Spiritual Blessing of Thanksgiving (Exodus 23:16)
Let us bless one another, Happy Thanksgiving Day! Today is the time when the church uses the Feast of Thanksgiving to talk about the spiritual blessing of Thanksgiving and the feasts. In the world and the country we are living in, what exactly is the answer and the problem? Is money a problem? Are drugs or alcohol a problem? It’s people who are the problem. Alcohol and drugs aren’t a problem by themselves, the issue is the person who is abusing those substances.
Then, when you say that people are the problem, is it because of education? Education teaches people about the world, and that’s not the problem. The problem is in that person’s soul. That soul cannot be understood by science. The soul can only be restored by restoring the connection of life we have with God and His Spirit.
In America, there are these big festivals or holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, but all of these holidays come from the background of the church. So, why is it that, even though the culture is being led by the churches like this, there are still so many problems in America? Why is it that people are getting sucked more and more into having to do drugs? Why is it that every month, there are people who are so filled with anger that they kill dozens of people by shooting them? We need to find both the problem and the answer through today’s word regarding Thanksgiving.
All around the country, there are churches giving their Thanksgiving worship, even people who do not believe in Jesus Christ take vacations over Thanksgiving to go on vacation. Thanksgiving originally was meant to give thanks to God for all the crops and fruits that He had provided throughout the year. Yes, we do have to be thankful, but if we lose sight of the spiritual blessing and meaning that is contained within that, then we will have spiritual problems. People live their walk of faith for a very long time, but they’re not able to overcome the problem they’re not aware of. It’s not that they didn’t go to worship, and it’s not that they didn’t live their walk of faith, but they could not overcome their problem.
The Israelites were waiting for the Messiah to come, but they thought He would come as a human, or the offspring of David. Without a doubt, they did hold onto God’s Word regarding the Messiah, but they lost hold of the spiritual meaning. They lost hold of the fact that, it is the True God Who had come down in a physical form as the descendant of David. Because they lost hold of the spiritual content but only held onto the physical aspect of being a descendant of David, even though the Messiah was in front of them, they actually crucified Him. Then, just like the Israelites were also destroyed, the reason there are so many churches in America but the churches are being destroyed is that they hold onto the physical things but they’ve lost the spiritual things, so they have spiritual problems.
For people, all will go well when their spirit gets along well, but our spirit must be getting along well first. If we neglect the spirit and only seek and concentrate on the physical things, then we will have spiritual problems. That is why we cannot talk about the problems of America with the knowledge and science that we have today. Even if we go to church, if we’re not able to restore the spiritual meaning and blessing, then we will go to church just as the Pharisees did.
God gave the Israelites seven feasts. Each of those seven feasts had a meaning. Through the seven feasts, God contains the message that has all the spiritual content, starting from the Passover all the way to the Ingathering, which talks about Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection on the cross, His Holy Spirit being with us, and bringing us back to Heaven on His second coming, during the judgment. Then, Jesus Christ came to this earth and died on the cross to fulfill all the words in the Old Testament. This means we no longer have to put crops in the storehouses because it was the spiritual meaning of Jesus. Jesus Christ said, “I do not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law.” God told the Israelites to keep the seven feasts of the Old Testament, but Jesus Christ finished it all. But what does Thanksgiving have to do with Jesus Christ? It has this spiritual meaning as well.
1. Passover
1) Salvation
(1) Blood of the lamb (Ex. 12:21-22)
What is the Passover, then? There was no other reason, but 10 disasters came unto Egypt. When I was a nonbeliever, I used to think, “If I live a good life, an honest and hardworking life, I would be okay,” but the older I got, the more it was not so. Then, I felt betrayed by life because it was different from what I had learned, and the more I saw the world, the more I was filled with rage. I was doing my very best to live an honest and hardworking life, but problems kept coming in. I didn’t know something.
Why did the 10 disasters go into Egypt? Because, when we are separated from God spiritually, we have disasters. When we’re separated from God, we are bound to serve something else. We serve an idol, and the New Testament tells us that our greed and ambition is the idol we serve. Because of the idolatry, we have more and more curses and disasters, but as a nonbeliever, I didn’t know that. In that situation, it doesn’t matter how diligent we are; there is no solution. No matter how diligently we live, we cannot resolve it, and it doesn’t matter how many skills I develop; I cannot resolve that.
