 20:19)
The fact that He had resurrected in three days means that He had solved the eternal problem we could never solve. This is something you hear the first time you go to church, but the disciples just passed over this lightly. Paul, on the other hand, planted this inside of himself every single day. People who go to church for a long time or who come from a long line of Christians can easily pass by these words.
The Lord came to earth for this purpose, and even though the disciples heard it, they did not really hear it, then what happens? The problem of the curses, flowing down the family line from Adam, would not be resolved, because even though they heard of the cross, it has nothing to do with their life. The longer we go to church, the more we should hear this deeply in our lives and in our walk of faith; every day, this must thoroughly come into me, but if instead of receiving this, we receive the knowledge of the Bible? That person will be destroyed. Discipleship training, Bible studies, recording the Bible, yes that’s all great, but if you lose hold of this meaning, that’s the reason you’ll be destroyed. That is something we all pass through in our journey. The disciples did hear Jesus say this, but they thought lightly of it; they thought, “Of what relevance is this to me?” But later on, they did see the incident of the cross fulfilled.
2) All mankind
(1) Cross – My death
When you hear about the incident of the cross, the death on the cross must be related to “me.” Everybody who goes to church hears that Jesus Christ died on the cross, but I must participate in that. You must confirm in your faith that Jesus’s death on the cross was “my death.”
(2) Resurrection – My life
Everybody hears at church that He resurrected in three days. Our walk of faith is not destroyed because we don’t know this; it’s because our walk of faith is not related to that. “I am a new creation; I died on the cross with Christ, and now Christ lives within me.” When you are united with these words truly with faith, then nothing else will matter; your powerlessness does not matter, because Christ is your Lord. All of the disciples who did not align themselves with this through faith ultimately gave up on their faith but the Lord finds them again until the very end and brings them back.
(3) Find me
The beginning and everything changes the moment I’m able to confirm that Jesus’s death on the cross and His resurrection is actually my death and resurrection. Who am I? Everybody exists. You may think, “I was born here, I do this for a job, I graduated from this college,” and you think that’s you, but that’s what Paul thought as he failed.
3) Paul
Paul thought, “I was born to an elite family, I am the leader of the greatest clan, I was taught under the greatest teacher, Gamaliel,” and if you know yourself like that, you will fail. He said, “Everything I have known until now is rubbish.” Rubbish is something you use momentarily and then you throw away. He was boasting about everything in his life that was only temporary. “In the past, I was Miss Korea, I was Miss USA.” After time passes, all of that goes away. God gave you that face and God wants to use it like He did with Queen Esther, to save all Israel for eternity, but instead you act as if you made your own face.
(1) Knowing Christ – Surpassing worth (Phil. 3:8)
Paul confessed that knowing Christ is of surpassing worth.
(2) Attaining to the resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:9)
Now, he is only striving to attain the resurrection from the dead. Paul has believed in Jesus for a while now; why would he say unnecessary words? You must find yourself within the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is Paul, and that is you as well. Everything else exists momentarily for the physical need.
(3) Press on toward the goal, The prize for which God has called me (Phil. 3:14)
“Not that I have already obtained this, or I have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” He is racing towards his goal. Even Jesus Christ had His goal of the cross. Apostle Paul who had victory in his walk of faith also had a goal for which he strove. God gives this to us the moment we are saved, but if you’re not able to find it, you will wander in life. From that point on, your life will wander. It doesn’t matter at all how many generations of believers you were born into.
He says, “Everything I am doing, I live to strive for what is ahead in heaven.” Everything you’re doing on earth physically must be related to the prize in heaven. That is how Paul changed. Everything you’re doing, eating, working, studying, sleeping, is to maintain the physical body, but that’s temporary; it will go away, it is rubbish. Everything you are doing in your life must be for what will remain eternally. That’s the difference between animals and people.
Ask yourself this right now, “Is what I am doing on earth going to remain eternally, or is it going to disappear one day?” The beginning of that is, participating on the cross with Christ. That is my identity. I am not the one who is living, but Christ is living in me. Then, no problem will matter. It doesn’t matter what weakness I have because Christ lives in me.