Then, I had so much rage inside of me, because if I lived like this, at least I should have some kind of outcome to show for it, but instead, I had more and more disasters. That is something most nonbelievers think. They come to realize that life is not the way that they learned, and the reason why people cheat and break laws is not because they want to, but it’s because they think that’s the only way they can live in the world, because they tried living an honest life and it didn’t work. That was the 10 curses and disasters in Egypt, they didn’t know the real reason.
(2) Curses and Disasters pass over (Ex. 12:23)
(3) Salvation (Ex. 12:27)
But, when we apply the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, then the angel of death will pass over that house. That was God’s promise. God is saying, “I will take away my wrath from you.” For nonbelievers, no matter what they try, they cannot understand these words. They say, “I should have done something wrong for me to be cursed! I should have broken some law to be cursed,” but the very fact that we are separated from God is a curse. The Feast of the Passover is celebrated to remember that when we applied the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, the angel of death passed over our house.
2) Jesus Christ (Jn. 19:30)
That blood of the lamb was the incident in John 19:30 where the blood of Jesus Christ finished everything.
(1) Sin – Death (Past problem) (Eph. 2:1)
Eph. 2:1 says, “In the past, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,” we need to save this first. “On the cross, Jesus Christ received all of the curses and disasters of our sins on our behalf.” If we don’t resolve that and we’re just working hard, that’s not going to be the answer. Without resolving that problem, if you just want to live a clean life, it’s not going to be the answer.
(2) Ruler of the kingdom of the air, Children of wrath (Present problem) (Eph. 2:2)
Eph. 2:2-3 says we lived, following the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, who is the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, who are by nature, objects of wrath. The moment we accept Jesus Christ, the evil spirit that is working right now and the wrath of God right now, has been finished.
(3) Seated in the heavenly realms (Future problem) (Eph. 2:6)
In Eph. 2:6, we have been seated in the heavenly realms with Christ. That’s the heaven we will go to, it’s already been guaranteed. Then what does it mean that we believe in Jesus Christ? All problems of our past, present, and future have been finished. But then we face a problem. You need to interpret that correctly, and if you don’t know the meaning of the Pentecost, you’ll get lost in that problem as well.
3) Every day
(1) Law of sin and death → Law of Spirit and life (Rom. 8:2)
Rom. 8:2 says that, “Through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” As soon as we’re born, we are born separated from God, under the frame of curses, disasters, Satan, and death. When we use the word, “law,” it means we can’t escape from it. Only through Jesus Christ can we go into the law of the Spirit of life. Now, the Holy Spirit resides within us and He will fulfill the law within us. This should trigger an emotion and gratitude within you.
(2) Christ – Greatest knowledge (Phil. 3:8)
Paul didn’t know this, and he used to think that his salvation and righteousness was done by his own actions of the law, but after he met Jesus Christ, he realized that this was the surpassing knowledge. If Christ is not acknowledged as the greatest knowledge in America, then we cannot solve the curses and disasters. But in America, there is such a fierce culture of Genesis 6 and 11, where we are trying to build the Tower of Babel and trying to achieve success on our own, and all of that opposes Jesus. Even though they know Jesus, it is not the greatest knowledge for them.
(3) Christ – All things (Col. 2:3)
Col. 2:3 says that all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, then everything needs to flow out from Christ. You need to enjoy that wisdom, that blessing, by faith in prayer. In other words, the solution to all the problems of America, including our addictions, our mental illnesses, and shootings, must come from Christ. If we’re trying to solve this with the knowledge of America, it cannot be solved. Because this is a spiritual problem, until Christ comes into us as life, it cannot be solved. Inside of Christ, you must study and work. Some people say, “Even if I didn’t do that, I studied and worked well,” but that’s why we have problems like America does today, because we can be the superpower nation of the world without Christ. But they are completely spiritually lacking and they’re only bragging of their physical strength, so now they have spiritual problems.
Christ is everything, inside of Christ is hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge; it’s not just there, it’s hidden. For people who have hidden motives, God will not reveal it to them. For people who are living a religious life, God will not reveal this to them. For pastors like Judas Iscariot, God will not reveal this to them. For people who live their walk of faith with the only goal of solving physical illnesses, God will not reveal this to them. Jesus Christ came to Earth and He was healing diseases and giving them food to eat, but God does not show them any more than that.