2. People’s Interest
1) Mother of Zebedee’s sons
(1) Kneeling down, asked a favor of Jesus (Mt. 20:20)
(2) What is it you want? (Mt. 20:21)
After Jesus Christ says this, the mother of Zebedee’s sons, who are two disciples, came to Jesus, kneeling down, and asked a favor of Him, and Jesus asked, “What is it you want?”
(3) Two sons – Sit at Jesus’s right and left (Mt. 20:21)
She is actually a relative of Jesus and asks Him for a favor, “Grant that one will sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” If we don’t know God’s goal, then even though we come to church, and we kneel down and worship Him, we don’t even know what we are asking for. Instead of knowing what work God is doing in God’s Kingdom, we are asking God for the things of the kingdom of the earth.
2) Jesus’s reaction
(1) You don’t know what you are asking (Mt. 20:22)
In Mt. 20:22, Jesus answers her, saying, “You don’t know what you are asking.”
(2) Can you drink the cup I am going to drink? (Mt. 20:23)
This is His answer to her, but she doesn’t recognize it as an answer, so He asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?” meaning, “Can you die?” And the sons of Zebedee said, “Yes, we can,” when they heard this because they do whatever they can to get whatever they want, without even knowing what it is.
So, these disciples are following Jesus Christ, imagining that when they go into Jerusalem, where the palace and the temple are, they will sit at Jesus’s left and right hand. So, the interest of Jesus Christ and the interest of the disciples are different, and it would be fine if the disciples’ interests were fulfilled, but that is actually a huge problem.
What is our walk of faith? What does it mean to walk with Jesus Christ? It means to go in the same direction as His footsteps. Jesus Christ is going to Jerusalem to die, and His disciples are walking with Him. But the disciples were following Jesus thinking that their faith was back in the age of King David, where there was a mighty king who would abolish their enemies and make them rule over all the nations. Paul knew this and said, “This is elementary and this is rubbish.” We are living not for the kingdom of the earth, but for the eternal kingdom of heaven. He says, “I am living on this earth to win the prize for which I have been called heavenward.”
(3) You will indeed drink from my cup (Mt. 20:23)
In Mt. 20:23, Jesus said to them, “You indeed will drink from my cup,” meaning, “You, too, will die,” but the disciples do not understand what this means. The Lord gives us His Word, and you listen, but you don’t really understand. “Pastor, when did you ever say this?” I was always saying it. Even though you’re listening, you’re not able to hear it because you’re interested in something else. You are bound to hear and see whatever you are interested in.
Somebody who does drugs will always be interested in, and hear and see things that have to do with drugs. Somebody who has a scar will hear everything in a way that scars them, so that person is always filled with anger. Somebody who is so focused on success will see everything in their walk of faith for success. Paul said, “All of that is rubbish.” That doesn’t mean it is unnecessary; it means that you use it temporarily and then it will go away. You only need this temporarily for the eternal things. The things you study in this world, the money you make in this world, your manners and personality in this world are needed temporarily for the eternal things.
3) Disciples’ reaction
(1) These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by God (Mt. 20:23)
Then the Lord said, “But to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it belongs to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
(2) Disciples were indignant with the two brothers (Mt. 20:24)
The mother of the two disciples asked Jesus Christ this quietly, but Jesus Christ answered her loudly so that the ten other disciples could hear, so they got indignant, saying, “Why are they trying to secure their own position?” Why were they so angry? They were angry because they wanted those seats as well. That’s not something to be indignant about, but why were they angry? They were full of anger and indignant because they wanted that seat, and it seemed like someone was trying to steal it from them.
When does something become a scar? It becomes a scar because you don’t get what you want. Instead of that becoming a scar, it is something you should change about yourself. You need to quickly change yourself and realize, “This is a sign for God to change me the way God wants me to be. Instead of living for my benefit or my pride, I’m living for what God desires.” You must change yourself.
Think about if your children go out to live in society in the same state as the disciples. Their whole face will be scrunched up and twisted because they don’t get what they want. Earlier, the two disciples said, “We can drink from your cup,” meaning they will do whatever they can for success. I am somebody who lived half of my life in the unbelieving world, and half in faith, so I know what the world is like. There is a complete difference between the things you see on the outside and what is on the inside. In order to succeed, people will even sell their wives. In order to succeed, people will even sell sex; they will be a complete slave, a dog. This is the invisible, hidden world.
Do you want your children to live like that out in the world? But if somebody does not succeed, they will be disregarded, so that is why people struggle to succeed and climb to the top. No matter what we want, that’s how we end up living. Look at the politicians. On the inside, behind the scenes, there are tremendous things going back and forth, but we only look at the outer position. We see that a swan looks so graceful on the lake, but under the water, it is paddling so fiercely. That’s why I keep talking about the future generations. We talk about our walk of faith but they don’t know what the world is like.
Our overseeing pastor is a one-star military graduate, he knows the world and knows the organization and hierarchy where people are clawing to climb to the top of; it’s the same in music, politics, athletics, everything. But, there is an answer in the Bible that says we don’t have to do that. If we live for the eternal things with the things God has given to us, then God will raise us up, but the disciples are not interested in those words.
(3) Kingdom of the world – One with authority seats who he wants to sit
In the kingdom of the world, the president will tell the people below them, “Do this,” or, “Do that.”
3. God’s kingdom
1) The great one
(1) Servant (Mt. 20:26)
But in the kingdom of God, if you want to be great, then you must serve. If you want to be first, then you must be a slave. That is the kingdom of God. There is a complete difference between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God, which is the church. An Apostle is somebody who is a servant of the Lord. On the outside, the people of the world look at this Apostle, giving the messages from the words that they heard from Jesus Christ Himself, and think they are so high up. But in the Kingdom of God, the Apostle is the very lowest position, that is, the servant to all. Pastors, elders, church officers, this is not something for you to receive acknowledgement for for your position, but you are a servant to all.
So, the Kingdom of God is not about the position; it is the role, but in the kingdom of the world, it is about the position, and that’s why people will even stake their lives for their position. They try to go up into that high position because they think they’ll be able to live comfortably, but that is the seat of a servant.
(2) Slave (Mt. 20:27)
One time when I was in Korea, there was a son of a pastor who said, “Once you make it as a pastor, you’ve made it.” I didn’t understand why he said that, but later on, I realized what he was saying. He was saying that, once you make it as a pastor, you’ve made it, because if you’re a pastor, even politicians come to church and have to say, “Oh, pastor, pastor,” so he thinks it is the highest position, and I think that is what he was dreaming of, even though his father was a pastor.
Why do you think he said that? In Korea, for 500 years, they were a Confucian nation; Confucianism has a very sure standard for hierarchy and order. So, Confucianism makes certain positions very respected, like teachers. When the gospel went into this Confucianist nation, they started interpreting the gospel with their Confucian ideologies, but the pastor is actually the role that sacrifices and devotes the most; the elder is the one who sacrifices and devotes the most. But if there are churches where they are trying to elect elders and if you don’t get the position of elder, you get angry and quit going to that church, that is the way of the world.
The church officer, the senior deaconess, or the elder agrees to be at the very bottom, to serve the kingdom of God. But if you think of this as the kingdom of the world and say, “I’m just gaining my seat and position,” that’s difficult. Many people say, “I don’t want to be an elder, then; I don’t want to be a senior deaconess,” and if someone asks you to take that role, you say, “I don’t want it.” Because either way, I could never hurt my pride, I could never go under and serve somebody else.” I’m telling you, you do this with the strength and the grace given to you by the Lord. The Kingdom of God is something you can never accomplish with the education of the world; it’s not done by the knowledge of the world. It is done by the principle of the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you learn this correctly in the church and that person becomes a leader or an owner in the world, then the people below them will respect them, but if somebody who thinks power is about stepping on the people below you becomes the owner, then the people below them will just comply to get their money but will betray them at any moment. Even right now, in the industry, there is a concept of a servant-leader and it’s talking about Jesus’s form of leadership. Even if you look at the presidents, they’ll go out and shake hands with little children, and it’s saying that “The one who serves the country from the lowest position is the president. The one who has to worry the most and be concerned about the country the most is the president,” that’s why they were given that position. That position was not given so you can show off yourself, but it’s so that you can be most concerned for the nation. That is how you establish God’s Kingdom out in the world as well, and that’s the reason why you live in the world. You need to know what the church is well. The church is the Kingdom of God, the unified body of Christ where Christ is the head and we are His body.