For you and me, we must be able to see that everything is in Christ. That is how we will not hold onto something else. “As your spirit gets along well,” that means you have to be attached to Christ. These kids are studying, but they’re focusing on their studies. Then, other people might think, “If they’re focused on their studies, why is that a bad thing?” but that’s actually a tremendous problem. “Why is it a problem that I’m focused on my business?” It’s actually a tremendous problem, and later on, that person cannot handle not thinking about their studies or their work; they’re so anxious, they need to think about it, and that’s why we have workaholics.
Have you ever seen anybody addicted to studying? I have, they’re very good at studying. This person was a female student attending medical school in Koryo University, and I went to meet her in the library. I said, “You shouldn’t just receive the gospel by yourself, but you should spread the gospel to other medical students; let’s meet in a classroom,” but that girl said, “I cannot leave the library,” but I know how she feels. “Even if I’m not studying, I need to be here, do you understand?” Most people do not know because they don’t live like this. People who are really athletic, even if they’re just having fun, they need to be around the gym.
That person is completely mentally seized by the obsession of studying, we call that, “obsession.” If somebody is obsessed with something, they have no freedom. Are you obsessed with money, people, your future, or are you free from that? If you are obsessed with those things, that’s a result of not concentrating on God. You get so obsessed with thinking about something somebody said to you, right? Why is that? Because a person’s spirit must be concentrated on Christ, and we need to receive all of our answers through Christ. But if we’re separated from that, then you focus on your own and it falls deeper into obsession, and when that becomes more severe, you fall into addiction.
So, the drug itself is not the problem, but there’s a problem in the person’s spirit that takes them into obsession, then into addiction. Even if they’re not actually studying, there are people who need to hold a book, there are business people who are so anxious when they’re not working. We call that a workaholic, it’s not a good word, it’s a spiritual problem. Other people might look at them and think they are so hardworking, but that person cannot stand to leave their work for a moment; they are living their lives completely bound. That’s what you call a slave. America is the land of the free, but that person has no freedom; they’re seized by something and dragged around. That’s what happens if you lose hold of the blessing in Christ.
2. Pentecost
1) Feast of Weeks, Feast of Harvest (Ex. 23:16)
The second feast is the Feast of Pentecost. The Feast of Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest. This means we are giving the firstfruits of our labor from the spring harvest to our God in thanksgiving. It’s called “Pentecost” because it happens 50 days after the Passover where we worship God.
(1) Land of Canaan – Baal, Asherah idols
This is a commandment for the feast that God gave to the Israelites while they were in the wilderness, to prepare for their agricultural life while in Canaan, because in the land of Canaan, there were all of these idol worshipers who were worshiping Baal and Asherah, so they could get more grain, or more offspring, and God was giving these Israelites these feasts so that they may know about this, and worship God in that land.
(2) God’s guidance, work – Firstfruit
(3) Thanksgiving offering
In the land of Canaan, when God gives you those firstfruits of your labor, give it to God as thanksgiving. But what is the spiritual meaning behind this feast?
2) Pentecost
(1) Filling of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 2:1-4)
Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came with power upon the disciples. If you keep on thinking these feasts have to do with thanking God for the physical blessings you’ve received, you’re just like the Pharisees, who thought that the Messiah would come as a descendant of David, and only focused on the physical things. Through the physical feasts, God wants us to look at the spiritual meaning, but the Jewish people lost hold of the spiritual things, and only focused on the physical things, so they received spiritual curses. And today, we have Thanksgiving worship, and we don’t have all of these abundant harvests or crops, but if you just focus on the physical blessings, then you will have spiritual problems. The Pentecost is also the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, where, after Jesus Christ resurrects and ascends into heaven, the Holy Spirit comes upon us. The Holy Spirit came upon the people in the New Testament during the Pentecost.
(2) With the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:17)
The Holy Spirit is with me, He is with us, and He is guiding us. Why is that important? If you know the gospel but you’re not receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I’ll give you an example: you have a problem. People try to solve their physical problems, so their level is at the physical level. We need to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we keep on trying to solve the problem physically, and of course, you’re only focusing on the physical problem and losing hold of the spiritual things, so of course, you’re going to have more spiritual problems. During Thanksgiving, yes, it is good to be thankful to God for all the ways He has guided us throughout the year, but if we lose hold of the spiritual blessings, then we get spiritual problems.