(3) Jesus – To serve, Ransom (Mt. 20:28)
Jesus Christ said, “Just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve.” He’s the King of all Kings, so we think He should be able to order around anyone who can accomplish things with His Word, but He actually came to die. So, for all of our future generations, please listen carefully. Everything will happen exactly according to the Bible. Whatever you learn in the world, when you go out into the world, it will be difficult, so learn knowledge from school, but use it for the Word of God. If you want to be in the greatest position in the world, you must be the one who serves the nation the most. Really brace yourself for that; if not, you’re going to launder money and do all these corrupt things.
2) Day by day – My Interest
So, where should our interest be, every single day?
(1) Jesus Christ who finished everything (Jn. 19:30)
Every single day, our interest must be in the fact that Jesus Christ finished our eternal problem on the cross. There is an eternal problem that mankind could never solve. No matter how much you succeed, no matter how hard you work, no matter how great you make your personality, there’s something you cannot do: it’s the disasters of original sin, and as a result of that, there is the problem of hell; and before you go to hell, you live a life of hell on the earth. It is the problem where you’re dragged by Satan, regardless of your will, by your fate and destiny. That cannot be solved by success, that problem cannot be solved by your correct thoughts. God Himself must die on the cross for us, and that is not enough still; He must resurrect and live within us. If He just died on the cross and that was it, then our faith is futile. If there’s no resurrection, what was the point of His death? “He died on the cross for our sins?” Every elementary student in church learns that, but that death is my death, and His resurrection is the resurrection where Christ lives in me.
(2) Christ who is the master within me (Gal. 2:20)
Now, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Not my benefit, but the benefit of Christ; it is not my great plan in this world, but the great plan of Christ. That is the characteristic of people who know, enjoy, and live for the purpose of the gospel. They have no plan of their own because they have been called for the plan of God, and they’re racing to obtain that. It doesn’t matter what problem I face, because there is a plan of Christ within that. I hope you will throw away all of your scars and idols that come from yourself and not the standards of Christ; those were the things that caused Israel to fail. They were only supposed to serve God, but they kept on holding onto something else in their heart. Ex. 20:3 says that all of our greed and our idols are actually serving another God, and that results in all of our spiritual problems.
There is no one who is born wanting to do drugs. There is no one in life who wanted to walk a path of failure since they were young, but if we don’t know the gospel of Christ, we are simply dragged into our fate. It doesn’t matter how highly educated we are or what elite family background we were born into, if we don’t have Christ, we have no choice but to be dragged into our destiny. Kids will say, “I don’t want to live like my parents,” how great would it be if things worked out the way we wanted? But if you could just set your mind to it and accomplish it, there was no reason for Jesus to come to earth. Even if you set your mind, it’s not going to work. Christ must live inside of me, and I must hold onto Him as my Lord in order for my life to change. For people who are a little older, you realize, as a boy, you hated your father but now, you are just like him. Daughters, you hated your mothers and said, “I don’t want to live like her,” but now you’re just like her. When you were young, you said, “I will never live like my mom and dad,” but you are living just like them now, so setting your mind is not enough. Jesus Christ must live inside of me as my Lord and I must follow Him in order for me to change.
This is something I experienced fully as a nonbeliever, and so sometimes I say this quite extremely to the future generations in church. I say this so strongly because I know what their future will be like if they keep on living the way they do. Acting like a Christian on the outside is not going to fool the world; if you have an idol in your heart, you must throw it away,” so sometimes, I speak very strongly because I see it. If you don’t see it, then you would just laugh along with them, but you see it, so you can’t just stand still. “Oh, the world is easy,” or, “The world is great,” both of those are fake.
The world is the kingdom ruled by Satan. No matter what you accomplish, at the moment you think you’ve made it, the world will destroy you, how? The world will destroy you with the people next to you. Satan doesn’t work by himself; he uses the people around you. Satan attacks you with the people closest to you, that’s the world. The devil doesn’t reveal himself; he uses the people around you and their weaknesses. If you experience all of that in the world and at the very end, you say, “Oh, that was true,” how sad is that? If you get married without knowing this, that’s a huge problem. Because the devil will use the other person’s weakness to attack you. But if you don’t know the spiritual things, you’ll fight with the person. The reason you married this person was because you thought they would make you happy, but they’re actually making you miserable. Whatever reasons you have for yourself will all be destroyed.
(3) I raise God’s kingdom – Church, Field
It must be the reason of Christ, then the devil will be broken down and disasters will be blocked. That is the family that establishes God’s Kingdom. If the reason you work at your job in the world is for yourself, then that’s it; you shouldn’t find the reason in yourself because you’ve died on the cross. “I have a scar, so I need to overcome the scar by succeeding in the world”? I’m sorry, but that scar will just repeat. “That scar died on the cross, I don’t exist; only Christ lives in me,” that means I work for the reason of Christ.
Why am I living in America? For the reason of Christ. Why am I living? For His Kingdom. Not for the kingdom of the world, you are not living your walk of faith so you can live a beautiful and comfortable life, but it is for the Kingdom of Christ. You must go into the kingdom where the Lord is reigning in order for joy to follow. May you enjoy this blessing and stand as a witness to testify of this.
The church is the kingdom of God, we raise it up, and that is why we are attached as part of the body. If the person next to me is suffering, then that suffering will come to me. Same thing in the family, if one spouse is suffering, it will affect the other spouse. We are one body. I only realized that later on. Before that, I realized, “I’m sure we’re spouses,” but I thought of her as a different person from me. Before, when she was hurting, I thought, “Oh, she’s hurting,” because I wasn’t hurting, and the Bible told me to love, but I wasn’t able to do that.
The Bible tells you to love your neighbor as yourself, but you’re not able to do that because you’re somebody else. But inside of Jesus, when Christ becomes your Lord and you are one with Christ, you begin to feel that way. “Whatever I do to this person, I’m doing to myself. Whatever I’m doing to this believer, I’m doing to myself,” because we have become one body in Christ. But if you don’t know that and you think that their weakness and their suffering is their own, then it will all come back to you.
What happens if you lose the toenail of your pinky toe? Because of that, you can’t even eat; because of that, you can’t work; because of that, you even get a headache, but your head thinks, “That toenail is irrelevant to me”? No, it’s all connected. In your family, when the children are sick, then the parents suffer from that because we are united . If your child is hurting and that makes you suffer, but if your spouse is hurting, and that doesn’t affect you at all, that’s the beginning of your family problems. It means you think your spouse is someone else. We are one body in Christ, but you think they are somebody else, but the Word of God is fulfilled exactly. If you are going outside of God’s Word, that is sin, and the result of sin will follow. The church is so great, we are living for this.
If you go out into the world, there are people there. The reason why you are working is to take people from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God, and going into the kingdom of God is the way every single person needs to go. You must really understand these words. If you’re not able to understand this, then you’ll think, “Me, my family, my church,” and that’s how Israel was destroyed. Why “me” and “my family”? Because they’re connected to me. But the death of Jesus Christ was not just for myself, it was a death for all of mankind. If that is the plan of the Lord, then that must become my plan. That’s why the reason you’re studying should be to save all of the world, all the nations. Whatever business you’re running, it must be to save all of the world, to heal them, and to raise them up as disciples. God’s Word does not change, and if this gets imprinted in you as God’s Word, then God will fulfill that.
(4) Filling of the Holy Spirit – Witness (Ac. 1:8)
God knew that we could not do this with our own strength, so He promises to be with us through the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, there were three positions that were raised up: the priest, prophet, and the king, and they did not fulfill those roles with their own strength, but they were anointed with the Holy Spirit. We cannot accomplish the Kingdom of God with our own strength; the power of the Holy Spirit is with us. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are One, and He promises to be with us with all authority in heaven and on earth.