John 14:26-27 says that, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, He will teach and remind you of the words of Jesus Christ, so this Pentecost is extremely important. The indwelling, working, and guidance of the Holy Spirit is very important. Whenever you face a problem or a situation, you must receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
(3) Guidance (Jn. 14:26-27, Gal. 5:18)
The problem will come according to the age; middle and high school students have the problem of going to college, and because their personality is not finalized yet, they are going through a rebellious stage. Once they enter college, now they have to worry about how they’ll make a living and what major they will choose. Once somebody becomes a young adult, they have to get a job, they have to make a living, and then they have to get married. After they get married and have children, they become middle-aged, and now they have the problem of having to raise their children. As they get older, people will have health or physical problems. We have no choice but to be like that because our physical bodies will degrade, our eyes will not be able to see, and our knees will begin to hurt, so we always face problems. Of course, we have problems with death, problems with the future, what’s going to happen with our children–we’re always having problems. Until we go to the perfect heaven, we’ll always be surrounded by problems, that’s why we have to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We are not trying to solve the problems because we will always have problems. We are not believing in Jesus Christ to solve our problems, but we want to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the problems. That’s why, the Pentecost.
Gal. 5:18 says, If you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are not under the law. It means that you don’t have to set some kind of law and act upon it, but if you face a problem, you’re so stuck in your legalism that you keep on thinking, “What did I do wrong?” or if somebody is having a problem, you keep thinking legalistically, “What did they do wrong?” If you’re receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it means you are looking for God’s plan, that’s how you receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then you are bound to escape from being centered on your own legalism and actions, but if you don’t understand the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Pentecost, then the longer you live your walk-of-faith the more heavy a burden it will be. The Lord’s Word guides me forward; you need to actually enjoy this. If you’re not able to enjoy this, then you will get more oppressed under heavy burdens.
3) Every day
We must enjoy the blessing of the Pentecost every day, so that the power of the Holy Spirit of the Lord is actually upon me. The Holy Spirit dwells within me, so we need to pray so that the Holy Spirit’s power seizes me. If you’re seized by alcohol, you’re no longer in your own mind. You have a problem, but in that moment, you forget about it. Then, when you sober up, that problem is still there. If you’re seized by drugs, then even though the problem is still in your life, your mind is numb, and when you sober up, the problem is right there. So you keep on falling deeper. It’s a lie. But if you receive the guidance, the filling, and the working of the Holy Spirit, then you will be seized by God. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, which is absolutely a problem, the reason I fear no evil is because the Lord is with me. Even if I face a problem like a mountain, if the Lord is with me, it doesn’t matter. So, I hope you will look for God’s plan. The Jewish people fell because they weren’t able to do this.
(1) My spirit (Gen. 1:27) – Power of the throne (Gen. 2:7)
(2) Field – Work of the Holy Spirit (Gen. 2:18)
(3) Answers to my field
Then, every single day, you must enjoy the spiritual blessing of the Pentecost so that the power of the Holy Spirit is upon you. You need to enjoy it so that the Holy Spirit of God is working upon your studies, your business, your family, and everybody you meet. That’s why Jesus is with us as the Holy Spirit, but if you keep on neglecting that, you cannot overcome your own limitations. The older you get, the more you will face your limitations. You will have all the problems, like financial problems, and health and physical problems, and the problems of worrying about your children, and we don’t have the strength to overcome that. If that person lives their walk of faith for a very long time, then that’s a really big problem. But if you’re seized by the Holy Spirit of God and receive the Holy Spirit’s guidance, then nothing is a problem.
(4) Revival of my past, present, future
If you leave all the scars of your past alone, then later on, they will be seized by Satan, and you’ll have to solve that suffering by drinking alcohol. I’m not just saying this, but I’m telling you because I used to drink heavily, and I used to smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day. If there’s anyone here who’s smoked 4 packs a day, tell me. I was a country bumpkin, so I didn’t even know about drugs, but I smoked so many cigarettes because I was always so anxious and nervous all the time. And then when I hear about kids smoking, that’s not even smoking to me. Do you want to try drinking every single day? Before I believed in Jesus Christ, my liver was completely destroyed to the point where I was almost at the brink of death. I didn’t do that, but it was because I was so disgusted by the world; life was not working out the way I was taught it would. When I went out into the world, there were so many disgusting things, and I should have been able to ignore that and keep on living, but that’s not my personality, so I had no choice but to do those substances. That’s a disaster.
We cannot overcome the laws of life on our own; there’s no method we can use because Satan is holding onto the authority of the world. I’m somebody who has personally experienced this. If you have a scar from your family, then the way you will try to overcome that is often by studying very hard, but you still can’t solve it. If there’s somebody who has these scars regarding studies, then because of their studies, they will try to escape. Then, they try to escape from their studies as well, they hang out with friends, they do drugs, they hang out with the wrong crowd, but their scar still isn’t going away because they tried to solve all of their suffering and scars through drinking, but the scar is still there.
In Eph. 4:27, it says that Satan is moving with these fortresses, and if that is not solved with the gospel, it will continue for your whole life. The problem of America today is actually a longstanding problem. The problem where the churches were not able to correctly diagnose and give the answer to that problem has resulted in America today. Because everybody is so focused on Thanksgiving on the money and the physical blessings we’ve received, and how thankful we are for those, we are not solving the spiritual problem. America is a place that has the greatest intake of drugs, that means they are buying drugs. That means that, even though there are relatively more churches in America than other nations, they’re not able to influence the nation, they’re not able to overcome the problem of their depression. They are not able to overcome all the little problems in their lives, visible and invisible. But the issue is, if we’re not able to give the answer to the next generation, things will be much worse for them.
So today, during Thanksgiving, I hope you will especially know, enjoy, and relay the meaning of the Pentecost. Then, all of your past, your scars, failure, successes, family problems, they will be used as a springboard to save other people who are similar to you. So for me, from my perspective, there’s no answer other than Christ. “Pastor, it’s probably because you haven’t experienced a lot in the world.” But do you think you can only know about Napoleon if you meet him personally, or can you read books about him? We can learn about the Pompei explosion that buried many people in ash and preserved them; we don’t have to be there in person, we can read it through books. That’s why we study history. That is why, through the Bible, we are able to study what is the problem of mankind and what is the solution.
Christ, the Holy Spirit comes within us and liberates us from all things. There’s no need to use your brain; you need to pray and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The more you try to use whatever small intellect you have, the more it will take you away from following God, but if you concentrate on God, then God’s power will follow you. Money will follow you, wisdom will follow you; for students who are studying, God’s wisdom will follow you. If you lose this blessing as you live your walk of faith, then you are losing many blessings. The Passover and the Pentecost are connected together, and we must enjoy them every single day. I hope even right now, I hope you’re enjoying it. You shouldn’t listen to the pastor’s message. Then, you’re just going to judge whether you like this message or not, and I tell you right now, that person will spiritually fail, because they are concentrating on the sermon. Through the sermon, you need to concentrate on God. That is why we end all of our studies and work in the world, and we concentrate on God through worship, then the more you worship like this, the more you receive spiritual strength. If you don’t focus your spirit on God, and you try to do your business, it will be hard. Through the sermon, I hope this will be the time for you to concentrate on the Holy Spirit inside of you. Then God’s power will follow you.
Why would money be an issue? It’s because you don’t have any. Why is a disease an issue? Because you’re not healthy. Why is mental illness an issue? Because you don’t have the mental strength to overcome it, but if you just concentrate on God, then everything is contained within Him, so everything will follow you, and that blessing is worship. But if worship becomes a habit for you, you will lose spiritual things. Yes, the traditions and forms are important, but the spiritual things are what’s important. So, through this time, if your spirit is able to concentrate on God, then healing and restoration of everything will take place.
God knows everything about you already, and God is waiting for you to concentrate on only Him. Even right at this moment, God can solve everything, but He is waiting for you to concentrate on only Him, because that is how you will reveal the glory of God. But even as you go to church, you might still not do this and still succeed. Success is not the standard, but success should follow as your spirit gets along well. I’m telling you this surely: if someone only succeeds, then later on, they will have spiritual problems. I’m telling you this because I experienced this as a nonbeliever. Everybody has succeeded to some extent and everybody is trying to live their own best life, and I’m sure it’s difficult, but almost everyone has been first place at something. But it’s still not enough; their spirit will not work. You might cover yourself physically but not spiritually. This is invisible to our eyes, so you cannot control it, and Satan works through that foothold. Then, the Passover and Pentecost enjoy that spiritual blessing.