If He has the power and authority in heaven and on earth, who can block Him? No matter what temptation of the earth comes upon us, it doesn’t matter because everything moves within the hand of the One Who has command over heaven and earth. The kids need to go out into the world with this in their hand to not live a pitiful life. Even if Joseph was a slave, he was not living like a coward; why was he not living like a coward? “Because of me, there are spiritual blessings here. Because of me, Egypt will be saved.” If you tell people to not be cowardly or pitiful without this mystery, that’s impossible. David went to Goliath and said, “Why should I not have a cause? Because of me, God’s Kingdom is established here.”
Why are you living so cowardly? It’s not you; it’s from God. God is allowing the spiritual blessings to be established here through me. I make a little money but in reality, I’m giving them so much more benefit. If you’re not able to find this, then your children will be slaves to money and people. That’s not success, that’s being a slave. You know, “Slave,” they cannot do what they want; they must be dragged around, but if you become a servant of the Lord, then you have true freedom, that becomes a servant who saves themselves and the world.
3) Temple construction – My masterpiece that will remain
Now, the reason we live our lives is to leave something behind. Imagine this, every person on earth is going to die this moment, what will you leave behind? Think about that. What remains? All the good meals you ate? It’s all gone. Your body, your beautiful face, your muscles? It all disappears. Your house? It no longer belongs to you; possessions will circulate across other people’s hands. Your bones? They’ll disappear. Your education was only needed on this earth temporarily and will disappear.
What will remain? Your future generations will remain, right? Your future generations will live after you. Are you going to make them slaves, or are you going to make them live on this earth with the blessings of God? What else will remain? The church is protected by God because this is the place that will relay the spiritual blessings until Jesus’s second coming. Because the church is the place that relays God’s spiritual blessings and saves people, God will protect it. Then, that church was created to leave behind the eternal, spiritual blessings.
That is what we leave behind when we go. In the Old Testament, it is the temple construction, and in the New Testament, it is the church, the church and the church building. Everything else will disappear. Being first place at your school will disappear from the records. If you’re dead, why do you have to be first place? Nobody will remember your success. What will remain? Your future generations and the people whose lives you have saved, and the thing that will remain on the earth physically is church, because through that, the eternal things will live on.
(1) Courtyard of Gentiles
(2) Courtyard of Prayer
(3) Courtyard of Children
The church must have the courtyard for the Gentiles, prayer, and children. Jesus says, “My house is a house for prayer, a church where the light of prayer never diminishes,” It is a prayer to save the world. We must have a courtyard for the Gentiles where people of all nations can worship and receive training. This must be the church where children can worship and receive training as well. Even physically speaking, people give so many donations to schools, like Harvard and Stanford, to leave behind knowledge for the future generations. You must leave behind something, what will you leave behind? May your interests be aligned with God’s interest throughout the week.
Conclusion
1. I was found at the cross
2. I live for God’s kingdom
3. I am filled by the Holy Spirit
Message Prayer
Let us pray individually holding onto the Word God has given to us.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We thank You for finishing all problems on the cross and for being with us with all the power and glory of the throne of heaven. We pray that our will, our plan, and our strength will be the will and the plan of the Lord, and that You will bless us so that we may save those who are destroyed in this world. We have returned Your materials as offering. We pray that You will receive this precious offering to establish God’s Kingdom and to destroy Satan’s kingdom. We pray that You will open up the blessings of the economy of light that You have hidden. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Lord, we thank You. Lord, we pray You will fulfill Your Word exactly so the newcomers and the people returning can be used to save the world according to Your Word. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer.
2. 9/2 (Sat.) Boston Immanuel Church – Lecturer
3. 9/5-6 North America Business conference, college retreat
4. 9/30 (Sat.) LA Young Adult Retreat
5. 10/16-19 Lecture for Mexico evangelism disciples
5. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to have the interest be the interest of the Lord, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.