3. Festival of Ingathering
1) Feast of Tabernacles, Thanksgiving
Finally, it’s the Feast of the Ingathering, in other words, Thanksgiving or the Feast of the Tabernacles. It means the same thing. There’s no reason to get confused by the terms, but know that the Israelites used to harvest their crops twice a year.
(1) Gather crops, fruit (Ex. 23:16)
The very last harvest they have in the fall, that is the festival of Ingathering. They bring all of their crops in and put them in a storehouse, that is how they can store it for next year, but God uses these physical things to contain the spiritual meaning. It contains the spiritual meaning that we are like the grain, we’ve been saved and will go into God’s storehouse of His Kingdom in the future.
(2) Temporary shelters in the wilderness (Lev. 23:42-43)
(3) Thanksgiving offering
Now, as we are living on this earth currently, we are living with the background of the Kingdom of Heaven that we will go to. This feast is also called the Feast of the Tabernacle and the Feast of the Tents, meaning that God has provided you with safety in the tents and guidance in the wilderness. So we give our offering on Thanksgiving. Either way, there is a Kingdom of God we will go to, and while we are on this earth, we have the citizenship of heaven, so we are living with the power and blessings of the throne of heaven.
2) God’s kingdom
(1) Background of God’s kingdom (Phil. 3:20)
(2) Souls to harvest (Mt. 9:36-38)
In Mt. 9:36-38, Jesus Christ looked at the crowds and had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, wandering like sheep without a shepherd. In Mt. 9:37, Jesus told His disciples, “The harvest is plenty,” what does that mean? It’s talking about the spiritual harvest. Right now, people do not know Christ, they don’t know the spiritual things, so they are so stuck on the physical things and wandering. “Go and give them the gospel and harvest them. Store them in the Kingdom of God; make them into children of God.” The Christians are not able to do this, so there is a cult called Shin Chun Jee, where they send in what they call the “harvesters” to bring those people out and to give them salvation. They say the normal Christian churches don’t have salvation, so they send what they call, “harvesters,” to go in and bring people out of that church into their organization. And even though there is an elderly Korean person who believes in God, they fall for the Harvesters and follow them. And there are even Caucasian people who believe that the leader of this cult is God, and they say, “The churches don’t have the answer, so go into those churches and harvest those people and bring them here.”
That cult and those harvesters are not the issue; the real issue is the churches have lost hold of the spiritual meaning of the harvest and our mission from God, so God is allowing this to happen. So, yes of course, you have the physical thanksgiving for the harvest God has given to us and for guidance throughout the year as well, but spiritually speaking, we are enjoying the blessings of the background of the throne of heaven and carrying out God’s mission here on earth. When I talk about the mission, there are many people who think that it’s a heavy burden, and that’s evidence that these people do not know about the spiritual blessings. ”I have to do this, and I have to do that,” and it seems so burdensome to them, but when God entrusts a mission to us, He has prepared everything already and then tells us to do it.
(3) All nations, Healing, Future Generation (Mt. 28, Mk. 16, Jn. 21)
When Jesus Christ tells us to make disciples of all nations, He has already guaranteed the power and authority to do that, and then He tells us to do it. But because you’re losing hold of the first words that He has received all authority in heaven and on earth, and you’re only holding onto the next part, “Go and make disciples,” it feels like such a burden, but you’re only feeling that way because you don’t know God very well. When Jesus tells you to proclaim the gospel to all 237 nations and to make disciples, it is because He has already prepared everything for you to do that. Proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth; it is an undeniable promise, the only issue is you aren’t able to do it because you like strength. But if you really resolve to do it, God promises to give you power.
In other words, in order to fulfill God’s Word, God will give you everything. If you need finances, God will give you finances. If you just want to eat and make a living, then you have enough already. Raise your hands if you only want to eat three meals a day. You ate breakfast in the morning, and you’re going to eat dinner tonight, and next week, you’re going to keep on eating and sleeping. That’s enough, there’s no more. But if you want to be a witness until the ends of the earth, there are many things we will need, and God has promised and guaranteed that for us. God has given the church the mission to take those who have lost hold of the gospel and to bring them into the Kingdom of God, but if churches lose hold of this, then that is a disaster. If the spiritual church loses hold of the spiritual blessing and meaning, then they will be sold as slaves to the world, so yes, we might still celebrate Thanksgiving, but you may still not have any freedom in your spirit, then you will not influence nonbelievers.
May you and I truly be thankful for the mission God has given to us, then, when you are aligned with God and you realize, the reason why you were studying and the reason God gave you a job is to go and do the spiritual work of harvesting, then these things will take place, so I hope you will quickly escape from your own thinking, ”Why is God doing this to me?” God is a good God, and God has unlimited power, and God is full of grace; God is the One Who has created everything, and He can re-create everything. God is the One Who gives us success and failure. Death and life are both in God’s hands. My life is not determined based on my level or ability, but it is based in God’s hands.
3) Every day
(1) First God’s kingdom (Mt. 6:33)
Then, for us today, this festival of Ingathering or the Thanksgiving, yes, of course, our spirit will go to the Kingdom of Heaven, but even on this earth, we enjoy that mission and background. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,” that means, everybody has been prepared to do that work. Go to all people and heal them,” that means God has already given you the power to heal. “And feed this to the next generation,” or the young lambs, because even if things are going well right now, it doesn’t matter because if the next generation collapses, then we all fall, because God desires to spread the Kingdom of God to the next generation as well. That is why, every day, we first seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. Where does my Spirit belong, and what is the mission of the Spirit? Confirm that every single day, that if it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that I cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon me. So the problems are on this earth; once we go to heaven, there will be no problems. God’s Kingdom must be established on earth, then the cause of all of your problems and mistakes, Satan, will be cast out.
(2) Satan – Drive out (Mt. 12:28-29)
(3) Thanksgiving prayer that saves (Col. 1:13)
Col. 1:13 says, “He has reduced us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son He loves.” This must be the Thanksgiving that saves and restores true thankfulness in my spirit, then all problems will be finished. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you’re thankful, so it’s not an issue. King Saul was chasing David to kill him, but David confesses, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want,” he is thankful, and nothing is a problem to him. He says, “I’m thankful to be a child of God.” So nothing is an issue to us. I believe God is going to fulfill His mission through me in the future, I’m sure of that, and I’m thankful, so nothing is an issue. The mystery to break down the devil is thanksgiving. The method for healing our environment is thanksgiving.
Can you say, “I’m thankful I don’t have money”? You should be able to, because God doesn’t give you money for no reason. When you discover the reason for money, you’ll be thankful. Can you use the word, “Thankful,” when you’re sick? That person has already overcome their disease because they’re thankful. God has to kind of intercede with you so you won’t wander away, because if you’re healthy, you’ll just keep wandering away, for example, so you need to discover thanksgiving. We need to be thankful when we discover God’s plan for bringing us to America and having us live here.
Conclusion
1 Every day in the Gospel
2. Every day, Holy Spirit – Filling, Work
3. Every day, save souls – Temple construction
The Temple Construction to save the 237 nations, do the healing and summit movement, I’m so thankful, because it is not possible by power or might, but only by the Holy Spirit of God, then God is bound to work, and when you hold onto that and pray, it’s just thankfulness. The thankfulness that casts out demons, darkness, and Satan, and establishes God’s Spirit in you, then healing takes place. You don’t have to drink alcohol. It’s okay even if you don’t drink alcohol every day, you don’t have to be obsessed every day. You don’t have to think about whether you should do drugs today or not, every day. You don’t have to think about how you’re going to succeed every day. Because inside of this mystery is everything. May this be the Thanksgiving week where you’re able to restore this meaning and enjoy it.
Message Prayer
Let us pray together, holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We thank you for guiding us and blessing us throughout the year. Allow us to be the church that knows, enjoys, and testifies of the spiritual blessings of the Passover, Pentecost, and the Ingathering. Allow us to be a church that tells the cause and the answer to the suffering of the world. Allow us to receive that evidence first. We have returned our material blessings as offering for the temple construction to save the future generations, world missions, the pastors, and the church. We believe You will work with the answer of the power of the economy of light in the direction that You desire. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray that You will bless Sun Baker. We believe You will work with your blessing exactly according to Your Word, so that she may enjoy the spiritual meaning of the Passover, Pentecost, and Ingathering, and relay this to her future generations. 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. RCA 11/22(Wed.)-24(Fri.), 25(Sat.): Young Adult meeting
3. Communion, baptism – 11/26 (Sunday). For those getting Baptized, please give your name and date of birth to the Worship Department.
4. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissonchurch
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, and upon all their businesses and ministries, who desire to enjoy and testify the true meaning of Thanksgiving, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.